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“M’lady, purr-haps if I’d just use my cataclysm on the akumatized victim’s ray gun–”
“Nope! You are definitely not doing that. It’s too dangerous,” Ladybug snapped back, leaping from building to building avoiding the bright blue beams being shot from the villain’s hand. “I just need a little more time to figure out how to use my damn lucky charm.”
She held a jump rope in her hands, glancing around her surroundings. Chat Noir peered over, wondering what was going on inside that brilliant mind.
This akuma was tough. They declared their name to be Éclair. Chat wasn’t sure who exactly it was, but it was a male shooting beams at people, causing them to disappear. The superhero duo didn’t know where they were being sent, but it couldn’t have been anywhere great.
Chat just desperately wanted this battle to be over or he would be late to meet up with Marinette. They were assigned in pairs for their chemistry project, so she had invited him over to work on it. He would feel so bad if he was late or missed it entirely. They were just starting to get close. It helped that Alya and Nino were always together. He always felt Marinette sort of keeping him at a distance, but he never knew why. He was happy things were finally shifting, but it would be no good if he were late.
Chat gestured over to the akumatized villain. “I can lead him away to get you some time to think.”
His partner shook her head. “No, that’s okay. Just… give me a minute.”
The two kept leaping and dodging the beams, barely being struck and vanishing to god knows where. Chat kept a close eye on Ladybug, making sure she was still paying attention to the rays while she kept looking around, trying to piece together the puzzle her lucky charm wanted her to solve.
Just then, he looked over at Éclair—skating on glowing roller-blades—gliding down one of the roofs and down to the streets. Ladybug followed him, swinging down with her yo-yo and dashing down toward the enemy. Chat was quick to swing down his staff and chase down his lady.
“Uh, Bugaboo? Do you have a plan?” Chat asked, practically shouting as he caught up to her shockingly fast partner in crime.
“Yeah. Don’t lose sight of him!” she exclaimed. “He's already hit a lot of people, we can’t let him beam anymore!”
Chat nodded his head and turned his attention back to Éclair, who was now swiveling on his skates back over at the heroes. He dashed back down the street, aiming his ray gun in his hand toward the two. Chat followed his aim to Ladybug as it hummed with electricity, charging its fire.
He was about to hit her.
“WATCH OUT!” Chat shouted, leaping in front of Ladybug in an attempt to tackle her away. The booming sound of the fired shot zoomed in the air like a missile.
He wrapped his arms around Ladybug’s body, hoping to shield her from any direct hit in case he was too slow to push her out of the way.
In this case, he was.
Chat felt the beam burn onto his back, sending a warm wave over his entire body as he felt his insides mush all around within him. It was a sickening feeling, he was honestly getting nauseous at whatever the effect of the ray gave him. The weight of his body felt lighter. Almost as if he was merely a feather. His eyes were squinted shut, seeing darkness consume him. Had he disappeared yet? The burning feeling was surprisingly sharp, like a bee’s sting dotting all over his back.
Luckily for him, the feeling was quick and departed from his body merely seconds later. He opened his eyes to see such a bright room. He was no longer on the streets with his lady. In fact, she didn’t seem to be anywhere around. Chat was all alone.
Where had she gone?
The cold marble tiles underneath the palm of his hands were felt through his leather gloves. They were shiny and luxurious. It reminded him of the tiles back at his house, but somehow more elegant. He wasn’t sure where he had been transported, but it certainly was a fancy place.
Chat looked around. He was standing in a long hallway with several doors on one side and wide windows on the other. They were a couple of floors up from the ground when he looked through the glass. The Eiffel tower stood proudly within the bright horizon.
Phew. He was still in Paris. That was one less thing to worry about. All that was left to do was find Ladybu–
“Tell my mom to come up here with you, please. We don’t have a lot of time left,” a feminine voice echoed in the hall that paraded with clicking of heels.
Chat peered over at the end of the hallway but saw no one. The voice must have been coming from around the corner.
“If I can find her. This place is so big, maybe we should have chosen a smaller venue,” the male voice that blared through the speaker’s of the woman’s phone was loud and clear enough for Chat to unintentionally eavesdrop. There was something awfully familiar about both of their voices, but Chat just couldn’t place his finger on it fast enough.
He heard the woman giggle. “You’re the one who insisted on this place the moment we took a tour. At least it guarantees you won’t see me before the ceremony. It’s bad luck if the groom sees the bride early.”
Ceremony? Bride and groom? Was Chat accidentally crashing a wedding?
“Maybe I’ll come up there to sneak a kiss.”
“Don’t you even think about it Ad–” the woman was cut off when she walked around the corner and spotted Chat, who stood in the middle of the hall, his eyes widening in panic, unsure of what to do.
That was the least of his worries now that he scanned the woman standing in front of him, slowly processing who it was.
Marinette quickly brought down her phone and ended the call, her wide blue eyes never leaving Chat’s.
He gulped as he took in the sight of her. There was no mistake in the fact that she was the bride. She looked… beautiful. Absolutely breathtaking. Her make-up was flawless as well her hair that was pulled into a low bun with curled side pieces framing her defined cheekbones. A silky white robe was wrapped around her body, causing Chat’s cheeks to defy his mind and grow warm. She looked so much older. So much wiser. Her body looked… mature compared to the last time Adrien had seen her in class. He internally cursed at himself for blushing at the thought.
How was it possible that Marinette was the bride? Had he been transported into the future? If that was the case, how in the hell was he going to get back to his lady? She was alone fighting an akuma.
This was not good. If he was stuck in the future, then where was he in this timeline? Why, of all days in the future, did it have to be his friend’s wedding day? Now he really felt bad for Marinette. He seemed to always mess things up when it came to her, no matter how hard he tried.
He needed to get back to the present now. Ladybug needed him. What if she was to get hit too?
Why was he just standing out here like an idiot, gawking at his much older friend who is wearing nothing but a silk bathrobe?
“I’m so confused right now,” Chat mumbled, though the echoing in the hall made it louder than he had intended.
Older Marinette suddenly marched toward him. He was too stunned to flinch, though she looked quite threatening. She grabbed a hold of Chat’s bicep and quickly pulled him down the hall toward the very last door.
He faltered behind her as she continued to drag him. How the hell was she so strong? “W-where are we going?”
There was no answer from his friend. Well, future version of her, anyway. She just pulled him into a room and closed the door behind them.
Chat gulped. He did not want to be caught here by her fiancé. Was this really the best reaction from her?
“What the hell are you doing here, Adrien? And why do you look so… different,” Marinette scolded, looking just a little upset.
Chat froze at the mention of his real name. It seemed that Marinette would find out his identity in the future. No big deal. No big deal at all…
He chuckled nervously. “Uh, you know I’m Adrien?”
She groaned. “Stop playing games. You know now it’s not the best time for your jokes. Why are you even transformed? We defeated Monarch, so there’s definitely no akuma if that was going to be your lame excuse.”
Chat didn’t know how to react. So much information was being thrown at him unwillingly, and he just wanted a moment to think about what the hell was happening and why he was here. And did she say that Monarch was defeated? Sure, he would have to be gone at some point, but how far into the future was he?
He sucked in a breath as he stared at Marinette. “Monarch is gone?” he asked in a low voice, not being able to grasp what Marinette had rambled to him. His mouth parted open in disbelief. He and Ladybug had finally put a stop to Hawkmoth. It couldn’t be.
It seemed older Marinette had finally caught on since her eyes widened as she slapped her hand over her mouth in regret. “Oh my god. You’re from the past, aren’t you?”
He pressed his lips together before slowly nodding his head, which only made Marinette tense up even more.
“How old are you?”
“Uh, 17.”
“Oh god. That was… seven years ago?!” she exclaimed after doing some quick math by counting her fingers while mumbling numbers. Her breaths were drawing in quicker and quicker.
“Mari, it’s fine. Just breathe–”
“Oh, no. This is bad. This is really bad. You can’t know anything. You’re not supposed to know anything. Ugh! Why do I have to have such a big mouth!”
“Hey, Marinette, it’s okay,” he said, placing his hands on her shoulders. That’s when he noticed the slight difference in her height. She was slightly taller, probably due to her heels. Even then, it was strange standing next to the older version of his friend.
She shook her head. “No, it’s not fine. It’s my wedding day, so I don’t know how long I can keep an eye on you before the other you notices. Wait, did you—I mean, did he know about this?” her voice morphed into frustration as she pulled away from him and picked up her phone again, and started calling someone.
“Who are you callin–”
“Shh!” Marinette hushed before hearing the other line click. “Oh, Adrien. You really have the nerve to still keep things from me,” she said to the phone.
Great. He caused his older self to be yelled at. This future Marinette was scary. Drop-dead gorgeous, but scary. What happened to that shy girl that sat behind him in class?
It’s probably the wedding nerves.
She rolled her eyes. “What do you mean you don’t know what I’m talking about? When were you going to tell me that your past self was going to just appear in the hallway an hour before I had to walk down the aisle?...... What do you mean you forgot?..... That’s not a great excuse…… It’s fine…..Yes, I know….. Wait, really?..... Okay……No, no, no, don’t come up here. It’ll only make things worse. I can handle it…... I’m sure. He already found out too much, thanks again for the heads up…… Yeah, yeah, okay……Mhm……We’ll talk more later……Okay, I’ll see you later…. Bye.”
Chat nervously fidgeted with his ring as he waited for her to finish the call. He wished he could hear what his future self said. He wanted to know what he sounded like or how he reacted when Marinette mentioned that his past self was paying a little visit. Chat could only make lousy assumptions and think about what he had learned so far throughout Marinette’s phone call. He looked around the room and noticed that this was the bride’s dressing room. At least, that’s what it seemed like after seeing the furniture, make-up products, and clothing sprawled around the room. He wondered where her bridal party was.
Right now, he wanted to process how he found out that Marinette would come to learn his superhero identity. That, he wasn’t that surprised about. After all, it must’ve been harder hiding this side of himself from his friends. Hopefully, Ladybug didn’t mind. She told someone, after all. And apparently, Monarch had been defeated. There was no reason to hide his identity from anyone now. He wondered if he knew Ladybug’s identity in the future. They had unmasked Monarch, he had to have uncovered her identity at some point in the future.
He then thought back to what Marinette had said earlier about Monarch. What was it that she said?
We defeated Monarch.
His body stiffened.
We.
What a strange use of that single word. It meant so little yet so much at the same time. It implied that they, together, took down Monarch. But that couldn’t be. If Marinette had said that, did that mean…
“Hey, Mari?” Chat nervously called out, trying to regain her attention.
She turned around, seeming much more calm and at ease now. Tossing her phone down on the loveseat and plopping her body down along with it, she leaned back as she glanced up at him. “Hm?”
Chat rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to find the best choice of words. “Um, earlier… when you said ‘we defeated Monarch’ does that mean…”
Marinette’s eyes widened. She was still for a moment before she picked up a small decorative pillow next to her and launched it at Chat. “Stop thinking!”
He caught the pillow effortlessly, unable to resist the grin that snuck onto his lips at the mere possibility that he was correct. “So I’m right. You’re Ladybu–”
Another pillow was hurled his way.
“Stop doing that,” he said, stifling a laugh as he caught the second pillow.
She shook her head. “You don’t understand, Adrien. You’re not supposed to know any of this. It could cause the wrong chain of reaction and mess everything up in this timeline! You, of all people, should know that.”
While she wasn’t wrong, Chat was quick to counterpoint her argument. “If I wasn’t supposed to know any of this, wouldn’t Bunnyx come and fix it? Wouldn’t she get us back on the right timeline if this was going to mess things up?”
Marinette bit her lips, taking his point into thought. “I guess you’re right…”
“Wow, the Ladybug admitting that I’m right? Maybe this timeline really is messed up,” he teased, having way too much fun now having all of this information. While it was a piece of information that he had been dying to know for the past three years, it was fairly easy to accept. Of course, it was Marinette Dupain-Cheng of all the girls in Paris. She was the city’s golden sweetheart. How did he not know that Marinette was Ladybug? Surely, he would have noticed some suspicious signs. They always hung out alongside Alya and Nino.
Maybe he was more oblivious than he had thought. He was expecting himself to be more shocked and surprised at this revelation, but in truth, it just made sense. Who else could match that bold and brave partner that he had fallen in love with three years ago? Of course, Marinette was Ladybug. Just witnessing her in the future proved it. How her sassy self had completely bled through that shy teen he had known throughout school. Adrien had always kept an eye on Marinette. There had invariably been some familiar connection he could never recognize. He excused it as a strong platonic connection that some people just miraculously developed. All he knew was that she was someone special. Someone that had become important in his life. She always stood out from everyone else, there was just this spark to her. A spark that he only ever saw in Ladybug. He just wished he had noticed sooner.
Because now… she was marrying someone else. He had been too late.
His shoulder sank in disappointment. Sure, now he knew who his partner was, but it still didn’t change the fact that he didn’t end up with her. Did he even try? Had he messed things up? He wondered what his future self had thought about this. Was he still in love with her?
How could he not? Just look at her. She was a goddess reincarnated. Not to mention that brilliant mind of hers. How could he have been so stupid? So many moments that probably clued him and he didn't get a single hint. Maybe he could fix things when he got back to his time?
No, that wouldn’t be fair. He shouldn’t wreck her happiness because of unrequited feelings that he was unwilling to let go of. That would be selfish. This timeline was happening for a reason. He needed to let it happen, no matter how much his heart tugged at the mere thought of his lady walking down the aisle to meet with another man. To declare her love for another man. To kiss another man.
This was his fault. He should have realized the brilliant girl that was right in front of him all this time.
Could her fiancé be the boy Ladybug had been in love with?
She had always talked about how she couldn’t reciprocate his feelings due to another boy. Had he finally opened his eyes and asked her out? Had he proposed?
Is he the reason Adrien wasn’t the one standing at the end of the aisle?
He tried to remember if Marinette had ever mentioned being in love. The only guy she ever sort of dated was Luka. It couldn’t have been him, could it? There wasn’t really ever another guy in the picture, at least not anyone he noticed.
He sighed. Did it even matter now? He clearly had lost her.
“Why the solemn look all of a sudden?” Marinette asked, tilting her head to the side. It was the same exact way Ladybug would do it. How did he miss it?
“It’s nothing,” he said, taking a seat next to her. “I’m sorry I crashed your wedding.”
She smiled as she waved him off. “Oh, it’s fine. I was worried about it at first, but present you—er, future you—explained to me what will happen.”
“What did I, um—what did he say? That’s going to take some time to get used to.”
She chuckled. God, was it contagious. “He said that, apparently, you go back to your time soon. Maybe in the next 15 minutes? Something along the lines of me defeating the akuma on my own and getting you back. Granted, I don’t remember much of that fight. I remember you disappearing, that’s all. You never went into details about what happened to you after you got hit. Now I know why. Thank you for that, by the way.”
He raised a brow. “For getting hit?”
“For taking the hit for me. I never said thank you to you when you came back. When you return, I’m going to be pretty upset, but just know I was always grateful for how willing you were to throw yourself in front of me. I still hated it, but I was thankful nonetheless.”
The way she talked was mesmerizing. It was so… grown-up. Chat couldn’t help but stare. “Anything for you, M’lady. You know that.”
She nodded her head. “I do,” she said before taking in a breath and sighing. “So this is how you actually found out. You know, you never did tell me how exactly you figured out my identity. You always said you just… knew.”
“Well, in a way, I did always know,” he said. “I mean, this is just confirmation. But I was always drawn to you, you know. The civilian version of you. I just never knew why. But it all makes sense now.”
“Really? You never told me that.” Chat couldn’t tell if she was blushing or if it was the makeup that he just didn’t notice.
He smiled. “Well, then, I guess this is a good time to confess that.”
“I guess it is.”
Chat sighed, knowing his confession would do nothing to win her back. “So what’s he like?”
She turned to him. “Hm? Who?”
“Your fiancé.”
“Oh,” she said in realization as she played with the glimmering engagement ring that wrapped around her ring finger.
It was gorgeous, he’ll give the mystery man that. He could do better, though. Totally.
“He’s amazing,” Marinette answered, gazing into the distance. “He’s kind. Smart. Funny. Selfless. Always knows what to say in the times I need it most. Knows me inside and out. Confident. Ridiculously hot–”
“Okay, you can stop now,” Chat said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at her comment.
She laughed. “What? Jealous?” Marinette teased.
He sighed. Of course, she would know about his ridiculous crush on her. She knew he was Chat Noir, after all. The same partner who flirted with her endlessly ever since their first day on the job. There was nothing to hide from her. “You know how I feel about you, M’lady.”
Her glossy lips pressed together in a small smile. “I know, Kitty,” she said softly, placing her hand over his. Her soft palm sent a spark of electricity up his spine. Knowing that this was not only Marinette, but Ladybug too definitely had a factor in that.
Before he could say anything else, footsteps echoed from outside the room, sounding very fast–paced. They weren’t heels, that’s for sure.
Oh, god. Could that be her fiancé?
Chat quickly pulled back his hand from hers just before the door swung wide open. He was prepared to mark the man’s face in his mind to keep an eye out back in his time. He was ready.
Well, the feeling was short-lived.
Once he scanned the man, his mouth dropped open as he took in the sight of none other than his future self standing in the doorway.
Damn, he had a major glow-up. Did he always look that good in a suit? His blonde hair was cut shorter along the sides, allowing such a perfect swoop on the top of his head. That hair did his face wonders. He should look into that haircut.
Chat sighed. Guess it wasn’t her fiancé.
Marinette shot up from her seat, causing Chat to stand up with her. “Adrien, I told you not to come here, I can handle it.”
Older Adrien nodded his head. “I know you can handle it, but I just wanted to come up here and see for myself.”
His voice was much deeper than current Adrien’s. It almost made him self-conscious. That sounded stupid. Being self-conscious because of your own self? Now that was laughing material.
Ladybug, please put me out of my misery and get me out of here.
“Either way, you shouldn’t be here. It’s bad–”
“I know, I know,” Older Adrien said, continuing to face Marinette. “Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing. I remember being up here when I was transported here.”
She raised a brow as she crossed her arms. “Oh, now you want to remember?”
He chuckled nervously. “See, the words I usually say to make you less upset I can’t exactly say right now, so this is not fair.”
“What words?” Chat asked, hoping to dial down this conversation.
Older Adrien peered over at him, giving him a small smile as he awkwardly took a step toward him. “Hey, little me.”
Chat smiled back, though, this time, it felt very unnatural. He would honestly rather face Marinette’s fiancé than whatever this Black Mirror-esque thing is. “This is weird.”
“I’ll say,” Marinette chimed him, her eyes bouncing back and forth between them. “I feel like the time traveler’s wife.”
Older Adrien glanced over at her. “You’ve never even seen that movie.”
“Yes, I have.”
“You fell asleep during the first fifteen minutes.”
“I say it still counts.”
He laughed. “Of course you do.”
Chat smiled at the bickering between the two. He was happy that they still were close despite his unrequited feelings for her. His older self seemed content. There was that to look forward to, at the very least. As long as she was happy, he could learn to be happy as well.
There was a ding that chimed from the loveseat. Marinette peered over and saw someone had texted her phone. She gestured over to it. “Could you get that for me? I’m going to get a water from the fridge,” she said to older him.
“Of course.”
He watched as Marinette walked into another room besides what appeared to be the bathroom. That was until Chat heard someone pssst -ing at him.
Chat turned toward the future version of him, who nodded over to the phone, silently telling him to go look at the text.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he whispered.
“Trust me. I’m you, remember?” Older him replied. There really was no arguing with that.
He sighed, easily giving him, before he walked over to the loveseat and picked up Marinette’s phone, skimming the text that Alya had sent her.
It was nothing special. Just Alya telling Marinette something about the bouquet. That was pretty useless. What was the point of looking at her phone?
Chat’s eyes widened. It wasn’t the text that older Adrien wanted him to see. It was the lock screen picture that Marinette had set.
His heart stammered as he took in the background photo. It was an image of Marinette with a man’s arms around her shoulders, hugging her from behind, as he placed a kiss on her cheek.
It wasn’t just any man. It was him. Future him. It was his blonde hair and his arms wrapped around her, and his lips pressing against her porcelain skin.
His body wanted to collapse. He was the one marrying the girl of his dreams.
How could all of this actually be happening? Well, how can all of this be planned to happen in the future? This whole time, Marinette had been talking about him. He was the one who bought that ring (a perfect choice, honestly) and was also the one she was flustering up about. She had called him hot.
God, he was jealous of himself. He was the fiancé. How ridiculous was that?
He did manage to get the girl. He didn’t mess it up! Who would’ve known what had waited for him before he was struck by that akuma? It was fate for him to find this out. He couldn’t help the giddy feeling that riled up inside him. Now, all he had to do was eagerly wait until he was transported back into his timeline and go after her. Chat’s heart raced with excitement, now knowing he had a chance with her.
It had always been her. He may have only been 17 years old, but there was no way what he was feeling was anything but love. Fate, even.
Grinning like the idiot he was, he glanced back up at his older self and handed him the phone. Future Adrien winked at him as he took Marinette’s phone from his hand, just in time for Marinette to come back with two water bottles.
He mentally thanked the older version of him. He owed him one. How would that work? Who knows. Adrien didn’t care at that moment. He just wanted to see his lady. The one from his timeline. The one where he would freaking marry!
“Alya texted. All the bridesmaids have their bouquets and will be up here shortly to help you into your dress.”
Marinette smiled. “Perfect. Now, leave. I don’t want anyone but my girls to see the dress.”
He gestured over to Chat. “Well, what about mini-me?”
She shrugged. “Take him with you? How long until he goes back to his time?”
“Hmm, any second now, I believe.”
“Your memory is doing wonders right now.”
“Ha. Ha,” Adrien responded flatly before glancing over to Chat. “C’mon, let’s go, little Agreste.”
Chat nodded, walking over to older Adrien, who was surprisingly much taller than him. He was happy he was still going to gain height in his growth spurt.
He turned over to Marinette, who wore a small smile. “It was nice to see you, M’lady.”
“You too, Kitty. Tell younger me I said hi.”
He nodded before making his way out the door with, well, himself. Older him shut the door behind them before turning back and walking down the hallway. “Yeah, don’t tell little her you were here.”
Chat raised a brow. “Why not?”
He shrugged as they continued to walk toward the elevators. “I don’t know. I just remember how when I went to the future, she didn’t have a clue about what was going on. I feel like if that were to change, we might mess things up, you know?
“Yeah, that’s fair.”
“And you’ve already ruined some surprises of the future for yourself. It’s nice to let her keep the fun in not knowing what the rest of her life holds.”
“Wow, has anyone ever told you how wise you are?”
Older Adrien laughed. “I forgot I said that.”
Chat smiled. “The future is so… amazing.”
“Believe me, I know. Worked hard to get here.”
“How did we do it?” Chat asked, his eyes full of hope for what could be waiting for him once he returned to his time. “I mean, she was in love with someone else, right? How did we do it?”
He watched as his older face failed in suppressing his grin. “I don’t want to say too much. But let’s just say it’s always been us in her eyes.”
“Us? What does that mean–”
“I won’t elaborate. You’ll just have to find out for yourself. Don't think about it too much.”
His future self got his lady’s stubbornness rubbed all over him. “So, who is–”
“Nope. No more,” future Adrien said. “Trust me, I know how much you want to know. I was you. You were going to ask about Monarch, weren’t you?”
He pressed his lips together, hearing the bells chiming from the elevator. “Yeah.”
The elevator doors slid open, allowing the two to walk in. Once the doors had closed, older Adrien looked over at mini him sympathetically. “It’s going to be hard. You know, once you uncover who Monarch is and fight him with Marinette, you’re going to go through some things. But if there’s one thing I know, it’s that everything is going to be okay. Alright? It’s all thanks to our bride. She was the one who really helped me. Remember that. Don’t lose yourself too much, okay?”
Chat nodded his head, taking in his future self’s advice and wondering how bad could it really get.
Older him smiled. “Good.”
“Are you going to press the button?” Chat asked, gesturing over to the several buttons on the side of the doors, marking different floors.
Future Adrien shook his head. “No, because you’re about to go back.”
“What?”
As if on cue, the sharp burning sensation came back to engulf his body. He clamped his eyes shut, letting the darkness consume him once again.
He opened his eyes. There was nothing but a bright white light beaming his entire sight. This must be him going back to his timeline.
He didn’t even get to say goodbye to himself.
Though he probably knew. He was him, after all.
The burning feeling slowly faded away as his leather gloves rubbed against concrete once more. He was on the street. This was where he was last before that crazy lady shot him into oblivion.
Well, seven years into the future.
The sensation had gone away completely. Leaving the weight of his body to grow once again as he let gravity sink him down onto the ground. He never thought how good it felt to be back where he belonged. It was a strange feeling to be so out of place. Like you don’t know where to run.
But now, he knew exactly who he wanted to run to.
Chat opened his eyes, glancing around at the buildings that followed the streets. The wreckage that was once here was gone. She must have fixed it. His future bride. He smiled at the thought.
“Chat Noir!” Ladybug exclaimed as she swung down from the roof.
There she was. The woman he was madly in love with. The woman who would love him back. He watched as the black-spotted heroine sprinted over and practically jumped onto him, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Thank god you’re okay! I was so worried,” she said softly, her voice slightly shaky.
Taken aback, he quickly returned her embrace and leaned onto her body. He wanted to melt into her. He reminded himself that this was Marinette that had wrapped herself in his arms, and that only made him never want to let her go.
Chat opened his mouth, about to say something within the spur of the moment before his partner pulled back from him and forcefully punched his shoulder. He yelped in pain.
“Ow! What was that for?”
“For risking your life, you dumb cat!” she exclaimed, her brows furrowed in slight anger and frustration.
Right. He forgot that future Marinette warned him that she’d be mad.
“I mean, you didn’t even know what it would do to you. Did you even think that it might kill you or injure you? Or maybe make you go insane? You’re lucky I have the miraculous cure, but our luck is bound to run out at some point! You need to be more careful, Chat. I can’t—I don’t want to keep worrying about losing you.”
Chat’s face fell as he listened to his partner ramble on about how she was worried about him. Now knowing it was his classmate behind the mask, it only made him feel even more guilty than he originally felt. All he could do was step toward her and pull her into an embrace.
“I’m sorry, M’lady,” he said in a low voice. “I’m not going anywhere, you know. I’m always going to be right by your side. Always.” It was a promise.
She sighed into his shoulder. “What even happened when you were hit? Where did you go?”
He pulled back, looking directly into her blue eyes. The same blue eyes that stared back at him across the courtyard and in the locker room. The same ocean-blue eyes that would flicker over his way in class. He wanted to swim in them.
They were standing so close it made his heart pound a little harder and his palms a little sweatier. If it weren’t for the mask, she’d probably comment about how much he was blushing right now.
Chat was about to open his mouth to speak before quickly shutting it.
Don’t tell little her you were here.
“Uh, nowhere. I just kind of blinked, and I was back.”
She nodded. “Okay, at least it wasn’t anything bad.”
Not at all.
The high-pitched beeping of her earrings began to alert her. She was going to detransform soon.
Ladybug took several steps backward, pulling out her yo-yo from her hip. “I have to go. I’ll see you for patrol tonight?”
Chat grinned, knowing damn well he was about to see her again as her civilian self before patrol. “Yeah, I’ll see you then.”
She frowned. “What’s with that face?”
“What face?” he asked, dropping whatever expression he had displayed.
“Uh, never mind. See ya!” she said before launching herself up onto one of the nearby buildings and disappearing behind a series of roofs.
Now Chat knew she was heading in the same direction as her parents’ bakery. Now that he thought about it, she had almost always headed in that direction after a fight.
He smirked. The only thing left to do was to meet her at her house.
Adrien waited anxiously at the base of the stairs that led up to Marinette’s room. After her parents had let him come up into their house portion of the bakery, all of the jittery nerves that he was ignoring had come back in a bigger wave which was hard to shake off.
His partner was somewhere wandering around in the room above him. While he was excited to confront her with his new revelation, he was anxious about how he would react.
Though, he had an idea of the outcome of the upcoming conversation. After all, he had known her for three years now.
He sucked in a breath before trudging up the steps and knocking on her trapdoor.
“Come in!” her sweet voice called out from behind the door.
Adrien lifted the trapdoor up and took another step up, peaking through the crack of the raised door. He immediately saw Marinette—present Marinette—standing by her desk, shoving loose papers into a drawer. It seemed like she was clearing away some things last minute. She tugged on her sleeve of her sweatshirt as she stepped away from the desk, observing the now clean surface.
He smiled absentmindedly as he watched her. “Hey, Mari.”
Her body froze at his voice. Adrien wondered if he had startled her.
She glanced behind her, her eyes widening. “A-Adrien! I didn’t know you were coming. Well, I did know, but not this early. Is my phone reading the time wrong?” she asked as she picked up her smartphone from the edge of her desk to read the time.
Adrien chuckled as he took his remaining steps up the ladder and stepped into her bedroom. While Adrien was mesmerized by the confidence and sass of future Marinette, he still loved how cute his Marinette was. He loved her. It was baffling how much of her he had missed due to his tunnel vision crush on Ladybug. “No, your phone is right. It is early. I hope you don’t mind, I didn’t have anything else going on,” he explained, fidgeting with his ring before he finished his thought. “I also was hoping to spend more time with you.”
Marinette blinked as she remained standing there, her hands pressing on the edge of the desk behind her to keep her still. “Spend time with… me?”
“Yeah,” was all Adrien could come up with. How was he supposed to do this? It’s not like he could just jump on her and confess that he knew her identity. It’d probably cause her to run off.
“Oh. Well, er, w-why?” she questioned, her face morphing in slight confusion as the bridge of her nose lightly scrunched up. The same way Ladybug did.
How did he not notice?
She was definitely his lady.
Adrien’s heart pounded through his ears as he thought of the possibility of just blurting out right then and there that he loved her. How he loved her from the day they met, and he loved her now. How every time he watched her comfort victims on the street, he wanted to stand by her side and declare her his. How he watched in awe when the civilian version of his partner did the same with her classmates, even those who didn’t deserve it.
He was so happy to have been launched into the future because now he knew she loved him back. Even if she didn’t know it, she loved Chat as much as she loved Adrien, or at least will learn to. He glanced around the room, remembering the pictures she would keep from his magazines, thinking it was purely for fashion purposes, or her confessional slip-ups whenever he would confront her at school. It wasn’t just her being shy. It was her being in love. He was just too blind to identify it as that—too blinded by his loyalty to his partner that he failed to truly take a closer look at her civilian self that stood right under his nose.
Future him was right. It had been him all along.
Though, he was still not sure why future Marinette had said that Adrien was super vague about what happened with the akuma. He knew he could never ever forget this day, it was too important. Too remarkable. He was sure he had purposefully kept it from Marinette. Why? He would just have to wait for the big day.
While he still didn’t know too much about her love for him, this could be the opportunity to ask her. To get to know the rawest version of the partner he trusted his life with.
He told himself that day they fought their first battle that he loved that girl, whoever it was under the mask. Nothing had changed. If anything, knowing that one of his close friends had been her only brought new layers to his affection and admiration for her.
If it weren’t for the confirmation of the future, he probably would have hesitated more or had second thoughts. But he didn’t want to wait anymore. At least, not for this when he knew that his life belonged to her.
It had always been her.
Adrien smiled at Marinette, who brought her hand up to stroke her loose hair over her rosy cheeks, before taking a deep breath.
“I need to show you something.”