Miraculous Adventure - a Miraculous Ladybug fanfic

Chapter 29

"You were attracted to my faked self, rather than my real self."

"Now you're stealing my words from my mouth. Aren't you attracted to Ladybug first before Marinette?"

She felt his smile forming on her skin. "But that's just logical, My Lady. Ladybug gave me an initial impression of maladroit, but she redeemed herself as a kickass. Marinette, on the other hand, made me fear her on our first meeting, and when I thought I was able to redeem myself, she started to fear me. You got me worried there, Princess. I thought your accusations about me being a 'Second Chloe' was real."

"Now that you know the real reason - "

"Now that I know the real reason," he interjected, burying his face more. "Plus the fact that I've seen your sides outside Adrien's point of view, and you being Ladybug, it made everything about you so damn perfect."

She frowned but didn't stop her ministrations. "How did Badass Ladybug and Coward Marinette became perfect in your equation?"

"First, you got a wrong description. Second, I'd rather associate Sweet than Coward. Don't get me wrong - Ladybug might be kind towards everybody, but not as sweet as Marinette. Unlike me..." he paused as fresh batches of tears leaked out. "I'm a fake both inside and outside of the mask. I might've said that being Chat Noir was my truest self, but at the end of the day, he would still be an insecure boy who didn't know how to make personal decisions. Or whenever he decided one, it always ended either with bad results or garnered disappointments. I'm just a Momma's boy with Daddy's issues, and I'm using my Miraculous as an excuse for temporary freedom."

The designer cupped his face again so that she could see him eye to eye. And there she finally saw the face of the person she'd been looking for since that rainy day.

"The real reason why I have all of your pictures, and yeah, your daily schedules Alya probably hacked from Natalie's file, was because I want to see a glimpse of your self again. Your pure self," she confessed with a smile. "You weren't wearing a mask literally as Adrien, and figuratively as Chat, but a separate fragment of the boy I fell in love with. And it's logical to begin my search in Adrien because it wasn't Chat who gave me an umbrella."

"Mari - "

"You're not a fake, Adrien. You're real. Didn't I tell you that your imperfections made me love you?"

Adrien breathed as he beamed at her.

Both of them have insecurities, but their imperfections made them found each other. Yin and yang. Two peas in a pod. Two lost souls that miraculously discovered one another by fate.

"But you're only like this with Adrien." he pouted childishly. "How about Chat Noir?"

She was tempted to shove her diary on his face, and read her entry about choosing Chat if Adrien wasn't around, but he might misinterpret that his other half was a consolation, so she chose the most obvious route.

She already embarrassed herself anyways.

"Uhm, remember that Chat Noir doll?"

Of course, he remembered. Now that she mentioned it, he didn't see it among the pile of dolls on her side table. It was only Ladybug and a battalion of miniature Akumas.

So where...

"My bedside," she said sheepishly as if she could hear his thoughts. "And there's - "

"HOLEY MOLEY CHEESE! ADRIEN, YOU GOTTA SEE THIS!" Plagg's yell interrupted her. "SOMEONE RIVALED YOUR LADYBUG'S COLLECTION!"

Without further ado, the blond rose up and climbed towards Marinette's bed, much to the girl's horror. There he witnessed how Tikki flung his kwami for 'ruining the moment', but not enough to distract him from seeing the cat-themed pillows, blankets, PJs in black and green motifs, and in the midst of it rested a Chat Noir doll.