Author's Notes: I just wanted to write them all mature (HA!) but still on the cusp of hormonal teen-hood. -snickers- Tho, let me know how I do since I kind of died near the end with my sleepiness... I just really wanted to jump on this bandwagon of beautiful.

It's been two years since she had moved on from Adrien and as much as she wished she didn't, she knew she had to. It was an infatuation, she reasoned; puppy love and it wasn't anything more. He never looked so much as looked at her and he only became more famous as time progressed that it became harder to even catch a glimpse of him. Only Nino ever had much interaction with the famous model, now turned actor, that Marinette had little to no chance at all to see the celebrity.

Her feelings eventually dwindled, though she wasn't entirely sure of the cause. Maybe it was the lack of his presence or that she had heard rumors of him finding a girlfriend in Chloe at last.

It was disappointing and heartbreaking.

Without him around to confirm or deny the allegations, her imagination became her nightmares and eventually she cried and cried until she could no longer feel. Numb and heartbroken, she decided that it was best to move on and that she would cheer for him on the sidelines.

And that was a year and a half ago.

Since then, she's moved on to her focus of her clothing fashion line. Her numerous attempts at entering the many contests (to distract herself) that the school offered gave her the publicity that she needed. Her talent was recognized that between her hero time and designing time, she honestly had little to no time to herself to even think about Adrien. Chat Noir, however, was always a constant companion. His quirks and never ending puns remained the same. But he seemed to have grown just as she had. His shoulders grew wider and broader with his chest being stronger than she remembered it to be during one fight with a particular akuma. His voice deeper and smoother in a way that made her stomach do strange flip flops and warm something she isn't entirely sure of what it was.

It's not as if she hadn't changed in the two years either. She filled out in more ways that made her more womanly than child - like that when she asked Tikki how long was it that she is to be Ladybug. Though the question isn't really answered, she figured out that it probably have to do with Hawkmoth. The moment their enemy is defeated, it is highly likely the abilities is transferred to another. But who knows when that might be.

With this, her train of thought lead her to wonder if Chat Noir still loved her after all these years. Is his devotion to her out of genuine affection as he said it was or was it because they had just unwavering faith in one another that they would always be partners as well as the best of friends?

Though, she snorted at the thought, for a pair of "best friends", it was strange to think of them as such when they barely talked about their other lives outside of their hero work. Sometimes, just sometimes, does she hear about the things that was happening with him, as if it was a slip of the tongue; for seconds later, he hastily apologizes in a way that resembled someone familiar. She was guilty of the same thing, and through their time together, she had picked up that his family life at home was rough and cold and that he was very well off despite that. Though she had been absolutely careful to not say a word about her own life, her broken heart toward a certain male finally leaked through in a manner of vague and strangled whispers and could no longer hide.

He had asked if he knew who this person was that had broken her heart and she smiled rather tearfully, "I suppose it doesn't hurt to tell you since he's busy. It was Adrien Agreste. He..." She took a deep, but ragged breath, "but he didn't even know I existed."

She never got to see the shocked or dumbfounded expression on his face. Akuma attacks came then and interrupted their serious conversation. And then even after that, they never really had an opportunity to talk so personally again.

Undergoing vigorous and serious attacks continuously meant they were pushing their powers to the limit every day... it was exhausting. Eventually, the confession was forgotten, at least to her, and their partnership somehow remained the same. Nothing really changed despite the changes to their physical form.

"Marinette! You won! You won!"

Snapping out of her thoughts, her oceanic blue eyes darted to the screen backstage where the model she had dressed up was standing at the head of the runway with the host cheerfully announcing the result. Alya ran over to Marinette with a squeal and held her close as she looked dumbfounded at the screen. With a nervous giggle, she held her best friend back and their disbelieving laughter fell quiet. The host continued with words and details of what the actual prize was.

She blinked.

Maybe she wasn't hearing it right.

But it sounded like she said that the winner of this fashion contest will be able to work on the set of the upcoming movie, Game of Magic, and be an assistant on the competitive television show of the top fashion designers, The Star Project. Though Marinette never watched either of those shows, given her rather busy schedule between designs and hero time, she had seen glimpses of the show throughout the city and and whenever it happened to make its appearance on TV at home. But otherwise, the hero was very excited to finally be with the big names of fashion and the design and looks of costumes. She really was making a name for herself and she was rather quite proud of how far she had come.

"Come on girl! You won! Go collect your prize!" Alya said with a push.

Unable to hide her excitement any longer, it bubbled to the surface with a spring in her step as she went to pick up her trophy and paper certificate. After saying a few words of thanks and a quick wave, she runs off the stage with unbridled happiness and a brilliantly dazzling grin when she met up with Alya.

They squealed and screamed together in excitement. Quickly cleaning up after herself and collecting her winning dress from the stage organizer, they set off.

"We need to celebrate! Come on, let's go!"

Marinette followed after her, placing the bags and bouquets onto the backseat next to her of Alya's mom's car. "How'd it go girls?" her mother inquired.

"Marinette won!" Alya gushed quickly before Marinette could even get a word in. "Oh you should've seen it mom! It was absolutely fantastic and she put the other dresses to shame with her unique design! The judges couldn't stop mentioning the beautiful and detailed handiwork of the dress she made."

"Alya, come on, the other dresses were just as beautiful," Marinette interjected. She sighed, raising a brow and leaned back into the seat with the cross of her arms. "You're giving me too much credit."

"Am not! You owned that show," Alya said with a quick glance back. She faced forward, squealing, "I mean! It was a Ladybug inspired piece! How could I not love it? I mean, she's all the rage now that she's matured over the years. The boys are all over her and man, has Chat Noir just really—"

"Stop." A hand was raised to emphasize her point. Another shake of her head when Alya turned back to her with her own uplifted brow. "I've only seen your LadyBlog gush about him more times than I can count… I don't think I want to hear more."

Quite frankly, Marinette was sure that she's heard enough of it. She was already growing aware of how much he was turning from a boy, like she was a girl, and into a man. He was already stronger than she was in terms of prowess, but when he was compared to her as Ladybug, it was obvious that she was the more "powerful" one as she was the one with the ability to turn everything back to normal and undo the damage that had been done. But still, to think of her partner in that fashion was almost strange. It was a platonic relationship… at… best. With an inward shake of her head of the past where she had kissed him once, her relationship had to remain the same. It was one of the few things that kept her life on track with how fast things seemed to be progressing.

The conversation was dropped and Alya decided to continue talking about the show to her mother in vivid detail, much thanks to the journalist in her to remember every minute thing. Especially since they were in high school now, it meant that she ran the school paper and was the leading writer and editor despite her age.

The rest of the night passed in a blur of a surprise, congratulatory party by her parents and a majority of her classmates. It was an awesome party, filled with many hearty laughs and curious questions of what she will do next and when can she claim those prizes. After answering the questions to the best of her abilities, the party eventually became too much and she excused herself to her room to finally wind down with a plop onto her bed. The lead up to the fashion show had been exhausting and she worked tirelessly to get the lineup done. But the winning dress hung on her closet door, covered by plastic to keep the dress in its pristine condition aside from being worn once.

Getting up from her place on her bed, she lifted the dress off of the door and gently stroked it, holding it close to her with a happy sigh and opened the door to place it neatly inside. Stepping back out, a shadow moved across her balcony that she walked toward it, pushing open the door and letting it close behind her. Looking around, she said, "I know you're there."

"Aw, come on, I was purrfectly quiet!" A head of blond hair popped from over the rooftop and hopped down onto the balcony. He leaned against the railing with his arms crossed that the pout on his lips was evident. "Are you honestly too used to the idea of me just dropping by?"

Marinette swallowed a laugh. Light banter with him like this made it easier since his affections was elsewhere and they quickly became the sort of friends that she couldn't feel for him when she was Ladybug. In fact, it was probably similar. Only, Chat Noir wasn't confessing to her every minute that he could.

She crossed her arms and quirked a brow, mimicking an action that he normally did with a smirk, "You think so?" A musical laugh finally broke free and she smiled. "Yes, honestly; I look forward to your visits," she admitted with her eyes alight with amusement. But it dimmed slightly in confusion, "But why are you here? You normally don't stop by until much later."

He relaxed his stance and the pout was replaced by a smile, "I wanted to congratulate you on winning that contest!" The grin widened in genuine happiness for the girl. "You did a wonderful job on making such a beautiful homage to Ladybug."

She placed her hands on her hips, sighing, but smiling despite his loyalty and care for Ladybug. Again, her question remained if he still did really love Ladybug after all this time or if this was just a show of pretense to keep things normal between the two of them. "Of course I did! She's been our hero for two years so it's only reasonable that a rising star in fashion would make something in her name, right?"

He grinned like a cheshire cat. "It's really beautiful! Will you wear it for me?"

Marinette stiffened. An action that normally isn't associated with Chat Noir sprung on her cheeks in deep crimson. "I-I… I don't think it'd fit me v-very well…" In fact, part of her worried that she would be too obvious to Chat Noir with the pattern of the Ladybug. Her gaze averted, she missed the expression that crossed his features.

"I think you'd look lovely in whatever you wear, Marinette."

"Chat!" she admonished, turning quickly to him to see the nonchalant and yet, genuine gaze.

He smiled lightly. "I mean it."

Marinette returned the gesture but it faded quickly when she leaned against the wall of her balcony. "Thank you, Chat, but I design clothes… I don't think I'm quite cut out to wear such beautiful clothes."

"Nonsense; you're a bright and pretty girl and anyone who says that you aren't otherwise are… are… well, they're wrong!"

Eyes lifted to the brilliant green that she blinked at the scowl on his visage.

"Thank you… Chat. That's very kind of you. I mean it — really."

He lifted a hand to his chin, looking thoughtful before daring to ask again. "Are you sure you won't try it on for me? The dress was really well done."

"I…" she sighed, straightening herself. "Fine, I'll show you what it looks like, but don't tell anyone else about this, okay? I've… never really worn my own pieces aside from the few I specifically made for myself. Hold on."

He nodded quickly.

Opening the door to her bedroom, she stepped inside to pull the dress out from the closet. Plucking out her sewing kit to adjust the size, she made temporary adjustments with pins. Stepping into her closet again, she closed the door partial way before slipping off her layers of clothes until she was only in her panties. Slipping on the dress, she wondered why she was even dressing up for Chat. After all, this was Chat…

Ignoring her better judgement, she zipped the zipper the rest of the way up. "You ready?" she called out just loud enough for him to hear.

"Whenever you are."

It sounded like he entered her room. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she pushed open the door to step into the moonlit room that started at her feet and made its way up to her slightly curled long black hair. He was sitting on her computer chair, twirling in place before coming to a slow stop at her reveal. His eyes widen, blinking, but said nothing.

"S-So? H-How does it look?" she asked hesitantly, straightening out the dress the best she can. Again, her eyes are averted from his to avoid looking at his reaction. Even if he was wearing a mask that hid half of his face, for two years, she had learned how to read every subtle expression his beautiful eyes could make. Though, she would never admit it aloud that she thought them pretty nowadays and that it did things to her insides that she, again, had no idea of what they meant.

A creak came from her chair and her eyes lift to his feet, standing before her with a smile that reminded her of someone from a long time ago. He bowed his head to meet her at her level, canting his head with a smile that melted her insides and then sent her heart racing. Jeez, this is only Chat! Only Chat!

His fingers gently stroke her cheek, tucking back a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "... You're beautiful, Marinette…"

Her cheeks burned brighter and she looked away, terrified of what this new feeling was at such a sincere compliment.

That was when she heard the first beep or is it the first beep? She can't tell with how fast the blood was rushing through her ears in embarrassment.

Swiftly, she turned to him. "Is it time already?" she whispered.

He doesn't answer but instead said, "It's time I bid you goodbye, Princess." He took her hand in his, bowing formally to kiss the back of her hand. "Until another day and when that day comes, I look forward to seeing you in that dress again." He stood to his full height and he saluted with two fingers to his brow with a cocky grin. Silently, he pivoted on his heel and bounded out of the window.