Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sabine checked her phone again in anxiety. There hadn't been an akuma attack in the last two days, which meant that one would begin any second. She'd been telling herself that every few minutes since breakfast. Tom was playing video games with Marinette, hunched forward over his controller. He was supposed to be getting information out of her, but it didn't look like he was trying too hard. Sabine watched them while she stirred the soup. Steam rose off the surface in faint curls and twists.

The phone screen lit up, and she grabbed it. An emergency alert. An akuma had been spotted. Civilians were advised to shelter in place until Ladybug and Cat Noir had dealt with the problem.

It was the same message that she'd read dozens of times (and ignored more often than that), but now it made her mind numb with fear. But she had to go through with their plan.

"Oh, there's another akuma attack." Her voice sounded hollow and forced. To her dismay, Marinette immediately paused her game and turned around, eyebrows pinched with concern.

"Where is it?"

"Parc Montsouris," Sabine said. "I just got the text."

Marinette looked out the window, her face steely, game controller forgotten next to her. Tom and Sabine shared a worried glance.

"Dinner won't be ready for another half hour," Sabine said, then took a deep breath to keep her voice from shaking. This was the most important stage of the plan. "Did you finish all your homework?" Please. Please, say yes.

"Oh, uh, now that you mention it, I do remember that I forgot to do something." Marinette waved goodbye quickly, then bolted up her stairs, letting the trapdoor thump loudly behind her. Sabine came to sit next to Tom, soup completely abandoned.

"It's looking likely," he said. Sabine could only nod. Her fingers were cold, and she flexed them to try to bring life back to them, but it didn't help. Her whole body felt numb, and she wondered if she would actually go into shock.

Tom reached for the remote and switched to the news. Cat Noir flitted across the screen, fighting a giant frog monster by himself. He jumped off window ledges and rolled across the empty street to avoid a steady stream of some type of red projectile.

The camera was far away, and the angle was bad so it was difficult to tell, but he looked like a teenager himself. He was thin and lanky, like he was in the middle of a growth spurt.

"We could still be wrong," Tom said.

Nod.

Ladybug swung into view amid scattered applause. Cat Noir dodged a jet of steaming red goo that shot out of the akuma's wide mouth and shouted hello to his partner. She waved back, her cheerfulness jarring against the backdrop of the fight and Sabine's own dread.

"Do you want me to check?" Tom asked.

She couldn't even nod. The screen had her transfixed. She barely registered the shift of the sofa and the creak of the floorboards under his footsteps.

Tom reached the top of the stairs. "Marinette?" No answer. He knocked on the trapdoor, and it sounded hollow. "Marinette?"

Sabine closed her eyes as the trapdoor creaked open and Tom's footsteps disappeared into their daughter's room.

Faint screams and gasps from the television filled the room while Sabine sat and waited, holding her breath. She didn't even hear Tom come back down.

"She's not there," he said, sitting down next to her and grabbing her hand. "And the skylight's propped open."

She squeezed back tightly. "That basically confirms it," Sabine finally said. "Our daughter is Ladybug."

Tom sighed. "Yeah."

On the screen, reporters were running for shelter, hiding behind cars and in recessed doorways, Cat Noir was yelling at civilians to stay out of the way, and bright red puddles sizzled on the cracked pavement.

"What are we going to do?" Sabine asked. "How did this even happen?"

The questions she wanted to ask were why Marinette had never told them, and how could they have not noticed for so long? How was Sabine supposed to keep her own child safe?

The camera shook as the crew set up again, much farther away, but Sabine wished they could do one closeup shot of Ladybug's face. Maybe they'd made a mistake. One good look at her face, and Sabine would be able to prove herself wrong about the superheroine's identity.

The battle had looked fine up close, but from a distance it didn't look like it was going well. The super duo was on the defensive and having a hard time avoiding the frog's goo. The akuma had covered most of the available surfaces already, so they had fewer and fewer places to safely land. Ladybug hung from a lamppost. Cat Noir was just above her, perched on top of the light her yoyo was connected to.

The cameraman crept closer and closer, finally stopping when he was a mere twenty feet from the fight, and Ladybug yelled at him. Sabine squinted at the television, but the image changed too fast, focusing instead on the monster. It was a little smaller than a car. Its muscles rippled as it stalked toward the two heroes.

"We should turn this off," Tom said, though he made no move for the remote. "She's going to be fine."

"No, I need to watch."

They flinched and gasped for the next few minutes, and Sabine shrieked when Ladybug slipped and got hit in the chest. It knocked her to the ground, but she sprung back up before Cat Noir could reach her, even though he ran at top speed, ignoring the spray aimed for him and almost getting hit himself.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Fine just... Ugh! Gross!"

"You could say you're in a sticky situation," Cat Noir said, before laughing loudly at his own joke and his partner's predicament. Sabine's heart was still pounding as she clamped down on Tom's hand.

Ladybug's face tightened with the effort of holding in her laughter, then scooped a bunch of the stuff off her stomach and reached to touch him. Thick strands of it hung off her fingers.

"Oh no, not slime!" Cat Noir jumped back, dodging both Ladybug and the akuma, who shot another mouthful at them. "Slime! Whatever will I do?"

Tom pulled Sabine closer. "Well, it doesn't look like a very dangerous one."

She was sure he was trying to reassure himself as much as her, but she wasn't having any of it. "They should be taking this threat seriously," she said. "If they're overconfident..." She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence, so it hung in the room along with her dread.

Sabine was unfortunately right to worry. The frog reared back on its hind legs and came down on the street so hard it cracked the pavement, letting out a wide stream of the goo. Ladybug, still distracted with teasing her partner, didn't react fast enough. Cat Noir did, and he jumped forward fast enough to shield her, though he got a faceful of slime. He spat it out on the ground while Sabine and Tom leaned forward in their seats, desperate to know if he was all right.

Ladybug just patted him on the back and laughed while he wiped his face with both hands.

"See?" Tom said. "See? He's fine. They're both fine."

"That thing can break pavement. What if it had landed on them?"

But the atmosphere changed as their daughter laughed with her friend. They seemed so earnest in their amusement and maybe even relaxed. The voices of the onlookers and reporters changed in response, becoming less strained. A few people laughed along with them.

The news report itself even changed. Cat Noir tried smearing the goo on a camera as a warning when it got too close, smiling the whole time, while Ladybug rolled her eyes at his antics.

Her parents watched their exchange in interest. Despite the levity they were injecting into the fight, Cat Noir was obviously still very protective of their daughter, which they were both grateful for. He pushed her out of the way of another jet of slime when she was distracted by her own Lucky Charm, and he didn't hesitate to continue fighting without her while she took a few minutes to set up a trap for the monster. They didn't miss the adoration on his face as he watched her.

Ladybug – Marinette – was protective of her partner too. When the monster got too close to him, she would yell out a warning. When it landed on top of him with another sickening crack, she dropped the trap she was crafting and leapt forward to wrench the monster off of him. To anyone else, Ladybug still looked calm and in control, but to her parents, they saw the panic that briefly flashed across her face when she realized her partner might be hurt.

That delay made the fight take a little longer than it might otherwise have been. At the end, Ladybug dashed off, hand over an earring. Cat Noir waved at her as she left, a hesitant smile on his face, then turned and comforted the frog victim, who was now nothing more than a disheveled and confused-looking man in his fifties.

"She'll be coming home soon," Tom said. "Should we go up there and wait for her?"

"Not yet," Sabine said.

The reporters were trying to get close again, no doubt to interview Cat Noir and the latest victim. The poor man looked shaken, and Cat Noir did his best to shield him from the reporters, finally picking him up and carrying him away.

"We need to talk to her about this," Tom said.

They fought against impossible odds with laughter, though they were both just children. And Cat Noir cared about their daughter so much, that was plain. How deep did that go?

"We need to talk to him too," she said.

Chapter Text

The room was dark and quiet and empty when they went up, just as Tom had told her it was. Marinette had turned her lights off and had left the skylight propped open. Cool autumn air floated down through it. The other window was still latched shut.

"Our daughter is a superhero," Tom said. "I'm not sure if I want to swell with pride or cover her in bubble wrap."

There seemed to be nothing they could do at the moment. "What happens if it starts to rain?" Sabine asked. Whenever something went horribly wrong, and she started feeling out of control, she had a habit of fixing her attention on the least pressing problem she could. It was all she could do not to panic. Her baby was letting herself get attacked by monsters every other day. "Her bed will get soaked."

"We'll just have to make sure we close it for her," Tom said, taking her hand loosely. How was he so calm about this? "She should be back any moment. That fight wasn't far away."

Sabine led him over to Marinette's desk, which was still scattered with the fabric she'd been cutting that morning, and then positioned them underneath the loft bed. Tom raised an eyebrow at her, but Sabine shook her head and put a finger to her lips.

Less than thirty seconds later, there was a loud thud on the roof, and they both looked up reflexively. Footsteps followed, and then the creak of the bedsprings and the scrape of her skylight shutting and latching.

"Spots off!" said Marinette's voice. A flash of pink light illuminated the room briefly, making the dress form and chaise cast wide shadows. Sabine's grip on Tom's hand tightened.

"Wow!" said a new voice, high pitched and cheery. "That akuma sure was something else."

Who was that?

"Just be glad you couldn't smell it," Marinette said. "It was bad enough for me. I don't know how Cat could stand it with that nose of his. Phew!"

Marinette's feet appeared at the ladder, toes pointed toward them. Her knees came into view, then the hem of her shirt, and finally her face. Her hands froze on the ladder rungs, staring at her parents. Marinette went from a flushed smile to a mask of horrified realization, and Sabine saw her own feelings reflected back at her. There was no denying it anymore.

"Marinette?" came the unfamiliar voice. "What's wrong?"

Marinette snapped her head up toward the sound. "No, don't!"

A red blob whizzed through the air and stopped next to Marinette. "What?" it asked. It didn't have any wings, but it floated through the air just the same. Its large head facing Marinette.

"Uh, sweetie," Tom said. "What is that?"

The thing turned, abnormally large eyes rounding slightly and its antennae twitching in surprise at the sight of them.

It's like a ladybug, Sabine thought numbly, staring at the one black dot on its head. A talking ladybug.

"Oh. I was wondering if this was going to happen soon," it said.

"You could have warned me," Marinette mumbled.

"We need to talk," Sabine said mechanically, while Marinette dropped her head down onto the closest rung. "You aren't in trouble."

"Listen, I'm sorry," Marinette said. "I wanted to tell you, but I wasn't supposed to, and I didn't want you to worry, and-"

"First," Sabine said, putting her hands on her hips, "Who said you weren't supposed to? You shouldn't be keeping secrets like this from your parents."

"Uh." Marinette's eyes flicked quickly to the little creature, but she kept her head from turning toward it too.

Sabine's eyes narrowed.

"I'm Tikki," the thing said. "And I'm afraid that that's part of the burden of being Ladybug. No one is supposed to know."

"Pleased to meet you," Tom said, holding out a hand like he wanted to shake. Tikki floated over and sat on his thumb, all smiles.

"She's a minor," Sabine said. "Legally, she doesn't have the ability to make decisions and take on burdens like this without parental consent."

"I think everyone would agree that this is a special case," Tikki said.

"And I've handled the responsibility well so far, Mama," Marinette said, "Don't you think?" She finally let go of the ladder and came to stand by them. She looked so small, so young.

"You've done such a good job," Tom said. "We're very proud of you. Aren't we?"

"Of course," Sabine said, her voice still tight. "Very."

Marinette stood up a little straighter. "Thanks. Sorry I couldn't tell you."

"This is all so amazing," Tom said. "So Tikki helps you become Ladybug? Are those earrings your miraculous? Why does Hawk Moth want them?"

Marinette's hand hovered over her ear protectively. "Yeah, these are them. And we're not really sure what his whole plan is…"

"But you do know some?" he asked.

"Yeah…" Marinette glanced over at Tikki, who said nothing.

"So where did you and Cat Noir get them? How did you two-" Sabine waved to Tikki, "-meet?"

"Uh." Again, Marinette glanced at Tikki, like she was asking permission to tell her own parents the truth.

"I'm sorry," Tikki said, hovering between Marinette and Sabine. "I don't think she should say. Secrets about the miraculous need-"

"Excuse me," Sabine snapped. "I was talking to my daughter."

The mood in the room turned icy. The creature's eyes tightened around the edges, like it was sizing up the situation. And then it floated off to sit on Marinette's desk without another word.

Marinette watched the thing go, frowning, like she'd been abandoned. Sabine felt an intense dislike for the creature. Tricking a child into risking her life every single day and lying to her parents about everything? Who would do that?

Tom put a hand on Sabine's shoulder. "I'm sure there are security risks involved that we don't know about," he said.

Marinette smiled gratefully at him while Sabine shrugged his hand off.

"That doesn't take away the fact that this is extremely dangerous," Sabine said. "Do you have to fight Hawk Moth?"

"Mama!" Marinette said, taking a step back. "Of course, we do! We can't just let him terrorize Paris like this."

"That's not what she meant, sweetheart," Tom said, reached out for her and pulled her back to stand closer to them. "Couldn't you give the miraculous to someone else?" he asked, trying to make it sound more like a suggestion instead of the pleading that it was.

"No, I can't." It was Marinette's turn to glare at him, and he sighed.

"We could find someone else," Tikki said. (Marinette's glare was quick to find a new target.) "But it wouldn't put her out of danger completely. She has been chosen for this. If Hawk Moth sought her out in retaliation, she wouldn't have any way to defend herself."

"I want to do this," Marinette said. "Cat Noir needs me. We're very experienced. We've never lost yet."

"It only takes one defeat," Sabine said.

"I'm not going to lose." Marinette wrapped an arm around each of them, pulling them in closer. "I know you're worried about me, but please don't. I'm a superhero. I protect civilians, and that includes you. It's my job to worry about you now." They leaned both into her as she spoke. "And I have Tikki and Cat Noir, and his kwami too. You've always had so much faith in us. Please don't suddenly doubt me just because she's, well, me. You don't need to worry."

"The suit will protect her from almost everything," Tikki added.

"This isn't a child's job." Sabine hugged her daughter tightly. "We're your parents. We're supposed to be worrying about you. You aren't supposed to be worrying about anything except for school and making friends and having fun. This shouldn't be your job. You're not allowed to worry like this."

"I chose this job, Mama. Please understand. I want this."

They stayed like that for a while, Sabine holding her daughter close, Tom's arms around both of them. There didn't seem anything she could say to change Marinette's mind, and she wasn't sure what Marinette would do if Sabine ordered her to give the earrings up.

She didn't know her own daughter well enough to know what she would do.

Tom finally sighed. "As long as you don't get hurt."

"And you always finish your homework," Sabine added.

Marinette smiled up at them. "Usually my late homework doesn't have anything to do with superheroing. I just don't want to do it. I'll try harder, though."

Sabine took a deep breath in, glad that something was going her way in this conversation. Finally.

Marinette led them out from under her loft bed, and the kwami thing decided it was safe to rejoin the group. It kept trying to catch Sabine's eye with placating smiles, but Sabine didn't engage with it.

"We watched your fight today. Looked pretty intense," Tom said, as Marinette sat down at her desk and started pulling scraps of fabric toward herself. She didn't do anything with them except pick at the frayed edges. With each strand she pulled out, her shoulders became more relaxed, and the strain on her face that had appeared when she realized she was caught started to slip away.

"It wasn't that bad," Marinette said. "Sticky and gross, mostly."

"I want to talk to Cat Noir," Sabine said abruptly.

"What? No." Marinette dropped the blue-patterned fabric square she'd been playing with.

"Why not? You spend a lot of time with him. We'd like to meet him. He's obviously important to you."

"Because then I'd have to tell him who I am. No one is supposed to know who I am. No one."

"And I'm to assume you don't know who he is either?"

Marinette shook her head.

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with you spending time with a boy you don't know that well. It's like meeting someone from the internet."

"Mama, it's not like that at all." Marinette stood. "He was chosen too. And I do know him."

"I have a right to know who my daughter spends time with."

"No, you don't. Not when it puts my partner's identity at risk."

Out of the corner of her eye, Sabine watched Tom's gaze volley back and forth, willing her husband to take her side.

"How about this," Tom said. "We can write him a letter, and you can deliver it the next time you see him."

"Deal," Marinette said quickly.

They both looked at Sabine. Even Tikki looked up from the cookie she was nibbling on.

"You don't have a problem with that?" Sabine said, daring the thing to disagree.

It shook its head. "A letter sounds like a nice idea."

"Fine then," Sabine said, "but you can't read it, Marinette."

"Why not?"

Sabine said nothing. There really wasn't a reason for it.

"Fine," Marinette said, folding her arms like she always did when she knew she'd lost an argument. "I'll take it to him. We have patrol tomorrow night."

"And you won't peek?" Sabine asked.

"No, I won't peek." Marinette pushed past her parents and went back up to her balcony, a sign that she wanted to be alone. Just before the skylight snapped shut behind her, Sabine heard her mutter something about "parents" and "losing all faith in her."

"We wouldn't have," Sabine said, "if you'd been honest with us." She looked directly at Tikki, so it would know who should be feeling the guilt for the situation.

Tikki didn't look upset at all. Could it even feel emotions like that? It sat there and held her gaze, looking at her with old eyes, until Sabine finally looked away.

Tom stayed silent, rubbing his fingers across the fabric Marinette had abandoned, face solemn.

Sabine had never felt so helpless in her life. Her only child, her baby, shouldn't feel like she had to protect her parents. No child should have to do that. And Marinette couldn't even see how wrong this all was.

Chapter Text

Patrol was definitely Adrien's favorite part of every day. It was a chance to get out of the house and feel the wind mess up his hair. To get away from the restraints and expectations of home. He loved being able to do and say whatever he wanted. He loved being active. He loved being useful.

He loved her.

Ladybug, with her ready smile, her willingness to put others before herself, her confidence, and especially the fact that she seemed to like having him around. It was a wonderful change of pace from his normal life.

Today, they were meeting on the roof of his school, though he could never tell her what the building was to him. His feet hung over the edge as he watched people coming in and out of Marinette's patisserie. His senses were keener while in the suit, and every time someone opened a door to the bakery, he swore he could smell cookies and bread and buttercream frosting.

Ladybug dropped in beside him without a word and derailed that train of thought. She looked from side to side, like she was afraid of him. Had something happened? As he opened his mouth to ask, she held up her hand.

"I'm really, really sorry," she said. "I have some bad news. My parents figured me out."

"Oh," he said, worry coating his words. "Okay. So what's the bad news? Are they going to make you give back your miraculous?" He glanced down at a white envelope in her hands, noting how tightly she gripped it. A letter of resignation for the city maybe?

Ladybug squinted at him curiously. "That was the bad news, Cat. They found out. It's not a secret anymore."

"Oh," he said again. "Okay. So..."

"So... nothing else? That was it." She turned the envelope over and over in her hands. She still looked so uneasy.

"It's not a big deal, Bugaboo," he said, hoping the nickname would irritate her out of her anxiety. "At least they pay attention to you enough to notice. My secret should still be safe for a while!"

She frowned. "That's not funny, Kitten. Here. They wouldn't let me read it." The letter crackled as she held it out to him.

"Me?" Cat Noir took the letter with equal parts curiosity and hesitation. Ladybug's parents wanted to talk to him? He felt her eyes on him as he unfolded it and started to read.

"It's a thank you letter," he said, scanning it.

"Hey, they lectured me to be careful and they thank you?"

"Oh, there's plenty of that in here too." Plenty. But it was mostly thanks, for helping the city, for helping Ladybug, for saving their daughter's life so often. Letting him know that they cared about him. It was humbling to have someone tell him that.

There was some pleading in there for him to tell his parents, asking him to think about how much they would want him to be safe and honest with them. There was no way he would ever tell his father about any of this. Pere would take his miraculous away so fast if he thought it was putting his son in danger, or if it was any fun at all. And as for being honest with his mother… His throat tightened, and he skipped to the end.

"Their phone numbers are in here too," he said.

"What?!"

"Right here. Look." He handed it over, then watched as her mouth slowly fell open as she read.

"Well, this is a stupid idea," she said, handing it back.

"Why?" He read it over again, then folded it carefully and tucked it away in his pocket.

"You can't think of any reason this would backfire? At all?" she asked. One eyebrow arched under her mask. "No wonder she didn't want me to read it." Her voice was low, and he wasn't sure if he was supposed to have heard that part, so he didn't comment on it.

Truthfully, he could think of several ways this could end badly, but by badly, he really meant with one of their secret identities being revealed. "Ah, you worry too much."

***

They ended patrol early that night, at Cat Noir's insistence. Ladybug had assumed that he was just tired, and he didn't try to convince her otherwise. Really, that letter crackled in his pocket, tempting him to read it again. He vaulted to the bedroom window that he always left open just a crack, peeked in to make sure no one was there to see him, and dropped to the floor while dropping his transformation.

"Tired, huh?" Plagg said, surveying Adrien with skepticism. "More like you want to get back to your phone."

"Hey, they offered." Pulling out the phone and looking over the letter again, Adrien punched in their unfamiliar numbers, but his fingers hovered over the glowing screen as he contemplated the message. Were they expecting him to text right away? Should he wait until the next morning? What would he even say? Would it be weird to say "you're welcome" in his first message? Would they be offended if he didn't thank them first?

He finally settled on something simple, sent to both of them together.

Adrien: Hi! This is Cat Noir's civilian phone number. Thanks for your letter. I appreciated it.

That sounded normal, right? He almost asked Plagg, but the kwami had even less knowledge of texting protocol than Adrien himself did. Setting his phone aside, he started getting ready for bed in the dark.

He knew from experience that adults didn't usually text back right away, so he was prepared to wait until morning for their reply, but the screen lit up the room with a new message less than thirty seconds later. Adrien tried not to dive for it in excitement. And failed.

?: Hello! This is Ladybug's father. Nice to sort of officially meet you.

?: And this is her mother. Hi. :) Thank you again! Were you okay after that akuma yesterday?

Adrien: I was fine, thanks. Nothing to worry about.

?: That's good.

It felt weird to have someone ask him about it. Civilians rarely did. Plagg asking was even rarer. And he and Ladybug didn't usually have the chance before their timers ran out. It was... nice.

Adrien: Hey, what should I put your contact names as?

He had to wait a few seconds before getting an answer, but he quickly found out why.

?: Ladybug just lectured us about not telling you our real names. Seems to think it's a security risk. Can't imagine why!

?: Some call me... Tim.

?: Cat Noir dear, since you can't see it, please imagine a woman slightly shorter than Ladybug with short hair rolling her eyes at her husband.

Adrien: I get that reaction from Ladybug a lot. I guess I know where she gets it from. :)

During the pause in conversation that followed, Adrien typed in the new name.

Tim: Oh. My wife's getting lectured again. Too much information.

Adrien: Tell LB I said nothing bad's going to happen.

Tim: She says she doesn't believe you.

"Hey." Plagg floated over and sat on the screen to get Adrien's attention.

Adrien had to blink before his eyes could readjust enough to see the kwami through the screen's afterimage. "What?"

"I've asked you for cheese twice already. Stop chatting with your future in-laws before I starve to death!"

His stomach flipped a little bit. "Do you really think they're my-"

"I'm hungry!"

Adrien: Tell her I promise it'll be fine. Cat's honor. So what should I call you, Mrs. Ladybug's Mother?

"Adrien!" Plagg whined.

Adrien waved his kwami away.

?: Oh, I don't know. How about Sabrina?

Tim: You should see Ladybug's face. It's highly entertaining.

Adrien: What's she mad about now?

Again, Adrien had to wait, so he got up and opened a new wheel of cheese for Plagg, making sure to keep it as far away from the bed as possible. He didn't crumbs stinking the whole thing up all night long.

Tim: She says I'm not allowed to say.

Adrien: I've already got a Sabrina in my contacts. How about Serena?

It sounded similar, and well, Sailor Moon, so...

Serena: That sounds great!

Adrien's fingers hovered over his screen. He could keep texting them. They did offer. But it was getting late, and he didn't want to seem too needy. After a quick goodnight, he slipped his phone into his nightstand drawer and out of sight.

***

The next week passed very slowly for Marinette. Her parents texted Cat Noir once or twice a day, and she was surprised that her dear partner didn't abuse the privilege he'd been given more often. Her parents almost always initiated. They'd check on him after akuma attacks (even though she assured them he was fine). They let him know when an akuma had been spotted. (He almost never responded to these until the attack was over.) And sometimes, on slow days, they'd just text to ask how he was.

The weirdness of the situation wore off much more quickly than she ever thought it would have. Never had she thought she'd be sharing her secret identity with her parents or sharing her partner with them. But they all got along, and soon the subject of him became a regular part of the conversation of the home.

While it was sweet, Marinette couldn't help but wonder how long it would be until something went wrong. Every text increased the risk of someone finding out too much information.

One fear she didn't even know she had became reality eight days after the first text was sent. If the worst outcome was an identity reveal, the second-to-worst possibility was Cat Noir and her father to discover their mutual love of terrible puns.

Marinette caught her father that morning, one large hand over his mouth to cover his snorting laughter and holding his phone in the other.

"What is it?" she asked, smiling.

"What do you call a pile of cats?"

Marinette turned and stomped out of the kitchen. "Nope. No way."

He called out after her, "A meow-tain!"

"Sto-o-o-p!" Her mother's idea to share their phone numbers would be the end of her sanity, one way or the other, Marinette was absolutely certain.

Her father's laughter echoed through the whole house as she rushed to the safety of her bedroom.

***

Meanwhile, Adrien's week passed quickly. He didn't want to come off as desperate and annoying by texting whenever he wanted to (which was often), so he usually waited for Ladybug's parents to text him first. And they did, more frequently than he had dared to hope.

Eight days after they'd exchanged numbers, Ladybug showed up to their nightly patrol red-faced and huffy.

"Do you know what they named your contact?"

"Based on your reaction, I'm guessing something punny and a-mew-sing."

"Wrong twice," she said, swinging her yoyo in a tight circle. From the way her eyes followed it, he guessed she was just giving herself something to look at that wasn't him. "Papa named you 'Catson' and Mama's is 'Fur Baby.' They keep saying you're the pet we don't have!" She tossed up the yoyo and reached out to catch it. And missed. It bounced off her head instead.

"You don't have any pets?" he asked, retrieving the yoyo for her. She was too busy rubbing her head and squinting her eyes in pain to notice the giddy smile he was wearing. Did they really like him that much?

"No," she said. "We can't risk fur and dander getting into the ba- Uh."

He snapped his head up, yoyo in hand, and stared at her wide-eyed face. Had she just given something away?

"I told you this was a bad idea!" she wailed, snatching her weapon away from him and bolting toward their patrol route.

***

Ladybug swung through the city streets wildly, latching onto flag poles and railings and street lamps almost faster than she could think. Almost.

That had been way too close. She needed to watch her mouth now more than ever. With the amount of time her family spent texting him, the clues would start to add up quickly.

It was a good ten minutes before she stopped to catch her breath in the shadow of a tall building. It was quiet aside from her heavy breathing. She looked for him, but Cat Noir wasn't behind her, just the soft glow of a city evening.

"So," her partner's called down to her.

Ladybug glanced up. There he was, sitting on a window ledge two stories above the roof she was standing on. Had she gone in a circle? She sighed. It was going to be a long patrol.

"Would you be willing to give me your phone number? Finally?"

Yes, it was going to be a very long patrol. "And why would I do something like that?"

"Hear me out." He lowered his baton, extending it until the bottom was right next to her, and she held it steady against the uneven shingles as he slid down. "Direct contact to each other, for work purposes only. What do you say?"

"Chat," Ladybug whined. "You know how dangerous that is."

"How? What extra risk is there if I'm already texting your parents? What if I need to contact you and they're busy or there's an emergency? Don't you remember the Bubbler?"

"Don't you remember these?" The yoyo flashed in the streetlight as she waved it in front of his nose.

His argument would have been more convincing if he didn't already have an established habit of asking for her number at least twice a month. He had a crush, and wanted more of her attention, and Ladybug's stomach flipped. That was the real reason she said no, more than the added danger. She didn't want to lead him on.

"You just want to send me memes and cat emojis, don't you?" she asked to soften the blow. "You want to shower me with your terrible puns at all hours, not during patrols, admit it." Her smile felt forced, but she kept it pinned in place anyway.

"Maybe," he said. "Wait. Meow-be."

"That one was too much of a stretch." Her voice became quiet. "I really do think trading numbers was a dangerous mistake to begin with. You know I can't give you mine."

Cat Noir's shoulders slumped a little, and his smile dimmed but didn't disappear. "It was worth a try, right?"

No, it wasn't. But she didn't want to be the one responsible for putting his smile out tonight. She sidestepped. "Patrol? Race you to the Arc de Triomphe." She ran off before he could respond, to give herself a head start, and not to run away from the conversation.

***

An hour later, Ladybug balanced on top of a lamp post, looking left and right. No cars cruised on the street below. Her partner had gone home. Lights were out at all the surrounding windows. No pedestrians were walking by, with or without cameras to photograph her with. She dropped into the nearby alley, transforming back into Marinette as soon as her feet touched the pavement.

"Cookies in my purse for you," she murmured, and Tikki flitted out of sight. Nothing else moved except for the flashes of headlights as cars passed at the opposite end of the alley. Reassured that her identity was still safe, Marinette ducked out of the shadows and into the light of the lamp that she'd just been standing on.

She hadn't transformed in front of her parents yet. They knew everything, they knew how it worked, but the idea of sharing that with them was weird. It made the fact that her secret was no longer safe more real, so she held herself back.

It was only a few blocks back to the bakery, and the night was unusually warm for late November, so Marinette took her time. Things still weren't quite right at home. Mama pretended Tikki didn't exist. Papa had gotten into the habit of waiting until the bakery was empty and whispering questions about what it was like to be a superhero or what she thought of the latest akuma, keeping his voice low even though no customers were around to hear him. And Mama had taken to fussing over her more than usual. Marinette sighed and pulled her jacket closer around herself. It was nice to be loved and feel cared for, but she wished she would acknowledge that Marinette could do this, had been doing it by herself for over a year.

The lights in the bakery windows were dark, but the door was unlocked. Upstairs, her parents were waiting, watching television. Marinette's gaze quickly bounced over them and away.

"Hi, anyone else here?" she asked. The question sounded clipped and short even to herself.

"No, just us," her father called back. "She can come out."

Tikki, who loved the new freedom to roam the house when no guests were over, didn't need to be told twice. Marinette took off her purse mechanically, laying it on the kitchen table and taking a few seconds to arrange the thin, black strap into a perfect circle.

"I think you should transform at home from now on." Sabine came over to watch Marinette push the strap around. "It'll be snowing soon. You'll catch a cold."

"I wouldn't. I only walked three blocks," Marinette said, and swallowed hard. What was she even upset about? Everything was fine right now.

"The sun sets so early. I hate that you're walking home in the dark. It's late and dangerous on the streets at night. You could get robbed or worse."

Marinette picked up the purse off the table and slung it over the back of a chair instead. "Mama, I'm literally a superhero. Nothing's going to happen. And I can't just walk up to our front door in my Ladybug costume. I'll lead everyone to my secret identity." Memories of every single time she left, as Ladybug, through her skylight or dropped onto her balcony right before transforming in broad daylight in full view of the street danced in her head, and she vowed to never do either of those things again. Marinette frowned at her mother.

Sabine said nothing for a few seconds, then stepped in closer to cup her daughter's face with light fingers and soft touches. "What's wrong, bǎo bèi?"

Marinette tried to hold back, because she wasn't exactly sure what the matter was. The sense that something was off had been clinging to her since patrol started, but talking about it was unlikely to change anything, except maybe start a fight like they'd had last week. She didn't want that to happen again.

Sabine's hand went up to Marinette's hair, and she began to smooth it out, running a finger from the crown of her head down to the tips. Marinette didn't want to shut her mother out again. Not when she could finally be open with her secrets.

Her mama had always been so supportive before.

"I guess…" It was difficult to put a name to everything swirling through her head, filling her up inside, and leaking through the seams. "I think I'm just uncomfortable with this whole situation with Cat Noir," she said. "We have this connection that didn't exist before."

"How's that bad?" Sabine's thumb rubbed her cheek, and Marinette sighed.

"It's not bad by itself, I guess. It's just dangerous. It would be so easy to let something important slip." Like she'd almost done that night. Letting him know that she lived above a bakery. He wouldn't have sought her out - he never would have done that - but it would have narrowed it down. "We've already learned so much about him. I don't know. I don't like it."

"You're worried over nothing, Marinette," she said, smiling up at her daughter. "It's going to be fine. There's no reason to be worried over identities. Lots of people like puns."

"I agree with Marinette," Tikki said. She floated up to Marinette's ear, one large cookie dangling in between her hands. "It would be easy to let things slip by accident."

As she normally did, Sabine ignored Tikki. "There's no way to figure out who he is from knowing he likes joking around. That could be any teenage boy in Paris. And you already knew that before, didn't you? Please stop fretting over this."

But there was so much that could go wrong. Every single thing they learned was a potential clue that could lead them to each other, and they hadn't even shared anything important. But with every text message came another opportunity for a big mistake to happen. Marinette wanted to reply, but Sabine was trying so hard, pulling her in for a hug, holding her close, so Marinette said nothing and wrapped her arms around her mother.

A hard pit formed in her stomach that hadn't been there before, the knowledge that something was wrong, and that no one else believed her.

Chapter Text

So far, Sabine had learned many important things about Cat Noir. One, he loved puns, though Marinette already knew that. Two, he was a very nice and polite young man, at least over texting. Three, his favorite pastime seemed to be video games. Marinette had said she knew that one as well, but she seemed surprised (and more than a little impressed) when he claimed to have beaten the entire Zelda series. Twice.

There were many other things that Sabine was starting to piece together about him from their interactions, like that had a very lonely civilian life. Whenever she texted, he was quick to text back, and she started to worry about how desperate he was for those small interactions. She was also starting to wonder if his over-the-top flirting with Ladybug that they saw on television had some real feeling behind it. Whenever they questioned Marinette, she would go slightly pink and refuse to answer.

For the first two weeks of the phone number exchange, it went on like this, low-key messaging back and forth, some puns, and the occasional shriek from Marinette when someone let personal information slip.

It changed very abruptly with the arrival of The Saboteur, a very strong akuma who sent cars, people, and even small buildings soaring through the skies of Paris.

Marinette had run out the front door without even saying goodbye, and Tom closed up the bakery while Sabine ran to the living room and turned on the television. Both parents watched with growing horror as Ladybug appeared on screen 30 seconds later and tried to control the chaos, catching a woman before she hit the ground, trying to reason with the akumatized man, and dodging a chunk of pavement when she failed.

The news crew stayed as close as possible, peeking around the corner of a building that Sabine knew was just down the street from the bakery. People screamed on the tv, and it faintly echoed through the house.

Sabine got up to peek through the window to try and see the fight for herself, but nothing moved on the street, not the usual mid-morning traffic or even a breeze. All the action was just out of sight, just beyond her reach.

Why did two children have to fight while the adults stayed behind? Why did Marinette have to put herself in danger?

Sabine gave up her search for meaning through the window and sat back down just in time to see a long purple arm smack her daughter into a brick wall. She gripped her husband's hand tightly, too scared to even scream, but Ladybug popped right back up again, yoyo at the ready.

Cat Noir appeared a few seconds later. When the monster dove for Ladybug a second time, he was there to block it. He spun his baton in a protective circle, but The Saboteur’s reach was longer than either of them anticipated. One arm snaked behind him, reaching for Marinette, but Cat Noir was there again, jumping into the monster’s path. It grabbed him by the tail and hurled him high overhead. The camera tried to follow, but his outline was lost in the glare of the sun.

A tremendous crash rattled their television and vibrated through their floor and into their feet. Sabine did scream that time. So did Tom.

“What was that?” he asked.

A horrible thought crossed her mind, and from the look on her husband's face, he'd thought it too. They bolted down the stairs and out through the bakery doors.

They found Cat Noir kneeling on the sidewalk, blinking rapidly and squinting like he was trying to remember where he was, while still trying to stumble to his feet. His breathing was uneven. Plaster dust clung to his shoulders and back. There was a large dent in their second story, and fist-sized pieces of rubble littered the sidewalk around them.

“Are you all right?” Tom asked him.

They each grabbed an arm, though Tom was trying to pull him to his feet while Sabine attempted to keep him still. He looked about Marinette’s age. Too tall to be 12, but too skinny and gangly to be over 16.

The boy nodded and gave them his best smile, which was lopsided with pain. Something about it struck her as familiar.

But of course it would. He was on the news almost every night.

“You took that hit for Ladybug on purpose,” Tom said.

Sabine couldn’t hold herself back from adding an enthusiastic “Thank you.” It was something anyone would have said to him, not just a grateful mother, right? Marinette wouldn't appreciate her secret identity being given away. Sabine hung onto his hand and hoped he could feel how deep her gratitude really went. Fortunately, Cat Noir looked too confused by where he was to think about it.

“It was very dangerous to jump in front of her like that,” Tom continued. “Are you sure you're not hurt?”

“Well,” Cat Noir said quietly, shaking off their hands brushing away the mortar on his shoulders. “Better me than her.”

They stared at each other as Cat Noir bent down to retrieve his baton, which was lodged under a large chunk of white concrete. A silent conversation took place over his head.

Tom raised his eyebrows. Does he like like her?

Sabine quirked her lips. I told you I thought so.

Tom smiled and gave a little shrug. And I'm starting to think you're right.

“Well, I should get going,” Cat Noir said as he straightened up slowly. He rested one shaky hand on a knee, making a show of examining the baton. It looked fine, but he took another deep, steadying breath before putting it away and looking back in the direction of the fight.

Ladybug landed in the middle of them. She threw her parents an alarmed look before grabbing Cat Noir by a shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“Fine, fine!” He swept a hand through his hair and made a much stronger effort to appear normal. “It's nothing. I'm not hurt.” One hand clenched behind his back and he widened his stance to keep himself more stable, but he didn’t waver again.

Sabine frowned. This boy was not fine, though he didn’t seem to be as hurt as she’d originally feared.

Ladybug glanced up at the hole in the wall before casting another furtive look at her parents. “Are you sure? It won't help anyone if you're fighting with a concussion or something.”

“Really, M’Lady. Nothing stops this cat.” He puffed out his chest, while Tom shot Sabine an amused grin. “I’m feline great.”

Ladybug giggled. “I’m glad the suit protected you. That looked like it could have been nasty.”

For the first time since he came crashing into their house, his smile didn’t look forced. It was small and genuine. “Thanks for worrying,” he said.

Yes, all signs pointed to actual feelings beneath the bravado, Sabine thought.

“What about you two?” Ladybug asked. She turned to face them, hands clasped behind her back and bouncing on her toes like she always did when she was nervous. Or when she knew she was about to get caught doing something she’d been told not to.

“Ladybug!” Tom said loudly, putting out a hand for her to shake. “It's such an honor to meet you! My name is Tom, and this is my lovely wife Sabine. This is such an amazing experience to meet someone so famous!”

Sabine pursed her lips. That had been a little bit over the top, but Ladybug turned her way, expectant, before her gaze quickly flicked to her partner.

“I'm sorry,” Sabine said, playing along. “He's just a little bit excited to meet a celebrity for the first time. We've heard all about you, of course.”

Ladybug looked like she didn't know whether to breathe a sigh of relief that her identity was still safe or roll her eyes, so she settled on stiffly shaking their hands, making sure to keep the other hand on Cat Noir's shoulder.

Metal squealed and something crashed.

“We should get back,” he said, his cat ears twitching in the direction of the noise.

Ladybug nodded stiffly, pulling out her yoyo, getting ready to throw. But when Cat Noir took off, she slowly turned around. “Why didn’t you stay inside?” she whispered. “This akuma is so dangerous.”

Sabine pointed up at the crater in their second story. “It shook the whole house. What should we have done?”

“Stay inside!” Ladybug hissed.

Sabine crossed her arms. “And possibly leave a seriously injured child on our doorstep?” She’d hoped an appeal to her partner’s wellbeing would have helped Marinette see her point of view, but Ladybug shook her head.

“He’s a superhero and you’re not his mother. He doesn’t need looking after. Besides, he was fine.”

“We didn’t know that,” Sabine said. “We didn’t know. Do you want us to be the type of people who would abandon someone who might need our help?”

Ladybug didn’t break their gaze, but she did shift her weight back and forth as she searched for an answer.

A scream echoed from down the street, and she finally looked away.

“I have to go,” Ladybug said.

Sabine blinked, and her daughter was gone, pulling away when all Sabine wanted to do was protect her. Why wasn’t she allowed to help keep her daughter safe?

Concrete dust trickled from the wall above them.

“Do you think he's okay?” Sabine asked, feeling a little numb as her own words hit her. They could have been killed.

“Looks like he recovered. And the cure should take care of everything else. We’ll text him afterward.”

“She cares about him. A lot.” That much had been obvious. It was subtle over their text conversations. Marinette mostly complained about the information being shared or his terrible puns, but they could sense it in the way she asked about how his day was going, or how quick she was to say, “Tell him I say hi,” whenever she found out they were messaging him.

Watching them in person, seeing her care for him when he was injured, knowing she left the battle to find him, and how closely she hovered over him, showed how deeply she felt for him.

Tom picked up a piece of brick at their feet. “I think they should spend more time together,” he said. “I think it would be good for them.”

“They patrol every day,” she said.

“Outside of work,” he said. “It’s such a stressful job, and the only people in the world to really get it are the two of them. I wish they could talk to each other for fun.”

Tom casually tossed a broken piece of their home back onto the sidewalk.

***

Marinette skipped through the doorway ten minutes later, looking as unharmed as she had when she left. Sabine fussed over her while Tom readied a text.

“You want to add anything?” he asked. Marinette used the distraction to slip out from under her mother’s hands and up her stairs. Sabine was forced to admit defeat, and she took the phone from him. It was just a simple message. “Hey, we saw the fight on tv. We saw you go flying. Are you okay? Did you get hurt at all?”

It felt so insufficient - a text for someone who risked his safety for her daughter so often. But Marinette would never approve of anything more.

“Were you going to add something?”

“Huh?” Sabine looked up, her grip on the phone just a little too relaxed, just as Tom reached for it.

The phone slid. Both adults made a grab for it. The screen changed.

It started to ring.

“What happened?” Sabine asked, pulling the phone out of its precarious place between Tom’s third and fourth fingers.

“Hang up! Quick!”

The second ring was cut short by a quiet, “Hello?”

***

As soon as Adrien got home, he’d flopped across his bed and decided it would be a great idea not to move for a few hours. The Saboteur had been a tough akuma, and while his suit and Ladybug's powers had ensured he was injury-free, he still felt a little sore and tired, like he’d had a brutal fencing session yesterday. Not moving sounded wonderful. And that was the exact second his phone decided to ring. It was probably Nino. His bro liked to check in after local akuma attacks, and that one had been only one street away from their school.

Fumbling for his phone, Adrien blinked in surprise when he saw that it wasn't Nino calling. It was Tim. He'd never called before. Something must be wrong. He picked up before he could think better of it.

“Hello?” he said timidly.

There was a few seconds of panicked whispering, enough to send his heart racing, and then--

“I’m sorry.” That was Serena’s voice? It must have been. “We shouldn’t have called. It was an accident. Are you all right?” she asked. “You're on speaker, so we can both hear you.”

“Hello, son,” Tim said. “We saw the news report.”

Their voices sounded familiar, though Adrien couldn't place where he'd heard them before. It was probably wishful thinking anyway. There were two million people in the city and he’d only met a few of them.

“Oh, yeah,” he said, wincing a little as he shifted into a more comfortable position. “Don't worry about it.”

“We heard you got hurt,” Tom said.

“Oh, it's fine.” Adrien rubbed a hand over his ribs at the memory. “I'm barely sore. The suits absorb most of the impact. You can ask LB about it. I'm not even bruised.”

His answer didn’t stop Serena and Tim from fussing over him. “Keep an eye on any sore spots. Sometimes it takes a while for bruising to show up, and that means the injury is deeper under the skin.” “Go to the hospital if you don't feel good!” “Make sure to take it easy for a few days.” “Call us if you need anything, please.”

Adrien soaked up the attention. It was odd, having adults clucking over him like concerned mother hens. He liked it.

Just when the conversation was winding down and he was steeling himself for the disappointment of hanging up, he heard a new voice.

“Please tell me you're not talking to who I think you're talking to.”

“Uh, hi, Bugaboo. I had nothing to do with this phone call.”

“Aside from being on it? This is a terrible idea! Whyyyyy?!”

Serena cleared her throat awkwardly and promised they hadn’t shared any important information.

Adrien pressed his face into his pillow. This had been a mistake. Secret identities were so important to her. He should have just ignored the call and sent a text back.

“I’m so sorry. I hit the wrong button,” Serena said. “We’re just checking on him.”

“What if he recognizes your voices?!” This was followed by a stream of muffled babbling, like she'd buried her face in her hands.

Adrien grabbed the pillow and hugged it to his chest. He was stunned for the second time in an hour. They did sound familiar, though he still couldn't figure out where from. Had he met his partner as a civilian before too? Or was she thinking of future possibilities and being overly cautious?

Ladybug complained in the background. She obviously hadn't expected to share so much information, so he searched for a topic to change the subject to, but came up blank. Plagg came to their rescue.

“Hey, where's Tikki?” he shouted to the phone.

“Who was that?” Sabine asked.

“That's Plagg,” the squeaky voice of Ladybug’s kwami said.

“Heya, Sugar Cube!”

“Stop calling me that.”

“I'm glad someone's happy about this,” Ladybug said. Her voice was soft, like she was on the other side of the room, which she probably was. “There's no way this can end well.”

“If it makes you feel any better,” Adrien said. “I promise I won’t go looking for you.”

Ladybug sighed loudly. “I know you won’t. It’ll be an accident when it happens, but thanks anyway.”

The phone call lasted for over an hour total. Adrien took Tim and Serena's advice to rest by creating a nest of pillows and blankets on his bed and curling up with his phone, talking about anything that came to mind. It was comforting to be able to talk to a whole group of people who cared about him. Ladybug - or the girl under Ladybug’s mask - seemed to relax as the conversation dragged on.

“Well, we should go,” Serena finally said.

“We've said that three times already, Mama,” Ladybug said.

“Thank you again,” Tim said, “for helping our daughter.”

Adrien smiled into the nearest pillow. “She's my partner. It's what I do. Thanks for worrying about me, though.”

***

As soon as Sabine hung up the phone, Marinette’s good mood evaporated.

“Marinette?” she asked, but Marinette was already on her stairs and pushing her way into her room.

Tom sighed as the trapdoor fell shut. “I think we made a mistake.”

“Technically, Marinette never said we couldn’t call him.” Sabine followed her daughter up the stairs and pushed the trapdoor up without knocking. It creaked loudly to announce her arrival. Tom was quick to follow.

Marinette sat on the chaise in the middle of the room, back toward the door, arms and legs folded.

“Are you feeling okay, Marinette? Do you want to talk?”

She maintained her silence for only a few seconds. “You should have asked me! You shouldn’t have called him at all. I never said you could do that.”

“It was an accident,” Tom said. “He picked up quickly because he thought there was an emergency.”

“Well, you should have hung up and texted back an explanation, then.” Marinette’s posture was still board stiff.

“I don’t think calling him was the entirely wrong thing to do,” Sabine said.

“And I don’t think you're taking the security risks seriously.”

Sabine had no answer for that, so she let the argument settle and cool for a few seconds and sat on the far edge of the chaise. She was still allowed in Marinette’s space, at least. A good sign. “Were you planning on checking in with him?”

“No,” Marinette admitted. “I knew he was fine.”

“He didn’t let you see how hurt he really was,” Tom said.

“He has a kwami and a supersuit,” Marinette said, pressing her crossed arms tightly against herself, refusing to meet their eyes. “He was fine.”

“Marinette,” Sabine said. “Adults take care of children. Superheroes or not - whether you like it or not - you’re both still children. We had to check on him.”

“We didn’t realize how upset it would make you,” Tom said. “Do you want us not to call him anymore?”

The little kwami creature floated nearby, hovering and watching. “The damage is probably already done, Marinette.”

Sabine squirmed. She’d been about to say the same thing. The realization that it had had a similar thought was uncomfortable.

“You too, Tikki? Fine. Just don’t call him all the time. I still say it’s dangerous. But if it makes all of you feel better, I guess I’ll try to stop worrying that akumas will figure out my identity and kill all of you.”

Marinette swung her legs off the chaise and went up to the balcony, as far away as she could get from the others.

“We should have asked,” Tom said.

“For her permission? It wouldn’t have made a difference anyway.”

“Not permission,” Tom said. “For her opinion. She has a lot more experience with this situation than we do.”

Tikki nodded.

Sabine, feeling outnumbered, went back downstairs to reopen the bakery, as far away from the others as she could get.

Chapter Text

It was Tuesday night. Adrien stretched out on his stomach on his soft carpet, school papers scattered around him and video game cases lined up, ready to be grabbed. He ignored them all for rereading messages on his phone as he waited. The bright glow of the screen did more to light up his room than the sinking October sun. Plagg munched softly on something in the background. Probably cheese. (Adrien hoped it was cheese.)

Tuesdays used to be his only free night of the week, but starting now they were game night with Ladybug's family. He'd been ready for an hour, and it was almost late enough for him to call them.

Adrien's texts to Ladybug's parents had become much more frequent in the two weeks since they'd fought The Saboteur, and he'd never been happier in his life. He would often have three conversations with them going at once, one with just Tim, another with just Serena, and a third with both of them together. He even started bringing his phone with him on patrols, hidden in his suit's pockets. Ladybug, naturally, had complained about it, though she never told him to stop, even when he asked her if she wanted him to.

When they weren't texting, he'd often reread past messages, like he was now.

When Serena surprised her husband on his birthday with a new game controller, Adrien heard all about it. "He hadn't even thought to ask for one. You should have seen his smile!"

"My wife is small, but she is mighty," Tim had told him a few days ago.

"My husband has a punning problem," Serena had mentioned only yesterday. "You can probably relate." That had been in the group chat, and Adrien laughed when Tim replied that he didn't have a purr-oblem. Cat puns showed up often in the group chats.

It was no wonder Ladybug was so cute. Her parents were adorable. (It was probably weird to ship real people, but it was okay if they were already married, right?)

He looked up at the clock again. Time was moving so slowly. It was five minutes seven, when they'd agreed to get on. The whole thing had been Tim's idea, and it had taken him the entire two weeks to convince Ladybug that playing games together was not going to end with an identity reveal, but he'd finally done it.

Adrien scrolled through a few more messages, trying to distract himself from the ticking clock. Tim and Serena had quickly become a source of strength and wisdom for him, a constant connection to his Lady, and a reminder that there were adults who cared about him enough to text him out of the blue. Ladybug was so lucky to have such good parents. And Adrien was honored to be included, even as he wished it were more.

But that wasn't right. He was being greedy. This was more than he thought he'd ever get, and it was far more than he deserved. All of this attention from her family was far more than he was entitled to, and he reminded himself to be grateful.

In total, it had been almost two months since they'd exchanged phone numbers, and it had only made him fall farther in love with Ladybug. Though he appreciated the time they spent together outside of patrols and battles more than he had words for, it went beyond that. Tim and Serena were Ladybug's model for a relationship. It made sense that she would want something similar for herself, and he was quickly realizing it was something he wanted too. A loving, affectionate, stable relationship, where they joked around and were always there for each other. Adrien wanted that kind of relationship with her.

At two minutes to seven, he figured it was close enough. He was finally going to see if his Lady was as good at video games as she'd always claimed. Few people could beat his score at Ultimate Mecha Strike III, but he wanted to see her try.

***

Tom wasn't sure who was the most excited for game night. It was a toss up between himself, Cat Noir, and (secretly) Marinette. She'd been wondering aloud how good he was. "He boasted about it when we were fighting The Gamer, but he always boasts about everything. I'm just curious." It would have been more convincing if she hadn't brought it up eight times in the past three days. It also would have been more convincing if she hadn't started setting up forty minutes before they were expecting his phone call.

Ever since the Saboteur and the phone call that followed, Cat Noir's texts had started changing. Instead of waiting for them to text first, he would call or text at random times. He started giving more details about his personal life, though it was never anything specific, and finally took them up on their offer to ask them for help if he needed it.

That last one had taken the form of asking questions. They were mostly innocent. Where was that secret level again? Hey, what was your high score for this game?

There were quite a few personal ones, like "I have this childhood friend, who was my only friend for a long time, but she's kind of a jerk now, and she does things that make me uncomfortable. How do I talk to her about it? What should I do?" Tom's first response was a pun. He followed it up with real-life advice.

One of the most memorable questions had been just three days ago.

Catson: Can I ask kind of a weird and dumb question?

Tom: Don't be in-tim-dated.

Catson: How do you know if it's love or just a crush?

Tom couldn't help but show that one to Sabine before giving him a very serious answer. She chuckled.

"Either we're reading the signs very, very wrong," he'd said, "or he's talking about our daughter."

Marinette came back into the living room with a plate of cookies and a can of soda under each arm. "Papa, can you take this please?" she asked, holding the plate out for him. One of the sodas fell and she yelped and almost dropped the plate. He grabbed her wrist to keep her upright. The soda landed on one of the pink cushions she'd brought down from her room.

The room looked like she was expecting him to drop in at any moment. There were snacks and drinks for everyone, with plenty of soft places to sit. Every controller was set out and ready, and the game was already loaded and waiting, and they still had ten minutes left to wait. Marinette checked the time, and then became very interested in fluffing all the pillows when she saw him watching her.

"Has he texted you yet?" she asked.

"Not yet."

"Can you check?" Worry laced her words, high and tight, like she was worried he was going to cancel.

Tom opened his messages, but it still showed their conversation from that morning.

Catson: Random question, what should you do if you're really tired and can't sleep?

Marinette read over his shoulder. "That's the kind of thing you guys text about?"

"Sure," Tom said. "I think he's just looking for things to talk about."

Marinette looked uneasy. He and Sabine thought it was cute, trying to keep in touch with his crush's parents that way and make a good impression, asking for advice.

"I don't think that's all it is," Marinette said. "He's mentioned no one noticing him enough to realize that he's Cat Noir."

Sabine put a finger to her lips, thinking, and then pulled out her phone and started scrolling through her texts. "Why would he ask us, though? He has parents, doesn't he?"

"What if he doesn't?" Tom asked. The question hung heavy in the air for several seconds, until Cat Noir's early phone call interrupted them. Marinette snatched Tom's phone and answered it before the second ring.

"Hey, Kitty!" she said too brightly. "Are you ready to get your butt kicked?" She turned it on speaker and strode to the couch.

"No way." His voice was muffled as she sat down in front of the tv and started rifling through her game collection, calling out ones she thought he would enjoy.

Tom and Sabine watched her, still transfixed in their horror. That poor boy wasn't an orphan, was he?

"He obviously has someone looking after him if he has a phone and so many video games," Sabine finally whispered.

Tom could only nod and watch as Marinette took over the conversation, something she'd never done before. She complimented him, said how excited she was to be able to play with him, and didn't even complain about identities once. On the other end, Cat Noir stuttered over his words and thanked her for saying yes, and admitted he'd been looking forward to this all day.

"Uh, we'll just get some more snacks," Tom announced as pulled Sabine into the other room, so they wouldn't be overheard. Something else that had been on his mind for a few days. "What do you think about them?" he asked.

"What about them?" Sabine pulled open a cupboard.

Tom followed her example to make it sound convincing. "I mean, look at her talking to him. She can't do that with Adrien."

"You think she'd be better off having a crush on her partner?" Sabine turned around to steal a glance at her. She was laughing loudly at something he had said, eyes crinkled with a genuine smile, all traces of her daily stresses erased with a few words from him.

"They have a strong relationship already," Tom said. "That's one reason I pushed for this game night thing. I think this will help them."

"To see if her feelings would change?" Sabine said. "Or maybe..."

"I wasn't thinking specifically that. They both need to have fun with the only other person who understands what they're going through. And they obviously care about each other. But-"

They stopped, extra snacks forgotten in their hands, watching as Marinette made a pun, and as a glowing grin spread across her face when she heard Cat Noir's answering laughter.

"But maybe she just needs to realize what's already there," Tom finished.

***

Marinette's character spun in a tight circle and kicked Cat Noir's in the chest, knocking him over. He yelled his compliments at her as Sabine came back into the room, Tom following close behind her.

"Ladybug," Sabine said, careful not to use her real name. "We have more snacks."

"Thanks."

"Sorry we can't send any to you, dear," Sabine said.

"It's fine," Cat Noir said. "I'm counting on the food distracting her."

"Hey, you said you could beat me fair and square. That's cheating."

"Not cheating if you do it to yourself. I'm not the one offering."

"Either way," Sabine cut in, sending a knowing grin to her husband, "we'll have her bring the leftover cookies for you on the next patrol."

"That's if Tikki and I leave any for you, Kitty! HAHA!"

"Noooo, My Lady! I want cookies too!"

A scratchy voice crackled over the phone, one Sabine had never heard before. "Can you send some cheese with her, too?"

"Plagg," Tikki scolded. She floated right above the phone, bright red and difficult to ignore. "Can't you see they're having a conversation? Behave yourself." Sabine knew enough about how everything worked at this point to quickly realize that must have been Cat Noir's kwami. Another little creature teaching children to lie to their parents.

"Hey, kid," Plagg said. "Can I go over there and get some more cheese?"

"What? No," he said. "We have a bunch here for you already. Eat that."

"Pleeaase? Tikki's probably got a huge stash that she isn't even eating."

From the way Cat Noir sighed, Sabine suspected this was a routine sort of conversation, but something about it bothered her. "Why are you asking him?"

"We need our holder's permission for things like that," Tikki supplied, moving directly in Sabine's face.

"Permission?"

"Yeah," Plagg said. "And this kid never lets me eat as much as I want! It's horrible! I'm starving over here!"

"You're a stomach with legs. You're fine."

Plagg wailed incoherently, and Tikki frowned. "He likes to complain," she said quietly. "But the current Cat Noir and Ladybug give us a lot of freedom. We normally don't get holders that are so kind to us."

Tikki floated back toward Tom and Marinette, who were taking turns on the controller against Cat Noir. Both kids and Tom seemed to be having fun while Sabine stared at the corner of the television screen.

Marinette controlled how much this creature ate and when and where it could go? The revelation didn't sit well, and she was relieved when her phone rang, inviting her to jump off the couch and leave her thoughts behind.

"Oh, sorry," she said. "Just keep it down for a second. It's Shu Yin."

The others battled in silence for a minute as Sabine explained in hasty Mandarin that they had someone over and couldn't talk. Tom elbowed Marinette quietly, hoping to throw her off the platform. Marinette's character wobbled as she shoved him right back. Cat Noir won that round.

"Okay," Sabine said, pocketing the phone. "Who's winning?"

"You speak Mandarin?!" Cat Noir shout was tinny over the speaker. "I speak Mandarin! This is great!"

Sabine stole a quick glance at Marinette's face, waiting for her to complain about this new piece of information.

"You do?" Marinette asked, incredulously. "Since when?"

"Me too!" Tikki said.

"Why does everyone I know speak Mandarin?"

"Do you, LB?" Cat Noir asked.

"No," Sabine said. "And I've been trying to teach her for ages."

"I only know about ten words or so," she said.

"Oh, really?" Cat Noir said. They could hear the smile creeping into his voice. "Well, in that case, wǒ ài nǐ."

All three of them froze. Those were three of the ten words that Marinette could speak. They all could. I love you.

Tom and Sabine looked at each other over Marinette's head. There was the confirmation that they'd been looking for.

Marinette's face burned bright red. "I know that much, you big dork." She covered her face with one hand.

"Oh, uh... heh heh." He cleared his throat. "Sorry."

She peeked through her fingers. "You've overlooked something important, though," she said, trying to pretend as though nothing had happened even as the blush creeped down her neck.

"What?"

"Now we know even more about each other!" she said, throwing her hands in the air. "We'll be figuring out each other's identities next week at this rate! This is disastrous!"

"On the bright side, I can teach you Mandarin on patrols. What do you say?"

"Please do," Sabine said. "She won't listen to me when I try to teach her."

"Yeah, it'll be a fun way to pass the time," he said.

"To distract both of us, you mean," Marinette said, as she glared at the screen and avoided looking at the phone (and her parents' curious glances). "Patrols are for focusing, Cat! Something you need to do more of when we're playing because I'm smoking you right now! HA!"

"Nooo," he wailed through the phone. "That was sneaky! I want a rematch!"

"What did you say earlier? It's not cheating if you do it to yourself?"

He groaned as Marinette plowed his character off the side of the arena.

***

Adrien was up early the next morning, not ready to get up for his photoshoot but much too happy to fall back asleep. The hazy dawn glow spread across his blankets, filling him up almost as much as game night had last night.

Tim was usually up at this time of day, so he sent a quick text (and he didn't even feel bad about starting a conversation without having anything in particular he wanted to say). After a few minutes of back and forth, Tim let it slip that Ladybug was upstairs working on her fashion hobby.

Tim: Don't tell her I said that, though!

Adrien: Really? Is she good?

Tim: Well, I'm horribly biased in her favor.

Adrien: Naturally.

Tim: I also know nothing about fashion, but she's very passionate about it.

That didn't surprise Adrien at all. Ladybug never did anything halfway.

Tim: She can spend hours at a time on it, and she's even won some awards. Probably shouldn't mention which ones.

Adrien happily buried his face in the nearest pillow. She loved fashion! It was perfect! If they ever got engaged, his father would have a reason to love and accept her!

Then his stomach dropped. She'd brushed off his (admittedly unplanned) confession last night and changed the subject as fast as she could. It had been a blunt reminder that she liked someone else. He shouldn't be expecting anything more than her friendship. That would have to be enough.

Adrien: Question.

Tim: Shoot.

Adrien: Is Ladybug... uncomfortable with me flirting with her?

Tim: She's never said anything about it. Why?

Adrien fumbled his fingers over his phone before answering. Tim had to know how he felt by now, between the questions he'd been asking and his declaration during the game. The thought of her parents knowing his feelings for their daughter should have felt uncomfortable, but it wasn't.

Adrien: Well...

Adrien: Because I know she likes someone else. I want to be with her but...

Adrien: Is he good to her? Is he a good person?

Adrien: Does he treat her right and take care of her?

Adrien: I just want her to be happy.

Tim: Yes, he's a good person. He's very respectful and kind to her, and he would be very good for her, but he is unaware of her feelings for him.

***

Sabine's next text from Cat Noir was Wednesday afternoon, and unfortunately it was a pun in Mandarin. And she made sure Marinette was the first to know about it. She'd climbed up to her room to share the awful news.

"No language is safe!" Marinette had complained, throwing the blue chiffon she was working on over her head to block out the terrible pun. "And now I have to listen to them all the time, not just on patrol."

Sabine smiled. "You know, sweetie, if things don't work out with Adrien, maybe you should marry your partner!"

"Mama!" Marinette said, scandalized. "Adrien is my one true love!" She picked up the photo she kept on the desk and held it close to her heart.

"Of course, dear, of course." She gave Marinette a quick peck on the head. "Just remember that he's a good person, he has our approval, and, most importantly, he's fluent in Mandarin."

Sabine had meant it as a joke (mostly), but she felt terrible about her flippant comment when Marinette came home from school the next day.

Chapter Text

Adrien raced through his window after a late-night patrol. The house was quiet. The window didn't squeak as he closed it. Nothing in the house moved as he went to the panel by his door and re-engaged the security system. The glow of the buttons wasn't strong enough to reflect off the doorknob.

He wasn't sure Tim and Serena would still be awake – he'd discovered that they usually went to bed fairly early – but he had to check. Something was very wrong. They probably knew about it already, but if not, then he needed to tell them.

Adrien: Is Ladybug okay? She was really upset on patrol, but she didn't want to talk about it.

He probably wasn't going to get an answer tonight, but he kept the phone close as he pulled out his pajamas and started to change. She'd been quiet the whole patrol, and she barely even smiled when he joked with her. She avoided looking at him. At first, he thought maybe he'd done something wrong. The uncertainty had nagged at him all night, even though she shook her head sadly when he'd asked her about it.

So he'd tried cheering her up, telling her jokes and funny stories to try to make her laugh, but she started to sniffle and looked away so he wouldn't see her start to cry.

By the end of patrol, Ladybug was dragging her feet, her shoulders sagged with unseen weights, and she hadn't protested when he suggested they sit down and take a break before calling it a night. She'd put her head on his shoulder. Her breathing had been uneven. Her body trembled next to him as she struggled to hold back her tears. Her head had been heavy against his arm. Cat Noir had never felt so helpless in his life.

Adrien's phone screen lit up with an incoming message.

Serena: She's all right. She overheard a conversation at school today that she would rather not have.

Tim: It was that guy that she likes.

Adrien's heart started to race. What had she heard?

Serena: He knows about that?

Adrien: What happened? What's going on?

Tim: She heard him talking to a friend of theirs at school today. The boy admitted to having a crush on a girl that their mutual friend didn't know.

Adrien: So it couldn't have been her. I get it.

Several emotions attacked Adrien at once. Anger at the idiot who broke her heart and hurt his Lady, who was so ungrateful about having what Adrien wanted most and just throwing it away like that. Relief that this other guy might have just removed himself from the picture and given him a better chance with Ladybug, followed quickly by guilt at being happy that she'd just had her heart broken. He consoled himself by promising that he'd make up for it by making her doubly happy for the rest of her life if she picked him.

Adrien: She probably doesn't want to hear it from me, but that guy's an idiot and doesn't deserve her.

A few streets away, Tom and Sabine were fighting the same feeling. They didn't want to think ill of Adrien, who was always so kind to everyone and hadn't meant to cause Marinette so much trouble, but it was hard to think rationally when they'd watched Marinette come home from school and crumple to the ground, sobbing after holding her tears in all day at school.

***

The next day at school, Adrien discovered that Ladybug wasn't the only one with personal problems. Marinette came to school looking very watery and upset, though she tried to smile whenever Adrien turned around to check on her.

"You okay, Marinette?" he asked as they walked to their third class. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, n-nothing," she said, clutching her books tightly to her chest and staring at the ground directly in front of her feet.

Adrien put a hand on her shoulder to stop her at the door of the science classroom, but she still didn't look at him. For the second time in 24 hours, he felt completely at a loss for how to help. (His next question to Tim and Serena should probably be something about comforting crying girls.) He would just have to try his best anyway. Marinette needed help right now.

"You don't have to talk about it, okay? Just know that I'll listen if you want." He gave her a hug, but Marinette stiffened and he drew back quickly. He'd messed up again. Her face was blotchy, but frozen in surprise.

"Why are you such a nice person?" she asked. "It's not fair!" And she ran into the classroom without an explanation. Adrien was left to wonder if he'd interpreted her reaction correctly.

One thing was clear. It was very unlucky that two of his favorite girls were both hurting, and he couldn't do anything about either one.

Chapter Text

As a thick sheet of ice quickly encased her feet and moved up her legs, Ladybug looked around for a solution. Her yoyo was nowhere to be seen, there was nothing within arm's reach, and the akumatized woman was currently spraying down a streetful of civilians with her freeze ray thing (while laughing gleefully, of course). Buildings and cars and every inch of ground she could see were layered in blankets of ice.

Oh, and she was losing feeling in her bottom half. She looked down. The ice was already at her waist.

There was a swish of sound behind her, and Ladybug twisted as much as she could to look behind herself.

"Don't worry, M'Lady," Cat Noir said, sliding toward her. "My sunny disposition will melt away all your problems. Cataclysm!" He brushed his fingers down the ice encasing her, shattering it, and scooped her up.

That was a perfect opportunity to talk about how hot he is, Ladybug realized, grateful that he hadn't.

It was only three jumps before he deposited her safely on a rooftop a block away. His hands didn't linger on her, and neither did his eyes. It had been a week since Adrien had admitted to liking someone else, and she knew her father had told Cat Noir about it. Her partner hadn't tried to make a single pass at her the entire time. It was a relief, honestly. She didn't want to worry about turning him down and hurting him again on top of everything else she was going through.

"Thanks," she said. "For the save, I mean."

"'Course," he said, looking in the direction of the laughing.

"You need to get out of here," she said. "Go recharge. I can hold her off." That was the third time he'd used his powers today. Ice chips still clung to his wrists from the last time.

"But-" he protested.

"No buts." She pushed him toward the edge of the building. "I'll be fine for a few minutes. I need you recharged."

It was solid reasoning, but it also wasn't the real reason. His timer was running out, and she didn't want to learn his identity yet. Ladybug hopped off the building, awkwardly skated across the street, and didn't look back.

***

Cat Noir found the most secluded, safe spot he could to detransform, which happened to be behind a dumpster on an already frozen street.

Plagg spun into existence as Adrien's suit disappeared. The little kwami flopped into his hands, exhausted. "This is the worst akuma we've ever faced. Can you defeat it already so we go home? Pleeease?"

Adrien patted his pockets, hoping he'd been wrong the last time and that he did have some more cheese on him.

Plagg watched him out of one slitted eye. "Don't tell me you're out."

Adrien dug into his pocket, pushing his phone around, hoping to find anything, a crumb. "Uh."

"If you can't find any, I guess we'll have to go back home and miss the rest of the fight. How terrible!" Plagg sat up, only to collapse back again in Adrien's palm. "We'll miss all the excitement."

A pit of shame formed right in the center of Adrien's chest. He hadn't been prepared enough. He should have stopped Ladybug from getting hit in the first place. She was cold and fighting alone, and he would either have to go home or steal cheese if he wanted to get back to her. If he didn't make it back in time or if he was hit on the way, she would be waiting for him and he had no way to tell her he wouldn't be able to make it back.

But there was another option.

Keeping low, Adrien poked his head out from around the dumpster. Ice statues with frozen people inside dotted the sidewalk. All the cars were practically fused to the road, with thick, translucent sheets over the windows warping his view of their interiors.

No one was around to see him. He could just go up to Ladybug and tell him who he was and his situation. They could then form a plan and regroup.

This was a fantasy he'd had many times since becoming Cat Noir, but this past week, and knowing she was trying to get over the other guy, only made these fantasies all the more tempting.

He shook his head. Now was not the time. And she'd been very clear for months that she didn't want to know. Having her heart broken by someone else wasn't going to make any difference about that.

The street was quiet and still. The only noise was his breath that came out in white puffs. He shivered and rubbed his arms, wishing he'd put on a jacket before transforming and leaving the house.

"Okay," he said. "Let's get something for you to eat." Plagg cheered and disappeared into Adrien's offered overshirt. The akuma was nowhere around, so he decided to risk running back to the mansion. It was close enough.

He ran through the streets, past a few frightened, unfrozen civilians who clung to the buildings as they walked, checking their phones for updates and the sky above them. Adrien slipped a few times on patches of ice, but he spun his arms to keep his balance and kept going.

Some of the people he passed were unlucky enough to have been hit by the ice blasts. A few were completely encased. More were slowly being frozen into place, ice creeping up their legs. Adults trying not to panic, unable to free themselves. Children crying.

He had to move faster. He had to help them. If that akuma got to Ladybug, if she got hurt because he wasn't there… He pushed himself to run even faster.

He was only a block away from home when he heard the screaming. He twisted as he ran. A tidal wave of slushy ice crashed through the street toward him, tossing aside cars and coating everything in its path, glistening and sparking. Adrien dove into an alley to try to avoid the wave before it hit him. It washed into the space in between the buildings, pooled around his ankles, sloshed and splashed his face, and then ebbed back into the street.

It had frosted the tips of his hair, nipped his fingers and ears and nose. When he wet his lips, he felt the ice melting. That wasn't so bad. He was fine. He needed to get back out there.

He tried taking a step, but his foot didn't move. Two thick blocks of ice encased his feet. His stomach clenched. This was very bad.

"Plagg," he croaked. "Could you try?"

Plagg poked his head out, looking a little paler than usual. He was shivering. "I don't think so. I need to recharge. And I wouldn't be able to break the ice without killing you anyway."

Fantastic.

Adrien put a hand out to the cold brick wall next to him for balance and yanked his right foot for all he was worth, but it was stuck fast. He may as well be bolted in place, and there was nothing around that he could use to smash or chip away at it.

"Are you sure you can't transform again?" Adrien asked, a little desperate. "What if I could get you double the cheese later?"

Plagg shook his head, his little shoulders slumped as he floated beside him.

Adrien's hand found his pockets again. Maybe he'd somehow missed some. There had to be something he could do! But he came up empty-handed except for his phone.

His phone.

He could call his driver. No, the Gorilla would yank him out of the ice and stick him right into the car and he'd never get away. Nino? Nino wouldn't ask any questions if Adrien said it was important.

But Nino didn't answer the phone. Adrien didn't want to think about the implications of that too much. Maybe he just hadn't heard it ringing.

Adrien scanned his contacts, looking for someone he could possibly ask for help with this. He stopped and stared at Tim and Serena's names.

That was a dangerous idea.

They would come out to help him. He knew they would, if he asked. And if they got hurt, it would be his fault.

But Ladybug's safety was also at risk, even more so if he wasn't there to protect her. All of Paris could be in trouble. He had to get back to the fight.

Promising himself that he'd be better prepared from now on, he hit Call.

***

Sabine beat invisible enemies with her bo staff broom in the middle of her living room. Not a single one of them could get through her to hurt anyone she loved. They were all safe. Swish and thunk and step and parry and twist to face another enemy and swing again.

As soon as Marinette had run out the door, saying something about an ice akuma, Sabine had hidden the television remote and closed all the curtains, so she wouldn't be tempted to see how bad it was outside. Marinette was putting herself in danger, and there seemed to be nothing Sabine could do about it. Every time she had mentioned safety or asked what she could do to help, Marinette would shut down or shut her out.

Sabine stepped around the coffee table, bo staff broom held defensively in front of her, ready for the next attack.

Tom's phone rang.

It was Cat Noir's ring tone.

"I thought they were out fighting the akuma," Sabine said. Tom was sitting so quietly on the couch that she'd almost forgotten he was there.

"Hello?" Tom's shoulders tensed as he listened, then he jumped to his feet. "Where exactly?" His words were clipped, and Sabine's own anxiety rose up from her heart and into her throat, squeezing her from the inside.

"Okay, how much? Absolutely." His words became faster. "How are we going to do this?" He left the room without looking at her and went straight into the kitchen. "Okay."

The fridge door opened and Sabine followed him in time to see him pull out a block of cheddar, toss his phone into the fridge, and leave the door open as he ran to the coat closet.

"What's wrong?" she asked, grabbing the phone and shutting the door before following him.

"I need to go," Tom said. He explained as much of the situation as he could while he jammed his shoes onto his feet. Cat Noir was trapped. Marinette was fighting by herself.

Sabine reached into the closet and grabbed three coats, hers, Tom's and Tom's spare. It was cold outside, and if he wasn't transformed, that boy was probably freezing.

They were out the door within sixty seconds of the phone call.

"He's not far," Tom said as they ran. "And he's not out in the open, so we can get close without seeing him."

Sabine's heart was pounding. Marinette was out here, by herself, facing someone very dangerous. If she got stuck like Cat Noir was, she wouldn't be able to defend herself.

Her fear must have been evident on her face because Tom grabbed her hand. "There's nothing we can do for her right now. Just trust her."

It felt like his tight grip was the only thing keeping her from running after her daughter. Every instinct told her to find her. "There must be something we can do! It's our job to keep her safe."

"It's Cat Noir's job too," Tom said, "and we can help her by helping him right now. That's what we're doing. Look, we're almost there. Do you have my-"

Sabine handed him his phone, and he let go of her hand to make the call.

"You're on speaker," Tom said as soon as Cat Noir picked up the phone.

"Great," he said. "Okay, good. Do you see the wrong way sign with the trash can next to it? That corner just past it. That's where I am."

Tom and Sabine hugged the side of the building, careful to keep out of his line of sight.

"Are you here yet?"

They heard his voice over the phone and from around the corner.

Tom hung up. "We're right here."

"Great." A bare arm poked out around the corner. Tom handed him the block of cheese, and Sabine draped the extra coat over it. They were underprepared for the fight, and it didn't ease her worry.

"Thank you," he said. "But you should probably go. I'll be ready to transform again in just a minute and I don't want to see you when I leave."

"How's the fight going?" Sabine asked.

"Difficult, but we can handle it," he said. Plagg munched loudly in the background. "I really need to get back out there though."

Sabine could hear the strain in his voice. Knowing he was worried was too much for her.

"We won't keep you, then," Tom said. "Good luck." He turned to walk away, but Sabine sprinted past him. Toward a storm cloud that was forming three blocks away.

Tom caught her arm after only a few steps. "What are you doing? We need to trust them. It'll only make things harder on Marinette if we're out there"

Sabine felt torn in two. He was right. They wouldn't be helping anything by putting themselves in danger, but…

"We'll stay out of the way," she promised. "Marinette and the akuma won't even know we're there. I just want to check on her." She was a mother. She couldn't leave her child out there in danger all by herself.

***

Ladybug was getting tired, even through her magical suit. The akuma was tough, sending blasts of cold that sent her shuddering. She had to keep on the move. If she stayed in one place for too long, she would risk getting frozen where she stood.

Another wave of ice barrelled toward her, and she jumped straight up, ten feet, to avoid it. It used all her enhanced strength to keep herself in the air for as long as possible while the wave froze everything beneath her, doorknobs, bare tree branches, crumpled bits of newspaper.

She landed among frozen and half-frozen people, the reporters and cameramen, and a small family who'd been caught while trying to run away. There was one shop owner who had gotten curious and poked his head out his store's front door to check out the action. All of them were frozen, unable to get out of the way of any more danger. Ladybug had to protect them all where they stood, and she couldn't. She couldn't defend them all like this. Not by herself.

Where was Cat Noir? He should have been back ages ago. She didn't have much time to worry about him, between ducking and weaving and running for cover and trying to get close to the akuma, but she couldn't help it. What if he'd gotten hurt and needed help?

The akuma turned, sending a jet of ice down the street and blowing a parked car end over end. On her outstretched arm sat a blue bracelet, and it was glowing.

Right. Worrying about the city was more important right now. She'd have to trust Cat Noir could take care of himself for a little while longer.

With the akuma's back turned, Ladybug took her chance to summon her Lucky Charm. A hairdryer half as tall as she was landed into her outstretched arms. It was so heavy that she almost dropped it. It smacked against the pavement, making the akuma turn back to her.

Ladybug's hand went for the palm-sized control knob and turned it all the way on. The akuma wobbled and took a few steps backward, her hair whipping out behind her.

As the heat from the hairdryer warmed up Ladybug's hands, an idea started to form in her mind, and she pointed the stream of air toward the ground. All she had to do was lure the akuma closer. If she didn't notice exactly where she was standing, then it might work.

Cat Noir jumped back into view, immediately drawing the akuma's attention, and Ladybug breathed a sigh of relief. He was fine. And this fight was about to get a lot more manageable.

She turned and positioned the hairdryer a little more toward the right to follow the fight, toward an open area of the sidewalk at the corner of the street.

And saw her mother peeking around the building there. A slice of cold that had nothing to do with the fight cut through her center.

In her panic, she almost yelled to them to stay out of the way, but she bit her tongue and stayed quiet. Ignoring them would keep them the safest.

Unfortunately, her efforts to avoid drawing attention to them didn't work. The akuma noticed, and turned away from Cat Noir long enough to send off one short wave of ice toward them.

Ladybug nearly dropped the hairdryer, but it was also the opening Cat Noir needed. As the akuma froze the air around them, he knocked her into the water pooling at her feet. She reached out a hand to catch herself, and the puddle turned to ice as she landed. She waved her free hand, but with the bracelet half under the surface of the ice, she couldn't use it. They'd finally neutralized her, and it was a simple process for Cat Noir to cataclysm the bracelet and for Ladybug to purify the akuma.

Or it should have been a simple process.

Her hands shook on her yoyo as she struggled not to look at her parents. She kept her eyes wide and unblinking so the tears wouldn't fall.

She wasn't Marinette right now, she reminded herself. And Ladybug wouldn't care about Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng any more than she would care about any other civilian in Paris. Not with a streetful of newly thawed reporters watching.

The cure swept through the city like a heat wave, converging on the akumatized woman, and Cat Noir rushed over to help her to her feet. Ladybug was grateful he so quickly took on that responsibility as she shakily walked over to her parents. They were still there, faces poking out from behind the corner of the building.

Sabine held out a hand when she got close enough, but Ladybug refused to get pulled into a hug in front of everyone.

"You need to leave," she hissed.

Sabine didn't move. "But Ma- I mean-"

Ladybug sucked in a breath and her head whipped around. No one had been close enough to hear.

"I'm sorry. Ladybug."

"Just go."

Tom grabbed Sabine's hand and pulled her away as Cat Noir waltzed over. He even didn't glance over at their backs as they left, a small blessing.

"Can't stay today," she said. "You okay?"

"Fine, fine," he said, eyebrows scrunching. "Are you?"

She gave him one quick nod that she was sure gave the opposite impression and then took off.

Ladybug ran so fast that she beat her parents home by a full five minutes, so she had plenty of time to detransform and pace the kitchen, readying what she wanted to say. That was dangerous. She cared about them and didn't want them to get hurt. Being Ladybug meant that she had to protect everyone, and it was hard for her to focus if they threw themselves into danger like that. A clear, calm setting of boundaries was what she needed.

The door opened, and Tom and Sabine brushed the leftover ice crystals off their shoulders. They could have gotten killed. Marinette was frozen watching them calmly put their coats away, all rational arguments evaporating in an instant.

"Mama, please don't ever do that again," she pleaded.

"I'm sorry," Sabine said. "It just slipped out. I caught myself though, and no one-"

"That's not what I meant," Marinette said. "Please don't come into a battle like that again. You could have gotten hurt, and you don't even care!"

"You are not allowed to worry about me," Sabine said. "It's my job to worry about you."

Marinette took a step back. "Not allowed?" she breathed. "Not allowed to worry." She screwed her mouth shut, walked into the living room, and reached for the gaming controller so she wouldn't have to think.

Chapter Text

Marinette bolted upright in bed, legs tangled in her blanket, eyes stinging.

Her own scream still echoing in her ears.

***

Sabine was up early that morning, as usual. It was relaxing, quiet. Especially after all the craziness of the week. There had been three more akumas in the three days after the ice woman and then two additional ones just yesterday. They had all been easy fights. Marinette had come back after about twenty minutes each time and hadn't looked bothered at all. She just went right back to her homework or her sewing project or texting Alya or whatever else she'd been doing, like nothing had happened.

Truth be told, Sabine was a little jealous of Marinette's complete lack of fear about her situation. Aside from her occasional complaints about their safety or worries about her secret identity being revealed, nothing seemed to bother her at all. She faced death every day, but her own safety didn't seem to matter to her. And she was the only one in the household that wasn't always exhausted by the constant attacks.

Sabine wasn't sure how much longer she was going to be able to live with the knowledge that Marinette kept putting herself into danger.

As she poured a bag of flour into the big mixer, Sabine remembered the first time Marinette had tried to help them in the kitchen when she was just three years old. She'd stood on her tiptoes on a chair, tiny pigtails bobbing, and accidentally dumped an entire bag of salt into the mixture, completely ruining the dough. Marinette had been so worried she'd done something wrong and would get in trouble, but Tom and Sabine had just laughed and started another batch. Mistakes were inevitable when learning something new, and they'd started her with a single loaf to practice on, so she hadn't really ruined much.

It was so different now. One wrong move could be disastrous. Mistakes would be permanent if Ladybug and Cat Noir failed.

A scream from upstairs made Sabine jump and look at Tom. "What was-"

Marinette.

They ran upstairs together, following their daughter's panicked voice, through the hallway, into the living room. The talking became sobs as they pushed open the door to their bedroom.

"See, look," Tikki said. "They're fine. They're right here."

Marinette had her phone in one hand. The blankets were ripped off their bed and pooling around her feet. She almost tripped over them as she ran to hug them, throwing her arms tightly around both of them.

Cat Noir's voice crackled over the phone. "What's going on? Is everything okay? Is everyone all right?"

"Where were you?" Marinette wailed. "You weren't in bed. I thought you were hurt."

"It's after four," Tom said, stroking her head. "We were down in the bakery."

Everyone froze, the last word hanging over all of them. Tom looked ashen. Marinette trembled against them. "Bakery" was a huge hint. Had Cat Noir heard that? Would it even matter if he had?

"See?" Tikki snuggled into Marinette's cheek, soothing her. "I said everything was fine. It was just a nightmare."

Marinette nodded and brought a hand up to cup the kwami, holding the tiny body against her face. Tikki's small hand swept a tear away with a gentle caress.

Tikki and Marinette cared about each other, Sabine realized. And she felt a twinge of gratitude that someone had been close by when she had woken up.

Cat Noir cleared his throat. "Is everything okay now?"

"Yes, sorry." Marinette rubbed tears off her chin and cheeks. "Sorry, I thought that they- This was so stupid." She glanced at the clock. "I thought you'd still be asleep. I didn't see the time, but- You two can go back downstairs if you need to."

"I can stay up and talk, if you want some more company," Cat Noir offered.

Marinette groaned. "I'm so sorry."

"It's fine," he said. "I'm happy I'm the first person you thought of when you needed some help. And I had to get up in a few minutes anyway."

Marinette pulled out of the hug and looked at the phone, her face lighting up in the dim shine of the screen. "Ugh, I'm so embarrassed I woke you up over a nightmare."

"Do you want me to stay up with you?" he asked again. "It's really no problem."

"No, but thanks for the offer. Bye." She hung up and put the phone on Tom's nightstand, carefully plugging it back in, and just as carefully not looking at her parents.

"That must have been some nightmare," Sabine said. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." Marinette ran her fingers through her hair and stared at the blanket at her feet.

Sabine pressed a little harder. "You'll feel better if you talk about it. What happened?"

"No," Marinette repeated. "Because if I told you about it, you'd realize that I'm worried about you." She looked up at Sabine. There were more tears in the corners of her eyes. "And I'm not allowed to do that. Remember?"

She ran out of the room, sniffling.

Sabine's breath caught as a wave of guilt washed over her. Marinette was not as laid-back and carefree as she had been pretending to be. How had Sabine missed that? Her daughter was having nightmares. She'd been so anxious that it was leaking into her sleep, and Sabine didn't know because she hadn't wanted to listen.

She turned to Tikki. "Does she have nightmares like this a lot?" Tikki would know.

"Not usually. Seeing you two so close to the akuma really scared her. She had to pick between defeating it and protecting you."

It had turned out fine. Marinette had made the right choice and done both. But that was apparently little comfort to her.

"Go check on the bread," Sabine told Tom. "The timer's probably going off. I'll talk to her." And try to undo some of the damage I've done, she added to herself. She hadn't wanted to know the full terror of what Marinette went through. She still didn't. But she needed to.

For Marinette.

The staircase up to the attic room seemed longer than normal. Every board squeaked and groaned. She knocked on the trapdoor and waited for an answer. It came, very faint and muffled.

Marinette was wrapped up in her blankets on her bed. Sabine climbed up the ladder and laid down with her, wrapping her arms around the bundle of her daughter, like she used to do when Marinette was little and had been scared by something more trivial.

"I'm so sorry," Sabine said, brushing Marinette's hair off her face. "I was so worried about you that I haven't been thinking about how upsetting this must be for you. You've been carrying a huge burden by yourself for so long."

She scrubbed her eyes dry, trying to show that she wasn't really that bothered, even as she snuggled closer to her mother. "I'm not alone. I have Tikki and Cat Noir."

"You should have been able to share it with me when we found out, and I didn't let you. You can now. I'll listen. I promise."

Marinette peeked up from her hiding spot under Sabine's chin and studied her face for several seconds before asking, "Don't you think I care about my parents? I used to go out there knowing that I could die and you'd never know what really happened to me. I worry that Hawk Moth will find out who I am and he'll kidnap and kill you. I worry that an akuma will come after you and I'll have to watch it hurt you while I can't do anything. That I'll have to choose between you and keeping the city safe." She paused to take a shaky breath.

That was exactly what had happened. For the first time, Sabine wished Tikki would step in and say something, but while the kwami had followed her into the room, she hadn't come up to the bed.

Sabine knew she didn't have the experience to say anything comforting that wouldn't sound hollow. This level of responsibility and anticipated grief was so far beyond her.

And still Marinette continued. "And I don't know what I would do. I was able to save you both this time, but what if next time I have to choose? Really choose?" Her voice dropped to a whisper. "What if I make the wrong choice and the city is destroyed? But what if I make the wrong choice and you die? I don't even know which is worse. And I'd have to live with knowing I made that decision and chose the consequences."

Sabine listened in silence as Marinette laid her fears bare for her for the first time. Honoring them now was the least she could do after all the time she had spent selfishly listening to her own, especially when she should have been helping Marinette through hers. She wished she could fight all her battles for her, even the akuma battles, but the weight of who she was wasn't something Sabine could take away.

Marinette pulled back a little bit, so their faces could be level when she said, "But I do know that being Ladybug is a choice that I don't regret making." She said it warily, like she expected Sabine to convince her to lay the burden down.

"I know," she said simply. She'd always known that. "Your job is to help the city, and mine as a parent is to help my daughter. Part of that is keeping you safe, but it also includes making you feel safe. And loved, and supported. And I'm sorry that I haven't been doing a good job of that lately."

Marinette smiled sadly. "I'm sorry too, for hiding this from you for so long, and making you feel like you couldn't trust me."

Sabine pulled her in closer, tucking Marinette's head under her chin, and held her until she heard her breathing even and slow and deepen. Slowly, the tension left her shoulders and her grip around her mother loosened.

It wasn't peace that Sabine felt, but it wasn't quite resignation either. She had always trusted that Ladybug and Cat Noir would win every fight before. She could do that again.

This was more than a child - a young adult - should have to carry, that was certain. But at least she now had another set of shoulders to help her share the burden.

Chapter Text

Sabine closed the register and waved goodbye to the last customers as Marinette shuffled into the bakery. A cold gust of wind blew in with her, and the door chime tinkled.

"How was school?"

"Fine, Mama," Marinette said, dropping her backpack on the floor next to the counter. It was Friday afternoon, and business was slow. Only the two of them and Tom were left in the bakery, but Marinette checked over her shoulder anyway before opening her purse and sliding a cookie off the counter and into her purse for Tikki. "Can you text Cat Noir and ask if he can play some video games?"

"Don't you have some homework to do?" Tom asked, poking his head through the kitchen door. A small cloud of flour puffed off his hands as he clapped them on his apron.

"No. We have two tests on Monday, so we're just studying this weekend instead. I've already got a study session planned with Alya."

That was one of the many things that had changed since Marinette's discovery that Adrien liked someone else. She used to have a study group with Alya, Nino, and Adrien (that she'd insisted on calling "study dates"), but the group had been split in two, and Marinette's grades were suffering for it. Or maybe that was just the heartbreak. Sabine sent the message, and Cat Noir texted back quickly.

"He said he's sorry, but he has fencing practice. He can play in an hour or so. Is that okay? Marinette?"

Marinette was staring at her, wide-eyed and unseeing. "Fencing?" she asked faintly. "He fences?"

"Why?" Tom asked, concerned. He wiped his hands one final time and leaned toward her.

"Fencing and Mandarin," Marinette said, her forehead scrunched in concentration. "Has he said anything about basketball? Or piano or a job he doesn't like?"

This sounded like identity information. Sabine looked up at Tom before answering. He looked as worried as she felt. "I'm not sure about basketball or a job, but he's mentioned piano lessons before."

"He's been playing for years," Tom added. "Are you-"

Tom's voice faltered at Marinette's reaction. She swayed on the spot and looked like she was about to be sick.

"Are you feeling well, sweetheart?" If she truly was figuring out his identity, why was she looking so upset? She racked her own memory for someone Marinette would know with those traits and came up empty. Was it someone bad?

"Fine. It's just a lot of coincidences." She reached for her purse and took out her phone and started swiping through her contacts. "He can't really be the same person. Can I see your phone?"

"What are you going to do?" asked Tom, handing it over.

"I've got to be wrong, but I have to check. If I don't- I just need to get this crazy idea out of my head." Her voice became softer and softer until it died away as she scrolled through his contact list. She stopped when she found the entry for Catson. "There's no way. It's just a lot of coincidences." Her finger hovered over the screen a few more seconds, like she was afraid of what she might find. "I'm just proving it's not true before it drives me nuts. That's all."

Sabine wasn't sure if Marinette was even speaking to them at this point. Even though she'd insisted it was fine, babbling like this was never a good sign.

An identity reveal was one of Marinette's greatest fears. It didn't make any sense to Sabine. And she reminded herself that it didn't matter. Whatever happened, she would listen and be responsive to whatever Marinette thought was distressing.

"I have to be wrong," Marinette whispered, and she punched open the contact and held up her own phone for comparison, careful to keep both screens hidden from view so they couldn't see the name she was looking at. Her eyes flicked back and forth between the two numbers, steadily growing wider, her face more panicked.

"Honey?" Sabine asked. She braced for impact.

"THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE!" Marinette practically threw Tom's phone back at him and bolted up the stairway, screaming incoherently.

Tikki stayed behind. "Everything is fine," she said, flying in front of them when they made to follow Marinette up the stairs and into their apartment.

"Fine?" they asked together.

"She's just surprised." The kwami floated lazily through the air, antennae bobbing slowly. "This is wonderful, really. I've been waiting for this since you traded phone numbers! And now it's here!" Her voice, normally squeaky, rose even higher in pitch.

"Should we go check on her anyway?" Tom asked. A customer walked in right at that moment, bell chiming happily, and Tikki dove out of sight behind the counter.

"I'll go talk to her," Sabine said, patting the register absently. Tikki followed closely, gliding along the floor out of sight.

Marinette wasn't in the living room or the bathroom, so Sabine knocked softly on the trapdoor that led to her bedroom. When no one answered, she pushed it open and peeked inside. Marinette lay on her back across her chaise, head buried under a small pink pillow. That was a good sign. If she'd wanted to be alone, she would have gone to the balcony. She was looking for someone to talk to. Sabine let herself in and sat down on the floor next to her.

"I knew texting was a bad idea," Marinette said in a muffled voice.

"Everything's fine, Marinette," Tikki said, flitting up to stroke the tips of her hair. "You'll see. It's not so bad."

Sabine frowned. Had she sounded like that just a few days ago? Dismissive?

"I know who he is," Marinette said, ignoring the comment. "And now I have to tell him that I figured it out. This changes everything!"

Sabine saw her opening. "Everything? Really?"

"YES!" Marinette wailed. "I'll never see him the same way again!"

"Does it change the fact that you're a good team?"

Marinette paused. "Well, no, but-"

If she'd had his contact in her phone, it meant that they were at least on speaking terms as civilians, which gave Sabine another idea. "Does it change that you're friends in or out of the mask?"

"No." She flopped onto her stomach and buried her face into the pillow.

"Or that you want to protect each other? That he is, in your own words, your 'favorite dork'?"

Marinette had no response for these questions, which left a chance for Tikki to sneak into the conversation. "Does it make you like him less?"

Sabine watched as one half of Marinette's left cheek, the only part of her face she could see, went bright red. Tikki had known which question to ask, apparently.

"Change is always scary," Sabine said, undoing Marinette's pigtails so she could stroke her hair. That had always calmed her down as a child. It usually worked on the teenager, as well. "But it can be scary in a good way sometimes." Tikki nodded her approval of that sentiment but kept quiet, and Sabine was grateful for the silent backup.

After a few minutes of hair stroking, Marinette seemed to have calmed down enough for coherent conversation again.

"Do you know him well?" Sabine asked. "The boy under the mask?" She had his phone number, so the answer was probably yes.

"I thought I did," Marinette said, turning her head to face her mother. It didn't look like she'd been crying. Perhaps Tikki had been right. She wasn't upset, just in shock. Marinette took a deep breath and closed her eyes before continuing. "But I got so many things wrong about him. About both of them!"

"Like what?" Sabine asked.

"Like everything! I thought Cat Noir was just this big, showy goofball."

"He does come off that way sometimes," Sabine said. "Does he not act that way as a civilian?"

Marinette shook her head. "Huh. He's been texting you two this whole time. Civilian him, I mean. I thought he'd been texting that girl he likes..."

"Do you know who the girl is?" Sabine asked.

"That..." Marinette said. "That girl is..." She picked the pillow back up, and buried her head underneath it, shrieking quietly into the chaise cushion. Tikki was almost batted into the corner of the room by her flailing feet.

A loud knock rapped at the trapdoor, and Sabine deftly avoided thrashing limbs as she rose to open it.

Tom poked his head in cautiously. "I've got hot chocolate for her. How's she doing?"

"Oh, she's great!" Tikki answered, a broad smile on her face.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?!" Marinette wailed. "I told him so many stupid things!"

"And I'm sure he'll still love you."

Sabine took the tray from Tom and moved to let him in. It was heavy with five mugs of hot chocolate (Marinette always had two when she was upset), and a pile of cookies.

Despite her tantrum, Marinette was still up for eating half the pile of cookies herself. Tikki ate the other half.

Aside from staring into space with blank eyes, she looked like she was absorbing the new information. The food was a helpful distraction, and Sabine saw another opening. "So one of your greatest fears came true today," she said as Marinette worked on the final cookie. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I'm waiting for something to go wrong." Marinette spoke to the floor more than to them. "This is such a huge security risk. Some of the akumas we've faced can use mind control. We've gotten captured a few times. What if I'm forced to reveal who he is? I'm going to put him into danger!"

"That does sound terrible," Sabine said.

Marinette sat up straighter and smiled gratefully at her. "Thank you."

"Haven't you fought mind controlling akumas before?" Tom asked. "Like Zombizou?"

"Well, yeah," Marinette said, leaning into her mother's side.

"You've never run into that problem before. No one's ever been able to make you reveal his identity," Sabine said. "And it's been two years."

"That's because I didn't know before!" Marinette said. "Now that I do, that will change."

"Have they ever tried to make you?" Tikki asked.

Marinette hesitated. "No."

"And why is that?"

Marinette didn't have an answer, so she sidestepped. "Tikki, if people think we know each others' identities, they'll probably start trying to make us. Who's side are you on?"

"Has anyone ever tried to make you reveal your own identity?" Sabine asked.

Marinette thought about it, and then folded her arms in protest. "Well," she said. "It's still against the rules."

"The rules we have now aren't always the rules," Tikki said. "They change with each different situation, and I'd say this changes the situation you're in quite a lot."

"Is there anything else that could go wrong from this?" Sabine asked, taking Marinette's hand. "Could we prevent the worst from happening before it does?"

"The worst…" Marinette said, nibbling the edge of a cookie. "If an akuma making us give up our secrets isn't bad enough for you, I don't know what is."

"Is that it?" Sabine said.

Marinette shook her head slowly. "And just… it changes so much."

"Do you think you might be worrying about this more than you need to?" Sabine asked. When Marinette didn't answer, Sabine turned to Tikki for help. "Has anything like this happened before?" Surely, it must have, and she wanted the kwami's opinion.

"Identities get exchanged almost every time," Tikki said. "And it's usually fine. Though," she paused, "every situation is different."

They let Marinette take in that information in silence.

"It's game night tomorrow," Tom said after the cookies and hot chocolate were all gone. The three of them were crammed onto the chaise, Marinette squished in the middle, not that she was complaining.

"It's still on," Marinette said. "And he should be done fencing practice in a few minutes. I need to talk to him." She put down her cup and licked the rest of the chocolate off of her lips.

"Are you going to-" Sabine began.

"Tell him who I am?" Marinette said. She stopped to consider, but she finally shook her head. "No. And I'm not telling you who he is either. Come on, Tikki. Spots on!" In a whirl of pink and sparkles, their little girl disappeared onto the balcony.

***

Cat Noir was slightly panicking – only slightly – as he waited for Ladybug at the top of the Palais Garnier. Ladybug had called him on his baton as soon as he'd gotten out of fencing practice, informing him something urgent had come up, and they needed to talk about in person, as soon as possible. Nothing was really wrong she'd said, but her tone made him hurry. He'd been pacing between the statues on the roof, mentally running through worst-case scenarios, since he'd arrived. It was fortunate for him that he didn't need to wait long.

Instead of dropping in beside him like she normally would, she landed softly on the opposite end of the roof and started walking toward him slowly. It gave his heart plenty of time to start pumping at double speed. Her hair was a mess, and she didn't look up at him as she got nearer. She'd said nothing was wrong, so why was she acting like something was wrong?

"Hey," he said when she got close enough, offering a little smile and wave that she didn't return, or even see.

"I know who you are." The words tumbled out so fast that she almost tripped over them. She still hadn't looked at him. "I told you trading phone numbers was a bad idea. We shared too much information, and... now I know who you really are."

His heart clenched. She had learned his identity and she probably hated him and she'd come to tell him they couldn't be partners anymore. "A-are you sure?" Cat Noir asked. "Because you could have gotten-"

"Yes, I'm sure," she said, meeting his eyes for the first time. And smiling. "Adrien."

An electric current coursed through his whole body at the name. But it wasn't from shock. He'd never been so happy to hear his own name before.

"I can't tell you how I found out," she said, eyes dropping back down to her hands that were clasped in front of her, "because then you'd be able to figure me out too."

"Did you tell your parents yet?" he asked. The question felt mechanical, disconnected from the surreal joy he felt. Ladybug knew who he was. She wasn't upset. The reveal had happened, and he hadn't even been there for it!

"No," she said, shaking her head for added emphasis. "And I'm not going to."

"I'm fine with it," he said. "I don't care if they-"

"I do! The fewer people that know, the safer you'll be."

"Is that the real reason?"

Ladybug studied his boots and didn't answer.

"So I guess that rules out me learning who you are today, huh?" He tried to hide his disappointment.

She glanced up at him, her head cocked to the side, eyes pinched with concern. She'd heard the hurt through the humor. "Not... not yet," she said, voice shaking slightly. "I'm not ready yet. I should tell you. I mean, you deserve to know and it would make everything easier, but I'm just not-"

"Hey," he said, grabbing her shoulders and cutting off her babbling. Ladybug rarely got nervous, but he knew her well enough to know that word soup was her most reliable anxious tell. "It's okay," he said. "I understand." He waited before continuing, making sure he had her full attention. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I never want to pressure you into anything."

With his hands on her shoulders, he felt the moment that the tension left them. Her whole frame seemed to unwind slightly, and she smiled up at him.

"Thank you," she said. "I do want to tell you. Just..."

"Just not yet," he finished. "I get it. Take your time." He let go of her shoulders and took a step back. She would need space right now. The best way he could make her feel better would be to let her deal with this information in her own way, even though he desperately wanted to wrap her in a hug and shout with joy. She knew who he was!

Ladybug waved goodbye and took off, like he had expected she would, but not before doing something completely unexpected. She took a step closer to him, stepped on her tiptoes, and kissed him on the cheek.

Cat Noir didn't move from that spot for a long, long time.

Chapter Text

"Sounds like a purr-fect plan, My Lady," Adrien said.

It was only a few days until Christmas, and Ladybug had grabbed Serena's phone to tell him all about her idea for a present exchange. They'd meet on Christmas day just after nightfall and swap gifts instead of doing a patrol. "I already have presents for all three of you!" Adrien said.

Ladybug laughed. "Mama and Papa picked your gift out last month. It's so awful. You'll love it."

Adrien lay on his back on the couch, Mandarin exercises long forgotten. His papers and calligraphy brushes were scattered on the table in front of him.

He smiled to himself as he listened to her. She hadn't called because she had a question for him, or to play video games. She'd had an idea that she wanted to talk about. She just wanted to talk to him.

A knock interrupted them, and Adrien quickly told her not to say anything and tossed the phone next to him facedown.

"Come in!" he called.

Nathalie strode in, announced that he was needed in Gabriel's office, and walked out again. Her eyes never left the tablet she had in her hand. It was amazing that she never crashed into anything.

Adrien sighed loud enough for Ladybug to hear and picked up the phone. "It's probably something terrible again."

"It's probably just another photoshoot," she said sympathetically. "A final push for the Christmas rush?" It was amazingly normal to have her so casually talk about details from his personal life. She knew about his modeling job, and when he had piano lessons, and when he was worried about a test at school. What was better was that she knew all this because she wanted to know, and had taken the time to be aware of the things happening in his life. That was the part that he still was getting used to, but it was also his favorite.

"They'd never get the photos edited and printed in time. It's got to be something worse." He looked down at the papers around him. "Like I'll have to learn Hungarian now."

"You never know. It could be something fun, like juggling! I heard it's the next new thing."

"I already know how to juggle," he said, shuffling all the papers into a neat pile and putting them back into the bright red folder.

"You do?" she asked. "What am I saying? Of course you do."

"I stand by my statement that it's probably something terrible. I'm probably going to have to be homeschooled again."

"No, it's probably learning basket weaving. You don't know that one yet, right? A valuable skill," she said.

"I don't know baseball yet."

"No one plays baseball," she said. "Maybe he's firing some of your tutors and giving you three free nights a week!"

"Ha. I wish. He's going to make me move to Milan or something crazy."

"No, not that! I'd miss you!"

Adrien wasn't sure what was nicer, the fact that she'd said it or the fact that she didn't even attempt to cover it up after she'd said it. Their relationship had definitely changed since she'd found out. At first, she'd been anxious whenever they met on patrol or to fight an akuma, and she'd been quieter during their game nights for the first week, but he was grateful that she'd never cancelled them. After that, things had gotten better. She would call him just to talk, and they'd talk for hours. She complained less about sharing personal details. And, most bizarrely, she laughed at his jokes a lot more. He wasn't sure what that was about.

"Well, you shouldn't keep him waiting," she said with a sigh. That was another odd thing. She seemed to be sad when they had to stop talking or go home after patrol. (He didn't dare to hope… but then again, she had always made it hard not to hope.)

"Yeah. When he needs me, he usually needs me in his office right then and not a second later."

"Well... I have to go help out now anyway. Can I call you tomorrow?"

"Absolutely." Like he'd ever say no to that request.

"Oh, good. Bye, Adrien."

"Bye."

She didn't often call him that, preferring the nickname of "Kitty," like she always had through their whole partnership. Very rarely she would call him by his civilian name when they were masked. He'd realized very quickly that he loved it when she did, and that while he was masked was his favorite time to be called by his real name. It was like she was saying, I see you, I know you, both of you, all of you, and I care about all of you.

When the phone call was over and his papers were straightened, he couldn't find any other reason to delay reporting to his father, so he trudged out of his room and down the hallway. Bright light drenched the other end of the hall where a large window showed a snowy Sunday afternoon. Inside the mansion, Christmas decorations were finally going up, even though there were only a few days left until Christmas.

Adrien knocked hesitantly and showed himself in. Gabriel stood at his podium, swiping through whatever designs were on the computer's display and not sparing his son a glance.

"Nathalie said you wanted to see me?"

"Yes," Gabriel said absently. The inside of this room looked the same as it always did, not a Christmas decoration in sight. Adrien kept his eyes away from the picture of his mother.

"I have some business that I need to take care of over the next few weeks," Gabriel said, "so I will be gone for the entire vacation."

"Gone?" Adrien asked, spirits sinking. That sounded even worse than last year, when his father had at least made an appearance. But to schedule business on Christmas on purpose? Who did that?

"Yes, and most of the staff will have time off, so that leaves you."

"You aren't taking me with you?"

"I thought you would be happier here," Gabriel said.

Adrien knew it was code for, "I don't have a purpose for you, so why would I bring you? So you could be in my way?" And with the rest of the staff gone, Adrien would probably be confined to the house.

"I've decided," Gabriel continued, "to cancel your lessons and photoshoots for the entire vacation, as well. Most of the tutors and photographers requested time off for the holiday."

Well, there went his only hope of human contact for the whole vacation. In-person contact, anyway. He was sure Tim, Serena, and Ladybug would let him call.

"And I'm going to let you make your own arrangements for the week."

"Arrangements?" Adrien asked, confused. Of course he would get to make his own plans if he were home alone. Sit next to the tree, wait for patrol, play video games by himself, wait for patrol some more.

"Yes. It would be irresponsible of me to leave you in the house alone by yourself all week, so you may decide where you will be staying for the holiday."

Adrien looked at his father, completely floored. He had to have misunderstood. There had to be some type of misunderstanding or a catch or something. His father would never give him free reign to decide something like that.

"Just so we're clear, I can stay at whoever's house I want? For the whole week?"

"Yes," Gabriel said.

"I could stay with Nino if I wanted?"

Gabriel's lip twitched, but he gave no other outward appearance of annoyance. "If his family is fine with it, yes. You can even stay with Nino."

Adrien would have to scrape his jaw off the floor at this rate. There was no way that he was being given a Christmas present this wonderful.

"Thank you, Father!" Adrien raced across the room and threw his arms around Gabriel before bolting back out the door and to his room. He would ask Nino first thing at school tomorrow morning. Plans for what they would do together started forming in his mind. He was so excited that he even forgot to call Ladybug back and tell her the news.

***

As Adrien walked up the school steps and into the building the next morning, his eyes scanned the crowd for Nino, but Marinette found him first.

"Hey!" she said brightly. "You look distracted. Everything going okay?"

"Yeah, fine," he said, looking over her head.

His friendship with Marinette had started changing recently, ever since he'd given her that hug the day she was upset. At first, she'd been distant toward him, going so far as to break up their study group and avoid him at school, and he thought he'd messed everything up. But a few weeks later, she must have gotten over whatever had been bothering her, because their friendship was suddenly back and stronger than ever. She never stuttered around him anymore and was generally more happy and open.

He'd asked her about the stuttering thing only once. All it accomplished was making her flustered and embarrassed, and she'd started stuttering her apologies, but hadn't explained. He'd never asked about it again.

"Are you sure you're not distracted?" she said, the hint of a smile on her face.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because that's the fourth time I've asked you that question."

"Oh, uh, sorry."

Marinette didn't seem offended, just amused.

"I got some good news, and I was looking for Nino."

"He's in the classroom already. Probably pretending not to be holding hands with Alya or something."

"Thanks!" Adrien said, and he sprinted away before she could reply. They were only one hallway away from their room, so he risked running the whole way. He could hear Marinette's quick footsteps close behind him.

Alya was sitting in his seat when Adrien arrived, chatting to Nino and laughing.

"Nino!" Adrien said, not out of breath. (It would take more than sprinting down one hallway to wind him, considering all the running around Paris that he did.) "I need to tell you something!"

"I guess that's my cue," Alya said, picking up her backpack and standing.

"Oh, sorry, Alya. I didn't-"

"No biggie. Class'll be starting soon anyway. Mari!" She waved toward the door, but Adrien didn't watch Marinette enter the room.

Adrien slid into his seat as the girls' chairs scraped behind him. "Can I stay with your family for Christmas? Father is going to be away, but he said I didn't have to do my normal lessons, and the staff are all taking time off, so he said I could stay... wherever..." Nino looked down at the table. "Wherever I wanted," Adrien finished lamely.

"I'm sorry, dude. We're visiting family in Morocco. Leaving after school on Tuesday. I mean..." He adjusted his hat uncomfortably.

"Oh, it's okay," Adrien said, trying to hide his disappointment for Nino's sake. He'd forgotten all about that.

"I can see if we can get another ticket for you."

"Nah, it's fine, man. I just thought it would be fun, but it's not a big deal. Maybe next year." It was one thing to invite himself over to Nino's house for the holiday. He knew their whole family. Crashing a family reunion with a bunch of strangers was something totally different. And it would be next to impossible to find tickets this close to the holiday anyway.

Nino apologized again before turning to the open notebook on his desk.

Adrien looked around the rest of the room to distract himself from the burning disappointment. Alya was absorbed with her phone, but Marinette glanced up at him briefly, a strange glint in her eye. Had she overheard all that? If she had, she didn't say anything, just grabbed Alya's attention and started talking about last night's homework. Adrien turned back around.

With Nino unable to take him in, he wasn't sure what he was going to do. He didn't know anyone else in the class well enough to impose his company on them for a family holiday. Except maybe Chloe, and she was vacationing in the Bahamas with her mother all month, thank goodness.

Behind him, Marinette gave a breathless laugh. He could stay with Marinette, if she invited him. He wasn't comfortable inviting himself to her place like he had with Nino. Marinette though... if she invited him over, that would be okay.

***

Marinette piled her things into her bag at the end of the day, carefully avoiding Adrien's pitiful gaze. He'd been trying to catch her eye since first period. And she thought she knew what it was about. She marched out of the classroom, one mission on her mind.

"Mama," she said a few minutes later as she burst through the bakery doors. Her father was singing loudly in the kitchen. The smell of peppermint and fresh bread hung in the air.

"Just a minute, Marinette," Sabine said, handing an order to a customer and greeting the next one in line.

Marinette waited, her fingers drumming on the gleaming countertop. This wasn't something that she wanted anyone overhearing. Tom came out, wiping flour off his hands, and waved to the last of the customers as they left.

"Do you remember how Cat Noir was out last year on Christmas?"

"Of course," Sabine said. "He was out looking for Adrien along with everyone else, wasn't he?"

"I don't think so." They waited for her to elaborate, but when she didn't, they didn't press for details. "Anyway, I don't think he has anywhere to go for Christmas this year. Could you ask him if that's true?" It was. She knew it was. But maybe she could change that. They could have an extra patrol maybe? She shifted her weight from foot to foot. That wouldn't be enough, would it? She wasn't sure.

Tom pulled his phone out of his pocket. "I'll call."

"Marinette, dear," Sabine said, "don't say anything, please."

"Why not?" Tikki nudged her hip through the purse, so Marinette grabbed a cookie and handed it in, aware of the people passing by on the street, looking in through the wide windows.

"Because he might give a different answer if he knows you're listening."

Marinette bristled. "He's always honest with me!" She looked over at the phone laying flat in her father's hand. It was on its second ring.

"But he doesn't like to make you worry about him."

Cat Noir's, Adrien's, voice rang clear through the bakery. Marinette's eyes darted to the windows, hoping no customers were about to walk in. No one was there. The worry didn't really distract her from the guilt of eavesdropping on his conversations for the second time that day. At least the first time he'd known about it.

"Got any plans for the holiday, Cat?" Tom asked without much preamble. "We know you were out and about on your own last year."

"We just wanted to make sure you had someone to spend the holiday with this time," Sabine said.

Marinette bit her lip.

"Oh," Cat Noir said slowly, clearly surprised by the question. "Yeah, it's totally fine. My friends are all travelling, so I'll be at home. It'll be nice."

Marinette made a face and shook her head. How often did he lie for her benefit? Was it only when he was upset? (She hated that he was upset.)

Tom nodded, a sad smile on his face, though Adrien wasn't able to see. "You know Ladybug doesn't like it when you lie, son."

A long stretch of silence followed on Cat Noir's end, before he finally said quietly, "Really, it's fine. You don't have to worry about me."

"We worry," Sabine said.

"It's fine! I'm a superhero. I'm sworn to protect civilians like you. It's my job to worry about you, not the other way around."

"You're still very young," Sabine said, speaking to Cat Noir, but looking right at Marinette to know she was included. "And we care about you deeply. Of course we're going to worry about you. We worry all the time, because we want to make sure you're happy and safe."

"We just wish there were more we could do for you," Tom added.

Marinette gave them both a thumbs up sign. She would bet her sewing machine that Adrien had needed that message today. He'd looked so sad after realizing he wouldn't be staying with Nino and had no one to spend the holiday with. It had been soul-crushing to watch.

"Thanks," Cat Noir said, voice breaking up. "It means-" He stopped to clear his throat. "That means a lot to me. Bye."

Marinette wanted very much to go over to the Agreste mansion and either hug Adrien or slap Gabriel, but another, better idea was forming in her mind, one that would fix everything. One that would distract her from the burning in the corners of her eyes.

"Okay. There is no way I'm letting my kitty be so miserable for another Christmas," she told her parents. "Here's the plan."

Chapter Text

It was finally Christmas morning. While most people were exchanging gifts with family or singing carols together, Marinette, Tikki, Sabine, and Tom stood in the middle of their living room, getting ready to put their plan into motion.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sabine asked.

"Yes, I'm ready," Marinette said.

"I don't want you to do something you'll regret later."

Marinette gave her mother a quick hug. It was such a relief to know that she and Sabine understood each other now. "Thank you. This is big, but it's the right time."

"You look nervous," Tikki said.

That was probably because she was. Her fingers shook slightly, but she formed them into a fist to hide it. "He needs this," she said. "Spots on."

As soon as the transformation was complete, she pulled out her yoyo and engaged the tracking feature. Bright lights illuminated her face as she stared intently at it.

"Yup," she said. "There he is. On the Rue Championnet. It's the 18th arrondissement."

"That's so far away!" Sabine said at the same time that Tom said, "What's he doing over there?"

Ladybug's face twisted with bitterness. "Probably running himself to exhaustion on purpose and wanting to be as far away from home as possible. I really need to go."

"Do you think he'll go along with this?" Sabine asked.

"We'll see," she said, before bounding up the steps to her room and out of sight.

***

Cat Noir had picked the perfect spot on the top of an apartment building, tucked into the shadow of the building next door. He was out of sight, so no one would see him and take pictures and post on the Ladyblog about how poor Cat Noir had no family on Christmas. But he was still able to see below him and watch all the happy people going about their lives and not noticing him, like no one ever seemed to. He'd found this spot by accident, really. He'd just gotten tired of running and stopped when he couldn't find the willpower to make his feet move anymore.

From this height, everyone seemed small and insignificant, just like him. There was some poetic justice in that, he supposed. Snow was falling in clumps around him, but instead of making everything white and perfect, it melted into dirty slush on the roads and made a mess of everything. At least he didn't have to walk down there. He couldn't bring himself to feel grateful even for that little blessing. He still had ten hours left until his scheduled gift exchange with Ladybug. It was the only thing keeping him going today. But how long would she hang around with him? Probably only a few minutes. She must have family over, people she'd much rather be with. She wouldn't want to-

"There you are!"

Cat Noir jumped. He'd been so absorbed that he hadn't heard her walk up next to his seat on the roof.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "Is there an akuma?"

"No, no," she said, giving him a very forced smile. "I'm happy you're out, though!"

Ha. That wasn't true. She looked cold and annoyed. Why would she be looking for me if she's not happy to see me?

"I have a huge favor to ask you," she said. "Do you mind?"

Ah, there it is. See? Not even Ladybug wants to have me around today. She only wanted him when she needed something from him, just like everyone else.

"Are you okay?" she asked, lowering her voice and leaning close enough for her arm to brush his.

That wasn't fair, he reminded himself. He was in a bad mood, but that wasn't any reason to take it out on her. She didn't treat him like his father did. Her eyebrows knit together with worry, but she didn't say anything. He wished she would ask him what was bothering him.

"Sure, I guess. What's the favor? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, nothing's wrong, but do you remember Marinette? The Evillustrator girl?"

"Yeah, of course. She's in my class at school. She's cute."

Ladybug started to turn pink, though it must have been from the cold. "G-gat's thood, I mean, th-that's good. That you remember her, I mean. I- I mean." She cleared her throat. "Good. I ran into her a few days ago, and she asked if we would come over to her house today for a few minutes and say hello to her parents. They're your self-proclaimed biggest fans, so I volunteered you. I hope that's okay."

"Oh." Well, someone wanted him around, even if it wasn't Adrien-him, and he'd been hoping Marinette would invite him over. "Yeah, sure. Let's go." They were probably only planning on a few minutes, but maybe he'd be able to stretch it out a little?

"Great!" Ladybug said, her shoulders slumping in relief. She'd really been expecting him to turn down a request to visit a fan? He must have looked worse than he thought.

Traffic was unusually slow, even for a cold Christmas morning. No one stopped them for autographs or called out to them. The snow made the rooftops slick, and Ladybug scooped up a handful and tossed it at his head. He dodged but didn't throw any back, like he normally would have. He didn't have time for snowball fights. He just wanted to get to Marinette's quickly so he could pretend he had a home for Christmas, even for a little bit.

Ladybug stopped him when they got to the roof of the school. They were so close! Why was she stopping?

"We can't let anyone see us going in, okay?" Ladybug said. "Marinette suggested we wait for a break in traffic and then quickly let ourselves in through the bakery door. She left it unlocked."

"Shouldn't we knock?"

"And stand there for the whole world to see? They don't want that kind of attention. Oh, here's our chance!"

Without another word, she jumped off the building, did a flip, and landed gracefully across the street, just feet from the front door. Ladybug was amazing.

And he was wasting the gap in traffic. He vaulted off the side of the building, still too upset to even do a somersault to impress her.

Ladybug pushed the door open without knocking and slipped inside. He hesitated just for a moment. It felt rude to just let themselves in like this, even if Marinette said it was fine.

The bakery was dark and quiet, two things he'd never seen it be before. The scents were faint, since it had been closed all day, but the smell of sugar, cakes, and fresh bread still clung to the air. All the displays were empty. Upstairs, he could hear footsteps, but no voices.

"This way," Ladybug said, opening the door that led to the stairs and the living area of the house.

"No!" he hissed at her. "We're inside now. We should knock."

"It's fine!" She didn't stop to see if he was following before heading through the open door, so he was left with nothing to do except chase after her.

The carpets muffled their footsteps as they climbed the stairs, and they arrived at the living room door. He'd been here as Adrien only a handful of times, but how had Ladybug known where to go?

She hesitated at the door, and he wasn't sure if she was waiting for him to catch up or something else. She took a deep breath, then reached for the doorknob.

"Wait!" Cat Noir said in a rushed whisper. "We really need to knock this time."

She turned to him, one hand resting on the knob. She put the other hand on his shoulder, looked him full in the face, and said very clearly, "Merry Christmas, Adrien."

Then she opened the door and let herself in.

"Mama!" she called. "Papa! I found him!"

Cat Noir stood frozen at the door. Her parents were here? Marinette had set this up so he could meet Ladybug's parents? How had she known they'd been talking to each other?

"Oh, Marinette!" That was definitely Serena's voice. "I was wondering what was taking you so long. The food's almost ready."

Cat Noir followed his Lady through the door, closing it quietly behind him. Ladybug was there, Tom was at the stove, Sabine was getting up from the couch and coming over to greet them, but other than that and the smell of roast turkey, the room was empty. Where were Tim, Serena, and Marinette?

"Perfect timing then!" Ladybug said. She reached over and gave Sabine a hug.

"Could you set the table, please?" Tom asked her. But that voice... that was Tim's voice. He'd heard it almost every day for weeks. Tom stirred a small pot of something, but he set the spoon down and started walking over, past Ladybug, to him.

"Sure, Papa," Ladybug said.

A few seconds after arriving, his self-proclaimed biggest fans were in front of him, both smiling fondly at him. At just him! Plates clinked in the background as Ladybug pulled them out of the cupboard and put them down on the counter. Tom and Sabine only waited a few seconds before wrapping him in a giant hug.

"You two should introduce yourselves," Ladybug called. "I think he's in shock."

They pulled away from him, but he held on, not willing to let them go very far.

"Hello, Cat Noir," Sabine said. "You've called me Serena, but my real name is Sabine, and this giant's real name is Tom."

"It's nice to officially meet you in person."

Cat Noir wanted to say something, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to get the words out. If Tim and Serena were really Tom and Sabine, that had to mean that...

Ladybug had finished setting the plates, four places. In the corner of the living room was an electric fireplace, and a tree with gifts, and an extra stocking set out just for him, because Marinette had known that Adrien was looking for a place to stay for the holiday, and Ladybug had known who Cat Noir was.

She stood there, waiting, until he looked back at her, and then said, "Spots off." Light and sparkles filled the room, and then there was Marinette and a little red kwami.

Marinette hadn't happened to meet Ladybug and ask for a favor. They'd all planned this whole thing. For him.

He started to laugh so he wouldn't start to cry, but his voice shook. Marinette heard it and hurried over, joining the hug. He reached around Sabine to wrap an arm around Marinette's shoulders.

"Marinette," Sabine finally said. "The table."

"Oh!" she said, pulling away. "Sorry!" When she left, the whole hug broke apart, much too soon for Cat Noir. Marinette scurried around the kitchen, grabbing forks and cups, and giving Cat Noir a chance to whisper his thanks to her parents.

"It was Marinette's idea," Tom said.

"She didn't want you to be lonely like last year," Sabine added.

"I don't want to intrude on your holiday," Cat Noir said, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. After the dismissive treatment he usually received, this almost seemed too good to be true. He half expected them to ask him to leave as soon as the meal was over.

"Nonsense," Tom said, low enough for Marinette not to hear, though she did look over curiously. "You can crash our family functions as often as you want."

"Repayment for saving us from being childless so many times. You're family now," Sabine said in the same hushed tone. She raised her voice back to a normal level as she said, "Marinette hasn't told us who you are, so you can stay transformed or not."

"You're always welcome in either form," Tom said.

"Open invitation, Kitty," Marinette added. "Table's done."

***

It was the best Christmas dinner he'd ever had, anywhere, in his life. While it probably had more to do with the fact that he was surrounded by people who wanted him, he couldn't rule out the possibility that Tom's professional baking skills and Sabine's traditional Chinese food had something to do with it.

He opted to stay in costume, at least for the time being. It had always been easier for him to be open and friendly with people as his alter ego, and this way he wouldn't have to deal with Plagg's teasing.

He spent the whole meal alternately making terrible puns with Tom to make Sabine and Marinette – Ladybug! – groan out loud, and trying to wrap his head around the fact that Marinette – who was Ladybug! – had known that Adrien had been Cat Noir the whole time. That explained the sudden shift in their friendship, though he was still curious about the stuttering and why it had disappeared.

Their house was beautifully decorated, and something told him they'd gone the extra mile for his benefit. The tree sparkled, there were garlands everywhere, and he even spotted a few sprigs of mistletoe. He saw Marinette staring at one, but when he caught her eye and wiggled his eyebrows at her, she blushed and shoved his face away. In the background, Tikki giggled at them.

After dessert was cleared away, Sabine turned to him, a serious look on her face. "I know this was sprung on you," she said, "so feel free to say no, but if you don't mind sleeping on the couch down here, you're welcome to stay the night."

He looked around at all three of them, silently asking for permission. Marinette just smirked at his awestruck face.

"Of course I want to!" he said. He would have slept on the cold floor if it meant he could be where people would be happy to see him in the morning. (Curled up in front of the electric fireplace, naturally.)

He sped home, threw some clothes, his toothbrush and, most importantly, his presents for Ladybug – Marinette! – and her parents into a duffle bag while Plagg munched on his Christmas present, a wheel of camembert that had been a pain to hide from him all week.

"You're packing clothes?" Plagg asked around a mouthful of cheese. "You're going to tell them who you are?"

"I haven't decided yet," Adrien said. Marinette already knew. He'd been ready to let Tim and Serena know who he was, but now that they were Tom and Sabine, people he'd known for over a year, he was a little more hesitant about it. It made the situation so much more real.

***

When Cat Noir returned, presents in tow, he was greeted just as warmly as he had been when he first arrived. Marinette tossed him a game controller and patted the seat next to her, triumphant smirk already on her face and Tikki sitting on her shoulder.

"You sure you're going to win this time, My Lady? I'm feeling pretty confident today."

"Your overconfidence is your weakness!" she said. "I have the home court advantage!" Cat Noir wasn't sure about that. This place already felt more like home than his house did.

As they played, it became clear that his overconfidence was not his weakness. His claws were. They slid and slipped on the plastic casing and nudged joysticks in the wrong directions.

"Yesssss!" Marinette said, as Cat Noir's car veered off the track and over a cliff. Again. "I will beat you!"

"You're in last place!" Cat Noir said. "I'm still ahead of you." And he was, only barely. Tom had taken pity on him and tickled Marinette. By the time she'd finished laughing, she'd lost her first-place spot and any hope of winning.

"I'll catch up. There's no way for you to beat me," she said.

"Oh yeah?"

She turned to him, the race temporarily forgotten. She'd understood what he'd implied. Her surprised face was bathed in green light for a few seconds, and then he was Adrien again. Everyone in the room sat staring at him, until Plagg shouted "Tikki!" and dove for her, knocking her onto the couch cushion. "I missed you!"

"Huh," Adrien said. Plagg liked Tikki more than cheese. That was unexpected.

"I saw you at school two days ago!" she complained.

He turned back to Marinette, then to her parents. He'd expected them to look surprised or to be staring at this boy that they didn't realize they'd known, but instead, they both had giant grins on their faces and were glancing at Marinette, who was steadily turning bright red. What was happening? He felt like he was missing some kind of inside joke.

"Well, Marinette-" Tom said.

"DON'T. SAY. A WORD." She picked up her controller again, but it was too late. Her car had gotten stuck in a mud patch and refused to budge. She came in last place. Tom and Sabine didn't stop smiling for the rest of the night.

As it turned out, Tom and Sabine's night didn't last that much longer. They were still on baker's time and started yawning by 8pm. They lasted until 9:30, when they finally decided to go to bed. They bid the heroes goodnight and started for the door. Tom stopped in the middle of the room, reached up, and made a show of taking down the mistletoe that Adrien had done a very good job avoiding all evening. Marinette had invited him into her home, she liked someone else, and he wasn't going to ruin anything by making her uncomfortable.

Tom fiddled with the sprig, made sure they were both watching, and then gently, slowly pulled it down. Marinette had her face in her hands, but Adrien wasn't really sure why. His confusion was plain on his face, and Tom answered his unasked question.

"So you two don't get any ideas while you're unsupervised."

"Ideas? What-"

"PAPA!" Marinette yelled. She buried her hands in her hair, face still pointed toward her knees. Adrien could see a red blush so pronounced it looked like her face was glowing. It extended all the way around the back of her neck. And then he understood.

"Oh. Of course. No ideas." And he added, "Sir," on the end for good measure. But Tom just chuckled at their embarrassment.

"Don't be mean," Sabine said, grabbing the mistletoe from Tom and swatting his arm with it.

Tikki and Plagg laughed.

"We'll be here," Plagg said. "We'll let you know if you miss anything interesting."

After they had disappeared into their bedroom, the kwamis deserted them quickly. Adrien still felt as pale as Marinette looked red. The awkward silence only stretched a few seconds before Marinette tried to break the ice.

"So... How are you today? I mean, how was your day? Aside from that fortimying- mortifying end at the bit, bit at the end, I mean. Ugh. Forget it. Listen, I need to tell you something."

Truth be told, it had been perfect, from her rescue, to the food and the games, to just spending time being a part of someone's family. Whatever she wanted to say must have been important, but her nerves were making it difficult. He wanted to set her at ease, help her as much as he could after all she'd done for him today. This was still Ladybug. Some friendly banter might reawaken her masked confidence.

"Well, My Lady, is this the part where you confess your undying love for me?"

He expected an eye roll and maybe some derisive laughter. Maybe a shove. He didn't expect her to turn an even deeper shade of red and squeak out, "Yes!"

He'd messed up. Marinette must have been more flustered about whatever she was going to say, because she just answered with a yes on accident. After what her father had said too! He should have waited before flirting with her again!

So he did the only thing he could think of: try to play it off as a joke. "What was that? I don't have my super hearing right now, and there's no way that-"

"Y-you heard me," she said.

"What?!"

"The other boy that I liked," she plowed on. "He was you."

"He was?"

Marinette smiled at him, then reached slowly forward and grabbed his hand. "This whole time."

This day had just been too surreal, too good to be true, and now this happened. Was he in the clutches of some reality-bending akuma? Maybe he was dreaming. But Marinette's gentle pressure on his fingers felt real enough.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

Marinette laughed. "Yes, I'm sure! You're my top two favorite people, all rolled into one. Why wouldn't I love you?"

"Love? B-but..."

"You know, for someone who does as much flirting as you do, I thought you'd be less surprised by this." Her thumb traced a circle around his knuckle. It was soothing, exciting, anxiety-provoking and fantasy-inspiring all at once. This couldn't actually be happening, could it?

Marinette let him take his time processing the information. Ladybug had said the boy that she liked liked someone else. Marinette had been upset at the same time. She'd avoided him. They both felt better at the same time. But if he was the boy, that meant she'd heard him talking to Nino about...

"I was talking about you," he said.

"What?"

"I was talking to Nino about you. I'm so sorry! I made you cry, didn't I?"

"Oh," she said. Her finger stopped moving. "Well, I mean, you didn't really..."

"Marinette," he whined. "Stop. I'm sorry! I never wanted to make Ladybug or Marinette cry, and you both did!"

Her finger resumed its circling. "I know how you can make it up to me," she said, leaning forward, eyes flicking to his lips.

***

Baker's hours. They made you early risers as Tom always joked to her. Why she married a baker, she would never know.

Tom rolled over as he woke up and wrapped a warm arm around her. Ah yes. This was why she married a baker.

They stayed there, breathing quietly in the still morning for a few minutes before heading downstairs. The kids would both (hopefully) still be asleep, but the bakery would be open for business as usual, so they'd just have to be quiet.

"Do you think they behaved themselves?" Tom asked her. She could hear the grin in his voice without even looking at him.

"Oh, stop it. I'm worried that Marinette didn't even tell him that she likes him after that comment you made."

"It was too good of an opportunity to pass up."

A chance to embarrass both of his favorite teenagers at once. Yes, there was no way he would have missed that.

They crept out of their bedroom to find only silence. The lights were all off, and the glow of the electric fireplace threw dancing shadows across the room.

"I'll make us some coffee," Tom said.

"Thanks." Sabine wandered over to the couch. Her mothering instincts wanted to make sure Adrien was tucked in, but when she saw him, she had to cover her mouth to keep from squealing.

Tom noticed. "What?"

She silently waved him over.

Marinette hadn't made it up to her room last night. The pair of them were snuggled up on the couch, fast asleep, Marinette across Adrien's chest. One of Adrien's arms and half of their blanket trailed on the floor. The kwamis were nestled on the back of the couch, watching over them.

Tom settled himself behind her, then rested his head on top of hers while he watched them. "I'm glad it worked out this way for her. For both of them," he said.

"No thanks to you." She ducked out from under his chin and bent to pick up Adrien's trailing arm. The other was already wrapped around Marinette, who was curling into his chest for warmth. Sabine draped his trailing arm next to the other, then started to smooth out Adrien's hair.

Tom adjusted the blanket. "Stop touching them. You'll wake them up."

"Won't." To prove her point, she kissed Marinette's forehead, then Adrien's. "See?"

Adrien stirred slightly.

"Ha," Tom whispered. "Told you. I win."

"Shush. You'll wake them up!"

Adrien blinked his eyes blearily, tightening his grip on Marinette.

"Don't blame this on me. You were the one poking at them," Tom said.

Adrien's eyes focused on first Tom and then Sabine. "G'mornin'," he said sleepily. "What time is it?"

"Early," Tom said. "Go back to sleep."

"Thanks," he said, settling farther back into the couch, and then he seemed to realize where he was and who he was using as a blanket. "Oh, uh, s-sorry. We just fell asleep, and-"

"Don't worry about it," Sabine said. "Tom and I have been trying to decide if she would be better off being with Cat Noir or Adrien. We're happy we don't have to choose." And that she didn't have to either.

"Thanks," Adrien said again, grabbing the blanket and pulling it up until it covered Marinette's shoulders. "Really, thanks for everything, Serena- Sorry. I mean-"

She cut him off with a hug, which he returned awkwardly with the only arm that would reach her.

"You're lucky you woke up when you did," Tom said. "I was about to get my phone out and text a pic of this to everyone you know."

"You wouldn't."

"What are you planning on telling your friends?" Sabine said.

"The truth," Adrien said, hugging Marinette to him. He rested his cheek against her hair. "I spent the holiday at Marinette's house and realized I was in love with her. I just won't tell anyone it didn't happen in that order."

The End