A/N: Major spoilers for Chat Blanc and Season 4. Takes place after Rocketear.

Kitty Noir and Chat Blanc

When she arrived for their scheduled patrol time, Ladybug was concerned. Her partner was pacing back and forth and his face held none of his usual, jovial expression. When she landed, he turned to her.

"Ladybug."

No 'Milady'? Hoo boy. "Chat? What's wrong?"

"You tell me," he said as he stared her in the eyes. "What's wrong, Bugaboo? Don't you trust me any more?"

"Of course I trust you, Chat."

"It doesn't feel like it. I know being the Guardian has to be hard so I've given you some slack. But you don't share that burden. You've been late to patrols or missed them completely, you made Rena Rouge a permanent holder without even asking my opinion, and now I find out that Rena and Carapace know each other's identities!"

"H-how do you know that Rena Rouge and Carapace know each other's identities?"

"Does that matter?" Chat Noir pouted and stared down at their feet. "I feel like I'm being replaced."

"Oh, Kitty. Nobody could replace you. I couldn't do this without you. I nearly fell apart when you left your miraculous behind in New York."

Staring at her face he asked softly, "Then why won't you let me in, LB? Why can't I share the load with you? Why can't we share identities when it would be easier to contact each other outside of the mask? Why won't you let me in?" Chat tried to hide the tears forming in his eyes, but failed, and Ladybug's heart broke once again.

"I can't, Chat."

"Why?"

"I just can't."

"WHY?"

"Because I'm afraid!"

"Of what?"

"Chat Blanc," she cried hysterically. "I can't let Chat Blanc happen."

"Chat… Blanc?" Chat Noir was thoroughly confused. "Who's Chat Blanc?"

"You." The tears started in earnest now. "An akumatized you in an alternate timeline. Bunnyx had to come pick me up out of this timeline so I could stop it. You were so cold, Chat. Ice blue eyes, white hair, and a destroyed Paris. It hurt me so bad to see you that way, and I can't let it happen again!"

His expression softened a little. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"How could I? [sniff] It didn't really happen and I didn't want to worry you."

"But you saw it?" She nodded, and Chat reached out to hold her. For once, she accepted his embrace. "So how did it happen, anyway?"

Sniffing, she replied, "I don't know for [sniff] for sure. All I know is that I was leave... [sniff] leaving my crush's room. [sniff] I had tried to get in as [sniff] as myself, but ended up dropping the present I made off as Ladybug. The next thing I know, Bunnyx was coming to get me."

"How bad was it?"

"Chat, it was..." she pursed her mouth as the tears continued to stream down her face.

"Ladybug?"

"I think I may need to sh- [hic] show you. Come on…"

Chat had no choice but to follow her. Before too long they landed in front of Alix Kubdel.

"Woah, Ladybug! Chat Noir! Are you okay? What's up?"

The superheroine got right to the point. "Alix, I need you to remember this exact moment. I need to see the Bunnyx of the future so I can show Chat Noir what she showed me."

About five seconds later, a portal opened up and a blue and white rabbit-themed superhero popped out.

"Hey, Minibug. Kitty Noir. You called?"

"Hi, Bunnyx. Um, I need to show him the future you had me undo. I tried to describe it, but…"

"Don't worry, I understand," she said as she held out two big bowls. Ladybug grabbed Chat with one hand and a bowl with the other. Placing it over her eyes she reached out for Bunnyx, Chat following suit.

"Why do we have these bowls over our heads?"

"Do you want to know every Christmas and birthday present you're going to get over the next fifty years?"

"Good point."

It seemed to take forever before they were led to a stop and the bowls were removed. There were all sorts of rounded screens, most of them too fuzzy to see through.

"Wow. That's a dinosaur!"

"Eyes front, kitty cat. We can't have you seeing something you shouldn't."

"It seemed to take a while to get here, Bunnyx."

"That's because we're in a section of history-that-isn't, Baby Bug. Timelines that have been fixed, possible alternate futures, stuff like that."

"So the Chat Blanc timeline is definitely over?"

"Yes. You fixed that."

Sighing a huge breath of relief, Ladybug said, "Please show him. I just... can't."

"Prepare yourself, Kitty Noir. It's not pleasant," Bunnyx said as she touched a portal, bringing it into focus. Chat Noir stared at a Paris that was flooded, most buildings drowned, and the Eiffel Tower toppled over on its side. The whole scene also looked as if it were a faded photo.

"Little kitty on a roof all alone without his Lady…" I recognize that song…

They watched as the burrow opened up and Ladybug and Bunnyx popped out, Bunnyx dropping Ladybug off and heading back to the burrow in case she was needed. Hearing the song, Ladybug was startled.

"Chat Noir?"

"Milady?" The Chat that walked toward Ladybug was definitely not Chat Noir. It looked like him, except he was wearing white from head to toe and even his hair was white. "I thought I'd lost you. Oh, I was feline so sad that you were gone."

Chat Noir watched as Ladybug tried to say she'd help fix things, and the madness in his ice blue eyes as his akumatized self tried to get her miraculous. Watched as he asked Ladybug to save him and said the akuma was in his broken heart. Watched as Ladybug tripped Chat Blanc, then ran to throw herself off of what was left of Montparnasse Tower…

Watched as Chat Blanc ran after Ladybug yelling, "Now you're breaking more than my heart, Marinette!" Watched as a startled Ladybug ran away from the akuma.

"... Marinette?" Chat Noir looked toward Ladybug, who was scowling at Bunnyx. "Is that true, Milady?"

"Bunnyx… what the hell?"

"In a minute, Minibug. Keep watching, Kitty Noir. You need to understand."

Ladybug closed her eyes, shaking. "I can't go through it again. Even watching like this."

"It's okay, Milady. I'm right here." Chat Noir opened his arms in offering and Ladybug accepted, clinging desperately.

"Just don't [sniff] don't make me watch, okay?"

"I'm right here. I've got you, Bugaboo." Chat Noir nodded at Bunnyx, who restarted the playback.

"Things were purrfect until Hawkmoth found out about everything," Chat Blanc was saying. "Once the cat is out of the bag it's only a matter of time until everyone knows. It was our love that did this to the world, Milady."

"Our love," Chat Noir mused, comforting the spotted heroine trembling in his arms.

He continued to watch the battle as time after time, Chat Blanc used his super-cataclysm to attack, and Ladybug dodged the blasts. Watched in horror as a submerged Ladybug touched what appeared to be a stone statue of herself, but was actually ash that drifted away in the current when she touched it. Watched as his akumatized self threatened to unleash a mega-cataclysm so large it would destroy everything… until Ladybug agreed to give him her miraculous.

Coming up to him she said, "You will always be Chat Noir to me," and looked like she was about to kiss him when she pulled off his bell, then freed and purified Chat Blanc's akuma. Bunnyx popped out of her Burrow. "Yes! Yes, you did it, Minibug!"

But then the other Chat Noir asked 'Marinette' what happened, and Ladybug decided that he still shouldn't know her name. So she took her the eraser her lucky charm had conjured up and left into the Burrow with Bunnyx.

"That was… hard to watch, Milady. I can't imagine how it was to live through it. Or that I would do those things to you."

"You were akumatized, Chat. It wasn't you. But I can't … I can't let it happen again."

"And that's why you've been so afraid to open up to me? Because Chat Blanc knew your identity and said our love destroyed the world?"

Ladybug nodded.

"And are you really Marinette?"

Still somewhat shocked, she turned again towards Bunnyx. "Why didn't you bleep out my name? This is a disaster."

"No, it isn't, Minibug."

"It's not?"

Looking her in the eye, Bunnyx said, "Let me put it this way. If it hadn't been for Chat Blanc, would you have revealed your identity to Chat Noir by now? Think about everything that's happened since you became the Guardian before you say anything."

Ladybug thought about all that had happened in recent weeks, and exactly why Rena Rouge was now a permanent holder.

Looking Chat Noir in the eye she decided to trust him with everything she had been keeping from him. "The pressure of being Guardian has been getting to me. I broke up with my boyfriend because I always had to run off to fight akumas. I nearly lost my friends, but Alya stayed behind to give me support. I had a breakdown, and ended up telling her my identity as Ladybug. She's my best friend, Chat."

"You really are Marinette, aren't you?" he asked in wonder.

"Yes, Kitty. Spots off!" Marinette stood there, vulnerable before her partner. "I'm so sorry if it felt like I was ignoring you. I really can't do this without you. And having Alya as a civilian backup has been fantastic! When I was captured by one of Sentibubbler's bubbles, along with her family, she was able to create an illusion of Ladybug until I could get free."

"I'm disappointed that you didn't trust me with your burden as Guardian, but after seeing Chat Blanc I understand why. I'm glad you have the support of a friend like Alya. That reminds me though… what did you do with that lucky charm I saw?"

"The eraser? I, um, erased my name from a present."

"Huh?"

"I, um, may be a bit of a coward when it comes to expressing my feelings. I have tried so many times to tell the boy I love how I feel but every time I do, something happens. Like Chat Blanc, or I forget to sign the card, or he thinks the present is from someone else. This time I dropped off a present for his fifth name's day, and wrote my name on the gift. He must have seen me go out the window as Ladybug and put two and two together. I don't know what happened, but somehow that led to you knowing my identity and from that you ended up as Chat Blanc."

"Okay, now I have to ask, who is this other boy that has your heart? I've never seen you crush on anyone."

"You wouldn't understand. He gave me his umbrella on a rainy day as he apologized for a misunderstanding. I've loved him ever since."

"Wait. Wait… you're in love with Adrien Agreste? All this time?"

"How did you know he gave me an umbrella?"

Laughing, Chat called for his detransformation. Marinette found her hand in front of her mouth as her mind started spiraling out of control.

"No. No, no, no, no… Kitty?"

Bunnyx grinned and began to laugh as she waved her hands, pointing. "I told you that the two of you were more like … [she waved her hands all over the place like she did when they first met during Timetagger]. Honestly, I was getting sick of you two dancing around each other."

"Me, too! Got any camembert?" Tikki just stared at her counterpart.

"Oh, shut up you," Adrien said as he threw a piece of the foul smelling dairy product at Plagg. Marinette followed suit and gave Tikki a macaron.

Then Adrien turned to his partner. "So let me get this straight. You once told me as Chat Noir that you couldn't accept my affection because it would feel like lying because you were in love with another boy. And that boy is me, Adrien?"

Marinette hid her head in her hands and squeaked "Yes."

"I always knew you were special. Truth be told, I've noticed you as Marinette more and more lately. Now it makes sense why."

"You two have been dancing around each other for way too long. You both love each other, and now is the best time for your reveal. In fact, if you hadn't… well, I don't want to think about it."

"And you're sure Chat Blanc won't happen again?"

"I looked into that. Part of the reason Chat Blanc happened was because the reveal was only one-sided. The balance was lost. The balance was being lost this time because you were afraid of a repeat of Chat Blanc. This way, you are in balance. Let's keep it that way, okay?"

Adrien smiled a genuine smile for the first time since he found out about Rena Rouge and Carapace's identities. "You and me against the world, right Milady?"

"Are you really okay with me being Marinette?"

"Are you okay with me being Adrien?"

"It will definitely take some time to reconcile the model with the superhero, but I look forward to getting to know the real you. Partner."

"Partner. Pound it?"

"One thing first. Tell me how you discovered Rena Rouge's and Carapace's identities."

"Nino told me. Well, he told Adrien-me."

"Then tell him your identity, Kitty. I'm sure you need him just as much as I need Alya."

"That's a deal, Buginette."

"Hey, uh, Minibug? Kitty Noir?," Bunnyx said as she held out the bowls. "It's time to go."

If Alix was surprised to see a portal open about five seconds after the Burrow closed, she didn't show it. The two Heroes of Paris popped out of the portal, hand-in-hand.

"Thanks for everything, Bunnyx."

"No problem, Minibug. Kitty Noir." She looked at them seriously. "You two are going to be okay. Just trust yourself and trust each other. I'll show up if I'm needed."

"Okay. Thanks, Bunnyx. For everything."

Bunnyx smiled, then waved and disappeared into the Burrow.

Ignoring Alilx, Chat Noir addressed his partner. "Are you okay, Milady?"

"Oh, trust me. I'm going to have a proper freak out when I get home. I'm sure I'll be fine once I'm done."

Chat Noir smiled at that, because it was so very Marinette. "Call me tonight once the freak out is over?"

"If not, then I'll see you at school tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay. Pound it?"

"Pound it."

After their traditional fist bump, the two superheroes took off, leaving Alix behind. She popped a bubble in her gum. "Well, that was something."