I'm happy this is getting a good response! Please enjoy part 3!=^-^=

Ch. 3 - Ladrien

Adrien felt the tight knot of guilt twisting in his gut all day. Any time their eyes met and she flinched and turned away. He was glad to get away for lunch hour, but the lump came back full force as soon as he saw her again in class. "I told you Adrien, it wasn't your fault." Plagg whispered from his bag as he made his way out of the building after fencing practice.

"That's not the point Plagg. Marinette doesn't know about you or any of this..." He lamented at how she must hate him. Plagg fought the urge to tell him otherwise, but Tikki was already pissed at him as it was. Adrien got in his car and his driver sped off. "I need to do something Plagg." He whispered thinking of some way to fix things, or maybe just make her understand he wasn't a creep.

"You could always try sending her cheese." He suggested though Adrien simply rolled his eyes at that. That's when he decided to go for broke. Marinette's friendship was too important to leave like this for any longer than he did. He needed to man up and apologize at the very least. After directing his driver to take him to Marinette's under threat of bolting from the car otherwise, he steeled himself for how he would do this. Hopefully he'd at least be able to apologize in person.

Marinette sat at her desk with a needle and thread in hand while Tikki floated nearby to explain things to her. "This syncing can happen sometimes even with me. If you remember those times when you're lucky charm had more to it than just what you needed like with the laser pointer for Maldictator. It's usually because of a dire creative need that's stronger than normal. It's because you and me were feeling the same strong emotion together." She elaborated as her chosen worked on sewing the fish pillow.

"So he's... reacting to catnip?"

Tikki nodded. "But he's not actually a cat." She tried to reason. "And he wasn't transformed in the locker room."

"I know, but that's not the point. When Adrien is Chat Noir he has a lot of cat qualities like his sensitive hearing and night vision. This is part of Plagg's powers too, and Plagg is a cat Kwami. Because Chat Noir was exposed to the catnip he reacted. He's continuing to react because at that time he synced up with Plagg. Once it wears off, catnip won't have that effect on him anymore." She explained back at her confusion.

Marinette looked down at the floor. Part of her knew it was something, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't disappointed. Of course Adrien wouldn't do it on purpose... but Chat Noir- Her thought was broken by a knock at her door.

She turned to see her mom giving her a strange grin. "Hey Marinette. Adrien came to talk to you. He said it was very important."

The girl froze up for a split second at the mention. "A-adrien?"

"Uh-huh, I'll just let him up." Before Marinette could say anything to the contrary, Adrien's head poked up from the ladder. Tikki had long since hid away, and Marinette scrambled to put the fish pillow from her lap into a drawer so she wouldn't have to explain having a cat, but also not having a cat.

"Hey Marinette? I understand if you don't want to, but I really want to talk to you about this morning. Can I come up?"

Marinette couldn't control the blush that erupted when he started up the ladder. She kept remembering that dopey gaze from that morning and even that made him look gorgeous. At the moment his expression was more apologetic with that underlying smile that showed his kind nature. "O-of course Adrien."

He nodded as he closed the hatch and found a seat giving her plenty of space. "Um... I really wanted to apologize Marinette..." He started as he rubbed the back of his neck. She took note of the light blush on his cheeks. "I really don't know what came over me, but I know nothing can excuse that behavior. Your friendship means the world to me, and I don't want to do anything that could mess that up... though this probably did. I know it won't be easy, and it'll take some time, but please find it in your heart to forgive me." He pleaded with the most sincere tone she'd ever heard from him.

Marinette blushed and turned her gaze away. "I... Of course Adrien."

His eyes brightened but worry was still there. "R-really?"

She nodded. "I-I figured something was up. You weren't r-really acting like yourself..." She trailed off hoping he wouldn't pry more. She really wanted to say he was acting like Chat was the previous night, but revealing herself didn't seem like a good idea at the moment. The silence lasted for a little over a minute before a ping was heard from Marinette's phone.

Adrien's phone chorused quickly after which usually meant one thing. "It's an Akuma Alert." Adrien read off his screen before looking from it to Marinette to the door. "I uh... I'm sorry to leave so quickly. I don't want you to think I'm ungrateful for your understanding, but my Dad..."

Marinette nodded pretty enthusiastically hoping he wouldn't catch her desperation. "Uh, right, of course. Your dad would want you home if an Akuma was running around, don't worry." She got up and gestured him along. "I wouldn't want you getting in trouble, especially after taking the time to apologize Adrien.

He looked back at her as he approached the ladder. "Uh, cool. Thanks Marinette... Please let me know if there's anything I can do to make up for it." He was barely able to get out as she hurried him along on his way.

She really didn't want to be so rude, but two things kept flashing through her mind. First, she was once again alone with Adrien with the distinct possibility of a repeat of that morning. If her brain didn't fry first, she'd definitely give something away. Two, since she knew Chat Noir was Adrien, then that meant that neither of them could go after the Akuma until she ended the conversation. "Calm down Marinette." Tikki tried to council as her chosen sat on top of her door.

"Calm, I am calm Tikki, what are you talking about?" She answered back with frantic eyes and a rushed laugh at the end.

Tikki just shook her head. "Well then it's time for Ladybug." As well as a distraction to calm her down.

Ladybug threw her miraculous ladybug into the air as she signaled the end of the Akuma battle. The victim had transformed into Postmaster and started pasting citizens to the streets with giant post stamps. Considering how the postal workers can be treated, there were a number of possible reasons as to the cause of his Akumatization. In the end it didn't matter, what did, was that Chat made the fight just a little bit harder when he used his Cataclysm too early. While it was true that he'd tried to go for the Mailbag like Ladybug had told him, he didn't wait for her to get into place, and thus made a big mess of things when he missed. "My bad Ladybug..." He apologized with his staff slung over his shoulders.

"It's fine Chat, these things happen. You thought you had an opportunity."

Chat Noir chuckled sheepishly as his eyes turned away from her. "By the way Ladybug, I..." He took a step closer which in turn caused Ladybug to step back. She hadn't let him within ten feet of her since they met up at the start of the fight. He let out a sigh at her action. "I-I'm really sorry Ladybug. I really didn't mean to act like that. Apparently I-"

She held up a hand with a small smirk. "Save it Chat, I know. My Kwami let me in on your Catnip issue."

It sounded way worse when she said it. "Ah... Yeah..." He looked away in embarrassment. "Though I don't remember ever going near catnip..." He muttered at the end before his miraculous beeped to indicate two minutes. "Oh!" He turned to her with his fist raised. "Pound it?"

She cocked her head to the side with a wary expression. It didn't last long though. She raised her fist too, and smiled. "Pound it." As they knocked their fists together Chat moved like lightning to take her hand.

He gave her a flirtatious grin as he leaned down to kiss it as he normally did. Ladybug's initial flinch didn't seem to faze the love sick kitty as he pressed his lips to her knuckles. "Until next time Mi-" He suddenly went ridged which worried Ladybug.

This is how it started last night. "Uh, right, until next time." She tried to pull away, but in a moment she realized Chat had a vice grip on her hand. "C-chat?" She heard him inhale and then a slight purr tumbled from his throat. She was about ready to tear his face away from her hand until she took a good look at his ring. He only had one paw pad left, and it would beep any moment. Without a second thought she grabbed him around the waist with a twist of her captured hand, and swung them both away with her yo-yo. She was able to get him down a few streets so they could hide in a shaded corner of a roof before the flash went over Chat. Ladybug quickly snapped her eyes shut so she wouldn't see his identity. "C-chat, you have to change back." She nervously ordered as she felt him keep a hold of her.

It was easy to keep hold of him while she swung since he'd latched onto her so tight as he purred. He now, though, showed no signs of letting go much like before. After a reflexive step back she found herself pinned to the edge of the next building where it met the one they were on. It may have been good there was no space to fall, but she was stuck. Chat Noir was rubbing his face around her neck while his hands pawed at her waist. "Soooo nice..." He dragged out sounding high as a kite.

She heard her own miraculous beep and knew she probably only had two minutes before she changed back as well. "C-chat! I need to go!" She declared with less of a stutter than before.

Of course Chat didn't seem to understand at all. "I'll go too..." He purred as he lifted his nose to graze her jaw line.

"No... You know we have to keep our i-identities..." She trailed off with a gasp when he leaned down to rub against her chest. In the shock of the moment she opened her eyes without thinking. She was instantly greeted with a quaff of golden hair like Chat's, but more tame. He tipped his face up ever so slightly and she pushed him away like he was on fire. He fell back in a daze with Plagg drooling from his pocket. Ladybug only stared a few seconds before hearing her earrings beep again. She didn't really want to believe it before, but now there was proof. Sure Tikki had confirmed it, but now she'd seen it for all intents and purposes.

Adrien sat back on the roof in a daze not really sure how long he was out of it before reality came back to him. He scratched his head as he looked around. He was sitting on a roof which was kept well out of view from the street. The next thing he noticed was his transformation had timed out. Plagg made this obvious when he tumbled out of Adrien's pocket like he was waking up to chase after cheese. The last thing that hit him was remembering being in Ladybug's embrace. His head was still foggy, but he remembered that clearly. "Did Ladybug bring me here?" It would make sense since he was so close to transforming when the finished fighting the Akuma.

"Whoa... I have a feeling we got Catnipped again..." Plagg groaned as he shook his head of the happy buzz. "Why does something so good have to be so bad!"

"You... y-you don't think..." Adrien trailed off. He didn't want to even think about the possibility, but he could feel it. "I... and to Ladybug... Again..." He finally huffed out as he leaned on his knees. One time was an easy accident, but twice? She probably thought he meant to do it this time.

"If you think you're in for it pal, Tikki probably thinks I'm hording the stuff again. So I caused a few earthquakes last time, big deal. It was a fault line so it was bound to happen sooner or later."

Adrien gave him a slightly curious look before shaking the image away. "Okay... So you honestly don't have any?"

Plagg look aghast at the proposed accusation. "Of course not! Believe me, I would have said so!" Adrien didn't seem to outright believe him though. "Seriously!? I'm not! On my honor as the Kwami of destruction. I'll even swear off cheese if I'm lying!" He started to beg which seemed very out of character especially when he swore off cheese. Plagg looked desperate.

"Okay, I get it..." The blonde thought about it as he pulled out some cheese for his kwami. "But if you don't have any, where is it? I know I don't carry around catnip though I bet it smells better than cheese." He admitted with slight annoyance.

"It smells heavenly!" Plagg drooled before swallowing the last of his snack.

"Time to do some digging then. Plagg, claws out!"

For those of you confused about how it keeps happening, I will explain each incident at the end of part 4. Until then, thank you for reading.=^-^=