"Alya no," Marinette whined, her face covered by her hands. She was sitting on her chaise after they had just come back from an akuma fight. "Please?"

"Girl, we have to talk about it," she said firmly, grabbing her friend's hands and bringing them to her lap. "You know we do."

Marinette groaned and fought the urge to hide her face again.

"You know we, as in all of Paris, have been shipping the two of you for so long now, and I know you've had the whole Adrien and Luka thing going on, but…" Alya bit her lip, thinking of how to word her question. "You have feelings for Chat Noir you never talk about, right?"

"I-I don't know what you mean!" Marinette replied, her voice an octave too high to be believable.

"I don't necessarily mean romantic, Marinette, but honestly? It really looks that way," she said softly. "As someone that goes around Paris filming every possible moment of the two of you I can, and as someone that's been right in the middle of an akuma fight with you guys, like just now... I just notice things between you, is all. Things I haven't seen with you and Adrien or Luka. I don't know the circumstances - and you don't have to tell me if you're not comfortable, M - but the way you two are together... it's magic."

Marinette let out a long, defeated sigh. "I know."

Alya blinked. "I'm sorry. You...know?"

"Yes, I know," she moaned. "With Chat and I it's- it's so complicated. I've never been able to know about his identity, he's never been able to know mine. He's let me know so many times how he's felt and I've never been able to return those feelings. If it's not Adrien it's Luka, and if it's not Luka it's our identities, and if it's not our identities it's Chat Blanc-"

"Chat Blanc?" Alya's eyebrows pinched together. "What are you talking about?"

"The biggest reason why I should keep my distance from Chat and also the biggest reason why I can't. I don't know how it happened exactly, but on the day I went to tell Adrien my feelings and give him the beret I made, Bunnyx - that's the superhero that has the Rabbit Miraculous with the power of time travel - came to me saying something disastrous started on that day that would destroy the future. She brought me to that future and Chat Blanc was there, Chat Noir had been akumatized by Hawk Moth and destroyed everything, all of Paris, myself and Hawk Moth, even the moon. It was literally the apocalypse, Alya. I was dead, like a stone statue at the bottom of flooded Paris. I barely touched my - her face," she corrected, trying to make sense. "And I watched myself turn to dust in the water."

Her eyes went wide with shock, also a bit disturbed by her description, but she remained silent, waiting to hear more.

"Chat Blanc told me some things, thankfully he managed to keep so much of it to himself, but he knew I was Marinette, and he told me that our love did that to the world. He sounded like he was in so much pain because he believed that I didn't love him anymore. We had been together in this alternate timeline, Alya. An alternate timeline that would've been ours had I just kept my name on Adrien's gift. I don't know the details of what happened to cause everything to go wrong, but if us being together did that, then how could we ever be together?" A couple silent tears streaked down Marinette's face. "So I can't be with him."

Alya put her arm around her friend to comfort her.

"When I came to that realization, I thought I'd be okay with it... but I'm not. I just want to be around him more now. Every time I see him being his happy, goofy self. I picture how Chat Blanc took that away. Every time Chat sacrifices himself for me, I think of how easily I could lose him. I don't know anymore, there's a reason why I can't be with any of the three. Maybe I'm just better off being by myself," she buried her face in her hands.

"Girl, I know that's not true," she said firmly, grabbing her friend by the shoulders, encouraging her to look her in the eyes. "Look at me. There is no way Ladybug, the girl who goes above and beyond and risks her own safety to protect the citizens of Paris and even the world from threats, or Marinette, the girl who puts her friends and classmates before herself to make sure that they're successful and happy, is meant to be alone if she doesn't want to be. I know nobody else in this world that's more deserving of happiness than you. You're not meant to be alone, not at all. There's another reason why things haven't worked out, maybe it's just not the right time? Or something needs to happen first before you can be in a relationship?"

Marinette wrapped her arms around herself. "You think so?"

"Oh I don't think so. I know so. My girl's not going to end up alone if I have anything to say about it," Alya said with such determination that made Marinette laugh.

"Thanks, Al," she squeezed her friend tight. "You have no idea how relieved I am to have someone to talk about this with other than Tikki. Tikki's wonderful in so many ways, I don't know what I'd do without her. But it's a little different talking about these things with someone that isn't human."

Alya chuckled as she looked over at Tikki playing with the other Kwami. "And I'll always be here if you need me. You aren't alone in this anymore, M. We'll do everything we can to stop Hawk Moth, or Shadow Moth. Whatever he decides to call himself these days. And we'll figure out how we can get things to work out with the boy of your choosing."

Marinette noticed her friend giving her a very pointed look.

"What?"

"Who would that be, exactly? Just so I know. If the circumstances were perfect and you could be with any one of them without issues, which one would you choose?"

Marinette's eyes darted back and forth, then she squeezed her eyes shut and groaned. "Ugh, I'm a terrible person!"

"Marinette…"

"No really, I am. Because Luka's great, amazing, and I like him, but he wasn't the first one that came to mind. And I feel so bad about how I've hurt him."

"But that doesn't make you a bad person," she rested her hand on her friend's shoulder reassuringly. "Things happen in relationships, he knew how you felt from the start about Adrien, right?"

"He did, but it's not only that... It's also because Chat Noir came to mind first but then that didn't feel right and then when I thought of Adrien, I felt the same guilty heartache as I did thinking about Chat. Like I can't decide between the two! Ahhh why does this keep happening to me?!"

Alya's expression grew smug.

Marinette deadpanned. "Whatever it is you're thinking, the answer's no."

"You know what I'm thinking."

"No Alya," Marinette's tone warned. "That's not possible."

"Why not? Have you honestly never thought of it before?"

Marinette turned her head away. Of course she's thought of it before! Alya bringing it up twice planted the idea in her head like a seed that has been sprouting away in her mind ever since. It's why she so adamantly rejects the idea. "Chat Noir and Adrien can't be the same person. They can't be," she muttered.

"I don't understand…would it be so bad if they were?"

"Yes… no… both?" Marinette facepalmed as her thoughts twisted around in her mind. "Because Alya, if Chat Noir is Adrien that means that every moment I've ever spent with Chat was also spent with Adrien. I've rejected him so many times I've lost count. He's sacrificed his life for me almost as much. It would mean every look, every gesture, every rose, every kiss was Adrien and I pushed him away and kept my distance so much of the time that it's honestly cruel of me. It's been hard enough thinking that I continuously hurt someone I love and care about whose identity I've never met before for the sake of secrecy and safety and Adrien. But this… this would be too much to inflict."

Alya pulled up her Ladynoir album on her phone, filled with photos galore of the couple that it was at least twice as large as her album of her and Nino. She even had photographs of them that no other pair of eyes in the world had ever seen.
There were photos of Chat giving her soft looks, kissing her hand, resting his hands on her shoulders to reassure her, kissing her on both the cheek and lips (thanks to some rather interesting akumas), putting himself in harm's way to protect Ladybug, and even some where she caught them laughing after he told one of his puns. His love for her was as clear as day in every single one of them. And if Chat Noir was Adrien, then her best friend had been making the biggest mistake over and over again without realizing she was ruining her chances with the boy she loved every single time.

Marinette continued. "And if Adrien's Chat, that means I've been a stuttering mess, unable to speak to my partner who's one of my very best friends. I'd have let my nervousness and feelings get in the way of being closer to him and being there for him when he needs me. Even with my reasons for keeping us both safe along with our families and friends, that doesn't make me feel any better at all."

Alya looked up from her phone. "You've thought about this a lot, huh? Oh Marinette, you know if he really is Chat Noir, he wouldn't blame you for it. If he knew how you felt about one side of him this whole time, even if it wasn't the one he was hoping for, he'd understand that. And he'd be saying the same thing, right? If he was in love with Ladybug all this time, he didn't see Marinette sitting right behind him. Should he be kicking himself too?"

"If he's Chat," Marinette emphasized, biting her lip. "I've wired myself so that I try to reject anything that could possibly lead to me figuring out who Chat Noir is. The only reason I've thought about it at all and haven't been able to shove the idea aside is because of you."

She pointed to herself. "Me?"

"'With a mask and costume, doesn't he look a little bit like Chat Noir?' she mimicked Alya's tone. 'Didn't I tell you he looks a little bit like Chat Noir?'" Marinette side-eyed her. "You knew exactly what you were doing. You wanted me to think he could be Chat Noir. Why?"

"You know I think Chat's pretty slick."

"That's the only reason?"

The reporter pushed her glasses up. "Well no, but I've noticed some things about them both-."

Marinette covered her ears and shook her head. "No, no, no. I don't need to know any more than I do already. But thank you. I know exactly who to come to now if I do end up needing this info someday."

"You know it! Anyway girl, the point I'm trying to make is be open to the idea of Chat Noir, even with Chat Blanc and all that. If all it took was one minor thing like writing your name on a present to cause the apocalypse, all it may take is one minor thing for everything to end up wonderfully, don't you think?" she playfully elbowed her friend in the ribs.

Her friend's words filled her up with hope that she hadn't felt in a long time. "Okay, okay! You're right, I'm overthinking. We'll start trying to figure out who Shadow Moth is, but in the meantime I won't try forcing myself with either one and see how things go."

"Atta girl, Marinette. Anyway I should get going before my parents realize I'm gone, gotta watch the twins tonight." she gave her a wink. "Trixx, let's pounce!"

AN: Hello readers! If you enjoyed please favorite and follow the story, as well as leave a review!
I'm unsure if I want this to be a series of one-shots with conversations between Alya and Marinette about her Ladybug responsibilities and past situations, or if this should be a continuous story where conversations like this one take place sometimes. If you have a preference, please let me know in your review!