It would be the biggest gamble of her life and built up on complete trust to actually listen to her heart or fall more in love with the one person in the world that she was the closest to and couldn't bear to lose.

Cat Noir was a risk, and sometimes, she wasn't sure if she could take that risk, jump on that train, and follow through with wherever it led them. Dating a superhero, logically, would not be easy at all as they wouldn't be a normal couple in the least. They'd have to run with the risk of possibly losing each other with some of the tougher Akuma fights and the possibility that even if they swore that it wouldn't, an identity reveal could crumble them.

There were only so many ways that they could handle figuring out each other's identities, and all of them came with adjustment, a time where they might be unsure of how they felt about the other, and Ladybug didn't want that risk at all. She admired the relationships of some of her peers that left no room for any extra complications as she couldn't help but smile whenever Ivan and Mylene were near each other as it was absolutely adorable to see that young couple as in love with each other as they were.

No one doubted how simple it looked, and yet as Ladybug, she never had that option for something as simple as that and may be even outside of that, she couldn't find it any easier. Superhero identities had the tendency of just clogging up that simplicity and making everything way more difficult and challenging than it had to be.

Ladybug just never wanted every pun to make her smile lately or every smile of Cat Noir's to warm her belly with ladybugs or every casual touch to remind her that she was on the end of a new, budding feeling for her partner in fighting crime, a feeling that would persist when she was just Marinette, and a feeling that likely would never leave her alone.

Without an identity reveal, it meant finding time for each other whenever they can, but only seeing each other half the time, and yet half the time was beginning to sound incredible by itself and yet wasn't at all what most people wanted.

Ladybug wanted the little moments like cuddling after seeing a movie together or going to Andre's ice cream without causing a scene, or getting a chance to meet his family and learn exactly who helped make her kitty nearly as amazing as he was, who touched his lives in ways that she doubted that she could.

A parent's love is way different than other loves tended to be as a parent nurtured their child, disciplined them when they did wrong, and had known them for their whole life and another nine months added to it. A father's love was incredible as Marinette knew from just having any moment that she could to spend time with him, and yet so was her mother's love. She just loved them so much and felt so lucky to have them as a part of her life.

Just, Cat Noir felt different to her, unique in his own way; he felt like Adrien had but ten times stronger with a mix of fear and worry and concern, mostly during Akuma battles, and he felt like home, almost similar to her family. Being around her partner felt safe in its own way, and yet it would still be a risk, a giant leap of faith to take this jump into something so much more than 'just' partners and friends.

"Trust me." Cat Noir told her one night, breaking what seemed like dead silence from where they were perched above the city of Paris.

"I do trust you, Kitty, all the time." She wondered if there was anything that she'd held back from him since that time about Master Fu except her identity and of course, Rena's. Did she not trust him enough?

"I mean," Cat Noir took a deep breath as he appeared to gather his thoughts, "You can trust me with your heart, and I'll take care of it the best that I can."

"Kitty," Ladybug found herself unsure of what to say as there was so much that she could say, that could come tumbling right out of her mouth unbidden, and most of it just seemed like a jumbled mess even in her head. She wanted to tell him that she'd been thinking about this, that she wanted to, but yet was scared of the risk. None of the words seemed just right or her sentences nearly as honest and kind as she wanted them to be.

"Please just take this leap of faith with me?" Cat Noir's green eyes pleaded, "I'm okay with being friends, but the way that you look at me lately or the things that you say or even how you reach out and touch me is so different, and it reminds me all the time of how much I just wish that it wasn't fleeting or accidental or whatever." He looked tired in a way as if trying to find the words to explain all of this was agitating for him and yet so tiring too.

"I want to. I really do." Ladybug found herself admitting without really thinking to stop herself, "I'm just," Why were words so hard to come up with? "Scared." Finally a word that she didn't really care for came out and said just what she'd needed it to.

"I am too." Cat Noir admitted sadly, "But I don't ever want to miss this whether we're friends or something more. It's just, I'm getting so hopeful lately with the way things are changing, and I kind of thought..."

There was a level of vulnerability to this conversation that Ladybug had never guessed would be here from both sides, two hearts beared for the other's eyes.

"I just don't want to lose you." Ladybug murmured; if she did, she wasn't sure that she could put that gaping hole left in her heart back together again. He'd become so important to her as a friend, as a partner, and recently as someone that she wanted to be more than just friends or partners with, without leaving out those important parts, the sides that helped make her start to fall in love with him more and more each day. "I want to try to date you. I-I mean, I'll take this leap of faith with you."

"You will?" Something in his hopeful eyes made her want to just dive forward and hug him, may be cry into his embrace, and she just wanted him to be so happy too. With everyday, this leap of faith had seemed more and more tempting, and now, they had a chance to carve out their own forevers together.

It seemed like they might just get their happy ending soon or at least give themselves the chance to work hard towards it and become much happier together as they grew closer. With every passing day, Ladybug hoped that she and Cat Noir would become closer and find many more reasons to fall in love with each other and may be make the inevitable identity reveal a little easier on themselves.

She had faith that they'd get through whatever obstacles lay before them, and that they'll get through it together like every Akuma battle, every test of trust, and every precious moment together.