A/N: just to be clear, Marinette is the admin for her website. So the fact that she was locked out of her account is super sketchy.

Chapter Six

She was dead tired. Between the akuma and the amount of homework she had, she was ready to clock out by the time she reached her room that night. She glanced at the clock: 10:30 p.m. Just a quick nap before I visit Adrien, she thought. Instead, she awoke nine hours later to her parents shaking her awake. "You're going to be late for school, honey!"

She rushed to class, much like the day rushed by. Though she felt well-rested, she felt dazed, like she'd stood up too quickly from her seat. Like she'd missed something important. It hit her when she lay her head on her pillow that night: Adrien! As she made her way to his house later that night, she grew lost in thought, wondering how the drama between her and Chat Noir would pan out, if it ever did. Unaware of her surroundings, she slammed right into the object of her thoughts.

He rubbed his head as he helped her up. "What's with the crash landing, bugaboo?"

She rolled her eyes, making to leave. "I'm busy."

"Where are you going?"

She huffed, realizing that he was following her and that the only way to get him to leave would be to answer his questions. "Adrien Agreste's house."

"Why?" She glared at him in answer. "Regardless, you shouldn't visit him."

"What?" she asked incredulously. "How do you know?"

"I went to see him yesterday," he said, shifting from foot to foot. "And he told me he had a modeling gig all day and would be dead asleep by nine tonight. He was pretty bummed that he had to leave all his stuff behind during the photoshoot, too."

"What stuff?"

"You know, his phone and electronics." Chat Noir looked coyly to the side. "He's grounded."

"So, his phone is…not with him?" she wondered aloud.

"Yes, I assume. Why do you ask?"

And that's how she found herself with Chat Noir, scaling the side of Adrien Agreste's home. She knocked on a windowpane, pushing it in at a certain angle. "Wow," Chat said, genuinely surprised. "How did you know about this entrance? I didn't even know it was here."

"I saw the loose pane a couple days ago when I visited Adrien for…reasons."

They quickly stepped inside, maneuvering down the long hallways. Just when they were right around the corner from the electronics room, the familiar footsteps from the other night could be heard resounding down the hall. Thinking on her feet, she pulled Chat with her into the same closet she'd hid in with Adrien. As soon as they shut the door, Ladybug huffed a sigh and turned sideways, trying not to notice that this crammed her shoulder up against Chat's collarbone. "Why does this keep happening to me?" she muttered.

"So, wait," Chat whispered. "Is Adrien the reason you won't respond to my confession? Do you like him or something?"

Frustrated, Ladybug turned back to him, all too aware that they were breathing the same air. "No, Chat!" she whisper-yelled. "The reason I haven't responded is because of the way you confessed. Publicly, Chat, really? It puts too much attention on me and encourages the reporters to get involved in our personal lives."

"Wow," he said again, looking down at his shoes with a chagrined smile on his face. "Maybe I owe Marinette an apology. That's exactly what she said you would think."

"Marinette's forgiven you," Ladybug said quietly. "And she said she is sorry for hurting you with her new website thingy. She told me," Marinette said, beginning to improvise, "that she actually made the website for you. She really did want you to have a fan website. Besides, she was working on it before you even gave her the idea to show it to Adrien. Maybe you should go talk to her."

"You're right," he said, finally looking back at her.

"And I'm just here to clear her name," Ladybug announced quietly. "An article was posted that slandered you, and Adrien was upset because he thought she wrote it. The author is clearly someone else, though. The issue is that she can't find out who wrote it because she was locked out of the website. I also wanted to clear your name and get rid of the article," she mumbled, looking at her shoes. It was all true, but she wasn't used to speaking her mind like this to Chat.

The footsteps had faded long ago, but they stood face to face in the tiny closet. "It's good to know you care about me at least a little," he joked, but she still didn't look up. "Hey. I really am grateful."

"I know," she said, turning to open the door. They crept up toward the electronics room, and Ladybug stood back as Chat opened the door. Both of them searched high and wide for Adrien's laptop, phone, or anything, but none of it was there. "Where is it?" She was growing frustrated.

"Maybe you'll have to come back tomorrow, Ladybug," he said, sounding much less defeated than the sentence called for.

"Regardless," she started, pushing Chat toward the door in front of her, "We'll have to find a different exit. Whoever was walking down the hall is likely at the entrance we used before."

"Good thinking," he said, nodding to her. "You can go through his room. If he is as tired as he claims, you can sneak by without waking him."

"Why me?"

"You're the one with good luck," he jabbed, playfully. "Besides, I, uh, I work here during the day, so I can use the workers' exit without raising suspicion."

"So you're older then?" She couldn't help but say her discovery out loud.

"Uh, no, it's a…high school internship?" It came out more like a question, but she decided for the sake of their secret identities that she wouldn't press further.

"Alright," she said, pushing him out the door. He turned around and stopped her.

"I need to de-transform first," he said sheepishly. "Would you mind waiting in here for like, five minutes, so I can get out of here before you find out my identity."

"Of course." She sat around and looked at the electronics that littered the room, waiting for the five minutes to tick by. She peeked out the door, praying that Chat hadn't been caught. Tiptoeing, she made her way to Adrien's room. As she was leaving through the window, she felt a shock of dread as a hand grasped her elbow.

Relief flooded through her at Adrien's voice. "Ladybug?" He looked much less groggy but equally as adorable as he had last time she'd visited.

"Hey," she said. "Go back to sleep. I was just here to fix…Marinette's mess." She cringed internally at her ability to throw herself under the bus while gingerly removing Adrien's hand and placing it back at his side. She turned to leave again.

"Ladybug," he said with resolve this time. She turned toward him, and he leaned up to catch her cheek in a kiss that sent a blush flaming over her face. "Thank you for fixing this."

"No problem," she said, unable to meet his eyes. "But it's Marinette who's doing the most work trying to fix it." She hoped this lifted herself up a little more from her spot splattered on the pavement by the bus of "Marinette's mess." "Just…just remember that when you talk to her again."

Once again, Ladybug's words had been like Cupid's arrow in his heart as both Chat and Adrien. They were so sweet, in fact, that he almost felt bad about what he was about to do.