Chapter Text
Marinette collapsed face first onto her bed with a groan. She didn’t think she could take much more of this. Take much more of Chloe. She thought that bad luck was supposed to be Chat Noir’s territory but apparently it loved to share itself round. On the plus side at least Chloe insisted that she arrive as Ladybug and stay as Ladybug and leave as Ladybug. Even though she was no longer anonymous the mask still gave her comfort. She was still a superhero afterall.
Chat Noir had a point. If she could find a Ladybug to be in the same room as Marinette, then it would all work out. Chloe hadn’t seen the transformation come off, just that Ladybug went into the and closet Marinette out.
But why would she keep up the ruse? There didn’t really need to be an explanation right?
“What do I do Tikki?” She sighed, turning her face to the side.
Tikki drifted down to sit next to her head, placing a hand on the tip of her nose. “You’ll think of something.”
Marinette scrunched up her nose. “Why would Ladybug want Chloe to think that she is Marinette?”
Tikki shrugged, removing her hand. “Maybe Ladybug was hoping that Chloe would tell everyone?”
Marinette frowned. But why would Ladybug do that. Maybe she was trying to draw an Akuma out of hiding? Or was trying to lure Hawkmoth out? But would she endanger someone like that? Maybe Marinette was just a really big fan? Either way though, she would need Marinette and Ladybug to appear in the same place at the same time.
What if she did it in a video? Nino was good with video, Alya had her blog where maybe the video could be put up. But she’d need them to know… and then her problem went from Chloe to, Nino and Alya knowing.
“What about Chat Noir?” Tikki said. Marinette started, she didn’t realise she’d been hypothesising out loud. To be honest the thought of telling anyone made her chest tight, as though she couldn’t get enough air in her lungs. What if she told Chat Noir her civilian identity and he was disappointed. What if they were all disappointed…
“Ah, why’d this have to happen to me?” She flailed, flipping over onto her back. “What if he doesn’t like me. What if it ruins our partnership.”
Tikki hopped up onto her chest, staring down at her with a soft smile. “I think you should give him some more credit. He cares for you, or the kiss wouldn’t have worked when you fought Dark Cupid.”
Marinette sighed. “I should have more faith in my friends. Maybe it better they know. It’s been a over a year now. I’ll talk to him tomorrow then we can decide how to tell the others.”
Tikki smiled, leaning forward to pat Marinette gently. “It’s a good choice.”
“I hope so.”
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The next day at school, Marinette was distracted. Alya liked to think that after being friends since childhood she had a pretty good idea on when something was bothering her. But she wasn’t looking at Adrien, or staring blankly at her exercise book as though that would help the words into her head.
This wasn’t the same though.
Excusing the downright bizarre behaviour of Chloe, and by extension Marinette, this was odd. She was… nervous? Normally when she was like this it was on days that she’d convinced herself to confess to Adrien, but it wasn’ that.
She continued to ponder what could be bothering Marinette right up until lunch time when out of nowhere she stopped Nino on his way out.
“Ah, Nino, can I ask a favour? In private maybe?” She asked quickly. Nino paused in the doorway, sharing a confused look with Adrien before shrugging and smiling.
“No problem. Now?”
Marinette nodded.
“I’ll see you after lunch then Nino.” Adrien said with a small confused look and a wave.
“See you.” Nino waved.
Alya frowned, finishing up; gathering her things. “I guess I’ll see you after lunch?” She asked on her way past.
“Wait, I need you here too.” Marinette said quickly, snatching her wrist.
“Okay but you better spill soon, you’ve been acting really weird today.” Alya said with a frown, moving around to stand next to Nino.
“Yeah. Sorry it’s just… you guys can keep a secret right?” Marinette said nervously, taking a few moments to gather her courage. Alya glanced over at Nino who seemed just as confused as she was.
“Okay” Marinette drew a breath in. “Ladybug asked me to help her.”
Alya shrieked with excitement while Nino choked on his next breath. “What?!”
Marinette’s eye widened and she rushed to cover Alya’s mouth. “It’s a secret!” She said quickly. “She wants us to all meet her tonight, but you guys seriously can’t tell anyone.”
Nino frowned. “First Chloe is her best friend now she wants to meet us? How did she ask you anyway?” He asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
Marinette was prepared for this question. “She remembered me from the Evillustrator, she knows Alya from her blog, and you from that time with the Horrificator. She said something about the thing with Chloe being part of a strategy to find an Akuma?”
Alya broke out in a wide smile. “I knew ladybug wouldn’t be friends with her.”
Nino grinned as well, accepting her explanation. “So where do we meet her?”
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Chat Noir was confused. It wasn’t surprising to be honest. He often found himself perplexed at least to some degree when it came to his Lady. He had barely had time to set foot in his room after school before she was calling him. Now he was waiting not so patiently on a roof no too far from a bakery he was very familiar with.
His tail flicked back and forth. Ladybug had made it sound urgent. She had also mentioned his plan from yesterday (which was why, he assumed, they were meeting near Marniette’s house), which made him jittery. He had always wanted to know who Ladybug was, and now it seemed like he was getting his wish he was nervous. He wasn’t sure if it was a good nervous or a bad nervous but he’d been fidgeting since he arrived.
He was hyper alert to the sound of hesitant footfalls coming up from behind him. He would know the sound of that step in a sandstorm. He turned around, armed with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “You called?”
“I was thinking about the plan you had yesterday.” She said quietly. It was such a step back from Ladybug’s confident tones that he realised instantly how uncomfortable this thought was to her.
“My Lady, if you do not want me to know.” He swallowed his disappointment, this was about what was best for Ladybug, not him. “Then you don’t have to. I am sure we can come up with a new idea.”
The corner of her lips quirked up. “That’s why I can tell you Chat.”
His heart thunked hard in his chest. Ladybug turned to look out over the city, as though looking at him would make her too nervous to continue talking. “After so long as partners, and even if….” She took a deep breath. “Even if my civilian identity isn’t as exciting as you may hope. I have faith in you Chat Noir, you won’t let me down.”
She turned meeting his eyes, confidence returning to her posture. “Even as a civilian, you’d try your best to protect me. I know I can trust you.” She said firmly, squaring her shoulders. Chat Noir’s mouth went dry. This was it. The big moment, but...
“My Lady.” He said reaching out. It wasn’t right for her to do this alone when she had been the most reluctant to reveal her secret. “I could never permit a lady such as yourself to take a leap of faith alone.” He held her hand gently in hers.”Shall we both do it together, partner?”
Her smile could have blinded the sun, hand tightening around his.
“Tikki”
“Plagg”
“Release Transformation.”
He closed his eyes on impulse so he didn’t see so much as feel his Lady’s body tense. The whole of Paris could probably hear his heartbeat as his gloves melted away and he felt a soft hand in his.
“Adrien.” Her voice was so quiet he could barely hear it. He felt her shocked exhale fan over his face, and was almost afraid to peek open his own eyes. This was it. He drew in a deep breath and slowly forced his eyes to open.
“Marinette!” He couldn’t believe it. Quiet and clumsy Marinette, who couldn’t string words together around him had been behind the mask all along. The fearless lady who stood strong in danger was also the girl who had cunningly protected her fashion designs with hidden signatures, who encouraged her classmates. They didn’t feel so different the longer he thought about it.
“I can’t believe it’s you!” She whispered, a blush as red as her mask burning across her cheeks, her blue eyes wide.
Adrien tried for a Chat Noir smile. “I can’t believe I didn’t notice that my princess was also my ladybug.” He laughed softly. “I should’ve seen it earlier. Your eyes are still the bluest I’ve ever seen.”
Her flush became worse and she struck out a hand to gently shove him back, embarrassed by his antics where previously she would’ve just rolled her eyes. At first she couldn’t believe that Adrien was the flirtatious Chat Noir, now she couldn’t believe that she had missed the signs that he was. Those cat green eyes and soft blonde hair. The straight line of his teeth and the lift at the corner of his lips when he smiled. His voice.
“I guess this explains why you weren’t thrilled by my plan to use you as your doppelganger.” He joked, cutting through her dumbstruck state to startle a laugh from her; a little bit of the nervousness in her body bleeding away as she heard Chat Noir’s playful tones in Adrien’s warm timbre.
“I’ve found a way around that problem.” She grinned.
He bumped her shoulder. “My Lady is the strategiser.”
She flushed. This was going to take some getting used to. “I was going to ask if you knew Alya and Nino but I guess I don’t have to worry about that now.”
He smiled. It looked like she had come up with a similar plan to his own yesterday afternoon. But if she was going to include them in… “You are planning on revealing yourself to them?”
Marinette smiled nervously. “They’ve been my friends for a long time, I trust them to keep the secret safe. I… I wanted to tell you first though.” She confided.
He smiled, wide and genuine, rushing forward to fold her into a hug. “I’m glad it was you Marinette. I’m glad you trusted Chat Noir enough to tell me.”
She tensed in his arms, startled and star struck with the fact that Adrien was hugging her. Her brain was frazzled, but then she caught the faint scent of worn leather and the bouquet of aromas she associated with Chat Noir and felt her body relax. They regularly invaded each other's personal space during battles and on patrols. While woah-oh-my-holy-Adrien was still rushing through her head, it was also just Chat Noir, her reliable, dorky partner in world-saving crime.
She wrapped her arms around him. He gripped her tighter. She was so glad he wasn’t disappointed. That he’d seen that it was her and smiled. “I’m glad it’s you too.”
He squeezed her one last time before letting go and stepping back, a goofy grin spread across his face.
“Ahem.”
And just like that the moment passes. Adrien sighed, rolling his eyes. “How could I have forgotten. Marinette, this is Plagg. He’s the cheese eating glutton who gives me bad luck and transforms me into the amazing Chat Noir.” He said, gesturing to the small, floating cat like creature behind him.
Plagg crossed his arms over his chest, moving forward to be between Marinette and Adrien. “Maybe if you fed me better your luck would improve.” He grumbled. “Nice to meet you, Marinette.”
Marinette laughed, before suddenly remembering her own kawami. She glanced around, spotting the tiny figure just behind her. “Oh, I’m sorry Tikki, I got a bit caught up in everything. Adrien, this is Tikki.”
“It’s good to meet you at last Adrien.” Tikki said, flitting forward to nudging into the side of Plagg. “Long time no see.”
Adrien was shocked to see Plagg actually smile, looking somewhat satisfied with himself as he nudged Tikki back. “Not as long as last time.”
It made sense that they would know each other. He’d gotten the impression from Plagg that they weren’t the first Chat Noir and Ladybug duo. He looked away from Tikki and Plagg, facing Marinette once again.
“So what now?” Adrien asked.
“I asked Nino and Alya to meet me at my house, I told them Ladybug had a mission for them.” She smiled, though it wavered. She was nervous. Revealing herself once today was more than enough. Seeing her hesitance he moved forward to rest a hand on her shoulder.
“I’ll be right beside you.” He tried to reassure her.
She turned to him with a frown. “You don’t have to reveal yourself, I’m the one who messed up.”
He shook his head. “We’re a team.” She smiled, he felt his heart flutter a little. He had been so nervous leading up to the reveal, worried who was behind the mask even though he was sure he would love her anyway. He needn’t have been worried. Now he couldn’t imagine anyone else. “So let’s go team CatBug. Time to meet some friends.”
She laughed. “Oh why? Don’t call us that.”
------
Alya was surprised to find Adrien already in Marinette’s room as she and Nino arrived. She threw a glance at Marniette who flustered a little (but not nearly as much as being next to Adrien would warrant) and asked them to sit on the couch.
“Okay, so what’s the deal?” Nino asked, glancing between the two. “I didn’t realise Adrien would also be here.”
Marinette laughed a little awkwardly. “Yeah, I wasn’t sure who would be here, but it’s good. It’s fine.” She said somewhat shyly, Alya confused at the grin that tugged at the corner of Adriens mouth. That was new.
“Where is Ladybug?” Alya asked, glancing around. There was no where in Marinette’s room for her to hide the superhero.
“Ah, so if you could both turn off your phones?” Marinette asked a little nervously. It was a little unusual for her to be so anxious. Alya frowned, as did Nino, but they complied, shutting down their phones
Marinette took a deep breath. “Okay, you have to promise to take this to your grave. No one can know what I’m about to tell you.” She said, her face deeply serious.
Alya felt… anxious. Not something she was used to when dealing with Marinette. This was obviously important. She looked at Nino who also seemed to feel the heaviness of the situation.
“I promise.” She said, solemn.
Nino nodded. “Me too. Ladybug saved me once, I would like to repay her however I can.”
Marinette pursed her lips together. “Okay. Good. Well, it turns out Chloe did find out her identity.” Alya bit her tongue, irritated that after all the work she had done to uncover her identity and Chloe was the one who ended up finding out.
“It was a stupid mistake.” Marinette continued. “So to try and fix it, Ladybug needs you to doctor a video of me and her in the same room.”
Alya stared hard at her friend.
“Really? You made this big production about Ladybug and a secret when you just want to be in a video with her?” Nino snapped standing up. He felt like he’d been deceived. “If you were helping Ladybug the video wouldn’t need to be doctored at all she could just stand next to you.”
Marinette seemed to shrink a little, as Adrien stood up as though to defend her. That was very new. “That’s not possible.” She said, also moving to stand up, spine straightening resolve forming. Alya’s heart raced as suddenly something began to click together in her head, her eyes widening as she looked, properly looked at Marinette.
“Oh crap.” She breathed.
Marinette smirked a little bit, realising that it had finally clicked for Alya. “It’s impossible for me to be in a video with myself, Nino.”
Nino’s brain seemed to briefly shut down and he flopped back onto the couch as Alya shot to her feet, lunging at Marinette.
“I can’t believe it!” She shrieked with excitement, wrapping her arms around her friend. Marinette hugged her back, feeling relief crash over her even as she was swept up in the excitement of her friend finally knowing. Her shoulders felt so much lighter now as she held on to her friend who was twitching and jumping with excitement, crushing the smaller girl to her.
“I don’t believe it.” Nino breathed. “But, you can be so clumsy and shy and....”
Adrien seemed to take pity on his friend. “She is.” He reassured him, moving to sit next to him and offer support. “She’s definitely Ladybug.”
“How did I never notice?” Alya asked, shaking Marinette with excitement as the raven haired girl laughed in relief.
“Ah, I’m responsible for that.” A quiet, high pitched voice interjected. Alya shrieked, releasing Marinette and jumping backwards at the sudden appearance of a small red creature emerging from Marinette’s bag.
Marinette laughed, offering a hand for the small creature to rest on. “This is Tikki, she transforms me into Ladybug.” She explained. Tikki waved.
“The magic that makes the suit also conceals her identity. So you remember what Ladybug looks like but unless you really find out you can’t match it to Marinette. Even if she went in costume as Ladybug, she’d look familiar but you wouldn’t be able to tell it was her.” Tikki explained.
Alya sighed. “Oh I feel so much better. I can’t believe you managed to keep it a secret this long!”
Marinette smiled sheepishly. “It definitely wasn’t easy, especially with you running the Ladyblog.” She commented light-heartedly.
Nino leant forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he seemed to recover from the revelation that he sat in front of Paris’ favourite super hero in class. And then there was a tiny adorable creature explaining how people never realised that Marinette was a dead-ringer for Ladybug. It made sense though, Marinette was always among the first to go missing when attacks happened.
He sat up and let out a long breath. Adrien laughed quietly beside him. “It’s okay man, I was the same when I found out.”
Alya frowned as she began to settle down and realised something. “Wait, how long has Adrien known? I understand why Nino and I are here but, no offense Adrien, why is he here?”
Marinette and Adrien seemed to share a glance and reach a mutual understanding, something that Alya would never have believe possible. They seemed to have an entire conversation with that glance. It ended and Adrien sporting a sly grin as he got to his feet.
“I found out just a moment ago.” He explained, dusting imaginary dirt from his jeans and drawing up his courage. ‘I can do this’ He thought to himself, pulling on some Chat Noir courage. “And it wasn’t a planned thing that she would tell me specifically, but uh…” He pulled back overshirt to reveal where Plagg was tucked away in his pocket, peering over the edge at everyone.
“This is Plagg, he transforms me into Chat Noir.” He explained sheepishly as the tiny black cat-like creature emerged from his pocket.
Alya’s shriek of incredulity reached new levels. This was too much. It was too incredible, too dare she say, Miraculous. She could handle any more. She had always speculated on who they would be, but who they were was far better than she could ever had imagined.
“You’re Chat Noir?!” Nino exclaimed gripping Adrien by the shoulders as he continued to look somewhat sheepish. Nino now had some inkling of how Alya had felt learning that Marinette was Ladybug. This was his best friend. He spent so many afternoons and classes together, how had he failed to notice that he was always missing when there was danger.
Adrien was still behaving sheepishly when Nino gave him the biggest smile he could manage. “Dude, that’s awesome. What’s it like to transform? Can I see it?”
“Noooo.” Groaned Plagg from where he had drifted out of Adrien’s pocket. “I would need way more cheese before there will be any miraculous transformations.”
“Cheese?” Nino asked.
Adrien shrugged. “Transformation takes a lot of energy, so Plagg eats a lot of cheese to get the energy for it.”
“Tikki likes cookies.” Marinette piped up, coming over to join the boys, Alya still quietly freaking out behind her.
“That sounds much more pleasant than always carrying camembert around.” Adrien sighed.
“Do you want to wear the bright red leotard?” Plagg needled, leering at Adrien who just shrugged him off. He would normally, as Chat Noir, say something lewd about getting into the leotard but he was sure Marinette would explode at the comment.
As it was the group of friends shared a laugh, dispersing the tension and with the tension gone came the questions.
“How long does the transformation last?”
“When did you first transform?”
“Are you strong out of transformation as well?”
“Who was the first Akuma?”
“How did you know…”
Alya had an endless list and Marinette reminded her more than once that none of this was ever to reach the Ladyblog. When they had finally exhausted the questions they decided to start executing “Team Catbug’s” amazing plan of doctoring Marinette into footage of Ladybug to put on the Ladyblog.
Both Alya and Nino were enraptured as their friends transformed before their eyes. The quick rush of light and magic that turned Marinette to Ladybug and Adrien to Chat Noir. It was something more than that though. There eyes shone with energy, and they stood strong and confident. They were themselves, but not themselves.
Alya could see hints of her friend now that she knew that it was her beneath the red and black, but there were aspects that weren’t. The confidence that Marinette could present at times oozed from Ladybug. She was powerful, and she knew that. There was intelligence in her eyes and a sureness in her movements that wasn’t quite the same.
Nino was having similar revelations about his friend Adrien. Where Adrien was polite and somewhat awkward at times, Chat Noir was confidence. His posture challenging and cocky, his smile sly, his eyes gleaming like gas lamps against the black of his mask. His body lean, strong and fluid where Adrien maintained a stiffness that spoke of the constant scrutiny his body was placed under.
It wasn’t a day and night change, but there was a change. Maybe it was the magic, maybe it was anonymity of being behind the mask. Maybe both.
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It didn’t take long for the video to circulate the school/internet. It was only simple footage of Alya and Marinette hiding while Ladybug and Chat Noir held a quiet conversation not too far from them, Chat Noir dropping a kiss to her hand before parting. It was posted on the blog under the heading “Ladybug and Chat Noir spotting!” and a brief article stating where and for how long and speculation on if Ladybug and Chat Noir just met up casually when there wasn’t an attack. If Ladybug liked Chat Noir etc. It wasn’t viral but it was enough. Enough to send Chloe into a simmering rage at being fooled. Enough to spawn at least two Akuma’s from Chloe’s acidic attitude for the rest of the week.
As Chloe stormed from the room for the third time that morning alone Adrien and Marinette shared a small smile and fist bump.
“Mission Accomplished”