Tis time for another chapter! And I managed it in under a week! *triumphant gestures*

Have my pathetic attempt at embarrassing situations lol. (I don't really think it's pathetic but I'm not very good at writing them =P)

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Not even a minute after she's gracefully leapt from her rooftop patio she hears the ringing. And she shakes her head with a knowing smirk as she opens her yoyo, "Well, well, Chaton...I feared you weren't coming." she teases, soon laughing as he rolls his eyes on the other side of the call.

"I was...preoccupied, My Lady." he adopts his trademark grin as he speaks, "I'll take the west, you take east?"

"Meet at the Notre Dame as usual." she nods, "See you there, Kitty!" she says with a two-fingered salute as she ends the call. A wide grin paints itself onto her features as she twirls her yoyo and swings off into the night.

While her duty to Paris is always forefront in her mind during patrol, she is somewhat distracted while she flies across rooftops. A rather pressing issue that came up in her thoughts while Chat lavished her with kisses earlier. Her smile soon twists into a frown as she scans the streets for trouble, she knows exactly what the issue is.

'We are moving way too fast.'

Indeed, she's barely even opened up her heart to this, the same as he. And yet they behave as if they have been pining for one another for years. Okay...maybe that's true. Perhaps they are both so desperate for returned affections that they have skipped all the first steps in getting to know someone romantically. She can't say she doesn't enjoy their relationship, even if it's only a couple days old...not even that.

She knows they need to slow down. Take a deep breath. There is plenty of time for intimate exploration after they've learned a little more about one another. But she doesn't want to make him feel like she's chasing him away. And she doesn't really know how to approach this without doing that. Perhaps, she can use the fact that she's Ladybug to her advantage?

She sees the Notre Dame up ahead and blinks in surprise. Her patrol is almost done already. "I should be distracted more often." she jokes. While she enjoys her patrols, they do get old sometimes.

She lands gracefully and tucks her yoyo against her hip with practiced ease. Chat isn't here yet, so she dangles her leg off the edge of the massive church and leans back on her palms. Looking west, she admires the Eiffel Tower piercing the night sky, it's rather beautiful from here. As the Notre Dame Cathedral is in a darkened area of town, hence more stars are visible. Granted, the Tower is usually lovely to look at from any point in the city.

She glances up at those stars and traces a few constellations with her eyes. Her smile returns when a shooting star zooms across the sky, so fast she can barely follow it. She doesn't wish upon it, she's not superstitious, but it's still a nice thought, in her opinion, that stars could grant wishes.

"Enjoying the view, M'lady?"

She smirks and looks to her side as her mischievous Kitty sits beside her and joins her in dangling her legs over the edge. "Yeah. I was a little worried when you were late. I thought maybe an akuma attacked." she keeps her pretense carefully. After all, she's not exactly ready to reveal herself, and she's not sure when she will be.

"You were worried about me?" he grins.

"Don't be so full of yourself." she shoves his shoulder and shakes her head.

He chuckles and looks out towards Paris, following her lead in admiring the scenery. "It's been a while since the last akuma." he says.

She nods and glances at him out of the corner of her eye, "Yeah, they've been getting less frequent lately." she catches herself admiring his profile and forces her gaze down, occupying herself with picking old rubble from the roof. "It's nice. I have more time for my civilian life." she says with a happy sigh. "Granted I know they won't go away entirely until we find Hawkmoth. But it's nice that he's seemingly taking a break."

He hums in agreement and she frowns, "Chat?" she peers around to look at him, "You okay? You've been unusually quiet."

He seems to grow bashful, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his legs and tucking his hands under his chin. "Ladybug? I have a dilemma." he says.

She cocks her head curiously, "Oh? I'm all ears, you know."

He smiles, "Thanks." he clears his throat, "You see, I'm sorta involved in a...romantic relationship. It's very new, and I'm a little nervous to be honest."

She claps her hands lightly with a bright smile, "Bravo, Chat!"

"Nah...you see, I'm only romantically involved with her in this form...she doesn't see my civilian form that way." he says somewhat dejectedly. "And I'm afraid to tell her who I really am."

"Do you think she won't like you?" she automatically supplies, after all, it's the reason she never told him her secret identity. Though now she just needs to find a way to tell him without making him upset at her for keeping pretenses up like this. That thought alone makes her heart start to thump wildly in anxiety.

"Kind of, but, not really." he says, entirely unaware of her sudden panic after her own revelations. "I'm more certain she doesn't like me. Because, you know, I know her as my civilian self." he mutters.

She goes stiff, her already wild heart pulsing two times faster. She realizes he already said that, Chat Noir knows her in his true form? "Y-yeah?" she clears her throat at her stutter and fakes a slight cough when he looks at her curiously, "Got something in my throat." she excuses.

"Yeah. But like I said, I know she doesn't really like my civilian form...so I'm caught between a rock and a hard place, y'know?"

"How do you know she doesn't like you?" she asks carefully.

"I guess, just the way she acts." he mumbles.

She doesn't know whether or not she's relieved that he hasn't revealed himself unwittingly to her. "How long have you been seeing each other?"

He bites his lip, "Like I said, it's pretty new, a couple of days. And I'm still trying to get my act together around her." he threads his hand through his wild hair and sighs, "I mean, I'm trying not to T.M.I. you but I can't seem to control myself when she's nearby. Not that she seems to mind, but still."

She nearly chuckles at his frustrations, 'You and me both, Kitty.'

"Well, I don't know how to help you fix that." she says with a shrug, "Maybe you just need to take a couple steps back and, I don't know, slow down?" she suggests, both to him and herself. "Maybe actually ask questions to get to know each other better? I don't know."

He smiles, "That's actually a good idea, Bugaboo. Although we have talked about things like that in the past."

She grins in response, "You know, I oughta thank this girl, whoever she is."

He looks towards her with a raised brow, "Why is that?"

"This is the first conversation since the day we met that you haven't flirted with me." she says, snickering when he moves to tackle her. But she dances out of the way reflexively and laughs as she swings her yoyo. "Patrol is all done, go on home, Chaton!" she calls as she flies off.

"I have an appointment!" he calls back, and she looks over her shoulder in horror to watch him head off in the direction of her parent's bakery.

"Fuck!" she hisses under her breath. Now, normally she isn't the cursing type, but he's just given her reason to be.

She discreetly changes directions and takes every shortcut she can to reach her house before he does. And thank God! She arrives at her window before a certain kitty has, but he's certainly on his way. She detransforms and bends over to rest her weight against her knees, "Good...grief..." she pants, wiping at her forehead, "And now I'm all sweaty! He's gonna ask questions..." she panics, looking around anxiously for a solution.

"Just say you were exercising." Tikki suggests.

"No, no, then he's gonna try to show me some other forms of exercise." she chuckles lightly at the innuendo as her eyes land on the bathroom. "Bingo!" she snaps her fingers and grabs a towel, closing the door far too quickly for her kwami to follow, so Tikki just phases through it.

He is a bit surprised when her window is open at his arrival, "I'm back, Princess!" he says as he enters, but he's also somewhat dumbfounded to see that she's not in her room. "Marinette?" he calls, looking around carefully, "Marinette where-" he trails off, and his eyelids might have hit the ceiling if they aren't connected to his face.

Sapphire eyes widen similarly, and both freeze, 'Why did I think a shower was a good idea?' she questions herself. Because now, she is standing in her bathroom doorway, only wrapped in a towel, facing her non-official boyfriend.

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She's never been more embarrassed in her entire life! Because despite her three-year streak of good luck since becoming Ladybug, fate decided to turn the corner on her last night. Yes, in a stroke of bad luck, her towel decided that was the opportune moment to slip from her grasp. She sinks deeper into her seat during class as she remembers how his eyes widened impossibly further, sweeping over her newly exposed skin in those few, tiny seconds it was in view. And, as expected, she screeched in horror and tossed the only object in her hand at him, which happened to be the hastily-grabbed towel.

It was (maybe) a little funny to see him yelp and stumble around with a towel over his head, but she was honestly too mortified to think of the humor of that situation. And she still is. At least Adrien seems to be acting distant today, it's helping her to keep from dying entirely of embarrassment and nerves. But still, she has absolutely no idea how she's going to face Chat Noir next time he comes by. Or next time an akuma attacks. Either way, she fears she's going to turn into a blubbering idiot around him, as per the ex-norm around Adrien.

Speaking of akumas...

When was the last one? She sits up and props her chin upon her hand. Thinking about it, Simonsays happened at least ten days ago, strange that they haven't seen another yet. Usually there's an akuma every few days...

"Guuurl-" Alya drawls when the class bell rings, "-I don't know where you got this idea, but it's working like a charm."

Marinette blinks in confusion as she packs her bag, "What? What idea?"

"Absence makes the heart fonder? I don't know if that's the right quote, but Adrien is totally head-over-heels for you now. Have you seen the way he's been looking at you recently?" Alya asks in excitement.

Marinette glances at the boy in question to find that he's already looking at her. She gulps when he hastily averts his blushing gaze and practically runs from the room. "Okay...that's new." she murmurs. Ahh great! Just perfect! 'So now that I finally managed to find someone else, he starts crushing on me?' she rubs her temples in frustration. This is becoming too much.

Adrien is sneaking glances, Chat already got the full package (albeit accidentally), and she's stuck in the middle of both of their affections. "So was there really another boy?" Alya asks, noticing her silence over the matter as they walk to the bakery across the street.

Marinette blushes, "Yeah...yeah there is." she bites her lip. "Damnit! I'm so confused! What do I do, Alya?" she grasps her friend by the arm and shakes her desperately.

"Confused? Why are you confused?" the brunette looks around at the people who are staring after her outburst and drags the poor girl inside the bakery, up her stairs, and helps her sit on the chaise.

"I don't know! I mean, Adrien is nice, sweet, and gorgeous and perfect. But Ch-gah...I mean, this other guy is pretty much the same, plus the fact that he actually acknowledges my crush...then again now Adrien supposedly does too. But he's so sweet and he knows me better than Adrien. And I really, really like him, and...I've said this before to myself, what I feel is so raw and real when it comes to him. Granted his ridiculous flirting sure gets irritating over time but still...!" she rants, and she's aware she's probably repeating herself but she's too scatterbrained to think right now.

"And now I think I have two guys pining for my romantic attentions, both of whom I really like and adore in that matter. I just don't know what I should do!" her hands moves to fist in her hair as she falls back against the mattress and groans.

Alya blinks, surprised at the bluenette's declarations, "Gee, I never thought of a scenario like this, to tell you the truth. You're in some kind of crazy love triangle aren't you?"

Marinette growls.

"Are you ever going to tell me who it is? Or does he have to be secret or something?" Alya prods.

She chuckles, "Still won't let it go, eh? Not yet, it's only been a couple days. And now I need even more time to sort out these ridiculous feelings because of Adrien..." she sits up and palms at her forehead, "Love is awful." she moans.

Alya chuckles heartily, "You won't be saying that in the future."

Marinette looks at her with an exhausted frown, "I hope you're right."

"Look, Mari-" Alya sits beside her and tosses her arm over her shoulders, "-just follow your heart, don't think about technicalities or anything. You'll know what to do, and who you truly love, when the time comes. That's all the advice I can give."

Marinette nods to appease her friend, "Thanks Alya."

'Easier said than done.'

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"Oh my God, I'll never be able to live this down! How am I gonna face her tonight? Should I even go over tonight? Plagg say something! I need help...advice!" Adrien pleads as he paces in his room. He could barely stand being next to Marinette in school today. Every time he looked at her the vivid image of last night came to mind and he had to distract himself before he popped a boner or something.

"How should I know what to do? I'm a kwami, I'm not versed in the overly-complicated love rituals of humans." Plagg says dismissively as he nibbles on some Brie.

"But Plagg!" Adrien whines, face-planting into his bed and grabbing a pillow to muffle his frustrated noises.

"Just go over, and see if she's over it, if not, I hear you just give females some space. She'll warm up to you again. Or maybe she might even think that she can advance to the next level of whatever relationship you guys have. I don't know." Plagg moves to sit on the boy's shoulder when he sits up and presses two fingers to his temples. "All I do know is females are even worse than you boys when it comes to romance. Just play it by ear and see what happens."

Adrien raises a brow at him, "And what if I fuck up?"

Plagg shrugs, "Fix it."

Adrien groans, "You are literally no help at all." he grumbles as he stands, "Plagg, transform me!"

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"The suspense is killing me Tikki!" Marinette tugs at her pigtails and pouts as she plops into her chaise.

"Relax, Marinette." Tikki says, patting her owner's cheek, "He's on his way, I can sense he used his kwami, and patrol is scheduled for tomorrow after all."

"What do I do? I can't act like he didn't see me naked last night! I can't believe I let that happen, and I was even expecting him..." Marinette hugs her knees and buries her face against them, moaning dejectedly.

"Well he'll probably come to apologize." Tikki assures, "All you need to do is bear with it and keep calm."

"You're right...I can do this...I can-" her eyes widen and her jaw twists in a grimace as there is a light knock at the window. Tikki has hidden, but now Marinette needs to keep from hyperventilating. "-I can't do this..." she murmurs as she unlocks the window. "Uh...h-h-hi-" she clears her throat and tries to fight the furious blush in her cheeks when she sees her kitty again, "-hi Chat."

He seems just as embarrassed, maybe even more so than her. "Hi, Marinette."

She invites him in and turns away, fiddling with her fingers, "We, uh, have a lot to talk about."

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A.N.

I'm excited for next chapter, lol. More awkwardness and confusion to come.