Homework. On the second day of school. Unbelievable. Marinette sighed as she worked on her assignments.

Hopefully she could finish up quickly and actually get to bed at a reasonable time. Just one more subject and she'd be all done.

She was so focused that she almost didn't hear the tapping coming from the ceiling.

Tap tap tap.

Her pencil froze mid-sentence and she looked upwards. She cautiously stood and made her way up the steps to her loft.

"Marinette?" a voice called to her as she cracked open the hatch. She then pushed it wide open, revealing Chat Noir on her balcony.

"Hi," she said, giving him a confused look. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry if I'm bothering you. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. You seemed a little upset last night."

"You're not bothering me," was all she replied.

"Oh, that's good."

She stared up at him for a moment. "I'm sorry," she squeaked, realizing that she was being rude. "Please come inside."

He happily jumped down through the hatch and landed on her bed next to her. Okay, this wasn't awkward at all.

"Follow me," Marinette said, climbing off the bed and down the steps.

"So what are you up to tonight?" Chat Noir asked her once they made it down.

"Just homework. You know, typical exciting stuff," she told him.

He smiled at her. "Very exciting."

She smiled back. "I heard about the akuma attack today. How did that go?"

"It was fine," he replied, walking around the room. "As akuma attacks go, it was pretty straightforward."

"You and Ladybug seem to work well together."

"Yeah, we do. We're really great partners." He stopped at Marinette's desk, looking at the pictures on the wall. Her collection of Adrien Agreste pictures were still hanging up.

Marinette noticed where he was looking and hurried over to him. "I, uh, meant to take those down," she admitted, a little embarrassed.

"So, are you like, super into fashion or something?" he asked, trying to lessen her embarrassment.

"Yes I am. But to be honest, I used to be in love with the guy in the pictures. That's the real reason I put them up."

Used to be. Those words hurt more than he was expecting them to. "Adrien Agreste, right? I know him."

Marinette nodded, then reached over and pulled a picture off the wall.

Ouch. "Did you fall in love with him because he's a model?"

"No," she said, taking another picture down. "I fell in love with him because he... gave me... an umbrella?" A smile crossed her lips. "Wow, it sounds really lame when I say it outloud," she said, chuckling.

Chat Noir thought back. He gave her the umbrella on his first day of school. She had been in love with him for an entire year and he had never noticed?

"That's a very strange reason to fall in love with someone," he said, watching her remove another picture.

"I mean, it wasn't really the umbrella. It was..." she paused. "That was the day I met him. There was this big misunderstanding about how chewing gum ended up on my seat. I originally thought that he had put it there, and that he was just like Chloé."

She removed another picture. "But after school he came up to me and explained what really happened. Then he gave me his umbrella because it was raining. And just for a second, I saw something in him. I don't really know how to explain it." She pulled another. "It's like, I could see who he really was. Not the façade that he puts up as the face of his father's brand. I saw the loving heart inside of him." She reached up and pulled off another picture. "Of course, it doesn't hurt that he's easy on the eyes," she said, staring at the photo in her hand.

Chat Noir had been holding his breath while she had been speaking. He couldn't think of anything to say in response to what he just heard.

Marinette grabbed another picture and smiled looking at it. "This one was always my favorite," she whispered.

He tore his eyes away from her face to see the picture. It was one of him in his regular clothes with a simple white background. He wasn't dressed up for a photoshoot or in a nice location. "Why was it your favorite?"

She continued admiring the picture. "He looks like himself in this one." After a minute she slowly put it into the pile and reached for another.

"Why don't you keep that one? You know, since it's your favorite?" he asked. Or keep all of them.

"No," she replied shaking her head. "He's my friend, I don't want him to feel uncomfortable."

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind," Chat Noir insisted.

"It's better this way," she said quietly.

"Okay," he started. "But if someone put a picture of me up on their wall, I would feel flattered. I wouldn't feel uncomfortable."

Marinette smiled. "I guess I'll have to get a picture of you and Ladybug then," she said, glancing at him from the corner of her eye.

"I could even autograph it for you," he said smiling.

"I would like that." She reached up and grabbed the last picture, placing it on top of the pile. "There, now I have plenty of room for my 'Chat Noir' shrine."

He couldn't help but laugh. "I can't wait to see it Princess!"

Marinette laughed too, and bumped her shoulder into his.