Ladybug pushed through a ventilator and climbed out into a hallway, gently placing the exit blockage back into place. She hurriedly ran down the hall, racking her brain to remember the storage closet. There were millions so alike, it could practically be any room.

She wanted Adrien to not feel scared, she wanted him to be happy and wear that beautiful smile of his. She promised him that she would open the door, so therefore she had to find the right room.

Come on, Marinette. She pressed herself to move forward, Put everything aside. Adrien needs your help.

Millions of the same brown doors were all displayed for her in one hallway. She had to take her chance. She had to figure out which one it was. But then she remembered the reception desk. It was the one closest to the reception desk.

Hurry. The word screamed in her head as she took off in the direction of the front desk, Hurry.

Ladybug...

She turned around, yet no one was there. She swore she heard her name, she was so sure she heard it call.

Ladybug and Adrien... dating?

"What?!" the heroine jumped again, but this time only a group of girls were passing by, looking at her weirdly before walking out of the TV station.

No. She couldn't get the previous events out from her head no matter how hard she tried. It was an impossible task, to forget the declaration the public made about her relationship with Adrien. But all this time, she was the one he was looking at?

Marinette!

She zipped her head around, yet nothing to no avail. There was no one around. It was just that voice at the back of her head. The voice that slowed down her route.

"No." she finally concluded, shaking all thoughts from her head and returned to running. Her eyes lit up as she found her destination, quickly fiddling the key in the lock and triumphantly opened it.

As expected, Adrien stood there, his face regaining its former colour as he dashed out of the closet, panting heavily from the previous suffering alone he had been doing. "You came..." he managed to sputter out, his eyes glistening in joy as he stood up, looking down at Ladybug, "You actually came."

Marinette's eyes saddened, "Of course I came. I would never leave you, Adrien."

His eyes widened, "R-Really?"

"Really." she concluded, a hopeful smile planting on her lips, "Now, I don't think it is the best idea to go back there..."

"My father will kill me..." the model cut in, a faint blush tainted on his cheeks as he struggled to meet her gaze, "I-I didn't mean to-"

But before he could finish his sentence, Ladybug swooped him up, grabbing her yo-yo and zipped out of the tower and into the streets of Paris.

Adrien was quite amazed by the view. Even if he saw the same view every single time he was roaming the streets of Paris as his feline counterpart, he never really fully took in the beauty of his city. It was amazing, being in the arms of a superhero while she zipped across Paris.

To Adrien, it felt like a lifetime, but the clock told him otherwise as the bluenette came close to his mansion. She zipped through the always-open window, dropping Adrien down on his bedroom floor.

"Thanks, LB." he smiled, nervously scratching the nape of his neck.

"Don't sweat it. Anyway, you were saying-?"

"Oh..." the blond cleared his throat, nervously chuckling as he met her eyes, "I- I didn't mean to say that, I was confused and-"

Marinette smiled, placing her hand on his shoulder, "Hey, don't worry about it, I love you too."

Wait a second. Ladybug's face immediately grew red as she frantically waved her hands around, trying to cover up her face with something. "No no! I didn't mean that! What I meant is- you know! Ugh."

—

Adrien didn't hear a single word she was saying as he just stared at her, with the weirdest facial expression he ever had. She loved... him? For real? So all this time... he was the boy she loved?

"R-Really?" he managed to whisper, Ladybug whipping her head around to look at him.

"I-I..." she started, watching her foot kick the ground before she met his beautiful emerald eyes, "Yeah... I guess so."

Just then, the clock struck three, the heroine awkwardly smiling before she waved slightly and immediately jumped out the window.

"Ladybug... wait!" Adrien shouted after her, but Marinette couldn't process anything as she couldn't feel her toes.

She couldn't feel anything as a small, dreamy smile pulled at her lips, only to escape a sigh. She couldn't believe it. She definitely didn't expect him to reciprocate her feelings, well, more so Ladybug's feelings. She didn't know what to think as she felt her feet touch the wood-panned base of her balcony.

Adrien Agreste admitted to the whole world that he was in love with her, yet, she was left completely tongue-tied.

—

Adrien awoke the next morning to the eager sound of whining. He knew that sound all too well, so it wasn't a surprise when he awoke to find Plagg miserably flying over him, with a small chunk of cheese in hand.

"Is this all?" he grumbled, upset as he munched on the provided slice of camembert, "I cannot make do with such a measly small chunk for breakfast!"

"And I cannot make do what my father is going to have to say about yesterday." Adrien retorted, his scowl turning into a smile as he reached into his night drawer and grabbed a slice of camembert and threw it in his kwami's direction, who eagerly accepted it by swallowing it whole.

"I told you since the first day, kiddo." the kwami smirked, setting himself down on his holder's desk, "You sure would mess things up."

"Yep." the blond sighed, glancing over at his computer. He got up, strode over there and opened the news. Sure enough, a new article was published with the headline;
'Adrien Agreste and Ladybug dating?!'

He sighed, shoving the tears that threatened to spill out as the image of his father's angered face entered his vision. Yep, he was screwed. So terribly screwed.

Then another thought entered his mind. Ladybug said she liked me.

Wait.

LADYBUG SAID SHE LIKED ME!

"What?!" he jumped up, rushing over to his kwami and immediately grabbed him, looking intently at the bewildered creature, "You heard everything yesterday, right?"

"Um..." Plagg still confused, scowled, "Duh."

"Did Ladybug admit to reciprocating my feelings or not?" he demanded, almost immediately a switch being flipped to turn the creature's face from a scowl to a hoard of cackling.

"Kid... you forgot, seriously? Duh."

"WHAT?!" he yelped, pulling at his blond locks of hair as he let go of the God-like creature, "How could I have forgotten?!"

Almost immediately, a knock on the door followed, Adrien scrambling to grab a change of clothes and rushed quickly to the bathroom, quickly putting them on as Plagg floated around the room, bemused to all that was happening. Truth be told, he did feel sorry for the kid. But he wasn't going to show that.

"Adrien?" a strict and modest voice called out, definitely belonging to Nathalie, "Are you in there?"

"Coming!" the model shouted, quickly combing his hair one last time as he dashed out of the door, his kwami that enabled him to transform into his alter ego safely hidden and threw open the door.

"Mr. Agreste would like to have a word with you." the assistant eyed him carefully, "In the dining room."

"Thanks, Nathalie." Adrien felt his heart drop as he followed the lady to the dining room, where his father sat with an emotionless expression as he swiped through his collections on a tablet.

Nathalie soon quickly left to his father's side, Gabriel soon taking notice of the arrival of his son, "Sit down."

Adrien gulped and pulled out a chair, his head hanging low as he stared at the cold dish of breakfast before him.

"How could you insult the company like that, Adrien?!" the booming voice of his father made him nearly fall off his seat as he struggled to meet his angered gaze.

"I-I'm sorry Father..."

"Sorry is not enough to fix the damages!" he barked, "What would everyone think? That you're some sort of Cassanova?! What were you thinking?!"

"I'm not, I swear!" Adrien quickly replied, trying with all of his might to keep his voice from cracking, "I didn't mean to say that, Father! I was confused about what the question was being asked!"

"This has serious damages to the Agreste name." Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose as he adjusted his glasses, "Your photoshoots will double, your free time will be limited to the lowest amount, and if such a thing ever happens, or I even see you near Ladybug, you will be pulled out of school."

"WHAT?" Adrien yelled, his voice slowly becoming quieter after, "But Father, it was a mistake! I didn't mean to-"

"Do you even know how much damage this so-called 'mistake' brought to us?!" the man stood up, shadowing over the figure of his son, "It's all over the news, Adrien. Soon it'll be over the news worldwide. There is no way to undo this mistake. This mistake has more drastic effects than you think!"

"But I can fix it!" the blond responded hopefully, "I can just admit that I didn't mean to say that!"

"I does not work that way, Adrien." Gabriel barked, his hands fisting as he brought them behind his back, "A simple confrontation won't solve such a large rumour. Obviously, you haven't learned anything about social media on the Agreste Foundation. Nathalie will begin your lessons next week. That will result in no free time at all. Dismissed."

With all of his might, Adrien stood up, not even listening to Nathalie who was shouting after him to have breakfast. He couldn't bear to see his father angry because of him. He had to fix this, or else he would never be allowed to go to school again.

He ran into his room and slumped down onto his bed, his kwami giving him a hard look as a faint thud at the large windows was heard.

Plagg quickly zoomed into his camembert-eating hiding spot; Adrien's garbage bin as the figure slouched down to greet his holder, "...Adrien?"

"Huh?!" the model shot up from his bed to in fact see Ladybug crouching down on the frame of his large windows, "What are you doing here?"

"...surprise?" she chuckled, but her facial expression changed as soon as she noticed Adrien's down-look expression, "I just came to make sure you're okay..."

"You better get out of here." the model sighed as he rubbed his arm apologetically and strode over to the window, "My father could see you and then..."

"What happened?" she cut in, jumping down into her crush's room and tentatively looked over at him.

"Nothing... important." the blond lied through his teeth, forcing the edge of his mouth to quirk up into a wonky smile, "So... um- about yesterday..."

"Oh!" the bluenette squeaked, her face immediately flushing a deep red colour, "Oh yeah- um..."

Before they could ponder further on it, a loud shriek was heard, followed by a loud crash.

BANG!

"Uhhhh..." Adrien started, a gulp emanating from the back of his throat as he chuckled nervously and looked at his lady determinately, "I think there may be an akuma..."

"I gotta split!" the heroine quickly spoke, patting his shoulder as she sent him her signature smile that reminded him all too much of his mother, "I'll meet you here after, okay?"

The green-eyed boy nodded dreamily before his eyes widened as Ladybug started to zip away, "Ladybug! Wait!"

But it was no use. She already was zipping through the streets of Paris to try and locate the source of the sound. He couldn't possibly say no to that after all his heart did yearn for human contact these days as it only seemed that he was stuck in his boundless solitude.

"My, my. A date with your lady I presume?" Plagg popped his head out of the bin and flew over to Adrien who threw him a glare.

"Shut up... Plagg claws out!"