Been a while since I've written angst, and I'm still new to writing fanfic in this fandom, so I hope this turns out well. Inspired by a post on tumblr by thescuttlebug (I know it's late. I don't care). It's a little different because Chloé is also included (she is now part of the friend group in this fic), but I figured that would just add a little (or a lot) of salt to the wound. ;) Enjoy!

I do not own Miraculous or its characters.

"I need to tell you something." Six words. Six little words that would soon turn his world upside down, even though he didn't know it yet. They were gathered at Nino's house for the afternoon: Marinette, Adrien, Alya, even Chloé.

Currently, the five of them sat scattered around Nino's living room taking turns at racing Mario Kart (They'd originally started playing Ultimate Mecha Strike III, but found out that was a very bad idea when Marinette had pummelled them all swiftly, easily, and mercilessly). As Marinette spoke, four heads turned toward her, leaving the game forgotten.

"Can you… can you all keep a secret?" Her eyes shifted back and forth between the faces of her friends. She shifted her weight from one foot to another, nervously wringing her hands together.

Alya was the first to speak up. "Of course, girl. We'll take your secret to our graves."

Nino nodded. "Yeah, dude. We won't tell anyone."

Chloé hesitated for a second. "Are you sure you want to tell me? I haven't exactly been known to keep secrets. After all, everyone knows I'm Queen Bee. I mean, I'll do my best but…" she trailed off.

Marinette smiled. "Of course I trust you, Chloé. You've changed a lot within the past few months, and I feel like you'd keep my secret. All of you," she finished, looking each of them in the eye.

Chloé smiled softly. "Then, of course, I'll keep it."

Marinette smiled back before turning to him. "What about you, Adrien?"

He smiled. "Marinette you can tell us anything."

She nodded before taking a deep breath. "Ok, so… um… basically…" She began pacing. "I don't know how to say this. Um, I've been thinking…" She stopped, flopping herself down on the couch and burying her face in her palms. "Ugh, this is hard."

Adrien glanced over at the others, each wearing a look of confusion mixed with worry. He watched as Alya stood from her seat beside Nino and walked over to her best friend, plopping herself down next to her on the couch and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Take your time, girl. And know that we're all here for you."

Marinette nodded from behind her hands, taking a visibly deep breath and sitting up, a determined look on her face. She stood up and wiped her hands on her pants. "Okay, I can do this. You guys are my friends, and I can trust you." She nodded firmly. "Okay... um. I've been thinking about telling all of you for quite a while. It's a pretty big secret, and this is honestly terrifying, but I figured you needed to know. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is..." she trailed off again. "I guess it's just easier to show you." Taking a deep breath, Marinette shut her eyes. "Tikki, spots on," she whispered.

As a bright pink light flooded the room, Adrien shut his eyes. Wait a minute. I've heard that phrase before. Wait… what!? He opened his eyes, blinking until the spots disappeared from his vision and were replaced by new ones. Black spots on a red suit. Ladybug. Marinette. Holy cats. Marinette is Ladybug.

And she was. Standing where Marinette had been just seconds before was Ladybug in all her spotted glory, a sheepish grin on her face. And she had revealed herself to them. To him.

He didn't expect the pain in his chest.

"So uh, ta-da, I guess," Ladybug said, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

Adrien barely processed the screeches coming from both Alya and Chloé. Barely heard Nino's "Dude, that's wicked cool." Barely noticed how all three of his other friends were asking the heroine a million questions all at once.

All he could focus on was not breaking down in tears because this hurt. He'd always imagined the moment he and Ladybug would reveal their identities. Nobody else would no except them. The reveal would always happen between two trusted partners. Maybe Hawk Moth was defeated, maybe they had just declared their undying love and loyalty to each other, or maybe they'd just finished a battle and dashed off before they transformed back, but neither of them made it away from each other, their transformations dropping and revealing who they were. Not once had he ever imagined that he discover the girl behind the mask because she told her friends in her real life that she was Ladybug. He didn't expect her to tell Adrien Agreste. It was always Cat Noir.

His heart twisted violently. Does she not trust her own partner? The other person who has to keep the same secret she does? Who understands better than anyone what she's going through? Who has been by her side since the very beginning? Why would she tell Adrien Agreste her identity? I've only had a few conversations with her due to her stuttering and running away. I gladly call Marinette one of my closest friends, but how can I be one of hers? She's always so much more at ease around pretty much everyone else, even Cat Noir. Why?

Adrien was torn out of his thoughts by Nino's hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay, dude? You look kinda pale." Adrien focused on his friend's amber eyes, which were full of concern.

He noticed the others looking at him. Marinette had detransformed at some point. He nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just shocked, I guess." He plastered on a smile. "Wow, it actually makes a lot of sense. You're amazing, Marinette." He walked over to her and gave her a hug. When he pulled back, he noticed that she was red, but she was always red around him.

"T-thanks, Adrien. That means a lot coming from you." She was wringing her hands and smiling up at him nervously.

"He's telling the truth, girl. I've always known you were awesome, I just didn't know how much." Alya said, wrapping an arm around her best friend's shoulders. "And I'm glad you told me. Now I can help keep it a secret by making fake theories on my blog or leaving fake clues or something and-"Alya abruptly stopped, gasping sharply. "MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG, YOU OWE ME SO MANY INTERVIEWS!"

Marinette laughed at her best friend's antics. "Of course, Alya." She softly smiled. I'm glad you're all taking this well. I've been wanting to talk to someone about this for a while, and to be able to vent to someone other than my kwami. It's been getting kind of overwhelming. I figured that my friends would understand."

Amongst the chorus of agreements from his friends, Adrien couldn't help but think, So would Cat Noir, right?

Suddenly he watched as Alya leaned in to whisper something in Marinette's ear. Marinette whispered something back, and Alya smiled. Adrien watched as Alya gave Nino a look and nodded. Now he was thoroughly confused.

"Adrien, Chloé, Marinette has given Nino and I permission to tell you our secrets as well." Alya said. "I'm Rena Rouge."

"And I'm Carapace," Nino said.

The knot that had formed in Adrien's stomach with Marinette's confession grew larger. This wasn't right. Ladybug confessed to her closest friends, all of whom she knew were superheroes… except for him. And they turned around and confessed their alter egos, none of them knowing that he's Cat Noir. He felt sick.

"Wow," said Chloé. "I never would have even guessed, but it makes sense. Marinette is perfect for being Ladybug and of course she would choose her best friends to fight alongside her." She smiled wide. "Glad to know I'm not the only superhero in the group."

Alya laughed. "Just don't tell the entirety of Paris our identities. No one outside of this room needs to know."

Chloé mock glared at her. "Haha."

Adrien tilted his head to the side in confusion, even though on the inside he was hoping they already knew his identity and that's why they decided it'd be okay to reveal. "Does Cat Noir know?"

Marinette shook her head. "Not as far as I know. I haven't told him who I am or who Rena Rouge and Carapace are."

Adrien nodded his head in understanding as a lump formed in his throat. They don't know who I am.

Nino looked at him again, his brow furrowing. "You sure you're okay, dude?"

Adrien nodded and held out his fist for Nino to bump. If his best friend noticed that it was halfhearted at best, he didn't say anything. "I'm cool, Nino. It's just kind of shocking knowing that I'm best friends with a superhero and good friends with three others." He laughed even though he felt hollow inside. Even though his heart was shattering into pieces because she had chosen her best friends to be superheroes and never seemed to have thought of him, and yet she apparently trusted him with her secret identity over her own partner. Even though he was holding back the sobs that wanted to tear out of him because Alya had said no one outside of this room needs to know, even though they don't know he's Cat Noir.

At that moment, his phone buzzed with an incoming text. Pulling out of his pocket, he saw that it was his bodyguard. "My ride's here. Looks like I have to go." He shoved his phone back in his pocket and made his way to the door. He paused at the doorway before turning around to face his friends again, putting a smile on his face that he hoped reached his eyes. "Thanks for trusting me with your secrets." Then he walked out the door.

The drive home was silent as Adrien stared out the window of the car and got lost in his own thoughts. He refused to let the tears that so desperately wanted to be shed to fall. He didn't want his bodyguard to notice.

When he got home, he raced up to his room, closed the door, and threw himself on his bed. He curled up in the blankets and buried his face in the pillow. He still refused to let himself cry no matter how much he wanted to. No matter how much his heart was breaking. No matter how much it hurt. He had patrol with Ladybug — with Marinette — soon, and he didn't want to show up with puffy red eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

The only way he could accomplish his goal of holding back the tears was to hold onto the hope that maybe, just maybe, she'd tell Cat Noir what she'd told her friends that evening. That maybe she did trust her partner, but she desperately needed to talk to someone, and her friends were already right there. Maybe that's why she didn't tell Cat Noir first. Maybe she was going to at patrol tonight.

The hope soothed the hurt a little, allowing him to slip into unconsciousness for a short time before he'd have to meet up with the girl who had just unknowingly torn his heart out.

Well, I hope you enjoyed! This was originally going to be a one shot, but it was getting too long, so I decided I'd make it a (hopefully short) multi-chapter fic. Comments are food for the muse, so please tell me what you think. Remember, if it's negative in nature, please be respectful and also give me some tips and suggestions to help improve what you didn't like. Constructive criticism is welcome. Bashing is not. Bug out!