Adrien sat on Marinette's chaise, arms hugging his knees tightly to his chest. There was a plate of freshly baked cookies that sat untouched on the floor by the trapdoor. Normally the scent of warm cookies with gooey chocolate chips would have his mouth watering within seconds, but right now the smell only made him feel nauseous. Even Tikki couldn't bring herself to eat anything with the mood that filled the room.

The cookies were one of the many attempts that Marinette's parents had made to try and cheer him up, to get him to talk to them. He knew they must have heard all the yelling from his and Marinette's argument the day before, he would have been surprised if they hadn't heard, but he refused to speak to them about anything.

First they had tried talking to him, asking what happened and if everything was alright, placing their warm, comforting hands on his back in a soothing gesture. He shoved them away, both their gentle hands and loving voices. They weren't his parents, they were Marinette's. He didn't deserve to be comforted by them, especially not after what he did to their daughter.

They respected his wishes to be alone and instead began to leave out plates of Marinette's favourite food and treats. He couldn't bring himself to touch any of it, they weren't meant for him.

Tikki had also made her own attempts with him. She told him that it wasn't his fault for what happened, that he shouldn't should all the blame, but he refused to listen to her. Their argument was his fault, he knew that. The only reason Marinette had gotten mad was because she was feeling feel lonely and sad, and he had done nothing about it, he only made it worse.

Tikki explained that he really should talk over everything with Marinette. "Things won't get any better unless you talk to her about it," she had said.

That only made the pit in his stomach grow. How could he possibly face her after what he did?

Sabine poked her head up through the trapdoor, taking notice of the untouched cookies with a sad expression on her face before looking back to her daughter. Adrien could see her in his peripheral vision but didn't acknowledge her presence.

"Marinette," she said softly, in a loving, motherly sort of way that made him sick, "Alya's here, can she come up?"

With all their failed attempts to console her, Marinette's parents had apparently moved onto the only other strategy they could think of. They probably thought that Alya could get through to him, to find out the problem and maybe help him. He wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, yet some part of his conscious also prevented him from denying the request. Maybe Tikki's words were getting to him, he couldn't bring himself to face Marinette, but maybe Alya could help. Without looking at Marinette's mother, he gave a small nod.

He could practically see the smile of relief that flashed over Sabine's features as her head disappeared back through the trapdoor. A couple of seconds later Alya emerged from it, closing the door gently below her. She made her way over to the chaise and sat down next to him. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder which he immediately shrugged off, he didn't deserve her comfort either, he just wanted to hear what she had to say.

"Can you tell me what's wrong? Your parents didn't give me any details, they hardly know anything themselves as it is."

"Nothing's wrong," he mumbled.

"Don't even think for a second that I'm going to believe that." Her voice was firm, yet still consoling, as if she did this often. This only made Adrien feel worse. He didn't deserve any of this, for Marinette's friends and family to worry about him when they should be worried about her instead.

He sighed. He didn't want to talk about it or go into specific details, but this conversation wasn't going to get anywhere unless he said something.

"I-I had an argument with Adrien." He had to look away from her, not wanting to see the look on her face. He knew she didn't know that he actually had a fight with her best friend, but he still couldn't face her.

"An argument? With Adrien?" She asked. He could hear the confusion in her voice. "What could that have possibly been about? Adrien is the most passive person I've ever seen. I know you can have arguments with people like Chloe, but with Adrien?"

He was tempted to let out a dry and bitter laugh, but held it in. 'Apparently I'm not as passive as you think,' he silently said himself before continuing.

"I don't want to go into the details, but..." he finally turned to her, though he let his gaze rest anywhere but on her eyes, "let's just say it was bad."

Alya leaned in closer and tried to move herself so she was in his line of sight, but that just made him dart his eyes away. "What do you mean?" She asked. "How bad was it?"

"It was bad, really bad...and I said some things that really...that really hurt him I think." He could feel tears start to sting his eyes but held them back. The tears had been tempting to come out since his fight with Marinette, but he felt like crying would be like pitying himself, and he was the last person who deserved pity.

"Marinette," Alya said, looking at him concerned," I don't know what the argument was over, but I know you and what kind of person you are. I don't think whatever you said to him could have been that ba-"

"I made him cry, Alya!" Adrien lost himself, the tears that had been waiting at the edges of his eyes finally exploded out if him, flowing down his cheeks in waterfalls. "He was crying! The one person..." he hiccupped, "the one person I never wanted to see sad, who I never wanted to feel pain or sorrow. He was crying, and I was the cause behind it. I made him cry, I made him hurt, I made him feel pain!"

Alya instantly gathered him into a hug, wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing him down into her chest. He didn't pull away this time, burying his face deeper into her clothes, his sobs muffled by the fabric that was growing damp. Alya gently stroked the top of his head and spoke softly.

"So maybe you said something you shouldn't have, but like I told you before, I know you Marinette. I know that you wouldn't ever say something without some kind of reason behind it. Adrien must have done something to provoke you, whether it was intentional or not."

'But I'm not Marinette, you don't know me,' he wanted to say so badly, but restrained himself.

"Adrien didn't do anything wrong," he sobbed. "The reason he got mad was because I was being insensitive, I made him hurt and then he snapped. His reason for getting mad was justifiable, but then I only made things worse by getting mad back, by hurting him even further."

"Okay, I understand." Alya spoke softly, then pushed him away and took his face in her hands, lifting it up so he was looking right at her. "Adrien is a kind person, he's reasonable and understanding. I'm afraid that this isn't something I can help you overcome. Nothing will get better unless you talk this over with him."

Adrien felt like groaning, now she was starting to sound like Tikki.

Alya gripped his shoulders firmly. "Marinette, I know you've gotten closer to Adrien over the past couple of days, something which I will question you about once this is all over, but you can't let this sudden progress go to waste. I know how much you love Adrien, so I know you can find a way to fix this."

Her comment made him jerk, suddenly willing to stare back at her eyes. "Love?"

For him, this entire conversation he had been referring to Marinette so saying he loved her was perfectly normal, but from Alya's point of view he was Marinette and they were talking about Adrien. She wasn't saying that Adrien loved Marinette, she was saying that Marinette loved Adrien. It felt like his entire body had gone numb as he tried to process what she had said.

"I...love Adrien?" He knew he was supposed to be Marinette and should just go along with whatever people expected him to know, but he couldn't help the question from slipping past his lips.

"Yes silly," Alya said giving his head another pat, "and when you truly love someone you'll try everything you can to make up with them. In fact, sometimes arguments can even help relationships to grow stronger."

Alya wiped some stray tears away from Adrien's eyes. "That's all the advice I can give, what happens next is up to you." She stood up and made her way towards the trap door. She opened it and paused before going down. "The decision is yours, I hope you make the right one."

With that she descended through the door and it was closed after her with a light thump, leaving Adrien in silence. Tikki emerged from the spot she had taken under the chaise and floated up to rest on Adrien's shoulder.

He turned to look at her with wide eyes, like a frightened kitten. "Marinette...loves me? Why, how, since when?" He clenched the edge of his shirt. "What am I supposed to do now?"

Tikki gave him a smile before flying over to the desk where she picked up Marinette's phone. She slowly made her way back to Adrien, struggling to carry the device which was larger than her and gently plopped it into his hands.

"Call her," she said whilst smiling, "talk to her, about everything, that's the only way things will get better."

"But," Adrien glanced down at the dark screen with worry, "what if she doesn't want to talk to me?"

Tikki pushed on his fingers, folding them around the phone.

"You'll never know unless you try."

~.~.~.~.~

Marinette was curled up on Adrien's bed. That's where she had gone the moment she returned home the day before, and that's where she had remained up until that point. Meals had been brought to her room but she didn't have any appetite. The cold meals would be replaced with fresh ones whenever someone came by, but it was only a wasted effort.

At one point she had been told that she would never get better unless she ate something. Everyone thought that her lack of an appetite was due to still being "sick," but nobody except Plagg knew the true reason behind it.

"Just apologize to him already," the black kwami was telling her for probably the hundredth time that day.

She only turned around in the bad so she wasn't facing him, tired of his chiding. This caused him to sigh in annoyance. It wasn't as easy as he seemed to think. Her and Adrien, her and Chat, they had never had an argument before. Ever. This was something foreign to her, she didn't know how to fix this problem. She had really hurt Adrien, like jamming a knife into his most sensitive area and digging it in deep, all because she needed to take out her frustration on someone. This wasn't something that a simple apology could fix.

Plagg flew over to the other side of the bed so he was in her line of sight again.

"You have to apologize," he nagged her once more, earning himself a glare from Marinette. He moved in closer, sitting on the bed beside the pillow. "I thought you loved him, if so then why not just apologize and end this argument already."

Marinette lifted her head slightly to stare at him, an unimpressed look of confusion on her face. "And how could you possibly know that?" She let out a breath and flopped her head back down on the pillow. "Oh yeah, the pictures."

"Hey, give me some credit," Plagg complained, "I'm an immortal being who's been around for thousands of years, there are some things you just learn to pick up on whether you care about them or not. No matter what century it is you humans always act strange when in love. Don't worry though, I haven't told Adrien anything about that, but you won't be able to either if you never patch things up by talking to him."

Marinette kept her gaze focused on anything but him and Plagg let out a long sigh. When he spoke again his tone was softer, less angry and annoyed. "Knowing Adrien, he probably blames himself for the entire argument."

"That's not possible." Marinette turned her hear so she could look at the kwami. "No matter how you look at it, this argument was entirely my fault. Of course Adrien would get mad considering what I said to him. He couldn't possibly blame himself for this."

"Trust me," Plagg said shooting her a sideways glance, "I know the kid, and he blames himself."

"And like I said," Marinette continued, "there's no way he could blame himself."

"But he does," Plagg said through clenched teeth, starting to lose his patience.

Marinette was also growing increasingly annoyed. "How could he possibly think this is his fault?"

"Because you told him it was!" Plagg snapped. The kwami who was known for being laidback and never taking anything seriously actually snapped. His voice lowered down to almost a whisper and he spoke with a tinge of sadness. "What would you expect? You pretty much told him that he was the reason you were feeling so miserable, do you even know what that means to him? The stupid kid looks up to you more than anything, so how do you think he wold feel when the person he admires the most says something like that to him?"

Marinette could feel her stomach turning into knots, instantly beginning to feel guilty. Not only did she hurt Adrien, but had she also put him through the torture of blaming himself? She glanced back at the little kwami who sat there with a mixture of sadness and concern on his face.

"You...you really care about him, don't you?" She asked.

"Of course I do," he mumbled, "I'm all he's got. Who else is there to take care of a kid like him who bottles up all his emotions and blames himself for everything that goes wrong?"

Marinette watched him for a couple of moments. She was beginning to feel anxious but she pushed the feeling down, she knew what she had to do.

"You're not alone." Gathering up her strength, Marinette reached over to the night side table where Adrien's phone lay. She picked it up and stared down at the screen. "I'll be there too, to help you take care of him that is."

She dialed her number and held the cold device to her ear. The phone hadn't even finished its first ring before the call was accepted, as though Adrien had been sitting there with her phone ready to call as well.

"H-hi," he said nervously.

"Hi..." she knew she had to get right to the point, "do you want to meet up?"

~.~.~.~.~

Ladybug sat on the edge of the Eiffel Tower staring off into the sunset. The sky looked like a grapefruit, starting with a yellowish-orange and fading into a deep pink on the horizon. She had always loved coming here as Ladybug and watching the sun descend. It was one of her favourite spots in Paris, but that evening she felt far from happy. Anxious butterflies fluttered around in her stomach.

She heard him before she could see him, a soft thud that echoed with a metal ting as he landed on the tower. Turning her head just enough to see behind her, she caught sight the red clad figure approaching in the dim evening light. His head was lowered slightly, causing shadows to cover his face. Though she couldn't see his expression, Ladybug could tell it was the same as hers, neither happy nor sad.

"Hey." His voice was soft, unsure if that was the proper greeting to use.

"Hey," she replied without meeting his eyes.

Chat paused for a moment before lowering himself down and taking a seat beside her on the edge of the tower. The two sat in an awkward silence, each waiting for the other to start the conversation. It felt as though they were strangers, not knowing what to say to one another.

Ladybug opened her mouth to speak, letting it hang there for a moment before closing it, unsure of where to begin. She opened her mouth again, trying to let the conversation flow as easily as it usually did between them, but still nothing came out. As she tried to consider what to say and how to talk to him, Chat spoke up first.

"I'm really sorry," he gazed down at his hands which were clamped together in his lap, "it was wrong of me to have snapped at you like I did, for me to...let out all of my burdens on you."

Ladybug whipped her head to the side in his direction, not able to stop herself from shouting out at him. "What do you mean you're sorry!" Her sudden reply caused Chat to jump, startled by her response. "You have nothing to be sorry about, it...it was my fault. It was all my fault." Ladybug clenched her eyes shut, admitting to her mistake from the day before.

Chat sat there stunned. Was that really what she thought, that it was her fault for their fight?

"But," he started, "I was the one who yelled at you, I was the one who lost control of my emotions."

Ladybug could feel tears prick the corners of her eyes. Was Plagg right? Had this silly cat of hers seriously blamed himself for all of this, did he spend the entire day thinking that the argument she started was something he should shoulder the blame for?

"You stupid cat," Ladybug wiped at her eyes before any of the tears could burst through, "you did nothing wrong. I was the one who lost control of my emotions. Seeing you with my family having a wonderful time, watching you live my life to the fullest...I-I was jealous. I had thought 'why do you get to live happily in my life while I have to suffer in yours?' You shouldn't feel guilty for any of this, it was all my fault. I let my emotions and jealously get the better of me, how you responded was reasonable, I went too far. I shouldn't have hurt you like that."

"But I was no different," he said, clenching his hands together so tightly that he knew his knuckles would be going white under his suit, "I snapped, I let out everything that I have ever bottled up over time on you. I knew what kind of life you would have been living while being me. I was really enjoying your life, and part of me wanted to...I don't know, show off how wonderful everything was going. It was insensitive of me to act as I did in front of you, I never considered how you would feel. I know better than anyone what it's like seeing a perfect family and wishing my life could be the same, yet I let you feel exactly that yesterday."

Ladybug looked at him, shocked.

"You can't say that," she raised her voice into a shout, "that wasn't your fault, stop blaming yourself. I started the argument!"

"And I continued it!" He shot back.

The two fell silent again, not wanting to get into another fight.

"I guess we're both to blame," Ladybug whispered.

Chat nodded and the awkward silence from before returned. Had they settled their argument? It didn't seem like it, things still didn't feel right. They both accepted that it was their fault, but that didn't make everything better. This was their first argument, they didn't know end it and move on.

"Even if we fight, my feelings for you will never change," Chat spoke up, trying to break the tension. "You know, your ability to accept your mistakes so easily is one of the reasons I fell in love with you. It's a very admirable trait and something that many people struggle to do. It's a lot harder than you would think to accept when you've done something wrong."

He leaned back and cast her a sideways glance, a smile spreading across his face. "Of course, that's not the only reason I love you, there are many more. I could provide you with an entire list of things I love about Ladybug, and now, since I know who you are under the mask, I could give you another list of the things I love about Marinette. Care to hear?"

"I'll pass, for some reason I get the feeling that once you start we'll end up being here all night until you're finished," she spoke softly and let out a light laugh.

He chuckled along with her, their conversation finally starting to flow like it normally would between them. He remembered his talk with Alya earlier that day and he couldn't stop the question from leaving his lips.

"What made you fall in love with me?"

Ladybug's eyes widened in horror and a red blush could be seen peeking out from below her black mask. Chat quickly raised his hands up in defense. "Alya mentioned it to me, well, it's not like she knew that it was me she was talking to in the first place."

Ladybug shuddered a sigh and looked towards the sky, the blush still resting on her cheeks. "Well, I guess that's one less thing to worry about. Actually, now that you know it feels like a weight is finally being lifted off my chest, I don't have to worry about you finding out anymore."

Chat smiled. "You fell in love with Adrien instead of Chat Noir, but what could you possibly love about a flawed person like him? Most girls like that side of me because simply because I'm a rich model, but I know you're not most girls."

Ladybug hummed and closed her eyes, what was the harm in letting everything out now that he knew. "Well, this might sounds cheesy but, I fell in love with your kindness. You're the kind of person who cares about everyone and does his best to make everyone happy. Even when it comes to people like Chloe, you don't get mad at her because you don't want to hurt her feelings. I know you say that it's because you're childhood friends, but you would do the same even if it was a stranger. You're the type of person who goes out of their way to do random acts of kindness, something I've witnessed more than once, without expecting anything in return."

Letting her eyelids flutter open, Ladybug turned to face him with a light smile. "Someone with good morals and a strong heart who cares about everyone around him, that's the person I fell in love with."

Chat could only stare back at her with his mouth agape, he could have sworn his face was as red as the mask he wore, but he could care less. This is the girl he fell in love with, the girl who also loved him back. This was Marinette, his Lady, and in that moment he wanted nothing more than to pull her into an embrace, hold onto her and never let go so she wouldn't have to experience any form of pain. He would love this amazing girl regardless of what they went through. Even if they were in each other's bodies, even if they were stuck like that for life, it didn't matter as long as he could be with her.

"A-and," he stuttered, trying to recover from his love-struck state, "what about Chat? I hate to tell you, but Chat and Adrien are a package deal, you can't have one without the other. So, what do you love about Chat? Oh, I know, you think I'm very punny don't you?" He paired the last part with his signature Chat grin which still didn't look right when used on Ladybug's face.

A smile tugged at the corners of Ladybug's lips. She never thought she would see the day when one of Chat's puns could actually brighten her mood. "I guess sometimes your puns aren't too bad, but you shouldn't test my patience."

"My Lady!" He said, bringing a hand to his chest and pretending to be shocked. "It sounds like you're accusing me of using too many puns, but I know would never bug you like that."

Ladybug responded with an over exaggerated sigh and a face palm, though she still wore a smile. The little exchange made them both feel better. This was how it was supposed to be with them, jokes and a conversation that flowed as easily as water.

Chat stared off into the distance at the sun which dipped further into the horizon. Above them the sky was beginning to turn a deep cobalt blue with the faintest glimmer of stars making their first appearance.

"You know, it looked just like this back then too."

Ladybug followed his gaze, a feeling of nostalgia washing over her as they sat there together taking in the sight before them.

"You mean when we first met, right?"

He nodded. "Right after we defeated our first akuma we came here just as the sun was setting."

Ladybug couldn't help but cover her mouth and let out a little laugh. "Oh yeah, the one who wanted to make everyone's voices higher pitched so his would sound deep, that's one I'll never forget."

Her soft laugh was infectious and Chat Noir couldn't help but follow suit. The two heroes recalled the memories from their first day of saving Paris together when they had both been struck by the villain's powers and spent the rest of the battle sounding like they were on helium.

"You sounded just like a chipmunk," Ladybug's laughter was reduced to giggles and she gave Chat a playful shove.

"What, and you didn't?" He lightly nudged her back with his shoulder, a smile playing on his lips.

Their laughter echoed across the top of Paris as they began to share more memoires from their early days as heroes.

Finally, the two settled back down and once again looked back out at the now darkening sky.

"We had no clue what we were doing back then," Ladybug said softly.

"We still don't." Chat made a sweeping gesture of their bodies to remind her of their situation.

"I guess you're right," she agreed. "We were able to make it through that first battle because of each other and we were able to survive all the other dangerous situations we've faced since then by relying on one another. Being Ladybug and Chat Noir, it's not something we can do alone."

Ladybug turned to look at the person who sat beside her, lights from the Eiffel Tower illuminating his red suit and dark hair. He was her classmate, her crush, her partner and her friend; someone whose importance to her couldn't change no matter how many arguments they got in. With her green eyes locked on his blue ones, she took a deep breath.

"Adrien, I need you, we'll never be able to fix this problem we're in unless we do it together. We may have had our first argument, and we might have more in the future, but it isn't something we should let get in the way of us, of our partnership. Can we go back to being partners, just like we were before? Can...can you forgive me?"

Chat smiled at her question, finding it rather silly. "Marinette, we never stopped being partners. Do you really think a little argument like that could break us apart? We're an unstoppable duo, the best Paris has ever seen if you ask me. I will forgive you a million times over if only you'll forgive me as well."

Seeing his Lady's face brighten beneath her mask was all he ever needed in life. If she was happy then so was he. He was startled, however, by what happened next..

Ladybug leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, locking him in a warm embrace, the warmest he had ever felt. His chin rested on her shoulder, her blonde hair tickling his cheek. Finally recovering from the shock, he slowly lifted his arms and returned the gesture, wrapping them tightly around her, not wanting to ever let her go. In that moment, everything felt right, as though they belonged together like that.

"Of course I forgive you," she whispered, "and you can always come to me whenever you need to let everything out."

They were partners, and nothing could ever change that.

A smirk tugged on Chat's lips. "Is my mind playing tricks on me or is this a ladyhug?"

"Don't ruin it."

~.~.~.~.~

I hope you liked the chapter! 

I should probably mention that when I started this fic the origin episodes hadn't yet come out in France and this scene in particular was planned out during that time. Just to make things easier,  this story won't include anything from the origins