Set during 'Kwamis Choice Part 2: Deflagration.

If Tikki and Plagg hadn't been paralyzed too and were able to fly away from Monarch quicker.

Adrinette April 2024

Day #14: Identity Reveal

Sitting alone in his room, Adrien turned off the tv. He'd just watched a reporter interviewing the new holder of the black cat miraculous.

And Scarabella. The new holder of the ladybug miraculous.

He remembered Scarabella from a while back. Ladybug entrusted her with her miraculous for a day for whatever reason because apparently, she knew her identity. But now, it looked like she was here to stay.

What happened to his lady? He had quit so he could pursue a relationship with Marinette. Ladybug had told him several times that the reason she never accepted his advances was because she was in love with someone else. Maybe she was doing the same thing.

And while he wasn't completely in love with Ladybug anymore, he still felt down.

He didn't even get to say goodbye.

~*MDC+AA*~

As Marinette sat at her computer, having just watched the interview with Paris's new super heroes, turned her computer off. She smiled, glad that Alya was doing such an amazing job.

But who was this Kitty Noire?

She seemed like an excellent heroine, but where was her Chat Noir?

Her smile quickly fell into an uneasy frown. She gave up her miraculous to pursue a relationship with Adrien. Had he given his miraculous to a friend? Or did Plagg choose her just like Tikki apparently chose Alya—not that she was surprised.

She'd been in love with Adrien for so long, then for the past few weeks, she'd finally fallen for her feline partner, but they couldn't be together. She was ready to try to stop focusing on any boys but now Adrien had expressed that he was indeed interested in dating her, and now that she wasn't Ladybug anymore, she could.

But still. Even if she was fully committed to dating Adrien, Chat was her partner and dear friend for so long. She was worried about why he had quit too and if he was okay.

Marinette hugged her legs up to her chest.

She didn't even get to say goodbye.

~*MDC+AA*~

When Chloe got akumatized in the cafeteria into Sole Destroyer, everyone was worried. But they knew what to do. The Resistance had a plan. Unfortunately, when everyone tried activating the alarm on their Alliance rings to warn the rest of the school to evacuate, it didn't work. They couldn't hear Kitty Section's music playing on the speakers. But Ivan, Mylene, and Kim still did their job of ushering people out of the cafeteria, but Sole Destroyer still got a few of them. Touching them with her shoes and turning them into singing stilettos.

Alya and Zoe managed to get away though. Finding empty rooms so they could transform. Zoe hid in the locker room and Alya in a bathroom stale. However, they were both completely unaware of Monarch following them. Using several miraculouses to duplicate himself, make himself invisible, and use the power of subjugation to paralyze them, catching them completely off guard.

But not their kwamis.

As soon as Tikki and Plagg saw that their new holders were paralyzed and something invisible was removing their miraculouses, they flew away. They wished they didn't have to abandon them but it was the only right thing to do.

Even if Monarch got their miraculouses, they were useless without their kwamis. If they were far enough away, he couldn't transform and use their powers. Or the wish.

Plagg flew fast over the city, away from the school. And as he was flying, he saw a red dot also flying away from the school just as fast. Plagg followed her until she came to a stop.

They were miles from the school and very high up in the air. They were safe.

"Sugar Cube!" he yelled to her. Tikki turned and saw her equal.

"Plagg! Did Monarch just-?"

"I think so. He must have used Orikko's power to make himself invisible."

"And duplicated himself so he could hit both our holders at the same time." As well as teleportation to get into the locked bathroom stale.

"Oh, this is bad," Plagg paced the open air in a short line, worrying. "How did he find out who our new holders were so quickly? It's barely been two days!"

"I don't know," Tikki said. They and their new holders had been so careful. How could this have happened? "As long as we stay far enough away from him, he can't use our powers."

"So how are we supposed to get them back?"

They couldn't just hide from everyone forever.

Tikki wished it didn't have to come to this. They were so persistent in not allowing them to reveal themselves to each other. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

"We need help," Tikki said. Plagg nodded.

~*MDC+AA*~

Since they were no longer Ladybug and Chat Noir, when someone was akumatized, the smartest thing for Marinette and Adrien to do was to run. And hide.

For some reason, they picked the school's basement.

No one else was down there hiding too. They made their way over to the Resistance's work area in the far corner. Marinette was curious and wanted to check something. Sure enough, when she looked down at the desk, her suspicions had been correct.

"Someone unplugged the transponder," she said to Adrien. The blonde former model went over and saw the wires had indeed been pulled from the box.

"That's why the warning alarm didn't go off," Adrien concluded.

"But who would do that?" She knew Alya and Nino were the very last people out of the basement before they went to lunch. There was no way either of them would have done it.

After concluding that Monarch was no longer in the school, Tikki and Plagg deemed it safe to go back inside and look for their former holders. They flew through walls and ceilings, avoiding being spotted by anyone still around, until finally, they found them in the basement. Together and alone.

The two kwamis flew down from the ceiling, right up to their backs.

"Marinette!" Tikki shouted.

"Adrien!" Plagg shouted at the same time.

Startled, the couple turned around with mild shrieks.

"Tikki?" Marinette said.

"Plagg?" Adrien said at the same time.

Marinette quickly glanced at Adrien. "I mean…AH! Bug-mice!" she screamed in pretend terror.

What were Tikki and Plagg doing here?! Showing themselves to Adrien like this!

"Marinette, I know this goes against everything we talked about but this in serious," Tikki said to her.

As shocked as Adrien was for Plagg coming to find him—with Tikki and while he was with Marinette—his surprised shifted toward Marinette herself. "Wait? What you talked about-?" he asked, glancing at the bluenette beside him. Only for Plagg to start ranting in his face.

"We need your help! Both of your successors have been paralyzed by Monarch and he stole our miraculouses!"

"WHAT?!" both human teens shouted. Monarch had their miraculouses?! "Wait…" they both looked at each other with wide eyes.

Both their successors?

Their miraculouses?

"It…it can't be," Adrien uttered.

"Kitty?" Marinette whispered.

"Milady?" Adrien whispered back.

Marinette raised her hands up to her mouth. "Oh my god."

"Yes, yes. Ladybug, meet Chat Noir. Chat Noir, meet Ladybug," Plagg said, annoyed and impatient. "Now can we please get back on track here?!"

"Take it easy, Plagg. This is a lot to absorb. They need a minute," Tikki hushed him. The two floated there quietly and watched them.

Marinette was speechless. Her face felt hot, her heart was racing, and everything around her felt slower. Except for Adrien. "All this time…from the very beginning…" she managed to utter.

"Since Stoneheart," Adrien said, still looking at her, just as stunned. Then he grinned. "Milady…has been my princess all along." It was almost too amazing to be true.

But Marinette's mind was still racing with past events to be as thrilled as he was at the moment. "And…Glaciator…when Chat Noir-" She lowered her hands to her chest.

Adrien frowned, thinking back. Those times he got closer to her as Chat Noir, confided in him about her love troubles, not knowing he'd been Adrien the whole time. "The first time, you told Chat Noir you had your heart broken by the boy you loved. The second time, you were trying to write out your confession-" Adrien stopped when another teeny fact occurred to him. "Wait a minute. Am I Buttercup?" Marinette nodded, bashfully looking away. Adrien chuckled lightly before continuing. "Then the third time…"

"The night Chat Noir took me out to get ice cream from Andre's-"

"Right. I couldn't believe that you had been in love with me for so long." Andre had just stated it plain and simple to them both; Marinette was supposed to be in love with Adrien Agreste. Then Marinette confirmed it. It was definitely news to him. "And after Chat Noir told you that we couldn't be together, Plagg convinced me that if you loved me as Adrien once, you could love me again," he said hopefully. Adrien took both of Marinette's hands and held them in his. "I mean, when you loved me before, I only saw you as a friend. It was one-sided. But now it's not. That's why I was so quick to confess to you. If you knew I loved you back, maybe you'd give your old feelings for me another chance."

Marinette stared at him for a bit, taking in everything he just said. That night she had kissed Chat Noir, they both stated that they were no longer in love with their other selves. But were instead in love with them.

The other thems? It was messy and confusing.

Finally, Marinette wrapped her arms around Adrien's shoulders and hugged him. "I only decided to give you another chance because I had given up my miraculous and let Tikki choose someone else," she said sadly, close to his ear.

"So did I," Adrien replied, hugging her back. After a minute, they pulled away. "But what now?" he asked before turning his head back to the kwamis. "You guys just revealed yourselves to us at the same time. Now we know. You always told us that we could never know," he said to them, a bit mad.

"Well, you guys are technically not our holders anymore, so…" Plagg said slowly. Adrien grunted at his sass.

"But we can be again," Marinette said, bringing Adrien's attention back to her. This time, Marinette took his hands and held them. "Adrien, I know we're not supposed to know our identities as partners but…that was before."

"Before?"

Marinette smiled up at him. "Before we really knew each other. Before we became so close. As friends, and now more," she said sweetly, reaching up to caress his check. While she had always been nervous talking to Adrien, knowing that this was her kitty made it easier. Adrien smiled and leaned into her touch. "I was in love with Adrien and pushed Chat Noir away. You were in love with Ladybug and only saw Marinette as a friend. But then we changed. We fell for each other all over again. I finally fell for my loyal, charming, and goofy partner."

"And I for my amazing, sweet, and talented friend," he replied tenderly, placing his hand on top of hers on his face.

"We love each other for who we both are, completely. Both sides of ourselves."

The two gazed at each other, finally seeing each other completely for who they were. No secrets. No masks. Just them.

A few moments later, Adrien recalled their pressing issue. "Even if we can get the miraculouses back, they can't go back to Scarabella and Kitty Noire. Monarch knows who they are," he said seriously.

"But he still doesn't know who we are," Marinette added. If he did, he would have come after them sooner. She turned to the kwamis. "Tikki? Plagg?" Before they proceeded, they had to know if their little friends were okay with this too. If not, they'll allow them to find two new holders.

Tikki smiled. "You're still the guardian. We thought keeping your identities a secret from each other would help protect the secret and yourselves. But it was a cage that made you feel isolated. A cage that you wanted to break out of."

"We never wanted either of you to feel that way about being our holders," Plagg added. Especially since he knew how much Adrien hated feeling trapped.

Adrien smiled at his kwami in understanding. "Well, a cage is less lonely if you have someone in it with you," he said before wrapping his arm around Marinette's shoulder and pulling her close. Marinette blushed hard again but smiled and melted into his side.

Marinette agreed. Alya already knew and it wasn't just helpful with akuma fights but for her mental well-being as well. Did Adrien ever tell his best friend? Nino, most likely? She'll ask him later.

Sure, the responsibility of being a miraculous holder was great, but the burden could feel easier to carry with another carrying it with you.

"We can support each other. Confide in each other. Be the other's shoulder to lean on when the other needs it," she added, wrapping her arm around his waist, returning the side-hug.

Adrien looked down at Marinette and she looked up at him. "I miss being Chat Noir. But I can't do it without my lady right beside me. I don't want to do it without you."

"Either we do this together, or not at all," she said, determined.

After they got their miraculouses back from Monarch, they were going to be Ladybug and Chat Noir again. Together.

They could do this. They just needed to be smart, careful, and acquire a little help from the Resistance.

I think that was my first attempt at a double reveal with these guys. I'm quite proud of it.

Next chapter will be the 16th. See u then ;D