Chapter Text
“—swear, I don’t understand why we haven’t caught him yet. Did you see the one we fought today?” Chat complained as he lounged on a barstool with his feet up on the counter at Marinette’s, eating the freshly-baked strawberry macarons that she had on a plate near him.
Marinette’s voice was amused. “It looked like the little old ladies were the bigger heroes, as upset as they were about their community garden getting turned into plant minions.”
“Yep, they sure got a little violet when they were mad, really rose to the occasion.” His head tipped back, a grin on his face as he caught her eye upside down.
She threw a piece of popcorn at him. “I hate to admit it, but I did laugh at your line when you arrived.”
His grin widened as he twisted around in the chair. “Everybody, romaine calm?”
She rolled her eyes with a smile. “You’re just lucky that woman was recording nearby. From what I’ve heard, most of your puns are just terrible.”
“Lies. I always get the pun-chline right.”
She groaned, and he leaned back in satisfaction, tossing another macaron up and catching it in his mouth. “Going back to what you were saying,” she said, “Shadow Moth is a supervillain, so it makes sense that he’s been able to avoid detection, despite his questionable choices of powers to give out.”
“Psh, he’s no supervillain. Just a regular old villain.”
Marinette cocked her head at him. “What’s the difference, then?”
He jumped up to his feet, standing straight before dramatically flinging his arms out. “Presentation.”
She gawked at him for a second before breaking down in laughter. “Was that a Megamind joke?”
He hopped back up in his chair. "What can I say, sometimes you gotta borrow from the greats." He grinned, happy to have made her laugh. It was nice to let loose after keeping a lid on his pun-derful jokes as Adrien to keep Marinette from getting too suspicious. He continued on with his earlier thought, "Seriously though, the guy needs to come up with better names. I mean really, Guitar Villain? And that orange guy not long ago? Goo Goon or something? Just terrible."
Marinette laughed again, though she cut off with a gasp, her hand going to her stomach. He jumped up immediately, panic as his first reaction. That went away when she smiled and looked up to meet his eyes. “Chat, come here and feel this.” He raced over to her, suddenly excited. She took his hand and placed it on her stomach. He tried to keep his claws from hurting her – he wasn’t used to touching her as Chat Noir, which was quite surprising considering how much he had to fight the desire to do so every time he visited. They stood there, quietly waiting, until he felt something nudge against his hand.
He couldn’t hold in his gasp. “I felt that!” He stood in awe, sensing a few more gentle kicks against his hand before the baby stilled again. “Wow.” He felt speechless as he met Marinette’s eyes.
And then he did something incredibly stupid.
He kissed her.
At first, he didn’t realize he had made a mistake. His lips met hers, and for a very brief moment, Marinette responded to his kiss.
And then she squeaked, flinging herself away from him so hard that she almost toppled off the couch. Adrien’s arm shot out to steady her on instinct, but the sight of his own gloved hand had him snatching it back quickly after she was balanced.
Oh no.
He leapt up from the couch, nearly tripping over his own feet. “I didn’t mean to do that!”
Marinette’s voice was high pitched and frantic, “Chat, what are you– why did you –you can’t – ”
His brain felt like swiss cheese as he scrambled for an explanation. “I shouldn’t have–”
“You’re my friend, Chat, we can’t–”
“I know–”
“I’m with Adrien. You know that.” The panic on her face was slowly being replaced with confusion.
Damn it , he was going to have to confess. He’d dug this hole and now needed to lie in it.
However, instead of calmly explaining who he was, or transforming back, like a non-panicked person might do, he promptly dove back into his hole, shovel at the ready.
“I’m the baby’s father, that’s why I kissed you!”
Marinette looked at him like he was a mental patient that had just escaped and gotten lost. “...Chat, you know this is Adrien’s baby, I told you that.”
Chat groaned, sliding his hands over his face. Really swell job, he was doing here.
“I’m so sorry, my lady, this was not how I meant to tell you this.”
Silence met his declaration.
Marinette’s eyes widened. Awareness began to filter through her confusion. “You…you know I’m–”
Right, best to just pull off the bandaid here, he decided.
“ Plagg, claws in.”
Marinette squeaked again, her hands flying up to cover her eyes to block him out.
Plagg flew out, taking in the scene. “Thought you weren’t planning to do this yet, kid.”
Marinette kept her eyes firmly covered. She sounded exasperated as she turned slightly away. “ Yet, what do you…it doesn’t matter who you are, Chat, you still can’t kiss me.”
Plagg took another glance at Adrien and let out a cackle. “Come on, pigtails, just look and put my boy out of his misery.”
Finally, Marinette peeked through her fingers. Adrien tried to brace himself as her eyes met his. There was a sharp intake of breath, and then her arms fell to her sides. “… Adrien?” She looked shocked, though he still couldn’t tell if she was going to land on the ‘I’m so happy it’s you’ side, or the ‘I’m angry with you, you absolute idiot’ one.
He moved towards her, kneeling on the ground near her legs. “Marinette, I’m so sorry. I figured you’d prefer that I continued to keep my identity hidden from you. But I would have told you before the baby came.”
She continued to stare at him with wide eyes, her mind obviously still trying to comprehend this revelation. Her eyes eventually softened. “Come here.” Her hand reached out, using his shirt to bring him closer. Her eyes closed as she leaned her forehead against his. Adrien let out his tension in a breath, reaching up to rest his hand along the back of her neck to hold her against him. Her words came out soft, with a hint of awe. “I should have known. Of course you’re Adrien. I’m surprised it took me this long to figure you out. I was so sure Chat had no idea I was Ladybug.”
He felt nearly dizzy with relief. “It’s been…actually quite difficult to keep this from you.”
A soft gasp left her, and she brought her hand up to his cheek as she backed away. “Oh my–when I told you about the pregnancy for the first time, you were Chat Noir.” She looked stricken at that, pulling him back up on the couch and into her arms. “I’m so sorry I put you through that. No wonder you were so upset.”
His hold grew tighter. “I’ll admit that it killed me to watch you leave, with no idea if I’d see you again or have any way to find you if you disappeared. But you told me in the end, so that’s what matters.”
She buried her face in his neck. “No, Adrien, that had to be so difficult for you. You must have been so angry with me.”
“Only a little,” he admitted, reluctantly, “but mostly I was just worried that you didn’t want me involved because you thought I wouldn’t make a good father.” His mind drifted to their conversation several nights before about some of the insecurities he had about fatherhood. He felt guilty suddenly, for telling her this now.
Marinette’s head snapped up. “Oh my God, Adrien, no. I never thought that. I only delayed telling you because I was afraid. You know now that I love you, but when this happened to us–” her hand fell to her stomach, “–I felt so terrible, like my hesitation caused it. I didn’t want you to be trapped because of it. I’m sorry it took me so long to come around.”
Multiple emotions bubbled up within his chest, threatening to spill over. He hadn’t quite made the connection before as to why she had waited so long; they’d gotten quite distracted after her initial reveal, after all. “Well, now you know it wasn’t just Adrien you ran into. Can you agree now that neither of us are to blame?”
She laughed quietly. “Yes, okay, fine. Full agreement there, happy?”
Then Adrien couldn’t hold it back any longer, not after her reminder of her love for him. Love that he’d been unable to tell her he reciprocated, because she had not known about their shared past.
Not until now.
“Marinette, listen. These past few weeks have been everything to me. Getting to know you so much better, on this side of your mask, has made me so incredibly happy, I can’t even describe.” Her eyes grew watery, and he let his thumb caress her cheek. “But now you can see, I’ve known you for so long, on both sides of the mask. You’ve always been amazing, and while I would never wish that akuma attack on anyone, it would be a lie to say I’m not happy for where it’s brought us.” His hand drifted down to her stomach to rest. “I love you, Marinette. My Lady. I love you.” He felt himself nearly choke on the emotions he felt pouring out of him as he tried to convey what she meant to him.
The tears that had threatened to fall before did so now; Marinette tried to stifle her own sob as her lips crashed against his, and Adrien felt something crescendo within him. He could feel the joy on her lips and taste the salt from her tears on his tongue, and he never wanted to let her go.
This woman, who had been such an important presence in his life for so long, knew him now – all sides of him. He hadn’t been prepared for the depth of the relief that overpowered him, nor the joy at her acceptance of this last important piece of him.
Eventually, their lips slowed, and Adrien found himself kissing the tears from her cheeks.
They held each other quietly, contentedly, until soft vibrations eventually resulted in a giggle escaping from Marinette.
“You kissed me as Chat, you goof.”
A sheepish laugh left him. “Yeah. I lost my head a bit there.” His hand found her baby bump once more.
Marinette’s giggle suddenly shifted into unrestrained mirth. She smiled up at him, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “You beat Alya to feel the baby’s kicks first. She’ll be so cross with you.”
He grinned at her. “We could tell her Chat Noir won.”
“She’ll be so ticked.”
“Even more so whenever I can tell her I was Chat all along. Though that means admitting I had an advantage this whole time.”
He leaned down to kiss her, chasing away her laughter as he held her in his arms.