"Princess.." He slowly started , moving his hand to the side of her face.

"Why would you reject me if you loved me?" This time it sounded like she was asking herself more than him.

And she slowly freed herself from his hold on her, Adrien immediately dreading the loss of her warmth. And she took more steps creating distance between them. He didn't want that, he needed her close.

"I..I can explain.." His heart was beating erratically. He just needed to explain it, he thought he loved Ladybug more, but then he realized his mistake. It wouldn't be hard. She would understand. She had to. It couldn't end between them. "I.."

She cut him off before he got the chance to speak, "You're doing all this just to spare my feelings. You don't really love me." Her voice was coated in despair and tears began to form in her eyes. "What‽ No!" He reached out to her immediately, closing the gap between them.

"Marinette, you're my whole world. I don't know what I would be without you. I love you so much."

Then she lifted her teary eyes to meet his, "So why did you then?"

"Why did you hurt me like that?" She could feel her chest squeeze as it all came back to her, "You hurt me. And then you came to my balcony..." She paused and let the tear trickle down her cheeks, "And you kissed me. Why- Why would you do that?"

Adrien could feel tears coming to his own eyes. He had to explain. She was thinking wrong. But what could he say? He was an idiot for ever hurting her like that and he was too selfish to rethink before kissing her that night.

"Marinette, I'm so sorry, I love you so-"

"Then why did you do that?" This time she pushed out of his hold creating much needed distance between them. He reached for her but she moved away again. "Answer me." She demanded.

"Princ-"

"Don't call me that." She interrupted immediately and Adrien sunk further into despair. It couldn't end between them. "Marinette, I swear I never meant to hurt you. I wanted to tell you I liked you back, but-"

She nodded in negation, "But you didn't. I saw the way your whole demeanor changed. You never wanted me. And then you came back again and made me fall in love with you all over again. You came to kiss me after rejecting me. Why would you mess with my feelings like that?" She cried and held on to her aching chest.

And Adrien felt his world crumble as tears escaped his eyes too. Marinette have every right to be upset. He'd been nothing more than a jerk. "I'm so sorry, Pr- Marinette." He attempted to move closer again but she moved further away.

"No, Adrien."

"Marinette, I really love you, I swear. That night, I was too happy to have you back and I couldn't think, you were so close to me and all I wanted to do was show you how much I loved yo-"

"Stop!" She suddenly wanted to scream. Her brain foggy with despair, and the ache in her chest worsening. "Just stop Adrien, my heart can't take anymore." She cried even harder.

"Ma-"

"You need to leave, Adrien." And before he could protest, she turned away, "And don't ever come back here again."

It couldn't end at all. He felt wrecked inside out. Watching her walk away was tearing his soul apart. She couldn't leave him, he couldn't live without her. "Please, Princess, let me explain." He held her hand but she pulled it out of his grip.

"No! I never want to see you again!" She turned to him and everything felt destroyed, her teary eyes cutting a knife deep into him.

"I love you, and I need you, Marinette. You're all I have left." His voice broke and and so did her heart for the millionth time. "You need to stop saying that."

"I can't. I mean it."

"So then why did you hurt me like that?" She snapped at him. "What you did was terrible. How could you do that?"

"I...I thought I loved Ladybug more." He suddenly stated leaving her confused, "What?"

So he spoke further, "I didn't tell you I like you back because I thought I loved Ladybug more but when you walked away, I realized how stupid I was. And I was just desperate to get you back."

He needed her to understand. But Marinette wasn't listening. At least not to the part he needed her to listen to.

"Ladybug..." She repeated. And now it was his turn to be confused, "What?"

She looked up to lock their gazes, "It's been her all along, hasn't it?" She whispered and his eyes widened. "What‽ No!"

"I had feelings for you both but I chose only you, I'm not in love with her anymore, you're the only one I want I swear. Ladybug never wanted me and I realized I was stupid for chasing her that way."

"So where does that leave me? As you second choice? You want me because you can't have Ladybug." She knew it was stupid. Entirely crazy of her to be jealous of her own alter ego. But she was.

Worse. Wrecked. Destroyed. Everything was getting miserable. The more he spoke, the worse it got. "No, no, no. Marinette I love you, it's just you, I swear. I can't even start to compare you with Ladybug. You're amazing, Princess, you're smart, beautiful, brave. I love it when you smile everything is just so perfect when you're around."

Every piece of her was melting, every ounce of her needed to be back in his hold. She needed him like she needed air. And maybe that was the problem. So she turned away. "You need to go, it's late Adrien." She wiped her tears and moved to open the trapdoor.

She couldn't leave. Everything in him was breaking and he wanted to go mad with the reality. He couldn't loss her.

"I love you, Marinette and I know you love me too. You told me nothing could change the way you feel about me. You promised."

She paused at his words then straightened up. She walked close to him and slowly removed the rose flower he'd put in her hair. Then she put it in his hands despite his resistance.

"Then I guess we're both just a bunch of liars." And in a breath, she was gone. Adrien was devastated. Marinette was gone. They were no longer together. She wanted nothing to do with him. And his world was over.

The next full week was a cycle. They both went to school looking miserable. Everyone asking questions. Marinette avoiding Adrien while he tried every means to talk to her and failed. Catnoir showing up at her balcony every night while she never answered him. He tried every possible thing but she never budged. He even stayed till midnight and sometimes slept off till it was the wee hours of the night before leaving. She also never slept. She knew he was there but she never said anything to him.

The cycle continued but Adrien knew he couldn't give up. He just had to get her back. He just had to be with her. How could he go on without her?

So it was night again and he was knocking on her trapdoor, apologizing endlessly. And as usual, she said nothing. Not even telling him to go away.

Marinette tried to ignore the ache in her chest whenever she heard his voice. She always did. After all he only ever lied to her. She could remember each and every one of his gesture and each time he did it, she could feel just how much he loved her. But no- she scolded herself, if he loved her, he wouldn't have.

It was always Ladybug. Ladybug was the better one. That was why he firsthand rejected her and when he realized he couldn't have Ladybug, she was second choice. That was what really happened. Nothing more to it.

"Marinette, we need to talk." The little Kwami hovered over her as she washed her swollen face in the sink.

"You're going to tell me to forgive Adrien." She said more as a statement, obviously not interested in the conversation. "No, Marinette, that's not it at all."

"So what is it?" She tilted her head to the side in confusion. "It's related to Adrien though." Her face fell. "I don't wanna talk about it."

"You love him and he loves you too. You don't-"

"No Tikki, Adrien's not in love with me, my feelings are just some kind of joke to him and the only thing he's ever done was lie to me. It's Ladybug he's always wanted anyway."

"But you're Ladybug."

"He doesn't know that." Marinette argued back and sighed. She definitely didn't want to have the conversation. "All he's ever done is lie to me." She repeated.

"How about you?" Tikki pitched in, "What is that supposed to mean?" The bluenette was confused. "How about you lying to him too?"

"What?"

"You also rejected him as Ladybug and the one time he kisses you as Marinette, you tell him you're in love with him."

She wanted to form a word. A word to prove her wrong. But she couldn't find any. She had never thought of her own side in it. But no- "It's not the same thing, I didn't go to kiss him after rejecting him. I actually fell in love with him. For real."

She thought back to that night, when she ran off, she felt empty and so hurt but then he kissed her. He kissed her and everything simply changed. She felt that spark that took away every ounce of the pain. And she was so sure she loved him.

"So why do you think Adrien didn't also fall in love with you?" Tikki interrupted her thoughts.

Deep down she knew, she knew Adrien loved her too. But she couldn't accept it. Why would he do all that if he loved her too. He shouldn't have hurt her like that. She looked away, "It's different."

And Tikki nodded, "You're right. It is different. He only rejected you once while you rejected him countless times. Or actually he didn't technically reject you since he didn't actually say anything. But he was hurt so badly that he started to move on till he was torn between the both sides of you."

And Marinette suddenly felt horrible as the realization came to her. She and Adrien were guilty of the same crime. In fact she was worse because in all of this, she never planned to tell him she was Ladybug. Because she was scared of this break-up.

"And there's an even bigger difference. I'm more than sure that Adrien would be ecstatic if he knew he fell in love with you twice. He wouldn't doubt you. He wouldn't care about your mistakes, he'd look passed all of them and hug you like you're the only thing he has left to hold on to."

So the tears she had been fighting back finally poured down her cheeks. "Because you are." Tikki added finally.

"Adrien made mistakes but only because he was in love with you. He always has been. Marinette or Ladybug. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that he loves you."

And Marinette crumbled to the ground letting her misery materialize as tears. Who could she kid? She needed Adrien like she needed her next breath. It was just easier for her to act like it was all his fault. Like he was the only liar.

While she was worse. She was worse and Adrien deserved better. Of course she knew he loves her, he'd shown her in a thousand ways, but not accepting it was better and now it hurt all over as she realized how much pain she must have caused him the whole week long. The cold nights he'd spent outside for her.

Lord, she was horrible. Terrible.

"Oh my gosh, Tikki. Adrien would never forgive me." She cried into her hands. "I told him I never wanted to see him again."

And now Tikki flew up to caress her cheek for comfort. "When has Catnoir ever listened?"

As if on cue, there was a knock on the trapdoor. They had stopped a while earlier and she must have assumed he was gone or asleep. She wiped her tears and looked to Tikki who gave her a reassuring nod.

So without wasting a breath, she hurried up to the trapdoor.

"Princess, are you still awake? If you are, I want you to know that I'm still here." She could tell from his voice that he was crying. It was obvious in his look everyday in school. "And I love you. If you can hear me, I'm sorry."

She hesitated as she was about to open the trapdoor but with a firm resolve, she made up her mind. She needed to set it right. No matter how stupid they'd both been. It was because of their love for each other. Yes, they loved each other.

And she wouldn't live another second without him.

She flung the trapdoor open unbeknownst of the cat who was right in front of him and hit him straight in the nose. She gasped realizing what she'd done.

But the cat she hit was barely on earth. He covered his throbbing nose with a hand and he just stared at her, surprised that she'd actually come out and just amazed at how she could still look beautiful with those red puffy eyes.

"Oh my God, Cat, I'm so sorry. Are you hurt? Anything broken?"

There was no response for the next few seconds making her confused as he just stared at her unmoving. "Adrien. Adrien! Are you okay?"

And slowly his lips moved and he barely got out, "Are you really here?" He whispered.

She slowly nodded and it felt like an eternity they just stared at the other. The rest of the world fading out as they just got lost in each other.

Then he finally moved, crawled closer to her and he slowly reached out and placed his hand on the side of her face. She didn't push him away. Was he dreaming or something?

"Am..am I...Am I imagining this?" She nodded in negation.

Obviously his imagination wouldn't tell him if he was imagining or not. So he dropped it and just kept caressing her cheeks. Imagine or not, this had to be the best he'd felt all week.

"Adrien, you need to come in, it's really cold out here." She spoke softly and he didn't dare to argue. She slid back into her bed and he followed suit.

Then they were both sitting awkwardly. No one daring to speak.

"I'm sorry." They both blurted out at the same time and turned to the other before blushing red and facing the opposite direction. Then awkward silence again.

That was until she spoke, "I'm really sorry, Adrien. I didn't mean anything I said to you, I do need you. More than you could ever imagine." She whispered softly and Catnoir could only gape at her surprised. She was apologizing? Nobody wake him up from this dream.

He quickly wrapped her hand in his and cupped her cheek with his other hand, "Why are you apologizing? I'm the one who hurt you."

"No, Adrien, I..I said such horrible things and I've been terrible to you. All you've ever done was out of love and I've just been bad and inconsiderate. And I also kept a lot from you. Like the fact that I'm L-" Then her mouth stopped before she could continue. "I'm La-" Why couldn't she just say it and get over with it? "I'm a really horrible person." She murmured and turned away as she let her tears pour down.

He wrapped her up in a hug. There wasn't any reason that they should talk anymore. Their words were even becoming a barrier to open communication and we're causing more problems. So he let his actions speak as he wrapped her up tightly in his embrace.

She gripped onto him harder, sinking into the only warmth she wanted to bask in for the rest of her life.

"I'm sorry." She muttered again and he withdrew.

He placed a finger on her lips, "Don't you dare." She was confused until he continued, "Don't you dare apologize. I love you so much, I just want to know if you still love me too."

She nodded, "With everything." She whispered softly and with that he leaned in. And with no second to spare, he kissed her intently.

They had been kiss deprived a whole week. And they so badly wanted to make it up that they left no intervals to breathe. She threaded her fingers in his hair and changed angles to deepen the kiss.

Those lips she had missed for a whole week. She just needed more and more and they were heavily breathing when they finally pulled apart.

Her flushed cheeks and unsteady breathing reminded him of that night. That night started it all. Things had been great until she found his identity a week before. And now things would be great again. No, they'd be better than great.

"One more time?"

"Definitely." She pressed her lips to his in no time and it still surprised her, the rushes of waves that travel up her spine whenever she felt his lips.

And they spent most of their night making out. Whether it was on her bed, down the stairs, the chairs, the chaise. But in their defense, one week was seriously a lot to make up for.

But now they were cuddled on her bed, her back pressed up against his front and his hand on her waist.

"Alya is going to freak tomorrow." She murmured leaning back into him. "Seriously I can picture everyone's reaction but Alya's would probably be the loudest. I mean I can already hear her screaming."

He chuckled, letting out soft breaths in the crook of her neck. "You sure it's not Chloe?"

"No, it's definitely Alya. Lila can't even compare." They both shared a laugh and he traced tiny circles on her waist. "She'll probably only threaten me to stay away from you." She continued absentmindedly.

"She wouldn't even if she wanted to. I've long told her to stay away from you and stop hurting you."

"Really? When was that?"

"Back when she almost got you expelled."

A slight gasp escaped her lips, "Were...Were you the reason she lied to get me back in school."

"Yeah.." He mumbled into her neck and a huge smile appeared on her face. He still looked out for her even when he wasn't romantically invested. "Back then I didn't understand how much you meant to me. I'm so glad I do now. You're so amazing. I love you so much."

"I love you too." She whispered back and placed her hand on his on her waist. "I can feel your heartbeat." She murmured again.

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's beating so fast." She mumbled sleepily, the exhaustion of the week starting to take effect.

"It's beating for you."