A/N: (23-Jul) Hi all! I started this story as a sequel to the volpina episode, but it evolves into something else. If you don't like this part, Please please please skip to Chapter 4 and give it a try. Chapter 5 is my favourite! (but it won't make much sense if you don't read 4). DROP ME A REVIEW K THX BYE CHTHULU WOULD LIKE THAT VERY MUCH.

"Stay….. Please?"

Ladybug hesitated and turned around, eyeing the blond haired, blue eyed 'love of her life'. Adrien just looked so forlorn, so desperate, so…. 'lonely,' She thought, 'How can he be lonely?'

Letting go of her fears, she sat down on his windowsill. Adrien walked up and sat next to her, keeping a civil enough gap between them. Though he wouldn't admit it to Plagg, his bravado around his lady mostly stemmed from being Chat Noir. Without it, he didn't know how she would perceive him.

"I saw what you did for me."

She jerked up, turning tomato red in the process, "wh- what?!"

"You were ready to give up your miraculous to save my life. I – uh – I saw it on TV! I was watching it live from the – uh – you know… before I took a shower?" Stupid Adrien, that was so stupid! How could you have seen it and be watching the TV at the same time. Oh well, I got myself into this situation… now I have to get myself out of it.

A few moments before this conversation, Ladybug had swung by again to check on him after Volpina's attack. He was touched that she had thought of checking up on him again, and when she had nervously mentioned that she was going to leave, he suddenly blurted out, "No, stay!"

Ladybug was still reeling with her meeting with Master Fu. He had explained the concepts of the Miraculous Stones, and given her a bit of history on Nooroo, Hawkmoth's miraculous. After a point, he said it would be better if he continued when Chat Noir was also present.

"But… Master Fu, I don't know who he is. It's not like I can just walk to his house and say, hey partner, want to go out for a stroll and find out more about our Miraculouses?"

Master Fu sniffed, "Well, how was I to know that you hadn't revealed your identities? Though I'm impressed – from what I've seen of you two, your synchronization made me believe that you had no secrets from each other."

Marinette felt a swell of pride, but that was cut short by a pinch of guilt and shame. After all, Chat Noir had asked her once – no, on multiple occasions – about who she was underneath the mask. The only thing holding that information back was Marinette herself. And she had even partially lied to Tikki about it – It wasn't safe, that's true, but she couldn't help feeling that Chat Noir would be disappointed with the girl underneath the mask. Stuttering, clumsy, Marinette with a raging crush on Adrien Agreste isn't what people associated with Ladybug. She had read enough forums and columns online. Hell, even Alya didn't think that the girl underneath the mask could be someone so ordinary.

"Ladybug?"

Shaking herself into the present, it still stunned her to find herself face to face with Adrien. His green eyes glittered under the sunlight shining in through the massive windows in his room. Something stirred at the back of her mind. Those green eyes…. There was something so familiar about them.

'Yeah Marinette, those eyes are all over your wall and computer screen'

"Sorry… it was a long day. I – uh… You're welcome… I just thought, that it really was you. Because, I checked your bathroom and you weren't there and I –"

She stopped as she heard something that sound a lot like a snicker from somewhere behind her. Whirling around with her yoyo in hand, she saw nothing out of the ordinary, except Adrien started talking really loudly, and really fast, "OH DON'T MIND THAT I JUST LEFT MY VIDEO GAME RUNNING"

Relaxing, "Oh, which one? I just started playing the new Uncharted last night."

Adrien grinned, trying to cover up the fact that he already knew he was a gamer, "I was in a nostalgic mood – I was playing Tekken. If you're up for a good round of some classic Tekken, I think I'd like to challenge you to a duel."

"Oh is that so? Then I'm up for it," Ladybug followed him to his computer, a small trickle of guilt filtering through her excitement of spending time with Adrien. She was supposed to find Chat Noir, and show him the book. Not to mention eventually finding a way to return the book to Adrien at some point, in some way. But that could wait. She was getting a chance to spend time with Adrien himself, and she had her Ladybug confidence to back her up.

Game after game, they played late into the night. Adrien cherished each moment – she revealed tiny tidbits of herself during and between matches. Her favourite colour was pink, she had hurt herself recently by poking a pin into her palm while sewing, spring was her favourite season, her father loved playing video games with her too. After she mentioned that she didn't think that Chat Noir 's humour was all that bad, she turned slightly pink and made a hasty exit.

After making her promise to return again, Adrien couldn't sleep after she left. Ignoring Plagg's incessant teasing, he rewound the night over and over, hearing all those tidbits about her life again and again. He had connected with his lady in ways he never could as Chat Noir, because she would never let him in.