Chapter Text
If Adrien was being honest, he’d already forgotten what had tipped them off. The point was, they knew now. He knew Marinette was his Lady, and she knew he was Chat Noir. And he wasn’t entirely sure where it was meant to go from there, though he certainly hoped he’d have better luck convincing her to date him now that they knew each other’s identities. It certainly offered a whole new dynamic to their relationship. She wasn’t just the mind-blowing, confident girl he trusted with his life. She was also the sweet, earnest, stumbling and stuttering girl who he’d admired ever since he met her.
He thought he loved her before. And he supposed he did. But this was something completely different. He loved her with a depth of understanding that he hadn’t known was possible. He loved her like a sun, hot and intense and steady and enduring. And he rather wished she would stop dragging him along the school hallways long enough for him to beg her to go on a date with him, to be his girlfriend, to marry him, to have a house and three kids and—
Well, he might be getting ahead of himself. But he would beg her to be his girlfriend, if she would just slow down enough to let him.
He realized, suddenly, that they’d stepped into the atrium, where most of their classmates were having lunch. And Marinette was making a beeline for Lila. He glanced around and realized that everyone else seemed to realize where Marinette was going, as most of them were moving closer with worried looks on their faces. Adrien knew Marinette wouldn’t do anything worse to Lila than, possibly, try to expose some more of her lies, but apparently, Lila had managed to convince the class otherwise.
They came to such an abrupt stop that he almost stumbled forward and straight into the girl, but Marinette kept him beside her with a single hand spread against the middle of his chest. He was sure she could feel his heart racing. He wished they were alone. He wished her hand was against his skin. He wished he was kissing her.
Her other hand settled on his back, so he was pressed firmly between them. He swallowed.
“Mine,” she said, baring her teeth in a fierce smile. Adrien’s heart just about stopped.
Lila scoffed, “As attractive as I’m sure Adrien finds this little display of desperation, everyone knows you aren’t toget—”
“Mine,” Marinette said again, lower and darker this time. She looked up at him, and he could see the determination and confidence and tenderness he was so familiar with in Ladybug burning in her eyes as the hand on his chest slid down to his hip. “Isn’t that right, minou?”
“Forever,” he said breathlessly. “Yours.”
Marinette surged up onto her toes and kissed him. It was over far too fast, and then she was looking over her shoulder at Lila, who was red and wearing a fierce scowl. Marinette smirked. “So keep your Akuma-loving hands off my boyfriend, Rossi.”
Then she was pulling him along by the hand again, walking backward for a moment as she purred, “Come along, minou, let’s find somewhere more private… to chat.”
And, frankly, she could drag him anywhere she pleased. Especially if she was going to do things like kiss him and call him her boyfriend and claim him in front of everyone they knew.
After all, he was hers.