Ladybug and Chat had a short discussion after the akuma attack. It had been a harder one, they could both admit that. Their teamwork had been sloppier than usual and they disagreed on almost every aspect of their plan to take down the akuma. By the end of the fight, they were frustrated, but they knew that they needed to talk, besides school was canceled for the rest of the day. They chose a tall building and sat on the ledge, allowing their legs to swing with the breeze.

"I got your letter," Ladybug said after a few minutes of silence, "I mean, my kwami wrote it down for me, but- you know," she looked down at the streets below her, "Thank you." She placed her hand on top of his.

"You're welcome," he said softly looking off into the distance. He hadn't looked at her since they sat down. Ladybug knew he was going to talk to her about their plans for that night and she desperately wanted him to forget about them. "Are you going to come tonight?" Ladybug inhaled and lifted her hand off of his. She wrung her fingers in her hands.

"Yes."

"Are you just saying that to make me happy?"

"Yes."

"Ladybug-"

"Chat, I'm going to go," she said forcefully, "I'm just nervous okay? Your letter- it- it made me feel better, a lot better, but it didn't alleviate all my fears." She held her breath.

"I didn't think it would," he smiled, "You're as stubborn as it gets, Lady." She smiled too. "And as I said before, you don't have to come if you don't want to." Ladybug looked down, anticipating what he would say next, but nothing came. No guilt tripping, no snarky remarks, nothing. Chat was letting her be.

"Thank you," she said again, "But you can count on me tonight, at seven, at the Pont Marie." She placed her hand on his shoulder, "I promise." She reached out her other hand in front of him.

"You better bugaboo," Chat grinned. He took her hand and shook it.

"I promise," she said again, "I'll be there, so you better be there too."

"Don't worry m'lady," he pulled her hand to his lips and kissed it softly, "I'll be there early." And so he was.

...

Marinette chose a short red dress (finally) with capped sleeves and a full skirt, and wedges with black straps. Her makeup was light and natural and she left her hair in her trademark pigtails. Tikki told her she looked beautiful and she most certainly did.

"What if he doesn't show up?"

"Marinette, he will," Tikki insisted, "He wouldn't miss the opportunity to meet you again."

"I know," Marinette confessed, "I know he'll come, but- but that's what's making me nervous."

"Everything will happen the way it should," Tikki said quickly, "Have some faith, Marinette."

…

Adrien was already at the end of the bridge. It was ten before seven, the sun was slowly creeping towards the west, but it wasn't quite sundown. He was wearing a different black suit with a different white shirt tonight, although he could hardly tell the difference. Every minute and a half he was checking his watch. She told him she would show up, she shook on it, but Adrien still had a fear deep in the pit of his stomach that she would back out, that is until he saw Marinette, all dressed up, walking towards him.

"Mari!" He waved her down, they hadn't spoken since the school day, about their fake relationship. Admittedly, Adrien had actually missed her for the few hours they we apart between the final bell and this moment. What a coincidence, he thought, this is the third night in a row I've seen her all dressed up… alone. He thought deeply for a moment. Could she really be…?

"Hey Adrien!" The positivity in her voice didn't match the uneasiness on her face, "What's up?"

"Nothing," he said as casually as he could manage, "I like looking at the sunset, there's such a good view from the bridge."

"Yeah there is," Marinette agreed. She was biting her lip and squeezing her hands together. She looked absolutely petrified.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah just fine!" She said quickly, "Chloe was just giving me a hard time today, you know, for obvious reasons." This wasn't a lie, but it definitely wasn't what was troubling her.

"Yeah, I understand," he laughed and she did too. They both quickly looked around them, no other people were in sight. "Would you like to watch with me?"

"You mean the sunset?" Marinette's eyes were wide, "No, I couldn't impose, you came here alone-"

"Marinette," he reached out one of his hands, "Come with me." She looked at his hand, then into his eyes and she felt her breath shorten. Their fingertips touched before Marinette linked her hand with his. They walked to the middle of the bridge and leaned on the railing, gazing at the sun swelling a variety of oranges and pinks into the blue of the sky.

"It's beautiful," she said quietly.

"I used to come here with my mom," Adrien told her, "We'd sneak out and share an ice cream and watch the sunset. Sometimes she'd bring me in the morning to watch the sun rise, but that was on rare occasion."

"That sounds lovely Adrien."

"It was." They stood in silence, their hands were still held together.

Marinette's throat felt like it was closing. What time was it now? Chat had promised to meet her at seven, but she hadn't seen anyone else all night. Her heart crumbled. What if Chat had ditched her again? What if he had decided she wasn't worth it anymore? What if he didn't actually care about her, like he said he did? Marinette felt like crying and not even Adrien would be able to comfort the flood of emotions that was about to drown her. With several nervous glances around the bridge, she realized not a single person was going to approach them for the rest of the night. She and Adrien were alone and Marinette felt terribly sick.

"Adrien," she said softly, "What time is it?" He glanced down at his watch.

"7:17." That was it. Marinette couldn't wait for Chat any longer. She wanted to go home; everything Tikki had told her about that idea that her and Chat were "meant to be" no longer meant anything to her.

"I'm sorry Adrien, I need to go home," she tried not to cry, as hard as she could. "I was waiting for someone and they didn't come and I'm sorry to walk out on you like this, I really am, but I just-" her hand slipped out of his, "I need to go home, I'm sorry." She turned around and started to walk off the bridge. Adrien's breath quickened, this was it. He pulled his jacket open and a little black cat with enormous green eyes flew in front of him.

"Marinette, wait."

"Adrien, I'm sorry-" When Marinette turned to look at Adrien, her eyes welled with tears, she did not see him. Instead, Chat Noir stood before her with his lips pressed firmly together and his hands folded in front of him.

"Chat?"

"M'lady," he smiled and nodded as if he said: It's me, it's always been me!

"Tikki," Marinette said it quietly, but her kwami had already flown to her ears. The girl was engulfed in red and black as her dress was replaced by her Ladybug suit and her blue bell eyes were outlined by a mask.

They stood in front of each other for what felt like minutes, thinking to themselves: How did I not see this coming?

"It's you," Ladybug's eyes filled with tears as she walked towards him and threw herself into his arms. "It's you!" Chat Noir lifted her and they spun around as the sky became all different shades of a sunset. Their masks and suits faded away in red and green light (thanks to Tikki and Plagg) and when Adrien finally set Marinette on the bridge, they stared at the person who they had come to know so well both with and without the mask. "This whole time?" Marinette said, "Has it been you this whole time?'

"Yeah," Adrien's face was red and his hands held onto Marinette so tightly that he would never let her go, "It's always been me."

"It's really you," she examined him. It all made sense. The past three painfully confusing nights all made sense. "I'm so sorry," she said suddenly, "I'm sorry for how I've treated you the past few days and how reluctant I was and-"

"You have nothing to apologize for," Adrien said quickly, "It was you. It's always been you." They looked at each other in awe and extravagance.

"It's you," is all Marinette could say, "It's you." She started laughing and smiling uncontrollably.

"Are you surprised?" He laughed at her. She was positively hysterical.

"No," she said, tears streaming down her cheeks, "I'm just really happy." Adrien looked at her, completely, utterly lovestruck.

"Marinette," he said softly, "I- I think I love you." Marinette would've fainted or her heart would have stopped had it not been for the very stressful few days she had or the fact that she was so happy, she was crying. Instead she looked at him, breathed a sigh of relief and said:

"I think I love you too."