Ta-da new chapter.

I gotta say and remind everyone, I do not hate Adrien. HOWEVER, he really needs to grow a spine and learn from his mistakes.

That being said, enjoy this chapter that took me an entire week to pull through.

Of silver tongues and do overs

Chapter 7: Conversations

Maybe it was because there were way more important things in her mind, or just how unaffected she had been on the pass of time, but Ladybug hadn't noticed it was late evening when she set foot on the top of the Eiffel tower.

The sky had turned a pinkish orange, soon to be covered in black with the lights of the city illuminating their surroundings, and in any other situation, in any other moment, Ladybug would have enjoyed the scenery before her, if it weren't for the conversation she was about to have.

Oh, she should have asked Mauro for another magic shield, there were going to be lots of negative emotions coming towards them. She shook her head and focused on her landing instead. Her mind, her heart, both were a swirl of thoughts and emotions it was too much to bear with. She was happy and sad, excited and afraid. But most of all, she was hopeful and so, so upset.

"Ah! Ladybug I thought you had forgotten," Chat greeted her with a bow, like he used to do, his ears dropping when he saw her expression "Ladybug?"

"Something happened," she started with that, keeping her eyes focused on him. With the suit and the mask on, it was a little easier to talk to him, but even if it was still Adrien underneath all that black, she was feeling her tongue twisting in her mouth.

"You felt it too? Oh, I'm so glad I thought I was going paranoid and- "

Wait, what?

"And during the fight, I was unsure it was that or the akuma but we should really find out where this is coming from."

"What are you talking about?"

"The weird magic," he said "like someone is washing me with this odd sensation and it's happened a lot in the last two days…" he looked at her, frowning when she didn't ask more about it "you…you haven't felt anything?"

Ah, he probably meant the silver tongue's magic. Ladybug had indeed felt it, had seen the magic Chat Noir was talking about. And Chat Noir didn't know because Mauro had said he never spoke with Chat Noir before since he was more difficult to reach. And that was because Adrien was difficult to contact unless it was at school and that hadn't happened on Friday and that was why Chat was so confused.

So many pieces falling into place they were certainly giving her the beginning of a migraine.

"It's… that's not what we need to talk about right now," she shook her head. She was going to explain it to him, maybe introduce him to Mauro. He was willing to help her, he would probably try to help Chat as well.

"What? Ladybug what if it's something dangerous?"

"It's not-"

"How do you know that?" Chat frowned, crossing his arms as he looked at her "is this another secret you are keeping away from me?"

"What? No," she glared at him "I want to tell you something else first and it's important- "

"Right, what could be more important than this weird thing going on that you kept from-?"

"I figured out your identity!" Ladybug snapped, covering her mouth soon after. Chat had frozen in front of her, his eyes trying to focus on her, but he had faltered on his step, his gasp loud enough for her to listen.

"I know who you are behind the mask Chat Noir," she said again, this time calmer, but her heart was still pounding hard against her chest. No point going back now, she looked at him, at her partner, her crush, her…friend? He still was her friend. Adrien who was the kind guy, yes, but now he also was Adrien the one that hadn't really respected her feelings, Adrien that had done so much good and bad, Adrien who had said it was best for them to keep quiet about the lies rather than support her when she had been tossed aside.

"Are… how…I mean," Chat's voice was nervous, "how did you find out?"

"I…I observed" Ladybug replied, her voice wavering as well "the magic you felt, I felt it too, and it just made me look through you," she couldn't read Chat's face, her heart was beating so hard in her chest she thought he would be able to hear it "and I realized who you are, underneath that mask…you are Adrien Agreste, aren't you?"

Chat stood there, frozen on his spot, green magic engulfing him before her eyes until the sight of her classmate remained there, confirming what she had known. Ladybug wanted to reach to him, make sure this was not an illusion or a dream, but when she took a step she caught sight of their surroundings, the cold air, the faint lights several meters below. They were still on the highest point of the Eiffel tower.

"No!" she pointed at him "why did you de transform?!"

"Y-you already know who I am so- "

"Look where we are!" Ladybug pointed around her "without your transformation what if you fall?!"

Adrien had seen Ladybug tense but this one situation was getting beyond his understanding, especially when she grabbed him by the waist and threw her yo-yo in another direction so they would move to a safer location. He was so dazed by the last seconds he hadn't had time to process that Ladybug was carrying him, not as Chat Noir but as Adrien, and how she had him secured in her arm as they landed on another rooftop.

"There," she frowned once they both were on concrete floor "what were you thinking? That was dangerous!"

"I'm shocked? I'm allowed to be my lady because you blurted out my secret identity and all."

"Y-yes but" she started to pace "oh it was stupid to say it over there but we were getting nowhere with the conversation and," she stopped on her steps. She had to calm down, she needed to be calm, assess the situation and come clear with it.

"Right…you're right" she sighed "I'm sorry for blurting it out like that."

Adrien took a step forward. Out of all times he had seen his Lady nervous and unsure, this one was beginning to be the most confusing. He didn't know whether Ladybug was relieved or disappointed. She hadn't started to talk, instead focusing on her breath and Adrien was starting to feel fear creeping up on him, reaching his throat and mind about to cloud every thought.

"Are you…disappointed it is me?"

Ladybug looked at him and he couldn't tell it in her eyes. They were glistening as if she was holding back tears and he just couldn't tell if they were happy or sad tears. In the back of his mind, he could feel a thought forming, a sense that he had seen those same pair of eyes like that before, but he couldn't grasp at it now, not when Ladybug sighed again, her posture still on guard.

"I'm not," she said at last "to find out you have been the one behind the mask? How could I be?" she chuckled "I mean, I rejected Chat's feelings because of my feelings for Adrien and turns out they are the same guy."

Adrien was starting to smile, Ladybug having feelings for him? He could feel the fluttering surfacing in his stomach, but Ladybug sighed and hugged her arms, her posture still tense as she looked at him.

"But after all that has happened? This actually helped me clear out so many things."

"What do you mean?"

"Adrien…" she started, the words getting stuck in her throat again. She could do this, she had to do this. She didn't want to lose everything tonight as she feared but coming clean was something she had to do.

"I am hurt, by so many things," Ladybug said at last "things you did as Chat Noir, things you did as Adrien… and you need to know that."

Adrien was taken back by that. He had hurt his lady, his Ladybug. And in what she had said she had revealed they knew each other out of the mask. He tried to pinpoint someone, anyone that could be, but his brain was still in the dark. He knew her, he had to, and the name was there, right at the tip of his tongue but it was so difficult to catch.

"This is a nightmare" a new voice came from Adrien's pocket, where Ladybug found a kwami poking their head out and floating to be in front of Ladybug "can you please de transform so he can finally understand this mess?"

"Oh, oh right, yes"

A pink light illuminated the rooftop and Adrien closed his eyes from the brightness, but he didn't open them right away. He was nervous, he had done something bad towards his Lady and apparently, he had done it twice. But he had to open his eyes, be ready to see who was the girl he had fallen for after all this time.

He did, and his heart did a somersault in his chest. Right in front of him was his classmate, the girl that sat behind him in class, the girl that had gone with him as support when he asked Kagami to the ice rink after Ladybug had turned down his feelings.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

So many things were circling in Adrien's head now. All those times, those little moments. The missed opportunities! They had been circling around their feelings, unaware of the irony, the hilarity of their situation! He wanted to laugh at the universe at that moment but even he could tell it wasn't the right time to do so.

"Marinette," even saying her name left sadness in his mouth "oh… Marinette."

Marinette stood in front of him, her eyes sad but no longer teary. In fact, her whole posture was so different from the one Adrien had grown used to see. Gone was the girl that stuttered in front of him and averted her sight. She didn't hunch her shoulders or played nervously with her hands. In fact, she was standing straight, still hugging her arms but her sight was on him, not looking away.

"Hi," she said, moving just to open her purse and fetch a cookie for her kwami, a red small thing that was next to Plagg. The kwamis were at safe distance from the teens, observing the conversation and ready to step in if things got out of hand.

"I-"

"Not what you expected either?"

"No! I mean," Adrien felt weird, it was strange for him to be at loss of words "my feelings they, they haven't changed, and to think it was always you, our everyday Ladybug actually being our Ladybug? I wish I could have figured it out sooner."

"Magic,"

"I know that now," Adrien said, "and I was still so blind to realize it all along."

Marinette's breath got caught in her throat one more time, she was beginning to worry she'd stop breathing at one point.

"But I don't, I don't understand how did I hurt you."

"Adrien," Marinette's voice was soft, unlike what Adrien thought she would answer him to. He thought she would be angry, yell at him like the time she had thought it was him who put gum on her seat.

"When I… rejected you," she said and both felt a pain in their heart "when I first told you about my feelings for someone else, I thought you had understood and that you would respect my feelings."

"And I did,"

"No, Adrien" she looked at the Eiffel tower in the distance "because you asked again, and when I said no, the next time we saw each other to save Paris, you valued more the fact that I didn't reply to your feelings than the safety of Paris."

Adrien remained silent. Of course, he remembered that day. And how in his turmoil he had asked Kagami out on a date. And how he was just so socially inexperienced he had asked Marinette to help him. To think now how Marinette must have felt, with her feelings for him and still supporting him. And what had he done? He now had shown selfishness, caring only about his pained heart than the one he was hurting as well.

"Marinette," Adrien felt fear, fear that he was going to lose her, he had just found out Ladybug had been with him this whole time and now he felt like he was about to be far from her, "I am so sorry, I hurt you and you are right, you are absolutely right."

"This is not about being right Adrien,"

"But you are! I was insensitive, I was upset and didn't act correctly on it," Adrien closed his eyes and clenched his fists, trying to regain his breath. He could not crumble with this. He had to calm down and breathe.

"I have…" he started again "no excuse for how I acted, I did you wrong and I have to work to fix it."

Marinette didn't know what to say. She hadn't expected Adrien to react like that. A small part of her had feared he would try to do something else, to look for her to forgive him right away. Maybe they could really work things out after all.

"I suppose the ice rink was where I hurt you as Marinette?"

"No," ah, there it was. The reason this had all come to a reveal between them. Marinette remembered the words of her mother, the words of Tikki and Mauro as she squared her shoulders; "remember Thursday, when you said it was best to 'take the high road' and not uncover Lila's lies?"

"I do, because if she got hurt then she would be akumatized too and-"

"I got hurt that day Adrien,"

Adrien's eyes widened. Had it been during the fight? Had someone done something to her? She didn't look injured or anything of the like.

"How…?"

"Emotional hurt is also getting hurt," Marinette said, holding a hand to where her heart was "I don't know what made our classmates, our friends? Push me to the back that day, or that no one believed me, after what they, what you all have said? You said it a moment ago, that I am their everyday Ladybug… and they just tossed me aside the moment Lila arrives."

"I-"

"No, Adrien please" she sighed "let me continue… I was so hurt that day, and many things I could have said to reveal Lila was lying, but it would have exposed my identity as Ladybug. And yet what hurt more was that no one stood by my side. You said we should be considerate of Lila's feelings and I understand that Adrien, no one deserves to be humiliated or hurt… but you, again, didn't consider mine."

It was as if a knife had been pierced in Adrien's chest. It hurt, everything inside him hurt after those words. He thought it was the right thing to do, that Lila's lies would come undone on their own, but if he had paid more attention if he had just asked, observed better.

"Adrien?"

"How could I been so insensitive?" he gasped, tears forming in his eyes "I let you down, I have let you down so much-"

The feeling of magic washed over him again, pulling him out of his anguish as a swarm of ladybugs surrounded them, their shine illuminating the small space between them. Adrien's eyes widened the warmth of the magic surrounding him and a strange feeling of reassurance reaching his chest.

"What-"

"Oh," Marinette couldn't help but smile as she looked at the shield forming around her "guess he was aware something like this would happen."

"This is the magic that-"

"Yes," Marinette sighed as she took deep breaths. Talking had made things clearer in her mind, but she could tell Adrien was anguished, and even if she knew he had to take responsibility of his own actions, they just couldn't let him be akumatized.

"Oh no, that would have been a disaster," a new voice said from behind Adrien he spun so fast his feet stumbled on themselves "and I my daily quota is up so I highly suggest you get on with it wonder boy, let it all out so you can pull yourself together."

Adrien recognized the boy that was standing in front of him, with fingers covered in ink and glaring at him as if he had heard the entire conversation.

"Hello Chat Noir," Mauro said, taking a seat on the edge of a ventilation duct "I believe we haven't properly introduced ourselves before."

I do update some thoughts and ideas on twitter I keep forgetting that, if you want to find me just look for deanwyes over there.

(mostly the shipping part because I am still unsure if this will have Adrinette or not, mainly because romance is not exactly my strong point)

Thanks for reading!