Chapter Text
Marinette was used to being a superhero on her own. It had always been like this.
Until it wasn't. For a little while.
It wasn't easy but she somehow managed to do it. And sometimes she had temporary partners, when things got so hard she needed help and Master Fu relented.
But mostly it was just her. Fighting the akuma of the day. Saving people. Making sure Paris was fine once again.
People were usually happy to see her. She felt supported and liked. But apart from when she happened to save a friend and was doing her best to hide this fact, she barely noticed the people she was forced to meet daily.
There were too many of them. Paris was a huge city and she sometimes traveled great distances to far-flung parts of it. She doubted that she often met the same person twice. Unless it was Mister Pigeon akumatised for the nth time, of course.
She had saved rich people who had wanted to lavish her with gifts in gratitude, which she had refused, naturally. She had also saved famous musicians and politicians, journalists and even designers.
So her having to save a teen supermodel wasn't even that big of a thing. She knew who Adrien Agreste was. Everyone knew. But until this moment he had been just a pretty face on a billboard, someone familiar in a way that had nothing to do with her actually knowing him.
This changed when for some strange reason he ran straight into middle of the fight with the latest akuma. To help Ladybug, the one who was supposed to keep him safe.
It was such a stupid and reckless thing to do that she couldn't even react at first. She had needed the help, she couldn't deny that, but why would he put himself in danger for her? The last thing she needed was Gabriel Agreste being mad at her over not protecting his son.
She acted impulsively - as soon as she could gather her wits and recover from the blow she had received, she pulled him away.
It should have been a routine maneuver to take a civilian to safety. It didn't matter that it was an objectively drop dead gorgeous person who was in her arms as she zipped away to a rooftop with her yo-yo. She had never cared about this before.
But it seemed like her heart had another opinion.
It literally stopped when he put his arms around her and looked at her, a little embarrassed but also with a hint of defiance and something else in his oh-so-green eyes.
It stopped and then threw her whole being into chaos. She forced herself to act and move him away from danger but internally she was going crazy.
What was it about him? Why did his touch feel familiar? Why did his eyes remind her of someone else's? Did her heart know more than her or was this just a figment of her imagination?
"Thank you for your help, but please stay away, I don't want you to get hurt," she told him when she prepared to go back to the akuma.
She wasn't being nice, her tone too brisk and dismissive. But she was rattled. She needed to collect herself to finish the akuma and she needed to think before she could make any conclusive decisions.
Thankfully, Adrien listened to her.
The day was long and tiring and yet he never really left her thoughts. What could she do to address her suspicions? It wasn't as if anyone knew about where she had been when she had gone missing for days because of that other akuma. No one knew where she had gone to, who she had met. No one knew that she'd left a part of her heart behind.
She usually did so well. Not thinking about this, about him, because it hurt too much. But of course she couldn't forget. A part of her would always belong to Mister Bug - the mysterious superhero she had met in that other universe where she wasn't Ladybug but he had her Miraculous instead.
He had been so supportive when he had found her there, confused and scared. He had been determined to help her go back home. And he had done it.
Neither of them had banked on them growing so close in such a short period of time. They couldn't have predicted the spark that had appeared between them from the very first moment and had grown into something much stronger with every passing day.
They had both done their best to pretend it wasn't there. They knew that it was doomed. She was meant to go back home. He was meant to stay. They couldn't be together.
But the feeling had still been there and when the time to say goodbye had come it had spilled from both of them in a burst of tears and affection that had torn her heart in two.
It was in the past though. Marinette was home and no one knew about the scar she was going to wear unseen on her heart forever. She had fallen in love and she had been forced to abandon her beloved. She had to move on.
Except that this had happened. Her meeting with Adrien had her questioning everything.
She didn't know much about Mister Bug although a part of her had felt as if she had known him very well. They were both superheroes. They weren't prone to sharing personal details. Even with the person they happened to love.
She didn't know his name, where he lived, where he went to school. Trivial, everyday things she knew about her friends. She hadn't been a part of his everyday life. She had been a secret he had had to protect to keep her safe and get her back home. The Master Fu in his universe had helped them. So Mister Bug's identity had never been compromised.
It was a fact she sometimes regretted. Not that she would have gone to look for him in her universe if she had known. Or maybe she would have.
Except that it would be a stranger out there. Someone who didn't know her like he did. Someone she hadn't shared stolen moments with. Someone who didn't love her back.
Even if she did find him, how could she even explain to him who he was to her? Wouldn't he think that she was crazy?
All this without any way for her to know that she was right. What were the chances that she would just bump into Mister Bug's civilian self? She wanted it to be true but it was also so complicated.
"Tikki," she exclaimed suddenly, after pacing around her room for what had felt like hours. "You did say that you're you in every universe, right?"
It was something Marinette couldn't wrap her head around. Then again, the kwamis were not something she could explain with science or logical thinking either. They were magic. They were as old as the world. As weird as the multiverse thing sounded, it also wasn't impossible.
"Yes."
Her kwami looked just a little wary, probably sensing where this was going.
"You know who Mister Bug is." It wasn't a question. The kwamis knew everything. The secrets had never extended to them. But there was also the thing about them being omnipresent. What her counterpart in that universe knew, Tikki knew as well.
"I do."
"Adrien... Is it Adrien?"
She was suddenly afraid of the answer. Did she want to know? Could she do anything with this knowledge? Could this end in a way that didn't ruin someone's life?
"Your heart, Marinette, what does your heart tell you?"
It was as cryptic as Master Fu's usual advice to her. But it also made sense.
She knew for a fact that no one else had ever made her feel the way Mister Bug did. Her reaction to Adrien, completely natural and unexpected, had been exactly the same.
It was him. She had found him.
***
Life continued as it always did. Even when her personal world had been turned upside down, the rest of the world didn't care about this. There were more akumas, more people to save. School, family, friends.
Marinette had to be there. To do her job. To keep going.
But a part of her was always on the lookout for someone else. It lingered on billboards she had walked by without noticing hundreds of times before. It longed to see him again. It was painfully aware of his presence when she did.
Because it turned out that Adrien had a rebellious and reckless streak. He showed up where she had to be too often. He took risks to help her. He drove her crazy.
Her life was complicated enough without having to save him from trouble constantly. Without worrying about giving away how he made her feel. Without her traitorous heart being ecstatic every time he was nearby.
It was too much. Marinette couldn't keep going like this.
She didn't know how she ended up at Adrien's house. Of course she knew where he lived. Everyone did. Being there made her feel like a crazy fangirl, a stalker that needed to be arrested.
Except that she was a superhero. She had a duty. She had to talk to him and ask him to stay away. For his sake and for hers.
"Ladybug!"
If only he didn't look so happy to see her. If only his eyes didn't light up in a painfully familiar way. If only she was stronger.
"It has come to my attention that you see yourself like some kind of civilian hero. You're brave and what you do is commendable but you need to stop."
At least she had hoped to tell him that. She couldn't.
"You're taking unnecessary risks when you try to help me," she snapped. He had gotten under her skin and she wanted to hold onto this irritation.
He looked at his feet, his cheeks bright with embarrassment.
"I want to protect you." His reply was so quiet, so subdued, that it contradicted the defiance of his words.
"I'm a superhero, Adrien," she cried out, trying to stifle the thrill inside of her as his name passed her lips. "You can get hurt. You...distract me."
"You shouldn't be doing this alone."
When he looked her in the eye, he didn't look repentant. He was so stubborn. So infuriating. It was very him.
"Oh, I know." The memories of having him as her partner overwhelmed her. It had been temporary but they had been so good together. She missed it so much.
"Are you ok?"
Adrien was suddenly close, looking concerned. Marinette realised that her eyes were wet and her heart was aching.
"An akuma sent me into another universe," she found herself admitting. He had this disarming effect on her. Always had. This was why she had given her heart away so easily.
"I know," he said, startling her. "I mean, you were gone a while. It was on the news."
She knew that people had noticed. But the fact that he had noticed meant more.
"I met someone there. He was a superhero there. Instead of me."
"Oh." He took a step back, hurt unmistakable in his eyes. Was it the affection in her voice that revealed how she felt about that someone?
"He was brave and dashing," she sniffed. "He took care of me. He became my friend. He..."
Tears made it hard to speak for a moment. She missed what they'd had so much. She wished she could somehow communicate to Adrien how special it had been.
Through blurry eyes she saw a hand reach out to her and retreat without touching her. She longed for that comfort.
"I see. He was a hero and I'm not," Adrien nodded slowly.
"No." She almost laughed. "I mean, you're just like him. Without the super powers and the mask and the suit... "
His brows furrowed.
"Really?"
"You're him, Adrien."
The truth just spilled from her. She needed him to know. She needed it out. Even if it was going to ruin everything.
His eyes widened, disbelief on his face. It was what she had expected.
"You probably think this is crazy," she sighed. "I'm nobody to you and all of a sudden I claim that I've been in love with you. You owe me nothing. I should probably go ..."
She turned around, defeat weighing her shoulders down. There, she had done it. He was going to leave her alone now.
Warm fingers wrapped around her wrist, stopping her in her tracks.
"Do you know why I kept running into danger?" Came his soft voice. "I did it because of you. I cared too much about your wellbeing."
It was her turn to look amazed at him. What was he telling her?
"I wanted to be a superhero just so I could be next to you. It's wrong, I know, but I can't help it."
Her heart was now going into overdrive.
"I'm not him, through. I mean, I'm stuck here and have to sneak out and do silly things just to catch your attention. It's just pathetic. I'm not a cool superhero."
The crooked smile he gave her, so self-deprecating it hurt, was also so familiar.
She couldn't hold back anymore. She ran to him and pulled him into her arms.
"You're just like him," she sobbed as he held her tightly.
She hated the neediness in her voice. She couldn't have Mister Bug back. But she also knew that she didn't need to.
She had found him again.
And if she had understood him right, he also wanted her there. They could get to know each other. Maybe she could find a way for him to be her partner in superheroing. For him, she would insist.
Maybe they could have a chance at something more this time.