Ladybug swung her way onto a rooftop and saw what they were up against. Shadowmoth's latest victim had been turned into a giant bipedal pink teddy bear with a cartoon heart on its stomach. The bear was zapping random pairs of people with its magic wand and forcing them to hug each other, all the while spouting some dramatic diatribe about how people should be kinder to each other.

"What are we up against, M'lady?", Cat Noir asked as he showed up next to his partner.

"Nine-to-one odds it's a disgruntled lover of some sort", the spotted heroine responded, "One thing's for sure, we have to make sure we don't get zapped by it."

"Should we call for backup?"

Ladybug shook her head. "Nah, it's not that serious. We can do this." She gave him a confident smirk, which he returned.

"Alright, bugaboo", the smug cat quipped, "Let's get a feel for how this fluffy gal operates." The heroes stood up and began leaping from rooftop to rooftop, towards their foe. The bear spotted them and fired its hug beam at them, which both heroes expertly dodged. "Work on your aim, fluffball!!!", Cat Noir shouted before pole-vaulting towards the villain. He was promptly backhanded, flying several hundred feet before crashihg through a plate glass window into an office building.

"Cat!!", Ladybug shouted, worried about her partner. She wrapped her yo-yo around the bear's hand and yanked it backwards so the bear punched herself in the face. The villain groaned in pain before flopping down onto her back. Once she was stunned, Ladybug swung down and snatched the wand out of the bear's hand, breaking it against a lamp post as she was goong past it. One quick akuma purification later, Ladybug handed the victim a magical charm and then swung off toward the building that Cat Noir had been knocked into. Luckily, he had already gotten back on his feet and was already on another rooftop.

"Nice work, M'lady. Didn't need me after all, did y-"

He was cut off by his patner unexpectedly throwing her arms around him and squeezing tightly.

"You stupid cat!! Don't ever rush in headlong like that again!! You could have gotten hurt!!!

Cat Noir wheezed as the air was squeezed out of him, his face turning purple. "B-bugaboo", he gasped, "M-my lungs..." Ladybug realized what she was doing and let him go. "S-sorry, Kitty... just don't do that, okay?" Cat Noir nodded as he leaned over and tried to catch his breath.

"I think you might wanna use your Lucky Charm... gotta fix this damage... and me", he joked. Ladybug rolled her eyes before using her power. It created a rose, and she immediately looked at her partner. She remembered the rose he has given him the day he tried to propery confess his love to her, only for her to reject him because she was in love with Adrien.

"M'lady?", Cat Noir pried, seeing that she was obviously taken aback.

"Kitty... I feel like I need to apologize." She walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I know how you feel about me... and I know your intentions are nothing but the best... and I feel like the way I've been treating you hasn't been right. You're my partner, and the best friend I could have ever asked for. You deserve the truth."

"Th-the truth?", he asked, blushing, "About what?"

"About the boy I'm in love with... just so you can have closure. Just promise me one thing."

"Anything, M'lady."

"Promise me you won't get jealous and hurt him."

Cat Noir raised his right hand and crossed his heart. "Cat's honor, Bugaboo, I won't lay a claw on him. But... maybe you should use your Lucky Charm first?"

The heroine nodded and threw the rose into the air, repairing all of the damage. Se quickly hid behind a chimney and detransformed so Tikki could get some energy back, transforming again and hopping back out go finish talking to her partner.

"Ready when you are, M'lady", Cat Noir said kindly as he leaned against his baton.

Ladybug sighed. "Okay... here goes... the boy I'm in love with is...

The silence in the air was so deafening Cat Noir almost covered his ears. And when Ladybug finally spoke again, his heart stopped.

"...Adrien Agreste."

Cat Noir was speechless. On the outside, anyway. On the inside, he was screaming and blowing a party blower and rambling incoherently.

"W-wow", he stuttered, "That bigshot teenage model? S-surely it's just because of his good looks, right?"

"No", Ladybug replied confidently, "It's so much more than that. He's kind, he's caring, he's funny, he's a good friend, it's like he's the perfect package."

"So why don't you tell him how you feel?"

"Partially because every time I try I make a fool of myself and partially because it's dangerous. If I have a boyfriend, Shadowmoth would only have to akumatize him in order to get to me... I just don't know what to do."

"I'm sure he would never rat you out, even if he was akumatized", Cat Noir said while trying to be reassuring.

"I appreciate the vote of confidence, Kitty, but these concerns are still valid."

"Oh, and as for the whole 'making a fool out of yourself thing', you remind me of someone else I know."

"Really? Who?", Ladybug asked curiously.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She once asked me to help her practice her confession to the guy she likes. It was the funniest thing ever."

Ladybug blushed. "Th-That's not nice. She probably put a lot of effort into that."

"She did, but she didn't really do it well until she stopped trying to force it and just decided to be herself. It was... extraordinary", Cat Noir sighed, "That Marinette is a nice girl. Whoever this guy is, he'll be lucky."

Ladybug's earrings beeped. "Uh oh. I gotta go, Kitty. We'll patrol tonight, okay? Usual spot?"

Cat Noir smiled and nodded. "Of course, M'Lady." The spotted heroine swung away, her partner watching her until she disappeared behind another building. He thought back to something he had said to Marinette.

"You're our everyday Ladybug."

"They really do have a lot in common", he mused.