Miraculous Ladybug: The Lifeguard

Chapter 9 - It all made pur-fect sense...

The person that lay in front of her had still surprised her, just a little once his miraculous had powered down. The teen model underneath was still wearing his grey rash top and tight black jammers that were not too dissimilar to Chat Noir's leather getup.

There wasn't much Jess could do, except move the secret hero of Paris into the office, out of sight for now and wait for him to awaken from his concussed sleep.

Ladybug had zipped away, there wasn't much time to get any real distance away from the aquatic centre, so she opted to hide in the girls change room. As soon as she latched the door of the stall closed, her transformation broke, leaving Marinette in her modest red one piece swimsuit. She walked out carefully from the stall, checking that nobody was about yet, and fetched a cookie for Tikki from her bag on the grandstand, before sneaking back down into the girls change room.

This had caught the watchful eye of Jess the lifeguard, who stood outside her office waiting for everyone to come back, now that the Akuma attack was over. She was worried that people were still in the change rooms, cowering in fear. She gave one last glance back at the still unconscious Adrien Agreste before heading over to the change rooms.

"Hello? Anyone in here?" Jess yelled into the echo filled ladies change room, poking her head in to find it empty, bar one young lady in a red swimsuit.

Marinette shrieked. Jess thinking that she thought that she was still akumatized tried to calm her. "It's okay! I'm not akumatized anymore, Ladybug and Chat Noir were just here, everything is okay now." She knew for almost certain that Marinette was Ladybug, although she kept up the guise that she didn't.

The girl quickly composed herself, not that she was afraid, she knew full well that the Akuma had been dealt with, she was Ladybug after all. But the sudden entrance had spooked her, and wasn't Jess supposed to be looking after Chat Noir?

"You are friends with the boy that got injured earlier today aren't you?" The lifeguard asked. Marinette bumbled an affirmative response. "Would you mind keeping an eye on him? He's asleep, my office, someone must have moved him their during my...." She didn't finish.

"Uhhrmm hhaah, yes, of course." The girl agreed and followed the lifeguard out. Marinette was thankful Adrien was safe and sound, although she wondered who would have moved him, she didn't see anyone else around during or before the fight. Perhaps it was Nino and Alya? But Alya would have almost certainly stayed around and got footage for the Ladyblog. It was a perplexing riddle to solve, another time. Right now, she was stood in front of the boy of her dreams as he layed on the floor of the lifeguard's office, a flat cushion under his head and still in his designer swimwear.

"I've got to go let people know it's safe to come back, I'll be back soon." Jess said, leaving Marinette and Adrien alone.

She sat cross-legged on the floor and adjusted the straps of her swimsuit. She was centimetres away from the angelic boy she had pined after for the best part of two years. He was peacefully sleeping, she could hear his breathing and it comforted her.

"Adrien, you dont know how long I've wanted to tell you this...." Marinette started, her heart thumping in her chest. "I.... I love you. And not just because you're a model, or a super amazing person..... But because you're my friend."

The sleeping boy lay still.

"I feel... like I know you, and you know me. Like we've spent hours and hours together, when we haven't really talked that much at all.... At least not alone." Her eyes began to leak and she felt like she needed to anchor herself down before she floated away. She slipped her fingers into his hand and gave a gentle squeeze.

"I love you Adrien, even if you don't love me back, I'm happy to call you a friend." A tear ran down her face and she wiped it with her free hand with a small sniff.

The boy started to move his lips and wiggle his body, like he was having a dream.

"Pound it...." Adrien murmured almost too quiet for Marinette to hear, but she had heard him alright. Her skin went pale, even more than usual, and she felt like a ghost had just passed through her.

She had put it all together in a matter of nanoseconds. The silver ring on his finger, fencing skills, modelling techniques, how he thought she was Ladybug after she had rescued him from the pool, how she never really sees Chat and Adrien in the same place and a million other small idiosyncrasies that Adrien and Chat share, including their interesting humor, it all made pur-fect sense. She was right to be worried earlier, but not of Adrien being delusional, but of his subconscious coming out to play.

Marinette had thought that she'd meet Chat Noir eventually, the real Chat, without the mask; possibly after Hawkmoth was defeated and Paris was safe and not in need of the superhero duo anymore. But that time had come, now, right now and she honestly was not expecting it to be Adrien Agreste. She had a dream once where Adrien was Chat Noir, and it just didn't feel right and had dismissed it as a total possibly after that. But now it seemed like the most obvious thing in the world, the earth is round, water is wet and Adrien Agreste; teen model extraordinaire is Parisian superhero Chat Noir.

She looked to his lips again as they moved to make mumbled gibberish. Gibberish was all it seemed to be as she strained her ears to decipher it, but with a sudden jolt, Adrien was awake.

"Aaaa, lay still! The lifeguard will be back soon!" Marinette covertly slipper her hand out from his.

The boy looked around the room groggily, fixating on the girl to his side. "M.... My lady?" He said weakly.

Another year fell from Marinette's face. She did not know if it was a happy or sad weep yet. She rose off of the floor and leaned in closer to the boy, and placed a tender kiss on his forehead.

"I'm here my Chaton.... You are safe now...."

Fin.

Epilogue:

Everyone had returned to the pool and life went on as normal as it always does, status quo restored, except for Ladybug and Chat Noir.

All of the classmates had enjoyed their remaining time at the pool, while Marinette had stayed behind in the lifeguard's private office to watch over Adrien.

The boy had come around to semi-coherant conscious soon after he had awoke, and that's when Marinette told him she was Ladybug.

To say he took it well would be an understatement, he was over the moon, but that might have also been the painkillers the lifeguard had fetched for him kicking in.

The duo spent the rest of the outing in each other's company, talking in the privacy of the office about everything and anything they had wanted to share about their double lives. It was only when Miss Bustier had come to fetch them, did they realise they had been chatting for hours.

Marinette had told Adrien to get some rest that evening and she would cover the patrol and he reluctantly agreed. They still had a lot to talk about and with summer break coming up, she knew that her and Adrien would now be spending a lot more time together, in and out of costume.