A/N: I realized (way too late) that most fanfictions have a disclaimer at the beginning. At this point I hope that you all know that I am not Thomas Astruck and I do not own any of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir and I am not making any money off of this. But, just to be sure, here I am telling you. Enjoy!

They wanted to win, but not like this. It was like Hawkmoth just… gave up. Ladybug looked down at her partner, surrounded in the ashes of his father.

"D-Do you think the Miraculous Ladybugs will bring him back?" Rena Rouge said tentatively as she approached Ladybug.

"I-"

"Well we don't want him to come back…" Queen Bee said quietly, secretly hoping that Ladybug wouldn't hear.

"Well we can't let Chat Noir kill someone! We can't let… Adrien…" Ladybug looked down at the superhero on the floor again, disbelief clouding her senses. "...We can't let him have killed his own father."

"Well we know the ladybugs will bring back his body, but will they bring him back to life?" Rena asked.

"If they do, we still have his miraculouses. He's not going to be able to do much without them. Carapace, can you call the police? When he comes back we can have him arrested." Ladybug said, holding the fishing rod in both hands, preparing to throw it up in the air.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" She shouted as hundreds of her miraculous ladybugs got to work fixing up everything they had destroyed- it wasn't much. Gabriel's body lay on the floor next to Chat Noir.

"Well, I'm not checking him." Queen Bee said, turning up her nose. Ladybug bent down and took his arm.

"Oh thank god, there's a pulse." She said as relief washed over her. As she let go of his arm, she looked down at the pair. I wonder, she thought, if this is the closest Gabriel has been to his son in years… She heard a beeping noise, Chat Noir's miraculous!

"We need to wake him up! We don't want the police knowing his identity!"

"Why does it matter? We already beat Hawkmoth…"

"Who knows who our next villain is going to be? Just to be safe."

Ladybug bent down towards her partner and shook him lightly, trying to wake him up. He didn't budge. She jingled the bell around his neck, still nothing.

"Why don't we just cover him in a blanket so they don't see?" Carapace suggested.

"I'll just use my power when the police arrive so that they see him in costume." Rena Rouge said. Ladybug was staring down at her crush and partner, unsure of what she was feeling. I mean, I should feel happy that my trusted partner turned out to be… him… but I just can't believe it. They're totally different! It must be the power of the miraculo-

"-bug? Ladybug? What do you think of my idea?"

"Hm? Yeah. Use your power, good idea."

"You okay, Ladybug?" Rena said, after noticing how Ladybug hadn't been paying attention.

"Oh, yeah. Just… thinking about his identity."

"Oh I know, it's crazy! I never would've thought it would be Adrien!"

"It just doesn't make sense to me. He acts so… different."

"Maybe he puts on a persona when he's Chat Noir?"

"You're probably right." Ladybug said, still deep in thought. While she was staring at him, she watched the miraculous' magic evaporate off of Chat Noir, revealing her crush and his tiny black cat kwami. After hearing Hawkmoth say it was one thing, but really seeing him lying there. Him. The most important boy in the whole world to Marinette, in both romance and in… battle too? She didn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. This whole time she was rejecting him, passing him off, making fun of him. He wasn't just some silly man, he was Adrien. She regretted all the times she blew him off, but she knew that was only because she knew who he really was. But, if Chat Noir and Adrien act so differently, can I even say that I really know him at all? Which one is the real Adrien? This doesn't make any sense to me.

Plagg flew out of the ring and looked at his holder. He was small, so being quiet was easy, and he whispered, "sorry, kid." To Adrien.

After a few minutes, the heroes heard a loud sound.

"That's probably the police. I'll go greet them." Queen Bee said.

"Ladybug, you might want to hide, your miraculous is about to go off…" Rena Rouge warned after she heard her friend's earrings beep again.

"Oh, thanks. I'll be back soon." Ladybug said, leaving to find a hiding spot.

Adrien woke up to a blurry red and black spotted figure.

"M-M'lady?" He said as his eyes came into focus.

Ladybug blushed, "G-good, you're… awake!" She said, helping him stand up.

"Why are you talking to me like that?" He said as rubbed his eyes. Then he looked at his own hands. Not gloved, no claws. Oh no…

"Uhhh… Like what?" Ladybug said, embarrassed.

"You know my identity!" Adrien said and blushed.

"Yeah… It was kinda obvious when you called Hawkmoth 'father.' And how he called you 'son' back…"

"Oh. Yeah. I'm sorry. Oh my god is he okay? Did I…"

"NO! I mean, yeah he's okay, not um… dead?"

"The ladybugs?"

"They fixed him."

"Good. I-" Adrien worked to not break into tears, "I don't know what I would've done with myself if I had killed him."

"Hey, hey, it's ok, you didn't." Ladybug said, leaning in to hug Adrien. He didn't want to cry in front of her, much less in her arms, but yet there he was.

"I can't believe that it's all over now. That… we-"

"We're not over. There's always going to be crime and there's probably going to be someone new that shows up and brings trouble with them." Ladybug took a deep breath. "And… Tikki, spots off." The miraculous' magic sparkled off of Ladybug, revealing her to be Marinette. "We may not be able to show the world our identities, but we can show each other." Adrien pulled away from the hug, realizing that Ladybug was Marinette.

"Marinette?" They both blushed, Adrien giggled. "I'm glad it was you." He smiled at her.

"And I'm… Glad You're Chat Noir." Marinette replied hesitantly.

"You don't sound very glad."

"I-" She looked away from him. "I am! Really!"

"Yeah? I feel like you might be a little more glad for Adrien, less so for Chat."

"Well, I guess it's just weird because I always viewed you as two different people."

"...You don't love Chat Noir as much as you love Adrien, do you?"

"I- What?! Why would you say that?! I- I love you Adrien! You know that! We've spent enough time together that you should know this already!"

"You love Adrien, the flawless model that you could draw pictures of and bake cookies with, just an endless bottle of sunshine! But do you love Chat Noir? Do you love the hero that can't quite keep up to his partner? The guy who wouldn't stop bothering you because he just needed the one person in the world other than his father that didn't love him back to do so? Do you love the idiot you'd yell a-"

"STOP! Stop saying all of this about yourself!" Marinette said, on the verge of slapping him in the face. "Look, this is just really hard for me, okay! You're the most important boy in my life– as a hero, and as a person, and it's hard for me to figure all of this out, okay! I feel terrible for yelling at you and making fun of you and everything. I can't believe I'd ever say any of that to you of all people! I- I just don't know what to think anymore." The pair stared at each other, trying to make sense of their thoughts and their feelings and everything. It was a difficult revelation for both of them, they truly never thought the other would've been their superhero partner all along.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wreck your world." He turned around.

"It's not that you've wrecked my world!" She reached towards him. "I just- I don't know."

"What is it…" Adrien took a sharp breath, trying to hide his feelings. "What is it that I have that Chat Noir doesn't?"

"Well… It's just that Chat Noir is… He's just so different. He's so silly and messy and he doesn't seem like you, Adrien! He's a whole different person! He's-"

"ME! I am Chat Noir" His eyes welled up with tears, "I'm Chat Noir, Adrien Agreste is Chat Noir!"

"I just don't understand! How can you act so differently?! Sure, I act braver and more collected as Ladybug, but that's because I have something to defend myself with! I have to be strong for the citizens of Paris! Why do you change so much when you're behind the superhero mask?"

"You wouldn't get it." He looked down at his feet.

"No, I don't get it." She put her hand under his chin. "Could you make me?" She asked, looking into his eyes.

"I-" He pulled his head away, not wanting to make eye contact. "I spend all of my time trying to be perfect. To be the best son, the best model, the best student, a nice guy with a great image. But… That's all Adrien really is. An image. The Adrien you fell in love with isn't real. I mean, he's kind of real, but he's not me. Not really at least. Not the way I feel inside. God, so often I'd just feel so miserable but I'd force it all down and plaster on my award winning smile that I worked so hard perfecting." He flashed a bright smile, one that looked so real, it was off putting with the tears streaming down his face. "I'm sorry to disappoint you Marinette, I really wish I could be that for you. But… When I'm Chat Noir, nobody has these expectations of me. They don't need me to do anything other than my job. I can just be free. I might not be as great of a superhero as you are, but I hadn't ever felt more alive, and real as I do as Chat. The Black Cat Miraculous, it isn't my mask, this," He gestured to himself. "This is my real mask." He hugged himself and began to turn away as he knew his crying was starting to get uglier. Marinette grabbed his arm and turned him back around.

"Adrien– Chat Noir– I'm… sorry. I'm so, so sorry." She brought him into another hug. "I guess I just never understood how much pressure it takes to be you, to not have the same support that I do. And… I love you, I do love you. I love all of you, all the puns and the jokes. I was just… afraid I think. I was afraid that if I loved Chat Noir, I couldn't love Adrien."

"Oh Marinette, I'm sorry too. I know that it must be hard to be the face of heroism in Paris, and knowing that you're the only one that can stop the destruction." He sighed. "Even though it hurts, I understand how shocking knowing my identity could be." The pair of heroes stood there for a few more minutes, just letting everything settle in their heads.

"We should… probably leave this place." Adrien said, looking over at his mom. "I can't believe he hid this from me for so long."

"I'm… so sorry about your mom, Adrien." She put her hand on his shoulder. "And you're right, we should leave."

"...Do you think that I could stay at your house tonight? I… don't want to be alone right now."

"Of course!" The moment she walked through his sterile, cold, empty house, Marinette took a vow that, even if it wasn't with her, Adrien would never have to be alone like that again. He'd always been treated like fine china his whole life, something that sat in the cabinet only to be displayed. Marinette was gonna work as hard as she could to make him feel useful and loved. To make him feel like a real person.

Adrien knew he'd be going back home eventually, whether he would be under the care of Nathalie and the Gorilla, or maybe his aunt and Felix would move to Paris (doubtful, but he wouldn't want to move away himself). All he hoped was that his father wouldn't be able to get out of whatever sentencing he got. Wouldn't it be ironic, he thought, if my father was sentenced to house arrest. That would practically be telling him that he could just live his life the same way he always has. I'd never want to be put under house arrest. Marinette might have been talking to him on the way back to her house but he was so emotionally exhausted to pay attention to what she was saying. He hoped it wasn't anything too important.

He didn't want to think about his future, about what would happen to Chat Noir, if he'd ever be able to save the world. But, even with how exhausted he was, he felt so much lighter, free. Adrien wasn't sure how long this sensation would last, but he knew one thing for sure; he would never be as lonely as he used to ever again. Nobody had told him that, but he knew it was different now. He was himself, and it might be difficult to let Chat Noir out in his daily life, and it might be off putting to some of his friends and peers, but he had a feeling that everything would work out in the end. It had already worked out so far. Forever couldn't possibly be too different than now.