It was easiest to describe in terms familiar to the both of them, something that symbolized the completeness of the picture as it was presented to them all at once in front of a crowd of several thousand people.

It was like a bell falling to the ice.

The impact was hard, sudden, and chilling. The force was so sharp, you think the bell would dent or crack as it connected.

But it didn't.

It was like a bell falling from a great height, dropped from a boy's hand the moment he knew in his heart he wanted her to know. It fell from his grasp as soon as it was decided, falling earlier than even his most conscious choice, tumbling free the moment he peered over the edge of that building and looked out over the ice.

It turned and fell silently, each second the passing days where he became more and more sure of his choice. And then, all at once.

It connected.

And it rang.

For Marinette that's exactly how it seemed, because as she met Adrien's familiar green gaze from across the ice she could almost swear she heard it ring.

She was grateful that in her extreme shock everything slowed down, and it was almost as if for that one second she was stood still on that ice she relived thirty straight days as everything fell into place.

"If I can prove it! If I can prove to you without a shadow of a doubt that Adrien thinks the world of you could you show all those people what you showed me."

She could see that in his eyes as the polite applause of the crowd reached her again and the intimacy of their moment was fleeting. She could see him saying 'Show them.'

Marinette was aware that the crowd had fallen silent, and she felt the absence of his eyes as he turned towards the piano. It was too fast, it was so... it was so much.

Because it was him. It was Cat Noir, it was Adrien. All along... every shy glance, every quiet night.

It had always been him.

However, even as she was frozen in place there was still something about the moment that was just the two of them. Even though thousands of people were gathered around, even though judges watched her every move, it was still just the two of them. Alone, in the silence of their nights, with only the sound of a piano to guide her.

So... even when his name weighed heavily on her mind, even when everything had come to light, ringing clearly like a bell in an empty room... she let it guide her.

She shifted her feet effortlessly across the glassy surface and extended her arms gently with the first notes of the song, knowing them as deeply as she knew herself. She danced, her eyes sliding closed like they might have if they were truly alone.

Maybe they were...

It was just like their practices in the early hours of morning, where it was still dark and the sounds of passing traffic were few and far between. The hours where the moon made the ice glow and the cold made her shiver. The hours where Cat Noir would sit on the barrier separating her stage from the rest of her world, bridging the gap between everything she had been before and everything she had become when she had danced for him for the first time.

Because that's what it was. For everyone to see, just as he had seen.

The first dance, spotted by a cat peering at a graceful stranger and transformed into the song that wrapped around her, keeping her warm as she danced blindly with no fear of faltering. She knew this dance, like the notes of the song. Cat's dance. Adrien's... dance.

Adrien played with all he had to offer. Every apology, every anxious wasted second, every desperate plea that she might forgive his recklessness... but so much else as well. Things more powerful, painting the bigger picture as he saw it. Every laugh, every joke, every midnight practice, each moment he spent in silent awe... and every note that filled the quiet, singing so that his admiration might be expressed.

He didn't have the words, never knew what to say or when to say it but... this was what he had to offer. This was his proof, and he gave it to her hoping she might understand.

Ha...

It was almost like it was so he might understand as well.

And so it was presented as one piece, a dance and its song so charged with confused and potent emotion that it was as if the air was pulled from the mouths of each and every spectator in the building. They could see it, in the curve of her back and in the swell of the music. Here were two people, each one so unsure of what to make of the other, still finding the strength in each other to move in absolute harmony. As the beautiful stranger spun on the ice and lifted one leg so that her blade might rend the sky apart in a tight and rapid turn, you could almost hear the awe of a boy... witnessing something perfect for the first time.

When Marinette broke the momentum of the turn her skate sent a flurry of frost dancing around her legs, her body posing perfectly still in a low and elegant bow just as the last note rang out across the ice. The frost clung to her skin like diamonds, her lips parting to release a cold and shaky breathe as the silence overtook her.

There was applause, but not like there had been before. When a dance was done people would cheer and shout, whistle or something else. Here people clapped, hard and earnestly, because clapping was the one thing they could do while crying.

There were so many tears, falling from faces and drifting lazily past smiles filled with pride for two people they didn't even know. For a second, thousands of people felt as if they were a part of this story, wound between an ice skater and a pianist in a silence filled only with song that felt private somehow. It was the dance yes... yes. But it was also the song. Both were beautiful, both were powerful, but never could the moment be as perfect as it was when they were shown together, just as they were meant to be. As the moment was perforated with the applause of the crowd, the spectators clapped faster and faster, clapping harder and letting giddy laughs slip past their guard as the applause became all at once more powerful than any of their voices could have made it.

Marinette opened her eyes and gaped at the crowd, looking at those closest to her and seeing them smile so genuinely to her... a stranger. She felt exposed slightly, like something personal had been witnessed by thousands but... they all stood, and they all clapped.

She turned automatically, the applause becoming deafening as her rapidly beating heart pounded in her chest. She found him easily, stood beside the piano and facing her with a stunning smile that seemed to come from two different people. It was the same smile filled with pride she had seen a thousand times from Cat Noir, waiting patiently for her to leave the ice so he could take her home. Now though, it was Adrien, still waiting patiently... ready to escort her home if she would let him.

She came back to herself, another shaky breath racking her body as she addressed the crowd, waving woodenly as she skated towards the gate that exited the ice. She tried to smile, tried to make it practiced and calm... but there was no more music to ease her, and she could feel the weight of his name. Her knees were skating as she stumbled past the gate, fumbling with the laces in a daze so that her skates clattered to the ground. She managed to sweep them up into her arms, cradling them like a life preserver as she sprinted towards the door. She shouldered them roughly aside as she sprinted towards the locker room, her heart still thumping as his name raced through her mind. She could hear herself thanking the other skaters as she passed them, forced to slow slightly so as not to be followed out of concern. She knew herself too well, could feel the oncoming shock so potently that she knew she needed privacy.

Because Cat Noir was Adrien Agreste.

She found herself at the same bench Cat had comforted her at just before she went up, the place luckily still deserted as she changed quickly, her breath coming faster and faster. She didn't pull the bells free from her hair, standing still before her open locker with glassy eyes as every emotion she had managed to dodge out on the ice came crashing down on her.

"Oh. My. GOD," she screamed shrilly, her face falling into her discarded skating dress in an attempt to muffle the sound, her screaming so sudden and shrill that the gently sleeping Tikki started awake with a frightened squeak. "WHFASHEWASHEFHINK" came the muffled raging from within the folds of the dress Tikki shaking from fright as she blinked sleepiness from her eyes.

"W-what!?" Tikki squeaked, "What's wrong!?"

"What was he THINKING!?" Marinette lifted her head to shout, pulling back with the dress still wrapped up in her arms as she started to rapidly pace back and forth. "What was he thinking!? Just switching everything around just- just TELLING ME THAT right when I was about to danc- what was he- uagh!" Marinette buried her face again as she vented her frustration, Tikki still completely lost as Marinette went through a variety of emotions.

"I-I can't believe that- the whole time! This entire time Tikki it's been him! Every night, every dance, every joke and worried frown and every hot chocolate and- and..." as she ranted she became more and more aware that her sudden outburst was almost completely thanks to shock, having been repressed throughout her performance. It was as knee jerk a reaction as screaming from fright or cursing from pain. Because when she started to ramble her voice became shakier, living through the past month just like she had on the ice, except now she saw him without the mask.

"Encouraging me, believing in me, cheering me on and pushing me forward and- and making those stupid jokes and p-playing that... song."

Her pacing slowed, Marinette eventually coming to a stop as their shared moment on the ice came back to her. Her heart was racing, her mind struggling to cope with such jarring information but...

He still played that song. He still wrote that song. No matter how sudden and confusing and insane everything was... it had still been Adrien out there with her.

She had asked what he could possibly be thinking... but she could picture it. She had seen that urgency in Cat just before he fled, begging her not to be afraid just because she knew Adrien would be watching her. She understood how frustrating that must have been, knowing that the person you had worked so hard to support was shaking with nerves because she didn't know the truth.

Marinette was still as she considered everything, trying to picture it from his perspective, trying to understand why he had...

Suddenly, she chuckled, the sound shaky and uncertain but still there. As unbelievable as it was... it was very like him. That impulsiveness. He wouldn't have been able to stand it... maybe she would have done the same thing, if she were in his shoes.

She clutched her dress close to her as she stared vacantly ahead of her, feeling small in the face of something so big.

Adrien... It had always been Adrien.

An electric shock shot down her spin and stole all her breath in a sharp, petrified gasp as she realized something else equally as overwhelming.

How the hell was she going to tell him she was Ladybug?

She jumped with a shout when she heard the door open, Tikki zipping quickly out of sight just as someone slipped quietly into the room.

Adrien shut the door behind him, shooting a wary glance through the window in the door to make sure no one had seen him enter before slowly turning to face Marinette, the girl stood staring at him with wide doe eyes.

His chest felt tight as she stared at him and he felt truly exposed to her, everything out in the open so suddenly that it was like falling through the ice of a frozen lake. Cold, chilling, overwhelming... scary.

Out of everything he had imagined this reveal to be he had never pictured himself so afraid. Nervous yes but...

She faced him, a thousand things between the two of them, yet also nothing, the both of them confronted with the other in this impossible circumstance.

And neither of them had any idea what to say.

"S-so," Adrien's voice rattled out, sounding so young as he rubbed nervously at the back of his neck, "I-I realize that was a slightly dramatic way to... tell you."

"You think!?" she replied instantly, the exasperation in her voice making him chuckled nervously, the sound almost giddy. That was good, better than... done with him. Mad at him was better than done with him, he'd take mad.

She looked down at her hands, shrinking in slightly when he started to approach her so he stopped at a respectable distance, like he was trying to keep her from fleeing.

There was a space of silence, so he spoke again, his words running together.

"I-I know I shouldn't have, done it like that at least I just- Marinette you were so nervous. You were so afraid because of me and I-I couldn't- I had to do something, anything at all just so you would know that it was me, that it was... Cat."

He hesitated to say the name like uttering it himself presented some sort of finality, like it really couldn't be denied anymore.

"I just didn't want you to feel like you were alone out there..." he said quietly, crossing his arms like he was shielding himself from the cold. "I'm sorry... I hope this is okay."

The word 'okay' hung between them as she slowly looked up at him, Adrien using all of his remaining nerve to meet her gaze. She was still shrunk in on herself, clutching her dress and staring at him in an overwhelmed stupor.

"It's... a lot." she said quietly.

Her response cut through him like a frozen gust of wind, his hands winding into fists that clutched his arms painfully. He clenched his teeth and looked down when she hurriedly said, "It's good! C-Adrien. I-," she stopped, taking a deep breath before saying, "This is okay. It's... okay, it's just..."

"What?" he couldn't help but ask, finding her pauses nerve wracking as he managed to look up at her again, needing her to continue, needing her to have the words he didn't.

She was silent for a second, looking down and away from him but stepping forward slightly, making a small effort to shorten the distance between them.

"Every time I pictured someone," she eventually started in a whisper, "... it was always a stranger, someone I had never met before. Of course I'd know them but, I-," she laughed, the small sound breaking up her words but still shaking slightly from her shock, "I just never imagined it could be someone I already knew."

Adrien watched her, carefully stepping forward and feeling hope spark in his heart when she didn't shy away. It was a powerful emotion, clenching his heart in a burning grip that just made it beat faster.

"I hope I live up to your imaginings," he said with a quiet chuckle, finding comfort in the flash of gold still nestled in her hair. "I guess you could call me preppy," he said with a smile, though she still looked at the ground.

"Yeah..." she muttered, her eyes looking like they were seeing something a million miles away, her mind somewhere else completely. Adrien waited nervously in the silence, stepping forward until he was directly in front of her. He could see her biting her lip, her expression anxious and uncertain. When he started to speak, they both found themselves talking over the other.

"Look I-"

"I have something to tell you," she blurted out, cutting him off and looking like she wanted to take back the words as soon as she had said them. She looked up at him, startled that he had been talking. "W-what? I'm sorry-"

"No!' he insisted immediately, "It was nothing what were you saying?"

The next beat of silence was more potently charged with uncertainty than when he had first entered the room and he had no idea why, his heart aching as she started to back up, a startled gasp escaping her when her back pressed up against the lockers.

"I have something I need to tell you," she said again, her voice small and quiet again, her eyes incapable of looking up at him. "But I have no idea how to do it..."

His expression was confused and nervous, wanting to close the gap between them but not knowing what to do.

"Well..." he tried to joke, an anxious smile on his face, "as far as dropping secrets go today I doubt it could match mine in flair for the dramatic."

To his shock, she laughed.

"You'd be surprised."

His brows furrowed in confusion, trying to imagine what could possibly be weighing so heavily on her mind all at once like this.

"What is it?"

When she didn't respond right away he shifted his feet impatiently, anxious to be able to help in some way. "You can tell me," he pressed.

"I know I can," she replied, the sentence seeming to hold some kind of implication he was missing, frustrating him.

To his surprise she suddenly turned to start grabbing things from her locker, packing the dress and skates away in a bag and holding it tightly against her. "This is the only way I can do this..." she tried to explain, still looking away from him, backing up towards the door.

His confusion grew even more, his tone slightly exasperated as he tried to understand.

"A-... are you going to run?" he asked, staring in anxious bewilderment as she pressed her back against the door, swinging it open so that one foot lay beyond the barrier.

She didn't deny it so he became convinced that was the case, taking a few steps forward to try and give him some sort of chance to catch her. He didn't understand, he had no idea what to do but she could see him approaching, worrying her lip with her teeth more and more until she blurted out in a tense voice,

"I'm Ladybug."

Adrien stopped, his arms out in front of him like he had been confronting a wild animal but now frozen stiffly in the air as he looked at her.

"What?" he said, flinching slightly when the full intensity of her blue eyes met his stare. It's like he had heard the words, but they didn't have meaning, didn't provide understanding.

She stared him down, a thousand emotions in her eyes as she exclaimed again, simply, "I'm Ladybug."

He blinked, once, a second time, his own voice coming out tense as he said, "W-...what?"

He could see the panic on her face, see the rigidity of her stance those last few seconds before she stuttered out in a high voice, "I-I'll see you later!"

And ran.

The door swung shut behind her as she sprinted away, the sound of it clicking shut announcing the utter silence Adrien suddenly found himself in, still completely frozen in place watching the spot where Marinette had been only a second before.

He heard it then, the words, like they had been delayed. Or rather he heard the meaning behind them, throwing abruptly into view two completely different people.

Who had the exact same eyes.

...

"What!?"

Ladybug had never raced through Paris quite so quickly before, adrenaline from her panic coursing through her as she abandoned the competition grounds.

"Marinette!" Tikki chastised her from her earrings, "You can't just run away!!"

Ladybug didn't respond as she continued to flee like her life depended on it, it was only when Tikki shouted her name harshly into her mind for a second time that she said, "I-I just freaked out okay!"