Marinette gulped nervously and started fiddling with the hem of her dark grey blazer. She wasn't prepared for this, she wasn't expecting her parents to notice her chasing her very very sugar-addicted kwami all over the living room. Oh shit! What the hell was she gonna do about this?
The pigtailed bluenette raised her gaze from the floor and met the expecting gaze of both her mother and father.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself young lady?" Her Dad's stern voice broke through Marinette's train of thought.
"Oh, I, uh..." she trailed off, shifting her gaze down toward her pink purse where Tikki currently resided. How in the name of kwami was she gonna get out of this one.
Her actions didn't go unnoticed by her parents though, and they too, glanced down at the little pink purse.
"Why are you looking down at your purse like that?" Her mother asked her daughter while raising a questioning eyebrow. "Is there something hiding in there that caused all of the commotion with the Galette earlier?"
Marinette's whole entire body froze and she turned a frantic gaze upon her ever-curious parents. Oh shit! She's defiantly screwed now!
Before anyone could say even a single word to break the tension in the air, a sudden movement from the purse at her side made Marinette internally panic.
In an attempt to stop her kwami, Marinette gently patted the purse, hoping that Tikki would get the message that now was not the time to be seen.
But it was too late.
The small latch clicked open and Tikki flew out of the purse, still not yet noticing that there were others in the room with her and Marinette.
"Marinette, do you have any cookies? I'm really hungry." The little ladybug kwami turned her head and it was at that very moment that she took notice of Marinette's parents.
Everyone's heads turned towards the kwami and gasped.
Marinette froze.
Shit.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.
The kwami's eyes went wide and Tikki realized she wasn't alone.
"Uh... meow?" Tikki hoped she convinced everyone that she wasn't a kwami.
Marinette sighed, "Tikki, I don't think there's any getting out of this one."
Marinette motioned for Tikki to come to her. Tikki sat on top of Marinette's head. The kwami's stomach growled, and Marinette apologized to Tikki, telling her that she didn't have a cookie for her.
It was at that very moment that her parents finally recovered from their shocked state.
"Um, Marinette, sweetheart? What exactly is that?" Her mother was the first to speak, blinking rapidly and staring at the little creature sitting on top of her daughter's head.
Marinette and Tikki shared a quick glance before Tikki nodded her head for the pigtailed bluenette to begin speaking.
"It's okay, guys. This is my kwami, Tikki. She gives me my powers."
"Hello, Mr Dupain and Mrs Cheng. It is very nice to finally meet you," Tikki squeaked between her munching.
"Um… It's nice to meet you too, Tikki." Sabine was still looking warily at the tiny being floating in front of her. "How… what did you just do, Marinette?"
Marinette took a deep breath.
"Okay, so… these earrings I wear are the Ladybug Miraculous. I just have to say my magic transformation phrase, and Tikki goes inside them. Then I get my costume and my powers."
"A magic flying creature that goes inside a pair of earrings. Sure, why not?" Tom asked, mostly to himself.
"Every hero has a Miraculous. They're all different pieces of jewelry and they look like ordinary items when they're not being used."
"I see. Well, that would explain why you've worn the same pair of earrings every day for the past year," Sabine remarked with a sigh. "But... how was it that we never noticed it was you? Ladybug seemed like a completely different person than Marinette, but now that we know, it's so obvious. How is that?"
"I'm not sure exactly. I think it's part of the magic - confusing people's minds so they don't know it's you. So it's not your fault."
Sabine looked somewhat comforted by this.
"And we're the only ones who know you're Ladybug?"
"Yep."
"Not even Cat Noir?" Tom asked.
"Not even him. I don't know who he is either."
Marinette paused for a moment to let the new information sink in before she continued to speak.
"There's more. I'm not just Ladybug anymore. I'm also the Guardian of the Miraculous." She explained about the miracle box and how Master Fu had lost his memory giving it to her. "I have all the other magic jewels upstairs."
"And each Miraculous has a… one of those?" Tom asked, looking nervously at Tikki.
"A kwami. Yes. In fact, I don't quite have all of them. I don't have Cat Noir's ring. His kwami, Plagg, has to stay with him at all times so he can transform." She realized this was probably a good thing. Her parents seemed a little weirded out by Tikki - who knew how they would take to the snarky, cheese-loving kwami of destruction.