A Revealing Patrol

Written by: JuliaFC

Language Betas: Khanofallorcs, Agrestebug, Spntumblrin2021, Ohlittlebarchie, MahouOkami

Concept Betas: EtoileLeadSama, Malauu_Ladynoir, Genxha and Rosehealer02

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by (c) Thomas Astruc, TS1 Bouygues, Disney Channel, Zagtoon, Toei Animation. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

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Part 4 — Of Rooftop Meetings and Revealing…Chats

"Ladybug," said Chat Noir, causing the polka-dotted heroine to jump out of her skin.

She'd been sitting on the edge of the school's rooftop, casually kicking with her feet and looking at Notre Dame in the distance, and at the cars passing by underneath her. The warm light of the early afternoon sun was bathing the suit that wrapped around her like a second skin, and the light breeze was blowing gently on her face and messing the strands of hair not tied up in her pigtails. To anyone looking at her from afar, she seemed to be concentrating on the life passing by underneath her and having not a care in the world. But Chat Noir knew that wasn't the case. Because her back looked a little stiff, and her hands were gripping the edge of the rooftop a little too tightly.

She also didn't say anything in answer to his greeting, but kept looking at the world passing by, her hands holding even more strongly the edge of the rooftop she was sitting on. He sighed and moved to her, taking a seat just at her right side. He spent quite some time studying her profile as she looked down to the traffic building underneath them, so long that he had actually been able to count the number of the freckles that escaped her superhero mask. But Ladybug—Marinette—didn't say a word.

"Mlle Bustier isn't going to believe that both you and I took this long in the toilet, you know," he said, but his statement only caused Ladybug to dart her gaze from the road and move it to her lap.

"I know." And again, she fell silent, her breathing sounding heavy in the vastness of the rooftop.

Chat Noir took a big sigh, the fingers of his left hand reaching for the ring finger of his right hand and slowly, but deliberately, slipping the black ring off it. As soon as the flash of green enveloped him and Plagg appeared next to him, and before the little God could say or do anything, he muttered, "I renounce you, Plagg."

The sound of Marinette's gasp echoed around like a slap in the face. He couldn't look at her as he picked the Snake Miraculous from his pocket and grabbed her gloved hand, placing the ring and the bracelet in her palm. Then he stood, trying to balance himself on the unsteady surface of the rooftop, which seemed to be harder in his civilian form, and started walking back towards the fire exit.

"Wait!" Her voice sounded so hoarse, so rough, that Adrien couldn't help but turn around to look at her. His heart sank, noticing the shining of tears rolling down her cheeks. "Is that all you've got to say?"

He couldn't hold her gaze. "Is there anything else left to say?" Tears wormed their way out of his eyes and wet his cheeks, silent witnesses of his treacherous feelings. He balled his hands into fists as he turned around, showing her his back. "I failed you. I lied to you. I was so stupid to reveal my identity to you and now…"

"I lied too!" she shouted, her words bouncing around the emptiness of the rooftops. "I also failed you; I also revealed myself to you. We've been such idiots!"

He took a shaky breath. "I will see you downstairs."

"No."

He stopped at the way she had said the word, thick, intense and full of hidden emotions. She was now right behind him, he could almost feel her breath tickling the back of his head. She leaned her forehead on his back.

"I don't want another Chat Noir."

He took a shaky breath and felt his throat clenching . "My Lady," he started.

"No, Minou. How many times do I need to tell you that you're irreplaceable?" She wrapped her arms around his middle and he sucked his breath in.

"Don't make this more difficult, please."

She stiffened, her hands moving to his arms and forcing him to turn and face her. She grabbed hold of his left hand and, forcefully, put the ring back on it.

"But…"

"I don't care."

Adrien's heart was in his throat as Plagg reappeared in a flash of green and shot him a glare, raising a very upset eyebrow. "Now, why on Earth did you do such a stupid thing," said the little God of Destruction, his tiny lips curling down in a pout.

"But…"

"I don't care, I said!" shouted Ladybug, her tears now flowing freely from the pools under her eyes. "I didn't want to know, but this doesn't mean that I want you to leave." She looked down, her cheeks soaking wet and shining in the sunlight.

He rolled the now silver ring with his fingers, attempted to put it back on his right hand and then started playing with it again. "So are we just…continuing as if nothing happened?"

She gulped dryly and nodded. "Please. I—" she muttered, "I'm not ready to…"

He lowered his head and put his ring back on his finger, but didn't look at her and didn't speak.

"I need time, Chaton."

He sighed. "I haven't said anything."

"I can feel your disappointment. I…" She paused maybe a little too long. "I…"

"It's okay," he said, although it was not. He plastered his model smile on his face. "Let's go back, or Mlle Bustier won't be happy."

oOo

Marinette tried her best. She really did.

She went in first and smiled her cringing smile at Mlle Bustier who asked her if she was alright, and then returned to her seat; that was okay, she could cope with that. However, a couple of minutes later, Adrien came back in, muttering a few words of apologies for taking so long before doing the exact same thing.

He shot a quick glance at her and Marinette felt the room getting a whole ten degrees hotter, so she had no doubts that the colour of her face was matching her Ladybug's mask. She spent half of the lesson burning a hole in the back of Adrien's head and the other half sighing and pretending that she was following the lesson and taking notes, but instead she started doodling random sketches of Adrien in the margins of her notebook.

Then, she got lost again looking at Adrien's blond mane in front of her and without even realising, her hand started adding the mask of Chat Noir to the face of the doodles, and the cat ears on the sides of his head. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't realise that the lesson had finished until she saw a hand passing in front of her eyes and blinked.

"You okay, girl?" asked Alya when Marinette finally could focus and pay attention to her surroundings.

She nodded distractedly, her hand reaching for the page again, until Alya grabbed it and took her pencil away. Marinette blinked again. "Why did you do that?" she asked.

"Marinette, you know where my heart lies. Nothing could make me happier than seeing that the object of your distracted doodling in class is changing."

Only at that moment did Marinette realise that she had covered her notebook page with sketches of Chat Noir. Who had turned up the heating in the classroom? "Uh. It's not what it looks like…"

Alya pursed her lips. "Of course. We need to talk; come with me to the cafeteria?" she said and Marinette could only nod and squeak as she grabbed her notebook. She hastily closed it to prevent Adrien from seeing what was in it, as the boy had turned around and his gaze had landed on her notebook without prior warning.

"Eeeeeep… okay." Had Stormy Weather come back, or why was it so hot? The boy had just looked at her very briefly, but that was enough to light a fire near Marinette's face.

And to make the matter worse, Nino gasped and grabbed Adrien's hand. "Since when do you bite your fingernails, mec? I've never seen you doing that before."

Adrien chuckled nervously and took his hand out of Nino's grip. "Uh, er, just…a lot on my mind recently, nothing to worry about," he said. Then he heard a beep coming from his phone and grabbed it so quickly that you'd think his life was on the line and that was his last safety anchor. "Must be my…oh."

"'Sup?" asked Nino, leaning in curiously.

"The Gorilla sent me a text. He's got a flat tire and told me I'll need to eat here."

Nino's face brightened, but Adrien didn't seem to share the emotion. "That's fantastic news! Let's go grab something to eat, shall we? Are you coming, girls?" Nino said, looking up at Alya and Marinette.

Marinette blanched and Adrien saw that. He turned his head and started walking out of the classroom. The dynamic didn't go unnoticed by Alya.

"Okay…there's something weird going on. Nino, keep Sunshine company, will you? I need to have a word with my girl here. Possibly in private. In fact…I know, let's go to your house, I want to show you my…special edition of the Ladyblog," she said with a wink.

And so Marinette found herself dragging her feet home at the slowest possible speed, followed, and then preceded, by an Alya that looked the image of worry,a big frown wrinkling her brows, gaze sharply pointed at her.

"Spill," said the young reporter as soon as they reached her room.

Marinette sat at her desk and headdesked on the keys of her laptop. This brought the machine out of hibernation and Adrien's dazzling smile appeared as the screensaver Marinette had never managed to get rid of, making the girl's heart quicken in her chest. She pulled the laptop lid down and headdesked against it again.

"Nothing to spill," she said eventually.

"Don't believe you," snapped Alya. "You're acting very weirdly today, Marinette. You know, I set up that patrol with different holders to give you some rest! What have you been up to instead of doing just that?"

Marinette sighed. "I had a rest."

"Liar."

Marinette sighed again. "What could I have done? Nothing happened, Alya."

"Say that to someone else." Alya tapped her fingers on the outside of her arm, her eyebrow cocked as she looked at Marinette.

Who sighed again. And groaned. And brought her hands to the sides of her head and shook said head forcefully. "ARGH! Okay, you're right, nothing went well. Everything was wrong. A disaster!"

Alya rolled her eyes. "Now, now. What do you mean? What could possibly go so wrong with you staying at home?"

"I know you had organised for me to stay at home, but…"

"You didn't? Did Chat Noir not give the Miraculous to that Multimouse girl? He seemed to be quite keen on doing it."

Marinette sighed again. "Yes he did, but…"

"But?"

"You see…Multimouse…was me."

Alya's eyes widened. "WHAT?"

Marinett cringe-smiled. "Yeah… It was the time we faced Mlle Mendeleiev and I made a convoluted plan because I thought Chat Noir was starting to guess my identity and used the Mouse Miraculous." She quickly told Alya what had happened on the day.

"Oh…so that's how Chat Noir knew the identity of Multimouse."

"Yes, I had done it on purpose…stupid me!" She headdesked against the laptop again.

Alya grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to move away from the desk. "I urge you to not do that, Marinette, you're going to have a bruise on your forehead if you carry on."

"I don't care," she muttered under her breath.

Alya raised an eyebrow again. "Okay. Is that why you're doodling Chat Noir instead of Adrien in your notebook now? Has the Cat showed up at patrol and swept the Mouse off her feet?"

Marinette closed her eyes and lowered her head, but she also shook it. "No, Aspik came to the meeting all right…"

"Aspik?"

"That Snake holder I was talking to you about. I went to his house and left the Snake Miraculous to him and he came to patrol. And of course I went there too. And that's where it gets messy, Alya."

"Why? When we were talking about this Snake holder, the way you were talking about him sounded…almost as if it was Adrien! You sounded as if you had a crush on him."

Marinette cringed. "It's worse."

"How could it be worse than you patrolling all on your own with the boy that you love and you can't even stand still in front of without tumbling over your feet and risking to kill yourself?"

"He was Chat Noir," she blurted out, thinking it was safe to say that. After all, she wasn't telling Alya Chat Noir's identity, only that he also was Aspik.

Alya blinked. "Huh? Say that again?"

"I had no idea! But that day, when I needed a Snake holder, I had accidentally asked the civilian version of Chat Noir to take another Miraculous."

Alya blinked again. "Okay, let me understand. So…" She put both hands to her temples, as if deep in concentration. "I organise something because I see you and Chat Noir being tired. And I highlight, T-I-R-E-D. Bloody tired, extremely knackered, exhausted, okay?"

Marinette cringe-smiled. "Y-yeah?"

"Chat Noir proposes Multimouse as a candidate, because of course the pure soul he is didn't have a clue that Marinette was Ladybug and that he would just make you take the place of yourself."

Marinette nodded again, the cringing expression never leaving her mouth.

"So you propose this other Snake holder, thinking nothing about it because even you, poor unfortunate soul, didn't think that you were asking Chat Noir to take Chat Noir's pl…hang on a second. You KNOW WHO CHAT NOIR IS NOW?"

Alya's eyes were as big as saucers. No, worse, as big as bloody windmills. Marinette blushed to the roots of her hair and could only nod.

"And you were doodling Chat Noir's face in your notepad…"

Marinette's face felt even warmer, no doubt she was now more red than her Ladybug's suit as she nodded again.

Alya's smirk was very cunning as she elbowed her. "He must be cute…"

Marinette cupped her hands to her face. "SHUT UP…"

"Oh, he must be, if he's bothering you so much. And you've been treating Adrien like shit all morning." Alya tapped a finger to her chin. "Actually, now that I think of it, even Adrien's been acting very odd this morning. For the first time in his life, Mlle Bustier took away his phone, he was jumpy, he went out to go to the bathroom seconds after you left and…" She eyed Marinette suspiciously. "...and came back seconds after you returned."

Marinette's cringing smile became even cringier. "Ahaha, what a coincidence…"

Alya's eyes were small slits in her face. "Hm hm… yes, what a coincidence, indeed…" Her intense gaze seemed to pierce Marinette's soul as Alya kept staring at her, lost in thought. "Also, he was very nervous when he came back and…didn't Nino say that he was chewing his fingernails? I've never seen him doing that, ever. Also, his bodyguard tells him that he needs to eat at school, something that he's always wished he could do, and his expression dropped as soon as he looked at…" Her eyes widened as she banged her fist against the palm of her other hand. "...YOU."

Marinette put her hands up. "Alya, it's not what you think!"

"It depends," said the reporter, "on what exactly you think that I think."

Marinette opened her mouth to answer. But no sound came out. Once, twice…she felt like a bloody goldfish. Shoot. Alya had both of them grilled and she knew it. Her gaze hardened as she tried her very last card, pouting and folding her arms across her chest. "Maybe if you told me what you thought, I could tell you if you're right or not."

"Something that I already theorised on months ago and you laughed at me just for bringing it up."

The way Marinette's gaze dropped must've been very telling, because Alya's face lit up. "I knew it," she exclaimed.

"Alya, it's not my secret to tell and it's extremely unfair of you to corner me like this." Marinette's pouting lips pouted further. "Besides, this puts you at a huge risk. You just painted a massive target across your back. Oh my God, I'm such a horrible friend! And leader!" Her hands jerked to the sides of her head and she started pulling at her hair, her face as white as a sheet, until Alya grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her in a way that their gazes would cross.

"Marinette, you haven't told me anybody's secret. I figured it out by myself, it's very different."

"It's not! I thought it was safe to tell you that Chat Noir was Aspik because you didn't know Aspik's identity!"

Alya shook her on the shoulders. "Listen to yourself, girl. That's it, I didn't know Aspik's identity, so, from your point of view it wasn't betraying anyone's secret to tell me that he and Chat Noir were one and the same. It was me joining the dots because of your and Adrien's behaviour today. I painted the target on my back, as you kindly pointed out, all by myself. And it's not your fault."

Marinette cupped her hands in front of her face and started crying. "I'm so sorry! I'm the worst Guardian in history! Letting out someone else's secret so easily. I didn't last one day keeping his identity a secret, what's wrong with me?"

"Marinette, I urge you to stop catastrophising. If you carry on this way I'll need to keep a watch for butterflies! The last thing I want is to fight an akumatised version of you. And besides…do you want to give it to Papillombre on a plate? If he akumatised you now, he'd hit the jackpot and find out not only your identity, but Chat Noir's too."

"Alya's right," came Tikki's voice from Marinette's purse. The ladybug kwami zipped out of her hiding spot and floated up to Marinette's face, patting her hair with her tiny hands. "What's done is done, but you don't want to make it worse. You didn't mean to reveal his identity. Your heart is in the right place, Marinette; you can't help Alya joining the dots, like you couldn't help Adrien joining the dots last night because of your lies, and likewise for you with him."

"Lies?" asked Alya, blinking at Tikki.

Tikki cringe-smiled. "Yes. They both thought it was safe to lie about the interaction they had with the other hero and say things that only the other hero could know, knowing damn well that they had never mentioned that in their other hero form to the other person." The little kwami shrugged and Alya facepalmed.

"Sorry, girl. You've such an incredible brain, so great each time you need to find the use for a Lucky Charm. But…when it comes to Adrien, you're the dumbest person in the whole world." She saw how Marinette pouted even further at her words. Her face lit up and a genuine smile curled her lips as she stretched to hug her best friend. "But that's why I love you so much."

Marinette hugged her back after an initial gasp of surprise and Tikki hugged Marinette's head too. They stayed wrapped in this bone crushing hug for a long time, until Alya broke it, grabbed Marinette by the shoulders and gave her a wink. "Well, you can now stop worrying whether Adrien loves you or not, right?"

Marinette cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Not only is the Cat deeply in love with the Bug, but I clearly remember how much Chat Noir raved about a certain Mouse hero, and how flustered he became when I dared say that he had a new crush. That boy is cooked worse than a well done steak, I tell you. Both sides."

Marinette's face became the colour of a ripe tomato, causing Alya to burst into a deep laugh. "We better head back to class, girl, or we'll end up being tardy again."

To be Continued…


Author's Note:


Hello there! Here's chapter 4. Sorry if it's lte of a week. I spent the week before last writing a story for the birthday of a friend. You know, it had to be just a cute sexy pwp, but as usual, it grew monster legs and it turned into a 30k+ tome. So…well, my friend will have enough to read for at least a month LOL and you will have an M rated story to run alongside these updates starting from next weekend.

I hope you liked this chapter. And yes, another reveal gone wrong. This is taking on a life of its own too…all this wasn't planned, just…the story decided to head this way and who was I to stay all cute and fluffy? Don't we want our dorks to suffer? No? *scratches her chin* What are you even doing here? XD

Anyway, please let me know what you thought of this chapter in a comment. I really hope you liked it! I'm always open to a dialogue, I don't mind ANY type of feedback! To all of you who will write a review or a comment for this story, thank you so much! You always make my day!

I'll update the Cheesy Situation next week (unless the story I need to write for the JuleRose magazine takes *also* on a life of its own!), so for the next update of this story you'll need to come back in a fortnight :)

Oh also, if you're Harry Potter fans, I've found again my old stories from 2002, so I'm slowly revising the English of them and I've recently published one of the stories that I had more dear to my heart at the time, 'The Mists of Memory'. I'll carry on every fortnight with it, if you read the books or watched the movies, please do have a read. It won't stop me from writing about Miraculous, don't worry. But it's depressing when stories get no hits, no reviews, no fav/follows… Thanks so much to those of you who did see it in my updates and did drop a line!

As usual, if you read this and you're not part of our wonderful Discord server already, but you enjoy reading, writing and talking about Miraculous, please join our Discord server, Miraculous Fanworks (for people on FFN, discord dot gg slash mlfanworks). Also, I recently joined another wonderful server! Even this one is friendly and there's a lot of wonderful people to discuss Miraculous and fanfictions with, so…now you get two invites :D Miraculous Discordance /QwgKdUhJNJ (discord dot gg slash QwgKdUhJNJ). I wait for you in one of these servers.

PS: also, if you enjoy this story but feel shy of posting a review for it, you can join the Emerald Library Discord server at /rjQhnJNh (for people on FFN or Wattpad, discord dot gg slash rjQhnJNh) and access my personal channel. I'm there all the time so if you pop around we can have a chat. I promise I won't bite ;)