In retrospect, she might have been a bit heavy-handed with the whole 'talking about my own secret identity' thing.

"I need to make sure Marinette is okay," Cat Noir was saying after their celebratory fist-bump. Not far away, the latest akuma-victim was being led away by paramedics for either counseling or the chance to sign a best-selling book deal about being turned in an unwilling magical monster. "I passed her on the way here, and instead of running away, she said she was sticking around to help evacuate civilians. Brave girl, huh?"

Now, Ladybug was in complete agreement. Marinette was indeed a brave girl, but not because she had lied about working crowd control during a supervillain attack. No, Marinette was brave because Marinette was Ladybug, and Ladybug fought supervillains every day. Granted, she had an invincible power-enhancing supersuit to help with that, but it took a whole new level of bravery to go out in public in something that tight.

Ladybug could hardly say that to the partner who didn't know her secret identity, though.

So she tilted her head in a carefully calculated gesture of adorable confusion. "Who is that?"

"Marinette." Cat Noir's mask twisted the way that it always did when he was giving someone a truly epic quirk of his hidden eyebrows. "You know her. You sent me to her house that time."

Truly, the worst part of being a magical superhero was the Secret Identity. It kept Ladybug-slash-Marinette from doing her homework on time, made her miss whole classes, regularly got her in trouble with her parents, and was responsible for the series of word vomit excuses that had surely convinced her friends that she was suffering from some kind of stress-induced hallucinations. But the hardest part was easily trying to keep track of her own lies. She used to take a dim view of liars and hypocrites before she became one, but then, she supposed that was the usual story.

Ladybug felt that her best bet at this point was to play it off. "Oh, right. That girl. Yeah, you better go find her." Then she realized that sending Cat Noir to go find herself wouldn't work out very well if there was no Herself to Find, since the Herself in question was Here and not There. "No, wait, don't go! Uhhh- I'll do it!"

Cat Noir hesitated. "Are you sure?"

"Like you said, I know her. We're tight." Wait, should she have said that? Should she be implying that her secret identity liked her superhero identity, or would it be more plausible of 'Marinette' didn't think much of 'Ladybug' because of 'that incident' or something? Pushing past it, Ladybug blurted, "No wasting times with cute girls for you, Kitty."

She smiled, expecting Cat Noir to do his flirting thing, perhaps saying that she's the only cute girl he's interested in, but instead he just stared at her. "Cute? Marinette?"

Why? Why did she feel the need to throw that in there? Was there a way to bring this conversation to a stop? "Sure. Don't you think so?"

Cat Noir relaxed and stroked his chin with a claw. "Well, uh, I guess she does have a cute... well, everything. Yeah, she's cute."

"Yeah. Really cute." For some reason, Ladybug felt her cheeks heating up. She wasn't used to hearing other people call her cute, even if Cat Noir probably said that about every single girl in Paris.

True to form, Cat Noir skipped over and stroked her cheek. "Are you blushing?"

"N- no."

"Are you sure?"

"N- yes."

There was enough force in her voice that he snapped his hand back and gave her a wary look. "If you have a problem with Marinette, I can just go take care of it myself-"

"No! No problem! Why would I have a problem with Marinette? She's great! Right?"

"Yeah, she is pretty great. She's creative, popular, and so friendly and giving and- my Lady, are you okay?"

She couldn't tell what expression might be on Cat Noir's face, because she was covering her own face in her hands and completely overheating. Why was it so flustering to hear her goofy partner talk about her like this? Alya called her awesome all the time. "I'm fine. Just fine. It's just- this is a weird conversation for me."

There was no reply.

Eventually, Ladybug peaked out through her fingers. "Cat?"

He was staring at her. "Oh, uh-" He shook himself and smiled. Or tried to smile. He was doing a thing where he was pulling his lips away from his teeth in a shape that was kind of smile-ish if you squinted. "Sorry, my Lady. I just- uh- right, no cute girls for me. I'll- uh, get out of your way, then. Have fun!"

And then, one extending silver rod later, he was flipping over the rooftops out of sight.

Well. Hopefully she hadn't just given away her secret identity.

Ladybug finally lowered her hands and fanned her still-warm cheeks. Good thing she got Cat Noir to leave. She wouldn't want him to find Marinette while she was still blushing like this, and mistake her humility for a crush or something.

That would be silly.

"PLAGG, WHAT DO I DO?!"

Plagg had long been of the mind that he was not paid enough to deal with this garbage. That he wasn't paid at all, except in life-affirming Camembert, was beside the point. "When in doubt, you can't go wrong with eating."

Adrien continued to pace across his ludicrously-sized bedroom, as he had been for what Plagg calculated was roughly 'forever.' More worryingly, the boy wasn't showing any signs of getting his priorities in order and stuffing his face with cheese. Or getting Plagg any cheese, either, the ingrate.

"I just-" Adrien groaned. "I kind of suspected that Ladybug had a crush on someone. There have been hints. Little things she's said. But- but I never- the way she was blushing- it didn't- it's real now that I know who it is! And the Who isn't Me!"

Plagg couldn't hide a snort. "So? You humans live for hundreds of years! Crushes last for- what, a few months at best? Just wait it out." That was the problem with humans; no sense of math.

Adrien finally stopped his pacing. "What are you talking about? No human lives for much more than a hundred years, if that! And crushes can lead to love, and love is forever, and most importantly, Ladybug's crush is a girl and I am not! What if-" Adrien actually whimpered as he sank to his knees. "What if she only likes girls?"

Plagg almost regretted having to ask, because this would surely delay the arrival of more Camembert, but his human seemed to be having some kind of nervous breakdown, and it was probably for a profoundly stupid reason. "I think I missed something. When did we learn that Ladybug is buggy for a lady?"

Adrien let out a sound that was halfway between a laugh and a sob. "Marinette! Ladybug is crushing on Marinette! I should have realized back during the Evillustrator incident, with that completely random aside about Marinette being cute! But the way she was acting today proves it!"

Some people- not necessarily a certain bright red fellow kwami, but some people- thought that Plagg was stupid. Which was completely untrue. Plagg just preferred to not pay attention to anything he couldn't eat, but that didn't mean he didn't notice things. Take, to name a completely random example, the fact that Ladybug smelled just like the cookies from the 'Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie.'

Plagg had definitely noticed that.

He just didn't usually care.

Thus, Plagg could have ended what would surely be a hilarious misunderstanding right then and there. He even wanted to, for a change, if just to make his own life easier.

But rules were rules. Out a Chosen without permission and the Guardian would hunt you down and show you just how durable kwami were. Oh, sure, the Guardians pretended to be nice people, but there was that incident a while back with Trixx and Guardian Tomás and an unfortunately revealed identity, and now the humans referred to the Guardian's response as 'the Spanish Inquisition' and considered it so horrible that they mentioned it only in weird sketch comedy.

No, Plagg wasn't going to tell Adrien that his precious Ladybug was really the insecure cookie girl.

Still, there were no rules against... nudging things in a more sane direction. "Look, kid, pull yourself together. You know both Ladybug and Marinette. Are you sure this is the right reaction?" Come on, kid, think about it! Compare those hairstyles! Remember those voices! Think back to how they both smell!

Adrien looked over at Plagg.

And Plagg saw a look in the kid's eyes that usually only came out when Gabriel Agreste was delivering an ultimatum.

Adrien breathed in, and breathed out, and when he spoke, his voice was even. "You're right. I'm disgracing Ladybug."

Plagg wasn't sure he liked this change. "I wouldn't go that far-"

"This is upsetting, but if I truly love Ladybug, then it's her happiness I should be concerned about."

"Um, what?"

Adrien nodded. "Thanks, Plagg. I needed an intervention."

"Um-"

"You must be hungry. Let's get you some cheese."

Plagg shut his mouth. This might very well be a disaster in making, but at least there was food on the way. "I think I need a double-helping of Camembert. You know, for dealing with your freak-out so capably."

It would probably work out by itself.

Right?

The first Nino heard of it was in homeroom, when he got a text from Alya.

She was sitting right behind him, of course, and even at her most attentive seemed to have trouble with the concept that teachers had the authority to keep her from acting on her every impulse. Normally, she would just lean forward and whisper whatever was on her mind.

That she was texting meant that she considered this a Top Secret matter, and the only topic that she considered classified was the crush that Marinette certainly didn't have on Adrien, oh no, torture me if you want but I'll never say different.

Nino glanced at his phone, making sure to angle it so that Adrien wouldn't accidentally catch it.

'DID U C?'

Nino texted back a question mark. He had seen plenty of things this morning, such as Alix and Kim's origami-folding competition. (Kim barely squeaked to a victory.) But he doubted that Alya was excited about papercraft.

His phone buzzed with a new message: 'UR BRO! ADRIENETTE 4 LYFE!'

Ah.

That.

Nino took his time tapping, 'HE CARRIED HER BOOKS. NBD.'

Moments after he sent it, a pencil bounced off the back of his head.

Well, Nino would be the first to admit that wasn't the most romantic soul.

True, it had been odd. Adrien considered Marinette a friend, and somehow seemed completely oblivious to the fact that his very presence caused her such besotted anxiety that one time she began spontaneously speaking fluent Russian, and she didn't even know Russian. A friend didn't normally offer to carry his buddy's books, and yet this morning Adrien had greeted Marinette with a model smile, told her how nice she looked this morning, offered to carry her books for her, and then had helped Alya and Nino peel Marinette off the floor after she collapsed and said something in what sounded like Portuguese.

Nino frowned.

He had just realized that Adrien had given a model smile to Marinette.

Adrien never used his professional smile- the one he used while working, the one he offered to his father- with his friends.

Why wouldn't Adrien smile genuinely at Marinette?

The bell rang, and before Nino could even consider following up on his worry, Adrien immediately spun around in his seat, 'smiled' at Marinette, and said, "We have trig next. Did you do the homework? You can see mine, if you want."

Nino ignored Marinette's blush, her recalibration of her speaking ability, and her subsequent admission that she wouldn't mind checking her work against Adrien's answer to number three.

Instead, he was staring at Adrien.

What was this all about?

Nino's phone buzzed. A glance at the screen revealed Alya's text of, 'SPARKS FLY! FINALLY!" A glance at Alya revealed her manic grin.

Nino wasn't so sure.

Not that he didn't want his two friends to find happiness together, but something about this was wrong.

The feeling persisted through trig class, through Adrien's later attempt to talk to Marinette about a comic book he had recently downloaded, through more classes and more of Adrien lavishing attention on Marinette, and finally up to the beginning of lunch.

This time, Adrien had whipped up to stand beside Marinette's seat and offer her his hand. "Would you like to get some lunch with me? I feel like we don't talk enough, and I'd like to fix that."

"Uhhhhhh," Marinette said.

"She sure would," Alya clarified.

"Great." Adrien smiled his model smile. "My treat, of course."

"Eeeee," Marinette said, as she let Adrien help her to her feet and lead her away.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Alya let out a higher-pitched version of Marinette's Eeeeee. "Can you believe this! It's finally happening! And I didn't have to do anything!"

Nino still couldn't make sense of it. "I don't know, does Adrien seem... off?"

Alya snorted. "Compared to Marinette? Or you? I'd say he's handling his crush pretty well."

Sure. Maybe that was it. Adrien had spontaneously realized that he liked Marinette, and was using his modelling skills to hide his nervousness.

Sure.

It made perfect sense.

Probably.

But Nino had a feeling that it wasn't that simple. Nothing was, with his man Adrien.

Still, he wasn't expecting what happened when they all returned from lunch. He and Alya had gotten back before their friends, having just taken their lunch on the school steps. Marinette had walked into the classroom first, bright and bubbly and talking about some fashion show she was looking forward to.

And Adrien-

Adrien looked like his cat had just died or something.

"-really talented," Marinette was saying.

Nino leaned towards them. "Dude, you okay?"

Adrien's eyes wavered.

"-and her charity work is so inspiring," Marinette was saying.

Nino glanced at Alya and hissed, "Something's wrong."

"-want to help even half as many war-orphans someday, but of course I'm not hoping for more wars or anything," Marinette was saying.

Alya shrugged. "What could possibly be wrong?"

"-mal shelters need funding, too, and you don't need wars to get stray cats," Marinette was saying.

Then Adrien burst into tears with a cry that echoed through the classroom, and ran away babbling something about, 'too good.'

"Told ya," Nino said into the silence. Then he went running after his friend.

But somehow, Adrien had managed to disappear into thin air, and Nino didn't see him again all day.

Marinette had been upset about Adrien all night. She had no idea what had happened to him; they had seemed to have such a nice lunch together, and Adrien was so polite and kind!

Maybe it had something to do with his father. Maybe Marinette shouldn't have talked so much about the fashion industry.

Well, she would make it up to him. She came up with a plan to wake up early so that she could grab a box of fresh croissants, a token of apology to Adrien that would hopefully have him feeling better.

She had been so worried about it that she barely slept all night, and then overslept.

Of course.

What resulted was a mad dash that had her parents convinced for a moment they were being robbed, and then Marinette was tearing down the street with her backpack on upside down and a box of croissants in her hands.

Then she tripped.

Of course.

But instead of smashing down into the unforgiving but all-too familiar sidewalk and crushing her box, Marinette found herself suspended in the air-

-suspended by a pair of strong hands that felt all too familiar.

She looked up into the animalistic green eyes of Cat Noir.

"Uh, hi," he said.

Marinette blinked. "Hi. And thanks."

Then Cat Noir seemed to realize where his hands were. "Oh! Sorry!" He lifted her into a standing position and then drew back like the contact had scalded him. "You okay?"

Marinette checked her croissants before he nodded. "That was good timing. I'm glad you were slinking around." She smiled at him. Even when she wasn't Ladybug, her partner had her back.

Cat Noir didn't return her smile.

He was wringing his hands together.

Marinette's smile faded. "Cat Noir?"

"Y- you should be more careful," he managed. "You have- have people who- who care about you. Care a lot. Important people."

Marinette blinked. "I know."

His eyes went wide. "You do?!"

"Um, I thought I did? Am I missing something?"

His hands flew to his mouth. "I shouldn't have said anything." He turned away and grabbed his staff as if about to flee, but then he turned to look at her one last time. "Please, take care of yourself. You're a special person, Marinette. Maybe more special than you know."

Then his staff extended and carried him away into the sky.

Marinette blinked again. "What was that about?"

Tikki poked her head out of Marinette's purse. "I don't know. He seemed very nervous about something." The kwami's voice turned sly. "He almost reminded me of you around Adrien."

Marinette giggled, and got herself moving again. "Not anymore! I had lunch with Adrien yesterday and didn't stutter once! I'm getting better!"

"You are," Tikki acknowledged as she dipped back into the purse. "Good job, Marinette!"

"Yeah." She just hoped she could make Adrien feel better. It was almost unfair that he had to be having such a rough time just as Marinette got the chance to spend some time with him, and-

-unfair-

-Cat Noir was stuttering like Marinette-

-and then there was that conversation she had with him as Ladybug, the other day.

Oh.

Oh.

She skidded to a stop at the foot of the school's stairs, put her box down, and peeked into her purse. "Tikki! I just figured out something about Cat Noir that's really dangerous."

The kwami's eyes went wide, and fear dripped from her voice as she squeaked, "What is it?"

Marinette looked to the right. Then she looked to the left. Then she said, "I think Cat Noir is crushing on me!"