Disclaimer: I don't own Miraculous Ladybug. The love square is just too much fun to not play with a little...

AN: This is my first Ladybug story and I hope you like it. My mind got a little excited while waiting for season 2 to come to Netflix and this is what happened. Let me know what you think! I have several more chapters written and I need to know if I should post them.

...

Won't let you go

...

Chapter 1

Ladybug's eyes widened as she watched Adrien dangle from Volpina's grasp high above her. Neither she nor Cat Noir had been fast enough to catch the vixen and now the boy she loved was in danger.

"It's another illusion!" Cat assured her. But the cold metal of the Eiffel tower underneath her hands and feet told a different story. This was very real and so very wrong.

"You wanna bet on that?" Volpina taunted from her precarious perch as she began to slowly release her grip on her helpless victim.

"No!" Ladybug yelled and began to reach for her earrings: the miraculous that Hawkmoth wanted. She would give him anything, do anything, to save Adrien.

"Don't do it Ladybug!" Cat called out and in that moment of hesitation Adrien began to fall. Ladybug watched in horror as he plummeted toward her. Cat's hand was on her arm to stop her removal of the precious earrings and she reached out into space, missing the falling boy's hand by the smallest margin. She stared into Adrien's frightened green eyes and let out a shattering scream as he fell away from her grasp to the ground below.

Ladybug started as she felt something touching her cheek and heard her name from a distance. Then she jerked awake in a cold sweat. Marinette lifted her head from the textbook on her bedroom desk where she fell asleep studying after dinner. Tikki watched her with concerned eyes as Marinette tried to catch her breath.

"Marinette are you alright?" Tikki's sweet voice asked.

She shook her head and looked down at her desk trying to free her mind of the terrible images.

"It was a nightmare." She tried to convince herself.

"You were yelling. What was it about?" Tikki asked.

Marinette screwed her eyes closed for a moment not wanting to say it out loud, not wanting to face the chance that she could have let Adrien die. Adrien. She needed to see him, to make sure he was alive and well. She wouldn't be able to sleep again otherwise.

She glanced at the clock: it was barely 9pm. She must have fallen asleep right after coming up to study after dinner. It wasnt too late to swing by his house and have a quick peek in the windows. If she could just see him...

"Marinette?" Tikki tried to reach her.

"I need to see Adrien. I need to know he didn't die." She cringed as she said the words. She didn't give Tikki a chance to respond, her heart was still pounding with fear. "Tikki, spots on!" She called and let the transformation wash over her. She was out her rooftop hatch seconds later and swinging her way across the Parisian rooftops with her yo-yo.

It didn't take long to reach the Agreste mansion. There ahead were the tall windows of Adrien's room and then... then maybe she could restore her sanity. She swung straight to the house and perched on the window sill with a view of the whole room. Adrien sat at his own desk doing something on his computer. Ladybug let out a huge sigh of relief to see him sitting there and leaned her head against the glass. He was fine. She hadn't failed him.

Adrien heard the thump of her forehead on the window and looked up, eyes widening comically at the sight of Ladybug at his window.

"Ladybug?" He said in surprise, standing up and moving toward the window.

She lifted her head when he stood up and her cheeks flared red as she realized she'd been caught staring into his window in the dark. Adrien opened the window pane next to where she perched.

"Come in Ladybug." He invited. He stepped back to give her room.

There was no getting out of this so she dropped lightly to the ground and tried to smile.

"Hi Adrien." She said with a shy wave. Her heart was pounding for a new reason now. She was talking to him! She didn't want to stutter or give away her civilian identity. She was Ladybug now, not shy Marinette.

"Hi. What brings you to my window this fair evening?" He asked with a smile. He couldn't believe this was happening. Was it a dream? If so it was a very good dream.

"Ummm. I was just out and about... trying to keep Paris safe." She explained, praying he would accept that story.

Adrien glanced back at the window in worry. "Is there an akuma?" Did he need to transform into Cat Noir to help her?

"No, no, nothing out of the ordinary." She assured him.

"Good." He relaxed visibly. "Hey um, why don't you come in and sit down? Its nice to have some company and a break from homework." He gestured to the nearby couch. "I mean if you have time."

Ladybug nodded. "That would be nice." She took a seat with a deep breath. Being around him was calming her nerves after the nightmare and it couldn't hurt to spend a little time with him since there was no immediate threat to the city.

"I hope I'm not keeping you from studying. I'd hate to be the reason your grades slip. Not that you aren't a great student! I mean I'm sure you are. Why wouldn't you be?" She rambled a bit.

Adrien chuckled good naturedly. "No I'm ok. I was actually getting ahead on my homework."

They both glanced over at the computer screen and she saw the Ladyblog up to the screen that hypothesized who the heroin could be behind the mask.

"Oh. Busted." Adrien admitted and she turned back to see his face was red.

Ladybug laughed with him.

"That's some serious homework there." She teased.

"Yeah well. I'm a fan." Adrien admitted while rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. He glanced at her shyly and it was so adorable.

"Me too." Ladybug sighed.

"What?" He asked in surprise.

"Of your modeling. And your dad's designs. I'm almost as famous as you are." She covered quickly.

"Oh yeah. That. Being followed around by photographers isn't as glamorous as people think is it?" He said.

"No it's not." She agreed.

Adrien's smile grew. This was something they had in common, he and his Lady.

"Are you hungry or thirsty? I could have something sent up from the kitchen if you want." Adrien offered.

"No that's ok. I probably shouldn't stay long." She scooted forward on her seat to stand up.

"Can't you stay for a little while?" He asked hopefully. "Unless you have somewhere to be. It's nice to have someone to talk to."

"I'll stay for a few minutes and then I should go. It's getting late and we have school. Besides, wouldn't your father be upset if he found a girl in your room?"

"My dad won't notice, or care. You go to school?" He asked.

"Of course I do. We are the same age." She smiled.

Adrien shook his head and gave her a shy smile. "This is so surreal having you here in my room, just talking. It's something out of a dream. I feel like I'll wake up any minute and find out it's not real, so I'd rather not ever wake up." He looked at her with such awe and tenderness that she couldn't help the blush that bloomed on her cheeks.

"You are amazing Ladybug." He said reverently.

"It's the costume. It makes me seem more interesting than I am." She said and stood up to move back to the windows. She hadn't expected this, she had no idea he would act this way and she didn't know how to feel about it. Part of her was overjoyed that he clearly liked her superhero form, the other part was sad because how could Marinette ever measure up?

"I'm sorry! Was that too much? I just can't believe you're really here and I don't know if I'll ever get the chance again to tell you that I..."

"I'll see you around Adrien. When an akuma attacks I'll be there and I'll protect you, I promise." She vowed both to him and herself. Then she jumped up to the window ledge.

"Thank you Ladybug. Come back any time." Adrien said.

"Good night Adrien." She said softly before forcing herself to leave. She swung across the rooftops quickly and when she landed safely on her own balcony she took a deep breath. Then she did a quick little dance and let out a squeal. She had just spent time with Adrien!

She quickly dropped into her bedroom before she could draw attention to herself. She murmured 'spots off' and then fell back onto her bed and closed her eyes with another happy squeal. If only she could text Alya and tell her all about it!

"You look much happier Marinette but are you sure that was a good idea?" Tikki asked as she floated down to rest on the pillow beside her chosen.

"It was a good idea because now I can go back to sleep and dream good things about Adrien." She sighed his name like usual and Tikki shook her head fondly.

"Alright. Well can you get me a little something to eat first?"

Marinette sat upright. "Yes. We both need something to eat. After that we can dream of Adrien."

...

Marinette took her usual seat in the classroom seconds before the bell rang. She shared a relieved smile with Alya and then focused all her attention on the blonde boy in front of her. She took a deep breath. He was here and he was fine. She had the nightmare for the second night in a row but didn't dare leave her room at 1am to check on him. Her recurring nightmare was becoming a problem but she didn't know how to make it stop. Seeing Adrien helped calm her nerves however so she would settle for trying to see him regularly.

Alya nudged Marinette and drew her out of her thoughts.

"What's up with you girl?" Alya whispered quietly as the teacher droned on.

Marinette shook her head. "Nothing. I didn't sleep well." She whispered back.

Alya made a sad face to show she understood and cared about her friend. They didn't talk again until lunch later that day and Alya did an excellent job at distracting Marinette and making her forget about the bad dreams that plagued her of late. Of course, a great deal of that distraction involved teasing Marinette about her crush on Adrien, but she found she didn't mind all that much now that she had the memory of a wonderful moment spent with him to dwell on. Not that she could tell Alya about her nighttime visit to said boy.

After school the next day Marinette and Alya joined Nino and Adrien at the park. It turned out Nino was great at setting up group outings for the four of them. His motives were clearly about spending time with Alya, but the four of them got along well and Marinette's shyness around Adrien wasn't quite so obvious in the group dynamic. Marinette couldn't help but feel a little smug about putting Alya and Nino together in that zoo enclosure in the first place. He had been working up to dating Alya ever since.

...

I know the ending of this chapter was weak, but what did you think overall? Should I continue?

Thanks for reading!

-weesh