Seeing as the balcony Chat Noir chose to set up the dinner for him and Ladybug was so close to Marinette's, all the hero in black had to do was leap the distance between their two rooftops to arrive at the spot. The only downside was that the trip was too short for his unexpected dismay. But once he landed, Chat Noir gently set Marinette down on her feet, eager to show her what he prepared earlier. Someone might as well enjoy the surprise, right?

"Just give me a minute." Chat Noir said as he gently moved Marinette's arms off of his shoulders, the girl still keeping her eyes closed while he re-lit the candles on the balcony. "Alright, you can open your eyes now." the black-clad hero announced, prompting Marinette to finally open her eyes and suddenly look around the candle-lit balcony in awe.

"Wow! Chat Noir, this is... beautiful!" Marinette gushed, spinning in place as she took in the meant-to-be romantic scene. However, her praise fell on deaf ears, which Marinette came to realize when she noticed Chat Noir looking glumly at a candle to her right. Upon seeing the feline still so sad, it only fanned the flames of Marinette's guilt, knowing that she was responsible for his broken heart. "I'm so sorry." the pigtailed girl sorrowfully apologized, not knowing what else to say that wouldn't out her identity.

"Why? It's not your fault." Chat Noir pointed out as he leaned over the candle, the memory of being stood up still fresh in his mind now that he was back on the balcony he set up for the dinner.

"No, what I mean is I'm very sorry for you. To think that you prepared all of this and then... she didn't show." Marinette explained, her own feelings of heartbreak coming into the mix since Chat Noir's situation reminded her of her own with Adrien.

"She told me she might not make it but I had my fingers crossed. I really wanted her to come." Chat Noir said, not taking his gaze off of the candle while Marinette walked over to stand next to him.

"Maybe she had a good reason for not coming. Like, a family emergency or something." Marinette suggested while leaning her back against the railing and looking at her shoes, trying to not sound so guilty for standing her partner up.

"You're only saying that to make me feel better." Chat Noir muttered.

"Maybe I am. You've done so for me, so why can't I do the same in return?" Marinette questioned the hero, looking up from her shoes and back at him as she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"I just don't want to have my hopes crushed again." Chat Noir sadly replied, sighing as he looked at his feet and gently jerked his shoulder from Marinette's hand.

"Chat..." Marinette began, only to immediately notice Glaciator on the street across from the balcony and aiming right at her. "LOOK OUT!!" the red-tipped-haired girl screamed, followed by Glaciator shooting one of his ice cream globs at her.

Out of reflex after training with Draal, Marinette's hand went for her blazer, hoping to use her rope dart to block the attack. But Chat Noir was faster and blocked the shot of ice cream with his staff, quickly putting it away before picking Marinette up and jumping away from the balcony to hide from the new akuma.

"Marinette, party pooper, you're looking so sad and surly!! But Glaciator will make it all better, don't you worry!" Glaciator called out as he stomped through the streets, looking for the girl in question. Fortunately for the teens, Glaciator hadn't seen them hiding behind the building that flanked the balcony they were on, letting the akuma continue towards the Place Des Vosges.

"What on Earth is that? Another supervillain in love with you?" Chat Noir questioned the girl in his arms, sort of teasing her while crouching close to the roof to avoid being spotted.

"Ew, no! That's André the ice cream maker." Marinette exclaimed, quickly realizing who was after her.

"The sweetheart's ice cream guy? He isn't looking too sweet right now." Chat Noir remarked as he glanced at the new akuma, concerned by how such a feat was possible.

"It's... a long story." Marinette admitted, looking at her knees in shame.

But before she could even begin, Glaciator suddenly started singing. As he did, the ice cream akuma continued his mission of freezing people, even going as far as shooting his evil frozen treats into the air to hit even more targets. However, his efforts and hopes of hitting the cause of his ire were in vain, thanks to Chat Noir carrying Marinette to her house for safety. Fortunately, the feline hero managed to land on the girl's balcony while Glaciator stomped away, the last of the akuma's falling ice cream titering to a halt as he did. And once he was sure Glaciator was far enough away, Chat Noir let Marinette back onto her feet and pulled open her balcony door.

"Go inside, Marinette. I'm gonna lead him away from you." Chat Noir said as he helped Marinette step down into her room, soon getting ready to head back out and face the akuma.

"Chat Noir, wait!" Marinette exclaimed, quickly grabbing the boy's tail to keep him from leaving just yet. Upon the sudden yank on his faux appendage, Chat Noir stopped in his tracks and turned to face Marinette in surprise. "Thanks for cheering me up." the designer softly thanked the hero, a soft smile appearing on her lips.

"It was the least I could do, Princess. I'll see you around." Chat Noir farewelled, returning the soft smile Marinette gave him alongside a two-finger salute before leaving the balcony, leaping into the fray. Seconds after he left, however, Tikki; who had heard everything before the two teens had left, finally flew out of her hiding place and started hovering next to a slightly dazed Marinette.

"Wow! Who would have thought Chat Noir's devotion to you ran so deep!" Tikki squealed, breaking Marinette out of her astonishment to fully process all that just happened in the last few minutes.

"Yeah... who would have thought." Marinette remarked to herself, a fond smile appearing before she shook her head to clear her thoughts. "But we've got work to do. Can't let this akuma run rampant, now can we?" the pigtailed girl stated, focusing on the task at hand instead of her fluttering heart while pulling out her runestone necklace and activating her Ladybug disguise. Only once it was in place did Marinette finally say...

"Tikki, spots on!" Marinette cried out, fully transforming into Ladybug before taking out her yo-yo and swinging into the battle.

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While Ladybug was getting to the fight, Chat Noir had finally caught up to Glaciator as he continued stomping through the streets of Paris. Once he did, he landed on top of an abandoned van and looked around to see all the frozen civilians lining the street, knowing he needed to do something fast before they melted away.

"Hey, Snow Dude, you lookin' for me?" Chat Noir called to the akuma from atop the van, immediately drawing Glaciator's attention to him.

"Bad kitty! Where have you hidden Marinette?" Glaciator demands the hero, followed by him firing ice cream at Chat Noir from his end of the street.

But Chat Noir was quick to dodge the shot, leaping from the van and landing on the wall of a building on his left. From there, he redirected himself to jump to a rooftop on the side of the street he started at and plant down behind a chimney. Unfortunately, Glaciator saw where he landed and kicked a car right at him. Seeing the car heading for him, Chat Noir tried to run from it but was unable to get away before the vehicle hit him in the back, sending him flying and screaming with the car. Fortunately for the feline, Ladybug was near the soon-to-be crash site and quickly made a net to catch Chat Noir with her yoyo. With the newly made net, the spotted heroine's plan worked perfectly and saved Chat Noir with ease, holding the startled hero a few feet above the ground.

"Hello, Kitty. Did the bad guys leave you cold?" Ladybug happily greeted her partner, standing next to him while keeping her yo-yo taunt to maintain the net. Upon hearing her voice, however, Chat Noir finally processed what happened and sent an enraged glare at Ladybug.

"I don't know. How was your amazing evening with your 'friends'?" Chat Noir snapped harshly, earning a confused look from the shocked Ladybug. Yet before she could counter her partner's harsh words, Glaciator turned a street corner a little bit away from them and found the heroes.

"I've never tasted superhero flavor before. I can't wait to serve myself a double scoop!" Glaciator declared while watching Ladybug let Chat Noir back to the ground, continuing to freeze more people and forcing the heroes to try and protect them. But whilst the heroes were using their weapons to shield the civilians, Hawkmoth decided that was a good time to address his minion now that his enemies had arrived.

"Don't forget what you promised me. Give me Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous!" Hawkmoth reminded Glaciator from his lair, the purple halo appearing on the akuma's face while the psychic link was active.

"I'm a man of my word, Hawkmoth." Glaciator assured his benefactor, letting the connection between them time out before turning to look for Ladybug and Chat Noir... only to see they had disappeared altogether. "Come out now, or I'll bury Paris in an entire layer of ice cream!" the ice cream akuma loudly demanded, lumbering through the streets in search of the heroes.

However, as he went down the street, his large size prevented him from spotting Ladybug and Chat Noir hiding behind a corner shop, crouching as close to the ground as possible. Thanks to their hiding place, it gave the heroes the time they needed to observe their foe for anything they could use against him.

"It looks like the ice cream is fired out of his hand." Ladybug noted, poking her head out from the ally while Glaciator came closer to them. "And before André was akumatized, he served his ice cream using an ice cream scooper!" the spotted heroine exclaimed, her mind racing as she put the pieces together.

"That must be where he's hiding the akuma." Chat Noir said, reaching the same conclusion as his partner despite his current ire towards her. But before they could even think of a plan to get said akumatized object, Glaciator had heard them and turned to spot them on his left.

"It's been a bomb, but now it's time to turn you into popsicles, once and for all!" Glaciator proclaimed as he aimed his arms at Ladybug and Chat Noir, shooting his globs of frozen treats at them and causing them to flee once again.

Amid the chaos, however, Glaciator spotted another couple just as Ladybug and Chat Noir hid again, the two civilians trying to escape while the akuma was distracted. Upon spotting them, the ice cream villain aimed at the couple, freezing them in their tracks while Glaciator used his empathy powers on them. When sensing the strong emotional link between the pair, Glaciator finally let them go... which Ladybug quickly noticed from her and Chat Noir's hiding spot on a nearby rooftop.

"That's weird. It looks like he's leaving the couples alone." Ladybug observed, crouching near the roof ledge while Chat Noir leaned upright against the chimney across from her.

"Too bad for us." Chat Noir snidely muttered, looking off to his right with a stoney pout before Ladybug stood up and walked towards him.

"You don't understand." Ladybug began, now standing in front of her still-moody partner.

"Now that we know he doesn't attack couples, we could pretend—" "Pretend?" Chat Noir interrupted as he turned to heatedly glare at Ladybug, not liking where this idea of hers was going.

"To be in love! Then we can get close and take his akuma!" Ladybug cheerfully finished, which only seemed to enrage Chat Noir even more.

"No, it's a bad plan. Sorry Ladybug, but it's not cool to play with people's feelings." Chat Noir snarled, leaving Ladybug flabbergasted by his response before leaping off the roof to rejoin the battle.

While still in mid-air, Chat Noir pulled out his staff and extended it before swinging it at Glaciator, slicing him in half right down the middle. Unfortunately, not only did the hero's weapon get stuck a third of the way through, but Glaciator quickly reformed and rotated his body to launch Chat Noir into a building wall. Upon impact, Chat Noir was left disoriented and quickly fell to the ground, his newly freed staff falling with him before he tumbled to the middle of the street. Hoping to use Chat Noir's recovering state to his advantage, Glaciator aimed an ice cream shot at him and was about to freeze the hero. Fortunately, Ladybug jumped down from the roof and landed in front of her partner, quickly pulling out her yo-yo to block the blast.

"Are you mad at me because I didn't show up?" Ladybug worriedly questioned her partner, finally realizing why he was so short with her while spinning her yo-yo to keep them both safe.

"What do you think?" Chat Noir said furiously, rising to crouch behind Ladybug.

"I didn't mean to hurt you." Ladybug quietly replied, her feelings of guilt growing now that she knew how much she hurt Chat Noir. Sure, she had a good idea after talking to him as Marinette, but it paled in comparison when he was talking about it with her as Ladybug.

Unfortunately, the two heroes didn't have any time to talk more about the problem before Glaciator suddenly jumped over them, landing on the ground so hard that his lower body turned into a pile of ice cream. But while the akuma was reforming to his true size, Ladybug and Chat Noir took shelter behind a car, hoping to resolve their dispute so that they could defeat the akuma.

"And I also had a surprise for you, too! I get that you had plans with friends, but you could have let me know you weren't coming." Chat Noir added while crouching behind the car they were hiding behind, still glaring at Ladybug.

"In my defense, I did say that I couldn't make any promises, and I was having problems of my own I was dealing with." Ladybug explained as she peaked past the car to keep an eye on Glaciator to make sure he didn't find them, only to turn and face her partner with an apologetic look. "It was never my intention to hurt you. But I really am sorry, kitty." the hero in red apologized, placing a comforting hand on Chat Noir's shoulder. As if her words and touch were laced with magic, Chat Noir's glare melted away into nothing, his inner turmoil soothed by her kind words.

"No... I'm the one who's sorry. I should have known you had a good reason not to come." Chat Noir sighed, turning to look at the ground in self-hatred for letting his emotions cloud his judgment and acting so petty with his partner. "Maybe another time we can try again?" the hero in black asked, to which Ladybug nodded 'Yes' out of gladness that Chat Noir was feeling better.

"Show yourselves, cowards!" Glaciator yelled into the night, prompting Chat Noir to stand up and peek over the top of the car to see him.

"I know I dismissed your idea earlier, but I think we better try it. It just might give us the opening we need." Chat Noir decided as he ducked back into hiding, avoiding giving them away to their enemy as the akuma turned around to try and find them.

"Perfect." Ladybug said, glad that he was willing to try it out after... everything.

"I know you're here!" Glaciator angrily shouted through the streets, prompting Ladybug and Chat Noir to come out of hiding and stand in the middle of their end of the street, finally showing themselves to the akuma.

When seeing his foes, Glaciator immediately aimed to fire his ice cream at them. As he did, Chat Noir held out his hand to Ladybug, hoping to execute their plan of getting close enough to Glaciator. But in a shocking turn of events, Ladybug stepped closer to her partner and gently grabbed his arm instead, resting her head on his shoulder as well. Needless to say, it left Chat Noir pleasantly surprised and stopped Glaciator from firing at the two heroes after witnessing the surprising move Ladybug made. Almost immediately, Glaciator's empathic powers came alive when seeing the 'couple', allowing Ladybug and Chat Noir to start walking up to him now that he was unsure of what to do.

"Glaciator, now's the time! Freeze them forever!" Hawkmoth demanded his akuma, activating the link when he sensed Glaciator wasn't attacking. Thanks to Hawkmoth's demand, it snapped Glaciator out of his trance long enough to aim at the heroes once again, despite what his empathic powers were telling him. Meanwhile, a now fearful Chat Noir saw that their ruse wasn't working as well as they had hoped, almost breaking him out of character before Ladybug suddenly kissed his cheek. The sudden contact was so unexpected, that it left the cat boy shocked as well as ecstatic and feeling lighter than air.

"It's all part of the plan." Ladybug whispered to her partner as they kept walking, resting her head on Chat Noir's shoulder to hide her soft smile from him. However, Ladybug's excuse did nothing to hide the pleased smile Chat Noir now had on his face, further selling their ruse to Glaciator.

"I can't, Hawkmoth! They are so... in love!" Glaciator wailed, his empathic powers displaying to him the beauty and strength of the link between the two heroes. Ladybug and Chat Noir could deny it all they wanted, but their bond was so strong it had to be love! But soon enough, the two heroes were finally close enough to Glaciator.

"NOW!" Ladybug shouted, causing her and Chat Noir to drop their act and pull out their weapons to attack the akuma. Once her yo-yo was out, Ladybug threw it right at Glaciator, only for it to sink into his stomach and... latch onto something inside?

"I've hit something inside." the spotted heroine reported to Chat Noir, surprised by the outcome of their attack. "André hasn't turned into a monster. He's inside the monster!" Ladybug exclaimed in realization, only for Glaciator to use her distractedness to try and attack her, pulling her into the air by her yo-yo.

"LOOK OUT!" Chat Noir shouted while Ladybug flew through the air, grabbing his staff and quickly slicing Gladiator's feet clean from his body while running through the gap between the akuma's legs. With the akuma down for the moment, Ladybug managed to land next to Chat Noir before they ran off to hide again.

"This isn't... over!" Glaciator cried while his body reformed, not seeing Ladybug and Chat Noir escaping to hide near City Hall, revealing just how much distance their fight had covered in such a short amount of time. But now that they had gotten away, it was then that they realized they needed a new plan.

"What should we do now?" Chat Noir questioned Ladybug, hoping that she had something in mind to defeat Glaciator before all the frozen civilians melted away. Fortunately, she had just the thing and called on her...

"Lucky Charm!" Ladybug proclaimed as she activated her special power, the swarm of tiny ladybugs giving her a giant battery-operated fan. However, Ladybug's powers didn't give her the luxury of placing the fan onto the ground, forcing them to jump back out of the way from the falling object before she was crushed.

"Woah! Now that's a big fan!" Chat Noir exclaimed, staring at the Lucky Charm in awe after the small dust cloud it kicked up on landing settled.

Following the remark from her partner, Ladybug quickly started looking around for any inspiration for her next plan to strike. Thankfully, it didn't take long for her to spot a set of lampposts in front of City Hall, a turned-over bus, lampposts, and Chat Noir, the components all coming together in her mind's eye.

"Chat Noir, give me a hand! We need to move this thing to stand behind that bus!" Ladybug ordered, pointing to the aforementioned bus while moving to the giant fan to start pushing it.

"You got it." Chat Noir declared before joining her, the two of them managing to push the fan to hide behind the bus just as Glaciator's menacing song neared them.

Fortunately for them, Glaciator had chosen to go the long way around City Hall, which kept the giant fan hidden from him as he approached the heroes. The bus was also just big enough to cover the fan from the front view of the approaching Glaciator, letting Ladybug and Chat Noir finish preparing it for their plan.

"Alright, here we go!" Ladybug announced to Chat Noir once their preparations were done, quickly hopping to the top of the tipped-over bus to throw her yo-yo at the singing Glaciator.

But instead of directly hitting the akuma, the yo-yo wrapped itself around two lampposts and Glaciator, trapping him in place now that he was close enough for the next part of the plan. Now unable to take another step, Glaciator strained in his bindings, trying to escape. However, the lamp posts held strong and prevented him from doing so, forcing Glaciator to fire more ice cream at Ladybug. Seeing the ice cream coming at her, Ladybug backflipped off of the vehicle and landed next to the fan, soon starting it and making it spin behind the bus.

"Ready, kitty?" Ladybug called to her partner over the loud whirring of the fan, signaling to use his...

"Cataclysm!" Chat Noir shouted, summoning his power to his ring hand. Now powered up, the feline hero lunged at the bus and placed his hand on its underside, disintegrating the vehicle and revealing the fan to the akuma. Following the elimination of the bus, the fan had a clear shot to start blowing ice cream off of Glaciator, working to an alarmingly good degree. "Faster! The ice cream's almost gone!" the hero in black yelled to Ladybug, prompting her to turn the fan to a higher speed and forcing Glaciator to fully transform back to a now unconscious André.

Upon seeing the ice cream was gone, Ladybug immediately stopped the fan and the two heroes ran to the suspended ice cream vendor. While Ladybug went to one of the lampposts to grab her yo-yo, Chat Noir went to grab the ice cream scooper from André after she loosened the string to set the man onto the ground on his knees. Once Chat Noir had the akumatized object, he tossed it to Ladybug and she caught it before throwing it to the ground, shattering it and forcing the akuma to flutter out.

"No more evildoing for you, little akuma." Ladybug said as she ran her finger down the middle of her yo-yo, revealing the sparkling pool of cleansing energy inside of it. "Time to de-evilize!" the spotted heroine shouted before she threw her yo-yo toward the akuma, catching it within her yo-yo and pulling it back to her.

"Gotcha!" Ladybug cheered when the yo-yo was back in her hands. A second later, she released the purified akuma, setting the white butterfly free. "Bye, bye little butterfly," the heroine in red said as the butterfly flew away, right before she and Chat Noir threw Lucky Charm up into the air.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" Ladybug cried out, summoning the cleansing cure and the magic ladybugs. Immediately, the damage to the city was repaired, followed by the frozen civilians being turned back to normal. And while it would have included returning André to his original state, that was already taken care of. Instead, the cure merely aroused him from his unconscious state, just in time to see Ladybug and Chat Noir standing triumphantly in front of him.

"Pound it!" Ladybug and Chat Noir cheered, fist-bumping each other for their post-battle ritual in celebration.

"Sacré blue! How enchanting! Saved from the cold by a couple of super lovebirds!" André praised as he rose to his feet, quickly pulling Ladybug and Chat Noir into a hug before letting them go seconds later. However, the ice cream man's words had the two heroes glancing over at each other in surprise, only for Chat Noir to quickly shake himself out of it.

"He said it, not me." a grinning Chat Noir said to Ladybug with a shrug, earning an amused smile from Ladybug. She knew he enjoyed hearing that one.

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Meanwhile, down in Hawkmoth's lair, the resident supervillain was once more less than pleased by his latest failure at getting the Miraculous. Unfortunately, it would do next to nothing to convince him to abandon his pursuit, only drive him to try again another day.

"Ladybug, Chat Noir, you've melted all my plans!" Hawkmoth growled, looking out at the city from his lair window while clenching his fists in anger. "But someday, I will triumph and it will taste of such sweet revenge!" the superterrorist promised, the lair window closing and surrounding him and his butterflies in darkness once again.

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While Hawkmoth was left to lick the figurative wounds of his latest defeat, things with Ladybug and Chat Noir were taking a new turn. Now that the akuma was defeated and they had reconciled, Chat Noir decided to bring Ladybug to the surprise he had set up for her now that she had the chance to do so. And even though she had already seen it as her civilian self, Ladybug accepted the offer and joined him on the balcony he prepared for their would-be dinner, still amazed by the effort he put into setting it up.

"It's beautiful, Chat Noir." Ladybug praised as she walked up to him, staring at the balcony in wonder while Chat Noir held a rose in his hand.

"Aren't you glad you finally came?" Chat Noir asked, hoping that she was. But upon being asked the question, Ladybug looked at her feet in anticipation, knowing that she had to say what needed to be said.

"Listen, Chat... I know why you wanted me to come tonight. You wanted to tell me that you're in love with me, right?" Ladybug gently questioned her partner, catching him off guard with how blunt she was before he quickly recovered his wits and nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah... that's why I invited you here." Chat Noir quietly replied, looking at the floor to his right while his left hand went to nervously scratch the back of his neck. "How did you figure it out?" the feline hero asked, looking back at his partner while his arm fell back to his side.

"You're not as sneaky as you think, kitty." Ladybug teasingly remarked, softly smiling at him in the hopes of sparing his ego. "Plus, the kiss I used to free you from Dark Cupid on Valentine's Day pretty much gave it away too since those types of spells are broken with love." the spotted heroine added, earning a flustered blush from Chat Noir at the reminder of the kiss he'd never remember.

"Ah, I see." Chat Noir hoarsely replied, turning to look ahead of himself to avoid Ladybug noticing his embarrassment.

"Kitty, I'm truly flattered that you like me that way. No one has ever said that to me and meant it." Ladybug said as she touched her partner's shoulder, hoping to lessen his distress about his romantic feelings being outed without his consent. "Honestly, I'm surprised that you do feel that way about plain old little me." the hero in red stated, causing Chat Noir to look at her in shock at her words.

"What do you mean? You're anything but plain. You're the most amazing girl I've ever met!" Chat Noir exclaimed, earning a rueful smile from Ladybug before she looked at a candle to her left.

"Compared to you, that's the silliest thing I've heard." Ladybug replied, quickly reversing her gaze back to her partner for what she was about to say next. "You're braver than anyone else I know, loyal to a fault, and can find the bright side in any bleak situation. And to top it all off, you're very funny when we're not in the middle of an akuma battle." the spotted heroine gushed, bringing a wide grin to Chat Noir's face at her kind words about him.

"You think I'm funny?" Chat Noir questioned his partner, smirking as he leaned towards Ladybug's now flabbergasted face.

"Of course, you'd focus on that part." Ladybug muttered, rolling her eyes to herself before smiling at him. "Yes, I think you're funny. But don't let that go to your head, okay?" the scarlet heroine chided the feline, playfully pushing Chat Noir away from her by his nose.

"But the point I'm trying to make is that while I think highly of you, the last thing I want to do is play around with your feelings. It would be the same as lying to you and I don't wanna do that." Ladybug elaborated. "You're more than just a partner to me, Chat Noir. You're my best friend. And I'd never wanna lie to you." the spotted heroine admitted, which earned a perplexed stare from the boy next to her.

"Why do you think it'd be lying?" Chat Noir asked, not quite understanding what Ladybug was talking about.

"Because I'm in love with another boy." Ladybug revealed, shocking Chat Noir to his core.

"There's a boy? Who is he?" Chat Noir probed, wanting to know more before a horrible thought suddenly came to him. "Wait... is it the Trollhunter?" the hero in black questioned fearfully, thinking that the mysterious boy had managed to win over his Lady's heart.

"No, it's not the Trollhunter. I already told you that he and I will never be in any form of a romantic relationship." Ladybug reminded Chat Noir, a little concerned that he came to that conclusion after she had assured him of the opposite.

"Right, sorry about that. Though to be fair, you race over to Arcadia at the drop of a hat when he calls for help. How else was I supposed to take that?" Chat Noir pointed out, causing Ladybug to let out an amused guff.

"Yeah, fair enough." Ladybug said, knowing that he had a good point.

"But in all seriousness, who is it that you're in love with?" Chat Noir asked, hoping to get an answer now that he knew the Trollhunter didn't stand a chance.

"It's..." Ladybug began, her left fist clenching at her side as she prepared to tell him. But just as she was about to, Ladybug found that she couldn't. "I can't tell you who it is. Other than the personal details we already know about each other, we can't know anything more to prevent our identities from being discovered." the hero in red declared, choosing to keep this fact about herself close to the vest since it was vital Chat Noir didn't know her identity. For both her safety and his.

"We're both superheroes, Chat Noir. We don't have a choice." Ladybug sadly concluded, leaving a silence between the two of them as they looked at each other sadly. After a few seconds passed, however, Chat Noir turned to face Ladybug and walked closer to her, standing just inches away from her before smiling at her as he handed her the rose in his hand. Shocked, Ladybug took the rose and held it in her hands.

"I get it, Ladybug. Your friendship means everything to me." Chat Noir finally replied, followed by him kissing Ladybug's cheek and further surprising her. "And you can keep the rose. It goes with your costume." the cheeky feline added before leaving, missing the blush that appeared across Ladybug's cheeks while she turned to watch him vault away.

"What just happened?" Ladybug breathed out in shock, still staring at the city until she could no longer see her partner. Following that, Ladybug looked down at the rose in her hands, a soft smile appearing alongside her rosy blush before heading back to her house, her heart fluttering within her chest like her namesake.

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After leaving the balcony and his partner in a daze, Chat Noir returned to the Agreste Mansion and snuck back into his room. But as he transformed back into his civilian self, Adrien was smiling while he walked over to his bed, happily throwing himself to lay on top of his covers with a lovesick sigh.

"The only way to get over a heartache is to eat a whole bunch of cheese!" Plagg declared as he flew to float next to his holder, not seeing Adrien's smile and thinking that he was unhappy. "Shall we dig in?" the black kwami asked his holder, zipping over to his cheese stash and getting out a slice of camembert.

"I don't have a heartache, Plagg." Adrien said from his bed, amused that his kwami immediately thought the worst of his current mood. Though to be fair, anyone would most likely be crushed to find out that the one they're in love with is in love with someone else, so Adrien didn't blame Plagg for assuming he was sad.

"Great!" Plagg exclaimed, glad that Adrien was not unhappy. "So then.... no cheese fest?" the little imp-like being wondered, now sad as he realized that his excuse to eat 100x his weight in cheese in one night was off the table. Well... the more reasonable excuse that is.

"Maybe Ladybug will love me someday in the same way I love her. I have to believe that." Adrien mussed aloud as he stared at the ceiling above him, ignoring Plagg's woes about not pigging out while bringing his arms to rest behind his head. "But in the meantime, her friendship is the best gift of all." the model decided, a love-sick sigh escaping him while Plagg flew back over to him.

"Blagh! All this sweet talk is grossing me out! I need Camembert!" Plagg wailed, stuffing his mouth with the piece he grabbed before going back to his stash. Looks like he had a new reason to stuff himself after all.

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While Adrien was in his Ladybug LA LA Land, Marinette had finally prepared herself for bed after the eventful evening she just had. Now dressed in her pajamas, she found herself sitting at her desk while responding to a text from Alya dating a few minutes after arriving back home from meeting with Chat Noir. The reporter had felt bad for how things went with André, so she invited Marinette to a sleepover the next night. Immediately, Marinette agreed and quickly replied to Alya's text to confirm she was available, followed by her setting her phone down on her desk with a happy sigh. But her gaze then started to drift off to the side, spotting the red rose resting in a small vase next to her computer and reaching to grab it. Marinette smiled as she looked at the rose in her hand, twirling it with her fingers while resting her chin on her propped-up arm.

"You silly cat. Why did you have to be so smooth?" Marinette muttered to herself, letting out a sigh the longer she stared at the flower... the reminder of her latest interaction with her partner.

However, before Marinette could harp on the subject anymore, her computer screen suddenly turned on to show Jim trying to call her. Upon seeing her brothers calling at the usual time, Marinette put the rose back into the vase and clicked 'Answer' on her screen to connect the call. Seconds later, a smug-looking Jim and smiling Toby appeared on her computer, giving the girl a good idea of what was going on in their heads.

"I think I'll just skip the usual introductions this time, seeing as I can tell you two boys want to know what happened after you hung up on me." the red-tipped-haired girl tiredly observed, knowing her brothers all too well after all these years.

"Best call you could have ever made, sis." Jim replied, confirming her conclusion. "So, what happened after we hung up? Tell us, now!!" the Trollhunter demanded gently, earning a fond eye roll from Marinette.

"Look, I promise I'll tell you everything. But I do have to ask if you heard about what happened tonight." Marinette said, quickly catching the boys' attention from the aforementioned conversation between their sister and the cat superhero.

"Heard about what?" Toby asked, immediately interested in what else happened that Parisian night.

"A new akuma attacked the city." Marinette replied, leaving Toby further excited by the news.

"OOOOH!! What was their name? What power set did it have?" Toby rambled while he and Jim got out their lunches, their meals much better than their previous bout with the dreaded... Chicken Surprise. The menu that day was of BLAT sandwiches, veggie sticks with homemade hummus, and caramel-covered cookies for dessert.

"His name was Glaciator, and his powers were ice cream-based." Marinette reported, causing Jim and Toby to stare at her in confusion.

"Ice cream based? How did that work?" Jim questioned, not understanding Marinette's summary of the latest akuma's powerset.

"The ice cream could turn anyone it hits into statues of the stuff." Marinette elaborated, doing well to clear up the slight misunderstanding.

"Ah, got it." Jim said with a nod.

"Either way, it's going on the list." Toby declared, reaching into his back pocket to get out his phone.

"Both or just the one?" Marinette asked, all while Jim took a bite out of his sandwich and watched Toby work.

"I would put it on the second list too, but I didn't guess his powers beforehand. So there's that missed opportunity." Toby explained, not looking up from his phone while updating his akuma list. "However, seeing as we didn't get a news alert for the attack, can you give us the inside scoop?" the geology nerd asked after he finished, finally looking up from his phone and back over to Jim's phone to address Marinette.

"It would be my pleasure!" Marinette announced, glad that he was so eager to find out more about Glaciator. But upon seeing her eagerness, Jim had a feeling there was an underlying issue to his sister's willingness to talk about an akuma.

"Hang on there. This wouldn't happen to be a ploy to avoid telling us about how talking to Chat Noir went, would it?" Jim questioned Marinette, sending a probing arched eyebrow her way as he tried to find out what her deal was while Toby started scarfing down his sandwich.

"WHAT! No! Of course not! When have I ever tried doing that?" Marinette nervously denied, trying to not let Jim know he hit the nail right on the head. "I just want to make sure my brothers are well informed of things here in Paris. Is that so wrong?" the designer asked her brother, which had Jim giving her a deadpan stare.

"Yeah, sure. Let's pretend that's the real reason you brought up this akuma attack." Jim sarcastically agreed, deciding to just leave the matter alone for now before taking another bite. She would talk about it eventually. It was only a matter of time.

"In my defense, Glaciator attacking the city did interrupt the conversation I was having with Chat Noir. So it was going to come up either way." Marinette added, knowing that she couldn't avoid talking about her conversation with the feline for much longer.

"Okay, fair point." Jim relented, followed by him taking another mouthful of sandwich. "So what happened with the akuma?" the blue-eyed boy asked, his voice muffled by the food currently in his mouth.

"Full warning, it might shock you guys." Marinette warned, leaning back in her chair in preparation for telling her tale.

Going from there, Marinette regaled how the battle with Glaciator went, making sure to cherry-pick some of the more intimate details until she reached the part about her talk with Chat Noir. However, she did end up including Chat Noir's shortness with her and how they ended up getting close to Glaciator to defeat him. On the upside, Marinette did take great care to avoid mentioning the talk she had with Chat Noir afterwards, leaving the boys a little confused by her actions during the battle.

"And that's about it. I hate to be a letdown, but Glaciator wasn't all too tricky to defeat." Marinette concluded, hoping to avoid the next part for a little bit longer now that she told Jim and Toby some of the story.

"Yet, you sounded to have been really chummy with Chat Noir when trying to get close to Glaciator despite his uncharacteristic bout of rudeness to you." Jim remarked, making Marinette's hopes of not revealing the rest of the tale plummet to the bottom of her stomach. "While we're glad to hear you guys won again, I think Tobes and I know there's more to this story." the Trollhunter observed while Toby finished his sandwich, earning a disappointed sigh from his sister.

"How is it that you're so perceptive?" Marinette lightly interrogated Jim, impressed by how easily he guessed she was hiding something.

"Only with you, sis." Jim replied, a smug smirk dancing across his lips before stuffing the last of his sandwich into his mouth. "So, spill. What happened before the attack with Chat Noir?" the blue-eyed boy questioned, hoping that Marinette would be willing to now talk about whatever she was holding back.

"Fine, I'll tell you." Marinette sighed in relent, only to glare and point an accusatory finger at Jim. "But I better not hear you go on about it after this call, Jim. Got it?" the pigtailed girl sternly ordered her brother, knowing he would do so if she didn't get him to promise not to.

"I make no prom..." Jim began, only for Marinette to send him a heated glare and stop him in his tracks. "OK! I won't go on about it after this! I promise!" the Trollhunter exclaimed, his free hand going plam-up in surrender to emphasize his claim.

"Ha! You're weak, Jimbo!" Toby crowed, an amused smile appearing on his face while pointing at Jim in ridicule.

"You would be too, and you know it, Toby! You're just as scared of her when she's mad as I am!" Jim protested, copying Toby's pointing finger while glaring at his friend's mockery.

"Boys! I'm not going to tell you guys if you start arguing." Marinette spoke up, immediately snapping the two boys out of their arguing right then and there as they looked back at the screen with worry.

"Sorry, Mari." Jim &Toby apologized, already knowing that she was serious with her threat.

"Thank you." Marinette breathed in relief, glad that they were settling down. "Now as I was saying, this whole mess with Glaciator started earlier today when Chat and I saved a runaway bus." the red-tipped-haired girl began, continuing the story of all that happened that day.

From that point onward, Marinette told the boys about how Chat Noir asked her as Ladybug out for a nighttime dinner, which she had to decline because she had plans to go to André's ice cream cart with her friends. After that, she knew the boys were caught up until she reached the part about her conversations with the feline, as both Marinette and Ladybug. Needless to say, Jim was ecstatic and very pleased to learn that Chat Noir was in love with his sister, while Toby couldn't help the soft look appearing on his face at how sweet the interactions were said to have been.

"Then after he gave me the rose, he kissed my check and left, saying that I could keep the rose since it matched my costume." Marinette concluded, reaching for the red rose to show it to Jim and Toby. "He honestly had no right being that smooth." the designer muttered aloud, looking at the rose in her hand with a rueful smile.

"Are you going to preserve it like the last one?" Jim asked, referring to the pink rose Marinette found on her bed the morning after she told Chat Noir about what she did for Adrien.

Marinette always had a nagging feeling that her feline partner was the one to leave her the rose, seeing as there wasn't anyone else who could have done it. Not to mention, he was the only one she told besides Jim and Toby. And now that she knew he seemed to admire her kindness thanks to her heartfelt talk with him that night, it caused her hunch to increase. But she didn't want to make any assumptions, so Marinette kept quiet about it and decided to keep the rose as long as possible. It turned out to be a fun little project in learning and making the rose into an eternity rose, resulting in a beautiful memento of a mysterious admirer.

"I am, actually. While I know I'm in love with someone else, the rose is still a gift from my best friend. How could I not preserve it?" Marinette questioned her brothers, putting the rose back into its vase and already knowing her answer.

"Aw!" Toby gushed as he finished his bag of chips, unable to help himself from finding the gesture cute.

"Sounds to me that it's more about keeping a reminder of a possible love interest." Jim remarked, taking the second last handful of chips out of his bag and scarfing it down.

"Jim..." Marinette tentatively trailed off, hoping that he would be swayed to not go on about what she knew he was about to talk about.

"Hey, you said I couldn't go on about it after this call! I'm just getting it all out before that." Jim reminded her, smirking at her resulting look of realization. "But in all seriousness, you know that I know that it's hard to let go of a crush. Look at how long I was crushing on Claire before I finally started making progress!" the blue-eyed boy pointed out, finishing his chips and moving on to his cookies alongside Toby.

"That's also another reason why I want you to move on from Adrien. I don't want you to be stuck in that limbo for as long as I have been when you've got so much time to do that later on." Jim concluded, taking a bite out of his first cookie before Marinette sighed in yielding.

"Look Jim, I understand why you want me to move on from Adrien, and I appreciate you looking out for me." Marinette replied, knowing that he was only trying to protect her from both herself and heartbreak. "But both my heart and mind are dead set on him. A lot like how you are with Claire, actually." the pigtailed girl stated.

"Or maybe you just haven't met the right guy yet who can take your affection off of Adrien." Jim suggested, followed by him taking another bite out of his cookie. "Even though I'm starting to think that Chat Noir is managing just fine after what happened on your end after we hung up." the Trollhunter observed, giving her an amused stare alongside a playful smirk.

"And also after the fight with Glaciator." Toby added, already halfway through his cookies.

"Tobes, I thought you were Team Pro-Adrien. Why are you helping Jim prove his point?" Marinette exclaimed, gawking at Toby in surprise.

"Don't worry, I'm still gunning for Adrien to come to his senses and realize how amazing you are." Toby assured Marinette, his free hand moving in a calming way to soothe Marinette's worries. "But even I know when Jim's also got a good point. And this is one of those times." the rounded boy noted, giving the boy a side glance as he spoke.

"Thanks, Toby!" Jim cheered, glad that Toby was helping him with this one.

"Don't get used to it. This is probably the only time I'll stand up for your side of this argument. I still have a bet to win, after all!" Toby reminded his best friend, which did very little to diminish Jim's gratitude.

"Fair enough. But let's face it. We only want what's best for Marinette, despite disagreeing about what that is." Jim said, prompting Toby to solemnly nod in agreement and leave Marinette a blushing mess.

"Aw, guys! It's times like this that I wish I could pass through the screen and give you guys a big bear hug!" Marinette squealed, tucking a loose lock of her hair behind her ear. "And who knows, boys. Maybe I might end up meeting someone new that will draw my attention away from Adrien." the red-tipped-haired girl reasoned, well aware that nothing ever stays the same and knowing that anything could happen in the future.

"Who knows, sis. All we can do is wait and see what happens." Toby added on, both he and Jim finishing their cookies.

"Speaking of waiting and seeing what happens, Strickler still hasn't done anything after Bular outed him. I'm getting tired of not doing anything when this guy is working to free Gunmar." Jim admitted, putting away his lunch bag before letting his free hand rest behind his head.

"Weren't you the one that insisted on not doing anything, earlier?" Marinette asked the Trollhunter, staring at him in perplexion after remembering their earlier conversation.

"Yeah, but that was before having to sit through a particularly uncomfortable history lesson today." Jim explained, looking off to the side while his free hand bashfully rubbed the back of his neck.

"What was he talking about, this time?" Marinette asked with a sigh, knowing that Jim must have had a good reason to be losing his patience with Strickler.

"Wasn't so much the topic, as it was more of Strickler calling him up to the board a lot for the stumper questions." Toby spoke up as he put away his stuff into his bag, revealing said reason and earning a wince from Marinette.

"Ooof, that's gotta suck." Marinette remarked, feeling bad for the boy. "But there are more ways to hit Strickler where it hurts, other than physically injuring him." the designer announced with a smirk, quickly catching the boys's attention.

"Sounds like you already have some ideas." Jim observed, already liking where this was going.

"I might have a few since finding out he was a Changeling, yes. Care to hear them?" Marinette asked, eager to have some input in getting back at the traitor to hers and Jim's family.

"If it means we can cause him some form of grief without taking him out? Absolutely!" Toby declared, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. Now given the go-ahead, the rest of the call consisted of Marinette explaining her ideas of revenge on Strickler, with the boys taking as many notes as possible. After that, Marinette soon went to bed a little bit later, looking forward to what the next day would bring.

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(Time Skip)

Following a good night's sleep, both Adrien and Marinette were ready to take on the next day with renewed vigor. But while Marinette had a sleepover with Alya to look forward to that night, she decided to rectify her earlier mistake with André. With her goal in mind, the designer set out to find the ice cream man to apologize to him. Thankfully, her search ended rather quickly when she found him at Canal Saint-Martin, approaching him just after he finished serving another pair of customers.

"Hello, André." Marinette greeted the vendor, quickly grabbing his attention from watching the couple leave.

"Hello, pretty Marinette! How are you on this fine day?" André warmly welcomed the girl, leaving her surprised by how cheerfully he spoke to her.

"I'm doing good, thanks for asking. But I wanted to say I'm sorry for how I treated you yesterday." Marinette began, her hands nervously clasping together at her stomach while she looked at her feet in shame. "Even though I was upset, you didn't deserve the mean words I said about your ice cream. I was just really upset that the guy I'm in love with didn't show up to meet up with our group, since I wanted to tell him how I felt about him and hopefully share one of your ice creams with him." the pigtailed girl explained, followed by her looking up from the ground and pointing to a picture on André's cart.

"My parents are Tom and Sabine Dupain-Cheng, and they've always told me the story of how my dad proposed to my mom every chance they got. So it's a really big goal of mine to find someone to share that experience with since it worked so well with them." Marinette went on while André turned to see the aforementioned picture, earning a surprised stare from the ice cream man at the mention of one of his most successful couples. "But, I've realized that I shouldn't expect something like that to happen if I wasn't even with the guy to begin with. It'll only make things between me and the guy I'm in love with worse if I keep placing these expectations on him without him knowing it." the red-tipped-haired girl reflected, rubbing the back of her neck while offering a lopsided smile to André.

"I'm really sorry for how I acted with you. Can you ever forgive me?" Marinette asked, looking at the man with hopeful eyes.

"Oh, my dear, I understand." André replied, softly smiling at the girl in front of him. "While love is beautiful, it isn't always easy to navigate. Sometimes heartbreaking things happen and we have no control over it." the vendor regaled, knowing all too well about the struggles one could go through with love. Seeing as he was 'The Sweethearts Ice Cream Man', it would make sense that he would have had his fair share of romantic troubles and learn from them to know when a couple truly loved one another.

"However, what we can control is trying to find ways to either live those new realities or solve the problem. And after what happened yesterday, I shouldn't have been so pushy to help you solve your problems." André reflected, having had time to think over his part in his akumatization the previous night. "How you do so, is entirely up to you." the ice cream man concluded, earning a relieved smile from Marinette at his words.

"Thank you, André. I'm grateful that you are so understanding." Marinette said, glad that André was so forgiving of her actions.

"You are welcome, Marinette." André replied with a smile. "Now that that's settled, can I offer you some ice cream? To eat this time, of course." the vendor offered, throwing his arms out to gently place them onto the girls's shoulders.

"Of course! How else would I know if your ice cream is truly the best in Paris?" Marinette accepted, prompting André to turn to face his cart and start scooping up ice cream for her.

"Peach pink like his lips and mint like his eyes!" André recited as he finished the frozen treat, quickly handing it to Marinette so that she could taste it.

"It's delicious!" Marinette praised after trying her ice cream, smiling at the ice cream man in gratitude.

"Do you still think it doesn't lock two loves together?" André teasingly asked Marinette.

"Never say never. Have a good day, André!" Marinette farewelled before walking away to the end of the bridge she entered from, happy to have reconciled with André and have a chance to try his ice cream.

"See you again soon, my dear!" André replied in kind, watching as Marinette sat on the stairs to enjoy her ice cream.

Fortunately for Marinette, André turned away just as she fed Tikki some of her ice cream, preventing the vendor from seeing the kwami as she chuckled at how delicious the treat was. However, had Marinette stuck around for a few seconds longer, she would have seen Adrien walking up to the stand from the other side of the bridge.

"Another customer! Welcome!" André greeted Adrien, pleased that he had stopped at his little cart. "Would you like some of André's Sweetheart's Ice-cream?" the ice cream man offered, bringing a smile to Adrien's lips.

"Is your ice cream really magical?" Adrien asked André, having heard stories of its supposed miracles from his mother.

"Well, what do you think, my boy?" André questioned in return, gently pointing his finger at Adrien's heart

"From what I've heard, I think you have to believe." Adrien replied, greatly pleasing André.

"You're spot on, son!" André proclaimed, followed by him starting to scoop up an ice cream for Adrien. "Strawberries with black chocolate chips! Blackberries for her hair, and blueberry ice cream just like her sky-blue stare!" the vendor recited before giving Adrien his ice cream, the boy staring at the treat in awe of how it seemed to perfectly emulate his loved one.

"On the house, my boy! There's love in your eyes and André can see it clear as day that this love is true!"André declared when seeing Adrien's enthusiastic smile, knowing that he hit the mark dead on with this one.

"Have a good day!" Adrien farewelled before walking back to his bodyguard's car, enjoying his ice cream like Marinette was on the opposite side of the bridge. Whether or not it was André's ice cream that caused this almost meeting of the two lovebirds, no one would know. Perhaps... It was just a happy coincidence.