"You have to find me first."

As soon as she let the words slip from her tongue, Ladybug felt a rush of anticipation spread from her toes, through her stomach, all the way to her lungs. She let out a quivering breath but stood her ground nevertheless, watching and waiting for Chat Noir to react. She hoped he would say something soon. After all, she didn't regret her words…yet. That all depended on him.

Except Chat didn't seem to be moving at all. The night stilled. The world fell away until it was just him, gazing at her with eyes of creeping moss, and her, standing in the reflections of a giant stained glass window. Her in the light, him in the shadows. Ladybug bit her lip, suddenly feeling shy in this isolated space her words had created. Surely he wouldn't reject her now? Surely she hadn't misread the signs?

"Don't worry," he had said, "I'd spoil you too you know."

No. She hadn't misread any signals. She couldn't have. They were as clear as the moonlight shining down upon her. So why wasn't her cat jumping for joy like she'd expected? He'd always wanted to know who she was; it was her who had denied him, for so many reasons that seemed so unimportant to her now.

"Um, Chat?" She inquired, leaning forwards in concern. She didn't quite know what else to say, she felt she'd said all she could. But waiting for him to reply was-

"You want me to…find you?" He stood up, shaking from head to toe. His eyes never left hers. The awe in his voice, the promise, made her heart swell and a smile split her face. If she wasn't sure before, she was now.

"Yes," She said and a nervous giggle escaped her lips, which she attempted to cover to no avail. Her hands remained at her mouth as she watched Chat Noir cross into the light to stand before her, tall and handsome. As her heart raced pleasantly, Ladybug was caught by surprise at her own thoughts. Just a few days ago he'd been Chat Noir, her partner and dear friend, someone she trusted with her life, someone who she cared deeply for. Now he was Chat Noir, her partner and so much more. The man who dreamed of a future with her, the man who wanted to find her…

The man whom she very much wanted to kiss right now.

Such feelings were so contrasting that Ladybug was surprised she hadn't gotten whiplash. It made her realise that perhaps she'd always felt this way about him, deep down, and hadn't realised. After all, since the day they'd met he'd always been this way; charming and selfless, and so very kind to her, even when she doubted her ability to be Ladybug. He was always there. Without fail.

She stepped closer to him, so that they were almost chest to chest. There was a fire inside her now. A fire which burned for him and him alone, and she couldn't douse it even if she used all of the waters of the world combined.

"Find me Chat Noir," She repeated, breathless and almost completely unravelled as he placed a hand on her cheek. His fingers seemed to act in accordance to their own wishes, and they reached to tuck a wayward strand of hair behind her ears. The urge to kiss him intensified, pulling at her insides until she thought she might be torn apart if she didn't act, didn't do something, anything.

And so she turned on her heel, stepping out of the light to traipse down the aisle of Notre Dame, her fingers skating against the empty seats. Tilting her head back towards him, she laughed once, low and warm.

"That is of course, if you're up to the challenge?"

The teasing tilt of her voice kick started his brain and he followed her footsteps with a sly grin.

"For you? Anything," He responded with a bow and, though they were back in semi-darkness, she could see the seriousness behind his flirtatious remark. Her heart skipped when he peered up at her, winking, "and I do mean anything, even fight Zeus himself, a shocking as that may seem to you."

"Is that so?" She replied casually, deciding to ignore his awful pun for once. Walking backwards up the steps of the alter, so that she could face him as she spoke, Ladybug encircled the table on which the large cross resided. Her hand now traced the delicate white tablecloth. He followed like she was the light guiding his lost soul through the unknown, mesmerised. In this beautiful universe they'd concocted for themselves, Chat felt both nothing and everything; a numbness, which could only come from a moment so intense, it felt as though it couldn't possibly be happening. Yet, somehow, it was. It truly was, and Chat had to fight every urge in him to not drop to his knees and proclaim his love for her in its entirety. Not now. Not yet.

"It is, My Lady," He nodded, gazing at her from her spot opposite from him. A child-like playfulness crossed both their features as they tried to hide their faces from the other, behind the altar cross and around the unlit candles, before Ladybug shook her head in mock-exasperation. With a sigh of surrender, she walked back to stand by his side at the front of the altar.

"Hmm…that does make me wonder, Chat," She pondered, tapping her chin light heartedly, "Would you still call me your lady after you find me?"

Chat felt something deep and dark stirring within him, something akin to walking into a still ocean in the dead of night. She was so sure he would find her, she wanted him to find her. A part of him once again wondered if it was true, if it could really be happening, if she could really be staring up at him in that way. He knew that she was trusting him with their future, she was giving him the key to it and he'd be damned if he didn't search every lock in the city, every lock in the world, if that's what it took.

He would find her.

"That depends, of course," He grinned, "If you like me calling you my lady?"

She tilted her face up to him then, glancing at Chat confidently, hands on her hips. Without thinking, she leaned in closer.

"I do," She replied.

Chat gulped.

"I do too," He whispered, feeling every bit as shy as she didn't.

"Well then," Ladybug poked the edge of his nose, flicking her index finger upward as she darted back down the steps with a chuckle, "That settles that."

Before she left, she turned to face him once more, and all traces of teasing left her as she watched him remain at the altar. Her face, her words, her entire being softened with the promise that tomorrow would bring.

"I look forward to meeting you again, Chat Noir," She said, the corners of her mouth tilting upwards as she lingered for just a few seconds more, not wanting the moment to end, for the spell to break.

And that was the spark that ignited Chat's heart, filling his soul with gold dust and starlight. Though the air was cold in the vastness of the cathedral, he'd never felt so warm, so full, so utterly and completely alive.

"I look forward to meeting you too, My Lady," He nodded to her, beaming and placing emphasis on his favourite nickname for her. Although he was sure once he found her, it would be replaced by her name. Her true name. He felt giddy, "but I must forewarn you, you'll probably be whisker-ed away by how handsome I am."

He waited for her to roll her eyes, to scoff, to repeat the rebuffing words she's said time and time again. But no such words came. Instead she shrugged, her bluebell eyes sparkling, her dark hair shining, her cheeks rosy with laughter.

"I don't doubt it."

Adrien didn't stop smiling for the rest of the night.

---

Marinette felt Alya's eyes burning her as she doodled idly in her sketchbook. Her feet were propped up on the desk of the only good computer left in the common room. Anyone else might have withered under the reporter's gaze, but Marinette was slowly getting used to it. In any case, she was far too busy reliving the previous night over and over. Her head swam pleasantly, her chest glowed and her fingers tingled as she twirled the 2B pencil between her fingertips.

I wonder if it IS meant 2B she thought, outwardly pulling a face when she realised Chat was having an effect on her in more ways than one.

"Ok, that does it. Spill."

Looking up from her sketchbook, Marinette came face to face with Alya's scrutinising scowl. She watched as hazel eyes analysed her, one eyebrow raised in what would have been a funny way, were it not herbeing so diligently studied.

"What?" Marinette placed her feet back on the floor, frowning as she played nervously with the edges of her twin-tails. She'd decided to wear them again today.

"You've been acting weird all day; I mean weirder than normal anyway," She replied. Resting an elbow next to the keyboard and tucking her hand into her ombre waves, she fixed Marinette with a hard look which made her shift uncomfortably. Still, Marinette refused to back down.

"I- I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Oh really?" Alya grinned wickedly, pushing her glasses up her nose in her signature 'I caught you out' pose, "Because you've been doodling love hearts in your book for the past five minutes."

Marinette gazed down and, sure enough, there they were. The incriminating love hearts dotted all around the edges of the rough art paper, like a written and signed confession. She groaned, placing her head in the palm of her hands whilst Alya cackled beside her. Honestly she hadn't even realised she'd drawn them.

"So what is it? Back on the I-Love-Adrien boat again? I thought that ship had sailed girl?" The smirk on Alya's face was infuriating. Marinette tried hard not to match it, she held in a sigh of relief. Alya had just given her a perfect alibi.

"Yeah. I guess I'm just hopeless," She replied nervously, waving her pencil in defeat.

"Uh-huh, and it wouldn't have anything to do with this now would it?" Without any warning, Alya shoved her phone inches away from Marinette's nose, far enough away so that the image didn't make her eyes blurry, but close enough so that it was the only thing she could see.

Adrien's underwear shoot. His face, his body, his smoulder.

"W-why would you show that to me again?!" She spluttered, covering her eyes with one hand and pushing the phone away with her other. Marinette's whole face burned and she kicked her legs like a child having a tantrum. All of this was old hat to her. After all, how many times had she stumbled and flustered over Adrien's appearance? But now, there was a new emotion, one which struck white hot in the centre of her lungs, one which burned so unlike the happy little candle that set her heart aflame the night previous.

Guilt.

Alya burst out laughing, unaware of Marinette's face turning to stone, as she graciously tucked her phone back into her jeans pocket.

"It's just fun to hear your reaction is all," She shrugged carelessly, checking the clock on the monitor with a frown, "and where are those two clowns at? We don't have long together so they better hurry it up already."

Since they hadn't had enough time to decide on their history project the day before, what with the Akuma attack, the foursome were meeting in the only free-study period they shared that day. All of them were determined to at least make a decision on which Ladybug and Chat they would be researching. The problem was there were so many and, as historians gained more and more knowledge on the appearances of Ladybugs and Chat Noirs across history, the longer the list would grow.

However, Marinette thought as she tried to rid herself of that sudden slap of an emotion, she was pretty darned sure Alya had made this little study session to analyse how Marinette and Adrien reacted around each other. A part of Marinette hoped that their lateness meant that been held up somewhere, maybe Adrien had been pulled out of school to do a last-minute interview or something. That occasionally happened. Maybe she would be lucky.

"Dude I'm telling you!" Nino's voice sealed the deal on her unlucky fate, "There's no way Ladybug would defeat Chat Noir if he was Akumatised! He has that Cataclysm power! He could literally destroy her. Not that that would be a good thing, I'm just saying-"

Adrien contained a growl which attempted to rise up through his chest. Both hadn't realised the girls watching them with curious stares.

"Don't just say," Adrien shivered, "It's a horrible thought isn't it? The idea that either of them could get Akumatised." Adrien waved his hand, trying to not sound as defensive as he wanted to, but inside he was outraged at his best buddy, "And anyway, Ladybug would still beat him! She could easily get rid of Chat's Akuma."

"That's ridiculous!" He heard someone shout and turned to see Marinette stand up furiously, with a glower directed right towards them. Heat rushed up to his face, coupled in intensity with his sudden sense of sadness. His hand dropped limply at his side. Does she think Ladybug would lose to me too?

"Chat Noir? Get Akumatised? Nino really? Are you drunk?!" She cried, flailing her arms. Both boys stood stock still and at full attention, as if she were their commanding officer.

Adrien hung off every infuriated word, eye widening in every passing moment as he watched her cheeks go red, her freckles darkening.

It felt as if he was trying to recreate a puzzle in his mind, remembering how each piece fit together, but he couldn't quite remember one part of it.

Freckles... blushing… red. Ladybug.

"Chat Noir is one of the bravest, most honourable and self-sacrificial people in all of Paris!" Marinette continued, getting more and more outraged by the second, "He's kind and noble, and he'd never do anything to hurt ANYBODY unless they moved to hurt someone else first! He'd NEVER be an Akuma, and he'd NEVER use Cataclysm on anyone! Especially not Ladybug. To think otherwise is just insane and you know it!"

Nino blanched, awkwardly stepping backwards with a nervous chuckle.

"You know, you're right. I'm sorry Mari. I forgot you worked with him that one time," He acquiesced, waving an invisible flag in surrender. Marinette huffed once and threw herself back in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest with a pout. Alya watched her wordless, visibly shocked by her friend's outburst.

Adrien, meanwhile, was having a miniature nervous breakdown. Marinette had defended him so righteously, had called him brave, kind, noble. He almost wondered if he had attracted an Akuma, or two, because butterflies seemed to be fluttering in his chest with no way to stop them. She thinks I'm selfless, she thinks I'm honourable…

"Bro? Hey, are you ok?" Nino was calling to him, having already made his way towards the girls. Adrien started, but did not look at his best friend. Instead his eyes took in Marinette's curious bluebell eyes, her hair as dark as night, her signature hair style. No… no way.

"Ah y-yeah. I'm fine. Just forgot my notebook in my last class. I'll be right back!"

But Adrien didn't go back to class. With every heavy footstep his mind replayed all the hints he'd gotten over the past few days, all the moments that they shared, and now this too? His mind and heart fought furiously, logic against his hopeless romanticism.

-This is insane.

-But what if it's true?

-I could never be this lucky.

-But if there's a chance…

-It's just a coincidence, there are a million girls in Paris.

But, maybe, just maybe…

Slamming the door to the empty locker room shut, he pulled his jacket open to allow Plagg to fly out. His Kwami looked at him incredulously. However, Adrien was in no mood for Plagg's usual brand of sass. He needed answers and was prepared to buy the whole worlds worth of cheese in order to get them.

"Plagg," He said, helpless with anticipation, "I need to ask you a few questions."