"So you know how the mayor finally persuaded Ladybug and Chat Noir to do a proper interview tomorrow evening?" Alya asked as she slid into her seat, exactly one minute and twenty five seconds before the bell. "Guess what? I get to go!"

"No way!" Nino gasped, spinning around in his seat. "Really? But I thought it was only for city reporters?"

Alya nodded, excited, and Marinette hid her grin. "Yeah, it was! But the mayor was going over the guest list with Ladybug and Chat Noir, and Ladybug actually requested that I be added! Can you believe it?"

"That's really awesome, Alya," Adrien spoke up, twisting in his seat to look back at the girls.

"And that's not all-" Alya cut herself off as the bell rang. At Marinette's questioning look, she whispered, "I'll tell you over lunch! It's awesome!"

Marinette sat back in her seat, suddenly nervous. What could Alya possibly be talking about? She had taken the opportunity to invite Alya to the "official" interview when it came up, and the invitation was just for her friend...right?

Apparently not.

"I get to bring a guest!" Alya squealed as soon as they were out of the classroom. "You're coming, right Marinette?"

"My parents have a really big order I have to help with tomorrow night," Marinette claimed immediately, feigning disappointment. "But have a good time, Alya! I'll be sure to watch your video."

"Won't your parents let you off for something like this?" Nino asked. "I mean, that's big. Getting to see Ladybug and Chat Noir up close when they aren't battling an akuma? I'm sure they'd understand."

They would let her off, even if the order was real. But that was her go-to excuse and she wasn't about to let it get destroyed. "I don't think so. It's a really big order, and we have other stuff that we need to keep up with. Inspection time is coming up again." That was true.

"I'll talk to them," Alya announced. "I have journalism club after school, but after that! Don't worry, Marinette, I'll get them to let you go!"

"Really, Alya, you don't need to do that-" Marinette protested, her heart sinking. Her friend wouldn't listen, though.

She would have to talk to her parents.

"Hey, mom? Dad?" Marinette stepped into the for-once empty bakery. In only a couple hours, there would be another rush as Partisans got bread for their dinners. "Can I talk to you guys?"

"Of course, sweetie. What's up?" Her mom smiled at her from behind the register, where she was filling frosting sleeves.

"Alya wants me to go to something tomorrow night, and I- well, I don't really want to go, so I was wondering if you could possibly tell her that there's a really big order I have to help with, and there's no possible way I could get out of that?" It came out as one large run-on sentence.

From the back, her dad laughed. "Let me guess, Alya got passes to go see Ladybug and Chat Noir's interview and invited you as well? I suppose it would be a bit difficult for you to be both with her and be Ladybug at the same time."

Marinette's jaw dropped. What?

"Of course we'll tell her that we can't spare you, dear," Sabine said cheerfully, acting as though they hadn't just dropped the biggest bombshell in the history of bombshells on her. "We do have a large order tomorrow, but the dough has already been made and is in the freezer. It's nothing we can't handle."

Marinette was still stuck a few sentences back. "Wait, you said...?"

"You'll have to tell us how the event goes, dear," Tom said as he carried a tray of bread to the front and started refilling baskets, scooting around Marinette, who was frozen in place. "We'll watch Alya's recording, of course. Don't let the reporters intimidate you too much. They can be pesky at times, but I don't doubt that you and Chat Noir can handle them."

"Someone certainly needs to put them back in their place," Sabine sniffed. "They certainly hounded the poor fencing instructor after he lost the election! Of course, he certainly didn't help matters with that temper of his."

"They'll probably ask you and Chat Noir if you're dating," Tom added, tray now empty as he headed back behind the counter. "They get ridiculously interested in things like that. You might want to talk to Chat beforehand about questions like that, because I know he likes joking around and the press will twist your words and actions."

"Ummm..."

"Saying that you're just friends and fighting partners would be your best bet," Sabine chimed in. "Anything more than that will get people trying to get you to admit to more."

"Wait, when did you..." Marinette trailed off, not wanting to confirm it.

"Figure out that you're Ladybug? About three months after your first public battle." Tom smiled at his dumbstruck daughter. "What, you thought we wouldn't notice? A girl with black hair and blue eyes about your size just happens to show up just about the same time you started acting a bit odd and your schoolwork wasn't quite as good as before? Besides, you always went missing about the same time as Ladybug showed up." He paused to grin at Marinette's dumbstruck expression, then added, "We would like to ask that you not stay out so late on weeknights. I'm sure patrol is important, but so is your health and schoolwork."

Sabine grinned at Marinette, her eyes crinkling at the corners. "What, did you really think that we would be so lenient with you missing classes and your grades dropping if we didn't know? Come on now, Marinette. We may be laid back parents, but even we wouldn't go that far if we didn't know the reason behind it."

"I'm still amused that Ladybug's best friend runs the Ladyblog," Tom laughed. "And Alya doesn't suspect a thing, even though she's the one who got an exclusive interview with Ladybug that you got for her." He gave Marinette a look. "What kind of excuse did you come up with for that one?"

"Alya didn't ask and I didn't volunteer anything," Marinette managed. "But she's been suspicious of me on a couple instances."

"We'll have to fix that," Tom decided. "We'll doctor a video or something to throw her off. It'll be fun!"

"Uhhh..." Marinette wasn't positive that that would work. "Alya's pretty talented with technology, dad. So is Nino. I think they'd be able to tell if something was doctored."

Tom was rubbing his hands together, looking delighted and ignoring his daughter's concerns. "Not if we do something like... record audio clips, and play them when we go out and see Ladybug! The computer would be behind us, maybe in the car, and then we could give the video to you to show Alya, and she could put it on her blog and throw the entire city off your trail."

"We'll come up with lines to record while you're at the event," Sabine told Marinette cheerfully. "And don't worry about Alya. We'll take care of it."

"That...okay, yeah, thanks," Marinette managed. She gave herself a brisk shake. "Um, but you're okay with me being Ladybug?"

"Of course. We couldn't be prouder." Tom smiled at his daughter. "We worry, of course, but you're a good fighter, and so is Chat Noir. The least we can do is support you."

Alya was thoroughly disappointed when Marinette's parents refused to let Marinette out of helping with the order, but eventually she accepted defeat and invited Nino instead.

Ladybug lept over the rooftops as it got closer to their agreed-upon time, heading to her and Chat Noir's normal meeting place. Her parents had suggested a couple other questions that they prepare answers to so that they not be blindsided. Maybe they should have made a list of questions that were off-limits, but at the same time, if the reporters weren't thinking of those kinds of questions, they might just get ideas.

"Good evening, my Lady," Chat Noir called as she landed. "Regretting agreeing to this yet?"

"Of course," Ladybug sighed. "But maybe we can get them to stop swarming us after attacks. What exactly are they expecting us to say?' Yay us, we stopped another akuma'?"

Chat snorted. "My question exactly. I'm just worried about what else they might ask us."

She nodded. "Yeah, so am I. You probably shouldn't joke around too much on the questions, since the reporters might twist what you say." She didn't tell him that it was her parents who had thought of it- she remembered his murmured comments from the Bubbler incident, and saying that her parents paid close enough attention to her to figure out who she was even with the mask's hiding power might bring up a sore spot with him.

He just blinked at her. "What kinds of questions might they twist?"

Ladybug fought back the sudden blush trying to creep onto her cheeks. "If they want to know what our 'relationship' is like. If you joke around like you did with Lady Wifi, they might decide to take you seriously."

"Aha. Got it. No suggestive comments. Probably no nicknames as well, then?" Chat Noir grinned at her. "But the cat puns are not off limits, at least?"

Ladybug groaned. "No, I suppose not. I hadn't thought about the nicknames thing, but you're right."

Chat Noir grinned. "No? But think of the things the tabloids could say about us if we did any nicknames! 'Ladybug and Chat Noir deny relationship, refer to each other by cheesy pet names for the entire interview'! 'Paris's cutest couple have nicknames for each other, but deny any relationship-'"

Ladybug groaned and clapped a hand over Chat's mouth. "What, do you make up titles for tabloid articles as your day job?"

He clapped a hand to his chest, mock-wounded. "Never, my Lady-" The chime of a clock cut off his next words. "Ah, it would seem that we have somewhere to be. Shall we?"

They landed in the middle of the press circle exactly three minutes past the hour. There were cheers all around as people pressed closer. Ladybug suddenly started feeling mildly claustrophobic. Chat pressed comfortingly into her side, one hand on the small of her back.

"All right, all right! You're crowding them, let them breathe!" Mayor Bourgeois appeared in the crowd, for once a welcome sight. "Perhaps we should get seats so that everyone can see? Staff, chairs for everyone, please!"

"I'm thinking he didn't plan this out spectacularly well," Chat muttered in Ladybug's ear as the Mayor's staff rushed around, collecting chairs from several rooms to set up in a half-circle around the superheroes.

She nodded in agreement. "To be fair, though, we did only give three days' notice."

"This setup is more like three hours' notice. Possibly three minutes." Chat Noir's head suddenly swiveled to the side and he grinned. "Except for the refreshments. That looks like three weeks' notice. Yum."

Ten minutes later, all of the news people had been settled. Ladybug was glad to see Alya in the front row, Nino directly behind her. It soon became apparent that most of the news stations had opted to have the camera person in the front row to get a prime view, while the reporter sat behind.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen, we are lucky to have the famous Ladybug and Chat Noir here today to take your questions!" the mayor boomed out, standing behind them like a proud father. "One at a time, please- er, do you want me to call on people?"

"Yeah, sure," Chat Noir responded quickly as Ladybug nodded. The presence of so many cameras was making her nervous, even with her partner at her side. What if she said something she shouldn't? What if he said something he shouldn't?

"Why do you keep your identities secret?" a man in purple asked quickly. He held a pen and paper on his lap. "Paris wants to know who her heroes are!"

"First of all, we value our privacy," Next to Ladybug, Chat Noir nodded. "We like being able to live as normal citizens when we're not saving the city. If you did know who we are, how would we get anything done? People might not treat us normally."

"Secondly-" Chat Noir paused and turned to her. "Is that even a word? Anyway, it would be dangerous for us. Hawk Moth could target our friends and family to get to us. He could target us directly when we're at home and sleeping. Letting anyone know who we are would just not turn out well."

Alya nodded, having known all of this already. Ladybug could practically read her mind-honestly, did these reporters think that they were above reading her blog? Rude.

"Does anyone know who you are? Do you know who the other is?"

"We don't know who each other are in real life," Ladybug said first, hoping Chat would take over.

"And we don't tell anyone in our regular life either," Chat finished. Ladybug hid her smile-hah I didn't have to lie.

"What's your relationship like?" a blonde reporter blurted out, completely out of turn ("Tabloid writer," Chat Noir hissed quietly in Ladybug's ear). "I mean, you seem very close." She gestured to how they were standing- shoulder-to-shoulder, Chat Noir's hand resting on Ladybug's back.

"We're friends and fighting partners," Ladybug said immediately, reeling off her mother's lines without any hesitation. "We work well together, especially since we've been fighting as a team for a while now."

"But there have been some pictures of the two of you looking very close." The blonde wriggled her eyebrows, obviously looking for the scoop of a lifetime.

Chat Noir raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "Such as?"

"Some photos have surfaced from an attack last Valentine's day, and even our team of experts verified that they weren't photoshopped." The reporter waved the photos, and everyone craned their necks to see. "You two were kissing in several photos."

Chat's "Huh?" was drowned out by the gasps from the other press members that could see the photos. Ladybug stiffened but waited until the commotion died down to answer.

"We were fighting an akuma that turned people's friends and partners against them, and Chat Noir got hit by the arrow. I needed him back on my side to fight Dislocoeur, and the only way to override the curse was to kiss him. So I did." Ladybug shrugged. "Next?"

"Several things about that day are suddenly making a lot more sense," Chat laughed breathlessly. "I don't remember a really large chunk of time, only flashes that make no sense, and then all of a sudden I was in the park with my Cataclysm out."

"So-" the blonde woman started again, only to be stopped by a stern look from the mayor. He called on another reporter.

"How about some fun questions?" Mrs. Chamack asked. "Favorite colors?"

There was some muttering and eye rolling at that one, but Ladybug and Chat Noir immediately relaxed. "Blue," he immediately volunteered.

"Green."

"Favorite food?"

"Toasted cheese on sourdough and tomato soup," Chat Noir said immediately.

"That's a meal, not a food," Ladybug teased. "Mine is chocolate chip cookies."

"Ah, sweets for the sweet," Chat Noir immediately shot back, grinning. Ladybug elbowed him gently and he feigned hurt.

The question session continued, with some easy questions and some hard ones. There were a couple questions they wouldn't answer ("If people know us in real life, they could figure out who we are."). Finally, the questions wound down and the group broke up to browse at the refreshment table.

"That wasn't awful," Chat Noir said as they waited for the crowd to ease away from them. "I mean, I'm not in any huge hurry to do it again, but it wasn't awful."

"I think Alya already knew the answer to a lot of those questions," Ladybug laughed as he led her to the table of refreshments. She grinned as she realized that he was steering her right to the cookie area. "At least for me."

"There's only so many questions they can ask," Chat agreed. "Cookie, my Lady?"

They escaped as soon as their Miraculous started beeping, Chat filching several pieces of cheese and Ladybug taking a handful of cookies as they left.

"Do you want to patrol tonight, my Lady?" Chat asked as they swung onto the rooftop. "We can go recharge first."

"Don't you have homework to do?" Ladybug asked in false exasperation. "That sounds good, though. That was pretty stifling."

"I know, right? See you in five minutes, then?" Chat didn't wait for a response before bounding away. Ladybug headed in the opposite direction, leaps getting more and more energetic as she looked forward to a freeing late-night patrol.

Three weeks and several failed attempts later, Tom finally presented Marinette with his 'doctored' video. There had been an attack right outside the bakery, and the civilians in the area had cleared out quickly. The video was several minutes long and used almost all of the prerecorded clips her parents had made her record. Marinette had to admit that it was very good- if she didn't know better, she could have sworn that she was right there in the recording. Tom had even managed to get a flash of her mother's hair into the video, blurred enough that it could easily be confused for Marinette.

"Alya! I have a video of Ladybug to show you!" Marinette exclaimed as soon as she got to school the next morning. She waved the flash drive at her friend. "It's sort of long, though, so we'll have to wait until lunch."

"No way! You never get videos of Ladybug! I thought you tried to avoid the battles since you got turned into a mummy that one time?"

"The last fight was right outside of the bakery for a while," Marinette explained. "We could stay inside and record without putting ourselves in danger."

"What's this? An exclusive new Ladybug video?" Nino exclaimed, coming over to sling his arms over Alya and Marinette's shoulders. Adrien followed behind his best friend. "Can I see?"

"Not until lunch! Marinette said that it's too long to watch before class starts." Alya checked her watch and jumped, shoving Marinette and Nino up the stairs. "Speaking of class, we'll be late if we don't get going!"

Marinette grinned as she followed her friend up the steps. Her parents knew her secret, but that was all right. The video- it was going to end up on Alya's blog, she just knew it- would keep her secret identity safe from the rest of Paris.

Bonus

Adrien felt a slight stab of disappointment as the video clip ended again. Alya had posted it on her Ladyblog, and Adrien had spent what felt like hours watching and re-watching it. He had been so sure that Marinette was Ladybug. She shared so many of his Lady's traits- she was brave, always standing up to Chloe, and kind. Like him, she had the tendency to vanish during attacks. He could see himself falling for Marinette easily if she was Ladybug's civilian form.

But apparently not. The video matched what he could remember from the fight and the voices sounded natural. There was background noise that was clearly coming from the fight that was going on. There was even a flash of Marinette's hair in the video. There was no way to keep denying it. Marinette was not Ladybug, and he was far more disappointed than he expected to be.

Maybe it was because he'd gotten a soft spot for the girl. Maybe it was because he'd suspected her as Ladybug for so long, he'd started projecting his feelings for Ladybug onto her. Maybe it was just because she was a genuinely nice person and friend, someone he wouldn't mind falling for.

Adrien got up from his desk with a sigh and headed to the bathroom. His quest to find Ladybug's civilian identity was back to square one, it seemed.