Requested by chiimei and Anonymous on tumblr. Crossposted on tumblr and Ao3. I hope you enjoy!

It wasn't the first time he'd thrown himself in the line of fire to protect her, and while Ladybug was always grateful to have someone always looking out for her, she couldn't help but worry that one day irreparable damage would be done to him and she would be without her partner.

Chat Noir was reckless and often in peril, and most of the time it was because he was covering for her in one way or another. As years of their partnership went on, her fear of losing him built up over time. The only thing she could do was build a dam over the river that was her feelings on the matter, because she knew Chat Noir only wanted to protect her, and she couldn't fault him for that.

Today's akuma attack, where she actually saw a sword go through her partner's stomach, broke that dam in one fell swoop.

It all spilled out and she completely freaked out, and when Marinette freaked out she lost sight of everything and anything in her immediate vicinity, and it was by sheer luck that she had her freak-out in a completely secluded area with only Chat Noir as witness.

"Why do you have to be so—so—AUGH!" Ladybug screeched, her arms thrown up in the air. She paced back and forth in the small space of the alleyway, Chat Noir standing stiffly in a corner with his ears drooped down and his tail between his legs. "I could've taken care of my own damn self, but no, you just had to be the hero and get yourself stabbed—"

"Ladybug—"

"You shut your mouth, cat, I'm not done with you."

"No, but your Miraculous—" Chat Noir tried again, weakly indicating at her ears.

"Who cares?!" she huffed, waving her hands dismissively. There was a vague beeping sound, but right now she was focused on chewing this black cat out because she has had enough.

Ladybug has had enough of him disregarding his safety for her own.

She has had enough of watching him get hurt.

She has had enough of seeing him almost die almost every other akuma attack.

She has had enough of all this happening because he couldn't think of preserving himself over her.

She has had enough of facing the threat of losing the one person that mattered the most to her.

Chat Noir's eyes went wide, and it took her a few moments to realize that she'd ranted all of that out loud. When his cheeks went pink, it was also then that she realized the implications of what she'd accidentally blurted out.

Did she really think of Chat Noir as the one person that mattered most to her? Because that didn't make sense. That spot was for Adrien Agreste, the love of her life.

And yet. And yet, at the back of her mind, she vaguely realized that over the years, she'd begun to consider Chat Noir as someone more than just a partner and friend. If she were being totally honest, if someone asked her who she wouldn't be able to live without, her answer would definitely be Chat Noir.

No, but wouldn't that mean, that her feelings for Chat were…

"What did you just say?" Chat gasped out, thankfully interrupting her train of thought, and he looked like he was about to burst. He looked like he'd ascended to heaven. "Please tell me I'm not dreaming and you really just said—"

"I said nothing," Ladybug borderline screeched, arms out in front of her defensively, "I wasn't saying anything that meant anything, and I certainly wasn't saying I love—"

"Love?!" he squealed, almost bouncing as his hands clasped in front of him.

"No, no!" She backed away now, and her Miraculous beeped again. This time, she heeded it as a welcome distraction and excuse to escape, so she pulled out her yo-yo and swung as fast as she could back to her home.

"Ladybug, wait!"

Maybe it was a bit too much to assume that she could just leave Chat Noir behind after everything she'd just said and not expect him to follow her.

She realized this all too late as she stood on her balcony, her Miraculous beeping its last in conjunction with the sound of Chat Noir's boots thudding against the railing behind her.

There was only a bit of silence before the magic gave out and Marinette stood in Ladybug's place, her back to Chat Noir. She dipped her head into her chest, suddenly feeling naked and exposed. Tikki landed softly in her hands, her little face apologetic.

"Ladybug?" Chat Noir said quietly, his voice shaky.

Taking a deep breath, she quickly spun around, because the tension was killing her and she might as well get it over with. Wasn't Chat so lucky today? He got to hear her blurt out that he was her most important person, and now he was also going home with the knowledge of her true identity.

"Hi," she said simply, with a wave of her hand, "I'm Marinette, and this—" she held up the hand holding Tikki "—is my kwami, Tikki."

Chat Noir stood stock still on her balcony railing, eyes wide and dilated. "Ma…Mari…Ma…"

"Nice to meet you, Chat Noir," Tikki said casually. "I'm gonna go now so you can both sort this out." Then she flew off from Marinette's hand and phased through the floor. Marinette glared at the spot where Tikki disappeared, feeling betrayed.

"You," Chat croaked out, sliding down from her railing weakly, "you're Marinette."

"Yeah, I did just say that," Marinette confirmed, trying to sound calm.

"You're Marinette!"

"Yes and you don't need to shout."

"But you're Marinette!" Chat exclaimed happily and she squeaked as he grabbed her around the waist and spun her around.

"Chat, put me down!"

"You're my Lady, you're my princess!"

"Chat, I swear—"

Suddenly he stopped spinning her and looked her in the eye. "You love me," he stated, eyes wide and staring at her.

Marinette jolted and felt her face heat up. She pushed against his chest and pointed her face away from him. "No, I didn't say—"

He leaned in closer, a grin spreading across his face, "I know what I heard, my Lady. I'm 'the one person that mattered most to you', was it?"

"Agh!" she yelped in mortification and palmed his face away. She bolted for her trapdoor and all but threw herself onto her bed below. "Uuugh." What was even her life right now?

Smirking the most irritating smirk she'd ever seen, Chat Noir lowered himself from her trapdoor and casually perched next to her. "You left your door open, my Lady."

She flumped back against her mattress, groaning again at the sight of him. She put her hands to her face, blocking out the view of his annoyingly handsome (she can't deny it anymore) one.

"I hate you," she mumbled, her voice muffled by her hands, "Go away, you mangy cat." She blindly kicked a leg in his general direction. Going by his chuckle, it was safe to assume that she missed.

"That's a weird way to say 'I love you'," he simpered, and she heard him shifting closer to her. She felt his gloved hands wrap around her wrists, his breath hot against the back of her hands.

"Don't," she snapped back, "just don't."

"But Princess," he whined dramatically. His lips brushed against her knuckles, and she couldn't stop the shiver that ran down her spine at the contact. Another chuckle from him indicated that he knew the effect he had on her just now.

Ugh, this stupid cat!

"You were about to tell me something really nice out there," he whispered, pressing his lips against her hands further, and eliciting another shiver from her. He gently pulled her wrists apart, pressing his face in between them, trying to get a peek at her.

"No, I wasn't," she protested weakly. He was too close—way too close, and she was so not ready for whatever this was.

It wasn't like she disliked it, but she'd only just discovered she actually did like Chat Noir after all. In that way. Less than five minutes ago. After a particularly nasty akuma attack where she'd almost lost him—again.

Marinette tried to prevent the squeal that bubbled up in her throat when she felt him shift even closer to her, his legs pressing against either side of hers. He was straddling her. Chat freaking Noir was straddling her! This cheeky little—

Her thoughts skidded to a stop when he managed to pull her hands from her face, and she shut her eyes because she couldn't look at him at the moment. She wasn't sure what she'd end up doing. Possibly punch him. Or kiss him. Or both, somehow. She could punch him with her mouth, maybe. That was a thing, right?

Chat Noir touched his forehead to hers and bumped her nose with his, and she could feel the happiness just radiating off of him. "My Lady," he murmured, almost like a sigh and another shiver went down her spine at the sheer reverence in his voice.

His breath ghosted against her lips and—oh god oh god he was going to kiss her, wasn't he? Oh god—she kept her eyes squeezed shut because she didn't know what to do and she was frozen with anticipation and nervousness and he had her wrists in his hands and—oh god, his breath smelled so minty—where the heck was Tikki?!—he was so close, so close—

"Marinette." Her name sounded like it spilled over from deep inside of him, and suddenly his lips were on hers and their breaths were mixing and her heart was thundering so loudly and when had he gotten so close? His chest was against hers, their fingers intertwined, their legs wrapped around each other's… and oh my god was that his tongue?

She was on fire—she was going to burst, burst, burst—

"Girl, you won't believe what I—holy sh—"

And just like that, the spell was broken. Chat yelped at the interruption and practically leapt off her. He ended up smacking his head into the ceiling, landing sideways onto her loft railing, and falling over to the floor below. Alya, the cause of the interruption, let out a series of unintelligible squeals that sounded vaguely like expletives as she flailed and pointed at her and Chat Noir and back again.

To make matters worse, all the noise seemed to have attracted the attention of her parents, who peeked through her trapdoor and blinked confusedly at Chat Noir groaning in pain on her bedroom floor and Alya squealing and flailing like a maniac.

"Marinette, what's going on?" her mother asked meekly, eyes watching the situation warily.

Marinette, completely overwhelmed, did the one thing that made the most sense at the moment.

She screamed.