Ladybug didn't know if she'd ever been so panicked. She had been an arm's length away from the ride's controls until the Controller had nearly knocked her off the tracks. Then, before she knew what had happened, Chat Noir had charged the Controller and they both fell from the ride.

"No!" she readied her yo-yo, but at the same instant, the coaster also pitched through the weak track and crashed into the track below, totally derailed.

In a terrible split-second decision, Ladybug turned away from the fate of Chat Noir, and her friends on the ride. She kicked the ride's controls and captured the akuma, her heart racing erratically as the derailed coaster slid off the hovering structure and began plummeting toward the ground—just like Chat Noir and the Controller.

"Bye-akuma-Miraculous-Ladybug!" she huffed in a single breath, tossing a stray piece of pop-corn into the air above her head.

Suddenly she was no longer on a floating rollercoaster track. Ladybug was back on the ground, the ride completely intact. All the passengers were seated on the ride, but the seatbelts were undone and they were free to get off. The ride attendant and Chat Noir were both seated side-by-side on the ground, glancing around curiously.

Ladybug didn't know if they had hit the ground or not. She wasn't sure she wanted to know. She collapsed to the ground in relief and tried not to cry.

They had been victorious, as usual, but the sinking feeling of utter loss and destruction was still weighing on her shoulders. What if the instant-reset hadn't worked? What if Chat Noir and the Controller had both died? What if she had been a few seconds slower and everyone on the ride had also died?

"Good job, mi' lady," said Chat Noir, offered her a hand. "Pound it!"

Ladybug reluctantly joined in the fist-bump. Then she grabbed Chat Noir's shoulders and hugged him tightly. She didn't pull away until he started purring.

"What was that for? Not that I'm complaining…" he winked and a small sliver of Ladybug's confidence started to return.

"Just promise me you won't go skydiving any time soon, okay? I…I was really scared."

Chat Noir's teasing look softened. "Don't worry, mi' lady. For your sake I'll try to stay out of danger. For a while." His brow creased in a furrow. "Out of curiosity, did you call 'Miraculous Ladybug' before I went splat? I can't remember."

Ladybug swallowed heavily. "I'm not sure either."

Chat Noir stared off into space for a moment, and then grinned. "Well, in any case, I guess it's good to be alive!"

"I second that," muttered an embarrassed ride attendant. He pushed himself off the ground, shaking slightly. "I don't remember anything that happened, but I have this…terrified feeling." He hung his head, his cheeks reddening. "I'm so sorry. This was all my fault."

"No, it was Hawkmoth's," said Ladybug. "And sort of Chloé's. But not yours." As she spoke, she shot a glance toward the passengers on the ride. Most had already gotten off, though Alya and Nino were still in the front, holding onto each other, eyes wide and anxious. Chloé and Sabrina remained seated as well, evidently unsteady.

One day Hawkmoth would pay, Ladybug vowed. Her friends didn't deserve to be put in danger so much—she didn't deserve the stress. And Chat Noir didn't deserve to keep sacrificing himself.

Ladybug's earrings beeped and she ran off, just as her crime-fighting partner brought up the carnival date.

"After all we've been through, we should enjoy ourselves. Celebrate!"

"Gotta go!" She ducked around a tent, hoping his feelings weren't hurt. He really was quite the friend—probably her best friend if she was honest with herself.

Ladybug transformed back into Marinette, still pondering Chat Noir.

"Do you think I should show up tonight, Tikki?"

At Marinette's question, Tikki perked up excitedly. "He loves you, Marinette. And after all he did today, perhaps it would be nice if you went. You might even have fun!"

"I know it would be fun…I just don't want to give him false hopes, you know? It's not like I care about him the way I do with Adrien."

Tikki didn't say anything, though it looked like she wanted to. Instead, the kwami flew into Marinette's bag and quickly hid.

"Marinette! Are you all right?"

It was Adrien. He was running out from behind another tent nearby. She desperately hoped he hadn't seen her talking with Tikki. Or heard her comments about liking him…

"Yeah, haha, I'm fine," Marinette chirped. "Are you? I mean, you look fine—more then fine—but I um, hahaha!"

"I'm good. But we better go check on Nino and Alya."

"Right!" Marinette brushed thoughts of Chat Noir aside as she followed Adrien back to the ride. Everyone was off the coaster, and news reporters were swarming the area, wanting the inside scoop on the Controller's defeat. The ride attendant had his hands in his pockets nervously, but his boss was already on site, reassuring him that any publicity was good publicity. Everything would be fine.

"Did you see what happened?!" Alya and Nino raced over to Adrien and Marinette. "We were literally falling to our deaths when Ladybug reset everything! That was so close."

"Too close," Nino echoed, sounding shaken.

Marinette was struck by another pang of guilt. Lots of people had nearly died. Chat Noir had died—as far as she knew. A trickling feeling of protectiveness surged through her and Ladybug suddenly wanted to hang out with Chat Noir later. He was her friend. If he was going to keep pulling crazy stunts, he had to know she cared.

"I am never going to this INSANE carnival ever again! I could have DIED!" Chloé's voice reached the group and Marinette's urge to sigh was brushed aside in thankfulness. Chloé was alive. That was what mattered.

"Is everyone okay? That looked so scary!" Rose also arrived on scene, the rest of their classmates close behind. The whole group started chattering rapidly, rehashing the entire event, blow-by-blow. Marinette continued to feel ill, and was glad when the class finally dispersed, saying they'd had enough fun at the carnival for one day.

"See you all, Monday!" Myléne called as she and Ivan headed toward the exit. Rose, Juleka, Alix, Kim, Max, and Nathaniel followed, joking about the carnival games and the few rides they had gone on before all the chaos.

"Well, my father will definitely not be sponsoring this carnival anymore!" Chloé threatened, as she and Sabrina started to head after the others.

"It was your fault the ride attendant got akumatized!" sniffed Alya. "Make sure your father hears that part of the story."

Chloé paused for a moment, then sniffed again and walked away. Marinette thought she looked a little regretful. Maybe. With Chloé it was always hard to tell.

"Well, do we want to have a movie party or something since it's still pretty early?" suggested Alya when Chloé and Sabrina were out of earshot.

As fun as that sounded, Marinette knew she had to stick around the carnival to look for Chat Noir. She quickly mumbled something about needing to run errands for her parents.

"Me too. Err, I mean, I have to do some work—for my Chinese tutoring," said Adrien, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Marinette was secretly relieved he couldn't hang out either—she wasn't missing out on time with Adrien.

"Too bad, dudes, but we'll see you guys Monday then!" said Nino, putting an arm around Alya. They all headed to the exit together, Alya talking about how she hoped her siblings would leave her and Nino alone if they watched another movie at her house.

"See you later," Marinette waved as she broke off from the group, heading for a different metro stop. Adrien also separated and ducked into the men's room. Marinette blew out a breath, waited for a few moments, and then transformed into Ladybug. Hopefully Chat Noir still wasn't hanging out with his friends. She didn't want to interrupt them—though she would have no way of knowing who they were.

"I made the right choice," she whispered to Tikki though she knew the kwami couldn't respond. Ladybug was actually excited. Maybe they could sit on top of the Ferris Wheel or play a few carnival games. Though it would draw publicity if they were both in their disguises…

"Ladybug?"

She heard Chat Noir's voice the moment she reached the carnival's entrance. Had he been waiting for her?

"You actually came!" he sounded so thrilled she felt her cheeks warming.

"Of course. You're my friend. And after a day like today…"

"This'll be great!" Chat Noir grabbed her hand and they leaped over the entrance gates. Sure enough, some people stopped to stare at them, but for the most part, the carnival was relatively empty. Apparently, everyone had been scared off for the day by the akumatized-villain attack.

"So, Ladybug," started Chat Noir as they walked past the wild rollercoasters. "You want to tell me who you were hanging out with today so I can determine whether or not I may have seen you?" He winked mischievously and Ladybug's mouth curved. She could only imagine his jealous reaction to hearing she'd spent most of the afternoon with Adrien Agreste.

"In your dreams, kitty," she ran ahead of him, past the food booths. "Oh! Chat Noir, do you want a hot dog? I'm starved!"

"Sure! My friends and I were going to get hot dogs, but we never got around to it."

"Same here," said Ladybug.

They both walked up to the vendor and he nearly fell off his chair at the sight of them. "Paris' heroes want my cooking?" He grinned and fixed them hot dogs for free.

Twenty minutes later, Ladybug and Chat Noir were finishing their dinner atop the Ferris Wheel. They had talked about everything and nothing. As much as Ladybug didn't want to admit it, she was having just as much fun with Chat Noir as she'd had with her friends earlier.

"Yeah, and I actually saw a book in a tourist shop, called 'Chat Noir: the Punny Hero!' How does the general public know about my puns?" Chat Noir was laughing, but not as much as Ladybug. Her side was aching again, and her face was sore from grinning nonstop.

"Hhmm, no clue. It's not like you go around saying how 'purrfect' the day always is," teased Ladybug sarcastically, knowing the particular expression was one of his favorites.

"What else can I say if the day is purrfect—just like today."

"I wouldn't say that," Ladybug's smile lessened. "It was pretty rough this afternoon."

"But this evening makes up for it?" Chat Noir watched her closely, waiting to see if she agreed.

With a reluctant smile, Ladybug nodded. "Yeah. This evening has been pretty 'purrfect.'"

Chat Noir grinned wider and settled back in his seat on the Ferris Wheel. Behind them, the sunset stained the sky with shades of red and pink. Ladybug leaned back in her seat as well, surprised at how comfortable she felt with Chat Noir—especially considering the romantic setting.

"Maybe we should do this more often," Ladybug suggested after a long moment of contented quiet. "I mean, just as friends, but you know…this has been…really nice," she finished hastily, feeling her cheeks blushing beneath her mask. It was suddenly like she was trying to talk to Adrien…

Chat Noir set his arm around the back of her chair, seeming thrilled by her sudden lack of speaking-skills. "As you wish mi' lady. How about tomorrow night?"

Ladybug laughed, then actually considered his offer, oddly excited. "I don't think I have anything going on. Why not?"

"Then it's a date. Between friends," Chat Noir clarified, glancing at Ladybug. He smiled at her in a way that seemed to say friends didn't go on romantic sunset Ferris Wheel rides, but Ladybug toned out the voice of reason in the back of her head. So what, if she sort of possibly maybe perhaps liked Chat Noir? She didn't even know who he was. Nothing would ever come of it, but that didn't mean she couldn't hang out with him. He was a ton of fun—not to mention her partner in some of her life's craziest adventures. And she would much rather spend another day with him than finish her math homework.

"Thank you again for coming tonight," said Chat Noir, snapping Ladybug out of her musings. "And I'll see you on the rooftops of Paris tomorrow evening."

"Looking forward to it," replied Ladybug, before she could overanalyze her feelings again. "Have a purrfect day!"

"Now you're just mocking me." Chat Noir's green eyes were practically sparkling with glee. "But I will." He stood as the Ferris Wheel reached the ground. "Catch you later, bug-a-boo," he blew her a kiss as he leaped away and disappeared over the carnival gates. Ladybug grinned self-consciously as the Ferris Wheel attendant raised his eyebrows. The tabloids were going to love catching her and Chat Noir on a date.

Yet she didn't mind too much. Out of all the many worries in her life, it felt good to know she had Chat Noir. He had proven—many times, that he would do anything to help her, and as annoying as he could be, she doubted he would ever purposefully jeopardize their friendship. It was something they both counted on.

Ladybug left the carnival and made it back to her bedroom via the Paris rooftops. As she transformed back into Marinette and put on her pajamas, Tikki whirled around her head.

"See, Marinette. Aren't you glad you stayed with Chat Noir?"

Marinette narrowed her eyes at the kwami. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to set me up with our feline friend."

Tikki swirled around and shrugged. "I just think your obsession over Adrien isn't entirely healthy."

Marinette rolled her eyes. "And spending time with Chat Noir is better? Please, he's a way worse influence than Adrien, I'm sure."

Tikki appeared to be biting her tongue. Marinette's head was in the clouds though. Between thoughts of Adrien and Chat Noir, she would have plenty to dream about that night. And she even had a date the following day!

As the moonlight streamed through her windows, Marinette smiled and fell into a steady sleep. Sure enough, she did dream about green eyes—but for the first time in a long while, she was pretty sure they didn't belong to Adrien. And strangely enough, she didn't even seem to mind.

By the time the moon had been replaced by the sun, Marinette couldn't remember her dream at all—but she had a feeling the day was going to be purrfect.