"Marinette, you're... You're Ladybug?" Chat Noir looked down at the girl who just detransformed right in front of him.

"Yes, that's me. I am Ladybug." Marinette said, fidgeting and looking down at her feet.

"So... All these times that I've come to your doorstep in the middle of the night, all the secrets we shared... Everything we've done... Has it all been pretend? Have you pretending to be in love with me?"

"Chat, n-no, that's not what I intended-"

"Really Marinette? As Ladybug, you told me that you didn't love me and that you loved someone else. And now, you're Marinette, you're the first person I tell anything, everything, to and it's just all... All some hoax!" Chat was laughing but they weren't laughs of humor. There were laughs of disbelief. "I can't... I can't even stand to look at you anymore. I'm through with you, Marinette. Or Ladybug. Whoever the hell you are. It's over between the two of us."

Everything was going dark for Marinette and she could only focus on the back of the black cat that was walking away.

"C-Chat, wait!" She would call out for him, but he wouldn't turn. Tears streamed down Marinette's cheeks as she saw a large pair of red scissors appear in her view and cut the red cord that tied her to Chat. "N-No, please, no!"

"Marinette! Marinette!" Marinette shot up in her bed, tears streaking down her cheeks and she found herself struggling to breath. "Marinette, are you okay? Did you have a nightmare?" Tikki had done the hardest she could to wake Marinette up when she noticed that the teenager was moving around a lot and muttering words in her sleep.

Marinette looked over at the clock. Five in the morning. She ran a shaky hand through her undone hair, letting out a sigh.

"Y-Yeah, I did." Marinette pulled her blankets off. "I'm going to get a drink of water." Tikki nodded and went back to her bed.

Marinette stumbled down the stairs to her kitchen, her legs still shaking from the intensity of her dream that night.

She had a dream that she revealed herself to Chat Noir and due to Ladybug having rejected Chat, he thought that she had been pretending the whole time.

Marinette's dream suddenly scared her. What if this dream was a foreshadow of what's to happen in the future?

She chugged a glass of water, letting out a sigh once she swallowed. Let's hope that things won't take a turn for the worse.

"Adrien, straight after school, you're going to be picked up and taken to the park for a photo shoot. Afterwards, you're being taken to the television station for an interview." Adrien had barely stepped into the dining room and was making his way to his breakfast when Nathalie started listing what he would be doing that day.

"Good morning to you too, Nathalie." He sighed. Nathalie remained nodded her head and took her leave. Adrien was left to himself to eat his breakfast in his own, like usual.

While he ate, his mind began to wander about his princess – Marinette was probably getting ready for school herself and he couldn't wait to see her. But Adrien couldn't just go up and hold her. That was Chat Noir, not Adrien Agreste. Maybe as Adrien, he could get closer to Marinette and maybe, she could like both sides of him?

"Adrien, don't daydream while you're eating, you'll be late." Nathalie scolded.

This brought Adrien out of his thoughts and he quickly finished the rest of his breakfast.

Marinette had made it to school on time today, meeting Alya by the front doors of the school.

"Good morning." Alya smiled to her.

"Oh, look who decided to show up to school today." The two girls turned to look at the source of the voice. Chloé was standing before them with her arms crossed, Sabrina at her side, the two smirking. "Miss Crazy Old Cat Lady."

Both Alya and Marinette opened their mouth to shoot back but another voice cut in.

"Chloé, I would beware, karma could get you back." Adrien was going up the stairs of the school entrance, surprising everyone.

"Adrikins?" Chloé cried.

"I wouldn't be mean to others. Who knows, karma may get you back and maybe you will be the crazy cat lady." Adrien spoke.

Alya busted out into laughter, repeated what Adrien had said through cackles. Chloé stomped her foot and stormed off, Sabrina following behind. Adrien made eye contact with Marinette and he gave a soft smile. She responded with a blush, looking down sheepishly.

"Good morning, Marinette." He said.

"G-G-Good morning A-Adrien!" Marinette stammered. She stammered for more words but nothing came out. Instead, she pouted, puffing her cheeks out, before letting the air out. "Thank you... For helping me out with... With what you did back there." Marinette looked up at him through her fringe.

"It's no problem. Even if you were a cat lady, I'm sure there would be some cats that wouldn't mind staying with someone as cute as you." Adrien gave a little teasing smile and another blush exploded on Marinette's cheeks as Adrien waved and dismissed himself.

Alya's laughter had ceased by now and she sidled next to Marinette, suggestively shrugging her shoulder on Marinette's, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Oh ho, don't think I didn't see that." Alya said with a teasing smirk and

Marinette gaped for words before letting out a frustrating exhale. "I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Marinette huffed. Alya laughed at her and pushed her best friend towards the classroom.

The rest of the day, Marinette couldn't stop thinking about the sweet blond boy who was sitting in front of her and the way he complimented her this morning. He was sweet and so gentle with his compliment, unlike someone else she was used to.

"Even if you were a cat lady, I'm sure there would be some cats that wouldn't mind staying with someone as cute as you."

Marinette hadn't been expecting it at all and she could feel her cheeks growing warm again as she thought of it. The then let out a small giggle, what cat would want to be with her?

Chat Noir. Marinette had forgotten about the nightmare she had had that night, the one where he found out her true identity and came to hate her. The nightmare where he came to think of Marinette and Ladybug to be the scum of his Earth.

A cold shudder ran through Marinette and she rubbed her arms in hopes to shoo away the cold that ran through her. She looked down at her paper, looking at how she had started doodling on her paper. She realized that she hadn't sent anything to Chat in a while. She knew that he probably didn't want to hear from Ladybug, but doodling wasn't talking, although it could convey a message clearly.

Marinette picked up her pen and started to doodle on her hand, picking up her usual floral pattern she liked to draw. She inconspicuously added hearts in the doodles, adding a small cat and a small ladybug in the middle of the rest of the doodle. It was Marinette's turn to patrol that night, so she was hoping that her doodles would entice Chat to come out and find her so she could apologize... About various things.

Adrien felt his skin sink into itself gently as his partner drew into her arm. He watched as the art bloomed on his arm. He couldn't help the small smile that grew on his lips; her art was nostalgic and he craved to see her again.

"Marinette and Adrien." Ms. Mendeleiev called out the two of them and they jumped, both of them hiding their arms under their desks. "Since the two of you were paying so much attention in class, I'm sure the two of you could do the next problem on the board." Marinette and Adrien both swiped their arms, the art quickly disappearing as they stood to go to the front of the class.

Marinette and Adrien reached forward for a piece of chalk that was sitting in front of them, their hands bumping. They both pulled back of their hands, the two of them actually blushing.

"S-Sorry!"

"G-Go ahead."

Alya balled up a piece of paper and threw it at Nino's head, making him look at her questionably. Alya motioned her head over to the two who were now solving a math problem together on the board with a smile.

Marinette hummed thoughtfully. "I don't think that's right." She said as she looked up at Adrien's piece the problem.

"What? Why not?" Adrien asked, looking down at her.

Marinette pointed at the piece. "Look, if you're trying to cancel this out, the same thing of this has to be at the bottom of the factor."

Adrien looked back up at his work before give a small gasp and picked up the eraser and erased the piece before fixing it. He finished the rest of the problem and he smiled at Marinette.

"Who would have known it? Cute and smart." Adrien said in a small voice that only she could hear. A blush exploded on her face and he couldn't help his chuckle.

"Thank you Miss Dupain-Cheng, Mister Agreste You may take you seats."

At the end of the day, Marinette and Alya were heading to Marinette's house to do some homework together, talking about Adrien.

"I can't believe it, Adrien Agreste said that to you?" Alya exaggerated her voice and wiggled her eyebrows at Marinette, while Marinette shushed her loudly.

"Alya!"

Her friend laughed. "I just think it's cute, that Adrien is finally taking an interest to you." Alya said, looping her arm around Marinette's. "Who knows, maybe something will bloom between the two of you."

Marinette sighed dreamily. "I would hope so." She said.

The rest of the day went on and Marinette and Alya did most of their homework. They couldn't complete their work because they kept talking about Adrien and Ladybug and Chat Noir.

After dinner, Alya went home and Marinette went upstairs to go to sleep. As Marinette noticed that the lights of her parent's bedroom went off, she called out to Tikki.

"Time for patrol. Tikki, transform me!" Her hand touched her earrings and her kwami swirled into her earring, giving her costume.

Ladybug went out to her terrace, swinging her yoyo and extended it into the distance, jumping off her railing and swinging with the momentum of her jump. She landed on the roof of a building and she walked across the roofs, towards the direction of the park.

Although it was well into the night hours, the nocturnal people of Paris were wandering the streets, blending in to the peaceful light glow of some buildings.

Once she was close, she jumped down, going towards the bench where Marinette had shared a moment with Chat Noir. Being remembered of Chat Noir, she once again remembered the nightmare that she had of him the previous night.

Ladybug sat down on the bench, remembering how he put her head in his lap and they talked and talked. Remembering that night, that he laid in her lap and they continued talking. She let out a small smile before her nightmare haunted her again. Her shoulders shook softly.

"My lady." Ladybug's head snapped up and the black cat was standing before her, his green eyes looking at her curiously as she was sitting on the bench.

"Chat." She was happy that he came to look for her. All she wanted was to sit next to him and lean on his shoulder, telling him about the nightmare she had the previous night.

But he wasn't coming close. She forgot – she was Ladybug, the girl whom he got rejected by, not Marinette. Her happiness faded, but she tried to make it seem like she didn't notice his distance.

"You should be resting, silly kitty. You wouldn't be happening to push yourself too hard, are you?" She stood, going closer to him, scratching under his chin.

"Not at all my lady." Chat replied, leaning into her touch with a soft smile. Ladybug hummed.

"You went on patrol yesterday, didn't you? You should be getting some rest today. Didn't you have a long day yesterday?" She asked him.

Chat shrugged. "I didn't do much."

Ladybug remembered when he told her that he was stressed because his father had made him do things. She silently nodded.

"So how was your day?" Ladybug asked.

"It was alright. Sorry about suddenly deleting your art. Something came up and I had to hide." Ladybug remembered when Ms. Mendeleiev called her to the front with Adrien to solve the problem.

"It's okay, I got caught up with something too." She laughed a little and Chat gave one of his smirks. "Did anything else happen today?"

"Nothing that would make my lady worry." Ladybug noticed how he avoided talking to her about his personal life outside of Chat Noir. Ladybug was about to respond to Chat when an explosion behind them made them turn.

"None of you could appreciate true beauty of my gardens. I'll show you to stomp on my beautiful flowers!" Out of the cloud of dust that was starting to settle came out a girl with a green teacup dress that was made of ivy leaves, scarlet hair, black lipstick and an ivy leaf mask that covered her eyes.

"An akuma attack? So late at night?" The two were surprised and headed to the girl who was floating in the air.

"Well, if it isn't Chat Noir and Ladybug." The girl smirked.

"Who are you?" Ladybug called out as she pulled out her yoyo and Chat got out his baton ready.

"My name is Hereda, or you can call me Princess Ivy." The girl gave an evil smirk and a purple flower bloomed in the palm of her hand. "Now, if you would please give me your miraculous before this whole world becomes my slave."