Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug.

Volpina

"I thought you loved him!"

"Not as much as I want your Miraculouses!" Volpina yelled back. She was holding Adrien by the hand and was dangling him from the top of the Eiffel Tower. "No hard feelings, right?" She asked the wimpy Adrien.

"You're bluffing." Chat was getting real tired of this, fast. He realized now how Ladybug didn't trust her, but using his other self was just plain pathetic. "It's just an illusion!"

"You want to bet?" Volpina smiled, and lifted her pinky off of Adrien's hand. Ladybug was freaking out beside Chat and was watching in horror as Volpina's fingers came off one by one. Volpina was down to one finger when Ladybug shouted.

"NOOOOOO!" She fell down in a heap against the rungs of the tower and clung desperately to them. Chat raced over to Ladybug and slung an arm around her waist. She reached towards her earrings, prepared to take them off. Why is she doing this? I can't mean that much to her. We've only met a couple times while I was in civilian form. I'm just another civilian to her.

"Don't do it Ladybug!" Chat whispered urgently in her ear. "It's not worth it."

"Yes it is. He means everything to me….just like you." Ladybug sadly turned to Chat and pulled the lock away from her ear and was ready to pull out the stud of her earring. "This is not how I wanted you to find out." Her words pounded in Chat's ears, then they struck home. Chat turned angrily up at Volpina, away from Ladybug, and aimed for Adrien. Marinette's blood curdling scream filled his ears as the weapon headed straight towards Adrien's chest. But instead of falling, Adrien disappeared in a cloud of orange smoke. Ladybug gasped quietly beside him, but she surprisingly shed her feelings quickly for the sake of the battle as she spotted Volpina flitting away, up the tower.

The superheroes followed the akuma victim to the summit of the Eiffel Tower. Ladybug called for her Lucky Charm when the illusion of multiple Volpinas flooded their vision. Ladybug caught her charm and stared, confused, at the ice cream wrapping, then her face cleared. "I have an idea!"

"What? With a chocolate ice cream bar?" Chat looked bewildered at the glowing package. Ladybug nodded.

"Get ready." That was all she had to whisper, and Chat immediately brought his claws out.

Ladybug used the glowing ice cream bar to shine it in all of the Volpinas' faces, but only one cried out in pain as the light hit her eyeballs. Chat Noir saw his chance and leapt for it. He dug his claw into one of the spires nearest the true Volpina, and watched as the spire rusted and collapsed around her.

"Trapped, like a fox," Ladybug sneered and grabbed Lila's necklace so she could smash it to pieces. Out of the ruins flew the darkened akuma. Ladybug opened her yoyo and threw the glowing orb at the butterfly. "Bye-bye, little butterfly." Ladybug waved goodbye, then grabbed her lucky charm and threw it into the sky. "Miraculous Ladybug!" Everything was finally back to normal.

"Lila, I'm sorry I overreacted. I never should have spoken to you like that. I'm so sorry." Ladybug crouched down beside Lila and put her hand on her shoulder, but Lila threw it off.

"Forget it Ladybug, you were right. We'll never be friends." Lila grabbed her necklace and calmly walked away with a smirk on her face.

"Ouch," Chat murmured.

"No, she sort of had a right to, Chat. You weren't there, but I exploded earlier when she lied about knowing me personally. I just couldn't stand how she used her lies to attract the attention of the sweetest guy I know." Ladybug hugged herself. "It doesn't matter now, anyway. What's done's, done." Chat pulled her in for a quick hug, then let go. The two stared over the railing of the Eiffel Tower to look at the city they were constantly saving.

Ladybug suddenly jumped back. "Oh, no! We still have a problem. We still don't know if Adrien's alright!"

Warning sirens wailed inside Chat's head as he scrambled to try and keep Ladybug at ease and off topic. "Uhh…everything's been put back to normal right? So he must be safe at home?" That seems like a solid explanation. No plot holes to fall into. She won't feel the need to check on me, good.

"I should go and check to make sure!" Ladybug determinedly pulled out her yoyo and got ready to swing.

"NO! Don't worry about it, I'll go. You're about to change back." Chat (proudly) pointed out. That was close.

"So are you." Ladybug also pointed out. Chat started cursing loudly in his brain as their Miraculouses beeped loudly.

"No arguing, I'll take care of it." And with that, she was already halfway to the Agreste Manor.

"AHHH! The stubbornness! It's soo….so irresistible." Chat cried softly. "I'm in so much trouble." Chat extended his baton and used it as a pogo stick to go the short way to his home.

000

"Adrien? Are you there?" Chat popped through the bathroom window, just like he had for the last akuma attack, and he raced towards the bathroom door, only to turn around and race to his shower. "Adrien? May I come in?" Chat heard his door creep open, and he quickly turned on the shower head. Ladybug instantly slammed the door shut.

"Ahhh…. This is Ladybug. Is everything okay?" ladybug's voice jumped octaves as she nervously talked to the Adrien inside.

"Umm, yeah!" Chat replied. "I had to grab a shower after all this excitement." Way to go Agreste, now Ladybug thinks you're always in the shower. Chat smiled endearingly and set is ears and paws heavily against the bathroom door to listen to Marinette's sweet voice.

"Ughh, sure….. I'm sorry. I'll be off, then," Ladybug stuttered.

"Thank you!" Chat called. He could feel through the door that Marinette had not moved and had coincidentally laid her hands at the same position where his were. Chat sighed and looked to where Ladybug could be staring at, at that very moment. He had a pained look in his eyes. Once he heard her footsteps dash away, he finally opened the door. He looked longingly at the open window and sighed once again.

"Why can't I say what I mean," he whispered, releasing his transformation.

"You mean you wish you could say you love her, and oh hey, I know you're Marinette." Plagg huffily zoomed over to his personal stash of cheese and started munching down on some. "I still don't get why you haven't told her yet."

"What? About me knowing about her true identity? Or Adrien is Chat, and the other way round?"

"Both." Plagg seemed unconcerned as Adrien started ranting.

"I can't! You told me at the beginning of all this miraculous stuff, that our identities must stay hidden at all costs. I can't betray her like that." Adrien had started pacing around his room, but Plagg stopped him.

"You know very well that your identities do not need to stay hidden forever. I already told you, me and Ladybug's kawami decided to start new holders off with that frame of mind, and then let them choose for themselves later. So therefore, that is no longer a good excuse, Kid."

Adrien sent his kawami a look. "It is still a good excuse because it is not what Marinette wishes. But I have to admit that ever since I found out, I have wanted to tell her, if only to be fair. But I wanted to make sure that she cares for, or at least trusts both sides of me." Adrien threw himself on his couch. "I also wanted to learn more about both sides of Ladybug."

"But you instantly fell in love with Marinette because she was Ladybug," Plagg sighed, but Adrien shook his head vehemently.

"No, I didn't. If anything, I was so shocked, the love disappeared and I started to second guess myself, asking if I truly did care about Ladybug. I didn't want to automatically love Marinette just because she was Ladybug. I needed to make sure I loved her for who she was already. I wanted everything to be right. I also didn't want to force Marinette to love me if I revealed myself, just because I was Adrien. I am oblivious, but I did know she had a crush on that side of me. Truthfully, I didn't want to scare her away from me because I don't love both sides of her; I only loved Ladybug at the time… She would have been right….if I told her right off the bat." Adrien turned his sad eyes, which were now filled with hope, towards Plagg's glowing orbs. "But she would be wrong now. I love her, if not more than before….and not because she's Ladybug…..but because she's herself…I need to tell her soon."

Plagg cuddled up to Adrien's ear and purred. "That you do, Adrien."

Adrien pulled out his phone, a pad of paper, a few colorful pens, and something hard to write on out of his desk. He smoothed out a new sheet of paper, but also pulled out a small slip from the hidden pocket of his phone case. On the newer sheet of paper Adrien wrote a very small story about a ladybug and a cat, and about how their lives intertwined through a series of battles, in the worst love square ever. It was short and sweet, and had the perfect bare bones of a great story.

On the older sheet of paper, Adrien pulled out his pink, brown, and green markers and drew a single flower right next to the Ladybug that was already printed on the page. On the other corner of the paper Adrien drew the design that was always on his t-shirt. Next to that design, Adrien drew the final piece; a bright green paw print. "Love is strength," Adrien whispered as he slipped the pieces of paper into the pocket of the phone case right next to the news articles, pictures, a valentine, and a thread of his favorite scarf. "I need to tell her….I need to tell her I love her, all sides of her."

Hey Readers! I'm back. Only one chapter to go after this. :-(/:-) Not sure how I feel about it, but I'm really happy how this chapter turned out. I'm sorry that I've stayed in Adrien's perspective a lot, but I felt more interested about his side on the topics in each episode. My last chapter will be about the origin episodes and will come out tomorrow. Please comment, favorite, or follow if you wish. Hope you are having a great day so far. Until I write again, TTFN!