I Trusted You

Apologies

As soon as Ladybug and Chat Noir reached home, they de-transformed to find their kwamis in their hands.

"Plagg!" Adrien exclaimed, happy to see him again. He gently put a piece of Camembert in his mouth. "Yes! My Camembert!"

Marinette held Tikki in her hands. "Tikki! I'm so sorry. Are you hungry?" Marinette asked, handing her a macaron which she ate with delight.

"I'm fine, Marinette. I didn't feel anything that major. But I'll never pass up macarons!" She giggled, munching on the strawberry-flavored dessert. Marinette chuckled along with her.

Her mind suddenly drifted to Adrien. She had finally figured out that it was indeed not Adrien who had made her so distressed. It had to be all Shadowmoth's doing.

So, as she fell asleep, she dreamt about how she was ever going to apologize to him.

---

The next day when they all went to school, Alya made sure to give Marinette a big hug. "I'm so glad everything worked out," she whispered.

"Me too, Al." Marinette hugged her tighter.

Nino smiled at them. "Hey babe. Hey, Marinette."

Alya grinned at him. "Hey, Nino. Everything worked out well yesterday, didn't it?"

Nino nodded. "Yeah, it was fun fighting by your-" he realized that Marinette was watching and clamped his mouth shut. "I mean, I'm glad everything worked out.

Alya nudged Marinette and they giggled to themselves, much to Nino's confusion.

Adrien finally arrived in class. He took a deep breath, and flashed them all a smile. "Hi guys."

"Hey Adrien." Alya said.

"Hello, my dude!" Nino gave Adrien a one-armed hug.

Adrien looked at Marinette, anxiously waiting for some kind of response. She decided to give him a meek smile. He smiled back.

Perhaps it wouldn't be so difficult for them to fix things.

---

After the class ended, Marinette tried to manage her nerves. She owed Adrien a huge apology.

She waited for everyone to leave the class, taking extra time to pack up her things. Adrien was still there, staring at Marinette.

She took another deep breath and approached him. "H-hey."

Adrien blinked, blushing a bit. "Hi, Marinette."

"Can... can we talk?"

Adrien nodded. "Of course."

They silently walked out of the classroom and sat down on a bench. Ironically, it was the same bench Marinette had fled from the day before.

Marinette tapped her feet on the pavement nervously.

Adrien too, did the same.

They looked up at each other at the same time and said, "I'm sorry."

A quiet moment passed by as they chuckled. "Why are you sorry?" Marinette asked.

"Oh... I just, I didn't want you to think that I was using you or something. Sorry if you felt that way," he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

Marinette shook her head vigorously. "No, no! It's not your fault. I'm sorry, really. I think Shadowmoth must have tricked me or something... I don't know. I should've known you'd never do something like that," she said.

Adrien was slightly agitated, but smiled. "It's alright, Marinette. Are we... friends again?"

Marinette smiled. "Of course."

Adrien sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. I still have this, after all," he said, pulling something out of his pocket. Marinette frowned, confused.

He pulled out a red charm with beads of various sizes threaded onto it. Marinette recognized it immediately and looked up at him, shocked.

It was the same lucky charm she had given him so much time before. It was still in great condition, with not a single bead misplaced.

"You... you still have it? I thought you'd throw it out by now because of how I treated you."

"What? Never! You're special to me, Marinette." He said sincerely. Marinette's cheeks tinted pink as

Adrien gave her a soft smile and gently tucked the lucky charm back into his pocket. "I'm glad we're good, Marinette."

Marinette gazed back wholeheartedly. "Me too."

---

As soon as Marinette got back home, she decided to think about what she was planning with Chat Noir.

She knew that after all of this time, it was alright. Master Fu wasn't the guardian anymore, and Chat Noir deserved to know.

But there was a part of her that was apprehensive.

She decided to turn to Tikki for input.

"Tikki... what do you think?"

Tikki turned to her and nodded. "I think it's the right time, Marinette."