#ml insta

He stared at his phone.

Marinette had just posted something new to her Instagram.

Admittedly, him staring at one of her posts wasn’t unusual; he always enjoyed seeing what she and his other friends got up to. Even if he couldn’t always be there with them, at least he wasn’t completely out of the loop.

Plus it was Marinette. She was inherently adorable.

His eyes bugging out as he choked WAS a little out of the ordinary though.

“What, you can’t keep your eyes off your girlfriend again?” Plagg asked before flying over to take a look. “Did she post a picture of a cheeseca-”

The kwami froze.

“Plagg,” Adrien asked carefully. “What’s Tikki doing in this photo with Marinette?”

“Uhh... Tikki? I don’t see Tikki. Don’t be ridiculous,” Plagg said hastily. “That’s just... it must be one of those weird filter things! Yeah! That just adds a little companion to the picture. Besides, you know we can’t be detected by technology, we’ve seen that, remember?”

Oh. Yeah. 

But... 

“That still looks awfully similar to her...”

Plagg opened his mouth - whether to talk or to eat some cheese, he wasn’t sure - when the akuma alert app on his phone went off.

Clicking it, the video player opened, showing the familiar sight of Nadja Chamack. “Don’t be bemused, it’s just the news! A new akuma has been identified. Anyone on Instagram, beware; he takes candid, sometimes embarrassing or revealing photos and uploads it to your account, complete with captions about what you were thinking or feeling at the time. Can Ladybug and Chat Noir stop him before he violates all of Paris’s privacy?”

Wait... if an akuma was responsible...

“Technology on its own may not be able to detect a kwami... but I bet technology fused with magic COULD!”

Which meant that was Tikki.

Which meant-

“Ladybug is...”

“NO!”

Plagg tried to tug his phone from him. “She can’t be Marinette! Because... because...”

Of course she was Marinette. No wonder he’d felt compelled to call her his “everyday Ladybug”; those words were truer than he’d known.

And while she often stumbled over her words around him and seemed a little shy, that didn’t stop her from taking charge when she needed to, when she believed in something.

He’d wanted to know more about Ladybug, to be a greater part of her life, and the same with Marinette.

Turned out, he was a greater part of her life, knew more about her, was closer to her than either of them had realized.

“Look Adrien, let’s just stop this train of thought okay? We need to defeat the akuma!”

That snapped him out of it. “Right, right. Time to see Marinette.”

“We’re not seeing-!”

“Plagg, Claws Out!”

-----------------------

As he ran towards Ladybug’s location, his voicemail alert popped up. He clicked on it. “Chat Noir, I’ve got something to show you. Hawkmoth really screwed up this time.” She sounded like she was fighting back laughter during that last sentence.

...Oh he SO wanted to know what that was about.

A minute later he pole-vaulted onto the roof where she was waiting.

Ladybug wasted no time. “Hawkmoth should’ve told his akuma not to target himself.”

Oh.

OH.

“Wait, so you know who he is?!”

She nodded. “Turns out I already followed him, fortunately.” She let out a derisive snort. “Though if I’d known what a COLOSSAL prick he was, I probably wouldn’t have.”

He laughed. 

Now THAT was a truth if he’d ever heard one.

But as far as identity reveals went...

His laughter died.

He shuffled his feet.

“Umm... I need to tell you something Ladybug.”

She looked up, startled at his serious, somewhat guilty tone. “Huh? What could possibly be so important?”

He winced. “You might want to check your own Instagram account.”

“What? But I don’t have an Instagram account. Not as Ladybug anyway, only as-”

She choked on her words, hastily opening up her bug phone.

And gaped.

“So... uh... yeah... I kinda know who you are now... sorry.”

One of her eyes twitched as she smiled. It came out as more of a grimace. “This is fine. This is toooootally fine. You know why? Because we’re gonna beat Hawkmoth and beat the akuma before anyone else can figure it out. It’s fine. Everything’s gonna be A-Okay!”

“Uh... Ladybug... do you need to take a minute-?”

“NOPE!”

She obviously did, but she didn’t look like she’d appreciate him telling her that. “Well... can you tell me Hawkmoth’s secret identity at least?”

That snapped her out of it. “Oh, right!”

Pressing a few buttons, she opened to a new page.

The picture showed a tall blond man with the back to the camera, facing what looked like a coffin with... was that his mother?!

A small purple creature that looked suspiciously like a butterfly floated next to him.

And then there was the caption.

It’s always nice to take some time out from a busy day terrorizing Paris to monologue to my comatose wife!

It was his father’s official Instagram account.

Hey so now that its canon, what drug do you think they did?

I’m very much hoping this is a fluke but adrien already cussed so 💀

He would do this in canon you know he would