Chapter Text
Adrien’s mind was reeling.
She was beautiful, she was resourceful and smart, she had the same two pigtails and the same blue eyes. How had he not seen it before? How had it skipped his mind to consider her? How had he not been able to figure out on his own that Ladybug was Marinette, his classmate and friend?
Then again, she was probably feeling the same way right now. She had been just as astonished when their transformations gave out. They had ducked into an alley as a last resort, seconds ticking down before their identities would be revealed, and they had both understood in that moment that seeing each other in civilian form was the lesser of two evils than the people of Paris – and the media – discovering them. She had stared at him in disbelief. She had lost the ability to speak. She had covered her face with her hands, but not before Adrien caught the crimson shade developing on her cheeks.
He had walked towards her and gently pried her fingers off her face. He had held her hands in his own as she stared up at him with wide eyes and a red face. He had smiled at her, relieved and overjoyed, and had said breathlessly, “I’m glad it’s you.”
She had stuttered and mumbled her way through her response: “I’m glad it’s you too.”
He had beamed at her, and the two teenagers cautiously slipped back out of the alley and into the Parisian streets. They had parted ways, and Adrien looked behind him to watch her go.
He remembered what he’d once said, a long time ago, during their second battle.
“It doesn’t matter who’s behind the mask… I love this girl.”
Now he knew. He loved Marinette Dupain-Cheng. He was head over heels for Marinette Dupain-Cheng. And he was going to do everything in his power to win her over, as if his life depended on it.
Because in a way, it did.
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Marinette’s hands trembled at her sides as she tried to sleep that night.
The boy whose advances she’d rejected for so long, the boy who had flirted with her and she had occasionally, jokingly flirted back with, the boy who made awful puns and ridiculous jokes in the very heat of battle, the boy who had sacrificed himself multiple times to ensure the safety of her well-being, the boy who was her partner…
That boy was Adrien Agreste. Chat Noir was Adrien Agreste.
The boy who had given her his umbrella on the first day of school, the boy who stopped to wave at her during the middle of his photoshoot, the boy who stood by her side to help when her uncle came to visit from China, the boy who played video games with her in her room, the boy she’d walked in on showering while in his house as Ladybug, the boy whose pictures were literally scattered all over her bedroom walls…
That boy was Chat Noir. Adrien Agreste was Chat Noir.
Her heart beat violently inside of her chest.
She didn’t get much sleep that night at all.
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Adrien stepped out of the car nervously and looked up at the school. Marinette was in there.
His lady was in there.
And she knew that he knew that she knew his identity. Because he knew hers too.
He swallowed thickly as he ascended the steps to the front doors. He walked through them, gripping the handle of his book bag. He took the stairs up to his homeroom. He walked in.
Their eyes locked immediately.
He instantly gave her a warm, friendly smile. She looked away, her cheeks blushing.
But she smiled too.
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An akuma attack happened at the school later that week. The first thing Adrien did was whirl around in his seat and look Marinette in the eye. She gave him a knowing nod, and the two excused themselves from the classroom.
Adrien had guessed that knowing each other’s identities might help their partnership, but he couldn’t have known just how true that would be.
The two fought together in complete synch. It was a battle to go down in the books; they defeated the akuma victim in record time, and hardly any other students or teachers got caught in the mix. When Ladybug extended her fist for a fist bump, Chat hesitated. He wanted to celebrate a different way this time – perhaps from now on.
He stepped forward, took her knuckles, and brought it to his lips. He pressed a kiss to it gently.
“Good job.” He said their signature line, but he murmured it in a low whisper, smiling at her.
She stared at him with parted lips.
Their miraculouses started beeping, breaking their reverie, and once again, the two nodded at each other and ran toward separate bathrooms.
When they walked back into their classroom, the room was buzzing about the attack.
As Adrien slid into his seat, he heard Alya behind him lamenting to Marinette that she had been in the bathroom the entire time and missed all the action. He chuckled to himself, and when Nino asked him, “What’s so funny, bro?”, he made up a quick pun.
He made sure to say it loudly enough for the girls to hear, and he grinned widely when he heard a groan behind him.
She was Ladybug, all right.
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Marinette was doing homework on a rainy night when he visited. He’d knocked on the window that led to the terrace, and when she curiously opened it, Chat Noir tumbled down onto her bed rather ungracefully.
He quickly pulled himself together, climbing down the ladder of her bunk bed, and stood before her.
She stated the obvious rather than questioning why he was there. “You’re soaking wet.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that,” he answered sheepishly. “I just… I didn’t know where else to go.”
She cocked an eyebrow at him as she opened one of her drawers and took out a fluffy towel. She handed it to him and ventured, “What about your home?”
She pictured the Agreste mansion, where she’d been inside a total of three times.
But he shook his head, using the towel to dry his hair. “That’s kind of why I’m here. Um…” He looked down at her questioningly, like he didn’t know where to start.
She stood there awkwardly, realizing once again, that this was Adrien Agreste. Adrien Agreste. In her room. At night.
“Home is terrible,” he blurted.
Her eyes widened.
He kept talking. “My father doesn’t understand me. At all. He’s cold and distant… and I can’t bear to be inside those walls. The house is just like him. Unwelcoming. His secretary pays more attention to my schedule and my life than he does. And she only does it because it’s her job. I… I came here because I needed to be reminded that someone cared about me. And I know you do, Marinette. Because you’re my partner, of course. And I’m sorry for coming, I know it’s late and you’re probably busy, but I couldn’t help myself. I just needed confirmation that… well, that…” His voice broke.
Alarmed and embarrassed at almost losing it, he turned away to look at her walls. What met his gaze was a picture of himself.
Marinette gasped as she realized with horror that she hadn’t taken down a single one of her Adrien Agreste modeling pictures.
They were all over the room.
Chat Noir did a full three-sixty, turning all the way back to her with wide eyes.
They both blushed deeply.
“I… I like fashion,” she explained lamely. “Your modeling portfolio is full of… that.”
“Male fashion,” he clarified, then winced as her blush deepened and she looked down at her feet. He looked down at her feet also, and was momentarily distracted by her pink nail polish.
“Um, about your father,” she said suddenly, and he jerked his attention back up to her face. She looked at him with concern, despite her intense embarrassment. “I’m really sorry to hear about all that.”
“You have nothing to be sorry about.”
“I still am. It’s not right for a parent to treat his child like… like that. You deserve better, Chat. I mean… Adrien.”
He let out a nervous laugh. “You can call me either name. Whenever you want.”
She laughed too, though it sounded more like a cough. “It’s all a bit confusing.”
“Yeah.”
The photos around them seemed to be staring them down. The boy felt heat rise to his cheeks once more, and Marinette finally took a step toward the wall.
“I’ll just… take these down.”
“No!” he found himself blurting. She paused where she was, her hand on one corner of a picture. The two stared at each other.
“I meant, if you want to. Then yeah, take them down. But if you want to keep them up…” his voice went to a whisper. “Then by all means, please keep them up.”
She drew in a sharp intake of breath. Her heart was beating erratically.
“Really.”
“Yes.” He nodded firmly. “If any of these pictures… inspire you, then I’ll know that all those photoshoots were worth it.”
A heavy silence passed between them for a few seconds.
Finally, she whispered, “Okay,” and let go of the picture.
Chat let out a deep breath he didn’t realize he was holding in.
He turned to her desk to notice a little kwami sleeping soundly in a tiny doll bed. He smiled and pointed.
“That’s your kwami?”
“Tikki.” Marinette nodded. “You saw her the day we de-transformed, right?”
“Right, but both of ours kept quiet that day. They let us do the talking.”
“Yours is very cute.” She took a step forward. “A little black cat.”
He wrinkled his nose. “Yeah, cute and hungry. Like, all the time. And it’s the worst craving in the world. He likes camembert.”
She laughed then, a real laugh, one that sprung butterflies within his stomach. “I’m sorry to hear that. Tikki likes cookies. Good thing I live above a bakery, huh?”
“Sure is,” he smiled.
She stopped smiling, and looked at him inquisitively, tilting her head.
“What is it?” he asked.
She spoke slowly. “You said you came here because you needed confirmation. What about?”
Chat looked down at the floor. He used to be so confident as Chat Noir, this alter ego, and he could joke away the seriousness of any situation and flirt with Ladybug all he wanted. Now that Marinette knew who he really was, and vice versa, all that went out the window. Now he was vulnerable, and afraid.
“Adrien?” He looked up as she said his real name.
“Yes?” He whispered.
“Confirmation for what, Minou?”
Her voice was gentle, her expression kind. He was this close to breaking down again.
With a pained look, he admitted, “Confirmation that someone loves me.”
Her eyebrows shot up, and he looked back down.
Foolish, foolish, foolish. He was so foolish.
Of course she couldn’t confirm something like that.
But before he could back away and climb the ladder and exit through the terrace window and dash away in the rain and avoid her for the rest of his life, she stepped toward him. Hesitantly, but she did.
And before he could even realize it, she was hugging him very, very gently.
He inhaled and exhaled, carefully lifting his arms and slowly wrapping them around her. His mind jumped back to the other time they’d hugged – after he thought she’d killed herself in the mouth of a tyrannosaurus rex. She’d been Ladybug back then.
But she was Marinette now, and she had initiated the hug, and he was hugging her back, and they were in the middle of her room, and-
“Of course I love you, Chat. You’re my partner, and… you’re my best friend.”
He rested his chin on her shoulder and closed his eyes.
“Say it again.” He found himself mumbling.
It was too late to be embarrassed. She had photos of him all over the room, for crying out loud.
She paused.
“I love you, Chat.”
He tilted his head and leaned his mouth to her ear. “Say it again. Please.”
This time she whispered it into his ear, sending chills down his spine. “I love you… Adrien.”
Tears brimmed in his eyes, and he forced them with all his willpower to not spill over. Someone loved him back. Perhaps not in the same way he loved her, but she did love him back. She loved him as a friend. What more could he ask for?
“I love you too, Marinette.”
Her hold on him got a bit tighter, and he in turn rested his cheek on the crook of her neck.
He didn’t know it, but they both had butterflies.
When she finally let go, he felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest. He felt lighter than air. He smiled down at her, and she smiled back at him, much in the same way she’d done when he’d taken her bracelet during their video game session so long ago.
They spoke at the same time.
“Well”-
“So…”
Chat cleared his throat. Marinette silenced herself, allowing him to speak. “Well… thank you very much… for that. For letting me into your room, and for… your confirmation. I think I ought to go now.”
“Be safe,” she said before she could stop herself. “I-I mean, in the rain and all.”
He beamed at her. “I will… my lady.”
She blushed at the affectionate nickname, and he let himself out.
When the window was closed, Marinette let out a huge exhalation of breath.
She’d. Hugged. Adrien.
In her room.
And he had accepted her many pictures of him.
He had to know that she liked him.
Chat breathed out a sigh of nervousness as he stood outside in the rain.
He’d hugged Marinette.
In her room.
And he had asked her to tell him she loved him.
She had to know that he liked her.