It's Not So Black And White

by TrueNightingale

Summary:

Marinette's nightmares about Chat Blanc have been getting worse, and she's exhausted from all the sleep she's been losing. When her exhaustion finally leads to a mistake she can't fix with her Ladybug Cure, how will she handle it?

Notes:

This was in the works before season 4 officially started, and I liked what I had so far so I never went back to change it. So, this takes place before Truth/Lies, but it does reference the break-up between Luka and Marinette which technically happens in those episodes. But there has been no identity reveal previous to this!

She was running across rubble, struggling to keep her footing across uneven terrain. Her heavy panting overtook nearly every other sound around her, but she didn’t need to hear the footsteps to know she was being chased. She could feel it in the way her spine tingled, in the way her scalp prickled with the feeling of being watched. No; of being hunted.

It was only a matter of time before her adversary caught up with her. He was faster, more agile, and devoid of restraint. Her fate had practically been sealed from the start. Still, she had one chance, and she wasn’t going to blow it.

With effort, she yanked herself to a stop. Her breathing slowed only slightly, but it was enough to make out the faint clink of boots behind her. Without giving herself time to regret it, she whirled around to face her pursuer.

He was just as terrifying as the first time she’d seen him, pale blue eyes focused entirely on her. His tail whipped back and forth slowly as he began to circle her, sensing a change in their game.

“My lady, are you giving up so easily? And here I thought you’d put up more of a fight.” His words were teasing, but his face was sharp and cold. Any affection the words might have had normally was completely missing. It made her heart ache for her lost kitty.

“What makes you think I’m giving up, chaton?” she asked, full of forced bravado. She couldn’t let him see her fear, even if she was inclined to believe that he could smell it.

He laughed, a dark and ominous sound. “Well, you certainly don’t seem capable of fighting me right now. So, either you’ve come up with some overly complicated plan,” a short chuckle to show what the thought of that idea, “or you’ve realized that it’s pointless to run from me. So just hand over your Miraculous now, and this will all be over. It’s really that simple.”

If she’d been a weaker woman, the soothing tone of his voice might have led her to drop her guard. But she knew she couldn’t give in, for the sake of Paris and for the sake of her beloved partner.

“I’m sorry, Chat Noir, but I can’t do that,” she said firmly.

He tsk-ed in disappointment. “I’ve told you before, that’s not my name. It looks like I’m going to have to make you remember that.” Suddenly, his eyes took on a distinctly feral glint, and he lunged forward. Her vision became overwhelmed with white.

“No, Chat Blanc!” And then she was falling.

She was no stranger to the sensation of falling. In fact, she’d go so far as to say that she was an expert at it. By this point, she knew exactly how long she could stall out before needing to use her yo-yo to halt her descent.

Except this time, she couldn’t seem to make her hand move towards the yo-yo strapped at her waist. She could only fall, helpless, as the ground surged up at her.

“Oof!” The impact knocked the wind out of her and made her eyes snap open from where they’d somehow closed. But instead of ruined Paris and its white-clad harbinger of destruction, she only saw the darkened walls of her bedroom. As she fought to breathe normally, she realized she’d somehow managed to flip over the railing surrounding her bed and had tumbled to the main floor of her room. A small red figure gazed down at her from the bed she’d recently abandoned.

“Marinette, are you okay?” Tikki asked. “That was quite a fall.”

The girl in question waved, rendered speechless from the coughs that bubbled up in her chest. She got slowly to her feet, still trying to get her breathing under control. Finally, she croaked, “I’m fine, Tikki. A little winded, and my back is probably going to bruise like crazy, but I’m okay.”

Tikki floated down to her, nuzzling up against her cheek. “I’m really glad to hear that. I’ve seen you restless while you sleep, but I’ve never seen you actually fall from your bed like that.”

Marinette winced, even while accepting the kwami’s embrace. “That was definitely a first for me. I’ve lived in this room for over a decade, and this is the first time I managed to regret putting my bed all the way up there. I may have to set up a pillow barrier so that it doesn’t happen again.”

“I could tell you were having a nightmare, but nothing I was doing was waking you up this time. Was it about…you know who?” Tikki looked up at her with sad, knowing eyes. Marinette nodded.

“They’ve been getting worse recently. And I’m not just reliving what happened, either; sometimes I’m trying to reason with him while he’s holding that giant Cataclysm again. And other times he’s chasing me down, like he’s a predator and I’m the prey. It always ends the same, though: he always attacks me, and then I wake up.”

“Maybe you should think about telling someone about this.” Tikki’s voice was tentative, like she knew what the answer was going to be. She wasn’t wrong; they’d had this conversation several times in the past month alone.

Marinette shook her head. “I’m not going to tell Chat about this. It’s bad enough that I know something about the future, and it was my own doing in the first place. I’m not going to put that burden on him.”

But the kwami of creation wasn’t done yet. “Burdens are meant to be shared, Marinette. You can’t keep going like this, or else you’re going to break. And that’s not something that I ever want to see.”

“I’ll be fine, Tikki. I’ve managed the nightmares for this long, and I’m sure they’ll die down again soon. Chat never needs to know about them, because I’m going to be fine. This is just temporary.” Hopefully, she added silently. She hadn’t told Tikki her suspicions as to why the nightmares had made a vengeful return, as her kwami would never let her live it down. But her traitorous heart had led her astray once more.

When Bunnyx first dropped her back on that roof in the present time, Marinette was pretty confident that she’d fixed everything. Even if she didn’t understand exactly why Chat knowing her identity led to that apocalyptic future, she’d been able to defeat him and fix the timeline. She just had to be more careful about her secret identity, and make sure that she never even thought about having a relationship with Chat. Two birds, one stone. It should have been easy.

And for a while, it was. She was still very much in love with Adrien, even if it wasn’t going anywhere. And then, when Kagami had come in and put the final nail in that coffin, Luka had been there to sweep her off her feet. She’d been happy with him for a while.

But then the secrets started building up, and the stress of becoming the Guardian compounded with her paranoia about her superhero status, and she’d had to break it off. He told her he’d still be waiting for her, but she knew he didn’t deserve to be a fallback plan.

Then, as she healed from her sudden breakup, she started getting more house calls from a certain black cat. She didn’t understand how he’d known she was feeling down, but somehow, he did. And she didn’t know what to do about that.

He’d always been this goofy, though occasionally inappropriate, presence by her side. But after that first night, right before they fought Glaciator, she’d seen a softer side to him. And during his visits, that softer side was on full display. He was still a joker at heart, no doubt; she was sure he’d explode if he had to hold in his awful puns for any length of time. But he was gentle and caring, and he was a comforting presence when she cried for the relationship she’d ended, and for the one she’d never had the guts to ask for. She didn’t give him any names, of course. It felt wrong to discuss the boy she’d turned him down for so many times, even if he didn’t know that. 

Even after she’d cried herself out, he still kept coming around. Their time together became more focused on hanging out than bemoaning their relationship status, and even increased in frequency. Marinette, despite her misgivings about promoting a civilian-superhero friendship, couldn’t bring herself to send her partner away.

But she hadn’t expected the way her heart had shifted. Where before there had really only been room for Adrien, now Chat had carved out a special place for himself. If she were being honest with herself, she would acknowledge that he’d always been there in some capacity. She’d buried it very, very deep down with the hope that she’d never have to face it, but she could no longer deny one simple fact: she was very much in love with Chat Noir.

And that led to her current dilemma: being forcibly reminded of just how badly a relationship could go with her beloved partner. She’d gotten complacent, and she was having a hard time shoving the feelings back in the dark crevice of her heart where they belonged. But she’d be okay; it would just take a little bit of time. No need to drag poor Chat into this.

Tikki had been hounding her to tell Chat since the beginning. She thought it would help Marinette to talk about her experience, especially since it was still affecting her. But she just couldn’t do it. It was bad enough that she had these nightmares, so it wasn’t fair to put that on her partner. She’d just have to push through it like she’d done for almost four years. Denial was becoming the most constant thing in her life, but she couldn’t let that change any time soon.

Her kwami sighed in exasperation, knowing that she was trying to fight a losing battle. “I just hate seeing you hurt, Marinette. You’re more than just my holder, and I care a lot about you. You know that, right?”

Marinette lifted her hands to cradle her kwami near her face. “Of course I do, Tikki. I’ve never doubted that, even when we’ve disagreed in the past. I know you’re trying to help me however you can. I just don’t think this is the way, right now.”

Tikki only nodded, understanding in her eyes. “It’s still pretty early. Are you going to try and get back to sleep before school?”

“No, I don’t think I could, even if I tried. I’ll just find a project to work on for a while, and maybe I’ll actually be there on time today.” She fought back a yawn as she spoke, knowing that she’d probably regret the decision later. But every time her eyes closed for longer than a beat, she saw flashes of white and pale blue and knew that sleep wouldn’t come easily. Might as well do something productive instead.

So, despite her phone telling her it was only 4:30 in the morning, she fired up her sewing machine and settled down into place. She had to concentrate on her lines and on keeping an eye on the business end of the machine so that she didn’t end up hurting herself, so it was usually a good choice for keeping her preoccupied.

In fact, it was a little too good at that; she still nearly ended up being late for school because she’d gotten too wrapped up in her project. The sound of her mother’s voice calling her name like usual startled her out of her trance, and she had to scramble around as madly as she did most days. Luckily, her parents didn’t think anything of it since it was the norm, and they didn’t even blink when she raced out of the bakery with a quick farewell shout.

She slipped into the classroom right as the bell rang, sliding into her seat next to Alya with only a little more clumsiness than normal. Much like her parents, Alya was used to her antics and didn’t even look up from her phone before greeting her.

“Hey girl! You’re here just in time to—woah! Did you stay up all night working again?” Marinette whipped her head around to stare at her best friend, who was looking at her with concerned eyes.

“What? No, of course not! Why?” She hadn’t looked in an actual mirror before she left the house today, only using a compact to apply her usual eyeliner and mascara. Did she have fabric lines imprinted on her face again? Did she smear some marker on her cheek again?

Alya’s brows furrowed. “Your hair is all tangled like you were running your fingers through it like you do when trying to figure something out, and the bags under your eyes wouldn’t qualify as carry-ons at the airport. If you weren’t working, then why do you look like I should be running before you try to eat my brain?”

Her best friend made no effort to keep her voice down, and Marinette tried not to groan as the two boys in front of them turned around. Nino and Adrien looked up at her with differing amount of confusion and concern.

“Marinette, are you okay? You look like you could pass out any moment.” Adrien’s green eyes on her never failed to make her knees weak, even as exhausted as she was. But she was better now; she could use words.

“I’m gine—I mean, food—ugh!” She slapped a hand to her face, trying to make her mouth parse out the right sounds. “I’m fine, guys. I just didn’t sleep well last night. It’s no big deal.”

Adrien’s head cocked to the side. “Did you have a nightmare? You know, sometimes it helps to talk about it—”

“NOPE,” she nearly shouted, surprising all three of her friends. A flash of guilt hit her at the way Adrien flinched, mouth snapping shut. “I mean, I appreciate that, Adrien. But it’s really no big deal, just me overthinking things as usual. You know how I am. I’ll be sure to get catch up on sleep this weekend.” Outside of akuma attacks, of course.

The other three seemed satisfied with her answer, and the boys turned back around to face their teacher. Alya nudged her during attendance, though, slipping a note her direction while keeping her eyes firmly towards the front. Marinette slid it under her tablet, glancing down carefully to read it.

            If you want to catch some z’s during class, I got your back. Sunshine was right about you looking like you’re about to collapse.

Marinette smiled to herself; Alya really was a great friend. She may be a little pushy or stubborn at times, but she was always there to back Marinette up.

Despite how sweet the gesture was, though, Marinette knew she couldn’t take her up on it. This was their last year of high school, and she was already missing enough of it during akuma attacks. Even if her attention was a little poor today, she needed the class time to attempt to learn something.

As it turned out, “attempt” was a good word for it. She could barely keep her eyes open all day, and most of the lectures went in one ear and out the other. Still, she shrugged off her friends’ attempts to get her to go home, determined to make it through the day by spite if necessary.

And she almost made it, if it weren’t for the akuma that crashed into the courtyard of the school during the last class of the day. She only barely resisted slamming her head into her desk, groaning to herself. Ask and ye shall receive, I suppose.

The rest of the student body cleared out pretty quickly, leaving Marinette time to slip unnoticed into the bathroom to transform. She thought she’d beat Chat Noir there for sure, but when she came back out into the courtyard, he was already engaging with the akuma.

Without wasting another moment, she launched herself into battle. The less time she gave herself to rest, the less likely she’d fall asleep standing up, after all.

The akuma wasn’t as big as some of their previous enemies, but his head still easily cleared the railing to the second-floor walkways, which he was currently trying to bash with huge, scoop-like fists. The most intriguing feature about him, though, was the fact that he had no legs. Instead, the trunk of his body led down into what looked like a tank, complete with tracks on either side instead of wheels. She threw out her yo-yo, wrapping it around one of the arms to keep it from completely smashing the walkway it was aimed at. Chat Noir was attempting to fight off the other arm with his baton.

“Any idea what this one’s here for,” she called out to her partner.

“Calls himself the BullyDozer,” Chat called back, voice strained with effort. “Sounds like he got in trouble for retaliation against some kids that were picking on him, so now he’s here for revenge.” She frowned. This was bound to be an unpleasant fight from start to finish.

And sure enough, it was. It might not have been so bad on a day where she’d actually gotten a decent amount of sleep, but as it was, it was all she could do to kick her brain into gear. She finally managed to throw a literal wrench in his wheels, thanks to her Lucky Charm, and they shut the akuma down for good.

Her heart broke a little when the tainted magic cleared and revealed a high schooler in a wheelchair. The fight had ended a few miles from the school, close to the Luxembourg Gardens, which meant she was highly uncomfortable leaving him to fend for himself, but she couldn’t exactly carry him along with his wheelchair. The teenager seemed to notice the conflict on her face and smiled encouragingly.

“Don’t worry too much about me. I can call my dad, and he should be able to come and pick me up in our van.”

She nodded her assent. “Alright. As for what happened today…do you want to talk about it?”

He sighed, looking down at his hands as they twisted together in his lap. “These guys at school have been on my case a lot lately. I don’t have to use this wheelchair every day, but my need for it shifts from week to week. They told me today that I must be faking it, because I’d been walking just fine yesterday. Even when I told them about my illness, they wouldn’t let it go and one of them tried to physically pull me out of the chair. It hurt, so I lashed out by instinct. That’s when Principal Damocles walked in.”

She reached out and set a gentle hand on his shoulder, prompting him to look back up at her. “I know it’s unfair to be punished for something that someone else did. And I know you didn’t mean to hurt the other boy, even on accident. What those other kids did was wrong, and it definitely shouldn’t be allowed. I’ll be making a visit to talk to the principal about this, but in the meantime, I need something from you.”

His eyes shone with eagerness, despite his hesitant smile. “Anything for you, Ladybug.”

“What I’m going to ask of you is going to be difficult. It’s not fair and it’s not going to be fun. But it’s also really important.” She brought her other hand up to the boy’s unoccupied shoulder, catching his eye firmly to emphasize her point. “I need you to promise me that you’ll be kind to them.”

He reeled back. “But—”

“I know. But reacting to them with harsh words or actions will only make things worse, not better. They’re looking to provoke you, and they win if you let them get you upset. But if you react to them with kindness, there’s room for things to change. If you show them that there’s another path for them, they might just take that better path. Or, maybe they just decide that you’re not giving them the reaction they want, and they’ll move on. Either way, it means that you’re showing them they don’t control you.”

“I guess you’re right. It would be the heroic thing to do.”

She beamed at him. “It would, indeed. Believe me when I say I know exactly how hard it will be. But I think you’re plenty strong enough to be an everyday hero. So, are you in?”

“You can count on me, Ladybug!”

Her earrings chirped loudly, reminding her that she was still on a timer. She’d used up most of her time talking to the victim, so she wasn’t going to be able to get very far before she lost the mask. Luckily, she’d taken to scouting out good hiding spots throughout the city, and she knew that there was a blind alley only a few blocks away.

Chat tried to flag her down before she left, but she didn’t have much time left. She called out a quick, “see you on patrol,” before flinging herself into the air with her yo-yo.

Touching down in her chosen spot only thirty seconds later, she collapsed against the wall. Her energy was quickly failing, and it was only going to get worse once the suit dropped. She braced herself as much as she could before bright pink light lit up the alley and the remaining energy from her transformation left her.

She had just enough awareness to catch Tikki before she could fall, cradling her kwami in her palms. “Sorry about that, Tikki. Are you okay?”

Tikki smiled tiredly. “I’m okay. That was definitely a rough fight, though. Those must have been some really strong emotions coming from that boy to cause such a difficult akuma.”

Marinette sighed, trying not to think too hard about how that poor boy had been mistreated. “I always hate victims like this, who have serious problems and are rightfully upset about them. Bullied kids don’t become akumas too often, but even ‘occasionally’ is too often.” A thought occurred to her, and she hesitated before actually voicing it. “Do you think I was a hypocrite for telling him to be kind to the kids who were treating him so horribly? I know I try to be nice to Chloe, but something about her just seems to get under my skin. Despite my best attempts, I can’t help but lash out occasionally.”

“But the important thing is that you try, Marinette.” Tikki was looking up at her with kind eyes, trying to reassure her in spite of her obvious exhaustion. “You may not always be perfect, but that’s okay. You told him that it wouldn’t be easy, and it’s not. Even so, you continue to try every day, and that’s what really counts.”

“Thanks, Tikki. You always know what to say to make me feel better.” She brought her kwami up to her face to nuzzle her cheek, and Tikki giggled. “Now, I’ve got some cookies in my purse. Let’s get you fed so that we can get home and rest.”

She was turning to unclasp her purse when she caught a flash of black in her peripheral vision. Her entire body tensed when she looked up to see a certain cat-themed superhero staring at her, his eyes bulging and jaw practically on the ground. She squealed. This was…decidedly very bad.

“H-hey Chat! Mancy feeting—I mean, fancy meeting you here!” She threw her hands behind her back, hoping beyond hope she hadn’t just flung her weakened kwami into the wall. Judging by the lack of splatting sounds, she thought she might have been in the clear on that count.

The shock hadn’t left Chat Noir’s face, though, and she had a sinking feeling that she was firmly caught. Still, while there was a chance, she had to try and fix it. So she widened her smile, swallowing the nerves that bubbled up.

“I-I guess there must have been an akuma around here, right? That’s why you’re here?” He still hadn’t spoken, though he’d at least managed to close his mouth. His eyes shifted from shock to calculation, and her panic spiked. “I was just in the area doing some…parking in the sketch! I mean, sketching! In the park!” He started walking toward her, a determined glint in his eyes. “If you’re here now, that means you and Ladybug beat it, right? In that case, I should really be on my way.”

He stopped in front of her, a smile starting to form on his face. “Princess, do you really expect me to believe that?”

“…Yes?”

His hands came up to grip her shoulders and pull her into a hug. “I finally found you…my lady.”

Her entire body went stiff and tears prickled at the corners of her eyes. “Chat…please. I…I don’t know what you’re talking about.” It was a weak defense and she knew it. The way his arms tightened around her told her he didn’t buy it.

“You forget that I’ve met Tikki, and I know what she sounds like.” Shit, she’d forgotten about that. Or, she had hoped that he didn’t see or hear enough to be incriminating. She pulled out of his grip easily, hands coming up to cover her face.

“I can’t believe I was so stupid! I didn’t even look around before dropping my transformation, what kind of superhero does that? I’m so, so, so bad at this!” She started pacing halfway through her rant, hands rubbing the skin on her face to give her a distraction.

“Hey, woah, slow it down.” Gloved hands pulled her own away from her face before she could rub it raw. “It’s not the end of the world, Marinette.”

She couldn’t help the manic laugh that escaped her lips. If only he knew. His brows furrowed in confusion at the sudden noise.

“No, of course not,” she chirped. “Because that would be crazy, right? How could you knowing my name possibly be the end of the world?” She spun away from him, stalking further into the alleyway. Tikki finally made a reappearance, stopping her from getting too far away.

“Marinette, it’s time,” she said solemnly.

But the teenager shook her head. “Nope. I’m pretending this isn’t happening. It’s all just a bad dream, and I’m going to wake up any moment now. Because this can’t. Be. Happening.”

“Except it is! And no amount of denying it is going to change that fact. So, you need to be the Ladybug I know you to be, and face this.” Marinette’s spine straightened at the stern note in Tikki’s voice. She took a deep breath, trying to compose herself to see this through.

“Okay. You’re right. It’s my responsibility as Ladybug and as the Miraculous Guardian to deal with this.” With that resolve, she turned back around to face Chat, who was looking at her with amusement.

“Considering how much time I spend around both Marinette and Ladybug, I really should have picked up on the fact that you both panic the same way,” he said with a lopsided smirk.

“That is not…entirely, 100% accurate…is it?” She trailed off, pouting, as her partner laughed at her. Annoyance that he was probably right flared up in her chest. “Chat, please. This is a serious matter.”

Her words had an immediate impact as Chat’s laughter cut off. She would be worried that she’d been too harsh if it weren’t for the crooked smile on his lips and the lack of hurt in his eyes.

“Aww, bugaboo, you know by now that this is my serious face.” And she did; it was part of what made him such a great partner for her. He was able to ground her when she started going off the rails, and it had taken her much too long to really appreciate that.

But now wasn’t the time to get sappy; she needed to face this situation head-on. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “So. Now you know who I am. Is that…okay?” The excited smile on his face made something in her stomach flutter, despite telling herself that it shouldn’t matter whether or not he still liked the girl under the mask.

“Are you kidding?” He asked quickly. “This is great! Now that I know who you are, I know where to go if I need anything Miraculous related. It makes everything so much easier!”

She thought she did a decent job of hiding the way her stomach sunk a little at that. Of course he’d only be excited for practical reasons. After all, when compared with confident, strong Ladybug, who was poor little Marinette?

“Oh…yeah, of course.” Her voice was completely flat when she spoke, letting none of her inner turmoil sneak in.

But he wasn’t done yet. “And now we can cover for each other, if we have to transform. We’ll be able to hide our identities from everyone else even better if we work together.”

She brought her arms up and folded them around her middle before saying, “I don’t think it makes that much of a difference, considering that I won’t know who you are to help you.” The words came out more sharply than she intended, but she’d just have to beg forgiveness later for her bad mood. Maybe once her world wasn’t crashing down on her and she was more than two steps from having a literal panic attack.

He tilted his head in that way she still steadfastly refused to call adorable. “What are you talking about? Of course I’m going to show you who I am—”

“No!” she shouted, cutting him off. He reeled back slightly, blinking at her vehemence. “We aren’t supposed to know who the other person is; that’s the rule. You can’t tell me who you are, even if I was stupid enough to give myself away.”

“But, my lady—”

“No buts. The rules are there for a reason.”

He was visibly frustrated now, voice rising in volume a little. “But you’re the Guardian now. You make the rules, and you decide who gets to know what. It makes sense for you to know who I am, as well.”

“Chat Noir has a point,” Tikki added. “In case anything happens, you should know where you have to go to retrieve the Black Cat Miraculous. And you’ll also know if there’s some reason he can’t make it to a battle and be able to act accordingly.”

“You saw what happened to Master Fu once Hawkmoth found him. I was the one who gave him away, because I wasn’t paying enough attention that time either. I’m the weak link here, so I shouldn’t be trusted with that knowledge. Besides, you know who he is, so if there’s a problem, you can tell me.” Her hands had started shaking, so she hid it by clenching them into fists. I just want to go home and have an existential crisis by myself, thank you very much.

“It doesn’t work like that. Sometimes, there’s no possible way for me to tell you something without giving him away. And you need to know this while you have time to react, instead of in the middle of a fight.” But Marinette simply shook her head.

“Please, princess…just let me show you my face. I purr-omise it will all make sense.” She’d never seen Chat’s eyes look so big or watery, and she could feel her resolve crumbling like the rest of her life. She sighed.

“I…Okay. I’ll look at your face, but you can’t tell me your name or give me any extra hints. I still think this is a mistake.” Maybe if she didn’t truly know who he was, then he’d be safe from becoming her worst nightmare. She could put a wall between them, one that she wouldn’t ever allow to fall.

One glimpse of his face shouldn’t be enough to give her anything incriminating, after all. She didn’t know anyone who acted like he did, cocky and self-sure. She would have recognized that sense of humor and that wild blond mane anywhere, so one tiny look couldn’t be too much.

The smile that lit up his face in return was nearly blinding, and she suddenly had a really bad feeling about this. But even as she opened her mouth to protest, he beat her to it.

“Plagg, claws in!”

She closed her eyes instinctively as a bright green flash of light enveloped him, but she kept them closed even after it faded. Her breathing started to pick up slightly as her stomach churned. She wasn’t ready for this, she really wasn’t. Why had she agreed? This was a terrible idea. There was no way this was going to end well.

Soft hands cradled her face gently, and she only realized that there were tears running down her cheeks when those hands wiped them away. Her entire body was quaking under that soft touch, unprepared to see the face of the boy that had been by her side for all this time.

“Don’t cry, little bug,” a soft voice crooned. “Please, just look at me. I really want to see those pretty blue eyes of yours.”

Alright, she could do this. Just one little peek, right? Then she could go back to her blissful ignorance, having done what she was asked to do. And she could go have her mental breakdown in peace once Chat left her alone.

Her eyes fluttered open, a few more tears falling from her lashes and blurring her vision. When they cleared, she was left looking at a very familiar set of green eyes. She squeaked.

“A-Adrien?!” Her hands came up to cover her mouth as the teen in question lifted an arm to rub the back of his neck, looking to the ground.

“Not really what you were expecting, right? I know I was pretty surprised to find you out here.” Why wouldn’t he be? Marinette and Ladybug were practically different people, despite how many times Tikki reminded her that she was both girls. It shouldn’t have come as much of a shock to find out that Chat Noir was the same way, right?

He was still talking, oblivious to the fact that her brain had stopped functioning. “I know I don’t act like Chat most of the time, but you can imagine why, right? The son of the biggest fashion designer in Paris can’t be seen acting like a complete idiot, especially when he’s also the face of the brand. My father has pretty strict expectations of me, and he’d really lose it if I did half of the things Chat Noir can get away with.”

His eyes flickered back to hers, taking in her closed-off posture and frowning. “You’re the only one who really knows that side of me. Is it…still okay? Can we still be friends?”

She would have laughed if she had the capacity to feel anything except blinding terror. She had fallen in love with this boy twice, had saved the world numerous times with him, and he was asking if being himself was okay? She could only nod slightly, since she’d been robbed of all words.

He looked relieved at her nod, and the tension fled from his shoulders. “Good. That’s really good. I’m going to ask for one more thing. It’s selfish, and it’s okay if the answer is no. But I would just…really appreciate it.”

She nodded again, prompting him to continue.

“Can I…can I get a hug, Marinette?”

Give me a hug, Marinette. Whatever warmth that had remained in her blood fled immediately, and her breath caught in her throat. The words were slightly different, but the voice that said them was the same and reality finally came crashing down on her.

It was Chat Noir who’d stolen her heart that day in the rain, and it was Adrien who’d stood by her side against Hawkmoth all this time. Chat Noir had listened to her patiently during her many nonsensical rants, and Adrien had been the one to encourage her to become the Ladybug she was today. And that also meant that Adrien was the one who’d become…

“Princess? Mari?” Concern was breaking through his tone, and his hands ghosted along either side of her jawline. She broke away at the touch, turning her back and scuttling away to get some space from him. Maybe then she’d be able to breathe again.

Chat Blanc. He’d become that washed out nightmare in the future, and she’d had something to do with it. No…not just something; It had been completely her fault. He’d told her that their relationship, their love, had destroyed the world. She was the reason the bright source of light behind her had turned dark.

She’d been the one to do this to him. She’d been stupid enough to reveal her identity to him the first time, and now she’d gone and done it again. It was her fault he’d been vulnerable to Hawkmoth. It was her fault that he had been upset enough to be akumatized, and it was her fault that he’d then used his incredible power boost to destroy the city he’d been fighting to protect. Adrien had become the worst villain she’d ever faced, and it was all. Her. Fault.

“Oh no, no, no no no no…” She slumped to her knees, hands shifting up to cradle her head as the waves of panic and despair threatened to overwhelm her. Her breathing picked up, each individual breath rasping painfully out of her throat. She barely heard the call of her name as Adrien rushed to her side once again.

She couldn’t face that stark white nightmare again; she couldn’t do it. She’d barely survived her first battle with him, both physically and mentally. It would have been impossible enough last week, when she’d finally let herself accept her love for her partner. Now that she knew who was truly under the mask? She’d be paralyzed, much like she was now. He’d take her Miraculous within seconds, and she wouldn’t be able to lift a single finger to stop him.

Her eyes were darting around the alleyway, looking for the little butterfly that would spell disaster for the entire world. A small, logical voice in her mind said that it wouldn’t make sense for Chat to be akumatized right this second; after all, she was clearly the one in worse mental shape right now. That logical voice sounded a lot like Tikki, actually…

“That’s because it is me, Marinette,” that voice said again as a red blur darted in front of her face. “You’re mumbling, and it’s really hard to understand you, but you need to breathe. You’re going to pass out if you don’t calm down.”

Okay, she could do this. She’d talked herself out of being akumatized before, so surely she could talk herself out of a silly little panic attack. Maybe this wasn’t so bad. After all, it wasn’t like Chat would still love her after finding out her identity. She was plain, clumsy, boring Marinette. It might hurt now, but it was probably for the best.

She took a long, stuttering breath that froze in her chest when warm hands gently grasped her shoulders.

“Mari, are you okay? You can do this, you just need to breathe, alright?” The words were shaky, a contrast to how firmly his arms wrapped around her to pull her towards him. For a moment, she let herself melt into his embrace, and her breathing slowed slightly. “That’s it, just like that. There’s the strong Ladybug I know and love.”

Everything stilled as the words registered, affection and panic butting heads in her chest. Because if Chat loved her, then that would mean he could potentially get akumatized. She had to tell him that they couldn’t be together, at least until Hawkmoth was defeated. That should be enough, right? She opened her mouth to speak…and choked on the words before they escaped.

What if they could never be together? She’d forgotten about TimeTagger for a few minutes, but he and Bunnyx were both proof that even if they defeated this Hawkmoth, another one would rise to take his place. Paris would never be safe from the threat of supervillains and akumas. She would never be able to have this; to have him.

And yet, what if even committing herself to a life filled with loneliness wasn’t enough? Because Chat Blanc had never explicitly said they were dating. He’d implied it, and she’d assumed, but what if the reason he became Chat Blanc was because she pushed him away? What if she was playing right into Hawkmoth’s trap right now? She’d found herself in an impossible situation, one that could literally make or break the world, and she had no idea what to do.

There wasn’t enough air, even though her chest ached from how desperately she tried to draw some in. The strong arms around her tightened briefly, evidently sensing a turn for the worse again.

“Come on, bugaboo, you can do this,” he murmured into her ear. She let out a sound that was supposed to be an incredulous laugh, but it came out strangled and desperate instead. “Just…just breathe.”

How could she, when she could easily recall what that same voice sounded like as it threw words in her face like they were physical weapons?

            It was our love that did this to the world, my lady.

            You don’t understand.

            I might as well destroy you, me, my memories…everything!

            Now you’re breaking more than my heart, Marinette!

Her name was the last thing she heard before she finally succumbed to the darkness. Even so, as she fell, a small part of her mind registered that instead of the cold fury she remembered, the voice had sounded almost scared.

***

Adrien Agreste could confidently say that he’d been in a lot of implausible, convoluted, and even downright ridiculous situations before. He’d been forced to use a gracious fanboy as a body double to escape the clutches of his own bodyguard; he’d fought akumas while wearing a banana suit instead of his Chat Noir suit on two separate occasions; hell, he’d even accepted a different Miraculous with the intent to try and get a pretty girl’s attention. But nothing could have prepared him for the situation he currently found himself in.

He was still kneeling on the ground, cradling the unconscious body of one of his closest and dearest friends, after finding out that the two most amazing girls in his life were actually only a single girl. They were still in a dingy, abandoned alleyway, and he was still exhausted from the fight with that akuma from earlier. It was probably safe to say that when he envisioned finally getting to see the girl under the mask, it certainly didn’t look like this.

“Well, that’s definitely awkward,” came a nasally voice from his shoulder. He turned quickly to see Plagg staring at Marinette’s sleeping face. “Not exactly the type of swooning you like to see, am I right?”

“Plagg, this isn’t the time for your lame jokes,” Tikki chastised him wearily.

“Excuse you, my jokes are hilarious.” The kwami found himself on the receiving end of two unamused glares and shrugged. “Fine, be that way. But I’m starving, so I want my Camembert.”

“I’m just a little tied up at the moment, in case you hadn’t noticed,” Adrien said shortly. The cheese was in his shirt pocket, as always, but he wasn’t going to put his lady down on the dirty ground just to satisfy one greedy god of destruction.

Plagg was undeterred, however. “Fine, I’ll get it myself,” he said before squirming his way into his usual hiding place. It was a truly awkward few minutes as he wiggled around in his search for sustenance without Adrien moving his arms, but eventually they heard the triumphant cry. Adrien couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

In the meantime, Tikki had drifted closer to Marinette and—by extension—him. She smiled sadly at him as she carefully brushed some stray hair out of her holder’s face. He longed to duplicate the motion, but after the way she recoiled from him earlier, he wasn’t sure if it would be a welcome touch. He bit back the sigh that wanted to escape him, but he still managed to find himself the subject of those huge violet eyes.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Adrien.” Her words were soft but firm. “She needed to know who you were, and you did the right thing by telling her.”

“How can it be the right thing when this is the result?” He wanted to believe her; he really did. But after making the love of his life pass out from sheer panic, he was a little wary to trust that assessment.

“She’s the Guardian, it’s her responsibility to know who all the Miraculous holders are in case something happens to them.”

“I don’t care about responsibility right now,” Adrien snapped. “I care about her, and obviously this wasn’t something she was ready for. God, I’m so stupid…”

But Tikki didn’t seem to take his outburst personally. “She was never going to be completely ready, Adrien. She’d been psyching herself out too much for the outcome to be anything different, really. At least this happened after you two defeated the akuma, so we have a little bit of time.”

He sighed. “I guess you’re right. When she gets too far into her own head, nothing seems to pull her out of it. Still, I can’t help but wonder why she reacted quite so strongly. I know you were able to make out some of what she was saying, but it all sounded like gibberish to me.”

The ladybug kwami opened her mouth, paused, then closed it and simply shook her head. “You two really need to have a conversation when she wakes up. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to find Marinette’s purse so I can recharge.”

Instantly, he felt guilty. “Oh Tikki, I’m so sorry. I didn’t even think of that. Here, let me help you.” It turned out that the purse was squished between their bodies, and there was a brief struggle to pull it out enough to retrieve a cookie. Luckily it wasn’t too broken up, and Tikki munched it happily.

“So, what’s next on the agenda for you two lovebirds,” Plagg drawled as he wriggled back out of Adrien’s shirt. The model flushed.

“Don’t say it like that. That’s not what’s happening.”

The tiny cat only scoffed. “Why not? You’ve been waiting for this moment for over four years. Aren’t you at least a little bit excited that you only have to gush about one girl, now? I know I’m grateful for that; you don’t know how many times I wanted to tear my whiskers out when you agonized over how you could possibly love two different girls.”

“I know tact isn’t exactly your style, Stinky Sock, but I would hope that after this long, you’d start to pick up on certain conversational nuances. Like how not to be an unmitigated jerk.” Tikki’s voice was stern, even around a mouthful of cookie.

“It’s okay. I’m kind of used to it at this point,” Adrien reassured her. “He’s an asshole, but that’s just how he shows love.”

“Speak for yourself, kitten. I’m an asshole because that’s my job; to balance out the overwhelming sweetness of Sugar Cube over there.”

“And I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that you’re also just a cat who can’t control himself,” she said with a tone full of said sweetness. Plagg growled at her.

“Alright, as fun as this entire experience has been, I think we have need of a Parisian superhero right about now. Plagg, claws out!” His kwami didn’t even get a chance to protest as he was pulled into Adrien’s ring.

“What did you do that for?” Tikki asked him.

“He was being too loud. Marinette is going to wake up at some point, and I’d rather it not be lying on the ground in a dingy alleyway. I need my Chat Noir strength to get her out of here quickly and without anyone seeing either of us.”

As he spoke, he was rearranging the sleeping girl in his arms, making it easier to lift her. He cradled her head and neck with one arm and shifted the other to lift under her knees. Ha, how fitting, he thought to himself. A princess carry for my princess. He’d have to use that line later, regardless of how hard she’d punch him for it.

Tikki floated over to hide herself in Marinette’s hair, since the purse she probably used normally was still inaccessible. Adrien turned around and managed a single step before something occurred to him: where was he going to take her?

His first thought was the bakery and he bit his lip thoughtfully as he considered it. She’d probably feel more comfortable if she woke up in a familiar place, especially her own room. But with her being essentially dead weight in his arms, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to make it onto her balcony. And even if he did, surely navigating the skylight would be a nightmare. So, that left the front door.

Adrien paled at the thought of Tom and Sabine’s faces if he showed up fresh from an akuma fight with their unconscious daughter in his arms. Nope, not happening, he thought.

He ran through a few other options in his head, but nothing seemed right. Which left his own room. Climbing up to his window would still be tricky, but he’d done it enough times through the years that he could probably manage it, even with an extra body. And he currently had free reign of the mansion, which meant he could fetch anything Marinette might need or want. He also couldn’t deny the tiny thrill that shot up his spine at the thought of bringing the girl of his dreams into his personal space, even if it was only for a short time.

Always so noble, a voice that sounded uncomfortably like Plagg sneered in the back of his mind. And I’m sure that your decision has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you’ve been dying to get this girl in your bed for some time now, right?

Adrien shook his head, trying to quiet the voice. It wasn’t like that; he had too much respect for both Ladybug and Marinette to give in to his baser instincts like that. He could control himself.

With his decision made, and both girl and kwami tucked carefully into his body, he made his way smoothly to the entrance of the alleyway. After assuring that no one was nearby, he walked out onto the sidewalk and started to consider his route home.

He’d carried Marinette before with no issue, and she was definitely still just as lightweight as before. The problem came in that she wasn’t awake to hold on to him and free up an arm, so using his baton to navigate the rooftops would be impossible. So, he needed a way to get up there…there! He spotted an overhang that he was sure he could jump to from street level. He sprang into action quickly, using the momentum from his first jump to land on the roof of the next building.

The run back to his house wasn’t exactly easy, and there were a few close calls that made Tikki squeak from her hiding spot, but they made it back with no real problems. The precious burden in his arms didn’t even flinch as he slid carefully through his window. He glanced down at her sleeping face as he walked across the room to his bed and felt a sudden surge of protectiveness. He’d thought he’d been concerned enough about Ladybug’s safety, but now that he knew she was also his sweet, beautiful friend? He couldn’t bear the thought of anything bad happening to her, ever.

A longing sigh escaped him as he laid the sleeping girl gently down on his mattress, despite his best attempts at smothering it. She’d torn out her hair bands in her earlier panic, and now her dark hair spread across his pillow. His lips spread into a smile as Tikki nestled down affectionately into the crook of her wielder’s neck, eyes filled with concern. He lost track of time as he watched them, entranced.

Eventually, though, reality came back to knock the smile off his face. He still didn’t know why Marinette had reacted so poorly to their reveal; well, poorly to his reveal, actually. She’d been upset, but not hysterical at first. But when she saw who was really under his mask? She looked like she’d just seen a ghost. Was it really so bad that he was Chat Noir?

They’d become much better friends since the beginning of high school. She had stopped running away from him at the first opportunity, and she’d even been able to speak in full sentences around him. The stuttering hadn’t gone away completely, but he didn’t mind it that much. He actually found it kind of cute (he’d accidentally said as much to Nino one day, though he’d immediately sworn him to secrecy). That should probably have been a clear sign to himself that he’d fallen in too deep for her, but he’d been too guilty about his apparently wandering eye.

But even if Marinette didn’t love him the way he could finally admit that he loved her, her reaction still didn’t make sense. He was missing something, and his frustration was starting to build. He only hoped he could convince her to talk to him about it once she woke up.

An insistent beeping from his ring reminded him that he was still transformed. Oh, he was going to get an earful from his kwami when he released him, he could feel it already. Well, there wasn’t too much point in putting it off.

“Plagg, claws in,” he said, turning around to head to his desk before the tiny god could react. He didn’t know how much longer Marinette would be out, so he might as well get a head start on his homework while he could. A blur of black flew into his face before he could get very far.

“Kid, do you want to explain to me why Pigtails and Sugar Cube are lying here on your bed right now?” His little arms were crossed, and he had the most unimpressed look on his face that the teenager had ever seen.

“She was passed out on the street! What was I supposed to do, leave her there by herself?” Adrien rolled his eyes.

Plagg scoffed. “Of course not! But I didn’t expect you to bring home the girl who had a literal panic attack after finding out your identity. What are you going to do if she wakes up and starts freaking out again because she’s in your bed?”

The model deflated, acknowledging the truth in Plagg’s words. “I didn’t think about that.”

His kwami’s sigh was deep and long-suffering. “I know you didn’t, kitten. You think too much with your heart and not enough with your head. That isn’t always a bad thing,” he added quickly as Adrien’s expression shifted to hurt. “But it’s not exactly a good thing, either. It’s probably too late to worry about it, in any case. Although I’m surprised Sugar Cube didn’t have anything to say about your choice of destinations.”

“It’s because it was a good choice.” The high-pitched voice traveled easily from the bed, even though it was clear she was still trying to keep it down a little.

Plagg’s jaw dropped. “Come again?”

Tikki huffed impatiently. “It was a good choice. No matter where she wakes up, Marinette is probably going to panic again. At least here, we don’t have to worry about drawing an audience.”

Adrien swallowed nervously, considering his next words. “About that…Tikki, earlier it seemed like you were going to add something else. Do you know why she panicked so much when she saw it was me? I mean, I thought we were pretty good friends, at least.”

Tikki smiled, though her eyes were sad. “I’m very sorry, but I can’t answer that question. Marinette may be my holder, but she’s also my friend and I can’t reveal her secrets. You’re going to have to ask her once she wakes up.”

“I was afraid you’d say that,” he muttered, finally slumping down into his desk chair.

“I said it earlier, but I’ll say it again: you didn’t do anything wrong.” She floated over to him slowly, seemingly reluctant to wander so far from her chosen. He looked at her as she put a tiny hand on his shoulder. “There’s something else going on here. It’s been a long time coming, and she probably should have told you about it a while ago, but today was just the breaking point. She didn’t want to burden you with this knowledge, but it’s hurting her. I’ve been trying to get her to tell you for some time, but I think her stalling has finally reached its end.”

“It’s hurting her? Why would she keep something from me if it was hurting her?” He looked plaintively at the kwami, but she just shook her head.

“That’s all I can say for now. We have to wait for her to wake up.”

Easier said than done. Adrien struggled for once with his physics homework, mind too preoccupied to deal with finding the total energy of a fictional system. He was so caught up in his own racing thoughts that at first, he missed the small sounds coming from the direction of his bed.

But the sounds didn’t stop, and finally he realized what was going on. His head whipped around to see Marinette shifting restlessly, brow furrowed. She was making tiny, pained noises as she moved, like she was having a really bad dream.

He was debating whether or not he should wake her up when the muttering started. The words were difficult to parse out at first, but her voice grew steadily louder as time went on. He had already gotten to his feet with the intent to shake her awake when she whispered his name.

“Chat…” she breathed, and his entire being stilled. “I’m so sorry, Chat Noir.”

He was having trouble breathing himself, suddenly. Why would she be apologizing to him in her dream? He wasn’t able to shake off the shock before it took a turn for the worse.

Her voice turned pleading. “Please don’t…you don’t have to do this. I can help you…” Her movements had gotten more violent, and she’d wrapped herself almost completely in his blankets.

“Oh, this isn’t good,” Tikki said from over his shoulder. “You should wake her up now.” Adrien nodded, concern for his lady starting to build, but he couldn’t convince his body to move again before the horror continued.

“Chat Noir, you can fight this. I know you can.” Her face was scrunched, screaming of panic. Was she…was she dreaming about him as a villain? He swallowed painfully.

Tikki’s voice came again from his shoulder, this time sounding stern. “Adrien, you need to wake her up now. We’ll explain in a minute, but right now we don’t have time.”

“It’s just a nightmare, though. Why is it so time sensitive?” As much as the thought of his lady being scared of him hurt, he didn’t see why Tikki sounded so urgent. At least he didn’t, until Marinette started shouting and flailing more urgently.

“No! Stop! This isn’t you, Chat Noir!” Okay, his bad, he could see why this was a problem. She was moving frantically about the bed, getting herself completely trapped in the process and probably panicking more, and he needed to help her. But he didn’t get a chance to do so before she jerked upwards with a final cry of “Chat Blanc!”

He was frozen again, arms still extended towards her as she looked at him with terrified, watery eyes. She scrambled away from him, and he was positive everyone in the room could hear the sound of his heart breaking. Her limbs were clumsy from sleep and still tangled in the blanket, so it wasn’t a surprise when she ended up tumbling off the side of the bed opposite him. What was a surprise, however, was when she abruptly burst into tears.

He rounded the bed with urgency but reigned himself in before he could scare her again. He needn’t have bothered. She launched herself at him the second she saw him. Her arms looped around his neck tightly as she buried her face in his shirt.

He wrapped his arms around her in turn, cradling her still-crying body. “It’s okay, my lady. Everything is okay. I’m here, nothing’s going to happen to you.”

She shook her head. “I-I’m m-m-more worried ab-about you,” she sobbed. He pulled her tighter to his chest.

“I’m not going anywhere. I promise.” He whispered soothing words into her ear while she shook in his hold for another few minutes, even as his stomach curled at her obvious distress. Tikki joined their embrace, settling again on Marinette’s shoulder and pressing close. Even Plagg hovered close by. Adrien wasn’t surprised that he didn’t join in their hug, considering his constant assertions that he wasn’t a cuddler, but still. His presence was touching enough.

Eventually, Marinette’s cries lessened and her body stopped shaking so violently, but she didn’t pull away from him. As much as he didn’t want to push his partner too far, it seemed that the time for conversation had finally arrived.

“Marinette,” he started gently. “I want to help you. But I don’t know exactly what all that was about, so I’m going to need some help understanding.”

She shook her head in denial. “Chaton, I can’t.” He bit down firmly on the fission of pleasure at the familiar nickname and tried to focus.

“You can’t keep pretending nothing is wrong, Marinette,” Tikki said quietly. “This is clearly affecting you more than you want to admit, even to me. I think it’s well past time that you told Adrien about what happened.”

“But if I tell him, then he’s going to be afraid like me, and then he won’t want to be around me.” The words were muffled by the fabric of his shirt, but he could just barely make them out.

“Nothing in this world could keep me from your side, my lady. I just found you, and I’m definitely not giving you up now.”

That seemed to get her attention. “Even though you found out that I’m just Marinette?”

He reared back from her, finally managing to see her face. She looked miserable. “How on earth are you ‘just’ anything?”

Her red-rimmed eyes blinked up at him, confused. “I don’t understand. You aren’t…disappointed?”

Bringing his hands up to cup her face, he looked at her sternly. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng, you listen to me. You are incredible. You are brilliant, ingenious, and unbelievably brave. The only thing I’m disappointed in is that it took me this long to realize that Ladybug couldn’t possibly be anyone but you.” As he spoke, his face drifted closer until his lips practically brushed hers. She squeaked and pulled back as he tried not to let the hurt show on his face.

He must not have done a good job, however, as she suddenly looked guilty. “Adrien,” she said softly.

“No, it’s okay,” he reassured her. “I understand. You’ve made your feelings about Chat Noir very clear, and I shouldn’t have assumed that anything might change once you found out I’m also Adrien.” Though he really, really wished it had. “If anyone should be disappointed, it’s definitely you.”

“That’s not it,” she blurted out. “Adrien, I promise that’s not it.”

And now the confusion was back. “Then why were you so upset to find out that I’m Chat Noir?”

“I wasn’t…upset, really.” He raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“Having a panic attack so bad you passed out in an alleyway certainly makes it seem like you were upset to me. I’m a big boy, Marinette, I can handle the truth.” The last sentence probably sounded a touch more bitter than he’d hoped, but she wasn’t making this easy.

She bit her lip, eyes pained. “I—”

“If you don’t tell my kitten what your problem is—and soon—I might just cataclysm half this city from here. On accident, of course.” Plagg’s voice sounded as dry as always, but Adrien could practically see the sparks flying from his eyes.

“Plagg—”

“No, he’s right,” came the shocking reply from Tikki. “Well, he’s not right about destroying the city, but he is right that you need to tell him, Marinette.”

The words hit the girl like a physical blow based on the way she flinched, but she finally sighed in defeat. She turned distressed eyes on Adrien, who tried to smile encouragingly.

“Nothing you tell me could change the way I feel about you,” he said gently

“Maybe this should,” she muttered to herself. But before he could respond, she took a bracing breath and started speaking.

“Do you remember your fifth name’s day, back when we were fourteen?” Not wanting to interrupt so soon, he simply nodded. That was the day Ladybug had—his eyes widened with sudden realization. “Yeah, you do,” she said with something approaching amusement on her face. But it quickly died as she continued.

“Originally, when I left that gift here for you, I’d signed my name on it.” Originally? What did that mean? “As I was leaving, you must have seen me and connected me with the beret I left for you. I didn’t think too much of it, but as I was heading back to our friends, Bunnyx stopped me.”

His brows furrowed thoughtfully. “That time-traveling hero? But what could she want? There wasn’t an akuma to stop that day.”

“Not exactly. There wasn’t an akuma on that day, but I did fight an akuma.”

“Princess, you’re going to have to be a lot clearer than that.” His head was already spinning from the events of the day. He wasn’t capable of puzzling out her meaning right now.

She huffed. “I’m explaining this really badly but…the akuma was in the future. So, she came to get me to fight it.”

He was sure his eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head with how wide he’d opened them. “But why would she do that? And why wouldn’t she bring me with you?”

“Because, minou,” she said sadly. “You were the akuma.”

His breath caught in his throat. He glanced down at his hands, feeling betrayed by them even if they hadn’t hurt his partner. Yet, he thought bitterly. Before he could spiral too far into his own self-hatred, a second set of hands reached out and cradled his, and he finally lifted his eyes to meet the soft gaze of their owner.

“Please,” she whispered. “Let me get this out. Because if I don’t do it now, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to.”

He nodded, resolving to keep his mouth shut. She leaned back slightly to continue.

“When she took me into her portal, she said something about how the future had changed because of something I did, and now I had to fix it. I still don’t understand exactly how her power works, but when we stepped out of the portal again…I almost didn’t recognize it.

“We were back in Paris, but it was a wreck. The streets were flooded, buildings were falling apart, there was a hole in the moon—" she cut herself off, hands coming up to grip her loose hair.

Silently, Adrien gripped her wrists and tugged on them gently, urging her not to pull out any hair. He rubbed soothing motions on her skin with his thumbs while he waited for her to gather her thoughts. She took another shaky breath, then spoke again.

“You—no, he. He was sitting on what used to be Montparnasse Tower, and just staring out at the wreckage. He was the only person I’d seen so far, and at first I didn’t realize who it was. The suit was all white instead of black, and even his hair was lighter than it was supposed to be. But then I heard him singing this sad little song, something about…” Her face screwed up in concentration. “‘Little kitty on a roof, all alone without his lady.’ And then I knew—it was supposed to be you. Or, at the time, just Chat Noir.”

He shuddered, fighting the urge to throw up. They’d faced a lot of akumas together, and he’d even been mind-controlled by a few of them. But the thought of being the villain, the one who was purposely trying to defeat Ladybug? It was the worst thing he could think of, short of Ladybug herself being akumatized.

“I could tell something was off about him from the moment he started talking, but I didn’t understand. When he realized I was there, he got really excited. He said that he thought he’d lost me and that now we could fix everything. But then he tried to take my earrings.” She cupped them protectively, even as he still held her wrists, caught up in the memory. “Obviously, I couldn’t let him take them, so I started trying to fight him off. It was kind of back and forth for a minute, but then he called me by my name.

“I didn’t know that you were under that mask, so I had no idea how he could have known my identity. I tried to deny it, but he was adamant. Then again, even if he’d been unsure, my reaction would have given it away.” She pulled away from him then, curling her legs up towards her chest and wrapping her arms around them. “He tried to hit me with his Cataclysm, which he could use multiple times. He could also throw it, which was new. So I was mostly stuck trying to run away for a while.

“Even while he was chasing me, I kept trying to figure out what the akumatized object was. I took his baton and his tail, but nothing I broke was right. And he just. Kept. Talking.

“He told me that our love did this to the world, and that all he wanted to do was fix it. So, if I loved him, I needed to give him my Miraculous. At one point, he destroyed a beam I was standing on and I fell into the water. When I swam around to the base of the Eiffel Tower…” Her voice trailed off again. Adrien scooted closer to her, close enough to hear her quickened breaths as she remembered that awful day.

“I thought they were statues,” she finally said. “I didn’t understand why they would be there, but they just looked like regular statues. One of me, and one of Hawkmoth. But then…I touched mine, and it just dissolved under my fingers. Like it had been waiting for me to see it before disappearing into ash.”

His heart skipped a beat as he realized what must have happened. “I—he used Cataclysm on you. The you from the future, that is.”

She nodded, not bothering to scold him for the interruption. “That’s what I figured. I’ve seen what the aftermath of your power looks like up close, and this was a dead ringer for it. I still don’t know how it came to that, but something happened that made you use your power on me, on Hawkmoth, and on all of Paris.”

She shrugged carelessly, like she hadn’t shaken his entire foundation. Like he hadn’t killed every single person in Paris, including and especially the love of his life. His hands started to shake, but Marinette continued further.

“When I finally confronted him again, he said that I must not love him anymore, so he might as well finish the job. He summoned his Cataclysm again, only it was a giant ball of power that would have destroyed the entire world before I could blink. So, I promised I’d give him my Miraculous.”

He couldn’t bite back the appalled gasp that escaped him. She looked up to give him a wry look. “Don’t worry, chaton, I didn’t actually give him my earrings. I wouldn’t be here now if I’d done that. But it calmed him down enough to call off his Cataclysm. When he flicked his bell as he called himself Chat Blanc, I realized that it must be where the akuma was hiding. Once I managed to get close enough, I grabbed the bell and smashed it. I was right, of course, so I purified it. But once that was done, he still knew my name, so I knew I couldn’t use my Ladybug Cure just yet.

“I had Bunnyx take me back to right before I left your present on your bed and made sure to erase my name from the card. I had taken a little too long to write my name in the first place, so obviously you caught me before I could make my escape a second time. Honestly, I don’t even remember what I said about it, anymore.”

“You told me it was from my fan club in Brazil, and that you were only dropping it off because there was a postal strike,” he helpfully supplied. That memory was even funnier in retrospect, because it made absolutely no sense. Why would a fan club of his Brazil reach out to Ladybug? And why would she stoop to delivering gifts for random celebrities?

Marinette didn’t seem to share his amusement, based on the way she groaned and buried her face in her hands. “Why did I say that? It makes no sense! Why am I so bad at lying?”

“That’s not such a bad trait to have, princess.” He nudged her gently, trying to make her smile by teasing her. It didn’t work.

“It is when you’re a superhero who’s supposed to remain entirely anonymous. Master Fu was always so adamant that we couldn’t know who the other one was, because it would put us in even more danger. He would be so disappointed with me right now.”

“You were fourteen, Marinette.” Tikki put Plagg to shame with how much exasperation she managed to squeeze into her voice. “I know I didn’t make things any better by always emphasizing secrecy, but you two were basically children! You were easily the two youngest chosen we’d had in a very long time, and we wanted to err on the side of caution. But the simple fact of the matter is that with how close you and Adrien are in regular life, it was only a matter of time before one or both of you found out. Honestly, I’m surprised it lasted this long.”

“Don’t be too surprised, Sugar Cube. These two are on a whole new level of obliviousness,” Plagg chimed in from where he’d drifted over to his cheese safe. “Though I’ll give Pigtails this, that little trick she pulled during that fight with their science teacher that year? Truly devious. That put him off her scent for a good long time.”

Adrien started as the memory hit, then turned to stare at the girl in question. “I hadn’t thought about that yet. You’d managed to convince me that you couldn’t possibly be Marinette, since I’d seen you both at the same time. How did you…” He trailed off, thinking, before the answer occurred to him. “You used Trixx, didn’t you?”

She gave him a sheepish smile. “Yeah, I did. I had most of the Miraculous on anyway, so I just had one of my mini-Mice cast an illusion of Ladybug standing next to Marinette.”

“Thank goodness it worked, too. Humans aren’t meant to wear that many Miraculous at once, so she was lucky to make it through relatively unscathed,” Tikki added.

He frowned. “Wait, what do you mean? I know we’ve both used two at the same time before, but what does wearing more than that do?”

“Most Miraculous holders can really only comfortably wear a single Miraculous at a time,” Tikki explained. “But of course, there are still plenty who are capable of using two. That’s why unification exists in the first place. You two are pretty special as the Black Cat and Ladybug wielders. To truly be compatible to use the two most powerful Miraculous, you’re naturally a little stronger and more capable. That’s why you could easily use the second Miraculous during your fight with Miracle Queen.

“Still, I’m sure that you noticed you were more tired after the battle than you usually are, because it takes a lot out of you. Especially when you use both special powers. Being able to wear more than two Miraculous is pretty unheard of, let alone…” she paused, calculating. “Fifteen?”

He choked. “Fifteen Miraculous? When three is usually too much?” He shot a disapproving look at Marinette, but she simply shrugged it off.

“I needed all the kwami with me to pull off my plan, especially if I was going to make sure that all possible suspicions were thrown off of Marinette. I barely made it home and I slept through the entire next day, but it was worth it.”

He didn’t hold back his scoff this time. “You didn’t know that I suspected you, and you had no concrete reason to think I suspected you. You put yourself at risk just to pull off an overly complicated plan on the off chance I might be on to you. That was a really bad idea, bugaboo.”

“But it worked,” she said firmly. “You did suspect me, at least a little. Because of my plan, you didn’t suspect me anymore, we got Plagg and Tikki back, and the akuma got defeated. Mission accomplished.”

“You know, all those times you yell at me for throwing myself into danger to save you is sounding very pot-calling-the-kettle-black right now,” he grumbled.

“That’s because you always throw yourself in without thinking. Mine was a calculated risk.” She spoke smugly, as if that made it any better

“Calculated or not, the end result would have been the same if something went wrong. Please tell me you understand that.” He needed to know that she was capable of comprehending how badly that could have turned out.

She faltered, her smug expression turning chagrined. “I know,” she said quietly. “I just…I was panicking, and that was the first thing I could come up with that solved all possible problems.”

“And that beautiful brain is part of why I fell in love with you. But sometimes you have to stop and ask yourself if it’s worth it.”

“Oh, you mean like you do every time,” she asked as she rolled her eyes.

“Yes,” he replied simply, enjoying the way her eyes widened. “Every time I throw myself into the path of an attack, I think about how it’s worth it if I can save you. Even if you weren’t the only one who could truly save us, I’d still do it.”

She swallowed visibly. “Oh.” Her cheeks turned an attractive pink.

He couldn’t hold back the Chat-like smirk that took over his face then. “I guess you aren’t entirely immune to my charms after all, my lady.”

Marinette shoved him then, face quickly turning red. “Don’t let it go to your head. You won’t be able to helicopter around if it gets too much bigger.”

They both giggled at that, though his laughter died first when a thought occurred to him. “Hey…you said you didn’t cast the Ladybug Cure in the future, after you purified the akuma in my—his bell. Does that mean…is he still alone, there?” While it would be nothing less than he deserved for hurting his lady, he couldn’t deny that the thought of this future him being even more alone was incredibly disheartening.

Marinette seemed to consider the question. “You know…I’m not sure. I think Bunnyx said something along the lines of ‘you fixed the timeline’, which leaves me inclined to believe that using my cure in this timeline made it so that the other one never existed. But…I seem to remember some of the ladybugs disappearing into her burrow. So, I guess there’s a possibility that somehow, they fixed everything for him, too.”

He breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s a really nice thought, actually. I like it.” But then he brought a hand up to his chin as he thought further. “Though it definitely reaches more into the multiverse theory, which would mean that instead of traveling strictly through time, Bunnyx is also traveling through parallel universes when she uses her power. But then that doesn’t explain why she’d bother to come here or even be so concerned with fixing it in the first place, if there were parallel universes where you didn’t sign your name on the gift and therefore didn’t end with me getting akumatized. I’m not sure…I’d probably have to talk to her. Do you think Bunnyx might—mph!” He was cut off by a pair of hands covering his mouth.

A pair of worried bluebell eyes stared into his own. “Please…don’t ask. Stop saying her name, in case she hears it and comes back. I don’t know if this is even allowed or not, which is another reason I didn’t want to tell you about it.”

He lifted both eyebrows, but nodded his head. She lifted her hands off his mouth after a few seconds. As she leaned back into her own space, he couldn’t help but notice that her eyes were darting around the room, as if expecting the Rabbit hero to appear at any moment. Something clicked in his head as he watched her.

“You’ve… been thinking about this a lot, haven’t you?” he asked softly. “That’s why you panicked so hard. You thought that if you told me, she might come back and make you fight me again. And you don’t think you’d win this time.”

Her eyes snapped to him, and he fought the urge to wipe off the tears that started to run down her cheeks. “For four years, I thought letting a single person know about my identity led to my best friend getting akumatized. So I was overly cautious and even paranoid about my identity. And the worst part is that I still don’t know anything. I don’t know how us being together led to that awful nightmare, and I just couldn’t risk it. When my best friend started to mean even more to me, I panicked and pushed those feelings so far down that I didn’t have to acknowledge them.” Hope started to bubble up in his chest, and he couldn’t help but inch closer. “I’ve been so terrified of a repeat of Chat Blanc that I never let myself consider how it would feel to give in to those thoughts and let my partner finally know the truth. And in those few instances when they started to come up again, I made myself think of the boy I’d turned him down for so many times in the past.”

The bubble burst, and Adrien pulled back suddenly. He’d been so wrapped up in her that he’d completely forgotten about the other boy. Of course she was still in love with him; it was just Adrien’s luck.

She saw the way he pulled back and frowned briefly. He tried not to wince as she reached out with both hands to cradle his face. “Can I tell you about him? Please?” He couldn’t deny her anything, so he nodded mutely. Her responding smile was radiant.

“It started back in high school. You see, the first time we met, I made a mistake and accused him of something he didn’t do. I found out he was friends with the girl who’d made my life hell up to that point, and I assumed he was a carbon copy of her. I didn’t even let him speak to defend himself when I caught him poking at some gum on my seat.” He sucked in a breath, not sure if he could trust his ears. It seemed too good to be true.

The thoughts must have been obvious on his face, because her smile grew even wider. “But even though I was a total jerk to him his entire first day of school, he was still sweet enough to try and talk to me again. He even lent me his umbrella to walk home with, just so I didn’t get wet. All that, despite the fact that I didn’t speak a word to him. From that day forward, Adrien Agreste, you could have held my heart in your hands if you’d only asked.”

He didn’t even think before he surged forwards, pressing his lips desperately against Marinette’s. All this time, it had only ever been her. It had only ever been him. They’d been dancing around each other for entirely too long, and he wasn’t going to waste a single second more.

This time she didn’t pull back. Instead, she responded eagerly. Her lips were soft as he ran an exploratory tongue over them. He could still taste the salt from her tears, but even that wasn’t enough to take away from his enjoyment. Marinette’s hands drifted back to card through his hair, a sensation that made him shiver. He returned the favor, fingers tangling in midnight locks, and nearly keeled over when she let out a sudden moan.

She jerked back then, cheeks turning cherry red. “I’m so sorry, I have no idea what that was—I mean, I know what it actually was, but I don’t know why I did it. Oh my god, please don’t hate me.”

“Mari,” he said as he put his hand behind her head and pulled her back in. “I am so far from hating you that it’s almost a little scary. Now please, let me kiss you again.” Her eyelids fluttered shut as she drifted closer, so she missed the wicked look that flashed in his eyes. He leaned past her lips to whisper in her ear, “though I wouldn’t say no if you made some more of those sounds for me.”

She whimpered at that, and it was easily the hottest thing he’d ever heard. He didn’t give her a chance to be embarrassed as he captured her lips once more. He must have leaned a little too far forward, because she abruptly tipped back to land on the floor with a squeak. It only took him a second to decide not to follow her down. Instead, he scooped her up easily and relocated to his bed. She gave another cute squeak when she landed, but he swallowed that sound with his own mouth.

They definitely lost some time after that, too caught up in each other to think about things like talking or even air. Adrien learned that Marinette was much more vocal than he ever expected her to be, and that she lost control of her mouth entirely when he kissed her neck. He also learned that even out of his costume, he could purr if she rubbed his head just right.

When they finally broke apart, gasping, Adrien was convinced he could die happily right now. He could admit that he’d been imagining this moment for so long, but his imagination had nothing on the actual sight of Marinette—Ladybug—gazing up him with stars in her eyes, lips swollen and red, and cheeks flushed. Their hands were laced together near her head, and she squeezed his fingers as she looked questioningly back at him.

He almost dove right back in until he finally remembered why he’d pulled back in the first place. Despite the unhappy noise she made, he carefully lifted off her to stand at the foot of the bed.

“As much as it pains me to say it, I think I might have to be the logical one here for a few minutes. You’ve already had a pretty rough day, and I think it might be a good idea to take it easy here.” She frowned as she sat up, clearly in disagreement with him. He chuckled at her disgruntled expression.

“I’m fine, you don’t need to baby me,” she protested.

“Don’t think of it as babying you, princess. Think of it as me assessing your needs and meeting them.” He made a move to walk away, not anticipating the sudden grip on his wrist. She yanked, and he found himself in the same position he’d recently abandoned.

“If you were really meeting my needs, then you would keep kissing me until I don’t know what air is anymore.” His spine tingled at the bold words and downright seductive tone. It was so cute when she got bossy, but now he knew her weaknesses.

He leaned his head down to press his lips teasingly to her neck, hand tugging her hair ever so slightly to give him a better angle. “I don’t need to kiss you to make you breathless, little bug. You’re just too easy to read.” Her gasp was all the confirmation he needed, and he laughed again. This time when he stood and walked away, she was too dazed to stop him.

He made his way downstairs to get some water and a few snacks. Plagg was probably eating the rest of the way through the cheese he had stashed upstairs, and he was sure Tikki would appreciate some more cookies. Plus, his stomach had started to growl on the way down here, and he was sure it was the same case for Marinette. Being a superhero apparently came with an increased appetite, often to the point of ridiculousness.

When he made his way back upstairs, he found the bed empty and the room quiet. He frowned to himself. Surely she wouldn’t run out on him now…right? They’d finally gotten everything out in the open, and he’d been hoping that meant they had a chance of being together. That only worked if both sides were open to it, though.

Before he could panic too much, though, he realized that he could hear running water from the bathroom. Relieved, he set the tray he’d brought with him on the table in front of his couch. Now that he was paying attention, he could hear two high-pitched voices coming from the other room as well. Marinette and Tikki, most likely. He took a seat on the couch to wait for his ladies to come back.

When the door opened, he snapped his head up. Marinette looked at him sheepishly, face still a little damp from where she’d been washing it. He gestured to the couch.

“Your meal awaits, your highness. Please accept the offerings of this lowly knight.” She giggled at his theatrics, and he smiled softly at her.

“Ever the gentleman, I see,” she teased.

“Excuse you, princess, that’s gentle-cat to you.” She giggled again, and he couldn’t help but think it was the sweetest sound she’d made all day. His reverie was promptly ruined by a certain greedy cat, however.

“Cheeeese!” he shouted as he practically divebombed the plate.

“Plagg,” he shouted. “Can you at least pretend you have manners? Honestly, you’re so embarrassing.”

“Oh come on, Adrien. How can you be mad at that cute wittle face?” Marinette cooed as she scratched under Plagg’s chin. He swallowed his mouthful and instantly started purring.

“I like her; make sure you keep her, kitten,” Plagg said gleefully, basking in the girl’s attention. Adrien turned to Tikki, and they both shared exasperated looks. Good to know he had someone on his side, at least.

After Plagg finally dragged himself away from Marinette, they all devoured the food Adrien had brought up. I guess heart-to-hearts are more demanding than I thought. Very quickly, everything was gone, and it was time to talk again.

Despite everything, Adrien couldn’t help but be nervous. Based on the way Marinette was chewing vigorously on her bottom lip, she felt the same way. Well, one of them had to start.

“So, despite our earlier…activities,” he drawled as Marinette flushed prettily, “I’ll admit that I’m not really sure where that leaves us.”

“I…I don’t really know, either.” His stomach dropped a little at her hesitation. “I mean, I’ve spent so long thinking that I couldn’t possibly be in a relationship with Chat while Hawkmoth was a threat. But then earlier, I realized two things: first, that even if we defeat the current Hawkmoth, there’s going to be another one after him. And second, that when I faced Chat Blanc, he was never really clear if we were together before he was akumatized. So, I could be causing just as much harm by telling you that we can’t be together. I don’t know what to do…” her voice trailed off as her gaze dropped to the couch. He scooted closer to her to wrap an arm around her shoulders.

“It sounds like there is no ‘right’ answer, then.” She glared at him, but he kept talking. “In that case, I think the only solution is to go with your heart. So, Marinette: what do you want?”

“I want you,” came the simple reply. His heart swelled, and he leaned down to place a light kiss on her lips. She tried to deepen it, but he managed to resist.

“I think we’ve both had enough excitement for tonight. It’s about time for bed.”

She pouted. “Kicking me out already?”

“Of course not.” He grinned wickedly. “You’re welcome to join me in my bed this evening, my lady. Just keep in mind that this cat has claws.”

She put her finger on her nose and pushed him away from her. “You’re not cute, you know.”

“Nonsense. I hear from a very reliable source that I’m the prettiest little kitty on the block.”

Marinette’s face paled, and Adrien couldn’t hold in his laughter anymore. “Where the fuck did you hear that? Was it Alya? I’m going to kill her.” He laughed even harder at the sound of her cursing, which was a rare occurrence.

“You told me yourself, princess. Don’t you remember how I dropped in the night of your eighteenth birthday, after Alya tucked you into bed? She’d gotten you quite intoxicated, and I stopped by to make sure you were okay.”

“Shit. I’m never going to live it down, am I?”

“Nope,” he said cheerfully. “But I was very flattered to hear it, though it didn’t help when I was still trying to deny that I loved Marinette. That night had me stumbling around in a daze for a week.”

“That’s why you were acting so weird? We thought you’d overdosed on cold medicine since your father wouldn’t let up on your schedule.”

“Nope, I was just high on loooove, bugaboo.” She scrunched her nose up at the nickname.

“I’m going to be hearing a lot more of that one from now on, I can already sense it.” She sighed, resigned. “At least you are very pretty.”

He fluttered his eyelashes at her and pressed a hand against his chest. “Oh, be still, my feline heart. I didn’t know you were checking meow-t this entire time.”

“Purr-lease,” she said as she rolled her eyes. “You know you’re hot, with or without my input.”

He stared at her for a second, dumbstruck. “Did you…did you just pun at me?”

“What, you can dish it out, but you can’t take it?” Her eyes shone with amusement, and the smirk on her face nearly stopped his heart. “Oh, come on, minou. Don’t look so surprised; you’ve known for a while that I actually do think you’re funny.”

“Sure, but I don’t think my brain is ready for Ladybug to start punning! To my face, even!”

She giggled, shoving his shoulder playfully as they both made their way over to the bed. “Don’t get too used to it. They aren’t exactly my forte.”

Arranging themselves on Adrien’s bed was a new experience in awkwardness, as neither one of them wanted to push too far. In the end, Adrien ended up on his back with Marinette tucked into his side, head pillowed on his shoulder. She had grown quiet again, and he could feel the tension in her body. He sighed, since he had a hunch as to why she was stressing out again.

“You know I’m not letting you go by yourself again, right?” he said into the silence. He felt the way she lifted her head to stare at him questioningly. Turning his head to meet her eyes, he continued. “If Bunnyx shows up again, I don’t care what she says. I don’t care if it would tear the very fabric of time and space apart; I’m not letting you face something like that alone again.”

She frowned at him. “Adrien, I appreciate the gesture, but you’re being a little unreasonable.”

“No, I’m not. It was irresponsible of her to put all of that on you in the first place, especially since one of you is the adult and one was still fourteen at the time. She never should have left you there in the first place.” He watched at Marinette’s face softened in affection, but he didn’t let that stop him. “You didn’t deserve to know something like that, to have to fight something like that, and just keep it to yourself. So no, I’m not letting it happen again.”

Marinette laid her head back down on his shoulder, a fragile little smile on her face. “You have no idea how much that means to me to know that someone else is here to help me.” It broke his heart a little.

He reached out and grabbed one of her hands, wrapping his own gently around it. He lifted to his chest and pressed it there, against the left side. Swallowing nervously, he whispered, “don’t let go. This way, you can feel how my heart beats just for you, and you’ll know that you’re not alone. Not anymore.”

Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed an endearing pink. She tried to take her hand back instinctively, but he gripped it with a smug grin, nerves forgotten. Finally, she nodded, eyes darting away from his.

“How do you always manage to say something so sappy, yet be so smooth,” she grumbled. He leaned down, mouth close enough to brush her lips teasingly.

“It’s a gift. Don’t you know that cats always land on their feet?”

The snort she lets out is quickly smothered as he closed the barely-there gap between them, but he still felt the sound on his own lips. I am never letting this girl go, he thought to himself as he lost time to her embrace once more.

Notes:

As much as I enjoy fics where both parties are thrilled to find out who's under the mask, I was really craving one where Marinette just absolutely freaks out. As someone who suffers from anxiety much like our spotted heroine, something about writing this was almost cathartic, even if I did have to step away from it for a little bit due to how it made my heart race. I also really needed these two to talk about what happened with Chat Blanc, because honestly I'm not sure we'll get much of a discussion at all in canon, if we get it at all.