Under The Mask 🎭 (a Miraculous Ladybug Fanfic)

-31- The Reveal

"Plagg, claws in!"

Marinette's eyes widen. "Cat Noir, what are you doing?!" She watches as the superhero transforms back. Her heart starts pounding in her chest, ringing through her ears. "Adrien....?"

"Please stay, Marinette!" Adrien steps forward and grabs her face, leaning in to kiss her. She drops her suitcase and throws her arms around his neck, giving into the kiss. Thunder roars throughout the sky as it begins to rain. Neither of them care. They step closer and hold each other tighter. When they finally pull away, they just stare at each other.

"You're Cat Noir?"

Smiling, Adrien cups Marinette's cheek, using his thumb to rub under her eye. "You have no idea how bad I wanted to tell you, Princess. But you kept saying it was too dangerous. I didn't want to hurt you."

"But everything that happened..." Marinette whispers. Kissing Cat Noir. Adrien kissing Ladybug. Lila and Felix ruining our relationship. "We didn't actually cheat on each other?"

"No, Mari, and the worst part was I couldn't even tell you." Adrien takes in a deep breath. "You were so guilty about what happened and I couldn't do anything about it. Then we found out the truth about Lila and Felix and you still didn't want to be with me."

Marinette reaches a hand out to touch Adrien's face. "I thought I was protecting you, Adrien. I thought you deserved someone better than me."

"I love you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng!" Adrien screams, laughing. "I love you! I will never stop loving you. No matter what my father says, no matter what anyone tries to do, I will always be in love with you. That's why I had to come and ask you to stay!"

"Adrien-"

"Hey, girl!" The bus driver yells at Marinette. "I can't wait here all day. You coming or what?"

Adrien frowns.

"No. I'm staying!" Marinette turns and faces Adrien. "That's all I wanted, Adrien, was for you to ask me to stay." She stands on her toes, kissing him again.

"But what about New York? World Wide Fashionista?" Adrien grabs her hand. "It's your dream."

Marinette shakes her head. "There will be other opportunities for me. But there isn't another Adrien Agreste in New York." She smiles at him through the storm and laughs. "We should probably get out of the rain." She opens her suitcase and pulls out a black umbrella, the same umbrella Adrien gave to Marinette on his first day of school.

"You were going to bring that with you?" Adrien asks with wide eyes.

"Yeah. Of course," She whispers, blushing. "Like I told Cat Noir, I'm still in love with Adrien." She opens the umbrella and he grabs to hold it. "We should probably go somewhere and talk."

Adrien walks Marinette home.

"Marinette?" Tom asks with wide eyes. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be on the bus!"

"I changed my mind," Marinette tells her parents, pulling off her wet blazer. "I'm needed here in Paris." She reaches out to touch her ears, eyes widening when she remembers. "Oh no! I forgot!"

"Forgot what, sweetie?" Sabine asks.

Marinette's eyes widen. "My phone! At the bus station!" She grabs Adrien's hand. "We'll be right back!"

"Wait! We still need to talk about this, Mari!" Her dad shouts.

"When I get back!" After closing the door, her and Adrien run downstairs. "I made a horrible mistake, Adrien. I can't believe I gave up my miraculous! We have to go see Master Fu!"