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Ladybug sat at the normal patrol meet up spot, staring out into the night, a cloud of guilt hovering over her especially thick that night. It had been two weeks since she had told Alya that she was Ladybug and her civilian life had become immensely easier to deal with.
Alya was able to cover for her with their friends, teachers, and parents. Alya’s excuses were much better than, “my dog ate an entire wool sweater,” and having everyone take that excuse, knowing that Marinette had no dog...or animal of any kind. No, Alya’s excuses were much more planned and believable and Marinette was no longer hounded by her other friends.
Marinette smiled as she thought about the first thing Alya had said after their twenty year long hug and Marinette’s tears had turned to sniffles.
“So I guess that means I’m Ladybug’s best friend, not Lila?” Alya pushed Marinette away from her as she looked her best friend seriously in the eyes.
Through Marinette’s despair, a laugh cracked out as she reached up to wipe tears from her face, “All this time and I finally break and tell you my identity and THAT’S the first thing you say?”
Alya scoffed, “What? I have priorities and that also means that…” Alya’s demeanor wilted. “Marinette you were right!”
“Sometimes,” Marinette replied somberly.
“No! Marinette! You were right!!” Alya pressed. “Lila has been lying about everything, hasn’t she?!”
Marinette looked away, sniffling and tears in her eyes, before she nodded yes.
“That witch!” Alya hissed, her anger flaring as her hands gripped Marinette’s shoulders, before she thought better of it, took a deep breath in and out, and looked back up at Marinette. “We are gonna fix that, M. I promise. She can lie all she wants, and I’ll call her out on stuff that I can prove, but I don’t want to make it miserable for you either.”
Marinette gave Alya a big, watery smile before she lunged at her, knocking her to the ground as her tears started again, “You’re the best, Alya! It is so good to have you fully in my corner now!” she balled.
Alya squeezed her back, harder than Marinette squeezed her, and said, “I will never leave your corner,” she paused. “Unless for some reason Hawk Moth takes control of you and in which case, know that I am in your corner fighting to save you and get you back in the right corner.”
“Thank you, Alya!” Marinette blubbered into her shoulder, tears soaking her best friend’s shoulder. “I feel so much better already.”
“I’m glad,” Alya rubbed Marinette’s back in soothing circles. “And after you feel more better, probably in a couple of days, girl, we are going to have the biggest sleepover with the two of us and we are going to talk soooo much.”
Marinette giggled, “I’d like that very much.”
Ladybug chuckled to herself as she thought about what happened next. The kwamis all came rushing out from their hiding spots and became one with the hugging session. Alya was overjoyed to see Trixx again, talking to him while she held Marinette in her arms, rubbing her back and hair.
They had an epic sleepover that weekend and she was able to spill just about everything about her life as Ladybug to Alya. She spoke of her responsibilities as Guardian and how hard she has been working to find an upper hand on Hawk Moth. In return, Alya told her that she would keep an ear to the ground, listening for anything suspicious that could lead Ladybug and Chat Noir -and possibly Rena Rouge and Carapace- to defeat the super villain.
When they got to the subject of Chat Noir...Marinette had froze. She realized that she would have to tell Chat that someone knew her identity….someone that was not him. Alya calmed her down from her panic and told her that she could tell him when she was ready.
After that, Alya would ask if she had told Chat yet, to which she always answered no because she would chicken out. She knew Alya was right and that she needed to tell him...but she was afraid of disappointing him. Both outcomes stressed her out, but she knew she needed to tell him more.
She sighed, so lost in thought she had not heard the pacing of toe beans behind her.
*******
Chat Noir jumped over rooftops, making his way toward the meetup spot with Ladybug. He had almost missed his landing a few times because he was so lost in thought. It had been two weeks since Nino had accidentally discovered his secret identity.
He had been delaying telling Ladybug...but she really needed to know. He only hoped that she understood because Nino was a previous miraculous holder.
He thought about that afternoon…
Adrien had just dropped into his room and detransformed without thinking about it. It did not matter because he was the only one that came in his room in the first place. He walked over to the piano and grabbed his phone off of the speaker, shutting the music off. He unlocked it and noticed that there were a few texts from Nino.
“Huh, Nino says he’s coming over?” Adrien addressed Plagg. “Don’t know how he’ll get past father, but we will see.”
“Uhh, Adrien...might want to check that time stamp,” Plagg responded, sounding a bit worried.
Adrien looked down to his phone again, clicking the message to show the time it was received, “An hour ago. Guess he couldn’t get past father or Nathalie,” his voice sad.
“Might want to check this out,” Plagg chuckled.
Adrien looked in the direction of Plagg’s voice, toward his bed, and froze. Nino was lounging on his bed, a comic laid out in front of him, with eyes wide and mouth gaped.
“Nino!! How long have you been there!” Adrien whisper-screamed.
“I...I...you’re...you’re Chat Noir!?” Nino whisper-screamed back, not wanting to alert the whole household.
“I asked you first,” Adrien deflected.
Nino shook his head, coming back to his senses, “Fifteen minutes. Now answer my question!” he argued back.
“Uhh...no?” Adrien answered, unconvincingly.
“Wow, that’ll convince him,” Plagg chimed in.
“That’s a kwami,” Nino stated.
“What’s a kwami?” Adrien played dumb.
Nino looked at Plagg, Plagg looked back. They both shook their heads.
“He’s your best friend,” Plagg shrugged.
“Yeah, well, he’s your chosen,” Nino chuckled.
Adrien pouted, “You are taking this far better than I expected...especially since you were a frozen statue when I turned around to see you on my bed. How did you get in here anyways?”
“Well I was shocked! Can you blame me! My best bud is a superhero!” he exclaimed, gesturing to Adrien.
“Dude! You’re a superhero too!” Adrien responded, gesturing back to him.
“Was, dude. You forget I can’t be Carapace anymore?”
Adrien sighed, “Still.”
“Still nothing! You are the top dog superhero!” Nino exclaimed, jumping from his prone position and sitting on the edge of the bed.
Adrien chuckled, “You must have me confused with Ladybug.”
“Ahh, I see what you’re doing. You and her are equal in every way!” Nino jumped off the bed and wrapped Adrien in the biggest of bro hugs. “Never underestimate yourself! You do amazing! And you are even more amazing, especially to me, knowing Chat Noir is you...I don’t know how you do it...but you do it well, dude!”
Adrien hugged Nino back tightly, “Nino!” he whined. “You’re going to make me cry!”
“Let it out, dude!” he stroked his hair. “It’s unmanly to hold your tears in.”
“You’re the best, Nino,” Adrien blubbered through his tears.
“It’s what you deserve, Adrien,” Nino replied.
Chat almost missed his landing, yet again, distracted by his memory. Once the hugs and tears had subsided, they sat on Adrien’s couch and played video games and talked about Adrien’s double life. Nino assured him that he would always be there for him, whether he needed a hero, a best friend, or a shoulder to cry on.
Adrien was worried that night about what he was going to tell Ladybug, but Nino assured him that there was no way that she would take away his miraculous, not with how connected they were. Adrien hoped Nino was right. Nino had been nagging him all week, telling him that he needed to tell Ladybug, so tonight, he was going to.
He landed on their roof and saw Ladybug sitting there on the edge. She had not heard him yet and he was about to gain her attention when he just could not get words out. So he started pacing, like a cornered cat. He could leave and call her, tell her something came up, but he was no coward. He needed to face the issue head on...but he could not stop pacing.
***********
The sound of feet hitting the roof behind her finally knocked her out of her head. She twisted her body to see Chat Noir pacing back and forth on the roof. He was ringing his hands together nervously and was muttering to himself about something she could not quite hear.
She smiled softly, took a deep breath, and called to him, “Evening, Chaton.”
“Eep!” Chat flew into the air, startled by Ladybug’s gentle voice as he landed next to her. “My lady! You scared at least three of my nine lives out of me!” He placed a hand over his heart, trying to calm its pounding.
Ladybug giggled, “Sorry. I assumed you’d seen me sitting here.”
“I did, but...I was lost in thought and completely forgot!” he exclaimed, sitting down next to her.
“Silly kitty, what’s on your mind?” she inquired.
“It’s...uh...umm...well…” he started breathing fast, getting worked up as he tried to tell her.
“Hey, chaton! It’s fine!” she soothed, rubbing her hand along his back. “Take a deep breath and think about what you want to say. And in the meantime...maybe I can do the same thing...cause I have something really important to tell you, which I should have told you a few weeks ago but I just couldn’t,” she bowed her head in shame.
Chat took a deep breath, “My lady, it’s ok. I’m sure it’s fine, whatever it is.” He brought his arm and placed it around her shoulders, rubbing soothing circles on her back too.
“Oh, you won’t be saying that when I tell you,” she nervously laughed. “And I am stalling way too much, so maybe don’t say anything until I’ve said everything...and then you can yell at me?” she gave him an awkward smile as she looked to the side, judging his reaction to her request.
He slowly nodded, “Of course, my lady. This cat’s lips are sealed until you open them, maybe with a kiss?” he joked, giving her a sideways, awkward grin.
“You’re such a ham,” she giggled, feeling a little more ready to tell him. She took another deep breath in and looked away from him, “My best friend knows I’m Ladybug.”
Whatever he had expected out of her mouth, it was not that. His eyes went wide and he gaped his mouth like a fish, but he remained silent as his lady had requested.
“I chose to tell her. It wasn’t an accident. I needed her more than I knew. Remember two weeks ago, when we went to see a movie?” She looked over to him, he nodded. “And I kind of went mad? Yeah, I was losing it badly. I had gone out on a few dates with a boy who had asked me out. He knew I liked another boy but he still wanted to go out with me and I gave him a chance,” her voice started to break up as tears welled in her eyes. She reached up quickly with her free hand, before bringing the other around, and wiping the tears from her eyes.
Chat hated to see his lady cry and both his arms went around her shoulders as she tried to dry her eyes, “It’s ok. Shhh. I’m not mad! I’m not! I’m sure you have a perfect reason for telling them.”
She sniffled, “I’m sorry, Chat. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you first. I couldn’t handle the pressure and my friends were all mad at me for lying to them because they almost found the miracle box and all the kwamis and I threw them out of my room! And Chat it was awful! So after they were akumatized that day...I broke. I told my best friend that if I told her my secret, that everything would change. She told me she would always be my friend and I just...broke. I told her I was Ladybug. She looked at me for a few seconds and just hugged me and it was like...everything made sense to her. Why I was such a flake, why I had to break it off with the boy, and why I could no longer pursue the other boy; not when I have to run off so much with no legit reason! And I want to tell you, I do! But I don’t think I can handle the stress of introducing a new boy to my friends and lying to my friends about how I know said boy and why we are so close! I can’t do it!”
Chat’s mind was reeling. He was not sure if Ladybug had meant to divulge her own secret identity in her rant...but she had. There were five girls akumatized that day...one friend missing from the group...one friend who recently broke up with a boy...one friend who’s first pick for a superhero back up partner was one Alya Césaire.
He took a deep, shaky breath, “Ladybug. I could never be upset over something like this,” he said softly. “You clearly were backed into a corner of losing your friends and becoming a prime target for an akuma. And we can’t have our lovely Ladybug akumatized now can we?”
She wiped her eyes and looked up to him and shook her head no.
“Alright then. Now, is this friend trustworthy?”
“Yes,” she stated firmly through her tears. “She understands the burden of this secret and I wouldn’t have even thought of telling her had I not thought she was trustworthy. She’s my best friend on the civilian side of my mask as you are my best friend on the superhero side of my mask.”
“I’m really glad to hear you say that, my lady,” Chat smiled down to her, before it dropped and a guilty expression crossed his features. “Uh, my lady...I um...I have something I need to tell you, too.”
She looked at him confused as she undid herself from his arms, twisting her body to take in his body language, “What is it, chaton? You can tell me. It can’t be as bad as my news, can it?”
Chat chuckled nervously, causing Ladybug’s smile to fade, “Well, funny you should mention that day...because when I went home that day, my best friend also discovered my secret identity.”
Ladybug gasped as her hands flew to her mouth, “Are you ok?! Are you compromised?” she spoke swiftly, flailing her arms around.
“No! No!” he stopped her hands with his, taking them and rubbing his thumbs over the top of them. “I went home that day and jumped through the window like I always do. I detransformed and grabbed my cell phone off the piano to see that I had several texts from him and then suddenly...there he was, on my bed, staring at me as if I had grown two heads. It’s not bad. I mean...it sounds bad...but my best friend knows how to keep a miraculous secret. You should know, you trusted him with one...Princess.” he smiled softly as he threw her civilian nickname in there to see if she could catch the hints.
Ladybug froze. She had trusted a lot of people with a miraculous. Most of them boys. She had grown up with half those boys, and she only knew of one that had a blonde best friend. She gulped, choosing to ignore the nickname he normally gave her civilian half and afraid of asking in fear he would confirm her suspicions, but her curiosity won out, “How uh...how did you not know he was in your room?”
“My friends aren’t normally allowed in my room,” his ears drooped and she had a sudden murderous shiver run through her body. “Hardly anyone is in my room...ever! And my best friend is forbidden to even enter my home, let alone be alone in my room. But there he was, lounging in my bed, reading a comic book. I had no idea he was there and I just detransformed and started talking to Plagg, when Plagg told me he was there. Of course in the split second that they had seen each other, Plagg and him became best bros ganging up on me.”
Chat hung his head in mock-exasperation, making Ladybug giggle, which earned her a sideways grin.
“Nino would become friends with the god of destruction,” she giggled.
“Yeah, he would,” he agreed thoughtfully, until he realized what she had said. His eyes blew wide open and stared at her, half scared and half hopeful. “You figured it out!” he squeaked.
Ladybug busted out laughing, “Oh chaton! That impression is spot on , how long did it take you to perfect it?”
Chat cleared his throat, “Well, princess , as many times as you’ve squeaked and ran away from me...it didn’t take long to master the skill.” He stuck his tongue out at her.
Ladybug blushed and pouted as she turned her head away from him, “Don’t tease me, it’s unbecoming of a model.” She slowly peered back in his direction, “H-how did you figure me out?”
“My lady, it’s not everyday that we fight multiple akumas at once. Not to mention you gave me a specific date of the issue, so...it was only a matter of deductive reasoning.”
“You’re too smart for your own good, you know that?” she smirked at him and nudged him with her shoulder.
“Eh, depends on who you ask,” he shrugged. “Some people seem to think I am a clown.” He stared wide eyed at her in mock accusing.
“You are a clown. You’re my clown though,” she laid her head on his shoulder and felt him bristle before he relaxed and draped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close.
There was a moment of silence and comfort between the two, until Chat softly broke the silence, “I’m sorry about Luka.”
Ladybug sighed, “It’s...alright, I guess. I’m sorry about Kagami. Guess we both had shitty days that day. Between Vérité and Mensonge, that was a rough day. I have been...blowing Kagami off for juice too. And she hasn’t called me, not that I would have had time to answer, with avoiding everyone, but still.” She paused and brought her hands up to her face as she lifted her head off Chat’s shoulder and screamed into her hands, scaring Chat.
“My lady! Are you alright?!”
She huffed and brought her hands down from her face to look frustratingly at Chat, “No! Do you realize how dumb we are!?”
“Umm, well, seeing as how we’ve been so close to each other and didn’t notice until just this moment? Pretty dumb.” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously thinking of all the times they rescued their civilian halves, trying to get them away from danger.
“No! I mean, yes, that too. But we’ve been chasing each other in literal circles!” She flailed her hands for emphasis.
“I’m...not following,” Chat asked confused.
“Uhg,” she ranted. “There is nothing stopping me from my third problem now. The other boy? The boy I’ve always been in love with for over a year, who I keep turning Chat Noir down for! The one who I’ve already picked out the names of our children! That boy! Is Adrien!”
Chat gasped, “What?!” But she did not hear him as she continued her rant.
“I’ve been turning down Adrien this whole time and hurt Luka in the process! I’m a horrible person and don’t deserve love!” she wailed, throwing her head back in her hands.
“Alright, that’s enough. You more than deserve love. Now, let’s not say names too loudly, since we are in a very public place,” he stated softly.
“How are you so calm!?” she interrupted him, screaming in his face, only to relax when she noticed his eye twitch. “Y-you’re not calm...are you?” she squeaked.
“My lady, I am literally the opposite of calm right now,” he said calmly. “I am so not calm that I am freakishly calm and I will probably freak out later, when I’m home, cause this is a lot of stuff to process, but for both our sakes...this is me right now.”
“Ok,” she squeaked.
“Now, if my brain was able to understand everything...you have feelings for me and I have feelings for you?” he questioned.
Ladybug nodded her head, her cheeks blazing red at the admittance.
“And if I am to understand correctly, we just had to break up from two really awesome people because we can’t be Ladybug and Chat Noir and be truthful to people who can’t know our identities?”
She nodded again, her face drooping in sadness.
“And it would look really crappy if we started dating out of the blue after we just had...let’s call it...akumatized breakups. So the only solution here is to find Hawk Moth, kick his butt into next week, date, marry, and have those kids you were talking about!” he concluded excitedly.
Ladybug groaned and fell backwards, laying on the roof, “You make it sound so simple!”
“We’re in collège, my lady. Everything is both simple and complex at the same time!” he exclaimed. “Now sit back up and let’s discuss this cool new place that Adrien might invite his very good friend Marinette to. Only as friends!”
Ladybug sat up slowly, her expression unreadable, “Kagami thinks it’s me...doesn’t she?”
“What?” he asked, confused.
“Kagami. She thinks it’s civilian me that caused you to break up...doesn’t she?”
Chat sighed, “She...what makes you say that?”
“The lucky charm. It was her akumatized object. So you either gave it to her or she was suspicious of something.”
“She assumed because I carry the lucky charm everywhere that I couldn’t choose between her and you. I always said you were just a friend...guess she knew before I did. She knew this from that time we went skating. Remember, when I rushed after you? Guess I know why you were upset now,” his ears and body visibly drooped. “And I guess it did look suspicious when the two of us would run off together, even though we had no idea!”
“Gahh! We were so dumb! How are we able to save Paris if we don’t even notice when our friend runs off with lame excuses at the same time we do! Uhg! And every time we were together! We didn’t even question it! We just were like, ‘oh boy an excuse to get away!’ Do you see how dumb we are?!” she screamed at him.
They both let out exasperated sighs.
“So...friends for now?” Ladybug asked, a soft smile on her face as she glanced over to him.
Chat smiled back and pulled her into a hug, twisting her body. She wrapped her arms around his chest as he engulfed her body with his, wrapping her around the shoulders, “Always, my lady.”
“We’ll focus on being friends and then...maybe in a few months...we can give dating a go...maybe...maybe in secret?” she spoke into his chest.
“I like the sound of that,” he responded, rubbing his face against her hair like the cat he was. “I don’t want my father to know anyways.”
Ladybug hummed in agreement, knowing how his father could be, “I don’t know, your father let me take you to New York,” she paused, suddenly realizing. “Oh god, New York! I...I don’t think I have the mental capacity to think about that right now.” She hugged him tighter as he returned the squeeze.
They hugged for a while, enjoying each other’s company when…
“Really?! I came out this late because of a hug?!” a loud voice boomed from the ground.
Ladybug and Chat lunged away from each other in a panic and looked down to see one Ladyblogger extraordinaire yelling up at them from the ground. Behind her was her sheepish boyfriend, who grinned up and waved up at them.
Their nerves calmed as they registered the question, both of their faces red at the implications of Alya’s statement.
“Excuse me, mademoiselle,” Ladybug started. “It is entirely too late for an underaged citizen of Paris to be wandering the streets this time of night!” She used her firm voice she used when addressing the city. She turned to Chat and spoke softly, “I’ll...see you later?”
“You’ll have a hard time getting rid of me now, that’s for sure,” he grinned at her.
“Well then,” she stood up, offered him a hand, and spoke loud again so that Alya and Nino could hear. “I think it’s time to get these citizens safely to their homes, don’t you?”
Chat nodded, “Oh yes! You are absolutely right, my lady!” He bowed and grabbed her hand. “And every minute away from your radiant presence will be torture to this poor cat’s soul.” He leaned down and laid a kiss on her hand, far longer than any hand kiss that he had given her before.
Her entire face lit up to match the color of her suit and in a quick decision she grabbed his hand in hers, brought herself up on to her tippy-toes while bringing his face closer to her as she laid a quick kiss on his cheek.
She eeped and jumped off the roof, yelling behind her, “See you later, chaton!” before turning to Alya. She scooped Alya into her arms and launched her yo-yo before turning to Nino, “Don’t worry, Chat will get you home, good citizen.”
“No wait! Ladybug!” Alya tried to protest, but Ladybug was not having it.
“No. Don’t you ‘Ladybug’ me!” she landed them on a roof a few buildings away from the boys. “How long have you known who he is?”
“About as long as you have. When Nino showed up I figured it could only be our resident sunshine child.” Alya looked to Ladybug and leaned in to give her a hug. “Don’t worry, LB, we’ll figure it out. We always do, don’t we?”
Ladybug sighed, “Yeah, yeah we do.”
“Now then, let’s get me home so you can scream into my ear.”
“Yeah, you’re gonna get an earful alright!” Ladybug eyed her friend before they took off in the direction of Alya’s house, where the two would gossip into the wee hours of the morning and into the next afternoon.
*******
Chat watched the girls zoom away, recovering from his cheek kiss. He shook his head and jumped down to the ground to stand next to Nino.
“So, uhh, what’s up dude?” Nino laughed nervously.
“You thought I was gonna chicken out didn’t you?” Chat asked.
“Ehh...maybe a little.”
Chat threw his hand over his heart, “Betrayed by my best friend! Woe is me!”
Nino chuckled and pushed Chat off balance, “Take me home dude.”
Chat regained his balance and bowed to Nino, “But of course, good citizen, Chat Noir’s After Midnight Taxi Service, at your service!” He grabbed Nino around the waist and propelled them into the direction of his house. “But just so you know, when we get there...you are going to get the rant of the century.”
“Sounds about right,” Nino nodded. “My ears are ready.”
Both boys chuckled as they made their way back to Nino’s house where they gossiped until the wee hours of the morning.