Chloe walked into the small bakery and raised a brow when she saw her two classmates. Two other adults occupied the closed bakery and she recognized one of them to be Marinette's father.
"Why are you two here?" Chloe directed the question at her two classmates. If she had known they were here, she would have brought Sabrina along.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Alya said and Chloe scoffed.
"Marinette and Adrien invited us here," Nino said proudly.
"What a coincidence, I was invited by Adrien too," Chloe smirked.
"Now now, I'm sure there is perfectly good reason why we were all invited here," Marinette's father, Tom, reasoned.
"There is." All eyes turned to the back of the bakery where Marinette and Adrien walked in through the back door. The two walked towards the group and stood across from the others.
"What is the meaning of this?! Why are you two holding hands?" Chloe spat. The couple looked down at their intertwined hands and quickly separated them. Adrien nervously scratched the back of his neck while looking up and Marinette had her gaze down while holding her hands together in front of herself.
"Looks like the cats out of the bag," Adrien said, looking over at Marinette, who rolled her eyes and sighed but had a smile on her face.
"Congrats man, but why did you gather us here to announce that?" Nino asked. Adrien and Marinette looked at each other and Adrien nodded. Marinette turned her attention back to group and smiled.
"We're very sorry for keeping this a secret for such a long time. But it was for your safety, and our own too," Marinette said.
"Just tell us sweetie, we won't be mad," Marinette's mother, Sabine, said.
"I think it would just be easier to show you guys," Marinette said as she unclasped her purse and Adrien lifted his right side of jacket. The two kwamis floated out and the others stared in disbelief.
"These two are responsible for the appearance of Ladybug and Chat Noir," Adrien explained.
"We only do a bit of the work, you two should take more of the credit," Tikki said.
"So you were..."
"... Ladybug and Chat Noir..."
"... this whole time?" The two young superheroes nodded and let the information sink in for a bit.
"You're all probably wondering why we're telling you this..." Alya looked up to see a pained expression on her friend's face.
"Marinette..."
"Earlier this week, we found what we suspect to be Hawk Moth's hide out," Marinette said, standing strong and confident.
"And we plan to end this once and for all," Adrien finished firmly.
"But won't that be-"
"Dangerous?" Marinette said, holding back tears as she looked at the worry on her parents' faces. "We're going to do our best to be safe, but we cannot guarantee that we will make it back. That is why we're saying our goodbyes to the people that matter the most to us."
"Oh my Marinette," Sabine held back her tears as she hugged her daughter. Tom also joined, embracing the two most important women in his life.
Adrien watched the scene before him and it broke his heart just thinking about anything bad happening to Marinette, his Ladybug.
He turned his head when he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Nino smile at him. He returned the gesture by patting the hand gently while flashing him a smile. Nino pointed behind Adrien with his head and left after patting his shoulder two more times.
Chloe was standing behind him and for once in his life, Chloe looked timid, scared almost.
"Chloe, I-"
"I'm really happy, that after all these years, you still think of me as an important person in your life," Chloe admitted, her gaze casted to the ground.
"Of course," Adrien said warmly and she looked at him with wide eyes, "You were always my friend. Though I don't agree with how you do things, I could never forget about my first friend."
"I... I understand that," Chloe glanced over at Marinette, who was chatting with her parents and Alya, "you must really like Marinette, Ladybug, but I won't forgive you if you don't return safely!"
Adrien blinked a few times at Chloe's attempt to wish him well. He smiled at the blushing girl. "Thank you, Chloe."
"What do you say we make this the best day before you two have to do your superhero thing?" Nino said and they all cheered.
(At the hideout)
"There's no turning back after we go inside silly cat."
"As long as I'm with you, my lady."
