It has been two years since Ladybug and Chat Noir fought their first akuma and Marinette and Adrien met. As Hawkmoth's attacks grew to happen more and more often, they started patrolling every night, something that proved to be very useful... and extremely tiresome.

Although they did their best to hide, both Marinette and Adrien would go to school exhausted from being awake all night for patrol. It wasn't uncommon for them being caught sleeping in classes or at the library, and the only thing that prevented their grades from falling was their friends' help.

It also helped that they managed to get doctors to diagnose them with insomnia, which made their teachers go a bit easier on them.

Marinette's crush on Adrien never faded, and neither did Alya's teasing on the matter.

"If I didn't know you better girl, I'd think that you and Adrien don't sleep because you spend all night making out", she would say on occasion.

"Oh, I wish", she'd reply sincerely, only to hear her friend's final words:

"But I know you would die of a heart attack before even kissing him, so it's not the case."

Marinette would groan every time the reporter said that.

However, as time went by, she found herself harboring feelings for a certain black cat (well, a boy dressed in a black cat suit, but you get it). As he toned down his puns and shameless flirting, she got to actually know her partner, and she found him almost as endearing as her model friend.

Almost. She's been loving Adrien for too long for her new feelings for Chat to be equal.

Speaking of Adrien... She found being just friends with him wasn't as bad as she thought. After her failure at getting a romantic ride with him, Alix (yeah, it surprised her too) started a 'tough love therapy' to get her to stop being so awkward around her crush.

It worked. That's all that's needed to know about it.

The thing is, she fell even more in love with him as she got to know him better. She learned about his nerdiness and love for anime, and got a clearer view on how difficult his home life was. He had a thing for sweets (something that made Marinette's day when she found out) and Camembert cheese (which she decided to not question).

She also found out, more recently, that he had a huge crush on Ladybug. This discovery left her thrilled and confused at the same time.

"Tikki, I don't understand", she told her kwami that night (it was Chat Noir' turn for patrol). "You always say Ladybug is Marinette and vice-versa. If he spends so much time around civilian me, why he fell for Ladybug me?"

Tikki tilted her head. "I don't know Mari... What does he like about Ladybug?"

"I'm not sure... I think it's something about being brave, fierce, willing to help others...", she blushed as she listed the adjectives Adrien used to describe her super heroine self. "It doesn't make sense to me, Tikki. When I'm Ladybug I feel I'm more... professional, you know? Like, I'm doing my job saving Paris from akumas. There's no way he can see enough of my personality to have feelings for me..."

"What if he's Chat Noir? He knows you well enough."

Marinette fell silent at this question. Two years ago, she would have dismissed the idea immediately. Now it didn't seem all that impossible... just unlikely. "That would be great, Tikki, but how many blond green-eyed guys live in Paris? What are the chances that Adrien of all people is Chat Noir? Also... if he was Adrien I should have recognized him by now, shouldn't I?"

Her kwami shook her head. "Remember the glamour I told you about? The one that prevents Alya from seeing that her best friend is the super hero she chases daily?" Mari nods. "You and Chat are not immune to it. If Adrien is Chat, you are just as unable to see it as anyone else, unless he either tells you or gets caught by you."

She nodded and sighed. "I see. Well, I can only hope Adrien one day sees that I'm a better option than Ladybug. It's not like I can go on a date in my super hero clothes, you know?" She giggled and went back to her homework.

-x-

Adrien was already seeing it.

As he spent more time with Marinette, he began to see the girl behind all the nervousness and stuttering, and fell for her.

There were two problems, though.

One, as much as he wanted to, he couldn't move on from Ladybug. She was his first love and, as he got to know her better in their shared patrols (which happened three times a week), it was hard to not fall for her even more.

Two, he was sure she didn't feel the same (neither of them, actually).

"Adrien, she likes you", Plagg insisted one day.

"No, she doesn't. Marinette can have any guy in that school, why would she pick me?"

"You can have any girl in that school too, you know?"

"Because I'm a model, Plagg! Mari is crushed by tons of people, me included, because of her personality. I'm pretty sure if anyone got to see who this model really is, they'd give up in a instant."

Plagg sighed. "Look kid, I know your self esteem is not the best, but you really should stop thinking so low of yourself. You are a great guy. Ask any of your friends, which, let me remind you, are your whole class. Ask Marinette."

Adrien frowned. "It's not that. All these fangirls have an image of me that... well, it's just not me. People have expectations of what I am, and I don't need self esteem to know that a nerd dork is not what they expect."

"And yet you didn't lose any friend you got these two years."

"Yeah, but a crush on me? Not even Chloe has it anymore."

"Chloe doesn't count, she's lesbian. She never truly crushed on you to begin with."

Adrien didn't reply tthat. Plagg had a point; Chloe got out of the closet two months ago. Sometimes it still surprised him how much his kwami knew of his world, even though most of the time he only talked about cheese. He was still unsure of how he managed to talk about Marinette for so long.

"You could always go for Ladybug again, if you are so insecure", Plagg suggested, interrupting his thinking. "She had no model image of you to be broken."

"I know", he sighed. "But do you really think we could have an actual relationship without revealing ourselves? You know she thinks it's too dangerous. You even agreed once."

Plagg shrugged. He didn't have an answer to that.

-x-

Adrien didn't have to worry about identity reveals for too long after that day.

A week later, a knife-themed akuma injured Chat Noir seconds after he used Cataclysm. Ladybug defeated it as quickly as she could, but when she finally managed to dodge the knives, destroy the akumatized and cleanse the akuma, Chat had less than a minute left before he detransformed. And his injuries left him unable to move.

Marinette didn't think twice. She grabbed her kitty and left the scene before even using Miraculous Ladybug.

She found an empty alley nearby just as he detransformed. She started to turn her head, but it was too late.

Adrien Agreste was half-conscious in her arms.

She casted Miraculous Ladybug quietly and waited for its light to surround him, erasing his injuries. He opened his eyes soon after.

"My Lady? What happened...?"

Oh, crap, He didn't realize he wasn't Chat Noir anymore.

"Couteau d'Argent stabbed your abdomen and... one of your l-legs", she got more nervous as she spoke. She'd have to tell him. "Your miraculous was beeping... Y-You had only a few seconds so I... I brought you here before casting the cure... Andyoushouldlookdownandseeforyourself."

Adrien blinked. "What did you say, My Lad..." He grabbed her arm to stand up and looked at his hands, eyes widening as he noticed he wasn't wearing gloves. Ladybug couldn't stop herself.

"I'm so, so sorry! I didn't mean to see you but it was all too fast for to look away but it was better than risk you detransforming in front of all Paris and I'm really sor-"

She was interrupted by a pair of arms surrounding her. She felt Adrien's head resting on her shoulder. "It's okay, My Lady. You saved my life and my secret. If anything I'm glad it was you who found out."

His sweetness managed to calm her down, and she hugged him back. "I'll always protect you, mon chaton."