Archive of Our Own ^beta

The identity reveal came naturally in the end. There was no more Hawk Moth, there was no more danger, and Ladybug knew who the other heroes were anyway. It was just fair everybody got to know everything too.

It was one month and two days after Paris was finally rid of akumas once and forever. One month and two days after Hawk Moth – or Gabriel Agreste, as it turned out – sent the heroes the two Miraculouses in his possession, the book on Miraculouses and a very long letter in which he explained his quite short list of reasons for beginning so suddenly and stopping even more so. It was one month and one day after Adrien got his mother back and Nathalie got healed from the same disease that could’ve killed Emilie.

It was exactly one month after life, should have, by any means, turned very, very dull.

And because no one was quite excited at the prospect of having it so, the five heroes all agreed it was safe to be friends outside of the masks, too.

It didn’t take long for all of them to gather on the roof of Le Grand Paris, high enough for no one to eavesdrop, cozy enough for everyone to get comfortable before the big reveal.

… Marinette could swear that was not the reason Chloé had become a permanent member of their team. But… the perks were still there, sue her.

No star could be seen in the sky but the city was alight with life and lights and although December was one step away, the cold was still bearable. But the tension… that was another matter entirely.

Chloé had insisted she was not that fond of the idea of having four strangers in her room so suddenly, especially without her father’s approval, but she’d ensured the roof would be indeed the perfect location. She’d taken the time to move some chairs around and even brought a table up there. She’d given them blankets and even brought hot chocolate and tea for all of them.

The last years had made Chloé Bourgeois almost an entirely different person. Not that anyone complained, to be honest.

It took them ten minutes of small talk and beating around the bush, but, finally, Ladybug decided it was now or never and simply dropped her transformation. Rena oh so elegantly spit out the hot chocolate she was about to swallow and Chloé promptly forgot what she was talking about; Carapace just stared. Chat Noir took her in, leaned back and broke the sudden silence with a very eloquent ‘huh’.

Marinette sported a sheepish expression and a nervous smile. “Well… you kind of know me already so… yeah, there’s that. I’m me and sorry for being so sudden but I just thought I’d lose my nerve if I waited any longer.”

“Holy… So much makes sense now….”

Rena couldn’t take her eyes away from her friend as she dropped her own transformation and Carapace only threw his girlfriend a brief look before turning his eyes back to Marinette and doing the same as her.

Chloé leaned forward, put her hands under her chin and looked at Marinette, seated right in front of her, then looked at Alya - just a little to the right - then at Nino – just beside her. Then back to Alya. Then back to Marinette. Then she finally looked to the left to a bewildered – but clearly happy – Chat Noir.

“I’m ready to bet my life on your being Adrien,” she said, with calm and poise and an almost bored expression.

He threw her a mischievous wink and promptly dropped his transformation, catching Marinette right before she could say something that could’ve been as well a denial as a question.

Chloé simply covered her face with her hands.

“They’re just gonna get worse now, aren’t they?” she sighed.

“I knew there was a reason I loved this team so much,” said Alya, still in awe with the fact that her two best friends were her idols.

“Yeah, I knew there was a reason I loved my lady so much.”

Marinette just looked at him for a moment. Then, still just as silent, went over to him, promptly gave him a playful swat for his… teasing only to hug him as tight as she could a second later.

“I’m really glad it’s you, chaton,” she whispered so only he could hear, but considering the rapt attention both Alya and Nino gave them, they’d probably heard it too.

“Well –” interrupted Chloé, standing up and clapping her hands loudly – “since you’re not strangers, what do you say about moving this party inside? My butt is officially frozen. So please, transform back and go to my balcony’s window. I’ll go and open it. Or just go down and enter on the front door. Your choice. You know where to find me.”

She didn’t even wait for their answers before she turned around and left. She was still close enough to hear their bursting out laughing a few seconds later, though.

They didn’t waste time, either, and ten minutes later they were all swaddled together in Chloé’s apartment, very much warm and very much comfortable. And if Marinette and Adrien stood a lot closer to one another than usually, everyone chose to accept that as a fact and ask no question.

It took them three hours and forty seven minutes to leave Chloé’s room. And Chloé was even kind of upset they had to leave. She’d never laughed so hard – or felt so warm – in her life.

She kind of hoped it wasn’t a one-time thing.

It wasn’t.

It was just their luck that they studied in different places and couldn’t really see each other during their breaks, but from 20:00 to… whenever they really had to leave became mandatory “patrol” time. As in… meeting “accidentally” on some random rooftop and chatting, and ranting, and venting, and, most of all, laughing. After two weeks they stopped pretending it was a mere coincidence all five of them met so regularly and simply accepted it as a newly formed tradition. Something that was theirs and only theirs and really didn’t want to give up.

Still, as much as they loved spending time all five of them together, Adrien and Marinette tended to find themselves alone together a lot more often than in the past.

It started with Adrien leading her home because he actually wanted some pastry anyway, or Marinette going over to Adrien’s because he had this new game and he wanted to see if he could beat her at it. Then… it was just for the sake of it. And when Gabriel found her sketchbook forgotten on the table and asked her to come more often so he could give her some advice… well… that’s exactly what she did.

Because it was a good excuse to keep her eyes on him and make sure he actually hadn’t been plotting against them all that time anything and was only fooling them.

Because Adrien wasn’t always there. And especially not when she was there, too.

She really couldn’t see any flaw to that logic.

Te teasing, though, it started at Marinette’s.

The Dupain-Chengs had always been happy to chat with him and always made him feel at home, but the day he came through the back door instead of the bakery’s door, they made it clear he was already part of the family.

Not that he complained.

Except for when it finally became clear that maybe they knew a little more than they’d thought.

There were the little quips and the subtle remarks that hit too close to home. Tom could mention Marinette’s luck so many times before it stopped being a mere coincidence and Sabine could buy camembert so many times before it became more than just a craving.

It took them saying “miraculous” ten times during dinner, one night a week or so before Christmas, for Adrien and Marinette to finally crack. They stopped, looked at each other, then at her parents… then back at each other. Five very silent minutes preceded Sabine and Tom both bursting out laughing, to the others’ dismay.

“How long have you known?” groaned Marinette as she lowered her head on the table in defeat. Adrien seemed… a little lost.

“Right after Hawk Moth’s retreat was announced. We heard you jumping around in your room and we wanted to see if you were alright. When I lifted the trapdoor I saw you and your little red bug talking and it wasn’t hard to figure out the rest,” said her mother, a smile still glinting in her eyes.

“We were really surprised to see you didn’t know each other’s identities. We figured you’d just found out after Adrien started coming by so much more often,” her father continued.

It’d been a night full of revelations. If only that’d been the whole of it.

At first it was only the oh so innocent “son” Tom was casually throwing at Adrien every chance he could. ”Son, come here…”, ”son, do that…” Not that either Adrien or Marinette complained. He wasn’t even proud of his newfound title. Not at all.

Then came the “please leave the door open, dear” that absolutely every parent shoots at their children. It still made both of them blush and stammer out denials and excuses nonetheless. Then shoot each other longing glances when the other wasn’t looking.

But then, right before the Christmas holiday started, Marinette’s work at her studio in University took longer than she’d expected and Adrien got to her house before her. They’d planned to wrap gifts together and he’d come prepared with an armful of bags and paper rolls.

The disappointment he felt when he heard Marinette wasn’t home yet was as poorly concealed as the happiness it turned into when Tom asked him to sit with him and talk while they waited for his daughter.

That excitement turned quickly into rosy cheeks and nervous stammers when it became clear that Tom was very much aware of his love for Marinette and very keen on teasing him about it.

“So, has Marinette given in yet?” he finally asked, confusing Adrien. Seeing his furrowed brow, he continued, “To go on a date with you of course. One would’ve said Ladybug and Chat Noir had already been going out for years now!”

“Oh… OOOOH, no,no,no,” he hurried to clarify, but quickly figured out it could be interpreted in a very wrong way. “I mean… not that I don’t want, but no, I haven’t even asked her yet…”

“Pity,” concluded Tom. “You’ve still got time.”

“No… I don’t think she’d be too happy with that.”

Tom didn’t answer. He only had time to laugh before Marinette came in and Adrien hurried to stand up and greet her. Their conversation ended there, but Tom’s reaction surely stuck with the boy.

It had been almost redundant to invite Adrien to the Dupain-Cheng’s Christmas dinner. Everyone knew he was welcome at their table after the invitation as well as before.

What no one really expected was for Gabriel Agreste, for the one and only Hawk Moth, to invite Marinette to stay for dinner not on Christmas, but on Christmas Eve.

She’d gone to Adrien’s to review some of her newest sketches with his father and just before she left to Adrien’s room, Gabriel called for her attention one more time.

“Marinette, one more second, please,” he’d said. “I know your parents already asked Adrien to come to yours on Christmas before we had the chance to do the same to you so I’d like to extend another invitation. What do you say about taking dinner with us on Christmas Eve?”

She needed a second just to process the question. She hadn’t expected such an invitation coming from Gabriel. From Emilie? Maybe. Adrien? Certainly. But Gabriel? Never.

“Of course,” she finally managed. “I’d love to! Thank you!”

And that’s how Christmas Eve found her in a dress of her own design, standing next to Adrien in the foyer of his own home, looking at the beautifully decorated Christmas tree and giggling over her partner’s newest Christmas-themed pun.

“Adrien! Why on earth are you just standing there! Don’t be rude and take Marinette to the table,” came Mrs. Agreste’s chiding voice from the top of the stairs. In a second she was down and greeting Marinette with a warm hug and kisses on both cheeks.

“Come dear, let Adrien admire the tree all he wants, but you should make yourself comfortable.” And without letting either of them protest she linked her arm to Marinette’s and turned towards the door to the living room where dinner was going to be set. The two barely managed to share a smile before she’d turned around.

Marinette was, quite honestly, still astonished at the woman’s ability to recover so quickly from the coma she’d found her in.

After Gabriel’s heartfelt letter she hadn’t wasted any time. She’d met with the team as soon as she could then went straight to Gabriel’s. Reading about Emilie Agreste’s condition and actually seeing the woman with her own eyes were two entirely different things. Not to mention that seeing how Nathalie was visibly close to getting in the same position only made things so much more real and urgent. She’d brought the other Miraculouses with her as well as the book and so started the long hours of search and little experiments that, to everyone’s joy, resulted in finding a cure and fixing the peacock Miraculous.

Still, she remembered how pale and tired Emilie had been after waking up and how she’d thought it be a long time before she could become the same woman she used to be. Yet, there she was. And Marinette couldn’t be happier, in all honesty.

The conversation flew easily, especially because Adrien was there and Adrien’d always known what to do to make her feel comfortable. And Marinette couldn’t help but fall into a very comfortable familiarity when he punned his way through a serious answer when his mother asked him about the minor in education he’d decided to take when starting University and when he began what had already become a habit – teasing his father relentlessly for having being a villain.

It’d become some kind of game, truly – “How much can Gabriel take and still believe Adrien doesn’t know anything”. No matter how many times Marinette’d given him the stink eye for never leaving the man alone in spite of his trying to atone for his sins, Adrien only winked at her and told her that was part of his punishment for being a horrible father for so long. She kind of understood him. At some point it even got funny. Especially at the moment, when she could see Gabriel’s cheeks tinted with the faintest pink after Adrien made a witty remark about how “Marinette is such a good designer she could even redesign every outfit an akuma has ever worn and make it look good, because let’s be serious, Hawk Moth was either someone who knew absolutely nothing about fashion or a misunderstood genius.” It was the whispered “I doubt that” that only she could hear that made Marinette nudge his leg under the table and throw him an exasperated smile.

Gabriel’s cough brought them back to earth.

“There was another thing I wanted to discuss with both of you,” he continued, piquing their interest. “As Adrien already knows, I am organizing a gala mid-January and I was thinking it’d probably be the best opportunity for you to go public. What do you two say?”

The silence that followed was only accentuated by the conversation the two young adults seemed to carry only by looking at one another.

It was Adrien who spoke first, visibly paler.

“We… didn’t know you knew… why didn’t you tell us?”

“We weren’t really sure at the beginning, but then it became quite clear,” came Emilie’s nonchalant reply.

It was not like Adrien and Marinette ware beating themselves for being so obvious at the moment. Adrien couldn’t believe he’d really thought he could be smooth enough to tease his father when his father had actually known all along, while Marinette couldn’t believe she’d actually let her partner carry on with his game for so long. And they could only guess what it’d been like for Emilie to process the fact that her husband had been the villain her son had been fighting against. Adrien had managed to hide his own shock quite well before the reveal though. So maybe his acting talent was from his mother after all.

“I guess… you’re not upset, then?” tried Marinette almost cringing.

“Of course not! Why would we be?!

In spite of Emilie reassurance, Marinette continued, “I’m sorry we weren’t honest from the start… we didn’t know how you’d react… both of you.”

“Well, yes, it was a surprise… somewhat-” added Gabriel- “but not a…bad one.”

Marinette and Adrien looked at each other and shrugged.

“Still, I don’t believe telling everyone would be a good idea….”

“Why? You can’t hide it forever, after all.” Gabriel’s question took them a little aback. One would’ve thought he’d understand the best.

“Well… first of all it’d be too much media attention. Adrien already has to deal with that for being a model…. And…” but Gabriel didn’t let her finish her thought.

“The attention is always going to be there, it’s only a matter of how you use it.”

“Yes, but what if we’ll need our secret identities again?” continued Marinette, but the reaction was not exactly what she’d expected. Both Emilie and her husband furrowed their brows as if they didn’t understand what she was saying. So she tried explaining as… kindly as possible…

“What I’m trying to say is… what are we going to do if, you know… another… well, another villain shows up.

Gabriel had chosen a bad moment to take a bite from his plate. He downright chocked as the implication finally sunk in.

“You are Ladybug and Chat Noir!” he managed between coughs.

“You’ve just said you’d known!” Adrien almost shouted, quite the bit panicked because sometime during their conversation something went completely sideway and he couldn’t see neither where nor what.

“You just suggested we reveal ourselves!”

Marinette was… very much in the same state as Adrien.

“We suggested you made your relationship public, who said anything about superheroes?!”

“What relationship?” Adrien and Marinette thought at the same time while the former graciously banged his head to the table in a pathetic rhythm and the later simply resorted to a face-palm.

Another series of very interesting conversations were held that night.

The part where Gabriel tried to ground Adrien and Adrien argued back that he was not the one who should be grounded was the most entertaining, if you asked Marinette.

New Year’s Eve found Adrien and Marinette once again in Chloé’s suite. She’d invited the whole team for a small party just for them and one by one, each showed up with drinks, and pastries and, pizza. The whole thing was off to a very promising start. And it had been quite nice until Alya, Nino and Chloé all decided they absolutely needed to make Adrien and Marinette as flustered as possible.

It could’ve been worse, though. They didn’t even want to imagine what a game of truth and dare would’ve been like. They’d braved through all the hints thrown left and right and all the teasing aimed clearly at them, but still, the question remained. Why did everyone insist they should’ve been together already when there were so many unanswered little questions and unaccounted for little details that could completely ruin everything they had.

They were partners, and before anything they were friends.

Neither Adrien nor Marinette wanted to lose that.

But maybe it was time one of them finally addressed the whole thing.

Five minutes before midnight fireworks were already being shot somewhere in the city and the five hurried outside, a bottle of champagne in Chloé’s hand and a phone with the timer on in Alya’s. They were ready to welcome the New Year, but Marinette decided that wasn’t the only thing she was ready for as she grabbed Adrien’s hand and held him back.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, seeing her worrying her lip.

“Nothing… per se,” she grimaced. “Just thought it was time we… stopped beating around the bush.”

Understanding downed on him pretty quickly. He kind of thought that, too… not that he was also eager for that conversation.

“Sorry…– ” he started, wincing– “I guess we should’ve made it clear from the beginning… sorry, I guess it got too uncomfortable in the end…”

“Well… I mean yes, it is uncomfortable but I guess that goes for you too. But no, what I really wanted to ask was… how do you really feel? About all this…. I mean… you already know how I feel, so…” she said, trailing off.

He felt his hopes being crushed into a million pieces, but he hoped he didn’t let it show. Ladybug had always made it clear she loved somebody else. Yes, he knew her feeling on the matter.

“I do… I know, I mean. I was kind of waiting to see if maybe the reveal had changed anything, you know? Can’t blame me,” he tried a grin that felt more like a grimace, but Marinette only seemed confused, which in turn confused him. So he continued, even if that meant digging his grave a little deeper, “I mean, you always made it clear you love someone else, but don’t worry I’m not upset or anything. Well yes, I am a little upset, but not mad. Your feelings are your feelings and I love you and our friendship too much to let anything stand between us, so please don’t be mad at me for dragging this whole charade out for so long…”

Marinette’s brain started to slow down the moment he said “you”, “love” and “someone else” in the same sentence, trying to process that thing alone, but it completely crashed the moment he also said the magic words in the magic order – “I”, “love” and “you” one after another.

“You–,” she interrupted him, letting go of his hand just so she could poke him in the chest after every word– “Are. One. Stupid. Cat!” Looking him straight in his very beautiful and now very, very confused eyes, she went on, “I don’t love someone else! Everyone and their grandmother knows I’ve been in love with Adrien Agreste since forever and I’ve been dropping so many hints that I thought you simply ignored that that became even more true after the reveal. Just so we’re clear, what I’ve meant earlier was that I love you both as Adrien and Chat Noir and that the only question is whether you still loved Ladybug after the mask fell.”

Marinette couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment when it happened, but Adrien.exe had certainly stopped working.

The way his lips started to stretch into a smile of pure joy told her that he’d finally started to process her words and she couldn’t help but mirror his smile and let out a little laugh of pure relief at the look in his eyes.

When he leaned down to kiss her, she met him in the middle.

They missed the fireworks.

They missed the champagne, too.

Their friends also missed the fireworks, but the toast came at the perfect moment.