Chapter Text
Marinette woke up and was instantly reminded of why she hated getting drunk.
She. Felt. Like. Crap.
She slowly pulled the blanket away from her head and squeezed her eyes against the light from the sun coming in her windows. She could hear Tikki near by chewing on a cookie and she slowly opened her eyes to look at the little kwami.
What she saw was Tikki’s unimpressed face floating very near Marinette’s head, staring at her with one raised eyebrow.
“He-hey Tikki” Marinette said timidly. Knowing full well that that look on her kwamis face could only mean she was in for a scolding.
“Oh! Good morning Marinette” Tikki said while inspecting the non-existent nails on her hands “how are you feeling? Did you get enough sleep?”
“I feel like death Tikki ….. And for some reason, I get the feeling that you are glad”
“Did you have a good time last night? Why don’t you tell me what you remember, and see if you can figure out why I’m upset”
“Ugh, Tikki. I’m sorry ok? I didn’t mean to drink that much, I won’t do it again”
“Keep going, you’re getting warmer”
“To be honest Tikki I don’t really remember much after I had those shots with Kim …. I remember dancing with Kim and Odine …. I remember being sad that Adrien didn’t come, so I got another drink ……. And ….. OHMYGOSH! - tikki! ….. Adrien did come!. And I was so drunk!” Marinette whined and covered her face with her hands “Did I do something embarrassing?”
“Keep going, you’re getting warmer”
“ok ok ok ok. Adrien was there” she started slowly “we danced …. Alya made him take me home …. I remember holding his hand on the way here …. “
Marinette sat up far too quickly for the hungover state that she was in, but there was shock and horror all over her face and she pulled at her hair with her hands, hiding her face in her knees.
“I told him I was in love with him Tikki!! No! I can’t believe I did that! Please never let me drink again! I don’t remember what he said though. What happened after that? I …. I can’t remember anything after getting inside the door!” Marinette wailed.
“Marinette, do you really think I would be mad at you for telling Adrien how you feel? Come on, give me a little credit. Do you really not remember what you said to him once you were inside the house?”
“No … no …. The last thing i remember is him opening the door for me to get inside. I don’t even remember how I got upstairs into my room!”
Tikki sighed. She really ought to be glad that the one person Marinette decided to drunkenly reveal herself to happened to be her partner and not some random civilian. But now that she knew a drunk Marinette had absolutely no filter, she had to make sure Marinette never drank that much again. Tikki also knew that Adrien wasn’t oblivious enough to misunderstand what he heard last night and she knew he would want to talk to Marinette about it. Tikki had to prepare Marinette for what was coming. Tikki looked at her chosens face and how distressed she was. This wasn’t going to be easy on Marinette, tikki knew, she just hoped Plagg would help Adrien approach this the right way …. She hoped, but wasn’t holding her breath.
------
“Would you stop it? I can hear you thinking from way over here” Plagg threw a paper ball at the back of Adriens head from across the office.
“Ow, Plagg stop it. I can leave the office early if I can get these papers over to Natalie by noon. Let me work in peace for one please?” Adrien grumbled. Truth be told, Adrien really should have had the papers sorted out over and hour ago but he just couldn’t concentrate this morning.
He couldn’t stop analyzing and re analyzing everything that Marinette had been mumbling last night. It was like half of his brain was trying to put together a puzzle but the other half was mixing the pieces up before the puzzle was finished.
The revelation that Marinette had been in love with him for the last 5 years had come with a bit of a shock to say the least. He had always thought she was amazing, and he had noticed that she never really dated anyone else very seriously through school but he had no idea it was because she loved him. He couldn’t pass that off as drunken ramblings either, he remembered that day with the umbrella and a bunch of other small memories that made much more sense in the context of her crush … like the pictures of him on her wall, the constant blushing around him, the stammering when they were younger. He passed it all off back then, but now it made much more sense and he felt like an idiot for not recognizing her crush earlier.
The rest of the revelations though were hurting his brain the longer he thought about it. He dropped his head into his hands and groaned.
“Ugh, kid, fine …. Talk to me. But I need more cheese to deal with this much whine”
“I know you can’t tell me who Ladybug is …”
“Nope”
“But why would Marinette say that? I mean, she can’t be ladybug can she?? Why did she think that Chat Noir is in love with her and would be sad if she was with Adrien? And why did she say Chat noir was her best friend? I mean chat noirs best friend IS Ladybug so that makes sense, but she said she loved chat noir and Ladybug has NEVER had any feelings for chat noir. It could have just been the alcohol talking right? I mean that’s a pretty big thing to make up if it isn’t her, and it’s not like Marinette to lie like that, but if she is ladybug then that means she’s been right in front of me the whole time and I didnt see her!”
Plagg watched Adrien’s ramblings with as much patience as he could muster. He really enjoyed chaos more than the average guy, and in the past all the confusion with identities was a great source of entertainment for him. But there really was no way to salvage the secret identities at this point. He knew Tikki was probably filling in Marinette with everything that happened, so she would be expecting them to come and talk about it soon. Emotions weren’t Plaggs favourite topic of conversation but the delicious bakery food was very tempting and since the kids had finished school Adrien hadn’t visited the Dupain-Cheng bakery as often. Plagg missed those cheese tarts so he gave in and decided to give Adrien a push in the right direction.
Plagg put up his tiny paws “ok, enough rambling kid. Why don’t you just go over there and talk to pig tails about it if it’s bothering you so much?”
“But what if she doesn’t remember anything she said about me being chat noir? And what if she does? Do I tell her that I am chat noir? Or what if she doesn’t want to talk about that at all, what if she only wants to talk about her feeling for me. I don’t want to hurt her feelings, I’m in love with Ladybug.. But what if she is ladybug? Then that means, I’m in love with Marinette (plagg didn’t miss the blush on his face, and he barely contained his eye roll) how do I just go over there to talk to her about this … Plagg help me!!”
“Ew gross kid. This is why I stick with cheese, ok? No complications, just delicious flavour. You want a reason to talk to her? Bring her some cheese. That’s reason enough”
------
Later on that afternoon Marinette was freshly showered, her hair down, wearing a soft t-shirt and pink shorts laying on a blanket in the park near her house. She was sketching to try and keep her mind off of the worry about everything Tikki had told her about last night. Not only had she told Adrien she had been in love with him for the past 5 years, but she also dropped some very serious hints about her being ladybug. She really hoped Adrien would pass it off as drunken nonsense but she was too scared to try and call him about it, hoping he would believe she forgot about it all then let it blow over. Her hopes for that broke however when she got a text from Adrien.
A - Hey there birthday girl! How are you feeling today?
M- this morning was pretty rough tbh, but im ok now
M-thanks for bringing me home last night by the way
A-no problem Mari
A-hey I didn’t give you your gift last night, can I drop it off this afternoon, where are you right now?
Marinette started panicking. Right now? She didn’t think she could face him so soon after last night.
M-I’m in the park beside my house right now
M-you don’t have to come over here today though.lol. It can wait until next time
A-it’s no trouble, im at the bakery right now, I’ll see you in a sec
“GAH Tikki!!!!” Marinette screeched “quick, hide in my bag, Adrien is on his way over here right now!”
“Calm down marinette, we talked about this already. Adrien is your friend, he is not going to hate you because he found out about your crush, he is not going to make fun of you for anything embarrassing you did last night. I told you he wasn’t upset last night, he cares about you and he will still care about you. He’s bringing you a present! See! He wouldn’t do that if he didn’t want to see you again” Tikki soothed. “And if he picked up on those ladybug hints, we will deal with it, but you panicking is not going to help anything ok, so take a deep breath alright?”
“Ok, you’re right tikki. I need to breath, just breath, just breath” Marinette closed her eyes and took a few long deep breaths to calm her racing heart. After a few minutes she heard Adrien call out to her as he jogged up to where she was sitting in the shade under a tree, behind some gardens.
“This is a cool little part of the park that I’ve never seen before, you’re all hidden back here, its nice!” he smiled at her as he sat down on the blanket handing her a small bright pink box.
“Adrien, you didn’t have to get me a gift. I told you not to” Marinette failed to keep the blush off her face and mentally scolded herself. (Get it together dupain-cheng, it’s just a birthday present)
“I know, and it’s not much, but I think you’ll like it. Open it!”
Marinette carefully unwrapped the small box and pulled out a lanyard with several passes attached to it. The letters ‘VIP’ apparently obvious on one of them, Gabriel Agreste’s fashion label icon on another. She immediately dropped both the box and the pass onto the blanket and squealed, covering her mouth with her hands and looked at Adrien with the widest eyes he had ever seen. He smiled and laughed at her reaction, very please that she obviously liked it.
“Adrien Agreste! Are those VIP tickets to your Dad’s fashion show?”
“Nope”
She slowly lowered her hands, tilted her head and looked at him in confusion.
“Its for Paris fashion week”
Adrien was not prepared for the pitch or the volume at which marinette screamed before tackling him to the ground in a hug that he was sure was going to cut off his air supply. He laughed and patted her back to let him up
“Ohmygosh I’m so sorry I just tackled you into the ground and you are in a suit… and ohmygosh I can’t believe you got me tickets to this! VIP tickets! How?! Why?! How!? I just …. This is too much …. What is going on?” her hands flailing wildly around.
“Relax mari, it’s not a big deal, I got them from my Dad. He’s been bringing me more and more into the business and he wants me to attend as a representative of his fashion house. I don’t even have to do anything, just go and be seen there and I thought you would enjoy being there much more than I would … so what do you say?”
“This is amazing, thank-you so much Adrien. I’m so excited!” She reached over and gave him a much more controlled hug this time. She sat back down and smiled at him. They passed a few moments just smiling at eachother, each waiting for the other to say something first about the elephant in the room.
“So ….”
“So ….”
They both laughed. Adrien scratched the back of his neck. ‘(It’s the moment of truth Agreste, just ask her, no big deal, man up)’ Marinette beat him to it though.
“Thanks again for getting me home last night Adrien, I hope it wasn’t too much trouble. I don’t quite remember everything from last night, but I seem to remember invading your personal space quite a bit more than I should have ….. And saying some things …..“ she trailed off, hoping he would fill in what he heard so she didn’t give even more away than she already had.
“It was no trouble getting you home, don’t worry about that. Walking down the street holding hands with a beautiful woman isn’t the worst way to spend a night” he winked at her before continuing “you may have mentioned somethings about a stolen umbrella”
Marinette laughed “yeah I guess I didn’t ever return that did I?”
“No you didn’t….. But it’s fair since I guess I still have your heart? …. I mean, do i? I wasn’t sure if you were serious …. or …. Just joking or … maybe you used to…… but not anymore … um ….I'm not really sure what I’m trying to say …. This all sounded a lot better in my head on the way over here …..”
Marinette was took a deep breath to steady her nerves (‘ok marinette you can do this … he didn’t say anything about ladybug or chat noir … he just wants to know about your feelings …. 5 years in the making, we can do this)’ and just as she was about to answer his question he kept on going with his ramblings
“........ because you were also saying things about chat noir, ….and how I smell like him,... and how he would be sad if we were together?.... and how he was your best friend and he is in love with you …..and all of that would only really make sense if you were Ladybug ….. But secret identities are a thing …. And you can’t just tell me that obviously because that would be dangerous ….. And I can’t just tell you who I am without being sure … and I “ Adrien clamped his mouth shut after that last comment, he was trying so hard not to give himself away during all those ramblings but one look at Marinette’s face told him he had failed. She had heard that last comment for exactly what it was
“You can’t just tell me what? Adrien. What can’t you tell me without being sure?” That steely determined look in her eye was the proverbial nail in the coffin for Adriens internal struggle. If he wasn’t 100% sure that she was ladybug before, he was sure now. He knew that look anywhere.
Inside Marinette’s head there were alarm bells going off. Why else would he be freaking out about what she said about chat noir last night and why else would he be worried about telling her something in return until he was sure. If Chat noir was Adrien Agreste she felt like her brain was going to implode. 5 years worth of memories ran themselves through her mind at once and suddenly it all made so much sense. It couldn’t be anyone other than Adrien right now.
They stared at each other. Each knowing. Each knowing that other person knew too. Each knowing that the other person knew that they knew. But each being unwilling to be the first to say anything. Just staring. Until Adrien smirked a very chat noir like smirk and Marinette narrowed her eyes at him.
“So, m’lady, about my sexy butt in the skin tight suit …”
Marinette scoffed “ I did not say that”
“Oh, but you did. I remember very clearly.” he started inching his way closer and closer to her “to think after all these years you have secretly been fantasising about me”
“Fantasising!? No one here is fantasising …. And Adrien Agreste, you wipe chat noirs smile off your beautiful innocent face right this instant”
“Oh I’m beautiful and innocent now am I?” He was nose to nose with her now but she wasnt backing down like she would have if it was just Adrien. Because this was now also chat noir, and ladybug had power over chat noir in the same way Adrien had power over Marinette.
“Speaking of beautiful, kitten” marinette whispered “I seem to remember a certain blonde model staring at me in that dress last night. Alya told me you looked awfully hungry” She poked him softly on the nose and Adrien blushed, Marinette smirked. Two could play this game indeed.
They were back to staring at eachother again, nose to nose, daring each other to make the first move. It was impossible to tell who flinched first but suddenly their lips crashed together, his hands had grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into his lap and she had her hands tangled in his hair. They pulled back breathless after a few moments and put their foreheads together, breathing heavily.
“ we still have a lot to talk about” marinette whispered
“Yeah we do … but right now I have the rest of the day off and there’s nowhere I’d rather be than right here with you”
Marinette let out a breathless little giggle and hugged him tightly around the neck
“I’m so glad its you kitty”
“Oh you have no idea princess, this is honestly the best day of my life”
They stayed in their embrace for a few minutes before Adrien pulled back to look Marinette in the eyes.
“Well, we have a 5 year old debt to settle, don’t we?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I seem to recall a pouty birthday girl telling me a sad tale about trading her heart for an umbrella all those years ago” Marinette smiled and blushed and Adrien was determined to get as many blushes out of her as possible “ I happen to agree that that wasn’t a very fair trade at all, so I propose a new trade”
“Oh, do you? And what might that be hmm?”
“I, Adrien Agreste will trade you, Marinette Dupian-Cheng, my heart in exchange for the low low price of one kiss”
Marinette laughed “one kiss? Is that all?”
“Ok, maybe two kisses. Final offer” he smiled up at her and hugged her a little closer to his chest. She giggled again and slid all the way into his lap until their torsos were lined up.
“I think I can manage that”
It was more than two kisses.
----end-----
** bonus*
Tikki and Plagg sat under a nearby bush watching everything unfold while munching on their cookies and cheese.
“Well this isn’t the most entertaining reveal we’ve ever had”
“Oh shush plagg, they’re sweet and you know it”
“No comment”
“ I see you watching them with fondness in your eyes you old softy” TIkki scratched Plagg right behind the ear and Plagg immediately started purring and leaned into her touch. TIkki giggled.
“They’ll be ok won’t they, Plagg?” TIkki asked quietly
“They’ll be just fine sugar cube. Just fine”
** second bonus **
Alya and Nino walked into the bakery hand in hand waving at Sabine and Tom
“Is Marinette still upstairs, Sabine?”
“No sweetie, she went to the park a few hours ago. She should have been home a while ago, why don’t you go over and find her for me? She isn’t answering my texts”
“Sure thing Sabine!”
They wandered around the park for a few minutes but couldn’t immediately spot Marinette anywhere. As they walked past a row of flower bushes they heard some giggling coming from behind and as they walked around the corner of the garden Alya screamed and Nino’s jaw dropped open.
What they saw was Adrien and Marinette tangled together on the blanket with their clothes in disarray, hair messy and lips swollen, looking just as shocked as Alya and Nino felt.
“We told you to walk her home last night bro, not make it to home base”
Adrien snorted and Alya smacked Nino over the arm with the back of her hand.
“Our OTP is finally together and you make jokes about home base. Come on Nino!”
“Wait, wait. WE are your OTP??” Adrien asked them, then turning to Marinette “Did everyone know about your crush except me?”
Everyone laughed and Alya whipped out her phone a grabbed a picture of the two of them tangled together.
“Alya” Marinette groaned “please don’t do what I think you are doing”
“oh , this is happening Dupain-Cheng” Alya said with a laugh “This is the best day ever! The only thing that could make this better would be if LadyBug and ChatNoir finally got together. Those two are just as infuriating as you two are” Adrien snorted and Marinette jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.
“Come on Alya, let’s leave these two alone shall we?” Nino gently took his girlfriend’s hand and pulled her away from their friends
“Ugh, fine! But we will have words later Marinette”
As they got further away Nino leaned towards Alya and whispered
“Who do you think told who first?”
“Oh please, drunk Marinette has zero filter. She absolutely told him who she was last night. It’s about time too”
“How long do you think it will take them to tell us? Or should we just tell them that we know who they are?”
“Nah, let’s hang on to that juicy secret for a while longer Nino. See how many comments about their alter egos we can make before they finally break” Alya winked.
The end ** for real this time.****