Author's Note- I wrote this a little over a year ago, but I decided I'd post it in case someone would like to read it. Enjoy!

Also, I've started working on the sequel to "A Light Between Them", but it's been a slow process. I appreciate everyone's patience.

Ladybug was engaged in a tough battle the newest of Hawk Moth's akumatized villains. Her partner and close friend, Chat Noir, was right by her side, just as he always was. This villain, Iron Fist, was ten feet tall and had cyborg body parts. His metal hands, however, were five times the size they normally would be.

Ladybug tried to do a sneak attack from behind, while Chat Noir was distracting him from the front. Just as she was about to wrap her yoyo around Iron Fist's legs and trip him, he grabbed ahold of Chat. He tried to fight his way out, but to no avail. He then tried to extend his staff to make the hand open, but it seemed to be locked closed.

Despite the strength of both Chat Noir and Ladybug, the hand was not freeing him. This would be the perfect opportunity to steal his ring from him, but Iron Fist didn't seem to be going for Chat Noir's hand. He moved his hand from being around Chat's torso to around his neck.

"What is he doing with Chat…" Ladybug thought. She was lost in her thinking, but she was snapped out of it when she heard gagging sounds.

"Chat Noir?" She asked, looking up. Chat was being severely choked. Iron Fist's grip was getting tighter and tighter. If she didn't act fast, she could be too late.

Suddenly, she saw a few drops of blood coming out if the bottom of Iron Fist's hand. When she looked up, Chat Noir was motionless.

"What…no, no!" Ladybug shouted. Iron Fist dropped Chat and took off in another direction. Kneeling next to his body, she tried endlessly to wake him up. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no…"

When she checked for a pulse, there was nothing. Chat Noir, and whoever he was under the mask, was gone.

"CHAT NOIR! NO! NO!"

In a huge fluster, Marinette woke up from her nightmare in a cold sweat. After snapping back to reality (whoop there goes gravity), she realized that it was all a nightmare. That thought didn't comfort her much, since having nightmares like this was usual for her.

Ever since she had received her miraculous earrings, nightmares of this type have become normal, having about two to three a week. Because of this, she was often late to school; she would wake up from a nightmare and then struggle to fall asleep, making her tired in the morning.

"Tikki," Marinette whisper-called to her kwami. "I had a nightmare again."

Tikki flew over to Marinette's lap.

"Well, you were shouting in your sleep. What happened in it this time, Marinette?" she asked.

Marinette sighed, and her face winced. "Well, just like all the other ones, I was fighting against an akuma with Chat and… and he, he… you know? What happened in all the other ones. I don't want to go into detail about it."

"I understand. I know it's though." Tikki replied.

"Do you- do you know why I get these nightmares?" Marinette asked Tikki. The kwami sighed.

"Yes, yes I do. It's happened to almost all Ladybugs when they're young like you are. It's not exactly healthy to fight evil when you're a teenager. Chat Noir gets them too, I'm sure, since he seems to be close to your age."

"Does he get them as often as I do?"

"I wouldn't count on it, as you are the one doing most of the close-up fighting, and not to mention purifying the akumas. You seem to get them two times a week, and I would assume he only gets them around once per week."

"Since mine are about terrible things happening to him, would his be about terrible things happening to me?"

"That would make sense if they were. That's what I've seen happen in the past. And trust me, I've seen a LOT of the past."

Marinette gave a slight giggle, but then remembered her unfortunate dream.

"Is there… any way to stop them? They're a huge annoyance. And not to mention disturbing."

"If there is, I don't know it. I'm sorry, Marinette."

"It's alright, Tikki. I'll try to go back to sleep. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Marinette!"

When Marinette woke up the next morning to the sound of her mother's calls, she had indeed been late. Roll call began in ten minutes, and she wasn't even out of bed. In a frantic hurry, she got dressed (almost forgetting her shoes,), gathered all her homework from the night before into her backpack, grabbed her purse (with Tikki inside,), ran down the stairs, grabbed a croissant from the bakery, and ran out the door, waving goodbye to her dad as she went.

Racing towards the school, she checked her phone to check the time. 2 minutes! Picking up the pace a bit, she made it into the school building, up the stairs, and into the classroom with a half-minute to spare.

As she made her way to her seat, Marinette noticed Alya, Nino, and Adrien talking excitedly.

"Marinette!" Adrien exclaimed. He had a giant smile on his face, and both Alya and Nino had joyful and amused smirks.

"Oh no…" Marinette thought. "what's about to happen…"

"H-hey, Adrien! Hi!"

She heard Alya let out a slight laugh as she climbed into her seat. Adrien turned his body to face her.

"Why are you all so happy?" Marinette asked her friends.

"Well," Adrien started. "I'm having a sleepover Friday night. My father is going to be travelling for business, and I convinced Nathalie to let me have some friends over for a sleepover. Nino and Alya already said they could come. What about you?"

Marinette's mind was racing. "OMG OMG OMG! Adrien invited me to a sleepover! At his house! Ok, ok, calm down. Answer him before the pause is awkwardly long."

"I-I don't think I have any plans. I'll be there!" she managed to say.

"Awesome!" Adrien replied excitedly. "This sleepover will be great, since it's my first one."

"I have a huge movie collection, so I'll bring some of the best ones for a sleepover. It'll be sick!" Nino enthused.

"This is going to be one heck of a party." Alya added.

The bell rang for classes to start, and Adrien and Nino turned to face the front. Alya turned to Marinette.

"A sleepover at Adrien's? Are you sure you're ready?" she whispered.

"I'm not passing up something like this. I'll be on my best behavior. Besides, when I don't overthink it, I can act normal around him, like when you called him to translate for me. I'll be fine."

As the bell rang and class ended, students flooded out of the doors. Marinette ran towards the bathroom, checked to make sure no one was there. She then opened her purse to let Tikki fly out, as Marinette was excited to tell her about the sleepover.

"Tikki!" she (almost) shouted. "I'm going to a sleepover at Adrien's house on Friday! Can you believe it?"

"That's great Marinette! But- there's one problem." Tikki said.

"What is it?"

"Your nightmares. What if you have one, someone hears you talking in your sleep, and hears you talking about Chat Noir?"

"Oh, gosh, Tikki, you're right!" Marinette said with a grunt. "But…, I already told Adrien I would go, and I don't want to disappoint him by saying I can't. I'm not letting these nightmares get in the way of having fun if I can't get rid of them. I'm going, and whatever happens happens."

"Alright, Marinette. Just be careful. And…leave your purse open so I can peek at the movies and give me sweets!"

Marinette giggled. "You got it!"

It was Friday evening, and Alya and Marinette showed up at the Agreste mansion. Alya had a duffle bag and a pillow, but Marinette was struggling to carry a backpack, pillow, sleeping bag, and stuffed animal.

"Gurl," Alya said to Marinette as she rang the doorbell. "You've got way too much in your hands. You're gonna drop something soon."

The gigantic door opened and startled Marinette, causing her to drop the sleeping bag.

Suddenly, a hand came out of the door and grabbed the strap of the bag, catching it right before it hit the ground. As the door fully opened, Adrien stood there holding Marinette's sleeping bag, with Nino close behind him.

"Hey guys!" Adrien said excitedly.

"Thanks for watching-I-I mean- catching! Catching my bag. I can take it." Marinette stumbled.

"It's ok, I can carry it. You have enough in your hands." Adrien replied with a smile.

"Ok…"

Alya nudged Marinette in the side, and a sly smile spread across her face.

The two of them followed Adrien inside. Marinette had been to his house times before, both as Marinette and Ladybug, but she couldn't help but gasp at the foyer. It was a crisp black and white, and there wasn't a speck of dust to be seen. However, her Ladybug senses couldn't help but notice the many butterfly-esque shapes that covered the room. She decided to shove that factor aside for now and just add it to the list of proof. After all, she was there to have fun with her friends, not protect Paris. And even if Gabriel Agreste happened to be Hawk Moth, he was out of town.

As they entered Adrien's room, she noticed that there was a large table covered with treats and snacks. Cookies, candy, ice cream, croissants, cupcakes, pizza, chips, different types of soda, and popcorn. The room was filled with so many pillows and blankets that everything looked like an impressive pillow fort.

"Looks like he really went all out for this," Alya whispered into Marinette's ear. She giggled.

"He's just excited." She replied. "I sure would be if I were him."

Everyone changed from their regular clothes into pajama pants, t-shirts, sweatshirts, slippers, and fuzzy socks. After scavenging Adrien's impressive movie collection, they decided to watch an old movie about a classic superhero. Marinette was excited to see a lot of classic things about superheroes that she could secretly relate to. She was also just excited to relax with her friends and not worry about her double-life.

Next, they watched a buddy-cop animated movie that had recently been released. She hadn't gotten to see it in the theater, and she was excited to finally watch it. She couldn't help but laugh at some of the similarities between the two main characters and herself and Chat Noir.

They watched a few more movies, With Tikki watching quietly from Marinette's purse and a few cookies she had snuck into it, and then moved on to a tournament of Ultimate Mega Strike III. Of course, Alya got out first, with Nino losing immediately after. Nobody was surprised when it was Adrien against Marinette for several intense matches. After realizing that the battle could go on all night, Alya and Nino forced them to stop and call it a tie. The two of them laughed, but Adrien came close and whispered into her ear. "We'll continue this later. I want to either win or lose fairly." Blushing slightly, Marinette gave him a discreet thumb up.

Nino suggested they play Foosball with teams and partnered up with Alya. Marinette realized she would be teaming up with Adrien and let out a small squeal.

After playing together, she was surprised with how well she worked with Adrien. They both were coordinated so well that they could have been doing this for months. Nino and Alya could barely keep up with them, scrambling to keep up with the duo.

Tired of not winning anything, Alya and Nino decided that they would play single-player games, rather than teams.

"I have the perfect game to play" Nino said as he walked over to his bag. The three others watched with anticipation as he pulled out a white board game. As he turned the box towards them, a colorful mat and big, red words spelling out "Twister" covered the lid of the box.

Alya was determined, Adrien was confused, and Marinette was nervous. She knew that Twister could lead to some awkward positions between people, and she didn't want to be in that situation with Adrien.

"Um… are you sure about this, Nino?" Adrien asked. Mari was happy to know she wasn't the only person not up to the game. "That game can create some weird situations."

"I agree with Adrien," Marinette piped up. "I'm not sure about this. I'd rather play a different kind of game."

"Well, you don't have to physically play, but we still need someone to spin the spinner." Alya retorted. "I want to win something tonight, and our two constant winners are backing down."

"I'll spin it." Adrien said. "I still like watching people play Twister."

Marinette giggled. "I do too."

After Alya and Nino finished playing Twister and Adrien and Marinette laughed at them, it was dark outside, most of the food had been eaten, and everyone was starting to nod off. Adrien climbed into his bed, and Nino and Alya claimed the large, white couch. Marinette laid her sleeping out on the floor beside the couch and coffee table. She gathered pillows and blankets from around the room to make it cozier. She pulled her purse and bag close to her pillow and moved the already asleep Tikki from the purse to the duffle bag. She whispered "good night" to her as quietly as she could without anyone else hearing her and thinking she was crazy.

Later, Adrien woke up, thirsty. As he made his way out of bed and into the bathroom, he heard a voice coming from the other side of the room. It was barely loud enough to be heard from that distance. As he got closer, he heard it coming from Marinette.

Plagg suddenly popped out next to Adrien. "What's wrong with her?"

"I'm not- entirely sure. It may just be a bad dream or something." Adrien replied. "I just hope she's ok."

"No, no!" Marinette murmured. Adrien bent down to get closer to her. He had no make sure his friend was ok.

"No, Chat Noir, no, No! Stop it!" Marinette whispered. Adrien was stunned to hear his princess talk about his alter ego.

"Ya know," Plagg said, "Those kinda sound like the nightmares you get, when terrible things happen to Ladyb- "

"Ugh. Please don't remind me of those. I can't stand them. But, you do make a point. It's probably just a coincidence."

"You sure?"

"Not entirely- but I'm going to get a glass of water. We'll see if she's still sleep-talking when I get back."

When Adrien got back from the bathroom, Marinette was, indeed, still having her nightmare.

"Hey, so I kinda did some snooping… and I found something you'll want to see." Plagg whispered.

"Plagg! Why did you do that?" Adrien whisper-shouted.

"You want to know who Ladybug is, and I found something interesting. I know I did something wrong, but I did it for a good reason, so just look?"

"Fine. What is it?"

"Look in her big bag. You'll see it."

He crouched down next to her bag, and he slowly opened the zipper. Inside, he saw a little red kwami with black spots, cuddling a chocolate chip cookie.

"No way…" Adrien gasped. "But how?"

"Are you really that dense?" Plagg complained. "It's obvious! That girl is Ladybug! Don't forget I got to see Ladybug's face, and I've known that kwami for hundreds of years."

"Wait, just to make sure…"

Adrien quietly turned to face Marinette, who had fortunately calmed down. He quietly moved the small piece of hair that covered her ears. And there, on her ears, were little black, round earrings, the exact shape and size of Ladybug's.

"Oh my God… Marinette! I can't believe it… You don't know how happy I am right now! The love of my life has been you all along! I don't think I could've asked for anything better!"

"You do know that she can't hear you, right?" Plagg murmured.

"It all makes sense now." Adrien continued, ignoring his kwami. "She always misses class the same time I do, her hair is the same, her beautiful bluebell eyes… adorable freckles… cute laugh… amazing smile…"

"Geez kid, I get it. You love her, she's the love of your life, yadda yadda yadda. It's late, and you should be sleeping. I should be too." With that, Plagg flew towards Adrien's trash can.

Adrien smiled, and carefully pulled Marinette out of her sleeping bag and picked her up in his arms, carrying her over to his bed.

He got back into the bed, pulled the covers over them both, and fell asleep.

Marinette groggily woke up to light shining through the giant window and into her face. She tried to reach down to the floor next to her and grab her phone, but there was no floor. Instead, it was a soft mattress. Looking around, she realized she was in a bed. Confused, she started looking around the room to see where she was. When she turned her head to the right, she saw a head of messy blond hair right on front of her face.

"Wait- WHAT?!" Marinette shouted in her head. "Is that- is that Adrien? Am I in his bed?!"

She slowly pushed herself up on her arms; enough to see the side of his face. "Yup. That's definitely him."

She tried to look back to where she fell asleep, and it had certainly been used. She had to have been moved to the bed. "But how? Why? When? Why am I asking myself questions I don't know the answer to?"

As if on cue, she saw Adrien start to move and wake up. "Uh oh…" Marinette thought again. "Here we go…"

She decided the best option was to just lay there quietly until he saw her. She didn't want to startle him.

After waiting for a minute or two, Adrien turned from being on his side to being on his back. He saw Marinette out of the corner of his eye. He smiled and turned onto his other side to face her.

After seeing the confused and slightly startled look on her face, he decided he would explain what he found last night.

"Good morning Marinette," he greeted. "How did you sleep?"

"Umm… fine, I guess, but I just have some questions… like why am I-"

"-In my bed? Ha, I'll tell you right now, if you want."

"Um- yes, please."

"Ok, so I had woken up to get a drink of water when I heard you saying things in your sleep from across the room."

Marinette covered her face with her hands. "Uugghhhhhmmm…"

"Wha- what's wrong?" Adrien asked in a flurried concern.

"I have some really bad nightmares sometimes. I was hoping I wouldn't get any tonight, but I guess not."

"I get it- I have some really bad ones too."

"What are yours about? If you don't mind me asking, I- I mean."

"Well… It usually has me and… I- I can't get into it. I'm sorry."

"Oh no, it's fine! I'm the same way- I don't really want to talk about it."

Adrien smiled. "Ya know, we have a lot more in common than I thought. It's kinda funny."

Marinette giggled. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Anyway, I heard you talking and so I went over to see if you were ok. My kw- I mean, I noticed that you were having a nightmare like the ones that I get sometimes. So, I decided that I would go get a drink and see if you were still having the nightmare when I get back. And you were, so I decided that I should bring you to my bed. I didn't want you to just be on the floor."

"Oh, okay. That makes sense." Marinette replied. "Thank you."

"But- um- there's more to the story than that. It's a bit more complex. It's okay if you don't, but I should probably tell it to you."

Marinette started to get a lot more anxious than she already was. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hear the rest or not. Reluctantly, she said, "Ok. You can tell me."

Adrien took a deep breath. "Okay. To fully explain, I have to do something. Something big. So, just- brace yourself. I promise you won't get hurt."

"Umm… okay. I trust you."

Adrien got out of bed and started to walk over to the couch. "Nino and Alya are still asleep. It's safe to do it." he thought.

He walked over to his trash can and reached both hands inside of it. He saw the confused look on Marinette's face as he walked towards her with hands covering their contents.

He climbed back into the bed and sat so that his body was facing her. She noticed that he was sitting closer to her than before. She thought it would be awkward, but it was fine. It felt natural.

"Ready?" Adrien asked with excitement.

Marinette stared at his hands, and then nodded.

Adrien slowly uncovered what he was holding. Inside his hands was Plagg, asleep in in Adrien's palms.

"Wait, what?! Is that a- ah- a kwa- wah- what?!"

"A kwami?"

"Yeah. That."

"Yup, this is my kwami, Plagg. Where's your kwami?"

"Oh, she's in my bag. She's sleeping."

After sitting there in silence for a moment, Marinette realized what was actually happening.

"WAIT DOES THAT MEAN YOU'RE-" she sputtered.

"Yeah…"

"AND YOU FOUND OUT I'M-"

"Yes…"

"BUT- WHY- WHAT- HOW?!"

"That's part of the story. When I heard you talking in your sleep, Plagg pointed out that they sounded like nightmares that I have sometimes. Your nightmares are about terrible things happening to Chat Noir, and mine are about terrible things happening to Ladybug. And, knowing now that that's you, and it makes it even more unbearable."

"I-I feel the same way." Marinette replied.

"Yeah. Anyway, I went to get a drink of water, Plagg looked in your bag and found your kwami. He told me, I freaked out a little, and he was telling me that he had seen your face when we fought the Dark Owl, and he's known your kwami for hundreds of years. And, to make sure, I looked to see if you had the earrings, and you did. You can't understand how happy I was to find out that you're Ladybug. It felt so obvious once I figured it out. So, I carried you from the floor and into the bed, and fell asleep."

"Oh- oh wow. Knowing you're Chat, it really all makes sense." she said.

"Yeah. It really does."

Marinette giggled. "Hey, do you remember when you told Ladybug that you have a crush on her, and she told you that she liked someone else?"

"Yeah. I remember I gave her a rose and a kiss on the cheek."

"Well, that someone else was you. But, like, the other you. Know what I mean?"

"Wait- so you do like me?"

"I guess that's how it turned out- yes!"

Adrien smiled the biggest smile possible. "My Lady loves me!"

All of a sudden, sounds came from the couch. The duo froze.

"Someone's waking up." Adrien whispered to Marinette.

"I can stay after they leave." She whispered back "We can continue talking then."

"Great plan, purrincess."

Marinette giggled as she shushed him.

"Noooo… I don't wanna shush!" Adrien laughed back.

Marinette grabbed her pillow and threw it in his face, laughing all the way.

In a blink of an eye, Alya appeared at the foot of the bed, with a very skeptical look on her face. Both Marinette and Adrien looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"What. The Hell. Is going on here?!" Alya shouted. Nino started to sit up on the couch and watch.

"Nothing…" Adrien murmured, knowing he wasn't getting away with it.

"You're not fooling me, Mr. Agreste. And neither are you, Mari. What is happening?"

"Umm…" Marinette stumbled. "We're- erm- we're-"

"Well," Adrien cut in. "I saw her having a nightmare in the middle of the night, and I felt bad about her being on the floor. So I brought her here. That's all."

"That's not all…" she thought. "But that's all she's getting. There's no way I'm telling Alya what happened. At least not now."

She seemed skeptical at Adrien's answer, but accepted it as she went back over to the couch with Nino. Marinette and Adrien couldn't help but let out a giggle.

"I'm still onto you!" Alya shouted with a humorous tone.

"Nice save," Marinette whispered to Adrien. "I would've broken down if you hadn't cut me off."

"But that's what partners do," he replied. "We save each other, no matter what the circumstances."

"See you at school, dude!" Adrien called out as Nino was leaving the huge front doors. Alya had left just before. Like she said she would, Marinette was staying behind so they could talk about last night's revelation.

When Adrien came back up to his room, Marinette was sitting quietly on the couch, now in her clothes and not her pajamas.

"So…" he said as he sat down next to her. "You're Ladybug?"

"Yeah…" she replied, still staring down at her hands. "and you're Chat Noir?"

"Yup."

"And we have crushes on each other."

"It seems like that."

She looked up at him and met his face. "When… did you start having a crush on me?"

"Do you remember when you were on the Eiffel Tower, and you had just purified all the akumas that formed Hawk Moth's face?"

"I could never forget."

"That was when the crush formed. I even said to myself, 'Whoever is under the mask, I love that girl.' And that girl turned out to be you."

Marinette blushed and bit her lip.

"When did you have a crush on me?" Adrien asked her.

"Oh! Yeah…It was when it was raining outside. And you were telling me that you were trying to remove the gum, and then you gave me your umbrella?"

Adrien gave a light laugh. "Do you still have that, by the way? I might need it someday."

Marinette giggled back. "Of course I still have it."

Adrien thought for a bit and then said, "You know, thinking about it now, it's kinda obvious that we were our alter egos. You'd think we would've figured it out earlier."

"Honestly, how did we not figure that out? You're the only guy I know with green eyes and blond fluffy hair. I should've put two and two together." Marinette thought, out loud.

"Hey, at least my hair and eyes change." Adrien replied. "The only thing that changes about you is that you get some cool ribbons in your hair. I'm the one who should have figured it out, it was easier for me."

"Don't beat yourself up about it. We know it now, and that's what matters."

"…what do you think will change because we know?"

"I mean- I think we'll be closer and work better together, but if our enemies were to find out that we know, it could definitely be used against us. Like- what if one of us got captured and then tortured to say who our partner really is? Or-"

"Hey-hey!" Adrien interrupted. "I won't let anything like that happen. And if it does somehow, we'll protect each other no matter what. I'd never want anything bad to happen to you."

Marinette stared into his green eyes. "I don't anything bad to happen to you either," she said quietly. She was then wrapped into a warm, deep hug. She hugged back. They both knew that things would change, but they'd be ready.

14