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“Alya's right. I can't be with Adrien and keep lying to him, and I can't tell him the truth either! I don't have a choice! We're over!” Marinette collapsed into tears.
“Don't you think ending things with Adrien would also break his heart?” Tikki asked.
Marinette ignored her Kwami. They hadn't been dating long. Surely the end of their relationship would be smaller than completely breaking the view Adrien had of his father. Right? She walked to a column to hide and transformed. She quickly headed over to her favorite spot in the city, the rain pelting against her face as she leapt from roof to roof.
She wasn't particularly pleased with either of her alter egos at the moment, but Ladybug was the least depressing of the two. She arrived at the rooftop overlooking the Eiffel Tower and sat with her back to the cold metal air conditioning unit, curling her legs in close. She wrapped her arms around them tightly, wishing none of this had happened. If only she could go back in time and- she stood up so fast she bumped her head. “Bunnix!” She stood up more carefully, rubbing at her head. She tried calling Alix to no avail. Clearly, she knew what Ladybug was up to and had deemed it a bad idea.
“You alright, bug?” Cat Noir stood a few feet away from her, his hair beaded with raindrops but not yet drenched as she was.
Ladybug’s heart eased at the sight of him. Here at least was someone with whom her friendship wasn't falling apart.
She burst into tears, and Cat Noir immediately closed the space between them and wrapped his arms around her. She took a few deep breaths and let his hug ease her aching heart.
“What's wrong?”
She shook her head. She had told Alya the secret, and look at what that had done. Not once but twice.
“Want to try talking about it in vague terms?”
She sat down again, and he followed her lead, both resting with their backs to the AC unit. “I don't know if that will work this time. It has something to do with both versions of me.”
“Sounds complicated. Maybe really broad strokes then. Or just the superhero part. We're a team, you know. Let me take a weight off your shoulders.” He winked at her.
She shook her head again. “It's not really something you can help with.”
“Try me.”
She looked at those calm, patient eyes. He hadn't shown any jealousy or anger for a long time. He seemed so much more mature these days. Maybe…maybe she could share part of it. It's not like he didn't know a thing or two about keeping secrets.
“I have a secret. A really, really big one. Rena found out what it was, and- she's really not happy with me for keeping it secret. She thinks I should tell everyone, but she doesn't- she doesn't understand the impacts of telling the truth!” Ladybug butted her head into her knees, hugging them close again.
“That sounds really heavy. As someone who's been mad at you before for keeping secrets,” He tried to joke. She only felt worse and glared at him. He awkwardly cleared his throat. She did tend to keep a lot of secrets, didn't she? “Let me say I know you have your reasons. They very well might be good reasons. Ones that she can't see yet because she's angry. But like me, she'll probably come around.”
“I doubt it. She felt pretty strongly about this.”
“Do you doubt whether you should keep this secret?”
She chewed her lip. “Sometimes, but- I don't know. Not really. I'm trying to protect someone.”
“Can you tell me what the secret is? Maybe I could help you figure it out.”
Could she? Without giving anything away about her secret identity? She was quiet for a while while she thought over what she could share.
“It’s-” It was too risky. She couldn't reveal all of it, but maybe… She looked up at him again, at those patient and trusting eyes.
“Hawkmoth, he’s- he was my boyfriend's father.”
Cat Noir’s jaw dropped open. “That- that's an insane coincidence!” He looked out onto the city. “And so that's why you never told anyone who he was. Wow. You did a great job keeping that under wraps. I thought you simply didn't know.”
She didn't even smile.
“Why is Rena so mad about that?”
“She thinks I should tell my boyfriend the truth, but– I can't do that to him. He just lost his father and-” She clenched her fists and pulled her feet in even closer. “I can't keep this secret from him and be his girlfriend, though. It's too much. If I don't tell him, then-” She choked on her escaped cry and clasped her head on her knees.
Cat Noir placed a hand on her back, gently rubbing small circles.
“What does he think happened to his father?” Cat Noir asked after a moment.
“I- I can't tell you that.” She turned her head to look at him.
Cat Noir nodded as if expecting her to say that.
“Alright, so let's see if I've got this straight. You fought off Hawk Moth. Discovered who he was. He died, and you kept it secret, thinking it would be for the best, but now it's too heavy, and you can't stand this lie between you and your boyfriend, so now you have to decide if you tell him the truth and cause him pain at his father’s memory or break up with him and cause him pain at losing you.” He summed up.
Ladybug didn't answer. That was pretty much the size of it. Tikki had pointed out as much that there was no win here, but-
“We're done either way. Once he finds out the truth-” she stopped herself from continuing the thought. Adrien had made it pretty clear what he thought about liars.
“This is the problem with lies. It takes more to cover them up. If you don't tell him the truth, you're going to need to lie about why you want to break up.”
She groaned, leaning her head back on the metal behind her.
“I know but-”
“I understand what you tried to do, Ladybug. You had good intentions at first. But- you should tell him the truth. Not the whole world, but at least him. Otherwise, it's even more lies he’ll question and try to make sense of. You're not helping him anymore by continuing to keep the truth from him. You'll just be hurting him more.”
She shook her head. There had to be another way. “But then he'll know who I am and-”
Cat Noir dismissed her with a hand. “Tell him the truth as Ladybug. He'll ask why you kept it secret for so long, and you could honestly say you were trying to protect him but realized he deserved to know the truth. He might be mad, but at least he’ll know the truth. Then as a civilian, your conscience is clear, and you can comfort him.”
He made it sound so simple. So easy. As if crushing Adrian's heart was as inconvenient as forgetting an umbrella on a rainy day.
“You never worried about not telling him you’re Ladybug, right? I think it says something that this is eating you up inside.”
Her breath hitched as she realized he was right. Her gut had been screaming the way forward all along. She didn't want to face it.
Cat Noir grinned at her and leaned a little closer. “See? You're lighter already.”
“Thanks for your help, Cat Noir. This has been torturing me for months.”
“I know you're used to carrying the weight of everything.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “But you really don't need to anymore.”
She smiled at him and rested her head on his head. “Thanks. You're a really good friend.”
“Never thought I would help you stay with your boyfriend.” He chuckled.
She laughed too. He really had matured.
🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞
Adrien’s lungs and legs burned, but he was so close to beating his 5k record. He sped up, thinking about how this would make his ice cream date with Marinette later today all the sweeter. His watch beeped at the distance being achieved. He slowed to a walk and tried to calm his breathing as he looked at his time. A full 27 seconds faster than his previous record. He grinned at his stats and nearly walked straight into Ladybug.
“Good run?” She asked happily, the sunlight making her eyes twinkle.
“Very good.” He answered, still a bit winded.
“I was hoping we could have a quick talk.”
He blinked at her. A chat about what? He could only imagine it had something to do with his father. Maybe about his museum idea? The newspapers had sniffed out his possible plan, so she could have been made aware.
“Ok.” He took a sip of water.
“Can we sit?” She indicated a bench in the shade of one of the park's trees.
He really would have preferred to walk a bit more after his run, but seeing her squirm awkwardly after taking a seat, he followed suit. Had she already talked to her boyfriend? Or did she need to talk to him first? That didn’t make sense.
“What’s up?”
“I owe you an apology.” She started. He blinked at her. For what?
“When I told everyone about your father and how he helped defeat Hawk Moth… I kept some details secret.”
“Ok…” Why did she feel the need to tell him this? Was she worried that somehow he knew something? Was her boyfriend someone he knew? Maybe she needed his help to comfort him when she would go talk to him.
“He didn’t help me defeat Hawk Moth in the conventional sense.”
He waited. Completely staggered by where she would be going with this.
Ladybug looked everywhere but in his eyes. “Hawk Moth wanted the miraculous to bring someone he had lost back. He wanted to save his family.”
Maybe after their conversation last night, she figured he should know the full role his father played. Start with a small secret before telling her boyfriend the big one. He got excited at the prospect of finally knowing more.
“But he was convinced in the end to go be with her instead. To give his life to save another’s.”
“My father convinced him of this?” It’s the only thing that would make sense. His heart warmed at the thought. His father was intimately aware of the heartbreak of losing a loved one. To think he had finally found peace about that made him happy.
“In a way.” Ladybug bit her lip.
He frowned, waiting to let her explain.
“He- Hawk Moth sacrificed himself in the end. He had all the miraculous and could have brought back his wife and caused someone else to die, but in the end he did the right thing. I want you to know that.”
He nodded, wishing she would get to the point. Why was it so important that he know– He froze, the realization hitting him before she finished saying it.
“Adrien, your father was Hawk Moth.”
He was shaking. Full-on shaking. He stood up and started pacing. He– He was the boyfriend and– and his father was Hawk Moth! All those fights and all those villains, and it had been him the whole time! To think he used to think at least his father never physically hurt him. He balled his fists. He had been about to open a museum. In his honor. And Marinette, Ladybug, had almost let him. No wonder she couldn’t draw the portrait of his father. No wonder she didn’t get excited about his idea. She had known. She had known.
He whirled on her, his anger flaring. She flinched away and wrung her fingers tightly together. His breath sped up faster than during his run. She had seen him try to make sense of it all and had dug in on the lie. He opened his mouth, about to say something when she finally looked at him, her lip quivering before forming into a line. The words died in his mouth, and he swallowed hard, his gaze still murderous.
“I’m sorry.” She said, and took a tentative step towards him. “I’m sorry I kept this secret so long. I thought- it doesn’t matter what I thought. But you deserved to know. I understand that you’re mad at me. I can leave you alone now if you prefer. Or I can stay and answer any questions you might have. Or if you just need to yell at me-”
“No.” He took a deep breath and unclenched his fists. He took a step towards her. “Thank you for finally telling me.”
“Aren’t you mad?”
“Livid. But– but I understand what you were trying to do. Thank you. This makes way more sense, to be honest. I was trying to make sense of how he could have been a hero for the longest time.” Something she had known. “It helps to know the truth.” He gave her a meaningful look. He debated revealing the fact that she had just outed herself. But not yet. One big emotional upheaval at a time.
Man. She was Ladybug. His girlfriend was Ladybug, and he hadn’t even known! The irony. The absolute irony. He shook his head and filed that for later. He had a museum launch to shut down.
“I’m going to go home and cancel a few requests I had made a few days ago.” Maybe he would just sell the house and be done with it all. It was probably a better idea than trashing the place, as tempting as that idea now was. He knew his father wasn’t great, but evil villain bad? He scoffed at how he had insisted he voice Cat Noir for that movie. Had pretended to be such a fan of his alter ego. All lies.
She bobbed her head, forgetting perhaps that she wasn’t supposed to know what he was talking about. “If you ever have any questions, let me know.”
He nodded once, fully planning on cashing in on that offer. He wanted to know everything that had gone down that day. He wasn’t sure if he should be relieved that he hadn’t been there after all or wishing he had had a chance at that confrontation. He turned away from Ladybug and walked home, and when Marinette tried calling a few minutes later, he declined the call. He needed to process a few things, and for the first time in his life, he didn’t want to see her right now.
🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞
Marinette would probably end up creating a pothole with how much she was pacing near André’s ice cream cart. Adrien hadn’t answered her call or tried to reach her ever since she had told him the truth. She had even gone to his house, and there hadn’t been any answer. She didn’t know if he would show up for their date, but she wasn’t leaving the cart’s sight until she heard from him.
“You look nervous. Hot date tonight?” Cat Noir landed in front of her. Leaning on his baton.
She jumped and gave a small yelp at the sight of him. “Not in the way you mean.” She tucked her hair back in place.
“Well, that’s good. If you had dumped Adrien, I would have hoped to have at least been next in line.”
Marinette’s face turned bright red. “Ok I know we had that one date a while back, but-”
“Relax.” He waved a hand in dismissal. “I have a girlfriend too.”
“Oh? And how would she feel if you were here flirting with someone else?”
“She’d probably laugh at it. At least I’m hoping she will.”
Marinette raised her eyebrow at that and then shook her head. And just when she thought he had become so mature-
“How about we get a cone and help ease some of that tension of yours?”
She eyed him wearily. “Two cones. Friend cones.”
He grinned at her. “Sounds purfect.”
She rolled her eyes but had less nervous energy as she walked to the stand.
André grinned at them. “The usual for Marinette, but oh, oh! Some pink strawberry instead of the red raspberry, I believe, for Cat Noir.”
Cat Noir grinned, gladly accepting his cone. Marinette eyed him suspiciously but accepted her own. He was about to pay when she put a hand on his arm.
“I’ll cover mine, thanks.”
“You’re the boss.” He winked at her and looked as though he was trying not to laugh. She couldn't tell what game he was playing here.
He led her a little further away from the crowd gathered around the cart and sat at a bench. “Care to sit?” He asked her.
She slowly sat down, as far from him as possible.
“There’s something I need to tell you.” He said, taking a painfully long time to eat a bit of his ice cream. “You should have told me the truth sooner.”
Marinette frowned. What truth?
“When I told you how much the image everyone had of my father didn't match mine. I had been so frustrated. You should have told me the truth then.”
Wait. What conversation? The only conversation she had about something like this was with Adrien. No. No, it couldn't be.
“But instead, you tried to convince me of the view everyone else had. That was- that was too far. And almost breaking up with me over this?” Cat Noir shook his head.
Marinette gaped at him, her mind reeling with everything he said. He- he really was Adrien and- oh god.
“I'm sure glad I saw you last night. I don't think I ever could have forgiven you if you had gone through with that plan.” Adrien finished.
Marinette covered her face with her hands, groaning. He told her how to fix her problem with- well, with him! She placed her face further into her hands, wishing she could wake up from what had to be some kind of messed-up dream. This couldn't be real. Adrien and Cat Noir couldn't be the same. And when had he figured it out? Last night or that morning? Not that he had been obligated to tell her, but this? This was how he chose to tell her? “Ok I deserved this, but seriously? Seriously!” Out of all the people in Paris? This was- she didn't know what this was.
“I know. Pretty ironic, isn't it?” Cat Noir gave a small smile. “Although there is one thing I can gloat about now. I was totally right when I said we were made for each other.” He winked and catapulted away. Marinette stared at him. She definitely didn't have the high ground here, but did he really have to do this this way? But now that she knew her boyfriend was Cat Noir. Oh boy, this was exactly like him. No wonder she loved them both so much.
She hid behind a tree and transformed. She couldn't believe how well Tikki had kept this under wraps. She would talk with her Kwami about this later, but first there was something she needed to do. She quickly caught up to him. She guessed that he had purposely moved slowly, knowing that she would catch up to him. That was her chaotic kitty, alright.
He landed on a roof and detransformed so casually that she nearly missed her landing. He reached out a hand to catch her, and she held on tightly until she was stable.
“You're right. I'm sorry.” She said, wanting to get straight to the point. He deserved this apology. “I did let it go too far. Do you-” She hesitated. What right did she even have to ask? “Do you forgive me?”
He hesitated but then smiled gently and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. “I'm still mad, but– I will.” He pulled back, looking like he was trying to be smug. “And seeing you squirm back there might have helped.” His smile twitched as he forced it.
“How are you doing? I've been worried about you all day.” She said it without an ounce of reproach, just pure concern.
He shrugged.
“He trashed his father's office. What do you think?” Plagg made himself known.
Her eyes flew to Adrian's. “You did?”
“I had begged Tikki to convince you to tell the truth. She kept going on and on about how you had to make the decision. Adrien was pissed with me too.” Plagg continued.
Adrien looked sheepish at that.
“I told him I was just following your orders, and he still yelled at me for an hour.”
“It wasn't an hour.”
“Can I see Tikki, please? You owe me.”
“Oh? As if you and Tikki didn't enjoy messing with us while keeping our identities secret?” Ladybug raised an eyebrow at him. “Spots off.” She relented anyway. Tikki and Plagg immediately zipped away. She did feel bad about what they had had to endure.
“Did you really yell at him for an hour?”
“I would call it ranting more than yelling. I had a lot to process.” He let out a sigh. “Plagg told me everything. The details of how it went down.” Adrien stared at the darkening sky. “I'm sorry you had to face all of that alone. I know my father made you promise not to tell me. And Natalie pressured you to keep it a secret too. I plan on talking with her about all this tomorrow.” He tightened his jaw and clenched his fists.
She froze at that. He knew about Natalie?
“Tikki had told Plagg what happened there. About the letter.” Adrien explained, giving her a look that she should have said something about that.
She gulped. She had forgotten about Natalie’s original role in all this.
“I would like to see that letter.”
She nodded and pulled it out of her purse. She had planned on leaving it at his house for him to find and had packed it earlier that day.
He read it and sighed. “I wish I could have been enough for him. Enough for him to have stuck around and put all that effort into being a dad instead.”
She tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder as he broke down, and since he hadn't pushed her away, she wrapped her arms around him. “I'm sorry.” She didn't know what else to say and held him as he cried. “Why couldn't it have been enough?” She hugged him tighter as he shook, wishing desperately that there was something she could do to make him feel better. The sobs turned to hiccups, and she rubbed his back, resting her head deeper into his shoulder.
“Thanks.” He pulled away, wiping away the tears on his cheeks.
“Misguided as he was, I believe him when he said he wanted to do it for you as well. He did love you.”
Adrien rolled his shoulders, avoiding her eyes. Maybe it had been the wrong thing to say.
“I really am sorry. About all of it.”
“Just. No more secrets ok.”
She nodded eagerly. “Does that mean– I mean, are we still–” It wasn’t the time to ask. Her own fear that he would end things, knowing that she had lied for real this time, had her dying to know what he would choose. Instead of finishing her thought, she bit her lip.
He was silent for a moment but then gently took her hand. “I’m still mad, but I’m not going anywhere.”
She exhaled shakily and gripped his hand tightly.
“You and me against the world.” He raised their combined hands to kiss hers. “I'm actually pretty excited to be superheroes together again. I mean, knowing we're superheroes together.”
“Me too. That was really awesome. You should have just been yourself from the start, you know.” She nudged him. “We would have gotten together way faster.”
“Nope, no regrets.”
She raised an eyebrow skeptically.
“Ok, maybe a few regrets. But it wouldn't have worked anyway.”
“Oh, and how do you know that?”
“Because it didn't when I was Cat Walker.”
“That was YOU!” No wonder she had fallen for him.
“No more secrets, right?”
She swatted his arm. “Do you know how worked up I got over all that! And then you you–”
He gave her a hard look, and she quickly deflated. Yeah, not the time.
“Maybe we both have stuff to apologize for.” Adrien offered.
She shook herself and rubbed at her temple. “Forget it. We've forgiven each other for all that already. Us being us shouldn't change that.”
But the fact that it had been him all along and-
“Aspiks!” She realized.
“And Multimouse.” He threw back.
She groaned. “Ok I'm sorry, I'm getting distracted. Is there anything you need to talk about?”
He shook his head. “No, not right now. But I'd love to go on a stroll, m'lady.”
She blushed but nodded.
“Does that mean it's safe to come out?” Tikki popped out from behind a chimney.
“Yeah, it's safe.” Marinette laughed. “Spots on.”
“Claws out. Think you can keep up?” He taunted.
“Do you?” She challenged back. He grinned, and she finally felt like they would really be ok. They chased each other around and swung each other over large chasms between buildings. And when he pinned her against a wall and kissed her, she finally was able to kiss him back carefree.
🐞🐞🐞🐞🐞
“You really told him? You're not lying again?” Alya glared at her.
Man, Alya could really freeze the whole city with that look. She would give Kagami a run for her money.
“Yes. He was angry and upset, but you were right. I'm glad I told him.”
“And the rest of Paris? Do they get to know?”
“I'm letting Adrien decide that one, but for now he's happy that the press has finally moved on. I don't think he'll want to bring it all up again.”
Alya chewed her cheek at that. “Alright. As long as it's what Adrien wants and you're not just trying to avoid looking bad.”
“I've apologized ok. If you're going to continue giving me the third degree, then I'm off to see Adrien.” Marinette stood up.
Alya looked startled at that but shrunk a little. “You're right. I've been a little harsh with you. I stand by what I said, but- I suppose I could have been gentler about it.”
“Water under the bridge.” Marinette extended a hand. “Friends?”
“Best friends.” Alya shook it.
“Glad there aren't any more secrets anymore.”
“Except for who all the other holders are, of course.”
“For the best!”
“Oh? As if some secrets are acceptable?’
Alya sighed. “You've made your point. Can we plan something to cheer Adrien up now? He must be feeling a lot of emotions right now.”
“I have just the thing!” Marinette grabbed some controllers. “He and Nino should be arriving soon.”
There was a knock at her trap door before her dad's head appeared as he opened it. “Sweetheart, there's an ak- oh hi Alya!” He suddenly looked nervous. “I, uh, I just wanted you to know I need you to stay home because there's an akuma attack near the Louvre.” She didn't need his meaningful look, but she nodded seriously.
“Thanks, Dad.”
“What's that about?” Alya asked.
“They know I'm Ladybug.”
“What! When did this happen?”
“A story for another time.” She took out her phone and told Adrien to meet her at the Louvre with a caterpillar emoji. “I'm telling Adrien to wait at his house instead. Let's go!” Maybe one day Adrien would tell Alya he was Cat Noir. That would be up to him once they defeated Chrysalis. For now, it was just one more new secret to keep, but this one her gut could live with.