Miraculous Reveals and More (A collection of One-Shots)

Identity Crisis (2445 words)

"You're telling me you aren't even a little curious about who she really is?" Alya says as they walk out of the school.

"Of course I'm interested; I think all of Paris is at least a little curious." Marinette quickly counters. "It's just that, uh, I think she doesn't want people to know her identity and I respect that, not to say that you don't; believe me, I want to know who she really is, but I think she'd prefer if we didn't go seeking her real identity..." she rambles on.

Alya rolls her eyes, "Oh, Marinette, always so considerate." she gives her a side glance, "How would you know what Ladybug wants anyway?" she wiggles her eyebrows the way she does when she's found out something while investigating.

Marinette feels the blood leave her face as she attempts to keep it stolid. "I mean- I just mean that, if I were in her shoes, I think that's what I, she, would want."

Alya puts an arm around Mari's shoulders, "Girl, no need to get defensive," she laughs, "Does 'investigator Alya' intimidate you that much?"

"Haha, you're just really good at what you do." she laughs away the tension in her own mind.

Alya sighs, "I guess I'll just have to figure out Ladybug's identity on my own."

"Did you say you know 'Ladybug's identity'?" Adrien asks as he comes up from behind them.

A gleam comes to Alya's eye, "No, we don't currently. Would you like to help me figure it out?"

He lights up, "Sure!" he smiles whole heartedly.

"Marinette, didn't you say you wanted to help too?" She leads, nudging Mari in the shoulder knowingly.

It takes a moment for her urges to catch up to Marinette who couldn't get past the twinge in her chest and the dumb smile on her face.

"Mari?"

She comes to, "Huh? Yeah!" she agrees instantly, still a little starry eyed.

"Cool! You guys wanna meet in the library later?" Adrien suggests as he changes course to go to his fencing lesson.

"Totally. See you then!" Alya quickly responds while trying to keep Marinette together.

Once he had walked away, Marinette fully snaps out of her trance. She takes a moment to recount what just happened. "Ohhh," she moans and covers her face with her hand.

"Yep, you're joining our mission, our quest!" She waves her hand in an arc in front of them.

She sighs, "I guess this won't be too bad."

"Yeah, now that Adrien has decided to help out..." she winks, sending blush blooming across Marinette's face, "you can thank me later."

They walk their separate ways with the promise to meet up back at the library in an hour when they knew Adrien's fencing lesson was over. After reaching an empty stretch of sidewalk, Tikki pokes her head out of Marinette's purse. "Are you seriously going to help Alya and Adrien find out who Ladybug is?" she squeaks.

She shakes her head, "Nope. I'm gonna pretend to be helping them, but I'll actually be leading them off course, as best as I can." She does a halfhearted smile.

"Did you just think of that?" Tikki asks.

She shrugs, "No, I've had it in the back of my mind for a while, just for a situation like this. I kinda hoped it would never come to me purposefully deceiving anyone, but I don't have a choice."

The Kwami nods, "It's what must be done." she pauses, "So Adrien seemed eager to find out Ladybug's identity." She offers.

Her blush resurfaces, "Yeah, well, so is most of Paris, like I said before" she brushes it off.