"It's still weird to have someone to actually talk to now," Marinette said as she sat at her desk. Her homework was splayed out before her but she couldn't concentrate on how to graph a polynomial function. It had been a week since Nino had discovered her true identity. Ever since then, he has been always asking questions and wanting to find out more about one of Paris' most famous superheroes.
At first, it was a tad annoying. Just before she would finish stating an answer, Nino would interrupt her to ask another question. After a while, though, Marinette became used to the questions and grew curious about what other things the boy could possibly come up with.

Behind her, she heard a small humph. "And you feel like you couldn't talk to me?"

Marinette spun around in her chair to face the small red Kwami. Tikki had her small arms crossed but a smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

"You know what I meant. Of course, I know I can talk to you about anything. It's just...nice having one other person who doesn't have to hide in my purse all the time to talk to about the whole Ladybug secret."

Tikki's smile broke through and the Kwami dropped her arms. "I know you've been wanting someone else to confide in besides me. I just thought it would've been Alya or Cat Noir who would've discovered your secret first."

"Me too." Marinette thought of what would've happened if it had been Cat Noir or Alya who had seen her de-transform that day in the ally. Cat Noir probably would've tormented her relentlessly with cat jokes both as a civilian and hero. That is if he accepted that his partner was just a mere nobody. Cat most likely expected Marinette to be someone equally as brave, confident, and strong in civilian life as in her hero life. But Marinette only felt those things behind the security of her mask.

Alya would've been a completely different story. Whereas Cat might've accepted her for who she truly was, Alya would have been hurt, humiliated, and crushed that Marinette never told her that Alya's favorite super hero was also her best friend. She would probably never want to speak to her again. Marinette couldn't imagine losing her best friend.

Tikki's voice shook Marinette from her thoughts. "Well, no point in worrying about what could've been. Now, how do you properly graph question number three's function?"

Marinette sighed as she begrudgingly turned her chair back around. Tikki floated over and sat on the box containing Marinette's diary and watched the girl complete her homework.

~~~

"Did you bring me cheese?" Plagg asked as he flew over to the brunette girl. Aya reached into her bag and brought out a chunk of camembert from her backpack.

"Of course, I did," Alya said as she held the cheese out in front of her. The kwami exclaimed a quick thanks as he snatched up the cheese and flew over to Adrien's desk. He sat down and started to devour the camembert.

"Seriously, though, what's so great about cheese?" Alya put her backpack down on the floor next to her own desk and sat down.

Adrien turned around in his seat to face his friend. "I don't have any clue why he likes it so much."

Plagg looked up from his already half gone block of cheese and stared at the two teenagers. "Cheese is the best thing ever created! You two don't appreciate the amazing taste of camembert."

Alya rolled her eyes. Ever since she had found out about Adrien's alter ego, she had been bringing the kwami cheese from her mother's kitchen every day.

She and Adrien were sitting in their first class of the day. No one had come to class yet so there wasn't anyone else in the room. Alya reached into her backpack and brought out her Ladybug notebook. She always carried her notebook with her everywhere she went. Before she posted anything on the Ladyblog, she collected everything she could in her own notebook. She felt like she wrote her blogs and stories better when she had a pen and a piece of paper rather than typing everything on the computer or her phone. Once she finished writing, she would then transfer it online.

Alya skimmed through the journal, trying to find a certain page. Adrien saw her flipping through her notebook.

"What's that?" he asked.

Aya looked up. "It's my Ladybug journal. I keep everything I know involving Ladybug in here."

"Don't you have a blog though?"

"Yeah, but this is where keep all of my rough drafts and ideas surrounding her. I also have a few theories on who she is behind the mask."

"Really?" Adrien leaned forward in his chair and rested his elbows on Alya's desk. "Who do you think Ladybug is?"

"Well...." she started. "I haven't exactly pinned her just yet, but I have a few solid clues about who she might be." She stopped and looked over at her blond friend. "How come you guys don't know each other's secret identities again?"

Adrien sighed. "It's because she wants to keep our civilian lives separate from our alter egos. At first, I was okay with keeping each other's identities a secret, but now I desperately want to know who my lady is behind the mask. She...she's practically my other half. I feel like I can truly be myself around her and she'll accept me for who I am, cat puns and all. I want her to know who I am but I'll respect her wishes to keep our civilian lives a secret."

Alya stared wide-eyed at her friend. She couldn't believe how smitten Adrien was. She had known that Cat Noir tended to flirt with Ladybug, but she had never known how deep those emotions ran.

"You know," she started to say, "I'm sure one day she'll come around. She'll realize just how much you mean to her. But..."

Adrien looked up at her.

"But in the meantime, I could do a little investigating. You may not be able to discover her identity, but I can. I found out you're Cat Noir. Why not try and see who Ladybug is behind the mask?"

She saw in his eyes that he was contemplating her proposal. She wondered if he would be okay with her investigating. If he felt uncomfortable about it, then she wouldn't try to discover Ladybug's secret identity. He had a relationship with Ladybug and she wouldn't want to jeopardize anything between the duo with her snooping. 

However, Alya's always wanted to find out who her favorite superhero truly was behind the mask. It just always seemed like it was Alya's terrible luck that kept the secret just out of her reach. Seriously, she had had Ladybug's textbook in her hands, but somehow, during the commotion of the akumitzed pharaoh, the book disappeared, taking away Alya's biggest lead on Ladybug's identity with it.

Plagg had finished eating his cheese and looked between the two teenagers. He rolled his eyes and spoke up from his place on Adrien's desk. "Alya's right, you know. She has just as much right discovering Ladybug's identity like anybody else. And quite frankly, I'm tired of seeing Adrien moping around, daydreaming about his love. I think Alya should go undercover and find out Ladybug's secret identity."

Adrien looked over at his kwami in shock.

"What? She did figure out that you're Cat Noir, even if it was by accident. What if she gets lucky and sees Ladybug de-transform?" the black kwami looked between Adrien and Alya.

"Me? Being lucky? Pfft. I have the worst luck ever." Alya said as she rolled her eyes, playfully.

"You have the worst luck?" Adrien said, turning back to face the brunette. "Are you kidding me? I'm Cat Noir, for goodness' sakes! I literally have the power of bad luck."

Alya laughed. "You know, maybe that's why you haven't been able to find out who Ladybug is."

Adrien tilted his head to the side in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, that if you have the power of bad luck and she has good luck powers, then maybe that's what keeping you guys from discovering who you truly are. Her good luck keeps her identity a secret, and you're bad luck keeps you from discovering hers."

"Well, when you put it like that..."Adrien had never thought of his and Ladybug's relationship like that before. What Alya said made sense and if she was right, then he would never be able to find his true love without the mask. Maybe Alya's idea was the only way.

"You know...I think you're right. I think you should try to discover her identity. You already know who I am, why not try to find out who she is? I mean you look like you're really close to discovering her identity with your notebook. I just wonder how you didn't realize that I was Cat Noir sooner," Adrien said.

"It must've been my terrible luck." Alya smiled.

Adrien laughed. "Oh and by the way, thanks for keeping my identity a secret. It really means a lot to me."

"Of course. That's what friends are for, right?"

Adrien smiled.

Alya looked at the blond and saw that he truly did trust her with his secret. She couldn't believe how much better she knew her friend now. She had always wondered where he'd run off to when Nino told her that Adrien had vanished out of thin air some days at school. She and Nino knew Adrien would rarely have a photoshoot during school hours so when he would tell Alya Adrien had disappeared, Alya had always been curious as to where he'd run off to. Now she knew.

"And to think I had only wanted to ask you a few questions for my blog last week," Alya shook her head playfully.

Adrien laughed. "It's alright. Truthfully, it feels good that someone else knows."

Adrien meant what he said. He'd always longed for someone to talk to about his alter ego, but he couldn't tell anyone. He'd only had Plagg to talk to, but the kwami only wanted to talk about cheese. Now that he finally told someone that he was Cat Noir, he felt somewhat free. He could breathe a little easier. It made him happy to know that Alya was the one who had finally discovered who he was. She was bound to find out sometime with her mad reporter skills. He didn't want to think about how his best friend would have reacted to Adrien being Cat Noir. He'd be crushed that Adrien never told him and would probably want nothing to do with the blond anymore. Adrien would lose his best friend.

Alya looked back down at her journal. She flipped through it until she finally found the page she had been looking for. "Well, uh, here is where I keep all my theories." She pointed to a list covering two full pages of her journal. 

Adrien knew that once Alya started to talk about anything Ladybug, she would continue talking until the sun went down. So he pulled his chair a little closer to her desk and got settled to listen to her theories. He was actually quite curious to learn what her ideas were.

"Ok, now, firstly, Ladybug was in possession of a textbook that only our school uses. And I know that you're thinking that she could've gotten it from anywhere and does not go to our school. But then how does she know everyone's name?"

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you noticed that whenever someone becomes akumitized, they're usually from our school and she almost always recognizes who they are and mentions their name. Remember that one time when Mylene was akumitized and got transformed into a giant monster?"

Adrien nodded.

"Well-" Alya started to say before the classroom door opened. Plagg quickly flew into Adrien's bag as Marinette and Nino walked into the room.

Adrien turned and waved. "Hey, Nino! Hey, Marinette!"

Nino walked over and high-fived the blond. "Hey, dude!"

Marinette uttered a small "hi" to Adrien before taking her seat next to Alya. She smiled at Alya who returned the gesture.

Nino sat down in his chair and placed his backpack on the floor. "So what are you guys talking about?" He glanced at Alya's journal. "What's that?"

"It's my Ladybug journal. Everything I know concerning the spotted hero is in here." Alya gestured proudly to her notebook.

"Yeah, actually before you two walked in, she was explaining some theories of hers about who Ladybug might be," Adrien said.

Nino glanced at Marinette before looking back at Alya. "Wha-What theories?"

"Remember when we were shooting that movie for the film festival and Mylene got akumitized?"

Marinette and Nino nodded.

"Well, all the doors and entrances were sealed and then Ladybug showed up to save the day. How could she have gotten through the impenetrable goop without already being inside the school?"

"So, you think Ladybug is a student here?" Marinette asked.

"Exactly. But not only that, when all the students were being kidnapped by Mylene, whenever someone would disappear, Ladybug knew exactly who each of them were. She knew all of their names. How could she know who everyone was without going to their school?"

Marinette's eyes widened. She hadn't realized just how close Alya was to discovering her secret. She couldn't have Alya discover her identity. She glanced over at Adrien and saw that he was starting to put some puzzle pieces in his mind together. She started to panic and looked over at Nino for help. He must've seen the worry in her eyes because he spoke up.

"Alya, that's a cool theory but...I don't think Ladybug goes here. Maybe she remembers all of their names because a lot of them had been akumitzied before Mylene was."

Alya shot him a glare. He held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, I meant nothing by it, dude! I just don't want you to get our hopes up about Ladybug. Who knows if she's a student here? But...but what if Cat Noir is a student too?"

Adrien looked over at his friend. "What? Cat Noir can't possibly go here."

Marinette saw the subtle change of subject. At the moment, she didn't care that she was talking about her flirtatious partner that annoyed her to pieces at times. She just wanted to get the spotlight off of her, well Ladybug.

"Yeah, Nino's got a point," she said. "Cat Noir also appeared right after the school was surrounded with goop. And when Sabrina's dad turned into Rogercop, he was at the scene pretty fast to stop him. How could he have gotten there so quickly unless he goes to our school too?"

Alya and Adrien exchanged glances. Eventually they shrugged. "Maybe both Cat Noir and Ladybug go to our school. What if they're in our class right under our noses? Who knows?" Alya said as she leaned back in her chair, ending the discussion.

More students filed into the classroom but the four friends didn't speak. They were all wrapped up in their own thoughts.

~~~

Nino breathed a sigh of relief when the conversation dropped. He didn't want to talk anymore. He knew he was acting strange about the subject change and he saw that Alya had noticed his nervousness. He had to get it together, unless he wanted people to know that he knew who Ladybug was. He couldn't betray Marinette's trust like that. Marinette could've lied to him, shut him out, and dismissed him as a friend when he saw her de-transform in the alley. But she didn't. She had told him everything he had wanted to know about Ladybug. She had trusted him with her secret and he wasn't going to betray that trust, not on his watch. He had to keep her secret, even if he had to lie to Alya. Nino gulped. Keeping Alya in the dark was going to be harder than he thought.

~~~

Adrien wondered about Marinette. She was aware of when he, as Cat Noir, was around. He didn't think  she had noticed him as his alter-ego since she didn't really talk to him when he was Adrien. He didn't know why she couldn't talk to him though. She would pretty much avoided talking to him at all times and it had always stung. She was so kind and caring to others, but when he started to talk to her, she would clam up or stutter around him. He wanted her to be more comfortable around him. He couldn't think of a time where he had did anything wrong that might've upset the girl. He wanted her to be more open around him as Adrien, but maybe she preferred him as Cat Noir instead. He always did feel more like himself when he was dressed in all black leather though. When they had to team up to stop the Evillustrator, she had acted...well more herself. She didn't stutter or mumble around him. She had acted calm, smart and brave when she helped him fight the akumitized boy. Maybe he should visit her again as Cat Noir. Maybe then she could finally be herself around him. Adrien didn't know why, but he wanted to get to know Marinette better. And if she preferred him as Cat Noir, then she was going to be seeing a lot more of the black clad superhero.

~~~

Marinette couldn't believe she hadn't realized just how close Alya was to discovering her secret. She had always known that Alya was perceptive and a great reporter, but she didn't know just how good Alya was. Marinette was still kicking herself over not being more careful with her de-transformation. Even though she trusted that Nino would keep her identity a secret, that didn't mean that she trusted herself. She had slipped up and she wasn't sure she trusted herself to keep from messing up again. She had to keep her identity a secret, though, or she would lose her best friend.

~~~

Alya wanted to find out who Ladybug was when she wasn't wearing the mask. She knew Nino was keeping something from her. He wouldn't meet her eyes when he shot down her theory and when he brought up Cat Noir, he had looked everywhere else but at her. Anyone could clearly see how he desperately wanted a change of subject and Alya wanted to find out why. She had also noticed that Marinette had acted strange as well. Marinette was always nervous and clumsy around Adrien, so Alya didn't know if Marinette was uncomfortable because of the Ladybug's identity subject or if it was because she had been talking with Adrien. She decided it was the latter. 

She looked up when the teacher walked into class and began the lesson. Alya looked down at Nino sitting in front of her. Her instincts were telling her that something was off about him. She knew her friend well and knew that he would never deliberately shoot down one of her theories about Ladybug. He had always encouraged her to share, so what had changed? She needed to talk to Nino soon and get to the bottom of whatever was going on with her friend.