"Don't you think you were a little harsh with Alya, LB?" Chat Noir asked as they landed on a roof top a few buildings away.

He looked at Ladybug with concern. She had been looking more and more tired and stressed lately. He hadn't noticed until the last few akuma attacks than Ladybug hadn't been her usual upbeat self. In fact he was trying to remember when their last real conversation was. He had a sneaking suspicion it had been over a month. Possibly not since the Queen Wasp attack where they'd lost all of their back up team.

Ladybug looked back at him, quietly, thinking. "Hey Chat, don't take this the wrong way... but... you do know we aren't immune to being akumatised, right?"

Chat's eyes widened with her question. "Um... I've never really thought about it. But it makes sense considering everything with Chloe and Heroes Day etc. Why do you ask?"

"So, you've never felt so emotionally overwhelmed that Hawkmoth has tried to akumatise you then." Ladybug stated. "At least, not in any time line that you would be able to remember."

"What?! What do you mean a time line that I wouldn't remember?" Chat whispered shocked.

"Beep." Both miraculous' signaled their countdown.

"Look, do you have to be anywhere straight away?" Ladybug asked.

"No."

"Then, let's feed our kwamis and meet at our usual roof top. We need to talk."

As soon as Chat nodded, Ladybug zipped away. Dropping into an empty alleyway, she released Tikki from her miraculous and held up a chocolate chip cookie from the purse on her hip.

"What are you going to tell him?" Tikki asked after a few bites.

"I'm not sure. I need to tell him about the akumas I've had to resist as well as the whole Chat Blanc thing. It's not fair to hold that information back from him. You know how much he hates secrets." Marinette slumped against the wall behind her.

"Will you discuss your identities? You know it's time, right? It's not really fair that you know who he is when he doesn't."

Marinette looked down at the ground. It had only taken minutes to make the connection between Chat Blanc knowing her identity and her present to Adrian being connected. And only a few hours to figure out why that connection was important. Despite what she told Bunnix, the only reason that particular connection could be an issue was if Adrian was Chat Noir. Tikki had confirmed it when Marinette had asked her especially since Marinette being the guardian meant she had the right to know.

The knowledge had been both a relief and heartbreaking for Marinette. A relief in that knowing Adrian was Chat made it easier for her to talk to him without stuttering or mixing up her words. She had begun to talk to him normally now that she no longer idolised him and held up as the image of perfection.

However, it was heartbreaking to know how much time she had wasted for them by denying Chat a romantic relationship. Except, Master Fu would have taken away their miraculous if they had revealed their identities to each other while he was still the guardian. Knowing that she had already stepped aside for Kagami before she found out Chat's identity, also made her heart ache. The last thing she wanted to do was interfere in her and Adrian's relationship. Both of them were her friends and she valued them equally for that status since she didn't particularly have many of them these days.

The other concerns that Marinette had was that if a romantic relationship between her and Adrian could get him akumatised, then Hawkmoth had to be someone close to them. Someone they knew. Someone one or both loved. Someone like family.

She also considered that Lila may actually know who he was. The number of times she had been akumatised and sometimes, Marinette got the feeling that the akuma were headed to someone else before Lila was akumatised in their stead. She couldn't prove it, but she suspected that Lila was deliberately getting akumatised.

There was also the thought that the number of akumas after Marinette lately meant that Hawkmoth was possibly targeting her directly. And if Lila was working with Hawkmoth like Marinette suspected, this made Lila's targeting of Marinette at school even more nefarious than simple bullying.

Once more, Marinette considered Adrian's father, Gabriel Agreste. Yes, he had been akumatised himself in the past, but knowing what she knew now, that no longer seemed like such a deterrent. Especially if he did it to cover his tracks.

"I don't know, Tikki. Especially with all we discussed about the possibility of his father being Hawkmoth. I guess we'll have to play it by ear as we talk."

"Very well. I've finished eating. Are you ready to go?"

"No, but that's no excuse to avoid him. We need this talk. Tikki, spots on!"

A pink light flashed as Marinette became Ladybug and then her yoyo zipped her back out of the alleyway. Five minutes later, she found Chat Noir already seated waiting on their usual roof top. Ironically he was singing the same song she had heard him singing during the Chat Blanc attack. It must be a favourite.

"Thanks for waiting Chat." Ladybug said quietly as she sat down gracefully next to him.

"Always LB. You got me quite curious, I have to admit." Chat watched her stare out at the picturesque scenery in front of them. Her expression was sad and and seemed somewhat painful. He didn't understand why.

Ladybug sighed. "This is hard to talk about. There is a lot going on in my civilian life on top of my superhero one. A lot of it has to do with you as well."

Chat was stunned. "With me, Ladybug? I don't understand. Did I do something wrong?"

"No Chat, you didn't do anything wrong. But you probably aren't going to be happy with me either. I know who you are. I worked it out after you got akumatised in a deleted timeline." Ladybug looked down, afraid to see the expression on Chat's face.

"I don't understand. When did I get akumatised?" Chat was confused. He didn't really care that Ladybug knew his identity. He'd always wanted her to know although timing was a little off considering his tentative relationship with Kagami. Although contrary to what all their friends thought, they weren't actually exclusively dating yet. They were exploring a relationship, yes, to see if he could get past his love for Ladybug. But it wasn't set in stone and they'd made no progress with it so far.

Ladybug held up a hand. "Let me explain what I know and what I can only assume based on that knowledge first."

Chat could only nod.

She sighed. "Remember when I dropped off that present to civilian you?"

"Yeah, it confused me a little."

"Originally, I had put my civilian name on it. It was supposed to be one of my attempts at letting civilian you know about my crush on you."

"Wait...what? Hold on. Are you telling me, that all this time... the boy you refused me for... was me?!"

"Um... Yeah. I was pretty upset when I worked that out, myself."

"So you had a celebrity crush on me?"

"No, Adrian. We know each other in our civilian life. We're friends. I've been in love with you since your first day at school."

Chat's jaw dropped. "What!"

"Look, we'll come back to that, OK. The last thing I want to do right now is interfere with your relationship with Kagami."

Chat slammed his jaw shut and nodded. His thoughts were whirling around incoherently and he had to force himself to pay attention to Ladybug's continued explanation.

"Anyway, you apparently worked out who I was by making the connection between my civilian name on the present and seeing Ladybug me leave your room. A couple of minutes after I left, Bunnix came through a portal and dragged me to the future. When I got there, everything was white. Paris had been destroyed and parts of it were flooded, the moon had been blasted and you were akumatised into Chat Blanc. We fought.

At one point you knocked me into one of the flooded parts where I found what I thought initially thought were statues of myself and Hawkmoth. It was only when I touched mine and it crumpled into dust and floated away that I realised it was actually that time lines me and Hawkmoth. Somehow, akumatising you, was the last thing he accomplished and you took us both out at the same time.

Eventually I purified the akuma in your bell. However you still called me by my civilian name after being released from the akuma.

I figured out then that part of what led to you being akumatised was that you knew I was Ladybug. In your own words... 'our love destroyed the world'.

So I got Bunnix to take me back to the point when I had written my name on the present and erased it with my lucky charm before releasing the miraculous cure.

It was later that day after that event that I made the connection that you were Chat Noir and that Hawkmoth is connected to us somehow in our civilian lives."

Chat was frozen in thought for a while. The idea that he and Ladybug knew each other in their civilian lives was stuck in his head. Especially that they were not only friends but in the same school. He thought over every girl in his class and suddenly stuck on the image of one. Marinette Dupain-Chang. Their everyday ladybug.

He thought back to every akuma at school where he had seen Marinette disappear from the scene and Ladybug appear a few minutes later. All the back up Miraculous holders that had been revealed during Queen Wasp could be connected to Marinette in some way. Especially when he considered that it was Ladybug who chose them. Come to think of it, Marinette had been looking as offbeat recently as Ladybug is now.

He thought over Marinette when she had been Multimouse. She was the only other person in the hallway when they had seen drawings of Plagg and Tikki on the TV. She had worn lots of miraculous then. Whose to say she wasn't also wearing the fox one? Chat decided to test it. He looked up at Ladybug so he could watch her expression.

"Marinette?"

Ladybug froze in shock.

"You are. You're Marinette."

"Ye... Yeah. I am. Guess it wasn't that hard to figure out once you started connecting the dots, huh." Marinette looked away embarrassed.

"Well, it is now that I'm really actually thinking about it. Although I really feel stupid for not making the connection before. I called you our everyday ladybug for goodness sakes!" Chat said as he slammed a hand against his forehead.

Ladybug giggled then sighed and stood up. "Look, we have more to discuss about this whole thing. I'm pretty sure I've worked out who Hawkmoth is. Though I don't know what to do with that information at the moment. Why don't we take this conversation indoors. I could do with a hot chocolate. I'm sure Plagg is dying for some cheese bread and to catch up with the other kwamis."

"Plagg eats cheese bread? I didn't think he ate anything other than old stinky smelly cheese."

Ladybug giggled again. "Well he must do if the cheese bread I place in my school bag disappearing every day for the last month has anything to say about it."

Chat slammed his head against his hand again. "Honestly Plagg! He only thinks with his stomach. Wait... You've been feeding my kwami at school?"

"Um... Yeah... Plagg and Tikki have taken to hiding out in my bag during class for snacks and conversation. Coming?"

"Lead the way Milady" Chat bowed with an arm out gesturing for her to lead. He looked every inch the gentleman he was in his civilian life.

She smiled sadly from nostalgia before zipping off towards her home. Chat following closely behind. It had been a long time since she'd heard Chat call her anything other than Ladybug or LB.

She released her transformation as she landed on her balcony. She waited for Chat to do the same before lifting up her roof top door and inviting him in. She felt a little dazed as she did so. It was one thing to know in theory that it was Adrian under mask. It was another thing entirely to watch Chat actually become Adrian. She waited for him to climb off her bed before dropping through the door herself and following him down.

"Take a seat. I'll pop down to make our drinks and grab some snacks." Marinette said as she headed downstairs to the bakery.

Adrian looked around her bedroom. It had been a while since he'd last been here as either Adrian or Chat. It had changed somewhat since he last saw it. It was still pink. Very pink. But where there used to be a wall full of his model pictures there was a wall full of designs instead. The board above her bed that had once been full of his photos were now fulled with photos of all their friends. Although, none of them had been taken recently.

Thinking about it, Adrian didn't remember the last time any of their friends had all hung out. Things had been tense in their classroom lately. Which he knew was likely to be Lila's doing. He hadn't realised things had gotten quite so bad. His classes had lately been interrupted often by either his modelling work or akumas. So he didn't get to see or hear a lot of what was going on in the classroom.

He had only just noticed a few days ago that Marinette was no longer sitting in the seat behind him. That thought made him feel guilty now. He had promised to support Marinette against Lila when he told her to take the high road. He regretted that advice now. He didn't realise at the time that Lila had already made Marinette a target.

Adrian's thoughts were interrupted by Marinette re-entering the bedroom, her hands full with a loaded tray. He took the tray from her, noting that aside from their mugs with hot chocolate laden with whipped cream and a plate full of cookies, croissants, cheese bread, and other baked goods, there was also a variety of fruits adnd vegetables and other assorted foods. He gave Marinette a questioning look and she smiled back at him.

"Thanks. Just put the tray on the small table by the chaise. I'm going to bring out the others."

"The others?"

Marinette walked over to a gramophone tucked into a hidden corner of her desk. It was partially blocked from view by other items on her desk. Adrian watched as she opened a compartment and entered a code. The code released the miraculous box, which was now egg shaped and red with black spots, from inside. Pulling it out, Marinette brought it over to the chaise and sat on the floor beside it. Adrian sat down on the chaise to watch.

He was stunned as she pulled out every miraculous inside and put them on. As she released each one a matching kwami appeared around them. Soon Plagg and Tikki flew over from wherever they had gone to talk to join them.

The kwamis babbled together excitedly, swooping down occasionally to pick up their choice of a snack as they talked. Marinette was the only Master they'd had who was strong enough to do so and did so on a regular basis. Though it still took a lot out of her when she did so and she couldn't do it for more than an hour at a time. They also loved that she always had their favourite snacks waiting for them when she did so.

"Wow!" Adrian was amazed. Marinette looked enchanting covered in each one of the miraculous surrounded by multiple kwamis. She handed him one of the mugs and the plate of baked goods that were left over from the kwamis.

"Eat. I'm sure whatever model diet your father has you on doesn't provide anywhere near enough calories to meet your superhero requirements." Marinette mentioned as she took a sip from her own mug.

Adrian laughed awkwardly. "You'd be right about that. Especially when you consider how much camembert Plagg eats and that my father thinks its me instead."

Marinette grimaced at that. "I thought so. You've been looking a little thin lately and both Kagami and Plagg were worried. I was tempted to send Tikki into your locker with a bag of goodies every day instead of just every other day. I might have to actually start doing that if your diet doesn't change."

"So that was so you? I couldn't understand how the food kept appearing in my locker. Though I was extremely grateful for it." Adrian smiled at her, unaware of the soft look on his face as he did so.

Marinette blushed when she saw it. She nodded back at him. Just because she had stepped aside for Kagami didn't mean she had stopped caring.

Adrian put his mug and plate on the table beside him before dropping from the chaise onto his knees on the ground and wrapping Marinette into a tight hug. His head was tucked into her shoulder. "Thank you so much, Marinette! You're amazing!"

Marinette had to place her own mug carefully on the ground beside her so she didn't spill it before she could wrap her own arms around him and return his hug. Adrian had always been touchy during their friendship and Chat had been even more so, especially when she was Ladybug. Marinette had figured long ago that both boys were touch deprived; and now that she knew they were one and the same, she understood that need for touch even more.

She began to rub his back soothingly as she realised he was trembling and her shirt had dampened from his silent tears. Apparently things were even worse at home than she'd realised.

"Adrian, if you ever need to escape for a while or need extra food, you are more than welcome to come here. Even if I'm not home, my parents would be more than happy to feed you or let you hang out."

"Thanks Marinette. I will probably be taking you up on that offer so much that you might regret offering it."

"Never, Adrian. You're one of my closest friends. My best friend. You will always be welcome here."

Very gently and lightly, so lightly he barely registered that she'd done so, Marinette kissed the top of his head. It was a few more minutes before his tears had stopped and his blush had died down enough that he could pull away, albeit reluctantly.

Once Adrian felt more composed, he picked up his mug and finished it. He then stuffed the food into his mouth as if afraid she would take it away. Marinette giggled at his actions, sipping her on mug much slower. She waited until he had cleaned the plate before bringing up the next topic.

"Um, so we need to talk about Lila and Hawkmoth." She finally said hesitantly.

"I get Hawkmoth. But why Lila?"

It was Tikki that answered Adrian's question. "We think they are working together. She's been targeting Marinette at school with what we think is the intention to get her akumatised. And whenever Marinette resists the akumas, Lila seems to get akumatised more often than not, in her stead."

"What?! Marinette, you've been fighting off akumas?"

"Um... yeah... I have been since the first day Lila came back to school after her supposed trip to Achu etc."

"Oh Marinette! I'm so sorry! I should have done more to help you!"

"It's OK, Adrian. There probably isn't much you could have done. We've been handling it. It's only recently that we even realised that I was probably being deliberately targeted by Hawkmoth and that Lila was possibly working with him. I've been mediating with Maman each morning to help even out my emotions before school and when things get really bad, Kaalki gets me out of Paris to calm down."

"How often? How often are you having to resist Akumas?" Adrian whispered.

"She has to fight one off most days. Sometimes more than one. All it takes is the slightest emotional imbalance for one to seek her. Hawkmoth seems to be pretty determined to akumatise Marinette." Tikki finally answered him when Marinette refused by tucking her face into her raised knees.

Adrian's face drained of all colour when he heard her. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed any of this.

"It's why I sit in the back of the classroom now. It's much easier for Tikki to purify a stray akuma without anyone noticing back there." Marinette mumbled against her knees where her face stayed hidden.

"I've had to destroy one or two myself, when I've been hanging out back there." Plagg added.

Marinette squealed in shock when Adrian suddenly lifted her off the ground and into his lap for a hug. He had no idea what to say to what he was hearing. It had scared him the one time he knew Marinette had almost been akumatised when Lila had accused her of stealing, cheating and pushing her down the stairs. The fact that it was the only akuma to succeed out of how many for the last half a year was a huge shock. Actually come to think of it, Hawk Moth seemed almost prepared for Marinette to be akumatised. Adrian remembered those red akumas from Hero Day. That just added to Marinette's theory of Lila working with him.

"Why is Hawkmoth targeting you so much?" He asked with his face against her shoulder.

"We think he either suspects Marinette of being Ladybug or he thinks she's key to winning somehow. Marinette is the only person to not have been successfully akumatised in your class other than yourself." Longg the dragon kwami spoke.

"Which leads us into Hawkmoth's suspected identity." Plagg added.

"Who is it?" Adrian asked looking up at the kwamis who were now all seated on the chaise. Marinette tried to move out of his lap only for Adrian to tighten his grip.

"We think it's your father." Marinette said softly.

"My father? My father is Hawkmoth?" Adrian said bewildered.

"Hear us out please. We have a reason for thinking so." Marinette pleaded. She continued when Adrian nodded for her to continue.

"I know we excluded him from the suspect list when he was akumatised as The Collector. But having talked to the kwamis since becoming the Guardian, I've learnt that it's possible to akumatise yourself. It's dangerous but it can be done. I'm not sure Master Fu even knew that.

He had that book with past superheros written in the guardian language and Plagg thinks he remembers seeing what might have been the peacock miraculous in your father's safe when you took the book. Although he didn't realise it at the time.

There has also been the fact that any akumas he's sent out never seek to target you, and if they do, that's when Plagg says you see your father acting fatherlike the most. Your bodyguard was the only real exception and thinking back I feel like he suspected you were Chat Noir and was testing you. Sorry, I know this is upsetting, especially since it's obvious that I've been talking to Plagg behind your back." Marinette touched Adrian's shoulder gently in apology and to offer comfort.

"Plagg also said that Nathalie has been quite sick looking lately and we thought that might be because she's been wearing the peacock miraculous as Mayura while it was still damaged.

Um... Other evidence relates to the whole Chat Blanc time line and guess work. Once I made the connection that you were Chat Noir, and your words as Chat Blanc about our love destroying the world, we had to think about how our love could possibly do that.

All I could think of... was situations like when Nino wanted to throw you a birthday party and your father said no. Then Nino was akumatised. The same thing happened to that magician on that game show when your father ridiculed him and he got akumatised. It got me thinking about how often someone he puts down or ridicules gets akumatised, such as your bodyguard.

Which got me thinking that if he could do that, and if he was targeting me then the perfect way for him to get to me or us was if we had been dating and he threatened us to break up somehow. Probably by pulling you out of school or something. He did that before over the guardian book. He only let you come back to school that time because I returned the book to him."

Marinette turned her head away to give Adrian privacy to process everything she said. His arms had only tightened as she talked. It was as if her body in his lap was grounding him somehow.

"So... you returned my father's book?" Adrian said quietly after a while.

"Um... Yes. I... um... saw Lila take it that day in the library. I ended up following her to the jewellery store where she bought that fake fox miraculous and then Tikki and I watched her throw the book into the bin behind the bench just before you met her in the park. Tikki fished it out while Lila was telling you her stories.

Tikki had recognised the book as being important since it was about the miraculous. We took the book to Master Fu who began decoding it. Then when you and I went to investigate your father only to find that he had gotten akumatised. And then he pulled you out of school so I went back to Master Fu who made a digital copy of the book so he could continue to decode it and I returned it back to your father pretending that I was the one who had taken it.

Between that and Lila's lies about being Ladybug's best friend and being a miraculous holder herself to get close to you... it was why I kind of lost my temper at her that day. I'm sorry. It wasn't one of my finer moments."

Marinette couldn't look at Adrian then so she looked down at the floor. She was embarrassed to have admitted to all that. He used a finger to lift her chin in his direction until she was looking at him. "Thank you for telling me. I never knew what happened that day or why you were as angry as you were. I'm relieved to know now."

Marinette blushed. "I'm not sure what to do about all of this though. Just the fact that Lila is probably working with Hawkmoth and who Hawkmoth actually might be. I don't know how to deal with it all."

"We should probably deal with Lila first. If we get rid of his allies, then we reduce his help base. Then we probably need to find new helpers of our own before we take him on." Adrian thought out loud. He was struggling a little to process the thought of his father being Hawkmoth. Though all of Marinette's evidence matched up.

"Then how do we do that? Lila has everyone twisted around her little finger now. She made good on her threat to take my friends away. The only thing she's failed on is make you her boyfriend."

Adrian stiffened. His voice almost growled as he spit out "What threat?"

"Lila cornered Marinette in the girls bathroom the same day that Lila came back from her 'trip'. The same day you told Marinette to take the higher road." Tikki explained. "That was the day Lila was akumatised as Cameleon. The akuma was meant for Marinette. Marinette fought it off in the bathroom then transformed to chase it, only somehow Lila got it instead."

"My god, Princess, I'm so sorry. I've been an idiot." Adrian dropped his head back into Marinette's shoulder.

She patted him soothingly on his back. "It's OK, Adrian. You didn't know. But... um... Not that I'm complaining or anything... but... you should probably let me go now. This isn't really fair to your relationship with Kagami. The last thing I want to do is hurt her by interfering in it."

Adrian sighed. He tightened his arms for one last hug before reluctantly letting Marinette go. She was right. Even if he knew that his and Kagami's relationship wasn't really going anywhere. Marinette didn't. It wasn't fair to pursue Marinette until he had talked to Kagami.

His phone beeped then. School was finished and his bodyguard was looking for him. "I need to go. I need to sort out some stuff at home and talk to Kagami. Is it alright if I phone you later? We need to make a game plan on dealing with Lila."

"That's fine. I've held out this long. I can manage a few more hours." Marinette gave him a sweet smile as she escorted him back up to her trap door.

Adrian called for his transformation and jumped through the trap door in her roof before looking down to study her. It had been a long time since he'd seen Marinette smile. Leaning down he kissed her forehead before taking off with his batten towards school.