"Spots down."

Nothing. She ran in relief down the seemingly never ending corridor as he uttered the wrong words. In her voice.

"Spots in."

It was still her voice, but those weren't the words, allowing her and Chat to continue running.

"Spots off."

Chat gets to her just in time to shield her from the akuma's eyes, but not soon enough for Chat to do the same with his own.

And caught sight of one Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Without a second's hesitation, he continued to run with her in his arms, making sure to bury her head in his shoulder as to not be seen by Silencer. They broke free from the building and bounded over rooftops until they were a safe distance away to have the shortest conversation they could get through.

Settling her on her feet, all he could do was gawk at her as she looked away shy, eyes trained on the flats she wore. Her kwami floated just above her head.

Clearing his throat, he knew it was best to get this over with. "So.. you're Ladybug."

Sighing, she looked up and met his gaze and nodded. A rosy blush spread across her face, somehow highlighting her freckles.

He coughed some more, the spit in his throat refused to back down. "And you're Marinette."

Another affirmative nod.

He laughed as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Wow. I really should've seen that. You're so alike in looks and personality."

Her lips turned up into a sly smirk.

"I know this isn't great timing, but the boy… it's Luka, isn't it? The other boy?"

She rolled her eyes in annoyance at his priorities, but shook her head in a hard no. It made his heart flutter. She looked to her kwami, as if to say, speak for me, please?

The ladybug like creature flitted close to his face. "Hello, Chat! It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Tikki." She held out her little paw in a friendly greeting.

He beamed at her. "Hi, Tikki. It's nice to meet you, too." He paused as he shook the outstretched paw. "But that still begs the question. What do we do now since we can't use a lucky charm?"

Tikki sighed, her little body almost dropping in sadness. "I hate to do this, but you're gonna have to switch miraculous."

Marinette jumped at that, waving her arms frantically around, trying to convey something to Tikki.

Thankfully, she seemed to be fluent in Marinette talk. "Marinette, I know you didn't want to know, but we don't have much of a choice at the moment. Drastic times calls for drastic measures. Plus, it would bring an unbalance in Ladybug and Chat Noir if the reveal was one sided.."

The designer's shoulders slumped, but she nodded.

Chat held up a hand as a sudden thought came to him. "Wait, she can't speak. How is she gonna call on the transformation."

Tikki smiled at his logic. "With Kwami's, we can't force our powers when being used by our owners in the suit, but we can force a transformation if absolute need be. However, I shouldn't force a transformation, because even though it was her voice that said to detransform, and the miraculous acted it as such, it still wasn't her. It can have major consequences if I don't transform with a proper owner. As long as Marinette gives you the earrings, then I'll be safe. Marinette may not be able to use cataclysm, but she will be able to still protect you and shield you while you come up with a plan for the Akuma. It's much safer this way."

"And you're sure it'll be safe for her to transform with Plagg?"

Tikki nodded. "As long as she's given the ring by you, and she has it on her person-unlike with Silencer calling off the transformation without the earrings on him- both Plagg and Marinette will be completely unharmed. I just can't continue transforming and detransforming without someone wearing the jewelry and 'saying spots on.' That's just how it is with kwami's."

He watched as the fear that had been slowly seeping onto Mariette's face, slowly take full control. Walking over to her, he pulled her into a hug, trying his best to comfort her. "It's gonna be okay, bugaboo. We'll get through this like we always do."

He felt her nod against his shoulder

"There is….. one thing." At the pointed look she gave him, he assured her, "It'll be quick, I promise. The boy you like… can I have the name.. I know I don't deserve it after well… everything."

She snorted.

He frowned, but continued. "But...maybe for some closure? I just...if it's not Luka, then I'm stumped."

Marinette looked to Tikki, waving her hand in the air as if to say go ahead.

Tikki's face lit up at the permission to spill her love life. Her smile was huge, almost knowing, and she just bounced in the air.

It honestly made him scared for some reason.

"It's simple." The kwami's voice was sugary sweet. "It's Adrien Agreste."

Oh.

Oh.

He would've burst into laughter— or faint from the pure irony and pain they've put themselves through— if not for the fact that Marinette pointed at the direction of the building where Silencer was still terrorizing people.

He was overcome with the feeling of guilt as everything started to sink in. "I'm sorry. You might...not like this."

She blinked in confusion.

Taking in a deep breath, he exhaled with "Claw's in."

He was pretty sure if she had her voice, she would've been screaming. If the mouth to the floor, finger point at him, with eyes almost bulging out of their sockets.

He could hear Plagg snicker behind him.

Pulling the ring off, he handed it off to Marinette, eyes determined to get through this. "Let's do this. We'll talk later."

She was blushing as the guitarist stared lovingly at her after his confession. It was sweet, pretty heavy with being genuine. She could tell by all that he said, Luka really meant it.

But.. as much as she did like him, he wasn't Adrien.

Adrien, who was Chat, who liked Ladybug, who was Marinette.

He liked her. Her heart was still hammering against her chest.

That didn't make the guilt any less. "I'm sorry, Luka. You're really sweet. But...I just can't. I hope we can still be friends though."

The smile that was there was still there, was now a bit pained. His eyes went from Marinette to Adrien, who was leaning into a corner, arms crossed over his chest and legs bent on the other as he tried to avoid any eye contact with the two while he let them have their privacy.

Eyes trained back on Marinette, she could see he wasn't angry. "It's okay, Marinette. If he makes you happy, that's all that matters, right?"

Marinette offered a smile in return. "Thanks, Luka."

He waved as he went to join the band, freeing her to go over to Adrien.

His face lit up at the sight of her approaching him and she had to beg her heart to calm down, because it might just burst if it continued to do what it was doing. The smile was so...real, and calm, and just emitted happiness.

All by just looking at her.

If he kept doing that, she wasn't sure if she'd live through possibly dating him.

Ha, like she'd pass up that chance.

A hand waving in front of her face was what brought her back to reality. Adrien looking at her with worry as what greeted her when she realized she'd been spacing out for a few minutes. "You okay there, princess?"

Okay, nope. Nope. Chat's nickname with Adrien's face.

She hadn't been ready for that.

But they had to deal with this reveal, so with a deep breath, she steeled herself, and nodded. "I-I'll be fine. Last one to the Eiffel tower has to do double patrol for the next week?"

Not that she'd really make him do that. He was busy as it was. Because he was Adrien. As in the Adrien she had been pinning over, and apparently rejecting for the past several months.

The world really did like throwing stuff at her, didn't it?

Adrien broke her from her thoughts by grabbing her hand, and tugging her toward the exist, so that they could find a safe spot to transform.

Because he was Chat Noir.

Had she mentioned that?

She won the race by a second.

She had a feeling that Chat was a little slower than usual because of recent developments— if hearing him coo in delight as he watched her transform was any indication.

This boy needed to calm and compose himself before she lost what little composure she had herself.

It wasn't much in the first place.

"So," Chat started. "I was the boy you kept turning Chat down for."

She visibly gulped. "Looks to be that way, yeah." She had to keep her back to him as she looked out onto the evening city. It was easier like this. Not seeing his face, though a part of her wanted to. So many wants, and she didn't know what to all do about all this information.

The silence was so deafening that when a puff of air passed his lips, it filled the emptiness that surrounded them. Was the universe laughing at them, at her?

She could finally understand Tikki's annoyance during the whole weredad incident.

"So," Chat's voice shattered the remaining silence. "Where do we go from here? You might've not liked Luka before… but that confession did seem… pretty nice."

Even without turning around, Ladybug could tell he still trying to hold back sobs. It only hurt worse.

Because she finally understood. She understood why Chat was the way that he was.

Because Adrien had been sheltered most his life, Chat hadn't known any better on romancing her because Adrien didn't know. From what Nino had told her, he only understood romance from his anime's. That didn't make his behavior for how he acted during Frozer any better, but now she understood. Chat was afraid of losing people.

Because Adrien has lost people before.

Both her head and heart hurt. Beyond comprehension.

"I-I don't know where to go from here, kitty." She fought between falling to her knees and just crying and bawling her eyes out, or turning to face her partner.

The latter seemed like the harder option, but the one she had to do.

Turning to face him, she was met with a hopeless stare, with just a hint of longing, and bloodshot eyes. Was he trying to wreck her? Cause it was working. "Kitty, I'm not leaving you for Luka. Sure, what he was said was beautiful. But I've been in love with Adrien Agreste since he gave me his umbrella. I can't be swayed that easily."

His ears perked up and his tail romped straight as the dread from his eyes almost instantly drained. "That… that long? And I've never noticed?"

She snorted. "And I wasn't exactly subtle about it either. Just about everyone knows I have a crush on you. Even Luka."

The dry laugh he gave was filled to the brim with self loathing. "Times like these I really wished my father would've let me have more social interaction."

Ladybug couldn't help but give a laugh of her own. "Yeah. Probably would've helped, huh?"

"You're telling me." As the conversation trailed off to an end, Chat was obviously hesitating. She could see his want to move closer to her. Maybe to touch her, hug her even? Or just something. But she also knew with past experiences, he didn't know where they exactly stood at the moment.

So, deciding it was best if she took the first step— both literal and figurative— she moved closer. They were almost baby steps, too afraid to get too close too fast. He was allowing her to set the pace, boundaries, and distance between them this time, giving her his full respect.

But she also wanted to close that distance, and judging from the way Chat's eyes were beginning to light up in pure ecstatic joy, she could tell it was welcome with every step she took to him.

With only a step between them, his tail swooshed happily in the air. She could hear his purr vibrating in the small spot between. His eyes glued on her, she took the remaining distance between them, and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, burning her head into the crook of his neck, fingers brushing the little tufts of hair at there.

She could feel the hitch of his breath as he brought his own arms around her waist, and she knew he was wondering if this was really reality or just a pleasant dream, because she was thinking the same thing.

Keeping her face hidden in his neck, she mumbled out, "just so we're clear, I'm still gonna need a full night to properly freak out about this, and then to process. So, no surprise balcony visits tonight. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am."

She giggled. "Good."

With that, his pur began a new, louder, and with much more force. It was surprisingly comforting.

"And after that," she continued, "If Adrien Agreste wanted to ask Marinette Dupain Cheng out on a date, I have it on good authority that she'll be over the moon. although, you're gonna have to come up with a good cover story as to why he, entirely out of the blue, asked her out."

"That's no problem," he more or less breathed out, "Adrien heard Luka's love confession, and it woke him up to what he was possibly missing. He decided not to wait any longer and asked her out."

She hummed softly against his skin. "Sounds good to me."

Her legs were starting to feel just a bit tired as his grip around her tightened just a bit.

Needless to say, they stayed there for a good few hours more.

Her feet carried her to school the next day, doing all the motion for her without her doing any of the thinking of how to actually move. Everything and everyone was just a blur to her. No one existed.

As she took her seat next to Alya, she was surprised— well, not fully— when the blogger started shooting daggers in her direction. "Juleka told me her brother told you that he liked you. And then you left— with Adrien."

Oh, no. "Well, um, you see." She started twiddling her fingers together as she tried to reclaim her thoughts to get the proper story out. What was she supposed to, or say? Adrien and she had a plan of him wooing her in class, but never did they think that Alya would know about them running off together! This was totally gonna ruin-

Her train of messy thoughts was cut short as a bouquet of flowers were suddenly in her face. Roses— red to be exact.

She looked up and was met with the beautiful sight of Adrien Agreste standing before her, cheeks pinched pink, "Uh, for you," he said as he pushed the flowers into her face.

Alya's stare after she took the flowers could only be classified as deadly.

"So, what were you saying before, girl?" She glanced at Adrien, before turning back to Marinette, the daggers intensifying. "Because there seems to be something going on that you're just not telling me."

Her mouth stuttered aimlessly for an answer, but found none. Thankfully, Adrien came to her rescue just in time. "Yesterday, Luka confessed to Marinette that he liked her, and it made me realize that I had feelings for her, too. I wanted her to know so, if in the rare chance that she might like me back, and she did… as you know.. And…now we're sorta kinda… dating. And... yeah?"

His words trailed off into more of a question than anything and his hand flew to his neck to give a nervously rub.

Alya was utterly silent.

To the point where, a pin could be heard if dropped.

Then, out of nowhere: "Finally!"

She leaped from her seat, and pulled the two into a three group hug, her yelling also finally caught the attention of the other students that were just settling in for class.

With all attention drawn on them, Alya turned herself to address their classmates. "Pay up, losers! I told you it'd happen before summer."

Everyone grumbled as they dug into their pockets, purses, and wallets, begrudging pulling out at least 50 euros. Even Ms. Bustier

Even Chloe.

Marinette could tell Adrien felt betrayed. "Even you, Chlo?"

She shrugged. "As much as I hate to admit it, I knew this was gonna happen eventually. At first, I was in total denial of it, but after everything that happened with Amsetro, I knew it was only a matter of time. The way you acted around her was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous"

The blogger smirked as she took in all the cash. "I knew it would be before school let out. I told you guys should've had a little more faith that we wouldn't have waited that long."

He huffed, but otherwise ignored her to favor wrapping his arms around his girlfriend, and snuggling his face against the crown of her head.

The audience that cooed around them was not lost on the two.

Marinette groaned. "Are you guys seriously gonna do this from now on?"

Rose's excited squeal only confirmed it. "Of course! Just about everyone in Pairs has been rooting for you guys."

Marinette felt herself stiffen in Adrien's arms. "Just please tell me the rest of Pairs weren't in on this bet, too."

Suffice to say, Alya Caesar was a whole lot richer by the end of the week.

For everyone that has read my 'just friends' series, I'm almost done with the LB/CN wedding scene. I'm really trying to hone in to make it as good as I can. I really wanna put my all into the Oneshot.

Anyway,I hope you enjoyed this one! It's been stuck in my head for a while. I'm a love square shipper though and though. I just love 'em!

I also just had them switch kwami's for convenient reasons instead of what they had orginally done in the episode.