The moment Adrien called off his transformation, he made a beeline for his closet, searching frantically for the blue scarf. He frantically tossed his clothes around, muttering to himself the entire time. Plagg floated nearby, watching his charm make a mess of the room.

"Kid relax, Pigtails isn't upset with you—" Plagg said.

"—but I'm upset with me!" Adrien whirled around, unbidden tears welling up in his eyes, "Marinette's been in love with me for how long and I didn't notice?"

It made so much sense.

The blushes, the stuttering, the clumsiness—every single thing Marinette did around Adrien indicated that she had feelings for him. And, of course, he didn't read into it.

"That explains what happened at the wax museum and—" he gasped in horror, "I literally had her help me on a date with Kagami at the ice rink!"

How could he have known? He thought she was in love with Luka this entire time!

"I thought it was Luka she loved, not me!" Adrien cried, "She even told me that she wasn't interested in me…why would she lie about that?"

"Have you seen the way she acts around you?"

"I know, but I thought she was just shy in general?"

"Wow, Adrien," Plagg commented, "You really didn't notice that it was just you Marinette was shy around?"

Adrien ignored the kwami, continuing to dig through his closet.

He found Marinette's gift, the lovely sky blue scarf he wore frequently, in the back, delicately folded over a hanger. Carefully unfolding the garment, he brushed his fingers against the material, reveling in its softness.

How many hours did it take Marinette to make this scarf? Did she pull all-nighters? Did she stick her finger by accident?

"This was the only gift I received on my birthday," Adrien said. "Marinette took the time to make this with her own two hands because she…" his cheeks warmed, "…she cares about me. And she didn't say anything when I said it was from my father because I was so happy about receiving it!"

He strode into his bedroom, tearing open his desk drawers, fishing out his unsigned Valentine's Day card and the prescription note she handed him before he went to London. Everything was falling in place, and Adrien felt out of breath. Wordlessly, he whipped out his phone, and shot a text to Nino.

Adrien: Hey man, do you still have that video everyone made for me? The one my cousin deleted?
Nino: Ya. What's up?
Adrien: Can you resend it? There's something I wanted to check out.
Nino: No prob! Gimme a sec.

The following minutes were agonizing, as Adrien was staring intensely at his phone, waiting for the video file to finish downloading. Plagg observed the teen from his camembert throne nearby.

"Y'know, staring at it isn't going to make the video come faster!"

"I know, but I'm so nervous!" Adrien whined, "I find out an hour ago that Marinette was in love with me the entire time, and I just…" he hesitated, trying to figure out what he wanted to say.

"You just want to hear it yourself?" Plagg finished. Adrien nodded and the kwami groaned, tossing a chunk of cheese into his mouth, "I don't understand you humans. Cheese is way easier to understand."

Adrien opened his mouth to respond but was immediately distracted by the soft chiming of his phone. He yelped, and grabbed it, swiping open his messages. The video Nino sent was nearly one minute long.

His finger shook over the little "play" icon in the center of the screen.

"What are you waiting for?" Plagg demanded. Adrien bit his lip, his thoughts beginning to accelerate beyond recognition. Yes, what was he waiting for?

To confirm that Marinette was, in fact, head over heels in love with him and he unintentionally stomped over her heart like it was an every day chore?

To see if he was truly as oblivious as he currently believed, and that this whole "relationship" business was a lot tricker than he believed?

To see how he felt once he watched Marinette's video? To verify that he'd jumped into this dance with Kagami before he was actually ready, and that it was coming back to haunt him now that he's realizing that not hesitating might not be the best choice for all situations?

"C'mon Adrien…" he murmured to himself.

He held his breath and hit "play," anxiously watching the video play before him. He's remembered that day quite vividly. After all, it was the anniversary of his mother's disappearance. His Aunt Amelie and cousin Felix showed up unannounced, and Felix had made quite a mess of things.

Adrien still wasn't sure whether or not he forgave his surly cousin all the way.

Clip after clip, he watched as his friends comforted Adrien with kind words, a soft smile on his face. It faded the slightest bit with Chloe appeared on screen, offering her support as well. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered what Chloe would have thought of this whole thing?

Then again, Chloe wasn't the best at building relationships.

He wondered if he'd ever be able to face his childhood friend again, after what happened between them and Ladybug. After all, if he was being quite honest, had it not been for Miracle Queen, Master Fu would have still been around.

Ladybug wouldn't have been guardian.

She would have been getting normal hours of sleep, living a semi-normal life, not worrying about guarding the Miracle box or suffering from panic attacks.

Ladybug wouldn't feel so alone.

"Adrien, I love you—"

"Ladybug?" Adrien realized he'd been distracted from the video, and immediately summoned his concentration. Shy bluebell eyes filled his screen. He forgot for a moment that he was looking for Marinette, not Ladybug, but wow did they sound so similar to him.

It wouldn't be the first time that I've mixed them up, he thought to himself.

He rewound the video and pressed play, right as Marinette began her piece.

"Adrien, I love you," she said with a quiet confidence that sent his heart slamming into his ribcage, "And I'll always be there if you need me."

The video faded to black, and Adrien sat quietly, allowing Marinette's words to wash over him.

She loved him. Hearing Marinette Dupain-Cheng admit to Adrien that she was in love with him, and to hear her say those words, opened a part of Adrien that he didn't know existed. Warmth filled his cheeks and butterflies fluttered in his stomach.

"She loves me…" Adrien whispered to himself.

Plagg mercifully remained quiet, observing his charge from nearby.

"She loves me," Adrien repeated again, the words feeling less foreign on his tongue. "Plagg, Marinette loves me."

He didn't know whether to laugh or cry because he realized two things at the same time:

1.) Marinette Dupain-Cheng was in love with him and had loved him this entire time.

2.) Adrien had unintentionally broken her heart the day he decided to let go of Ladybug and explore his feelings for Kagami.

The butterflies that were there quickly disappeared, replaced with a cold, sinking feeling.

He'd hurt Marinette.

More tears sprung to his eyes at the realization.

Cautiously, he wrapped the blue scarf around his neck, burying his nose into the soft material. What else had Marinette done for him secretly? She'd done so many selfless things out of love for him, and he knew absolutely none of it!

Marinette sacrificed her own happiness for the sake of him and potentially Kagami. He knew how Marinette Dupain-Cheng was; she'd do anything for her friends. She was absolutely capable of breaking her own heart to make her friends happy.

But if Adrien was going to be completely honest with himself?

He wasn't happy.

He still felt alone.

And while Kagami helped to fill that void, he wasn't exactly sure a romantic venture with her was the right way to go about these things.

"This is all my fault," he breathed.

"Adrien, no!" Plagg replied, abandoning his camembert, "It's not like you knew about it."

"I always knew there was something about how Marinette acted around me," Adrien admitted sadly, "I just chose to ignore it because I was so focused on Ladybug. Somewhere deep down, I knew."

Adrien knew that there were people out there who fawned over him. He was a celebrity, it was normal. But to have his good friend harbor affections for him? Only to let it go because she just wanted him to be happy? And to have all this go down right under his nose?

"I wish she'd said something…" Adrien whispered.

"What would you have done?" Plagg asked, "You're already in love with Ladybug, and you're trying to see how you feel about Kagami."

"I know, I know! I just…" he sat on his piano bench and ran his fingers up the keys.

He thought about if had been Marinette instead of Kagami who confessed her feelings to him. How would he have felt? She'd confessed to him before, as Chat Noir, but he rejected her because of his loyalty to Ladybug.

"And she confessed to me as Chat Noir too!" Adrien groaned, covering his eyes and leaning forward onto the piano. His elbow banged the keys, the discordant noise echoing in her cavernous bedroom, "I'm a horrible friend."

"Adrien, Marinette was only doing that for you," Plagg reasoned, "She just wanted you to be happy!"

Adrien understood that.

He understood and adored Marinette for always thinking about him and for being a far better friend than he felt he deserved.

"I've been as happy as I can be," Adrien agreed, "but…"

Marinette had the right to reserve her own secrets. After all, he had plenty of his own. But if Adrien was going to be honest with himself?

"I wish Marinette had stayed for ice cream."

He thought of how run down and under the weather Marinette had appeared immediately after Chloe's akumatization. He recalled how she spent less time around him and how Alya was always there to drag the girl away when he entered the room.

He remembered how Alya responded when he and Nino proposed that they went on a double date. In front of Marinette. Yet another testament to his obliviousness. No wonder Alya looked like she wanted to beat both him and Nino.

Piece after piece fell into place for Adrien and he came to one conclusion.

"Marinette is too good for any of this."

"Adrien…"

"It's true!" he snapped, "How many months had she been in love with me? Doing all these things for me to make sure that I was fractionally less miserable locked up in this…this—" he gestured wildly around him, "tower?! And I didn't know about any of it!"

He hastily wiped away at a stray tear, and stood from the piano bench, pacing his bedroom.

"I'm so tired of not knowing anything!" he said, "How can I be happy knowing Marinette's in pain? Because of me? Because she wanted to make me happy?"

"What are you trying to say?" Plagg was uncharacteristically calm, staring at Adrien with wide eyes.

Yes, what was he trying to say?

He closed his eyes, filling his mind with thoughts of Marinette. How was he so lucky to have a friend this wonderful?

Sure, Adrien was so happy to have come to school to meet all his other friends, but Marinette was different.

"I just want Adrien to be happy. That's all I want."

Marinette was special to him.

She was special in a way that was different from Nino or Chloe or even Kagami.

But why?

Adrien wasn't sure of it himself, but he was determined to find out.

"I want to be happy, Plagg," Adrien answered at last, "Truly happy. I want to make my own informed choices that make me happy. I want the truth."

He wasn't going to accept half-truths at face value anymore.

Adrien took a swig of his tea and slumped into his chair. He'd only gotten two hours of rest before Nathalie woke him up for a photoshoot with Lila Rossi at Le Grand Paris. He frowned.

In the past, he'd been more than willing to give the girl the benefit of the doubt, but after going out of her way to hurt Ladybug, and then hurting Marinette? Adrien could say with the utmost confidence that he could not stand the company of the liar.

Lila was seated in the chair next to his, her face freshly made up. She smirked at him, her forest green eyes appreciatively eyeing Adrien. He leaned away from her, not wanting to feel her body heat against his skin.

"How's your project going with Marinette?" she asked.

"It's going well," he replied quickly. "We chose China, so we get to ask Marinette's mother about some things."

"How lucky!" Lila gasped, "I wish Alya and I had the same kind of luck. We were going to do a presentation on the Miraculous stones in Tibet, but Marinette—" she said her name with a sharpness that put Adrien on edge, "—told Alya that it wouldn't be a great idea."

Adrien knew. After all, he was in the room when that conversation took place, and he 100% agreed with her as well. Who knew what kind of danger they'd all be in if that information was released to the public?

"Well, you guys still have plenty of time," Adrien shrugged, "Miss Bustier just assigned it yesterday—"

"This is just a big part of our grade, and I'd hate for me and Alya's grades to suffer because of something Marinette said," Lila said innocently, "We were really looking forward to the project. I even told her that Ladybug gave us her blessing since we're best—"

Adrien fixed Lila with a hard stare, "Lila, you and I both know that you and Ladybug are the furthest thing from friends."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Adrien," Lila replied, feigning hurt, "I'm just saying that Ladybug already gave us her permission, and Marinette doesn't believe me. I wonder how Miss Bustier would respond if I told her that Marinette was sabotaging our project?"

"Stay away from Marinette," the voice that left Adrien's mouth was less of himself and more of an angry Chat Noir. In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to stand in between Lila Rossi and Marinette.

He'd done it before, which was how he got landed in this situation, but knowing what he knew now…those feelings, that need to protect her intensified.

He wasn't going to let anyone hurt his friend.

To Lila's credit, she didn't react to Adrien's hostile response, instead shaking her head and standing from her chair.

"Oh my! I must have touched a nerve," Lila turned her back on Adrien, "I think I'll go see how the setup is going."

She moved to leave, but stopped abruptly, looking over her shoulder. Lila shot Adrien a sly look before saying, "You know, you might want to be careful about that temper of yours. Your girlfriend might get the wrong idea about you and Marinette."

With scoff, she flounced away, leaving Adrien alone in his chair.

He gritted his teeth. That Lila! He didn't know how Marinette was able to deal with her in school, but now that she was causing problems for him as well, he supposed he didn't blame Marinette for wanting to expose the liar as soon as possible.

She was absolutely ridiculous.

Annoyed, Adrien pulled out his lucky charm, counting the beads repeatedly to calm himself. He ran his fingers along the smooth green and pink beads, rolling each bead between his fingers before moving onto the next one.

This was probably the best gift he had received from Marinette.

A gentle knock at the door caught Adrien's attention, and he turned towards the sound. Kagami leaned on the door frame, beaming softly at Adrien. He waved in greeting.

"What are you doing here?"

"My mother had an appointment with Nathalie," she shrugged, "I guess it was important enough to cancel my morning fencing lesson; I got to sleep in for a bit."

"Lucky," he huffed, sinking lower into his chair, "I've been here for two hours already."

"I heard," she replied, "Passed by that girl you model with now. Lila?"

"Oh yeah," Adrien grumbled, holding his charm up to his nose, continuing to run his fingers along the beads, "new campaign. It was all my father's idea."

Kagami's eyes followed the movement, focusing immediately on the charm. She tilted her head, "What's that?"

Adrien held up the charm, "This?"

She nodded.

For a moment, Adrien hesitated, unsure of how to answer her. Oh, you know, Marinette? My friend Marinette who was apparently in love with me and broke her own heart so I could court you? Marinette? Our everyday Ladybug, your friend who you get orange juice with?

Marinette, my very good friend?

Adrien didn't want to lay this all out on Kagami. It wasn't her fault, and to be frank, he couldn't expose Marinette's secrets like that when he wasn't supposed to know in the first place. He could feel Plagg underneath his coat, patting his side, offering him his comfort.

Just tell the truth.

"Marinette gave it to me a long time ago," he admitted quietly, "It's my lucky charm."

Kagami clicked her tongue, "Well, it can't be that lucky since you're spending your morning with Lila Rossi," she replied, "I'll make you a new one. Hopefully it'll bring you better luck."

Adrien's hands clutched tightly at his charm. He held it protectively against his chest, "It's okay!" he said to Kagami, "This one is special to me…"

Kagami was quiet for a moment, pursing her lips thoughtfully. Adrien appreciated the sentiment, he really did, but he could not part ways with Marinette's lucky charm.

She eyed Adrien's charm for what seemed like hours before speaking again, her voice low and calm.

"That girl you were in love with…" Kagami began, "…who was she?"

Adrien clutched Marinette's charm tightly in his fingers, sensing something dangerous in the air. Glancing over at Kagami, he noted the girl's golden brown eyes were sharp, scanning Adrien's face for any kind of answer. He turned towards Kagami all the way now, arms at his side.

"Where is this coming from?" he asked cautiously, "You've never asked me this before…"

"Don't avoid the question," she replied.

"I'm not!" Adrien cried, "I just don't understand where this is all coming from…"

"I simply asked who this girl who you're so hung up on is," Kagami explained sharply, "She clearly doesn't deserve you—" Adrien flinched at the detached way Kagami spoke of Ladybug, "—so why are you wasting your time pining after her?"

"T-That's hardly a fair assessment of her," he stammered, "She's a good person, and the situation is complicated. Was complicated."

"It's only complicated because you aren't allowing yourself to move past it," Kagami countered, stepping forward. Gently, she took hold of Adrien's hand in hers, peering up into his eyes. The sharpness that was there before was replaced with something raw.

Something earnest and honest.

"I'm only telling you this because I care about you, Adrien," Kagami admitted softly. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Kagami…"

"I don't understand, Adrien!" she continued, emotion seeping into her voice, "We have so much in common! We spend so much time together, and let's be real here, you're the only person my mother will approve of. I'm the only person your father will approve of."

She spoke the truth, and yet somewhere in the back of Adrien's mind, he felt that his soulmate was somewhere else. He couldn't quite explain it, but he knew that there was a great love story in store for him.

It just wasn't with Kagami Tsurugi, regardless of what their situation said.

It wasn't very long ago that he'd been getting ice cream with Kagami, blissfully unaware of everything around him. She was still one of the most wonderful people he'd ever met, but the thought of being with her in a romantic sense, despite what he was being told, now made him feel as if something was wrong.

He wondered for a moment if things would have been any different had he not helped Master Fu that one fateful afternoon. Would he have fallen in love with Kagami? Would he have been able to live his life with her and their parents' approval? Would he have been happy knowing that he ultimately didn't have a choice in the matter in the end?

The charm clutched tightly in his free hand spoke of a different reality that pointed to the one fact that was glaringly obvious.

He wasn't meant to be Kagami's.

Kagami wasn't meant to be his.

"Our lives are set up to run a certain way," Adrien began quietly, "My father has spent years ensuring that I was raised to be the perfect gentleman. The perfect model. The perfect son."

"As has my mother," Kagami agreed.

"Right," he nodded, "but I've realized fairly recently that the standards our parents impose on us is impossible to satisfy. I can't be the perfect person I'm expected to be, I can only be myself!"

Adrien thought of Marinette. Sweet, kind, clever, shy, amazing Marinette, who kept loving him even though he kept unintentionally hurting her. Who always thinks of others' happiness first to a self-sacrificing degree. Lovely Marinette, who encouraged him and gave him the strength to take a leap of faith and to claim his own future for himself. To make his own choices.

He thought of Ladybug. Beautiful, brave, brilliant, wonderful Ladybug, who was forced to take on the role of guardian. Would she have lived a normal life otherwise? Instead of having the normal live she deserved, she was saddled with fighting a fight that they had nothing to do with. To reward her for her dedication, she's given a role that rouses her from her sleep in the dead of night, out of breath and almost always in tears. She is forced to safeguard timeless magical jewels that have the ability to rip apart the universe should they end up in the wrong hands.

These two amazing girls making such a powerful impact in Adrien's life, inspiring him to be kinder to himself, and to recognize and live his truth.

He didn't want Kagami to suffer like he was.

"We don't have to live like this, Kagami," Adrien said. "The rules, the lifestyle—all of it. Just because a path was laid down before us doesn't mean it's set in stone."

"But we can create our own path together," Kagami argued, stepping closer to Adrien. "You chose me, not Marinette—"

Adrien blinked, "Wait, what does Marinette have to do with this?"

"The ice cream man by the river said that our flavors were the ideal combination," she interrupted, "we're meant to be together, Adrien. Why can't you see that?"

Pain was evident in her eyes, and Adrien wanted nothing more than to reach out and take the pain away. But he also knew that telling her what she wanted to hear only prolonged the inevitable.

When he didn't answer, Kagami turned about face and marched away, disappearing down the hall.

"That could've been worse," Plagg commented from Adrien's breast pocket. The teen looked down at his kwami, concerned for Kagami.

"Plagg, what do I do?" Adrien asked, "I didn't want to hurt Kagami…"

"You can't do much, kid," Plagg replied casually, "You already said your piece. She needs to figure out what she wants. The best thing you did was to be honest with her."

"You think so?"

"I know so," Plagg said sagely, "the most important thing is your happiness. Take it from Pigtails, you can't live your life trying to make others happy."

Adrien lifted Marinette's charm to eye level and ran his thumb along the smooth beads. Hadn't he said he was going to be making his own decisions from now on?

"You're right," he was on his way to reclaim his life and regardless of how it played out, Adrien knew that from here on out, these choices were 100% his and his only.