Marinette Dupain-Cheng had always been an enigma to Adrien Agreste.

An enigma he spent way too much time trying to figure out. Over the years, they'd grown closer, something he was truly happy about, but there was still that gap, the one he wanted to fill more than anything. So he started tuning into her more, trying to find out what made her tick.

He'd look at her body language when she was happy and sad, he'd look out for the wiggles when she was excited and the groans when she was stressed and tired...he might have even abused his powers once or twice to have a late night visit to see Marinette in her natural habitat.

Over time, he'd started to expand his findings into his own little dictionary...

'Dictionary-a-la-Marinette'.

He had everything in there, from the way she scrunched up her nose when she disagreed with something, to the little, rather cute, booty shuffle when she was happy and excited.

Marinette was like a rainbow, not just in appearance, with her bright clothing and shimmering hair colour, but in the way she carried herself and interacted with others. Her presence was a burst of energy and warmth, much like the sight of a rainbow emerging after a heavy rain shower...until you messed with her that is.

For example, exhibit A. Chloé Bourgeois.

Everyone in the class, if not the whole of Paris knew the two girls didn't get on. Who wouldn't notice the way they blatantly ignored each other, or, if they needed to interact, stared at each other with enough heat, to burn the building down. His cataclysm didn't have anything on the adulterated loathing of these two.

So one morning, when Adrien was sitting in his seat after returning to college earlier than expected, he wasn't overly surprised by the tornado of anger that entered not too long after.

He was just sitting there, doodling on his notepad, a mix between Ladybug and pink peony flowers, when suddenly his calm zen time was interrupted by a very angry Marinette and an equally exasperated Alya.

"Can you believe that happened...like hello, you're not the only one to walk on the path."

"Marinette," Alya said, "what happened?"

Talking at a speed the chipmunks would be proud of, Marinette began to explain her mood. "But oh no! All the hubba baloo about footprints and social classes just had to play a part in it, because I'm only me and not worthy of anything else."

"Hubba ba— what?" Alya asked, and even without looking Alya could picture the exact face she was pulling at the moment.

The slam of a bag behind him made him jump and bang his knee on the table.

"Then it was all like...just because you like him doesn't mean he likes you. He has taste after all and I have history. He doesn't want someone with idiot-itis!" Marinette's rambling was growing faster and faster, and if he wasn't as fluent in Marinette talk as he was, the only option to understand would be to record her and then slow down the conversation.

"I - um - I..."

Understanding Alya was lost, Adrien wrote down what Marinette had been staying on a new page in his book, before balling it up and throwing it over his shoulder. The yelp coming from Alya obviously meant he'd hit the bulls eye—literally .

"Oh!" Alya exclaimed. "Chloé pushed you out of the way coming into collège and said because you're friends with her oldest friend it doesn't matter because she has history and they would never want to be with you."He felt the sigh that came from Alya as much as he heard it. "Come on girl! You know she's only jealous of your relationship. She can't stand that you're better friends than they are."

Adrien furrowed his eyebrows. Better friends? He never saw Marinette speaking to Sabrina that much. They seemed cordial, but saying they were good friends seemed a little far fetched.  Sabrina was always with Chloé, and never around when the gang hung out on the Liberty.

Maybe he needed to look into his dictionary again and refine it a little.

"But she's right," Marinette whined. "I always have idiot-itis when it comes to him ."

Adrien felt the need to turn around. Marinette was referring to someone male. So it wasn't Sabrina, which could only mean one thing.

One of Chloé's oldest friends?

She was talking about Félix.

*****

Chat Noir touched down on Marinette's balcony just after her usual dinner time. Not that he kept track of all that...but maybe her daily times had made it into his dictionary (for research purposes of course).

He moved forward and bent down towards her skylight, carefully peering in and hoping to catch a glimpse of the girl in question before casually dropping in, savvy maxed out to the brim, and asking about her intentions with his cousin.

Though Plagg seemed to take pleasure in disagreeing with him, Adrien just wanted to make sure Marinette understood what she was getting into when it came to his cousin. He was just a protective friend. He wanted the best for her...he didn't want her !

Hand poised ready to knock, something inside caught his eye. A rather frantic pacing Marinette, and from the speed of her mouth moving she was talking to someone. Someone sitting blocked from view. Maybe she was on the phone?

Against all better judgement, Chat Noir lifted the skylight and listened in. So what if  eavesdropping was rude, and nothing good came from it...sue him!

"And then he told Ayla what I said!" So it wasn't Alya she was talking to. Interesting. Maybe it was Kagami or one of the other girls. "If he doesn't know now, then I'm sure it wouldn't take him too long to figure it all out!  Why am I such a disaster?"

Creeping backwards, Chat Noir closed the window and moved to the railing. Okay, so she was worried he'd passed on the message to Félix. But why would he do something like that? He liked Marinette a lot more than he liked his cousin, and he wouldn't go behind her back like that.

Slipping the baton from his back, he took off for home, his thoughts wondering how he could prove to Marinette he wasn't going to betray her trust and break this news to Félix. He didn't want Félix to know, because, deep down, he didn't want her to date his cousin.

A thought he'd leave for another day.

*****

Exhibit B. Luka Couffaine.

It came as a shock to everyone when Luka and Marinette broke up. Yet, he never felt the confidence to go over to her and ask about it, guilt still sitting in his gut from dancing so closely with her in New York. He just couldn't resist though, she was there and her eyes were gleaming like sapphires in the moonlight. He was only a guy, and only human, so holding her closely and dancing so intimately with his friend just seemed the thing to do at the time.

Did he regret it in hindsight? Pfft, no. This was Marinette, he was lucky to have been stuck with her for so long—in the sky...in the sliding doors.

"And then..." Marinette's high pitched sorrow made her voice squeaky as she blubbered out the rest of the sentence.

The gang all sat together on the steps of the school —bar Juleka and Rose—as Marinette delivered her version of the night after the 'Truth' Akuma. The girls surrounded her in support even though they had already been informed of the truth. The guys hearing the story for the first time.

Adrien sat silently as Marinette whimpered and fumbled through the story. Eyes wandered from Marinette, to each other and finally landing on him.

Oh right! Translation. He looked at her lips, tuning in to the sounds of sad, emotional Marinette and what she was trying to explain.

...got it!

"She didn't mean to hurt him, but when the truth came out it wasn't fair to carry on. To either of them, there are too many secrets," Adrien explained, everyone looking at him. It seemed unusual though, not in the usual 'thank you for explaining' kind of way, but something deeper. More unusual . Like he'd said something that should be alarming to him.

"The truth?" Nino asked. "Like about." Nino looked from Marinette to him, then back to Marinette, and then back to him. She nodded aggressively before covering her face. The tinge of a pure pink popped out from under her hands.

"She never said what the truth was," Adrien informed his friend, only for each of them to glare at each other and then back at him.

"You're kidding me, right?"

Adrien shook his head. What would he have to 'kid' about? Raising his shoulders at Nino, he was surprised his friend didn't almost knock himself out from the over enthusiastic face palm. Oh dear!

He watched Marinette lay her head on Alya's shoulder, everyone giving their reassurances and glaring at him. What the hell had he done wrong?

Running over the rooftops later that evening, he had a one track mind. To find Marinette and learn what this secret was that everyone else seemed to know apart from him.

Once again, he headed over to her balcony, edging slowly to the window and looking in. Dammit! She wasn't alone. This time Alya was there with her. She looked like she was crying, hugging onto her friend.

Luka really messed her up. Maybe he should speak to them both and try to figure out what exactly went on. Had Luka upset her? Had something happened between them? The temptation to listen in killed him. He was literally seconds away from finding out what had caused this issue and made her upset...and whether he needed to divert her attention away from Félix when he noticed they'd gone.

He moved closer and closer, until he shot back and almost fell off the roof. They were coming outside. Crap, crap, double crap!

As Marinette and Alya, clambered onto her bed, he was unsure what to do. He began to move around in quite the panicked state, Chat Noir pulling the baton from his back and launching himself up onto the roof, keeping within earshot but not in an obvious place.

He was going to hell for this.

"So, are you going to speak to him?"

Chat Noir watched as Marinette shook her head drastically from side to side. "No! I can't!"

"But, Marinette, you love him. Doesn't he  deserve to know?" Alya once again tried to persuade Marinette. He wasn't sure how girl code worked, but sometimes he had the overbearing urge to tell her to leave Marinette alone and let her figure it out herself.

"I can't just break up with Luka and then tell him I love him! It completely contradicts everything."

Oh wow! Hold on... she still loved Luka. But what about Félix?

"Did you ever think this was just an easy option to end things with Luka? That you saw an opportunity and took it?"

Moving behind a chimney, Chat Noir became one with the shadows and continued to listen in. He really needed to turn around and move away, before he heard something she regretted.

Turn...and move!

"I...I don't know..."

She sounded so sad. He just wanted to drop down and wrap her in a tight hug telling her everything was going to be okay, because she had wonderful friends who would do anything for her.

Finally getting his legs to commit to something more morally right, he took his leave and returned home.

From that moment on, Adrien decided he was going to put extra effort into making Marinette feel happy and special, because she deserved it and the world was a whole lot brighter when she smiled.

And he knew exactly where to start...

*****

It was a gamble...quite a big one really, but one he was going to try anyway.

Making his way into Collège approximately an hour before lessons began, Adrien waited for Plagg to fly into Marinette's locker and pick the lock. This was his opportunity to give back to the amazing girl who gave to everyone else.

The door popped open, Adrien moving in swiftly to pull it and place in the bouquet of half a dozen pink roses he'd ordered — complete with a matching pink bow. He placed the small note on top, thanking Marinette for being herself and smiled. He couldn't wait to see her face.

As he went to shut the door, he noticed the pictures fastened to the inside of her locker door. Pictures of himself, doodled with hearts and stars.

"She really does like fashion, doesn't she?" he chuckled, closing the door and choosing to ignore the sound of a groan coming from his kwami.

Seriously, he couldn't want more cheese as a reward for opening a locker. That was just insane!

Like an Ethan Hunt wannabe training for the next stunt in Mission Impossible, Adrien snuck out of the locker room and waited to see his friend with a smile on her face and hopefully love in her heart. He was quite certain they were about to take a step forward in their relationship...that was until she saw him.

Marinette stepped into the classroom with a face the colour of a raspberry and a look of embarrassment. Oh no! Had he misjudged the situation? Maybe he'd gotten this completely wrong because the look of her face seemed to be praying the ground would open up and swallow her whole?

He shuffled in his seat, hoping she'd at least look at him for more than a nanosecond. She scurried forward like the little mouse she was, and stopped beside him on the staircase.

"Thank you for giving me your love - I mean - flowers. Their words are beautiful - your words - they're nice, pretty, almost a love note. Was that...? No, of course not."

Adrien chuckled. This was Marinette's rambled way of prolonging a heartfelt thank you, he'd seen it before when he'd gifted her the lucky charm bracelet. "Your welcome, Marinette. It's all true!"

She squeaked the cutest noise he'd ever heard before diving behind him and onto her seat.

Adrien chuckled, grabbing his pen and opening his notepad, Nino's hand slamming on top of it before it could reach its full potential.

"What the hell was that?" His red capped friend said.

"What?"

Nino moved in close, his eyes darting to the desk behind before placing his full attention on Adrien. "You gave Marinette roses, dude!"

"Of course I did. She's going through a break up, she deserves to know her friends are thinking about her."

" Roses !" Nino hissed, before looking behind him.

Adrien turned in his seat to see what had caught Nino's attention. Marinette and Alya had been joined by the other girls, all eyes on his note of gratitude each one awwing in tandem.

"A love note!" Nino stated, both guys turning back to face the front. "You sent her a love note? "

Of course he did! She was a great friend and he loved her. Rolling his eyes, Adrien settled back into his chair and continued sorting through his notebook. Nino needed to relax, it wasn't like she'd think it was more than just a note of gratitude.

*****

"What's up Bugs Bunny?"

Chat Noir landed on their rooftop, shocking his partner and causing her to fumble something into her yo-yo. "Geez, Chat Noir, you scared me!"

Laughing, he collapsed beside her, but not without noticing the blush on her cheeks. Gosh, she was gorgeous when she blushed. Just the right hint of shyness, you rarely saw on her.

"What's this?" he chuckled, swinging one leg down over the rooftop, whilst wrapping an arm around the other.

"What?" she said, quickly slamming her to-yo shut and looking away in the opposite direction. She wasn't giving anything away.

"This look. If your cheeks were glowing anymore they'd be landing aeroplanes on this rooftop."

She giggled, feminine and beautiful. "Can I ask you a question, Kitty?"

"Always," he smiled, shuffling himself in closer. She was in a good mood tonight, maybe he could throw out one of his lines and finally hook her in.

"Why do you give me flowers?"

He chuckled. "Quite simple really, because I love you. Isn't that why men give flowers to women?"

She squealed. Actually squealed! Her little legs kicking around crazily. She was acting so un-Ladybug-like tonight. Also as if she was...a nagging thought poked him in the back of the head. She was acting very similar to someone else.

Ladybug began to talk, her words tripping around each other as she tried to coordinate what she was trying to say. His head was moving with her hand gestures as he attempted to understand what the hell was happening.

She was doing what...with who?

His brain began to absorb the words and filter them through the Marinette dictionary, each sentence suddenly becoming clearer and clearer.

The boy she loved had given her flowers today and a note declaring how amazing she was — a love note. When she asked him about it, he said every word was true.

He'd lost her. He'd finally lost his love bug. "So he gave you a love note?"

She nodded very enthusiastically. "And half a dozen pink roses."

"Wow, that's nice!"

She nodded again. "I wasn't sure at first if it was actually a love note, but then he said everything on it was true and he said yes!! Can you believe it, Kitty? All this time he finally said he loves me too!"

"So, are you like dating now?" He couldn't keep the slight malice out of his voice.

"I'm not sure. He said he loves me, but hasn't said anything else."

"Did he write it on the note?"

Her cheeks kicked up a notch to an almost crimson colour. "Well, not so much."

Holding out his hand, Chat Noir rolled his eyes. "Hand me the note."

"What?" she squeaked.

"Give me the note. I'm a master at love notes so I'll be able to tell you what he really meant."

"I can't do that," she hissed, pulling her yo-yo into her body tighter.

"Can't or won't? Come on, M'Lady, let me read it and I'll let you know if it's a love note or not."

He watched her face scrunch up as she thought about it (very similar to another small firecracker he knew).

"Fine," she suddenly exhaled, pulling the yo-yo away from her and opening it up. "But no making fun of it. I really love this guy."

With a strong grasp on his jealousy, Chat Noir watched her take the note from her hands and open it out. She was treating it with all the love and care you'd handle a newborn chick. It was a piece of paper...not a life form.

"No laughing!"

He took it from her hand and began to read over it. Oh, yes! He was certain this was a love letter, but he was also certain of a couple of other things.

Marinette wasn't in love with Félix and she certainly wasn't in love with Luka. She loved him. Him.

He coughed a couple of times, clearing his throat and trying to compose himself. "So, this boy..."

Her genuine smile back at him melted his skin right there into a pile of Agreste gloop. He handed the paper back to her, her eyes yes reading over it once again.

"Isn't it dreamy? He's so wonderful! And he loves me."

Oh he most certainly does, Chat Noir thought. Another strained laugh came out. "He has a unique way with words."

"He does," she sighed, clutching his piece of paper to her heart. "So, you agree, this is a love letter."

Chat Noir nodded. Oh, it most certainly is!

"Definitely."

With the note clasped against her heart, Ladybug couldn't contain herself. She hummed a lively tune, her movements light and carefree as she twirled around the rooftop.

She was Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and he was the answer to her enigma. 

As he stood from his position on the rooftop, heart pounding with determination, he approached her with steady steps. It was time. The city buzzed below them, but all he could focus on was her presence. He reached out, gently placing his hands on her shoulders, causing her to turn and face him.

"Listen," he began, his voice filled with sincerity. "I need you to know something."

She looked up at him, eyes wide with curiosity and maybe a hint of apprehension.

"No matter what happens, mask or no mask," he continued, his words unwavering, "I love you."

Her breath caught in her throat, unsure of what to say. But before she could respond, he pulled her into a warm embrace, feeling her tension slowly melt away.

"Let's not waste any more time," he whispered, his forehead resting against hers. "I want us to be real, together. But there's something you need to know first. Plagg, claws in."

She blinked back tears, a smile tugging at her lips. In that moment, the city faded into the background, leaving only the two of them standing on that rooftop, their hearts finally laid bare.

And as the sun dipped below the horizon, they knew that this was just the beginning of their love story, unmasked and unafraid...until Alya found out at least.