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Thankfully the Akuma of the day – a middle-aged woman angry that the milkshake machine at the local McDonalds was perpetually broken – had been relatively easy to handle. The only risky moment had come when Chat Noir pushed Ladybug out of the way of a geyser of frozen slushy. He’d taken the hit on the side with barely a grunt, and waved off her concern with an easy smile.
The fight had only required a Cataclysm and not a Lucky Charm. Ladybug watched Chat Noir vault away before his transformation could give out, and then turned to take this rare opportunity to answer a few questions. The reporters were already circling like vultures, but they’d be even worse if she didn’t throw them a bone every now and again. For a while she fielded the usual questions about the Akuma (recovered), Hawk Moth (still villainous), and her love life (nooooope). Then the conversation took a decidedly unwelcome turn.
“Ladybug!” one seedy-looking reporter in a brown coat demanded. He pushed forward and shoved a microphone in her face. “Is it true that Chat Noir got hit again during today’s fight?”
“Well yes–” she began, before he cut her off.
“And isn’t it true that he’s been taken over by Akuma’s three times in the last two months?”
“Yes, but that’s not–”
“When are you going to replace him with a real sidekick?”
“Excuse me?” Ladybug’s voice went cold. The danger in her tone cut through the reporters’ babble like the cracking of ice in a frozen pond. Other reporters inched away from their foolish colleague who gulped nervously at the fury in her expression.
“I just thought you might want a sidekick who’s more useful and heroic, you know? Sounds like I can take that down as a no, though.” He had a spiral bound reporter’s notebook in which he appeared to be writing ‘NO’ in letters large enough to take up half the page.
“It’s a no,” she said frostily. She looked around at the rest of the gaggle of reporters and frowned. “In fact, why don’t I set the record straight, once and for all. Between the two of us, Chat Noir is far more of a superhero than I am.”
“Come off it Ladybug,” a particularly brave reporter called from near the back. “Sure he supports you, but you’re the only one who can purify Akuma and set the city to rights afterward.”
Ladybug cocked her head and put one hand on her hip as she glared at the crowd. “You don’t get it, do you? What I can do is all thanks to my powers. Back when Chat Noir became Mr. Bug he did just fine using my abilities and restoring the city after the fight. I have a specialized tool, but that’s really all there is to me.”
“That’s not true!” someone shouted.
“We love you Ladybug!”
“Marry me! If you’re old enough.”
Ladybug waived away their words, but a small smile graced her face and lightened the atmosphere. “Okay, so I can do some cool things sometimes. That’s not the point. The point is that our fighting strategy is based around Chat Noir diving into things head first while I stay back and figure out how to use my lucky charm.”
There was a flash of light and a red and black spotted instant cold pack dropped into her hand. Ladybug rolled her eyes. “Oops, guess I’m on a timer now. Shouldn’t have done that. Anyway, what I mean is that Chat Noir throws himself into danger time and time again. You’ve probably all been possessed by an Akuma before. Would you be willing to do it again? Any of you? What about risking it on a regular basis?”
No one would meet her eyes.
“Chat’s been beaten, stabbed, had both legs crushed, broken darn near every bone in his body, electrocuted, and erased from t-time.” She stuttered on the last, still flinching away from how terrible it had felt to watch her partner simply fade away.
“Ladybug?” Nadja Chamack asked tentatively, concern evident in her tone.
Ladybug shook her head and continued. “That’s just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.” She strode through the crowd, forcing them to follow her and when they did she met their eyes to drive home her point. “Despite how he’s suffered he never hesitates, not for an instant. He can’t afford to because if he did he’d be too slow to save me and we’d all be lost.”
Warming to her topic, Ladybug started pacing back and forth along the street, barely paying any attention to the reporters watching her go. “What makes me special is what I can do, but what makes Chat special is who he is. He’s got the dedication to throw himself into danger – never complaining – for me. He’s selfless, and kind, and he tries to pretend the hits don’t even hurt because he doesn’t want me to worry about him.”
Stopping on a dime, a dumbstruck expression filled Ladybug’s face and she gazed unseeing up at the Eiffel Tower and the sunny spring day beyond. Confused, the reporters tried to follow her gaze to see what it was that had caused her such consternation, but with the Akuma vanquished the day was the picture of tranquility.
“God dang it,” she whispered to herself, exasperation and amusement warring with one another on her face. Suddenly she snapped out of it, just as her earrings beeped their five-minute warning. “Sorry everyone, but I’ve had an epiphany and if I don’t tell that stupid cat right now I might actually explode. Bug out!”
Most of the reporters were too taken aback by her sudden departure to even ask any additional questions. However, as Ladybug slung her yoyo up to a roof one the reporter in the brown coat managed to shout after her, “what do you have to tell him?”
“That I love him!” Ladybug shouted back, and then she was gone, leaving only traces of her giddy laughter on the wind.
***
Ladybug had expected to have to hurry to chase Chat Noir down. She’d even resigned herself to sending a message and meeting up after they’d both had time to recharge. Instead, just after she cleared the roof line of the first row of buildings a curious sight met her eyes.
Crouched in the shadow of a chimney, and prodding a painful looking bruise on his side, was Adrien Agreste.
Deep in Ladybug’s heart two beloved silhouettes merged into one with a satisfying click. Of course. Who else could it have been?
She landed lightly on the roof, but he must have heard her. He (disappointingly) let his shirt fall and looked up. His eyes lit with unrestrained joy for a moment as he saw her, before he masked his excitement and familiarity. Naturally, he didn’t know she knew yet. He must have worried she’d wonder why Adrien was so happy to see Ladybug.
Still, the feel of his eyes on her was intoxicating. She sauntered across the rooftop, relishing his poorly hidden desire. He was nothing if not a consummate professional though. “Ladybug,” he said mildly, “what a pleasant surprise. What can I do for you?”
“I think the real question is, what can I do for you, handsome boy?” she purred, prompting a dusting of red across his fair cheeks. She was close to him, too close. Inside his personal space, watching with glee as he tried desperately to maintain his equanimity. “This for instance.” She brought one hand up to caress his face and he couldn’t help but lean into her hand. Ladybug leaned forward, intent clear. “Ok?” she breathed.
“Yes, please,” was his ragged reply. The last syllable had scarcely dropped from his lips before Ladybug had claimed them for her own.
The kiss was everything she’d dreamed it would be. It was a slow parade of wonderful sensations, the warmth of his body, the softness of his lips. The scent of his cologne, a hint of the camembert she knew Plagg loved, and underneath a scent that was all him.
A giggle bubbled out of Ladybug when they finally broke apart. Adrien chuckled and said, “If everyone knew all it took to win a kiss from Ladybug was hanging out on rooftops, then there’d be a lot more people up here.”
“I wouldn’t just kiss anyone,” she said, playfully tapping his nose.
“Is it only models then?” he joked. “Inquiring minds want to know what brought this on, especially after what you just told those reporters.”
He sounded lighthearted, but Ladybug knew him well enough on both sides of the mask to hear the hurt he was hiding. He didn’t know she knew. Well that just couldn’t be permitted to stand. Time to sunset the dawning hurt in his eyes.
“If you heard what I said then that’ll save some time, but I feel the need to repeat myself anyway.” She leaned in again, enjoying the way her suit let her hear his pulse skyrocket at her proximity, until her lips ghosted over his ear.
“I love you chaton.”
He made a strangled noise, halfway between a shout of excitement and groan of despair. Compulsively, as if afraid she’d disappear, his arms came up around her and held her tightly. “You know?” he asked fearfully.
“I know.”
He broke their hug and held her at arm’s length with his hands on her shoulders. He scanned her face, looking for any trace of anger, and Ladybug made sure only to show him what was in her heart.
“And you’re not mad? You’re not going to take my Miraculous away?”
“I’m not, Chat. I’m glad it’s you.”
“Okay.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. You know, and you’re not mad, and you’re not taking away Plagg. All good things. How did you figure it out anyway?”
Ladybug gave him a flat look. “I saw a blond haired green-eyed catboy who just got hit in the ribs vault off this way and I stumbled on a blond haired green-eyed regular boy prodding a painful bruise on his ribs. Which reminds me.” She cracked the lucky charm cold pack to activate it and held it out.
Adrien took the pack. He sank down to a seat against the rough brick of the chimney and pressed it against his side with a relieved sigh. “Thanks.” He looked like he wanted to say more, but was interrupted by the shrill beeping of Ladybug’s earring. “That’s the one-minute warning.”
“Yes,” she said, making no move to leave.
“Are you sure?”
In answer Ladybug took a seat on the rooftop next to him, enjoying the cool shade from the surprising noon heat. She leaned over, shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip. “I’m tired of secrets Chat, so before my transformation runs out I’ve got one more to tell you.”
He swallowed heavily. “I’ll always keep your secrets, My Lady.”
“Remember that guy in my civilian life I kept turning you down for?” She felt him stiffen beside her and she patted his thigh comfortingly. “Relax. You’ll like this story’s ending, I promise.”
Adrien chuckled ruefully and relaxed. “Sorry. I trust you.”
“Anyway, I’ll spare you the specifics, but basically I didn’t like him at first. Bad first impression. Then he offered me this small kindness and all of a sudden my understanding of him shifted. It was like seeing a totally different person, and one I desperately wanted to get to know. He lived up to that moment afterward, but the love came from that one small act and how it made me see him differently.”
Ladybug could feel the fizzing and sparking of her suit that indicated Tikki was hitting her limits for this transformation. Even though she didn’t want to rush this conversation, she knew she’d have to speak quickly to not get preempted by a sudden detransformation.
“Back there with the reporters felt the same way,” she said. “I was so angry at how they weren’t giving you enough credit. There I was listing out your good features,” she nudged him, “of which there are many, and all at once it was like I was seeing you in a way I never had before. A small moment, a few words, and a feeling that I hadn’t known was there.”
“I like this part a lot better,” he teased, and she laughed quietly.
“When I went looking for you, for the first time in three years I wasn’t even thinking about the other guy. Imagine my surprise when I was chasing Chat to tell him I loved him, and I saw the other boy I loved nursing his wounds on a rooftop.”
Adrien sucked in a sharp breath. “You mean?” he half asked, voice full of hope.
Ladybug leaned her head against his and closed her eyes against the creeping pink light of her detransformation. “It was you Chat. Adrien. It’s always been you. I only hope you won’t be disappointed when you know who I really am.”
“Never, My Lady,” he said roughly. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed comfortingly. “I can’t wait to meet you.”
There was a final flash of pink light, and the superhero Ladybug became ordinary everyday Marinette. From where Adrien’s head still rested against hers, she could tell that he hadn’t seen her face yet. Her heart pounded as she waited on tenterhooks for him to look.
“Wait,” he said slowly. “I know those pink capris. Marinette?”
The sheer disbelief in his voice was like an arrow through her heart. Giving in to impulse, she pushed herself to her feet and tried to run away. Tried, because the arm Adrien had had around her shoulders caught her hand. He pulled her back around and his eyes searched her face.
Marinette knew he was looking for Ladybug. She knew he wouldn’t find her, because she wasn’t anything special like Ladybug was. She was just a normal girl, and that could never be enough for someone as amazing as him. Both sides of him.
Apparently Adrien disagreed. His eyes lit up and he wrapped her up in a crushing hug with all the enthusiasm of a puppy at play. “It’s you! Of course it’s you! Our everyday Ladybug.”
“You’re not disappointed?” she asked into his chest.
“I could never be disappointed in you, Ladybug. Marinette.”
She shivered at the way he said her name, like he was trying to savor every syllable. Marinette thought she could die happy if she got to spend the rest of her life hearing her name said like that.
Marinette peeked up at Adrien, only to find him smiling down at her. She darted up to press a quick kiss to his lips, because that was a thing she could do now! He tried to return the kiss, but between their giggles and grins it was hard to bring their lips together.
The sound of his heartbeat finally calmed her down a little. “Everything’s going to change now, isn’t it?”
“Probably,” he admitted. “But I think it’ll be for the better. After all Marinette, it’s you and me against the world, and now that we’re together there’s nothing that can stop us.”
Marinette’s cheeks hurt from smiling, and the joy that was bubbling up inside her felt like a well that would never run dry. “Yeah, Chat Noir. You and me against the world.”