Adrien
He landed on her balcony, and she glanced up at him. She was drawing in her sketchbook, and she quickly closed it.
"Hey Chat."
"Hey Mari."
He sat down and leaned back against the railing, waiting to hear what she said about Adrien. He didn't know what to expect, he had never seen her so mad.
"How was your day?"
She asked softly, and he could tell she was stalling.
"It was okay. And yours?"
"Adrien confessed his love for me."
She said it bluntly, and he could feel his face warm.
"What did you say?"
He mumbled, but he didn't want to hear it again. He knew he couldn't keep the two separate anymore. He loved her. Adrien would just keep screwing up, and he didn't want to lose her.
"I told him that he was being unfair."
That wasn't all she said, but he would accept it rather than her repeating the whole story.
"Do you want to be with him?"
He wanted her to say yes. He wanted nothing more than to hear her say that she wanted Adrien, over Chat.
"A part of me will always want that. But I love you. I want us to work."
He closed his eyes, the events of earlier playing through his mind. He had made her cry. She had wanted Adrien over Chat for years, and Adrien had been oblivious to it. She was right. Adrien was being unfair.
"Mari? Do you believe in soulmates?"
He asked softly, finally opening his eyes to look at her. She was staring at the sky, a pained look on her face.
"I don't."
She whispered, and he ached at her answer. He just wanted to go home. Go to sleep. Today had royally sucked.
"Do you believe in second chances then?"
Her eyes met his, and he could see a thousand lifetimes in them. Maybe their souls were always pulled together by the miraculous. Maybe he had spent lifetimes as her partner. He'd like to think so.
"I do."
"Me too. And I believe in soulmates. I believe in true love, and in happily ever after. I believe that you're all of those things for me."
She sat up, and he wanted to get up, to walk to her. But he couldn't.
"I believe that I'm exhausted. Lying does not come naturally to me. It never has, and it's hard to constantly do, something I'm sure you understand."
"Chat-"
He shook his head, he wasn't going to be deterred. He needed to tell her. Now. Before it was too late, before she cut ties with Adrien.
"I'm in love with you Marinette. I can't keep the two separate anymore. I can't stand when I see you as him, because I can't say anything I want. I can't tell you that I missed you, or that i love you. I can't kiss you. It's awful Mari."
"Please, don't."
She pleaded softly, and he ignored the sharp pain that raced through his chest. She didn't want to know who he was. Was it just because she was Ladybug? Or did she really not care who was under the mask?
"I have to do this. I need you to know. I was made to spend the rest of my life with you, and I refuse to do it constantly shrouded in lies."
"Chat-"
"Plagg-"
An explosion down the street silenced him, and he heard Marinette's phone chime. And acuma alert. Marinette seemed relieved, but he wasn't letting her off so easy.
"Sounds like an acuma."
"Yep."
He responded, not bothering to look at where the explosion occurred.
"You should probably go then."
"Ladybug can handle it."
He saw panic flash across her features, but he didn't back down.
"She needs you."
"No. She doesn't. She hasn't in a long time."
Marinette frowned, and she seemed to get angry.
"Of course she does. She couldn't do it without you."
He crossed his arms, looking her in the eye. He knew he was important. He knew that his role was important. But Ladybug had seemed to forget that. So why hadn't Marinette? Or was she just spouting bullshit to get him off of her balcony?
"Right. I'll be back in a little bit."
He turned and jumped off the balcony, heading for the acuma. He watched it from one of the buildings, and soon enough Ladybug stood next to him. He didn't understand her at all. How could she handle the constant lying? How did it not bother her?
"Hey kitty."
"Hey."
His tone was cold, and she frowned at him.
"Everything okay?"
He wanted to shout at her. He wanted to ask her why she didn't care about his identity. He wanted to tell her he knew who she was. He wanted to tell her he loved her, all of her. Why couldn't she do the same?
"Don't worry about me."
Was what came out, and he was annoyed at how harsh it sounded. He jumped down to the street below, looking at the acuma. This person was a body of fire, and he was screaming about firing people. He was incinerating everything around him, and Adrien could feel the heat from where he stood.
"Chat? What's wrong?"
She already knew what was wrong. He swung out his baton, striking the acuma. The man turned, and he tried to pick out a face among the flames.
"Just focus on the task at hand. Okay?"
He snapped, using his baton to get closer to the acuma. He could feel her eyes on him, and he did his best to ignore it. The guy was talking about being fired. So the acuma was probably some paperwork or something. Only problem was he couldn't even see his hands.
"You're fired!"
He screamed, throwing a ball of fire at the two of them. They both dodged, and for a moment he felt panic. Ladybug was Marinette. What if she got hurt? What if something happened to her? He shook the thought off, she had been doing this job for years. She'd be fine. He moved back next to her, waiting on her plan.
"Chat are you okay?"
He wanted to roll his eyes. Normally she was the focused one.
"Ma...my lady, please focus. How do we put him out?"
She frowned, before turning to the acuma that was advancing towards them. At least she hadn't noticed he almost called her by her name.
"We could try to get him to the foutain in the park."
That stupid foutain. He had taken so many photoshoots there that he started to unconsciously connect that park to work.
"Great. Should we just grab him?"
His tone was incredibly sarcastic, he knew it was. He knew he was being childish, and unfair but how else was he supposed to act? She didn't give a damn about who he was other than Chat. He had always wanted to know her. All of her. Who she was when she didn't wear the mask, how she acted. Maybe if he had paid attention to Marinette before he would have seen the similarities. Back then she was just their everyday Ladybug. He didn't know how true that statement had been.
"Lucky Charm!"
She shouted, and he glanced in her direction as a pair of rollerblades and a fire extinguisher fell from the sky.
"So I have a burning question. I get why you got the fire extinguisher. But the roller blades?"
He saw her smile at his dumb pun and it made his heart swell. So falling in love with him had lightened her humor. That was nice.
"I've got a plan."
"Fired!"
The acuma screeched, and she ducked as a fireball whizzed over head. She crouched down, putting on the skates. He knew better than to question why she was doing it, her weird plans always worked.
"When I get behind him, extend your baton. We're going to make a slip and slide."
He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. He didn't see how that would be any easier than just spraying the guy down, but he could roll with it. She turned and winked at him, before speeding off down the street. She was trying to fix it. She wanted Chat to feel needed, he could tell. He watched her speed around the flame thrower, spraying the fire extinguisher on the road. That seemed like a waste. She glanced at him for a moment, and he extended the baton, shoving it into the acuma's chest. He ran forward, pushing it back onto the foam. He slid down the street, and by the time Chat made it to the foam he was sliding too. The acuma was shouting about injustice, throwing fire balls left and right. Chat had to adjust his footing each time, to slide out of the path of the flames. He noticed that the acuma wasn't going out, even though he had kicked up enough foam that at least his legs should have been out. So maybe spraying him wouldn't have worked. They slid down the block, following the path directly into the park. Since the acuma was facing him, it took no notice of Ladybug in front of the foutain, with her foot stuck out. He tripped over it, landing in the foutain. Ladybug stepped into Chat's path, and he crashed against her. His hands were on the foutain on either side of her, trapping her between him and the foutain. Her cheeks turned red, and he watched her eyes flick down to his lips and a smirk appeared there.
"Acuma first my lady."
She quickly turned around, yanking a sheet of paper from the acuma, and ripping it. He stepped away from her as she got out her yo-yo, watching as she de-evilized the butterfly.
"Bye-bye little butterfly."
She whispered, and he pulled the guy out of the foutain.
"What happened?"
Chat patted him on the back, and out of the corner of his eye saw her throw up her lucky charm.
"Miraculous Ladybug!"
A swarm of red and black descended on them, drying the man's clothes and cleaning the white foam.
"Don't worry about getting fired. I'm sure a better opportunity will come along."
He smiled at the man, who looked as tired as he felt.
"Yeah... thanks."
He walked off, and Chat looked over at Ladybug, she was watching him.
"Can we talk?"
He shrugged, and she used her yo-yo to swing from the park to a rooftop. He followed, and she dropped down into an alley. He landed next to her, sighing.
"Are we okay?"
She sounded worried, and he turned to her, shaking his head.
"I'm going to reveal my identity to my girlfriend."
"You can't."
He hated how quickly she had said that.
"Why? I hate lying to her. I want her to know me, the real me."
She shook her head, and his gaze diverted from her face to her pigtails that swung with her movement.
"It's for her safety as well as yours."
"I'm going to marry that girl some day. I will not stand at the altar in a fucking cat suit."
Her blush darkened, and she looked happy. Maybe she wanted that too.
"Don't tell her Chat. Not yet. Maybe after you get engaged or something, but it needs to be a little farther down the road."
He rolled his eyes, and she glared at the action.
"You know what my lady? You're right. I'm gonna go propose right now."
"No! You can't."
She squeaked, and he tilted his head at her.
"Oh? Why not?"
She floundered for an answer, and he wanted to laugh. She was so cute when she didn't know what to say. He pulled his baton from his hip. And she grabbed on to it.
"Because I love you."
She blurted, and he raised an eyebrow. Clever little thing, wasn't she?
"Oh? Now you love me? When I'm going to ask someone else to marry me?"
He took a step towards her, and she took a small step back.
"I...I uh..."
Well well well. He hadn't seen Ladybug stutter before.
"You uh?"
She blinked when her earring beeped, and he shook his head. Not so fast princess. She seemed to be at a loss for words, and it felt like victory. She leaned forward and kissed him, pulling away as quickly as she had done it. He knew why. She wanted to confuse him. Like Adrien did to her. But it wouldn't work. He knew it was his girlfriend kissing him. She wanted him to get mad, to push her away. So, he decided he would push her. He pushed her against the wall, pressing his body against hers as he kissed her. She still tasted like Mari. She moaned against his mouth, and his hands slid up her legs, committing every feeling to memory. She felt so good in spandex. He traced his hands down her arms, lacing his fingers through hers. He wondered what she was feeling. Another beep sounded from her earrings, and she gently pushed him away.
"I have to go."
"No, you want to go."
He breathed, looking down the alley.
"I'm sorry kitty."
She used her yo-yo to get on top of one of the buildings, and he watched her go.
"I guess turnabouts fair play, right princess?"