AN: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or any of their characters, but I adore them anyway!

AN: Inspired by Kittbug's prompt: Marinette finds out that Adrien is Chat Noir and finally works up the courage to confess her feelings to him. Of course, he doesn't know she's Ladybug so he rejects her as kindly as possible. Marinette, in a moment of panic, admits that she's Ladybug to him but he doesn't believe her. Chloe (having overheard the last part of their conversation) starts berating her in front of the whole class for claiming that she's Ladybug just to win Adrien's affections. I read a few inspired by this prompt and liked it so much, I decided to write some of my own.

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Marinette had been working harder than usual to keep her feelings for her ridiculously cheeky partner in check as of late, but after seeing him drop into an alley and turn into none other than Adrien, it was clear that she wouldn't need to be doing THAT anymore. So she dashed after him as he wended his way back to school, excited to catch him and let him know that she could finally return his feelings. And had in fact been turning him down for himself. Only, as usual, her words came out all wrong.

"Adrien," she called out, winded but determined to catch his attention before he entered the school. "I saw you! Wow, this is kind of unbeeable. I mean believable. I go out with sometime? Ughhh. I meant, this is pretty unbelievable. I was wondering if we could go out sometime? On a date?" She was still catching her breath and was pretty sure she had skipped something in her confession, but it was better than nothing.

Adrien looked gobsmaked. "Um, Marinette, that's….Wow. I'm flattered. But I'm in love with someone else."

Oh. That's what she had forgotten. "I know, Ladybug, right? And I'm Ladybug!" She was all but bouncing on her feet. This was incredible. The guy that she had fallen in love with turned out to be her partner? Seriously, she had no idea being Ladybug meant she could be THIS lucky.

But Adrien did not look happy. He looked annoyed? "Pffftt." They both turned as they heard a derisive snort. Chloe flipped her ponytail and headed off, calling behind her, "Wow, Marinette, that was pathetic."

Marinette turned to look at Adrien. "Marinette, I'm happy to be your friend, but please don't lie to me. This is honestly so out of character for you that I'm shocked." He then gave his friendly little wave and walked off.

Marinette face palmed. This was not exactly how she had pictured this going.

She managed to sneak back into class, and was a little hopeful, as Miss Bustier droned on, that she might be able to sort things out with Adrien before her next class. But it was not to be. As soon as Miss Bustier dismissed class, Chloe was on the attack.

"OMG, you would not believe what Marinette Dupain-Cheng told my Adrikins earlier! She claimed she was Ladybug to try to get him to go out with her! Can you believe that?" Sadly, it appeared that everyone was listening. Marinette kind of hoped that a swarm of flies would come into the classroom. With all the mouths hanging open, she was sure more than one person would wind up swallowing a fly. Unfortunately, she was the one hoping she could die. Or at least dig a giant hole and disappear into it for the foreseeable future. I mean, what was she supposed to do, call out, 'Tikki, Spots on!' As gratifying as that might be, she didn't think it was a wise choice. So, she curled herself into the tinniest ball she could as she got her stuff ready to sprint from the classroom. But Chloe wasn't done yet. "As Queen Bee, I'm good friends with Ladybug and I'm going to tell her myself what a Liar you are, little baker girl."

'You do that,' thought Marinette, 'Assuming I ever let you touch the Bee Miraculous again.' And with that she gathered what little dignity she had left and fled.

Lila smiled evilly. Now she could lie with impunity, because no one would believe Marinette. That smug brat was going down.

The rest of the day did not get better, and when the class saw an akuma rampaging the school during the last class of the day, Marinette wasn't sure if she should be happy to get out of class and away from Chloe, or upset that she was going to have to go kick some akuma behind with her partner, who was as useless at school today as he was oblivious. She knew she'd messed up her reveal, but seriously, a little bit of support from that cat wouldn't have hurt. At least she'd be able to vent some of her frustrations on the akuma. "Tikki, Spots on!"

Apparently, some kids had left quite a mess in the art room, and the art teacher, AKA, Creative Outlet, was busy using his electrical plug (wrapped in Chenille straws, of all things) to zap various Parisians into famous works of art. She could almost hear the pun before Chat Noir landed beside her. After a quick discussion he flew away calling, "Be careful not to get hit M'Lady. You're already a work of art."

And there it was. "Don't flirt with me you stupid cat! I'm mad at you!" If you could imagine it, and surely everyone could, considering how ridiculous some of the previous lucky charms had been, the lucky charm was a glass of water. Throwing it on Creative Outlet short circuited him and the duo was able to find, break, and cleanse the akuma. When Chat Noir went in to get his fist bump, Ladybug just growled at him.

"What? What did I do?" he asked.

Ladybug ground her teeth and spit out one word. "Boys!" And then she flung herself into the distance.

A week after the akuma battle, Adrien approached Marinette, who had been avoiding him like the plague, and told her that he really did forgive her. She snorted at him, which he thought was weird, but he didn't have a lot of experience with this kind of thing.

"I hope we can be friends again. I know it's not like you to lie, normally."

She just shook her head at him and sighed, rolling her eyes. "Thanks, Adrien." Strangely, in the days after that Marinette had started joking and teasing with him, to the point where sometimes interacting with her felt eerily similar to interacting with Ladybug. Her stutter, which had been getting better, seemed to have disappeared overnight. It was weird.

After a week of, for lack of a better word, sulking, Ladybug had fallen back into their normal routine of teasing and flirting. And if he wasn't mistaken, the flirting was trending up. It was all enough to make Adrien's head spin. He still had no idea what in the world made Marinette lie to him. And he had no idea why Ladybug had been angry with him during the Creative Outlet battle. But suddenly, he found he had bigger things to worry about. Their most recent battle had made it clear that Hawkmoth was working with at least two allies. And Adrien felt that instead of being reactive, he and Ladybug needed to go on the offense. And the best way to do that, while flying under the radar, was as their civilian selves. So, he gathered up all his courage to ask her, again, if they could share their secret identities, so they could work together on both sides of the mask.

"My Lady, with Hawkmoth's recent attacks, I think we need to go on the offensive. The most logical way to do that is as our civilian selves. I know it could be dangerous, but I'm willing to take that risk to get the upper hand. Are you?"

Ladybug, as he had known she probably would, shook her head no. And caught him totally off guard by busting out laughing. When she finally caught her breath, she looked him straight in the eye and said, "Oh, Adrien. You really are totally oblivious, aren't you? I told you my identity like a month ago."

Chat Noir shook his head. "No, you didn't! I'm pretty sure I would have remembered that."

Ladybug giggled at him. "Yeah. I can see it now." She stretched out her arms and said in a mock dreamy voice, "Chat Noir and his Lady, under the star lit sky, the city of love twinkling below them, as he discovers who his partner is. I bet you, being the over the top romantic you are, picture something like that. What do you get instead? The stammering disaster I caused, not that you were very helpful."

And suddenly it hits him. She used his other name. "You called me Adrien! You know who I am! You can't keep me in suspense any more, M'Lady."

"I've already told you who I am."

"No, you haven't." He says, bewildered and annoyed at this point. "The only person who has even mentioned anything about secret identities to me this month is a girl from my class who was trying to get me to date her by claiming she was…."

She watched as all the blood drained out of his face. Thankfully, that was enough warning to catch him before he hit the rooftop.

Adrien woke up a short time later, surprised to be in his bedroom, laid out on his couch. He had no recollection of how he got here. He'd fought the akuma (Baby Agustus again? Wow, Hawkmoth needed a special kind of help.) Then he'd tried to talk Ladybug into sharing her identity with him. Had she agreed? How had he gotten home? He looked down at himself. Adrien. Okay, better than lying around in his room as Chat.

"Hey, Kid. Ladybug left you a note. Thank goodness that girl has a heart of gold. You! Pffttggg" Plagg floated off, shaking his head.

"Thanks, Plagg. I think."

He hustled over to the computer. Sure enough, there was a sticky note attached to one of his monitors.

We can strategize Monday during lunch or after school, you know, if you don't think I'll try to lie to you. Your Lady. Or not, as appears to be the case. Marinette.

And suddenly it hit him. Marinette claiming to be Ladybug. Marinette being harassed for a week by Lila and Chloe. A week before he tried to reconnect with his friend. A week before Ladybug stopped being so cross. And Ladybug. She knew his name. She told him she had already shared her secret identity with him. She clearly had brought him home. She was Marinette. Suddenly he saw his future being sucked into the vortex of a black hole. It would be less embarrassing and painful than this was.

"Hey, Plagg?"

"Yep?"

"Do you think I could spin my baton fast enough to create a vortex and get sucked into it?"

Plagg started laughing. Loudly. Possibly in an exaggerated manner, but sometimes it could be hard to tell.

"Oh, did you just figure out that your sweet Lady tried to ask you out, and not only did you turn her down, but you didn't even believe her!"

Adrien blanched. He was so not ready for Monday.

Monday arrived without his permission. He was not looking forward to this. He had totally let his Lady down. She had told him her identity, and he didn't even believe her! He was never going to live this down. And why had he been so shocked anyway? Hadn't he himself called her an everyday Ladybug? Hmmmm….Maybe he could use that to his advantage. Time to man up, regardless. And with that thought, he headed into Miss Mendeleev's class. He greeted Nino, then forced himself to look at his partner.

"H..he..Hey, Marinette." What! Why was he stuttering?

"Finally figured it out, huh?" she retorted, returning his little hand wave.

He nodded sheepishly and sat down, getting ready for class.

Alya poked Marinette in the ribs. "What was that about? Since when does Adrien stutter around you? Details, gurl!"

To Marinette's great relief, Mrs. Mendeleev started class right then. Granted, it would only buy her time, not get her off the hook, but maybe she and Adrien could concoct some crazy story together before she had to give Alya something. She would cross her fingers and hope her Ladybug luck kicked in.

As class got started, a paper ball dropped onto her tablet. She smoothed it out.

I'm sorry.

She added,

Yeah, you kind of are.

Then she recrumpled it and casually flicked it onto the desk in front of her.

While I left that one open, that was mean, M'Lady.

The ball hit her on the head this time.

And letting the whole class think that I lied to you while Chloe and Lila dug in their heals wasn't?

They continued to pass the note back and forth.

That's why I said I'm sorry. And clearly, I can't just trust any girl who claims to be a super hero to get close to me. Look what happened with Lila.-A

Yeah, Ladybug jumped in front of you and told you she was LYING. Did Ladybug jump in front of me? NOPE!-M

Why did Ladybug jump in front of Lila?-A

So, did you want to get together and discuss strategy?-M

Oh, don't want to talk about Ladybug jumping in front of Lila, huh?-A

Uggghhh. Ladybug didn't like her hitting on you. There. Stupid cat. So did you want to get together and talk strategy, or not?-M

Lunch works for me.-A

Adrien was still trying to absorb it all. When had Ladybug figured out who he was? She didn't like Lila hitting on him? That sounded like a good thing.

It was with both rising excitement and great trepidation that Adrien waited for lunch to finally arrive.

As soon as class was dismissed, Alya went on the attack.

"Marinette, what is up? Are you hiding things from me?"

'If only you knew!' thought Adrien.

Marinette, gathering her stuff, deflected again. "I'll catch you at the end of lunch, Alya. Adrien and I were planning to swing by the bakery for a few minutes." She looked at Adrien, hoping for a sign that this was okay with him.

He nodded and smiled.

And that was all it took for Alya to be pushing Marinette down the steps and whispering, "I don't know what you did, but keep it up!"

Marinette double checked with Adrien as they headed out of school. "Sorry about that. I was about to be interrogated. You know how Alya can get." She paused then and chuckled. "You really know how Alya can get! Not just as her friend either! Anyway, I hope it was okay of me to say that, since you hadn't agreed to it already. But you did say you wanted to strategize over lunch, and after my epic fail the other day, I felt that some place more private than the steps of the school might be a good idea."

They headed to the bakery. As they crossed through the park, Marinette turned to look at him. "I really am sorry I messed up the reveal, Kitty. I knew it was a big deal to you. I didn't mean for it to happen the way it did."

"Why do you stutter around me? You don't stutter around Chat Noir. You don't stutter around anyone else at school." The words came out of his mouth before he realized it.

Marinette cocked her head at him and studied him for a minute. Yep, he was being completely sincere. And she knew Chat Noir would tease the daylights out of her no matter what came out of her mouth next, so…

"You know all those pictures in my room from the Troublemaker incident…EEEEEEeeeeeppppp!

Marinette had studied him for a minute after his question, and then it sounded like she was starting to answer him and then all of a sudden she sounded like a tea kettle going off. His head swung from side to side and then he put a hand over her mouth.

"Shhhh…..M'Lady, calm down!" he urgently whispered.

Marinette quickly shook her head, maybe a little manically, then put her hand over her own mouth. His dropped back down by his side. Her face had turned bright red, and when she removed her own hand he could see that she was sucking in air.

"YOU WERE IN MY ROOM!" She whisper shouted, pointing at him. "You saw all the pictures! You know they weren't there because of my interest in FASHION!" She poked him in the chest. "You sneaky CAT! You even waited for me at my locker to tease me about them, didn't you!"

Adrien watched in awe as Marinette seamlessly slipped into Ladybug mode. Then he laughed out loud. He couldn't help himself. He'd watched her do this before and never realized what he was seeing! No wonder everyone kept telling him he was oblivious (AN: He's still oblivious). Without two thoughts he grabbed Marinette's elbow to get her moving towards the bakery again.

"I was not waiting at your locker to tease you. It's not MY fault that's what wound up happening. I was waiting to make sure you were ok and not embarrassed. It's not like I knew you were there the whole time, now did I?" He was only mildly surprised to see that they were holding hands when they arrived at the bakery.

Marinette drug Adrien in with her, saying hi to her parents before heading upstairs to raid the fridge for lunch. Adrien only shied away from her dad a little. Marinette openly laughed at him as she sat food out on the bar.

"Not still nervous around my dad, are you?" she kidded.

"Why would I be nervous? The last time I was here he asked if I was ready to provide for you, suggested me moving in, got akumatized, and then pounded the living daylights out of me. Nothing to be nervous about there."

Marinette giggled again. "So, before we start talking about Hawkmoth, we've got to come up with some story for Alya."

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AN: I'm hoping to continue this some time, but we'll see!