A/n: Okay guys, simmer down. No need to pm me and beg for an update. I am just very busy. I work over 60 hours a week. I have no time for myself, let alone an update. So here is it. Just wait another two weeks. I'll be off work for a month and I'll have plenty of time to write.

Unmasked

Chapter 4

Ladybug was on everyone's minds. That's all anyone talked about, especially Chloe. Once a super fan, she was now just Ladybug's biggest critic and was slamming Marinette fulltime. Adrien had heard enough by the time lunchtime came about. Having heard enough, he left the school grounds and transformed. He snuck onto the school roof. He easily moved from room to roof. Finally, he moved toward the bakery, landing on the living room windowsill. He peeked inside and saw both her parents sitting on the couch together in silence. He knocked on the window to draw their attention.

Marinette's mother was the first one to jump to her feet, and she rushed to the window, unlocking it and opening it for the young hero. "Chat! Please, do you know where our Marinette is?" she begged. He climbed inside and closed the window behind him, despite hearing the people below gasp and cry for his attention. He ignored them and turned back to the worried parents.

"She's safe and in one piece," he assured. "She had a minor case of hypothermia, but she's safe. Not a scratch on her. I came to deliver a message for her."

Marinette's father, Tom stood beside his wife. "What message?"

"She wants you to keep her balcony door unlocked. She's going to try and come home in the next few days, but it will be very late at night, to avoid as much media as possible," he explained.

"We can do that," Tom told Chat Noir. "Anything else?"

"Well, she wanted me to tell you both that 'Mari pie sends her love'," he said with a laugh. "A nickname she said you'd understand."

Both parents chuckled for the first time in a few days. That was their daughter all right. "Also, do you have a mask?"

"A mask?" they both asked in unison.

"It's hard to explain, but I promised Marinette I'd help her get a mask," Adrien explained. "She wore one to the festival of masks, I assume she still has it."

"Y-yes!" Marinette's mother, Sabine, explained in excitement. "Are you the young man she danced with?" He blushed a little but he nodded and the older woman smiled at him. The same smile that Ladybug gave him after every victory. "I'll get the mask."

She left the room, heading upstairs. This left Adrien with Tom alone. "I never would have guessed my Marinette was Ladybug."

Adrien was confused. "Why? Didn't think she was capable?"

Tom shook his head. "Not at all, my Marinette is very capable. She's just not good at keeping her own secrets. She's had a crush on the same boy at school for the last year and it's painfully obvious to everyone. And Ladybug has been around...almost two years now."

Adrien was surprised to hear that Marinette had a crush on a boy at school, but tried to push the thought aside. This wasn't the time or place. "Are you...disappointed?"

"That my daughter is a superhero? Who does whatever she can to save a life, and is loved by our city? Noooo," Tom laughed. "We're proud of her. We're just disappointed that she feels that she had to deal with this on her own. She always has us. And Alya too. She calls or visits us every day."

Adrien felt pretty good about Tom's answer. It was what he always thought a proud father's reaction would be. He felt envious of Marinette, for the great parents she had. He hadn't been so lucky.

"I feel like, Marinette has...self-image issues," Adrien told Tom. "She refused to even let me, her partner know her identity. She always said it was better that I didn't know. And I overheard her recently say that she was worried people would be disappointed that she was Ladybug."

"She's a teenage girl, it's extremely rare a girl wouldn't have some self-esteem issues," Tom explained. "Marinette always never felt good enough. Which is why I supposed she never told Adrien she had a crush on him."

Adrien's eyes went wide, but he tried to act naturally. Did Tom just basically tell him that Marinette had a crush on him? Him. Not Chat Noir, but his everyday boring alter ego, Adrien. Adrien was without words as Chat Noir for the first time ever. He had his mouth open to try and say something to cover his tracks, but nothing came out. Finally, Sabine returned with an overnight bag. He seemed confused about it, but she handed it to him. "Marinette is going to need clean clothes, plus a warm jacket, some boots as well. A few things she'll know will come in handy. Can you get this to her?"

"Y-yeah," he stated. "Of course I can."

"Thank you for saving our daughter's life. We will never be able to repay you. Please be safe," she told the young hero.

"Of course," he said, trying to sound like it was no big thing to me, but really his words were stuck in his throat. Tom's words were still ringing in his ears. He had no idea how to even process this information. Normally he'd act on the news, run to her side and just kiss her, but this was the worst time. Marinette was in distress, and the last thing she probably wanted was feelings she clearly wasn't ready to share to come out.

He waved goodbye to the couple and moved to the window. He put the overnight bag over his shoulder and opened the window once again. He jumped from the window to the street below. Before he was swarmed by the media and fans below he jumped again over them, and started to run down the street. He jumped up onto a roof and jumped onto the school roof.

He peered down into the centre of the school, to make sure no one was around, and he carefully slipped onto the second level. He untransformed, and carefully slipped into the boy's locker room. He peered around and was thankful that no one was around. Plagg floated behind him, he was chuckling to himself. "All this time, you've been pinning for her, and she had no interest in you. Yet, she falls for your everyday self, and your everyday self pretty much ignored her. You, humans are so amusing."

"Shut up," he growled in annoyance. He slipped into the locker room and headed over to his locker where his fencing equipment was kept. He unlocked it and placed the overnight bag inside. He was pretty annoyed with Plagg. He didn't want to be reminded of his faults, especially when it came to his Lady. She had been so close all along, and even worse, she had loved him longer than he even paid attention to her. He felt like such an ass.

He remembered every time Marinette had walked up to him to say something to him and hadn't been able to get a single coherent word out. Stuttering and barely making any sense. She had been shy, and unable to say anything clearly to him. He always assumed that she was just shy around new people, but now he realised from the way she interacted with other classmates, it wasn't new people; it was just him. How many times had she tried to tell him? And how many times after she ran away did he assume she hated him. She did clearly hate him when they first met in the same class. He just assumed after he apologised to her in the rain that day, she continued to not trust him. He had been very wrong.

8 8 8

Marinette looked at the balcony door when she heard a light thump. She watched as the balcony door opened and in came Chat Noir. With him was a large shoulder bag. She knew the bag was hers from her closet. She looked at him in confusion. "What's that?"

"From your mom," he answered. He placed the bag down on the coffee table in front of her. She reached over and pulled it into her lap and unzipped it. She shifted through the bag and saw clean clothes, a hairbrush, shampoo and conditioner. Winter boots and a winter jacket were also in the inventory of the bag. She also saw at the bottom, a brown wig styled in a pixie cut. She giggled and brought it out. "My mom is a genius."

"A wig?" Chat Noir questioned her.

"She thinks that if I can disguise myself then I can move around the city, even just a little. It would be great if my transformation ran out and I needed to walk back here. If we had to go fight that is," she said, softly fixing the wig. "It was for a fashion show I was part of at summer camp a few years ago."

She placed the wig down on the coffee table and searched around in the bag some more. She found some tampon's at the bottom but didn't pull those out, noting that Chat Noir probably didn't need to know she had those. Luckily she wasn't due for another two weeks. Beside them, though, was the mask. Light blue in colour and covered in plastic glass beading, with lace around the edges. It was a very delicate mask she had made, but she didn't care right now. She placed the mask on and looked up at Chat Noir. She sent him that positive upbeat smile she always displayed as Ladybug. It was like she had just transformed into his Lady. "That's so much better."

She jumped to her feet and stretched. He blushed a little as he realised that she wasn't wearing her black tights today. Her dress was a lot shorter then he realised without them on. He could see her bare long smooth legs. 'This is punishment for not noticing her the last few years,' he thought to himself.

"So," Marinette turned to him after she finished stretching. "How are my parents doing?"

"They are doing great, I mean, all things considered," he told her. "Your parents were happy to know you were safe. They saw the news footage of...you unconscious with me carrying you. Also...they're proud of you."

Her eyes went wide, and she covered her mouth. He could see the corner of her eyes burning a little, but she smiled. "They said that?"

He sent her a smile and nodded. "They are so happy that you are such a compassionate hero. They are just...disappointed that you felt you had to face this alone."

She frowned and looked down at her feet. She knew they were right as always. She ran away like a coward and left them to face the crowds of unforgiving media alone. She'd make it up to them, she just had too. "That was wrong of me. I've never been good at facing my fears."

Adrien immediately thought of Tom's confession of who his daughter had a crush on and felt the weight of the name crushed him a little. She even just told him she wasn't able to face things she feared head on. Clearly, those were facing being unmasked, and confessing her love to the boy she liked. He wanted to grab her and take her into his arms right at that very moment. He wanted to tell her that it would be alright. She didn't need to face anything else alone. He didn't need to tell her, though. He would show her. He would remind by her side through all of this. It didn't matter if she never knew his feelings, or she knew his identity or feelings. He would get through this, one way or another.

A/N: For those confused about Festival of Masks thing, and the dance, and the mask and all that. It's a one-shot I wrote called Behind the Mask. To which, Marinette attends in a classic French gown and wears a mask. She meets a young man and they end up sharing a very intimate dance, only for her to realise that its Chat Noir, untransformed. They are both wearing masks, so they don't realise who the other really is. So you don't actually need to go read it or anything.