Disclaimer: Not owned by me, duh.
AN: So basically, I've been dragged into this miraculous fandom, and I've read many fics where Adrien discovers Ladybug's identity first, but not as many where Marinette discovers Chat Noir's first. So I thought this would be an interesting read and write.
She swore she hadn't meant to, really. Cross her heart and hope to die. But it wasn't her fault that as she snuck into the nearby empty locker room to de-transform, (because goddammit akuma attacks always had to happen in the middle of the day in her school) she had heard the sound of the doorknob turning. Panicking, she had thrown herself into one of the lockers, seconds before the door opened, and in ran Chat Noir.
Her earrings beeped, and she stifled a gasp as she warily eyed her partner through the cracks of the locker. Fortunately, he had been too distracted by his ring's own frantic beeping to notice anything.
She closed her eyes, she really did. After all, she knew the importance of keeping their identities a secret.
She thought she heard the door open and close. Unfortunately for her, she opened her eyes too soon.
The green light had just faded from Chat. She caught a last glimpse at the familiar leather suit before a more casual attire replaced it.
And then, her brain flopped. Because standing in her partner's place was Adrien Freaking Agreste. Perfect, kind Adrien Freaking Agreste.
Where did Chat Noir go? She swore he had been standing there a minute ago…
And how did Adrien get…
There…
Green eyes…
Blond hair…
Wait a second…
HOLY MOTHER?!..
She squeaked, and then slapped a hand against her mouth. Adrien must not have heard her, because all he did was pocket a black flying thing (It must be his kwami, the barely working logical part of her brain thought in the background) and took off through the door. She barely registered her own transformation wearing off in a shower of pink sparkles.
Adrien Freaking Agreste was her leather-wearing, pun-cracking, silly kitty of a partner.
Adrien Freaking Agreste wore a leather suit and cat ears.
Adrien Freaking Agreste liked puns. Very bad puns.
Adrien Freaking Agreste was Chat Noir.
Thirty minutes later, a very worried Alya (why did her best friend consistently disappear during dangerous attacks?! A girl had enough to worry about without having to worry about her klutzy friend's safety!) found Marinette rolling on the floor of the boys locker room, clutching her stomach in an effort to stop her laughter.
Adrien really didn't get it. It had been two days since the last akuma attack at school, and every time he ran into Marinette Dupain-Cheng, she would inexplicably burst into tear-inducing uncontrollable laughter and run away. It wasn't a mean, or fangirly laugh. In fact, he rather liked her laugh. But it was just weird.
Now, the running away part wasn't that unfamiliar, as she had done so several times earlier in the year when they had first met. However, he felt as if they had grown closer over the past couple months, as they had taken to hanging out after Nino and Alya had gotten together. She seemed to have gotten over her initial nervousness ages ago.
And additionally, he knew Marinette as one of the sweetest, kindest, purest human beings to ever grace the surface of the earth, and she would never, ever, laugh at someone else's expense (unless that someone else was Chloe, which was perfectly understandable really).
So why did his mere presence cause her to laugh?
He sighed, walking into the classroom, and plopping down into his usual seat. Suddenly, a finger jabbed into his shoulder from behind. He turned around and nearly shrieked at the daggers the budding reporter behind shot at him.
"What have you done to Marinette?" Her accusation rang in his ears sharply.
"I-I have no idea wh-what you're talking about Alya."
"You broke her! I know it was you! Who else could it be? Why does she break out into crazy laughter every time she sees you?!"
"I swear I didn't do anything! The last thing I said to her was 'Good Morning Marinette' the morning of the attack on Monday. She was normal then. But then yesterday, I was about to greet her as usual, and she just lost it! She couldn't even look me in the eye without breaking out into more laughter!"
Nino snorted, drawing the attention of both Alya and Adrien. "Dudes, seriously, it's not that bad. She's probably just realizing how much of a dork Adrien is."
Alya drew back, tilting her head thoughtfully. Adrien glared at his so-called best friend and was just about to retort when the subject of their conversation walked in.
Marinette caught sight of her three friends and her face lit up. Making her way over, she smiled. "Hey Alya, Hey Nino."
She turned her head towards Adrien, and he catches the mirth dancing behind her deep blue eyes. "Hey-" snort, " -Adrien" giggle.
She laughed again, but thankfully for her surrounding friends, it was a lot more restrained than the day before, and they decide not to question it.
Adrien can't help but think that her laugh really is beautiful.
Mme. Bustier walked in and started the day's lesson.
Marinette knew that she was confusing him. Poor chaton.
But she couldn't help herself.
Adrien, in a freaking leather cat suit?! Adrien making bad puns? The thought was too much for her, and she burst out laughing again. A cough from the teacher reminded her that she was still in class. Blushing slightly, she apologized and quickly returned to her notes.
Later she hurried to the library, where she was meeting Alya, Nino, and snort-Adrien to work on an English project on Shakespeare.
Ten minutes after their designated meeting time, she arrived at the table, where the other three had already pulled out their supplies.
"Sorry guys! Just got distracted again!"
"It's fine Mari, we all know better than to expect you on time…" Marinette stuck out her tongue at Nino, who just laughed.
"Anyway," Alya cut in, "We've decided to do the presentation on the wordplay found in Shakespeare's works. You know, puns and stuff."
Marinette lost it. "Puns? Are you serious…" She gasped between laughs.
"Hey! What's wrong with puns? I like think puns are great!" Adrien pouted, still a bit put out from all her strange behavior.
"You like puns!" At this, Marinette only laughed more, tripping on her bag and falling to the floor. Her laughs turned into strangled guffaws, and she sunk down until she was basically lying on the floor.
The three friends stared at the petite bluenette helplessly. After being hushed several times by the librarian, they decided to pack up their bags and drag Marinette out of the library under Mme. Dolan's harsh glare.
After settling themselves in the park, the friends decided that something had to be done to fix Marinette's strange new episodes of laughter.
"Girl, you've gotta calm down! I've never seen you like this before!" Alya snapped, placing her hand on a hip in an intimidating pose. Marinette just laughed harder.
"You don't think, that there's something wrong with her do you?" Adrien asked worryingly.
"Bro, I know you're like a physics genius, but you really aren't the brightest, are you. Nothing medical would induce such high bouts of laughter, unless she was going insane, which then I guess you could say there was something wrong with her…" At their looks, Nino shrugged. "What can I say, my mom's a doctor."
Marinette struggled to choke her laughs down." Okay, okay. I'm sorry guys, I won't do it again I swear. Cross my heart and hope to die, swear."
Soon, the project had been finished, and the boys had left. Marinette invited Alya to stay a bit longer at Marinette's house across the park, and Alya, of course, said yes. After all, who would want to miss Sabine Cheng's wonderful cooking?
Flopping onto the soft pink carpet of Marinette's bedroom, Alya kicked the door closed and fixed her best friend with her best 'investigator' glare. "Spill."
"About what?"
"Don't play dumb with me Dupain-Cheng… Tell me why exactly you've been acting like a maniac these past two days!"
"Oh that, well, I guess you could say that I've had an epiphany." Marinette stifled another giggle.
"This is about Adrien isn't it" Alya sighed.
"…"
"I'm not that oblivious! Every time Adrien talks or even looks at you, it's like the crazy button's been switched on! And then Nino mentioned something rather interesting…"
"… what?"
"…. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, have you finally gotten over your crush of Adrien Freaking Agreste?"
Marinette looked started for a moment, before laughing, a light laugh unlike her crazed guffaws earlier, "I guess I'll just tell you. I discovered something a couple days ago, and it just surprised me at how normal he is. I mean I think I put him on a pedestal when I liked him before, I was almost infatuated. Like, I put up posters of him and everything!"
Alya glanced around the room, and noticed for the first time that all of Marinette's Adrien Agreste posters had been replaced with sketches and cut outs from fashion magazines.
Marinette continued, "I just happened to walk in on a moment that showed me how unbelievable dorky this kid is, and how much he's just like you and me. I mean, he likes bad puns! Like you had to be there to feel it, but that's just the moment I realized how ridiculous all this is!"
Alya assumed that Marinette had been talking her obsession with the model.
"I think a part of me will always like him, but this odd state of enlightenment has really surprised me that's all. So every time I see him now, all I can think of is how obsessed I used to be!"
Alya smiled, "Thank god, I was worried that something bad had happened. But I'm really proud of you girl, you're really being strong about this. And who knows? Maybe someday you'll find that special someone."
Marinette just grins.
Later that night, Paris's two superheroes landed on top of the Eiffel tower.
It was their first patrol since the akuma attack on Monday.
"Good evening, Kitty." Ladybug smiled at her partner, her friend.
"Good evening, My Lady. You look happy tonight."
She laughed, a sound that startled Chat Noir. Why was that laugh so familiar?
"I am. But before we talk, how was your side of Paris tonight?"
"Quiet. You?"
"Perfect."
They sat in silence for awhile, a comfortable type that calmed both masked teens.
Suddenly Ladybug spoke, "I'm sorry chaton."
Chat quirked an eyebrow, "Why? My beautiful Lady has done nothing to upset me, and you never could."
"It was an accident, I swear. Cross my heart, and hope to die, swear."
Adrien stiffened. What was it about Ladybug that seemed so familiar tonight?
"I really didn't know that you would run into that locker room to detransform. I was careless I guess."
Locker room, what locker room? I mean, he had run into that locker room on Monday …
… to change back into…
"…Adrien?"
He didn't say anything, and couldn't bring himself to look at her.
Her hand touched his shoulder gently, and he unconsciously leaned into.
"Adrien, are you okay?"
He let go of his transformation, the green glow revealing Adrien Agreste.
"…Well, I guess the Cat's out of the bag now isn't it?"
He expected the usual groan that came with his puns. Instead, he got a laugh. A crazy, loud, Marinette laugh. Wait– Marinette laugh?!
Ladybug was doubled over with laughter, the sound bubbling happily from her lips. "You like puns!"
Marinette lost it. "Puns? Are you serious…" She gasped between laughs.
"Hey! What's wrong with puns? I like think puns are great!" Adrien pouted, still a bit put out from all her strange behavior.
"You like puns!" At this, Marinette only laughed more, tripping on her bag and falling to the floor. Her laughs turned into strangled guffaws, and she sunk down until she was basically lying on the floor.
"… Marinette?"
Still giggling a bit, Ladybug tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "You figured it out, huh?" She said almost bashfully.
Too cute, Adrien thought.
"Y-Yeah, I think it was the laugh. No one else laughs like you."
Marinette blinked and then grinned making Adrien's heart stop. "Tikki, Spots off!"
A shower of pink sparkles surrounded her, and Marinette emerged, one shoulder popped up as if she was trying to hide.
"Are you disappointed, chaton?"
"I feel like I should be asking you that. But no, never. I told you I wanted to know the girl behind the mask, I meant it. Of course, I didn't think that I already knew the girl behind the mask."
"I'm glad it's you, you know."
"Are you sure you're glad? I mean, you've been laughing at me these past two days." He complained, a teasing lilt still in his voice.
"I was just surprised that Adrien Agreste had such a bad sense of humor."
"A-Wait what? Princess, you wound me!" Adrien dramatically grasped his chest, forgetting the lack of his mask, "My sense of humor is pawesome"
She laughed again. "I still can't get used to it. Also, I couldn't imagine you dramatically striking poses in a leather cat suit. I mean, a girl can only take so much before she breaks!"
"Why, does my skin tight, leather suit really fluster you that much, Princess? " Adrien smirked.
Marinette blushed, "Wh-wait what, tha-that's not what I m-mean, you flirt!"
"I can't be a flirt if I only flirt with two girls, and look at my good luck, those two girls happened to be the same person!"
"So it's really okay that super-duper cool Ladybug turned out to be plain, boring Marinette?"
"Marinette," Adrien stares seriously at the shorter girl, mesmerized by her beautiful blue eyes, "You could never be plain or boring to me."
Marinette smiled.
He continued, "especially since you were anything but when you were acting like a crazy lady these past two days!"
She promptly scowled at him.
He ignored it, and pulled her into a hug. "Seriously though, I love your craziness, I love your eyes, your kindness, your laugh. Marinette, My Lady, Princess, I love you."
She stiffened slightly. He knew he was scaring her with his intensity, but now that he knew who she was, he needed to get it all out.
Her arms went around him, and squeezed him back. "I love you too, Kitty."
He smiled into her sweet smelling hair. "I knew that I could make you Eif-fall for me one day, My Lady."
She laughed, "That's a bit of stretch."
He realized he wanted to hear her crazy beautiful laugh everyday.
AN: Hope you guys liked it! Please Review, any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Thanks loves!
FrozenOrange