When Adrien jumped inside the boys' washroom at Collège Françoise Dupont, he still had an entire minute to spare. He sighed, hid himself in one of the cubicles and released his transformation, catching Plagg in his cupped hands. He twirled around, gave Plagg a small kiss on the top of his head, right between his ears, and let himself fall sitting on the toilet seat. He leaned his back against the cold tiles on the wall, letting out a little sigh as he closed his eyes happily.

"She loves me," he told Plagg. "Can you believe that after over a year she finally loves me?"

He felt Plagg picking up his cheese from the pocket of his shirt. The distinctive stench of Camembert reached his nostrils, telling him that Plagg was now floating near his face.

"Right," muttered his black friend, his mouth full of cheese. "I thought you were over her and that you had a ring and a card in your bag for Pigtails."

At that, Adrien opened his eyes wide. Bugger! In his euphoria that Ladybug had finally shown that she would reciprocate his feelings, he had completely forgotten about his decision. His shoulders drooped and his lips curled into a pout.

"You're right, Plagg. I'm a mess." He sighed. "I don't deserve a girl as wonderful and fantastic as Marinette. Maybe I should forget this whole thing and desist from talking to her."

Plagg ate the last crumble of Camembert and put a paw to his forehead, shaking his head with a massive frown. "I refuse to believe this!" he shouted. "After MONTHS of you pining after Marinette, and trying to find the best present for her, and trying to find the best picture for that bloody card of yours, and telling me day and night how wonderful, how fantastic, how extraordinary Marinette is, how blind you had been to not notice that you liked her sooner. After the tears of joy you cried when Nino told you that she had broken up with Guitar-boy... AFTER I HAD TO ENDURE ALL THAT YOU'RE NOW SAYING THAT YOU WON'T CONFESS?"

"I don't deserve her, Plagg! She's such a wonderful girl, and I'm here just being swept off my feet only because I have a sniff that Ladybug may actually like me. She doesn't deserve to be a second choice!"

"Ladybug has given you hints other times, but she never followed through. For example, when you faced that Oblivio akuma. And so many other times. You may not have seen it, but I have. The looks she was giving you when you were flirting with Rena and Ryuuko—"

"I wasn't flirting with Rena and Ryu—"

" Paw- lease. Lie to someone else. I was there." Plagg flew up to his forehead and slapped it.

"And I haven't seen her giving me any looks!"

Plagg snorted. "Because you didn't notice, gamin . She was. And the time you didn't 'pound it' to bring Kagami home. She was devastated!"

"What are you talking about? I've never not 'pounded it' with M'Lady!"

Plagg facepalmed. "Sure you did, Adrien. Right. Does Onichan remind you of anything?"

Adrien closed his eyes and put a hand to his forehead to concentrate. The migraine that was starting to seep through his head didn't help, but he went through his memory of the time Kagami changed into Onichan. He was certain that—

"Oh shoot. You're right. I didn't 'pound it' that day."

Plagg smirked. "Yeah. I'm always right, gamin ."

Adrien shook his head and put a hand on his forehead, That migraine was getting stronger. Maybe he should go to the nurse and ask for a pain killer.

"You know what, Plagg? You ARE right. I can't keep putting my life on hold for Ladybug."

Plagg smirked and gave him a smug look. He started floating on his back and looked with great interest at his paws. "You can definitely say that, Adrien. Remember that you're a cat. His Majesty, the Black Cat. You're not a puppy ready to jump at her every whim. You have some dignity!"

"Ouch," whimpered Adrien, his hand pushing hard on his forehead, his eyes closed. He shook his head again. The migraine was really starting to affect him. "Y-yes, I-I should be happy too, right? I really like Marinette. Those feelings haven't changed. I can't give up on her. I-I think I love her."

Adrien blushed crimson. As he thought that, his migraine became even stronger and he felt he was losing control. He put both hands on his forehead and groaned in pain, and his head started pounding, literally pulsing against his palms.

"What now?" asked Plagg, giving him, despite what looked like his best judgement (at least Adrien thought that, because Plagg had been floating annoyedly at his side with his paws folded on his tiny chest and his tail had been flicking back and forth), a concerned look.

"I-I don't know. My head is spinning," muttered Adrien as the pain spread at the front of his head. "It's like when I was kissing Ladybug today and—"

"And?" Plagg was now floating right in front of his nose.

"I saw a flash in my head and I remembered the kiss I exchanged with Ladybug last Valentine's Day." He shook his head and groaned even more. "Oh God, this is so painful!"

He squeezed his eyes shut and fell to the ground on his knees, screaming. Plagg's ears went flat on his head and he started zipping around Adrien, patting him everywhere to try to soothe him.

"Adrien? Adrien are you okay? What's going on?"

Plagg's voice seemed to come from a very far distance.

Pain.

His whole world was all made of pain. Pain that started from his forehead and sprang across his head to reach his nape, almost trying to come out of his skull. Pain that became stronger and more intense every second.

"Adrien?" called Plagg again. His kwami's voice exploded in a flash of white.

He saw himself looking at his ID card.

"Adrien Agreste," he heard his voice saying.

"Super nice to meet you, Adrien!" he heard someone's voice say back. That voice... that voice was painfully familiar. Why was it so familiar? He saw a girl in pigtails curtseying at him.

Ladybug . That was Ladybug. She wasn't wearing her mask. That was civilian Ladybug in front of him. Why couldn't he make out her face? Hang on a second, did she know his name? When did she find out? Oh yeah, he had just told her. What was going on? Where were they? It looked like a bathroom, but it could be just because he was right now in a bathroom. His head was spinning so badly.

He managed to get out of his hallucination and turned around hugging the toilet seat. He felt a weight as heavy as a stone in his stomach as the pain in his head sprang again. Oh God he was going to get sick! He gagged a bit and got up on his knees, ready to throw up in the bowl, but nothing came out.

"Adrien?" he managed to open his eyes full of tears and gave a quick glance at his furry friend.

"I-I just had a flash in my head. Oh God it was so painful. Don't know when or how, but I saw a civilian Ladybug, with no mask, talking to me. She knew my name. Well, I had just told her."

"You had what ?" asked Plagg, a frown full of concern furrowing his brows. "She had no mask? You know that she's *BURP*?" Plagg burped purple bubbles. "No, the magic of the Miraculous isn't letting me say her name, you still don't know who she is."

"Her face was kind of blurred. What's happening to me Plagg?" As he said that, he felt the pulse of pain spread again across his whole head and he screamed even louder because it was getting worse.

"Listen," Ladybug's voice was saying. She seemed to be talking to someone on her phone. The name on the screen said 'Mr Turtle'. "I can't remember who I am or who you are. Oblivio has erased my memory. But I think I'm supposed to call you."

Oblivio? Adrien groaned. Suddenly it all made more sense. Was he remembering Oblivio? Why? Didn't the Miraculous Cure wipe his memories out?

The voice on loudspeaker coming from the phone sighed. "You did the right thing. Is Chat Noir with you?" He looked at his Lady's face, but he still wasn't able to make out her features. The voice on the phone sounded Master Fu. Oh yes, it made sense. Mr Turtle.

Ladybug giggled nervously. "Yeah," she said, "well, Adrien, actually."

Fu gasped. "You two know your true identities, then."

He met his Lady's gaze again. "We're not supposed to?" he heard himself say.

Another pang of pain ran through his head. More flashes of light.

Them in a bathroom cubicle, very similar to the one he was in now. Ladybug pointed to an open vent. Someone seemed to be kicking and breaking all the doors of the cubicles next to them. They barely got into the vent and closed it behind them that even the door of the cubicle they were in sprang open. Adrien breathed a sigh of relief and followed his Lady into the air duct.

Pink. His vision was filled with pink. She was wearing pink trousers. Very familiar pink trousers. Why were those trousers so familiar? And were those ballet shoes she had on her feet?

"You seem like someone who always has the right idea at the right time!" he heard himself say.

Ladybug sighed in front of him. "I hope you're right."

The light in his head flashed again. The pain was unbearable. He screamed so loudly that he heard the door of the boys' washroom sprung open in the distance.

"Who's in here?" It was the voice of M. D'Argencourt. Shoot!

"Uh, Monsieur D'Argencourt, it's me, Adrien Agreste!" he managed to say but he couldn't muffle a groan of pain as soon as he said that.

"Are you all right, Monsieur Agreste? I heard a scream." The voice of his fencing professor sounded concerned.

Adrien winced. "Yes, I'm okay. Just a migraine. I'll be out soon."

"I recommend you go to the nurse and get sent home, Monsieur Agreste. If it made you scream like that, it's not just a migraine. Maybe you're coming up with something."

Adrien sighed. "Thank you, Professor. I will, as soon as I get out of here."

He heard the man cough politely. "Alright. Just let me know if you need anything." After he said that, Adrien heard the bathroom door open and close again and realised that he was now alone.

Good. Just in time, because the migraine was coming back even stronger. He felt a surge of nausea come to his throat and he went on his knees again, staring into the toilet bowl. He gagged some more.

"I want to fight beside you," he heard himself saying as he picked up a white pipe. "If we're a couple, then we'll be stronger together."

A couple? His heart skipped a beat. Why was his brain showing him this just now that he had decided that he would leave Ladybug behind? Was it some sort of sadistic joke?

He noticed that Ladybug was wearing her spots again. She looked at him in a way that she had never, ever looked at him before. "But you don't have your kwami or your superpowers. And without your costume, the villain would know your true identity."

Adrien looked down dejectedly and sighed. She grabbed the hand he was holding the pipe with and she continued, "But most of all, I wouldn't want anything to happen to you. I'm starting to understand how much you mean to me, Adrien." And as she said that, she kissed him on the cheek. Adrien's heart skipped another beat as she started to jump backwards and said, waving at him, "Please, stay there. Ladybug is here to protect you!"

"Why? Why show me this? Why now?" he screamed. His hands went to his temples, his eyes firmly shut as tears rolled down his cheeks.

Again excruciating pain.

"Wait," he said, grabbing her hand with his. She had a red and black polka dotted teapot in her hands and his gesture caught her in mid air and prevented her from throwing it in the sky. "Do you think we'll remember all this... afterwards?"

Ladybug gave him a really sad look. "Apparently, my Miraculous Ladybug reverts everything, so I'm guessing we won't."

He felt his heart breaking a little. "All right then. With your permission, M'Lady..."

The look she gave him. He had never seen in his entire life a more lovesick look than that one. She looked at him as if he were her whole world. The kiss sent a tingle down his very being as butterflies of the right kind filled his stomach. She was definitely reciprocating the kiss even then! And it also lasted quite some time.

Why? Why make him remember this? Why was the effect of the Miraculous Cure fading away?

Maybe because... Maybe he ought to remember that his Lady had given him plenty of hints that she actually fancied him all throughout the year they'd known each other. But she chose to not act upon it. She chose to bottle up her evident (yes, now they really were evident to him!) feelings towards him and keep rejecting him, telling him that she loved someone else. Why would she do that? Why would she let herself and him suffer, if she reciprocated his feelings?

Plagg was right. Ladybug would never act upon her feelings. She would never accept his advances. He had to move on.

And he hadn't lied. In his heart he knew that he loved Marinette. Not as a friend, he loved her for real. The truth was that he would always have a part of his heart beating for Ladybug. He would never be able to not love her.

But... he loved Marinette too. His feelings for her were also real, strong and true. Somehow, loving one didn't prevent him from loving the other just as much.

He beamed as he stood from the toilet floor and looked at Plagg.

"Are you feeling better, gamin ?" asked his furry friend, still looking quite shaken by Adrien's previous behaviour.

"Yes, Plagg, I'm okay. I-I don't know what happened. I... got flashes in my head of the time Ladybug and I faced Oblivio."

Plagg looked even more worried now. "Don't tell me. You remembered kissing Ladybug then too and you decided to dump in the toilet everything we just spoke about."

Adrien smiled softly and sat on the toilet again. "No, Plagg. I have set my heart on it. I love Marinette. Remembering Oblivio has only cemented these feelings."

Plagg seemed to look a little more grey in the face. "Did you remember who she is?"

Adrien kept staring at the toilet door in front of him with googly eyes. "No. Initially, I didn't understand why I was remembering all that. The things that she said. The way that she looked at me. She did love me even then, Plagg. It's not something new."

"Right?" Plagg pushed.

"She loved me but she chose to not do anything about it. So it doesn't matter if I know now for sure that she has feelings for me. She made her choice and, evidently, her choice doesn't involve me." He sighed. "I will never stop loving her." He stroked softly his Miraculous on his right ring finger. "But I love Marinette too. I'm not entirely sure when I fell in love with her. Kagami is convinced that I've loved her all along."

"She's the only person with eyes, here," muttered Plagg.

Adrien scowled at him. "And maybe she's right." He saw the sly look that Plagg shot at him. "Okay, you 're right too. Thing is, I'm not going to sacrifice my happiness to wait for a yes that may never come." He stood from the toilet seat, opened the door he was looking at so fondly and proceeded to wash his hands.

"I'm proud of you, Adrien."

Adrien beamed at him. "Thanks. Let's go, Plagg. Let's go tell Marinette that I love her." He blushed and looked at his hands as he dried them. "As long as she'll take me, of course."

Plagg raised an eyebrow. "And yet, he's still blind..."

Author's Note:

Here's chapter 3. Hope you liked it ^-^ well... I know that wasn't what you were expecting! Next chapter is for Marinette. She has her own turmoil to deal with, and it won't be pretty! Hope you will like what's coming! :) Are you curious? I guess you'll need to come back next week and see!

In the next instalment of "Dark Cupid 2.0":

— "It's okay, Marinette," said Adrien looking at her with one of those looks that made her knees go weak. "Can I talk to you after you come back from the washroom?"

— "Nino told me I was bad when I was hit, but he also said that I was nothing compared to Ladybug. And I love Nino, Marinette, with all my heart."

— "D-do I love Chat Noir?"

— "When you fell in love with Adrien, Marinette, did you know who he was?"

Also, for the memories of Oblivio in this chapter and in the next two, big thanks to the Miraculous wiki (the Oblivio script is )

Last but not least, if you read this and you're not part of our wonderful Discord server already, but you enjoy reading, writing and talking about Miraculous, please join our Discord server, Miraculous faworks (for people on FFN, discord dot gg slash mlfanworks). See you there soon, and see you tomorrow here with chapter 4!