Chloe flopped back on her bed, rubbing her eyes with frustration.

"Those two stupid, oblivious, ridiculous dorks!" she exclaimed, "Detransforming in the same alley, barely even a meter from each other, and yet, they are too dumb to see each other!"

Pollen flew in front of her, looking at her charge with worried eyes. "Chloe? Are you okay?"

"Of course Ladybug had to be Marinette!" Chloe resumed, ignoring her kwami. Why would she have been someone at the very least decent ? Shehad to be infuriating, ridiculous, irritating, kind, brave and selfless Marinette…

...Oh.

She could see how it made sense, in a way.

"Wait," Chloe suddenly said, jolting upward in her bed. "If Marinette is Ladybug, and Chat Noir is Adrien, and Chat Noir loves Ladybug and Marinette has the most disgusting crush on Adrikins, well then it means…"

Even the Grand Paris' thick walls couldn't stifle Chloe's frustrated scream.

Hours later, she was still pacing in her room, mumbling to herself.

"They are both stupid, oblivious dorks. Of course, I'd want someone better for my Adrikins, but I want him happy, so Maribug will have to do."

Pollen rolled her eyes, having long given up on understanding the nonsense sprouting from her charge's lips at the moment.

"But how should I go at it? Adrien is completely oblivious to Marinette and she can't string two words in a row around him. Adrien and Ladybug are disgustingly crushing on each other, the blush fest whenever they interact is revolting. And Ladybug won't even give the time of day to Chat Noir, she's too focused on our mission and doing the right thing ."

She brutally stopped pacing, dizzying her poor kwami. "But Chat Noir and Marinette are friends. Oh my gosh how did Marinette pull that off without Chat Noir picking up on her double identity? But those dorks are already friends, if something can work, it's gotta be this.

"But how can I bring those two closer?"

Pollen pointed at the clock, giving it a pointed look. "It's a quarter past midnight, Chloe. Don't you think you should get to bed and leave the planning for tomorrow?"

Marinette was dreaming.

There was no other explanation.

There was an akuma on the loose, and out of nowhere, Queen B had grabbed her before she could even transform and had perched her on the highest beam of the Eiffel Tower.

"Don't worry," the blond heroine had said, "Chat Noir will come and get you as soon as it's safe."

On those words, she was gone.

And it was giving Marinette a headache.

Because she had to transform and fly to help her teammates. Which wasn't a problem in itself.

But as soon as the akuma was defeated, she would have to detransform and rush back to the Eiffel Tower, detransform and manage to look afraidbefore Chat Noir got to her.

Yay.

The akuma was thankfully dealt with swiftly, and Ladybug fled the scene without their usual fistbump. Looking a little bit lost, Chat Noir needed a nudge from his honeybee partner to remind him he still had a classmate to save.

The first few times that it happened, Marinette was confused.

Starting from the fifth time or so, she was getting frustrated.

It was always the same song. Queen B would grab her before she had the chance to transform and stuck her in some ridiculously hard to get out of place for her civilian self, stating Chat Noir would come for her later.

Chat Noir didn't seem to be more aware of what was going on than her. His weekly visits at the bakery became almost nightly as they both tried to figure out what the heck was wrong with Queen B and why she kept targeting his princess in such a manner.

They hence spent a lot of time together, playing video games and drinking hot cocoa as they dissected the superheroine odd behaviour. If they fell asleep in each other's arms on Marinette's bed in the middle of a heartfelt conversation on a few occasions though, it was totally unintentional…

...mostly.

They ultimately came to the logical conclusion that Queen B had a huge crush on Marinette and was dealing poorly with it.

Up until the day both Ladybug and Chat Noir were scrambling for a safe spot to detransform after a really rough akuma.

Up until the day, with only two spots to go on both miraculouses, they both sought shelter in the same janitor closet.

And up until the day Queen B ever so helpfully locked them in, and left giggling madly to herself, ignoring their pleas to set them free before the inevitable happened.

Sure enough, their transformations fell as they were hugging, bracing themselves for what was to come.

"Did she seriously just do that?" Marinette asked, her voice oddly weak in the secluded space.

Adrien chuckled against her hair. "You better bee-lieve it, my lady. Looking at the count of three?"

There was a shy nod under his chin. If his voice shuddered as he counted to three, neither of them felt the need to mention it.

And if there was a lot of gasps, squeals, words and kisses when they finally looked into each other's eyes as their civilian selves, no one was the wiser.

Trapping Ladybug and Chat Noir in the janitor closet was almost unintentional.

With only two beeps to go on both miraculous, it really wasn't an attempt on Queen B's part to force them to reveal themselves to each other.

No, really.

...Okay.

Maybe.

But as she made sure the door was effectively locked behind them, Queen B definitely had no afterthought.

The day Marinette Dupain-Cheng walked into class with Adrien Agreste, hand in hand and both looking freshly kissed, they both were staring expectantly at Chloe Bourgeois.

Surely, the explosion would be spectacular.

Adrien wrapped his fingers around Marinette's, trying to convey some bravery to her.

Nothing.

Nothing could've prepared them for Chloe's reaction, though.

"OH THANK GOD THEY FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT!" the mayor's daughter screeching, almost fainting from the apparently violent emotion.

...And no.

Neither Marinette nor Adrien understood what it was all about.

But they could love each other in the open now, so what?