She. Could not. Believe. She lost the bet to Chat.
And that she let the stakes be that high.
At least it wasn't "reveal your identity to me" or "go on a date with me".
But "reveal to your crush you like them" wasn't much better.
"What's the worst that could happen?" Chat asked. "He turns you down and I offer to be your rebound?"
She glared at her partner.
He smirked like a cat who got the cream.
She wanted to smack that stupid smile right off his stupid face with his stupid baton.
Stupid cat.
Worse yet, she had until next patrol to do it. Two days. Meaning within two days, she had to tell Adrien she liked him.
"I can do it. I can do it. I can do it."
"You can, Marinette," Tikki said. "But you won't if you spend another four hours pacing your room trying to give yourself a pep talk."
Marinette groaned and collapsed on her sofa. "Who am I kidding? He'll turn me down and then I'll never get a job in any fashion industry because Gabriel will brand me a fangirl and I'll have to work at the bakery forever and I'll never be able to have a hamster because of food safety."
Tikki sighed. "Oh, Marinette. What am I going to do with you."
It was both fortunate and unfortunate the opportunity that presented itself the next day, and Ladybug didn't know whether to thank or curse her ladybug luck.
"You should be careful," she said to Adrien after the akuma was purified. She had to snatch him from the Akuma's clutches beforehand and was checking up on him.
He shrugged. "At least you were there."
"But what if I'm not?" she asked. "I don't want you to get hurt. I…"
And this was it. The breaking point. She swallowed and forced herself to plow forward with the next words.
"I really care about you."
… Good enough.
His eyes got wide as he stared at her, his jaw slack. "Wh- what?"
Her face slowly flamed. She shrugged, trying to be cool about it, but she knew she was failing. Spectacularly. "Well, I… You…"
She bit her lip. This was harder than she thought.
"The boy behind the camera owns Ladybug's heart." If her heart wasn't pounding before, it was pounding now. "But, that's for your ears only."
"You can trust me," he said, snatching both her hands and pressing them against his chest. "I swear. I won't let that get out to anyone lest it gets to Hawkmoth."
She smiled, though her cheeks were still probably as red as her suit. "I know," she said. "It's one of the reasons I like you so much."
His brow furrowed. "What is?"
"That I can trust you with that sort of secret," she said, looking into those green eyes and feeling her head spin and her heart do cartwheels inside her chest. "No matter how many burdens you carry, you'll pick up a burden for a friend in a heartbeat. It's not fair for me to dump a secret on you, and I'm sorry—"
"Don't apologize," he interrupted. "Please, don't apologize. I feel like I just was handed the world. I mean, I have the heart of Paris' sweetheart. That's…" He grinned, a real grin, one a little lopsided and just utterly happy. "It's amazing."
There went her heart again.
In a moment of stupid boldness, she pulled her hands away from him, only to cradle his cheeks, pulling his head down to press a kiss on his brow. And when she realized just what she did, she spun to leave.
Only for Adrien to grab her and yank her back around, causing her to trip and crash against his chest.
"Meet me tonight," he begged.
She was speechless.
"My house, everyone knows where it is," he said. "The rooftop. An hour after sundown. Please."
Her jaw worked to answer him, only for words to die on her tongue.
His expression was growing increasingly desperate. "Please," he begged again on a whisper.
"Okay," she finally whispered in return. "Okay."
His expression was one you'd never see on any model photo ever. It was too unabashedly happy and free and hopeful. "I'll be waiting."
So would she, but her brain told her she better leave now so she could have a good chunk of time to freak out before having a secret meeting with her crush on the rooftop under the cover of night.
Never in all her years as Ladybug had she gotten a bigger thrill.