"Operation Valentine's Day is commencing. According to my extensive research and cross-referencing of online shopping sites, this particular jewel was ranked highest in popularity."

"That's perfect, Max! I better hit a home run with this one. Love is like baseball, right? You gotta have a strategy or you'll strike out. But if you aim right, you'll hit it out of the love park. Score!"

It's the yelling of "Score!" that attracts Marinette and Alya's attention. Alya turns first, and sees the jewel in Kim's hands.

"Ooh, sparkly!" she says, taking it and looking at it. Marinette follows, peering over shoulder. "Is it for me?"

Max, standing beside Kim, snatches it and hands it back to Kim.

"Negative, Alya. The recipient of this gem has already been determined, it's-"

"Hey!" Kim objects quickly, before Max can finish. "Keep it on the down-low!"

Alya winks at Marinette.

"Scoop! Kim's got a major crush! Who's the lucky lady?"

"It's gorgeous, Kim," Marinette says, at least making an attempt to be more supportive than Alya. "She's going to be ecstatic!"

"Technically, she's still got to accept it." Kim turns to Max. "What if she says no!"

"She won't, Kim, no way!" Marinette says. Alya frowns at her, as though reminding her that they still don't know who this girl is, but Marinette ignores it. "Don't hold back, Kim! Go for it, no regrets!"

"Her route is highlighted here in yellow, yours in red," Max says. "If you run at ten miles per hour you're going to gain a four and a half minute advance on her. Halt and wait here facing northwest - the third most romantic spot in Paris."

"Thanks, guys!" Kim says, and bolts in the direction Max indicated. Alya nudges Marinette.

"Turns out I know someone who's good at dishing out the advice she can't take herself."

Marinette sighs, knowing full well who Alya's talking about. She glances at Adrien, who's getting in his car.

"You're right," Marinette sighs. "It's time I told him."

Alya stares at her in shock.

"Say what?"

"I'm gonna do it. I'm going to tell Adrien my true feelings." Suddenly daunted by the prospect, she adds, "Well, I'm going to write them on a card."

"You go, girl!" Alya grins, and Marinette is surprised at her resolve. When she gets home, she pulls out a piece of pink paper and cuts it so that, when folded, it will be shaped like a heart.

"Dear Adrien, dear Adrien, dear Adrien..." she mutters. "Ugh, I'm no good at this letter-writing thing. I'm a total dorkasaurus!"

Her phone buzzes, and she picks it up. Apparently someone has messaged her on Miraculous, but she's more concerned with the two text messages. One from Chloe, and one from Alya.

Haha! Look at le chien, thinking he even had a chance!

Poor kim. apparently his operation valentines day was a failure.

Marinette gasps. Kim was giving the gem to Chloe? She ignores Chloe's message, not even wanting to see the photo, and replies to Alya.

I didn't know he was asking chloe!!! that was doomed for failure!!!

Feeling suddenly even less inspired than before, Marinette ignores the vague attempts at a love poem on her desk and opens Miraculous.

ChatNoir: it's the day of luuuuuuurve, mlady. get many valentines??

Marinette snorts.

LadyBug: pfft no. forever single, me

ChatNoir: i dont believe that

LadyBug: well its true. u?

ChatNoir: theyre clogging up my letterbox, mlady. literally. the things are EVERYWHERE, i havent even opened one yet

Marinette laughs.

LadyBug: i dont believe that at all chat

ChatNoir: oh u doubt me?

The next message is a picture of a huge pile of pink love letters.

LadyBug: ok now i believe u. poor kitten

ChatNoir: THANK YOU. tell all your friends that one love letter is cute, thirty anonymous declarations of love every year is just ugh. confess in person, it's so much better

Marinette glances at her letter to Adrien, with the words Dear Adrien still written on it, and sweeps it off her desk and into the bin.

ChatNoir: why u not replying

ChatNoir: plz dont tell me u wrote ur crush a love letter

LadyBug: pfft lol no thats so cringy

LadyBug: im eating

It's a full-on lie, but she can't think of anything better.

ChatNoir: oooooh whatcha eating??

LadyBug: cookies im hungryyyyyyyy

He replies with a laughing emoji.

ChatNoir: u ready to post the valentines day special??

Marinette thinks. It was so general last time, just a boy who got rejected. She and Chat had made it earlier this week, in preparation.

LadyBug: actually i witnessed some hecka drama today. ill add some more, yknow, depth to it. its kinda bland and lacking detail now

ChatNoir: sounds good mlady. post when ready, i gtg

LadyBug: bye chat. hope the girl u like is among the love poems

ChatNoir: i doubt it XD have a good day mlady

And he has exited the chat. Marinette frowns at his most recent message. He doubts it? Why does he doubt it? He's had so many love poems posted through his mailbox, but he doubts that the girl he does like is among them?

Marinette changes a lot of the panels, more than she thought, to add in the gem that Kim had used. She also, very subtly, changed the hair colour by a few shades closer to Kim and Chloe's, and lengthened the girl's hair slightly.

Post Episode 10 - Dark Cupid?

Marinette clicks the confirmation button, and the screen shifts.

Congratulations! You just posted Episode 10 - Dark Cupid!

Marinette grins.

A moment passes, before the notifications start to come through.

MARINETTE LADYBUG HAS UPDATED FOR VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

RenaRouge: love the new episode ladybug!

And comment after comment after comment. It's a montage of compliments, and it makes Marinette grin every time she refreshes her notification page and there's an entirely different group of comments.

She stops refreshing when she sees the familiar username, and the unpleasant messages that stand out from the rest.

Volpina: ngl tho that gem is UGLY

Volpina: haha rejected lol

Volpina: talk about immature GET OVER IT

And after reading the above, the next message disgusts Marinette.

Volpina: well if u get over her so easy u shouldnt have asked her at all u idiot

"You just told him to get over it!" Marinette hisses at Volpina's icon. "Make up your mind!"

She scowls, but decides against making any response. If she ignores it, it will go away. She's sure of it.

She glances at the failed poem in the bin.

confess in person, it's so much better

She tells herself she'll confess in person, that it will be so much better. But she already knows she won't.

And so another Valentine's Day comes and goes...

[A/N: I'm now about to finish Season 2, so I will hopefully be updating on here a lot more. I do apologise, I intend to upload completed chapters regularly, but I keep forgetting, so have two in two days. What would your opinions be on me having a regular update schedule?]