Marinette watched the shadow as it crept closer to the thin crack between the door.

"Kid, what are you doing?" Tikki sighed and mumbled something. "Your one true love is in there, without her mask on. Aren't you a little curious?"

"Don't tempt me Plagg. I want to know who she is, but betraying her trust in not the way to go about it." That voice tugged at Marinette's heart. It sounded familiar. She knew that their voices didn't change during the transformation. Maybe it was knowing that they were both in their civilian forms that made her remember that the voice belonged to someone else.

She heard Chat walking away, and Marinette crept closer to the door. She inched the door slowly, just in case he was still in the room. Her eyes widened at the view of a boy from behind.

He had rested his head against the window his eyes with slumped shoulders. On his shoulder was a little black cat.

Marinette slowly retreated back behind the door, not allowing the door to click by closing it. Her face a bright red.

"Cheer up kid. I'm sure everything will work out."

"Thanks Plagg."

"Do you have any Camembert?" Chat sighed. The footsteps traveled out of the room, and when Marinette knew he was gone, she came out of the closet.

She took a deep breathe and walked home, trying to calm her rapid heart beat.

She flung herself on her bed finally willing to accept the truth.

"Tikki, Adrien is Chat Noir." Marinette was numb. How could this be? How did Adrien find the time to be Chat Noir in his busy schedule? She pulled down his schedule and stared at it. Patrols usually happen after all of his lessons. She remembers Chat telling her that he had plans and that he wouldn't be able to make patrol a couple nights ago, which was when Adrien had a late night photoshoot.

"Adrien has been flirting with me all this time!" Marinette stared at the hand he usually kissed. "And he's the one to make those horrid puns! Which one is his true self? Oh, Tikki, how am I going to act like I didn't just find out one of his most treasured secrets?"

*

"Everyone loves me." Ladybug scoffed at Chloe's remark, causing Chat to look at his lady.

"Yeah, cause you're so adorable." She caught Chat's eyes before quickly returning her focus to the blonde in front of her.

"Let's go, Chat," Ladybug growled as she stuffed a piece of paper in one of her pockets.

"Isn't Evillustrator coming after Chloe? Shouldn't we stay here and protect Chloe?" Chat reluctant to leave his oldest friend, even if she didn't know it was him underneath the mask.

"Well," noticing Chat looking back at the door to Chloe's room, "if you like her that much, you can stay here." Venom was dripping off each word. "Bug out." Chat smiled as she swung away. Was his bugaboo... jealous? His smile widened before he returned to his post.

"Where did Ladybug go?" Chloe whined.

"She had somethings she had to do." Chloe hung her head before returning to one of her chairs. She glared at the project in front of her before growling about how Sabrina was selfish. Chat sighed as she complained about a headache not even five minutes into looking at the paper. He wished he was with Ladybug, flying through the air over the rooftops of their city.

"Chat Noir, are you any good with particle physics?"

"This cat has got it in the bag." He glared at the death grip on his arm.

"Good." The blonde shoves him in a chair. "Now be a good kitty, and make this project sound paw-sitivly purr-fect." She rang the bell around his neck, before flinging herself onto her lounge chair. "I just made a cat pun," she giggled. "I'm so funny."

"Hilarious," Chat deadpanned.

"I thought I was going to have to save you from that girl's claws. Get it claws." Chat chuckled at his own pun.

"Aren't you supposed to be off saving Chloe from an akuma's clutches with Ladybug?"

"Ladybug is busy." Chat shrugged, although he did wonder what her special mission was. "I need help with getting this akuma, so, if you're willing, you get to be my ladybug." He winked, causing the bluenette to become bright red.

"Me- you help? I me-mean-" she takes a deep breath in. "I get to help save Paris? Wow!" Chat stared at her smile. It was rubbing his fur the wrong way.

"Yep, just get his pen away from him and I'll do the rest."

His plan had failed. He groaned as his stick against the barrier around him and Marinette. His heart beat picked up and his breathe quickened. Whatcif he was trapped in here forever? A hand combing through his hair caused him to freeze. He watched Marinette guide his baton to the floor.

"Now extend it." Chat followed her lead, quickly pulling them out from under it. Marinette's luck caused them both to trip, with her landing on top of him. She scrambled off of him.

"You should go." Marinette shuffled her feet.

"Yeah, see you around Princess." He winked before quickly following Evillustrator, blaming his quickly beating heart on the near escape from the invisible cage.

*

Ladybug watched Dark Cupid fly further away.

"Falling for me already my lady?" She couldn't wipe the smile from her face as her partner helped her down. "I gotta talk to you."

"No time Chat. Maybe-" His eyes froze her on the spot. They were so close. Ladybug eyes traced his face, lingering a little longer than necessary on his eyes.

"I promised myself that I would tell you when I saw you." They leaned in closer, Ladybug's heartbeat drowned out all other sounds. She caught herself from looking at his lips. "Ladybug, I- Look out!" Chat danced around to the other side of the pole, sheltering Ladybug from the arrow.

"Chat!" Ladybug cried out. His arms circled tighter around her waist.

"I... loathe you." Ladybug broke free from his grasp, quickly wrapping him up in her yoyo.

"Too bad I know that's not what you were going to say." Ladybug jingled his bell, before retracting her weapon and dodging the arrows coming her way. She quickly hid in an alley. What could she do to get her kitty back?

Today's lesson came back to her mind. Love conquers all. She never imagined her first kiss with him to be like this. She sighs before going to warn Chloe.

After Chloe had finally run away, Ladybug faced Chat Noir. She dodged his baton at it flashed and slammed against her yoyo. She weaved through his swings, causing him to retreat back into a pole. She wrapped her yoyo around him before cupping his face in her hands. He growled and sneered in disgust.

"Mon chaton."

"I'm not your anything. You're nothing to me!" Holding back tears, Ladybug cautiously continued pulling their faces closer.

"Please return to me," She whispered. "A-" An arrow whizzed past, cutting bonds holding Chat back. Ladybug quickly sprang away, her heart beating at twice the speed. She growled at herself for almost revealing his secret.

"Give up Ladybug. You're outnumbered, just hand over your miraculous and we promise we won't hurt you," Chat growled.

"So sweet of you. You can try to deny it Kitty, but you still care if I'm okay." Ladybug winked before dashing behind a tree. "Lucky Charm." She smirked before acting. "I've got a gift for you." She winked at Chat before fast balling the heart-shaped sucker at Dark Cupid. Ladybug glanced at Chat's hand as it began to gather the power of destruction.

"I've always wondered what my power does to a person." He dashed forward, ready to meet Ladybug in the middle. His claws meet air and Ladybug tugs on his tail. Chat falls on top of Ladybug, and without any hesitation, Ladybug brought their lips together. His lips were so soft, and how could she expect something different for a model?

She releases the kiss, promising to herself to collect another from him later, before telling him what to do and tossing him into the fray.

*

"A-Adrien! What are you doing here?" Marinette flushed when she opened the door.

"Alya sent me. She said you needed someone who could speak chinese. Translator at your service-" Adrien caught the habitual 'my lady' before it could surface, but wasn't quick enough to stop the bow. He smiled, hoping his smile would mask his panic. Marinette giggled after looking at her phone.

"Well, come on in and meet my great uncle." Marinette smiled.

"I'm so sorry for bothering you. I really didn't think he spoke English."

"It's no problem. I was able to practice my Chinese with a master, so it really wasn't a complete waste." Adrien shrugged.

"Well thank you anyways." Marinette left a quick kiss on his cheek before turning around to see Chloe's outraged face.

"Adrikins! How could you let her do that," Chloe whined. Adrien blushed as his brain finally caught up with what happened.

"Oh, shut up Chloe. It's not like it's the end of the world all because I kissed his cheek." Marinette shrugged. Adrien was startled by how familiar that gesture was, but he couldn't put a face to it.

"I must say, you have some guts Marinette," Chloe sneered. "Don't you know who the judges for the competition are? With me in there, your great uncle has no chance of winning with his disgusting soup."

"Oops, I just angered on of the corrupt judges. It wasn't like you weren't going to be biased anyways. My uncle is a great chef, and he doesn't need to opinion of a spoiled little brat who doesn't have taste in great food." Chloe huffed before storming up the stairs.

"I think Cheng Sifu would have really liked that you defended him." Marinette smiled at Adrien.

"Do you really think so?" Adrien nodded. "I wasn't quite sure what he thought of me, after all he did rip up the flowers I gave him."

"Cheng Sifu is an artist that uses fateful things that come his way to improve his dishes. He told me that he was going to use flowers in his soup. I bet he was talking about the ones you gave him."

"Really? Wow, what an honor. Thanks for telling me, ki- Look at the time! We should go take our places upstairs." Adrien followed, with an odd sense of deja-vu.

"Come on Ladybug, it's just you and me. We could go places." Ladybug smirked back at Chat.

"Really?" She grabbed his bell and pulled him closer, causing him to blush. "You haven't even taken me to dinner yet." She winked before releasing. Chat froze, his heart beat loudly in his ears. When had she started flirting back?

The elevator jerked to a stop. Chat Noir didn't waste any time and started punching buttons.

"I think the electricity between us short-circuited the elevator." Ladybug chuckled before the doors slid open.

"Oh, hey Lila. How's it going?" Ladybug smirked as Lila looked at her starstruck. "Who's this handsome boy?" Ladybug winked at Adrien, knowing he would melt in a puddle of goo.

"Y-you don't know Adrien A-Agreste?" Ladybug loved how she stuttered. She leaned in closer to Adrien, causing a blush to dust his cheeks. His eyes flickered to her lips before locking eyes with her again.

"Oh, so this is the boy one of my friends talks so much about. Have you ever thought of wearing black?" Adrien was shocked, causing Ladybug to stifle a giggle. "Anyways we still on for shopping later on." Turning her attention back to Lila.

"I don't think I can. I have stuff to do later."

"Oh, that's too bad. And just a piece of advice," Ladybug continued in a whisper. "Don't lie to your crush Lila. It's not a good look for you." Lila gulped. "See you around." She blew a kiss towards Adrien, which causes his blush to darken before swinging off.

"I thought you were going to yell at her," Tikki stated before circling around the book.

"I thought playing along with her lies would've be more agreeable with her. We don't want to have an akuma on our hands while we deliver this book." Tikki giggled and gave her directions.

Screams alerted Marinette to the comet falling towards the Louvre. Marinette quickly hid in an alley way.

"Looks like our delivery will have to wait. Tikki spots on!" She quickly swung that way to find a fox-themed superhero. The crowds below started chattering.

"I am Volpina!" The hero shouted.

"Wow, she must be an amazing hero if she was able to do that by herself." Chat stared in amazement. His eyes flickered to his lady, probably remembering earlier.

"Don't be fooled. She could be anyone behind that mask," Ladybug pointed out.

"But-"

"She could be akumatized for all we know, and this could be an elaborate plot to-"

"Hey guys! Glad you could join me. I need your help." Volpina came up, ringing Chat's bell as she passed, and the beast in Ladybug's heart growled as Chat gave all his attention to the new hero. She was familiar. "Come on." Chat quickly followed, and Ladybug came to the realization of who she was. She quickly followed.

"Hey Volpina. Is this what you meant when you said you were busy later?" Ladybug pouted at the girl that was her 'friend'.

"Well, a heroes job is never done." She stopped and pointed at the figure in front of them.

"Hawkmoth?" Chat gasped. Ladybug rolled her eyes. If Lila were akumatized, what would be the cause? Was she jealous that Adrien liked Ladybug? Was that enough to get her akumatized?

"I guess this is important enough to brush me off."

"Of course it is. I just didn't want to worry my crush." Lila shrugged and smirked at Ladybug's 'believing' nature. Chat looked confused. "Nice to meet you Chat Noir, cool outfit."

"Why thank you. You too." Ladybug growled before studying the Hawkmoth in front of them.

Ladybug stared at the illusion being flung around mercilessly. She sneaked a look at her partner, holding back a sigh when his gaze also shifts to her, probably trying to see if she believed the illusions.

"You're bluffing!" Ladybug shouted. "Even if that weren't an illusion, I know that I would do everything in my power to catch him." She smirks as Lila's grasp loosened again. Chat's eyebrows jumped and his mouth was agape.

"I'm not kidding, I'll drop him."

"Go ahead. Just so you know, Adrien keeps updated on the Ladyblog. How do you think he would see your "love" as when you drop an illusion of him?"

"W-well..."

Ladybug flipped up beside her.

"Go ahead. Show us, no, the world how much you actually love him." Lila sneered before releasing the illusion. Ladybug snatched up her necklace and quickly smashed it to the ground.

"How did you know that it was an illusion?" Lila had stomped off, finally declaring the truth that she would never be friends with Ladybug.

"That's my little secret. Bug out." She winked and began swinging away.

*

Chat stared at the last flame on his candle lit rooftop. Was she really not coming?

A hand on his arm alerted him to her presence. He turned around, tears of joy in his eyes.

"Ladybug." They smiled at each other.

"I told you I might be a little late."

"What's wrong?"

"Oh... one of the guys I have a crush on didn't meet up with my friends and I to get ice cream." Chat's heart tightened. She has someone she likes?

"Oh, that's too bad." Silence spread over the rooftop.

"Anyways, how about we light up these candles again? I would love to see how pretty it is." Ladybug started lighting candles again. Following her lead, Chat tried his best not to let jealousy overcome him.

"Wow. It's beautiful," Ladybug sighed, hugging Chat Noir and resting her head in his shoulder. Chat stiffened, but relaxed, knowing that everything would work out for him sooner or later.

"Chat, I have something-"

"Marinette! Where are you?" A loud booming voice of another akuma bounded off of the rooftops.

"Hold that thought." Chat pressed a finger to her lips. "Let's go save Marinette."

They both peered around the corner at the newest akuma. A giant... ice cream monster.

"Marinette, party pooper! You were looking so sad and lonely, but Glaciator will make it all better. Don't you worry!" The akuma sang.

"That's Andre the ice cream maker," Ladybug stated. "Let's watch him a little while longer, before we decide how to attack."

"No, I'm not waiting. Marinette could be in real danger." Ladybug sighed before grabbing Chat's hand.

"She's safe. She knows how to handle herself in an akuma attack, remember Evillustrator?" Chat sighed, knowing she was right. They continued along the rooftops watching the akuma look over couples.

"I have an idea." Chat looked at his lady. "We could pretend we're a couple and-"

"No. It would be cruel to play with someone's feelings like that." Ladybug sighed before placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Adrien." Chat's body froze. "I love you, but we have other things to worry about right now." Ladybug quickly planted a kiss on his cheek. "Focus and we'll get through this, and later, we can talk more about this." Chat nodded, not trusting his voice.

Adrien groaned in frustration because their miraculous had left them with no way to talk after the battle. When he had returned to cleanup the candles, Ladybug had already done so, leaving a note saying she wasn't ready to reveal her identity yet, but she will soon. Soon. That word had brought hope to Adrien. Soon he would know the girl behind the mask, and he couldn't wait.

*

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Oh no! I forgot to pack my swimsuit." Tikki shook her head and pointed at Marinette's outfit. "I need to go change." She turned around only to crash into someone else.

"Sorry- Hey Marinette." Marinette looked up, only to stare at Adrien. "You live around here right? Can you let me hide at your place?" Without a word, she drug him around the corner of the building.

"Where did Adrien go?" A crowd moved past them, no one even checking to see if they were in the alley way.

"Yes, but I have a feeling you wanted to be somewhere. Come with me." She lead him upstairs into her house. "I'm supposed to meeting up with the girls in our class to go swimming, but I think they'll understand."

"In your pyjamas?"

"I was so excited, I forgot to change." Marinette felt a blush creep up on her cheek. "Anyways, let's get you a disguise." She quickly flipped through the many t-shirts she had designed for Chat Noir. "This shirt was for Chat Noire, but I think it'll fit you. Also here's a hat that should cover all of your hair." She quickly shoved him into her bathroom. "Now where did I put those sunglasses?" She began to rummage through her drawers.

"She's nice isn't she?"

"Plagg, do you want her to hear you?" Marinette chuckled at his attempts to quiet his kwamii.

"Found them!" She grabbed some Chat Noir themed sunglasses. After designing Jagged Stone's she had felt inspired to create some with green pawprints going along the frame. Adrien came out of her bathroom.

"I was right. It fits you well." She held back the chuckles because it was a nice form-fitting t-shirt that had the words 'Caution! Pun-slinging psycho walking through!'

"Here this should finish the look." She places the sunglasses on his face. "Purr-fect." She grabbed a small plain black bag. "You can use this to carry your clothes. Now your ready."

"Thanks Marinette. I'll make sure to give these back to you." She lead him to the door.

"No need. When am I ever going to be able to give it to Chat Noir without revealing his identity?"

"True." He laughed.

"Well, off you go. You should hurry to get where ever you're going. This is a good disguise, but it may prove ineffective against your body guard or some friends. See you around." Adrien waved. Marinette's rushed upstairs to get dressed.

She was on her way when she saw a giant blue gorilla running across the street. She quickly called Alya.

"There's an akuma. I'll try to be there as quickly as I can, but you know how I am."

"Don't sweat it girl just make sure you get here safely." The other girls around Alya echoed her. "See you!" Marinette quickly hid in an alleyway behind a garbage can.

"No time to loose. Don't want Alya and the others to have to wait longer than necessary." Tikki nodded, and Ladybug left to follow the creature.

"Ladybug!" Adrien called out when she finally reached the top of the building.

"Let go of Adrien!" She quickly rushed up his arm and tried to pry her partner from her grasp.

"It's no use. He's too strong." She quickly vaulted over the hand trying to grab her. "Lucky Charm!" She caught the toy plane, and quickly got it flying in the air. She got captured and quickly flew the toy into the akuma's gigantic eyes. She rapped her yoyo around his thumb, and was able to pry the hand open long. The boy looked down below him before sending a look at Ladybug.

"Trust me!" He smiled before jumping. She rushed to the side of the building only to be caught. "Chat!" Suddenly, she was released and she pushed off his hand, quickly wrapping her yoyo around Adrien's foot. She pulled him towards her before quickly wrapping it around another pole farther off.

"So, what's the plan?"

"We need to find that one fan of yours. His outfit looks similar to the one you left with. He should be able to help us while you help out with being Chat Noir."

"You only have five minutes left. We need to be able to keep him in place while we quickly find the akuma." They both thought of what to do while keeping an eye out for Gorzilla.

"The subway!" They both shout.

"If we use cataclysm on the road above it and had you underneath it, waiting to purify the akuma-"

"-then not only would we be able to search his pockets quickly, but he won't be able to pull himself up before we find the akuma." They smiled at one another. "Found our crazed fan!" Ladybug pointed to the poor boy.

"Let's do this."

"Thank you for stepping in for me. You must think I'm a coward."

"It was okay. I got to live a fan's greatest dream of being Adrien. Even if he was being chased by a big monster. Sorry for posting that pic earlier." Ladybug heard the sound of a marker running along a cardboard surface.

"If you lose the chasing me everywhere thing, I'm sure we can be great friends." Ladybug smiled as her kitty returned into the building. He sighed.

"That was a close one." He turned around surprised to see Ladybug behind him.

"I thought you were going to leave?"

"I thought it was time you knew. After all, you have been patient. Today would've been a more difficult if I hadn't known your identity." Ladybug scratched the back of her neck. Adrien watched as the last dot faded from her earrings and a pink glow surroubded his lady.

"Marinette?" Marinette smiled at her kitty. He returned her smile before pulling her into a tight hug. "I'm glad it was you." Marinette snuggled into his chest.

"Me too." They enjoyed eachother's warmth and drank in the truth of who the other was.

"Didn't you have somewhere you needed to be?"

"Crap! Alya's gonna be mad! Bye Kitty!" She rushed out the door.

"See you later My Lady."