#mini-meats

(Side note: I’m on mobile right now so I can’t quite see how the spacing looks, so sorry if the paragraphs are strange! I’ll fix them as soon as I have access to my laptop ❤️)

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At first, it was like nothing had changed at all. The whole reveal had happened so late at night that by the time Marinette had woken up the next morning, she wasn’t entirely convinced she hadn’t dreamt the whole thing. Sure they might have talked about their identities, but it’s not like that had actually transformed into their civilian selves in front of each other. When she burst into the classroom 20 minutes late that morning and locked eyes with Adrien, he only sent her a shy smile and a wave. It was so un-Chat like that she spent the first few minutes in her seat scolding herself in her head for thinking such a ridiculous dream could have possibly been reality.

Throughout the entire class, however, Adrien kept stealing glances back at her, only to blush and turn back around when he was inevitably caught every time. At lunch, Marinette and Adrien’s parting glance didn’t go unnoticed by Alya, and ever quick to jump on an opportunity, said she needed to talk to Nino about something important during their break. After their hasty retreat, Adrien and Marinette stood there for far too long with tension so palpable you could break it over your knee.

“Uh.... hey!”

Hey? She could do this. She could respond to that. She opened her mouth to say ‘hey’ back, but what came out instead was the most unnatural sound she had ever produced.

His face twisted into something between concern and uncertainty. “Um... do you, wanna get lunch? With me?” She must have looked bewildered because he was quick to add “You don’t have to! You’ve probably got your own thing you do at lunch, and..... all that.” Stupid, she heard him mutter to himself.

“Lunch.”

“I... Er, yeah. But like I said, we don-“

“I can do lunch.”

“Oh! Ok, yeah!”

Neither of them moved though, and they spent another long moment just staring at each other.

“Uh... so um, did you want to-“

“Right! Right, sorry. Lunch time.” Lunch time? Who says that? Shaking her head to try to knock her out of whatever fog she was in, she grabbed his wrist and started towards a bench in the courtyard.

They both pulled out their lunches and started eating in silence, while Marinette tried to gather the courage to say something. Adrien beat her to the punch, and tested the waters.

“Sorry for staring so much this morning. I think my brain is lagging a bit behind reality. For a while there I thought maybe I’d daydreamed the whole thing. Can you imagine?” He chuckled nervously and dared a glance towards her.

As some of the tension broke, Marinette sighed a breath of relief. “You too? I thought I was going crazy. Jumping right into routine after having your world turned upside down is really jarring. I’m glad I’m not the only one.”

“This is totally weird, right? I mean who has to go through this? It’s not like we can just google ‘what to do when you just revealed your identity with your super hero, crime fighting partner’”

Marinette chuckled. “Honestly. And with how google tracks everyone, that’s just asking for trouble.”

“What a way to go. Revealed to the world through internet help forums.”

“The advice would probably be garbage anyways.”

“Well I don’t know about you, but personally, I get all my life advice from yahoo answers”

“You know I know you’re joking, and yet I wouldn’t be all that surprised?”

“You wound me, my lady!” They both laughed and felt any remnants of apprehension melt away.

“We should have transformed in front of each other. Even now I’m having a hard time connecting the dots.” Marinette sighed.

“What, you don’t find me as dashing and devastatingly handsome in this form?”

That caught her off guard. “I didn’t say that!” She squeaked. “I mean. Not that I thought Chat was dashingly handsome. I mean I don’t *not* think that either. Not that Chat’s a different person. You’re Chat. And I have perfectly normal feelings towards both of you. That’s all.” She sank lower into the bench, willing it to eat her alive and bury her in the concrete.

Adrien stared. “You know, on one hand, I can totally see you as ladybug. You’re so brave and smart, it’s honestly a miracle I only have one brain cell or else I’m sure I would have figured it out sooner.

“And yet, on the other hand, I feel like you’re completely different, too. You exude so much raw confidence as ladybug. I have a feeling that maybe you’re like that around most of your friends, too, but.... for some reason, around me, it feels like... I don’t know. Like something’s different.”

Oh god. He noticed. Of course he noticed. Why wouldn’t he notice? She was an absolute wreck around him, a bumbling clumsy mess, a disas-

“Would it help if I messed up my hair a bit? Flirted like I have absolutely nothing to lose?” He asked, but with none of his usual bravado. “I don’t want to be someone that makes you feel uncomfortable.” She looked up at him and saw his face filled with insecurity. How selfish was she? While she was here freaking out about her crush, her partner was thinking she hated him all because she couldn’t spit out how she felt.

“Honestly, maybe” she said with a small smile. She reached over and gently ruffled his hair, and saw his wide eyes flicker from her bluebell ones to her lips as her hand lingered in his hair.

Reluctantly, she moved her hand away. “There he is. All we’re missing is some leather.”

“I can arrange that.”

She flicked his nose.

He smiled for a second, but it was quickly replaced with a frown. “My lady... why do you act different around me?”

“It’s... kind of embarrassing.”

“Surely it can’t be as embarrassing as any of the nonsense I’ve pulled around you.”

“You’d be surprised” she said, lowering her hand next to his on the bench. She stuck her pinky out and tapped it against his, and she heard his breath catch. “It’s only natural I’d be nervous around you, right?” She met his eyes with an intense stare as she fully reached over and intertwined her fingers with his. “When you make me feel like this.”

“My lady” he warned, voice cracking and devoid of humor “if you aren’t careful, I might get the wrong idea.”

“I don’t think you will.”

“Oh, I think I might. What are you trying to say?”

“Adrien, don’t make me spell it out.”

“I really think you should.”

“Chat...”

“Marinette,” he countered.

She took a steadying breath and her eyes fell to her lap. “Honestly, it was really unexpected. Maybe if I wasn’t so sure of my judgement of you when we first met, it wouldn’t have blindsided me so much. But the sincerity in your voice and look in your eyes when you handed me that umbrella... who wouldn’t have fallen for you?” She cleared her throat and continued. “I might have ended up crushing on a certain cat I know if it weren’t for that day. If the endless flirting never got to me, I’m sure the candle lit rooftop and rose would have done it. But I guess one doesn’t just forget about Adrien Agreste that easily.” There it was. There was no taking it back now. She screwed her eyes shut, dreading every second of the silence.

Until she felt a thumb trace across her cheek. She felt him pull her face gently in his direction and her eyes snapped to his. The amount of pure adoration in his expression was enough to make her heart jump out of her chest.

“That wasn’t very nice of him, hogging you all to himself. I think this feline’s going to be having some words with Adrien tonight.” She tried to laugh, but his face was so close to hers now, and with every soft puff of his breath her mind got a little fuzzier.

Once again his eyes flickered to her lips and back up, this time searching for any sign of protest. Finding none, he leaned in slow and torturous, until his lips just barely brushed against hers. “I’m so in love with you, you know that?” he spoke against her. And with that, he pulled her into him and kissed her for all he was worth.

Yeah. She did know. And god, was she in love with him, too.

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Happy Valentine’s Day @mini-meats! When I saw your prompt of the love square in a fairy tale setting I immediately thought of Red Riding Hood, and here she is with her Big Bad Chat (not actually bad though he’s obv a huge softy I mean he’s letting her put flowers in his hair). I’m really happy with how this came out and I hope you like it!! Happy Valentine’s Day!

For the @ml-valentines exchange.

Do not repost/reupload/edit