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She could not forget her homework again. No way. This time, Marinette would stay on top of things! And that meant that she was getting her homework right now.
She had nearly made it home after the latest Akuma attack when she realized she forgot her homework and her book bag at school. Again.
“Oh, Tikki! Why do I always do this?” Marinette whined.
Tikki floated out of Marinette’s purse and perched on her shoulder. “It’s not that bad, Marinette,” she chirped. “We’re not that late this time. The school’s still open for after school activities. And think about it! Because you remembered, you can get your homework done on time!”
Marinette sighed. “You’re right, Tikki.” She smiled and patted the kwami on her head. “You always know what to say.”
Tikki smiled brightly. “I am here to help guide you, after all.”
“Thanks, Tikki,” Marinette said.
As they got close to the locker room, Tikki flew into her purse, snuggling up to her macarons. (They were peach flavored today.)
Marinette rounded the corner of the locker room door and saw three things in quick succession. First, Chat Noir coming in through the window, his miraculous beeping its "time's up" warning. Second, a bright, green flash. Third, before Marinette had time to look away, Adrien stood where Chat Noir had been just moments ago with Plagg appearing next to him.
She definitely wasn’t supposed to see that.
Marinette lurched back out the locker room’s door and out of Adrien and Plagg’s sights. It would be a disaster if she let him know that she saw. It was a disaster that she saw !
She tried to process what she just witnessed. That was definitely Chat Noir. Who was now Adrien and Plagg. It certainly didn’t help her attempt at calm when Plagg whined, “Adrieeen, cheeeeeese.”
“You know where it is, you glutton,” Adrien teased. That sounded like something Chat Noir would say. She had never heard Adrien tease like that before.
Except she had when Chat Noir—who was also Adrien —had teased her.
“Marinette?” Tikki whispered, floating in front of her face. “It’s okay. You can do this. Just act like you saw nothing. It’s just Adrien in there.”
“Who just so happens to be our friendly neighborhood black cat hero!” Marinette hissed back.
She knew she was freaking out. She had to get a handle of her thoughts. Better plan: she’ll do what she did last time and come back to the school as Ladybug in the middle of the night to pick up her assignments and bag. She was fine with pulling another all-nighter. It was definitely better than facing Adri-Chat right then and there.
Marinette knew she couldn’t do that. She wanted at least some control of her thoughts. She definitely didn't want to face Adrien after an all-nighter. A sleep-deprived Marinette was a way worse choice. Anyway, if she did that, she would totally spill her all-nighter coffee with too many espresso shots all over Adrien. Adrien would hate her and she would be so embarrassed that she’d have to move to Guam! She didn’t want to move to Guam! She had to be here for Paris. Paris needed Ladybug, but then Chat—
Tikki’s voice snapped her out of her panic. “Marinette! You’re spiraling again. I know you can do this!”
Marinette blinked a couple of times, logic returning to her. “Okay. Right. I can do this!” she confirmed. Tikki nuzzled her chosen’s cheek, then hid in her purse. Just because one identity was blown, didn’t mean Tikki had to reveal the other.
Marinette turned around, opened the door to the locker room again, and ran face-first into Adrien, knocking them both over.
Adrien, the ever-protective hero he was, grabbed her around the waist to keep her safe as they fell. His touch was doing nothing to improve her state of mind.
Marinette squeaked and scrambled off Adrien the moment they landed. She nearly fell on her butt in her haste to get away.
“Oh, no! I’m sorry so! I- Ack! I didn’t mean to do that!” she stammered.
Adrien let out a small laugh, then fixed her with the sweetest smile. “It’s fine, Marinette. I’m not hurt. Are you okay?”
His smile was the cutest thing... Which was also Chat Noir’s smile. There was no way she could handle this right now! Tikki was wrong!
“Really? Good! I mean, I'm okay! Not a bruise on me! Well, other than the ones I have already. Oh, I’m such a klutz. I didn't mean to run into you. I wasn’t paying attention. I thought I saw a cat outside and that’s why I wasn’t looking where I was going. Maybe it was Chat Noir! That would just be silly though. Of course, he’s not an actual cat...” Marinette fabricated her lie on the spot.
Adrien tensed up, his face going pale. Oh, no, no, no! She already messed up! Tikki probably just planted her face into one of the macarons just so she didn’t have to see how badly this was going to end. Marinette didn’t want to be here to witness her humiliation either.
Adrien let out a nervous laugh. “Maybe you did see him? It’s not every day you get to say hi to one of the superheroes of Paris, right?”
Okay, Adrien was going along with her ramblings. That’s a start. Encouraged, Marinette continued. “Yeah. Saying hi would be nice. It’d be fun to hang out with him on the Eiffel Tower, too.”
Adrien nodded. “I bet he would be really cool to play video games or watch movies with. He’d be way better than me at video games. Probably give you a run for your money, Marinette.”
He was trying to cover up his identity even though she already knew who he was and she was just making it all weird. Marinette couldn’t handle this. This was the actual worst.
He kept talking. “He’s totally cool enough to date, too.” Adrien froze. Marinette went rigid as she processed the words that just came out of his mouth.
Scratch that. This was the actual worst.
It wasn’t like he was telling her to date him. That would just be silly. Adrien didn’t love Marinette. It was definitely a ploy to throw her off. The only other option was that it actually sounded like he was trying to say that he would date… himself?
This was too ridiculous. She was too high strung for this! Marinette blurted out a giggle.
Adrien’s face started to flush red. “What? He’s cool. And funny. He could sweep you off your feet!”
Marinette couldn’t stop herself from giggling. He didn’t have to dig himself deeper into this hole. She already knew he was Chat Noir! She was watching a train wreck in progress.
“It almost sounds like you want to date him,” Marinette teased with a playful, though panicked, grin.
Adrien’s voice pitched an octave up when he yelped, “What?!”
“You’re going on and on about how cool and funny he is. I bet you think he’s hot, too.” Marinette did not know what she was saying anymore. It was like her mouth had a mind of its own and decided it was a great idea to put the train wreck’s pedal to the metal and floor it. She didn’t even know if trains had pedals!
Adrien defended, “He’s no model—”
Marinette burst into laughter. This was just too ironic. She was pretty sure she could hear Plagg’s snickering from wherever he hid.
Adrien’s blush became darker. He just kept on talking. “But he is good looking! Who wouldn’t date a superhero? I hear he’s actually really smart. And he’s really funny! You’ve heard his jokes!”
Marinette gasped for air to reply, “You mean his atrocious puns!”
Adrien was quick to defend his favorite type of humor. “They’re not that bad!”
She wheezed, “They’re hilarious!”
Adrien perked up, “Really?” Clearly he had forgotten he was supposed to be pretending to want to date himself.
Air was finally restored to Marinette’s lungs. “Yes, really!” She wiped at the tears pooling in her eyes, feeling half exasperated, half adoring.
The image of Chat Noir’s excited and happy face was clear in her head. He always perked up when she told him she liked one of his jokes.
She’d love to look at him now, but she just couldn’t when she knew he was unmasked. She would panic worse than she already was if she saw Adrien’s face. Especially when Marinette couldn’t stop blabbing on. “You know, I can track him down so you can ask him out on a date. I can’t imagine anyone saying no to you.”
Marinette looked up to see Adrien’s face warp from happiness to panic. She bit her lip to force herself not to laugh. It didn't help that she was definitely still panicking.
It was obvious that he was too with how wide his eyes were getting, and he was smiling with just a few too many teeth. “Whaaaat? Noooo,” Adrien dragged out the first two words, “There’s no way I’d be able to date him.”
Marinette giggle-snorted.
Adrien continued his reasoning. “He’s—um... not fashionable?” The excuse came out like a question.
Marinette couldn’t hold it in. She doubled over in laughter, leaning against the lockers. The irony was too much and she could barely stand it.
Marinette caught her breath enough to say one sentence. “It’s the belt tail, isn’t it?”
The reply was immediate. “The tail is cool!”
Her stomach hurt from laughing so hard. There were tears running down her face. She didn’t need to look to know he was pouting.
The belt tail is kind of cool , she admitted privately.
Adrien was doggedly (cattedly?) fighting a failing battle to defend his right to date his alter ego, “I can date him if I want to!”
That was the last straw. She couldn’t hold herself up anymore. Her back slid against the lockers as she lowered, as gracefully as she could when laughing so hard that snot was coming out of her nose, to the floor.
Catching her breath, Marinette looked up to see Adrien turn to leave the locker room. This whole thing must have been so confusing for him. Marinette never acted like this around him. Well, she did when she was Ladybug, but that was beside the point now. She just didn’t want her partner to take her teasing the wrong way.
“Wait!” Marinette stumbled to her feet and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards her and smooshing her face into his shoulder. “Wait! Chaton, please?”
Adrien tensed up. A beat of silence passed. Then, he hesitantly said, “That’s something Ladybug calls Chat Noir.”
Marinette giggled into his shoulder, “Well, duh. I know that.”
Silence again. The only sound was Marinette’s labored breathing as she tried to stop her giggle-fit. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears. It wouldn’t be surprising if he could hear it too.
Adrien took another step towards the door.
Marinette held fast, hugging his arm closer and keeping him from going any further. “No way. You’re not going anywhere. I can’t watch you do this anymore. I couldn’t handle it if you told anyone else that you were cool enough to date yourself! Even if they didn’t know you were, well, you!” Marinette nervously bit down on her lip and jittered her knees back and forth. “Nino or Alya would catch wind of it and then I wouldn’t ever be able to tell you that I love you because it would be way too awkward with you fake-dating yourself!”
After her cat astrophe of words (haha), Marinette forced her mouth shut. Saying anything more would make things even worse than they already were! She kept her eyes clamped shut and breathed his smell in as she tried to get the bundle of nerves in her stomach to calm down.
She felt him staring at her like he was trying to figure her out or something. Probably trying to decode if what she said made any sense.
He took a deep breath, then whined, “Bugaboooo, stop iiit…”
Marinette shook her head against his arm. “Nu-uh. Never.”
A moment later, he murmured in awe, “Ladybug?”
Ladybug? Wait! She was Marinette right now! Not Ladybug!
She let go of his arm and stumbled back the moment she realized the implications of what was said. Her eyes were wide. This needed to be fixed.
Flailing her arms, she babbled, “Wait! I didn’t say that! I said— um—” Marinette noticed her tear stains that were now on his brand name overshirt. “Oh, no! I got your shirt all gross! I can fix that! I think. Your dad would definitely hate me if he knew I did that and that would probably be the third-worst thing I managed to do today.”
She wasn’t supposed to let him know she was Ladybug! Oh no, no, no! What was she even doing, trying to tease Adrien like that! She probably gave him a heart attack and that wouldn’t be good because she needed her other half!
Adrien grabbed her by both her arms to steady her. “Marinette, I can hear you overthinking.”
The feel of his hands steadying her snapped her out of her spiraling thoughts. She looked up at her crime-fighting, superhero partner, who was also her best friend. Who was also her crush . This was going to take some getting used to.
“Um. Hi?” Marinette squeaked out nervously.
“Well, the cat’s out of the bag, huh?” Tikki giggled. The nervous tension surrounding the kids shattered.
Marinette jumped at Tikki’s unexpected disruption, bashing her forehead right into Adrien’s nose. Adrien stumbled back a few steps covering his nose. Marinette held her forehead, “Owwwww,” she groaned.
“Tikki, not you too!” Plagg whined, floating out of his chosen’s bag. “I hear enough of those cat puns from Adrien!”
And now their kwamis were joking at their expense. Marinette looked up and noticed Adrien holding his nose.
“Oh, no! Are you okay? I’m sorry!” Marinette asked, mortified, and immediately forgetting her own pain. She leaned in close to Adrien's nose, checking the damage she’d done. She gently tugged his hand away so she could get a better look. The fact that Adrien’s face started flushing beet-red as she kept looking at him was barely something she noticed.
In the middle of her scrutiny, Marinette murmured, “Clumsy Marinette strikes again.”
“I don’t mind. I fall for you every day,” Adrien blurted out.
Marinette’s entire face blazed red. Just when her nerves were calming, they got kicked right back into overdrive.
“You! I— Uh— Timing! No! Bad Kitty!” Marinette stuttered out, shoving his face away and staring at whatever was not his face. Was she ever going to be coherent again?
Adrien smirked, though it was really closer to a smile, and teased, “Arguably, your confession had worse timing.”
“My wha—?!” Marinette replayed what happened in her head. She did confess. Her timing was definitely worse.
“You weren’t supposed to hear that!” she yelped.
“But, you were talking to me!” he protested.
“You were talking about dating yourself!”
“No, I wasn’t!”
Marinette looked Adrien straight in the eyes. “Adrien, you went on and on about how dateable you are, and you’re the one who said ‘date’ in the first place! What was I supposed to think?”
Adrien threw his hands up. “I don’t know! I didn’t think anything through!”
“Me neither!” Marinette did a wonderful impression of an upside-down J with her body, letting her arms dangle as she stared at the floor.
There was silence as the pair processed everything that just happened. They looked away from each other, both trying to hide their embarrassment at how badly they messed up.
“When did you figure it out?” Adrien was the first to break the silence. “That I’m Chat Noir,” he clarified.
Marinette straightened up. This was something she could handle. She could answer this question clearly! “Oh, that? Well, I was almost home after the Akuma attack when I remembered that I left my bag and homework here. Then, I ran all the way back here because I just detransformed and that wouldn’t be fair for Tikki to transform me again after all that. So, I walked in here and saw you detransform. I thought I was seeing things, but then I definitely heard Plagg complaining about wanting cheese—" Marinette gasped. "That’s why you always smell like cheese! It’s Plagg!”
Maybe not as clear as she thought.
“I take offense to that for the sake of the cheese!” Plagg protested.
Tikki countered with a teasing giggle, “Well, I do call you Stinky Sock for a reason!”
The kwamis chattered away, flitting around each other, and poking fun.
Marinette watched the kwamis. The two of them were pretty cute around each other. They were also very good at keeping her attention away from the present situation.
“Does this mean you’ll be my girlfriend?”Adrien asked, breaking through her distraction.
Marinette stared, wide-eyed at Adrien. “I— Wha—? Really?”
The smile Adrien gave her nearly stopped her heart. It was the smile she saw on pictures of Chat Noir when Ladybug’s back was turned. It was the smile Adrien gave Marinette. “Of course! I’ve loved you for as long as I’ve known you! You’re the love of my life.”
“Ack! Adrien! You can’t just say things like that!” Marinette sputtered out. She felt her cheeks heat up bright red.
“But, I’ve been telling you that for years. Why can’t I announce my love to you and anyone who will listen? What changed?” Adrien pouted.
Marinette whined into her hands, “Because now I know it’s you!”
After a moment, Marinette peeked through her fingers at Adrien. He looked deep in thought.
He suddenly gasped, then looked at Marinette, excitement glittering in his eyes. “Because you love me ! I’m the other boy!”
Marinette couldn’t help but giggle through her hands. He was so cute when he was excited. “Yes.”
“Is that ‘yes’ to being my girlfriend or—”
“Both!”