"Chat, how do you flirt?" Ladybug asked, holding her mug of hot chocolate to her lips. It was night, around midnight to be exact. The two had just finished their patrol for the night, as was routine. And as per usual, she had brought along two cups and a small silver thermos, filled to the brim with hot chocolate. Stashed away on a rooftop until the end of the patrol, the sweet drink became somewhat of a nightly tradition between the two of them after Chat had confessed that he wasn't allowed to drink that kind of stuff at home.

"Huh?" Chat frowned at the question, cradling his own cup within his hands. He sat next to her on the rooftop ledge but slightly turned to fully face her. "Why do you ask?"

"You seemed like the best person to ask since you do it so often," she replied, playfully punching his arm. "It's almost like you need it to live, with how often you do it."

Chat laughed. "So you're just curious? You know that I only do it with you, right my lady?"

"Mhm."

"Really, I do," Chat grinned. "Cat's honor. You're the only purrincess for me."

"You should only flirt with someone you really like," she scolded.

"So...you?"

Ladybug rolled her eyes. "Sure. So how do you do it?"

"What do you mean?"

"How do you, you know…" She gestured vaguely with one hand. "Where do you get the confidence from?"

"Hm? Is my lady having some confidence problems? I didn't take you for a scaredy cat," he teased, poking her in the arm.

She swatted him away. "I'm only confident as Ladybug. And even then I'm not always confident."

"I beg to differ, purrincess. Why do you want to learn how to flirt, anyway? Just to gain some confidence? Or…" He scooted closer, a smirk on his face. "You got a crush on someone?"

She crossed her arms. "I do, but it's not you, so back up, kitty."

His heart sank. "What?"

"I said, 'back up, kitty.' Scoot back over."

"You have a crush on someone?"

"Well…" She looked down, a light blush on her face.

"Seriously?" He asked in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

When she didn't answer, his shoulders sank. Of course, he had considered the possibility of Ladybug liking someone already, but since she never made any mention of such a crush, he'd assumed that he was overthinking things. Or just denying the possibility.

His grip on his cup tightened.

"What's...he like?"

Ladybug fidgeted. "Kind. He thinks of others first before himself. He's a little vain sometimes, I think, but he's also the nicest guy I know. He's patient and even though he sometimes doesn't speak up for himself, he tries his best at everything."

Chat snorted. "Sounds like a dork."

"You're a dork," Ladybug retorted. Then she sighed. "But I can't bring myself to speak properly around him."

"Why?"

"I don't know, I just can't." She was suddenly frustrated, scowling at her cup. "He's perfect. And I'm just...me."

"Just you? You're Ladybug. He'd be an idiot for not wanting to be with you."

"Well, he doesn't know I'm Ladybug," she said dryly. "Besides, I'm completely different as a civilian. I'm clumsy, airheaded, a total klutz—"

"—and one hundred percent Ladybug," he finished. "You think I'm like this as a civilian? We're both different when we're transformed, but we're still ourselves. This just lets us show a different part of us."

Ladybug pouted. "I know, but still. I want to confess to him, but I'm not confident as Ladybug when I'm a civilian."

"You...want to confess?" His chest seemed to tighten.

She sighed. "I should. I've tried before but I just can't. I think my friend will kill me if I don't confess soon. So I was hoping that you'd have some advice for me."

He fell silent. Instead of answering immediately, he gently swished the drink around in his cup. How dense could this girl be, asking him for advice on this sort of thing? Was this what people called the "friend zone?" On one hand, he wanted to help his lady out, especially since it was really rare for her to ask for help of any sort. But on the other hand, she's asking him to help his rival. A rival who he didn't even know the name to.

"How long have you known him?" He finally asked.

Shrugging, she raised her cup to her lips again.

"Since the beginning of the school year?" She mumbled into her cup before taking a sip.

So she's known him for about as long as he'd known her, he thought sourly. Yet, he lost to this guy. What made this guy so special anyway? He was sure that he was better looking than whoever this mystery guy is.

"...I see. And you can't bring yourself to speak around him?"

She shook her head.

"My friend teases me about it a lot," she admitted. "She said that the whole class knows by now since it's so obvious. I want to tell him how I feel, but when I do, I just get all tongue-tied."

"Sounds like the cat's got your tongue," he joked halfheartedly.

"I tried to send him a card on Valentine's, but I don't think I signed my name on it. When I thought I was finally going on a date with him, it turned out that it was with his friend instead. Then when I gave him a birthday present, he thought it was from someone else. It's like bad luck just follows me wherever I go when I'm not Ladybug," she groaned, leaning her head back.

Chat chuckled. "Aren't ladybugs supposed to be lucky, though? Quit hogging all the bad luck, that's my job."

"You can have it back," she replied sourly. "I don't want it."

"I'll take as much bad luck as you want to give me, my lady," Chat said with a smile.

"Not having bad luck isn't going to help me much, though," she said, pulling a face. "What I need is confidence. Which is why I'm asking you for advice."

"...How about flowers?"

"Flowers?" She looked at him, puzzled.

"Yeah. Flowers," he said with a small smile. "Nothing big, maybe a couple of white carnations or something. Attach a note with your confession on it, and you're all set. That way, you don't have to say anything, right?"

"Well, I guess, but…"

"Three white carnations. A small heart-shaped note attached. With your signature this time, of course," he added. "If you can't handle giving it to him in person, just put it in his locker or something. There's no way to mess it up."

"I suppose." She slightly straightened up. A small smile grew on her face. "He does seem like the kind of person to like flowers."

"See?"

"And I do know his locker combination."

"...Why do you know his locker combination?"

"Chat, this could actually work," she said excitedly, ignoring his question. "I know the perfect flower shop to get flowers from too."

He smiled. "Don't I just give the most purrfect advice?"

"Yes, thank you!" She downed the rest of her drink and held out her hand. "Hurry up and finish your hot chocolate. I've got to get him and make the card. This time, I'll make sure that I won't forget to sign it."

"Alright, alright. Gimme a mew seconds." Following her example, he finished the rest of his now cool drink before handing the cup back. "You're going to do it tomorrow?"

She nodded. Standing up, she stretched briefly before gathering the cups and thermos into a small bag and tied it around her wrist.

"If I don't do it tomorrow, I'll lose my nerve. If that happens, I'll never get it done. Never. So it has to be tomorrow," she said firmly. She held out her hand to Chat, which he accepted. As soon as she finished helping him up, she smiled at him.

"Thank you, Chat."

"Y-Yeah." He looked away, a worm of guilt in his stomach.

"Until tomorrow night then. Night, Chat." She nodded at him before pulled out her yo-yo. And with that, she was gone.

"Goodnight."

"Flowers?" Plagg said in disbelief. "With a love note? That's the cheesiest thing I've ever heard, and I know cheese."

"Well, I never said I'd give good advice." Adrien ran his hand through his hair. He'd just returned to his room only moments ago, and already he felt dead tired. Not physically, of course, as he was perhaps one of the fittest boys in his age group in Paris due to being a model as well as a superhero, but mentally, he was exhausted.

"You gave her bad advice on purpose?" Plagg asked, rolling his eyes. "Wow."

"She asked me to help my rival in love, what was I supposed to do?"

"Not give advice at all?"

"That's just mean. I can't do that to Ladybug."

"But you're willing to give her bad advice." Plagg shook his head. "You humans are weird."

"It wasn't that bad of advice," he protested. "I'll probably work."

"Yeah, if that guy's a huge dork for cliches. He'll most likely just think that she's weird. See, this is why I don't understand you humans. Why would you choose to deal with all these complicated stuff when you can have cheese instead? Cheese won't ask you for bad advice. Cheese is simple. Cheese is loyal."

"Cheese is stinky," Adrien corrected.

"A small sacrifice for greatness," the kwami said fondly.

"Right. I won't judge your food choices if you don't judge my life choices."

Plagg shrugged. "It's your life. I don't see why you didn't just confess to her right there."

"The timing wasn't right. A confession has to be perfect."

"You just set her confession on the track to ruin, you have no right to talk."

"It really isn't that bad of advice. He'll probably like it; even she said that he seemed like the kind of person to like flowers."

"Do you know any guys whose ideal confession is to be given flowers?"

"Well, no…"

"See? You gave her bad advice and you know it. You might as well prepare to comfort her now when she comes back after being rejected. Who knows, that could have been her soulmate and you just ruined her life. Forever."

"Wow, you're just a ray of sunshine, aren't you."

Plagg shrugged. "I'm just telling the truth. Now, where's my camembert?"

"Man, I'm beat." Nino stretched, his arm nearly whacking Adrien in the face as he did so.

"Nino, we barely did anything this class," Adrien said, rolling his eyes as he jotted down the homework before closing his notebook.

"Being in school drains my very life from my body, dude. Are you doing anything after school today?"

"Piano lessons," Adrien replied apologetically. "Did you want to do something?"

"Nah, just asking. You ready, man?"

"Yeah. I have to get my books from my locker first though."

"Sure, let's go," Nino said standing up. "See you later, Alya, Marinette."

"Bye guys," Alya said, with a small wave. Adrien smiled at the two girls. As usual, Marinette quickly looked down as he did so. He wondered, not for the first time, if she still disliked him.

"See you tomorrow," he said with a smile. Then he followed Nino out.

"Do you actually bring your books home from school?" Nino asked.

"Yeah. I have a tutor at home who father asked to teach me lessons from schools ahead of time, so I bring the book home on days I have lessons."

"Sounds like a pain, man."

"It is," he admitted. "But there's not much I can do about it."

"Don't bring them home. Then you can't have your lesson," Nino joked.

"I'd rather not have double lessons next time to make up for one skipped lesson, thanks," Adrien said, rolling his eyes.

"Harsh."

"That's my father for you."

"I feel sorry for you, dude. I can't imagine living like that. I'd go crazy."

"It's not too bad once you get used to it," Adrien sighed. "Anyways, here's my locker. You don't have to wait up for me, I have to go straight home today."

"You sure, man?"

"Yeah, it's fine. See you tomorrow?"

"Until tomorrow." Nino grinned and did a mock wave before turning and leaving.

Turning to his locker, Adrien started putting in his combination lock. It was almost muscle memory, and within seconds, he had his locker opened.

And like clockwork, he nearly grabbed his book and closed the door once again if it weren't for the three snow-white carnations leaning against his history textbook.

Tied together at the stems with a small white ribbon, the flowers weren't wrapped in clear plastic as most larger bouquets usually are but instead sported a small heart-shaped card. For a few seconds, he merely stared at the flowers in confusion. Then it hit him.

"Three white carnations. A small heart-shaped note attached"

"If you can't handle giving it to him in person, just put it in his locker or something."

Dear lord, she actually did it.

Letting out a short laugh in pure disbelief, he started to reach out to the flowers, almost afraid to touch them. When the petals didn't disappear under his fingers, his hand trailed down to the card.

It was a simple card, no bigger than the size of his palm. The white paper was thick, and the ribbon connected the card to the flowers through a small hole punched into the top corner.

Inside this card was Ladybug's identity. After nearly a year of not knowing just who was behind that mask, he has the answer literally at his fingertips. All he has to do is open the card.

And yet...he hesitated.

If he opened this card, Ladybug's identity would be revealed. The one thing, the only thing, that Ladybug never felt comfortable enough to share with him. He could undo it right here, right now, without her even realizing it. Would she be mortified? Furious? Disappointed?

...Happy?

It would make sense, he thought, as he fiddled with the card absentmindedly. She liked him and he liked her. Therefore, they liked each other. It shouldn't matter if they fell for different identities of each other, each identity they had were parts to the same whole. So why did it feel so wrong?

He shook his head.

No, it wasn't wrong. He knew that she was comfortable with Chat. They were close as partners and as friends. The only thing that stopped her from seeing that was her crush on, well, himself.

What about him then? Was he close with her civilian identity? Heck, did he even know her normal identity? They could go to the same school, but she could be in a whole different grade for all he knew. What if he didn't get along with her civilian identity? That'd be awkward for sure.

"Did you die? Hurry up and open it," Plagg hissed, sticking his head out of Adrien's jacket.

"But—"

"Nobody wants to listen to your pathetic inner turmoil. This is the chance to find out the identity of the love of your life. So hurry up and open it before I open it for you."

"Plagg, get back in my jacket. What if someone sees you?" Adrien whispered, subtly glancing around him at the same time. Luckily, most students had already left the school building, and those who hadn't weren't in the area.

"You took too long deciding."

"What if—"

"If you don't like her other identity then don't say anything as Chat and reject her as Adrien. She won't know any better and you two can go on being partners. If you decide to accept her confession then you tell her as Chat and get a happily ever after. What's so hard about it?" Plagg asked, exasperated. "You humans make everything so complicated."

"Well, I suppose you're right…"

"Of course I'm right. Now hurry up so we can go home. I'm hungry."

Adrien sighed. "When aren't you?"

Grabbing his textbook along with the flower, he closed the locker.

"There is always room for camembert," Plagg declared.

"Yeah, yeah. There's always time for a bath too, with the way you stink."

"Cats don't need baths. So are you going to open the card or not?"

"I will when I get home."

"Oh for crying out loud," Plagg groaned. Before Adrien could stop him, the kwami flew straight out of Adrien's jacket, snatching the card along with the flowers.

"Hey!"

"Blah blah, have always loved you, blah, blah, love of my life, blah—hey, where's the signature?"

"What? Give me that." Adrien grabbed the card back, quickly scanning over the contents. It was a short note, written in red cursive.

And it was missing a signature.

"You fell in love with an idiot," Plagg deadpanned. And for once, Adrien agreed.

Author's Note:

This was gonna be a reveal fic. And then I remembered I gotta wake up early (it's 2AM, opps) I'll probably put up the last/reveal scene in the future if I can manage to write it right. Thank you for reading!