"Psst, Marinette! Marinette, wake up!" came a voice in the darkness.

"Hmm?"

"Marinette!" the voice whispered again, sounding more desperate with each attempt to rouse her.

"Chat?" she blinked.

He was crouching at the end of her bed, his eyes glowing in the night. "Something's happened," his voice was low and urgent. It sent a chill up her spine.

She shot up, her eyes sprang open. "What, what is it?"

"Someone saw us earlier. They know our secret."

She felt fear rise within her, her body began to shake.

"It's worse than that. They took photographs and video footage of us. They're broadcasting it on every news network in France. Right now, not very many people know about it, since most of the country's asleep, but come morning, we're in serious trouble."

"Oh no, oh no, oh no...!" her mind was racing, she was trying to figure out a way out of this. But nothing could change the fact that there's clear footage of who she really is.

"My father's going to see it. He'll keep me locked in the house if I go back, and I won't be able to help you anymore, or go to school with you or Nino."

"How can we be superheroes when everyone knows our identity?" Marinette nervously grasped at the edge of her blanket. "We'll be putting those we care about in danger, which is exactly why I was always so adamant about our identities being kept secret!" she put her hands on her temples. "What should we do?"

"Run away?"

"Adrien," her tone clearly shooting down the idea. "Be serious, please."

"I'm 100 purrcent serious, Princess."

"Your pun tells me otherwise, Chaton. We'll figure this out... somehow. But you are right about one thing. Going home right now isn't an option for you right now. I can just imagine your father locking you in your house..." she shuddered at the thought. "You can stay here tonight. I - ohh no," she facepalmed, shaking her head.

"What is it?"

"My parents wake up super early. Usually they come get me hours after they're up, but if they get wind of the news, I don't know how they'll react. They'll either be super proud of me and act like everything's normal, or they'll be very upset with me for putting myself in danger constantly. If they react like the latter, you can bet they'll come wake me up, which means you can't be seen if that's the case."

"It's simple then, I won't get caught," he said cockily, she could practically see his eyebrows moving in the dark. She threw one of her pillows at him, causing him to make a soft "oomph" noise.

"Detransform and take the pillow and this blanket down and go sleep on the chaise."

"As you wish, m'lady." The dark room filled with green light momentarily, she could make Adrien out for a moment before the room went dark, even darker than it had seemed prior, given the sudden bright light.
She heard Adrien climb down her ladder.

About five minutes went by before Adrien spoke.

"Are you asleep?" she heard him whisper from below.

"No, I'm too freaked out to sleep," she whispered back.
Then she heard him climbing up her ladder.

"Move over," he instructed.

"What?"

He put his pillow next to hers, and nudged her over a bit so he could lay beside her.

"If we're going to figure out how to deal with this tomorrow, we need some rest. And the only way that's going to happen is if I'm with you."

He settled down on his pillow, lying on his side that faced her. He reached out, and took her hand in his. She felt reassurance that everything would be okay with him here with her. Marinette's racing mind began to slow, and she found it harder to keep her eyes open.
She moved her head slightly so it rested partly on Adrien's arm, before slipping into unconsciousness.

Her dreams were pleasant, seeming much too good to be truly real, but she didn't question them. Then a loud, blaring noise startled her awake.

"What's going on?!" she mumbled, launching herself up into a sitting position. While doing so, she felt someone was beside her.

"Adrien?"

"Sorry, that's just my alarm. I set it to wake us up before your parents wake up. Where are Plagg and Tikki?"

"We're over here," he heard Plagg's sleepy voice nearby. "What do you want?"

"We need to figure out what we're going to do about our secret identities being revealed to the public."

"And?" he asked, more alert and obviously more annoyed.

Adrien grumbled. "What do you think we should do?"

"Don't you know better than to ask me questions before I get my slice of morning Camembert?" he snapped.

"Plagg!" Tikki hissed. "This is really serious, can you not think about your stomach at a time like this?"

"I'm not thinking of my stomach, just Camembert."

"If you don't help us figure out what to do, Plagg, and we can no longer be the superheroes of Paris, Adrien won't be able to give you Camembert anymore," Marinette reminded him. It came out almost like a taunt. Like she was holding something he wanted over him. She was right though, no Adrien, no Camembert. Not to mention he would miss him, his drama and all...

"Okay, okay. I'll help," he sighed, admitting defeat.

"How did this even happen?" Tikki wondered.

"It was my fault," Marinette clenched her jaw. "I never should have detransformed on my balcony, it was a stupid thing for me to have done. And because of my lack of judgement, you had to get caught up in all of this. I'm so sorry, Adrien."

He rubbed her back gently. "It's okay, we'll get through this. But I can't say I regret knowing that Ladybug is you." Adrien took her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers.

"Someone seemed to be at the right place at the right time to have seen it. And whoever it was sure made sure to give it to the news in a hurry."

"And somehow, I don't believe that the typical citizen would sell us out," added Adrien, his thumb absentmindedly stroking Marinette's hand.

The four fell silent, each caught up in their thoughts when they heard noises coming from downstairs.

"My parents are coming!" she would've screamed it if she didn't want to give everything away.

"Plagg, claws out!" he scrambled to get onto his feet,

"Wait on the balcony for me, okay?"

"Okay, good luck!" the trap door above her shut quietly after him.

The trap door leading out of her room and into the rest of her home however, jiggled before it sprung open.

"Marinette?" she heard her mom's voice call.