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When Marinette first expressed her desire to move out to an apartment on her own, her parents were surprised, but admittedly not too much. She got a taste of living on her own when she moved to her university’s dormitory, then had her room to herself because of absent roommates, and they could see that she wasn’t willing to let this freedom go.
Their only concern was with how she would pay for a place by herself, in the middle of an expensive city, while still having a year left until graduation. She told them not to worry - she earns more than enough money from scholarships and commissions.
What she did not tell them was that half of the expenses would be paid by her secret superhero boyfriend of two years.
A few weeks before, after a short and uneventful patrol, the starless night sky found her and Chat Noir sitting side by side on a secluded rooftop.
“What’s on your mind, My Lady?”
Ladybug looked away from the little ship she followed with her eyes and looked up at her partner. His eyes were soft on her, but the twitch of his fake ears betrayed his easygoing demanour. She let out a silent sigh.
“Semester finals are in a few weeks, and after the record amount of cheating last semester, my university decided to cancel online exams, and have all of them in person this time.”
“I’m sure you will ace all your tests, you told me you are doing well in all of your classes. Not to mention, you are the smartest person I know, Bug,” Chat answered with a kind smile.
Ladybug sighed once again.
“Thank you, Chaton, but that’s not my concern.” She turned away from him to watch a plane taking a turn over the city this time.
“Then what is it?”
“If the exams are written in person, especially early in the morning, or on back-to-back days, students will need a place to sleep and study.”
“Oh.” After a brief pause Chat opened and closed his mouth a few times, before speaking again. “They are coming back to your dormitories, aren’t they?”
“Yes.” She sighed before turning to look at him. “Which means that my remote studying roommate will move in full time again. And the other one, who got her stuff over to her boyfriend’s room, is having more and more fights with him. If she also moves back, that will be a complete disaster.”
“Why? You had roommates before, and you said it was really easy to live with them.”
“Well, yes, but with less people, and they were always away, only showing up once or twice a month. Tikki will have to hide again all the time, and it will be sooo cramped, not to mention how hard it’ll be to sneak out, and how noisy will they be. I won’t be able to sleep between classes, and, and, and…”
Chat put his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, Bug, it will be okay, don’t worry.”
“But I DO! I don’t want to share a room again, it was perfect and now everything will be a disaster!”
Chat sneaked his arm around her shoulders, and pulled her closer to him, planting a kiss on the top of her head.
“Well… You can just move out I guess?”
Ladybug blinked a few times before looking up at her partner. He was nervously nibbling on his lips, streetlights reflecting in his hopeful eyes.
“I could move home, I guess. I had my own room back there, but I just got really used to being in charge of my living space. No one’s coming in unannounced, no parents, no nosy best friends, not even the maintenance crew. Tikki did not have to hide at all! I just…” She paused for a few seconds, before looking down at her fingers twisting and untwisting in her lap. “I don’t want this to stop.”
“Then why don’t you move out to an apartment?”
Ladybug scoffed. “Because I can’t afford one?”
“Then don’t move alone.”
“That’s contradicting the purpose of moving out.” She shook her head, using it as an opportunity to cuddle closer to Chat’s side. “I would still have to hide my secret identity from a roommate.”
“Well then…” Chat paused for a second to take a big inhale before rushing out, “Then move in with a roommate who knows that you have a secret identity, so you don’t have to hide that you have a secret identity?”
“A… what? “ Ladybug pulled away to look at him in shock. “Who? No one knows my secret identity!”
“I did not say someone who knows your secret identity, but someone who knows you have one,” Chat said with a sheepish smile. “Me, for example.”
Ladybug stared at him with wide eyes for the longest time, before a confused scowl settled on her face.
“Are you asking to move in together? As in share an apartment? That would be… that would be nice, yes, but also, how would it work? Which one of us would rent the place, and have their name on the lease? And still hiding our identities? There are a lot of difficulties. I don’t even know where to start!”
In the end, there were way less difficulties than she’d catastrophized about. She found only a few decent options before she gave in to Chat’s persuasion to up their price range, with her insisting about sharing the rent (“I absolutely cannot accept you paying alone for everything, Chaton! We will split the rent AND the bills, and that’s final!”), but after that they found a nice little pre-furnished place they could both agree on (for Chat because he wanted only the best for his Lady, for them, and for Ladybug because it could be explained to her family without causing concern on the expenses). It was a moderately sized place, with an open kitchen joined with the living room, a bathroom, a bedroom and a small room perfect to be working or studying in. They decided to have her name on the lease (“My father cannot know about it, My Lady! And he would, trust me!”), while leaving the owner’s name on the utilities, the post box and the doorbell.
Not even two weeks after their talk she moved in with most of her stuff from the dormitory, and then her parents helped her bring over a few more necessities. The timing was perfect, she told Chat, because her best friend was away with her boyfriend for a family trip, while their other friend had some work to do out of the country. She also said that because she knew they would be unavailable anyway, she could hold off sharing her new address, and have some peace and quiet for a while before her best friend started to show up unannounced all the time. Chat said he would also love to help with her boxes, but for one thing, it’d compromise her identity, and secondly, he also had some prior engagement he couldn’t excuse himself out of.
Sharing an apartment was strange at first.
After she moved in, Chat also started to bring over a few of his belongings. A mug for their kitchen, a brand new video game console with the latest games for the living room, a toothbrush and a few more necessities in the bathroom (“‘Necessities’? Chat, you have more skincare products than me!.... Can I use that cream, though? I always wondered how your face is so soft...”). They agreed on using the fabric masks she made for them with neutral clothes around the flat. This way everyone, including the kwamis, could be comfortable in their new shared place.
They were able to get used to each other rather quickly. Chat spent more and more nights of the week over than not, proclaiming that the best thing in the world, right after waking up with her in his arms in their shared bed, was seeing her all cute and sleepy in the morning, sipping her morning coffee on the couch.
But, she supposed, her luck could run out after a while too.
A few weeks into their living together found her on the living room couch, supposedly studying from the book she had opened in her lap, while basking in the warm Saturday sun. Her eyes, however, were glued instead to the screen, where Chat was playing the latest FPS game, both of them trying to spot the evasive enemy that had been giving him trouble in the last half an hour or so.
“I think he’s hiding behind that building.”
“Which one?”
“On the left side, brick walls, white windows.”
“In front of or behind the— OH FUDGE!” Chat shouted, while his avatar collapsed on the screen. The playback showed that while he was trying to take one enemy down, another found and liquidated him. “Well, this is a good time for a bathroom break then. How are you doing with your studying, Lovebug?”
Chat carefully placed his controller on the coffee table, then leaned over to Ladybug to steal a peek at her book.
“Hey!” She picked up the book and held it out far away from Chat’s prying eyes and now pouty face. “Don’t look, you cannot know exactly what I’m studying.”
“I know, Bug, but I also know I saw that picture in your book already.”
Ladybug’s eyes went wide with a slight panic. This book was specific to her course.
“What? You did?! When, where?!”
Chat smirked at her. “Yes, about an hour ago, in your book, opened up on that very same page in your lap.”
A few seconds later she closed her eyes and let out a defeated groan, while Chat laughed and leaned over to plant a kiss on her cheek.
“Why don’t you take a break too, then? Let’s make some tea, okay? I’ll join you in a second.”
“Yeah, tea would be nice,” she said, then both of them got up from the couch. Chat gave her one more tender kiss on her forehead before making a beeline for the bathroom.
Ladybug walked over to the stove and put on the kettle. She was about to take out the tea bags when the doorbell rang.
She went still for a second, wondering who could be ringing the bell. Not her parents for sure — it was still too early to close the bakery for the day. They did not order any food either. Could it be a neighbour then?
She walked over to the door just as the doorbell rang once again. She remembered to take off her mask at the last second, before opening the door…
“Hey, girl!!”
… and finding a mischievously grinning Alya on the other side, already launching herself at her for a bear-like hug.
“Wha… Alya? What are you doing here?”
“Visiting my bestie’s new place, finally! You kept forgetting to write down your new address, and I wanted to surprise you.” She held up a slim gift bag, already taking off her shoes and walking further into the apartment. ”Your mom was kind enough to text it to me, so we can have the long overdue housewarming drink!”
Marinette felt the dread wash over her as Alya walked further into her place.
“I’m really sorry we couldn’t help out with the move, but Nora’s match was really important, and then the next week the twins got sick, then…”
She continued to walk around the place, not stopping talking at all. Marinette hurried over to close the study room’s door when Alya turned towards it.
“What’s in that room?”
“Nothing!” Marinette exclaimed. “Just a mess, really, I left out my work stuff and study books last night--” and the Grimoire and the potions ingredients too, she added mentally. “It’s nothing to see, really.”
Alya eyed her suspiciously for a second before turning away. “If you say so! So, that’s a study room then, and this is the bedroom?” She reached for the other door on the other side of the living room, which indeed led to the bedroom.
“Wait, there’s a mess there too!” Marinette tried to prevent her entering the room, but Alya was already half a step inside.
“Don’t sweat it, I saw your messes plenty of times. Nothing is new: an unmade bed, clothes on the floor… “ she trailed off, eyes fixating on a piece of clothing peeking halfway out from under the bed. “Maybe something is new though… since when do you wear boy shorts?”
“I’m not?” Marinette blurted out, before her eyes landed on the piece too, more precisely, on Chat’s underwear. She felt her cheeks flame with panic and embarrassment, then she grabbed Alya’s arm, and tugged her out to the living room before she could point out more outstanding things in there.
“You don’t? But it really looked like boy shorts.” Alya narrowed her eyes at her best friend. “Or was it…”
“Oh, hey, do you want some coffee?” Marinette interrupted Alya, and tugged her to the couch and made her sit down, before she took a few steps back towards the kitchen. “Or maybe tea? I was just about to make us some anyway.”
“Us?”
Marinette froze for a second once again. “Uhm, yeah. Uhm, us? As in you and me?”
Alya pursed her lips, not taking the bullshit anymore. “Okay, what’s going on? First you won’t tell me the address, then you act all jumpy, and what is this game you’re playing now?” She pointed at the screen behind her back, not taking her eyes off of her friend. Marinette looked at the screen for a second, where Chat’s character walked in a half crouch on the menu screen. “I thought you don’t like these kinds of games.”
“Well… it’s… I do… I mean no, I don’t…” she trailed off, wringing her hands together.
“If you don’t like it, then why are you playing?”
“I… don’t? I mean, I’m trying to like it?”
Alya’s eyebrows slowly started to crawl up her forehead, suspicion shimmering in her eyes. “Then who is playing, Marinette?”
Biting her lip, Marinette tried to come up with a solution. She didn’t want to lie to her best friend, she truly didn’t. But she couldn’t tell her the truth either.
A long time ago, she almost did. She was really, really close to telling her secret, sharing her worries of her double life as Ladybug with Alya. She was desperate, and did not want to lose her friend either. But after Tikki’s nudging, she talked to Chat, and started to share the burden with him instead. He was more than happy to help her, and did his very best to make her life easier. They got closer too, their partnership stronger than before.
And now here they were, sharing an apartment together, still maintaining the secret identities between each other. Secret identities that her best friend absolutely, under no circumstances could know about.
But she couldn’t lie to her either. She knew Alya would sniff it out a mile away.
“It’s my… roommate’s game?” she half-asked with a nervous grin on her face.
“A roommate?!” Alya exclaimed, eyebrows higher than ever before. “You have a roommate? You said you wanted to get out of the dorm because you don’t want roommates anymore!”
“Well, yes, I did say that,” she admitted.
“Wait!” Alya held both her hands up in a ‘stop right there’ way. “That wasn’t a boy short, but a boy’s short, isn’t it?!”
“Uhm, that…” She felt, once again, her face take on the red colour of her suit.
“Marinette.”
“Yeah?”
Alya took a deep breath, and pointed her finger at the first room she tried to enter. “If that is a study room,” she pointed her other hand to the other door, making her arms cross in front of her. “And that is a bedroom, then, where is the other one?”
“Other one?”
“Yes, the other bedroom.”
“Oh the other… well, you see, it’s, uhm…”
“Marinette,” Alya said with the dreadful angelic patience in her voice, setting her hands down in her lap.
Marinette gulped.
“There is no other bedroom,” Alya stated. “And there is only one bed.” She levelled her best friend with a terrifying combination of accusation and glee in her eyes. “Which has a guy’s boxers under it.”
Just to make Marinette wish, even more, for the ground to split up then and there and swallow her whole, Chat chose that exact moment to flush the toilet and open the bathroom door.
Marinette whipped her head towards the bathroom door, and their eyes met.
“Marinette…?” Chat asked tentatively, eyes going wide behind his mask.
“Hey, is that Adrien’s voice?” Alya said, starting to stand up from the couch, her view obscured.
Marinette decided in a split second and lunged for Chat, pushing him back in the bathroom and shutting the door behind them. He almost slipped on a rug, ending up leaning halfway into the shower with Marinette getting close to put her hand on his mouth.
“Marinette! Is that Adrien with you?! He’s your roommate?! Are you guys sharing an apartment, what the hell?!” Alya’s insistent pounding came from the other side of the door.
“We’ll be out in a second!” Marinette tried to conceal the panic in her voice as she shouted back, not taking her eyes off of Chat’s shocked ones.
“You better be!” Alya slapped the door one more time before she walked away. They listened to her fading footsteps, before she took her shaking hand off his month, and gingerly placed it on his tensed shoulder.
“I’m so, so sorry, Chat.” She blinked rapidly to prevent tears forming in her eyes. “Alya just barged in, I didn’t expect her, and now you know, and I’m so sorry…”
“Oh, just fuck it then.” Chat - Adrien - tore his mask off of his eyes, grabbed the wide eyed Marinette around the waist and slammed his lips to hers.
They would have a lot to talk about. Just not right now. After they exited the bathroom (it took them some time), and opened up that wine Alya brought, and after an hour of intense interrogation (“Sorry that we kept it a secret. Yes, it just happened so fast. No, we wanted to tell you soon, really, we swear! Yes, it was because of Adrien’s father, you know how unreasonable he is sometimes. Yes, we totally kept it secret because we did not want Marinette’s career be compromised because of our relationship, that’s exactly what happened, you are so clever Alya!”) they finally shooed her away to be alone, without any secrets between the two of them.
Maybe her luck did not run out after all.