A continuation of the previous chapter.

Gripping the sink for balance, Marinette had leaned down to the sink, splashing water on her face. She needed to force herself to calm down before she snuck in to class.

She exhaled forcefully. She knew that she had to tell him.

Somehow Adrien still hadn't pieced it together on his own, not even with her inevitable freak out, backpedalling herself into a second fall within five minutes.

He still managed to snatch her hand and slow her descent to the hard ground. But she still hit the ground with a thud, as his look of concern matched the one she'd spied so often in battle.

The realization landed all that much harder that second time.

Her cheeks burned as she mumbled, jumbling together an apology and thanks as she dashed off to the restroom.

Her eyes slammed shut as she shook her head furiously. "How could I have missed this?"

When she dared to open them again, she's spotted Tikki phasing through top of the the restroom stalls in the mirror until she finally came to hover over her shoulder, cuddling up against her cheek.

"Oh, Marinette. It really is just the power of the miraculous locking your identities away for safekeeping."

She'd spent that entire first lecture - and every one she'd attended since - staring at the back of his head and torturing herself with seamlessly matching his perfectly styled hair with her partner's messy mop.

Hopefully, Alya would have mercy on her and let her copy her notes.

Chat Noir would not stop touching her.

It should not have mattered at all. Except now she knew that one all-too-critical detail, one that she had only had a few hours to process.

Adrien would not stop touching her.

He kept occupying her personal space.

He brushed his own shoulder against her own as they assessed the situation mid-battle.

It was all the same little things that they had both done for months.

This battle should not have been this hard, but for some reason she was a little off her usual, mental game.

It was wreaking havoc on her own composure, and making her lose the critical time she needed to make decisions on dealing with this Akuma.

The Akuma sent a rogue metal projectile hurtling toward her and she hadn't noticed until it was almost too late.

Luckily, Chat Noir did, tugging her out of its path, rolling them both away.

He'd caged himself around her, his hands beside her arms, his knees caging her own.

His face was much too close, even if he thankfully had his eyes currently on the Akuma threat.

"Too close." She shuddered audibly. At least one of them had their heads in the game right now.

But now she knew just who it was that was so close, and it was freaking her out.

Internally, she waged war not to scream like a tea kettle. Externally, she thanked Tikki for holding her side of the game face that was still so necessary.

A gloved claw rested atop her shoulder as those piercing, glowing green cat eyes and reckless grin. "Not to worry, my Lady. We've got this one in the bag."

As he'd scrambled toward the Akuma, the cold air rushed in. Her gaze flicked to where her partner rushed the Akuma. It was more than a little disconcerting to see her friend and crush getting tossed around.

She drew a steadying breath, desperate to regain her footing. This was seriously confusing.

"Lucky Charm!"

Once the purified butterfly darted back into the now blue skies, Chat Noir bowed over her hand, pressing a kiss to her gloved knuckles. "See? I told you we had this one."

Marinette knew her cheeks still had to be a cherry red to match her mask as she pushed his nose away, clinging to as much familiar behavior as she still could.

"Sorry, Chaton. I never doubted you." Her own eyes darted down, not for the first time marking his own leather clad form. She never really allowed her eyes linger before.

Strangely, it was only just now occurring to her that she'd somehow to spend months pushing Chat Noir and his absurdly over the top flirtations away just to focus on her crush on his own civilian side.

How was is that she had so many photos on her bedroom wall, and not a single one had managed to do his own physical fitness justice? She was tempted to send a very stern (and very, very anonymous) letter to Gabriel to bemoan the lack of a swimsuit line in the portfolio.

"My lady?" Chat Noir drawled, nonchalantly stretching out his arms above his head. Glowing green eyes peering over that all too familiar smirk. "Were you just checking meow-t?"

She groaned at the pun, snapping her eyes up to the heavens.

"Well, not anymore." Ladybug grumbled, her hand snagging her yo-yo to swing away as fast as the laws of physics would carry her. "See you, Chat Noir!"

Author's Notes:

Thanks as always for your support! It really does mean the world to me.

You all are the best!