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It was an akuma. Wasn’t it always? It was as if Monarch had an instinct when it would be extremely inconvenient for Adrien to be interrupted. Try to enjoy an afternoon with his friends? Akuma. Try to get six hours of uninterrupted sleep? Nope, akuma. Have a mountain of homework he has to catch up on or else his father is threatening to pull him from school? Not for Cat Noir, even if Adrien had been running himself ragged to manage it all. He often wondered if it was just the bad luck that went with the black cat miraculous, but if that was the case then he was a curse to his Lady too. The wonderful thing about his partner is that he could always trust her to set things right, no matter how bad his luck was running.
However, this time, it seemed his luck had run out. He had been visiting Marinette as Cat Noir for the first time in a month. He hadn’t realized how much she had seeped into his life and heart in the last year and, when circumstances had kept him from visiting her in the evenings, he realized that he missed her. It wasn’t just missing a friend you hadn’t seen in a while because, really, he saw her every day at school, but it wasn’t enough. It was like an itch he couldn’t scratch, a craving he couldn’t satisfy, and it was turning him into a very grumpy cat indeed.
But he had arranged things so he could escape for a few hours to visit his princess in her cozy tower. To apologize for his prolonged absence, he picked up a hot chocolate from her favorite cafe and tucked a pink carnation into the paper sleeve. He may or may not have even polished his bell to make sure it was extra shiny, secretly hoping she might play with it.
But while he had been looking for some cozy time with his best friend and maybe a little flirting, he had not anticipated being trapped with Marinette in a small, suffocating space within minutes of touching down on her balcony.
Akuma?! Cat growled under his breath in frustration. Of course it was an akuma! Stupid Monarch! Can’t a cat just pretend to stargaze with his girlfriend in peace?!
“What? Where did that come from?” Was that the reason his heart rate was through the roof right now or was it the tight space?
“I can’t see! Cat, is that you?” Marinette’s voice sounded confused, but not afraid. Good. She wasn’t panicking. It was always strange how anxious she could be, how she still sometimes jumbled her words and talked in circles with him as Adrien, but with Cat Noir she was practically fearless… which was good because he couldn’t seem to catch his breath. The space they were trapped in was too small, too hot, too… too…
… full of her. In the confined space, the scents were more intense. Honey and mint from her lip balm, lavender shampoo, the scent of vanilla and fresh baked bread that clung to her like a second skin. There was detergent and clean fabric, sizing starch and chocolate. She was a wealth of scents and it was overwhelming. Breathing it in was like drinking spirits of wine; powerful, sweet and certainly not good for him in large doses.
But beneath all that there was something else, something more, that he had never smelled so strongly before. He had caught hints of it on occasion, especially in her bedroom the few times he had been in there. The time he had landed on her bed when he and Ladybug had fought Troublemaker had nearly sent him reeling. The way his enhanced senses picked it up was more synesthetic than strictly olfactory. Marinette was lightning trapped in amber. She was the sweet scented burn of peppermint oil, the prickle of snow flakes against his skin, the velvet caress of rose petals.
All of it combined was enough to draw out a purr unbidden, but also an intense desire to rub his face against hers… to combine her scent with his own to create a perfume that would make his father sick with envy… to mark her as his.
It had been torture sitting in front of her at school, not being able to see her, to feel so far away… that he had to act as if he didn’t know about their nights together swapping stories under the stars. Worse yet to see the way she turned other guys’ heads but was too innocent to notice. To see Luka at band practice slip a casual arm around her shoulders for a hug, despite that fact that they hadn’t dated in over two years.
This was worse. Amazing, but far worse. The space they were in was small, clearly not designed for two nearly grown young adults. They were pressed up against each other and every breath she took was an attack on his self control.
“Cat, are you okay,” she asked, worry creeping into her voice.
“Yeah,” he rasped, partly due to a dry throat and partly to the purr. “Its just a little stuffy in here.”
“We have to find a way to get you out of here! Ladybug needs her partner.”
She shifted slightly and, from the sound, started running a hand along the wall of their strange prison. He struggled to throttle back the embarrassing purr at her movement, pressing himself as far away from her as he could. The feel of the wall against his back, the curve of the …roof?… forced his head down, his cat ears brushing the peak of the curve. He could feel his tail flicking around agitatedly, hearing the solid clicks as the metal tip hit the walls. It was too quiet in here. He couldn’t hear anything outside. All he could hear was those clicks, their breathing, and two heartbeats that were both racing, probably for very different reasons.
“Cat, you’re hyperventilating. You need to calm down. We’re alright.” Her words ricochetted around in his skull, but their meaning was lost to him. The wall felt like it was crushing them instead of trapping them and even her intoxicating scent wasn’t enough to drive off the fear.
“Its going to be okay, Kitty,” she murmured softly, cool hands cradling his face and her forehead pressing to his giving him grounding points. “Can you take a slow, deep breath for me?”
One of her hands slid down his arm to his hand and placed it against her chest. “Breathe with me, okay?”
He managed to nod and timed his breathing to the rise and fall of hers.
In. Hold. Out.
In. Hold. Out.
The panic slowly started to ease, his heart rate to slow somewhat as he fell under the calm of her influence. Boy, she really did smell good!
“Is that better,” she asked, her breath fanning across his face and making him blush painfully. He had just made a fool and coward of himself in front of Marinette. If there was anyone aside from Ladybug who he wanted to admire him and think he was a hero it was her.
“Yeah. Just a bit… overwhelmed. But I’m better now. Thanks, Princess.”
He finally opened his eyes causing his night vision to kick in, painting her in shades of green and black. She was looking up at him in the dark, her eyes soft and worried.
“I didn’t know you were nervous is small spaces,” she murmured softly.
“Yeah, it doesn’t come up much in the suit,” he said gruffly, hoping she would change the subject.
“Would it help if I tried to move away from you?”
He shook his head. “No! No! There isn’t the space and you are a very nice distraction.” She squeaked in surprise and let go of his face suddenly, leaving him to miss her touch at once. Then it hit him how his last words might have come across. “I mean, you smell really nice and you feel good too!” What?! Backtrack!!! “Your hands! My face! Against my face!” He sighed in frustration. “Princess, can we just forget that this whole thing ever happened? Please?”
He saw the shade of her face darken, knowing it was a blush. Marinette would surely hate him, would push him away for coming on too strong just like Ladybug had. She would kick him off her balcony and never want to see him again. She would never lie beside him to look at the stars or play with his bell with dainty, tentative fingers. He would never have the opportunity to run his bare fingers through her hair or kiss her eyes as she fell asleep in his arms or…
Marinette giggled. It was such a rich, soft, happy sound that it ceased his mental whirlpool, even if he was blushing to the roots of his hair.
“I thought I was the only one to jumble words like that,” she said, her voice full of mirth. “Its a wonder Adrien puts up with me at all, though I guess it is kind of cute.”
Cute? She thought his nervous babble was cute? True, he thought hers was adorable, but not something he had ever put much thought into. But that she wasn’t upset at the tangle he had got himself into was such a relief that a chuckle slipped out of him.
“Sorry,” he replied when they settled down. “I just don’t like feeling trapped, but having you here to talk me through it helped a lot. Thanks.”
“Of course! That’s what friends are for!” Her voice took on a determined note and he watched the little crinkle that creased the bridge of her nose. “Now, I can’t tell what this thing is made of, but your cataclysm can go through anything, right?”
“Right.” Cat took a deep breath and pulled her close. “Stay close to me, Marinette. We don’t know what is going on outside.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. “Okay.”
“Cataclysm.”
The black energy boiled in his hand and he pressed it against the far side of their prison. He watched as the walls around them crumbled to ash, but the light didn’t change. The air was still warm, stuffy, and closed in. His breath caught in his throat. “I know I destroyed it! I watched it fall! How can it still be there?”
He knew his voice was higher than usual and beads of nervous sweat started forming under his hair. Only the soft, sweet warmth of Marinette against him kept him from panicking.
“It’s going to be okay, Kitty. Just let me think for a minute.” She could only take one, small step away from him , but she turned around with her arms outstretched. He watched as she felt every line of the wall, following it with her fingers as if she was working her way through a maze. “This is a bit bigger than the other space, but not by much,” she murmured. “And its curved on the sides… almost egg shaped at the top… flat at the bottom… and there’s a crack right about… here.”
She had been following the curve of the wall and ran into him, not that she had much choice considering the size of their … prison? Cage? The thought would have sent him spiraling again, but the brush of Marinette’s fingers against his side derailed it. She was facing him now, her sweet smelling hair practically under his nose.
“S-sorry,” she stammered, her hand pulling back slowly to give him space, but that faint touch sent him purring once more. “Um… since we know there is a crack around the middle, maybe if you used your staff you could remove the top and we can climb out.”
He just stood there for a long moment, staring at her through his night vision, the green and black detracting not a bit from her loveliness. Oh, what a mess! Torn between panicking over being locked up in a small, dark space and his heart doing calisthenics over being trapped in here with her, Cat’s head was swimming. Thankfully, his princess was as quick as ever.
“Right,” he said, pulling his staff from behind his back. “Just like Evilistrator.”
The smile that curved her lips calmed his mind, even as it sent a jolt across his heart. He braced his staff against the floor and tried extending it. There was a soft thump as it hit, but the ceiling didn’t move.
“Come on,” he growled, frustrated now that nothing seemed to be working, the beeping of his miraculous loud in the enclosed space. Two minutes left. He tried again… and again, but the top of their cage wouldn’t budge. He sighed. “I’m sorry, Marinette. What you must think of me…”
Her small hands crept up to gently hold his face. “I think you are the greatest hero I know. What, you think that is going to change because I learn that the great Cat Noir is scared of being locked up in small spaces? You are my hero, Kitty. Always.”
“But you’re staying so calm, Marinette, and you are managing to think of possible solutions and trying to comfort me at the same time!”
She snorted and fumbled for his hand. “I’m just scared so much I am used to trying to work around it, silly Kitty.”
His miraculous beeped its final warning.
“Do you trust me, Cat,” she whispered softly.
His body was twitching nervously, knowing that the trapped feeling would be worse as soon as his transformation dropped. He felt her squeeze his hand and saw her eyes close, even though she didn’t have night vision like he did. She deserved the truth.
“More than anything, Marinette. It’s myself I don’t trust.” Not with you…
“Then trust me now. I won’t look. I won’t try to find out your identity. Just do what you need to do and I’ll be here to help.”
Her simple assurances warmed him to his core. He squeezed her hand. “Claws in.”
The rush of power lit up the space for only a moment, spraying bright sparkles across his vision, then leaving him in the inky blackness. He still had the awareness of the closed space around them, but it didn’t bother him as much as he thought it would. It was Marinette’s touch that tipped the balance. It was electrifying, feeling her hand in his gloveless one, her other still cupping his jaw. Without thinking, he nuzzled her hand and sealed it against his cheek with his own. He just stood and breathed deeply, drinking in the rich, layered scents of her, feeling the flutter under his thumb that rested on her pulse point. Oh, how he wanted to weave his fingers through her hair, to caress the soft roses of her cheek, to plant slow deliberate kisses along her jaw! To just drown out his life, his father, Monarch, the world, with how much he loved her.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of dark velvet silence, she whispered, “Are you okay, Cat?”
His breath exhaled raggedly. “Yeah. It’s just… why?”
“What do you mean?”
“I should be the one taking care of you! I’m supposed to be the hero! How can you think I am anything but a fake… a coward?”
“Because I know you in here.” She tapped over his heart, causing his breath to hitch in his chest. “You are compassionate, thoughtful, silly, open, generous, gentle and kind. So what if you’re not entirely fearless? Why would I think any the less of you for being human?” Her hands crept around his neck in a gentle embrace. “It’s just that this isn’t my biggest fear. That’s all. Besides, you’ll always be a hero to me.”
Adrien tried to chuckle, but it came out like a dry little cough. Maybe he could just ease his hands around her waist. Would she allow that? “Just my luck to be stuck with a fearless princess, huh?”
She snorted once more, seemingly comfortable with his bare hands cradling her waist. “Hardly fearless. I’m scared of lots of things! Spiders, bugs, mice, physics exams, talking about my feelings, and don’t get me started on Nightmare Adrien!”
“W-what?!” He was shocked, ignoring the fact that he had just fumbled his way through a single word. “What does… who did…Adrien? Huh?!”
“Do you remember that akuma who made everyone’s nightmares come true?”
“Yeah. Mine was of getting caged up in my room. Smaller and-“ A finger over his lips stopped him from following that train of thought downward. He blushed, thankful that she couldn’t see him.
“Well, mine was my … friend, Adrien, telling me…” she paused, completely unaware of what effect her words were having on his heart. She took a deep breath and plunged on in a rush. “He kept telling me how much he loved Chloe and how he was going to marry her and have a hamster named Marinette.”
Again, Adrien was torn, but this time it was between laughing over the absurdity of the situation she described and gagging over the thought of marrying Chloe. Laughter won out in the end. “I know you don’t like Chloe, Marinette, but why would that be your nightmare? Surely staring at Adrien Agreste wouldn’t be too much torture, would it? No matter what he was saying?”
She couldn’t possibly not like the way he looked, did she? The thought filled him with dread. He always was a little nervous when it came time to be measured again and every time his dietician commented on how much muscle he had built without changing his exercise routine, but he had never really suffered from body shaming or self image issues. He’d had girls throwing themselves at him since he was fourteen and three years on it had only gotten worse, but the thought that Marinette might not find him attractive left him feeling like his stomach was full of gravel.
“Oh, really,” she replied huffily, her hands pulling away from him, though not stepping out of his hold. “How would you feel if you woke up to some sort of zombie puppet Ladybug in your room telling you she was going to marry… I don’t know… Viperion?”
Adrien shuddered. “Okay, that was definitely a nightmare! No judgment here, but why, Marinette? What does Adrien mean to you that he was your nightmare?”
She sighed, her breath a soft, warm breeze in the dark. “I also said I’m afraid to talk about my feelings.”
She tried to turn away from him, but his hands held her in place. “Marinette, do you… have… feelings for Adrien? Is that why we were both in your dream a while back?” His heart pounded wildly at the prospect. Could he have had it wrong? Could he really be her type? Could she even …
“It’s … complicated,” she said shyly turning her face away from him even though they couldn’t see each other. “But that wouldn’t be my nightmare now.”
He slid one hand to the small of her back, pressing her more firmly against him, while his free hand caressed her cheek and turned her back towards him. “Does Adrien not frighten you anymore, Princess,” he murmured, feeling her tremble under his hands.
“I was never afraid of him,” she said softly. “It’s just now… I… I just don’t want you to get hurt, stupid cat!” The last part was practically growled and he felt her cheek burn under his hand.
Marinette cared about him, both sides of him. She cared about his happiness and his safety, she cared about his future - or whatever that weird bit with Chloe was supposed to represent. “And she has feelings she is too scared to talk about,” he thought, marveling that he could have missed all this before.
“Marinette.” His voice was barely a whisper and he felt her breath shudder through her body. “I promise I will always do my best to make it back to you. No matter what. But, if I may, I would like to ask you something.”
“O-oh? W-what’s that?”
He leaned forward until his nose brushed hers. “Feelings are safe here, in the dark. There has been something I have wanted for a long time, but I have always been too afraid to ask. We may never have another moment like this and I know I will hate myself if I let this moment go by without trying.” He caressed her cheek, delighting in the smooth, soft warmth of her. “May I kiss you, Marinette?”
She gasped slightly, causing his stomach to churn with anxious butterflies. “You… want to kiss me?”
“More than anything.” He stroked the small of her back through her sweater, his fingers rubbing in gentle movements designed to push her closer without being rude.
“You… want me, Cat? Why? What about-“
“I know it sounds strange. I don’t really understand it myself, but you’ve… taken root in me, Marinette. All these nights we have spent together talking, telling secrets, sharing our hopes and dreams, they have started… healing me. You have been healing my heart all this time and you were so gentle that it took me a long time to recognize it for what it was. I’ve been empty for so long it almost hurt when you kept inviting me to your balcony. You filled me up so much that I shattered and you have been rebuilding me. No one else could have done that, Marinette. Only you because you were the only one who took the time to get to know the whole of me.”
“Cat…”
“I’m not Cat right now, Princess,” he purred, breathing in her sweet scent, much muted thanks to his now human senses. “I don’t want to put you at risk by sharing my identity with you now, no matter how much I want to, and I don’t know if you would even accept me without the mask, but-“
“Yes,” she stated firmly, her hands reaching up to encircle his neck once more.
“Yes,” he asked stunned stupid momentarily.
She giggled. “Yes. You may kiss me.” She sounded breathless and it sent tingles all along his extremities. “I want you to. Very much.”
His heart was racing with anticipation, but he remembered something that made dread squirm in the pit of his stomach.
“I…uh. I’ve never kissed anyone before. Not that I remember anyway,” he said shyly, burning crimson in the dark.
“That’s okay,” she whispered. “I don’t have much experience either. I’ll follow your lead, if that’s okay with you.” At that point, her thumb started tracing the shell of his ear.
Those words, that caress, were all the invitation he needed. Weaving his fingers through her loose hair, he pulled her into a kiss. It was soft and tender, despite how much he had wanted this, dreamed of it for the last several months, ached with it when he awoke to find out it wasn’t real. But now it was real and Adrien knew there were lines that shouldn’t be crossed. He wouldn’t risk crossing them until he knew for sure it was what she wanted too, not until there were rings and a shared name and there wasn’t a mask between them. For he realized, as her lips met his, that she was everything he had ever wanted. Marinette was love, friendship, and family. She was peace. She was home.
“Is this okay,” he murmured against her lips, his hands trembling in her hair.
Marinette just sighed and pulled him closer, content with tangling her fingers deeper into his own hair as their lips met again.
“I hate to interrupt, but Cat needs to get out of here so he and Ladybug can go fight the akuma,” Plagg said from somewhere nearby. He was nothing but a pair of green eyes glowing in the dark “I enjoy some good cheese, but you two are too much for even me!”
“Plagg,” Adrien groaned pulling his lips away from hers but cradling her close all the same. “You killed the moment!”
“Well, I am the kwami of destruction. Duh!”
Marinette giggled. “Plagg, my father has a whole wheel of cinnamon coated brie in the fridge downstairs. Will that help you out?”
“Huh! See that kid? Now she’s speaking my love language,” the kwami cackled. “Are you sure you aren’t bribing me, Pigtails?”
“Well, this isn’t a very dangerous akuma if all it does is trap people in weird boxes and Cat Noir’s ring is safely tucked in here,” she said coyly. “It would be okay for you to stop for a snack, wouldn’t it?”
“Fine by me! See you in a minute, love birds!” The green glowing eyes disappeared, leaving them standing alone in each other’s arms.
“I do carry snacks for the little glutton, you know.” His tone was wry, but he couldn’t find it in himself to not be pleased that she had won them a few more moments of alone time.
“Can he really eat a whole wheel of cheese in only a minute?”
He snorted. “You have no idea, though he may ‘savor’ it to make it last longer. He’s been pushing me to just tell you how I feel for years, so I figure he’s-“
“YEARS?!” Her voice went all high and squeaky, echoing loudly in the confined space, and he couldn’t help but flinch. “You’ve had… you’ve liked… YEARS?!”
He felt her hands leave his neck and and the hot gusts of her gasps was blocked. He knew they had covered her mouth and he worried about what she was thinking. It’s not like he could take the time to play twenty questions!
“Yeah.” All of the sudden, he felt trapped and it was more than just the small space. “Remember that day you practiced your confession with me? The one for Buttercup?” Why did that stupid nickname get stuck in his throat? “I think that is the day I started to realize. To see you as more than just a civilian or a friend. You were so open and honest when you finally spoke from the heart and… I found myself jealous. Jealous of your Buttercup that he was so loved that you stressed over telling him, of finding the perfect words to express how you felt. It was beautiful and… it gave me hope.”
He tentatively reached out to stroke her hair, hoping the dark would act as his mask and give him the bravery to speak as she had done that day.
“You didn’t talk about the things normal people would mention. Nothing about his looks or his talents or his status. There was nothing about expectations or achievements or family. Just that you thought he was sincere, generous, and kind. I saw your heart that day and I was jealous. I realized that I wanted you to like me, to look at me that way, to look past all the masks and nonsense to see the real me. It made every memory of our interactions more precious and amazing. I hated that so much time had been lost, time I could have spent with you.” He tenderly slipped his hand to the back of her neck and pulled her forward so he could place a kiss on her forehead. “If anyone could see the real me and not turn away, it would be you, Marinette.”
Slowly, tentatively, her hands left her mouth and cupped his face, her thumbs gently tracing where his mask would have been. Then she rose up on her toes and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth, sending waves of hot sparks rushing through him.
“Who wouldn’t want to see the real you,” she asked softly, a tone of worry in her voice. “Who wouldn’t want to know you? If they are so shallow they can’t see how kind and tender and brave and sweet you can be, then you are too good for them, Kitty! Do I need to go talk to someone for you? I’ll make sure they never talk like that to you again! No one should make you feel like that!” It was clear she was angry, but instead of getting louder, her voice got softer, more intense, and in deadly earnest.
He wrapped her in a hug and chuckled. “What would you do, princess? Stuff them with croissants until they agreed with anything you said? Or just insult their taste in clothes?”
“I would pop them in their stuck up noses,” she growled. “Just see if I don’t!”
“Oh, I believe you,” he sighed. “Thank you, Marinette. You don’t know how much that means to me.”
“You don’t know what you mean to me,” she said staunchly, her arms wrapped tightly around his waist.
“You know, Plagg is going to be back any second,” Adrien said softly, reveling in the touch of her silky hair between his fingers. “Do you think we could sneak in one more kiss?”
She shook with silent laughter. “Eager, Kitty?”
He rubbed his nose against hers, growling low in his throat. “You have no idea.”
Rising on her toes once more, she pulled him closer. “I think I do.”
Their lips met again and heat poured from her into him, soothing his aching heart. Her fingers ran up into his hair once more, making his breath catch in his throat, but he couldn’t bring himself to pull away from her. His hands tightened around her waist. He never wanted to let her go. She was sweetness and warmth and -
“Clock’s ticking, you two,” Plagg’s gravely voice announced, making them both jump. The kwami chuckled, his glowing eyes squinted in amusement. “There’ll be time for lip locking later! Remember the akuma? I brought the rest of the wheel up to the balcony so I can recharge. They’ve trapped you inside those nesting doll things. There are seven more layers to this thing. You know Ladybug should be going nuts about this, right?”
Adrien sighed. “Plagg, claws out.” He held up his clawed glove, now able to see it and her in his restored night vision. Her hair was delightfully messy and he was pretty sure he had smeared her lip gloss. Passing his tongue briefly over his lips, he smiled. Peppermint! More than that, he could smell his own scent mixed with hers and it was heavenly. Talk about dreamy!
“You do need to get going,” Marinette whispered sadly.
“You heard Plagg. We have seven more dolls to get through.” He snuck a kiss and was thrilled to hear her squeak.
“Just get going, you silly cat!”
“Cataclysm.”
And so it went, and if it took slightly longer for Cat Noir to arrive at the scene, he was too giddy to care.