MUCH REVEAL. SO SURPRISE. VERY IDENTITY.

A collection of stand-alone identity reveal one-shots, because the fandom isn't drowning in them or anything.

ONE

"What took you so long?" He asks Ladybug as she finally makes an appearance, diving straight into the battle.

"I'm sorry!" She calls out, fighting her way through mindless soldiers to get closer to him. They work best when they're back to back, covering each other's blind spots. "I just heard about the akuma ten minutes ago."

"I called you," Chat retrieves one half of his baton just in time to stab at an opponent over Ladybug's shoulder, knocking the civilian out with a (hopefully) harmless blow to the head. "Seven times!"

Ladybug hurls her yo-yo at something mere inches above his head; he barely flinches, confident in her ability to control her weapon. Gone are the days of her bouncing the red disc off his head for a giggle. "Sorry! I wasn't transformed!"

It's easier to breathe now that she's here, easier to divide and conquer the seemingly endless ranks of the akuma's army. "See, this is why I keep asking for your number."

"And here I thought you wanted to ask me out," Ladybug retorts teasingly.

"Well, that too-" The akuma himself shows up then, presumably forced out of hiding by an impatient Papillon. These days, he barely gives his victims enough time to pursue their personal agendas before commanding them to go after Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Their conversation remains unfinished, as it often does. Chat doesn't think much of it; he's been asking Ladybug for her number for the past two years now, so it's not like this time would have made any difference.

.

.

.

Later that night, Ladybug rattles off a set of numbers and warns him, "For emergencies only, chaton," before she swings away.

"Wait! Don't you want my-"

"As if you're not going to text me as soon as you get back!" She teases, her laugh ringing out in the quiet Parisian night as she disappears from sight. Just for that, he decides not to text her tonight.

First thing tomorrow, then.

.

.

.

Marinette's phone buzzes with an incoming text as she enters the classroom, and she quickly gets herself settled down and returns Alya's chipper "good morning!" before fishing her phone out of her bag.

New message from:

Adrien

Her eyes flit from the screen to the boy sitting in front of her – phone, back of Adrien's head, phone, back of Adrien's head, phone-

Thank goodness Mademoiselle Bustier walks in when she does, and the sharp click of her heels as she enters the suddenly silent classroom snaps Marinette out of it; who knows how long she would've kept going otherwise.

Why would Adrien text her when she's right behind him? Why would Adrien text her, period? They'd settled into a tentative friendship once Alya and Nino started dating, but they haven't quite worked up to interacting with each other in their own time. As far as she knows, he doesn't even have her number. Marinette herself had nearly forgotten that she still has his.

Mademoiselle Bustier wishes them all a good morning and asks for two minutes to get her things together, and Marinette uses this short window of time to shoot Alya a reassuring smile – how had she even picked up on Marinette's odd behavior while engaged in a conversation with Nino? – and pull up the text.

Seconds later, her chair scrapes against the floor as she shoots to her feet and hastily excuses herself for a bathroom break before class has even started.

Chloé makes some sort of snide comment – doesn't she always? – but this one doesn't even register in Marinette's mind. Hell, she could have called Marinette out on being Ladybug and her words still wouldn't have pierced through the bubble of panic and confusion Marinette is currently trapped in.

She doesn't make it far, takes the first right turn and finds herself in an empty hallway hidden from view. The message doesn't make any more sense the second time she reads it.

Good morning, my lady. I hope you have a punderful day.

In any other case, she would have calmly texted back I'm sure it will be now that you have my number, accompanied by a firm reminder that he's supposed to text her during emergencies only, and that would have been that.

And when she says 'any other case', she means literally any other scenario that doesn't involve her phone telling her that this message – clearly from Chat – was sent from Adrien's phone.

She stares at the screen until her vision swims, until the words blur, until she can almost pretend none of this is happening. By the time she registers Tikki's presence on her shoulder, she's honestly surprised Alya hasn't come looking for her yet.

"What are you going to do?" Tikki asks gently, leaning her head against Marinette's neck in an attempt to comfort the girl.

Storm back into class and pull Adrien out. Send a reply but address him by his real name. Send a reply and pretend everything is normal. Go back to class and pretend none of this happened.

"I have no idea," Marinette finally admits.

Somewhere in the distance, a heavy door swings shut. "We'll figure it out together," Tikki assures Marinette before she flits back into her hiding spot. Marinette pockets her phone just as Alya turns around the corner and comes into view. Excuses are made and eyes are rolled; the next thing she knows, Alya has her by the hand and is dragging her back to class, back to Adrien, back to Chat.

She apologizes to the teacher, says something about feeling dizzy and hiding out in the bathroom until it passed. The second the teacher turns back to the board, she takes out her phone and taps out a short reply, sends it out without giving herself a chance to hesitate.

Meet me after class.

It's strangely gratifying to see the way Adrien jumps when his phone buzzes with a new text, the way his shoulders tense as he processes her message.

My lady?

Put your phone away. The teacher's about to turn around.

Sure enough, Mademoiselle Bustier sets down her marker and turns her attention back to the class seconds later.

Only to find Adrien craning his neck to get a better look at his classmates, his back turned to the teacher.

"Adrien, is everything alright?"

He flinches. "Yeah! Sorry, yes. Everything's alright. I just thought I heard- nothing. It was nothing. I'm sorry, Mademoiselle."

"That's fine," The teacher assures him after a brief pause, taken aback by his uncharacteristic display of jumpiness. "But try to pay attention, please."

"Of course," He promises. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

The thing is, it does happen again. Every single time the teacher has her back to the class, Adrien squirms in his seat and tries his best to turn his head as far left or right as he can without attracting attention.

And oh, Marinette just can't help herself.

Sit still. You're distracting me. And your head's blocking the board.

His pen clatters to the ground.

"Adrien!" The teacher snaps when she finds his back turned to her once more. If he hears her, Adrien shows no sign of it. He remains perfectly still, twisted around in his seat, eyes wide and mouth gaping like a goldfish's for several seconds before he finally forms her name.

"Marinette?"

She nods, just once, before dropping her eyes back to her notebook, maintaining a studious appearance while Mademoiselle Bustier reprimands Adrien and issues one last warning for him to settle down and pay attention.

Five minutes later, she asks to be excused. The teacher flashes her a look of concern, which reminds her of her earlier lie just in time to maintain her cover. She assures Mademoiselle Bustier she'll be alright, says something about needing to splash some cold water on her face and maybe have a moment of peace and quiet on her own.

She takes out her phone the second the door closes behind her and sends out a quick text.

Wait for two minutes, then follow me.

As luck would have it, an akuma appears in the brief window of time it takes Adrien to excuse himself and meet her in the locker room.

"I should have known it's your bad luck drawing all of these akumas to our school," Ladybug teases as they head out together.

"Fair enough," Chat shrugs as he pulls out his baton. "But think of how many boring classes my bad luck has saved you from!"

Maybe she's still reeling. Maybe she's a little off that day because every time Chat looks at her, it's Adrien's eyes she sees. Maybe his usual flirting has caught her off-guard, now that they know each other's identities.

But Ladybug thinks they're going to be just fine.

And there you have it, folks – my shitty first attempt at a Ladybug fic. I know it's a fairly standard reveal fic that's been done (and done better) at least a dozen times, but I figure that's what makes it the perfect exercise to help me ease into writing for this fandom.

I don't think I have their voices down just quite yet, so let's hope I get better with practice because I've got at least seven more of these coming.

E Salvatore,

April 2016.