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So the good news is that they’ve beaten the fashionista akuma and Ladybug was able to get her Miraculous Cure going. This means that the victim is purified, the damage is undone, and - most relevantly to Chat Noir’s interests - his Lady is no longer in possession of a bloody, badly wrapped gash in her side.
The bad news is that said bloody, badly wrapped gash resulted in some blood loss earlier, the effects of which apparently have not been fixed. At the very least, it certainly hasn’t been helped any by the high adrenaline battle or the energy draining Lucky Charm/Miraculous Cure combination, because shortly after the battle is done Ladybug collapses into an exhausted heap.
Even when she barely avoids an unwelcome meeting with the floor, that near miss says more about Chat’s reflexes than her own, so it’s by an entirely unpleasant design of events that Chat finds himself holding an armful of superhero partner.
A small, somewhat dumb part of himself is indignant that they never got to fist-bump. The larger, much saner part of him panics as he realizes that not only is Ladybug - who very much does not want her identity revealed - passed out in his arms, but she also has only four dots on her earrings left to her name
That’s only four minutes for him to figure out how to get her out of the spotlight before bad things happen.
Chat is… not the best prepared for this turn of events. But his Lady is (implicitly, because once again, unconscious) depending on him, so he hoists her up in a princess carry and busies himself with finding a place to hide.
Fortunately he’s explored this venue before, because that means it’s not hard for him to find an empty, out of the way room that they can hole up in as they recover. There’s even a couch, which means that he can lay Ladybug down on it so she’ll be somewhat comfortable as she wakes up.
With this thought in mind, Chat moves to set her down.
That’s about when he’s blinded by a face full of pink light, sparkles, and a little red kwami that whacks him on the forehead before rebounding and landing on not-Ladybug-anymore’s stomach.
Adrien doesn’t recover quickly enough to realize that he should avert his eyes when his vision clears, so when he opens them, he sees that the girl in his arms isn’t wearing spots anymore. Instead, she’s wearing a model’s dress, turquoise bodice and frilly hi-low skirts set off nicely by black lace trims. Its a beautiful and well made dress, fitting for the final work of a Gabriel internship, but more to the point it’s also achingly familiar.
He’s seen this dress on the runway, minutes before the akuma attack. He’s seen this dress in its design stages, when it was half-formed and draped over a mannequin instead of a person. He’s seen this dress as a mere concept, feathery pencil-lines and scribbled notes bound up in a small pink sketchbook.
It’s a dress made by - and currently being worn by - his classmate and friend, Marinette Cheng.
After the initial shock, Chat Noir can’t find it in him to be too surprised (annoyed that he managed to miss the obvious, yes, but not surprised.)
oOoOo
The first thing that Marinette hears as she rises ever so slowly out of the thick molasses of sleep is a voice that says, “… fine, she’s just sleeping right now…”
(It’s quiet, barely more than a murmur, but for all that it’s owner’s identity is slipping her mind, it’s also so comfortingly familiar that she can’t help but relax.)
———
The first thing that Marinette sees is a figure in dim light, sitting a few feet away with his back to her as he speaks into a phone.
(He’s as familiar as the almost illusive voice, as familiar as the room is unfamiliar, and all that she can tell in this liminal space between sleeping and waking is that she’s safe, because he’s there.)
———
The first thing that Marinette thinks when she hears the soft whisper of she just exhausted herself helping everyone, she isn’t injured spoken into a phone is that Chat Noir is there, saying exactly the truth that needs to be heard even if the tension in his voice says that he’s not any happier about it.
Then she realizes that the silhouette in the corner of her eye is missing her partner’s trademark black ears, that his phone isn’t a baton held in claws, and if it’s not Chat Noir, just who is it…
If it’s not Chat Noir, then it must be Adrien who sounds tense like he’s trying to hold himself steady, but could go twang at a touch. He’s hiding it well, and it’s likely imperceptible to the people on the other end, but even half asleep Marinette will always been able to read her partner, just as he can read her.
Adrien continues to explain in a pseudo-level voice that she’ll be up soon, don’t worry, and I’ll watch over her, and after a few more platitudes, he hangs up only to slump back into his seat with a draining sigh, and Marinette finally (blearily) asks, “What’s going on? Were those my parents?”
Adrien jumps nearly a foot in the air.
oOoOo
Adrien knows when Marinette wakes up, because that’s when she asks him perfectly reasonable questions and he responds by leaping like someone lit his tail on fire.
It’s not the graceful response expected of either a cat or an Agreste, but he likes to think he’s justified because he’s been dealing with the fact that Marinette is Ladybug.
Because, ok, in terms of secret identities, this is probably the best case scenario, but? Adrien can hardly believe that the girl who blushed sunset red and tripped over her own words because of his compliment for her dress just hours earlier is the same as the girl who fairly flies over rooftops, who was injured tackling him out of the way of a giant pair of scissors and still got up to fight.
It doesn’t add up that Marinette could be Ladybug, and yet it’s all too obvious in retrospect.
Marinette is lucky to get two words out whenever she talks to him, but she’s also swept the entire class into her vision of how the school could change to really help the students, where so many things fell through the cracks before. Marinette always shies away from confrontation - he sees her every time she glances around for someone who can take charge in a way that Ladybug never does - and yet in the end she’s always the one who steps up, who challenges Chloe for class presidency, chases after upset classmates and nearly flies down stairs to see just why Max and Kim have screamed.
In the end, Adrien can see Ladybug in Marinette, just as Marinette shines in his Lady when she’s shyly hiding her smiles to the camera, when she takes a step out of battle to calm down civilians before running back to the fray.
He gets it, how she could be his Lady. He’s apparently blind to have missed it for so long, but then he also never thought to look for Ladybug in his day to day life.
So yeah, it’s fine that Marinette is Ladybug, but… Ladybug didn’t want Chat Noir to know who she was. And now he does know, because he wasn’t even competent enough to find an empty room in time, and they’re now in said empty room and he can’t really run away and leave her there because that’d be horrible and it’d make everything worse if he can’t explain himself and give her the only thing he can in recompense, but damn if running away doesn’t sound so appealing right now and…
Right, there are more important things to think about. Marinette is awake now, and even with all the panic swirling in his head, Adrien somehow manages to answer her question with a somewhat calm nod, though he can’t help but smile as he approaches her and says, almost disbelievingly, “Marinette, you’re awake. How are you feeling?”
He kneels by the couch as Marinette rubs the sleep out of her eyes and answers, “Confused, mostly,” and the lack of adorable-yet-baffling flailing is a clear indicator of how groggy she still is.
Adrien feels a smile twitch at the corner of his mouth in response to her refreshingly frank statement, because he’s always been fascinated by this side of Marinette, even before knowing that she’s the hero behind Ladybug’s spotted mask.
(Because the Marinette that he’s always spoken to has always been red-faced fluster, adorable because that’s what she is but baffling because she’s so much more coherent when talking to anyone else. Adrien still doesn’t know exactly what it is about him that intimidates her, but after thinking about it, he finally chalks it up to her being a fledgling designer, intimidated by the glittering facade of the Agreste name when she’s not distracted trying to defend her work. Certainly, exposure to the inner workings of the fashion industry through her Gabriel internship has rendered her more eloquent around him, so it seems to be as logical an explanation as any.)
It’s refreshing, speaking with her like they’re both normal kids, and that completely shatters when she continues, “What am I doing here?” because Adrien has no idea how to deal right now.
Fortunately or no (and he really can’t tell at the moment), Adrien’s hesitation is apparently enough space to jumpstart Marinette’s memory. At least, that’s what he thinks is happening, because in the span of a few seconds, Marinette jolts from ‘sleepy’ to ‘wide-eyed panic’, commandeers his arm in a death grip, and squeaks, “Adrien, what happened?” with an expression that says more about faint denial than confusion.
For all that a question spills from her lips, Adrien knows that she doesn’t need it answered. Instead, she’s looking for confirmation, and even knowing this Adrien can’t bring himself to speak. Silence settle over their locked gazes for a beat, then two, then three.
Then, Adrien looks down, hand curing into a fist on the couch cushion as he sighs, “I’m sorry…”
Marinette takes some time to process that - though to be fair, she’s probably processing the situation more so than his two words.
He never wanted to break her trust, he doesn't want her to hate him. There’s so much that he needs to say - that he’ll stand by her forever, but only if she wants him to, that his heart will break if she sends him away but he’ll go if she wants him to, but all he says is I’m sorry, and maybe that’s just enough to start.
Certainly, it’s enough for Marinette to finally pin the pieces into place, and she whispers, soft as a breath, “… Chat Noir?”
If he weren’t Adrien - if he weren’t Chat Noir, Ladybug’s loyal cat and partner, he might not have heard. He is, though, and he does, and he glances up to see Marinette staring at him, reading the flit of his eyes and the way he involuntarily hunches over like a cat protecting its belly in the way that only Ladybug can.
It’s so clear, now that they’re really looking, who he is and who she is and…
“…You know who I am?” Marinette asks, except it’s an answer instead of a question.
Adrien nods and, in the epitome of eloquence, croaks, “Yeah…”
He holds his breath as he waits for her to continue, as he waits for the turn of words that’ll either be cataclysmic or like her healing light, and she finally, finally says…
“We should probably talk.”
And he can’t have expected anything less from his Lady of Luck, that she would fix this, too.