Adrien was bouncing on the balls of his feet as he knocked on the door of Alya's apartment.

"Adrien! You're here!" Alya opened up the door. "Great! We're in the middle of preparations and we could really use your help."

Adrien walked into the apartment and saw Alya's mother and father working on snacks in the kitchen. Ella, Etta, and Nora were hanging up fake spider webs around the living room and in the middle of it all was Nino and Marinette, carving out pumpkins.

"Guess who decided to finally show up?" Alya teased.

"Hey guys!" Adrien waved to them.

"Sup bro?"

"Hey Adrien."

"Alright, grab a pumpkin and start cleaning out the guts." Alya directed him, nodding towards the table. Adrien picked up a pumpkin, unsure.

Back when his mom was still around, they would go to a pumpkin patch outside of Paris to join in the festivities, but these past few years his father had either made him attend the Agreste Halloween Gala or made him stay inside the house. This was his first Halloween doing pretty much any of the normal traditions, and it was all thanks to Marinette.

She had come up with the genius plan to tell his father that they had to meet up at Alya's place for a group project studying the different Halloween traditions and their origins. And what better way to study something than to actively do it?

"Alya, don't confuse him." Marinette walked over to him and shot him a smile. "Have you ever carved a pumpkin before?" She asked him. He shook his head, staring at the ensemble she was in that he somehow hadn't realized she was wearing until know.

Did she have any idea what she was doing to him?

"What?" She smirked. "Cat got your tongue?" She asked, ringing the bell on her neck.

Oh she knew alright.

He playfully scowled at her. "I didn't know you were such a fan of Chat Noir, Marinette."

"Well, Alya has been insisting for years now for me to go as Chat Noir for Halloween and I decided that this year would be the purrfect year to do so." She batted her eyes innocently. She wasn't.

"Any particular reason?" He asked, fighting the dryness in his throat.

"Nope."

Liar.

"Now, do you want any help in learning how to carve a pumpkin?" He blushed sheepishly, even though he knew she wouldn't judge him.

"Could you?" She gave him a soft smile that made his heart fumble.

Oh, he had it bad.

"Of course Adrien. The first thing that you want to do is take a knife and cut off the top."

Marinette handed him a knife and he placed it over the top of the pumpkin. Then he started to saw straight down, biting his lip in concentration. Marinette snorted.

"Not like that you dork, here let me show you." She placed her hand over his and walked so close to him that he could feel her breath on his shoulder. She really was going to murder him one of these days. "See, you're supposed to angle it." He nodded as if he was focused on her words and not the fact that she was practically whispering in his ear.

"I-i see." Marinette smiled brightly and they continued to saw together, the scent of her pumpkin spice perfume surrounding them.

"And then," Marinette grabbed the stem of the pumpkin and ripped the top off. "We clean the insides! Go and take it to where Nino is, with the newspapers." Adrien nodded and went to sit next to Nino.

"So.... are you finally gonna tell her?" He asked.

"Tell who what?" Adrien asked.

"Tell Marinette that," Nino lowered his voice. "You like her."

Adrien flushed a bright red. He had been crushing on Marinette ever since getting back from New York and that had been over a year ago. Maybe even before that, but he had been too preoccupied by Ladybug to realize it.

Of course, he had learned just that week that Marinette was Ladybug making his poor heart die and go to Heaven.

"No way! It's not the right time yet!" He told Nino.

It may never be the right time. As far as he knew, Ladybug was still hung up on the mystery boy and by extension Marinette was. He had no idea who it could be, seeing as she had talked about the mystery boy before she had met Luka, and he hadn't worked up the guts to confess yet.

"What? You've liked her for so long! You have to tell her! We're all rooting for you, you know." Adrien gave Nino a wry smile.

"I know, but she doesn't feel that way about me." Nino snorted.

"What's so funny?" Marinette asked, sitting down next to them.

"Nothing." Adrien scowled at Nino, his love life or lack thereof was no laughing matter.

"Oh, well the second step to carving pumpkins is to clean out the insides. Put the seeds into this bowl and everything else put in the trash can." She instructed. Adrien nodded and started to clean out his pumpkin as Marinette went back to carving hers.

"Wow Marinette! That's amazing!" Alya complimented.

"You think?" Marinette smiled. Adrien scooted over to her to see her pumpkin. There was an ornate carving of famous horror antagonists all with their arms around each other. A banner reading "The Horror Awards" above them. He let out a whistle.

"Very impressive! Your talent in design isn't just limited to clothes."

"Thank you." Was it wistful thinking, or was she actually blushing?

"No problem." He moved back to cleaning out the guts of his pumpkin.

"So, this is your first Halloween out of the house?" Alya asked.

"Not out of the house, but my first with friends. My mom used to take me to a pumpkin patch and we would always do the corn maze and haunted house there. Of course, the haunted house was never all that scary, but it was still a lot of fun." He smiled warmly, remembering the way his mom would laugh after a jump scare. "Once we got home we would binge watch horror movies." Marinette shivered. "Not a fan?" He teased. She shot him a look.

"Not exactly. It's a little hard to appreciate horror movies when your life sometimes feels like one."

"What do you mean girl? If our lives were any genre it'd be superhero!" Alya laughed.

"You mean to tell me an akuma has never scared you before?" Marinette asked her.

"Oh, they totally have, but with Ladybug and Chat Noir here to protect us, we don't have to be scared! Especially since her cure reverses everything anyway."

'Unless you are Ladybug and you have all that pressure on you, never knowing when an akuma will strike.' Adrien gave Marinette a sympathetic smile as she gave Alya one that he knew was fake.

"Yeah, you're right, but I've always scared easily even without akumas running around."

"Well, we won't make you watch any horror movies tonight." Adrien reassured her.

"We better not." She remarked.

"Aw, you two are no fun! Besides, if we watch a horror movie, you have a perfect excuse to cud-"

"ALYA BE QUIET!" Marinette shrieked as she scrambled to put her hand over Alya's mouth. Her face burning bright. Alya's laughter, albeit muffled by Marinette's hand filled the space.

"Alya, be nice." Nino scolded his girlfriend, although his expression said that he didn't mean it.

"You promise you won't say anything more?" Marinette demanded. Alya nodded frantically, looking all too pleased with herself. "Fine." 

"You should've seen your face Marinette!" Alya laughed. "You honestly should've expected that after telling me that your crush on-"

"YOU PROMISED YOU'D BE QUIET!" Marinette shrieked again.

"Be nice girls." Alya's mother chided them.

"Sorry." Marinette removed her hand.

"Sorry. I'll stop, but Marinette you have to tell you know who you know what." Marinette flushed.

"We'll see." She caught Adrien's eye and turned away, flushing further.

Now what was that about?

It was obviously about the boy that Marinette liked, but was it so unpleasant that Adrien and Nino would learn who he was?

"Wait, Marinette, do you like-?" At Marinette's squeak he started to laugh again. "Seriously? Again dudette? You're hopeless!"

Okay was it so unpleasant that Adrien would learn who he was?

"Yeah, yeah laugh it up." Marinette grumbled.

"Adrien, dude, know you definitely have to confess to your crush." Nino whispered to him.

"What?" Adrien hissed through his teeth. "Did you not hear that Marinette has a crush on someone else?" He asked. "Don't send the lamb to the slaughter!" Nino just looked at Adrien under a scrutinizing gaze.

"You mean you don't know who Marinette used to have a crush on?" He asked.

"Uh, no? She was way too nervous around me back then." He was glad that the stutter had gone away and they had been able to become best friends after returning to Paris.

"Right, and you don't find that stutter at least a little bit suspicious?" Nino asked.

"Uhhh, no? Why would I? She was nervous around me because of my father. After interacting with my father a bit more, she wasn't as nervous about him, therefore she wasn't as nervous around me."

"Seriously dude?"

"Seriously! What other explanation could there be?"

Nino face palmed and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "oblivious boy".

"Maybe it has something to do with the boy that she likes?"

"Why would Marinette being intimidated by my father have anything to do with her crush?"

"She wasn't stuttering because of your father, dude!" Nino raised his voice from the low tones they were speaking in. "She was-"

"NO NINO!" Marinette exclaimed.

"Fine then! You tell him!"

"NO!" The look on her face was almost panicked.

Adrien couldn't help but feel guilty. What did he do that made her not trust him anymore? Did he mess up as Chat Noir? As Adrien? Was she regretting the reveal?

It had been a sensible decision at the time. She was the Guardian by now and if something like New York ever happened again, then they would be prepared to deal with it. Maybe learning that he was already a very prominent figure in her life set her off? They had been handling it just fine.

"Marinette, you should tell him, he's looking like a kitten left out in the rain." Alya commented.

"Wuh- I- bu-" She sighed, as if giving in. "Oh alright. Adrien, come on, there's something that I need to tell you." He looked up.

"You can use my room for privacy if you'd like." Alya told them. Marinette shot her an appreciative look.

"Yeah, that'll work. Thanks Alya."

"No problem girl, I've been waiting for this for years." She grinned.

"I know you have." Marinette walked over to Adrien and reached out her hand. "Let's go." He nodded and stood up, his hand in hers.

"Good luck!" Alya called.

"She won't need luck, trust me." Nino remarked as Marinette and Adrien opened up the door to Alya's room.

"Easier said than done." She muttered under her breath.

"So," Adrien started once the door had closed behind them. "What is it that you have to tell me? Something that has to do with the boy that you like?" Marinette took in a deep breath.

"Y-yeah the loy I bike- I mean the biy I loke- I mean!" She groaned. "This is a disaster." Adrien gave her a look he hoped was encouraging, but he couldn't help but worry that she was going shy on him.

"You can do it Marinette!" Tikki chipped, phasing out of her purse.

"Please! End our misery! This love square has gone on for far too long!" Plagg complained.

"What do you mean love square?" Adrien asked, his mind whirling. With the amount of manga and superhero shows he had consumed, he was very familiar with the all too painful love square troupe.

But, Plagg couldn't be insinuating what he thought he was insinuating right? Adrien wasn't that dumb nor was he that lucky, right?

"What's a love square?" Marinette asked.

"Well there are multiple types, the first type involves four different people, the second type involves four different egos. Normally, the four people or egos in the square like another person or ego in the square. "

"Oh." She said quietly.

"I don't know why Plagg thinks we're in one, our situation is more unrequited love than anything since you've told me multiple times as both Adrien and Chat Noir that you're not interested in me like that. Maybe it's the same reason Nino thinks I should confess that I like you, which I'm realizing that I just did and I'm an idiot and-"

"You like me?" Marinette whispered.

"Well, yeah. I mean I was head over heels for Ladybug, but then after New York I couldn't help but look at Marinette differently. Finding out that you were Ladybug was probably the best thing that's ever happened to me." She let out a small whine. "Sorry was that too much?"

He felt like kicking himself. She had never seemed all that comfortable with Chat Noir doing grand confessions, something he had only realized in hindsight. He really hoped that he hadn't just made the same mistake as Adrien.

"I-I-I"

"Sorry, I'll go." He turned to leave the room.

"I love you!" Adrien stopped, his hand inches from the handle.

"W-what?" He whispered.

"I love you." She said again. He whirled around to see Marinette peeking out shyly through her hands, her face had a beautiful blush painted on, her silly grin that seemed to kick start his heart into hyper mode.

"Say that again." He said, grinning like a fool.

"I love you!" He started to cross the room.

"Again."

"I love you!"

"Again, again, again!" He cried happily once he reached her.

"I love you, I love you, I love yo-whoa!" Adrien picked her up and spun her around. "Adrien! Put me down!" She was laughing, so he knew she wasn't upset.

"You love me!"

"I do." He set her down.

"I love you too." He told her happily.

"Say that again?" She asked quietly.

"I love you too."

"Again." She grinned along with him.

"I love you too."

"Again," She put her forehead against his. "Again, again."

"I love you too, I love you too, I love you t-" Suddenly, Marinette's lips were on his.

Warm and sweet and pleasant even though it was awkward and clumsy, like all first kisses were. They broke apart, their foreheads touching, their eyes dancing with adoration.

"Wow." He said.

"A kiss you can actually remember." She giggled.

"Was as good as I was last time?" He wiggled his eyebrows. She flushed.

"Oh you be quiet."

"Make me." 

"If I must." She said before leaning forward and kissing him again.

"Can I ask you a few questions?" He asked once they broke apart again, their arms still around each other.

"I don't see why not."

"Are you dressing up as a thief for Halloween?" Marinette gave him a sly look.

"Why yes, I am."

"Because you sto- wait, I'm not a thief!" He protested.

"Yes you are, because you stole my heart." He scoffed.

"Well know you haven't only stolen my heart, but my line as well." She rolled her eyes.

"Try doing something a bit more original next time, kitty, and maybe I won't steal your lines." He shook his head.

"In all seriousness, I do have a question for you."

"Mmm?"

"When did you fall for me?" She blushed and looked down at the floor.

"The first or second time?"

"B-both." He said in disbelief.

"Well I fell in love with Adrien when he gave me his black umbrella." His eyes seem to pop out of his skull. "And I fell in love with Chat Noir after we returned to Paris.'"

"That long?" He whispered.

"Yep, that long."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"As much as I would love to stay in your arms, we should probably go and tell Alya and Nino that we've confessed to each other, and maybe that we're boyfriend girlfriend? If you'd like."

"I'd like that very much." Adrien grinned.

"Well then Princess, let's go give them pumpkin to talk about." 

Happy Halloween everyone!