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Marinette laid in her bed, glancing through the photos her Google search had brought up—images of couples in love. She was imagining her and Adrien in the same scenarios as those couples; about to kiss, on the beach at sunset… ooooh she shuddered at the next one: him getting down on one knee!
A stray thought played at the corners of her mind suddenly as she saw a picture of a couple kissing, and she paused to realize what had just passed her brainwaves before she shook her head.
That picture looks like the picture of Cat Noir and me kissing on Montparnasse Tower.
She clamped her eyes closed.
WHY do you keep thinking about it?! She asked herself. First there was yesterday when someone just said the word ‘cat’, then there was earlier today when Dad made that seven-layered cake and Mom called it a tower, and now this! It wasn’t you and him as you know each other now—neither of us remember anything from that mission— and it’s no use thinking about it because I don’t like him like that!
Try as she could, she couldn’t get back to thinking about Adrien and her without that picture going through her head.
Fine, I’ll think about it, but let’s change it a little.
She mentally put Adrien in Cat Noir’s place and imagined the scene. That seemed to help at least a little more.
It was at this point Marinette got a text—making the notification pop up over the search she’d made. Only seeing that it said her name and not seeing who sent it, she figured it was Alya and went to her message app.
It wasn’t. She glanced up at the name of the text box.
‘Adrien 💘 ’
Marinette almost dropped the phone. She watched in anticipation as the three dots blinked, signifying his typing. Five seconds later, she got a new text.
“I remember everything ♥️ ”
Marinette’s mind short-circuited for a beat. What?!
So many things popped out of that text at once for her; the fact he was texting her personally was one of them, but the heart (he put a HEART in his text, ohmigosh!!) , the wording (what does he remember?! I can’t think of something romantic or anything like that that we’ve done!) , and the fact that Adrien wasn’t the type to make things up or lie—so whatever he’s talking about was very real!
The next text brought her back to Earth, rendered her speechless, and blew her theories out of the water all at once.
“I pray you do too, M’Lady”
The mental image of Adrien she had put over Cat Noir shattered in an instant and the two merged. She shook her head again, this time in disbelief.
“No…no, it couldn’t be! They’re not alike…at all! Adrien is perfect and kind and sweet and Cat Noir is…”
Involuntarily, she worked overtime mentally to iron out all the pieces that didn’t fit to make sense of what the text implied.
Adrien is secretive and Cat Noir is so not…and that would fit with what she knows about him and Gabriel’s need for perfection.
Adrien isn’t as outgoing towards girls he likes, but Chat is…and that would make sense with the feeling of anonymity they’re granted as heroes.
Adrien is meek, soft, and easygoing towards even people who didn’t deserve it while Cat Noir sassed and fought back…which would help get his feelings across without ruining his relationships.
Marinette put together the puzzle pieces of the situation, every piece of why he could be both boys—the mosaic of Adrien and Cat Noir—and finally got the whole picture. She stared ahead, seeing past her room and into her thoughts.
“…and Cat Noir is Adrien.”
The boy was much more complex than she’d thought. Having sat up in shock at getting that text; she slumped wordlessly back down now, her view of him forever changed.
Feeling a buzz from her phone, she brought her attention back to the device in her hands.
“M’Lady?”
She was brought back to the vision of the two of them from the last mission. She bolted up again.
“I KISSED ADRIEN ON THE MONTPARNASSE TOWER?!” Marinette covered her mouth with her hands, her phone falling into her lap.
Tikki, who’d been napping beside her (and had been used to her moving frantically by now), woke up at this outburst and, floating up so she could see the source of all the excitement, sighed when she realized what was happening. This wasn’t good.
“Tikki, how could this happen? What do I say to him?!”
“Well, you never worried about what to say to Cat Noir, and Adrien is the same boy.” Tikki offered.
“But that was before I knew he was him!”
“Marinette, he obviously still loves you after finding out who you are; just speak from your heart!”
Marinette took a deep breath.
“Cat Noir?” She sent, knowing a single text would never be able to express her full range of emotions she’d felt at the bombshell he’d given her. “I-is it really you?”
“Yes, M’Lady ♥️ ”
“Montparnasse, Oblivio, the kiss—you remember it all?”
“Every second of it. It’s all I can think about. And you?”
“…I can’t remember any of it, only the picture afterwards.”
“You can’t re—? Hold on.”
Marinette waited…and waited. Five minutes rolled by without even the dots showing up, then ten.
Then she heard a knock on her trapdoor.
“CA—! I mean, Adrien?! You came?” Marinette asked as she’d opened the door and he stood in the doorway.
“I had to tell you what happened, and it’s better to say it in person!” He said, closing the door and rushing to her, holding her shoulders.
He gave her a slightly detailed, but still brief version of the events of the other day.
“Can you remember now?”
Marinette tried, but it wouldn’t work. Everything he told her felt like it happened to someone else and she was just hearing about it. “No.” She replied sadly.
Adrien grunted to himself, and looked into her eyes, which were brought up from her previously downcast reaction to see him. He studied her look; her eyes were deep and softly wide, her stance ever-so-subtly more stretched towards him, and her lips slightly trembled.
A thought came to Adrien of a way to help and he brought his hand up to Marinette’s cheek. Slowly brushing her hair away from her face, he held her cheek tenderly in his hand and leaned towards her until his lips touched hers.
Marinette could see what he was doing from the moment he pushed her hair back, and she waited in anticipation. His every move was graceful and deliberate, yet soft and yielding to her. She could practically feel the sentiment radiating from his very core.
When he kissed her, her insides exploded into fireworks and melted into butter at the same time. Her legs shook so she could barely stand. And…every moment she’d spent with him in and on Montparnasse Tower came flooding back.
She pulled out of the kiss abruptly as memories of them one by one came into view. There was them ‘meeting’ after the Oblivio blast, the time they stumbled out of the air vent, all the times Adrien had said he loved her, the feeling of amazement at her partner being willing to risk everything for her—and the joy at the intensity of his feelings for her to be willing to do that, and finally, she remembered the kiss.
The sweet, heavenly kiss that simultaneously made her want to shout out her feelings to the whole world and yet also want to run away from the world and marry him in a deserted cottage, alone with the boy she loved.
The kiss she’d just been given.
She gasped to herself and smiled at Adrien. Without a word, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back.
Adrien laughed and eventually pulled away from the very intense kiss long enough to pick Marinette up and twirl her around in happiness.
“M’Lady! You’re back!” Adrien cheered, setting her back on the ground.
Marinette hugged his torso, the soft scents of both Adrien the Fragrance and Camembert greeting her nose as she snuggled into his chest and his arms held her close.
“And I’m here to stay, My Kitty!” She exclaimed quietly.
No more did she have to daydream about her love; she had him now, in a way she never had expected.