And Suddenly
by MellyMiraculous

Summary: As Adrien dashes for place to transform into Chat Noir, he encounters a scene he didn't expect. Chat Noir wants nothing more than to share his discovery, but Ladybug is resistant.

Story Notes: Reveal AU in Three Parts. It starts fluffy, then gets a bit angsty. Not sure how that happened.

Part I: Discovery

0o0

It was her.

That was the inane thought that kept running through his bewildered mind. It was her. It was Marinette. Marinette was Ladybug. Ladybug was Marinette. It was her.

Chaos had broken out in Paris again as a new akumatized villain appeared. As always, Adrien had hurried off to transform, making an excuse to Nino that he'd forgotten he already had an after school commitment and they would have to hang out another time.

He had dashed to the nearest sheltered place he could think of, the command to Plagg already on his lips, only to skid to an abrupt stop. Someone had arrived to the spot ahead of him.

"Marinette?" the boy murmured to himself, barely ducking back behind the corner to avoid being seen as she glanced over her shoulder. "What is she doing?"

Curious despite the urgency building within him, Adrien peeked out from behind the wall. Marinette reached down to open the clasp on her ever-present purse. She said something aloud which he didn't catch because her back was to him. His eyes did not fail him, however, for he clearly witnessed something red and small - roughly the size of Plagg, actually - fly up from her bag. This time when she spoke, he was just able to hear the words.

"Tikki, transform me!"

Adrien watched with bated breath, utterly dumbstruck. There was no mistaking the scene taking place before him. It was so very similar to his own transformation into Chat Noir, only the end result was...

"Ladybug," the name fell reverently from his lips. It was her. Marinette was Ladybug all along.

Everything took on new meaning, the events which followed his first transformation imbued with greater nuance. In those few seconds, his mind replayed moment after moment. The overwhelming sense of familiarity he had often felt with both Ladybug and Marinette that he could never quite place made sense, now. All the times Ladybug had appeared in places where no one could enter or leave and Marinette had all too conveniently gone missing felt startlingly too convenient.

He should have known.

"Shouldn't you be rushing off to help your Lady?" Plagg interrupted his thoughts. Adrien shot the kwami a speculative look, abruptly certain that Plagg had known the truth all along. But Plagg was right. It was not the time to be lost in his thoughts.

"Plagg," he said, glancing about to make sure he wouldn't be seen, "transform me!"

Adrien found that it was strangely easy to fall into his role as Chat Noir. The boy had, for a moment, feared that knowing Ladybug's true identity would prove too great a distraction from the task at hand. It didn't, though. He was Chat Noir to Marinette's Ladybug just as he'd always been before.

He did wonder at this, in the back of his mind. Shouldn't it have been a little difficult to act the same as always when he now knew who was behind that spotted mask? Shouldn't he have felt different?

And suddenly, as he watched her capture the akuma at the close of their latest battle, it dawned on him.

He had already known. Some part of him had known from the start when those bluebell eyes first met his own.

Who else but Marinette? Selfless, bright, courageous Marinette. Of course, it was her – there was no one else!

"Chat Noir?" Ladybug's voice – Marinette's voice – reached his ears.

"Yes, my Lady?" he responded at once, a smile pulling across his face.

She seemed a bit taken aback, uncertain. "Is something... wrong? You're... looking at me strangely."

"It's nothing," Chat Noir reassured her, echoing the words the following day when she asked if he was all right between classes. "Nothing at all." In fact, everything was perfect.

It's her. Marinette is Her.

A/N: Please let me know how you liked Part I! Part II will follow soon. Hugs, Melly.