Marinette:

On the way home, I noticed a dull pain in my cheek so I investigated when I got back to my bedroom. I looked in the mirror, and to my horror, the scratch was still there.

"Spots off." Tikki came out of my left earring as I dropped my transformation. "Oh, Tikki! I thought that you couldn't see the scratch when I was Ladybug."

"Marinette, if you got hurt while you were Ladybug, the Miraculous cure would have fixed it. But you got hurt as Marinette, so the costume didn't cover it up."

"Then that must have been why Cat Noir was acting so weird on patrol earlier. He must have noticed. But why didn't he say anything about it?" I was even more confused now. If Cat had seen the scratch on my cheek, he would have said something about it. Unless that wasn't it. Perhaps he had something else on his mind that made him act the way he did. I couldn't be sure, though.

I had a pretty restless night after that. Once I had finished my homework, it was getting pretty late, and I couldn't really concentrate on it anyway. My brain was filled with thoughts of Lila and her lies, Adrien and his kindness, and Cat Noir and his weird behavior. Sometimes, the world just seemed really messed up.

In the morning, I felt a little bit better, although I wasn't looking forward to going back to school with people thinking I had done the unspeakable with Adrien. But I owed all of it to Lila. She really had messed up my life. But I guess it takes a messed up person to mess up other people. I got dressed and went downstairs. I don't even remember if I ate anything or not. Probably not.

I grabbed my books and headed out the door, taking my time getting to school. The later I got there, the less time I would have to deal with Lila and her garbage, which was fine with me. I walked up the steps, people throwing glances my way, sometimes whispering things to their friends. By now, the news had spread to the whole school. There was no escaping the snide comments and feedback that people would throw my way. For some reason, I guess Lila thought I deserved it. What right did she have to make me the bad guy?

I slipped into Mme. Bustier's room, gaining the attention of everyone I used to call friends. But now? They were barely acquaintances, and they wanted nothing to do with me. I kept my head down and went to my seat, desperately trying to avoid their stares and whispers, but it didn't do any good. And where was Adrien? It wasn't like him to be later than me. Luckily, he ducked into the classroom just before the bell. At least there was one person who didn't hate me.

Adrien sat down, offering a fist to Nino, but he didn't take it. Now everyone was avoiding Adrien too. He turned around and passed me a folded piece of paper. I unfolded it to find his message written on it: Meet me in the courtyard at lunch break. We really need to talk. I didn't know what we would have to talk about, but I knew I would think about it until lunch break.

Adrien:

Last night was a bad night. My head was so full of thoughts. Could Marinette be Ladybug? It didn't make any sense in my mind at first, but the pieces fit together. She was never there during Akuma fights, and she always left when there was an alert. She had the same blue eyes and the same midnight blue hair as Ladybug, and sometimes their personalities were shockingly similar. But Marinette? I wouldn't have guessed in a thousand years. Although, it would explain why she was late all the time.

I couldn't talk to her at school because of all the drama surrounding the two of us, but did I really have another choice? I also couldn't just walk up to her and be like, "Hey, are you Ladybug?", because that would only be awkward and make matters worse. But really, I had to tell her somehow that I knew, and I couldn't do that without her finding out I was Cat Noir. I didn't fall asleep until almost 6:00.

I didn't wake up to my alarm, or to Nathalie knocking on my door. I was so physically and mentally exhausted from the night before that I could barely drag myself out of bed when it was time to get up for school. I managed to get dressed and eat breakfast without falling asleep, but it wasn't easy. Before I left, I frantically scribbled a message on a piece of paper: Meet me in the courtyard at lunch break. We really need to talk. I decided to give it to Marinette at school.

My brain was wide awake now, and I couldn't help but think about how Marinette being Ladybug made sense. I was still going over all of their similarities, yet how different the two of them were at the same time. And maybe, just maybe, she would like Cat Noir if she knew it was me. Then again, she had mentioned that she liked someone else, so maybe I didn't have a chance with her. But as my mother would say, "It's better to have failed trying than never to have tried at all."

I practically ran through the door of Mme. Bustier's classroom, and just seconds before the bell rang. I sat down and held out my fist to Nino, but he didn't return the gesture. I looked around the room only to be met with icy stares from people. Now I really knew how Marinette felt. I turned around to look at her and she smiled. Ladybug's smile. It had to be her.

Without hesitation, I dropped the note on her desk and turned around. I could hear her unfolding the paper, then a few seconds later, folding it back up. She tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a piece of paper that simply said, "okay".

Now there was only one more thing to think about. What the heck was I going to talk to her about? What was I going to say? I didn't pay much attention to Mme. Bustier's lesson, but it wasn't the first time I had let my mind wander.

At the bell, I packed up my things and trudged down the hall to Mme. Mendeleiev's room for physics class. I had so much on my mind still, so many questions left to be answered. My head was swimming all through physics class, all through history. Finally, the last bell before lunch break rang, and we retreated to the locker room to pack up.

I noticed Marinette purposefully shying away from Lila. Once, Lila had tried to talk to her, but Marinette wouldn't even look in her direction. She just pretended not to hear and kept walking. I had to keep myself from laughing, especially when I turned around to look at Marinette. There was a deadpan expression on her face, but there was a hint of a smile on her lips as she flashed a wink in my direction. The same kind I had given her the day before when I left her room. I couldn't keep myself from smiling, especially now that I knew it was Ladybug who had just winked at me.

I walked out to the courtyard after packing up and found Marinette there already. She was casually sitting on a bench, trying to pretend that she didn't have a care in the world, but I could see through it. She was nervous. I could see it in her beautiful bluebelle eyes when she looked at me. I could see it in the way the stood as I walked over to her.

I hadn't the faintest idea what I was going to say to her, so I said nothing. I came up to her, took her in my arms, and kissed her. She squeaked, an expression of surprise, but she relaxed in my arms and kissed me back. After a few seconds, I slowly pulled back and said the one thing on my mind. "I love you, Ladybug."