Day 20: Lucky Charm Bracelet

"No! No, no, no!" Chat Noir exclaimed as he watched his mech bot get demolished by Marinette's bot on her computer screen.

"GAME OVER!" the deep voice in the game said before showing that Marinette had won the round.

"Yes!" the bluenette exclaimed, throwing her arms up with joy.

"Seriously, how do you keep beating me?" Chat huffed, putting his controller down on her desk.

Marinette grinned. "Well…let's just say, I have a little something up my sleeve," she said, nonchalantly sticking her arms out over her desk.

Chat's eyes went to her right wrist where he saw a very familiar string of blue and yellow beads wrapped around it.

He knew what it was and where it came from, but he couldn't let Marinette know that. "What is that? Some kind of lucky charm?" Chat asked with fake curiosity.

"Yeah," Marinette pulled her wrist close to her heart and covered it with her left hand. "A very special friend gave it to me," she said, dreamily.

Chat raised a brow. Why'd she say it like that? "Oh, that was nice of them," he said simply.

"Well, I gave him my old one because I thought it'd help him when we were supposed to be in an Ultimate Mecha Strike tournament together, but then I just let him keep it," she explained before pulled it away from her chest to look at it. "Then, on my last birthday, he made me a new one to replace it. And I think it's even more lucky."

That had to be the case. The charm she had given him was in his suit pocket and he was still losing. Or luck had nothing to do with video games and Marinette was just that amazing.

Where was his luck?

"That explains why I keep losing," Chat lamented, craning his neck back until he was facing the ceiling with a pouting lip.

Marinette stifled a giggle. "Oh, I can't bare to see a kitty so sad," she said sweetly, reaching out to scratch behind one of his cat ears. This caused Chat's sour face to melt into content bliss as he raised his head back up straight and leaned a bit closer to her. Feeling so nice, he let a purr rumble in his throat. "I still think it's strange that you can purr," Marinette said. Chat stopped purring and looked at her with a pout again. "Strange, but cute," she quickly backtracked.

This made Chat smile again. Then he stood up and walked around her to the open floor of her room.

"I can do a lot of things actual cats can do. But not every cat can do things like this," he said with a cocky grin before doing a flawless back flip. "Or this." Chat pulled his baton out, extended it just enough to use as a bo staff, then spun it around in front of him, to his left, then his right, then above his head before striking a heroic pose. Marinette rolled her eyes with a grin but clapped her hands. If Chat couldn't show off in video games with her, he could show off in his hero abilities. "Or this," Chat shrank his baton and put it back behind him before turning around and doing a hand-stand. He looked at Marinette—who looked upside down from his perspective—and smiled. She smiled back at him. But both of their smiles fell when something fell out of Chat's suit pocket. It was the charm. The string of pink and green beads, landed right there on Marinette's rug. They both stayed where they were. Frozen in shock. He wanted to grab it but somehow, Marinette got up from her chair and grabbed it first. So surprised, Chat lost his balance and fell backwards, his legs landing on her chaise. He craned his neck back to look at her again for a moment before scrambling up to his feet. "Uh…Marinette-"

"Where did you get this?" she cut him off, her voice sharp as she looked down at the charm in her hands. Then she snapped her head up to look at him with even sharper eyes. "Why do you have this?"

There was no point in trying to lie. She knew what the charm was and who she originally gave it to.

"Do you really need me to tell you?" Chat asked, his eyes apologetic. "Plagg, claws in."

In a flash of green light that traveled from his feet up to his blonde head, Chat Noir disappeared and there stood Adrien Agreste in his place.

Even though she already knew, seeing it right in front of her with her own eyes made it too real too soon.

"No," she whispered, taking a step back and lightly shaking her head. "You-you shouldn't have done that. I'm not supposed to know."

"I'm sorry," Adrien said, his voice desperate. They just stood there for a few seconds, completely silent, before Marinette finally handed the charm back to Adrien. Adrien put the charm in his pant pocket then his full attention went back to his princess. "Look, Marinette-" he said softly, taking her hands and leading her over to sit on her chaise with him. "I've never revealed myself to anyone, except you. You're the only one who knows. So, as my friend, I need you to promise me that you won't tell anyone, no matter what."

Marinette had so many thoughts running through her head about how to respond and all the problems this would create for the both of them. "What if-what if I become akumatized?" was what came out of her mouth.

A look of realization came over Adrien's face. "That's right. You've never been akumatized before. Which means you also don't have one of Ladybug's magical charms," he said to himself mostly then paused for a moment to think. When he was ready, he turned back to his dear bluenette friend. "Listen, I have patrol with Ladybug tomorrow night, I'll ask her to make you a charm and then I'll bring it to you. Once you have that, Shadowmoth won't be able to akumatize you," he told her. Marinette's expression didn't change. She still looked sad, and possibly still in a bit of shock. "But Marinette, promise me that you'll keep this a secret," he asked her again, but Marinette didn't reply right away. "Please Marinette," he pleaded.

Despite his face being so close, she still couldn't look him in the eyes.

This boy. Her goofy partner, who she adored but always rejected because she was in love with someone else.

But he was the other boy too!

That was not an easy thing to process.

She needed time, but for now, while he was still with her, she needed to respond.

Marinette finally lifted her head a bit and looked him in the eyes—the not feline eyes but still the same shade as her kitty's. "I promise," she said quietly but still sincere.

Adrien smiled and pulled her into a hug. "Thank you," he said, nuzzling her hair really fast. "I have to go," he said after pulling away but kept his hands on her shoulders. "We'll talk more about this tomorrow night when I come back with your charm, okay?"

Not sure what else to say, Marinette just nodded and tried to smile reassuringly for him. He stood up, transformed again, offered her one last smile and wave, then he was climbing up to her loft bed, up and out her skylight, then disappeared into the night.

Marinette was the most trustworthy person he knew. If anyone had to accidently find out his secret, Adrien was lucky that it was her.

Fear not. This one will be extended into Day 27: Confession.

Sorry again. 21 and 22 are being skipped. So I'll see u again on the 23rd. =^.^=