With the fight over, the akuma purified, and the world set to rights, Ladybug had a minute to find a hiding spot before she turned back into Cinderella.

"Here," Chat said, opening a door for her.

She bolted inside, and he shut the door just as her transformation wore off.

She caught her exhausted kwami in her hands, then instinctively reached for her side.

Only to realize she had neglected to bring her purse.

Marinette momentarily panicked. If she couldn't find a cookie for Tikki, that meant she would have to walk home. An unappealing prospect to not only walk that far, but in the dark in a ridiculously impractical prom dress.

"Marinette," Tikki said. "Maybe desperate times call for desperate measures."

With a sigh, the girl relented. "You're right, Tikki."

She was hesitant to reach for the door. It took courage to twist the handle and crack the door open. "Chat?" she whispered.

But no response.

"Chat?" She called again, a little louder this time. When met with silence again, she gave one last call out. "Kitty?"

No response. With a relenting sigh, she shut the door again. She supposed her only option was to wait the night out here until Tikki was fit—

"Did I hear my lady call?"

Marinette lit up at the voice echoing through the door. She cracked it open, just so that she could speak quietly without having to yell through the door. "I have a bit of a problem. I don't have any cookies for my kwami."

"I can go find some," he offered.

While that was what made the most sense, Marinette was disappointed at his answer. She tried to get her jaw to work, staring down at Tikki for some sort of reassurance. The little kwami grinned, nodding her head and made a swirling motion with her hands. A silent "go on." Encouragement. And with another nod, firm consent.

Marinette took a breath. "Actually, can I just ask you to take me home?"

There was a tense silence as Marinette waited for an answer. When she got one, his voice was uncertain. "Are you sure of that, my lady? That means you have to tell me where you live and I might just see who you are in the process."

She reached out the door, extending her hand out for him to take. "I'm certain, kitty."

Marinette counted five pounding heartbeats before she felt Chat's hand slip into hers. In a classic Chat move, he pressed a kiss to her knuckles before she pulled him into the closet with her.

He slipped inside, his eyes focused on the floor as he reached behind him to shut the door. A smile crossed his face at the sight of her dress. "You look spectacular tonight, mi—"

The rest of his comment died on his lips as his eyes locked on her face. Marinette felt heat swarm her cheeks as she forced a smile. "Hi, kitty."

He looked her over again before breaking into a smile. Slowly, he shook his head in disbelief, then started chuckling. "I can't believe it."

"Is that a good thing?" Marinette asked, her voice squeaky with shaky hope.

He didn't say a word as he reached for her and engulfed her in his embrace. He rubbed his cheek against her head as he settled her firmly against his chest. Not that she minded in the slightest.

"So," she asked, arms wrapping around his torso, "this is ok?"

"It's so insanely perfect," he responded. "And horrendously ironic. I can't believe…I brought all that teasing on myself."

Something sat in Marinette's gut wrong. "What's that supposed to mean?"

With a chuckle, he swept her up of her feet. She let out a slight squeal of surprise as she wrapped her arms around his neck for security. His face was so close to hers, yet she could still see the teasing grin he wore with perfect clarity. "Let' get you home, princess. Then I'll tell you."

She tightened her grasp. "All right."

Chat took her all the way home, bounding effortlessly across Paris despite holding her. When he set her down on her balcony, he did it with the utmost care. Even though her feet were planted firmly on the ground, he never let her go.

Not that she wanted him to.

"So," she quietly spoke, reaching her hands up to his hair. "What did you want to tell me?"

He melted at her touch. His eyes were half-lidded as she gently rubbed circles in his ears. "See, you're going to make it hard for me to tell you."

"Oh?" she asked, snuggling closer so their noses were nearly touching. She worked harder at rubbing his ears. "And why's that?"

"Because I don't want you to stop that but the easiest way to explain is to detransform."

With a smirk, she shifted her ministrations from his ears to his scalp. It garnered a purr form him. Ladybug grinned, loving the way the sound vibrated in his chest and through her. Eager to keep it going and curious to see just how strong she could make it, she stood on her toes so that she could scratch in between his shoulder blades.

Even in the midst of the purring, he moaned. "Mari."

Her grin widened at the thrill she got from causing such a reaction from her partner. "Am I going to get to see who you are? Or are you just going to stay a cat all night?"

"If you keep petting me like that," he implied.

Though it was hard, she stopped. "Ok. Now let me see who my knight is."

He chuckled, his purring dying down. In a flash of green, he had changed from her partner

To Adrien Agreste.

Marinette stared at him for a while before hiding her face into his shoulder. "Oh my word!"

Adrien just held her tight, chuckling all the while. "If I had known, then I wouldn't have told you to tease the life out of your friend. Do you know how hard you yanked on my heartstrings tonight?"

She giggled into his shoulder. "But you said I could pull on your heartstrings anytime. You brought it on yourself."

He stiffened for a moment, glancing at her strangely before forcing her out of his shoulder and staring her down with a smirk. "So you were listening to all my lines."

A blush heated her cheeks, but she really couldn't bring herself to care. Somehow, him holding her as he did made it really hard to think. Adrien, Chat Noir; she really didn't know what she was supposed to do with herself right now. "I remember the good ones and, regretfully, the really bad," she teased.

He put his lips close to her ear and whispered, "So which one was that, purrincess?"

She shuttered, wishing he'd quit trying to melt her like a candle in and oven. "No comment."

Adrien chuckled, a wonderful sound that rumbled through his chest. "I'll get the answer out of you one day."

She grinned up at him. "Try all you want, kitty. My lips are sealed."

The glint in his eye was dangerous. "Does that mean I won't be getting a kiss from my lady tonight?"

She bit her tongue against the automatic answer of "yes," and pretended to think it over. "Well, maybe if I can have a dance to finish the one we left, then I'll consider it."

He wasted no time regathering her into a waltz hold. Goodness, did he have to look so dashing in that suit and tie of his? "Anything for my lady."

Marinette slowly awoke to someone shaking her. "Mari."

She groaned, unwilling to leave her warm pillow. "No."

A chuckle. One warm and rich and all kinds of wonderful. "You have to get up."

"No, I don't," she whined, her eyes still clamped shut.

"Well, at least you have to get up off of me, princess."

Marinette's eyes opened suddenly as last night flooded her mind. Dancing. Lots and lots of dancing, followed by her inviting Adrien inside and talking the night away. But even though the last part was foggy, she vaguely remembered snuggling up against him. Where she must have fallen asleep.

She looked up at him, his hair ruffled just a bit to make him resemble Chat Noir. Then combined with his black suit and tie, he just looked downright, devilishly handsome. Honestly, it wasn't fair for someone to be that good looking in the morning. She must look a mess.

Adrien smiled down at her, fingering the ends of her hair. "You look so beautiful."

Feeling the blush of her cheeks, she retorted, "lair."

He shook his head. "Never when it comes to your beauty, princess. Both inside and out."

Flattered, Marinette buried her head back in his chest.

"As much as I do want to stay, I should leave. I have work to do today."

Whining, she gripped his jacket tighter.

With a chuckle, he pressed a kiss to her head. "I know. I don't really want to go either."

Forcing her head up, Marinette looked up at Adrien with a smile. "Come back soon, kitty?"

"As if you could keep me away from my lady."

He leaned forward to steal a kiss from her, one she willingly gave into.

And that was when an extremely loud bang reverberated through the room, causing both of them to nearly fall from the chaise.

Marinette whipped her head around, searching for the source of the sound, only to see Alya standing there with a stunned expression.

Sheepishly, Marinette rubbed the back of her neck, forgetting that Alya had texted her back a promise last night to come check up on her this morning.

"Um…" Adrien said, blushing bright red while still supporting Marinette on his lap so she wouldn't fall from the chaise. "Hey, Alya."

"Marinette. Dupain. Cheng." Alya's voice boomed in the small room, making her seem twice the size she truly was. "You have some serious explaining to do!"

A/N: I'm a bit disappointed in this one, because I feel like no matter how hard I tried, it just got progressively worse as time went on. :( Lesson learned, I suppose. Will probably undergo a revision at some point in time, but honestly, I just mentally needed this story to be finished. Too many things on my plate :p