Warning: Consists of mentions of addictions. I apologize if this triggers anyone, or if anyone feels like addictions are being made fun of in this chapter. Addictions are to be taken seriously, and I'm not trying to undermine this. If you have any complaints, I'll be happy to take them into consideration if you say so in a message or a review.

01. The Internet is No Help When It Comes to Solving Your Problems

ADRIEN AGRESTE WAS IN LOVE WITH HIS BEST FRIEND.

There, he admitted it. Step one complete. That wasn't too bad, really. Why had he put it off all this time? He read the next line, frowning at the strange phrasing and modifying it to fit his own needs.

Step 2: Believe in something greater than yourself.

Adrien hummed, pondering and scratching his nose. Something greater than himself? There were plenty of things that fit the criteria, but which one of those was directly related to his problem?

Politics? For some reason or another, that was the first word that entered his mind, and he shuddered. Something else, something more related to him. He glanced around the room, hoping for inspiration to hit. Fashion? Modeling? His eyes fell on the heart-shaped card taped beside his computer monitors.

Love? The thought came unbidden, sudden and unexpected, and yet it made so much sense.

Plagg munched on some Camembert. The faint hum of the CPU filled his room. And Adrien mused, pursing his lips. Love was certainly bigger and greater than himself. Then he grinned. Well, he already believed in love, so that was Step Two completed, right? Yeah, definitely. So on to Step Three then.

Step 3: Make a decision to change.

Adrien blinked, scratching his forehead in confusion before resting his cheek against his hand. "A decision to change?" he voiced aloud. "Change what?"

At the sound of his charge's voice, Plagg drifted over, having consumed his cheese. He peered at the screen thoughtfully. "12-Step Program?" he read aloud. "What for?"

"To solve your problems," Adrien told him absentmindedly, finally deciding to ignore the third step and continue. "I'm on Step 3."

Plagg stared at him, then at the screen, then at him again. "You got a problem I don't know about?" His voice was level, unusually serious.

Adrien stared right back at him in confusion. Hadn't Plagg been listening to the hour-long rants…? "You know," he began slowly, "about Marinette?"

Sure, he and Marinette hadn't been the closest back in collège. There was a moment that Adrien feared the incident when they had first met would taint their friendship forever, since Marinette never seemed comfortable around him, but that stopped after a year or so. Instead, they had grown closer, and he had found a type of solitude and peace in her that he didn't know he was missing for years.

Besides, the fact that they had a lot in common and her parents could bake excellent pastries didn't hurt.

Plagg deflated, and Adrien could have sworn he heard a relieved sigh. "Oh. I thought it was something serious—"

"This is serious!" Adrien interrupted, arms flailing and not bothering his kwami in the slightest.

"—so why are you reading a program about overcoming addictions?" Plagg finished.

"I—what?" Adrien quickly scrolled up to read the title of the page again, groaning when he read that, yes, indeed, the 12-Step program was utilized to overcome addictions. "For goodness sakes! I spent an hour on this article!"

"It was clearly a very wasted hour," Plagg noted dryly. "As you seem to have completely missed a very important fact that could have saved you a lot of time."

"Stop rubbing it in!"

Adrien huffed, exiting the page and turning to the next one. HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM: 6 QUICK AND SIMPLE TIPS. Plagg floated over, choosing to hover directly in front of Adrien's line of sight. "Hey, this one looks good."

"And since when did you care?" Adrien asked, shoving him to the side. He scrolled down. "Wasn't cheese the only important thing in your life?"

"I don't" came the answer. "And it is. But I am invested in the comic relief of this whole situation."

Adrien wisely chose to ignore him, reading the tips. "Step one, 'Ask yourself: Is there really a problem here?'" He scoffed. "Well, of course there is. Why wouldn't there be?"

"Didn't Alya say that the best romances are born from friendship?" Plagg noted in a surprisingly wise move.

"Yeah, but it doesn't apply to me."

"And explain to me again exactly why this is a problem?"

"B—because!" Adrien stuttered, looking entirely flabbergasted Plagg would even ask such a question. "She's practically my best friend! I can't fall in love with her. It'll ruin our entire relationship. And then she'll hate me forever—"

"I don't think she's capable of hating someone."

"—and I'll lose one of my friends. And it'll be one of my biggest regrets—Oww! Plagg!"

"I had to do something to stop your yammering."

"You didn't have to throw the pencil at me!" Adrien protested, rubbing his head.

Plagg shot him a deadpan look. "You'll live. Now, realize that the whole 'ruin our entire relationship' thing didn't really stop you with Ladybug."

"That's different," Adrien said immediately, before backing down at Plagg's unamused gaze. "Well, maybe not really. But you saw how Ladybug reacted."

"I'm not sure what you're seeing, kid, but I think you need your eyes checked if you don't see a really strong friendship between you two. Despite your feelings for her."

"But that's part of the problem, isn't it?" Adrien pressed. "My feelings for Ladybug, I mean. I know we aren't dating or anything like that, but I feel like I'm cheating on her or something."

"Kid, you're not cheating on anybody you don't have a relationship with. Besides, you're a teenage boy. It's normal for this to happen."

"I'm hardly a teenager anymore, Plagg." Adrien sighed. "I never really felt like one anyway. Besides, what teen has to manage a double life anyway?"

"If your age still has a teen on it, you're a teen in my book."

Adrien chuckled, exiting the page and opening another one. "Hey, this one looks promising. '5 Ways to Solve All Your Problems.'"

"Sounds like a scam to me," Plagg stated immediately. "Skip it."

"Don't be so pessimistic," Adrien chided. "Here, One: Solve Your Problem." He briefly scanned the short paragraphs under the bolded words. It's basically saying face your problems and stop procrastinating them."

"Well, you're doing an excellent job of that."

"Hey! I'm researching, aren't I? I'm getting there," Adrien protested, pouting slightly.

"After years of being in love with her," Plagg added with a roll of his eyes.

Adrien frowned. "What do you mean 'years'? I haven't been—" He cut himself off abruptly, eyes widening. "Oh," he said softly.

"About time you realized," Plagg murmured.

"You could have told me!"

"I wouldn't want to touch the mess that is your love life with a ten foot pole! Besides, watching you fret is hilarious! So you tell me, why would I have?"

Adrien muttered something very unflattering under his breath, reading the next bolded sentence. "'Avoid the problem?'" he exclaimed. "What type of advice is that?" He closed the window before groaning and exiting out of the browser altogether, going as far as to switch off the computer.

"The type that you've been following for the past few years," Plagg noted dryly, phasing into and out of random drawers. "Say, kid, where do you keep the cheese in this gigantic room of yours?"

Adrien crossed his arms, his chin up as he imitated Plagg's tone of voice. "And why would I tell you?" he asked rhetorically. "It's fun to see you so agitated and whizzing about, trying to find something you'll never find."

"Why you—"

Next time on Inside and Out:

Now despite what Alya said, Marinette was quite certain that falling in love with your best friend wasn't exactly the wisest choice. For one, there was the fact that they were your best friend, and there was always the chance that the dynamic you had would never return to the way it used to. And, quite frankly, that was a terrifying thought, because, well, she had known Chat Noir for years now, trusting him with her life on a nearly daily basis.

So that was really the question, wasn't it? She trusted him with her life, but could she trust him with her heart?

Author's Note: I'll be honest and admit that I have absolutely no idea where this is going, so I'll be taking requests, as long as I can find a way to fit them in the story.

I'm also looking for a beta or a few or just someone to bounce ideas off if anyone's willing. :)