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“Are you sure I should be going,” Marinette murmured nervously as they stared up at the Grand Paris Hotel where the team had rented the penthouse for the evening. While the whole premise unsettled him, he knew he needed to make an appearance since LB had said she couldn’t make it this year. At least he had an excuse to bring his little mouse.
“Don’t worry, Princess,” Cat murmured, holding her around the shoulder and pressing a kiss to her hair. “You may have only been Multimouse for one day, but that still makes you a partner in my book. You deserve to be here.”
“But what about… Ladybug,” she whispered, fiddling with her purse strap in order to have some outlet for her fidgeting.
“She has a conflict this year,” he replied, sliding his hand down to the small of her back as he led her into the lobby and into the private elevator. “Besides, LB was never really one for mixing or parties. She’s all business. Has been as long as I’ve known her.”
“Maybe she just had a lot going on and wanted to get back to her normal life,” she said with a sigh, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
He looked at her steadily and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. “What’s this about, Marinette?”
“Its just, this is your special night. You and the other heroes celebrate how you defeated Hawkmoth and managed to deal with all sorts of other stuff. I know it seems weird and I’m happy Hawkmoth isn’t around anymore to cause problems for everyone, but I… can’t celebrate that. Not when it cost so much.”
He frowned at her in concern. He knew she had been worried about him, well both of him, when everything came out about his father, but she looked like a survivor of a nightmare… as if she had been on the team all along instead of just the once. It was personal for her.
“What happened, princess,” he murmured as the doors closed and the elevator rose. “You were never akumatized and -“
She curled tighter against him. “You know how I told you years ago that I loved someone else… before you?”
He nodded, stroking her hair. “Yeah, Buttercup. Your first love, right?”
She sniffled and nodded. “Buttercup was Adrien Agreste.”
He just stared at her in shock. “What?”
“Yeah. His whole world fell apart that day and I haven’t seen him since. He just disappeared. I couldn’t find him and we were all worried sick! It hurts to lose someone you love and never know what happened to them! I always thought, if I’d ever managed to tell him that I loved him it might have made a difference. He would have had someone. Someone to stand by him through all of that. Maybe… I could have saved him. How could I celebrate that?”
She buried her face in his chest, hiding her tears, but also hiding his own. He held her tightly. He had known Marinette cared about Adrien. She had even talked to Cat about it from time to time, her sorrow deep and genuine over the loss of her friend and… first love. He had given up Adrien, let him die with his family. There had been too much baggage associated with that name. Cat Noir was a hero. Cat Noir had a job that meant something to people, something worth being. Cat Noir had friends and people who loved him. During that horrible time, it had been easier to just let Adrien die than trying to sort everything out in his head. He had forgotten that there were people who cared about Adrien too.
Marinette had loved him. He had been her first love, for all it had been unrequited at the time. And she had been right. If he had known that someone as brilliant, amazing, and genuine as Marinette had loved him, he would have handled things differently. He never would have left her.
“Does she think Adrien is dead,” he wondered. “Or worse, locked in a capsule waiting for a miracle like… like Mother? Would she weep for me the way I did when everyone else was gone - even if it was only to say goodbye?”
“I’m so sorry, Marinette,” he sighed. “I never knew. If I had…”
He couldn’t finish and she looked up at him as he swallowed convulsively. She had fallen for him twice and she was the main anchor and light in his life. She kept his darkness at bay. He even had the ring he had picked out for her in his pocket right now. It had been there for six months and he had lied to himself saying he was waiting for the perfect moment to ask her to marry him. But he had been afraid that she would reject him if he told her who he was… how he had abandoned her. Marinette deserved more than a mask, but he didn’t know what would happen if he brought Adrien back. The mask would crack his world when he took it off. He didn’t want to shatter her too.
Gentle hands cupped his face. “Kitty, are you okay? I’m sorry if I upset you. I didn’t mean to. You know I love you, right?”
The elevator doors opened, but he pushed the down button once more. He grasped her wrists in his hands, pulling her in for a heated kiss. She kissed back with equal fervor, leaving his heart pounding out to the beat of her name.
“Marinette, I’m sorry, but this is something we need to talk about before we do anything else, okay?”
She nodded.
He practically dragged her out of the hotel and into his arms. He carried her across the rooftops of Paris until they reached the tiny balcony of the apartment she shared with Alya. She unlocked the door and let them into the living room. She had turned to close the door behind them and he dropped to his knees.
“Cat, what’s wrong,” she asked, worry echoed in eyes and voice.
“I’m… I’m sorry!”
“What for, my prince?” She knelt next to him and held him in a tight embrace. “This isn’t your fault! You’ve always done your best for everyone! Don’t ever think I blame you… for any of it!”
“You should,” he moaned.
She nudged him. “Is this a pity party? Cause if you’re having one anyway we might as well go back to the hotel. They have better food.”
He couldn’t even produce the laugh she expected at her weak joke. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring, offering it out to her like a pearl in the palm of his hand.
She gasped as the light from the kitchen glittered golden off the sapphire surrounded by tiny diamonds and rose gold vines. “Cat… is this… are you…”
But before she could respond, he said the two words that could destroy his hopes. She had a right to know.
“Claws in.”
Marinette didn’t even flinch at the green light, but her eyes never left his face. They opened wider and wider along with her mouth, astonishment, fear, disbelief, hurt, and a dozen other emotions bubbling in their depths. She collapsed to her knees beside him.
“Princess, Marinette, I am so sorry. I never knew you felt that way and after Hawkmoth… it hurt too much. I thought all Adrien could do was hurt others, so I let him die. I buried him deep and Cat Noir was reborn. But through it all you have been there for me. Carrying me when I couldn’t carry myself. You’ve kept me sane and stable and safe for the last five years. You have always been enough for me, Marinette. First, I was just a fool for not seeing it and then I figured Adrien would never be enough for anyone. That only Cat was worthy to be loved. I’m sorry for not telling you. Please forgive me!”
She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths through her nose to calm herself, holding them for several seconds and letting it out slowly. Her face was deceptively calm and it frightened him. What could he possibly do to-
Her eyes suddenly snapped open and she slapped him so hard popping lights appeared in his vision.
“That’s for running away,” she said harshly.
He rubbed his stinging face. “Okay, yeah. I kind of deserved-“
She suddenly grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him up into a passionate kiss that burned through him like a wild fire and left him reeling. Just as suddenly she released him and he fell on top of her on the floor, disoriented at her rapid change of mood. She pressed a softer kiss to his lips and smiled.
“And that is for staying anyway.”
The relief that coursed through him made him giddy and he peppered her with kisses. “Does that mean you’ll marry me,” he asked between kissing her lips and jaw. “Please Marinette, you are my whole world! You’ve rebuilt me and I have been yours longer than even I ever knew.”
She giggled. “On one condition, Kitty.” She used the tip of one finger to pull down at his bottom lip before swooping in for another kiss of her own.
“Anything, my love,” he murmured against her lips.
She pushed him back just enough for her to prop herself on her elbows. Her gorgeous eyes, so recently full of tears, were shining, and her lips and cheeks were rosy.
“If you decide to run again, we run together. Always.”
Her voice was so firm and strong, gentle and kind, that Cat couldn’t help but believe her.
“Always,” he promised from the depths of his heart as he leaned in to kiss her once more.
And thus Adrien, who had been dead, was restored by a single, loving act of reunion.