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“Oh,” she hears Chat say. His hands tighten imperceptibly around her own. “ Oh .”
Heart pounding, Marinette keeps her eyes squeezed tightly shut. She hears Plagg say something to Tikki and her little kwami giggle something back in response. There’s a whoosh , indicating that they’ve sped off somewhere, either to confer in private or to avoid what’s about to be an incredibly charged conversation between their holders.
Chat cups her face in one hand. It’s free from its clawed leather glove-proof that Chat is a person. A real, flesh and blood boy underneath the suit. A person . And isn’t that a strange idea that should be. Her partner, her best friend, both to Ladybug and Marinette, an actual real person.
His thumb glides along her cheekbone, softly running over a cut he finds there. “Marinette,” he says softly. “Open your eyes.”
Marinette inhales shakily and buries her face in Chat’s chest. His hand drops from her face and instead he wraps his arms around her tightly. He’s wearing a cotton shirt- soft, like it’s old and been broken down by fabric softener over the years. It smells like a floral blend and...cheese, she thinks? She chalks that one down to Plagg.
“I promise I’m not that ugly,” Chat consoles, patting her on the back.
Marinette makes a sound in his chest that’s supposed to be a laugh, but comes out more mournful than she intends. “It’ll change everything ,” she mumbles.
“Not a thing,” he promises like he means it. Like he can keep it. “It doesn’t change anything for me. Please look at me?”
Marinette reaches up, feeling his face with one hand until her fingers trace the outline of his lips. She follows them, dragging the taller boy down into a kiss. Chat makes a surprised noise in his throat. Marinette tries to pour every last bit of emotion she has into it: her desperation, her fear, her cautious excitement. She eventually pulls away, ever so slightly, just enough that when she finally opens her eyes, a pair of familiar green one flood her vision.
Marinette blinks, trying to focus. Chat has real eyes , she thinks and then feels dumb for thinking that. They’re still a vivid green, still bright and playful, but the catlike pupil has been traded out for a round, human pair of eyes. A very, very familiar pair of eyes that glitter across from her in Biology.
“Oh,” Marinette says.
“Hi,” Adrien Agreste says, almost shyly. He takes her hands in his again, just as before when they de-transformed.
“Oh,” Marinette says again, and then bursts into tears.
Adrien, appropriately, freaks out. “Oh- oh shit -Marinette don’t-don’t cry -don’t be sad-”
“I’m not sad !” she wails, throwing her arms over his shoulders again. “Or disappointed,” she mumbles into his neck. “I’m just happy.”
Her partner lets out a breath, tension dissolving from his shoulders. “Ah.” His arms wrap around her tightly, pulling her closer into the hug. He buries his nose in her hair. “Yeah.”
Marinette hugs her partner, her classmate, her crush, her best friend and thinks oh . She tucks her head under his chin and thinks this makes sense.
Then,
“We’re both idiots-”
“ Alya is never going to let me hear the end of this -”
“Nino is going to kill me -”
They both dissolve into helpless laughter. Adrien- Chat looks like sunshine personified as the sun streaks through his blond hair and catches on the golden flecks in his green eyes. Yeah , Marinette thinks, a small smile on her lips. Everything’s about to change.