Chat Noir rubbed his aching palms and threw a large kitchen knife on a wet chopping board. A large basket of lemons and limes cut in half sat in front of him. The scent of sour juice swarmed into his nostrils. A small twist in his stomach had an opinion of ditching everything and taking a long nap, but no time to lose.

Now, the Wax Museum.

He jumped from the fruit stand, turned, and started to sprint to the wax museum that was (thankfully) only half a block away.

Wind blew from his hair as he ran along the pavement. After he had gotten the figures ready, again the day would be saved with a whirlwind amazing plan.

How could she possibly be so... so astounding? Shocking? Spectacular, remarkable, wondrous and so utterly beautiful?

He wondered how she could think of such an outstanding plan every single akuma attack. He didn't know if it was the powers the miraculous gave her, but it didn't matter. She always shined so brightly he had to cover his eyes. He gulped.

He was supposed to be falling out of love with her.

Shaking his head, he willed his thoughts to erase the scarlet lady and focus of getting everything done in time. According to his estimations, he had just about 3 minutes left before the Cinderella spell reached midnight and he would be a naked cat.

He halted as he finally reached the museum, and grabbed the long metal handles. He burst through the grand doors, eyes darting around the velvet building. The last time he had checked, the Bourgeois trio was on the first floor. He darted along the long hall, the sound of his hurried footsteps echoing through the marble building.

"Chloe, Audrey... and Mr. Mayor -" Chat muttered under his breath, studying the many sets of wax figures. His eyes paused as he spotted himself and Ladybug in the midst, right in the very center of all the famous people, striking their signature poses. He stood for a moment to admire Ladybug - the delicate curves of her face, how her freckles resembled stars - and how deep, deep her bluebell eyes were; full of passion and determination.

How petite her lips were - such a light tint of pink; curved into a small smile. how every time he saw them he had a burning desire from the bottom of his heart to just simply cup her cheeks and kiss her breathless.

It would be absolute euphoria.

'Beep beep.' His ring chimed.

2 minutes.

He groaned.

Chat's eyes now moved more urgently across rows and rows of wax figures - then finally, there they were. The haughty and proud figures of the highest class family of France. He ran over and shifted the mounds of colorful wax on his shoulders.

Time to get back to his lady.


"Wires, wires, wires... wires!!" Ladybug exclaimed in delight as she finally found the parts she was looking for. She really

just wanted to head over to the fruit stand and munch on some grapes after an exhausting search in the machine shop, but Chat probably had 2 minutes at most left on his miraculous, and she had 3 herself.

Better get back to work.

She hoped he had found the Bourgeois figures and was on his way back by now.

She headed out of the machine shop and hurriedly approached the small fruit stand. Thankfully, a large basket of freshly cut citruses was waiting for her. A tiny smile grew on her lips as she imagined Chat Noir slicing lemons in half, squirting juice into his green cat-eyes.

She chuckled.

She heaved the large basket into her arms and staggered to the massive battery her lucky charm had produced. She rolled it to the pavement, hopefully big and wide enough to catch Lady Pastrier's eye. She turned to grab some lemons from the basket -

"LADYBUG! I got what you asked for -"

Chat, sweat streaking his brow, set the three figures on the pavement. He breathed heavily, panting, his ruffled hair looking more ruffled than ever.

For some reason, he looked ridiculously cute.

Ladybug smirked, and a strong urge to tease him erupted inside her.

"Great job, Chaton." She leaned in, whispered in his ear, and pecked his cheek.

Chat's eyes widened. His body stiffened and and a deep shade of red bloomed on his face.

"What - what was... what are you doing?" He stammered, gently touching the spot her lips had brushed his skin.

Ladybug was crouching on the pavement, clipping the wires and the fruits together into what looked like a large circle.

"What, kissing your cheek?" She looked up from her work, at a flushed Chat Noir. She snickered.

"You do know it's french culture to kiss cheeks? Or did I kiss your lips by accident?"

Blush deepening, Chat shifted on his feet. "Um -"

Ladybug burst out laughing. "Oh kitty, I'm just teasing. Now come on and help me here!"

She tossed him a handful of wires and gestured the lemons.

About half a minute later, the 'electro-magnet' was finished; a large circle of lemons, limes, wires, iron nails, and a huge battery.

The two heroes stood to admire their work.

"You know," Chat remarked, "This kinda looks like those magic-circle symbols in 'Card Captor Sakura'."

"You watch Anime?!" Ladybug asked, surprised by her partner.

"Yeah, but not much though. Father doesn't like me watching anime, so much as a lot of TV shows."

"Ah, I see..." Ladybug stared at the ground below her. The statement: 'Father doesn't like it,' hit her with a deja-vu, of a blond handsome boy in her class.

An awkward hush filled between them.

She decided to change the subject.

"Well," Ladybug's clear voice broke the silence. "The outfit designs are really inspiring in anime. They are kind of gaudy for my taste, but they have a lot of things to learn from."

Chat stared at her. "You like fashion?"

Ladybug smiled. This felt like the first time they ever talked heart to heart about their personal lives.

"I don't know if Master Fu is okay with me telling you this - but whatever. I love designing clothing and stuff."

Chat broke into a radiant smile. "Really? That's awesome. I have to let you on a secret now, then."

"What is it?"

He leaned in to her, smiling. "I know Gabriel Agreste - personally."

Ladybug gasped. "What? You aren't supposed to tell me that!"

Chat grinned. "Secret's out. No taking back.'

Ladybug pouted and crossed her arms.

"Soo..." Chat tilted his head. "When this is all over, Hawkmoth defeated, and we reveal our identities -"

"I'm going to take you to a Gabriel fashion show." He ended, determined, chin in the air.

"WHAT?" Ladybug cried. "Those are so, so expensive to go to!"

"I'm intimate enough with Gabriel to get free tickets, actually."

Ladybug hit him again. "You shouldn't have told me that either!"

Chat smirked. "Are you coming or not?"

Ladybug didn't know if it was his smug grin, or just the temptation of a Gabriel fashion show, but she simply beamed and nodded.

Chat whooped into the air. "The lady has a date reservation with her charming kitty!"

She merely chuckled. She was going to let Chat express his feelings for her freely, and she was going to be thankful for it. If she learned one thing from her crush on Adrien, it was that doing something to make him happy was the best feeling in the world.

"Actually, I have a friend that's really talented in fashion - maybe I should introduce you to her. I think she'd be very good friends wi -"

He was cut off with a warning beep from his ring.

"Oh no, ten seconds left -"

Ladybug pointed to a small brick ledge to hide one person. "Go over there and detransform! I'll handle the akuma!"

"I'll be waiting if you still need to talk to me!" Chat yelled as he hurried to the ledge, his tail flying behind him. "You can do it, LB!"

Ladybug glanced back as Chat darted behind the wall with a flash of green, meaning he was in his civilian self.

"You're the best, Kitty!" She shouted back.

'Beep.'

One minute. Got it.

She dipped to the ground and scooped the three wax figures into her arms, and placed them in the middle of the electro-magnet. All she had to do now was lure Lady pastrier, trap her in the magnet, steal her pointy whisk, and save the day.

She zipped up to a building where Lady Pastrier could see her.

"Hey!!" She hollered into the air, waving her arms as if calling for SOS after being stranded on a lone island. "We have Bourgeois! Come and get 'em!"

Lady Pastrier turned to glare at her. "Well, you've been gone for a while."

"I was simply getting you your revenge." Ladybug replied promptly. "Let me show you."

Lady Pastrier cackled with glee. "Where is she?"

"She's down there." Ladybug pointed to the pavement where the trap was ready.

Lady Pastrier's gaze followed where Ladybug's hand was pointing.

Her eyes widened. "There you are, AUDREY BOURGEOIS!" She screamed as she dived for her victim. She grabbed Audrey's wax figure and was ready to pounce, then -

"Wait a moment. This is a wax figure!" She yelled furiously, and jumped from the electro-magnet.

Well, she tried to jump.

Naturally, she couldn't budge.

"What are these horrid nails on my boots?" She wailed, trying to move out of the magnet. "What have you done?"

Ladybug snatched the iron whisk from the uneasy hands of Lady Pastrier, and with a snap, it was broken.

A moth of deep violet fluttered out of the whisk. Ladybug smiled. What a day.

"No more evil-doing for you, little akuma. Time to de-evilize!" She said as she swung her yo-yo to capture the moth.

"Gotcha! Bye, bye little butterfly." She waved as the small creature fluttered away.

She now headed to the big battery, and struggling to throw it in the air, she simply held it up to the sky as high as she could.

"M-miraculous... ladybug!" She grunted as the weight of the battery pressed on her.

In a flurry of ladybugs, all the damage was fixed, and Ladybug smiled as she watched everything cleansed up back to normal.

Lady Pastrier groaned, and in the last twist of magic, she too was also cleansed to her civilian self. She was a petite woman, with a white baking apron.

"Are you all right, madame?" Ladybug knelt to the poor lady who didn't know where in the world she was and how she got there.

"I-I think so..." She stammered, nodding her head. "The last thing I remember is Audrey Bourgeois shouting at me... and everything went black."

Ladybug sighed. "Madame, don't worry about whatever Audrey Bourgeois says to you. She just simply wants to find fault in anything, you see."

The lady smiled. "Thank you, Ladybug. You saved the day once more."

Ladybug smiled.

'Beep. Beep. Beep.'

"Oh, I've got to go! Have a nice day, Madame!"

Ladybug ran across the pavement to the brick ledge.

"Chat? You still there?" She asked.

"Yeah!"

"Don't look at me! I'm going to detransform -"

With a flash of pink, she was Marinette again.

"You - you didn't see me, right?" she asked hesitantly.

"No, I'm on the other side, so we're safe, I think." Adrien's voice carried softly from behind the brick wall.

Marinette let out a breath of content. "Thank goodness."

A soft breeze blew across Marinette's face. She sat down, her back to the wall.

"Was the day saved? Are you all right?" Adrien finally asked.

Marinette chuckled. "Yes, I am all right - but I am extremely tired."

Adrien smiled. "Me too."

Silence.

"Did - did you have to talk to me, you said?"

Marinette grimaced. "Yeah."

"You can tell me now."

Marinette raised her eyes to the blue sky. She had to tell him.

"Chat."

"Yes."

"I'm sorry."

Adrien sat up. "Why? You have no reason to."

Marinette shook her head. "No. I do." She sighed. "Hear me out, okay?"

"...okay, then."

"I... the boy I loved... he rejected me a few days back. I was devastated."

Adrien bit his lip. That's why she seemed a bit down the last few days.

"And, I had... a lot of time to think about my relationships. I was so angry at him, so... so much. But, one day, I thought of you, and I realized how unfair I was being to you, that I was much more harsh to you than he was to me."

Adrien's eyes widened. "No, that's not true -"

Marinette clenched her eyes shut. "No, Chat. It's true."

A tear rolled down her cheek. She swiped a them with her shirt.

"And yet... you still love this cruel, cruel me. I-I wanted to apologize and say that I'm sorry, Chat -"

She started to sob. Why was she sobbing?

"Hey, hey, hey... LB. Don't cry. I don't like you crying." Adrien's voice reassured her from the other side of the wall.

She cried harder. The tears wouldn't stop. Humiliation took over her. If anyone should be crying, it should be Chat, not her.

A hand appeared from the other side of the wall.

"Take my hand, Ladybug." Adrien's voice said firmly, and hesitantly, Marinette took it.

"Listen, Ladybug. You don't love me, but I don't blame you."

"I'm sorry..."

"It's nothing to be sorry about."

"But -"

"No. But, I love you, always did. I'm trying - trying to move on slowly - and it hurts sometimes, but I'm okay. You're always my partner, and I'm always yours. And like I told you, I'm grateful for it. Truly."

"T-thank you..." Marinette whispered.

"No need, Bugaboo. We may... we may never be a couple, but promise me this, Bug."

"Y-yeah?"

"Promise that you're my partner forever, alright? You may become someone else's love, but you're always going to be my lady. Okay? That's everything I need."

Marinette smiled wistfully. "No need to worry about that, Kitty."

Adrien let out a breath of relief. "Thank God. But let me say this for the last time."

"Okay."

"I love you, m'lady."

Marinette closed her eyes. She tightened her hold on Adrien's hand. She could feel his honesty at the bottom of her heart.

"Yes you do, Kitty."


Yay! I set the record! Longest chapter I've ever written!

Writing an akuma attack is hard. It really is. I have learned to appreciate the effort of the people that write the storyline for the real episodes. Especially getting everything wrapped up in 5 minutes after using the Lucky Charm or Cataclysm. Whew.

This chapter was quite fast paced, (apologies again,) but I tried my best and here we are. Forgive me.

Thank you for reading, following, and liking this story!

-estherjoy0525-