Nights like these...

She loves me...

Chat Noir was over the moon! The quick trip home flew by on autopilot as his mind raced with thoughts of that amazing girl. For the first time in years, someone that he loved was loving him in return! Marinette was everything to him, and he couldn't wait to give his everything to her in return. With all the excitement and his racing heart, he thought he would never fall asleep. Eventually though, Plagg got tired of hearing him profess his love and left him alone to tire himself out. With no one left to talk to and the love of his life on his mind, he finally gave in to sleep.

When morning finally came, he couldn't wait to get to school! He was aching to see Marinette. He wanted to hold her, and kiss her, and make her feel every bit of love that he had for her... but he couldn't. The thought slowly pulled the smile off of his face. How was he supposed to go into school today and pretend like the love of his life wasn't sitting right behind him? As much as he wanted to run up to her, shoot out every cat pun he could muster, and sweep her off her feet, he had to wait. He had to talk to Ladybug first.

It took a lot of help from Nino to stay focused and a terrible excuse to keep him from getting suspicious, but eventually he made it through the school day without much issue. Just two more things to do: piano and Mandarin. All he had to do was power through those last two things and it would be time for patrol. He would talk to Ladybug, and he would finally be able to enjoy life with the girl of his dreams. He was so caught up in the thought that he almost missed that very same girl calling after him as he all but ran toward his car, running as fast as she could to keep up.

"Adrien! Wait! Please, I need to talk to you!"

Finally pulled out of his daydream, he spun around on the spot, startling Marinette and causing her to trip and fall right into his arms. He quickly helped her stand and took a step back, hoping to hide the blood rushing to his face.

"I am so sorry, Marinette! I guess I was a little lost in thought. I didn't hear you calling me at first."

"It's okay, don't worry about it! Thanks for the help."

There was a short, awkward pause as they both struggled to put thoughts into words.

"Um... You wanted to talk to me?"

"Oh, uh... yes. Do you have a minute?"

"Yeah, I don't need to start practicing piano for another 20 minutes. What's up?"

"Well, there's something I've been wanting to tell you for a while now. I should have told you sooner, but I couldn't build up the courage for the longest time and then I couldn't get my mouth to work so whenever I tried to tell you it would just come out as gibberish and leave me a stuttering mess and-"

"Woah, Marinette! Slow down a little. It's okay! Listen to yourself, you haven't stuttered or jumbled your words once this whole conversation! Whatever you need to say, you can do this. I'm listening."

Marinette was stunned. He was right! A whole minute into the conversation and she was somehow completely calm. For the first time since she'd met him, she wasn't nervous to be around Adrien. I guess now that I'm finally accepting my feelings for Chat, I'm not so desperate to please Adrien anymore. There's no need to be or act perfect if I'm not trying to impress him anymore. One deep breath later, she was ready.

"You should know that I've had a massive crush on you for a while now."

Adrien's jaw dropped as his eyes went wide in disbelief. Marinette had feelings for him! Wait a second...

"had?"

The question escaped Adrien's lips before he could stop it. He shouldn't have asked that, but he had to know. Did she still like him? Would she still like Chat Noir after finding out it had been him all along?