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When Marinette Dupain-Cheng swore she would always love Adrien Agreste, she really thought she meant it.And, she did. In a manner of speaking.But after a few years of no sign from the blond boy of her dreams that he would ever love her in return, her absolute belief that she would remain loyal in her feelings to her model friend started to... waver.And it didn’t help that Chat Noir had taken to the habit of visiting her from time to time. Whether it was for sweets, or to talk about a bad day he had, or just to spend time with her watching mindless films and series, his presence in her room (and eventually in her heart) became something she believed in more than her fruitless crush on someone entirely out of her reach.The more she spent time with her partner (as herself, not Ladybug), the more she noticed that Chat’s overt flirtations and attempts to woo the scarlet hero were petering off. They occurred less and less frequently until, one day, she realized he hadn’t made an advance on her in months. Not long after that epiphany, Marinette came to another: she missed her partner’s attention, and not in the way that she enjoyed someone liking her without concern for their feelings. It was in the way that, somewhere along the line, she had begun to welcome them as a sign that perhaps, finally, she might have found someone who loved her, and whom she could love.Then, of course, she realized with a start that she very much liked her partner, may even have begun to love him. After that point, his presence in her bedroom made her giddy and nervous, which was never the case before. It made her blush when he sat on her bed, so close in proximity to herself. She was acutely aware of his every movement, even of the sound of his breathing as he sat beside her, somehow every bit comfortable and at home despite being dressed in what was essentially a leather catsuit.One night, as they watched yet another anime, Chat’s favorite genre, she turned slowly to observe his face as he stared at the screen, butterflies overwhelming her stomach as she took in the way the light reflected in the luminescent green of his eyes, the strong line of his jaw, the gentle curve of his lips. She stared too long, though, and he became aware of her gaze, turning his head to look at her almost in question. The trust in his eyes caused a burning in her chest, and she couldn’t help it when her eyes were immediately drawn to his lips, though she flicked them back up to meet his own as quickly as possible, hoping he didn’t catch her momentary lapse in self-control.He did, which she knew as soon as she heard him swallow nervously, his cat-like eyes copying the same action hers had performed seconds before. Marinette could feel her heart begin to race, parting her lips in surprise and anticipation as, slowly, her mask-covered companion leaned closer. Her brain was still several moments behind in processing what was happening, but almost by instinct, she mirrored his movement, leaning steadily closer toward the peach-pink lips that were on course to meet her own.Then they made contact, movements on both sides tentative at first, soft and chaste, but quickly gaining confidence. As the two relaxed into the kiss, their lips moved more quickly against each other, one or the other parting until their tongues began to dance, shyly at first, then openly and hungrily tangling together.The anime forgotten, Marinette pulled Chat closer to her, arms around his neck, and his own hands found their way to her waist, restlessly travelling up and down the sides of her torso. They turned their bodies fully toward each other, the hero in black coming up on his knees as the girl in front of him spread her legs out on either side of him. Firmly curling his arm around her waist and behind her back, he tugged her roughly toward himself, causing her to flop down onto the bed behind her. She let out a surprised squeak, causing the man above her to smirk before leaning down to kiss her again.Suddenly, there was more weight resting against her, but to Marinette it wasn’t unpleasant in the least. She keened as she felt the pressure against her chest, her stomach, her pelvis, letting out a throaty groan when a distinct hardness brushed against her groin.Chat pulled back, all concern.“Princess, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”“Shh,” she cut him off, canting her hips upward against his erection and causing him to whine, his eyes fluttering closed from the overwhelming sensation. “I’ve wanted this for a long time, Chaton. I’ve wanted you.” She said it as seductively as she could, but there was still a hint of fear in her voice, afraid as she was of being rejected, of him not wanting her as much as she wanted him.Letting out a shuddering breath, Chat looked down at the girl below him, his eyes burning with desire and something else. In response, he undulated against her, and she gasped, practically trembling with her entire body.“You’re everything, Princess. There’s nothing that you could ask of me that I wouldn’t give you.”Marinette surged upward, crashing their lips together with every bit of repressed emotion and desire she had, pulling him down with her once again and leading his hands to the hem of her shirt.It quickly disappeared on the floor, followed by her pants, her bra, her underwear, until she was naked beneath him. Chat pulled back to look at his handiwork, chuckling lightly when Marinette tried feebly to hide her body with her hands. Gently grabbing her wrists, he pulled them back, pinning them on the bed beside her and smiling down at her in a mixture of fondness and carnal need.“Don’t. Please. I’ve wanted this for a long time, too, Princess.” She breathed out shakily, nodding her head as he let go of her wrists. “Now, then.” And he looked her over appreciatively, causing her to blush absolutely scarlet.“N- not f- fair, Chaton. You can s- see me, but I c- can’t see you.”Chat’s expression froze, real regret reflecting in his eyes.“Princess, I know I said you could ask anything of me, but-”Marinette laughed, causing him to stop mid-sentence.“It’s ok, kitty. I understand. I would never ask you to do that.”The man let out a sigh of relief, then leaned down to kiss her neck and shoulders, desperate to feel her skin under his fingers as they traced over her form, but physically incapable of doing so.Then he had an idea.“Do you trust me?”“What?” she asked breathlessly, clearly somewhat distracted. He nipped her pulse point, and she gasped, then released a moan as he began sucking on the spot.“Do you trust me?”He could hear the smile in her voice as she answered: “With my life.”Slowly, Chat drew back, taking in the confusion on her face in amusement. As she watched, he walked silent as a cat over to the lamp and turned it off. There were still some vague shadows in the room, though, and Marinette could make out the silhouette of his form as it returned to hover over her body.“Close your eyes, Princess.” She complied without hesitation. Then, she heard, “Plagg, claws in,” just before a light flashed briefly on the other side of her eyelids. Her brow furrowed.“Chat? What’re you doing?”“Relax, Princess. Open your eyes.” Marinette inhaled a deep breath before slowly doing as he instructed, vague shapes the only thing she could truly see in the darkness of the room. In Chat’s place, there was only a slight hint of something lighter- his hair- and the outline of a male body.It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the dimness, but she realized that Chat was lowering toward her, just before she felt his lips once again on hers.This time, though, the feel of his mask was noticeably absent, as was the texture of whatever leather-like material his suit was made from. When his hands came up to touch her body, to run up the length of her arms and leave goosebumps in their wake, to cup her cheek, to grasp the curve of her backside, to palm her breasts and lightly play with her nipples, there was a distinct lack of claw-tipped gloves. Instead of being slightly cold, they had the warm smoothness of flesh.And at the apex of her thighs, the hard length that pushed against her was covered by denim pants. Without another thought, her hands flew to the hem of his shirt, which she ripped impatiently and with great satisfaction over his head. He supported his weight on one hand as, with the other, he unbuttoned his pants, which she helped push down his legs until he was able to kick them, along with his shoes, off and onto the floor. It wasn’t long before his boxer briefs followed the same trajectory as the rest of his clothes, and the entirety of his body rested, skin to skin, against the entirety of hers.If Marinette thought she was aroused before, that was nothing compared to now. Every point of contact between the two of them lit her entire being on fire.And when his erection poked against her once again, it was hot and slick, and she nearly came undone just from the feeling.“Chat,” she panted, her fingers tangled in his hair.“Mmm,” he responded around a mouthful of her chest. The vibration of his murmur sent a shiver up her spine, and she moaned, causing him to twitch between her legs.“Chat, please,” she begged. “You said anything I asked of you-”The man who was currently sucking on her breast released it with a wet pop, surging upward to kiss her deeply before pulling back.“Are you sure?” he asked breathlessly.“Yes.”She couldn’t be positive in the dark, but she would be willing to almost bet her life that a smirk overtook his features.“It would be my purr-leasure, Princess.”Marinette started to roll her eyes, but that action changed from one of exasperation to pleasure when she felt, once more, a hot hardness between her legs. Her head fell back as she moaned, canting her hips upward instinctively. Her groan was frustrated, however, when he pulled away and went in search of his pants.“Chat?”He was already returning, though, something crinkly in his hand.“Protection, Princess. And before you ask, my friend gives them to me all the time. I had no idea I’d end up using it.”She laughed lightly. “It’s ok, Chat. My friend does the same. I guess we should be thanking them.”He chuckled at her suggestion, fiddling with the foil package and its contents until he had it securely on. “Yea. Maybe someday. Now, though, I don’t really want to explain what I’m thanking him for.”Then he leaned down to kiss her again, and she felt warmth coil in her abdomen. As their kiss became more frantic and more desperate, Marinette’s anticipation increased. When she felt Chat lining up at her entrance, she gasped, not in pain, but because she was overwhelmed by sensation.“You ok?” he asked, stopping completely.She smiled in fondness of how careful and concerned he was.“Absolutely,” she answered, pushing herself down to cover him until he was fully sheathed inside her, causing him to gasp at the unexpected feeling. “I’m purr -fect.”From that point on, Marinette found herself in a secret relationship with Chat Noir. Not long after their first night together, both finished lycée and moved on to university. Neither Marinette nor Chat Noir could believe how amazing it felt to have each other, even the secret nature of their relationship was exciting. But, after a while, the novelty of the relationship wore off slightly. And while both loved each other, they never said so, much less ever officially defined the status of their relationship. The routine of their time together, most of which was spent in the confines of Marinette’s bedroom after dark, started to lose its luster. She wanted to go places with Chat, introduce him to her friends, even let the people in her life know that she was in a relationship with someone, but she couldn’t. Even more, she wanted to tell Chat who she was, so badly did she feel like she was betraying him by sleeping with him for over a year while also secretly his partner. And she wanted to know who he was, too, not because she felt like his identity was somehow incomplete, but because it was always hanging over their heads whenever they were together. Intimacy was always in the dark, or blindfolded, or both. He almost never stayed until daylight out of concern of being seen or caught by her or her roommate.And as for Chat, he felt exactly the same. Albeit, he felt like he was betraying Marinette by never telling her that her boyfriend was actually her friend. And he wanted so badly to be able to date her without fear of anyone’s knowledge. It was a special kind of torture to be so close to her as himself when they were with their friends, or even alone, and not be able to reach out and touch her, kiss her, hold her hand.He even had a class with her- a required course for all university students- and he purposely sat one seat behind and over from her just so he could watch her whenever he wanted. That brought about a bittersweet agony of its own, because as he watched her, he couldn’t help the urge to tuck her hair back out of her eyes or lean in and nip the exposed skin on the curve of her neck leading to her shoulder. Sometimes she would bite her lip in concentration, and he would be overcome by flashbacks to other times she bit her lip, usually when he was hiding behind a black mask, with his face between her thighs.So, as time went on, Adrien spent as much time as he could with her when he wasn’t Chat Noir, but he knew that it wasn’t necessarily a comfort to her, when she didn’t know who he was. Sometimes it was a coffee and tea run, others it was decompressing at the movie theater, and others it was a study session at the large two bedroom apartment Adrien lived in alone. For a while he considered asking Marinette to move in with him under the guise of roommates, but he knew she would never be able to afford half the rent, and she would never agree to move in unless she could.Little did he know that spending time with Adrien did do things to the girl. Of course, he couldn’t know that, not knowing that she was still recovering from the debilitating crush she had on him in their teenage years. And the more time she spent with him, the more she struggled with feeling disloyal to Chat Noir. Because Adrien sometimes would smile at her in this way that just made her heart skip a beat, he looked so much like her unofficial boyfriend. His laugh gave her the same warm feeling deep inside, and when he accidentally brushed her leg with his hand, it sent the same heat pooling between her legs as it did when Chat was roughly pounding into her, ankles held in his grip high in the air, their bodies bouncing jarringly on the bed.When she saw Chat, she knew there was no one else she would rather be with, no one else who would be as amazing as he was. And when she saw Adrien, she wondered if she loved Chat as much as she thought if she could feel the same way about another man. Marinette warred within herself for months until, finally, the tension came to a head.The semester finally ended, and in celebration, Marinette and Adrien decided to go back to his apartment for movies, dinner, and wine. Both should have known that was a bad idea.Two movies and three bottles of wine into the night, they decided to play a game, but all Adrien could find was a deck of cards. They did the best they could to get through a game of poker, but neither was really sure of the rules, and both were tipsy enough not to be able to really follow along, anyway. As Marinette had no money to bet, they wagered simple things instead, like a treat to the movies, or a back rub. During one hand, Adrien, emboldened by the alcohol and drunkenly considering confessing his superhero identity, bet a secret , a bet which Marinette matched, only to lose the round.The girl appeared to think for a moment about what secret she should share before she finally (and with a slight slur) said, “I was in love with you in for years,” followed by a hiccup.She burst out laughing at the thunderstruck look of shock on his face.“What? No way. No, that can’t be true-”Marinette was nodding, wiping a tear of laughter from her eye as she said, “Yes, it is! I was so hopelessly in love with you back in school, you have no idea.”Adrien watched her for a long moment, just a few feet in front of her where they were sitting in the middle of his living room floor. Her laughs dissipated into chuckles and then into a shy smile, cheeks flushed from wine, amusement, and embarrassment.Then, without warning he surged forward and captured her lips with his, and for just a brief second, an alarm went off in her brain.She was with Chat Noir.They had been sleeping together for a year and a half.She shouldn’t be kissing Adrien Agreste.But whether it was the wine or the fact that she never fully got over her feelings for the blond model, she found herself kissing him back.Then she found herself lifted into his lap, lips barely separating from each other long enough to remove each other’s tops.She found herself rising up from the floor next, legs straddling his hips as he held her securely.At last, she found herself flat on her back in Adrien’s bed, her pants and underwear being torn away from her legs, his own falling to the floor as she watched in unrestrained lust.And the last memory she had of the evening was of Adrien’s latex-covered erection thrusting deep inside her, her long, drawn-out moans escalating into screams as he brought them both to the edge of ecstasy.They woke up the following morning, bodies tangled up with each other, realizing what they had done but unable to feel truly sorry for it. It was heaven for Adrien, waking up next to Marinette and feeling unafraid that his transformation was gone, or that anyone might walk in by some mistake and catch the hero of Paris in bed with an average girl. But he was also saddled with guilt for essentially tricking her into being unfaithful to her secret boyfriend, especially when he was her secret boyfriend.When Marinette opened her eyes, for a brief moment, she thought Chat Noir had stayed for once, but memories of the night before came rushing back to her, and she struggled to hide the intense flush of her face. Guilt, incidentally, wasn’t her first reaction. She knew she would regret what she did later, but in the moment, faced with Adrien’s beautiful face and the absolute glory of his naked body, the way he drew mindless shapes in the skin of her arm with his finger, heartstopping smile stretched across his features as his golden hair hung in his eyes, all her feelings from the first moment she fell in love with him came rushing back, and she had a hard time regretting a thing.She already made one mistake, she figured, so what’s another? And that morning became the second time Marinette (sort of, technically did, technically didn’t) cheated on Chat Noir.
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All the way home, Marinette berated herself for sleeping with Adrien. There was a time when, as a teenager, she would have fainted if she knew that this day would come, but now, the situation being what it was, she just felt sick to her stomach, like there was a layer of scum covering her entire body that she could never wash off.And it wasn’t because of Adrien. It was because of her and the fact that she couldn’t keep it in her fucking pants.She always prided herself on being such a loyal person, but as it turned out, it just took a set of gorgeous green eyes and amazing abs to turn that supposed loyalty to ash.In a way, she felt like she had wronged them both- Chat Noir and Adrien- because they didn’t even know about each other. And if she had it her way, they never would.Last night (and this morning) was a (two for) one-time thing. It was never going to happen again.Never.The familiar tapping on the glass door to her tiny terrace startled Marinette out of the trance she had fallen into. All day she had played a game of denial. She knew she did something horrible, but there was no taking it back, and telling Chat would help no one, so everytime it popped into her thoughts (read: every 2 minutes), she promptly pushed it back out of her mind by distracting herself with something else.Chat’s appearance set a new burden of dread sinking in her stomach. The oblivious grin on his face, so happy to see her, and green eyes shining like the golden halo on his head, made her wish she could disappear. It took all her willpower to paste a smile on her face, to reach out and hug him with her typical enthusiasm, and to kiss him without turning around and gagging from the knowledge that the very lips Chat was kissing had been on Adrien’s body less than 24 hours ago.Her affectionate boyfriend wasn’t ready to let her go when she tried to pull away, and instead nuzzled his face deep into her neck, inhaling her scent. In the back of her mind, Marinette wondered if the three showers she had taken since she got home were enough to wash away the smell of Adrien on her skin, or if she was about to be caught. Of course, the drama was all in her mind, and Chat began pressing open-mouth kisses to her exposed skin, working his way up to her face where he kissed her deeply on the lips.When he pulled away, the adoration in his eyes almost made her come undone, and she gave him a quick peck, extracting herself from his arms (with a whine of protest from the superhero) and turning to head back to the bed. At the last second, however, she sat on the overstuffed chair instead of the mattress, hoping it would be enough to deter him from getting too close to her, especially since the chair only fit one person. To her dismay, though, she felt herself lifted off the seat, and let out a squeak of surprise just before Chat took her place, setting her down in his lap and resuming his soft trail of kisses across her neck and face.“I missed you,” he said, voice muffled by his own attentions.Heart racing and breaking at the same time, she tried to keep the tremor out of her voice as she responded, “I missed you, too.” But her boyfriend knew her so well, that he wasn’t fooled.He pulled back completely this time, taking in her expression with concern.“Are you okay?” he asked, brows drawn low over his eyes.“Mmhmm,” she responded, trying to give him her most reassuring smile while dying a little inside. “I’m just really tired, that’s all.”Chat watched her face, clearly not entirely believing what she was saying, but choosing not to push the matter further. He drew the backs of his fingers down her cheek in a soft caress, whispering:“You know I love you, right, Princess?”Marinette’s breath caught. He loved her, she knew that, and she loved him, but they had never actually said that before. There had to be a special place in hell reserved for people like her.“I- I love you, too, Chaton,” she managed, completely sincere and completely ashamed.Both his hands came up to grip the sides of her head, his heavily lidded eyes dropping down to focus on her lips as he leaned closer.“I love you so much, Marinette. You’ll never know how much.” Then his lips were on hers, and she could feel the burning desire coursing through both of them. Whatever part of her that still wondered whether she should tell him what happened, died. He loved her, and she loved him, and that was all that mattered. Mistakes were made and in the past, and as Chat lifted her up and carried her to the bed, she vowed she would never do anything like that again.“That’s never going to happen again,” Marinette muttered to herself on her way home.Walking through the park, the girl tried to figure out exactly where she went wrong, and what she should have done differently (besides the obvious).Things started out relatively well. After The Incident™, she and Adrien talked and agreed that it was best to stay friends. And then they went out for dinner, had a few drinks, and the next morning she woke up in his bed again, naked as the day she was born, next to an equally naked Adrien. But that wasn’t even her current problem. Her current problem was that, no matter what she thought or did, whenever she ended up alone with Adrien, they would end up shedding all their clothes, humping like rabbits. After that happened a few times, she decided to stay away from Adrien’s apartment for a while until things cooled down.But this time, she honestly didn’t know how it happened. They started out attending a fashion week event together, Adrien as one of the performing models and Marinette as a fashion intern/ Adrien’s guest. Honestly, it shouldn’t have been possible, but she went to check on him when he didn’t return after his set, only to find him without a shirt.Somehow when he was changing, he managed to rip a seam on his own clothes and was in the process of trying to stitch it up himself (very poorly). Marinette laughed at him (after her heart rate slowed down, having skyrocketed when she walked in on him half naked), then grabbed the garment from his hands to fix it. It only took her a few minutes, time which he spent telling her ridiculous jokes, causing tears of laughter to fall from her eyes. She lightly slapped him reflexively, her hand landing on his bare chest and causing her to pause in her movement. Adrien grabbed her wrist, her palm laying flat against his skin, eyes traveling up to his own when he brought a hand to cup the back of her neck and pull her closer to him.Then she was being held up against the wall, and then on the top of the vanity, then the couch. Any and every flat surface would do, and did. Marinette dressed silently afterward, trying to figure out how she was supposed to stop this whole affair when apparently public places were fair game.Now, walking home after the end of the day’s events, she sincerely began to wonder if she even wanted to stop.Adrien trembled alone in the dressing room, having already dressed, and long past the time everyone else would have left. As he stared at his reflection in the vanity mirror, the very same vanity where he had just fucked his secret girlfriend senseless, he asked himself:“What the fuck is wrong with me?”His reflection didn’t respond, of course, but only repeated what he said back to him as though mocking the lack of answer. Ever since the first time he bedded Marinette as Adrien, he kept telling himself that it wouldn’t happen again, but every time, it did, and it was his fault (mostly).A small part of him felt like he should be mad at her- after all, she didn’t realize he was actually her boyfriend- but he couldn’t, not when he was the one who started it and, more often than not, the one who continued to initiate it. Besides, now that he knew she had been in love with him in the past, and continued to pursue her as both Adrien and Chat, his culpability far exceeded her own. If anything, he was using her own feelings against her and she had the disadvantage of being forced to choose between two (supposedly) different people that she seemed to love equally.The entire drive home was a blank for Adrien. He didn’t remember getting in the car, much less turning it on and driving the route back to his apartment. When he walked in through the door, he didn’t even bother turning on the light before tossing his keys on the table and heading toward his room where he collapsed onto the bed.Tired as he was though, he couldn’t fall asleep, but lay there, tossing and turning for what seemed like hours. Ever since the first time, Adrien knew he had to tell Marinette, but the problem was he knew she would be upset, and understandably so. The more he continued to confuse her, though, the harder it became and the more awful it would be for her. One time he might have been able to apologize for. But, multiple times? Over the course of months? There was no coming back from that.So, needless to say, Adrien wasn’t in a hurry to motivate his girlfriend to break up with him, as she surely would when he told her just who she had been doing. And even worse- he just knew he was going to lose her as a friend, too. Eventually Adrien drifted off to a fitful sleep, plagued by nightmares of Marinette leaving him forever.For the next few months, Marinette and Adrien found themselves in a cycle of guilty sex and self-loathing. The deeper they fell into their “affair,” the harder it was to come clean. For all Marinette knew, Adrien had no idea she was even seeing someone else. And for Chat, the same was purportedly true. One particularly anxious afternoon, she worried herself sick over what would happen if she ended up pregnant, with no idea who the father was.But none of it was enough to snap either of them out of their consistent weakness. Eventually, their kwamis had enough of the moping and the whole ridiculous way the love square had grown into a self-sustaining monster. It was cute and funny when they were teenagers chasing their own tails. Now, as adults, they had managed to make everything a thousand times more complicated, with only Tikki and Plagg to confide in. There wasn’t enough cheese or cookies in the world to put up with this mess any longer. And, yea, maybe secret identities were supposed to protect them, but by this point, they had become more of a problem than anything. Fed up, the two kwamis decided enough was enough.Marinette and Adrien were meeting up for a late lunch (followed inevitably by a trip to Adrien’s apartment for a bit of stress relief). Once the two oblivious friends/secret lovers/paramours arrived back at Adrien’s, Tikki and Plagg waited until they were sufficiently distracted by each other before flying out of their hiding places.The two of them hovered in the air for a moment, watching as the two people on the floor ripped each other’s clothes off, too busy devouring each other to come up for air. Finally, Plagg blurted:“That’s disgusting! I eat there!”Adrien and Marinette flew apart as Marinette let out a shriek, hands instinctively coming up to cover her mouth, while Adrien stared at his kwami, eyes wide and pupils blown.“Holy shit,” the girl panted, still cognitively incapable of processing what she was seeing. Her gaze flickered back and forth between Tikki and Plagg, the information not adding up.Adrien figured out what was happening first, releasing a long, low groan as his raised his hands and dragged them down his face.“Ohh. My. Goood.”Marinette, still not quite arriving at the right conclusion, defaulted to self-preservation.“Tikki! What are you doing? No one is supposed to see you!”Plagg rolled his eyes at her obliviousness.“I think it’s a little late for that, Princess. Or should I say Ladybug?”As Marinette let out another shriek, Tikki shook her head at both her counterpart and her chosen.“Plagg!” she reprimanded. “Let them figure it out in their own!”“Uh, I hate to break it to you, sugar cube, but that hasn’t exactly been working well for us so far.”Adrien let out another groan as the final piece fit into place.“Oh. My. Fucking. God.”“Hey! Keep it in your pants, kid! I’ve heard you say that enough to last my several of your lifetimes.”Marinette’s face was tomato red, slowly coming to realize exactly why this sarcastic little black cat would be in Adrien’s apartment when Chat Noir was not. Gradually she turned to look at the mostly naked man beside her, her eyes wide enough to eclipse half her face.“All this time… it’s been you?”He grimaced noticeably, complexion pale.“Fuck, Princess, I’m so sorry. This is not how I wanted us to talk about this.”If there were any doubts left in her mind as to whom she had been fucking on the side for the last several months, they disappeared as soon as the blond man in front of her called her that name.“Oh my God. It’s really you.”Giving her a pained half-smile, Adrien raised a hand and waved lightly, swallowing as he said:“Hi.”Then Marinette was hiding behind her hands as though they could shield her from the situation she was in.“Fuck. Marinette, I’m so sorry. I never should have let it get this far. This is all my fault-”Adrien cut himself off when, to his surprise, he heard Marinette break down in uncontrollable giggling. He watched, one eyebrow raised, expression perplexed and she continued to laugh behind the veil of her hands.“Marinette?”“I’m sorry it’s just- I can’t believe how stupid we’ve been-” and her voice broke off as she started laughing so hard, it was almost silent.Adrien’s pained grimace transitioned into one of self-deprecating amusement. With a rueful smirk, he stared into his girlfriend’s, his lover’s, his lady’s eyes.“Wow. It’s really you, too. All this time….”Marinette brought her hands back up to cover her eyes again, ashamed she hid her identity from him for so long.“Chaton, I’m so sorry , I never meant to deceive you, or to sneak around behind your back… with you.”Adrien let out his first laugh, finally appreciating just how much they managed to screw everything up. He raised his hands, pulling gently at her wrists to remove them from hiding her face.“I think we both messed up… my lady.” Then he brushed the back of his knuckles softly over her cheek, swiping at a stray tear with his thumb. “Of course it’s you. It couldn’t be anyone else.”Marinette watched the man in front of her as he looked at her with love in his eyes, trying to understand how he could still want her after what she had done.Shaking her head, she said, “But, Adrien, I don’t deserve you. I’ve been cheating on you all this time… with you. I-”“No, love, no. I knew you had feelings for Adrien, and I pursued you anyway. I just- it felt so good to be able to be with you and not feel afraid that someone would see us, and know that I didn’t have to leave before the sun came up. I just wanted to be close to you in a way that we’ve never been able to have with my mask in the way. It was selfish, I know. I just- you are everything, Marinette, and I couldn’t resist the chance to have a taste of that with you. I should have realized it wasn’t fair to you because there was no way you could have known.”“You know,” Tikki piped in, “I think you both share some blame in this, but don’t be too hard on yourselves. You’re soulmates. You’ll always be drawn to each other, no matter which face you wear. It’s a pretty strong feeling to fight.”Marinette looked at Tikki, somewhat comforted that, yes, she cheated on Chat, but it was with Adrien, the other side of him. When she thought of it that way, it made a weird kind of sense. She would have been incredibly strong-willed to resist her attraction to her own boyfriend, especially since he was also her soulmate.Adrien watched her anxiously, thoughts and emotions chasing over her features.“Do you want to start over? Everything out in the open this time?”A slow smile spread gradually across her face, first on one side, and then the other. She brought her arms up to loop around his neck, kissing him softly on the lips before leaning her forehead against his.“Yours, Chat, Adrien. I’m completely yours.”He couldn’t help the grin that broke through.“Yours, Princess, Bugaboo, My Lady. I’m always, completely, and entirely yours.”Tikki preened as their lips met in a loving kiss while Plagg rolled his eyes and feigned a gag.“Look what you did now, Tik!”“Oh, you’re always such a sourpuss!” she whisper-shouted at the black kwami. He gave her a deadpan stare.“I’m not taking responsibility for that ,” he returned, one nub of a limb pointing off to the two individuals who were becoming increasingly more wrapped up in each other.“What?” Tikki asked, turning to look in the direction he pointed. As she watched, Marinette and Adrien were removing the last of their clothes with exceptional… enthusiasm. Tikki’s eyes grew into saucers as the sounds of moans in the room increased.“Oh.”“Yea, oh. Good job, sugar cube.”Tikki crossed her limbs, huffing at the black cat kwami.“Well, it just so happens I know where Marinette was keeping some Camembert for you for when Chat was supposed to come over later.”Plagg was mid-eyeroll when the implications of her statement registered in his little kwami brain, at which point his pupils widened dramatically.“You mean… she has it here somewhere?”“Hmph! Like I’d tell you. ”Before she could say anything else, Plagg darted around her in search of Marinette’s bags.Surprised and outraged, the red kwami whirled around to follow after him, chastising him the whole way. Marinette owed her a BIG cookie for how much she was going to have to put up with him from then on.On the floor, neither Marinette nor Adrien noticed the way their two kwamis left in search of food. After all, they had years of missed opportunities and months of misunderstandings to make up for.