Chat is in trouble ...or is it Marinette that's in trouble?

Ladybug threw her arms around Chat. "I'm so glad you're okay." Her voice began to shake as she spoke.

Chat was confused, but quickly accepted the situation and hugged her tightly. Without a word Chat took Ladybug's hand and guided her to a nearby roof, away from public eye where they could talk in private. He wasn't exactly ready for this conversation, but Ladybug seemed like she had something on her mind. She looked pretty upset when he came to, but not in the angry or annoyed way she'd been before.

He didn't want to have this conversation already, but reassured himself this was for the best. They stood on the roof in silence for a moment. Chat tried to free his hand from Ladybug's hold, but she only squeezed harder so not to let him go.

"Are you okay Bugaboo?" Chat was hesitant to ask. She was always there for him, now it was his turn to support her.

"You're always so reckless." She suddenly blurted out. "You get hurt, turned into the akuma's minion. You're always trying to protect me, putting yourself in harm's way." She fought the tears that started to form.

Chat reached for her other hand and interlocked their fingers. "I do it for you. It's my job to support you, and in return you always make sure I'm okay in the end."

Ladybug looked at the ground, her bangs obscuring her face from Chat's view. "This is why we can't know each other's identities. Knowing yours already is too much. I can hardly bear to see you fight and get hurt in battle anymore."

Chat squeezed her hands before he let one go to raise her chin. He wanted to tell her everything would be okay, that he was fine, that they could just forget his whole confession happened, but he couldn't. It would be rude of him to ignore their feelings and pretend like nothing's

changed between them.

"Bug…" He was hesitant to continue. "It's alright, you don't have to tell my your identity. I understand that you can't return my feelings, and that's okay. I want to stay friends and partners."

Ladybug was shocked. This was the first time she'd heard him so serious outside battle. How could he say he finally accepted that she wouldn't return his feelings now? She wanted to tell him to stop and that she loved him. That she had since his first day at school when he shared his umbrella, but she knew she wouldn't be able to handle the outcome even if he could.

Chat wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb. "I think this is for the best. You're right."

Ladybug let go of his hands and jumped off the roof, swinging her yo-yo, gliding a distance that seemed like it was far enough away. She ducked into a nearby park and detransformed while no one was around. She sat down on a bench and let out all her emotions at once.

There were so many conflicting emotions running through her head she didn't even know where to start with them.

She desperately wanted to text Adrien, but was there much of a difference between talking to him as Ladybug than as Marinette; The one he saw as the clumsy girl that he might have feelings for?

He said he liked Marinette, but she knew he was in love with Ladybug. Marinette would probably always be number two to him until he found out she and Ladybug were one in the same.

"Marinette?"

She heard a confused voice call out from beside her.

"What's wrong? Are you okay? Why are you crying on a park bench?" Adrien sat down beside her and pulled her in for a hug.

Marinette accepted so not to hurt his feelings, but this really wasn't helping.

He wiped a tear from her face for the second time that night. "Did someone hurt you? Did you get caught up in the akuma fight?" Adrien's voice began to show the panic he was feeling.

He was so nice to her, why did he have to go and complicate things? She leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He knew she wasn't the type of person to give into her emotions like this, especially not in public. Something must have been seriously bothering her.

Marinette kept quiet, she should say something, but how could she explain this without making it obvious that she knew he was Chat Noir?

"Well…" She started to explain, "Someone I knew from a long time ago got back into contact with me, and said some really mean things." Idiot. Using the made up boy she told Alya about again?

Adrien stood up and turned to face her. "Who is this guy? I'll show him not to mess with…" He began to squint, thinking about his word choice, "my girl...friend?" he loosened the fist he was holding and furrowed his brow in question.

Marinette let out a giggle and smiled. Maybe this wasn't as bad as she thought.

This is the point i WAS going to end the fic, originally, this was the reveal. But instead you get nearly 20 more parts lol