AN: My first work for ML, which is, of course, the obligatory reveal fic. Please enjoy!

One. There could never be another

It started with an injury.

She had taken a gamble with her Lucky Charm, and Chat had ended up taking a blow from the akumatized human that would have prevented Marinette from finishing her attack. The result was that they beat the bad guy (again), but Chat was left on the ground, wincing as he tried to push himself up.

"Chat," Marinette said, worry making her rush to his side. A quick glance at the human formerly known as The Boxer told her that the man would be fine, so she felt no guilt in focusing her attention on her partner.

"My Lady," Chat replied with a grin that became a wince and air let out through his teeth in a low hiss almost immediately after.

"Is it your ribs?" Marinette demanded, seeing the way he seemed to semi-cradle them with his arm. "Did you crack one?"

"Probably just a bruise," Chat replied, but he didn't argue when Marinette slung one of his arms around her shoulders and helped him to his feet. Civilians were beginning to make their way back onto the streets now that the danger was over, and Marinnette surveyed their surroundings, looking for the best path of escape.

"Walk with me," she ordered him, her gaze landing on an alley that would get them out of sight. Her Marvelous gave a beep that was echoed by Chat's, letting her know that time was of the essence.

"I can get home, My Lady," Chat promised as the managed to reach the alley. "I know that you don't want our identities to be known."

"You need a hospital," Mari replied, her voice grim. It hadn't escaped her that he hadn't made a single pun since the battle had ended. Worse than that, his My lady was half-heartedly flirtatious at best. This was not the Chat Noir that she had been fighting alongside with for months, which meant he had to be seriously injured.

"I can get a ride. I promise, Ladybug. I'll just say I was collateral damage in the attack. No one will be shocked." Chat's words sounded almost practiced as he gave the excuse, as though he had said the words a dozen times before. Considering how many times Marinette had used an incredibly similar excuse, they probably were practiced.

"They'll wonder why my Miraculous Ladybug didn't heal it," Marinette pointed out, and if she were completely honest, it was something she herself was wondering. She always managed to fix the damage… well, this was Chat damaged. Why hadn't he been fixed?

"You can't fix everything, My Lady," Chat replied with a chuckle, but another beep cut him off, and both of them looked down to see that their Marvelous would be running out at any moment. He looked up at her, and his smirk took on a rueful twist. "I've seen you face down some rather intimidating akumas, and never once have you looked this terrified. Go, Ladybug. If I don't take care of myself, I swear that I'll let you punish me at our next meeting."

He waggled his eyebrows at her, and Marinette found herself laughing despite her better judgment. His eyes didn't look quite as strained, and Marinette found that she almost believed he would be okay.

"I… shout really loud if you change your mind?" she asked. "I promise, your health is more important to me than secrecy."

"I never doubted it. Now go."

Marinette rushed away and managed to make it around the corner and onto an empty street – everyone in the vicinity had gathered at the site of the attack – just before her Miraculous ran out, leaving just Marinette to lean her head against the wall of the building and look up at Tikki.

"That was close," she remarked to her kwami. She gave the alley to her left a quick glance, but didn't look down it. "Do you think he'll really be okay?"

"Chat might be reckless, but he never struck me as self-destructive," Tikki replied, letting her small body take cover in Marinette's purse and curling up to fall asleep. "If he truly believed he couldn't make it home, he would have told you."

"You're right," Marinette agreed, but she still gave the alley another worried look before she rushed in the direction of the bakery.

It made her feel horrible, to have left her injured partner behind.

That's how it started with an injury, and Marinette going home filled with worried, but not at all expecting that the entire axis of her world would soon change.

MBF

"It's rather bad bruising, but given a day or two of rest you should be back on your feet and capable of light exercise. And do keep it to light exercise for at least a week, young man."

Adrien gave the doctor a grateful smile, while Gabriel Agreste frowned from the screen of Nathalie's iPad. His expression was severe, and told Adrien that he was not currently in the good graces of his father.

Fitting – it seemed like the only time Gabriel paid any attention to his son was when his disapproved of Adrien's actions.

"You're luck you weren't more severely hurt," Gabriel commented once the doctor had left and Adrien began to pull his shirt back on. "What were you doing in that area anyway?"

"Study group," Adrien replied, the lie falling easily from his lips. At the start, he'd felt some guilt for lying to his father. But when Gabriel had accepted the lies so easily, never once giving even a half-hearted attempt to corroborate, the guilt had quickly diminished until it wasn't existent.

As long as Adrien was able to show up when Gabriel deemed his presence necessary, the teen's activities were of no concern. So Adrien would enjoy those moments of freedom as Chat Noir.

And he would be more careful, but there was no way that he was going to be put on the super hero bench for a week. He'd be a bit more careful, since he highly doubted that "saving the city from akumatized humans" counted as light exercise by anyone's standards, but he wouldn't stay locked up in the manor. He refused to.

"Perhaps we should reconsider this public school decision," Gabriel mused, his brows furrowed. "You never would have gotten injured otherwise, and now Nathalie will have to reschedule four different photoshoots."

"You promised," Adrien shot back, the words coming out before he had time to give them any thought. His teeth clicked together as he shut his mouth, but the way his father raised his brows told Adrien that he was committed to this, so he might as well finish it. "As long as I played my role, I could go to public school. Remember?"

"Yes," Gabriel replied coolly. "As long as you played your role. You cannot do that, however, with bruised ribs."

"On accident isn't a pattern, father. I promise to be more careful in the future."

They were the words of the dutiful son that Adrien was expected to be. Gabriel surveyed him closely for several minutes, and Adrien kept his expression as meek as possible, though the anger that had pushed him to even think about arguing with his father was still a ball in his stomach.

Thankfully, it must not have shown on his face, because Gabriel finally gave a sharp nod.

"Fine. This once I'll over look. Give your pain medication prescription to Nathalie and get it filled on your way home. I'm currently in Milan, but keep me updated as to your state of being."

The screen went black, and Adrien just barely refrained from giving a sigh of relief. He gave Nathalie a weak smile as he handed over the prescription, getting just a brief nod in return.

But as they walked out of the hospital, Adrien couldn't help the small swell of victory that rose within him. Perhaps he'd had to backpedal somewhat to cater to egos… but Adrien had argued against his father and won.

That had never happened before.

MBF

Of the two of them, it was always Chat Noir that had been the one curious about identities. Marinette had never wanted the "big reveal" to ever happen. Maybe it was because she was afraid of what his reaction to "just Marinette" would be. Or maybe she was afraid that keeping her partner at arms-length would be more difficult if she knew who he was outside Chat.

But they "whys" didn't matter. Marinette had never wanted The Big Reveal, and that was that.

So, when Adrien came into class with Nino hovering at his side like a worried mother hen, she never even thought to be suspicious. Oh, she was worried – this was Adrien. She had all but named their future children; the fact that he was injured made her feel nothing but worry.

She wanted to ask what had happened, but instead she felt red faced and embarrassed, and she would be eternally thankful to whatever divine intervention had decided to give her Alya as a best friend. One look at Marinette's face had the redhead leaning forward to grin at Adrien in a way Mari just never could.

"What happened to you?" she asked, leaning her weight on an arm.

"My man went and cracked his ribs," Nino replied, his expression utterly unimpressed. "And now he won't tell me how he did it."

"I did!" Adrien argued. "I told you, I was caught in that Akuma attack!"

"Why were you even near that Akuma attack, man? Didn't you have a photoshoot scheduled at the opposite end of the city?"

"It got cancelled."

Mari bit her lip, and not for the first time wished that she could find her words around her crush. There was a shadow in his eyes, dark and pained, and even though he grinned at Nino, there was a tightness around his eyes that belied pain. She wanted it to tell him it was okay to hurt, and it was okay to tell them the truth about his injury.

Then he said it.

"I was collateral damage in the attack. It happens."

Marinette went utterly still at the words. It wasn't that they were uncommon or unheard; Adrien was entirely right, that there always seemed to be inadvertent damage after an Akuma attack, and though the Miraculous Ladybug tended to get rid of most of those damages, it didn't always fix everything.

But Adrien's tone… it was almost practiced. The cadence saying he had practiced and said those words several times, and the tone, the voice, was so incredibly familiar.

Chat had said those exact same words to her, in that exact same tone and voice, just days prior.

Alya had once photo-shopped Adrien into Chat's outfit and claimed it was possible, and Marinette had waved the theory away as completely unbelievable. Adrien was… Adrien was sweet. Oh, Chat was sweet as well, but he was also cocky and flirtatious and more than just a little reckless. Nothing at all like sweet, quiet, reliable Adrien who was always perfectly put together, who had made Marinette's heart sing from the very first hello, and made her want to know him since she realized that those quiet green eyes of his held such immense sadness.

There had been glimpses of sadness in Chat once, but they had quickly been replaced with happiness. Chat was always filled with a loud, vibrant joy, but maybe that was the point. After all, as Ladybug Marinette could be confident. She could be brave and let her thoughts be heard in ways she never could as Marinette Dupain-Cheng. So why had she assumed that Chat Noir would still be… well, Chat Noir in his daily life?

She stared at Adrien, and felt as though she couldn't breathe.

"Marinette?" he looked up at her, concern in his eyes despite his own pain. "Are you okay?"

Worried about her, even though he was the one that was hurt. Just like Chat had been so worried about Ladybug's wishes, even when he was injured.

"I…" she swallowed, her mouth incredibly dry.

"She's just tired!" Alya intervened in that carefree way she had, wrapping an arm around Mari's shoulder. From the corner of her mouth, she gave a murmur only her friend could hear. "Girl, what are you doing?"

I think I'm having a panic attack, Marinette thought weakly, though she couldn't say the words out loud, of course. Alya would want to know the cause, and Marinette could hardly say, I just realized that my crush is probably the same boy alternately turn down and trust with my life daily, and I'm not quite sure how to deal with that.

The bell rang, and Marinette thought that maybe, just once, her luck as Ladybug had carried over into her civilian life.

Then she looked at the back of Adrien's head, and tried to imagine his locks arranged in Chat Noir's messier, more carefree style.

It proved all too easy to see, and Marinette gripped her desk and just barely refrained from banging her head onto its surface.

MBF

"I don't understand why this is such a problem," Tikki pointed out with far more logic than Marinette was capable of. "You've had a crush on Adrien since you met him. Isn't this good? It means he likes you too!"

"No he doesn't," Marinette replied with grumble, sitting in her chair and bracing her feet on her desk. Tikki floated above her and looked down, a puzzled expression on her tiny face. "He likes Ladybug, Tikki. Outside the costume, I'm not… when I'm Ladybug, I'm so much more. I'm brave and strong and smart. Once the costume is gone, I'm just Marinette."

"The costume doesn't change your heart, Marinette," Tikki retorted. "Ladybug or Marinette, that remains the same. And that is what Chat Noir… Adrien fell in love with."

It was a nice thought Marinette thought ruefully. But it wasn't exactly realistic, was it? Maybe her heart was the same… but Ladybug didn't have any issues with talking to Chat Noir, or giving him commands to win the day. But Marinette…

Marinette couldn't even say two words to Adrien without losing her nerve.

"What am I going to do?" she asked Tikki with wide eyes, panic suddenly washing over her as she let her feet fall to the floor. "Oh no…nonononono… what am I going to do?!"

She wasn't speaking to Tikki anymore, but to any deity or force that might be listening. She got to her feet, and clutched at her hair as she paced back and forth across the floor.

"Why are you panicking?" Tikki didn't often get exasperated, but the tone in her voice at the moment said she was close.

"Adrien is Chat Noir," Marinette hissed out, turning on her heel to stare at her Kwami. "Adrien is Chat Noir. Chat Noir, who is Ladybug's partner. I'm Ladybug, Tikki."

The Kwami continued to stare uncomprehendingly and Marinette let out a huff of exasperation and began to pace again.

"I can't talk to Adrien, Tikki. I suck at talking to Adrien. I try, and I lose my words. How am I supposed to be his partner, when I can't even talk to him?"

"You do talk to him, Marinette," Tikki replied, floating up to nuzzle against her neck. "You and Chat Noir, you've been able to work together almost since day one. It doesn't matter who he is outside the mask… he is still your partner."

That was easy for Tikki to say. She wasn't a fifteen year old who had just realized her crush was the boy she ran across rooftops with on a regular basis. Part of her wanted to curl up in her bed and forget about everything, but despite her fear of seeing Chat Noir with her new knowledge, Marinette didn't have it in her to let her partner down. So she put the spots on and hit the rooftops for patrol, and internally, she hoped that a surprise photoshoot would keep Chat Noir – Adrien – busy.

Of course, the one time she was counting on her Ladybug luck, it would fail her.

"Ah, milady. Fancy seeing you here."

She spun on the rooftop where she had stopped to rest, and she found herself simply staring at Chat. He gave her that grin, the one that was simply Chat, and his green eyes sparkled, and Marinette searched for Adrien in his face.

It was there – oh so painfully obvious, now that she wasn't so focused on the reasons why Adrien and her partner couldn't be the same person. Yet, despite that, despite knowing Chat was also Adrien…

"It's a purrrfect evening, isn't it?"

"Your puns are horrible," Marinette replied, before she could think twice. But it was just so natural, to roll her eyes and nudge him with her elbow. And she paused for a moment, a flush rising in her cheeks, because part of her remembered this was Adrien, but…

"You're just upset, because you lack my clawesome sense of humor."

He was still Chat, and God, but that one was bad, even for him.

"I think your injury is affecting your usual puniness," Marinette deadpanned, and after a moment, Chat began to laugh. She never heard him laugh like that as Adrien, and Marinette felt a warmth begin to wash through her at that realization. Like her, Adrien was different as Chat… he was free in a way that Adrien wasn't. He was happy.

And that, in part… was because of her.

"Are you sure you should be out tonight?" she asked him when she saw him wince through his chuckles.

"Probably not," he admitted sheepishly. "But I was going to go absolutely buggy locked up to heal."

Marinette let out a small chuckle at his words and rolled her eyes, grasping his arm and turning him back the way he had come.

"I need my partner on his A-game, Kitty Cat. Do whatever your doctor told you."

"But that means a whole weak on the second string," Chat whined, digging in his heels and pouting at her.

It made Marinette think of the giant house he lived in, just him and his father, who was far too cold. She couldn't blame him for not wanting to be there. She thought of her own home, and her parents, and the warmth that always infused the small space – not because it was above a bakery, but because there was so much love.

She smiled at Chat and reached out to brush some of his blonde hair out of his eyes. He blinked at her in surprise, and it made Marinette realize she maybe hadn't been entirely fair to her partner. It wasn't fair, that it took her learning his identity for her to truly see him… not as Adrien, but as her partner.

And it didn't matter who he was outside the mask, she was pretty lucky to have him.

"If you go home tonight and behave yourself, you can come out for half an hour for the rest of the week, and I'll even spend the time with you, right here."

"Are you okay, milady?" Chat asked, blinking at her.

"I'm fine… I'm just… you're really important to me. I hope you know that. Without you, there would be no me. So I need you to take care of yourself, okay?"

He smiled down at her, and for a moment it wasn't Chat she saw, but Adrien – with the kind smile and the kind eyes, and she felt herself flush. It would still take some work, this realization, but when she let him kiss her on the cheek, and then watched as he retreated with a happy whoop, she realized Tikki had been right.

It didn't matter who he was outside the mask, he was still Chat Noir. And she wouldn't let the awkward girl behind the mask change that.

"Are you going to tell him who you are?" Tikki asked her when they returned to the bakery. Marinette considered it. She knew she probably should – it was only fair, of course.

But she bit her lip.

"I want to try something first," she finally said.

"What?" Tikki asked curiously.

Marinette walked to her computer, and the photos she had attached to the wall. One by one, she took them down, placing them in a neat pile next to her keyboard. Finally, she held the last one in her hands and looked up at her Kwami.

"As Chat, he's my partner," she explained. "Now… now I'm going to get to know Adrien."

After all, she had shown that she could talk to him when she was Ladybug and he was Chat… and she had been able to talk to Chat as Marinette as well.

So she would channel Ladybug, and talk to Adrien as Marinette.

AN: There is the first part. I plan on this being a 3 parter, but who knows if that's how it will go. Let me know what you think!