Ta-da I managed a new chapter before work tomorrow. I will try to keep updating on the weekends more than one chapter hah. Also, I fought a lot to get this done because I started a new podcast and I get distracted easily.

Anyways, enjoy!

Of silver tongues and do overs

Chapter 6: Revelations

Marinette didn't feel any different after the last word was spoken. She looked around but nothing had changed. In a sense, she felt a little disappointed about it. Mauro seemed to notice it in her face, since he folded the paper and stuffed it in his jeans. He sighed and shrugged at her.

"Give it time," he said, "it's not that it will fall from the sky or something like that…although that would have been pretty cool."

"But everything seems so… normal," she frowned "are you sure it worked?"

Mauro held a hand to his chest and stretched his other arm to stop her, closing his eyes and lowering his head.

"Marinette, now you have wounded me," he said, a little too dramatic, which made Marinette stifle a giggle "how dare you to doubt of my humble magic after being the first witness of it. Now I shall return to my home, ask my great grandfather Mo to forgive me for failing in my abilities."

"Ok, settle down," she couldn't help but to laugh at Mauro's exaggerating "What I mean is that, well, the last times they had a little more,"

"Badazz? Enchantment?" he smiled but then just shrugged "I guess for this specific situation you have to see the cat boy so,"

"Oh," Marinette nodded, understanding what he was going for "then it would have to be until we patrol this night."

"Yep, it doesn't happen like" he snapped his fingers "unless there's an explosion or something like that happ-"

His words were cut short as a loud explosion startled them both, soon followed by police sirens and people screaming as they ran away from where it had happened.

Marinette frowned at Mauro.

"Ok… I did not do that!"

"You just said it!"

"Said is not the same as read!" Mauro exclaimed but Marinette was already looking around to be completely sure no one was going to see her transform.

"Spots on!" she called, allowing the pink magic to engulf her.

"Huh," Mauro crossed his arms as Ladybug showed up in front of him "it does look different from an outside point of view."

"I am not going to ask about that" Ladybug took her yoyo out and threw it to a nearby post so she could swing towards the commotion "now let's go."

"W-wait what?" Mauro crossed his arms "why would I go there? I'm a civilian!"

Ladybug squinted at him.

"Forget it no, I'm not being Mary Jane'd in this" he crossed his arms, but Ladybug gave a step closer towards him that made him groan and give up fast. "Ok! Fine, but just this time."

He walked towards her, yelping when she pulled him close and swung away. They landed on a building higher than any other around, giving Ladybug a good view of the commotion. The explosion had been caused by an akuma –she was not surprised at that- but from where she was standing there was no debris nor fire. Instead, there were hundreds of confetti pieces covering the street in a horrible mix of bright colours.

"I AM THE CLESTER! I WILL MAKE ALL OF YOU REGRET MAKING FUN OF THE NOBLE ART OF CLOWNS!"

"That…is so lame" Mauro snorted next to Ladybug who had to agree with him on that one, but kept her expression serious, "I mean, so this is a possessed person."

"Akumatized but yes," Ladybug said, "you think you can make sure no one gets hurt or in the way?"

"What, like giving you a force field?" Mauro grinned "I can do that, but wouldn't you want cat boy to help you out in this?"

"Of course" she smiled and pointed to the other side "he's just getting here, can I count on you with this? Only the safety Mauro, not the fight. I don't want you threading with the akuma when Hawkmoth is already in their minds."

"I'll do my best" Mauro saluted and pulled out another piece of paper from his pockets "go on Ladybug."

She actually grinned at him and jumped from the rooftop towards the clester –she did snort at Hawkmoth's lack of originality- where she avoided a bomb of confetti flying towards her, giving her enough time to hide behind a car to look at the akuma closer.

"Good afternoon my lady" Chat crouched next to her "it seems we have a funny business today."

Ladybug turned to look at her partner and the words got stuck in her mouth. Had Chat always had those bright green eyes? She blinked a few times to make sure she wasn't imagining things but no, there he was, his goofy smile diminishing with each second that passed, but Ladybug couldn't shake the feeling she had looked at those eyes plenty of times before, without the mask. Oh now was not the time for the magic words to take effect.

"Ah, sorry, what did you say?"

"Are you alright Ladybug?" he asked with concern.

"Y-yeah, I just, a weird déjà vu or something" Ladybug frowned and looked up to find the akuma. This was seriously not the time for the words to take into action. She needed to focus on the akuma, have an identity crisis after.

Suddenly above them, a series of strings began to form, covering a good ratio of the street like a dome, all in red and white stripes until only they and the akuma were inside it, with lights reflecting around just like the inside of a circus tent.

Ladybug groaned, covering her face with a hand. She was beginning to believe the over dramatism was not part of Mauro's magic, but Mauro's sense of humour.

"Wow, ok this akuma came with everything," Chat whistled as he saw the carp, but Ladybug saw he hadn't said it with the same light humour. In fact, his shoulders looked tense, too tense for a standard akuma fight. Had he caught on the spells? Come to think of it, had Mauro appeared before Chat Noir up to this point? She had completely forgotten to ask.

"Shall we then?"

"Of course Chat" Ladybug shook her head. She needed to focus on the battle. But just as Chat smiled at her and propelled forward with his baton, Ladybug felt something flutter in her chest. That smile was also very familiar, but now it was also a little painful to receive it. Why was that?

She went towards the action, where Chat Noir was already dodging bombs of confetti and serpentines that left more and more of them on the street that it reached Ladybug's ankles by the time she arrived.

The akuma turned towards her and threw another colourful bomb she deflected with ease. His outfit was so tacky the designer in her had it difficult not to frown at the clashing of colours and patterns. The sleeves had polka dots on one side and stripes on the other. One side of the puffy pants was checker while the other had neon swirls. The only thing that wasn't mismatched was the ribbon on the clester's neck, a big bright red ribbon.

"The akuma must be in the ribbon Chat!"

"Got it!" Chat dodged another confetti bomb, extending his baton to jump on the clester and try to fetch it, but the akuma dodged with what looked like a shield made out of balloons. Ladybug went around them, relying on swinging across the lamp posts since the confetti had already reached their knees.

Chat dodged another bomb of confetti, also noticing the amount on the ground and relying on his baton to stay above it. He summoned his Cataclysm after looking the slight nod from Ladybug and launched himself towards the clester who had turned his attention at the heroine tossing her yo-yo at him, giving Chat plenty of space to graze the ribbon.

To their feet was left a man in a simple clown costume, confused about his surroundings as it had always happened with akumatized victims. Ladybug caught and purified the akuma, landing next to Chat Noir who was already waiting with his fist up for her to pound.

But as she did so, a wave of nostalgia washed over her.

"Are you alright Bugaboo?"

"I-" she looked around and remembered she hadn't had the need to call for her Lucky Charm, and the carp above them was starting to fade. She called it instead of answering to Chat, catching what looked like a friendship bracelet.

One very similar to the one Adrien had given her on her birthday…

"Ladybug?"

Ladybug turned to look at Chat and her breath got stuck in her throat. The hair, the eyes, they were all too familiar now. Of course, they were, she had seen them plenty of times, had then pasted on her walls, she saw them every single day at school.

How had she not see it before? Ok, yes the magic veil and that they acted so, but so different with and without the mask. But she was looking at the boy of her dreams, the guy she had been crushing on for a long time and who she had also, ironically, rejected his advances because she already was in love…with him.

"W-we need to talk," was all Ladybug managed to say, tossing the bracelet to the air to call the miraculous cure and clean all the confetti around them "meet me in our usual spot, fifteen minutes."

She didn't give Chat time to answer as she swung out of sight, turning around buildings towards the one she had left Mauro, who was currently looking at her confused.

"What is it?"

Marinette de transformed and gave Tikki a cookie from her purse, the actions so mechanical she didn't notice until she was pacing in front of Mauro, her hands moving frantically in front of her while Tikki floated next to the boy to eat as she let her chosen put the pieces together.

"Have you interacted with Chat Noir as well?" she asked Mauro who shook his head.

"No way, he is way more difficult to reach and…oh, you are figuring him out already."

"It… it just, it doesn't make sense," she kept saying "but the more I think about it the more I see him and I see Chat and they are so different from the other!"

"I'm guessing she figured it out?" Mauro looked at Tikki "Chat Noir's identity?"

"Our magic is still strong enough but it appears to be," Tikki said, "if Marinette says the name then she will truly see his identity."

Marinette didn't pay attention to any of them, her eyes wandering from one side to another, remembering as much as she could. The dots were connecting before her, but the feeling in her chest was increasing because the disbelief had transformed into frustration.

"Adrien Agreste is Chat Noir," she said, at last, stopping on her tracks.

The world didn't fall apart around her, the sky was still blue, and the building hadn't collapsed under her feet. She was still breathing –albeit a little faster than usual-, she was physically intact. And yet, she turned to Mauro and Tikki who looked at her with concern, and yet she felt that everything around her had changed.

"Am… am I right?" she looked at them, a soft gasp escaping her lips when both nodded, reaffirming what she had said "oh…oh my," she sat next to Mauro, her legs suddenly weak to keep her standing "how could I not see it before? The charisma, the silly jokes, the hair! The eyes! But they acted so differently."

"You said with me it was easy to figure it out because we are similar," Marinette looked at Mauro "but Chat Noir…I mean, Adrien, I mean" she sighed "there are so many things that don't… don't fit in his personality."

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person," Mauro sighed "give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Marinette wanted to glare at him, frustration slowly transforming to something else because he had made this happen. But Mauro looked calm, unfazed at her tone as he looked at her, palms up to show he didn't mean to hurt her.

"It means," Mauro said, looking directly at Marinette "that sometimes, being behind a mask can give some people certain freedom of being who they truly are."

Marinette's anger faded away as she looked at the Eiffel tower, the place where she was going to meet Chat, no, Adrien in less than ten minutes. The more she thought about it, the more sense it made to her. Adrien lived under his father's shadow, a shadow of perfection and properness that didn't allow the wild, the fun part of Chat to shine.

"I guess so," she had a small hint of a smile "oh I have to tell him I know, this means he can totally understand how I couldn't return his feelings…"

A pang hit her in her heart as she said it out loud.

"Why…should I feel bad for not accepting his feelings as Ladybug?" she muttered, tears forming in her eyes.

"Huh?"

"Why should I feel bad for rejecting his feelings?" Marinette stood up and exclaimed a little too loud "I had told him I had feelings for someone else and I thought he would respect that but then he" she hiccupped "he tried again and then I had to apologize?!"

"Wow, Marinette," Mauro looked at Tikki who flew fast towards her chosen to try and calm her down "Marinette calm down, you don't have magic to keep you away from-"

"I know" Marinette tried to breathe, looking at Tikki as she guided her through her breathing exercises until she calmed down enough, all of them glancing around to check no purple butterflies had lurked around "but…am I wrong?"

"On what? Feeling bad? Of course not!" Mauro exclaimed, "you are in all your right to feel upset about this Marinette."

"What am I going to do," she looked at the tower "I have to go see him and what am I going to do?"

"What is best for Marinette right now," Mauro said "Marinette, nothing takes away that he is your partner in this and he is your friend… but friends make mistakes and in this case, he HAS to realize how many mistakes he has done and be accounted for them."

She nodded, looking at Tikki who smiled and encouraged her more. Marinette breathed deeply and called her transformation, the suit giving her an extra shot of confidence she so desperately needed.

"I'm going to use the emergency exit to get down," Mauro pointed at the door on the other side "and Ladybug?" he looked at her before she swung away "it's going to be alright."

"Thanks," was all she said as she jumped, swinging towards the Eiffel Tower, about to have one of the most difficult conversations in her short life.