'You really do need a rest, Tikki.' Marinette thought, smiling at the sleeping kwami. 'You've been working so hard lately.'

Marinette reached over and grabbed her sketchbook and a few pencils, leaving a happily snoozing kwami. She knew that it was bad that she was leaving Tikki home, but she honestly felt that the kwami needed the rest. And badly.

Besides, she would only be out for about fifteen minutes. Just enough time to draw a quick sketch or two and then be back home.

She walked out of the bakery, telling her parents that she would be back soon, and then went to the park. She skipped as she did so- how could she not? The sun was shining, and there were only a few small white clouds up in the sky. The birds sang in the trees, some sort of beautiful upbeat song that just made Marinette want to smile and sing along. Kids were laughing and squealing joyfully, their imagination in full swing as they rushed around.

She found a nice spot to sit on and did so, opening up her sketchbook and beginning to design. She didn't know how long had past, but that peacefulness certainly did not last for long.

"I AM LOVE SPRAY, AND EVERYONE WILL KNOW LOVE!" Someone shouted. Marinette quickly packed things up, but she didn't manage to escape the park when the akuma shot something at her, and she ran straight into a glass wall. Marinette fell on her bottom and groaned, rubbing her head. Then she stood up and began to feel around. The glass walls didn't give her very much space, but that was okay. She couldn't feel a ceiling to her see-through prison, so maybe she could use the walls to climb out.

She pressed her hands against the two sides that were closest to each other, and then lifted herself up while her feet were also placed against the glass. Her shoes didn't have that good of a grip though, so she quickly moved her hands up a little higher and shimmied up. She repeated this process multiple times, until she was a little higher than the tree that she had been next to. Her hands found the edge of the glass, and she smiled.

Take that, Akuma!

She shimmied up a little higher, but it was then that she noticed that something was… off about the other glass cages. Specifically one where there was someone in there all alone- just like her. A man (that she assumed to be her boyfriend) ran at the wall and completely passed through one side and hit the second. The instant he did so, pink gas filled up the bottom of the cage from the top, and when it disappeared the two of them were… making out.

Intensely.

Marinette blushed and directed her eyes away.

She needed to get out of there.

Now.

Unfortunately, she somehow lost her grip on the walls, and she shrieked as she began to fall.

"Princess!" She heard a familiar voice yell. Marinette knew what was going to happen, she could already see Chat Noir coming in through the roofless prison. She couldn't find the voice to warn him, to tell him to not come and save her. Her arms were flailing, and she couldn't find it in herself to stop and cover her mouth so that the gas wouldn't affect her. Chat Noir's baton extended as he caught her and held her close.

Gas was already filling the cage, but instead of him protecting his mouth he pressed his hand against her mouth, closing his eyes and clearly hoping beyond hope and his notorious bad luck that everything would be okay. Marinette was too busy clinging onto him and catching up with what was going on to think twice about it as they were enveloped in the pink gas.

His hand remained solidly against her mouth as they landed on the ground, not even budging from its place covering her mouth and nose. She found it a bit hard to breath, but she was still shaking from the scare that falling had. To her, the very fact that she wasn't in extreme pain and agony was more important than her need to breathe. Especially when her brain finally caught up with what had happened.

She was extremely worried. Was Chat Noir okay? She knew she would find out her answer soon, as the pink gas began to dissipate in front of her eyes. She waited several seconds after all of the pink gas had left before slowly pulling away from Chat Noir's hand to look around, holding her breath.

It was all gone.

"...Chat…?" She spoke hesitantly, looking at the blonde that was still holding her close. She couldn't see his face, as it was hidden by his messy mop of blonde hair, and he was looking down and away. "Are-Are you okay?"

He slowly looked up, and when he smiled at her something wasn't quite right. His eyes were green, but instead of their normal sly emerald that she was used to, she saw a hazy shade of green. It looked like he could see her, but he was looking through a filter. He had his normal smug grin on his face, but it twitched to a grimace before going back.

"Kitty?" She asked, searching his eyes. She prayed to the stars above that he was fighting against the akuma's control, but she also didn't dare get her hopes up.

"Princess…" Chat Noir breathed, saying her name as though she was the center of his world. His face leaned down close to hers, almost like he was gonna kiss her, but he stopped before she could push him away. His hands tightened their grip around her waist, and she couldn't find it in herself to look away from his smouldering gaze. He seemed to hesitate before he spoke, almost as though he didn't want to speak, but the haze in his eyes grew and he spoke whether it looked like he wanted to or not.

"Have I ever told you how amazing you look in red?"

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Chat Noir mentally winced.

He almost didn't have control over anything. Perhaps if he wasn't already madly in love with her, he wouldn't have had any control at all. It was either him stopping himself from kissing her senseless and running away with her, or keeping his stupid mouth shut.

He had known what would happen when he had seen her fall- knew that she had to be the one in control, and that he would gladly give up control over his actions if it was to protect her.

That didn't mean that he had planned for being aware of what he was doing while influenced.

Marinette's jaw dropped and he suddenly had the urge to lean down and swallow her lips with a kiss, but he stopped himself.

"What?"

Chat Noir internally groaned at himself in frustration, unable to voice it without losing control of his body, which so badly wanted to keep her there and never let her go.

But he had to tell her something! If she didn't know that he was aware, and that he had absolutely no control at the moment, he would never forgive himself.

He gave into his urge to hold her as close to him as possible, a purr rumbling around his vocal chords as he gained control of his words.

"I'm sorry!" He exclaimed, noting that his tail had wrapped around them as well. The urge to knead or pull back and kiss her on the lips grew, but he determinedly kept him in that position. "I- It's either me watching what I say or stopping myself from kissing you senseless, and I'm pretty sure that you'd rather me have no filter than invade your personal space."

He wasn't sure if the point was made, because he so badly wanted to whisk her away and smell more of the bakery-flower smell in her hair.

Her hands somehow managed to hug him despite how tight he was hugging her, and the simple act was both a blessing and a curse.

On one hand, he found it in himself to control his actions a bit more.

On the other hand, he was certain that he'd never be able to let her go after this.

"Okay." She said after a moment, her voice soft and soothing like windchimes in a summer breeze. "It's okay. We-We can work with this." He nodded, his nod turning into a nuzzle almost instantly.

Oh, how embarrassed he was.

But he'd do the same thing over and over again if it meant protecting her. No matter how embarrassing it was.

"Chat… can-can you please tell me what you meant when you said that I look good in red?" She asked. Chat Noir froze, and he could feel his grip involuntarily tighten on her. Then he sighed in defeat, nuzzling her again.

"I… I didn't mean to find out." He answered, remembering that day well. "After Dark Knight was defeated, we both entered different windows into the same hallway, and I saw you detransform before I could look away." He breathed in her scent, closing his eyes.

"I wanted to tell you, but our identities are supposed to stay secret. And whenever I asked you, you said no. I didn't want to force you, or just drop it on you. I didn't want you hating me because… well, you don't act the way you normally do with others when we talk as civilians. It's kinda hard to get close when I can't even talk to you without getting confused about what exactly you're trying to say."

"Or, at least, I understand what you mean, but you'll say a compliment and then take it back almost instantly. We're friends, but sometimes I think that you're just being polite to spare my feelings, but that's not like you and…" He groaned. "I said too much, didn't I?"

"Probably." She giggled, one of her hands moving up to comb through his hair. He didn't know wether she knew that it was helping him or not, or whether she was storing all of this as blackmail material for payback later.

That seemed like something Maribug would do.

He would never live this down, would he?

"I don't have my kwami on me." Marinette admitted. Chat Noir couldn't bring himself to lean back and give her a 'seriously' look, so he gave one to the crook of her neck. "I know, I know, it was very stupid of me." She said, knowing the look he was giving her without even having to see his face, and he smiled.

Wasn't that more than enough proof to support that they were made for each other?

"But if you can stop cuddling me and get us out of here so that I can get her from my room, we can take that akuma down."

"But I won't be able to control what I say." He moaned. "No filter."

"That's okay." She said. "The faster we take down the akuma, the faster you can be in control and the faster I can figure out who my silly chaton and partner is under the mask."

Chat Noir didn't think twice.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before slowly removing himself from their embrace, looking into her bluebell eyes that could hypnotize him no matter where they were looking.

He wanted to assure her that everything would be alright, but…

"Are you sure you're not a hypnotist milady? Cause I can't stop staring into your eyes." He said, his voice low as he leaned in a bit. The red blush that enveloped her face made her freckles stand out and made her in general more adorable (if that was even possible), but he felt guilty about not being able to say what she needed.

He opened his mouth again to apologize, but once more the words weren't what he wanted to say.

"I love your spots, Princess." He practically purred. "You've always been a Lady under all that spandex, and you'll only ever be the one to cat-ch my eye."

She turned even reder if that was possible, and he was sure that his face was red as well. He bit his lip and hung his head a bit before smiling nervously and offering his hand to her.

"Would you like a romantic lift to your castle tower?" He asked. "Your knight in shining leather will wait furever for you."

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If they didn't defeat the akuma soon, she was positive that Chat Noir was going to compliment her to death.

Yes, compliment to death. You read that right.

She wasn't sure how much she could stand. It was harder (especially now) to refute his advances without her mask.

She was also hesitant to do so, because he had also mentioned that he thought that she didn't like him under the mask.

Chat Noir would always be her partner, no matter who he was under the mask. She liked him for him, and she would do her best to prove that.

She accepted his outstretched hand, and he pulled her close to him and wrapped an arm respectively around her lower back, and she wrapped her arms around his neck before he extended his staff and shot them toward the bakery.

"Haven't I told you before that I'd manage to sweep you off of your feet one day?" He asked while they were up in the sky. Marinette giggled.

"Yeah, you did." She confirmed. "B-But I've swept you off of your feet plenty of times before, kitty. You're gonna have to catch up."

Marinette enjoyed the red hue that she could see just below his mask, and it gave her a surge of confidence.

"I think…" He finally said after they landed on her balcony. "I think that we have a lot more than that to catch up on, Buginette." He winked at her, and she looked away as she blushed. He let her down gently, and followed behind her when she moved to open up her trapdoor and go inside.

"Marinette!" Tikki instantly exclaimed, flying up. "What were you thinking?! And-" The kwami spotted Chat Noir and froze, but Marinette only smiled.

"It's okay, Tikki. He knows." She informed.

"Know that the two of us are really meant to be." He continued flirtatiously, winking at Marinette. Marinette blushed when Tikki sent her a knowing look, and promptly opened her mouth.

"Spots on!"

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A quick battle full of flirting, compliments, and purifying later- Ladybug and Chat Noir both found themselves catching their breath on a secluded rooftop.

"I'm…" Chat Noir smiled as he sat down, looking up and smiling at Ladybug. "I'm glad that that's over. Let's never have to do this again, okay?"

"Agreed." Ladybug sat down beside him, her transformation vanishing and leaving Tikki behind. Marinette smiled at her and offered her a macaroon, which the kwami eagerly began to eat. Chat Noir watched for a moment before he sighed, releasing his transformation.

Marinette stared.

And stared.

And stared.

"Marinette?" He asked, waving a hand in front of her face as Plagg picked up some camembert and flew over to Tikki. "Are you okay?"

She continued to stare.

Did he break her? She was probably as shocked as he was when he had discovered hers, but that didn't mean-"

"Can I kiss you?"

Adrien blushed and stared at Marinette as her face turned red too.

"K-Kiss?" He somehow managed to get out. "Kiss m-me?!"

Marinette bit her lip and nodded nervously.

'HOLY CRAP WHAT DO I DO SENPAI WANTS TO KISS ME THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE THE MANGAS NEVER WARNED ME ABOUT THIS-'

"Oh, for the love of cheese, just kiss already!" Plagg exclaimed, exasperated. "The faster this is over and done with, the faster I can take a nap! Besides, it's not like either of you can kiss well."

Adrien couldn't find it in himself to move, but it looked like Marinette did as she shot Plagg a dirty look before reaching over and grabbing his shirt.

"I'll show you a kiss." She said before smashing her lips on his.

Suffice to say, Adrien wasn't complaining about what had happened during the akuma that day anymore.