*SPLAT*

Everyone froze.

Slowly, Kagami stood back up.

A crushed piece of chocolate cake unstuck itself from the back of her kimono and landed on the floor.

This- this is what she wanted right? This was the plan she'd agreed on.

But seeing the look of horror on Adrien's face, the way Kagami's breath hitched… she couldn't make herself believe it.

"Kagami?" Adrien whispered, reaching out to her.

Kagami's face slowly crumpled.

She let out a sob, then dashed away, revealing the huge brown stain on the back of her clothes.

"Kagami, wait!"

Adrien started towards her.

"Just- just leave me alone!"

He froze, hand still outstretched.

He straightened up, looking devastated. "Kagami…"

She ran.

"Hah! That'll teach her."

Marinette turned towards Chloe. A look of glee covered her face.

She- she was happy. Thrilled, even, at Kagami's flight.

Why wouldn't she be? This was the outcome they were working towards.

That THEY were working towards…

What was she DOING?

This was wrong.

Marinette felt like her stomach was being drained, as if there was some whirlpool in there that sucked up any good feeling and left her simultaneously feeling empty and sick to her stomach.

This was a bad dream right? She'd never do something like this. Yeah! It had to be one of those dreams where you apparently did something awful within the background of the dream, but before the dream actually started. So you're just dropped into it with a backstory that doesn't match who you are, and you just have to live in it.

She watched the proceedings as if in a trance. None of this was real. She was just an observer, watching from the outside.

At Chloe's words, Adrien turned around, meeting Chloe's eyes.

They hardened as he took in her expression.

He looked more closely at the chair the cake had been placed on, eyes narrowing as they locked onto the string that Chloe had used to pull it and the chair he originally brought over for her, replacing the clean, empty chair with the one with the cake slice.

His face twisted in anger.

"Chloe," he hissed, keeping his voice deceptively calm. "What did you do?"

She tossed her hair. "Moi? I'm just enjoying the party, Adrikins. You can do so much better than her."

"You put that slice of cake on her chair. You pulled the string."

Chloe gasped. "How could you possibly accuse me of such hurtful things?"

"DON'T lie to me, Chloe," a bite of anger entered Adrien's voice. "I've known you since we were little. I can tell."

She shrugged. "So? Maybe I did. It's not like it was just me who wanted her away from you. Little miss goody-two-shoes Marinette helped."

Marinette?

Oh. That was her. Seemed like her role in this drama was continuing.

Chloe was still talking. "Besides, now you don't have to sit next to her anymore. With Kagami gone, there's an empty seat right next to you!"

She walked up to him, moving to clutch his arm. "Wouldn't you rather sit next to me, Adrikins?"

Adrien ripped his arm away, backing up several steps.

"NO. What you did to Kagami was not okay, Chloe. You hurt my friend. And pretending that Marinette was involved in this? That's low, even for you."

Pretending Marinette was involved? Maybe the dream was changing to get rid of that bogus backstory.

Why didn't she feel relieved?

"But… I am your friend," Chloe said, voice dropping.

"After this, I'm not so sure."

Adrien turned to Marinette. "I'm sorry Chloe dragged you into this, I know you'd never do something like this."

I know you'd never do something like this.

He was talking about her.

He was wrong.

Adrien just continued staring at her, waiting for a response. His comforting expression morphed into one of confusion.

"Marinette? Are you alright?"

Marinette.

She was Marinette.

She was here, in this moment, right now.

This wasn't some imagined thing.

She wasn't going to wake up.

This was real.

Which means that everything she'd remembered doing, she'd actually done.

She ran.

She wasn't sure where she was going.

So long as it was away from the movie theater, away from that slowly replaying clip of Kagami sitting on that cake, that was good enough.

What had she been THINKING?

That Kagami and Adrien were going to get together?

That Kagami was evil JUST because it meant that she, herself, couldn't be with Adrien?

Her stomach curled at the thought.

That didn't justify what she and Chloe had done. If he chose her… well, then he chose her. She had no right to try to take that choice away from him, to drive off the people he cared for.

This… why did she DO this?

But it wasn't like this was the first time she'd crossed the line with Adrien.

She'd left an embarrassing voicemail, so she'd decided that that gave her the right to break into his locker and steal his phone in order to delete it.

That… that was theft and invasion of privacy. And not for an altruistic reason either, like when she stole Alya's phone to try and recreate her little shout-out to the Ladyblog. That was for her own personal gain, to avoid embarrassment.

God, he'd probably have just deleted it without listening if she'd ASKED him to! He was nice and respectful like that.

"Marinette…" a small voice squeaked out.

She looked down at her purse. Tikki poked her head out.

"I- I should've listened to you Tikki," she forced out.

"Hey, it's going to be ok," Tikki looked at her, reaching out comfortingly to touch her arm. "I know this seems bad-"

"Seems bad?" Marinette choked back a hysterical sob. "I tried to drive Kagami away from him, just because he might like her. I HURT her. She's done nothing to deserve this."

Tikki spoke firmly, "What you did was wrong, yes. But it's not the end of the world. People make mistakes, Marinette. Even mistakes that hurt other people. Even good people have bad days. You just-"

Tikki's eyes widened. "Watch out!"

Marinette turned around, spotting a blotch of purple flying overhead, getting closer.

She went into crisis mode. "Tikki, Spots On!"

As the red-and-black spotted suit replaced her waitress uniform, she threw out her yo-yo, putting a bit of distance between herself and the butterfly.

Before it could get much closer, she swung her yo-yo out again, catching the butterfly and purifying it.

She let it out, staring numbly as it flew off into the distance.

She'd nearly been akumatized. Nearly given Hawkmoth half of what he needed, and probably doomed all of Paris.

And it would've been her own fault.

Did she even deserve to be Ladybug?

She curled up into a ball on a nearby rooftop and cried.

She remained there for the next couple hours.

Adrien collapsed onto his bed at home.

Today had been a DISASTER.

And it had started so well too!

Getting to spend time with Kagami?

Seeing the premiere of a movie that (though he was the only one who knew it) starred I, where he'd gotten to voice himself?

It was just such a funny thought, a little inside joke that only he and Plagg were privy to.

He wished he'd actually gotten to hear the dialogue for the movie's "Ladybug" before the premiere though. While his own dialogue was at least within the ballpark of stuff he would say (which may have partly been due to his own interventions when it came to the script), Ladybug's wasn't remotely like her. Allergic to cats? Please.

Sadly, he hadn't even gotten to meet the girl who was going to voice Ladybug, much less record alongside her. He'd just been given his lines and was vaguely told of what was going on in the scene and the sort of emotion he was supposed to deliver with the line. He'd always assumed that voice actors got to know the entire script, but apparently that wasn't always the case.

Ah well. Hopefully Ladybug wouldn't be too annoyed by how they'd butchered her character.

"So that was a disaster, huh?"

Plagg flew out of his shirt.

"Yeah."

Adrien flopped over, putting an arm over his eyes. "I still can't believe that Chloe did that to Kagami. I mean, it's not that out of the ordinary for her, but I really thought being Queen Bee had helped her to change. But then she pulled THIS stunt. And she had the nerve to blame Marinette too! And Kagami…"

Adrien trailed off. Kagami had calmed her voice enough to tell her mother that she wasn't feeling well and she needed to go back home. Since Tomoe was blind, she had no idea that Kagami's clothes were ruined, and she'd had no desire to inform her mother of the truth.

Adrien had watched the movie without her. He'd have rather gone after either Kagami or Marinette, but his father or Nathalie letting him leave was an iffy prospect.

Chloe had taken Kagami's seat. She'd had the good sense to NOT try to drape herself all over him, but he still would have rather been anywhere else than the movie premiere he'd been so looking forward to.

Honestly he was just shocked no one had been akumatized. Kagami was definitely distressed enough, and Marinette… well, he didn't know what was up with Marinette. Did she not believe him when he told her that he knew she hadn't helped Chloe?

He wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He'd rather not fight either of the girls he cared so much about.

Speaking of girls he cared about…

He opened his phone, scrolling through the Ladyblog.

There was a flurry of recent activity, all over a handful of photos.

He looked closely. It appeared to be of Ladybug hunched over, half-hidden behind a chimney. Apparently she hadn't moved for hours.

Well this didn't bode well.

"Plagg, we're going to visit Ladybug."

Plagg paused in the middle of eating a cheese chunk. "But I haven't finished eating yet!"

"Eat more later. Ladybug needs us. Plagg, Claws Out!"

Moments later he was running over the rooftops of Paris, glancing at the Ladybug tracker on his staff every now and then.

It wasn't long before he reached her location.

She still hadn't moved, looking exactly like she had in the photo from before.

He approached cautiously, not wanting to scare her. "My Lady?"

She yiped and flew about ten feet into the air.

Well. So much for not scaring her.

Was he just really good at sneaking up on people without meaning to? He'd accidentally startled Marinette several times before, but even she usually didn't jump THAT high. Then again, she didn't have superpowers.

When she landed, she just stared at him, frozen.

Her eyes were red from crying, mucus running from her nose, and even her hair looked a bit unkempt.

What the HELL had happened?

"Ladybug!" He rushed forwards, taking her by both arms. "What happened? What's wrong? Are you hurt? Did someone hurt someone you care about?" A stab of pain went through him as the next thought came to him. "Was- was it Hawkmoth?"

She gave a sobbing laugh, looking down at her feet. Adrien's gut twisted. Normally he loved His Lady's laughs. He treasured every time she laughed at his jokes and antics (even if occasionally it was at his expense). But this? This wasn't a sound he ever wanted to hear. He never wanted to hear her sound so miserable.

"N-no. No one hurt me. No one hurt anyone I care about."

That didn't sound like the end of the story. "Then what-?"

"It was me."

Huh?

"What do you mean?" he asked hesitantly.

"I hurt someone. I hurt someone BADLY for STUPID reasons. And you know what's worse?"

She looked up at him. "I realized… I've been doing this kind of thing for awhile."

His Lady had hurt someone? Well… he guessed he could imagine it. She could have a temper at times. He'd seen that with Lila.

But he doubted that she could have hurt someone who had done nothing to deserve it as badly as she seemed to think she did. Ladybug wasn't perfect, he knew that, but she was a good person who tolerated people even when they'd caused her trouble. Heck, she gave CHLOE a Miraculous!

And when she had gone overboard, she tried to make things right. He'd seen that with Lila as well.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked her hesitantly. This sounded like a civilian thing, but if he could help, he would. He hated seeing her so miserable and alone.

"I-" She looked torn and lost. "I- I dunno. I'll try."

He sat down, cross-legged, and patted the space next to him. She gave him a small smile and sat, leaning against him.

After a few moments she spoke. "I was at an event earlier today. I hadn't planned to go, but then I found out that the boy I like-"

She froze, jerking her head up to look at him. "Oh crap I didn't mean to hurt you by talking about him I'msorryI'msosorry-"

He pulled her into a hug.

"It's fine, Buginette," he told her soothingly. "I'm not upset or hurt, I promise. I'm just hurt seeing YOU be hurt."

She took another breath and continued. "So. The boy I liked was there. And so was- so was the girl he'd gone on a date with."

The boy she liked was taken? Adrien's stomach did a flip.

He tried to quell the hopeful feeling. This wasn't about him, and this DEFINITELY wasn't the time to think about doing anything concerning his lovelife. This was about Ladybug.

"I didn't like seeing her with him. I thought she might- I dunno, kidnap him to Japan. It was dumb."

"There's this other girl. She's mean to just about everyone. She's always bullied me, my classmates, anyone around her really."

Someone had BULLIED Ladybug?! WHY?!

Deep breaths, Agreste. Let her finish the story. You can't do anything about the people in her civilian life anyway. Concentrate on the here and now.

"She didn't like seeing him with that other girl either, and she proposed a plan to drive the girl away from him. I- I wasn't sure at first, but I was just so scared of her taking hi, of him choosing her, I just… I wanted to believe it was justified. I told myself the girl was evil even, that we were in the right! But it was a lie."

"I- I may not have come up with the plan. But I knew what it was, and still helped."

She let out another sob. "The plan worked exactly as intended. The girl's clothes were ruined, and she left, upset and distraught."

The girl's clothes were ruined? Wait… this sounded familiar.

No. No, it COULDN'T be.

"The boy found out what had happened. He confronted the other girl, the bully. She tried to lie at first, but soon told him what we did. Even bragged about it. And then, she mentioned that I had helped."

The bully… could that be Chloe? But then, if that was true, then, Ladybug must be…

"The worst part? He told her to stop lying. That I'd never do that."

"He thought I was too good a person to hurt someone like that, for such a petty reason."

"He was wrong."

Marinette.

Ladybug was Marinette.

She looked up, noticing the way he'd stiffened. Her eyes crinkled, fresh tears welling in them. "If- if you want a different partner-" her voice hitched. "I- I understand. I didn't think I was cut out to be Ladybug when I first started. Now… I know I don't DESERVE to be Ladybug."

NO.

He pulled her into a hug.

She seemed shocked for a moment, then relaxed, fresh tears falling on his shoulder.

"You're wrong. You've saved the day again and again, and are the kindest, bravest, smartest, most amazing girl I know. You screwed up today. I won't deny that. But you recognize that now. Everyone can have moments of weakness where they do something wrong, something they shouldn't have done. It's part of being human. It doesn't define who you are, or erase everything else you've done. Kagami was hurt, but not irrevocably."

"Kagami?" she whispered. "You- you know who she is?"

He gave a small nod. "Your description was a little too exact. I saw the whole thing. It wasn't hard to guess who you were talking about."

"Then- then you know…?"

"You're Marinette Dupain-Cheng. The best partner I could ever ask for."

She melted into him. He stroked her back, comforting her.

They stayed like that for several more minutes.

Finally, she pulled away.

"I can't believe you found out like this, and you're still… you're really too sweet, you know that?" she said.

He shrugged. "I like to see the best in people. They can mess up and do something wrong, but everyone's got their own lives, their own things going on. Sometimes someone just makes a mistake. Sometimes they're hurting, and just don't know how to deal with it. Unless they're really, actively malicious or hurt someone irrevocably, I don't think they should be written off entirely. And someone just having a bad day, then realizing that they did something wrong and regretting it? We're all human, Buginette. The important thing is to try not to do it again."

She flinched. "This… this isn't the first time I've crossed the line when it comes to Adrien."

A small thrill ran through him as she said his name.

"Remember how I said I'd been doing this for awhile?" she continued. "I've been obsessed with Adrien since the beginning of the school year. I- I paid close attention to when he said he'd go somewhere and what his usual routine was, and wrote it down on my schedule so I'd know what he was supposed to be doing at all times. I've eavesdropped on him before, especially when he's with another girl, I've got his pictures all over my walls, I've made him birthday presents through his 30th birthday now to make up for the last one I gave him losing my signature somehow, and I even bake him a special macaroon every week just in case I work up the courage to finally give it to him!"

She winced. "The worst one though, before this, was stealing his phone."

Adrien blinked. Marinette had stolen his phone? When would she have-

Oooooh.

"That was the time you were late to the statue unveiling ceremony, right?" he asked.

"How did you-? Never mind. Yeah, that was it. I'd been trying to ask him out to the movies, but I could barely speak a word straight. I thought it'd finished recording, but nope. And I- I called him 'Hot Stuff'! I went to stop the voicemail from going through, but accidentally hit the wrong button. So of course, in all of my great sanity," she rolled her eyes, "I decided that the best option was to secretly break into his locker while he was fencing and erase the voicemail from his phone before he got the chance to listen to it."

Well. That explained where his phone had gone.

"Look, I'm sure it'll be okay. You stole his phone and yeah, you probably shouldn't have. But you were panicked and weren't sure what to do. If I'd been in that situation… well… I'm not sure I wouldn't have done that either, in your shoes. It's okay."

She buried her face in his shoulder. "He still doesn't know about it though. He doesn't know about ANY of the things I did. Heck, he doesn't even know what I did today! I can barely talk to him normally, how can I tell him about all the crazy things I've done?! …And I really need to tell him. Even if he hates me and never wants to see me again, he deserves to know."

"Woah woah woah!" Adrien put up his hands. "What makes you think he'll hate you?"

She stared at him, slack-jawed. "Did you not just hear about the stuff I did? Of course he'll hate me! I know you don't Kitty, but you're not him!"

Oh the irony.

Adrien shook his head. "He doesn't hate you, Marinette. I don't think it would even be possible for him to hate you. I know that for a fact."

"How- how can you be so sure?"

Adrien took a deep breath. "If you really want to know how I know so much about the situation – how I know so much about what Adrien thinks – I'm gonna have to detransform."

She looked at him for a moment, then nodded. "…Okay. Just – let's move somewhere a little less visible."

He grinned. "After you, Milady."

A few minutes later, they alighted on Marinette's balcony.

She turned to him. "So. You think that detransforming will explain everything?"

He nodded, suddenly nervous. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…

Too late now though.

"Just… try not to scream."

She blinked. "Scream? Why would I-"

"Claws in."

She screamed.

Maybe a joke would help?

"So, do you still think I'm Hot Stuff?" he asked, flexing one of his arms.

Marinette burst out laughing.

Meowch. That was a hit to the ego.

Still. It accomplished his goal of stopping her from screaming. Laughter was better.

"I- You – I told you everything – and you," she choked out in-between laughs. "You just – how?"

Um.

"How what?" he asked.

"How are you so just… OKAY with all of this?" she asked.

"I grew up with Chloe," he said. "Remember her reaction? She saw nothing wrong with what she'd done. With hurting others. You? You cared. You cared so much, you broke down sobbing when you realized what you'd been doing. I'm not going to judge you too harshly for getting overenthusiastic and going too far. Not when you clearly care about harming others. You're a good person, Marinette."

She stared at him for a moment, then shot him a small smile. "Thank you."

"I still need to make it up to Kagami though. Or at least, try to. I need to do something to show how sorry I am, and to make some recompense for helping to mess up her kimono- OH!" Marinette shouted, a lightbulb seeming to come on. "I can make her a new kimono! Wait, but I don't know her measurements…"

"I can help with that," Adrien told her. "My father helped to design some clothes for Tomoe and Kagami recently, he probably still has her measurements laying around somewhere. I can get them to you."

She nodded. "Thanks, kitty."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "No problem. I can head back right away and try to find it. Or, well, send Plagg to look for it. He can't be caught on camera, I can."

A smile tugged at the edge of her lips. "I've heard how lazy Plagg can be. Need a little added incentive for him?"

"That would be helpful."

"Spots off!"

Newly detransformed, she went downstairs, coming back a few minutes later with some cheesecake. "Think this'll be good?"

Oh yeah. "This is perfect."

"I'm glad. You're helping me to fix my mistake; the least I can do is help with this."

He carefully took the cheesecake in one hand, making sure not to let it tilt, and ran off back to the Manor.

Marinette headed down to her bedroom to start on some ideas for her new design. She'd messed up. But the world hadn't ended. Maybe Kagami would forgive her. Maybe she wouldn't. But at least she would have tried to make amends.

And as for Adrien…

She went too far with him, became obsessive, even slightly possessive at times. But her relationship with him wasn't broken. Far from it.

And he returned her affections.

She'd step back a bit. Rein herself in. She didn't want to get pulled into that hole again. Didn't want to repeat her previous mistakes.

But maybe later, maybe once she was confident that she was okay.

Maybe then, she'd finally ask Adrien – ask her Kitty – out on a date.