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She had managed to make it six days. Six excruciatingly long days where she desperately tried not to think about how soft Adrien's lips had been or how natural it had felt to be wrapped in his arms. Everytime Marinette would see the model in class she would momentarily relive that sweet release of their shared passions. God, she wanted another moment like that again. It wasn't even the kisses that she wanted most (although she certainly would take more in a heartbeat), she really was craving the sense of peace that had come from those few minutes with Adrien. Peace was a rarity in her life, and Adrien has been the only source of it since she had become the Guardian.

It didn't help that the past six days had been even more difficult than usual. There were the normal challenges of homework and helping in the bakery. On top of that Marinette also had to deal with both Chloe and Lila, though mainly the latter. While Lila had not returned to such drastic measures as she had used when she had gotten Marinette expelled, she was still up to her usual tricks and Marinette was beyond done listening to her lies. And of course the icing on the stress cake that was her life were the Akuma attacks. In the past six days she and Chat Noir had to fight four of the garishly colored villains. Five, if you counted the one who had just shown up, with whom she had not yet had the dubious pleasure of coming to blows.

Marinette had no idea who the original victim was or what their problem had been. She had simply been in her room trying to catch up on her homework because God forbid she actually make progress on one of her responsibilities. Now transformed and standing on a roof she surveyed the city. It appeared the Akuma was agriculture-based, if the streets turned to fields were any indicator. Following the trail of crops, she soon found the abominably designed Akuma stopping more cars by causing corn stalks and vegetable patches to erupt from the road. It looked like an obtrusively bright scarecrow, complete with the jerky, unnatural movements. Hoping that meant it would be slow, she swung in rapidly to deliver a powerful kick to its guts. To her horror, its upper half simply detached itself right before she made contact, causing her to miss and crash onto the ground.

At least the crops softened the landing, Marinette thought ruefully. She jumped to her feet as quickly as possible but had lost sight of the Akuma. In an attempt to locate it, she spun her head in all directions and was unable to spot it before hearing a voice shout at her.

"Ladybug, look out!"

The superheroine didn't have time to register what was happening before a body dove out of a nearby car and tackled her to the ground, just in time to prevent her from taking a hit from the sickle the Akuma had thrown like a boomerang. Once again thankful that the Akuma had provided her with a softer landing pad than the asphalt of the streets, Marinette opened up her eyes to see who her savior was. They opened even wider when she realized she was staring into the green gaze of Adrien Agreste.

"Are you okay, Ladybug?" he asked with a clear note of worry. His face showed the same affection that had been present that night in his room, but this time it was laced with concern as well. The only thing Marinette could do was nod. Realizing their awkward position, which was exacerbated by the fact that they were sprawled out of sight in a field, Adrien sheepishly stood up and offered his hand to the mute heroine.

As she accepted his assistance, Marinette realized that she could still channel the courage she had when she spoke to him so confidently and kissed him. He liked Ladybug, and she was Ladybug, so she didn't have to feel insecure. All she had to do was speak with confidence. She could do that.

"Once again I don't have enough time to thank you properly, but I will be sure to not make you wait so long for my thanks this time."

Oh god, too much confidence! Marinette somehow kept the horror off of her face, but internally she was screaming bloody murder at her mouth. Somehow the stupid thing had become disconnected from her brain! How could I promise Adrien that I would come by again! And soon!

"That is, if you wanted me too! I'm not trying to impose! I don't want to overstep any boundaries and ohmygod, I hope I didn't overstep any last time!" Marinette couldn't help but grimace. So much for confidence. She had used it all up in one stupid sentence.

While Marinette was beating herself up, Adrien on the other hand looked positively overjoyed. He calmly put a hand on Ladybug's shoulder to reassure her.

"You are welcome anytime, Ladybug. I'll look forward to seeing you." The genuine excitement and hope on his face was bittersweet, as it both made Marinette feel better about blurting things out and worse because there was no way she could break his caring heart by standing him up. "Now you go take care of that Akuma and I'll go hide!"

That was enough of a reminder of the situation to snap Marinette back to the present situation.

"Yes! Please keep safe! Bug out!" With a wave she used her yoyo to launch herself into the air. It took her a moment after landing on a rooftop to fully gather her bearings, and by that time her partner had landed beside her ready to start the fight.

"Wow," said Chat Noir as he surveyed the Parisian streets turned farmland, "I am going to have a field day coming up with puns for this fight."

Marinette groaned at the joke as the two began to chase after the strange scarecrow. "Please, Chat, just once can we fight an Akuma without you making puns?"

"Don't worry, Bugaboo," Chat replied cheekily, "I promise I can still beet him, even with the puns."

"Chat…"

"Hey, it's not my fault the opportunities for good puns keep cropping up. I just reap the benefits."

"Chat! Enough with the corny jokes!" As soon as she shouted it, Marinette realized her poor choice of words. "That pun was unintentional and you know it!"

Chat Noir laughed as they leapt at the Akuma. "It still counts! Now lettuce get started and I promise I won't get carrot away with the farm jokes! This Wizard of Oz reject doesn't stand a chance against us!"

Marinette couldn't argue with that. The two of them made an incredible team and it didn't take long at all for them to secure their fifth victory in the last six days. The silly cat would later attribute the subtle smile she wore the whole battle to his brilliant humor, but the reality was that she had something to look forward to again. She knew she shouldn't go back, but there was no way she had enough willpower to resist any longer. She had essentially given Adrien her word. And if you couldn't trust the word of a superhero than who could you trust?