They were all silent. Nino and Alya were still staring at the phone in Marinette's frozen hand in horrified shock, which Adrien could completely understand. Watching the video had rekindled feelings of terror and despair in him which he would have much rather not revisited.

He felt he should say something, anything to break the silence. But he couldn't think of a single thing to say. 'Don't worry, she's fine now. I know because I'm really Chat Noir and I carried her home where a tiny god of creation magically cured her. And by the way she's also sitting right here,' just didn't seem appropriate.

He looked over at Marinette, hoping that she would have some clue what to do. But Marinette was still looking at the blank screen, lost in her own thoughts, with tears trickling silently down her cheeks.

"Marinette, are you all right?" he asked, wondering why she would possibly be crying. He had expected her to be internally freaking out, the way he was. After all, her friends had just basically watched her die. But crying? Why would she be crying?

"Y-Yes... I mean, no... I mean..." she sniffed and wiped her eyes. "It's just... Chat... The way he was... crying over her..."

"He must really love her," Alya agreed, in a subdued voice.

Adrien couldn't stand it. He had to say something to turn the tide of the conversation. "But, she's got to be okay, right? I mean..." He cast about wildly for some assurance that a layperson would understand, something that would not give him away as Chat Noir. He couldn't let them continue believing Ladybug might be dead. "Everything went back to normal, didn't it? All the trees and all the people who were hurt are fine now. So Ladybug must be fine, too."

"That makes sense," Marinette agreed, putting the phone down, which she had been blankly staring at for the past minute.

"But... No it doesn't." Alya said, starting to get angry through her tears. "How does that make sense? If she was going to be okay, why was Chat Noir crying like that?"

"Well, I'm sure he was worried about her," Adrien said. "But maybe he was taking her away to help her somehow?"

"What, are you the Ladybug expert all of a sudden?" Alya demanded, really getting angry now.

"Alya..." Nino put his hand on her shoulder, but she shook him off.

"I'm sorry, guys. I've got to go... to go... update the Ladyblog." She choked out the last part, grabbed her phone and stormed away.

The three of them stared after her for a moment.

Adrien decided that something had to be done before Alya posted that horrible video to her blog, which he knew she would. And she would probably write a long beautiful eulogy for Ladybug while she was at it.

He scooted a little closer to Marinette and spoke gently into her ear. "I think you should go to her," he said.

"You think...what?" She blinked and shook her head, like he had pulled her out of some other train of thought.

"You're Alya's best friend, and she's really upset right now. I think she needs... someone... to be there for her. And if anyone can convince her to not give up hope in Ladybug, I'm sure you can."

Marinette thought about what he said for a moment, then nodded. "You're right. And on top of that I can't let her post that video to the Ladyblog, everyone will go into a panic."

"Yeah, talk about throwing the cat among the pigeons." Adrien let out a heavy breath and ran his hand through his hair.

Marinette eyed him curiously, like he had just done something entirely out of character.

"At least we know that Chat Noir is okay," Nino said, hopefully.

"Chat Noir is pretty amazing," Adrien said. "But he's nothing without Ladybug."

Marinette smiled as she stood and slung her purse over her shoulder. "I'm pretty sure Ladybug needs Chat just as much as he needs her," she corrected. "I'll see you two tomorrow. I'd better hurry and catch up with Alya before she really gets carried away."

For the next few hours Adrien convinced Nino to attempt to study for their exams together. He was sure his friend needed the help and Adrien needed an excuse to stay out. But neither of them was putting a lot of effort into it. They were both too distracted with thinking about that video. Nino kept stopping mid sentence to ask Adrien questions about hypothetical doomsday situations which Adrien simply couldn't answer.

"So if the atomic mass of gold is... But even if she's just sick and not dead, what if another villain comes along before she gets better?"

"I don't know, Nino. I guess Chat might try to fight him on his own. Or maybe she would still try to fight, even if she is sick."

And a few minutes later: "So if water is the electron donor... But what if Chat gets sick too? Then there wouldn't be anyone to fight the villains!"

"Chat looked fine in the video, though."

It went on like this until it was finally time for Nino to prepare for his birthday party DJ gig that evening.

Adrien reluctantly made his way back home. He took his time, walking slowly up the street in the warm late afternoon sun. He started wondering about Marinette's unfathomable reaction to the video of their struggle on the rooftop. Did she not remember what had happened? She had obviously not been conscious for the last part of the ordeal. But why had watching the recording brought her to tears?

Because he had cried over her. That was what she had said. Chat Noir holding and crying over Ladybug had surprised her and moved her to tears. But if it had surprised her, did that mean that she hadn't believed that Chat truly loved her?

When Adrien got back to the estate, Nathalie intercepted him on the way to his room and interrogated him on his whereabouts during the day. He wearily explained that he'd been out with his friends. They'd had lunch together at a diner. And then he'd been studying for his end of year exams with Nino.

When he got to his room he sat down at his computer and nervously opened the Ladyblog website, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no mention of the shocking video on the main page.

"Well, she hasn't posted it yet, at least. I sure hope Marinette understood what I was trying to tell her."

"Don't worry," Plagg said. "Even if she didn't, Tikki will have. She rides around in Marinette's purse, you know, so she heard you. It's probably a lot more comfortable in there than in your pocket, by the way. I'm sure there's a lot more room for cheese in there, too."

"I'm not going to start carrying a purse, Plagg, so don't even try."

The morning of Adrien's eighteenth birthday dawned bright and clear, just like any other. And, just like any other morning, Adrien woke with very little expectation of festivities.

"Happy birthday, Adrien!" Plagg zoomed up to him, holding a piece of stinky cheese tied with green ribbon.

"Ew, I mean, no thanks, Plagg."

The little kwami just shrugged and swallowed the cheese whole.

When Adrien arrived in the dining room for breakfast, there was a small box waiting next to his breakfast plate. It was not wrapped, but Adrien could instantly tell that the white box with gold lettering was his birthday present from his father. He opened it and found, as he had expected, a very expensive fountain pen. He had three others exactly the same.

Adrien sighed in resignation, finished his breakfast, slung his book bag over his shoulder, and went out to the car where The Gorilla was waiting to drive him to school.

His friends were chatting together on the steps leading up to the school's main entrance when the sleek black car pulled up to the curb. Alya looked a lot less agitated than she had the last time he'd seen her. Adrien hoped this meant that Ladybug had paid her a visit the previous evening.

"Hey, Adrien," Alya greeted him. "I'm really sorry about snapping at you yesterday." She grimaced apologetically. "And it turns out, you were right, Ladybug is just fine. She even came to my house to tell me so in person!"

"Wow, really?" He worked very hard not to grin or wink at Marinette.

"Yeah, she figured some people might have seen what happened and wanted me to write an update in the Ladyblog to let everyone know she's all right."

"So what did happen?" Nino asked.

"I don't know, exactly, but she said that Chat Noir saved her life. And she made me promise not to post the video on the blog. She thought it would make everyone worried for no reason."

"I'm glad she's okay," Marinette said. "You know, if she is telling you to update your blog, it probably means she reads it herself."

"Yeah, you're right! I didn't think about that!" Alya said, excitedly.

"Happy birthday, by the way, dude!" Nino said, jabbing Adrien in the shoulder good-naturedly and holding out a CD. "I put this together for you. It's all the top downloaded songs from my online albums. Plus a few new ones that I haven't released yet. You'll have to tell me what you think."

"Hey, thanks, Nino! You didn't have to do that."

"Is it your birthday again already?" Alya asked. "Happy birthday!"

Marinette had pulled her backpack off and reached inside of it. She brought out a gift wrapped in blue paper with red ribbon. "Happy Birthday, Adrien," she said, presenting it to him.

"Really?" He tucked the CD into his bag to free his hands and took the gift from her.

"I, um, I made it myself." She said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Well, not all of it. Just the outside, really."

He tore into the paper and pulled open the box to reveal a black leather journal. It was obviously handcrafted, but looked exceptionally professional in quality. There were intricate designs tooled in the corners and artfully gilded so that parts of the designs shone in the sunlight. She had even monogrammed his initials elegantly in the center of the front cover.

Adrien unfastened the leather tie and opened the journal. There were built in places for pens and cards. And two built in strips of leather as placeholders. The paper notebook itself could be removed from the leather and replaced, but it still sat securely in the cover.

"Wow, this is amazing! And you made it yourself?"

She just shrugged and smiled at him.

"This seriously looks like professional work. I didn't know you did leather crafting."

"Well, this is the first journal cover I've made. But I've done hats and belts before. It was a fun project to work on."

"Thank you!" And before he even thought about it, he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her.

It was nothing at all like the intensely intimate embrace they had shared in her bedroom when he had been Chat Noir. But Marinette hugged him back easily and warmly. It felt comfortable, and genuine, and right, like in each other's arms was where they belonged.

"Adrikins!" Chloé Bourgeois ran up the steps toward them, pushed Marinette aside, and threw herself on Adrien, kissing his cheek. "I remembered that it's your birthday, of course. So tonight we're going on a date. Just you and me!" The blonde snapped her fingers at her friend, Sabrina—a short, shy, redheaded girl who doted on Chloé—who brought forth an envelope and handed it to her.

"What? Look, Chloé..." Adrien began.

"My daddy reserved seats for us at Restaurante le Jules Verne... in the Eiffel Tower, can you believe it?" She squealed, waving the envelope in his face.

"Chloé..."

"And it's going to be so romantic! Remember that you have to wear a jacket. And I have just the cocktail dress for the occasion. It's red and sparkly and cut down to—"

"Chloé!"

"Yes, Adrikins?" Chloé batted her eyelashes at him.

"Listen, this has to stop."

"What are you talking about?"

"Chloé we aren't dating. We have never been dating. And I have no intention of ever going on a date with you," Adrien said firmly.

"What? Don't be ridiculous. Of course we're going. Do you even know how hard it is to get a reservation?" Chloé insisted with a nervous laugh.

"No, we're not." He answered, simply.

"N-not?" Chloé's eyes darted between him and Marinette. "Is it because of her?!" She demanded, pointing an accusatory finger at Marinette. "Don't tell me you two are actually going out!" She laughed derisively.

Adrien's anger began to rise. Usually he could tolerate Chloé's rude behavior with some patience. But she had been cruel to people he cared about one too many times now. And, whether she meant to or not, she was forcing him to say something which could give pain to nobody but herself.

"Yes, we are. I asked Marinette to go out with me, and she said yes," he put an arm around Marinette and gently pulled her close to his side, to illustrate the truth of his words. "Marinette is more kind, talented, and wonderful than you could possibly understand. And much better than I deserve. And if you can't find it in yourself to treat the people I care about with some decency, then I don't think we can be friends anymore."

He released Marinette, turned, and stalked up the stairs into the school before he could say anything he might really regret.

Marinette hurried to catch up to him, and surprised him by taking his hand. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Me?" Adrien scoffed, then thought about it."Yeah, I guess I am the one who flipped out back there. I just can't believe that she would even see you that way... or think that I do. It was just the last straw I guess."

"Well, thank you... for saying those things about me. It was very sweet."

Adrien smiled down at her and squeezed her hand encouragingly, "I meant every word, you know."

"But you're wrong," she continued, a little sadly.

"What do you mean, I'm wrong?"

"You deserve much better than me."

Adrien stopped and looked at her, surprised. Did she really think so highly of him? Or so little of herself? He thought over a multitude of examples of her kindness and bravery and generosity, not just as Ladybug but as Marinette as well. She was always ready to defend the weak and stand up against bullies. She never hesitated to comfort her friends when they were down or encourage them to have faith in themselves. She always stood up for the truth and insisted on fair play. She was surprising and unpredictable and endearing.

He had intended to refute her; to explain to her some of the many ways she surpassed every other girl he knew. But he somehow couldn't get the words out.

She gazed back at him steadily, her beautiful bluebell eyes open and sincere, her hand still wrapped securely around his, her soft pink lips pulled up in a small smile

A wayward strand of her hair caught his attention, hovering around the vicinity of her collarbone, drawing his eyes to the creamy smoothness of the skin at her neck. Adrien hesitantly reached out and captured the errant strand of hair, tucking it gently behind her ear.

Marinette's breath caught as his fingertips lightly grazed her cheek and hovered there for a moment, tracing her jawline.

"I really don't know why it took me so long to see you," he said softly, moving closer to her and running his fingers back up her jaw to rest on her neck. He didn't really have any idea of what he was doing. But he found himself moving closer still, until all he could see were Marinette's unbelievably blue eyes, her slightly flushed ivory skin, and pink lips which parted invitingly as he bent toward her with his own.

And that's when the screaming started outside.