Chapter Text
84 Rue de Villiers looked rather intimidating. Marinette was used to the older architecture and the modern design of the administrative building didn't help her nerves. She understood why she was called in - the letter she had received had been very clear on that - but that didn't mean she wasn't feeling a certain apprehension.
As Ladybug, she interacted with the police force regularly. But DGSI was not an ordinary police force. Being directly under the control of the Minister for Interior, the agency had more pull and weight, its jurisdiction not restricted to Paris only. And now they had gotten interested in the Akuma attacks due to the international repercussions of the recent possessions. With so many of those incidents centering around the people in their class, many had been called for interviews over the past week.
Alya had gone the day before and according to her, the interviewer had just wanted to confirm some things about the recent events. Then again, Alya had had nothing to hide, unlike Marinette herself.
Well, dithering would get her nowhere. Adjusting the strap of her purse and drawing comfort from the knowledge of Tikki's presence, Marinette walked into the building, looked around and nearly walked out again.
Adrien was standing in the waiting area, talking to a woman who seemed to be in her early thirties. She was holding a stack of folders and seemed to be checking something in one of them. Neither of them spotted Marinette yet but it was only a matter of time.
Adrien's presence would have made Marinette nervous even under the normal circumstances. The problem was that she had yet to approach him about the old book she had taken to Master Fu and the more she was putting it off, the more nervous she got. Technically, she had stolen it and being labeled a thief wasn't an impression she wanted him to have. Besides, there was always the danger of something about her other life coming to light and she wasn't sure she was ready for that.
Contemplating how much trouble she would get into if she turned tail and ran away delayed her enough for Adrien to look up and see her. He brightened up and waved at her and it would be really rude to leave now so Marinette fervently hoped she wouldn't do anything to embarraass herself and walked towards him.
The woman looked up from her paperwork and her smile was almost blinding.
"You must be Marinette Dupain-Cheng, it's so great to meet you. I'm Eveline Laurent, I'm overseeing your case, if you need anything, just let me know."
"Nice to meet you, too," Marinette said after a noticeable pause, not prepared for such an enthusiastic greeting. Eveline nodded and then gestured for the two teens to follow her.
"We're going to talk in my office in case I need to double-check some details," she said, leading them towards an elevator and burying her nose in her files again.
"Hey," Adrien spoke quietly and Marinette was very proud of her quiet "Hey" she managed in return. "She's very excitable, she gave me the same speech when I arrived."
"R-really?"
"Yeah, she's nothing like Nino said she would be."
"Maybe he was interviewed by someone else?" she suggested and Adrien nodded thoughtfully.
"Maybe, he didn't remember the name."
They fell quiet after that, getting on the elevator and going up three floors before being led down a long corridor into a rather spacious office. There were pictures all over the walls, portraits of Akuma victims and various shots of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Eveline dumped her load of files on the already overflowing table and gestured towards two chairs in front of it.
"Take a seat. Can I get you anything to drink or eat? We'll probably be here for a while."
"No, thank you," Adrien declined and Marinette agreed.
"What about your kwami?" Eveline asked absent-mindedly as she rooted around in one of the drawers of the table and thus missed the absolute terror dawning on Marinette's face. She must have misheard, right? Right? There was no way the woman knew about that. "I'm not sure how often they need to eat, if it's similar to humans or if there are different rules for them."
Marinette was resolutely not looking at Adrien. She could still pretend she had no idea what the woman was talking about. Yes, she would just deny having any knowledge of anything like a kwami, ha-ha, what is a kwami, never heard of it in my life.
Eveline looked at her and Marinette froze even more. The woman appeared confused for a moment before she laughed out loud.
"Oh my, I'm such an idiot, it's okay, I know that you two are Ladybug and Chat Noir and I won't tell anyone who doesn't already know. Not only are there some four NDAs I have signed but I happen to be a big fan, too."
And there was that blinding smile again but Marinette could only focus on "you two are Ladybug and Chat Noir". It was like the words were playing on a loop in her mind. The only other person who was present was Adrien. And she was Ladybug which meant that Adrien was Chat. Except it didn't really make sense. It shouldn't make sense because that would mean that Adrien... and that she... and and and...
Marinette slowly turned her head towards her classmate. He smiled a bit sheepishly but he didn't look very discouraged by the reveal. Quite the opposite, really and Marinette looked down, hoping that her face wasn't as red as it felt.
"I take it you were unaware of each other's identities?"
Marinette shook her head.
"No, we didn't know," Adrien confirmed and Eveline slumped in her chair, looking dejected.
"I'm so, so, sorry. I was sure you knew. You're classmates and the few times you interacted with one of you in the mask and the other without, it looked like planning sessions."
Marinette would have loved to just stay quiet and uninvolved but she needed to know what mistakes they had made when it came to hiding their identities.
"How did you find out?" she asked and Eveline pulled out a stack of photos that she pushed across the table towards them.
"There are more than 9500 security cameras in the Parisian Metro. Just because no one's around doesn't mean no one's watching."
"Oh."
Eveline stood up.
"I'm going to get some refreshments for all of us anyway. It should take me about half an hour and this office is very secure so if you need to discuss anything, feel free."
With a last reassuring smile at the two, she walked out. Marinette kept looking at the photo from the camera that captured her mid-transformation but she could feel the weight of Adrien's stare on her. So she gathered every scrap of courage she could and looked at her classmate, crush and partner and smiled a little.
"Hey, I guess we need to talk."