A/N: Takes place following New York and season 3, before Shanghai and season 4, but using some elements from season 4, so very, very minor spoilers.
~o~
Though her powers were, to an extent, more reserved than the second time, facing off against Stormy Weather the third time was more difficult than the first two times combined. During the fight, Chat Noir and Ladybug had attempted to use their power ups to make facing the different elements easier, but it was nearly impossible as Stormy Weather changed the conditions every few minutes. With Ladybug, Chat Noir had fought through blazing heat hot enough to fry your skin off, and blistering cold that could freeze your ears off. Add in the constant changing from rain to snow with the changing of hot to cold, and the fight felt impossible. However, they finally managed to free Stormy Weather from her akuma and return everything back to normal. Although he'd still felt the effects of the changing weather, Chat Noir was glad that his suit offered him protection from the changing elements.
The akuma alert had gone out soon after Adrien had returned home from school Friday afternoon. He'd instantly gone to work as Chat Noir, meeting up with Ladybug to do what they needed to do. So when Chat returned to his room and returned to being Adrien Agreste, he was more than ready to crash and relax for the remainder of the evening. However, as he transformed, Adrien realized that his night couldn't and wouldn't be spent simply relaxing.
"I don't feel so good," Plagg said, floating down to rest in Adrien's outstretched hands. The small kwami made a few groaning noises that didn't seem indicative of his usual hunger after a transformation.
"What's wrong?" Adrien asked, hoping that maybe Plagg was just extra hungry, even if he doubted that to be true. "Why don't we see if you feel any better after some camembert?"
"Okay," Plagg replied, unenthusiastically and with a sneeze.
"Are you sick?" Adrien asked after a moment. He gently set Plagg down on his bed before retrieving a piece of camembert.
"Kwamis hardly get sick," Plagg tried to wave Adrien off. Maybe putting on a brave face would help. He quickly ate his cheese and turned back to Adrien. "I feel great!" he declared, before a coughing fit overtook him.
Adrien gasped and hurried over to Plagg. "You're not okay," he declared. "We need to get you better. But how?" he questioned, realizing that he couldn't simply take Plagg to a doctor.
"The Guardian," Plagg answered.
"Ladybug?" Adrien questioned.
Plagg nodded in reply.
"Okay, then we need to transform and call her. But you don't seem to be in a state to transform," Adrien noted. "Plagg, what do I do? I can't risk doing something that will make you even more sick."
"Marinette," Plagg answered weakly, the momentary energy gain he had after eating quickly slipping away.
"Marinette?" Adrien questioned.
"She'll be able to get Ladybug."
Adrien hummed. That didn't make sense, but Ladybug had recruited Marinette once before to help them. She'd been Multimouse. Maybe Marinette knew some way to get in touch with Ladybug. "All right, Plagg. I trust you." Knowing he needed an excuse to be able to get out of the house, and to have an explanation for why he was at Marinette's house, he grabbed his school bag and some of his things. He wouldn't be able to sneak out as Chat Noir that night until Plagg was better.
Thankfully for him and by some miracle, Adrien's dad believed his lie about a project he needed to touch base with Marinette about. His bodyguard would drive him over to her house and wait around until Adrien informed him that he was ready to go home.
However, as he rode to Marinette's house, Adrien began to question his decision. What would he say to Marinette? Would he have to show her that Plagg was sick? Surely she'd know what a kwami was from her time as Multimouse. She was smart, so she'd probably be able to figure out that he was Chat Noir. It wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, probably, because he'd have someone to talk to and confide in, but maybe it would mean Ladybug would take back his Miraculous and he'd no longer get to be Chat Noir and someone else would be.
"Breathe," Plagg's quiet voice was barely audible as they arrived in front of Marinette's house.
Realizing he was on the verge of hyperventilating, Adrien took a couple deep breaths before thanking his bodyguard and stepping out of the car. "This is a bad idea," Adrien spoke to Plagg even as he walked in the stairwell that would lead to the front door of the Dupain-Cheng's apartment above their bakery. Sure, he trusted Marinette because she was one of his best friends, but telling her that he was Chat Noir? That was something entirely different.
Before he could reconsider, Adrien found himself knocking on the door. "Adrien, what brings you here?" Sabine, Marinette's mom, questioned when she opened the door.
"I—there's a school project I need to talk to Marinette about," Adrien explained, motioning towards his bag.
"Oh, Marinette didn't say anything to us about a project," Sabine replied.
"Yeah, I'm sorry for dropping by unannounced, I just really needed to talk to her about it tonight," he explained. "Busy day tomorrow and it'd be unfair to Marinette to put it off until Sunday," Adrien replied.
"Of course," Sabine replied. She turned to call up the stairs to Marinette's room and informed her that Adrien was there. A moment later, Marinette came down the stairs and appeared in the foyer where Adrien was waiting. "I'll leave the two of you to get things sorted," Sabine said, turning to head back to the couch where she and Tom had been sitting together before Adrien arrived.
"What's this about a project?" Marinette questioned Adrien quietly.
"There's something I need to talk to you about," he explained in a whisper. "In private," he added, glancing over to her parents who were being very indiscreet in watching the two.
"All right," Marinette agreed. "We'll just be up in my room working on the project," Marinette explained to her parents as she closed the door behind Adrien after letting him in.
"All right," her dad, Tom, said in reply.
A moment later, Adrien began up the stairs to Marinette's room ahead of her. She was going to find out that he was Chat Noir. It didn't seem like there would really be any way to avoid her discovering that Plagg was his kwami and the kwami of Chat Noir. He trusted Marinette. She'd be able to keep his secret, and he would keep it secret that she knew Ladybug well enough that she could contact her.
"Can you tell me what's going on now?" Marinette questioned. "Not that I'm not happy you're here," she added suddenly, smiling a bit too large for it to be natural. "It's just a surprise."
"Well, there's something I need your help with," Adrien explained, setting his messenger bag down and reaching into it. He carefully cupped Plagg in his hands and took him out.
"Plagg!" Marinette gasped upon seeing the weak state Plagg was in.
"How do you know my kwami?" Adrien questioned.
"Yo—your kwami?" Marinette stuttered, her eyes growing wide.
"Of course he's Chat Noir," Plagg managed to speak before suddenly falling into a coughing fit.
"Plagg," Adrien sighed. "Marinette, I'm sorry I had to come to you like this, but with Plagg this sick after facing Stormy Weather again, I didn't want to have to try to transform to call Ladybug. He implied that you'd be able to get in touch with her and that she should be able to help him get better," he explained. "Just, please don't tell anyone else that I'm Chat Noir. I'm sure Ladybug won't be happy about it, and I hope she understands," he continued, letting out a long sigh as he looked back up to Marinette who looked shell shocked with the new information that she'd received. "Marinette, are you okay?" Adrien asked cautiously.
"Yeah, fine," she answered, shaking herself out of the fog she'd been in following the revelation that Adrien was Chat Noir. She turned to head towards the desks she had under her bed, but stopped halfway there as though she was debating what to do. She let out a groan of frustration. "Before we do anything to get Plagg better, I think there's something you should know now that I know you're Chat Noir."
"All right," Adrien agreed. "But what about getting in touch with Ladybug?"
"There's no need. Tikki," Marinette called.
Cautiously, Tikki flew from where she'd been with the other kwamis in the box Marinette had used to hide the Miracle Box. "Hi Adrien," Tikki greeted.
"Wait," Adrien said, glancing back and forth between Tikki and Marinette several times. "If Tikki's here and your kwami, that means," Adrien trailed off as the information hit him.
"I'm Ladybug," Marinette finished for him.
"And the Guardian," Adrien added.
Rather than a verbal reply, Marinette simply nodded. "Thankfully, one of the first things Master Fu taught me when he was preparing me to be the next Guardian was how to heal kwamis. Tikki got sick the day Rose was first akumatized," she explained.
"Is that why it took Ladybug so long to join me?"
Marinette nodded and changed her initial course from her desk to her bed. She retrieved an extra pillow and brought it down to Adrien. "Set Plagg down here," Marinette instructed when she placed the pillow down on the floor in the open space of her room. She then turned to her desks and specifically the box where she hid the Miracle Box. Having overheard the conversation between Marinette and Adrien, the rest of the kwamis floated out to check on Plagg to see how he was doing, or if they could do anything to help. A cacophony of their voices soon filled the room as Marinette retrieved the small gong she'd inherited from Master Fu that was somehow used to heal kwamis.
Adrien's light laugh filled the room as the other kwamis greeted him and Plagg. "So you're Plagg's holder," one said as others made similar comments.
"It's nice to see you again, Adrien," Wayzz spoke, offering a smile to Adrien.
"Hi Wayzz," Adrien replied. "How is that going to get Plagg better?" he asked Marinette as she kneeled down beside the pillow where he'd set Plagg down.
"Not sure," Marinette replied with a shrug. "Master Fu said it was an ancient Chinese secret. But whatever it is, it worked for Tikki," she added.
"Will your parents question the gong?"
"Hopefully not," Marinette replied from where she knelt on the opposite side of the pillow as Adrien so she could begin the process.
After a few minutes, once Marinette completed what she needed to do, Plagg perked up and began floating around the room with his usual spunk. "Woo hoo!" he exclaimed, zooming around the room.
"Someone's feeling better," Marinette commented with a laugh.
"Yeah," Adrien agreed, also laughing as he watched his kwami come to a stop and began chatting with the others. "Thank you," he turned to Marinette and spoke somewhat quietly.
"You're welcome," Marinette replied with a blush.
The two fell into a couple minutes of silence as they looked over to the kwamis who were happily chatting about being reunited.
"What do we do now that we know each other's identities?" Adrien questioned. "Should I give you my Miraculous?" he questioned, already beginning to reach towards his hand to slide the ring off his finger.
"No!" Marinette quickly interjected, causing the kwamis to stop their conversations and turn to look at the pair of humans. "I mean, no," she repeated, her voice more quiet and gentle this time. "You'd still know that I'm Ladybug, and then I'd have to find someone else to give the Miraculous to," Marinette explained. "There's no one else I trust more than Chat Noir to have that Miraculous. No one I trust more than you, Adrien," she spoke, a soft smile beginning to play at the corner of her lips.
"Really?" Adrien asked.
"We always trust each other as Chat Noir and Ladybug. As our alter egos, you're my best friend, and as us," Marinette said, motioning between them and seeming to gain some confidence it seemed she often lacked when talking to him. "You're one of my best friends," she added, looking down as a blush began to form on her face once again.
"And you're one of mine," Adrien offered a soft smile of his own, glancing up so their eyes just barely met. "I can't imagine anyone being a better Ladybug than you, or a better partner than you," he continued as they both looked up so their eyes fully met once again and they shared a smile.
"Aww," all the kwamis spoke together.
The pair blushed and avoided meeting each other's eyes at the reaction of all the kwamis watching them. Though the group of kwamis quickly began chatting again, Adrien and Marinette remained silent for a few more minutes. "I guess if we're supposed to be working on a project right now, we have some time to talk and just hang out. I think everyone might appreciate having Plagg here," Adrien noted.
"Yeah," Marinette agreed. "It's nice to see them all enjoying each other's company. If only we could find Nooroo and Duusu," she sighed, thinking about the two missing Miraculous that belonged to Hawk Moth and Mayura.
"We will defeat Hawk Moth," Adrien spoke confidently. "Maybe it will take us longer than we'd like, but we will." The two shared a smile and spent a few moments in a silence that was comfortable rather than awkward.
After spending a few minutes in silence with the thoughts, the two began to talk about what the reveal meant for them as themselves and them as their alter egos. It was somewhat of a relief that they now had someone to share everything about their lives with, and someone they didn't need to keep any sort of secrets from. From their conversation, they knew that things would be different, but not a bad sort of different. They knew that they'd work through whatever came their way together. Just like they always had, and just like they always would.
When Adrien left later than night, he realized how differently the night had gone than he expected it to go. He'd been worried about Marinette finding out that he was Chat Noir and how she'd react as well as what Ladybug would say about him revealing himself. He couldn't help smiling as he climbed into the car to head home. His lady was one of his best friends and one of the best people he ever knew. While he wasn't entirely sure if he had the same feelings for Marinette as he had for Ladybug, that was something they could figure out another day. For now, he was happy his partner was someone he could fully trust with and without her mask.
A/N: I don't know if this exists anywhere/ if anyone else has written this before. I don't have the time to look through over 20K stories here or the numerous ones elsewhere to see if it has been done. But the idea came to me one night, and I thought it should exist if it doesn't already.
Thanks for reading,
-CrazyHayniac