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They're sitting in one of their favourite spots, legs dangling over the edge as they soak in the first truly warm day of the year. A few feet below their sandals, the river Seine turns to pure light as thousands of tiny waves reflect the sunlight. Adrien closes his eyes for a second, blinded. Around him, the city buzzes on, footsteps and traffic and voices blending into each other in a multilayered hum. A shop door opens with a chime, somewhere to his left a dog barks excitedly, people chat and yell and laugh.
Next to him, Marinette lets out a relaxed sigh. And just like that the rest of the world is muted.
Adrien’s skin prickles. He opens his eyes and glances over to her. Marinette too has closed her eyes, leaning back onto her hands to tilt her face towards the sky. The breeze plays with her summer dress, carrying the faintest echo of her scent over to him.
“This is nice,” she says, eyes still closed, “thank you for inviting me out here.”
Adrien’s bites his lip. “We’ve been here dozens of times before.”
A frown scurries over her face, fleeting like the cotton candy clouds above. “I know,” she says quietly, opening her eyes to look out over the water. “I just wasn’t sure if it would…”
“Be different,” Adrien completes. “Yeah.”
Their eyes meet and they fall silent.
It’s a curious thing love. When he was fourteen he dreamed of grand confessions, of romantic walks and kisses in the moonlight. He filled entire notebooks with heartfelt poems about her that were, frankly, quite bad. And all along, all along…
“It’s not. Is it?” She’s not looking at him. Her hands knead in her lap and Adrien has to dig his fingers into the sidewalk to resist the urge of taking them into his own.
“I don’t know,” he says honestly. “You’re still you. You’re both of you.”
She nods in understanding, watching her fingers. The two of them stopped needing words ages ago.
“Do you regret it?”
He can feel her move, look up at him, but he keeps his eyes trained on the water.
“Knowing it’s me?” When has his voice become so quiet. “Lovestruck cat and homework partner all in one?”
He tries to keep his tone light. Lady– Marinette has deflected his advances often enough that it’s become a shared reflex. Flirt. Shut down.
Like breathing.
And he’s content with it. Adrien knows he’s outgrown his fantasies. He’s older now, more mature.
Things are different. Over the years, his feelings for her have grown in, burrowed through sweaty hands and coursing blood into his very bones. Settled at the very core of his being. It seems almost frivolous now, to ask for romance.
Almost.
“Are you?” Marinette asks.
“Sorry?” Adrien grits a non-committal smile, watching a family of ducks slowly making their way upstream.
“Lovestruck?”
He looks at her, mouth opening to shoot back a witty reply but no sound comes out. Between Ladybug and Chat Noir, their banter has become a well rehearsed dance over the years, but they are more than heroes now. Marinette’s face is bare as her blue eyes pin him down. He counts the freckles on the bridge of her nose and Adrien sits dumbstruck, overcome by the sudden feeling that he doesn’t know the next step in their choreography.
It’s a curious thing love.
“Stupid question,” Marinette says into the silence. She rolls her eyes, releasing his gaze to look up at the sky as she mimes talking with her hands. Her voice is bright, like a glass struck with too much force. “’With a Lady like you, how can a simple cat not –‘”
“Always.”
She freezes mid-motion. “What?”
“You know I love you.” Adrien looks at her, confused. She returns his gaze and now it’s her turn to gape wordlessly. “Marinette,” his brows furrow, “you know that, right?”
She blinks at him several times before shaking her head rapidly.
“I – what?”
“I love my friend from school. And I love my partner. I love you, Marinette.” He says slowly. “And I have been in love with you since we were fourteen.”
“Oh,” she says and her hands fall to her sides.
“I thought I was quite clear about that over the years.”
She stares across the river, right through the pedestrians seeking shade under the trees there.
“Uh-huh,” she squeaks. And says nothing more.
Birds fly overhead. A small girl on roller blades skids past, followed by her out-of-breath father. The silence between them stretches. Adrien glances over at Marinette with increasing worry.
“M –”
“Can I – Can I try something?”
She’s looking at him again. After all those years he finds himself transfixed by her gaze.
“Um. Sure.”
The freckles on her nose twitch as Marinette gives a determined huff and suddenly her scent surrounds him, a hundred times stronger and she is close, so close all of the sudden and her lips –
Adrien’s eyes blow open wide, his body stiffening in surprise as Marinette clumsily presses her mouth to his. It doesn’t even last a stuttering heartbeat before she pulls back, but it’s enough to make every nerve in his body shoot sparks. Marinette peers up at him, gnawing her lip and generally looking about as antsy as he feels.
“Sorry, I didn’t – um – I don’t know wha – ”
Adrien leans forward, his right hand coming up to cradle the back of her head. Like magnets they are pulled together again and this time his eyes slam shut as her lips crash into his. He can feel her hands grabbing the front of his shirt, scorching through the thin cotton and Adrien is suddenly very grateful that they’re in their civilian clothes. Her hair is incredibly soft between his fingers. Marinette half scoots, half pulls him closer as she finally fully releases her bottom lip that begins moving against his own urgently. Their legs are pressed together from the hip down and it seems the amount of nerves on his skin has doubled. He breathes in Marinette. Goosebumps follow the wake of her hands as they wander along his collarbones to the base of his neck. Marinette opens her mouth and suddenly there’s tugging at his bottom lip and Adrien feels a shiver shake his entire body. Their legs tangle together as he parts his lips and he has no idea what he is doing but wow does it feel good. He can taste Marinette’s cherry lip balm as she pushes against him, overwhelming every last one of his senses. Adrien hears himself sigh and she chuckles against his lips. The sound makes him dizzy.
Panting, she pulls away from him, just the width of a breath. Her fingers trace the back of his neck. Adrien holds her gaze, studying her face in amazement. Tiny bubbles of excitement prickle against his skin and he can’t say whether he is going to combust or float away. Focusing on steadying his breathing, he gently pushes back a stray strand of her hair.
“So…” he says, too high on her proximity to care about how utterly wrecked his voice sounds. “I take it you like me back.”
Marinette lets out another chuckle and there go the few crumbs of composure he’s gathered. Adrien can physically feel the oxygen leave his brain as she pulls him close again.
“Funny,” she places a peck on the corner of his smile “I thought I was quite clear about that just now.”