A/N: I guess this makes this my first foray into actually writing for the Miraculous fandom as opposed to just throwing fic prompts into the wind. This started out as a "haha imagine if" reply to the fact that the fountain during that Dark Cupid kiss is front of the Agreste mansion. Someone has probably already written something like this before, and I'm sure this is horrendously pale compared to the great ML fics out there, but here we go. Dedicated to kryallaorchid because she's the first person in the fandom with whom I had an actual conversation. And faith-xx-love because she wrote that First Kiss drabble.

She knows she had a mission, a very important one, and she even has someone nearby somewhere cheering her on. She knows that just a moment before, she was telling herself "I can do this, I can do this,"—but she can't remember what this exactly was— but then she was backtracking, convinced that, "No, I can't, I can't, I can't—" and in her retreat, she had swivelled around, and then suddenly she's facing that elegant fountain, and she FREEZES.

There are times when the memory of that day conjures up that feeling of terror of being forced to fight her partner, the pain of knowing that this isn't him and he would never do this; the horror of seeing his Cataclysm so close to her face. But this time, there's none of that, and in its place is unbidden, inexplicable warmth.

It starts at her fingertips, remembering what it felt like to have them in his hair as she took hold of his face. It continues through her arms, the ones that pulled him in for that kiss without hesitation as her mind chantedgive him back, give me my partner back!

It travels up her shoulders, her neck, her face.

She remembers that precise moment when everything shifted, when she felt his breath caress her cheeks as the darkness lost its effect; she remembers the slight pressure on her lips as he started to respond; she remembers knowing she could let him go, but feeling the need to hold him there for just a little bit more—

"Marinette!"

She gasps, feeling her lungs protest and celebrate the sudden intake of air, and she's yanked back into the present where Alya has a hand on her shoulder and is chuckling a little at her.

"Hey," Alya says. "Inhale, exhale."

Marinette can only blink and follow the command. She desperately ignores how her heart is still pounding, how her lips are still tingling, and how the vivid image of Chat Noir's bright green eyes, wide and disoriented, is still in the forefront of her mind.

Alya chuckles again. "You kind of forgot to keep breathing for a moment there. You okay?"

"Y– yeah…" Marinette manages.

"You can do this," Alya quickly says, as if she had been saying it repeatedly for some time now. She probably had. "Go on, then."

Marinette nods, pretending to understand exactly what Alya meant. She looks around to regain her bearings while resolutely keeping her back tothat fountain–because she's had enough of that for today, honestly–and finds herself in front of the Agreste mansion.

She's in front of the Agreste mansion.

With Alya.

She wracks her brain for further explanation, as if willing ladybug spots to appear, but for the love of kwami, all her mind could supply was Chat Noir's pleading voice saying, "No, wait, come back! I have to tell you something–"

"Uh…" Marinette tries, drowning out her own thoughts. "Go on to do what…exactly?"

Alya sighs, dropping her head in her hands and saying, "What am I to do with you?"

Marinette only grins apologetically as Alya reaches out to take the large envelope from Marinette's hands–the envelope in Marinette's hands that Marinette was completely unaware of until this point. Or perhaps she just forgot that she had it.

"We're bringing schoolwork to Adrien," Alya explains. "Remember Adrien? The boy you have a massive crush on?"

Oh.

Adrien.

Right.

This time, when Marinette nods, she means it. She remembers now that he had to skip school that afternoon because his father sent him to attend some high class tea party somewhere. Alya, best friend ever that she was, had convinced Nino to let her deliver the schoolwork. Adrien isn't due to be back until later that evening, but Alya had insisted that this is practice for Marinette, for the next time she had to give him something.

Marinette nods again. She steps forward to ring the doorbell, but it suddenly hits her that this was the last thing she was doing before her eyes found that fountain, which led to her completely forgetting Adrien in favor of reliving—

Oh god.

Marinette jumps back with a squeak.

"Marinette!" Alya scolds.

"You do it!" she blurts out. "You have the envelope! And you're the one who volunteered to bring it to him."

"But Marinette, he's not even there! Now is the right time to—"

"Please, Alya," Marinette begs, still keeping her back to the fountain but fully aware that it's there. "I am not in the right frame of mind at the moment."

Because her frame of mind had jumped back to earlier that day when Chat Noir held out a hand to her, saying, "You came just at the right time, My Lady," to which she countered, "Now is not the time—!"

Her lips are tingling again, and she almost feels a leather-clad finger upon them. Her ears hear the ghost of a gentle, "Ssssh…"

"Fine," Alya conceded, ringing the bell. "But you have to promise to take the opportunity as soon as the next one comes!"

Marinette only smiles.

As Alya turns away to speak to the the intercom, Marinette promises herself to not let herself be distracted the next time she sees that fountain.

"I promised myself to tell you the next time I saw you."

Huh. Chat Noir never was able to make good on that promise.

Marinette wonders if she'll be able to follow through on hers, too.