Chapter Text
Ladybug truly hadn’t meant to end up in the same alley as Chat Noir just as his transformation dropped. Normally she was really careful to avoid her partner once they went their separate ways. Today, though, she was very distracted - she was supposed to meet her friends (and Adrien!) at Andre’s ice cream cart in less than ten minutes. While no one would be surprised if she was late, she would hate to waste even one moment of precious time she could be spending with Adrien. Things had been even weirder between them after the class trip to New York, but after their incredibly romantic slow dance in the moonlight, she couldn’t help but hold out some hope that maybe he was finally beginning to see her as more than a friend.
She zipped down behind a large dumpster, intent on transforming quickly so she could run the two blocks to the bridge and maybe be on time for once, just as the green magic of his transformation washed over Chat. Before she could even close her eyes, Adrien Agreste was standing before her in all his tall, blond, green-eyed supermodel glory. Ladybug felt her mouth drop open as Adrien awkwardly flashed his million-dollar smile at her, blinking in surprise and faux innocence. “Oh, um, hello Ladybug,” he said, offering a small wave and trying to act like everything was normal, clearly hoping she hadn’t seen him transform. It would have been laughable if she’d had any breath left in her lungs.
If her brain had been functioning, maybe she could have grabbed that chance to play it off and pretend that nothing had changed, that she hadn’t just realized that the boy she loved was her super hero partner, who she’d been rejecting for the past two and a half years. Unfortunately, Marinette.exe was not currently running, so she just stood there with her mouth gaping open, staring at him with blue eyes growing wider and wider.
Adrien rubbed his neck sheepishly, a familiar gesture that she suddenly realized she’d watched Chat do often, whenever he was embarrassed or flustered. His cheeks turned red while his wide eyes pleaded with her. “I’m sorry, Ladybug!” he apologized anxiously, taking her hands. “It was an accident! Please don’t take my Miraculous!”
Plagg flew out from behind him and the small black cat Kwami made his own pleading gesture. “Ladybug, it’s not his fault! He didn’t see you and I couldn’t hold the transformation any longer! Please, don’t punish him for that.”
Ladybug shook her head, then shook it again for good measure, trying to remember how to speak. Words, words were good. She closed her eyes so she couldn’t see him, and found that made it easier. She pictured her goofy partner Chat instead, silly kitty in a black cat superhero costume, and that helped more. “I’m not going to take your ring, Chat. You don’t have to give up your Miraculous because I know your identity. That was Master Fu’s rule, but now that I’m the Guardian, I make my own rules. I can’t believe you would even think that after New York. I need you, kitty. That doesn’t change because I know who you are now. We’re just going to have to be a lot more careful, so Hawk Moth and Mayura don’t find out.”
Silence. She opened her eyes to see Adrien nodding seriously, which made her heart start beating faster again. She stared at him, the look in his eyes that she’d recognize anywhere, because it was the same as the one she saw in the mirror every time she thought about Adrien. “You love me…” she whispered, inching closer to him as her eyes started to widen as realizations crashed down on her in an overwhelming flood of sudden knowledge. “You… You love me?’ she repeated, suddenly unsure.
“I love you, Ladybug,” he repeated firmly, taking her hands and pulling her against him. “I’ve loved you for years.” Their faces inched closer as they stared at each other, and everything was almost perfect, except… the gears in Marinette’s brain were still turning.
His lips with centimeters from hers when she suddenly stiffened in his arms. He watched her pull away quickly as her expression slowly morphed from happy and hopeful to one of near devastation.
“You love… Ladybug,” she repeated, looking away as a tear slipped down her cheek. He reached out to her, panicked, but she pulled her hand away. “I love you!” he affirmed, trying to figure out what he’d done wrong.
“No,” Ladybug shook her head, glancing over at him with swimming eyes. “You love this,” gesturing to her costume. “I’m not like this out of the mask. You don’t actually love me,” she continued painfully, choking on each word, “You love Ladybug.”
“No!” he exclaimed, watching as she started to leave and desperately grabbing to stop her.
“Don’t!” she yelled, turning to him with a fierce glare that backed him up a few paces, even as his welling emerald green eyes continued to beseech her. “You don’t love the real me. I know you don’t. You’ve never seen past the mask. We’ve met… more than once, as civilians,” she continued, knowing she should stop but unable to help herself. “You’ve never looked at the real me like this. You don’t love me, you love Ladybug. And that’s not enough. I deserve someone who loves me for myself, not someone who’s just going to be disappointed in who’s behind my mask because I could never measure up to your impossible ideal. I’m a person, Chat, not just a superhero, and you don’t see me.”
She turned and zipped away, yelling, “Don’t you dare follow me!”
He watched helplessly, then sat down on the dirty concrete when his legs refused to hold him. He cried, wracking sobs, as Plagg tried unsuccessfully to comfort him. “I ruined it, Plagg. She was so happy when she realized who I was… What happened? What does she mean I don’t see her? I’ve always seen her!”
Plagg shook his head, wanting to explain but knowing he couldn’t. He patted Adrien’s cheek, wishing there was something he could say to comfort him. Looking up, Plagg suddenly cried, “Look out, Adrien!” Before Adrien could even move, Plagg had flown up and, opening his mouth impossibly wide, snapped an Akuma out of the air and swallowed it. Patting his tummy, he burped, releasing a noxious black bubble that popped before dissipating into nothing.
Adrien wiped his cheeks, taking deep breaths to try and calm down. “Thanks Plagg,” Adrien said, sounding a little awed. He’d had no idea his Kwami could do that.
“No problem, kid,” Plagg said smugly, coming down to perch on his knee and letting out a small pleased purr.
Adrien spent a few more minutes trying to center himself before getting up and dusting himself off to go meet his friends, realizing he needed to wait to think about this until he was calmer. The last thing Ladybug needed today was to have to fight an Akumatized version of himself.