Against all odds, Marinette still managed to get about two hours of blissful sleep before her alarm blared through her room, effectively waking her up. The feeling of the sun caressing her bare skin startled her a little before she woke up enough to recall the previous night's events. Chat Noir's touch was still lingering pleasantly on her body, and the young woman's heart already longed for him. She reluctantly left her bed, where she was blissfully wrapped in those memories, and forced herself to do something useful instead of basking in his scent all day. A little, shy smile was plastered on her lips as she went around her room, dressing up and getting ready for the long day she had to get through before getting the chance of seeing her dear kitty again.

Her kwami's voice pulled her from her thoughts. "Marinette, are you okay?"

Startled, the young woman looked at her kwami, who was sighing deeply. Obviously, she had been trying to catch her attention for a while now, without succeeding.

"Sorry, Tikki, you were saying?" Marinette answered, handing her little friend a chocolate chip cookie.

"I was suggesting that maybe you should try to know what Chat Noir was upset about yesterday evening if he shows up tonight. I tried to speak about it with Plagg while you were otherwise occupied, but his lips were sealed shut."

The young woman's face instantly drained of its color. "You did what now?"

"Relax, Marinette," the young deity chuckled softly. "When Chat Noir detransformed, Plagg came to me for some cuddles, that's all."

"That means Chat Noir's kwami knows my identity, Tikki! What if-"

"Plagg and I have known about each other's charge from the very beginning, Marinette," Tikki cut her off. "We chose you together. However, we aren't allowed to reveal that information in any way to you. If you choose to reveal yourselves to each other someday, the decision must be yours, and yours only. We aren't allowed to interfere."

Toying absentmindedly with the hem of her shirt, Marinette felt her heart clench painfully in her chest. "Is that why you want me to slow things down with him? Because there's someone awful under that mask?"

The kwami had a motherly smile as she landed into her wielder's lap. "I don't want to talk too much about that boy; it's not my place to tell. But I can safely assure you that I only want you to avoid making rash decisions. I only tried to get you thinking about the whole situation."

Somewhat comforted, the young woman sighed dejectedly. "You're right, though, something probably happened to him before he came over. He looked so sad, so broken…"

"Well, you could alway try to talk about it with him before shedding any clothes tonight."

"TIKKI!" Marinette shrieked, flushing bright red.

With a giggle, Tikki fled away from the pillow that had been thrown at her. "What? After all, I thought you did say you were going to slow things down."

Marinette sat on the edge of her bed, fully clothed, trying to tie her signature pigtails while mumbling, "imreallyfallingforhimtikki."

The kwami frowned. "I didn't get a single word out of that, Marinette."

"I'm... I'm really falling for him, Tikki. Very hard."

The frown didn't completely leave the deity's face. She watched silently as her pupil finished preparing herself for school, and took her usual place in her purse, an impending doom feeling never leaving her gut. As Marinette walked to school, the little kwami hoped with all her heart that Plagg's charge was going to find a solution to their delicate problem, and really soon.

---

The afternoon was halfway through, and Marinette had to face one last class before finally being able to go home. Her mind had been dead set on Chat Noir and the very early morning developments between them all day, leaving her an unfocused and daydreaming mess. The young woman kept absentmindedly doodling little hearts in her textbooks and smiling to herself like a lovesick fool. Wrapped in the lingering sensations of the previous night, she didn't even notice the not-so-subtle glances Adrien kept giving her all throughout the day.

However, Alya and Nino sure did notice something was way off with both of their best friends, and they were left musing about what the hell could have happened to turn the tables around like that. While Alya knew that her new mystery man must've been the reason why Marinette wasn't as receptive to Adrien as she used to be, but to see the blond's sudden and odd behavior was somewhat unsettling. The poor boy looked utterly obsessed with her best friend out of nowhere. Sure, the pair had grown significantly closer over the last months, a fact both Alya and Nino were well aware of and approved of to no end. Just the previous day, Adrien and she had spent the lunch studying together, and Alya had spotted many laughs and playful banter from afar. But it was now very clear to any onlooker that something had happened overnight. Marinette was desperately oblivious to her surroundings, including a certain blond model, while said model looked on the very verge of spontaneously combusting under the pressure of his pent up emotions. Something that ran way deeper than simple jealousy.

Hence why a very annoyed and beyond curious Alya successfully cornered Marinette just before entering the classroom. "Okay, young lady. I know for a fact that you're hiding something from me. There's obviously something going on with Adrien."

Snapping out of her lovesick trance, Marinette eyed her friend curiously. "I thought you said he was jealous?"

Alya shook her head, her hands on her hips and a scolding expression on her face. "There's more going on than that. A lot more. What is it you won't tell me? Come on, Mari, you know you can tell me anything."

Marinette was truly dumbfounded this time and didn't have to force the stunned expression on her face. While it was very true she was hiding (and fully intended to keep hiding) something from her best friend, it had absolutely nothing to do with Adrien.

She was about to answer Alya when a booming voice resonated all through the school walls, making the very walls shake. "I'M THE SCRIBE! FEAR MY MIGHTY PEN AND YIELD TO MY POWER!"

Marinette screamed internally with relief, profusely thanking mentally whoever got akumatized at that very second for saving her a very painful and prodding conversation with Alya. Now, if she just could find a way to slip out of sight long enough to transform, she would be able to spring into action and forget the confusing questions of her best friend. In all honesty, escaping unnoticed was becoming the trickiest part of her job as of lately. Four years of rather frequent and regular akuma attacks had made Paris' citizens well drilled whenever one happened. Students were used to leaving the class efficiently, running toward their regular shelter without making too much of a commotion. It was a really good thing in some way, since regretful incidents were much less likely to happen when people were evacuating in a quiet manner. But it also made Marinette and probably Chat Noir's escaping much more delicate than it had ever been.

Sure enough, when Marinette started running in the direction of the bathrooms instead of rushing outside with their classmates, Alya instantly noticed her disappearance and called out for her. Without turning back, she waved her hand, signaling her friend to go on without her, "Girl emergency! I'll catch up with you!"

Her best friend grunted in defeat and evacuated the school grounds nonetheless, rambling frustratingly about her friend's everlasting lame timing and obvious lack of straight priorities.

Once protected by the privacy of the girl's bathroom, Marinette checked two times rather than one that she was alone, and let Tikki fly out of her purse.

"I can feel his energy all the way from here, Marinette. Definitely an Akuma, not a doubt about that."

The young woman sighed. "No surprises there. Alright, Tikki, spots on."

Seconds later, Ladybug landed effortlessly on the school's roof, tucking her yo-yo back on her belt as she assessed the situation before her. She found herself facing a tall and hefty man wearing an awkwardly tight white spandex suit with random words written all over it, clutching a black quill in his right hand. On his left arm was a rather large blank spot on his suit. At first glance, he didn't look too dangerous, but by then, the heroine knew better than to trust her first judgment on akumas.

"Well, well, what have we got here?"

Ladybug stiffened, her whole being tensing as Chat Noir's voice rolled over her like a caress. When that thought hit her, she had to use all her will to refrain from slapping herself. She had to focus on the fight, no matter how much she wanted nothing more than pulling the silly feline into an inappropriate kiss right there. "Glad you made it, Chat."

If he noticed the slight tremor in her voice, he didn't mention it, raising a curious eyebrow at her before returning his attention to the new supervillain. "What's your problem, Marshmallow? Found a typo in your dictionary?"

"I'M THE SCRIBE, YOUNG ILLITERATE! MY STORY WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU? WELL NOW EVERYBODY'S GONNA HAVE TO LIVE MY STORIES WHETHER YOU WANT IT OR NOT!" the akumatized screamed, hatred spilling out of every word. Waving his quill with a mischievous grin, he dribbled something on his left arm, and instantaneously the school roof collapsed under their feet.

Ladybug managed in extremis to hook her yo-yo on some beam and somewhat soften her fall, but when the dust finally settled, Chat Noir was nowhere in sight.

"Chat? Chat?" she called way more frantically than she had intended to, swinging herself over the remnants of the school, heart furiously beating in her ears, before finally spotting him dusting his suit casually on the debris, relief washing over her. "That's exactly why you weren't supposed to let yourself fall for him, you dumb bug," Marinette mentally chastised herself.

"Don't you worry about me m'lady, I still have eight lives left," the feline smirked at her, grabbing his staff and resuming his fighting stance.

"IF THE PAWNS WON'T CRUMBLE, THEN THEY'LL HAVE TO PLAY!"

At those words, a giant chess board appeared around them, and Ladybug very nearly avoided getting crushed by a rather mean-looking queen. "Chat, whatever he writes on his arms becomes reality."

"Just like the Evillustrator. Hawkmoth's running out of inspiration."

Ladybug nodded, the draft of a plan building into her mind despite the constant distraction of Chat Noir being beside her. "You know what to do?"

"Distract him. As usual."

After about thirty minutes of dodging whatever attacks the akuma's twisted mind could come up with, Ladybug finally lost the little patience she had. Her lucky charm granted her a huge bottle of black ink that she managed expertly to throw right above the Scribe. In perfect sync with her, Chat Noir used his Cataclysm on it, making the glass container explode all over the akumatized citizen. Covered in black ink from head to toe, he wasn't able to write anything at all anymore, and effectively rendering his magic useless. Chat had no difficulty in snatching an envelope oddly poking out of the collar of the Scribe's suit.

"It's a rejection letter for a manuscript, my lady. Must be the akuma."

Ladybug nodded as she took the envelope he handed her, trying to focus anything else than how his fingers burnt against her skin when they brushed on hers. She tore up the letter hastily, revealing the purple butterfly that she promptly cleansed.

While her partner was making sure the disappointed writer, who turned out to be Mr. Damoclès, was alright, she used the lucky charm to put everything back in the right place, including the destroyed roof of the school. Closing the distance between them, Chat put a hand on her shoulder, smiling proudly.

"Good job, bugaboo. As always," he said softly, raising his fist before her. Normally, she would've quickly removed his hand, made a joke, at least reacted in some way. But right then, she froze, her whole being mesmerized by how much she longed his touch. The heroine ignored the fist raised in front of her, awaiting their customary fist bump. She couldn't even think of moving. She was contemplating those beautiful green eyes, remembering how those lips had made her feel the night before, and was having trouble refraining herself from pinning him against the wall right then and kiss him senseless. She forced herself to snap out of her fantasy, and noticed he was staring at her with a frown.

"What?"

"Are you okay m'lady? You kinda just phased out there."

She shrugged, her heart beating so hard it hurt. "Y-Yeah. Sorry, I-I'm alright."

He laughed softly, cupping her cheek with one hand and her knees threatened to give up under her.

"Try to grab some sleep, okay? You looked tired. We wouldn't want Paris' heroine sleeping on the job now, would we?"

With a quick peck on the cheek, he disappeared into the distance, leaving a fiercely blushing and stunned Ladybug in his wake.