Hello, lovely readers! Thank you for continuing to read "More Than Just a Friend".

Enjoy some reveal shenanigans!

Thank you so much for all of the comments. Your kindness makes my heart feel full! You are all wonderful!

This fic was inspired by gale-of-the-nomads 's chat post on Tumblr.
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I cross-post on AO3 and on Tumblr.

Tumblr: gryffindorcls (I will be posting my fics to the "Princess In Training" blog. Also, come talk to me over there! I would love to discuss my stories and the Miraculous fandom with y'all!)

AO3: clslovegood47

I own nothing but the plot.

Chat ran across the rooftops and nearly crashed into a closed window while leaping into his room. He detransformed and collapsed to the ground. He sat on his knees and raked his fingers through his hair while Plagg hovered in front of his face.

"So...you figured it out." The black Kwami sighed. "Finally. It took you long enough."

"PLAGG, MARINETTE IS LADYBUG," Adrien exclaimed.

"Yes, I know."

"LADYBUG IS MARINETTE."

"I know that, as well."

"LADYBUG IS MY GIRLFRIEND."

"Look, kid, these are wonderful facts and all, but I already know all of this. I'm interested to see what you're going to do with this information." Plagg crossed his arms.

Adrien's eyes grew even wider. "Oh, God...I didn't think about that."

"Well, if we're being honest, you haven't really done much thinking in the past hour."

"What am I going to do, Plagg?"

"What do you want to do?"

"I think...I think I want to tell her. I mean...I can't keep this a secret from her forever, right?"

"Good. I was hoping you would say that." Plagg phased into the cabinet attached to the computer desk where his cheese was hidden.

Adrien opened the cabinet and looked at his Kwami. "What are you doing?"

The tiny being popped a wedge of camembert into his mouth. "I'm eating a snack before we go over to Marinette's house."

"Woah...wait...no, no, no." Adrien waved his hands in front of him. "Are you crazy? I'm not telling her tonight! I'm not ready."

Plagg flew over to his holder and poked him in the chest. "Look, kid, I have not worked this hard just for you to do nothing."

"What are you talking about?"

"Tikki and I are tired of you two running around each other. We need you two to become stronger as partners, and you already liked Marinette. It seemed like a win-win for everyone."

"And Tikki is Ladybug's Kwami?"

"Yeah. Where do you think I got that Valentine from?"

"Wait...are you telling me that you and Tikki set us up?"

"Yup."

"And you let me tell Marinette that I was once in love with Ladybug? Why didn't you stop me? Don't you care about secret identities?"

"There is a time and a place for secret identities, and Hawkmoth keeps getting stronger. Lovesick and heartbroken Miraculous wielders do not make good heroes."

"Are you telling me that…"

Plagg cut him off. "...that we'll be able to move past this Hawkmoth nonsense faster if you two are acting like the soulmates you're supposed to be? Yes."

Adrien shook his head. "No, I was going to make a comment on how you actually care about me."

"I do, but don't you want to know more about the whole soulmate thing?"

"That's honestly the least surprising thing about all of this. I fell in love with the same girl two times. How could she not be my soulmate?"

"Touché. Now, let's go before it gets too late. I would like to get some sleep tonight."

Adrien melted into a puddle on the floor. "Noooo!"

Plagg groaned. "But she's your soulmate, and I really want to see Tikki. She's my other half, and not being with her hurts me just as much as not being with Marinette hurts you."

"Oh, I didn't know that. I'm sorry."

"Kid, there's no need to be sorry. It was important for the two of you to discover each other's identities on your own, but now that you know, please for the love of cheese...DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT."

Adrien sat-up and looked his Kwami in the eyes. "You're right! I'm going to do something!"

Plagg did a celebratory flip in the air. "Perfect! And what are you going to do?"

The teen slumped. "I don't know. I love her, and I don't want her to hate me. What do I say? What do I do? How do I do this?"

His Kwami zipped over to Adrien's desk and retrieved the Valentine draft. "Alright, listen to me very carefully, and do exactly as I say."

Marinette yawned as she climbed into bed. "Tikki, I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about today. I'm so happy to be Adrien's girlfriend, but I'm still feeling weird about the whole Ladybug thing. And Chat wasn't really all that helpful. He was uncharacteristically quiet when I talked to him."

The red Kwami sighed. "Everything will work out in its own time."

"I guess you're right. Besides, I can always talk to Chat again tomorrow."

Tikki clasped her paws together. "Have you considered maybe talking to Adrien about it? He is your boyfriend.

Marinette knitted her brows. "You can't be serious, Tikki. You've always told me that I have to be careful with my identity. Are you suggesting I tell Adrien that I'm Ladybug?"

"No, I'm encouraging you to tell him about your feelings on the matter without giving anything away."

"That sounds impossible." Marinette laughed. "Could you imagine what Adrien would say if he found out that I was Ladybug?"

Tikki's eyes grew wide. "Ummm...yeah, I can actually."

"Really?"

"He would probably have the same exact reaction as Chat Noir. Have you ever noticed how similar they are?"

"Don't make me laugh, Tikki! Adrien and Chat are two completely different people."

"Are they though?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are they really that different?"

Marinette grew silent as she compared the two boys in her mind. "Now that I'm getting to know Adrien better, they do have an awful lot of similarities…wait, no...yes?"

"They have the same smiles. When they're happy, their faces light up. When they're sad, their eyes are distant."

"Anything else?"

"He smells like cedar...and a little bit like cheese sometimes."

"Who smells like that?"

"What do you mean?"

"You said he. I don't know which boy you're talking about." Tikki smiled.

Marinette knitted her brows. "Oh, I guess I don't either. Umm...both?"

"Whatever you say," the Kwami said with a lilt in her voice.

Her mind began to wander. "What if they're not that different? What if they're the same...wait, no. Yes? Maybe?"

She turned to her Kwami. "Hey, Tikki?"

The tiny being looked at her with expectant eyes. "Yes, Marinette?"

"You know who Chat is right? You saw him when we detransformed when we fought the Dark Owl."

"I've seen him."

"Do you think that…"

"Yes?"

"Well...umm...never mind." Marinette flopped back onto her pillow and massaged her temples.

Tikki sighed. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I think it's time for bed now."

"Okay. Sleep well. Things will make more sense in the morning."

Marinette closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep. After an hour of tossing and turning, she finally began to doze, but her eyes shot open upon hearing a crash on her balcony.

Adrien vaulted across the rooftops until he reached Marinette's house. He leaned against the railing on her balcony before working up the courage to walk towards the windowed hatch above her bed. Unfortunately, before reaching the entrance to her room, Chat ran into a table and knocked over one of Marinette's plants. He groaned and collapsed to the ground when he saw the shattered pot.

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea. The universe is obviously trying to tell me something," he thought, "I should just go home before I do any more damage."

Chat stood up and brushed the dirt off of his suit. He sighed before unsheathing his baton and readying himself to leap off the balcony.

"Good evening, Chat Noir," said a small, squeaky voice, stopping him in his tracks, "I was hoping that it was you who made all that noise up here. I'm guessing that you figured it out."

He turned around to see a small, red Kwami hovering above the hatch. "You're Tikki...Ladybug's Kwami."

"Yes, I'm Tikki. It's nice to finally meet you in person."

"It's really nice to meet you, too! Plagg told me all about you before practically shoving himself inside of the ring. He's really looking forward to spending time with you again."

"I'm happy to hear that he talked to you. Now, I assume you're here to talk to Marinette. Is that correct? I've been trying to get her to connect the dots all evening, but having you reveal your identity might be the only way to go at this point."

Chat's whole body slumped. "I know what I have to do, but I don't know if I can do it. I don't want her to be mad at me. I already poured my heart out to her once today, and I don't know if I can do it again. We just started dating, and she's never been all that receptive to Chat Noir. What if she breaks up with me? There are so many thoughts and worries swirling around my brain, and it's making it hard to concentrate."

Tikki flew over to him and nuzzled his cheek. "Everything will be okay. Marinette loves you...all of you. It's kind of like how you finally realized that you had a crush on Marinette. You loved Ladybug for so long, and I know that it hurt you every time she turned you down. Marinette has loved Adrien since the day she met him. Because of that, she pushed away her partner because she was afraid of falling in love with him, as well. It hurt her every time she had to say no to Chat. I could see it in her eyes when she talked to me about it. She may be open about her feelings for Adrien, but that doesn't mean that she doesn't care about Chat Noir. She'll be a little shocked at first, but Marinette will be so happy to find out that you're Adrien."

He felt his body relax. "Thank you, Tikki. I needed to hear that. You know, you're much sweeter than Plagg. He also gives me pep-talks, but they're way different."

"You know he cares about you right? I've never seen him connect with someone like he has with you. He may not say it out loud, but he really does love you."

"And I love him. He's annoying sometimes, but I honestly can't imagine my life without him."

Tikki flitted away and put crossed her arms. "Alright, it's time for you to go in there and talk to Marinette."

Chat took a deep breath and toyed with the zipper on one of his pockets. "Right. I can do this."

"Yes, you can! However, I have to warn you that she's a little on edge. The noise that the flower pot made when it broke startled her a little bit. Right now, she thinks that I'm making sure that you're not an Akuma, but I've been gone for so long that it's probably freaked her out even more. Also, the fact that she can probably hear our muffled voices out here is not helping."

"I'm going to take a guess and say that when it comes to fight or flight that she falls in the "fight" category?"

"When it comes to Akumas, yes. Just give me a second to calm her down so she doesn't

throw a shoe at you or something. I'll let you know when it's okay."

Chat could feel his heart pounding in his chest as Tikki phased through the window hatch. His mouth went dry when the red Kwami returned and waved for him to come down.

Upon entering the room, he saw Marinette sitting up in bed. She was holding a pillow in front of her face while sporting a tearful expression. His heart broke when he heard his girlfriend choke back a sob. All his apprehension melted away and was replaced with the need to comfort Marinette.

He placed a clawed hand on her cheek and gently wiped away a tear. "Will you tell me what's wrong?"

Marinette looked up. "You found out my identity. That puts both of us in danger, and Fu is going to be mad. I don't know what I did to give myself away, but I messed up. I failed."

He pulled her into a tight embrace (pillow and all). "No, you didn't fail. Please don't cry, Princess. This is the second time I've seen you cry today, and I meant it when I said I would do anything for you."

She pulled away and knitted her brows. "What? I don't understand. You didn't say anything like that to me today. The only person who said something like that was…"

Marinette cut herself off and gasped. Adrien unzipped one of the pockets on his suit and pulled out the Valentine draft. Her eyes grew wide when she saw the familiar paper in his hands.

She squeezed the pillow even tighter. "When you said you figured out that I wrote the Valentine...where did you get that?"

Chat scratched the back of his neck. "Plagg gave it to me. Last night I told him that I wished that Ladybug was someone I knew, and I used you as an example. He called me out on it, and that's when I realized that I had a crush on you. I was too afraid to ask you out, and he showed me this when I woke up. It gave me the confidence boost that I needed."

"Well, it looks like you got your wish."

"Yeah...I still can't believe I fell for the same girl twice."

"Tell me about it. There were a few times that I considered giving into Chat's flirting. He was very convincing sometimes."

"Hey...ummm...do you think it would be okay if I detransformed? Plagg was telling me that he really wanted to hang out with your Kwami, and I think I owe it to him right now."

"Yeah, sure. That's fine."

He smiled and called off his transformation. Marinette shielded her eyes from the bright green light that left Adrien in Chat's place.

Plagg flew over to Marinette and hovered in front of her face. "Hey, little bug."

She giggled "Hello, Plagg! It's nice to see you again."

"Same. Hey...uh...could you do me a favor?"

"Umm...sure?"

"Could you take care of him for me? He needs more love than he lets on."

Adrien crossed his arms. "Hey!"

Marinette reached up and scratched Plagg between the ears. "Always. He's never going to be able to get rid of me."

The black Kwami nuzzled her hand. "Thank you. That's good to hear. I'm happy to see that Tikki got such a good bug this time."

Without saying another word, Plagg zipped off with Tikki to the other side of the room, leaving the two teens to talk.

"Did…," Adrien hesitated, "...did you really mean that? That you wouldn't leave me?"

Marinette slowly put the pillow down and scootched closer to Adrien. "Of course, I meant that. Did you really think that I would go away?"

"That's what scared me the most about telling you that I was Chat Noir. We just started dating today, and you've never really liked Chat like that. Tikki told me that you did care, but it's nice hearing it from you.

She threw her arms around him and pulled him close. "The two most important people in my life are the same person. Why would I give that up?"

"Thank you, Marinette." He breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled. "You know...you haven't stuttered once since I got here."

"Why would I get nervous around my partner? I may trust Adrien with my heart, but I trust Chat with my life. Believe it or not, this is a game-changer. You're my best friend...who I just so happen to be in love with."

"I'm in love with you, too...all of you."

"I know, mon minou."

He moved back far enough to see her face and look her in the eyes. "So, I know we just started dating and all, but I suddenly feel a whole lot closer to you. You don't have to say yes, but I was wondering...well...we've done it twice before, but I don't remember either of them. What I'm trying to ask is…"

Before he could finish, Marinette's lips crashed on top of his. His eyes flicked closed as he leaned into the kiss. Initially, it was passionate and filled with longing, but as it continued, it became gentle and loving. Adrien decided that he liked both kinds, and he was suddenly very excited to try more kinds of kisses in the future.

He smiled beneath their locked lips, causing Marinette to laugh.

"Kitty! I wasn't done!" she teased him with a smirk.

"How did you know I wanted to kiss you?" he asked while resting his forehead on hers.

"You're my partner, and you seem to be forgetting that I speak fluent Chat."

"Well, this kitty just learned some new words, so purr-haps we could go back to building our vocabulary...you know...with our lips...together."

"AND there's the puns! Adrien Agreste, you were not lying when you said you were a dork."

"But I'm your dork."

"Fur-ever and always, Chaton."

He grinned. "Did you just pun for me?"

"I never said I didn't like puns," she responded playfully.

"Now I'm definitely in love. Plagg was right...you are my soulmate."

"Would my soulmate like to try kissing again?"

Adrien gulped. "Yes, please."

Their lips met once again, and Adrien never wanted it to end. He and Marinette kissed, cuddled, and talked until Tikki came over to remind them that they had school the next day. With a groan, Adrien reluctantly let go of his girlfriend, bid her goodnight, called for his transformation, climbed through the hatch, and vaulted off into the night.

Marinette waved goodbye as Chat disappeared onto the balcony. Once he was gone, she happily flopped back onto her pillow.

"Are you feeling better about everything?" Tikki asked while settling onto her pillow.

Marinette sighed contentedly. "Tikki...you were right about everything! I'm so hap...wait. You've known that Chat Noir was Adrien since we fought the Dark Owl."

"Um...yes, but I couldn't say anything to you."

"And Adrien said that Plagg gave him the draft of the Valentine that I wrote for him. That paper was the bottom of the chest in my room."

"Oh, wow. Would you look at the time? You must be feeling sleepy after having such a long day!"

"How did Plagg get ahold of that paper?"

The red Kwami closed her eyes. "Goodnight!"

Marinette laughed. "Goodnight, Tikki. I may not know exactly what happened, but I'm grateful for all that you did. Thank you."

Her Kwami responded with a small hum while Marinette turned over and closed her eyes. A few minutes later, Marinette fell asleep while looking forward to the next day.