'He took me home and helped deliver the pastries, and then brought the bike back as well. He's so thoughtful, and brave, and handsome, and funny, and charming…'

'Oh dear, Marinette,' came Alya's voice from her phone. 'You have got it bad.'

'What? I'm just saying. I admire him as a hero.'

Alya's laughter was as if Marinette had told the funniest joke in the world.

'Yeah, right. Handsome? And charming? What happened to 'way too full of himself?' I thought hearing you talk about Adrien was bad. But this? You're crazy about him, girl.'

'It's weird. It feels different. With Adrien I can't get a sentence out and have no idea what to say. Because he's just so perfect, you know? He never messes anything up. But Cat Noir…I feel so at ease with him…like I can talk to him about anything.'

'I don't know what you're waiting for,' Alya said. 'You're obsessed with him. He's obsessed with you. He gets on well with your parents. You could make that cat very happy, Marinette.'

'It'd also make him very smug. I don't know if I'll be able to stand it. He'll tease me forever.'

'Nah. Only for a couple of years.'

'More like the rest of our lives.'

'Oh, really? Tell me Marinette, how would it work having a pet hamster if you were married to a cat?'

Marinette was very glad Alya could not see her turning the colour of her Ladybug suit.

'M-married? Who said anything about that?'

'Rest of our lives?'

'I didn't mean…' She chewed her lip, as a fresh flutter of butterflies surfaced in her tummy. Had she meant that? Suddenly she had a mental image of an older-looking Cat Noir. On his right hand, his Miraculous, the ring of destruction. And on his left…

'Ummm anyway...' She rapidly changed the subject and began talking about homework. Alya didn't press it, but she had a feeling the conversation was not over.

Marinette must have been extra tired that night, because she fell into a deeper sleep, this time with no dreams. When she woke, it was a relief not to have to think about her dreams and what they meant. Because these days, they all seemed to mean the same thing.

The morning was fairly uneventful. Luckily, after a good night's sleep her ankle was feeling better, meaning it had just been a minor injury. She made some progress on her homework while the kwamis played around with things in her room. She had lunch with her parents and spent the early afternoon sewing. At around three o'clock, there came a ping from her phone accompanied by screaming from outside.

Flying over to the window and throwing it open, she saw that people were running in all directions from a giant sentimonster making its way down the street. It looked like a giant robot.

'I'd better transform!' she cried.

'Just say the words,' said Tikki.

'Tikki, Spots On!'

For about five minutes, she and the sentimonster were engaged in one-to-one combat. She got an idea of its flaws, its weaknesses. There was no sign of the akumatized victim anywhere. She ended up on top of a high roof when she heard the familiar thump of her partner landing beside her.

'What's going on here?' he asked, brandishing his staff. He surveyed the damage already done to the city and tutted. 'Well, this doesn't look good at all. Time to send in claw enforcement so we can find the purrrrrpetrator!'

For some reason, Ladybug found that extremely funny. She bit her lip hard to keep from laughing. She could laugh at his puns as Marinette, but as Ladybug… She pushed it out of her mind.

'Hey Bugaboo.'

'Hello, my Kitty.'

Turning to look at him, she could see that he was looking a little perplexed, but pleased too.

'Got any thoughts?'

She blinked her large blue eyes at him.

'Thoughts…?'

'About defeating this thing?'

'Oh – yes of course. I might just have a few. Let's do it!'

Fifteen minutes later, a swarm of ladybugs swept over the city, restoring everything to the way it had been before.

'Pound it!' Ladybug and Cat Noir fist bumped.

'Always a pleasure working with you, m'lady.' He smiled warmly, sending a shiver of pleasure down her spine.

'You too, Cat Noir.' Suddenly, without warning, she exploded into hysterical laughter, causing him to take a tiny step back in surprise.

'Did…I say something funny?' he asked, head cocked curiously to one side.

'Claw enforcement!' she wheezed, tears running down her masked face. 'That's the funniest thing I've ever heard!'

He stared at her blankly.

'Are you messing with me? I mean, I know you said my humour was what you liked best about me, but…' He trailed off. She was bent double with laughter. 'Are you feeling okay?'

'I'm – sorry – I – just – funny!' A fresh round of giggles spilled out of her mouth.

'Don't apologise, m'lady. I know I am hilarious.' He flicked his blond hair. 'And nothing makes me happier than seeing you happy. But you never normally laugh at my jokes. At least, not this much.'

'Claw enforcement,' she chortled weakly.

'Don't forget purrpetrator,' he reminded her with a feline grin.

'Oh yeah.' She was now struggling to breathe from laughing.

'Ladybug. Your earrings. And my ring.'

'What? Oh, yeah. Earrings. Ring. Got to go.'

'Okay. I'll see you soon.'

'Goodbye.'

He vaulted away, throwing an intrigued glance over his shoulder at his departing Lady, whose body was still shaking from laughter as she threw her yo-yo and vanished over the Paris rooftops.

'So, first akuma attack since the big change,' said Alya as they walked up the stairs to school. 'How did it go? Did you manage to act normal?'

Marinette hung her head in shame.

'You don't even want to know.'

'Oh, believe me, I do. How bad was it? Was it like this?' She made a series of random, gibberish-like noises that resembled Marinette trying to talk to Adrien. Marinette sighed.

'It was worse. I laughed at his puns.' She facepalmed.

'That doesn't sound so bad.'

'I cried laughing at his puns for five minutes straight.'

'Ah.'

There were a few moments of awkward silence.

'Well, I'm not actually surprised, since you did start making cat puns the other day.'

'You know the worst part? I've done it as Marinette and…' She dropped her voice to a whisper. 'Ladybug. On Saturday when he came to the bakery and then again yesterday. Although yesterday was the only time I laughed like an idiot. I don't know what came over me.'

'I do, and so do you, Marinette,' Alya taunted. 'Yeah...you might have to get that under control, girl. Or just try not to run into him as Marinette again so he doesn't notice both sides of you doing it. So, no more damsel in distress, okay?'

'But it was so nice when he saved me.'

'Marinette.'

'Okay. I'll try to be careful.'

They entered the locker room. She was so deep in thoughts about her kitty that she didn't look where she was going and walked straight into one Adrien Agreste.

'Gahhh! Oh, I'm so sorry.'

'Not a problem, Marinette.' He scratched the back of his neck and his eyes flicked down to her feet for a brief second. He smiled. 'Hey, um, you know how I said I'd be up for teaching you Mandarin?'

'Oh, yes I remember.'

'Well…do you want to start that sometime soon? If you're not too busy.'

'Adrien…that would mean a lot to me. I'd love to. What day works best for you?'

Alya watched with intrigue as Marinette had a completely normal conversation with Adrien.

'Hey, you managed to talk to him properly,' she observed after Adrien had set off for class. 'You didn't stumble over your words once!'

Marinette replayed the conversation in her head.

'You know…you're right. I didn't! Does this mean I don't have a crush on him anymore?'

'Only you know that, Marinette. Did it occur to you just now that you know his entire schedule by heart and therefore should have known what days he was free?'

'You know what…no! I completely forgot. Maybe I don't need to have that silly timetable in my room anymore. Or quite so many photos of him. It's so kind of him to teach me Mandarin, especially since he's so busy. He's such a good friend.'

'A good friend.' Alya ran a hand through her auburn hair. 'You did not just say that. You sound just like him!'

'Look, I'm not sure if I still have feelings for him or not. I think I do. They've just calmed down a little, is all. Which is good, since he obviously doesn't feel that way for me.'

Alya thought for a moment.

'Well, I suppose that's a good thing. Your feelings have switched to the boy who you know is head-over-heels for you. Now you can return his feelings.'

'Yes.' Marinette had a mental image of an ecstatic-looking Cat Noir, taking hold of both her hands and leaning in closer and closer. 'I only hope it lasts.'

Later that day, things began to get eventful once more. Marinette didn't know how it happened because she was in the art room sketching at the time, but somehow Miss Bustier got akumatized again. She was just putting the finishing touches on a design for a dress when none other than Chloé burst into the room shouting 'Kissy-poooooo!'

'Not on your life,' replied Marinette firmly. She had kissed Chloé once before and had no intention of repeating the experience. She pushed past Chloé, Sabrina, Ivan and Mylène, being careful not to get kissed, and made for the girls' bathroom. One flash of light later, Ladybug leapt out just as Cat Noir emerged from Principal Damocles' office.

'Greetings, m'lady. Have you stopped laughing yet?'

It was as she feared – he was looking very pleased about something. He obviously wasn't going to forget their last encounter in a hurry.

'Yes I have, thank you very much. Can we forget that happened please and get on with saving the school?'

'Meow. Someone's been sharpening her claws.'

'You're the one with the claws, Cat Noir. That will not happen again.'

'We'll just see about that.'

'In your dreams,' she muttered.

As they fought Zombizou for the second time, Cat Noir made twice as many puns as usual, as well as waggling his eyebrows and winking. Every time, Ladybug had to bite her lips to stop the giggles erupting from her mouth. What was wrong with her? She'd never been affected by that before.

Before long, the fight was over. The students were no longer attempting to kiss one another. Ladybug presented a dazed Miss Bustier with her very own lucky charm and sent her on her way back to class. Cat Noir turned to her.

'Do you have a kiss for me, m'lady?' he asked flirtatiously.

Ladybug's heart went into overdrive. Part of her – a very big part – wanted to kiss him straight on the lips, to make his dreams come true, and hers – literally. That would certainly give him the shock of his life and it would be worth it to see the look on his face. But the moment wasn't right at all. Students and teachers were bustling around, getting back to what they were doing before the akuma struck. Also…the way he'd been flirting seemed to suggest the clever cat was catching onto her rather badly kept secret.

But she couldn't resist.

'Yes,' she found herself saying, and reached up on her tiptoes to kiss his warm, soft cheek. The little 'oh' sound that he made was simply adorable. Her lips stayed pressed against his skin for a good few seconds. She drew back, knowing her mask would be doing little to hide her blushing face.

'My Lady,' he breathed. He was blushing too. He opened his mouth to say something when his ring beeped. One minute left. He took hold of both her hands and swooped in to return the kiss, warm lips meeting a flaming red cheek.

'Until next time, my Ladybug,' he said, sounding very pleased indeed. Ladybug had a feeling he wasn't just talking about the next akuma battle.

Adrien Agreste was many things. But stupid was not one of them.

'Plagg…is it me or has Ladybug been acting weird lately?' he asked, sprawled out on his bed.

'In what way?' Plagg, as usual, was more interested in the cheese he was shovelling into his mouth.

'First she giggles like crazy at my jokes. Then she kisses me. Like, without good reason. Just because she wanted to. You don't think…' He gazed up at the ceiling. 'No. That would be too good to be true.'

'Would it? Have a little faith, Adrien. The signs are all there. I think she loves you. But not as much as I love this cheeeeese!'

Adrien looked at him in disgust.

'Plagg! I love Ladybug way more than you love cheese.'

'Oh, I know you're obsessed with her. That much is obvious.'

'Sooo…Should I talk to her about it, Plagg?'

The look on Plagg's face was the same as every time his owner asked him for love advice. He sighed and flew over to face him.

'Not right away. Just see if it continues. Then, maybe talk to her about it. It might be just what the girl needs. She did say she was in love with someone else, right? So that's gotta be confusing for her. She's probably too embarrassed to admit that she's fallen for you at last, even to herself. I reckon she's in denial.'

Adrien thought he had a good point. He himself had been wondering whether his heart had been stolen by another girl. One who was sweet and kind and adorably clumsy, laughed at his jokes and lived in the most wonderful bakery…But no. If Ladybug was finally falling for him, it would be a dream come true. This could be his chance with her.

'Yeah…that's probably true. You actually do give good advice, Plagg, when you're not banging on about cheese.'

'You're welcome, kid.' Plagg went back to his Camembert as Adrien wandered over to the window to gaze out. He'd waited long enough for Ladybug to return his feelings. He had a feeling he wouldn't be made to wait much longer.

Marinette tried in vain to forget about the dream she'd just had. Alya had been announcing on the Ladyblog that Ladybug and Cat Noir were getting married. She'd been wearing the most gorgeous ring with a ruby and an emerald on it, over the top of her Ladybug suit. Both superheroes had been beaming and gazing romantically into each other's eyes as the cameras flashed.

'This is getting ridiculous,' the blue-haired girl groaned as soon as her eyes found her bedroom ceiling.

The next week passed in very much the same way. Every night, without fail, Marinette's dreams were all about one person in particular. One night she was in her civilian form, crying into his chest and thanking him for pulling her out from underneath a collapsing Eiffel Tower. Next, she was Ladybug, fighting in perfect sync with him and laughing like a hyena at everything he said.

And when she was awake, it wasn't much different. Cat Noir was being even more of a flirt than usual. She could see from the mischievous gleam in his eyes every time they met that he was becoming more and more aware of his power over her. He was, at least, mindful enough not to throw her off too much during akuma battles, when the fate of Paris was at stake. But it didn't take long after the words 'Miraculous Ladybug' had left her mouth that he would have her reduced to a state of helpless laughter with his jokes, or turning the colour of a strawberry with a heartfelt compliment, or stuttering over her words by slipping an arm round her shoulder or dropping a tantalisingly quick kiss on her cheek.

When she was alone in her room, she found herself coming back to the same two photographs. One from when they'd fought Dark Cupid and the other from when they'd fought Oblivio. Both times she'd kissed Cat Noir.

'When this one happened,' said Marinette, 'I didn't see it as a proper kiss. I just saw it as me saving him. But now…if it happened now I think I'd feel differently.'

'If you were able to save him with a kiss,' said Tikki, 'It must have been a kiss of true love!'

'But that doesn't make sense. I wasn't in love with him at that point, and he didn't even remember it, so it can't have been that special.'

'Not that special?' repeated Pollen in outrage. 'That was a magical kiss. It wouldn't have worked if you didn't have some feelings for him.'

'Lots of feelings for him,' teased Daizzi.

'Which brings us onto this,' said Tikki, holding up the next picture.

Looking at that photo, there was no way she could pass this off as a friendly kiss. Their hands were tightly clasped, their arms were around each other and their lips were pressed firmly together.

'What could possibly have happened that day to make that happen?' Marinette wondered for what felt like the hundredth time. 'Maybe Oblivio had some sort of power to make people fall in love?'

She didn't really believe this, and obviously, neither did her little companions. They were looking at her sceptically and shaking their heads.

'What I think happened,' said Sass, 'Is that you two revealed your identities while you were in that tower together. You fell for the boy beneath the mask, and he fell for Marinette, too.'

'I fell for him because I had no idea Adrien existed,' she sighed. The kwamis hid their smiles. They all knew that was not the case. The opposite, in fact.

She held each picture up once more. Both times, she'd felt a little sad. She'd so desperately wanted her first kiss to be with Adrien. But now she felt sad for a different reason. She only remembered one of the kisses, and he didn't remember either of them. She remembered his words, that had made her so angry at the time.

'One thing's for sure, we would make a good-looking couple. We're meant for each other, m'lady. You're the only one who doesn't see it.'

'I think I am starting to see it, Kitty,' she whispered. 'Maybe we really are meant to be after all. But I'm not ready to tell you. Not yet.'

When Ladybug arrived at patrol one night, her partner was waiting for her with folded arms and curling lips.

'Hi, Kitty.' She landed in front of him. 'Something the matter?'

'I think we need to have a talk, Ladybug.'

Ladybug's stomach dropped, taking the butterflies with it.

'Um, okay...what about?'

'Oh, I think you know.' He walked slowly around her. She stood rooted to the spot, refusing to make eye contact. 'You've…not been yourself lately. Or rather, you have been yourself, but different.'

'D-different?'

'You've been laughing at my puns a lot more. And I mean really laughing at them. Especially when we fought that robot sentimonster.'

'That didn't happen. I didn't laugh at your puns. You were right. It was a prank.'

'Oh, it was, was it?' His smirk told her he wasn't convinced.

'Absolutely. I mean, claw enforcement isn't even that funny.'

'That's not what you thought that day. And all those other times, they were pranks too, were they?'

'Uhhh…' She twisted her fingers together self-consciously.

'And how about that kiss?'

'What about it?'

'What about it? That felt like more than just a friendly kiss, My Lady. And may I say, you turned the most beautiful shade of pink when you did it. Just like you are now.'

He grinned in triumph as her hands found her face, in an attempt to hide the warm blood rushing to her cheeks, betraying her.

'And what's more, you haven't complained once when I've called you Bugaboo. In fact, when I called you it the other day you addressed me as my Kitty.'

'I…I guess I did.' Clearly, he'd spent just as much time thinking about this as she had.

'And since then, it's been even more of the same. You've changed. As someone who has been through it all myself, why…I'd say you've fallen for my charms at last.'

Ladybug tried desperately to think of some excuse for the way she'd been acting, but none presented itself. She gulped. She'd been rumbled. She finally looked up into his eyes – which was a mistake. Now she found herself unable to look away.

His face was just as Alya predicted it would be. His dazzling smile was as if all his birthdays and Christmases had come at once.

'Is it true, Ladybug?' he whispered, edging closer so that she could feel his warm breath tickling the top of her head. 'Are you in love with me?'

Her legs had turned to jelly and her mouth had gone dry. She couldn't lie to him. Not when he asked her like that, her stare trapped by his glowing green orbs.

'Yes,' she said in a tiny whisper.

His face shone with joy. He grabbed his baton and pulled something out. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw what it was. A single red rose. True love.

'I've been saving it for you,' he admitted. 'For when you were ready to accept it. Are you?'

They were standing close enough that she could smell the rose's sweet scent.

'Yes,' she said a second time.

He pressed it into her hands.

'For you, m'lady, as a token of my affection.'

She squeezed it tight and inhaled deeply. The rose's scent mixed with his. He smelled like fresh leather with a hint of Camembert.

'It's lovely, Cat Noir, thank you.' She thought to herself about what she could possibly give him in return, and then had an idea. Why hadn't she thought of that before?

She pulled out her yo-yo and slid it open, then reached inside and pulled out a small, black charm with green spots.

'For you, my Kitty. Your very own lucky charm.'

His face shone as she placed it in his outstretched hand.

'It's perfect, m'lady. This black cat's starting to have a little luck after all. I'll never take it off.'

'I'm so glad you like it. I'm sorry I don't have anything more personal to give you right now.'

He pretended to scratch his chin in thought.

'I can think of something. If you're happy to.'

It just so happened that her sapphire eyes were more or less level with his lips. The flashbacks to the very first dream she'd had about him suddenly grew much more vivid.

'Oh.'

'Only if you're comfortable.'

His face was inches away from hers. One clawed hand curled around her waist and the other laced its fingers through her own. She began to reach up onto her tiptoes and her eyes fluttered closed. He smiled and bent his head down, tilting slightly to the side.

As their lips locked, a memory began to unlock in the back of her mind. One involving a kiss just like this, where he was holding her lovingly in his arms instead of threatening her with his cataclysm. No other memories surfaced – just that one. It made her realise just how powerful the Miraculous cure was, to make them both forget something so wonderful.

After what could have been minutes or hours, they drew apart. The moment needed no words. Instead, she pressed her head into his shoulder and listened to his strong, steady heartbeat pounding in her ear. This was soon replaced by something else she'd had on her mind since she'd dreamed about it – the purring. She squeezed her arms tighter round his middle, knowing the effect this would have. It was time to get him back for all that teasing. Sure enough, the rumbling grew louder in her ear.

'My Lady.'

Looking up into his face, she saw that he was trying to frown, but his eyes were twinkling. She giggled.

'Enjoying that, Kitty?'

'Cheeky little bug.'

She loosened her grip and found his claws encircling her wrists, gently pulling them back into place.

'I don't recall asking you to stop.'

'Make up your mind already.'

She felt him chuckle.

'I love you, Bugaboo.'

'I love you too.' Her question was answered – nothing could be better than this.