Hi guys, sorry it took me so much time to upload. I took a few days off of writing and read some fics myself. Then this chapter was also a little bit challenging ngl. I wrote like 1 POV per day and that didn't go that well because every time I would think of some new detail to add I would have to edit the other two. Also, I almost lost interest to in the middle of writing because I had thought of the plot even for the sequel, but I felt like I was stuck rewriting the same scene 3 times (and then editing). This chapter also was way longer than the others [stonks meme]. Moreover, I betaread my chapters on my own for now while checking for typos and if my sentences make sense etc. I will look for a beta reader in summer though, since my activity will peek then. Okay, enough excuses, time for crack.

[Note: The first scene is the same throughout almost the whole chapter, but there are various POV shifts. Every time a POV changes some new details will be revealed. If something does not make sense throughout reading the first part of the chapter dw, it will all come down together at the last POV. Please tell me in the comments if u like the POVs idea. I think it does give the chapter a little bit more suspense, but it also took way more time to write]

[POV Cat Noir]

Cat Noir hurried towards the bakery to check if Alya was with Marinette. Even if it turned out Marinette is alone, he could drop in and spend some time with his Princess before he headed home. He could even ask her about the video since she contributed to it, so she could theoretically give him an answer.

Landing on the balcony he checked through the window to see if Alya was inside and indeed she was. Though his heart skipped a beat when he realised that the girls weren't alone in the room. Many kwamis were acompanying the two girls and some of them were even participating in their conversation. He could only identify Tikki (since he used the Ladybug Miraculous once), Sass (from his adventures as Aspik and Snake Noir) and Daizzi (since he was present on Pigella's recruitment), though the animals the kwamis represented were pretty obvious. Specifically, he saw the monkey kwami messing around. (He must be the one that unmuted the call mentioned in the previous chapter) and Tikki, Sass, the fox and the turtle who were listening to the girls' conversation.

One million thoughts raced through his mind but one thing was clear to him: he finally knew who 'his Lady' is, Marinette Dupain-Cheng - that clumsy, yet so smart and cute little angel. After setting his thoughts straight, he was back from his mini-breakdown and got better cover behind the wall.

"I don't think I was supposed to see this..." he finally came to his senses and immediately hid behind the wall trying to eavesdrop their conversation even though his cover could be blown up any second now. Curiosity killed the cat...

"I can't believe it! I knew Alya is Rena Rouge for a while now, but I never expected Marinette to be milady. How did she even pull Multimouse off? Alya must had been there hidden to make an illusion." Cat was saying to himself still not able to process the newfound knowledge

For some reason he felt a strange urge to stay close to his Lady, now that he knew who she was. Him hearing their conversation with his enhanced hearing was not enough; he had to see her, not just as his 'very good friend' Marinette, but also as his partner Ladybug. And then he made one hell-of a decision: look through the window.

Oh crap! Did she see him with the corner of her eye? Why did she randomly freeze? Only one thought crossed his mind: RUN!

[POV Girls on Voice Chat]

"Sure Marinette, go help your mom, we'll stay here and wait for you. Also bye Alya, see you soon." Mylene said before Marinette muted her input and output. (By the way Alya excused herself that she had to go find Nino for a date so that the girls wouldn't call her instead of Marinette)

Then they started talking about a school trip that was being planned in the near future till they heard the sound effect the app makes when someone unmutes their mic and were originally confused because neither Marinette said something nor did she unmute her sound and open her camera. But then the bomb hit them.

"Alya, got any idea what this one could mean?" Marinette's voice could be heard in the distance

"The magic of the Miraculous is [~~~] (insert encrypted word in an ancient language), it can both [~~~] and [~~~]. I think this one is unimportant. It probably says that using a Miraculous is like using a double-edged sword or that it can either be used for either good or evil purposes...(clears her throat) Shadow Moth..." Alya was also heard in the distance

"Did they lie to do something else than chat with us? That's so mean of them. What are they even talking about, the magic of the Miraculous?" Rose said in an angrier tone that her usual

"Alya must be behind this. She obviously is working on something top-secret for the Ladyblog and only told Marinette. Not gonna lie, it kinda sucks that she doesn't trust us enough for such classified info. Though, I am more concerned about who unmuted the mic; it was definitely not either of them." Alix said

"Don't blame her. Perhaps she is helping Ladybug with something? I know she has done it before." Juleka responded

"True, I did not think of that. I'm also gonna ask Max if we've been hacked or something since that random unmute is too suspicious." Alix said

Then they heard footsteps getting closer to the phone

"Aww Roaar, I know it is super boring for you to stay here all day, but it is too dangerous right now to have more permanent holders." Marinette's voice was heard but really soft

"Who is she talking too? Ro- what? Alix questioned while Juleka froze for a second as she realised what is going on

"Stay calm Daizzi, I assure you Rose is fine and cheerful as always. (stops talking for a second) Yes I'm sure, I just spoke to her 5 minutes ago." Marinette was talking to a seemingly unexistent person that had interest in Rose.

"Rose, who is this 'Daizzi' Marinette is talking too, who can't be heard for some reason." Mylene questioned

"I don't know, perhaps a secret fan?" Rose said, then she realised "Oh, it's no one. Don't worry about it."

"Does Marinette have imaginary friends? Haha! And I thought her crush about Aaaaaadrien was the most weird thing about her." Alix said

"Mullo, what happened to Fluff?" (stops talking again) "What? How did the timeline change? How bad is it? (again) Oof, change is not always a bad thing, I see." Marinette was talking with the kwamis still unaware of the eavesdroppers

Silence fell in the chatroom as no one wanted to talk about the revelations (Alix and Mylene realised too of course after hearing their kwamis' names).

"But what could have caused such a time-shift?" Alya questioned

Marinette turned towards Alya to reply to her.

"I don't know Al..." she froze and then made started doing random panic moves

[POV Alya - Marinette] (some dialogue parts are copy pasted from the previous POV)

As Marinette threw her phone away (it landed on the bed with the screen looking upwards) she sat on her chair and opened the copy of the Grimoire on her computer.

"So 2 days ago I run into some trouble decoding the Grimoire. I could only translate the words that weren't important for understanding the sentence. Take a look." Marinette said and indicated the part she was currently translating with the cursor.

"Lemme see, blah blah blah, that one doesn't make sense, blah blah blah."

"Alya, got any idea what could this one mean?"

"The magic of the Miraculous is [~~~], it can both [~~~] and [~~~]. I think this one is unimportant. It probably says that a Miraculous is like a double-edged sword or that it can either be used for good or evil purposes...(clears her throat) Shadow Moth..."

"True, this doesn't seem of any importance to me either right now. Though I'll be sure to recheck it someday in the future, once I have learned more about the translations."

"Anyways, I have a question too. You've selected holders for all the Miraculouses you possess. Are you planning on making any other 'promotions' except me? I'm sure you and Cat would appreciate having a shield in case of dangerous akuma attacks."

"Alya, Nino's identity is known to Shadow Moth. Such a 'promotion' would endanger his friends and family. And just a reminder: if Shadow Moth attacks any of his friends, you know who will be his first choices..."

"I was gonna suggest a new superhero suit or something like that. I mean Rena Furtive has worked flawlessly so far. What about the heroes recruited after Miracle Queen?"

"Master please, it is so boring in here. Some of us haven't had holders for centuries before you all assigned us one. Alya is right, it wouldn't hurt if you gave us to trusted people..." Roaar exhaled and was visibly upset (reminder that kwamis can't be captured by technology, so that could not be heard in the VC)

"Aww Roaar, I know it is super boring for you to stay here all day, but it is too dangerous right now to have more permanent holders." Marinette said in a softer tone (she is like that only when speaking to the kwamis). "Besides, Shadow Moth is lurking in the shadows waiting for any clue to pick up that could help him learn my identity. All the holders are my friends and I should be extremely careful when dealing with their identities too."

Then Daizzi decided to step up "Can you at least let me know if Rose is fine?"

"Stay calm Daizzi, I assure you Rose is fine and cheerful as always." Marinette responded in the same tone

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure, I just spoke to her 5 minutes ago."

Then Marinette noticed Fluff lying in a shelf looking really dizzy. Next to him was Mullo looking at him worriedly.

"Mullo, what happened to Fluff?" Marinette said now worried too. She definitely didn't want to have to cure him like Master Fu did to Tikki when she got sick; how would she explain that to her parents?

"I'm alright. There has been a change in the timeline, that's all, nothing to worry about" Fluff replied himself and he did not look sick at all actually

"What? How did the timeline change? How bad is it?" Marinette sounded nervous

"Change is not always a bad thing. In fact, since you became the Guardian of the Miracle Box, the timeline has changed approximately 37 times without any major consequences. And don't worry, if something major happens, then either Bunnyx will show up or I will have you transform to fix it yourself."

"Oof, change is not always a bad thing, I see."

"But what could have caused such a time-shift?" Alya questioned

Marinette turned to reply to her

"I don't know Al..." she started saying, but froze upon seeing a black cat ear through her window that started moving soon after she noticed it.

And before she had a panic attack, Alya made sure to intervene and ask her what's the panic for. She then opened the window that her best friend was staring at and noticed Cat Noir jumping over some roofs in a big rush, like he was running away from them.

"Oh" she murmured

"Just 'Oh'? Alya, you know what happened last time he learned my identity and it was because of superpower abuse. Is it a coincidence that this just happened right after we made a similar abuse? This time Bunnyx did not show up though. It could have gone so badly that perhaps Bunnyx never became a Miraculous holder. I need to find him now and solve this. If this doesn't happen, I'll fix the timeline myself." Marinette said (obviously she is in that mood that only lets her think of the worst possible outcome and overthinking every little detail) (a.n. I know there is a phrase for that but I just can't remember it, sorry)

"Girl relax, I'm sure it's not that bad, you heard Fluff."

"I still have to find him and get an explanation on why he was stalking me out of the mask. Oh, I almost forgot about it. I should tell the girls that... (notices her mic is unmuted)" She couldn't handle her emotions anymore, so she just let all of them go out with a loud scream.

After deciding to unmute audio for damage control she heard 4 voices (who were silent for a long time) tell her the exact same thing. "Marinette can we talk later?"

"I guess I owe every single one of u an explanation. Though it has to wait for some time. I have to make sure my alley cat doesn't change color to white (or should I say blanc? *for those that don't know blanc means white in French*)." Marinette said before leaving the VC

And she immediately shouted "Tikki, spots on" and ran out her balcony looking for her partner.

She wasted no time calling him and telling her to meet-up ASAP on top of the Montparnasse Tower and instantly rejected any excuse Cat desperately tried to come up with to avoid this so-called emergency meeting.

Soon a very suspicious looking Cat Noir landed on the Montparnasse Tower and was greeted in a totally friendly way by his partner who was definitely not fuming.

"What's wrong Milady? I was having a claw-some afternoon before you called me for this emergency." He punned trying to lighten the mood, though in reality he was trying to calm himself down so that he could at least try to deny what Ladybug is about to say.

"Yes kitty, I wanted to talk to you about abusing your superpowers. Multimouse contacted me that she caught you stalking her... her civilian self." Ladybug faked an angry face and scolded him

"Careful there Milady, I wasn't stalking anyone. In fact, I was looking for Alya Cesaire aka the Ladyblogger. She was not home, so I visited her best friend too, who is Multimouse's civilian identity, to check if she was there." Cat replied in a natural way and his words sounded honest so far (to be fair he hasn't lied yet, he is still telling the truth)

"And why is that?"Ladybug questioned him. She knew he couldn't lie to her, he was gonna crack eventually.

"Well, I heard from a friend of mine that she showed in public a video of me that I never filmed and it looked legit. I wanted to have a look at it myself. You know, Shadow Moth could always be behind this." Cat Noir responded still chill since he was telling half-truth.

"Well, to be honest I was expecting that to happen." Ladybug grinned akwardly still not sure about what he knew so she gambled "I should have let you know when it happened, but Rena Rouge is a permanent holder for a few weeks now. And... she is in contact with Alya, so I guess she made an illusion of you. Can't say more because of they identities rule."

"And you were to scold me for abusing my superpowers... Anyways I should feel offended for not being informed about yout superhero-related plans, but I will let that slip, under one term." Cat is now playing hard-to-get

"Yes, I'll do the same to her after we are done. And to 4 other people probably (groans). What about that term of yours?"

"My term is something really simple actually, yet so awkward at the same time. I want you to understand me and not get mad..." Cat Noir decided to play with fire. He noticed that Ladybug was feeling more and more guilty for not telling him things, so he could potentially have the upper hand.

"What? I don't get what you want me to do."

"As you see, you thought today I was abusing my superpowers, but turns out I didn't and it was your fault actually for this misunderstanding. Well, I did find Alya in Multimouse's house and I did indeed eavesdrop on them, but there is a good explanation for that."

Ladybug interrupted him. There is no need to pretend anymore. It was confirmed: Cat Noir figured out her identity. Now they are gonna fall in love, he will get akumatized one day and destroy the world. (a.n. literally her thinking process, sometimes I wanna shake my head for writing this)

"So you know?" She stopped for a second till seeing her partner nod "Yes, I am that useless clumsy girl that trips over on her own. I am nothing special, I can't even spell a full sentence in front of the boy I like. I am a living failure - the exact opposite of my superhero persona. I hope you're not dissapointed." She decided to fully confess to him since she was going to revert everything with time travelling.

"No, Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a wonderful person, she is smart and friendly to anyone, even those who hate her. She is sweet and always wears a smile on her face no matter how rough can things be. She is creative and has proved it multiple times: winning a student fashion competition, making things for Jagged Stone, impressing the Style Queen herself and making things for her friends in no time whenever they need help. She is the best player of UMS 3 I have ever met. She has leadership skills and has put them to work many times as a class rep. She is the only teenager I know to have stood up against Chloe Bourgeois. Tell me, which of those facts I mentioned are not true? I have not even mentioned the superhero persona yet. And by looking at all those facts, it just makes sense that you are that amazing girl." Cat Noir said with passion while Ladybug was blushing at the plethora of compliments she received from her partner

"I, I don't know what to say kitty, you're right. I never realised that the only thing that Ladybug has that Marinette lacks is ofc superpowers and the confidence that the mask provides."

"Yes Milady, you're indeed Miraculous. To be honest it would be a matter of time before I fell for your civilian identity. Sucks that I never got to look at you that much. You were always behind me"

"What do you mean Chaton? We know each other as civilians?"

"Bugaboo, please let me finish. I said that you were always behind me, even in class." (a.n. Gosh, he finally dropped the bomb, it took so long)

Ladybug winked, then laughed, then froze (process reversed and repeated few times). That girl was changing mood like every 5 seconds. Apparently she broke, so Cat Noir kept going since he was getting no response.

"I think you already know my feelings for you and even though I don't expect you to return them, I will always care for you and wish you the best. I hope you will finally find the confidence you're lacking to confess to 'the other boy'."

At that point her brain started operating again. It was Adrien! Adrien Agreste! Her crush, which is also her dearest friend. She loves him and he loves him. She could finally see it that the situation was not a catastrophe; it was perfect. Fluff was right about things not going wrong.

"Kitty I have to confess something to you. I think I finally found that confidence I was lacking. And turns out I already had it, it is provided by the mask as well. Though it is even stronger when 'the other boy' is wearing a mask as well."

"Huh?"

"Adrien Agreste, since the day I met you, I have been head over heels for you. It is not the same as the celebrity crush all your fans have on you. I did not fall in love with your perfection, your model life. It was at the first day of school, when you gave me your umbrella, when you showed to me your real self: the kind and caring Adrien, who wanted to make friends that valued who he is, not his image."

She was not allowed to keep going, since Cat Noir kissed her on the lips and she followed through. They did so for a while, thinking they were alone.

Little did they know that not only cats but also foxes are also very curious animals, and a certain teenager fox had been eavesdropping on them pretty much the entire time. Though when they started kissing she decided to leave them some privacy and head home. On her way back one thing was monopolizing her attention. Her 2 favorite ships were actually 1, how is that even possible? Only the klutz Marinette Dupain-Cheng and the oblivious Adrien Agreste could pull something like that off. At least she should be happy; that ship did indeed sail, even though she could not record it... :(

THE END?

Jk, you know I am already working on the sequel fic. I left some things from this chapter to be included in a prologue chapter of the sequel.

In the end I really liked how this story turned out. My original one-shot idea was pretty vague and I am happy I did not go with it. Thanks to all the amazing readers, especially those who left a review and for all the favs/ follows. Sequel coming up soon (max delay 10 days though it will be probably sooner). I haven't thought of a name on it yet so if you wanna help, feel free to suggest one in review/PM (before I release the story ofc). The new story doesn't really involve around something. It is gonna be a casual story with a bigger Miraculous team and various ships. Gonna start with akuma fights and end with the final fight against Shadow Moth. Last but not least tell me if you liked the comments I made on few occasions (with a.n.) and if you want me to include more so there can be a little more humour in the mix.