A/N: OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS 13K?! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH THANK YOU!

Marinette

-------------------

After my talk with Adrien, I decided I needed to sort things out with Cat Noir. After all, I refuse to do an interview with him when we can barely talk to one another.

"Hey, Cat Noir! Wait up! I need to talk to you," I call out of breath from running after him. It takes a good minute to get his attention, but he finally notices my presence and turns around, a surprised look on his face.

"Ladybug? I didn't know we were doing patrol together again. What's wrong?" he questions as I catch up to him.

I lightly laugh, fiddling with my fingers. "Yeah, I'm sorry about this. I just really wanted to talk to you. Lately you've been worrying me," I shyly admit, anxious about his reaction.

The night is thick with an uncomfortable kind of quiet, and yet the relief I feel from getting this off my chest makes that uncomfortable quiet worth it. It's been forever since Cat Noir and I had a real conversation and I've missed his company so incredibly much. "You've been worried about me? Why?" he asks, confusion and shock laced within his tone. Somehow, he sounds like he almost anticipated my confession at the same time though.

"You've been looking quite upset just lately...Is anything wrong?"

He chuckles, running a hand through his messy hair, seeming hesitant about answering. "Yeah, actually. I'll be honest M'Lady-I-I mean Ladybug. Things just aren't the same as they used to be. We don't have the same relationship and we hardly ever talk. I-I miss you...I miss my partner in crime." I feel my eyes well up. He's been sad for the exact same reason I have been.

Without thinking for another second, I throw my arms around his neck, burying my face into his chest. "I've missed you too, Cat Noir," I mumble, smiling in relief at the familiar warmth I've been lacking.

The feeling of shock is practically radiating through Cat Noir, and I honestly can't blame him. It's not everyday I initiate a hug between the two of us. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that," he finally lets out a breath and returns my hug.

From now on, I think things are going to start looking up...

------------------------------------------------

Time skip to Wednesday 😂

-------------------------------------------------

"Manon, isn't playing with the dolls getting boring?" I ask as she gives me the Ladybug doll and Adrien the Cat Noir one. We've been playing with dolls every single time she comes over and it's beginning to worry me how obsessed she is with them. Yes, I know that I really can't talk when it comes to obsessiveness but still. Dolls are different. I think.

"Nope!" she smiles down at the villain dolls in her hands, "Now lets battle!"

I shake my head, mirroring her smile. She's a strange one, that's for sure. "You won't get away with this, Lady Wifi. It's time to cut out your signal!" Adrien voices Cat Noir, in a scarily similar voice. Like I said last time we did this, he's amazing at impressions...At least impressions that exclude Ladybug. He's pretty terrible at that one.

"Hahaha, I already have! You'll never stop me Ladybug and Cat Noir!" Manon lets out a loud battle cry, and I have to stop myself from laughing. This is serious business for her after all.

------

30 minutes later

------

"Pound it," Adrien and I say in sync as we connect our dolls' fists together. After doing this, it quickly becomes apparent that Manon's eyes are on us.

"You two act just like the real Ladybug and Cat Noir..." she says in amazement. "You two are Ladybug and Cat Noir!" My eyes widen, and for some reason Adrien's do too. We simultaneously turn to look at her.

Adrien's the first one to speak. "That's absolutely insane! Cat Noir is way more awesome than I am!" he nervously says, and sweat forming on his face becomes visible.

"A-and Ladybug is tons more legit than me! I'm too clumsy to be Ladybug!" I stammer, anxiety coursing through me. Children have such big mouths; if Manon found out my identity she wouldn't keep it a secret. I just know she wouldn't.

"Um, that's actually not true. Ladybug is also pretty clumsy sometimes," Adrien suddenly says, breaking me out of my panic for a moment or two. My eyebrows furrow.

"How'd you know that?" I ask, a million different thoughts rushing to my head. His eyes widen at realisation of what he just said.

"Uh-um-I-I...I've seen her fall and trip a lot...because I...I see it on Alya's Ladyblog! Yeah!"

Something about his response is a bit off. I mean, Alya shows me the videos on her Ladyblog all the time and not once have I seen a video of me being clumsy on there. Apart from when I dropped my history book, I guess. But that was only one time and dropping it could have been intentional, right? "Okay..." I say, unconvinced. Turning back to Manon I catch her rolling her eyes.

"You're lying!" she yells, catching me off guard.

"Manon, please don't yell, otherwise we'll have to send you back home," I feebly scold her. While I agree with her on the fact that he's lying, he's Adrien so he obviously has a reasonable excuse. And also no one's allowed to yell at my future husband.

"You might be a superhero but you can't tell me what do Ladybug," she huffs, and I have to refrain from covering her mouth with duck tape so she can stop talking. I should've known using these dolls with her was a bad idea.

"I think it's time you went home, Manon. So you can calm down," I suggest, taking my phone out of my pocket and sending her mom a text. Our harmless play session definitely escalated a bit quickly. I bet Adrien never wants to hang out with me again because of this. Why can't I just have better control over children?

We all stand up and Manon ignores me, storming over to her bag. "I'm sorry about this Adrien," I apologise as I turn to him. "I didn't know this would happen." He smiles, gently rubbing my shoulder.

"It's okay. No one could've predicted she'd make those kind of accusations. I mean, come on! Me, Cat Noir? That's crazy!" he lets out a nervous laugh.

I nervously laugh with him. "I know right? And me as Ladybug? As if!" I anticipate him laughing with me, but he goes quiet.

"I don't know, Marinette. I think you'd make a pretty great Ladybug..." he lowly says, staring deep into my eyes. It's like he's staring into my soul. It's uncomfortable, yet slightly flattering at the same time.

"Hehe, thank you..." I trail off, forcing my gaze downwards. I don't have the strength to continue looking up at him.

"It's no problem. I mean it."

And with that, I know that I need to try a lot harder to protect my identity than I did before.

Adrien can't find out.

No one can.

--------------

A/N:

Heyyyyyy :D so that was chapter 16...I hope you liked it. If you did make sure to comment your reactions and vote if you want to; it helps me a lot ✨💖

What did you guys think of the almost reveal in this chapter? Did it frustrate you? 😂Well don't you worry because the reveal is coming fairly soon and I can't wait to write it!

Alsooooo out of curiosity I was wondering where all you guys were from? Let me know in the comments section because I find it so interesting to see where my readers are reading from!

Anyway thanks for reading and I'll see you next time 😁

-Belle x