Marinette's world had been turned upside down. Adrien, her kind, friend-to-all classmate, Her crush for as long as she could remember, and Cat Noir, her flirty, outgoing partner, the boy who had stolen her heart from Adrien were the same person.

The. Same. PERSON.

She wasn't entirely sure she was breathing. She couldn't believe it.

"Marinette, are you okay?" Tikki asked.

"Yeah, I'm just... trying to wrap my mind around it," Marinette said.

"well, it's a big revelation," Tikki said.

"Yeah..." Marinette said.

"So, what are you going to do now that you know his secret identity?" Tikki asked.

Marinette didn't know. All she knew was one thing:

She was madly in love with that boy.

The problem was there were so many different pathways she could pick to go down. She could reveal herself on the next patrol as Marinette to Cat Noir, tell Cat Noir she was ladybug as Marinette, confess she knew his secret identity to Adrien, or confess as Marinette to Adrien that she was Ladybug. she groaned into her pillow. She didn't know what to do!

"Tikki, what should I do? There are so many ways to go about this," She asked her kwami.

"That depends on you. Who do you feel more comfortable revealing yourself to, and who are you more confident in being when you tell him?" She asked.

Marinette thought about the question. In an ideal situation, she would want to tell him as Marinette to Cat Noir, as that was how their romance had bloomed, but she very much doubted that Cat Noir would be visiting her any time soon.

She shot up on her bed. He may not have had any plans to visit Marinette any time soon, but what if Ladybug gave him a reason to check up on her? It wouldn't be too hard for her, after all, they saw each other every day for patrol. Marinette smiled. Tomorrow was going to be a good day.

The next day at school, Marinette's mood had significantly brightened. She was in such a good mood that she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings and didn't notice Adrien right in front of her until it was too late. Marinette collided right into Adrien,

"I'm so sorry! Are you alright Adrien?" She asked and then made the mistake of looking up into his eyes. She seemed to get lost in his eyes, the most brilliant green she had ever seen. She could stare into his eyes all day.

"I'm fine Marinette. You didn't get hurt right?" He asked.

"No, I'm fine. Sorry about that, I was lost in my thoughts," She said scratching the back of her head, forcing herself to tear away her eyes from his.

"We've all been there. Can I walk you to class?" He asked.

"Sure," She replied, and the two began walking towards Ms Bustier's class.

As the two walked to class, Marinette could feel the pounding of her heart. She just had to keep it cool until tonight. She could do that...

"Marinette?" Adrien called out.

"Huh? Oh, what is it Adrien?" Marinette asked.

"We've arrived at the classroom, I've been trying to get your attention for a few minutes," He said

"Oh... Sorry," She said.

"Don't worry about," He said and slipped into his chair.

Alya had arrived earlier and saw the whole interaction looked at Marinette with a knowing look.

"Are you SURE nothing is going on between you two?" She asked.

"Positive" Marinette replied and snuck a glance down at Adrien. Nothing yet, at least.

School seemed to drag on forever, and when the last bell finally rang, Marinette got home as fast as she could. She only had a few hours left before she confessed. She had butterflies in her stomach. She wanted tonight to go purr-fectly. Her eyes widened before she let out a small giggle. She had just made a cat pun. He was definitely rubbing off on her.

Finally, it was time for patrol. Ladybug transformed and went to go meet Cat Noir at the EiffelTower. Mercifully, he wasn't there yet, which gave her enough time to calm down and settle the butterflies in her stomach. Finally, Cat Noir arrived.

"Hey, Kitty," She said.

"Hello bugaboo," He teased.

Ladybug smiled. The nickname had definitely grown on her since her relationship with Cat Noir took off. She looked out at the city.

"It's really peaceful tonight," She said.

Cat Noir walked up next to her.

"It sure is, I don't think there is a city in the world that can compare to Paris's beauty," He said.

Ladybug looked at him, the sincerity of his words and the love for this city shone through his eyes.

"Well, let's start patrol, we can save the chit-chat for later," She said, and then swung her yo-yo and took off.

A little while later the two met back up. There were both sitting down and enjoying the view. Okay Ladybug, now or never.

"The girl you love is Marinette, right?" She asked him.

"Yeah, she was the one who found me as a cat and took care of me, and our relationship just took off from that," He said.

"I met up with her earlier today. She told me there was something she wanted to tell you, but was scared she'd never get the chance too since you two have broken up," Ladybug said.

"What did she want to tell me?" He asked. Okay, he took the bait.

"I don't know, she wouldn't say, but it seemed important to her. You should go visit her," She said.

"It's dangerous for me to visit her, that's why I went to say my goodbyes the other night," He said.

"Well, it's up to you, but she'll be waiting for you if you decide to come," She said and swung home. Once she got into her room she detransformed and sat on her bed. She did what she had to do, now all that's left to do is wait and see if he comes.

Every minute felt like an hour. She didn't know when Cat Noir would show up or if he would show up at all. She just had to believe he would show up.

It had felt like an eternity had passed. Marinette was starting to lose hope. After even more time had passed she hung her head in defeat.

"I guess he isn't coming," she mumbled to herself.

Just then there was a knock on the window. Marinette got up eagerly and opened the window. Cat noir was there with a small, teasing smile.

"Hey Marinette, sorry if I kept you waiting," he said.

"Don't worry about it, please come in," she said, relieved he actually came.

"I was starting to think you wouldn't show up," she said softly.

"I would never abandon you Marinette," he said

That statement made Marinette's heart flutter all over again. There was a moment of comfortable silence between the two of them.

"So, what is it you wanted to tell me? Ladybug told me that it was something important," Cat Noir asked.

Marinette took a deep breath. Okay, now or never.

"Cat Noir... ever since I found you that day as a cat, our relationship has grown into something I never thought possible. I got to see a side of you that I never knew you had, and I shared some secrets with you that I never told anyone before and I want to tell you one more. One that I can only trust with you," she said

"A secret you can only trust... with me?" He asked, confusion swirling through his eyes.

Marinette nodded, smiled and walked closer to him. She shut her eyes for a moment before opening them and facing cat noir.

"Adrien, I'm ladybug," she said

Cat noir didn't say anything, so marinette took that as a cue to keep going.

"Tikki spots on," she said and transformed. Now it wasn't the sweet bakers daughter that was standing in front of cat noir, but his confident superhero partner ladybug.

He still wasn't saying anything and that was making her nervous. Did she make a mistake with confessing? Should she have just kept it all to herself? Why wasn't cat noir saying anything?!

Suddenly as if snapped out of a trance, cat noir walked up to and kissed her. When he pulled away he was smiling.

"I can't believe it. You were right in front of me the whole time," he said

"we were pretty blind to not see it huh?" Ladybug asked.

Cat noir laughed.

"Plagg claws in," he said, and Adrien had detransformed.

"Tikki spots off," she said

"Well it's about time," Plagg said

Plagg's outburst caused the two of them to start laughing.

"Congratulations you two! So are you two dating again?" Tikki asked

Marinette and Adrien looked at each other before Marinette answered.

"Not in the way we were before. it would be best if Adrien dated Marinette and Ladybug dated Cat Noir," Marinette replied.

Adrien kissed Marinette's forehead.

"As long as I get you all to myself, I'm fine with anything," he said

The two spent the rest of the night in each other's arms watching a movie. Marinette's eyes were beginning to feel heavy. She let herself lean on Adrien and fall asleep, a smile on her face. No matter what happened in the future, she was sure she could handle it, because he would always be by her side.

Her lost kitty had finally come home.

The End