The only thing on Marinette's mind right now was that she had hurt Adrien and Chat Noir. She felt horrible after realizing that Alya and Nino were right. She had kept encouraging Adrien to be friends with her without admitting her true feelings. She had been stringing along Chat by letting him flirt with her even though she had told him long ago that she was in love with another boy. Over the past couple of years she had softened towards him. Not rebuffing him as often or as hard when his flirting got a little heavy.

Adrien was keeping pace with her, albet from a distance. "Mari!" He shouted. "Mari please slow down! Stop! I want to talk with you! I need to talk with you!" He had pulled on his jacket as he was running. He was starting to get tired as he chased her down another street. As he ran his mind went over the similarities he had finally noticed between Marinette and Ladybug. The way they both would stand up for what was right, comfort those in need and helped out others whenever she could. As he ran, in his mind, both women blurred into one and he knew there was no way he could let her go. He loved her, all of her.

Marinette was getting winded. While she was in great shape because of her superhero duties, without the suit she couldn't run as long as Ladybug. She couldn't face him. She needed time. Time to think and see if she could understand it all. She needed to get away faster. She ducked down an alleyway and looked into her purse, intending to transform and flee. "Tikki, spots ... ahh... Plagg?!" It had been a while since she had seen Chat Noir's kwami. And here he was, in her purse, curled around Tikki, grinning at her.

Adrien almost dashed past the alley Marinette had gone down when he heard her call out, Plagg?! He ran back and looked at her, they were both panting hard and out of breath.

Plagg floated up out of the purse she was holding up. Before Plagg could say anything Adrien rushed to Marinette and pulled her close by her waist and kissed her. She dropped her purse to her side and tried to push him away. Knowing what he felt for both sides of her, that she was one glorious and amazing woman, Adrien wasn't letting her go. He pulled his lips from hers and said. "No, I'm not letting you go. We're going to talk." He pulled her head to his chest, wrapping his arms around her, he held on to her for dear life. He wasn't going to lose her now. Not now.

Marinette tried to push Adrien away. She yelled at him, punched his arms where she could reach. Pulled at his back, pushed at his chest. "Let me go! Adrien I can't do this! We aren't supposed to know each other under the mask! Let me go! I can't take this! I tried to get over you and I couldn't. Leave me alone! Why? Why do you make me feel like this Chat? Why can't I let you go. Please, let me go!"

"I love you Marinette." Adrien stated as she continued to fight. It was starting to feel like she was fighting herself more than him. "I love you, both sides of you. I want to fix this," he murmured into her hair. "Princess, I'm not letting you run from this, from me," he ended on a horse whisper.

"We can't! Chat, Adrien. Why do you do this to me? Why?" Marinette kept on for a moment or two more. Saying unintelligible things. The pressure of it all, all the years, all the longing, all the confused feelings, the need to keep her heroself apart from Chat and never admitting to Adrien how she felt, came out, slowing down her fight. Eventually she was holding him and just crying into his chest. There in the comfort of Adrien's arms she held on to him and let the flood wash away from her.

They stood like that for a while. Marinette just crying to let the emotions out, Adrien holding her, mummering half words of understanding and love into her hair, letting her know that he was there for her.

Some people had looked at them as they stood in the alley way. They stopped staring as Marinette calmed down. Eventually they all walked away. Not caring about the crazy couple in the alley, crying.

Finally Adrien relaxed his hold on Marinette. She pulled her head back and looked up at him. She saw that he had been crying too. And in that moment, the look of caring was one she had seen on both of his faces, and he blended into one.

"I love you Marinette." Adrien stated again.

She tried to rub away her tears with her arm. "No you don't, you love Ladybug. Not Marinette. I've know since the night we fought Andre after he was turned into Glaciator. You had set up that whole special evening. You were sincere with your feelings for Ladybug when you were talking with me as Marinette. I knew it, yet I didn't try to talk Chat out of it."

Adrien wiped away some of her tears with his right thumb. "If I remember correctly, a little later as Ladybug, you told me that you had feelings for another boy, and that you didn't want to lie to me about that. You didn't want to hurt me. I was the one who kept hoping. I was the one that kept trying to show you how nice it could be between the two of us. I settled on friendship with Ladybug but wished for something more."

"But you never forced me. You weren't some creep that kept trying to win my affections after I said no. I kept leading you on. Letting you flirt and stuff. Over the years I guess I kind of grew to like it. The attention that Chat Noir was paying Ladybug." Marinette sniffed a little, the tears almost gone.

"Well maybe as Ladybug you led Chat Noir on, but I think as Adrien I led Marinette on. I have to admit at first I was totally confused by the way you used to stammer and freak out when I talked to you after the gum incident. I thought you hated me for the longest time. Then I would see you act strong and tough at times. Leading the other students as class represenative. And other times you were calm around me and I got to see you, see how cute you were. And, I guess I didn't want to lose your friendship. I kept trying to keep you close. I finally admitted to myself, tonight, that if I hadn't been in love with Ladybug I may have dated Marinette."

Marinette felt her face blush. "What a night." Marinette sighed and snuggled closer to Adrien. After a moment she said,"Remember that night when we dealt with Gigantitan a second time and you followed me up to my balcony and as Marinette I said I loved you?" She felt Adrien nod against her head. "Well, not too long after I realized that I was maybe starting to like Chat Noir. After that point Chat treated Marinette a little more sweetly. Chat was also treating Ladybug gently too. I kept seeing you in a better and better light. In fact the night after I last saw Chat Noir as Marinette, just after high school finished, I thought that if I hadn't been in love with Adrien I might have gone out with Chat Noir."

Adrien threw his head back and laughed. "What a pair we are. We fell in love with half of each other and turned down the other half. Then we both go and fall in love with the half we turned down."

Marinette started giggling too. "My god kitty. What are we going to do with each other?"

Adrien looked down at Marinette, "Maybe we should shut up and kiss?" He raised his eyebrow and smiled, letting his Chat side out again. Marinette blushed and nodded her head a little. That's all it took for Adrien to swoop down and kiss the love of his life.

They held each other like they never wanted to let go. After all this time they were together with the one they fell in love with near the start of high school. They fell in love with each other twice.