"Dear Diary,

Yesterday, Chat Noir and I, yet again, faced another
akuma. And because of the attack, I missed half a
day of school, again. These attacks keep getting in
the way of everything. I had to borrow Alya's notes,
but was bombarded with a thousand questions from
her. Luckily, I brought her some cookies and told
her that the bakery needed some help. She actually
bought it for once, but I think that's because she was
blinded by food. And missing school wasn't the
worst part of my day. After the akuma attack, Chat
Noir wouldn't stop bothering me about my identity."

Marinette set her red pen down on her diary, looking up in thought to remember.

"Pound it." The heroes said in unison.

The two of them stood on top of a tall building in the middle of the city. Ladybug's miraculous let out another beep, signaling three minutes left.

"Well . . . that's my cue, Chat Noir. Gotta go."

"Wait!" Chat stopped her, grabbing her wrist.

"What?" Ladybug asked, turning to her partner. "I have to go . . . now."

"Today during the attack . . . I was tied up and . . . my identity was almost revealed before you came to untie me."

"So?" Ladybug was confused by what he was saying. She didn't understand what he was getting at.

"So . . . what if you hadn't been there in time to untie me and take me somewhere to recharge? What if my identity was revealed?" Chat Noir stood up in front of Ladybug, taking her hand as he stared deep into her bluebell eyes. "Would you have revealed yourself to me if my identity was accidentally revealed during everything?"

Ladybug looked down, changing her expression as she debated if she actually would. She had never thought about what she'd do if either of hers or Chat Noir's identity had been exposed during an akuma attack.

"I . . . I-I don't know." Ladybug stuttered, looked back up at him sadly. "I don't know what I'd do. Our identities are our biggest secrets and should be kept that way for as long as we can. We have to take our identities very seriously and there could be many consequences from revealing them. Like . . . we . . . might . . . hate each other in real life."

"That's not possible. I could never hate you." Chat smiled back at her. "No matter what happens to us or whatever you do . . . I could never hate you."

"I don't know about you." Ladybug put on a funny thinking face. "You make some stupid decisions sometimes and . . . then there are those puns you always have to say at the worst of times . . . and they're never funny. One day I might explode and want to get rid of you."

"What?! You don't have any sense of humor. And get rid of me?! That's harsh." Chat dramatically put his hand to his chest, but then changed back to a serious look as he took both of her hands. "If your identity was revealed . . . I wouldn't even have to think about it. I would detransform for you in a second."

Ladybug smiled at his response. She quickly wrapped her arms around him and embraced him in a tight hug.

"Thanks Chat." She mumbled into his shoulder before letting go. "Hearing that . . . I promise that if your identity is revealed to me during an attack . . . I'll reveal mine too."

"Really-"

"But!" Ladybug interrupted. "Don't go sacrificing yourself, causing your identity to be revealed to me on purpose. It's only fair if it's by accident or the akumatized villain forces you too. You better try to keep your identity a secret for as long as you can."

"I'll try, but I can't guarantee-"

Chat stopped talking as he met the irritated glare of Ladybug.

"Okay! Okay." He shot his hands up in surrender. "I'll try my best to keep my identity a secret as long as I can."

"Thank you." Ladybug said as her face quickly changed to a smile.

Ladybug's earrings let out a rapid beeping sound that made her eyes widen in realization.

"Uh! Gotta Go! Bye!" She blurted before quickly jumping off of the roof. She had only detransformed ten seconds later. Luckily in those ten seconds she ran and hid behind a corner.

Marinette picked her pen back up and continued to write.

"He almost caused my identity to be compromised. Why
does he have to stop me when we're done with the
akuma? Both of our miraculouses have little time left
by the end of it. If I hadn't paid attention to that last
beep of my miraculous, my identity wouldn't be a
secret anymore. I just made it off of the roof in time.
But what I did realize once I had detransformed was
that I had promised Chat Noir that I'd reveal my
identity to him if his identity was accidentally revealed.
Why did I do that?! Sure, I kind of want to know who
he is and I would tell him who I am if I thought I should,
but I don't know what might happen. I was listening to
my heart instead of my head. What's even worse is
that I made a promise."

Marinette closed up her diary and locked it back inside of her polka dot lock box. She set the box back down in the corner on her desk before collapsing face down on her chaise with a heavy sigh.

"Why did I tell Chat Noir that, Tikki?" She mumbled into the cushion. "That was a stupid thing to say."

"Because you're a good friend. Only a good friend would promise him something like that." Tikki assured as she flew over to sit on the edge of the chaise. "Chat Noir's always there for you and he has always been loyal. Maybe you promising your identity wasn't such a bad thing."

"But I don't know what will happen." Marinette whined, lifting her face up. "Something bad could happen and . . . it would be all my fault."

"The future's a blank page, Marinette." Tikki smiled, flying in front of her chosen's face. "We will never know for sure what exactly will happen, but we can still have hope. Hope for the best, but remember . . . life has a weird way of reaching a happy ending."

"Maybe you're right, Tikki." Marinette said, flipping over onto her back. "All I can do right now is hope for the best."

A/N

Next chapter will hopefully be uploaded tomorrow.

-Alice Pink