hi. i'm back.

...

"Good evening, Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

Feeling a bit unnerved by his unwavering gaze, Marinette climbed up to her balcony and sat at the edge of the sill. "So what did you come here for, Chat Noir?"

"I saw a little something on the Ladyblog," Chat said, nonchalantly. Marinette's face drained of all color, and then turned into a dark shade of ladybug red. Chat chuckled and continued, "and I just had to visit my most loyal princess."

Marinette groaned and covered her flushed cheeks with her hands. Grinning, Chat Noir crouched down and gently wrapped his fingers around her wrists, tugging them away. "So I know that you have a major crush on me -"

"No I don't!" Marinette squeaked.

"- why me?" Chat Noir's smiled quirked with uncertainty and bemusement. "Why would you go that far for me? I don't mean to offend, but we don't know each other that well -"

"What do you mean we don't know each other that well? Am I just one of the random civilians you save and flirt with?" Marinetter pulled away, hurt evident in her voice and the crinkle in between her brows. "So you do this to every pretty princess you save?"

"No I didn't mean that! There's no one else who's my la - my princess but you! You're special to me!" Chat blurted out. She blinked, surprised at his outburst. Chat facepalmed. This was harder than he thought. Regaining his composure, he said, "What I'm trying to say is…"

Marinette looked expectantly at him.

He swallowed. "Marinette, would you like to be friends?"

Marinette gaped at him. And then she giggled, which turned into laughter. Chat Noir frowned. "Okay, that was ridiculous. I'm sorry for wasting your time - this was a bad idea-"

Just as he turned around to leave, he was yanked back by his tail. Chat Noir looked over to an exasperated Marinette. "I'm sorry for laughing, kitty, but that was a ridiculous question."

Her snark was so very much like Ladybug. She is Ladybug, he reminded himself.

Letting go, Marinette smiled and said, "You've always been my friend, Chat."

He stilled. A grin split his face. Being acknowledged as a friend by Ladybug was wonderful, but by Marinette - sweet, shy, amazing class president, competition winner - he might as well have won the lottery for friendship. She was never comfortable with Adrien for some reason, but being accepted as Chat Noir did weird things to his heart and his stomach.

Befriending Marinette wasn't as hard as he thought.

Slipping inside her bedroom, Marinette called up to him, "Would you like to come in?"

On second thought, it is as hard as he thought.

Chat peeked over the skylight inside, witnessing an overwhelmingly pink bedroom. He was invited into a girl's bedroom. Late in the night. And he was alone. "Is it safe?"

Marinette gave him an odd look. "What d'you mean? I'm not hiding any dogs, if that's what you're asking."

"Cause you're more of a cat person." Chat chirped.

"Hamster, actually." Marinette said in a sing-sing voice. Chat Noir was about to argue on the benefits of owning a cat, when he spotted the round cat pillow on her bed. Hamster. Right.

"No, but what if I do something?" He asked nervously. After learning that Marinette was the love of his life, Chat wasn't sure if he would be able to control himself - whatever that meant.

Marinette paused and gave him a quirk of a smile. "You wouldn't do that."

"How do you know?"

"Because I know you, chaton." Was her simple answer. And if that didn't send his mind reeling from the full trust in that statement that sent warm tingles throughout him.

Just as he was about to step foot inside, Marinette shrieked. Chat Noir froze. "What? What is it? Found a spider? A rat? Bug? Ratbug?"

Marinette turned red. "Just stay there for a second."

His ears perked up at the sound of her scurrying and slamming drawers close. He tried to peek but just as his head poked inside, it was met with a mouthful of pillow. "No peeking!"

At long last, Marinette was done. Finally getting permission to come inside, he jumped down, careful on not landing on her bed. As he walked around her room, he grew confused. Nothing changed when he visited as Adrien so why would - wait - "Is that a portrait of-"

Marinette slammed the portrait down. "It's nothing!"

Okay..

Not a stranger to her odd antics, Chat Noir just shook his head and smiled. He watched curiously as she powered up her computer screen - black boring wallpaper which was unlike her - And opened it up to Ultra Mecha Strike 3. Chat's eyes lit up in delight and he eagerly sat on the chair next to her, spinning wildly and stopped with a controller in hand.

"You're going down, Marinette!" Chat Noir crowed.

Marinette smirked - and his heart stuttered at how her eyes gleamed with Ladybug mirth. "Try winning first."

"Oh you're on."

As you can guess, against a gaming champion, there was no question who would win. Chat Noir, of course, was not the winner. But he was close! Or as close as a 1 to 6 could be. And that was with Marinette having a one-hand handicap.

"How are you so good?" Chat Noir groaned as he leaned back in his chair.

Marinette shrugged her shoulders. "Well, when you have gaming addicts as parents, you can't help but to pick up a few tricks. And sometimes you have to make up new things on game nights."

"Your parents sound fun." Chat mused. "Although your dad might still want to clobber me with a rolling pin."

"That was a misunderstanding!" Marinette protested. "I'm sure if he got to know you, he'd love you just as much."

"I don't know." Chat Noir teased. "I did break his precious princess's heart after all."

Marinette rolled her eyes with a laugh, an act so endearing, he couldn't help but let out a lovesick sigh. They froze, staring at each other in shock. Chat stammered, "That was a - a yawn! Yeah. A quick one. Like, wow - look at the time! It's pretty late!"

Marinette could only watch in confusion as Chat Noir shoved the controls in her hands and gave her a two-fingered salute. Smiling stiffly, he said, "Well, I loved hanging out with you my lady - princess! My lady princess. Yes. But, y'know, duty calls. Paris to save and whatnot so - goodbyethanksseeyoulater!"

And with that, Chat Noir climbed out her window and leaped out into the night.

Marinette slowly waved him off and watched his figure bound away until he was out of sight. A frown on her face. She had an inkling on why he was here tonight. The questions of the reporter must have rattled him more than he showed.

Remembering the Chat Blanc incident, she took a deep breath as she steeled her nerves. Never again. She would never let her partner feel that way ever. Ladybug or Marinette.

"Well, that went pretty smoothly." Plagg said right after he whizzed out of the ring. One didn't need to be a roll of camembert cheese to figure out the dripping sarcasm in the kwami's voice.

Adrien groaned and flopped on his bed. Great. That was purrfectly terrible, that's what was great.

Plagg lazily floated through the air, carrying a slice of cheese. "'Look at the time! It's pretty late!' It's barely even nine in the evening!" He cackled.

"Are you done?" Adrien said crossly.

"Nope! There's still more I'd like to add." Plagg grinned.

The superhero sighed and sank back in the sheets. His heart was still beating rapidly from the short time with his lady - princess - Marinette- Ladybug..MariBug? Buginette?

"Why is it so hard to talk to girls?" Adrien mumbled.

"More like, why is it so hard to talk to Marinette?" Plagg piped up from inside a cabinet.

The miraculous holder sent him a glare not received. "Plagg, you can't be in there. You know that's for emergencies. Also, it wasn't so hard for me to talk to her before, so why now?"

Plagg phased through the wood, a pout in his face. "Oh you can always order more. Besides, emergencies are a social construct, so it would be better finish all the cheese before it stays there for far too long and rots. Also, you're still confusing Ladybug with Marinette."

"Emergencies are real, and your cheese can't get any more rotten than it already is." Adrien rolled his eyes. "Ladybug and Marinette are the same person."

The kwami gave him that look - the look of a magical being that has lived through the ages. "Ladybug is the love of your life. Marinette is your friend. If she and Ladybug were two separate people, would you still be able to fall in love with Marinette?"

"Yes." Adrien blurted out. And then the question properly sank in. He stilled. "I...I don't know. I've never really thought about it. I mean, Marinette is a friend, and she's smart and creative and really pretty, I just.."

Adrien stared at Plagg, a startled look on his face. "I don't know her."

"It's more delicious to eat a whole roll of camembert than half of it." Plagg said simply and floated to his side of the bed. "This is why you humans are so quick to misunderstand each other. You don't love everything about a person."

"And have you?"

Plagg cracked open one eye. "Have I what?"

"Loved anyone? Wholly?" Adrien asked, curious.

Plagg closed his eyes. "I'm more than a thousand years old, Adrien. What do you think?"

"You didn't answer my question."

Adrien received no answer as the kwami had already fallen asleep. With a sigh, he laid down on his bed, mind still whirling with contradictions, quickly slipping into slumber under the light of the waning moon.

So..three years is a long time. I'm still alive and this fic is still breathing!

Seriously, two seasons and a heck ton of info, I don't know how this is gonna cannonically-ishly fit in the ml timeline as I wrote this with only s1 in mind. I guess, it's set after the Chat Blanc episode. But I dunno if I want to add Luka and Kagami in the narrative (because 1, this is solely a love square fic and 2, I feel like the show just inserted the two for conflict in the love square which - imo is unnecessary and also who needs a love triangle/septuple/decatuple?? - the love square is already complicated as it is!). Also, should I put in the miraculous team and bad!Chloe..hmmm..

ANYWAY

Stories have a way of writing themselves out so let's see where this leads us! I hope you liked it!

If you're a new reader, thank you so much for reading this fic! If you're an original reader, thank you so much for coming back to reading this (even after my late-ass update) and if you're an original original DiD reader, thank you so much for reading this and coming back to read it (even if you know what's coming later). I've made too many promises on when I'm updating and never making up for it, so this is me updating and making up for it, but no longer giving a set date on the next update (because I suck at deadlines). But really, thanks for reading through this fic and I hope you stick around :D

See y'all next time!