You and me against the world

"We need your help..."

In celebration of this story's end approaching, here's one last lighthearted chapter.

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"HANG ON! THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING?? SOMEONE PLEASE PINCH ME? OW NINOOOO, WAIT I NEED TO DOCUMENTE THIS. IS ANYONE ELSE FEELING DIZZY OR IS IT JUST ME?"

"Nah babe, it's probably from all the panting you've been doing."

It was, well, well after the middle of the night, dawn was probably not even an hour away.

In Chloé's hotel room stood, Chloé, Alya, Nino, and a certain superhero duo.

Seems their fight awakened most of the city.

Chat Noir couldn't fathom how Alya found enough energy to shout so loudly that probably everyone within a five block perimeter heard her. Nino was trying his best to calm her down, although none of it was working.

Ladybug, on the other hand, was amused, as was Chloé apparently, from the mischievous grin she had.

"Yes Alya, this really is happening, I assure you this isn't a ruse." Ladybug assured.

"BUT IT COULD BE-

Before alya could finish, Chloe punched Chat Noir's arm.

"Nope, not an illusion now could we get this over with?" Chloe said.

"OK HANG ON, I NEED TO PREPARE MYSELF MENTALLY, EMOTIONALLY AND PHYSCALLY, OH GOD O HAVE BEEN DREAMING OFF THIS MOMENT FOR FOUR YEARS, ALTHOUGH I EXPECTED IT TO BE A LITTLE MORE DRAMATIC."

"Well, you got the dramatic part covered Césaire." Chloe retorted.

Breathe in,

Breathe out,

Remember Alya, whoever behind that mask, is most likely a human just like you so don't panic.

Don't panic don't panic don't panic.

She was pacing back and forth in the middle of the room, which was making Nino dizzy as he watched her, afraid she might induce a seizure or just faint.

"Alright, I'm ready"

They allowed for their transformations to fall.

A few moments and a blinding flash of pink and green later, in Chat Noir and Ladybug's place stood none other than-

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK."

If anyone was still asleep in Paris, they would have awoken from Alya's shriek.

Nino was, unfazed, his only reaction being a couple of "wow", before going to give Marinette and Adrien a fist bump each.

The grin on Chloé's face seemed to widen as her shoulders started shaking from trying to hide her laughter.

Alya, well, she was being Alya.

"MARINETTE DUPAIN CHENG, FOR FOUR YEARS I HAVE BEEN YOUR BEST FRIEND, AND I'M ONLY NOW FINDING OUT THAT LADYBUG, THE WOMAN I IDOLIZED MORE THAN ANY OTHER PERSON, HAS BEEN RIGHT UNDER MY NOSE THIS WHOLE ENTIRE TIME? AND YOU SUNSHINE BOY DON'T THINK YOU'RE GETTING OUT OF THIS EASILY TOO."

They all burst out laughing as Alya continued her ramble, while Marinette watched with a guilty expression on her face.

"I'm so sorry Alya, believe me, there was nothing I wanted to do than to tell you the truth. But it was for your own sa-

"Don't you dare give me that 'I did this so the bad guys wouldn't use you to get me' nonsense, Dupain-Cheng."

"You're right, sorry, but the point is, I never told anyone, Adrien himself didn't find out until very recently."

The coughing sound emitted from Chloé was purposefully comical.

"Chloé on the other hand, from her not so subtle signs, has figured us out on her own. Or so I assume" Marinette's voice was unamused.

Her remark drew a unanimous "WHAT" from everyone in the room, except for Chloé.

"Well, I knew you were a smart one Marinette." Cloé snickered.

"BUT I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE REPORTER, I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONE TO FIGURE IT OUT." Alya all but whined.

"A blind reporter who didn't spend a lifetime with a grief-ridden Adrien. Whiskers here has a tick whenever his emotions threaten to spiral out of control, and he's clearly unaware of it." Chloé gestured to a spot over her hear and started tapping.

"Oh." Is all Adrien managed to say.

"And the only thing separating me from spots here is a wall, and not a very thick one. And while her talking to herself could have been a sign of her going cuckoo, I don't believe she'd lost it enough to start using different, high pitched voices to make a conversation. It was obvious, utterly obvious. Oh and the occasional kissing, that didn't make connecting the dots that hard." Chloé explained which left everyone stunned, and Marinette flushing a little bit from embarrassment.

"Alright, fine. But if you too had already gone this long without revealing yourselves, why would you do it now?" Alya wondered.

Marinette took a deep breath so as to prepare herself, while Adrien put his hand on her shoulder. A show of affection and reassurance.

"I wish the circumstances were better, but we need your help..." They went on to explain everything to their friends.

The air in the room quickly shifted and took on a more serious tone.

When they finally finished, everyone stayed quite, too shocked to speak as they tried to process what they just heard.

"So" nino was the first to break the silence. "Your mother" he pointed towards Adrien "isn't really dead, your father is the supervillan who's been terrorizing this city for over 4 years now, and killed thousands of people to bring her back, including-

Alya quickly took his hand in hers and interrupted him "AND in the midst of all this chaos, you two found out each other's identity and became a couple"

"Well, technically, Chat and Marinette have been a couple a while before" Adrien glanced quickly at Marinette "Before things went downhill."

From the amount of screaming she'd already done, you'd think Alya's throat wouldn't be ready to keep on screaming.

"AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!"

"That's beside the point, fact is, the situation is dire and we need you. But I'd understand if you would be reluctant to do this, with the risks and all." She looked down while saying the last part.

"You're kidding right?" she looked up to find Alya's intense gaze on her.

"When have we ever run away when Ladybug needed us?" Chloé assured.

"Yeah dudes, after all the effort and energy you've put into making this city safe? What kind of ungrateful citizens would that make us? We owe you that much."

Alya approached Marinette, put her hands on her shoulders and looked her straight in the eye, her gaze unwavering:" You've both been carrying a burden far too heavy for any teenager for long enough. It's about time we split the weight."

Marinette wrapped her hands around Alya in a bone crushing hug, already feeling the tears trickling down her cheeks.

"Thank you, all of you." She whispered.

The hug quickly turned into a group hug. Marinette basked in their comfort, having forgotten what it felt like to feel familial warmth.

"Let's kick his ass into hell, no offense adrikins."

The room was filld with the joyful giggles, coming even from Marinette.

Genuine laughter, Adrien noted.

"So My Lady, how are we going to do this?"

"OK team, here's our plan...