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It was always going to be Ladybug.
She was clever, resourceful, and instinctively inclined to connect the dots.
So in the end she was the first to work out her partner’s secret identity.
And when she did, it terrified her.
-o-
She could not relax around Adrien. More than usual. More than ever.
Chat Noir was sitting just in front of her and he was Adrien and Chat was in love with Ladybug but Adrien never noticed Marinette.
Well, she thought, at least my secret identity is iron clad.
She had to tell him she knew. It wouldn't be right to lie to Chat. Even if they didn't share their civilian selves with each other, they never lied to each other. They were partners. There was no room for dishonesty in that relationship.
She trusted Chat. She knew Chat cared about her. She knew Adrien was kind and accommodating and when she disappointed Chat like this she just knew it would be the worst, quietest pain she’s ever feel. He would brush it off as nothing. He would be delighted. But he would stop -- with the whole charade. He wouldn't like her anymore.
And goddamnit, Marinette wanted him to like her. It wasn't fair that she liked both Adrien and Chat. He had to like Ladybug and Marinette, too.
She could do nothing. She could pretend she didn't know. She could be cool, completely casual--
“Marinette?”
She started, stifling a screech.
Alya looked at her with tempered amusement. Class was over, and everyone around was shuffling their things together. “Drop your creep-o act before someone other than me notices.”
Marinette huffed, instantly looking down. “Yeah, fine,” she said, and put her notebook into her bag. She had every right to be creepy. Alya would think so too if she knew the truth.
Adrien bid them goodbye as they passed his desk. Marinette couldn’t stop the petrified flinch that his words startled out of her.
Ugh. Knowing the truth was overrated.
Marinette followed Alya into the courtyard, her nerves rising in every step.
-o-
She didn’t mention it on patrol.
Chat was blithe as ever, swinging from his stick with his typical carefree grace. Tonight he had been especially affectionate, bumping shoulders with her and winking at least twice. His good mood must have spread because she even giggled at few of his jokes.
The whole time she couldn’t stop wondering why Adrien never acted like this.
He was so quiet in class -- to the point that she had found it intimidating. How did you approach a thoughtful, reserved guy who was too nice to let you know you were offending him or being a weirdo in general? You just didn't. Or you clammed up every time he did talk to you.
But Ladybug always felt comfortable around Chat. Even now when she was terrified. Even now when she knew -- even if she might still not exactly believe -- she knew the boy that was under the mask was Adrien Agreste.
And maybe it was selfish of her, but she allowed herself to soak up his adoration, letting his gaze warm her skin. Just one more night. One more, and then she'd tell him.
“You're in a good mood, chaton,” she had told him at the beginning of the night. He paused in twirling his baton, flashing her a Cheshire grin.
“I have every reason to be,” he replied, stepping closer to her. She didn't have it in her heart to step away.
-o-
The four of them weren't exactly a thing, but Alya and Nino were, so it was more like a couple and their third and fourth wheels than an actual, friend group, thing.
Adrien talked to Nino and maybe Alya and Marinette talked to Alya and Nino and at no point did they engage each other directly.
At this point, she was afraid if he did talk to her one-on-one she would just blurt “I'm Ladybug” immediately.
The guilt at withholding her discovery -- lying to him -- it was too much to bear.
Of course Alya, completely ignorant of Marinette's newfound aversion to everything Agreste, made every attempt to connive situations for the two of them to end up alone together.
Today was the day she succeeded. Alya and Nino conveniently dropped out of lunch plans, leaving Marinette and the Last Person She Wanted To Eat Lunch With all alone at the deli closest to the lycée.
It was supremely awkward. Marinette was eating her sandwich with a fork. Somehow picking the thing up to eat was too much to handle. It was weird. She knew it was weird. God, Chat would be so weirded out. He was weirded out. He was right in front of her! She was weirding herself out but at this point she was in too deep and she just had to commit, no matter how much mustard ended up on her hands.
“So, are you worried about the history final?”
Ah. School talk. She would have been perfectly fine suffering through this in silence but if Adrien insisted on small talk, she would oblige.
“A little. The multiple choice is mostly memorization, and I just don't have the time for that.”
He nodded. “I know the feeling.” Of course he does. “Between my job and lycée and everything else, I feel like my brain has no room for French monarchs.”
Yeah, not to mention saving Paris on a weekly basis can be frequently distracting. And exhausting.
“I like to multitask,” she found herself saying. “When I'm out -- running,” meaning the times when patrol was the only chance she got for studying -- “I do a mental flash card for each building I pass by.”
Adrien nodded, tapping his chin thoughtfully. “What if you get the answer wrong?
Marinette bristled. “I don't get them wrong.”
He laughed, like Chat, and her heart flipped. “Oh, really?”
“Yes really! And, well, if I do I can just check the textbook!”
“You bring your textbook out on runs?”
Well, when she wasn’t dropping them.
She flushed. Fucking Alya and her Ladyblog. He wouldn't make the connection. He was too much of an idiot, right? “Ye-es,” she admitted.
“Seems like you could just cut out the running and stay home with your textbook.”
She huffed, sucking on the straw of her soda. “Yeah, that's not an option.” She looked morosely out the window at the Parisian streets, which would no doubt need saving within the next half hour. It was a Tuesday, after all.
He laughed disbelievingly.
Marinette glared with all the acid she could manage. “You're one to talk, M. Chinese and Fencing and Piano-Playing Model Person!”
“Well, my dad--”
“I know, Adrien.” She looked back outside, grimacing to herself. She was being so weird. Like, she wasn't even giving away her identity. Just being weird. She had to tell him before she self-destructed from nerves.
Except she had already decided to do it when they were Chat and Ladybug.
Well, what did it matter, really? What was she gaining by acting like a total idiot in front of him? Her sputtering wasn’t really turning the romantic odds in her favor.
When she looked back at him he was smiling. Softer than she's seen from him. “Adrien?”
“Uh -- yeah. Sorry. It's just nice to be with someone who gets it, you know? Nino’s always saying I should drop something or talk to my father but like, I can't do that to-- uh.” He drummed his fingers on the table, and then said: “When someone puts their trust in you, you can't ignore that responsibility.”
“Of course,” she said softly.
“Anyway, it's nice to know I have you. We should do this again, Marinette.” He flashed her his megawatt Agreste™ smile and guilt flooded through her like acid.
She was so fucked.
-o-
The akuma attack graciously waited until lunch hour had ended and broke out during final period.
A quick affair. Ladybug dodged streams of iced coffee and seized the barista’s sharpie. With a crunch of her boot, the day was saved. She hadn't even needed her lucky charm.
On top of that Chat hadn't even arrived at the scene. Chloe had leeched herself onto Adrien as soon as the screaming began.
Now he dropped down beside her just as she released the cleansed butterfly.
“Well shit,” he said. “Nothing for me to do but stand here and look pretty.” He struck a pose.
It was the same pose from last year’s Agreste Fall she had on her wall.
Adrien Agreste, model.
Ugh. It figured, honestly. Chat was such a prissy boy.
“Thank you, chaton,” she said as she approached him, recoiling her yo-yo, “but I think I’ve already got that covered.”
She stood in front of him, feet apart, feeling grounded and balanced. “Guess I'll have to find another use for you,” she told him. How was it she could flirt the world away with the same boy she stuttered with over lunch just hours ago?
Chat’s entire posture glitched in nervous comprehension. She watched him swallow. The spots, she guessed. She was nothing without the spots.
She felt that sour ache again.
“I have some ideas.” He reached up to scratch his neck.
“Oh?” She took his hand, brought it to her lips.
He stared. “What?”
“You have talents, chaton?”
His eyes were still fixated on his hand at her lips. He snapped his gaze back up.
“I -- yes. I do. There are. They’re there. I have them.” She released his hand, which dropped heavily, falling back at his side.
“Your smooth talk needs practice.”
He made a valiant effort to recover. “And who would you have me practice on?” He bowed with a flourish, putting them nose-to-nose.
“I'm sure you can think of someone.” She patted his cheek affectionately.
Then she turned away from his expectant smile to throw her yo-yo, hooking it around the nearest rafter and flinging herself into the sky.
-o-
Thursday brought rain. Marinette woke up late and only remembered to bring an umbrella because her maman shoved one at her before she ran out the door.
Class was dull. Adrien had to leave after lunch for a photoshoot. Marinette stewed in her now typical cocktail of anxiety and misery. She couldn’t even leave to go sulk once class let out; instead she had to stay later to work on her physics project with Alix and Max. Of course she had to play mediator. It was all very exhausting.
At long last she left the library only to frown at the downpour. It had only been drizzling when she walked across the courtyard earlier. Sighing, she ducked under an archway and fished her umbrella out of her bag.
Drawing it over her head, Marinette made her way to the steps of the school.
To her faint amusement, she spotted a drenched blonde shivering by the sidewalk. Giggling to herself, she ran down the steps to meet him.
“Salut! ”
“Marinette!” he exclaimed, ducking under the umbrella. “My hero. You saved my hair from utter ruin.”
“Does the Agreste image not hold up under rain?” she teased. For once, her words flowed easy.
“Not at all. I was a second away from melting into the gutters.”
She nodded knowingly. “What’s a supermodel like you doing alone on a street corner anyway?”
Adrien huffed in exasperation. “I came back here for fencing practice, but M. D’Argencourt wasn’t here. And evidently didn’t phone Natalie, and she didn’t phone me, and now I am dying of cold waiting for my ride because of a scheduling mishap.”
“Mmm,” she sympathized. Her eyes flickered over to his wry smile, and she broke out into a matching grin.
“Well, you’re in luck,” she said, peering out from under the umbrella’s edge. “I think it’s stopping.” Marinette stuck out her open palm, nodding in confirmation.
She drew the umbrella closed with a snap, raindrops scattering at their feet. The she offered it to him, memory flickering through her mind. “Take it. I’m just around the corner.”
He did, fingers fumbling in distraction, a flush creeping up his neck. She turned away to hide her smile. Tonight. She’d do it tonight.
“See you later, hot stuff,” she shot over her shoulder.
It was self-indulgent mourning. But she allowed it.
She was saying goodbye, after all.
-o-
“Chat, can I ask for your advice?” Ladybug said it once they wrapped up patrol, returning to their frequent meeting spot. Now they sat side-by-side on their favorite rooftop, ostensibly to watch the city lights. He was holding her hands. She felt like she was sweating through her spandex.
“Of course,” her cat answered, kissing her knuckles.
Fucked, her mind supplied.
“I think,” she started, and faltered. She should have planned more. Why did she let Tikki convince her to leave her script at home? Her fingers itched for her highlighters. “I think,” she said again, “there's a boy at school that likes me.”
She felt him tense. “Oh? Should I be jealous, mon ami ?” His lips brushed against her knuckles.
She giggled at the sensation, and his sentiment. “No, no. He's a friend. Mostly.” Then, “My problem is that I'm afraid he doesn't really like me. He only knows one side of me, you know?”
This was so off-script. Why didn't she listen to Alya? Cardinal Rule #1: Don’t Improv!
Chat blinked at her, and suddenly words were pouring out her mouth again.
“He has no idea about, well, everything. He just thinks I'm just a girl in his class. Like um, how you only know me as Ladybug.”
Chat huffed, offended. “My lady, I disagree. Even if I’ve only seen the super hero, I have no doubt I adore the girl behind the mask. How could I not?” He bumped her shoulder with his and tightened his grip on her hand.
“Well, she's kind of weird.”
He chuckled. “More weird than hopping across rooftops in spandex?”
“She trips. A lot.”
“Well, she doesn't have a magical yo-yo to help her out.”
“Sometimes she gets so embarrassed that she can't get a word out.”
Her kitty grinned. “Sounds delightful.”
At this point she couldn't decide if the feeling in her stomach was crippling anxiety or dizzying elation.
“So, I don't know if my friend would like me. If he knew both sides of me.”
“Of course he would,” Chat dismissed. “If he didn't I would have to give him a talking-to.”
“Foolproof plan, minou,” Ladybug deadpanned.
“I'm a visionary.” He kissed her knuckles again.
She met his gaze across the gesture. Now or never, wasn't it?
“So, um, anyways. I have something to tell you.”
He leaned in, delighted. “Oh?”
She poked his face to get him to back off. “I'm -- sorry for not saying it sooner.”
Her eyes flitted away from his, and returned back in time to watch his face sober. The glint in his eyes ricocheted between dread and hope.
She continued: “Well, I figured out who you are. As a civilian. About a week ago.”
He flushed, a full body thing that loosened his grip on her fingers. “Oh,” he said. “I -- uh, um -- sorry? I know you didn't--”
She put her finger on his lips. “I'm not upset at you, stupid cat. I just needed to tell you that I knew.”
He chuckled, not exactly comfortable. “Well, I am pretty hard to miss.” He rolled his eyes in the direction of a nearby advertisement. Agreste Fall line. Scarves.
She took a deep breath. “No, see, uh, I know you, Chat. In real life. I've met you.”
“You have?” He turned, twisted to look at her face head on.
“You've met me too,” she breathed. She wasn't going to cry about this. She wasn't.
“Hey, hey, no need for tears, my lady.” He released her hand to allow his to land on her shoulders, and it was Adrien reassuring her that her uncle didn't hate her. It was the same. He was --
“You're the boy at school,” she blurted, biting down on her lip hard enough to sting.
“What?” He sputtered. “But -- I know you're Ladybug. Why would you be afraid of me finding out? Why would that make me dislike you?”
“Oh my god, you! No! The other way around!” Before he could respond she barreled onward: “Anyways, it doesn't matter. I'm going to detransform, for fairness’ sake.” She stood up, sliding out of his embrace, stepping away from the roof’s edge.
“My lady, you don't have to--” He reached for her, scrambled after her.
“I'm going to,” she said, and became another sparkle in the city of lights.
-o-
Chat was looking at her with what she could only describe as awe.
She looked away, but resisted the temptation to scratch her neck. Just. Be calm. Be fine.
“Marinette,” he said, as if for the first time.
“Yes, chaton?” When she looked back at him, he had turned a rosy pink all across his cheeks.
Huh?
“Marinette,” he said again. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”
He couldn't be -- No. He wasn't.
“Adrien Agreste.”
He was definitely blushing. Well, this. Well. She hadn't expected this.
“So you're Marinette!” He burst out loudly. “Wow! This whole time you were sitting right behind oh man that's amazing oh wow and I've been in your room and asked for your autograph holy oh shit oh my god.”
“Are you okay?” He sounded like he wasn't breathing. He looked like it too; the way he was standing could only be described as stiff.
“Me? Pfft, totally. I'm great. Sparkling. Purrfect! No. Just normal perfect. You're perfect. Great. Wow. Hello.”
He actually waved at her.
There was no preventing the grin that broke out over her face.
“Cat got your tongue, mon minou?” She stepped closer.
Now he was red all over. Even so, he made no move to retreat.
“I'm totally fine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” He was still talking too loudly.
“Are you nervous, Adrien?” Her voice was low. Chat blinked.
“I think so,” he said. “Um. It's a lot. I mean. You're a lot. I mean. I like you a lot. No! I mean--”
“Hush, kitty. You like me?”
He softened, all panic releasing from his shoulders. “Yes, my lady. Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”
She giggled. She felt fizzy. She felt like she could float up into the indigo sky. “You keep saying that.”
“I guess I like the way it sounds.” He grinned at her. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Lycée student by day, superhero by night.”
“Well, actually, a lot of akuma attacks are during the day. That's when people are up and about and ready to have their hurt feelings preyed upon.”
He huffed. “Yes, of course. Let me have this moment, okay?”
His gaze was warm on her cheeks.
“So, every Thursday, after last period,” he said, “you would walk past me -- and go home -- to the bakery -- and you babysat -- and then, after dinner, you would come meet me here.”
Their rooftop.
“Yes.” He was smiling so wide. She shifted on her feet. “So...you're not disappointed?”
He laughed like she said the funniest shit in the world. “Uh, no. I'm--” his grin softened. “I'm doing just fine, my lady.” He reached for her hand, but stalled at the last second. “You're not -- disappointed, are you?”
It was her turn to laugh. “No. I mean, at first -- I was confused. And mad. You know, um, well, Ihadthiscrushonyou in collège and well it's kinda shocking to find out your crush is also the guy you've been tumbling all over Paris with.”
His eyes bugged white against his black mask.
“You...had a crush on me.”
“Yes.”
“Me -- Adrien.”
“Correct.”
“Why? ”
She threw him a look. “Are you serious? Adrien, you're the nicest, most considerate boy in the world and I find it so amazing you are always looking out for other people even if they are just horrible to you and--” she caught his gaze. “Well, never mind.”
“Never mind?” He laughed, too loud. Too nervous. “You can't say never mind!”
“Yes I can! Look, Chat, as much as I liked Adrien, that's not the way I feel about you--” she caught his rapidly widening gaze and immediately felt her stomach drop. Idiot! She was such an idiot. This wasn't how you were supposed to say things like this.
“Wait!” she yelled. “No! I mean, oh my god, don't -- just hear me out, alright?”
She put her hand in his deliberately, and then with her other hand dragged the whole ensemble to his lips. She could reach that place they were before she said any of this if she tried hard enough. Miraculous Ladybug and her healing charm.
“Chat Noir, you are my best friend in the world. I trust you more than anyone on this earth. You're my partner, and my friend, and I like you.” He had to understand. “I like you,” she said.
“You--”
“I like you, silly kitty. I am so lucky to know you.”
She could feel his breath on her face, her palm starting to sweat in his grip, their arms squashed between their bodies.
“Marinette -- Ladybug. Can I --”
She kissed him before he embarrassed himself more.
She had to do everything herself, honestly.
His lips were soft, yielding, quiet. Her hand that was not trapped between their bodies came up to grip his shoulder, anchoring herself to him as she leaned on her tip-toes. She really was doing all the work.
After a moment his brain seemed to kick in, and he wrapped an arm around her waist, keeping her close and closer.
She pressed her lips firmer on his mouth, and he pressed back, but it wasn't until she slid her hand from his shoulder to cup his jaw that he sighed into her mouth and she took the opportunity to press her advantage. Once her tongue made it into his mouth she was momentarily confused. All those romance novels she read never seemed to go beyond this point. Experimenting, she swept around the roof of his mouth, and then against his tongue, and Chat made a sound she wanted to hear again. So she did it again.
He gasped and followed her mouth. Marinette rocked back onto her heels and let him curl over her, let her hands slide back down his arms.
Both of his hands gripped her face and he slanted his mouth over hers like she did to him, and this time it was his tongue in her mouth. She understood why he liked it. All the same, she preferred getting noises out of him.
When she broke apart she didn't pull away and neither did he. The leather of his mask felt warm against her forehead.
“You okay, Chat?”
“I'm ecstatic,” he murmured. He opened his eyes and looked at her, all blurry and up in her face. “You could say I'm feline pretty lucky right now.”
A beat of silence.
“I hate you,” she said.
He was grinning.
“I can't believe I'm going to put up with this every day. This is forever now.”
He gripped her tighter at the mention of forever. “I apologize, my lady, I'm afraid a cool cat such as myself can’t stop kitten around at the drop of a claw.”
“I'm going to kill you, probably.”
His ring beeped, startling them both. “Plagg, detransform,” he said softly, and then there he was. Before her eyes.
Adrien, but not Adrien. It was Chat. The boy behind the mask.
She would never look at him the same way again.
His thumb brushed her cheek, butterfly-soft. “You know, I had something to say to you before you distracted me so pleasantly.”
She hummed. “I could tell.” She adopted a ridiculous suave voice. “Can I kiss you, mon petite buginette?”
“It wasn't that,” he laughed. She stiffened. “I'm not complaining. But I was going to ask you. Or tell you. Um. I, uh, I really do like you a lot. A ridiculous amount. And I was wondering if you would let me date you. Like, officially.”
“Officially,” she repeated.
“If you want. Like, as Adrien and Marinette. I could be your boyfriend. I mean, I want to be your boyfriend.”
She was feeling warm. The best kind of happy.
“I mean, yeah. I mean. I kissed you, so. You didn't have to ask.” She peered at him through her lashes, allowing a smirk to curl across her countenance.
“I’ll admit that tipped me off to your answer. I'm very perceptive, you see.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her, a strange and wonderful thing to see on his mask-less face.
“Hi,” she said, out of nowhere.
He knocked his forehead against hers. “Hi,” he said.
Without pause he kissed her, gentle. So gentle.
“I've been waiting to do that since I met you.”
He touched her hair, stroked it with his fingertips.
“I'm sorry it took me so long to catch up,” she whispered.
He just shook his head, and kissed her again, like a release, like he had finally let go of all his restraint and was doing what was natural, his designated, fated purpose: kissing Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
Something about it was unprecedentedly soft, the feel of clothes against cloth, her bare skin on his, noses bumping with not one mask in the way.
He clutched her like she was the most precious thing he had ever held.
-o-
“So what gave me away?”
Marinette snorted. “More like: what didn't give you away?”
“I’m very sneaky.”
“Sure.” She began counting on her fingers. “You always disappeared during an akuma attack. You were never in the same room as Chat Noir. You always seemed to know where Adrien was during an attack, you showed up far too quickly when there was an akuma at the school. You constantly smell of Camembert.” She wrinkled her nose. “I’m out of fingers.”
“That's not fair! I could say all the same things about you! Except, ah, the cheese part.”
“If you must know, last week in P.E. Nino ruffled your hair like, uh,” she ran her hands through his hair just so -- “like that. And everything clicked.”
“My hair.”
“Well, not exactly. I just -- he messed up your hair, and you laughed, and suddenly I wasn't seeing Adrien anymore but -- you. The you I see every week on patrol.”
“It's a hard look to forget,” she explained. She cast him a speculative look. “Once I knew, I felt like I had a secret from the whole world. One so precious I wanted to keep it for myself.”
He leaned in, nose brushing against hers.
“I like the sound of that, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”