Author's Note: It was supposed to be a thirty minute writing exercise. Then the alarm blared, we panicked, we added another ten. Then twenty. Then we stopped counting. And when I (finally) reached the prompt that had been designated to me in twice the time and with twice the word count we planned I had to quickly plead: "... I need more time."

So I present: a post-season 3 kiss prompt-fic only marginally to do with the prompt at all because I could not get Ladybug giving up Guardianship out of my head.

The prompt is from Kashimalin's 50 types of kisses prompt post on tumblr!

A kiss paired with a tight hug, knocking the breath out of the person being hugged.

In the split second that she looked at him, Adrien knew.

He knew by the hunger in her eyes. It was during patrol, and when he turned to wave goodbye to her, he caught her focusing on his bottom lip.

So he ran his tongue across it. A tease. An invitation.

And she took the bait - hook, line and sinker.

She threw her arms around his shoulders to kiss him, her lips reaching the corner of his mouth. Making a dissatisfied sound, she tangled her fingers in his hair to pull him down towards her.

Their lips met.

And as they met again and again in holy palmer's kiss, their lips turned from strangers into confidantes. The space between them was terrible. Not when she tasted so good.

Panting, she broke away.

His face erupted into a grin. "I love you, Ladybug." Those four words served as a reminder rather than a declaration, and came as easy to him as breathing.

"I love—" She froze, and he held his breath in wait for a word that did not come. "No! You're incorrigible, Chat! We can't date. We're superheroes!"

"Then no dating. We can simply be superheroes in love." And even the Queen of Logic herself couldn't argue with that.

No dating to her meant no more kissing. And no mutual declarations of love. But she couldn't hide how she really felt from him. He saw it in the way she took the opportunity to stand a little too close, her eyes closing as she breathed him in. Or in the way that he caught her staring at him. He spent so much time looking at her that he caught her every time. And each time she'd turn this bewitching shade of red, so flustered he'd noticed her staring.

Ladybug followed her own rules. And he followed Ladybug. And waited patiently for the day that she would allow him to love her without the mask.

In the split second that she looked at him, Adrien knew.

He knew by the tears that brimmed her eyes. The tears she refused to let fall, refused to let Hawk Moth savour as he forced his way through the icy battleground towards her. Even now, she was being brave. For him.

She had been weakened by the akuma battle. And trapped by Mayura, who had created a sentimonster like nothing they had ever seen before. Glacia's breath froze the air in front of them, slowing thoughts as well as movement as both superheroes fought to take breaths deep enough in the shallow air. With every movement of those pale blue limbs, icicles shot out like daggers, making the close combat he favoured difficult. Hawk Moth had somehow powered up and was at home in this icy nightmare. Ladybug had thrown him his power-up, but before she could take care of herself, a gesture of the sentimonster's hands sent a barrage of icicles falling down, trapping her against the dank walls of the sewers. Her limbs splayed about helplessly as Hawk Moth skulked closer.

Adrien charged, and with a flick of the cold staff was sent sprawling. "No!" he yelled out. He flipped up onto his feet, ready to charge again. Glacia spared him no more than a side glance, and instead raised a hand towards his partner, ready to lay a lethal blow.

"Ladybug!" His cry was pure anguish.

Hawk Moth loomed over her still figure, his greedy fingers reaching for the box which had always eluded him.

"I'm sorry, Kitty," a whisper escaped her.

He froze but it wasn't Glacia's doing.

"I, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, hereby relinquish the Miracle Box and name Chat Noir the new Guardian!"

Marinette?

His lady was Marinette?!

A guttural growl escaped from Hawk Moth as the Miracle Box beside her lifted into the air, blinding everyone with a flash of light.

When the box transformed into a black cube, littered with green paw prints, another flash of light drew Adrien's attention. Still trapped by the icicles, Ladybug's transformation faded away, and he knew then that his ears hadn't lied. There lay his classmate, his very good friend, the love of his life - Marinette. Her eyes were shut and her head hung forward like a deadweight.

He blinked and then blinked again, in an effort to sweep away the moisture blurring his eyes. He needed to see, to know the very instant that she moved. He needed to know that she was okay. Another second ticked by, and the choking weight of stale air in his lungs reminded him he needed to take a breath.

She remained still.

Utterly still.

He went berserk.

Rage like a white-hot fire consumed him, arming him with strength he did not know he could possess. One cataclysm was enough to destroy the icicles that trapped her. Another, enough to destroy Glacia's sapphire necklace - the source of the amok. In a distant part of his mind he recognised that he should not be able to do multiple cataclysms, but that part was drowned out by the blood that seethed in his veins as he hurled his trembling hand toward Hawk Moth, dark energy surging at his fingertips.

The scumbag deflected the hit with his staff.

It crumbled to ash.

Not waiting for retaliation, he tucked the new Miracle Box into his side, looping the tail end of his belt around it to secure it and without dallying a moment longer, he leaped towards Marinette. Scooping her up into his arms, in a familiar hold that played with the memory of his fingertips, he made his escape. She still had her earrings. He'd need her to transform later and cure all of this. Then his eye caught the black cube dangling beside him and he bit the inside of his cheek. Almost all of it.

Nevertheless, it could wait until she was in a place of safety.

He sprinted through the night at a pace unhindered by the girl he was carrying. For she could never be a burden, not when she was such a source of strength.

In his arms, she stirred and his heart skidded to a stop in his chest. His legs soon followed, and beneath the spires of the cathedral in the heart of their city, so close to her home, he stopped. He placed her down with care, like she was some delicate thing. She wasn't. Not usually. But tonight -

That train of thought ended there. Or rather, he refused to torture himself by entertaining it any further.

"Mari-" A stifled sob caught the rest, so he tried again. "Marinette, are you okay?"

"Chat Noir?" Her voice was soft, disoriented. "What are you doing here?" She reached for his cheek, wiping tears away that he didn't know had fallen. "Why are you crying, kitty cat?"

His lips twitched at the endearment that escaped from her unmasked self but he found he wasn't able to smile. Her fingers followed his tears down his mask and to his mouth. Softly, like she was scared she would break him, she wiped the wetness from his lips.

His eyes followed her tongue as she swept it across her own lips.

He shut his eyes.

It had been such a roller coaster of emotion.

To find out who she was, that she had been there all this time.

To have been bequeathed the duty of guardianship because she had no other choice.

To have seen her lips, full and pink even in the moonlight, move again as she breathed and frowned in worry and spoke his name.

Ladybug was Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

But one thing had not changed.

He was in love with her.

He could not waste a precious second with her. His eyes flew open. When he did so, she tilted her head to the side, awareness dawning in her expression as she realised where she was.

"Hey, Chat, this isn't my balco-"

He leaned forward to press the swiftest of kisses on Marinette's lips.

When he pulled back, her face was red.

"You - You - Why did you—?" All further words caught in her throat.

He pulled her into his arms. So tightly he knocked the breath out of her. The sound of her gasp was a sudden reminder that she might've been injured. Releasing her from his eager embrace, their eyes met as his hands slid to her shoulders.

"I was right about one thing, Ladybug."

He didn't know it was possible, but her face went an even deeper shade of red. Tikki popped up beside them, and Marinette swung her head between her kwami and himself, her jaw falling open like the hinges of a door.

"You are the girl of my dreams." He threw her a wink. "Tikki, Marinette will be able to transform again and use the cure, right?"

"Sure thing!" Tikki replied. "But she has lost all of the memories she's gained since being a Guardian."

"Oh. So she doesn't remember this?" He dared to place another kiss onto her cheek. "Or this?" He moved even closer this time, reaching the corner of her mouth.

"Well," began Tikki. "Do you?" she deferred to the girl in question.

But his (attempted platonic) kisses had done the opposite of help her regain speaking abilities. She blinked owlishly at him, pressing a delicate hand to the places he had just kissed.

Another beat of silence passed before she replied.

"I don't know who you are behind that mask, but you've always meant the world to me. Last I remember, we were fighting Miracle Queen, and I was scared. So scared. You were there for me, Chat Noir. And yet, I don't remember being with you. Not like that. Not like this." Her fingers fell from tracing where she had just been kissed. "But" —she cast her eyes down and bit her lip—"Your breath seems so familiar. It sounds silly, but I feel like my skin recognises the feel of your lips on mine. I know you're Chat Noir, and I don't know why, but something tells me that I love you."

If hearts could leap for joy, his would be a splat against the bricks of the cathedral right now.

"Will you kiss me again, Chat?"

At this, he could only bite down at the grin threatening to erupt all over his face. "As M'Lady commands."