By the time Adrien had reached the mansion, his mind was nothing but a foggy blur. He absentmindedly let himself inside his room through the window he had earlier left open upon his departure, dropped his transformation and headed straight for his bathroom, a dreamy smile plastered onto his lips. After a long and very much needed cold shower, the young man put his pajamas on and dropped himself on his bed, the everlasting grin never leaving his lips.

"I kissed her," he sighed dreamily to no one in particular, contemplating the ceiling of his room like it held some sort of long lost secret.

Plagg shook his head disapprovingly, obviously displeased with the whole ordeal. "Chat Noir kissed her, not Adrien."

The young man frowned at his kwami, effectively snapping out of his lovesick trance. "So what? If she has feelings for both Adrien and Chat Noir, I don't see the harm in it. She likes both sides of me, Plagg."

The kwami sighed heavily. Had his pupil always been that dense? "What's the plan, Adrien? Satisfy yourself with late night visits as Chat? How are you going to deal with seeing her at school unbeknownst to her? Make her cheat on you with yourself? Are you planning on revealing yourself to her?"

Adrien paled a few shades and audibly gulped, all traces of his dreamy smile long gone from his face. "I... I didn't think that far."

"I tried to warn you beforehand, Adrien, but you refused to listen. You heard what she said tonight. She's pushing her feelings for you aside, so she can let Chat Noir in," scolded a heavily annoyed Plagg.

"But-" Adrien's words died on his lips. Whatever he had meant to say, he knew it was merely weak excuses. Plagg was very obviously really displeased with him, and the worst part was that he was absolutely right to be.

"You're toying with the poor girl's heart."

There it was. The nail in his coffin. To have it said out loud made it more real, more tangible, and the thought shattered Adrien's heart. The blond blinked, incredulous before his own stupidity. "I never meant to..."

"It's quite a mess you've created tonight, boy. I don't care how, but you have to fix this up before you break her heart."

Resolve rushed into Adrien's veins. "I will. I'll figure a way to fix this without hurting her, Plagg."

"And try to not dig yourself deeper in the process. Now, I believe I deserve my Camembert for putting up with your masquerade, don't I?"

---

The next day, Marinette strolled into class just in time for the bell to chime, as usual. She was out of breath and clutching her backpack to her chest, most likely having run from the bakery, like every single morning or so.

What was unusual, though, was that Adrien had trouble to tear his eyes away from her despite his best efforts. She was as beautiful as he recalled from the day before, her hair down for a change. She was sporting a black skirt with a hot pink tank top. A gray light woolen cardigan protected the secrecy of her wound, and she was positively glowing. For once she wasn't really late, but Adrien had genuinely hoped she would come a little bit early so he would get a chance to talk to her before the beginning of the lesson.

As she sat down in her usual spot next to Alya, he couldn't help but notice how Marinette instantly leaned toward her friend, whispering in her ear with the expression of someone that had great news to share. She seemed so carefree, so happy, and a part of him selfishly hoped he was the cause of this sudden bliss. That he had been the one to replace the shadow in her eyes with this joyful spark. Their quiet whispers and giggles sent a pang of hurt through Adrien's heart. He wanted, needed her to know that he was the one she had been kissing passionately the night before. That he had been the elated recipient of both her love confessions. And that he wholeheartedly returned the feeling.

Involuntarily focusing on Marinette's conversation behind him instead of the teacher's lesson, Adrien managed to make words out of the soft strings of whispers coming from the object of his affection:

"…someone new… really like him… special to me…"

The rest of their conversation wasn't loud enough for him to really catch whole sentences, but he still got the gist of it.

Plagg's earlier words sunk in painfully as he noticed the subtle changes in her attitude towards him. Where she would always have stammered some sort of greeting as she entered the same room as him, she had only smiled at him, barely even acknowledging his presence. He didn't feel her gaze linger on the back of his head throughout the lesson as he used to for the previous four years. She didn't go out of her way to interact with him, a weird habit of hers he had never quite understood since he was convinced she utterly disliked him and was being civil to him only for their mutual friends' sakes. Well, up until hearing from her very own lips that the poor girl used to harbor what she thought to be an unrequited crush on him. Somehow, he found himself dearly missing those glimpses of her in his daily life.

Looking at the girl that had been in front of him forever without him to even bother noticing her, he easily made his definite choice right there and then. True, he had been faithful in his adoration of Ladybug for the longest time, but she had made herself quite clear many times that she didn't see him that way, and that she wanted nothing to do with being romantically involved with him. She'd remain his best friend, his partner, and it wouldn't change a thing in the fact that he was ready to take any blow to protect her. They were two parts of a greater whole that he couldn't deny.

But with Marinette, he could really be himself. He actually had a chance to be loved for who he was, and he wouldn't take the chance of letting it slip again.

Adrien Agreste chose to pursue Marinette Dupain-Cheng at that very second.

---

When the bell rang, Marinette got up to gather her things, still wrapped in the lingering pleasant memories of the night before. A soft tap on her shoulder startled her out of her lovely daydreams, and she spun around to be met with Adrien's green eyes. He was standing beside her desk, a shy smile on his lips, looking every single bit out of place as a puppy in a bowling alley would look. "Hey. Just wanted to check on you. Are you okay?"

She frowned slightly, not sure what had triggered his weird behavior. "I'm really fine, actually. That weekend away from Paris really did me wonders, thanks a lot again."

"How's your arm?" he prompted bluntly, unable to stop himself.

She blushed, absentmindedly draping her hand over the wound. "It's healing fine, thanks to you. Changed the bandage this morning, following doctor's orders, sir!"

Adrien wanted to smack himself at the back of the head. What kind of lame flirting was that? He was afraid he would scare her away, but he had to remind himself how unnecessarily complicated he had made things between them. If he wanted to right his wrongs, he needed to spend time with her. "That's good. Actually, I wanted to see if you'd care for lunch with me?"

Great, Agreste. Really great. She didn't seem to find that too odd tough, as she simply nodded, putting her bag on her shoulder. He noticed her wince a little in pain at the movement, and he swiftly lunged forward to grab her bag for her. "Please, allow me. You'll rip the stitches open."

Marinette frowned. "Adrien... people will talk if you start carrying my bag around."

He merely shrugged, channeling a little of his Chat Noir persona and casting her a sly grin. "So what? People talk all the time anyway."

"But-"

He cut her, his warm smile never leaving his lips. "No buts, Marinette. You're injured, we both know it. Allow me to be a gentleman, please?"

She sighed. "Fine. But you're dealing with Chloé if she throws a fit."

"Deal."

---

Marinette didn't know what came over Adrien to suddenly act like this towards her. Sure, they had gotten to know each other better over the weekend, and her new lack of stuttering around him had definitely shifted their friendship into second gear. But his new sweet attitude toward her was badly messing with her mind. Just as she finally felt ready to let go of her feelings for him, he was taking interest in her.

Talk about great timing.

The lunch was agreeable. They chatted about their weekend, her wound, her projects, the classes. He updated her on Nino's latest DJ gig, she talked about Alya's upcoming reporter's internship. Talking with him was becoming easy, natural even. He didn't bring up Chat Noir, and she sure was glad he didn't. What could have she even told him about him? 'Oh, he's fine, I made out with him on a rooftop yesterday and it was amazing.' didn't fit quite well in a casual conversation with a former crush.

As they were gathering their things to head back to class, he thanked her for keeping him company with a wide smile. Marinette smiled back at him, reassessing that she had had a great time, and would look forward to spending time with him again. While she spoke, Adrien suddenly reached out and tucked back a strand of black hair behind her ear, making her blush deeply. Neither of them commented on the overly tender gesture, though, instead falling into a pregnant silence as they walked back to their classroom.

On their way back, Alya grabbed her best friend by the arm, separating them on the spot. Marinette shot an apologetic smile at Adrien who simply nodded back, forcing himself to grin knowingly. Alya hadn't changed a bit over the course of the last few years, even if she had grown older. She was still an authoritarian sweetheart with a knack for exposing secrets.

"Girl, what was all that about? Didn't you say you had your eyes on someone else?"

Marinette groaned. "I know, I know! I don't know what's his deal."

Alya squinted her eyes. "Did something happen this weekend Marinette? All of a sudden you're not a stuttering mess around him anymore and he can't take his eyes off you."

"There was a lot of talking, that's all. Eventually, the stutter faded out."

"That doesn't explain why Adrien's acting like this. Does he know about the mystery man you won't talk about?"

"No!"

She did recall talking about Chat in the car, though, and about how he was a common friend for both of them. Surely, Chat Noir didn't go and brag about what happened the night before, did he? She sighed, suddenly very concerned about the whole ordeal. "Well, there could be small chance he would know."

Alya giggled. "How cute. Our little Adrien is jealous!"

"You think?" Marinette asked, uneasy with the idea. If Adrien was jealous, it would mean that he was expecting more of their friendship. While that fact would have made her faint with happiness just a few weeks prior, now it just made her sick with worry. Would what she had with her sweet kitty ruin her newfound friendship with Adrien?

Alya's answer did nothing to reassure her. "Positive."

---

Adrien wasn't able to focus at all on the teacher's words. All he could do was mentally replay what had happened at lunch over and over again. Reaching for the fallen strand of hair had been a spur of the moment thing, but when he did he couldn't help but noticing her quite odd earrings at the same time. They were very bland for Marinette's flawless fashion sense, empty, as if missing something. Just as my ring when I'm not Chat. Plagg can't be right... Can he? His obvious lack of focus earned him a nudge from a concerned Nino.

"You okay, dude?"

"Yeah. Don't mind me."

The young DJ didn't seem convinced. "Did something happen with Marinette?"

"No."

Adrien knew he was being unfair to his best friend, shutting him out like that, but there was no way he could explain what was going on. He'd have to satisfy himself with Plagg's advice.

"You're both acting weird man," Nino tried to push further.

"Nothing happened."

Nino sighed, frustrated. Boy, could Adrien be stubborn when he put his mind to it. He chose to leave him alone for the time being, the murderous glare the teacher cast them definitely helping.

---

"You shouldn't go."

Adrien shrugged. "I promised, Plagg. I said I'll come back tonight."

"You're digging up your own grave, boy. Flirting with her at lunch as Adrien, smooching her as Chat at night. This won't end well," foreshadowed the little deity, happily munching on his cheese.

The young man frowned, "I'm trying, okay? I'm really trying to fix it all up. I'm just scared to mess things up even further. Besides, I'm beginning to think you may have been right after all."

Plagg grinned. "Of course. I'm always right. About what this time?"

"Her earrings are weird. I think they might be a miraculous."

The black deity spun around, all too pleased with himself. "What are you planning to do about it?"

"I'll think of something. Maybe I should just tell her who I am and see where things go from there."

Plagg shook his head. "Whatever you do, do it quick, before all of this goes out of hand."

"Plagg, claws out."