Despite her earlier resolve to put off worrying about Chat, Marinette found herself stressing as she waited on tenterhooks for patrol. She liked Chat. Chat flirted with her. Well. Chat had flirted with her, past tense. What if he didn't like her anymore? And, she'd missed the flirting so much, and …she hadn't realised but she flirted back, didn't she? It was part of their banter, the teasing remarks, the light flirting, and oh God, she'd been leading him on, hadn't she? She was a terrible person, it was confirmed. The only thing to do was to move immediately to Italy and change her name so that they'd never be able to track her. She would give up the miraculous and then start completely afresh and this time she'd recognise when she was flirting with a boy!

Oh, who was she kidding? She'd never be able to tell when she was flirting with someone if it was as effortless as it was with Chat. Instead, she'd probably just end up breaking someone else's heart because she liked that they flirted with her and what sort of harpy did that make her? What kind of an attention-seeker did she have to be that she was happiest when a boy was flirting with her, when she didn't even think she liked him? The only conclusion was that she was a terrible person. She should go to prison, where she wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else and while she was there Chat could probably find a beautiful lady he'd like much better and she'd never be able to tell him that the person he'd had a crush on for so many years was her because Master Fu would take away her miraculous for treating her partner so cruelly. She'd be miserable and alone for the rest of her life and…

"Ow!"

Tikki was looking very self-satsified.

"I could smell you stressing, Marinette," she reprimanded.

"That…You bit me!"

"It was barely a nip."

"B…b..bu.."

"And if you don't transform now, you're going to be late to meet Chat Noir," she reminded, with a knowing smile in her voice.

True to form, Marinette proceeded to freak out.

"Oh! Oh! I'm not prepared. I don't know what I'm going to say! Tikki, help! I don't even know…"

"Do you want to transform, Marinette?" laughed Tikki.

"Tikkkiiiiiiiii," Marinette whined, "Wait. Is it even patrol, or is it extra training? Tikki?"

With an exasperated shake of her head, Tikki crossed her arms and stared at Marinette.

"Tikki!" Marinette exclaimed, as she rummaged through her belongings.

"Your purse is over there," Tikki gently called.

"Is it training or patrol?"

"Training." Tikki rolled her eyes. "How do you even survive day to day Marinette?" she huffed.

"You are the only thing keeping me vaguely organised and not a complete mess, Tikki. I owe it all to you. Spots on!" Marinette called before Tikki could point out that she was very much still a complete mess.

She was dreading training. It was something she and Chat had set up a few months back, after Hawk Moth had sent out three different akumas within twelve hours. When they'd been forced to adapt their fighting style to try and defeat them as soon as possible, adopting a much more efficient fighting practice, they'd realised that they couldn't just keep learning on the fly. Hawk Moth was upping his game and they needed to improve everything from their stamina to their fighting style. Now, they met up maybe once a fortnight to bounce new moves off of each other, to spar, and on one memorable occasion, to play rooftop tag. It was nice to spend some time with her partner outside of akuma fights. Patrol helped, but mostly they patrolled on different nights to ease the workload – and besides, relaxing together in an abandoned warehouse for a few hours was different.

Unfortunately, they normally spent most of the time bantering – no, it was flirting, she had to be honest with herself or she'd never get through this – which meant there would be no opportunity to avoid the talk. She had to discuss the flirting. She had to. They also had to talk about the wreck of their last akuma fight. Shivering, but not from the cold, Marinette swung through the rooftops to the warehouse they'd been using for the past couple of months. Nearly there. And then they could talk.

The warehouse loomed over her. Full of trepidation, Marinette finally entered through the blown out window, making sure not to catch herself on any of the stray glass shards. Chat wasn't here yet, so she sat herself down on a stray metal beam and kicked her feet.

Never had Marinette been so grateful that her suit blocked the cold, as the wind rushed through the desolate space. This floor was open-plan, and high-ceilinged, perfect for gymnastics and the occasional bit of aerial acrobatics. If they were in the mood for a more interesting session than normal, Marinette and Chat sometimes dragged the stray copper pipes, pieces of damp ceiling and haphazard metal beams into position to make obstacles to jump over, leap off or take cover behind. The real attraction of the warehouse, though, lay in the series of rafters and beams that spanned the roof. They allowed Marinette somewhere to attach her yoyo to, in case she wanted to do aerial moves during the spar, and Chat somewhere to vault up to, hide in, and hang off. Marinette kicked extra hard at a piece of plaster on the floor, releasing a puff of white dust. At their last not-completely-disastrous fight, Chat had been lounging on that lamppost and throwing out flirtatious comments. He always seemed to do his best flirting with a height advantage. Maybe they should take out the rafters…No. Besides, if today went well…maybe they'd be able to flirt together with no problem. After all, Chat Noir hadn't made any secret of his crush on her…and she – she liked Chat. Marinette could be looking forward to Chat's flirting in the future.

"Ladybug."

Startled out of her reverie, Marinette turned to look at Chat.

"We…uh…we need to talk." "I want to talk…"

They spoke at the same time in a rush of syllables. Chat cut himself off with a sheepish smile.

"You were saying?"

"I need to say sorry for the other day. I was in the wrong and I never should have yelled at you," Marinette spilled.

Chat's expression soured suddenly.

"What are you talking about, Bug? You have nothing to be sorry for. I was trying to protect you," his mouth twisted into a line, "but you didn't need the extra stress of an identity reveal. I shouldn't have pushed you. Especially not while you were injured!" Chat wove his hands through his hair in frustration, his tail flicking back and forth behind him in agitation.

"But…" protested Marinette.

"No. I should have respected your wishes from the start and trusted you. I know you can look after yourself. For what it's worth I was only trying to protect you."

Of course Marinette knew that! She'd never doubted her kitty for a second.

"I know, kitty. Of course I know! You would never do anything to endanger me."

"Yeah. I … identities are difficult."

With a heavy sigh, Chat pushed his hands through his hair and sank onto the beam by Marinette.

"There was something else I wanted to talk to you about," Marinette began hesitantly.

This was it! She was going to do it! Her blood thrummed in her veins, her heart beating so loudly she was sure Chat could hear it. If the suit didn't cover her palms, she was sure she'd be able to feel how clammy and sweaty they were. All of it had come down to this moment – this conversation. This would change their partnership forever.

"I…let me go first. You know I'm in love with someone else now."

If only they could get this all out of the way. But how did Marinette explain to him that yes, she knew that – in fact, she knew it was a fake relationship because she was the one in it with him – without giving herself away. If Chat found out now – that she'd been lying to him as Marinette, using him, so that he would stop flirting with her, so that she could go out with her oblivious prince…Where Marinette's heart had been soaring, it fell to earth with a jolt. They could never reveal their identities. It didn't bear thinking about. There was more than the miraculous at stake here – although the miraculous would always have to come first, she reminded herself.

"I saw on the ladyblog," Marinette prevaricated.

"Well…it isn't quite what you think," Chat admitted abashedly.

This was even better! No identity-compromising necessary. Chat was simply going to tell her all about the fake dating ploy. The timing was perfect.

"Oh?"

"I…as you know, then, my affections don't lie with you any longer, my lady."

Wait…what? If Chat was going to tell her all about the fake-dating then why would he say he didn't love her anymore. What was going on?

"Marinette and I, we weren't real. But now I've fallen in love, Bug. I've fallen in love and I don't know how I'm mean to deal with it when I'm a part-time superhero! She's purfect. In every way, shape and furm."

Ice-cold water trickled down the back of Marinette's neck as she sat frozen to the spot. Chat had fallen in love. He'd fallen in love with someone he thought was 'purfect'. They probably laughed in all the right places at his puns and teasing and never led him on. He was in love. He was going to call the fake-relationship off and she'd never see him again and he'd marry his perfect girl and she'd be stuck here in the wings watching as they had the picture perfect life she could have had with three children and a hamster but she'd been too slow, too blind and now she was going to lose it all. Chat would stop flirting with her and she'd have to stop flirting with Chat or else he'd get creeped out and call her out on the fact that she'd led him on this whole time and really this was what she deserved wasn't it? It was always going to end this way, with her in the wings, watching what could have been her future flashing before her eyes.

"Ladybug, Ladybug. It's not…I'm not saying I want to tell her my identity or anything," Chat stammered, a pitch higher than usual.

Marinette snapped out of it.

"Well. That's great. I'm happy for you, Chat."

And she would be. Marinette would be the best best friend she could possibly be, because her beautiful, wondrous partner deserved to be happy and she was not going to spoil it for him.

"Yeah. So you don't mind? I…I know I messed up, constructing a relationship while in the mask, but she just…I only ever really saw Marinette as Chat. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see more…" he pleaded desperately.

Wait.

Hang on.

Cogs in Marinette's head turned.

Did he mean?

Did he mean that she was the one he'd fallen in love with?

WHAT!?

"Tell me the story," she ordered breathlessly.

And so Chat launched into a tale worthy of a rom-com,

"Once upon a time, in a fairy-tail land where superheroes existed, Alya Cesaire made a call that would change the fate of the universe…"

Despite biting her lip, Marinette couldn't help snorting with laughter, which was mirrored by Chat a second later. The adrenaline flooding her system from the realisation was making it hard to stay serious – or completely sane.

"Go on…" Marinette nudged him, turning to face him full on for the first time since he'd gotten there.

"Do you remember Glaciator?" Marinette nodded. "Well, before Andre was turned into an ice-cream themed akuma, I saw Marinette standing on her rooftop balcony, looking like she was feline heartbroken, so I went over to comfurt her. Her clawful crush had stood her up and I…I was feeling pretty heartbroken too."

"Oh, kitty," Marinette breathed. She – Ladybug – had stood him up, hadn't she? No wonder he was blushing.

"And – and – We took some of Alya's advice – she said that the best way to catch the attention of a crush was to make them jealous, so we started fake-dating. The more time I spent with Marinette as part of the ruse, the more time I wanted to spend with her."

"Till you wanted to be more than furends…" Marinette sighed, pretending as best she could that she understood. More than ever, she wanted to reveal their identities. If she knew who Chat was, then…then they'd still be in exactly the same predicament. Nope, an identity reveal would be the worst possible way to go.

"Exscratchly, Bug," Chat beamed.

"You're an idiot," she replied fondly. After all, if Chat was an idiot (he was), then what did that make Marinette? A bigger idiot, most likely. "and that was a terrible pun."

"Just because you're jealous yours aren't as clawver as mine," Chat grinned.

"Huh. Not as purfect as yours, you say? I smell a challenge." Marinette let a feral grin show on her face. "It's on, alley-cat."

Pouncing forward, Marinette attempted to pin Chat, but he simply darted away, jumping over a wooden plank and leaping up to the rafters to taunt her.

"That's just purthetic!"

"You're bugging me now!"

A leap, to catch the rafters and use them as monkey bars to swing her way across to Chat. Goodness, her muscles burned. Note to self: do more work on her arm muscles – she'd obviously been slacking.

"Was that…? Was that a bug pun, Ladybug? That's a new low for you," Chat teased, dropping to the floor and scampering away, twirling his baton to deflect any attacks made with her yoyo.

"I'm going to squish you."

There! He'd left a weak spot when he burst out laughing…and if she timed it just right…Aha! The yoyo wrapped around one of his ankles, pulling him to the floor in response to a tug from Ladybug.

"Who's laughing now?"

"What a cattitude, Bug! I didn't know you had it in you."

Squirming, struggling, Chat eventually managed to free himself from the yoyo, only to bounce forward and grab hold of one of Ladybug's pigtail ribbons.

"As much as I'm enjoying this game of cat and mouse…or should that be cat and bug? I tire of being chased."

Swiftly, he attacked. Each move was as calculated as the moves of gamer, and Marinette marvelled at the brain nobody in Paris but her ever seemed to notice. Maybe Ladybug was the one who came up with the plans, but her partner was the one providing the knowledge to do so. No clue about Greek mythology, her spotted earrings - Chat had known exactly what Achilles' weakness was, and she wouldn't be surprised if he'd been able to quote the Lliad, either. He'd mentioned an overbearing father who insisted on nothing but the best education before – and that had to include the classics.

It was an effort to stay standing in the onslaught, but Marinette had been training for this – they'd been training for this. A swipe of his baton was blocked by a kick, a questing hand was evaded by a flip over his head, aided by her yoyo. Every move had a counter-move and they fought viciously in tandem. It reminded her of when she took dance lessons as a child. Pirouette, duck, twist your body out of the way, move your arms to the beat of the music. There was a rhythm to obey. Neither gave any overall ground, but they travelled the whole length of the warehouse floor and back, until, finally, Chat caught her when he feinted with a swipe to her feet with his baton, but, in reality, shifted his grip on the baton, till he was holding the bottom end, and lashed out with a soft swipe to her belly that knocked her backwards and onto the floor.

Marinette half expected Chat to come down and pin her, to smirk and say smugly that he'd caught her now, but he simply held out a hand for her to drag herself up with. There would be no flirting anymore, she remembered. Chat liked someone else now (he liked her!). What had only felt like minutes must have blurred into an hour or two, as a sheen of sweat covered the both of them, and Marinette could feel her heart thudding desperately in her chest. It took a proper workout to leave them both this exhausted, these days.

"Where did you leave the water?" she gasped, heavy breathing making it difficult to get the words out.

"…" Chat opened his mouth wider as if to speak, but all that came out was panting, so he pointed instead. Following his gesture with her gaze, Marinette groaned in disappointment when she saw how far away the water-bottles were. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, she had no desire to walk all the way over there – crawl, maybe – but walk, never.

She flopped back down onto the floor instead. After a beat, Chat joined her, although she caught him scowling at the mucky floor as he did so.

"B…better…get th…the muck…out…Pla..gg" he panted.

Rolling her eyes, Marinette resisted the urge to make a comment about certain cats and their fussy approach to grooming, but resisted when it was clear that any comment she might make would have to compete with her breath to come out.

They stayed there for a few minutes, while they recovered, but eventually, Chat broke the companiable silence.

"Time to go, Bug. You need your sleep."

A gentle reminder of all the times she'd complained about patrols, and Hawkmoth, and just generally being a superhero and the way it ate into the sleep she desperately wanted.

"Huh," she sniffed, but she knew Chat was right. Not only would she like to actually sleep tonight, she needed to see Alya before the journalist crashed onto her bed, getting the sleep Marinette was longing for.

There was still a faint ringing in her ears, and her body felt off still, and exhausted from the training, but Alya was important, so it had to be done tonight.

Peeling herself off of the floor, inch by inch, was difficult, but Chat Noir's smirk as he bounded to his feet and watched her progress with pity provided a lot of incentive to get up. Then she could wipe the smugness off of his face.

The smirk faded.

"We're good, aren't we, Bug?"

The tentative question rocked Marinette to the core.

"Of course, mon chaton."

With that, and a smile that communicated everything left unsaid, she disappeared, off into the night, leaving the warehouse and its faintly glowing windows behind.

The way to Alya's wasn't difficult, per say, but Marinette was used to travelling there from her house, or the school, and always by street-level. Everything looked a little different lit by the glow of the streetlamps, as hazy pathways seen from the vantage-point of the rooftops. Nevertheless, Marinette found her way there eventually. She must have been more drained from the sparring than she realised, though, as every swing was harder than the last, and Marinette even thought she could hear faint beeping in her ears still. As soon as she'd talked to Alya, she could be on her way. Warmth and cozy covers awaited her in her bed. Just ten minutes, that was all she needed.

There it was, the Cesaire residence. Marinette bit back a shudder at the cold as she glanced in through the windows to see the bright, warm lights and the heat radiating from every room.

"Alya Cesaire?"

Marinette – no, Ladybug - knocked on the window.

"Ladybug?"

An incredulous head of auburn hair popped up and opened the window.

"What are you doing here? Is that…are your earrings…?" the incredulous, yet worried tone of the question was the first thing to tip Marinette off.

Far, far too late, Marinette realised her mistake. The brush of warmth through the window was the last straw, as all her strength gave out in the face of warmth, safety…

The beeping hadn't been in her ears at all, but her earrings.

With a final, desperate push of energy that let Marinette fall face-first through the window, her miraculous gave out.

A/N:

Shoutout to Agiani who predicted this particular reveal!

Also, mwahhahahahahahahahaha. Enjoy the wait for the next chapter. ;)