Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was all spur-of-the-moment, really.

Adrien had been having a good day, better than most given his outrageous schedule and his usual nighttime activities. A lack of Akuma in the past few days had led up to a great deal of extra sleep for him to enjoy, and that coupled with the way that his father had given him a break from modelling after weeks of constant work had left him feeling lighter than he could ever remember being.

Except, of course, when compared to the thrilling freedom of bounding across the rooftops of Paris as the infamous Chat Noir.

But Chat was Chat and Adrien was Adrien, and it was Adrien Agreste who found himself wandering the streets of Paris aimlessly on a crisp January afternoon. School had been let out just a quarter of an hour ago, but he couldn’t bring himself to accept the offer of an escorted ride home while the sun was still up for it’s last few hours of winter light.

Smiling to himself and weaving around a hand-holding couple that was partially blocking the sidewalk in front of him, Adrien put a little hop-skip into his stride and allowed the ever-present tension in his shoulders to melt away. He would take the long way home, he decided then and there. He was expected home before long for his scheduled piano lesson, but he could afford just a little more freedom before the ball-and-chain was reattached to his leg.

Feeling his smile slip slightly at the thought, he shook his head roughly, dislodging snowflakes from his blond hair and sending little wet shivers down the back of his neck. “Augh, what am I doing. I have to enjoy this while it lasts. It’s not like I get the opportunity often.”

He paused, then grinned to himself, the expression wider than he would allow around his classmates and distinctly roguish.

Op-purr-tunity. No, he was Chat Noir, he could do better than that. Op-purr-TUNA-ty.

Yes.

His good mood restored and snickering quietly at his own natural genius—for he was, as he told his Lady quite often, both hilarious and humble—Adrien flicked his eyes around the street and adjusted his favourite scarf around his neck. The snow fell softly, dampening his hair and fogging his breath, and it was obvious that it would pile up quite nicely in the streets if it kept up.

Maybe tomorrow would be a snow day, he thought hopefully, and then quashed the thought. With his rotten luck, it would be more likely that there would be an Akuma attack tonight and he would have to fight his way through two feet of snow as well as avoid slipping on icy rooftops. Though it might now be so bad, he considered as he toyed with the hem of his scarf and brought it up to hide his new, softer smile.

It wouldn’t be so bad with Ladybug by his side.

“If you keep daydreaming about Ladybug, you’re gonna get hit by a tourbus.”

Adrien jolted out of his lovestruck daze at the sulky voice that emerged from his book bag, looking down covertly and scowling when he saw the tiny black head of his Kwami poking out from under the opening flap. “Plagg,” he scolded out of the corner of his mouth, glancing around to make sure that no one was watching him. “What did I tell you about coming out when we’re in public, someone could see you!” A flush danced across his cheeks, mostly hidden by the air-chilled redness already there. “And how do you know that I was thinking about Ladybug? I could have been reciting the day’s homework for all you know.”

Plagg rolled his eyes so dramatically that his entire body moved with the gesture. Honestly, could his chosen be any more dense? “Don’t try to pretend you weren’t mooning and sighing up there; I could hear you even from down here in your cold, damp, cheese-less bag. It is the soundtrack to my torment, Adrien. That and the incessant buzzing from your phone.”

“My phone?” Adrien questioned, choosing to ignore Plagg’s complaints in the hopes that doing so would make his embarrassed blush lessen. It wasn’t even that cold in his bag, anyway. There was a spare pair of mittens in there for warmth, even. Fishing out his phone and then closing the flap once more on his complaining Kwami, Adrien flicked through his unread messages and felt an easy smile tug at his lips.

“Ah, they’re all from Nino.” he said easily, looking for all appearances like he was just idly commenting to himself. That wasn’t a particularly uncommon thing on the streets of Paris, after all. “Apparently he stayed up all night playing that new Fallout game since his parents are away, so he only just woke up. I was wondering why he wasn’t responding to my texts..”

“You humans are so weird,” came Plagg’s muffled voice from within Adrien’s book bag. “Putting so much effort into love and relationships and video games when you could spend it eating Camembert. Camembert and gouda and…”

Adrien tuned him out with a fond shake of his head, his eyes following the progression of the snowflakes around him as he came to a stop light. Try as he might—though admittedly, he didn’t try that hard—he just couldn’t understand his Kwami in the slightest. He tugged off one of his gloves to type a response to Nino, his message laden with six different cat emojis just to be extra obnoxious for his best and laziest friend, then looked up as the walk signal came on to cross the street.

It was then that his eyes fixed on the back of a girl walking up ahead of him, her pigtailed black hair dusted with snowflakes and her stockinged legs looking very cold sticking out from under a cute pink coat. Adrien’s eyes lit up, and he quickened his pace across the street, his designer boots silent on the snowy pavement.

“Pr—” he cut himself of quickly, slowing his pace with a little skid in the slush and mentally berating himself. No matter how excited he was to see Marinette outside of school, he couldn’t go around calling her ‘Princess’ if he wanted his identity as Chat Noir to remain a secret. But still, he wanted to talk to her. Marinette was an enigma to him. She was always so shy and nervous whenever he was around, but since getting to know her behind his mask, Adrien had come to the unsettling conclusion that it was only HIM who she was like that with.

It was as if he intimidated her, but he hadn’t done anything to warrant that kind of reaction, had he? Unless she was intimidated by his so-called fame or status, or maybe something about his practiced smiles set her off in a way that he couldn’t understand. Maybe he just made her uneasy. Maybe Marinette could see how fake he was.

Nervously, Adrien pulled his leather glove back on and flexed his fingers, feeling the warmth of the material in stark contrast to the chill of the heavy silver ring against his skin. Should he even go talk to her, when it was so obvious to him that Marinette wanted nothing to do with him? He watched her swerve around a particularly deep puddle, getting further away from him as he pondered, and then abruptly made up his mind as Marinette made a cute little bouncing wiggle mid-step to shake some snow out of her hair.

He had to talk to her. He just..had to.

Adrien desperately needed some of that happiness in his life, and besides, he was feeling confidant today. Today was a good day to change someone’s mind.

He picked up his pace.

In seconds he was behind her, biting his lip nervously and wondering what he should say. What should he do? Adrien Agreste was no good at talking to people; he was homeschooled and detached and quite terrified of what he might have done wrong to make Marinette so uncomfortable around him.

But Chat Noir..he had confidence.

The idea came to him like a physical shock, and Adrien couldn't stop the wicked grin that spread across his face. All he had to do was muster up some of that Chat Noir confidence, and there was no way that he would mess up. Sliding up behind Marinette, he took in her stiffening shoulders for just a moment before striking.

“Guess who?” he practically purred, putting all of his confidence into his voice as he brought his hands in front of Marinette’s face and carefully covered her eyes. His chest bumped against her back as she slammed to a halt, and as doubt began to creep into his mind, the only thing that stopped him from tearing his hands away and bursting into stuttered apologies was the way that Marinette somehow, for some reason, completely relaxed against him.

Her voice, however, brought that anxiety ramping right back up with a healthy dose of ‘I’ve done fucked up.’

“Chat Noir?” Marinette demanded more than asked, her gloved hands reaching up to touch his arms and her weight shifting huffily to one side. “Chat, let me go, I really don’t have time for this.”

His heart in his throat, Adrien made a choking noise not unlike that of a cat being stepped on, his hands slipping slightly over Marinette’s eyes. He hastened to reaffirm his grip to make sure that his leather gloves hid her vision completely, his heart speeding up as panic began to hit him.

She thought that he was Chat? Of all of the bad and ridiculous things to happen to him, this had to be the most unexpected. Who would have guessed that his Princess knew his voice so well that she could recognize it with just two words?

He supposed that his acting skills were just a little too on point.

If the situation wasn’t so dire, he would laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Marinette, having grown impatient with his lack of a satisfactory response, let out a groan and brought her hands to his to try and pry his fingers from her eyes. Her voice gained a bit of an exasperated whine, like that of someone who was far too used to being inconvenienced by random flirtatious super heros. “Chat, I swear to god, let me gooooo.”

Choking once again on his words, Adrien pressed closer to Marinette, sure that she could feel his racing pulse through her back and scrambling for an answer. How was he supposed to recover from this without blowing his cover? In his panic, he pulled her head back into him, wrapping his arms around her more securely to properly blind her.

“Noooo,” he whined, eyes darting to and fro as he tried desperately to come up with a way around this. There was no way that he could let her go and run, now. Could he just explain that he’s actually Adrien and try to pass it off as a coincidence? No, that wouldn’t work, and even if he tried it would just make Marinette’s opinion of him plummet past anything he could salvage.

He swore that he could hear Plagg laughing at him. Curse him and his horrendous luck!

“Chat!!” Marinette snapped as she lost her patience, tugging at his arms and slipping a little in the slush. Whining quietly, Adrien looked around, noticing that people were starting to turn their way in confusion and concern for the girl that he had held against her will. What was worse, being thought a creepy guy with issues with consent, or being outed on the streets of Paris as the worst super hero imaginable?

It was no question.

Deciding that the situation couldn't possibly get worse, he forced out an airy laugh that fell remarkably flat in comparison to Chat Noir’s usual jubilance. “A-ah, Princess, you don’t want to, um, hang out with me? And here I thought we were friends.”

Weak, not a single pun thrown in there, but at least it made Marinette stop fighting him and just sag with a put-upon sigh.

He’d made his bed; now it was time to lie in it.

—
—

When Marinette had decided to take the long way home from school and window shop a little along the way, she hadn't expected to be accosted from behind, and she certainly wasn’t prepared for her assailant to be her favourite (and most annoying) kitty cat.

She had just been walking down the sidewalk, sidestepping puddles of slush and intent on getting home so she could enjoy a nice hot cup of cocoa, when Tikki’s voice from inside her bag startled her out of her daydreams.

“Marinette, there’s someone behind you!”

She had gone stiff, fight or flight instincts firing up in her mind as a pair of leather clad hands had obscured her vision. When she heard Chat’s distinctive teasing drawl, however, she had relaxed completely as her apprehension melted into fond annoyance.

That had been a good five minutes ago, as Marinette found herself being tugged quite insistently into the gap between two shops off the side of the road by an uncommonly quiet Chat Noir. Deciding to humour him despite her confusion—after all, he might be up to something important or Akuma-related, judging by his obvious nerves—she went without a fuss.

That is, until the sounds of the street became muffled and she found herself slogging backwards through deeper, undisturbed snow.

“Chat,” Marinette scolded once again, trying and failing to shrug off his grip. “What is wrong with you? Is there an Akuma? Let go of me, this isn’t funny.”

He made that funny whining sound again, fingers flexing against her covered eyes, and she couldn’t help the pang of concern that went through her at the sound. Though she always acted as though Chat Noir was nothing but her exasperating partner, she really did care for him. Even when she was only Marinette. Deciding to go with a different approach, she sighed and brought her hands down to her sides, adjusting her book bag and gently pressing her palm against where she knew Tikki was hiding. “Chat,” she tried again, her voice soft. “Is there something wrong?”

Chat’s body jerked behind her, a quick shaking that made her think of an animal shaking water from its fur, and once again laughed in that way that only proved to her that something was very wrong. “Why would there be something wrong, Princess? Is it that hard to believe that I just wanted to see you?”

Marinette groaned, rolling her eyes so hard that she was sure that he could feel it against his palms. “Yes, Chat, because usually when someone wants to see me, they don’t grab me from behind and blindfold me. That kiiiinda interferes with the whole ‘seeing’ thing, you know?”

He sounded odd, she thought, and not just nervous-odd. His tone was different, less sure of himself and somehow more restrained. Not at all like the flirty, confident, show off of a super hero that she knew and loved.

(Not in that way, of course. Her heart belonged to Adrien alone.)

She twitched when Chat Noir cleared his throat behind her, and she was suddenly aware of how closely they were standing with his chest pressed to her back and only a few layers of clothing separating them. Was that his heartbeat she could feel? It made Marinette shift in discomfort, her breathing going just a little shallower as the strangely intimate sensation was suddenly all that she could focus on. Why wasn’t he letting her go?

“I, uh..the thing is, Marinette..” he began, the stutter in his softened voice strangely familiar to her even as it set warning bells off in her mind. Since when did Chat Noir call her by her name, and not some ridiculous moniker? Since when did the sound of his voice make her heart pound and shiver? “I’m not, um.. I’m not really—”

“Adrien? Dude, is that you?”

—
—

Of all of the things that could have gone wrong, Adrien never once accounted for being outed ACCIDENTALLY.

Adrien stiffened at precisely the same time as Marinette, dread crashing over him at the familiar and very unwelcome voice of his best friend inadvertently spilling one of his deepest secrets. He turned his head slowly, a jerking motion that belied his fear, and met Nino’s bewildered grin as he sauntered down the alleyway towards them.

Against his body, Marinette had begun to tremble, a choking sound building in her throat, and Adrien all at once felt the snow that was seeping into the collar of his coat, dampening his hair and chilling him to the bone.

Nino, oblivious to the tension between his two friends, just kept talking.

“Oh, man, what are the odds? My dad said I had to go out and get groceries as punishment for missing, like, the whole school day, but I figured you’d be home by now! Doesn’t that Gorilla dude usually drive you home? He’s like, your chauffeur, right?” Nino paused as he came within five feet of them, his eyebrows furrowing when Adrien made no sign of replying. “Adrien, bro, are you…”

Nino’s voice trailed off, eyes widening and mouth dropping open to release a puff of air that fogged in the cold, as he leaned slightly to the side and caught sight of Marinette’s frozen form. It was clear by the slack-jawed look of stunned, gleeful disbelief on his face that he didn't know whether or not to laugh.

“Oh, damn,”

Adrien swallowed hard, lips thinning and voice caught in his throat in a painful lump of anxiety, and was far too late to prevent the incredulous and joys crow that exploded from his best friend’s lips.

“Is that Marinette? Dude, hell, my bad. I didn’t realize you two were back here to, uh..” Nino grinned wide in pride and slight embarrassment, making a wiggling hand gesture that conveyed both nothing and everything that he was thinking at the moment. Adrien wanted to puke, and as Nino’s grin faded into confusion and concern, he let his hands slip from Marinette’s face.

There was no getting out of this one.

Chapter Text

Marinette didn’t come to school the next day.

Adrien spent the entire day worrying his lip with his teeth and casting furtive glances behind him at the empty desk, trying his hardest to avoid the suspicious glare that Alya threw him every time.

Every time he caught Alya’s eye, however, he was reminded vividly of the night before.

Her blue eyes were wide and glassy as she turned around to look at him. They were unreadable, but Adrien imagined that he could see fear and accusation within their depths, similar to what he had seen the first time he had laid eyes on Marinette Dupain-Cheng. But was it fair to liken some misplaced chewing gum on a bench to a lie this deep?

“I need to go,’ Marinette said breathlessly and all at once, and Adrien felt his heart seize in his chest. He could hear the shell-shocked disbelief in her voice, and he didn’t know what it meant. It terrified him.

“Marinette, wait, I—“

“No. No, nope, I’m.. B-bye..!” Came the stuttered reply, and before he could get his brain to work Marinette was tearing herself away from him, slipping past his fingers and sprinting back into the snowy street.

Nino, feeling extremely confused and  apologetic to have walked in on what seemed to have been an important moment, had been trying to make it up to Adrien all day. Adrien could practically see the guilt radiating off of him, and he longed to make that feeling go away. It was his own fault that he was in this mess, not Nino’s.

He had gotten in too deep, and it had blown up in his face like things always had. The worst thing was, he couldn’t even blame Plagg for this particular bout of misfortune.

This one had been all on him.

It was with a heavy heart that Adrien turned to the power of his Miraculous that night for his scheduled patrol with Ladybug.

In all honesty, he dreaded seeing her for the first time since they had first met.

What was he supposed to tell her? He had compromised his identity and flaunted it like a fool. Now a girl from his school knew who he was behind the mask. Ladybug would be furious, then exasperated, then disappointed.

Or, worst of all, she would be unsurprised. She would say that she had seen it coming, that she knew he was flighty and wild and untrustworthy.

Those thoughts made his stomach clench and roil with anxiety, and as Chat Noir landed lightly on the rooftop of a building overlooking the Louvre, he almost turned right back around when he saw Ladybug’s distinctive silhouette waiting for him.

What was he supposed to say? Should he open with a flirtatious remark and try to soften her before he confessed? Should he hide it, and wait for a better time? No, that wouldn’t work, Chat told himself sternly. Secrets had ways of coming to the forefront at the most inopportune of times, and he really, REALLY didn’t want to face Ladybug’s wrath if she found out that he had kept something so important from her.

“You’re late, you know.”

Chewing at his lip, Chat Noir sidled up beside his Lady and made a quiet, noncommittal noise in lieu of a reply, or even his usual greeting. HIs footsteps crunched ever so slightly in the snow.

Ladybug started and turned to him, her eyes wide behind her mask.

“Chat? What’s wrong, you—“

“I messed up.”

Ladybug went still at his words, and Chat immediately winced. He hadn’t meant to blurt that out at all.

“What are you talking about? Look, Chat, I’ve had a long day, can we just get patrol over and done with and then you can tell me about—“

“Someone found out,” Chat interrupted again, then winced back when Ladybug shot him a disgruntled stare. He chewed at his lip and looked down, wanting to fiddle with his hands or his tail but instead keeping them clenched tightly at his sides. He tore a chunk of skin from his lips with his sharp teeth and hissed when he tasted the sharp tang of blood.

When he looked up once more, Ladybug was watching him, her face pale in the moonlight. “What do you mean? Found out..found out what?”

He hadn’t heard her sound so uncertain for nearly a year, now. Not since they had first met, and not since she had gained so much confidence. It made his heart pound in his chest, so hard that he swore that she could hear it.

Chat tried to stand still, but couldn’t help fidgeting and shifting where he stood, searching for the right words. Finally, he sighed and decided to just say it.

Ladybug was wonderful. She would understand.

Chat ran a hand through his blonde hair, messing it up further and brushing his bangs across his forehead in an agitated gesture. “My Lady, I may have..completely screwed up. There’s this girl, at my school. Marinette Dupin-Cheng; you remember her, right? I’ve only spoken to her behind the mask a few times, I swear, but somehow she recognized my voice anyway. I completely blew it, My Lady, and now she knows who I am. She’s best friends with the girl who runs the LadyBlog, and there’s no way she isn’t going to tell her.”

Chat looked at his feet, finally succumbing to the urge to grab his tail and run it through his fingers repeatedly in a nervous gesture. He searched for more to say, and then finally gave up, saying miserably, “I blew it. I’m sorry, Ladybug.”

The silence he was met with was expected, but he still wilted under it. The distant, echoing sound of stray dogs barking and the occasional car engine played the backdrop to his tension, but when Ladybug finally spoke, it was to say the last thing he expected to hear.

“…Adrien?”

—

Ladybug felt the name pass through her lips without her consent, and she wanted to take them back right away, but the shock and horror was too much.

The way that Chat Noir’s ears immediately flicked back in shock, his eyes going wide, only made her want to force the words back into her throat.

Regret was a bitter poison, and she could feel it crashing down on her in wave after shocking wave.

Chat’s—no, Adrien’s—face was white with shock, seeming very pale beneath his black mask. “M-my Lady?” he squeaked, and oh.

Oh, he hadn’t made the connection yet.

Ladybug struggled to speak, but all that came out was a strangled garble. She wanted to run. She wanted to scream.

Of course Chat Noir’s first instinct when he thought he messed up was to go straight to her and apologize. Of course he would tell her right away. Of course.

She wasn’t ready to face the truth, not yet, but suddenly it was thrust upon her in the most hilarious, pathetic of ways.

Adrien was Chat Noir. Chat Noir was Adrien.

Adrien hadn’t been playing a cruel, childish joke on her the other day. He hadn’t meant to scare her. He hadn’t even meant to be recognized as anything but Adrien Agreste.

And now, everything  was coming to a head, because she HAD recognized him, and as Marinette. Now, as Ladybug, she had laid herself bare.

Across from her, she could see the gears turning in Chat’s blonde head. Slowly, his slitted eyes widened and he fixed her with a startled, stare. Half-scared, half-elated.

Ladybug felt a jagged shard of fear pierce her heart, full of insecurity and horror. She felt sick. She couldn’t do this, but here it was, thrust upon her.

Reality.

“Marinette.”

Ladybug flinched back, a painful lump in her throat, and to her horror she realized that she could feel her eyes burning. No, she couldn’t cry. She couldn't add another indignity to the mess that was already thrust upon her, she couldn't let the disappointment Adrien felt be even more than it already was. She took a sharp breath, willing her tears away, and bit her lip hard. It hurt, but the pain did little to ground her.

She nodded, stiff and scared, and stared at the bell on Chat’s suit. It glittered in the Parisian night lights. She could see the red of her suit, and she hated it all of a sudden.

It had given her a mask to hide behind, but it had also given her so much false hope that she had leaned upon even after she had lain lies upon lies upon it. Now, it crumbled under the stress.

She took a deep breath.

“Y..yeah.”

Chat actually bounced in front of her, but she refused to look up. Even though she couldn't see his face, his voice trembled with emotion that she couldn’t place.

“You’re..you’re Ladybug! Marinette, you’re Ladybug!”

“Stop saying that,” she blurted before she could stop herself, and they both flinched back at the same time. Horrified with speaking so harshly to Chat—to Adrien, to her crush, to the love of her life and her most trusted friend and partner—Ladybug looked up quickly, hands curling in front of her and clutching to her chest like she could protect herself from heartbreak.

What she saw shattered that hope into tiny, glittering fragments.

Chat looked like he was about to cry.

He had hunched back on himself when Ladybug had snapped at him, and he looked down at her with huge, wounded eyes. His hands were clenched firmly at his sides, and his shoulders were stiff, nearly up to his ears. Ladybug watched as he bit his lip hard, his chin wobbling and jaw clenching.

His voice was heart wrenching when he said, softly, “I’m sorry.”

Stunned, Ladybug tried to cut in. “Chat, I—“

“I didn’t mean to, My Lady. I didn’t, I swear. I..I know I’m not much, but I..I just…” Chat hesitated, visibly struggling with himself, and then slumped. His whole posture changed as he hung his head, and his voice was monotonous when he mumbled,

“Even if you hate me, I’m just..so glad it’s you..”

Green light flared at his feet, and in seconds, where Chat Noir had once stood now remained only a gangly blonde haired boy in designer sweatpants and a school gym shirt, his hair dishevelled and head bowed. A black blur zipped off behind him to hide just past his head, and Ladybug couldn’t help but follow it with her eyes, staring like she couldn’t see enough.

That had to be Chat’s kwami. What had Tikki said his name was? Finding it so hard to breathe all of a sudden, she shook her head, pigtails flying about her face. She hadn’t been imagining it. It was all here, all in front of her, right now. Chat Noir was Adrien, and Adrien was Chat Noir.

It was almost hilarious, so why did she want to cry?

“I..I’m sorry,” she whispered, and didn’t know why she was saying it.

Adrien looked up at her, peeking out from behind his perfect blonde hair with those gorgeous green eyes, and something in her thudded and jumped with a horrible, dizzying relief.

“I’m so sorry. For running. I don’t hate you. How could I hate you, Adrien? You’re kind, and perfect, and wonderful, a-and,” Ladybug swallowed, the new information whirling behind her eyes, knocking her off balance, “A-and you’re my partner. You’re Chat. How could I hate you?”

An odd, slack-mouthed grin started to pull at Adrien’s lips, but he looked shocked, half incredulous and half hopeful. “But you—“ he said, only to be cut off as Ladybug continued, anxiety fuelling her suddenly non-stop mouth.

“I-if anything, I should be worried about you hating me! I’m always pushing you away, a-and I’m so clumsy, and nervous, and I’m always a wreck. I would understand if you were disappointed, if you would rather not have known, because me? Marinette? I’m just..I’m just me. I’m not amazing, or strong, or courageous. I’m not Ladybug without this mask, I’m just…scared.”

“All the time?” Adrien asked, his voice quiet, and that was the last thing that she had expected him to say.

Eyes wide, she nodded.

Adrien smiled. It wasn’t a Chat smile, and it wasn’t a smile she’d seen on the cover of a Parisian fashion magazine. It was one she’d only seen once, when he had offered her, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, an umbrella so many months ago.

It warmed her heart and sent it into tiny, terrified flutters all at once.

“Me, too,” Adrien said, shrugging a little, and Ladybug felt her breath stutter out in an unsteady stream of anxious laughter.

Slowly, she smiled, too.

“Then..that’s okay, right?” she asked, fiddling with her fingers. They were still gloved, still red and black and spotted.

“Yeah. We can be scared together,” Adrien said, rocking back on his feet. They were bare, she noticed suddenly, and a thrill of alarmed concern went through her. He looked smaller without his suit, more fragile, more human.

So did she, she knew.

Still, Marinette gathered all of her courage and pretended with all of her might that she was strong, and let the transformation drop.

Tikki flitted away with a little squeal, dashing up behind Adrien to—presumably—meet up with the other Kwami, but Marinette didn’t watch. She stood there on the rooftop in nothing but her pyjamas and her little pink flats, and immediately curled in on herself with a violent shiver, slipping a little in the light powdering of snow.

Adrien blinked, then laughed, much like he had months before. Covering his mouth and half-embarrassed by his lack of decorum, he was red faced and relieved.

Shivering hard, Marinette couldn’t help but laugh as well. The tension had left them, and suddenly it seemed to silly to be mad at each other or at themselves, just for a misunderstanding in the snow.

“It was the gloves that made me think you were Chat,” she offered once she could stop giggling, and Adrien let out a choking laugh, feigning a swoon and grasping at his heart. He was standing so close to her, and his face looked so nice with those high spots of colour on his pale skin.

“I knew it! Leather was always my downfall.”

“Such a vain kitty.”

“Oh, but you like me best that way, don’t you, My Lady?”

Adrien smirked at her, then, and all breath left Marinette’s chest in a warm gush that fogged in the air between them. That was a Chat look, a Chat smile, and it looked so wrong and yet so right on Adrien’s face. Suddenly she wondered if their miraculous had been a blessing as a mask for the both of them, and knew at once that it was true.

Suddenly, she was very aware of four things.

One, she was in love with Adrien Agreste.

Two, Adrien Agreste was Chat Noir

Three, Chat Noir was in love with Ladybug.

And four, she was Ladybug.

“Y-yeah,” murmured Marinette, a new smile lighting up her face with none of the nervousness and yet all of the anticipation. Adrien’s face lit up, and he perked up so visibly she could easily imagine the cat-ears of his suit perking up as well. It was as infuriatingly adorable as it was endearing. Warmth spread in her gut, and the cold outside could not compare to this new feeling. “Yeah, I really do.”