Chapter One: The Bracelet

"Bien Joué!" The duo cheered as they bumped fists. Once the little bit of enthusiasm left with the words off of their tongues, they both slumped over with fatigue. The battle with the last akuma had been a tough one, and Ladybug, who was usually still energetic by the end of the fight, was now holding her injured shoulder and desperately trying to catch her breath.

"Are you okay?" She heard Chat ask. He looked over at her with utmost worry as he stretched out his arms.

"You could say I'm purr-fectly fine compared to you, Chat," she mused, eyeing the slices in his leather suit. "You seemed to take most of the blows as usual."

"Did you just make a cat pun?" Chat sauntered up to her confidently as he spoke. "Anything to prote-" He tried to lean in towards Ladybug, but instead only found himself wincing with pain.

Ladybug was quickly at his side. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Chat gave a weak smile and nodded. "The pain usually fades once the Miraculous Power clears everything up."

Chat stood up straight once again and looked down at the ribbons of leather that hung from his suit. He knew they wouldn't be there the next time he transformed, but it was still a bit concerning. He pulled at one of the pieces, thus exposing his ripped pocket. The gash in it opened up, and a bracelet dropped onto the sidewalk.

Ladybug hastily bent down to pick it up. She scooped it in her hand, and almost handed it over to Chat without realizing that it was familiar. She yanked her hand back and held it closer so she could see what it was.

"What is this?" She asked quietly, even though she already knew what it was. She had given this to Adrien a couple of weeks ago as a good luck charm. He had never returned it, and she had been okay with that, until now. Why did Chat have it? "How did you get this?"

"It's just something- It's really nothing I promise. Someone just gave it to me for good luck and I carry it around," Chat stammered nervously while trying to grab the bracelet from Ladybug. She dodged each swipe, only making him more and more nervous.

A storm of thoughts began to brew inside her. She gave the bracelet to Adrien. But Chat Noir has it. Maybe, a little while ago, she would have brushed it off with the excuse that Adrien gave it to Chat. But that just felt wrong in her mind. Surely Adrien wouldn't just give something like that away. She trusted him with it, and she felt that he would honor that by holding onto it.

Suddenly, everything began to click together in Ladybug's mind like pieces of a puzzle. Chat snatched the bracelet away from her as she stood in the eye of the storm that was her thoughts. Everything suddenly made sense. The disappearances, the blonde hair, the green eyes, the little moments where Ladybug caught Chat letting his Identity slip.

"Ladybug?" Chat mumbled while stuffing the bracelet in his other pocket. The stinging in his side had subsided, but now he was left with the sharp sting of worry. He had said too much, and didn't think quick enough to create a diversion on the spot.

Ladybug's face began to fill with heat, and her hands flew up to her mouth with horror. "Y-You can't be," she hissed. She heard her Miraculous beep, and new that her transformation would be ending soon, but she was frozen.

Memories were next to go flying about her head. Every touch, every flirtatious remark, every single interaction suddenly had so much meaning. Her arms and limbs felt heavy. Her vision had become blurry. Nothing felt real at that moment in time.

"Ladybug your transformation," Chat warned. Ladybug's miraculous beeped again. This time, the sound rang over and over in her ears and she shook her head angrily to help the noise escape.

She couldn't find the words to say what she was feeling. Was all of this true? Were they completely oblivious this entire time? How was she supposed to prove anything? What would she say? What would he say?

"You're really freaking me out, Bugaboo, so I'm going to go before you transform." Chat turned, but right before he could leap onto the rooftops, Ladybug was able to spit out a word.

"Adrien?"

The small whimper of a name caused Chat's form to go entirely rigid. He froze before turning around very slowly. Once their eyes connected, Ladybug knew the truth.

They both pondered what to say next as they stared at each other. Would it matter if they continued to hide from each other at this point? Ladybug had began to trust Chat and Adrien, so why couldn't she find the sense to trust them together. And Chat had always wanted to reveal his identity, but not like this.

The tangible silence that had lingered between them was torn by the ringing of both their miraculous. This time, for Ladybug, it was the final beep.

Chat suddenly realized that they were still standing in the middle of the street. He swallowed what he was feeling so he could concentrate on grabbing Ladybug by her wrist and yanking her with him into the nearest alleyway.

She still stood frozen, and Chat began to grow impatient as he waited for her to say something. He knew he shouldn't say anything without hearing what she was thinking first. However, the silence was becoming unbearable.

"Ladybug!" He hissed desperately. His eyes raked her face for any sign of an expression. "Yes, it's me."

"Mon dieu," Ladybug whispered. Her eyes were as round as plates, and even as the pink light began to tear away her disguise, she remained frozen.

Chat turned his face away and forced his eyes shut as an instinct. "Ladybug," he groaned. "Please say something. I can't just leave you like this."

In a matter of moments, the flash of pink light was gone, and Marinette was left staring at Chat with terror. "All of this time, you have been Adrien?"

Chat threw his arm over his eyes since his will to keep them shut was beginning to falter. "Yeah," he sighed. "I know. It's surprising."

"Well, there's no point in keeping it a secret now, Ch-Adrien," Marinette exclaimed, throwing her hands up with exasperation.

Chat removed his arm away from his eyes, and saw that Ladybug was none other than his own classmate, Marinette. He gasped and jumped back as though she had swung at him.

"No way!" He exclaimed, his eyes wide with surprise. His mouth curved up in a smile, but the last thing he was feeling was happiness.

As Adrien began to have the same swarm of thoughts Marinette had just minutes ago, she was just starting to get more in control of herself. "I just, I can't believe it's been you this whole time," she murmured. Her eyes were watching the ground, since she couldn't find the courage to look back up into Chat's eyes and see Adrien's there.

There was another long period of silence as Adrien watched Marinette and Marinette watched the ground. The beeping of Chat's miraculous informed that he would be transforming shortly, and he did so after a few moments, leaving the two high school students in silence once again.

"This is great," Adrien finally said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "I'm glad to finally know the truth."

"This is a mess," Marinette sputtered, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What?"

"Because I-" She froze. She couldn't just tell him that she had been crushing on him this whole time. "I… I'm sorry."

"What is it? What's wrong?" Adrien began to feel desperate to hear what she had to say. "We could go somewhere and talk about this if you want? I just- I have so many questions and-"

Marinette cut him off by raising her hand. "I'm sorry but I just need to be alone and collect my thoughts for a while."

Before Adrien could say anything more, she shook her head and quickly brushed by him and back out into the street. He stood there in silence for a minute before going after her.

"Wait, Marinette!" He called after her, but when he raced back out into the streets, she was nowhere to be seen.