Chapter 1

"Do you think they know each other?"

"Who?" Marinette looked up from the design sketch she had been engrossed in and eyed Alya quizzically. She loved her best friend, but sometimes she asked the most random questions out of nowhere.

"Ladybug and Chat Noir, of course." Alya stated, as though Marinette should have psychic powers and automatically know what she was talking about. Although, as their friend Max would say, statistically speaking the likelihood that she was talking about the famed super duo that protected Paris was approximately 97.8%.

"Oh! Um… I-I don't know." Marinette stammered awkwardly. "I mean you're the expert on them. You know way more about either of them than I do."

She felt bad for misleading her best friend all the time, but there was no getting around it, unfortunately. She couldn't give her overly-observant and very nosy friend any clues about her secret life. After all, she couldn't even tell Chat, her partner and best friend as Ladybug, even though she knew that it troubled him. There was a part of her that was troubled by all the secrecy as well. She sometimes caught herself wondering what it would be like to be able to fully let her guard down with anyone. Besides Tikki, that is. She was so thankful for the company of her precious kwami. But still… there were things that Tikki couldn't tell her. Would she ever be able to have a conversation again without carefully checking every word? There were times when the isolation was overwhelming.

"I am quite the expert, aren't I?" Alya beamed confidently, and Marinette tried to return to her design sketch. Alya sauntered over to the desk where Marinette was sitting and leaned against it. Marinette knew that walk. Alya wasn't going to let her get off that easily. "You're the one who actually knows Chat though. He even flirted with you." She said slyly. Marinette froze.

"Me? I mean, I helped him out a few times. I wouldn't count that as knowing him. He probably doesn't even remember my name. And doesn't he flirt with everyone?" She babbled nervously, and Alya let out a chuckle.

"Relax, girl. I'm teasing you." She patted Marinette's shoulder with a wide smile, then leaned in close to Marinette's ear. "And to answer your question, no, he doesn't flirt with everyone. As far as I know, just you and Ladybug."

Marinette's face flamed with heat. Alya, her merciless traitor of a friend, got entirely too much enjoyment out of tormenting her. It sparked an idea in Marinette's mind though. If Chat only flirted with her, both as herself and her super alter-ego, could it be possible that he was naturally drawn to her? Not just the Ladybug side of her? She quickly banished the thought. Even though she was one person, Ladybug and Marinette were drastically different. Chat was obviously fond of Ladybug, but there was no way he would ever feel the same about her extremely shy, clumsy alter-ego. One of the many reasons to keep her identity a secret.

"Being the expert that I am," Alya continued. "I think that even if they don't know each other's secret identities, they have to know each other as civilians."

"They what?" Marinette blurted, a little too intensely. "I mean, wh-what makes you think that?" She back-peddled, trying to sound nonchalant and failing miserably.

"Just think about it, girl. More often than not, they show up at an akuma attack at almost the same time." She had Marinette's undivided attention. "That means they are probably coming from the same general location. Odds are pretty high that they would at least bump into each other on occasion. No doubt they've at least seen each other." Marinette knew she should close her gaping mouth and play it cool, but the mind bomb Alya had just dropped on her was overwhelming. She probably knew Chat's alter-ego!? "What if they're friends, or more than friends," she teased. "and they show up so close together because they're usually together as civilians? What if they're secretly a couple?" Alya gushed, pacing the floor and looking like she might explode from excitement. That was all it took to snap Marinette out of her stupor.

"Alya, I highly doubt it." Marinette half groaned.

"Yeah, ok maybe not yet." She dismissed with a wave of her hand. "But I'm still betting LadyNoir is in the near future."

Alya was too wrapped up in her delusions to register the utter lack of amusement on her friend's face.

"Why is it so important to you that they know each other's identities anyway?" Marinette questioned dismissively, turning back to her forgotten design sketch.

"I think it would be a good thing for them to know. I mean, they can't be the best team possible while keeping an entire side of themselves a secret, right?" Alya answered simply as she sat back on the chaise.

Marinette mulled that over for a moment. She and Chat were a good team, weren't they? They had captured countless akumas since they were bestowed their Miraculous gems three years ago. Something had changed recently though. It was like Hawkmoth had figured out a way to make his victims more powerful. They were more violent and driven. The battles were lasting longer, and more civilians were getting hurt in the process. The Miraculous Cleanse fixed all the physical damage after the akuma was cleansed, but people were starting to get scared. There was even a hotline set up for victims of akuma attacks who had gotten PTSD. Marinette's mind flashed back to a recent battle with a particularly vicious akuma who had almost gotten Chat's ring off his finger before Ladybug managed to stop her. The memory made her cringe.

"It seems like they make a pretty good team to me…" Marinette replied defensively. She needed to find a way to worm her way out of this conversation before she slipped up and said something she shouldn't.

"The best." Alya corrected, and Marinette couldn't help but grin. Then Alya's expression darkened. She looked troubled. Marinette abandoned her sketch and walked over to the chaise to gently sit beside her friend. "Girl, you of all people know that I'm the biggest believer in Ladybug and Chat Noir, but these akumas lately…" She trailed off, dropping her gaze, and Marinette studied her face. "Mari, it seems like they're struggling lately. I've been filming them for years, and they've never had such a hard time before." A heavy rock settled in Marinette's gut. If Alya, their most devoted fan, the one who believed in Ladybug before even Marinette herself did, was doubting them… maybe things were worse than Marinette had let herself realize. "They can't keep this up forever." She added quietly. Was that a hint of fear in her voice? Alya? The girl who boldly ran into danger to get footage of akuma battles?

"No. I-I guess they can't." Was all Marinette could manage to respond. She stared at her hands, the weight of Alya's words settling in her gut like a ball of lead.