A/N: Sorry this took longer than expected to finish. I think that reveal was a little too shocking for our poor heroes. Pretty sure I broke them. Either way, I finally convinced them to come back out for the end. Hope you enjoy!

They Didn't Know

They didn't know how long they had stood there staring at each other after the glow of their transformations faded. For all they knew, time stopped. Ladybug stood where Marinette had once been, her blue eyes wide and jaw ajar. Cat Noir held the ground Adrien had been on only moments before, his leather cat ears at attention and belt tail impossibly straight up behind him. Finally, one of them blinked, and their trance broke.

"You?!" they cried simultaneously, each pointing at the other.

A moment of silence followed as they looked each other up and down, as if only just seeing each other for the first time. Each of them imagined their partner without their mask. They desperately attempted to picture the mannerisms of the superhero coming from the unmasked counterpart, but the concept felt foreign to each of them, considering all they knew about the other.

A thought bubbled to the surface of both their minds at the same time, and they shouted in unison once again, "I thought you knew!"

Green and blue eyes blinked at each other. After another long pause, Cat Noir burst out into laughter. Everything from the past week clicked into place with crystalline clarity. Marinette was Ladybug. She didn't know his identity. She'd been afraid he'd discovered her identity!

"Well, I guess the cat's really out of the bag, now!" he choked out between laughs. "And the bug, too!" After all the effort they had made to guard their identities from one another, all it had taken was a simple assumption to trigger a cascade of misunderstandings and miscommunications that led to this moment. And the entire situation was just too ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous! Chloé's catchphrase popped into his mind, and Cat Noir doubled over, clutching his sides as the laughter rolled from him even harder.

Ladybug stared at him blankly. Her mind replayed an endless loop of perfect Adrien Agreste disappearing in a flash of light, leaving the flirtatious and pun-filled Cat Noir behind. She rubbed her eyes with the backs of her gloved hands and blinked owlishly at him.

"Nope," she finally said when Cat Noir's laughter subsided to small chuckles. She put her palms over her temples and shook her head from side to side. "Nope. Nope. I'm dreaming. I must be dreaming."

"So, you're saying I'm the boy of your dreams?" Cat Noir flashed her a giddy, lopsided grin.

Ladybug ignored him. "Tikki will wake me up any minute, and I'll have to rush to school. I'm probably already late." Her gaze landed on Cat Noir. Her expression brightened, and she held an index finger aloft as an idea occurred. "I know! My brain couldn't handle the fact that my identity was found out twice last week, so I dreamed they were both the same person! Thanks brain. You can wake me up, now." She shut her eyes and slapped her face briskly with both hands. "Ok, time to get up, Marinette." Slowly, she cracked one eye.

Cat Noir's grin widened. "Still here." He closed the distance between them and took her hands in his. Her eyes snapped open, and she gaped at him. "I don't mind you dreaming about me, though. As Adrien or Cat Noir."

He winked. That familiar wink Marinette had seen on Cat Noir's face on her balcony on Friday. That very same wink Adrien had given her that very morning. The wink that sent her off into happy daydreams through their first class. That wink solidified what her eyes had witnessed, forcing her to finally see the two most important boys in her life in truth as one and the same person.

"It-it's not a dream?" She glanced down at her hands, still in his. Adrien's hands were within those clawed gloves. How many times had she held these hands? The thought heated her cheeks, and her fingers reflexively tightened around his.

"If it is, it's my dream and pawsitively purrfect." His lips curled up in a peculiar smile. It was a cross between Adrien's sweet, gentle smile and Cat Noir's catty grin, and it took Ladybug's breath away. She silently hoped he couldn't hear the way her heart stuttered and practically leapt from her chest to him.

"A-A-Ad-" Her attempt to call him by name was cut off by a muffled scream from someone outside the classroom door. Had they forgotten something? Oh right. "Akuma!" Ladybug jumped back, yanking her hands from his grasp. As she whirled toward the outer windows, she thought she caught a pout pucker his lips. It could have been her imagination, but the hope that it wasn't spurred her heart into a flutter.

Ladybug threw one of the windows open and pulled her yo-yo from her hip. As she raised her arm to throw it, a clawed hand on her shoulder stilled her. She turned to see a smug smirk on Cat Noir's face.

"Milady, the akuma's that way." He jerked a thumb back over his shoulder toward the classroom door.

"Silly Kitty. We need to get to the roof for a better vantage point," she quipped back naturally, turning back to the window. The remembrance of the akuma and Cat Noir's cocky expression brought her Ladybug confidence within reach, and she clung to it as best she could.

"Good thinking!"

His praise was nothing new. The recognition of his voice as Adrien's, on the other hand, sent her heart into a frantic pace. So much for her Ladybug confidence.

Not risking another backward glance, Ladybug threw her yo-yo from the window. It found a purchase on an adjacent rooftop, and she tugged. The yo-yo retracted, and she slingshotted herself out the window and back to the roof of the school. With another tug, her yo-yo returned to her palm.

The soft clunk of Cat Noir's metal baton sounded from the street below. She ignored it and pressed herself low to the rooftop. She knew he'd follow. He was her partner, her other half in their heroic ventures. And her crush. She swallowed hard and pressed the black dot at the center of her yo-yo. It slid open, revealing the phone within. Ladybug held her bug phone in front of her and angled the camera over the edge.

Cat Noir landed with a quiet thud and padded silently toward his partner. He flattened himself to the roof beside her. From her phone's screen, he watched the akumatized victim stroll into the courtyard, a malicious grin accentuated by two sharp fangs and the snake "hair" hissing from where they hung above her shoulders.

"The akuma must be in her brooch." Ladybug zoomed the image in on a round golden brooch fastened to the black toga at the villain's shoulder. "But how will we get to it," she pondered aloud as she zoomed the picture back out and continued to scan the statue littered courtyard.

Cat Noir's eyes shifted from the screen to take in the lovely young woman beside him. His partner. His friend. The girl who held his entire heart in her hands, gloved or not. The realization struck him through the heart, and a lovesick expression softened his features. He loved her. Both as Ladybug and Marinette. He already knew he'd love her without the mask, but it never really occurred to him how much he wanted it to be her until that moment.

It was just a shame she didn't feel the same way.

His next thought hit him with enough force, he struggled not to roll back from the mental impact. She thought he knew. Adrien. She thought Adrien knew. And she had said the person who knew...

"So, Milady, question." His voice sounded hoarse to his own ears.

"Hm?" She didn't even look back at him, completely absorbed by the image of the akuma in her bug phone.

"So, you said the person who knew was the boy you were in love with." To his satisfaction, Ladybug froze, so he persisted. "Does that mean what I think it means?"

Ladybug groaned quietly. "Cat, are we really talking about this now?"

"I knew it!" A wide grin split his face, and he leaned close enough to whisper into her ear. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist me without my mask."

He watched in fascination as her neck and face turned the same color as her suit. His heart swelled at the confirmation, and he choked back a gleeful chuckle as her mouth opened and closed several times. She kept her eyes on her screen and furrowed her brow, clearly trying to compose herself.

"So, you've been turning me down... for me?" His train of thought sped off as everything started to make more and more sense. Her stuttering, the little awkward grins, the ever-present blush that dusted her cheeks whenever Adrien saw her. It was because she liked him. Loved him! He had that effect on this amazing, talented, and confident girl! His grin spread from ear to ear. A moment later, it disappeared completely. "Wait, what about Luka?"

Ladybug tore her gaze from her phone to meet his, her blush now contained to just along the bottom edge of her mask. "What about Luka?"

"I thought, you know, you and him..." he trailed off, not really sure if he wanted to know anymore. His heart tightened in apprehension.

"What? No!" She waved her hands in front of her in emphasis. "He's just a friend!"

The tight grip within his chest released, and he let out the breath he'd apparently been holding.

"What about Kagami?" Ladybug's voice was hesitant, and she gazed up at him from under her lashes, her brow knit with worry.

"What about Kaga-" As the words left his mouth, a memory flashed before his eyes. Sitting on a bench in the courtyard below as Adrien, talking to Marinette about how he'd begun to notice Kagami. Asking Marinette, his lady love, to go with him on a double date with another girl. So he could get over her because she kept rejecting him for... well, him. Oh boy. "-mi," he finished the word dumbly.

The masked boy jumped back onto his knees and waved his hands frantically. "I can explain! She's a friend! I was trying to get over you, and- mmf."

Ladybug's hand clamped over his mouth with a hissed, "Shhh!" She had to bolt up onto her knees to reach him. Sitting back on her heels, she carefully checked the akuma's position again in her bug phone. Cat Noir's leather ears flattened to his head, and he tried to hunker down closer to the roof.

After a moment, Ladybug let out a small sigh. "She didn't notice us. We need to get down to the first floor and-" She turned her head to him and saw her hand still over his mouth. "Sorry!" Her hand pulled away from him fast, as though his skin had burned her.

His hand caught hers from the air, and he held it close as he met her wide eyed gaze. "No, I'm sorry. Kagami is a friend. Nothing more." His voice held a pleading tone. She had to know she was the only one for him.

"L-later, Cat." Her eyes darted back to the screen of her phone then back to him. "The a-akuma..."

"Right." He dropped her hand and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "So, uh, first floor?"

Finding an open window on the first floor, the superhero duo slipped through it and into the locker room. Ladybug rushed toward the door and propped it open a crack. She positioned her phone's camera into the opening until she caught sight of the villain on the screen. Medusssa was preoccupied by something on the far end of the courtyard. Stone statues surrounded her, and Ladybug hesitated. She didn't want to know what would happen to the people if one of the statues were to be damaged. Her Miraculous Ladybug should fix things, but she wasn't sure she wanted to take the risk.

"Just did a sweep. There's no one in here." Cat Noir's voice came from directly behind her, and it took all she had not to jump at his nearness.

"G-good." She cleared her throat quietly and eyed the room. "We need to lure her in here. It will be too hard to fight her around all those statues. Plus there's better cover in here. It should be easier to avoid her gaze." She gestured to the way the room was divided by walls of lockers. If worse came to worst, they could even throw a locker door or two open.

"Yeah, as statuesque as I am, we already have a statue together, and I don't see any need for another one." He placed a gloved hand on her shoulder and eyed the screen of her phone critically. "So, any ideas?"

The warmth from his hand seeped through her costume, and her heart stuttered. All the little touches and the timbre of his voice should have been second nature to her by now, but there was a problem. They knew! And that tiny detail amplified every word and action in her mind. It was Adrien touching her shoulder. Her! Not Ladybug! Marinette! And he was still flirting with her even though it was just her under the mask. He didn't even seem upset when he found out she was in love with him. In fact, he seemed happy about it! But she did have a very active imagination, so maybe it was just that. She hoped not.

Focus, Marinette! she chided herself mentally. They needed to deal with the akuma and fast. Hopefully before Marinette hit complete meltdown. She reached for her Ladybug confidence and clung to it like a lifeline.

"Hm, maybe, with a little luck." She licked her lips, hoping her pause had seemed thoughtful and not too over long, and threw her yo-yo above her head. "Lucky Charm!"

A roll of something red with black spots materialized where her yo-yo had been and dropped into her open hands. Ladybug plucked an end of the material and pulled it off the roll. "Duct tape?"

"I thought we were trying to get out of a sticky situation, not into another one," Cat Noir remarked as he tapped his cheek with one clawed finger.

Ladybug bit back a giggle. Why were all his comments so much funnier now that she knew it was Adrien beneath the mask? Her eyes scanned the room, and she let her Ladybug senses flood her vision. Her lips curled into a knowing grin as the use of her lucky charm revealed itself to her.

"Silly Kitty, everything can be fixed with a little duct tape. Even akumas!" She barely resisted the urge to flick the bell at his throat, opting instead to put her plan into motion. "Can you grab that?" She pointed to something in a rack on the other side of the room and ran over to one of the open lockers, not even waiting for his response. A small rectangular mirror hung on the inside of the door, and she snatched it up quickly. Not wasting any time, she rushed back to the wall beside the door and began fiddling with the duct tape.

Cat Noir appeared by her side and held the object she requested out to her. An umbrella. Of course. It was closed and pointed at the ground, but the motion still reminded her of that other fateful day she had needed an umbrella. The very day she fell in love with Adrien. With him.

Hesitantly, Ladybug reached for the handle, but as she brushed Cat Noir's hand, her fingers flinched and curled back toward her hand. She glanced up at him with wide eyes, and his gaze met hers. His lips parted in surprise, and she wondered if he was remembering the same moment that had been so life changing for her. She nearly lost herself, gazing into his emerald cat eyes, but the weight of her lucky charm in her other hand kept her grounded. She tried again and wrapped her fingers around the umbrella as Cat Noir let go. It was the very same motion from that day, and she silently hoped he had felt the same connection in that moment.

"R-right." Ladybug juggled the mirror and duct tape in the crook of her arm as she struggled to open the umbrella. Her nerves didn't make the motion easy, but after a moment, the umbrella popped open with a snap. As she fumbled with the rest of her creation, she chanced another glance at her partner. "Can you distract her?"

"Distraction's my middle name, didn't you know?" He flashed her a toothy grin and leaned one shoulder against the wall beside her.

Her eyes rolled of their own volition. Without the mask, he might be Adrien, but with the mask, he was still her same catty partner. The realization calmed her inner turmoil, at least for the moment. "And here I thought it was destruction."

"Hey, destruction is a form of distraction," he countered.

Ladybug turned and pointed at the wall she'd been leaning against. "Aim your distraction right here, on the other side, if you'd be so kind."

He swept down into an exaggerated bow, immediately picking up on what she wanted as he always did. "One destructive distraction, coming right up, Milady." Cat Noir grinned up at her and, in one fluid motion, straightened from his bow and turned on his heel. His baton appeared in his hand, and it slid open to reveal his cat phone.

"Wait." Ladybug grabbed his arm, imploring him with her eyes. "Please, be careful. If you look at her-"

"Don't worry, Milady." He gingerly removed her hand from his arm and held it gently in his own. His lips brushed lightly over her knuckles. When his emerald eyes met hers again, their depths sparkled with adoration. "You know I only have eyes for you." He winked, and with that, he was gone.

A blush crept up Ladybug's neck and engulfed her face in heat. She had always thought Cat Noir was just a big flirt, but Adrien wasn't like that at all. Could it be possible that he only flirted like that with her? She shook the thought away and fixed her concentration on the items in her hand. That was a thought for another time, preferably a time when Tikki was available to help her keep her sanity.

She fixed the mirror to the inside of the umbrella with a few strips of the duct tape. Angling her bug phone carefully, she secured it to the end of the handle. She held it up to test it, keeping the mirror in front of her and watching the reflection of her phone screen within. A satisfied smile lit her face. Perfect. Now to wait for Cat Noir to do his stuff. And hopefully, she wouldn't overthink too much until then.

With his eyes trained on the phone in his baton, Cat Noir padded cautiously into the courtyard. Medusssa faced away from him, about to step into a classroom on the far side. He positioned himself in front of the wall Ladybug pointed out to him and turned to face it.

Angling his phone's camera over his shoulder, he called out, "Hey there, Scaly. I'd say nice to see you, but gray's not really my color."

He watched the creature whirl around on the screen. She didn't look happy to see him either. A grin flew to his lips.

"You think you're so funny, don't you?" Her lips curled back, and she bared her fangs at him. The snakes hanging from her head snapped the air in his direction.

He placed his free hand on his hip and cocked his head to one side. "I think you mean hissterical."

Any other time, her responding hiss would have sent him into a fit of laughter, but she shifted immediately with the sound, charging directly for him. He crouched and waited until she was a few steps behind him.

"Cataclysm!" At the command, dark energy swirled around his ring hand. He slapped his palm to the wall and rolled to the side as decay spread from where his hand had been.

The wall turned black, and as it began to crack, something from the other side pushed it outward. The top of the umbrella broke through easily, crumbling the blackened wall in an instant. His spotted lady held the umbrella up, the canopy in front of her, covering her face.

With his screen still in front of his own face, Cat Noir crouched and watched in rapt captivation as the girl he knew as his shy, awkward classmate charged at the akuma victim. Sure, he had seen Ladybug do the same plenty of times, but somehow, knowing it was Marinette behind that mask made the display even more awe-inspiring. This amazing girl, who challenged Hawk Moth so bravely when they first faced him, swung from building to building like it was nothing, and defended the people of Paris alongside him from the super villains created by Hawk Moth with all their crazy powers, was the very same girl who soothed troubled classmates, created amazing designs that even his father noticed, and somehow managed to close his umbrella down over her head back when they first became friends, warming his heart and drawing a much needed laugh from him. If he weren't already in love with her, he was sure he would have fallen again right then and there.

He tried to focus on the fight unfolding before him and, for a moment, wondered how she would be able to see anything around the umbrella, until the familiar spotted yo-yo caught his eye from where it was fastened to the end of the handle. He remembered the mirror, and a grin played along his lips. A different take on the mirrored shield from the original Medusa myth, but it clearly proved effective.

Ladybug's gloved hand reached around the edge of the umbrella and groped at Medusssa's brooch. Her fingers closed over it on the first try, and she yanked. As the brooch came free, the villain fell onto her backside, crying out in anguish at the object's loss. Without a moment's hesitation, Ladybug slammed the golden disc to the ground and stomped hard. A crack split the face, and a small, dark butterfly pulled itself free from the broken edges.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" With the umbrella still serving as her shield, Ladybug hefted the roll of duct tape in her free hand and threw it overhead. The spotted item disappeared in an explosion of magical ladybugs, and the little insects swept across the school, returning everything to its rightful order. All around them, gray stone bloomed with vibrant colors, and students took the place of the statues, many jolting as their halted movements caught up to them. Dark purple magic engulfed Medusssa and quickly dissipated, leaving behind a fragile-looking girl with mousy brown hair and thick glasses atop her freckled nose. Cat Noir recognized her as a student from the next class over.

The miraculous ladybugs swirled around Ladybug's umbrella contraption, and the creation vanished, her yo-yo appearing in her open palm. A smile lit her face, and she slid her fingertip along the surface, opening the compartment within. With practiced ease, her yo-yo snatched up the akuma. Opening the compartment again, she bid a quiet farewell to the snow white butterfly that fluttered lazily away.

Cat Noir stood and flipped his baton back into the clip at the small of his back with a little more flair than was entirely necessary. Giddiness bubbled up within him again as he held his fist out toward his lady. She grinned at him and put her fist to his, a faint blush spilling out from under the edge of her mask.

"Pound it!" they cried out in unison.

"Ugh, where- what happened?" The girl on the ground looked around, bewildered.

Cat Noir padded toward her. A small brass medallion lay on the ground in front of her. He scooped it up and turned it over in one clawed hand. There was a hook attached to one side, a flattened loop on the opposite side, and etched into the face, an image of Medusa stared back at him.

"I think this is yours," he said gently, holding it out to her.

"Oh!" The girl jumped up and clutched the medallion to her chest. "Thank you."

"Cool sword belt buckle." He recognized the design from one of his history books. "Military?"

The girl's eyes lit up. "Yes! My great great grandfather's from the first World War!" Confusion twisted her face as everything began to catch up with her. "I was giving a presentation in class about it, and no one was listening. I got so upset, then... I don't remember anything after that."

"Don't worry about it. Everything's ok now." His ring beeped, and he heard an echoing beep from his partner's Miraculous. "Gotta split!"

As he turned back toward Ladybug, he caught a nervous gleam in her gaze. It was one he'd seen several times before - on Marinette. It reminded him of a deer staring into a pair of headlights, trying to decide between staying and accepting its fate and fleeing for all it was worth, and he knew Marinette's typical response. Every single time that gleam sparked her eyes, the girl took off, leaving him to wonder what he'd done wrong to frighten her away so quickly.

Not this time, he decided.

Closing the distance between them in a single step, Cat Noir caught her hand in his. "Please, we need to talk."

Ladybug's eyes darted away from his face and scanned the courtyard, devoid of statues and now full of sentient people. She licked her lips hesitantly, and her eyes flicked up to his. "I only have two minutes before I change back."

Cat Noir blinked at her. "So?" They already knew. Did it really matter?

Ladybug's eyes widened, and she threw another glance at the growing crowd around them. She raised her eyebrows and jerked her head imperceptibly toward the onlookers, and Cat Noir's masked brow shot up, her silent message ringing loud and clear within his mind. Right. They might know, but no one else could know that they knew.

"I mean, it will just take a minute," he recovered, less than smoothly.

Indecision wavered on her face, and before she could refuse him and run away, he pulled her close. His arm wrapped around her waist, and her close proximity set his cheeks aflame. A thrill ran through him, seeing an echoing blush dust his lady's cheeks, and he spun his baton in his fingers before extending it at the ground. In his over enthusiasm, he vaulted the two of them clear over the roof.

A few moments later, Cat Noir and Ladybug's feet touched down on the cool linoleum in the empty classroom they'd started in. Reluctantly, he released his arm from her waist, and she pulled away to give him some space. His hand grabbed hers before she could get too far, and she turned to face him.

"Claws in." Cat Noir held her gaze as the light of his transformation washed over him, and Adrien appeared before her. His eyes shimmered in admiration, giving Ladybug the courage to drop her transformation as well.

"Spots off." As the soft pink light enveloped her, the magic suit disappeared, and Marinette became acutely aware of how warm the skin of his bare hand felt within hers. Her entire face heated, until she was certain she had attained a new shade of red.

A cackle erupted from behind Adrien, and Marinette tore her eyes from the boy to see the little black cat kwami floating upside down in the air, holding his sides with tiny paws. As Adrien took a halfhearted swipe at the creature with his free hand, a light tinkling giggle joined the sound. Marinette glanced up to see Tikki with her paws over her mouth, looking quite amused.

"I told you!" Plagg gasped out. "I told you she didn't know!" He devolved into another bout of laughter.

"That was quite the misunderstanding!" Tikki chimed in, though she had thankfully gotten the giggles out of her system.

The teens both blushed, the embarrassment finally catching up to them. Not surprisingly, Adrien was the first to recover.

"At least it was just with each other." A bright smile plastered itself on his face, and his eyes found Marinette's. "I was already happy when I thought Marinette and Ladybug knew. After all, they are the most important ladies in my life. And seeing as they are both my lady, it turns out I have much better luck than I thought. Must be my Marinette lucky charm." Without missing a beat, Adrien pulled the charm from his pocket and held it up for the shocked girl to see. The corners of his mouth quirked up, transforming his bright smile into something more befitting Cat Noir, and he winked.

Before Marinette could form a coherent thought in response, Plagg made a quiet retching sound. "Ugh, I need cheese if you're going to be this mushy." The being zipped closer to Marinette and eyed her cautiously. "Please tell me your not as sappy as this one." He jerked his paw back to indicate the now blushing Adrien.

"Plagg!" the boy groaned in exasperation.

"Oh, she's just as romantic!" Tikki answered excitedly for her. "You should see how many hearts and pictures she has all over her room of your boy." A giggle bubbled up from the ancient red being.

"Tikki!" Marinette hissed quietly, her eyes wide in horror.

The bug kwami smiled sweetly at her holder before flitting to the purse at the girl's side. She popped the snap and disappeared within. Her head popped back up a moment later.

"Plagg!" Tikki called to her counterpart. "Let's catch up. I'll even share one of my cookies!"

"Yuck, none of that sweet stuff for me, Sugarcube." Plagg zipped into Adrien's shirt and darted out just as quickly, diving into Marinette's purse with a small wedge of cheese in tow.

"Ugh, Plagg! Don't bring that in here! It's going to stink up my space! At least eat it first!" Tikki's squeaks of protest fell on deaf ears. She huffed a defeated sigh, shooting a quick, encouraging (if strained) smile to Marinette and ducked back into the bag.

Adrien let out a little chuckle, and Marinette's nervous giggle joined in. She still half expected to wake up in her bed and find the entire thing to be a dream. If this were just a dream, though, she wanted to at least try to convey her feelings before she woke. Her fingers tightened around Adrien's, desperately trying to muster her courage through the contact.

"Me, too!" she blurted. The color drained from her face, and she held her free hand up between them in a defensive gesture. "I mean, you and Cat Noir." Adrien's brow knit together as he attempted to interpret her words. Marinette took a deep breath and lowered her free hand to her side in a tight fist. The words came out in a rush on her exhale. "I'm lucky, too, that my partner is also the boy I love!"

Another quiet chuckle met her ears, and the boy's hand squeezed hers lightly. "So, you wouldn't give Cat Noir a chance because you were already in love with me?" Amusement laced his words.

The girl nodded woodenly.

"And the things you said on the rooftop the other day...?" Adrien held his breath, waiting for her response.

Marinette nodded again, a blush creeping up her neck. She opened her mouth and forced the words that stuck in her throat out. "It wasn't till later that I realized everything I said could be applied to my Kitty, too."

"Your Kitty?" The grin flew to Adrien's face immediately, and the boy took a deliberate step closer to her.

The girl's eyes grew wide. "D-did I say my kitty? I meant-"

"Your Kitty," he confirmed, snatching up her free hand and lacing his fingers between hers.

The gesture melted Marinette on the spot. Her heart fluttered, and her fingers mimicked his, lacing through his other hand as well. She took a small step toward him, unconsciously closing the gap between them.

"Silly Kitty," she murmured, unable to keep the admiration from her tone. A gentle smile stretched over her lips, and her blue eyes danced in wonder as they met his own affectionate emerald gaze.

Adrien's face dipped toward hers, and his smile faltered. Hesitation fluttered across his features. "With your permission, Milady?"

Marinette blinked in confusion. His eyes darted to her lips and back, and her smile grew shy. She nodded once and drew herself up onto her tiptoes as he met her halfway. His lips pressed against hers gently, and Marinette felt her knees go weak.

A faint squeal sounded from nearby, and the two froze, still lip locked. They jumped apart like a pair of startled birds and turned their heads toward the classroom's door. A face peered through the window just beside the door with an expression of shock and delight framed by its owner's auburn tresses. Nino's face popped into view beside Alya's, a grin washing over him as he took in the two startled teens.

Adrien and Marinette exchanged a glance and blushed at one another. His hand found hers, and they walked toward the door to let their friends into the room. Once the door opened, Alya's squeal continued as her eyes zeroed in on their joined hands.

"Dude, about time!" Nino beamed at them, winking at a red-faced Adrien.

"Ok, spill, you two! How did this happen?!" Alya demanded the moment she recovered.

"Uh, well." Adrien rubbed the back of his neck lightly and peered nervously over at Marinette.

"Oh, um," the girl started, the gears moving quickly as she struggled to come up with a believable story for their new relationship without revealing their secret. Glancing from Alya to Nino, an idea planted itself in her mind. "Ladybug found us in the hall and locked us in here together." She let out a little giggle, and the boy beside her snorted quietly.

Nino accepted the explanation immediately, bobbing his head in understanding. "Just like she did for me and Alya when Animan was on the loose."

"Doesn't the door lock from the inside?" Alya frowned, her hazel eyes narrowing on her dark haired best friend. Marinette squirmed under her scrutiny.

"It does!" Adrien said, thinking quickly. "She sent us in here and told us to lock it behind us, said to wait here until the akuma was taken care of."

Alya turned her suspicious gaze on Adrien. After a long moment, the corners of her lips twitched, and a wide smile stretched over her face. "Aaand? C'mon, I need the deets!"

Marinette let out a quiet breath and glanced over at Adrien. His eyes met hers, mirth dancing within their green depths. The girl's eyes widened at him, and she squeezed his fingers lightly, wary of what he was about to say.

"After Ladybug left, you could say I had a bit of a miraculous revelation and realized Marinette is actually the lady of my dreams."

Marinette barely suppressed her groan and shot her partner a warning look. He grinned back, unapologetically, and her heart stuttered. She was in trouble, and now that he knew, she doubted he would ever let up.

"Oh! You know who else had a moment today?" Alya didn't even pause to let them guess and continued to ramble excitedly, earning a quiet chuckle from her boyfriend. "Ladybug and Cat Noir! He grabbed her and whisked her away. I bet he took her somewhere to confess his love for her." She sighed wistfully.

"Something like that," Adrien muttered quietly for his lady's benefit.

Marinette smiled back, a light blush dusting her cheeks, and squeezed her kitty's hand.

A/N: Thank you again for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! I can't tell you how much they mean to me! Thanks for reading!

Outtake:

(Included at my proofreader's request because this is how it would really happen.)

As the light of their transformation fades, Cat Noir and Ladybug stare at each other in confusion.

"Hi, Ladybug!" Cat Noir greets cheerfully. "Say, have you seen a friend of mine? Marinette. I thought she was here just a second ago."

"Oh, hi there, Kitty." Ladybug smiles nervously. "Uh, I think I saw her run away a minute ago. Have you seen Adrien anywhere? He was just here."

"Nope! He must have taken off, too. Weird, right?"

The two heroes share an awkward laugh and proceed to face the akuma, none the wiser.