Oh wow I did not expect for this story to get so many reviews and follows. Thank you so much for reading and commenting on this story!

To be honest, I kind of just wrote that first chapter and published it on a whim. I do have some ideas to continue but they're not very well structured for now and since term just started and I'm drowning in all the work I was supposed to do instead of writing this crap well... Please be patient for the next chapter. I'll do my best to continue writing this story, especially since it got such positive feedback.

This chapter's a bit more angsty but hopefully not too much. Marinette's life is going to spiral downwards quite quickly afterwards x)

It was only during class that it really hit her. She had made it more on less on time, receiving only a disapproving eyebrow from Mr. Terre at how close she had cut it and quickly followed by Adrien. The boy had been trying to talk to her as they ran but Marinette had been running towards the classroom just as much as she had been running away from him, to be honest. She needed to sort out her thoughts before anything else and she just wasn't ready to face Adrien/ Chat Noir yet.

She slid next to Alya and right behind where she knew Adrien was going to sit. There were technically no assigned seats in high school but after the first few days, everyone had their own spots in each classrooms. It was strange for anyone to break habit and no matter how much Marinette wanted to be Adrien-less for next days or so, she couldn't just abandon Alya like that.

Adrien reluctantly sat down after her, his eyes straying on hers long enough for the message to come across: We need to speak. Marinette focused on the white board behind the teacher, clearly ignoring him. A sigh in front told her he got her reply.

She almost felt like Ladybug, trowing walls at her little Kitty's advances.

Then she realised: they were in the same class. Ladybug and Chat Noir were classmates. Out of all the teens in Paris, they just had to be in the same arrondissement, in the same school, in the same class, barely a seat apart. Not only that but they had been crushing badly on each other: Marinette on Adrien and Chat Noir on Ladybug, and they still hadn't realised just who they were spending their nights with, just who they were trusting their lives to daily during Akuma attacks.

If she hadn't been the butt of that joke, Marinette would have laughed for sure.

Ladybug was the lady of good luck and Chat Noir the symbol of bad luck, between the two of them, whatever coincidence that could happen, good or bad, happened. But this was on a whole new level.

Then again, maybe it was proof of how little they knew of each other that they couldn't even make the connection. The green eyes, the blond hair, the same height, the mysterious disappearances during attacks - it was so obvious. And yet Marinette hadn't thought for a second that Adrien, calm, collected, friendly Adrien, could be Chat Noir, mischievous, corny, reckless Chat Noir. For all the creepy stalking she had done on her crush, for all the stories she had to tell about the times with her best friend, she had nothing to say on who either of them were.

It was a sad thought. Was she really that shallow? Had she really never truly tried to get to know the important people in her life? Marinette suddenly drowned in guilt.

'You alright?'

Marinette looked at the note Alya slid her way with a worried frown. Noticing her friend's confusion, Alya took the note back and added a bit to it before handing it back.

'You alright? You've been staring at your notebook intensely for the past twenty minutes.'

'I'm fine, sorry. I just have a lot on my mind.' Marinette replied, giving her friend a small smile which she was hoping was convincing enough.

'Is it about Aaaaaaaaaaaadrieeeeeen 3 ?' Alya wrote back, wriggling her eyebrows as soon as Marinette made eye contact with her. Ah, friendship. What a wonderful thing.

'Yeah.' Marinette answered truthfully. Sure, it was more about redefining her whole life and what was the meaning of truly knowing someone and the implications her double life had on her image of herself but 'Adrien' made a nice summary of what was going on in her mind.

'I saw you two come in seconds apart and don't think I didn't notice the looks he gave you. Did something happen? ;)'

Well at least Alya matched everything Marinette knew about her with perfection. It was good to know she was only being a horribly self-centred friend to one person. Then again, she was keeping the fact that she was Ladybug from Alya, Ladybug's number one admirer.

Woah, that day was revealing itself to be quite a smack in the face for Marinette. She was a terrible person!

'Nothing really. We just bumped in each other on our way here.'

'Sure you did.'

Marinette rolled her eyes and Alya let out a small snicker. The former didn't bother replying to the last message. She looked at the board, pretending to copy down what was written on it, and returned to her thoughts.

She had to tackle the situation like she would as Ladybug. Analysing came first. The whole ridiculous romcom drama aside, the direct situation was that she had discovered who Chat Noir was, he knew she knew, and he had no idea who she really was. Obviously she wasn't going to be able to avoid Adrien forever which meant she had two options: either she admitted to being Ladybug or she continued her charade.

Morally, the right thing to do was to put an end to all those insufferable secrets. Honesty is the best policy and all that. Plus, fighting akumas was going to be easier without having to worry about what their partner saw. Not to mention that communication would probably end up being a lot more efficient as well.

But at the same time… Marinette didn't want to destroy what they had. Adrien and Chat Noir clearly acted very differently and Marinette and Ladybug probably did as well. What would happen if it wasn't Ladybug and Chat Noir on the rooftops of Paris at night anymore but Adrien and Marinette? Would they still tease and laugh with each other? Or would the reality of how their friendship was based on lies and facades come crashing on them? Would Adrien feel as terrible as she did?

Being Ladybug and Chat Noir was amazing because it was like being in another world. There were no strings attached, there was no being Marinette or Adrien or anyone, really. They could be friends and act like they did because they were wearing masks - because as no one, there was no repercussions, no obligations.

Was the truth worth breaking their bubble?

A small tap on her shoulder snapped Marinette out of her thoughts. She turned to see Alya, bag packed and chair already tucked under the table.

"The bell rang." Alya informed her, amused, "You must have really been distracted not to hear."

"Oh. Right. Sorry." Marinette apologised sheepishly, slapping her forehead. She quickly shoved her pencil case and notebook in her bag and abruptly stood up… only to meet Adrien's eyes.

Adrien and Nino had stayed behind as all the other students had fled the classroom. Marinette didn't need to ask to know why. Nino and Alya looked pretty confused as she stiffened.

"H-Hey Adrien." She greeted weakly. She was NOT ready for that conversation.

"Can we talk?" Adrien asked bluntly.

"S-Sorry! I - uh… I have an appointment!" Marinette lied unconvincely, "For - uh - dentist tooth things!"

Adrien looked so disappointed at her reaction that Marinette nearly broke her resolve to run the fuck away. It was that perfect face, those gentle eyes that Marinette had dreamed of so many times. There was something in them, something that had initially caught Marinette's heart. Kindness perhaps, sincerity.

And then there was Chat Noir. Her best friend. Her loyal partner. Whom she was manipulating in a way as she debated whether or not to withhold knowledge from him. That very same best friend she had never bothered to get to know.

Just facing him was eating her insides.

"We have Maths now." Nino frowned.

"Yeah - that appointment!" Marinette recovered, "See ya!"

And then she dashed off, much to Alya and Nino's surprise.

For the rest of the day, it became almost a game to her. She would avoid Adrien, lie to Alya about why and then repeat the process. She had to give Adrien points for dedication though, the boy never gave up.

"Marine-"

"Bathroom! Pee! Bye!"

"Mari-"

"Shhhhhh! This is my favourite class!"

"… Civic education. Seriously?"

"Did you not hear the part about the fifth Republic? Fascinating."

"Marinette! Can we-"

"Look! A flying pig!"

"What? Where - oh."

"Marinette -"

"Hey Chloe! Adrien said he wants to eat lunch with you!"

"Ma-"

"Bathroom!"

"Ba - It's the twelfth time already!"

"Please, can we just - What? What are you pointing at?"

"…"

"Really? 'Silence in the library'? You're spending the whole break in here reading the Encyclopedia of foot diseases just to avoid talking to me?"

"Okay girl, spill." Alya finally ordered as the two girls left the lycée, she didn't look half as amused as Marinette felt and the latter had just spent one of the most stressful days of her life, "What the hell was that?"

"What was what?" Marinette asked innocently, cringing inside.

Alya's 'no bullshit' face could have had even Chat Noir feel like a three year old with his hand caught in the cookie jar.

"I've always been a bit nervous about Adrien." Marinette shrugged with an uneasy smile, "Nothing new."

"You splashed your coffee on your shirt just so you could leave the cafeteria." Alya reminded her, "You kept telling Chloe where he was. Chloe. You made us move to the last row in French when you know I have trouble reading the whiteboard from so far."

"Okay, so maybe something happened." Marinette laughed guiltily. She was literally counting the roads and the shop until they reached her house. Not that the interrogation wouldn't continue over the phone or the next day but at least she would have had the time to think of a cover story. "But it was nothing important."

"Did he do anything to you?" Alya asked, suddenly looking murderous, "Model or not, I swear that if he hurt you he will-"

"No! It was nothing of the sort!" Marinette quickly corrected, unwilling to hear a graphic description of mutilation, torment and murder, "Adrien didn't do anything! It's just - Look, something happened and now I'm pretty confused about a lot of things, okay? Just give me time to sort all these feelings and thoughts out and then, once I actually figure out what's happening, I'll tell you."

Alya eyed Marinette skeptically. "Deal," she finally sighed, and then, softening her gaze, she added, "But just remember that I'm here to talk, okay? If you have any problem, big or small, I'm all ears. You're my best friend, Marinette, keep that in mind while you untangle your thoughts."

And just when Marinette was starting to think she couldn't feel any worse.

"The other way around is true too, you know." Marinette smiled, forcing a huge lump of self-disgust down her throat, "If you need anything, I'll be here."

Every word out of her mouth made her sick. She was promising things to Alya that she wasn't sure she could keep. How could she when she spent half her time fighting akumas in red spandex? She did care for Alya - there was no lie there. But she was playing the role of the good best friend, the one who would put Alya before anything, and that was just plain misleading.

She wondered, if she had to choose between saving Chat Noir and saving Alya, who would it be? There was no question that she would die for either of them and yet she couldn't even bring herself to have a decent amount of honesty towards them. It was almost like she was having an affair behind Alya's back. All the secrecy was truly disgusting.

"That aside, did you catch the new episode of Scream Queens?" Alya asked, changing the topic to Marinette's relief.

"Yeah! It was hilarious!"

"What the hell did you do to Marinette?" Nino asked Adrien when they were still getting their books from their lockers, "I know it's Marinette and all but I've never seen her that scared and nervous."

Adrien winced. He hadn't done anything, technically speaking, but he had dropped a pretty big bomb on the poor girl. He didn't know Marinette that well, he hadn't even paid that much attention to her before that very morning, but she had just found out her classmate was secretly a superhero and all. Anyone would be… shaken.

Still, he had to talk to her. He needed to make sure she didn't tell anyone. If only the girl would stop avoiding him like he was the plague.

"I didn't do anything to her, I swear." Adrien defended himself, shoving his History textbook in his bag, "I just - I messed up bad and now she might be scared of me."

Messed up didn't cover half of it. Why had he not looked before going through that window? How had he been so careless? Secret identities weren't a joke. Plagg had told him that Hawk Moth was likely to try to get their Miraculous through any mean possible and that didn't exclude blackmail and threatening family and friends. His little slip up could have had much, much worse consequences. He was damn lucky it had just been Marinette.

"Did you ask her where to hide a body or something?" Nino tried guessing as he closed his locker.

"What? No!" Adrien replied, "It's just - I - er… I… I asked her to go out with me."

When you reach rock bottom, dig further.

Adrien inwardly groaned at his terrible lie. It could make sense, he argued. Some girls were creeped out when guys were too forward, no? Or maybe he could say she had been afraid of commitment? The boy could only pray Marinette hadn't told anything to Alya that could conflict with his story.

"You confessed to Marinette." Nino repeated, unconvinced.

"Yeah." Adrien nodded with all the bravado he could muster. He was a model for god's sake, acting was supposed to be easy! Even if lying to a friend never was!

"Dude." Nino frowned, "I hate to say it, but I didn't even think you knew the girl existed until this morning. You were polite and all with her but as far as I could tell, she was just another classmate to you."

As much as it hurt, Nino's words were kind of true. Marinette had always been the girl who stuck to friendly, outgoing Alya in his mind. He was impressed by her talents as a designer and admired her becoming the class president but as a person, Adrien never really bothered with the timid girl.

That was going to have to change now that she knew his secret.

"What can I say?" Adrien asked with a practiced smile, "I had a change of heart."

"A change of heart." Nino repeated. "I know you kind of suck at this whole friendship thing considering the only friend you had until two years ago was Chloe, but lying through your teeth is not the way to do this."

Adrien gulped. What else was he supposed to say? Hey Nino! Actually, I spend my nights jumping on rooftops in a tight black leather suit with cat ears and a bell around my neck. Sometimes, I hit sad people with a stick so the woman of my dreams can turn purple butterflies white in red and black polka dot spandex and then we fist bump and the world is happy! Also, Marinette accidentally found out.

"I won't force you to talk about feelings and stuff if you don't want to." Nino continued with a sigh, "We're guys, we don't do mushy. But I'd rather you tell me the truth when you do tell me something. And I already know you have a massive crush on Ladybug."

Busted.

"Sorry." Adrien apologised, "I'm just… Not used to sharing?"

Nino snorted, "I noticed."

"Just give me time," Adrien negotiated, "I'll try to resolve the matter with Marinette."

"You'd better." Nino told him approvingly, "Marinette's just about the sweetest girl in our class and what you say affects her a lot so don't toy with her, alright?"

"Why would my words affect her so much?" Adrien frowned, genuinely confused.

Nino sighed, "You're so oblivious it's not even funny anymore."

As they made their way outside where Adrien's car was waiting, Adrien tried to get Nino to tell him what that was about with little result. In the end, he left with a smirk from his friend as goodbye.

Well, he had more important things to think about anyway. The first being Marinette. How could he talk to her if she constantly avoided him? It wasn't just him that was in jeopardy with his identity out, but Ladybug too. They were a team, a single organism. If one of them malfunctioned, the whole thing staggered. Now if only he could get Marinette alone and without an escape…

Chat Noir smirked.

Marinette didn't reach home early enough. She was exhausted. Being on her toes all the time as Ladybug was one thing - but doing so as Marinette at school? She needed a break!

A soon as she stepped inside, the smell of freshly bakes pastries greeted her like a ray of warm sunshine on a cold winter day. In a way, Marinette had three lives: The one on the rooftops of Paris, the one at school and the one at home. The last was the only one that wasn't a battlefield. It was home, a refuge, a calm sky in the middle of a storm. Only at home could she be the one being protected instead of the opposite. Only at home did she never have to prove that she was anything more than a little girl who needed her parents.

Her mother was at the cashier, taking care of some customers - two elderly women and a four year old. She sent a slight nod and a smile at her daughter to welcome her back and Marinette nearly tackled her in a hug.

Acceptance and no questions, how she had needed it.

Marinette dropped by the kitchen to give her father a kiss and grabbed a few cookies (her parents were convinced she was addicted now) and then returned to her room to drop Tikki and the cookie loot there.

"I'll go help my parents." She told Tikki briefly, snatching her newly resewed apron from her desk and flying downstairs.

It wasn't rare for Marinette to spend her afternoons helping out in the kitchen or with customers. They always ate dinner very early so her father could wake up around four to make bread and so Marinette had quite a lot of time for homework after eating.

Plus, the familiarity of the job eased her nerves. She had been working around the shop for years, even if it was only pretend at first. Most movements were now automatic and soothing for the girl, allowing her to meditate on her thoughts at the same time. Also, it made her parents happy and nothing, she repeated, nothing in the world came close to being as important as her parents smiling.

And so Marinette ended this stressful day gingerly making break and pastries, cooking dinner for the three of them and chatting happily with her parents as they ate. Marinette always did think her home life looked like it came straight from a Disney movie. Ah well, princesses didn't have to deal with sugar and flour in their hair everyday.

Content with a day's work, Marinette finally climbed back to her room, mind set on starting her homework.

… And thus not set on having a long conversation with a black clad superhero who had trespassed into her room.

Marinette nearly choked on her own throat when she saw Chat Noir sitting on her bed, a mischievous smirk on his face. On the bright side, she didn't scream or freeze, which was an A* reaction wise.

"Well looks like I have quite the fan." Chat Noir noticed smugly as he looked around the room. Her posters. Her desktop background. Her candid shots. The schedule. Oh Satan bury her now! Mortified couldn't even begin to describe what she was feeling!

Blushing heavily, Marinette tore down the photos on her wall in two, three swift movements.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed as she dumped the photos in one of her drawers.

"We need to talk." Chat Noir told her, "And since someone was avoiding me the whole time today…"

"Look, Adrien." Marinette sighed, feeling weird as the name rolled off her tongue. This wasn't just Chat Noir anymore. Now, the name had a face. "I won't tell anyone, okay? Don't worry about it. I was just - surprised, that's all." (And wondering wether or not to tell you you're actually my best friend and break your heart in a million different ways just like mine broke when I learnt your identity.)

"Great!" Adrien smiled, "Now I'm sure you have a lot of questions to ask one of the great superheroes of Paris -"

Ah. There was Chat Noir again.

"- And since you're doing me the favour of keeping my secrets, I will not hesitate in doing you as many favours as you ask." The boy lifted himself up and closed the distance between them in a few steps. He took her hand and planted a kiss on it. "So, anything you want to know, Princess?"

I already know all about your superhero life, Marinette wanted to say. It was hard pretending to be a stranger - knowing that when he looked at her, he only saw another girl from his class - when they had shared so much together. It wasn't Chat Noir and his heroic deeds she wanted to know, nor was it the perfect Adrien Agreste. She just wanted to know Adrien or like, Andrinoir - Chadrien?, whatever she was supposed to call him now.

"Why the secrecy?" Marinette finally asked, retracting her hand from Adrien's.

The black clad hero tilted his head for a second, pondering the question in his mind.

"Part of it is to keep the people I know safe." Adrien finally told her, his signature smile replaced by a smaller, more sincere one. And then it was gone. "And part of it is because being a hero is the only way for me to not be Adrien Agreste long enough to be myself."

A sharp knife stabbed Marinette through the heart, figuratively speaking. He was sad. Her Chat Noir was sad. She had always known her best friend had troubles at home. He never wanted to end the night and his supposedly airy comments all led to a dark truth: that Chat Noir didn't feel at home with his family. But she had never thought it was going that far.

The adventures of Ladybug and Chat Noir was to him what home was to Marinette. She couldn't take that away from him. She couldn't tell him Ladybug was a crappy friend who hadn't even cared. She couldn't tell them that their friendship was a farce and their life a giant joke of the universe. She couldn't tell him how little they actually knew each other. She couldn't tell him she had fallen for the him he hated so much. She couldn't tell him that he had fallen for a woman full of fake bravado who couldn't even tell him her name.

That was her decision: she couldn't tell him. Sometimes, the truth was just not worth breaking a child's dreams.

"Why the gloom, Princess?" Chat Noir suddenly asked her, inspecting her face closely.

"I just-" Marinette started, blushing at the proximity of his face, "It just seems a bit lonely to have such a big secret."

"I have my beautiful Lady to keep me company." Chat Noir told her with a smile but Marinette didn't believe a word of it. Ladybug wasn't doing anything and she knew it better than anyone. Ladybug was taking their friendship for granted. Ladybug wanted nothing to do with helping him in his personal life.

Marinette held his gaze for a while, studying him.

"W-Well if you ever need someone to talk to," She finally decided, "to talk to about things you cannot tell anyone, not Nino or Ladybug, I'll be there to listen."

And this time, she meant it.

Chat Noir was taken aback by her words. He looked at her quizzically and then he must have seen the honesty in her words - that very same honestly Marinette could rarely muster these days -because he melted into the widest sincere smile Marinette had ever seen on him.

"Nino was right; you are the sweetest girl in our class."

Marinette's heart sunk deeper.