"I'll be right back. I promise."

Actually, it never happened because it went quite the other way round.

After Marinette had found Tikki snuggled between Adrien's socks and underwear in a drawer, she didn't get the chance to transform. In a snap of the fingers, she was teleported in front of the boulangerie, chained wrist-to-wrist to none other than Chat Noir.

Nothing surprising, if you asked her, now that she knew Adrien and her partner were one and the same and where her feelings stood.

"I'm sorry, Marinette. I don't know where Ladybug is. I tried my best…"

"It's okay," Marinette whispered with a heartening smile.

"I'm happy you're the one here though." Chat Noir smiled back, unable to hide his elation. "Even If I could use some Ladybug's luck right now…" he muttered through gritted teeth. His right hand then balled into a fist as he suddenly summoned his cataclysm to break free of the handcuffs in order to keep fighting the villain right in front of them.

"Wait! Don't!" Marinette yelped as she pulled on their restraints, but it was too late.

"She's got the turtle power, dude!" Nino's voice came out from nowhere—actually, from Marinette's balcony the girl realized as she looked up.

Again, the dice was already cast unfortunately…

"Protection!" Exhibition sneered, and a green shelter suddenly occurred around their handcuffs. Yet at the same time, Chat Noir's destructive energy-laden hand landed on the small dome created by the power of the Turtle Miraculous, making it shatter in thousand pieces. Once more, Monarch gave a significant advantage to his pawn.

"It's only a matter of time before you discover his true face. Only a matter of time before you ditch him like a stray cat," she sassed as she got dangerously nearer.

But before she could come any closer, Alya and Nino stormed out of the boulangerie and got between the akumatized villain and Marinette and Chat Noir. It was then that Marinette realized that they had somehow gotten rid of their handcuffs. A fact which didn't seem to please their opponent.

"I thought I cuffed you both!" Exhibition got angry, her eyes shining bright, and shooting a new beam of white light at the couple.

Marinette felt helpless, her guts twisting and the bile gathering in her mouth as Chat Noir tried to pull her back to get them away from there using Alya's distraction.

But as they cautiously walked backward, Marinette witnessed that the new pair of handcuffs coming to bound Alya and Nino opened and fell almost instantly at their feet. It made her pause in her tracks, forcing Chat Noir to stay rooted on the spot even though he was going to detransform soon. She needed to know how her bestfriends broke free from Exhibition's grip. This could be their chance to save their sorry arses.

Alya snorted with a sly grin, standing tall in front of the villain. "I told you Nino knew that I snored," Alya pointed out with a huff. "We don't have anything to hide. Or at least, not anymore. The moment he confessed to me that he wore his Rena Rouge's pajamas every night, we were free from any embarrassment between us, and especially free from your stupid handcuffs."

Marinette's eyes widened following Alya's words and she pulled on Chat Noir's wrist. She had heard enough, now they had to run away to hide if she wanted her plan to work and for his partner's identity to remain only his (and her) secret.

"We need to get away from here," she whispered. "Now."

"I'm not going to argue with you on that. I'm going to detransform soon." With that, Chat Noir lifted her up, the handcuffs making the position feel a little uncomfortable for her, then he took off over the rooftops. "Back to square one, Princess," he apologized as he retracted his staff and switched it to phone mode. While keeping a steady running pace, he called Ladybug.

"Hi! It's Ladybug, leave a message!"

"M'Lady, I don't know if you've heard, but there's another akumatized villain sticking around. My chances of defeating her are a bit restrained without you. Well, it's not the only thing restrained since, long story short, I'm chained to Marinette and I'll be detransforming soon. Not to sound demanding, but we could use a bit of luck right now."

Marinette felt bad for her partner. However, she wasn't going to let him down. She never would and was going to make sure he never doubted it.

"I know how to defeat her," Marinette told him as he quickly approached the Agreste Manor for the second time tonight.

"I'm not even surprised knowing that you're one of the smartest and most creative girls I know, but without Ladybug to finish the job, it's a waste, Princess, Chat Noir stated with a soft smile. In the most normal way, he then sneaked inside Adrien's room—no wonder it felt so easy. "I need to feed my kwami so I can cataclysm these," he pointed at the handcuffs chaining them to each other. "Can–can you close your eyes, please?"

"I'm sorry to tell you that, but it's going to be useless," she uttered matter-of-factly.

"Well, sorry to tell you that but my cataclysm is the only thing that CAN possibly break these magical handcuffs," he pointed out.

"There's actually another way to break these which is to be truthful with each other, but I wasn't on about the handcuffs." There. Moment of truth. The cards were in her hands. Up to her to lay them all on the table and say 'all in'. "I meant that it'd be useless for me to close my eyes. I know it's you… Adrien."

Chat Noir's cat-like eyes widened and he gasped. "How?" he asked, flabbergasted. His knees gave in and he abruptly let himself fall sitting on the bed, accidentally dragging Marinette with him.

She stumbled over her feet, almost missing the mattress before she ended up sitting on the bed next to him. It took the breath out of her for a short while until she managed to take a deep breath and speak again.

"I realized it throughout the unfortunate chain of events that occured tonight," she admitted. It was right after all. From the unexpected date, to André, Alya and even Exhibition. "It didn't jump out at me. I needed some triggers, but once I knew what I was looking for. What my heart was looking for… It became quite obvious to join the dots."

"Ladybug's going to skin me alive," he sighed.

"She won't," she instantaneously reassured him. There was no way she let him think he was the only one who had messed this up. "You don't understand, do you? Haven't you noticed that Ladybug's feelings for you have changed recently? Just like mine did recently?"

"Well, Ladybug and I are now more than partners. We're friends."

"Come on, you're smarter than that, mon Chaton," Marinette facepalmed, the sudden movement with her cuffed hand causing Chat Noir to bang his head with his claws.

"Oh my God, I'm sorry!" she shrieked. Both her hands came to cradle his face the best she could, her sheepish gaze searching for forgiveness into his.

"It's okay. Nothing broken," he said in a twangy voice as he rubbed the bridge of his masked nose. "Wait. What did you call me right before?" He intently peered at her from the corner of his eyes.

"Mon Chaton," she whispered, her voice filled with tenderness.

He didn't say a word but he didn't need to. The handcuffs fell at both their feet, and she knew he had come to the right conclusion. They were free from the secrets they had for each other.

Free.

At the same moment, the hero's transformation wore off, leaving a baffled Adrien behind (and a hungry kwami).

Plagg gave Marinette a knowing look before disappearing in what she guessed was a supply full of cheese. It was time for Ladybug to enter the picture and complete the lovesquare portrait.

"Tikki, spots on."

Ladybug stood resolute in front of Adrien, her hands reaching out to him with an empowered and reassuring smile.

"Come on, let's show Exhibition how grateful we are by giving her back her own freedom."

Adrien took her hand and stood up on wobbling legs, before pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. Although, they didn't have time to fool around. They had already lost enough. Once Plagg was ready, Adrien called on his transformation, and both heroes were off vaulting in Paris's night.

After a Lucky Charm ironically offering them handcuffs, and one fateful shot, the freedom of the city of Love was restored. A city where everyone was free to make their own choices with a touch of mind-your-own business (Alya nailed it). A city where a hero and a civilian could sneak inside of the latter's room to cuddle far from prying eyes—minus Tikki and Plagg.

"I was right, Sugarcube; both of them being in love with each other is terrible! They revealed themselves!" Plagg got all fuzzy, twirling and swirling around, and almost choking on his precious camembert. "Monarch even knows that my holder, whoever he is, is in love with yours. This isn't terrible. It's a catastrophe! And now, what?"

"Now we'll let them be happy and support them. Support them like we did by accepting Jeanne and Dark Grimalkin renounced us. Except this time, we'll be there for our holders. We won't make the same mistake again," said Tikki. "Perhaps the true balance of the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses is just to be together as a whole. No matter what."

"You're watching way too many chick flicks with Pigtails."

"And you don't get out of your cheese cellar enough, Stinkysock. Just let them be in love already."

"We'll just wait and see then. We'll soon find out who's right between us," Plagg huffed, crossing his tiny paws over his chest.

"Right if you say so," Tikki sneered, tongue in cheek before leaving the cat kwami pouting on its own.

She had macarons waiting for her and no time to waste with a grumpy gremlin.

"Plagg, would you like a cheese soufflé?" Marinette's voice had his ears perking up instantaneously.

Well, it was not midnight yet. He could be fed.

"I used camembert for it," Marinette pointed out.

Plagg zipped to get the soufflé faster than running to Marinette's feet—which was pretty fast actually.

"Adrien, she's a keeper," Plagg stated with a mouthful of food.

"I know, Buddy." Adrien patted the kwami's head and wrapped his free arms around Marinette's waist before dropping a soft kiss on her lips.

Marinette and Adrien both knew that what they finally had there was precious to keep.

No matter what.

Thanks for stopping by, reading this, and giving it some love.

It helped get that Marichat kiss out of my mind (or not...) I can't wait for more season 5 episodes.

Stay connected.

Miraculous kisses.