She couldn't help asking. He had seemed so broken earlier. And although the hugs and hot chocolate and the shower had seemed to help, she kept worrying.

He hadn't really looked at her since he came back, but maybe that was for the better since he looked entirely too tempting for her own good.

Drying and playing with his hair was equal parts her desire to touch him, her guess that he needed touch for comfort, and the advantage that if he sat in front of her then he couldn't see just how he was affecting her.

After a pause, he finally answered.

"I feel… better. Thank you Macaron, you've been so kind and I don't know what I did to deserve it."

"You deserve the world, Adrien." She said, almost too softly. She felt her cheeks heating up and although usually she would make some sort of dig or call him some ridiculous nickname to lighten the mood, she just couldn't bring herself to do it this time.

"I feel like that's what you've given me, mon ange."

Her hands stilled for a fraction of a second. She forgot to breathe, and she felt like she was on fire, but she forced her hands to continue moving and her voice to sound as if he hadn't just laid claim to her very soul. For this was it, she knew she was his, even if he didn't realize it and perhaps never would.

"What do you mean?" She could hardly believe how calm she sounded, or the perfectly appropriate question that escaped her lips when all she wanted to say was "Say it again."

"I mean, you've given me everything I felt that I lost. I was lost. I was trapped at home without friends and my father who just makes me feel like I'm worth noticing if I'm doing what he wants. I felt like I couldn't be myself. I felt like people didn't care who I was, just what I had to offer."

"We care about you." She stated, feeling overwhelmed by his passionate speech, but he pressed on.

"I lost my mother, the only person who ever made me feel like I didn't have to do or be anything other than myself, until I met you. You believed in me, and stuck by me, and listened to my awful puns."

"They are pretty terrible sometimes." Finally, something to pull her from the downward swooning spiral she felt she was getting sucked into.

"Sometimes. But, today I didn't feel like anyone could see me. Like no one wanted to. Like they only want me if I'm being perfect… And I'm not. Sometimes I get scared. Sometimes I just want to goof off and skip fencing or Chinese or piano. Sometimes I want to cry. Sometimes I feel broken. And I wish my mother was around to see that and tell me that all of that is ok, and I wish my father would just stop what he was doing for once and look at me…" His last words were so quiet, and his shoulders started to shake from the tears that had returned.

She wanted to take all of the pain of her dearest friend away.

Marinette set her head atop his shoulder and wrapped him in her arms from behind, tears forming in her own eyes.

"Oh, minou…" She whispered.

Adrien blinked.

Had she really just said? But only his Lady ever called him-

He felt Marinette's arms stiffen.

"M'Lady?" He whispered, half in hope, half in anguish.

He heard Marinette's gasp behind him, but as he whipped around and caught a glimpse of her eyes full of shock and tears, the lights went out.

No. No, no, no, no. This can't be happening.

For a moment, they were both frozen in the dark. They couldn't move. Their entire worlds were completely changed.

"Marinette, Adrien, are you two alright?" Her mother's voice called up to them. Marinette reached for her phone and used its light to open the door.

"We're ok! Did the power go out?"

"It seems so, your father just went to check the breaker but it seems like all the lights on the street are also not working!"

"There's a power outage, I'm sure the city will be on it in no time. You two should be going to sleep soon, though." Her father said.

"But the cakes! The milk! Shouldn't I help you move them or something?" Marinette tried to give herself the opportunity to escape being around Adrien, but to no avail.

"Nonsense, sweetie. It's better to not open the fridges at all to help keep the cold inside. You two get some rest, it is a school night!" Her mother chirped.

She couldn't argue any more before it would seem painfully obvious that she didn't want to be around Adrien.

So, after saying goodnight to her parents, Adrien and Marinette closed the door, and sat side by side in the dark.

"Adrien, let's just have a few minutes of silence, is that ok?"

Adrien's heart couldn't stop pounding. She was her! His Lady! His Bugaboo! The love of his life!

How did he get so lucky?!

And unlucky… Marinette knew who he was. She had known for some time now. She had been in love with Adrien, had discovered he was Cat Noir, and then… gotten over him. She wasn't in love with the real him?

But they had grown so close! She had become his best friend, inside and outside the mask. She was literally the only person in the whole world who fully knew him.

And yet, she didn't love him. At least, not in the way he loved her.

He didn't think it was physically possible to be so happy and in so much pain at the same time.

He didn't think it was possible for him to be any more in love with her, and yet here he was.

Positively burning.

Marinette was burning. She was so embarrassed.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

How could she just let something like that slip?

He must realize how much he had dodged a bullet when she insisted that Ladybug and Cat Noir could never be together. He must realize that she hadn't been honest with who she was, and yet decided to get close to him.

She loved him with every fiber of her being, but she knew now that if there was ever any hope of him feeling at least a fraction of what she felt for him, it was gone now. He had gotten to really know Marinette and still hadn't fallen for her.

She couldn't blame him for that.

But she could run.

"Um, you know. This power outage might have been caused by an akuma. I'll just swing outside really quick and-"

"No." Adrien said firmly.

Adrien surprised himself with his own fervor, but continued.

"You don't need to go. We don't need to go. We can check on our phones."

"Um, but you know that Nadja and the camera crews sometimes take a bit to get there, haha. We can't be too careful." She spoke quickly, which he had learned was a sign of her nerves.

He felt her stand up quickly, and out of desperation he reached up and grabbed her wrist.

"Marinette, please, please… don't leave me." He whispered, glad she couldn't see how desperate he was for her.

Marinette felt her heart ache.

She couldn't leave if she tried.

She sat down and covered Adrien's hand with her own. It was the most she would allow herself to touch him, otherwise she'd lose it.

"I'll never leave you, Chaton." She heard him sigh and felt him relax under her touch.

Begrudgingly, they let each other go.

She wanted to hold and be held by him. She wanted to run her fingers through his hair like she had before. She wanted to touch her fingertips to his cheeks and look deeply into his eyes and…

She sat on her hands.

Marinette had drawn away from him and by candlelight he could see that now she was sitting on her hands.

Only minutes ago she had held him close, had run her gentle fingers deliciously through his hair, he had felt her warmth at his back and her breath on his ear. He had been seconds from taking her in his arms, which is what he desperately wanted to do now…

He cleared his throat, deciding it was no good to guess what she was thinking.

"What are you thinking about, Button?" He said softly, afraid of scaring her off and intentionally using her nickname as a reminder of what they were to each other.

What are we? What will we be to each other after tonight?

The silence felt deafening, but he dared not make a sound and gave her as much time as she needed.

"I'm… nervous."

"Me too." He admitted quickly, blowing out a breath. This was good, they had common ground.

"Do you want to sit back to back?"

"Please." He whispered, feeling better already. Somehow, he realized that Marinette knew of his need for touch.

Sitting back to back had become a common occurrence for when they needed to talk things out; when he wanted her physical reassurance and she didn't want the pressure of being face to face.

They sat on the ground, their warmth soothing each other. Adrien leaned back and rested his head on the back of hers.

"Button?" He pressed.

"I'm… processing." She admitted.

Adrien chuckled, which put her on edge but the rumble felt good against her back.

"Something funny?" There's my fierce Bugaboo. He thought fondly, smiling in the dark.

"I was just thinking, you knew who I was, knew who you were, who we were this whole time and I'm the one who's just finding out, and yet you're the one processing." He chuckled again.

There was silence for a while. Marinette knew he was right.

"I didn't want you to find out this way."

Adrien let out a sigh.

"You mean, you'd rather I never found out at all." He said sadly.

It wasn't a question.

"No! I mean, just not yet. I wasn't ready. I-"

"Why? What was it that kept you from telling me? What could possibly keep you from being honest with me? I mean, I know you weren't really lying, but… I just don't understand. Did you not trust me?" He tried to keep his tone from sounding accusatory.

"That's not it. I was… afraid. I know I was being a coward, but you idolized Ladybug. You put her on a pedestal and thought that she was perfect, and I didn't want you to see that she wasn't, that she's actually just… me."

"Just you?"

"Adrien, I saw how in love you were with Ladybug, you told me how much you loved her. I sat behind you in class for years, not once did you ever look at me that way. I would have waited forever really, but then I found out you were Cat Noir and that changed everything."

"But, I was still me."

"Of course it was, but there was this whole other side of you that I didn't know about. I didn't know my partner was my classmate and to see how you had to hide the side of you that was punny and playful made me so sad. I was ashamed because I had a crush on a boy that I hadn't truly known. I was heartbroken because the guy I had a crush on loved someone who wasn't real.

"I vowed that I would be a good friend to you, because you didn't need me fawning all over you and tripping every time you looked my way. You were even more amazing once I reconciled you and the cat." She chuckled, but it sounded sad.

"I didn't stand a chance." She whispered.

Adrien was stunned into silence. He felt warm all over. Did that mean she still liked him?

"And now I'm stressing because you know who I am, and I can't lose you."

"You couldn't lose me if you tried Bugaboo." Marinette's heart pounded at the flirtatious nickname that she hadn't heard in so long.

She loved it, she hated it.

She loved it when he called her that, she hated that it didn't mean what she wanted it to mean.

Her love for him swelled and threatened to overwhelm her, as did the pain she felt at knowing he didn't feel the same.

After a few beats of silence, she was resolved to setting the boundaries necessary for her own heart's sake.

"Don't call me that." She said firmly.

"What? Bugaboo?"

"Don't say it. You can't call me that, it's not fair."

She sounded on the verge of tears and Adrien wanted nothing more than to comfort her.

"Why not, Marinette? What's wrong?"

"If this is going to work, we can't go back to what we were, we're friends, Adrien."

And that's when Adrien's heart couldn't take it anymore.

"You don't have to tell me what we are, Marinette." He said. This time there was an edge to his voice.

"Why are you upset?"

"I know what we are! Better yet, I know what we're not. Almost our entire relationship has consisted of you drawing the lines and telling me what we are and what we're not! But you know what?

He repositioned himself in front of her so that he could see her face, so stunning in the candlelight.

"It's my turn to tell you what I am, and how I feel, because this? This is life-changing, and I know that we can't go back because there's no unknowing what we already know, but you want to know what I know? I know that no matter when you chose to tell me that you were Ladybug, I would have felt the same way. Ecstatic."

Marinette finally looked into his eyes, the shock written clearly across her face. Her eyes wide, lips parted, and if he was going to do this, he was going to do this right.

"I don't understand how that would come as a shock to you, Button! You're not only everything that Ladybug is, but more. I'm an idiot for never seeing that my partner was sitting behind me this whole time. Maybe you're right and I was blinded by love and I put Ladybug on a pedestal, but Marinette, Macaron, Mon Ange, I fell in love with you."

Marinette wiped a tear away, but she was listening.

"I was heartbroken when Ladybug said we couldn't be together, but then you and I started becoming 'good friends.''" Her lips quirked at the mention of the term she had used in her original confession and his use of air quotes.

"You knocked the wind out of me by confessing, then started spending time with me and letting me see more parts of you. You didn't mind the silly punny side of me, and for the first time ever, I didn't feel like I had to apologize for who I was." He took her hand.

"You let me see more of your courage and kindess. You made me fall in love with you all over again. And it's just my luck that I only realized how far I had fallen once you had gotten over me." He brushed the back of her hand with his thumb and it felt like he lit it on fire.

"I know you only want us to be friends. I know you don't love me the way I love you, but you said you would never leave me. Give me time, M'Lady. I don't know when or if I'm even capable of tamping down these feelings, but at least let me keep the nicknames I have of the person I hold most dear in life. From one friend to another. I won't flirt, I promise."

Marinette couldn't breathe. But she had to. He loved her. He had basically just confessed!

"Minou, I never got over you."

His hand tightened around hers.

She laughed wetly.

"I tried to make it seem like I had finally gotten over you, but how could I?"

She looked into his eyes and allowed herself to really look. For him to see just how deeply she loved him.

She touched her fingertips to his cheek.

"Adrien, I don't want to be just friends."

Adrien blinked.

Marinette, for the first time in what felt like forever, was looking deeply into his eyes. And not only was she looking at him, but she had just said she wasn't over him. She wasn't over him!

Her touch was everything. She was everything.

He couldn't breathe.

"Adrien? Say something." She averted his gaze, suddenly nervous.

He would have none of that.

Before she knew it, Adrien had pulled her into his lap. His hands pressed lightly against her cheeks.

The way he was looking into her eyes so intensely made her weak.

"Is this ok?"

He had made her completely dumb, but she managed to nod.

"Marinette, I love you. Madly, truly, deeply. Tell me I'm not dreaming. Tell me that you are my partner and my best friend and that you still like me. That you want to be with me, please, before I go crazy." His thumb brushed across her cheek tenderly, and she felt so warm.

"I've loved you since the day we met, Adrien." She smiled softly.

Adrien touched his forehead to hers.

"My heart is and always has been yours. It pained me so much when you said we could never be together. But why didn't you just talk to me? I would have understood."

"Oh Minou, I was so confused. I insisted that you and my kitty couldn't possibly be one and the same, and when I found out I was wrong, it was like I hadn't really known you. I was so ashamed."

At the sadness that touched his eyes, Marinette raised her hand and pressed her hand to his cheek. He nuzzled his face into it.

"I thought I had been just as superficial as everyone else, but no. Even as I got to know you better, I still loved all the things about you that I had loved from the beginning."

"My flawless face and fantastic sense of humor."

She giggled.

"Yes, but so much more. You're kind and good and brave. You care so deeply for your friends and family, and you are so strong."

She looked away.

"I know I don't deserve you, but as hard as I've tried to let you go…" Boldly, she placed her hand directly over his heart. Adrien felt like he was a few degrees away from spontaneously combusting. She felt warm and was saying such sweet things, and she loved him.

"I want to keep you all for myself." She looked up at him and for a second, and Adrien could hardly believe what she was saying.

He placed his hand over hers atop his chest, and he heard her sharp inhale.

"Marinette, all I want is to belong to you. If you really want me, I'm yours."

Marinette's eyes widened. Her mouth parted and all that came out was a quiet

"Oh." She was beginning to understand the reality of what he was saying.

Adrien's eyes flicked down to her tempting, parted lips and back up to her bluebell eyes.

She felt like she was burning.

"Marinette." He whispered agonizingly, touching her forehead to his again.

"Yes?" She squeaked out.

He smiled, leaned over, and with lips practically brushing against her ear, whispered:

"May I kiss you now?"

All she could do was nod.

To her disappointment, he kissed her cheek right next to her ear.

She squeaked again.

"Shhh. Calm down, Princess." He whispered in her other ear.

"How do you expect me to calm down when the love of my life is kissing me Chaton?" She almost couldn't believe her own boldness.

Ädrien leaned back far enough to look her in the face, his eyes bright and earnest.

"The love of your life?

Marinette made a conscious effort not to squeak again and instead buried her face into his neck.

"Oh, mon ange, if only you could understand just how much I love you." He chuckled, pressing her close to him.

"Also you said I was the love of your life. That's your entire life, Bugaboo, you will have no other love but me."

There was nowhere she'd rather be than in his arms.

"Why Adrien," she said from the crook of his neck, "are you implying that we get married?" she smiled, and he felt it. He traced her arm and picked up her hand, pressing it to his lips.

"Absolutely. Whatever and whenever you wish, Marinette, but that can hardly be called a proper proposal."

Without him looking at her, she felt her boldness return.

Tilting her head ever so slightly, she pressed her soft lips to his neck, earning her a small gasp from Adrien.

"Marinette." He practically groaned. She had never heard anyone say her name like that.

Wanting more, she ran her fingers up into his hair and turned his face towards her own.

His resounding purr was immensely satisfying.

She smirked, glad that she already knew his weak spot.

"How could I not have known that it was you?" He said, eyes taking in every inch of her face.

She brought a hand to his cheek.

"Let's not dwell on the past. We're together now. Maybe this is how it was meant to be"

She stroked his cheek and her eyes couldn't help but drop to his lips.

"I always hoped we were meant to be together, Adrien. " She said, touching a finger to his bottom lip. Adrien couldn't take it anymore.

"We were made for each other, Marinette." He closed the distance, and finally, finally, touched his lips to hers.

It was pure bliss. She was every hope and dream he'd ever whispered in the moonlight. He was the sun that warmed and consumed her.

When the kiss ended, Adrien gathered her in his arms, and Marinette relaxed in his embrace.

All was right in the world. All was balanced.

For a while, they sat in the dark, embracing, wondering how they got so lucky. They didn't have tomorrow or even yesterday, but right now they had each other, and that was more than enough for the both of them.

When thoughts of tomorrow tried to intrude, or worries about Hawkmoth, or stress about the work ahead, they pushed them aside, instead choosing to picture a future as bright, happy, and warm as they felt in this moment.

They knew whatever would come their way they could face it, and no mask or villain would ever keep them apart again.

Their fist bumps had always conveyed "job well done" or "we did it!" but from that day on, it would always also mean "I love you"...

...and was usually punctuated with a kiss or two.

A/N I love these two so much (and also loathe how invested I am in their relationship that takes about as many steps backward as it does forward lol). Season 5 still has me holding my breath before each episode though!

I have started writing fics before but I'm learning is that my insecurity and perfectionism can be so crippling that I stop writing because I'm afraid the future chapters will never live up to the expectations that my previous ones raised. So, I chose to write this whole story BEFORE publishing a single word. Now I can't back out and there is no one waiting (although an epilogue might be nice; I just want these two to get married and have their kids and hamster already lol).

As I mentioned in the summary, I really hope Marinette is the one who finds out the truth first because I hate to see my girl suffering like a fish out of water. Adrien also needs someone he can be completely himself with!

This fic is far from perfect, especially since I have no beta and I only proofread it about twice all the way through (both times I was exceedingly sleepy so my judgement was already impaired haha), but I enjoyed writing it and I enjoyed reading it (can you tell I'm a sucker for nicknames and did you catch any references?). All that to say, please excuse the typos and other writing mistakes.

Thank you so so much for reading this story, I hope you find as much happiness, love, and warmth as Marinette and Adrien did, whatever that looks like to you.