Very sorry for the time between updates! My laptop broke a while ago, and I'm not the most well-off guy out there so getting the money to fix it took some time. Tried to reach out on the subreddit, but not sure it actually reached anybody.. regardless, I'll try to update more frequently!

Atop the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, a regular meeting place for the heroic duo of Paris, one of said heroes sat awaiting her partner while observing an old, strangely decorated object with a sort of intense focus that would have unnerved anyone who could see her and didn't understand exactly what this object – known as the Miracle Box – represented.

Normally Marinette wouldn't have been keeping it out in the open like she was, but one of the reasons she and Chat Noir kept meeting here was the view – not only was it breathtaking, but they would easily be able to see anybody coming or trying to sneak up on them – so long as they never met up before 10 p.m.

Furthermore, the Miracle Box – and everything it represented – was the main reason she and Chat we're going to meet up tonight. In fact, they had planned this meeting about a week in advance – it was the weekend, which meant neither of them would have to get up for school, and coincidentally Chat's father would be out of town for a week (or so he said) and her parents were away on a massive catering job for a holiday resort in the countryside as well. Normally they don't share so many details of their personal lives, but in this case she'd made an exception – their conversation could, after all, take very long or become extremely emotional – and neither of them could afford to be found missing.

Marinette had, in fact, gone straight to sleep after coming home from school so she wouldn't be too tired if she stayed out late tonight.

She.. honestly wasn't sure what to think about all of this. She loved being Ladybug! From the adrenaline of an Akuma battle, to the unbreakable bond with Chat Noir, to helping the police handle petty criminals when she and Chat came across them on patrol.. but it took a lot out of her. Both in time and energy – not to mention she still felt bad for lying to her friends and her parents when she had to sneak away to transform.

It was hard, and occasionally stressful, yet she could deal with it. Had learned to deal with it over these last few years. Becoming the Guardian though.. it was a whole other set of responsibilities! Not to mention the worry of protecting the Miracle Box, keeping her identity secret and the other Kwami safe while having to decide which people to trust with a Miraculous – this on top of being Ladybug! If she.. even remained Ladybug.

She shook her head, trying to clear it of those thoughts while glaring at the Miracle Box as if it had personally offended her..

Which is of course how Chat found her.

"Sooo.. do I have to start calling you Mistress instead of My Lady now? Personally I have no problem with that, buuut we do have a certain level of PG to maintain towards our younger fans, no? Perhaps My Lady in public, and Mistress in private..?" he finished with a completely silly eyebrow wiggle she wished she didn't have to bite her lip to avoid laughing at.

Instead she tapped into the well of confidence she always felt as Ladybug and slowly eyed him up and down, trying not to bask in the faint blush she saw him develop in response to her checking him out (as a joke, not because of any developing feelings for him, thank you very much).

Raising her hand to her chain in mock seriousness as he sat down across from her with the Miracle Box between them she simply said: "Ahh, so that's the reason for the skin-tight leather suit is it? Alas Chaton, while I won't shame you for any of your kinks, I'm not the mistress you're looking for."

Seeing him sputter indignantly (and she could count on one hand how many times she had managed to render him speechless without pushing him off a roof) made her burst out into laughter, suddenly raising her mood even further.

She laughed so hard she almost missed the slight smirk on his face and immediately realised his embarrassment had been somewhat staged in order to cheer her up, and felt a sudden warm rush of affection for this boy whose name she didn't even know yet wouldn't hesitate to trust with her life (even ignoring everything they'd been through together, trust falls from the top of the Eifel Tower had a marked effect on their teamwork).

..And tonight she might have to make the decision to give up this.. partnership, this bond that was so much stronger than any of her civilian relationships.

Chat must have noticed her mood become sombre again, because he gave her a lopsided, sad smile and asked in of the most frailest tones of voice she'd ever head him use: "So what's the plan, LB? I know Master Fu said it would be better for you to focus.. full time on either being Ladybug or the Guardian, but.. we both know that isn't as much of a choice as it seems. After all, if Master Fu couldn't find anyone else to be Guardian after all this time, how would we do it before the next Akuma attack..?"

Marinette felt her eyes tear up a bit at how sad he sounded, as well as for herself and the choice she needed to make.

"Look Chat, even if we.. if I need to give up my miraculous to protect all the others anonymously it doesn't mean..-" she started, before being cut off.

"If you need to give up your Miraculous? Don't get me wrong Bugaboo, I love being Chat Noir, but there is no way I'd continue with another Ladybug. No one else could ever take your place, you know that right? Oh sure, there were Ladybugs before you and there will likely be Ladybugs long after we're gone – but none of them have ever been nor could ever be My Lady. I realise you're in charge now LB, but the rule about us working together? That's one you shouldn't change," Chat finished almost breathlessly.

Marinette had been actively holding back tears towards the end of his speech, until something he said just clicked in her mind, the way her Lucky Charms usually did. And suddenly her sadness, her doubt and anxiety was gone – replaced with determination. Standing up, she walked a few steps away before turning back to Chat and addressing him with a confident voice that didn't reveal a hint of her inner nervousness.

"You're right Minou, it isn't a rule I should get rid of.. this is though."

And with a flash of light, where Ladybug had stood before was now Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Blushing a bit at the realisation that she was currently wearing the Chat Noir hoodie she had made for herself – bell-shaped zipper, cat ears and green-pawprint-patterns clearly visible – she nevertheless gave him a small wave and introduced herself:

"Hi.. I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng, part-time superhero and aspiring designer."

Something in Adrien finally snapped loose at her cheery yet nervous greeting. He suddenly got up and stared at her before finally saying:

"You.. but you.. you can't be Ladybug! It wouldn't make.. Oh! That's it, isn't it? This is some sort of strange dream brought on by Plagg's cheese-fumes!"

Marinette seemed to think he meant she couldn't be Ladybug because he had seen Ladybug and Marinette at the same time during the Multimouse incident, and started explaining how she had done it; but he just waved her off and continued:

"No look, it's not about being physically impossible! We are the magical avatars of these ancient beings who don't age with powers beyond human understanding yet can fit into a shirt pocket! I can deal with things that shouldn't be physically possible, but it would be ridiculously unlucky if you of all people were Ladybug!"

It was at the end of this rant that he noticed the affronted – and somewhat hurt expression on her face. He winced internally and knew he should probably just stop talking but.. well frankly, he was too far into a mental breakdown to be thinking clearly or acting rationally.

"Look Marinette, I don't mean that you aren't capable of being a hero – I mean look at you! At everything you've done, both in and out of the mask! You being Ladybug is.. it's just.."

Noticing her expression still stuck on the strange mixture between effrontery and hurt, he finally snapped out of his downward spiral.

"I'm not explaining this right.. Okay, let me try again;" and after taking a deep breath he did just that:

"Where to even start.. probably the start I guess. You assumed for the longest time that I was just someone who flirted with any girl since I started on the day I met you.. but it was on the very first day we met that I developed a crush on you. The confident way you faced down Hawk Moth, got the city on our side and reassured everyone that we would be there to protect and save them? I was.. I was completely in awe of you. You were actually my first crush, and it was almost like I'd guess crushing on a celebrity would be like – yet, the more time we spent together, the more I got to know you.. it didn't take long before I fell completely in love with you. I mean what's not to love? Your innate kindness with a core of steely determination? The confidence you act with in any situation, even when I know you have worries or doubts? The selfless nature of someone giving up so much of their time and risking their life to be a hero for no reason other than it being the right thing to do? It really was too easy to fall for you.. but at the end you didn't feel the same. Still, I thought I could win you over with time and effort.. but you eventually told me about the boy you have feelings for, and I backed off. That doesn't mean I got over you by any definition of the term, but I focused on being your friend, and for a while it was enough. My feelings were in Limbo – I didn't act on them nor did I let them grow.. but they never went anywhere either."

At this point Chat sat back down, looking at Marinette/Ladybug and seeing her watching him with an wide eyes, mouth open and a faint blush on her cheeks.

Chuckling humourlessly, he leaned back on his hands and looked up at the stars, before continuing:

"Then – without me even realising it at first – something changed. Suddenly Ladybug wasn't the only girl on my mind. I had gotten to know an absolutely incredible girl; with a smile that could melt the ice-caps, and these eyes that were.. I'm sure that if her voice wasn't so pleasant to hear, people would just stare at her nodding away senselessly. She is one of the most genuinely good people I've ever met – in all the years I've known her, I don't think she's ever turned down anyone who asked her for help. Not that she's a pushover! She simply loves helping people, but if you mess with the people she cares about she is.. fierce. And so without ever consciously deciding it, I started to compare Ladybug to this girl, rather than the other way around.. And you know what I realised?"

It was at this point that he looked down from the sky and straight into Marinette's eyes, before saying softly:

"Ladybug is my partner, my best friend and while I have loved her for years I would eventually be able to move on from being in love with her. Marinette though.. If I allowed myself to fall in love with this girl? This beautiful, funny, adorably clumsy girl..? I don't think I'd ever want to move on."

His speech seemed to have shocked her completely – she had suddenly sat down as well, and while her eyes were still wide her hands were now covering her mouth, making it difficult for him to read her expression. Nevertheless, he continued speaking, now determined to get everything he was feeling out there:

"So that is why, Princess, I so selfishly find it unlucky that Marinette Dupain-Cheng is the one behind the Ladybug mask, even if it is one of the luckiest things that could have happened for the rest of Paris. There are more than a million women in this city, and I've only ever been in love with two – yet now I find they are one in the same. I could have moved on from my feelings for Ladybug, and I could have continued lying to myself about my feelings for Marinette... but there is no way on Earth that I can deny being irrevocably and uncontrollably in love with you. I thought I had a difficult choice, between my feelings for Ladybug or Marinette, but at the end.. I never had a choice but to love you. Which really shouldn't surprise me as much as it did – who else could possibly be trusted with the powers of the Ladybug Miraculous more than you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng?"

Here Chat gave a sad smile, and once again looked up at the stars before finishing quietly:

"At the same time, I know Ladybug has feelings for someone else, which means that Marinette has feelings for someone else. So I need to somehow forget my feelings for both of you - all of you - and accept that I can't hold you tightly against me and kiss you senseless – no matter how every part, every atom of my being is screaming at me to do just that. To forget everything I've ever heard you say about this other guy, forget anything not to do with how soft your lips look or how your eyes look like the midnight sky; mesmerising dark blue filled with stars.. To just steal you away for myself..-"

The words had barely left his mouth when he was surprised by a warm weight settling on his lap.

"Wait, what are you.." was all he got out before she was kissing him and any possibility of coherent thoughts or speech became almost non-existent.

Marinette wasn't sure where her sudden confidence or sense of urgency that lead to her straddling Chat Noir and kissing him like her life depended on it.. actually no, scratch that. She knew exactlywhat lead to this - she'd like to meet the girl that could remain hesitant or aloof when the boy they had been crushing on gave them a speech like that. Sure, she had worried that it was a mistake when he remained frozen in surprise but said worry only lasted about as long as it took him to snap out of his daze, wrap his arms around her and kiss her back.

And kwami what a kiss it was.

They had actually kissed twice before (though she didn't really count the Dark Cupid one) and the kiss during the Oblivio incident was a haze of vague impressions and the partial memory of a kiss she hadn't allowed herself to dwell on except late at night when no one could see her blush or the frustration it brought her.. because despite never speaking the thought aloud, the Oblivio crisis had confirmed something for her she was too afraid to even let herself consider for long. That simple yet eternally gnawing question she sometimes couldn't shut out..

What if?

She wasn't even sure when she first thought the question; it just started to pop into her mind after those days when Chat Noir made her blush, or took another Akuma attack for her, or came to check up on Marinette afterwards if the akuma battle was near the bakery or any of a dozen other actions that kept her mind on him for the day.

What if she had crushed on Chat first?

The part of her that was in love with Adrien, the part that wanted to believe in love at first sight and soul mates always denied this - claiming that even if she had developed a small crush on Chat first, developing one on Adrien would have overridden it because.. well, just because. She ignored Tikki saying that love doesn't work that way, and believed the voice that said that even if Adrien wasn't in the picture, she wouldn't have fallen for Chat as hard as she had for Adrien. Oblivio, oddly enough, gave her a window into that possibility and proved that that statement was factually true..

She fell harder for Chat than she had for Adrien.

Even if she didn't want to acknowledge it, it was the only thing that made sense. She wasn't the type of girl to just kiss any guy who expressed interest, nor was she the type to kiss someone without expressing her feelings (or extenuating circumstances, but Oblivio was already beaten and thus ruled that out) - which meant in the space of a day with Chat and nothing holding her back, she developed and admitted feelings for him and felt strongly enough about it to kiss him, thinking it might be her last memory before her own were returned.

Who was the boy behind the mask who could steal her heart so easily?

That messed up her emotions completely for a while. She had felt like her heart was being torn in two; she had had to admit that at this point she had feelings for both Chat Noir and Adrien. The worst was she had no idea how to deal with it - both of them held such an equal place in her heart she wouldn't have been able to make a choice if her life depended on it..

Her thoughts were suddenly stopped by her brain screaming air! because yes she was still kissing Chat and she wasn't sure she ever wanted to stop except suddenly it wasn't a choice and they both pulled apart with a gasp.

They just stayed in that position - foreheads touching, her arms around his neck and his arms around her waist - breathing deeply and trying to think of the words to say to each other. Eventually Chat pulled his head back so that he could look into her eyes and the emotion she saw in his almost had her melting.

She saw him swallow and open and close his mouth a few times before finally speaking:

"A part of me wants to slap myself for even questioning this, but am I dreaming? Or is this some akuma-based illusion or.." was as far as he got before she decided that was enough of that (she knew full well how Chat had some insecurities he tried to keep hidden) and kissed him again, though not as.. intensely.. this time.

"Do you.."

"Have any idea.."

"How long.."

"Or how hard.."

"I've been trying.."

"To ignore my feelings for you?" she asked, interspersing each statement with another kiss.

"I- you-.. but, what?" he managed to sputter out during his daze, and it took her about a second to start giggling at his expression which turned into full blown laughter as his expression went from hazy confusion to indignant pouting.

"Oh Chaton, did you really think there was no point during these last few years where I even considered feelings for you? When you take akuma attacks meant for me, trusting that I'd either heal you or free you? Never doubting that we could overcome anything together? I've known I was in love with you for a while now.. I just couldn't admit it. It felt like there were two parts of me, each trying to convince the other about who to love - but tonight made me realise something."

"Was it what a CATch I am?" he interjected with his usual smirk on his face, though she could tell that it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"In a way.. it pretty much was? I.. am not a selfish person. I try to be helpful and kind because that's what people should be if we want to make the world a better place; and while I love being Ladybug, having a secret identity means I need to lie to my friends and family.. But I want to be selfish when it comes to you, Chat Noir."

Adrien wasn't entirely sure what all this meant for the two of them. He wasn't entirely sure he understood what she meant about being selfish when it came to him either; he was, however, sure that it made him want to kiss her again.

Personally he felt he deserved a reward for refraining because he could tell she wasn't done speaking yet.. largely because his eyes kept dropping down to her lips which he really wanted to - no! Focus now, be distracted later!

He was brought out of his ponderings by the sound of her swallowing, followed by her continuing in a hesitant voice:

"My feelings for.. the other guy have been.. well, before tonight I would have said they were unshakeable. He's an all-round great guy, we have similar tastes in games, music - even our friends get along. He's nice to everyone, whether he knows them personally or not, and amazingly talented for someone our age.. even if his father forces him to do so many extra-curricular activities and I know he doesn't enjoy all of it because he wants to make his family proud."

Adrien was trying really hard not to be jealous of the praises his partner were heaping on Monsieur Mystère - and failing spectacularly. Until her next words registered:

"..that's the thing! All the things I like about him are valid, but they are also everything people would bring up if asked to describe him! Which doesn't mean I don't like the real him, it's just.. well you are most of those things too. Yet you also love me. On both sides of the mask - the clumsy girl who overthinks everything, and the aloof heroine who kept trying to push you away. Tonight.. hearing how strong your feelings for me are? It just made me realise that if I had to choose between two great guys, I could be selfish for once. I could let your love for me be the deciding factor - I could choose to love you as much as you love me.. and any lingering doubts about Adrien just burned away. I love you, Mon Chaton, and right now that's all that matters."

He was pretty sure there was, in fact, something else that mattered that she had mentioned but before he could focus on it she was kissing him again, and oh wow this was even more intense than the first kiss, and so his brain went from asking 'what did the pretty girl just say..?' to 'Pretty girl on your lap kissing you senseless, you can think when you're dead'.

Okay, so he probably wouldn't be able to think when he was dead, but he didn't really care about making sense at this point anymore. Right now he was a teenage boy who had the girl (girls?) of his dreams in his arms, making out on a cloudless night at a place where nobody could disturb them with a view few would ever see - he was socially awkward, not stupid.

And to think that now that I know Ladybug is Marinette we could even do this as civili..- Oh! There was the thing I was ignoring! She still doesn't know my secret identity; we should probably keep our identities apart though. So Chat Noir can date Ladybug, and Marinette could date Adri..

Wait.

There was no way.. Right?

"Uhh Marinette..? When you said the guy's name was Adrien, did you mean the one in your class? Great looking blond guy, part time model for his father's company?"

Marinette's pout at him ceasing their kissing to talk (and damn him, but it couldn't be legal for someone to make the same expression seem both adorable and enticing) and only raised a surprised eyebrow at his description of.. well. Himself.

"Yeah..? Do I need to worry about him stealing you from me..?" she asked with a little mocking smirk.

Adrien just grinned.

"Maribug.. Ladynette.. Girl of my dreams and love of my life.." and here he paused to detransform - pulling a small gasp from her, "I do believe that our situation is an argument in favour of people having soul mates, or what do you think?"

Marinette just stared at him, wide-eyed, mind connecting all the dots before she grinned back at him and said:

"I think.. that we are going to rather enjoy seeing each other as Adrien and Marinette a lot more than we used to" and with that, started leaning towards him again.

Huh. Great minds do think alike.

This story was partly inspired by inspired by "Under New Management" by DOMinMatrix; also recommend checking out their other story "Checking Sources" - very fun to read.