"Technicolor Beat" by Oh Wonder was listened to repeatedly for this chapter.

This is a bit of a shorter chapter, which was not checked for errors very thoroughly -_-;;;

Hopefully that will change next update.


At school the next morning, Adrien's mind felt weighed down with the necessity of impending obligations. His modeling schedule was reduced while his father was out of the country, but between the remaining shoots, his classwork, and the sudden offer from Ladybug his mind was weighed down and tired.

Plagg called her choice an 'ultimatum' and thought he was an idiot for considering it. To be fair, the sprite usually had reservations about anything that was not cheese. He wasn't the most fair-minded voice when it came to the possibility of big changes.

Just the same, it was the kwami's contrary opinion about it all that stuck in his mind most sharply. They had spent several hours the night before talking about how the conversation with Ladybug had gone down.

"Why do you think she was so hesitant about it in the moment?" Adrien had asked. "It was her idea."

"Uhh, maybe because she was giving you a way out?" Plagg shot back sarcastically while his tiny fingers maneuvered an empty cheese wrapper. Not even a flake was left after his initial attack and he grimaced.

Adrien snorted at him pitilessly, "I don't need a way out. I've already made up my mind."

"Have you?" Plagg's voice was skeptical. "Ladybug made some interesting points. What if she is a horrible girl?"

"Impossible."

"Ugly?"

Adrien shrugged, "No one who does what she does could be ugly, no matter what she looked like."

Plagg laughed, "You're so naive." Adrien disregarded the condescension and cocked his head.

"Anything else?"

With a sigh, the kwami shrugged, "No one can account for every situation, but once you know you can't unknow." He shot a shrewd look at his charge, "Is the advantage worth it? I think you shouldn't even be going after Hawkmoth. You're too young. Your powers haven't fully matured. Hell, you aren't even fully mature yourself." Adrien frowned mightily at that comment.

"I'm mature," he argued.

Plagg was too fired up to even try to retract the statement, "Your body isn't." Adrien relaxed slightly. "And neither is your mind. You don't know who Hawkmoth is or what he's capable of." Normally Adrien would have dismissed his words as his usual grumpiness, but there was something about the way Plagg was looking at him- anger underlying his seriousness. Adrien was sure that if he had been a real cat, a line of fur along his spine would have been sticking straight up.

As it was, the unusual delivery made Adrien's arguments stall, which had been good for both of them since afterward Plagg had been unwilling to say anything at all. He had slept restlessly until his unforgiving alarm had reminded him that he had responsibilities outside of being a superhero. He rose and began to prepare for school, but his mind was still consumed with her offer.

From almost the beginning she had been against the idea, and now she was very seriously for it. His instinct was as it had been at Notre Dame- leap at the possibility, no, the reality of knowing who was beneath the red mask. As a person, Ladybug had floored him from the first moment they met, pulling him out of danger and asking him to stay out of the line of fire until she realized he was not a civilian at all but a possible ally.

He smiled at the memory, which turned into a grin as he remembered each and every time after that he had pressed to know who she really was. She had thwarted him at every turn, sometimes with a smile and sometimes with a laugh. He thought he had never overstepped his bounds, but then when Alya had been transformed by Hawkmoth at Le Grand Paris, Ladybug had calmly, sadly put her foot down. And he had respected her decision to the best of his ability. How could he disobey his heart when she was holding it in her hands?

But now…

Now she was offering freely. The choice was in his hands. She thought their teamwork was good, which it was. It was always becoming better and better as they learned each other's intentions and movements. She was hardly ever hurt, and… well, his injuries were fewer and further between as they synced up more.

Such was her rationale for a reveal, and he could not fault her logic. To go up against Hawk Moth would take everything they had. Even with Plagg's concerns floating in the back of his head, he did not think it was a bad idea. But he had to wonder- why now? Had she been waiting for a specific moment? Or had something happened to her? She talked about wanting to protect the people important to her, but hadn't that always been their goal? Protect Paris and make it safe for people to be themselves without worrying about transforming into monsters. This felt different. Her feelings were too visceral to be anything but personal. He wondered at the specifics of who she might want to protect, but the harder he thought about it, the more his mind tried to slip away from it.

He arrived at school that morning with an SMS from George, who was only a meter in front of him, reminding him of his pick up time. He waved his understanding as he slipped out of the car. Nino was approaching from around the far side of the stairs and he made his way over automatically.

Of course he wanted to know who Ladybug was. He wanted to know her identity almost more than he wanted to stop Hawkmoth, but what happened after they stopped him? Plagg's remonstration was sharp in his memory, "Once you know, you can't unknow." Would that be so bad?

"Hey look, it's Marinette," Nino pointed out, and Adrien turned to see their friend approaching. She was tucked into Alya's side, a smile on her face, in a pose so familiar that some of the strain he was feeling eased. Two days she had been absent from school- two and a half really, and he felt better seeing her returned. As they watched, the girls broke apart, holding a conversation in which Alya appeared scandalized and Marinette smug. Both of them began laughing and Adrien felt himself smile.

"Shall we say hello?" he asked to Nino, already taking a step forward. Nino agreed, quickly out pacing him by a half-step.

"What? No!" Marinette shouted at Alya as they closed the distance.

"Marinette!" Nino called, interrupting the conversation. Adrien felt a moment of hesitation as both Alya and Marinette turned toward them with confused expressions. Both girls quickly smiled, but he wondered if Marinette's was not a little strained.

"Hi Nino," she said brightly. She turned toward him and waved, which he returned.

"Hey, I'm glad to hear your folks are doing OK." Curious blue eyes turned toward Alya, and Nino clarified, "Adrien told me how busy the shop was yesterday." She shot a blatantly surprised look at him and he grinned in embarrassment, wondering if he was supposed to have kept the information to himself. Everyone had been worried about her, though. "So things are pretty much back to normal?"

"Yes, thank you for keeping us in your thoughts," she answered graciously. It seemed like that would be all she would say on the matter, so Adrien opened his mouth to echo the concern, when Marinette quickly spoke, "Oh, Adrien!" She cleared her throat, but did not stutter over her words, "My parents saw you bring my homework yesterday and wanted to send this to say thank you."

Carefully she extended a large plastic bag to him, and surprise welled up in him such that he knew it showed on his face. He had rarely been on the end of receiving such a personal thank you, especially when Marinette herself had given him pastries already. When he looked up at her she shrugged, a faint pink in her cheeks, and so he took the bag.

"Really, that's unnecessary," he assured her, but his thoughts were distracted by the weight of it. "Wow, it's heavy." He passed the bag to Nino while Alya tucked into his other side, and he opened the box. Another jolt of surprise ran through him, and he tightened his fingers to keep from dropping the beautiful opera cake in front of him.

"Opera cake is the best," Nino sighed, and Adrien grinned. He knew who he would be sharing the cake with. "Even if the tunes are the worst," his friend continued, elbowing him in the side. He spared a thought for Nathalie catching sight of the cake and then remembered with glee that she was out of the country.

"Yeah, it's your cake, so you can share with whomever you want," she added with a grin. He was almost too surprised at her even delivery of the words to notice that they were thinking along the same lines. He rolled his eyes at Nino's continued appreciation and winked at Marinette, whose smile faltered.

"Should we bring it to lunch today?" he offered, smiling to bolster her own expression.

"Dude, that would be sick," Nino enthused.

"I wouldn't complain," Alya offered with amusement.

Adrien was admiring the layers of chocolate and cake and almost missed Marinette's smile drooping. A familiar pain resonated in him at the sight. The hiding. The pain only increased when he noticed her rally a smirk for Alya's comfort.

"I definitely don't mind sharing as long as we save a piece for my dad. This is his favorite."

Her perk returned genuinely and for a moment she gaped at him, completely old Marinette, "Gabriel Agreste likes opera cake?"

He shrugged around a smile, "Yeah, it's not something regularly publicized, but he has a bit of a sweet tooth." He winked at her, "Don't tell anyone." The bell rang and Alya jogged around him to elbow Nino in the side. He chuckled as they began to discuss lunch plans in earnest. Seeing how Marinette was acting now, it made him glad they had decided to renew their lunch date on her return. Where before he had been certain she was OK now he was decidedly less so, and unsure about what to do about it.

"Seriously, thanks for the cake. If it's even half as good as the gourgeres, it'll be delicious."

"Oh you liked them?" she asked. With a pleased shrug she explained, "My dad's kind of a genius, so no worries on that count." Adrien could not disagree, and he was looking forward even more to splitting the cake with friends. A year ago he could not have imagined himself in such anormal, happy place with friends who liked him for him. Well, and maybe for his newly acquired cake.

Apparently, though, having friends meant worrying about them, too. Clearing his throat, quietly, Adrien turned his head slightly toward her.

"He's OK, right?"

"Yep!" she responded. Too quickly. Too brightly.

She slipped out of his view as they took their seats, their teacher already present. Adrien kept his face forward so not to make a scene of his concern, but he knew that tone, that pretense. He had lived it for the better part of fifteen years.

With a quiet sigh he kept his attention mostly on the lecture with the last part of his brain divided between concern for Marinette and the decision he had to give to Ladybug. He could not help but smile. So much for having a more normal life.


Thank you all so much for all of your loverly reviews :D! I have been overwhelmed! They really do make me want to write more and help keep me motivated. For those of you who asked, my uncle is home resting now and doing better. Thank you! Please continue to read if you like it :)