There was only an envelope in Marinette's locker that Thursday morning.

Marinette's heart sank at the sight of it, at first she thought that it was a letter apologising for wasting her time and telling her that she was right last night….that Chat Noir didn't love her. Or worse, he had but her insecurities and over-sensitivity had put him off completely. Her fingers trembled the entire time she tried to open it and then, much to her surprise, she pulled out two pieces of paper.

On the first was the usual typed note that simply read;

On the ninth day of Valentine my true love gave to me, nine true vows.

She moved the neatly typed, almost empty, page over to find a handwritten list just for her.

With all my heart, the neat swirly handwriting that seemed achingly familiar for some reason read, I make these promises to you.

I vow to always have your back in battle.

I vow to always be the shoulder you can cry on.

I vow to always be the hand you can hold.

I vow that I always tell you stupid puns in attempt to make you laugh.

I vow I will always take care of you in sickness and health.

I vow I will always honour and respect your decisions even when I disagree with you.

I vow I will always tell you the truth.

I vow I will always cherish you in whatever capacity you choose. Be it friend or lover.

And I vow that I am, always have been, and always will be madly, devotedly, in love with you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Marinette felt tears well up in her eyes. It was short, direct, and plainly spoken and perhaps the most romantic and sweetest thing Chat Noir had ever said. She felt like he had just bared his soul to her and it touched her more than she ever expected it to.

He loved her.

He really, truly, loved her.

Her, as in Marinette Dupain-Cheng. The clumsy, shy, plain girl that was incapable of walking in a straight line without tripping over thin air and incapable of uttering a single sentence to Adrien Agreste without screwing it up entirely.

He loved her.

Her heart skipped a treacherous beat and she felt her face heat up and butterflies flutter in her stomach.

"Hey," Alya nudged her, "what have you got there? Another Valentine?"

"Uh-huh," Marinette hummed happily as she showed Alya the handwritten page, "it's the sweetest thing he has sent me," she whispered. "I…" she sniffled slightly as she was determined she was not going to break down and cry. This was a good thing, a wonderful thing, and she wasn't going to mar it with her tears no matter how joyful they actually were. God, she has become an emotional wreck. "It's just so beautiful," she said.

"It is," Alya agreed, "and the handwriting is a nice touch."

"He's being honest," Marinette deduced, "he wants me to know he's sincere about this."

This time her heart did a little flutter while her stomach decided to do some interesting acrobatics. She felt like she could burst into song. It was utterly ridiculous! She swears that she wasn't always this clichéd.

"And makes it easier to find out who he is," Alya said smugly.

"Wait," Marinette froze, "you recognise the handwriting?!" she squeaked.

"I'm surprised that you don't," Alya replied with a teasing grin. "Do you want to know who it is? I'm not Nino, I didn't make any promises to not tell anyone."

Marinette narrowed her eyes at that. "So you don't recognise the handwriting," she said firmly, "you just know because Nino knows."

"No," Alya said seriously, "I recognised the handwriting. Nino wouldn't tell me anything no matter how much I badgered him about it."

Poor Nino, Marinette thought. Alya wasn't exactly the easiest person to put off when she had her eye on a story. Marinette admired that Nino had been able to hold out since Alya had the advantage of withholding kisses in her hand as well.

"I don't want to know," Marinette said quietly, "I think he plans to tell me on Valentine's Day and I don't want to ruin that for him. He has done so much for me that the very least I could do him his respect his choice to remain anonymous for now."

"All right," Alya shrugged, "it's your decision but what's it worth….Marinette," Alya's grin was full of excitement and mischief, "I know that he's going to make you very happy."

Marinette blushed deeply at that.

A week ago, despite being flattered and flustered by Chat Noir's attentions, Marinette would have denied that immediately. Her heart was taken by another she could never be happy because she could never give herself fully to him like he deserved. Now though…

Now, she felt all sorts of things. Deep, passionate, terrifying things that almost made it easy to forget about Adrien Agreste. She felt safe with Chat Noir, she felt content and happy with him, she trusted him more than anyone, and she wanted nothing more than to make him just as safe and happy before.

She had no doubt that Alya was right.

"Oh," Chloe said loudly as Marinette walked into the classroom, "no gift today, Marinette?" she asked with sickly, false, sweetness, "just one measly letter? Is it a break-up letter explaining how the last few days were just a mistake?" she smirked. "Are you trying to save face, Marinette?"

"Oh do us a favour and shut up, Chloe!" Marinette snapped as she clutched her letter to her chest. "It's none of your business!"

Chloe looked startled and then immediately turned puce with fury but Marinette didn't pay her any attention as she headed towards her desk with a happy, satisfied, smile on her face.

Adrien caught glimpse of it and gave her an eerily, familiar, smirk before he winked.

And, for the first time ever, Marinette kept her wits entirely as she winked back.

MLBLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

Chat Noir was a little hesitant about seeing Marinette.

She might have seemed more confident and happy at school and it did look like that his gesture had reached her the way he intended it to but his Lady was a complicated and multi-layered woman. She might still be a little upset.

His worries were reduced to nothing though when he had barely landed on her balcony and was suddenly startled into toppling as Marinette flung her arms round his neck. He froze shocked, because she never thrown herself at him before though he had often invited her to do so, he melted into her embrace as he felt her nuzzle his neck with her nose.

They pulled apart far enough so they could look into each other's eyes. Her arms were still round his neck while his hands had certainly made themselves home on her hips.

"I'm sorry!" she blurted out. "I let Chloe of all people get to me and it made me doubt you. I was being stupid, and silly, and I do believe you. I really do."

"I'm glad," he breathed out, revelling in the fact that he was holding his Princess, "because I mean it, Marinette, I mean every single word."

"I know," Marinette whispered, "and I believe you."

His heart burned with a fierce joy at that.

Mission accomplished.

And Plagg thought he was being nauseating with the whole vows thing.

"And you should know," Marinette carried on though admittedly he was struggling to play attention to her words as her fingers were toying with the curls that met the collar of his suit absent-mindedly. "I can't make all the vows back to you," she looked regretful at that, "Not yet that is, but I can promise you this," she took a deep breath and met his eyes with a fierce honesty and sincerity in her own, "I vow I will always have your back too, that I will always be a shoulder for you to cry on, that I will always care for you in sickness and health, that I will always respect your decision, that I will always tell you the truth, and I will always, always, cherish you, Kitty."

His heart swelled up at that as he felt blissfully happy. There was only one thing that could possibly make him happier and he was so horribly close to it that he could almost taste it.

He was so very close to persuading her that he was the one for her. He has almost made her forget that stupid other guy that she had been dwelling over.

Just a little more time, just a few more days, and he could turn her 'I can't say yes' into a joyful, unreserved, 'yes please'.

"Thank you," he murmured.

There was another long, contented, silence as he pulled her close and savoured every second of their embrace. Eventually, abruptly, Marinette realised they were doing nothing but hugging and suddenly pulled away. "W-w-w-we didn't agree to another patrol on Monday," she said nervously as she avoided all eye contact by staring down at the floor.

"We did not," he agreed cheerfully, "I was quite distracted by something much more a-peel-ling than standing in the icy cold looking for criminals."

Marinette groaned at the pun but her smile didn't waver for a second. "Well if someone is a good Kitty and does a quick patrol with me now I might be persuaded for some fun later."

She didn't have to ask again.

They had a virtually eventless patrol (there was one attempted mugging that they had put a swift stop to by just appearing at the bottom of the alleyway) which quickly evolved into a game of tag.

It was exhilarating to run across the rooftops with the wind in his hair as he ducked and dodged his Lady's attempts to tag him and it was equally exciting to be the one doing the chasing as he pounced and swiped at his teasing, taunting, Lady who would move the very last second just to torment him.

Eventually both Plagg and Tiki made it quite clear it was time to go home by making their Miraculous' beep obnoxiously and so they made their goodbyes and promised to do another Patrol the following Saturday night…

…but that wasn't going to stop him from visiting his Princess again tomorrow night.