Post-Reveal

Chapter Four

Ladybug and Chat Noir landed on the roof of the school as silently as they possibly could, detransformed quickly, and ran back to their classes.

"Whew!" Ladybug sighed, stretching. "That one was pretty hard. It got tiring to fight ten Miroirs."

"I'll say," Chat Noir agreed. "I can't wait to see what Papillon's next trick entails."

Ladybug glared.

"What? That one was funny!"

Ladybug didn't answer, but instead left the roof and entered the school building, where Chat Noir saw a flash of light. He sighed and followed suit.

As always, Alya noticed when Marinette and Adrien snuck off together and returned together. It was the journalist in her. She wondered what they could possibly be doing for an hour away from school.
When lunch rolled around, she noticed Adrien call Marinette his "little ladybug." What an odd pet name, she thought, and mentally noted it.

Marinette noticed Alya noticing her behavior. Alya seemed to be watching her like a hawk recently. Maybe it was because of the sudden confidence she had around Adrien. Marinette felt a surge of guilt. She didn't like lying to Alya about the real reason she and Adrien's relationship was so sudden and so passionate, but she could never tell her. Ladybug's identity was already revealed to Chat Noir. It didn't need to get more widespread than that.

Days passed without much incident. Alya grew increasingly suspicious each time Marinette and Adrien seemingly disappeared from school. Granted, most times Papillon struck, it was outside of school, but the duo still left often enough to arouse suspicion.

It was a Saturday. A little less than two weeks since Marinette and Adrien revealed themselves to each other. They were playing Ultimate Mecha Strike III.

"Yes!" Marinette jumped around her room. "Victory, Marinette!"

"That's the sixth time in a row," Adrien sighed. "Maybe we should do something else. You're much better than me at video games."

Marinette considered. "Okay, you're right. Maybe you could come downstairs and help my papa decorate the cakes."

"He'd let me do that?"

"Of course! Here, come on." Marinette gestured for Adrien to follow her downstairs.

"Wait a minute, Marinette. Do you hear that?"

"No, it must be your superpowers. What is it?"

"I-" Adrien ran to Marinette's front door and leaned against it. "It sounds like-" His face scrunched up. "I can't quite place it. A thing with... a lot of wings?"

"Should we go check it out, then?"

Adrien nodded. They ran back to Marinette's room.

"Tikki, transforme moi!" Marinette commanded.

"Plagg, transforme moi!" Adrien agreed, following suit.

They jumped out the window and ran to the source of the sound.

"There, Chat Noir!" Ladybug pointed out. A huge swarm of butterflies reigned over the skies of Paris.

Chat Noir seemed really freaked out for some reason. Ladybug stood up straight.

"Chat Noir, are you okay?"

He shook his head. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine. Let's go, princesse." He ran on all fours towards the swarm of butterflies, Ladybug on his heels. As they approached the bugs, Ladybug realized why Chat Noir was so upset. The butterflies were flying directly over Adrien's house.