40. Chapter 40

“Chat...?” Marinette asked in Ladybug’s voice, peering out from beneath Ladybug’s contact name, blinking Ladybug’s gorgeous blue eyes, and yawning with Ladybug’s perfect lips.

Somewhere, beneath his soul-shaking revelation, Adrien figured he probably should’ve put this together sooner.

Like a prey animal cornered, Adrien froze, gripping his phone so tightly his knuckles went ghost white. Some nameless emotion at the chaotic crossroad of pure shock and utter elation swirled typhoon-like around his pounding heart, mixing with his wine buzz in the best/worst of ways. He stared at the spectre before him, waiting for her to recognize the insane situation they were in and react, but no reaction came. Marinette just continued to squint blearily through screen, seemingly unaware of what was going on.

“Hha-mgh…  ughh, h-hey!” Adrien finally blurted, mouth dry and words cracking beneath the unhinged laughter that threatened to escape him. “You… y-you’re… oh, fuck.”

Marinette rubbed her eyes. “Wus wrong?”

“Nothing!” he piped, trying to sound cool and sincere despite the fact he was experiencing no less than fifteen crises simultaneously. “I just… called to say I love you?” Adrien cringed at the way it came out, almost as a question rather than the absolute truth it was, but if Marinette noticed his odd tone she didn’t comment.

“Aw, I love you too, Kitty,” she cooed, and damn if her sleepy smile didn’t make Adrien’s heart nearly beat its way right out of his chest. “I hope you have nice dreams.”

“I will,” he promised, though he foresaw a long night of overthinking ahead of him. “I’ll let you get back to sleep now. Sorry I woke you up.”

Marinette yawned again, burrowing further beneath her blanket. “S’okay. I like hearing your voice.”

“I like hearing your voice too,” Adrien responded, hushed. Awed. Half-unbelieving that any of this was even occurring. “Now get to bed, bug.”

Too drowsy to even call him out on the pun, Marinette whispered a soft “g’night” before the screen faded to black, and Adrien stared at his own reflection in the glass for what seemed like hours, trying to decipher what the everloving fuck had just happened. It was late, almost 3 am, and he was tired. Exhausted, really. Though his body remained abuzz with a jarring entanglement of excitement, disbelief, and drunkenness, his poor overworked brain was begging for the sweet release of sleep. Perhaps even a small coma. So he did what any sensible person would do in his situation:

Left the problem for Future Adrien to deal with, and went to bed.

Future Adrien groaned, loathing Past Adrien with every fiber of his aching being. Not only had that bastard left him to deal with the ramifications of last night's phone call alone, he’d left him to do it while nursing a hangover.What a prick.“Good morning,” Plagg greeted brightly, his tone far too jovial given the circumstances. Too knowing. “Sleep well?”Adrien grunted in answer, burying his face under his pillow. Judging by the amount of light streaming through his windows, he figured it must be around noon, but the fact he’d just woken up meant it was technically morning, and he wasn't in the mood for Plagg’s teasing. Especially not after the night he’d had.“That bad?” Plagg drawled. “Can’t imagine why. Not like you were on the phone all night talking to your little girlfriend.” Floating down to make sure he was being heard, Plagg poked at his human’s prone form, tail lashing for attention.  “Speaking of, what are you planning to do about all that?”“I don't know. Probably die.”“Wow, you hate Marinette that much?”“What?” Adrien croaked, flinging his pillow aside to glare up at the kwami.“Marinette?” Plagg clarified. “The girl who’s Ladybug? I sorta got the impression you liked her, but if you’re this upset about finding out…”“I’m not upset,” Adrien argued. “Marinette is great! She’s awesome, I love her!”Silence rang in the wake of his words, and everything seemed to click into place.‘Oh.’“I love Marinette,” he whispered to himself, like it was a secret. Like it was a revelation. He grinned, and that same giddy excitement from the night before came rushing back, only this time without the shock and disbelief to sour it. Marinette was Ladybug! Of course she was! She was his friend and his partner and she—“She was flirting with me!” Adrien exclaimed, sitting up so fast his head nearly spun clean off.“She has been for the last three years but congrats on finally noticing,” Plagg deadpanned.Adrien ignored both him and the pounding of temples, running through a mental checklist of the little coincidences he’d been trying to ignore. The pictures, the flirting, Marinette’s downright bizarre behavior—it all made sense now. All her little “slip-ups” weren’t slip-ups at all; Ladybug was far too careful for that kind of carelessness. Which could only mean that he was supposed to notice the coincidences, that she wanted him to connect the dots.Adrien laughed at the absurdity of it all, too excited to be as upset as he probably should've been, when something else dawned on him. “You!” he accused, stabbing a finger in Plagg’s direction.“Me?” the kwami echoed, nonplussed.“You’ve been helping her!”Plagg shrugged. “So I snuck a few things in your locker. Big deal. It was her idea. Mostly.”Adrien’s eyes narrowed. “You’re a demon.”“Some cultures have called me that, yes. Why? You looking to make a deal?” Plagg’s voice grew conspiratorial, nose twitching in fiendish glee. “Maybe exact a little revenge?”The offer gave Adrien pause.For a brief moment, he imagined it: Giving Ladybug a taste of her own medicine. Teasing her to the point of combustion. Dangling her on the end of a string as he sat grinning on the other side. He could play dumb, pretend he didn’t remember facetiming her, and ignore the increasingly obvious clues she was sending his way. He could flirt and feign until she finally broke down and told him the truth. She more than deserved a little toying with.“Yessss~” Plagg hissed, floating close to whisper in Adrien’s ear. “Embrace the chaos~”Like an errant soap bubble, the spell popped, and suddenly Adrien knew exactly what he had to do.“No, no more chaos,” he declared, tossing his covers off and rising to his feet. Breathing deeply through the heave of his stomach, Adrien checked his calendar app. Today was his first Sunday off in months. He could easily stay in bed until it was time to sleep again, nursing his hangover and agonizing over what should be done about all this, but his mind was made up.This ended today.“Plagg, claws out!”

*Screeeeeeeck*The trapdoor wailed mournfully as Marinette climbed up to her rooftop balcony. Something to add to her growing list of chores, she supposed. Superheroes who regularly snuck out at night needed a quiet route of exit, but perhaps she could put it off till tomorrow. It was such a lovely day. Too lovely for menial tasks like oiling hinges. The October air had a crisp, cool bite to it, made pleasant by the early-afternoon sun, and Marinette breathed the feeling of Fall into her very lungs. Yes, definitely a chore for another time.It was a rare find, an Autumn day without rain. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had to actively water the plants on her terrace, but the roses had been wilting as of late and the lavender could use a nice spritz as well, so here she was, spray bottle in hand. Humming softly to herself, Marinette lifted the leaves of her tomato sprout one by one, coating every inch of the plant in a fine mist. The droplets clung to the pulpy hairs that lined the vines in a dazzling spider web pattern, and so transfixed by the sunlight playing off its surface was Marinette that she almost didn’t hear the dull thud on the roof behind her.Almost.“Whoa!” Chat Noir yelped, bringing his hands up in a placating motion. His eyes zeroed in on the spray bottle Marinette now brandished as a weapon, tail lashing idly behind him before wrapping around the wrought iron railing that lined the balcony. “Don’t shoot!”“Chat Noir,” Marinette breathed, relaxing from her instinctive battle stance to press one hand to her pounding chest. “Wha… What are you doing here?”“Just in the neighborhood. Thought I might drop by and say hi.” His lip twitched up at one corner. “If you’re going to punch me again, go for the left jaw. My right side is still aching from last time.”Marinette's cheeks flamed at the memory. “Maybe if you didn’t sneak up on me I wouldn’t punch you."“Maybe I like it when you hurt me,” Chat countered, still smiling that goddamn cryptic smile she just couldn’t get a read on. Marinette tried, futily, to find something in his expression, some indication of why he was here and how much he actually knew, but it was no use. For all the time they’d spent as partners, both platonic and otherwise, Chat Noir still knew how to bluff like a champ.Luckily, so did she.“Didn’t know you were into that sort of thing,” Marinette remarked, keeping her voice balanced on the razor's edge of neutral and playful.  It wasn’t a flirtation exactly, but it wasn’t not a flirtation either. More of a litmus test for how the rest of this conversation was going to go.

Schrödinger’s Pickup Line, if you will.“I’m into a lot of things you don't know about,” Chat Noir responded, hopping up on that metaphorical tightrope right alongside her. “What about you? Got any... proclivities you’d like to share?”“Not with a stranger.”“Well then, it’s a good thing we aren’t strangers, huh?”If her pulse leapt then, Marinette didn’t let it show. She simply hummed, gliding past him to begin misting the bonsai tree towards the back of the terrace.“C’mon,” Chat cajoled, trailing behind her. “Fiesty girl like you’s gotta have some fantasies floating around in that head of yours. Perhaps about a certain strong, sexy hero of Paris...?”“Perhaps,” Marinette said. “But it wouldn’t be proper to talk about Ladybug like that. Considering she is your girlfriend after all.”Her view of leaves and branches was suddenly replaced with his smirking face. “What’s your opinion on threesomes?”Water, it seemed, wasn't much of a deterrent for this particular cat, as Chat’s roguish expression stayed dutifully intact even as she delivered a point-blank spritz to the center of his mask.“Why are you really here, Chat Noir?” Marinette asked, ignoring the way her hands shook as she placed them atop her hips.Chat Noir seemed to mull the question over, tapping one finger to the bottom of his chin in contemplation. He looked at her, shook his head, then scanned the balcony before his gaze snagged on the planter box. A light bulb must’ve gone off somewhere in that head of his because he crossed the space in two steps, quickly locating the biggest bloom and reaching down to grasp it.“I’m here,” Chat began, snapping the delicate stem between his claws, “because I like being around you.”

Ignoring the fact he’d just slaughtered one of her prized roses, Marinette watched him hoist the flower up for examination, his green eyes tracing each and every petal before flitting over to land on her face. He smiled.

“One might even say I love being around you.”Much as she’d like to think she was past the point of infatuation, Marinette couldn’t help but blush as he slotted the flower behind her left ear, her breath catching at the simple intimacy of the act. It was a cliche move, to be sure, but Chat Noir had a particular knack for making even the most overplayed moves seem exhilarating. Sensitive, charming, wonderful dork that he was.“I’m here because you’re sweet,” he continued, gloved fingers still resting against the curve of her jaw in the most distracting way. “Because you’re fun, talented, beautiful...”He knew. He had to know. There’s no way Chat Noir would be acting like this, saying these things if he didn’t.

“...and way too devious for your own good.”

Despite the gravity of the situation, Marinette had to bite down a grin, though it seemed she wasn’t quick enough on the bluff. Without warning, Chat’s smile hooked a hard right into smirk territory, and he began to slowly circle her, full on cat-and-mouse style.“I’m here because you’ve been getting bold,” he purred, so close to her ear she could feel his breath stir the hairs of the back of her head. His hand on her shoulder began a slow path down her spine, claws occasionally catching in the delicate knit of her cardigan before slipping inside her belt loop. His next words were whispered directly in her ear. “Because I’m not nearly as clueless as you seem to think I am...”This was it. The moment she’d been psyching herself up for for weeks. Gathering her courage, Marinette turned in Chat’s arms, locking their gazes with fierce determination. Old feelings of inadequacy clawed at the surface of her nerves, hissing a thousand reminders of just how badly this could all go wrong, but for once Marinette found it easy to tune them out.

She trusted Adrien. With her life, with her heart. Surely she could trust him with the rest.

“I’m guessing this means you know I’m Ladybug.”

Whatever reaction she’d been expecting, what came next wasn't it.“You’re what?!” Chat shrieked, feline green eyes blowing so wide they nearly turned black. His hands flew from her body as if burned by her touch, one grasping at his heaving chest while the other braced against the balcony rail to keep himself upright, and Marinette felt as though the earth had opened up beneath her.“I-I thought! I… that you…!” she stammered, frantic, looking around as if someone could help pull her out from the bottomless pit she’d dug herself into.

This was the disaster scenario! The one situation she’d been trying to avoid this whole time! She thought she’d eased him into it, dropped enough hints to make sure this wouldn't come as a surprise, but she was wrong. She was wrong and fucked and now the love of her life was... was...Biting on his lip to keep from laughing?Marinette blinked, stunned but somehow not surprised. “Why you little—”Chat Noir exploded , doubling over as unbridled laughter shook him from ear to tail. Hands braced on his knees, he gasped a great lungful of air, glancing up at her shocked expression only to fall apart all over again, nearly rolling at his own childish trick. Trying to recover from her emotional whiplash, a boneless Marinette collapsed back against the ledge where her smaller planters sat. Her poor heart still beat so violently it threatened to escape her ribs, only now for an entirely different reason. Here she was, watching her dork of a boyfriend laugh at his own dumb prank.And she was so in love.“Y-You should’ve—” Gasp . “—seen—” Gasp . “—the l-look on your face!” Chat cackled, wiping tears of mirth as they spilled out from behind his mask.“That was cruel,” Marinette groused, poking her lip out in an attempt at a pout. It was difficult, considering how contagious his smile was, but she managed.“So is performing fellatio on a lollipop,” Chat Noir shot back, sauntering over and plopping down on the ledge beside her. “And teasing me with hypothetical threesomes that will never happen. And flirting with me when you knew I couldn’t flirt back. And making my life a complicated, horny hellscape.”With each offense Marinette sunk further into her collar, retreating from his accusatory stare. Her plan had been solid—it had worked! She'd drawn her little treasure map and Adrien had followed it right to her door, but when he framed it like that her methods did start to seem a bit cruel.“I’m sorry,” she apologized, facing him so he could see the apology in her expression, hear the sincerity of her words. “For how this all happened. Tikki told me there were better ways to do this. Much more mature ways. I know I should’ve listened to her b-but I couldn’t…"Ah, anxiety. Welcome back to the fold. You were not missed."Marinette?" Chat prompted, the humor in his eyes now replaced with worry. His hands found hers where they clenched atop her knees, drawing her fingers between his until she relaxed them."It scared me to think you might not want this anymore after you found out," Marinette admitted, voice rough. “I thought—” She shook her head. “I-I don’t know what I thought.”Chat's mask creased in worry, his thumb swiping soothing arcs along her shaking hands. “Please talk to me.”Marinette gnawed her lip. “I was worried the way you cared about Ladybug and the way you cared about Marinette wouldn’t... match up,” she began, trying to put all the thoughts and fears that kept her from this for so long into words. “You—Adrien, were always nice to me, but it was never romantic. I know that. I thought maybe, after you found out I was Ladybug, you’d want to go back to just being friends, which you have every right to do! I just—” Marinette sucked in a harsh breath, looking down at her lap. “I was selfish. I wanted to have you for a little while longer. J-Just in case.”"Bug—"“And I realize this is complicated," she powered on, cutting off whatever he was about to say. She couldn't hear it. Not until she got this all out. "I know I’ve made mistakes, and treated you unfairly. If you need some time to step back and examine things I get it. I can give you space. And if you decide you don't want to b-be with me any more…”

Marinette didn’t know how to finish that thought, so she didn’t. The balcony went still, silent aside from the soft tinkling of her windchimes, and what couldn't have been more than three seconds passed as an eternity.“I don’t think this is complicated at all," Chat finally replied. "Ladybug’s my partner, Marinette’s my friend, both are the same person, and I love her.” Three leather clad fingers slipped gently beneath her jaw, tilting her face until she was forced to confront the sincerity in his expression. “I love you.”

Simple. How did he make everything seem so simple? How, with three little words, was he able to both break her into a million pieces and stitch her back together in the same instant? How?

Marinette would probably never know how Adrien miraculously loved her the exact way she needed to be loved, but that didn’t stop her from thanking every lucky star that he did. Didn’t stop her from burying her face in his neck and finally, finally allowing herself the moment of vulnerability she’d feared for so long. Months of worry, compacted by her own knack for fixating on the worst possible outcome, left her body in the form of tears, welling hot in her eyes before dripping down her cheeks and onto his suit.

“I didn’t say that to make you cry,” Chat laughed, but it was a fragile thing. Choked.

“Stupid PMS,” Marinette blubbered and he chuckled again, somewhat steadier this time. She loved the way it rumbled out from the very center of his chest, radiating up to where her head rested atop his shoulder. She loved the way his arm wrapped effortlessly around her waist, tucking her in close.

She loved him. A lot.

“You alright?” Chat asked once the bulk of her tears had died out. His hand continued to rub soothing circles against the middle of her back, and with how emotionally drained she felt Marinette feared she might fall asleep on the spot.

“Hmm,” she hummed in affirmation, leaning into his warmth when a sudden cool breeze invaded the balcony. “Are you surprised?”

Marinette felt more than saw him shake his head. “I was a little bit at first, but it seems kinda obvious now.

“What gave me away?”

“Well, I’d had my suspicions for a while, but I think facetiming while you were half-asleep really nailed it down.”Marinette shot out of his embrace like a bat out of hell, her eyebrows following suit as they launched themselves skyward. “We what?! ”

“Facetimed. It’s like calling but we see each other.”

“When?”“Last night,” Chat informed her, chipper as could be. “Naturally I was freaking out, but you didn't even notice what was happening. It was kinda cute, actually. Are you always that oblivious when you’re tired?”“No,” Marinette defended, racking her brain for any memory of answering her phone last night only to come up empty. “I’ve just been too busy to sleep lately.”“Busy seducing me into insanity, you mean?” Chat clarified. Marinette chuckled nervously under his accusatory stare. “You’re not off the hook for that, by the way.”“I figured,” she sighed, putting on her most contrite expression. “For what it’s worth, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to tease you.”

Chat’s mask hitched at one corner.

“Okay so maybe I did mean to tease you a little bit, but you hardly seemed put off by it!”

“Oh darn it you got me,” he bemoaned, throwing his hands up in mock surrender. “I like it when my girlfriend sends me topless pics and flaunts her lack of a gag reflex. Lock me away, boys!”

Marinette sputtered. “I was not topless!”

“So you were wearing an invisible shirt?”

“My arm was there! I was covered!”

“Barely,” Chat said, unable to hide his grin. “And topless or not, you’re still in trouble, Little Lady.”

“Oh am I?” Marinette replied, intrigued by the direction this conversation was headed. Eager to see what a week's worth of winding up would earn her. Emboldened by his words, she leaned closer on their makeshift bench, fingers snaking up to flick the bell at her kitty’s throat.

Ding.

“How do you plan on punishing me?” she purred. Chat’s eyes grew wide, first glancing down at the hand fiddling with his collar then swooping up to meet her hooded gaze.

“How, uh—” He cleared his throat. “How do you think I should punish you?”

‘God he’s so cute when he’s flustered.’

Marinette wet her lips. “C’mere and find out~”

She leaned in, slowly, savoring the way his breath caught. She enjoyed the way his adam’s apple bobbed in anticipation, the way his hands lightly came to rest atop her hips. Her eyes fluttered shut as she felt his breath play across her lips, their surface aching for the kiss she’d probably never grow tired of, and Marinette waited patiently for him to finally close the distance, counting down in her head.

3…

2…

Chat suddenly wrenched himself back.

“No. Nope. I can’t do this,” he announced, nervously rubbing his palms up and down the length of his thighs. Marinette’s gut plummeted through the bottoms of her feet, anxiety flooding her veins like a virus. This was it. He’d changed his mind. He didn’t want to be with her at all and this was how it all fell apart.“No! No no no! That is not what I meant at all!” Chat blurted, as if he could read her very thoughts.  He cursed when he saw the glint of fear in her eyes, quickly bringing his hands up to cup her face. “Hey! Hey look! I love you! I love you so so so much!” As if to prove his point, he began peppering her cheeks with obnoxious, smacking kisses, refusing to let up until a relieved Marinette pushed him off.

“Okay okay!” she giggled, her gut slowly returning to it proper place. She fixed him with a serious look. “Tell me what’s bothering you.”Chat sighed. “I know this is stupid, but it feels like I’m cheating on you.”“Because I look like Marinette instead of Ladybug?” Marinette clarified. Chat nodded sheepishly. “Do you want me to transform?”"No," he answered. “It’s just... I know I’ve been dating Ladybug-you for a while now, and I know you’re the same person regardless if you’re wearing a mask or not, but after being friends with Marinette-you for so long it seems weird that I’m able to just kiss you out of the blue. I feel like I haven’t wooed you enough to deserve it, you know?“Wooed me?”“Well yeah. Chat-me has been flirting with Ladybug-you since we first meet, but Adrien-me hasn’t flirted Marinette-you at all. I haven’t wooed her-you.”Marinette blinked. “No offense, but are you like... okay ?”“Little hungover,” he admitted, sidestepping her concern. “My point is, I should’ve been walking you to class and bringing you flowers for years now, I was just too clueless to realize it! And now I have many, many months of woo-ing to make up for.” His expression grew soft. “I’ve gotta win your heart.”Marinette felt said heart thump in glee. “You’ve already won it, though.”

“Well I need to win it more,” he dismissed. “You deserve candlelight dinners and picnics in the park, not me jumping you in every dirty alleyway and abandoned building in Paris.”“To be fair, I think about eight out of ten times it was Ladybug doing the jumping,” Marinette pointed out.Chat waved a hand as if to fan the notion away. “Well that’s fine for a vixen of the night like Ladybug, but my fair, sweet, innocent Marinette—”“I jerked you off like four days ago,” his fair, sweet, innocent Marinette interjected drily.“—needs to be handled chastely. She needs a gentleman to capture her tender affections with only the most romantic of gestures—”“Plus you definitely got me off over the phone on Wednesday,” she recounted.“—and the purest of intentions—”“Remember when you mentioned us ‘not leaving the bed for hours’ after you found out my identity? I sure do.”“—TO SWEEP HER OFF HER FEET,” Chat finished in a near shout. He glared her down, the look far too loving to even hit the edge of annoyance, and Marinette fluttered her lashes harmlessly up at him. “You know what? I think I’ve decided on your punishment.”“Oh?”“Yeah,” he said, his expression turning smug. “You’re going to let me take you out. Like on a real date. You’re going to let me bring you flowers and hold your hand and walk you back to your door.”“That doesn’t sound like a punishment to me.”“And no more messing around until after our third date.”Silence.Marinette cleared her throat. “Define ‘messing around’...”“No handjobs,” Chat began, ignoring her sudden pout. “No taking off clothes. No feeling each other up through our clothes.”Marinette opened her mouth to speak.“And no more funny business over the phone either!” he rushed to add. “We can kiss and cuddle, but nothing beyond that. Not until I’ve properly wooed you.”

A bit stunned by this turn of events, Marinette searched her boyfriend up and down, but she could find no evidence that he was kidding. If anything Chat looked determined, almost pleading, and it confused her. Marinette had hoped assumed her week-long seduction would result in Adrien tossing her into bed and having his wicked way with her, so why was he backing off now? Had she pushed too hard? Crossed a line?

And then it hit her.

Marinette thought back to the night by the billboard. She recalled how she’d felt after finding out Chat Noir’s identity. She remembered the resulting shock, the confliction, the reconciliation of two people becoming one. It had been a lot to take in at once, which is exactly what Adrien was now going through. The only difference between her reaction to such a revelation and Adrien’s was that he wanted to spend this adjustment period with her, not running away from her, and Marinette figured the very least she could do was respect his need to ease into things slowly. He more than deserved that much.“Alright,” she said, reaching out to twine their fingers together. She smiled. “I give you permission to woo me.”“And?” Chat prompted.“And no funny business till after the third date.”“Thank you,” he said, squeezing their joined hands. “Now that’s not so bad a punishment, is it?”“Still kinda wish you would’ve just spanked me,” Marinette murmured beneath her breath, covering it with a cough.“See that?” Chat began, poking an accusatory finger to the very tip of her nose, “ That’s against the rules. Dirty talk falls under the bounds of funny business so you better watch yourself Dupain-Cheng.”Marinette’s face was a mask of pure innocence. “Alright. You hate dirty talk and you never want me to do it ever again. Noted.”

Chat’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not—”“Marinette!”

Both teens jumped at the muffled call from below, scooting apart like they’d been caught in the act. Marinette held up a finger, signalling Chat to wait silently as she crept to the porthole and stuck her head into her bedroom.

“Yes, Maman?”

“I know it’s your day off, but Papa could really use some help in the kitchen if you’re feeling up to it.”Marinette cringed, conflicted. Did she want to go proof dough and fill cream puffs after what she’d just gone through? Absolutely not. But her parents worked hard enough as is, and she hated to leave them short-handed when she was perfectly capable of helping.

“You can go if you need to,” Chat whispered from behind her.

“You sure?” Marinette asked. He nodded.

“Marinette?” her mother called again. “Did you hear me?”

“Coming! Let me just change and I’ll be down in a minute!” Marinette flipped the hatch shut with another metallic screech, turning to face her boyfriend. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s alright,” Chat assured her, standing and stretching in a particularly feline manner. He blinked up at the sun, seeming put off by it’s brightness. “As much as I like spending time with you, I could really go for a shower and like six glasses of water. Maybe some painkillers.”

Marinette giggled. “How much did you drink last night?”

“Just enough to make the best mistake of my life,” he answered with a wink, slipping his baton out from it’s holster and idly twirling it between his fingers.

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Go home and sleep off your hangover, Alley Cat. I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”

Chat paused, glancing out to where their campus sat a scant two blocks down the road. “Can I walk you there?” he asked, his earlier bravado melting into something impossibly earnest and excited. Marinette felt herself melt right alongside it.“Yeah. You can.”“Cool,” he breathed, sticking his fist out with a crooked smile. Returning the smile, Marinette dutifully bumped it with her own, just as she had done a million time before. Chat followed this up by seamlessly grabbing her hand and hoisting it up for a kiss, just as he had done a million times before, and despite the familiarity of it all Marinette still found herself flushing at the gesture.

“Love you, Bugaboo,” said Adrien Agreste.“Love you too, Kitten,” replied Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

She watched him vault off until he disappeared over the Parisian skyline, feeling more whole than she had in a very long time.