The Ace-ing on the Cake : A Mlb Fanfic

Chapter 13 : Sweethearts

It was Marinette. Ladybug was Marinette. Chat sat there and contemplated every moment in which he'd ever noticed more than a passing resemblance between the two girls and came to the conclusion that he was an idiot. The only saving grace was that he knew Miraculous magic had been at work; Plagg had warned him once that the more he thought about and tried to figure out Ladybug's identity, the more strained the magic would become, which was why he had always tried not to think about it.

Tonight, the magic had been pushed far enough to break.

Chat exhaled, realizing he could see his breath, and squeezed his eyes shut. "Is this a dream?"

"Um, no," Ladybug said. "Afraid not."

Not a dream. Marinette was Ladybug. And if that was the case, then... he cast his mind back over the past couple of days. Last night, Marinette had been talking about a boy who was in love with her; a boy who was a silly flirt; a boy who loved her anyway; a boy that she cared very much about; a boy whose heart she had broken. That was him, he realized with amazement. Chat Noir. It had to be.

So Marinette was in love with Adrien, who was secretly Chat Noir. Chat was in love with Ladybug, who was secretly Marinette. Both of them had spent the last two days wondering if they should give up on the people they were in love with, never once realizing that they didn't have to. The wonder of the situation settled over Chat's shoulders and he huffed a laugh.

Never had he imagined that his life could be so turned upside down over the course of a single weekend – or that he would turn out to be so damned happy about it.

"What? What's so funny?" Ladybug was eyeing him warily, and Chat loved her so much that it felt like a physical ache.

"I was just thinking about how much pain we've put ourselves through," Chat said honestly. All those weeks he'd spent pining over Ladybug and she was closer than he'd ever imagined. Ruefully, he realized that he should have listened to Plagg and let himself fall in love with Marinette. They would've both been much better off.

"Oh. Well, I'm glad you find our misery funny because I sure don't." She gazed back out at the city. "I meant what I said last night, Chat. You deserve more than being second best. I don't want to date you just because we're compatible. And it wouldn't be fair to date you when I'm still hung up on someone else."

"Ladybug –"

She rushed over him, not letting him speak. "I know, I know. You'll say you don't care and that it doesn't matter, but you should care because it does matter. So..." She let out a frustrated sigh. "Let me confess to Adrien, okay? Let me get the truth shoved in my face that it's not going to happen once and for all. I can do it this time. I know I've wussed out a bunch of times, but I'll really do it." She clenched her hands into fists. "And then... and then once I'm over him... if you still love me..."

"I'll always love you, My Lady," Chat said as gently as he could, because it was the truth. He was genuinely touched that she had put so much thought into this, but not surprised. Ladybug had always been too good at putting everyone else first.

"You shouldn't say that when you don't really know me," she muttered, wiping her face.

"I know everything that I need to, but I'm always interested in learning the rest," he told her. "But... you should know that you don't really have to confess to Adrien."

Naturally, she took that the wrong way. Ladybug shook her head fiercely. "No, Chat! I have to do this. Don't you see? I've been in love with Adrien for the better part of two years now. I've never been able to move on; I'm stuck in this place of not knowing. I can't do anything until he rejects me!"

"What if he didn't?" Chat asked, curious.

Ladybug froze. "What?"

"What if Adrien didn't reject you?"

She blinked slowly, as though trying to assimilate that, before frowning. "Why wouldn't he? In two years, he's never shown any interest in me. He's dated other girls, like Kagami. And then... there's this whole ace thing... I know how important sex is to teenage boys. I have to listen to Alya go on about it all the time. I wouldn't do that to Adrien. I'd be upfront with him; I wouldn't want to trap him. He's a kind person, but no boy is that kind."

"Unless that boy were like you," Chat pointed out.

"Yes, but Adrien's not," Ladybug said.

"How do you know?"

"I..." Ladybug trailed off, obviously realizing that she didn't.

"I know," Chat said quietly. "What Adrien is, I mean. I know he's asexual. I know he was in the park two nights ago, all wrapped up in knots, until a friend sat down and volunteered to listen." He couldn't look at her, staring at the city again. "I know he's spent the past two days trying to figure out if he should get over Ladybug, if he even could get over Ladybug, and maybe start dating this friend... this beautiful, gentle friend, who deserved better than to be second place..." he swallowed hard. "But maybe... maybe that's the thing... maybe neither of them is second place. Maybe they're both first and they just didn't know it."

There was a pause during which Chat's heart seemed to be both trying to stop entirely and race so hard it hurt, before Ladybug's gloved hand touched his cheek. Her thumb traced the edge of his mask. Then she gently pulled his head around so that their eyes met. Now that he was looking at her, Chat greedily drank in her face and tried to catalogue what she was feeling. Wonder, shock, uncertainty –

"Adrien?" she whispered.

When she said his name, it was like a weight fell from Chat's shoulders. He nodded. "Yes, it's me."

"Oh my –" Ladybug's other hand rose to cover her mouth. "It's been you all this time?"

"Yes," he said again, torn between wanting to laugh at the absurdity of the situation and cry at how overwhelming this was. Anyone passing by from below probably would've mistaken them for a pair of sweethearts, never realizing the emotional fragility of the moment.

"It's you," Ladybug said. "Adrien Agreste is Chat Noir."

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng is Ladybug," he countered, tasting the words for the first time.

"I can't... oh, all those things I said to you..." Ladybug groaned and hid her face in her hands.

"Hey. We're both in the same boat. I said lots of things to Marinette I wouldn't have necessarily said to Ladybug," he said, and then, "Hey! Now I know why Marinette was so encouraging when it came to talking to Ladybug!"

She laughed. "I have to admit, I was a bit insulted when I realized you didn't want to. I felt like you didn't trust me." She sobered, her smile vanishing. "But then I realized how terrible it was. That feeling of thinking you're going to be rejected for something you have no control over is the worst."

"It really is," Chat agreed.

"That wasn't all of it, though," Ladybug went on, frowning. "You said... Chat, you do realize I care about you, right? Even before I knew who you were, you were... are my dearest friend. I wanted to keep our identities secret to protect us, but I never wanted you think you couldn't tell me something so important if you wanted to."

"I just didn't want to cross over any lines," he admitted. "I was never sure where the boundary was."

Ladybug pursed her lips, then took his hand. She linked their fingers together. "Let's not have any more of those lines," she said. "Do you have some time to sit and talk? Really talk, I mean. No more masks."

"I have all the time in the world," Chat breathed, feeling like he might cry. Out of relief or gratitude or sheer love for the woman before him, he couldn't be sure.

"Me too," Ladybug said with that same shy smile Marinette always wore. It made his heart flutter. He smiled back, squeezing her hand, feeling lighter than he had in days.