A/N- I realised I skipped a chapter. Oops, won't affect storyline at all, will just make me look like an idiot XD Enjoy this update, we're almost on the home straight with this story, about 3/4 through currently. Which means there will probably be another four or five at most. Sorry it's taken longer than I anticipated, that's because I've been working on other miraculous fanfictions which may possibly turn out better than this one, and of course the OC one which I haven't updated in months. sorry about the rant :P

After what had seemed to be the longest, sickeningly painful and perhaps even, most awkward day at school, Adrien had returned home with nothing but his kwami's mockery to listen to as he paced back and forward in his room. Granted, sometimes this mockery was well deserved, as in some instances, he made stupid mistakes and was probably oblivious to the obvious. But this was getting annoying. Everybody seemed to be laughing at him at the moment, but why? He couldn't put his finger on it. Was he missing the bigger picture here?

Feeling a distinct movement in the pocket of his jacket, he opened it up to let Plagg out. The tiny cat zoomed into the air just in front of the model, where he was giggling uncontrollably.

"Ah, man! You're priceless kid! I can't believe it!" He managed between gasping breaths, "You acted just like her! You can't deny yourself now, you two were made for each other,"

Great, so his kwami had the exact same opinion as Nino, how much better could his life get? Just because he felt a little more awkward around her than usual, didn't mean they should date. Besides he was pretty sure he didn't like her in that way, his heart belonged to Ladybug, always and forever. Marinette didn't even talk to him on a regular basis, so she probably despised him deep down anyway, and this made him think there was absolutely no point in the first place.

"Whatever, I'm going for a shower," he interjected, ignoring the laughter that didn't seem to be fading. Grabbing his towel from his wardrobe, he slowly made his way to the on suite bathroom that was situated beside his arcade games.

"Sure, sure, probably to think about things carefully. Or rather someone, am I right?" The suggestive tone in his tone made Adrien flush in the face. Did his kwami really just say that?

"Plagg! Yes I am, but not in the way you're thinking!" huffing, he slammed the door shut behind him. That little troublemaker wasn't getting any cheese tonight for that comment.

He stepped into the shower, his toes flinching at the sudden cool of the ceramic tiles beneath them as he slowly adapted his exposed feet to the ground. He turned the tap slowly and jumped at the freezing water that poured down the front of his body, engulfing him in chills as he awaited the temperature to rise.

He sighed deeply before relaxing his arms at his sides, allowing the warmth of the water cascade down his front as he closed his eyes, mind in shreds. What was he going to do?

Ladybug was the picture of perfection, an angel sent to him from heaven. And Marinette was sweet, caring, brave, confident and he would dare say even beautiful. But if he truly did like both of them, he knew that fawning over them and trying to decide which one to go with was going to only cause him more pain and trouble. Which made him feel sick in the gut because he also knew that the decision was going to be extremely difficult for him. His Lady had never reciprocated his feelings, and he figured she never would, which made the decision seemingly easy, only he was deadset on the fact that Mari despised him, all the evidence was there after all. She avoided him, could barely utter a word to him and he felt as if she glared at him a lot. All because he tried to take the gum off of her chair when they had first met. A simple misunderstanding that had obviously cost him what could have been a very amazing friendship, and potentially even more. Even though he considered them friends, he was sure Mari didn't feel the same way at all. Despite this fact, he was glad she had stopped stuttering around him of late, maybe he could keep making progress with her.

He wished he could get actual help from somebody, but whoever he seemed to ask, did either one of two things, laugh or mock him. Again, was he missing he bigger picture here? Plagg and Nino had both been the same. Alya wasn't somebody he wanted to go to for girl advice as she would probably get a little nosy. And he definitely couldn't ask Marinette because the issue was about her. This left him with only one choice. He was going to have to ask his best friend, since his kwami seemed all too amused, and he didn't want to add to this matter.

He could feel the steam of the water fogging up the air around him, and it was so warm in the room he almost felt like he was being hugged.

It was comforting as he knew this was probably the only hug he'd ever receive from anybody, as his father was as cold and unloving as a huge block of stone. He had to admit the week off was pretty awesome however, probably he nicest thing he'd done for his son in years.

Turning the taps off, he stood there still as a statue, feeling himself unable to move as the remaining streams of water trickled down his back and into the drain on the ground. If he wasn't riddled with emotions and completely overthinking everything, he might have been shivering from the cold by now.

There was only one thing left to do. He had no choice. He would have to consult Nino.

"Hey Adrien, it's getting pretty late dude, is it important?" his best friends voice had answered his phone almost instantly, for that he was grateful for. If it hadn't he was almost sure he would have backed out and just left the matter altogether.

"I had more questions about the conversation we had at school, if that's okay?" Adrien swallowed the nerves that kept climbing out of his gut and into his throat.

"Of course, how can the all-knowing-Nino be of assistance?"

There was a slight pause. Adrien thought about everything he had already pondered over the past few days and made his decision.

"Okay, so I'm pretty sure I like Marinette, I mean all the signs are there," he blurted, feeling his cheeks redden. Why was this so hard for him to say, Nino was his best friend after all.

"Finally! Only took you what? A year or so? Alya is going to be so happy!" the sincerity and relief that the blonde boy detected in his friends tone was slightly comforting, yet it kind of confused him. One, why finally? And two, why was Alya going to be so happy?

He watched from a distance as Plagg chuckled and then devoured a whole wedge of camembert. Great, next time he went on patrol he was going to smell like stinky cheese.

"What do you mean finally? Everybody has been saying stuff like that lately and it's really confusing me. The laughter especially? Am I missing something here?" Adrien was honestly over the giggles and mixed messages that everyone kept giving him. Nino obviously knew the answer because he kept doing it himself.

"Wait you mean, you actually don't know?" He heard his friend question over the line. "Alright what did you want to ask me exactly, dude?"

The boy took a deep breath. "What am I supposed to do? Even if I could somehow establish a relationship with her, she hate's m-"

"Okay lemme stop you right there. Marinette doesn't hate you, in fact quite the opposite, my friend,"

There it was. The confusion. It hit him like a brick to the head. Hard and without warning.

"What do you mean? She can never talk to me, she avoids me a lot, I seem to make her uncomfortable," Adrien frowned, and was tempted to tell his friend that he just wanted to be alone right now, but as if on cue, he interrupted the train of thought.

"She can't talk to you because she's nervous around you, man. She avoids you because she doesn't want to mess up in front of you and she seems uncomfortable around you because she is shy around YOU in particular..."

There was a brief moment of silence.

"What are you trying to say, Nino?" Adrien finally said, unsure he had heard his friend correctly.

"Do I really need to spell it out for you?" the model could hear the face palm. "Adrien Agreste, I'm disappointed in you, I thought you of all people were smart enough to realise when a girl had a huge crush on you,"

His mouth fell open, like his eyes, wide and full of surprise. He could feel his skin fading to a chalky white colour as all the blood drained from his face.

"W-what? Since when?" he stammered, nerves taking control. Was it really true?

"Since forever dude, I can't believe you're so oblivious. Anyway, are we done here? I gotta pick Alya up in ten minutes for our date," his best friend began to wrap things up.

"Sure, see you tomorrow, Nino," Adrien said goodbye and then hung up, and wandered over to his window, glancing out around the city that surrounded him, watching as the sun slowly began to set beneath the horizon. No only was he more nauseous than he had ever been before in his life, but he also felt a lot more enlightened. That one small phone call had changed everything. It was as if all the confusion the past week or so had caused now finally made sense. As much as he tried to deny it, he couldn't anymore. There was absolutely no doubt anymore if there had been any left. He liked Marinette, a lot. He had very obvious feelings for her, almost as strong as the ones he had for Ladybug. And although he felt this was about his shy classmate, he would still never truly forget his first love. Deep down he would always feel affection for the girl in the spotted suit, but perhaps it was time to move on. And at least he could do so now knowing that she actually returned his feelings.

He shook the thoughts from his mind, now was not the time.

There were still things he needed to sort out before he could say he would be able to relax completely. But it was getting late, and he was definitely tired, after all, sleep deprivation tends to do that to people. So he tried his best to clear his mind and push the nerves back down before he curled up underneath his covers and, for the first time in weeks, fell fast asleep almost instantly.

A few days later

"So, Marinette, which task did you want to do for our assignment?" Scratching the nape of his neck with his left hand, he tried his best to break the awkward silence without looking too desperate or pushy. They had agreed to meet up at her place after school to begin their project. He watched intently as the shy girl next to him flipped quickly through her notes, searching for something important. The look of sheer concentration on her face as she did so was making Adrien's heartbeat rise rapidly. Damnit. Why did she have to be so cute?

"Well considering you've been distracted half of this term because of your sleeping difficulties, I would personally suggest we go for the easier choice of the three," She stated, not looking up as she continuously turned the pages of her notebook. Holding it up in front of her, she smiled. He scanned over the page looking for the title. Her handwriting was cursive and very visually appealing for him, just like her. He grinned.

"Gravity?" He asked to make sure. She nodded quietly and turned to her computer screen where she opened a new internet tab.

"Yeah. So all we gotta do is write a short essay on it. Should be fairly easy, since you're... uh... experienced and all" he knew she was talking about his homeschooling life. Fair enough because before his public schooling days, Nathalie taught him advanced subjects such as Biology, Chemistry, Physics and even English. His father believed this would open up more opportunities for him in the future, even though he practically controlled his son's life.

He chuckled and picked up her book, reading through her notes. They were short and concise, yet meaningful, and he found that they made perfect sense to him. This was a good thing, it meant that she would be a good partner to work with as she obviously knew exactly what she was doing. And it would be a good chance to get to know her as well.

Previously that morning when he had arrived at school, he had been constantly harassed by Nino, and threatened by Alya about Marinette.

"So dude, when are you going to ask her out?" his best friend had inquired multiple times, to which his response had either been a shrug or the reddening of his cheeks.

However it was a topic he had been pondering about ever since he found out that she liked him.

"You'd better ask her out, because I swear to god if you don't I'm going to pummel you..." the blogger had jokingly warned him. Even if he didn't entirely believe the threat, he was still going to be wary, as he would by lying if he said he wasn't low key scared of her. Or at least getting on her bad side.

"Soon," Adrien's only reply to both of his friends, left them in suspense.

If he was more than honest with himself, despite the fact he was no longer trying to deny his obvious feelings for Mari, he had never really considered asking her out until his friends started pressuring him about his decisions. When he thought long and hard about it, it did sound really appealing. She was everything and more than Ladybug was, even if she didn't let on that way at first glance. What he couldn't believe was the fact that all the stuttering and awkward encounters was because she had a mad crush on him. He gave a dorky smile at the thought.

But then he looked at the clock and gasped at the time. If he wasn't home soon, he was going to be in huge trouble. But then he remembered what he was going to do that afternoon, and suddenly he butterflies inside his gut awoke and brought on the nausea. He was going to do it. It was now or never.

The girl must have noticed something was up with him, because she looked at him with worry and concern in her eyes.

"You alright Adrien?" she questioned, turning away from the computer screen.

This was it. The moment of truth. The nerves pricked at his skin, and he felt goosebumps press at the surface of his skin all over his body.

"I've been meaning to say something to you," he managed barely, taking a deep breath to calm himself.

"Of course, what's on your mind?"

Here goes nothing...

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng... you're talented, kind, confident, smart and, above all one of the most beautiful girls on this planet. You're perfect, and any guy on this earth would be lucky to have you as their own." He looked deep into her confused eyes.

Silence crept across the room after he had finished. The room was still, only two teenagers gazing into each others eyes.

"A-Adrien I..." he stopped her mid sentence. If he didn't do it now, it wasn't going to happen...

"Will make me that lucky guy and be my girlfriend?"