1 7 - F I N A L

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17. seventeen

Adrien was nervous to say the least. He walked to the park that was in front of her bakery. His princess, his anon, was waiting for him. She figured out that he knew. They decided to meet up at the park at sunset. It was exciting and nerve wracking. Adrien didn't know how he felt about it. Anon must be Marinette. The sun was getting low and a chill was settling in the air. He wore his long black coat with his hands in his pockets because he was shaking so much. He saw someone crouched down petting two cats. He approached them nervously. She didn't even look at him. With her hair down he knew she was Marinette. "Are these the strays you take care of?" he asked carefully and crouched beside her. He saw her visibly tense before she relaxed. There was a black cat with green eyes and a orange cat, that almost looked red, with pretty blue eyes.

Marinette still hadn't looked at him but god he couldn't take his eyes off of her. "This is Plagg." she patted the black cat who nuzzled back at her. "This is Tikki, Plagg brings her around sometimes." he kinda wished they would talk about the whole anon thing. A silence fell over then. Since she was crouched down, her skirt almost touched the floor. It was black like Plagg and she wore a cream colored cardigan which almost was as long as her skirt. Her tights looked so good on her legs, he forgot how to breathe. She finally looked at him and smiled. "Let's sit on a bench." he could only nod. They sat with a big space between them.

"Mari-" he started but she didn't let him finish.

"You know I'm not contagious..." she whispered. "I missed today because of exhaustion and over working myself..." He moved closer to her. She sighed. "How did you figure it out?" she asked.

He clenched his fist in his pockets. "Nathanaël mentioned a color scheme that you picked out at the library for your collaborative piece about superheroes..." he wanted to hold her hand. She played with her fingers.

"I knew I told you too much..." she trailed off and the smiled at him. "I was good though. I was good, wasn't I?" he could only nod. "I kept up this charade for almost two months." he didn't even realize how much time had passed. Talking with anon was the best part of his day. He lost all sense of himself when he was talking to her.

"Mari... I want to-" she cut him off again.

"Are you disappointed?" she asked suddenly.

"What?" he couldn't even wrap his head around the question.

"Are you disappointed it was me?" she asked, her voice cracking at the end. She looked down. He had a lot of self control but all of that flew out the window with her question. He grabbed both of her hands and forced her to look at him.

"How could I ever be disappointed in you princess?" he wanted to kiss her cold knuckles. His grip on her hands only tightened with his words. She seemed to laugh and smile sadly like she was happy and sad at the same time. The irony so familiar with him at that point.

"I'm glad I got to know you the way I did." she said quietly. "I got to make a real friend as well." all of this sounded like a goodbye to him. 

"Marinette I like you." he said and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. An invisible weight lifted off his shoulders. 

She casted her eyes down. A sad smile played on her lips. "No Adrien... You like anon." she looked at him. "And that's okay. She was brilliant, wasn't she?" she paused and sounded like she was asking herself. He shook his head out of frustration. She didn't understand. "She was confident and witty, sassy and flirty. She is and ever was everything I'm not." She looked up and at him with tearful bluebell eyes. "And you fell in love with anon, not me." She retracted her hands from his and wiped her eyes.

He was speechless, utterly and completely speechless. "Princess..." He grabbed her face and shut his eyes and kissed her with everything he had. Poured everything into one kiss. The kiss tasted like earl grey tea. He rested his forehead on hers. She still seemed shock from the sudden kiss. "I like you, Marinette." he whispered so she could only hear. "I like you. I fell in love with you. Your way of thinking. Of acting. The sneaky glances and tripping and falling. The way you treated me. You were the sun before anon. Anon is a part of you and I accept that with all of you. I knew what I felt about you. I knew it but I didn't know how to feel about the feelings for you." he said. "I just... You gave that beautiful clumsy smile to everyone, how was I supposed to feel when you smiled at me?" He closed his eyes just glad to be close to her. "Now princess, don't make me angry-kiss you again. We both know I'll be happy to do it."

Her arms finally wrapped around him. She moved her head to the crook of his neck. Her breath left a wake of goosebumps on his skin. "Pretty boy with such pretty words." she sighed contently. They stayed like that and he lost all sense of time. Everything felt so new to him with her by his side. She pulled away. "Can I see your phone?" she asked and he unlocked it and gave it to her. She pulled out something folded in her pocket. They were so close he could faintly smell the bakery sweets on her. "My first work. I promised to let you read it." she said shyly. He took the comic book from her hands carefully. The title was red. 'Miraculous Ladybug.' He turned the page and read it, hanging onto every word. She typed something and then leaned against him to read the comic with him.

It was brilliant just like Tom had said. He appreciated her artistic style and story line. Everything about it was just so...Marinette. He loved every second of it. They traded. His phone for her comic and then they stood up.

He wanted to build a relationship with her, a real one. Not based on anonymous texts and angry-kisses. So he would wait. "I'll text you." she promised. She kissed the corner of his mouth and walked toward the bakery. Two cats following in her wake. He was so in love with Marinette Dupain-Cheng in that moment.

He walked back to the Agreste mansion. His thoughts all consumed by his girl with the clumsy smile. His hands still felt her warmth and so did his lips. He touched his lips and smiled.

He warmed up as soon as he stepped inside. Although it was late December no Christmas tree was found in the Agreste mansion. No decoration or lights.

Adrien thought Marinette was his light and she was enough. The thought was enough for him.

He made his way upstairs quickly. It was still a school night. He actually couldn't wait for school tomorrow because it was another chance to see her. He shrugged off his coat and hung it back up in his closet. He was all alone but he didn't feel that way. He was content, happy almost. His phone dinged. Marinette kept her promise. He noticed she also had made a single change to her contact name.

He was happy.

princess mari: I adore you.


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I didn't realize how fast seventeen chapters could go by but wow. here we are. thanks for sticking with me!!

I really hope you enjoyed this Miraculous Ladybug fanfic (since it's my first) but I had so much fun writing it!

I've decided to not write an epilogue. It is up to the reader how it officially ends. I feel there is so much left unsaid between the two that writing them together is just not enough. I'm passing their potential energy to you.

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