"Marinette, there are a number of reasons why that's wrong," Tikki quickly tried reasoning. 

"But all the signs – I can't believe I never saw them before!" Marinette gasped, pacing the length of the rooftop. 

"Marinette, please!" Tikki pleaded, getting more stressed herself.

"Allergic to feathers," the bluenette muttered, barrelling on ahead and ignoring her Kwami. "Flirty and charming, same blonde hair, same height," she listed; "knew that Lila was Volpina..." Marinette trailed off and her eyes widened.

"GAH! I KISSED ADRIEN!" She shrieked, jumping into the air and waving her arms, looking like a distraught cartoon character. "And he's kissed me on the hand so many times and he loves me and I just kept pushing him away because the guy I love is actually HIM!"

"Marinette," Tikki begged. "Please! Maybe Chat Noir is someone else. Maybe the real Chat Noir has a friend who gave him the keychain. Maybe he's also allergic to feathers, a lot of people are allergic to a lot of different things. I could name at least three different people right now who have blonde hair."

"I know, but... the keychain... it was custom-made. I could barely afford it," Marinette reasoned, thinking back to the agonising months she had spent saving up. "And it had the same 'Mon chéri' writing I asked for. I mean, it's too much of a coincidence. Adrien has to be Chat Noir." She concluded, finally taking a breath.

She then realised that her kwami was regarding her with panic-stricken horror. The look was alien on the sweet bug's face, but it was there plain as day.

"Marinette, you can't let ANYONE know you know!" Tikki stressed in a hushed voice.

"I know," the girl replied immediately. "And I won't! I'll be as–"

"You can't tell Adrien," Tikki interrupted with a pained look in her eyes.

Marinette sighed, feeling as if she was about to cry. "Fine. I won't. I'm sorry, Tikki. Here," she dug a cookie out of her bag and fed it to her Kwami.

"You're right, I can worry about this later. Right now we need to get home safely, and home is on the other side of the city."

~

"Marinette!" 

The dark-haired girl groggily opened her eyes to see her best friend's face grinning over her.

"Girl! Wake up!" Alya smacked her friends shoulder playfully.

Marinette batted Alya's hand away. "Alya, go aw– ALYA?" Marinette jumped, fully awake, flinging off her bedsheets, much to her friend's amusement.

"Yeah, Sabine said you were sleeping when I came over. It's seven in the morning, so we still have time!" Alya sang the last part, her usual upbeat energy making an appearance.

"Look, I have the biggest news!" The girl clicked on her phone, bringing it up to Marinette's tired eyes. "Someone filmed this yesterday and sent it to my Ladyblog! Plus, it's all over YouTube, it got uploaded and blew up like that!" Alya snapped her fingers to emphasise her excitement. Then she pressed play on the clip from her website.

The video in question seemed to be somebody catching the last part of the battle, when Chat Noir tosses the hairband to Ladybug, who rips it and captures the akuma hiding within.

"Miraculous LADYBUG!" Marinette heard her own voice play from the phone as her Ladybug-self heaved the Lucky Charm in the air, sending her Cleaning Crew to fix everything up.

"Pound it!" The two superheroes fist-bumped.

Chat Noir's ring started beeping, and Marinette felt her heart descend. Wherever this was heading, it was going to be bad.

"Whoops, gotta go. 'Til next time, M'lady," Chat Noir kissed Ladybug's hand, who shoved him away.

"You're such a flirt," she laughed, rolling her eyes.

"I try my best," the cat hero winked.

The video played out, each ticking second sinking Marinette's despair lower and lower – Chat picking up Delphine, holding her, and turning around.

On-screen, Ladybug gasped.

In Chat Noir's back pocket, captured on video for all to see, was a ladybug keychain; the words "Mon Cherie" carved onto a seperate plaque dangling and glinting in the sunlight.

The video ended, but not before the cat was out of the bag.

"The rumours have already started," Alya said, smile ever-present. "That keychain looks like the one Adrien's been flaunting all yesterday, don't you think?" She giggled excitedly, nudging her best friend suggestively with her shoulder.

Marinette, however, was too shocked into silence to respond.

Someone had been filming.

Someone filmed it.

Thank God the video had ended and the person had left before Ladybug turned into Marinette, but there was still a major problem.

Her identity may have been saved, but Adrien's was about to be exposed.

And it was all Marinette's fault.