The next day, Adrien decided to bring his next letter to the bakery, still armed with absolutely no plan of how to get it to Marinette. He figured, though, that he'd always worked best without having a plan. Ladybug had always been in charge of the plans, he'd gotten by so far with a 'don't think, just do' approach.

That day, he'd left the house in a different outfit than usual- a pair of very dark blue straight-cut jeans and a light grey t-shirt. His hair, again, was messier than it usually was as Adrien. When he got about a block from the bakery, he'd put on a face mask and a pair of glasses, beginning to clear his throat in order to lower his voice so it wouldn't be as easily recognized as Adrien's.

Thanks to visiting the day before, he had learned that the bakery had a lull around 13h00, a lull that he was happy to use to his advantage. "Bonjour, Madame," he greeted when he got to the counter. Sabine smiled at him, recognizing Adrien easily, despite his attempt at 'disguising' himself.

"Hello, sir," she greeted. "What can I get for you today?"

"A pain au chocolat, please," he responded, trying not to make eye contact, no matter how poorly he was doing. She told him the price and he gave her the euro coins to pay for it. He pursed his lips, thankful she couldn't see the action past the fabric of the mask. "Would you also, please, give this to Marinette?"

He held out a letter to her that was familiar. It matched the one that she'd given to Marinette a few days prior, handwriting included. It made sense, she supposed. The reason she'd passed on the original was because she'd had two guesses for who the sender had been, even though she hadn't seen it be dropped off.

Sabine figured that Marinette's classmate did, after all, make more sense to be her secret admirer than the superhero she'd once confessed her love to. "Of course, dear," she agreed, accepting the letter and sticking it into the inner pocket of her chef's jacket. Logically, he knew the letter would get to Marinette safely from its place in Sabine's pocket, but he was still hoping she'd get it sooner rather than later.

"Merci," he said politely, taking his pastry and leaving the store, silently wishing that he didn't have to jump through hoops to talk to her. He supposed, however, that he didn't need to jump through the hoops to talk to her, if only he would talk to her more as Adrien, instead of trying as Chat Noir.

He straightened out his hair, slightly, not wanting Marinette to accidentally risk seeing a civilian Chat Noir from a distance. Then he removed his mask and glasses, sticking them into his pocket while he wandered the city, looking for a way to spend the rest of his day… a way that didn't involve sitting around like a lost kitten, waiting for her to reply to his letter.

That's how it was for weeks. He would drop off a letter with her parents, she would get it from them. Time would pass and she'd invite Adrien over Chat Noir would collect his letter. He'd respond and drop off the new letter and the cycle would repeat over and over, disguising himself in almost the exact same way every time.

Eventually, though, school started up, as did the internship. When it did, she'd find new, unique places where he'd leave her letters, being careful that no one had seen him. She had also been very deliberate not to spend any extra time thinking about the letters that would show up, between Chat knowing her locker number, where she sat in class, and her internship schedule.

She decided, for the sake of her sanity, that the only way he'd picked up on that information was through Plagg. After all, it wasn't like Chat Noir had been spending time at her school or at her internship because that would be revealing too much information about himself and even, potentially, his identity.

Nope. No, no, no. She was stopping that line of thinking before it could get dangerous. He hadn't told her why he'd joined Monarch's side and she wasn't about to put a civilian (even herself) in harm's way by trying to find out information about a Miraculous holder, unless it was something she would immediately be able to use to take down Monarch.

Sabine had mentioned the 'secret admirer' before and Marinette would just giggle at the notion, always mentioning that the writer was just a friend of hers. She loved Chat, he was one of her best friends, but he definitely wasn't a 'secret admirer.' She'd offered to tell Marinette the identity of the mystery writer, but Marinette steadfastly refused.

Marinette also did her best to never think about the fact that Sabine, apparently, knew the identity of Chat Noir , the letter writer. Though, she did take solace in the possibility that being the letter deliverer didn't necessarily mean that it was the same person who had written them. After all, it wasn't like he had been sitting in the bakery writing his replies.

Kwamis, she hoped he wasn't just sitting in the bakery writing his replies. Even though there was nothing incriminating in the letters they'd been exchanging, it still would have been a completely unnecessary risk. There would be no reason to sit out in public where anyone could suspect anything, rather than him going home, wherever that was, and being safe.

After all, she was pretty certain that the chances of Monarch seeing him doing something wrong in the privacy of his own home were a lot lower than the chances of him seeing something out in public. It wasn't like Chat Noir lived with Monarch, right? Especially since, as Chat implied in a letter, Monarch apparently discovered his identity.

That also left a pit of uneasiness in her stomach. How did his identity get discovered? Why would that lead to him switching sides? Could Ladybug fall into whatever trap exposed Chat's identity? What would happen then? Would they lose ?