"Chat Noir watch out!" he flinches at her voice, twisting around just in time to see her barrelling towards him, opening his arms instinctively as she shoves him. Hard. The breath escapes both of them at once, and Ladybug is already scrambling to her feet while Chat watches in horror as the building he'd been standing in front of explodes outward, sending debris flying and the few civilians who had stuck around to watch the fight finally scatter.

"I'll distract him, you get the akuma it's in his laces" she tells him and then she's off again before he can respond, sprinting up to where Shoestring is lassoing people with giant shoelaces. "Over here, big guy!"

Immediately she knows it is a mistake. Her ankle is still throbbing from this morning, despite the super suit dulling the pain a little. She has to tread carefully or risk it giving out and god, running around all afternoon on a sprained ankle can't be good. It'll probably be the size of a tennis ball by the time she detransforms.

Oh, and he'd sent her lucky charm flying when she tried to use it so she only has five minutes left.

Great.

Shoestring catches her as she's adjusting her stance to accommodate her ankle, his laces wrapping tightly around her torso and bringing her up to his eye level. Honestly, she's little grateful she doesn't have to put pressure on her foot anymore so instead of kicking at the air she settles for glaring at him instead as he laughs.

She can hear Chat cry out her name below her, her ears popping from the pressure of being so high, but she doesn't dare look down at him, not with Shoestring waving her around like a ragdoll making bile rise up in her throat.

There was a reason why Chat always distracted the villains while she found the akumatised object and she's not enjoying the role reversal at all.

Abruptly Shoestring stops shaking her, leaving her suspended in the air. Cracking an eye open, Ladybug sees the purple mask over his face that tells her Hawkmoth is communicating directly with him, no doubt telling him to get her miraculous-a suspicion that is confirmed when he pulls her closer, eyes zeroing in on her earrings and his lips stretching wide in a manic smile. Chancing a glance at the ground, she sees that Chat is darting between Shoestring's feet, trying not to get crushed in his attempts to grab the akuma.

He needs Shoestring to stand still, ladybug realises with a start. Thinking fast, she spots Hawkmoth's mask beginning to fade from Shoestring's face and calls out "Hey! Butterfly man!"

The mask over Shoestring's face flickers like a bad connection before forming again, suspended over his face and whatever she had been about to say is forgotten. The eyes regarding her aren't the akuma's red ones but are much darker, seeming to pin her in place. He doesn't say anything, simply stares at her as though daring her to speak as if he knows that her mouth had run dry when faced by the real villain.

She doesn't know why she says it. Really. Maybe she could blame it on her annoying tendency to blurt out everything that's in her mind when she's backed into a corner. But she has to distract them. For Chat Noir. He's counting on her to do this right.

And right now she's suspended in the air, her ankle is sprained and goddammit all she wanted to do today was curl up on her chaise and watch a romantic comedy after school and imagine that it's her and Adrien but instead she's been fighting another supervillain for hours now because Hawkmoth decided it would be a good idea to akumatise someone being teased for not knowing how to tie his shoelaces.

She's sick of it.

"If I give you my miraculous, would you stop all this?"

Below her, she hears Chat gasp and stumble, loud in the quiet street as Shoestring seems to freeze in place, his grip on her loosening. This probably isn't the distraction Chat had in mind but now that it's out there, she has to know. Swallowing hard, she meets Hawkmoth's eyes defiantly, waiting for what he'll say.

"Yes." The answer is curt, the voice deeper than she expected but no less jarring coming from the mouth of a villain who up until now had communicated only in growls.

"A-and if we granted you use of our miraculous' you would return them immediately?" she's vaguely aware of the way her voice is shaking, her heartbeat thundering in her ears but she doesn't get to hear his response because Chat has grabbed the akumatised object, calling out her name as he darts across the street to grab her lucky charm.

All at once Shoestring comes back to life but before his grip on her can tighten once more, she's wriggling out of it and freefalling, squeezing her eyes shut and bracing for the painful impact but it never comes. Chat catches her in his arms and sets her down gently.

As soon as her feet touch the ground, Chat cataclysms the shoelace to release the butterfly and she moves on autopilot to catch and purify it while Chat presses the lucky charm in her free hand for her to throw.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" her voice is dull, and she ignores the way Chat's concerned gaze burns into her. The healing ladybugs erupt from her lucky charm, spreading across the city, lighting up the evening sky and she stares up in surprise, feeling unsteady on her feet.

Huh. That one had taken longer than she'd realised.

Once the akuma victim is on his way, Chat finally lets his smile drop, lips twisting into a frown when he turns to speak to Ladybug only to see her ducking into the closest alleyway to transform.

The air feels heavy and Chat scans the sky, seeing the way the clouds have darkened, heavy with rain threatening to fall at any moment.

He could leave it. Bring it up on their next patrol instead, but he can't stop seeing Ladybug running straight at the akuma and getting captured, can't get her voice out of his head— how tired she had sounded when she'd asked Hawkmoth her question and his heart clenches in his chest.

No. She's not getting out of this conversation that easily.

"What the hell was that back there?" his voice is low as he follows her into the alleyway, his steps echoing in the silence. Ladybug's shoulders stiffen at his approach, but she doesn't turn around to face him.

"I don't know what you mean."

Beep.

"You ran headfirst at the akuma!" Chat exclaims incredulously "what you did was reckless and stupid and-"

"Oh so when I do it, it's dangerous but when Chat Noir does the same thing it's…what? Heroic?"

"Don't put words in my mouth Ladybug, that's not what I said!" pushing down his irritation, Chat steps closer to her, placing a hand on her shoulder, his voice softening "I can afford to sacrifice myself. You can't."

"You don't have a monopoly on self-sacrifice, Chat!" Ladybug cries, whirling around to face him, blue eyes blazing behind her mask "just because you think I can't handle it-" she jabs a finger into his chest, advancing on him as he stumbles backwards.

Beep.

"Can't handle-you almost gave him your miraculous!"

"I was distracting him-" she growls

"Didn't look like that to me-"

"Oh-I'm sorry for not thinking straight in the moment!"

"Give me a break, that wasn't you not thinking straight," Chat hisses, "that was you giving up!"

"Because I'm sick of it!" she shrieks "Is that what you want to hear? That I'm so sick and tired of having to hide from everyone, of not being able to have a normal life, of not being able to confide in anyone-" she cuts herself off, breathing heavily "don't you want it to be over? No more akumas, no more terror, no more fighting?"

Beep.

"So then you talk to me about it! You don't try to make a deal with Hawkmoth!"

"Because I totally had time to run it by you," Ladybug scoffs "in case you hadn't noticed, I was a little tied up at the time!"

Suddenly the alleyway erupts with pink and green light and instead of Ladybug and Chat Noir standing so close to each other that their noses are almost touching as they glare at each other, panting, it is Adrien and Marinette.

The rest of his argument dies in his throat as they stare at each other in stunned silence and all he can think is of course it's her. Of course Ladybug is Marinette, how could it be anyone else?

It's Marinette standing before him, shivering a little from the rain he hadn't even realised had begun, her eyes widening and filling with alarm; hand coming up to her mouth to hide the way her breath hitches as she takes a step back from him and immediately stumbles, her leg giving out beneath her.

Adrien doesn't think, just moves, diving forward to catch her. Pulling her flush against him, his hands settle perfectly on her waist and they stare at each other, hardly daring to breathe.

He doesn't know how long they stand there, simply staring, taking each other in until he hears a low crackle of thunder, and a streak of silver splits through the sky, lighting up the alleyway for a brief second, allowing him to see the faint freckles that dot across her nose and then they're both surging forward at once and he's capturing her lips with his own.

Their mouths press hotly together, his head slanting sideways as he parts her lips with his, groaning into her mouth when she brushes her tongue against his, tangling her fingers into his hair and scratching lightly at his scalp. Pulling away for air, he lifts her by the thighs, hitching her up so she can wrap her legs around him as he backs her up against the wall, pressing open mouthed kisses down her arched neck, her breathless moans making him grin against her flushed skin.

"I love you" Marinette breathes out and he stills, lifting his head up slowly to look at her, eyes wide. Slowly, her own eyes flutter open when she realises he's pulled away.

"You…love me?" Adrien asks, his voice hoarse, bringing a hand up to cup her face reverently.

She blushes, avoiding his gaze "I-I've been in love with you from the day you gave me your umbrella in the rain and-" Marinette shrugs helplessly "I've kinda been in love with Chat for a while now too."

Adrien feels like his heart might burst with happiness, his lips stretching into a wide smile, a happy laugh escaping him. How did he get so lucky? To have the two most kind, amazing, beautiful girls in his life be the same person? To be loved by her? He must have done something really good in a past life to deserve this.

It feels like a dream. One he never wants to wake up from.

Leaning down to press his forehead against hers, Adrien gazes into Marinette's eyes, before kissing her again "I love you" he murmurs "I love you, I love you" she smiles against his lips, wrapping her arms around his shoulders to pull him closer when-

"Alright! That's enough, wrap it up guys, hurry up c'mon now"

"Plagg!"

"It is raining Tiki! You know how I feel about the rain!"

Adrien groans, burying his head in Marinette's shoulder as she shakes with barely suppressed laughter.

"Come on, minou" she giggles "how about we take this inside?"