Right after dinner Adrien transformed and went to Marinette's house. Like most nights, they played the dancing video game. They had finally made it to the advanced levels.

Slightly out of breath, the two made their final pose and paused. They quickly looked up as their score was tabulated.

"Come on, come on," they both muttered, their eyes glued to the screen.

Finally their score popped up.

97%

"What?" Chat Noir exclaimed incredulously. "We were perfect that time. This game is rigged!"

Marinette chuckled. "Calm down. I'm sure we'll get it one of these days," she said, grabbing a drink from her desk.

Chat Noir frowned and walked over to grab a drink too. He was about to gulp it down, but got distracted by the girl in front of him. She looked even more beautiful than usual. Her eyes were sparkling and her cheeks were flushed from the game.

Not wanting to stare, his gaze made its way to a slim rectangular box on her desk. It was wrapped up in green wrapping paper. "What's this?" he asked, putting his drink down and picking the box up.

"Oh, just a gift for one of my friends at school," she replied.

Chat Noir furrowed his brow. "Someone's birthday?"

"No, it's just something I started looking for a long time ago, and I finally found it. It's not for any special occasion or anything. Just a gift for a good friend," she said, smiling.

He found himself holding his breath again. How was it possible that her heart was so full of love? He placed the gift back on the desk and turned towards her. "You're amazing Marinette," he said softly.

She looked up at him, surprised. "What?" she asked.

"You're amazing. The way you care so much about everyone around you. I don't think I've ever met anyone like you before." He paused for a moment. "You amaze me. Every second of every day."

"Really?" she asked, barely at a whisper.

Chat Noir nodded and glanced down at her lips before quickly looking back into her eyes. He suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to kiss her. She was unimaginably beautiful. And then on top of that she was smart, and funny, and kind-hearted.

Without thinking he slowly leaned in towards her. Marinette tilted her head upwards as he moved closer and closer. Chat Noir closed his eyes when he was an inch away from her, and she closed hers too.

Just as their lips were about to touch, Marinette's phone rang. Their eyes flew open at the noise. Seeing how close they were, they quickly jumped apart. They both stumbled over their words, trying to think of something to say.

"I, er..." Chat Noir mumbled.

"I, uh... I should probably... uh, get that," Marinette stammered.

Chat Noir nodded as she walked over to her phone and answered it.

"Hello?" she asked. "Oh, ah... hey. What's up?... Uh yeah, I do... Yeah, yeah that's fine... I'll, uh, bring it tomorrow... Okay... Yeah, Tuesday sounds good... Alright... Okay, bye." She disconnected the call and put the phone in her back pocket.

There was an awkward silence.

"Uh, that was my friend Alya," Marinette said, not making eye contact with Chat Noir.

"Yeah, I know Alya," he replied, also avoiding eye contact.

Another silence.

"Well, it's getting late. I should probably go," he said.

"Right, of course," she agreed quickly, running her fingers through the strands of her pigtail.

"Right... uh, bye," he said, going up the steps to the loft and climbing out through the hatch.

Once he was gone Marinette let out a breath that she didn't realize she was holding.

Tikki appeared and flew up to her face.

"I don't want to talk about it," Marinette mumbled, walking back over to her desk. She grabbed the gift and put it in her school bag. Then she disconnected the video game console from her computer and added it to the bag as well.

************************************

Chat Noir detransformed as soon as he landed in his room. Plagg flew up in front of his face, smirking.

"I don't want to talk about it," Adrien mumbled, going over to his computer desk.

He ignored the smug "I told you so" from the black kwami as he walked away.

What had just happened? Why did he try to kiss Marinette? It was like he wasn't in control of his body anymore. He didn't think, he only acted.

Why would he do that, they were friends. Friends didn't kiss, at least not the way he had wanted to kiss her in that moment.

He stared at the black computer screen, thinking. Suddenly his heart skipped a beat as he realized something.

He wanted to kiss her because he was in love with her.

Completely in love.

Somehow, over the last couple of weeks, he had fallen in love with Marinette.

Was it when she confessed her crush to him? When she told him the umbrella story? When she taught him how to play Cat's Cradle? When they danced together? When she talked to him about the gift for her friend?

Or had it happened before all of that? Had he been slowly falling in love with her ever since they met? He didn't know. And he couldn't pinpoint one specific moment that it had happened.

What a fool he had been. All that time he wasted chasing after Ladybug. Not that there was anything wrong with Ladybug, but it was so unrealistic to think that they could really be together. And he was so preoccupied with her that he didn't even give anyone else a chance. Not even the wonderful girl who sat behind him.

At least now he could see everything clearly. He and Marinette belonged together. Now all he needed was for her to fall in love with him again.