"Wait, didn't we already have a food-themed akuma?" Cat called out from Ladybug's side, as smooth as ever.

It was not his partner who answered him though, but the akumatized himself, so dubbed "Master Chef". "I suppose there have been others like me before, but Paris is a city of fine dining, no?"

"It's a city of lots of things, and we don't want you ruining it!" Ladybug yelled out.

Out of the sack-like bag at his side, Master Chef withdrew a larger than normal baguette and threw it back towards the two superheroes.

Ladybug eyes narrowed as she dodged the loaf. "If one is a chef, one does not disrespect bread."

She whipped out her yo-yo with a fiery passion, and after maybe two more minutes at most, she had the akuma trapped and his item destroyed.

"Well, that was easier than normal," Cat Noir murmured, but he looked like he was not in a joking mood. "So… we need to talk."

Ladybug sighed slightly and nodded. "Yeah, okay. We've got some time."

In a few more seconds, they were lounging on a rooftop, gazing out across the city. Ladybug was fidgeting slightly, probably worried about her Miraculous running out of energy. But this, she felt, was important. Cat Noir was always trying to pry into her identity. She had to get him to see the importance of these masks. And it was likely now or never.

"So today was pretty crazy, huh?" He started out lightly. "Your kwami was this close to telling me your identity. And you know, I was thinking, it was pretty dangerous, right? For you, for me, and for all of Paris. We can't let that happen again."

Ladybug turned to him. "And we won't. Everything turned out fine, and it will the next time too, if something like this ever happens again. Cat, our identities are highly important to keep secret. I know you've wanted to know who I am for a while, but it's frankly no safer than running around Paris in our civilian forms with the wrong kwami. I think… the more we know about each other, the more we'll probably care, and the harder it will be to protect Paris."

"But I already care about you," Cat Noir turned away, to hide his sorrowful eyes. "I barely have anyone in my life. This costume, this is all I have to truly be me."

There was a heavy pause in the air. Ladybug scrunched up her face. What should I say to that? Before she could form any half-appropriate words, he turned back to her and began speaking again.

"What if we know each other in real life? Your kwami seemed to recognize me. And you almost look like someone I know. She goes to my-"

Ladybug cut him off quickly, with a slight scowl. "Cat Noir, stop. You need to understand how dangerous this is. The more people who know our identity, the more danger to them, and to Paris. We can't focus on the real villain if we're too busy protecting each other. Hawk Moth will win if we know each other's identities."

Cat Noir stood up quickly and glared down at her. "I disagree! The more you care about someone, the stronger you are. If we know each other, and care about each other, then the harder we would fight, and the better we would be! I'm not a risk, M'Lady. I can fight for myself. And wouldn't you want to tell the people you love who you were? If you ever want to have a meaningful relationship with anyone, you couldn't lie to them about who you were."

She was taken aback. Adrien… Would you tell him? No. No, it'd put him in danger. Wouldn't it? She steadied herself. "It's best to keep these lives separate. If you mix them together, then something dangerous might happen to you in civilian form. As I said, it's just as bad as what happened today. We wouldn't be able to protect Paris if we got into trouble like that again. No, Cat, we can't know each other. We just can't."

As she got up, prepared to leap off the building and back home, she looked at him one more time. "You can't stop me from telling you who I am." He said, face blank and hand reaching towards the ring on his finger.

She sighed, distraught. "Cat, please. This isn't what I want. I don't know what you life is like, but I can't juggle more problems! Maybe your not a liability, but I am. I'm just an awkward know-nothing girl under this costume. I can't deal with knowing who you are too. Please, if you really care, just leave it at that."

He stopped, looked at her, and then down to his boots. "Okay. Things will stay how they've been. I promise."

"Thank you." And with that, she lept off the roof, and was gone.

"Hello Marinette."

"Oh Tikki. I'm so glad to see you. Like, really see you. That whole ordeal was exhausting. Plagg was exhausting, running around the city was exhausting, Cat Noir was exhausting, like usual," Marinette cried out, as she flopped on her lounge.

"Yes. It was quite crazy," Tikki replied softly. Then she frowned. "Marinette… are you sure you don't want to know who Cat Noir is?"

Marinette frowned at her kwami in return. "Well, yes, I am curious, especially with all that's been said. I might know him, which would be really weird. But I think us not knowing each other's identities is important. You seemed to think about the same, didn't you?"

Tikki sighed. "Yes, I suppose."

Marinette smiled at her kwami and sat up. "I don't think I'm really ready to bear that responsibility too, you know. It would be harder for me if I knew who he was. It would."

Tikki nodded slowly. "Yes. But, if the time ever comes… Well, I think you two should know someday."

Marinette agreed silently. "But we have to deal with our responsibilities first."

Plagg was immediately begging for cheese. "I don't suppose you could eat cookies for a change?" Adrien sighed.

His kwami wrinkled his nose. "And Tikki calls me a bad influence."

Adrien scoffed. "I think you are a bad influence." But he got him the cheese anyways, and as Plagg ate, he went to stare out his window. He exhaled heavily after a few moments and muttered to himself. Then he asked Plagg a question, without turning to the kwami.

Plagg narrowed his eyes at Adrien. "Of course I know who she is."

"Could you…. Please tell me who she is then."

Plagg flitted towards the ceiling, away from the camembert he had been eating. "No."

Adrien turned to his small friend. "No? Why not?"

Plagg folded his limbs together. "Because I can't. I'm not allowed to tell you."

"Why not?"

Plagg flitted down towards Adrien. "If you're going to find out who she is, you better do it when she's alright with it happening too. And we both know she's not. You know, if it's meant to happen, it'll happen when the time is right. You're young. There's a lot of time ahead of you. So I'm sure you'll learn who she is one day. Just not yet, and not now."

Adrien half-glared at him, but then gave up. "You're supposed to break the rules, not enforce them with cliche sayings."

Plagg laughed. "Today isn't the time to break the rules. We'll save that for another day. Now, I really am famished, so could you get me more cheese?"

A/N: Once again, sorry I took a bit of time with updating (holidays take up a ton of time), and apologies too for the length of this A/N. First, I'd like to thank all of you for the support this story received. I'm really glad you enjoyed it, and I hope you liked this ending too.

Now, I know that a lot of people like longer fics that end with less ambiguity, so some of you will be glad to hear that I have some in mind for this fandom. What I'm going to do is, by next Spring, hopefully have the story idea all mapped out and ready to tell (Don't worry, I will submit a semi-short story, again for this fandom, between now and next Spring).

However, I'd like your help. The story I would prefer to tell is focused around Felix (from the PV) and Marinette (the current version of her) interacting. I have a couple ideas of how I would like to arrange the story, but I can't pick one. So it's up to you to help me. If you would be ever so kind to look at my profile page, I will have more information there. And if you would prefer to PM me, that's fine too.

But anyways, thank you for the lovely support, and sorry this AN has gotten so long. See you!