Summary: Love is crazy. Adrain knew that long before he realized he'd fallen for her. He just hadn't realized it when he found out she was Ladybug.
Love is hard. Marionette knew that before falling for Cat Noir. She just wished she'd known this before finding out he was Adrian. As their internal battles rage HawkMoth begins using stronger and more powerful Akuma to gain the miraculous of his foes will they come together in time to prevent it? or burn up in the fires of their hearts?

Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous: Tails of Ladybug and Cat Noir

Chapter 1

The streets of Paris were quiet below a star filled night sky. Its citizens slept soundly in their beds, the danger for the day having been taken care of long before the night had fallen. However, as a shadow passed over the moon from a distance it was revealed that not all the city's residents were sleeping and that one was active that night.

Adrian Agreste, disguised as his Cat Noir alter ego, jumped from rooftop to rooftop, twirling his metal staff above him to help his fight against gravity. His suit of black leather did little to guard against the chilled air of the mid fall setting in on the city and so he kept a vigorous pace. Using the friction of his outfit against his skin and the exertion of his actions to keep himself warm.

His eyes scanned the streets below for any sign of another Akuma, despite having already dealt with one earlier that day. In truth, he was looking for any distraction to keep himself from going home even though his bed would be warm, and was the only thing welcoming about the place. The reason being was simple; he didn't have anything to go home to. His father was always too busy to bother with him, Natalee, although being relatively nice to him, was only his father's secretary, and the man's body guard lacked any brains to hold a conversation Adrian would find mentally stimulating. The mansion hadn't been home for a long time…not since his mother…

The masked Cat Noir stopped on a roof, his hand clutching his staff tightly at the thought of his mother and her disappearance. It saddened the sixteen-year-old and made him angry at the same time. Three years had passed since her disappearance and he still had no answers as to why it had happened, or even who could have been responsible. His father was no help in the matter either, preferring to bury himself in work rather than deal with the damages like he should.

Cat Noir sighed, loosening his grip and continuing his patrol, it wouldn't do to contemplate on the past, what was done was done. He'd dealt with most of the emotional damages in the years following his mother's disappearance, but he was still greatly saddened and angered by it.

Fighting Akumas though, in the three years it had been since his Miraculous had chosen him to be Cat Noir, had become a major stress reliever. This was made even more so when he took school and the fact that fighting the things was a secret in his life into account. It added more stress, but the act of fighting them relieved it, in a weird way. He wondered if it was the same for his partner.

The blonde teen smiled for the first time that night at the thought of his partner. Ladybug…she was something else to say the least. Serious and resourceful, and a good sense of humor. Mixed with his sly and often cocky persona they made for a great team. The best if he was honest.

But lately, Adrian had found himself at an impasse in his thoughts regarding his partner. While he openly admitted that he loved the spotted heroine and still did, he'd found her lack of response to his advances demoralizing. He'd been laying off the advances recently, trying to prove that he took their hero work seriously to Ladybug and wasn't in it just to get a chance with her. He didn't think she thought that of him mind you, but in the off chance she did, he wanted to prove her wrong.

To top it off, he'd found his attention being drawn to someone else more and more in the last year and a half. A classmate: Marionette Dupain-Cheng. The girl's presence affected him in ways he could not describe, but very much liked. Other than Ladybug she was the only girl that didn't fawn over him from the start. At first his visits had started out as checking up on her due to the incident with the Evillustrator, but as time went on and they got more comfortable around one another, Marionette began to joke and tease him back, often calling him out on things he mostly came up with to make her laugh, and as even more time had gone by, the jokes and teases had evolved into close comrade. She confided in him and he could in turn do the same. Adrian could honestly say that the girl was his best and closest friend, even closer than Nino. He just wished he could tell her who he was.

In an odd coincidence, Cat Noir came to another stop on a roof top across from said girl's home right as the thought of her came to him. The neon signs of the girl's parents' bakery glowed in the early morning letting the words Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie spill into the darkness. The smell of bread and other things baking let him know the girl's parents were already awake and preparing the day's fresh goods. Adrian took a moment to savoir the smell and made a mental note to come back after school to pick up a snack.

Maybe he could use that as an excuse to walk Marionette home without it being suspicious? Maybe then he could try to start a better friendship with her in his civilian life instead of only as Cat Noir? Just as the idea came to him, Cat Noir's enhanced hearing picked up a soft sob. It was almost too soft for him to hear, but it made him frown as he noticed for the first time that a light was on in the top most window of the building. A window he knew from over a year of visiting to belong to Marionette's room.

Not liking the sound coming from the usually kind, but clumsy girl, Cat Noir leapt to the familiar balcony he'd visited many times in the recent past.

xXx

Meanwhile, Marionette was quietly sobbing to herself, she had been for hours now. Mentally cursing herself yet again on her inability to talk to her not so secret crush Adrian Agreste, or even get close to him to form a friendship outside that of what existed when their mutual friends were present. Her latest attempt to talk to him had not ended well and in fact had mortified her to no ends.

However, she was startled out of her thoughts when a soft, but familiar thump came from her roof. She looked up to the skylight above her bed, already expecting the familiar green eyes staring down at her in worry and buried her head into her knees again.

"Not now Cat." She muttered, knowing full well that he'd hear her. Instead of his voice like she had thought to hear, the sound of her skylight opening and the sensation of her mattress being compressed beside her was his response.

"What's wrong, Marionette?" came the soft voice of her partner. A voice she'd heard several times in the last year and a half, but never with the amount of worry it held for her in that moment she had expected a corny pun about ally-cats or something to do with her being his princess. Not that it would have helped much, but it would have taken her mind away from her issues.

"It's nothing," she tried again, hiding her eyes and her tears from him.

Cat Noir frowned. He'd seen the tears in her eyes when she'd looked up to the skylight before he'd let himself in. "it's not nothing." He insisted, crossing his arms at her.

Marionette sighed, cursing how he could be as stubborn as she was at times. More tears welled in her eyes, "I blew it, Cat. I blew it bad today."

"With the mystery man?" Cat asked, feeling a small tug on his heart at the reminder that Marionette was already crushing hard on someone already, she'd never told him their name but he had a feeling the guy was in the same class as them. The girl's nod told him he'd guessed right.

"What happened." It wasn't a request.

Marionette looked at him, her tears still falling, surprise was on her face at the demand, but the caring look he was giving her melted what little resolve she had left to deny him.

Her face, already red from the salty tears, flamed in a blush as she began recalling her day.

xXx

"This is your chance girl! Go!" Alya hissed, pushing the red-faced Marionette toward the object of the girl's affection.

"A…Alya!" Marionette cried to her friend, trying to dig her heels into the ground as best she could to slow the forced approaching of her blonde crush where he sat laughing at something his best friend had said. But Alya was surprisingly strong.

"Go. Ask him before someone else nabs him!" the brunette encouraged with a strong push, sending the girl stumbling forward into said crush's desk. Scattering his books everywhere as she toppled over it.

"Uh, hey, Marionette." The blonde greeted awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head with a smile.

A crimson red blush burned on the girls face as she stared into his emerald eyes. His eyes staring back, confusion, concern and just a bit of amusement shinning in them. Suddenly, as if realizing what she was doing Marionette shot up, with a scream and flailing her arms around wildly.

"AAHH! A…A…Adri…Adrian! HI!" she shouted, unfortunately as she sat up, on her hands found its way across the blonde's face.

Time froze as the accidental slap echoed across the room.

Marionette blinked, staring at the offending hand and Adrian's face, which now had a rather bright red mark on one side shaped exactly as her hand. Slowly she watched as the shock registered with the boy as he cupped the cheek and stared at her questioningly.

She stared at her hand, then at Adrian's face. Her hand. Adrian's face. Hand. Face. Face. Hand.

The scream that echoed around the school was filled with such heartbreak that even those not in the class felt bad for the owner. Without thinking to apologize, or to even realize what she was doing Marionette turned on her heals and ran out of her class room as tears began to stream down her face. She didn't stop until she was safely at home and only emerged again to deal with the Akuma when it had attacked later that evening.

xXx

A fresh batch of tears welled up in Marionette's eyes as she finished her tail.

"I hit him. I just…wanted to ask him to see a movie with me and I freak out and accidentally hit him! God I'm such a screw up! He probably hates me now!" she wailed into her knees.

Cat Noir meanwhile, was seeing the sobbing girl in a new light. While she had not said the name of the boy she was crushing on he now knew who he was, and how could he not? His cheek still stung from the slap even when the mark had faded from it several hours before.

Cat knew the girl to be kind and caring to those around her and would go out of her way to help others, even going so far as to put them before her own well being. The only exception apparently was him. every time he looked at the girl as Adrian she would freeze up and melt into a stuttering mess. Until now Cat had thought his fame as Adrian intimidated her, but that had been something he'd been iffy on considering Marionette's interaction with the Mayor's daughter, Chloe. But now he knew the truth behind it, and he wanted to slap himself for not seeing it sooner. All this time Marionette had liked, possibly even loved, him and he'd been to oblivious to see it.

"Mari," he whispered, just loud enough for her to hear. When she looked his arms were spread open for her, the invitation obvious and Marionette didn't think twice before diving into her friends embrace. Cat's arms were a welcome heaven for her tremulous emotions and she held onto him tightly, as if he were her final lifeline to the world. Cat said nothing for over an hour as she cried in his arms, her sobs racked through him, letting him know the damage he had unknowingly caused her through the last year.

Finally, Marionette's sobs died and her body stopped shaking, only small sniffles remained in their place. "He can't hate you." he whispered, looking down at her.

"How can you be so sure?" Marionette whispered back, meeting his eyes and allowing him to see how utterly defeated they were. They were devoid of much of what he liked best about her.

Cat hesitated, unsure of how to answer the question without revealing his identity to her.

"I just am." He answered, choosing to go the simple route rather than say anything that might tip her off. "This guy sounds smart enough to realize it was an accident. You were being your usual clumsy self when it happened, he cant blame you for that." He said, chuckling lightly as she poked him in the chest hard. "Don't poke an ally-cat, he might just poke you back." A blush came to his face as he processed the words and their double meaning a little too late.

He heard a soft giggle coming from the girl in his arms, "that can be taken wrong on so many levels." Marionette said, lifting her eyes to see the blush on the cat's face.

"Not what I meant." He muttered. "But don't go jumping to conclusions too soon, Princess."

"Maybe." Marionette sighed. She had to admit he had a point. Adrian was smart and he used his brain more than she knew a lot of the other boys in her class usually did. Maybe he would be able to forgive her?

The shrill shriek of Cat Noir's ring broke her from her thoughts and she looked at the hand on her shoulder to see the decoration of a cat paw print flashing and one of the pads disappearing, leaving him with one left. She knew he only had a few minuets left before his transformation would end and he would be left in his civilian self.

"You'd better go." She said, somewhat sadly that her friend would need to leave right when he was managing to cheer her up.

"You sure?" he asked, grinning as his jokester side returned. "I really wouldn't mind letting my princess know the handsome mug behind this mask."

Marionette giggled at him. The giggle itself did wonders to lift her spirit more than the joke itself. "Go." She said pointing to the window, "I don't want anyone coming after me if it was found out I know who you really are."

Cat Noir pouted cutely, but recovered quickly. "Fine." He grinned as an idea suddenly came to him, a reckless one at that. He leaned in close to her and placed a quick, but affectionate kiss on Marionette's lips.

"Good night, Princess." He whispered to her, quickly springing off the bed and out the skylight above. He was already several streets away by the time Marionette had recovered enough from the shock to realize what he'd done.

"Did he…kiss me?" she asked aloud a fire red blush on her face. Her hand raised and brushed her lips gently. She could still feel the heat of the hero's own on them. Despite herself and her still Waring feelings on the event at school that day Marionette couldn't find it in herself to be mad at him. In fact, she was oddly happy.

It was shortly after this that the girl finally realized the time of night and as she drifted off to sleep she thought, 'maybe I should have taken Cat up on his offer.'

She was out within seconds of this thought.

A few feet away, a tiny red figure poked its head out of its hiding spot. An odd frown on its face as she stared at her chosen. 'Your chosen just started a dangerous game, Plagg.' She thought, thinking of the black form of her soulmate. 'you know what happened last time one of them did this. Let us hope this does now end like it did then.'

xXx

Cat Noir's transformation ended just as he'd slipped through the window to his bed room. Revealing Adrian standing there in his normal attire and a black cat like creature that slowly floated up to rest on the teen's shoulder.

"You kissed her." the little thing muttered though its exhaustion, barely raising its head to look at his chosen. "Why?"

"I don't know." Adrian muttered walking over and sitting on his bed. Confusion ran through his mind. He honestly did not know why he had kissed Marionette before he'd left. Was it just a spur of the moment or had he meant to do it?

"I suggest you figure out why then." Plagg muttered. "That girl is important to you. You don't want to be leading her on as Cat Noir and ignoring her as Adrian. What if she hadn't told you to leave when she did and found out who she'd really been confiding in for over a year? And what about Ladybug?"

"Ladybug doesn't want that type of relationship with me, Plagg. Last time I tried suggesting something romantic between the two of us she brushed it off, just like all the other times." Adrian said, it hurt him to know that his lady didn't feel the same for him as he did for her but he knew it was likely for the best. They couldn't afford to be the other's weakness. "Kissing Marionette though, I don't know. It felt right." He was telling the truth; when he'd kissed her it felt as if something had fallen in place, something he hadn't even known he'd been missing.

'If only you knew, Kid.' Plagg thought. A sigh escaped the creature as he felt the presence of his soulmate back at the little bakery. He had longed so much to end the transformation and hold her, but the ear full he would have received from Tikki for doing so had stopped him. Barely. He only hoped this time, the Game Adrian had unwittingly started between himself and the chosen of his partner would not end in disaster.

"Not like the last." he muttered, to quietly for the blonde to hear.

Adrian's only reply from the creature was a sigh as he rolled over on his side and curled up into a ball. Adrian heard him mutter something to himself, but without the kiwami's magic enhancing his hearing it was to quiet for him to pick up on.

As he settled in to get a few hours of sleep before school that morning, Adrian's thoughts centered on the kiss he had given his classmate and friend. He had felt a spark of something more there between them. Something he remembered his mother telling him about the first time she had kissed his father when he was eight. The spark that could hold the key to two people's hearts. But could he really afford to let her in? To really let Marionette know the real him? Not the him that was Cat Noir OR Adrian Agreste, but as the person who was both?

Adrian decided right then and there that he would pursue Marionette Dupain-Chenge.

CUT!

Ok…so I really should not be adding another story to my list but after watching the series after a good friend of mine told me about it I couldn't help the ideas that sprang into my mind.

I can't promise anything on the update frequency other than I'll try my best. And I realize a few authors have already used the Cat Noir checking on Marionette and befriending her idea. Thing is its too good not to use. However, I do promise all the chapter will be original from here on out.