Miraculous Oneshots

The Boiling Point

A double update just for you guys

(https://archiveofourown.org/works/9490505?view_adult=true)

When Adrien wakes up this morning he isn't expecting to have sex with the love of his life. In fact, he's barely expecting to even see her, or talk to her if he does. And if by some miracle he does get to talk to her today, he is definitely is not expecting sex to be involved. Not in a million years.

But when Adrien is wrong, boy is he wrong.

Ever since the accidental reveal of their identities two months ago, the tension has been as thick as honey between themㅡlike a live thing, a simmering broth, a dangerous wire that neither of them are brave enough to touch. The elephant in the air. Marinette is in love with Adrien and Chat Noir is in love with Ladybug. They both know this because they've both rejected each other at some point in the past.

So what does it mean now that they are two people instead of four? He doesn't know and he's terrified to ask. So it all goes unsaid.

They go about their days. Chat stops flirting with Ladybug. Marinette's stammer disappears overnight. They see each other on the ENS campus sometimes between classes and wave nervously, smiling with the knowledge of their shared secret and the trust it entails. They go on patrol together at night as usual and converse about nothing of importance. University life, his father's latest attempts to get him back into modeling, her parents' latest baking endeavors, Nino and Alya's latest break-up slash make-up. Sometimes they bring their homework along and sit together in comfortable silence when their legs are too tired to go on. Adrien knows that come what may they will always be the best of friends. But he doesn't kiss her hand anymore, because underneath Ladybug's mask that was Marinette who was always pulling her hand away. He's sure his heart couldn't take it if she were to pull away now, with the knowledge they have.

On these nights where they linger after patrol to study together he drags out his departure until the wee hours of the morning. Then he stays up until dawn staring at the city lights through the bedroom window of his apartment, resting his forehead on the glass as the mysterious glitter of the city gives way to the rising sun. On these nights he toys with that heartbreaking fear he won't look at during the daytime: the fear that the moment their masks disappeared, Marinette realized she must never have loved Adrien that way at all.

The idea kills him but he knows he has to look at it, in the same way he has to pour hydrogen peroxide on his wounds when he gets them. (Though nowadays it's Marinette who does the honors, with tears pricking at her eyes no matter how small the injury.) Because he loves her more than everㅡmore than he ever thought was possibleㅡand he wants more than anything in the universe to sweep her into his arms and make sure she knows that there is nothing in this world he won't do for her. That he'll die for her if the need ever arises.

Marinette, Ladybug. There is no difference to him. Marinette is the proud, unwavering powerhouse and Ladybug is the shy, fumbling artist. When he fell in love there was only one girl, never two, because Ladybug isn't real. She never was. She's just a name, and the color red.

It was Marinette who messed up her throw on the first day they met and tangled their bodies together, stringing them upside-down and chest to chest in the cutest and most standout first impression ever. It was Marinette who stood up there on the support beams of the Eiffel tower after their first victory, boldly declaring her commitment to the safety of Paris. It's Marinette that's saved him time and again and crushes him to her chest whenever he does something particularly reckless. Marinette that makes his heart race. Marinette with the stained glass eyes that haunt his dreams.