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In hindsight, everything is Chat Noir’s fault, really.
They’ve been at this for two years now, and somehow, through it all, Ladybug has been able to keep Chat separate from her civilian life. Not that it’s easy; there are a few close calls. But at the end of the day, they respect each other too much to break that one last barrier. It’s just not worth the headache, she tells herself. They’re better off as nothing more than partners in fighting-crime, she tells herself.
Which is why she runs when he brings up his idea for the first time. She should know better. The Miraculous keeps their identities hidden. It’s not just the masks that protect them; it’s the magic. After all, Marinette and Ladybug do look a lot alike; if it weren’t for Tikki and her powers, her friends would’ve certainly figured her out very quickly.
But let it never be said that Chat Noir isn’t persistent. After three Akuma attacks in one week, she has her guard down, and like his namesake, he pounces when she least expects it.
And that’s how Ladybug ends up locked in a dark closet with Chat Noir.
“What on Earth do you think you’re doing?!” She whisper-yells at him, finding his green eyes in the darkness and whacking him upside the head. “I’m going to turn back into Ma- my civilian identity and you’re still here why are you dragging me into closets-”
He covers her mouth with his hand. “Ladybug, just listen for one moment!”
She knows what this is about, of course, and she won’t stand for it. She rips his hand off of her, preparing a verbal tirade the likes of which will put him slumping home in defeat, tail between his legs.
But he preempts her with the most sincere voice she’s ever heard him use. “Don’t you trust me?” he mumbles, barely loud enough for her to hear.
And that cuts her off. “Of course I trust you, Chat. And I want to get to know you better too, but it’s dangerous.”
“All I’m asking is for one conversation. We can sit here in the dark and talk; you don’t have to look at me, we don’t need to say anything revealing, just… darkness, and us.”
Despite herself, Ladybug blushes. “I-” she stops, and then starts again, sighing. “It’s too risky. There are too many things that could go wrong…”
Chat Noir already knows he’s won though; she can see the smirk, even in the dark. He presses a piece of fabric into her hand. “Here,” he says softly. “These should help.”
She turns the fabric over in her hand. “Blindfolds, Chat?”
“Just think about it,” he says, and then he’s gone.
It’s the following week when he asks her again. After the rough week they had previously, evil has thankfully taken some time off, but with rest comes restlessness, and so Ladybug finds herself once again swinging through the skies of Paris in her polka dots.
He happens upon her (because certainly he isn’t following her; that would be creepy) around midnight, atop a residential rooftop near downtown, staring at the beautiful glistening lights of the Eiffel Tower.
He tries to be nonchalant about sneaking up behind her, but she catches him anyway. “You’re a quiet kitty,” she says, without turning to face him, “but I know your tells.”
She can actually hear the indignation from behind her. “How dare you,” he says playfully. “I’ll have you know I am the most mysterious cat in Paris.”
She turns and flashes him a fond smile, patting the spot beside her. “Sit with me, Chat.”
It’s unlike her to be so inviting, but he takes the invitation anyway. Not like he’d ever be able to turn her down.
“I thought about what you said, and it seems like you’re…” she stops and starts again. “You’re right, you really are the most mysterious cat in Paris. There’s not a soul in the city who truly knows you.”
He is struck by a pang of loneliness, but before he can respond, she continues. “But I’d like to. I’d really like to.”
To his genuine surprise, she opens her hand to reveal the blindfold he’d given her. “If it’s alright with you, I’ve picked out a spot and everything.”
He’s taken aback. Ladybug wants to get to know him. She really, truly cares, and after two years of hiding from each other, she is finally accepting his offer.
And so they retire to a nondescript rooftop, away from prying eyes, and they begin talking. It’s stilted, at first, because it’s never easy to sit down with someone you’ve known for years and just talk about oneself.
They talk about their families, and their friends. About their hopes and dreams, and their fears and insecurities.
Chat Noir learns, for the first time, why Ladybug is so against him learning her real identity.
“It’s not that I don’t want you to know, Chat,” she says. “I wish I could tell you, truly. But I’m not… I’m not Ladybug in real life. I’m clumsy and awkward and weird, and as much as Ladybug is a part of me, she’s also a very different person.” She sighs. “I trust you, Chat Noir, but I’m afraid you wouldn’t like me much beneath the mask. I certainly don’t.”
He doesn’t argue. After two years of partnership, she knows what he thinks of her; and he knows that nothing he says will change her mind. So instead, he changes the subject, and Ladybug learns why Chat Noir is Chat Noir.
“My whole life, I’ve had to be this perfect person. Perfect son, perfect student, perfect face-“ she laughs and rolls her eyes, but he continues: “and it was just stifling. I didn’t belong to myself. Everything I was belonged to someone else. But then I became Chat Noir, and I had something for me. I was free, for the first time.” He looks up at the bright lights of the city. “You talk about yourself- about Ladybug- as though the mask is an escape for you, but the real me, that’s Chat Noir. I am only myself when the mask is on. Everything else is…” he trails off.
She rests her hand on his. “I understand, Chat. I get it.”
The conversation passes, lighter this time. At some point in the night, when their miraculouses beep, the moment comes and goes. This is what they agreed on. The blindfolds come on, and they both return to their civilian identities.
“So this is me,” Marinette says.
The voice is familiar and different all at once. Adrien can feel something change, but he can’t quite tell what. “You’re the same person, Ladybug,” he says. “The mask doesn’t come off.”
She changes the subject. “Why are you such a flirt when we’re… Miraculous?”
He shrugs, and then remembers she can’t see him. “Because I genuinely like you. It’s not me being playful- okay, it’s not entirely just me being playful. I’m not like that without the mask. I don’t know what you’d think of me if you knew me in real life, but in this reality, this one where I’m Chat Noir and you’re Ladybug, I’ve been in love with you for two years.”
He can actually hear the red in her cheeks. “You wouldn’t if you knew me-“
He stops her again. “The mask doesn’t come off. Chat Noir might be the real me, but when I’m A- when I’m my civilian self, he’s still down there. I’m willing to bet it’s the same with you. Whoever you are when you’re not Ladybug, you’re still Ladybug.”
“You really think you’re in love with me?” She says, so much smaller than he’s ever heard Ladybug.
“I know I am.”
And so, they soldier on into the night. It’s nearly morning by the time they split up, transforming back into Ladybug and Chat Noir and saying their goodbyes.
Of course, the following Monday, when Adrien hears Ladybug’s voice coming from behind him in class, he nearly breaks his neck whipping his head around to see her-
Only to find shy little Marinette, stopped mid-sentence by his sudden attention to her. “W-what is it, A-A-Adrien?” she stutters, shrinking in on herself.
“Don’t you trust me?” he mumbles, barely loud enough for her to hear.
She gasps.