Thanks for the follows and favorites!

Sorry about the super late update. I didn't get a lot of time to write this and the first few times I did I got writer's block. Convenient, huh? Anyway, I was cured. This chapter is a bit longer than the others because I wanted to make up for all the time that has passed between the last chapter and this one.

Adrien should've felt ecstatic.

Turns out Marinette, who he admired- Not like, not in that way, even though she is pretty and nice and- Adrien told himself to shut it.

Anyway, turns out Marinette didn't hate him.

But something kept bothering him.

Marinette's words when she confronted him about his identity kept coming back to him. Adrien was no longer offended by her words; last night, when he came over to her house as Cat Noir, they had straightened everything out. Turns out, Marinette had been mad, but just because she was worried about him. Furious, even, but in a super-protective-friend way. Everything was fine now, though, and Adrien was pretty sure his friendship with her had improved.

But he was still thinking about Marinette's angry rant. Something about it was off. He just wasn't sure exactly what. What had she said?

"Kitty, don't you see?"

That wasn't right. She had never called him that before. But that day, she had done it. Several times, come to think of it.

Wait a minute... didn't Ladybug-

"Adrien?"

Adrien snapped his head up. Miss Bustier was looking at him. "I was asking if you knew the answer."

Adrien mentally kicked himself. Class was not the place to get lost in his thoughts. "Could you please repeat the question?" He asked his teacher.

She smiled in amusement and repeated the question.

Adrien barely managed to fumble out an answer. Satisfied, Miss Bustier turned back to the board.

He sighed in relief, then looked at Nino, who was looking at him.

"What were you thinking about?" Nino asked.

Adrien smiled nervously. "Nothing important," he lied.

Nino arched an eyebrow but didn't press him. Adrien felt relieved. Bad enough he had let Marinette figure it out. Now, she was in more danger than before. He couldn't let someone else find out. He turned his head back to the front of the classroom, determined to focus.

Just as he started actually paying attention, the alarms went off.

• • •

Akumas were really, really inconvenient.

Seriously, he couldn't even get a proper education with Hawkmoth attacking so frequently. It was either when he was at school or afterschool when he was trying to do homework or participating in one of his many extracurricular activities.

And don't forget the occasional late night akumas who seemed to be determined to deprive of Adrien of sleep!

Glancing at his phone, he raised his hand as Miss Bustier half-heartedly assured everyone that everything was fine. She, too, seemed tired of so many akumas.

His classmates weren't even scared at this point. In fact, Alix and Kim were placing bets on how stupid this one was going to be and how long it was going to take Cat Noir and Ladybug to defeat it. Max was rattling off statistics while the rest watched in amusement.

"Yes, Adrien?" Miss Bustier turned her attention to him.

Tearing his eyes from the Alix/Kim/Max situation, he responded, "I have to use the bathroom."

"I do too, Miss Bustier!" Marinette called.

Miss Bustier nods her approval, and they both walked out the door.

• • •

As they're walking toward the bathrooms (the girl's bathrooms and the boy's are located near each other) Marinette turns to him and says, "I can't believe you would say that all the time just to get out of the classroom and I never even noticed."

Their dynamic has really improved. It's become more like how it is when they're Ladybug and Cat Noir. Marinette's crush is still there, but something about having him visit as Cat Noir and talking with him to smooth things over prevents her from stuttering and blushing and being the mess she used to be. Now, she can tease him to her heart's content. Like she's doing right now.

Muffled laughter comes from somewhere around Adrien's shirt. "Yeah, the kid isn't exactly subtle."

"Plagg!" Adrien scowled and looked down at his shirt. Then he gave Marinette an apologetic look. "Sorry. Plagg is my kwami. He gives me my powers and transforms me into Cat Noir."

Plagg emerges from Adrien's shirt, still snickering. There's nobody around since everybody else in their class, so there's no danger of being overheard or seen.

Marinette shapes her features to look surprised. "Wow! He's small."

Plagg starts laughing even more. "Oh, that's funny. This whole thing is just hilarious. You look surprised!"

"Of course! I've never met you before! I'm Marinette!" Underneath the fake sweetness, she gives Plagg a subtle message: Remember, buddy, Adrien doesn't know we met when Style Queen happened. He doesn't know I'm Ladybug. So stop being suspicious, for kwami's sake!

Plagg is still grinning, but he manages to say, "Pleased to meet you," formally before collapsing into a fit of giggles. Then he retreated back into Adrien's shirt pocket.

Adrien just looks confused.

Marinette almost started laughing herself. The situation is pretty funny.

Adrien clears his throat. "I have to go help out there." He nods in the general direction of yells, the new villain ranting/monloguing, and car alarms blaring.

Marinette crosses her arms and glares at him, but not in actual anger. "You take care of yourself, okay? Don't do anything stupid or idiotic. Do not take a hit for Ladybug. I've got enough stress in my life without you sacrificing yourself."

There's no venom in her words, and Adrien just smirks at her in that annoyingly cute way that he does as Cat Noir, assuring her that he's not offended. "I'll try not to." His expression softens. "Stay out of the way, okay? Don't get hurt. Unlike me, you don't get a magical suit that protects you."

Another muffled laugh comes from Adrien's shirt pocket. Both ignore it.

Marinette smiled at Adrien. "I'll be careful."

Adrien goes into the bathroom. About a minute later, Cat Noir comes out. He salutes Marinette, then uses his baton to vault out of the school. She makes sure he's gone before going into the girl's bathroom.

After making sure nobody else is there, Marinette walks into a stall and opens her purse. Tikki flies out.

"One of those days, I'm going to kill Plagg," she mutters.

Marinette giggles before straightening. "We have to help Cat Noir. Tikki, spots on!"

• • •

At this point, Cat Noir was just annoyed more than anything.

The newest akumatized villain had the ability to make people and objects turn to pink dust and get sucked into her staff, but didn't even use it that much. She seemed to just be showing off for the news cameras, posing and blowing kisses in midair. Occasionally, she aimed a blast at a building or Cat Noir with her staff, but she didn't seem to be too focused on getting his miraculous. That was fine with him. Despite her powers, she was probably one of the least dangerous villains.

Unfortunately, Hawkmoth realized that too. The classic butterfly insignia appeared over her face.

"What do you mean, Hawkmoth?" she wailed. "Of course I'm concentrating on defeating the heroes!"

Ladybug lands beside Cat Noir. "What kind of costume is that?" She points to the gaudy, hot pink dress with the bright orange leggings that the akuma was wearing. Her hair is done in more than a dozen braids, each dyed a different bright color. Her footwear are a pair of black high heels with fake rhinestones.

Cat Noir just shrugs. Honestly, he kinda wishes that Hawkmoth was secretly, like, a world-renowned fashion designer or something. Then the costumes of the villains wouldn't be so bad.

The hideously dressed villain is still listening to Hawkmoth talk, apparently. He's never been sure exactly how it works.

Then, the akumatized villain shrieks. "Don't take my powers away! Ugh, you're so infuriating! ...Fine!"

The butterfly outline faded, and she turns her attention to Cat Noir and Ladybug. "I am-" she spins and poses dramatically- "Charmante!"

Ladybug rolls her eyes. "Seriously?"

Charmante frowns at her. "I will be so much more popular and glamorous than you, Ladybug!" She aims her staff at her and fires. Ladybug jumps out of the way while Chat Noir hits Charmante in the face with his baton. The supervillain seems more annoyed than hurt, however, and just growls at him before aiming her staff at him.

The rest of the battle continues on. Cat Noir would have been more worried if Charmante didn't pose every other minute. She seemed to be perfectly content to just be floating in midair. He suspected that she only would only chase them if need be.

He ducks behind a dumpster, only for it to be blown into pink sparkles. Charmante floated above, shaking her head. "Would you hold still?! I can't give your miraculous to Hawkmoth if you keep avoiding me and my staff."

Cat Noir fakes an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I'm not really feline like getting defeated by Hawkmoth today. Maybe later?" He ducks out of the way to avoid a blast from Charmante's staff.

She stops her foot, which looks a bit strange while floating. "No! It has to be today, because then he gets annoying and grumpy." She then grumbled mostly to herself, "Stupid Hawkmoth."

The butterfly symbol appears again. "Fine, I'm doing it, I'm doing it!" She rolls her eyes as the symbol disappears. She points her staff at Cat Noir and says, "It's over, you non-glamorous hero!"

He grinned at her. "Nah, I don't think so. I'm the cat's meow! Of course I'm glamorous! Also, it's not over."

She frowned. "Why not?" she asks like a whining little kid.

"You forgot about the super glamourous Ladybug!" Ladybug says, coming up from behind Charmante and tying her up with her yo-yo. She pulls on her yo-yo and Charmante comes crashing to the ground.

She growled. "You aren't glamorous! Nobody but me is!" She doesn't even protest when Ladybug takes her staff from her, instead still wailing that she is the most popular and glamorous person to ever exist.

Ladybug breaks the staff over her knee, releasing the dark purple akuma trapped inside. She goes through the usual purifying ritual and offers to take the now deakumatized girl home.

"Talk to you later at patrol?" She asks after Hawkmoth's victim is delivered back with her parents. Since neither of them used their special powers (Ladybug discovered that just throwing the yo-yo up into the air was good enough to do Miraculous Ladybug) they aren't going to transform back immediately, but she knows that they both have civilian obligations to get back to.

Cat Noir nods, and Ladybug swings away on her yo-yo. Usually, he'd be a lot more talkative during battles, but today his mind was on something else.

For some reason, during the fight with Charmante, all he could think about was that Ladybug's eyes seemed so familiar...

• • •

After dinner, Marinette lay on her bed, doodling some designs in her sketchbook. She was so immersed in her designs that she almost forgot about patrol. Thankfully, Tikki was there to remind her.

Marinette transformed, then slipped out of her room. Ladybug used her yo-yo to swing from rooftop to rooftop. Soon, she was at the Eiffel Tower, where Cat Noir was already waiting.

She landed next to him and sat down. "Hey. Did you talk to the girl who found out your identity?"

Cat Noir nodded, but he seemed... distracted. She wondered why. She hadn't done anything wrong, had she? Ladybug- well, Marinette- felt more at ease with Adrien than she had ever been before.

"So... she's not going to tell anybody, right?"

Her partner nodded again. "She won't. I trust her."

Ladybug sighed with fake relief. She had to keep up the act. Cat Noir could not find out that Marinette was Ladybug.

But would it be so bad? A little voice in her head wondered. Wouldn't he be glad to know that one of his "best friends" is Ladybug?

Nope, she couldn't afford to think that way. Ladybug forced the thoughts out of her mind.

Concentrating on what was in front of her, or rather next to her, she studied Cat Noir. His eyes were focused on the sinking sun. Only a silver of it was left. It would be dark soon.

She focused on it, too. It was nice, just sitting next to Cat Noir. They didn't have to say anything. She was comfortable with him just being there.

All too soon, the sun disappeared, which signaled the end of "patrol." To be fair, Ladybug suggested doing it to get to the scene quicker if there was an akuma, crime that needed to be stopped, or any disastrous event that could be prevented by the superhero duo. However, it had slowly turned into bonding time for the two of them. They didn't really do anything during patrol except talk. They didn't share anything too detailed, of course, for the sake of their identites, but just shared the events of the day in vague ways, asked for advice, and just talked with each other about anything, really. It allowed Ladybug to have some insight on what Cat Noir was like when he wasn't fighting an akuma with her. Sometimes, though, they didn't need to communicate. They simply just enjoyed the other's company, like now.

But that time was over now. They both had responsibilities to get back to in their civilian lives. She stood up, and was about to say goodbye to Cat Noir suddenly said, "Can I ask you something?" Ladybug nodded.

"When are we going to reveal our identities to each other?"

His question took her by surprise. He had asked her several times, even almost detransformed right in front of her once, but this time seemed... different. Not as pleading, more curious than anything else.

"It just seems unfair, I guess." he continued, still staring at the horizon. "She found out before you, and I always thought that you'd be the first to know." Cat Noir looked up at her. "So when? I'm not, like, trying to pressure you or something, but I just want to know when I get to see you without the mask on."

What if he just found out right now? You could say that you already know. More specifically, you could say that you were the first to know, a little voice in her suggested. Wouldn't it be so much easier to just let him know? You could be happy with him.

Why did these thoughts keep popping up? She couldn't do that. Identities needed to be protected more than ever now. And even if he did find out, a romantic relationship wasn't guaranteed. He was in love with Ladybug. Not Marinette. If he found out, he would realize Marinette, who was Ladybug, wasn't as amazing as Cat Noir thought she was.

No, it was safer to just not think about that. Safer for her to stay hidden behind the mask. Safer for her if he didn't know.

"I- I don't really know when. Maybe after Hawkmoth is defeated."

"Oh," was his response. There were a few moments of silence before he asked, "What if she gets akumatized? Aren't secret identites worthless now anyways?"

"If you get akumatized and you know my identity, Hawkmoth would find out. If I get akumatized..." Ladybug trailed off. Her unspoken words hung in the air. ...then we might be doomed anyways.

Ladybug cleared her throat a little awkwardly. "As for Marinette, there's always the possibility she won't get akumatized. Not everybody in Paris can get akumatized."

"Wait..." Cat Noir stared at her in shock. "How did you know Marinette was the one who figured out my identity?"

Too late, Ladybug realized her mistake. She giggled nervously. "Didn't you say her name? Yeah, I'm pretty sure you did. Uh, anyways, I have to go. See you tomorrow!" She took her yo-yo out and used it to escape from the Eiffel Tower.

"Phew," Marinette sighed once she was safely back in her room.

Tikki nodded and finished her cookie. "That was a close one!" she agreed.

"Do you think he'll find out?" Marinette asked, looking over at her kwami from her desk chair.

Tikki hesitated, then said, "I don't think so. He's a bit oblivious."

Marinette smiled. "Yeah, he is.." she replied dreamily.

Marinette changed into her pajamas and climbed into bed. She was exhausted, both mentally and physically. After all, she had been stressed after the Adrien/Cat Noir situation, and she hadn't gotten much sleep lately. "Goodnight, Tikki!" she called.

"Goodnight!" Tikki responded.

Soon, Marinette was fast asleep.

• • •

Adrien lay awake in his bed. He should've been asleep a long time ago, but he couldn't help it. His mind was swirling with thoughts.

How had Ladybug known Marinette was the one who found out? For some reason, his thoughts strayed to what he had been thinking about earlier in class. Why did Marinette call me "kitty?" Ladybug is the only one who does that.

Probably because she knows I'm Cat Noir, Adrien told himself. That's the only explanation that makes sense.

After a while, his eyes grew heavy. He shifted into a position that was more comfortable and fell asleep.

In his dreams, images of Marinette and Ladybug blended together, leaving him confused. Which was which?

Maybe they were one in the same. He couldn't be sure. Blue eyes sparkled, but whose? They both looked so similar...

When he woke up in the morning, he couldn't remember what he had dreamed about.

By the way, "Charmante" means "charming" in French.

...At least according to Google Translate.

If the first part of this chapter seems a bit like a crackfic, it's because I just wanted some humor. If it doesn't, it means I'm bad at writing humor.

This chapter was a bit longer to make up for the long absence, but the rest of the chapters are probably going to continue to be around 1000 words or so.