Miraculous: Minerva

Chapter 4, Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Marinette could barely keep her eyes open. She had spent most of the past nights thinking about what had happened a week ago. Of course she was grateful for Cat Noir saving her, and even more so that he had closed his eyes so he wouldn't see her, but she still felt it was all her fault.

"Girl, what's wrong? I've never seen you this tired before." Alya asked her.

"It's nothing... Just some sleepless nights..." Marinette murmured, almost falling asleep.

"Hey, Marinette." Adrien walked up to her. He looked worn down as well.

She smiled tiredly. "Hi, Adrien." She stood up to give him a kiss on the cheek.

Adrien smiled brightly. "Here, I made this for you." He handed her a piece of paper before sitting down.

Marinette read what he had written aloud. "Marinette. Mysterious and beautiful, like the moon, Midnight blue, her hair shines so bright, And every waking hour, I hope to see her soon, Eyes that stand out like stars, and they fill me full of delight, Tomorrow, I'll still love her, Six years, I'll still pretty much too, So I just want to say, I love you, And to separate, will be never."

"Your boyfriend's a model and a poet. What luck!" Alya said.

He's a superhero, too. Marinette added silently.

That afternoon, Marinette examined the poem at her desk. "Something about this seems a little off." She told Tikki.

"Maybe there's a message?" Tikki suggested.

"You might be right!" She fished out a blacklight and shone it on the paper. "Marinette, meet me at Eiffel Tower, six PM. I love you, Adrien." She smiled. "That sneaky cat has done it again."

"And he wrote you a love poem for it!"

Marinette looked at the time. "It's 5:50. I'm sure he wouldn't mind that I'm a little early. Tikki, spots on!" Ladybug quickly made her way to the tower.

Cat Noir was waiting for her there. "Hey, M- I mean Ladybug."

"Hi, Cat. I got your message. Why did you want to meet me?" Ladybug asked.

"So we could talk about... you know."

"Oh." She sat down next to him. "It's just so hard to wrap my mind around it. Just when life seems almost perfect, something comes to mess it all up again. In this case, it was knowing who you are."

"I know. First you were the girl I loved and the girl whose friendship mattered most to me, then you were my closest friend and my girlfriend, and now, it's a weird mix of both."

"How about being a couple both ways? We could just do what we usually do and hide our identities, and no one's the wiser." Ladybug suggested.

"That's not a bad idea. You're awesome, Bugaboo." He smiled at her.

For once, she didn't object to the name. She just rested her head on his shoulder and they looked out on Paris' glimmering lights.