Back at the school...

Marinette sat at the table looking through the recipe book with Alya. She was trying to decode the recipes that Master Fu had used to upgrade their Miraculous.

She knew some of them, but never had the chance to decode the rest of them.

"I wonder how the scavenger hunt is going?" Alya said to her.

Marinette was silent.

She never looked up or even looked up at Alya. She was writing down some recipes, making sure she got what she needed.

Alya looked over her shoulder, wondering what she had written down. She could tell that whatever she was writing down was just some more ingredients.

Alya let out a long sigh.

"Oh Alya. I didn't see you there," Marinette said to her, "I just decoded a couple of Master Fu's recipes. We could actually get this done in no time at all!"

Alya was happy for Marinette and sat across from her and looked at an extra list that she gave to Class 1-A and Adrien. She still thought it was weird how the ingredients were in riddles.

"Are you sure they will be able to find any of these?" Alya asked her, "Some of these are very questionable."

"Yeah... I'm sure they'll figure it out..." Marinette said to her, "Especially Izuku... He's pretty good at this kind of stuff..."

It was silent between them again.

Alya noticed Marinette was still wearing her hand band and backpack. She felt bad that she was hiding her antennas and wings. It looked like it hurt to cover them up, especially the wings.

"You know, you could take off your head band and backpack," Alya said to her.

Marinette finally looked up and adjusted her head band.

"There's no one around, girl. You can finally just relax a little bit."

Marinette considered it for a moment, and then took off her backpack. Her wings fell out of her jacket, making her relax a lot more. She took off the head band, and her antennas slowly stuck out of her hair.

Alya noticed her let out a sigh of relief and smiled at her.

"Feel better?" Alya asked her.

"Yeah..."

Alya pulled out some chips out of her bag and reached it out to her. Marinette chuckled a little and took a few of them.

"Thanks Alya."

"No problem."

Marinette stopped writing for a moment when she remembered that they were alone. It was just Marinette and Alya in the classroom. She thought about Adrien and remembered something that he mentioned the other day.

"Hey Alya," Marinette said as she relaxed a little, "Did you notice anything going on between Adrien and Kyouka lately?"

Alya looked up at her and gave her a sly smile.

"What do you mean?" Alya asked back.

Marinette gave her a dirty glare, knowing exactly why she was doing this.

"Is it true that they broke up? You were with us during lunch," Marinette said to her.

Alya laid her arms on the table as she ate some more chips.

"Yeah, it's true. They broke up while we were collecting all of the akumas," Alya said to her.

Marinette's eyes widened, not realizing they had broken up. Especially after what happened between them recently. She remembered how she felt after she had a dream about One for All. Even when she went over to his house afterwards.

And almost kissing him.

Marinette felt it suddenly get really hot in the classroom.

"Marinette... What's going on with you and Adrien...?" Alya asked her with a confused look on her face.

Marinette's face wouldn't let up on the blushing as Alya waited for an answer. She played with the pen right in front of her as she tried to think of something to say to her.

"Well... We almost... kissed..." Marinette confessed.

Alya's eyes sparkled as she jumped up for joy and sat next to her best friend.

"You too almost kissed?!" Alya cried out, "When did this happen?"

Marinette didn't know how to feel about this, but really wanted to talk to her about it. This was the best time to do so, considering there was no one around.

"Well, I went to Adrien's house because I needed this book... something just happened... and I... almost kissed him..." Marinette explained to her.

Alya could tell that she had been thinking about this for a while now. She gave Marinette a genuine smile and hugged her for support.

"It's okay, Marinette," Alya said to her, "Adrien really liked going out with Kyouka, but that doesn't mean that he still doesn't like you. Maybe he'd still go out with you."

Marinette got up and started pacing as if she were back in her bedroom with Alya.

"Alya, I didn't even know that Adrien and Kyouka broke up! He just got out of this relationship with her, so there's no way he's gonna wanna go out with me now! Alya, I need help!" Marinette cried out.

Alya felt bad for her friend, but she didn't know how to help. Then she realized what time of the year it was and gave her a smile.

"What about asking him on a Valentine's Day date?" Alya said to her, "It's almost here. This could be the time to ask him out."

Marinette's face turned a little red from the thought of asking him out with Jirou around. She really didn't want to make things awkward for them.

"Are you sure? I really don't want to ask him too early," Marinette said to her, "He might not want to date right now."

"You still might as well ask. He can still say no if he's just not feeling up to it," Alya said back.

Marinette started freaking out and tripped on her backpack. When she looked up, Marinette had to stop for a second and noticed someone looking through the window.

Her eyes widened when she spotted Chloe locking eyes with her. Chloe looked like she couldn't take her eyes off of her.

Marinette froze in place, realizing that her antennas and wings were exposed. Alya noticed her face and looked up to see Chloe.

"Alya, what do I do?" Marinette asked trying to not move her lips too much.

Alya for once had no idea what to do about this. Chloe had just seen her with wings and antennas just like Ladybug's. Not only that, but she had already gotten close to figuring out what was going on.

Then there was a knock at the door.

Marinette took a deep breath in and out and stood up from her spot by the table. They both gave each other a determined look, and she opened the door.

Chloe stood there looking like she already knew. Though Marinette could tell she was still shocked. At this point, she let Chloe inside the classroom.

"I knew it. With you and Adrien hanging out a lot here even though I haven't seen you two at all lately. Even in the cafeteria the other day, you two were acting really weird. I even spotted something weird about you and now I know what it is," Chloe explained to her, "You are Ladybug."

Marinette and Alya shared a look that knew now was the time to come clean to her. They both let out a long sigh and let her sit down at the table.

Chloe noticed an ancient looking book wide open and a bunch of pages all scrawled with Marinette's handwriting. The moment she looked closer at it, she noticed it was a lot of ingredients that Bakugo was helping look for.

"Chloe, we won't hide it from you any longer," Marinette said to her, "Yes. I am Ladybug. I'm the one who gave you the Bee Miraculous."

Now that Marinette has actually straight up told Chloe the truth, she realized that Marinette was always Ladybug.

Then Chloe realized something else, and her eyes widened with shock.

"Wait a minute. If you're Ladybug... Then that must mean that Adrien is..."

"Yes. Adrien is Cat Noir," Marinette explained to her, "We've been the ones protecting Paris from akumas. From HawkMoth and Chrysalis."

Chloe's eyes widened as she realized all of those times she had been around them and never realized it was Marinette and Adrien. She felt her cheeks blushing when she remembered how she acted around Ladybug when she was a big fan of hers.

"Oh my gosh! You're Ladybug!" Chloe cried out, "I was a fan of you back then?! And Adrien... my Adrien is Cat Noir?!"

Marinette raised her eye brow at her as she crossed her arms.

"Your Adrien?" Marinette said back.

Chloe cleared her throat when she realized what she had just said. Then she noticed Alya crossing her arms as well as giving her a dirty look.

"Don't worry. I already know about you," Chloe said to her, "You're Rena Rouge."

"Yeah, I wonder how that happened...?" Alya said, remembering exactly why.

Chloe tried to avoid eye contact with her, remembering what happened the day she found out about Alya and a few other Miraculous holders.

"Well, I know I can't take back what I did awhile back. But, that doesn't mean that I still can't help you guys out," Chloe said to them, "I saw the list of these ingredients that Katsuki had. Maybe I can help somehow."

Marinette was shocked to see Chloe actually wanting to help her, even when she found out that the Parisian hero was Baker Girl.

"You still want to help me?" Marinette asked her, "You don't even like me. We never got along, and yet you still want to help me."

Chloe looked back at them, especially Alya who was still suspicious of her. She wasn't going to let Chloe do something that she might regret later. Chloe let out a sigh and looked back at Marinette.

"I know we don't always get along. I've been a... jerk to you. But, with everything going on and the heroes in training, they need us-- um... you and Adrien to get them home. I want to help... Marinette."

Marinette wasn't expecting her to say her name so genuinely, let alone willingly help out her and Adrien with this kind of stuff. Then again, she was always like this with Ladybug. Even after finding out who she was behind the mask, she didn't run off to tell Chrysalis or Sabrina. She stayed with her and decided to help them out anyway.

Marinette smiled at her, happy to see her again.

"I never thought I'd say this, but Chloe, I need your help."

Chloe smiled back, ready to help her new found friends.

Another amazing chapter!

This was a bit of a shorter chapter! This was fun to write Chloe! She found out about Ladybug and Cat Noir! She still wants to help though!

Marinette is starting to like Adrien again! She might end up asking him out on a Valentine's Day date! Ooh!

What's going to happen next??

More to come soon!