A/N: Apparently, this is going to be a reveal fic wow, and I'm not sure how many chapters I'm not doing just yet, maybe a couple more or so before I wrap it all up

AYY LET'S HAVE SOME LADRIEN FOR OUR SOULS

For the past few days, Adrien thought his life had been hectic.

'Hectic' was putting it lightly, he thought, mind blowing was more like it, or even disastrous if he tilt it more towards that side when he woke up on a white sofa with Alya on his right while Nino was on her left.

For 1), he realised with a start that he was in the Dupain-Cheng's household, where the three of them immediately jumped apart when they found themselves nestled together in front of the TV, their eyes wide as they stared at each other in shock.

2) was the fact that Marinette's parents were staring at the trap door that led to her bedroom fearfully in silence, where there was something eerie about the quietness around them that made Adrien looked up to the door as well, as if a second before he woke up, something bad happened up there.

3) was when he glanced down to his hand, he found out his ring wasn't there and Plagg wasn't in his pockets when he patted them. Then, panic was starting to settle in fully that he forced himself to stay calm.

He felt disoriented after finding out that he had been transformed into a toddler for the past few days, and the only reason he knew he was one was because he remembered, at least, some of it, though for some odd reason his memory wasn't clear about it. He remembered he ran a lot when he was in that small body if his, and shouting, probably having fun with Alya and Nino from the looks of it.

And there were some kisses though, on his forehead or cheek, but he didn't know who was giving him all the affection when he tried to dig deeper.

And 4), Ladybug just came down from Marinette's room with a girl passed out in her arms. He felt guilty when he saw how her red suit was torn slightly with scratches as a cut ran across her cheek, where there was blood on it too.

He felt the guilt weighing on him more when she made a hasty retreat out, where he saw more scratches on her back that her blood was almost non existent from where it camouflaged with her suit.

And to think, he wasn't there to help her take care of the akuma.

He wanted to beat himself up for being such a useless partner.

"Wow," Alya muttered, her eyes widen almost comically as she stared after the heroine. "That must be one hell of a fight."

"Oh man," Nino winced. "That looks really painful."

Adrien merely pursed his lips as the horrible feeling churned in his stomach.

Then, when they were crowded by Marinette's parents, Adrien heard a faint thud above him. He glanced at it suspiciously before he excused himself to walk up the stairs, where the moment he latched it open, he saw Ladybug landing on Marinette's bed.

He was about to call out to her when she jumped down towards the floor, and half-way through, her transformation slipped off.

And crouching in the middle of the room was none other than Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

He could feel his jaw hanging as his heartbeat sky rocketed when he saw her kwami fluttering worriedly over her, their murmurs unheard from him since he was still in shock over the fact that his Lady was also his Princess.

And that they had been partners for four years and yet he was only noticing it now.

The temptation of beating himself up was getting stronger at the minute.

"Marinette?"

Both Marinette and the kwami froze, staring at him in horror before he had a split second to collect himself when she suddenly slapped her hands over his mouth, her face filled with fear as he stared back at her.

"Not a word."

Definitely, completely, mind blowing the day was.

As if she was burned, she jerked her hands back, where suddenly a flush took over her features as she backed away, but he noticed she tried to hide her wince from him as she carefully settled back on the floor, her kwami floating next to her with its big blue eyes trained warily on him.

He trailed his eyes towards her cheek, widening when he saw the same cut he noticed on Ladybug just now before snapping them towards her back, where she concealed his view of the wounds he saw on the heroine as she sat in front of him directly, her eyes not meeting his own.

"A-adrien," She managed to let out that he forced his attention towards her face, where she kept switching her gaze from the floor to him nervously. "Are you alright?"

He realised, bleeding as she was, she still asked about his well being first than actually treating herself, and that made a pang of affection spread around him more.

"You're bleeding," He stated, and she pursed her lips into a straight line.

"Y-yeah, uh-"

"Adrien?" The blond looked down to where Alya and Nino were staring up at him. "Are you okay, man? You found anything?"

Adrien shot a look towards Marinette, where the girl's eyes widen when she heard Nino's voice. He smiled at her in reassurance before looking down again.

"Ah, nothing much, everything's normal up here." Far from it.

"Are you sure?" Tom pressed as he stood beside them, a small frown marring his features. "Sabine and l heard the fight, and it was as if something broke in there."

"Uh," Dumbfounded, Adrien looked up, only to see bright blue eyes as Marinette sat near enough that he was able to hear what she had say but the people below him weren't able to see her.

"Meet me at your house," She murmured, surprising him by the way she didn't stutter like she did a moment ago. "We'll talk there."

His eyes darted around her face. "Are you sure?" He muttered questioningly. "You're still hurt."

She gave a faint smile. "I'll manage."

"Adrien?"

Startled, he looked down again. "Nothing's wrong, I'm sure," He grinned charmingly. "Don't worry about it."

He sneaked a look at Marinette again, where this time, he couldn't look away if he could as she stood up with determination on her face, where her kwami then flew in front of her. "Marinette, you need to rest."

She winced, whether from the truth of her kwami's words or the pain on her back, he wasn't sure. "But we can't talk here, Tikki, it's too risky," She took a deep breath, taking out a cookie from a tin on her desk before giving it towards the kwami, where she ate it gratefully.

Once she was finished, Marinette straightened herself up. "Tikki, spots on."

He watched with amazement as the kwami -Tikki- flew into her earrings like Plagg did into his ring when he transformed into Chat Noir, and standing there in the middle of the room was none other Ladybug.

He didn't dare ask her about his ring just yet, whether or not she knew where it went.

He was hit with realisation that she didn't know he was Chat Noir, and only kept quiet.

Ladybug looked down to him, giving him a tight smile. "I'll see you later."

He nodded. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

Adrien didn't wait to watch her leave as he walked down the stairs, making his way towards his friends. "Hey guys, I need to go."

"What? Where are you going?" Alya demanded, resting her hands on her hips. "We need to discuss how we were literally turned into babies for daysand that I don't remember much about it."

He scratched the back of his head. "I, uh, had a call from Nathalie that I had to go home now, some business to go through and all."

"So soon?" He felt a trickle of guilt when he saw Sabine's downcast expression. "You just turned back! Surely she'd let you rest for a while?"

"Oh, you know how it is, work and all," He tried to laugh it off, his skin prickling with some sort of fidgety feeling at the thought that Ladybug, or rather Marinette, was waiting for him already, where she could still be probably hanging onto something while in agony oh god he needed to goright now.

The older woman clicked her tongue in disapproval at his words. "One day, I'm going to talk to your father about your schedule," She huffed, before giving him a smile. "Well, it was nice having you here, all of you, in fact," She smiled at Alya and Nino. "The three of you had fun with Marinette when she took care of you. Which reminds me," She gave her husband a glance, oblivious to the way Adrien stiffen. "Where's Marinette?"

"She said she had to do something for a while," Tom scratched his chin, his brows furrowing. "She didn't exactly say what."

Adrien edged towards the door. "I'll let myself out now, thank you so much for everything you did for the past few days. And Mr and Mrs Dupain? Marinette's window actually shattered and there's glass all over her bed and floor, I just realised that after a while of looking around," He gave a wave. "Bye and thank you!"

He was sprinting his way down when he felt a hand grabbed his arm, and when he looked up, he saw Nino giving him a look. "Man, I know you just lied your ass out of this when Nathalie definitely did not call you," Adrien winced lightly. "But all I know is that, whatever you're doing, I'm going to let you go and do your thing, but we are going to discuss this mess with Alya and Marinette once you're done, capeche?"

Adrien nodded, shooting his best friend a grin. "Purr-fectly."

Nino snorted, detaching his fingers. "Unbelievable," He waved his hand dismissively as he trudged back up. "See ya."

"See you later, Nino!" Adrien tossed he words over his shoulder as he ran towards his house, which wasn't far from the bakery and he was already there in a matter of minutes. After frantically pressing on the buzzer and responding to Nathalie's mild irritation, he sprinted in the moment the gates swung open, and went straight to the entrance.

Bursting in, he saw Nathalie jumping at the sudden loud sound as he went up the stairs two at a time, worry occupying his mind at the thought of Marinette hurting just outside his window.

"Adrien, what-?"

"Sorry, Nathalie, I gotta go!" Came the short reply as he skidded in front of his room, and again, bursting it open.

He didn't see her hanging outside of his large windows, and cautiously went to them, unlocking one and swinging it open that he was hit with a brush of breeze, his eyes searching for any red clad superhero.

Until, she slid down from where she hang down upside down on her yo-yo, clutching on the string as she gave him a guilty grimace. "Hi."

Tampering down the heat that threatened to spread across his face, he quickly grabbed her offered hand and pulled her in, where he immediately wrapped his arms around her when she collapsed onto him, whimpering out in pain as she did so.

"Ladybug?" He questioned worriedly as he felt the way she clutched onto his arms tightly, a sheen of sweat on her forehead. "Can you walk enough to sit on my bed?"

She nodded, before he guided her towards it, where she slowly lowered herself down. "Thank you, Adrien," She sighed as he sat down beside her.

He nodded. "No problem."

There was silence for a while as she got herself comfortable, and he tried not to fidget in her presence as she almost reluctantly let go of his hand, and instead let one touch her back, where she inhaled sharply.

"So," She started before he could say anything about her obvious discomfort, where she deliberately avoided his eyes as she stared at her lap. "You saw that, huh? That I transformed back?"

"Yeah," He blurted out, before worrying his bottom lip. "You're Marinette."

She laughed slightly, some disbelief could be heard. "I am."

There was another stretch of silence, and her grimace was getting more obvious that he jumped out of his bed, startling her in the process as he made his way towards his wardrobe. "I have some first aid kit here, in case of, you know, emergencies and all that could happen anytime, not that I usually get myself into that kind of trouble or anything but, you know," He squeezed his eyes briefly as a cringe almost passed through his body, noting the way how he was actually babbling in front of her. "Just in case." He finished lamely.

When he sank back on the bed, Adrien met her eyes, where she was staring at him curiously. Again, he was caught off guard at how blue her eyes were and saw the way freckles splashed across her nose. "If it's okay," He began softly. "I need you to let go of your transformation, so that I can clean your cuts."

She blinked at him, before looking away with a streak of pink gracing her across the bridge of her nose that her mask covered most of it, but nonetheless, that didn't stop the glee that ignited in his chest, since Ladybug had never acted this way around him when he was Chat Noir, and that some of Marinette's shy tendencies started to leak through the Ladybug demeanour. "Okay," She took a breath. "Tikki, spots off."

With a burst of pink light, the red suit slowly disappeared, and Marinette sat beside him, with her gaze directed towards her clenching hands, small and dainty and yet had taken down more akumas than he could count, and he had the sudden urge to wrap his hands around them.

Oh boy.

Bad, bad Adrien.

This was not the time to think about holding her hands while she was bleeding in your room.

He lightly touched her shoulder, where she looked up in surprise. "I'm sorry if this is, uh, weird, but," He cleared his throat, trying to keep a straight face and not combust at the spot. "But I need to see your wounds so that I could clean them properly."

She blinked at him, her face turning beat red. "Y-you mean...?"

He felt his own face burning. "Yes?"

She bit her lip, taking off her blazer before slowly turning around, where he directed his gaze somewhere else when she started to take off her shirt.

There was a deep breath. "Okay."

When he looked down, he tried not to inhale too sharply when he saw shredded skin, where there was three five inches wounds that rested below her bra strap, lining horizontally as if she was scratched by a big cat, looking absolutely painful that he felt a wave of protectiveness for her.

He glanced at her face, where she was holding her shirt to her chest as one hand pulled her pigtails to the front to give him more access.

"I'll be right back," He went to his bathroom and filled a bowl he always kept when he would treat his own wounds with water and a towel, before carefully setting the bowl on the ground as he sat behind her. "This is going to sting a bit."

After dunking and twisting the towel to get rid of excess water, he gently wiped it around the wounds first to clean the blood, before dabbing gently onto the cuts.

She hissed lightly, and he let the towel hover above it as he glanced at her worriedly. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah," She croaked out. "Just, do your thing."

He worked in silence for a while, just washing away her blood as he started to apply some alcohol on those cuts, where she stiffen to prevent any sound from escaping from her mouth at the painful sting.

"Are you disappointed?"

Surprised, he looked up from his work to meet her eyes, but she was pointedly staring at the wall in front of her. "Disappointed?" He asked quizzically. "For what?"

"That Ladybug is me?" She pursed her lips, before looking at him at the corner of her eye.

He stared back at her. If he was completely honest with himself, no, he wasn't disappointed at all to find out that his Lady was also his Princess, his brave classmate who had stood up for so many people that he had admired that about her for a long while, where her determination never did cease his amazement whenever she set her mind into doing something she really wanted, whether it was for someone else or herself, it didn't matter because she will get the job done.

Though sometimes, she can be as skittish as a kitten (ha), wearing her emotions on her sleeve that she expressed her emotions freely without any obstacle to prevent her from doing so, and that fascinated him to no end because he couldn't have that, he couldn't show himself as the boy who actually loved to sprout puns whenever chance he got, the boy who wanted to run around Paris and scream in joy at the top of his lungs in the middle of the night as the wind blew back his hair. No, he was an Agreste, his mask for the world was much more permanent than what he wore as Chat Noir, since his father wouldn't allow him to make such brash decisions.

So, was he surprised? Pleasantly so.

Did it made his heart pound because he was only starting to realise what Marinette meant to him was almost as much as Ladybug did for the past few years? Definitely.

Was he disappointed? Absolutely not.

He shook his head, a small smile appearing on his lips as he continued working. "No, why should I? You've been a perfect Ladybug for these last few years, why should I be disappointed that you're one of the most amazing people I know?"

He realised that he said much more than he needed and clamped his mouth shut, cursing internally at how his words didn't seem to filter out as they used to.

He felt a hand touched over his, and he saw the way she smiled shyly at him, her face as red as her alter ego. "Thank you, Adrien," She giggled, making his heart fly at the sound. "I'll keep that in mind."

He grinned back her, turning his hand over so that he could give her fingers a brief squeeze. "You're welcome."

Once he was done and applied some bandages on her back, he turned away respectfully as she wore her clothes, hearing the way the cloth rustles against her skin while the sounds of her pained grunts was making his fingers twitch, where he wanted to help her but didn't know how without making it look like he was being a creep.

There was a flash of pink light and then he felt a hand on his shoulder, where he turned around to meet Ladybug, and she gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you Adrien, for doing this for me, I wouldn't have reached it if I could," To his surprise and pleasure, she reached up and kissed his cheek, before turning away with a cough. "Just keep this a secret between us and don't tell anyone, okay? Even if you bumped into Chat Noir."

He knew the last part was meant as a joke, but a thrill of excitement passed down his spine as a smirk flitted pass his lips. "Of course, I won't tell a soul," He crossed his heart for emphasis.

She chuckled, making her way towards his window. "I'll see you tomorrow, Adrien."

"Wait,"

He wrapped his fingers loosely around her wrists, a chance for her to pull away if she wanted to. When she didn't, he took a step closer. "Your mum told me that you took care of Alya, Nino and I when we were turned into toddlers," She blushed at that. "And I, ah, thank you for doing that, I just hope I didn't do anything embarrassing." He chuckled.

She smirked, before surprising him yet again by tapping his nose with a finger, where he scrunched it on reflex, causing a distant memory to glow at the back of his mind. "I have pictures," She winked, before climbing out of the window. "I'll show you three what ridiculous things you did!"

He gaped, before quickly moving forward to the window just as she was about to leave. "No way!" He laughed. "Just what happened?"

She laughed as well, and he grinned brightly.

"You'll see."

"I can't believe this, Tikki."

Marinette sat on her desk chair as she inspected Chat Noir's ring in her hand, turning it around to analyse every detail it had, and from what she gathered, it wasn't black like she always saw when they fought together, but rather a silver colour. "Adrien knows," She looked up to the kwami who sat on the desk, illuminated by the desk light behind her. "He found out I'm Ladybug, treated my wounds, and," Letting out a noise at the back of her throat, she hid her face into her hands. "He knows."

Tikki let out a tinkle of laughter. "You told me that for a few times already, Marinette."

"I know, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Heaving out a breath, Marinette dragged her hands down to meet Tikki's amused look. "It's just, he had to see what a mess I was after that fight with Adolescent, and the condition of my room," She glanced up to the window above her bed, now brand new after her parents briefly told her that Ladybug was fighting with the akuma in the room, and Adrien had told them about the glass being all over her bed and floor. Marinette feigned surprised by then, and when she asked where Alya and Nino was, Sabine told her they left.

"They said they'll see you tomorrow," Her mother told her with a hum. "And possibly wanting to ask you about their little transformation."

Good Lord, was her mother making puns now?

Marinette made a face. "Mama."

Sabine laughed.

"Well, you were fighting a very angry akuma at the time," Tikki pointed out as she floated near her, settling herself on Marinette's shoulder as she nuzzled her charge's cheek. "And I'm glad that you're not seriously hurt."

Smiling softly, Marinette turned and gave Tikki a kiss on her head. "Thank you, Tikki, and now, about Chat's ring though," She held it up for both of them to see. "What am I going to do with it? I can't just give it to him since I don't know who he is."

"You'll leave that to me," Tikki grinned, flying over as she plucked the ring from Marinette's fingers. "I'll give it back to Plagg, Chat Noir's kwami, and all will be alright. Don't worry about it."

Marinette gave a doubtful glance at the ring. "Are you sure, Tikki? You don't need my help?"

"Nope, I'll be fine," Then, Tikki tossed it back into the jewellery box, snapping the lid close. "Now, you have to get some sleep, you have school tomorrow, you know."

Chuckling, Marinette stood up, grimacing when she felt her back muscles stretched. "Ow, it still stings," Grumbling, she climbed the stairs. "I just hope it'll heal over the night, and the akumas would take a break after seeing that hustle I had with Adolescent," Once Tikki settled on the pillow next to her, Marinette gave her a smile. "Good night, Tikki."

"Good night, Marinette."

Once Tikki heard the even breathing of her charge, she quickly zipped towards the jewellery box and took out the ring, flying towards the chaise and landed heavily on the cushion. "Plagg!"

There was a snort somewhere as he poked his head out, giving her a glare. "You could've been more gentle, you know?"

"I didn't realised you deserve it," She deadpanned, before shoving the ring into his hands. "Now go, before your boy starts panicking and it won't do good to the rest of us."

He scoffed, adjusting his grip on the miraculous. "Knowing Adrien, he's probably pacing in his room right now."

"All the more reason you should go."

"What? No goodbye kiss?" He snickered.

Tikki gave him a bemused look. "Plagg."

"Come on, Tikki, you're the one who's always wanted for them to find out, why the sudden secrecy?"

"I want them to find out on their own, not with our help, there's a difference between that," She shook her head slightly, a small smile appearing. "Go on, alley cat, your kitten is waiting."

"Plagg!"

Adrien quickly opened the window when he saw him floating in front of it with his ring, where the kwami immediately collapsed onto Adrien's cupped hands.

"Cheese!" Plagg gasped as Adrien brought him to his chest. "I need Camembert! I've been deprived of them for days!"

Quickly, Adrien settled Plagg on his desk and took out a small tin of emergency stash of cheese from his top drawer, where he gave Plagg a slice that the kwami devoured it the moment he sank his claws into it.

Adrien sank into his chair in relief, slipping on the ring that he was happy to feel the familiar weight again around his finger. "Where have you been?" Adrien looked down the kwami. "Since you can't have just wondered around with the miraculous that everyone would see."

Plagg licked his lips as he finished it and helped himself to another. "I was with Ladybug."

Adrien almost dropped from his chair. "You what?"

"Don't worry, she didn't know I was at her place."

Adrien stared at him with a flabbergasted look on his face. "You were at the bakery? This whole time? And she didn't even notice you?"

"Nope."

"B-but," Adrien stuttered, his mind reeling. "How?"

Plagg snorted. "I hid myself out of sight, duh."

Adrien hesitated. "So, she doesn't know I'm Chat Noir?"

"Nope."

"But does she know about the ring?" Adrien demanded, scooping up the kwami that Plagg let out a sound of protest. "Did she even have a look at it?"

"Yes," Plagg struggled in Adrien's grasp. "Now let me go and eat."

Plagg sat on the desk again when Adrien released him, taking a third serving. "You don't have to worry though, she won't suspect that you're the cat. Just act normal in front of her and you'll be fine."

Adrien ran through his fingers through his hair. "I found out that Ladybug is Marinette, how am I going to face her during patrols later? She doesn't know I'm Chat Noir," He bit his lip. "I might do something stupid."

Plagg snorted. "Then, don't do something stupid," There was a pause as he gobbled down the cheese. "Unless, you want her to know who you are."

Adrien let out a sharp breath. "I do, but she doesn't want Chat Noir to know her identity, and I have to respect that."

"Ladybug didn't want Adrien Agreste as well as whole of Paris to know who her identity is," Plagg pointed out with a belch. "But then, here you are."

"It was an accident," Adrien rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hands. "I didn't know she was going to just drop into the room and transformed," He groaned as he slapped his hands onto his face. "What have I done?"

Plagg shook his head, leaning back as he let out another belch. "This is why I only choose cheese, less problems, less accidents."

Adrien glared at him through his fingers. "That's all you care about."

Plagg hummed. "True."

Sighing, Adrien leaned back on his chair, staring emptily out of the window. "You think I should tell her?" Then, an idea seemed to snapped him out of his gloomy thoughts as he straightened himself, a bright look on his face.

Plagg stared at him warily. "I don't like that look."

"What look?" Adrien mumbled distractedly.

"That look, like you're thinking something where disaster would only agree to. Your 'I'm going to do something stupid' look."

Adrien met his eyes innocently. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I do need your help though."

"No."

"You don't even know what it is."

"I don't have to," Plagg huffed. "I can see the way how those wheels in that brain of yours work, and usually, I don't like it."

"Come on, Plagg," Adrien pleaded. "It's harmless."

Plagg gave him a deadpanned look. "You're going to visit her, are you? As Chat Noir?"

"Tomorrow."

The kwami let out a bark of laughter. "Yeah kid, but no."

"Why not?"

"It'll be a mistake, that's what," Plagg snapped as he flew towards the bed, slumping on the pillow. "Go to sleep, I don't want you bone tired if we had to fight an akuma tomorrow."

Adrien watched the way Plagg curled himself into a ball, before he stood up with a sigh and made his way to his bed. "Fine," He finally relented. "Fine."

"Good," Plagg grumbled. "Now, sleep."

Adrien rolled his eyes as he slipped into his covers. "Good night, Plagg."

Inaudible mumbling was his only response.

But as Adrien lay in his bed that night, dreams of blue eyed girls and raven hair finally mingled into one, where all the troubles he felt before this disappeared that his heart felt lighter at the thought.

He was so going to visit her tomorrow.