Secret Love ~ An Adrienette Fanfiction

Ladybot and Cat Machine

Oh no.

There it was.

The dreaded sound Marinette knew would come soon.

She just didn't expect for it to happen so quickly. Even if it also felt like a lifetime.

What a horrid sound.

It was the cursed, the terrifying, the gods-awful doorbell.

And, no, the sound of it ringing wasn't what caused Marinette's stomach to lurch. It was the knowledge of what stood outside.

Or who, she supposed.

On shaky legs, she walked to the door and grasped the handle.

She pulled it open to see a warm, dazzling smile, golden hair bright enough to outshine the sun, and eyes like two green pools that Marinette could just drown in.

Why was the doorbell so horrible, again?

"C'mon, Sugarcube, let us in," A voice whined from behind the glowing ball of sunshine that was Adrien Agreste.

"Why do you call me that?" Tikki asked from beside her.

"Because you love it." Plagg shrugged, shoving his hand through his hair.

"Do you see me calling you stinky sock?"

"No. But you should. That'd be delightful, Sugarcube."

"Delightful? I thought that'd be a word way above your vocabulary."

"My vocabulary is much better than yours."

"Oh, yeah? How?"

"It's got camembert in it."

"What is it with you and camembert?"

"Hey, lovebirds!" Marinette interrupted their bickering. "Do you guys mind doing this stuff later?"

"How later?" Plagg quipped.

Marinette narrowed her eyes at him.

Plagg whimpered and ducked inside the house, leaving both Adrien and Tikki with gaping mouths.

"I've never seen Plagg so much as say sorry, but did you just make him whimper?" Adrien exclaimed.

Marinette blinked. "...Yes?"

"No!" Plagg yelled from inside. "I had a tickle in my throat!"

Tikki rolled her eyes. "I swear, Marinette, you are the one person that can make Plagg cower in fear." She followed her boyfriend inside and upstairs.

Leaving Adrien standing in the doorway.

Clearing her throat, she moved out of the way and let him in, almost collapsing when he gave her a small, crooked smile. 

Jesus, take the wheel.

"Thanks, Marinette. So are we all playing UMS?"

How she managed to speak without stuttering, Marinette had no idea, but that's just what she did. "Yep. C'mon!"

He followed her upstairs, to where the TV was set up in front of the bickering couple. Adrien sighed and exchanged glances with Marinette, who hid her thumping heart behind an eye-roll.

Plagg and Tikki were so lost in their bickering— *cough* in each other's eyes— that they didn't notice when their younger siblings gently took the controllers from their hands.

"So, what are you gonna pick, Marinette?" Adrien asked, referring to the characters.

She hummed as she scrolled through the choices, debating the pros and cons of the robots. "I think I'll go with my usual," she replied, picking the red and black bot that was among the list of her personal favorites. "What about you?" Marinette said exepectantly, turning towards Adrien.

Adrien laughed quietly. "Well then, I'll be the Cat Noir to your Ladybug, M'lady."

She almost snorted at the reference to the superhero comics they had all been obsessed with at a young age.

"More like Ladybot and Cat Machine." Marinette replied, prompting Adrien to burst out laughing. Tikki and Plagg finally noticed that they had taken control, but Marinette and Adrien paid no heed to the indignant squawks that came from them.

No, they were too busy laughing, talking, and trying to kick each other's butts— so much so that they didn't notice when Tikki finally got up and retreated to her room with Plagg so they could do something by themselves.

"You know, you look so much like Ladybug that it's kind of scary."

"You don't look too far from Cat Noir either, alley cat. Just got to ruffle up that mane of yours a bit," Marinette teased, reaching over to dig her hands into Adrien's hair.

Adrien laughed, trying to swat her hands away but Marinette prevailed. Turning to look at her work, she couldn't help but laugh. "Yep, there you go. Now all you need is to get a pair of cat ears, some cat eyes, and the suit and mask, and you're good to go!"

Adrien pushed his hair back just as victory music came from the game and she whipped around to face the screen, astonished. "Mm-hmm. And you need to pay attention 'cause I just won!"

"That's not fair— you distracted me!"

"All's fair in love and war."

"I'm going to ignore the fact that you just stated the most cliche and over-used line ever, and simply remind you that this was just round one. The game isn't over yet!"

"Tell that to the victory symbol, I can beat you with my eyes closed!"

"Oh, yeah? Let's see it! And don't worry— I'll go easy on you," Marinette said sweetly.

Adrien just grinned back at her.

Ten minutes later, that grin had faded to an over-dramatic expression of misery. "Mercy— where did your mercy go, Marinette?" Adrien croaked.

"What mercy? All's fair in love and war remember?" Marinette snorted back at him, earning herself a glare from the blonde.

There was a peaceful silence for a moment as they both calmed a bit.

"What now?" Marinette asked, turning to watch Adrien scratch his chin thoughtfully.

(And possibly trying not to drool at how his biceps flexed as he moved his arms back and forth.)

"I've been thinking—"

"That's a surprise."

Adrien shot a glare at Marinette and she grinned. "Sorry, continue."

"I've been thinking— wasn't Ladybug's civilian name Marinette?"

"In the comics?" Marinette asked. Adrien nodded. "Yeah, it was. I remember because Tikki would tease me about it mercifully when we were young. Or younger, I guess. But why?"

"Because, oddly enough, Cat Noir's name was Adrien."

"Huh."

"Yeah."

"That's a big coincidence."

"Yeah."

"So that means that you're a cat."

"Yeah. Wait, what?" Adrien said suddenly, startled as Marinette laughed.

"That settles it, I'm calling you 'kitty' from now on!" Marinette declared and Adrien scowled.

"Well, fine then, I'm calling you 'bug.'"

"Forget 'kitty,' you're more like a mangy alley cat," Marinette retorted and Adrien burst out laughing.

"Oh my god, we're literally Ladybug and Cat Noir in real life."

Marinette suddenly stopped. "Wait a second. Not only are we literally like LB and Cat, we've even been using the characters inspired by them in UMS."

Adrien chuckled. "I guess you were right."

"Huh?"

"Not Ladybug and Cat Noir. More like Ladybot and Cat Machine."