Author's Note: This is a fic based off of a comic written and drawn by hogeky on tumblr by the same name. Please go there to view images and support her comic!

Permission was received to write this fic.

This wasn't the first time Adrien had written a letter to her, and it wasn't likely going to be the last. Even still, he mentally scolded himself for his momentary lapse of will power. He'd lost track of the amount of times he told himself to stop.

"I can't believe I wrote this again," he groaned. Plagg looked up from his meal at the comment.

"Are you talking to me?" he asked hesitantly, only mildly concerned for Adrien's mental well-being. Adrien shook his head and brought his elbows to sit on his desk, resting his chin in his right hand and picking up the letter with his left.

He looked tired. He felt tired. But it was the kind of tired he put himself through every time he sat down to think about confessing to the love of his life. Without responding to Plagg, he continued as if nobody had spoken.

"What if she doesn't feel the same way? I want to tell her but, what if it ends our friendship? It'll ruin everything." Ladybug had been turning Chat Noir down for as long as he could remember. He couldn't imagine any reason why this would suddenly change just because he wanted to give her a love letter.

Realization struck him. Ladybug would continue to reject Chat Noir as she always had and he had everything to lose if she began to distance herself as a result of his feelings.

But Adrien had nothing to lose.

She would at least be gentle in letting him down, if nothing else.

Making sure he had packed and held onto the newest variation of his love letter everyday had become something of an obsession for Adrien. No matter where he went, he held it with him, in case he ever had the chance to see his Lady love. The thought of potential failure plagued him very often. It was a way of bracing himself for the worst outcome, and he hoped to be pleasantly surprised instead of heartbroken.

What came as a surprise to him was that Ladybug had been swinging off to some unknown destination the very same day he decided he needed to go out for a walk to clear his head. He was staring at the ground with a strange sort of intent while he walked, trying very hard not to think about the letter that seemed to be burning a hole in his bag, and failing.

It was the flash of red that emerged from his peripherals that brought him back to reality. Flashes of red had been doing that a lot to him recently, but this particular flash or red was the one flash of red he had actually been looking for.

Adrenaline pumped furiously through Adrien. He could hear the blood roaring in his ears, nearly drowning out the intelligible thought that attempted to communicate with the rest of his body.

There she is.

I have to call her.

Call her.

Just say her name

Just do it.

With a deep breath, Adrien ripped off the preverbal band-aid.

"LADYBUG!"

He could make out the jerking motion of her body mid-swing. If it were physically possible, he could imagine her comically arresting in the air, only to turn around and return to him. Why he was distracting himself in such a way, he had no idea.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" he continued, reaching a hand up to catch her attention.

Landing on the side of building, she pushed from it, swinging back down to meet him. She stood before him, eyes expected and waiting. Silence fell between them and both were reluctant to speak.

Adrien could feel every part of himself drop into his stomach.

"Sorry for wasting your time on something like this," he began, turning to open the messenger bag he had around his shoulder, "but I already made up my mind." He fumbled through his bag, nervous. Taking the letter in both hands, he all but thrusted it out toward her. "I want to give you this." His eyes depressed a hole into the ground, too nervous too look into the blue of hers.

Ladybug's eyes widened behind the mask and he could hear the breath she sucked in at the sight of the envelope. It took her a moment to think of anything to say. When she opened her mouth to speak, Adrien decided he could not handle her silence any longer.

"Please don't think I'm a weird," he continued, still refusing to look at her. I know nobody does these kinds of things anymore but, I hope you'll accept and read this."

The silence that followed was suffocating. Adrien could feel his lungs giving in from the anxiety. Shocked, Ladybug took the letter from his hand without a word. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.

With his best model smile, he grinned blindly at her with all his might, hiding any sense of insecurity he felt.

"Please read it properly." Ladybug opened her mouth to speak, but he had no intention of being rejected before she had even read his feelings. Not wanting to stick around while she read it, he hastily walked past her.

"Adrien," she began, but he had already walked by, the wind he created with his speed picking up the scent of her; of sugar and flowers. Blood filled his cheeks fiercely and he sped away as fast as his legs could carry him.

Marinette stared intently at the envelope in her hands, seeming to bore a hole through the paper trying to see through the writing. She could feel the tension in her face and it began to feel uncomfortable, but she couldn't relieve herself from it. It wasn't as if she couldn't open it. It had been addressed to her. Or rather, it had been addressed to her alter ego.

No, it was not as if she could not open the letter, it was that she was too nervous and scared to open the envelope.

Adrien had given Ladybug a letter and she didn't know what to do. It seemed obvious its contents, but she really hoped for anything else. Anything but…

"Open it already," Tikki said, flying out in front of Marinette's unmoving eyes. She had watched for too long to let her continue to make up her mind.

"I'm really scared," Marinette replied, her voice a whisper. "What if it really is what I think it is?" Tikki shrugged.

"You won't know until you open it." Marinette sighed deeply. Here goes nothing, she thought, and slipped her thumb beneath the envelope's lip.

Her heart was racing as she unfolded the sheet.

I know this sounds really cheesy, but I really don't have any other words to express my feelings for you. There is no need for any other words except for these:

I LOVE YOU.

I love you more than you can imagine, and I'm closer than you think.

A.A.

Author's Note: Chapters posted on Tumblr (myladyladybug), FF (fevildevil), and Ao3 (fevildevil).