Beneath the Masks

by ShioAtemu

Ladybug and Chat Noir are the heroes of Paris. Both are attracted to each other in their own way, but they can not tell the other who they are. But what happens if one of the two finds out?

Adrien's point of view

The vibration of my cell phone in my pocket made me look up and stop. Even Nino, my best buddy, stopped and gave me a questioning look. We were about to leave our classroom and join Alya and Marinette, who were waiting for us when my cell phone signaled that I had received a message. Annoyed, why it had to be just now, I took the black smartphone from my pocket and ends locked the display. Immediately my mouth turned as I read the message from Nathalie, in which she ordered me to come home. The car would wait before school. My dad had probably made any appointments behind my back. Especially today. I sighed and put the phone back in my pocket. Great. And I promised my friends to go to the movies with them. After all, I would not have had appointments today. Actually.

An arm wrapped around my shoulder and I saw in Nino's face, "Dude, you look like someone's dying, what's going on?"

I lowered my eyes and sighed again, before explaining that I could not go to the movies because my dad had other plans with me. Again. It astonished me that my friends had been in this for so long without giving up my friendship. Again, Nino looked at me with big disbelieving eyes, but then sighed too. He let go of me and shook his head, "Oh man, your dad really does not know anything about free time, does he? But do not ask me to bring that message to the girls, you'll do that yourself. "

In his last sentence, he tapped my shoulder and emphasized every single word. I nodded and was glad that Nino understood it again, even though I noticed that he was not enthusiastic. So we continued our way towards the school gate where I already saw the girls waiting for us. Excited, they talked about something and laughed happily. When Alya saw us, she put her arms around her hips: "It's about time, boys, we have to leave soon."

Nino apologized and went to his girlfriend before he looked at me. A bit nervously I put my hand on the back and searched for the right words: "I'm sorry people, but unfortunately I have to cancel. My father ..."

I did not need to finish speaking before Alya spoke and, like Nino just a few moments before, left out about how impossible my father was and that he should give me more free time. A guilty conscience spread in me and I looked down: "I'm really sorry."

I heard Alya sigh, but otherwise she said nothing more. That she had seen Marinette at that moment I had not even noticed. Nor that she also lowered her head at that moment. A loud honking made us look up and turn my eyes towards the street, where my bodyguard was already waiting with the silver sedan. I gritted my teeth softly.

"I-It's okay.", A soft voice made me listen again and turn me back to my friends. My eyes touched those of Marinette and instantly my heart contracted. She smiled kindly, as always, but that smile was anything but real. It was tormented and looked like she was more likely to fight back tears.

"It's okay, you ... can not ... n-nothing for it.", She said and smiled a little more, but this could not calm my emerging guilty conscience.

Another horn made me wince briefly and glare evilly at the gorilla before turning to my friends and raising my hand placatingly, "I'm really sorry, we'll catch up, I promise."

With these words, I turned around, ran straight to the gray sedan and got in. As the car drove past the threes they waved to me. I waved again and tried once again to catch a glimpse of Marinette's face, but she has turned, once we were over, already turned back to Alya to speak with her. Sighing, I let myself sink into the seat. Why could not my dad even respect my desire for free time? He knew of my plans today to go to the cinema, as well as Nathalie. Sometimes I felt like he was doing this on purpose. I shook my head and looked out of the window as I rejected the thought. Sure, he often spends my free time, but I was sure he meant it well. And I was once the face of his fashion, so it was not surprising that I had to any photo shoots and sometimes even spontaneously. Even if it annoyed me a little bit. Another sigh escaped me as I plunged my arm on the armrest, resting my head on my palm, and continued to look out the window. Once again, Marinette's sad look came to my mind and gave me a slight stab in the heart. She really seemed very disappointed that I could not come with them and I was really sorry for that. I hoped she was not angry with me and decided to pay her a visit as Chat Noir in the evening.

I came home when it was already dark. Exhausted, I fell face down and fell onto my bed and lay there for a moment. The photo shoot had been really exhausting. The photographer had so many ideas that he shooed me from one corner to the next, only to realize that he did not like it.

"Are you still alive?", A voice asked next to me, which I commented with a grunt, "Good, then get me Camembert."

Murring, I sat up again and looked at the little black Kwami named Plagg in front of me: "Is there anything else besides Camembert that you are thinking of?"

Despite my displeasure, I got up and brought the Kwami his beloved cheese, which he immediately dealt with. Incidentally, he told me something about cheeses, which he also loved, but I certainly did not listen anymore. Instead, I locked my bedroom door and opened one of the large windows before, without warning, stretching my right fist, with my miraculous, forward and saying the magical words, "Claws out!"

Not even a moment later I stood in my black leather suit in my room, leaped up and jumped out the open window. Although I was pretty exhausted, I wanted to pay Marinette another visit. Her sad look had accompanied me all day and I hoped to calm my guilty conscience.

Not ten minutes later, I jumped onto a roof opposite the bakery where Marinette lived with her parents. I was lucky, because she was back on her terrace, looking out over the rooftops of the city into the distance. Since I visited her some time ago and then showed her the surprise for Ladybug, I often went to her as Chat Noir to talk to her. If I had the mask on, then she spoke to me quite informally, without that she looked as if she wanted to seek the distance immediately. I did not know why she was always so nervous in my presence as Adrien. Although it had gotten a little better since the party at Chloé, she still felt uncomfortable in my presence. Did I scare her? I could not imagine that she did not like me, otherwise she would hardly talk to me at all. Still, I did not know why she was always so nervous in my presence. For a moment I lowered my eyes and sighed, before I looked up again and jumped. Not even a moment later, I was sitting on the cover of the bakery's chimney, looking down at Marinette. She leaned against her railing and did not seem to have noticed me yet. However, I was not immediately noticeable, but watched my classmate for a moment. She was still looking over the rooftops of Paris, staring up at the sky and turning her back to me. What was she thinking about? A sigh brought me out of my thoughts and I felt her head drop. As if this had been a sign for me, I was now with a "Bonjour" attention to me. Startled, the black-haired turned to me.

"Chat.", It came only astonished.

"Excuse me if I scared you, is it okay for me to keep you company?" I asked cautiously.

For a moment, her sky blue eyes looked at me in surprise, before she smiled at me and nodded. With a light swing, I jumped on the railing and sat comfortably on it, while she leaned next to me.

"Everything alright? You looked so depressed." I asked cautiously.

She lowered her eyes and remained silent for a while. Apparently she was wondering if she should tell me about it.

"Well ...", she finally started, "I wanted to go to the movies with my friends today, but unfortunately one of them had to cancel at short notice because his father and his work as a model take him quite a bit, which is why he has little free time. I was really happy that we had found this day for all of us, but well ... it only became one day for three. So he can not help it being that way, that's why I understand it, but somehow it was I'm pretty disappointed. "

With wide eyes I looked at her. So she was so downright depressed. Again my bad conscience became noticeable. Maybe I should have just stood up to my father, but then ... who knew what punishment he would have had for me then. Most of the time he did not threaten to allow me to go to school and thus lose my last bit of freedom. Nevertheless, and although no one reproached me for it, I felt the need to make amends. I looked away and looked over the rooftops of the city.

"Why do not you even ask the boy if he goes to the cinema with you alone?", I asked without thinking about it and would have preferred to scrub me. I did not know why I said that at the moment. My heart belonged to Ladybug and that's why I did not want to give other girls any hopes. So why did I say that? I had to admit that Marinette was a cute girl. She was pretty and adorable, but she was always a good friend to me.

A drawn out and loud "eh !?" made me flinch briefly and look at Marinette, who looked at me with big eyes and bright red face.

"N-no, I can not do that!" She exclaimed.

She could not? I cocked my head questioningly, so she seemed to realize that I did not understand why.

"W-well I could, b-but ...", she stopped and was silent for a moment, looking at her feet.

"But?" I asked again.

She was still silent and began to play with her fingers: "I can not even say a decent sentence in his presence, I always embarrass myself to the core, because I start to stammer and tell foolish stuff. My best friend tries to encourage me, but when I stand in front of him, I lose the courage again. How can I manage to ask him if we are doing something together? He is so perfect and great and sweet and I ... I am simple just a simple, clumsy girl, and I assume that he only sees me as a good friend ... and not anymore ... Urgh ... why am I telling you this, is it embarrassing! "

She had her hands in front of her face, but that was only incidental. Instead, I just stared at her in amazement and noticed how slowly the blush rose to my face. That was clearly a declaration of love. Or? Wait! Stop! Marinette was in me ...!? My thoughts turned in circles. Was that the reason why she always wanted to escape from me and why she was so nervous? And I had always treated her normally. No wonder she was disappointed. Why I did not notice that? Inwardly, I rang for it. I certainly hurt her. And not just once.

Suddenly she looked at me with a firm look, but still red face, which could compete with a tomato: "Do not you dare to tell someone!"

I was too irritated to even react, but Marinette's face now formed a broad smile, which she gave me: "But somehow it was good to discuss it with someone besides Alya. If I could talk to Adrien the way I talk to you, it would probably be much easier. "

Silence spread between us, in which we just looked at each other. My eyes met her sky blue eyes, which seemed so familiar to me.

I leaned over to her a little way: "Marinette, I ..."

A loud bang made us flinch and turn my gaze towards the Eiffel Tower. From there rose a gray cloud of dust and let me stand upright on the railing.

"What was that?" I heard Marinette next to me.

For a moment I had my eyes fixed on the cloud of dust, before I turned to the girl next to me and took her hand.

A mischievous grin ruffled my face: "It looks like a superhero is needed, you better get yourself safely in the house. I wish you a nice evening, Mademoiselle."

I gave her a loving hand kiss before grabbing my wand and leaping out of the balcony of the black-haired with a skip. Too bad that this evening had to end like that. Hawk Moth really had no tact. On the other hand, I was glad that our conversation ended so abruptly. Who knows what I would have told her if we had continued the conversation. I probably would have told her that I was the boy who had so disappointed her. I did not know myself what was going on with me at that moment. My identity could not be known, no matter to whom. Even my beloved Ladybug I was not allowed to say it. I had thought of it many times before, but she always blew me away. Probably also rightly, after all, it was also about our own safety. Plagg told me that often enough. Nevertheless, I would like to know who was behind the mask.

One last jump and I arrived at the Eiffel Tower, from the direction of which fleeing people were already coming towards me. Skillfully, I landed on one of the countless steel girders and looked around me first to get a brief overview of the situation. There were amber shining areas all over the square and tower, and there was a strong sweet smell in the air, and I wondered where I knew it from. I closed my eyes and let the smell sink in on me before I suddenly remembered: caramelized sugar. Well, that explained the amber surfaces and I hoped that there were no people underneath. But the one who was responsible for this mess was missing. Tense, I looked around again, but could see nothing. A blast startled me and looked to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I grabbed my staff, propped it up on the steel girder, and extended it so that I was carried upstairs and landed on the observation deck a few minutes later, only to dodge a missile that had flown straight towards me. Landing again on my feet, I first looked at the spot that was hit and recognized again this caramelized area, which now stuck to the railing of the platform. Then I turned my gaze in the direction from which the projectiles came. There stood a male figure in a squeaky colorful shiny costume, which strongly reminded of candy canes. On his wrists colorful shiny balls were attached, as well on his neck. There they were arranged so that they looked like a ruff. On his head he also wore a hat that looked like a candy cane. Grinning, he looked at me.

"Ah Chat Noir, where did you leave Ladybug?" He asked me.

Serene, I got up, "She's busy, but I can handle it that way."

His laughter echoed over the platform. Of course he knew that I needed Ladybug. Alone because she was the only one who could clean the Akuma, but it was not a lie that I could fight without her. He opened his right hand, which formed a small amber ball. Immediately I held my staff protectively in front of me to defend myself if necessary. A moment later the little ball flew towards me. Rotating my staff in my hands, I wanted to ward off the attack with it. But instead of blocking, the sticky mass stuck to my hand in such a way that I could not let go of the rod.

"What the ...!?" I exclaimed in alarm and jumped to the side, when another of these strange sweets came towards me.

Unfortunately, that was not enough and a moment later, more of those sticky things flew towards me, which I tried to dodge. The caramel on my hands had become hard now, which is why it was slowly becoming more difficult to dodge properly with the staff in hand without bending me. Dodging one of the balls again, I did not notice how another followed closely behind. When I noticed it, it was already too late to dodge, but even before the sticky mass could hit me, a red yo-yo wrapped itself around my arms and pulled me out of the lane. A moment later, I landed rather inelegantly on the floor.

"I thought cats always land on all fours?" The familiar voice of Ladybug asked me.

"This cat just does not." I mumbled and sat up before grinning at my partner, "But it's nice to see you, my sugar fairy."

I noticed her rolling her eyes as she always did when I let go of one of my sayings, but just took it that way. She whirled her Yo-Yo for momentum and whizzed it on the caramel on my hands, breaking the sticky mass and allowing me to move freely again.

"Apparently, you do not get along so well without me," Ladybug finally said with a wry grin.

Of course she had heard that before. Was not to be expected otherwise. The rising blush in my face, I also played over with a wry grin and then got up swinging.

"Found something already?", My lady asked me as she watched our opponent.

He had already prepared for the next attack and shot again his caramel sweets on us.

"Just so much that you should not let this sticky stuff hit you," I explained as I avoided the crowd, "you saw what happens when you get in touch with it."

She too dodged and tried not to let herself be hit by the caramel.

"My name is Candycrusher, and if you do not value my sweets, you should pay for it, I'll fix you with my caramel and get your Miraculous." Our opponent shouted angrily, increasing the number and speed of the missiles.

Candy Crusher? Seriously? Did not Hawk Moth have a better idea, or had he played too much with his smartphone?

"I think I know who that is.", Ladybug shouted to me and pulled me out of my insane thoughts, "This is Jaque, the candy shop salesman."

"That's a start. Now, all we have to do is find the Akuma, an idea, Milady?" I asked cautiously, landing on the railing of the platform just to dodge the next sweet. Slowly it became annoying, because even the place where you could step was with each time less.

Ladybug seemed to be feverishly thinking and studying her opponent as she dodged the missiles: "There in his hand, before anything comes to life, these bonbons materialize, and I'll bet there's the Akuma in there."

"Fine, but how do we get there?" I asked, because as long as he attacked us it seemed pretty impossible.

But my lady just smiled and threw her Yo-Yo up to summon her lucky charm. But only one bag fell down.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" She asked horrified.

"Send him for shopping?", Came a mischievous counter-question, although it did not fit in this situation, but I could not resist and I did not want that.

Ladybug ignored it skillfully and looked around until she apparently came the saving idea: "I have it. Can you distract him further?"

I grinned, "As you wish, my lady."

With that she had jumped up and disappeared from my field of vision. So now I concentrated on distracting this walking candy cane while my partner put her plan into action. Our opponent wanted to follow Ladybug as she set off, but I stood in his path and turned his attention back to me. He kept chasing me over the plateau for a while and I hoped Ladybug would hurry, because the space to dodge was running out.

But Candycrusher also seemed to be getting too annoying with this game: "Enough played, kitty, now you get a very special candy."

He raised his left hand and in this formed a bright red candy, which he hurled at me. Quickly I dodged the red ball and it hit the railing behind me. With a loud bang, it was smashed into a thousand pieces on the hit spot. Startled, I looked at the spot and was glad that I could dodge in time, otherwise it would have been fine with me. The suit protected me from the worst damage, but whether he would endure such an explosion I doubt. I barely managed to dodge one of these caramel balls and looked in astonishment at my opponent. He tried again to create one of the red candies, but failed and hit me again with caramel. Apparently he could only produce the other sweets at intervals. It also explained why there was not another between the first explosion and this one. However, that also meant that we had to defeat him before he made another of these candies. Where was Ladybug? Something red appeared in the corner of my eye and I saw her running from behind on Candycrusher. Again I dodged a bullet and saw her leap towards the opponent. Now I understood what she was up to. She wanted to wrap his hand. While I saw her jump on Candycrusher, I noticed something else, which made my blood run cold. In his left hand he made another red candy, which he seemed capable of again, but the worst thing was his expression. He grinned and I realized right away that he had seen her and that she would be his next destination. Ladybug could not see the candy, though, because it was impossible from her angle. Angrily, I gritted my teeth and pushed myself off the floor. Just in time, because the next moment Candycrusher had already thrown the candy on my partner. Protecting, I let my wand circle in front of my body and reached Ladybug to protect them as well, hoping that it would help. Then the candy touched my staff and there was a loud bang, the force of which drove us both backwards and shortly thereafter painfully hit one of the pillars of the tower. Although it meant that it hit me harder, I had turned so that she was protected. Shocked, she looked at me and called my name.

"I... I'm okay." I said to her, giving her a push in the direction of our opponent, "Finish it!"

Ladybug saw her chance when Candycrusher was about to make new candy and wrapped his hand. Through contact with his own caramel, the hand was glued and rock hard. Despite a booming head I jumped up and activated my cataclysm, with which I destroyed the hard mass. A black little butterfly escaped the mass, which was captured and cleaned by my partner. After she had thrown her lucky charm into the air and the little ladybugs had put everything back to their original state, we beat in as usual.

"Pound it!" we said at the same time and smiled at each other.

But the way I saw my lady was different. She seemed to have gotten some of the explosion, because she too had scars everywhere. She also looked exhausted. I probably too, but that did not interest me at the moment.

"Chat, you're hurt," she said suddenly.

Astonished, I opened my eyes slightly and then noticed how the vision in my right eye went red. Carefully I touched my forehead: blood? Irritated, I looked at the red liquid, which now stuck to my fingers. It was the first time that I was seriously injured. Did the suit's protection diminish? Even before I could continue these thoughts, a beep caught my thoughts and let me look at Ladybug, who had put her hand to her earring.

"I have to go.", She turned and wavered why I supported her.

"Should I accompany you? "I asked worried, but the black-haired woman shook her head and said that she could do it on her own.

"Besides, I'm about to change back, thank you anyway." With that, she swung her Yo-Yo and disappeared the next moment. I looked after her, but my concern for her did not diminish. I hesitated, but then jumped and jumped after her. I did not want to imagine what would happen if she collapsed on the way and she might still have been seen by someone. Even though I ran the risk of finding out who she really was, and maybe that's why she would be mad at me. But rather like someone uninvolved. It was not long before I caught up with her. To my fright just in time, because a moment later she lost her balance and fell. Quickly I jumped to her and caught her before I took both of us to the nearest roof. Only a second later, the beeping of her earrings sounded one last time before the transformation was lifted.

Shocking, I opened my eyes as Marinette's face gradually appeared under the mask. How could that be? Marinette was Ladybug? Slowly I registered this information. The whole time ... she was by my side all the time. Every day we saw each other and I ... was so blind that I had not noticed.

"Adrien, we have to get her home before your transformation is over and you do not come home anymore, Marinette does not seem to be seriously injured," I heard a squeaky voice.

When I looked up, I recognized a small red kwami with a black dot on its forehead. That had to be the Kwami of Marinette's Miraculous. But something else seemed more important to me at that moment: "You know who I am?"

The Kwami nodded, "Since the Dark Owl deal, but that does not matter now, hurry!"

The beeping of my ring let me grasp the seriousness of the situation, so I took Marinette on my arms and jumped to the next roof.

Moments later, we reached her roof terrace, where I landed smoothly. Tikki, as Marinette's was called little Kwami, pointed to the skylight, which I carefully opened and crept silently through. Always worried that Marinette would not hit anywhere. Just below the skylight was her bed, on which I laid her off slowly and covered her carefully. She was sound asleep and did not notice any of it. The pale light of the moon shone through the window and onto her sleeping face. For a moment I watched the girl in front of me and could not help but brush a lost strand of hair from her forehead. She looked so peaceful. And she was my lady. The signal of my ring made me startle slightly and again Tikki announced that I should slowly get rid of myself. So I got up and climbed outside.

But before I closed the window, I looked again at the little red Kwami: "One more question, Tikki, does Marinette know about me?"

Tikki shook his head: "No, I did not tell her, otherwise she would hardly have told you how great she found Adrien."

I felt a slight warmth on the cheeks, which probably went red before I cleared my throat, "Do me a favor, do not tell her I brought her home and saw it, I want to tell her in person, but like that it's better for the moment. "

"Well, if you think so. Now you better hurry," she advised me, whereupon I quietly closed the window and made my way home.

The transformation had come to an end just as I had jumped through my window. Quickly I went to the bathroom to look at the injury on the head, which turned out to be only a small scratch, which had just bled heavily. With a plaster the thing had been done again. Back in my room I dropped back onto my bed and stared at the wall opposite me.

"Why did you tell Tikki not to say anything? That would make the whole thing easier, do not you think?" Plagg asked me as he nibbled on his camembert.

I sighed, raising my hand to carry my Miraculous, and owe my kwami an answer. Instead, I stared at my ring as my thoughts turned to what had happened. Marinette was a Ladybug. This realization circled in my head and did not let me go. Actually, it even made sense, after all, she was always gone when Ladybug showed up. She quit class just like me, and usually came too late the next day, just to apologize for some insane excuses. It was so clear. All the time and I have not even noticed.

"And I also told her that I love Ladybug." I remembered as I thought of one of our conversations where I had visited her as Chat Noir.

"And? She has also told you that she is in love with you. Well, you were Chat Noir, but it does not matter," Plagg said, which I ignored again.

What would she think if she found out that I was her partner? She would probably think I was only interested in her because she was Ladybug. And since she had also expressed her feelings in my form as Chat Noir, it would probably be even more uncomfortable. But what did I really feel for Marinette? Thanks to our conversations when I was Chat Noir, I got to know this shy and clumsy girl better. And I could not say that I did not find her sweet. Even before, but now there was pure chaos in me. So far my thoughts have always been only Ladybug and now Marinette sneaked in as well. But I could not tell if I was thinking about her because I knew she was my lady. And that's exactly what I had to realize if I did not want to hurt her. Groaning, I turned on my back and put my arms over my eyes, hoping to sort out my thoughts and feelings. But no sooner had I closed my eyes, I already noticed, as I slowly drifted off and fell asleep.