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Confrontation

Time stopped. Everything disappeared. The world in its entirety ceased to exist.

Well, one thing remained.

It was a memory of Marinette running by the wall of Adrien's house with a blue and white envelope under her arm.

That was his whole world for a moment. Then other memories started coming back one by one.

The first memory was a picture he saw once before as Chat Noir. It was a family picture in the Dupain-Cheng household; a picture of Marinette with her two parents, and no one else since she was an only child.

Next, the memory of Marinette being upset the days after the Miraculouses were stolen.

Then, her bringing a homemade gift to Nino's birthday party.

Marinette pushing him out of the way of a winged creature's attack.

Her refusing Chat Noir's offers to be a holder over and over again.

Marinette telling him that she knew about Belgian linen and where to find it.

A fabric shop employee telling him that besides Marinette, only two other girls stopped by on a weekly basis.

Her tucking a stray piece of dark, raven hair behind her ear.

Marinette helping an elderly lady pick up her items.

And finally, the memory of their conversation from just that day came back. It was a conversation about how she had left over black Belgian linen if he wanted it.

Then everything else returned and the world started moving again.

An indescribable feeling suddenly came over Adrien as he sat in the car, not seeing or hearing anything. It was almost like the world he knew was gone, replaced by a brand new one.

Marinette was carrying the envelope that contained the gift from Ladybug.

Because she was Ladybug.

Marinette was Ladybug.

Ladybug was Marinette.

The girl he loved was the other girl he loved.

He was in love with only one girl. One girl who knew about fashion, design, and how to make things. One kind, sweet, wonderful girl. One girl with the most beautiful heart he had ever known.

And realizing it, Adrien wanted to cry from all-consuming happiness. In fact, he did. He had to wipe tears of joy away from his eyes as his bodyguard parked the car in front of the mansion.

After climbing out, he hurried inside. Passing by his father's study, he didn't even care about the loud ruckus that was going on in there. He just had to get to his room and transform so he could go see Marinette.

Nothing was going to take his happiness away. Marinette was Ladybug. Ladybug was Marinette. Nothing else in the entire universe mattered.

But then he ran into his room and found Felix there.

The boy looked at him as he tossed something into the air and caught it again. "You're very strange, you know that?" he asked.

Adrien narrowed his eyes. "I'm not strange. You're the one who's the sentimonster."

"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about this." He stopped and held out his hand, showing him the circular piece of glass. "You've had this the whole time."

All the happiness was gone, replaced by rage. "What are you doing searching through my things?" he demanded, storming up to him.

"Technically, they're my things..."