A/N: Sooooo, I somehow accidentally made half of Adrien's and Marinette's class LadyNoir shippers. WHOOPS. Hahaha. Maybe they can join us in LadyNoir Hell. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Monday morning, Adrien walked into the classroom ready to fall over from exhaustion. Sunday night had been full of running around and stopping yet another rogue akuma, and he wasn't all that sure that he'd be able to keep himself awake through the entire class. He plopped down into his seat, restraining himself from putting his head down on the desk and just falling back asleep.

"They're so cool!" Alya was saying excitedly, and half the class listened with rapt attention. "Just when it looked like she was trapped, Chat Noir dove for her and knocked her out of the way! And then, at the very end, Ladybug swooped down and saved the day!"

Despite his grogginess, Adrien couldn't help a small smile. If he was being honestly, it had been pretty cool. And, judging from their excited murmurs, the rest of the class agreed.

Forcing himself a little further into the realm of awake, Adrien turned around in his seat to face Alya. Her friend Marinette, he was surprised to see, looked just as exhausted as he did. She was sitting so low in her chair that she may as well have been lying down, eyes half closed as she listened to Alya gush.

Adrien was just considering saying that he sympathized with her when Alya added, "Everyone on my blog went crazy last night when Chat Noir rescued Ladybug! You know, I've got a couple thousand followers now, and all they can talk about is how romantic it was!"

Adrien sat up straighter. Romantic? Well, he did think he was rather dashing. At least when he was Chat Noir, of course, and not boring Adrien Agreste.

"Everyone wants to know what their relationship is!" Alya added excitedly. "I mean, they're always fighting together, but we never hear about it."

"That's probably because there's nothing going on to talk about," Marinette added grumpily, her exhaustion making her sound irritated. Adrien frowned, ready to defend Chat Noir with … something. But Alya was even quicker to jump to the rescue.

"Don't be ridiculous!" scoffed, shooting Marinette a look. "Chat Noir is so cool! If they're not already together, it's probably only a matter of time before it happens!"

Thank you, Alya! Adrien thought triumphantly. At least, he really hoped he'd be so lucky.

"Wouldn't it be so romantic if he asked her after one of their battles?" Rose asked, a dreamy look on her face.

"Right!?" Alya asked excitedly. "That's what my followers were saying! If he does, I want to film the whole thing!"

"You really think she'd like that?" Adrien asked, glancing up as Nino strode into the room and sat down next to him.

Marinette rolled her eyes, but Alya quickly leaned across the desk toward Adrien, stealing his attention. "What girl could say no!?" she asked excitedly. "An epic battle of good vs. evil! A daring rescue and defeat! And then, at the very climax, he swoops her off her feet and professes his love! It would be beautiful!"

Half of the girls nodded in agreement, and even Chloe added, "I wouldn't mind Chat Noir sweeping me off my feet."

But then the bell rang and the teacher walked in, cutting the conversation short. As the teacher started the class Adrien pulled out his notebook, but his thoughts were firmly glued to Ladybug.

Would that work with Ladybug? She always skillfully shot him down, but maybe that was because she wasn't taking him seriously. Perhaps a big, romantic gesture would make her realize just how much he really loved her.

The thought was a bit terrifying. When he was Chat Noir, everything came so easily: the feline grace and smooth talk. But even then, trying to work up the courage to tell Ladybug about his feelings was extremely difficult. He had been dead set on telling her on Valentine's Day, but even Chat Noir hadn't been able to get it out.

Still, if it would help Ladybug to see just how serious he was, maybe Alya was right…

"Healing Light!"

Adrien stood from his crouch on the rooftop, looking over at Ladybug. A storm of hearts descended on the city, righting everything the akuma had wronged.

Deftly Ladybug yanked her yoyo back into her hand, smiling in satisfaction as the young man in front of them slowly came around.

"Where am I?" he asked, looking about incredulously. Ladybug helped him to his feet, and the man quickly left via the door on the roof.

Adrien swaggered over to her, holding out his fist. With a smirk that yanked his heart, Ladybug bumped him back.

"THAT WAS AMAZING!" Alya yelled excitedly, hurrying forward with her cell phone.

"Oh! Uh… thanks," Ladybug said, looking a little uncomfortable. "But you should really be more careful—what if you get hurt always sticking this close?"

"And let down your adoring public?" Alya asked, horrified. "I think not! A journalist has to take risks. I've got this hooked up as a live-screen—there are thousands of people watching right now!"

Adrien's ears perked up at that, quickly turning to Alya. "This is a livestream?" he asked, glancing curiously at the phone.

"You betcha!" she said excitedly. "Everyone wants to know what you two are up to!"

Adrien fell into an easy grin, winking at the camera. Beside him, he heard Ladybug make a disgusted noise.

"Ah, Ladybug!" he said, dramatically holding a hand to his wounded heart as he turned to face her. "We must not leave our public hanging!"

Ladybug rolled her eyes in return, and Adrien felt his heart spike. This was the perfect chance for a grand, romantic gesture, wasn't it? He had waited while the mostly quiet week had passed by, impatiently hoping for another akuma to surface. Alya—and her camera—were here, and who even knew how long he'd have to wait until the next akuma attack. Taking a deep breath, Adrien steadied himself. He was Chat Noir. He could do this.

Suddely Ladybug's Miraculous beeped. She quickly raised a hand to her ears, though not before he caught a glimpse of her final polka dot blinking dangerously.

"Alright, time to go," she said, taking a step back.

"Wait!" Adrien called quickly, reaching out toward her. To his relief Ladybug paused, although she continued to glance uneasily between him and Alya.

"What's wrong?" she asked him anxiously.

"I…" Get it together! You're Chat Noir. You can do this. Adrien snatched her hand and went down on one knee before her. He could hear Alya gasp somewhere behind him, although Ladybug took another half step back.

"Ladybug, I love you!" he said quickly, tightening his grip on her hand. "Please, go out with me?"

Ladybug's Miraculous beeped again, and she frantically looked between Adrien, his hand, and Alya. "What, Chat, now? Are you serious?" she asked, incredulous.

Heart sinking, Adrien brought his other hand up beseechingly. "Yes, completely!"

Ladybug took another step back, this time tugging her hand from both of his. He felt his stomach slip away into oblivion as she frowned anxiously. "No, Chat, I'm sorry. I've got to go!"

She turned to leave, and Adrien quickly stood up. "Wait, Ladybug, please!"

"I can't," she told him, each step backward becoming a little faster.

"But why?" he asked, taking a step toward her.

"Because I already like someone else!" she snapped back, finally reaching the edge of the roof. "Now I'm sorry, Chat, but I have to go!"

And then she was swinging away across the roof tops, leaving him behind.

"Chat Noir…"

Startled, Adrien turned around to see Alya watching him, phone still held in her hands. With horror, he realized that she had just filmed the whole thing. Live. To thousands of people.

Alya's phone beeped as she stopped recording and put it into her pocket. She shot him a look of pity, and he quickly turned away.

"I'm sorry. I have to go."

That was a lie, and she probably knew it—he hadn't used his Cataclysm tonight. Adrien didn't care. He quickly bounded away, trying unsuccessfully to stop Ladybug's words from repeating in his head.

Aaaah, so, I always seem to do this to myself. It's NaNoWriMo, and I spent Nov. 1st writing up a 6,000 word summary for a brand new LadyNoir fanfic. And then the next day proceed to write it. Someone please stop me. I'll just tell you now, I'm not sure when I'll be able to update. TECHNICALLY NaNo is supposed to take precedence (although we can ALL see exactly how well THAT'S working out).

As for the story itself… Poor Adrien! Honestly, I feel like he acts really cool when he's Chat Noir, but he still is really unsure of himself when it comes to trying to win over Ladybug. Is the real Adrien smart enough not to make a grand romantic gesture in front of thousands of people? Yes, probably. But I also think he's the kind of guy who would overthink all of this, and possibly even take bad romantic advice hoping it would work. (I mean, that's kind of how I view his flirting. He probably thinks, "Girls like flirting, right? Maybe this will work!")

I've seen a lot of attention on how Marinette becomes more confident as Ladybug. But for me, the big moment was when it hit me that Adrien also becomes a lot more confident as Chat Noir. About 75% of our view of Adrien, especially in the beginning of the show, comes from Marinette's eyes. And obviously Marinette thinks Adrien is so cool and can totally do no wrong. And so in the beginning I felt like Adrien was already confident. Perhaps a bit quiet and reserved, but still confident. But the more I watched, the more I realized that compared to Chat Noir, he actually comes across as really fragile. Most of what he says is just kind of surface level stuff. "That looks nice," "How are you?", etc. It's only with Nino and Plagg that we get to see more of what's really going on in his life.

Anyway, I wanted to write a fic that explores both Marinette's AND Adrien's insecurities, and how they use their alter egos as a confidence booster—sometimes not in the best ways.

FYI, as of now this story takes place sometime after Episode 11 (given that that's what's out so far). Obviously as I work on this some things in canon may change. If need be, I'll update if my story is going to veer from canon at all.