Ladybug swung as high as her yoyo allowed, vaulting her into the murky sky. By a stroke of pure luck, she managed to catch the corrupted butterfly at the last second before plummeting to the ground. Chat Noir desperately flung himself into the air in to catch her, sending them both crashing into the street below.

Chat ignored the flaring pain in his ankle and quickly got up, offering a hand to his lady apologetically.

The heroine shakily stood up on her own, rejecting his help wordlessly. She tapped her yoyo to send the butterfly away before turning to him. "That was too close."

Chat nodded slowly, sobering as he recognized the danger of the situation. Ladybug was incredible, but even he knew she wasn't indestructible. She had been seconds away from hitting the concrete full force, all because he asked her out to dinner at the worst possible time. The impact alone would've shattered her spine. "It won't happen again, I promise. You know you mean the world to me, Ladybug. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you got hurt."

She nodded silently, eyes downcast and eerily thoughtful.

"Please, tell me the truth," Chat said, green eyes glinting in the dim light. "If your lover wasn't in the picture, would you have given me a chance?"

Ladybug stared into the alleyway. "You still don't get it, do you?" She said quietly. A soft roll of thunder resounded as she stared at her partner.

The hero looked up in surprise, but Ladybug shook her head before he could respond. "If we met each other as normal people, maybe I would've. But the world isn't perfect, chaton. We're heroes who protect Paris by doing what needs to be done. We can't do that if we're together." She let out a shaky breath.

"It can never happen, Chat Noir."

Her earrings beeped impatiently, cutting off her unspoken apology. With a sigh, she threw her yoyo around streetlight and swung into the darkening twilight. The clouds let out a quiet clap of thunder and the rain started to fall, the droplets growing larger and more intense. Before Chat knew it, he was caught in a downpour.

Chat Noir hung his head and let the rain fall freely into his hair. For the first time in the year they had been partners, Ladybug had truly hurt him.

* * *

Adrien anxiously drummed his fingers against his desk, impatiently glancing around the room to find Marinette's possible crush. It was probably someone in their class, Marinette wasn't involved in any clubs after school so she wouldn't see anyone else on a daily basis.

The girl herself was early to class for the first time in a long while, chatting amiably with Alya. Adrien frowned to himself, noticing she was the only one he knew to wear her hair in ponytails other than Ladybug. Had she been inspired by the spotted heroine? Who had worn it first? He shook his head. He could ask her about it later, right now he needed to focus.

He nibbled his pen out of habit and surveyed the most likely candidates. She had used male pronouns, so that ruled out half of the options. He was obviously a close friend of hers, but the only ones not in a relationship were Max and - Nathaniel!

Adrien leaned back in his seat, proud of himself. It all made sense! Marinette had must've gotten closer to him after Cholé revealed his crush on her, but both of them were too shy to ask the other out. He was a genius.

The rest of the school day dragged on, taking so long in between each class the blonde was sure time was moving backwards. He kept sneaking glances at Marinette but could never manage eye contact, she seemed to look away as soon as he turned his head. At least he got a good view of her hairdo. Those ponytails were really starting to bug him.

Before he knew it, the final bell rang, abruptly interrupting his thoughts. He packed up slowly and purposely took his time walking down the hall so Marinette could easily catch up to him if she wanted. Sure enough, he soon heard her footsteps rushing down the hall. "Adrien! Wait up!"

He stopped long enough for her to catch her breath, excitedly wondering what Nathaniel said. "What's up?"

"Well, a made a bet with my friend to ask my crush out," She giggled nervously, unsure what to say.

Adrien smiled at the mention of Chat Noir as a friend. "Oh? What'd he say?"

"That's the thing," Marinette said, biting her lip. Her bright blue eyes stared into his as she gathered every scrap of courage she had. "Uh, how'd you like to go to the movies sometime?"

The silence that followed was deafening. 

Adrien failed to suppress his shock as he processed what she said. He was sure he'd guessed who she liked, but this was a huge curveball. He was wrong, and she was crushing on him?! His detective skills needed serious work.

His tongue refused to make a coherent word as his brain unfroze. "Uh, well..."

"N-No no, it's okay!" Marinette rushed. "I can tell you don't like me back now, so it doesn't matter. We can forget this ever happened." She faked a smile and turned to leave, desperately wanting to be anywhere but there.

Adrien stood motionless, mouth slightly agape, watching her controlled pace break into a run. "Marinette, wait!"

She froze and stiffly stared at the ground as he scrambled to catch up. "Look, Marinette, you mean the world to me. You're one of my closest friends, maybe even my best friend." He chuckled tensely. "Nino's fantastic, but I feel like sometimes he doesn't really understand me. I'm flattered you like me, but I..." He struggled to put his thoughts into words.

Marinette half-smiled, not meeting his eyes. "Never really saw me that way?"

His shoulders sagged. "I... yeah, I guess." He looked up sheepishly. "I'm really sorry, Marinette. You're amazing, and I'm really lucky to know you."

Marinette absentmindedly kicked at a frayed square of carpet. "I kinda figured. You have nothing to be sorry for, I just got my hopes up, I guess." 

Adrien shifted uncomfortably. "See you tomorrow, Marinette."

To his immense relief, she smiled. A small one, but real. "See you tomorrow." 

She waved as she started the walk home, something Adrien was happy to return as he got in the car. 

As soon as Adrien got home, he flopped on the bed and groaned into his pillow. "I'm an idiot."

"You're not wrong," Plagg deadpanned, floating out of his pocket. "Which way do you mean it?"

"I didn't even notice Marinette liked me! She said herself last night she's liked me for a long time, almost the whole school year. I can't be that oblivious, can I?"

Plagg took a long breath in and out, trying not to lose his marbles. "Kid, you're dense. Don't beat yourself up over it."

Adrien buried his face in the pillow again. "It looks like she took it well, at least. I hope she's talking to Alya about it."

His kwami only raised an eyebrow. "You're going to let her best friend do all the work?"

"That's not what I meant, I just don't think she's going to want to talk to me about it."

"That's where you're wrong, kid." He pointed at the silver ring and smiled mischievously. "Whoever said she didn't want some support from France's favorite alley cat?"

Adrien sat up hesitantly and twisted his ring nervously. "This is a terrible idea." He ran a hand through his hair. "Plagg, transform me!"

In only a few minutes, he found himself on the Dupain-Cheng's roof, already regretting his decision. "This is stupid, I'm stupid, there's no way I can pull this off, not to mention she barely knows Chat Noir." He rambled. The hero would've tried talking himself out of it for much longer if not for the telltale sound of the trapdoor opening. He jumped back in surprise. "Oh! Hello there, Princess!"

"Hey, Chat Noir," Marinette said nonchalantly. 

He blinked. "You're not surprised to see a superhero on your roof?"

"You're the one who dared me to ask him out, of course you'd want to know how it played out." 

Chat held his hands up in surrender. "You got me there." He gulped, trying to remember the last time he willingly lied to someone other than his father. There were little white lies here and there to protect his identity, but nothing major. He'd have to dig deep into his acting skills. He cleared his throat. "So, how'd it go?"

Marinette sighed and leaned against the balcony. "Honestly? Pretty terrible."

"Oh, no," he said, guilt panging in his chest. "What happened?"

"It wasn't bad as in he was a jerk about it, he was honest and told me he didn't like me back. I had a feeling he didn't, but one little part of me wanted him to say yes so, so bad." She shut her eyes and bit her lip. 

Chat Noir hesitated, unsure how to comfort her. It was his fault she was feeling this way, even if she didn't know. "At least you know he values you as a friend," he started, rubbing the back of his neck.

She chuckled to herself. "That's a plus, I guess. He could've just blown me off. He's always kind, even when it's not what his friends are doing. When it's not what I'm doing." She sighed. "It's one of the reasons I liked him so much."

Chat raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "What else did you like about him?"

Marinette's lips twitched into a smile. "His smile. I don't know how he does it, but whenever he smiles it lights up the entire room. Not to mention he's genuine. He keeps to himself for the most part, but he'll never lie to you."

Chat Noir stayed quiet, trying to process what she was saying. Marinette, one of his closest friends, probably his closest friend, had a giant crush on him and not because of his looks. As much as his common sense screamed at him to have an existential crisis about it, he forced himself to push those thoughts away and focus on making her feel better.

"He sounds like a good guy," he said softly. "You must've cared for him a lot."

"Yeah." Marinette sighed. "Yeah, I did." 

The two sat in silence for a while, each content with their own thoughts (though Chat Noir's were considerably more panicked and scattered.) Finally, he let out a breath and tried to give advice from an outsider's point of view. "Whoever this mystery guy is, he missed out." He squeezed her hand in reassurance. "You're smart, honest, mature, and let's face it, cute." He fought against the red rising to his ears. He stating facts to make her feel better! Nothing more!

"Chaton," Marinette shoved him playfully. "You are such a flirt!"

"I am not!" He said, a hand to his chest. "I'm just telling you he's missing out!"

"Whatever you say," she teased, and Chat hated how his cheeks went pink. If he was lucky, she would brush it off as the warm light from the sunset.

"Are you feeling a bit better now, Princess?"

Marinette smiled a bit, and Chat wished he didn't eat a snack before coming. His stomach was in knots, much to his distaste. He was sure those macarons were safe, even if they were completely against his strict diet. 

"For sure, Chat. This was nice," she said, blue eyes shining. "Thank you for talking to me."

"Anytime," he said, smiling back. "You're excellent company, Marinette." He paled suddenly. "Ladybug's gonna kill me for being late for patrol, though!" He jumped off the balcony and ran across roofs towards the Eiffel Tower in the distance, waving as he quickly went out of sight.

Marinette laughed and retreated to her bedroom, shaking her head. Whatever she had done to befriend the cat as a civilian, she didn't deserve it.