"Looks like we'll be in here for a while," Adrien said with a grimace, rubbing his shoulder as pain shot through it. He'd thrown himself against the door of the equipment room in an attempt to force it open, but whatever the akuma had used to hold it in place had held firm.

He heard Marinette's footsteps quickly move towards him; as soon as she'd heard the slam of his body on the door, Marinette had stopped her search for another exit and sped back towards Adrien. She looked at him, eyes wide with concern, and bit her lip as she looked at the door keeping them in the gym equipment room.

"There's no other exit," she said, confirming Adrien's suspicions. He gave Marinette a half smile, rolling his shoulders to stretch out the ache which was dulling by the second.

"Well, I guess we're stuck in here then," he replied, silently weighing the pros and cons of transforming on front of Marinette. Adrien winced as he heard some of the shrieks of his classmates through the wood of the door. The akuma had been shooting some sort of glue at everyone, encasing them in the opaque liquid before freezing them them in place for reasons Adrien hadn't yet figured out. Adrien had run into the small room to transform, but had found Marinette inside, one hand shoved in her bag. She'd looked up at Adrien like a deer caught in headlights, but there had been no time to ask questions before the glue-like substance had hit the door, seeping through the gaps to trap the pair inside.

"Where's Ladybug?" Adrien murmured, pressing his ear against the door. "Usually she's here by now."

He didn't notice Marinette tense, or dip her hand into her bag at his words.

A particularly shrill scream - he'd recognize Chloé's voice anywhere - forced Adrien to move his ear away from the door, concern framing his face. Marinette's hand moved back out of her bag as Adrien turned to face her.

He seemed to evaluate Marinette, his mind whirring as he contemplated his options: to transform and compromise his secret identity, or wait and pray that Ladybug sowed up soon? Marinette tilted her head as Adrien tapped his chin with one finger, beginning to pace around the small space of the room whilst debating his choices.

Another scream made his decision for him; there was no time to waste waiting for Ladybug - his friends were in danger.

Adrien looked at Marinette, his body tense as he met her eyes.

"Marinette, I'm about to do something and I need you to promise you'll keep it a secret. Okay?"

His words came out as a plea, but before Marinette could answer he pulled Plagg out of his bag and called out to the kwami.

"Plagg - claws out!"

Marinette could only gawk as Adrien Agreste, her long-time crush, transformed into her masked partner in fighting crime. Chat Noir looked at her, a shy smile which she now recognized as belonging to Adrien on his face, one hand raking through his blonde hair.

"I know this must come as a bit of a surprise, but-"

"You have got to be kidding me!" Marinette said, a look of pure shock on her face. Chat Noir moved closer to Marinette and put his hands on her shoulders, looking her dead in the eye as his smile became one of reassurance. Marinette could only blink, her lip curled in disbelief as she looked at Chat Noir with wide eyes.

"I promise I'll explain everything later," Chat Noir said, squeezing Marinette's shoulders gently, "but right now our classmates need me. Once I bust us out of here, I need you to run in the opposite direction to me. If you see Ladybug, point her in the right direction, but otherwise just get out of here, okay?"

Marinette blinked, still frozen by surprise. Chat let out a small sigh before releasing her, turning to face the door which was confining them. His face hardened, raising one hand as his body tensed for his attack.

"Cataclys-"

"Wait!"

Marinette grabbed Chat Noir's wrist, spinning him round to face her before he could finish his attack. He looked between her and the door, gaping at her.

"Marinette, what the he-?"

She placed a finger on his lips, taking a step back and holding her hands out in front of her. Chat Noir barely had time to acknowledge the flash of red which zipped into her palms before Marinette, her gaze never moving from his face, said the one thing he never expected to hear from her lips.

"Tikki, spots on!"

In the blink of an eye, Ladybug was standing in front of him, her red outfit bright in the dim lighting of the equipment room. Chat Noir's jaw dropped open, and Ladybug grinned awkwardly, shrugging.

"I thought if you were being honest, I probably should be too," she said, gesturing to her outfit. "Ta da!"

When Chat Noir didn't respond, the only indication that he was still alive the occasional blink, Ladybug clicked her fingers in front of his mask to snap him out of it. With a rapid shake of his head, Chat Noir pointed a finger at his partner, green eyes wide.

"You - Marinette - you-"

"Yeah, I didn't expect this either." Ladybug's voice was higher than usual, her words shaky as she faked the confidence she was so used to feeling with her partner. "We have a lot to talk about, but first we have an akuma to fight. Feel like getting us out of here?" Ladybug said, and Chat Noir couldn't help but notice the blush creeping up her cheeks as she spoke.

He nodded, still trying to process the fact that Marinette was Ladybug how had he notnoticed this?

Chat Noir raised his palm, turning away from his partner and once again facing the door that was keeping them from the akuma.

"Cataclysm!"

He pressed the glowing green energy against the door, dissolving it in an instant. Luckily - well, luckily for Ladybug and Chat Noir, at least - their classmates were encased in opaque shells, unable to see the superheroes emerge from the room their classmates had inhabited.

Ladybug and Chat Noir sprinted out of the room, keeping a small distance from each other as they let themselves process the revelation of their partner's identities. Chat Noir could see the pink tinge on Ladybug's cheeks as she ran beside him through the school, tracking the akuma by following the quickly-muffled screams of Parisians being engulfed by its attack.

He couldn't help but grin as a thought came to him, and when Ladybug glanced at him, she raised an eyebrow as they ran down the steps of the school.

"What are you so happy about?" she asked nonchalantly, pausing as she looked to see which way the akuma had headed.

Chat Noir smirked, leaning on the railing of the staircase as Ladybug placed her hands on her hip, one eyebrow raised as she attempted to maintain her aloof dynamic with her partner.

Chat Noir winked.

"I told you we might know each other in real life."