Hello, lovely readers! Thank you for taking the time to read.

I know I have three works in progress right now, but I saw Puppeteer 2…and I couldn't help myself. This is how I would have changed "The Scene" everyone is talking about.

So…be aware. This contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Season 3.

Any feedback is always appreciated. It continues to fuel my need to keep writing about these lovesick dorks.

Enjoy!

I cross-post on AO3 and on Tumblr.

AO3: clslovegood47

Tumblr: gryffindorcls
(I will be posting my fics to the "Princess In Training" blog. Also, come talk to me over there! I would love to discuss my stories and the Miraculous fandom with ya'll!)
_

I own nothing but the plot.

Marinette walked into the room desperately trying to psyche herself up. She knew that even if he didn't feel the same way, she at least had to try to tell Adrien how she felt.

"I am super cool. I am super cool. I am super cool," she repeated quietly to herself.

She crossed the threshold and was met by an unmoving Adrien. Marinette shrieked and flailed her arms. When Adrien did not react, the tenseness in her muscles disappeared. She slumped over and sighed.

"It's fine! It's just a statue. Hmmm...maybe I should use this opportunity to practice. What's the harm?" she asked out loud.

Marinette walked up to the figurine and looked it in the eyes. She smiled and reached out to touch its cheek. It felt unusually warm, but she continued anyway. Her lips formed into a sad yet wistful smile, and she took a deep breath.

"Adrien, I...I…I...can't." Her face scrunched in frustration as she slumped into a heap on the floor.

She hung her head low and groaned. "Tikki! I can't do this! How am I supposed to talk to Adrien if I can't even talk to a statue? I don't understand. Why is this so hard? I can fight Akumas and stand up to people like Chole, but I can't tell the boy I love that I have feelings for him? I'm hopeless."

Marinette could feel hot tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Tikki? Tikki? Where are you?" she opened the clasp, revealing the tiny being cowering at the bottom of her bag. "Why aren't you coming out? What's wrong? Are you sick again?"

Marinette sniffled and attempted to wipe the tears away from her face with the back of her hand. She stood up without taking her eyes off of her Kwami.

"I'm sorry, Marinette," Tikki whispered, "It's not what you think."

She gave the Kwami a confused look. "I don't understand."

"I can't believe it," a third voice said, entering the conversation.

Marinette froze. She really hoped that she was dreaming, and she even pinched herself just to make sure.

"No," she said quietly, "It can't be. I didn't just say all that in front of him. Why is this happening?"

The tears started to reform in the corners of her eyes. She buried her head in her hands and pressed her palms against her eyes. An audible sob escaped her lips. Suddenly, a pair of strong, comforting arms held her close to something warm and breathing.

"Please don't cry, Marinette," a worried voice attempted to assuage her, "I'm so sorry. I thought it would be funny. I'm a complete idiot. Ohmygod, how can I fix this? I don't even know what to do."

She spent several minutes leaning into the embrace waiting for the tears to stop. All the while, a hand on her back rubbed soothing circles.

"I can't believe it's you," he whispered.

Marinette looked up, and her bloodshot eyes met Adrien's verdant irises. A new panic settled in her gut-he knew she was Ladybug.

"Please," she pleaded, "You can't tell anyone. I trust you, but only the person who gave me my Miraculous knows who I am."

Adrien grinned. "You mean Master Fu?"

"Yes, and he doesn't want…" she paused, "Wait...what?"

He brushed a stray tear off of her cheek. "I found you, my lady."

"Kitty?" Marinette questioned breathlessly.

A small black blur flew from behind Adrien's shoulder. "Finally! We can move past the sighs and the pining! Tikki! Look! They figured it out."

Tikki zoomed into view, rolled her eyes playfully, and smiled brightly. "I know, Plagg. Come over here. Let's give them a few moments to themselves to talk."

The black Kwami happily obliged. He zipped over to his other half and nuzzled her with the side of his head. Tikki grabbed Plagg's arm and pulled him into Marinette's purse.

After the initial shock of seeing Chat Noir's Kwami phase into her bag, Marinette realized that she was still being held in Adrien's arms. To her surprise she did not feel the urge to pull away from him; instead, she leaned further into his embrace. He responded to her movement by tightening the hug.

"Why did you do that, kitty?" she mumbled into his shirt, "Why did you pretend to be a statue?"

He gently stroked her hair. "Plagg always makes me feel better by joking around. I thought you were mad at me, and I wanted to make you laugh. I had no idea...ugh...I'm so stupid. I can't apologize enough. You probably hate me now."

"Oh, no, Adrien. I could never hate you. I love…" she stopped herself before completing the statement. Marinette flew out of Adrien's arms, and she slapped both of her hands over her mouth.

"Please finish what you were going to say because I can promise you that nothing bad will happen. I have loved you since the day I met you."

"You love Ladybug."

"You are Ladybug, and that means that I love Marinette. I wasn't joking when I said that I thought you were our everyday Ladybug. All this means is that the girl I love and my amazing friend from school are the same person."

"You think I'm amazing?"

"I always have. You kick butt at video games, bake really well, and are an incredible designer. You look out for your friends, and you stand up for what is right. You are smart, helpful, and beautiful. AND now I know that you also save Paris from Hawkmoth's Akumas."

Marinette shook her head and smiled. "Paris would be doomed if I didn't have you, Chat Noir. I need you, minou…even though some of your jokes aren't the best."

Adrien's eyes lit up. "Only some, Bugaboo?"

She looked down at the ground. "Well, it's not that your jokes are bad. It's just that...well, you should probably work on your timing. The statue prank probably would have been funny under different circumstances. I've seen lots of celebrities do it with their wax figures on YouTube."

"Yeah," he said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck, "I've seen those, too. That's why I thought it would be funny. Like I said before, I thought you were upset with me, and I was just trying to cheer you up."

Marinette felt her heart begin to melt. "I can't believe you were trying to make me feel better."

Adrien shook his head. "I really care about you, Marinette."

"I'm sorry you thought I was angry at you. All day I've been trying to tell you that I have feelings for you, and I can't even do that right." She threw her hands up in frustration.

He scrunched his face in thought. "I think we need a do-over. Can we try this again?"

She clasped her hands in front of her and smiled. "I would like that."

Adrien walked closer to her and took her hands in his own. "Hi, Marinette. I have to tell you something. I'm Chat Noir, a famed Parisian superhero who fights Akumas alongside Ladybug. I'm also hopelessly in love with you."

Marinette giggled. "Hello, Adrien. It's funny that you're Chat Noir because I'm Ladybug, your partner who works with you to fight Hawkmoth's Akumas. I'm also in love with you...like a lot. I have been since you gave me your umbrella."

"Is that why you've always been so jumpy around me?" he asked with empathy in his eyes.

"Yes," she released a long breath, "Being near you always made me anxious. My crush made talking to you feel like I was climbing Mount Everest. I didn't know how to start a conversation with you."

"What changed?"

"Why would talking to my Chaton make me nervous? I already know him. He's my partner, and I trust him with my life...even though he's a huge dork."

"Your Chaton? I kind of like the sound of that," he purred, taking a step closer.

She brought her arms up to rest around his neck. "My flirty kitty."

The sharp thwack of a cane hitting the ground sounded from the entryway behind them. They both looked up to see Hawkmoth standing in the doorframe. Adrien quickly grabbed the umbrella from Aurore's wax figurine as the purple-clad villain lunged at them.

"It looks like we're going to have to finish this conversation later," Adrien noted with a strained voice, "You go first."

"And then we'll take care of this mess together...like we always do!" Marinette ran towards the elevator and transformed.

The duo found defeating the Akuma to be easy work. Both heroes remained focused during the battle and were eager to get back to their civilian lives.

After detransforming, Marinette and Adrien rejoined their friends and played with Manon until it was time to leave the museum. Adrien had his driver drop off Nino, Alya, and Manon at their respective destinations. The teens then found themselves sitting alone in the backseat of the vehicle.

There was no divider in the car. Marinette knew she couldn't say what he wanted without Adrien's bodyguard overhearing, so she stayed quiet and fixed her eyes on the passing scenery outside the window. Suddenly, Marinette felt a hand take hers. She looked up and saw Adrien looking at her with a smirk.

He winked playfully. "How do you feel about cats?"

"It depends what kind of cat," she answered, raising an eyebrow.

"What would you do if one came to visit you tonight?"

"I guess I would feed it."

Adrien's eyes widened with excitement. "Wait...really?"

Marinette squeezed his hand. "Sure...why not?"

The car pulled up to the Dupain-Cheng Bakery. Marinette got out of the car and hovered by the door momentarily.

"I'll see you later, Adrien," she said cheerfully.

He beamed. "Yeah...see you later."

Marinette sat on a lounge chair on her balcony. She sipped hot tea and hugged a blanket tightly around her body. Even though it was springtime, there was still a slight chill in the evening air. Next to her sat an untouched plate of cookies.

After a few minutes of waiting, she heard the clink of metal and a soft thud behind her. "Good evening, kitty. What brings you here at this hour?"

Chat Noir took a seat in the chair next to her. "I heard that if I came here, a nice girl would feed me."

Marinette snorted and held out the plate of cookies. A stunned Chat took the treats from her hands.

"I thought you were kidding," he continued, "I wasn't actually expecting you to feed me."

"I am the daughter of a baker," she replied, "My family doesn't fool around when it comes to food. Trust me, if you came over for dinner, you would be fed at least three servings."

"I usually eat alone at home. Dinner with your family sounds nice."

"How about tomorrow then? We usually eat around 6."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Alya comes over for dinner all the time. My parents would be more than happy to have you eat with us. However, maybe you shouldn't come wearing a leather catsuit. Remember what happened the last time?"

Chat laughed. "I agree. Purr-haps I should even consider a wardrobe change right now. What do you think, Princess?"

Marinette shrugged. "Whatever you want to do is fine with me, but I'm sure that Tikki would love to see Plagg."

In a flash of green light, Chat detransformed and Adrien was left in his stead. Plagg zipped into Marinette's room and out of sight.

She looked at her crush sitting next to her and began to feel a creeping blush make its way up her neck. Marinette covered her face with her hands and groaned.

"I'm sorry," she groaned, "I've just liked you for so long, and I still can't believe this is happening. I'll get over it. Please just ignore me."

Adrien got off of his chair and joined Marinette on hers. He put an arm around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder.

"I never want to stop paying attention to you again. I'm sorry for not noticing that it was you before. It's so obvious now," he stated plainly.

"It's not like I did any better. I've turned down the boy that I like on multiple occasions without even realizing it."

"How about I make you a deal? I will come to dinner if you agree to go to the movies with me."

"Are you asking me out on a date?"

"Yes."

Marinette tapped her chin and pretended to ponder her response. "I guess that would be okay."

Adrien wrapped his other arm around her and he released a happy hum. She snuggled against his chest.

"I just have one question," she moved away from him and met his eyes, "What are we now? Like...are you my...my...uhm…my boyfriend?"

He once again pulled her close and nuzzled the top of her head. "Only if you'll be my girlfriend."

Marinette squeaked upon hearing his response. "I would like that a lot."

"Princess?" he asked quietly.

"Hmmm?"

"Would it be okay if I kissed you?"

"Yes, Chaton. Kissing will always be okay."

Adrien pulled back just enough for his lips to reach hers. The kiss was cautious and unsure, but at the same time, it was exhilarating. Electricity coursed through her entire body. She moved her hand to the back of his head and deepened the kiss. He returned the gesture by tightening his hold around her waist.

For that moment, nothing else existed but the two of them. They were in their own private universe, and neither wanted to leave. However, the need for air eventually forced them to separate.

"I love you," Adrien said breathlessly.

"I love you, too, Chaton," Marinette responded, "I'm so happy that it was you."

"You are my one and only," he stated reverently, "and I will always stay by your side, my lady."

"Even when we go to school tomorrow and face all our friends?"

"Especially then."

As they moved in for a second kiss, Marinette smiled. She knew that this was the best possible outcome for today's events. Who knows what could have happened if things had worked out differently? She definitely didn't want to find out.