Ladybug wasn't quite sure when it happened. She wasn't sure if there was even a solid moment when it began. It wasn't like with Adrien where one moment he was a new friend and the next he was much much more. She didn't jump head-first. Instead she tested the waters, slowly moving deeper and deeper never truly noticing the difference until she looked back. By that time it was far too late to back out, she was in too deep. And now that she knew about it, she had absolutely no idea what she should do about it. Preferably ignore it and hope it goes away, but that would never work. Her heart was far too stubborn.

Chat, to his credit, hadn't mentioned anything about her weird behavior. She knew he noticed it. She saw the looks of curiosity, the careful guarded smiles, his hesitancy when saying a cheesy line a bit too seriously. But he never breathed a word about how she suddenly opened up to him. How she suddenly stopped rebuffing his flirtatious remarks. How she was suddenly sad whenever he didn't leave her with a signature hand kiss. Chat Noir was much too kind to point any of those things out.

So the two of them keep pushing. He kept asking to take her out for ice cream, she kept saying yes. She kept kissing him on the cheek, he kept telling her how much he loved it. He kept calling her his lady, she kept calling him her kitty. Both of them knew they were getting closer and closer to the point of no return. It terrified Ladybug in a way. But she also knew she couldn't stop herself if she tried.

So there they were, two lines forever getting closer to the meeting point, but perhaps they'll never actually meet. She wasn't sure what was worse, them crossing the line or dancing on it until the end of time.

If she knew Chat Noir as well as she thought she did, she knew he'd be the first one to push. The first one to give in. Out of the two of them, he was the one to confess his feelings. Maybe they always ended in rejection, but it was much farther than Ladybug had ever gotten.

So when she left for patrol that evening, it was easy to tell that she was distracted. She knew that she was distracted, that she probably should've taken a careful route to their normal meet up spot. But she didn't. And as she slung her yo-yo towards a rooftop, she realized she was falling.

She braced for contact. She knew it would hurt, she had taken hits similar before. Hopefully her suit could absorb most of the damage. She saw the ground get closer and closed her eyes before-.

She hit something, but it wasn't the ground. She felt a pair of arms wrap around her, carrying her bridal style. From where she was pressed up against his chest she could feel his heartbeat. She didn't even need to look to know it was Chat.

"Are you alright, Ladybug?" He asked as he landed on a roof. He let her go, but grabbed her shoulders, his eyes roaming her face.

"Just fine kitty-cat, I was too caught up in my head, that's all." She waved her hand, but she could tell Chat Noir wasn't convinced.

"Okay, My Lady." He picked up her hand and placed a small kiss on it. She felt her heart skip a beat in her chest. "You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

"O-of course." She breathed out, caught off guard by the look in his eye. It was a rare occasion seeing Chat Noir so serious. His mouth was pressed in a thin line, his face was searching hers for answers to a question she was scared of.

"Especially when it starts to affect you like this. You and I are partners first and foremost. I need to make sure that my partner is okay." She really wished he'd stop looking at her like that, it made it hard for her to not kiss him.

"I know, I am." She placed a hand over his, squeezing it once.

"And..." he bit his lip, obviously hesitating, "I need to make sure that she's telling me what's going on."

"I am," she whispered, trying to block out that small voice that told her otherwise.

"Are you? Are you really? Because for as long as I've known you, you have never, ever, missed a shot like that." He leaned his forehead against hers. "I know how much you care about the duties and responsibilities we have. I know how much you care about being Ladybug. Something is going on, you and I both know it. But neither of us have said anything. I wanted to wait until you were sure, until you were ready and comfortable," her heart leaped into her throat. She wasn't ready for this conversation, not here! Not now! She wasn't even wearing her lucky socks! "But you nearly fell, that's a sign it's time to stop running."

"I think I've already fallen." The words came out of her mouth before she could stop them. Chat Noir laughed, a smile on his face.

"I fell the first day I met you, My Lady." He pulled her closer to him, and she wrapped her arms around him almost by pure instinct. "It's not a scary thing, I purromise." She deadpanned, only he could make a pun at a time like this.

"How do you know that? There's so many things that we could be putting at risk. Hawkmoth, our identities, everything we've been trying to prevent." She hadn't forgotten Chat Blanc, as much as she wished she had.

"So you admit it." Chat Noir stiffened.

"Admit what?" Her voice came out a bit more panicked than intended.

"That there is something going on between us." He said simply, his eyes meeting hers. The hope shining in them was enough to take her breath away.

"I-." She couldn't bring herself to speak. There were too many things to say and she couldn't possibly say them all at once.

But Chat Noir, being the most wonderful partner of all time, knew exactly what she was trying to say without saying anything at all.

"It's okay Bug, I promise. Come on, let's go somewhere where cameras won't find us." Chat Noir flushed as the words left his mouth. "Not for any nefarious reasons, but if we're actually going to have this conversation then I don't want the paparazzi finding out and I don't think you do either and-."

Ladybug laughed. Only her silly kitty would be able to take some pressure off of her.

"I understand Chat Noir, our usual place at the Eiffel Tower?" She pulled out her yo-yo.

"Last one there owes the other ice cream!" Chat Noir called, already getting a head-start.

"Hey! You cheated!" Ladybug was laughing, again.

She tried not to think too hard about what would happen when she got to the tower. What she would finally have to admit to not only herself, but to Chat Noir as well. How much this would change their partnership. Ladybug loved what they had right now, part of her didn't want it to change. But the other part of her knew that Chat Noir was right. She couldn't keep pushing aside her duties to Paris because of her feelings for him. And part of that duty was to make sure their partnership was strong. So as much as she was dreading the conversation, a small part of her was also relieved. She'd be able to lay everything out on the table this way. Tell Chat Noir exactly what she thought of him and their relationship, but also her fears and worries. It would do them some good. At least, that's what she was telling herself as she neared the tower. She could still talk to the guy, but that didn't mean that butterflies were having a field day in her stomach.

Chat Noir had beat her there, of course, but he had cheated so it didn't really count.

"Looks like you owe me ice cream," he remarked as she landed on the platform. The two of them came up here whenever they didn't want to be seen. If either one was on the verge of tears or seconds away from transforming, this was their safe spot.

"Looks like it." Ladybug rocked back and forth on her feet. She wasn't entirely sure what she could say next, if anything.

Chat Noir smiled and walked over to her.

"Let's sit, shall we?" He took a seat on the platform, swinging his legs back and forth.

"Okay." Ladybug whispered, trying to ignore the way her heart was pounding. She sat next to him, pressing her shoulder to his.

"So, I think there's a certain conversation the two of us should have," Chat Noir began. 

"Probably," she whispered, not trusting her voice to say anything more.

"I promise this doesn't have to be a scary thing. In fact, I think it'll be a fantastic thing." Chat Noir gave her that grin she loved so much. One that was genuine, supporting, one that she saw whenever she closed her eyes.

"Easy for you to say, I've been terrified of this since I first realized. There's so many things at risk."

"So tell me them, let me calm your worries Ladybug, please." He grabbed her hand and squeezed it, his voice nearly pleading with her.

"Well for one, I'm worried about how our judgment is going to be affected. You already sacrifice yourself for me more than I'd like. If... this," she couldn't label it, not yet, "continues, you'd have to be okay with me taking hits. You can't get even more protective over me."

"Okay," he nodded and gave her hand another squeeze, encouraging her to continue.

"As for my part, I'm worried that I may make the wrong strategic move. My feelings can take control over my rationality sometimes, I can't risk that happening in battle. If we let this happen, I'm not sure if I can trust myself to watch you get hurt, take punches, to use you as a piece in my plan. I'm afraid that once Hawkmoth knows you're my weakness, he's going to exploit it."

"With all due respect Bug, who's to say I'm not already your weakness?" Chat Noir asked, and Ladybug's face snapped towards him. "I mean think about, whatever you're feeling, you're already feeling it. That's not going to change regardless of our relationship. Hawkmoth already knows that you and I are weak spots to get to the other. That's the point of us being partners. But he also doesn't know our identities. He can't target us like he can civilians. Trust me, I've thought about this a lot." He wouldn't look at her, opting to stare up at the night sky instead.

"But what about our identities? Don't you want to know who I am?" Ladybug whispered, not letting on how much his words reassured her.

"Of course I want to know who you are, My Lady. But I also want to wait until the both of us are comfortable with the idea. If that means waiting until Hawkmoth poses no more threat, then that's what we do." He shrugged.

"You... you make it sound so simple!" Ladybug threw her hands up in the air. "What happens when my judgment gets clouded and I want us to reveal our identities?"

"Then I'll make sure you're truly ready. I'll be your voice of reason, you know I have been before." She knew he was right. Every time she let her emotions get the better of her, Chat Noir had been her tether back to reality.

But still, there was one major complication. As much as she wanted to kiss him, as much as she saw that own desire in his eyes, she couldn't.

"What happens when we break up and you get akumatized?" She whispered, curling in on herself.

"Yeah," Chat snorted, "like that's gonna happen."

She squeezed her eyes shut.

"Ladybug? Do you know something I don't?" He placed a hand on her shoulder. She knew without looking at him he was only concerned. Not angry, never angry.

"Bunnyx," she started to explain, but then stopped. She couldn't get the words out. They were lodged in her throat as memory after memory poured down on her. She opened her eyes.

Green. His eyes were green. Not blue. He was still here.

"She hasn't shown up yet, has she?" Chat Noir squeezed her hand. "You don't have to tell me whatever it is she showed you, not if you're not ready, but she did show you something, didn't she?"

Ladybug nodded.

"And it was bad?"

"Very." She hated how shaky her voice sounded.

"Well, look around, I don't see a Bunnyx. Maybe now it's the right time for this to happen. Whatever you saw, maybe it's not our future this time." He kept his eyes on hers. They were so green, she could drown in them, she wanted to drown in them. They were shimmering too, with hope and acceptance and best of all love. Oh there was so much love in his eyes. It was odd how that love could be hers if she just... let it.

"I'm scared Chat." She hated how she broke away from his gaze. "I'm scared that if I let myself do this, then everything I've ever worked for, sacrificed, everything will fall to pieces."

"And if they don't?" He whispered. "What if this only strengthens our partnership? Only strengthens your mind? You certainly wouldn't be distracted to the point where you're falling to the ground. What about that?"

She thought about it, she genuinely did. In her deepest desires and dreams, this would be her perfect fairytale ending. She and Chat Noir would get together, defeat Hawkmoth, reveal their identities, get married, and eventually have three kids (she could workshop the names later). There was something still holding her back, she hated it. Hated that she was making her amazing partner who she cared so much about, both platonically and romantically, wait.

"Bug," he began again at her silence, "you do so much for Paris. You sacrifice so much of your emotions to keep a cool and level head. Let yourself be indulgent, let yourself be Ladybug, normal teenager, for a moment, not Ladybug, Paris' superhero."

"I can feel myself falling," she whispered, looking out at Paris.

"So fall," Chat Noir placed a hand on her cheek, guiding her face towards his, "I'll catch you."

She met his lips, finally giving into temptation. And God did it feel good to kiss him. To finally let him know just how much she cared about him. How much she loved him. She could feel how much he loved her too, it poured through their embrace. She couldn't help it.

"I love you." He whispered when they finally broke apart. "You don't have to say it back yet."

"But I do." Maybe it wasn't a full confession, but it was good enough for her. And judging by the look on Chat Noir's face, it was enough for him, too. 

He rested his forehead against hers, and she took the opportunity to breathe in the moment. To completely breathe him in. It felt good, really good. Her heart was pouring. He had been right, one final time. Letting herself love him got rid of all the turmoil sitting in her chest. She was still worried of course, but she knew that Chat Noir would be there for her no matter what. Her rock, her lifeline, her everything.

"Let me be yours, please," he pleaded.

"Always, mon chaton, and I'm yours. I don't care what I said in the past, I was wrong. My heart belongs to you." She stared at him, how could she not? In Paris' moonlight, he was more than just cute or handsome, he looked beautiful.

He picked up her hand and placed a kiss on the fabric. Her heart skipped a beat yet again.

"I promise I'll treasure that heart with my life." He murmured against her suit. For all of his silly flirtations, Chat Noir could be incredibly charming when he wanted to be.

"And I'll treasure yours." Impulsively, she placed a kiss on his cheek.

"You really do mean the world to me My Lady, you know that right?" He leaned forward to give her nose a kitten kiss.

"I know." She smiled, God how she loved him.

"We'll go at your pace, ok? Whatever you're comfortable with, with regards to everything."

"We need to meet some of your needs too, you know." Ladybug pouted. "I know how much you like physical affection. But, for now, while this is still new, we should keep this between us."

"I agree, besides, it's kinda nice having it be our little secret." He winked at her. "Although the physical affection bit does sound nice."

"Well get over here then." Ladybug opened up her arms for him.

He climbed into them, practically purring as he nestled his face into her neck.

​​"This is... really nice, actually." He muttered, feeling his breath on her skin made her jump.

"Yeah? Well I think we can end every patrol like this if you'd like." She smiled, reaching out to play with his hair.

"Please." He breathed into her. Ladybug laughed.

"You are such a dork."

"I'm your dork, though. Officially." She felt him grin against her skin.

"You sure are."

And there she was, falling, falling, falling. Even deeper into the pool she had waded into. Falling even deeper into the love she held for her partner. Falling even deeper into what would hopefully be the best decision of her life. Falling even deeper into letting her emotions win her over. Falling even deeper into her wildest daydreams. Falling even deeper into the joy radiating from her heart.

But she wasn't scared.

Because for every time she fell, Chat Noir would be there to catch her.