Chat Noir held out the sketch pad that he had tied a big red bow around, at arms length. His ears were low and flat, his head was bowed, his tail was between his legs. Nathanael twisted his head and looked at him in confusion. Coming in to find Chat hovering in his bedroom again terrified him, but he had given a deep, heartfelt apology instead of a threat. Now Nathanael was in the unique and strange situation of facing down a hero trying to right a wrong.

"Um... thanks... but um... you're not supposed to bring gifts to an apology," he explained.

Chat frowned. "Why not?"

"Well you can if it'll end the argument, but sometimes it just feels like a bribe," Nathanael explained.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. If you argue with someone about whether or not to get something, you can bring that thing to the argument to say sorry. This," Nathanael took the sketch pad and held it up, "this is a bribe to say "please forgive me", which isn't what you're supposed to do."

"I am sorry Nathanael, how am i supposed to prove that?" Chat sighed.

"Firstly you can't keep bragging about being sorry, because it loses it's impact. If you're really sorry it should be hard to say it," Nathanael explained.

"What if its hard to say and they still don't forgive you?"

Nathanael shrugged. He wasn't really prepared for these questions. "I dunno, maybe just give it time?"

"Right... time..."

Nathanael noticed how dejected Chat looked at tgis, so offered, "You know the people who love you most will forgive you pretty much no matter what."

"Yeah?"

"Sure. You've just gotta be honest. Really time is all it takes."

...

Marinette wasn't surprised to find Chat Noir in her room three days later. She was surprised it took him so long to get here. Adrien hadn't been in school yesterday either, so she was wondering what had happened.

"Hello," she said.

He smiled nervously. "Hi."

"Where have you been?" She asked.

"I thought it'd be best if I gave you some space for a while so you could come to terms with things," he said.

"That's sweet. I thought your father had looked at the security tapes and seen us there and decided to ground you."

The colour drained from her face. "Oh yeah, the tapes... I'll fix that when i get home."

"Don't go getting yourself into more trouble," she warned. "If you weren't supposed to have us over, why did you offer?"

"It was a spur of the moment thing. I wanted to spend more time with you, and Nino's never allowed round when father's there, but he wanted to see my house, and Alya - well I couldn't not invite her," Chat Noir smiled.

"No she'd have found a way to come anyway," Marinette chuckled.

"Exactly."

Chat Noir reached out to touch her hand, but stopped with his hand in the air. There was a pause, but she reached back. Their fingers brushed. Where they touched their skin tingled. She slipped her hand into his, and they ended up close together.

"Mari, i was talking to Nathanael, and he says the best way to get forgiveness is to give it time. I want to spend all my time with you, but if you want me to back away-"

He tried to take a step back but she tightened her grip and pulled him back closer to him.

"No. Look, I can forgive you tomorrow if you want but it wouldn't change anything. It's not to do with the forgiveness, it's all about the trust," she said.

"You can trust me," he promised.

"I know. Logically I know. But a little part of me doesnt believe that anymore, and that's going to be dangerous next time we fight. You have to earn that back. It's a slow and hard process, but I believe in you."

She reached up, and he leaned down, so their foreheads touched. They stayed liked that for a while, appreciating the intimacy for a change. She shut her eyes, and he watched her. How beautifully soft and innocent she looked. No one would guess someone so gentle could be someone as tough as Ladybug.

"Hey," he said, gently, so she opened her eyes. "Are we going to be ok?"

She pulled back for a moment, surprised. "Yeah! Yeah we're going to be better than ok."

She moved forwards, slithered her arms around his back, and pulled him into a hug. She laid her head against his chest, and he rested his head against hers.

"We're going to be miraculous."

...

Alya twirled her hair out of her eyes and threw her empty coffee cup in the bin. She checked her phone. Damn. At this rate she was going to be late to college! She pulled her phone out of her pocket and leapt across the wall, which made her coat swish around her ankles like a TV detective in a murder investigation.
As she came to the road, a set of headlights flashed at her and a loud honk bleared through the noise of the street. Alya gasped and leapt back away from the kerb. The car slowed, and stopped in front of her. She heaved a sigh of relief, and climbed into the back. The door slammed shut, and the driver pulled away.

"I wasn't sure you two would find me," she said.

"Of course we'd find you! Foxes arent that illusive," Marinette laughed.

"Hey, foxes are as illusive as we are cunning!" Trixx argued defensively.

Alya scratched her kwami behind the ear gently, "calm down Trixxy, you havent finished your sandwich yet."

Plagg leaned over the back of the seat and looked over at Trixx. "Dont bury it in the back seat this time!"

"I told you i was going to get it back later! I just forgot where i put it," she muttered.

"Keep an eye out for Nino, Lord knows where he's gotten to," Adrien said.

"Chloe said she was going to get as close to college as she could before transforming, he might have gone with her," Alya suggested.

"That sounds like something Wayzz would say," Tikki agreed.

The six of them scowered the streets for the last of their group, trying to find him down some alley or something. As it turned out he and Chloe were sitting outside the cafe beside college, feeding their kwamis and waiting for the others to arrive. The moment Alya spotted Nino she threw the door open and grabbed Trixx. Trixx yelped as she was dragged away from where she was hiding the last of her sandwich in the backseat.

"WAIT UNTIL THE CAR STOPS!" Marinette cried but it was too late. Alya was gone.

Adrien chuckled to himself as he stopped the car by the kerb and parked up. Marinette looked at him, appauled by Alyas actions.

"One of these days shes going to get seriously hurt!" She sighed.

"Thats what they used to say about us," he chuckled.

"We did get hurt," she argued.

"But we were always there for each other and we'll be there for Alya too. Hawkmoth is gone. We're safe. Stop worrying."

"But what if someone else turns up and tries to kill us?"

Adrien chuckled again. He leaned over the gap between the seats and kissed her gently on the corner of her lips. She sighed.

"I'm overreacting arent i?" She said.

He smiled and kissed her cheek again. "I love you anyway."

"I love you too."

Tikki cooed and Plagg groaned in disgust. Adrien laughed at both of them. He moved to open his car door, but she grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Hey!"

He leaned back and shut the door behind him. "What?"

She grinned at him, "I told you we'd be ok."

Adrien smiled back at her, "Nah, we're better than that."

"Yeah," Plagg agreed, smiling at Tikki.

Tikki smiled back at Plagg and blushed affectionately, "We're miraculous."