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As he saw Marinette across the scattering of people, he took a moment to steady himself against the railing partitioning off the cafe area. She had asked him to meet with her after his date with Kagami to discuss, but after the disaster of a night he would have much rather stayed in bed all day. The only thing that enabled him to drag himself here was the promise of chouquettes and coffee.
He knew he couldn’t stand here all day, especially not when she spotted him and greeted him with gentle wave. The smile on his face felt out of place as he weaved his way through the tables—a few waiters glaring at him in the process of him speeding past their precariously full trays.
“Hey, Marinette,” he greeted her as he finally landed safely in the flimsy metal chair.
“Hey,” she greeted back, her usual bright smile seemed a lot dimmer this morning.
“Are you okay?” He asked, contemplating reaching out to her. He might not have been the best at reading her, mostly because she made it difficult, but he could tell something was wrong.
Just like a switch was flipped she perked up, almost like when his photographer turned the camera on him. “Of course, I’m okay! I want to hear all about your date.”
He blinked at her, deciding what would be the least embarrassing explanation. He didn’t want to admit that Kagami decided she wasn’t interested in him, especially because he wasn’t entirely sure why. He thought the date was great—aside from a timely interruption from an ominous looking butterfly—until they stopped at Andre’s to get ice cream. She took one bite before declaring that she actually didn’t care for mint and that their relationship wasn’t going to work.
“We actually didn’t—” he stopped himself as he looked at the disappointment already painting her expression. “We had such a great time,” the lie tumbled out of his lips before he could process what he was saying.
“That’s great, Adrien,” she said, her voice calm and gentle. She held her hands close to her chest as she looked down. “What did you guys do?”
He couldn’t tell if this had something to do with whatever seemed to be upsetting her previously or if she was seeing through his lie—either way in a desperate attempt to make her feel better he started rambling about the date. He felt like he had disconnected from himself as soon as he started talking and it wasn’t until he finished his story with a gasp that he noticed her eyes brimming with tears.
“Marinette?” He did reach out to her this time, putting a soft hand on her arm. “Do you want to talk about it?”
She squeezed her eyes shut, hugging herself. “I thought I could do this, but I can’t,” she whispered.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he said reassuringly. “You can talk to me if you want? I was hoping we could be friends and maybe this would be a good start.”
“Adrien, I don’t know how to be friends with you,” she said. That was all it took to make him recoil.
He thought he just might not have been what Kagami was looking for, and as much as that hurt, he could accept it. But with Marinette he couldn’t help but feel like it was more than just a lack of chemistry. She liked everyone, she went out of her way to include everyone. If she didn’t like him, then there was something wrong with him.
Before he could ask her what he did— and more importantly what he could do to fix it —she jumped up, the metal chair clattering against the pavement behind her. She pressed her hands to her head, squeezing her eyes shut.
“Marinette?” He stood up slowly, his hands firm on the table.
“No, no,” she shook her head as she fell to the pavement. “Never, Hawkmoth,” she shouted, causing a few of the patrons to filter out of the little dining area. “I'll never help you.”
“Hawkmoth?” He asked, rushing to her side and putting his hands on her shoulders. “Marinette, you can resist. I know you can, okay? You are so strong and brave. If anyone can do it, it’s you.”
She looked at him, her eyes brimming with desperation and tears. “Adrien, I love you,” she choked out, mouthing the words ‘say it back’ afterwards.
His mind went blank. He wished he could say he had a better reaction, especially when she was actively fighting off an akuma, but it was too late. He waited a beat too long and with the nod of her head the akuma took her over.
“Marinette, you can still fight this,” he pleaded with her as he backed away. He wanted to help her but the akuma powers had always been a little unpredictable and he couldn’t be sure that it wouldn’t compromise him if used.
As she stood up she adorned a bright red bodysuit with black thorns wrapped around her torso and wrists. Along the suit were deep maroon roses scattered along like polkadots. Her hair was slicked back and flowing as it grew long enough to reach her elbows.
she looked at him with a sickly sweet smile. “Oh, Adrien..Marinette is gone. I’m Enveros. It’s nice to meet you, my love..” She walked over to him, speeding up as he tried backing away. “Why would I want to resist when we could be together now?” She rushed towards him, pinning him against the delicate metal fence. Roses bloomed where her hands landed, growing and extending along the cracks in the partition.
He winced as he felt cornered, he looked around for some easy escape so he could transform. “And there’s no Ladybug to get in our way,” she whispered as she leaned close to him.
“Maybe buy me dinner first,” he quipped. He lifted himself over the short fence, letting himself crash back against the pavement. That was definitely going to hurt him in the morning, but he had bigger things to worry about in the meantime.
“All we need is Chat Noir,” she cooed, hopping over the fence. “Then we can be together forever.”
As she walked towards him—dressed in red and black with a confidence he had never seen before—he thought for a moment he saw Ladybug. As he crawled backwards, still figuring out his exit plan, he was brought back to the countless times he had seen her with the same look Marinette was adjourning. That familiar intense determination as she calculated her next move.
“Let’s make this easy, Adrien,” she said before narrowing her eyes. The roses that adjourned the fence had now morphed into large black thorns that were growing by the minute—which didn’t bode well for the roses that were now blooming under her with each step, blanketing the street around them.
As he looked out in the distance for Ladybug, almost not wanting to believe it, he realized she wasn’t coming. As he looked back over at his classmate, there was no denying it. Marinette was Ladybug and this was bad— very bad.
“I already have one m—”
“Marinette,” he shouted, quickly cutting off her sentence. “You’re absolutely right. We should be together.” He stood up, dusting himself off as he walked towards her. “I should have realized sooner,” he said, his words referring to more than just that.
She extended her hand out to him with a smile and he quickly accepted it. He brushed her hair behind her ear and glanced at her earrings. Sure enough, they resembled a simple gray version of Ladybug’s bright red dotted earrings.
“Nothing can stop us,” she said with fire behind her eyes. She tucked a finger under his jaw and tilted his head up as she leaned in for a kiss. It was almost unfair how beautiful she looked, even in this state.
He put a hand on either side of her face, his heart racing as he knew he had a narrow shot of pulling this off. As she pressed her lips to his, this was the final confirmation of what he already knew—this was the girl he had been in love with all this time.
He wanted more than anything to just take this moment to be with her, but he had to make sure she was safe first. In one swift motion he snagged the earrings from her ears and bolted into the restaurant area behind them. He locked the door behind him and shoved his way past everyone in order to escape into the thankfully empty bathroom.
“Adrien,” Plagg zoomed towards his face the second they were alone. “So about what you saw… I know it might seem like Marinette is—”
“There’s no time to discuss,” he shook his head as he felt a second away from panicking. “Ladybug’s been akumatized,” he rushed out as he put the earrings on.
Tikki popped out of the earrings the second he had them secured. “It’s very dangerous to adjourn these two at the same time,” Tikki stressed.
“Well, would you rather he hand them to Hawkmoth on a bright red platter?” Plagg defended him with a huff.
“Guys, we can figure out what to do once we are safe,” he interjected as he heard a commotion outside the door. “Plagg, claws out,” he said in a hushed tone. Once he was in his suit he jumped through the window, narrowly avoiding whatever crash he heard behind him as he used his stick to rush away from the scene.
Once he felt like he was safely far away enough from the scene he tucked himself behind a roof fixture and detransformed. Tikki wore a look of surprise while Plagg returned to his side. He mimicked Ladybug’s thinking pose, hoping it would incite some inspiration in him.
“That was pretty quick thinking, Chat Noir,” Tikki commended him. “You need—” she started before Plagg hushed her.
“Let’s give our hero a chance,” he said with the cross of his arms.
“He doesn’t know what Ladybug would do here! He needs to go see—”
“Are you this pushy with Marinette?” He challenged.
“Stop interrupting me,” she said with a glare.
While the two of them bickered back and forth, he weighed his options. If Marinette was Ladybug, then he needed to consider who she would trust in this situation and what he could say. Alya was an obvious choice, but how could he explain Ladybug being out of commission without her putting the pieces together at seeing her best friend akumatized.
Alya wasn’t the only one he needed to prevent from putting the pieces together. He couldn’t be sure that Marinette hadn’t already said something that would lead Hawkmoth to figuring her out, but her absence certainly didn’t help. He couldn’t just choose a new Ladybug, he needed the original.
“I need the fox,” he finally declared. “Tikki, is there any chance you know where it is?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to say,” she stressed. “You need to see Alya.”
“Well, he got there on his own, didn’t he?” Plagg huffed.
“On it,” he nodded to her. “Plagg, claws out.”
“Oh, here we go again,” he whined as he got sucked into his ring with a flash.
As he flew across Paris, he frowned at seeing the city beneath him. Gigantic black thorns had taken over, growing through buildings and houses as they slowly increased in size. Large red roses kept blooming out of the thorns before quickly wilting away, their remnants scattering in the wind.
He finally landed on Alya’s porch—after a few detours to bring a civilian or two to safety. She was monitoring the footage on the ladyblog with her phone clutched in her hand. The second he tapped on the window she bounded over to him.
“Chat Noir? Where’s Ladybug?” She asked, her voice filled with dread as if she knew the same thing he did.
There was no way she could have.
“She’s.. Uh..” he blinked at her, he had never been too good at coming up with lies. “She’s on a secret mission,” he finally answered, lighting up like a lightbulb. “She sent me here to ask if you could use the fox to make it seem like she’s in battle. Can you do that?”
“Are you sure there’s not anything else you need help with?” She asked pointedly. He thought for a moment about entrusting her with the earrings, but the plan seemed risky enough without introducing a new Ladybug. Hawkmoth would see right through it.
“I’m sure,” he nodded before backing out onto the balcony again. “I’ll call you on my… Uh,” he realized he had never given it an official name, he never used it enough to warrant one. “My catphone! Wait until I tell you to, okay?” He let himself fall backwards off of the balcony, catching himself at the last second and bounding off.
He stopped for a moment, deciding to prepare his plan for Alya. He let Ladybug’s voice ring in his ear as he tried to consider each and every hole in his plan. He left the draft open as he tucked his catphone back into his baton and set off to find Marinette.
“If I can save my cataclysm, I can use it on the akuma,” he shouted to Tikki who was clinging onto his shoulder.
“That’s a great plan! You’ll still need to use the lucky charm or else Paris will stay like this,” she shouted to him as they narrowly avoided a large thorn poking out of the Carnavelet museum.
“I guess I’m making my big debut as Kittybug, how’s my hair?”
“I don’t know if that is a good idea. You’ll need to be extremely careful. It would be very bad if he managed to get you,” she stressed. “Are you sure you can do this?”
He halted his movements, balancing on his stick in the air as he looked at her. “Can everyone have a little faith, please?” He frowned. “I have been doing this just as long as Ladybug and maybe I don’t know what she would do, but that’s because I’m not her.” He looked down, the gravity of the situation making his chest feel tight.
He closed his eyes. “I don’t know,” he said with a shake of his head. “Maybe I can’t.”
“I’m sorry.” Tikki floated up to him, clasping her hands together. “You’re not like Ladybug,” she said with a new understanding. “You think on your feet and you’re really quick, which means you need confidence.” She paused for a moment, putting her hand to her chest. “I’m also not like Plagg. I give support by making sure Ladybug doesn’t get too far ahead of herself.”
“So, I need to try to take it slower?”
“No! You need to do what feels natural for you—save Paris in your own way. I believe you can do this, Adrien,” she backed away from him, nodding for him to go ahead.
He smiled at her, his confidence slowly returning. “Tikki, unify,” he said before she disappeared in a flash of red light. His new suit had a lighter gray color as the base with the same midnight color of the original suit polka-dotted across it.
In the distance, across the overgrown garden that was Paris, he saw Enveros dangling above the city from a perch of roses. He was sure she was on the hunt for Adrien Agreste as the vines carried her across the city and thankfully he didn’t have to worry about her succeeding. Without a second thought he bounded towards her.
She was just outside of the Agreste manor when he caught up with her. The house unsurprisingly remained intact as the vines carried her up onto the roof.
“If you wanted to get me roses, there were less dramatic ways to go about it,” he shouted from the street below, cocking his hip as he rested his head on the partially extended staff. She interrupted her current mission of trying to pry open his window to turn to him with a glare.
He followed after her as she disappeared into his room. He had to fight his desire to protest as her vines grew and started flipping over any potential hiding spots. Upon seeing him from the corner of her eye, she raised a fist to him, using her command of the plants to pin him against the wall.
“Kitty,” she cooed as she carried herself over to him. “You’ve got a new look,” she said, tracing her finger up his jaw and flicking his ear where the miraculous was resting.
“You like?” He smirked before using his claws to tear through the vines, letting himself fall to the floor below.
“I like how easy this will be,” she said with a lunge. “Where is Adrien? I know he must have given you the earrings. Where did you hide him?”
“I’m sure he’d love to see you after you calm down,” he said narrowly avoiding a thorn spiraling towards him like an arrow. “Since when can you do that?!”
“I’ll do anything for Adrien,” she shouted as she launched several more. He narrowly avoided them as he ducked behind his piano.
“You can start by not destroying his bedroom,” he grumbled to himself. He peaked over at her with the corner of his eye—trying to locate where the akuma could be hidden. As she approached him he made quick use of his agility to snag the rose she was holding and snap it half. The two pieces fell to the ground without the release of a purple butterfly.
“Let’s get this over with,” she stormed towards him, ditching the vines and deciding to fight one on one. For some reason, this scared him way more than the threat of sharp daggers being launched at him.
“You’ll have to catch me first.” He stuck his tongue out at her before escaping through his window.
He was very familiar with the rooftops of Paris, but not the jungle they had been turned into. Between dodging the jagged thorns and launching himself over the slippery rose petals he had quite a few close calls.
Marinette was close behind him and gaining traction with the aid of the vines lifting her above the danger. As he glanced back, he shivered at the distant look in her eyes. Akuma victims were hurt people being taken advantage of at their worst, she wasn’t exempt from this.
Just as he thought he found a safe space to land for a moment to catch his breath, everything went dark. He felt around himself, only to find a cocoon of thick vines closing in on him like a snake strangling their prey. He tried using his staff to break free, but before he could get very far the vines had closed in on him fully.
“You’re going to take me to Adrien, kitty,” she said as she brought him close to her. She gestured to his ring finger just as the vines unfurled revealing his hand. With a soft look in her eye, she placed her hand on his cheek. “Don’t be difficult.”
“What if I’m jealous?” He asked, wondering if her usual disgust towards him would distract her enough to loosen her grip. “Adrien is sweet but he doesn’t have my charm.”
She hummed, brushing his hair back. “I’ve thought about it. Me and you…” She shook her head. “Silly kitty, enough with the distractions.”
He had been trying to throw her, but now he was the one off course. He had so many questions, so much to process—but he didn’t have the time to do it here.
More than anything, he needed to keep Hawkmoth from putting the pieces together.
“You must be a big fan of mine to know all my nicknames.” He raised his eyebrow up at her. “Want to know my favorite one?”
She frowned, twisting her hand to tighten the vines further. Her eyes bore into his as he winced. “Enough with the games. Take me to Adrien now .”
“I was going to say chaton,” he interjected with a pout.
She looked at him, her lips drawn in a flat line.
“It’s fun to say! Try it,” he challenged her as he wiggled his right hand until it was facing away from him. “You know what else is fun to say? Cataclysm.”
As the vines surrounding him disintegrated, he found himself clawing away from a fresh set trying desperately to trap him again. In his freedom, he made a quick dash away from the scene.
“Here, kitty, kitty,” she called out to him as he tucked himself behind a building.
“You know,” he shouted over his shoulder. He ducked as one of her vines crashed through the bricks, aimed straight for his head. “I’m sure Adrien doesn’t find this very cute.”
It was partially a lie. He could admit Marinette looked gorgeous in the dark red and black suit, compliments to the akuma on that one.
“What do you know about Adrien ? ” She screamed at him, her frustration growing with each hit he dodged. “I know everything about him.”
He knew he couldn’t keep this up for very long and she had a pretty strong advantage. “Lucky charm!” He shouted, catching it as it came down.
“Scissors,” she questioned, her tone mirroring the same curiosity she had whenever she acquired the lucky charm for herself. “What are you going to do with that?”
He tucked them into his belt as he dodged another vine heading straight for him. “Any ideas?” He asked, tilting his head to the side.
He watched her hands twitch as her brain did the work of piecing together the solution. He followed her line of thinking, the bright pops of red on her wrist suddenly catching his attention. They resembled the hair ties that she always wore.
That must have been where the akuma was. Of course, even when she was the victim, she knew exactly how to implement the lucky charm—which really didn’t benefit him right now.
He was now running out the clock on both of his transformations, which meant he needed to think quickly. Realistically, if the akuma had landed in her hair tie, it could only be in one of them. He wasn’t getting anywhere by just thinking about it, he needed to go for it.
He dove straight for her, pinning her down in his attempt to get one of them. “I’m so sorry about this,” he said with a wince as he fought her to snatch one of them off of her wrist.
She kicked him off, sending him several feet back, but not before he was able to acquire what he needed. He used the scissors to snip it in half, but it didn’t free her. She wrapped a vine around the other hair tie like a bracelet.
“You don’t have to be so difficult,” she said, brushing herself off as she regained her composure. “None of this does anymore. Haven’t you ever wondered what it would be like? I have…”
She put her hands to her chest. “A world where we don’t have to fight anymore. We get to be whoever we want to be,” tears welled in her eyes. “ I’m really tired, Chat Noir. Aren’t you?”
His honest answer was no, the thought of this sounded horrifying to him. A world without Chat Noir, without his only escape, felt like suffocation. The world opened up to him the second he acquired his miraculous—he could never go back.
“Marinette, you know it wouldn’t be better.” He dropped his defensive position for a moment, hoping this would be enough to get through to her. “We have to keep fighting. Ladybug would keep fighting.”
“Ladybug isn’t here,” she spat. “I’m tired of being—”
“Of Hawkmoth,” he interjected. “I know, but someday he will be taken down.”
He knew Hawkmoth had to be suspicious. At a certain point he wondered if his course correction would be enough. The fate of everything—their futures—depended on Hawkmoth’s intelligence.
He took a step towards her as she seemed to waver in place. He had never successfully talked down an akuma victim before, but this would be a very convenient time to start. As she collapsed to the ground, she looked up at him helplessly.
“Chaton,” she whimpered, reaching her hands out towards him.
He rushed to her, putting his arms around her. “It’s going to be okay,” he said, holding her tight.
“I know,” she said, moving her hands to his cheeks. Her pout quickly morphed into a wicked grin. “You’re so gullible,” she said, making a grab for the earrings. As he moved away, she wrapped her arms around his neck, her lips inching closer to his.
“That is not fair,” he whined as he grabbed her wrist, careful in his movement as he tried pinning her hand down.
“Ow,” she shouted, the mock innocence seeping back in her voice. “You wouldn’t hurt me, would you?”
He ignored her this time as he used the scissors to slice through the thick vines and snatched the akuma off of her wrist.
“No,” she shouted, collapsing into herself as she started to cry. “I won’t go back. Don’t make me go back. It’s too much. I just want to be normal.I just want to be with the person I love. Don’t make me—”
He watched in horror as she broke down in front of him. He had experienced a lot of different akuma victims, but he had never seen this before. She had completely given up on fighting him and she was instead wailing on the floor.
He was struck with the sickening realization that this was probably the only time she felt safe enough to let this out.
He kept a tight grip on the akuma as he got down on her level once again, scooping her into his arms. She shoved her head into his neck as sobs wracked through her entire body. He held her tight as he whispered reassurances. It was all he could do to not break down himself at the sound.
At the beep of one of the miraculous, he knew he didn’t have the time they both needed.
“Marinette,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to her forehead before she looked up at him with puffy eyes.
“Do it,” she whispered, nodding to him.
Before he had the chance, the akuma released itself. He was able to catch it with minimal effort as it stayed close to the heartbreak lingering between them. He felt hollow as he said the same words Ladybug had shouted enthusiastically at the end of each battle. His eyes stayed trained on her as the flutter of ladybugs soared through the city, fixing everything in their tracks.
“My lady,” he whispered, tugging the earrings off of himself and placing them onto her palm.
“I know,” she said, squeezing her eyes shut. Her voice wavered as she tried to stop herself from crying. “I ruined everything.”
“No, no,” he whispered, his lips pressed to her forehead. “Look around. It’s okay. I figured it out.”
“But Hawkmoth knows who I am now,” she said, her breathing picking up in speed. “I can’t be Ladybug anymore. I failed.”
He tugged out his catphone, calling Alya who had already answered before he could hear the first ring. “Is she okay?” Alya rushed out. “I saw you were able to deakumatize her.”
“She’s okay,” he assured her. The girl in his arms was definitely not okay, but she didn’t need to know that. “But this is where you come in, okay? I’m sending you the plan. Try not to question it too much. Ladybug has complicated reasons for doing things. I’m sure you’re familiar as the writer of the Ladyblog,” he lied, hoping it would be enough.
He could only hope that any of this would be enough.
“Of course,” she said, accepting this as reason enough to follow the plan blindly.
He sent his preplanned message with a quick swipe before returning his attention to her.
“Marinette,” he spoke her name gently, brushing her hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear. He had never seen her with her hair down before, he was seeing her in a lot of new ways.
“Are you okay?”
His ring beeped again, alerting him he had minutes left.
“No,” she choked out. “None of this is okay. I’m not supposed to get upset. What if you weren’t able to get the earrings?” She buried her face into his chest. “He would have won.”
“Hey,” he said, lightly taking offense to her words. “I think I deserve a little credit here. How many times have you had to do this without me?”
She looked up at him, her eyes brimming with tears. “It’s different. You know that.”
“Why? Because I don’t have the Miraculous power to fix everything? Well,” he thought for a moment, stumped by his own point. “Okay, fair—but what is the worst thing that could happen? Paris needs to rebuild? I think we could manage that.”
“Chaton…” she frowned. “It’s…this is why I can’t be in love. I can’t have a normal life. Especially not now that Hawkmoth knows. I need to be even more together,” she said, the whimper contradicting her.
He tugged his catphone out, pulling up the news before shoving it in her hands. On the little screen was a crowd of interviewers surrounding Marinette as Ladybug and Chat Noir stood in front of her dodging questions.
“But all of Paris saw that you had both Miraculous,” she said, her brain not yet ready to accept that the threat had passed.
“ Hello, everyone!,” Ladybug addressed the cameras on the screen. “I know many of you were wondering why I wasn’t there for the recent battle, and I wanted to clear things up. As a superhero, my top priority is to always keep the citizens of Paris safe. While I wasn’t able to be there in person, I was coordinating with my partner, Chat Noir, and working behind the scenes to ensure the situation was under control. I want to reassure everyone that I’m always doing everything in my power to protect Paris, and I appreciate your understanding.”
“But Hawkmoth could piece together that this is an illusion. He’ll know it was Rena Rouge,” she mumbled.
“I thought of that too,” he reassured her, diverting her attention back to the screen where one of the “interviewers” had run up to them, throwing his arm around Ladybug and Marinette. Ladybug quickly excused herself with a small salute and carried Marinette away with her, effectively ending the interviews.
Her heart welled in her chest. “Thank you,” she said, setting his phone down on the side before wrapping her arms around him. “Thank you for everything. You…” She looked into his eyes. “I’m glad you found out.”
His ring beeped again.
“I wish I told you sooner. This is…this feels right,” she said, as if she couldn’t believe it herself. “I’ve always wanted someone to know me. To know all of me. I feel like…”
His heart was racing as her nose brushed against his.
“I can’t believe I waited this long,” she mumbled, her lips brushing against his before she finally closed the distance between them.
He relaxed into the kiss, pulling her closer by her hip. He had waited for this moment for what felt like an eternity. Her lips tasted like vanilla and almond as she gently moved them across his.
This time, his ring beeped as a final warning.
He half expected her to push him away, along with a lecture for not heeding its warning sooner. When she didn’t do that, he thought she was going to run off, disappear just as she always did after a battle.
He didn’t expect her to tangle her hand into his hair, keeping him there as she kissed him.
Just as the ring had foretold, he felt his suit be replaced with his everyday clothes. He was no longer shielded by the thing that had been preventing her from knowing him entirely—he could fall apart if she wasn’t holding him together.
In this moment, as he tilted his head and tightened his grip on her, they were no longer Ladybug and Chat Noir. They were Adrien and Marinette.
Of course it had been her. It was always her.
She pulled away, jumping back an entire foot as she saw him unmasked. “Adrien?” She blinked. She touched her own lips with her fingertips as a bright red blush spread across her cheeks.
“Hi,” he said with a small laugh. “It’s me.”
“That…” Her mouth gaped open but no sound came out. “That is really convenient,” she said as if she was talking to herself.
“How so?”
She put her head in her hands, covering her blush, as she crawled back over to him on her knees and wordlessly crawled into his lap. “Because,” she mumbled, her words muffled.
He wrapped his arms around her again, this time it was for a much lighter reason.
“Becaaauuse…?” he said with a small smirk.
She moved her pinky to the side, allowing her to peak one eye up at him. “Don’t make me say it,” she whined.
“I love you,” he said, before she could finish her pleading. “I’m in love with you. There, I said it.”
She removed her hands but kept her face hidden by tucking herself into his neck. “You’re not disappointed that it’s me?”
His heart actually broke at the question. He placed his hand on the back of her head, gently brushing her hair back. “Marinette, no,” he choked out. “ Of course, it’s you. It was always you.”
She gained a new sense of confidence as she pulled her head back, looking into his eyes. He could see every ounce of fear and insecurity written on her face—but she always had been so incredibly brave. “I love you too,” she squeaked before closing the distance between them once again.
She had been holding on to everything for so long, trying to keep herself together with the entirety of Paris relying on her. But in this moment, he could feel her letting go of that burden, allowing herself to be vulnerable and open with him. It was her bravery and determination that made him fall for her in the first place, but now he admired her even more for letting that go.
With a contented sigh, he held her close, basking in the moonlight that now bathed the city—knowing that whatever the future held they would face it together .
As Adrien and Marinette.
As Ladybug and Chat Noir.