Marinette couldn't believe her awful luck. It was a far cry from only an hour earlier, when she had been (quietly) celebrating her luck in getting Adrien assigned as her partner for the entirety of their Chemistry unit. She had been excited about the prospect of getting to work with him one-on-one for once, especially since she could actually hold a conversation with him now.

Or rather, she had been able to hold a conversation with him. Now that she had been a complete and utter klutz and had accidentally spilled hydrochloric acid all over the front of his shirt, it was doubtful that he would ever want to speak to her again.

They had just been cleaning up. Cleaning up wasn't supposed to be dangerous. Of course, this was her that they were talking about. As Alya had once jokingly said, Marinette could make anything dangerous, especially when she was either around Adrien or in a hurry. And she had been hurriedly cleaning up their supplies at the end of the class around Adrien.

Even with her improved speaking-around-Adrien skills, that was a recipe for disaster.

"Mr. Agreste, under the emergency shower, now!" Madam Mendeleiev snapped and Adrien's head snapped up in surprise, startled out of his spill-induced daze. Marinette took advantage of his distraction and shoved him towards the previously unused shower in the corner of the room, kicking a box of equipment out of the way as she reached the emergency shower. As soon as he was under it, she yanked the chain and water started gushing out. Adrien let out a yelp of shock as he was promptly doused.

"The shirt has to come off!" Madam Mendeleiev reminded them as she cleaned up the rest of the spill at their station. The remainder of the class was staring at them even as they packed up their bags, ready for the lunch bell to ring. "And the rest of you, class is dismissed early. Out out out! And yes, that means you too, Miss Bourgeois," she added over Chloe's protests, abandoning her cleanup for a moment to shoo the blonde girl out of the door. "Adrien already has Miss Dupain-Cheng to assist him. He does not need you crowding around him."

Adrien's head had turned and his cheeks had turned pink at the order to remove his shirt, but he made no move to pull off the offending piece of clothing, apparently still reeling from the shock of having a chemical spilled on him. Panicking a little (if the acid damaged his skin and Mr. Agreste found out that she was the one who had spilled on him, she would be dead), Marinette yanked Adrien out of the shower and started trying to wrestle the shirt off of him. The sodden material stuck to his skin, making it hard to pull off, and without Adrien's participation, she really couldn't get the shirt off of his arms and over his head. Thankfully, Adrien's motor senses finally seemed to come back online after a few seconds of tugging and he took over, peeling the shirt off and over his head before tossing it to the side. Marinette couldn't help but notice that his chest and stomach were looking a little pink where the tainted fabric had touched his skin and-

She shouldn't be staring. Even if she hadn't been the one to spill on him, Adrien was a private sort of person. He would probably be embarrassed enough already about having to strip off his shirt in school without people staring at the skin he exposed.

Marinette hastily rearranged her face into something suitably concerned before anyone saw her staring. Of course, there weren't many people left behind anymore to see- Chloe had finally decided that the whole room was too messy for her to risk hanging around any longer, and most of the rest of the class had taken off as soon as Madam Mendeleiev had dismissed them. Alya had hung around for a moment longer, as had Nino, but a glare from their teacher had sent them scampering through the door, glancing backwards over their shoulders until the door clicked shut behind them.

"It looks like the acid probably dripped on your pants as well." Madam Mendeleiev came over to stand next to Marinette, frowning at the sodden boy in the shower. The pool of water had risen and was starting to dampen the toes of her shoes. "You should take those off, too. I'll go to the office to get something for you to wear until you can get home and change, and then I'll let the janitors know so they can come clean up. Miss Dupain-Cheng, you'll stay here to help if needed?"

Marinette nodded, her ears burning as the teacher left and Adrien, his cheeks flaming ever brighter, started struggling out of his jeans, nearly taking his boxers with them. His sopping hair was plastered to his scalp but somehow he still looked unfairly good.

If she was standing under the emergency shower, she'd probably look like a drowned rat.

Adrien looked up for a moment and caught her gaze. He turned impossibly redder, and Marinette looked away in a hurry. Her eyes locked on the spreading puddle and- oh, god, it was about to reach their bags!

She let out a squeak and splashed as fast as she could over to their bags, still sitting on the floor. Snatching them up, she set both of them on an empty desk. Her feet were completely soaked now.

Seriously, couldn't they install a drain when they installed the shower? And maybe some curtains around the shower, too, because obviously it would be better for the person washing up and it would make clean-up easier as well without water splashing all over. Her reasoning obviously had nothing at all to do with the fact that she apparently had no self-control to keep herself from staring (or from acting like a spazz) when Adrien was standing right there, clad in nothing but his sopping wet boxers.

Adrien had to put on some clothes soon, or she'd never be able to think straight around him again... though it was possible that the damage was already done and she wouldn't be able to piece together a coherent sentence near him ever again.

The door opened and Madam Mendeleiev stepped back in with a t-shirt and basketball shorts in one hand and a towel in the other. She set both down on a desk before sloshing over to the shower, picking up a meter stick on the way. She reached up with it and jostled the lever, shutting the shower off and leaving a sodden Adrien standing in the middle of the classroom.

"I think you'll be good," Madam Mendeleiev said shortly, setting the stick down and stepping back out of the deepest part of the puddle. "The redness has gone away, at least. I'm going to lunch now, but the towel and your new clothes are over by the door. The janitors said they would arrive soon." With that, she was scurrying out the door, leaving them alone again.

"I'll go grab the towel and stuff," Marinette blurted out quickly, dragging her eyes away from a trail of water sliding down Adrien's chest. The classroom filled with a sloshing noise as she hurried away before Adrien could say anything. Much to her surprise, though, he followed her most of the way over, still dripping all over the floor. Marinette glanced back for a moment and caught sight of Adrien shoving his soaking hair out of his eyes. It was surprisingly long when it wasn't carefully styled around his head, and the water made it darker than normal.

Marinette quickly slid her eyes forward again. That felt like the kind of intimate detail that she shouldn't know. She wasn't supposed to know what Adrien looked like right after he got out of the shower-

The thought made her pause for a moment. How different Adrien's hair looked when wet was the kind of detail that she was positive that she would have noticed no matter the circumstances... but she hadn't noticed anything different with Adrien's hair either of the times that Ladybug had supposedly caught Adrien in the shower.

Had he...not...actually been in the shower? Was that just his hiding place of choice, out of some strange misbelief that akumas wouldn't disturb him if they thought that he wasn't dressed? If so, why keep up the charade when he knew it was Ladybug there? Why not just step out normally and admit that that was what he was doing? It would have saved her a world of embarrassment...and wouldn't it be less embarrassing for him as well? Some might think that it might be a little humiliating for a teenage boy to admit that he was hiding from an akuma like that, but she thought it would probably actually be a world less embarrassing than pretending that a superhero had caught him actually naked.

...if he tried that again and if Ladybug had the time, she was definitely going to actually check to see if his hair was wet and if it wasn't (she would put money on it being perfectly dry), she was going to say something. What that something was she didn't know, but it would make things easier for both him and her if he could just drop the charade right away.

"Marinette? Are you all right?"

Marinette yelped and jumped, spinning around. She hadn't realized that she had frozen halfway across the classroom after the realization had hit her. She just barely swallowed the question were you actually in the shower those times (that would be an awkward question to ask in itself, never mind that the fact that it wouldn't make any sense whatsoever since he didn't know that she was Ladybug and therefore didn't know that she would know anything about either incident) and for several long moments floundered for something to say that wouldn't potentially give away her secret identity. After a moment of spluttering, she managed to piece together an actual coherent (though admittedly panicked) sentence.

"I- I- I should be asking you that! I'm so sorry about spilling the acid on you, I swear I didn't mean to, I just tripped-"

"It's fine, Marinette," Adrien assured her, placing both of his hands on her shoulders. Marinette immediately turned bright red. "I know it was an accident, and I'm fine. I should have been paying more attention to where you were anyway. After all, I was the one that turned around and walked right into you. I'm just glad that nothing spilled on you. My stuff is replaceable. Yours- isn't the outfit you're wearing today one of your designs?"

Marinette blinked, startled. "Yeah, it is- how did you know?"

Adrien only beamed at her. "I spotted the design in your notebook a few months ago! It really turned out great." He reached for the towel that Madam Mendeleiev had left and started toweling himself off. Marinette glanced away, her cheeks still flaming. Predictably, though, Adrien didn't stay quiet for long. "Really, Mari. I was startled, sure, and maybe having to use the emergency shower wasn't the greatest thing ever, but I'm not mad at you. I would never be. I promise."

Even considering Gabriel Agreste's considerable temper, it didn't take long at all for him to cause another akuma during a time when Adrien was meant to be at home. The superhero duo made a beeline over, though, as usual, Chat Noir had to make his excuses and go detransform in his bathroom so that he could make a (hopefully quick) appearance as Adrien before getting back to his superhero duties.

Really, it was an actual pain to have a father that was so prone to creating akumas when he was a superhero. Ladybug didn't seem to have that problem.

Adrien heard the all-too-familiar sound of footsteps running through his room, so he automatically reached for the shower tap and started the water running. It wasn't a moment too soon, because a second later his bathroom door flew open with a bang.

"Adrien?"

"I'm, ah, in the shower!" Adrien lied automatically, wishing that he could come up with a better excuse. Having Ladybug think that he hung out naked in the shower all the time was less than ideal, but still he stuck just his head around his corner, hoping his expression was appropriately embarrassed. "Ah, can I have a moment to get dress-"

"I know you aren't actually showering, Adrien," Ladybug said with a flat voice and even flatter expression. "Turn off the water and come out already."

Adrien could only blink.

"I- what? I'm-"

"Just pretending to be showering, I know. Come on, before the akuma gets here!"

Stunned, Adrien only just remembered to shut off the water before he stepped back out into the main part of the bathroom. Before he could say anything (or ask how Ladybug knew that he wasn't actually showering), Ladybug was hauling him out the window. He clung to her instinctively as she flew through the air, and it was only instinct that had him letting go once she landed in a hidden spot on the roof of The Grand Paris and set him down. A moment later, she was flying through the skies again, leaving Adrien with his jaw still on the ground on top of the rooftop.

"She knows, doesn't she," Adrien groaned several second later as he finally found his words, still a bit stunned even as he watched Ladybug zip away. There was only one explanation that he could think of as to how Ladybug magically knew that he wasn't showering, and that was that Ladybug knew that he was actually Chat Noir. How she had figured it out he had no idea, but he could always ask her later, once the akuma was defeated. "She wasn't tricked at all!"

Plagg just shrugged, though there was a distinctly mischievous glint in his eye. He wasn't about to mention the fact that Adrien's hair was completely dry, which would give away his excuse to anyone with eyes. Sure, Ladybug had somehow missed that small fact the first two times around, but she wasn't blind.

...also, watching his Chosen freak out a little was funny, and this whole mess would at least have the side effect of keeping Adrien from repeating his cringe-worthy excuse of "I'm showering!" every time he was supposed to show up as Adrien and Chat Noir at the same time. Plagg had been getting very, very tired of the second-hand embarrassment that came from each and every one of those encounters.

"And now we'll probably have to talk after the fight is over, because, I mean, she's the one most likely to figure me out but I need to know what gave me away so that it doesn't happen again-"

"Kid, there's an akuma still out looking for you."

Adrien yelped and hurriedly held out his ring. "Plagg, transform me!"

Once the latest akuma was defeated, Ladybug and Chat Noir retreated to the top of the Agreste Mansion to catch their breaths for a moment. They had only used their powers about a minute before taking down the latest supervillain, so Ladybug hadn't hesitated to grant Chat Noir's request for a quick word before they both fled the scene.

"That really wasn't a bad fight at all," Ladybug said as they landed. She dusted herself off and surveyed the city, a satisfied look on her face. Chat Noir blinked at her incredulously, wondering how she could be so calm when she had apparently figured out his secret identity. "Seriously, we couldn't have been fighting for more than fifteen minutes total."

"It did go well," Chat Noir agreed a bit cautiously. It was strange, really- Ladybug wasn't acting differently than normal at all, and he would have expected that she would say something about figuring out his identity sooner rather than later. He paused for a second longer, and then his curiosity got the better of him. "...so, how did you figure it out?"

Ladybug's brow furrowed and Chat Noir wondered what he had said wrong. "How did I figure out what?"

"How did-" Chat Noir started again, before pausing as a sudden feeling of shut up, idiot flowed through his body. He frowned. Ladybug wouldn't play dumb- that just wasn't her personality at all- which meant that she probably didn't know what he was talking about and saying anything more could make her figure out his identity for real. "...never mind."

Ladybug frowned at him for a moment more before apparently dropping the subject. "Okay. Uh, so you said there was something you wanted to talk about? Because we should probably talk about that quickly and then I should go pick up Adrien, because I left him on the top of the hotel."

"I, ah, forgot what I was going to say," Chat Noir claimed. "And, uh, don't you think he's probably on his way back already? The Grand Paris isn't very far at all from his house."

"You're probably right," Ladybug decided. Then she shot him a sunny smile. "Okay! See you next time then, Chat Noir!"

"See you, Ladybug!" Chat Noir called after her as she took off. He waited until she vanished over a line of rooftops and the streets below were clear before swinging down into his room with an easy move, landing in a roll and detransforming. As soon as the last bit of his transformation fell away, Adrien flopped back on his carpet, staring up at his ceiling. Plagg floated above him, looking torn between amused and slightly concerned.

"You okay, kid?"

"I just don't understand," Adrien complained, waving a hand weakly through the air. "She said that she knew that I wasn't actually in the shower, but if she didn't know that because she knew that I'm Chat Noir, then how did she know?"

Plagg rolled his eyes. Seriously? Even after time to think about it, his Chosen couldn't figure out the obvious? Surely Plagg didn't have to do everything.

"It just doesn't make any sense," Adrien groaned, running a hand through his completely dry hair and letting it fall back to the floor. "I mean, I was hidden and the shower was running and all she saw was my head, really, I was really careful to not let my shoulders show at all-"

Plagg had had enough. As funny as it would be to let Adrien flounder for a while, listening to him ramble on for much longer would just give Plagg a headache. "Kid?"

"Yeah?"

"Your hair was dry."

A/N: As with most of my stories, this is a one-shot and therefore complete. Please leave reviews, they really make my day! :)