Always

he
immediately
lowers
his umbrella

when i say
i’ve never
been kissed
in the rain

&

by
some
kind of
miracle,

his kiss
does not
feel like
a grenade.     
- Amanda Lovelace

--------------------

“Marinette?”
She heard him calling her name before she had even taken a step outside of the bakery. It was like a dream, hearing her name in his voice. Like he had set off a million fireworks inside her heart, and the show was only for her. But no. She couldn’t think like that. He loved Ladybug, not her. No matter how much he had claimed that he would always love her, with or without the mask, she could see it in his eyes the second it fell off her face. He wasn’t expecting it to be her. He was expecting her to be a confident, level-headed, natural born leader, not some clumsy, shy dork who can never get a sentence out around him. To be honest, she didn’t blame him if he was disappointed. She probably would be too, if she was in his position. Then again, it probably wasn’t the best idea to run away from him, especially seeing as the reveal of their identities was the very thing that the last three years had been leading up to. It was meant to be the best moment in their entire partnership, and she went and messed it up by running away. But in that moment, she hadn’t known what else to do. He was Adrien, and he was disappointed that it was her. She couldn’t stand the look of confusion in his eyes, and so she ran and ran and ran until she was back home in her bed, crying over how stupid she had been. How stupid she had been to think that Adrien, kind, amazing, wonderful Adrien could ever love her, especially after that.

And now here he was, standing right in front of her, umbrella in his hand, sad smile between his eyes. Despite her running away from him, despite her ignoring all his messages and calls, despite her not making any effort to reach out to him, he was there.

“Hey,” He smiled weakly. Just that smile alone was enough to send shivers of both longing and guilt up her spine. All of a sudden she wished she hadn’t run away from him, that she had stayed and listened and talked-
“You – well, after you ran away, I assumed that you were disappointed it was me…”

This news hit Marinette like a freight train. She had thought that he was disappointed in her, but….
He carried on, oblivious to her newfound confusion.

“I totally get if you don’t want to talk to me, and I’m sorry if I-“

“Wait,”, she said, realisation slowly creeping into her voice, “you – you thought I was… disappointed? I thought you were….”

Adrien stared at her for a few seconds, brows furrowed in confusion, until it finally dawned on his face.

“Oh – oh god Marinette, I – I’m so sorry-“

“No, Adrien please don’t be sorry, it’s not your fault. I was so stupid, jumping to conclusions. I shouldn’t have run away from you like that, it’s just that – well, I was confused and scared because I didn’t know if you’d like me or if you would be happy that it was me or if you’d hate me, and then you were, well, you and-“

He cut her off before she could finish, pulling her into his arms. The rain was running down her back, drenching her clothes, but she felt none of it, because all that mattered in that moment was the sensation of being in his arms, the felling of his check against hers, the warmth of his arms spreading through her body.

“How could I ever hate you Marinette? How could I ever be disappointed? You’re amazing, you know that? Amazing. I’m so glad that after all this time it was you. And, yeah, I was a bit surprised at first, but that was because I never imagined I could possibly be so lucky to have both of the girls I fell in love with be one and the same.”

Marinette’s heart stopped at this. She looked up at him, dumbfounded, trying to come to terms with the fact that Adrien was… in love with her.

Adrien loves me.
Adrien loves me.
ADRIEN LOVES ME.

“You… love me?”
Adrien panicked and let go of her, a blush blooming on his cheeks.

“I mean, yeah. In truth, I always have. I was just so blinded by my love for you as Ladybug that it took me this long to realise that I love all of you.”  “I mean, I know you like someone else, so I’m not trying to force you to like me back or anything, I just wanted to- “

All of the words seemed to die in his mouth as Marinette’s placed her hand on his cheek, a small laugh making its way out of her mouth.
“Silly kitty,” she breathed, gazing straight up into Adrien’s eyes. “You are that someone else.”

“W-what do you….”

“I love you, Adrien. Ever since the day you gave me your umbrella, I’ve loved you. All this time you were one of the best friends I ever had, and despite never being able to tell you how I feel, I was always grateful for that. And now I realise that all this time you were my kitty too. All this time it was you.”

And suddenly his was kissing her, and nothing else mattered anymore. Everything around them melted away into silence as all that was left was her in his arms, his lips on hers, her hands in his. Everything and nothing happened all at once in that moment, and neither of them needed to say anything, because they were already pouring each and every one of their thoughts out to each other through their embrace. Their love, their joy, their happiness, their sorrow, all of it. And for just that moment, everything was perfect.

Marinette knew that things weren’t all figured out between them yet. She knew that there was still so much that needed doing, and that there were still so many things that needed to be said. But for now, she could just be content enjoying this moment, in his arms. After all, they would get through it together.

“You and me against the world.”
Always.