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Patrols were a quiet affair usually. Well, apart from when they had to do a few rounds to check on things. But they often just settled on their spot, looking at Paris from above, just him and her.
Marinette still needed some time to get used to the fact that she was sharing this with Adrien. She had always had, but she hadn’t known it.
It was a peculiar feeling to look at Chat and to be able to picture him without the mask. To know his name. To also know that she’d totally messed up her own chances of being with him.
This wasn’t always on her mind, because she couldn’t let regret drive her crazy, but it was now. And it seemed to be on his mind too, for some reason.
“So, m’lady, now that we know each other's identities, can you tell me who that other boy is?”
He shot her a playful smile that absolutely had the power to take her breath away. If only she hadn’t been so stubborn.
But she knew him so well and she knew that there was something more. The barely concealed pain in his eyes that never really left completely.
“No, Chat,” she shook her head. It was too late anyway. What was the point of telling him?
“The other boy you like,” he explained, as if there was any chance she didn’t know who he was talking about. It was only Adrien that didn’t know that it had been him all along. “I want to know who stole your heart.”
“I can't tell you that,” she sighed. Why was he interested, anyway? It was a special kind of torture for him to ask her about this now that they knew. Well, he didn’t know the whole truth, but she knew that he shouldn't be asking her that.
She hadn’t let herself dwell on the fact that in spite of everything, he hardly seemed different around her. He always had a flirty line ready, he didn’t miss a chance to spend more time with her.
It almost made her think really bad things about him.
“Why not?”
“Because there’s no point,” she said, trying to sound calm. “He doesn’t see me that way, and he already has a girlfriend. She's my friend too, they both are, and I won't get between them.”
This was the thing. He shouldn’t be interested in Ladybug. Especially now that he knew that she was Marinette. But also, in general. What kind of a double play was he playing if he was? This wasn’t the Adrien that she knew.
“I don’t believe it!” He exclaimed, derailing this line of thought. “Nino?! All this time?”
“What?” She gaped at him. Where had that come from?
“Nino? You’re in love with Nino. If only he knew. He used to have a crush on you.”
Huh? This was news to her. But it also made no sense.
“Nino?” It felt a little as if they were hard of hearing and had to repeat the same name again and again to make sure they got it right. But the truth was that she just couldn’t comprehend how Adrien had ended up thinking that. “No, I’m not in love with Nino!”
“But Alya and Nino are your friends. Also, Nino is great, I get it! I’m sorry that it’s too late for you two.”
Oh goodness. He actually meant it. It was both very sweet and absolutely infuriating.
It made her forget all the cons against him knowing that it was actually him she was in love with. Because of course she still was. She was that pathetic.
“You and Kagami are also my friends,” she said in a low voice.
Adrien’s eyes widened and she realised that this was it. He knew. There was no going back. Now he could at least commiserate with her about all the lost opportunities. Although, he did have a girlfriend and he should be thinking about her instead.
“So it’s Kagami.”
“Um?”
“You’re in love with Kagami!”
Just when she thought that it couldn’t get worse, it did.
“Kitty, you’re being ridiculous,” she laughed in disbelief. “Kagami is not a boy. I would have said if it was like this… yeah, this was not the issue.”
“But that means… “ He just looked at her and Marinette had to fight the urge to look away, to run away and hide. “But it can’t be. You can’t be in love with me, Marinette.”
“It’s hard to believe, right?” She made a face.
“But… “
“I know. Bad timing. This is why I didn’t want to say a thing.”
“It’s not because of Kagami,” he said, surprising her. “She knows that I don’t feel like that about her. Hell, she was right to suspect that I have feelings for you even when I didn’t see it.”
“What do you mean? But you’re together everywhere!”
“Our parents… I don’t like their arrangement. It almost feels as if we’re in the 18th century and this is an arranged marriage between royals. It’s wrong. They don’t take our feelings into account.”
This was not what she’d expected at all. It was better in a way, but also not at all.
“Kagami does love you,” she said quietly. She couldn’t just waltz in and take the boy she was in love with away from her. Not that he had said that he wanted that.
“She knows that she can’t make me love her. She will understand that I want to be with you now that I have the chance.”
“Will she?”
It wasn’t fair how her heart needed just to hear him say that to start beating wildly. This couldn’t be a happy moment.
“We will talk to her.” Marinette shot him a look. “Well, obviously we can’t tell her the whole truth,” he chuckled. “About how we were in love with each other all along and didn’t know it. But we do know now.”
She caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. His hand, which was on the rooftop next to hers, was moving closer. She watched with bated breath as it reached her own hand and enveloped it in warmth.
“You’re acting as if we’re official or something,” she blurted out.
She had to joke about this or she’d let her heart get the best of her. It was too good to be true. It was too much.
“Don’t you want us to be?” He asked, the hurt clear in his voice. He moved to take away his hand but she gripped it.
“Adrien, don’t you see how complicated this is? Everything is against us.”
If it wasn’t Hawk Moth trying to take them down, especially because of any feelings between them, then it was his father or their friends.
“I guess you’re not open to dating Chat Noir?” He gave her a crooked smile. The idea was almost too tempting. But of course it was ridiculous.
“As much as you would be open to dating Ladybug,” she shrugged. Another tempting possibility that was equally impossible. They couldn’t go around putting each other at risk like that and they both knew it.
“It would surely cause an uproar,” he smirked.
“Kitty.”
They stood in silence for a few minutes. Just him and her and the night falling around them. Not much around them had changed since the start of patrol. And yet, everything was different. Even if it was something as little as holding hands with him.
“I still love you,” Adrien said softly, making her look up in surprise. “But maybe now that you know…”
Her hand moved of its own accord, her fingers touching his lips to silence him. She couldn’t let him say something as absurd as this.
“I love you even more now, Adrien,” she said, feeling her cheeks warm up. It was surreal that she finally got to say it.
He put his hand over hers and kissed the tips of her fingers. It was enough to make her melt into a puddle.
“M’lady, please,” he said as he squeezed her fingers and moved them away. “Let’s not pretend that this isn’t real. It’s going to eat us from the inside. It will make everything unbearable. We just love each other, it’s not a crime, right?”
He was right, of course. Trying to stay away from each other would be hell. It was also the last thing they both wanted. But what other option did they have?
Marinette felt tears fill her eyes as she looked at him. This was no longer a daydream of her being on a date with Adrien, carefree and happy. Everything was easy and possible in daydreams. This was reality, which was much bleaker. But they still loved each other, he was right.
“Don’t cry,” he pleaded, a finger wiping a tear from her cheek. She knew that if she didn’t stop, he would join her. Crying together wasn’t the worst possible option. But it wasn’t what they deserved either.
She blinked back the tears and did the only thing she could. She kissed him.
It didn’t matter that someone might say that she had no right to do it. Her heart told her that she did. And from the way Adrien didn’t hesitate before kissing her back, she could tell that he felt the same way. This was about them. No one else should have a say.
“We’ll figure it out,” she whispered, his breath on her lips making her shiver.
“It’s you and me against the world, remember.”
As if she could forget. Once again, it was just them, but it was enough.