MiraculElse #18: One Little Favor
by DFC
(Timeline: Post-Season 3)
It was a dark and stormy night. A cliche as old as time, it's true, but if you asked anyone who was looking out a window that evening, that's what they would've reported. Dark; most definitely. Stormy; check.
Adrien Agreste was not looking out his window; he was flat on his back, lying in his bed in his pajamas, staring at nothing in particular.
Well, tonight REALLY didn't go as planned, he groused to himself. That villain knocked me six ways from Sunday, and made me look like a damned fool. He punted Ladybug around, too; she can take a punch with the best of them, but she shouldn't HAVE TO. That goes on my ledger, too.
Not to mention... that fight got way too close to Marinette's house, AGAIN! I don't understand how, or why... but these Akumas seem to just LOVE getting Marinette involved in their business.
He clenched his fists in helpless agony.
Ladybug can defend herself. Marinette is the most clever person that I know... but she can't. Not against something like that! he anguished. She's more than smart enough to be a big help in figuring them out sometimes, and she's brave enough not to just turn and run... and that's going to get her in so much trouble someday.
If something happened to her... something bad... I... I don't know what I would do.
Plagg's advice had danced along the line between flippant and cryptic, as usual; Adrien's jangled mind couldn't figure out what he had been getting at.
"Don't worry about Marinette," he'd said. "That girl could dance through a hail of bullets. Keep yourself in one piece and your eye on the ball next time."
I mean... thought Adrien, he wasn't entirely wrong. This time, Marinette knew enough to stay undercover... but I had one eye on her house and the other on the villain for half the fight, expecting her to at least get close enough to watch and yell advice... and that got me rocked more than once. And Ladybug took at least one hit trying to get ME focused on the villain.
But those sonic blasts of his could've blown the house apart. They could've blown... M-MARINETTE apart, or her parents, or the whole neighborhood!
Does Plagg not understand, even after all this time? Just how... important she is to me? How essential she is to my world now?
I don't know what to do.
A thunderclap boomed; it was close enough to rattle the windows slightly, including the one that he always left open a crack... just in case.
That seemed awfully loud... did the wind blow that window open? wondered Adrien. Maybe I'd better close it; if the wind blows the rain inside, it could make a mess.
As Adrien padded across his bedroom floor, a lightning bolt illuminated his surroundings somewhat... and Adrien gasped, recoiling in shock. There was a small, dark silhouette perched just inside the window, facing him, standing its ground!
"Hello, Adrien," said a familiar voice. "Don't be afraid. It's only me."
"L-L-L-LADYBUG?"
Adrien's legs went weak, as his higher brain functions began screaming at each other.
LADYBUG IS IN MY ROOM!
What's WRONG? What happened?
The window thing finally worked!
LADYBUG IS IN MY ROOM!
...Is this a booty call?
No. She wouldn't be here unless it was something amazingly important -
She came here during a thunderstorm?!
It's a booty call -
IT IS NOT A BOOTY CALL. LADYBUG DOES NOT DO BOOTY CALLS.
She does look happy to see me.
She's FIGURED OUT MY IDENTITY -
No. Look at her. LOOK AT HER. She looks pretty calm.
She's carrying something. What is it?
LADYBUG IS IN YOUR ROOM! SAY SOMETHING COHERENT, DUMMY!
"It's, um... a bad night out," Adrien stammered, kicking himself as the words came out. "But, well, you'd know that, wouldn't you? You're soaking wet! I... wasn't expecting a visitor. I mean, not that I've ever expected you like this! That would be... um... I've hoped? Hoped... that you'd stop by sometime and say hi! Yeah. Um..."
Ladybug's smile was obvious, even in the dim light.
"Adrien... I'm not going to bite," she replied, "And you can relax, okay? Nobody's chasing me, there's no Akuma, and you're not in any danger. Nothing like that."
"Okay... Can I at least get you, um, a towel or something?"
She giggled... an oddly familiar sound to Adrien's ears. "I wouldn't complain about that," Ladybug said. "It is raining pretty hard out there."
As Adrien dashed to the closet by his bathroom, his brain began to reengage. "It is, isn't it?" he ventured. "Which makes it a little strange that you'd choose tonight to come and see me. I mean... you're welcome any time..."
"I... would like to come and visit, some other time," offered Ladybug, accepting his offered towel after sitting something down at her feet. "Wow... thank you so much," she mumbled as she dried herself off. "My hair is soaked! I must look like quite a mess."
"Not a single complaint here," breathed Adrien.
Ladybug looked up at him, handed him the damp towel... and looked nervous for a moment. "Th-thank you," she managed. "That's sweet of you to say. And I, uh... I would like to come and spend time on WITH YOU! To spend time with you sometime. Here or, well, wherever. But... oh, geez."
"Ladybug... are you all right?" Adrien wondered, his eyes widening. "I... don't get what's going on here, but you wouldn't be here tonight if it wasn't for something important. Right?"
"R-right!"
Ladybug took a moment to compose herself... and just like that, she was her confident, poised self again. "Unfortunately, this isn't really a social call."
"Okay. So..."
Adrien strode over to the wall and flicked a switch, turning on the room lights. "There are a couple of chairs over there," he gestured. "Why don't we sit down, and you can tell me what this is really all about?"
The two of them moved over by Adrien's television.
"Anywhere you like," Adrien offered. He smiled when Ladybug plopped herself down on his sofa, and pulled a chair over to face her.
"It has been quite a night," she sighed. "It feels good to get off of my feet."
"What happened? Are you okay?"
"Oh... the usual, mostly," Ladybug shrugged. "A villain with sound powers. My ears are still ringing. Chat and I had a heck of a time shutting him down."
"You won, at least. As always," Adrien smiled.
"We did... but it was far too close. And people, uh... that I'm close to... and something very important were endangered. I can't have that happen again."
"Can you explain?"
Ladybug took a deep breath.
"Okay. I know that you know what a Miraculous is... What you wouldn't know is that there are many of them, and that the Guardian of the Miraculous keeps them all together in a special container. The Miracle Box, we call it," she began. "Remember the day that Party Crasher... um... crashed your party here? The Guardian and the Box were here that day. That's how so many heroes got their temporary Miraculous so quickly."
"That... makes sense, I guess," Adrien gulped. "You're... not here to give me a Miraculous, are you?"
"Not... the way that I think you're thinking," noted Ladybug. "Though I do think that you'd be a natural at it... with the right one. But let me explain this a little better."
Adrien feigned wide-eyed ignorance as Ladybug described how she'd become the new Guardian and received the box.
"Surely, in your hands... the Box couldn't be anywhere safer in the world," Adrien declared.
"I appreciate the vote of confidence," Ladybug smiled, sadly. "But I really don't think that that's true."
Adrien gestured for her to continue, not comprehending what Ladybug meant.
"Adrien, I have a big problem," she confessed. "Right now, I'm both Ladybug and the Guardian of the Miraculous. I've been coming to realize... that it's a really bad idea for me to be both of those things."
"Why is that?"
"Because... well... I'm out on the front lines fighting and in control of strategy and planning," Ladybug began explaining. "What happens if something happens to me? If I got taken out in the past... someone could've gotten the Miraculous back to the Guardian, and he could've found a new Ladybug, right? Or, let's say, I get wiped out by a villain, but one other Miraculous's powers are just what we need to save the day. Well, if I'm also the Guardian, and I've hidden the Miracle Box... no one would know where it was, or how to find it, or how to get access to that Miraculous. Much less how to choose the right one for the job."
"That... makes some sense," Adrien conceded. "The generals aren't out there fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with the infantry."
"Not the smart generals, no," agreed Ladybug. "And it's too much to have all in one place. If my identity gets compromised... someone could go to my house and not just try to take my Miraculous, but almost all of the Miraculous at once! All of our eggs are in one basket, and that's dangerous."
"Ouch."
"Yeah," she sighed. "And then there's Chat."
"Ch-Chat Noir?" Adrien stammered, caught off-guard.
"He and I are really not supposed to know each other's identities," Ladybug continued. "Because ours are the most powerful, and definitely the most dangerous if anyone got their hands on both of them. My... mentor always stressed that if we knew who each other really were and then one of us got brainwashed or something... then Hawkmoth would know how to target both of us, and that would be terrible."
"So... you don't know his identity, then," said Adrien, trying not to sweat.
"I have no idea," Ladybug admitted. "But if I'm the Guardian, and I'm the only person who knows where the Miraculous are kept... I kind of have to! Otherwise, if something happens to Chat... no one would have any idea where to start looking for him, or his Miraculous, or both. That doesn't leave me with a lot of options."
"You... could... I'm just saying... think about... trusting Chat Noir all the way," Adrien offered, his heart pounding like a jackhammer. "Despite the danger. I mean, I know that you trust him. Of course you do! But... the two of you, against the world...!"
"It is a nice thought. And, I'll admit, I have considered that. He's a great partner... and more than that," she sighed. "But the risk is just too great. So... I have three options left. I could stop becoming Ladybug..."
"No!" Adrien hissed, a little too loudly.
"Hey! Do you want your father running in here?" Ladybug shushed him. "I don't want to do that. Or, I could stop being the Guardian... but I have no idea who else knows enough about the Miraculous to be that! Or... I could stash the Miracle Box in a safe location, with someone that I trust completely. They wouldn't be the new Guardian... but they would still have a very important role."
She looked straight into Adrien's eyes, and he felt utterly helpless.
"Which is why I'm here tonight."
"You... want me... to guard the Miracle Box?"
"Not to, like... stand on guard 24/7, or anything like that," protested Ladybug. "More like... hide it away in a safe place, until it's needed. Be around for me to call upon and dig it out, if I need an extra ally. And in a dire emergency... to be the go-to person for whoever's left standing."
She gestured around the room. "I was debating who might be a good choice... and you jumped right to the top tier. You're brave, you're smart, you're trustworthy. You know that I trust you, Adrien," she cooed. "This place has security systems and safes and things like that, doesn't it? And even if it doesn't go into one of those... I don't know if you have your own safe in here... there must be someplace here that it could get tucked behind or under or above, I would think. A place where it wouldn't get found by accident in a million years."
Reaching down, she picked a roundish object off the floor next to her. "This is it. The Box itself," she declared. "So you can see that it's not that big. It shouldn't be that hard to find a place for it, don't you think?"
"You're... not worried that I'd take the Miraculous out of it and play with them?" ventured Adrien, playing with fire.
"I trust you more than that, Adrien," she replied, her eyes lecturing him with I know better. "Besides... it has a lock. Only I know how to open it."
"Yeah, but..." Adrien argued. "Okay, so something happens to you. How would anyone know to come here? And if they did know, how would they get into the box once I gave it to them?"
Ladybug frowned, slightly. "Um... okay, I haven't thought this through completely yet," she admitted. "I'm thinking that I could give Chat Noir a hint that if things go completely sideways, to find you... and the combination."
"And if you both get taken out?"
"Then we'd have bigger problems than that already," said Ladybug, looking troubled. "I'll need to think some more about this. But I'll be honest... I didn't know who the Guardian was for a long while, so that really wouldn't be that much different of a situation. But at least I would know that the Box was safe and in good hands; that's the main part of my idea."
"Maybe... but it's still kind of risky. Let's say that you need a Miraculous, and you come here. What if someone follows you?" asked Adrien. "Just to play devil's advocate. Wouldn't that endanger me and the box?"
"It could," Ladybug conceded. "I'm not going to lie to you and say that I'm not a little worried about that. Maybe you should have the combination... so if someone comes here, you can defend yourself with whichever one's best suited for it."
"Hold on, hold on," Adrien yelped. "I haven't said 'yes' yet."
Ladybug stared back at him, her eyes both persuasive and a little bit confused.
"You haven't... or you won't?" she asked him.
Don't point those adorable eyes at me, Ladybug, Adrien bristled. You could talk me into ANYTHING with that look on your face. But...
...You're offering the secrets of the Miraculous to your partner, and you don't know that. If you wanted Chat Noir to keep the Box, you'd have asked him directly. I can't let you do this blindly.
"I'm not sure yet. I have to think about this, too," he countered, buying himself some time. "I can't just lock my bedroom door and know that no one else will come in here. Cleaning staff go through here sometimes whether I've asked them to or not. If I'm being untidy, Nathalie or someone will tell them to come and clean things up for me. I don't know that none of them will ever find it."
"How often does that happen?" wondered Ladybug.
"I'd... rather not say," an embarrassed Adrien admitted. "I am a teenage boy. I don't know if they'd know what they'd found if they did stumble over it, but... can we take that chance?"
"It's a concern," Ladybug agreed. "Maybe I'd have to come visit and do your chores for you once in a while."
A vision of Ladybug in a French maid's outfit flashed before Adrien's eyes for a moment, until the rest of his brain kicked it aside.
"Where are you keeping it now, if I may ask?" Adrien pondered. "I mean, if you can't tell me, don't! I'm just curious... is it at your house?"
"Nnnnnnnnnooo," a nervous Ladybug replied. "No, I don't keep it at my house. That would be silly, right? I, um... had stashed it... with someone else that I trust. Just for a little while."
Adrien considered that... until the light bulb over his head came on.
"Oh, no," he gasped.
"...What?"
"You gave it to Marinette?!"
Ladybug's jaw dropped.
"How... uh... what would make you say that?"
Adrien jumped to his feet, energy swirling through mind and body, as he put some mental pieces together. "It makes perfect sense!" he rambled. "She might be the most trustworthy person in Paris... and I know that you know her... you gave her a Miraculous once, right?"
"...How do you know about that?" wondered Ladybug.
"And oh my GOD! She was Multimouse, and Multimouse used a bunch of other Miraculous that day!" Adrien declared. "So she must've had the Miracle Box that day, to have access to all those other ones! It all fits together!"
"Adrien..."
"The Akumas..." gasped Adrien. "I thought that Marinette was, well, pursuing some of them to try to help you and Chat... she certainly seemed to be around for an awful lot of them... but what if they were pursuing her because they sensed that she had the Miracle Box-"
"ADRIEN!"
Ladybug pitched her voice just loud enough to break Adrien out of his spiral without bringing people running.
"You... are, um... right about part of that. Marinette was my choice to be Multimouse that day," she evaded. "And... I can't confirm or deny or even deal right now with the idea that I gave her the Miracle Box. The... one that I'm trying to give to you right now. I mean, how crazy would that be? Buuuuuut... there's something else that I have to ask you. Right this second."
"G-go ahead."
"When Marinette revealed herself and gave me back that Miraculous... there was only one other person there. And it wasn't you," asked Ladybug, suspiciously. "How did you know that she was Multimouse?"
Adrien realized his peril quickly.
Oh... I did it now, he thought. Did I just blow my own identity?
I could say that Marinette told me...
...No. If Ladybug knows Marinette that well, she'd also know that Marinette would never tell a secret like that to anyone. I can't let her catch me lying... but I have to say SOMETHING!
Hmmm...
"Ah... well, I wasn't going to tell you this... but I suppose that I need to now," Adrien stammered, stalling for time.
"Yes, I think you do," intoned Ladybug. "What is 'this?'"
"Chat Noir mentioned it to me."
Ladybug's jaw dropped again. Adrien thought about offering her a pillow or something to help her keep it propped up, but he didn't have time to act on the idea.
"Did he now...?" she asked, acidly.
Better to get my other side in some trouble than to give away the whole game, Adrien reasoned.
"Well, he didn't so much tell me, as much as I figured it out from something that he said," he ventured. "He was talking about Marinette, how he goes and visits her sometimes like he visits me... actually, he said that he spends a lot more time with her than with anyone else, and that she's one of his favorite people... and I suggested that she ought to get a Miraculous, that she'd be a perfect choice for one! And he said, 'Oh, she was! She was amazing.' I think he knew that he'd messed up, because he tried to change the subject right after."
"...He said that?" Ladybug repeated, a bit more thoughtfully.
"Uh-huh. So I pieced together what I knew about the Miraculous heroes, and, well... Multimouse was the only one who fit. Marinette definitely wasn't Rena Rouge. We all know who Queen Bee was. Ryuko didn't seem to fit, and I kind of have an idea of who she was, anyway... but Multimouse looked just like her. Really cute with her hair up in little buns like that, too."
"Please tell me that you've never told anyone else," Ladybug pleaded. She seemed slightly distracted to Adrien's eye, as if she was making a mental note of something at the same time. "This is really important. If you have, I need to know now-"
"No one. Not a soul," swore Adrien. "I haven't even told Marinette that I know. I just can't!"
"...Adrien? This is going to sound like a strange question. But as far as Marinette goes... why haven't you?"
Ladybug gestured for him to sit down by her on the couch, which he did.
"I, um... I'm glad that you haven't told anyone else. But you know something this important about Marinette... and you haven't told her that you know?" she asked, looking rattled. "Can you tell me why not?"
Adrien's expression became very serious... and his voice sounded as sincere as she'd ever heard it.
"Marinette... is an amazing person. There are so many things about her that inspire me," he said, "...that make me want to be more like her. She works so hard to brighten the lives of everyone around her... whether they appreciate her or not. And I would truly like to be closer to her... for her to be a much bigger part of my life. But..."
"...B-but?" stammered Ladybug.
"...We've been making progress with that. I know we have! But there's something about me that just... makes her uneasy and nervous sometimes. I've never figured out what it is, what I'm doing wrong," sighed Adrien. "And that really bothers me. It's two steps forward, one step back, but whenever we take that step back... it stings so much. I hate the idea that I'm causing her pain, even if I don't know how or why I am. So every time that I sense that she's setting a boundary, that she's begging for space between us, even if it's with her eyes and not her voice... I give her that space. I pull back."
"...Oh."
"So... yeah, I know something really important about Marinette. It's something that I don't think that she wants anyone else to know... so I can't imagine that knowing that I know wouldn't bother her," Adrien concluded. "Maybe she'll tell me someday... but it'll be because she wants to, not because I'm pushing her."
He looked at Ladybug, who seemed to be holding back emotions through force of will alone.
"It's funny," said Adrien. "She reminds me of you in some ways. She can be the strongest, bravest, most passionate person I've ever met, and she takes my breath away when she's like that. If there's an injustice, and she's around... look out!" he grinned. "But then she has this vulnerable side, this very gentle side, something that I don't think that she likes people to know about... and it's not a bad thing, you know? It's just... so different. Like the finest crystal; so beautiful, but also so fragile. And I just... every time, I want to be there to catch her as she's falling, to protect her, to make everything better for her."
His face lowered as he added, "Which would be easier if I wasn't the cause sometimes. Somehow. I so wish that I knew why."
When he looked up, Ladybug's hands were covering her face.
"...Ladybug?" he asked, wonder in his voice. "Are you all right?"
In a strained voice, muffled slightly by her hands, he heard her reply, "I will be. Give me a second." In a low voice, as if talking to herself, Adrien heard her add, "You wouldn't be telling me... you wouldn't be saying that to me if you didn't mean it. I know you wouldn't."
He watched her breathing rise and fall, slowly returning to normal.
Something touched a nerve, he realized. I almost never see Ladybug get emotional like this.
"Hey," he whispered, as she lowered her hands to her lap. Even through the mask, he could see that Ladybug's eyes were watering up. "What is it? What did I do?"
"You said something," Ladybug answered, "t-that was so beautiful. I can't believe that I heard it. And I'm... I don't think that I'm the one who needs to hear it from you."
"What do you mean?"
"You know exactly what I mean," declared Ladybug, a catch in her voice.
"Well... I need to be careful with that," Adrien countered. "Like I said... the last thing that I want to do is to push her too hard, to make her uncomfortable. I'm kind of good at that! I, uh... am sort of dating someone right now, or at least beginning to, and she knows that, so I don't think that she'd think that I was putting a move on her... but..."
"Can I say something?"
"Of course."
"I, er... know Marinette pretty well," Ladybug managed to blurt out. "And, yes, she can be emotional sometimes. Sometimes... what she wants to do or say gets all jumbled up and comes out wrong. But it's not always because she feels bad."
"You don't think so?" wondered Adrien. "I mean... I'm no expert... but I've seen her pretty shaken up because of me."
"It's... look. Girls are complicated. I would know," she replied, managing a small smile. "But I think that Marinette would love to know that you think so much of her, that you want to be closer to her. She's... I don't think that she'd assume that you were falling in love with her. I think that we both know better than that."
Adrien nodded, but with a faraway expression, as if wondering whether he did know that for sure.
"But if you tell her what you told me to her face, someday... when you're alone with her, and the moment is right, and it feels right to you to say it... I don't think that she'd melt down. But I do know that she'd melt."
"You're not going to tell her yourself... right?" asked Adrien, wide-eyed.
"No... I'm not," sighed Ladybug. "Hearing that from you... that could change so much between the two of you. Maybe... don't drop the whole bomb on her at once, while you're still seeing Kagami? But even part of that... that you have those kinds of feelings about her, that you think that much of her... that's for you to say to her. Not me."
"I think you're right."
Ladybug gazed at Adrien with a new look on her face... and, all of a sudden, Adrien's pulse was racing.
"I think that I've changed my mind, Adrien," she told him, very softly.
"You have?"
"I have. I don't want you to guard the Miracle Box for me," said Ladybug. "Because you are more precious than anything inside it. I can't take even the slightest chance of putting you in danger."
"...If you're... sure?" breathed Adrien, mesmerized. "I... would do anything for you, Ladybug."
"And I would do anything to protect you," she smiled. "Though I think that we both figured that out, the day that you jumped off the tower."
"I'd do it again," Adrien smiled back. "Because I know that you'd catch me."
"Please don't," giggled Ladybug.
Without consciously willing it, both teens found themselves leaning inward, very slowly...
Adrien closed his eyes, parting his lips slightly...
...and stopped himself.
"No," he half-whispered, opening his eyes and halting his movement. "Not like this. I couldn't do that to Kagami."
"That's good to hear," she replied. "But I can do this."
A masked face leaned forward further still, a head tilted and moved slightly to the side... and soft lips brushed Adrien's cheek.
Adrien's eyes went huge, from delight and shock intermingled. His face, where Ladybug made contact, felt electrified; even after she leaned back, the tingling sensation continued.
"You're right. I really didn't mean for that to be a test for you... but you passed it," Ladybug beamed. "You and Kagami are still figuring things out. It wouldn't be the right time for someone else to make those things... complicated."
He nodded, helplessly.
"But being in love and loving someone are different things. That's something that took me a long time to figure out," she smiled, softly. "And I hope that makes sense to you, too."
With that, Ladybug stood up, taking the Miracle Box under one arm. "Okay," she managed, "before I lose what's left of my willpower. I'm going to head out, okay?"
"You are? I mean... of course you are," Adrien blurted out. "I can't... I mean... I could sleep on the floor, or something, if the storm is too bad..."
"And my parents would freak out if I wasn't in my room in the morning," laughed Ladybug. "But thank you for the gallant offer."
"...Wait!" called Adrien, as she approached the window. "Where... where are you leaving the Box for now?"
"If I told you, that could put you in danger. Didn't I just explain that?" Ladybug grinned. "But trust me, okay? I will make sure that Marinette and her parents aren't in danger, either."
"Good," he breathed, walking towards her. "Will you come back some time? Maybe when it's a little less stormy?"
"Adrien... as long as you leave this window open... keep an eye on it," she smiled, softly. "Because you'll never know when I'll swing through it. Even just to visit."
She blew him a kiss... took a mighty leap... and was gone in an instant.
Adrien walked to the window... looked out to the rooftops, hoping to catch a glimpse of a red-and-black miracle, but not seeing her... and walked back to his bed, feeling thunderstruck.
That girl... astounds me, he marveled. I've always known that she's brilliant... but she cracked the code just now. How have I never thought of it this way before?
I love Ladybug. I've never doubted that for an instant.
I... love Marinette.
I can say it. I know that it's true. I don't want a life without either of them in it.
...But am I IN LOVE with either of them?
He sat down with a thump, staring aimlessly into space, doing romantic calculus in his mind.
I was always sure that I was in love with Ladybug. I never doubted that, either. But do I even know what that means?
Am I truly in love with Kagami?
Or with Marinette? Or with Ladybug?
Or with anyone yet?
Adrien reached up and touched his cheek, where Ladybug had kissed him. It still felt warm and tingly to his fingers.
This is weird, he thought. Ladybug just kissed me for the very first time... as MYSELF... and kind of hinted that she loves ME, too. And I can't believe that I'm not bouncing off the walls, more in love with her than ever before!
But all I can picture in my head right now...
...is that kiss that Marinette gave me at our Heroes' Day picnic.
The same location. The same intention... I think? And the same electric tingle running through me when it happened.
He smiled, warmly. That might've been the first time that a girl had ever kissed me... and truly meant it, he thought.
Kagami isn't a bad kisser at all... I have no complaints in that department... but it's not quite like... THAT.
Or like this one was tonight.
That has to be a coincidence... right?
Adrien shook his head... trying to get his trains of thought to line up again, and to refocus on his epiphany of the moment.
Ladybug is one-of-a-kind, he mused. Only she could escalate things between us AND take the pressure off in the same moment. How does she know me so well? It's uncanny.
He smiled, thinking back on the conversation. But... I think that she's right about a lot of things, he considered. As far as how I feel about HER... I may be figuring that out for the rest of my life. Every time I think that I've got Ladybug figured out.. she surprises me again.
But tonight showed me that I don't need to rush things with her. If it's ever going to happen with Ladybug... it'll be on her terms, and knowing her, it'd be happening before I'd have any idea what hit me, he grinned. So maybe I can put THAT dream to bed for a little while!
And that opens another door for me. I'd been hesitating so much with Kagami because I kept thinking of it as all-or-nothing... that we'd either be in love or we'd be just good friends.
Have I been going about it wrong all along? Can I just... go with the flow with Kagami, see how it develops, and not feel like I'm making a mistake if I commit to it for now?
That... could be a very good thing, he admitted.
And as for Marinette...
Adrien closed his eyes.
I think that I do need to be careful with her. If I drop "I love you" on her out of the blue, I don't know how she would react to that.
Big blue eyes gazed up at his, filling his mind's eye... and they weren't Ladybug's this time. Good memories and bad came back to him... a shy smile, a nervous flinch, compassion, gratitude, fear and joy.
But... it's true. And she does need to know it. As much of it as I can say for now.
He came to a decision. "Plagg?" he called out. "I need to run something by you."
"Let me guess," came a voice from the shadows, now floating towards him. "Ladybug kissed you, so now you're gonna write another set of love letters, and you want me to go thumbs-up or thumbs-down."
"Kind of," Adrien smiled, catching Plagg by surprise. "But not for her."