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Chapter Text

Adrien and Marinette were playing a dangerous game of relationship chicken, and Adrien was probably going to lose. 

He didn’t know how one lost such a game, but when it came to playing games with Marinette he had learned one important thing. Marinette always won. It didn’t matter what the game was, be it Monopoly, table tennis, or UMS IV. Even early releases Adrien had practiced on for weeks before Marinette got her hands on them were a wash. Occasionally it would look like he had the upper hand, he might even win a round or two, but eventually, she would have him backed against a walk begging for mercy. 

Which… translated well to this particular game. 

He contemplated this, wondering how it was that he found himself half asleep and in Marinette’s college apartment wearing nothing but his boxers. He pouted as she carefully folded her laundry on the floor instead of napping with him. She, the cruel mistress that she was, simply taunted him in her sports bra and running short combo. 

“Do that later, come back here and cuddle me, I’m tired and neglected,” he whined. 

“Oh hush, I need to finish this so I can unpack the rest of my stuff and actually be able to find everything.” 

"I swear it didn’t take me this long to unpack my stuff."

“Well not all of us rich little cat boys who had everything moved in for them.” 

"Hey, I moved stuff."

"You moved your clothes. Everything else came pre-furnished." She had him there. 

Her back was facing him, and she leaned over from her position on the floor to grab the next item from her basket. Adrien grinned devilishly and snuck over from the bed. Being Chat Noir made him stealthy, and even Ladybug couldn’t hear him most of the time, so Marinette was easy prey. Once he was close enough, she turned slightly, suspicious of the quiet, only the be tackled to the ground with a squeal. He kissed her before she could complain about being distracted. He maneuvered himself until he was rested between her thighs and her hands were pinned over her head, their fingers interlocked. He slipped his tongue into her mouth, and she sighed softly, her warm breath brushing against his cheek. He soon broke away from her lips and began pressing a trail of hot wet kisses down her neck and chest. 

He released her hands to hold her a little closer, and she began lightly scratching his neck and shoulders. “What did she do this time to get you so worked up?”

“Who says she had to do something? Can’t I just want to spend time with you?” He said while still pressing kisses to her bare skin. 

“You can definitely want to spend time with me, but I know there was an Akuma attack earlier, and you usually get… I don’t want to say needier, but maybe a little more forward, than usual when she did something. So what did she do?”

Adrien sighed and buried his face into her neck. He mumbled something into her hair. 

“What was that?” She pulled lightly on his hair so his voice wasn’t so muffled. 

“She didn’t do anything,” he let out an exasperated groan and repositioned himself so his head was pressed to Marinette's chest, “she just told me I did a good job.”

“What? Really, that’s it?”

“Ugh, you know how I get when I get approval from authority figures.”

She chuckled lightly looking at his embarrassed face with fondness. “You consider Ladybug an authority figure?”

“Yeah, she comes up with the plans, she’s in charge, I care deeply about her opinion. All the classic elements one needs to be an authority," he said, waving his hand flippantly. 

“Yeah, but you guys are partners, which makes her your peer. Like me, or Alya and Nino.” She began playing with his hair again as he sank further into his embarrassment. 

“First, I never said it was logical, daddy issues are a real SOB. Second, it was the way she said it. She looked me right in the eyes-“

“Eye contact is what does it for you huh?”

He glared at her, “Shut up, I’m not going to tell you now.”

She laughed at him, making his head bounce slightly against her breast. “Sorry, I’ll stop. Please continue.”

“It’s just that she hadn’t come up with a way to use her Lucky Charm yet, and I had an idea. Which never happens! Not even that one time I was Mister Bug. So when she did it, and it worked, she gave me this look that just made me feel like she was so proud of me. Then she said, ‘Chat, that was amazing. You did a really good job today, thank you.’ Her voice was so nice, and everything combined made me feel so good, I nearly collapsed right there.” He heaved a shuddering sigh. 

“And third, I would definitely not put you, in the same category as Nino and Alya.” Then, to prove his point he began caressing her thighs slowly and deliberately. 
She hummed thoughtfully, “So what you’re telling me, is if I were to say, oh I don’t know-“ her voice turned sweet, and she pulled his face close to hers, “you’re the kindest, most thoughtful person in my life, and I am so lucky to have you here with me - you’d be putty in my hands?”

Adrien was shaking. Hearing something like that, especially from Marinette who was the girl that everyone seemed to admire, made him want to implode. The only answer he could vocalize was a high-pitched whine as he buried his face into her cleavage. She laughed. And dug her fingers further in his hair, sending waves of pure pleasure down his spine. 

“Or if I say, you’ve done an amazing job keeping Paris safe and working nearly full time as well as being a student. I sometimes look at your sweet sleeping face and think that you are the strongest, smartest, and most resourceful person in Paris.” If she kept this up he was going to have to need to kiss her senseless, and then some. “And you're pretty good in bed, too.” 

That was it. He couldn’t handle it anymore. Adrien could either cry, or make her stop, and he was not going to cry.  He jumped up and kissed her passionately, his tongue pushing her lips open. He could feel her nails running trails up and down his sides. 

“If you don’t stop, you’re going to make me fall in love with you.” He said between searing kisses. His hands began to wander to the band of her sports bra. He hovered above her face, noses touching, lips nearly brushing. 

“We wouldn’t want that now, would we?” She brought one hand up and lightly traced his lips with her finger. He looked into her eyes, looking for something. What he wasn’t sure. All he saw was mirth, mixed with desire. His hand crept further under her bra. 

He bit back the reply that too easily sprung to the tip of his tongue. Would it really be so bad? This was part of the game they played. They weren’t dating. It was just physical. And emotional. And Adrien probably loved her. And the days she was busy were lonely. But they weren’t dating. 

Because how could you date your best friend, when you were still in love with your other best friend? The one you had to see on a regular basis to save the city. The one who could reduce you to a boneless mess with a kind word and a smile. So they weren’t dating, and he had a game to lose as valiantly as he could. 

“No, definitely not. You can’t have me getting too attached. A mangy cat hanging around is bad for your image.” He smiled ruefully. This was part of the game they played. 
She pursed her lips together into something close to a smile and swept the long hair falling into his face aside to place kisses along his jaw and down his neck. 

“So you agree you need a haircut.” She breathed against his collar bone. 
He gasped in mock offense, but his reply was cut off by a knock on her bedroom door. 

Adrien jumped off of Marinette so fast he knocked several cheap trinkets from her bedside table with a crash. 
Marinette laughed at his startled expression. 

“Relax. It’s probably just my roommate. You don’t have to be as sneaky here.” She whispered to him as she righted herself and walked to answer the door. 
She was right. Her roommate stood in the hallway in front of Marinette's door. She angled her body so Adrien was out of sight, and smiled. “Hey, what’s up, Margot?”

“Hey! So the rest of us are going to the orientation party on campus tonight and wanted to see if you could come with us. We know you’ve been busy, but we’d all like to hang out and get to know each other!”

“Oh, is that tonight? Uh, I actually have a friend over, but let me see if they want to come.” she turned to where Adrien was pulling on his shoes. “Did you want to go? I was thinking of going, but if you wanted to stay in and hang out that would be fine.”

Adrien smiled widely, “Yeah, I did actually. I totally forgot it was tonight with how busy work and stuff was today. I’m cool if you wanted to stay in though.”

Marinette rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “It looks like we're coming, when are you guys leaving?”

“Like 20 minutes? It starts in a half-hour, but we have to walk.”

“Great! That sounds perfect. I just need to change! And maybe do my hair. But I’ll be quick!” She began shutting the door.

“She’ll be ready in half an hour! Be prepared to be late!” Adrien called from where he was lounging on her bed, now fully dressed and ready to go. 

“Rude!” She pounced on Adrien and smashed his face into the bed. She could hear Margot laughing from behind the door.

“I’ll keep that in mind!” Margot called back. 

“Ignore him!” Marinette shouted back over Adrien’s muffled laughing. “Why do you gotta make me look bad in front of my new roommates!”

“They have a right to know!”

“Ugh, whatever. I’m going to change.” She got up and moved to her closet and began pulling out different pieces and laying them down on her desk.

“Ooh. I can help!” He jumped up and pulled her close by the waistband of her shorts.”I do know fashion after all.”

She reached behind her and pushed his face away. “Your version of helping is more likely to make me later than anything else.” 

He grinned, “But it’s the most fun.” He reached out and tickled her waist. She jumped and wiggled out of his grasp.

“That’s it! You’re waiting in the living room! Out!” She grabbed his beanie hat and glasses, she shoved them into his hand as she pushed him out the door. 
He put on his hat and glasses, both more for anti-paparazzi than any aesthetic purpose, and pouted at the door. “Come on, Mari. Don’t be like that!” He tried the door only to find she locked it. “Seriously, you're locking me-owt, princess?”

“Yes, You’re being distracting! Now go wait on the couch like a good Kitten!”

“Kitten, huh?”

Adrien whirled around to find a tall thin woman in a dark band t-shirt and dark jeans leaning against the only other door in this part of the apartment. 

“Uh, hi,” he responded awkwardly.

“You know, I wouldn’t peg you as a cat boy by looking at ‘cha, but you do you.”

“It’s… an inside joke. I’m not a “cat boy” as you called it,” he said, nervously. Because, he is a cat boy, the most famous cat boy in France, but she didn’t need to know that. “Are you one of Marinette's new roommates?”

“I’m Bette. I’m studying Chemical Engineering. What about you? You go to the University too, Kitten?”

“Yeah, Physics and Business double major.”

“Oof, Double major? And one of them is physics? You some sort  of masochist?”

“It’s the result of a Parental Negotiation and Compromise. He pays for everything, I major in at least one of the things he wants me to do.”

“I hear that. I’m guessing you’re coming to the party.”

“Yup.”

“Well, I’m sick of standing after the 10-hour shift I just pulled, so let's go sit down while the others finish getting ready.”

She lead him to the couch where they sat in silence for about 10 minutes. A tall Blonde with sharp features joined them. 

“Hey, Yvonne. You ready?” Bette asked.

“Yup! Who’s this?” She smiled at him coyly. Adrien was used to looks like the one she gave him. He was a Model after all, but it never failed to make him want to retreat into himself. He also realized he now had a problem. He didn’t know how much Mari had told her roommates about him, or even if they’d recognize his name. The hat and large thick-rimmed glasses tended to make him look just different enough that most people didn’t realize who he was, but once he said his first name people often put two and two together. He’d been brainstorming how to introduce himself to people on campus but hadn’t found a good way yet. 

Thankfully, Bette had her own idea.

“This is Kitten, Marinette’s little pet. I found him scratching at her door because she kicked him out like the bad cat he is.” She grabbed his chin and shook it a little. He pushed her off and glared at her. Adrien wasn’t sure if he really liked Bette, or if she really annoyed him, but he knew he didn’t want to give her any more ammunition.

“I have a name you know.” He shouldn’t have said it, but his mouth wasn't always his best friend. 

“I don’t care. You’re Kitten now. No one is allowed to call you anything else.”

Yvonne laughed and sat down in the chair closest to his part of the couch. “Well, It’s nice to meet you, Kitten. I’m Yvonne. Will we be seeing a lot of you around the apartment? Cause we could make you our official house cat.”

Adrien forced an uncomfortable laugh. “Mari’s an old friend, so I’m sure you’ll see me around, but I'm not sure how much we’ll be hanging here.”

“Oh, but think of how much fun we’d all have together.” She simpered, leaning forward to give him a good view down her low-cut shirt.

“Down girl. Find your own pet.” Bette said leaning over and pushing Yvonne back against the armchair.

“Bette! Don’t be rude! I’m just letting him know we’re a fun place to be. He can make his own decisions.”

“Von, we talked about this. You gotta learn to tone down the flirting when they look uncomfortable.”

Yvonne perked up and looked at him with wide eyes, “I wasn’t making you uncomfortable, was I?” 

He stammered for a bit, not sure what the polite way to respond was.

“I was, wasn’t I? Damn it, and here I was thinking I was getting good at noticing. Sorry, I’m not always good at certain expressions. I’m kind of face blind, and my default is to flirt. You just gotta tell me if I bother you.”

“Oh, um. It’s okay. I’m kind of used to it. I work with a lot of models and they’re kind of like that too.”

“Oh, are you in the Fashion Course like Marinette and Margot? I always wanted to try designing, but I can’t sew or draw to save my life.”

“No, but I work on a lot of photoshoots, but I’m not going into it. I’m more into STEM.”

“Ooh, smart and hot! Marinette's pet is quite the catch!”

“Don’t I know it!” Mari said, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and squeezing.

“Hey, you made it out with time to spare! It’s a miracle!” he said, trying to turn around to see her.

“Yeah, because  I didn’t have a huge nerd distracting me!” She said, rubbing the top of his head with aggressive affection. “Are we just missing Margot?” She said, looking at her other two roommates. 

“Yeah, just killing time with Kitten over here while you two fashionistas get ready,” said Bette.

“Kitten?” She asked.

“She heard you call me Kitten, and now refuses to even learn my real name.” He grumbled. 

Mari laughed a full belly laugh, “Serves you right for being a pest while I’m trying to get ready. Besides, I like it. You are my little Cat Boy after all.”

“Ah-ha!” Bette Exclaimed. “I knew it! You are a cat boy!”

“No, I’m not! It’s an inside joke.”

“Yeah, it’s an inside joke because you’re a cat boy!” Bette's devilish grin was practically splitting her face in half.

“Mari, help me out here!”

“Nope, you know how I feel about lying.” She said with a matching grin on her face. 

“Maaaaarrrrrriiiiii!”

“Fine. He’s not a cat boy.”

“Thank y-”

“He’s a cat MAN.”

“Ugh, why do I even hang out with you?” He whined, burning his face in his hands.

“Because I’m your nicest friend, and you like getting your butt handed to you in Ultimate Mecha Strike IV. for some unknown reason.”

“Well, maybe it’s time I get new friends.”

“That’s fine. That is why we’re going to this party tonight.” She hugged his shoulders tighter and rested her chin on his head. “You won’t be stuck with just me on campus, since Alya and Nino are clear across town. Maybe you’ll find someone who’s actually nice to you.”

“Whatever,” He murmured. 

“Do we know what part of Campus the party is?” Marinette said.

“It’s by the Library!” Margot said walking into the living room from her bedroom. “Is everyone ready?”

“Definitely! Come on Kitten, you’re coming with me and you're going to explain science to me,” Yvonne tried to pull him up by his hand. Mari was still holding his shoulders, so he resisted. 

“He’s going to explain science to you? What kind of science?” Bette responded standing up and taking Yvonne's hand off of Adrien’s wrist. 

“Any kind of science. Just science in general.”

“Well, Yvonne, I’m sure Marinette and her boyfriend want to walk together. Maybe we can have him explain all of science to you later.” Margot said kindly as she grabbed her purse and keys from the hook by the door. 

“We’re Not Dating(TM).” Marientte and Adrien said in unison. 

“Oh,” Margot looked a little confused, “I guess I just assumed because of the hugging and - You know what never mind it’s not my business.”

Marinette finally stood and walked to the door to grab her keys as well. “It’s okay. We get it a lot. We were both third wheels for most of school since our best friends are dating. We ended up spending a lot of time together, so we’re just really close.”

There was a quiet moment where everyone looked a little uncomfortable, and then Yvonne piped up, “Well that means you can explain science to me after all Kitten! Let's go.” She dragged him from the couch, past a laughing Marinette who cruelly ignored his pleading eyes all the way to the orientation party.  

Chapter Text

Marinette was good at secrets. She hated lying and liars, and it killed her, but she was good at secrets. It had become increasingly apparent she had to get better at it after her first year as a superhero. Especially after becoming Guardian. Several of her friends and boyfriends had been Akumatized just to learn the secret she hid so poorly. They always wanted to know why she would run out during movies, or sleepovers, or class, or any number of activities that were interrupted by Akumas. It was because they loved her, and wanted to help, but they couldn't help. No one could. So she practiced excuses in the mirror, had proof of places she’d been saved to a secret file on her phone. Her reputation for being late, taking too long to get ready and sleeping in was a built-in saving grace, something she relied on heavily. Even when it stopped being true. Tikki had quickly become an accomplice in distraction, pulling alarms, knocking things off counters, making weird noises in other rooms, anything to prevent someone from poking holes in her stories. 

The most important skill she had learned was the one that killed her the most. The art of letting people think they knew her, that they were close to her, but keeping them at enough of a distance that they couldn’t get hurt. She did all of this for them because she loved them, but she was so tired.

She was playing with fire when it came to Adrien. She loved him so much. Not in the obsessive school girl way she now pitied her younger self for. It was a robust, adult love, and knowing he was Chat only made it worse. He was her best friend. Every dumb joke he made was now a plea to be allowed a moment of silliness in an otherwise serious life. Every time he jumped in front of a hit meant for her was a brave boy with nothing to lose but her. 

It killed her not to tell him. He deserved to know, especially since she knew about him. Yet, every time she tried to get the words out of her mouth something would get in the way. An akuma Alert, or her parents walking in, or even Tikki deploying her carefully devised distractions. Then she would remember when Luka became Truth, or the time her second boyfriend, was cornered by an akuma whose power was to force people to find things for her, and she had sent him to look for Ladybug, or any other countless times where her life would be in danger  if even one person knew who she was.

Most importantly, she would remember Chat Blanc.

To be fair, Chat had still been a teen when everything had happened. The exact events leading to it were going to be different, but she couldn’t be sure it wouldn’t happen again.

So she lied and kept him at bay. She didn’t tell him how much she adored him. They weren’t dating, they weren’t in love with each other, so they couldn’t fall apart. She lived off what affection she could get from him - which admittedly was becoming more and more common- and they didn't tell anyone about the nights Adrien snuck into her bedroom to spend the night. In a strictly platonic way. Sort of. 

Her chest ached with the love she felt as she laughed with her roommates as they all walked towards campus. Yvonne was interrogating Adrien about random science questions that often he had no clue the answer to. 

“Okay, Kitten. Why is it that when I eat a lot of ice cream my brain hurts, but if I eat a lot of hot soup it doesn’t? They’re both a lot of… temperature, so shouldn’t my brain want to tell me to stop for both?” She said walking backward with Margot kindly leading her by the elbow. 

“Uh, I guess because you have a system in place to protect you from eating food that’s too hot?”

“It does?” Margot pulled her away from a lamp post seconds before she knocked into it.

Adrien had his arm over her shoulders, very platonically, and his fingers lightly brushed the skin not covered by her blouse, sending little sparkes through her whole system. 

He laughed, “Yeah, it’s called burning your tongue.”

They all laughed and Marinette pulled herself closer to him. It was a warm day, so she didn’t think to bring a jacket, but occasionally a breeze would hit her just right and send a chill through her. 

“Okay, Next question. Why does hair get darker when it’s wet when water is clear?”

“Well..” His response was cut short by Bette’s enthusiastic cry.

“Oh, thank the lord. We’re here. No more science questions! You could have googled every single one of those.”

“Yeah, but he was having fun. At least, I think so. Were you having fun?” She asked him with a pleading look in her eye.

“Sure, I was having fun.” He chuckled as Yvonne flipped Bette off. 

“Told ya!”

“Uh-huh. There’s no way he was just being nice.” Bette said.

“You are a rude person, Bette Lemarie.”

“And yet you continue to choose to be friends with me.”

Yvonne huffed as she scanned the accumulating crowd. “Let’s get a drink. I’m thirsty from all that learning I just participated in.”

She pulled Bette and Margot towards the place the crowd seemed the thickest, which seemed to be a wide variety of beverages. 

“Don’t tell me this is how you’re going to be after all your classes because you’ll spend all of University drunk off your ass,” Bette grumbled as she was swallowed by the masses. 

“Are you thirsty?” Adrien asked her as he led her through the crowd following the others. 

She smiled at him, “Just a soda or some juice is fine. No alcohol.” She made a face to show disgust. She didn't hate the taste so much as she never wanted to get caught drunk during an akuma attack. Tikki told her it would be fine, but she didn't want to risk it. 

“That’s fine by me. I have a feeling we might need to watch out for Yvonne though. We might be reprising our starring role of Drunk People wranglers by the end of the night.”

She sighed and took the can of soda Adrien grabbed for her as she tried to see past the masses. It was a large party. The University hosted one every year according to her admissions counselor. There were booths for different organizations on campus, a place to meet people in the same program, and several games and activities as well as snacks and drinks at almost every station.She checked her phone for the time.

“Do you want to start by checking out the booths for our majors and then do some of the games?” She had to almost shout in his ear because it was getting loud. He nodded and looked over the crowd, trying to find the right direction. Thankfully, Adrien was tall enough to see over most people's heads and had them going in the right direction after only a moment. He deposited her by the Fashion major booth, and let her know he’d be just a few booths down at the Physics one. She doubted they’d make a stop by the Business Majors. 

There were a few well dressed people next to several poster boards and displays showing pictures from previous years, and a few sample pieces of clothing. Marinette immediately started looking at one of the sample dresses, a lovely iridescent ball gown with embroidery and beading along the waistline, inspecting the stitching and construction of the bodice.

“That’s my favorite one.” She jumped at the voice behind her. One of the upperclassmen manning the booth was looking over her shoulder. He was a tall lean man about her age with dark brown hair and sharp features. He smiled and nodded back at the dress. “It got the highest score in last year’s final showcase.”

“I can see why, it’s lovely.” she said almost reverently, “Although, something seems off in this part of the embroidery. I think it’s missing a couple stitches.”

The man looked at her, obviously stunned. “It took Madame Allard 20 minutes to find that! How? I barely noticed and I spent 200 hours on it.”

“What are you fussing about?” Another upperclassman, an even taller brunette woman, called over from where she was fixing fliers that had gotten shuffled by the wind.

“She caught my missing stitches in like 2 seconds,” he said, grabbing Marinette’s shoulder to indicate the ‘she’ he was referring to. Marinette turned further to look at the woman and shrugged just enough that his hand fell away. 

“Sorry, I didn’t realize it was yours, I shouldn’t have said anything.” She was feeling rather self-conscious about his overzealous reaction. 

“Pfft, He deserves to be knocked down a peg or two. He’s been insufferable about that dress since last April.” The taller woman walked over and looked Marinette up and down. “Okay, forget about his shoddy workmanship-”

“Hey!”

“Where did you get the Corset top? Talk about embroidery! I absolutely need one!” She grabbed Marinette's shoulders and turned her slightly to look at the details sown into the thin panels of her top. She had layered it over a sheer lavender Peasant blouse, and now with both sets of eyes looking at her appraisingly, she felt a little exposed. 

“Uh, I actually made it myself.” She said awkwardly. 

The other woman looked at her with manic excitement. 

“Okay, Sooo many thoughts, the most important of which are, can I get you to make me one, also teach me your ways, because I have tried to make a corset and the boning is a real bitch. AND!” She shook Marinette’s shoulders for emphasis. “Puh-lease tell me you're in the fashion course.”

Mari smiled and laughed, “Okay, so I can make you one, but it probably wouldn’t be for a while, but I can give you my number and we’ll see about those first two things. But yeah. I am in the Fashion course.”

Cue an enthusiastic hug. “Okay this is awesome. I’m totally going to geek out with you later, You said you’d help me and now you’re stuck being my friend, so deal with it. Honestly, no  wonder you caught his mistake, you are a crazy good seamstress.”

“Yeah, I actually worked in the sewing room at Gabriel up until about a week ago.” She turned to the man, who was watching his counterpart with amusement, “That’s the only reason I even noticed the missed stitches. I got absolutely reamed by several people for a couple missed stitches on a final sample piece my first few weeks there and got good at catching them so it would never happen again.”

He smiled at her, “I’m honestly more impressed than anything else. The only reason they’re still there is because I ran out of time before the showcase. I’m Ollivier, by the way. The over-enthusiastic puppy is Iris.”

“Hi!” Iris said as she adjusted her grip to squeeze Marinette in a side hug. 

“I’m Marinette. It’s nice to meet you both. Are you both seniors?”

“I am, but Ollie here is just a widdle junior.” Iris finally detached herself from Marinette and pinched Olivier’s checks. 

He batted her away. “Yeah, well this ‘Widdle Junior” kicked your’s and every other upperclassmen’s butt in the end of year Showcase,” He looked to Marinette and wiggled his eyebrows, “Which makes me the first-ever second-year student to win. I mean, it’s not a huge deal, but they did put me in the newspaper.”

He was obviously super proud, but Marinette had to really fight down the smirk that was trying it’s best to surface. She really couldn’t say that she was in the newspaper on a daily basis, or that she had several blogs dedicated to her and her partner, but imagining his reaction was really quite funny.

“Wow, that’s super cool!” 

“Thanks, I thought so too.” He stepped closer to her, getting a little in her space. “But enough about me, let's hear about my new competition. Tell us about Marinette. What is she looking to get from a prestigious Fashion Design degree? Obviously, you have some knowledge of the industry if you worked at Gabriel .”

They continued chatting for several minutes about the gap year Marinette had taken ‘to work at Gabriel .’ The job had really been a bit of a front for her real reason for putting University off, but saying you were trying to catch Hawk Moth would sound a bit odd. Soon Iris was extolling all the virtues of some professors, and letting her know the professors to watch out for. She even suggested talking to Mme. Allard about being put in the Advanced Contruction course. Olivier had excellent tips for resources to use for tight deadlines and stress relief. By the time Iris split from the conversation to say hi to a few more design students Marinette felt prepared and excited for class on Monday. 

She turned to take one last look at some of the displays and say her goodbyes when Olivier lightly grabbed her elbow.

“Hey, so the course booths are going to be closing down in like an hour, I'm free after if you want some company?” He gave her a wide smile, bordering on charming and nonchalant.

“Um, well I’m here with some friends, but you can totally join us later if you like. My roommate Margot is also in the program, I’m sure she’d love to pick your brain.”

“Oh, yeah, that sounds great!” His smile faltered for just a second, but then he whipped his phone out of his pocket. “Let me get your number and I can text you when I’m done. Plus, my roommates and I were going to have a little fashion program together next Saturday.  It’s kind of a tradition we started to celebrate making it through the first week of classes. I can send you the details. I’d love it if you came, I have a feeling I need to keep my eye on you if I want to keep my title of best in the program." He wiggled his eyebrows.

“Oh, I would love a chance to get to meet more people in the program. I should be free then, but I’ll let you know if I can make it.” She took his phone and created a contact for herself. As she was typing in her number she felt a familiar arm drape around her shoulders. 

“Hey, you done talking to all the other nerds?” She said without looking up as she drafted a text to herself.

“Oh, not even close, but I saw some fun games that I really want to try and I smell food. Are you almost done here?”

“Yup!” She handed Ollivier his phone back. “Ollivier was just telling me about a get-together for a bunch of the fashion course people next. I was thinking of going.”

“I thought Saturday was Alya’s ‘Mandatory’ Clubbing night.”

“Um, maybe. I’m pretty sure that’s Friday night. We can check tomorrow when we meet them for lunch.”

“Well, even if you can only make it for a little bit it’s going to be fun.” Ollivier smiled magnanimously and turned to Adrien. “If you want, you can come too-” 

He paused with a hand extended for a handshake, clearly asking for a name.

“Adi. Call me Adi.” 

Marinette gave Adrien a puzzled look as the two men shook hands. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Adi. You seem familiar. Have we met before?”

Adrien shifted uncomfortably. “Uh, maybe? I’ve met a lot of people through my job, and I don’t always remember everyone. Sorry.”

“Oh, what’s your job?” 

“I- uh,” Ollivier still hadn’t let go of Adrien’s hand, and Adrien seemed to be getting flustered at the prolonged awkward contact. “Um. I work on a lot of stuff for fashion shoots or shows, and some- sometimes movies- ca- sorry. What was your name again?”

“Olivier.” He finally released the handshake, and Adrien quickly reached up and began pulling at the edges of his beanie. 

“Well, it was nice to meet you, Ollivier. I’m sure I’ll see you around, but right now I’m super hungry and I think I smell some crepes. Mari, are you hungry yet, or do you want to hang here for a bit?”

She noticed his eyes widen just slightly, pleading for her to help him get out of an uncomfortable social situation. She put her arm around his waist and smiled at him. 

“Yeah, I’m actually starving.” She sent one final smile to Olivier, “I’ll catch up with you later! Thanks for all the great tips! Text me the details for Saturday.”

She waved slightly as Adrien began to pull her away. After they were out of earshot she smirked at adrien and said, “So, Adi, huh?”

Chapter Text

The university had provided a wide variety of food, mostly carbs, for the party. Adrien grabbed pretty much everything and ate it happily, occasionally slipping something cheesy into Marinette's large purse where Plagg liked to hang out when he could. His nutritionist would balk at the sheer amount Adrien packed into his stomach as they wandered around, but that was future Adrien's problem. He listened happily as Marinette told him everything she had talked to the other fashion students about, gesturing wildly, and dancing around as she remembered something exciting.

This was his favorite part about becoming Marinette’s friend. He loved watching the way her face told more of the story than her words, and how her hair brushed her bare shoulders when she moved her head. She was funny and passionate, and incredibly theatrical for someone who had been so self-conscious when he met her.

Sometimes he was jealous of the people who got to see her like this right away. They didn’t have to power through several painfully awkward interactions to get the occasional genuinely comfortable friendship. Like that Ollivier guy. He had spied them talking as he was heading over. Marinette looked stunning in the beautiful handmade outfit that fit her perfectly. Adrien knew Ollivier saw it. Who wouldn’t? So when he grabbed her arm and gave her his cell phone, Adrien’s heart dropped just a little. He quickly squashed his jealousy, it had never served him well in the past, but it still lingered like a bitter taste at the back of his tongue.

He was distracting himself from those thoughts by watching the way Marinette’s top lifted and fell with the movements in her arms, exposing a thin strip of her toned stomach, when he heard a familiar and shrill voice pierce through the crowds.

“Adrikins!”

He hadn’t seen Chloe very often since they graduated college, she had insisted on going to a fancy private lycee, while he wanted to stay in public school with Nino. Chloe's Behavior had changed a bit since then. She now only fawned over him at public events or when certain people were watching. When she saw him in private she would often either ignore him or treat him with mild indifference. But they were in public, and so far he had been able to keep anyone from noticing him.

That’s why he’d told several people to call him Adi. He was only getting more recognizable as time went by. The agent His father had hired was starting to get him actual acting jobs instead of just voice work, and with him reaching adulthood more people felt it was now okay to objectify him, even if they were three times older than he was. So the opportunity to be somewhat anonymous among his new classmates? It was a necessity.

Marinette met his eyes and both silently agreed to make a break for it, hiding among the crowds going in the opposite direction from where they’d heard Chloe’s voice.

“Ugh, I forgot that he attends this university,” Marinette said as they ducked around a corner.

“Just be glad she’s not in your program. I’m afraid I’ll end up having a class with her.”

“Which would completely end your chances of pretending to be a normal student.”

“Exactly, and here I thought the whole glasses and a hat thing was going to work.” The crowds were thinning out and Adrien began looking for anything to hide behind in case Chloe had followed them.

“It’s been working so far, right? Maybe she just saw me, and then realized it was probably you. She knows we’re all going to this university since I saw her vague posting about the school just letting anyone in now, and I know it was about me. She tagged me in the comments.”

“How is that vague?” They were mostly surrounded by booths for smaller programs, and a few clubs, so they stopped at the magic club display to pretend they were interested. No one was currently manning the booth so they continued to chat.

“It’s vague for Chloe. Normally she would have tagged me in the original post.”

He laughed. “Yeah, that sounds about right.” They hung around just long enough to determine that Chloe was not in fact going to follow them. They decided to stroll the rest of the way down the row of booths. Most of them were packing up, but a few stragglers were still chatting. Adrien noticed Marinette shivering as they neared the end of the row.

“Are you cold?”

“Just a little. I forgot that it’s getting cold at night now, and didn’t bring a jacket. It’s okay though. I think I saw some sweaters you could win at one of the games. I’ll be fine until then.” She said, rubbing her arms slightly. He rolled his eyes and shrugged off the denim shirt he was wearing. She tried to protest when he dropped it over her shoulders and tucked her into his side, but her resistance melted when she realized how warm she felt. They were about to turn around and head towards some of the games when they both recognized a familiar face.

“Hey! Max!” Marinette called to one of the men packing up the final booth on the row. He turned around looking confused until he spotted them. The years had treated Max well. He was still as gangly as ever but had grown into his body. He’d grown his hair out and pulled the braids into a bun on top of his head, probably inspired by his short stints as Pegasus. He waved enthusiastically and jogged over to them.

“Marinette, I have been meaning to speak to you! The program we were working on is almost done, I just need a few things from you. Do you think Alya could get a hold of Ladybug and Chat Noir? I need someone to place a few prototypes to test the algorithm. Also, are you finished building the protective cases? I want to make sure the hardware fits with the mechanics you were designing. I need to make sure it has at least a 90-degree range of movement in all directions.”

“Hi, Max, it’s good to see you, too,” Adrien said teasingly.

“Yes, sorry hi.” He gazed briefly at Adrien and opened his mouth to say something more to Marinette, then stopped and did a double-take. “I’m sorry, do we know each other?”

“I know we haven’t seen each other in a while but I didn’t think you’d forget me this fast!” He joked, “And here I was thinking the whole glasses thing wasn’t working.”

“I told you, Chloe just made a lucky guess,” Marinette said, poking him in the side.

“Adrien? I feel so embarrassed. I can’t believe I didn't recognize you.”

“That’s alright, that’s kind of the point. I’m just glad it actually works.” Adrien looked around. “Hey, where’s Markov? I have a great riddle for him, there’s a 50% chance he won’t know the answer.”

The game they all called Stumpkov started when Kim spent three days straight trying to ask Max’s AI robot a question he didn’t know the answer to. Very few of them had managed to actually accomplish it, Adrien not being one of them. He still liked to occasionally try his hand whenever he ran into Max and Markov.

“Markov actually stayed back in my apartment tonight. He’s actually working on the program for Marinette.”

“What program?”

“I thought if we had an early Akuma detection network set up we could maybe narrow down where they’re coming from and give the hero’s a better place to work. I haven’t really told anyone because I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up in case it didn’t work.” She looked at him with a soft rueful expression. The meaning was clear. I didn’t want to get Your hopes up. Because it was true. Now that there was a light at the end of the tunnel, a type of progress he could physically point to, his hopes were up. He would get to go through his day without slipping out to fight akumas, he wouldn’t have to be afraid of doing something to set off a photographer or designer, or heaven forbid a fan. He would get to know who his lady was. This last thought brought him so much joy, maybe she would finally let him in. Their relationship as superhero partners had only gotten better over the years. Sometimes he would catch her looking at him so softly, like earlier today with the Akuma, that he was sure he would have a chance if it weren’t for Hawkmoth.

Then he remembered that it was Marinette that was doing this for him, and he felt a slight twist in his gut. What would happen to their...friendship, after this was all done for? If it turned out he was right and Ladybug actually could love him back, how on earth could he face Marinette? Their current arrangement was born out of mutual sexual frustration and several bad decisions in a row. They both knew this was temporary. She had said before that she didn’t mind that he was in love with someone else, and even seemed to enjoy it when he gushed about Ladybug. But something sat wrong in his gut. He wished, not for the first time, that he could somehow have both.

He sighed slightly and realized Max and Marinette had been talking for several minutes while he stewed in his inner turmoil. He tuned back into the conversation just in time to hear Max ask Marinette if she could talk to the superheroes sometime soon. She smiled a secret little smile and pinched his side lightly to let him in on the joke.  “I bet I can talk to them one way or another. I’ll send them your way if I see them.”

They chatted for several more minutes about the computer science and robotics course Max was enrolled in. The conversation was cut short by one of the other guys at Max’s booth calling over for him to help take down the table. They said their goodbyes and Adrien and Marinette began to stroll back to the main thoroughfare.

Adrien Asked Marinette several questions about her villain catching scheme and was surprised to learn that it had been in the works for over a year now. Marinette had spent several months compiling every piece of footage she could find of the now-iconic purple butterflies. She had worked with businesses to scour their security footage and had even petitioned the mayor to no avail. Her best resource had of course been the Ladyblog, citizens would often send in footage of attacks and any Akuma sightings. Max was now using the footage to teach an AI how to recognize an Akuma and send a notification to an app to help triangular patterns and perhaps narrow down where Hawkmoth was hiding if he was staying in one place at all. She told him all this in a low tone, in a secluded corner near a few of the noisier spots. She asked him to talk to Ladybug the next time he saw her. He readily agreed. They talked some more about placement and what to look for. His head was spinning, whether it was from the sheer amount of work Marinette had been putting into this project or the fact that he might actually get everything he’s ever wanted, he wasn’t sure.

There was one thing Adrien couldn’t get out of his head though. “Why?” He asked as they left their hiding spot to mingle with the crowds again. 

“Why, what?” She grabbed his wrist as she was jostled by a passing group. It was getting later, and more people were either splitting off to party elsewhere or congregating near a speaker they’d set up by the library.

“Why are you doing this?”

She looked at him oddly. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“It’s just that most people just expect the superheroes to take care of it. This is the first time I've heard of anyone putting together a program like this. Why are you taking up so much of your time doing this? You could be working on your designs or catching up on sleep, or one of the million other things you do for people”

“I don’t know. I guess I just realized that Shadowmoth has the advantage. Ladybug and Chat Noir go out regularly and are at greater risk of exposure. He can sit back in his lair and have some poor citizen do his dirty work for him. This is my way of helping take back that advantage.”

He looked at her in amazement. “You’re amazing Marinette. Paris is lucky to have you.”

She turned back to him with a glint in her eye. “I could say the same for you.”

They spent the next few hours playing games, dancing, and talking to half-drunk strangers. They caught up with Marinette’s roommates after a while and were introduced to a slew of people whose names they forgot immediately. Bette continued to insist that everyone call him KItten, but he still managed to get a few of them to call him by his new secret identity“normal human man” Adi. They even ran into Olivier at one point, but Margot quickly latched on to him to ask him several questions about the program.

They also won themselves a pair of university jackets. The first was for Marinette so he could get his shirt back, to which she staunchly refused, simply shrugging the jacket over the top of the shirt -she claimed that she would have to warm up the jacket and would be too cold until then. Adrien suspected this wasn't entirely true. He would have been annoyed if it weren't for the fact that Marinette looked really good in his clothes. So he went ahead and played several games at a dart-throwing booth for the second, and when he couldn’t manage to get it, Marinette swooped in and won it in one go.

At about Midnight Adrien was exhausted, and he noticed Marinette was trying to hide several yawns behind the over large sleeves of her jacket. He fought a responding yawn.

“You look pretty tired, are you ready to go?” He asked her, rubbing his hands up and down her arms.

“No, I’m wide awake. We should stay,” she said, forcing her eyes open wider and a too-wide smile.

“Hmm, that’s too bad,” he said thoughtfully.

“What, why?”

He pulled her closer with a hand on her waist to whisper in her ear. “I was just thinking how you should come over tonight.”

He could see the goosebumps forming on the back of her neck as she turned to see if anyone was looking. They were all too busy with their own conversations to notice how close the pair were standing. “In case you forgot, I still have unpacking to do,” she whispered back.

“Do it tomorrow.” He began to play with the hem of her blouse, his fingers occasionally brushing her warm skin, a total accident off course. She suppressed a shiver. He suppressed a grin.

“We have lunch with Alya and Nino, and you wanted me to help you pick out actual decorations for your new apartment. I’m going to be busy tomorrow,” she pouted at him.

“What better way to prep for our shopping spree than to get a good feel for the apartment.” She pursed her lips, he could tell she was considering it. Time to deal the final blow.

“Plus, it would give you a chance to try out the giant jacuzzi tub I was telling you about that you’re so jealous of. I think I even have some bath bombs you could use.” Her eyes lit up with a devilish gleam, and he realized he might have been played for a fool.

“Oh, well, I supposed I could take some time for a bath. If you insist.” He chuckled.

“Let’s say our goodbyes because I insist.”

Marinette walked over to where Margot and Bette were watching Yvonne playing a very intense drinking game. She spoke quietly in Margot’s ear, who nodded and turned to wave goodbye. He waved back, and soon they were walking the three blocks to his apartment. He dropped his arm around her waist and watched out for any paparazzi lurking in corners as they walked.

He lived in a newer building close to campus, and it was one of the few concessions his father had made the nearly year-long negotiation on when and how Adrien would be able to attend University. He like Marinette had taken a year off after lycee to work full time at Gabriel. In exchange for working on the business side of the fashion house, representing his father at meetings, and taking whatever modeling or acting job his father deemed beneficial to the brand, Adrien got to study Physics and live away from the mansion. He’d only lived in his apartment for about a week and a half and had barely spent any time in it because he was busy trying to wrap up loose ends and finish shooting the romantic comedy he’d been filming all summer. It was bigger than he needed, a two-bedroom two-bathroom penthouse, and was decorated in the same grandiose and soulless style as his room had been in the mansion, but he was already finding himself enjoying the freedom. Especially as he walked Marinette through the front door. Knowing he could have someone over without his father breathing down their neck was a relief, he could almost pretend he was a normal university student.

They had been silent for most of the walk, but it was a comfortable silence. Marinette leaned heavily into his side as they entered the elevator. Once the door closed she pulled him down into a searing kiss. His back was pressed into the wall of the elevator as he pulled her as close as he could. Her hands wandered from his torso to his neck. She pulled his hat from his head and began raking her fingers through his hair. He whined slightly when she got caught in a tangle. He could feel her smile against his lips as she lightly pulled at the hair on the back of his neck. He grunted in annoyance and bit her bottom lip, pulling with his teeth. She gasped, which sent a shock down his spine. He flipped their positions and pressed her against the wall lining his whole body against hers. Both of their breathing was ragged, and he pulled away to breathe for a second as Marinette began pressing kisses to his neck. The elevator came to a stop on his floor and they jumped apart. They looked at one another sheepishly and laughed.

His apartment was at the end of the hall. The short walk seemed a lot longer with Marinette pressed against his side, her hands under his shirt tracing circles against his stomach. He fumbled for his key nearly dropping it when her hands hooked onto the waste and of his jeans.

“Marinette, you're making this very difficult.” He hissed. He finally managed to unlock the deadbolt and moved to the main lock. He paused when Marinette let out a scandalized gasp. He looked to see her wide eyes and a shocked smile. “What?”

“You missed a pun!”

“What? No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you diiiid!” She sang. “Am I making it difficult or am I making it-“

“Oh, my g- just, ugh. It’s because you're being very distracting.” He told her indignantly. He managed to finally slide the key into the lock.

“Sorry,” she was definitely not sorry, “I’m just really excited for that bath.” She said the last part softly, her warm breath brushing softly against his neck. To accentuate her point she undid the bottom of his pants in one smooth motion. He quickly pushed open the door.

“Dear lord. Just get in the apartment before I go insane.” He pulled her in, and quickly shut the door, and pushed her against it. He kissed her deeply, running his tongue along her lower lip. She pushed his jacket off his shoulders and began pulling his shirt over his head.

“Excuse me, but can you please not do this in the front room?” A nasal voice said from over his shoulder, "Some of us would like to eat our snacks in here. Unless you WANT me to eat Camembert on your pillow.”

“Sorry, Plagg.” Marinette said sweetly against his mouth.

“Go away, Plagg.” Adrien said at the same time, still pressing kisses to Marinette's lips.

“Hey, I live here too! I heard what Nino said about respecting common areas! This is a common area!”

Adrien growled, but before he could respond Marinette was pushing him backward.

“Come on. Bedroom, now.”

They stumbled their way to his bedroom, only crashing into furniture once, both still securely attached, only pausing to lose her jacket, and both their pants. He was struggling with the hooks of her top when she finally pulled away. She reached around and finished unhooking the clasps for him. He slowly pulled it away and helped her pull the blouse she wore underneath over her head. He ran his hand over the red lines where the corset had been digging into her sides. He took a moment to look at her, the way the moonlight streaming through these windows made her eyes sparkle against her flushed skin. The soft curve of her waist.

She was beautiful, he couldn’t deny it, and with the way she was gazing at him, he was powerless to stop whatever it was they were. He leaned in slowly, his nose brushing against the skin of her cheek. He could feel her panting breath against his face. He wrapped both hands around her trim waist and tossed her squealing onto the bed. He pounced after her, pinning her to the mattress. He kissed his way from her shoulder, up her neck and back to get mouth. She smiled and tried to squirm out from underneath him.

“Okay, I’m ready for my bath now. Thanks for helping me get undressed.” She managed to wiggle her way closer to the edge of the bed before he pulled her back giggling the whole way.

“Oh, no you don’t. I have something else in mind first. “ He kissed the spot just below her ear, sucking slightly. She sighed happily, pulling him closer.

“Why don’t you show me then?” She hummed against his ear.

“Gladly”

Adrien woke to the feeling of fingers softly running across his jawline. He cracked his eyes open to a mostly dark room and Marinette's face hovering over his with a blank expression. His head was on a pillow cradled in her lap, and he watched as her eyes followed her fingers along his cheekbones and around his lips. Her touch was so gentle he almost couldn’t feel it. When after a moment she noticed that his eyes were open and her blank expression changed to one of mild embarrassment.

“Hi.” He said, voice cracking with sleep.

“Hi.”

“Whatcha doing?” He said this teasingly, grinning slightly at her chagrin.

“Um, I was meditating. It helps to have something to focus on, and you were right there, and you were sleeping so soundly you didn’t even move when I moved your head, so I thought you wouldn’t notice or mind. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable, I was almost done I promise. I won’t do it again.” She moved to take his head out of his lap, her face the same signature red he remembered from their early friendship. He grabbed her hand and brought it back to cup his cheek.

“Hey, it’s okay.” He smiled at her and turned to kiss the palm of her hand. “I didn’t know you meditate.”

She stopped trying to move, but still averted her eyes from his. “Yeah, I started a few years ago after the attacks started getting worse. I’m not great at it. I have a hard time focusing most of the time on all the projects I’m always working on, but I try to do it for like 20 minutes every day before bed. I don't really talk about it.”

“Why not?”

“I guess I’m just worried people are going to think that if they meditate then they won’t get akumatized, or that their life will get easier or better if they do it, and then have them get mad at me when it doesn’t work."

“That makes sense. It’s not true, but it makes sense.” He traced comforting circles into the back of her hand with his thumb. “Feel free to use my face anytime you need to.”

She laughed softly and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Good to know.” She paused and in a quiet voice, she murmured “Thank you. I’m sorry I woke you up.”

“You’re more than welcome, Princess. Besides, if anything it’s a good thing. I need to wash my face, or my dermatologist is going to have a heart attack. Can’t have this perfect face breaking out.” He stretched and took a peek at the windows. It still seemed like night, but it had to be quite late. “What time is it?”

“A little after 3.” He looked up at her in mild shock. “I thought you were exhausted. How are you still awake?”

“Who says I didn’t fall asleep in the bath?” She gave him a shrewd smile, and he took notice of the loose wet hairs around the back of her neck and framing her face. “Those jets lulled me right to sleep. I think I might just be in love. If you ever move I’ll never speak to you again.”

“Good to know. I’m glad it was everything you dreamt of.” It was at this point that he realized that she was wearing his clothes, a t-shirt, and a pair of boxers he never wore. He sat up to give her a pointed look. “I see you also had fun raiding my closet.”

Her smile widened. “Well, what did you expect me to do?” She batted her eyes innocently, “Sleep in my birthday suit when there was a whole drawer of perfectly good shirts right there begging me to wear them?”

“No, no. You’re right.” He leaned in until they were nose to nose, fighting a smile. “Although, I wouldn’t have minded the birthday suit.” He darted forward to press a quick kiss to her lips before jumping away. She scoffed indignantly and threw the pillow at him, which he easily dodged on his way to the bathroom.

“That’s right, go do your 20 step skincare routine like the coward you are, monsieur Model! I’m going to sleep.” She called after him. He chuckled and quickly went through his annoyingly extensive skincare routine, brushed his teeth, and put on a pair of pajama pants.

True to her word Marinette was well on her way to dreamland when he finished. She grumbled as he crawled in beside her, but flipped onto her other side to press her face into his collarbone. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, breathing in the soft floral smell of the bath bomb she’d used. He signed and relaxed into the mattress.

He was definitely going to lose.

Chapter Text

Every good game starts long before anyone makes a single move. The dance of a rivalry, an invitation, the setup, all important to the tone of a match between two opposing forces. There are stakes there, there is tension because they have years of built-up interactions to account for.

Love stories, and specifically a relationship akin to our two lovers, is no different. The best romantic tales are rich with interactions, history, and missteps on both sides. Romeo and Juliet, the most well-known love story in western culture, is fraught with history and hardship, and background built long before the first move is made. All Love stories begin with the smallest choices. They begin with turning left when one would normally go forward, or arriving at a party one might have stayed home for. Perhaps they began long before that. If one person had not said this or that to another, then perhaps they would never have found themselves on that crossroad. They say history spins on small hinges, and every good love story has to begin somewhere.

Perhaps Marinette and Adrien’s love story truly began the moment Gabriel chose to become Hawkmoth, or perhaps even further back when he met and married Adrien’s mother. That moment led to the unfortunate circumstances with Emilie’s coma and thus becoming Hawkmoth. However, that’s beside the point is it not? Because the true moment the love between Adrien and Marinette began much later. On a balcony in the evening where two lovesick teens bore their hearts to one another and came to understand each other in a better way. This moment was merely the earliest stage, the dance leading to an invitation. The invitation begins thusly.

May, One Year Ago

It’s a hot day in Paris, certainly too hot to wear a black leather catsuit, and Chat Noir is wilting. The sun should be setting soon, but for now, the sun is beating into him, and the Akuma just won’t go down. Adrien was supposed to be studying for his final exams. Instead, he watches as Ladybug stares in confusion at a shiny polka-dotted key chain. He can see her fatigue is making her sluggish. He knows she needs time, but the Akuma is coming at them with the full force of their radiating ‘heatwave.’ The Akuma was too hot to engage with in close combat, so distraction was Chat Noir’s best tool. He jumped from his lady’s side towards a nearby fire hydrant, destroying it with a quick call of his cataclysm. The red metal gave way to black dust and water began to gush from the ground. The Akuma flinched away from the urban geyser keeping his eye on the water inching closer to them. Chat Noir saw Ladybug sit up straighter, and he swore her eyes began to sparkle like the magical anime girl he knew she was.

She dashed over to a nearby shop and grabbed several bottles of beer. He grinned and began using the baton to try to splash the Akuma from a distance. They began to back away from the water.

“Well, Helios don't you know the best way to beat the heat is a nice swim? Come on, the water feels great!” He yelled.

“No! No more swimming! I need a break.” Helios yelled, a new and disgruntled lifeguard.

“Yeah, Chat everyone knows you just need to open a cold one with the boys!” Ladybug yelled as she opened one of the bottles with her lucky charm keychain and used the bottom of the other bottle to tap the opening. The beer began to shoot out, and Ladybug used her thumb to spray the Akuma in the face as they turned around at the sound of her voice. Startled Helios began stumbling backward, and Chat took the opportunity to slide through the water and kick the Akuma's legs out from under them. Ladybug snatched the lifeguard float that the Akuma dropped and began tearing at the vinyl plastic cover. A small black butterfly began to flutter away, but Ladybug quickly caught it, purified it, and tossed her lucky charm in the air to fix the damage done by the Akuma.

Ladybug and Chat quickly settled the poor victim down. Chat insisted that he be the one to take them home. Neither Superhero had beeping timers after turning 17 this year, so they often took turns helping victims after they got de-akumatized. A small part of Chat Noir was taking a long cold bath and several sugar-free popsicles, that part was sadly only in his mind. He set the person up at their front door and began the long journey home, stopping occasionally in a cool shadow. The cool rush of water from the fight had managed to cool him down slightly, but that had all gone back to the pipes once the miraculous cure was completed.

During one of these breaks, he heard a voice calling his name. He looked around to find an exhausted and sweaty Marinette waving to him from her balcony. He smiled widely. He hadn’t seen his friend in months. He and NIno had ended up in the same lycee, but Marinette and Alya hadn’t. Alya’s parents had found a better apartment further from the city center, and Marinette was on the other side of the boundary separating her from the same Lycee. After Alya moved, she and Nino had broken up.

He never fully understood the exact reasons behind it. Nino had said something about ‘long distance’, it was a ‘40 minute train ride one way', and needing to be ‘young and single’, all of which seemed like a petty excuse to him. After that, it became harder to hang out with Marinette, even when he did have the time. He didn’t realize how much he had relied on Alya and Nino's relationship to spend time with one of his favorite people until it became too awkward to try forging their own bond separate from their friends. He now only rarely saw her, and often it was during an Akuma attack as Chat Noir.

However, here was a perfect time to just spend a few minutes resting in the shade of her canopy and catching up with a friend. And by the looks of it, she had a jug of cool water tempting him further. He vaulted over and landed on her railing in a crouch.

“Well, Princess! It’s been absolute ages! What can I do for you on this blisteringly hot day?” He said, crawling off the railing and posing theatrically against it. She smiled and rolled her eyes.

“I noticed you looked hot-”

“As usual,” He quipped quickly, kissing his biceps and smirking before she could continue. She scowled but chose to ignore him,

“and I thought you might like something to cool you down.” She pointed towards the jug of water, and he noticed a small cooler under the table she had set up as well.

“Well, if you don’t mind the company…” he said slowly, eyeing the condensation on the outside of the pitcher.

“Of course! Sit down. Have a glass.”

“Thank you,” he said appreciatively as he sat under the shade and picked up the pitcher. He could hear ice swirling around in there. He poured a glass and quickly drank it, the cold water biting his tongue. He quickly poured another. “Why are you out here with all this stuff? Wouldn’t it be cooler inside where there isn’t any sun?”

“Maybe in a normal house, but during the day when the ovens are all on in the bakery, it’s a sauna. Papa bought a little window cooler for the living room but we don’t turn it on until the ovens are off for the day. It’s a waste of energy otherwise. So I sit out here with ice water and popsicles to work on homework on hot days.” she shrugged and flipped the page of a textbook she wasn’t really looking at.

“What about you?” She asked, taking her eyes off her book for just a second to look him up and down, then quickly looking back at the text. “Why are you still out? I thought the Akuma ended like 15 minutes ago.”

“It did. But the gentleman who was akumatized lives pretty far away, and I didn’t want him to have to walk all that way, so I took him. I stopped to sit in the shade on my way back. It’s hot walking around in all black. It’s a magical suit, but somehow it doesn’t come with air conditioning.” He said this last bit sarcastically. He had talked to Plagg about it a few years ago, and the suit was quite breathable for how thick and sturdy it was. The problem wasn’t his suit really, it was the boy in the suit overheating and there was little Plagg could do about it.

She scowled, not taking her eyes off the page. “Why didn't you ask Ladybug to do it? You should have gone home and cooled down.”

“I know.” He traced patterns into the condensation on his cup. He could see her dark hair through the glass. He watched the way the slight breeze blew through her bangs. “I just like being out of my house.” He hadn’t meant to say it. It probably sounded pathetic. Marinette didn’t seem to pay any mind to it though. She merely hummed in acknowledgment and scribbled something down in a notebook.
“Well, feel free to be out of your house here. I’m just studying for my history exam.”

“When’s your exam?”

“Next week, it’s my last one, and the one I've studied for the least.”

“Are you excited to graduate?”

“Yes, and no.” She reached into the little cooler and pulled out a popsicle, offering it to him silently.

“Nervous about university?” He asked as he unwrapped the popsicle. He wasn’t looking at her so he couldn't see the sadness in her face, but he did hear her sigh defeatedly. He looked at her curiously as he took a bite of his treat.

“Not exactly.” She said, rubbing her arm nervously. “I’m not going.”

He nearly choked on his popsicle, “What? Why not?”

“I have things I need to do. I’m taking a year or two off. Once I'm finished I’ll go.”

“What are these all-important ‘things’?” She shifted nervously and flipped another page. He wasn’t sure she was actually reading anything with the way her eyes darted around the page. “Just some projects I wanted to get finished, saving money, stuff like that.”

She seemed to not want to talk about it, but he wanted to stay and talk to his friend but wasn’t quite sure how to proceed. Thankfully, she asked him a question from her textbook, and they spent several minutes chatting amiably as he helped her study {with only slight distractions}. His heart felt extraordinarily light as she hugged him goodbye. Marinette quickly let go, face red, and began apologizing.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hug you. It’s just a habit for me to hug my friend goodbye when she leaves, and I must have just gone based on habit. That was weird, I’m so sorry.-”

"It’s fine,” He said, cutting her off. He smiled. “Thanks for helping this Chat keep his cool.”

She rolled her eyes as he stepped onto the railing of her balcony to dash away. “If you stop by enough you might actually become a cool Chat.”

He gasped dramatically, “Princess, such cutting remarks, they hurt! I think I’m feeling faint!” He brought the back of his hand to his forehead and dropped backward off her balcony. He expected her to gasp or call his name, but when he flipped and launched himself away with his baton he looked to see a very unimpressed Marinette shaking her head as he leapt away.

He ran quickly back to his house, and slipped through the window, and quickly transformed. The quiet of his room was quickly filled with the loud grumbling of his very annoyed Kwami.

“I can’t believe you made me stay transformed in that heat just to talk to your girlfriend.” He grumbled loudly from inside his cheese cabinet. “She’s not my girlfriend!” Adrien shouted back indignantly.

“I haven’t seen her in ages and we’re friends! I’m allowed to say hi to my friends.”

“Why couldn’t you say hi to her as Adrien? Trying to impress her with your superhero persona? News flash, she’s not that impressed.”

“She was the one who waved me down.”

“And you’re the one who stayed for over an hour when you should have been studying.” Adrien knew Plagg was partially right. He should have been studying, and he’d stayed longer than he should have, but he forgot how nice it was to talk to Marinette. She was funny and kind and had excellent taste in tv, books, music, you name it.

Adrien rubbed his face and sighed. He was still too hot. There was no way he would get any real studying done until he stayed in a very cool bath for twenty minutes. He checked the time and realized he’d have to study later that night because his language tutor would be there in 30 minutes. Adrien stripped and started filling the bath. He resolved to figure out a way to talk to Marinette as Adrien sometime soon.

The rest of his week was long and packed with schoolwork, extra lessons, photoshoots, and the ever-present Akuma attacks. Saturday morning and afternoon were filled with the normal activities, but he had somehow managed to convince his father to let him have the evening off for a sleepover at Nino’s house. He was quickly grabbing a few necessities and putting them into his bag while trying to keep Plagg from packing his whole stash of stinky cheese when he heard a knock on his door. Plagg hid, and Adrien cautiously opened his door, disappointment sitting heavily in his chest. It had to be his father changing his mind about letting him go. Adrien sighed when he saw that it was indeed his father on the other side of the door looking as nonplussed as ever.

“Yes, Father?” He asked, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

“Adrien, I wanted to speak to you about university.” Gabriel stepped into Adrien’s room, forcing his son to take several steps back.

“University?” He asked, suddenly confused. “What about it? I applied to all the ones you asked me to and got into the best one in Paris. What else do we need to talk about?”

“Plenty.” Gabriel pulled a packet from behind his back, handing it to Adrien. He continued into the room, only sparing a quick glance at the half-packed bag on the bed, and settling himself on the couch.

Adrien looked at the packet, noticing it was a welcome booklet for the university, as well as what looked like a movie script and several different spreadsheets and contracts. Adrien joined his father on the couch and began flipping through the university booklet. He noticed a second smaller booklet wedged in its pages. It was for the physics program. His heart dropped.

“I thought we agreed that you would be studying business so you could work for Gabriel once you graduate. I did not consent to send you to the top university in Paris to study Physics.” He spat the last word out like a swear word.

Adrien’s hands were trembling. “I never said I wanted-”

“This isn’t about what you want. It’s about what's best for you.” Gabriel was very obviously restraining himself and failing.

“Being a physicist is a good career, Father. It’s something that pays well, and I enjoy it.”

Gabriel scoffed and stood abruptly causing Adrien to jump slightly. Adrien was not afraid of his father hurting him (though he definitely should be), but after years of fighting for his life, sudden movements triggered his superhero fight-or-flight instincts. He had to physically restrain himself from putting space between himself and his pacing father. “What do you know about a good career? You have one laid at your feet, one that will not only pays you well but keep you amongst the highest circle of society! Instead, you want to debase yourself with a career where you spend your free time locked in a lab begging for the funding you need to complete useless experiments.” Gabriel took a deep breath, visibly clenching his hands and jaw. “You will be studying business. I already have several important projects you are to work on during the year, and I’ve spoken to the business professors who are willing to let you attend remotely so you can take part in them.”

“Father, please!” He sounded like a child with his voice threatening to crack, not an adult who should be allowed to make his own decisions. “I want to study physics. I know it’s not what you imagined I would do with my life, but I’m an adult. Shouldn’t I have some say in my own future?”

“Your brain hasn’t even finished forming, you're barely an adult. You’ve never lived on your own, you don’t have any real-world skills. I suggest you don’t test me on this. You wouldn’t last long on your own.”

Adrien felt anger pooling in his chest. “Are you saying that if I don’t study Business and work for your company you’d kick me out?”

Gabriel didn’t say anything but gave him an emotionless look that said it all. Adrien suddenly couldn’t take it anymore. He stormed over to his half-packed bag and shoved the remaining things he’d packed into it. He then pushed several more things from his desk and closet into the top.

“What are you doing?” His father said in a warning tone.

“Exactly what you want me to do.” He said bitterly. “Leaving.”

He slammed the door behind him as he angrily pushed past a weakly protesting Natalie. He saw Gorilla on his way out the door, but his bodyguard made no move to stop him. He half walked, half jogged about a block and a half before he realized he’d gone in the wrong direction. He refused to turn around and risk his father seeing him walking past the house. He ducked into an alleyway and checked the inner pocket of his shirt for Plagg.

“Kid, I understand you’re upset. I’m about a second away from doing something Tikki will yell at me for, but you need to think this through. Where are you going to live? What are you going to do for money, how-”

“I don’t know and right now I don’t care.” he interrupted. Plagg opened his mouth to ask more questions Adrien really didn’t want to talk about, so he quickly called his transformation, and began bounding across rooftops. He made it to Nino’s apartment building in less than half the time he would have if he had been driven by his bodyguard, so he spent several minutes pacing a few buildings over working on the grounding exercises he’d looked up on the internet. Once he was calm enough to thoroughly suppress any negative emotion he was feeling, Adrien jumped down into an alley and called off his transformation, and began running before Plagg could start talking again.

“AAADRIEEEN! Get back here!” he heard his kwami call after him.

“No!!” He pushed the buzzer several times, hoping that Nino was close by. He was buzzed in almost immediately and was once again on the move, skipping the elevator and running up the stairs.

“Adrien, I’m just as fast as you! I can fly. The counselor lady at school would be very upset that you’re avoiding your problem instead of talking it out.”

Adrien was slightly out of breath but was almost there. “I don’t have to outrun you. I just have to get to Nino’s. Also, I doubt I’ll be seeing her for a while after today, so she can’t be upset with me.”

He burst into the hallway and sprinted the last few feet to Nino’s door. Thankfully it was unlocked, and Plagg was no longer able to try to make Adrien think about the fight he’d just had with his father. In all honesty, Plagg was right. Adrien knew it, and it was especially concerning that Plagg actually wanted to talk about it. Plagg wasn’t exactly a big fan of talking through Adrien’s problems, so when he made the effort to do so it was always a really big deal.

Which was exactly why Adrien did not want to talk about it.

Adrien was glad to be back in Nino’s small apartment. It was small, cramped, and filled with clutter, but clean and warm. He saw Chris and Nino Playing a game of Mario Kart on the couch, but was much more interested in Mrs. Lahiffe taking her signature Moroccan Chicken pie out of the oven.

“Hey, dude! You’re here early! I thought for sure the old dungeon master would keep you home for a lot longer.”

Adrien grimaced slightly at the mention of his father, but quickly schooled his features to a more pleasant expression. “Who says I didn’t just sneak out? You know you can’t keep me pinned for very long!”

“Well, we’re very glad you could come, dear.” Mrs. Lahiffe said as Nino hooted at the game from the living room. “Would you mind helping me set the table? You know my crazy boys won’t help until their race finishes.”

“Of course!”

She handed him plates, and silverware, and brought the cups over to the small table that had been shoehorned into the small space between the living room and kitchen. He set four places on the table as Mrs. Lahiffe began bringing over dishes overflowing with food. This was his favorite part of staying at Nino’s; hearing Nino and Chris bickering in the background while their mother lovingly set out dinner, humming a song he had only heard her sing. He felt like a part of their family, like he was wanted, rather than a guest actor acting on a stage too large to feel like home. He had to fight the moisture in his eyes, trying very hard not to think about the spectacle he’d left his house in.

He felt a soft hand on his elbow and saw the woman he considered a second mother looking at him with a soft warmth that made his heart constrict. He smiled tightly at her, and she pulled him in for a tight hug. He had to bend slightly to hug her back. He hadn’t had to do that the first time he met her, but he’d grown so much in the last year that he was taller than all of the women in his life. He wondered what it would be like to hug his own mother now that he was this tall. Would it feel foreign, like hugging a stranger? Or would he be able to sink into her arms and feel like the naive and unburdened child he’d been?

Adrien quickly pushed that thought away and hugged Mrs. Lahiffe tighter.

“Hey, quit trying to steal my mom away, dude!” Chris pushed lightly on Adrien’s hip. Adrien let go and wiggled his eyebrows at the boy to hide his internal distress.

“Too late! She’s my mom now! Maybe if you’d appreciated her more it wouldn’t have been so easy.” He joked, picking Chris up and slinging him over his shoulder. Chris squealed, squirming to get out of Adrien’s grasp.

“Oh, no Chris! You’ve done it now!” Nino laughed as he sat at the table. “Adrien’s going to put you outside in the dumpster and steal your room!”

“No!”

“Mrs. Lahiffe, I’m just going to take the trash out to the chute. I’ll be right back!” Adrien joked, adjusting his grip on the very squirmy 10-year-old as he walked toward the front door.

“That’s fine, dear. Just make sure you wash your hands after!” She called after him.

“NOOO!!!” Chris cried. It was getting harder to keep him in place because Adrien was laughing too hard. He made it to the door before Chris managed to slip out of his grasp. When Adrien took one of his hands off the back of Chris’ knees to turn the knob, Chris bucked and crashed to the floor and landed on his butt. He quickly scrambled up before Adrien could grab him again, and hid behind his mother. He was glaring at Adrien from behind his mother as he rubbed his sore bottom.

“Adrien, that’s disgraceful! You dropped the garbage all over the floor.” Nino said, fighting a smile as he dished food onto his plate.

“Darn it! I guess I’ll have to do it after dinner then.” He replied, sitting down at the table. He reached for the spoon for the vegetables when Mrs. Lahiffe slapped his and Nino’s hands away.

“Wash your hands! I know for a fact that Chris’ clothes are not clean, and those controllers are filthy!” All three boys quickly jumped to wash their hands. After all hands had been washed, everyone tucked into dinner. They all chatted happily about school and work. Adrien ate way too much and laughed hard enough to make his sides hurt, but he found himself a little sad as they cleaned up dinner. Mrs. Lahiffe asked Nino what the boys were planning on doing for the rest of the evening.

“Well, I was talking to Clara this morning, and she said that Alexandre was having an end-of-year party at his house tonight. Would it be alright if we went?”

“What kind of party?” She asked as she handed him a clean plate to dry. “Just a small one at his house to celebrate graduation. She said only a handful of people are going to be there.”

“Why didn’t I hear about this party?” Adrien asked as he put the leftovers into dishes. “Because it’s small and everyone knew if your old man caught wind of it he wouldn’t let you leave the house at all this weekend.”

Adrien scowled but nodded in understanding, Turing away so they couldn’t see his face.

“How late and how drunk are you planning to come home tonight?” Mrs. Lahiffe said sternly.

“That depends, how late are you planning on staying up to wait for us?” Nino said, walking a fine line between cheeky and cautious.

His mother put the dishes she was washing back in the sink and pointed a long soapy finger at Nino. Nino attempted a smile but it came out too wide and forced to be comforting like he probably wanted. “I am your mother. I will stay up the whole night if I have to to make sure my boys are safe. So how late and how drunk are you planning on coming home.”

“Before two and not very?” Nino said nervously.

“If it helps, ma’am, I don’t drink at parties so I’ll make sure he comes back safe,” Adrien interjected.

Mrs. Lahiffe's expression softened, and she stepped forward and placed a still-wet hand on his cheek.

“You are a good boy, Adrien. You deserve to have fun.” She sighed and returned to washing dishes. “I suppose you are both adults now, and I can’t really stop you.”

Nino cheered.

“But you must listen to Adrien! If he tells you to leave or to stop, you do it!”

“You’re making him my babysitter?”

“Yes! Because you are a baby! My baby! And he is too responsible for his age. So make sure he has fun! But not too much fun. He is my baby too.”

Oh, great. Here come the waterworks. He thought as he tried to discreetly wipe the excess moisture from his eyes.

Nino let out a loud whoop and began running to his room to gather his things. His mother quickly called him back to help finish cleaning up dinner.

The party was in full swing by the time they got there. Adrien stuck close to Nino’s side as he walked from one group to another. He had plenty of friends at the party but always felt more comfortable with his best friend by his side. It was not a “small” party. There were several dozen people Adrien had never met hanging around the house and small shared courtyard. He knew most of them were looking at him and most likely recognized him, how could they not when his face was plastered all over Paris? He wished he’d brought a disguise, though nothing short of actual magic would probably help him. Plenty of very lovely girls and a few boys tried to come to talk to him if they thought he wasn’t engaged in the conversion of whatever group he was in.

The conversation went one of two ways every time. They would come up, and say, “Hey, sorry! Do I know you?” or “Hey, pretty boy. Do you want to ditch this party and talk somewhere else?”

He would always respond with a polite, “No, I don’t think so.”

Then they would likely try to introduce themselves, and the more forward would say something wholly inappropriate, and the more sly ones would slip a little innuendo into the conversation. He would get wildly uncomfortable and would find an excuse to tap Nino into the conversation. Nino was a godsend in these conversations. With his years of DJing, he had learned the art of smooth-talking. He still used the word dude too often, but it usually worked in his favor.

The only problem with passing fawning girls off on Nino is that occasionally he would really hit it off with one of them. They would laugh and talk about things that Adrien had never been able to get them to talk about. It made him a little sad to see them be so open and interesting with someone else. They were often too busy trying to make a good impression on someone famous to be a real person.

It happened after about an hour this time, pretty quick for a party of this size, but Nino was a little drunker and a lot more smooth than usual. He left to go get a drink with his new friend Daliah and Adrien was left standing against a wall chatting with a couple of people from one of his science classes. They were talking about the programs they’d been accepted into, some getting coveted spots in the best schools in Europe. As they all talked more about their plans for life after graduation his gut twisted more and more. It got to the point where he felt like he might throw up, so he excused himself. He wandered around the slightly too dark living room looking for Nino amongst the chatting groups, and the few couples making out in corners. He was about to move to the kitchen when a loud commotion from the front door drew his eye.

“NETTIE! You made it!” Adrien saw the host, Alexandre pulling a dark-haired girl in for a tight hug. He smiled wistfully. He then noticed the brunette standing behind the first girl and felt like shouting himself.

“ALYA!” he began pushing toward her as she began looking around for the source of her name. Her face lit up when she spotted him.

“Marinette! Look, it's our second favorite blonde!” She grabbed the shoulder of the girl currently being crushed by Alexandre, prying her away to reveal Marinette. Adrien quickly scooped both girls into a hug.

“I can’t believe you’re both here! It's been forever!”

“I know! I’ve missed everyone!” Alya said excitedly as they untangled themselves from their group hug. “It’s been ages since I’ve been able to make it over here for anything other than an Akuma attack, and that’s even pretty rare these days.”

Marinette rolled her eyes at Alya’s pout and shoved her face playfully. “Yeah, and it’s been ages since I’ve had a panic attack about you getting hurt in the process.”

“Adrien! Tell Marinette that I do important work for Paris by reporting on the action and that I’m always fine!”

“Well….” He thought back to all the times Alya got in the way, or purposefully put herself in danger (without the fox miraculous, of course), “Seeing as I'm only your SECOND favorite blonde, I’m going to have to side with Marinette on this one.”

“Haha! Suck it, Alya.” Marinette stuck her tongue out, and pulled Adrien in for another side hug, “It’s two against one, you have to stay safe and out of the way, that’s the rule.” Adrien laughed at the pure betrayal on Alya’s face. He squeezed her closer to his side briefly before she let him go.

“Wait, Nettie. You know Adrien?” Alexandre chimed in. Adrien was so happy to see his old friends he honestly forgot Alexandre was there, and now he’d butted into the conversation. Adrien kind of wanted to just push him away. Was it so wrong that he wanted to talk to two of his best friends for a few minutes without interruptions?

“Yeah, I do. We’ve been friends for a while now. We actually worked on that movie project I was telling you about the other day when we were at the bakery.” Marinette quickly explained. “But I haven’t seen him in ages.”

“Yeah. He abandoned us to the wolves, and now we only get to see his face on billboards.” Alya had her arm wrapped around his waist and was hugging him affectionately. He returned the gesture and laid his cheek against Alya’s head. He missed how affectionate Alya could be and was happy to bask in it.

“Uh, if I recall correctly you’re the one who moved, so if anyone was abandoned it was ME.” He said.

“NOPE. I was abandoned. You should have used your influence to get my parents not to move across town. Or snuck me into your giant house to be your live-in maid so I could stay.” She responded.

“Apologies. I can’t believe I was so selfish.”

“Oh, no. How will she ever forgive you?” Marinette said dramatically, their head back and resting the back of her hand on her forehead. Alexandre took the opportunity of Marinette stepping away from Adrien to wrap his arm around the small of Marinette's back. This move was annoying, and a little possessive. Adrien was bothered by it for some reason. Probably just because it was a weird thing to do in a group setting. Definitely that.

“I don’t think I can,” Alya replied, mimicking Marinette’s impression of a swooning old-fashioned Hollywood actress, and taking it a step further by pretending to fall into Marinette’s arms. “I’m too weak from this betrayal for forgiveness.”

“If the lady is weak, then perhaps the fine snacks and drinks provided for partygoers will give her strength to consider it. You must be famished from your long train ride.” Alya pretended to think about it for a moment, then jumped up from Marinette’s arms.

“Apology accepted, on the condition that there are some good snacks and decent drinks.”

Adrien laughed and turned to Marinette. “Do you want me to bring you back anything? Or would you also like an escort to the snacks?”

“I can grab her something. Don’t worry about it.” Alexandre interjected before Marinette had a chance to respond.

“No, it’s okay Alexandre. I’ll go with them. I thought I saw Kai going into the kitchen and I needed to talk to her about something for my maman anyway. Besides, it looks like you guys were about to leave.” Marinette smiled kindly at him as she stepped away. She looked pointedly at the small group of boys waiting by the door, looking at him expectantly. He looked slightly put out by this development but tried to play it cool.

“Oh, that’s cool. We were just going to get some ice cream from the store and maybe get a movie to watch later when the party dies down before the stores close for the night.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “That sounds wonderful!” Marinette said happily.

“Oh, pick a good one! Nothing too sappy!” Alya said as she began pulling at Marinette and Adrien's arms. Alexandre waved pitifully as they backed away. Adrien almost found the compassion to feel a little sorry for the dude. He’d seen it plenty of times with other classmates. Marinette was an easy girl to like, with her big blue eyes, and dark black hair that contrasted beautifully against her porcelain skin. If Ladybug hadn’t come crashing into his life, Adrien would probably have been one of the dozen smitten teens vying for her attention in College. He shook those thoughts from his head and focused on his two friends as they chatted on their way to the kitchen. Alya immediately dived into the snacks and poured herself a drink.

“Do you want anything, Marinette?” Adrien asked.

“Hmm. I’m a little thirsty, do they have some juice?”

“They have cranberry juice. I could make you a vodka Cranberry. I'm very good at those.” Alya said, coyly.

“It’s literally the easiest cocktail, of course, you can make it. But no. I don’t want to drink tonight. Not with Alexandre here.” The last part of her sentence caught his attention and made his gut twist with sudden anxiety. “Why not with Alexandre here? Do you think he’d try something?” Alya asked. Adrien edged closer and kept an eye out. He knew Alexandre wasn’t there anymore, but he suddenly felt extremely wary.

“No, nothing like that. He’s always been a perfect gentleman. He just likes to talk a lot, and there are a lot of things I would rather he not talk to me about right now, and I don’t know if being drunk will help with that.”

“It might. You don’t know until you try! Come on! I've never seen Drunk Mari, and I just know she would be so much fun!”

“I'm sure she would be, not tonight though.”

“I think I saw some lemon soda in the fridge earlier. Let me get some for you.” Adrien said, stepping between the two girls.

“Thank you, Adrien. What a good friend, listening to what I want.” Marinette said pointedly.

Alya grumbled something into her drink that Adrien couldn’t quite catch. After all three of them had gotten a drink and Alya had grabbed a plastic bowl and filled it with several types of snacks they made their way to the backyard and sat on a few free lawn chairs in the back. They all chatted happily about school and exams. Alya was in the middle of telling a very interesting story about someone getting locked in the janitor's closet while trying to play a prank on the principal when Nino finally made a reappearance. He was walking arm in arm with the girl he had saved Adrien from earlier. They were walking towards a dark corner, and she was being very handsy. The sight made Alya stop her story mid-word.

Marinette quickly jumped up and tried to pull Alya up from her chair. “Hey, how about we go inside for a bit? Maybe I’ll let you make me that Vodka Cranberry after all.”

Alya tried to wave her away, “It’s fine. I’m happy for him. He was the one who didn’t want to break up in the first place, I'm glad he found someone.” She turned to Adrien, “How long have they been dating? She seems lovely, I hope she’s nice because he's a great dude and he deserves someone nice, and- yeah.”

“Well… I don't really know, I’m sure she's nice, but they aren't dating. They met like two hours ago,” he probably shouldn't have said that.

“Oh,” was all Alya managed to say to that. She was staring intently at her drink and biting her lip. She took several deep breaths. “I'm going to go refill my drink. Do you guys want anything?”

“Alya, we can all go inside. We don't have to sit out here anymore if you are upset. I can even take you back to the bakery if you want.” “Seriously Marinette. I’m fine. I just need a minute to breathe. I'll be back in just a few minutes.” Marinette backed away, still looking skeptical as Alya went back into the house.

She huffed and sat back in her chair, a crease forming between her eyebrows.

“Sick of the whole break-up drama, too?” He asked “Ugh, yes! She’s being weird about it, and won’t tell me what happened.”

“Nino’s the exact same way! I know he misses her like crazy, not that you’d notice after that display. He gives me some lame excuse why they broke up, looks into the distance like a dramatic soap opera character, and then changes the subject.”

“Right? She is seriously weird about it. ‘It’s just too far, We’re too different, It’s what we both wanted, I don’t need to date the same dude my whole life, I need to branch out.’ Blah, blah blah blah. It’s all a bunch of bull if you ask me.”

They both sighed and sunk deeper into their chairs. Adrien kept sending mildly concerned glances to where he could see Nino and the girl standing very close together, and back toward the door hoping Alya wouldn’t come back quickly.

“She still loves him, you know,” Marinette said pensively.

“He definitely feels the same.”

“Ugh, I just wish they would get over whatever their problem is and get back together, they would be so much happier. I would be so much happier not having to hear about every little thing Nino used to do when they were dating.”

“Cheers to that.” He extended his cup and Marinette lightly bumped the cups against his. He sighed heavily. “They just need a little push. It doesn’t help that they never run into each other in settings where they have to interact. Then maybe they’ll get talking and realize that they were perfect for each other.”

Marinette froze and looked at him with a hint of mania sparkling in her big blue eyes. “Well, maybe a little push can be arranged.” Her smile was wide, devious, and a little frightening.

“What do you mean?”

She leaned forward practically buzzing with excitement. “I’m her best friend, and you're his best friend, so we have a lot of influence on where they go and when. Alya is always at the bakery, and she’s going to be over at my house basically the whole summer. My parents have even made up the spare room for her because she has an internship at Nadia Chamack’s news station and needs to be nearby for work. Nino will probably be so excited that you are able to hang out with him. He'd got just about anywhere. We can orchestrate a run-in whenever we need to.” She grabbed his arm and shook him excitedly. “THINK OF THE POSSIBILITIES!!!”

He laughed at her manic excitement. “Okay! Okay. We can try, I would certainly love to get them back together,” He stopped. The argument he’d just had with his father rang painfully through his ears, causing him to slump. “But who says I’ll be available?”

“Pfft. We’ll work around any crazy schedule you have.” She waved him off. “Plus, you’re an adult. You have money, you can get a job. You don’t have to do everything your father wants you to. He just thinks he has leverage on you because he always has. We can figure something out.”

“Yeah, but he’s my father and despite his faults, I do love him. I don’t want to drive a wedge between us more than there already is. Although, That ship might have already sailed anyway.”

There was a moment of tense silence where Adrien was very pointedly NOT looking at Marinette and regretting saying too much about the very thing he did not want to talk about right now. He could feel Marinette’s intense gaze on him, and he wondered when she got so bold around him. It felt like she could see right through him. All she had to do was poke and the facade he had built out of balsa wood, denial, and bits of chewed-up ego would crumble, revealing the sad 13-year-old who missed his mama underneath. He honestly wasn’t sure if he could handle Marinette seeing him like that, so he reinforced the walls with pure avoidance.

Unfortunately for him, Marinette could tell he was hiding something. She lifted up her chair and placed it so she was facing him, and gently took one of his hands from their death grip around his cup.

“Did you two have a fight? Did he do something?”

Adrien’s throat was tight, easily blocking his automatic denial from slipping between his lips.

“Adrien, look. You don’t have to tell me. I know I haven’t been around all that often, so I don’t know what’s been going on, but it might help to talk about it with someone else.”

He could feel Plagg patting him encouragingly through the pocket of his shirt. He swallowed, and took a couple of deep breaths, focusing on Marinette’s hand massaging his palm while she waited.

“Ye-” his voice was dry and cracked. He hated how broken that one syllable sounded to his ears. He cleared his throat. “Yeah. We fought before I left for Nino’s.”

“About?” She continued to rub his palm and the repetitive motion soothed his aching heart.

“School. He wants me to go for business and work for the company the whole time, and I-” He suddenly felt silly, but the burning in his eyes made it very hard for him to see anything. He quickly rubbed his eyes.

“And you don’t.” Marinette finished for him. He simply nodded. “What do you want to do? I know you always really like science, maybe chemistry or physics. Something like that?”

The surprise at her remembering what kind of classes he liked shocked the building tears back just enough for him to see her clear blue eyes piercing into him. She looked so concerned and so open and kind, it sent a stab through his heart.

“Yeah, Physics. Apparently, that’s not good enough for an Agrest though. I’m going to spend the rest of my life ‘begging for funding’ from people who are actually ‘successful,’ like a vagabond, according to my father.”

“That’s bullshit.”

He laughed at her blunt phrasing.

“No seriously, Adrien, that’s a bunch of shit, and he knows it. First of all, plenty of people make lots of money with physics degrees, and they don’t necessarily have to work at universities. Second, you probably have enough money to still be in upper society no matter what you do for work, and having an advanced degree in something other than a business makes you seem fancier, like with that American actress with a Ph.D. in Neurobiology. And third!” She punctuated her sentence by shoving her first three fingers into his face, finally breaking him fully from his gloom. “You could probably do both. You’re smart enough, and,” She leaned in conspiratorially, “Business degrees aren’t that hard. My dad went back to school part-time when I was a kid to help learn how to run the bakery better, and he said he already knew most of the things they taught.”

He found himself smiling at the mischievous twinkle in her eye. “You seem to have thought about this a lot, how about you go talk to my father for me?”

“Don’t ask me like you think I won’t. Who was the one who got him to let you go to New York? That’s right, me, so tread lightly my friend.”

“That was really cool. It’s too bad Hawkmoth ruined it,” he sighed.

“Yeah, screw him. And screw your father.” Hearing her say that sent an uncomfortable prickling sensation across his skin. He tried not to let it show, but his face must have given him away. She looked away guiltily. “Sorry, that was rude. True, but rude, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, It’s okay. It probably looks really bad to other people, but I know he’s just trying to do what’s best for me.”’

“Yeah, but what he thinks is best for you might not be right. You should be happy. You deserve to be happy. Also, you deserve to have enough time to help me manipulate our friends into getting back together for our own sanity. It’s for the greater good.”

“Hmm, I don’t know if he’ll consider helping Nino and Alya get their act together a part of the greater good. I could be doing fragrance commercials instead, and that is invaluable.” He joked.

“He will understand, he has to!!! This is a matter of life or death!” She draped herself dramatically across his lap, almost knocking his drink out of his hand.

“I doubt anyone will die if we can’t get our friends back together.” He said sarcastically, trying fruitlessly not to giggle at her theatrics.

“Oh, someone will die for sure.” She looked up at him from his lap with an intense gaze filled with more weight than he felt the situation called for. “If I have to hear how good of a kisser Nino was in that same sad defeated tone one more time, either Alya will die at my hand, or I will.”

Adrien let out a startled snort of laughter, which made Marinette start laughing.

“Oh my God, Nino is the exact same! ‘Adrien, dude. She was the perfect girl, and her butt was out of this world.’” He said, using his best Nino impression.

Marinette let out the loudest and least dignified snort he’d ever heard, which only added fuel to Adrien’s giggles. They kept exchanging mocking impressions of their best friends until they were both laughing so hard that Marinette toppled off her chair, pulling Adrien with her onto the cool grass. Every time one of them started to catch their breath the other would look at them and their laughter would start all over again.

It got so bad that Nino and his new ‘friend’ came over to see what was the matter with them. Which of course made it that much worse.

“Are you guys okay over here?” he asked in concern. Adrien just pointed at Nino and wheezed, tears leaking from the corner of his eyes. “Seriously, what happened?”

Marinette let out a pained giggle and grabbed Adrien’s arm, and just whispered, “Oh, his- but his lips!”

Adrien choked on his own laughter and grabbed the shoulders of Marinette’s shirt and shook her in punishment for making it worse.

“N- No! No m- No more! I- I can’t” He managed to sputter out through laughs.

“It hurts!” Marinette cried back.

Nino looked so confused, and the girl he’d been talking with looked absolutely baffled, and a little disappointed at the crack in the perfect Adrien Agreste facade. There were others there, several curious party-goers had gathered wondering what the commotion was. Adrien was definitely starting to feel self-conscious but was trapped in a cage of his own giggles. It really wasn’t that funny, but the combination of being tired, tense, and weirdly free for a few minutes was like lighter fluid on a campfire. He couldn’t stop even as he hid his face into Marinette’s shoulder to prevent anyone filming him having a giggle fit at some random party. The sensible part of his brain reminded him it wouldn’t be good to get caught at the party, even if he had threatened to move out just a few hours earlier.

“Alya?” Nino exclaimed from somewhere over his head.

He managed to compose himself just enough to start filling his lungs. He might even be able to speak a complete sentence if he could just forget about Marinette’s face for one sec- and he was back to square one after Marinette made the most ridiculous strangled cackle he’d ever heard.

“Okay, everyone move on. You standing here is not helping,” Alya snapped at the gathered crowd, her militant tone effectively pushing them back. “And you! Delete that! I doubt your five followers will be interested in two weirdoes having a laugh. Back off!”

He soon felt Alya’s firm hand pulling him away from Marinette and rolling him to his other side. She pushed their heads apart and sat between them so they couldn’t look at one another and waited for them to calm down. Adrien forced himself to take long deep breaths. His body was starting to relax. This was probably the hardest he’d laughed since the time Ladybug had tripped off a building while they were on patrol and somehow ended up tangled in her yoyo above a large group of tourists.

“Care to share the joke?” Alya asked when Marinette and Adrien were calm enough to speak.

“Nope,” Marinette said.

“You probably wouldn’t find it funny anyway,” Adrien added.

“I don’t know, I think we would all like to hear it.” Nino cut in, his new friend had left and it was just the four of them- Adrien, Marinette, and Alya all on the ground and Nino towering over them with a stern look on his face. Adrien chuckled at his best friend as he pulled him unceremoniously to the ground.

“Hey!” He protested, but sat cross-legged in a position that looked like he was facing Adrien, but would give him a peripheral view of Alya.

“To be fair, it wasn’t all that funny. I’m just super tired so everything is funny.” Marinette assured their two best friends.

“Ah, the famous late-night Dupain-Cheng Giggles. That explains you, but what about Agreste over here? He’s usually so composed. What did you do to him? Spike his drink perhaps?” Alya accused Marinette jokingly.

Adrien noticed Nino’s eyes flicking towards Alya occasionally as they spoke, like he wanted to see her but didn’t want to get caught staring. “I’m just as tired as she is apparently. I’ve been going non-stop all week. I’m too weak to fight the influence of the late-night Dupain-Cheng Giggles.”

“We should probably get going if you’re so tired.” Nino attempted to stand but was quickly pulled back down by three sets of forceful but friendly hands.

“No!” Adrien shouted. “I’m having a good time, and I haven’t seen Alya or Marinette in ages. We’re going to hang out like old times.” He then leveled Nino with a pointed stare, daring him to say something. “Unless you have a problem with that?”

“No, no, no! That’s fine.” He said quickly. “I just don’t want you to be dead tomorrow.”

“Uh-huh,” Adrien said, unconvinced.

They ended up talking for several hours, with only a few awkward pauses between Alya and Nino, but Marinette more than made up for it. She had grown into her confidence over the last year, that was for sure. She had always been a little weird at times In college, but now she was vibrant and funny. She was still occasionally weird, but they seemed more purposeful now like she was settling into herself as a person. He grinned the whole night, even as he herded a sort of sober Nino home. As they waited for the final train of the night Adrien heard Nino sigh. Nino’s face was illuminated by the light of his phone as he stared at a picture Alya insisted they all take.

Adrien rolled his eyes and sent Marinette a single text message that simply read:

“Project DJWifi is a go.”

Chapter Text

The sound of Adrien’s alarm woke Marinette far too early for her taste, especially when she was comfortably settled into his arms the way she was. He groaned and turned over to turn the alarm off. Marinette whined at the loss of her very warm pillow/blanket/teddy bear. She followed after him and wrapped herself around his bare back and pressed her face into his neck. He chuckled quietly, gently rubbing her arm with his free hand. He stayed still as he flipped through his phone, probably looking at emails from Natalie about his schedule for the next week. Marinette quickly fell back into semi consciousness for several minutes before Adrien began moving again. She gripped him tighter, but he simply turned back over and pulled her back against his chest. She sighed and relaxed against him as he purred softly.
“Morning,” he said, pressing his forehead against hers.
“Correct. It is morning.” she said, still refusing to open her eyes.
She could practically feel his smile as he pressed a quick kiss to her nose. She moved to get a real kiss, because she wanted one and she could, ( it was included in her Benefit package after all) but Adrien moved his face so that she got his cheek instead.
“Nuh-uh. Your morning breath is atrocious today.” He said cheekily, while pressing another kiss to her nose. She scowled at him, but quickly hid her face.
“Sorry, I didn’t bring my toothbrush. Sadly my finger is a poor substitute.” She tried to sound sarcastic, but there might have been just a little bit of insecurity that leaked in.
“Did you not see the toothbrush I got you?”
Marinette’s eyes shot open, and she looked at him a little bewildered.
“You got me a toothbrush?”
“Yeah.” He pushed his long bangs out of his face and rubbed the back of his neck. “Was that weird? I didn’t want to presume, but I figured if you ever wanted to stay over you might want one… Sorry, I made it weird didn’t I.”
Marinette’s Heart was trying to figure out if it wanted to pound it’s way out of her chest or melt into a puddle on the bed. The fact that he had put so much thought into making her feel comfortable in his new apartment was so sweet, so thoughtful, so Sexy and so utterly Adrien that it was going to kill her.
He was looking down at the sheets self consciously playing with one of the wrinkles by her waist. She had to push his chin up so that he would look her in the eye as she grinned at him.
“It’s not weird. It’s actually really, really sweet. You’re so thoughtful, probably the most thoughtful and kind person I have ever met, and I really appreciate it.” she rubbed his chin with her thumb feeling the sandpapery feeling of his stubble. Her grin widened as he blushed a lovely shade of scarlet before he pulled his face away and hid it in the pillows with a pained groan. She laughed and placed a kiss just behind his ear, which was as close as she could get to his cheek. He mumbled something into the pillow sullenly.
“I’m sorry. What was that?”
He pulled away from the pillow just enough to be heard before returning his still red face to it’s hiding place. “You’re going to be the death of me, Dupain-Cheng.”
“Maybe just a little.” The only response she got was a muffled grumble. “Well, I’m going to go brush my teeth with MY toothbrush that my very kind and handsome friend got me. Let me know when you’re done hiding.”
Another groan followed her to the bathroom. She opened a few of the bathroom cabinets until she found a brand new pink toothbrush sitting next to her favorite brand of toothpaste. She stood still looking at the toothbrush. Her eyes were NOT misty, definitely not. This small almost loving gesture did not make her throat tighten. It was just because she just woke up and her throat was dry and her eyes bleary, not because she was getting choked up over a toothbrush.
She noticed Tikki watching her from a nearby shelf with a knowing grin on her face.
“I didn’t know you liked toothbrushes so much, Marinette!” She said cheekily.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have no particular feelings toward toothbrushes.” She said in a low voice in case Adrien heard her talking.
“Then maybe it’s the person giving you the toothbrush.” Tikki gave her a wolfish grin and floated over to her to hide in the hair that had fallen out of her bun. “You should tell him you love him. I think you would both be happier that way. No more pretending.”
Marinette snorted derisively. “You know why I can’t do that.”
“You would be so much happier if you could tell your friends about your relationship, and go on dates and hold his hand and all the other lovely couple things I know you daydream about doing.”
“Yeah, that would be nice, but he’s still in love with Ladybug.”
Tikki lovingly patted her cheek. “You are Ladybug.”
“He doesn’t know that.” Marinette’s voice was quiet, and a little broken, “And until that changes, or he decides to pick the everyday girl over the magical one in a mask, this is the best I can get. I’d rather it be this than nothing at all.”
Tikki hugged her neck, and Marinette brought her hand up to press it against her small friend’s side. “I just want you to be happy, Marinette. You’ve had such a hard time.”
Marinette smiled sadly and rubbed a forming tear from her eye. “I’m a lot happier now. Don’t worry. Hopefully, everything will change as soon as we can get those Akuma trackers set up.”
“I really hope so.”
She sighed and began her morning routine. Adrien Joined her after several minutes- Causing Tikki to dive through the wall to avoid being seen. His face was still a little pink, but she decided not to point it out. He sat silently brushing his teeth against the shiny white counter watching her as she blatantly stole his expensive face wash. He made a little grunt when she started putting on one of his 3 serums, but she ignored it. He made another wet grunt, this one sounding a little more distressed, when she put another product on. She gave him a side eye, but continued. Part of her was hoping he would say something, since it was obvious he was annoyed or upset with her using his products. He rarely set boundaries, unless they were big and had been pushed for so long that it burst out of him before his good manners could stop it. The fact that he even showed that he was upset was an improvement. She squeezed a little dollop of eye cream onto her fingers while making direct eye contact with him. He let out a little whine and visibly winced as she dabbed it under her eyes where her bags were the worst.
“Is something wrong, Adrien?” She challenged lightly. She raised her eyebrows and gave him a teasing smirk.
“Youw dowin et wong.” he said around a mouthful of toothpaste.
“What?”
He spit into the sink. “You’re doing it wrong.” he despaired.
Marinette burst out laughing. “That’s why you’re upset? Because I’m doing it wrong? Not because I’m using your stuff without permission, but because you’re offended by my technique?”
“You’re doing it very wrong!” He defended.
“Ugh, you’re too nice! You should at least expect me to ask before stealing your very nice stuff! I’m pretty sure this moisturizer is worth like 100 euro, or something stupid like that.”
“We didn’t exactly give ourselves time to go pick up your stuff from your apartment, so it’s- hey wait. Like 10 Minutes ago I was your most thoughtful and kind friend and you really appreciated it, and now I’m too nice? What just happened here?”
“You Are my nicest friend, and I do appreciate it, but I have really nice friends. To reach that status you have to be a little too nice sometimes. It’s not the worst character flaw to have.” He pouted at her. “I just want you to tell me when something upsets you. Like, setting boundaries and stuff. I want you to be comfortable.”
“I AM comfortable. Nothing so far has bothered me, so we’re good.” She gave him a pointed look. “Ok, setting aside the ‘inciting incident’, to which I reacted poorly, everything is good. I promise I will let you know if something bothers me. I’ll even set a boundary right now.”
He rinsed the rest of the toothpaste from his mouth and stood in front of her.
“You can use my skin care anytime you want,” He said authoritatively, waggling a finger at her, “but you have put it on right. I heard my dermatologist lecture me about these stupid products often enough that it is almost physically painful to watch you try to put toner on top of a nighttime serum.”
“Oh, monsieur model. Teach me your superior ways.” She teased. He did not tease back. His face was serious as he washed his hands.
“Ok. First off. Rinse your face. We need clean damp skin.” She complied with a roll of her eyes.
After she patted her face dry he lifted her onto the counter so she was eye level with him. She let out a tiny squeak at the sudden movement and tried not to let her memory of him tossing her around last night distract her. Especially not with the way he was standing between her thighs.
He began explaining the correct order and method of application. She was trying very hard to listen, but then he grabbed a cotton pad and pulled on the back of her knees so she was right on the edge of the counter.
Did she have a thing for him taking control? No, that would be weird. Right?
Either way there was a bonfire in her gut as he began tenderly applying each product. She closed her eyes as he got near her eyes with the cotton pad and kept them closed as he spoke calmly but firmly. She relaxed, letting out little hums of understanding when it seemed appropriate. Her hands found their way to his sides and she rubbed his warm smooth skin with her thumbs. The world seemed to shrink down to the small warm air surrounding them. It felt domestic being in an apartment alone, getting ready for the day together. She wanted to press this memory in the pages of her favorite book like she had the dozen or so flowers he’d given her over the years. She wished there were a way to save this for a rainy day when the world felt dingy and dark. She Would pull it from a box, carefully unfold it and lay in under its warmth, so for just a moment she would know that even for a brief time, he was there and he cared for her.
Although what she really wished was that this could happen every day. That she would be able to wake up next to her best friend, to smile and laugh with him as they brushed their teeth and got dressed, sit down at a table and eat breakfast together, and then do it all again the next day.
She was fully lost in her daydream when she noticed that he had stopped talking. She opened her eyes, and noticed his startled expression. Her first thought was that he somehow knew about her daydream (unlikely), the next was that he saw Tikki and knew she was Ladybug (Terrifyingly a possibility). She tried to keep the panic out of her voice as she asked, “Is something wrong?”
He shook his head like he was trying to clear it, and swallowed painfully. “Nothing, I just- Realized something.”
“What did you realize?” oh, no. Oh, no. oh, no,no,nononono.
“It’s just-” He rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand. “It’s stupid, but I just realized this is the first time you’ve spent the night.”
Oh, thank the heavens, that’s it? She laughed in relief. “Well, yeah. You didn’t live here until a week ago, It’s not like I could have stayed here before then.”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
“Then, what did you mean, because you’ve slept over at my house plenty of times, and you snuck me into your room like 3 weeks ago. So how is this different?”
He shrugged and resumed. “Neither of us actually stayed over. I had to leave super early in the morning so we didn’t have to explain what I was doing in your room to your parents. And when you stayed in my room you left while I was still asleep for the same reason. Which I still don’t know how you managed to do without getting caught by the security cameras. So it just felt different, it was stupid.”
“No, I get it. It definitely is a little weird.” Domestic her brain traitorously thought. “It feels more like we’re adults suddenly, not kids sneaking behind our parents' backs. We definitely still are kids sneaking behind our parent’s backs, but now it’s easier to not get caught.”
He laughed. “Exactly.” He began rubbing a product into her neck, paused and tilted her head slightly. “Although, maybe not that much easier. I may or may not have accidentally left a mark last night.”
“What?” She whipped around to look at herself in the mirror, pulling on her skin to try to find the hickie hidden slightly behind her left ear. “Adrien! Are you kidding me! This is the first time we’re going to be seeing Alya since we started sleeping together, and you gave me a hickey?! This is A disaster! I was already nervous she’d think something was up, and here you are leaving her clues!”
She had hopped down from the counter and was anxiously rubbing at the spot hoping that would help it go away.
“I’m sorry! I thought I was being careful! It’s not that dark, we can probably cover it. I think I have some concealer that might match you.” He began rifling through drawers with pursed lips, stiff shoulders.
Her incessant rubbing wasn’t making the mark go away, so she just resorted to pacing and pulling on her hair. “That probably won’t work! She notices way too much! She’s going to Say, ‘Oh, Marinette? What’s that on your neck! Who gave you a hickey? ADRIEN maybe?’ then you’ll go all red, and then I’ll go all red, and she’ll know. Then she’s going to ask how this started, and won’t give up until she knows every detail, which means she’s going to figure out you’re Chat Noir, and then you’re vulnerable if she ever gets akumatized, and then everything is over. Poof There goes the whole world! That’s it I’m cancelling!”
“No, don’t worry. I can fix this! We just need some color corrector. Ugh, I think orange helps with purple, and green helps with red. So maybe if we layer it?” He began pulling several make-up products from the drawers. “I don’t think I have anything in your color, but if we can just cover it now, and then put your foundation on at your house.”
“What if it washes off?”
“Well, are you planning on going swimming?” came a smug voice from over their heads.“Because that would definitely cause a problem.”
“Plagg, go be unhelpful somewhere else.”
“Fine. I was going to help you, but I guess I won’t tell you my ancient Chinese cure, a 100% guaranteed way to get rid of your weird human mating bruises.” He turned to float back through the wall.
“Wait. No, don’t go. What is it?”
“Well, I don’t think I want to tell you now. What would I even get out of it?”
“I will make you your favorite cheese bread and deliver it to the movie set while Adrien’s at work tomorrow.”
“Deal!” He flew over and took one of Marinette's fingers in his paws and shook it.
“Okay what is it?”
“You whisk it.”
“What?”
“Get a whisk and you whisk it. It takes like 5 minutes.”
“And this is an ancient Chinese secret?”
“Er well not REALLY, I saw it on tick tock. But I really want to see if it’s real! Please?”
“Plagg, now is not the time to talk about tick tock! Where did I put that really nice concealer that I got last year during that one weird photo shoot?” Adrien said, still rummaging through his drawer. He had pulled half of the contents onto the counter and was stacking large items on the floor. He finally found the item he was looking for and rushed over and began to apply it to the bruise. “ Marinette, I'm so sorry I messed up. I’m the worst. I’m going to fix it. I promise!”
Now that some of the panic flooding her system had resided she realized exactly how panicked Adrien seemed. She grabbed his hands and held them firmly. He looked at her with all the grace and fortitude of a half drowned kitten.
“I promise I'll fix it,” he said quietly.
“I know you wil,.” she replied.
“I really didn’t mean to, it was dark and I couldn’t see that well, and I didn't realize how bad it was.”
“I believe you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know, I’m not mad. Just a little panicky.”
“You’re not?”
“No. stressed out of my mind, and a little annoyed, sure, but not mad,” she took a deep breath, “I’m just already nervous about seeing Alya today. You know, with everything,” she gestured between them, “and she’s been gone, so I’m afraid she’ll notice a huge difference, and won’t leave it alone, which would be really bad for your identity.” and mine.
“I get that, but Nino hasn’t noticed anything and I see him all the time on set, so maybe it will be okay?” he said hopefully.
“Adrien, Kitten, I love Nino with all my heart, but he’s not exactly the best at noticing things. Especially compared to Alya, the queen of investigative journalism, expert on all things Marinette and superheroes, the two subjects we most want to keep her away from right now.”
“ Guess you’re right.”
“Are you guys done being weird and gross again? I want to see the magic trick with the whisk.” Plagg came darting between them.
“We are not being gross! and it’s not a magic trick. It’s a gimmick. You can’t trust things you find on tick tock.”
“That’s why I want her to try it! It’s called the scientific process. Have you ever heard of it.”
“Heard of it?! I’m the reason you even know what that is!”
“No you’re not! One of my other Chat’s was a scientist too, and I helped him invent it.”
“You did no such thing! I remember explaining the concept to you while I was working on homework and you were bothering me.”
The tense air that had filled the room, and had built up a pressure chamber in her chest was starting to dissipate listening to them bicker like siblings. SHe sighed and rolled her eyes, walking past them to the kitchen. She found the whisk in the third drawer she looked in, and made her way back to the bathroom where to no one’s surprise Adrien and Plagg were still arguing.
“All I’m saying is we can’t be sure exactly what will happen, so we should try it if we get the chance!”
“Plagg, If you light toilet paper on fire, it just turns it into fire! Anyone with the logic of a 12 year old knows this.”
“Plagg, Magic trick. What am I supposed to do?” She interrupted before Plagg could fire off another response.
“Just put it on the spot and turn it like you’re mixing it. It takes a while according to the video, but it should work.”
“That’s ridiculous. I feel like it would just make it worse.” Adrien said incrediously
“Maybe it will, but We’ll try it. How about you finish getting ready, and I’ll just wisk my neck. If it doesn’t work we’ll use some of your foundation to atleast get me home so I can get the one in my color. You’re Way to orange for me.”
-

Marinette ended up staying at Adrien’s later than she expected. The ‘magic trick’ had worked passably well, and as an apology Adrien insisted on making her breakfast, (a plate of pretty decent scrambled eggs and hashbrowns he very proudly presented her). After that he begged her to show him how to do his laundry like a real adult (just real quick, Mari). She managed to get a promise to be allowed to do her laundry whenever she wanted to in exchange, so she didn’t mind too much. By the time they finally left it was approaching mid-morning and she would have to hurry to get ready for their lunch with Alya and Nino.
When they entered her apartment she saw a very pale Margot at the stove heating up some french onion soup for a miserable looking Yvonne.
“Hey Guys!” Margot said cheerily, causing Yvonne to groan at the noise. “I didn’t realize you’d left, Marinette. I thought you were still asleep.”
“Or did you not come home last night?” Bette said slyly as she slid into the seat next to Yvonne. “That’s a nice shirt you’re wearing, but it’s a little big for you and not quite your style. Could it be someone else’s? Kitten’s Perhaps?”
She looked down at the stupid cat shirt she had stolen from Adrien’s closet this morning. She wasn’t sure how exactly to answer but she had to figure it out quickly to throw off Bette’s (accurate) suspicions. It was time to pull out Marinette’s Guide To Lying to Everyone You Care About.

Marinette’s Guide To Lying To Everyone You Care About
Rule #4 Tell as much of the truth as you can. This Makes is easier to execute rule #2.

“Oh, this? Yeah, it is. Kitten has an extra room and wanted some help with setting up his new apartment. It was easier just to stay over than it is to get up super early and walk over.”
“You have an extra room. As in, no one has moved in yet, right? Not like you have an extra room that no one ever uses right?” Bette said with interest.
“Um, sort of. My father insisted that I have one just in case he ever needs to house a business acquaintance for some reason.”
“Really?”

Rule # 10: Add details that will distract from the original question.

While her roommates were once again interrogating Adrien, she slipped into her room and quickly got ready. She pulled on a loose jumpsuit and a short sleeve shirt, and put minimal makeup on, covering the slightly red spot on her neck with her best foundation. She threw her hair into pigtails and refilled Tikki’s cookie stash, as well as throwing a portable charger into her purse so Tikki could charge the old Ipod touch she used to watch tv or movies during long boring days. A few of the Kwami’s were out of the miracle box working on random projects or quietly watching something on her computer. They didn’t love that she had moved out of her spacious room with her parents several floors below to a place where people were usually somewhere in a small apartment and might hear them if they got too loud, but they were understanding.
She dashed back out of her room to see Margot showing Adrien how to fry an egg. The sun streaming through the kitchen windows washed over his warm golden skin making him shine with a brilliance that took her breath away. He looked up at her with an expression of pure joy and pride. Her knees felt weak and she felt a little warm all over. She smiled back brightly.
“Marinette, look! Now I can make you an egg sandwich like the one your dad makes! All I need is some fresh bread and cheese.”
She felt movement in her bag at the mention of cheese and she had to adjust her grip so to make it look natural.
“That’s amazing. Maybe someday I’ll have to teach you how to make something other than eggs.”
“Yes Please!” He flipped the egg onto a plate with some other breakfast foods and handed it over to Margot.
“I can’t believe you’ve never taught him before. Aren’t you like an amazing chef or something?” Margot asked.
“I tried a few times last year, but papa really likes to feed people and had a hard time letting us cook something without ‘accidentally’ taking over.”
“Like the time we tried to make cookies while he was down in the bakery, and when he came up and saw us he started suggesting things we could add to make them taste better, and then he ended up making 4 different batches of cookies and made us vote which one was better?”
Marinette groaned, “Ugh, yeah. I had enough cookies in the freezer for an army. It’s a good thing that I really like cookies, and that Alya ate almost a whole batch by herself.”
“Yeah,” Adrien sighed at the memory, then checked his phone for the time, “Speaking of Alya, we should get going.”
“Oh, yeah. Let’s go. You know Alya is going to blame me if we’re late, so hurry up, I don’t want to pay for her drinks again.”
They waved goodbye to Marinette’s roommates, and closed the door behind them. After a moment of silence in the apartment Bette turned to the other two and said, “Okay, which is it? Did she Friendzone him HARD or are they secretly screwing?”
“Bette! That’s gross! Plus, Marinette said they were just friends, so we should believe her. why would she lie?” Margot said.
Yvonne smiled up at Bette cheekily from where her head was laying on the counter, “Oh, I’m pretty sure it’s both. A guy that is attractive? If she’s not jumping his bones on the regular I’d be ashamed.”
“Yvonne!”
“Alright, so we’ve got one vote, Friend with Benefits, one vote friendzone. What does the winner get if they’re right?”
“Lunch! Anywhere under 20 euro. Wait, what’s your vote?” Yvonne asked.
“Oh, they’re definitely doing it. I think they’re just in denial about how much they love each other.” She replied.
“Both of you are terrible!” Margot said as she dished up another serving of soup for herself.
“Yeah, but I’ll be terrible if it gets me a free lunch.” Bette winked as she sipped her soup.

The four planned to meet at a small restaurant about half way between where they all lived. It took Marinette and Adrien about 35 minutes to get there by train, it would have taken 25 if Adrien didn’t insist that they avoid the station that had a large poster of his face in the same terminal as their train. He had managed to map out all the major billboards and posters of the current Gabriel ad campaign, thanks to a fan site dedicated to the ads.
He was still wearing his paparazzi outfit, his long impossibly blonde hair tucked into a bun beneath a hat and his ever present thick rimmed glasses, but they decided not to risk it as much as possible. If anyone saw them then their whole day would probably go down the drain.
They ended up only being five minutes late, but somehow got there before their friends. Marinette sat at the edge of the booth they’d snagged, her leg bouncing from a mixture of nerves and excitement. She hadn’t seen Alya since she’d left for an internship in America at the beginning of the summer break, and video calls just never seemed the same. Adrien placed his hand on her leg just above her knee to settle her down. The gesture, while well meaning, only served to heighten her nerves and make her other knee bounce instead. He switched his hand over to the otherside, but then she started bouncing the leg he’d just let go of. He let out an annoyed huff and put his free hand on that leg, and held them firmly. Which meant that Marinette just had to start bouncing slightly in her seat.
Adrien was just about to complain when she saw a flash or orange at the door and she bolted out of her seat and towards her friend. Alya had almost no time to brace herself before the pink blur that was Marinette slammed into her, almost knocking her over. She quickly righted herself and pulled Marinette in for a bone crushing hug.
“ALya! I missed you so much!” Marinette said, her voice muffled against her friend's shoulder.
“I missed you, too.” replied with force.
“Was New York as amazing as you thought it would be?”
“Yes, It was amazing! I wish you could have been there!” Both girls were still holding on to one another. They were standing in the middle of the restaurant, and there were a few people watching them curiously, but neither girls could bring themselves to care.
“Geez, you guys are acting like you didn’t literally spend five hours on the phone last week.” Adrien had followed Marinette from the table, at a much slower pace, and was now watching them with an exasperated smirk.
“Shut up Agrest, you got to see my bestie AND my boyfriend all the time while I was gone, so I don’t want to hear it. Also, phone calls can’t replace the real thing.” Alya twisted slightly within the hug to jokingly glare at Adrien. She then pulled one of her arms away from Marinette and waved him over. “Come on, join the cuddle puddle. You know you missed me.”
Adrien smiled and let himself be pulled into the hug, Nino following soon after. After what was definitely too long to be hugging in the middle of a busy restaurant during saturday lunch, someone at another table cleared their throat and they all broke apart sheepishly. They all ended up crowded around their table, with Marinette and Alya in the middle between the two boys. They ordered their food and chatted about everything Alya had missed while she was gone.
“Honestly, I think Alya was more excited to see Marinette than she was to see me.” Nino said with a sigh. “The first words she said to me when I picked her up from the airport yesterday was, ‘Hey, Nino. Where’s Marinette?’ Can you believe it?”
“Well, you should have brought her! Besides, we both know I would leave you for Marinette at the drop of a hat.”
“I couldn’t bring her, she was busy!” Nino replied, choosing to ignore the second half of Alya’s statement either from knowing how true it was, or from staunch denial.
“It’s okay, Nino. Marinette’s been pretty much the same. Did I ever tell you about the calendar she kept at her desk that was solely dedicated to counting down the days until Alya got back?” Adrien said, leaning conspiratorially across the table towards Nino.
“Yes, you did, In fact, tell me. Like three times. You’re almost worse than Alya is!” He cried.
“What?” Alya whipped to look at Nino with intensity at the same time Adrien gave an indignant, “Hey!”
“Everytime I see you on set it’s all like, ‘Marinette said this, and Marinette and I did that, Marinette and I went here,’ I swear between seeing you, and talking to Alya on the phone I knew more about Marinette’s life than she’s ever wanted to tell me.” he quickly turned to Marinette placatingly, though she was grinning evilly. “Not that I don’t care about your life, Marinette. I would just prefer to hear it from you, rather than these two knuckleheads.”
“That’s Okay,” she laughed.
“Oh, poor nino! Are you feeling left out?” Adrien said, reaching out to grab his best friend's hand with a mocking pout. Nino slapped his hand away and scowled.
“Oh, no! Is my little chouchou feeling unloved.” Alya simpered, grabbing his chin in her hand.
“No!” he tried to pull his face away from Alya’s hand, “I’m just saying that while I know who the real favorite in the group is, I like to hear about it from her, not at work, or on the phone with my own girlfriend.”
“Well now that the filming is almost done you won’t have to deal with me on set anymore.” Adrien said, laughing. “Speaking of work. You’re going to be there tomorrow right?”
“Yeah, I’m going to be working on lights since that’s the main problem from the original take.”
“Great, I don’t know who it was working lights the last time, but it was a joke.”
“Ugh, I’m so jealous!” Alya butted in, “Adrien’s been using all his cool connections to get you guys awesome jobs, but nothing for me!”
“I’m sorry Alya. I just don’t happen to know anyone In journalism like I do in fashion or film.” He said, and the waiter brought over their food. “If I hear of anything, I’d let you know, but you’re doing just fine by yourself anyway. New York seems like the chance of a lifetime.”
“Yeah, It was amazing,” she sighed as they all quickly dug into their food. Marinette listened intently to all the stories that Alya hadn’t told her during their weekly phone calls. She was paying so close attention that she almost missed the way Alya’s eyes bugged out when Marinette began picking chunks of mushrooms from Adrien’s plate with the familiar ease of someone who’d done it multiple times before. It was something they had both picked up from working together quite frequently at Gabriel. They’d go out for lunch, or get take out and eat it in Adrien’s office and they’d gotten into a habit of eating off each other's plates, especially if it was something the other didn’t like. Marinette felt her face heat up slightly, but chose to pretend like Alya wouldn’t notice with the hope that she wouldn’t bring it up. She didn’t, but gave Marinette a look that said, we will be talking about this later, which made the stone sitting in her chest since this morning settle deeper into her gut.
They continued eating and laughing, and Marinette was glad to finally have her friend by her side, but the feeling of guilt and anxiety that came with seeing her made it hard to stay in the moment. She was so used to telling Alya almost everything, except for the very obvious secret identity thing, and now there was another huge secret in the form of the 6’2” blond sipping lemon water right next to her. Especially since she’d spent years gushing to her about her massive crush on her now secret lover.
Rule #6 don’t let on that you are hiding something.
It was a battle to make sure nothing slipped in her new normal demeanor around Adrien. She second guessed her every move, but still missed a few until it was too late. LIke tucking a stray piece of hair into Adrien’s cap, or touching his arm when she asked him a question. Alya gave her a pointed look each time, to which Marinette had to pretend to shrug off in confusion. The harder task was managing Adriens behavior. He reached under the table to grab her thigh multiple times throughout the meal, hook his foot around hers, and once he even found a reason to playfully grab her sides causing her to squirm. She would glare at him when the other two weren’t looking, and Adrien had the good sense to look sheepish, but it seemed he was either being very forgetful, or was teasing her.
ONce they’d all finished their lunches, Alya sighed contentedly while slumping in her seat.
“Man, it’s been ages since I've had a good proper french meal. Most of the french food in america is just crepes and waffles, or 5 star restaurants I definitely can’t afford. I think I could sleep for a week.”
“So are you too tired to come with us to Adrien’s first ever trip to Ikea, and probably a few other normal people's places?” said Marinette.
Instantly Alya jumped up with wide eyes and a manic grin. “You guys are going to Ikea? Even if There wasn't the temptation of seeing sunshine’s little rich boy mind exploding all over the furniture I would so be there. I love Ikea! Why did we even come here to begin with? We should have eaten there!” She waved the waiter down for their check.
“What about you Nino? Apparently I’m going to freak out everywhere we go.”
“Yeah, totally. My only plan for the day was to hang out with my dudes and my girl, I can do that at Ikea. Plus I need something for my new setup, like a desk or a cheap table, so I’m down. But just a warning, Marinette’s totally going to keep you in there for hours. She loves the place.”
“Well he needs things for his New apartment since it’s literally just a black and white cube masquerading as a living space.”
“Okay, but just be warned. I’m disappearing and sitting on the couches the whole time.” Nino said gathering his things.
They all got up, there was a slight squabble over Adrien paying the entire bill, but he managed to slip his thick black card to the waitress before anyone could stop him. They all made their way towards the nearest IKEA, the two boys following behind the girls as they chatted. Alya began pestering Marinette about her friendship with Adrien in a hissing whisper as they walked
“You two seem super close.”
“WEll that happens sometimes when you see someone every weekday.”
“Yeah, but you’ve been working together for a year now, and something seems different… are you in love with him again?”
Shit. She noticed something was different. It’s okay. Remember rule #3
Rule #3 Keep calm when facing scrutiny
“Really Alya? That’s What you go to? That I’ve backslid so far that I am not in love with my college crush? Maybe I didn’t have my other friends nearby, so I got closer. Adrien and I have a lot in common.”
“I’m just saying, I saw how couply you two looked, with the touching and all the food sharing. You look more like a couple than Nino and I do.”
Marinette scoffed dismissively as they boarded a bus heading towards IKEA. Alya narrowed her eyes at her best friend but didn’t say anything more since both boys were close by. Marinette knew she’d only bought herself a little time before the interrogation began again, but it was enough time. She stepped over to Adrien and pretended to be showing his something for his apartment but instead showed him a note that said Alya was suspicious. You’re next. Be careful.
He played along easily, looking up at alya through his eyelashes. She was standing a few feet away with Nino, whispering vehemently into his ear.
Alya watched them back as Adrien and Marinette talked about something or other Marinette had pulled up on their phone. They were standing close together, but not abnormally so, just the kind of closeness two good friends had.
“Alya, I really think you should drop it. You know how Marinette is with you trying to snoop into things she doesn’t want to tell you. You remember the week she barely spoke to you because you followed her halfway across Paris?”
“Yeah, Yeah. But this is different. This is an Adrien thing, and she’s ALWAYS told me everything about her and Adrien’s interactions. In annoyingly vivid detail.”
“Well, she’s probably over him, you said she’d started talking about some other dude a while ago.”
“Seriously. Did you not notice the way they were sitting at lunch? I’m pretty sure he grabbed her thigh! She’s touching him all the time. And look at them right now.” They both glanced covertly at the other pair. Marinette had her hands in front of her face and was giggling while Adrien looked at her with a goofy grin and soft eyes that just screamed ‘I adore you’. “Look at how friggin’ cute they are. Look at those damn heart eyes, and tell me something’s not weird.”
Nino blew a raspberry derisively, “That doesn’t mean a thing. That’s his Marinette face. He’s made that same face at her for years.” He clicked open his phone and flipped through the pictures quickly. He pulled up a candide picture taken during their college days showing the four of them standing together in the park. Marinette was clutching a large stuffed cat with a wide open mouth like she was saying something. Adrien had the same soft look on his face.
Alya growled slightly as she grabbed the phone and zoomed in on Adrien’s face. “That doesn’t prove anything.”
“I think it does. Look, Adrien values friendship above almost anything else, and I know for a fact that marinette being able to talk to him like a person was one of the greatest things that ever happened to him. Plus he’s very touchy, so is Marinette, so them touching doesn’t seem that big.”
“You are Wrong Lahiffe, and you are going to help me prove it.”
“Uh, why would I help you prove myself wrong? There is nothing in it for me.”
“There are many reasons why you would help me. I’m your girlfriend who you want to keep happy, if I’m right then we can go on double dates with them, and if I’m wrong I’ll let you take me to that super nerdy football museum you’ve been wanting to see.”
Nino narrowed his eyes, “So it’s a bet we’re talking about, eh? I need clearer conditions. What if I lose?”
“You have to take me to the journalism awards and wear a tux the whole time.”
“I don’t know Alya, those are pretty good, but I just don’t know how invested I am in this.”
“Alright, in addition to these prizes the loser gives the winner 100 Euro, and they get one favor they can cash in at any point for anything they want, within reason.”
“Alright deal! Now, How do I prove you wrong, and get my money?”
“Your going to have to talk to him. See if anything slips. I get the feeling that they’re hiding whatever is happening. Or at least Marinette is. Adrien could very possibly be in deep denial again.”
“Alright, babe. But when I prove you wrong you are so going to regret letting me have the favor.”
The bus pulled up to the stop nearest their destination and the group quickly exited. As they walked Marinette put together a list of things they’d need and some design inspiration in the notes of her phone. Adrien walked closely beside her, grabbing her arm to pull her way from crashing into pedestrians or falling over a crack in the ground. Alya nudged Nino every time he so much as lightly touched her arm.
By the time they got to the store Nino was getting a little annoyed with Alya, and was determined to prove her wrong. He knew the opportunity would present itself soon. He’d been shopping with Alya and Marinette enough times to know that as Marinette saw her most recent design obsession she would turn into a super efficient manic design machine.
Marinette grabbed a bag, foregoing one the provided pencil and paper, instead pulling out a large sketchbook, a pencil, and eraser. “Okay, we’re going to start with your desk-slash-study area, move to the living room, then kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.”

Watching Marinette work her way through the IKEA display floor was a sight to behold. Anyone who had had the unfortunate pleasure of witnessing her work in this way would later say they had never seen someone spend so long over the tiniest details of a room. She scribbled in her notebook, took pictures and placed the items directly into photographs of each room to help visualize the overall look.
Adrien did in fact go a little silly looking at the displays. He kept trying to pretend they all lived in the small demo apartments, pretending to cook, or read the Swedish books on the shelves.
The novelty wore off after an hour, and eventually found Nino sitting on the ugliest but most comfortable couch on display where he’d settled himself in 10 minutes into their trip. Figuring that Adrien might be a better target, Alya follows. Nino was showing Adrien a new track he had been working on for Luka. She joined them and waited for the right time to pounce.
Except Adrien, the sweet soul he is, kept asking her questions about her internship. They were thoughtful questions too, ones people dreamed of being able to answer, not the surface level questions everyone asks. And He would listen to the answers! And ask follow up questions! It was insanely annoying. She was barely able to steer the conversation towards what had been happening in Paris the last few months, which only led to him talking about Akumas or work, before he would change the subject back to her again.
Nino was being no help at all. He watched her get more and more frustrated as the conversation went on, smiling widely at her from behind Adrien’s head. It seemed like he was even egging Adrien on. She was about ready to jump over the blonde and strangle her boyfriend when Marinette pulled Adrien away to get his opinion on which kind of shelving he liked better over his desk, and Alya was able to berate Nino in private.
“What was that! You’re supposed to be helping me!” She asked, lightly pushing him in frustration.
He grinned even wider at her. “What? Dude. Were you investigating? My bad. I totally thought you wanted to tell Adrien all about your internship. Next time I'll tell him to shut up so we can interrogate him about his non-existent love-life.”
“Oooh, you are on thin ice buddy. Good luck with you essays this semester. I sure hope you won’t need a proof reader.” She said icily.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let’s not be too hasty. I was just joking around.”
“Mm-hm, Sure. so you’ll stop hindering this investigation and actually talk to Adrien about it?”
“Definitely, dudette. You’ll get nothing but cooperation from me. But i’m going to warn you, I think you’re wrong. Adrien’s been a hopeless romantic since we were all 13. If he and Marinette were more than just friends I doubt he’d be able to shut up about it. He’s too sweet to hide something like that.” Nino paused, thought for a second, “Unless there’s a very good reason,” He amended.
“What do you mean? What good reason would he have?”
“I’m not totally sure, but you know how his dad is. Maybe he has something in his contract that makes dating impossible, or he just doesn’t want his old man to know? Something like that.”
Alya hummed in thought. Perhaps there was something to that theory. She was still deep in thought when Adrien made his way back to the couches. He let out a sigh as he fell into the cushions.
“How’s our little designer doing? Is she manic yet?” Alya asked.
“Yeah, I tried to tell her the shelves weren’t that big of a deal, but she just waved me off. I never knew there was so much to decorating a room.” he replied.
“There isn’t,” Nino said, “Marinette just takes it way too seriously.”
He huffed a sigh. “I just hate that she’s going overboard for me. I was expecting like a few extra pillows and decorations, something to make it cozy. Kind of like her room, but she’s started talking about painting the walls.”
“Oh, no. She’s gone full manic.” Alya sat up. “I think I’d better try to slow her down.”
Alya stood up, and gave Nino a pointed look, then looked between him and Adrien a few times, then to get the point across she mouthed the word essays and made a slashing motion with her hand. He glared back but mouthed ‘fine’ back, so she left him to do his part.

Nino leaned back against the couch and stretched his arm across the back where Adrien was sitting. Adrien had pulled out his phone and was scrolling through Twitter. Nino spent a moment trying to hype himself up. He wasn’t exactly good at the whole ‘bringing up weird and sensitive subjects’ thing. He tried to think of a few natural ways to bring Alya’s theory up, couldn't think of one and ended up blurting out-
“So dude. What’s up with you and Marinette?” Nino cringed at the absolute worst thing he could have possibly said.
Adrien looked up from his phone and gave his friend a questioning look. A look that completely hid the internal panic now running through his system. Maybe he’s been wrong, and Nino had started to notice things were different, and if NINO was noticing it was a matter of time before they were found out.
Mustering all the strength he could, Adrien asked, “Somthings up with Marinette and I?”
“No!” Nino panicked, “no, no. I meant, IS something up? like you guys seem close.”
“Yeah, we’ve gotten much closer than we were a while ago which is nice. I’m just glad she can actually talk to me now. But I don’t know if ‘something’s up’ with us?”
“No, no that’s cool. I get it.” He paused for a moment, trying to think of how Alya would go about this. “Uh, so. Do you know why Marinette used to go all stupid weird around you when we were younger?” He asked, because bringing up old crushes was perfect for confessing a current secret relationship. Idiot.
Adrien Laughed, and began scrolling through his phone again, “Yeah, that massive crush of hers really did a dosy on our friendship for sure. It’s too bad. We would have had a lot of fun together is she could have just talked to me, but 14 year olds aren’t the most logical people.”
Nino Was dumbfounded. He was shocked, scandalized, and frankly baffled. “When did you figure it out?”
“That she had a crush on me?” he asked. Nino nodded, his mouth hanging wide. “I didn’t. She told me about it. Which makes me feel foolish because now that I think about it, she was pretty obvious.”
“She TOLD YOU?” Nino Shouted.
“Yup.”
“And what did you do about it?”
“Nothing?” he replied, raising an eyebrow at Nino’s shock. “I think we watched a movie?”
“She confessed that she is head over heels in love with you and you just watched a movie?”
“Was.” he corrected, “She used to have a crush on me. That doesn’t mean she has one on me now. She got over it.” He began picking at a nonexistent piece of lint on his jeans. “There’s some mystery dude she talks about sometimes, but she won’t tell me much about it. There’s some reason she is not dating him, but I don’t know what it is. Which is fine, because I’m still not over that one girl.”
Nino was trying his best to wrap his head around the several bombs Adrien had just dropped on him. He had been convinced that Marinette still held at least a little crush on Adrien for the last year, if not longer. Now she apparently had some dude that not even Alya knew about? Alya was right, something weird was up, but he was starting to think that Alya was barking up the wrong tree.
“That’s insane man. I just. Wow. She’s got some dude none of us know, and you’re still in love with the same girl you’ve been hung up on since you were 15?”
“13, but yeah. It’s kind of crazy. I think that’s why we got so close. It’s hard being the 3rd and 4th wheel when the person you want to be with is unavailable. We’ve bonded over our mutual suffering.”
“Dude, that sucks. You and Marinette have never considered…”
“Dating? I mean I’ve thought about it, but who would really want to be with someone who would rather be with someone else. I’m afraid until we either get over the other people, or they change their minds, Marinette and I are doomed to the single life.”
“Seriously, that SUCKS.”
“Tell me about it dude.”

While the boys were talking, Alya had managed to get Marinette off her shelving based mania, and was trying to slow her down enough to get her to talk. She tried approaching Marinette again while she was flipping through several different photos and sketches. The hope was that a distracted Marinette would be a more forthcoming target. Her hope was wrong. Every question and veiled inquiry was met with a non-committal hum. Alya couldn’t even get so much as a confession to whether or not Marinette still had feelings for Adrien. The girl had sworn she was over him during the course of the last two years, but Alya had always thought it was more wishful thinking than fact.
After several minutes of fruitless conversation Alya gave up and followed Marinette back to the couches where she sat suspiciously close to Adrien as she reviewed her options and got his approval. Alya leaned towards Nino to see if he had any good information to tell, but he deflected saying that he would tell her about it later. Which only fed into Alya’s curiosity.
Finally Marinette seemed to deem their choices perfect, and Adrien’s next adventure - the oversized warehouse filled with flat pack boxes- was the new focus. Alya couldn’t get much of a word in edgewise as they filled their carts with trinkets and furniture. She was almost fuming watching Adrien swoop in behind Marinette as she tried to grab something off a shelf that was far too tall for her. They were giggling as he pretended to drop it on her and she squealed when it almost looked like he would lose hold of the box. Nino was even joking alongside them, as he grabbed a random table leg and began to ‘fend’ Adrien off. It was an irksomely endearing scene. The most annoying part was the fact that she wanted to join them. Marinette and Adrien were being too weird so she couldn’t shut off the part of her brain that needed to figure out what was going on. It made her an excellent journalist, but a terrible young adult.
The jovial attitude was cut down by a very distinctive, but rarely heard, ringtone. The ringtone specifically programmed to play when Gabriel Agreste called.
Adrien Instantly froze. Marinette and Nino looked at him with worry, and Alya felt herself gripping the handle of their shopping cart until her knuckles turned white.
Adrien pulled his phone out of his pocket, looked from the screen, to each of his friends and back to his fathers name. Gabriel Agreste. Not Dad, or Papa, not even Father. Gabriel Agreste. He pressed the accept button and the fashion designer's displeased face filled the screen.

“Adrien, why have you not been answering Natalie’s calls? She had been calling you for the last 20 minutes.”
“I’m sorry.” He paused, took a second to collect himself. “I’m Busy. I put my phone on silent.”
“Your phone shouldn’t be on silent! We need you for an emergency reshoot for the fall line. The ad goes out in a week and the photographer leaves town soon. You are expected to be at location in 10 minutes.”
“Again? We’ve reshot this line 4 times now! What’s wrong this time?”
“The lighting isn’t correct, and there is a slight wrinkle in your pants in several otherwise usable pictures.”
“That’s all? The ad team should be able to edit that out. It’s my day off, I have plans that I had approved by you for weeks. I’m not coming in over something trivial.”
“It may seem trivial to you, but you have never been good at details.” His father waved his complaints off, “I’ll send Gorilla to pick you up. I hope you haven’t been eating the trash you are so prone to eating.”
“No, Father. I’m not coming in. It is my day off. I am unavailable.”
“Adrien. You will not disobey me. Not only am I your father, I am your employer. You already had your required day off this week, and this is a necessity. Natalie will be expecting you within the hour.”
“No. The only other day off I’ve had in two weeks was Monday and that was so I could move, and you still called me in. Find another model or teach your photographers to plan better, use photoshop, I don’t care. I will be available to work Monday afternoon.”
“Adrien, this is ridiculous. You have a responsibility to the company”
“As you have so graciously reminded me, as my employer you have a responsibility to uphold the terms of my contract. A contract which includes stipulations that I have more time off and can refuse shoots if I have previous plans. Without retaliation. I will see you later, father. I have to go.” Adrien got off the phone with trembling fingers. He felt weak at the knees and like he was going to throw up. Before he could collapse under the anxiety his vision was filled with Marinette. She pulled his face down to hers and rubbed his cheek as he rested his forehead against hers. “You did a good job, Adrien. I’m really proud of you. That had to be really hard.”
“Yeah” his voice was quiet and pathetic to his ears but she just smiled widely.
“Seriously, that was amazing. You didn’t hedge at all when he got mad. You stood up for yourself and you got what you wanted. Are you proud of yourself?”
“Not yet. Maybe once the nausea passes “
She laughed at him quietly. “You should be. I am”
Ugh she was so good. Her comments went straight to his heart and all he wanted to do was live in them and go swimming through them like Scrooge McDuck in his pile of coins. He felt a large hand slap his back. “So am I dude. That was great! Your old man can suck it!”
“Yeah, Adrien. That was amazing, 8 months ago you would have already been in the car on your way to the shoot before he even called to tell you.” Alya said jokingly.
Adrien Laughed weakly, trying to focus more on Marinette’s hands rubbing up and down his arms than the tightness he felt radiating through his whole body. “Thanks, guys. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Probably spend a lot more time with Chloe.” Marinette stage whispered to the group.
This laugh felt a little more true. But he still felt horrendous, and it felt like people were watching him, which could very well be true. “Can- can we leave soon? I don’t know if I’m up for shopping anymore.”
The other three quickly gave their assent, Marinette claiming that everything she’d wanted to get for both of their apartments was either in the basket, or out of stock. Adrien wasn’t entirely convinced of that, but she quickly assured him she could find everything online and order it for delivery another day. They made their way down to the checkout line, quickly grabbing a few things they missed, or needed to pick up in the warehouse as they went. Adrien was on edge the entire time, and desperately wanted the comfort of Marinette’s hand in his. She would occasionally slip her hand in his and squeeze as they waited in line, but would quickly drop it as soon as either Alya or Nino looked their way.
They got to the checkout line, and Adrien managed to strong-armed his friends (mostly Marinette, Alya and Nino only put up a token protest) into letting him pay for everything. Marinette scowled at him, and the sight of her scrunched up nose and pursed lips was a small comfort. As they gathered their items into bags they all quickly realized the fault of their trip to Ikea. They would have to carry all this on several buses and trains to get it back to their prospective apartments.
“Ugh. Everyone is going to hate us on the 6th!” Alya groaned as she shouldered one of the bags. “It’s going to be packed.”
“If we want I can see if Gorilla is close by, and can come pick us up.”
Thankfully, Adrien’s bodyguard was close, and could take them and their stuff to Adrien’s Apartment, but didn’t have time to take the rest of them home that evening. So Alya and Nino would still have a long commute back to their apartments.
“Well, there’s only one solution to this problem as far as I can see.” Alya said with a devilish expression.
“What would that be?” Marinette asked warily.
“My friends, It is time for a good old fashioned Sleepover!”

Chapter Text

Gorilla dropped them off by the elevators in the Parking garage of Adrien’s Apartment. He led all three of them to his apartment, and quickly unlocked the door. He thought briefly of the night before as he twisted the lock and had to shake the far too pleasant thoughts off quickly. Instead he tried to focus as Nino and Alya gushed over the size and luxury of his apartment. They dropped everything they’d purchased in the entryway and he was roped into giving them a tour. Alya gushed at the views from his windows, Nino thoroughly inspected his sound system, and they both immediately jumped onto his bed. They both claimed it was the most comfortable bed they had ever seen, and Alya suggested that they take a nap before putting any of their purchases away.

Marinette quickly shut that idea down, stating that she would be able to relax much better if the construction of the shelves and other smaller furniture was built first. So each person was given a task, and set to work. Thankfully the apartment had a fairly open plan, so Alya could organize the new kitchen utensils in the drawers while Adrien and Nino attempted to build the shelves, and Marinette set to changing out the plain black pillows and monotone artwork in the living room. Keeping himself busy was one of the best things for Adrien as he tried to relax his still anxious body while also trying not to think too much about the warm feeling he got when he thought about Marinette decorating their- his- definitely his- home. The quiet hum of his friends working in the same area, occasionally commenting on something they were working on, or asking questions began to add to the feeling of this being a home.

The only issue was that this damn shelf would not come together! Nino was also struggling, but had made significant progress on his project. He was honestly overjoyed when the blaring emergency alarm went off on their phones. An Akuma meant he had an excuse to leave the shelf and go do something he knew he was good at, hitting things with a big stick.

Screamed in excitement when she looked at her phone. “It’s only a few blocks away from here! On my first full day back in France too! I gotta go we some footage for the Ladyblog!” She dashed out the door before Nino’s protests could be heard.

“Ugh, Bro. If I didn’t love her so damn much I would be so annoyed right now,” he said as he got up to follow her.

Both Adrien and Marinette protested about the couple running head first into the fight, but knew it was useless. They both sighed heavily, and Adrien stood and stretched, calling for Plagg. His kwami streaked out of Marinette’s purse.

“You ready for another Akuma?” he asked.

“NO, I was having a very nice dream about that cheese we got when we went to Italy. I could almost taste the mold!”

“Gross,” he replied. He called his transformation, and got ready to jump out the balcony window. Marinette stopped him with a hand to his shoulder.

“Wait for a moment, Alya’s still close by, she might notice you.” She was watching Alya’s live stream on her phone.

“Oh, That’s right.” He paused, and after a moment Marinette lifted her hand off his shoulder and told him to be careful. He took another step towards the window, then thought better of it.

He swept Marinette into his arms and kissed her deeply, his clawed hand caressing her cheek. She stepped into the kiss to wrap her arms around his waist.
When he finally broke the kiss they were both a little breathless, and flushed. She smiled at him, “Not that I mind, but what was that for?”

“Well, I’ve got to give my Marinette lucky charm a chance to do it’s magic, don’t I?”

She rolled her eyes and pushed him towards the door. “Get out there and save the day, dork.”
He resisted slightly, he knew he needed to get out there, Ladybug was probably fighting all alone, but- “I think I need extra luck though! I think I need another kiss.” He tried to pull her back, but she stepped away.

“You’ll get another kiss if you make it back without getting hit by the akuma first.”

“Deal!” he grinned,and swooped in and stole another quick peck before leaping out into the sky.

“Ooh, Chat Noir! You’re in for it!” She muttered under her breath as she watched him vault across buildings. She felt weak in the knees, and her heart still pounded a little from the frankly heart stopping kiss he’d laid on her. She shook herself slightly and when he was far enough away, she called her transformation. As Tikki was sucked into her earrings she could have sworn that her kwami was grinning smugly.

Ladybug landed behind Chat in an alley as he watched the akuma working it’s magic. The man who’d be akumatized seemed to radiate his own soft golden light. He was surrounded by several people who were frozen in an exaggerated pose, hair midtoss, clothes being gently blown by the wind, and a perfect half smile. He was stalking down the street away from them looking for more subjects to shoot.
“What is he doing?” She asked quietly.
“I’m not sure, but have you seen the way I look in this lighting? Meow! I sure hope someone gets some good pictures today, I’m hoping to get a new headshot for when they talk about us in the news.” He grinned at her and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“Hmm, I’m a big fan of the one Nadia used last week, I think we should stick with that one.” She said, smirking as she crept around the corner to follow the akuma.
He stared after her in horror.

“You mean the one they got of me sneezing as a pigeon flew into my face? The only bad picture I have ever taken? That’s your favorite? You are a cruel woman.” As he said this he made the mistake of stepping on a piece of plastic someone had left on the sidewalk, which in the eerily quiet Parisian street was loud enough to alert the victim of their presence. He whipped around to face them and shot a concentrated golden beam towards them, which they narrowly missed by jumping to buildings on opposite sides of the street. The man kept shooting beams of golden light at them, all while shouting at them to hold still so he could get the perfect shot.

“Geez, what’s got you all worked up,” Chat Noir Said, as he tried to evade a beam and get close enough to the victim to knock the camera he was using out of his hands.

“Apparently I am not a good enough photographer for the stuck up Agrest’s to even deign to show up to the photoshoot I had planned for them! But I will show them! I am Goldenhour, and Goldenhour always gets their shot!” He shouted, choosing to take a more hands on approach by swinging his camera at Chat’s head when the superhero stumbled at the mention of his family name.

Ladybug scowled, knowing it was likely all Gabriel’s fault, but that Adrien would take all the blame on himself. She jumped into the fight, dodging attacks as she searched for the most likely place for the akuma to be hiding. She only had to grab Nino and Alya out of harms way once, before the journalist got a hint and hid in a better spot to film the fight.

This went on for several more minutes and began to move further into tourist territory as he tried to make his way to the Eiffel tower, and hopefully find Adrien on the way. Ladybug was getting sick of the back and forth, and she could see the strained way Chat’s smiles and jokes fell slightly flat when he thought she wasn’t paying him any attention.
She called for her lucky charm, and revived a vacuum with a long extension hose. She looked around for a minute and saw the scaffolding around a building under construction, the dangling straps of the akuma’s camera, and a small pin on his lapel.

“Chat, I need you to go over to that building and cataclysm is in exactly 3 minutes. Do you think you can do that?” She asked.

“Oh, a rugged construction shot? I’m down for that. I have a few construction jokes, but Sadly I’m still working on them!” he shouted as he vaulted across the way towards the steel girders.

Ladybug began stalking closer to the akuma, Vacuum in hand.

“Ooh, Ladybug, thank you for bringing something to clean the set up with, but I would much rather have you in the starring role, next to that elusive pretty boy I’ve been trying to find! Perhaps you hand run to find him for me, Apparently I’m too imcompitent for him. You might have better luck!” He paused, “Oh, look at me. I punned! Now run along, before I make you part of my collection and take those pretty little earrings from you.”

Ladybug Didn't notice the way Chat Froze in the shadow of the building as Goldenhour pinned all the blame on Adrien. She was too busy dodging attacks, and strategically getting him into the correct position. She got Goldenhour right where she wanted him, and had managed to suck the dangling straps into the vacuum thus ripping the camera away from his hands, but the looming shadow of the scaffolding had not started to move yet. She whipped around to see Chat with his cataclysm activated, but standing stock still breathing heavily, eyes wide. She silently cursed herself for not realizing the problem earlier and quickly shot the camera’s beam at the victim. He jumped out of the way quickly, and landed on one of the upper beams of the scaffold.

“Chat!” She yelled, “NOW!”

He seemed to surface from his thoughts slowly at first, taking a second to realize his surroundings. It was too slow for Ladybug, so she jumped after Golden hour to keep him on the beam. They fought hand to hand for another few seconds, before she felt the metal beneath her begin to shift. She shot another beam towards the victim, missing yet again. However, the rocking of the ground they were standing on, coupled with the instability he’d created by quickly jerking away from Ladybugs attack caused the Akuma to fall back into the correct position as the saffold fell down around him, missing his body, but smashing the pin fastened to his lapel.

Ladybug tried to dismount and catch the butterfly flying away, but fell off the building. She groaned as she tried to stand up. Chat Noir ran towards her to help her up.

“I’m fine! I just need to get the Akuma. Which way did it go?”

“If flew that way!” He pointed over the rooftops. Ladybug threw her yo-yo in the direction he pointed.

“Grab the lucky charm. I’m going to catch it.”
Thankfully the butterfly hadn’t made it very far and she was able to purify it within a few minutes. She turned to bounce back to where the victim was lying in the street, but was met with the solid wall that was Chat Noir's chest. She squeaked in surprise and stumbled back, only being prevented from falling by Chat’s Hands grabbing her elbows.

“Whoa! Careful!” he said, righting her carefully. “I brought the lucky charm, do your Miraculous ladybug, quick. The Victims panicking.”

“Oh, shoot. Yeah.” She took the Vacuum from where Chat had placed it and quickly threw it in the air to make everything, and everyone, go back to normal. “Pound it?”
“Pound it.” He replied, pressing his fist to hers.

“Are you okay Chat? You froze for a second, and You seem a little upset.”

He instantly straightened his posture and settled into an easy expression, “No! I’m Okay, I just lost count! I am a-okay. In fact I would say I’m a-meow-zing.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, knowing exactly what had upset him. LadyBug wanted to tell him that he can’t expect to live his life poorly because Gabriel couldn’t control himself. The problem was this was something that Marinette could talk to him about, not Ladybug. He widened his smile, trying to look happy enough to get her to drop it. She sighed and shook off the anger she felt at Gabriel/.

“All right. If you’re sure. I want you to know I am not upset, and that you did great work today. Thank you.” She reached out and grabbed his hand, willing him to believe it. She looked down to see Alya waving frantically at them for an interview. She sighed again. “Looks like our favorite journalist is back in town. Let’s do a quick interview, then I have to bug out before I’m missed.”

“Wait! I have something I wanted to talk to you about.”

She paused, “Oh? What is that?”

“I have a friend, who is planning something, and she wants our help.”

“Chat, I know you love going to surprise parties, but we can’t keep going places transformed.”

“No, It’s not like that. It’s- Look, can I tell you about it tomorrow night around 10? At the 2nd alternate meet-up?”

She pretended to think about it for a minute then agreed. They both hopped down to the street to talk to Alya for her first official interview back in Paris. As soon as they answered a handful of questions she made her excuses and dashed back to Adrien’s apartment so no one would realize she’d been gone. She landed through the bathroom window only a few minutes before Adrien landed in the living room. He found Marinette quietly building the shelf He’d given up on.

“Hey,” She looked up from the screw she was tightening to give him a once over. “I saw what happened. Are you okay?”
He stood there, took a deep shuddering breath, and then melted into a puddle at her feet.

“Oh, dear. That’s what I was afraid of.” She pulled him into her arms.

This had become a sadly common thing for them. Adrien had been working on setting more boundaries the last several months with the help of his therapist, and gentle encouragement from Marinette and Nino. Gabriel did not take these boundaries well and it absolutely gutted Adrien every time his father lashed out because of it. It was especially hard when Gabriel hurt someone other than Adrien, like today with Vincent.

Adrien spent several long minutes shedding himself of the burden his father unfairly put on him. Marinette spent that time reassuring him that it was not his fault but his fathers. As Adrien was coming out of the worst of his spiral, a message from Alya came through her phone letting her know the couple had decided to get some food for everyone on their way back and would be a while longer.

“Are you hungry?” She asked, pushing his hair away from face, gently stroking his skin in a way that made Adrien close his eyes in pleasure.

“No.” He said as his stomach let out a growl.

“Hmm,” she looked at him thoughtfully. He scrunched his nose up, and turned so his face was pressed into her stomach. “So you don’t want them to pick up some Saag Paneer and samosas for you from the Indian place you like?”

He tensed slightly, then peaked at her from his hiding spot. “With extra sauce and garlic roti?” He asked tentatively.

“Yeah, too bad you’re not hungry” she pulled out her phone and began typing a message. “I’ll just tell them to get whatever they want.”

He groaned, “Nooo. Fine! I’m a little bit hungry,” his stomach growled again, “But I’m still miserable, so I think I need some malpura too- and a head massage.”

She smiled and rolled her eyes as she sent the text. She began to gently scratch his scalp. He purred and pushed his head against her hand. “You know what this poor kitty should do?”

He opened his eyes and fixed her with a glazed look.

“Help me change your bed sheets and comforter to the ones we got today.”

His pupils dilated and a huge grin covered his face. “And the fluffy pillows?” He asked.

“Pffftt. Of course.”

He jumped up and grabbed the bags from where they dumped them by the door. “ Then what are you waiting for!!”

They spent 10 minutes excitedly making up the bed. Adrien's posture still seemed defeated and stiff, but it was an improvement.

After everything was perfectly arranged, They bit stepped back to admire their handy work. Adrien looked over to Marinette who looked pleased, she turned to him and smiled widely. His smile got even wider.

“It looks great, princess. But there’s one thing missing.”

She sighed, “Yeah. There were a few things they didn’t have in stock that I thought you’d like. We can order them tonight if you want.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.”
“Then what–” her question was cut short in surprise when Adrien swan dived into the pile of pillows at the end of his bed.

“Cha- Adrien! We just finished making that!” She said trying to sound stern but really laughing at the stupid little grin he had as he burrowed deeper into the pile.

“Yes, and it’s perfect for a little kitty like me. All I need is a cuddle buddy.” He said, reaching his hands in a ‘gimme’ gesture. “Come on. It’s comfy”

“He’s right, you know!” Came Plaggs muffled voice. “This is the best idea you ever had. You should get me this stuff for my lair.”

“It’s not a lair, it’s a hidey whole, and I will definitely get you stuff like this if it means I won’t turn over in my sleep and get woken up by the camembert stench in my pillows.” He reached out to Marinette, and pulled her into the pile of pillows they were enveloped in.

“Deal!” Plagg said.

The three of them rolled around in the pillows until they all found a comfortable spot, Adrien reclining on the pillows, half under the sheets, Marinette propped up on his chest and Plagg happily purring buried deep into the fluffiest pillow he could find. Marinette was showing Adrien a few additional pieces she wanted to get, occasionally asking him if he liked this or that. Adrien wasn’t really paying attention, he was focusing on his arms round her waist, the smell of her hair against his nose, and the warmth and comfort he felt after the emotionally fraught afternoon he’d had. His head began to feel heavy, and he propped it against Marinette's so it wouldn’t fall. He was more than halfway asleep when the sound of his front door opening caused Marinette to jump about a foot in the air, hitting him painfully in the process. He let out a pained groan and curled into a ball.

“Oh, sorry! Are you okay,” she said gingerly crawling out of the bed and hovering over him.

“Yeah, that just wasn’t the best way to wake up. I’ll be fine in a minute.”

“You were asleep?”

“Just a little bit.”

“I am so sorry!”

“What are you sorry about?” Alya said from the doorway. She was holding a bag of food and looking at them with suspicious eyes.
“We were- I was- uhhh”

“ I was taking a nap while Marinette was decorating, but she tripped and landed poorly.”

“So you’re saying she slipped and landed on your dick?” Alya said in a voice that was somewhere between suspicious and mocking.
“WHAt?” Nino almost shouted as he stepped behind Alya, while both Marinette and Adrien Protested the crude phrasing.

“I tripped! I accidentally hit him in the groin!”

“Don’t say it like that!”

All four stewed in the deafening silence following their outburst, until Alya let out the loudest snort any of them had ever heard and they all broke out into nearly uncontrollable laughter. After they all calmed down they all settled in the living room around the coffee table to eat.

-

After Ladybug and Chat Noir ended their interview, Alya and Nino were still several blocks away from Adrien’s new apartment. Which Alya decided was the perfect time and place to check items of her agenda; get the deets on Adrien from Nino, grab some toothbrushes and other toiletries they’d need for the sleep over, and get some dinner.

While they walked to a nearby store Alya began grilling Nino on what he found out.

“Soooo, was I right or was I right? They’re totally in love right? Marinette is a vault as usual but I bet you got something from sunshine.” she grabbed his arm excitedly.

“Adrien can be just as secretive as Mari, but I did get some info. You’re not going to like it though.”

“No! Don’t tell me he rejected her!” She cried, shaking him forcefully.

“No, no.” He said placatingly, “I do genuinely think they might like each other. But I don’t think it’s exactly romantic?”

“What do you mean?”

“He didn’t tell me a whole lot, but I guess they both like someone else, and for some unknown reason they can’t or maybe won’t be with that person. I think they’ve just decided to be lonely together.”

“Ok, you are talking nonsense. Who else would Marinette like? Adrien, I could see him meeting someone. He works with a lot of beautiful models and agents and sees a million people a day. But who would Mari like? She doesn’t really go out much because she’s always working on something. Plus she would have told me!” Nino gave her a look, “Probably.”

“Alya, I think after how over involved you got with the last three guys she told you about she might not be willing to tell you until she’s more sure.”

“ I didn’t mean to freak out the last one. I honestly thought he knew!”

“I know, hun. But…” He let his sentence trail off. They were at their first stop and Nino led a slightly distraught Alya through the store picking up several items. Their conversation petered out until they’d left the store with 3 toothbrushes, 3 pairs of underwear, and a copious amount of snacks and alcohol for the sleepover.

As they set off towards the restaurant Alya sent Marinette a quick text asking if the other two wanted anything.

She huffed a sigh, “I just don’t get who this mysterious man is. How can he trump the boy she was in love with for like 3 years! When I meet that sick bastard I’m going to kill him!” She said, shaking one of the bags in her hands vaguely towards the sky. Nino wasn’t sure if this statement was meant to be directed at him or at the heavenly being who had the audacity to let this happen.

“My OTP man! How could some man whore swoop in and ruin that? He won’t even date her! It’s an abomination. ”

“Even if there was no mystery man, you're forgetting about the mystery woman. Your OTP is doomed, dude. You’re just going to have to hope LadyNoir happens someday.”

“No! This is unacceptable! If they are going to keep being stubborn, then I’m going to have to do something about it. Plus we have all night to execute a plan! We could play truth or dare, and make them tell us how they feel! Or maybe make them kiss! Maybe we can get Marinette to tell Adrien about her crush on him when we’re were younger which will-“

Nino stopped Alya’s word vomit with a finger to her lips. He looked at his girlfriend warily. “Remember how you said you were going to start practicing the art of subtle digging? Because people clam up when they know you're trying to get something from them?”

Alya glared at Nino, “yeah” she said sullenly.

“So maybe you need to be a little less overt. Plus Adrien already knows Marinette had a crush on him.”
“WHAt?” Alya screeched, causing several patrons at the nearby restaurants to look at them with disdain.

“Yeah, apparently Mari told him about it.. I was pretty shocked too.”

“No! This is terrible news!!!” Alya cupped her face with her hands. “ This means she really did get over it! This is going to be so much harder than I thought!”

“What’s going to be harder? Finding out if they’re dating? Because I’m pretty sure we’ve established that they aren’t. Which means you owe me.” He grinned slightly at her look of horror as he opened the door to the restaurant for her.

“No! I refuse to accept that nothing is going on! This can't be real. They definitely like each other and I am going to get them to admit it, just you watch Lahiffe. Then They are going to start dating, and our kids are going to grow up together and fall in love and then we’ll be family and all of us will share a crypt where our bones will party until Rapture!”

“And how do you plan on doing that?” he asked as he stepped closer to the front counter.

“I have a foolproof plan. Here’s what we’re going to do….”

Chapter Text

The group spent all of dinner discussing the akuma. Marinette had to very pointedly steer Alya away from the fact that the victim blamed Adrien in his rant. Alya wanted to talk all about Chat freezing at the wrong time, and the speculation on what that could possibly mean for LadyNior. So Marinette had to constantly steer the conversation. She couldn’t help but notice that after every mention and subsequent derailment, Adrien took another swig of his beer. It wasn’t a lot, he was responsible afterall, but it was enough to make his cheeks flushed and for him to get a little giggly.

Alya and Nino were another story. Both were drinking freely, and Alya had reached the kind of tipsy that made her talk endlessly. Surprisingly, neither of them mentioned Alya’s suspicions from earlier. Marinette kept bracing for another pointed question, or an innuendo, but none came. She felt like she should be able to put her guard down, but that only made her more suspicious.

Eventually after everyone had eaten their fill the conversation turned to what they should do with the rest of the night. Marinette voted for everyone getting changed and watching a movie. Nino stayed staunchly out of the conversation because he knew what was coming and was powerless to stop it, and Alya of course thought they should all play a sleepover game. Adrien, his judgment slightly impaired, said he had no preference, but did giggle a little bit at the idea of Truth or Dare. He missed the panicked look Marinette was trying to send him so he said they could probably do both. So, despite Marinette’s protests Alya’s trap was set.

“Alright, You get one get out of jail free card, after that if you don’t want to do a dare or tell a truth you have to pick the other one from this app,” She held up her phone with a truth or dare app pulled up, “ set to extreme, AND lose a piece of clothing. Because I’m nice, shoes and socks count, but only as a unit. So none of this one sock at a time biz. If you avoid the truth, you cannot be asked the same question again, but you can get asked adjacent questions. If you avoid a dare, the same rules apply. Everybody got it?”

They all agreed, Marinette somewhat grumpily.

“Alright, I’ll spin this bottle and the person it lands on gets to go first.” she spun the bottle, and added, “Oh, and if you lie and I ever find out, I will make you streak through the champ de mars gardens as punishment.”

Marinette and Adrien shifted uncomfortably in their seats, Adrien just now realizing how bad of an idea it was to play this game. The bottle, blessedly, landed on Marinette, who sighed quietly in relief.

“Alright, hmm.” She looked between her friends trying to pick who to go for first. Alya was obviously the most vindictive choice, but if she did that then Alya could fire back, which Marinette wanted to avoid as much as possible. Nino would likely be a bit better, but might then pick Alya and they would be in the same situation. So Adrien it was.

“Adrien, Truth or Dare?”

He smiled at her and seemed to contemplate for a second before he chose Truth, knowing Marinette wouldn’t ask him anything too compromising.

“What is something you would change about everyone in this room?”

He gaped at her, “Are you serious?”

“Yes, Tell us what you don’t like about us, what we could do better.”

“This is about this morning isn’t it.”

“This morning?” Alya’s overly interested voice broke through the glaring contest between them. “What were you guys talking about this morning? Why were you talking so early?”

“Nothing, we were just chatting. I came over to help him do laundry before we met you guys and I might have mentioned Adrien is too nice sometimes. So chop chop. Be mean. What do I do wrong?”

“Besides your skin care?” Adrien said smugly, knowing Marinette wouldn’t fire anything back without revealing she stayed the night. She glared even harder at him.

“Yes, besides the stupid skin care.”

“Hmmmmmmm.” He deliberated for an overly long time, partially to annoy Marinette, and partially because he was trying to think of anything he would change about his friends. “Uuh, so With Nino, I would probably change where he lives because it’s a stupid apartment that is way to far away.” Nino wiped his eyes exaggeratedly, whispered a quiet 'I love you too, bro.’

“Alya, I would probably give you a good dose of caution and the sense to stay away from akuma’s.” Both Marinette and Alya muttered, ‘that’s never going to happen,’ in response to that.

“And, Uh Marinette…. I would… uh. I would shrink you down so I could put you in my pocket and have an emotional support Marinette with me everywhere I go.”

Marinette protested, citing the fact that he was being too nice, but the truth was not to say the meanest thing about them, but what he would change. After a few minutes of bickering Marinette eventually dropped it, and the game continued. Adrien picked Nino, who he dared to let everyone draw on his face and ended up with several flowers, a cartoon cat and one crude symbol put there by his girlfriend. Nino dared Marinette to let Alya post on her social media. Marinette picked Nino right back, and was asked which of their friends would make the worst couple (hands down Kagami and Chloe because they would tear each other to pieces.)

After that Nino dared Alya to call Kim and sing him happy birthday. Alya of course picked Marinette to go next. There was a gleam in her eye that made Marinette very nervous, and based on the way Alya’s eyes kept flicking back and forth between Adrien and herself, Marinette was in trouble no matter what she chose.

“Come on Marinette, what’ll it be? I’ve got a good one either way.”

Eventually the fact that she decided that Dare would be the least offensive with the treasure trove of secrets Marinette was hiding. Alya’s eyes got even brighter when Marinette gave her answer.

“I dare you to take five shots right now.”

Marinette’s heart stopped. She looked between the bottle of tequila Alya was holding, the empty bottle of beer in Adrien’s hand, his shocked and slightly terrified face, and her purse hanging by the door. It was at that moment she realized she wasn’t wearing many layers. Her shoes were already off and by the door, and she was wearing a jumpsuit and a tee shirt, no socks.

After a moment Adrien gathered his wits and interjected, “Alya, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Mari doesn’t like to drink, and her alcohol tolerance is horrible. She gets drunk on like a half a glass of wine, you can’t make her drink five shots in a row. It’ll probably kill her.”

“Fine, three Shots. Final dare.” Alya conceded, “I wanna see ‘drunk Mari’.”

“You really don’t…” Adrien muttered, thinking it was quiet enough for Alya not to hear. Luck was not on Adrien’s side.

“Wait, wait, wait. Does this mean you got to see my white whale? You? Adrien? You saw ‘drunk Marinette’? When? How? When? What was it like? When!?” She said, shaking his shoulders aggressively.

“Uhh, a few months ago, I guess. It’s not as fun and exciting as you think. Seriously, you can’t dare her to drink that much.”

“Alya, I’m not getting drunk tonight. I want to be able to function. Can you please pick something else?”

“No, that was my final dare. Do you want to use your get out of jail free card, or would you rather strip and pick a truth?”

“That’s not fair! I already took off my shoes earlier! This is Racism! Just because I’m Asian and take off my shoes unlike you three heathens! I demand a special dispensation!” Nino and Adrien were both giggling at her tirade, and weren’t being very helpful.

“Rules are rules Mari!” Alya cackled, “You don’t see the boys complaining. Besides, I gave you a free exception already. You could use it.”

“Adrien literally complained for me! What if I promise to get a drink next week when we go out? Can I get another get out of jail free card?”

Alya took a moment to consider, “Let me speak with the council. Go Stand in the kitchen while we confer.”

Marinette sent a pleading look to both Adrien and Nino, hoping they would be a more sympathetic target, and stepped into the kitchen. She watched anxiously as the three of them whispered with their heads close together, Adrien obviously arguing in her favor, with Alya arguing against her. Nino seemed to be waffling between both options. Finally Adrien Seemed to make a point the convinced both of them and Alya gave up in a huff, calling Marinette back.

“Fine! I will make one exception! But you are required to still do the truth, and I get to pick what cocktail you get, and you can’t back out.”

Marinette sighed in relief, it was a better option, and if she convinced Adrien to stay sober next week and babysit her so she didn’t say anything compromising she could handle one cocktail. “I accept these terms.” She clicked the button on the app for her truth and read the question out loud. “Describe your first time having sex in three words. Uhh…” She thought for a second playing with the hem of her pants. She was still feeling too relieved that she avoided the shots to realize the problem with the question. “Spontaneous? Fevered, and uhhh nice? I guess.” “Fevered , huh? I bet he’d love to hear about that.” Adrien said, the smirk evident in his voice.

“Well, maybe I should have said incomplete.” She fired back without true malice.She looked up to a very shocked and appalled Alya, a confused Nino, and a playfully affronted Adrien. It was then that she remembered that the only person who knew she’d even had a first time was Adrien, mostly because he’d been there.

“You- Y-you had sex?” Alya sputtered out at the same time Adrien said-

“Me-owch. So mean. Poor dude.”

“When? With who? Why didn’t you tell me! I- i just-” Alya continued her shocked ramble, but then Adrien’s comment registered. “Wait. Did you know about this? Why do you know and I don’t”

Marinette and Adrien both felt their hearts stop.

Alya continued to stare at them expecting an answer that neither of them felt like they could give. Finally, Adrien managed to stumble out a half truth.

“It’s just because I know the guy, and kind of set them up? Like we talked about it a little bit, it’s not a big deal.”

“It’s not a big deal! It's NOT A BIG DEAL? It’s the biggest deal. Girl! I told you all the deets of my first time-”

“You did?” Nino said in surprise.

“I did not ask for, or want those details-” Marinette added.

“I expect to at least know it freaking happened! I cannot believe this. We are talking about this later.” Alya said huffily, and began muttering under her breath about how this was ridiculous. She was Marinette’s Best Friend.

After a minute Marinette decided to move on, ignoring Alya’s pouting.

After several more rounds, with little luck in information gathering, and multiple instances of inside jokes and stories Alya had never heard (but Adrien somehow did?!?) something seemed to finally click into place in her brain.

It filled her with a blinding white rage. One that would occasionally dissipate when she got distracted, but she was on the wrong side of tipsy, so you couldn’t blame her. She couldn’t believe that this was happening right under her nose. It was obvious it had been going on for a while. The familiar touches, the meaningful looks, the stealing food from one another's plate, they all pointed to months of her not suspecting a single thing.

Alya spent the rest of the game quietly glaring at the jackass at every chance, getting steadily drunker. She almost wasn’t even paying attention to the game. She knew Marinette and Adrien both used their free pass with one of her half hearted questions about… something. She honestly forgot immediately after asking. The original purpose of the game had been served, she was furious, and everything was ruined. The annoying thing was, she knew exactly how to either fix everything, or prove it completely, and she knew she was going to have to do it. Then She would come at them with the full force of her anger.

“Adrien, Truth or Dare?” She asked when it was finally her turn again.

“Dare,” he said confidently.

Alya smiled like a predator who’d backed a gizelle into a corner. “I dare you to make out with Marinette for a full minute. With tongue.”

“Babe, I don’t think that’s the dare you think it is.” Nino whispered to her quietly, which she waved off. HE was the one who didn’t know.

“Marinette, are you okay with this?” Adrien said, turning to her. She just shrugged, set a timer on her phone and leaned in. Alya was horrified to see them casually kissing, no blushing, no hesitation, nothing. All of her suspicions were true, and nothing was good anymore.

Then to rub more salt in her gaping wound Nino leaned over and whispered into hre ear, “You do realize you’ve tried this before, like a year ago, right? And that it didn’t work the first time? Do you not remember that?” He still thought they were trying to get their friends to date, he didn’t know.

But she did remember it. She remembered how clever she thought she was. Why did all her cupid schemes go so horribly wrong? The first time was bad enough, but this time was so much worse.

They played a few more rounds, but Alyas heart was no longer in it. It wasn’t late, but everyone else seemed ready to finish. Marinette convinced everyone it was time to get ready for bed. Alya reluctantly pulled the supplies her and Nino had bought earlier that evening. Nino grabbed the change of underwear from the bag and asked Adrien if he could borrow some PJ’s.

“Yeah , sure. I have a drawer of older shirts and pj’s at the back of the closet.” He said while cleaning up the leftover food and empty bottles.

“Nino, grab something for me and Mari, too!” She shouted. He sent her a brief thumbs up, and headed to Adrien’s room.

As Alya continued digging through the sacks she realized that neither of them managed to grab toothpaste. “Shoot! We need toothpaste, too!” Nino yelled, ‘gotcha,’ back to her and she turned to Adrien, “You do have toothpaste, right?”

Adrien Looked at her incredulously, “Of course? Why wouldn’t I?”

She shrugged, turning away, “I’ve met college guys away from home for the first time, You’d be surprised what they will live without.” She pulled a couple pairs of underwear out of the bag and tossed one to Marinette, “This should be your size.”

Marinette, who was at the kitchen island helping Adrien clean, when a violent pink and quickly stuffed them into her pocket, “Alya!”

“What? They’re just underwear! Adrien, you’re a model, I bet you see lady’s panties all the time.” Alya said, besides why would you care if he sees your undies, none of it matters anyway, she thought gloomily.

Adrien chuckled, flushing slightly, “I wouldn’t say all the time, but I have seen them quite a few times at runways and in changing areas.”

“See, You’re being silly.” She stood up and headed toward the bedroom, “now if you’ll excuse me, i’m going to change my PANTIES, and help Nino find the toothpaste I’m sure he got lost in your maze of a wardrobe!” she joked half heartedly over her shoulder.

Marinette flipped her off, but Alya’s back was turned. She sighed and rolled her eyes. Turning back to the kitchen island to finish packing the leftover food into containers.

“She’s not wrong though,” Adrien said lowly, leaning into her space, “I do see one lady’s panties quite often.”

Marinette scoffed and pushed his face away as he tried to waggle his eyebrows at her. He made a grab at the pocket she’d shoved them into, which made her try to dance away.

“Come on, Let’s see ‘em. I’ll see them eventually, just show them to me.” Adrien joked, tickling her side to try to break her hold on the wrist going for her pocket.

“Don’t! Alya or Nino might see! If you don’t stop being so naughty, you won’t ever see any of my underwear again.” She hissed. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you trying to tease me during lunch. You could have gotten us caught!” She said, trying to sound stearn, but sounding more flirty than she’d intended.

“I have no Idea what you’re talking about,” he said, his cheshire grin and smug voice undercutting his professed innocence. “I’ve been a perfect gentleman all day. It’s not my fault if you took it the wrong way.”

She managed to peel his hand away from her side and danced out of his reach. “Don’t play innocent with me, I know how to spot a troublemaker from 100 yards.You were being a pest on purpose!”

“Oh, come one, Mari. It’s all in good fun!” he said following her.

“Nuh-uh. Nope. Bad!” She said, still backing away. It was then that they both noticed Alya and Nino standing in the doorway for Adrien’s room. They both were looking quite gleeful, and Marinette’s Immediate response was to freeze and begin panicking internally. How long had they been there? How much had they heard? After everything they’d done to hide their, ahem, arrangement, was this how they were found out?

“Sooooo…. Adrien.” Nino drawled. “Do you want to tell us who the bright pink toothbrush is for?”

He held up the toothbrush Adrien had given Marinette this morning, waggling it slightly. His and Alya’s grins got bigger as Adrien’s face got redder.

“Uh.. It’s mine?”

Marinette felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest, suddenly thankful she was already blushing earlier. Hopefully, Alya would just assume it was from the panty incident and not this new, more horrifying predicament.

“Nope, this green one is obviously yours, Try again.” Alya said accusingly, pulling Adrien’s toothbrush from behind her back.

“They’re both mine. I bought them, which makes them mine.” he said.

“Yes, buuuutt….” Alya said, advancing on him like a predator, making the toothbrush dance through the air as she walked. There was an edge to her that told Marinette the toothbrush was not the only thing she was digging for. “Who is going to be using it? Who’s the guest who gets to keep their stuff in your private bathroom when there’s a perfectly good guest bath just down the hall? Perhaps a lady friend who likes to sleep over?”

“I have no idea what you mean. I have two toothbrushes, so what? One’s a back up.”

“Then why is it out of the package?” Nino asked coyly.

“Look, who does and does not use my toothbrush is none of your business. So I’ll just take those,” he grabbed both of them from his friend's hands, “and put them where they belong for when I need them.”

He began walking back toward the bathroom, all three of his friends following behind. Alya and Nino were practically hanging off Adrien’s arms.

“Dude, just tell us who it is. We’re your best buds, I just want to know if they’re good enough for you!”

“Is it Avryll Allard? Nino said you guys were close. Did you catch feelings after all those steamy makeout scenes? Please, just tell us!”

“There isn’t anyone. Drop it.” he said huffily.

Alya let go of him with an annoyed snort. She then seemed to remember Marinette, and turned on her. “Does Marinette know? Of course she does.” She said the last part under her breath slightly, then launching herself at Marinette, “Tell us! Mari, who is it? Please! I need to know!”

“I don’t know! I don’t think it’s any of our business.”

“Please! We just want to know if she’s good enough for you! I promise I won’t scare her off! I’ll just do a little digging. That’s all I swear!”

“Alya, just leave him alone.”

“But- I just-“

“I asked you to drop it!” Adrien didn’t yell, but compared to his normal soft voice it felt like it. Everyone seemed to freeze. Then his face crumpled and he looked stricken. “Sorry, Alya. I didn’t mean to snap. It’s just embarrassing, I- I thought it might - get used, but… I don’t think I need it anymore. So can we please just drop it?”

The air was heavy with tension, not only was this one of the very few times Adrien had ever raised his voice, the awkwardness of his dilemma sat heavy on all their shoulders. Marinette almost pitied him, but then remembered that he was lying out his ass and nearly burst out giggling. Thankfully, Alya and Nino were too busy looking thoroughly chagrined to notice her fighting back a grin.

“I’m sorry, Adrien. I didn’t mean to upset you, I was just - excited and a little anxious for you.” Alya said, reaching her hand out and placing it comfortingly on his shoulder.

“I know you weren’t trying to hurt me, but there are some things I just don’t want to talk about. I have good reasons for it, and I Just need you to respect that. Can we just forget everything?”

“Yeah, I can do that.”

“Totally, dude. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you. Can we all just go to bed? It’s been a very long day, and I’m starting to get a headache.”

“Yeah, That’s fine, How do we want to do the sleeping arrangements? I'm thinking of Marinette and me in the guestroom, and Nino with Adrien in his room?”

Marinette wanted so badly to object, but knew that would seem… suspicious. They’d shared a bed before, Alya had even accidentally flashed her on several occasions. So there was no real reason for Marinette to refuse. Thankfully, Nino ended up being her greatest ally.

“No! You just got back, and you had to spend the night at your parents house last night. I want cuddles!” he grumbled as he grabbed his girlfriend around her waist and pulled her close. “Plus, Adrien is a cuddler, which is nice, but he runs at like 1000 degrees, so it’s not nice. I’m not going anywhere near him.”

“Yeah, but Babe, I don’t think Mari and Adrien would feel comfortable sharing a bed. We have all week before our classes start, you’ll survive.”

Nino gave Alya the most incredulous look he could muster. ‘What are you doing?’ he mouthed to her, confused that Alya was going off plan. It was the one bed trope, she loved the one bed trope! Alya looked at him determidly and shook her head slightly.

Marinette jumped in, “I can sleep on the couch. It’s plenty big, and I’m small. I’ll be fine. You guys take the guest room.”

Adrien did not like this proposal at all. “There is no way I’m letting you sleep on that stuffy couch. I’ll sleep on the couch, you can take my bed.”

“Well there is no way I am letting you sleep on that ‘stuffy’ couch.”

“It seems we are at an impasse. Alya will not share with Nino, Nino won’t share with me, Marinette and I both refuse to let someone sleep on the couch. So our only two options are; Nino and Marinette share, and Alya and I share,” everyone objected immediately and passionately, “or we all get into my ridiculously big bed and cuddle puddle.”

Everyone looked around, and hearing no objections Adrien pressed forward.

“Excellent! Cuddle puddle for Adrien!” He said, clapping his hands together and smiling. “I think we should watch a movie in my bedroom after we all get ready for bed! Last one in bed has to make the popcorn!”

Nino and Marinette both jokingly ran to get ready. Adrien tried to follow, but Alyas hand on his arm stopped him.

“I know what you’re doing”

Pure unadulterated panic flooded through his system.

He knew Alya was good, and he’d been stupid enough to flirt with Marinette all day. It was all his fault and Marinette would never forgive him. He was very suddenly looking down a very dark and lonely future without Marinette ever speaking to him again.

He managed to squeeze out, “What am I doing?”

“Don’t be coy with me. I’m not stupid. Sitting close together, sharing secrets, keeping those secrets from me- and Nino. It’s obvious.”

Oh, no. Shit shit shit shit. This is bad. Marinette was never going to talk to him ever again. If Alya didn’t murder him right here and right now. Then Ladybug would be all alone and Hawkmoth would win. Shit, shit shit.

“You’re stealing my best friend, you stupid rich white bastard!”

What?

“What?” He said, his entire body shutting down from shock.

“That’s right I’m on to you. But you won’t succeed. She’s been my best friend since we were 13, and there is no way that I’m letting the idiot who didn’t realize she was madly in love with him take my status as best friend. You might know a few things I don’t, but rest assured I will soon, and Marinette I will be back and better than ever. So back off!”

Adrien sputtered, still suffering under the whiplash of going from pure panic to utter bafflement. “That’s- That’s- What? I think I just hallucinated. Say that again.”

“You heard me. You are trying to steal my best friend and I am letting you know that I am not letting that happen. You already have Nino, you don’t need Marinette, too! And to think I was rooting for you two. If I’d known you were such a snake, I would’ve-” She paused trying to think of a good threat.

Adrien quickly cut in before she could finish her thought, “I don’t know if it’s because you’re drunk or just a little jet lagged, but I am not trying to steal Marinette from you. I’m just hanging out with my friend. She still considers you her best friend, I’m not trying to get between you AT ALL!”

“I’m Not Drunk, Agrest!” She said, shoving her finger into his face, and swaying just enough to undercut her words. “I just know when someone is stepping in on my territory. I’m a journalist. I know things.’

“I’m sure you do…”

“Admit it! You’re a Friend thief.”

“No, I-”

“Thief!”

“Fine! Yeah, I’m trying to steal your best friend, and after that, I’m going to steal your boyfriend too.” Adrien said sarcastically.

Alya gasped, “Judas!”

“You better go to bed before I go and steal everyone you love. I know Nino thinks I would make an excellent lover, so go claim your man before I do.” He said, pushing her slightly towards the door.

Alya Narrowed her eyes, and ran toward the bathroom without another word, and the four of them finished getting ready in relative silence. Alya clung to whichever one of his friends was closest to him, and gave him a scathing glare.

Eventually they all settled into the bed, the two girls in the middle and the boys on the edges. Someone put on a campy romantic comedy, with a few jokes from Mari and Nino about how soon it would be Adrien’s movie they’d be watching at sleepovers. Alya continued to send him suspicious glares anytime he shifted. She snuggled close to Marinette's side and attempted to pull her away from Adrien at every chance. Marinette noticed Alya’s odd behavior and sent him a questioning look, to which he just shook his head and whispered later, which did not make Alya any happier. However the low light, alcohol and jet lag finally got to her and she fell asleep on Nino’s shoulder and they both slipped further under the covers.

Adrien turned off the movie and settled into bed, putting the popcorn bowl on the table next to him, brushing a few crumbs off the covers. Marinette pulled herself away from Alya’s death grip on her arm, and settled a fraction closer to Adrien.

It wasn’t close enough for him, so he schooched closer and put his head on her shoulder, taking her hand into his. She huffed quietly, but didn’t protest, so he cuddled closer.

“Naughty,” she breathed into his hair as he tucked his head under her chin.

He grinned and lifted himself up to whisper in her ear.

“That’s okay, Alya thinks I'm trying to steal you as a best friend, so I’m going to cuddle you like a good best friend would.”

“Is that what she said to you earlier?”

“Yup. She’s convinced, and wouldn’t listen to me when I told her she was being silly. I’m sure she’s just a little delirious. She'll be back to her normal weird self in the morning.”

“Ridiculous.”

“Utterly. Now come here and cuddle your BFF.” He could feel her roll her eyes as he cuddled her so thoroughly he was basically lying right on top of her.

“You’re so weird.” She said, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling him closer.

“Yeah, but you love me, so this is on you.”

She sighed and placed a quick kiss to his hair, “Only a little.”

He smiled.

“Goodnight, Marinette.”

“Goodnight, Kitten.”

Chapter Text

May, One Year Ago

“Adrien, your father is tired of indulging your temper tantrum, it’s time for you to come home. The car will be round to pick you up in an hour for your shoot, and then to your acting lessons.” Natalie’s tired voice drawled weakly through his phone speakers.

He had only answered because it was nine am and he was dead asleep after being up all night, and didn’t think before picking his phone up. The nausea that had been coming and going all night was back in full force, and he was struggling to remember the pep talk Marinette had given him.

“Is he at least sorry?” He asked. He sounded so weak and pathetic, no wonder his father felt like he could just push him round, he made it so easy.

“What on earth would your father be sorry about?” Natalie replied briskly.

“Yelling at me? Threatening to kick me out of the house for pursuing a degree in a perfectly respectable field?” He said, body sinking further into the half deflated blowup mattress on Nino’s floor.

“Adrien, you know your father wants the best life for you. You haven’t had a job besides modeling, you don’t know how to cook or clean. How would you find an apartment, or provide for yourself in any way? You could have a perfect easy life working with your father. You know he’s doing this because he loves you and he knows how difficult the world is. Don’t cast off the privileges you have been given because of some teenage fantasy.” Natalies tone was softer than normal, but the reprimand was clear, logic unarguable. He didn’t have any real life skills. He could maybe continue modelling, but he would have to start again with a new agent and he didn’t really know how to do that.

“I know, but..”

“There is no ‘but’. He is your father and he knows what’s best for you. You had better be ready and waiting in an hour.” Natalie said, cutting him off and quickly hanging up the phone.

Adrien tossed the phone away from him and towards the pile of clothes nearest him and dug the palms of his hands into his eyes.

I should just not go down. Maybe if I show him I’m serious he’ll back down right?

He scoffed out loud. His father was not one to back down. He had proven that time and time again. As Adrien began cataloging his abysmal options, he felt Plagg land on his pillow and press a small paw onto his cheek.

“You should have plenty of cheese, Plagg, Please let me spiral in peace.”

Plagg pressed another paw into his cheek and began kneading his skin. “I’m not hungry,” He replied.

Adrien lifted one of his hands and looked at Plagg incredulously from the corner of his eye. “You’re ALWAYS hungry.”

“Well, I’m not hungry right now, I will be soon because I ate it all.”

Adrien chuckled quietly, peaking over at Nino, who was in a dead sleep and likely wouldn’t be woken easily. He then sighed and sunk back into the air mattress.

“What are you going to do, kid?”

“I don’t know. The idea of working for my father for the rest of my life sounds as appealing as eating garbage covered Camenbert for the rest of my life.” Plagg gasped an affront, but didn’t interrupt. “But they’re right. I don’t know how to live on my own, where to get food other than at a cafe, how to keep a house clean, cook, buy my own clothes, anything! Where would I live? What could I even afford? I don’t know anything about how to provide for myself.”

“Maybe you could stay with someone and have them teach you. I bet Headphones over there would love to have you.”

“I don’t want to be a burden on them. They don’t have a ton of space as it is.” he gestured towards the cramped bedroom they were squished into.

“Or maybe pigtails or Bakery girl, I bet she’d be happy to let you hole up in her room.” Plagg said, a secret cheeky grin sneaking onto his face.

“Pfft, Ladybug would never agree to reveal her Identity just because my father is being an ass. And Marinette obviously has a lot on her plate if she’s taking a whole year off, so she doesn’t need the stress of teaching the rich sheltered kid how to be a functioning adult.”

“I don’t know about that.” Plagg said pensively. “But no matter what, It might be good for you to get out of there. Maybe your relationship with your father will get better once you have a bit more space. That happened with a few of my Chat’s.”

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

“You don’t have to know right now, there’s-” Plagg paused as Nino shifted in his bed. When it seemed like the other boy had settled down he continued. “There’s options for you. Even if you go back today you can always change your mind later. You are Chat Noir after all. It’s going to be hard for anyone except for another Miraculous holder to keep you trapped in a place you don’t want to be.”

“Yeah, I guess so. Do you think I should go back?”

“I don’t like the idea of you being there. But you don’t have anything except a change of clothes and some change for the bus. You need your things and a plan.”

“You’re right, so maybe I’ll play nice for today and figure out what I can do. I can do that. I just hope he’s not too angry..”

“If he tries anything I’ll kill him.”

“You’re not allowed to use cataclysm without Ladybug to fix the damage, I think that would be a very bad idea.”

“Oh, I won’t need Cataclysm to kill him. I’ll-” A soft knock on the door interrupted him and made him dive for cover. Mrs. Lahiffe cracked the door open and poked her head through. She saw Adrien and gave him a bright smile.

“Come, come. I made breakfast for you and lazy bones. Chris already ate, so please join me, we’ll leave mon cachon to sleep a bit longer.”

Adrien smiled at the teasing nicknames she’d called Nino, and followed her to the table where she had a spread of cut fruits, oatmeal and a pile of fresh croissants with some butter and jam on the side. They both sat down quietly to eat. Mrs. Lahiffe seemed to sense that Adrien wasn’t in the mood to talk much, so talking was minimal, but it was nice to actually have breakfast with someone for once.

All too soon he heard his phone buzzing from the other room. He quickly excused himself to go answer it. It was Natalie calling. He had five minutes before his bodyguard got there. He gathered his things from Nino’s room, and after saying a demure goodbye to Mrs. Lahiffe, walked down to the front of the building where he was met with Gorilla’s sympathetic face. He got into the backseat without a word, already wishing he could go back to sleeping on the floor of his friends bedroom.

Nino: Dude, Why didn’t you wake me up! I freaked out this morning when no one was home!

Adrien smiled fondly at his phone as he sat waiting for the set dressers to finish.

Adrien: Sorry, You were sleeping so soundly! My true loves kiss couldn’t even wake you. I guess we’re just not meant to be.

Nino: Damn! You mean I don’t get your Shiny White Ass for the rest of my life? This is a DISASTER!

Adrien: I am frankly devastated…. >,< why is my white ass shiny?

Nino: Because uhhhh…… fk, uhhh. Oh, because you’re so white your butt literally shines in the sun??? IDK man. I’m a little hung over.

Adrien: HAHAHAHA! That’s so stupid.

Nino: you’re so stupid. Stupid in Love!

Nino: But Maybe not with me…. That’s probably why your kiss didn;t work dudde.I saw how cozy you and Mari were last night..

Nino: Plan on telling me anything???

Nino: Huh???

Nino: You should ask her out! Unless you already did?

Adrien rolled his eyes at the string of texts Nino had sent him, and was about to respond that he and Marinette were friends, when he got a notification from Marinette. He clicked over to her text thread.

Mari: YYYYYAAAAAAAAYYYY!!! You won’t regret this!! I’m so excited. I may or may not have stayed up a little too late last night putting together a ridiculously detailed plan…… I can send you the doc for approval and scheduling around your stuff.

Adrien: >,< of course you did. Haha. Please do, I’ll need it.

Mari: Sending it now. Let me know if you got it.

Adrien pulled up his email, and found a 5 page document listing every possibility imaginable for their plan to work. It was riddled with spelling errors and run on sentences, but for the most part it was a well thought out plan, with options for multiple scenarios. One of the options under the subcategory Fanfic Tropes: Crack, sparked a devious idea and he quickly switched back over to his conversation with Nino.

Adrien: IDK man. She’s cool, and I’d like to hang out with her more, but IDK about dating her. You’re the only one for me. Maybe You and I can go on a double date with her and her true love.

Nino: Ooh… so you’re romancing me now eh? I like it. Maybe we can be poly, Mari will be our third.

Adrien: Okay, I like that. I’m going to ask her. Maybe she's down for a threesome?

Nino: What.

Nino: You’re not actually going to text her right?

Nino: Adrien! I was kidding.

Nino: You are definitely messing with me.

Nino: Right? You’re just kidding right.

Nino: Damn it Adrien. Answer me before I have a panic attack.

Adrien let his friend stew as he returned his text thread with Marinette.

Adrien:Okay, everything on the list looks amazing. We’re def going to need to talk through it.

Marinette: Did you talk with your father?

Adrien:... Not yet.

Mari: That's okay. We can start planning whenever.

Adrien: Okay. I have a couple favors to ask you though. First, do you remember the reasons you gave me that getting a science degree is a good idea? I’m nervous.

Mari: of course!

The typing bubble appeared for several minutes before she sent through the list she’d given him.He watched it as several more panicked texts from Nino came through. Adrien noticed the crew were starting to finish setting up, and he began to slowly drift towards his area.

Mari: What was the other favor?

Adrien: Can you text Nino “Hey, Adrien told me about… your suggestion. I will have to think about it… I don’t know if I see you like that.” and then just screen shot his reaction? It would make my crappy day into the best day of my life.

Mari: Haha… what did he say?

Adrien: something stupid as a joke and I think it would be funny mess with him. I’ll tell you ALLL about it later.

Mari: Okay, bet.

Adrien: Thanks. I have to go, but please send me the screen shots!

Mari: I got you boo.

He laughed and put his phone away. The rest of the shoot dragged, but at least he had something to look forward to before having to see his father.

Natalie had filled his day with so many activities he’d barely been able to keep up with texting his friends, although the screen shots Mari sent and the accusatory texts sent from Nino had almost made up for the simply exhausting day.

His father was predictably locked in his office by the time Adrien got home. Adrien trudged up to his room, glad to avoid conflict, but strangely hurt that his father didn’t care to try to talk to him directly. Instead, Adrien began cataloging the things he would need and googling things he would likely need to know to move out of the mansion. He soon realized that there were several things he didn’t even know how to begin doing, like accessing his accounts, or finding his important documents like a birth certificate. He banged his head on his desk in frustration. At this rate he’d be living under his fathers thumb until he got married, if his father didn’t force him to move his family into the mansion.

He heard a firm quick knock on his door, quickly followed by Natalie pushing her way into the room. He didn’t bother to look up at her, only moving to darken his screen. There was no need for them to know what he was planning.

Natalie cleared her throat, but he decided to ignore her, choosing to stand from his desk and drop face down onto his bed.

“Adrien, stop being childish.”

He tried to respond but his words were muffled by his blankets.

“Stand up and speak clearly.” She snapped.

He lifted his head, and turned to glare at her. “I said, ‘why should I, You think I’m still a child anyway.’”

“If you would listen to the wisdom of people who know better, we wouldn’t have to treat you like a child.”

“Just because you’re older doesn’t mean you know better,” he grumbled as he sat up on his bed.

Natalie had her signature blank expression, but Adrien could see subtle differences, and she was furious.

“I don’t know what has gotten into you, but you are going to snap out of it, immediately. Your father is a great man and is giving you opportunities most children would give almost anything for- and here you are squandering it and treating it with resentment. You need to remember without your father you would be nothing. He has given you everything you could ask for, and your life is one a privilege. Start treating it as such.”

“If he’s done so much for me, why isn’t he here? Why is he never here? I see him once a week if I’m lucky and it’s usually in passing during dinner to get reprimanded for some perceived Inadequacy or as an evaluation on my skills. Instead he sends you in to yell at me and make me obey, which I DO! I have done almost everything he has asked me to do, and all I want to to be able to study what I want to study. I have a list of reasons it would be good for me and for the company for me to pursue Physics, but he doesn’t care enough to even hear me out, so maybe I would rather be without the so called ‘privileges’ he gives me and have a real father who wants to me be happy, instead of rich and important.”

“Adrien! That is enough!”

His father’s booming voice cut through the air making Adrien’s hair stand on end and his gut wrench. He felt himself cowering on the bed, and tried to sit up straight, but the weight of his fathers icy glare pushed him further into himself.

“Father, I-” He began to back pedal, but it was no use. His father ignored him and began talking over him.

“If you are so disgusted by the privileges you have been given out of the kindness of my heart then you can go without them. Natalie, in the morning I want you to move Adrien’s things into the guest bedroom in the southern wing. Any non-essential activities are cancelled. No more electronics, of any sort.” He reached over and snatched Adrien’s phone from his desk. Adrien made to stop him, but his father brought his hand up, probably just as a warning, but Adrien flinched anyway.

“Father. Graduation is this week. I was supposed to go to the after events.” he finally managed to force out.

“After your behavior the last two days you’re lucky if you even get to attend the ceremony!” His father thundered. “I hope a few days without someone to cook or clean for you, without all your toys and games, will teach you that doing what I say isn’t the worst thing you could ever do.”

His father stormed out of the room, still clutching his phone.

Natalie managed to give him a somewhat sympathetic glance, but quickly followed his father without a word.

The sound of the lock clicking behind her sounded like the closing of a cell door in his distressed state. He hugged his knees, pressing his eyes into the soft material of his sweatpants, trying to press the building tears back into his eyes. He tried to go through his grounding exercises, but he felt a building tension in his chest that made it nearly impossible to concentrate.

“Adrien, you need to go somewhere.” Plagg pushed his way into the space just in front of his holder's face. “Go to the bakery. You need to go see Marinette.”

Adrien couldn’t talk, his breathing was too ragged, and his throat was too tight. He shook his head slightly in response.

“Adrien, go to the bakery. Now. This is not a suggestion. You’ll be safe there for tonight. You can’t be alone tonight. You’re too upset, and an akuma is probably on it’s way right now.”

“I- can’t. She- I can’t.” He croaked out.

Plagg darted away for a moment, but returned with a chunk of cheese and shoved it right against Adrien’s nose. Adrien, repulsed by the smell, let go of his knees and fell back against his pillows.

“Bakery! Now. Say Claws out and go to the bakery.”

His breathing was still ragged, but his throat was less tight, but he felt confused. “Why-” His voice sounded scratchy and broke, he cleared his throat but it didn’t help. “Why do you want me to go to Marinette’s so bad?”

“Because she is the only person in Paris who I honestly believe can help you right now. You wouldn’t talk to me, or Headphones last night, but you did talk to her. Now GO!”

Adrien had never heard Plagg sound so serious, he almost sounded scared. Which kind of freaked him out. He finally agreed and called his transformation. He jumped out of his room, and bounded across rooftops until the lights of the bakery came into view. He jumped into the alleyway nearby, and paused for a moment. Shaking himself, and dropping his transformation he very much wished he still had his phone. Coming on the side entrance, he rang the doorbell, fully expecting to be turned away because of the late hour.

It felt like ages before any noise came from behind the door, and Adrien was about ready to turn around and run away. The only thing that stopped him was Plagg digging his needle like claws into his skin through his shirt. Finally a light behind the door switched on. Marinette opened the door, confused, but ethereal in the golden light of the stairwell. Adrien finally realized what Plagg had meant when he insisted on coming. Because at that moment, Marinette was the only person, besides Ladybug, who would be able to make him feel better. All of Adrien’s muscles turned to jelly and he felt himself sagging under his emotions.

“Adrien? How’d you get here so fast? I just texted you like five minutes ago!”

“You texted me?”

“Yeah. I wanted to see if you could come over to plot with me. Is that not why you’re here?” She asked as she stepped closer to him, she looked so concerned for him, and it was killing him.

“I don’t have my phone. My father took it,” was his only reply. He felt the pressure building behind his eyes again, and Marinette must have seen how distraught he was, because she stepped even closer and wrapped him in a tight hug. Everything propping him up dissolved and he found himself leaning fully against her petite frame.

“Oh, dear.” She began rubbing circles against his back, “I think you should come inside.”

In a dark tower room, Gabriel Agrest, or most specifically Hawkmoth, stood contemplating the future as it related to the present. He watched as an eerie white butterfly crawled around his hand, not quite sure if he should commit this specific sin. He was a man of grey morals, the ends justifying the atrocious means kind of man. Cold, emotionless, manipulating. But this course of action gave him pause.

He could still feel Adrien’s distress, his anger and despair were powerful. His son would be powerful, potentially powerful enough to finally bring him the victory he needed. It would be the perfect plan.

However, there were considerations he must be aware of. Though fatherly love should be a factor, the real deterrent would be motherly love. Emilie would not take him turning her pride and joy into a monster lightly. The Media is another. Every Akuma was widely reported, especially by that annoying blogger, and often the circumstances leading to the event were widely published. How would the press react to Gabriel’s perfect son being Akumatized over something as trivial as a course of study? It would make them both look weak, and give the pandering gossip columns enough fodder to plague all of them for years. Model son rebels against a life of status and ease. Disgusting. He couldn’t abide it.

He also supposed that on the small chance it failed, if Adrien ever knew about his fathers part in his public humiliation, it would make keeping him in line all the more difficult.

He checked back in with Adrien’s turbulent emotions to find them to have dissipated slightly. They felt more distant now, still deeply felt, but less volatile. If he were to risk it it had to be soon.

The ends versus the means.

Marinette guided Adrien up several flights of stairs to the main floor of her family's apartment. She had hoped to see him this evening, but did not expect him to show up looking like a kicked kitten less than five minutes after texting him to come over. She guessed his mood had something to do with his father. His relationship with Mr Agreste was the only thing, other than the tragic loss of his mother, she had ever known him to be upset about for more than a few minutes at a time. In her childhood infatuation she attributed this to Adrien’s strength of character, but now she attributed it to Gabriels weakness as a father.

She sighed as she silently pushed open the door to the living room. Her parents were likely getting ready for bed on the floor below them, so she wanted to keep the noise to a minimum. She hadn’t asked them if Adrien could come over, but in her mind it wasn’t a big deal. They were always happy to have her friends over, which was part of the problem. They were very involved parents. Which is wonderful! Except for when you are trying to make a secret plot that they absolutely would spoil if they knew about it.

Which is why the sight of Sabine Dupain-Cheng making a cup of tea in the kitchen nearly made her jump right out of her skin.

“Maman! You’re still awake!” She sounded guilty, which was annoying because she most definitely was not guilty. Well, not completely guilty.

“Of course I am. Your father and I don’t go to bed for another twenty minutes.” She paused, and looked between a startled Marinette and a very nervous Adrien several times and came to a conclusion. An incorrect conclusion, but a reasonable one for the context she was given. “Why, Hello Adrien. I haven't seen you very much lately, and certainly not this late.”

Sabine, seeming to remember her manners, gave Adrien a stilted grimace of a smile, “Adrien, It’s so lovely to see you. In my house, right before I go to bed, to hang out with my teenage daughter. Alone. In her room.” As she said this Adrien’s guilt and fear of being a burden reared its ugly head, making him shrink into himself slightly. Sabine’s conclusion was seemingly confirmed.

“Why don’t you make yourself comfortable? Here, have some tea. I just need to speak with Marinette alone for a minute.”

Marinette was then forcefully pulled up the stairs to her bedroom. Sabine closed the trap door behind her, and stood eyeing her 17 year old daughter suspiciously.

“What’s wrong, Maman?”

“Why are you sneaking Adrien, the boy you swore up and down you no longer had a crush on, into your room at 9 o’clock on a Saturday?”

“To hang out?” Marinette said.

“Mmhm, and what do you plan on doing while you ‘hang out’?”

“Complain about Alya and Nino? Maybe talk about his dad? They’ve been fighting lately.”

Sabine continued to give Marinette a look that screamed, ‘I know what’s about to happen, don’t try to fool me.’

“I don’t Understand what the issue is!” Marinette said, throwing her arms up in frustration. “I’ve had plenty of people over past 9 on a Saturday before, and you never got mad before! Alya was here all night last night.”

“You always let us know when your friends are coming over much sooner in the day, or at all. Alya is not a very good looking teenage boy. One who you used to have photos plastered all over your walls for 2 years straight. She also can’t get you pregnant. I know I said that I was excited for grandbabies when Mrs. Ng stopped by with little Chen, but I didn’t think you would take that as a personal challenge!” Sabine was overreacting slightly, but honestly Marinette had rebelled so little as a young teen, her parents were just waiting for the day it happened. Out of all the possible ways Marinette could do this, sneaking Adrien Agrest, model extraordinaire, was the most likely.

“MAMAN!!!” Marinette’s face was bright red, and she was completely mortified. It had never occurred to her that’s what her mother was thinking. “That’s not even close to what’s happening! I didn’t even know he was actually coming over. I just texted him, and he didn’t respond because his dad took his phone, so I didn’t know he was coming over. I would have told you if I knew! And the ONLY reason he is even here is to help me manipulate Alya and Nino so they can get back together and stop annoying us. Also, because he’s upset. Maman, you should have seen him when I opened the door. I wasn’t lying when I said he and his father have been fighting. You know how controlling Mr. Agrest is. He’s trying to tell Adrien he can’t go to university to study Physics, but has to work for the company instead.”

Sabine saw the fervor in her daughter's eye, and thought back to the moment she saw Adrien step into her living room. Now instead of a guilty teenager sneaking into her daughters room, it was a browbeaten child looking for a place to go. Her heartbroke for the poor boy.

“Please, Maman. Can he please stay for just an hour or two. I’ll keep the door open, and nothing is going to happen. I wasn’t lying when I said I’m over him. I just want to help him feel better.”

Sabine sighed, and couldn’t deny her daughter’s request. “All right. But I wasn’t kidding about the grandbaby thing. I would prefer to wait a few more years to get called Nǎinai.”

“Maman! Ugh! That’s weird! I’m only 17!”

Marinette’s horrified face dissipated any last fear she had, and she patted her daughter's face lovingly, and exited the room, to find a young blonde boy curled up on her couch, pulling at his bangs and breathing heavily.

“Adrien? Are you okay?” She asked tentatively.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come here. I didn’t mean to get Marinette in trouble. Please don’t be mad at her, it’s not her fault.”

Marinette came swooping in beside him, grabbing at his wrists. “No, Adrien. I’m not in trouble. It’s okay. It’s good you came here. I promise.”

There were tears firming around his eyes, the vibrant green of his eyes seemed to have dulled with anxiety.

Hawkmoth felt a spike in his son’s emotions and the pragmatist inside him won out. Adriens mother would be the best solution to his son's rebellion. All other sins would be washed aside when his family came back together. He willed the power he had into the butterfly, and released it to the night air.

He waited for the connection to appear. Surprised it was taking so long. Adrien was only a short distance away. What could possibly be delaying his plan?

Adrien wasn’t quite sure how he ended in Marinette’s Room. he didn’t remember getting up from the couch, or walking up the stairs. He must have, because the other option would be that Marinette had carried him there.

He also wasn’t sure how he ended up with his face buried in her neck as he sobbed against her pajama shirt. He could hear her softly consoling him as she ran her fingers through his hair. He would have been embarrassed at how intimate the scene must have looked if he’d been in a different state of mind. However, at the moment, all he wanted was a modicum of comfort, and the feeling of Marinette’s fingernails scratching lightly against his scalp, and the steady rhythm of her breath grounded him more than anything else could.

He couldn’t help thinking that he was being dramatic. Working for his father wouldn’t be all bad, he’d probably move out of the mansion at some point. He could potentially lead a somewhat normal life, eventually. So many other people had real problems. A spoiled brat having a breakdown in his friend's house, potentially getting her in trouble, over something so trivial. His father was right to be angry with him. What kind of son was he to look at his father’s protection with disdain? The only problem is he couldn’t bring himself to be grateful. Which piled onto his misery with each pass of his spiralling thoughts.

Marinette stiffened beneath him and he felt her grip his hair tight enough that it hurt. “Adrien.” She said with an even tension that caught his attention. He’d done something wrong, and now he’d have to leave. He tried to push himself up, but her grip on him tightened. “Adrien. I’m going to need you to calm down for a moment. Think of something happy. Or just clear your mind.”

“What? Why-”

“Adrien, you need to be as calm as possible, and to stay calm. There’s an akuma outside my window. I think it’s trying to come in.”

Adrien’s eyes flew open, his current problems momentarily forgotten. He began taking deep breaths. “We need to call Ladybug.” He said softly, as though it could hear him. He moved to try to see where the dreaded purple butterfly was resting, but couldn’t turn around enough to see it with Marinette’s death grip on him. He was fighting the rising feeling of panic, but the thought that Ladybug would have to fight him all alone mixed with the residual feelings from earlier was a deadly mix.

“Adrien.” Marinette said again, only the slightest hint of panic in her voice. “You need to keep calm. It just slipped through the glass. Try telling me a story, or something.”

He sputtered trying to think of anything other than the tumultuous feelings brewing inside him. “I- I don’t know. I-“

“It’s okay Adrien. I’m going to try to trap it with something. Try telling me about the things on your desk.”

He thought hard trying to concentrate as he listed off the various items he kept at his desk, pens, paper, ladybug figures, etc. Marinette slipped away from him, which made his panic spike slightly, but he fought it down. He could see her out of the corner of his eye. She crept over to a glass jar full of pens on her desk. She carefully emptied it, and padded over to where the Akuma sat on her ladder. Adrien made the mistake of looking up to see where it was. It’s pulsing molten black wings were close enough to see the purple veins writhing across them. He had a sudden vision of Ladybug having to fight against him. She would be furious with him, and with good reason too. Why had Master Fu thought a screw up like him could handle saving Paris. Hawkmoth would have won years ago if it weren’t for Ladybug. She should just take his ring now and be done with him.

The Akuma sensed his dark thoughts, and fluttered closer. Marinette whipped around and saw his wide eyed stare.

“Adrien. You’re not going to get Akumatized, I’m going to call Alya, she can get a message to Ladybug. I just need you to keep calm. It can only get to you if you think there’s no other options for you. And I promise you have options. You can stay here until you know what you’re going to do.”

He looked at her earnest face, and he knew she meant it. He nodded, and wiped at the tear tracks on his face. “Okay.”

The Akuma settled on a book on Marinette's floor. She stepped forward and eased the jar over the butterfly, trapping it.

“Thank you Adrien. You did something really hard, and I’m really proud of you.”

“Thank you.” He replied, her praise easing some of the pain in his heart.

“Can you go sit downstairs? I’m going to call Alya and see if she can get a message to Ladybug to come take care of this. I want you to be as far away as possible in case it gets out.”

He quickly agreed and stepped down the ladder.

Hawkmoth was getting frustrated, it had been 10 minutes, and his Akuma still hadn’t found it’s mark. It should be over by now. Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculouses should be in his hands, and Emilie awake and by his side. He screamed in frustration, transformed back into Gabriel, and stepped into the elevator that led to the rest of his house.

Natalie looked up from her computer, startled at his sudden appearance. “Sir, is something wrong?”

“Where is Adrien?” He shouted.

“He’s still in his room as far as I can tell.”

He stormed up the stairs to his son’s room, unlocked the door and barged in only to find it empty. He began checking every nook and cranny, only to be met with empty spaces everywhere he looked.

He heard an alert beep from his phone. He ignored it in favor of searching for how his son could have possibly snuck out of his bedroom without unlocking the door or alerting his bodyguard. He raced back to his office to check the security cameras. Natalie met him at the door.

“Sir, there’s an Akuma alert. You need to check in with your champion.”

She followed him down into his lair. He transformed, just in time to feel his connection with the butterfly end. He recognized the familiar sensation of one of his akuma’s being purified.

“Ladybug Caught it!” He steamed. “Where is the Akuma Alert? That's likely where Adrien is. We need to go collect him.”

“Sir, I’m afraid it doesn’t say. The alert was just a generic one, the text simply asks for Ladybug to contact the blog moderator to get an address.”

“Well then get the address!”

Ladybug hopped through the trap door of her balcony where she’d transformed. She called Alya and pretended to ask for the address of the akuma. She waited a moment more for consistency sake, then lifted the jar and caught the akuma, purifying it easily. She was just about to jump back up onto the balcony to transform back when Adrien’s blonde head popped through the floor.

Shit

“Ladybug? You’re already here?” he stepped further into the room. “Where’s Marinette?”

“Oh, uh. Yeah. I was on patrol nearby when I got the alert,” she lied. “Easiest Akuma I've dealt with all week!” She smiled widely hoping he didn’t catch on to the fact that she sidestepped his second question.

He looked at her strangely for a minute, long enough for her to start to sweat, but then smiled sadly and shook his head. “I wish they were all that simple. If only we had an early warning system that lets you know he sent out an amuka before it gets to someone.”

“Oh, that would be a dream. I’d stop being so late to everything,” she said dreamily. “Well, I should probably be getting back to my patrol.”

He looked at her strangely again. She knew it was a lie, but she felt like her and Chat kept a sporadic enough schedule that most citizens shouldn’t know that, right?

“Yeah, that sounds good. I was actually coming up to check on Marinette, just to make sure the Akuma didn’t get to her. Where’d she go?”

He asked again! Ugh. Why did he have to be so nice? “Oh, she’s just on the balcony. I wanted her out of the room just in case I didn’t get the butterfly fast enough. You know for Safely, I mean safety. I’ll go let her know we’re all good, and be on my way! You just stay right there, she’ll be down right- I mean- right down!” She rambled out quickly. She hopped onto her balcony, grabbing a blanket she’d left out there earlier, and hid under it to hide the light from her transformation from shining down into her bedroom.

“That was close Marinette. Be careful going back down there, we don’t want him to figure out your secret Identity. Especially with how vulnerable he is right now,” Tikki quietly whispered as she dropped into Marinette’s hands.

“I know. I’ll be careful. I wish I knew what I could do to help him. Or even what's actually wrong.” She replied, carefully pulling the blanket off of her head.

“I think just being there for him is the best thing you can do right now.”

“I hope so.”

Gabriel Agrest had lost his son and had no idea how to find him. He had checked with all of Adrien’s classmates, anyone he knew who might know how to find his son. He’d searched through his phone, and for a second thought he might have found the answer in an unread text message from ‘Mari’ asking his son to come over, but it was soon followed by several texts asking him if got their messages. He flipped through every app but it revealed nothing except that Gabriel knew nothing about his son. There were jokes, and conversations that clashed with the image he had of his perfect son, there were pictures of friends and events Adrien had never mentioned.

Overall it was an uncomfortable discovery that made him wonder where he’d gone wrong as a father. It did, however, make him realize he would need to switch tactics when it came to building Adrien’s future.

Later that night, as Adrien was drifting to sleep under the fairylights Marinette had strung up in their blanket fort, she got the courage to ask him a question she’d been wondering since he’d shown up at her door.

“Why did you come here?”

“Hmm?” he asked against her shoulder. His head had found its way there during the movie they’d put on to distract them both.

“Why did you come to my house instead of Nino’s, or one of your other friends? Why did you come here?”

He shrugged slightly. “Dunno. I was talking to… a friend. Online. He knew about us talking yesterday, and said I should try talking to you about it. It seemed like a good idea. You’re an easy person to talk to, Marinette.”

She flushed at the praise.

“Once you get past the incomprehensible blabbering, you have great advice.”

She gasped, “Hey, I don’t blabber!” she protested.

“Anymore.” He said with a sleepy grin.

“Rude!” She pushed him playfully off of her shoulder.

“Hey! That was uncalled for!” He laughed.

“So was your comment, so I guess we are even.”

“But you still love me.”

“Go to sleep, weirdo.” she said, lightly hitting him with a spare pillow.

“All right, all right. Going to sleep right now.” He pulled the pillow from her grasp and stuffed it under his head. He watched her as she carefully stowed her laptop and burrowed under the blankets. When she was finally all settled, she was facing him, and the soft glow of the fairy lights made her look so young and gentle. The fact that he had worked so hard to keep him safe and help him feel better made something warm settle into his chest.

“Thank you for helping me. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t been here for me.” He whispered reverently, as though his gratitude was sacred.

She opened her eyes and smiled at him softly, her eyes literally glittering in the warm light.

“I was happy to do it,” she timidly reached out her hand, lightly grabbing his. “I will be there for you every time you let me. I promise.”



He gave her a teary smile, unable to express how truly grateful he felt with words. He contented himself with squeezing her hand, and closed his eyes.

The next morning, Sabine peaked into her daughter's room to find the teens fast asleep, still holding each other's hands. She smiled as she snapped a picture. While her original assumption the previous evening hadn’t been wholly correct, she had a feeling it wasn’t wholly wrong either.

Chapter Text

34.27Hours

That's how long Adrien was missing. Every hour made Gabriel a little more worried and a lot more furious. Whoever was hiding his son from him would pay. If he ever managed to find them. if he ever managed to see his son again. He’d gone to the Lahiffe’s apartment himself, He nearly pounded down the door at 11 pm. He demanded to see his son. The confusion and worry he felt assaulting him from Mrs. Lahiffe gave him the assurance that Adrien was not there. Nino stepped out of his bedroom with a broom ready to fight off what he thought was an attacker threatening his mother. Nino obviously didn’t know where Adrien was either. Nino offered to contact all their mutual friends to see if any of them had seen him, but Gabriel was too… emotional, to sit around waiting for news of his son. He left to continue searching for his child. He tried everything he could think of. Churches open late, parks, hotels, the bakery near his old school he’d told Natalie about once. He thought he might have gotten close with the bakery, he swore he could sense something that reminded him of Adrien. However, The large man who was opening the shop said he hadn’t seen his boy for over a year and was not lying.

He ended up in his study, head in his hands. Emilie was going to be furious with him. He didn’t know where he went wrong. How could his son have ended up so rebellious and emotional when he’d been such a pliant and obedient child? If- no WHEN he found that boy Adrien was going to be grounded for the rest of the year, the rest of his life! He would have to get married in the mansion, have his honeymoon and children in the mansion. Then when Gabriel finally died he would put it in his will that Adrien would have to stay in the mansion until he passed away!

Gabriel threw Adrien’s Phone across the room in anger. Natalie was walking through the door and jumped at the loud crash of something getting knocked off a shelf. She walked over to her boss with a tablet in hand, a mildly frustrated expression on her face.

“You had better have my son’s location, or some sort of good news. Otherwise I Don’t want to hear it.” He said through tightly clenched teeth.

“Not yet, but-”

“Then I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!” He shouted, standing so he towered over her.

“Gabriel, I understand you’re upset, but we need to go about this logically.” She said, not stepping back but instead looking at him with annoyance. “We know where he will likely be tomorrow. One of the things he was most upset about missing was graduation and the last week of school. I doubt he will want to miss it just because you’ve gotten into a fight.”

Gabriel took a step back, and after a deep breath nodded his head. “You are likely right. We can take him out of school as soon as he checks in and punish him then.”

“Sir, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Don’t try to tell me how to parent MY son. He needs to be punished for disobeying me.” He said, the tension in his body rising again.

“I don’t disagree, but He’s 18 now. In the eyes of the law he’s an adult and can choose where he lives. If we try to drag him home and he resists it can be considered abduction. The press will not take a criminal charge for kidnapping your own son lightly. He has to come home on his own.”

“Pray tell, how do you propose we do that?”

“I have a few ideas, but they do require something you will not enjoy doing.”

“And what is that?”

“For one, You’ll have to apologize.”

36 Hours

That’s how long Adrien felt free for the first time in his life. He felt guilty trespassing on The Dupain-Cheng's hospitality for so long. Once Tom had been informed that an unhappy teen was hiding in his house when he came up to eat breakfast with his family, there was no arguing. Adrien would stay. He helped out downstairs in the bakery (in the back away from prying eyes), watched Sabine make everyone lunch, played video games with Marinette and Tom (he was thoroughly beaten by both) and was given permission to sleep either on the chaise lounge IN Marinette’s room or the living room couch. Sabine lamented that the guestroom hadn’t been cleaned out for Alya yet, and had fallen prey to far too much storage to be cleaned out Sunday night. It would have to be done the next few days, but Adrien didn’t mind. Having another person in the room with him was a comforting feeling.

The fact that Marinette’s Parents were so ready to make space for him warmed his heart more than he could say. He had often wished his family could be like his friends’. Even His friends with an absent parent had a more loving home than him. But this? A home where Marinette ate almost every meal with not one but both her parents every weekend? Where She got to bond with her father over a shared interest, or practice her broken Mandarin with her mother? A home where all she had to do was walk downstairs to talk to them at any point in the day? It was torture of the sweetest kind.

It was everything he wanted, and everything he couldn’t have. At least not with his current family. Perhaps one day when Ladybug finally fell in love with him too (and she would, someday) they could build a home like that with their own children.

He found himself strangely home sick.

Not for the mansion, but for the days when things were okay. Before his mother disappeared. He knew he couldn’t stay with the Dupain-Cheng's forever. Marinette's constant presence stopped him from running out of the door with guilt of being an imposition at least once every hour.

Her bright cheery disposition and determination to keep him so happy and busy that he wouldn’t have time to fall into the crumbling chasm growing in his heart.

He even got to spend time with Nino and Alya. Marinette decided it was time to initiate phase one: ‘Boil the frog’, as a distraction. This phase involved getting them to slowly get used to being around one another. To show them that it wasn’t so bad being around each other, Marinette explained as they prepared her room for their arrival.

In a way his mental breakdown was an excellent tool in accomplishing their objective. Neither party wanted to abandon their friend because the other would be there. So they would have to both come.

None of them really knew what happened with his father, he still didn’t want to talk about it. He’d built back up his fortress walls. They were made of even flimsier material than the ones Marinette had already broken down, but he was staunchly defending them all the same. If Adrien looked too long at the hurt his father inflicted on him then he was afraid he would begin to see more than he could handle.

The evening was pleasant, they laughed, avoided the subject of his father (even though Alya was obviously dyeing to ask), played some games, did facials, and laughed until their sides hurt.

At the end of the night Nino offered to let Adrien come home with him, but there simply wasn’t enough room in the Lahiffe’s small apartment. Here, he was a burden, but not quite in the way. Yet. He promised himself that he would find an apartment as soon as he could, but until then, the Dupain-Cheng's were the best option.

Even falling asleep on Marinette's chaise lounge was nicer than being home in his King size memory foam mattress. He listened to her soft breathing as he lay curled up on the too short cushion,and escaped into the future he often imagined for himself. Instead of Marinette, it was Ladybug quietly talking nonsense in her sleep. He thought about what it would be like to share a home with the girl- woman- he loved. What their home would smell like, what kind of décor they would hang, who their children would look like. He hoped they would have a little girl who looked just like her mother, and maybe a little boy who reminded him of himself. He wiped his eyes with the pillow he was tightly squeezing to his chest as he thought about how he would give that little boy everything he’d wished for.

Adrien’s daydreams often ended with him in tears. Ones of happiness, and ones of sadness or pain, sometimes fear and loneliness. Tonight’s tears were a little bit of everything. He knew he was looking forward to a future where maybe, just maybe, he could have the things he wanted. The road to that future was fraught, and he knew his pain was just beginning, but as he dreamt of sunlit living rooms, and the hand of a lover in his, he thought he could suffer any pain to get it.

The question of whether or not he would go to school only briefly concerned him. He was determined that his father would not drive him away from something he loved. Marinette worried over him as they walked to his school. She almost suggested that she just go with him, but Adrien quickly vetoed that. She had her own friends and end of year celebrations to attend. His guilty conscience couldn’t stand the thought of her missing them. They made it to the steps of the school where he was swarmed by more than a dozen students.

His father must have contacted everyone he had ever been in the same room with, most of them were under the assumption his father thought he’d been kidnapped. Marinette acted as a bodyguard, pushing several people away from him. For someone with such a slight frame she was intimidating and most of the swarm fell away. When Nino Flanked them they were able to make it all the way to his seat with only minor difficulties. After a great deal of persuasion they managed to convince Marinette to head to her own school before she was terribly late, not that it would be out of the norm for her. Nino popped a pair of headphones over Adrien’s ear and tried to distract him with some mixes he was working on as she walked toward the door.

Adrien only paid partial attention to the music, instead following Marinette with his eyes. He frowned when he noticed Alexandre grabbing Marinette by the arm and pulling her to the side. He could still see them through the large windows along the wall. Marinette seemed annoyed. He pulled one headphone off his ear, and strained to hear what they were saying. He had good hearing, but it wasn’t anything magically like it was when he was Chat Noir, but it was enough to hear snippets here and there. He swore he heard the word ‘date’, and ‘girlfriend’ a few times, and he definitely heard Marinette tell him it ‘isn’t your business’ at least twice.

Adrien moved to get up and break up their conversation, but Nino's hand pulled him back down. He gave his friend a puzzled look and got a shrug in response.

“She can handle herself. She’s a big girl.”

He watched anxiously as Marinette finished talking to Alexandre and walked away rolling her eyes. Alexandre huffed and came back into the room with a scowl on his face. He shot one nasty glare towards Adrien and slumped into his chair. Adrien turned towards Nino, confused.

“What was that about?” He asked. The only response his friend gave him was a shrug. “How Does he even know Marinette?”

“He works at the Bakery after school.”

This answer didn’t come from Nino, but the deep quiet voice behind them. Both boys turned around to look at Luka. He was leaning over his desk towards them in an openly conspiratorial position.

“Are they- like- dating?” Nino asked, leaning in as well.

“No, I don’t think so. Jules hasn’t said anything, but I do know he’s had a huge crush on her for ages.”

“As have we all at one point or another,” Nino sighed.

“I haven’t... ” Adrien said, more to himself than anything, but his two companions leveled him with an unamused look.

“Anyway, I do know he took her on a few dates, but she ended up bailing on him like she always does with dates,” Luka said flatly.

“I guess you would know that from experience,” Nino jokes.

“Haha, very funny. Laugh at my pain.” Luka said without emotion. “Anyway, I think the dude doesn’t know how to take a hint. I bet he’s all up in arms about the fact that Adrien obviously stayed at her house last night.”

“Obviously?” He asked anxiously. “You think everyone noticed?”

“Definitely, dude. Like I’m straight dumb and Marinette walking you several blocks in the opposite direct to the school she doesn’t attend would have tipped me off.” Nino said.

Adrien groaned and dropped his head into his hands.

“That’s certainly going to come back to bite me in the ass.” He mumbled. “Anyone want to take bets on how long it will take for a tabloid to pick up on that and convince all of Paris that we’re dating?”

“Before second hour finishes," Alix said as she plopped down next to Luka. “I’m sure several students got pics of your arrival and already posted it, and it’ll take at least 45 minutes for them to find it, and another 20ish to fire off a quick article. So how close to the truth would those articles be, Buttercup? Did she finally sweep you off your feet?”

“What? No!” He sputtered. Several of the students who had been hovering close by, pretending not to listen, started to drift a little closer, their fake conversations getting quieter. “That’s Not what’s happening at all!”

“Then what is happening,” Luka asked, his tone a forced disinterest, but his gaze focused.

He looked between his friends' eager faces, and the eavesdroppers' stunned side eyes. He didn’t really know what to say, and he certainly didn’t want to tell the whole class about his explosive fight with his father. His skin suddenly felt very itchy, and he began to scratch a patch of skin on his wrist.

“Nothing is happening, I just spent the weekend at Marinette’s. Her Parents are going to help me with some stuff.” Alix and Luka narrowed their eyes, but Luka sat back, ready to give up the search.

Alix was not so easily cowed.

“Then why did your old man call me yesterday, from your phone might I add, demanding I tell him where you were.”

Adrien groaned, and lightly banged his head on Alix’s desk.

“I can’t believe he did that.” He murmured.

“Yeah, It was certainly a shock. So I think I deserve an explanation.”

“Alix, leave it alone.” Luka hissed at her.

“Yeah, he doesn’t wanna talk about it.”

“But-”

Thankfully her protests were cut short by the bell ringing and the teacher quickly calling them to order. They didn’t really have any school work left, but there were a few university prep and trade prep assignments to finish before the end of the week. Adrien was saved from having to talk about his impromptu sleepover at Marinette’s for almost a full hour.

He was glumly filling out a degree coursework map, when a few of the students in front of him started to jump out of their chairs in fright. He looked up and saw a seeping blackness crawling toward him from the door. Everyone began scrambling out of their seats, trying to get to the secondary exit in the back of the classroom. Their teacher began directing them, but made the mistake of stepping on the blackness. She was unable to move her foot back, and the black began spreading up her pant leg.

She tried to keep the class as calm as possible from the front of the classroom as they shoved one another through the door.

Adrien was trying to find an opening to slip away and transform. Maybe he could cataclysm the blackness to keep it at bay? He started making his way towards the window to potentially climb down the side of the building. The front door of the class room swung open to reveal an impossibly tall and lanky figure drenching in blackness, the only thing clearly visible were his deep purple eyes.

The figure started stalking towards him, having to duck to enter through the door. Adrien found himself briefly hypnotized by the figure's eyes, which seemed to bore into him. The figure was halfway across the room before he managed to snap out of it. Thankfully, he could feel Plaggs Sharp claws digging into his chest, which grounded him enough for him to start making a dash for the window.

“Adrien. Do not move.”

Adrien Briefly froze. He knew that voice. It was his fathers voice. He peaked over his shoulder to see him almost within reach. He smashed the glass of the window and had one foot through the frame when the blackness reached the other. It was hot. Not quite to the level of burning, but it was uncomfortable. His leg felt instantly paralyzed, numbed to every feeling but the heat radiating. He frantically tried to pull his leg up, but it was a dead weight. He panicked, wondering if his Lady would be able to take this on herself. Not that she ever really needed to, but he hated the thought of leaving her stranded.

As though his thought had summoned her, Ladybug appeared in front of him, nearly crashing into the building. She roughly grabbed him around the waist and threw her yo-yo out and tugged him away. His leg was still numb, but it had stopped spreading, and he was no longer stuck.

“Ladybug. It’s my Father. He’s the Akuma. We had a fight. I- we- You have to be careful!” He said frantically as she swung away.

“I will Adrien. I promise. Everything will be just fine.” She turned and looked at him briefly, her eyes filled with compassion and concern. She set him down in a nearby alley. “Find somewhere to hide, don’t let him get close to you. Chat will be here anytime now, and then we’ll get this all figured out.”

“I know you will.” he said quietly

She turned to fly away, but paused and turned back to him.

“It’s not your fault, you know that right?”

“What?”

“Just because you had a fight, doesn’t mean it’s your fault. You’re a good person, Adrien. You didn’t do anything wrong.” She reached out and lightly gripped his arm. She gave him a soft smile, turned and flew away.

He was left standing dumbfounded, love sick and tingling up and down his spine, several blocks away from an active akuma looking for him.

“Ugh. Why’d she have to do that! Now I’m never going to hear the end of it!” Plagg grouched as he flew out from Adrien’s pocket.

“She’s SO kind,” he sighed.

Plagg made a retching sound.

“Shut up. She’s the reason you’re not in Hawkmoth's hands right now, so be nice,” he said.

“Whatever, just transform so I can kick your old man’s ass.”

“Plagg!”

“Just do it!”

He called for his transformation and bounced away to help his lady.

Gabriel did not like the plan.

He couldn’t fault its logic, but he did not like it.

He got word of Adrien walking to school with the Dupain-Cheng girl 30 minutes before his school officially started. He should have known it would be her. She’d been a thorn in his side for years now. Nothing he’d done to akumatize her had worked, she obviously enabled and encouraged Adrien to defy his father for years now, and now was trying to steal his son away from him. He tried to hold down his annoyance and anger. He did not want to begin the plan too early.

He paced back and forth in his lair, checking his watch every few minutes waiting for Adrien’s classes to start. He heard his phone chime several times, no doubt alerting him of Adrien trending. He took a few deep breaths and transformed to summon an akuma, then quickly de transformed. Gabriel had to play this just right. He had to make sure everything was painted as a mere youthful rebellion rather than Gabriel losing control of his son. A tiff, not an all out war. So he quickly summoned his anger, but also managed to bring a hint of fatherly concern to the surface.

HIs akuma fluttered towards him, landing on the phone in his pocket, and the world turned dark.

Chapter Text

The thing about being akumatized is that you aren’t fully in control. Even though Gabriel was Hawkmoth, he only had so much consciousness. The emotions took control, and the person within the magical shell of their own body was essentially forced to follow the flow. He could remember a good potion of the fight, he could have broken the enchantment if he’d chosen to. However, the magic coming out of him as Ladybug purified the Akuma left him disoriented, and frantically looking for Adrien. He knew he’d almost caught him at least once, but couldn’t see his son anywhere.

Instead all he saw were the two banes of his life, and several of their little friends. The fox Miraculous was there, as well as the snake. Ladybug threw her lucky charm, a red polka dotted slipper, into the air, repairing all of Paris.

Chat Noir approached him with a strange caution, bending slightly to offer him a hand up.

“Are you all right, sir?” He asked.

“Where is my son? Is he alright? I need to speak with him.” He said, playing up his confusion by looking frantically around for Adrien. He knew he wasn’t there. They had likely hidden him somewhere nearby.

“He will likely be coming back to the school in a short while.” Chat Noir said helpfully.

It was then that Gabriel realized they were on the steps of Adrien’s school. The perfect position. He couldn’t have planned it better, apart from simply taking their miraculous’ and starting over, but one must make some allowances for error.

“I hid him somewhere nearby. He’s just fine- No thanks to you.” Ladybug said the last part under her breath, but it seemed both Chat Noir and himself heard her.

“Ladybug,” Chat Noir hissed in reprimand.

“No Chat, You didn’t see him the other day. He was devastated, he was very nearly akumatized himself. I am sorry sir, but you hurt your son beyond words. I don’t-”

Gabriel did not want to be lectured on the right way to raise his son by a overpowered child. He cut her off, struggling to not cut into her. He had to play the repentant father after all.

“Ms, Ladybug. I have made mistakes with my son, and I know we had a fight. This was an overreaction on both our sides, and I would really like to speak to my son. I believe I owe him an apology.”

“You’re going to Apologize? Really?” Chat Noir said, incredulous. In Fact all four of the teens seemed to be in a state of shock. Almost like they had a personal connection with him. He filed that thought away for another day, they could have just heard of his reputation.
“Yes. I need to speak with him.” He said, dusting himself off.

“Sir, I don’t think that is quite a good idea at the moment. I think you should wait for him to come speak to you.” Ladybug said, pushing her way in front of Chat Noir.

“Ladybug, It’s fine.” Chat Noir said quietly. “I’ll go check on Adrien. He can choose if he wants to speak to his father. You should get back the miraculous’ from Viperion and Rena. I’m sure this will be fine.”

She gave Gabriel one last hardened stare. She zipped off with a terse, “Fine.” Both of the other hero’s quickly followed her.
He was left alone with Chat Noir.

“Well, I’ll get going. I’m sure Adrien will be back soon.” he said awkwardly.

Gabriel grabbed his wrist to stop him. He was so close to the miraculous, a part of him just told him to slip it right off the insufferable boy’s finger, but he would be revealing his and far too early. Instead he begged a request.

“Chat Noir, can you please tell my son that I dearly wish to talk to him? He’s the only family I have left. I cannot lose him.”

Chat Noir stood a second, seeming to deliberate on his answer, swallowed audibly, and said, “I’ll see what I can do Mr. Agreste.”

“Thank you.” The words were like acid in his mouth. Thanking the people who were responsible for his continued misery. He felt the need to wash his mouth out.

Gabriel Paced for what seemed like eternity while waiting for his son to come back. Up until this point he had no doubts about Natalie’s plan working. She knew Adrien, and she knew how to guide him almost as well as his mother had.

Finally He heard the sound of tennis shoes hitting concrete, and he turned to see his son, in an ill fitting tee shirt and the same pants he’d left the house in, jogging towards him.

“Adrien!” He called. Adrien slowed down, still several feet away looking uncertain, but hopeful. Gabriel pushed down his pride for what felt like the thousandth time that day and strode quickly toward his son. “Adrien, You’re alright! I’ve been so worried.”

Adrien’s face crumpled slightly and he lurched towards his father to pull him into a crushing hug. Gabriel squeezed him back. It hadn’t really been a lie. He’d been worried. What would befall his son if he was set loose on the world without any guidance or any chance to prepare him for the dangers within it? He shuddered at the images of his son living with strangers, and getting hounded by paparazzi until he died a tragic death.

It was with these thoughts he managed to almost believe it when he said, “ Adrien, Please come home. I was rash, and spoke in anger. I only want the best for you, and my methods might not be the best, but I want you to know the intentions are pure.”

“I know, father. Please forgive me. I’m sorry for how rude I was.”

“You are forgiven. Now it’s time to come home.”

“I will. But, I would like to finish school today, and the rest of the week.” Adrien said, pulling away. “Please?”

Gabriel sighed, annoyed. “You still want to return after the spectacle you had this morning?”

“Yes, sir. It’s my last week. I’d like to see it through.”

Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking of ways to keep his son from returning to school when he heard a girl's voice calling out for Adrien. He turned to see the Dupain-Cheng girl jogging towards them. He scowled. This girl was nothing but trouble.

“Adrien! I saw what happened on the ladyblog! Are you okay?” she said, slowing down and standing far too close to his son for his comfort.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Adrien said reassuringly.

She didn’t believe him. She kept looking at Gabriel with suspicion and annoyance, like he was the one intruding.

“My Parents said that they had a chance to clear out the spare bedroom while the bakery was shut down because of the attack being so close. You can stay there if you need to.” she said this very quietly, almost too quietly for Gabriel to hear.

“No, that’s okay. I’m going to go back to school for now. I’ll probably swing by the bakery after. For a bit.”

Marinette narrowed her eyes, looking between the two Agrestes. She pulled Adrien away by the arm, and began speaking with him in hushed tones. It was obvious she didn’t like the idea of Adrien coming back to his rightful home. That girl had always been dangerously infatuated with him, and now was using this pitiful act of rebellion to sweep him away. Gabriel met her every glare with one of his own, he would not let some celebrity obsessed teen steal his son.

Eventually Adrien seemed to convince her to back off, which was very favorable for Gabriel, but he still insisted on attending school that day. It was no real matter. He had promised to have dinner at the mansion, Gabriel could finish executing the plan then. Then he would get rid of Miss Dupain Cheng for good.

Adrien Bid them both farewell, and the two of them watched as he walked back into the school. When he had made it through the front doors they turned to glare at one another one last time.

“If you hurt him again, I will make you regret ever being born!” She spat with surprising fire, every muscle in her body tightly coiled like a wild cat ready to pounce. “You don’t deserve a fraction of the love he has for you. So don’t mess it up, I swear to God.”

“He’s my son. I know what is best for him. Certainly more than some pathetic fanatic teen. Don’t get between me and my son again.”

She stepped closer to him, strangely confident for a child.

“Or what?”

He grit his teeth. “I doubt you, or your parents, will like the answer to that question. So how about you run on back to that little bakery of yours. While you still can.”

Her face went a deep angry red, her scowl deepening. “You wouldn’t dare.”

He smiled, stepping away from her towards the car pulling up behind him. The Gorilla quickly jumped out and opened the back seat for Gabriel. He gave Dupain-Cheng one last deadly smirk before getting in the car and closing the door behind him. He wanted to laugh at her. She had just placed a giant target on her back, and this time Hawkmoth's aim would be perfect.

Adrien didn’t really want to return to school that day, not after everything this morning, but he had a semblance of control here. There was no way he would let that go, even if it meant that he got curious stares all day, and several angry glares from several of the boys in his class. Apparently they were also admirer’s of Marinettes. Something about that didn’t sit well with him. He couldn’t quite identify how he was feeling, but if he had to guess it would be protectiveness. He’d spent time with a lot of these guys and wasn't impressed with how they acted.

Although he wasn’t much better. Marinette had been trying to help him, but he was rude to her. He didn’t ‘need her help,’ apparently. It was a lie, one he wished he could take back. He didn’t know how to talk to his father after he got back to the mansion that afternoon and desperately wanted her help. He had no way to apologize before the many activities he had scheduled today, which he wasn’t sure he even still had, since he still hadn’t gotten his phone back. Hopefully Natalie would bring it with her when she came to pick him up.

Adrien paced the floor of his room, anxious for the confrontation he would soon have with his father. Gabriel had seemed ready to bury the hatchet this morning, but what if a full day away from Adrien, knowing where Adrien was, made him change his mind. Adrien Just kept repeating the reasons Marinette had written out for him Friday (which seemed like months ago). He jumped at every sound, and nearly fell and hit his head when his computer beeped a notification. He rushed to the monitor to see what it was, to find a message from Marinette. He rushed to open it, to find an apology and encouragement.
He was baffled. After how he’d treated her, how rude he was, he expected her to never speak with him again. He quickly messaged back with an apology, and a thank you. They messaged back and forth for a minute. He was so distracted by their conversation he didn’t notice his father entering his room.
Gabriel cleared his throat and Adrien jumped out of his chair, quickly killing his screen. Adrien’s heart was pounding so hard he had to actively concentrate on listening. His Father awkwardly sat down on the couch and patted the seat next to his. Adrien numbly sat, feeling unsettled at the difference in atmosphere from the last time his father was in his room.

They sat there in silence for several minutes. Adrien Desperately wanted to say something, but was afraid of saying the wrong thing and honestly had no clue how to start. His father sat there looking at the wall next to him.

Finally the silence got to him and he tentatively started. “Father, I am sorry-” His father shifted slightly to look at him but didn’t say anything. “I know I reacted poorly the other day, and I should have been more respectful. I would like to make my case again. I know you think that getting a degree in physics is worthless, but I have lots of reasons why it would be good.” He jumped up and grabbed the note he’d written everything down on.

“I found several A-list celebrities, models and successful business owners whose degrees are in other areas such as neuroscience, art history, sociology. They are praised for their diversity. It will help my image by making me look more well rounded and give me more things to talk about in interviews than just the fact that I look good in clothes. I have maintained excellent marks in all of-”

Gabriel cut him off with a raised hand.

“It seems you have given this a great deal of thought Adrien, but I find myself very hesitant to agree to such a path. While it will make you seem more ‘well-rounded’- which I think the fact that you fence and speak seven languages-”

“Eight,” Adrien said quietly.

“Eight languages makes you seem diverse enough- I worry that you would be stretching yourself too thin. You have managed to maintain excellent marks during school, but University is different, and your mother always dreamed of giving you the best life imaginable, and I’m afraid that an additional science degree would interfere with that life. You already have several offers for tv appearances, and a potential leading part in a feature film being shot next year. How will you be able to manage that, along with your regular commitments and a strenuous science degree. With a business degree a good portion of the work you will begin doing for Gabriel can be used for your classes, and your professors would be more willing to work with me than any science professor would. They have no respect for the work we do. I’m sorry Adrien, I just don’t see how this will work for you.”

“Can’t we just scale back on some of my other responsibilities? Maybe I don’t need to have language lessons 7 days a week, and I don’t have to make all of the TV appearances people ask me to be on.”

“And completely bungle the perfect opportunities to rebrand yourself as an adult? This is a very critical time in your career. Now you are older and completely out of Lycee you can now be seen in a more… physically romantic way. We still have your popularity from your youth, but without the restrictions of a child star. Not possible.”

Adrien was feeling very uncomfortable with this line of conversation. He knew people were starting to see him in a more sexual way, he’d seen the countdowns to his 18th birthday, but it always made him very uncomfortable and hearing his father talk about it like it was a new perfume he was selling made him feel queasy.
“Father-”

“Adrien, I know that you have an idea of how your life should go, but It rarely works that way. I don’t want to upset your- feelings- again, but I just don’t see how it will work. I am not willing to put my money behind a dream that might end with you miserable and unable to provide for yourself when you have a perfectly suitable career laid out in front of you.”

“What if I prove it to you?”

His father looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“I can do both this year, and show you I can do it. I can take the business classes online like you wanted, still do the advertisements and other movies and things, and work in the office a couple hours a week. If I fall behind then I’ll drop physics until I’m finished with my business courses. If I no longer have to take language courses, or fencing everyday I can do it.

“And Have you potentially passing out from exhaustion at an important event half way through the year? That would be horrible press. You would be branded as a weakly thing by the press for the rest of your life. I can’t allow that.”

“What about this? I do all the things you want me to do this year, and next year we scale back on some of the other commitments slightly, and I begin the physics program. If after those two years You still feel like I can’t handle it I drop it and use my classes as a minor instead,” He pleaded.
“I don’t Know, Adrien.” Gabriel wasn’t looking at him, choosing to pick at a piece of nonexistent lint on his pants instead.
“Please, Father. I don’t want this to ruin our relationship.” Adrien said, reaching for his father, before thinking better of it and withdrawing his hand.
Gabriel Looked at Adrien in shock.

“Why would this ruin our relationship?” he demanded.

Adrien felt itchy all over. He scratched at his neck and he withdrew into himself.

“If I can’t even try to study the courses I want, I would likely seriously consider leaving the company forever. I can- I won’t spend the rest of my life wondering what if. I’m an adult. I have some money, and I have friends who I think will help me.” Adrien noticed the way his father was balling the fabric of his pants with his fists. “But, I love you father, and I- I never want to have to do that. I think this is a solution we can both live with. Please, father. We’re still a family, even though Mother is gone. I would like to stay that way.”

Gabriel had closed his eyes as Adrien was talking, his whole body stiff and lined with anger. Adrien was petrified. Everything felt as though it was on a knife's edge, every single one of his battle hardened instincts were screaming at him to either run, or fight.

He stood his ground and hoped.

Eventually, Gabriel’s posture softened. His jaw was still tight but he opened his eyes and looked at Adrien with a fierce look. He nodded slightly, and stood.

“I will allow it. But I warn you Adrien. You will be watched closely, and if even one of your commitments comes back unsatisfactory, there will be consequences.”

Adrien felt like screaming, crying, and jumping for joy. He did his best to restrain himself, and stood to walk his father out.

“Thank you, Father. I promise you won’t regret this.” He was grinning so widely he felt as thought his whole head would split in half.

“See that you don’t.” Gabriel said, opening the door to walk out.

Adrien lost a small battle with his impulses and quickly tackled his father in a hug. Gabriel did not hug him back, but did pat his arm half heartedly, which Adrien counted as a hug.

Adrien kept the rest of his exuberance in check until he heard his fathers steps fade away. Once he was sure not to be reprimanded for being loud he shouted for joy and began jumping around with all the pent up energy he’d had during the entire conversation.

“Yes! Yes! Oh, Plagg! Did you hear? This is the best news!” He said jumping onto his bed then immediately jumping out to dance.

“I did hear, But you still have to do all that dumb stuff. You should have just told him to shove it up his ass and gone to live at the bakery. The food there was way better. Her father makes the BEST cheese bread. He uses all the good stuff!”

“I know Plagg, but He’s my father. I don’t know if I could have been happy moving out if I knew I might never be able to talk to him again.”

“I don’t know. I think that would be an upside.” Plagg said flippantly.

Adrien just blew a raspberry at him, “I gotta tell Marinette the good news! She’ll be so excited!” He said as he jumped back to his computer and pulled up his messages.

Gabriel Stormed into Natalie’s office and sat huffily in one of her chairs. His assistant was sitting in a reclining chair she’d requested a few years ago once she had recovered enough to regularly leave her bed. She still had bad days, but most of the time she could function normally. She did need a bit more rest, and would occasionally use a cane, but had resumed both her regular duties as Gabriel's Assistant as well as Hawkmoth's accomplice. She took off her glasses and leveled Gabriel with a glare.

“You didn’t apologize. That was part of the plan.”

“What do you mean? Of course I apologized.”

“You never once said you were sorry.”

“How would you know?” He snapped.

Natalie pulled a wireless headphone from her ear and Gabriel watched as a small black and purple insect flew out of his breast pocket. The insect landed on Natalie's extended finger.

“You were listening.”

“Yes, I created this with an amok in hopes of spying on Ladybug and Chat Noir now that I think I’ve got their patrol schedule patterned out. I thought I would test it out today, and potentially jump in if things went wrong with Adrien today.”

“Need I remind you that spying on the man who employs you is generally a bad idea?”

“Need I remind you that I would likely have a great deal of bargaining power with the police if I were to come forward?”

Gabriel glowered at her.

“You wouldn’t.”

“No, and you would never fire me. So we are at an impasse, and you didn’t apologize to your son.”

“Oh, this again! What does it matter?”

“You might know what is best for your son, but that will get you nowhere if you burn all your bridges with him. You saw that tonight. I would be careful how you proceed if I were you, he will only get harder to persuade.”

“Ugh, I have a feeling his resistance tonight was because of the Dupain-Cheng Girl. She’s been a thorn in my side for years. I’m glad I was able to get the school district boundaries changed when I did, or this could have been much worse.”

Natalie merely hummed, and pulled her laptop closer.

“We’re going to have to figure out a way to keep her away from Adrien now that he’s reconnected with her,” he added. "You saw the way Adrien talks about and too her. I wouldn't be surprised if her and the Lahiffe boy dragged him into a hedonistic tabloid nightmare."

“I don’t think that will be too much of a problem. Based on the file we have on her, she’s a bit of a heart breaker. I’m sure she’ll drive him away all on her own. If we work too hard on separating them it might have the opposite effect. Teens do love a forbidden romance.”

“Natalie, I deferred to you on many subjects, but forgive me if romance is not one of them.”

Natalie paused in her work, looking slowly at him with a cold fire in her eyes.

“What is that supposed to mean?” She asked evenly.

“Nothing. Just, I trust my own judgement on this particular subject, more than yours, seeing as you were never married.”

“I see.” she said, her tone still even. She promptly snapped her laptop shut and pushed herself out of her chair, not even bothering to push the leg rest down. “Good night sir, I’m quite tired.”

She strode out of the room. Gabriel cursed under his breath, but didn’t follow her. He knew it was safer to wait her annoyance out. Instead he spent the rest of the night stewing about his son, and how on earth he would keep Marinette Dupain-Cheng from destroying all his best laid plans.

Chapter Text

August, This Year

The Boys left early the next morning, groaning and complaining about their heads as they stumbled around getting ready. Marinette grumbled at being woken up, but Alya stayed dead asleep. After Adrien and Nino left for set the two girls slept for several more hours. Marinette woke first, cleaned a few things up, and waited for Alya to wake up.

They left the apartment around noon, and Alya spent the day helping Marinette run errands.

Marinette was determined to avoid talking about her accidental confession the night before. Alya was determined to not only talk about it but to Sabotage Adrien and Marinette's ‘friendship’ and turn it into a friends-to-lover trope. But first, the no-good scoundrel Marinette slept with.

Alya was patient this time. She waited until Marinette’s guard was down. She kept to lighter subjects about their classes, or stories from their summer, as they got ready for the day, and when they stopped by both their apartments to drop their purchases from the day before. She even kept her mouth shut while they were picking up several boxes to take to the set where they were going to meet the boys. It wasn’t until they were halfway to their destination while Marinette was in a train/exhaustion-induced trance, that she brought it up.

“So… do you want to give me a name, or better yet a face?”

Marinette looked up from the boxes piled in her lap to Alya's overly nonchalant face in confusion.

“Huh?”

“Of your Mystery Man. The one who took you to bed and made spontaneous and fervent, but incomplete, love to you?”

Marinette choked, she ended up hacking and sputtering as a half-full train watched her in annoyance. Alya patted her on the back in an attempt to help, but it just made it all worse.

It took so long for her to catch her breath that she was almost hopeful Alya forgot the question. But Alya never forgot a question she really wanted an answer to.

“That bad huh? That’s always unfortunate. I’m sure we can find you someone else who can get you there. Maybe even someone we know, who’s tall, blonde… A literal model….” She said, wiggling her eyebrows. Marinette rolled her eyes. “So what’s his name, where did you meet him, did he give you an STI, should I kill him? Come on! Tell me!” She said bouncing in her seat. Several people on the train glared at her, but she ignored them.

“NO! Nothing like that,” Marinette said hoarsely. “It’s just that it’s weird to talk about. Especially on a train... Surrounded by people…”

“Awe, come on, just give me something. How come Adrien gets to know and I don’t? I’m your best friend!”

“Why do you care so much?”

“Because it’s a big moment for you!”

“It’s just sex. It’s not a big deal anymore.” Marinette deflected Alya's questions about Adrien, hoping she wouldn’t notice.

“Yeah, maybe for some people! But you’re such a romantic, always talking about the kind of dates you want to be taken on. There is no way it’s ‘just sex’ to you. Come on, tell me about it!” She then quietly added, “please?”

Marinette sighed, “Okay fine, I’ll tell you a little. But the identity of my friend will continue to remain anonymous-“

“No!!”

“Completely anonymous.” Alya groaned and dropped her head onto Marinette's shoulder dramatically, but didn’t object. She was being patient, remember? “Look, it was kind of an accident. It happened right around the time you left for New York when I was in Oslo for Gabriel helping with the wardrobe for a commercial they were shooting. Do you remember when I tried to call you, but it was super late there so you didn’t answer? And then you dropped your phone in the metro and didn’t get a new one for two days?”

Alya felt her whole face scrunching up in frustration. “Are you saying you would have told me if I hadn’t been in the U.S.?”

“Yeah, maybe.” She stood up as the train slowed to a stop, and carefully made her way to the door with Alya following behind almost too dumbstruck to speak. They trudged their way up from the station, the warm summer sun making everything in Paris a muggy oven.

“Ugh! Well, to make up for it you can just tell me about it now!”

“Alya, I don’t really want to talk about it. A bunch of us got drunk, and I ended up in his hotel room with him. We started kissing, things went a little further than either of us planned and that’s about it.”

“Oh, man. Not only did I miss Drunk Mari, I missed your first drunken hook-up. Plus all the Akumas I missed! I knew I should have stayed in France.”

Marinette laughed stiffly.

“No, going to New York was the best thing for your career. You’re going to be able to do so many cool things with that on your resume. Yeah, you missed a few things here, but think of all the things you would have missed if you’d stayed.”

“I guess, but still. I feel like everyone got closer without me. You and Adrien now have all these inside jokes, and you still live clear on the other side of the city. You’re going to make so many new friends without me!”

“The same thing could be said about you, ya’ know. You’ve made friends without me, and you and almost half of our friends are going to the same university, like Rose, and Alix. You’re still my best friend. I have a ton of inside jokes with you. So what If I have a few with Adrien too? Plus it’s not as far as when you first moved.”

“I know, I just feel like you’re replacing me. I mean, it’s not like he can do all the fun girls' night things. Not like I can. It would be different if you two were dating….” She said with a questioning lilt. Marinette just glared and shook her head slightly. “But you’re not so I object to him knowing the secrets that rightfully belong to the best friend.”

“No one is replacing you. You’re still my best friend. Just because Adrien and I are close now doesn’t change the fact that you are my best friend. I’m sorry that I've made you feel like I care about you less than Adrien. I’ll make it up to you, you’ll see.”

“I hope so.” They walked in silence for several minutes until Alya perked up again and turned to Marinette as they drew closer to the studio. “I know how you can make it up to me.”

“Oh, How?” Marinette said absently as she navigated over the broken sidewalk ahead of them.

“Take shots with me next weekend. You have to drink something anyway, you should totally do a couple of shots with me. It’ll be fun.”

“Alllyyyyaa.” Marinette groaned. “I’ve already told you I don’t like to drink. I’m doing one drink next week, is that not enough? What is your obsession with me getting drunk?”

“I’m not obsessed with getting you drunk!” Alya protested. Marinette just gave her a look. “Okay, maybe just a little, but not in a weird way!”

“Any obsession is always a little bit weird, no matter how well-intentioned. I would know.” Marinette said as Alya held the door open for her.

“It’s just-” They paused as Alya showed the security guard the guest pass Adrien gave them. Once they were on their way down the hall she continued. “I feel like every time you’ve come out to stuff like that with me you seem kind of sad. You get this look like you wish you could join it, but you can’t for some reason. Almost like you need permission, and I guess I just want you to know you’re allowed to be young and fun sometimes. I know you feel like you have to always be on top of things and be this perfect person so your dreams will come true, but you don’t”

“I don’t think that!” Marinette protested.

“Marinette, I love you, but you definitely have a ton of anxiety about doing everything for everyone, and never making a mistake.” They paused outside of the dressing room with Adrien's name in front. “I just remember how stressed out you were for those first few years I knew you. I was so worried about you, and all you did was push people away when it became too stressful. I mean you broke up with Luka even though you were super happy together, and you refused to talk to anyone about it for months. I still am not sure what happened. So, I’m sorry if I’m pushing too much. If it really bugs you I’ll stop. AFTER this weekend. You still have to have one drink. A dare is a dare, after all.”

Marinette sighed, and smiled, “That’s allowed.”

She looked like she was going to say more, but a boisterous shout from down the hall stopped her. They both turned to see Adrien jogging down the hall in a bathrobe with a beaming grin on his face.

“You’re here!” He tackled Marinette in a hug, almost knocking the boxes out of her hands. “Oops, Sorry. Hi!” He turned to Alya and pulled her into an equally enthusiastic hug. “I’m so glad you guys are here! And With snacks! Avryl is going to be so excited! She was asking if you would come! And I’m so excited you’re here! Oh, and Nino too! This is great!

He had let go of both of them, but wouldn’t stop bouncing with his manic grin still plastered to his face. He began pulling them down the hall towards the studio.

“You seem extra sunshiny today, Adrien. What’s got you so happy?” Alya asked.

“It’s a good day! Last day on set, My favorite people are here, and there are Dupain Cheng snacks. Also, I might have had too much caffeine, and I took a low dose of the anti-anxiety meds my therapist got me, so I’m feeling great and not like I want to rip all my skin off! Medicine is amazing.”

“You took your anti-anxiety meds? Why what’s happening?” Marinette said worriedly.

“I was just a little anxious about the scene we’re about to redo, so I thought I'd give it a try, and man do I feel good!”

“What scene are you filming?” Alya asked.

Adrien didn’t answer and pushed open the studio door. The set was dressed as a bedroom. There were several people running around working on equipment or adjusting the set dressing. Nino was talking to someone across the room, He looked up briefly and subtly smiled and nodded at them but continued talking.

Adrien took the boxes from Marinette and put them on the craft services table. He quickly opened the top one, pulled several things out, mostly the cheese bread, and put them on a plate.

“Hehe, I got my little snacks,” he sang under his breath. He took a big bite of a croissant, flakes of pastry instantly covering his face and robe. A makeup artist shouted from across the studio, and Adrien ducked behind a lighting stand. “Oops.”

His manic grin didn’t fade, and Marinette was getting more anxious by the second.

“Which scene are you redoing?” She asked, seconding Alya.

He gave her an overly wide grin, one that screamed of discomfort. “Not the one I really hate, but the other one.”

Marinette gritted her teeth and groaned. “I thought they said they would cut it, or cut around you?”

“They were going to, but the director refused to cut it, because it’s ‘important to the storyline,’ somehow, and all the shots they could use where I didn’t look horribly uncomfortable had absolutely horrible lighting. So here we are!” He said, shoving a cookie into his mouth.

“That’s not fair. I can’t believe they’re making you do this stupid scene again!”

“What’s wrong with the scene?” Alya asked, her eyes darting between Adrien’s stress eating and Marinette who seemed like she was seconds away from yelling at someone important.

“Well, you remember how I was super nervous about having to kiss girls during the female lead auditions? And you guys all said that I just needed to practice, so I feel more confident?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, you guys were wrong. It just gets worse, and the more intimate the scene the more aware I am of my own discomfort, especially when people watch.”

“But you were fine with the dare last night?” Alya said.

“Yeah, Because It was Marinette. Also, I was still mostly dressed, and it was just you guys. Now there are 20 people, I am wearing very little, and while I like Avryl as a person, I am still not quite comfortable putting my mouth on her mouth,” he paused, but after seeing the horror on Alya’s face added, “But that’s okay because my medicine makes it better!”

Both Alya and Marinette wanted to continue to protest but stopped when a tall dark and gorgeous woman wearing a bathrobe bounced up to them squealing.

“Marinette! You came! Did you bring some of your parents' lovely danishes?” She said, pulling Marinette into a tight hug.

Marinette returned the hug somewhat awkwardly, despite her being pushed pretty thoroughly into the woman’s chest.

“Yeah, They’re trying out a new lemon lavender cheese danish, and they wanted you to give them a try. My Dad is thinking about naming them Avrylavander Lemon. I told him it’s too much of a tongue twister, but he insisted on you trying them anyway.”

“Ooh! That sounds amazing! Point me in the right direction! Also, I have some amazing new clothes I just bought that I simply must show you!” She said, practically pulling Marinette away from her friends. Marinette looked back with a good-natured but tight-lipped smile.

Alya stared after them in awe.

“That was Avryl Allard! Avryll Allard knows my best friend by name. This is amazing. Do you think she would mind if I wrote a blog post about her?” She asked.

“I don’t see how that interview would fit with the theme of the Ladyblog, but if you keep it short she might not mind.”

Alya just hummed back as she watched them talk.

“Does Avryl Allard know about Marinette's boy toy?”

Adrien Choked on the water he was drinking, spraying it all over. “WHat?”

“Does she know who Marinette's man slut is?”

“Hey, he is not a man slut! He is a perfectly nice guy.”

“Is he here?”

“I’m not answering that.”

“Ugh!! I still don’t understand how you know about it and I don’t! Like how did this even happen!”

“Well, to be fair, we saw each other at work a lot, and I knew something was off. I know both of them so when they were freaking out about it, they talked to me.” He said this quickly, still continuously moving, his eyes focused just over Alya's shoulder.

“And what exactly did MY best Friend tell you about her little Whore,” She said with contempt.

“Oh-kay. You have got to stop calling him that. Like I said, nice guy. But, uhh..” He paused as if he was trying to find the right words, “They just told me they were hanging out at Mari's house, and -they’d kissed a few times before this- one thing led to another which lead to a major freak out on both sides. He was super afraid that he’d crossed a bunch of lines, and left immediately after, which made Marinette freak out because she thought she’d made him uncomfortable. I got them to talk it out, and now everyone’s cool.”

Alya’s face got progressively difficult to read as he talked until the only expression left on her face was a slight tightness in her brow.

“Huh,” was her only response.

Before Adrien could ask her about her weird reaction the director began shouting and a makeup person pulled him away from his food, and towards a nearby touch-up station.

“Alright, Everyone! Two more scenes to do, and only 8 more hours to do them. I want to get this done in as few takes as possible. Adrien, I know this isn’t your favorite scene to do, so I want us to do it right so we can get done. Lights, Make sure you are constantly checking with the camera that it looks okay. Avryl, make sure you keep the joking around to a minimum. We need to get this scene to post asap if we want to get this movie back on schedule.” The director said as the crew bustled around them.

Adrien began fidgeting a bit more, his eyes darting towards Marinette and Avryl several times until they finished their conversation and walked back over. Avryl walked over to the chair with her name and began stretching her back and shoulders. Marinette walked over toward where Adrien and Alya were and grabbed Adrien’s arm. He smiled tightly at her and was quickly reprimanded by the makeup artist frantically brushing crumbs away from his face.

“Are you going to be alright?” Marinette asked.

“Yeah, We just need to get this done quickly.” He replied.

“And we totally will!” Avryl’s voice startled Marinette. “Adrien here is a real champ! We’re going to knock it out of the park, and then he’ll never have to kiss me again.”

“It has nothing to do with you specifically, you do know that right?”

“Pish, posh. We’ve talked about it, I’m cool, no need to worry sweetie.”

“Places in 30 Seconds! I want to see bodies on set!” someone yelled across the set.

“I guess that’s our cue.”

Adrien and Avryl both stood, and untied their robes. Alya’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. Neither actor was wearing much of anything that could be considered clothes. Both were in tight skin-toned briefs. Avryl was wearing a strapless skin tones bra that acted mostly as nipple coverage than support. She now understood why Adrien was so wildly uncomfortable. Though he had been a model his whole life, Adrien had been heavily sheltered from some of the more risque shoots and had always been given significantly more privacy during runways and photoshoots than a regular model.

Alya watched as the two actors slipped into the bed, and the crew descended again to make sure everything was in place for the first shot. She wandered to stand beside a scowling Marinette. She had positioned herself behind the director to look at the scene through the camera monitor. Alya leaned over to whisper in her ear.

“I’m confused, I thought his father was funding this film. Why are they making him do a scene he doesn’t want to if he’s the producer's son? Shouldn’t he be able to just say no?”

Marinette scoffed. The director turned around and glared at her. She glared right back.

“If Gabriel wasn’t Involved he probably could have said no, but he insists it's necessary for Adrien’s rebrand as a sex symbol.”

Alya looked at her friend incredulously. “Are you serious? I knew Mr. Agreste was bad, but I didn’t think he was that crappy of a father.”

“Oh, believe me, you’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. Just be glad he’s not actually here today. They’ll probably actually be able to get everything done with him gone.” Marinette shifted closer, dropping her voice even more, “I’m pretty sure he’s been making a bigger fuss about stupid things like this to drag the project along to punish Adrien for acting out.”

Alya wanted to reply, but they started filming, and Alya felt so terribly for her friend she didn’t dare make a noise.

The two girls had to watch take after take of Adrien and Avryl kissing, talking, and being intimate. It wasn’t anything too risqué, nowhere near Game of Thrones-style scenes, but knowing how socially awkward Adrien had been his whole life and how sheltered he’d been it was - a lot. Alya watched all of this, her horror deepening each time she watched Adrien’s face twist when the director yelled cut, only for him to plaster on another sexy smirk and start all over again when they reset.

Marinette on the other hand was simmering in rage, heat practically rolling off her as the director asked them to redo it over and over. She was close to reaching a boiling point when they finally called for a 10-minute break. Both girls agreed they should probably leave for both their sanity. Alya went to talk to Nino before they left. Adrien made a beeline to Marinette. He wrapped her in a hug that was more to prop him up than to show affection. She rubbed his back lightly as he leaned on her.

He sighed heavily over her shoulder.

“See, This is why you need to be pocket-sized. What would I do with my emotional support bestie?”

Marinette laughed and pinched his side. He squirmed slightly but stayed firmly in his slumped position. “It’s you saying things like that is the reason I spent way too much time convincing Alya you’re not out to steal me away from her.”

“Why would you do that? You know you hate lying to people.” She could feel him smirking against her shoulder.

“You know what? That’s it.” She said, pushing him off her and pinching his exposed skin as he yelped.

“That’s cheating! I’m basically naked!” He shouted as he tried to get to his robe. “I’m being assaulted! This is harassment!”

Several members of the crew watched in amusement as the two of them chased each other around the cast chairs. Adrien managed to grab his robe, but Marinette never gave him the time to put it on. After a few minutes, Marinette was kind enough to let him ‘catch’ her and pin her arms down to her sides (this was totally on purpose and not because he tricked her by double bluffing around the craft table). He smiled triumphantly as she squirmed in his arms.

“You done yet?”

“No! Let me down you Mother-” He spun her around making her squeal before she could finish her sentence.

“I’m not letting you down until you promise to be good.”

She continued to try to wriggle out of his grasp as he laughed at her. Then she noticed Alya pulling her phone out. She went still.

“Adrien, Put me down right now.”

“Not until-”

“Adrien. Put me down.” He must have heard the panic in her voice, because he put her on the ground without protest, and grabbed his robe. He suddenly became very aware of the dozen or so people on set watching them. He self-consciously put his robe on.

“Sorry.” He said under his breath.

“I'm sorry too. I shouldn’t have pinched you.”

“That’s okay. You were provoked.” He said with a tight smile. She returned his smile, looking just as awkward as he felt.

He cleared his throat. She sighed.

“So, uh. Alya and I are probably going to get going.” Adrien Immediately began to pout. “We both have a ton of stuff we need to get done before classes tomorrow.”

“I get it,” he paused, he scanned the area to see if anyone was close enough to hear them, and when he deemed the coast clear he leaned in. “Are you, I mean, do you uh- want to come over tonight? You know, to hang out and stuff?”

She rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “I should probably sleep at my place tonight, or my roommates are going to start wondering where I am. Plus, classes start tomorrow, I need to make sure I have all my stuff with me, and it is way too likely I’ll forget something if I stay at yours.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. Plus, I have to meet… my friend, tonight about that project.” He still looked pouty but gave her a slightly forced smile anyway.

“Yeah, but maybe later this week? I think me and your bathtub need some serious bonding time,” She said, poking his shoulder.

He gave her a bigger smile, which she returned.

“I’ll be sure to let it know you’re thinking about it. It’ll get lonely without you.”

“Well, I would spend every day with it if I could.”

“Good, I’m sure it feels the same.” Neither of them were quite making eye contact, a weird tension in the air they refused to acknowledge because to acknowledge the tension would be to admit how they felt, and neither of them were willing to do that.

Thankfully, Alya strode up and broke the tension after only a few moments.

“Alright, Bestie. I need to start heading home. I have a massive amount of laundry to do before tomorrow, and a long commute ahead of me.”

“Oh, here, I can have Gorilla drive you guys. He’s Just hanging around today since I’m going to be on set most of the day.”

“No, you don’t have to do that.”

“I insist. It’s partially my fault you didn’t get home last night, so let me help you.”

“Well… if you insist. I guess I can survive being driven around.” She said, jokingly punching his shoulder.

They all talked for a few more minutes before someone called the 2-minute warning. Adrien talked to Gorilla briefly, He walked all three of them to the door leading to the lobby, where they said their goodbyes. Marinette pulled Adrien into a bone-crushing hug and made him promise to text or call her if he got too anxious. He quickly agreed and gave Alya a quick hug as well. He stood by the door and watched them walk away.

Gorilla led them to the same fancy car they’d ridden in yesterday and pulled into traffic. Alya leaned over in her seat and bumped Marinette's shoulder.

“I know you two are close, but you and Adrien had some pretty serious vibes there for a minute. Are you sure there’s nothing happening between you two? Because if there was…”

“Yes, I am sure, Alya. He doesn’t feel that way about me.”

“But what about you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Girl, I don’t know! I have been trying to figure you out all weekend, and honestly, I am getting whiplash with how often I change my mind about whether or not you guys are flirting. So please, put me out of my misery. Do you still like him?”

“I’ve always liked him. He’s my friend.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean, and I keep trying to tell you. I just do not get why you don’t believe me!”

“Because you are a terrible liar. Now tell me the truth. Do you still have a crush on Adrien?”

“I’m a better liar than you think,” She muttered under her breath.

“What was that?”

“No! I don’t have a crush on him!”

Alya watched her closely, looking for any sign of deception. There was a part of Marinette that was terrified that Alya could see right through her, that her carefully crafted lies would fall through, and that she would know how terrible of a person Marinette had become. She was even more afraid that Alya would believe her. Because she was a terrible person, and lying had become so easy, she was edging closer and closer to a world where everyone would hate when they finally knew what she’d done. She kept her feelings under wraps for both of their safety but it still killed her. She felt like she was manipulating Adrien every moment they spent together as friends and even more when they were intimate. It was killing her, and part of her wanted to be called out, to be forced to tell someone her secret. She felt all these conflicting feelings crashing against her as Alya finally turned her face away.

“Okay, fine. I don’t believe you, because you are a TERRIBLE liar, but I’m going to pretend to believe you because you are so obviously in denial.”

“I am not!”

“Yes, you are.” She pulled her phone out and began scrolling through Instagram. “Hey! Did you see the pictures Alix posted from her trip to Rome?”

“I am not in Denial!”

“Oh, man. So many pictures of food. I would have been sick to my stomach the whole trip from eating too much.” Alya continued, refusing to engage. Marinette fumed, and turned to look out the window. Her friend continued to narrate the pictures from their friends on her feed until Marinette was dropped off in front of her apartment building and the two girls parted ways.

Ladybug was a few minutes late, she had been frantically trying to finish putting her room together, picking out her outfit tomorrow, writing down where all her classes were, panicking, making sure the dozen or so floating magical beings were happy and had enough to eat and other normal tasks for the night before classes started. She needed to get everything put together before school started, especially with all of her guardian supplies needing to be hidden in her new desk and in various places around her room. The kwamis tried their best to help, but needless to say, she had lost track of time.

She landed on the roof she’d sent Chat to, but couldn’t see him. She began to mindlessly wander while she waited. She thought the shoot must have run late until she caught the slightest glint of silver in a dark corner.

She had to restrain herself from smirking as she turned her back.

This was one of Chat’s favorite things to do, and hers too. Ladybug had started it, saying they should be ‘prepared for akumas to sneak up on them at any time. Really it had just been an excuse to scare the bejeesus out of Chat because him nearly jumping out of his skin brought her more joy than almost anything else.

Now, patrols were occasionally started off with a flying tackle from one or the other of them. She loved it.

She pretended to huff about until she heard the slightest noise from behind her. She waited until she could practically feel his arms reaching out for her shoulders. She twisted slightly to grab his hand and flipped him over her shoulder and pinned him down with her knees digging into his waist and her hands pinning his hands over his head.

“Well, would you look here? A naughty little kitty thought he could get a jump on me! That’s just not allowed!” She said, smirking at him. He wiggled underneath her happily, making her heart pound in her ears. Their current position wasn’t exactly great for her ability to focus.

“Hello, My Lady. How are you today?” He said, grinning from ear to ear. He looked just as manic as earlier, the pupils of his eyes so wide the green was barely visible.

“I’m pretty good. You seem very happy tonight. Anything you want to share with the class?” She said, crawling off him and pulling him to his feet.

“SO Much! You know that horrible project I’ve been working on all summer? Everything is finished until at least the new year,” He draped himself over her shoulders, “plus my first on-campus class is tomorrow, and the best of all? I get to see my favorite bug tonight!”

“Oh, Queen Bee is going to be here?” She said, looking around.

“No, silly, you!” he said, poking her side to make her laugh, she danced out of his reach with a giggle.

“No, no. That can’t be right. Ladybugs are actually beetles, not bugs. It’s a misnomer.”

“and bees are Insects.”

“Well, I guess we’re just both wrong. I suggest we hang up our masks and never speak again since we are obviously a disgrace to our profession.” She pretended to get her yo-yo ready to swing away, and he pinned her arms down with a loud cry.

“No! You are not allowed to leave,” he said. They spent a few minutes tussling as she made a minimal effort to leave, and he only stopped her just enough. She would wiggle out of his arms and jump to another rooftop, and he would follow her and try to cut her off. It was very reminiscent of their tussle earlier on set, which made Ladybug smile. It was nice to remind herself that even if he preferred Ladybug, he still cared a great deal for Marinette.

The only real problem was how badly she wanted to kiss his stupid grinning face, but she couldn’t, because that would make everything so much messier.

Eventually, they stopped roughhousing, Leaving Ladybug just giggling into Chat’s chest as he held her tightly.

“There, now you can’t leave. For your punishment, you have to listen to everything I ever remember from English History, without any of the parts about France to make it interesting.”

“Oh, No. What will I ever do?”

“It’s a tough punishment, but I feel it is fair,” He said, rubbing his cheek against the top of her hair.

She only hummed in response and gave him a squeeze before letting go and stepping away. Thankfully, for both their sanity, he let her. She grabbed one of his hands and smiled at him.

“I’m really glad that everything is going well. I’m so proud of you. I know you said the last year was kind of hard, and I’m so happy that you’re happy.”

He looked at his feet, likely to hide the dark blush creeping from underneath his mask, but Ladybug took note. She preened just a little bit.

“Now, not that your news isn’t amazing, but I think there was something else you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Oh, yeah!” He looked up again and gave her another bright smile. “Okay, so you know how I have… people I sometimes visit at Chat? Well, I guess one of them has been working on a project to help detect Akumas before they infect someone, and potentially figure out where Hawkmoth might be hiding. She wants to know if we can help her set up the system and test it out. I told her we probably could, but I thought I’d get your insight on it.”

Ladybug did her best to seem surprised.

“That’s awesome! I’d love to talk to her about it, and we can set a time to put everything together.”

“Great! This is going to be so amazing! I’ll send you her new address, and let her know you’re coming! When do you think you'll have time?”

Ladybug thought for a second, “I think I can stop by Wednesday around 7 pm, so If she’s okay with that I’ll swing by.”

“Oh, perfect. I’m free then too, so I’ll meet you on the roof and we can go together!”

“What?” Ladybug said freezing. “Are you sure you’re not busy then?” she could have sworn that Natalie had scheduled a late shoot on Wednesday, which is why she picked that day.

“Nope, I had a work thing that day, but they pushed it back because of a scheduling problem. So I can meet you there.”

“Oh, no! You don’t have to do that! You have a night off, you should savor it. I can talk to her on my own.”

“It’s not a problem. I figured all three of us can then pick out a few spots and install them then if they’re ready. Maybe she could come with us?”

Damn it, Adrien! Ladybug thought angrily. Why on earth would you want to be in the same room as the girl you’re in love with and the girl you’re sleeping with?

The worst part was she genuinely couldn’t think of a good way to shut this down. She’d have to pretend to be busy Wednesday night as Marinette or something. She held in the exasperated sigh she wanted to let loose and smiled.

“That sounds like a great plan. Send me her info, and I’ll message her if there is a problem. The sooner we get started on this the better. Let’s do a quick patrol while we’re here. Meet back at the second alternate location on list b?”

Chat scrunched up his eyebrows clearly trying to remember which meet-up spot that was. She hated to do it that way, but after so many close calls with Hawkmoth and Mayura tracking them she couldn’t take chances.

After a moment Chat nodded and jumped away into the night with a smile and a salute.

Marinette settled into her bed and sighed.

It was far later than she wanted to get to bed that night, but she and Chat had ended up laughing and chatting for a lot longer than she realized once they’d finished their ‘patrol’. Though not much ever came from it, it had become a good way to familiarize themselves with different parts of the city as well as look for any potential secret lairs villains could hide in. Hopefully, when her early alert system was set up and ready to use all the nights and afternoons they spent roaming the city would come in handy.

Marinette tried to shake her thoughts. She often found herself in an anxiety spiral every time she thought about how on earth they could catch a villain they almost never saw. It had caused far too many problems in the past, so breaking the spiral early was necessary. The meditation helped, and having plans helped, but the thing that seemed to help her most was thinking about her little cat boy. She found herself smiling as she turned over to get more comfortable. Then she turned over again. And again. And again.

Her new bed wasn’t bad, a little smaller than she was used to, but so was her room. The problem was she had spoiled herself this weekend spending so much time with Adrien. She missed him. It was stupid.

With his stupid cute grin, and his stupid little laugh, and the stupid way he would look deep into her stupid eyes and make her feel stupid hot all over. She loved that stupid Idiot way too much. Ugh. All she wanted to do was transform so she could swing over to his stupidly large balcony. It basically wrapped around his whole apartment, so she could land right in front of the wall of glass facing his bed and see him sleeping peacefully.

Or maybe he’d be awake, and she could walk right in and see his adorably red face as she walked right in and pushed him onto the bed. She’d crawl onto his lap and kiss him, and he’d moan out her name and she would-

No! Stop! Don’t go there. It’s time to sleep, not think obsessively about things that can’t happen.

She turned over again and fluffed her pillow angrily.

It didn’t help

She began to despair of getting to sleep anytime soon when she heard the sound of quiet footsteps on her small balcony. She sat up in her bed and saw the tell-tale silhouette of a tall man with cat ears through the curtains. She found her heart started to beat faster in excitement. She tried to tell it to chill out, but it tended not to listen to her. There was a slight tap on the glass.

“It’s open.”

He stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him.

“Did I wake you?” he asked.

She shifted in her bed to raise the covers for him to slip in. “No, I couldn’t sleep. I’m too nervous for tomorrow.” That’s all, no other reason.

“Same.” He crawled in beside her, wrapping himself around her with his head tucked between her shoulder and her neck. “Can I stay?”

She snorted. “You ask like I’ve been given a choice.” She began tracing patterns on his shoulder and she settled further into the bed.

“Do you want me to leave?”

She pretended to huff but smiled into the crown of his head. “Nah. You can stay so long as you're a good little kitty.”

“Of course! I’m always Purrfect. Just ask Ladybug.” he said, snuggling closer to her.

She just hummed in response.

They lay there quietly for several minutes. Chat still hadn’t transformed and she could feel his tail twitching under the covers, and the way his ears would tremble as her breath hit them. It was distracting. She was still keyed up from her thoughts earlier, and his hot breath on her neck wasn’t helping. Then he had the audacity to begin trailing his claws up and down her sides. He would drag them slowly from her hip, the fabric of her shirt bunching as it caught on the tips, all the way to the ribs beneath her breasts.

He was obviously playing offense, trying to regain a semblance of control since he’s made the concession to come over to her apartment. He was teasing her, trying to make her break down and initiate. That was the real problem with the benefits within their relationship. Neither could appear too willing to make a move, it felt too real and Adrien had been making far too many vulnerable moves. He was afraid of blurring the lines more than they already were. Especially because over the last few months he felt like he’d really made some headway with Ladybug. She flirted with him more, and there were moments when he would catch her looking at him, and he would wonder if she was thinking about the same thing he was.

Marinette launched her own offense.

“Speaking of Ladybug, how did the meeting go?” she asked, moving her hand from his shoulder to the shell of his ear with deliberate slowness.

His hand faltered for less than a second, but it was enough.

“Good. She actually wants to come talk to you. She seemed pretty happy with it.”

“That’s good. Did she tell you you were a good little kitty after you told her, or was that later?”

He sat up to scowl at her. She booped his nose. He narrowed his eyes and laid back down huffily.

“Before,” He said almost too quietly to hear.

“Oooh. Did you tell her you were going to school tomorrow? Did she tell you she was proud of her smart little Chaton?” she teased, scratching him under his chin. He automatically lifted his head to expose more of his neck for her to scratch, then realized she was teasing and brought his chin to his chest.

“Did she tell you how you’ve been so resilient, and optimistic?” With his chin out of reach, she began running her fingers through his hair. He couldn’t stop his eyes from closing in pleasure with each pass of her fingers, a tingling sort of pleasure running across the surface of his skin.

“Did she tell you that you make her a better person? How do you make even the worst days better?” She said this quietly in a husky voice right near his ear. The tingling turned to a burning that almost sent a shudder through him.

“What are you doing?” he asked. He felt his abdominal muscles tighten. Her hands began to wander as they traced the muscles in his back.

“What do you mean? I’m just asking about your patrol.” She propped herself up to look at him with wide eyes and pouting lips.

“Yeah, but you’re doing it… weirdly.”

“Do you not like it?” She asked, her pout getting more pronounced.

“No, it’s not bad, it’s just- why are you- why are the- You’re doing something and I don’t understand,” he managed to sputter out, despite the dizzying feeling of Marinette’s index finger trailing back to his face eventually finding its way to his bottom lip.

“I’m just trying to figure out if you’ve been a good kitty. My guess is Ladybug told you how proud she is of you. You needed more because of your praise thing, so you came here.”

He scoffed. “I don’t have a praise ‘thing’.”

“Hmm. you’re right. I mean, I bet it’s a full-blown kink at this point.”

“Marinette! That’s just- No! Just no. I Do NOT have a praise kink.” He said, sitting up further to look at her incredulously.

“Oh, you definitely have a praise kink.”

“No, I don’t!” He sat up even further and pinned her to the mattress. “Take that Back.”

“Or else?”

“Or else I’ll…. Tickle you.”

“Okay, so you’re saying that when I say,” she lowered her voice back into the same husky tone she’d used earlier, “‘You did such a good job today, I’m so glad you came back into my life because you are one of my favorite people,’ it Doesn’t make you want to jump my bones?”

While she spoke she managed to free one of her arms so she could press her fingertips into the leather belt around his waist. He had to fight the shudder that wanted to run through him, but that was definitely a sensation.

“No.” His voice came out strangled.

Marinette's grin widened. She looked almost predatory. “We’ll that’s too bad. I guess I’ll just have to keep all my compliments about how strong and funny you are all to myself.”

He swallowed. “Yup. I feel nothing.” Marinette was winning again. How she was so good at this he will never know. Still, he needed to make a move to try to fend off her highly effective tactics. He grabbed her wandering hand again and pushed it over her head. He tried desperately to stop the burning desire inside him to ask for more as he took a second to collect himself.

However, Marinette didn’t give him a chance to do so. She arched her back and brought her face close enough that he could feel her warm breath on his lips. “If only I could tell you how damn proud I am of you because without you Paris would have fallen into chaos years ago. You are the best Super-” her sentence got cut off by a giggling squeal as he blew a raspberry against her neck. “No! Eeeeee!!! Stop!”

She squirmed beneath him. He let her arms go to tickle her sides, neck and anywhere else he could reach. She tried to tickle him back, but this time he was protected by his super suit. He continued his torture until it seemed like she was running out of breath. She spent the next several seconds trying to catch her breath.

He finally let up so she could breathe. She covered her red face with her hands as she caught her breath. Chat hovered over her for a minute, watching as she wiped the tears forming in the corner of her eyes. He felt warm all over with a feeling he couldn't fully articulate. It was a strange mix of joy, contentment, desire, and sadness. He had spent the whole day playing at love and intimacy with someone, who while nice enough, didn’t interest him at all, but when he came here even the ridiculous moments they spent together felt precious. He bent down towards her face. She flinched and tried to push him away, thinking he was going to blow another raspberry, but instead, he placed one soft lingering kiss on her cheek before grinning widely and resting himself back on top of her. She tried to pinch at his sides again, but he just chuckled and rolled his eyes.

“That was the rudest thing anyone has ever done to me,” She said, her tone soft and playful.“I changed my mind. You are not a good kitty after all. Bad kitties don’t deserve to stay. Especially ones who cheat by wearing a super-suit to a tickle fight.”

He pressed another kiss to her jaw. “I’m sorry. Please don’t kick me out. I’m just a poor little Meow-meow. It’s in my nature.” He continued to place soft lingering kisses anywhere he could reach.

“Yeah, sure. Give me one good reason I shouldn’t call Ladybug to come drag you out of my room?”

He paused in his ministrations for a second, then pressed his lips to the skin by her ear and whispered, “Claws In.”

He leaned back as green light washed across her expressionless face. He gave her a mischievous grin and wiggled his brows. “Now you can’t because then she'll know my Identity, which you would never tell anyone.”

The irony was nearly painful. Adrien didn’t see Plagg's Exasperated Eye Roll as he flew away, and Marinette had to work to keep her face neutral.

“You fool. You’ve played right into my hands,” she said, just before she dug her fingers into his armpits, thus incapacitating him. They clamored around on the too-small bed constantly shushing each other until they fell back into the pillows with their lips locked. Adrien felt the tension leaving his body as Marinette’s fingers erased the feeling of half a dozen people's hands on him as they adjusted his clothes, his makeup, his position, and a million other things.

Chapter Text

There is much to be said about new beginnings. Humans find significance in almost anything, but new beginnings are the most reoccurring. New jobs, new relationships, hobbies, years, ages, and so much more. If you can name something new or different we take note of it, philosophize about it, and look forward to it with boisterous fear and anxious joy.

Adrien was no exception. The day he’d been looking forward to for over a year was here, and he was terrified. He’d been over the moon the night before while talking to Ladybug, but once he got back to his too-quiet apartment and packed his backpack for the next day a wave of anxiety crashed over him. What if he couldn’t do this like he’d thought? What if he hated the program? Did he even actually like physics? It’s not like he could switch majors to something else if he didn’t! Not after he’d fought so hard for this one. There was no way he could convince his father to let him get a degree in any of the arts, and none of the soft sciences. The only exception would be another form of business like accounting or marketing, or design.

He’d paced his room for what felt like ages until Plagg angry told him to just go to Marinette's house already. It’s not like He wasn’t going to end up there eventually.

That had helped. He had even brought his backpack with a change of clothes and left it on her balcony so he wouldn’t have to go home to get it in the morning. Even the morning had been nice, they had breakfast together after they’d gotten ready while trying to avoid her roommates from realizing he’d spent the night. It wasn’t until he and Marinette parted ways to go to their classes that the overwhelming fear settled back into his bones.

The classes themselves added to his anxiety. Going into it he knew the chances of him getting swarmed were high hence the glasses, hat, and fake name. He was on high alert all day. He had talked to the professors before the year started about not alerting the other students to his presence. They were accommodating in that respect but most of his classes sighted themselves as being difficult on purpose. The only class that was fairly low stress was his one elective, introduction to creative writing. He almost took intro to design with Marinette just so they could have a class together but decided not to take a bigger chance of getting recognized than he already was. Famous designer dad and design students didn’t mix.

Marinette, on the other hand, was having a blast. She called him during his photo shoot on Monday to gush about her professors and the classes, she even had a few of her prerequisites waved because of her work at Gabriel.

They celebrated that night with pizza and video games, and Adrien honestly wasn’t sure if he’d had been able to sleep that night without her spending the night again. He felt good when he was with her (it was definitely not because she kept teasing him about the ‘praise’ thing because he did not like it like that.)

This pattern continued for the next several days. He would wake contented in a pile of tangled limbs, with the smell of Marinette's skin making him feel warm and confident. Then he would spend the morning getting ready with her by his side, but the moment they got to campus and parted ways the anxiety would come crashing back. It came and went throughout the day, dulling when he was interested and engaged with his classes, but stronger when each professor would assign another hour or three of homework at the end.

Then he’d be whisked away by his bodyguard to shoot a commercial or help with financial reports for his father. Finally, he’d crash at home and spend a couple of hours doing his homework while he tried to stop himself from literally begging Marinette to hang out with him. When he did they switched between their apartments, even once having dinner with all her roommates, which felt a bit like a sitcom about University. Finally, he would fail at any sort of self-control when it came to her and they would end up spending the rest of the night in bed together.
All of this was peppered with an even higher than normal amount of Akuma attacks. They had a frustrating habit of being during one of his classes, often close enough to disrupt the class. This was a blessing in disguise since he didn’t have to worry as much about sneaking away.

They never seemed to happen during work for some reason, but Adrien just chalked that up to coincidence.

He knew he could and probably should tell Marinette how he was feeling. About the anxiety. She was always able to talk him through his problems, but she was so happy he couldn’t bear to bring her down more than he already had over the weekend. Plus, he remembered how she talked to him about having boundaries with the whole…. Thing, and he just couldn’t shake the feeling that was secretly telling him she needed more space from his needy feelings all the time. So he kept it all to himself.

The stress of it made him antsy for his therapy appointment on Thursday afternoon.

He arrived 5 minutes late because of another Akuma. Thankfully, He and Ladybug finished this one off quickly. As soon as he was waved into St. Savier’s office he collapsed into the small loveseat, curling up into a tight ball and hugging one of the pillows.

“Tough week, huh?” She asked.

“Yeah, just a little.” He muttered.

“Tell me about it.”

He spent most of the session going over his fears, and the anxiety, purposely trying not to mention Marinette too much. He was beginning to feel better a little over halfway through the session. He knew it might be slightly temporary, but didn’t realize it would fade the moment (dr) brought Marinette up on her own.

“You said that spending time with your friend helped. Did this friend happen to be…” she flipped through her notebook, “Marinette, would it?”

His mouth was suddenly very dry. He tried swallowing to fix it. He did not answer her question. Which is on its own an answer.

“I thought it might be.” She said, “How is that going? Are you two still sleeping together?”

He cringed and buried his face deeper into the pillow. She just waited silently. He wanted to avoid this.

Dr. St. Savier had ‘reservations’ about his and Marinette's dynamics because he might be setting himself for issues in the future. She never outright told him not to because that was ‘not her job’ but she wanted to make him ‘aware of the potential hurdles’ involved or whatever.

There was a part of him that wished he had never told her about it at all. He didn’t need reminding that this would probably go down in flames. It was a frequent worry he had. A worry which he would often silence, somewhat ironically, by jumping into bed with Marinette.

He kept his silence as long as he could stand, hoping just this once she would give in and change the subject. She did not.

He sighed again. “Yeah. We are. It’s going fine.” He answered, still refusing to lift his head from the pillow.

“Have you talked to her about these feelings?”

“No…”

“What about the other girl. The one you’re in love with?” She checked her notes, wrinkled her brow, and continued, “Have you talked to her about it?”

“Not really… she knows my busy schedule is stressful but I haven’t had a good chance to talk with her for more than a couple of minutes. We’re always.. busy when we see each other.”

“Have you talked to anyone at all besides me about how you’ve been feeling all week?”

His silence was the only answer she needed.

“Can I ask why not?”

He huffed and puffed for a minute but finally, after stewing in silence for way too long he replied, “I kind of talked to Marinette about the stuff with my father this weekend, but I get the feeling that she probably doesn’t what to hear all of my stupid insecurities over and over. She's probably tired of hearing about it.”

“What makes you say that?

“Just some stuff we talked about, making sure we had good boundaries and stuff.”

“Do you know what I’m about to say?”

He picked at a loose thread in the pillow he was clutching. “You need more context.”

“Excellent. So give me context.”
He sighed again, but finally sat up on the couch and rubbed his eyes with his hand. “Ugh. Okay. So she stayed at my place Friday night, and Saturday morning we were getting ready to meet some friends, and she was using my face creams, and she was doing it wrong, so I told her that, and she told me that I should be mad at her for using my stuff without asking, and talked about how it’s important that we have good boundaries because we’re kind of in a weird place, and I don’t know. Maybe she was trying to tell me gently that she wanted me to back off?”

“Hmm. Okay, Did she specifically say that she doesn’t want to hear about the things that upset you?”

“No, she mostly talked about how I don’t set boundaries, and that I’m too nice. But that is why I thought she might be trying to be nice, so she doesn’t hurt my feelings when she does tell me to stop bugging her about it. I just, I’ve already bugged one person I love too much about my feelings, I don’t want to do it again.”
“I understand that fear, but that doesn’t necessarily apply to this situation.” (Dr) decided to overlook the fact that Adrien said he loved Marinette, she honestly wasn’t sure if he even knew he’d said it. “The last person you ‘annoyed’ with your feelings- think about it and give it context. Did they tell you they needed space, or that they didn’t want to talk about it? Are there extenuating circumstances, such as a personal conflict, or stress that might have affected how they reacted? Contextualize it, see if any of those same issues apply here, and realize that this is a completely different instance.
“What Marinette said about you two having boundaries is good, especially if you continue to not be in a romantic relationship outside of your physical one. However, Marinette is your friend and you have trusted her in the past with your feelings of stress. Until she gives you a reason not to, I think it is alright to continue to occasionally talk to her about it.”

“Maybe.”

“Not Maybe. I am going to Challenge you to talk about the stress you feel with someone. I suggest Marinette, especially if you see her again tonight, but I will be happy if it is anyone of your other friends. I think that you will find that you are not as alone in the feelings you expressed today as you think.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Good. I will check back in with you next week, so I expect to hear a good report.” She shifted and looked at the clock, then back at her notes. “We have a few more minutes. I would like to discuss more how you internalize what you consider ‘bad’ emotions.”
He groaned and face-planted back into the couch. Why he’d been looking forward to this, he couldn’t fathom.

He’d thought about Dr. St Savier’s homework the rest of the day, especially when he had three more assignments added to the growing pile of things he needed to do this weekend. Mostly he thought about how there was no possible way he was going to jeopardize his best coping mechanism by possibly making Marinette feel bad.

He resolved not to tell her, and he was not going to ask her to come over. He was stronger than that. He told himself that it was just a matter of putting his mind to it.

Except, when Marinette texted him that she was ready to leave for the meetup. He Groaned and Banged his head against the textbook he’d spent the last hour reading. He had completely forgotten about the meeting, even though it had been rescheduled multiple times between Ladybug and Marinette, and he had to fight to get them together tonight, and at a time he could make it.

There was No way he was going to be out of the loop for this one, he would make sure of that. He called for Plagg, who whined about having to leave his little hide-y hole Marinette had decked out for him with scraps of fabric from her stash.

“You know if you hadn’t been so stubborn we could have stayed in tonight. You could have even had your girl over and made the beast with two backs, and then gone to sleep long before we’ll probably be done with this stupid meeting.”

“Ugh, Gross. Plagg, I can’t help Ladybug if I don’t know what’s going on, so we are going and we’re not going to complain at all, got it,” he replied sternly as he tried to shake off the discomfort in his skin.

He wasn’t going to tell her. He told himself over and over again, but knowing an adult had given him this assignment weighed heavily on him. It didn’t matter. In a way it was good. He was practicing intelligent obedience, which Dr St. Savierhad even told him he needed to do.

So with this resolve, he called his transformation and leaped to go pick Marinette up.

Chapter Text

Marinette was having a good, but immeasurably stressful week. She had been able to put the fact that she was actually going to start on the course she’d been dreaming of doing for years to the back of her mind most of the summer. However, after a lovely morning with Adrien, it came crashing down on her all at once.

She watched him walk away decked out in his anti-paparazzi hat and glasses, and she realized this was it. Her first class as a fashion design student was starting in just a few minutes. She ran to the classroom, excited to get started. She got to the studio about 5 minutes before class started.

There were several other students in the class, and a few were chatting with each other. She nervously took out her supplies and placed them on her table, and kept organizing and reorganizing them.

She heard someone pull out the chair next to hers and saw Margot putting all her stuff down.

“Hey! I thought you said you were always late to stuff. How did you get here before me?” Margot Asked.

“Oh, I am. But My Friend wanted to get breakfast and walk together, and he’s always super early, so it kind of evens out.” She replied.

“This wouldn’t happen to be Kitten, would it?” Margot asked her tone a forced nonchalance.

“Yeah. We both had early classes, so he stopped by the apartment. He’ll honestly probably do that a lot. He gets kind of lonely living by himself. I hope you guys don’t mind.”

“No, no. That’s totally cool. I get it. It’s probably super weird to live alone. I’ve never done it before. I had a big family so like, I’m used to a ton of people being around all the time. It’s nice that you guys are so close.”

“Yeah,” Marinette replied.

“The girls and I were wond-” Margot’s question was cut off by the Professor storming into the room in a chaotic flurry. He was an older man dressed impeccably in a 3- piece suit who immediately began lecturing, and everyone in the class scrambled to begin taking notes.

By the end of the hour, they had several hours of homework for the next class and had been told in no uncertain terms that the professor had high expectations from them since this was the most prestigious fashion course in the world.

She was beginning to feel a little bit nervous. She needed to prove herself here, especially since Gabriel was not so secretly rooting for her downfall.

After her class, she was able to schedule a meeting with a counselor to discuss skipping some of her classes due to her professional experience after her last class of the day. She thought about texting Adrien and asking him how his first-class went, but when she opened her phone she realized her next class was about to start and was in a different part of campus. She took off at a jog, her bags thumping against her uncomfortably.

She managed to make it to the lecture hall about 30 seconds before the class was supposed to begin, and she took ten of them to calm her racing heart and make herself look slightly less like she’d just run across campus. The class started as she was getting her supplies together and again ended with a lecture on high expectations and several assignments and a paper due by the end of the week.

Even her general education math class gave her several hours of homework due by the next week. She ended up trudging up to the counselor's office honestly expecting to get laughed out of the building for even suggesting that she would be able to get an exception for her classes. She felt like people looked down on her for taking a year off. She knew if she asked anyone they would say otherwise, but it did seem like she’d lost out on a year. Now she was behind all of her peers, and would likely never catch up. If she could skip a few classes then maybe it would make it worth it.

She had learned a lot during that year, but she couldn’t help but wonder how her life would be now if she had started last year when she should have. She might have different friends or have gotten a prestigious internship over the summer like Alya. So she went into the meeting with trepidation.

“Hey, You. How did your meeting go?” Adrien sounded a little tired, but he was at work after a long day, so that was to be expected.

“AMAZING!!” She gushed as she danced down the sidewalk home. “The counselor said I could have a couple of my classes waived! My whole schedule is different now! I’m starting a couple of the intermediate classes tomorrow, and I have a meeting with the one I missed today to get caught up. She even emailed them to let them know I was coming and I should have the notes from today and everything!”

“That’s Amazing, Marinette. I knew you would get it. I'm seriously so happy for you! If anyone deserves this, it’s you.” He sounded tired, but she could hear the soft smile she loved in his voice. Her heart fluttered at her mental picture of him smiling into his phone.

“Thanks. How was your day?”

“Oh, uh,” he paused for a second. “It was good. Busy. They certainly don't pull their punches.”

“I know! I have so much homework to do! I’ve got a paper to write and like 3 designs due. I’m going to spend way too much time doing it, but hopefully, it turns out well.”

“Hey look, I have to go, but I think you are going to do such a good job. I’m excited to hear more. We’ll talk later, okay?”

“No problem! Have a good time at work.”

“Yeah, for sure. Oh, wait. Did uh... my friend talk to you about meeting up Wednesday? Do you think you can make it?”

“Oh, Uh. I’m still waiting on the stuff from Max to finish it all up and it might take a bit for me to set everything up. Lad- Your friend said she was good to do Thursday Night, I also checked with Max and he’s good Thursday too, we should probably have him in case the program goes down.”

Adrien hummed, and Marinette could hear some sort of commotion in the background. “Uhh. I’m not sure if that will work for me. I’ll have to check.”

It shouldn’t. She didn’t have his schedule memorized anymore, but she did pay attention when he complained about work. Thursday should be the day he’d be too busy to leave the house.

“Well, if not I’m sure I can give you everything and you and Ladybug can get everything together.”

“Yeah, I guess. I don’t love that option though. Okay, I really do have to go. Natalie is scowling.”

“Okay, I Lo-LLL see you later.”

“You too. Bye.”

He hung up the phone, and Marinette nearly screamed. She’d almost told him she loved him. Which would be completely embarrassing. He probably would be a total gentleman about it, and pretend like she meant as a friend, but still, the thought was mortifying. She basically sprinted home to start working on her homework just so she didn’t think about the complete disaster she narrowly avoided.

Tikki and the other Kwami’s tried to tell her it was no big deal, but the sheer potential for embarrassment drove her into a complete shutdown of anything other than the sketchbook pages in front of her. She didn’t realize how late it was when the sound of her phone ringing broke her out of her focus. She answered without looking at the screen, so she could continue drawing.

“Hey, I was wondering if you’ve eaten yet?” Adrien’s voice brought her back to the present just enough to realize she was starving.

“Yes, I totally have.”

“Liar.”

“How dare you!” She said incredulously as she absentmindedly began sketching again. “I’m incredibly offended.”

“I’m sorry.” He did not sound sorry at all as he held back a chuckle.

Marinette couldn’t help but smile at it.

“How about I make it up to you?”

“How do you plan to do that?” she asked suspiciously

“How about a ride on the Chat Noir Express?”

“Ugh ew, Adrien that is the worst euphemism I have ever heard!”

“ What? No! That’s not what I meant! Get your head out of the gutter. I was talking about coming by and picking you up so we can have dinner at my place to celebrate!”

He sounded so offended that Marinette couldn't help but begin laughing. He protested at first, but the more he did the more she laughed. Eventually, Adrien couldn’t help be join in

“You have no idea how much I wish I could tweet that right now,” she said between giggles.

“Ugh. You are the worst. You’re the one who took it in that direction, you pervert.” He sounded so disgusted. Marinette just kept laughing.

“Marinette,” she said, in a deep sultry voice that was supposed to sound like him, “Do you want to take a ride on the Chat Noir Express? You must be 5’5” to ride.”

“You know what, the Chat Noir Express is now shut down for Maintenance, so never mind!”

“Oh, Adrien. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, it happens to lots of guys, don’t worry. We’ll get it up and running in no time… It’s not that hard.”

He groaned loudly while she dissolved into laughter so frantic she almost couldn’t breathe.

“Har har. Do you want me to come pick you up? Or do you want to starve in the name of a joke that’s not even funny?”

“It’s- It’s haha -It’s very funny. I think I’m dying. The Chat Noir Express is going to have to be a hearse.”

“Ugh. You know what? I’m just going to kidnap you because I think you might actually die if you don’t eat soon.” He said, hanging up.

Marinette probably only had about 5 minutes before he got there, and she really tried to get her things together so she could work on homework while they hung out, but she kept having to stop to cackle. Honestly, she was probably cracking. Years of being a teenage superhero would do that to you, plus all the relationship drama she practically invited into her life was probably a bad sign. Adrien found her bent double over her backpack as she tried to have the strength to put her sketchbook inside it.

He took one look at her and sighed before he tossed the sketchbook in the bag and put it on his back before picking up a squealing Marinette and throwing her over his shoulder. She tried to protest, but he was out the window before she could string more than 3 words together. She calmed down slightly as he vaulted from rooftop to rooftop

But her giggles came back when they reached the apartment and he deposited her onto the couch, which meant she could say, “Is this where I transfer for the OTHER Chat Noir Express?” and he hit her with a pillow.

She was able to eventually calm down enough to eat and pretend to work on her absolute pile of homework, but she was too busy teasing him the rest of the night to make a dent before they started playing video games. She could feel the stress boiling under the surface of her skin, and she decided to do the best thing for it. Well, second best next to doing the work.

He was enthusiastically explaining why the Original UMS game was better than all of the sequels as they played- which was wrong, but he made good points- when she leaned in close and pressed her lips against his. He leaned into the kiss immediately, his hands dropping the controller to grab her neck pulling her closer. He crinkled his eyebrows at her when she pulled back.

“What was that for?”

“To get you to stop saying your wrong opinion.”

“Ooh, you’re in for it now, Dupain-Cheng,” he said, tackling her onto the couch.

Marinette had high hopes for Tuesday, she read some of the reviews on her two new professors and most of them were positive. She knew the coursework would be difficult, but after working for Gabriel she was confident she could do it.

She barely made it to class in time. Adrien had… distracted her when her first and second alarms went off, and because he’d kidnapped her the night before she didn’t have a change of clothes. She had to run back to her apartment to change. Adrien offered to give her another ride on the “Chat Noir Express”, but after she thoroughly pummeled him with a pillow she declined. It was one thing to sneak in and out of her balcony in the dark, it was another to do it while people were on their morning commute and could easily see that a superhero was dropping someone in their pajamas off at home.

She wasn’t surprised when the only workstation she could find was in the back. Her sewing machine was clearly a little older than the rest, but she had a pretty nice one at home, so she wasn’t that bothered. It did seem like everyone in the class knew each other. A few of them gave her a strange look like they were confused at her presence, before turning back to the groups they’d formed around certain tables. Several of them were upfront chatting comfortably with an older woman with dark brown hair pulled into a loose bun. She was dressed simply, but all of her clothes were perfectly tailored and looked high quality. Marinette Assumed this was the professor.

She called the class to order a few minutes after Marinette got settled into her workstation. An Asian girl with pigtails and -what Marinette thought looked like- fake Blue colored contacts sat in the station in front of her. She sent Marinette a tight smile and turned around. The professor started the class with the same lecture on expectations that all of Marinette's other classes had. There were several large projects, which would eventually culminate in a Winter Exhibition they would have at the end of the semester and eventually the large fashion Gala at the end of the year. All the design and construction classes would submit works to be reviewed for the exhibition. Those who did well got to have the opportunity to show their pieces to a panel of judges, and present at the Winter Exhibition and potentially the year-end Gala.

“M. Visage will be helping you to craft your designs for this year's theme of Movement In Beauty. We will not begin working on bringing your designs into reality until after midterms. You will however be learning the more advanced techniques you might use.

“The online syllabus has an assignment for next time. I want you all to purchase the necessary supplies for class on Thursday and complete the assignment. You will be asked to find examples of several silhouette types and I want you all to choose one to attempt to make. I’ll see you Thursday.”

Marinette was buzzing. She already had several ideas for designs based on movement and was itching to go sit somewhere to draw them out. The girl in front of her turned around and smiled at her again.

“Hi! I don’t think I’ve met you. Are you supposed to be in the intermediate class? Because I totally made the same mistake my first year too!”

“No, I’m in this class.” She replied with a smile. “Thank you though.”

“Are you a transfer student? Because I’m sure I’ve met everyone in our program last year.”

“No, I would have been here last year, but I decided to save up some money first. I have experience sewing so I was allowed to skip the intro class. That’s why you’ve never met me.” She said, looking away and packing her supplies into her bag again. Tikki smiled at her from the depths and rolled her eyes.

“Oh, really. That’s amazing. I would have done that too, but I didn’t want to miss valuable info. Maybe that would be a good thing for you to do. The Intro class is important even for good sewists.” She explained sweetly.

Marinette was a little annoyed, but she understood. Knowing that a classmate had skipped a course you had to take might feel like an insult to your own abilities. The girl did seem like she knew what she was doing. Marinette could tell that all of her clothes had been tailored, and she’d asked good questions during the lesson.

“That’s okay.” She said, trying not to let her annoyance show. “If the professors and Counselors think that I will be okay skipping the intro class I’m sure I’ll be fine. Thank you though.”

“Oh. Yeah. Definitely. Us girls have got to stick together! I’m Mia Ng by the way. What’s your name?

“Uh, Marinette.”

“Marinette…” she said drawing her name out clearly asking for the last name.

“Dupain-Cheng.” She supplied.

“Oh, that’s Lovely! Are you Chinese? I was born in Malaysia but my parents are Chinese and it’d be nice not to be the only one in class for once!” she asked.

“My mother is from Shanghai, but my father is from France.”

“Awe, Well that’s still pretty close.” She said flippantly and she started packing up.

“What do you mean ‘pretty close’?” Marinette asked.

“Well, just that you’re only half Chinese, so… you know.”

Marinette felt her whole body tense and she knew she needed to leave now. For everyone’s sake.

“Ah,” was the only response she made. She gave Mia a short wave goodbye before she bolted for the door. She took deep breaths to keep herself calm. Mia probably didn’t mean to be rude. It didn’t happen often, but sometimes people would say things like that unthinkingly, not realizing it was hurtful. She was lucky, really. She’d heard stories from Biracial kids who’d been treated much worse, but it didn’t stop it from stinging.

She felt Tikki patting her through the fabric of her bag, and let out a deep sigh. She opened her bag just a hair so she could smile at her friend and give her a whispered thanks before she made her way to a sunny bench to begin working on her homework.

She tried to forget about her interaction with Mia the rest of the day, but the memory would randomly pop to the forefront of her mind. Each time it did she had to fight back a growl. She kept thinking of scathing responses that would have been so, so satisfying. She never would have said any of them, but the thought still was nice.

Her only other class for the day was a general Ed course, which got interrupted by an Akuma on campus. She was annoyed at having to duck out, but the lesson was just the professor going over the syllabus. Chat definitely seemed annoyed, especially since the class he was missing was an important and difficult one for his physics degree. She tried to wrap everything up quickly but based on the way he bounced away quickly after she finished, he was annoyed about missing it. She would probably end up hearing about it later that night.

Adrien did end up texting her that he could switch to Thursday night, which vexed her. She tried to switch it again to Friday citing the change in her schedule, hoping he wouldn’t be able to make it. He swiftly reminded her that was Alya's mandatory club night. She cursed and several students turned to look at her. She waved awkwardly and went back to stewing. She tried to think of other days that would keep him busy. The problem was she was pretty sure he would figure out a way to be there.

So she decided to make it work and began plotting one of her famous overly convoluted plots to do so. The rest of the day involved her panicking and whispering to Tikki ideas that were more often than not shot down.

She did have the meeting with the professor for the other class she’d been transferred to, which went well. He was a stiff older gentleman, but he seemed to like the portfolio she’d put together.

After she made it back from campus she spent a few minutes working on homework and checking in the Kwami’s but was soon sucked into setting her pile of Akuma detecting devices up with the program Max had slipped her during one of her breaks. She had to connect each one to her computer and finish assembling the parts. It was a slow and painstaking process that involved a lot of waiting. She found herself flitting from task to task as she worked to get the several dozen detectors and as much of her alarming pile of homework done as she could.

This was how Adrien found her far too late in the evening after he’d finally been let off work to go home. He had decided to come through the front door wearing his surprisingly effective disguise instead of slipping into her balcony.

All the Kwamis zipped into her doll house when they heard the knock on her door. She got up to see a bemused Bette at her door.

“Your stray cat is here. Should I let him in? He looks like he has fleas,” she said teasingly.

“I do NOT!” he yelled indignantly, obviously politely waiting at the door to be let in.

Marinette laughed. “Yeah, You can let him in.” She raised her voice to add, “Here, Kitty, Kitty! Come here, boy!”

“Well, now I don’t want to come in,” he grumbled as he made his way towards her room.

“Just like a cat,” Bette joked.

“Shut up.” He entered the hallway carrying a bag of groceries and a scowl. “I don’t like your roommate very much, Mari. She’s mean. I think you should move.”

“And where would I move to? Your spare room? Think of the scandal.” Marinette replied. “What’s with the bag?”

“Well, I know you definitely did not have dinner again, and I’m starving from work. So I figured we could finally get started on the cooking lessons you promised me over a year ago without Papa Tom getting in the way. Thus, the groceries.”

“Ah. So what you’re saying is you want me to cook you dinner?”

“Ooh. Can I get in on this?” Yvonne said, popping her head around the corner

“Get in on what?” Margot asked from the living room.

“Kitten and Mari are going to make us dinner!” Bette answered for them.

“Didn’t you guys already eat?” Marinette asked, folding her arms in feigned annoyance.

“Yeah, but we’re college students. It’s a rule to never turn down free food.” Bette replied.

“If you don’t want to share you don't have to,” Margot said as she got closer to the hallway to join everyone else.

“NO! Margot! I want food!” Yvonne cried.

“Please, Mari,” Adrien said, giving her a truly pathetic kitten face.

“Yeah, Mari! You have to feed your poor little Kitten. Look at him! He’s withering away right in front of us!” Yvonne cried, grabbing his chin and bringing it down next to hers so they could both pout at her. Adrien stuck his bottom lip into an exaggerated pout, making himself look even more pathetic.

Marinette sighed and rolled her eyes. “Ugh, fine. What did you get? I’m not teaching you how to make something complicated this late.”

“I texted your Maman and asked her what I needed for Her stir fry recipe, so I got all of that!”

“Okay, That’s not too bad. But I’m making you do all the chopping. I’m just going to supervise.”

Adrien and her roommates all cheered and made their way to the kitchen. All four of them unpacked the grocery bags while Marinette sat at the table and directed them, occasionally getting up to show Adrien and Yvonne how to do something.

After everything was cooked they ended up on the couch watching some American romcom Margot Insisted they watch. A beaming Adrien sat next to her as everyone dug in.

“Mmm. This is so good!” Yvonne groaned.

“I’m pretty sure this is the best stir fry I have ever had in my life. You’re so lucky,” said Margot, “isn’t your Maman from China?”

“Yeah, she is.” Marinette's gut twisted, remembering her conversation earlier with Mai.

“That’s Awesome. My Maman can’t cook anything to save her life, let alone something that’s actually got flavor in it. I bet it was fun getting a papa who knows French food and a maman who knows Chinese food.” Margot continued.

Marinette just hummed in agreement and shoved a large bite of food into her mouth to avoid talking more. Adrien bumped her shoulder as she chewed. She looked over at him.

“Thank you, it’s really good,” he said quietly, his green eyes sparkling under the crappy light in the living room. She felt the tightly wound string in her gut loosening slightly.

She quickly finished chewing. “You’re welcome. You did great.”

His cheeks went slightly pink, and Marinette smiled, glad she had more ammunition for teasing later when she snuck him back into her room after her roommates went to bed. He shifted closer to her as they settled deeper into the couch with the movie playing in the background. For the first time in several hours, she didn’t spare a single thought to the thoughtless comment that had been plaguing her all day, or the stress of all the projects that needed doing. She could just bask in the feeling of being in Adriens’ arms.

Wednesday and Thursday ended up being much the same. She found herself spending every free moment trying to get herself caught up on work as well as dealing with Akuma attacks, and trying to finish the detectors for Thursday night. She got a few more rude comments from Mia, who annoyingly was in two of her new classes.

Thankfully Adrien would text her throughout the day, and keep her somewhat distracted from the building stress in her system. She ended up strangely excited for their meeting on Thursday. Her plan to protect her identity was convoluted but doable. She only broke down twice, wishing she could just tell him while creating it, so overall she was sure it would be a success.

Tikki had to Remind her to start getting ready early because she got sucked into a design research rabbit hole and almost forgot.

She got Trixx and Mullo Ready, then texted Adrien.

There was no going back now.

Chapter Text

Chat Noir landed on her balcony practically posing. His smirk morphed to a shocked smile when he saw Multi Mouse carrying two large bags in Marinette's room. He threw open her door and tackled her into a hug.

“Marinette! This is Amazing! You look awesome! When did Ladybug give you the Mouse's Miraculous back? I can’t believe it!” he gushed, spinning her around and inspecting her super suit. Then he stopped. “Are you shorter than normal?”

Marinette laughed. “She dropped it off earlier today. I guess she saw me walking around campus or something.”

“I’m so excited! Oh, Marinette, we’re going to be proper Menaces tonight, let's get kicked out of another movie theater. Or eat a ton of Junk food on the Eiffel Tower and watch tourists take pictures in front of it.” he said, practically buzzing.

She felt her cheeks reddening, she giggled at him. “We can’t, silly kitty. We have a very important job to do today.”

He pouted. “Awe, come on. We never get to do the dumb stuff I want to do because you’re not a superhero, but now we have our chance!”

“I would agree, but Ladybug and Max are waiting for us. We can’t leave them hanging because you want to annoy the whole of Paris instead of just me. Besides, I’m the one with all the equipment, how are you guys going to use them if we don’t install them anywhere?”

“Ugh, fine, but I’m going to fight Ladybug on letting you use it more. I think you would come in handy in a lot of fights.”

She handed him a bag of cameras and rolled her eyes.

“This is just temporary, you guys have Polymouse to use the Mouse miraculous, you don’t need me.”

“Yeah, but I liked having you better. You’ve got all the brains, and you plus Ladybug. I bet we could have Hawkmoth in jail next week if you put your heads together.”

“What do you think We’re doing right now?”

“I guess. It’s not the same though,” he said, as he followed her into the Paris evening.

They met in one of the sewers to make it harder to be overheard. Chat Noir and Multi Mouse Arrived first, so Chat spent the time trying to catch mice to show Multimouse her ‘Family’. He found a particularly large one, who was not happy about being picked up, and insisted that it looked just like her Grandpa Roland.

Ladybug and Max joined them as Chat Was proudly showing off another small squirming rat to Multimouse. Max wasn’t in his usual super suit, probably to ‘protect’ his identity from ‘Marinette’. His hair was still in braids, but they were brown and hung loosely from the top of his head. His leather suit looked a little more like English riding clothes with high-waisted brown leather pants and a coat with tails. Pegasus’ original style was still hinted at, but he looked different enough that no one could look past the miraculous magic.

“I knew you were a cat, but this is getting ridiculous,” Ladybug teased, her hands on her hips.

“Yeah, yeah. Look! They’re family! This one is her mom.” He held the rat out proudly. “I had her Grandpa earlier, let me see if I can find him.” He bent to find the rat who had run away as soon as he got the chance.

“Very, nice, Chaton. Now how about we put Multimouse’s Mom down and we can get to work? “

“Fiiiiine,” he said, putting the rat down, watching it as it scurried away.

“Great, okay. I want to get this over with as soon as possible. I have stuff that needs doing tonight.” Ladybug said, using her yo-yo to project a map of Paris on the ground of the sewer.
“Equanous put together a list of potential buildings around the city. There are a few areas we are going to hit heavier than others because there’s more Amuka activity there, but anywhere an Akuma has been, we’re putting at least one Camera.”

She tapped on the screen and the map changed to show several locations highlighted and a radar map of Akuma activity.

“So here are the heaviest areas in the city, and here are the tallest buildings in the area,” Max, or Equanous said, pointing to different spots on the map. “There are a few buildings that are either too difficult to get onto to hang the cameras and a few who -”
“Are we talking too difficult to get to in our suits, or just in general, because I have yet to see a building I can’t jump on? Plus you can literally teleport.” Chat Interrupted.

“Well, technically we can get to any of them,” Ladybug couched, “but we want to keep notice of the cameras a secret as much as possible, and some buildings would be too noticeable if we put something on it right now. So we are going to skip them for now.”

“I guess that makes sense,” he replied, twisting his mouth. “Okay, well, how about Ma-Multimouse and I take this section and this section, and you two take these two sections, and we meet back here for celebratory snacks?”

Ladybug hesitates, “Oh, I was going to Have Multimouse come with me-”

“This way is better! That way we have two different modes of transportation on each team to reach out of the way nooks easier. Unless you want to team up with me, “ he said, wiggling his eyes flirtatiously. Both Ladybug and Multimouse scoffed at him at the same time, and it suddenly struck him that he had put himself in an awkward position. Ladybug didn’t know about him and Marinette, and it suddenly felt very wrong to be flirting in front of her like this.

“Ladybug, Chat Noir is right. Having both a pole and a rope when attaching a camera to these three structures would be helpful, while my teleportation is only needed for these two buildings, having your Yo-yo would be very helpful for the other ones.”
Ladybug scowled, which could either mean she was annoyed or thinking about something. Chat seriously hoped it was the second. He looked at Marinette with a nervous smile, to find her also scowling, and Chat nearly burst out laughing at how similar the two looked.
Finally, Ladybug huffed out a sigh. “Okay, fine. Meet back here in an hour,” she said before quickly leaping out of the sewer, followed by a confused Equanous.

Chat grinned and turned to Multimouse again.

“Yay! Now I can show you my favorite spot in Paris!” He said, making his way to the sewer entrance.

“Chat, we have a job to do. We can’t just go sightseeing!”

“We won’t be! It’s one of the spots we’re hitting, so we can work and play at the same time. Believe me, I’m the king of mixing business and pleasure!” He joked, pulling her through the entrance.

“You would be, weirdo.”

His favorite spot ended up being a small rooftop garden on a tall building near a busy square. Though it didn’t overlook the square itself it had an excellent view of the surrounding area. It was their final stop for the night and it was quite dark, so there was little chance of someone walking up on them.

Marinette had been there once or twice as Ladybug, she did like a good garden after all, but Chat seemed very familiar with it. While she set the camera up he picked through the beds pulling weeds and checking the plants. Once his inspection finished, he walked over to her and helped her with the last few adjustments to the mounting. He smiled at her as she jumped down from the top part of the roof into the garden.

“So? What do you think?” he asked spreading his arms wide.

“It’s Beautiful. How did you find it?”

“I don’t really remember, honestly. I think it was pretty early on. After Ladybug became the guardian I never really saw her for a while, so I explored almost every inch of the city just hoping she would come join me. Some places I went to more often than others, just to think, and this one was one the best ones. The lady who owns the apartment says hi every once in a while, so I help her out with the garden sometimes.” He shrugged. “It’s nice.”

“Have you ever shown this place to Ladybug,” she asked, though she already knew the answer was no.

“Nah,” he said dismissively.

“Why not?”

He blew air through his lips, his posture tense and closed off. “I don’t know. I haven’t felt like it?”

The silence that followed stretched and Chat turned towards the lights of the city, his back to her. She felt an urge to rub the tense spot between his shoulders. Before she could, he stepped away and stood straight. It was like watching him become a whole different person, shedding whatever weight that was settled on him vanished, and the manic joy she sometimes saw in his face returned.

“We should go check out the Eiffel Tower before we have to head back! I know it was on the other two’s route, but you have to check it out! You can even see the apartment on top if you want!”
He tried pulling her away, but she stood firm.

“It’s getting close to the time, we should probably meet Ladybug at the meet-up. Besides, the tower is crawling with tourists, and we aren’t supposed to be seen tonight.”

He deflated, and she almost gave in at seeing all the joy rushing out of him. “I’m sorry, Kitten. I wish we could.”

“No I get it, you’re right. It’s just-” he sighed, “You’re my best friend, and I just wish I could share one of my favorite things with you.”

“I thought Ladybug was your best friend.”

“Besides her,”

“What about Nino?”

“You know what I mean!” he said pushing her shoulder in annoyance.

“I do, and I am sorry we can’t do all the things you want to do,” she said softly.

“I get it, it just sucks that you and Ladybug are so responsible when I want to be a hooligan. Do people still say, hooligan?”

Multimouse laughed. “No! They do not! You sound like an old man.”

“Well that’s what Natalie always says, so how would I know.”

Multimouse laughed harder.

“Seriously, I don’t get to be stupid very often, the last time I was a hooligan, that was the hit phrase!” he joked, but Multimouse sobered slightly.

“Come on, hooligan, maybe if we’re on time, you can convince Ladybug to let me keep the miraculous for a few more days.”

“I doubt it. She’s even more responsible than you,” he grumbled but jumped into the night anyway.

“I have a feeling she might be feeling a little irresponsible tonight,” she said under her breath before leaping after him.

Chapter Text

Marinette leaped through the window of her balcony and collapsed on the bed, only to jump when she felt a body already there. She got to her feet quickly ready to face off, only to see two more of herself scowling back.

“Ouch,” One of them said.

“That took you long enough!” the other complained.

“Ugh, I know! Chat was insisting that he come with me, and it took forever to get him to just go home. I told him I’d meet him at his house after I got my things together.” The Marinette that was standing Paced, gesturing wildly. The other two sat up and watched.

“Are you seriously going to let him think ‘Ladybug’ let you keep the Mouse for a couple of days?” one of them, the one that had been Multifox (she thinks, it all got kind of jumbled in her head trying to keep track) asked.

“Why do you think it’s a bad idea?” Multimouse pulled at her hair.

“Oh definitely, but did you see how excited he got when I said Okay? That shit was adorable! Plus, we can just pretend to check all the cameras to make sure they’re working just fine.” The other (obviously the Ladybug version of herself) waved her hand dismissively.

“I think Mr. Chat Noir will be really happy about you being a superhero with him. Plus, it’s a fun little trick!” Trixx said floating out of the dollhouse eating a cracker.

“I don’t know Marinette, it seems kind of risky!” Tikki said, close behind Trixx. A few of the other Kwami’s came out, probably to give their opinion.

“Ugh. There are too many people here, and my head hurts from being three people for too long.” She said, rubbing her head. The other two got off the bed and all three morphed together. She called off her transformation to give Mullo a chance to rest for a minute and sunk down into her bed.

“Are you going to walk to his house this late?” Tikki asked, settling herself down on Marinette’s shoulder.

“No, probably not. I would, but I’m sure he would have a conniption if I showed up like that. He told me that if Ladybug really didn’t come to get Mullo that there were a few blind spots on his balcony that I needed to land on. Which I already knew, but he didn’t know that I knew.” She sighed and rubbed her face aggressively. “It’s getting hard remembering what Adrien knows Marinette knows, and what he knows Ladybug knows and what Marinette knows about Chat but Ladybug doesn’t and what ladybug knows that Marinette wouldn’t, and what Chat knows and whoever else is in this stupid diahexagonal triangle or whatever we are.”

“It might help if you just tell him you want to date, then you don’t have to keep track as much?” Tikki said, hopefully.

“The only way that would help is if I tell him who Ladybug is. Do you think that’s a good idea?” she challenged her kwami, who sagged in defeat.

“No, probably not.” she sighed.

“That’s what I thought.” She stood and grabbed her backpack and a change of clothes, knowing there was very little chance of her coming home before morning. She turned to Mullo who was snacking on one of Trixx’s Crackers. “Are you ready to go again?”

“Yes, that should be fine. It will be nice to see Plagg, his owner gives him excellent cheese.”

“Alright then, Mullo. Let’s get squeaky!”

Plagg was being a royal pain in the ass, but what could Adrien have been expecting? He always chose the worst times to actually care about anything Adrien did. After he and Multimouse split ways for her to go pick a few things up and he de-transformed in his apartment Plagg would not stop hounding him.

“When Pigtails gets here, you should tell her about the stuff, so you can stop being mopy. I can literally spell your teen angst,’ he said, munching on a slice of cheese.

“I’m almost twenty, I’m hardly a teen,” Adrien countered as he changed from his day clothes into his pajamas. Each movement was a struggle with the shaking numbness in his fingers. He squeezed his fists and felt Plagg flying into his face again.

“You’re a teen for two more months, so it is teen angst. Then it will be ‘technically-not-a-teen’ angst which smells the same, just with more self-loathing.”

“Whatever, I’m still not telling Marinette. She shouldn’t have to be my sounding board for all of my problems.” Adrien threw his jeans at the hamper in his closet but didn’t give it enough power, and they fell only a few feet away from him.

“And I DO?? This hardly seems fair!” Plagg grumbled as he sat in Adrien’s hair.

“Yes, you do because you are magically required to be my best friend.” Adrien swiped at his hair, trying to dislodge his hitchhiker, but Plagg sat unfazed munching on his cheese.

“This is torture of the cruelest kind, not only do I have to deal with your stupid romantic problems-- when you should just make Marinette your mate since you’ve basically done that-- but now I have to be a second brain doctor? I bet Tikki isn’t being treated this terribly!” he cried, then thinking better of it, “You know what, never mind, Ladybug is plenty unstable. I guess we’re both screwed.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re so abused and neglected, poor Plagg. Eat your cheese.” Adrien felt static running up and down his arms, and he tried to rub it away with his fingertips, but the more he did it the further it spread, and he found himself scratching.

“I just don’t understand why you think telling pigtails that school is stressing you out is such a big deal!”

“Because it just is,” he snapped, pacing toward the bathroom to get some lotion or something.

“But-”

Adrien groaned, there was only one cure for the building anxiety Plagg's insistence was building, and it wasn’t to be found in the apartment. He transformed, Plagg’s sentence cutting off before he could hear it, and jumping back out into the Paris night.

Marinette bounced from her balcony with her backpack full of supplies for the next day, including a change of clothes. She stopped to adjust her backpack which had shifted in transit landing on a nearby rooftop.

She sighed and tried to remember if she had packed socks. She started to sift through the bag's contents, and almost asked Tikki to help her, when a large dark mass jumped out of a dark shadow, straight for her.

She dropped all her things and moved to defend herself, only for the black mass to jump away just in time to avoid being hit by her jump rope. Her attacker then changed directions again and went straight for her. She tried to dodge, but they managed to grab a piece of her and tackle her to the ground.

That’s when she recognized the attacker.

“CHAT! You nuisance! What are you doing?” she said, pushing him off her, but he just rolled lazily to the side into a semi-seductive pose.

“Well, I got bored waiting for you, so I decided I wanted to play a little game of Chat and Mouse,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows, his white teeth flashing as he grinned at her. “It’s in my nature to chase mice after all.”

Her heart was still pounding, both from being attacked and realizing if he had just waited another 30 seconds he would have found out that she was Ladybug. She hid the shaking in her hands by picking up the things that scattered when she dropped her bag. He moved to help her, apologizing for startling her.

Thankfully nothing had broken, so all was forgiven. Chat Noir excitedly pulled her across rooftops, begging her to play tag, go to the Eiffel Tower, or the Arch de Triumph, and any other number of things, which Mulitmouse tried to indulge for a while, but she eventually had to put her foot down, stating the late hour, and the fact that they had classes tomorrow. He agreed, only if she would race him to his apartment. She took off before saying yes, and he called after her annoyed.

She landed on his balcony first, but he pounced on her before she could call off her transformation, his lips hot on hers. His claws tangled in her hair and he pushed her against the bricks, his hips pressed into hers. She wrapped her arms around his back and pressed him closer, sucking on his lips and delighting in the quiet whimpering breath he took as she did.

After several heavy minutes, he pulled away to catch his breath. Marinette called off her transformation before kissing down Chat Noir’s neck. He whimpered again when she had to stop because his suit was in the way. His voice was ragged as he called his transformation off.

Plagg was immediately disgusted.

“Do you see what I have to deal with all the time Mullo? It’s a nightmare.”

“Shut up,” Adrien growled before pushing himself closer to Marinette and burying his face in her neck.

“No! This is ridiculous! Besides, you’re supposed to do your assignment from Doct-”\

Adrien dug a piece of camembert from his pocket and threw it over the balcony before Plagg could finish his complaint.

“No!” Plagg yelled, before diving off the balcony to catch the cheese.

Marinette giggled against Adrien's mouth as he kissed her hungrily. His hands were exploring her body almost frantically, one moment slipping under her top, the next sliding down to grab a handful of her ass, then back up her side to grip her neck, always pulling her closer. When she pulled away to catch her breath again he continued to kiss and suck on any exposed skin he could find. She couldn’t see either Plagg or Mullo and guessed Plagg hand conceded this battle to save what cheese might be left in Adrien’s pocket from danger. She ran her fingers through Adrien’s long hair and tried not to combust from the way he was touching her.

It took her a minute to find words.

“Adrien, Not that this isn’t great but- Ah- uh- maybe we could go somewhere that's not rough bricks on my back?”

He pulled away immediately, looking bashful. “Sorry, You’re right. Sorry.”

She smiled at him and rolled her eyes. “Come on, Kitten. That big ole’ bed of yours is calling my name,” she said, grabbing the waistband of his pants and pulling him towards the bedroom. He followed her willingly, taking his shirt off in the process. She guided him through the glass doors leading to his room and quickly maneuvered him with his back to the mattress before pushing him onto it. He sat up on his elbows to look at her, his feet still touching the floor.

“Now, isn’t that so much better?” she asked, quickly stripping down to her underclothes.

“Ye-ah,” his voice was rough and cracked slightly. He cleared his voice as she smirked. “Yes. lots better.”

“Good.” she grabbed the ankles of his sweatpants to pull them off, which knocked him off balance. His back hit the mattress and they both giggled a little. Adrien covered his face with his hands but lifted his legs up so she could finish taking his sweat pants leaving them both in their underwear. She stood for a second admiring his ab muscles flexing as he dropped his legs back down. He was at a silly angle, his bum half off the bed, his face still in his hands, and his feet sticking out at odd angles. She giggled some more and slapped his thigh.

“Scooch down, I need room.”

He complied silently, but Marinette didn’t miss the way his Adam’s apple bobbed when she crawled after him and straddled his hips. His hands grabbed her hips as she pressed herself against him.

“Good boy.” She gave him a devilish smile. She ran her fingers up his stomach, tracing each divot and muscle she could find, past his pecs, up to his neck, and into his hair. She pressed her body closer to his, delighting in the feeling of his stomach brushing against her skin as he took shallow breaths. She began pressing hot wet kisses to his skin, a thrill going through her every time his breath hitched, she loved knowing she could excite him, that he enjoyed her touching him.
His hands began to roam again, and she kicked her ministrations up a notch. She nibbled her way up his neck to lick his jaw, then grabbed his earlobe with her teeth and sucked. He gasped and his left hand dug into the underside of her thigh, his right hand inching up to the clasp of her bra. He fumbled one-handed for a moment while she vigorously tried to distract him, her hand wandering south. He groaned in annoyance and brought his other hand up, but it still took him several times to unclasp it.

Marinette chuckled against his ear as he clumsily slid it off her arms. He muttered an exasperated, “Finally,” once he’d tossed it away, and Marinette couldn’t help her teasing reply of, “Good job, son. I’m so proud of you.” in what she thought was a silly, deep, and sultry voice. She did not expect him to freeze completely, his hands pressing into her waist a little painfully, his whole body tight like a guitar string. She immediately panicked. Good job, Marinette! You messed everything up!

She pulled away to look at him. His eyes were wide and moist, his lips a straight line. She felt her heart drop, and she knew she’d somehow crossed a line. She cupped his jaw.

“Adrien, are you alright? What’s wrong?” she asked him, worry boiling in her gut.

He promptly burst into tears.

Chapter Text

June, One Year Ago

Adrien Regretted going back to his father’s house after about a week and a half.

The first few days day things had been a little awkward, but Gabriel had made appearances at several meals and even attempted small talk. He asked about Adrien’s friends, even mentioning a few, like Marinette and Nino, by name. When Adrien was asked to take on additional work after school finished Gabriel told Adrien himself, usually by having Natalie escort him to the Atelier but still, it felt like progress.

Adrien was even allowed to attend a graduation party without having to beg his father and Natalie to let him go. He was still expected to act in a way becoming an Agrest, but Adrien could still laugh and joke with his school friends without worrying pictures would get back to his father. Alya and Marinette couldn’t come, so Operation DJWifi wasn’t in action yet, but he still had more fun at this party than he had ever had.

The trouble started back up once school ended. Paris Haute Couture was a month away, and on top of the usual fittings, photoshoots, commercials, and every other activity Adrien was scheduled for, Gabriel insisted that Adrien be part of the planning and style meetings, the marketing campaign, and even had him helping Natalie with important logistical planning.

He was so busy it was hard enough to sneak out for Akuma's, sneaking to meet up with his friends was nearly impossible. He’d only managed to spend a couple of hours with Nino during the whole month of June, and none with any of his other friends. He still texted with them regularly, but every time he found a time to meet with any of them some new fashion emergency required him.

It was over a month before he managed to sneakily carve a few hours out of his schedule. Natalie had left an evening open, likely by accident based on how frazzled and tired she looked prepping for the show. Before she could notice and fill it, as had happened every other time there was a gap, Adrien invented a fake fencing tournament and popped it in. He had to call Kagami and get her on board, but that was easy. Even though they weren’t dating anymore the awkwardness and hurt from their breakup was well past them, and they often used each other for excuses. Kagami was actually relieved, she had some sort of event happening at that time and was trying to figure out her own excuse. Once that was all settled he called Marinette and initiated the first phase of Operation DJWifi.

On the day of their plan, he gathered all his Fencing gear and bribed the Gorilla with his one-of-a-kind signed Chat Noir Doll made for him for one of the animated movie premiers he attended. (He kept the Ladybug one for himself.) Natalie met them at the door, wished him luck, and sent him off to his old college campus for the ‘fencing’ tournament. It only took a few minutes to sprint to the Bakery. Adrien felt himself beaming as he burst into the shop's front door, startling both of the Dupain-Chengs.

“Adrien!” Tom dashed around the counter and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. “It’s so good to see you! We’ve been so worried about you. Marinette told us your father has been working you to the bone.”

Tom set him down but kept his hand firmly on Adrien’s shoulder as Sabine swooped in for a hug.

“I’ve certainly been busy. Haute Couture week starts in a couple weeks, so there’s a lot going on with that.”

“Oh, believe me, we know all about Haute Couture week. Marinette comes down to dinner every evening to give us every update imaginable. She’s going to try to go down there, hoping to catch a glimpse.”

“I could see if I can get her a ticket.”

“Oh! She would love that! If you can’t that’s fine, but it would be a great early birthday gift.” Sabine gushed.

“You have to be careful though, she might give up the ghost from pure elation. Maybe you should throw in a tour of the dumpsters to keep her level.”

Adrien laughed, and Sabine covered her mouth with one hand and slapped Tom’s arm with the other. “Tom! That’s terrible!”

“What? She’s very comfortable around dumpsters, I found her out there again just last week after that Akuma attack that turned a bunch of people into ballerinas.”

“Really?” Adrien asked.

“Oh, She disappears all the time, always running off on one project or another, and we catch her out by the dumpsters at least once a month, I swear.”

“Why?”

“We’re not really sure, she always has some reason to be out there. Some of the high fashion photos she likes to show us look an awful lot like trash, so we like to joke that she likes the ambiance for inspiration.”

Adrien chuckled again at their teasing, “Having been one of the people wearing those looks I can tell you some of them feel an awful lot like trash.”
“Please tell me you are not talking about trash with my parents!”

Adrien turned to see an unimpressed Marinette standing at the door to the apartment. He gave her an embarrassed smile, and she rolled her eyes and smiled back.

“Yes, we are actually!” Tom said brightly. “He was just about to tell us all about how the best fashion designers go dumpster diving! We always knew you were a fashion genius!”
Marinette groaned in disgust.

“I always knew our little girl was a genius. Did you know she basically taught herself how to knit when she was 6?” Sabine said proudly wrapping her arm around Marinette and putting her head on Marinette's shoulder. “She dreamed about becoming the knitting-”

Marinette put her hand over Sabine's mouth with an indigent cry. “Maman! I did not ‘basically’ teach myself how to knit! Nonna Gina taught me!”

“She taught you the basics, but you’re the one who taught yourself how to make those adorable little purses you gave to your friends!” Tom interjected.

“Oh, those girls loved them!” Sabine said.

“Yeah, Until Chloe told everyone they were ‘ridiculous’ and convinced them to throw them away,” Marinette grumbled.

Sabine sighed, “That was such a shame. But now look at you! Accepted into the best fashion school in Paris with several winning designs under your belt. I can’t wait for you to come home gushing about all your classes. I’m so excited for you! Just two more months!”

Adrien looked between the two, confused as he watched Marinette's face get tighter.

“Okay, Embarrass Marinette time is over, we need to leave! Otherwise, we’ll be late, and if Alya or Nino see each other, they’ll leave before we can make them stay.” She kissed both her parents and pulled Adrien out the door

Tom and Sabine called out their goodbyes, and Adrien wave back at them before Marinette yanked him around the corner.

“Okay, so we’re going to pretend like we just happened to all run into each other at the same restaurant. I am going to meet Alya at the park nearby. Where are you and Nino meeting?” she turned down an alleyway and grabbed a set of keys from her purse as they approached a small scooter.

“Did you change your mind about taking a year off?” He blurted out. She stilled, the key half turned to open the helmet storage.

“No…” she said, slowly turning her key and pulling the helmets out.

“Then why do your parents think-”

“Here’s your helmet, we really need to go.”

“Marinette…”

“Look, I tried telling them over and over, and they refuse to believe I’ve deferred, so I’m just waiting until they accept it.”

“I’m sorry, that must be awful.”

She blew a raspberry. “It’s nothing compared to your father. They care about my dream and want me to succeed. Me deferring just seems like I’m stagnating. If I had some reason other than I don’t want to yet, they’d feel different.” She shrugged and pushed the helmet onto his head and started the scooter, clearly done with the subject. He silently sat behind her, deep in thought. He wished there was something he could do to help her. Marinette and her parents had such a wonderful relationship, and the thought of them disagreeing made him uneasy.

Marinette zipped through traffic quickly. She dropped him off near the restaurant in the opposite direction of the park she was meeting Alya. He walked the rest of the way to the restaurant, enjoying the sunshine, and the simple pleasure of having no one there to tell him what to do.

Well, Marinette told him what to do, but it felt more like a plan than an order. It was how he felt about Ladybug telling him to do things. She did sometimes get flack from some of the woman-hating forums online for being too ‘bossy’ but he never felt that way. She would sometimes come across these bozos online via some ticktock or tweet and would fret that maybe she was why Hawkmoth hadn’t been caught yet. There were times, after he had to talk her out of her anxiety spiral, that he wanted to find whatever post or video had made Ladybug feel bad and drag them through the mud with his public profiles. He never did. His father would have a conniption, likely coming down even harder on Adrien’s schedule in punishment. He really couldn’t afford to lose any more free time. He hadn’t even seen Ladybug outside of Akuma attacks in weeks, and he was sorely missing his friend.

He shook his head, trying to clear his as he came up on the restaurant. He saw the back of Nino’s head through a crowd of lost tourists. He quickly dodged around them to avoid getting asked to give directions and catapulted himself onto Nino’s back.

“NINO!”

Nino jumped back in fright, then with a shout pulled Adrien into a bone-crushing hug.

“Dude! I can’t believe you actually made it! I thought your old man was going to keep you locked up in that room for the whole summer!”

“I know! I’m really happy to actually be out doing something other than photoshoots and auditions.”

“They got you doing auditions? I thought your pretty face just got you jobs automatically.”

“The producers want to pretend like it’s fair this time. I guess the last movie thing I did a bunch of bigger actors got mad. I’m hoping I do so terrible they don’t --.” as he was talking he could see Marinette and Alya walking towards the restaurant in conversation. He pretended to trail off and squinted like he was surprised to see them. “Hey, it’s that Marinette?”

He waved to the pair. Nino turned around and started to wave too but froze when he noticed Alya.

Adrien could see the moment Alya recognized both of them. First, she smiled, excited to see Adrien, then her face fell when her eyes landed on a paralyzed Nino. Adrien grabbed his friend and began pulling him toward the two girls.

“Come on, let's go say hi!”

Nino followed along in a slight daze. Alya put up more of a fight. She first tried to turn but Marinette grabbed her arm and began to physically pull her friend towards them. Alya resisted, frantically telling Marinette to stop. Marinette then got behind her friend's back and pushed until the four of them were too close for her to get out of at least saying hello.

After a quick awkward hello it was discovered that they all were going to the same restaurant by total ‘coincidence.’ Marinette and Adrien strong-armed their friends into sharing a table. Adrien wasn’t quite sure how Marinette convinced Alya to stay, but there was a lot of frantic whispering and begging. Alya kept throwing sideways glances at him as they talked. Adrien just grabbed Nino’s arm when he tried to turn away. Adrien just had to lean into the fact he hadn’t seen anyone the whole summer to convince him to stay.

The first few minutes were painfully awkward as Marinette and he talked while the other two sat as far away as possible from each other, avoiding eye contact. Eventually, Adrien managed to get Alya talking about her internship and Nino chimed in about a movie script he was writing. Soon they were all chatting amicably, but Alya and Nino very rarely addressed each other. Adrien did catch a few longing glances from both of them when they thought the other wasn’t looking. Each time he saw it he just wanted to knock their heads together and tell them to get over whatever they were upset about.
Eventually, the subject of Marinette’s upcoming 18th birthday came up and Alya began excitedly talking about her plans, most of which involved 18+ clubs and bars.

“There is this super cool club that just opened in one of the basements that connect to the catacombs. They put up plexiglass windows so you can look in and see some of the bones! Plus, Alix was there last week and she said they have the BEST cocktails! She said there was this one that tastes like Christmas! She refused to tell me what’s in it, but I HAVE to try it!” Alya gushed.

“Tha-” Nino tried to reply, but his voice cracked loudly as he spoke. Adrien and Marinette Snorted into their hands, but Alya just smirked at him. He cleared his throat and tried again. “That sounds fun. I would totally be down for Mari’s big b-day”

“Awe, that’s so sweet of you! And once you finally finish puberty maybe you can come too!” Marinette said, reaching her hand across the table to grab his hand. He let out an indignant hey and slapped her hand away.

It was really a great tragedy for him that his voice broke again.

The three of them burst into laughter.

From then on the atmosphere relaxed a little more. They solidified their plans and a guest list. Nino and Alya even made significant eye contact a couple times when Marinette would touch his arm or Adrien would compliment Marinette on something a little toooo sincerely.

Because operation DJWifi relied very heavily on pretending to flirt just enough to activate their friend's meddling instinct. There was 36 step plan that involved a steady increase in apparent affection. Would there be an annoying amount of glances and eyebrow wiggles in His future? Yes. But if it could get his two friends to talk and stop Nino's incessant sighing when they were hanging out and Alia was mentioned then it would all be worth it because his friends were made for each other and how could you just let them throw that away? Besides, Who better to flirt with than Marinette?

Sadly Adrian’s time out of the house came to a close rather quickly and he needed to get back to the college before his bodyguard came to pick him up Alia just so happened to mention that Marinette had brought her scooter and ride with her back to her house. Because it was sooo convenient. Alya just so happened to be going home for the weekend. Which Meant Alya and Nino could walk to the station and begin hatching their little plan that would end up bringing them together. It was all just so convenient.

Adrien and Marinette Giggled all the way back to the bakery. They talked about their next steps at stop lights, but the noise of the busy Paris streets meant Adrien had to lean further into Marinette’s back so he could hear her without her even when she shouted. It was a very warm day, but he felt a slight chill every time Marinette spoke. He could feel the vibrations through his whole body, but especially in his hands which were carefully perched on her sides. He felt like he wanted to shake his whole body off.

It made concentrating on their conversation hard. He was trying to understand why he was feeling this way, and so was startled When Marinette swerved abruptly down a side street.

“What’s going on?” He shouted.

Marinette swerved down another street, checking fervently behind her. Adrien’s heart dropped and he turned his head. Behind them was an Akuma floating after them, her whole body was shades of pink and red, in a tight-fitting ballgown made of broken hearts. She rode after them on a flying black cloud.

Adrien swore loudly as Marinette took two more sharp turns. Once the Akuma was out of sight she finally yelled back at him.

“I think she might be after you, so when I give you a signal I need you to jump away from the scooter and hide!”

“But what about you? She could be after you?” He yelled back.

“My scooter will be faster and easier to maneuver with just me, so I should be able to ditch her must easier.” They were coming up on a small park with several thick bushes. Adrien Had a feeling he knew where this was going. Marinette swerved onto the grass. She slowed down and checked her mirrors. Adrien Looked over his should, but the Akuma was just out of sight. Marinette shouted now, and Adrien dived into the bushes. He held still for several agonizing seconds and heard the Akuma pass shouting at Marinette. Once he was sure he was in the clear Plagg zipped out of the pocket he was hiding in.

“It looks like your little trick has already backfired.” he grouched.

“What? No, it hasn’t.” Adrien replied.

“That Girl definitely saw you fake flirting with Marinette somehow. I’m pretty sure she said something like, ‘how dare you take him away from me!’ or something else insane.”

“I doubt it Plagg.”

“I guarantee you’re going to have all the troubles of having a girlfriend and NONE of the benefits! You should just flirt for real, then it would make this nonsense easier.

“Plagg, that’s totally ridiculous. Marinette is one of my best friends. You wouldn’t say that about Nino would you?”

“I’m sure he'd make a good girlfriend too, but you’re not finding excuses to flirt with him and touch his knee.”

“You know what, you’re wasting my time. Plagg, Claws out” Adrien jumped from the bushed as his transformation washed over him, chasing the sound of destruction. He rounded a corner just in time to see the Akuma dangling Marinette several meters from the ground.

His heart dropped.

“Oh! The Kitty-Cat has come to play! Finally, we’re getting somewhere, aren’t we, Whore?” She said the last part to Marinette and shook her in annoyance. “I guess, I don’t need to keep you around anymore. Now you won’t be able to get in between me and my future husband.”

The Akuma produced a wand and prepared to hit Marinette with her magic. Chat Noir lept forward hoping to snatch Marinette away from her, but the Akuma saw him coming and shot her beam at him instead. He managed to dodge it. He felt sick watching Marinette gripping the Akuma’s arm as she was jerked around. Chat was frantically looking for something to protect Marinette with but was coming up blank. He saw a flash of red out of the corner of his eye and turned in time to see the Akuma let go of Marinette to swat at something flying around her face. Marinette tried to hold on, but slipped and began plummeting to the ground. Chat had no thoughts in his head as he sprinted forward. He collided with her a few centimeters from the ground. They rolled away, and Chat cradled her head against his chest as best he could, but he feared she still felt their jarring landing.

“Marinette!!” Alya came running toward them from a side street, probably where she’d been hiding to film the fight.

“No, Alya! Stay-” He tried to warn her, but the Akuma directed the strike originally intended for them at her, hitting Alya squarely in the chest.

Chapter Text

Adrien was left thoroughly unsettled by the Akuma hours after it was over

The way she had spoken about him, and the ways she tried to hurt his friends were terrifying. Even after the Butterfly had been purified she showed no regret, merely stating that it was the ‘Whore’s’ fault for stealing Adrien away from her. She actually wanted to hurt Marinette, and Marinette had been in danger several times. After Alya had reached her (temporary, thank goodness) demise, And Nino had distracted Heartbreaker long enough for Chat to carry Marinette away he thought he was in the clear and hopefully Ladybug would show up soon

But Heartbreaker seemed to always catch Marinette after only a few moments. Chat had grown frustrated and was sick to his stomach with how many times his friend had been put in danger because of him. He was pretty sure Marinette had a broken nose, a possible concussion, and at least a fractured wrist by the time he was able to hide her well enough that she didn’t get caught

Ladybug had finally shown up but had seemed off-kilter, and it had taken them a lot longer to purify the Akuma than he would have liked.

He had wanted to talk the poor girl down, tell her that everything would be alright, but she was still fuming by the time the Miracle cure had finished. She screamed and cried about how everything was ruined and how dare that little slut take her husband (she had actually said husband) as well as other horrible things he hoped never to be repeated. Ladybug had offered to take her home but she was raging so hard that another butterfly fluttered toward them. Ladybug captured it and purified it before it could touch the girl and then used her yo-yo to tie the girl up. An ambulance had to come and sedate her and take her to get a mental health evaluation.

Ladybug had accompanied the girl to the hospital, and Chat would have come as well, but he knew his father had heard of everything that happened and knew Adrien had lied about where he was going. He transformed and have Plagg his cheese. Far too soon he was trudging up the steps to the mansion to his doom.

His father was waiting for him at the top of the stairs, standing straight with his arms behind his back. Gabriel was looking passively at the large portrait of them that hung in the foyer. When he heard Adrien walk in he turned his head to look at his son for a brief second, before turning away, his face passive.

The passionless way his father turned away in disappointment and disgust hurt much worse than the lecture he’d been expecting. Though, Adrien really shouldn’t have been surprised. He’d often reprimanded Adrien and walked away without a care in the world.

Adrien sighed and trudged up to his room. He leaned against his closed door trying to find his center. Then he sat in his computer chair to check the Ladyblog for any updates on the after-effects of the attack.

Except his computer wasn’t there.

His desk was still decorated with his textbooks, and the pictures of his mother, but the pictures of his friends, the monitor, keyboard, modem, mouse, and even the ergonomic mouse pad Natalie had insisted on weren’t there.

He stared at the blank space for several moments nothing was processing in his brain. Plagg was flitting around, looking angry, and Adrien could hear him talking, but couldn’t process the words.

Still reeling he walked to the door opening it. What he was planning on doing, he still wasn’t sure but was stopped by Natalie standing in his doorway, her fist raised to knock.

“Why is my computer gone?” he asked before he could put any thought into it. It really should have been obvious, but he could not process anything.

“What?”

“My computer, it’s gone.”

“Your computer is… gone?”

“Yeah.”

She stepped into the room and stared at the empty desk blankly. Then she looked around the room to be sure nothing else was missing. The video game console was missing, but the television on the wall was there, all of his nice things, the rings, watches, and other jewelry were in their place, but anything entertaining other than books and small games was gone.

Adrien just followed her around dumbly as she looked around. Once she had finished her sweep she told him to stay in his room and would tell him what was going on after she did some checking.

He sat dumbly on his bed trying to process the day. He tried to focus on the good things, but he found himself returning inexplicably to the bizarre and unsettling things. Without anything engaging, he couldn’t stop the spiral. He just kept picturing Marinette falling, but instead of landing in his arms, she crumpled to the ground.

Over and over

And over

And over

And over

Was this how Ladybug had felt?

Eventually, Natalie came back, her expression tight and annoyed.

He jumped up, then changed his mind and sat back down.

“Your father had the Gorilla remove the distractions from your room.” She looked uncomfortable, her back somehow stiffer than normal.

“But how am I meant to do the work he wants me to,” he asked lamely.

Natalie shifted uncomfortably. “You are to work at my desk.”

“Why?”

“Your father feels that your work has been suffer-”

“No, it hasn’t! This is because I went to hang out with my friends isn’t it?”

“Adrien, don’t be ridiculous.” She wasn’t looking at him.

“I am an adult, I am allowed to spend time with my friends. I am allowed time off! I’m exhausted, and all I want is to laugh with my friends for a couple of hours. Is that really such a bad thing that I need to be punished?”

“You’re not being punished.”

“This sure feels like a punishment,” he grumbled. Natalie sighed and sat on the bed next to him.

“Adrien, your father is concerned about your focus. You have a bright future ahead of you, and he wants to see you achieve it. He only wants the best for you. He loves y-” she moved to touch his arm but he pulled away and cut her off.

“Does he? Really? Because it Sure doesn’t feel that way.” The words were bitter in his mouth. “If he loved me wouldn’t he at least want to spend time with me? The only times I see him are when I’m in trouble, or if he has to do something for work, and usually he’s just dictating actions to me through an Ipad instead of being my father. Would you say the girl who attacked me today wants the best for me? She was trying to dictate my life just as much as Father does. I have a hard time believing that this is what being loved feels like.”

“That girl is nothing like your father. Her motivations were purely in her own self-interest, but it does bring up an important point. You live a public life, and with that, there are some sacrifices.”

“I live a Public life because Father wants me to, I attend every lesson and activity he wants me to, even the ones he couldn’t be bothered to show up to himself. I’m treated like an employee more often than not. No, wait. I would prefer to be treated like an employee because employees have days off. I don't think I’ve had a proper day off since I was thirteen.”

“Adrien-” she reached out toward him but he stood up before she could.

“You know what. Never mind. It’s not like you care about me either, you’re his employee, not my mom. So just leave me to my ‘not punishment’, I’m sure he has a lot of meetings you need to stand in holding a stupid Ipad.”

“Adrien, that’s not true.” She said, not moving.

“I just remembered, I’m eighteen, I can leave whenever I want.” He Didn’t turn around and strode through the door.

She called out after him, he could hear her heels clicking on the marble.

“At least take Gorilla with you!”

“No.”

He walked through the door and out the front gates.

He needed to run. He just felt like he kept repeating the same arguments with his father, Via Natalie like he was stuck in a loop. It didn’t help that he was still irrationally worried about Marinette. It would be a good idea to do a quick run-by. Just to see that she was fine. She probably didn’t want him to bother her again. He couldn’t just keep running back to her every time he and his father had an argument. So he was just going to see, no one needed to know.

Except, was very obviously not home.

Her windows were dark, and he might have just taken a quick peek through her trap door as he was jumping over. Nothing too bad. But the fact that she was gone bothered him.

Was she okay? Did she stay at Alya’s because she didn’t feel safe alone in her room? Her parent's room was pretty far from hers so they might not be able to hear her if something happened. He didn’t realize he started running toward Cesairs House for a few moments. He shook himself. He was being ridiculous. Marinette was probably fine. It was him that wasn’t. He probably hadn’t been fine for a long time.

This thought stopped him mid-jump. He landed awkwardly on the roof he’d been aiming for.

“Chat!”

He heard the familiar sound of Ladybug’s yo-yo. She sounded distressed. He tried to stand up but before he could she landed beside him and kneeled to check him over.

“Chaton, Are you okay? What happened?”

“I’m okay.” Lie. “ I just had a weird thought and it made me lose concentration.”

“Are you sure? What was the thought?” she asked sitting back on her heels.

He paused for a second.

“Uh, I, uh- I probably can’t say.” She looked at him confused. “You know, Identity stuff.”

“Oh,” she sat back. “Lame.”

That made him chuckle.

“Is it because of this stupid Identity stuff that you’re out running around?”

“Uh, kind of, but I also was really worried about the girl we had to help save today. She was in a lot of danger and I don’t want her to be freaked out. I was just going to swing past to make sure she was okay, but she’s not home so…”

“Y-you were going to go see her?” Ladybug said, her voice strangely thick.

“Not really? I was just going to see if she was obviously having a breakdown.”

“O-oh.” she looked away, her white teeth scraping against her red lips. Chat couldn’t help but stare at them. Her teeth shone in the night, and her lips looked soft. He wondered, not for the first time if he would enjoy kissing if it were her.

His view was broken by her looking down at her hands for a second.

“I mean, it might be a good idea for you to go check on her…” she said, still not looking at him. “Maybe, uh, it’ll help prevent a future attack or something.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” He said slowly. “We could just see. Especially, since the victim today didn’t seem particularly… sorry about what happened. Maybe having two super hero’s stop by will make her feel safer.”

“We?” Ladybug asked, her voice suddenly higher.

“Yeah, maybe we could both stop by?”
“Oh, I totally would, but… I do have to be somewhere soon. You should definitely go without me! She would totally appreciate it! I bet.”

“She’s not even home right now. I bet she went to her friend's house or something.”

“I doubt that! You should totally go. I’m going to go do my thing, but you should maybe wait a little while, give her some time to get home or something, and just check again! I bet she’ll be home!”

“I guess-“

“Yes, just wait a few minutes and then go check up on her!” she stood up quickly. “Yeah, okay. Um, I'm going to go now, because of the thing I need to do. Get feeling better Mon Chaton, let me know if I can do anything.”

She swooped down gave him a quick peck on the cheek, ruffled his hair, and then sprinted away.

He watched her as she swung from building to building, thoroughly confused. If it had been anyone else he probably would have felt pushed off, but knowing how odd Ladybug could be, especially the last year or so, he just chalked it up to her being a little manic.

He spent a few minutes trying to make sense of his day, his father, Ladybug, everything. Eventually, he stood up and began running. He didn’t run towards Marinette’s house at first. But as he kept running, trying to feel some distance from himself all he could think about was the lovely weekend he’d spent there. It felt cyclical. Perhaps he would continue in this pattern for the rest of his life.

As he approached he could see the twinkle lights on her balcony, and the lights in her room were on. He couldn’t see through the paper she’d put over the glass, but as he came closer he saw a shadow pass in front of one of them. He landed across the street, determined not to make a nuisance of himself.

His resolution cracked when she climbed out of her trap door with a plate of bakery leftovers. She saw him almost immediately. Her face brightened, and she enthusiastically waved him over, nearly losing a few pastries off the plate in the process. He now felt silly for worrying about her, but still forced himself to land on her balcony like nothing was the matter.

“Fancy meeting you here,” he joked.

“Yes, what a totally random coincidence it is to see you here, on my balcony,” she said, her voice squeaky as she joked back. She sounded almost nervous. He laughed.

“How are you on this lovely evening, Marinette?”

“Oh, I’m just fine. Macaron?” She said, offering the plate to him.

He gladly plucked one from the tray and bit into it.

“Mm, delicious. Thank you.” He finished the pastry. “How are you feeling? That Akuma Attack earlier was brutal, and you took quite a beating. Do you need me to stay here and protect you from evil fan girls?”

“Hmm, while that is tempting, I would be worried about angering the Ladynoir Shippers on top of the Agresties. Their combined forces might be too much for even you.”

“I’m stronger than I look!” he said, flexing his muscles. She giggled, and he felt the urge to show off more. “Look at these bad boys! Hawkmoth wouldn’t stand a chance against me.”

She giggled more. “Oh, my hero!”

He grinned stupidly and sagged down onto the floor in front of her as she sat on her hammock chair.

They joked and chatted comfortably for at least an hour as the sun finally sunk into the horizon.

He found himself constantly looking at the darkening sky nervously. He had no idea what would be waiting for him at home. He knew Marinette would probably need to get to bed soon, but the thought of going home made him sick.

Marinette seemed to pick up on his anxiety.

“Chat, I’m glad you’re here, but are you okay? You seem out of sorts.”

“Oh, no - I’m fine.”

She looked at him skeptically, and he felt as though she was seeing right through him. Any moment she would tell him she knew everything, his identity, his problems, the shit his father had been putting him through. He was filled with a quiet dread. He shouldn’t have stayed so long. Ladybug probably wouldn’t approve, he needed to protect his identity and here he was playing with fire with someone who actually knew him.

She grabbed another cookie from the plate and chewed on it slowly while watching him.
“I am going to pretend to believe you, even though you are totally lying. I get you probably can’t tell me anything to protect your secret. I do want you to know that I wasn’t lying or being polite when you were here last. You can stop by anytime, even if it’s just to sit on the balcony and pretend to be somewhere else. I just ask you don’t go peeping into my windows, and announce yourself politely, which I know won’t be a problem. So if your family is giving you grief, or you just want a quiet place to chill, please feel free to stop by.”

Her declaration rattled through him. He knew Adrien was ‘always’ welcome (though how much always actually meant he wasn’t sure) but to hear Marinette tell Chat, someone who she had a few interactions with but was nowhere near the level of familiarity she had with Adrien, was astounding. He was deeply touched and felt tear prickling at the corner of his eyes.

“I’ll” his voice broke slightly, Thankfully Marinette was kind enough not to laugh, and he cleared his throat. “ I’ll keep that in mind, thank you.“

“I hope you do, I mean it.“

He wanted so badly to tell her all of the things that had happened, but now was not the time nor the place. He knew he could come back anytime as Adrien, but sometimes he felt braver as Chat. There were so many other things that he hadn’t told her but he was afraid to because he knew she would likely storm the mansion and curse his father out. He knew his father probably deserved it but he couldn’t bring himself to admit how poorly he was being treated he knew it deep down on an intellectual level but there was something about admitting it out loud. He just couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not yet at least. The simple fact that he had realized and been able to admit to himself he was feeling unwell and that he needed help was a miracle. Maybe he should talk to someone professional. He didn’t even know how to begin to go about it but it was probably something he’d have to do eventually. There was the counselor from school, but there was only so much training she had, she couldn’t even come close to the amount of help that he likely needed.

He realized they’d been sitting in silence for way too long, him lost in his thoughts. The sun had fully set and the sky had reached full dark. It was late and he either needed to get home or admit defeat and come back Adrien to stay the night but Chat couldn’t stay.

“It’s getting late. I should go, but I’m glad you really are OK. It wasn’t fair that that girl treated you like that just because you’re friends with Adrien.“

“Pfft, it’s fine. I get it. Sometimes having crushes means you act really crazy. I was never quite as bad as her but I did some pretty embarrassing regrettable things over the boy I had a crush on. I just hope she learns to manage her feelings a bit better so she can’t be manipulated again.“

The boy she had a crush on?

Who was the boy she’d had a crush on?

What boy?

He didn’t like that he had no idea who this was. He’d thought they were friends.

They were!

But it hurt to realize something so big was out of his realm of friendship. He wanted to be that kind of friend for her, one she trusted.

Instead, he was just a burden.

He ended up making a general sound of agreement and said goodbye.

She pulled him in for a tight hug before he left, the feeling of her thin arms crushing into him dispelling a small part of the guilt he felt for being a constant burden on her and her family. As he made his way reluctantly to the mansion he resolved to find some way to make it up to her.

He found a place to detransform near the mansion, figuring it would look odd if he just reappeared in his room, and trudged through the front gate. His father's atelier doors were closed, but he could see the light through the cracks. The Gorilla was waiting for him in front of the bedroom. Adrien stopped a few feet away, unsure.

“Am I not allowed to go in my room anymore? Do I have to sleep in the laundry room on piles of sheets now?” Adrien asked, his tone sarcastic but his question scarily sincere.

The gorilla scowled and shook his head. He moved to step away right as the door opened to reveal a frazzled Natalie. She startled when she saw Adrien, looking relieved to see him.

“Adrien, you came back!”

“Yeah, well the last of my stuff is still here, so I didn’t have too much of a choice.”

She shifted awkwardly, refusing to look him in the eye. It was the most uncomfortable he’d ever seen her look. The silence dragged.

He didn’t know what she was waiting for.

He decided he didn’t care.

“Fun talk. I’m going to bed now.” If he still had a bed.

He tried slipping past her, but she grabbed his arm lightly.

“Adrien,” she said softly, almost unsure. “Your father really does love you. He never expected things to end up like this. Without your mother…”

Adrien felt his whole body begin to shake. He was pathetic. They never spoke of his mother anymore, and any mention of her made him feel as though he was drowning on air.
“He is not the easiest father to have. I know this. But he thinks of your well-being constantly. Please, be patient with him. He is learning, I promise. Adjusting to your child being an adult is difficult for every parent.”

It was cruel trickery, one that relied on the earnest belief of the speaker, but it was trickery nonetheless. Adrien would look back on these days with disgust, but the Adrien living here at this moment fell for it easily. It played on all his hopes for his father. One who thought of him, who wanted him. Who was, despite all evidence, trying to be better.

He nodded, his throat burning, and entered his room.

His things were returned to their places, thus cementing Adrien’s fool-hearted belief that his father would one day be the man Adrien had always hoped for.

Chapter Text

August, This Year

Marinette woke up before him for once. It was a balm to Adrien’s bottomless mortification. He felt her pulling herself from his arms peeling each inch of their exposed skin away from each other. She slipped out of the bed. She pressed a soft kiss to his hair before grabbing her bag and tiptoeing into the bathroom. He nearly cried again from that gesture alone. He’d cried in front of Marinette before, plenty of times. He’d even cried on her within the past week, but none of those moments were nearly as mortifying as what he’d done last night.

It was all because of that stupid assignment his Therapist gave him. And Plagg. And Ladybug, just a little bit. He was definitely going to give each one of them a piece of his mind. (He would not say anything to Dr. St. Savier or Ladybug, but Plagg would certainly get a stern *gently* talking to.) It was a stupid assignment, and his stupid guilt had literally made his hands shaky all evening. Thankfully Marinette and Ladybug Hadn’t noticed. But Ladybug had been so stupidly gentle with him when he asked for Marinette to keep the Miraculous for another day. He’d expected his over-the-top pleading to be met with a loving eye roll and a gentle lecture about using the Miraculous’ for personal gain. Instead, she smiled at him and told him to have a little fun, because ‘he deserved it,” whatever the hell that meant!

Then Marinette, sweet Marinette, had just tried to tease him a little to make him blush, and he’d made a fool of himself. The shaking in his hands had only gotten worse as the night wore on. His determination to pretend nothing was wrong made him push through it even when he could barely hold anything, let alone work those stupid bra hooks. There is nothing less sexy than a man bursting into tears because he took your bra off. How Marinette hadn’t run off after the first 5 minutes he could never understand.

Instead, she held him while he literally cried himself to sleep, not even stopping to put her clothes back on. She stroked his back and pressed kisses to his skin, and he had just clung to her. She was far too good to him, and he didn’t know how he would ever recover from this. It’s not that it wasn’t nice, Marinette had held him enough times for him to know he really enjoyed it when she held him. He probably relied on it too much honestly. It was embarrassing. It would be one thing to rely on a girlfriend like that, but Marinette had made it clear she was not looking for that with him, and he wasn’t either. It was just…He couldn’t help but feel he was breaking the unspoken rules and was terrified she would change her mind about… everything. That he wasn’t worth the time, and they’d be better off never speaking again. Adrien would probably fall apart if Marinette stopped being his friend.

His only hope was to pretend to sleep until she left. Thankfully his class didn’t start until 10 and hers was at 8, so he just had to hold out for about an hour, depending on what time it was, and then he could pretend that none of this ever happened. If he was lucky, which he wasn’t but a man could hope, she would at least still want to be his friend, and maybe if enough time passed…. No, he wasn’t even going to think about that. It was too weird. Plus, seeing Marinette and Ladybug together last night kind of freaked him out. What on earth was he even doing?

His self-loathing monologue was interrupted by the sound of the bathroom door opening. Adrien tried to focus on relaxing his body and keeping his breathing steady. The mattress dipped as she sat down. It sounded like she was putting on her socks, so he was almost home-free.

“Adrien, do you want to tell me what’s wrong now?”

He hoped too soon.

She reached out to pet his head, pulling his shaggy bangs from his face. He had to fight the urge to flinch. “I know you’re just pretending to sleep, so don’t try to get out of this.”

He did NOT want to talk about this. He stayed silent.

“You are not sleeping. I know because you’re not doing that little half snore you do when you’re lying on your side.”

This fact was news to him, but he attempted to make whatever sound she was describing.

“I knew it. You don’t snore,” she tried to sound like she was joking, but there was hesitancy in it. Adrien finally sighed and rolled slightly to look at her. Her eyes were drawn and a frown pulled at the corner of her lips.

“What did I do wrong?” She sounded so concerned and it made the guilt and embarrassment all the stronger. “Because whatever it is I’m so sorry, and I won’t do it again. Do you want me to stop with the jokes? I didn’t realize they bugged you, I figured we were just being silly. Can I do something to make it better?”

“Nothing!” he interrupted her, she deflated and pulled her hands away. He hurried and grabbed them before she could walk away.

She looked down at their intertwined hands. “Was-was it something Ladybug did?”

“No.”

“Was it what I said? I knew I shouldn’t be making those jokes. I’m so sorry Adrien. I can’t believe how insensitive that was. I-“

“Marinette! Stop, You did nothing wrong, so there is nothing you need to make up for! I’m just being stupid, and I am utterly humiliated. I just want to pretend that nothing happened to save my pride.”

“I get that, but Adrien, it’s really not a big deal. You were upset! That happens.”

“A lot,” he muttered under his breath.

“Well, you have a lot to be upset about. So how about you tell me what upset you, and maybe you’ll be less embarrassed.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m going to be embarrassed either way.”

“Then you might as well tell me.”

He groaned.

“It’s stupid.”

She didn’t respond, instead choosing to gently rub her thumbs across the back of his hands. He’d complained about his therapist using this tactic, and now she was turning it against him too!

The silence got to him quickly.

“I’m just overwhelmed with school stuff,” he said, hoping that she would accept that as an answer and leave him to his misery.

She just nodded her head. The silence stretched.

“It’s just not as amazing and exciting as I was expecting. Every professor assigns so much homework, and all of the physics ones gave all these lectures about how a bunch of people fail. What if I fail? I am working a ton, I have several interviews and commercials to shoot next week, and I already have a quiz that week. I thought I could handle it because I managed just fine in College and Lycee, but I keep getting this fear that it’s not going to work. What if I don’t even like Physics? I fought for ages to be able to take these courses. It’s not like I can just quit! That would mean Father was right all along and that I’m making a huge mistake, and then I’ll never be able to make another choice for myself ever again.”

He could feel himself panicking. Every scared thought he’d had in the last week were bubbling to the surface, and spilling out without any thought.

“Then, it’ll be I either have to live as a Gabriel puppet for the rest of my life, or get kicked out and become a homeless person with no real-world skills. I only know how to cook eggs!”

“Hey now! You also know how to cook stir fry! Even if you don’t remember all the steps I bet you could make a passible attempt.” she shoved his shoulder and he looked at her with what was possibly the most pathetic face he’d ever made.

“Oh, yeah.”

“And you know how to do your laundry now. You’ve even been to several real-life stores! With all the money you’ve made modeling, you could probably live a pretty decent life for a couple of months. Plus, it’s not like you’d be homeless. My parents would probably love to have you stay with them, and you could always squeeze into my room just fine. It wouldn’t be an ideal life for a bit, but it would sure be a lot better than having a career you hate until you die. As for not liking physics, there are lots of things you can do with an undergraduate degree, it’s not like you have to become a professor or anything.”

She resumed her gentle stroke through his hair, and he had to fight the purr that wanted to rumble through his chest.

A strangled, “I guess” was the only response he could make.

They sat like that for a few more moments, her small hands gently touching his face, running through his hair, or rubbing his shoulder. It was soothing and almost hypnotizing. So when she finally spoke again it made him jump.

“I am kind of surprised, though.”

“Surprised?”

“Yeah. You’re one of the smartest and most friendly people I know. You have so much natural confidence It’s kind of odd to have you be the anxious mess that needs talking down.”

“I’m always a mess.”

“Different kind of mess. I'm usually the one spiraling and you have to keep me grounded.”

“I don’t know. Everything just seems- Ugh I can’t describe it. I feel like I’m the weird Homeschooled kid all over again but somehow it’s harder and scarier. Like I’ve got more to lose?”

She hummed in acknowledgment.

“That makes sense actually. It probably doesn’t help that you are actively trying to hide the fact that you’re famous. In college, we all knew who you were so you didn't have to be so careful.”

Ah. That made a lot of sense. Every Interaction he had while on campus was filtered through seven different levels of censorship, on top of his normal hesitancy when he was Adrien. He had never had this problem as Chat Noir because being a superhero felt like he was playing. He could be himself, but louder and sillier without the constraints of his name. The magical distortion of his face made him feel invincible. As Adrien-in-University he was being anyone but himself.

This revelation pulled him out of the conversation for a moment and only the feeling of Marinette’s hand pulling away brought him back.

“But, I do want to say, it’s not a bad thing to be worried about school. I’m pretty worried.”

“You are?” he asked doubtfully.

“Yeah, I got some of the same kind of lectures, about how much they expect from us, and how much work we have to put in. I already have so much work to do, it’s terrifying,” she stood up.

“But you seem so excited to go to class, and do your projects!”

“Yeah, and I am. That doesn’t mean I’m not scared. Fashion design isn’t exactly the most stable career for everyone. Some people make it really big, and others not so much.”

“You’re so talented, there’s no way you’re going to be anything but huge.”

“And so are you.”

He didn’t have a response.

“You are, Adrien. You’re incredibly smart.”

He didn’t believe her.

“Being smart doesn’t help me if I fail all my classes,” he finally responded glumly.

“Why do you think you’re going to fail?”

He shrugged. “The classes are really advanced, plus I keep getting pulled out of class for akumas. What if I just can’t keep up?”

“Then you find someone to help you. Maybe you could talk to one of your friends in your classes and start a study group, so even if you miss a lecture you can have someone who can help you figure it out.”

“How would I even do that?”

“What do you mean?”

“How do I start a study group? I don’t know anyone in my classes, and even if I did, what if they realize I’m famous and make things weird?”

“I don’t know if you can really prevent people from knowing who you are other than doing what you’ve been doing. But if you find the right study group it shouldn’t matter. You just have to start talking to people. Maybe find someone in class who looks like they know a lot, or are a good student and ask. The worst they can say is no.”

“I don’t know.”

“Just think about it. I need to head to class, and I will be honest with you, I am very nervous. I didn’t give myself enough time on some of the assignments due today, so wish me luck.”

“You’ll be great. You always are.”

“Hmm. We’ll see about that.” She gave him a soft kiss on his forehead and stood up. “Don’t beat yourself up all day, okay?”

He nodded and watched her walk out the door.

It won’t be that bad, people don’t know who you are, so why would they think you’re being weird? People do study groups all the time, right? So it’s not weird.

He gave himself a pep talk the whole way to class. The lecture hall was almost full by the time he walked in. He felt as though everyone was looking at him as he opened the door. He tried to convince himself he was just being paranoid. There were only a few spots left, most of them in the front. He sat down in the closest one to the door. He retreated his mantra as a few people walked passed him o the last few seats. They mostly ignored him, which Adrien wasn’t sure if it help or hindered his nervousness.

Someone settled down in the seat next to his, and he turned to give a tight smile to the small woman next to him. She smiled back with a nod. She adjusted her Hijab nervously and pulled her notebook out.

The lecture began and Adrien took dutiful notes, choosing to put the study group out of his head. The professor still moved quickly through his notes, but Adrien was able to keep up better than the last few days. He still felt anxious, but Msrnettes words this morning gave him a modicum of courage,

When there was a lull in the lecture he tried o peek around the room to see if there was anyone who he felt looked like they knew what they were doing. Surprisingly most of them had completely blank faces or a furrowed brow,

Towards the end of class, they were assigned group work and were told to team up with the person next to them. The professor sent around a signup sheet. He discreetly put in his new nickname, hoping the professor wouldn’t have an issue with it since the paper was being passed around the room, and he didn’t want to risk someone seeing his name and getting swarmed.

After passing the paper to the next person her turned to the woman next to him and smiled his best smile. They were told to arrange a time outside of class to meet.

He introduced himself to the woman next to him, Farah, and despite a little awkwardness, they were able to coordinate easily, leaving them sitting in silence while the rest of the room noisily chatted. He psyched himself up again.

“So, how are you liking the class?” he asked.

“It’s good. Definitely a lot of work.”

“Same. I‘m so worried that I’m going to get behind,” he paused, cringing internally. “I was thinking it might be good to have, a- uh like a study group, in case things start getting really hard. Is… that something you might be interested in?”

Before Farah could respond one of the women sitting behind him interjected.

“Are you guys talking about starting a study group?”

“Uh… Yeah.”

“Oh, my gosh. Can I join? This class is killing me already.”

“Uh, Sure!” he responded, his heart still beating in his chest, but the anxiety settling down. “I was thinking we could maybe meet on Sunday afternoons or something. Just to go over some of the things we learn or our assignments and stuff.”

“That would be perfect! That is such a great idea. Katya, isn’t that just the best idea ever?” she said to her friend. She smiled at him widely, leaning forward and resting her chin in her hand. Her friend agreed.

By the end of class, there were several other people who had joined the study group, most of them girls which Adrien thought was wonderful. He’d always heard how few women were in STEM, so he was happy to see so many of them excited to be part of it. He was feeling much better as he went from class to class, shamelessly trying to meet new people he could get notes from.

He realized that Marinette was right. He’d thought everyone was much more standoffish in University, but it turned out they were all just overwhelmed like him. Everyone he talked to immediately began to moan about their course load and he was happy to commiserate with them. Though he still had his ever-present fear of coming off as a weird homeschooled kid, he felt better than he had in a long time.

Adrien wished he could have sat and done his homework at Marinette's desk while she got ready for Alyas “mandatory first-week club hop.” Alya had insisted a few of the girls who were going meet at one of their apartments and all get ready together and to ‘pregame,’ Alya probably hoping Marinette might decide to have more than one drink that night. So he had to work quietly in his apartment, his music turned as loud as he dared in his headphones to drown out Plagg's disgusting eating sounds. He was working on a particularly difficult problem in his homework when the text from Nino letting him know the girls would be at the club in 10 minutes and asking him when he was coming made him pause. He realized their set meeting time was very soon, and he’s probably been several minutes late.

Normally this wouldn't be a problem, it was just meeting at a club, but Adrien had wanted to get there at the same time as Marinette and the other girls to make sure the drink Marinette had to have wouldn’t be too strong. He knew he shouldn’t be so worried. Marinette was an adult after all, but she really could not hold her alcohol, at all. His theory was that it was a combination of her high metabolism, a low body fat percentage combined with a small frame, and a lack of any built-up immunity to the effects.

He got ready quickly, throwing his hair into a beanie, and adding his fake glasses. He adjusted both nervously. He knew his disguise had been working so far, but the club they were meeting at was in an area Poperazzi liked to hang around looking for pop stars and models o harras. He was probably being paranoid, but he really didn’t want to have his face plastered all over the internet again for just spending time with his friends. With the miserable week he’d had and his father's obvious anger from last weekend he didn’t want to risk it. Especially since Natalie had tried to convince him to stay late today for several more boring meetings and other, (totally non-essential) fittings and post-shoot work. He’d begged off stating he had a lot of homework, which, while true, was not the reason he didn’t want to stay until Midnight working on something that could be done Monday.

So, in what was probably a futile effort Adrien found a tube of brow liner Mari had left on his counter, and ran it lightly over the slight stubble on his cheeks and over his brows. He thought about getting some of his own bronzer out and trying to contour his face but shook the idea off for being a little too over the top. He changed into his most generic non-designer clothes and dragged a moaning Plagg out the door with more cheese in his pocket than he liked.

The club was loud when he walked in. He’d seen a few photographers hanging near a club down the street, and he gave them a wide berth. Thankfully, once he was in the club everyone seemed too preoccupied with getting drinks and dancing to notice him in his dark clothes. He scanned the crowd looking for familiar faces and soon landed on a tallish man in a hat surrounded by several girls, one of which had bright magenta hair. He fought his way through the crowd towards them when he was tackled from the side.

“Adrien! I’m so glad you’re here!”

He stumbled and moved to push the woman off when he saw a manically grinning Alya right behind her. He looked down to see a grinning Marinette looking up at him.

“Hey, Mari. Are you having fun yet?” He said petting down some of the wild hairs sticking up from her curls. Her smile widened turning her wide eyes into intense sparkling slits.

“Yeah,” she sighed delightedly. “We’ve been dancing, and the drink Alya got me is really yumm.”

A mild apprehension settled into him.

“Oh, you’ve already had your drink?” It hadn’t taken him that long to get here, so if she’d already drunk a whole drink…

“She’s had like three sips. You weren’t kidding when you said she was a lightweight.” Alya said his tone somewhere between affectionate irritation and annoyance. “I still can’t believe you got her drunk without me.”

“Hey, it wasn’t my fault!”

“Shhhh! Don’t fight! We’re hugging. Alya, come join.” She detached herself from him long enough to pull her best friend close. She pressed her cheek happily against his shoulder, her heels bringing the top of her head just high enough to tuck herself under his chin.

Alya let Marinette squeeze her for a few seconds before pulling away. Marinette stayed attached but pulled her head away to look at him with a dreamy look on her face.

“Hi.” She looked at him so damn softly his knees nearly buckled.

“Hi,” he responded with a nervous chuckle.

“How was your day?”

Alya rolled her eyes and walked back toward the group.

“Good. I started a bunch of study groups like you suggested. There’s actually a ton of people who wanted to join.”

“That’s amazing! Adrien, I’m so glad! You’re totally-” she stopped, her gaze pulled by something over his shoulder. She squealed and push him aside. He turned around to see her tackle a very surprised Kagami.

Kagami gently placed her arms around Marinette like she was embracing a wild animal. Marinette began talking to her, but Adrien couldn’t hear what she was saying. Kagami nodded solemnly and Marinette placed a kiss on her friend's cheek, dangerously close to Kagami's mouth. Her eyes widened and her face reddened slightly, but Marinette was too busy pulling her toward the group to notice.

As she passed by, Marinette grabbed his arm too and pulled both of them to the high table several people were standing around. Nino had his hand pressed over a large blue cocktail with several flashy decorations.

“Thanks for watching my drink,” Marinette said, taking the drink from Nino after giving him a cheek kiss. She took a sip and hummed happily.

Adrien eyed Marinette warily as she chatted with Alix and Nino about a new band they all liked. Most of his friends were there, but there were a few missing and a handful of people he didn’t know. He guessed they were friends of Alya’s or Nino’s. He tried to make pleasant conversation with a few of them, but Marinette took up most of his brain’s processing power. She had finished half of her drink and was swaying side to side, a dreamy expression on her face. She seemed way drunker than she should be.

Finally, his anxiety couldn’t take it anymore and he began looking over the drink menu to figure out which cocktail she’d gotten.

“Oh, are you planning on cutting loose too?” Alya, said, sidling up to him.

“Which drink did Marinette order? She seems really drunk.”

“Uh..”Alya pretended she was looking at the menu but seemed slightly guilty. “I can’t, remember.”

“Alya, Which drink?”

She smiled at him sheepishly. “Um, it might have been that one?” She said pointing to the house special section. Adrien looked over the ingredient list and balked.

“Alya! This had like 6 different kinds of hard Liquor in it! And it’s meant for two people!”

She chuckled nervously, “oops?”

He scowled, “has she even eaten dinner?”

“Yes! Of course! We had some soup and bread at my house before we got ready.”

The music was getting louder in the club, and the lights had started flashing, which did nothing to help the sudden headache Adrien was developing.

“How long ago was that?”

Alya checked her phone, her eyes going crossed at the brightness. “Maybe Three hours ago? I think. I don’t remember. Alix brought some wine to pregame so I’m a little fuzzy on details.” She looked up and saw the horror on Adrien’s face. “Don’t worry, Marinette was annoyingly good and had one sip of mine to taste it and stopped. This is all the cocktail, which is just as much fun as I thought it would be.” She said with a wicked grin.

“You’re being kind of a crappy friend, you know that right?”

Alya gaped at him incredulously.

“How dare you. Mariette is my best friend in the entire world. I know her better than anyone, and just because you’ve spent a few months horning in on my territory does not suddenly make you an expert on what is good for her. I would never do anything that would hurt her. So what if it’s a little more alcohol than we agreed on? She is a ball of anxious energy, and yeah maybe I’m being a little pushy but sometimes she needs that push to do the things she actually wants. I’m showing her that when she’s with someone who actually cares about her she can cut loose without having to worry about the consequences.”

“What are you implying?”

“I’m just thinking that the last time she got drunk she ended up spending the night with someone who she is obviously ashamed of being with. You might think I’m a bad friend but at least I won’t let her leave with some strange guy, unlike some people.”

“I did not let her leave with anyone. She’s-“

“Then who did she leave with? Was it you?”

“What?” He sputtered, “Who said she left- What? What are you even talking about?”

“She said that when you guys were in Oslo she got drunk and hooked up with someone. She said that was her first time.”

Adrien’s heart dropped.

“Which is weird, because you said it happened at her house. I would be more inclined to believe her because she’s the one it happened to, but something smells really fishy to me because weren’t you the one who introduced them?”

Adrien tried to explain, tried to think of any excuse that would keep him from looking guilty. He wanted to look around for support but everything was loud and Ayla was so close he doubted anyone could hear them. He opened his mouth with some half-baked lie when-

“LUKA!” Marinette shouted pushing past them and knocking several people off balance giving Adrien a distraction to step away and collect himself. he managed to put some distance between himself and Alya’s questions, which were annoyingly astute for someone who was definitely more than a little tipsy. He looked over to see Marinette pulling away from a red-faced Luka. Juleka stood next to him, a smirk on her face. Until Marinette pulled the taller girl's face down to her height and planted a forceful kiss on her cheek. She then grabbed both twins' hands and pulled them towards the group. Everything dissolved into chaos as Marinette pulled people here and there, and Alix began to shout for everyone to get onto the dance floor. Rose was excitedly treating Juleka, Nino was loudly complaining about the song, and Kim had managed to sneak up on the group and was shouting something about a dance-off.

There was so much noise and commotion around that it was beginning to set Adrien’s nerves on edge. He was used to being in complex situations but they tended to be in the middle of a fight, so Adrien’s fighting instincts were kicking into gear with nothing to fight. He wanted nothing more than to step outside and get some air, but his anxiety for Marinette was keeping him in. Instead, he was going to get her something from the bar that might help her sober up slightly.

Marinette had different plans.

Once most of the group agreed to join her on the dance floor she spotted him trying to sneak away and would not have it. She quickly pushed her way through several people and jumped on his retreating back. She wrapped her legs around his torso.

“Where you going, Kitten.” She said against his ear.

He patted her arm. “To get you some food and water to go with the 5 shots of liquor you just drank.”

“Nooo, I had soup earlier. Come dance! I wanna dance, but I don’t want creeps. You have to look scary and keep them away!” She pulled at his mouth and eyebrows with her fingers, trying to force his face into a scowl. He found himself laughing at her antics despite the anxiety still brewing in his gut. She giggled with him and hugged his chest, burying her face into his neck. “Come dance, please?” She added against his skin.

He sighed, defeated.

“Fine, but you are going to eat within the next hour, okay?”

“Yay! To the dance floor!” She sat higher on his back and pressed her heels against his abdomen like one would nudge a horse forward. He rolled his eyes, laughing as he headed towards the mass of people crowded near the DJ booth. Several of their friends were already dancing on the edge of the crowd. They all cheered when he and Marinette joined and Marinette jumped from his back. She grabbed his hand and began to dance.

Adrien wouldn’t say either of them were particularly skilled dancers. He knew a few popular moves and ballroom dances, and Marinette just moved. There were times when her movements seems stiff and unusual but she didn’t care because this was about having fun.

He always had so much fun when he was with her. He couldn’t help himself. Tonight she was bouncing around, her arms going any which way, pulling friends in and spinning back out. He laughed as she made silly faces while she sang the lyrics. She was beautiful. Her hair had been pulled into a sloppy ponytail to keep it off her neck as she danced leaving large swatches of her soft flushed skin exposed. She was wearing a mini dress that flowed around her legs. Adrien had to work to keep his eyes from wandering too obviously, especially with Alya so close, and Marinette was making him really work.

After what was definitely longer than he’d have liked he managed to get Marinette to admit she was hungry and a little thirsty. They exited the main dance floor and found Max, Mylene, and Luka at a table nearby. Adrien was going to make those three babysit the still way too drunk Marinette while he went to the bar, but the way Marinette immediately draped herself over Mylene and dropped her head into Luka’s lap made him pause.

“Hi,” Marinette said smiling lazily at Luka.

Luka's alcohol-pink cheeks darkened as he beamed back at her. “Hi, Ma-Ma-Marinette.”

She giggled. “Don’t make fun of me.”

Adrien sat in the booth next the Luka. For… no reason. Luka smiled at Adrien briefly but quickly turned his attention back to Marinette.

“Are you having fun?”

“Yesh. Me an’ Adrienwere dancin’ now we’re gonna eat a snack. Ooh! Can we get mozzarella sticks?” She said bolting upright, nearly missing knocking Luka’s teeth out. She awkwardly repositioned herself to face Adrien, causing both Mylene and Luka to grunt in discomfort. She was sitting across Luka’s lap, propping her elbows against her knees so she could hold her hands under her chin to give him puppy eyes.

“Sure, I’m just waiting for the line to die down a bit.” He lied.

“You should just order online. You can just pick it up when it’s ready.”

“Oh, that's great.” he pulled out his phone and got the club's ordering menu. “Let's see what they’ve got.”

“Yay!” she shouted and then crawled into Adrien’s lap to look at his screen. She managed to get herself comfortable, despite the booth not being built for her awkward drunken movement. Adrien could feel himself going a little pink as she wriggled against him, especially as a few more of their friends began to join them for a quick breather. Rose looked like she was about to squeal when she saw them, but Alix, maybe seeing how stiff he was holding himself pinched her friend's arm.

Adrien didn’t mind Marinette sitting on his lap. Most of the time he liked it, being the poor touch starved boy he was, but he didn’t want anyone to assume anything, and he was trying very hard not to have a physical reaction. So looking uncomfortable while she shifted and wriggled as she tried to decipher the text was the only natural unsuspicious reaction he could have.

“Hey, guys, we’re ordering some food. Does anyone want anything? My treat.” His voice sounded more strained than he’d hoped it would. Thankfully, everyone was either too excited at the prospect of free food, or drunk enough to overlook it.

They placed an order for a few different foods and everyone settled in. There wasn’t a lot of space in the booth, and because the club was pretty full so there weren’t a lot of free chairs. A few of the other girls ended up sitting in laps, so he and Marinette stood out less. The group chatted Happily, despite the loud music.

Marinette was settled comfortably in his lap, resting the back of her head against his shoulder, and it took everything in him not to rest his chin against her shoulder. Every time someone made her laugh and she attempted to crawl across the table to them, probably to give them a cheek kiss (he swears she was not this… kissy in Oslo) he would have to hold her in place. When she stopped trying to get to them he’d drop his hands immediately. She would huff in annoyance, and he wasn’t sure if it was because he stopped her or stopped holding her.

Until the food came, and she grabbed his hands and wrapped them around her. He asked her how he was supposed to eat, which she answered by twisting around and shoving a mozzarella stick in his mouth. Everyone at the table lost it, except Alya who was looking at him suspiciously again. He shrugged at her scowling face and chewed his bite. He was starting to suspect that Alya was a very paranoid drunk. To be fair to her, it’s not really paranoia if your right, but for both his and Marinette’s sake, he hoped she’d never have her suspicions confirmed.

At least until Marinette’s mystery man came to his senses.

After the food had been thoroughly picked through Marinette began to enlist people to come dance with her again. Most of the girls agreed easily. Mylene refused, for her own comfort, but several of the boys were reluctant, claiming to be tired or too hot to go back out. Kim agreed easily, and Luka was on the fence. Marinette finally broke away from Adrien’s grasp while he was distracted by something Max was showing him. She crawled into Luka’s lap and squished his cheeks as she plead with him. Which definitely did not bother Adrien at all. He might have tuned out Max as he listened to the two people on his other side.

Luka reluctantly agreed, which made Marinette cheer. She went in for another cheek kiss, but Alix reached over and pushed Luka in excitement. The jostling made him turn his head just enough for Marinette's lips to line up with his nearly perfectly. Luka froze his blue eyes wide and Adrien felt uneasy. There were a few wolf whistles from their group and Marinette pulled away laughing and apologizing.

Luka’s whole body had turned a deep shade of crimson and he chuckled nervously. Marinette was laughing manically. Adrien found himself scowling, not because he was jealous, but because if he was jealous that would be very very bad and complicated. No, he was scowling because of reasons pertaining to the fact that Marinette was clearly not fully in control of her own faculties. She was too drunk. No other reason. If anything he was worried about the opposite of being jealous. What if she said something about them sleeping together? Something neither of them wanted their friend group to know. Alya wildly accusing them of hooking up was bad enough, if the whole group thought they were a thing they would never get peace. None of them would understand, and there just wasn’t a clean or easy explanation.

‘It only took five years for me to get that kiss I asked for’ Luka said jokingly, Marinette still straddling his lap. She threw her head back in laughter, which made Luka stiffen slightly.

Haha. So so funny. Adrien forced his gaze away from his two friends. Everyone else was either whispering to each other or watching the interaction with fascination. Even some of the people who were Alya’s University friends were focused in like it was their favorite tv show.

The only people not watching were him and Alya, who was staring him down with a smirk on her face.

Adrien schooled his expression, but Alya’s gleeful expression only brightened. She leaned over to Nino and said something. Nino looked over and Adrien pretended not to see it, his face still impassive. Adrien could see Nino lean over to his girlfriend and say something in her ear. Whatever he said did not make her happy. She whipped her head to stare at her boyfriend incredulously. She then pulled him from his seat and marched him toward the bathrooms. Kim let out a loud wolf whistle at their retreating backs. Alya simply replied by flipping the bird over her shoulder.

Adrien was deeply confused by the interaction but was literally pulled from his thoughts by Marienttes very insistent hands, trying to drag him from the booth as she tried to slither her own way out.

“Here, Kitty, Kiiiiiiitttttttty,” she sang as she giggled. She managed to get to the end of the bench and kneeled against the seat as she ‘pspspsps’d him. He couldn’t help but laugh and followed her quickly. A part of him expected Marinette to dart over to Luka, but she stayed close by his side as they pushed their way into the crowd again. She grabbed his hand and interlocked their fingers. Marinette found a spot she liked in the crowd and began dancing again. This time instead of silly limb-flailing dancing Marinette seemed to have the goal of making him lose his mind. She would dance very close to him, touching him constantly, singing the words under her breath as she rubbed against him. She would occasionally give him a break, and dance with the others but that was hardly better. Especially when she started dancing with Luka. She still moved with a fluid grace he wasn’t used to, and it was mesmerizing. She would throw him a look over her shoulder and it took all his self-control not to grab her hips and move along with her.

When the wall behind the DJ booth crumbled and the cartoonish face of Mr. Pigeon popped through the hole, Adrien had never been so grateful for an alumna attack.

Chapter Text

2 Hours Earlier

There was no way Alya was wrong. It was the only thing that made any sense. They had to be sleeping together.

She’s had her suspicions last weekend when they were weirdly close, but she definitely came to the wrong conclusion in her jetlagged and tipsy state. That was regrettable, but after the way, he acted when They’d visited the set, the nervousness around Avril, and the Obvious flirting, it was clear. Adrien and Marinette were hooking up, and he felt guilty about letting another woman kiss him because he was stupid and romantic like that.

She’d been mulling it over all week. Really, she should have seen it sooner. It was just like last year when they pretended to like each other. It was much more subtle, but they weren’t trying to trick Her and Nino into getting back together this time. It made sense.

The question was, why Hide it?

The only thing she could think of is Adrien’s stupid father didn’t want him going public with a relationship for “Career reasons.”

Even then, it seemed ridiculous. They could at least tell their two best friends! She thought about talking to Nino about it but knew he wouldn’t listen until they had more proof. Then they could ambush them, and they wouldn’t be able to deny it.

Marinette was a vault while they’d been getting ready, refusing to drink more than one sip of wine and her allotted cocktail. That was okay. Adrien would probably be easier to break anyway. Plus, she had all night to work on her best friend. Honestly, everything they did confirmed it. The way Marinette threw herself at him when she saw him? Alya had nearly missed him, but Marinette noticed him immediately despite his disguise

He was all concern, just like a boyfriend would be, which she would have loved to revel in if he hadn’t accused her of being a bad friend. She was planning on keeping her cards close to her chest, but she lashed out when he’d called her a bad friend.

Her. A BAD Friend? As if! He didn’t know what he was talking about. Just because He’d Seen her Naked a few times didn’t mean he knew her Best friend Better than She did! If anything, she was being a great friend by helping her get over her pointless anxieties. Marinette was Drunk, and nothing bad happened, despite the two of them being a couple of weenies. She was so annoyed she lasted out, playing her cards too early. While Adrien had acted suspiciously, it proved nothing. If anything it threw a wrench in her plans. She could tell Adrien was holding himself with the utmost care not to seem too attentive. Adrien did keep an eye on Marinette a little more than usual, but that was hardly enough to convince everyone to gang up on them and force their secret out.

Marinette, on the other hand, was exactly what Alya was hoping for. She was being very handsy, and while the flirting seemed to be directed that anyone and everyone, she turned it most often to Adrien. He tried to pretend like it didn’t affect him, but they just looked so cute and cuddly while she fed him because his hands were around her waist keeping her in place.

Then Marinette really started to flirt with Luka.

AND THEN Marinette Accidentally kissed Luka.

Adrien Looked PIIISSED

Alya Was THRILLED.

Adrien glanced at her and quickly schooled his expression, but she’d seen all she needed to. She leaned against her boyfriend, excited to share her discovery.

“Babe. Adrien and Marinette are SOO doing it. Look at how pissed he is.”

Nino reflexively looked toward Adrien. But instead of the eureka moment she’d been hoping for Nino’s brow furrowed and he leaned back in.

“Babe, I love you, there is no fucking way. I think you need to cut back on the cocktails.”

Oh, they were so going to talk about this. She grabbed her impertinent Boyfriend and dragged him somewhere she could chew him out and he would definitely hear every word. She Flipped whoever whistled suggestively at them without looking back.

Once they made it to the relative quiet of the bathroom hallway she whipped around to look at him.

“What on earth are you talking about? No Fucking way? Look at them! I can't believe you’ve been missing it all summer! I mean, the tickle fight? The dancing? Just now with how jealous he looked? There is Every Fucking way! How can you be so F-”

Nino Cut her off with a firm hand covering her mouth.

“Alya, Seriously. You need to stop. There is nothing going on here! Even if there was it’s not our job to make our friends tell us their business. But, nothing is happening. I’m not blind, okay? I just know things you don’t!”

She pulled his hand away from his mouth and looked at him skeptically.

“What don’t I know?”

Nino froze.

“What. Do. You. Know.” This was more a series of attacks than a question, and Alya could see Nino Flinch slightly.

“Nothing. Forget I said it.”

“Nino.”

“It’s none of your business!”

She glared at him.

“Seriously, Alya. It’s not really my place. In fact, none of this is our business. You need to stop treating our friend like the latest scoop. They’re not criminals or politicians. If they have things they don’t want to tell you yet, you need to respect that!” Nino started to gain more confidence as he spoke, while Alya could feel herself starting to deflate a little. “Have you ever considered that people have reasons they don’t want to tell you things? This is just like when we broke up! You get some shred of evidence that ‘something’ is going on and you run it into the ground! You complain about Marinette not telling you things, but jump down her throat when she finally does! At this rate, I’m surprised she even tells you what she ate for breakfast!”

Alya could feel tears running down her face.

“Am I really that bad of a friend?” she asked, her voice cracking. Nino softened and pulled her into a hug.

“You’re not a bad friend, you’re just flawed. Just like everyone else.”

His reassurances did not help and she felt herself crying a little harder.

“I just worry about her so much! She always disappears and always looks anxious. She spent years pining for Adrien, too scared he’d reject her to even tell him how she felt. Anytime I ask her about anything she shuts down and refuses to talk to anyone. I have to watch her struggle and she won’t let me help! One of the few things she’s ever been willing to openly talk to me about is Adrien, and now she won’t even do that! Hell, you seem to know more about her than I do! What if- what if she realizes she doesn’t need or want me around and I lose my best friend?”

Nino rubbed circles into her back as she talked, pressing soft kisses to her hair. Normally this would make her feel better, but it felt hollow somehow.

He let out a deep sigh and squeezed her tight.

“Look, Alya, it has nothing to do with Marinette, and everything to do with Adrien okay?”

“What do you mean?” she asked, pulling away to look at him.

“Okay, you can’t tell anyone what I said because it’s conjecture, but I’m like 90 percent sure of it, okay?”

She nodded, still confused.

“Seriously, Alya. I am not joking! The fact I’m telling you this goes against the Code of ethics I hold above all else. Don’t talk about it with anyone!”

“Okay! I won’t say anything!”

He looked at her skeptically. She drew her hand over her heart in a cross and extended her pinky for him to grab. The skeptical look on his face didn’t go away, but he hooked his pinky with hers.

“I know Marinette and Adrien aren’t hooking up-” He pause and leaned in closer so he was speaking directly into her ear, “because Adrien’s not into women like that.”

“Adrien’s Gay?!” She practically hissed in surprise. Nino Shushed her and looked around frantically before leaning back in and talking even quieter.

“No! That is not what I said! I said he’s not into women like that. That doesn’t mean he’s into dudes. Think about it! He’s had this super secret ‘girl’ he’s been in love with since we were 13, but none of us have ever met her. We don’t know her name or what she’s like except she doesn’t like him back. That’s basically like having a ‘girlfriend’ from ‘Belgium’! He dated Kagami for a couple of weeks, but always found reasons to run away from her. From what Kagami said, she tried to kiss him and he freaked out on her. He is perpetually uncomfortable with any sort of romantic or sexual situations…” He trailed off, waiting for Alya to put the pieces together.

She was absolutely baffled.

“You think he’s….. Ace?”

Nino didn’t say anything but raised his eyebrows at her and shrugged.

“Seriously?”

“I’m Not saying anything, and even if I was it’s all conjecture, so DO NOT say anything! We are not forcing him to come out if he’s not ready. Buuuut there are a lot of things, things I cannot tell you because of Bro Code, that gives me a reason to think it.” He was stern, wagging his finger in her face. “He might be into Marinette. I’d say it’s reasonably likely, but there is no way in Hell those two are hooking up. So, please, don’t say anything!”

“I won't! I promised. I just- I don’t get it. Why wouldn’t he tell us? He knows we won’t care. Max has been out for years, and Alix is always talking about being Aro.”

“Oh, you know his dad! He’s been abused into being the perfect little doll for years. I’m not even sure Adrien has fully come to terms with it. And you always ready integrate him probably doesn’t help.”

“Hey, You did it too! With the toothbrush! And last year when they were pretending to Flirt to get us back together!”

Nino had the decency to look sheepish. “Yeah, and I’ve felt horrible about it every time I think about it. So we are not going to make the same mistakes. Okay?”

“Okay. But I’m not going to like it!”

“That’s fair,” He said with a fond smile. Alya slipped into the bathroom to check her makeup before the two of them joined the group on the dance floor.

Alya resolved to not watch Adrien and Marinette as they danced, even though it was so very tempting. Thankfully, She only had to stay strong through half a song before the club wall caved in.

The crowd devolved into chaos as Mr. Pigeon sent his pigeons to attack. Adrien grabbed the nearest friend, which happened to be Nino, just joining them after whatever conversation he’d been having with Alya.

“Get everyone together! See if you can get them all to my apartment. It’s not far from here.” He glanced over to where Marinette had been literally 2 seconds ago, but only saw the rest of the group scrambling to push their way out of the crowd. “Where Did Marinette go?” He began panicking immediately, his voice too loud and frantic.

Alya and Nino wiped around, frantically searching for her.

“I can’t see her!” Alya screamed. “Marinette!”

“Here,” he handed Nino the extra set of keys for his apartment, “I’m going to look for her. Keep everyone together! I’ll meet you there!”

“Wait, Adrien!” Nino shouted after him, but he ignored him, pushing to find a safe place to transform. Chat Noir would be able to find and protect her far better than Adrien.

Ladybug Swung across the roof and began pushing the pigeons out. A particularly aggressive bird swooped toward Adrien, but he was scooped into Ladybug's arms before it could strike.

“Hey, there handsome. Need a hand?” She said, smiling widely before she dropped into the dark hallway leading to the bathroom.

“Thank you Ladybug. But I need you to try to find my Friend, Marinette. I lost her, and she’s pretty drunk. Have you seen her?”

“Oh, Marinette? Black hair, blue eyes, super cute? Yeah, She’s just fine.” She said, giggling. He realized she hadn't let go of him, her body flush against his. She pulled him a little closer.”You’re pretty fine yourself.”

Was she… flirting with him? During an akuma attack? As Adrien? He was completely baffled. Ladybug had jokingly flirted with Chat Noir before, but he wasn’t sure she’d ever been like this before. All he could do is look at her in confusion, which she seemed to find hilarious. She giggled behind her gloved hand, before placing a kiss against his cheek and dashing off at lightning speed.

Adrien watched her leave, still frozen in place.

“Come one, lover boy. We have work to do, and you’re acting like you’ve never been kissed before.”

“Yeah, Sorry.” He transformed and went to help a very strange Ladybug.

Mr Pigeon was never a particularly difficult villain to defeat, but he could be a little slippery at times. Ladybug had already summoned her lucky charm and was dodging pigeons left and right. Chat Noir slipped through the emergency exit by the bathrooms and snuck around the building to get to Mr. pigeon from behind, hoping to cataclysm his bird whistle and get the fight over with so he could get Marinette home, and have a good little panic attack about Ladybug at home. He was almost there.

Ladybug tripped and dropped her yoyo. Mr. Pigeon Lunged to grab her earrings. Chat managed to push him, throwing him off course, and giving Ladybug the time to scramble up. It was taking her longer than usual, and Chat had to contend with the full force of Mr. Pigeons' army, as she tried to steady herself. He could feel a sneeze building making his eyes water uncontrollably.

He fought it off as long as he could, but of course, it happened at the worst time. Ladybug finally managed to get herself steady and was trying to fight off the onslaught of pigeons. There were too many of them and one was getting dangerously close to her earrings. Chat managed to push Mr pigeon down and dove to catch the bird going straight for her, but a sneeze exploded out of him, knocking him off balance. The pigeon almost got her earring but missed grabbing it fully. It fell from her ear and the suit began to fade away, revealing the skin of her arms. He scrambled to pick it up before another diving pigeon go it. Ladybug dropped and covered her other ear. Chat picked the earring up and handed it to Ladybug before picking her up and booking it out of there.

He found cover in a deserted alleyway and set Ladybug down. She still hadn’t put her earring in and significant amounts of her arms and legs were showing. He thought idly that he’d never seen so much of her skin before. She fumbled with the jewel and put it back into her ear. Her suit healed quickly.

“What was that?” He sounded a lot angrier than he meant to.

“What do you mean?” She asked, suddenly defensive.

“Are you okay?” He tried again.

“Yeah, I’m soooo okay.” She tried to look casual b leaning on the nearby wall, but misjudged the distance and stumbled. “I’m good. I’m good!”

She gave him an overly large smile that reminded him of Marinette.

“In fact, I’m so good, that we should go do some like dancing after this or something. Ooh. Or get milkshakes. Or both! Come on, let's get Mr. pigeon and then some milkshakes.” She started towards the entrance of the alley but he grabbed her arm.

“Are… you drunk?”

She blew a long and wet raspberry in dissent, which confirmed his suspicions.

“You are!”

“It’s FINE! Tikki said it was fine, probably! I just gotta focus!” She tapped her fingers against her forehead.

“Okay, Madam Focus. What’s the plan?”

“To win. And then get milkshakes.”

“And how are we going to do that?”

“Very carefully.”

He sighed.

“Okay, you are defiantly drunker than I thought. We’re going to have to come up with a plan.”

“Hey, It’s my birthday, I can be drunk if I want to!” She said.

He started.

“It’s your birthday?”

“NOPE!” She cackled. “It’s In JULY silly.”

Chat tried not to let this information bother him. He’d missed her Birthday. (He always missed her birthday, but the fact that it had been just a month ago bothered him. Did they see each other that day? How did she celebrate? Did they have a big birthday party, or did she stay home with her parents who loved her? Not knowing killed him, but knowing would probably kill him more.)

“Okay, well we still need to get the whistle off Mr. Pigeon-“

“And then get milkshakes!”

“And you obviously don’t have a plan.”

“Yes, I do!”

He put his hand over. Her mouth so he could think without her interrupting. She licked his glove and he poked at her incredulously but didn’t comment.

“I need you to call for your lucky charm, and I think we need to ambush him. Hand-to-hand combat is not the best idea right now. I think we should lure him into the Santa combs and catch him in some way. I’m going to take my hand off your mouth. If you say anything about Milkshakes we defiantly will not be getting any.”

She nodded and he took his hand off her mouth. She scowled at him and tried to clean her tongue off.

“Your glove tastes weird.”

“That’s what you get for licking me after I’ve been fighting a bunch of dirty birds. You better hope you don’t get some sort of disease. Come on, get your lucky charm, and we can get this over with.”

It took a little bit of wrangling to get Ladybug where he needed her, but she seemed to be more focused once they started working again. It was only another 10 minutes to get the akuma and get the city repaired.

Thankfully Ladybug must have forgotten about her her desire to get milkshakes, so Chat was able to peel her off with the excuse that he needed to make sure Marinette was okay. He worried for a moment that Ladybug wouldn’t be able to make her own way home, but she assured him a friend was nearby. Slightly skeptical but worried enough about Marinette he slipped around a corner to transform. He pulled his phone out desperately hoping that she had hers. He peaked around the corner as the phone rang. No one was near to see him so he began sprinting back to the club. He got sent to Marinette’s voicemail. He ended the call and tried Nino next.

He was around the corner from the club when Nino answered.

“Dude! Where are you?”

“Is Marinette there with you?” He asked, ignoring Nino’s question.

“No, I thought you were going to find her!”

“I don’t know where she went and I don’t think she has her phone!”

“Shit. I’ll see if Alya has any ideas.”

“Okay, call me back if you hear anything. I’m going to try her cell again.” He hung up and tried Marinettes’ phone again. The club was mostly empty, a few people had begun filtering back in, but the music hadn’t started yet, and he heard a loud buzz coming from the coat check area. Adrien Swore. He ducked around the counter and grabbed a bright pink purse that matched the Dress Marinette was wearing. Before he could grab her phone from its pocket he was pushed roughly against a wall. An insistent hand pulled his face down and he found himself being thoroughly kissed. Adrien Panicked and pushed the person's face away, only to find Marinette’s Puty face between his palms.

He sighed in relief and pulled her into a tight hug.

Marinette seemed to have other plans. Her hands delved under his shirt and began tracing patterns against his skin as she kissed his neck. Everything in his body screamed to kiss her back, to find a private place and give in.

But his stupid conscience made him pull away. She whined when their lips disconnected, scowling at him, her full lips pink and glistening. If he’d been in the right state of mind he would have laughed at her cute flushed face.

“Marinette, you’re drunk.”

“Yeah, and You’re hot. Come here.” Her hands tugged at his neck. He grabbed her hand and pried them away from him before he gave in.

“You are drunk, and I can’t take advantage of you like that.”

She blew a raspberry. “It’s not taking advantage of me. We were going to have sex tonight anyway, so it's fine! Look, I even have a video.”

She grabbed her purse from where he’d dropped it. She pulled her phone out and turned it around to show him a video. It was of her in her room, in the same outfit she’d been wearing earlier.

Kitten, It’s Sober Marinette. If you’re seeing this Drunk Marinette is trying to spend the night at your house and you are being too much of a gentleman despite the fact that I’m probably not that drunk. It’s fine because I already know she’s a horrible flirt, and if you’re okay with it then I am. So go have fun!

She closed her phone and smiled at him wickedly. “See, I wasn’t drunk then, and I’m not that drunk now. Come on, take me home.” She played with the exposed skin of his clavicle and pressed her body against him, her eyes somehow getting wider and more doelike. “Or, we could be really naughty and see if the bathrooms are-”

Thankfully, Adrien was saved by Marinette’s phone buzzing again, which startled her. She dropped her phone with a shout. They both bent down to pick it up, their heads knocking together painfully. Marinette stumbled back a step and Adrien Finished picking it up despite the dull pain in his skull. He checked the caller ID, Babydoll with several heart emojis, and he answered it curiously.

“Hello?”

“Adrien? Why do you have Mari’s Phone? Did you find her? Is she okay? Why didn’t she answer? Mon Dieu, She’s dead, and you found her in the gutter. I can’t believe my best friend is dead-”

“Alya! Alya! Stop, she’s fine. She just dropped her phone and hit her head so I answered. She’s fine. Except for the drunkenness. I’m Taking her home right now.”

“Don’t take her home! What if she vomits and chokes on it? Bring her here, right now! I’ll take care of her.”

“You’re drunker than she is. How are you going to take care of her?”

“I swear, Agreste. If you get on my nerves one more time-”

Adrien didn’t get to hear the rest of that threat because Marinette pulled the phone from his hand and hung up. He tried to protest but was quickly shushed by her finger pressed against his lips.

“Shhh, ignore her.” She pressed her whole body against his and wrapped her arms around his back. Adrien was reminded of the myth that snakes wrapped themself around people to size them up to devour them later. “You should definitely take me home right now. I need a lot of care and attention.”

“Okay, I’m going to take you to my apartment. But you have to promise you’ll keep your hand to yourself until we are alone in my bedroom. Okay?”

There was a very muffled, “Please, say yes!” From Adrien's pocket, which was mortifying.

“Shut up, Up Plagg,” He hissed. Marinette rubbed her cheek against his chest and sighed heavily.

“Can we at least hold hands?” She closed her eyes and squeezed him tighter.

“Uh…” he was trying to quickly calculate how suspicious Alya would find it, versus the chances of Marinette stumbling away, and his fear of Losing Marinette won out. “Fine, but just so you don’t run away.”

“Pfft, I’m not a cat.” She said rolling her eyes.

“Yes, but I am, so you better keep me in line, okay?” She giggle at that and thankfully (regretfully) pulled away and interlocked their fingers. Alya called Adrien’s Phone while he was helping her into her jacket. He silenced it and sent her a text letting her know they were on their way. He just prayed their cover wouldn’t be blown.

Chapter Text

Adrien was able to get Marinette to his apartment with minimal distractions. They did end up stopping by a fast food place that was close to his house to get some food to go. Marinette was so excited about her meal she practically dragged him the rest of the way. She snacked on her fries and Ice cream in the elevator and Adrien was relieved she seemed to be distracted from her earlier objective. Hopefully, she’d pass out soon after she ate, and the debate on them having sex tonight would be over.

He tried unlocking the door, but it was wrenched out of his hands. He stood there blinking as a worried Alya pushed passed him to hug a startled Marinette.

He herded the two girls back into the apartment. He was greeted by a handful of his friends scattered around his living room. He turned back to see a very annoyed Marinette looking at him over Alya’s shoulder. He smiled as innocently as possible and shrugged his shoulders. She narrowed her eyes momentarily before she turned her attention to Alya and her food.

He joined the group playing video games in the living room, calling a spot in the next round.

“Adrien, you’re setup is SICK!” Kim said, slapping him on the shoulder as he sat down.

“Thanks, one of the only perks of having my father.” He joked.

“FUCK Your Dad!” Nino yelled from somewhere in the kitchen. Adrien Laughed uncomfortably, fighting his kneejerk reaction to defend Gabriel.

Marinette huffed over to an empty seat and draped herself over the arms so she had a perfect angle to glower at him from. Alya sat on the floor in front of Marinettes seat and tried to grab a handful of fries but was quickly slapped away. Adrien ignored the heated glare directed at him by joining the UMS tournament they’d started. Adrien managed to win several rounds while Marinette jeered them all as she ate. She yelled out pointers to the other team players, but they were so confusing it ended up making them lose worse.

Marinette ate her last bite of food and everyone groaned. She jumped into the next round and beat them all, but Adrien came so close to winning he could almost taste it. They started the next round and the trash talk began.

“Come On Agreste. You can do better than that,” she said as she deftly blocked his attack. She hit him with a combo that nearly knocked him off the map

He landed a hit, but before he could gloat she said, “Hmm, good job, Hon.”

He turned to glare at her for being patronizing, to find her sitting sideways across the chair spamming buttons without looking. When she caught his eye she smirked and moved to sit properly, flashing him her bright pink panties in the process.

He quickly looked away, annoyed and a little flustered.

It took him a few more rounds to catch onto her game. She would let him get a few good hits in, maybe even let him think he was going to win. When he would turn to dish his quips she would do something to distract him. It served to make him lose and remind him of his hastily made promise to get her back to his apartment. It seemed her game was to get him to regret tricking her, but that wasn’t hard to do. He knew the temptation was too much without someone else there to act as a buffer.

He caught Alya looking at him after one of Marinettes more obvious distractions. She quickly looked over his shoulder when he made eye contact. He became very aware of how their little exchanges might look and it took everything in him to not explain, or rationalize away the theory he just knew Alya was cementing in her mind.

He stood abruptly, drawing several curious eyes.

“Uh- I, um I have to use the bathroom.” He said, not moving.

“Do you need help aiming?” Alix asked from her position on the floor.

“No!” he said, indignant.

Several of the girls giggled, and he heard Kim whistle suggestively.

He stood there for another beat.

“You can just go, ya know. It’s your house.”

“Right, yeah. Sorry.” He hurried toward his bedroom, his cheeks burning in embarrassment. He had a few choice words for Drunk Marinette for getting him so flustered. He closed the door and leaned against the sink. He needed some sort of plan to get Marinette to either go home, which he didn’t love (what if she got sick and choked on her vomit!) or to get her to go to sleep before everyone left. He just needed to make it through the night without Marinette blowing their cover.

He sighed and ran some cool water over his wrist and splashed a little onto his face to clear his head. He didn’t hear the click of the door opening.

He turned to head back into the living room and screamed when he saw someone standing behind him. He jumped back, knocking several bottles off the counter as his hand came down hard against the marble.

It took him longer than he would have liked to realize the intruder was Marinette. It cost him precious seconds and she was pressed against him before he could put distance between them.

She covered his mouth. “Shhh! They’re going to think something is going on!” she said giggling.

She took her hand away and pressed a kiss to his lips. “You doing okay, Hot stuff?”

“Marinette! What on earth are you doing!” he whispered hoarsely.

“Huggin’ you.” She buried her face into the crook of his neck and pulled him closer. He resisted the temptation to put his hand on her back by gripping the counter behind him.

“Marinette.”

She ignored him, choosing to begin pressing kisses to his neck instead.

He gripped the counter harder.

“Marinette! You need to stop. You’re going to get us caught! You were the one getting mad at me literally just a week ago!”

“Hmmm. Don’t care. Too drunk.” Her hands started to sneak up the back of his shirt. “You smell so good.”

He needed her to stop soon or he might just be willing to risk it all. When he could feel her move to kiss him he pried his hands off the counter and grabbed her cheeks to stop her movement. She scowled at him, but her displeasure was undercut by her squished cheeks. He resisted the urge to laugh, as well as the one to kiss her just once on her pouty lips.

“Alya already suspects us. We have to be super careful!” he hiss.

“Puh-lease. She only suspects you’re trying to steal her spot as best friend,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“NO! That’s not it at all! Someone, told Alya her first time was in Oslo, and someone else told her it happened before then in her house. And only one of us was telling the truth.”

“What?! Why did you tell her that!” she squeaked, finally pulling away from him. Adrien breathed a sigh of relief before going back on the defense.

“Why did you tell her it was in OSLO!”

“Because if it was at my house she could ask my parents who’d been spending a lot of time at our house and that would immediately point to you! In Oslo, it could have been anyone!”

“Well, that makes sense!” he said, annoyed.

“Yeah, that’s why I said it!”

“Well, now we’re screwed! She confronted me about earlier in the club and asked me if it was me, so she all but knows!”

“No,” she gasped out, her hands finding their way to her hair and pulling. “This is bad. This is so, so bad.”

“I know!”

“Why did we come back here if she suspected something? How are we going to have sex now?”

“That’s what you’re worried about?”

“I am just so drunk and I want to make out with you so bad with your stupid face and your hands and the absurdly slutty amount of forearm you’re showing! I just want to jump your bones, and everything is getting in the way! ”

Adrien rubbed his face to try to hide the frankly pathetic shiver that went through him. He needed to keep it together for both their sakes.

“And! And! You tricked me! You little… Tricking person!”

“I’m sorry for tricking you. But can we please remember the fact that we are screwed?”

Marinette folded her arms tight to her chest and muttered something that sounded like ‘I wish’ under her breath.

“Marinette.”

“Ugh! Fine, we just need to get everyone to go home. Just be a bunch of wet blankets and then we’ll be alone and we can make out all night.”

“Nope! No, we are not doing that because one, Alya will never allow it; two; you’re drunk; three; the point is to make them think we’re not hooking up so very getting everyone to leave us here alone is a bad idea.”

“I don’t know! Can’t we just-”

A knock on the door interrupted them.

“Hey, Are you done in there? I’ve gotta piss!” Alix yelled through the door. She probably went to jiggle the door handle to hurry them along, but the unlocked door opened instead. Allix poked her head cautiously through. Adrien and Marinette both froze. Alix made eye contact with Adrien and smirked. “Ahh, so you DID need help aiming.”

“No!” he panicked. Marinette continued to stare at the other girl with wide eyes. “No! I was just helping- I mean, Marinette was just looking for a sweater! She’s chilly!”

She turned to look at him.

“I am?”

He tried to give her a subtle but significant look.

“I.. am. So Cold” she said turning back to Alix with a plastered-on smile.

“Ohh-kay?” Alix said, confused. “Well, can you find your bathroom sweater so I can pee?”

“Yeah!” Adrien quickly darted over to a sweater he’d left in the bathroom the other day. He thanked the heavens that the maids hadn’t come yet this week as the two of them left the bathroom, Alix watching them with confusion as she shut the door.

Marinette turned to continue the argument but Adrien just shook his head and pushed her toward the open door.

They tried to get another round of video games started but several of the girls protested and most of the boys gave in very quickly. Adrien suspected it was due to Marinette’s inability to lose.

“Well, if we don’t want to play, maybe we can all go home?” Marinette said innocently from where she was sitting cuddled next to Rose, Juleka, and Alya.

“Nooo!” Kim whined, “It’s way too early to go home!”

“It’s nearly one in the morning,” Mylene yawned.

“Exactly’ it’s not even one! We should be outside doing something! Why are we still in the apartment? We could try to go to a rave I heard about, or maybe find a hot tub. Huh? Have a little soak, maybe find some hot girls- uh, or guys if that’s what you're into.”

“None of us have any swimsuits!”

“But you are wearing swimsuits, it's called underwear! Easy!”

“Oh no. I definitely don’t want to get my nice going-out bra wet” Alya said, annoyed.

“Besides, where would we even find a hot tub this late?”

“I bet Adrien could convince Chloé to let us use the one at the hotel.” They all turned to look at him, hope sparkling in a few of their eyes. He tried not to look at Marinette but she looked positively thrilled. He swallowed.

“Uhhh. I don’t know about the hotel…” Most of the group shrugged or mildly bummed, but Marinette looked so much like a kicked kitten he couldn’t help himself from adding “But we could use the one on the roof.”

A surprised cheer rang through the group.

“Dude, I can’t believe you live in a place with a hot tub on the roof!” Nino Cheered as he slapped Adrien on the back.

“Okay, but is no one concerned that we don’t have any swimsuits?” Mylene asked nervously.

“Again, underwear!” Kim cried, pulling his shirt off and flexing.

“I’m Not wearing a bra though!” Marinette lamented. Adrien wished he was dead. ”Although we could go skinny dipping…” Marinette said, looking very pointedly at Adrien and subtly wiggling her eyebrows.

Adrien was an idiot, and he was going to die. Sober Marinette would be very upset with him. He needed to slow this down, for future Marinette/s sake.

“No! Nope! No. I am not the only person who lives in this building, you are not getting me in trouble!”

“Please, your task master probably owns the building so it’s not like you can get kicked out,” Kim said flippantly.

“He doesn’t own the building,” Adrien said, exasperated.

“That you know of. All I’m saying is shell companies, man.” Nino said.

“What, no- the apartment is in my- no. Don’t distract me.” He said trying to focus and NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH MARINETTE. “Look, I have a bunch of workout clothes and undershirts you can borrow. We’ll go soak for a little while, but if you get too rowdy I’m kicking us out! Got it?”

There was a round of cheers from half the group. Mylene, Ivan, and Juleka all frowned, and Nathaniel and Marc Looked on the edge of panic.

“If you need a Shirt or pants follow me into my room.” He said trying to actively ignore the excitement of getting to use the hot tub with his friends, no matter how much it felt like an American movie. He was trying his best to hold onto his feeling of responsibility, but the later it got the harder that became.

A few of the girls followed him into his bedroom where Alix was looking through his bookshelf.

“Hey, Adrien. Can I borrow some of your books? You have most of the ones I need for my stupid lit class, and I don’t want to have to buy Le Miserable.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Just let me know which ones you took.”

“We’re going swimming on the roof, do you want to come?” Marinette said as she pulled open the drawer with his workout gear. He eyed Ayla, hoping she wouldn’t notice that Marinette knew exactly which drawer to pull, but Alya was just scowling at the carpet. Marinette began unzipping her dress. He could feel her eyes boring into him once again and he moved in a panic.

“Well, I’ll grab some shirts for the guys if any of them want some, and I’ll let you guys change.” He grabbed some gym shorts he rarely wore and kept his head down as he almost sprinted out of the room.

He handed a pair of shorts to Nino, Luka, and Max. Kim insisted he was just going to hear his boxer briefs. When he tried to hand some to Nathaniel and Marc but they both declined and instead decided to head out, blaming some work they had to get going. Mylene and Ivan decided to join them.

It took a few more minutes of everyone shuffling about getting dressed or cajoling the reluctant, but they were out Adrien's front door sooner than Adrien would have liked. Kim Impatiently ran to the elevator as Adrien locked the front door. He dragged his feet as Kim begged him to hurry.

All too soon they were on the roof and stepping into the small hot tub.

It was a tight fit to get all of them in and Adrien arranged it so that Marinette wouldn’t be immediately next to him. He was neither skilled nor intelligent enough to stop her from sitting right across from him. He also was not smart enough to make sure she didn't wear a white T-shirt. He noticed immediately. She noticed him noticing immediately. She smirked at him and stretched Her arms over her head watching him with the same warmth in her eyes he'd seen many times and he started blushing. He was glad he could blame the hot tub for his redness. He was also very grateful for the jets churning up bubbles and obscuring the lower half of his body.

It took all his willpower to look away, but he forced himself to turn to the person next to him. Luka didn’t notice him, transfixed on Marinette. Adrien had a sudden urge to punch Luka in the mouth. He ignored it, despite his hands involuntarily curling into fists. He just couldn’t believe Luka was leering at HIS…. friend.

Adrien took a deep breath to try to ease the weird queasy feeling in his stomach. Couldn’t a girl just exist without someone treating her like an object? Sure, he was looking at her like that, but he was allowed! They had an arrangement, and she was doing it to get back at him, not to get Luka's attention.

Unless she was.

He still didn’t know who it was she wished she could be with. Maybe it was Luka and she believed they couldn’t be together since they broke up so long ago. Maybe they were both in love with each other and neither of them realized it.

That would be so stupid.

Neither of them was dating anyone, and Adrien didn’t actually have any real claim to her. It’s not like they were ever going to date one another when he still frequently thought about Ladybug while he was with Marinette.

It was probably for the best. (He is wrong, but too stupid to know that yet)

Besides it's not like Marinette actually liked him, she was just a lonely hormonal teen like he was. They weren’t dating. (See Above)

He closed his eyes and tilted his head back against the lip of the hot tub. He just needed a few moments to calm down both emotionally and uuhh, physically.

Unfortunately for Adrien, Marinette had other plans.

He felt the hot water moving around him before he felt her hands on his torso.

His head snapped up to see her grinning at him.

“‘Whatcha doing?” she said, dropping her head on his shoulder.

He swallowed thickly.

“Relaxing,” he said as nonchalantly as he could, which was sadly not very much.

She leaned in closer and spoke quietly next to his ear.

“With that cute little blush, I couldn’t help but think you were thinking of us in your bed.” She dragged her hand up and down his stomach, her fingers dipping closer and closer to the band of his swim trunks. He tried to keep his face neutral as his eyes darted around them to see if anyone was looking. “They say great minds think alike and I know exactly what I was thinking about.”

“Marinette,” he wheezed quietly, eyeing the way Luka was watching them. He couldn’t help but wonder if she was doing all this to make Luka jealous.

She giggled close to his throat, her breath going across his skin, surprisingly cool compared to the inferno blazing within him. “I want to nibble on your Adam's apple while you rai-“

“Marinette,” he hissed again. There was no way anyone could hear her over the noise of the jets, but if she kept going he wasn’t sure how logical he could be after she’d been teasing him all night, pushing her against the side of the pool and taking her right there was definitely a terrible idea.

“Adrien,” she hissed back, playfully.

“I thought we agreed to be careful.”

She shook her head, “you agreed. I think no one cares, maybe if we just tell people they'll be chill about it.”

He very much doubted that. He knew his Meddling friends, and he knew about 'operation secret garden'. There was no way the girls would resist trying to get the two of them together, and neither of them wanted that.

“No Marinette,” he said pushing her hand away as subtly as he could. “You are not thinking straight, so I am making the decision,” he paused and leaned in closer, his lips close enough to touch her ear, “We will not be having sex tonight. It’s for both our good.”

She pulled back, her expression scandalized.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, I am. You are being ridiculous.”

“Fine. Then I’m going home,” she said, attempting to stand. He grabbed her hand to stop her, but she’d drawn the group's attention.

Alya Looked up from where she and Nino were whispering together and started to stand up.

“Marinette, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just going home.”

There was a chorus of people asking why and telling her to stay. She pulled her arm away and stood up, and He stood up with her.

“I’m fine, I just want to go home.”

“It’s the middle of the night, and you’re still drunk! You can’t go home alone, it’s not safe!” Alya said, also trying to stand.

“I’ll be just fine!” She said huffy.

“No, you should stay. Just stay here. You can use the spare room.” he said desperately. The thought of her wandering around the dark streets of Paris drunk made him feel nauseous.

“Hey, I want in on that! I wanna have a sleepover.” Kim said jokingly.

“Sure, As long as you guys don’t trash the place all of you can stay.” He said, looking right at Marinette. “I’d hate for everyone to get hurt.”

“That sounds like a great plan,” Alya said, “I’ll go with you.”

“Babe? You’re going to just abandon me?” Nino said, pouting up at her.

“You can come. I’m just thinking about taking a nice long bath in that nice big bathtub he’s got.”

Nino’s eyes lit up. “That sounds, really nice. Maybe I’ll, uh take one too.”

Adrien huffed. “As long as you take Marinette down then you are free to do whatever you want in the guest bathroom. I don’t want to think about what you do every time I use mine.”

Nino Whooped and quickly pulled both girls from the pool, despite Marinettes protests.

There were a few jeers as they were leaving. Adrien peered at Luka from the corner of his eye, the other man’s eyes following Marinette as she stumbled behind Nino.

He spent the rest of the time in the hot tub anxiously thinking about Marinette. She was stubborn, he wouldn’t put it past her to try going home when everyone was distracted. He felt like he needed to stay on the roof to make sure Kim and Alix didn’t goad one another into doing something stupid and getting him in trouble with the building Association and his father.

When the rest of the group trickled downstairs to go home or go to bed it left just Adrien, Kim, Alix, and Luka. Kim and Alix were play fighting and trying to dunk one another, Alix surprisingly holding her own despite her size. Luka turned to Adrien and gave him a long searching look. Adrien tried to ignore it, but Luka just kept staring at him like he trying to puzzle something out.

Adrien turned and met Luka's eyes.

“You okay?”

“Do you love Marinette?”

Adrien recoiled. “What?”

“Do you love her?” Luka’s eyes were the sharpest they’d been all night.

“She is one of my best friends, of course, I love her,” Adrien said, pulling away from Luka’s intense gaze.

“No. Do you love her?” He asked again.

“Adrien was baffled. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Yes, you do. Do you love her?”

“Luka, I - well I-“ he was scrambling. “Marinette and I, you see. We’re close, but-“

He honestly didn’t know where the sentence was going he was saved from finding out by Alix being flung into him and nearly knocking him into the side of the pool.

“Okay, guys. I think it’s time for us to go to bed. Feel free to stay here, but if you want to keep messing around you need to go somewhere else.”

Kim booed and complained, but thankfully Luka and Alix helped him herd him back to the apartment.

Adrien started working on getting everyone to bed, the moment they got in. He was surprised to find Marinette curled up in the corner of his bed. With everything going on, he’d have thought Alya would have latched onto her like she had done last week. Though the fact the Guestroom was locked answered any questions he might have had about it. He tried not to dwell on what that meant. The guest bathroom was free, and Alix wasted no time in hopping into the shower. 

He tiptoed around his room and gathered some towels, blankets, and pillows for Alix and Kim to sleep on the couches in the living room with. 

He didn’t want to spend too much time alone with Luka, lest he continued the uncomfortable line of questioning from earlier. So he got him settled on the couch in his room. He made a hasty exit, claiming he needed to shower. Adrien probably could have waited until morning, but the way Luka's eyes stared at him like lamps as he backed into the bathroom almost haunted him. He took an extra long time getting ready in the bathroom, praying that Luka would fall asleep by the time he finished.

“You’ve pissed her off.” Plagg sat on his shoulder while he was applying his nightly skincare. “And me too. I had to hide in your stupid refrigerator all night so I could eat my cheese.”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry. But what else was I supposed to do? Kick everyone out and then take advantage of Marinette while she’s drunk?”

“Sure, why not? It’s not taking advantage if she’s literally asking you to. She even made that stupid video.”

Adrien just groaned.

“It just feels wrong!”

“You two are weird. Just admit she’s the only cheese for you, then all the drama will be over. That’s what I did with Camembert!”

“It’s not anywhere near the same. Camembert doesn’t secretly wish you were someone else.”

“Who said your cheese doesn’t want you?”

“Go away, Plagg. I need to get to bed.”

“You need to stop avoiding this!” Plagg said, but Adrien Ignored him and exited the bathroom.

He sighed and crawled into his bed as far as he could get from Marinette. She lifted her head at his movement and looked at him blearily. He opened his mouth to apologize but was stopped by her wiggling her way closer to him. She laid her head on his shoulder and draped the rest of her body across his torso. He lay there is shock, unsure how to respond. Was she just too asleep to remember being mad at him? Should he push her away? What if someone saw?

She humphed against his neck and grabbed the arm closest to her and tried to pull it over her back.

Screw it

Adrien pulled her closer, fighting a grin. He pressed a soft kiss against her cheek. She hummed in contentment. She was asleep within a minute, and it took no time at all for him to follow her.

Chapter Text

11 Months ago

Marinette looked up at the sound of a customer walking through the door. She put down the tray of Pastries she was refilling and peaked around the corner to greet them. Instead of a tourist gawking at everything she saw a tall white man crouched beneath the window. He was wearing a long coat, hat, sunglasses, and what looked like a fake beard. She watched as he peeked through the glass door and then fell back as close as he could against the wall.

“Can I help you?” She asked.

The man jumped and fell against a display case, knocking several display cakes over. Marinette Jumped across the room and steadied some of them, but one wobbled spectacularly and landed right on the man's head.

“Monsieur, are you alright?” she asked, panicked that she’d just given a customer a concussion.

“I’m so sorry! I’ll totally pay for that!” He replied frantically trying to pick up the remains and put them back on the cake stand.

“No! No! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you! Here, let me get you something to clean up with.” she ran into the kitchen, grabbed a stack of rags, and started filling a bucket of water. Her father peeked out from the kitchen.

“Is everything alright out there, Cheri?” he asked.

“Yes, sort of. A cake fell on a customer.”

Her father let out a loud laugh. “You strike again! I’ll have Alexandre help you out after he gets out of the bathroom.”

“It wasn’t my fault this time!” she protested.

“Sure mon cheri, I believe you. But give him something for his troubles anyway.”

“Papa!” She huffed, wanting to argue, but deciding leaving the poor man covered in cake was bad form.

The man had made no move to clean himself off, instead choosing to stay below the window.

“Monsieur, I am so sorry. but , uuhh. Do you want some rags to clean yourself off?” she held out the offered rags. The mand shushed her and pulled her down next to him. She let out a startled squeak. She started to call for help when his hand covered her mouth.

“Marinette, you can’t let them see you!” he whispered frantically.

Her heart was thundering against her ribcage. She pulled away, but the man's hand on her wrist wouldn’t let her move, instead pulling her closer. She tugged against him again, fear rising in her gut.

“Monsieur, please. Let go. I can go get you some rags.”

The man dropped her hand quickly, using that hand to take the cake-covered sunglasses off his face and pull down the now obviously fake beard.

“Adrien?” she said, a little too loudly, making him shush her again.

“Yes, and there is a hoard of rabid fans looking for me, so please, please hide me!” he begged.

“Mon Dieu! You scared the shit out of me! I thought I was about to get kidnapped!” she hissed.

He had the good sense to look chagrined.

“Sorry. I guess I’m being a little melodramatic. I just know if they find me my whole day is going to be useless.”

“What are you doing here so early?”

“I was supposed to be doing a big shoot in the park near here, but… it let out early and I started to run here so we could make some plans for Project DJWifi for tonight but got spotted by both the gorilla and an “Adrien Agrest walking Tour” on the way.”

“Oooooh no.

“Yeah. so I’ve been ducking in and out of alleys and stores for like 40 minutes? That’s where I got the disguise,” he said lifting his frosting-covered beard. Marinette tried to stifle her laugh but it ended up bursting out of her. He chuckled nervously with her.

“Sorry, Sorry! I’m not laughing at you! That’s just all soo silly!” she said, slapping her cheeks to calm herself down. His smile widened.

“It’s fine. I honestly look ridiculous. I’m just glad it worked. It’s kind of like that time I dragged you around Paris in your Pajamas.”

Marinette groaned. “Don’t remind me of the ’ Pajama Girl’ incident! I literally am haunted by those pictures. Alya Sends them to me every year around my birthday to tease me.”

“Awe, but you were so cute!”

“Shut up,” she said punching his arm and wiping some of the cake off his face. “Let’s get you upstairs before someone besides me gets a picture of you for blackmail purposes. I don’t want to lose out on this opportunity.”

“Nettie? Your Dad said you dropped a cake. Are you okay?” Alexandre walked out from the back of the bakery with a dustbin and a handful of rags.

“Yeah, I’m fine!” she said, pulling Adrien to his feet.

“It was all my fault anyway,” he said.

“Adrien?” Alexandre asked, his eyes flicking between them. He pressed his lips into a thin line.

“Well, it was definitely my fault for scaring you,” Marinette said grabbing the rags from Alexandre. “I’m going to take him upstairs to get cleaned up. Can you watch the front for a minute?”

“Uh. Yeah.”

“Thanks.”

Adrien smiled at Alexandre as he walked past, but Alexandre just scowled.

Marinette handed him a bundle of clothes and an extra towel through the bathroom door. “I can toss your clothes in with a few other things I’m washing so they’ll be clean before you leave.”

“That would be great,” he said, closing the door and hastily taking his shirt and jeans off and passing them through the crack in the door. It still felt kind of strange taking a shower at the Dupain-Chengs house. He felt slightly exposed, even when he was alone. Like he was somehow MORE naked than normal.

Plagg made fun of him as he got the shower started, but Adrien didn’t pay him any mind. He was too preoccupied with the chill of the air on his exposed body as he finished striping and stepped into the shower.

He rushed through the shower, mostly just trying to get the frosting out of his hair, and quickly toweled off and stepped into the clothes Marinette gave him. They were nice, a little snug but fit him well enough.

“Plagg, I don’t think you can hide in these clothes. Do you think you can be good and stay hidden and not try to steal cheese?”

“Please, I’m older than the earth. I think I can keep myself hidden for a few hours. Besides, we’ve stayed here before, I know my way around.”

Adrien looked at him skeptically.

“And you’re not going to steal cheese?”

Plagg phased through the bathroom wall.

“Plagg!” He whispered hoarsely. There was no reply.

He groaned and prayed that Plagg would be good for the rest of the night.

He made his way to the living room, hoping to find Marinette waiting for him but was instead treated to the sight of Mrs. Dupain-Cheng in the kitchen cooking.

“Hello, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng.”

She turned around and smiled brightly at him. “Adrien! Wǒ méi kàn dào nǐ jìnlái! Are you here for the party?”

“Yeah, sort of. I know I’m early, but it was the only chance I had to sneak away. I’m pretty sure my father’s been having me watched or something.”

He laughed awkwardly.

Her face darkened with worry momentarily but quickly brightened. “Well, it’s a good thing you could make it! We’re always very happy to have you here. You should stay the night! I know Alya is sleeping over, it’ll be no trouble to add one more.”

“Oh, I couldn’t Impose. Thank you though.”

“I insist! In fact, Nino’s coming, right? You and he can take the spare room where Alya’s staying and the girls can sleep in Marinette’s room. Or, if one of you doesn’t mind sleeping on an air mattress you all can sleep in Marinette's room.”

“Oh, well that does sound lovely, but-”

“Wonderful! That settles it! Now come sit, I’m almost done with dinner.”

He shut his mouth and sat down, afraid that arguing would upset her. He wasn’t sure if he should be more worried about Mrs. Dupain Cheng being mad at him, or the anger his father would have if he didn’t come home, but Mrs. Dupain Cheng was here now, and his father's anger was in the future.

He sat and watched as she cooked, and she asked him how he’d been since the last time he was there. He offered to help her with the meal, unsure if he even could, but she declined. He forced himself to relax as Mrs. Dupain Cheng told him a funny story about Marinette in Mandarin.

“Maman, you need to talk to your husband!” Marinette said, bursting into the kitchen.

“Oh, I do?” Her mother said with a smile in her voice. “Good, I always enjoy our conversations.”

“No! Maman! He just invited Alexandre to the party tonight!”

“Is that a problem?” Sabine asked lightly.

“Yes!”

“Why is it a problem?” Tom asked.

“Because if you guys keep asking him to come over he’s never going to get a clue that we are NOT dating, despite me telling him so SEVERAL TIMES!” Marinette practically shouted as she flung herself against the couch. Adrien had to hold back his laugh at her dramatics.

“You’re not dating?” Tom asked, his face all innocence.

“NO!”

“Remember, Tom, she told us after graduation that they’d had a fight.”

“I thought it was just a fight, I didn’t realize it meant they broke up.”

“I don’t need to break up with someone I was never actually dating! We went out three times, and then I told him I wanted to be friends! Then, he decided to be a huge jerk, and I don’t even want to be that anymore!”

“Are you sure you told him that?” Sabine asked kindly.

“Maman!”

“Fine, fine. I’ll make sure your father stops inviting your former beaus to dinner, but I think it would be rude to uninvite him now.”

Marinette huffed angrily and pulled herself up so she could peer at her parents over the arm of the couch.

“Are you sure?” She asked.

“Yes, and while we’re on the subject, I told Adrien he could stay the night unless the beau rule applies to him too.”

Adrien looked at Mrs. Dupain-Cheng confused, but Marinette pipped up quickly, distracting him. “No, Adrien can stay whenever he wants. But no one else! At least without asking me first!”

“Good to know.” Mrs. Dupain-Cheng said as she turned back to dinner. “Now, did you leave all the closing to our poor employee, or are you finished.”

“We’re almost finished, I let Alexandre go home to get changed for the party when Marinette stormed up here. Come not, Mon couer, let's finish up.”

“Shouldn’t I also get changed for the party?” She asked.

“We’re almost done. You wouldn’t make your papa do all the work and miss dinner, now would you?”

“But, it’s my birthday!”

“Not until tomorrow”

“Ugh, fiiiine, but I better not get super gross!” She said peeling herself off the couch. Mr. Dupain-Cheng pulled her under his arm as they walked out. “You could never be gross, no matter how many greasy pans you have to wash!”

She groaned again as the door closed behind them, and Adrien allowed himself to finally laugh.

“That girl is so dramatic,” Mrs. Dupain-Cheng said in Mandarin.

“Yeah, but I don’t mind, It’s fun to watch.”

“You say that now, but it’s different when you live with it.” She joked, no real annoyance in her tone.

Adrien couldn’t help but imagine living with Marinette all the time. She would make a fun roommate, he thought.

Marinette and her father finished cleaning quickly, dinner was still cooking so Marinette decided to try to take a quick shower. Despite her father's assurances, she did in fact get gross and sweaty. Adrien and her mother were laughing and chatting in Mandarin which kind of annoyed her, especially since the few words she recognized, namely her name and something about a bathtub, did not bode well for her.

After her shower, she debated how nice she should make herself look. The party tonight was 75% just trying to get Nino and Alya to talk and only 25% for her birthday. The real party was tomorrow night. Alya was thrilled at the idea of taking her to a real club for once, so tonight was just a family dinner and game night with a few of her Lycee friends.

Now that Alexandre was coming she almost wanted to dress as terribly as she could to scare him off.

It wouldn’t work, but the impulse was there. She ignored the instinct, and she told herself it had nothing to do with Adrien being there.

She did not have a crush on him anymore, she’d worked very hard the last few years to beat that out of herself. She wondered if there would always be a little part of her that wanted him to like her, to impress him somehow. Perhaps that’s just how it goes with an intense first love, but the idea of him thinking her sloppy and ugly sat uncomfortably in her gut.

She settled on a nice, but comfy outfit. She ran a brush through her hair pulled it into a pair of pigtails, and touched up her makeup from that morning.

She was greeted by the smell of all her favorite foods, and a chorus of happy birthdays because Alya and a few other guests had arrived by the time she came downstairs.

She gave her best friend a quick hug and sat at the table next to her.

“How was work?” She asked.

“The station was super busy today! I actually saw a bunch of stuff about sunshine over here today.”

“You did?” Marinette asked, intrigued.

“Yeah, They had me shadow in the pop culture section today, and his disappearing act was top discussion, especially since he ran away from -”

“That’s so crazy!” Adrien practically shouted over her, almost sounding panicked. “Please tell me you haven’t told anyone I might be here.”

“Of course not. I may be a professional but I am also a loyal friend!”

“Good, good. Thanks.” He seemed to relax a little, “Speaking of friends, Nino should be here in a few minutes. Maybe you should wait for him outside?”

“Why can’t you do it?”

“I am obviously helping make dinner!” he said, picking up a knife and pretending to chop the scraps left on the cutting board.

“Dinners ready, what else do you need to help with?” Alya squinted her eyes at Adrien. Marinette stared daggers at him for being so obvious, but he ignored her.

“Uuuuh, keeping the birthday girl company?” He smiled brightly at Alya.

“I can do that.”

“But you live here.” He replied, his manic smile never wavering.

“Okay, you two can stop bickering. He’s here.”

They all turned to see a bemused Nino in the doorway.

“Hey!” Adrien said a little loudly.

Marinette shook her head and stood to give Nino a hug.

“How’s the birthday girl?” Nino asked.

“I’m good. Thanks for coming, Dinner’s ready, so we can probably start getting settled.”

“Alexandre is only a few minutes away, don’t you think you ought to wait for him?” Her father asked.

Marinette groaned, “Well, if someone hadn’t invited him then we could start eating.”

“Whoa, I thought you guys were, like a thing,” Nino said as he set his things down, slipped his shoes off, and let them by the door.

“Why does everyone think that? We went on a few dates!”

Nino just shrugged. “Well, if you’re not dating anyone, I have a few suggestions…” Nino said, meaningfully slinging his arms around Adrien’s shoulders. Marinette resisted the urge to punch her fist into the air in victory. Adrien somehow managed to blush and look sheepish. Marinette saw a predatory look flash across Alya’s face and knew their trap was coming together nicely.

Dinner took place in the living room, their kitchen table not having quite enough room for the whole group. Marinette managed to get Nino and Alya to sit next to one another but somehow ended up with Adrien and Alexandre on either side of her, which she knew Alexandre was likely not a fan of.

She was very focused on seeing whether or not Nino and Alya were actually talking, but Alexandre kept trying to pull her into a conversation about work.

She was incredibly frustrated. Their plan wasn’t working well, and Alexander being there was not helping.

There were multiple conversations happening at once, which made it much more difficult to spy on Alya and Nino. She leaned over to whisper in Adrien’s ear.

“Can you tell if they are talking at all?” She whispered leaning over to Adrien.

He shook his head.

“I think we might have to up the fake flirting to get them to start scheming.” He whispered back.

She scowled, then quickly schooled her face and nodded.

Adrien took a deep breath like he was preparing to do something unpleasant and scooted closer, his face getting even closer to hers. She turned hers so their faces were almost touching.

“We should probably look like we’re talking.” She said very quietly.

“That’s probably a good idea. What should we talk about.” He took his index finger and lightly touched the tip to the edge of her shorts, his skin just nearly touching her thigh.

Marinette felt the muscles in her leg flex, and she sucked in a breath.

“Uhhh, have you gotten your advanced UMS X copy yet?” She toyed with the edge of her shorts, straightening the edge, her fingers lightly brushing his.

“I’m supposed to “

“Marinette, do you want some more chicken?” Alexandre said, grabbing her shoulder lightly. She pulled away from Adrien, both of them sitting upright.

“Oh, no. I haven’t finished with what I have.” She said, leaning forward to grab her drink and dislodging his hand in the process. She took a sip and saw Alya smirking across from her, her eyes flicking away as soon as Marinette made eye contact.

She leaned back over to Adrien.

“Alya has definitely noticed. Hopefully, they’ll take the bait.” She said so close to his ear she could feel his hair brushing her lips.

Adrien let out a laugh, throwing his head back, then getting close to her again, said, “Good. I think Nino suspects something. We just need to get them alone to talk about it.”

Getting them alone proved to be more difficult than either of them thought it would be. They continued to play up the shy flirting that was making Marinette feel like she was going insane. She kept telling herself that she was over Adrien. Her traitorous mind kept sending her flashes of Chat Noir’s dopey smile each time Adrien touched her, or laughed loudly at a joke that didn’t exist.

Both Nino and Alya were obviously watching them. Even some of the other guests seemed to be in on it. The only one who seemed upset was Alexandre, based on the way he kept stepping in to interrupt their conversation.

But every attempt to get their best friends alone in a room was failing. Marinette tried to get them to go up to her room to grab pillows and blankets after dinner for everyone to use during the board games.

Adrien tried to make one of the rules for the game they were playing so the two of them had to get sequestered in the guest/Alya’s room. But somehow the rule had only managed to catch everyone else except the two people they wanted.

It was incredibly frustrating, and Marinette felt like crying.

So Adrien, how is filming going?” Alya said, her voice cloyingly calm.

He looked up, his brows knitted.

“It’s going well,” was his confused reply.

“Are you excited to be a guest star in the number one sitcom in France?”

“I guess.”

One of Marinette’s friends perked up. “You’re going to be on La Belle Vie? Have you met Henri Sorre? Or Maeva Fonder? Are they as beautiful in person as they are in the show?”

“Yeah, I met them,” he said, shrinking in on himself. Marinette wanted to reach over and rub his back comfortably. “I guess they are? They look the same to me.”

“Oh my GOSH! That’s amazing. I have such a huge crush on them. What part are you playing? I bet you’re a love interest! Are you? You’re way too hot to be anything else! Do you get to kiss Maeva? Or maybe Henri? Please tell me you get to kiss at least one of them!”

Adrien stammered, trying to come up with a response, but Alya beat him to the punch.

“Have you not seen the pictures yet?”

Adrien stiffened, his eyes wide.

“What pictures?” Half the table asked, some intrigued, Others confused, Adrien horrified.

“The ones taken today, right before Adrien ran off set,” Alya smirked pulling her phone out. “They’re bound to be published by now!”

Alya typed in the web address for the news station she worked for and pulled up the pictures. They showed Adrien and Maeva, the female lead on the show, holding hands, surrounded by a camera crew filming them. As you flipped through the pictures you saw them stopping, Adrien holding both her hands in his, then the two leaning in as though they were about to kiss. There were no pictures of the two actually kissing, the next shots were of him running away, his back to the camera.

“Did you run away?” Marinette tried to ask him quietly, but everyone was listening so intensely there was no doubt any of them didn’t hear.

He shrunk further into himself, looking far too small for his tall frame.

“I panicked,” he whispered.

“I’m sorry dude,” Nino said, reaching an arm out, then pulling it back, unsure what to do.

Adrien shrugged. “I was being stupid. It’s nothing.”

“What were you panicking about?”

Adrien didn’t answer.

“You don’t have to tell us, let's talk about something else,” Marinette said, but her suggestion was promptly ignored.

“Maybe we can help though!” Someone said. Marinette was too focused on Adrien to recognize who said it.

“I don’t see how anyone could help.” He reached out to play with one of the game pieces, avoiding everyone's gaze.

“You never know, maybe we could. There’s no way to know for sure unless you tell us,” Nino said gently.

Adrien sighed, and they all waited in silence.

“I just was nervous about the kiss. I haven’t... I don’t really-- have a lot of experience, and kissing on camera-” he stopped and shrugged again.

“Well, it’s not like it was a real kiss. It just needs to look okay so they can show it, right? There are a lot of tricks to pretend without actually kissing.”

“I tried to tell them that, but the director is adamant about the way he wants the shot to look, and none of those work I guess…”

“Maybe if you just practiced before the next time you shoot? It might not be so bad?”

Alya Perked up.

“That’s a great idea!” she almost shouted.

“How would I do that?” he asked, but Marinette knew that gleam in her friend's eye. She tried to catch Adrien's eye, to stop him from asking the question but it was too late.

“Well, I’m sure someone you know, maybe even someone here would be happy to help. We could even give you pointers so it looks good on camera.”

“Oh,” was his only response.

“I’ll volunteer,” Corina said with a cheeky wink. Marinette scowled at her. A few of the other girls hooted and said they’d happily help.

“Down, Ladies. The man doesn’t even know you. Why would you be the best option when his good friend Marinette is right here? It is her birthday.”

The girls all oohed, but the three boys looked different levels of uncomfortable.

“Alya, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Marinette said while trying to subtly reach her hand under the table to lightly tug on his pants to let him know she was on his side.

“Seriously Marinette, think about it. He’s going to have to do this scene eventually, Maybe if he’s more comfortable with the whole idea of kissing it will make the experience less terrible.”

“She might be right dude,” Nino said.

Alya looked at her ex with wariness. “Of course I’m right. I usually am.”

Nino rolled his eyes. “Sure, you’re NEVER wrong.” Alya opened her mouth to protest his sarcasm but seemed to think better of it. Nino continued, “ I mean think about it. Your shit dad probably will keep booking you these types of roles because he wants you to rebrand yourself, or whatever. Unless you want to quit and move out, which I am all for, you need to do what you have to in order to survive. Marinette is chill, and you didn’t mind the idea of kissing her for the project we did when we were kids, remember? Just pretend that’s all this is.”

“I guess that could work, but I couldn’t ask Marinette to do that.” He said.

“I wouldn’t mind.” She said quickly, then blushing hid her face. “Sorry, just. It’s not a big deal to me. If- if you think it would help and it won’t bug you I would be happy to help. Anything to get your dad off your back. Besides it is just a stage kiss. I've kissed way worse than you. I mean, not that you’re bad. I’m sure you’re great! It’s just like, If I’ve kissed bad, then kissing you would be.. not bad. Sorry. That sounds terrible. Not kissing you. Me and my stupid mouth not knowing to shut up is what is bad. Ugh. Sorry.” She finished her rambling by physically covering her mouth and smiling at him awkwardly with her eyes.

He laughed nervously. “I’ll think about it.”

“Do it now.” Someone shouted. “Before you chicken out!”

Marinette looked at the group annoyed, but everyone but Nino and Alexandre looked at them with a fervor that kind of scared her.

“Kiss her, Kiss her! KISS HER!” They started chanting.

She leaned close so he could hear. “You really don’t have to, but we could do just one to get them to back off. It’s your call.”

He swallowed nervously and nodded slightly. The group cheered. He leaned in to give her what was probably a quick peck but there was a shout of no. They pulled away startled.

“You need to practice exactly how the shot is going to be. Stand up.” Corina jumped around and started pulling them up and away from the group. They both numbly followed her instructions as she staged them, occasionally referencing the pictures from earlier. “Okay, Now go, you could maybe even say you’re line, you know for the best accuracy? Just kidding, unless…?” She said jokingly as she sat backward on the couch, her chin resting on the back like an excited child.

“We will just be doing the kiss. That is it. Now shut up.” Marinette said, throwing her friend a sideways glare. Corina pouted but mimed zipping her lips.

Adrien shook his arms a little, taking a deep breath. He drew closer to her one hand on her waist and the other on her neck. Marinette could feel her pulse quickening a little, and she wanted to tell her stupid heart that she was over Adrien, and had been for a while. She cupped one of his cheeks like Corina had instructed her to do and pulled him closer. Adrien’s breath got shallower, and his grip on her got tighter. Their faces got so close their noses touched. She waited for him to close the distance, but he seemed frozen, his breathing picking up even more.

They stood there frozen for what seemed like forever, the silence in the room was deafening. Marinette opened her eyes to see his squeezed tight. She rubbed his cheek with her thumb. His eyes peeked open.

“Adrien-“ she started to tell him he didn’t have to, that he could back out, but her sentence was cut short by a loud annoyed shout.

“Oh, just get this over with! This is so Freaking stupid! It’s not a big deal!” Alexandre’s outburst made Adrien jump and his face immediately sank.

“Sorry, I- sorry. I need a minute, sorry.” He dashed to the stairs, saying sorry with every step.

Marinette turned on Alexandre, rage filling every cell in her body. She briefly wished she and Chat could trade miraculous's just so she could watch him slowly and painfully turn to dust. “Get the HELL out of my house! You Bastard! What on earth makes you think that was appropriate? Actually, everyone who does not live here, or does not actually know Adrien needs to get out. My party is over.”

She ignored the outraged cries and ran up the stairs after Adrien.

She found Adrien pacing across her room, his hands pulling at his hair, his face scrunched up in pain. She was at a loss as to how to comfort him when she was still furious with her friends for putting him in that position. She knew it was a bad idea, but she wanted to make his life more bearable if she could, even if it meant him still listening to his father. She wanted to reach out and comfort him but worried that her touch would just make it worse. She decided to clear the chaise lounge so he could sit down if he wanted to. She debated on what, if anything, she should say, but Adrien was the one to speak.

“Marinette, I am so so sorry. I ruined your party because I’m an idiot.” The tears in his voice were evident, which made her even angrier.

“No, you didn’t ruin my party. Alexandre did by being an ass. Everyone else ruined it by pressuring you into this when you were clearly uncomfortable. You had every right to act the way you did. You did nothing wrong.”

“No, I was being ridiculous. I am just stupid and I need to get over-“ he paused clearly catching himself saying something he didn’t mean to. “I just need to get over this stupid hang-up.”

He sank onto the chair next to her and dropped his head into his hands.

“Can I ask,” she said with caution, “what it is that bothers you so much. You don’t have to tell me obviously. But if it really bothers you so much…” she trailed off, watching his reaction.

“It’s just so stupid Marinette.”

“Well, I’m pretty stupid too, so no shame in telling me.”

He just made a fraught noise.

“I’ll even tell you something embarrassing about myself. My first real kiss was during an akuma attack when the guy wouldn’t be able to remember it and I was so freaked out about it I never told him.”

“What? Really?” he peaked from behind his hands.

“Yup, Plus there was that time I tried to kiss you when you were trying to prank me, that was pretty mortifying for me.”

“You said you were pranking me back?” he said smiling at her.

“Tut tut, let's not get into details. Now do you feel sufficiently out stupided?”

“No, but I guess I should tell you, so you don’t think this is at all about you.” he slumped against the pillows at an odd angle. “Just so you know me and kissing is a whole thing. I’ve kissed a few times, and don’t really remember… how I felt during them, so I’m not sure if it’s a hard and fast rule, but I get super freaked out. Back in college when I was dating Kagami we would find ways to hang out despite our schedules, and it would get to a point in the date where Kagami would want to kiss, and I would always find an excuse to run away. We kind of broke up because of it. I was, well am, just absolutely in love with this girl I know who is not interested in me AT ALL. I used to wonder if she hated me but was nice because she had to be. I chalked my hesitance to kiss Kagami on that, because if I was in love with this girl then I must be feeling disloyal or something. I’ve spent years trying to get over this girl, but I just can’t. It’s probably a sickness at this point. But even with other girls I liked I just couldn’t bring myself to kiss them.

“And then Jenna happened.” he sighed, sinking into himself further.

“What happened with Jenna?”

He didn't answer for a long time, choosing instead to pull at his hair and pick at his skin, all while making not sensical thinking noises. Finally, he stilled and took a deep breath.

“She was this stupid influencer father brought over from America. We did a whole campaign with her. She seemed really nice and we got along pretty well. Towards the end of her stay here she invited me to hang out after an event. I guess I misinterpreted what she said because I assumed it was a group activity. I was pretty excited Father actually even let me go, but when I showed up no one else was there. When I asked where everyone else was she said no one else was coming. Which in my stupid brain I interpreted as no one else wanted to come! So I felt super bad for her, which is part of the problem. Because she put in a movie and started sitting super close to me and she just kept inching closer and closer to me. I wasn’t comfortable but because I felt so bad for her I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. I was biding my time waiting for it to get late enough to pretend like I had to get home. She got really close to my face, I didn't realize what was happening and suddenly she was kissing me. I didn’t push her away because I was so surprised and confused and kind of grossed out. I felt like I should be enjoying the kiss and I tried to kiss her back because I felt like I should. But I hated it so much! I just couldn’t figure out how to push her away. Eventually, I got her to stop, and I got out of there as quickly as I could. Thankfully, she left France shortly after that, but I still-“

He paused, collecting himself, while Marinette just watched him, her heart pained.

“Ever since then I’ve just been really freaked out about the whole idea of kissing. I just always expected my first real kiss to be something amazing. I spent years imagining it being this wonderful romantic moment with the girl I was in love with, so for it to feel so emotionless and disgusting… I don’t know if I can stand it.”

“I’m so sorry that happened to you. What she did was wrong, and I hate that you had that moment ruined for you.”

Adrien pushed the heels of his hand into his eyes, trying to force back tears. “It’s not actually that bad. I’m just being emotional about it, and I should just get over it.”

“No, you have every right to be upset your moment was taken from you. It would have been one thing if you chose to kiss someone and it wasn’t as good as you wanted. It would still be okay to mourn that moment and feel how you feel about it, but this is a whole other matter.”

“She’s not a bad person-“

“She can be a good person and still do something that hurt you. You are allowed to be hurt, even if she thought she was doing something good.”

“Well, she thought I was okay with it.”

“But you were still hurt. And that’s okay.”

“But-“

“You were still hurt, and it is okay to feel that way,” she spoke softly, but firmly, wishing with all her heart to convey the jumbled feelings she felt for her dear friend.

“I don’t want to feel that way. I don’t want this to be the thing I think about every time someone’s face gets too close to mine! I want to have good memories, I want to fall in love, get married, and have a bunch of kids and a hamster! But That can’t happen if I can’t even kiss someone!”

She leaned closer to rub his back, then paused.

“Is this okay? You can say no,” She said, putting her hand on his back. He nodded not looking up. She made soothing circles between his shoulder blades. 'What about this?" she asked quietly as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

“Yeah, you’re probably one of the people I mind being in my face the least.” He said, his voice thick with unshod tears. “Which is why I thought-“

“You could maybe practice with me.” She finished, her heart breaking more.

He nodded slightly.

“Did you freak out because it felt wrong, or because you felt uncomfortable?” She asked, an idea forming.

“Uh, I’m not sure. Mostly it felt wrong. A little bit because I’m uncomfortable, but having everyone watching and feeling like I had to, freaked me out. it just- It wasn't like how I thought something like this would go.” He sighed again and hit his head against his hands. then continued, almost angry, "I had all these stupid grand ideas of how my first kiss would go, and who it would be. I just need to man up and just do it."

She hummed, her thoughts arranging themselves further.

"No, you don't. You're allowed to want your life to go a certain way, but maybe adapt what you can. I have an idea of how to do that, but I want to ask, do you think you might feel better if you have a good memory to replace the bad one? Something that aligns a little more with your vision? Maybe not all the way, but enough to pretend so you can finish this shoot?”

“Maybe, but I can’t even imagine how I could do that.”

“Would you be able to come back tomorrow night?”

Chapter Text

11 Months ago 

Adrien arrived at the Dupain-Cheng’s in the evening of the next day. His stomach was in knots and he wanted to bolt. He stood across the street in the shadow of their old School building watching Marinette’s parents through the bakery window. Once he went in there was no backing down. Marinette would never be forceful, or unkind, she would understand. 

His father would not.

Adrien could never be sure if returning home after disappointing his father would result in burning anger or stony silence, and he wasn’t sure which was worse. He’d avoided home all day after waking up on Marinette’s floor. Instead of going home he wore the freshly washed clothes from yesterday and went straight to set. He could feel the crew's annoyance in their pointed avoidance of him. Maeva had been lovely and asked if everything was okay, and he lied through his teeth about some emergency or other. The whole shoot was behind schedule, according to an obviously annoyed PA, so they would have to move on for today, but first thing Monday they would redo the failed kissing scene. 

Even without witnessing his father's disapproval firsthand, he could feel the weight of it in the way the directors, producers, and the entire crew treated him all day. They never said anything, but their bitterness was obvious. 

Adrien’s guilt pushed him to the bakery, but his fear gave him pause. 

“Come on kid. You can do this. I doubt she’ll bite. Just imagine she’s a nice brie with some apricot jam and bread!”

“Thinking of cheese will definitely make me want to run away even more.” He replied, mostly teasing his cheese-obsessed friend. 

“Don’t disrespect cheese like that! You should be running to it! Not away!”

Adrien almost smiled. 

He took a deep breath and tried to will his feet to move. He was on the point of texting Marinette he couldn’t do this when he heard his name. He looked around ready to run if he’d been spotted by another tour group, but couldn’t see anything. He heard it again. 

“Look up, idiot.” Plagg hissed from behind his hair.  

He looked up and saw Marinette waving at him frantically. The evening sun lit her in a soft glow as she beamed down at him. He smiled back nervously. She cupped her hand over her mouth. 

“Come up here!” She shouted, leaning over the railing. She was wearing a beautiful tea-length dress, her hair in an elegant updo. She looked so pretty and excited he could feel her infectious good mood from the street. He didn’t even think before jogging across the street and into the bakery. He was waved upstairs by a busy Tom. 

He made it all the way up to the apartment before his nerves came back. He briefly thought of turning back at the base of the stairs leading to Marinette’s room.  before he could give it much thought he was nearing being bowled over by Marinette stampeding down the stairs, practically falling into his arms in her eagerness.

“You’re here!” She said as she righted herself. 

“I am!” He laughed. 

“I was worried you would run away again.”

“I thought about it.” He said, sheepishly.

“That’s okay. If you do want to run away just let me know, and we’ll figure something else out.”

“No, I- I need to do this. If it helps…” 

She nodded in understanding.

“Well, we don’t have to worry about that right now. First, we need to get all the food Papa made upstairs!”

“Food?”

“Yeah, we’re going to have a rooftop picnic!”

He felt something jump in his gut, unsure if it was a pleasant excitement or a nervous sense of irony. He pressed on as Marinette pulled several dishes filled with finger foods out of the fridge. She tried to pile them in her arms, but Adrien quickly intervened, a vision of everything going flying when Marinette eventually tripped flashing before his eyes. 

She held the skylight door open for him as he carried the food up. He set the dishes down and looked at the balcony, the funny feeling in his lower abdomen intensifying. She’d set up a small table with candles, flowers, and a variety of dishes. On the floor was what looked like every pillow in her home and several blankets. There was a speaker playing violin music and dancing twinkle lights overhead. It reminded him so much of when he first told Ladybug he loved her it almost hurt. 

“Marinette, this is…” he said in awe. 

“Is it too much? I can take some of it down. Papa and I both got a little carried away. Sorry. This must be weird, I’ll tone it down.” She moved to clear off the table, but Adrien stopped her. 

“No! No. This is so amazing. You didn’t have to put in this much effort. It must have taken all day!”

“It’s nothing. I had fun, and it kept me out of the bakery all day, so If you’re sure this isn’t too much, then I’m perfectly happy.”

“It’s amazing, this is exactly what 14-year-old Adrien daydreamed about.”

 “I’m glad, plus I think this will be good for both our 14-year-old selves. Sit down, I’m starving!” She sat down cross-legged and patted the spot next to her. He settled down gingerly, careful not to knock anything over. Marinette pulled out a plate and dished a variety of food onto it. She set it down and grabbed a bottle of apple cider and two champagne flutes then reclined against the pillows. 

“I don’t drink, so I got sparkling cider, but I think my parents have a couple of bottles of wine downstairs if you’d rather have that.” She said, pouring a glass. 

“Cider is great. If I lose my courage….”

“Okay. I’ll try to not do anything to make you need it, but just let me know. Remember, anything you decide is okay. This is about you, so what you feel is best goes. It’s not like you’re going to offend me if you change your mind.”

He felt a surge of adoration for the girl beside him that threatened to choke him. He swallowed against the lump in his throat.

“Thank you,” he said, his voice barely a whisper. “You’ve done so much for me, and I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m glad I can help.”

“No, Marinette, seriously. I owe you.”

“No, Adrien, seriously, I’m happy to do it.”

“Thank you anyway.” 

She smiled at him warmly, and Adrien felt a deep need to deflect, wanting to return to the easy laughter he’d ruined.  “Wait, you’re HAPPY to do it? Is it because I’m so handsome?” he said, placing his chin on the back of his hand and batting his eyes at her. It felt forced and he knew he was being ridiculous, but pretending to flirt was his go-to as Chat Noir and he needed to deflate the tension in his own body.

“What? NO!” she said, recoiling. 

 “You wanna smootch me sooo, bad. It’s okay. You can tell me. I’d smooch me too if I could.” he laughed, loosening up as he leaned in wiggling his eyebrows.

“NO! What happened to my awkward friend Adrien? Where did this demon come from!” she said laughing and pushing his face away.

“Well, he felt bad about making you kiss him, but now he knows you are just so eager to smooch him in the face, he’s feeling a lot more confident.”

“Well, Maybe I just like smooching. I have found it pleasurable in the past.”

“Oh, really? Do tell.” He said as he sat back and picked at his plate. 

“I’m not one to kiss and tell, but there may have been one or two nice evenings before I ruined it one way or another.” 

“I doubt you ruined things, you’re my everyday Ladybug, I refuse to believe it.”

“Maybe both Ladybug and I have our many faults,” Marinette said as she popped a mini quiche into her mouth and looked away. He was reminded of their disastrous lunch date after she confessed her love for Chat Noir. He suddenly yearned to be able to joke with her about things like that, wishing he could tell her all about his lady, and the all-consuming love he felt for her. He wished he could tell her that both of them were amazing, even with their alleged faults. 

“What are you thinking about?”

She asked. He realized they’d been sitting in silence for several minutes. He shook himself out of his stupor. 

“Oh, uh. Nothing. Just wondering what we can talk about.” It was close to the truth.

“Well, do you want me to explain my plan for this, and we can adjust it if we have to?”

He nodded, finally biting into one of the small pastries. 

“So, first we eat, and we pretend to be madly in love, you know to get the vibes right because kissing is all about vibes.”

He laughed, “Good to know. Maybe I just have the most atrocious vibes for kissing.”

She laughed at his poor attempt at a joke. “Nah, you have fine vibes, but the vibes were not in the air.  Once we get the vibes right, we can move on to romance, so you’re in the right mood.”

“Isn’t that the same thing as vibes?”

“Not even a little bit. Vibes are about the environment and the person you’re going to be kissing, and the mood is about you. You can have good vibes, but not be in the mood to kiss, or you can want to kiss, but the vibes are off.”

“Okay, when the vibes are right, and I get in the ‘mood’ are we going to kiss?”

“Nope, we still have to get your head in the right place.”

“Come on! That sounds like the same thing as the first two!”

“That’s because you’re not the expert here.”

“Oh, you’re an expert now?”

“More than you.”

He threw his head back with a laugh.  “That is uncalled for!”

“Then don’t doubt my methods.”

“Sorry, sensei Please continue.”

“Headspace is about the way to see the other person. You can have good vibes and want to kiss, but not want to kiss the person in front of you because you just don’t see them like that. So we have to make you comfortable with the idea of kissing the person in front of you.” She said, pointing to her chest.

“Oh, of course. That makes perfect sense.”

“Everything I say makes sense.”

“I wouldn’t say that. There are still things you’ve said that I am trying to decipher to this day.”

“What? No, you’re not! What did I say? Was it the coleslaw? I just used the wrong word!” She leaned forward and pushed his shoulder as he kept laughing at her. “Come one, what did I say that’s so confusing! You’re lying.”

“I am not! The coleslaw thing was confusing, but that’s not one of them.”

“Then what are they?”

“Well, I am wondering what you meant when you said this was good for BOTH our 14-year-old selves. What unfulfilled teenage dream are you trying to fulfill by helping out your weird college friend kiss girls.” He said, wiggling his eyebrows.

“That is not a real question! You said it was stuff you’ve been trying to decipher for a while! That was only a few minutes ago! You’re deflecting, because you can’t think of anything,” she said, sticking her tongue out.

“If anyone is deflecting it’s y-“ she shoved a crème puff into his mouth mid-sentence.

 “Hey!” he said around the pastry creme filling his mouth. He picked up another Puff and shoved it in her mouth. Laughing she pushed his face away, and laughing himself, he fell back against the pillows trying not to choke as he chewed. When he managed to swallow he turned and smiled at his friend. She was lying against the pillows next to him and he was again overwhelmed by the warm feelings she evoked in him.

“You wanna smooch me so bad.” He said to distract himself from the sincerity threatening to overwhelm him and ruin the mood. 

“Oh, whatever. You WISH!” She said rolling her eyes. 

The setting sun made everything glow with a soft warmth. They ate their canapés as the world around them had the same dreamy quality of the fantasies he would fall asleep to. There was something about knowing that this memory would be fuel for his saddest times that made everything so much sweeter so much brighter, and every smile so much wider. He could close his eyes and imagine instead of Marinette it was Ladybug. Her precious giggle and her beautiful blue eyes reminded him so much of his lady. 

When she pulled him up, insisting that they dance, the sky was a fiery, bright red. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned close. He put his hands delicately on her waist and pressed his cheek to her soft raven hair. The day was hot, but the feel of her against him burned more than the sun ever could. Then she asked him the question that would burn even more.

“Tell me about your girl.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Tell me what you like about her, what makes you feel so comfortable around her“

“She’s everything.”

“Okay, Ken. Be more specific, please.”

Adrian laughed, “I mean, she’s everything to me.” Marinette laughed at him again and slapped his chest. “OK OK let me think. She’s so smart. Smarter than me.”

“I doubt that.”

“I don’t mean in an academic sense, I mean that somehow she just can’t think of solutions to problems. I would never have imagined in the first place. I have knowledge. I can recite facts but a strategic solution isn’t always easy for me to come up with on the spot. She looks too cute when she scrunches up her face when she’s trying to figure something out. But there’s so much more about her. She’s brave and she’s kind. When she laughs, it’s like a bell or wind chimes, and when she smiles at me I get all fuzzy inside.”

 “She sounds great.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure she’s the best person in all of Paris if not the world. Although, you take a very close second, again thank you so much for doing this for me“

“Adrian, I think I would do pretty much anything for you. I want you to be happy. You deserve to be happy”

“I’m pretty happy right now, does that mean the vibes are good?”

Marinette laughed, “I think they’re doing pretty good, don’t you”

“Off the charts.”

“Good, good, now, would you say you’re in the mood?”

“Don’t say it like THAT!” he said burning his face further into her hair. 

She laughed again, a sound he was quickly growing attached to causing.

“I didn’t mean it like that! I meant, how are you feeling about everything.”

He hummed in thought as they swayed, her head against his shoulder. He was glad he didn’t have to look at her in the eye as he took an internal survey. 

“I’m feeling good. Comfortable. I'm not nervous if I don’t think about it, but It’s still there in the background.”

“Is it a paralyzing nervousness?”

“No… it’s more like unsure and anticipative? I think?”

“That’s pretty normal.” 

He relaxed further. “Yeah?”

She nodded slightly. 

“What now?” he asked after a few more minutes of dancing. 

“Now, you think about that wonderful everything girl of yours, and you pretend it’s her you’re dancing with. Think of how you would feel, and when you’re ready, you kiss her like you mean it.”

Adrien swallowed.

“Again, when you’re ready.” 

He nodded. After another beat, he asked, “Can we keep talking for a little longer?”

“Of Course, Adrien, anything.” 

“Uh, can you also not call me Adrien?” he asked awkwardly. “Just for right now. She- uh- she only calls me nicknames.”

“Like what?”

“I’d rather not say….”

“Is it something embarrassing like Kitten or stinky?” She said, the repressed smirk obvious in her voice.

“No,” he replied, his voice cracking slightly. 

Marinette gasped. “She calls you Kitten, doesn’t she? Or like Chaton or something?”

“No!”

She tried to pull away to look at his burning face, but he held her close. “She so wishes you were Chat Noir Doesn’t she? Oh my God!”

“No Marinette, it’s not like that!”

“It so is!”

He whined. She seemed to sense his mild distress. 

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine. It’s stupid. I’m just kind of sappy you know? Plus I’m blonde and voiced him in the movies, so you know..” he trailed off, hoping she would believe the lie. 

“Oh, well, that’s actually kind of cute. Okay, Kitten. I’ll refrain from calling you by your name.”

“I should not have told you that.”

“Too late. You told me you like to roleplay as Chat Noir with the girl you like. What’s done is done,” she said rubbing his back. 

He groaned, pretending he wasn’t enjoying the feeling of her hands sliding over his sore muscles and the warm familiar smell of her.

“Hmm, I don’t know if we’re even until you tell me all the sappy things that earned you your embarrassing nickname. You know… to add to the vibes.”

“Do I have to?”

“Yes.”

“Uhhg, Fine. Oh, my dear,” he began in the most sickly sweet voice he could muster to get her off his case, but she stopped him.

“Nuh-uh, you’re pretending to be Chat, you gotta call me M’Lady. It’s the cringiest part.”

He groaned but complied, pulling away for a moment to do an exaggerated bow.

“My Lady,  I adore you, Please may I have this dance?” 

“Oh, Kitten! I would love to.” She said, her hands pressed to her cheeks and one of her legs popping up to show her ‘excitement.’

They both giggled as he pulled her into a formal dance position and whirled her around the small space. They danced and laughed for the duration of the song, but when the next one started he pulled her closer to him again. He pressed a small kiss to her hair and whispered a thank you. 

She reciprocated with a small kiss to his jaw that sent electricity straight to his brain. He closed his eyes and imagined he was with His Lady, that it was her dark hair brushing against his neck as they moved. He rewrote the entire evening in his mind with his partner in mind.

It was surprisingly easy to impose her onto Marinette's words and actions. They really were similar. 

He thought of Ladybug being cradled in his arms and it set his whole body buzzing again. He pressed his nose against her hair, before sliding down to press his lips to her cheek. Her hand moved to the back of his neck as she kissed a spot millimeters from the corner of his lips. He cupped her jaw and aligned their faces. He did not press forward, merely feeling their closeness, lips almost touching as her breath washed over his lips. He couldn’t focus on anything but the image of Ladybug's eyes burning in his brain and the softness of her skin. He sighed and pushed forward.

The kiss was little more than his lips lingering against hers, but it burned through him. She moved her lips slightly, just a repositioning but his heart picked up. He pulled away, his breath heavy.

“Are you-” 

He cut her off with another kiss. This one was deeper, his lips slightly parted as hers moved against his. He followed her lead, pulling her closer with each movement. She parted her lips and slotted them against his.  Sensitive skin brushing against the edge of her teeth. They were as close as two bodies could be, but he wanted more, needed more.

Chapter Text

September: This Year

Marinette felt terrible.

Every noise bounced around her skull painfully, her eyes swam, and her mouth tasted like death and acid. On top of all that, the vague memories from the night before made her wish she had died.

She had made so many terrible choices, and she regretted every single one of them.

Why had she let Alya get her that giant drink? She could have just taken a few sips and pawned it off on someone else. She could have drank it slower. She could have not tried to throw herself at Adrien like the love-sick idiot she is.

Oh, no.

She’d definitely ruined everything.

She could hear noises from the kitchen, and smell some sort of egg being cooked. She breathed deeply through her mouth trying not to vomit on Adrien’s bed. That would just be the perfect way to top off her atrocious behavior. He’d never want to be near her again. She’d have to watch as he fell in love with someone taller, smarter, and better looking than she could ever be, and it would all be her own doing. She knew about his past with people pushing his boundaries, and she’d stomped all over them last night.

She’d have to pull herself back because Adrien would never tell her how much she’d hurt him. He was too good and giving to set his own boundary. No. She’d have to hold herself to a higher standard.

“Marinette? Are you awake?”

She groaned and tried not to vomit as she sat up to see Alya looking as bad as Marinette felt.

“Yeah.” she croaked.

“Do you want me to bring you some breakfast? Adrien picked some stuff up, and he’s making,” Alya swallowed painfully, “...eggs.”

“No, I can make it. I just gotta die first.”

Alya nodded. “I think that water and Pain medicine are for you,” she said walking out.

Marinette’s Conviction to distance herself from Adrien was put to the test almost immediately. There was a large spread of breads and jams, and he was proudly cooking eggs as he quietly joked with a Nino who seemed less hungover than the rest of their friends who’d draped themselves over every available surface in the living room.

Adrien looked like an angel, with the light streaming through the windows lighting him in an ethereal glow. He looked up as she entered the main living area and smiled softly at her. She could see the tightness around his eyes, and the guilt felt heavy against her body. She grabbed a croissant and spread jam on it as Adrien politely asked her how she was feeling.

Too good she thought to herself.

Breakfast was a quiet affair, despite Kim still having enough energy to be a little too loud for Marinette’s pounding headache. Marinette was too busy turning over the apology she’d need to give for her frankly idiotic actions. She decided she’d do it after everyone finished breakfast, and then she’d go home to nurse her hangover and her breaking heart.

She found herself looking at him out of the corner of her eyes, and he quietly chatted with their friends. She couldn’t bear to look him in the eyes, her guilt and embarrassment too much. Each time he turned his head to look at her she quickly turned away, afraid he’d see the selfish part of her longing for things to stay the same.

The entire morning was hellish. After everyone finished, she couldn’t find a single moment to apologize to him. Alya always seemed to be hanging around, looking as though she wanted to say something to one of them. Then Adrien got a call asking him to come to his father's mansion to look at some paperwork or something. Everyone else had someplace to be, and Adrien volunteered to have his bodyguard drop them off on his way. Before she knew it, she’d been ushered out the door with Alix, Luka, and Kim. She didn’t even have the benefit of being the last person dropped off. Her apartment was the closest, so the closest thing she got to an apology was when she bumped into him as he held the door for him. She did manage to whisper, “See you soon,” quietly as Alix’s eyes seemed to bore into them.

Then she had to make a walk of shame into her apartment, and she didn’t even get laid. Once again Margot and Bette were in the living room when she walked in. Bette teased her mercilessly, very heavily implying who she thought she’d been with. Marinette refuted her, but the knowing look in her eye didn’t fade.

Marinette collapsed onto her bed the moment her door was closed a locked. She was hoping for a couple of hours of quiet alone time, but being the guardian meant she was never alone. A fact she was reminded of when all the kwami burst out of their hiding places. She groaned.

“Are you sick, Master Marinette? Do you need a healer?” Daizzi asked, flying close to her face to inspect her sallow face.

“Daizzi, if Master Marinette is sick, she doesn’t want you in her face!” Kaalki said huffily.

“Can everyone give Marinette some space? She’s hungover and needs some rest. She will be fine.” Tikki said shooing her friends away.

They all grumbled but moved to continue the activities they’d been up to before she’d gotten home. Marinette almost laughed at Xuppu’s whispered, “What’s hung over?” but couldn’t summon enough mirth through her self-hatred. Tikki flew back over after ensuring all the kwamis were set up.

“How are you feeling?” she asked quietly.

“Like the worst person on the planet.”

“You’re not the worst person! You just made a mistake.”

“Yeah, a pretty big one. Not only did I fail as Ladybug last night, but I also failed at being a good friend. I don’t know what Master Fu was thinking when he chose me. I should find someone smarter and better to take over.” Marinette lamented.

“No you shouldn’t. You were chosen for a reason-“

Marinette shoved her pillow over her face to muffle Tikki’s pep talk. Her friend fazed right through the pillow and continued extolling Marinette’s virtues, but everything she said rang false. She pushed her pillow away and grabbed her phone.

Marinette: I am SOSOSOSO SO Sorry about the way I acted Last night. I almost messed everything up and I get why you didn’t want to.. do anything. I’m the worst! Delete “I really sucked and if you never…”

Delete

“You said no, and I kept trying to push myself on you, you must hate…”

Delete

“Drunk Marinette sucks, and she’s sorry that she tried to force…”

Delete

“I

She kept staring at the blinking line on her screen, it was mocking her. How was she supposed to convey how much she messed up, without then hurting Adrien? She couldn’t even really break up with him. They weren’t dating, and he was still her partner, so for her, the temptation to fall back into him was too great. She had to do something though!

She sighed, maybe it would be best to just beg forgiveness.

Marinette: “Hey, I’m sorry about how I acted last night. I upset you and almost got us caught. Being drunk was no excuse and I’m sorry.”

“Why did you send that?” Tikki’s voice finally broke through the haze of guilt in Marinette’s mind.

“Because I suck, and he deserves an apology.” Marinette chewed on her thumbnail as the three dots popped to indicate Adrien was Typing.

“You’re impossible!” Tikki sighed exasperatedly.

“You don’t understand this stuff. You’re an immortal being who doesn’t feel attraction, It’s more complicated than you think.”

“I’ve been around longer than humanity, I think I understand relationships a little more than you give me credit for. I also know that Adrien likes you a whole lot, so even if what you did was all that bad, I’m sure he’d forgive you!”

Marinette ignored her platitudes in favor of the text alert dinging from her phone.

Adrien: Please, you have nothing to Apologize for! If anything I’m the one who should be apologizing.

“What?” Marinette and Tikki said in unison.

Marinette quickly typed a slightly incoherent response, unable to fathom why he felt a need to apologize.

Marinette: ??Y???

Adrien: For last night.

Marinette: yes, Again I ask…. Why?

Adrien: I know you were hoping for a… different end to the night, especially after the night before that. So, I get why You were upset.

Marinette Groaned. She really was the worst.

Marinette: You’re seriously apologizing for not wanting to sleep with a disgustingly drunk woman who nearly outed us to all of our friends despite the very valid reasons we specifically don’t want to do that? Really?

Adrien: Yes…..?

Marinette: 🙄. Adrien, you don’t have to apologize for not wanting to sleep with me when I’m drunk.

She loved him. She loved him. She loved him.

She knew he’d have a hard time finding fault in her actions, which is why she needed to be better, but to blame himself was beyond what she could have imagined.

Adrien: but you made that video

Marinette: because I knew you would feel bad that I was a little drunk when you were sober and I didn’t want that to be the reason you said no. It’s not your fault Alya gave me the equivalent of 5 shots and I lost the ability to get the hint that you didn’t want to. I tried to plan ahead and it blew up in my face. I pushed you too much, and I am so so sorry. That was super crappy of me.

Adrien: No, it’s fine. I don’t mind. I just… I guess I felt a little guilty or something I don’t know. I’ll work on it and it’ll be better next time I promise.

Marinette wanted to bang her head against a wall, but her headache was punishment enough for now. She was never going to put him in a position like that again. She had very little faith in her own self-control. She couldn’t remember the number of times she told herself this was the last time before trying her best to crawl into Adrien’s skin through sheer desire alone, but this time had to be different. If nothing else she could promise to never get drunk and hurt the man she loved like that again.

Marinette: No need to get better at anything. You were wonderful, and I sucked so much that there definitely won’t be a next time. It’s too risky.

Marinette threw her phone down on the bed next to her and tried not to cry.

Adrien couldn’t get the phrase, “Definitely won’t be a next time” out of his head.

He’d Screwed up Big time.

He knew what he and Marinette had was technically only physical, so it’s not like she was breaking up with him. There was nothing to break up. Technically.

However, knowing that he’d ruined his one avenue for any sort of physical affection was… devastating. Especially since the last two times she’d been over he’d ruined the evening with his stupid feelings. Of course, she wouldn’t want to sleep with him now she was sober. She probably remembered what a needy emotional wreck he was and decided Adrien wasn’t worth the trouble. What good is a hook-up if you never actually hook up?

He still hadn’t responded. Their entire conversation had happened while he was waiting for Natalie to find the contract for some other new project his father was making him do. She had found it right after Adrien had read Marinette’s not-breakup text forcing him to deal with the sinking in his gut with 2 hours of contract discussion and a 45-minute lecture about taking his bodyguard with him anytime he left the house. His father was unhappy, as usual, that Adrien had been seen out having fun without approval.

Nowadays every public appearance was supposed to be carefully choreographed to maximize impact and minimize unwanted rumors. Adrien has heard it all before, but the idea of showing up with his bodyguard to hang out with his friends bothered him. Or class? How was he supposed to remain anonymous if he had a huge silent man following him around campus? How was he going to visit Marinette and convince her she shouldn’t break off their situationship?

He still couldn’t come up with a good response by the time he got home and he ended up cycling through his many coping mechanisms.

‘Working’ on homework while blasting something loud

Scrolling through his secret social accounts

Ignoring Plaggs terrible advice

And screaming into his pillows

He was doing fantastic.

Which is why when one of the girls in his study group texted about a get-together happening that night he jumped at the distraction. It would be nice to be around a bunch of people his age. Pretending like he wasn’t unduly hurt by Marinette's rejection. The party couldn’t come soon enough.

Marinette did not want to go to the Fashion Major Mixer tonight.

Ollivier texted her to remind her and ask if she was bringing ‘Adi’ with her. ‘Adi’ still hadn’t responded to her text from this morning. Marinette was starting to worry he was mad at her despite his consoling. She didn’t think he’d want to come, but Ollivier insisted she invite him.

Marinette: Hey, do you remember the Fashion party thing I got invited to last week? Do you want to come with me?

Adrien: I did promise someone from my study group I’d stop by her thing…. But I can come right after.

Marinette: Don’t worry about it! You should meet people from your major and stuff. That guy at the booth, Ollivier wanted to know if you were coming. I’ll just tell him you're busy.

He was mad at her! She knew it!

Marinette got ready for the party half-heartedly, the weight of her sins weighing her down. Everything in her closet was stupid and uninspired, and everyone else at the party would know she was a fraud, and she’d fail out of all her classes and she’d end up working for her parents the rest of her life. She didn’t even have Adrien to get her a seamstress position anymore now that she’d hurt him.

Why did he say yes to going to that party? And why on earth did he tell Marinette? How was he supposed to fix everything if she didn’t even wanna see him at the party? Maybe if he had been a better gentleman she would have wanted him there. But the way she worded the text made him think that she probably didn’t. Ollivier wanted to know if you were coming. Yeah, probably because he wanted to swoop in and steal her from him.

Whoa, Adrien. He pushed away from the desk where he’d been angrily scribbling through math problems. I need to calm down. He can’t steal something that is not MINE. He stood up and began to pace. This had to be some sort of misplaced feeling. He pulled up the chart Dr. St. Savier gave him and began working through it as he moved.

After several minutes of trying to pinpoint exactly what he was feeling he grew frustrated. At least that feeling he could define. It was probably something stupid, like feeling abandoned or something. He felt that a lot and Marinette had become such an important part of his life the last year. He didn’t want to lose her friendship. He relied on her too much to have her out of his life.

That had to be it.

Marinette was his best friend besides Nino and Ladybug. Losing her would hurt a lot. He knew he could fix this. He had to. She was mad at him for not sleeping with her last night, so maybe if he… seduced her? If he made her feel really good then she’d have to forgive him for being a total mess.

Yes. This was an excellent plan. He could walk her home from the party, and then they’d go up to her apartment, he was a gentleman after all, he had to make sure she got home safe. Then he could apologize properly to her face, beg for her forgiveness, and turn on the charm. He hurried to get ready, taking extra time to pick out an outfit and fix his hair just right. Once he was sufficiently sexy he grabbed some condoms and his polaroid camera from his bedside table. It was his favorite gift his father had ever gotten him, and it would be a great way to get on her good side. They had often bonded over taking silly pictures and watching the image appear out of the darkness. It was a fool proof plan. He checked his watch anxiously. Still several hours before the party. UGH, why did Parisians have to start partying so late?

Margot had practically dragged Marinette out of the apartment. Marinette had spent half the afternoon passed out and the other half pretending to be productive as she panicked. Marinette and Margot got to the party a half hour late, but so did everyone else. The apartment was packed and had started to spill out into the courtyard. There were dozens of students chatting as music played in the background.

Ollivier greeted her the moment she walked in the door, his smile wide. “My dear Marinette, I’m so glad you’re here. I need you to settle an argument for me since you are probably the resident expert.”

“What makes her the expert?” A girl Marinette didn’t recognize asked snidely. “She’s new, I doubt she knows anything other than what she read in Teen Vogue. I was just talking about this with Madame Allard, the fact you don’t believe me is insane.”

“Oh, shut up Anne, you cow, Marinette just so happens to have worked for Gabriel. You’ve even met him before, correct?” He asked his hands on her shoulders, holding her in place.

“Y-yeah. I was a seamstress there. Why?”

“Do you remember That atrocious Blue and Purple dress he pushed so hard this spring?”

“Yes.”

“Please tell this boot-licking plebe that the only reason he pushed it so hard was because Audrey Bourgeois said she hated it. There is no way he thought it was a dress that would sell commercially. It was covered in absolutely giant fake feathers with a blue leather mini skirt!”

“Audrey Bourgeois has been out of touch for years now! She wouldn’t know high fashion if it bit her in the ass!”

“Audrey has been focusing on classic silhouettes for years now, which is ALWAYS in style and that dress was clearly meant to be an experimental couture dress that Gabriel’s pride made him market it as a commercial product instead.”

“You have to be losing your mind! Audrey JUST put out an article praising Balenciaga's new campaign which is just outfits that belong in the 1960’s Star Trek wardrobe reject pile! The Gabriel dress is far more in touch than that, why is it so hard to believe this was meant for retail?”

“Marientte, do you see what I am dealing with? She’s impossible! Please tell her.”

“Well… I never heard him say anything about why he marketed the dress, but it did get moved from its original place in the lineup, I don’t think it was ever in the Couture Show. But, Adrien did say his father was on a rampage the day after her critique came out and it got moved a couple of days after that.”

“Wait, you MET Adrien?”

“Yeah, We’ve been friends for a while, we met-” The rest of her sentence was lost amongst the squealing that several people let out. They all began talking at once.

“OMG! What’s he like? He always seems so nice. Do you know anything about the movie he’s been shooting?”

“Is he as fit in person as he is in his pictures?”

“Is he single? Because I desperately want to believe that he’s single.”

“Please, I bet he’s a player.”

“I think he has to be gay.”

“You’re just saying that because you want him to be your boyfriend.”

“So what if I do, I don’t-”

“Ladies, Ladies! Calm down! We are losing track of the real conversation! Which is that I am right, and Anne is as always deliriously wrong!”

“Shut the Hell up Olivier.”

The conversation quickly devolved from there. It turned out her accidentally name-dropping Adrien made her very popular with several of the … thirstier members of the program. She was surrounded by people wanting to share their theories about the projects he was working on, or asking what his type was. The more personal the questions got the more she was glad Addrien decided not to come. Especially when people started speculating about his relationship status. She almost had to stifle a giggle when one girl said ‘I bet he sleeps with tons of people a year. I read an article that said he mysteriously disappears from sets all the time to have sex with random models and interns.”

It was odd hearing people give unfiltered opinions of her sex life. They didn’t know that the Venn diagram showing Adrien’s Sex life and her’s was a perfect circle, which is what made it weird. The secret knowledge of what he was actually into when they discussed the ‘weird things’ he was ‘definitely’ into made her want to scream.

Instead, she kept a polite smile plastered to her face with each barrage of questions. She slowly extricated herself from the questions and made it to the kitchen to grab some snacks, and some water for her headache. A few people were hovering near the snacks, including the Chinese Girl who’d been rude the other day. Mia? Marinette was pretty sure it was Mia. She was either flirting or arguing with one of the guys in the program. Marinette couldn’t be sure.

“Dude, you don’t have Blue eyes. Just admit they’re contacts!”

“Asian People can have blue eyes, Idiot.”

“Yeah, Marinette had blue eyes.” This was said by another girl, someone Marinette recognized from one of her classes. The boy turned to look at Marinette.

“See? My eyes are blue! I’ll show you baby pictures.” Mia said her jaw tight, clearly annoyed and trying to draw his attention back to her.

”Are you Asian?” The boy asked, ignoring Mia.

“Yeah, my mom’s from China,” Marinette replied warily.

”Sorry, you just don’t… super look Chinese. Sorry if that was rude.”

”It’s because she’s only half.” Mia jumped in.

Marinette felt the fake smile she’d been wearing all night drop. “She probably got her blue eyes from her white side.” Then, realizing she was undercutting her argument continued “But I have met other people from China with blue eyes, besides my Zǔmǔ, of course! It’s pretty rare, though. Right Marinette?”

Marinette ground her teeth. “Since I’m ‘only half’ Chinese that probably makes me unqualified to say anything, despite actually getting my blue eyes from my Chinese mother. I think I’ll stay out of the discussion of your obviously fake blue contacts. Excuse me.” She left, followed by a few teasing laughs directed toward Mia.

She made her way to the bathroom, feeling nauseous. She passed several groups of people chatting in the hallway and had to push a couple making out in front of the door out of the way. She pressed her face against the cool porcelain sink and missed Adrien. She tried not to miss him, she really did, but his calm presence always made her feel better. She sighed and pulled her pants down to use the restroom only to groan at the slight blood stain on her underwear. She sat on the toilet and dropped her head into her hands. Tikki poked her head out of Marinette’s purse.

”What’s the matter, Marinette?”

”I’ve just started my Period, which explains why I feel so irritable. Plus that Mia girl annoys me.” ”I’m sorry you’re not feeling well. “

”I’ll be okay, I should probably go home before I get into a petty fight and cause an akuma.”

”That’s probably a good idea. Also, Adrien just texted you, maybe you two can walk home together.”

She pulled her phone out of her bag and checked her messages.

Adrien: Hey, how is your party going? If you want I can pick you up when you're done. Then We can hang out maybe…?

Marinette: That sounds nice, but I’m going to have to take a rain check. I’m feeling like crap.

Adrien: oh, no!!! Don’t be sick, you’re so sexy ah ha.

That text made her laugh, glad that he didn’t seem to be seriously upset with her for yesterday. She wanted so badly to have him hold her. She was going to have a very hard time keeping her resolution.

Marinette: Down boy, lol.

Adrien: sorry, do you need me to get you anything? I can get Gorilla to come pick you up.

Marinette: no, I’m just going to head home

Adrien: I’ll come meet you, I’m not far.

Marinette: Seriously, you don’t need to. The fashion girlies are going feral because they found out I know you. You should probably stay away.

Adrien: I’ll meet you at the corner or something. I don’t like the idea of you walking home alone this late.

Marinette: So you think I can’t take care of myself?

Adrien: Honestly? I think you might trip on a leaf and bleed out in some alleyway somewhere.

Marinette: RUDE!! Thats it im definitely not walking home with you

Adrien: mplease let me walk with you 😾

Marinette: Are you Having fun?

Adrien: Please let me walk you? I’m on my way.

Marinette: stay!! I’m already almost home. Have fun! Don’t worry about me

Adrien watched Marinette walk out of the building still clutching his phone. Her texts bounced around his mind. He stepped into a shadow when she looked around to get her bearings. He felt lower than the dirt.

Not only had he ruined their friends-with-benefits relationship, he’d ruined their friendship as well. She now didn’t even want to walk with him. He had a feeling she’d start blowing him off more and more until finally they only ever spoke at group events, then as everyone drifted apart, maybe a wedding or a funeral.

“Kid, I can hear your heart breaking. Just go talk to her.”

“She doesn’t want to talk to me. I’m not gonna bother her. She already does so much for me, I don’t need to bother her more if she doesn’t want me to be there.”

“She probably just wanted you to have fun. You’re in university, isn’t that when you’re supposed to start going a little crazy.? Doing great things like skipping class, getting drunk at parties, you know normal teenager stuff?"

“I don’t know, something seems off”

“Yeah, somethings off. You. Go be a normal teenager.”

“ I really wish I could””