Twelve: More Pastries, More Love

Soaring over the rooftops less than an hour later, I found myself once more floating on cloud nine. While it had been an exceedingly long Saturday, the chance to spend even a short period of time with Ladybug had chased away what fatigue I'd been feeling. The night was cool against my exposed skin, and I was fighting a slight headwind that buffeted my wild mane and was snapping my tail out behind me. That last part was a bit problematic, for I'd learned to use my tail to help navigate while flying through the air. So far, I'd not smashed into any windows, but the night was still young.

Somewhat boldly, I'd decided to bring along the macaroons I'd picked up earlier from the Bakery. As I'd munched on the kale salad I'd been presented with at dinner (got to keep to my ideal model weight!), I'd been ruminating on the next steps guiding Ladybug toward my identity. While I wasn't keen on doing anything blatantly obvious, it occurred to me that presenting her with the tasty delights might appear to be an inadvertent slip – she would incorrectly assume I'd have not known I'd picked them up from her alter-ego earlier that evening.

Tonight, I landed atop my favorite rooftop that faced Notre Dame, and carefully set down my pastry box. Keeping to the date theme I'd alluded to with Ladybug earlier, I slid a loose tile aside to retrieve my candles and pillows and went about staging the space. By the time I heard Ladybug's yo-yo approaching, I had the final candle cradled in my paws and was gently placing it atop the wrought iron railing. I'd not had time to purchase either rose petals or a bouquet of the long-stemmed beauties and sighed. Akumas had a habit of interrupting my plans, and today, they'd gotten an assist from Father.

Turning, I watched my partner gracefully land and rewind her yo-yo, smiling as she placed it at her waist. "I guess you weren't kidding," she smiled.

"No," I smiled back, "but I also am cognizant of your feelings, too," I added. "I figured after today we could both use something special tonight."

Ladybug ran a hand to my bicep. "That was thoughtful," she said.

I indicated the pillows with a paw and we both sat, facing each other with Notre Dame off to our side. There was no moon that evening, so the flickering candles provided a diffused romantic glow that highlighted just how beautiful my partner was. I must have been smiling at the thought, for Ladybug tapped me on the nose. "What are you thinking?"

"How impawssibly lucky I am to have you in my life," I said.

She laughed. "Do you dream in puns, too?" she asked.

"Yes," I said solemnly. "I take my role as punster-in-Chat seriously."

"As with everything else," she laughed louder.

I kept my Chat grin going as I turned and retrieved the pastry box, sliding it into the space between us. "I picked these up earlier for tonight," I said carefully. "I hope you like them. They're from the best bakery in Paris."

Ladybug's eyes popped open. "You… picked these up?" She looked to the box, and the very recognizable pink bow she'd tied to it earlier, then back to my masked eyes. "Yourself?"

"Well, yes," I smiled, then quickly added. "Not as Chat, of course," I smiled wider. "I don't carry any money when I'm transformed," I explained, shrugging with my paws, then watched her carefully.

Ladybug looked at me again, then the box once more.

I used a claw to carefully slit the edge of the ribbon and then slid it off so I could open my treasure. As I'd already smelled with my feline nose, the entire box was passionfruit macaroons, likely made expressly for Adrien by Marinette. Snagging one with a claw tip, I slid the box toward her before taking a healthy bite and closing my masked eyes in bliss as the flavors washed over my enhanced sense of taste.

"Wow," I said as I munched, eyes still closed. "I had no idea these would taste better while transformed." Hearing nothing, I cracked open a masked eye and saw Ladybug staring at the box. "Milady?" I prompted, both masked eyes opening.

"You… like passionfruit?"

"It's my favorite flavor," I said as I polished off my first and swooped in for a second.

"I've got to go," she said abruptly as she pushed up from her seat.

That was not what I expected, and I paused with a mouthful of macaroon. "Milady?" I said after swallowing, the concern real in my masked eyes. "What's wrong?"

I popped up into a stand as well and reached a paw for her arm. "Was it something I said?" I asked slightly pointedly, partially knowing why she was acting the way she was.

"Yes – no!" she said, shaking her head like she was trying to get something off of it. "Goodnight, Chat," she said as she flung her yo-yo into the air and zipped after it.

"Ladybug! Wait!" I cried out after her. Bolting the last of my macaroon, I grabbed my baton and sailed out into the night after her. "Ladybug! Ladybug!"

"Not now, Chat," she said, and she redoubled her efforts to get away from me.

"Hang on a moment!" I yelled as I pulled up beside her, working hard to keep even along the rooftops. "Ladybug! Talk to me!"

"Chat, I need some space," she said, and made good by pulling away from me.

For a moment, I started to follow her and then slowed down; I leapt across one alleyway and then trotted to a stop at the edge of a rooftop, watching the lithe figure of my partner work her way into the night. I knew, intrinsically knew, the macaroons had been too much, too fast; hanging my head, I turned and slowly retraced my steps, wondering if, in my excitement, I'd damaged my prospects permanently.

I was so new to love, and loving someone, I wasn't even certain if I was going about this correctly in the first place. I was learning, to be sure; the last thing I wanted was to push away Ladybug. Or Marinette, for that matter. Worried to my core, I leapt into the sky and worked my way back to my original rooftop. Very slowly, I proceeded to blow out the candles and then return them and the pillows to my hiding spot. It didn't take long, of course, and I found myself sitting, cross-legged, looking at the box of macaroons.

Snagging one with a claw, I half-heartedly took a bite and munched. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I should have tried another tact before springing the cookies on her; looking at it from her perspective, I'd not salted in enough clues for her to simply have that ah-hah moment. It had, instead, been a waterfall – no; perhaps more like I'd turned a firehose of recognition on her, with no warning.

I swore, deeply and genuinely. This was bad.

Just off to my side was the Bakery, and I could see the lights were on over the rooftop patio. Part of me – a significant part – wanted to go to Marinette and see if she'd calmed down at all; what passed for the logical part of my feline brain counseled against it, and surprising myself, I bowed to it. Unless she changed her mind, I already had an invitation to visit her again tomorrow – as Chat.

Packing up what was left of the macaroons, I moved to the railing and leapt up, box under one arm. I looked again and thought I saw movement on the patio; squinting, my feline vision saw Marinette leaning on the railing, looking directly at my rooftop. And, maybe she was waving at me?

I blinked. She was definitely waving at me.

Wondering if I was playing with fire, I leapt out and landed on the next rooftop, and ran along the spine to leap across to the next; a few moments later, I dropped onto my now-usual chimney. "Princess," I said warmly. "I saw you waving…"

"Yeah," she said, looking at me. Her eyes went to the box under my arm. "I thought I saw you over there. That's one of your favorite perches."

I cocked my head questioningly. "It is," I nodded. "I didn't realize you could spot me over there."

"You're not easy to see at night," she laughed. "But every now and then, I can catch your eyes. They glow slightly."

"A trick of the lighting," I laughed.

"What brings you out tonight?" she asked.

It wasn't hard to have my feelings appear on my face. "I had a meet-up with Ladybug," I said as I dropped down to the railing beside her and perched. "It was my follow-up to ensure she'd gotten through the worst of the virus."

I looked at the box in my paw. "I surprised her with these tonight, and she reacted… badly."

Marinette arched an eyebrow at me. "I recognize the box," she said slowly.

My face flushed a bit, and for a long, long moment, I wondered if I should continue down this path. The rational part of me pointed out that I could have left the box on the rooftop, or I could have ignored Marinette and visited on the morrow. Being there, in that moment, seemed to indicate I was quite willing to continue this dance.

I just wasn't sure Marinette was. And yet, her observation had opened up a door, almost as an invitation for me to continue.

Heart beating loudly in my ears, and wondering if I was tossing away everything, I slowly nodded. "You should," I said very, very quietly. "But I am reluctant to tell you why."

Marinette looked at me. "I'm not certain I am ready for this," she said after I'd thought my heart had quit. Slowly, she put a hand to my bicep. "Are you sure you are?"

Without the slightest hesitation, I nodded. "I am."

That brought a smile to her face. "Why am I not surprised," she said softly. Marinette nodded again, coming to some sort of a decision. "Tell me why I should recognize the box."

I took a deep breath. "You've seen it twice, actually. Once when you gave it to me, earlier tonight." I waited a beat. "And then later, on that rooftop—" I inclined my head toward my favorite perch, before continuing, "—where I opened it. For you."

She nodded again. "The lie to your father," she said. "You were actually after the tablet."

I hazarded a slight smile. "The stupid tablet," I corrected. "I'd forgotten about in with all of the fun we enjoyed this afternoon; Father surprised me by wanting to read my paper, and I was caught. I told him I'd spent the day here, and not at the library, which was true – to a point."

"As Chat," she pointed out.

"Yeah." I looked up at the dark sky. "So when he insisted I come back to retrieve the tablet, I knew having Adrien appear asking after Chat's tablet would be… bad." I looked back at her, searching her eyes. "It's the first time I can think of an akuma was actually helpful."

"So even then, you were protecting both of our identities," she said.

"Yes," I nodded. "You weren't ready." I sighed. "I'm still concerned that you're not ready. It's a lot to take in," I added, "and believe me, I totally understand."

Slowly, exquisitely slowly, Marinette considered me, her eyes travelling from the box back to my face to settle on my masked eyes. A hand snaked up and ran a finger along the edge of my mask. "You did leave me a trail of clues, kitty; to your credit, I had started to see the pattern, not realizing you were being intentional. I started to suspect who you were, but wasn't totally sure; the macaroons put you over the top."

"I thought they might," I replied. "It was a calculated risk. I was a bit worried I'd pushed a bit too fast."

"With reason," she smiled.

"Are you mad?" I asked, my expression worried.

"That I know who you are now?" She smiled. "Or that you know who I am, too?"

"Either. Both."

"How long have you known?" she asked, eyes dancing.

"A… while," I replied.

"How long? Exactly?" she asked again, then added, gently, "Not because I'm mad. I just want to know what tipped you off. I've been so careful."

"Same here," I said, smiling. "You'd told me about forwarding the bug phone." I shrugged. "The morning after our visit with the Doctor, I was here making sure you were resting. Since you were out soundly, I called Ladybug to check on her only to have your civilian phone start to buzz." I laughed a bit. "I wound up calling you a few more times just to confirm. I'm not sure my fur brain was capable of adjusting to the knowledge."

She looked at me. "And yet, you chose to not tell me you knew? Why?"

I caught her hand with a paw. "I love you, Marinette," I said, kissing her palm. "But I wanted you to find out organically – not just who I was, but also that my love was true. But like I said, I knew neither of us was quite ready for the reveal at that particular meowment."

"The virus?"

"Yeah." I searched her eyes. "I've made no secret of my feelings for Ladybug, and I was worried you'd think less of me. Especially after my Aspik fiasco. You even pointed it out yourself – you thought I was in love with the idea of Ladybug."

I waited a moment. "I'm not. I'm in love with you. And I have been for quite some time."

Marinette nodded again. "I can see that now," she said. "But you never indicated anything at school, never said anything? As Adrien," she hastened to add. "I mean, sure, Chat was quite explicit about his feelings. But not Adrien."

I smiled at that. "Except try to spend every minute I could with you," I pointed out. "How many projects have we worked on together? How often have I volunteered to help you with something? How frequently have I perched on this very railing?" I smiled wider. "I thought it was just what came with being a friend – a good friend. It took the virus for me to see it for what it truly was."

I ran a claw through her ribbons, adding: "You may have seen more of me as Chat, but that doesn't diminish myfeelings for you. It has always been easier for me to say what I feel when I am transformed." I locked eyes with her. "It frees me from the constraints of my alter-ego, in many ways."

I looked away again. "The other reason I didn't tell you sooner? I was afraid my performance as Aspik would—"

Marinette put a finger to my lips. "Never. In a million years, never."

"Well," I smiled. "Then here we are."

"Here we are indeed," she smiled.

"So you're not mad?" I asked again.

"Not really," she said. "I mean, you probably should have said something sooner, but I understand why you didn't. You're right, I needed a little bit of guidance to accept who my partner really was." She laughed slightly. "The macaroons were like a nuclear bomb though. Next time?" she added, "Maybe a bit slower."

I arched a masked eyebrow. "I hope there is never a next time, Milady."

Marinette pulled me off the railing and into a massive hug. "There won't," she said smiling warmly.

We looked at each other for a moment, and then very gently, Marinette moved up and pressed her lips to mine. Tentative at first, the kiss spoke to our concern for each other; I leaned inward, telegraphing to her I was ready. And I was completely hers. The kiss only lasted a few heartbeats before we parted, but I could feel my pulse had quickened – and I could hear hers had, too.

"I love you," I said again with a genuine smile. "How long I have wanted to say that."

"And I love you," Marinette replied, placing her head against my costumed chest. "You do know how long I've wanted to say that."

"I do," I smiled, playing again with the ribbons in her hair. "I'm sorry I didn't understand sooner."

"The important thing is you figured it out," she said, patting me in the shoulder with her hand, "for both of us."

"Yeah." I savored the moment as I held her, the answer to so many of my dreams. I wasn't entirely sure what the future held for us, but my feline heart told me it wouldn't matter – we were exactly where we needed to be, and with exactly who we needed to be with. We would be there for each other, much as we always had, but now with the depth and feeling that came with the intimate connection we shared. The realization had me sighing happily.

Marinette popped her head up. "What?"

"This is one bug I am glad I caught."

She laughed, and it warmed my very soul to hear her happiness. "You are an incurable romantic."

"And you love me even more for it," I replied, my masked eyes crinkling with merriment.

Marinette kissed me again, then pulled back. "You'd better believe it."

Author's Note: Thanks for following along on this merry ride! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. I didn't really know when I started that it would wind up being a reverse reveal of No Strings but am happy with how it worked out.

Because I am totally insane, look for a new tale to start on Halloween - Kitty Love - my first story from Marinette's perspective. I'll be writing it concurrently with my NaNoWriNo efforts... so wish me luck. ;-)