She encounters the boy with cat ears again. He tells her that he’ll protect her as she gets used to her powers. She finds herself acclimating far more easily than she thought possible for a clumsy girl like her. (It’s probably a side effect of the super suit.)

She looks up information about her predecessor—apparently Alya was obsessed with cataloging every detail she knew about ‘Ladybug.’ Marinette isn’t entirely sure why she doesn’t remember much about all the months of attacks that have plagued Paris. Maybe that purple man acquired mind erasing powers and Ladybug hadn’t been able to fix it with her miracle cure before she passed on the miraculous?

Tikki tries to inspire her with her own stories of Ladybug. How she’d always try to stand up against the cruelty of the world and fight for kindness. Marinette wasn’t sure how she was supposed to fill the shoes of someone like that. Though apparently Ladybug had been a klutz with a stutter too, so maybe Marinette might not be entirely a hopeless cause.

Alya’s been sad ever since Ladybug went away. Alya had dedicated so much of her life to Ladybug, it made sense she’d miss the superheroine when she’d gone. Marinette tries to get Alya to get invested in reporting about Loveybug, but she doesn’t bite. Alya’s far more interested in making sure Marinette knows how amazing Ladybug was. Even if it makes her sad, Alya clearly needs to reminisce, and Marinette is happy to be there for her.

Adrien’s been sad too, though he seems to cheer up a lot when he’s around her. He’s also gotten really protective. Practically every time an akuma alert goes off, Adrien is sticking Marinette in a closet for her to hide in before running off to his own hiding place. She doesn’t point out that she’d feel more protected if he stayed in the closet with her—she needs to use the time alone to transform. But it’s always nice that she can use the moments where Adrien kisses her goodbye as fuel to use for ‘channeling love’ when transforming into Loveybug.

The boy in the cat ears is different too, at least from how he acted in all those videos. It was incredibly obvious that he was head over heels for Ladybug from the beginning. Marinette doesn’t understand why Ladybug had apparently rejected his advances. He was sweet. And he is still sweet, but when he’s around Loveybug… the light leaves his eyes. She probably reminds him of the partner he lost. She tries to give him space, but that only seems to make him look even more lonely. She tries to cheer him up instead. Make him laugh. It turns out he had a magical laugh. (If she wasn’t already with Adrien, she could see herself falling for the boy in cat ears too.)

Gabriel Agreste sends Adrien away to London. Marinette tries to keep the boy she loves home, but only manages one final kiss goodbye before he is taken away. She doesn’t think she can channel that kiss to becoming Loveybug. Her heart hurts too much.

As Marinette mourns, Tikki finds a box of rainbow cookies somewhere in Marinette’s room. In an attempt to cheer her up, she eats a purple macaron and tells Marinette she’ll provide a cool new power the next time she transforms. Marinette, heart still heavy, says, “Tikki, power up.” Suddenly, she’s weightless. Realizing this power has opened up the entire world to her, she immediately takes to the skies. Adrien. She could now find Adrien!

She searches London for the boy she loves, serendipitously finding him standing on a balcony of a secluded apartment. Adrien stares at her, eyes impossibly wide. “Cosmobug?” he asks, his voice hesitant.

She looks down at the suit she’s wearing for the first time. There aren’t any hearts anywhere. Only spots. She thinks she’s seen a picture of Ladybug wearing a suit very much like this. Maybe this was how all powered-up suits looked?

“I’m Loveybug,” she explains. “I’m here to rescue you!”

Adrien stands there unmoving, like he’s calculating a tough math problem in his head. Finally, he asks, “Marinette?”

She squeaks. “How did you figure me out? I’ve been so careful! Oh no, it’s because I forgot to ‘channel love’ before transforming, isn’t it? It messed with the mask magic, didn’t it? I knew I was going to mess up eventually…”

Adrien put his arms around her. “It’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m really happy I found out your identity.”

Marinette curls in on herself. “Ladybug would be so disappointed in me if she knew…”

Adrien blinks. “You don’t know who Ladybug is?”

“Tikki can’t tell me things like that. She can only talk about how great her old holder was and how much she misses her.” She realizes Adrien probably has no idea what she’s talking about. “Oh! Tikki is—“

“I know who Tikki is,” he says, smiling. “And I think she left out some things. Come inside, I want to show you something.”

Adrien leads her to a mirror. “Try powering down. But this time, don’t do the ‘channeling love’ thing you do to become Loveybug.”

“What do I channel instead?”

“Nothing. Don’t think about it, just let whatever happen happen.”

She closes her eyes takes a deep breath. She tries to forget that Adrien was here with her. She tries to think of nothing, but her mind won’t let her stay on nothing. Instead, it turns towards the boy with the cat ears. The boy she has no business loving. She thinks about how she doesn’t need to be in love with him to want to be his friend. His partner, something inside her whispers. Aloud, she says, “Power down.”

She opens her eyes and sees her reflection. The hearts are still gone. The face, though… “Why do I look like Ladybug?” she whispers.

“Because you are Ladybug,” Adrien tells her.

“That’s not possible.”

“It is. Ladybug gave up her memories to protect the miraculous. But she—you—found a way to stay by Chat Noir’s side anyway.”

By becoming Loveybug. By channeling her love. “Was I in love with him before? Chat Noir?”

“I think so.”

She bites her lip. “Do you think I should return to him?”

“Are you in love with him now?” he asks.

“I… maybe,” she admits. Somehow, even when suppressing her feelings, the boy in cat ears tugged at her heart. But she could also feel a strong tug in another direction. “But I’m in love with you too, Adrien. I don’t want to give us up.”

He smiled, nodding like it was the ‘right’ answer. “You don’t have to, my lady.”

‘My lady.’ She knew those words. Not just from the Ladyblog videos. The term of endearment passing through his lips thrums against her very soul.

“Chat Noir?” she asks, unsure this could be real.

She looks into his eyes. His green eyes. Not quite like a cat’s, but there was a familiarity in the way they moved. In the way those eyes looked at her like she was his entire world.

“Yes. It’s me.”

She has so many questions. But the one that ends up leaving her mouth is, “Why are you still here? You could transform, leave here with no one to stop you.”

Adrien’s mouth falls agape once, then twice as he searches for words. Finally, he shrugs. “I guess I was waiting for someone to rescue me. If you still want to do the honors?”

Well, she hadn’t come all this way for nothing. She lifts him in her arms, every fiber of her straining with the desire to keep this precious boy safe. She still isn’t entirely sure how she’s going to protect him when his father finds out. Maybe Chat Noir could be a more permanent fixture around Paris? And, to make sure he didn’t feel so alone, Loveybug would spend as much time as possible there by his side.

Two of the biggest romantics in Paris, falling for each other… Alya might finally get invested in covering Loveybug now there was juicy relationship gossip to invest in. But Marinette should probably give Alya some closure about what really happened to Ladybug first, even if Alya couldn’t share that information with the rest of the world. Marinette couldn’t wait to see the look on her BFF’s face when she learned that Marinette Dupain Cheng of all people wielded the ladybug miraculous!

Until then, she holds on tight to Adrien Agreste as she flies him home.

At some point, he starts to get cold and she suggests that he transform to get protection from the suit.

His mouth pulls into a cheeky grin. “Plagg, claws out.” His hair turns green.

Wrong catboy! her mind screams, dropping him in a burst of horrifying clumsiness.

He calls up a power-up transformation before he falls into the sea, then flies up beside her. This time, he looks how she knows Chat Noir looks when given the gift of flight, not a green hair in sight. “Did I mention I can also transform into Catwalker?” he asks, feigning innocence (badly).

“No you did not!” she hisses.

“Just thought you should know I’ve got a backup identity too. In case we need it.”

“Do you plan on erasing your memories?”

“No…?”