Master Wu had told Ladybug and Chat Noir that they were allowed to know each other's secret identities approximately two days, three hours, and forty-seven minutes ago. Trust me, Chat had been counting.

"Please," he begged. They were perched on the rooftop of a tall building, looking out towards the skyline of Paris. It was almost dusk, the sun was just beginning to drift downwards and out of sight. Their nightly patrol was almost finished and not an akuma had been in sight.

"I told you, I'm not ready yet!" Ladybug persisted.

"At this rate you'll never be ready!" Chat argued. "Do you really think I'll be this disappointed?" His voice softened and he moved closer to her. Ladybug looked away and sighed.

"Maybe…"

"Impossible." He said quickly. "Absolutely impossible. I'm sure your secret identity is even more purrfect than you are." He grinned and leaned on her shoulder, trying his best to rid all her worries.

"Oh shut up," she smiled. "Besides, what if you hate my civilian identity?"

"Nope, impossible," he said again, "I don't hate anyone and the only person I relatively dislike is Chloé and we've already established that you are not her."

"Yeah I know but-"

"No buts," he raised his finger into the air. "Master Wu said that it would be good for us if we learned who we really were. We would get stronger as a team... as partners."

"I know," Ladybug admitted, "I just don't want you to be disappointed with who I really am."

"And I won't be," he reassured her, "I promise." He placed his gloved hand on her shoulder. She let out another sigh and looked at him, moderately annoyed. Chat was not perturbed, for this was a look he received at least once a day, if not more.

"Fine." Ladybug shook her head with a light smile. "But we have to do it on my terms, okay?"

"That's alright with me!" Chat said excitedly.

"We're going to meet at the Repas Délicieux-"

"Love that place."

"You've been?"

"Of course," Chat grinned at her. "One of my favorites." She sighed again. Her partner was much more excited than she was. Not that she wasn't excited of course! She was just painfully anxious.

"Then we're going to get dinner there, obviously-"

"I'll pay of course."

"Chat this isn't a date."

"Who said it wasn't?"

"Me!"

"Doesn't matter I'm still going to buy."

"Okay, well make sure you're wearing something nice." She stood up and took out her yo-yo. "You better be there tomorrow at 7:00 sharp." She told him, "Right on the dot."

"Right on the spot." He poked one of the black spots on her leg and grinned sheepishly to himself.

"Chat…"

"I won't be late, I promise." Chat stood alongside her. "You can count on me, m'lady."

"So I'll see you tomorrow, promptly at seven o'clock, right?" Ladybug began swinging the yo-yo with one of her hands.

"Of course." He said reassuringly.

"Goodnight Chat," She swung her yo-yo across the street and trailed behind it. Chat watched her disappear into the skyline.

"Goodnight," he shut his eyes and breathed in. He was going to meet her. He was going to meet the love of his life.

…

Marinette lay in her bed, wide awake. It was what, three in the morning now? Tikki lay next to her, fast asleep-actually, let me correct myself. Tikki was barely asleep. Every so often Marinette would poke her awake and babble for several minutes about meeting Chat. Why this was a big deal, Tikki would never know, but she attempted to listen intently until the sweet calling of slumber lured her back to sleep.

"What if I hate him in real life?" Marinette asked half-asleep Tikki, "What if I'm disappointed by him? I don't want to be disappointed, but what if I am? We're friends, best friends! And what if I actually hate him? What am I gonna do? I can't hate him. We're partners, we're a team. We need to work together, but-"

"Marinette!" Tikki finally could not take it anymore. "Master Wu wouldn't have chosen you two, together, if you hated each other. The Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous have a sacred bond-"

"I know, but-"

"Marinette, everything will be fine." Tikki said, "I promise."

"And I believe you," she admitted, "But I'm just scared."

"I know you are," Tikki said softly. "But Chat wants to meet you so badly and he'd be disappointed if you bailed." Marinette sighed. She knew that was true and she knew she didn't want to hurt her friend like that. But fear was embedded deep within her. Marinette didn't want anything to go wrong.

"I know." She admitted. "I know."

Even with Tikki's wise words, Marinette couldn't fall asleep. She lay there for hours contemplating what she should wear, what she should say. Her biggest fear was that he'd be upset with who she really was. Just a normal girl. That's all she was, honestly. At night she was Ladybug… but during the day… well, she was just Marinette.

"It'll all be okay." She whispered to herself. "It'll all be okay."

…

The next morning began with a more rough start than usual. Marinette was always a little late, of course, but today she was extra late and really not looking forward to the rest of the day (for very obvious reasons). When she stumbled into class twenty-five minutes after the bell, Ms. Bustier required an adequate excuse from her, but all Marinette could cough up was that she couldn't sleep and had trouble getting up.

"You couldn't have thought of anything better?" Alya asked after she sat down with a detention slip crumpling beneath her fingers. Chloé and Sabrina were giggling in the front of the room and the rest of the class was just happy they had a short minute and a half break from Ms. Bustier's lecturing.

"I was being honest," Marinette said through gritted teeth. This was only her second detention, but she had promised her parents that she was going to help at the bakery that afternoon. They had a big cookie order to fill. "What am I going to tell my parents? I have to work today."

"I'll go over and do it for you," Alya offered.

"I'm not going to ask you to do that," Marinette said quickly, "My dad is very... intense when he's stressed."

"I know the feeling," Adrien whispered to them, "I can help if you need anything, Marinette." Her face burned a bright red. Alya elbowed her, hard.

"No, Adrien it's fine, I'm just going to tell-"

"Don't worry Marinette, I have a photoshoot this afternoon that I've wanted to skip since it got scheduled. I'll owe you a favor."

"I- uh- but-"

Just let him. Alya mouthed to her.

"Thanks Adrien," Marinette breathed a sigh of relief, "I'll text my dad right now."

The rest of the school day was fairly uneventful. A few minutes before the final bell, Marinette briefed Alya and Adrien for her father's paranoia when it came to large cookie orders.

"If he's running around, just avoid him, he won't bother you if you just avoid him. Also, laugh at all his jokes, even though they're not funny, it makes him less stressed out, and-"

"Marinette, we've got this!" Alya said softly, "It's gonna be fine."

"Don't worry," Adrien put his hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you so much you guys," Marinette exhaled, "The order is set for 4 and that's when I'll get home. You guys should be done by then, so don't wait for me." The bell rang and everyone began to stand up and gather their books. "Thank you, so much." Marinette gave Alya a quick hug.

"See you later Marinette!" Alya waved good-bye.

"See you!"

"Bye, Mari," Adrien smiled at her before exiting the room, "Remember, I owe you." She laughed nervously to herself and gave him a nod.

"No you don't!" But he was already out the door. Even though she was set to endure an hour of detention and then discover the secret identity of her partner and her best friend, she felt… at peace, for just a little while.

…

When Marinette was let out of detention at precisely four o'clock she was overcome with panic. She was going to meet Chat's civilian form in just three hours. That was hardly any time at all to mentally prepare herself and physically prepare herself.

Marinette rushed home. Her father immediately praised Alya and Adrien for their help in the bakery. The order was completed with more than ten minutes to spare, all thanks to her friends, but Marinette didn't even have the mental focus to talk about it. She ran straight up to her room to choose between a few dresses and shoes to match. Ultimately, she decided that she had to look as beautiful as possible. She had to impress whoever Chat was behind his mask and ears.

After careful deliberation, she chose a navy blue skater dress with tan sandals and a gray handbag with blue polka dots to match. Maybe Chat would understand the spots reference. Or maybe he wouldn't. Marinette didn't know and she was too nervous to think about it.

"Marinette, don't get too nervous." Tikki instructed, "Chat is excited to get to know you and you should be excited to get to know him."

"I am." Marinette said quickly as she put on a little mascara.

"I think you're still freaking out-"

"Of course I am!" She paused and looked at her kwami in desperation, "I just want everything to go well. I want us to click. And there's a large chance that we won't!"

"Marinette, you click just fine-"

"As Ladybug and Chat Noir." She said, "Maybe not as Marinette and whoever he actually is." Tikki sighed. It was going to be a long night.

…

Adrien, on the other hand, was far too excited to meet Ladybug. After he had left Marinette's with a couple cookies in his bag, he ran home and into his room, ignoring his father's angry yells about the photoshoot he decided to skip. Like Marinette, Adrien spent a very long time debating what he wear.

"Why is that so important?" Plagg whined. He just wanted some camembert but instead he had to be Adrien's source of fashion advice.

"I want to make a good first impression."

"What if you've already met her?"

"Then I want to make a good second impression."

"Well, if you want to make any impression at all, you better get there on time." Plagg said quietly.

"Wait, what?" Adrien stood up straight and turned to look at his clock. 6:57. "Oh no." He looked down at what he was wearing, he hadn't changed at all since the bakery. His clothes were covered with flour.

"Adrien, you don't have time, let's just g-" Adrien grabbed his kwami and threw him into his shirt pocket.

"Sorry Plagg." He said as he ran out of the house.

"Geez, watch it! You could've crushed me!"

"Relax, I'll get you some camembert when we get to Repas Délicieux," he mumbled, "Hopefully I'll get there in time."

From Adrien's mansion, the Repas Délicieux was a twenty minute walk. He had less than three minutes to get there at the time Ladybug specified. Of course, he was running, but to shave off seventeen minutes would be a pretty impressive feat for even the fastest of runners. By the time he reached the correct block, it was already 7:10 and if he knew anything about Ladybug, he knew she had gotten there early.

"Are you there yet?" Plagg held onto Adrien's shirt tightly. His ears flapped in the wind.

"Almost," Adrien said between breaths, "I hope she didn't-" Suddenly Adrien collided with another person. He hadn't even noticed anyone walking directly in front of him and they both fell backwards onto the pavement. He was only a few steps from the Repas Délicieux, only a few steps from meeting the love of his life.

"Adrien?" Marinette was on the ground in a pretty blue dress. Her right elbow was scraped and bleeding a little and she was rubbing her lower back in pain.

"Oh, Marinette, I'm so sorry, I was a little distracted, I didn't even see you." Adrien immediately stood up and ran towards her, offering her his hand.

"No, it's ok, uh," she assured, "Please- uh- don't worry about it." She grabbed his hand and he hoisted her upwards. "Thanks."

"I'm sorry, you're hurt," he held her hand a little longer, "Let me go get you a bandaid or something-"

"Uh- I- it's fine," Marinette laughed nervously, "It's just a scrape, nothing I can't handle." Her elbow was twitched, but she didn't admit that. He was quite jittery, she noticed. "What's up?"

"Not much," he said quickly. Adrien realized now that he was too late. Ladybug was probably long gone. "Just hungry for a Repas Délicieux burger."

"Do you like that restaurant?" Marinette asked excitedly.

"It's my favorite," he said.

"Me too." Marinette smiled at him, "I was- I'm going to get take out, if you want to come with me- or- uh- maybe you were planning on sitting down? Sorry-"

"No, I'll come with you," Adrien said. Marinette nodded and her cheeks burned red. She wasn't even mad about Chat ditching her for the moment. She was hanging out with Adrien alone! What could be better? "I'm not doing anything tonight," he said almost subconsciously, "Do you want to come over or something? I just got a new video game, maybe you could try it, I mean if you want to."

"I'd love to." She grinned. After being ditched by her partner, Marinette wanted to do something to help her forget about it.

"Great!" Adrien felt himself relax. He had let Ladybug down, but he owed Marinette something for getting him out of that photoshoot and honestly he wanted to hang out with her.

The two walked into the restaurant together, already bickering about who would win Adrien's new video game and easily forgetting about discovering their partner's secret identity.