Author's note: And here I am, right in time with this new chapter! Gosh, what a ride it was to write it...

So yes, a lot is happening in here. As you can see, this chapter is the longest one so far - nearly 6 thousand words and absolutely no way to split it into two. I honestly hope it's the only one this long - but having at least 3 more chapters planned, I still can't say for sure.

Good news? It's NaNo Camp time, meaning I am forcing myself to write even more, and with a strong focus on specific works, amongst which TOG is definitely a priority. The quarantine is helping, too, as I've got much more time on my hands... and somehow managing to make a good use of it.

I know how much you've all been waiting for this specific chapter to be out, so I hope I've managed to live up to your expectations with it. As always, I'll be eternally grateful if you decide to share your thoughts about it afterwards.

That's it, Bugs! Stay safe, wash your hands and enjoy another bit of the story that got out of my hands a long time ago.

With love,
Bugaboo

Chapter 7
The Iceberg


"I think it's going to rain."

Adrien's voice was calm when he uttered the words, his gaze fixed on the still blue sky above his head as he noted the clouds that were slowly starting to take over it. He heard Plagg snicker quietly, undoubtedly in response to his comment, and glanced down at the kwami as the latter munched on a piece of cheese they had – miraculously – found in Adrien's bag right after entering the school grounds.

Think of it, Plagg probably had known about it being there all along.

He sighed and closed his eyes, his brain once again betraying him as the image of a dark-haired girl in ponytails appeared in his mind once more, regardless of his tries to push it away. He had hoped he could do that for a little longer, at least until Plagg finished with his meal – clearly though, it was still too much to ask for.

He shook his head and looked around, deciding to at least organise his tangled thoughts before he was forced to open up before Plagg. He knew there was no escaping it now; so perhaps, the best he could do was to find a way of presenting his reasoning in a way that would leave no room for doubts on his companion's part.

Seeing how Plagg was still happily occupied with his cheese, he still had a few moments to figure things out.

Refraining from yet another sigh, Adrien frowned pensively, trying to come up with a plan for his unwanted (yet necessary) speech. The circumstances seemed favourable for once, with the warm spring breeze coming in place of the sterile, cold air of his own room and the noisiness of the photo shoot set replaced by the quietness that marked their current spot. No Nathalie, no Gorilla, no make-up or photography directors.

This time Adrien couldn't help but smile weakly to himself. Indeed, it would have been a real miracle to have any of them follow him all the way up here.

Maybe there were some perks of being a superhero, after all.

"You know I can still listen to you with my mouth full, right?" he heard Plagg ask mockingly, a note of suppressed laughter clearly audible in his tone. "I don't use my ears for eating."

Adrien raised an eyebrow at him, his own smile unwavering.

"Is that so?" it was his turn to ask. "I've always thought you put your whole body and soul into this particular action. After all, you're the one who keeps reminding me how important it is to savour one's meal. Especially when it's cheese."

"Not just any cheese, kid. We're talking about camembert here," Plagg responded after another big gulp.

"My point exactly, isn't it? And since I'd hate to disturb you during such a life-altering event..."

"As if you hadn't done that on multiple occasions so far..."

"This, as well as the fact that I obviously need your undivided attention during the conversation you insisted upon so relentlessly, are the reasons why I'm waiting for you to finish in your own time. There is no need to rush."

"Okay, okay, that's it," Plagg cut him off decisively, leaving his place and floating up to Adrien's eye level. "I can see what you're doing, trying to put it off so that we don't have enough time to talk it through before your next class starts. Well, let me tell you this, kid: you're not going anywhere until we're done talking."

"Now that was never the deal," Adrien responded firmly, however as of now, there was no trace of annoyance in his voice. "And you know perfectly well that I can't skip any more classes, even though I honestly wish I could. Also... It was not what I was thinking about."

"What was it then?"

"You want answers to your questions. I think the only way that makes sense it if they are throughout, too."

For reasons not entirely fathomable to Adrien, Plagg refrained from his next comment, even though it was obvious that he'd had more than a few words to say. The determined look in his kwami's eyes didn't fade, either, and yet, it was exactly what made Adrien's serenity grow, as he could once again witness the excess of his tiny companion's mindfulness and cool.

He might have been a source of destruction in the magical sense, and still, Adrien couldn't imagine him ever truly hurting him – and not only because he was Plagg's so-called master.

It really was time to show that their loyalty and trust went both ways.

"I need you to promise me that you won't interrupt, no matter how many times I trail off or get stuck," he said in a quiet voice, pulling his legs to his chest and resting his chin on his knees. "I don't fully understand all this myself, and even if I did, it would be hard to put all of those feelings into words. So... be patient with me, okay?"

A part of him expected to Plagg to disagree, or to at least treat him with some witty remark about how their time together was limited by Adrien's upcoming class. He was to be surprised again, however, as Plagg simply nodded in confirmation, giving him to understand that he comprehended and accepted the rule bestowed on him.

No, not a rule.

Just a request.

"I know there's only one thing you really want to hear, so I won't dodge the subject by talking about something else. Especially as it really is the only one that matters," he begun with as much calmness as he could summon. "I think so, anyway. So, as difficult as it is for me to bring it up, it's probably best if I just up and do it. I..."

He bit his lip anxiously but refused to close his eyes. Scared as he was, imperfect as he was, he at least wasn't going to act like a coward.

He was Cat Noir, for Fu's sake.

"I told you I was disappointed when I'd found out it was Marinette under Ladybug's mask. That it had always been her. I know it sounds cruel and unjust – that it's something that Felix might have said in my position, but which I had no right to say. And yet, it's true."

He could feel cold sweat break over his neck and go down his back, regardless of how early he was into his story. He swallowed painfully, but refused to give in to the anxiety.

"You probably think it makes no sense, either. She's my friend, a very dear one. I've always wanted to be closer to her, because I realised what a wonderful person she was under all of that stammering and clumsiness she seemed to hide behind. I wished she had acted towards me in the same way she did with Alya or Nino, or any of our classmates, really – the way she acted around Cat Noir, even if she was supposedly in love with him that one time. To learn that all this time, she has also been Ladybug...

"It hurts, Plagg. It just does. Partly because it shows how arrogant I've been, how stupidly naive to think I should recognise her the moment I laid eyes on her – that my heart would know the truth even if my eyes and brain were fooled. To realise that she's been there all this time is like a punch in the guts and one that I've deserved because heck, how could I have been so cocky? I failed to recognise the girl I loved in the one I saw each day; I couldn't see my darling friend in the partner I cared for so much. I literally met Ladybug's civilian self a day after I'd met her superhero one, and still couldn't make the connection between them.

"So there's that part. I am disappointed in myself for not having noticed that earlier. And yet... That's not even the tip of the iceberg."

He shifted slightly, just enough to press his forehead against his knees as he took a deep, shaking breath. It was all so difficult; so horribly terrifying while also entirely unexpected.

He told himself he should be alright talking about it, after so many hours of pondering over the situation he had found himself in. The time distancing him from his discovery wasn't short either: it wasn't a minute, a quarter or three. It had been full twelve hours, ten of which he'd spent torn between denying all his knowledge and tearing it to pieces in search of an explanation he had missed before.

Ten hours of pure hell and more than a dozen resolutions made along the way.

How come it still felt as if he'd only found out?

"Breath, kid," he heard Plagg say, in a voice so completely void of audacity that Adrien couldn't help but look up, surprised. "Just breathe, in and out. It's okay."

So he did just that. Inhale, exhale, with his gaze glued to Plagg as the kwami swung his tiny arm in order to dictate the correct rhythm. Once again, he was taken aback not only by his friend's obvious concern but also the enormous gentleness he displayed – a feature so different from his usual sassiness that Adrien had some trouble wrapping his head around it at first.

"Leave my personality traits be, Adrien, and just focus on your breathing," Plagg muttered grumpily. "We've got enough to deal with without you suffocating on the edge of the school roof, simply because you can't take in your oxygen properly."

"I thought I'd asked you not to listen to my thoughts?" the boy asked automatically, but this time, reproach did not resonate in his voice; if anything, it was cheerful. "I haven't got completely crazy, you know, I can still distinguish the things I say from the ones I've been wondering at. And I know I haven't said anything out loud just now."

"Well, I hate to break it to you but your inner monologues can be as loud as mayor Burgeois' outright speeches," Plagg responded readily. "I really don't have to try to hear any of it, especially if you're thinking about me. And just so you know, today isn't the only instance when that happened."

To that Adrien could only respond with a chuckle. With his face still pressed against his knees and his grip around his legs tightening, his shoulders shook nonetheless. It wasn't a loud, sonorous laughter; it couldn't haven been one. Yet, it was sincere – and that was the most they could count on now.

"Thanks, Plagg," he said after a moment and raised his head just enough to meet his loyal friend with his eyes. "You really have a way of dealing with depression, I must give you that."

"Experience, kid," Plagg responded shortly. "If you'd had to deal with as many Black Cat wielders as I did, you too would've figured it out. You're certainly not the first Chat Noir who's got himself into this kind of mess."

"You mean, I'm not the first one to fall in love with a Ladybug who then fell in love with my civilian self?" Adrien asked almost casually. However, his smile soon grew sorrowful as he recalled some of the words Plagg had thrown at him earlier that day, words that he had chose to push aside at the time but which now came back to him with double force.

He felt like the knowledge of it could make him implode.

"Did it really happen?" he asked quietly, fixing his gaze on the horizon ahead. "Have there really been reveals that ended up in the Miraculous Holders' deaths?"

He did not dare too look down at Plagg, certain that the amount of pain his question must have caused would reflect all over the kwami's little body. He felt bad for provoking such hurt; he wondered if keeping his eyes away from his friend was really a sign of discretion or just the cowardice he'd been trying to avoid all this time.

Something was telling him that he shouldn't have asked and yet, how could he not? The matter was too grieve to just let it slide.

Plus, it was Plagg who'd brought it up in the first place.

Clearly, the kwami wasn't going to back down now, either.

"It did happen," he said calmly, in the same tone he might use for commenting on the weather; taken aback, Adrien couldn't have helped to glance at him, even if he'd wanted to. "It were just a few cases, all of them happening a long time ago. Well, one of them was recent, at least if you look at it holistically. Still, regardless of when it happened, it was always during the toughest of times. Times when your dealings with Hawkmoth would have been considered a child's play at best."

"Well, at least there's that," Adrien whispered, shifting his gaze to the passing clouds once more. "One thing less to worry about. For now, anyway."

"Well, now is the only period you should concern yourself with at the moment," Plagg responded firmly. "Here and now, and only the situation involving you."

"I don't want to just disregard it though, I -"

"Adrien? Just focus on your own iceberg. We can have that history lesson at some less troubling time."

Adrien could not disagree with the suggestion. He knew Plagg was right: he'd had a lot to deal with on his own without the additional burden of the past heroes' struggles and pain, especially as he also realised that no wisdom would come to him by hearing about them now. It would have helped to fight his curiosity when he had still endeavoured to find out who his Lady really was; it might have been a good means to stop him whenever his eagerness had become a threat to both of them. Now however...

It could no longer be of use.

"My own iceberg. Right."

When Plagg had mentioned the other Miraculous Holders that morning, it hadn't been to make him feel miserable or go into mourning after the people he had never even heard of before. The reason for the unexpected trip into the past had been a very simple one: namely, to make him aware of how much better his own situation truly was.

To make him realise that he really had no reasons to complain – no reasons to feel disappointed.

Disappointed.

Dear Heavens, it must have sounded so wrong; and yet, he still couldn't find it in himself to deny that earlier statement of his.

Suppose the only thing he could do now was to explain what he'd really had in mind, even if he himself wasn't entirely sure what it was.

"She's in love with me," he said simply at last, swiftly coming to the conclusion that pouring out his heart was his best shot at the time, as there was no guarantee that his so-called reorganisation would bring any results. "Ladybug is in love with me. The Adrien me. And it's not a shallow celebrity crush, it's not a silly infatuation developed over the few times she's met me outside the Cat Noir suit. She knows me, she cares for me. Not the image. Me."

He paused for a second, puzzled. It wasn't that he didn't know what to say next or what words to use to make it most meaningful – rather, he knew exactly what it was, but because of it, he also perfectly conscious of the fact that it was by far the most difficult thing for him to say.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Speak.

"Ladybug is in love with me," he picked up at long last. "Ladybug is in love with me. And she's Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Which means..."

He allowed himself one last break to summon his strength before finally addressing the issue that had been the real cause of that inner conflict of his, the one idea that lay at the bottom of all this.

"It means that Marinette is in love with me, too."

Suddenly, it was as if a weight had been lifted, leaving him freer and calmer than he had been since he had first found out about Ladybug's feelings last night. He wasn't bold – or stupid – enough to believe that anything was solved or that the crisis had been overcome in any way. More like, he had taken the first step on yet another rocky path which, as challenging as it undoubtedly was, was still a much better option than the comfortable yet stifling prison he'd been locked in so far.

Now all he had to do was to keep going.

And yet, it was still so hard.

"Why didn't she tell me, Plagg?" he asked after a moment, as he hid his face in his knees and gritted his teeth angrily. "Like, I can understand her being shy and all. I probably should have been more observant and picked some of the hints. But still... We've been friends for more than two years now and she has never made any direct comment about it – if anything, she flat out denied it.

"And it wasn't just once, you know," he continued after a short pause. "When Jagged & Co. stormed into her bedroom and made a show of those photographies, I thought for a moment that there really might have been something going on. I didn't really believe in Jagged's suppositions... But it was impossible to just ignore it. That is, until Marinette cleared it up by saying that it was all about her love of fashion which, given the esteem she obviously holds my father in, was really not that unbelievable at the time, whatever some might say.

"But that's just the beginning of it, isn't it? I can still remember when Manon brought the photos up again during our drive to the museum that other day. I thought I knew the reason for it, so I didn't care much – and even her mentions of 'hearts drawn all around the pictures' seemed meaningless, especially with Marinette 'explaining' that right after.

"It was supposed to be such a great day, too, you know. Just the five of us – four and a half, really – hanging out together on a Saturday afternoon. Friends being friends, unlike what we usually were. Unlike what I was usually allowed to be."

Another pause, another deep breath. Another retardation in his ludicrous story, as he tried to find the strength within himself to go on despite the throbbing of his heart and the stinginess in his eyes. The clock was ticking; and he was not even halfway through his speech.

And he absolutely refused to split it and return to it afterwards.

He needed to finish it in one go, or he never would.

"Anyway," he said. "As you probably recall, it wasn't a great day at all, and not because of the akuma attack that had resulted from that meeting. Marinette was tense, I was confused; and then that stupid joke made everything a thousand times worse. And yet... That's not the point."

"What is, then?" Plagg allowed himself to reply at last. "You won't tell me that you think the prank was alright all of the sudden, will you?"

Adrien shook his head.

"The joke was dumb and I shouldn't have made it. However, it doesn't change the fact that it had led to the first bit of honest conversation between us that day. Or at least, it might have done, if only Marinette hadn't made that U-turn the moment I asked her about what she'd really meant when she'd confessed to the statue.

"She... She could have told me the truth then. I didn't expect another heartfelt, flowery confession; in fact, I don't think I expected anything specific at the time. But... Would it have been so very bad for her to admit that it wasn't entirely fake? To say: 'Yes, I was serious' when I asked her about it straightforwardly? A 'yes', Plagg. That was all I needed to hear.

"And yet, she went into straight denial mode. 'It was a prank,' she said. 'I like you a little', 'like an ordinary human being'. Those were her words. How on earth was I supposed to believe she wanted anything other than friendship after a show of this kind?"

It was Plagg's turn to shake his head. "Do you really want an answer to that?"

Adrien looked up, surprised.

"Can you give me one?"

Plagg sighed lingeringly.

"I can," he admitted. "Or at least, I can suggest something that should help you come to the right conclusions. The question is: do you really want that?"

"How could I not?"

"Just this morning you said you wished you hadn't learnt any of the things about Ladybug that you had learnt last night. This might be a similar case; I thought it's better not to risk and make sure you know what you're asking for."

Once again, Adrien's forehead was pressed firmly against his knees.

"I do," he replied. "What's done is done. And I need some answers if I'm to ever make any sense out of all this. And since that's something that I know for sure I want to do -"

"Alright. Then you should probably think of Kagami's place and role in this mayhem."

Adrien's head shot up abruptly, and the rest of his body nearly followed suit. He gazed at his kwami with a frantic, searching gaze; his eyes, wide with surprise skimmed Plagg's, boring into his little face with a look of absolute lack of understanding on his own.

Plagg raised an eyebrow, allowing himself a small, lopsided grin.

"Yes, kid," he said. "Keep those cogs turning. I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough if only you try."

Adrien frowned in response, unamused. "I don't need more time to understand what you mean. But..."

"But: what?"

"But it doesn't make any sense," Adrien explained, turning away, his gaze now fixed on the school courtyard below them. "Marinette was always the first to support me whenever Kagami was concerned. She helped me set up that disastrous skating date. She made sure that Kagami could see her as friend. And when we... When we started dating later on, she never showed any signs of being uncomfortable or disappointed about it. And then there was Luka."

Plagg snickered. "Yeah. After you'd got together with the Tsurugi girl."

"Marinette had advised me about her! She'd agreed to come with us to the rink as soon as I told her about the plan. And she took Luka with her, even though it was months before Kagami and I began dating for real."

"Well, yes," Plagg agreed, though Adrien knew there was a 'but' coming with it; he was not wrong. "Still, it was after you'd mentioned going out with her."

Adrien's voice caught in his throat as dozens of images came rushing through his mind, proving that each and every word of Plagg's interpretations was was not only correct, but also fully and entirely logical.

And it sucked.

He shouldn't have been able to recall any of them, and yet, he did. The change of expression on Marinette's face after he'd told her whom he'd had in mind, going from giddy to confused, to wistful (it was the same shift that he had noticed in her during their ride back home from the museum, actually, even though he hadn't known that at the time); her hasty escape from the rink, when he had followed her to make sure she was okay; the look of uneasiness when he and Kagami had come to visit the Couffaines, right before Desperada stroke.

He remembered hanging out with both of the girls before the whole Miracle Queen nightmare, having the time of his life until all of the sudden, Marinette was no longer there.

And he had hardly even noticed.

"This can't be true," he muttered desperately, rubbing his hands against his face. "She was a friend. The first one I've ever had save for Chloe, but at the same time, the most amazing, most inspiring, most caring friend. A friend, who -"

"I swear, kid, you call her your friend once more and I'll leave you here on this roof."

"No, you don't understand," Adrien opposed Plagg's comment, the unsettling note of terror resonating in his voice and growing more audible by the second. "You've always picked on me for calling her that but that's exactly the way I saw her, because... Because I was so sure that was exactly how she saw me. As her friend."

Once again, his gaze became hollow, and he buried his fingers in his hair, fighting the urge to pull the blond locks out in a quite literal sense. He glanced at Plagg; he turned away again. He closed his eyes, shut them tight as he slouched, no longer caring if his behaviour was or wasn't a cowardly one.

He needed to find a way out of this pit, and he hadn't got the slightest idea were to start.

"A friend or not, you still chose Kagami over her," he heard Plagg say, his voice as muffled and distant as if they'd been separated by a ten inch glass at least.

It was a voice of reason and Adrien knew it; and yet, it provoked nothing but a new wave of anger on his part; and so when Plagg opened his mouth to add something, the boy next to him did the only thing left to do.

He snapped.

"Do you really think I would've chased after Kagami if I'd known Marinette was an option?"

Silence fell over them then, and this time, it lasted. Adrien's hands were still pressed against his scalp, pulling on his hair in a desperate manner, but at the same time feeling too numb to even acknowledge the pain he should have felt. The situation that had seemed so unbelievable from the start now turned out to be straight-up surreal, not to say – absurd.

Not a quarter ago he'd been surprised to see that the few hours of thinking had not been enough for him to comprehend the events he'd witnessed – now he realised that he could spend another month on it, and he still wouldn't have reached even the most basic understanding of it.

It was simply too much for him to deal with.

"So that's what it is about."

He raised his head at Plagg's words, not even sure what he was expecting to see next. Was Plagg going to pick on him again? Or would he continue to play the part of a consoler, remaining gentle and understanding towards him, just like he had been so many times that day?

Well, teasing or not, Adrien had learnt by now that Plagg had only ever meant well – as long as he was concerned, anyway. And given the emotional state he was in, it was all that mattered right now.

There was one thing he hadn't foreseen, however.

It was a look of pure shock.

"What?" he asked promptly, seeing that very expression reflect all over his kwami's little face. "Don't you dare act all surprised now. I bet you're dying to treat me with another I told you so, so you may as well say it now. Go on, let's get it over with."

"I'm not acting, Adrien," Plagg replied. "And I'm not going to say that."

"Why not?"

"Because that would mean I'd seen this coming when I can honestly promise you that I didn't. I knew Marinette was Ladybug, yes. I did think that your calling her your friend was always a sort of a defending mechanism of yours, provoked by the fact that you were determined to remain faithful the spotted version of her. Hearing you admit that you were interested in Marinette... Well, that's another pile of cheese."

"You were the one who nagged me about giving her a chance!" Adrien answered angrily. "When she said she was in love with Chat Noir, you were the first to advocate her case. And even though you made fun of that unsigned valentine I got, you still brought it up like some magic talisman to cure me from my love for Ladybug. And -"

"And no matter how hard I tried, it always turned out futile."

"Yes. Because I never had a reason to believe that I actually stood a chance."

Another long sigh escaped his lips, while he prayed internally that Plagg would not contradict this final statement as well. He was so tired, so terribly, terribly run down that he really could fall off the roof he was seated at and not realise what happened until he was halfway through his descent – and yet, he was also acutely aware of how far he was from rest.

How much more there was to be said.

He gritted his teeth and kicked the airs at the realisation, the feeling of utter helplessness taking over him. This conversation was supposed to be beneficial to him, even if not in the direct way. He had not expected it to be comforting, no; but he'd hoped it would at least allow him to cleanse his head at least.

That by answering Plagg's questions, he would also answer some of his own.

However, all it did was hurt and confuse him more. The thought of Marinette having feelings for him has been mind-blowing from the start – and yet, Plagg's suggestion about her hiding them because of Kagami of all people was a turn could not have anticipated.

How would it have played out if he'd known about it before?

"Listen, Plagg," he picked up again after a moment, once more deciding to just lay it all out in the open now and overthink it later. "It's not... It's not like I am in love with her. Or that I was at any other time, for that matter. You know that the main reason why things didn't work with Kagami was because I was still head over heels with Ladybug, so... So it probably would've been just the same with Marinette, as up until last night they had been two different people as far as I'd known. But I can't know for sure, right? I mean, she is important to me, she's always been... She's smart and funny and kind – In fact, she's about the most selfless person I've ever met in my life, which is all the more true if your suspicion about her cheering for Kagami and me despite her own feelings is correct. So maybe... Maybe..."

"Maybe you could've fallen for her after all, too."

Adrien groaned and fell down on his back, his legs still dangling from the edge of the roof. He wanted to punch the air above him or better yet, the hard surface he was lying on; to yell with all his might, so that the frustration in him would finally find a vent.

For a split second he wondered if someone would hear him if he'd done that.

"Perhaps I could," he moaned instead. "Even if she wasn't Ladybug, it still might've happened. You know, just because it didn't really click with Kagami doesn't necessarily mean it wouldn't be different with someone else! And since Marinette is very different from her, it's more probable than not."

"Mhmm. Not to mention that she is Ladybug."

"It's not like she acts like her, though," the boy mused. "I know now that her shyness around me was caused by... very specific reasons, and even before that, I'd suspected that it's not her typical behaviour. I wasn't that blind after all; I saw the way she interacted with other people around her, and not only the ones closest to her. She can be confident and not only with the people she likes, or people she knows or, I don't know, just girls. There were moments when she was like that with me. And still, it wasn't enough for me to recognise Ladybug in her. Because it's still not exactly how Ladybug is."

"You're one too talk," Plagg answered with a grin after landing on his Chosen's chest. "I don't think the differences between your precious Bug and her civilian self are half as significant as the change you go through every time you transform."

"It doesn't change the fact that I still have trouble blending those two girls into one in my mind."

"Look, kid. That list of qualities you've just enumerated? To me, that's Ladybug's character to a t. And from what I remember, you did point out the similarities between the girls at least once."

Adrien raised his head a little to look his kwami in the eye, surprised. "I don't recall doing that."

"You did call her your everyday Ladybug, didn't you?"

His eyes widened a little at the indication; he regarded his companion for a while as the words sunk into his brain, the smug grin on Plagg's face making him feel even more of an idiot now. With another groan, he let his head bump against the roof once more.

There really was something wrong with him.

"I did. Gosh, I did," he whined. "And you heard me say it when you'd already learnt her identity yourself. You've known all along and haven't said a word."

"Hey, I had no right to do that. And as you've already pointed out today, I did all I could to have you realise it on your own."

"Except that time when I nearly did figure it out when Kwamibuster attacked and you made sure I stopped thinking about it before I did for real."

"I didn't mean realising she was Ladybug, you moron. Just that she's the girl you can love and be loved back by her."

Adrien opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by the sound of a bell going off on the school corridors. So he sat up and rubbed his eyes, his brow furrowed in thought as he tried to decide on what he should do next.

"I'm not ready for this," he said quietly. "I thought I would be, especially after talking to you, but somehow it only got worse, and now all I want is to transform back and run away, as far as possible from this place. Can I run away from this place?"

"I think you know the answer to that, kid," Plagg responded with a wink as he flew up to rustle the boy's hair. "Though you certainly will have to transform if you want to get down from this rooftop in time. Or any time at all."

Adrien smiled weakly, but his voice trembled when he answered, "I'm a little afraid that I may not be able to fight off the temptation once I'm suited up. I really don't want to see her right now. I don't think I can see her and not flee on the spot."

Plagg shook his head.

"There's no way you can avoid that now. That is, unless she's not at school, due to some terrible events that happened to her last night... But you won't know that until you get down."

"Now that's reassuring," Adrien muttered under his breath. Determined to ignore his kwami's sneers, he stood up and, after making sure he really was out of everyone's sight, he said the only words left to say.

"Plagg, claws out."

Not a minute later he was quietly sneaking into his locker room, transformed back to his very civilian self and pretending that he really had just entered the school grounds.

Meanwhile, his whole soul burned.

He was so going to regret going back.