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Chapter Text

It was odd, really, seeing Miss Dupain-Cheng there, wistfully looking out into the plains of grass, looking, for all the world, lost.

No, it wasn't odd that she was sitting on the fence, or that she had her knee pulled up for her heel to rest on the fence post, showing the ruffles of her underskirt, with her other leg dangling off the edge and pulling the red fabric tight against her. Nor was it odd that she was here. Adrien saw Miss Cheng here quite often, actually, on the edge of the forest. But she was always rolling around and laughing or excitedly talking with friends or sitting on a tree, conversing with some animal or perhaps to just herself.

No, it was odd that she had picked the fence, a couple dozen meters away from the forest, and was sitting so still. Still as a bird. Just... staring out into the prairie.

He knows he shouldn't get involved with her. It was only ever bad things that happened when they interacted. Hell, the last time he had even tried to talk to her, they had gotten lost in an underground tunnel. It took them half a day to find a way back to the surface. But for some reason, he didn't feel mad about that. For some reason, he felt an irresistible pull to the raven-haired girl. A girl who was raised in the abandoned ruins of Chinese Buddhist Temples alongside a colony of monks, previously thought dead to the world, brought all the way here to France by some unknown person for some unknown reason. She dressed very well for someone raised in a world distinct and detached from his own. Or anyone else's, for that matter.

Now, if only Miss Cheng would act as nicely as she dressed.

"Miss Dupain-Cheng?"

He hadn't even realized he had moved closer to her until the words had escaped him and she yelped, flinching so hard that she nearly fell off the fence but she caught herself before that could happen. Apparently, he wasn't the only one who hadn't noticed him move closer.

The girl's long, sort of messy braid moved as she turned her head, soon falling to rest behind her. Her blue eyes locked on his green ones, and he felt his breath catch. Why? He couldn't tell you, but there was something about her that made his brain go blank. He assumed it was because of her lack of education, which left him puzzled and confused by her words that appeared to make no sense, even though she seemed to be quite smart and said a lot of philosophical mumbo-jumbo that he really didn't understand. But, no, that couldn't really be it, said some small part of him buried deep within the back of his head. Because if that were it, why does your heartbeat speed up whenever you think of her?

Miss Dupain-Cheng hurriedly got up and straightened out her skirts, patting some dirt off of her bodice before standing up straight. She didn't wear a hat today. She almost always wore a hat, but perhaps today was more peculiar than he had assumed.

He watched as she fidgeted, then gripped her elbow, looking down-trodden and almost shy. No, this was not a Miss Cheng that he knew, and for some reason, it made him angry at some unknown entity to see her like this. Miss Dupain-Cheng was not shy. She was the very opposite of shy. She was loud and spontaneous. She was kind, witty, and funny. Even though she was vaguely aware that not everyone grew up with the same home life, she wanted to do things back from her homeland with them, exciting things that would never be allowed in today's society. Who put her in such a foul mood that she could be shy?

"H... Hi, Doctor Agreste. H-How are you today?" She stuttered, looking up at him as a faint blush dusted her cheeks, an almost neutral look on her face. One he had seen on far too many women in his lifetime. He glanced to her hair when he saw another flash of red. In her hair was a red peony. He wasn't surprised by the flower. It was a flower native to her homeland. It probably brought her comfort. What he was worried about was what it meant. But, no, all the symbolism for a peony are considered good things... that couldn't be it.

Adrien focused his attention back on her, watching her worry her lip at his silence, and decided he shouldn't let her panic.

"Hello, Miss Cheng. Enjoying the countryside? It is quite a beautiful day out today."

The woman before him blinked and seemed confused for a moment, looking up at the sky, seeing the deep blue of it and the soft, white clouds strolling by, then glanced to the green flush of the plains, alit with the sun with the wind lightly blowing over it, creating ripples and making the grass appear like a sea.

"Ah... yes. I suppose it is a beautiful day, isn't it?" She whispered, rubbing her arm slowly. She began her wistful stare at the horizon again, and Adrien felt himself losing her attention rapidly. Something had compelled him to come over and try to cheer her up, and he didn't feel like denying that feeling today. So he cleared his throat and watched as Miss Cheng snapped her head back to stare at him at full attention, her beautiful blue eyes staring right into his and making him falter for a beat too many.

"Er, well, yes, it is quite a beautiful day out, so we ought to enjoy it, should we not?" He put on his best cocky grin, and watched the red on her cheeks deepen, but thought nothing of it. "Well, Miss Cheng, would you like to go to the bakery and enjoy Sunday brunch with me?" He asked as he made his smile soften just a bit. He watched her eyes light up and her mouth part slightly - her full, perfect pink lips with a breath caught between them.

"Really? You'd take me to the bakery?" She asked, a smile lighting her pale features as she bounced a little on her feet. Ah, there's the Dupain-Cheng he knew and tolerated.

He chuckled at her obvious excitement and nodded. He knew she had a fascination with the bakery but only ever tried to go there if she had some sort of excuse. He was happy to give her one. "Of course. I'll even pay - if you behave." He murmured and extended his arm for her to take. "Shall we go, milady?" He said, murmuring his ironic and ill-fitted name for her just to see her smile. And she did.

She took his arm, wrapping hers around it with a smug grin on her face. "Why of course, Chaton." She purred her own nickname for him, and he felt the familiar heat rise to his cheeks, and he released a groan. "I wore those cat ears of yours once, Miss Cheng!"

The ravenette laughed as she walked with him back to town. "But they were so cute on you!" She laughed, "you see, the problem with this world, Dr. Agreste, is that everyone will remember you for that one mistake, no matter how many good things you do." She sighed with a playful smile. But Adrien couldn't find it in himself to even try and deny how happy he was to see her smile.

Chapter Text

Marinette giggled as she separated from the crowd, twirling off and looking over to see her good friend, Monsieur Plagg Lestrange, who was smiling as he stood next to Dr. Agreste, who was grumpily organizing his bag. Her hair was down, resting in long waves on her shoulders and back, shining blue in the lights, and a flower crown rested proudly on the top of her head, adorned with irises, peonies, poppies, and forget-me-nots.

"Miss Cheng! You look beautiful in a flower crown." M. Lestrange called with a happy thrum in his voice. 

Marinette grinned happily. "Plagg! I didn't know you were here. Why didn't you come dance with me?" Marinette smiled as Plagg grabbed her hands, his bright green eyes smiling.

"Oh, I would have loved to dance with you, Miss Cheng, but I had to keep our grumpy friend company." He murmured and turned to glare at Dr. Agreste. "He promised he wouldn't be treating patients all night. I suspect he just doesn't like dancing." He grumbled.

Dr. Agreste looked up and glared back. "I told you that you didn't need to keep me company. I'm a doctor, not an entertainer." He sighed, closing his bag and standing.

Plagg then turned to look at Marinette with a bright smile. "Miss Cheng, I hear you've made it onto a list. A list of the town's most beautiful women?" He asked with a grin, a hint of mischief in his eyes. 

Marinette smiled weakly. "Yeah... I'm 8th. On a list of 9. I'm just ahead of Mademoiselle Haprèle." She sighed and shrugged. 

Plagg grinned and looked to Adrien. "HA! You lost, Doctor!"

"You were the one who forced me to bet!" He groaned, running his hand through his hair, a light pink dusting his cheeks.

Plagg just looked at Marinette with a grin. "He's just mad. With you being new in town and all, I bet you would be near the bottom of the list. Besides, the mayor's daughter always gets the top of the list, it's a joke. Our friend here bet you would get placed second!"

Marinette's heart thumped a little loudly in her chest. "He... H-He did?" 

Adrien huffed and stood up. "I'm going home, the dance is practically over, and it's dark outside."

"Ah, ah, ah! You're not getting away that easily. You still have to take your punishment as a loser. Miss Cheng, may I borrow your crown, please?" He asked as politely as he could.

"My crown..?" Marinette blinked before grinning widely. "Oh, yes! Yes, please, take it." She giggled, handing over the crown of carefully weaved flowers. Plagg grinned and walked over, placing the crown on Dr. Agreste's head, adjusting some hairs before stepping back. He and Marinette stood back, beginning to snicker. 

Adrien sighed. "Really? Do I have to wear this? This completely goes against the dress code for doctors. I'll get a letter from the Ministry if someone sees me like this." 

"Oh, don't be so uptight. It's just until you get home tonight. Marinette, would you be so kind as to escort him?" 

"Oh, certainly." She smiled, grinning as they walked away, and Plagg called after them with a "have fun, kids!"

After they got a little bit away, Marinette smiled. "You can take it off if you want, Doctor, I won't say anything."

"No, it's fine. I get what I get. The last time Plagg lost a bet, I made him wear a dress in public for a whole afternoon."

"You what?"

The walk became silent after that, and as they passed by, Doctor Agreste greeted people, much to their shock. "Bonjour, Mademoiselle Fleur, boys." He greeted politely, and they merely gave startled responses of court, stiff nods with wide eyes or a rather confused "Dr. Agreste...?"

Marinette couldn't stop her giggles.

The next person who happened to pass by was no other than their mayor, Mr. Bourgeois, who looked absolutely perplexed at the sight of the good doctor. "Good evening, Mayor." He greeted politely. The mayor didn't even respond, just flinched as his eyes widened, and Marinette went into a small fit of laughter.

They walked away, and Marinette smiled brightly up at him. "I could have sworn the mayor would have said something."

Adrien smiled for the first time that night. "I did too. The key is looking confident, then no one will assume anything is out of the ordinary, even if their eyes are seeing something that says otherwise."

Marinette grinned. "Well then I believe you won, didn't you, Chat?" She grinned and Adrien rolled his eyes.

"Once, Miss Dupain-Cheng. Once." 

"I don't know why this is so funny to you." Adrien murmured as he watched Marinette laugh again as another person passed them by with a bewildered look on their face. He bent down, plucking a stray piece of young wheat and placing it between his teeth, with all intentions of looking like a farmer hick. "I think this crown suits me."

Marinette burst into another fit of giggles, and Adrien couldn't help but smile. Something about her laughter made him happy, and getting to hear it for the past 10 minutes was certainly a treat.

"You really are enjoying this, aren't you?" He murmured, unknowingly giving her a rather fond look.

"Why, of course, I am! You should attend to your patients like this, messy hair and all!" She giggled, walking up the stairs to the porch of his home, a slight spring in her step. She looked back, glancing him over. "Maybe get rid of the vest. Just the button up, sleeves rolled up. Yeah, that'd be something." She laughed. Her eyes then wandered to his face and a light pink dusted over her cheeks. "Gàn, look at your patients like that, though, and you'll be married before the year's out!" 

Adrien's eyes went wide before he just chuckled, leaning his hand on the wall in front of her as his pale face went red. "How you embarrass me the way you do, I'll never know, but you cursing in Mandarin was something I didn't know I had to hear." He breathed, putting his red face in his hand. Marinette giggled as she rested with her back to the wood, smiling at him.

"Aww, but I thought you liked it when I say nice things to you?" She grinned.

Adrien huffed as he leaned over her. "You only say awkward things!"

Marinette groaned. "Gah, you stopped smiling! Step back." She sighed. "If someone sees you like this, they'll think you're trying to do something... eh... inappropriate." 

"Ha! People know I wouldn't do such a thing."

"Because you're dull?"

"Because I'm a gentleman."

Adrien set his other arm on the wall behind her as well, effectively trapping the beauty there in front of him.

"But they'll expect anything from me, yes?" She grinned, the blush evident on her face.

Adrien was smiling again, but he only knew that because of how his face ached. "I don't know about them, but... I certainly do."

"Really?"

Miss Dupain-Cheng's voice had a hint of challenge in it, and Adrien barely had any time to process that he may have made a mistake before any notions of a mistake left and were replaced with a happy accident.

Because seconds after she had said that, she had grabbed him by the lapels and pressed her lips against his in a flash. He was too shocked to reciprocate, and she had pulled away before he could even fathom what had just happened.

"Hehe!"

Adrien looked down into crystalline blue eyes and felt his face get hot.

"I bet you weren't expecting THAT, were you?"

Adrien stared, unblinking, his green eyes staring into the endless pools of her own eyes.

"B-But you were... daring me to... to..."

Adrien finally remembered to breathe, but still didn't say anything, and he saw the panic suddenly build up in Marinette's face before releasing all at once.

"I'M SO SORRY." She yelled before promptly pushing past his arm and beginning to run off.

"WAIT!"

He grabbed her wrist quickly to stop her. "Marinette, wait, please!"

"It was a joke! I swear I won't do it ag- wait, what did you call me?"

Adrien shook his head and looked into her eyes again. "Look, Mari, I-"

"Adrien?"

The two of them snapped their heads up at the sound of a female's voice, and Marinette looked up to see a woman and man she didn't know, both very blonde, but the man was more of a platinum blonde than the female, who had very yellow-golden hair, set in a neat braid over her shoulder. While she didn't recognize them, Dr. Agreste certainly seemed to and looked a little frightened.

"Mother? Father?" 

Shit.

The woman smiled and waved a little, while the man simply looked stone-faced.

Adrien quickly reached up and gently removed the flower crown, then ran his fingers through his atrocity of what he had once called hair to straighten it out, handing Marinette her flower crown back. "I'm terribly sorry, Miss Cheng. I have to greet my parents." He said softly.

"Oh, uh, don't worry about it." She smiled weakly.

"I'll see you soon."

Marinette bit her lip at the foreboding promise, taking the crown and walking away. She began to set it back on her head, glancing back as Dr. Agreste began to greet and converse with his family.

Marinette turned back on her path, blushing darkly as she touched her fingers to her lips, reminiscing about how his lips felt against her own. This was a memory she would have some difficulty pushing down. 

Marinette looked around excitedly at all the people dancing. They were in the nicest building there in town, a small dance hall, and the townsfolk were celebrating something called the "Autumnal Equinox."

Whatever that was.

While she didn't know what everyone else was doing, for her, this was near the time of a festival from her own country and would calmly celebrate it, even though no one would be doing so with her and certainly wouldn't arrange something for her. After she tired of doing English dances (that was several hours of dancing; some English dances were even more fun than the ones from her home, and she liked to indulge), she wandered off to a balcony, sighing happily as she swayed around. 

While her hair had been done up by her best friend, Alya, and fit the fancy code of the English folk (A braided updo with an adornment in her hair; a white laurel with baby's breath woven into her braid), Marinette's dress this evening was not a traditional English dress, nor was it a traditional Chinese one. She had to get it hand-tailored, but it was a mix between the two of them. The upper half was designed to look like a cheongsam and the narrow but loose skirt came just above her ankles, with pink flowers embroidering the bottom of the skirt and over her chest. The cream dress was beautiful, even if it was untraditional and the leather boots were a bit uncomfortable. She would power through it. At least she didn't have lotus feet and couldn't walk. 

As she swayed out onto the balcony of the dance hall she stopped at the mahogany railing, smiling up at the beams of wood decorated with vines and small flowers, at the bright, full moon, and the stars twinkling overhead. She glanced over and saw a small bouquet of flowers sitting there on the railing. She picked it up delicately, smiling at the collection of light yellow roses and baby's breath. She took a deep whiff of the foreign flowers. She was then reminded of that night - barely a week ago, the last dance they had. Seeing him in something that was completely against his very personality. She took another, more tentative sniff, and the next image that came to mind was the feeling of his lips on hers, and her face went red and she quickly pushed the bouquet down with a frush, her heartbeat accelerating in a way that was not welcome.

"Miss Dupain-Cheng, do you always take things without permission, or is just from me?" 

Marinette squeaked in a way that would have probably gathered a lot more attention had she not been in an area that was mostly deserted, turning around quickly, only to see the reason for her currently rapid heartbeat; Doctor bloody Agreste.

She didn't answer him, and he sighed. "I was hoping to get to talk to you tonight, but you certainly took your time coming out here. You've been dancing without pause for hours."

"Ugh." Marinette turned her head away, folding her hands in front of her, still gripping the bouquet. "I had sort of hoped not to see you."

"Hm? Why's that? Is it because of... the kiss you stole from me?"

"Ergh! You'll never forgive me, will you?!"

Adrien laughed. "What happened, happened! Please, Miss Cheng, that probably wasn't the weirdest thing you've ever done." He said with a grin.

"But definitely the stupidest! Ugh, of all the people I had to play a joke on, it had to be you! I can't stand your sarcasm!" She cried, putting her face in her hands.

Adrien blinked. "Sarcasm...? Miss Cheng, I'd never- you know, really, just forget about it, it's not your fault..." He said sympathetically, placing his hand on her bicep. 

"... if you can't help throwing yourself at me." Marinette's eyes went wide and she gaped at him. "It's called attraction."

"Will you ever tire of laughing at me?!" 

"Sorry, but you're overreacting." He said frankly, smiling much too charmingly at her for her liking.

"Oh really? But you've been avoiding me since then."

"Because I assumed you bitterly regretted what had happened. I see that I wasn't wrong."

There was silence for a moment as the music from inside drifted to them. Adrien smiled almost shyly.

"Listen, Miss Cheng. May I have this dance to make peace with you?"

Marinette blinked, looking up at him with surprise. "Dance? But, you don't dance!" 

"Usually, I don't." He said, bowing politely and holding his hand out to her.

"Oh, should I consider myself lucky, then?" She asked, much more calmly now, moving closer and placing a hand on his shoulder and letting him grab her other. 

Adrien just grinned. "I don't know. Do you feel lucky?" He asked, beginning to waltz with her there in the moonlight. Their conversation was lost to the music playing from inside the hall. Marinette let her emotion fill her up, letting herself feel things she didn't normally, like her speeding heartbeat or the happiness she felt around this blonde, green-eyed man.

She interrupted her own thoughts, grinning up at her dance partner. "You dance well, Dr. Agreste. It's a rather pleasant surprise."

Adrien chuckled. "What kind of school do you think I attended? A gentleman must know how to dance."

Marinette giggled. "Sorry." She murmured.

Adrien smiled. "Don't be. You're a good partner. And... You look beautiful. I didn't expect to see the exotic Miss Cheng in such a lovely dress tonight." He smiled.

Marinette felt a heat rise to her cheeks and tried to focus on moving her feet in the proper rhythm. "Well, I didn't expect to get a dance with a very selective doctor under the moonlight, and yet..."

"Here we are."

They uttered the words at the same time, staring at each other for a moment with some unreadable emotion in either of them. They separated as the music ended, and they bowed politely. "I should go... It's been a pleasure, milady." Adrien uttered quietly.

Marinette bit her lip. "The pleasure was mine, Doctor. Thank you."

"Of course." Adrien walked over and picked up the forgotten bouquet. "But, please, restrain yourself." He murmured with a grin, turning and walking past her. "Don't try and kiss me by surprise... again." He smirked at her and her jaw dropped, staring at him indignantly, but then calmed down by the time he had gotten a few steps away and grinned with amusement.

"Ha. Ha."

"Good night, Miss Cheng."

"Good night, Doctor Agreste."