Chapter Text
‘Ok, OK…. Ok’ Marinette kept trying to process exactly what was happening to her. She had stumbled into what she thought was an empty building, only to turn around and see a flash of green and Adrien Agreste standing behind her, with what she thought, was an expression very similar to her own.
‘Marinette?’ Adrien asked tentatively, his hand raised as if he wanted to touch her to make sure that his eyes weren’t deceiving him.
Marinette could only squeak in response, all her confidence gone with the red and black suit. She didn’t know how to process what she saw in front of her. Her crazy cat was her sweet crush. Although it did explain a few things, like his occasional puns and flirty smile when he thought no one was watching. She thought it might be similar for Adrien, the times when she wasn’t directly talking to him playing through his mind. Marinette was class president after all, you couldn’t be a nervous wreck all the time if you could stand up to Chloe and take that title.
‘Were we really this blind?’ He asked no one in particular.
'Yes. You really were.’ A black little creature similar looking to Tikki floats in front of Adrien, only to laugh and dive into his bag, she could only presume looking for food as Tikki was doing in her own bag.
Adrien finally looked away from Marinette to glare at the creature. 'You knew?’
'So many questions, little time for answers, maybe you should just talk to her for now.’ Came a muffled reply.
Adrien sighed heavily and ungracefully slid down the wall behind him, Marinette would have joined him if not for the fact she was still frozen in place. She was frantically searching for her Ladybug confidence to deal with what was happening in front of her. Adrien seemed to have gotten over the shock better then she had. But then, he could probably deal with the fact better than her because he had WANTED to find out her identity.
'Do you want to sit?’ Adrien finally spoke, raising his hand to pat the ground beside him.
Tikki looked at the girl and could tell her brain wasn’t working, so as gently as she could she nudged the blue haired girl in the direction of her long time crush.
'Ok.’ She whispered and gingerly walked over to her crush/ partner. She slid down the wall in much the same manner as Adrien and actually found the action comforting. It was a way to slightly release the tension that was building within her. She desperately needed her courage, Ladybug or otherwise, to be able to work through this next conversation.
'This explains why we always seem to vanish at the same time…’ Adrien began, 'also explains that time Ladybug asked me to protect you, and when you didn’t freak out whenever an akuma attacked.’ Adrien rambled 'Although,’ he paused and turned to look at the blue haired girl next to him, a blush was decorating her face as she stared at her hands, 'why can you never seem to have that confidence around me?’ He watched her freeze and the blush deepen on her face. 'I thought that I had upset you somehow, because you could never talk to me.’ Adrien continued looking away from Ladyb- Marinette, he wanted to process this correctly.
This was the only time it could work out, everything after this moment would be affected by other things in their lives. He had a huge crush on Ladybug, no denying that, and he still did, nothing had changed, but he needed to understand Marinette, if she didn’t like him, at all, then there was no hope. He honestly didn’t want to think about that. 'Is it because I model and you design amazing clothes?’ He ignored her sharp intake of breath and plowed on. 'My opinion is they are incredible, so you shouldn’t be nervous about that, and Nino and Alya are fine around me, and you seem fine around them, just me.’ He glanced down at her again to see her fiddling with the strap of her bag. He noticed a small red creature patting her leg gently, a smile on her face as she looked up at Marinette. The Kwami clearly understood what was stressing the poor girl out.
Marinette glanced up at Adrien to see if he had finished speaking, she found it hard to breathe when she heard him compliment her designs. They represented her true self and to hear him say that gave her the confidence she needed. Tikki gently stroking her leg was the reassurance she needed to reply to Adrien, quickly thinking through everything, building up the courage to say what she wanted. It dawned on her that there was a weird circle between the two (four?) of them. Chat Noir loved Ladybug, but Ladybug didn’t return his feelings because Marinette was in love with Adrien, who was Chat Noir. At this point she was eternally great full she had never listened to Alya about confessing to the blonde. She would have had her heart broken because he was in love with her in a red and black suit. What was uncomplicated love anyway? When did anything make sense when you had magical powers of Good and Bad luck.
'Well, Chat,’ she looked up as Adrien directed his attention to her, a look of surprise on his face as she finally didn’t stutter. Ladybug’s confidence shinning though. 'You’re in love with Ladybug, yes?’ He nodded. 'And did you ever really think about why Ladybug never returned your advances?’ She waited as he thought about what she was saying. 'Marinette has no confidence around the person she loves.’ She addressed herself in third person, it was just easier that way. Plus habits die hard.
'So the girl behind the mask loved someone else?’ Adrien asked tentatively
Marinette nodded her head vigorously, she didn’t really know if she was ready to admit her crush, but she knew she had to so they could figure out where to go from there. They could never act the same around each other if they didn’t get this out of the way, no matter how awkward or uncomfortable the subject was. 'Does she still like this person? Do they know?’ He raised an eyebrow at her, a Chat smile gracing his lips.
'I still very much like him. The new information I found out about him does make things complicated. But I do still love him’ she sighed. 'But I don’t know if he knows. Maybe you should ask yourself and answer that question for both of us.’
Adrien’s eyes lit up as Marinette finished her sentence, a blush dominating her face, but her confidence not gone. With Tikki smiling up at her, Marinette knew she had done the right thing, she made her feelings known, and now knew it was up to him as to whether he still was in love with Ladybug, the true Ladybug.
'So,’ he whispered, seemingly as unsure as Marinette had been moments before. 'Ladybug loves Adrien.’ He made it a statement and Marinette could only nod her head once. Holding her breath waiting to see where he was going with this. 'And Chat Noir loves Marinette.’ He breathed her name out gently, also seeming to come to terms with everything that was happening.
Marinette’s eyes snapped up with a huge smile on her face and hope in her eyes. This was going better then she could have hoped.
'Great. You love each other. Now kiss and take me home. There is no more cheese left and I’m not going anywhere near those cookies.’ The grumpy voice complained beside Adrien. The boy just sighed in response.
'Plagg, you know how to kill a moment don’t you?’ Adrien rose steadily to his feet and then offered his hand to Marinette. She could feel his ring against her fingers and smiled. It was the only jewelry he wore, so she could presume it was his miraculous. He smiled gently down at her. A smile she had only ever seen when he was truly happy and relaxed. She was grateful to see it aimed at her. All her dreams coming true in that moment.
'Um,’ Adrien scratched his neck nervously, 'did you want to exchange phone numbers My Lady?’ He didn’t look at her as he used her nickname, a blush finally appearing on his face and not just hers.
Marinette giggled, she couldn’t help it. Here was Adrien, standing in front of her, acting as the perfect mix of her long term crush and long term partner, it brought back reality like nothing else could.
'Of course Kitty, did you want to exchange phones?’ She asked reaching for hers. She knew her wallpaper was of him, but at this point it didn’t matter like it used to.
Things were changing for the better. Adrien’s smile as he saw her background was breathtaking, it was like none of the ones he used while modelling, and different to the one from before. He looked at Marinette with smiles in his eyes and eagerly wrote in his number. She did the same and couldn’t help but add a Ladybug emoji next to her name. It was a silly thing to do, but she knew it would make him happy and remind them of everything that they had been through. When they exchanged phones back, both heroes laughed. It seemed they both had had the same idea. Adrien had put a little black cat with hearts next to a Ladybug alongside his name.
'Smooth.’ Marinette smirked and slid her phone back into her bag, never had she been happier about getting someone’s number.
Adrien grinned in response and then offered Marinette his arm, just as he had tried as Chat Noir in the past, this time though, she took his arm rather than brushing him off. They walked out of the building they had been hiding in with smiles and blushes, both of varying degrees.
'What should we do about our relationship?’ Adrien asked after they had been walking for a few minutes.
Marinette was thoughtful and didn’t response straight away, Adrien had to look down just to make sure his Lady had actually heard him. When he noticed her hand delicately placed on her chin he simply smiled and continued walking. He was heading towards his house. He didn’t want to impose on Marinette in Plagg’s quest for cheese.
'Well, I think, in all honesty, Ladybug’s and Chat Noir’s relationship shouldn’t change.’ Adrien frowned, looking down, he was about to interrupt but Marinette powered through, 'but I want us to be together. We have to keep people off our trail. If we started going out’ she blushes deeply at the thought, 'and then Ladybug and Chat start at the same time, people, like Alya, will get suspicious. And I have enough trouble keeping her off my back as it is.’ Marinette glanced nervously at the boy beside her, trying to gauge his reaction.
He nodded, 'Alright, that makes sense, but’ he looked down to see a worried expression on his Lady’s face. 'We are even going to have to work on us, even as civilians. You couldn’t talk around me until a huge shock forced you too. If you suddenly get over that in one day Alya will also notice that.’
Shock was the response he got, he had to pull gently on Marinette’s arm to get her walking again. She looked deflated. It seemed that finding out each other’s identity was just the start of their problems.
'You’re right.’ She grumbled. She couldn’t just switch her response to the blonde in a day. Things like that didn’t normally happen.
'What if you start tutoring Marinette?’ Tikki offered from Marinette’s jacket.
The Kwami’s were hidden in their coats to hear the conversation, and in Tikki’s case, stay warm. The hero’s looked up from the Kwami with huge grins. Perfect, just the excuse they needed to fix dilemma they found themselves in.
‘Do you mind?’ Marinette gently kicked a rock out of her way, not wanting to get over excited, even if his expression had mirrored her own.
‘Of course I don’t! I get to spend more time with My Lady! Who would argue with that?’ Adrien exclaimed, she could even feel him gently pull away from her, a look of shock and confusion on his face. Though the smile hadn’t left his eyes, which let Marinette breathe a sigh in relief.