When Adrien touched the piano keys, his first thought was 'I need to tell Marinette.'
He couldn't it verbally. Words weren't enough to express the overwhelming feeling he had felt for that wonderful girl.
Despite not remembering some scenes in his dreams or the possibility that he may not be able to retrieve his missing memories anymore, as long as that single memory fragment that left him to tears was real -
The memory of Marinette swaying on a rhythm of Elvis Presley's ballad under the starry sky.
He'll be fine.
The song was supposed to be his dedication and at the same time a statement that 'hey, I had a dream about us having a Miraculous Adventure.' That the song would clear out the confusion he had within - that Marinette being Ladybug was not an illusion. That their feelings were mutual.
He didn't expect her walkout.
Bolting out from the piano stool, the blond began to search for the love of his life.
Congratulations Adrien Agreste, he cursed internally. What are the chances that you'll never fuck this up again?
He knew that he was bad with words due to his sheltered environment, but his mother once praised him for his innate talent of expressing himself through songs. His piano mentor often told him that music was a language for romance. These two people he trusted most were the reason why he remained exploring his musical repertoire, that he could romance someone through his piano.
Was he able to communicate his feelings? Was he that transparent?
Then why did she run away?
Oh my God, did I scare her again?
Upon reaching a deserted corner, he finally saw her figure stooping underneath a tree.
He had to remind himself to calm down and clear his thoughts on negative things, that he must analyze the situation thoroughly first before making an impulsive decision.
There were two routes he could think of as to why Marinette abandoned him.
Route A: "Adrien I'm so sorry I got overwhelmed by my feelings. I finally realized that I loved you for the longest time I'm so happy to be the girl in your dreams. So take me and be my boyfriend." Good End.
Route B: "Adrien, I'm so sorry I got overwhelmed by your feelings. I didn't love you and I'm not the girl in your dreams. So leave me alone you creep and I don't want you to be my boyfriend." Bad End.
When Marinette felt his approach and turned around, he immediately shut his eyes closed to prepare himself for the worst.
He was taken aback when she punched him squarely in the shoulder.
"Wha - what-what was that for?!" he yelped.
"What was that for?" the pig-tailed girl chuckled darkly then shrieked. "What was that for?! All this time you didn't tell me you fucking remembered!"
"Of course I fucking reme - " he paused for a bit. His eyes went round like saucers. "Wait a damn minute, you fucking remembered too?!"
"Too?! What do you mean 'too'?! I've been dropping hints about me, your resident superheroine, knowing you, my superhero partner, for days now!" she ranted while flailing her arms wildly.
"What do you mean 'dropping hints'?! Because I swear I can't spot them enough to connect the dots!"
"That's because you're obliviously blind!"
"Right back at you!"
Instead of shouting back, she knelt down and cradled her head muttering "Mon dieu, mon dieu, mon dieu, mon dieu, mon dieu, mon dieu, mon dieu..."
His rage was immediately replaced by concern. "Hey, Marinette?"
"I'd say." Plagg flew out from his charger's shirt pocket smugly. "The cat has finally out from the bag."
The girl's bluebell eyes almost popped out from its socket as she sped up her mantra "MonDieuMonMonDieuMonMonDieuMonMonDieuMonDieuMonDieuMonMonDieuMonDieu..."
"Plagg!"
"What?"
"I've been saving that pun for years!"
The kwami looked at his ludicrous charger with a frown. "But you've already said it when you were stranded in - "
Both humans lashed their heads towards him with bewilderment.
There's no way for him to say something like that unless he knows everything, right?
"YOU FUCKING REMEMBERED?!" the two yelled in unison.
"Oops."
"Plagg!" a red kwami emerged from Marinette's purse with crossed arms. "What did I tell you about letting the kids handle everything?"
"But they're getting ridiculous, Tikki. Yours might be bugging out but mine's a pussyfoot." he bemoaned. "And I badly need my Camembert. Now."
"Why?" Marinette glared at her kwami and her counterpart with befuddlement. "Why didn't you tell us? That you two remembered?"
"We neither confirmed nor deny that." they chorused in monotone. "We kwamis vowed to protect our wielders for certain reasons."
Everything clicked.
"I can't believe this." the blond groaned and slid himself beside the raven-haired girl. "All this time our kwamis conned and played our feelings."
Marinette shook her head in disbelief "I can't believe that Tikki can do this to me. That my sweet and adorable kwami can do this to me. That my sweet and adorable Tikki is capable to do such things to me. All but my Tikki..."
"Geez, you didn't reveal your true colors, Sweet Tooth?" Plagg bemused. "Must be a trauma to your Master."
"She knows, actually." his counterpart replied casually. "She just refused to acknowledge it."
"Ooh. Brutal."
When their human groused in unison, the gods laughed mirthfully with a fist bump.
"Bien joue!"
"Mon dieu. Tikki must've been a flying mouse all along. And Chat's kwami was a rat." she berated while glaring at her slightly amused yet confused companion. "So that means Chat Noir was actually a rodent, and Adrien Agreste was a toddler trapped in a teenager's body. Merde, my life is nothing but a lie!"
"Don't worry, Adrien. She's just having a meltdown." Tikki consoled him as they watched the girl gesticulate incoherently. "She'll recover eventually. Don't worry."
"O - okay...?"
"I'll leave her to you. I know you can do it." the red kwami pawed his cheek then flitted away. "Hey Cheeseball, let's give these kids some privacy!"
"As you wish." was Plagg's grumbled reply.
Adrien remained beside Marinette and waited silently until she began to calm her nerves.
"Are you disappointed?" he asked her.
She dropped her hands in her lap. "About what?"
"About me being the actual superhero? The one behind Chat Noir?"
"Not that," she answered promptly then mulled over. "I'd rather say I'm disappointed on how we failed to figure everything out until now. Now that we know everything for the second time."
"If you're going to ask me, I'm not surprised that you're Ladybug." he grinned.
She flashed him a coy smile. "I'm not surprised you're Chat Noir either."
"We're obliviously blind, aren't we My Lady?"
She snorted indignantly. "Right back at you, Kitty."
"Marinette?"
"Hmm?"
"What are the things that you can still remember?" he asked her again.
"Twiddle Gain and Twiddle Doom." she pondered as she chewed her lower lip. "A little bit in Gare St. Lazare. Same with that van-slash-sewing journey in Evreux. Some of that brawl in the pub. Joseph Howards. Argentan. Camembert. Notre Dame. You?"
"Same with yours. Probably those that you've forgotten. It seems like we are sending mixed signals - you on the things that I don't remember while I on the things that you don't remember - that's why we never figured everything out."
"Yeah. Now that you mentioned it..."
"Hey, Princess?
"Hmm?"
"Do you remember the question that I asked back in Argentan?"
Blue eyes met his green ones.
"Is my proposal still stands?"
Instead of answering, the girl asked "How about the one that you told me at the roadside? Are those words still true?"
"You're nothing but perfect to me, Marinette." he smiled as he moved closer. "I fell with the same girl not only twice, but thrice this time, and likely multiple times if we are going to consider the other timeline. And I bet if we're going to be reincarnated, my consciousness will still find you."
"I never thought I'd be falling with the same guy all over again." she sighed while resting her forehead on his.
"Marinette?"
"What is it, Adrien?"
"My Lady?"
"Yes, Chaton?"
She must've seen it coming because when the blond was about to press his lips to hers, he got her index finger instead.
"Not so fast, Hot Shot." the pig-tailed girl smirked much to his chagrin. "Want me to remind you about our talk in the confessional?"
He groaned inwardly.
"You owe me a date."
"That can be arranged." he sighed with a pout. "So that means we're not yet official?"
"Depends on how you considered 'us'," she replied nonchalantly then stood up.
Offering her hand, Adrien held it as he followed suit then planted a kiss longingly on its back. Seeing the blush that crept on her face only gave a boost to his ego.
"You're a-meow-singly purr-fect, ma Purr-incesse."
This earned him a frown. "I knew it, the cat puns are back."
"Oh? I'm saury I trout you like it."
"Fish?!"
Adrien chortled when she furiously slapped his arms. With a huff, she began to look around.
"Where are our kwamis anyways?"
"Let me call mine," he suggested then whistled a short flat tune.
"Really?" Marinette's brows perked up with amusement. "You're whistling Plagg like a pet?"
"Why not? It's very effective."
Suddenly, a familiar black blob whooshed towards his face with a fury. "How dare you treated me like a lowly domestic animal!"
"Ouch." his charger rubbed his nose then glanced at his companion cheekily. "See? Very effective."
Her melodious giggles have never been an old to him, and would always strike his heartstrings whenever he heard the sound of her voice. With her sparkling blue eyes and pinkish cheeks in bright smiles, it became his life mission to make his Lady happy.
"Oh yeah, let me reintroduce you my grumpy kwami, Plagg. Plagg, meet Marinette Dupain-Cheng."
"Nice to meet you again, Plagg." the girl offered his finger to shake the kwami's paw.
"Nice to meet you again, Bug. Though, I would like to express my utmost condolences for putting up on my Master's strange behavior."
"Plagg!" Adrien scolded him.
"It seems like you've finally talked to each other." Tikki hovered above her charger's head as she settled on her shoulder. "I'm glad."
"Yeah." Marinette nodded then looked at the boy. "Adrien, meet my kwami Tikki. Tikki, meet Adrien Agreste."
"Hi Tikki. Glad to see you again." he greeted.
"Glad to see you again too, Adrien." the red kwami smiled. "I've heard lots of things about you."
"Are you talking about the me in her bed, or the me on her walls?"
The pig-tailed girl's face grew pale with mortification. "You remembered those?!"
"That, and the information about a certain Princess wearing tutus during her adorable days." he winked.
She facepalmed.
"We apologized if we didn't tell you." Tikki floated between them then bowed. "Both of you are not supposed to remember everything. We don't even know the reason why some memory fragments from the rogue Akuma has been retained within your bodies."
"Does that mean the Miraculous Cleanse failed?"
The red kwami shook her head at her charger's question.
"That," Plagg interjected then glanced at his charger. "Or Cataclysm interfered it. Remember what happened when we were trapped in a portrait twice?"
"You mean during Pixelator?"Adrien said, recalling how he used his power on the white floor to escape from the confined dimension. "But Ladybug was able to fix everything."
"How about the time when you Cataclysm-ed the '90s Notre Dame?" the black kwami sighed when his charger furrowed his brows. "Thought so. You don't remember, do you? How about you, Bug?"
"I recalled seeing some pixelated cracks, but that was already existing after I got teleported from the '20s Notre Dame. Then everything became a blur." Marinette offered.
"The theory that your memories overlapped with each other seems plausible."
"How come these things happened, Tikki?" she asked them. "Why do we have an incomplete recollection?"
"I'm also wondering that too." her companion supported. "And why we only got half of the whole."
The kwamis eyed each other briefly before Tikki could utter. "What we can tell is that the Miraculous Cleanse was a success, and there's no way it would do an incomplete repair. It was either a complete memory swipe or unaltered memory retention. Same with Cataclysm, it was either a complete destruction or none. Everything is predetermined, and no Miraculous wielders have ever been exempted from this rule before. Until now."
"So what made us exempted from that rule?"
"If only we have an answer, kid," Plagg responded glumly. "We're a manifestation of an infused ancient magic, an immortal being considered as a god, so we're quite immune to magical phenomena. You two are just mortals yet able to destroy the Balance no one has ever done before. Maybe because you're both emotionally invested, or unknowingly bonded in a special way possible."
"Sounds like the odds are in our favor, My Lady." the blond commented as the girl hummed to agree.
"The most important here is that everything is back to normal." Tikki chirped.
When they saw their assigned tour bus' arrival, they decided to abandon the topic for a moment and start walking to the parkway.
"Can I stay inside your purse instead, Princess?" the black kwami spoke. "Tikki said yours was cool and comfy. Mine was sweaty and smelly."
"I'm not sweaty and smelly!" Adrien scowled.
"Your armpits are."
"My armpits are not sweaty and smelly!" the blond defended then looked at Marinette. "Try to check my armpits, Princess."
She swatted him when he raised his arm. "Ew, go away you gross creature."
"But I need to have a witness that can attest that my armpits are clean and not sweaty. Check it now, my Lady. Smell it."
"Don't be a ridiculous being, Kitty! Stop! Stop it! Stop it you, dork!"
"I must do this or else my dignity will be soiled forever. Check my armpits, Mari. Check it! Smell it! SMELL!"
She was tackled when she tried to escape from his clutches. Strong arms trapped her as he wrapped it around her body.
She leaned towards him then sighed blissfully when he planted a kiss on her temple.
"Is this all real, Marinette?" the blond murmured. "We're not living in a fantasy, right?"
His deep voice sent shivers through her body. "I believe so, yes."
His hugs became tighter. "If this is all but a dream, I swear I'm going to sleep forever."
"If this is all but a dream," she nuzzled her nose on his chin. "Our reality must be a nightmare."
None of their classmates mentioned how close they were as they entered the bus together.
They may or may not have observed the way their hands linked, with eyes that sparkled and actions as if they were alone in the world.
They may or may have not noticed the absence of her stutters, and the abundance of his puns.
And most of all -
They may or may not have wondered how the hell Adrien and Marinette transformed from an awkward cinnamon rolls to an overly domesticated love birds in less than a day.
Unsurprisingly, two pairs of bespectacled eyes were looming towards them with an expression that screams bloody murder.