"Until next time then, my Lady", the cat sighed.

Marinette had hoped Chat would eventually learn to understand and value her friendship but her rejection had rendered Chat Noir into a shadow of his fomer self. When they first met what seemed like a lifetime ago but was in reality no more than a few years Chat Noir had always seemed confident, always with a smile but recently Marinette struggled to remember the last time he had smiled or even unleashed some silly, childish pun. She missed the puns now. She couldn't bear it anymore. The guilt of seeing Chat Noir like this and knowing it was her fault ate away at her. She had to say something.

"Chat Noir, wait.", Marinette fiddled with her yo-yo nervously, "I… well, I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you. I care about you, quite a lot actually, but I can't love you because I'm in love with this other boy, you know that. Maybe if things were different, we'd have a chance but I can't imagine a world without him and that won't change. I'm sorry."

It was so typically Ladybug to apologise for something like love. The words should have been comforting but they only deepened the pain Adrien felt. He knew why Ladybug had rejected him but it didn't make it hurt less. He clenched his jaw and considered his next words carefully, their relationship was on a knife's edge as it was. If he lost Ladybug, he'd lose the last person who cared about him.

"I understand Ladybug. I always did. But I can't stop having feelings for you. This other boy… he's lucky to have you."

Adrien didn't say that saving Paris was the only thing that gave his life meaning and that sometimes, although he would feel guilty afterwards, he hoped an akuma would show up just so he could see Ladybug again. That despite what she thought, she was the only girl he had ever loved, and ever would love. And that he loved everything about her.

Marinette didn't say that 'this other boy' had rejected her last year. Well not exactly, but when she'd finally confessed her feelings to Adrien, he'd just stood there, blank. She must have been so repulsive to him that the idea of her loving him had sent him into shock. Thankfully, Marinette heard a beeping in her ear, signalling the end of her time as Ladybug and stopping her from revisiting that painful memory.

"Thank you Chat Noir, for understanding. I just hate to think that I'm the reason you're so unhappy. I'm about to detransform, I'll see you around."

She caught her yo-yo on the Eiffel Tower and swung away.

The next day, Adrien struggled to get out of bed, the chill of the morning air making him shiver. He hadn't slept all night. Ladybug's words played over and over again in his mind. From when he ate his breakfast to when he entered the school building, he thought about what she had said. 'I can't imagine a world without him'. Ladybug really cared about this boy but what if the feelings weren't mutual? He couldn't bare to see Ladybug go through what he went through. He spent the whole morning trying to come up with a plan for how he would find out who this boy was but at the moment all he could think of was to ask Ladybug nicely and of course she would say no. It was one of their golden rules, never reveal anything about your civilian personal life, including the people you cared about. That was when he saw Marinette talking to Alya.

"Alya, I'm not making hundreds of croissants for your and Nino's anniversary. Even if it is quite romantic, I couldn't do it for tomorrow!"

"Relax girl, I was kidding!", Alya giggled, "I think we're gonna keep things casual this year. Besides, croissants are more Adrien's thing, wouldn't you say?"

Marinette blinked back the tears she felt coming at the mention of his name and glared jokingly at Alya.

"I'll forget you said that, Alya.", she faked a laugh.

"Seriously girl, you can't stay mad at him forever. He was shocked. We all were. And he did try to apologise." Alya said despairingly.

"Giving me a flower at the school dance is not an apology and it certainly doesn't take back the hours I wasted loving him!"

"First of all, those hours weren't wasted because it's obvious he cares about you just as I know you still care about him. Second of all, Nino and I need you to be together because you're going to be the godparents of any future children we have so just talk to him. It's been a year!"

Marinette couldn't help but laugh at that and deep down, she accepted that she still loved Adrien. She had never actually stopped. And she still held hope that maybe one day Adrien would change his mind and feel the same way.

She was laughing, just laughing, yet Adrien felt something that he'd only ever felt with one other person. 'How?' was all he could think. Marinette was amazing sure, she was by far the kindest, funniest and most creative person in the entire school but had Adrien actually fallen in love with her? It was an odd feeling, he'd never thought about Marinette like that. When he found out she had a crush on him, he was in such a state of shock that he went blank. Marinette had taken his silence the wrong way and they'd never been the same since. And now he understood how she had felt before that fateful day, he felt it too. But that left so many questions. What about Ladybug? Did Marinette still feel the way she always had about him? He risked another glance at her and all thoughts of Ladybug vanished. That was enough for Adrien to know. He never expected it but there was no denying that he was undoubtedly, entirely, positively in love with Marinette. He knew she had felt that way about him once, was there a chance that she still did?