Breaking Free

26) Secrets

Marinette's POV
Marinette froze as she looked at her friends in the doorway, unsure how much they saw, muchless how to respond.

"I...uh...um...we-"

"Marinette... explain." She had never heard Alya this upset before, her voice hard and strict.

"It's not what it looks like!" She finally sputtered.

"Oh really? Because it looked like you were making out with Chat Noir, who just so happens to be our best friend, and I was about to be an aunt at 17... and the dad's a furry!"

"Don't forget that Chat's taken, dudette."

"That too! I'm not sure what to worry about first! Whether Adrien is Chat or that you broke Ladynoir up!"

Marinette shrunk back, not daring to meet her friends' eyes. Over the deafening silence, they could hear her parents greeting Adrien as he made his way up the stairs.

All eyes were on the trap door as his foot steps neared the top.

"Long time no see bug- aboo... what's going on up here and why does it look like everyone wants to hurt me?"

"Why don't you help us answer that Chat Noir."

Adrien looked up at Marinette as she nodded in confirmation. They knew. The fear in their eyes was apparent as the bluenette climbed down from her bed taking a seat on the ground, her boyfriend sitting close. Their friends followed suite, angrily sitting down a few feet away.

"What's going on? Please tell me there's an explanation to this, guys."

The model was the first to respond.

"Alya, Nino, I-"

"Not you, sunshine." She pinched her fingers over the bridge of her nose, looking down. "I still need time to process the fact that you are a superhero... and that you didn't trust us enough to tell us!" Her voice began to rise and Nino tried to calm her down, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "What's going on?"

"Everything okay up there?" Tom's voice made its way up the stairs as they all shouted down.

"Yes, Papa!"

"Smells great M. Dupain!"

"We're good Tom!"

"Everything's fine!"

Each word was a lie, but they forced smiles and bright tones.

"Okay! Dinner will be ready shortly!"

The entire group sighed before Marinette spoke up.

"Before we tell you anything, promise you won't share this with anybody. Not our friends, not our parents, not the Ladyblog. We need to trust you."

"And we need to trust you too, girl, but I don't know if I can."

She gave her best friend a pleading stare before she folded.

"Okay, fine Mari. I won't tell anybody. But this better be good."

Adrien looked at Nino for the same confirmation.

"I promise, bro."

"Well, I guess it's safe for Plagg to come out." The bluenette sighed as the cheese loving kwami came rushing out of Adrien's pocket, making a beeline towards the mini fridge.

"Got any camembert pigtails?"

"Ponytail." She corrected.

"Yeah, whatever. So do ya?"

"Yes Plagg. I also made some of those danishes you like, you know, the cheese filled ones?"

"Ooh! Thanks princess!"

Adrien gave him a dirty stare.

"Got it kid, 'princess' is yours." Plagg rolled his eyes before eagerly opening the appliance.

"Is that your kwami?" Nino asked, watching the creature with amusement.

"Yeah," Adrien chuckled, "turns out the god of destruction's a handful." They all stared as he hastily stuffed cheese in his mouth.

Alya and Nino silently nodded, still attempting to register the new development. Adrien's attempt to lighten the mood failed as everyone continued to watch the kwami with a straight face and emotionless features.

"So, care to explain your... relationship?" Alya added, looking between Mari and her boyfriend.

"We're dating." Marinette nervously began. "He started visiting over a year ago, and we've been really close ever since. About 8 months ago we got together, and 2 months ago I found out his identity."

"Does that mean that this whole time, Adrien was the mystery boyfriend? And Mari was the secret girlfriend?

"Yup."

"So you dated Chat Noir for 6 months before you knew his name?"

She nodded.

"And what about Ladybug? I thought you two were in a relationship?"

"We are." Adrien admitted. "Want to take this one, m'lady?"

"Wait... 'm'lady'?" Nino asked, recognizing the very public name. The famous nickname for the heroine of Paris.

"The nicknames, the puns, the over-night bonding," Alya muttered, "the inside jokes... oh girl... don't tell me you're..."

The bluenette sighed as Adrien gave her a reassuring smile.

"Tikki, spots on."
- • - • - • - • - • - • -
Dinner was quiet.

The festive atmosphere and the upcoming holiday were drowned out by the secrets and heroes, though the teenagers did their best to keep Tom and Sabine from noticing.

The moment they were excused, the four of them rushed back up to Marinette's room, not even stopping under the mistletoe.

"My best friends are superheroes... my best friends are superheroes! Oh my gosh this is amazing! My ships are sailing! But my best friends lied to me about... being superheroes... but they're superheroes!"

Alya was quite obviously out of commission, breaking down in the corner attempting to process it all. Nino was doing the same.

"I think they took it pretty well, don't you m'lady?" Adrien asked, wrapping an arm around her waist.

The bluenette looked over their conflicted friends, smiles switching to glares, eyes going back and forth between the two.

"Better than I though they would. I just hope their mental stability comes back by tomorrow, I would hate for them to miss Christmas."

Adrien laughed and kissed the top of her head.

"Definitely. Maybe we should try to fix them."

"That might be a good idea. I feel awful that they had to find out this way, though. We hid this from them for months... I'm just scared that they might turn away once they come back to their senses."

"They're our friends. Our best friends. I know they'll understand. It was for our safety and theirs, besides, once this all settles over, I think Alya will be too excited to yell at us."

"I hope you're right," she looked at the couple again, noticing them beginning to calm down, taking some deep breaths in.

"And it looks like we're about to find out."