"Girl, you should've seen it! Ladybug ran off the stage right in the middle of the concert and didn't come back for like, fifteen minutes. We all thought she was gonna cancel the whole thing, but then she came back onstage. Ugh, it was insane!" Alya gushed to Marinette. The two sat on the latter's bedroom floor, talking about the Ladybug concert the previous night.

Marinette winced internally. To say last night had been rough was an understatement. After running off stage Marinette collapsed into a pile of tears on the floor. Her heart had hurt so much, and she didn't know why. All she knew was that Tikki and Plagg somehow managed to convince her to do an outfit change, play the interlude, and finish the concert. The meet and greet after had been rescheduled for the next night at Mayor Bourgeois' hotel.

"—arinette. Marinette!" Alya's voice brought her back from thought. "Were you even listening to me?" The girl shook her head at her friend. Alya sighed, smiling fondly. "I was just saying that you could totally tell that she had been crying. It was so weird, you know? Like she's supposed to be untouchable, but something had her really messed up last night. You know,—" she leaned in closer to Marinette, whispering loudly—"I bet that she has a secret boyfriend that nobody knows about and they broke up last night before the show. That would explain a lot, right?"

Marinette rolled her eyes at her. While she was used to Alya's wild theories that she conjured up while trying to figure out Ladybug's true identity, this one truly took the cake. "Alya," she began, "maybe she just got emotional singing the song. Thinking 'bout you is pretty intense, after all. Maybe she just got caught up in the moment or something. That happens all the time with other singers."

Alya's eyes snapped back to study hers curiously. "How did you know she cried during Thinking 'bout you?"

Whoops. Marinette hadn't been at the concert last night, only Ladybug had. Marinette had been busy 'babysitting' for Nadja Chamack again ("The eighth time this month!" Alya had pointed out) so she couldn't have gone. How was she going to explain this one?

"Well, uh—I saw a video online! Yeah, on your blog! I remember seeing somebody submitted one so I watched it, and boy, did it look rough. Poor Ladybug," Marinette lied, stumbling over her words. She prayed Alya would believe her lame excuse.

"Bullshit."

Marinette blanched. Alrighty then.

She didn't believe her. And now Marinette was making a bigger mess than she really had ever needed to. Opening her mouth, she fought to find her voice, to say something, to say anything, when Alya suddenly laughed.

"Daaamn, girl! I got you good!" she snickered as she looked at her friend's terrified face. After a moment Marinette recovered, giggling along with her. That was close, she thought. Too close.

As much as Marinette loved Alya and trusted her with her life, there were some things that she needed to keep to herself. Like the fact that she led a double life as a pop star that only her parents knew about. Or that she was currently finishing her summer concert tour just in time to promote her upcoming album, Lucky Charm.

Add to that going into junior year in lycée and having to keep up with schoolwork, as well as the occasional public appearance on a radio show or just out in general, meant there usually was little downtime for Marinette to breathe.

Since she swore herself to secrecy to keep her identity safe, Marinette couldn't tell Alya anything about her double life at all. She supposed it was better off that way, but there were those times where Marinette wished she could let Alya in and tell her everything. She wanted to be able to come home and just rant to somebody who wasn't her parents. She wanted to have Alya there in the studio with her when she wrote songs or recorded an album. She wanted Alya to be there by her side, backstage with her at every concert, cheering her on.

But she couldn't. No matter how much she wanted it to happen, it just couldn't. Tikki and Plagg had explained it all to Marinette when she first signed to Kwami Records.

"Marinette, if anybody finds out your true identity, it could be catastrophic," Tikki stated. The petite woman sat next to Marinette in her office, a contract on the table. Plagg sat across from the two, nodding at her words.

"Look, kid," he said seriously, "anybody can turn on you in this industry. Don't share your identity with anyone because if that gets leaked, you can kiss any hope of a normal life good-bye instantly."

"That's right," Tikki agreed. "The press will have a field day, and you'll be forced to admit it. Marinette, the only people who can know are the ones you can trust with your life. Got that?"

Marinette nodded. This was all so new to her—recording albums, singles, contracts, record labels. All she knew was that she wanted to make people feel something when they listened to her music. She wanted to make people happy.

"—and that's when I decided that, hey, I should just shut down the Ladyblog and elope to Switzerland with Nino. Girl, are you even listening to me anymore?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry," Marinette replied, dazed. "I was up super late last night working on a dress that I really needed to embroider. You know, me and my stupid work ethic!" She laughed weakly, trying to recover.

Alya raised a brow at her.

"You said you had to babysit last night for Nadja Chamack again. Remember?"

Shit shit shit. A flash of panic darted across the ravenette's features. Marinette was going to have to think fast to get out of this one.

"Well, um I—uh, I, um—well, you see Nadja wasn't able to pick Ma—"

"Marinette."

"—non up from my house so I just decided that I should just—"

"Mar."

"—work on a couple of sketches before I had to walk her back—"

"M."

"—to her house and then by the time I got back to my house I—"

"Marinette!" Alya shouted. That got her attention. "You weren't babysitting last night, were you?"

Her eyes went wide. "No, honest Alya, I was! Why would I tell you that I was if I wasn't?"

Her friend sighed. "M, it's not that hard to figure out. Nadja and Manon are on vacation in Italy, remember? You told me that yourself two weeks ago that they'd be gone for a week and a half so we could go to the Ladybug concert together."

This was not looking good.

She continued on. "I don't know what's going on with you, Mar. You lied to me the other times you had to babysit too, because when I called your house, you never answered the phone. And I know for a fact that you rarely leave the house when you babysit, especially at night."

Scratch that. Alya was on to her. Fuck.

Marinette didn't know what to do. She listened as Alya kept going, pointing out every single lie Marinette had told her all summer. All the color drained from her face as Alya crept one step closer to revealing her secret.

"Look, M. I don't have any idea what's going on in your life right now. I barely get to see you anymore, because you always make these excuses why you can't hang out with me anymore. Do you not like me? Because I need to know what I'm doing wrong." Alya finished sadly.

"Alya—I wish I could tell you, I really do." Marinette couldn't tell her; what would happen then? She could see it now: the front pages of newspapers and tabloids, every headline reading LADYBUG'S IDENTITY REVEALED or BUG UNMASKED! She shuddered at the thought of so much attention. Sure she was used to the stage, but to be alone in public and unmasked for the very first time was downright terrifying.

"Why not, Marinette? Why can't you tell me?" Alya was not backing down. She wanted answers, and she wanted them now.

"Why don't you tell me anything anymore? Why can't you ever return my calls or texts? Why do you go missing for days at a time from school, but never bother to tell me where you go or what you're doing? Why do you refuse to tell me anything? Why do you lie to my face and keep me in the dark? Why do you not—"

"Alya, I'm—"

"Oh my god. You're dying." Alya rushed forwards and hugged her tightly. Tears started falling down her face.

"Alya, I'm not dying."

"Oh." The redhead released her, returning to her previous perch on the floor. She adjusted her glasses and wiped away more tears that threatened to fall.

"But there is something I want you to know," Marinette said softly, looking at the floor.

Did she want to do this? Of course. She'd wanted to since the very beginning of her career, before the fame and the tour and the money. At the very least, she owed it to Alya for putting up with her lame lies. She took a deep breath and gathered the last of her courage. Please don't hate me.

"I'm Ladybug."

"Holy shit."