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The shipping container was pitch black, and Ladybug could hardly see. She could feel, however, the liquid dripping down from the cut on her arm. Dark Valentine – Shadow Moth’s akumatized villain – had done quite the damage with her razor sharp nails.
They’d tried to bust the door open, but it wouldn’t budge. If they made too much noise, the supervillain would probably find them and… well, do things a supervillain does.
“You good, m’lady?” Chat Noir said in a worried tone from across the metal box they were trapped in. Well, technically they could leave at any time. Dark Valentine's army of brainwashed minions wanting their heads on a platter and Ladybug’s arm was just a bit of an obstacle.
The only way Dark Valentine’s victims could be brought back to their senses was for someone who loves them to kiss them, and unfortunately Ladybug and Chat Noir couldn’t love or kiss every citizen of Paris. There were too many lonely people now, on Valentine’s day.
“Just peachy”, she hissed, putting pressure on the wound to keep it from bleeding.
“Lucky charm!”
A cardboard box appeared in her hands.
“Fuckin’ hell”, she rarely swore as Ladybug, but the situation called for it.
She threw the box across the container, almost hitting Chat Noir with it on the way.
“M’lady, don’t stress yourself out”, he softly said, walking over to the ball Ladybug was now curled up as. “We’ll figure it out. We always do”, he reassured, placing his hand on her healthy shoulder. “Stay pawsitive, eh?”
His wide green eyes had a humorous twinkle in them, even when they were trapped, surrounded by an akumatized villain's army with no way out. It made Ladybug feel a bit better. For a second, atleast.
“I’ll transform back”, she whispered, like a confirmation to herself.
“Huh?” Chat Noir turned around, as he’d been searching through the contents of the container. Just some bananas, nothing useful.
“I’ll transform back and you’ll–” she burst into sobs again. Chat Noir couldn’t find out, not now, with such a dangerous villain on the loose.
The spots on her earrings blinked. She only had four minutes – four minutes until Chat Noir found out she was Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Four minutes and they were on the verge of complete disaster.
Chat Noir shook his head. “I’ll turn around or put on a blindfold or leave”, he smiled sadly, “I won’t find out, bugaboo. It’s going to be fine.”
Now it was Ladybug’s turn to disagree. “You can’t leave without using your cataclysm on the door, they’d find me”, she said, now even more mad than before. “And it’s far too dangerous for you to go out there alone! If Dark Valentine gets you and your ring, I won’t know how to save you since you’ll be detransformed.”
Chat Noir sat next to her, glancing at her bloody arm and then her bluebell eyes. “You’d save me… from Dark Valentine?” The question had a whole other meaning behind it, but Ladybug wasn’t ready for this conversation now.
“Chaton…”
The earrings blinked. Three minutes. Maybe she had to be ready, after all.
“I think you know the answer to that question.”
Silence.
The kind of silence that desperately needed something to fill it.
"Oh.”
Oh, indeed.
Ladybug wiped the tears from her already swollen eyes. “I get it if you don’t feel the same way. It was a long time ago, you got over it, I’m at peace with that. But I’d save you”, she smiled, “I always will.”
Chat Noir stared at her in silence, a look on his face so complex that Ladybug couldn’t quite figure it out.
Bang.
Dark Valentine’s army was knocking on the door, noises echoing all around the container. Ladybug got up, spinning yo-yo in her hand although it hurt like hell.
“Open up, bugaboo and kitten!”
Chat Noir nodded towards the latch on the top of the container, stick in hand, ready for action.
“Won’t the cutest couple in Paris give us an appearance?”
If she weren’t so focused on the stinging pain on her arm, Ladybug would’ve rolled her eyes. She climbed on top of a pile of boxes – a bit slower than usual – and got ready for Chat Noir’s cue. Her earrings blinked as a sign for two minutes. It was time.
“Cataclysm!”
The latch fell apart in pieces, and Ladybug swung herself out. The hypnotized people of Paris yelled angrily as she made her way over the rooftops, adrenaline bursting through her veins. There was just her, the moon, and–
Crash.
The cut felt like it was burning now, and she lost her balance over the Seine.
“No!” Chat Noir yelled out, coming in clutch to catch her. “We’ll make our way back, they’ll never guess we’re there”, he murmured, in that familiar voice that made Ladybug feel all fuzzy and warm.
“I need to fight…” she managed to resist, tugging on Chat Noir’s collar. “...I need to catch the akuma and make Paris safe again.” She watched the night of Paris fade into a blur as she passed out in her partner’s arms.
—
It was dark again. Chat Noir was humming something in the other corner, rummaging through the produce. And there was something on top of Ladybug – no, Marinette, trapping her. The tarp rustled as she got up.
“Tikki?” she mumbled as the creature flew next to her. “He didn’t see your face”, the kwami reassured, nuzzling against Marinette’s cheek. “I’m so glad you’re okay, Ma– Ladybug!”
Her arm hurt, but it was bandaged now, and the bleeding had mostly stopped. She didn’t feel too dizzy. Tikki flew through the tarp and left Marinette alone. “She’s okay”, Tikki informed Chat Noir, “but I need to eat.”
As Tikki was trying to get a banana out of a wooden box, Chat Noir came closer. “I was so scared, m’lady. You just blacked out”, he said, voice raspy and tired.
“Yeah! We were soooo scared! Ad- Chat Noir almost dropped his pole in the Seine trying to rescue you!”
Plagg’s silly voice made her smile a bit. “Hey, Plagg”, Marinette giggled, “wait, if you transformed back, how long has it been?”
Quiet. She resisted the urge to take the tarp off and shake Chat Noir’s shoulders until he answered. “Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes.” Panic and anxiety creeped into her, giving her the chills. “We can’t leave the people of Paris alone!” she yelled, tears forming in her tired eyes. “Tikki, spots–”
"No. Tikki called Scarabella on your phone while you were sleeping. You need rest”, Chat Noir stopped her. For a moment, he hesitated. “And we need to finish what we were talking about before Dark Valentine’s army gave us a visit.”
Marinette froze. She couldn’t have a heart to heart with Chat Noir through a plastic tarp – not when a villain was turning everyone in Paris into love-hating monsters. Two short knocks on the door, then a long one.
Scarabella had arrived.
“Me and Kitty Noire will fix it all, girl! Don’t you worry”, Alya’s familiar voice sung from the top of the box. Chat Noir handed her the two miraculous and the duo transformed outside the shipping container.
"Why’d you stay?” Marinette asked, hoping to not sound like she didn’t want him there.
“I can’t leave you alone, injured and detransformed, m’lady. My heart couldn’t take it, I’d be distracted the whole battle.”
It was a painful and surprising confession, but not directly one that meant he was in love with her, right? He just cared for her as a good friend.
“Chat Noir…”
She needed to do this. Right now. It was because of their identities being a secret from one another that they were in this danger in the first place. Her heart was beating faster than ever but it was in the right place, and she knew this was the right thing to do.
“I– I want to know who you are”, Marinette forced the words out of her throat, no matter how hard they were for her to say.
“Can I take the tarp off?”
It was just them. No miraculous, no secrets, no way of escaping. And there were conversations that needed to be had, without a mask on.
“Are you sure?” Chat Noir asked. He’d wanted them to reveal each other’s identities for a while but Ladybug had never really been on board.
Marinette exhaled. “Hundred percent.”
“Then do it, m’lady.”
She slowly stood up, having some trouble doing so with her wounded arm, and balanced herself up. “Ready?”
Even though the tarp covered her eyesight, Marinette knew Chat Noir was smiling. “Ready”, he whispered.
She loved his smile, she loved his green eyes and his stupid jokes and she wanted to love the person behind the mask as well.
It wouldn't be hard, since she already did.
“Adrien?”
“Marinette?”
His frazzled look, his messy blonde hair, his flushed cheeks and the shirt he’d tied around her arm as a makeshift bandage. The boy he was in love with was the other boy he was in love with.
And it all made sense.
“Marinette”, Adrien said, now softer, looking her in the eyes. His were so green in the dead of night, and Marinette’s were filling up with tears. “I’d save you too”, he smiled, that pretty yet unsure smile that had her feeling electric everytime.
She barely had time to whisper “prove it”, until his lips were on hers. It was soft and sweet yet it quickly turned hungry and deeper, Adrien pulling her closer, closer, closer until her hands were running through his hair and she was pushed up against the wall.
The pain, the tears – none of it mattered, not when she accidentally let out a whimper and Adrien smiled into the kiss. His tongue grazed over her lips and all Marinette could feel was electricity, every touch like fireworks on her skin. She felt Adrien’s heartbeat against her chest, matching the speed of hers.
His hands were traveling from her waist to her hips to her face, wanting more and more. He let out a small moan which made Marinette grow even more confident, slipping her hands on his bare waist under the T-shirt. She let herself go with the flow, even though this was Adrien and she was nervous and there was a supervillain fight going on outside because she wanted, needed him more than anything.
When they pulled away, foreheads pressed against each other, adrenaline rush not yet faded off, Marinette smiled. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that, chaton.”
Adrien – Chat Noir – smirked and pulled her closer by her shirt.
"Then do it again, m’lady.”
And she did.