Years Earlier...
The defeat of Hawkmoth should have been the best day of Adrien's young life. Finishing the super villain once and for all would free him from constant danger, free up his daily schedule, allow his nights to actually include some sleep, and best if all, would allow himself and Ladybug to finally reveal themselves to eachother. Years of dying to meet his lady face to face, without masks in the way, was almost as much a motivation as saving Paris. But when that long awaited day finally came, it was the worst he could remember.
The fight had lasted hours, spanning all across Paris as Hawkmoth and his many unwilling minions struck all at once. It was like Heroes Day all over again, except Hawkmoth had grown so powerful that each was a seperate, full fledged akuma, and were were each supported by their own teams of Mayura's Senti-monsters. Each was more than a match for Paris' saviors on their own. By the time they reached Hawkmoth, standing on the ledge of the Eiffel Tower where Ladybug had first made her speech years before, Chat Noir and Ladybug were bruised and battered and on the 7th and 5th transformation of the battle respectively. Their fellow heroes had all either been too injured to continue or made themselves busy creating a diversion to let the miraculous duo reach their target.
Hawkmoth was ready for them, though. He fought mercilessly, beating the heroes within an inch of their lives. Ober time his physical abilities had grown almost equally to his magical ones, but our duo stood strong. Years of fighting side by side had made them an unmatched team. Movements in perfect sync and leads followed without so much as a word between them.
In the end, the mad miraculous wielder never stood a chance.
So as his transformation dropped and he fell to his knees before the two heroes, Gabriel Agreste gave up his miraculous willingly on the steps of the Agreste Manor, as did Natalie, before the police dragged them both away.
Calling out one last Miraculous Cure Ladybug fixed the city, their own injuries, and turned everyone in the city back to normal. Hawkmoth's rain of terror was over.
Suddenly Ladybug began to peer frantically through the manor windows. A panic setting over her that seemed unbecoming of a victory celebration.
Chat turned to his partner slowly, his own voice shaking. "My Lady... Hawkmoth, he..." The emotions of all he'd just seen and done were catching up to him, only compounded by the exhaustion from the fight. "That was..."
Ladybug, though, was not listening as her partner broke down beside her. Her thoughts clearly racing behind thise storming blue pools. She suddenly snapped her head back to Chat Noir, "Chat, I'm sorry, I really need to go!" Before frantically flying off without another word nor customary fist bump.
In shock, it took Chat Noir a few minutes to realize she wasn't coming back. That this was more than just a simple recharge run. But still, he waited.
Chat waited on a nearby roof they often met on after bigger fights, sitting as the sun set and celebratory fireworks lit up the Paris skyline around him. He waited even after the other heroes had come and gone, off to see their families and join in on the city wide party. Sure that Ladybug would return at any time. Chat wasn't so sure, but he waited. Because right now, he really needed her.
The sight of his father and aurogate mother figure being revealed from under those masks having been burned into his mind forever. Adrien's whole world was shattering around him. Chat Noir needed his partner right then, to save him more than ever.
But she never came.
Hours later, Adrien managed to get back into the manor, the police at the crime scene allowing the poor boy back into him room after questioning him thoroughly and concluding that he most likely didn't know a thing about his father's actions. Collapsing on his bed in a fit of uncontrollable sobs, Adrien Agreste felt more alone than ever in the truly empty house.
The hollow comforts of Plagg did nothing to calm him either. The black cat kwammi was never as sensitive as his lucky counterpart, but there was little he could have done. After a heated argument about the merits of relaxing and looking for Ladybug tomorrow, the Black Cat Miraculous was returned to its box in the nightstand. And it stayed there.
Adrien lay alone for hours, until his door openned suddenly and a pair of gentle arms were fling tightly around his neck bedore he could even look up.
"Adrien! There you are! I've been looking for you for hours!", cried his lovely friend, Marinette, as she tightened the hug. "When I heard who Hawkmoth was... Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Adrien!"
The young model froze as she embraced him. Marinette was shaking as she spoke, terrified for him, concern dripping from every word. But despite all that, here she was, trying to be strong for his sake. He wasn't alone, how could he ever be with her by his side? She always had been, since day one. Adrien wrapped his arms tightly around Marinette's waste and buried his face in her shoulder as his own tears resumed. "P-please... Don't leave me here alone..." He managed to choke out.
Marinette's grip tightened further, "Never."
Years Later...
Adrien sighed as he looked at the picture of Marinette and himself that sat on the top shelve of his bedroom bookcase. All of these memories had come flooding back to him so suddenly as he sat watching the news of Ladybug's latest heroics on the tv in his modest apartment.
Since the day she left him behind after their final battle, Adrien had yet to put back on his Miraculous. She had abandoned him in his time of need, and he in turn left the life of being her partner behind. He didn't know if he'd ever be ready to face her on either fronts, or Plagg's wrath after the years he spent unfairly in that box. But it was nights like these, nights where his mind was clouded and his emotions running high, that he yearned to dawn the mask again. If only for one last free run across the city. But he knew he couldn't, not without facing her.
Adrien moved the frame aside to reveal his Miraculous' box, gently stroking the rim. He hid it again before pulling back and turning to face the large mirror that hung on his wall. He fixed his hair a bit and straightened his jacket. He wasn't goin far. Just headed down the hall, 3 doors down on the left side. There, Marinette was cooking dinner for the two of them before a night of bad movies and video games while Alya was out with Nino.
Over the last three years, that girl had been his rock. The only thing keeping his poor broken self from falling into the massive hole his father had left in his wake. Marinette had convinced her parents to take him in, refusing to leave his side for the whole week after the defeat of Hawkmoth. Adrien lived with her family with them until he was old enough to take over his father's estate. Most of which he sold off immediately to put as much distance between that life and his current one as he possibly could. She truly was his best friend, and the closest thing to family he had to cling to. She was the one who pushed him to start university and follow his teaching dreams, to get out there again and spend time with the friends that stuck around through the chaos, to rent an apartment on her floor so he could have some real adult freedom and so they could still find time to hang out when she wasn't busy becoming Paris' hottest new rising fashion star.
Adrien truly felt he owed her everything. Thus why, for the first time in years he fussed over his appearance. Trying to regain some of that model shine he'd managed to dull over the years with a purpose. Tonight he was finally gonna do it, finally ask the best thing in his life to really be his. Putting a label on their relationship had never seemed important, but not doing so came with some limitations that he would rather move far past, given the chance.
Adrien never figured out when he fell for her, maybe he had years before and never realized, but the moment she'd found him broken in that empty house and held him as his world shattered to pieces, he was her's. He'd never feel like he could deserve it, so he prepared for rejection. Knowing full well that preserving their friendship was far more important that his own feelings would ever be. She would at least hear him out and at worst, let him down gently. But he hoped, beyond hope that this wouldn't be like Ladybug all over again.
And that's how he came to cast one last look toward his Miraculous before suddenly snapping his attention to the buildings fire alarms sounding and the smell of smoke beginning waft from under his front door.
Adrien panicked. His apartment lacked a personal fire escape, leaving him trapped unless he wanted to run out through the smoke and down the actual stairs. Seeing as this was the only option on the fifth floor, he ran towards the shelf and grabbed the three irreplaceable objects her owned: His mother's wedding ring, the photo of himself and Marinette, and, reluctantly, his miraculous. There was a loud crash as a portion of the building somewhere else collapsed. Stuffing his pockets with his keep-sakes, Adrien took a deep breath and prepared to flee the blaze. Only he stopped dead in his tracks in the hall, seeing the smoke pouring from the door three down and on the left.
Adrien grit his teeth, he needed to make sure Marinette had gotten out safely. If anything happened to her... He ran through the smoke eventually getting down on his hands and knees to crawl under the cloud of ash. "MARINETTE?! Mari are you still in there-" A coughing fit took him, so he crawled on. Suddenly he heard a whimpered reply and nearly dove into the room.
His best friend, the love of his life, was pinned under a collapsed portion of the ceiling from the waist down. There was an empty fire extinguisher near by and the stove with their dinner engulfed in flames. Marinette was reaching desperately for a box of her sketchbooks, her life's work, that was in dire risk of catching the blaze. She was half dressed, hair down and wet, still in her pajamas. She was even missing her usual earrings as the fire began while she was getting ready for their night.
The young designer looked up at Adrien with fear in her eyes. "A-Adrien! Please, I'm-" A coughing fit took her, but he was already on the move, throwing pieces of hot ruble to the side in the desperate attempt to free her, ignoring the burns to his hands and the smoke in his lungs. But it wasn't enough. An entire support beam had come down and try as he might, he couldn't lift it.
As the seconds wore on and the flames spread, they both knew their wasn't much time left. "Adrien! You have to go!" Another portion of the ceiling made a horrible noise as it started to come down, sirens in the distance backing it in a horrific chorus. Help wasn't coming fast enough. Marinette reached up and grabbed his pant leg. "If you stay, we'll both die! Just go, please!"
Adrien looked down at her in horror. "Marinette! Don't talk like that! I can't-" More coughing, "I can't just leave you! You mean too much to me... I refuse!" He yelled, giving the beam one more push with all his strength, before collapsing to his knees in a fit of coughs as the heat began taking its toll.
"You have to! Please! I couldn't bare knowing you gave up your life for me! I... I love you too much to watch you die... Just go!" Marinette pleaded, shaking his leg violently.
As she did, the motion caused his miraculous' box to come loose and fall out of his pocket and on to the floor. It landed on the other side of him, out of her line of sight. Despite being so close to the flames and appearing as if made of wood, the box didn't burn. It was clear to Adrien that only one thing could survive the flames. He heard Marinette's declaration the same moment he saw the box hit the floor and in an instant, he knew what he had to do.
"I love you too, Mari... You're only reason I'd ever do THIS!" Adrien flung the box open and put the ring on his figure. It was hot from the flames and branded its shape into his skin. He winced, but pushed it on tight.
FLASH!
Plagg was ready to tear his kitten's head off when he got out. Thrown back in the box after everything they'd been through? Really? Without even feeding him first?! That little idiot... But to his shock, he found his charge kneelling amongst the burning wreckage of an unfamiliar kitchen, as the girl he recognized as Tikki's choosen stared up at them both with wide eyes from the ruble, without her earrings. "KID!? WHAT THE HELL-!?"
Adrien held out his hand and cut the kwammi off. "LATER PLAGG, I PROMISE! I JUST NEED YOUR HELP! PLEASE!" The young man pleaded. "CLAWS OUT!!"
In another flash, Chat Noir was back. The leather suit shielding Adrien's skin from the heat and protecting him further as a portion of the roof behind him gave way, showering them with sparks and debris. He moved to shield Marinette and her books, as she justvstared up at him, gaping in surprise. The hero smirked at her like the cheshire cat he once was, "I promise I'll explain later, purrrrrincess! But for the moment I need to sharpen my claws. CATACLYSM!"
With that, the bar was gone, and before Marinette could even blink, Chat had scooped her up in one arm, and her books in the other. With the entrance blocked, Chat Noir ran straight through the living room and out the window, leaping to the closest building's roof in full view of all the spectators below. Gasps and shouts of surprise were heard, as this was the first sighting of the feline hero in years. And if his exit from the burning building wasn't dramatic enough, leaping through a 5th story window, damsel in his arms, something unstable in the building caught fire at that exact moment and proceeded to explode fantastically as Chat was midair above the street.
The hero landed in a clumsy roll, severely out of practice with his acrobatics. He dropped the box of books and used the little control he had left to shield his love from the impact. As they skidded to a stop, Adrien felt his transformation drop. Leaving Marinette and himself lying tangled on the roof, panting, coughing, and clinging to each other for dear life.
Adrien finally opened his eyes when the sounds of coughing from his friend turned soft sobs. As his sight came into focus, he was met by two sorrowful bluebell orbs looking down at him, her shaking hands resting on his cheeks. He expected her to be sad about losing everything, confused about his identity, maybe even a little thankful considering the timely rescue with not a second to spare. What Adrien didn't see coming were the next words out of Marinette's mouth.
"Chat Noir... Mon minou... I found you..."
Adrien's eyes went wide as he realized who he was looking at. Only on person had ever called him that. "My... Lady..?" He asked tentatively, only to be met with a quick nod and another tearful sob as she pulled away suddenly and tucked her knees to her chest. Adrien pulled himself up off the roof and watched her wearily.
"Why did you leave..?"
Before Adrien could muster any answer at all, Plagg flew up from the spot he'd landed with a frantic look in his eyes. "Look, I know you dummies have a lot to talk about, but Ladybug, PLEASE tell me you have the earrings?!"
Marinette straightened up suddenly and rushed to the box of books, digging through she eventaully pulled out two loose earrings and their box from the bottom. "I just threw the earrings in here when I tried to get out!" She put them in quickly and Adrien was amazed to watch her kwammi pop into existence. "Oh my god Tikki! The one time in eight years I take the earrings off and I almost lose you!" She spouted frantically, hugging the tiny god against her chest.
Tikki was hugging her back just as tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Oh Marinette! I felt you dying, but there was nothing I could do! Oh thank creation you're okay! How did you-?" Tikki trailed off as she saw their company. She charged Adrien and kissed the startled young man on the cheek. "I knew you'd never really leave her! You beautiful kitty boy!" She cooed before proceeding to tackle-hug her own kitty in a similar fashion.
Adrien reached up and scratched the back of his neck and looked away sheepishly. "But I did leave her, Tikki... This is my first transformation in three years and it sure wasn't planned..."
Tikki paused, looking at the two young adults. She let a small sigh, realizing the situation she had been summoned back into was not as celebratory as she first assumed. "You two have needed to talk this out for years... We'll leave you alone, just try to finish before the fire department comes up here for you." And with that, the kwammis floated away, leave the two heroes in awkward silence.
"Mari..."
"Why?!"
Adrien flinched as she spoke. Her voice was full of so much anger and hurt.
"You just disappeared without a word. Its been years Chat!" Marinette's hands were balled up into fists as she rose and faced him. "I know fighting Hawkmoth was hard, but why did you just disappear?! I demand an explanation!"
Adrien felt his own wave of pent up anger kick in, the most he'd felt since his father's trial. "OH I ABANDONED YOU, HUH?! After the fight you just ran off and didn't come back! I was having a freaking melt down at the realization of who he was! That I had just fought and jailed my own father! And you just ran away! I waited for you, you know that? For hours! I thought you'd at least come back to see if I was okay. It was our big day, after all. We were gonna tell each other who we were!!" Adrien pinched the bridge of his nose, in a fashion far to similar to his father for his liking, before letting lose again. "EVERYTHING HE DID WAS HAPPENING FROM MY OWN HOUSE!! RIGHT UNDER MY NOSE AND I NEVER KNEW! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN!! I COULD HAVE STOPPED HIM! HOW DO YOU THINK I FELT?!" He was yelling now, yelling at the love(s) of his life with years of unspoken pain.
He could see the regret and heartbreak on her face, and for a moment, he almost enjoyed it. But then she spoke with a small and shakey voice. "I left Chat Noir because I was so worried about Adrien it made me sick... I had to find you, make sure you were okay..."
Adrien met her eyes and his anger dissolved, replaced instantly with guilt at the freshly flowing tears. She looked away from him, but he approached slowly and cupped her face in his hands, turning it back towards himself. The young man used his thumbs to wipe away her tears and gently leaned his forehead against her's. "I guess in the end you never left my side at all, huh? I just never knew.."
Marinette finally met his eyes and placed her hands on top of his. "I'm sorry, Kitty... I had no idea that you were so hurt. I would have stayed if I knew, but..." His friend looked down at her feet and took a long breath. "But I've been in love with Adrien for so long, the idea of him hurting and dealing with all of that alone sort of overrid everything else. But I guess in my rush to help you, I ended up just really hurting you more instead, didn't I? I'm so sorry I didn't listen, minou..."
The blonde froze up for a moment, taking in everything she said, the sincerity of her voice. Of course she'd never hurt him on purpose. As Ladybug or Marinette. She loves him...
WAIT SHE LOVES HIM!?
Adrien let out a small chuckle when his brain finally rebooted from the shock. Marinette looked up at him with an incredulous mixture of confusion and hurt. "W-What? Why are you laughing?!"
The young man smiled wider, "It's all just a little funny looking at it now. You ditched me to make sure the other me was okay on the worst day of both of me's life. I'd never felt so loved as on the day I was abandoned. Everyday I've seen reports of Ladybug and I'd wonder if she even cared I was gone, all while spending everyday right at your side as you showed me just how much." As he spoke, Adrien wrapped his arms around her waist and gently pulled her closer. "And the its funny that the two greatest loves of my life were just one miraculous girl..."
Marinette's eyes searched his for any trace of doubt, but when she found none, the tears started flowing again. Her arms flew around his neck in a flash and their lips crashed together. Adrien didn't know how long they stood there, kissing blissfully as their home burnt to the ground behind them, but he now knew for sure what he had always really known: the house didn't matter. Home would alway be right here in her arms.
When they finally separated, though not by much, Adrien leaned his forehead back against hers. "I do forgive you, and I'm sorry for running away from you for so long." He sighed softly, "I finally built up the courage to ask you out tonight. But I guess that plan went up in smoke?" Marinette smacked him lightly for the pun, but she was grinning from ear to ear and blushing hard all the while. "But seeing as the most wonderful girl I've ever met and My Lady are one in the same, I don't think I'll ever really be able to let you go." As he brushed her cheek with his thumb, she leaned into the touch. "I really do love you, Mari... You're the single most important person in my life. I mean it. You were there through everything and I'll never be able to express how much its meant to me."
Marinette smiled softly and leaned against him. "I've been in love with you ever since you leant me that umbrella all those years ago and I've had plenty on time to get to know the real, wonderful guy underneath the perfect model facade. Nothing could have ever convinced to leave you, not now or ever." She turned her head to kiss his palm lightly, before gazing lovingly into his bright green eyes. "You know I always loved Chat too, right? I denied it to myself, but I think Tikki always knew. I hated that I'd had to choose, that I had to hurt my kitty so badly, but knowing you're the same beautiful person... I never want to be anywhere else."
Adrien felt his own tears start to flow as he leaned in to kiss her again, much gentaler this time. Full of all tge love they'd denied themselves for years. Upon breaking, an idea struck him that felt just... Right.
Adrien took Marinette's hands in his and dropped down on one knee. She watched him in shock, as a hand went to fish into his pocket. "This might be a spur of the moment thing, purrincess, but honestly I can't imagine one that feels more right." He pulled the box from his pocket and held it up to her.
"Y-Your miraculous box..?"
Adrien looked at the box in surprise and smiled sheepishly. "Woops! Wrong pocket!" Setting it down, he frantically fished into the other pocket as his partner giggled at him quietly. But her laugher cut suddenly as he produced an old black ring box from his jacket and flicked it open to reveal a simple, yet gorgeous, golden band topped with a sparkling diamond. "It was my mother's ring, the only thing I really have left if her. But I know if she was here right now, she'd agree that I'd be a fool if I didn't ask... Mari, Princess, My lady, will you marry me?"
Marinette's hands shot up to cover her face as she nodded rapidly, quiet and repeated yes's spilling from her mouth as she dropped to her knees, accepting the ring on her finger and kissing her cat boy senseless.
They were finally snapped out of it by the claps, woops, and hollers of the rescue party that finally managed to get to them on the roof. This included Alya and Nino, who had been filming since the moment they arrived with the firemen. The two blushed like crazy, but smiled to the others as their fingers locked together.
Two kwammi floated quietly behind the group, looking on at their choosen with a loving pride. Ready for the next chapter in their young charges' lives to begin.