40. Chapter 40

AN - here's the big reveal a day early. My gift to you awesome readers. Enjoy!

Chapter 40

Adrien waited for Marinette to get home from his father's studio. He'd been fretting over telling her the truth of who he was all day. Literally all day. And Alya kept calling and texting to make certain he wouldn't back out of their deal.

Marinette liked Chat Noir, but she clearly didn't agree with what he was doing. What if she couldn't accept it? What if she left him?

Oh god, he felt sick to his stomach again.

His phone buzzed with a text from Marinette. Five minutes until she got home.

He blew out a breath and gave himself another pep talk. He could do this. He had to do this. If he didn't, Alya would and that would be horrible. Marinette liked both sides of him. It was like Alya had said, she would be relieved, thrilled, to find out she liked only one guy instead of two. Honesty was crucial in a relationship, and this was a step in the right direction.

Grabbing his lighter—and after three tries to start it because of his sweaty hands—he lit all of the candles, then went to check on the food. Everything had to be perfect. She had to know how important she was to him, how much their relationship meant to him before he explained the situation.

"Chill, kid," Plagg said as he ate his favorite cheese. "You're making me nervous."

"I can't help it." He smoothed out his button-down shirt. Semi-casual to show he was trying. Boy, was he trying. "I need her to understand and be okay with everything."

"And I need her to talk some sense into your thick skull."

"Plagg," he admonished him.

"What? It's true."

"Once I tell her I'm trying to save my mom, she'll get it."

"And what if she doesn't?" He flew to his face. "What if she says she can't be with you while you're with Hawk Moth?"

Adrien backed up. "She won't. Marinette gets how important family is."

"But—"

At the sound of her unlocking the door, Plagg gave him one last look before disappearing into a drawer.

Adrien snatched the bouquet of flowers off the countertop, darted into the living room, then inhaled deeply. She would understand. She would.

"Hi," he said as soon as she walked inside.

After dropping her keys into her purse, she looked up at him, mouth promptly falling open. Her gaze dropped to the bouquet in his hands, then swept over the room filled with candles and more flowers. "It's beautiful, but you didn't have to do all this because my gramophone was stolen."

He blinked at her. "No. I mean, I'm sorry it was stolen and that the police don't have any leads yet, but this"—he gestured to the space around him—"isn't because of that."

One of her brows lifted, then the other shot up to meet it. "Oh, you're being romantic." Her cheeks darkened and she shyly crossed the room to take the flowers from him. "Thank you."

He sucked in a breath as she looked up at him through her lashes. She was stunning...and he must've said that out loud because she flushed even more. "It's true, Marinette. Stunning, inside and out. You've become so important to me, I just can't imagine not having you here."

Tears lined her eyes.

He pulled her into a hug, enjoying the feel of her in his arms, the feel of her hugging him back, of her head nestled into the crook of his neck. He never wanted to let her go. "Marinette, I..."

She looked up at him in question, then her gaze dropped to his mouth and she licked her lips. The action left him dazed and captivated and undeniably turned on.

Then she kissed him, and he was soaring.

When she pulled him closer and pressed herself against him, he forgot everything.

Time must've passed but he had no notion of it, not with Marinette filling his senses.

She leaned back, lips pink and puffy. "What were you going to say?"

"What?" He kissed along her jaw toward her ear.

She giggled. "It sounded like you were going to say something."

He breathed in her soft perfume, his stomach fluttering as it always did when she was close to him. She made him happy and nervous and calm yet excited. And his body seemed to gravitate to her. Nothing else mattered. Only her. "I love you."

She tensed and he realized what he'd said, then froze. Sure he'd said it as Chat, but he could be extra flirty and teasing as his alter ego. As Adrien, he was more serious. As her boyfriend, it meant so much more. And he meant it all right. No words were truer.

"I love you too." She threw her arms around him, then her legs, forcing him to catch her.

An avalanche of kisses, caresses, nips, and fierce hugs descended upon him. And he welcomed them all.

She dropped to her feet, let her purse and the bouquet fall to the couch, and led him to the stairs. Where were they going?

"Dinner. I made...dinner," he said between kisses.

"Not...hungry." She continued tugging him forward, while kicking off her shoes. "We'll eat later."

They could always reheat it. But why were they going upstairs? And why was she unbuttoning his shirt? She got it halfway open, then just ripped the rest off.

Oh.

She took another backwards step up the stairs and slid her fingers over his chest and ribs. He sucked in a breath. "Marinette."

"Adrien." She kept backing up without taking her hands, let alone her lips, off him. This was the most coordinated he'd ever seen her.

"I need to tell you something."

"I'm listening." She kicked open her door and pulled him inside, stopping them just in front of her bed.

He looked at her through a haze that was growing cloudier by the second. It was like she was crafting a spell that hypnotized him, making him forget everything.

Her hands slid down his stomach to just slightly under his pants, and he groaned.

She really was trying to kill him.

Wherever she touched, a fire erupted until he was consumed by her. He was glad she'd taken off his shirt because he would be sweating under it.

"Adrien?"

Was her voice normally that seductive?

"Yeah?"

Was his voice normally that breathy?

She took off her shirt, exposing that lacy red bra he'd envisioned her in a hundred times. And, god, did she look better in real life. "I want you," she said.

There was something he was supposed to tell her. Something important. But she was standing there, almost naked, pink-cheeked and doe-eyed and more sexy than any woman had a right to be. "You have me."

He lowered her to the bed and everything else fell away.

oOoOo

Marinette rolled over and ran into a body. A big, warm body. Her eyes flew open and she took in Adrien sprawled out face down on her bed. She smiled and ran a light hand along the dips and curves of his back. He shifted a little and mumbled something but stayed asleep.

He was amazing. In every way. And she was so lucky and happy. Happier than she'd ever been. Especially after the disaster of the last couple days. It'd been so hard to fake normalcy.

Adrien Agreste loved her. Went out of his way to make a perfect night just to tell her that. And it had been so romantic and endearing and she wanted to scream.

People had called her Lady Luck, but she'd never felt that way until now. How else could she have snagged her long-time crush?

He loved her!

And she loved him.

Part of her wanted to crush him into a hug and tell him how important he was to her, like how he'd done last night. They never did get to eat anything. She felt a little bad about wasting the food, but being with Adrien was worth it.

She fell back onto her pillow with a sigh. Last night had been amazing. She'd felt emboldened by his reactions and encouraged by his responses. His pulse had pounded under her touch, his skin flushing, his breath quickening. She'd never felt so desired and cared for.

Thinking over the night and what led up to it, how forward she'd been, made her cheeks warm. She touched them, then covered her mouth to hold back a giggle.

Wait until she told Alya. There would be no holding back squeals and joyous laughter.

Her phone buzzed on the nightstand, and she grabbed it to see who had texted her.

Gabriel.

She sat up straight. Damn, she'd forgotten she was supposed to go in. But he wanted her to meet him at the mansion.

Looking at Adrien, she considered waking him up to say goodbye, but decided against it. She'd leave him a note to tell him she couldn't wait to see him again.

After freshening up, she slipped out of the apartment and went straight to Gabriel's. Natalie let her in and ushered her to his office without a word said. Marinette had tried to get her to open up and maybe relax a little, but the older woman was a vault in a wealthy Swiss bank. So she'd learned to let her be and accept the silence.

"Good morning, Marinette." Gabriel stood from his chair.

"Good morning to you, sir." The door closed behind her with a click that made her flinch. The last couple times she'd been there, it had never been closed. "Did you want me to run something to the studio?"

"I actually want to see how you handle yourself under stress."

"Oh?" She swallowed. As if working with him wasn't stressful enough.

"I'm expecting an important call from a very demanding client. I want you to take it."

"Oh," she breathed out. That wasn't so bad. She was good with people. "Sure thing, Mr. Agreste."

"Good. Come here and I'll show you where their files are."

"At your desk?"

"Yes."

"In your chair?" He'd never let her anywhere near his computer. Maybe this meant he was finally accepting that she was serious and wasn't going to run off like his last apprentice.

"Ms. Dupain-Cheng."

She practically jumped to his desk and sat, then carefully listened to his instructions.

An hour had passed. She'd been talking with the client who wanted everything explained, re-explained ten different ways, and his designs for an event reworked twenty times, all the while having to deal with his passive aggressive comments. Difficult, indeed.

At the tail end of the "conversation," Adrien walked in, and she gladly hung up with the client. She'd felt like she'd fought ten akumas and Hawk Moth himself.

Adrien looked surprised to see her, but he quickly recovered and waved at her, his face turning pink. And so was hers based off the warmth emanating from her cheeks. Images of last night kept flashing in her mind.

"I'm glad you could make it," Gabriel said to Adrien.

His words jerked her gaze to him. He had asked him to come? Odd.

"No problem. What did you need? It sounded important."

"I discovered something. Or should I say, someone." He shut the door behind Adrien and pressed a button. Several locks clicked into place at the same time.

Adrien glanced at her, confused, but she just shrugged. Still, her insides chilled to icy lumps.

"You did?" Adrien asked hesitantly.

Gabriel walked around him, so they all faced one another. "Upon closer inspection, I've realized why I recognized the gramophone."

Her gramophone? But it had been stolen.

"It's the Guardian's," he continued.

She tensed. How could he know that?

Gabriel faced her. "Give me your Miraculous."

Adrien shook his head. "Father?"

It all clicked into place. He was Hawk Moth and he had her gramophone. Shit. Shit. Shit. "Adrien, you need to get out of here," she commanded. He didn't move, so she spared him a glance. "Go!"

"Dark wings, rise," Gabriel said just before transforming into the supervillain and turning on his own son. He pulled the sword from his cane and swung it at Adrien, landing a hair's breadth from his neck. "I won't ask again."

"Father," Adrien hissed, not even flinching away in surprise. "Stop. She's just Marinette, and you're scaring her."

Her chest clenched and she sucked in a breath. No. Oh, no. "You're Chat?" She nearly choked on the question.

He reached out to her. "I can explain."

Her heart pounded in her ears, nearly overwhelming her.

"I was going to tell you last night. In a much better way than this." He gave a hard look to his father.

Adrien was Chat Noir. The thought kept spiraling in her mind until she felt dizzy and sick.

Hawk Moth pointed the sword at Marinette and took a step in her direction.

She stumbled backwards.

"Father, stop," Adrien pleaded.

Tikki flew out of her purse. "Snap out of it, Marinette. You have to protect yourself."

Tears stung her eyes. They'd finally admitted their love for each other. He'd been her first. He couldn't be Chat. They couldn't have been fighting each other this entire time.

Hawk Moth took another step toward her.

"Marinette!" Tikki yanked on her ear.

She drew in a deep breath. "Tikki," she whispered, unable to speak around the hard lump in her throat, "spots on."

Hawk Moth continued his advance, but she stayed focused on Adrien, watching him confront the truth. He tensed, jerking away from her as if she'd slapped him. Eyes widening, his mouth worked, trying to form a sentence.

oOoOo

Marinette was Ladybug.

The sentence seemed disjointed, but it also made sense. All those times she'd done something small: a look, a stance, her fierce protectiveness, and her...bruises. They were from him. Not defense class. Him.

He looked at his hands. He'd done that to her. He'd sworn to never hurt Marinette, but he had. He'd knocked her off a building, hit her, yelled at her, hated her.

Ladybug—Marinette threw her yo-yo at his father, pushing him back. She hurled it again, catching his sword-wielding arm, and tried to yank him to her. But Hawk Moth was too strong. She'd never fought him before. She didn't know how ruthless, how hard and cunning he was.

Hawk Moth used the wooden shaft of his cane to hook onto the yo-yo's string and twisted it, dragging her forward, over the desk, inch by inch closer to him.

And she'd lied to Adrien about the bruises. About the fatigue, and when and why she had to suddenly run out. All those times, she was just leaving to transform. All those times she'd let him in her room, she was just wanting intel. Did she even care about him as Chat? Was it all fake?

Ladybug dug her heels in and leaned back, but that didn't stop his father. Nothing could stop him.

She'd kissed Chat. Was that just for intel too? Was she no different than Hawk Moth?

"First, I will take your Miraculous," Hawk Moth said through gritted teeth as he continued to pull her toward him. "Then you will open the gramophone and stay out of my way."

"What have you done with Master Fu?" she asked.

"I would worry more about yourself than that old man."

A fire lit in her eyes, and she flipped back onto the desk, jerking his father's cane from his grasp.

She'd tried to take Chat's Miraculous. Had she been waiting for him to let his defenses down around her civilian form to steal it?

Hawk Moth leapt to her, swinging his sword. She dropped low and kicked his legs out from under him. But, as he fell, he got in a good hit that knocked her off the desk. She landed hard on her side.

Was she more Ladybug, calculating and hard, or more Marinette, soft and kind? He had loved Ladybug, then had fallen in love with Marinette. He was so confused. So torn. And hurt.

The two people he loved most fought with determination and cold intensity. Their narrowed eyes and merciless strikes mirrored one another. They were quick and smart, much smarter than him. Where Chat couldn't hold his own against his father, Ladybug was more than capable. She'd always been better than him. He'd looked up to her because of it. He'd looked up to his father for the same reason.

"Adrien," Ladybug said as she avoided another swing from his father's blade, "help me, please."

His hand twitched. His legs urged him to go to her.

"Son, we're so close to getting your mom back." He took a kick to the ribs and winced. "Help me finish this."

His insides churned. Nausea made him swallow.

"Adrien. Please," Ladybug said, no she was Marinette. Nervous, sweet Marinette. And his heart broke.

"See," Hawk Moth explained to her, "he won't help you. He belongs to me."

She ripped her gaze off him to look at Adrien. Her eyes were just as torn, just as heart broken.

Hawk Moth reared back, face jubilant, and stabbed her in the side of her stomach.

Adrien drowned in an icy lake. All warmth, all thought left him as he stared at her widening eyes, at the slackening of her jaw. Ladybug and Hawk Moth moved in slow motion, her reaching to the wound; him pulling the sword out, blood coating the end; her falling to her knees; him standing straighter.

Her gasp echoed in the room and in his head, a funeral bell tolling, a countdown. He had to decide. He had to choose one of them.

His transformation into Chat Noir felt hollow. None of the thrill filled him. Not when Ladybug was doubled over, hands pressed to her side.

He didn't move, though. He was a statue made of indecision and hatred and love.

"A little late now," Hawk Moth said with barely a glance in his direction. "Take her Miraculous and let's end this."

Forgive me.

Chat noir walked to Ladybug. She looked up at him, eyes glistening and jaw tight.

Dropping to his knees beside her, he removed her earrings.

She sucked in a breath, then clamped her mouth shut, clearly withholding a sob as she was forced back into her civilian form.

"Finally," Hawk Moth said while picking up the wooden shaft and sliding the now-wiped-clean blade in. He turned to the painting of his wife and spoke low. "We will see you soon, my dear."

Chat slipped her earrings into his pocket and bent to pick her up. She recoiled away, but was unable to stop him.

Hawk Moth still stared at the painting, his form more relaxed than Adrien had ever seen.

Forgive me.

Chat shifted to hold her with one arm, then grabbed his baton.

He ran to the windows, breaking the glass with a swipe, and jumped out into the open air. Extending his weapon, he bounded away from the mansion, with Hawk Moth yelling at his back. He had to be quick so his father couldn't catch up to him.

"What are—" She cut off her words at his look.

Holding her in his arms, her soft scent still causing his stomach to flutter, made his chest clench in agony. He didn't know what to think, what to feel about anything. It was all a mess. But there was one thing he knew for certain, he had to get Marinette to safety.

He landed in front of the hospital, people scattered away from them, and he lowered her to the floor.

When he turned to leave, she reached for him. "Wait."

But he didn't. He couldn't.

In one leap, he sped away from all that he loved and all that he hated.

AN - my sister made me rewrite the reveal scene three times and we've edited this thing like five times, trying to get it as close to perfection as possible since it's such an important chapter. I'm sure it's not perfect, but we're satisfied.

I'm so incredibly anxious for people's reactions...and maybe a little afraid for my life. Lol

Btw, I've added an epilogue to my outline. So we now have a total 49 chapters.

Thank you for reading!