Shattered

23) The Full Story

Hugo's POV
The moment the video ended there were so many different reactions it was hard to keep track.

Most of the girls were squealing and awing at the adorable proposal.

A few off the boys were fist bumping Adrien and congratulating him... even through he wouldn't actually be proposing for another year and a half.

Adrien was holding Mari close, hugging her and smiling like he did in the video.

Everyone else was still in shock about the superhero thing, that they couldn't do much but stare at the couple.

Soon the same realization struck the rest of them, and the playful mood became a bit more serious.

"Is this real? Are you guys actually Ladybug and Chat Noir?" Alix asked.

"Yeah," Marinette responded, "we are."

"Can you..." Nathaniel began to ask, obviously still trying to comprehend the situation.

"Prove it?" Adrien finished for him. Nate nodded in reply.

"Plagg, claws out!"

"Tikki, spots on!" The couple yelled simultaneously. Everyone watched in awe as the suits replaced the casual clothing they had been wearing.

"So the portal, you know, the one future you made... was that the horse miraculous?"

"Yup." I responded, taking over the q and a session.

"And you said you had a backup in case Max couldn't fix the time machine, were you talking about the rabbit?" Questioned Alix.

"Yup."

"So all this time... it's been you?"

Lb and Cn gave each other a knowing smile before calling off their transformations.

"This explains the weird nicknames!" Kim randomly yelled.

"Yeah," everyone chimed in.

"Everyone has been wondering what's up with the bug and cat themed names, and that actually makes sense." Replied Sabrina.

"How long have you known each other's identities?"

"About six months." Replied Marinette.

"That's it?"

"Yeah, Adrien started visiting Marinette, not Ladybug... but me as Chat Noir about a year ago, and that's when I realized what he really meant to me. After that I was stuck trying to sort out my crazy crush on Adrien, and my feelings for my obnoxious flirty partner. Finding out they were one in the same is the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Adrien decided to chip in his side of the story after the girls finished awing.

"One night I got lazy while fighting off some muggers. One of them got a good swipe at me, and I saw Mari's light on. I asked her for help, and I kept going back. Every night we would just sit and talk, or watch a movie, or even work on homework and her designs. That's when I realized I was in love with Marinette Dupain-Cheng. The problem... I couldn't just forget about Ladybug, the other girl I cared about more than anything in the world, and she had just started to act like she might actually be reciprocating my feelings! At the time I had no idea why, but now it's pretty obvious." The girls giggled at his obliviousness before he continued.

"When we went to finish off Hawkmoth, our miraculous' came off and we finally figured out who was behind the masks. I was so... so angry at him for hurting the girl I loved, and even when I found out that he was my own father, I couldn't think about anything other than how relieved I was that she was safe. And once the realization hit that my dad was a terrorist, she was there for me in a way no one else was, no one else could be, and offered her home to me."

"So that's why you two just started acting like a married couple one day." Concluded Alix, fighting her way through her classmates squeals.

"Pretty much," giggled Marinette. "We tried to keep our relationship platonic until the Hawkmoth situation settled down, but that didn't last long. A couple weeks after we admitted we were dating, Ladynoir made their debut on an interview. The rest is history."

"So you guys had two different ships?" Questioned Ivan. "I mean there was Adrinette and Ladynoir."

Emma, Louis, Nino, Alya, Mari, Adrien, and I just laughed.

"Four, actually," Emma tried to explain.

"It was the holy grail of obliviousness, aka, the love square."

"Love square?" Asked Chloe, "what the heck is a love square?"

"It's when two dorks with two identities love each other but have no idea." Concluded Alya.

"Basically," I commented, "Mari liked Adrien and Chat liked Ladybug, despite the fact that Mari was Lb and Adrien was in fact Cn. They kept rejecting each other, or just didn't notice each other's romantic pursuits, until Adrien fell for Mari and Lb fell for her partner. At this point, the two were at civil war within themselves trying to decide who they loved more, just to realize all along that it was one person. This led to some of the most painful and awkward days of their lives." I concluded.

"Pretty much." Summed up Adrien.

The rest of the class just stared, attempting to comprehend how someone could be so dense and not die from a lack of brain cells.

Marinette's cheeks turned as red as tomato child's hair until she finally responded, "those weren't our proudest moments, but it all worked out in the end." She snuggled closer to her boyfriend.

"Yes it did, m'lady." He whispered as he lightly kissed her on the top of the head.

"Ew! PDA!" Yelled Kim, trying time make a scene.

"That was nothing," smirked Adrien before pulling his girlfriend in and passionately kissing her on the lips.

"Close your eyes! Protect your innocence!" Added Alya a few moments later, considering the fact that they had added sound affects and lots of arm movement to add to the drama.

"Now that's PDA." Mari finally retorted, giving a smirk that matched Adrien's.

Over the next few hours, we sat and talked as the class asked more questions about life as a superhero. It seemed they were finally adjusting to the discovery.

We spent the rest of the night hanging out, making dinner, and testing out the game room and hot tub.

When everyone finally went to bed, a new realization hit me. Tomorrow, they were coming to school. Tomorrow, I had to keep an entire class from learning the truth about the new students. Tomorrow was to be the first day of a long two weeks.