#love squared

Ladybug slapped a palm to her forehead with a growl. “You are in so much trouble, but also, I love you, girls.” She sighed and shook her head, and they all crowded around to hug her. “But seriously, this is incredibly dangerous. I’m doing my best not to freak out right now.”

“Hey, we’re your bffs. We’ll always have your back,” Alix said, and the others agreed.

“You girls are the best, and also the worst, and I can’t believe you, but I love you all so much,” Ladybug said as if it couldn’t be helped. Which, in actuality, it couldn’t. There was nothing she could do to undo it. They were stuck.

“So, does this mean you’re gonna keep dating Adrien as Ladybug?” Rose asked with hopeful smile.

“I don’t know…” she said. “I shouldn’t have given in tonight. Adrien and I can’t date like this.”

“But you have to! He loves you!” Rose cried.

“Yeah, but it’s too risky.” Ladybug crossed her arms.

“But he’ll be heartbroken if you do,” Alya said with a sing-song lilt, casting a knowing smile at Ladybug who pursed her lips.

“We can totally cover for you when you need us to,” Mylene added.

“And we can help plan the most romantic evenings!” Rose said, clasping her hands together under her chin.

“Girls…” Ladybug pinched the bridge of her nose.

Her head was spinning, and the ground beneath her feet felt like sand. This whole situation was her worst nightmare, but she never wanted to wake up.

“I know you’re totally freaking out right now, but you don’t have to worry. If I can crack you and Chat Noir’s identities, then I can crack Hawkmoth and Mayura for sure,” Alya said, clamping a hand over her mouth almost as soon as the words escaped her lips.

“You know Chat Noir too?” Ladybug shouted, and when the girls shushed her, she added in a whisper, “How much ‘messing around’ did you do?”

“Only a little,” Alya said, and Ladybug gave her a look. “Okay, so a lot.” When Ladybug rubbed her temples, Alya rocked back on her heels with a smirked and asked, “Don’t you want to know who he is?”

“No!” Her head snapped up. “It’s bad enough you all know. Out of the question. No way. And don’t you dare tell him you know me or him, or I’ll never hear the end of it!”

“Fine, but it’s your loss. He’s really cute,” Alya said, and the girls all seemed highly amused when Ladybug gagged.

“So, it really is you then,” Mylene said, looking her up and down. “You’re really…Marinette?” she said her name in a whisper as if she expected Hawkmoth to come bursting through the window. Which wasn’t so improbable considering anyone with Photoshop could unmask her.

Ladybug took a breath, deciding that there was no sense in finding a place to hide since they all knew. She let her transformation drop, blinking at her friends, but they were too preoccupied with the small red creature floating beside her.

“So, this must be your-”

“Marinette, this is dangerous! You know what this means!” Tikki cut Alya off, but before she could get too much scolding in, the girls were surrounding her.

“What is it?”

“It’s so cute!”

“So, awesome.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“Nah, this must be her kwami,” Alya said nonchalantly.

“Oh!”

“So that’s what they look like.”

“What’s its name?”

Tikki glanced at Marinette who could only offer a shrug as if to say, ‘What could I have done?’

“This is Tikki,” Marinette said with a wince. “She’s why I get to be Ladybug.”

“Marinette, you know the rules! You’re not going to get to be Ladybug much longer if you let this continue,” Tikki said. “You have to breakup with Adrien immediately.”

“She’s right. It’s bad enough that you all know who I am now, but I can’t drag Adrien into this too. If anything happened to him, I’d never forgive myself,” she said. “I’m going to break things off with him tomorrow.”

“No!” The girls shouted in unison.

“I don’t have a choice, girls,” Marinette said. “I really appreciate all that you girls have done for me, and I know I can trust all of you, but I can’t afford to be so careless.”

“But you and Adrien…” Rose said.

“Can be together again someday. Maybe breaking his heart as Ladybug will help him finally see Marinette.” Marinette offered her a sad smile.

“Or it could drive him right into Kagami’s arms,” Alix said pointedly.

“Either way. It’s for the best.” She opened her purse for Tikki, moving toward the door. “I’ll see you girls at school, okay?”

“But-”

“Don’t meddle anymore. Please. For me?” Marinette asked, and they all shrank back in defeat. “We’ll talk more about this later if…if I can even keep being Ladybug.”

“Wait, time out.” Alya crossed her hands into a T. “What do you mean if you can keep being Ladybug?”

“There’s a rule that any Miraculous holder whose identity is discovered, must give up their Miraculous to keep their powers from falling into the wrong hands,” Marinette said. “That’s the rule but…”

“What?” The girls crowded around her.

“But you can’t stop being Ladybug!”

“M, I’m so sorry. If I had known-”

“It’s alright, girls.” Marinette cut them off. “I know you didn’t mean it.”

“Are you really going to give up being Ladybug?” Rose asked, blue eyes bubbling with tears.

“I don’t know, Rose,” Marinette said. “There’s someone I have to talk to about all of this, and if he decides to take my Miraculous, I won’t be able to stop him.”

The room was quiet, every head hanging low. Alya flicked her gaze to Marinette’s hopefully.

“Is there anything we can do to stop it?” she asked, but Marinette shook her head.

“I’ll see you girls tomorrow, okay?” Marinette said.