Ladrien June 2022

Butterflies

Here we are in the last little stretch of Ladrien June. Huge thank you to everyone who has left kudos and comments on this series <3                                                                                   -Colorado

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ladybug was horrified as she stared at the green light, slowly fading from her eyesight. She squeezed her eyes shut.

"Don't look!" Civilian Chat Noir cried.

"I'm not looking, I'm not looking!" Ladybug cried, putting her hands over her face.

"Why did you go to this alley?" Chat shrieked. "Did you not notice that you were following me?"

"No! Obviously not!" Ladybug hissed, trying to get her mind off of the image.

Hawkmoth had decided to strike in the late evening, and Ladybug had been too preoccupied with detransforming to notice her partner. He was already mid-transformation when she stepped down into the alleyway. She hadn't seen his face, but those orange converse were too familiar to her. She tried to not think about it, she really did! Not knowing each other's identities were rule one. But it was too late, she had already seen enough.

She recognized those shoes, hell, she had those shoes plastered all over her bedroom walls. But those were Gabriel's poster shoes! They had to have sold hundreds of those same shoes. Just because it just so happened to be Adrien's exact same shoes. There couldn't be any coincidence, right?

Right, absolutely not.

"Did you see anything?" Chat Noir asked, grabbing her shoulders.

The feeling of his hands on her super suit was exhilarating. She could open her eyes and she would know who he was. The man who she had been saving Paris with for years at this point was right in front of her. Unmasked.

"No, I-." She was interrupted by her earrings rapidly beeping at her. "Shit, close your eyes."

"Already have them closed." Chat Noir said quietly as Marinette's transformation came undone.

"M-Ladybug, what are you doing?" Tikki called out, glancing between Marinette, Adrien, and Plagg.

"We accidentally ended up in the same alleyway to detransformed." Marinette explained.

"This would only ever happen to you two." Plagg laughed, ignoring Tikki's protests.

"Did either of you two see anything? And I mean anything at all." Tikki asked, an edge to her voice.

"I saw his shoes." Marinette whispered.

"Shit." Tikki cursed. Plagg only howled with laughter.

"Tikki!" She shrieked.

Her kind hearted kwami who had never spoken badly about anyone, had just cursed. All because Marinette had seen his shoes. She didn't think that was too big of a deal, but Tikki doing something that drastic made it seem like just his shoes could reveal his identity.

Did that mean that he was...? No. No way.

"What's wrong with my shoes? How can they give that much away?" Chat Noir was obviously on the verge of panic. "They've sold hundreds of these same ones, right?"

"Yeah, he could be anyone Tikki. Anyone!" Marinette agreed, nodding her head frantically.

"Yeah, so why are you so scared?"

"Because the glamour is already disappearing." Plagg cackled.

"W-what's that supposed to mean?" Chat Noir asked, his voice sounded familiar to Marinette, like she had heard it from another person.