Hello to all my fellow Miraculers! I am back with a new chapter of my story Grim Weeper. I initially wasn't sure where this story might go, so I was reluctant to continue it. But thanks to my lovely reviewers - shout out to Agiani, ElizabethMidnight, LadyNoirEternal15, lttlecamel, blossomxo, Yolowritter, Kayla Banks and my guest reviewer, I love you all! Thanks so much for your encouragement - I've decided to continue. And while I've got a pretty good idea (now) of where this story's headed, I haven't gotten it all written out yet.

However, given that I usually post something for Valentine's Day, and since I didn't have a story this year, I thought I'd at least post this chapter instead. It's not particularly Valentine-sy, but I have included a reference to the actual Valentine's episode Dark Cupid.

So, Chapter 2! Hope you guys enjoy!

Later that night, however, Adrien was not smiling. He flopped back on his bed, muttering, "This sucks."

"Are you kidding me?" Plagg demanded, buzzing around his head. "You just found out Ladybug is in love with you! How are you still upset?"

"Because she loves Adrien," Adrien groaned. "Not Chat Noir. How can I tell her they're one and the same? We're not allowed to reveal our identities!"

Plagg rolled his eyes and muttered something. Adrien only caught the last two words: "…square continues."

The argument was paused by a knock on Adrien's door. The blonde boy quickly sat up while Plagg dove out of sight. Gabriel entered.

"Father," said Adrien formally, getting to his feet.

"Adrien. You know that school friend of yours? The talented young designer?"

"…Marinette?"

"Yes. Would you give her this?" Gabriel held out a sealed envelope with Miss Dupain-Cheng typed on it.

Adrien took the envelope. "Yes. Of course. Uh…what is it?" He was afraid his father would remind him it was not his business, but to his surprise, he didn't.

"I have decided to make her an…apprentice of sorts. If she wishes. She has talent, and it will be good for her to gain some experience if she is hoping to become a fashion designer."

Adrien was so surprised, he almost dropped the envelope. "She'll love that!"

A small smile played over Gabriel's lips, the first Adrien had seen in a long time. "I hope so. But some advice, son: generally women prefer to speak for themselves in these matters. Let her answer on her own."

"Of course," Adrien said quickly. "I'll make sure she gets it."

Gabriel nodded and left.

As soon as he had gone, Plagg reappeared. "Is it just me, or was that weird?" the cat said.

"Yeah," agreed Adrien, examining the envelope. "He could have just sent it to her house. He didn't have to go through me."

Plagg shrugged. "Eh. Your dad's wacky."

Adrien frowned at his kwami, but didn't disagree.

Marinette was feeling incredibly happy, depressed, and guilty all at the same time. Happy, because holy moly! Adrien liked her! He had kissed her! What she had seen with Kagami was a misunderstanding, and that knowledge had her floating.

However, he only liked Ladybug, not Marinette. And that really depressed her, because they might have actually been able to have a proper relationship if he had liked Marinette. She had too much on her plate to try and give Ladybug a relationship that would have to be kept secret from everyone else. Which brought her to her last feeling: guilt over Chat Noir.

Adrien had said Chat Noir had sent him because he was the only person who would've been able to approach her safely. Then he had left because he 'didn't want to see what happened next.' Did Chat Noir know Adrien was going to kiss her? Because if she had been in Chat Noir's place, she certainly wouldn't have wanted to watch that, either.

How was she going to face him now? He had once told her that it was okay that she loved someone else, but saying that and witnessing it were different, as she knew all too well. She had thought she was okay with Adrien loving Kagami, so much so she was even willing to help him out, but seeing them together had gotten her akumatised. She couldn't stand the thought of Chat Noir going through that kind of pain.

The result was that Tikki had done a lot of pep talking over the past sixteen hours, and Marinette was still distracted as she made her way up the school steps.

"Hey, Marinette!"

She turned, and stumbled. Of course, Adrien caught her before she could topple down the stairs again.

"I have something for you." He handed her an envelope with her name typed neatly on the front.

"Oh...uh...th-thank you."

Just then, Kagami went past, glaring at the pair of them before pointedly turning away.

"Oh...yeah." Adrien rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he watched her go. "Listen, I don't know if anyone saw what happened yesterday..."

Marinette's mind immediately went to their kiss – no, everyone around them had been passed out, hadn't they? – before realising he was talking about his and Kagami's kiss. "O-oh, y-y-yes, s-some p-people d-d-did," she stuttered.

He sighed. "Right. Well, if anyone comments or asks, can you just say it was a misunderstanding. I don't want any rumours going around or anything. I need to go talk to her."

Marinette nodded and allowed him to go past. Alya – now coming up the stairs – took his place.

"Hey, what was that about?"

Marinette turned to her best friend. "He wanted to give me this," she said, showing Alya the envelope, "and said what happened yesterday with Kagami was a misunderstanding."

Alya whooped and fist-bumped the air. "See, Mari? I told you it was nothing!"

Marinette couldn't help but give a tiny smile.

"So what does it say?" Alya nodded at the envelope she still hadn't opened.

Marinette quickly slit it open and pulled out the letter, letting Alya read over her shoulder. Both girls' mouths fell open.

"I don't believe it..." whispered Alya.

"Wha...?" gasped Marinette.

"I don't believe it!" Alya shrieked, grabbing her best friend in a hug. "OH MY GOD, MARINETTE! I DON'T BELIEVE IT!"

"Alya! You're choking me!"

Alya let go and danced around exuberantly, causing most of the courtyard to look over at her. Even Nino took off his headphones and came over.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"My best friend," Alya announced loudly to the crowd of school children, "my super-talented, amazing best friend Marinette has just been offered an internship with Gabriel Agreste himself!"

Everyone gasped and cheered. Marinette's face was redder than Ladybug.

"Way to go, Marinette!" Kim shouted.

"That's so cool!" squealed Rose.

"Awesome," muttered Jukela.

Only a few faces weren't pleased by the news. "Whatever," sneered Chloe. "He probably only did it as a favour for Adrien."

"I doubt it," Alya huffed, crossly her arms angrily. "Seeing as he hardly ever lets Adrien hang out with friends. But Marinette has impressed him with her designs before. I'd say he offered it on her own merit."

Chloe tossed her hair. "Well, why don't we just ask Adrien?"

"Fine by me."

Chloe turned away and hurried off to find him, shrieking "Adrikins!"

While Marinette was outside being congratulated by their classmates, Adrien was arguing with Kagami.

"Fine, you've made your point, Adrien," Kagami said sullenly. "It won't happen again. I noticed you hurried to assure Marinette it was a misunderstanding."

"What? That's not..." Adrien stuttered, caught off guard. "Marinette's just a friend!"

Kagami scoffed. "Whatever. Did anyone besides her even see it?" She stalked out of the locker room.

Adrien watched her go, irritated. Then he took in her words. Who would have seen what happened between him and Kagami? Marinette had confirmed that some people had seen, but he remembered most of the students hurrying away from school without a second look at where he and Kagami had been standing by the road. There hadn't been any passers-by around the school (that he saw). But Ladybug had seen it.

Ladybug would have to have been in close proximity to the school yesterday afternoon right after the last bell of the day rung.

"ADRIKINS!"

He was startled back to the present when a yellow, designer-perfume-wearing object jumped on his back.

"Adrikins, can you come settle an argument for us?" Chloé pouted.

"Yeah...sure, Chloé." He allowed the diva to drag him back out to the courtyard, mind still occupied with where Ladybug might have been.

Then, he froze. He saw dark blue-black hair tied back in two pigtails with red bands.

Ladybug!

When Chloé tugged him forwards again, he almost fell flat on his face. Only his Chat-like reflexes kept him upright. The vision vanished.

"Okay, so Dupain-Cheng here has got an internship with your father," Chloé sneered once she'd finally dropped his hand.

"Yeah, I know," said Adrien. "Well done, Marinette."

"See?" Chloé said triumphantly.

"Knowing about it doesn't prove anything!" Alya said indignantly.

Adrien glanced back and forth between the girls, then looked at Marinette. She was blushing furiously, embarrassed about all the attention his father's letter had attracted.

"Adrien?"

"Huh?" He jerked his head towards Alya, who was watching him.

"I said is Chloé right?"

"About what?"

"That you asked your father to give Dupain-Cheng this internship," said Chloé.

"What? No!" Adrien cried indignantly. "He just asked me to give her that letter. I don't know what made him do it, but it's not surprising; Marinette's a great designer."

Chloé looked furious and stormed away.

The bell rang.

Marinette, looking heartily relieved to be away, hurried towards the lockers, Adrien following along with everyone else.

That night, Adrien was up late working on his homework when he heard a soft tap on his window. Whirling around, he saw a black figure hanging upside down on a string outside like a human spider. Adrien was just about to yell for Plagg – or scream – when the figure swung upright and opened the window and he realised it was Ladybug.

Very thankful he had not cried out, Adrien tried to conceal the fact that she had just about given him a heart attack and put on a casual front. "Ladybug? What are you doing here?" He checked the time on his laptop; it was almost midnight.

She stepped hesitantly into the room. "Sorry for the surprise visit, Adrien. I didn't know if you'd be awake, but...I couldn't exactly come in daylight." Her face was in shadow, but her figure was hunched slightly and she sounded nervous like she was unsure she would be welcomed.

"It's fine," he hurried to say. "What is it?"

Ladybug shrugged. "It's just... I don't know. I thought we should talk about yesterday. Maybe. That is...I don't know."

Though he couldn't see her face, Adrien was certain she was blushing. That, and her cute rambling, made him smile. "Uh, sure. I-I guess so."

There was an awkward silence as both of them waited for the other to speak.

Adrien reached up to rub the back of his neck. "Umm, so...yeah."

Ladybug let out a weak chuckle.

"So," Adrien tried again. "It...it occurred to me that if you got akumatised because you saw me and Kagami together, you would have had to be nearby at the time."

Even in the darkness, he saw her freeze, and he hurried on.

"But! I...I don't know who you are. And I don't expect you to tell me. I know you need to keep your identity secret. But it did make me wonder: do we know each other already?"

Ladybug broke out of her statue impersonation with a rather violent, "No! I m-mean; I've never met you as a civilian! I'm quite sure I would remember that!" She made a nervous sound that might have been a laugh.

"Oh. But your photo..."

"Well, it's not exactly difficult to get a picture of Adrien Agreste," she pointed out in a forced-jovial tone.

"Oh." He turned away, his heart sinking. He had thought she was different; thought she'd cared about more than just the model. But it was always the same. "I see."

"Adrien." One hand gripped his arm firmly, preventing his withdrawal, and her voice was suddenly the most confident and sincere so far in their conversation. "That's not what I meant."

He looked back at her.

"I don't just like Adrien the model." She had stepped forward to touch him, and he could now see the details on her face. Her blue eyes were watching him with so much concern it made his heart ache and sing at the same time. She seemed to be trying to form the words in her head, so he waited.

Ladybug was desperately trying to come up with the proper sequence of words. Now, more than ever, she needed to be able to say the right thing. Unfortunately, keeping her identity safe meant that she would have to lie. But only partly. The most important part was that Adrien understand how deeply she cared for him, and that was a hundred percent true.

"I've never met you as a civilian, but I've always been aware of you. And I always admired you. Once I got a look at the actual person behind the model, well..." She trailed off, blushing furiously, but she could see from Adrien's abashed nod that he understood.

"Everyone in Paris trusts me to keep them safe. It's terrifying. But I...I don't know anyone else who's shown such trust in me as you do. You jumped off a building!" The words were whispered and kind of shouted at the same time, and she gazed at him with a kind of incredulous wonder. "I have never been so scared as I was in that moment when I thought I wouldn't reach you in time." Even now, her eyes showed a bit of that fear. "The thought of losing you..." she murmured. "I don't think I could have survived that."

Adrien gently took her hands in his, rubbing them comfortingly. "I knew you would save me."

Ladybug shook her head miserably. "But I almost didn't. If Gorizilla hadn't let me go..." The thought seemed to overwhelm her, and she leaned forwards, resting on his chest so he could no longer see her face.

The model wrapped his arms around her, murmuring comforting words.

Eventually though, Ladybug managed to collect herself and pulled back once more. "My point is," she went on, "that you are so much more than just your name. You're good, and kind, and smart, and really good-looking, and sweet..."

Adrien quickly cut her off with another kiss, despite his own wide smile.

Ladybug froze but soon relaxed into the kiss.

After a minute, they broke apart, smiling tentatively at each other.

"I like you, Adrien," Ladybug stated, more confidently now. "Just you."

"I like you too," the blonde murmured. "I mean...you, uh, Ladybug, not the saviour of Paris or—"

She pressed a finger to his mouth to shush him and giggled. "I got that. But thank you for saying it."

He grinned, feeling a little giddy with the pure joy rushing through his system. "Do you..." he started, but then trailed off as his nerve vanished. But he steeled himself with a shake of the head and started again. "Do you think I could see you again?" he asked tentatively.

Ladybug bit her lip. "Adrien...I do really, really want to see you again, but I don't think..."

"I get it," he said quickly. "You're a superhero. I'm sure you're busy enough without sneaking around with me, keeping that secret on top of all the other ones."

She looked a little relieved by his understanding, but still regretful, and simply nodded.

They stood there and stared at each other for a minute, not really sure what to say next. Adrien cast his eyes around his room for some inspiration. "Um..."

"I should probably go..." Ladybug started to say.

"Wait!" Adrien called, not wanting her to leave yet. "Uh...can I ask you something, before you go?"

She nodded.

The model crossed the room and retrieved something from a drawer before returning to her side. He showed it to her, flushing as he did so. "So...um...last Valentine's I received this card with this poem. There was no name on it and I didn't know who it was from and I wondered if it might be... uh...you?" He had scarlet by the time he'd managed to get the entire sentence out.

Thankfully, Ladybug didn't notice. She was staring at the pink, heart-shaped paper in Adrien's hand, shocked. It was her card. But, it'd been from Marinette, not Ladybug. Should she deny it was hers then? What if Alya were to find out Adrien had a Valentine's card from Ladybug and wanted to see it?

"It's just, I don't know who else wouldn't sign their name," Adrien prompted after she'd remained silent for a full minute. "And with you being akumatised because of...you know... So, did you write it?"

Ladybug looked up and met his eyes and realised she couldn't lie. She nodded dumbly.

Despite the ridiculous hope that had convinced Adrien that it must have been Ladybug who'd sent the card, her confirmation still shocked him so that it slipped from his grasp. He grabbed it back just as quickly. "You've...you've liked me that long?" he stammered.

The superhero was blushing now, too. Even so, she managed to breathe the word, "Longer."

Adrien stared at her for several seconds, then stepped forwards and kissed her once more. But he soon pulled away again, looking down at her with a tinge of desperation in his eyes. "Please...please, Ladybug, don't say we can't see each other. I... I don't just like you, I love you. Why don't we just... give it a chance? If it's not working, then..." He couldn't bear to finish the sentence, so he didn't bother. Besides, it would work. It had to work. If she rejected both his personas he might just go crazy.

Ladybug couldn't reply, too entranced by his gorgeous green eyes. The vulnerability in them had managed to reduce her to the consistency of soft butter. Without meaning to, she found herself nodding. "...Okay."

So, there you go! Ladrien Valentine's fluff XD

I hope you guys enjoyed, please review to let me know what you thought, or send me some encouragement so I can get the rest of the story out to you ;)

I'm hoping to write most/all of the rest of the story before I post again, so I'm not sure when it'll be out, but not to worry! This story is officially not abandoned!

Have a great Valentine's Day everybody, and stay safe.

Love OnlyHere4Puckabrina xoxo