Whoops-A-Daisy 🌼 (A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction)

2- So Much For Secret Identity

Marinette couldn't believe it. Her best friend is her superhero partner. All memories and thoughts and parallels race through her mind as she tries to grasp the truth: Adrien is Cat Noir.

"Are you okay, Marinette?" The superhero asks, climbing off to help her stand. He notices the cut on her forehead and pushes her bangs away, unknown of what his touch is causing her.

"I-I'm fine," She sputters, not sure of what to say. She stares at him and wonders how she didn't see it sooner. She feels shame as she realizes she rejected him for, well, him. Cat Noir is Buttercup. "Adrien-"

"Did you see that?" One of their classmates shouts and they turn to see people watching them.

Cat Noir's eyes widen. He transformed in front of everyone. Everyone. He sees their phones and cameras and curses himself. It won't be long before everyone in Paris- and even more heart racing and devastating, Shadowmoth- knows the truth.

The crowd gets bigger and closer, all shouting a variety of questions, phones aimed and raised at the two teenagers. "I can't believe Adrien Agreste is Cat Noir! Please, you have to answer my questions!" Alya shouts as she waves at her friends.

Cat Noir glances at Marinette and without a second thought scoops her in his arms and runs. He extends his staff and lifts them up to a roof top he speeds across as he loses the crowd chasing them. Marinette keeps her arms right around his neck and stares at him, not daring to look away. He notices and refuses to make eye contact. This whole time the boy she's in love with is the same boy she's been rejecting. How could Adrien be Cat Noir? They're totally different people, or so she thought. As he jumps off a tall building, her stomach drops and they land on the platform of the Eiffel Tower. He sets Marinette down and steps away, peeking over the railing as the clueless crowd below runs past. He has to accept it now. Paris will forever know the cat's true identity.

Marinette stands still and watches Adrien as he turns around. She looks at his hair and his eyes and his lips and her eyes widen as she blushes. She kissed Adrien! Cat Noir looks up and they make eye contact and he stares at the cut on her forehead. "Are you sure you're okay, Marinette?"

She nods with a squeak and pushes the awkward butterflies away as she stands beside him. She goes to say something, but he speaks first.

"I'm sorry, Marinette."

She laughs. "You're sorry for saving me?"

"I'm sorry for getting you in another mess again," He answers with a frown as he leans forward and rests against the railing.

"This 'mess' is you saving my life," She points out in attempt to cheer him up, but he doesn't respond. He stares out at the city. She doesn't know what to say. What do you say when you find out one of your best friends is actually a superhero, and your partner, no less? She steps closer and waits for him to speak again, but he doesn't. "Cat Noir?" He doesn't respond and she wonders if he's ignoring her or too zoned out to hear. "Are you going to say something?"

"Ladybug's going to be so mad," Cat Noir mumbles.

"What?"

He starts to shake his head, worried. "She's going to hate me."

"No, she won't." She grabs his hand. "She'll understand."

Cat Noir turns away from Marinette and takes back his hand. "I revealed my secret identity! Everyone in Paris knows now, and that includes Shadowmoth. How could she possibly understand?"

"Because you saved my life."

He finally looks at her.

She pouts and asks, "You regret that now, don't you?"

"Of course not, Marinette," He answers without any hesitation. "I'd do it all over again the same way." He stares at his ring. "She's going to take my miraculous."

"You don't know that." The thought hadn't crossed Marinette's mind. She didn't want to lose Cat Noir- lose Adrien- but he was right. Shadowmoth knows his secret identity now and that was going to be a problem, one she could deal with later. Right now she was trying to cheer up her sad little kitty.

Cat Noir asks with a laugh, "If you were Ladybug, wouldn't you take it back?"

"No. I wouldn't."

He walks back over with a sigh and leans beside Marinette against the railing. "You must have a million questions."

"I do," She admits, adding, "But only if you're comfortable answering."

"Of course." He faces her and nods. "Ask away."

"All those times you saved me from supervillains, did you think it was weird being around me as someone else?"

He shakes his head. "Not at all. I got to see another side of you I'd never known before."

Marinette takes an unknowingly step closer to him. "Working with Ladybug, fighting those akumas, is that why you were late to class sometimes?"

Cat Noir rolls his eyes. "Yes, Shadowmoth doesn't care that I like sleeping or that I have school, fencing, Chinese and piano lessons."

They both laugh.

"It must suck having to lie to your friends and family all the time," She whispers, a feeling she knows all too well.

He sighs. "It was, and it's the reason Kagami and I broke up. Well, partly."

Her eyes widen. Adrien broke up with Kagami because he's in love with Ladybug, and if he loves Ladybug, does that mean he could learn to love Marinette as well? "Do you still love Ladybug?"

Cat Noir hesitates with his answer and shifts awkwardly. "I don't have an answer for that right now. It's a little... complicated."

"I understand." She meets the cat's eyes and confusion washes over her as a sly smirk grows on his face. She raises an eyebrow and asks, "What?"

"You don't think I forgot, do you?" She stands stunned and his smirk turns into a cheeky grin. "About how you're so in love with Cat Noir." He nudges her arms and winks. "In love with me."

Marinette's eyes widen in memory of the incident on her balcony and cringes internally at the irony.

"Surprise, it's me," Cat Noir jokes. "Are you still in love with me now?"

"I..." She reuses his line. "It's complicated."

He nods to himself and taps the railing. "I get it. You thought we were two different people. And there's Luka..."

"Was Luka," Marinette corrects.

"Was?" He repeats, hopeful.

She takes in a deep breath. "We broke up."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. It was for the best." She shrugs off his concern and runs a hand through her now-messy and out of place hair. "I hope he finds someone better than me. He deserves that."

Cat Noir grabs her hand. "Oh, but there's no one better than you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

She smiles.