I'm here with another chapter! This story and The Misadventures of Adrien Agreste are my greatest passion right now. So I hope you all enjoy!

Felix peered from around the corner, fiddling with a single red rose in his hand. He hoped Bridgette liked it. He learned that, apparently, girls loved to be wooed with flowers. But he knew Bridgette had a fondness for simplicity over grandeur, so he opted for one rose instead of a huge bouquet. It was one of the things he liked about her. She never demanded anything, perfectly appreciative of what she already had. She never took anyone for granted or befriended someone for personal gain.

The young man stared at the rose for a moment before turned his gaze back to the object of his affection, who was laughing about something with her friend, Allegra, on a bench outside the school. Her radiant smile made the sun pale in comparison. Her lovely blue eyes lit up like stars had been placed in them. The cowlick atop her head swayed differently with each new expression she made. A girl like her deserved to have a whole garden dedicated to her, but he hoped a single red rose would get his message across this time.

Felix was hopelessly in love with Bridgette. He longed to be by her side, smiling and sitting with her. Unfortunately, two problems always got in the way of that dream, one being his social ineptness. Whenever his crush was within a 20 feet radius of him, he'd instantly stiffen up and try to cover it up by "playing it cool," as Plagg called it. But doing so made him come off as acting snooty and obviously wanting to be left alone. Were his facial expressions that scary? It was just his face! Suddenly, practicing faces in the mirror didn't sound so ridiculous. And whenever he tried to speak to her, his voice would strain, which to most people made it sound like he was annoyed by something. But, in reality, he was just nervous around the beautiful blunette.

His other problem was the biggest; his curse. It made everything difficult. Felix tried everything from multiple attempts at asking her out for coffee to the secret admirer approach. All were thwarted by his bad luck. Once, he tried asking if she would go to a nearby café with him, but accidentally startled her when he suddenly came up behind her, which in turn caused her to trip on the stairs. It was lucky she was going upstairs and not down, but unlucky that she hurt both her knees. Another instance, he taped a letter to her locker which contained a love poem he spent the whole night before poring over, signing it with his most prestigious handwriting as her secret admirer. But the tape quickly peeled off, causing the letter to flutter to the ground and leaving it to be trampled by the morning rush of students. She never even knew the letter existed. He tried to give her a charm bracelet he bought because it reminded him of her, and he thought girls liked getting presents. But as they stood there on the sidewalk, a sportscar decided to zip by with reckless abandon, splashing through a puddle from the recent rainfall and drenching the two. Bridgette scrambled away in embarrassment, her white shirt becoming transparent from the water.

So here he was, rose in hand, hoping the direct gift approach would work. This time, he made sure there were no interruptions. Bridgette now sat alone on the bench, humming to herself as she looked up at the clear sky. No clouds to suddenly roll in and smite him with lightning; no students for miles to suddenly get between them; no apple trees to pelt her again; absolutely nothing. Felix tugged at his collar and smoothed out the wrinkles in his dress shirt. Bridgette told him he looked fine in what he usually wore, so he decided to wear the same thing he wore that special day to commemorate this occasion. A rose was a symbol of romance, and hopefully Bridgette would see what he was trying to say. The blonde walked out from around the corner and headed towards the pigtailed girl, who was oblivious to his presence, rose behind his back. She was right there. Her name was just on his tongue, ready to call out to her, but it had no intention to leave his mouth and alert her he was around. His opened his mouth, but the words died before they reached his lips. The sudden urge to blurt out "I love you" came to his mind.

"Hello Miss Cheng," Felix said instead. He could say her name a thousand times when he practiced this, but being in front of her now, he couldn't even do that.

Bridgette turned, recognized the voice. Her lips held a polite smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Oh…Felix…" She glanced around, but he wasn't sure why. "What's up…?"

"Well," he stood up straight, remembering the lessons about perfect posture that were drilled into him since early childhood. He stood a head taller than her, but he sincerely wished she didn't find that intimidating. He needed to hurry up before his bad luck had any chance to kick in. Felix slowly brought the rose out from behind him back. "I…was wondering…if you…"

But, as always, the unexpected happened. And it came in the form of bird poop landing on Bridgette's shoulder. "Gross!" she complained, pinching her nose to block the putrid smell. "I need to go home and change out of this jacket before lunch is over." She gathered her backpack and looked back at him. "Maybe some other time." Then, Bridgette sprinted home to the family bakery not that far away. The rose in Felix's hand slumped, as did his shoulders in dejection. But…she did say some other time. That meant she didn't mind seeing him again…right?

Bridgette Cheng wasn't a hateful person. She was one of the kindest and gentlest souls one could ever meet. When she turned away from Felix, it wasn't out of maliciousness or annoyance. In fact, she believed deep down Felix could be a good person. But that didn't prove to be the case as of late. Whenever he was near her, he became more imposing than usual. He always had a tough time getting along with others, but it seemed her couldn't stand to be around her. So why did he come back? Plus, there was this strange connection between him and the endless string of bad luck that inevitably followed around her. She was graceful by no means, but one can only trip on stairs and chairs so many times before finding a pattern in the chaos. Bridgette didn't hate Felix at all. It was just better to keep some distance between then.

As Bridgette tore through her closet to find a better jacket to wear with her outfit, she stopped every few seconds to sigh dreamily at the poster of Chat Noir on her wall. From the moment they met, she was hooked. His mere presence brought butterflies to her stomach and made her want to sing. He was just the right balance between witty and mysterious. The fact that he was very handsome, especially in leather, didn't hurt either. He was her ideal, her other half even! Ladybug and Chat Noir were destined to be like yin and yang. They complimented each other.

Maybe I should make him some cookies for our patrol tonight, she mused, putting the jacket she finally chose on. She had tried to give him little gifts over the months they worked together; nothing so personal it would reveal who she was, of course. Chat Noir made it clear he had no intention of revealing his identity to him, and it was best if she kept hers a secret as well. Bridgette loved him immensely and didn't want to break his trust, so she didn't persist as much as she did in the earlier days. Unfortunately, Chat Noir turned them down a lot. They shared the snacks she made a few times, but he made it clear that there was no romantic element to those times.

Bridgette Cheng was also someone who never gave up hope. Chat never gave her the cold shoulder, stuck up his nose when she tried to make conversation, and he complimented her when she did a good job. They put their complete trust in one another. It was a sign that they were meant to be! She was Ladybug for goodness sake!

"Just you wait, Chat Noir!" she proclaimed to no one. "I'll show you just how much I love you!" The cowlick on her head formed a head as she fantasized about the special day he'd accept her feelings.

"That's the way, Bridgette!" he kwami, Tikki, said. Her encouragement always helped. "Follow your heart!"

Bridgette nuzzled Tikki against her cheek happily and grabbed her backpack after finally putting on a new jacket. It was black with green stitching; Chat Noir's colors. She sighed happily and kissed the poster on her wall before leaving for school. There were only 10 minutes left before lunch break ended. But being a few minutes late couldn't bring down her happy mood.

Chapter 2 is done. I should be doing homework, but I've grown attached to the Miraculous Ladybug fandom in every aspect. I've fallen deep into the madness. And I'm just gonna sit at the bottom forever.

I can hear the Rick Astley jokes about the chapter title right about now... Then again, that's why I did it.

Reviews are welcome! The more reviews I read, the more encouraged I am to write more chapters.

And don't forget about my poll! Also, I made a Miraculous Ladybug crack video on my YouTube Channel, so if you like watching those, I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you!