Chapter 20: Revealing

"There are no secrets that time does not reveal."

-Jean Racine

This was all her fault.

As Ladybug swung through Paris- being joined by Chat, Viperion, and Carapace along the way- she was beating herself up in her head.

Why hadn't she told them? In the months she'd been dating Luka and the two with Adrien, she hadn't even muttered a word. Hadn't given any of her friends a clue that she was happily taken and in love... and now her friends were akumatized because of it. Or that was her guess at least. All she knew was that her friends Juleka, Rose, Alix, Mylene and Alya were akumatized into their original villains- Reflekta, Lady Fragrance, Timebreaker, Horrificator, and Lady Wifi- and were on the hunt... for her.

The four heroes hit the ground at the same time and took note of the city around them. Copies of Reflekta roamed the streets, muttering Marinette's name while other civilians stood, frozen in time by Lady Wifi.

"Any idea what happened?" Carapace asked.

Chat- who looked tenser than usual- frowned. "They're looking for a girl named Marinette, that baker's daughter."

"Well I'm sure she found a safe place to hide." Viperion reassured the group.

"I'm sure she has." Ladybug added.

Chat's frown deepened. "But we should hurry just in case."

They took off towards the sounds of chaos.

Guilt lingering in her mouth, Ladybug fought alongside her team against the villains until only Lady Wifi- the one with the akumatized object according to the de-akumatized girls- remained. Cornering her in an alleyway, Ladybug asked the question that had been burning in her throat.

"Why are you all so mad at this girl?"

Lady Wifi scowled. "She's supposed to be our friend but turns out she's been keeping a huge secret from us!"

Dodging a throw, Ladybug straightened. "Maybe she had a good reason. If she's a good friend, she probably wouldn't hide things for no reason."

Her opponent's frown softened a bit. "What reason would she have to hide that she's finally got the guy of her dreams? Especially when we all knew about her crush and supported her?"

Ladybug cautiously put a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe you should ask her? I doubt rampaging will get you the answers you're looking for." Wifi's head dropped and her grip loosened on the phone. Before Ladybug could grab the akumatized object, purple wings covered Wifi's face. "You can break free Alya. You don't have to let him control you. You're better than him. You're a superhero!"

With a gasp and then a shout, the wings broke and the purple butterfly was released only to be captured by Ladybug. Looking at the phone, Ladybug had to hide her shock when she saw that a picture of Adrien kissing her, Marinette, showed on the screen. When and who had taken that?

Turning back to Alya, Ladybug helped her up. "Talk to your friend. Maybe if you show her you're ready to listen, she'll speak."

"Thank you Ladybug."

"And Trixx?"

"Coincidentally, I took off the miraculous to shower last night and I rushed out this morning, so she's safe in my jewelry box right now."

"Good." Ladybug swung away and caught up with her team so they could debrief. She then raced back to her room so she could reach her phone and call her boys and ask for advice. She had barely hung up with them when she heard a commotion downstairs. Figuring she would have visitors soon, she feigned sleep.

There was a knock on her door. "Marinette?"

Yawning, Marinette sat up. "Come in!" She pretended to roll over in bed as the girls filed into her room. "Hey guys, what's up?"

They all looked at her. "You're just waking up? It's almost eleven."

"Yeah. Just a long night."

"And a hangover?" Alya chuckled as she picked up one of Luka's mostly empty wine bottles off the floor.

"A raging one if you drank all that by yourself." Mylene commented.

Marinette chuckled awkwardly. "Oh yeah."

She was unsure how exactly to tell them. Her quick talk with Adrien and Luka had given her the confidence to tell them. They had both encouraged her to do what she thought was right- whether it was to tell them or not to. Now here was the moment of truth and she was actually very nervous to tell them that she was not only dating one but both of her crushes.

Climbing off her bed, she approached them and took a deep breath to start when Mylene grabbed her hand. "Let me go first." Surprised, Marinette nodded. "We were all akumatized this morning."

Marinette hoped her fake gasp was believable.

"And it was kind of my fault." Mylene looked away, sighing. "I was at a concert with Ivan last night and it ended late. On our way home, we passed by here and I happened to look up at your roof and saw you and Adrien kissing."

Marinette tried to keep a straight face. "You saw me and Adrien kissing?"

She nodded before looking at her apologetically. "And I couldn't keep it to myself. I know I should've called or came to see you first, but I met up with the girls and told them."

Marinette frowned but Rose held up her hand. "We're all really sorry for not coming to you first. We just didn't understand why you hadn't told us."

Marinette nodded and sighed. "I know and I'm sorry. It's just... we wanted to keep it a secret- mostly from his dad, but I guess from everyone else too- but mostly keep it to ourselves for a while so we could see if we worked and get to know each other more without other people watching us so closely. I was going to tell you guys as soon as we were ready..." She took a deep breath and dropped the rest of the bomb. "When all three of us were ready."

There was a brief silence as the girls looked at each other in confusion and then her. "Three?"

Marinette glanced at Juleka and blushed. "Yeah. Adrien, me, and... Luka."

The room was then dead silent for all of ten seconds before it was filled with screams of joy, shock, and disbelief.

"You're dating Adrien and Luka, at the same time? Together?"

"All three of us are dating each other."

Juleka smiled. "Luka has been extremely happy for a while now." She muttered but it was over talked by all the other girls.

"Were they both here last night or was it just Adrien?"

"Both of them."

Alya looked at the wine bottle still in her hands and smirked devilishly. "Were y'all getting drunk and doing... things?"

Marinette blushed hard and snatched the wine bottle from her. "No! We did drink but we only played games before we passed out."

Alix smirked before she moved up next to Marinette and pulled on her collar, revealing a neat row of hickeys on Marinette's shoulder. "Sure. You guys were only drinking."

Alix winked at all the other girls as Marinette felt her face turn beet red.

Alya cackled as the other girls hurled even more questions at her. Marinette blushed many times in the next hour but she was honestly very happy to be surrounded by her friends and their excitement. It reminded her that she shouldn't have been so worried about revealing this truth to them: they loved and accepted her.

She had amazing friends.