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It took a while, but Adrien learned to accept that Ladybug was never going to fall in love with Chat Noir. Simply immune to his charms or interested in someone else, flirting with her was getting nowhere. Of course, it helped that Adrien had a new crush on his mind.
It started innocently enough. Marinette seemed to get over her shyness for him, no longer stuttering over her words every time he said hi. They got closer as they were repeatedly partnered in groups and other gaming contests. He grew to be good friends with Marinette. A soft smile there, a gentle nudge here, and before he knew it, he had a bigger crush on Marinette than he ever had on Ladybug.
Which was how he ended up standing in front of Marinette, stuttering for words. Remembering back to when she could barely say two words to him, he felt as if the tables had turned with how much he was fumbling around. Ever patient, Marinette stood in front of him and waited for him to finish what he was trying to say.
“What… What I mean is – I guess, uh, what I’m trying to say is… Ah… Okay.” Adrien rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “I was wondering if you would maybe, possibly, I don’t know… like to go to a movie with me?” Marinette’s eyes widened and he instantly started to back track. “I mean as friends. Well, no, but if you want, just friends but I mean, I’m not asking as a friend. But… I’ll take it if that’s all you want.”
“Ah, no!” Marinette yelped quickly. “No, Adrien. I would be happy to go to the movie with you… as… not friends.”
It felt as if a balloon of worry inside of him disappeared. His shoulders slumped in relief and he let out a small chuckle. “Oh, okay… that’s good. So… I guess, I’ll pick you up at six.”
He was so giddily happy after the fact that he didn’t blame for Ladybug pointing it out.
“You seem happy, Chat. Got a bowl of milk at home waiting for you?” Ladybug joked, smirking to herself. He narrowed his eyes at her and gave a sarcastic ha back. She stuck out her tongue at him and continued to balance herself on the edge of the roof they were sitting on. Adrien watched her carefully, as always, for a misstep that would cause her to fall. They were still partners, old feelings or no. “Really, though, Chat. You’ve been oddly happy on our patrols lately. Whatever it is, I’m glad you’re happy.”
Adrien smiled like a fool. He couldn’t help but be happy when he was thinking about Marinette. She was everything he wanted and needed. He just couldn’t believe she liked him back. “Yeah… She’s amazing.” He hummed, forgetting himself for a moment. Ladybug stopped walking and poked him with her foot.
“She?” Ladybug probed, a devilish grin on her face. “So, you’re finally over that crush you had on me?”
Adrien grumbled and swatted her foot away. She cackled as she twisted to face the edge of the roof. Instead of returning back to her walking, she started twirling her yo-yo as she looked down in the street. It was a quiet night, which didn’t happen often, so they savored it when they could. “Oh come on, I got over you a long time ago.”
She snorted and Adrien would swear on his miraculous that she was rolling her eyes. “Sure, you did.” Her wrist twisted and the yo-yo began to swing counter clockwise. “So tell me about this girl poor girl that has to deal with your flirting.” He narrowed his eyes at Ladybug, wondering if she was actually an Akuma for a second. Ladybug loathed talking about anything remotely close to their real lives. Obviously noticing his hesitance, she stopped her yo-yo and sat down. “You sound like you need someone to talk to. Just keep out names and specific details and I’m sure nothing bad will happen. After all, I think I would know if you were in my real life by now.”
Adrien chuckled and nodded his head. “Yeah, I suppose we would.” After a small pause, Adrien wasted no time starting to talk about Marinette. There was only so many times he could gush to Nino about how much he cared for her before he stopped listening. “She’s absolutely stunning. We became friends a little while ago and then I just… started liking on her. It was around the same time that I stopped liking you, so I suppose that might have something to do with it.”
“You’re welcome.” Ladybug snickered, bumping his shoulder with her own.
“Well, you’re sassy today.” Adrien snipped back happily. It didn’t go unnoticed by him that Ladybug was warmer to his humor and quips.
Ladybug shrugged her shoulders and sighed. “Yeah, well, I got myself an amazing too.”
He chuckled and leaned back against the roof of the building, trusting Ladybug to keep an eye out for trouble. “I would say that I’d kick their ass if they hurt you, but I’m sure you would do it before I could, my lady.”
“Still calling me that, Kitty?”
“Always calling you that.”
And somehow, it became routine. On quiet patrols, Adrien would find himself gushing over Marinette, telling Ladybug about how much he cared for her and her eyes and hair and freckles and smile. In return, Ladybug started to talk about her someone special. He learnt that she had liked him for a while and thought he was amazing but could barely talk to him without turning into a mess. He knew that they became friends and Ladybug was just beginning to accept that they weren’t going to be a couple as he asked her out. She talked about him as if he was the sun and she was a flower. When he told her as much, she only turned red and accused him of the same thing. He didn’t even have the ability to deny it. Marinette was quickly becoming more than just a casual girlfriend and into something more. It almost scared him that she was so accepting of his fumbling excuses and attempts at flirting.
One patrol, Ladybug squealed suddenly and threw herself back onto the roof they were sitting on. Adrien raised his eyebrows and smirked. “A little happy there, are we?”
“He’s so great.” She hugged herself and sighed happily. “My birthday is coming up. I know he’s trying really hard to get me a present. My best friend told me he asked me what I wanted. Not that she was much help, of course, she didn’t give him any specifics.”
Grumbling out of annoyance, he crossed his arms. “I thought best friends were supposed to help the boyfriend get a great gift.” Alya refused to tell Adrien what Marinette wanted for her birthday. He asked her last week because Marinette’s birthday was only a month away. Nino thought he was weird for getting a present for her so early but Adrien didn’t want to chance getting her a bad gift on the first birthday they were together.
Ladybug rolled her eyes at him and stumbled to her feet. Her arms stretched out on either side of her as she began to balance on the edge, walking as she usually did. Adrien stretched back so she would be able to walk across him without trouble. “Obviously, you don’t know how best friends work.”
“I know perfectly well, thank you very much. My best friend would tell my girl what I wanted for my birthday.” He replied. If anything, Nino would help Marinette plan an entire event for him. Even after being turned into an Akuma, he was dead set on getting Adrien to have an amazing birthday.
“Oh? My girl, huh?” She remarked, waggling her eyebrows down at him. “Things are going good between your amazing someone, then?”
He smiled and nodded. “I think I might be falling in love with her.”
She sighed blissfully and paused in her walking. “Yeah… I know what you mean, kitty.”
Around their third interrupted date was when Adrien started to worry. There was only so many excuses he could make before Marinette would grow suspicious. Either that, or Marinette would think he was ditching her and dump him. He was surprised he didn’t get hurt in the Akuma fights or patrols. He was constantly looking over his shoulder to where he left Marinette and wondering what Marinette was thinking. On patrols, he was in his head so much that he kept leading them down the wrong alleyways to get to a different street. After going down another wrong alleyway, Ladybug asked, “So… you want to talk about it?”
Adrien stumbled over his own two feet and fell onto his face. Ladybug instantly started to cackle. She bent at the knees to stop herself from falling over and Adrien watched her laugh with annoyance. She stepped forward and held out her hand but continued to laugh in between words, “I’m so – sorry… it’s just so funny.”
Glaring at her, he took out his staff and tripped out her feet. She yelped as she fell to the ground with him. Smirking at her, he said, “Wow, you’re right, it is funny.” Both of them sat on the ground in the ally way, staring at each other in equal annoyance and amusement.
Waving his hand, she smiled at him. “Yeah, okay, I’m sorry for laughing. But really… what’s wrong? You’ve been off lately.”
Adrien sighed and used his staff to get up onto the roof of the building. It was only a moment before Ladybug was up there with him, sitting down on the edge with him. Her feet swung as she waited for him to gather his words. “The girl I was telling you about… things have been going really great lately.” He said. Beside him, Ladybug untied her yo-yo from her hip and started to play with the string.
“And… you don’t want it to be?” She asked, confused.
He curled in on himself and hugged his knees against his chest. “No. I’m ecstatic, really. She’s everything I thought she would be. She’s literally perfect and she’s chosen me out of the millions of people she could have had.” Adrien paused in his words, unable to gather what he wanted to say. Patiently, Ladybug waited, her hands fiddling with her yo-yo on her lap. “I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. Between homework and saving the world, I don’t have much time to go on dates. And she’s never said that didn’t like that we haven’t had more dates but my best friend and his girlfriend go on so much more dates than we do. And every time an Akuma comes out, I have to make up some lame excuse and split.”
She hummed beside him, her hand reaching over to squeeze his shoulder. Adrien sighed and let himself relax slightly. “You know… I wish I could say that everything will be fine. But, to be honest, I worry about the exact same stuff.”
He looked up at her face. She seemed so confident all the time, he had no idea she worried about that. “You do?”
“Of course, I do!” Ladybug rolled her eyes. “Jeez, Chat, we are both superheroes after all.” Adrien glared at her and she seemed to instantly sober. She pursed her lips together before continuing. “I think… if you let this – being Chat Noir – hold you back, then Hawkmoth has won. We’ve just got to go on with our lives and hope that our dates understand.”
He sighed and nodded. “You’re right… thanks, my lady, it means a lot.”
“Anytime, kitty.”
“You know… there was one thing I never understood.” Adrien started. Again, it was a quiet night, just like all the nights before. They had grown used to chatting about their special someone’s, often referring to them as their someone amazing, or sometimes as their girl or boy. Ladybug stood next to him, her eyes glued on the streets. She seemed intensely focused on patrolling this evening, even scolding him when he was late. After she waved her had to motion for him to continue, he said, “Why were you so adamant about us not talking about our lives outside of our superhero personas?”
She looked at him over her shoulder and took a second to blink at him. As she sat down, eyes trained back on the street below them, she began to explain. “I don’t really know.” She sighed and stretched her arms above her head. “I guess it would be helpful if we knew who we were. We could exchange numbers and talk to each other easier. I wouldn’t have to run off the second my Miraculous started to wear off.”
“But?” Adrien asked. Normally, he would leave the conversation alone and wouldn’t push for more but since they had started talking about their partners, they got closer. Adrien felt as if he could push for more information from Ladybug now, or at least more than he used to feel.
She shrugged her shoulders. “Well… I think it’s because I’m the opposite of Ladybug in my real life. I’m clumsy and shy and stuttering. I don’t have as much confidence as I have when I’m Ladybug. Revealing who I am, showing you my real persona, I think it would reaffirm the fact that I’m better as Ladybug… that Ladybug is better than I am naturally.”
Shocked, Adrien looked at her to see holding her knees to her chest. He could tell that she honestly believed in what she said. Carefully draping his arm over her shoulders, he pulled her closer to him. She let him pull her in, even leaning her head onto his shoulder. As he rubbed her shoulder with his hand, he said, “Well, I think that’s wrong. I might not know who you are but one thing I know is that Ladybug is as much part of you as anything else in your life.” He turned his head and kissed the top of her head. “See… My girlfriend is similar to what you said. She’s clumsy and sometimes she can’t get a sentence out without messing up a word or two. But she’s amazing anyways because those things are a part of herself. And you know what? I’m the same exact way. As Chat Noir, I’m slick and confident and humorous, if I do say so myself.”
She chuckled, “And only by yourself.”
He gasped obnoxiously, pretending to be hurt. “How dare you. I should be a comedian.” She laughed and curled deeper against his side and Adrien smiled. “But I’m nothing like that in my real life. My father is distant and sometimes I don’t know how to act like a normal kid. That doesn’t mean that Chat Noir is better, though. Because I am Chat Noir just like you are Ladybug. Mask or not, it’s still us… alright, my lady?”
“Alright, kitty.” She sighed and wrapped her arm around his side to give him a squeeze before pulling away. “This means a lot, Chat… thank you. You’re pretty great.”
Adrien bumped her shoulder with his fist and smiled. “You think I’m great.”
He paced across the roof, mumbling to himself about the options he had. He could get her flowers and chocolates but that was so cliché. Maybe he could get her a cake… except her father was the best bakery in the city, she probably had enough cake for a life time. He groaned and ran his hand through his hair, feeling his cat ears brush against his wrist. Why did he have to say that? Marinette was furious with him and she was going to dump him, he knew it.
Behind him, he heard someone’s footsteps and he turned around quickly. Ladybug was standing at the edge of the roof, tying her yo-yo back onto her waist. Almost stumbling over himself, Adrien ran to Ladybug and grabbed her hands. “I messed up.”
Her eyes narrowed and she pulled her hands out of his grasp. “Please tell me you didn’t tell your girl that you’re Chat Noir.”
He waved her off and shook his head quickly. “Oh no, of course not. No. She’s just furious with me and I messed up and I need your help fixing it.” Ladybug was a girl and she had a boyfriend. She would know how he should apologize.
Scoffing, she shook her head in disappointment. “What did you do?”
“I… I sort of dismissed her worries as stupid and insulted her…” Adrien mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck from embarrassment. Marinette worried to him out loud at lunch one day that she thought one of the models in his previous shoot was trying to push them apart. Instead of listening to her, like he should have, Adrien just told her that wasn’t true and the model was a nice person. They argued and Adrien ended up saying she was just paranoid. She didn’t talk to him for the rest of the day and Alya tripped him in the hallway a total of five times. It wasn’t until the model called him up to tell him that she saw Marinette kissing another boy when he realized that he was a complete idiot and Marinette was right.
“Wow…” Ladybug said. “Now, I didn’t think you were that stupid, Chat.
He groaned and dropped his head into his hands. “I know! I know! I should have listened to her. I want to apologize but she won’t see me! I tried going to her house but she wasn’t there or she refused to see me. And none of her friends would help me. I was thinking of getting her flowers and chocolates. I’m getting so desperate, I’m thinking of getting a sky writer.” Adrien started to pace across the roof again. He couldn’t help wringing his hands together, completely taken over by his worry. He cared for Marinette too much to let this get in the way of their relationship. He wanted to fix it more than anything. “I need a way to apologize, to beg forgiveness. I can’t let her go. I love her.”
Ladybug walked over to him and grabbed his shoulders to force him to look at her. “Hey… first, take a breath.” Following what she said, Adrien sucked in a deep breath, moving his hands back to his side. “Okay, good. Now have you told her that?”
“What?” Adrien asked, “That I love her?” Ladybug nodded her head and he paused. He hadn’t. Sure, he had felt it a lot of times; the words clawing up his throat whenever she smiled at him, or fixed her hair. He didn’t say it because it always felt like the wrong time. Either there was too many people around or something interrupted him. He didn’t think it was too soon, they were dating for four months now. It felt natural to him and the main reason he had yet to say it was because he was so scared she wouldn’t say it back.
Ladybug smiled in front of him. “You should say it. I know that I wish my boyfriend would say it to me.”
Adrien nodded. His heart was slowing down from beating out of his chest. He reached up his hands to put them on Ladybug’s hand on his shoulder and let out a huge breath. “Okay. I will. Next time I see her, I promise I will say it to her.”
“Now about that apology gift.” Ladybug started, “I’ve got a lot of possible ideas.”
Of course, one of Ladybug’s suggestion worked. Marinette forgave him and Adrien told her he loved her and she said it back. As a thank you gift to all the suggestions Ladybug offered him, Adrien gave Ladybug some chocolates from Germany that his father brought him. She loved them and started eating them right away. She snacked beside him as he watched out for trouble, his eyes scanning the skyline. He stole a couple of them from her while they sat and grinned when she swatted his hand away.
“So do you ever want to tell her about you being Chat Noir?” Ladybug asked. Her legs swung back and forth as she poked around in the chocolate box. People below were walking around the Eiffel tower. Some would look at them and wave and others saw it as so normal for them to be there that the just continued on walking. Adrien looked at Ladybug’s face for any sign of her joking but she seemed to be completely serious.
“Yeah… A lot.” Adrien replied. It was a constant thought in his head whenever he made an excuse to get out of a date to fight an Akuma or whenever he couldn’t go to a movie because he had to patrol alone. He wouldn’t lie to Ladybug and say that he didn’t think of it at all.
Ladybug nodded next to him. She closed up the box of chocolates and balanced it beside her on the beam they were sitting on. “So why don’t we?”
“Tell them? I don’t know. It’s like spiderman. If they know, they could get hurt.”
“So you’re telling me your girlfriend has never been hurt by an Akuma?” Ladybug asked back. Obviously, Adrien knew she was right. Marinette had been transformed by Akumas before and although she always turns back, he wondered what sort of affect it had on her. She didn’t talk about it when she told him she was transformed after he found her. Granted, neither did he when he used that excuse.
He reached over her to grab the chocolate box and this time she didn’t even try to stop him. “What are you saying, here?” Adrien asked. “Are we going to tell them?”
Ladybug shrugged her shoulders and bit her lip. She seemed like she was torn in two different directions, unsure of what to do or say. “You don’t have to. I can keep it secret from my boyfriend of who you are. But I don’t think I can keep it secret from him anymore. I love him and if I want him to become a permanent part of my life, he’s going to find out sooner or later.”
“No… I think you’re right. I love her too and I’m going to tell her. Hey, maybe they can be friends?”
She snorted and leaned back to lay down on her back. Her legs still hung off the edge of the tower as she stretched her hands up above her to look at them. “Yeah. Maybe.” She mumbled quietly. Her hands folded back to her chest and she stared up the tower, seeming to wonder about everything and nothing at all. “I’m going to stay out late tonight. You can home, if you want.”
Adrien shook his hands and laid back down with her. His hand blindly took a chocolate from the box he opened and he plopped it down on her stomach. “I think I’ll stay, if that’s alright with you, my lady.”
She grabbed the chocolate from her stomach and threw it into her mouth. “Sounds good to me, kitty.”
Adrien jumped down onto his balcony. He stumbled into his room, already half asleep. Ladybug finally called it a night around four in the morning. They had a long discussion with how they were going to tell their partners, and an even longer one about if they should tell each other who they were. In the end, they both agreed to tell their partners first and then they would think about telling each other. After all, there was a big difference in telling your partner that you are a superhero and telling your superhero partner who you are.
He let his transformation fade away as he fell onto his bed. Plagg grumbled with annoyance, complaining about being out so long. He flew over to where he knew Adrien kept his cheese and started munching. It was a good thing that school was canceled for tomorrow because of some teacher convention that most of their teachers were going to. He didn’t think he would be able to get himself awake in time to go if there was school.
Just as he let himself get comfortable in his bed, his cellphone started ringing on his side table. He groaned and stretched his arm to grab it, fumbling to answer the call. Without checking who it was, he put it to his ear and mumbled, “Hello?”
“Did I wake you?” Marinette said quietly.
Adrien ran his hand through his hair and came up with a quick excuse. “Oh no, no, I was just up late doing homework.” He was actually glad that she called, in a way, that way he could just ask her if they could meet up tomorrow now. “Since we’re on the phone anyways, I have a question for you.”
Marinette hummed on the other side of the line. “I do too. I was just wondering if you had free time tomorrow. I need to tell you something.” He couldn’t help his heart jumping into his throat. Before he could worry too much about whether she was going to break up with him, she continued, “It’s nothing bad, I’m not going to break up with you.”
“Oh, good, that’s good.” Adrien replied, chuckling to himself. He had gotten so irrationally scared for a moment. “But yeah, I have free time tomorrow. I actually want to talk to you too. Should we meet at our regular café and time?”
She laughed sleepily and Adrien could just picture the shy smile she probably had on her lips. He really hoped it would go well. He didn’t want her to be mad at him for keeping it secret for so long. “Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow, my lady.” Adrien said.
“Tomorrow, kitty.” Marinette responded.
Adrien hung up the phone and set it to the side. He curled up in the bed and smiled to himself. As nervous as he was, he was excited to tell her. Once she knew, he wouldn’t have to lie to her about where he went off to during Akuma attacks. It was going to be –
He pushed himself up quickly, hands fumbling for his phone. It didn’t even ring once before Marinette answered it. “You’re-”
“And you!” Marinette practically shouted back. There was a pregnant pause between them, neither of them knowing quite what to say. What does one normally do when they find out their superhero partner is actually their girlfriend and they’ve been gushing about her the entire time?
Laughing to himself, Adrien smiled impossibly wide. “At least we don’t have to have that conversation now.”
“Mon dieu.”