Yeah I know it's been... I honestly don't know. But I thought for at least for awhile, I can give you some comfort and no this shouldnt be the last chapter but I dont know when the next one is going to be published so yeah. Enjoy it while it lasts!

The ball had gone and past. Alya was the one to tell Marinette that she could still participate, but the designer surprising withdrew her submission: that was two days ago. Adrien didn't even bother getting out of his bed for it or even school the next day.

He hadn't even gone to see Marinette for the past four days, he was so riddled with guilt and shame that he couldn't bring himself to go. He had Alya and Nino tell her that his father had reconsidered and is letting her still compete in the contest, but they did it reluctantly. They had begged him to come with them, saying that the designer would love to see him; but Adrien just couldn't…

For the past two days, Adrien had ignored everyone and kept to himself; eating alone during lunch. He received texts Alya and Nino informing him how Marinette was doing, but he never replied and after the second day he just stopped checking them. He barely even slept, too guilt-ridden to sleep. When he was done with school? He just went straight home and buried his face in his pillow, wondering how he could let such a horrible thing happen to Marinette.

Because of him? She had to endure a whole two hours of pain while the doctors dug the glass out of her back; the drugs not kicking in until after they were done. Because of him? She would wake up in pain, tears forming in her eyes. She was in so much pain because of him and it made Adrien sick to his stomach just thinking about it.

"He looks so miserable…" Alya whispered as she and Nino stood to the side of the library and watched the blonde mope around. Everyone was getting very worried about Adrien, they were concerned that he was going to do something that would harm himself.

Nino sighed, turning away from the scene. He couldn't stand to see his best friend looking like that and it hurt him even more to know that there wasn't anything he could really do. "He blames himself for what happed to Marinette… that's a heavy burden to carry around."

"But, Marinette doesn't blame him for what happened at all! She knows that it was because of Hawk Moth taking advantage of her dark feelings that she was akumatized!" She stomped her foot, looking like a child who was about to throw a tantrum.

"We know that, Marinette knows that, but I think Adrien has forgotten." He finally turned around to look at the blonde, sighing once again as he did. He hated that his best friend was hurting like this and he always hated that Adrien had closed himself off from everyone else. Making up his mind, Nino took Alya by the hand and walked towards the blonde. "Come on, let's do it like we practiced."

Yes, the couple had practice what they were going to say to Adrien. It was too delicate of a situation not to be absolutely sure about what you are going to say. They spent the whole day talking about and coming up with ideas how to fix the blonde model. And when they finally settled on one? They searched the whole school until they found him here in the library.

Getting to the table, Nino threw his backpack in front of Adrien causing him to jump at the sound. The blonde looked and was surprised to see his best friend pulling out a chair next to him. He was too surprised at the appearance of Nino that he didn't notice Alya coming around to his other side.

"Dude, come on, you gotta stop blaming yourself." Nino sat down next to him and placed a hand on his back. "Marinette doesn't."

Alya nudged shoulders with the blonde, smiling when he turned to look at her. She laughed at his shocked face and ruffled his hair. "She's been asking for you by the way, every time someone who visits her? She immediately asks when you're coming; you have to go see her."

Adrien swatted the blogger's hand away and sighed, not meeting either of their eyes. He could still she her horrified look as she realized that Chat Noir and Adrien Agreste were the same person, he could still hear her screams as the broken glass pierced her skin and he could still feel her blood on his hands. No, he couldn't face her, not after all that. "I can't… I just can't okay?"

Nino and Alya shared a look that meant it was step two in their plant to 'fix' Adrien. The DJ leaned closer to his best friend so that no one else around could hear him as he said the next words, knowing full well that is would hurt Adrien deeply, but he knew it was a necessary evil. "Look, buddy, I don't want to say this but… Aren't you being a little selfish?"

"What?!" The blonde whipped around to look at Nino, his voice echoing in the library.

"What do you mean 'what'? You're not thinking about how Marinette is feeling right now or how your selfish behavior is effecting her!" He yelled back, standing up from his seat. This was the second time Adrien had witnessed Nino angry and it wasn't a pleasant thing. "She's worried about you, man! She knows that your blaming yourself and it's killing her!"

'It's killing her.' Suddenly Adrien was reminded of how close he was to losing Marinette. His heart pounding in his chest, his lungs stopped working properly and his eyes became wide with panic. Nino immediately backed down when he saw how panicked his best friend became and reached his hand out to help calm him down, but the blonde shoved him away: a little too hard. Adrien accidentally shoved him into a chair.

Alya rushed over to the DJ who was hissing in pain, glaring at Adrien. "What's your problem, Adrien?! It was just days ago that your head over heels for Marinette, now your chickening out because of one little Akuma? Jeez, I don't know what happened to you but honestly? I don't care. Just go see her or so help me God, Agreste, I'll make you suffer."

They gathered their things and walked away, conversation over. Adrien stared after them, not knowing what to do. He looked down at bandaged his hand and groaned. Why had he shoved Nino away? Why was he being like this? All he wanted was to be with Marinette, but he was terrified to face her. He couldn't help bit to laugh at himself. What a sad fate that was, scared of the thing he loved most. He would be heartbroken because of his own cowardliness, he would never know true happiness and he would never look at his love… what a pathetic existence.

"Adrien, please, I miss Marinette and only you can take me!" Tikki cried, her voice bringing him back to the real world. She was peeking out from his shirt, looking up with her big blue eyes.

He looked down at her for a moment, thinking about if he should go or not; but any intelligent thought dissipated when he watched a tear spill down Tikki's small face. His heart broke at the sight: he was beaten. "I'll drop you off but nothing else, okay?"

She nodded silently, going back to her hiding place with Plagg while Adrien grabbed his things and made his way out of the school. He walked all the way to the hospital, fueled by sheer guilt from Tikki. When he got into the hospital, he decided to take the stairs rather than the elevator because it meant more time before having to face Marinette. But as he came to her floor? He just stared at it.

Was he really prepared to be in the same room as Marinette? No, not at all. He was terrified in fact. He was so scared of what she might say to him… but with one look at the teary-eyed Tikki? He knew he had to see her for the sake of returning her Kwami and Miraculous at least.

There wasn't anyone in the room but her. She was lying on her side, curled into a ball as she watched tv. Her hair was let out of their usual pigtails and remained wild. She had her blankets pulled up to her waist and she had pushed aside the tray of unfinished food. IVs and wires were connected to her and peeking through her patient gown were all the bandaged that covered up the multiple wounds.

Marinette still hadn't noticed him standing in the doorway of her room, so he just stood there watching her. But Tikki was impatient to return to her friend and flew out of her hiding spot. "Marinette!"

"Tikki?" She finally looked over to the door, only see her kwami flying over to her and hugging her cheek. The red kwami was sobbing, telling her how much she missed her and how worried she was. "It's okay, I'm okay. There isn't anything to worry about now, we're together now."

The red kwami looked up at her miraculous holder and wiped away her tears. "Thanks to Adrien, he brought me!"

Marinette froze. Slowly, she turned around and saw him standing at the door with his head down. She knew all about how he had been closing himself off from everyone, Alya was sure to keep her informed about everything that was going at school, but she wasn't expecting him to look so broken… he looked more broken than the day he gave her his umbrella.

"Adrien, please look at me."

He swallowed hard but did as he was told. Marinette had sat up and was now fully facing him, her hair framing her face in loose waves. She held out her hand as a silent command and merely waited for Adrien to take it before she started to speak. "This is not your fault and it will never be your fault, Adrien Agreste. There is no one to blame but Hawk Moth."

"Marinette." He looked on the verge of breaking as his free hand cupped Marinette's face, lightly caressing her cheek. Tears pooled in his eyes, his voice thick with emotion as he spoke. "I couldn't be more sorry for what I did to you. I wish I could go back in time and never show my father your designs, then you would have won the competition instead of Juliet and you wouldn't be in a hospital."

"And in the end? I'm happy that you did." This caught Adrien off by total surprise. Marinette laughed at his face, he was looking at her like she lost her mind, but she didn't mind. Standing up from her hospital bed, the designer wrapped her arms around his neck and held him close. "If this hadn't happened? I wouldn't have found out that the guy I had been crushing on since he gave me his umbrella and my best friend were the same person. I love you, even more than before."

Adrien was fully crying now. With just a few sentences, she was able take the world off his shoulders and allow him to breath again. He still felt that guilt, but he knew that will never truly go away. He held Marinette at her waist, careful not to touch any of her injuries and buried his head in crook of her neck.

All he could think about was how much he loved Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Ever since finding out the she and Ladybug were the same person, he couldn't help but find humor in the fact that he fell in love with the same person twice. And now, he comes to find out that she is as big as fool as he is. Yes, Adrien had to be the luckiest guy in the world if he was able to have a girl like Marinette and Ladybug love him.

"I love you, Marinette."

She chuckled, her fingers gently combing through his hair. She enjoyed holding and him holding her, but her back was starting to hurt from standing so much. "Adrien, can we lay down on my bed, please? My back is starting to hurt."

"Yes!" Adrien pulled away instantly, not really hearing what she said and helped her to get back in the hospital bed. He awkwardly stood there as she laid on her side and looked up at him. He blushed as he climbed in beside her, their bodies only an inch or two apart from each other. It was just enough room so that they could look at each other's eyes without being too close. "So, does this mean that we're dating? Because I really want to date you, Marinette."

Her cheeks turned red but smiled. "We did kind of confess to one another, I think it would only be natural."

"Good," He returned the smile.

It was a very sweet moment, a very sweet moment that was ruined by a cheese loving kwami. "Does this mean I get more cheese or less cheese than usual?"

Rolling his eyes, Adrien looked over Marinette at his kwami who was certainly sharing a meal with his counterpart on the rolling tray. "Plagg, you glutton."

"What? It's a fair question!" He yelled back as Tikki laughed at his antics. It was obvious that this was Plagg just showing off because the red kwami was there.

Adrien would have yelled back at his kwami, but Marinette had grabbed him by his chin and forced him to look back at her. She smiled up at him sweetly, content with being with him. He put all the things that were still haunting him and pushed them to the back of his mind, he didn't want to ruin the moment with Marinette and he wished that he could have done this earlier. No, that's not quite right. He wished that he and Marinette had told each other that they were Ladybug and Chat Nior because none of this would have happened.

But life would be miserable if you keep thinking about what ifs or what could have been, so Adrien carefully held his girlfriend and closed his eyes; choosing to be happy with all that happened.

Ignore all my typos and whatever. Again, this most likely wont be the last chapter. But, I do please ask that if you are going to review? Write more than just 'update soon', its literally the worst thing to read and I honestly and truly hate it. So yeah, hoped you like this chapter.