Instinct

After the fashion show (Queen's Battle), Marinette is invited to a party at Le Grand Paris. She spends most of her time with Adrien, but when she catches the unwanted attention of an older model, she acts on instinct. Reveal fic.

The VIP room in Le Grand Paris sparkled exactly how Marinette imagined it would. Despite Audrey Bourgeois' bad attitude toward the aspiring designer, a large after party was still thrown to celebrate the completion of Gabriel Agreste's fashion show, and Marinette was invited as the designer of Adrien's feather hat. Models, designers, reporters, and other fashion gurus wandered and conversed throughout the lounge and outside on the terrace.

As some of the youngest of the crowd, Marinette stayed near Adrien. Chloe was luckily distracted from being with them by trying to impress her mother and staying by her side. Marinette's own parents had needed to attend to the bakery and Gabriel Agreste was surrounded by reporters. As people came asking Adrien about his hat, he would introduce them to Marinette.

After what felt like a thousand introductions, Adrien finally asked, "Do you want a drink?"

"Yes, please," Marinette piped.

Adrien smiled and left her in a chair outside in the cool air, going back inside for some water. On his way back however, he nearly spilled the water seeing Marinette talking to a well-known model, well-known amongst all the other models anyway.

Adam De Luca was third in line for his grandfather's Italian design company and he did not mind letting people know. He had a reputation for not only being a braggart, but also having large mood swings. Past girlfriends (all models or someone higher up in the industry) were not shy to share his violent tendencies. He was the last person Adrien wanted Marinette to be having an enjoyable conversation with. Though it seemed perfectly civil at the moment.

As Adrien approached the two, he heard bits of the conversation.

"Really, Agreste? He's a skinny daddy's boy. He's like fourteen."

"I'm fourteen," Marinette quipped in an annoyed tone. While her head was tilted, no other body language revealed her true feelings toward what Adam had said.

"Yeah, but everyone knows girls mature faster than boys. Why don't you date someone more your speed? I'm just asking for your number."

Adrien managed to keep himself from squeezing the paper cups in his hands, but he clenched his teeth. Not only was the creep talking to Marinette, he was trying to make her his next victim.

"I told you, I'd rather not."

She was holding herself rather well, Adrien thought, though he knew Adam wouldn't stop after a simple no. Not realizing how close he had approached and stopped just outside of the sitting area, he felt caught when the two looked at him.

"Adrien!" His heart leapt when he heard the relief in Marinette's voice.

She jumped up and moved to go to him. Adam followed, but grabbed her hand in an obviously tight grip. Adrien started to step forward to interfere.

"Come on! This guy's never gonna-" Slam!

Everyone stopped in the general vicinity, turning to stare at the abusive model lying on the ground among pieces of a broken chair in front of Marinette.

Marinette gasped realizing what she had done. She looked at Adrien who looked equally shocked and impressed. Oh, this was so embarrassing! Her Ladybug instinct had taken over. The boy was a danger and when he grabbed her hand, she had used it to twist and flip him over, much like how she had thrown Chloe into a locker once.

She rushed over to Adrien and grabbed a cup. "Thanks!" She gulped it down as she continued to walk into a crowd that had not just seen her break a chair with a person. Adrien must think she was some crazy she-man now.

Contrarily, Adrien hurried after her. "Where are you going, Marinette?"

"Uh, somewhere… else! Before everyone knows I'm the crazy designer that didn't even get to be a designer because I threw a famous model into a chair!" She rushed through the crowd, surprised Adrien could keep up with her.

Adrien laughed. "Marinette! He deserved it! Adam De Luca is a jerk, to put it politely. All those people were snickering back there. They were happy to see him in his place too."

She finally turned to look at him, but it was so sudden that Adrien ran into her. "Really?"

Once he was stable on his feet again, Adrien chuckled, "Yeah. I was ready to do the same… maybe worse, but you got to him first."

Marinette blinked at his smile. Her shoulders rose as if to protect her as she slid into an open corner nearby and out of the path of other guests. "Why… would you… do that?"

It was his turn to look confused as he followed. "He was about to hurt you just to get what he wanted. Someone needed to protect your honor. Apparently, that's you."

Marinette blushed. "Thanks, Adrien."

The model's warm smile lit her heart on fire. "Of course, Marinette. I have to say seeing Adam slammed into a chair like that was awesome! Really awesome!" He looked contemplative. "And rather satisfying."

They chuckled. "Do you wanna get out of here?"

Marinette blinked at him in surprise.

"It's just kind of stuffy and these parties go way longer than necessary." He rolled his eyes. "Unless you want to stay of course! I realize this is your first after party and everyone loves your hat." He tilted the piece still on his head with a wink.

She smiled with a light blush. "N-no, we can go… or I can go. You probably need to stay here. Or maybe you don't. I don't know. Were we leaving together? Is that what you meant? Or not…"

Adrien waited patiently for her to stop rambling. "We could go to the park," he suggested. "If you're not tired after everything today anyway."

"Yes! I mean, no, I'm not tired. I'd love to go to the park." Marinette smiled awkwardly.

"Great! I'll let Nathalie know."

The park near Marinette's home was not far from Le Grand Paris. While Marinette's heart beat fast, being what truly felt alone with Adrien, it was starting to find a calmer rhythm the longer she spent with him. Even though she had flipped a guy over a chair, the evening had gone better than she planned. Her name was out there in the fashion world and now she was on a walk with Adrien, like a date. It almost felt perfect as the sun was setting and the two teens walked beside one another along the park's pathways. They talked about everything and nothing, catching up on random events in their lives and finding common opinions on school and friends.

"Marinette?" Adrien started cautiously after a while. "I know you probably don't want to talk about it anymore, but the way you took care of Adam was really impressive… and brave."

Marinette blushed, her eyebrows rising in surprise. "Oh, I- I wouldn't say it was brave. Kind of reckless actually." She looked at the ground.

"No, not when it comes to Adam De Luca." Adrien chuckled. "You really floored him."

"I broke a chair, Kitty," Marinette's mouth finally unhinged enough to get past Adrien's compliment, only to slip on a response to his pun.

Adrien stopped in his tracks, making Marinette realize her mistake.

"I m-mean Adrien," she tried to recover. "Sorry, you just sounded like someone else I know." Her stomach twisted as Adrien continued to confusedly stare at her.

"You called me Kitty…"

They stared at one another. Adrien's mind was going fast. He could swear those words had come from Ladybug, not Marinette. And if he looked closely, didn't Marinette look a little like his lady? The same pigtailed hair, the same beautiful blue eyes. And if he thought about it, if Ladybug had been in that situation with Adam De Luca, what would she have done? Tried to handle it with grace… and if she felt threatened…

"Ladybug?" he finally couldn't stop himself from asking.

Marinette's eyes widened even farther. Her thoughts were loud and clear. Aaaaaaaahhhhh!

Marinette stammered, not knowing what to do. Adrien couldn't know she was Ladybug. Why did he think she was Ladybug?! "W-what?! Why would you think that? Kitty's a common name. Like… it's short for Katherine or-"

"Are you lying, my lady?" Adrien leaned forward with a smile.

All the tension in Marinette's whole body released. Her jaw drop made Adrien realize his own mistake. Louder than she'd been all night, Marinette's voice rose. "CAT NOIR?!"

He wanted to laugh but scanned the area for other people. No one was too close to them and the ones farther away seemed to not notice the girl's shout.

He gave her an impish grin and shrugged a shoulder. "You slipped up first!"

She furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms. "I wouldn't have if you hadn't used a lousy pun."

"Oh sure, blame the pun." His smile was still sunshine as he looked down at her.

She grinned back up at him before her face seemed to realize who she was talking to. "You're Cat Noir!" she whispered.

"You're Ladybug!" he whisper-yelled back, a giant grin on his face.

Marinette studied his face, truly seeing his similarities to Cat Noir. "How are you okay with this?" she finally asked.

"How are you not? I just learned one of my awesome friends is my lady. You're even more amazing, Marinette. How could I not be happy?" The smile on his face was warm and loving and Marinette sweated underneath his adoring gaze.

"I-" The thing was when she really thought about it, she was happy too. Some of her feelings were a little mixed up; she loved Adrien. Cat Noir was her partner who was in love with her, to whom she didn't return his feelings, but obviously, now she apparently did. And she did love Cat Noir, in a different way she always told herself, but the two identities crashing together weren't really so bad now. "I am." She let a smile grow on her face.

Adrien smiled back, then his face scrunched up. "This was not how I imagined we'd reveal our identities."

Marinette laughed. "Me neither."

"Did you actually think we would?"

"Of course! After Hawkmoth was defeated, but… I guess things will just be a little different now."

Adrien chuckled. "A little. At this point, I feel like Hawkmoth is going to be someone we know now too. Have you ever questioned Alya's obsession with Ladybug?"

Marinette chuckled at his joke. "One, we already know Hawkmoth is male. And two, she can't be Hawkmoth if she's Rena Rouge."

Adrien's mouth fell open. He promptly shut it again. "I'm not surprised actually."

"Good. Nice to be in the loop, Kitty?"

"Actually, yeah!" Adrien's eyebrows furrowed, showing his answer was meant to be taken seriously. "You could have trusted me with that."

"I know," Marinette sighed. "Keeping one identity made me feel like I needed to keep them all, I guess."

Adrien shrugged. He supposed he could see the reasoning behind that. He gave her a sideways smile. "No more secrets?"

Marinette grinned. "No more secrets."

"So then," Adrien started, staring ahead, pink blooming on his cheeks, "you know how I feel…"

Nervous energy passed between them as they looked into each other's eyes again.

"About Ladybug? Yeah," Marinette said quietly.

Adrien slipped his hand around hers. "About you," he said firmly.

Marinette's face was starting to go red. "You still…"

"Yes."

She looked up at him from under her eyelashes. Then she giggled.

Adrien smiled disconcertedly. "What is it?"

"The other boy…" His immediate and obvious deflation caused her to let out another giggle. "…is you."

His jaw dropped. "What? Me? He's me." His smile lit up his entire face. "You lo-" He stopped himself, thinking the words may be too much right now.

The blush still lingered on her face and she nodded. With a swallow and a deep breath, she did it. She said the words. "I love you, Adrien."

He wrapped her in a tight hug. "I love you…" His voice was almost shaky with happiness as he took a breath. "…Marinette."

He heard the light gasp she lit out as she pulled him closer. "Kitty," she spoke softly. Her fingers lightly threading through the hair at the nape of his neck.

"Bugaboo."

"Stop calling me-" The smile in her voice was not well hidden.

"You love it," Adrien interrupted with a tease.

Marinette moved to hide her face in his collarbone. "I do," she mumbled. She peeked at his face as he unwrapped himself from around her, not missing the Cheshire grin.

"Marinette, I think this is the best night of my life."

The girl giggled again.

"I mean it. The day started out kind of rough. I mean I got hit by an akuma and couldn't help you and then Chloe revealed her miraculous, but then I got to see you flip Adam De Luca over a chair, learn Ladybug's identity, and found out she might just love me as much as I love her."

Marinette was still processing everything but decided to keep being happy because on top of it all, that's what she was. "Silly kitty." She reached up and pecked his nose.

The look on his face she could not mistake as being Cat Noir. Like many of the times she had tapped his bell or got closer than normal, a surprised light turned on in his eyes and his mouth formed at 'O'. A mischievous look overcame him.

"Hmm." He tapped a finger to his chin. "I could think of one more thing to make it better."

"If Hawkmoth surrendered?" Marinette joked, knowing that couldn't be what he was thinking.

"Don't ruin the mood."

"Then tell me what's on your mind."

"Why don't I just show you?"

One hand moved from her waist to her chin. He looked into her eyes, asking for permission. She wondered how that color of green could even exist. She leaned forward. Their lips met in chaste passion.

Neither teen could believe their luck. But in all honestly, Ladybug was known to be kind of lucky. Even if she did break chairs with rude models.

Not as crazy as some reveals. Personally, I love the emotional turmoil that happens and would probably happen, but I wanted something simpler this time so please excuse the ooc-ness.