Chapter 2

Marinette, now dressed as her alter ego, Ladybug, was crouching on a ledge of a building as she surveyed the busy streets of Paris, trying to locate the perpetrator. " It's already nine, so I guess that I can forget about any sort of date," she heaved a sigh and proceeded to pick up her binoculars once more.

" What's with the long sigh? Worried that I wouldn't show up tonight?" Chat Noir grinned as he strolled up to her. " Au contraire mon ami. I was just enjoying another peaceful night of crime fighting," Marinette smirked and signalled him to get closer.

He was about to peep through her binoculars when a loud scream emanated from one of the cafes below them. The two superheroes exhcanged glances before jumping and swinging from building to building until they reached their destination.

" Ladybug and Chat Noir, thank goodness that you both have arrived. Some costumed man just turned one of the customers into a piece of brocolli!" the waiter told them frantically. Marinette look horrifed as the piece of brocolli sitting on the leather chair was as tall as her. Adrien looked in fascination and tugged at the head. " Another reason for me to avoid eating my vegetables. LB, my face is probably turning green from the sight," he joked as Marinette snorted with laughter.

" I'm not quite sure about that but I do know that your puns are as stale as the bruschetta on his plate," she grinned.

The rest of the customers slowly turned to face the chef who was looking alarmed at the discerning crowd. Marinette said a silent apology before patrolling the streets with her partner.

" This vegetable villain should have turned up by now. After all, he's after us right?" Marinette looked around in confusion.

" Ladybug, over here! I think I found our guy," Adrien hissed and led her to an open parking lot behind a five star restaurant where they were greeted with a rather unusual sight. The green clad villain was trussed up like a turkey while looking considerably frightened as a dark figure loomed over him.

" Excuse me but I believe that you've got something that belongs to us?" Adrien said slowly as he inched closer to the masked figure. The new hero had a uniform which comprised a black unitard, black shoulder pads, boots and gloves. The chest area of his uniform was emblazoned with a blue bird with its wings expanded and his abdomen area is coloured in a lighter grey.

" You mean this little troublemaker? You are welcome to him. I'm guessing that you two must be the heroes of Paris- Ladybug girl and Catboy?" Dick eyed them head to toe as Adrien looked deadpanned at him. Marinette on the other hand was trying her best to contain her mirth as her partner looked absolutely embarrassed.

"Actually, I'm Ladybug and this is my partner, Chat Noir. We are the ones who are in charge of keeping the people of Paris safe from people like him," she stole a glance at the vegetable villain. Dick narrowed his eyes as he instantly recognized the spotted heroine talking to him.

" I can't believe it….Ladybug is Marinette? I don't think her partner knows, judging from how he addresses her," he thought to himself.

" Yes, I'm Chat Noir and not Catboy. Couldn't you have given me a cooler sounding name than that?" he snorted. Dick ignored him and approached Marinette much to Adrien's chagrin. She looked curious at Nightwing who folded his arms and studied her face through his domino mask.

" I'm Nightwing and I'm a hero from Gotham. Nice to see you again, Marinette," he said in a low voice that only could be heard by her. Her eyes grew as wide as dinner plates as she was catatonically rooted to the spot. " How do you know who I am?" she whispered in shock as Dick's lip curled into a smirk before he tossed the villain at her feet.

" Make sure that you guys lock him up in a cell before he turns the city into his own personal salad bar," Dick instructed them and prepared to leave but was stopped by Marinette.

" Wait! Um…could I talk to you for a while?" she swallowed as Adrien frowned and stepped between them.

" What's going on Milady? Did you threaten her?" he narrowed his eyes and sized up to Dick but came up half an inch short. Dick merely shook his head. " Of course not. I have no idea why she wants to talk to me though."

Adrien turned his attention back to the uneasy Marinette who kept on avoiding Dick's piercing stare. " Ladybug, you can tell me what's wrong. Tell me honestly, did that guy do anything to threaten you?" he asked her gently and brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. His soothing tone and affectionate touch calmed her nerves and she flashed him a small smile.

" No, it's just that he looks like someone I know. Thanks for your concern though," she said earnestly and squeezed his hand, causing Adrien's cheeks to turn red. " It was no problem. Anything for the woman of my dreams," he puffed up and tried to steal a kiss from her which resulted in him kissing the window of a Mustang, as she nimbly dodged and winked at him.

" Just give me five minutes, Chat Noir, and I'll be with you to purify this slimeball," she promised.

Adrien's smile disappeared from his face as he dragged the villain along while he hid behind an RV, hoping to eavesdrop on her conversation. Dick looked mildly amused as Marinette stood eye to eye with him and reached for his domino mask.

He caught her hand and pulled her closer to him. " Who knew that you could make this outfit work? You should definitely model your own clothes next time," he laughed as it finally it Marinette who this masked vigilante was.

" No freaking way… Dick Grayson? She looked incredulous at him as he calmly sat down on a crate.

" Not bad for a first date, huh? Fighting crime under the stars…."

She laughed and squealed as he pulled her to join him on the crate. Adrien clenched his fists as his jealousy was reaching a crescendo. He hated this guy for trying to move in on his girl but he despised this guy because she actually responded to his flirting!

" I can't stand it, Plagg! I have to go in there and intervene before things become out of control," he fumed.

" Ladybug, we still have to purify this villain you know. So if you wouldn't mind cutting short your little catch up session," Adrien folded his arms and walked towards them.

Dick chuckled and kissed the back of her hand before ushering Marinette back to Adrien. " He's right, Ladybug. You still have a job to do."

" I'd love to see what you guys are capable of on the battlefield. It's a shame that you probably won't be seeing me again," he nodded before glancing at Marinette who just waved to him in embarrassment.

After Marinette had purified the villain, Adrien and her stood in silence for half a minute before she put a hand on his shoulder. " Chat Noir, is something bothering you? You've been acting like this ever since we got to the crime scene."

Adrien stuffed his hands into his pocket and huffed at her. " Ladybug, I didn't like him getting so close to you when I couldn't even do the same thing. It's as if you have a thing for him …." His voice trailed off as Marinette remained silent. She had a small crush on Dick but she still loved Adrien so it wasn't entirely true.

" Chat Noir, you seem rather concerned about Nightwing making the moves on me. What's the matter? Can't take a little competition?" she ribbed him playfully, hoping to elicit one of his usual witty comebacks but this time, it was met with deafening silence.

The usually cheeky hero merely scratched his head and stared into the indiscernible horizon. " Actually, I rather not have any competition for you. I….have strong feelings for you and I know that you think that my feelings for you are just a joke but I'm telling you that it isn't. Sometimes, it hurts really bad knowing that you probably won't return my feelings any time soon. And then this other hero shows up and starts getting cosy with you, even having the gall to kiss the back of your hand. It's depressing that you're humouring a guy you just met compared to someone who has been by your side for a year now. It sure would be nice for you to acknowledge my feelings if you feel the same way," he said quietly as Marinette felt a pang of compunction.

" I probably said too much. We should go before our powers run out. All this pent-up frustration has finally come to a boil," he cracked a dry smile and moved to get up but Marinette stopped him.

" Hey, I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that I wasn't interested. I just didn't want to inflate your already enormous ego," she giggled and continued.

" I'd be lying if I said that I didn't feel anything for you or Nightwing. However, would you like to know what I would give you on Valentine's Day to distinguish the both of you?" she hummed as Adrien looked suspiciously at her.

" Do elaborate, LB….." he said slowly.

She tapped her finger against her chin and snapped her fingers. " I would probably give Nightwing a homemade jacket." Adrien screwed up his face and sighed dramatically. " That would be a really personal and meaningful gift, you know? A handmade jacket made with love by my sweet Ladybug? I probably would wear it work everyday."

" That's true but do you know that I would give you on that day?" she looked innocently at her feline partner.

"A new litter box and a can of tuna?" he chuckled and a playful grin tugged at the heroine's lips before she scooted closer to him.

She placed a hand on the side of his face before cupping it with both of her hands. " Actually, it's the same gift that I had gotten you last year during our fight with Dark Cupid," she blushed and closed the distance between them.

Adrien wrapped his arm around her waist and let her pull him in for a kiss when her miraculous started beeping. He mentally cursed and let his arm drop from her slender waist. Marinette felt her heart palpitating as she quickly scrambled to her feet.

"I'm really sorry Chat Noir but you know that I have to go. I actually wanted to tell you that I had gotten you a box of chocolates last year," she gave a forced smile as the feline hero snorted with laughter at her sorry attempt at bluffing him.

" That's rather strange. Now that you have jogged my memory, I did recall you saying something about a kiss after our fight with Dark Cupid?" he smirked and turned to leave.

" Till we meet again Milady and next time, you might want to stick with the same brand of lip gloss because your lips look very delicious tonight," he winked and left a rather flushed Marinette, whose face was slowly turning a shade of red which matched her uniform.

She quickly demorphed and sat down by the stairs of the fire escape to slowly calm herself down as she was overwhelmed by the adrenaline which coursed through her veins. Chat Noir was supposed to be just a very good friend and a partner albeit their subtle flirting, mostly on his part. That outburst of his, the serious confession, her sudden willingness to give in to him and that near kiss which may have had serious repercussions was too much for her to handle as she kneaded her forehead with her knuckles.

" What am I doing Tikki? If Ladybug falls for Chat Noir, this might jeopardise my cover. Not to mention that it would mean that I like three guys!" she looked incredulous at her kwami who gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

The two of them walked back in silence to the bakery as Marinette was deep in thought and Tikki had dozed off in her bag. She took a quick shower and changed into her pyjamas before seeking solace in her warm and cosy bed.

" I need to talk to Adrien tomorrow before I start losing sight of who I want most in my life," she muttered to herself and prepared to switch off the lights when a dark figure, who was leaning against balcony whistled to her. She quickly grabbed her hairbrush and pointed it at Nightwing, who gently pushed it aside.

" A hair brush as a weapon against an intruder? Doubt that the scent of lavender will ward anyone off," he chuckled and stood up to face her. A look of relief was visible as she put down the hairbrush.

" Dick, what on earth are you doing here? What if someone had seen you enter my room through the balcony? But more importantly, you nearly blew my cover in front of Chat Noir!" she hissed in annoyance as Dick removed his domino mask and took her hand.

" First, no one saw me because I was passing through the area when I decided to drop by to talk to you. Secondly, you could have told me that you were seeing someone before giving me hope," he said in a calm voice as Marinette jerked her hand away from him.

She took a deep breath and sighed. " Dick, I do not like Chat Noir in that way and if I had told you that back when me first met, it would have been a lie. If you're angry at me for not calling you tonight, surely you can understand that I have a job to do."

The cool breeze kissed her cheeks as she could feel Dick's piercing stare burn a hole through her face. "So….that vegetable villain, pretty crazy, huh? I bet you've never seen something like that back in Gotham," she cracked a small smile.

" You're absolutely right, Marinette. He is actually quite a funny chap too although I would take his words with a pinch of salt," he laughed and saw Marinette's blue eyes sparkling with amusement as she traded vegetable puns with the masked vigilante.

He glanced at his watch ten minutes later and stopped laughing. " You should go and get some rest. I still have to attend to some urgent matters before I call it a night. Before I go though, could you answer me this? Do you like anyone at the moment?"

Marinette looked shifty and whistled a random tune while inching away from him. " Well, yes but he doesn't like me back so it's kind of complicated right now. I've been planning to come clean to him for a very long time but somehow, we always get interrupted by unforeseen circumstances," she wept comically as she recalled the number of times that she was denied.

Dick wore back his domino mask and gave a little shrug. " Best of luck to you then, Marinette. This guy must be one hell of a guy to have captured your heart and I must admit that I'm a tad jealous of him," he said breezily as Marinette caught his arm.

" What are you….?" He looked surprised as she scrunched up her face and deflated. " But for some reason, I may still have a small crush on you" she said sheepishly as Dick tried his best to take her seriously.

" It must be because of how hot you look in that costume of yours. I'm sure that you have lots of chicks eating out of your claws. Now be off with you before your eyebags become more visible through your mask," she winked but squeaked as Dick pulled her towards him and brushed his lips against hers. " Why entertain chicks when I can have a ladybug. For the record, I don't intend on giving you up without a fight," he smirked before disappearing into the night.

Marinette gingerly touched the area where their lips came into contact and shook her head in disbelief. " Honestly, I really must ask him if he's reenacting his favourite scenes from a chic lit novel or something. He could have just kissed me but he rather leave me hanging," she looked amused and crawled into bed.

Adrien just sat in his bed and stared at a selfie of Ladybug and him that he took during the carnival last week. They really looked like a goofy couple in this shot. He was pulling a silly face with his arm around her waist while she was flashing her trademark smile and waving a stick of cotton candy in his face. He switched off his mobile phone and lay awake in bed-staring at the silhouette of the blanket which was visible on the ceiling.

" So she does like me after all. But why does it seem that she reminds me of someone that I know? The cute, flustered face and the dorky romantic...hmm…..well whatever it is, she owes me a kiss and the next time I see her," he took a deep breathe before continuing.

" I'll ask her to be my girlfriend for sure."

A/N I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I hope that you guys would take the time to leave a review of comment because that would be really encouraging for me, as a new writer in this fandom. If you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to shoot me a message. Until next time and stay tuned because Adrien and Marinette are in for a bumpy ride.