Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Marinette is a new student at a high-end boarding school for talented students with advanced skills. In her case, fashion design, complex/abstract thinking, and creativity.

One of her new classmates is former teen model Adrien Agreste with whom she gets off on the wrong foot. But normal is subjective, and that certainly applies to Adrien...

As usual, there will be an attempt to put song lyrics in here, with/without modifications. Nothing in this chapter, mind you, but I still wanted to put my stamp on it.

A high-end building heavy with vertical foresting in the center of Paris, France, designed and built with the latest in sustainable architecture, technology, and infrastructure.

In front of the building was a girl of about seventeen, with black hair in pigtails, bright blue eyes, fair skin, wearing a white shirt with a pink flower appliqué under a dark gray blazer, pink pants, and flat shoes. She had a large, rose gold, wheeled suitcase in hand.

Behind her were her parents - a petite, Chinese woman with grey eyes and wearing a cream cheongsam, and a large, bear-like man with brown hair, a mustache, sideburns, and green eyes.

"This is it... Miracle Lycée for the Arts and Sciences!" She said, impressed. "It's even more beautiful in person!"

She turned to her parents and she said, "Papa, maman, thank you so much for letting me come here instead of putting up with François-Dupont for much longer."

"You're welcome, Marinette. If the school wasn't going to hold Chloé accountable, then it was the least we could do to keep you from suffering anymore." Tom, her father, said.

"And you're still in the city, so if you ever need to come by for a visit, you can." Sabine added.

"A fresh start, and hopefully Zoé and I are roommates, or even in the same class," Marinette said. "If Zoé's happy here, then it has to be good."

"Tell her we say hello if you see her," Tom said. "Now, shouldn't we get inside to help you settle into your dorm room?"

"Let's!" Marinette said as she took her suitcase and made a beeline inside.

Immediately, they were in the "lobby" of the school, which was where most of the homerooms and shared spaces were (dining facilities, bathrooms, library). There were multiple wings and levels to the building, including going above and beyond the minimum universal accessibility standards. Marinette looked down and saw the floors were made transparent glass. The basement floor was a bullet monorail system that had several mini, solar-powered bullet trains that would bring students and faculty between campus and other parts of the city.

"Wow..." Marinette said, looking around at the entire building with awe, like a child who'd seen snow for the first time in her life. "It's just as impressive on the inside!"

"Here's the directory... The dorms are upstairs on the next floor." Sabine said.

Marinette and her parents made their way into the dormitory wing of the school. It was coed with the standard boys' only and girls' only rooms, as well as gender-neutral rooms. There was even a large, shared space for gatherings. Marinette looked at the slip that had her room number on it. She looked back up and saw the door to the room.

"There it is." Marinette said as she led her parents over to the door. She took out her key card and scanned it, unlocking the door.

Marinette opened the door and stepped inside. It was a larger room, about a half-size larger than her room back at the bakery. The walls were a basic, neutral cream color. Instead of a loft bed like Marinette had at home, there were two extra long, full-size beds, one on each side of the room. There were desks, outlets, a mini fridge for snacks, the usual basic furniture and furnishings a dorm room would have, including a common area for the students to share.

Half the room was furnished with a lot of superhero merch, Majestia in particular, as well as some kawaii fox-themed trinkets. There were encyclopedias and standard school-issued textbooks, too.

The other half didn't have any furnishings or personalized decorations to it, but Marinette saw it as a blank canvas for her work.

"Hi there!" A voice spoke, and Marinette looked over to the occupied desk.

There, Marinette saw a girl with dark red, wavy hair, tan skin, and hazel eyes behind glasses. She'd stopped what she was doing on her laptop and turned around in her spinning chair to give them a smile.

"You must be my roommate," Marinette spoke as she approached the girl. "I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

"Alya Césaire, head of the school blog and newspaper," Alya responded as she put her hand out to shake. "As well as a big Majestia fan. I've been waiting for you."

"Really?" Marinette asked, smiling.

"Yeah! I've had this room all to myself. Don't get me wrong, I like having the extra space and privacy, especially when I want to be alone with my boyfriend, but I've been looking forward to having a roommate I can be gal-pals with." Alya responded.

"That's great, me too!" Marinette said, smiling.

"So, want me to help you make your part of the room your own?" Alya asked as she stood up with a smile.

"I'd love that!" Marinette said.

"Then let's get started!" Sabine spoke.

Once the family, with Alya's assistance, was finished furnishing Marinette's part of the room, the upcoming fashion designer's style of pink and neutral tones was on full display. They brought in a folding shelving unit for Marinette's fabrics, trimmings, and tools. They set up another desk for Marinette's sewing machine, too.

"This is perfect!" Marinette said as she and her family looked at her new setup.

"So... You think it's time for us to go?" Tom said, sounding choked up.

"It is. Let's give Marinette her space to get acclimated," Sabine agreed. Marinette turned to her. "Honey, make sure to call or visit us whenever you can or if you need anything."

"Since you're still in Paris, we expect you to come by for Saturday night dinner every week!" Tom insisted, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Okay, okay, I will!" Marinette laughed.

"And I almost forgot!" Tom said as he let go of Marinette and he gave her a huge box with their bakery's logo on it. "I think you'll need these in your classroom tomorrow: mini boxes of assorted macarons!"

"Thanks, dad!" Marinette said as she took the box and put them on her desk. "This is perfect! I'll be sure to give them out to my classmates tomorrow!"

She hugged her parents again. They stayed there for a few minutes.

When they left, Marinette and Alya immediately started talking to each other.

"So you're here for the fashion program?" Alya asked, looking interested.

"I sure am!" Marinette confirmed. "What about you?"

"I'm in the journalism division," Alya told her. "I can't wait for you to meet the rest of the girls! Rose, Juleka, Myléne, Alix, Zoé-"

"Wait, Zoé? As in Zoé Lee, Mayor Bourgeois's stepdaughter?" Marinette asked, a smile growing her face.

"Yeah, that's her. Why?" Alya questioned, quirking an eyebrow.

"What a coincidence! She and I are already good friends. In fact, she's the person who recommended I transfer here." Marinette responded.

"Really?!" Alya asked, smiling in surprise.

"Yep! I met Zoé before I learned she and Chloé are maternal half-sisters. Once I got her to open up to me about why she was acting like... Well, like Chloé, she and I became friends, and we both began standing up to that sister of hers." Marinette explained.

Alya laughed, her arms around her stomach.

"So you're the friend that Zoé mentioned was transferring here! Any friend of Zoé's is a friend of mine." Alya said, before holding her hand out for a fist bump.

Marinette returned the gesture. They bumped fists and said, "Pound it!"

One restful sleep later, and Marinette was up and at em', ready for her first class. And the best part? She, Alya, and Zoé were in the same homeroom!

The girl changed into a homemade outfit resembling a private school uniform in her usual color scheme. It consisted of a dark grey, waist-length Eton jacket similar to her earlier blazer. It was worn over a white pullover blouse that had fitted bracelet sleeves with French cuffs, and her standard appliqué on it. The blouse was tucked into a pink, banded knee-length skirt. Finally, Marinette was white knee-length nylon stockings and dark grey flat Mary Jane shoes. As always, her hair was in its pigtails.

"Girl, did you make that ensemble on your own?!" Alya asked, examining Marinette as she looked in the mirror to make sure nothing was off.

"Sure did," Marinette said as she turned to face Alya. "I thought that since I'm in the fashion division, why not show off a little bit?"

"That's the spirit, Marinette!" Alya said as she went to the door of their room. "The rest of the girls are going to be happy to meet you."

"I can't wait! Let's go!" Marinette said.

"Hold on, girl, aren't you forgetting something?" Alya asked, pointing out the macaron boxes that sat at her desk.

"Oh, that's right!" Marinette said as she grabbed the macarons before leaving out the door.

They left their room to get to their homeroom class for attendance - and just Marinette's luck, she shared her homeroom with Alya, too!

The classes were set up as follows: students would be organized in a traditional homeroom format with one teacher, but once homeroom was done, everyone would split off and attend the classes specific to their program, but they would be required to come back to their homeroom for general education courses. Another plus to how the school was structured, there wasn't any rush on assignments, pressure to achieve good grades, or tight/strict deadlines for certain projects. They were encouraged to learn at their own pace and do their assignments in ways that they learned the best, playing to their strengths. This included the option of repeating assignments multiple times if necessary. This was to accommodate any outside factors beyond the students' control, their individual learning styles, and to make sure their experience wasn't stressful or traumatic.

When Alya brought Marinette to the room, she opened the door and said, "Morning, everyone!"

"Morning, Alya!" The rest of the class said with big smiles.

Marinette followed Alya inside and she went right to their teacher - Mlle. Caline Bustier - who was standing in front of the class. Alya went to her seat, which was at a shared, empty bench. She was sitting behind a somewhat taller boy with tan skin, golden eyes behind glasses, wearing a red cap. He turned around and put his hand on hers.

'So that must be Alya's boyfriend.' Marinette thought, smiling.

"Alright, class, we have a new student joining our homeroom today," Caline said before gesturing to Marinette. "Please, introduce yourself if you feel comfortable doing so."

Marinette gave a nod before turning to her classmates and saying, "My name's Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and I'm here to study fashion design. I'm happy to be here, given this school's reputation."

"Well, welcome, Marinette," Mlle. Bustier said with a smile. "Now, let's see if there's an open seat somewhere..."

"Before that," Marinette said before presenting the macaron boxes. "Courtesy of my parents' bakery, I brought everyone mini variety boxes of macarons!"

Everyone started chattering in delight, and Marinette began passing the small boxes out to everyone's seats. When she got to a seat further in the back, she smiled at a familiar face: Zoé.

"Hi, Zoé!" She greeted as she gave her blue-eyed blonde friend a macaron box.

"Same school and same homeroom? What luck!" Zoé commented with a smile as she received the box.

"I know!" Marinette giggled.

When she came over to Alya's boyfriend, she saw the seat next to him was empty.

"Hey, does anyone sit here?" Marinette asked.

"Right, dudette," He spoke with a smile. "The name's Nino Lahiffe. Head of the school radio."

"Nice to meet you." Marinette greeted as she put a mini box in Nino's hand and one in the seat next to him.

Once all the macarons were passed out, Marinette looked around to see if there was an empty spot for her to sit in. Alya pat the spot next to her with a grin. Marinette took this invitation with a smile, sitting down next to Alya.

After another two minutes of chatting up her new bestie, the door opened again.

"Sorry I'm late!" A masculine voice said, sounding apologetic.

"No worries, Adrien," Caline spoke. "Just make sure you manage your time a little better."

"Y-Yes, Mlle. Bustier." He spoke.

Marinette wasn't paying attention to him, still talking to Alya.

"Hey, dude." Nino said as he did a fist-bump with his table mate.

"Thanks for waiting for me." Adrien said as he went to sit down.

"Dude, wait! There's-" Nino spoke, but there was a crunching sound interrupting him as Adrien sat down.

He shot out of his seat with a yelp and looked at the crushed macaron box there.

"Hey, who put this here?!" He said as he picked the up box.

"I did." Marinette said, breaking her face away from Alya to look at who sat on her goodwill gift.

Blonde hair, green eyes, sun-kissed skin, and tasteful, yet casual clothes. Instantly, she recognized him.

"Wait, aren't you Adrien Agreste?" Marinette questioned, more surprised than anything to see him at her new school.

"Yes," He responded, sounding bored, like he'd been asked that a million times. "You put this box of macarons here? That's a new one."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Marinette asked, standing up with her hands on her hips, as she watched him taste the crushed cookie.

"I've never had a fan transfer to school just to give me macarons before," He commented, acting like it was an everyday thing. He smiled at the flavor. "Especially passion fruit macarons. My favorite."

'What the hell is with this guy?!' Marinette thought, irked.

"In case you hadn't noticed, I put macaron boxes at everyone's seats." Marinette said as she gestured around the classroom.

Adrien did a brief once-over at his peers, and a look of embarrassment passed over his face.

"But still, how'd you know passion fruit is my favorite?" Adrien questioned, looking between the busted box in his hand and at Marinette. He still seemed skeptical.

"That's just it: I didn't," Marinette stated, sounding exasperated. "My parents just sent me in with a bunch of mini variety boxes, and I passed them out at random. Hell, I didn't even know you attended this school!"

"Y... Really?" Adrien asked, sounding surprised.

"Of course! I've got no control over what flavors my parents put in the boxes!" Marinette responded, looking at him with major ire. "Don't act like you're above us all! It was bad enough I had to deal with Chloé Bourgeois back at my old school, I don't need a male version of her hassling me here!"

Adrien looked taken aback, and he was stunned silent. Marinette kept her eyes on him as he fidgeted a bit, looking unsure of himself. Still cautious, Marinette watched him, anticipating his next move.

Adrien opened his mouth and said, "I think-"

"Alright, that's enough." Mlle. Bustier interrupted as she started taking attendance, marking Adrien late.

Adrien gave her one last look, a hurt expression on his face, and he merely sat down next to Nino.

'Good. That ought to put him in his place.' Marinette thought, satisfied.

She sat back down in her seat next to Alya. Marinette turned and watched her new bestie chew the macaron in delight.

"Too bad you sat on the cookies, Adrien. They're da-YUM good!" Alya teased as she popped the last of the lemon-poppy seed macaron in her mouth.

Adrien gave Alya a petulant expression before looking at Marinette for a second. He turned to face the blackboard and sighed in dismay.

"Sorry, dude. I was about to warn you those macarons were there," Nino said in a rueful tone. "Hopefully, she gets over it."

"Me too. But calling me a male version of Chloé?" Adrien muttered. "That's low. She's no friend of mine."

Nino looked at his box of macarons, and he saw a passion fruit one. He handed it to Adrien. The blonde gave a grateful smile to Nino before taking a bite. He brightened in delight.

"Hey! Marinette, right?" Adrien asked, trying to get the girl's attention.

Marinette looked at him with a scowl.

"Listen, I'm so-" Adrien began, but Marinette put a hand up to stop him.

"Just enjoy the macaron." Marinette interrupted in a terse tone before turning back to talk to Alya.

'Not even ten minutes in, and I already know who's friend and who's foe,' Marinette thought, side-eying Adrien in caution before looking at Alya and Zoé with a smile. 'It's great to share a homeroom with Zoé. And Alya will be a great BFF and roommate. M. Conceited Blonde aside, everyone else in this classroom seems nice, too.'

After attendance was taken, Marinette got to talking with the rest of the class, mainly the girls.

"So, you transferred here on Zoé's recommendation, right?" Myléne asked to confirm.

"Yeah," Marinette explained before turning to their blonde gal-pal. "You're so lucky you attend this school, Zoé. I've heard great things about it from you."

"At my last boarding school back in New York, I was forced to play a part. Being someone I wasn't," Zoé confessed. "But soon enough, I couldn't keep the act up anymore, and then I found roaches in my locker."

"And Chloé did the same thing to me once, too!" Marinette said, empathy on her face.

"What a bitch," Alya said, disgusted at Chloé. "So glad you two started coming here."

The girls laughed. Marinette felt eyes on her, and she turned to look where they were coming from. Sure, there was Adrien, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, looking at her as if trying to figure her out. She rolled her eyes before going back to talking to her new friends.

"What's his deal?" Marinette asked under her breath, a sour tone.

"Oh, you mean Adrien?" Alix questioned. Marinette gave an annoyed nod.

"Don't worry about him. He's popular with the girls, and quite a few boys, too." Alya said, waving it off.

"Comes with the territory of being a former male model, I guess." Juleka mumbled.

Marinette scoffed and said, "That figures. Explains his ego."

"Marinette, you've got him pegged wrong," Rose said. "He's one of the most humble and understanding guys in school. Maybe you just caught him on a bad day?"

"Caught him on a bad day, huh?" Marinette repeated, sarcastic. "Doesn't matter as long as he leaves me alone."

The girls gave Marinette pensive looks.

Once homeroom was let out, Marinette made a beeline to her first class on her schedule: color theory. This class had an intersectional vibe to it - students from other programs were in the class too, ranging from graphic design and book illustration to digital character creation and embroidery. Even culinary/baking students were in there with food colorings/ingredients as their mediums. And Marinette shared this class with Nathaniel Kurtzburg, one of her classmates from homeroom.

"So you're in the visual arts program?" Marinette asked as she worked on organizing fabric swatches into different color schemes - analogous, complimentary, split complimentary.

"Sure am. My focus is on comic books." The blue-eyed redhead said as he sketched out a few new characters for his comics, while showing Marinette a few examples of his past works.

"Wow!" Marinette spoke as she looked over his sketches. "This is professional-level work!"

"Merci," He spoke, a red tint in his face. "Maybe you could help me out on sketching clothing movement? That's one of my weaknesses."

"Okay." Marinette said with a nod as she started using the color schemes she came up with to sketch some new outfits for the project.

Art history class was another fun one, especially since her classmate, Alix Kubdel, was an expert on the subject. And she'd been paired with Alix for a little exercise.

"So, let me get this straight: the Archaic Period of ancient Greece came about as a consequence of increased trade and cultural influences from surrounding regions?" Marinette summarized as she and Alix sorted the images of different pottery and sculpture pieces from different art periods from Greece.

"Yep. Greek artwork had more realism in their human figures because of the advances in technology. Two major art styles, black-figure and red-figure pottery, emerged from it, too. Most pottery pieces had the same side handles, wide centers, and long necks, but the shape of the piece indicated its use." Alix explained while pointing out the pictures.

"That's incredible!" Marinette spoke. "You're good at this!"

"My dad's the curator at the Louvre Museum, so I've been taught by the best." Alix said, thumb-jerking at herself in pride. Marinette laughed at her pink-haired peer.

Between classes, Marinette was walking the halls, looking at her surroundings with delight. There were balconies at some of the windows that had space for the vertical forest, including native flowers and trees.

'The atmosphere's so peaceful,' Marinette thought, smiling at such a happy contrast. 'It's such a wholesome environment. The teachers are so patient and they encourage interdisciplinary learning in these classes.'

Several other students walked by and waved hello to her, which she returned.

'My peers are so friendly here, too!' Marinette thought.

Back at François-Dupont, if anyone even so much as smiled at Marinette, Chloé would not let it slide. They'd be targeted by the brat, and Marinette would suffer even more. And every time she filed a complaint against the school, M. Damocles would either ignore it, or if he tried to hold Chloé accountable, she'd pull out the "mayor's daughter" card and get away with murder.

She spent so much energy trying to fight for what was right, but it didn't take long for her to get burned out from it. Constantly walking on eggshells, nobody willing to be her partner on school assignments, But minus that little hiccup with Adrien earlier, Marinette was all but certain her time at this new school would be smooth sailing.

Marinette made her way to the locker areas of the school and found her assigned locker. Next thing she knew, her foot caught on something, she screamed and flailed her arms, and she landed on her stomach. She groaned and looked behind her to see she'd dripped on a duffle bag strap.

"Sorry, that's mine!" A familiar voice spoke. Marinette looked up and saw Adrien was looking down at her in concern. He held his hand out.

"Oh, it's yours, huh?" Marinette griped as she pulled her legs up underneath her and stood up.

Adrien protested, "I didn't put my duffle bag there to trip you on purpose!"

Realizing nobody else was in there and Adrien seemed to be minding his own business, Marinette took a deep breath to calm herself down.

'He must've assumed that nobody else was going to come in, or at least thought they'd watch their feet...' Marinette thought, realizing she hadn't done so.

She said, "...Okay. I'll give you a pass this time, since I wasn't watching where I was going."

Adrien gave her a shocked, almost disgusted expression as Marinette made her way to her assigned locker, which was only two lockers down from his own. She opened it and saw it hadn't been tampered with. Smiling, she made her exchange before shutting the locker door.

"Marinette, listen, I-" Adrien began, but once again, Mairnette put a hand up to silence him.

She picked up her bag and walked right past him, this time walking around his duffle bag and leaving to get to her next class - back to their homeroom for physics. Internally, she groaned. Not her strong suit.

She was sitting next to Alya and trying her best to read the equations up on the board, but to her, it wasn't any different than reading a language she couldn't understand. In her eyes, the symbols and numbers came to life, turned into stick figures, and started dancing a tango. She was scratching her head in confusion.

"Having trouble?" Alya asked.

"Yeah," Marinette said. "I can't make sense of these equations."

She craned her head behind her to look at a shorter, dark-skinned boy wearing green and had glasses on his face. There was a small robot hovering next to him. The little machine had a small screen with eyes and a robotic arm.

Marinette turned back to Alya and whispered, "Maybe I should ask Max for help? I know I've only met him today, but I get the feeling that STEM concepts are his niche."

"You're right, STEM is his forté. But you know, Adrien's pretty good at physics, too," Alya commented, jerking her head to the blonde in front of them. "Why don't you ask him to tutor you?"

Marinette gave her best friend a look that said, "Don't even think about it."

Alya shrugged with a "whatever" expression before turning back to the chalkboard to look over the formulas.

During lunch, Marinette sat with the girls, eating a great meal with them. Marinette looked up and saw the menu was well-balanced and high-quality. And a few students were bustling in the kitchen, too.

"So the culinary students take turns cooking the meals and desserts here?" Marinette asked while eating a bite of Colombo. "Tastes great! They're going a good job!"

"Yeah, and get this: my mom comes in as a guest chef instructor sometimes." Alya responded.

"Awesome!" Marinette laughed.

She looked at her surroundings, amazed at how beautiful her new school was. But as she scanned the cafeteria, she saw Adrien - who was sitting with his group of guy friends - was looking at her with a blank expression. Once he realized she was looking at him, he gave a wave. In response, she puffed out her cheeks in annoyance before refocusing on her food.

Adrien's expression deflated, he gave a snort before turning back to his group, continuing to eat.

"You okay, dude?" Nino asked.

"No. I'm still replaying what happened in homeroom in my mind," Adrien muttered. "And when she tripped on my duffle bag earlier, it only got worse."

"Have you tried talking to her?" Marc - a boy with black hair and green eyes, wearing a bit of makeup - asked.

"I want to, but she won't give me the time of day," Adrien added. "I can't process this... One mistake and she's already looking at me like I dumped a bucket of garbage on her head."

The boys looked at Adrien in worry, but Ivan got that "lightbulb" look on his face.

"Hey, I just remembered: she sits behind you in homeroom, doesn't she?" Ivan asked.

The boys looked at each other, and an idea started forming...

That evening, Marinette was at her sewing machine in her dorm room, working on some of her assignments for one of her fashion courses. She was humming and singing along to one of her favorite Clara Nightingale songs.

Her phone started going off, and she saw she had a video call from her mother.

She answered it and said, "Maman, great to see you!"

"Hi, sweetie. How was today?" Sabine asked.

"Maman, today was almost perfect!" Marinette laughed.

"Almost?" Sabine asked, sounding a bit confused.

"What do you mean, almost?" Tom questioned before pushing himself into view.

Marinette gave an abbreviated recount of her encounters with Adrien, deliberately leaving out his name and description.

"Honey, it doesn't seem like he was actively going out of his way to antagonize you," Sabine reasoned. "Yes, he was acting full of himself, but calling him a male Chloé? Wasn't that uncalled for?"

Marinette scoffed before telling her parents, "Calling me a fan that transferred to Miracle Lycée just to give him macarons was uncalled for."

"Also true, but I think you should still talk to him about what happened and apologize to him." Tom said to her.

Marinette went silent for a little bit...

"Hey girl, you at a good stopping point?" Alya asked as she came up behind Marinette.

"Sure, why?" Marinette questioned, turning away from the sewing machine.

"Everyone's outside, waiting for us. We have something for you. Come on!" Alya said as she gave Marinette a "come on" motion with her arm and went over to the door.

"Okay," Marinette said before turning back to her phone. "Sorry, I gotta go."

"Have fun, honey." Sabine said.

Marinette gave a smile before hanging up, getting out of her seat and following Alya.

Alya brought Marinette out to the shared space in the dormitory area. Their entire homeroom class was there, as well as some other faces Marinette didn't recognize - Marc was there, along with a girl with short, dark hair, brown, almond-shaped eyes, and wearing a Japanese school uniform. She was holding hands with a boy who could easily be Adrien's identical twin brother, but his clothes were more formal and his hair was slicked back heavily.

"Hey guys, we're here." Alya called to the group.

"So, you're Marinette?" The Japanese girl spoke, approaching. "I'm Kagami."

"Nice to meet you! And are you Adrien's twin brother?" Marinette spoke before addressing Kagami's companion.

"Actually, Adrien is my maternal cousin," Félix said, his tone a bit forced. "Our mothers are identical twins."

"Oops, sorry." Marinette said, feeling awkward.

"Don't worry, we get that a lot." Félix said, still holding Kagami's hand.

"So, what's all this?" Marinette asked as everyone gathered around for something.

"This school has a tradition for new students, whether they come up from the collége or are transfers," Rose spoke. "Initiation time!"

"I-Initiation?" Marinette asked, sounding nervous. Her body went stiff and her eyes went wide.

"Don't worry, it's nothing dangerous or illegal." Alya assured, coming up next to Marinette with her arms crossed and a smile.

"School's always had a strict policy against hazing," Juleka mumbled. "Principal Fu's ahead of his time like that."

Marinette gave a relieved sigh before asking, "Then what's my task?"

"It's just an escape room game. Usually, it's three rooms at most, sometimes at opposite sides of the building." Ivan explained. Hearing this, Marinette's face changed from trepidation to excitement, her smile growing.

"The areas of the school that get turned into the escape rooms is selected at random, using Markov's AI random word generator," Max continued, gesturing to Markov. "This way we keep things unpredictable and interesting."

"And each room has a time limit of ninety minutes without any rollover. We just reset the clock every time you clear a room." Alix added.

"Doesn't matter whether or not you finish on time, though." Juleka murmured.

"You know how escape rooms work, right?" Nino asked Marinette.

"Yep. I've done a few," Marinette confirmed with a grin. "This should be fun."

"That's the spirit, girl!" Alya said as she and Marinette did a fist-bump. "Now, as for your partner..."

"A partner?" Marinette asked, a brow quirking.

"It's a safety precaution. Whenever it's only one new student getting initiated, the rule is that the student that sits in front of them is their partner." Sabrina explained.

"That would be me." Adrien said as he approached Marinette, with that same blank look on his face.

She returned the expression, but there was a subtle tension in her eyes.

'Why did it have to be this guy?' Marinette thought, trying to keep her discomfort and anxiety under wraps.

"Okay, so your escape room challenge will be in the library," Zoé spoke. "It's one of the bigger facilities at the school."

"Once you get there, Adrien will text Nino to let us know and then we'll start the clock," Myléne instructed. "Keep us updated, and text us pictures every time you think you've solved a clue, then we can tell you if you can keep going or if you have to try again."

"If we think you're taking too long on a clue, we'll drop a few hints via text." Alya added.

"Got it," Marinette said before turning to Adrien with a cold expression. "Let's get going."

She started walking away from the group to get to the library, all but ignoring Adrien's presence. Adrien took a deep breath before following after her.

"...You think it'll be okay?" Félix asked, leaning in closer to Nino.

"I'm sure, dude," Nino responded. "Once those two clear the air, I'm sure they'll get along fine."

"That's not what I meant." Félix spoke, giving Nino a knowing look.

"Then what... Oh." Nino said, realization coming upon his face.

Alright, that's it for chapter one! Sorry for the hiatus, I've been busy and I couldn't figure out a good plot for a story. Even now, I'm still trying to figure out how this one is going to go, even though I have a few pieces put in.

Anyway, coming up, now that she's forced to work with him for her initiation, Marinette finds out a little more about her new classmate...

The more comments and kudos this story gets, the better, and don't be afraid to drop plot ideas in your comments, either. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Text

Time for chapter two! And seriously, guys, more comments and kudos, the better. The token one or two comments isn't enough for me. Now, let's roll the next part of the show.

When they got to the library, they found the first clue at the door, which was a crossword puzzle. Marinette was able to solve most of the clues, but with major reluctance, she had to let Adrien help her solve the ones she had doubts about.

"All these words are about stuff you'd find in a Sci-Fi story," Marinette spoke as she looked over the completed crossword, meanwhile Adrien took a picture and sent it to the group. "Next clue's probably in a Sci-Fi book in the library that has all of these words in it."

"Good thinking!" Adrien praised with awe, though it sounded a touch forced.

He got an alert to his phone and he picked it up to see he got a thumb's up tapback, indicating they were right. He showed the screen to Marinette.

"Okay, let's go." Marinette spoke as she put her hand on the library door. She opened it and they their way inside to the Sci-Fi section.

She took out a few books that matched the hints that were in the earlier clue and she opened them up. She flipped through the pages, but every time she hit a dead end, she would put the book back. Adrien was on the opposite side of the aisle, his back towards Marinette. Just as well, since Marinette didn't want to deal with him more than she had to.

'This sucks!' Marinette thought as she kept taking books out and putting them back. 'Being paired with Adrien for this escape room! Why couldn't I have asked Alya to go with me instead?'

He was the last person she wanted to be alone with right now. After she reamed him that morning? There's no way he was actually willing to do this with her! Maybe he was only playing by the rules because he wanted to look good? Or maybe he had a nasty trick up his sleeve, like Chloé? Marinette felt her stomach twist at the thought.

"Any luck?" Adrien asked, looking through more of the books.

"Nothing," Marinette said, making sure her back was still to him. "What about you?"

"Same here." Adrien said as he put his book back.

A long, awkward pause of silence. But since they were on a time limit...

"Maybe we should revisit the clue?" Marinette suggested, trying to keep a professional tone of voice.

"...Yeah." Adrien agreed as he walked over to her with his phone in hand to look over the picture of the crossword.

A few more seconds of silence. The tension was so thick, it could be cut with a knife.

'Of all people to do this with me, Chloé's male doppelgänger.' Marinette thought, trying to ignore him while also making sure to focus on finding the next clue.

She didn't see Adrien take a deep breath before looking at her with an adamant look on his face, and opening his mouth.

"L-Listen, Marinette, about before in homeroom..." Adrien said, trying to be tactful.

Marinette's skin got goosebumps and she got on her guard. She looked at him out of her peripheral vision.

"What about it?" Marinette questioned, her tone sounding testy.

"I... I didn't like how you called me a male Chloé," Adrien confessed, looking at her with a sad, pained expression. "It was hurtful, how you made a snap judgement before getting to know me."

Marinette turned to face him with a disgusted look. She snorted, retorting, "Adrien, you're throwing stones while living in a glass house. You railed at me for the macarons and acted like I was a huge fan of yours - do you have any idea how pompous you sounded?"

Adrien grimaced in discomfort. He took a deep breath and sighed in defeat. He looked at Marinette and admitted, "Okay, you're right. But that doesn't explain why you compared me to Chloé."

"Like I said before, Chloé was my bully back at Françios-Dupont," Marinette explained. "My misery at her hands went on for years, and the school didn't do anything to get her to stop. That's why I transferred here."

Hearing this, Adrien's breath caught.

Marinette moved her head away from him, trying to hold back cries and tears. It seemed to be working.

After a minute of quiet, Adrien looked askance for a second before saying, "If she was that cruel to you for that long, then your defensiveness makes sense."

"Yeah." Marinette affirmed, crossing her arms.

"And..." Adrien began, and Marinette looked back at him with caution. She saw the guilt and humiliation in his body language.

"Once you pointed out that you gave macarons to everyone, I felt imbecilic for acting that way. I'm so used to girls trying to hunt me down and give me presents that I jumped to conclusions, too." Adrien sighed.

Marinette saw he was shuffling his feet and his hands were in his pockets. Marinette felt her temper subside, and her eyes softened.

"But... That doesn't make what I said to you okay." Adrien added.

"Same applies to me. Looks like we were both in the wrong." Marinette admitted.

"Yeah," Adrien agreed, still not looking at Marinette. "I'm sorry."

Hearing the sincerity in his tone, Marinette stepped closer to him and looked at his face. The mix of rue and disgrace was palpable. Unlike Chloé - an unrepentant, remorseless brat who didn't care about anything other than power and herself - this guy seemed to have more compassion and kindness in him.

'Maybe I should extend the olive branch. After all, if I hadn't kept an open mind about Zoé and let her explain herself, she and I wouldn't be friends.' Marinette thought.

"I am, too." Marinette responded to him.

He forced himself to meet her eyes and smile. She returned it before putting her hand out.

Adrien returned it, and they shook hands. Marinette's smile grew a bit as she pulled her hand back, and refocused on putting the books away. She didn't notice Adrien come up beside her. He reached over to one in the stack, but he accidentally knocked it over.

They both stooped down to pick up the book. Their hands brushed, and they ended up bumping their heads together.

"Ow!" Marinette said, wincing.

They looked at each other and collectively said, "Oh, I'm sorry."

Realizing what they did, their mouths turned into smiles, and they laughed. Once they came down from that high, they sighed to catch their breath.

"So..." Marinette began, only to hear Adrien's phone beep.

He took it out and he said, "It's Nino. He's giving us a range of books to look in based on organization numbers."

"Guess we took too long talking," Marinette said. "Let's get back to it."

Once they found the section of books Nino hinted them to, they found the clue in one of the longer Science-Fiction books. This time it was a hidden objects game in a large, graphic novel picture.

"So, we have a dragon, a horse, an ox..." Marinette began, listing off the animals and objects they found in the picture - they circled each one they found with a red pen to avoid losing their place. "They're all animals, but what do they all have in common?"

After a few moments of deep thinking, Marinette realized she'd seen all of the animals in one place a few times before: when she went to visit her great uncle Wang Cheng Shifu in Shanghai, including meeting a new friend in a girl named Fei.

"That's it! These are all the animals in the Chinese Zodiac!" Marinette said, snapping her fingers.

Adrien looked over the animals they found and he smiled in agreement. He turned to Marinette and said, "So, the next clue is either in the astrology or the world cultures sections of the library."

"Let's look at astrology first." Marinette directed.

"Great idea!" Adrien agreed as the two of them shared a friendly fist-bump before running to the astrology books.

Marinette got herself a step ladder and started climbing to the top step. She looked around the shelf, and caught sight of a Chinese astrology encyclopedia. Thinking she hit the jackpot, Marinette went to reach for it.

"Man, it's so hard to reach..." She said, straining as she kept stretching her arm to get to the book.

"Hey, be careful!" Adrien shouted from below.

This only startled Marinette. She shrieked and misstepped, causing her to fall forward, accidentally knocking the book she wanted (and a few others) off the shelf. She flailed her arms to regain her balance, but she kept falling.

"I got you!" Adrien called as he ran forward to catch Marinette.

She landed face-first into him, and once again their heads bumped into each other. They landed flat on the floor before tumbling, ending with Adrien on top of Marinette.

Marinette kept breathing to regulate herself and regain her sense of balance, but with great difficulty. She groaned in pain before trying to get up, only for Adrien's weight to pin her down. Her heart was pounding from the adrenaline rush. Her nose was treated to a fresh, airy scent, but she couldn't enjoy it.

"A-Adrien, I'm having trouble breathing." Marinette spoke, her face going red from lack of air.

"Sorry!" Adrien said as he got off of Marinette and scrambled away, as if he were scared.

Marinette sat up and managed to take in a huge gulp of air before saying, "Merci beaucoup for catching me, Adrien."

"Y-You're welcome, Marinette." Adrien responded, but it sounded like he was trying to catch his own breath, and his face was red.

Marinette saw his chest was heaving. He'd grabbed one of the fallen books and used it like a makeshift fan to cool down.

"I-Is it hot in here or what?" He asked aloud, sounding a bit panicked.

Marinette titled her head in confusion, and she said, "No, why?"

Adrien didn't respond, still trying to steady his breathing and cool himself off.

"Adrien, are you okay?" Marinette asked, crawling over to him and reaching up to check his forehead. "Hm... No fever. Then what...?"

*POOF!*

A huge cloud of black-green smoke exploded where Adrien sat, to Marinette's surprise. She backed away, coughing, and she fanning the smoke away.

"Adrien?!" She asked aloud, "What's going on?!"

All she heard was a frustrated groan, followed by what sounded like a yowl. When the smoke cleared, she didn't see Adrien where he was sitting at earlier. But in that spot in front of her, Adrien's clothes were in a pile. Sitting there was a small black cat with green eyes, its ears flat against its head. Marinette's eyes went wide and her jaw dropped.

"A... A cat? Did I turn Adrien into a cat?!" Marinette asked aloud, putting her balled hands against her head and quivering, beginning to hyperventilate.

"Marinette, don't panic. Please, please don't panic!" The cat - speaking in Adrien's voice - spoke, pleading.

Marinette squeaked a bit, all but shrieking, "A talking cat! Oh man, I really HAVE been studying too hard!"

"Marinette, I need you to calm down! Breathe!" Adrien begged.

Marinette shook her head and began taking deep, slow, calming breaths to relax. She pinched her cheek and pulled at the skin before letting it go.

"Okay... Okay..." Marinette said, continuing to breathe. "I'm not dreaming..."

After she kept her deep breathing up for a few more minutes, she looked at Adrien.

"A... Are you alright?" Marinette asked, while mentally chiding herself for asking such as stupid question.

"I will be." Adrien confirmed before looking up at Marinette.

"What happened? Was this my fault?" Marinette questioned, a guilty look on her face.

"Yes and no," Adrien explained with a sigh as his ears perked up. "...I'm trusting you to keep what I'm about to tell you under wraps."

Marinette gave a light nod before sitting with her legs crossed.

"When I was five years old, my parents brought me to a town fair. One of the attractions I got to see was a fortune teller using tarot cards," Adrien began. "I was expecting a prediction about a bright, happy future..."

He pawed at the floor in dismay before looking back up at Marinette.

"But that's not what she told me," Adrien added. "She told me that the cards said that I would, quote-unquote, "experience a disaster of monstrous proportions, and consequently be trapped in a cycle of transformation brought about by mad desire." I was so scared that I got nightmares about it for weeks."

The fortune-teller's words reverberated in Adrien's mind and he shuddered. He took another deep breath.

"Then about three years ago, my mother passed away," Adrien continued. "At the time, I thought that was the disaster the fortune-teller warned me about. I tried my best to make peace with the reality of my mother no longer being here."

Marinette looked at him with a sad expression before letting him continue his story.

"My father, on the other hand... He wasn't dealing with it well, to put it gently," Adrien spoke. "He'd been acting shady for months, dabbling in his atelier. I wasn't sure if he was just burying himself in work to cope or not, but something was wrong."

He used his hind leg to scratch his ear. For whatever reason, Marinette found it endearing. Adrien shook like he'd gotten wet before stepping closer to Marinette.

"And then..." Adrien began, his ears flattening once more.

~Flashback~

Adrien was charging to his father's atelier with a determined face and focused stride - a boy on a mission. He approached the door, his shoulders square. He took a deep breath, raised his hand to the door.

Adrien pushed it open, only to catch sight of his father, Gabriel, messing with the painting of his mother as Adele Bloch-Bauer I. He put his hands on it, sticking his fingers into two inconspicuous spaces on the painting, and a loud clicking/beeping noise was heard.

Adrien saw his father go down through the floor. His eyes widened, shocked. Curious, Adrien made his way to the painting, felt around it, and found the buttons. He pressed them, and like his father, Adrien found himself going down through the floor.

It didn't take him long to realize that he was in a glass elevator that was going down. His eyes went even wider when he saw the huge space beneath the house. There was a long bridge going from the door of the elevator to one larger space at the end, and there was a huge water reservoir underneath. Butterflies were fluttering everywhere, too.

Once the elevator stopped, Adrien came out started walking along the bridge, being quiet and looking around in confusion. He saw his father, wearing a lab coat and lab goggles, standing a table. He had several jewels, a book on a stand, and multiple other obscure items that Adrien couldn't identify. There were other science/welding tools on hand, too.

"What on earth?" Adrien said aloud, confused.

This startled Gabriel. He whirled around before glaring at his son and asking, "What are you doing in here, Adrien?!"

Adrien shook his head before telling Gabriel, "I could ask you the same thing! What IS this place?! More importantly..."

Adrien was about to speak up, but then the floor behind his father opened up. Up came a coffin of some sort, and the window covers slid open. Adrien's heart stopped and his skin went cold as his eyes zoomed in on something alarming: his mother, Emilie, lying comatose. Adrien covered his mouth, in shock.

"Maman?!" Adrien choked aloud before dry-heaving loudly. Adrien kept choking on his tears as he kept staring at his mother.

"I'm doing it for her, Adrien! For us!" Gabriel spoke as he showed Adrien his materials. "With these magic gemstones and all of these ingredients, combined with the translated spell, we can bring your mother back to us!"

"Bring her back?!" Adrien spoke.

"Nothing or no one else matters, Adrien!" Gabriel said as he turned to his son. "I don't care who we have to sacrifice to wake Emilie up! We have nothing to lose!"

"Why...? Why?!" Adrien spoke, his voice hoarse as he tried to process everything. His face went from shocked to outraged. "WHY?!"

He charged at his father, grabbed him by the lapels of his lab coat, and with tears streaming down his face, he once again whispered to his father in a desperate plea, "Why...?!"

Instead of answering, Gabriel grabbed his son's arm and threw him over his shoulder, causing Adrien to land on his back and hit his head. The young blonde groaned as he sat up and glared at his father. Tears were rolling down his face.

"You've lost your mind, father!" Adrien shouted, standing up. "I won't let you hurt anyone just to get Maman back! She wouldn't want this!"

"If you wanted to save the one you love, you'd do the same thing!" Gabriel retorted.

Adrien leaped on his father, and the two of them got into a scuffle. They were grabbing and pulling at each other's clothes, hitting, smacking one another. Adrien used some of his martial arts training to stay one step ahead of his father's movements. But at one point, Gabriel got the upper hand and slammed Adrien on the table, causing the in-progress science experiment to go flying.

The two Agrestes shouted in shock as the contents of the beakers combined in mid-air. It started sparkling and sparking. Adrien's eyes widened and he ran for cover, while his father braced himself...

*KA-BOOM!*

~End of Flashback~

"When I woke up, I saw the entire room had been wrecked - debris everywhere, some of the structure had been compromised - it was like a bomb went off. My mother was still in her coffin. I looked over her video will once again and decided it was best to let her go, as per her wishes." Adrien continued.

"But what about your father?" Marinette asked.

Adrien's eyes went askance and he remained silent for a few, long seconds. Almost two whole minutes, actually.

"Ashes." Adrien stated, his voice devoid of emotion. Marinette covered her mouth in shock, eyes wide and a bead of sweat coming down her temple. After taking a few deep breaths, she looked at him once more.

"And the transforming?" Marinette questioned. "Was that a byproduct of the accident?"

Adrien nodded and elaborated, "I got out of it fine at first, minus some scratches and bruises, and it all seemed like a bad dream. Everything was normal until I got too hot playing basketball in my room. Then I turned into this black kitten. After some panic, I changed back, but then I discovered that it wasn't a one-time deal. The transformations happen whenever I get overheated. I do change back once I cool down, but..."

*POOF!*

Smoke appeared again and Marinette went back to coughing, her eyes closed and still waving the smoke away. She asked, "Adrien?"

"Please keep your eyes closed, Marinette," Adrien requested. "I don't want you seeing me like this."

Marinette went red in the face at the implication. She squeezed her eyes shut and turned around, only listening to the sound of rustling clothes.

'Seriously? Adrien Agreste, former model and jack-of-all trades is dealing with this?' She thought.

She resisted the urge to turn and look at him, all while replaying the entire story in her mind. Maybe the reason he was running late to class that morning was because he transformed?

'I can't imagine how hard it's been for him to cope, especially for nearly three years...' Marinette thought, her heartstrings getting pulled.

"Okay, I'm done." Adrien said. Marinette craned her neck behind her to see Adrien was now fully clothed, but he was still sitting cross-legged, his back to her. Marinette took a deep breath and spoke up.

"Adrien, I'll keep my mouth shut about this, I promise, but does anyone else know?" Marinette asked, turning her body to face him.

Adrien didn't answer, only stiffening and sitting up straight.

"Just in case there's an emergency." Marinette insisted.

"...Nino and Félix," Adrien eventually said. "I told Félix because he's family; Nino found out by accident."

Marinette gave a nod and said, "Okay. So..."

"...Back to the task at hand?" Adrien asked as he looked at his phone and saw another hint from Nino.

"Yes, let's. We're running out of time." Marinette agreed as they both stood up and started to get back to deciphering the clue.

Back out in the dormitory common area, Alya was tapping her foot while looking at the timer on her phone. The pair only had two minutes left and they were on the last clue.

"Come on, those two are taking way too long!" Alya griped.

Nino looked anxious, too. The young DJ was fidgeting with his hands.

Alix spoke up, "Maybe they're having too much trouble with the last clue? It is pretty obscure."

Juleka mumbled, "Yeah, it wasn't exactly a clue they could figure out quickly."

"Once the clock runs out, we can call them and ch-" Alya began, only to hear Marinette and Adrien in the distance.

Everyone turned to the stairs and saw Marinette and Adrien walking up to the common area.

"Congratulations, you two!" Rose squealed as she jumped up to give the pair her praise. "You won the escape room! And just in the nick of time!"

"Yeah, you were cutting it close," Myléne spoke. "What happened?"

Marinette and Adrien gave each other brief, tense glances before Marinette said, "We decided to clean up the library before coming back."

"Yeah, we knocked over too many books trying to find those clues," Adrien spoke. "The library became a big mess, and I guess we were ashamed of our-shelves."

He gave a cheeky smile, and everyone looked at him with annoyed, unamused, or groaning expressions.

"Seriously?" Marinette asked, a deadpan expression on her face. "Library puns?"

"Come on, that was funny!" Adrien said.

"No," Kagami spoke. "Your humor leaves much to be desired."

"That's too bad. I had so many more library jokes, but I had to return them." Adrien said.

Marinette looked at Adrien with a slack jaw before face-palming. She could hear him give a chuckle.

"Oh-kay, horrible jokes aside..." Marinette said before looking up at Adrien. "That was a fun escape room."

"Sure was," Adrien responded, smiling. "Marinette, I'm seriously impressed on how you were able to figure out that clue about the Chinese Zodiac animals."

"Merci. You're no slouch, either," Marinette spoke. "That picture puzzle in the historical non-fiction section wasn't easy."

"Thanks," He responded. "But you should get most of the credit. I hadn't realized that one manipulation puzzle was going to take both of us until you suggested it."

The two of them exchanged compliments, laughs, and smiles. The earlier coldness between them had thawed, and they were talking like old friends. Everyone else was watching in amused delight at the scene.

"Well, looks like you two patched things up," Alya said as she came over to Marinette and slung her arm around her new bestie's shoulder. "That's great."

"Yeah," Marinette sighed before looking at Adrien again. "Thanks for proving me wrong. It was... unexpected."

Adrien returned the sentiment with a big, warm smile and responded, "You're welcome."

There was a moment of the two of them keeping their smiles on each other. After some silence, Marinette caught herself, and she turned to her friends.

"And great job designing the escape room, you guys. You really gave us a run for our money." Marinette said.

"Glad to do it," Alix said. "Designing these escape rooms isn't just fun, it's another part of the learning experience."

"That's one of the main reasons the school came up with this tradition, so we can put what we learn in classes to use." Nathaniel spoke.

"It shows!" Marinette laughed.

"Now, it's getting late," Zoé said as she looked at her phone to check the time. "Let's call it a night?"

"Good idea." Kagami agreed.

In Marinette and Alya's room, they'd changed into their pajamas and were talking about what happened. Alya was sitting on Marinette's bed, too.

"Glad you and Adrien aren't enemies anymore," Alya said. "I was worried that you two wouldn't be able to get along, like, ever. The idea of my BFF being on bad terms with my boyfriend's best friend? Hell no."

"Well, we talked about what happened this morning and..." Marinette began, remembering how Adrien ended up on top of her, rendering her breathless for a bit.

She also hadn't expected him to make the first move to make amends. In fact, she was sure that she was going to have to do all that heavy lifting. But he'd taken the initiative to start the process, and she had to give him credit for owning up to his mistakes.

And then there was his black cat curse...

"And?" Alya asked, leaning in closer, a curious expression on her face. "What happened?"

This broke Marinette out of her thoughts.

"We... Came to an understanding," Marinette said as she smiled weakly at Alya. "I'm just glad we worked things out without it turning into a shouting match. And once that was over, the escape room was smooth sailing, aside from the mess we made in the library."

"Really?" Alya asked, sounding a bit skeptical. "Is that all that happened?"

"Yep," Marinette said, insistent, remembering her promise. "You and the girls were right: I had him all wrong. I think he and I might become good friends."

"Well, that's good," Alya said, sounding like she was expecting something else, but deciding to be patient. "Maybe now you'll ask him to help you with your physics?"

"Oh, I will." Marinette said, yawning and thinking, 'And I'll help him with his black cat troubles, too.'

"You sound tired," Alya said. "I am, too. Let's get some sleep."

Marinette gave an agreeing nod. Alya stood up to go back to her bed.

Feeling a wave of fatigue, Marinette loosed a yawn before snuggling deeper into her bed and falling asleep, once again looking forward to a new school day. But in the back of her mind, black cats kept popping up, making for an unsettled night.

The following morning, Marinette was in the cafeteria for breakfast, sitting between Alya and Zoé. The rest of the girls in the group were there, too. They were laughing at a story Alya had finished telling.

"You two got stuck in the tortoise enclosure at the zoo when the animals escaped and started stampeding?!" Marinette asked, covering her mouth while laughing. "How long were you in there?"

"All afternoon," Alya laughed back. "And better the tortoises than the new panther exhibit."

"No kidding," Alix said. "You two would've been its food if that were the case."

The girls shared a laugh at this story.

"That's how you and Nino got together?" Marinette questioned, still laughing.

"Yeah, it was!" Alya chortled. "It took me hours to get in touch with dad to get him to let us out!"

The girls kept laughing at the story of events, all while eating.

"So we have gym class later today," Zoé said. "I wonder what we'll be playing?"

"I hope it's soccer!" Sabrina said, her green eyes bright with hope.

"Maybe badminton?" Rose asked. "I love a good team sport!"

"Sounds like whatever we do will be a lot of fun," Marinette laughed. "I can't wait!"

"Neither can I! It's going to be a heated gym class, I can tell you that much!" Alix agreed.

"Yeah!" Marinette squealed, only for her to pause. 'Heated...'

She stole a quick glance at Adrien, who was eating with the rest of the boys. He was sitting between Nino and Félix, and Adrien looked to be at ease.

'It's weird,' Marinette thought. 'With his curse, I'd think he'd be much more cagey...'

"Something up?" Myléne asked. Marinette looked back at her group. The girls were looking at her with worried expressions.

"Oh, it's nothing," Marinette said before turning back to the girls. "So, Rose, you correspond with Prince Ali of Achu?"

"Yep! We met when he was doing a charity for children's hospitals, and we hit it off! We've been writing letters, texting, and calling each other ever since!" Rose spoke, as she took out her phone to show her friends pictures of the letters she and Ali had exchanged. "I can't explain how grateful I am for his work!"

"It's important work, that's for sure," Marinette spoke. "But it's so awesome that you're actually friends with a prince!"

Juleka mumbled something, and Rose responded, "I don't talk about it too much. I just like it when people act normal around me."

The girls laughed, but Alya looked at Marinette with a smug smile.

During gym class, the activity in question was basketball, and the teams were decided at random. Since there were seventeen students total, that meant three teams of five. Two of the three teams would do an actual basketball game, the last team would sit the first round out and replace the team that lost the first match. The remaining two students would be doing drills.

Félix and Kim were the two students doing the drills, meanwhile Marinette and her team (Alya, Marc, Alix, Myléne) were sitting and watching.

The rest of their homeroom class was on the court and playing the game. Marinette couldn't keep her eyes on one person, examining each one's movements.

'I wonder if I can ask the school if I can design new gear for the basketball team?' Marinette thought, her creative juices going.

A flash of blonde caught her eyes and she saw Adrien was moving like a seasoned player on the court. Dribbling, passing the ball, running around. But he wasn't hogging the ball, he made sure other members of the team got a chance to either make a basket or steal the ball from the other team.

But she could see he was sweating and his breathing was heavy, like the night before. While keeping her face stone, she thought, 'Uh-oh...'

The gym teacher blew the whistle, declaring the other team (Max, Kagami, Zoé, Juleka, Ivan) had won the match. Marinette watched as Adrien made his way over to the bleachers and sat down. Marinette could tell his breathing still labored and his face flush from the workout.

While her team made their way to the court, Marinette walked over to Adrien with a large, reusable flask with ice water, and an ice pack in hand.

"Here you go." Marinette said as she handed the items to Adrien.

"Merci beaucoup." He said. He took the water and ice pack, and started chugging the water down like he'd been in the desert for months. He put the ice pack at the back of his neck.

"Slow down, nobody's gonna take that water from you." Marinette laughed.

Adrien stopped drinking his water long enough to breathe. He turned to Marinette and smiled in thanks.

Marinette gave a nod in understanding before walking back to her team to start their round.

'So glad that worked.' Marinette thought as she made it back to the others. But they were all giving Marinette knowing looks.

She scanned them with her eyes and asked, "What?"

"Girl, yesterday you couldn't stand looking at Adrien. But now you're actively looking for him and going out of your way to help him cool down during gym class? Are you sure nothing else happened during the initiation?" Alya teased.

"Yes, I'm sure," Marinette insisted, remembering her promise to Adrien. "Besides, going out of my way to help someone is just who I am."

"Back to the game, please?" Alix asked. "I can't wait to shoot some hoops!"

Marinette laughed in agreement. The teacher blew the whistle, and Alya made a grab for the basketball. She started dribbling before passing the ball over to Marc, who went full-throttle on the game.

With some great teamwork and footwork, Marinette's team all but slayed Zoé's team, necessitating the switch. While Zoé and her group went back to the bleachers, Adrien's team stood up and got back on the court. Again, Marinette didn't see Adrien looking at her with a smile on his face.

Once gym was over, everyone hit the showers (which were in the changing rooms that were connected to the gym) before going to their next classes.

In case you guys missed it, there was a line from the 90's English Dub of Sailor Moon's first episode!

Coming up, Marinette tries to combat the teasing she's getting from the girls, while helping Adrien avoid another cat-tastrophe.

And to reiterate, more comments and kudos means this story lives to see another chapter! 

Chapter Text

Chapter three is up! Marinette keeps trying to avoid teasing from the girls while trying to help Adrien prevent cat-tastrophes. But are the girls on to something? Is their teasing unfounded?

And why is everyone getting Fruits Basket vibes from this story when I didn't think of that anime at all when writing this? 😅 But again, more comments and kudos means more content!

"Don't be bemused, it's just the news! Nadja Chamack, live! It's a hot one in Paris today, marking the first day in what's predicted to be an intense heat wave!"

The heat in the city was palpable, with people in swimsuits crowding near splash parks, people hiding under thick trees, staying indoors, and several small businesses turning up the A/C to keep cool.

"But the city is coming together to help everyone combat the heat! And other common sense tips for staying safe in this heat wave is stay indoors where there's air conditioner, go play in the water, stay hydrated. And always check up on your family and friends, especially if they're older, to see if they're doing okay."

There were even stalls that were providing ice water and sustainable bamboo hand fans for free for people. And volunteers were going around the city, making house calls for elderly folks that were more susceptible to heat-related illnesses.

Marinette was in her dorm room with Alya. They were watching the newscast on the latter girl's computer. They had their respective plug-in fans on, albeit on medium power, and some bamboo fans in their hands.

"Nadja's right," Alya said. "This is supposed to be one insane heat wave."

"The school doesn't seem to be that bad off compared to everywhere else in the city," Marinette commented. "Is that intentional?"

"Yes, it is deliberate," Alya said. "The school put in the vertical foresting in for this exact reason. Cuts the air pollution down, too. And the school's swim team is more than willing to share the pool with everyone else. Speaking of which, Kim and his girlfriend, Ondine, should be there right now."

"Wow, this isn't just a school, it's a community." Marinette said.

"Exactly." Alya agreed.

"Maybe we should check in on some of the others?" Marinette questioned.

"Not a bad idea," Alya said before giving Marinette another smug smile. "Sure you don't wanna check up on a certain blonde?"

"I'm sure Rose and Zoé are doing fine in this heat. Myléne, too." Marinette responded.

"Girl, not who I meant," Alya said, a deadpan expression. "I was talking about Adrien."

"Alya, please don't," Marinette responded. "You're making it sound like I'm getting a crush on him or something."

"Aren't you?" Alya asked, a not-so-innocent tone of voice. "I saw how you two were looking at each other after the escape room."

Marinette gave Alya a perplexed look, telling her, "I don't know what you're talking about. Yes, after talking to Adrien, I see him differently, but not like that."

Alya looked at Marinette in frustration before saying, "Have it your way, but I can tell something's going on."

Marinette shook her head in patient amusement, thinking, 'Alya's astute, as expected of an aspiring reporter. It's just that she's got things all wrong.'

She looked back at the news feed and saw some people were fanning themselves while sitting under the shade, and she could tell they'd just gotten out of the water from the splash pad, too.

'But this heat can't be doing his 'condition' any favors,' Marinette thought. 'It's such an insane thing to process.'

After finding out about Adrien's "problem," it wasn't easy to sleep with such information that night. Even now, it still hadn't quite sunken in. Celebrities and their families having secrets they'd rather be kept wasn't unheard of. This was on another level, though. The fact that he used to model must have made it even harder for Adrien to keep it from getting out.

'What else can I-' Marinette began, but her thoughts were cut off by a knock at the door. The girls turned to it.

"Hey, Marinette! It's me!" Adrien called from outside.

"Speak of the devil." Alya giggled, a teasing lilt to her voice.

Marinette rolled her eyes before standing up, her bamboo fan still in hand, and walking over to the door. She opened it to reveal Adrien was indeed there, and he'd dressed down to combat the heat. But his face was still red from it, and some sweat was beading down his face. He had a book in hand.

"Hi," Marinette greeted, casually. "What brings you over here?"

"I wanted to see if yo-..." Adrien began, only to see the look on Alya's face. "...If you needed help with any of your assignments?"

The expression on Adrien's face had an underlying pleading to it, and Marinette got the picture.

"Yeah, I was actually about to ask you to help me with my physics. It's one of my weak spots." Marinette agreed, smiling. She made a quick dash to her desk to get her physics book.

"Perfect." Adrien said with a nod.

"I'll be back later, Alya," Marinette said. "Shall we?"

"Let's shall," Adrien teased with a bow, and he gestured outside. "After you."

Marinette stifled a laugh as they left, unaware that Alya had watched the entire scene with a teasing, eager expression.

Adrien looked around and saw nobody was in the common area of the dorms. He sighed and said, "Okay, we're alone."

Marinette gave him a quizzical look. Adrien went pink in the face before shaking his head.

"N-Not that, um..." Adrien started. "I..."

"If it's about that, then it's good we're in private." Marinette said, her voice just under a whisper.

He sighed before saying, "Thanks. And thanks for yesterday in the gym, with the water and ice pack. It helped a lot."

"No problem," Marinette said, handing him the bamboo fan to borrow. "But how are you holding up in this heat?"

"Not well," Adrien confessed as he started fanning himself. "I was sweating through my bedsheets last night, and I woke up soaked."

"You didn't wake up... you know..." Marinette asked, trying to push out the image of Adrien switching into a cat and then back into an unclothed human. She went red-faced at the thought.

"I did," He admitted, his face also red. "I had to jack up the A/C in the middle of the night. And I took a cold shower to cool down, too."

"Yikes." Marinette said.

He gave a nod before saying, "Listen, I'm gonna need your help to get through this heat wave. You can imagine how it exacerbates things, making it easier for me to switch back and forth."

"Of course I'll help," Marinette spoke, still keeping it down. "And obviously, we gotta keep it hush-hush, especially during classes."

He smiled in response and said, "Purr-fect. It'd be a paw-sitive disaster if people got suspicious. Absolutely cataclysmic."

Marinette hung her head, groaned, and said, "Your library jokes that night were no page-turner, but cat puns? That's even worse."

She heard Adrien give a laugh. He questioned, "Back to physics?"

"Yes, please." Marinette agreed as she lifted her face back up and redirected her line of sight to the book.

Later that evening, Marinette had gone back home for Saturday night dinner, as she'd promised her parents. They'd just finished eating and were doing the dishes.

"It sounds like you're having so much fun at Miracle Lycée, honey." Sabine said after Marinette went on about her first week. Sabine was drying dishes.

"I am!" Marinette giggled as she wiped a plate and put it in the drying rack. "Friendly classmates, great teachers, challenging and fun classes. It's been bliss!"

"That's wonderful," Tom responded with a big smile as he put a few pieces of flatware in the dishwasher. He turned to give Marinette a "dad" look. "Now, about that boy you argued with..."

"Oh, him?" Marinette asked, casually while scrubbing down another pot. "I did what you said and talked it over with him during initiation."

"Initiation?" Tom asked, sounding a bit concerned. "What did you two have to do?"

"We just had to complete an escape room game in the library that some of the others set up." Marinette explained, to the blatant relief of her parents.

"Well, how did it go?" Sabine questioned.

"He took the first step to resolve things," Marinette began. "And you were right, calling him a male Chloé was unfair to him. But he also assumed I was a fan of his, which I reminded him about. He admitted I was right on that."

"So he took responsibility for what happened, too?" Sabine asked.

"He did. Once we explained our thoughts and feelings to each other, we made up. Then the rest of the escape room went well," Marinette explained further. "There were some puzzles that I couldn't have figured out without his help. He even tried to catch me when I fell off the step-ladder."

For some reason, the memory of Adrien's touch and his cologne bubbled up. She managed to fight off a blush.

"Well, I'm glad you two handled it like adults and buried the hatchet," Tom spoke. "Especially since you're in the same homeroom class."

"I am, too," Marinette agreed while putting another dish in the drying rack. "He's actually helping me out with my physics. The way he explains it makes it so easy to understand. And he's no slouch on the basketball court."

"Are we going to meet him one day?" Tom asked, sounding a bit too interested.

"Huh?" Marinette asked. "Meet him?"

"Yes. He sounds like a good person, you two just got off to a rocky start," Sabine elaborated, giving her husband a patient smile. "It'd be nice to meet another new friend of yours."

"Y-Yeah, it would be..." Marinette responded, thinking, 'I hope they drop the subject after this. I promised Adrien I'd help him keep his secret...'

"Speaking of friends, are you and Alya getting on okay?" Tom asked.

Marinette breathed a sigh of relief at the subject change before asking, "Alya and I are like peaches and cream! It's so much fun having her as a best friend!"

"More proof that transferring you to Miracle Lycée was the right decision." Sabine spoke.

"Yeah! I'll use some of the money from commissions I get to help pay the fees," Marinette promised. "And get good grades to keep the scholarship."

"That's great, Marinette, but don't forget to enjoy yourself with your new friends," Tom spoke. "Maybe find the time to date?"

Marinette's hand tensed around the sponge in her hand, and she stuttered out, "N-N-No. No dating. Just friendship and studying, nothing more."

That seemed to put an end to the topic, and they kept cleaning up.

'Friendship and studying. Just remind yourself, friendship and studying.' Marinette thought.

"How about an Ultimate Mecha Strike tournament after we're done?" Tom asked, an eager tone of voice.

"I'd love that!" Marinette agreed.

The next day - a Sunday - the heat climbed up higher. A big chunk of the students were coming and going from the pool area.

Marinette herself was there, wearing a pale pink two-piece with ruffles on the top. Like her usual clothes, it was paired with dark grey accents. She also had her hair down, and was walking towards the side of the pool, where Adrien was.

"Thanks for doing this, Marinette." He thanked, a guilty smile on his face.

"It's no problem." Marinette responded.

He was wearing a pair of black swim shorts with one, bright green stripe on each side. Marinette could see his firm muscles. His arms and legs were quite buff on their own. And he had respectable abdomen muscles, too.

'He's pretty toned...' Marinette thought, a light pink dusting on her face.

Adrien gave her a cheeky smile and asked, "See something you like?"

Marinette's face went from pink to red and her eyes went wide. She shook her head to clear her thoughts before telling Adrien, "N-No."

She looked around to see if anyone was in plain sight before asking him, "Any trouble so far?"

"No, I've been doing what I can to beat the heat," Adrien responded. "But today's going to be even worse."

"Hence why you and I are going to be here for a good while," Marinette summarized. "And the water temperature is cold enough for us to cool down, but still a safe temperature. We should be okay."

"That's good," Adrien said with a relieved sigh. "I've been having hot flashes since last night, and it's uncomfortable."

"Waking up as a cat doesn't sound any better, either." Marinette added.

"It has its purr-ks." He joked.

Marinette face-palmed.

"Keep your puns to a minimum, please? Especially when there are others around." Marinette asked, annoyance in her tone.

"Sure." Adrien agreed.

However, he started breathing heavily and it seemed like he was beginning to sweat a bit more.

Marinette came closer and said, "Uh-oh, is it about to happen?"

"Y-Yeah, it's..." Adrien began, his breathing labored.

Marinette heard footsteps near the door to the pool area and in came the rest of the group, mainly the girls.

On impulse, Marinette jumped onto Adrien - to an onlooker, it seemed like she was jumping into his arms for a hug - and she catapulted the both of them into the water with a large splash.

They came up for air and Marinette started play-splashing Adrien, laughing. Adrien went along with it, also laughing.

"You two look like you're having fun." Alya commented, a sly look on her face.

"Oh, yes, we are! Nothing like playing in the pool to cool off during a heat wave!" Marinette said, but her behavior came off as sketchy.

"Then how come you two didn't wait for us to get here before jumping in?" Rose asked.

"We couldn't take the heat much longer." Adrien answered. Nino and Félix gave subtle, understanding looks.

"I totally get that! Whoo-hoo!" Kim chortled before cannon-balling into the pool, several feet away from the two. A huge splash of water drenched the two.

Adrien and Marinette looked at each other. Seeing how wet they were, they burst out in laughter.

The girls were giving each other knowing looks, some of them watching the scene in amusement.

Close to lunchtime, the group made their way to the dining areas. Adrien was sitting with his usual group, but this time the table was in closer proximity to where Marinette was sitting. And he seemed stable, like he wasn't going to transform. As she waited in the lunch line, she saw a few items on the menu that she was interested in, but a few things jumped out at her, too - items tailor-made to combat the heat. She looked over to Adrien and saw what he had on his platter. She got an idea.

Once she got her food, she walked over to Adrien's seat.

"Hey, Adrien, I got you some watermelon-mint salad and a coconut-lime cucumber water on ice." Marinette spoke as she put the items in front of Adrien's plate.

"Merci!" Adrien thanked before chowing down on the watermelon salad.

He heard amused chuckling from his company at the table.

'That should help regulate his body temperature.' Marinette thought.

Marinette giggled as she walked to her seat and sat down before eating. She heard giggling, and she looked up to see her friends giving her cheeky smiles, as if they were in on some joke that Marinette wasn't.

"What's the matter?" Marinette asked as she ate a bite of her own watermelon salad.

"Nothing." Alya said as she ate some of her own food. Marinette shrugged.

Later on, Marinette was in her room, doing an online search and some shopping.

"What'cha looking at, girl?" Alya asked, pushing herself away from her computer.

"Just looking up materials to make blackout curtains and handmade cooling neck wraps," Marinette explained. "It wouldn't hurt to have them on hand during a heat wave. I just so happen to have some leftover fabrics from my assignments to make them. I have the perfect orange fabric for you, Alya! And maybe Nino would like a jade green one... OOH, a yellow one with pink and blue accents for Zoé!"

"How about Adrien?" Alya tested, a cunning smile on her face.

"I want to give him a black one, but the whole point is to keep people cool. Black will just absorb the light and get hot," Marinette said. "So, maybe paler green to match his eyes... I'd better get his measurements..."

"Paying that much attention to him, are we?" Alya teased.

Marinette turned to Alya and said, "Alya, I'm making these neck wraps for everyone. Besides, the blackout curtains are for our room."

"Whatever, girl." Alya giggled before going back to homework.

Marinette gave a groan before continuing her research and shopping, thinking, 'Maybe I can make a few extra for a future assignment?'

That night, Marinette and the rest of the girls were in the library, having a movie night. Popcorn, soft drinks, the whole bit. The boys were having a video game tournament in the dorm. The girls' first chosen film of the evening was a romantic comedy with an enemies-to-lovers plot.

The leads had another encounter with each other that didn't go well. Once they met, they looked at each other with loathing. As the film went on, as the leads were continually forced together, they got to know each other, and their hate turned to friendship. And by the end of the film, they were twisting their own arms to admit, both to themselves and to each other, that they cared for one another. Not just as friends, but as something much more.

"What a great movie," Zoé said. "Great acting, well-written plot, consistent narrative."

"All of which make a good film great," Marinette agreed. "And likable characters, too."

"You know what the storyline reminds me of?" Alya asked before giving Marinette a sly smile. "You and Adrien."

Marinette whipped her face to look at Alya and asked in a flat tone, "What?"

"I see that," Myléne agreed. "The protagonists started out hating each other like you two did."

"I didn't hate Adrien, I just..." Marinette tried to say, only to fail when she couldn't think of a refutal.

"Yep, you couldn't stand him," Alix laughed. "And every time he tried to make nice, you gave him the cold shoulder."

Marinette looked the girls over and asked, "Did you pair me and Adrien up for the escape room on purpose?"

"No, we didn't, honest!" Zoé spoke. "That rule has always been in place, it was just a coincidence that Adrien sits in front of you."

"And you two made up, didn't you?" Juleka mumbled.

"Yes, Juleka, but the point I was trying to make was that unlike the film, it didn't take other people meddling for us to make up." Marinette responded.

"True. That didn't take as long as the movie, and you two have a much more buddy-buddy relationship now." Rose commented.

Marinette looked like she was about to squirm. She asked, "What are you getting at?"

She looked at all her friends, and they were all giving her teasing, knowing expressions, as if they knew something she didn't. Marinette's mind clicked.

"Hey, Adrien and I are only friends!" Marinette insisted, red in the face. "Why do you keep insinuating there's more to it than that?!"

"Because you two are acting like there's more to it than that," Alya said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Like how you hug-tackled him into the pool?"

"Getting refreshments for him." Myléne pointed out.

"Ordering the supplies to make DIY cooling neck wraps for him." Alya added, teasing.

"It's not just for him, Alya! I'm making those for all of us!" Marinette spoke.

"That doesn't change the fact that you two look like you're closer than friends." Sabrina spoke up.

Marinette face-palmed, thinking, 'It only looks that way because there've been too many times Adrien almost transformed with an audience!'

"Why don't you just admit it? You like Adrien!" Rose squealed, a big smile on her face. "You should kiss him!"

"What?!" Marinette asked, her cheeks turning pink.

"The seeds of love were planted in your hearts during initiation! And they're growing fast!" Rose spoke as she got up in Marinette's face. Her big blue eyes were sparkling, and she looked like the cliché romantic gossip fan.

Marinette held back a groan, asking, "N-Nonsense! Why would I kiss someone I am not crushing on?!"

"But you are crushing, aren't you?" Alix asked, confused. "And he doesn't seem to be objecting to your attention. I see the way he looks at you."

"Ditto." Alya agreed.

"I am not crushing!" Marinette responded, but her tomato-red face told a different story.

"Then what on Earth happened during the escape room?" Zoé asked, more concerned about Marinette's feelings.

"NOTHING HAPPENED!" Marinette all but screamed at the top of her lungs, her face still red as a beet. She came down from that high and she started breathing deeply.

She looked at her friends, who were giving her shocked expressions.

"Nothing at all?" Juleka mumbled.

"No," Marinette said to confirm. "The only thing that happened was that we resolved our fight. That's it."

"But friendship can always turn into something more," Myléne insisted. "Look at me and Ivan - I had no idea how he felt about me until he wrote me a love letter and put it in my locker. Before that, I always thought he was just a big o'l teddy bear that had the same passions for environmental protections as I did."

"Félix struggled to communicate his feelings for me, too," Kagami added. "I have a hard time with that, so I guess that's why we fit so well together."

"So, who knows what might happen." Sabrina suggested.

Marinette hung her head, frustrated.

She turned her face away before murmuring, "Not gonna happen. I learned my lesson the hard way..."

"Huh?" Kagami asked. "I don't think I heard you."

Marinette stayed silent, a sad look on her face. Tears were pricking at the back of her eyes.

"Marinette?" Alya questioned, sounding worried. She waved a hand in front of the designer's face.

Marinette snapped out of it and scanned all her friends.

"A-Anyway, Adrien and I resolved our spat and now we're friends," Marinette said. Her blush still hadn't died down. "Good friends. There's nothing wrong with that."

The girls gave Marinette skeptical, teasing expressions.

"Can we move on to the next movie?" Marinette asked, her voice terse. "Maybe a different genre than a rom-com? No horror, either?"

"How about a historical documentary movie?" Alix suggested as she looked up the movies in that particular section.

"I'm game for that." Juleka mumbled.

"Yeah!" Alya agreed as Alix pulled up a documentary about Rosalind Franklin.

Marinette breathed an internal sigh of relief while paying attention to the film.

When she reported the whole thing to Adrien, his reaction:

Full-blown laughter.

"The girls think you're crushing on me?! The boys were insinuating the same thing last night!" Adrien laughed, doubled-over and his arms around his stomach.

"It's ridiculous, I know," Marinette sighed, sounding tired. "But Alya's a sharp one - she can tell something went down. But telling them the truth is out of the question. So, what are we gonna do?!"

After several beats of silence, Adrien took a deep breath, looked at Marinette, and suggested, "...Why not just roll with it?"

Marinette looked at him in shock, asking, "Come again?!"

"Let them think we have growing feelings for each other," Adrien elaborated. "It's a reasonable enough assumption. And it's less work to convince them of anything else. They are right that our dynamic changed during the escape room."

"That's true..." Marinette conceded. "Maybe it is more convenient to just let them think there's a budding romance between us. They can just assume every time I have to duck out to help you that we're going on a date or hiding somewhere for a make-out session or something."

Adrien went red in the face before moving his eyes askance and stammering, "Y-Yeah... It's... convenient like that."

"You okay?" Marinette asked, noticing Adrien's change in manner.

*POOF!*

Into a cat, and he was sitting on the bench in dismayed irritation. Marinette looked at him in surprise, and she asked aloud, "Um, was that my fault?"

"N-No..." Adrien said, as though trying to deny something. Marinette just took out her bamboo hand fan and started fanning Adrien to cool him down.

"So... We're fake-crushing on each other?" Marinette asked.

"Y-Yeah... Fake-crushing. At least for now..." Adrien agreed.

"It's almost time for homeroom," Marinette said, putting the fan away and standing up. "I'll cover for you."

"Thanks." Adrien spoke as Marinette went to leave for their classroom.

Once she got in there, she made her way to her seat next to Alya.

"Hey, girl," Alya said. "What took you so long?"

"Oh, nothing," Marinette spoke, waving it off. "Adrien and I were just having a nice chat, was all."

"Just having a nice chat?" Alya asked, that sly look on her face coming up again.

Marinette gave a shy smile and said, "Yes. Talking with him is so much fun, I guess we lost track of time."

Alya gave a laugh before asking, "So, where is he?"

Subtle flinch on Marinette's part and she said, "Oh, he's... In the bathroom."

"Oh, his GI issues are acting up again. Nino told me that's something he deals with all the time. No biggie." Alya said with a shrug.

'So THAT'S the usual cover excuse.' Marinette thought before telling Alya, "Yeah, no biggie."

"So, what did you two talk about?" Alya asked, her "romantic gossip" face on.

Marinette panicked on the inside before saying, "Er, nothing important. Just, um..."

'Come on, think of something!' Marinette thought, trying to come up with an excuse. The lightbulb went off in her head at that moment.

"We were just talking about the possibility of us going to the ice rink at some point. You know, a cold activity to beat this heat wave?" Marinette said.

"Hey, not a bad idea," Alya commented. "Can Nino and I join in? Make it a double-date?"

"A double-date?!" Marinette asked, panic in her eyes again.

"Sounds like fun." Adrien commented from behind.

The girls turned to see Adrien - as a human - looking at the girls with his standard smile.

"It'd be great, having you two join us at the ice rink! Don't you think so, Marinette?" Adrien asked before putting had his hand in front of Marinette desk and leaning in a touch.

He kept his eyes on hers, his smile turned a bit flirty, and his arm was facing Marinette in such a way that his muscles were flexing in subtle, understated movements.

"I couldn't agree more!" Marinette spoke, all while maintaining eye contact. She was tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear and smiling at him, keeping her arms at her sides.

"Then how about after school today?" Adrien suggested.

Marinette brimmed with excitement and said, "Perfect!"

"Then it's a date." He responded with a wink before sitting in his seat.

Marinette was red in the face as she repeated, 'It's a date,' in her mind on a loop.

"So, what was that about you two only being friends?" Alya asked, teasing.

Marinette rubbed her arms, looking at Adrien from behind with a stiff, awkward smile.

After classes, Marinette and Adrien made their way to the ice rink - luckily, it wasn't crowded. They were sitting in the bleachers, and putting their skates on. While Marinette was lacing hers up without effort, Adrien was looking at his skates in discomfort.

Marinette noticed, and she asked, "Something wrong?"

"I, um..." Adrien began, rubbing his neck in embarrassment. He looked at his skates before looking at Marinette out of his peripheral vision.

"Do you... Not know how to tie your shoe laces?" Marinette asked, looking at him with a questioning expression.

"N-No..." He confessed, hanging his head.

Marinette gave a snorting giggle. She stood up and said, "Let me help you."

She knelt down in front of Adrien and tied his skate laces up. She hadn't noticed Adrien was looking at her with red-tinted cheeks, his eyes were wide, and his breath seemed to hitch.

"So... I guess we'd better get our act together," Marinette said while standing up and sitting back in her seat. "I mean, this is because I mentioned the ice rink trying to cover for you."

"And I played along, so here we are now," Adrien conceded, sounding deflated. "Any ideas how to start?"

Marinette had to pause and think it over. But at the sound of Nino and Alya's voices coming in, Marinette panicked.

"Come on!" She hissed under her breath as she grabbed Adrien's hand and led him onto the ice, frantic.

Almost like fish to water, Marinette began skating like she'd done it a million times before. Out of her peripheral, she saw Alya and Nino coming in. She looked at Adrien from behind, and he gave a nod.

He skated closer to her and he began laughing, trying to make it sound natural and realistic. Marinette went along, skating and laughing.

The movements caused Adrien's button-down to flutter and slide off. He took his hand away to readjust the shirt, his movements decisive and sharp, all while keeping eye contact with Marinette.

Marinette, despite herself, smiled at him and moved a bit closer. He took her hand, causing her heart to throb.

"Let's pick up the pace, Marinette?" He asked, a determined smile.

"Oh, you are on. Race ya!" Marinette said as she let go of Adrien's hand and started skating faster.

"Hey, wait up!" Adrien laughed before chasing after her.

Nino and Alya had barely gotten on the ice when their friends skated past them, getting a bit too close. Nino flailed, almost falling over, only for Alya to catch him under his arms.

"Not so slick today, are we?" Alya teased.

Nino laughed as he stood tall and looked at his girlfriend, a blushing mess. They started watching Marinette and Adrien race around the ice rink.

"Gotcha!" Adrien laughed as he caught up to Marinette and pulled her into a hug from behind.

The pair laughed as they slid on the ice. They took each other's hands, and began spinning around like it was Ring Around the Rosy. Unbidden, Marinette noticed something about him.

'Wow, he's pretty handsome in this lighting. His hair and eyes shimmer,' Marinette thought, a smile growing, only for it to turn into a scared expression. 'What did I just think?!'

"Marinette, is everything okay?" Adrien asked, his face turning worried.

She shook her head, put on the mental brakes and turned her face away. She caught sight of Alya and Nino.

"Alya! Nino!" Marinette called as she let one hand go and waved at their friends.

"Hey, girl!" Alya said, whilst Marinette let go of Adrien's other hand and skated over.

"Sorry we started without you," Marinette said. "I couldn't help it."

"No problem," Alya laughed. "You two looked like you were having a crap-ton of fun!"

"Oh, we were, we were!" Marinette insisted, pink-faced and trying to act natural.

Nino skated over to Adrien. The blonde was looking at Marinette, his body language seeming despondent. His hands were clenching and opening, like he was itching to hold something.

"Hey, dude, you okay?" Nino asked under his breath.

"I'm fine, just..." Adrien asked as he kept watching Marinette. "I didn't want her to pull away. Why'd she do that?"

Nino looked between the blonde and the girls.

Adrien skated closer and said, "Hey, Marinette, wanna get back to the race?"

"Oh," Marinette said, turning to look at Adrien. "Yes, I'd love to! Alya, Nino, you two wanna join us?"

"Sounds great!" Alya agreed.

"I'm in!" Nino said, smiling.

"Then let's race!" Marinette said with a smile.

The four of them lined up as follows: Adrien, Marinette, Alya, Nino. They were all in racing positions, and Nino was in charge of the countdown.

"Trois, deux, un, aller!" Nino counted down and they were off, starting their first lap around the rink. The sounds of their skates intertwined with their banter and laughs, like all was right with the world.

Marinette found herself behind Alya, and yet in front of Adrien. Nino was at the back. Marinette looked ahead.

'I gotta pick up the pace!' Marinette thought as she started skating faster, all but zooming past Alya and making a good distance away from her best friend.

"Hey, don't leave me in the dust! Or rather, ice shavings!" Alya laughed before going faster.

Marinette kept going, and once she made her first lap around the rink, she felt herself get jerked about. She turned and saw Adrien had taken her arm and was giving her the same cheeky smile he'd given her at the pool the other day.

"W-What?" Marinette asked.

"Got bored of this race." He said.

Her face went beet red and she let out an anxious giggle as Adrien pulled her away from Alya and Nino and they went back to skating together.

"Did they just ditch our race?" Nino asked as he caught up with Alya. They both slowed down to watch.

"Yep," Alya said with a laugh, crossing her arms and watching in amusement. "And at the rate things are going, the ice on this rink is gonna melt."

Nino flinched a bit.

Marinette kept holding Adrien's hand. While it felt good, her stomach on the other hand was twisting about, and not in a good way...

Okay, that's a cliffhanger! At least, that's what I wanted it to leave off at. Okay, so coming up, Marinette and Adrien's "faking the feels" plan is working... Maybe a bit too well?

Now, keep the comments and kudos coming, everyone! The more, the better!

Chapter Text

In this chapter, Marinette and Adrien's "fake crushing on each other" plan seems to be working. Maybe a bit too well? Either way, Marinette isn't keen on acting on whatever is going on between them. Question is, why?

Now again, more comments and kudos means this story stays alive!

Song(s) Included, With/Without Modifications:

I'll Never Fall in Love Again - Evan Rachel Wood

Once their "date" at the ice rink was over, the rest of the afternoon comprised of Adrien and Marinette playing up their "faking the feelings" act.

When they got back to the dorm, Marinette dashed to her room and brought out a small, paper gift bag which had a few stickers and a red, satin ribbon around the handles.

"Adrien!" Marinette called as she ran over to him. He was sitting at one of the common area tables, close to an oscillating fan.

"Hi, Marinette, what's up?" Adrien asked, schooling his face into a smile, making sure his body language was open and friendly. Some of their peers were watching, after all...

"I made this for you," Marinette said, handing him the bag. "Thought it might help you keep cool."

"R-Really?!" Adrien asked, looking elated.

"Sure did," Marinette responded, a smile on her face. "Hope it helps."

He reached for the bag, his hands all jittery, as if he'd never received a handmade present before. He undid the ribbon, reached inside the bag, and he pulled out a white scarf-like garment that had three sections and longer ends to tie up.

"Wow..." Adrien said, as if looking at the Hope Diamond.

"Like it? It's a cooling neck wrap. It has water-absorbing beads in it," Marinette explained. "You can let it soak in cold water overnight, and once you tie it around your neck, it will help you stay cool for hours."

"You did this for me?" Adrien asked, looking at Marinette.

"Sure did," Marinette said. "And I made these for everyone in the group, too."

Adrien gave Marinette a smile. He put the wrap back in the bag, put it down, and stood up. He put his hands on Marinette's shoulders.

"Merci. Merci beaucoup, Marinette." He said, looking at Marinette with blissful, grateful eyes and a warm grin, paired with pink cheeks.

"Y-You're welcome, Adrien..." Marinette responded, her smile looking awkward. Her eyes were glued to him, but she was also itching to escape. "N-Now, I... I gotta get the rest of the wraps delivered."

She took Adrien's hands off her shoulders before making a run for her room. She shut the door and leaned against it, breathing heavily.

'That speeding of my heart and the fluttering in my stomach...! Shit, not again!' Marinette thought, sweat beading down her temple, and it wasn't from the heat wave.

She kept taking long, slow, deep breaths, trying to calm her beating heart. After about thirty seconds to a minute, she managed to regain her composure.

'Okay... Just don't think about Adrien for a little bit and-' Marinette thought.

Almost on cue, she heard knocking. She moved away and turned around.

"Um, hello?" Marinette asked.

"It's me." Adrien said. Marinette jerkily opened the door.

"What's up?" Marinette questioned, while thinking, 'Alya's not in here right now, so if he needs to talk...'

"Um... Do you have a glue gun?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"A glue gun?" Marinette asked, tilting her head in confusion, her body more relaxed now.

"Y-Yeah, it's... For a project." Adrien stammered, red-faced.

"A project? I didn't think you took any classes that needed that." Marinette mentioned, a tad suspicious.

"Oh, no, not for class," Adrien said, waving his hands in refusal. "Just for fun."

"O-Okay..." Marinette responded with a nod. "Just give me a second."

She turned and ran to her sewing desk. She opened her drawers and saw the glue gun and sticks in there. Marinette picked the items up before turning on her heel and running for the door.

But being the klutz she was, she tripped on thin air and stumbled. The glue gun and sticks flew up into the air, all while Marinette was about to land face-first. Adrien dove forward and caught her by her forearms.

Their eyes met and locked onto each other. Their faces turned red as they stood there - they didn't even register the sound of the glue gun and glue stick landing on the floor.

"You okay?" Adrien asked after several beats of silence.

"I... I'm good, thanks." Marinette spoke, pulling away, panic on her face, which had gone from beet red to ashen white.

She looked to see where the glue gun and stick had landed, and she ran over to them to gather them up in her hands, all while trying her best to breathe and calm herself down.

"O-Okay, so what's this project you're working on? Maybe I can help?" Marinette asked, changing the subject.

"That'd be nice! I'd lo- like your help a lot!" Adrien began, his voice sounding bright. "In fact, maybe we could make it a-"

*POOF!*

Marinette whirled around and saw Adrien had turned into a cat, and he was sitting in the usual pile of clothes. And seeing the door was still open, Marinette face-palmed.

"Merde!" Marinette grumbled as she ran for the door and shut it, locking it.

She made a dash for the shared mini fridge, opened it to get some cold water, and created a makeshift cooling mat with some cold packs and wet towels.

Marinette snatched up her table fan, plugged it in, and created a small cooling space in the corner of her side of the room. Adrien, as a cat, ran over to it and sat down on his stomach.

"Thanks," He said as he stretched. "This feels great."

"That's good. Let's hope your temperature comes down, and fast." Marinette said as she gathered up a few more items to help Adrien stay cool.

"Shouldn't this heat wave break in a few days?" Adrien yowled.

"It should," Marinette said while coming over with a small bowl of ice water for him to drink. "Did you put that neck wrap into cold water to soak?"

"Y-Yeah, I did, right before I came by," He responded while Marinette went back to the bed. "It'll be in the water until the beads are at full capacity."

"That's good." Marinette stammered while folding up his clothes and setting them aside.

'This is insane! There's a boy in my room! And not just that, but it's Adrien, and he's in cat form right now!' Marinette thought, her anxiety shooting through the roof while listening to the sound of Adrien drinking the water.

"Your side of the room looks incredible, Marinette," Adrien spoke as he looked around at her furnishings. "It truly reflects who you are."

Marinette felt chills go up and down her spine.

"I, um, thanks..." Marinette said, trying to stay calm.

'You gotta relax, Marinette!' Marinette thought, her face beet red. 'So what if it's the first time I've had a boy in my room?!'

Like before, she went back to deep breathing.

"S-So... Um, are... Are you feeling any better?" Marinette asked aloud.

*POOF!*

"That answers that." She muttered, covering her eyes with one hand as the sounds of rustling clothes rang through the room. She used her free hand to feel around for the glue gun and stick.

The door handle jiggled, and the two of them flinched. Soon, the sound of the lock opening followed.

"Hi, Alya." Marinette said as she walked over to her bestie.

"Hey girl," Alya asked. "Why'd you lock the door?"

"Oh, sorry," Marinette responded. "I just... Um, habit of mine. Locking the door, that is."

Alya gave a shrug before saying, "Understandable."

Adrien came over into Alya's field of view, his pants on, but no shirt.

He spoke, smiling, "Hey, Alya."

"Adrien," Alya greeted, her sly smile coming on her face. "What brings you to Marinette's room?"

"I just came to ask for a glue gun," Adrien said. "I had a hunch she'd have one."

"Yep," Marinette said as she gave Adrien the items, trying to keep her eyes off his chest. "Let me know if you need any more help."

"Then explain why you're not wearing a shirt?" Alya pointed out.

Again, their faces went red.

"I, um... Spilled something on his shirt, so he took it off so I could clean it up." Marinette lied.

"Yeah. And damn, she's good!" Adrien said as he put his shirt back on. "I guess stain removal education is part of your program?"

"That and a lot of research," Marinette said. "Glad it worked."

"I am, too," Adrien spoke. "Thanks again for the glue gun."

He stepped out of the room before turning his head around to look at Marinette. He gave her a tender smile.

Marinette gave a nod in response, and Adrien started to walk back to his room, only to pause.

"Oh, almost forgot," Adrien said as he turned back around. "Do you have any more of that ribbon?"

"Ribbon?" Marinette questioned, feeling her heart pounding.

"The one from the gift bag?" Adrien elaborated.

"Oh, yes, I have plenty! How much do you need?" Marinette said, perking up.

"T-Three or four yards, give or take..." Adrien said, red in the face and fidgeting with his hands.

"Sure, I can do that!" Marinette said as she dashed back into the room, near her sewing station. Adrien followed inside. "What color?"

"I'd like..." Adrien said as he scanned over the selection of ribbons.

Marinette had it so organized, a rack of ribbons with their spools sorted by colors, in the order of the rainbow, with every shade of each color included. It was like looking at a huge color wheel, but in several lines rather than a wheel.

Marinette was breathing deeply, albeit quietly, to avoid panicking. Even with Alya there, they had to keep up the pretense of growing feelings for one another.

She heard a light gasp and she turned to see Adrien was staring at specific ribbon spool. Marinette looked where he was looking and saw that his eyes had landed on a spool of 3.81cm wide satin ribbon. It was rose gold, and it had glitter on it.

"Is that the one you'd like?" Marinette asked, pointing out that spool.

Seeming to come back to reality, Adrien spluttered a bit before coughing into his fist.

"Oui, s'il vous plait." He murmured.

Marinette retrieved the spool from the organizer and she placed it into his hand. Their skin brushed, and Marinette instantly pulled her hand away, giving an anxious laugh.

"Th-Thank you," He said, his cheeks red, as he backed away from Marinette's desk. "I'll... See you again in class?"

"Yes. In class." Marinette said, still pink-faced.

Adrien walked by Alya, who was still spectating, and out of the room. Once the door shut, Marinette heaved a loud, relieved sigh, and she began to make a speedy cleanup of the cooling station.

"Girl, what was that all about?" Alya asked, teasing as she came closer to her bestie. "A boy doesn't just come by a girl's room to ask for a glue gun and some ribbon."

"Don't they?" Marinette questioned, trying to redirect the conversation. "Nino's come by to borrow stuff from you, hasn't he?"

"That's true," Alya admitted with a shrug. "But Nino doesn't need to make excuses to see me. Adrien clearly came up with all of that just to spend some time with you."

"Did he really?" Marinette asked, trying to sound excited.

"Of course!" Alya insisted. "Nino and I both saw how he was acting at the ice rink earlier. He even ditched our race just to skate with you."

"Y-Yeah, he did..." Marinette said, lowering her face.

"Marinette, come on, stop acting like nothing's going on here!" Alya said as she brought Marinette over to the bed. "You're smitten with him!"

"So?" Marinette asked with a shrug.

"Don't give me that - he's not making any secret of him crushing on you, either!" Alya pointed out.

"Y-You think so?" Marinette asked, trying to ignore the fluttering of her heart and the heat coming upon her face.

"Oh, I know so!" Alya said, smiling at Marinette.

The pigtailed designer had a specific thing repeating in her mind. Something she didn't dare voice aloud...

Meanwhile, Adrien was in his dorm room. He had the ribbon spool in his hand. Adrien's elbow was on the desk, his cheek in the palm of his other hand, all whilst gazing at the sparkly ribbon. He moved his hand around to see the ribbon from every possible angle in the light of the room.

Nino, quite amused, was watching from his spot on his bed. He had his arms crossed and a cheeky grin on his face.

Adrien let out a quiet sigh, an embarrassed smile on his face. The door opened.

"Hey, cousin," Félix said as he came in. He saw his cousin's state and approached. "Where'd that ribbon come from?"

"He got it from Marinette." Nino said as he kept watching Adrien stare at the ribbon.

"Really?" Félix asked, quirking a brow.

"Yeah," Adrien responded, still smiling. "And she even gave me a homemade neck wrap that can help me keep cool!"

"That was thoughtful of her." Félix responded, his facial expression flat.

"Not just for you, Adrien," Nino pointed out. "She made them for all of us!"

"I see," Félix said before looking back at Adrien. "How much does she know?"

"Most of it," Adrien stated, coming out of his haze and regaining focus. "And she's been a great help."

"That's good." Félix responded with a smile.

"Dude, you gotta come clean," Nino said as he got off the bed and walked over to his best friend. "This "fake crushing" thing is more than just a cover, isn't it?"

"No, that's all it is," Adrien spoke, unaware of his reddening cheeks. "Everyone's assuming we like each other like that, so we're just running with it."

"And whose idea was this?" Félix questioned.

"Mine," Adrien confirmed, still unaware of his changing body language. "And if I don't give Marinette a present or do something for her in return, people are gonna get suspicious."

"About what?" Nino asked. "Nobody's questioning you have feelings for each other. At least, nobody but you and Marinette, dude."

"What are you talking about?" Adrien questioned, looking at Nino in confusion.

"We saw the way you were staring at that ribbon," Félix commented. "And Nino sent me pictures of your ice rink trip earlier."

"You're unusually comfortable around her. And she's not exactly ill at ease when she's with you, either, dude." Nino added, taking out his phone.

"I'd have to agree," Félix added, his arms crossed. "It's also unlike you to go out of your way for other people unless it's important."

"But she's going out of her way to help me keep my secret." Adrien insisted.

"We help you, too." Nino added.

"Marinette's just a friend." Adrien again insisted.

"Dude, you gotta stop lying to yourself," Nino said, showing Adrien the pictures of their skating excursion. "A guy doesn't look at a girl who's "just a friend" like that."

"All part of the ruse." Adrien said with a casual shrug.

His roommates groaned as Adrien turned back to his desk to get started on one of his assignments.

The following day, Marinette's textiles class had just finished and she was leaving the room, her sketchbook/binder in hand. She was wearing her own neck wrap, in pink with paler white polka dots, to help her stay cool. She'd even made a few smaller ones to use as bracelets.

Marinette looked up and saw that Adrien had walked out of a classroom, and she saw he was wearing his neck wrap. Their eyes met and they smiled at each other. Adrien pointed at his neck wrap and winked at her, mouthing out "thank you."

Marinette blushed with a smile and waved back. She pointed at the mini wraps on her wrists and tilted her head, silently asking him if he liked them. Adrien's grin grew, and nodding his head, he gave her two thumbs' up.

He mouthed out, "Make a set for me!"

Marinette returned the thumbs' up with one of her own before mouthing back, "Got it!"

They waved at each other before going off to their next classes. Marinette, despite herself, let out a happy sigh and began humming.

When they were back in homeroom, Mlle. Bustier had given them a pair creative writing assignment. Marinette was partnered up with Marc, who happened to be an expert on it.

The story itself was an ecological horror tale. Lumberjacks were going into the woods to cut down trees, more than they truly needed, but they'd cut down a tree that housed a forest spirit. The spirit, outraged at the sight of their home being destroyed senselessly, reanimated the spirits of the trees that had been felled - turning the trees into methane and carbon dioxide-belching zombies that ate human flesh, turned the soil they stepped on into arid desert and was eroding, their tree sap had turned into toxic Manchineel sap, and the water supply wasn't being filtered properly.

They'd been called up to share their story with the class, or rather, act it out to make it more fun.

Marc made a loud roaring noise, including raising himself up with clawed hands. He also made a fake burping noise.

Marinette, who was acting as one of the environmental activists that was trying to replant the forest, made a loud, gasping noise, coughing. She put her hands around her throat, the universal sign of choking. She fell to her knees.

"*GASP* Can't... Breathe... Carbon emissions..." She said, being overdramatic just to drive the point home. She put her hands on the floor, faking her gasping. "Must... Find... Oxygen...!"

"Must... Eat..." Marc groaned before making another belching noise.

Marinette turned to face him, still sitting on the ground and shaking.

"Why... Why must you attack us so?!" Marinette begged, still fake-coughing and trying to hold up an invisible weapon (a shovel for digging new holes for new tree saplings).

Everyone in the classroom was flat-out laughing at Marinette's dramatics during the entire scene (minus Myléne, who was in Ivan's arms and trembling). Adrien in particular couldn't stop from guffawing.

Mlle. Bustier was clapping her hands in response, also laughing. Once she composed herself, she said, "Okay, that's enough, you two."

Marinette stood up and both she and Marc turned to Mlle. Bustier.

"Excellent work," She said to them as she read over their paper. "Marc, your creative writing really shines through with this story. And Marinette, your acting here was a nice touch. I could absolutely feel the fear coming from you."

"I don't care for horror movies, but this I could handle," Marinette commented. "Even though it wasn't supposed to be funny..."

"True, but you fulfilled the assignment, which counts. Now, back to your seats." Mlle. Bustier said with a smile.

Marinette began walking back to her desk, but she could still hear chuckling. She turned and saw Adrien was trying to hold himself together, shaking and covering his mouth.

"Was the story really that funny?" Marinette questioned him.

"Not the story itself," Adrien snickered. "You were funny."

"Me?" Marinette asked, blushing.

"Yeah, absolutely hilarious!" He confirmed as he came down from his laughter high. "I'm not sure I've met anyone who can make me laugh the way you can, Marinette."

Marinette's mouth slowly grew into a smile, and her cheeks went pink. She gave a nod before taking her seat behind Adrien.

"Girl, you were a hoot up there! But still, the story was pretty scary." Alya commented, turning to look at Myléne, who was still trying to breathe and calm down.

"Thanks," Marinette commented. "Glad we got the point across."

"You know, before you came along, I've never seen Adrien laugh as hard as he has lately." Alya commented.

"For real?" Marinette questioned.

"Yeah. The ice rink and just now being two huge examples." Alya pointed out.

Marinette looked at the back of Adrien's head and saw he was paying attention to Rose and Zoé's presentation on their story. She couldn't see his facial expression from behind, though.

'Now that I think about it, Adrien did mention that before his father died, he had a very regimented life with almost no free time,' Marinette thought. 'Has he ever had room to laugh? I guess not until now...'

She gave a light shake of her head, saying to herself, 'Calm down, Marinette. You gotta remember that this whole thing is fake!'

During break period, Marinette was sitting at a table by herself, and she'd almost finished eating her lunch. She heard the sound of video game music from nearby, accompanied by laughter and people making "pewing" noises, as if guns were firing. Marinette turned and saw Alya and Nino were sitting about two tables away, playing on a tablet.

Marinette stood up and walked over to them, asking, "What's going on?"

"Oh! Sorry, Marinette," Alya said, still giggling. "Nino and I were just playing some Super Penguino."

"Super Penguino? That little app game where you have to guide the penguin as it's constantly running, collecting coins and avoiding obstacles?" Marinette questioned.

"Yep," Nino said as he put his free arm around Alya's shoulders. "There was this one time where we snuck off to play the game, but we were caught by some of the others. We got teased for it, saying we were too old for it."

Marinette snickered at this before saying, "But I hear that almost everyone loves the game."

"Yeah, they stopped after I mentioned that I've seen Rose and Juleka play it together, dude," Nino said. "Ivan and Myléne, too."

"And I swear that I've seen Kagami and Félix play it a few times." Alya added with a giggle.

"I've heard it's popular, and a lot of fun!" Marinette said, her smile growing.

"What's a lot of fun?" Adrien questioned as he came over to the group.

"Oh. Hi, Adrien!" Marinette said, smiling a bit. "W-We were just talking about Super Penguino."

"Really?" Adrien asked. "I haven't played it before, but it looks like fun!"

"You haven't played it, either?" Marinette asked, a bit surprised. "If you play video games, what kind do you like?"

"I like Ultimate Mecha Strike and-" Adrien began.

"YOU LIKE Ultimate Mecha Strike?!" Marinette squealed, her eyes lighting up in delight and leaning into Adrien's space, surprising him.

"Y-Yeah... You, too?" Adrien asked, taken with her sparkling, happy eyes. He couldn't keep a smile off his face.

"Sure do! My dad and I play it all the time! I'd like to say I'm one of the best players out there." Marinette responded, puffing out her chest in pride.

Adrien chuckled before saying, "I've been told I'm no slouch, either."

"Oh?" Marinette asked, a coquettish/coy smile growing.

"Absolutely," Adrien spoke, his face turning red. "Though I can say the title of Ultimate Mecha Strike Champion belongs to Max. Maybe you should challenge him for that before saying you're one of the best."

Marinette laughed.

"Anyway..." Alya cut in, giggling with her usual, sly smile. "Super Penguino is a lot more fun when it's played in pairs. Just a matter of finding the right partner."

Both Marinette and Adrien looked at each other before blushing a plain-as-day shade of crimson. Marinette felt her heart buzz, much to her dismay.

"M-Maybe we should play a round or two?" Marinette asked.

"Sure. I'd like to try Super Penguino with you." Adrien responded.

Marinette shook her head and said, "I-I-I meant Ultimate Mecha Strike, not Super Penguino!"

Adrien pretended to deflate, before responding, "O-Oh, y-yeah... Playing a round or two of Ultimate Mecha Strike sounds great. M-Maybe after classes?"

"Y-Yeah..." Marinette agreed. "I'd love to."

Adrien gave a nod before walking away from the scene. Marinette couldn't stop herself from giving a smile.

'I know he said he's good at Ultimate Mecha Strike, but I wonder how good?' Marinette thought, wondering how Adrien's hands would stretch and how taut his finger muscles would be on the controller.

But once she realized what she'd been doing - thinking about Adrien all day - she slapped her cheeks with her hands, and it was loud.

"You okay?" Alya asked, surprise on her face.

'Don't sabotage yourself like this, Marinette!' Marinette thought, as if she didn't hear Alya. She took a few deep breaths. 'Remember, it's all pretend. A cover to help Adrien keep his secret.'

So long as she kept telling herself that, everything would be fine... Right?

Apparently not, as she was lying awake in bed that night. She'd taken a few melatonin tablets, but it clearly didn't help. The only thing she could hear were Alya's breathing and her own thoughts.

'It's all pretend to keep Adrien's secret. It's all pretend to keep Adrien's secret! IT'S ALL PRETEND TO KEEP ADRIEN'S SECRET!' Marinette kept repeating in her mind.

But no luck. She turned from her back to her side and slammed her cheek in her pillow, remaining quiet as to not wake Alya.

Her thoughts were running around in circles like dogs chasing their tails. At the epicenter of it all, the one unspoken thing that had been on Marinette's mind.

'No! I can't! I won't! Come on, think about something else...' Marinette thought, begging herself to change the channel in her brain.

Just her luck, it didn't work. She lost about four hours of sleep before her brain finally shut itself off for the night. Her fatigue was obvious the next day, as she was stumbling around the halls like a zombie. Splitting headache, bags under her eyes, the whole bit.

"Marinette, are you alright?" Adrien asked from behind her, but she didn't respond. To her, his voice sounded as if he were far away - hollow and distant.

"Hello?" He asked again, waving his hand in front of her eyes.

This seemed to work, and she startled.

"Oh, Adrien, good morning..." Marinette said before holding back a big yawn. "When did you get here?"

"I've been here for a few minutes. Did you get any sleep?" Adrien asked.

"Oh, yeah, I slept like a..." Marinette began, only to yawn loudly and pitch forward.

"Marinette!" Adrien shouted as he caught her. "Geez, you really didn't sleep, did you?"

Marinette gave a confirming mumble.

"Okay..." Adrien began as he started looking around. He brought Marinette over to a nearby bench and let her sit down. She kept trying to keep her head up and her eyes open.

'So tired...' Marinette thought, nearly falling back asleep. But the scent of tea came under her nose.

She blinked and saw Adrien had come back with a coffee cup from the coffee/tea vending machine nearby.

"Irish Breakfast tea," Adrien explained. "Thought it'd perk you up."

"Merci," Marinette murmured as she took the cup and sipped it. She breathed out. "This is good."

"Glad it's working," Adrien spoke as he sat down next to Marinette. "So, what happened? What kept you up last night?"

Marinette looked at Adrien out of her peripheral vision and thought, 'I can't tell him he was on my mind all night!'

"I... Had a bad dream and I couldn't stop replaying it," Marinette spoke. She looked back at her cup. "And the heat wasn't helping."

"What was the dream about?" Adrien questioned.

Marinette flinched as she looked at Adrien, whose face was rife with worry. His eyes were definitely telling her that he wanted to help.

"I... I'd rather not talk about it," Marinette confessed as she sipped more of the tea. "I kind of forgot what it was about, anyway."

Adrien gave a light snorting laugh, his cheeks puffing up and his smile growing.

"It couldn't have been that important if you forgot about it." Adrien laughed.

Unable to restrain herself, she also started laughing, unworried about spilling her tea.

"Looks like you're more awake now," Adrien commented, still chuckling and giving her a huge smile. "Think you'll be able to make it through classes today?"

"I think so," Marinette spoke. "I do have a break period, so I could easily take a nap during then."

"Not a bad idea." Adrien agreed.

Marinette let out another yawn before taking another gulp of tea.

After classes that day, Marinette had retreated to her room and fell asleep. Several hours later, she felt her shoulder being shaken, and quite hard.

"Wake up, girl! Girl!" Alya shouted.

Marinette jolted up from the bed and turned to face her roommate. She had her hands on her hips and a smile on her face.

With a still tired groan, Marinette rubbed her eyes and asked, "Where's the fire?"

"No fire, but it is time for a bit of girl talk!" Alya said, winking at Marinette.

"What do you mean?" Marinette questioned, all but fully awake.

"You'll see." Alya said, grabbing Marinette and bringing her outside their room.

Apparently "girl talk" translated to an interrogation in the common area of the dorms. The girls were clamoring, talking over each other, all trying to get details out of Marinette.

"Okay, okay, girls, you gotta chill!" Marinette laughed, waving her hands to get her friends to settle down.

Once they did, Alix spoke up and said, "Marinette, it's obvious that you like Adrien. A lot."

"A lot, a lot!" Rose agreed. "I think you two did more than just make up during initiation!"

Marinette flinched before saying, "Y-Yeah, we did..."

Trying to play up the act, she was smiling, and her balled hands were on her knees.

'And Adrien WAS attractive without his shirt...' Marinette thought, her heart beating. But she had to scold herself. 'Marinette, remember that you're faking it. FAKING IT!'

"Aw, and he stayed by your side during the entire ice rink trip?!" Myléne cooed.

"He did." Marinette confirmed, still smiling.

"SO CUTE!" Rose squealed.

Juleka mumbled, "Are you going to tell him how you feel?"

Without missing a beat, Marinette stated with a shrug, "No."

Everyone had to do a mental double-take at this.

"NO?!" They all shouted.

"So what if I'm sweet on Adrien?" Marinette asked. "I'm not planning on leaving the friend-zone with him."

Alya blinked and shook her head in disbelief.

"I must have wax in my ears. You're crushing on Adrien, but you're not gonna do anything about it?!" Alya asked, her eyes wide with shock.

"Right." Marinette said, in a matter-of-fact tone.

'I know I'm just overcomplicating things,' Marinette thought. 'But Adrien and I agreed that our closeness is because we're faking feelings for each other.'

"I can't comprehend the rationale behind such a choice." Kagami commented, face-palming in disbelief.

"Neither can I." Alya grumbled. She had her hand in her hair, her eyes were closed in annoyance, and she heaved an aggravated breath. Some of the others had similar expressions.

"I don't get it either." Alix agreed, crossing her arms.

"Why?!" Rose bawled. "You two have it going on! Why keep your feelings to yourself?!"

"It's not worth it." Marinette spoke, a cynical edge to her tone.

"How can you say that?!" Myléne asked, sounding all but horrified.

A brief period of silence from the designer. There was a blatant cloud of sorrow in her eyes, and murky, blurry memories coming up. Her face fell forward a little, too.

She stated, "I know I can't speak for all of us, but I've been in this movie before. And the ending... It hurts."

The girls' expressions were a mix of shock and disbelief, with varying degrees in between. Zoé's expression was that of understanding, though. Marinette walked away from the girls, her manner sad. Quiet, slow music began playing.

"What do you get when you fall in love? A guy with a pin to burst your bubble," Marinette sang to herself while holding onto her forearms, a nervous tick of hers. "That's what you get for all your trouble."

She looked up to the ceiling and sang aloud, "I'll never fall in love again."

The girls seemed to settle down, continuing to listen.

"What do you get when you kiss a boy? You get enough germs to catch a fever. Then, straight away, he'll love ya and leave ya..." Marinette sang, as the music started to pick up from a soft, quiet ballad to a pop song with a faster tempo.

A determined expression came upon her face as she looked at her friends and sang, "I'll never fall in love again. No, I'll never fall in love again!"

The flashback was beginning to run through her head.

She walked back to the girls, singing, "Don't tell me what it's all about. 'Cause I've been there and I'm glad I'm out. Out of those chains, those chains that bind you. That is why I'm here to remind you!"

"What do you get when you give your heart? You get it all broken up and battered! Ya, that's what you get, a heart that's shattered. I'll never fall in love again!" Marinette crooned while tears began streaming down her face.

The empathy on the girls' faces became palpable as they listened to Marinette sing. The pain she was feeling was coming out in her voice, and it was fervent.

She made a great effort to tamp her trauma down, but no luck - the wound was reopened and the pain was bursting forth. The jeering laughter, the cruel taunts, everything was flooding back in her mind, and she was powerless to stop it.

'I am not going back down that rabbit hole!' Marinette thought, trying to calm herself down.

"What do you get when you give your heart? You get it all broken up and battered! Ya that's what you get, a heart that's shattered. I'll never all in love again! No, I'll never fall in love again!" Marinette kept singing as the girls surrounded her.

She looked up and scanned their faces, all ranging from sympathy to remorseful and everything in between.

"No, I'll never fall in love again!" Marinette sang at the last note before beginning to cry quietly. The girls folded her into a group hug, letting her let it out, bawling.

And plot twist! That's it for this chapter!

Coming up, the end of the heat wave isn't stopping Adrien's transformations.

Chapter Text

Alright! In this chapter, the heat wave may be over, but Marinette and Adrien's troubles aren't. His transformations are happening more often. Meanwhile, Marinette letting her pain out is causing a shift in their dynamic...

Two days after her breakdown, Marinette had (barely) recovered.

She was at her locker, gathering up her materials for classes for the day.

'I can't believe I broke down in front of the girls,' Marinette thought. 'But maybe I needed to. I'm grateful that they just let me cry and stopped asking questions.'

The emotional relief she felt afterwords was nice, but Marinette still felt shaky about using her past pain as an excuse. Opening up an emotional scar that deep that early in the healing process wasn't something she wanted to deal with. She heaved a sigh as she shut her locker door.

"Hey, Marinette!" Adrien greeted from behind the door.

Marinette, startled, jumped and screamed. Adrien flinched, too.

"Oh, Adrien..." Marinette said, putting a hand to her heart and she tried to breathe to calm down. "Don't scare me like that."

"Sorry," Adrien apologized, his hands up. "Didn't mean to startle you."

"I-It's fine," Marinette stammered, putting a hand up to placate Adrien. "J... Just... Give me a minute..."

A few seconds of deep breathing, and Marinette tried to reprogram her brain at the same time. Once her heart slowed down, Marinette looked back up at Adrien with a tiny smile.

"Is everything alright?" Adrien asked, sounding worried. His facial expression matched. "You've seemed a bit sad the past two days."

"I..." Marinette began, sounding uncertain. "It's a bit hard to explain."

Her face fell, doubt still filling her face, specifically her eyes.

'Why is it that I feel like I can talk to Adrien about everything else, but nothing about this?' Marinette thought. 'He is a former teen model - a magnet for girls and some guys. As if he'd understand...'

"You don't have to tell me anything if you can't." Adrien spoke. Marinette looked up at him in surprise. She saw the kind, patient, affectionate look on his face.

"I... don't?" Marinette asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"No," Adrien confirmed. "If you need to take your time to open up about things, it's okay."

Marinette felt the pressure come off of her chest, like someone took a heavy barbell out of her arms. She sighed in relief and gave him a smile.

"Thanks, Adrien," Marinette spoke. "I was worried you'd push me into talking, especially after you confided in me about you-know-what."

"No, I wouldn't do that," Adrien said. "You're my friend, after all."

Marinette felt more pressure ease off her, but at the same time, a hollowness in her heart was left behind. Marinette tried to ignore it, focusing on Adrien.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Adrien coughed into his fist and spoke out, "Well, I made something for you."

Marinette looked up at him in surprise as he approached. He took a small box out of his back pocket. He opened the lid to present a hair comb. It had some roses made of sparkling satin ribbon glued onto it - two smaller ones on the side, one larger one in the middle. There were some ivory pearls in the comb, too. Was the work a touch sloppy, yes, but otherwise well-made.

Marinette stared at it in awe. A flash of recognition came across her face, and she said, "Wait, those roses... aren't those made from the ribbon I gave you?"

"They sure are," Adrien confirmed, his smile growing. "I think this comb turned out good, especially for an amateur like me."

Marinette examined his hand, seeing the bandages on some of his fingers.

'He must've gotten so many cuts, pricks, and burns trying to make this...' Marinette thought, a swell of emotion growing in her heart.

"It's so pretty, Adrien..." She murmured, smiling.

"Glad you think so," Adrien said, a sigh of relief coming out of him. "I mean, you're the designer. I was a bit nervous giving a homemade accessory to you."

"Oh, don't worry!" Marinette responded, blushing and waving her hands. "Just the fact you thought of me means so much."

"That's great," Adrien chuckled, relieved. "Mind if I put it in your hair?"

Marinette's heart leaped and her eyes popped open for a second. She blinked. But she gave a timid nod. Adrien came closer, the comb in his hand. He put his hands in her hair, raking his fingers through it as he pulled the red hair ties from her pigtails.

Her hair fell, and Adrien was left astounded for a second.

'Wow... I know her hair was down when we were swimming, but seeing it up close like this...' Adrien thought.

But he shook himself out of it before going around behind Marinette.

"You're being so gentle," Marinette commented as Adrien kept going. "Did you pick up a few hair styling tips from your modeling days?"

"No," Adrien said, sounding a bit wistful. "...My mother used to let me play with her hair when I was little. She even taught me a few basic styles."

Marinette went silent at this, realizing she'd hit a sore spot. She just let Adrien do his work, ignoring the fact that a boy was touching her hair.

"Could you tilt your head back?" Adrien requested.

"Sure." Marinette said, lifting her face up to the ceiling and closing her eyes. She relished the feeling of the moment, her mind wandering for a few seconds. She felt the comb's teeth on her scalp for a second.

"And... Done!" Adrien said as he stepped away from her.

Marinette looked around, trying to find a mirror, only to thump herself on the forehead with the heel of her hand. She took out her phone, which had a small mirror on the back of it.

She let out a quiet gasp as she saw Adrien's handiwork. He'd put her hair in a high bun and put the comb at the base of it, making sure the roses were front and center. Though the lighting in the hall wasn't optimal, the ribbon sparkled a little, as did the shine from the pearls.

"Wow..." She murmured, almost breathless.

"Well, what do you think?" Adrien asked, sounding eager.

Marinette turned to look at Adrien with a smile. Her eyes began to fill with happy tears.

"Merci beaucoup." Marinette spoke, her wet eyes sparkling.

Adrien's cheeks went pink, his eyes wide and his face awestruck as he looked her over, all but staring. They were all alone, silence being the only accompaniment.

*POOF!*

"Damn!" Adrien hissed.

Marinette went stiff in mild panic, saying, "Uh-oh..."

"Marinette! Girl, where are you?" Alya called out.

The pair nearly screeched. Adrien dashed off to hide somewhere. Marinette crouched and got his clothes off the floor before stowing them in her locker, out of sight. She took a deep breath to collect herself.

"Over here!" Marinette called out, trying to look natural.

Alya came in, the rest of the girls following suit.

"Hey, girl, are you ready for classes to-" Alya began, only to pause and look at her bestie with a curious expression.

Marinette, surprised at her change in behavior, asked, "What?"

"Where did you get that hair accessory?! It's so cute!" Rose asked as the girls approached to look closer at it.

"Oh, this," Marinette said, relaxing as she fingered the comb in her hair. "Adrien made this hair comb for me. He used the ribbon he got from me to make the roses."

"He made that?" Alya asked, putting her hands on her hips with an amused smile. "There's a surprise."

"How is that a surprise?" Marinette asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"Adrien's crafting skills leave much to be desired," Kagami stated. "The best he's done is putting beads on a string and calling it a bracelet."

"He must really got it bad for you if he's making accessories for you," Myléne commented with a smile. "Like Ivan, Adrien's love language is physical touch and quality time!"

"Same with Nino," Alya giggled before turning back to Marinette. "Maybe Adrien's picked up on the fact that making and giving presents is your love language, girl!"

Marinette's face went red and she gave a shy smile in response.

"Y-Yeah, I guess so, but..." Marinette began, hugging her arms in her usual, anxious tick.

"You're not gonna tell him anything?" Alix asked, empathy in her voice.

Marinette gave a quiet nod before saying, "I'm remaining silent for my own good."

"This is Adrien we're talking about," Juleka mumbled. "A total cinnamon roll."

"Yeah, I don't think he's got a mean bone in his body," Alix agreed. "He'd never do anything to hurt you."

Marinette's face fell before saying, "Still not gonna say anything to him."

"Girl," Alya said, sounding frustrated. "One bad experience shouldn't shut you off from Adrien."

Marinette felt her temper rise by a micro-margin, but it fell with a tiny wave of despair following.

"It... It's still pretty raw, Alya," Marinette confessed, her eyes askance. "I'm not ready."

"Please don't give us that, Marinette," Alya insisted, a gentle and reassuring tone. "You and Adrien are pretty much an item already."

Marinette flinched before blushing red and saying, "What makes you say that?"

"Did he not give you that rose hair clip you're wearing right now?" Kagami asked, pointing at Marinette's hair. "One he made himself with ribbon he borrowed from you, as you've mentioned?"

Marinette face-palmed and said, "Yes, he did."

"And you gave him a neck wrap to help him stay cool, too!" Rose added.

"Also true..." Marinette spoke, unsure of how she was going to refute the argument.

"You're all but a couple, you just haven't put the label on it yet." Alya commented.

Marinette's eyes went askance in pain. Tears were about to come forth again.

"Girls, let's not pressure her," Zoé said, stepping in. "Everyone has their own timeline for healing! We can't rush things."

Marinette gave an agreeing nod. The girls relented at this.

"Anyway, we'll meet you in homeroom later?" Alya said, changing the subject.

"Yeah. I've got Textiles class soon," Marinette confirmed, her voice sounding like it was breaking. "See you later."

Alya led their posse out of the locker area. After counting to twenty, Marinette took a deep breath to try recollecting herself.

"All clear." Marinette said as she opened her locker and took Adrien's clothes out.

Adrien, still a cat, came out of hiding with a sad look on his face. He saw Marinette's facial expression - her downcast eyes, small frown, and her head looking at the floor. Adrien saw a few tears on her face.

"Marinette..." Adrien began, taking a deep breath. "A... Are you okay?"

"...I've been better." Marinette confessed as she shut the locker door before leaning her back against it. Her loose tears were flowing down her face.

"About what you girls were talking about...?" Adrien started, letting the question hang in the air.

"...It isn't just a cover story," Marinette sighed, her tone matching her sad face and body language. She wiped her tears. "I guess I was backed into a corner and I let that piece of information slip..."

"So, what ha-" Adrien began to ask.

*POOF!*

Back to a human. Marinette let out a yelp, covered her eyes, and turned her face away as she dropped his clothes to the floor.

"This is a pain, switching between cat and human all the time." Adrien grumbled as he snatched up his clothes and went back to hiding so he could put them on.

"Maybe wear the neck wrap at all times?" Marinette suggested as she wiped her tears. "And just tell people you run hotter than most?"

"Good thinking," Adrien spoke after putting his button-down over his shirt. "It's safe to look now."

Marinette turned to face him and asked, "You've tried finding an antidote, haven't you?"

"Yes," Adrien confirmed. "I rushed back down to the basement to see if any notes or formulas had been spared from the blast. Nothing."

"I was afraid of that," Marinette sighed, resigned as she came over to Adrien and put a hand on his shoulder. "But don't worry. I'm here for you."

Adrien, surprised at her touch, looked at Marinette with the same expression as before. He put his hand over hers and gave it a light squeeze, causing her heart to pound and her cheeks to warm.

"Marinette..." He murmured, slowly leaning closer to her.

Marinette's heart kept pounding, a pulse of fear and anxiety rushing through. Her skin became clammy and she felt sweat beading on her forehead. And yet, she couldn't move.

'Why? Why can't I step away?! Why can't I say anything to tell him to stop?!' Marinette thought, paralyzed. Even her eyes couldn't break away from Adrien.

Their faces were several inches apart...

*POOF!*

Into a cat again.

"Oh-kay..." Marinette said, looking at him in surprise. At the same time, she felt relieved.

She heard her phone buzz with an alert. "Um, I gotta get to Textiles class. You might wanna hide out somewhere until you cool down. I'll text Nino and let him know you need help."

"Sure." Adrien said, taking his clothes in his mouth and scampering off to hide.

Marinette shook her head in confusion and disbelief as she walked out of the locker room.

She hadn't noticed that Adrien had gone back to his earlier hiding spot. He was sitting on his stomach and groaning, hanging his head in dismay, along with something else...

While in class, Marinette was working on her assignment - identifying textiles and understanding the proper care for each one.

She gave her hair comb another delicate touch. The sight of the injuries on Adrien's hands, the feel of Adrien's hand in her hair, all of them sent her heart beating again.

'He made an effort to keep the ruse going, even though it was just the two of us.' She thought, her face turning red as she fiddled with one of the fabrics she had.

But she couldn't stop thinking over her friends' words.

"You and Adrien are pretty much an item already." "He must really got it bad for you if he's making accessories for you." "You're all but a couple, you just haven't put the label on it yet."

Resisting a sigh, Marinette thought, 'W-Well, at least we're putting on a convincing act. That's the whole idea.'

And yet, she felt a droplet of doubt.

His smile, the way he looked so relieved when she thanked him for the comb, how the squeeze of his hand against hers felt so good. And the way she was stuck in her tracks when he started coming closer to her face, how she was unable to move. Like, she wanted it to happen, but at the same time she didn't.

'I can't let myself get swept away by a boy again!' Marinette thought as she gave her arm a light pinch and went back to work, going back to quietly humming the song she'd sung to the girls. 'Especially after last time.'

After Adrien had cooled down and switched back, he'd made it to his Conversational Mandarin Chinese class, just before the bell rang.

'One transformation on any given day is inconvenient enough. But two transformations so close together? That's even worse!' He thought.

When classes were done, he went to his room. He was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. The tears on Marinette's face were seared into his mind.

'I've never seen Marinette cry. She looked so down. I wonder what happened?' He thought, once again replaying the sight of Marinette's sadness. 'There was nothing phony about those tears.'

Just a few minutes earlier, Marinette's tears were paired with a big, grateful smile, all because of the hair comb he'd made for her. He remembered how he started getting closer into Marinette's space, as if put under a spell. He looked at his hand, the same one that he'd put over Marinette's. At the time, he'd felt his heartbeat in his ears.

The sound of the door unlocking broke Adrien's thoughts. In came Nino, who was looking at him with an indescribable expression.

"Hey, dude," Nino said as he came by Adrien's bed. "What's the matter?"

Adrien confessed, "J... Just thinking about Marinette."

"Oh, yeah," Nino stated, a knowing smile coming upon his face. "Alya's been worried about her. Apparently, Marinette broke down after confessing that she doesn't plan to tell you she's crushing."

Adrien gave a nod, saying, "Yeah. I heard her talking about it earlier. I was gonna ask, but my condition interrupted. Twice."

"I think that's the first time you've transformed more than once in such a short timespan." Nino spoke.

"I know. Ever since Marinette started coming here, my transformations have been happening more often," Adrien stated. "I wish I knew why. The heat wave didn't give me near as much trouble."

"Well, Marinette's cute, objectively so," Nino commented, his voice casual. "She gives quite a few girls a run for their money in the looks department, dude."

"...She is beautiful with her hair down..." Adrien murmured, his face turning warm at the memory, and how her hair looked with the comb in it. His heart started throbbing a bit.

*POOF!*

One black cat sitting on the bed. Adrien shook his head in annoyance while Nino tried to hold back chuckles.

In homeroom the next day, Marinette was sitting at her seat and wearing her hair down. She had the comb in her bangs, which she'd braided. She was fiddling with her tablet for class, and humming. Alya was staring at Marinette with a friendly smile.

Marinette looked at Alya and asked, "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing. Just that you're wearing the comb Adrien made for you," Alya said, a teasing tone of voice. "And your hair is down. It's pretty like that."

"Thanks, Alya," Marinette said, giggling. "It was very sweet of him to make it."

"It sure was," Alya agreed, her sly smile upon her face. "You're a lucky girl, having Adrien as your de-facto boyfriend!"

Hearing "boyfriend" caused Marinette's face to go red and her heart to start beating faster.

'B-Boyfriend?! Seriously?!' Marinette thought before trying to collect herself.

"A-Alya, you're pulling my leg, right?" Marinette asked, still blushing.

"No, I'm not." Alya said, her face going from cunning amusement to an impatient scowl.

Marinette felt her blood become water at that before turning her face away and sighing. She put her tablet down.

"Girl..." Alya sighed, sympathy in her voice.

Marinette was choked up, her words caught in her throat, and she was trembling. Alya gave Marinette a hug, to try helping her feel better.

'I just want to forget about the whole thing!' Marinette thought.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Adrien asked.

Alya gave Adrien a look and said, "I'm not sure."

Though it was subtle, there was an undertone of understanding in Adrien's facial expression. He had a hunch what was bugging her...

Later that day, closer to noon, Marinette and the girls were in the hallway near the library, talking. Alya and Zoé made sure the girls didn't ask about Adrien or her past pain.

"So you've got that research paper about a current issue to get done for your journalism class, Alya?" Rose asked.

"Sure do," Alya said, sounding like she wasn't looking forward to it. "My teacher gave me flack about not double or triple-checking my sources, I didn't get the score I wanted on the last one."

"Well, you were contradicting yourself on that." Juleka mumbled.

"Right," Alya conceded. "I'd better make sure to pay extra attention to the CRAAP test with my sources."

Marinette herself was listening, smiling in amusement. But she was so distracted by her friends that she hadn't realized Adrien was watching the scene from around the corner. He took a deep breath and began approaching Marinette from behind.

"I have to do research for my art history course, too. Think you can help me with that, Alix?" Marinette asked, looking at the pink-haired roller-blades.

"Sure can, Marinette," Alix agreed. "I can recommend some art time periods, but that's it."

"That's fine." Marinette said with a shrug.

But the girls got "squee" and curious expressions on their faces. Rose had a gleeful smile, as did Alya.

"What's the matter?" Marinette asked. She felt someone tap her on the shoulder.

"Hey, Marinette," Adrien said, and Marinette turned to face him. His cheeks were pink, and he was rubbing the beck of his neck. "I was thinking... Um, maybe we could get lunch together today?"

Marinette brightened before smiling and nodding, saying, "I'd li- love that!"

'Still gotta keep up the act!' Marinette thought.

"That's great," Adrien responded as he gave Marinette a wink, making her blush. "There's this great café off-campus we can go to!"

"Sounds like a great plan." Marinette giggled.

He came next to her, put his arm around her shoulder, and began leading her away. Marinette's heart kept skipping, feeling warm at his touch.

Almost like second nature, she schooled her face into a smitten expression, ignoring Alya's "squee" face, which was being mirrored by almost everyone else.

They took the school's monorail system to go into the city to go to the café Adrien mentioned. They sat inside for their meal.

"Thanks for this, Adrien," Marinette said. "I needed to get away from it."

"Yeah, I could tell," Adrien responded, his face turning red. "And I... I wanted to eat somewhere else for a change, too."

A bit of silence passed between them, and it was awkward. Marinette couldn't help but look at Adrien from under her eyes. She could tell he was squirming in his seat.

"Adrien, is everything alright?" Marinette asked.

Adrien went stiff for a second.

"Oh, everything's fine. I was just..." Adrien began.

"Just...?" Marinette asked, rolling her hand to get Adrien to answer.

But just as he was about to, their server came over with their food and drinks.

"Oh, thank you." Adrien spoke as he started drinking his water.

Marinette shrugged before starting to eat her lunch - a classic sandwich.

Adrien took a bite of his own meal, a pasta dish. Once he swallowed his bite, he took a deep breath.

"Marinette, I was wondering if you'd like to-" Adrien started, but his face turned red and his breathing became labored. He was sweating, too.

"Adrien, are you okay?!" Marinette asked, on alert.

"H-H-Hot!" Adrien cried, opening his mouth and waving his hand over his tongue. He coughed before slugging down more water, but this didn't seem to work.

Marinette looked at the food and saw what he'd ordered. Frantic, she called out to a nearby server, "Excuse me, what exactly is this dish!?"

"Oh, that's our take on shrimp scampi," The server spoke to her. "Extra chilies. Habaneros, ghost peppers-"

"Can we get some whole milk over here?!" Marinette shrieked as she watched Adrien continue to gasp for air, his face flusher than before, and sweating heavier.

Hearing this, the server made a rush for the kitchen. Marinette got Adrien away from the table and started bringing him to the men's room in the café. He ducked in and slammed the door shut.

Marinette pressed her ear to the door to listen in. A few more seconds of heavy breathing and gasping before the poof noise. Marinette heaved a groan, just as their server came over to her with a large glass of whole milk.

"Merci," Marinette thanked as she took it. She knocked on the bathroom door. "Adrien, is everything okay in there?"

"Not really!" He griped. "Marinette, please help!"

"I'm coming in!" Marinette said. The server wanted to follow, but Marinette held him back. "Please. I can do this myself. Thank you for the milk."

The server backed off as Marinette went inside.

Luckily, nobody else was in the bathroom except the two of them. Marinette saw Adrien, as a cat, clawing at his tongue in discomfort.

She walked over to him, got down on her knees and tilted the milk glass in his direction. Adrien darted over and started lapping it up as fast as possible.

Marinette, watching him drink, gave an amused snort.

"What's so funny?" Adrien asked, sounding annoyed.

"It's just ironic - the stereotype is that cats love milk. And here we are, giving you milk to turn you back into a human." Marinette laughed.

Hearing this, Adrien chuckled, and said, "You're right, it is pretty funny."

After a few more laps of milk, Adrien turned back. Following the poof sound and the smoke, Marinette covered her eyes. She felt Adrien take the glass from her hand and chug the rest of it down.

"Thanks for the quick thinking, Marinette," Adrien said as he started putting his clothes back on. "That really helped. This is exactly why I don't eat spicy foods."

"You're welcome, but... Why'd you order the dish in that case?" Marinette questioned, gently, still covering her eyes.

"I... Didn't know it was going to be that hot," Adrien confessed as he put his shirt on. "I was a little... distracted."

"Distracted?" Marinette asked. "By what?"

She heard Adrien's breath hitch for a second. He coughed again before saying, "N-Nothing important. You can look now."

Marinette looked at Adrien, and his face was still red. The milk glass was empty and at his side.

They left the bathroom and went to pay their bill. But they were comped for it on account of Adrien having a bad reaction to the spice. Marinette didn't bother disputing the decision, she just decided to take the free meal and leave.

Marinette and Adrien sat next to each other while riding the monorail back to campus. There was a sense of awkwardness between them. Marinette kept looking at Adrien out of her peripheral, only to face forward again. Her fists were in her lap and she was fidgeting.

When they got back to school, Adrien was escorting Marinette back inside, holding her hand.

"Hey girl!" Alya said from the top of the stairs to the dormitory area. "How was lunch?"

Marinette looked back at Adrien for a second before saying, "It was... Memorable."

The girls had the expected reaction of excitement, especially when they saw Adrien holding Marinette's hand.

"A-Anyway, thanks for lunch, Adrien," Marinette said, taking her hand away and beginning to climb the stairs. "See you in class."

"Wait," Adrien began, taking her hand with both of his again, causing Marinette to pause and look back at him. "I... was wondering, if you'd like to go to the movies? There's that new movie about Super Penguino that's coming out."

The girls gave amused, hopeful gasps from behind, and Marinette's face turned beet red.

Marinette, trying to ignore the rapid throbbing of her heart, looked at her hand again. She looked up at Adrien and asked, "J-Just the two of us, or is this a group outing?"

Adrien's eyes flicked to their audience before taking a deep breath. He said, "Um... A group outing is okay with me."

"Great!" Marinette said, a rush of relief pulsing through her.

Adrien's cheeks went red to pair with his timid smile. He kept rubbing his thumbs over her hand.

"Um, Adrien?" Marinette asked. "You can let go of my hand now."

Adrien looked down, saw what he was doing, and pulled away, saying, "Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it. It was nice." Marinette said, smiling and winking at him. She mouthed to him, "Great acting."

Adrien visibly deflated as Marinette turned on her heel and climbed the stairs.

"Girl, he was clearly asking you out on a date!" Alya said.

"Y-Yeah, I guess he was..." Marinette spoke, willing a blush on her face and hugging her arms.

"We know he was!" Myléne declared. "But going to see the Super Penguino movie as a group sounds like fun, too!"

"Sure does!" Zoé agreed.

"But you'd better sit next to Adrien during the film." Alya pressured Marinette, nudging her with her arm.

Marinette could just imagine it: Her and Adrien, sitting next to each other in the movie theater. Adrien, holding her hand as the movie played. The movie was nearing the climax, Adrien was getting excited and fired up, as was she. But then, Marinette's paranoia popped up in her imagination - *POOF!* Adrien turns into a cat, causing a ruckus.

'So long as he doesn't transform in the middle of it all...' Marinette thought, a concerned/uncomfortable expression coming upon her face.

"What's the matter?" Alya asked.

"Oh, um, nothing..." Marinette insisted, waving her hand in dismissal.

She tried to think to herself, 'Everything will be fine. We'll be in a group and Adrien will have his neck wrap on. There won't be an issue.'

But apparently fate liked to play sick, twisted jokes on her and Adrien.

During literature class, for example, Marinette had been called up before the class to recite some of Marguerite St. Just's dialogue from The Scarlet Pimpernel.

"'And his offence? That he, a plebeian, had dared to love the daughter of the aristocrat; for that he was waylaid and thrashed... Thrashed like a dog within an inch of his life! Oh how I suffered! His humiliation had eaten into my very soul!'" Marinette recited, really playing up the drama of Marguerite's anguish over her brother's mistreatment by Marquis St. Cyr.

Adrien was watching with rapt attention, and he was starting to feel the same passion and despair that Marinette was acting with. His heart was racing a mile a minute, and he started breathing heavily.

'Oh, shit... Not now!' Adrien thought.

"Very good, Marinette," Mlle. Bustier spoke, clapping her hands. "You may be seated."

"Thank you..." Marinette began, walking back to her seat. She saw Adrien was giving her a look that said, "Help me!"

"Um, I apologize, Mlle. Bustier, but I don't think Adrien's looking too good. May I take him to get some extra water?" Marinette asked.

"Yes, you may. But please, be prompt." Mlle. Bustier said.

Marinette pulled Adrien up from his seat by his arm, and the pair dashed outside. The amused, endeared giggles from the class weren't lost on them.

They had just crossed the threshold of the door, and only a few steps away from it...

*POOF!*

Marinette groaned, as did Adrien. She squatted down next to him and asked, "That's the second time today, isn't it?"

Adrien gave an annoyed nod.

"I've noticed you've been looking a little overheated the past day or so," Marinette commented. "You think you might be getting sick?"

"I hope not," Adrien spoke, but it sounded like he had another idea in mind. "Fevers are the worst."

"How so?" Marinette questioned.

"I get stuck in cat form until my fever breaks," Adrien explained. "And even then, sometimes it's not enough for me to change back."

"I see," Marinette spoke. "When you get sick, you get as sick as... Well, sick as a cat."

"Right," Adrien confirmed. "So-"

*POOF!*

Marinette covered her eyes as Adrien started slipping his clothes on. He patted her on the shoulder before saying, "All good."

Marinette sighed as they went back to class.

That night, Marinette was at her desk, her lamp on, and sketching some things in her book. She'd put her comb in its box, and it was sitting in front of her. Marinette looked at it with a smile, and she gave a giggle.

'It was so sweet of Adrien to make this for me. Such a swell guy. I'm lucky that he and I are friends.' Marinette thought. But again, that niggling sense of doubt came back.

She remembered how she couldn't stop him from leaning in closer to her the other day, almost like he wanted to kiss her. How he wouldn't let go of her hand after lunch that day. Everything. It all felt so real, and yet...

She turned the lamp light off before leaving her desk and crawling into bed, letting the thoughts of her precious friend cradle her. She fell asleep almost instantly, dreams of blonde hair and green eyes coming up. But while she felt trepidation, she also felt a sense of comfort at the same time.

'Adrien...' Marinette thought, letting sleep take her over.

Adrien wasn't having much luck, though. His sleep was unsettled, tossing and turning, seeing images of blue eyes, raven hair, and the many expressions that came with them. Adrien felt his heart throbbing erratically. Almost every time he tried to mentally change the channel, it switched right back to Marinette, and the many moments they'd had together since the escape room. He'd imagined the aspiring designer was wrapped in his arms...

Adrien sprung up in his bed with a gasping yell, followed by gasping breaths. He clutched his hand in his hair as he tried to breathe.

This woke up Nino and Félix. They stirred in their beds before sitting up.

"Mmrph... Buddy, what the hell...?" Nino grumbled, his eyes closed and him rubbing his head in discomfort. Félix was acting the same, albeit much more grumpy.

Adrien kept breathing heavily as he swung his legs over the side of the bed.

"Adrien, what's going on?" Félix questioned, sounding annoyed. He'd turned on the flashlight on his phone.

Adrien looked up, distress on his face, and he blurted out, "I think I'm in love with Marinette."

And done! Adrien's finally realized his feelings, now it's Marinette's turn to stop denying her own feelings. But it might take a few more chapters.

Next time, the group outing to the movies is coming up! Keep the comments and kudos coming. The more, the better! 

Chapter Text

Okay, here's the next chapter. Time for a few more parts of the plot to kick off. You'll see what I mean.

And seriously, is ANYONE paying attention to this story? More hits, more comments, more kudos, please!

Song(s) Included, With/Without Modifications:

I Think I Love You - The Partridge Family

The next day had come. Marinette had taken to wearing the comb again, including making the effort to switch up her hairstyle.

In her room, she was adjusting the comb in her hair while humming. She'd decided to put her hair in a bun and put the comb in front, the same way Adrien put it in the first time. Only this time around, she added braids to the bun, similar to Anna during Elsa's coronation ceremony/party in the first Frozen movie.

She couldn't keep a smile off her face at the thought of the handsome model, who'd become such a close friend.

'He's been so kind and generous to me.' Marinette thought.

"You really like that hair comb, don't you?" Alya asked with a giggle and smile.

"I... love it, actually," Marinette murmured, her cheeks red, and a smile on her face. "I think it's the first time someone besides my parents or Zoé made me a present."

"Really?" Alya asked, this time with surprise. "Come on, you're an amazing girl. I'll bet you'd make an incredible superhero!"

Marinette snorted in laughter before saying, "Me, a superhero? That's crazy. I'm a total klutz, I'd never be able to pull that off."

"I think you're wrong," Alya spoke. "And besides, I'm sure you had guys dropping at your feet back at François-"

But she caught herself before finishing that sentence when she saw Marinette's face get sad.

"Um, what I mean is that it takes a special kind of girl to have Adrien Agreste treating her like a princess." Alya corrected herself.

"I see," Marinette said, a deadpan tone of voice. "Though I doubt Adrien's had to deal with what I've been through."

"What do you mean?" Alya asked, quirking a brow.

"Well, you girls said it yourselves when I first arrived: Adrien is a former male model, and having admirers comes with the territory. And he's dealt with fans that take things too far, hasn't he?" Marinette questioned.

"That's true," Alya admitted, crossing her arms. "But what do you - Oh, now I get it, you think he's never had to deal with a broken heart."

Marinette nodded.

"Well, you'd be wrong," Alya spoke. "Believe it or not, once upon a time, he himself was in a bit of a love triangle."

"Really?" Marinette asked.

"Yep," Alya giggled. "He was thinking about asking Kagami out, the two of them being fencing teammates and rivals, but then he realized Kagami and Félix were in love."

"That would've never occurred to me," Marinette said, surprised. "How did Adrien take the news?"

"He seemed upset for the first day or two, but then he got over it pretty fast," Alya said with a shrug. "Though it wasn't a shock that he backed off - he's selfless to a near deficit."

Marinette gave an agreeing nod, saying, "Sounds like something Adrien would do. He's just that kind of guy."

"Yep," Alya said, before growing the cunning smile that Marinette had come to know. "Besides, now he has you."

Marinette blushed again as she readjusted the comb, saying, "Alya, you're exaggerating."

"No, I'm not. The only thing keeping him from making his dreams come true is the fact that you're still in the healing process." Alya spoke.

Marinette gave a smile and shrug before saying, "Who knows?"

'I think his real dream-come-true would be never turning into a cat again,' Marinette thought, thinking about Adrien's plight. 'Too bad there's no antidote...'

"Girl, I don't what happened to you, but Adrien's clearly getting under your skin in all the right ways." Alya said, breaking Marinette out of her thoughts.

"Oh, um..." Marinette stuttered, blushing. "Y-You think so?"

Alya she stood up and approached Marinette, putting a hand on her shoulder. She said, "I know so. Don't let this chance of having him in your life pass you by."

Marinette gave an agreeing hum and sigh, thinking about the handsome ex-model.

Once they were finished dressing for the day, they left their dorm room. Almost right in plain view was Adrien. Alya saw that Adrien was shuffling his feet, pacing around, mumbling to himself.

Marinette flinched as her best friend began pushing her towards the blonde. Marinette didn't resist, only keeping a smile on her face.

"A-Adrien?" Marinette asked in greeting.

He turned to face her. Marinette's heart pounded when she was within three feet of him. Alya stepped away, muttering to herself, "Three's a crowd."

Marinette squeezed her eyes in discomfort as she looked at Adrien again. She said, "G-Good morning."

To her relief, he blessed her with a smile and responded, "Good morning. You look amazing today."

Marinette blushed hard and stifled a giggle, saying, "Thank you."

"I didn't think you'd be wearing the hair comb so often," Adrien chuckled. "You like it that much?"

"Of course I do," Marinette said as her blush got darker. "You made it for me, and that means a lot."

She fingered the comb again, feeling the effort and thought that Adrien put into it. She looked back at him, only to see how he was looking at her.

Adrien was giving her the same blushing, awestruck expression he'd given her when he put the comb in her hair the first time, only this time it was paired with a smile.

She felt her heart pound, but she tilted her head and questioned, "Something wrong?"

Adrien's smile faltered for a bit, before saying, "Oh, um... Nothing, nothing at all."

'Actually...' Adrien thought.

~The night before~

After Adrien had woken them up (at around 1AM or so), the boys had gotten out of bed, turned on one of their lamps, and were sitting in a circle on the floor.

"Dude, we called it. We so called it!" Nino laughed, albeit with a palpable undercurrent of frustration between the trio.

"Keep it down, Nino," Félix hushed, shaking his head before looking at his doppelgänger cousin. "But he's right - you're in love with Marinette, and this whole "fake feelings" schtick is anything but."

Adrien gave a resigned/defeated groan, grumbling, "Tell me about it."

"How long have you felt this way about her?" Nino asked as he came down from his laughter high.

"I'm not sure," Adrien admitted before sighing. "I'm screwed."

"No kidding," Félix chuckled. "I don't think I've ever seen you this bent out of shape over a girl."

Adrien gave a confirming nod, saying, "I know."

He sighed as he flopped his hands over his crossed legs, and music began playing.

"Was sleeping, and right in the middle of an odd dream, like all at once I wake up, from something that kept knocking at my brain." Adrien sang, keeping his voice down so he wouldn't wake up anyone.

Nino gave his best friend a questioning look, as did Félix.

"Before I went insane, I held my pillow to my head, and sprung up in the bed, screaming out the words I'd dread," Adrien sang, doing just that - grabbing his pillow from his side, slamming his face into it. "I think I love her! (I think I love her)!"

He sighed and pulled the pillow away, a defeated expression on his face.

"This morning, I wake up with this feeling, that I'm not sure how to deal with," He sang as he stood and went back to his bed. "So, I'm deciding to myself, I'll keep it to myself, and I won't talk about it."

Again, confused expressions from his roommates/friends.

"Lest I go and shout it when she walks into the room," He sang, lying on his side, his cheek against his pillow. "I think I love her (I think I love her)!"

He tossed so his face was looking at the ceiling, and he sang out, "I think I love her, so what am I so afraid of? I'm afraid that I'm not sure of, a love there is no cure for."

The image of stunning blue eyes and a timid, yet sweet smile appeared in his mind's eye and he couldn't stop himself from smiling.

"I think I love her, isn't that what life is made of?" He asked in song, being rhetorical. He sat up, his smile becoming a worried frown. "Though it worries me to say that I've never felt this way."

"I don't know what I'm up against. I don't know what it's all about. I've got so much to think about." He sang, once again to the confusion of Nino and Félix.

He could hear them openly questioning what Adrien was so worried about, with Nino pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance and Félix shaking his head.

He sighed, thinking, 'I'm probably not making sense to them, but I can't run the risk of scaring her off.'

"I think I love her, so what am I so afraid of? I'm afraid that I'm not sure of, a love there is no cure for," Adrien sang. "I think I love her, isn't that what life is made of? Though it worries me to say that I've never felt this way."

The boys got up and went over to Adrien, meanwhile he reached over to one of the neck wraps she'd made for him and held it in his hand. In his earlier dream, Marinette was tucked into his arms, as if he were her shield and guardian. He was looking down at her and he saw that she was giving him a smile that told him she trusted him.

His heart throbbed.

"Believe me, she really won't have to worry. I only want to make her happy. But if she says, "Hey, go away," I will," Adrien sang, as if talking to his friends but at the same time not. "But think better still, I'd better stay around and love her."

He looked up at Nino and asked, singing, "Do you think I have a case? I should ask her to her face. Do you think she loves me?"

Adrien kept repeating moments of him and Marinette together in his mind, and sang a total of nine more times, "I think I love her!"

Once his song spiel was over, Adrien turned over and laid on his stomach on the bed.

"Are you sure you're not overthinking this, buddy?" Nino asked.

"Maybe I am, but... There's no way she'll have me." Adrien stated.

Frustrated and angry, Nino all but shouted, "OMFL, how can you, a former teen model, be so insecure, dude?! There's no way she doesn't feel the same!"

"I concur," Félix agreed, his voice a lot quieter compared to Nino. "You've got nothing to worry about. She'll have you if you ask."

"You think so?" Adrien asked. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked to see it was Nino's.

"We know so," Nino said before giving his best friend an annoyed/amused expression. "Now, let's get back to sleep. You can get your girl tomorrow when we're all recharged."

"Great idea," Félix said, yawning. "Just promise me you'll do something about this tomorrow."

Adrien gave an agreeing nod. Nino turned out the lamp light and all the boys went back to their respective beds. Adrien laid on his back and looked up to the ceiling.

'I can only hope they're right...' Adrien thought before his fatigue caught up him.

~And here we are now~

Marinette, doubtful, asked, "Are you sure you're okay? You seem tired."

"I, um... Had a rough sleep." Adrien admitted.

Marinette gave a smile and responded, "A lot on your mind?"

"I guess you could say that..." Adrien spoke.

Marinette had a lightbulb moment, and she said, "Hey, maybe I could get you some tea, like you did for me that one time?"

"I-" Adrien started, his face tinting red.

"Um, maybe an iced tea, then." Marinette suggested.

"N-No, that's not necessary, I just..." Adrien stammered, trying to find the words. "I... I really need to tell you something."

Marinette felt her heart stop. She swallowed a lump in her throat before asking, "Y-You do?"

"Yes. Marinette, I..." Adrien started.

Though Marinette's heart was going a mile a minute, she tried to take some calming breaths to slow her heart down and keep her mind open.

'Chill out, Marinette,' She thought to herself. 'It's probably nothing major. C-Could he have found a cure for the cat transformation? No, that's not likely.'

She felt her hands get taken, and she looked at them to see that Adrien had begun holding them. Marinette's heart pounded again as she looked up at him. His expression was serious, and yet she could tell he was nervous. His cheeks were redder than roses.

"Marinette," Adrien began, taking a deep breath. "I wanted to ask if..."

"Yes?" Marinette asked, urging him to hurry up.

'What is it, Adrien?! Is it what I think it is?' Marinette thought.

"If you'd like me to help you put on a small fashion show for some of your pieces?" Adrien asked, but it sounded like he'd switched his words out at the last second.

Cue a thundercloud over Marinette's head as she felt her heart go dead in its tracks. Her eyes clouded over, downcast.

"No, thanks." Marinette spoke, her voice hollow and cross. She took her hands away and turned around.

"Pardon?" Adrien questioned, surprised. "You don't want me to help you put on a fashion show?"

"Right," Marinette said, keeping her back to him. "I don't do fashion shows."

Marinette's skin began to crawl, and she grit her teeth, thinking, 'Of course he's still doing the "fake romance" thing. I should've known...'

"I don't get it. You're a fashion designer, but you're not gonna put on a fashion show? Your pieces are incredible," Adrien stated, confused. "They deserve to be seen!"

"Adrien," Marinette said in a firm tone, all but ordering him to stop. "A small fashion shoot and putting my pieces online, that I can work with. But let me make this clear to you: no. Live. Fashion. Shows!"

Adrien looked at her in surprise as she turned to face him.

"I know you only mean well. You see what I can do and want me to show it off, which I appreciate, but... I can't do it." Marinette explained, shutting her eyes and lowering her face.

'I hope he drops the subject...' Marinette thought, feeling the pressure coming on.

"...Okay." Adrien said.

She looked up and saw his tender, understanding smile.

"I don't really understand why, but if this is something that makes you feel uncomfortable, then I won't press any further," Adrien promised as he put his hand on her shoulder. "I promise."

Marinette breathed a sigh of relief. She came closer to him, and put a hand over his, before saying, "Thank you."

To her surprise, Adrien reached his arm around to hold her by the waist. But his touch was oh-so-tender, and she felt a rush of comfort from it. So, despite herself, she leaned her face into his chest, letting him hug her.

'This feels so good...' Marinette thought, a smile coming upon her face.

They stood there for a few minutes, no words between them.

Before anyone knew it, the day of their outing to the movies had arrived. They'd taken a vote, deciding on the newest superhero flick - the origins of Majesetia, one of the United Heroez from New York. The group was riding the school monorail to get to the movie theater that was closest to campus, which had a market for small businesses close by. And for once, Marinette wasn't wearing the comb.

"I hear this is supposed to be as close to the truth as possible!" Alya spoke as the group began walking into the theater. "Plenty of confession camera scenes where Majestia herself talks about her life before... well, before Majestia!"

"I love these kinds of movies," Nino said. "I'm sure it'll be a blast! They've been advertising it up the wazoo!"

"This sounds like it's going to be a good one!" Kim spoke up.

"I have a prediction that we will be at least 70% satisfied with this film," Max stated. "The probably goes up with the addition of traditional snacks, such as popcorn."

"Heavy on the butter and salt for me!" Adrien declared as he raised his hand in agreement.

Marinette, watching him, put her hand to her mouth and giggled at his childlike behavior. But Adrien took this same hand and pulled it closer. Marinette looked up at him in surprise, only to see he was gazing at her with the same understanding smile as he'd given her before. Again, her heart fluttered.

"Let's go!" Adrien called as he ran ahead, pulling Marinette along.

Once they got their snacks, drinks, and had their e-tickets scanned, they made it to their seats in the house. Adrien pulled Marinette into the center seats in one of the rows in the upper back.

He flicked out a wet wipe (apparently he'd snuck in a few from his room) and wiped Marinette's seat. He sat her down before sitting next to her.

"You're certainly being a chivalrous one today, aren't you?" Marinette teased.

Adrien chuckled back, saying, "Well, I've been really looking forward to this and I... Want to make sure you have a good time."

Marinette gave him a smile filled with gratitude as she said, "Merci beaucoup."

Almost on cue, the movie theater went dark and the first of the trailers and advertisements started.

During the film, there were many moments where Marinette was on the edge of her seat, watching. From all the action scenes to moments of romance, Marinette was enthralled with the film. Unbeknownst to her, Adrien had stopped watching almost halfway through, and started watching Marinette's expressions and body language throughout the remainder of it.

Once it was over...

"That movie was great!" Marinette said as they walked out of the theater.

"It sure was!" Alya agreed. "I never thought I'd see a Majestia movie that was so well-written!"

"Absolutely." Nino agreed.

"I'm just glad there weren't too many parts that were so scary." Myléne spoke, holding Ivan's hand.

"I found Majestia's self-restraint a bit annoying at first, but then the backstory made it more understandable." Kagami spoke.

"Being restricted by others is hard enough to deal with." Félix agreed as he put his arm on Kagami's waist. They gave each other smiles.

Marinette gave several of the couples in the group wistful smiles, feeling a pang of envy. But she felt someone interlock their fingers with hers. Recognizing that same sensation, she turned to see that, like she expected, Adrien had taken her hand and stepped closer to her. He gave it a squeeze, sending a jolt through her body. She blushed, returning the gesture with a smile.

Realizing she was looking at him for too long, she shook her head and looked away. She looked at her phone to check the time.

"Hey, since we don't have anything else to do, why not we take a look around the market? We could all go do our own thing, then meet up near the monorail later?" Marinette suggested, taking her hand away from Adrien's.

"Great idea! I see a spice stand nearby - maybe I can get some spices for my mom to use!" Alya agreed.

"Then let's do it!" Marinette said before turning on her heel and making a jog for one of the stalls.

"Hey, wait up!" Adrien said as he tried to get Marinette to stop, but no luck.

He felt someone shove him from behind, causing him to stumble forward. He turned and saw Nino was the one who'd shoved him.

"Sometime's the guy's got to put in a little extra effort to get the girl," Nino spoke as he put his arm around Alya's shoulder and pulled her in. "We can't all be magnets for the opposite sex, now can we?"

The DJ gave his blonde bro a wink. Adrien chuckled and followed after Marinette.

The aspiring designer stopped her jogging and went into a slow walk. The rest of the market seemed to fall away as she stewed in her thoughts.

'I don't understand why I'm letting myself feel this way about Adrien,' Marinette thought. 'I know it's all an act, but wishing it was real... What is wrong with me?'

She heaved a sad sigh as she kept going, not knowing that Adrien was a good distance behind her, and he'd noticed her change in demeanor.

'Something's bothering her,' Adrien thought. 'But what? Is she thinking about-'

"Ah, young man." A familiar voice spoke, breaking Adrien out of his thoughts.

Adrien turned to see what could've been described as a blast from the past. There, from his childhood, was the tarot card stand from when his parents were still alive.

There stood the fortune teller, wearing an outfit all but identical to what she wore when Adrien visited her all that time ago. She was holding the exact same card deck in hand as back then. The only real visible difference was that she'd aged subtly.

"Y-YOU!" Adrien spluttered, pointing at her in surprise/fear. "I remember you!"

She gave him a calm, patient smile, and nodded, saying, "And I remember you, Adrien Agreste. It has been some time since you came to me."

Adrien gave her a quizzical look and asked, "How did you know it was me? I mean, my face was plastered all over Paris, but..."

"That was part of it," She spoke. "But I could never forget that day. Your reading was unexpected, to say the least."

Adrien gave her a disbelieving, sarcastic look, saying, "Tell me about it. Your fortune was right on the money."

"Oh?" She asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"Yeah. I lost sleep over it for weeks. I'm just glad my parents comforted me..." Adrien spoke, sounding sad. "Everything happened just as you said it would..."

"Not quite - your parents didn't let me finish the reading." She explained, causing Adrien to gape at her in shock.

Wait. What?! There was more?!

"You were so scared and crying - which isn't unexpected for a five-year-old - that your parents took you away before I was done." She elaborated.

Adrien was silenced at this, as if he'd seen a huge plot twist in a book or movie.

"If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to tell you what you missed." She said, holding up the deck.

Adrien looked to see Marinette was still shopping, distracted by the various stalls and their wares.

He turned back to the fortune-teller and gave her a nod. She gestured to her booth with her head before going inside. Adrien followed suit before shutting the curtain.

Adrien looked around the booth - the interior was exactly like he'd remembered - the decorations, the crystal ball, everything. The only thing that truly changed was his age, how he was looking at it with a different set of eyes. How this time, he was ready for whatever he was going to hear.

He sat down in the chair, and took a deep breath.

"Alright, so..." Adrien began.

"So, I can sense that you've already gone through the disaster and now the cycle of transformation is happening," She said as she held up the Death card in her hand and then fanned another card to show the Wheel of Fortune card. "From what I can tell, it's caused you quite a bit of trouble."

Adrien gave a nod as the fortune-teller put the cards down.

"Now, let me show you what was supposed to be the rest of the prediction," The tarot reader said as she fanned out five more cards on the table. She flipped the first one from Adrien's left to show The Fool. "As a consequence of the disaster, you've been freed from the burdens of your family's expectations, and there's potential for you to finally live your life the way you want to."

When she said that, Adrien paused. Now that he thought about it, since his father died in the accident, he had full autonomy over himself, his behavior, and his boundaries. He could do what he wanted without being scolded or punished, and he didn't have to obey anyone.

"Th... That's true," Adrien confirmed before looking back up at the fortune teller. "What else? Anything I can do about the constant switching back and forth? It's been happening more frequently."

"That's the next part," She said as she flipped over the next card - the Empress. "The key to breaking this cycle for good is to connect with a girl that has an abundance of creativity."

The third card - the one in the center - was the Strength card.

"A girl with compassion, resilience, courage, and a good amount of personal power," The fortune-teller said. "That girl will be the one to help you."

"That's great! Where can I find her?" Adrien said, smiling.

The fortune-teller giggled before telling Adrien, "Silly boy. You already have."

"What?" Adrien questioned.

Then it dawned on him. He opened the tent curtain a crack, to see Marinette looking at the wares of a nearby Akola brand stand. He went beet red at her smile and how her eyes lit up at the sight of the pieces.

"You're kidding me! Marinette?!" Adrien said.

His heart started throbbing and he felt his face get warm.

*POOF!*

He groaned in frustration as he hopped up onto the chair, his ears flat against his head.

"You said it yourself: the transformations have been happening more often," The fortune-teller spoke. "You know how they're triggered?"

"When I get too hot." He responded.

"Yes, but it's more than just fevers, hot weather, or workouts. There are other terms for heat," She elaborated. "Like how fired up you get when you want to protect Marinette and make sure she's happy. Meaning passion. More to the point..."

She pulled another card from the deck - The Devil.

"Desire. Deep down, you desire Marinette - you love her." The fortune-teller spoke as she put the card back.

Adrien, still a cat, hung his head and said, "...You're right, I do love her. But she's been hurt before, and it was bad from what I gathered. I don't know any details, though..."

The fortune-teller flipped the fourth card - The Lovers.

"You need to help her heal from that pain, and get her to fall for you, fully accepting you as you are, flaws and all," She said as she pointed between The Empress and The Lovers cards. "Once that's done..."

She flipped the last card - Death again.

"Your transformations will stop and your suffering will end. Then and only then will you be free from the black cat." She said.

Hearing this, Adrien got happy chills down his spine.

*POOF!*

The fortune-teller only closed her eyes and covered them with her hands as Adrien put his clothes back on.

"So, I just gotta tell her I love her?" He said, summarizing. "Okay, I'll fill her in on what we discussed and-"

"If you do that, you'll jinx yourself," She said, her tone firm. "Nothing that we talked about here is to be disclosed to anyone."

"W-What?! Why?" Adrien asked, panicked.

"You know the story Beauty and the Beast, don't you? How the Beast didn't tell Beauty about the spell and how to break it so she would fall in love with him for real?" She responded.

"Got it... It wouldn't be true love if there was the pretense of wanting to help me stop the transformations." Adrien said, his face changing to understanding.

"Bingo," She said, giving Adrien a finger gun. "For now, just go about your business and continue as you have been. Eventually, Marinette will return your feelings for her. Just remember not to force the matter."

Adrien went to the exit, turned to the fortune-teller and said, "Merci beaucoup."

She nodded in response as Adrien left the tent.

Marinette, meanwhile, was still perusing the stalls, trying to distract herself from her thoughts.

"Hey, girl!" Alya said as she ran up to Marinette, a small shopping bag from the spice stand in hand.

"Hey, Alya," Marinette responded as she put down a pair of earrings she was looking at. "Find something you like?"

"Sure did! I got black pepper, ginger, bay leaves, thyme, and some fennel. I passed on the saffron, since it's so expensive." Alya said, holding up the bag.

"That's great!" Marinette laughed. "I was looking at all these jewelry pieces, trying to find inspiration for classes."

"Anything catch your eye?" Alya questioned.

"Quite a bit. Too bad they're all out of my budget," Marinette said as she gave the pieces another visual once-over. "It's a real shame. These pieces are amazing. Sustainable, too."

"Yeah, they are amazing," Alya said, looking over the stall. "But so are your pieces. Why not have a little fashion booth here? Or better yet, let's put on a fashion-"

"I wonder if there are any other fashion stands here?" Marinette interrupted loudly, her tone of voice warning Alya not to finish the sentence.

Marinette stood and watched the others in the group, seeing that they were occupied with other businesses. There was a stuffed animal/crochet booth that Rose had absolutely fallen in love with; Ivan and Myléne were at a stall for Bureo, a brand that turned ocean plastic into skateboards; Marc and Nathaniel were at a comic stand that featured LGBTQIA+ comics and novels; Nino was at a vintage record stand.

"Hey, has anyone seen Adrien?" Marinette said as she looked around.

"Why?" Alya asked with a tease. "Missing your man?"

Marinette went red-faced as she said, "He is NOT my man!"

"Not officially, anyway," Alya teased. "But you're right, I haven't seen him in a bit."

"Maybe he's checking out some of the other stands?" Marinette suggested. "Let's leave him to it."

"Marinette!" Adrien called.

Marinette turned around and saw the blonde boy jogging up to them.

"Oh. Hi, Adrien," Marinette greeted. "Having fun here?"

"Y-Yeah, I am," Adrien confirmed. "I actually found something quite interesting..."

"Oh, really?!" Alya asked, smiling. "What was it?"

The girls noticed him flinch, and he coughed into his fist before saying, "N-Nothing that would be important or interesting to either of you."

Marinette quirked a suspicious brow, as did Alya. Adrien was fidgeting with his hands, his face was red, and his eyes were darting between his surroundings and Marinette.

"S-So, have you found anything interesting?" Adrien asked, turning the conversation around.

"Aside from this jewelry stand, not much." Marinette sighed, turning her eyes away from Adrien.

"I see," Adrien stammered before offering his arm to Marinette. "S-So, wanna go around the market together?"

Like Nino had done to Adrien earlier, Alya pushed Marinette towards Adrien. She yelped, stumbled while flailing her arms, but she righted herself just in time to grab Adrien's arm for support.

Her heart started going berserk as her face turned from pink to red. Robotically, she stood upright before taking some deep breathing.

"Shall we?" Adrien asked, trying to be suave.

"Y-Yes, we shall," Marinette responded, having regained her composure. "Let's go."

As they walked along, there was an awkward silence between the two of them. They kept giving each other furtive glances, and if their eyes met, they'd look away, embarrassed and red-faced.

Marinette's thoughts were racing around in her head, wondering what to say or do.

But someone ended up bumping into them because they weren't watching where they were going. Adrien grabbed on to Marinette so she wouldn't fall over. But the person they ran into was carrying a beverage, and some of it spilled on Adrien's shirt.

"Oh no!" Adrien said as he looked at the stain on his shirt.

"Oh, dear..." Marinette spoke before looking around. "Crap, No water fountain. We can't rinse it out like this."

Marinette saw something catch her eye. She looked up and saw that there was a convenience store across the street.

"Look! We can get napkins and maybe some water to help you wash that off!" Marinette said, pointing out the store.

"Great idea! Let's go!" Adrien said as he took her hand and began walking to the crosswalk to get to there.

As they approached the door to the convenience store, Marinette felt something pang in her stomach.

Once the automatic doors opened, and Marinette stepped inside, she froze dead in her tracks...

And bang! Cliffhanger! Hope this chapter was worth the wait. Now, keep the comments, kudos, and favorites coming. Things are gonna get rolling in the next chapter!

Chapter Text

Alright, this is the chapter where we finally learn what happened to Marinette. And be warned, it's gonna get ugly.

'No... It can't be!' Marinette thought, feeling like she'd been shot and was now seeing a ghost.

A young man about Adrien's height, with brown skin - darker than Alya or Nino, but paler than Max - bleach-blonde hair that was styled in a long top with undercut sides. The ends of his hair were dyed metallic silver. His eyes were bluish-grey. He was wearing an orange-gold cashmere cardigan, sitting over a pale grey shirt. His pants were silver jeans, with a dark grey belt. The buckle was clearly from an expensive brand, too. His shoes were a pair of high-end brand Oxfords in orange with black laces.

"Something the matter?" Adrien asked, noticing Marinette's abrupt change in behavior.

Instead of answering, Marinette dashed to hide behind one of the aisles, akin to running for her life. She sat down, put her hands on her head, and began breathing to try calming down.

'Of all the rotten luck! Just when I was finally starting to get over it!' Marinette thought.

Adrien came over. Still standing, he asked, "Marinette, what's wrong?"

Frantic, Marinette hushed him, putting a finger to her lips. She chanced a peek out from behind the aisle to look at the boy. Adrien tracked her line of sight with his eyes and also started to watch the stranger.

When she caught sight of the boy turning around, Marinette ducked back into hiding, sitting down. Adrien followed suit. When he turned to talk to Marinette, he saw she was shaking like a leaf, covering her mouth with one hand.

'Not him!' Marinette thought, her skin going clammy and sweating like crazy.

"Marinette, do you know that guy?" Adrien questioned under his breath, trying to be gentle. He knelt down to get to Marinette's eye level.

"I wish I didn't..." Marinette murmured, flashbacks rushing through her mind like a video in grayscale playing on fast-forward. She was getting nauseous.

"Marinette," Adrien said, tenderly taking Marinette's wrist and pulling her hand away from her face, forcing her to look at him. "You've been there for me so many times. I want to be here for you in return. Please, tell me what happened."

Marinette examined the boy in front of her. His facial expression alone told her that he was begging her to trust him. The same trust he'd placed in her when she found out about his secret. Her heart began pounding, while her nausea faded.

'He's right. I need to trust him the same way he's trusted me this whole time...' Marinette thought, her eyes going down for a few seconds.

She looked back up at Adrien before saying, "Well... Back when I was still at François-Dupont..."

~Flashback~

Marinette was walking to her locker, grumbling to herself. She had acrylic paint on her pants and her blazer was torn in places.

"Stupid, spineless Damocles... It wasn't my fault I was late to class! Chloé's always out to get me, and yet I get detention for doing the right thing?! What a joke," She ranted. "Why does she always target me? I've done nothing to deserve it."

Marinette opened her locker, but she screamed at the sight of the cockroaches that were crawling out of it. She landed on her butt and screamed in frustration. She could just hear Chloé's callous, shrill cackling in the back of her mind.

Marinette shouted in anger as she stood up and took out some STEM cockroach spray from her backpack and started spraying her locker to kill the vermin.

'I don't care if her mother walked out on her while pregnant with Zoé, it's no excuse to mistreat me! It's been like this for years!' Marinette thought as she kept spraying until she saw every last roach was dead.

She sighed, relieved, but still gagging at the sight of the insects. Marinette pulled out her sketchbook, and opened it up. She saw that almost every sketch she'd drawn had been ruined, pen marks crossing out her details, mean annotations, and other cruel doodles, all in Chloé's handwriting.

"That does it! If Damocles can't be bothered to do the right thing and discipline Chloé, then I'll get my parents to sue, or maybe just drop out of school." Marinette screamed as she started tearing out her ruined pieces, balling them up, and throwing them behind her, all grumbling in anger.

"Ow!" A familiar voice with a strong, Spanish accent shouted.

Marinette whirled around and saw she'd accidentally hit someone in the face. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was.

Ulises Castillas, son of the Counsellor to Spain. Also agreed to be the most handsome and popular boy at François-Dupont.

"U-Ulises!" Marinette gasped. Her face was pink and she had a small smile pulling at her lips. Her heart was thumping.

'I can't believe I hit Ulises Castillas in the face with one of my designs!' Marinette thought, breaking into a sweat.

She watched him as he picked up one of the crumbled pieces of paper and unwrapped it. Marinette saw his facial expression change from confusion to curiosity.

"Did you draw this?" He asked, turning his eyes to Marinette.

Marinette's eyes went wider at this, her heart stilling.

"Y-Yeah, I did, before Chloé somehow got into my locker and ruined it..." Marinette muttered, her face falling. But she remembered the paint on her pants and turned her body away, putting her hands over it so he wouldn't see it.

Somehow, she ended up in a coquettish pose. Her face went pink, embarrassed.

Ulises gave her a smile.

"That's a shame," He said, his accent tickling Marinette's pleasure senses. "I would've liked to see this when it was intact."

Marinette felt her heart accelerate and a rush of adrenaline.

"I-I have pictures on my phone..." Marinette murmured.

"You do?" He asked, stepping closer with palpable interest. "Care to show me?"

Marinette's cheeks went from pink to red and her heart kept pounding. Her hands trembling, she pulled her phone out of her back pocket and opened up the photo stream on it. She pulled up a photo of the sketch in question, which was completely free of vandalism.

Ulises came over next to Marinette and looked over her shoulder to look at the screen. Marinette's heart stilled when she got a whiff of his cologne - musky, yet spicy and woodsy all at once.

'C-Come on, Marinette, keep it together!' She thought as she let him look at her sketch. Her heart had resumed its beating, but her skin was still clammy and covered in goosebumps.

"This is increíble!" He spoke, sounding awestruck. "Got any more?"

Marinette's face grew into a huge smile as she gave a nod, along with an emphatic, "Yes!"

'This is awesome!' Marinette thought as she kept showing him sketches and telling him her ideas. 'Maybe now I'll have a friend here! Nobody else talks to me because of Chloé!'

When she got home (after her unjustified detention, something she told her parents about), she'd started treating the stains on her pants, and making more clothes for herself.

"Perfect!" Marinette spoke as she finished up another pair of pink pants - she'd folded them up and put them in a stack with three other pairs, all in different colors. "Now to make some more shirts, blazers..."

Her phone started ringing, and Marinette looked to see the call was from Zoé.

"Hi, Zoé!" Marinette said as she put the call on video.

"Hey, Marinette," Zoé greeted. "How was today?"

Marinette heaved a sad sigh before explaining everything that happened. The roaches in her locker, the paint on her pants.

"That sounds awful," Zoé said, sighing. "Wasn't there one good thing about today you can think about?"

"Actually..." Marinette began, blushing. "There was. Someone actually spoke to me outside class!"

"Really?!" Zoé asked, brightening. "Who was it?!"

"Ulises Castillas!" Marinette said, a slight swoon to her voice.

"Hold on, did you say Ulises Castillas?" Zoé asked. "The Spanish Counsellor's son?"

"Yes, that's him!" Marinette squealed. " See, I'd accidentally hit him in the face with a crumbled paper, and then when he saw the designs, he asked to see more! Can you believe it?! It was a breath of fresh air!"

She kept giggling like a fan, but Zoé was quiet.

Marinette came down from her high and noticed Zoé's body language.

"What's the matter?" Marinette asked.

"Marinette, you didn't know?" Zoé asked. "Chloé's got her eyes on Ulises."

"So does almost every other girl in school," Marinette spoke. "What's your point?"

"It's just... Are you sure talking to Ulises is a good idea?" Zoé responded, concern in her voice. "You once said anyone in Chloé's inner circle can't be good news."

"Which, in hindsight, isn't fair," Marinette stated. "You and I wouldn't be friends if I'd stuck to that thinking, remember?"

"Yes, but don't forget you and I became friends before you learned that Chloé and I are half-sisters." Zoé refuted.

"Also true, but still..." Marinette began, her eyes askance. "It just felt good, having one of my schoolmates not avoid me like the plague for a change."

Zoé gave Marinette a sympathetic look before saying, "I understand that feeling..."

"How's it going at your school, by the way?" Marinette asked as she changed the subject.

The next morning at school, Marinette had found a quiet space in the library where she could be alone with her sketches. As a safety precaution, she packed a few changes of clothes.

'Chloé wouldn't be caught dead in here, or the cafeteria. I can get some peace...' Marinette thought as she kept sketching.

She heard and felt footsteps approaching and a shadow was cast over her. Groaning and expecting the worst, she said, "Can't you leave me alone, Chloé? I don't know what your problem with me is, but get over it."

"Them's fighting words, chica." Ulises chuckled as he sat down next to her.

"O-Oh, Ulises! I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was you!" Marinette stuttered as she looked at Ulises.

"Don't worry about it," He laughed before leaning in closer to her. "So, have you got any new designs there?"

"Yes, I do!" Marinette began, her voice a bit too loud, before covering her mouth and calming down. "U-Um... C-Care to see?"

Ulises gave Marinette a charming smile before saying, "Sí, por favor."

Marinette's heart throbbed as she showed Ulises the sketchbook of what she'd accomplished.

'This is amazing! ULISES CASTILLAS, the most popular guy in school, is interested in my work! This is like a dream-come-true!' Marinette thought.

Just watching him look over her designs with rapt interest made her heart flutter, like someone truly cared about her, enough to defy Chloé's iron-fist rule on the school. None of her peers would've dared even speak to her outside of class assignment obligations.

"You know, chica," He said as he turned to look at Marinette. "I'm a bit disappointed."

Marinette looked at him, hurt on her face, asking, "What? What do you mean by that? Is my work not what you expected?"

"Lo siento, I was talking about being disappointed in myself," He elaborated, realizing how clumsy his words came off as. "As well as disappointed in everyone else here at school."

Marinette quirked a brow on confusion.

"Not getting to know you is a wasted opportunity," Ulises explained. "You're clearly talented in designing, but nobody's willing to look in your direction because of Chloé."

Marinette's face fell, saying, "You said it. All she ever does is pick on me, but I've done nothing to deserve it. And every time I complain to Doormat Damocles, I-"

She heard a shorting chuckle, before turning to face Ulises and ask, "What's so funny?"

Ulises said, "Calling our Principal, "Doormat Damocles"? C'mon, that's a knee-slapper! Though, you are right."

Marinette giggled back in response, saying, "Y-Yeah, Chloé should've been expelled a million times over with every stunt she's pulled."

After that conversation, Marinette had started looking forward to going to school. Nothing Chloé could say or do would get her down.

She approached her locker, but she took a few deep breaths. She put her thumb on the biometric lock and it opened with ease. To her relief, nothing was amiss in her locker, so she just got her books and shut it.

"Marinette!" Ulises called as he approached her. "How are you this morning?"

"I'm great! Thanks to you," Marinette said, blushing when she realized what she said. "I-I mean, you gave me that biometric lock for my locker and it's working."

"Glad to hear that," He responded. "I was wondering... Shall we get lunch together?"

Marinette's face went beet red and she squealed, "Yes!"

"Perfect. See you there." He spoke before winking and leaving.

Marinette leaned her body against the lockers with a near swoon.

'He just asked me to lunch! Like a lunch date?!' Marinette thought, her heart going berserk.

During lunch, she and Ulises were sitting at a table out of the way in the cafeteria - ignoring the staring and questioning looks from everyone else.

"Seriously - you wore sandals with socks?!" Marinette asked. "Major fashion faux-pas!"

"How so?" Ulises asked.

"Well, sandals are meant to help keep your feet cool. Besides, it just looks gross," Marinette said. "And if you wanna show off well-pedicured feet, socks defeat the purpose of that."

The next few days were peaceful for Marinette. Every time Ulises was around, it seemed Chloé wouldn't dare come close - as if Ulises was acting as her bodyguard.

At one point, Marinette was sitting on the steps near the Eiffel Tower, as she always did on Sundays. She was sketching some more in her book, and her designs shifted from standard women's fare to stuff guys would like, including things specifically for Ulises.

"Marinette!" Ulises greeted as he approached. "Nice to see you here."

"Hi, Ulises!" Marinette greeted, pink in the face. He sat down next to her. "I, um... Was still designing."

"You've got one active mind, don't you?" He laughed. "Speaking of, something's been on my mind lately."

"Oh... Really?" Marinette asked, thinking, 'I wonder...'

"Yeah. It's awful that all I can see is your sketches," He commented. "And all the clothes you wear are stuff you've made yourself, right?"

"Yes," Marinette spoke. "Doesn't stop Chloé from ruining them."

"That's where I think I could help," He said, smiling. "I want to help you put on a fashion show."

Marinette's eyes widened, brightening, and she squealed, "Really?!"

"I do," He said with a nod. "What better way to showcase your skillset?"

"That's a great idea!" Marinette said, hope shooting through the roof. "Let's get started!"

"You just work on your pieces," Ulises said, laughing. "I'll take care of the rest."

"You've organized fashion shows before?" Marinette asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"Just trust me." He said with a wink.

Again, Marinette felt herself swoon, saying, "I will!"

That afternoon, Zoé had come over to visit with Marinette.

"Really? He's going to help you put on a fashion show?" Zoé asked, surprise in her voice.

"He is! How generous can a guy get?!" Marinette spoke as she ran around her room, gathering up materials for pattern-making, several of her designs were pinned against her cork board, and her sewing machine had different thread spools and needles on standby.

"You're excited." Zoé commented, sounding casual.

"I already have several designs in mind for this! Maybe that honeybee-inspired dress I designed for you could be in the show?!" Marinette suggested as she showed Zoé the sketch of the dress she'd made for her.

"It's beautiful, Marinette," Zoé said as she looked the picture over. "But..."

"Ooh, how about that cheongsam I've been working on for mom?!" Marinette asked as she looked at another work-in-progress she had in her room.

"Marinette, don't you think something about this seems suspicious? " Zoé interrupted.

"What do you mean?" Marinette asked as she looked between two different fabrics.

"Ulises has never spoken to you or shown any interest in you before, right?" Zoé commented. "Why now? Something about this seems a bit sus."

"Are you sure?" Marinette asked, sitting down next to Zoé.

"Yes," Zoé confirmed. "My stepdad even referred to Ulises as Chloé's boyfriend."

Marinette's eyes widened, saying, "Really? "

"Birds of a feather flock together." Zoé said with a shrug.

"But... What if Ulises is being genuine?" Marinette questioned, her heart taking over. "What if he really wants to help me put on a fashion show?"

"If he's on the level, that would be great ," Zoé admitted with a smile. "Just... Be careful."

"Hey, why not help me out with this, Zoé?" Marinette suggested. "It'd be great, having you there!"

Zoé gave a smile and said, "Sure, I'd love to."

Whenever there was a free moment during the weekends, Zoé would come by to help Marinette out, either to give ideas or help her actually make the dresses. And any time Marinette would talk to Ulises about the show to hash out details - where it would be held, how many pieces, how to spread the word - she would tell him about her designs for the show.

"So, this one is one of my favorites," Marinette said as she pulled up a picture of a white dress with pink and black accents. It was a halter neckline with scalloped straps, two tiers of fabric on the skirt, and a small amount of shine. "It's one I've been planning to make for myself."

"That's absolutely stunning." Ulises purred.

"Thank you." Marinette giggled, blushing while giving him furtive glances.

"Hey, Marinette!" A random girl spoke as she walked by. "Can't wait for the fashion show!"

"I can't wait for it, either!" Marinette laughed as she waved at her peer.

The day before the show, Marinette had brought all her dresses and to the Grand Palais, where it would be held. She brought Ulises to one of the rooms where she'd designated for the models to change into. She mounted all the dresses onto mannequins.

"So, here are all the dresses," Marinette spoke. "And they're all designated to a specific model."

"Very well-organized," Ulises commented. "And these dresses are well-done."

Marinette gave a giggle, saying, "Tomorrow can't come soon enough!"

"Indeed, it can't." Ulises agreed, but Marinette missed something in his tone of voice.

"Thank you so much for helping me organize this, Ulises," Marinette told him with happy, misty eyes. "This means the world."

Ulises gave a chuckle before saying, "No problem. Just remember to let your work do the talking."

Marinette smiled and nodded, saying, "Yes!"

The following day, Marinette was on her way to the Grand Palais for the show. She had a bag with an outfit she'd designed for herself to wear for the show, and Zoé was walking along with her.

"Today's the day, Zoé!" Marinette said while skipping.

"Yeah..." Zoé agreed but she sounded uncertain.

"Is something wrong?" Marinette asked.

"I just... You do have pictures of the finished pieces on your phone, right?" Zoé questioned.

"Sure do!" Marinette said. "Why do you ask?"

"Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I still get this feeling that this is all too good to be true." Zoé admitted.

"Still?" Marinette asked. "I'm sure once the show starts, there won't be anything to worry about."

"I hope so." Zoé spoke.

When they got inside, Marinette brought Zoé to the room where the dresses were. With glee on her face, Marinette threw the door open. But when she looked up, she shrieked in fright, as did Zoé.

The dresses were wrecked. Tears in inappropriate places, stains everywhere, wrinkles, accessories destroyed, mannequins toppled over.

"Who could've done this?!" Zoé asked. "Didn't security lock the doors?!"

"They should've!" Marinette said in panic, dropping the bag with her outfit. She ran over to her pieces and looked them over. "All these stains... Tomato, chocolate, UGH, these are some of the worst stains!"

"Got any hacks to deal with this?!" Zoé questioned.

"Yes, but I don't have the supplies on hand," Marinette spoke. "No vinegar, cold water, nothing! No backup pieces, either!"

"What?!" Zoé asked, scared.

Marinette heard her phone's text alert go off, and she picked the device out of her pocket. Ulises had messaged her.

"No... NO!" Marinette cried, seeing what the message said.

"Now what?" Zoé questioned.

"Ulises just told me none of the models can make it!" Marinette said, her voice cracking.

"WHAT?!" Zoé asked.

"Th-This... Can't..." Marinette said, her voice below a whisper as she fell to her knees. " This can't be happening!"

Her phone fell out of her hand, and she saw the time. But also seeing the camera icon on her phone, she got an idea.

"The show must go on, though." Marinette said.

"But how? The models are gonna be here to get ready for the show, and we don't have any dresses!" Zoé asked.

"Not necessarily," Marinette spoke up as she unlocked her phone, opened her projector app that was connected to her photo stream, and handed it Zoé to. "My phone has a projector app. Use that to screen the pictures of my pieces to the audience."

"But what about you?" Zoé asked, taking the device.

"I... I can't go out there... Not now..." Marinette said, her voice sounding distant.

Zoé gave a nod before turning on her heel and making a dash for it.

'This is a nightmare...' Marinette thought as she kept looking at all her wrecked dresses. 'All my hard work... It's ruined...'

The door opened, and Marinette turned around to see Ulises had come in to see what was going on.

"Ulises..." Marinette choked before crying. "I'm so sorry! The dresses were like this when we got here! And all the models cancelled on us, too..."

Her face was in her hands, and she was sobbing.

"There weren't any models to begin with." Ulises said, his voice cold.

Marinette gasped and looked at him. She saw his icy expression change into manic amusement. He started laughing in a similar, sadistic vein to Chloé's.

"U-Ulises...? I... I don't understand..." Marinette began, her tears still flowing and her blood going cold.

"I had you going, huh?" Ulises started as he pulled out a chocolate bar - one of the stain types on her dresses.

Marinette's breath caught at the sight.

"You did this?! Why?! I thought you...!" Marinette asked, choking.

"Oh man, seeing you crying like this is a hoot!" He chortled, as if there was something legitimately funny going on. "If only you were on stage in one of these stupid potato sacks right now."

"W... What?" Marinette asked, her voice hollow.

"Excellent job, Ulises," A familiar, snide voice said. "Utterly excellent."

Marinette looked up and saw Chloé had sauntered her way into the room, her usual wicked, cruel smirk on her face. Marinette's eyes widened when she saw that Ulises stepped closer to the blonde.

"This was a hoax?!" Marinette questioned as Ulises offered his arm to Chloé. She took it before sneering down at Marinette.

"Of course it was, stupid," Chloé spat. "And it was my idea. I knew you had your eyes on Ulises - who is way out of your league - so I thought, what better way to get you to entertain me than to get him to lead you on?"

"And I decided to make it even more fun by concocting this plan. Crushing your confidence by pretending to like you and your fashion designs and helping you put on a fashion show." Ulises gloated.

"Which was brilliant! Utterly brilliant!" Chloé praised, scratching Ulises under his chin. He looked at her with a similar expression.

"But..." Marinette began, her voice breaking.

"I could just picture it," Chloé began. "You walking out on the runway in your ruined clothes, to all the laughter and humiliation we had planned for you! Everyone in the audience - that we bribed to attend - was going to have the biggest laugh of their lives! If it hadn't been for that useless half of a sister of mine, it would've been perfect!"

Marinette felt like a knife was slicing through her heart. Her eyes went blank.

"So, you get it now, Marinette?" Ulises asked in a mocking tone as he put his hand on Chloé's cheek. "Why would a man of my position bother with a stupid baker girl when I can have the mayor's daughter?"

Again, Marinette's heart died a bit more with each sentence.

"Though I will admit, seeing you act like a lovesick puppy around me was just the tiniest bit cute," Ulises chuckled, his tone unchanging. "But let's be realistic: Chloé's got it all, and you've got none. No sex appeal, connections, finances - nothing."

'Nothing...' Marinette thought, beginning a dissociative episode as her heart turned to dust. The world around her seemed to fade, as if she were all alone.

"Hear that, Dupain-Cheng?" Chloé cackled. "Ulises Castillas never liked you and only sees you as a convenient toy. A stepping stone to a better woman. Maybe now you'll learn your place and stay there!"

This brought Marinette back to earth. Her fists balled up on her knees as she stood up. Looking at the pair, she said, "You know... You're right about one thing."

"And what's that?" Chloé asked, glowering at Marinette.

"You two are a perfect match. I wish you well." Marinette said as she walked out of the room, standing tall while flipping the bird at them.

She kept walking down the hall until she was out of sight and earshot. She heard running footsteps. She looked up and saw her parents and Zoé, who were looking at her with worry.

"Marinette, what happened?!" Sabine asked. "Zoé started showing slides, saying that there was a problem with the dresses!"

Instantly, Marinette's face fell into despair. She ran into her parents' arms and began crying her eyes out into their chests, wailing at the top of her lungs.

"Ulises used me! This whole thing was a setup so he and Chloé could humiliate me!" Marinette cried.

Sabine gasped, and Tom grew angry. Zoé just looked resigned.

"Those brats! I'm gonna grind Ulises' bones to bake our breads!" Tom roared.

"You were right, Zoé. I'm so sorry for letting my heart take over," Marinette cried before putting her face back into her dad's chest. "Get me out of François-Dupont! I don't have any friends, Chloé won't leave me alone, M. Damocles is a spineless, useless principal, and... And... I can't take it anymore!"

Tom and Sabine looked at each other and gave confirming nods.

"Zoé, what's the name of your boarding school?" Sabine asked Zoé.

"Miracle Lyçée for the Arts and Sciences." Zoé confirmed.

"Then we'll enroll you there," Tom said to Marinette. "Now, let's go home."

They began leading Marinette down the hall to get out of the building. But she was still crying.

"I swear... I'll never fall in love with another boy! And if I do, I'll forever hold my peace!" Marinette vowed, anger and despair clear on her face. "Especially if he's cut from the same cloth as Chloé!"

Zoé put a hand on Marinette's shoulder for comfort.

~End of Flashback~

"He did that?!" Adrien roared under his breath. Marinette looked at him with a gasp, seeing his body language was engulfed in rage. Narrowed eyes, furrowed brow, his lips curled into a snarl. Surprised, she shrunk into the shelving unit.

'I don't think I've seen Adrien angry before...' Marinette thought, but she gave a confirming nod.

Trembling, he took a deep breath.

"Okay, do you want to wait for him to leave, or do you want to sneak out and try a different convenience store?" Adrien asked, his tone calm, but the ire was still there.

Marinette thought it over for a few seconds and said, "Let's leave and try somewhere else."

Adrien gave a nod before reaching a hand out. Marinette put her hand in his, and her heart throbbed at his touch. He helped her stand up, then put a protective arm around her shoulder. Like always, Marinette felt a rush of security, like a warm, fluffy blanket on a chilly autumn night. She looked up at Adrien, and a small smile grew on her face, her cheeks turning pink. She laid her head against his shoulder, reveling in his presence.

They began walking to the door, but...

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Dupain-Cheng!" Ulises taunted from behind. The pair paused.

Marinette remained silent and looked forward. The chills and nausea were beginning to start up again.

'Do not engage with him, Marinette.' Marinette thought, beginning the breathing exercises Mlle. Bustier taught her.

"Aw, come on, are you really going to ignore me?" Ulises asked in a snide voice as he stepped closer. "I was looking forward to seeing you again at school. Hearing everyone talk about your fashion flop was going to be so much fun."

'Don't give him the pleasure of a response, Marinette.' Marinette told herself, trying to breathe.

"Speaking of which, everyone's been asking where you've been," Ulises continued, in an "innocent" voice. "So, dropping out of school to escape, huh? Tsk, tsk, tsk, such a bad girl."

"Stop!" Adrien said, startling the Spaniard and Marinette. She looked at Adrien as he turned to face Ulises with a glare.

Ulises' face seemed to flash in recognition. It melted away into cockiness.

"Found a new obsession, Marinette?" He spoke before addressing Adrien. "You seriously aren't wasting your time on her, are you, Agreste?"

Marinette gave a subtle glance and saw how irked Adrien was. She saw him close his eyes and breathe before turning away from Ulises. But she could feel his body was shaking.

"Don't worry. You can tell me what you plan to do to her," Ulises began, chuckling. "I mean, all she's good for is being Chloé's main victim."

'That's why I left François-Dupont, you prick!' Marinette thought.

But she couldn't stop herself from letting out a quiet, choked sob. She felt Adrien tighten his arm around her and pull her closer. Again, Marinette felt like she was protected.

"Still wearing hand-made rags?" Ulises commented, like he was trying to get Marinette to cry. "You're a fashion designer's kid, aren't you? Her designing isn't anything to praise, hermano."

'Stop it, stop it, STOP IT!' Marinette thought, still trying to remain stoic, keeping her face to the ground.

She was so focused on trying to keep herself calm that she didn't realize that Adrien took his arm away.

"So, what kind of prank are you going to-" He started.

*THWACK!*

At the sound, Marinette snapped her face up and saw that Ulises was knocked back by a right hook from Adrien. She saw the anger in the blonde's eyes, his grit teeth, and his heavy breathing.

'D-Did Adrien just punch him?!' Marinette thought, eyes wide and taken aback.

Next thing she knew, Adrien had grabbed Ulises by the collar of his shirt and yanked him up. Fear pulsed through her veins.

"Don't you have any respect?!" Adrien shouted as he got into Ulises' face and shoved him up against the wall. "Where's your decency?!"

"Whoa, Adrien, you gotta calm down!" Marinette said as she tried to pull Adrien away. He craned his neck around to look at her.

"No, this asshole's gonna get what's coming to him!" Adrien insisted as he leaned in closer to Ulises and pressed him harder against the wall. A choking noise could be heard.

Marinette noticed Adrien's outburst was drawing a bit of attention. One of the clerks picked up the phone to call the police, but Marinette said, "Please! Don't call anyone!"

Marinette could hear Adrien's breathing was heavy and his face was turning red from his anger.

'I gotta stop him!' Marinette thought as she saw the signs of a transformation.

She looked around and saw a bucket, a bag of ice in the freezer, and the garden hose outside. She got to work, running for the bucket...

"You knew how she felt, and you break her heart for kicks?!" Adrien roared. "How could you?!"

"Come on, seeing her like that was hilarious! Hurting that chica éstupida's feelings was worth it, since it meant getting closer to getting into Chloé's pants," Ulises chuckled, conceit in his voice. "You can't call yourself a man if you can't appreciate the mayor's daughter's assets. And I'm not talking about her connections, chiquillo."

The fire in Adrien's eyes only grew before pulling him off against the wall, throwing him on the floor, and then getting on top of him, kneeling on his chest as if it were a straddle pin in a wrestling match. Adrien once again yanked Ulises up by his collar.

Marinette kept watching out of her peripheral vision while she'd taken an ice bag out of the freezer.

'I need to hurry it up!' Marinette thought as she dumped the ice into the bucket.

"You've got some nerve, thinking you're a man at all if you think humiliating and hurting people for fun is okay!" Adrien spat. "You're nothing but a sadistic Lothario!"

"Says the immature chiquillo who's throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of the convenience store." Ulises scoffed with a condescending tone, trying to look unfazed. He looked at Adrien with psychotic smirk.

Adrien gave a subtle flinch, but he regained his composure. But Ulises' confidence didn't shake.

"So, you think Dupain-Cheng's worth your reputation, chico bonito?" He asked, as if he'd already won.

"Now listen here..." Adrien growled as he leaned in. He spoke in a harsh, dark tone, in fluent Spanish, "¡Para mí ella vale más que todo el maldito mundo! No dejaré que nada ni nadie la lastime!"

She's worth more to me than the whole goddamn world! I won't let anything or anyone hurt her!

Marinette, her ice water bucket in hand, ran over to the boys.

'It's now or never!' She thought, her eyes on Adrien.

Adrien pulled his fist back to punch Ulises again. The Spaniard's eyes went wide in fear, but he also got on the defensive, ready to retaliate.

"Now, let's see if you still think what you did was funny when I-" Adrien threatened.

*SPLASH!*

"Alright, boys, that's enough," Marinette said as she put the bucket down. "Adrien, you gotta cool down. You're getting way too heated about this. I appreciate that you care, but treating him like a scratching post isn't going to help anything."

Marinette watched as Adrien heaved a deep, resigned sigh before letting go of Ulises in harsh manner, getting off and giving him one more fatal look. He turned away to face her.

'He got the hint.' Marinette thought, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Let's get out of here," Adrien said as he walked closer to Marinette, thumb-jerking to Ulises. "This scuzzball isn't worth it."

Marinette nodded in agreement, and they walked out of the convenience store.

'That was a close one,' Marinette thought. 'Had he transformed in the middle of all of that...'

She shuddered at the thought before looking back at him in her peripheral vision. He looked embarrassed, not unlike when they made amends during the escape room. But there was more in his body language, more that Marinette couldn't figure out. Adrien took her hand and gave it a light squeeze to comfort her. Despite him being soaking wet and freezing, Marinette felt warmth from the palm of his hand.

"Thanks for cooling me off. And... I'm sorry," Adrien spoke, breaking the tension. "I was out of line back there. I shouldn't have trounced him like that, but when he started insulting you and bragging about that shit he pulled..."

"You got angry on my behalf, which I'm grateful for," Marinette responded, a swell of gratitude in her heart. "But you were going to seriously damage him, which wouldn't have been good."

"He would've had it coming, Marinette!" Adrien retorted. "He knew how you felt about him, but he led you on for his own entertainment and personal gain!"

"I know," Marinette conceded, thinking it over with clearer judgement. "...In hindsight, though, it might've been a good thing that he did that to me."

"Why would you say something like that?!" Adrien asked, his disbelief obvious.

"Well, love is blind, isn't it?" Marinette questioned, rhetorically. "My infatuation kept me from seeing him for who he truly was. It was a good wake-up call."

"Hm," Adrien said in response. "I guess I hadn't thought of it that way. But don't you want to make him pay or face consequences for what he did?"

"That angry, hurt part of me did at one point, yes. But you said it yourself: he's not worth it," Marinette said to Adrien, looking him in the eye. "The trouble with an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is that everyone gets hurt."

She saw Adrien sigh in defeat. He told her, "You're too kind for your own good sometimes."

"Taking that as a compliment," Marinette said. "And..."

Deciding to be a bit playful, she stood on her tiptoes and planted a kiss against Adrien's cheek. She heard him give a light gasp.

She put her lips to his ear and said, "Thank you."

She giggled before skipping ahead to rejoin the group. She didn't see Adrien put his hand on his kissed cheek, a look of shock on his face.

'Seeing Adrien come to my defense like that... I don't think anyone other than my dad has gotten that upset for my sake before.' Marinette thought, her cheeks pink, feeling lighter than air and her heart was fluttering.

I warned you this was gonna get ugly. 😓

Why'd I have Marinette say Audrey left André and Chloé while pregnant with Zoé? Well, considering how close they are in age, Zoé being confirmed to be the younger daughter, and - this is according to my research, which may not be 100% true, so take this with a grain of salt - since the earliest a woman can get pregnant after childbirth is about 4-24 weeks (though doctors recommend wait at least 18 months between pregnancies), I wouldn't be surprised if Audrey was pregnant with Zoé when she left for New York before the start of the series.

And no, there won't be any more appearances by Ulises in any future stories. In another chapter in this story, I'm not sure. I just needed someone that would be the male Chloé that everyone originally thought Adrien was going to be. I find using Théo to be a cop-out, and Luka's too much of a sweet blueberry pie to be written like that. I also haven't seen any confirmed Hispanic/Latino characters in Miraculous Ladybug yet (I doubt I'm the only one), so I thought, "why not?"

Anyway, coming up, Adrien's goal to get Marinette to stop the faking in the "faking the feels" routine gets some... undesired help from the others.

Chapter Text

Back at school...

"Adrien seriously punched that dipshit?!" Alya spoke.

"Yeah," Marinette said. "I'm sorry Zoé and I didn't tell you about any of this before."

"I don't blame you," Alya responded with an understanding shrug. "It explains so much about why you're so scared to tell Adrien your feelings. And why you were resistant to the idea of a fashion show."

Marinette gave a quiet nod before saying, "That's right."

"But Adrien almost beating the crap out of the prick that hurt you?" Alix questioned. "Are you sure we're talking about the same Adrien Agreste?"

"What do you mean?" Marinette asked, quirking a brow.

"Adrien's always been the nonviolent type," Sabrina spoke. "He's more likely to give someone a stern lecture."

"And even then, he tries to keep his cool." Zoé added.

"I certainly haven't seen him angry to the point of violence." Kagami confirmed.

"For real?" Marinette asked, surprised. "I'm the only one who's seen him lose his temper that way?"

"Apparently." Alya said, smiling.

Marinette's face grew a smile and a blush came upon her cheeks, and she hugged her arms.

"So, if he was willing to give someone the beatdown on your behalf, you know what that means, right?" Alya asked.

Marinette said, "He really loves me, then."

"He does!" The rest of the girls squealed.

"But Marinette, how do you feel?" Zoé asked. "Are you still going to keep your feelings to yourself?"

At that question, Marinette went quiet as she mentally reviewed her entire relationship with Adrien from the beginning. From their shitty first meeting, to their reconciliation during the escape room, to Marinette learning about Adrien's "condition," and everything in between. Her heart fluttered the same way it always did whenever she was near him, but unlike Ulises, she knew his heart was in the right place.

Marionette gave the girls a smile, silently telling them what they wanted to know.

With the boys...

"You went berserk and nearly beat the daylights out of that asshole?" Félix asked.

Adrien gave a nod. He'd taken a hot shower and changed his clothes. He was now in his room, sitting on the bed, his face propped up in his hand, which was holding his kissed cheek. His smile was lovesick, without a doubt.

"That's not like you." Félix stated.

"I know," Adrien said with a sigh, his smile and his hand falling, both his arms draping over his knees. "I let my feelings take over. There's no excuse for what I did, even if I felt like he deserved it."

"From what you've said, he did deserve it, dude," Nino laughed. "But Marinette's right: the trouble with an eye for an eye means everyone goes blind."

Adrien sighed and spoke, "But Marinette's worth it."

"That, dude, is a classic statement a guy in love would say," Nino chuckled. "So, what'cha gonna do?"

Adrien looked up at his friends.

"About telling her how I feel? That's... Gonna be tricky. I'm having trouble telling whether or not she's still pretending to have feelings for me," Adrien spoke, his hand once again up against his cheek. "She kissed my cheek, but how do I know that wasn't just from gratitude or if there was something more?"

"That's a good point." Nino agreed.

"Moreover, what if Marinette's too scared to take that step?" Adrien posed.

"Don't worry, dude, we've got you covered." Nino spoke up.

"What?" Adrien asked.

"What better way to get the romance going than to consult the classics, dude?" Nino said as he pulled up a list of romance movies. "And I think I know where to start."

'Oh, boy...' Adrien thought, not looking forward to whatever Nino had in mind.

That evening, the group had gone back out, this time to rent rowboats.

"Wow, this was a nice idea!" Marinette said as she looked at the water and saw all the boats.

"It sure was," Adrien agreed, but he didn't sound too thrilled. "It'll be good for us to get into nature."

"Yep," Marinette said, turning to look at him. She couldn't fight off a blush. "It will."

Marinette began shuffling her feet, looking between Adrien and the boat. Running footsteps were heard, and Marinette felt herself get shoved/knocked over by someone and she was starting to fall over.

But before she hit the ground, she felt someone's arms around her. Knowing that familiar touch, she looked up and saw Adrien had saved her from the fall, and he was looking at her with serious eyes.

"Marinette, are you okay?" Adrien asked, his tone urgent, yet calm.

Marinette, blushing and feeling her heart go a little cuckoo, gave him an awkward smile and said, "Y-Yes, I am."

Marinette let Adrien pull her back up, and he let her rest in his embrace for a few seconds. Marinette put her cheek against his chest, his presence and heartbeat once again calming her down.

'Just being with him puts me at ease,' Marinette thought. 'If only we could stay this way forever...'

'Just being with her makes me feel free,' Adrien thought, also smiling. 'If only we could stay this way forever.'

For a moment, they were at peace, their surroundings fading away. The rest of the group looked at them with knowing smiles/grins.

"Hey, you two, less hugging, more boating?" Alya teased.

The pair looked at each other in surprise. They blushed before moving away from each other, looking away. Adrien had his hand clutched in his hair, Marinette was rubbing her arms.

While in line for the boats, the two of them kept giving each other furtive glances, pink in the face and shuffling their bodies. Once they got to their boat, Adrien stepped in first.

He turned around and held his hand out.

Marinette, blushing, put a shaky hand into his own, and she gently put one foot into the boat. But a not-so-unintentional shove from Alya caused her to misstep and she ended up falling face-first, and once again, Adrien had to catch her.

They landed in the boat, causing it to rock.

"Have fun!" Alya laughed with a wave as she and Nino went over to another boat.

Marinette scrambled away from Adrien, saying, "I-I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Adrien said, also pink-faced, as he sat on his side of the boat and took up the oars. "Let's just enjoy the boat ride."

Marinette, sitting on her side, tried to calm herself down. She decided to distract by looking at the surroundings. The sun was all but below the horizon now, and the darkness covering the city did nothing to dull its beauty. Though dark, Marinette could see the stars and moon reflected in the water.

When she looked up, she saw a two-way bluetooth speaker sitting between them, on the floor of the boat.

"Why the speaker?" Marinette asked, confused at the sight.

"I, um... Thought some music would be nice," Adrien said, lying. "Something calming and quiet."

"Really?" Marinette questioned, tilting her head in amusement.

"Y-Yeah," Adrien chuckled as he stopped rowing and turned the speaker on. "So..."

Static-y noises were heard, indicating the speaker was on and connected. A few moments of silence, but...

"Okay, on three," One voice, Nino, spoke. "One, two, three..."

A familiar song started playing, with the sound of bongos, strings and flutes in the background.

"There, you see her, sitting there across the way..." Nino sang.

'Oh, great...' Adrien thought, a sarcastic grimace on his face.

Marinette just had a confused expression, thinking, 'What IS this, The Little Mermaid?!'

As she looked around, she did notice the surroundings were similar to that scene. Even the dark of night and sparkling of the stars matched it.

"She don't got a lot to say, but there's something about her. And you don't know why, but you're dying to try, you wanna kiss the girl." Nino continued.

Marinette blushed at this, as did Adrien, but his was much darker.

"Yes, you want her," Nino crooned, with the others singing backup. "Look at her, you know you do."

The twosome just looked at each other, listening to the singing and music. Marinette's fists were balled and in her lap, but she was still fidgeting. Adrien was also rubbing his neck in his usual nervous tick, while gazing at Marinette.

"Possible she wants you too, there is one way to ask her. It don't take a word, not a single word, go on and-"

"KISS THE GIRL!" Kim sang, but not only was he off-key, his voice sounded like instruments were being tortured - Marinette and Adrien had to cover their ears.

"Sha-la-la-la-" Kim sang - or rather, screeched - until the sound of someone hitting him in the head cut into the music, causing Kim to stop.

"Kim, seriously! Have you never sung before?! You sound like a dying animal!" Nathaniel shouted.

"I'm only trying to help!" Kim insisted, his voice sounding muffled.

"Can't you just let the rest of us do the singing here?!" Nino asked, sounding annoyed.

"You're ruining the moment with this argument, guys!" Marc cut in.

Adrien and Marinette just listened to their friends' ranting in awkward silence, the discomfort palpable on their faces. They gave each other pointed looks.

"Ugh, let's just take it from the top," Alya yelled as she restarted the music. "And Kim, stay silent for this!"

Marinette shook her head and groaned before shutting off the speaker. The both of them gave loud sighs.

"Were they trying to get us to kiss or something?" Marinette asked as she propped her face up in her hand, heavy sarcasm in her tone.

"I guess," Adrien moaned, covering his face with his hand to hide his embarrassment. "But..."

"But...?" Marinette asked, taking her hand down and looking at him.

"I... Um..." Adrien began.

Marinette noticed he hadn't moved his hand away and he was still slouched over.

"Is everything alright?" Marinette asked, a bubble of panic rising. "Are you gonna transform?!"

"No, no, I'm good on that," Adrien said, taking a deep breath, his hand falling. "I'm fine, I just..."

Marinette gave him a patient nod before she felt Adrien take her hands into his.

"I'm more worried about you," Adrien spoke, looking her in the eye. "Encountering Ulises today dug up painful memories, right?"

Marinette scoffed, saying, "No kidding."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Adrien asked her. "If you need to offload your emotions, I'm here."

"Yes, I'm fine," Marinette told him, insistent but smiling. "You came to my defense, and like I said before, I'm grateful. Knowing that you care about me makes me feel a lot better. Just makes it clear transferring to Miracle Lyçée was the right decision."

"I am glad you transferred to Miracle," Adrien responded with a chuckle. "It's hard to imagine you not being here."

Marinette laughed at this, saying, "Hard to imagine not attending, now."

"Marinette..." Adrien began, his grip on her hands getting a bit tighter.

"Yes?" Marinette asked, sounding like she was desperate for an answer. Adrien pulled her hand closer, and he started to lean in. Her heart started going faster at this.

"Marinette, I wa-" Adrien began, only for a timer to go off.

"Oh, looks like our time's up. We'd better get back." Marinette said, taking her hand away.

Adrien let out a quiet, frustrated grumble before taking the oars and rowing back to the docks, thinking, 'Like the black cat I turn into, luck is never on my side!'

'I wonder what he was about to say?' Marinette thought, looking at Adrien to see the upset expression on his face.

When they reached the docks, everyone else was there, looking a combination of annoyed and confused.

Adrien stepped out of the boat and onto the pier, and turned around to help Marinette get out. He held her hand in his own and yanked her up, but again, she fell into his arms for a third time, once again knocking them over.

"That's the third time..." Marinette chuckled awkwardly. "If only I wasn't such a klutz."

Adrien only laughed as he stood up and helped Marinette up to her feet, too. They looked at each other with smiles and blushes.

Marinette pulled her hand away before saying, "Well, since it's dark out, shall we head back to campus?"

She began walking ahead, spinning on the balls of her feet, humming, and giggling.

But she was still wondering, 'What did Adrien want to tell me? It seemed important...'

She didn't see Adrien was watching her with a sad, longing look on his face...

About two days later, Marinette was in her dorm room with Alya, working on some of her assignments for her classes.

"Okay, so put that on the bodice..." Marinette murmured as she sewed an appliqué on the bodice of one of her pieces.

Alya was watching the whole thing, a smile on her face.

"Done," Marinette said as she cut the thread to the appliqué. She pushed herself away from the mannequin and went back to her desk. "Now, what's next on the list..."

"Hey, Marinette," Alya said, getting the girl's attention. "Adrien, the girls and I were talking, and we had this idea."

"An idea? What kind?" Marinette asked, looking at Alya out of her peripheral.

"We're all in agreement that even though you've had a bad experience, you should put on a fashion show." Alya stated.

Marinette went stiff as Alya approached her. Marinette took a deep breath to relax, saying, "I see where you're coming from, but after what happened last time..."

"Don't give me any of that, girl," Alya spoke, turning the chair around to get Marinette to face her. "I get it, you don't want a repeat performance, but it won't happen."

"How can you be so sure?" Marinette asked, sounding sad.

"Because you've got us to help prevent that repeat performance," Alya assured, pointing at Marinette's chest in a scolding manner. "You're not alone. I've got your back - we all do. It won't happen again!"

Hearing that, Marinette gave Alya a smile and she said, "Thanks. You're right, things are different now. I know I'm putting my trust in the right people this time. Let's give this fashion show another shot!"

"That's the spirit, Marinette!" Alya said, and the girls shared a high-five. "So, now that that's settled, got any ideas for designs for it?"

"Well-" Marinette began, taking out her sketchbook to show Alya.

"And don't use the ones from the last show," Alya interrupted. "Use this as a chance to showcase all the new stuff you've learned here at Miracle Lyçée."

Marinette grew a clever smile at this, saying, "Got it. And I already have something in mind for you. I also have some designs that are a step up from what I made for Zoé."

"Show me! And maybe Adrien should take a look at it, too." Alya suggested.

Marinette gave a smile, with a big blush, and she said, "Okay!"

The afternoon had come upon them, the sun was beginning to get lower in the sky, and the boys were working on something outside in the school courtyard. But Adrien was despondent, his mind elsewhere as he was sweeping.

"Hey, cousin," Félix spoke as he approached Adrien. "Are you okay?"

"I've been better," Adrien sighed. "I haven't been able to tell Marinette how I feel for days. At least she's gotten on board with the fashion show idea."

"That's progress," Félix stated. "Kagami's been getting impatient for you two to hurry up and become an item. Not just her, but everyone."

"...Think anyone suspects that we've been faking it?" Adrien asked, quietly.

"Hey, if anyone was deceiving anyone, it was yourselves," Félix snorted. "It was your idea to start the fake-love-story schtick to cover up your little "cat problem," wasn't it?"

Adrien gave a nod.

"I figured that it was only a matter of time before you two fell in love for real." Félix commented.

"I should've thought of that, but... At the same time I'm not surprised," Adrien began, his face turning pink while gripping the broom a bit tighter. "Marinette's an incredible girl. She deserves the world."

"Hopefully this time around, you'll be able pour your heart out to her." Félix muttered.

Adrien's face didn't change, though he felt his heart beating a bit more.

"This next plan should set the mood right," Nino commented as he came over with some lights. "And this time, we won't have Kim's painful squawking ruining it."

"Are you sure about this?" Adrien asked.

"I am," Nino said as he set the lights up. "If consulting The Little Mermaid was a bust, let's try The Princess and the Frog - that's one of Alya's favorites!"

"I guess a dance is more realistic than a magic carpet ride." Félix commented off-handedly, with Adrien giving an agreeing nod.

Later that night, the sun had just set over the horizon and everyone in the group was out in the courtyard, all but having a party.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Marinette asked as she walked around the group, holding two cups of juice - with recycled/compostable paper cups. "What if Principal Fu catches us?"

"He's a reasonable man," Zoé commented as Marinette gave her one of the cups. "He usually lets us do whatever we want, so long as it's compliant with conduct rules - for example, we wouldn't be doing this out here in the courtyard if there was sports training on schedule."

"I don't know any details, but apparently he had to take on a huge responsibility when he was younger than we were, so he understands the need for breaks and fun, because he never got any of that." Alya added.

"That's very generous of him," Marinette said, a smile of gratitude. "Much better than Doormat Damocles."

The girls laughed at that.

Nearby, Adrien was watching Marinette, a smile and blush on his face, a cup of juice in hand, and leaning against the wall.

'Seeing her laugh like that... She's so cute.' Adrien thought, a quiet sigh leaving his lips. To him, Marinette's hair and eyes were twinkling in the lights, and her smile was a sight to behold.

Seeing his best friend gazing at his crush, Nino smiled and nodded, ready to get the ball rolling.

"Hey, Alya! I need you up here!" Nino called.

"Coming, Nino!" Alya said as she put her cup down before running up to the bandstand, where Nino was.

"You have your flute?" Nino asked once his girlfriend made it over.

Alya's answer was her taking an instrument case out from under the DJ stand, and she opened it to reveal a flute.

Nino smiled and said, "Perfect. Let's get the mood going."

He turned to some of the others, and he gave a hand cue. Félix, who was nearby, gave Nino a thumb's up before turning the lights down. Nino turned a song on as some of the others began playing their own instruments - sans Alya.

Marinette and Adrien paused when the first phrase of the song came out.

'Wait, I know this song...' Marinette thought.

"Look how she lights up my life," Nino sang while Adrien was watching Marinette. "Ma belle, ma chère lady."

"Isn't this a bit too palpa-" Rose began, but Juleka hushed her to stop.

Adrien kept looking at Marinette, who had a pensive smile on her face, and hugging her arms in her normal nervous tick. Adrien himself smiled, thinking her body language adorable.

"So out of my league, yet I..." Nino sang, his singing giving voice to Adrien's thoughts and feelings. "Hope her heart belongs to only me."

Adrien's smile fell and he turned his face, as if his confidence took a hit for a second.

"J'tadore, j'taime, ma chère lady." Nino sang again.

Adrien's eyes were still glued to Marinette, with a facial expression typical of a young man who fell in love at first sight.

"My princess of the night. So sweet, so bright." Nino continued.

Adrien put his juice down before making a bee-line for Marinette, who was still listening and standing on the sidelines, watching the others dance.

"That someone as beautiful as she..." Nino continued.

Marinette didn't notice Adrien until he tapped her shoulder. She turned to face him, asking, "Yes?"

Adrien, smiling, only took her juice cup out of her hand, put it down, and he took her hand. To her surprise, he put her hand on his hip and got them into a position for a slow dance. Marinette's eyes widened and she went stiff, her face pink and her heart beating.

"Could love someone like me..." Nino kept going.

"Whoa, Adrien, I've got two left feet, trust me," Marinette said, backing away from him and waving her hands in refusal, her face still tinted. "You might wanna ask someone else to dance."

"No." Adrien said while shaking his head, undeterred.

"Love always finds a way, it's true." Nino sang as Adrien tried to get Marinette into position again.

But before he could put her hand on his hip, Marinette pulled away, pivoted on her heel, and ran off the dance floor. When she stopped, her back was to him, and she was hugging her arms again.

Confused - and a touch hurt - Adrien slowly walked after Marinette. When he approached, he stood right behind her, but he didn't say anything.

"...Last time I tried dancing, I only embarrassed myself in front of my classmates. As usual, Chloé added insult to injury." Marinette confessed, answering Adrien's unvoiced question.

"And I love you, ma chère lady." Nino sang.

Adrien only smiled, took her hand and brought her back to the dance floor. Marinette tried to protest, but Adrien only put her in a waltz stance with him.

"If I can make accessories, you can dance." Adrien sang as he started leading Marinette in a slow dance.

The music kept playing, but it was accompanied by Alya's flute-playing. She and Nino were giving each other flirty looks as they kept watching Marinette and Adrien dancing.

Nino looked over to Marc and Nathaniel, who gave nods and started working with the lights. Every so often, the lights' colors would change to set a romantic mood.

Marinette, dancing as if she'd been doing it for years, started laughing. Adrien was chuckling, too. They were traveling on the dance floor, with everyone having stopped to watch the pair on the move. Marinette and Adrien seemed to be in their own world, smiles and blushes all the while.

"Love is beautiful. Love is wonderful," Nino kept singing as Adrien kept leading Marinette in their dance. "Love is everything!"

Adrien put his hands on Marinette's hips and lifted her up. She laughed at this, smiling at Adrien.

"Do you agree? Mais oui!" Nino sang while Adrien brought Marinette down and settled her feet on the floor.

The lights dimmed, Adrien did an underarm turn with Marinette, and then he dipped her down, while her hands were on his shoulders.

"Look how she lights up my life." Nino sang.

The two of them looked at each other - they could both see the stars twinkling in the other's eyes. Marinette's face tinted, and Adrien's look softened, a tender, loving expression in his eyes. Both felt their hearts pounding, and smiles grew on their faces.

"I love you, ma chère lady." Nino sang, once again giving voice to Adrien's feelings for Marinette.

Adrien slowly wrapped his arms around Marinette's waist and began to bring her back up, just as the music stopped playing. As if on instinct, their eyes closed and they began pursing their lips.

But Marinette opened her eyes in the nick of time. Laughing, she leaned away a bit, patting her hands on his chest. Adrien's eyes opened, and he gave an awkward chuckle.

Marinette, her cheeks still red, giggled, and said, "That was fun!"

"It was. You really sold yourself short." Adrien laughed in response.

"I did?" Marinette asked as she moved to take his hands off of her.

"You sure did," He said. He looked in her eyes, which were still twinkling from the lights and stars. "Marinette..."

"Yes?" Marinette asked him, her heart stilling at the serious look on his face.

He swallowed an anxious lump in his throat.

"We-" Adrien began, but Marinette's phone started ringing.

Marinette took her phone out of her back pocket.

"Sorry, it's my dad. I gotta take this." Marinette said as she walked away from Adrien.

As she went to get somewhere quiet, she kept thinking, 'Adrien's a great dancer. But again, it seemed like he wanted to talk to me about something... And...'

Remembering how his lips were puckered up just seconds ago, she thought, 'I could swear he wanted to kiss me...'

Adrien gave a sad sigh while he watched her leave, thinking, 'Another attempt to tell her, another interruption.'

Seeing this, Nino put the DJ on auto mix before stepping off the stand. He filled a glass with iced lemonade from one of the dispensers before bringing it over to Adrien.

"Hey, buddy," Nino said as he put a hand on Adrien's shoulder before handing him the lemonade. "You two looked hot out there."

Nino gave Adrien a wink.

"Thanks," Adrien said as he took the lemonade and chased it down in a few gulps. "I failed again..."

"Dude, let's just come up with another plan." Nino suggested.

"No," Adrien said, looking at his best friend. "I appreciate your help, but I'm not sure it is helping."

Nino had a look that could be described as "an epiphany" and he said, "Gotcha. Go get her, dude."

Adrien gave a smile. He threw the empty cup into the recycling bin before going after Marinette.

Marinette was leaning against a wall, a good ways away from the dancing, and she was just wrapping up her phone call.

"I'm sorry that I forgot about dinner, dad," Marinette pleaded. "I was having too much fun with my friends."

Hearing this, Tom chortled and said, "Don't worry, sweetie. You're enjoying yourself, and that's what counts. Just remember to call in advance if you're not gonna make it next time."

"Thanks, dad," Marinette said, giggling. "I'll see you next week."

"Have fun." Tom said before hanging up.

Marinette took a deep breath as she put her phone on "Do Not Disturb" and put it in her back pocket. Away from the noise, Marinette looked up in the sky, reveling in the peace and quiet.

She heard footsteps, and she turned to see Adrien was approaching.

"What's up? You look serious." Marinette asked once Adrien reached her.

He took Marinette's hand, and asked, "Walk with me?"

Marinette, feeling her heart fluttering at Adrien's touch, gave a quiet nod as she and Adrien started walking along, getting further away from their friends. A few moments of silence before Adrien decided to break it.

"Marinette, we need to talk," Adrien said with a resigned sigh. "About our whole... dynamic."

Marinette, hearing this, steeled her nerves and gave a nod.

"Yeah, I guess we do," Marinette spoke, sighing. "...I know this was all built on a lie. We're only doing this because you need someone to help you."

"I know," Adrien spoke before turning his face to look at her. "But..."

Her breath caught when she saw the look in his eyes - he had something heavy on his mind, and it was choking him.

'Better rip the band-aid off.' Marinette thought.

"Adrien, please be honest with me," Marinette asked him. "Is this about your cat troubles?"

He looked askance, a bit uncomfortable. Marinette gave him a suspicious look. But he looked back at Marinette, right in her eyes.

"No, it's not," Adrien confessed. "It's something else. I..."

Adrien seemed to pause, like he was mentally prepping himself for the worst. His grip on Marinette's hand was tighter than before.

'Adrien, please tell me what you're thinking...' Marinette thought, almost hoping she could telepathically tell him to spit it out. 'Is it what I hope it is...?'

"I'm done," Adrien said with a big huff. "Done with the faking. I can't keep lying to myself, or to you."

"W-What do you mean?!" Marinette asked, about to panic.

'He's done faking?! He can't keep lying to himself?!' Marinette thought, feeling like she'd been on the receiving end of the ice water.

Hearing this, she couldn't help but default to her Ulises PTSD, worried she was being strung along. But this time, Marinette had the mental strength to pull herself out of that. She took a deep breath before looking at Adrien.

Marinette kept her eyes on him, ready for whatever he had to say.

'Tell me, Adrien,' Marinette thought, her heart pounding in anticipation. 'Do you really love me, or am I just imagining it?'

"I..." Adrien started, but Marinette heard an audible gulp.

'Come on, speak up!' Marinette thought, about to have a panic attack.

He took a few deep breaths to steady himself. He looked at Marinette out of his peripheral.

"For the way you changed my plans," He started singing. "For being the perfect distraction."

He turned his body around to face Marinette, his eyes meeting hers.

"For the way you took the idea that I had of everything that I wanted to have, and made me see there was something missing. Oh yeah." Adrien sang to her.

Marinette looked at him in confusion, but she kept listening.

"For the ending of my first begin (ooh, yeah yeah, ooh, yeah yeah)," Adrien sang, his voice quiet. "And for the rare and unexpected friend (Ooh, yeah yeah, ooh, yeah yeah)."

They kept walking, with Adrien leading the way. Marinette kept looking at Adrien, but she was still silent.

"And for the way, you're something that I'd never choose," Adrien sang before turning his head around and giving Marinette a big smile, with grateful eyes. "But at the same time, something I don't wanna lose, and never wanna be without ever again!"

Marinette felt her breath hitch as Adrien turned his body around and took both of her hands into his own.

"You're the best thing I never knew I needed," He sang, his smile now accompanied by a blush. "So when you were here, I had no idea. You're the best thing I never knew I needed!"

Marinette's shocked expression grew into a timid smile, her face still pink.

"So now it's so clear, I need you here always." He crooned, and Marinette's heart pounded.

He took Marinette by the shoulder and they began walking again.

"My accidental happily (ever after)," Adrien sang, meanwhile Marinette leaned her head against his shoulder. "The way you smile and how you comfort me (with your laughter)."

Marinette gave a laughing snort at this and she turned to Adrien, sparkling eyes. She saw his tender smile, and he took his arm away from her shoulders. He took her hands into his own before making sure they were standing right opposite each other.

"I must admit, you were not a part of my book, but now if you open it up and take a look, you're the beginning and the end of every chapter!" Adrien said to her in song.

Marinette's breath was taken away by this, and she couldn't stop looking at Adrien, and how he seemed to be focused on her and her alone.

"You're the best thing I never knew I needed, oh," Adrien sang, and he was still smiling and blushing. "So when you were here, I had no idea. You're the best thing I never knew I needed (that I needed), oh. So now it's so clear, I need you here always."

Letting one hand go, he began leading Marinette along in their walk. Marinette giggled again, smiling and walking along with Adrien.

"Who knew that I could be (who knew that I could be) so unexpectedly (so unexpectedly) undeniably happier," He sang as he brought Marinette to a nearby bench and sat her down. "Sitting with you right here, right here next to me! Girl, you're the best!"

Marinette's smile grew as Adrien put her hands on the bench and put his hands over hers, singing, "You're the best thing I never knew I needed (said I needed). So when you were here, I had no idea. You're the best thing I never knew I needed. So now it's so clear, I need you here always."

Marinette's heart filled with love, and she grew a huge smile on her face. At that, he put his hands around Marinette's waist and pulled her onto his lap. He then wrapped his arms around her shoulders to hold her close.

He sang, his voice tender like a lullaby, "Now it's so clear. I need you here always."

They sat like that for a while, holding each other in a tight embrace. Marinette felt the usual comforting blanket-like feeling she got whenever he hugged her that way. She nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck. She reveled in his warmth.

"I care about you, Marinette. A lot," Adrien confessed. "You're so precious to me, you make me happy, and I can't imagine life without you in it anymore. No more faking the feelings, Marinette. I want everything between us to be real."

Hearing this, Marinette's felt her heart stop dead in its tracks.

'He... He wants this to be real?!' Marinette thought. 'I... I...'

Her heart's floodgates burst open, all her love, joy, and relief spilling. She started crying, sobbing into his chest.

"Marinette? What's wrong?" Adrien asked, moving himself so he could look Marinette in the eyes. "Do you not feel the same way?"

"That's not it." Marinette sobbed as she lifted her face out of her hands and looked at Adrien.

She had the biggest smile on her face, paired with wet cheeks and red eyes. To Adrien, the stars and moon were reflected in her tears.

"You've just made me the happiest girl in Paris! Maybe the whole world!" Marinette wailed before throwing her arms around him again. "I've been lying to myself, trying to ignore my feelings for you, all to protect myself after Ulises hurt me. But you just... made your way into my heart and now I don't want you to leave it!"

"So, does that mean...?" Adrien asked, sounding like his voice was breaking, yet it was happy.

"Yes! I feel the same way! I want this to be real, too!" Marinette sobbed, once again kissing Adrien's cheek.

That did it. Adrien once again wrapped his arms around Marinette, holding her tight - as if he felt she would fly away like a bird if he so much as loosened one finger. He put his hand into her hair, and he kissed her forehead.

Stars streaked across the sky, and the moonlight bathed the de-facto couple.

Alright, that's it for this chapter! The next chapter may be the last one or two. A few loose ends to tie up. Coming up, everyone's helping Marinette get ready for her second attempt at a fashion show. But even though their feelings are out in the open, Adrien's still transforming. WHY?!

After reading up on "Miraculous: London" and seeing a few clips, I'm both nervous and anxious, especially about what can/will happen if/when Adrien finds out what really happened with his father. If "Cat Blanc" is any indication of how bad the fallout could be, then I am NOT looking forward to seeing what does happen. Not sure how he'll look at Ladybug/Marinette after that. THAT'S what worries me. And it looks like there's gonna be another 5 seasons of this show. I may not watch the new episodes, but rather read up on them just to stay up to date, all to keep myself sane, LOL 😅

Now that Cerise/Lila has the Butterfly Miraculous and is using it for revenge on Ladybug, I have to wonder: the Shadybug and Claw Noir special established that if an underage user of the Miraculous is using it for evil, it slowly kills them as a price to pay for repeated use of their power. Doesn't that mean over the course of the rest of the series, Cerise will be slowly killing herself? And I'll bet she'll blame it on Ladybug because she won't let Nooroo tell her any different. HOPEFULLY by the end of the series, they DO get Nooroo and his Miraculous back, then give it to someone who WILL use it for the RIGHT reasons.

Chapter Text

Now that Marinette and Adrien's feelings are all out in the open, time for a fashion show! And with a little luck, things will go off without a hitch. Or will they?

Sorry for the long wait on this update, guys - this time of year is CRAZY BUSY for my particular line of work.

Marinette and Adrien stayed on the bench, basking in the afterglow of their confession. They were enjoying the peace and quiet between them. Adrien was holding Marinette in his arms, meanwhile Marinette just kept sitting in Adrien's lap, enjoying the feeling of being tucked in his embrace, her hands against his chest. As always, Marinette felt the usual "blanket-comfort safety" sensation she got whenever Adrien hugged or held her.

"This is nice," Marinette murmured. "Just the two of us here."

"It is." Adrien agreed, planting another kiss to Marinette's forehead.

Marinette's face turned pink and she stifled a giggle. She chanced a look at his face, and she saw how the moon was highlighting his handsome features. His jawline was sharp, yet it was soft enough to make him look a healthy combination of handsome and adorable - which was arguably expected of a former model. The way his eyes sparkled while looking at her, how his smile seemed to grow when they were together.

But...

"Hey, um... Question." Marinette began, breaking the silence.

Adrien gave a confirming sound, granting consent to ask.

"How long have you felt this way about me?" Marinette questioned.

"For a while, to be honest," Adrien confessed. "Maybe since the escape room, I'm not sure."

"That long?" Marinette asked, her voice neutral in tone, but her face was pink in surprise, thinking, 'He's been holding those feelings in since day one?'

"Yeah," Adrien confirmed. "What about you?"

"Maybe during the heat wave?" Marinette commented. "I can't really figure it out. But I was trying to bury my feelings. I didn't want to feel that way about you."

"...I guess that's a normal response, after what happened with that asshole." Adrien snorted.

Marinette gave a murmuring noise to concur, and she said, "Thanks for understanding that. But truth is, I don't regret accepting my feelings. I couldn't help falling for you, Adrien. You're just that great of a guy."

"Back at you. You're just such an amazing girl." Adrien spoke with a chuckle.

Marinette giggled, saying, "Thanks, Adrien. So... I guess this means we're an item?"

"Yep. Wait until everyone else hears - they'll be asking what the hell took us so long." Adrien agreed.

Marinette laughed.

"Back to the party?" Marinette suggested.

"Let's." Adrien agreed.

He stood up, took Marinette's hand, and interlocked their fingers. They began walking back to their friends. Marinette felt Adrien squeeze her hand, and she giggled in response, squeezing back.

The following morning, Marinette was sleeping peacefully in bed, dreaming about Adrien and all the moments they would have together. She was about to toss in bed when she heard a loud popping noise. She woke up with a jolt, and she saw pink confetti was falling all around her.

"Congrats, girl!" Alya cheered - she was holding a confetti cannon.

"Alya?" Marinette asked, brushing the confetti off of her. "What's with the confetti shower wake-up call?"

"Girl, you and Adrien are finally together!" Alya spoke up. "And it took you two long enough!"

Marinette blushed with an awkward smile, and she said, "Y-Yeah..."

"So, now that you and Adrien are an official couple, what do you two plan to do for your first date?! Deets!" Alya said, putting her hands on Marinette's bed and leaning in to her face.

"Alya, come on, we only just told each other how we feel!" Marinette giggled.

"Doesn't mean you two shouldn't start your love story ASAP!" Alya said, grabbing Marinette's hand and yanking her out of the bed. "Come on, get dressed! And wear the hair pin he made you!"

Marinette couldn't help laughing at this. She thought, 'I'm still in disbelief. Adrien and I are dating now? It's something out of a dream. But it's real...'

She made a mental note to make something for Adrien to celebrate their new relationship. Or was it too soon for that? She would have to ask.

Marinette approached the mirror, and she looked herself over. She saw she was all aglow from her newfound romance with Adrien. She laughed before going to her drawers.

During Physics class, Marinette sat next to Adrien. She was leaning into his space, her head just beneath his chin. But her eyes were focused on the paper in front of her, trying to figure out the equation.

"So, if I have this right, you multiply acceleration times time taken, then add that to the initial velocity to get the final velocity?" Marinette summarized, thought she sounded quite confused.

"Right." Adrien said, smiling.

Marinette looked up at him and said, "Thanks. I think I'm beginning to get the hang of this physics stuff."

"I'm glad I've been able to help, Marinette." Adrien chuckled.

"You've been a great help in so many ways, Adrien." Marinette giggled, blushing and leaning her head against his chest. She felt him wrap his arm around her.

They heard someone clear their throat, and they looked up to see Mlle. Olga Mendeleiev, their teacher, looking at them with an unimpressed look.

"If you two can't keep your love life out of the classroom, you two are going to be in separate seats from now on." She said.

The pair blushed deep red, the sound of their peers giggling in the background.

"Sorry," Marinette said, and the two separated and made at least one foot of distance between them at the bench. "Adrien's great at physics and he's even better at making it easy for me to understand."

"Well, that I can accept," Mendeleiev spoke with a curt nod. "Just remember there's a time and a place for everything."

"Yes, ma'am." Adrien said, blushing.

During gym class, they were fencing. Marinette had her gear on and was fiddling with her épée, but she was looking around at her peers, unsure of what to do. She watched as Kagami - distinguished from the others by her red fencing uniform - was sparring with one of the others and wiping the floor with them.

"Hey, Marinette," Adrien said as he came up next to her. "What's the matter?"

"Just... I've never fenced before," Marinette confessed, bending the épée blade, looking at it in confusion. "I was gonna ask Kagami to be my partner to show me the ropes, but..."

"I can help," Adrien offered. "Kagami's told me I'm no slouch."

"You'd do that?" Marinette asked.

"Of course!" Adrien said as he came up behind Marinette. "First, let's start with making sure your stance is right. You're right-handed, right?"

"Yes." Marinette confirmed.

"So, you'll need to make sure your épée is in your dominant hand," Adrien instructed as he used his hands to move Marinette's arms around. "And when you raise your weapon arm up, it needs to..."

Marinette tried her best, the feeling of Adrien's gloved hands on her arms giving her goosebumps and making it hard for her to focus. At one point, his hands were around her waist, as if hugging her.

"Um, Adrien... Your hands..." Marinette began, beet red.

Adrien saw where his hands ended up. He choked and he pulled away, saying, "Sorry, Marinette. Um, let's work on where your legs are positioned now?"

"Y-Yeah..." Marinette said, thinking, 'His face is probably apple-red right now. I hope this close contact isn't heating him up too much.'

Unbeknownst to her, it was. He had to loosen the collar on his fencing uniform to let some steam out.

Once classes were done for the day, Marinette had found her way to the common area of the dorms to talk with the girls about the fashion show. They were sitting in a circle, each one holding a printed-out copy of a design.

"Okay, per Alya's instructions, none of the pieces from the last show are going to be reused," Marinette informed, giving Zoé a side-glance. "We don't need any reminders of what happened last time."

Zoé gave an agreeing nod.

"Other than that, it's the same setup," Marinette spoke. "I've given everyone a picture of the piece they'll be wearing."

"Girl, these designs are sick!" Alya said, looking over her assigned piece. "Can't wait to try mine on! You really think this will suit me?"

"It sure will," Marinette assured. "Your skin tone is perfect for this!"

"I must commend your research, Marinette," Kagami said as she looked over her picture. "This kimono is exquisite. The black and gold dragon on the hadajuban is a nice touch."

"Thank you," Marinette said. "You're gonna rock it in that!"

"This princess gown is absolutely adorable!" Rose squealed, her eyes sparkling.

"Love this woman's suit, with the subtle tiger stripes." Juleka mumbled in gratitude.

"Thanks! Speaking of suits..." Marinette began, turning another page in the book.

"Hey girls." Adrien spoke as he approached the group. He made himself a spot next to Marinette and put an arm around her shoulders. There was a collective "Aw!" from the girls.

Adrien asked, "How's the fashion show coming along?"

"It's coming along great!" Marinette confirmed. "Everyone's gotten their assigned pieces, and we're just talking about the schedule, logistics, order of operations. If all goes well, this will be for my final project for the term!"

"I've already gotten a social media campaign going and I've tagged the school's accounts to spread the word!" Alya spoke up, holding up her phone to show the post - it pictured Marinette with some silhouettes of women of all shapes and sizes wearing dresses. "There's going to be flyers with QR codes posted around campus, too."

"That's great!" Adrien laughed. "Looks like everything's going to plan."

"It sure is!" Marinette agreed. She gave her boyfriend a furtive glance, and she began flipping a few pages in her sketchbook. "Actually... Adrien, I'd like to show you something."

"You do?" Adrien asked, quirking a brow.

"Yep. Take a look?" Marinette asked as she raised her sketchbook up to his eyes.

Adrien looked over the piece, his eyes wide and awestruck. He looked between the girl in his one-armed embrace and the picture on the page.

"Is this...?" He asked, his voice dying off.

"It is," Marinette confirmed. "And... I was hoping that..."

She cupped her hand over his ear and whispered into it. Adrien's face grew into a smile as he listened to her idea. Adrien turned back to his girlfriend and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

Marinette giggled, understanding what Adrien meant. They heard giggling from the others, and they looked at their audience - all the girls were laughing and looking at the two of them, happy.

"Hey, save the PDA for later, you two!" Alya laughed.

They blushed and pulled away from each other. They had giggling, awkward smiles on their faces, too.

'This is bliss. Almost six months ago, I never would've dreamed that I'd be attending such a great school and have such a great group of friends.' Marinette thought, smiling as she looked around at the girls, all of whom were sharing pictures of Marinette's designs.

She turned to Adrien, who was rubbing his neck in awkward fashion and still giving her a loving smile.

'And I also wouldn't have imagined I'd get a boyfriend, never mind one as incredible, sweet, generous, and patient as Adrien,' Marinette thought. 'How'd I get so lucky?!'

Marinette, losing awareness of her surroundings, took her hand away from her sketchbook and put it on top of Adrien's. She reveled in the sensations she got when Adrien pulled his hand away to interlock their fingers. Marinette's blush got darker.

That Saturday afternoon, Marinette and Adrien were sitting next to each other on the monorail to go into the city. They were both blushing, smiling, and looking into each other's eyes, like nobody else was around.

"I'm glad you're joining us for dinner tonight, Adrien." Marinette said to him.

"It was sweet of your parents to invite me," Adrien responded, also red in the face. "If their cooking is as good as their baking, I'm in for a treat."

"That you are, Adrien," Marinette responded. She gave a laughing snort when she thought of something. "Just make sure you don't sit in the macarons this time."

Adrien laughed, also snorting in amusement. When he came down from it, he said, "Yep! Speaking of making sure of things..."

"Don't worry, I told them no spicy food." Marinette said, wincing at the memory of their café date. Adrien had a similar expression.

When they got to the bakery, they went in through the front door, where Tom and Sabine were cleaning up. Sabine was counting the money in the register while Tom was wiping down the bench.

"Mom! Dad!" Marinette greeted. Her parents looked up.

"Marinette! Welcome home!" Tom said as he stood from his crouch. He tucked the rag in his apron and went over to hug Marinette.

"Dad, I'd hug you, but you're covered in flour and dough!" Marinette said, putting her hand out to stop him.

"Oh, that's right. Sorry." He said, stopping in his tracks.

"You must be Adrien," Sabine said, greeting the blonde. "Welcome to our home!"

"Thanks, Mme. Dupain-Cheng." Adrien said with a formal nod.

"Please, you can call me Sabine," Sabine spoke smiling before turning to look at her daughter. "Marinette, why not bring Adrien upstairs while we finish cleaning up in here?"

"Okay, mom!" Marinette said. She turned and saw Adrien seemed lost in thought about something. "Come on, Adrien."

Adrien, snapping out of his thoughts, looked up with a start and said, "Oh, coming."

Marinette brought Adrien to a door in the back of the bakery. She opened it, revealing that it led to a stairwell, and there was another door that went outside.

"Follow me!" Marinette said as she took Adrien's hand and began leading him upstairs to the living space - an apartment above the bakery.

She opened the door, brought him inside, and said, "Bienvenue chez moi!"

Adrien scanned the living space with curious eyes. His face grew a smile. Marinette felt a lump of anxiety ball up in her stomach.

'Last I heard, Adrien and Félix live in a manor...' Marinette thought. She watched Adrien walked around the living space, examining it. 'This is probably a crap-ton more plebeian than what he's used to.'

He came upon a photographed picture of Marinette and her parents on one of the shelves, and he picked it up to look it over. Marinette heard a light sigh coming from him. Marinette walked over to him and saw the wistful, faraway look on his face.

"...Thinking about your mom?" Marinette asked.

Adrien turned to look at her and said, "...Yeah, I am. I envy you."

"You do?" Marinette asked.

Adrien gave a nod and said, "You have both of your parents, and you all seem so close in this picture. I was a momma's boy. And when she passed..."

He didn't finish, but Marinette gave a nod in understanding.

"...Being stuck in a giant mansion, cold and devoid of any happiness sucked," Adrien said, sounding choked up as he put the picture back before turning back to Marinette. "I would've loved to have grown up in a beautiful home like this instead. One filled with love and warmth..."

Marinette only hugged Adrien, and he returned it.

'Normally, I get a sense of security when he hugs me, but I think Adrien needs it more right now.' Marinette thought.

During dinner, they were talking about everything that they were up to.

"So you're going to try doing another fashion show?" Tom asked, smiling.

"That's right, dad," Marinette said. "The girls are going to be the models."

"And you're helping out with this too, Adrien?" Tom questioned.

"Yes, sir." Adrien confirmed, still a bit intimidated by Tom's size.

"The fashion show was Adrien's idea," Marinette pointed out. "It took me a while to come around to it, though."

"Not that I blame you," Adrien said before turning to Tom and Sabine to elaborate. "Marinette told me what happened. And we ran into that shithead in town."

"Had to stop him from beating Ulises to a pulp after the prick started bragging about the whole thing." Marinette murmured.

"You got that upset for her?" Sabine asked, surprised.

Adrien, blushing, admitted, "Yes. I know, I know, that type of behavior isn't okay, but still..."

"Hey, Ulises started it," Marinette defended, putting a hand on his shoulder. "But you're right, it wouldn't have done anything other than harm."

"No, you were the one who said that, so you're the one who's right here." Adrien spoke, looking at Marinette out of his peripheral vision and giving her a blushing, sweet smile.

Marinette giggled, not caring her parents were watching with big smiles on their faces.

Once they were finished eating and cleaning up, Marinette and Adrien were on the couch, playing Ultimate Mecha Strike. The sounds of the game were echoing through the room. Tom and Sabine were flanking the two of them, watching the two mechas go at it.

"I got you, Adrien! And..." Marinette said, her fingers dancing on the control's buttons. "Yes!"

Adrien's mecha was lying on the ground in the game. But Adrien gave Marinette a knowing expression, which made her falter.

"You think you've got me? Well, think again!" Adrien laughed as he used his controller to click a green button that had a clock symbol and a "3s" marking on it. Within seconds, Adrien's mecha got back up and was beginning to attack Marinette's.

"Wow! Talk about resilience!" Marinette laughed. "I guess that "quick recovery" boost the game series added wasn't such a bad idea!"

"Yep! Now, let's kick some lady-bot butt!" Adrien said before getting back to controlling his game mecha.

But Marinette was thinking a few steps ahead. Her fingers moved across the controller like a seasoned ballet dancer, and her mecha was able to get away from Adrien's mecha before kicking it.

A few minutes later, and Marinette's mecha was down for the count.

"What?! How'd I lose?!" Marinette asked, disappointed and yet laughing.

Adrien was also laughing, banging his fist on his knee.

"Best two out of three?" Marinette asked, a determined look on her face as she leaned in closer to Adrien. Adrien mirrored this, and with that same expression, he purred, "You're on, chérie."

Marinette's heart fluttered and she blushed, smiling.

On the way back to campus, they were on the school monorail system again. Adrien was holding a bag of Dupain-Cheng chouquettes, and popping them in his mouth as if they were candy.

"Slow down, you're gonna choke!" Marinette laughed as she watched him eat.

"I can't help it, they're so good!" Adrien chortled, his mouth full.

Marinette giggled as Adrien swallowed a bite. He licked his lips with a loud slurp, making Marinette laugh a bit louder. When Marinette tried to reach for one, Adrien teasingly pulled it out of arm's reach.

"Adrien, don't hog the chouquettes! I want some, too!" Marinette laughed, albeit she intentionally sounded like a petulant kid.

He turned on his smile and joked, "No, you're right. Me, pigging out on these chouquettes? How un-bacon-ing of me to be such a gluttonous swine."

Marinette made a minor groaning noise before face-palming and saying, "I should've known I'd given you an opening for puns."

"But I shouldn't be such a boar," Adrien said as he offered Marinette the bag. "So, here you go."

Marinette gave a playful roll of her eyes before taking some chouqettes and eating them.

When they got back to campus, Adrien walked Marinette to her room door, one holding the bag of remaining chouquettes, the other hand against the small of her back (with her consent, of course). Once they got there, they looked at each other with smiles.

"Thanks for tonight, Marinette," Adrien said, his face red. "I had so much fun."

"I'm glad you came," Marinette agreed, also pink in the cheeks. "Maybe you'll come by for dinner again?"

"I'd love that," Adrien said as he took Marinette's hand into his own. "So... May I...?"

He began leaning in. Marinette mirrored this, giving a subtle nod, and she also started to lean in...

"Welcome back, girl!" Alya said as she opened the dorm room door. Adrien and Marinette shouted in surprise before jumping away from each other.

Alya, a sly smile, asked, "Did I interrupt something?"

"Ye-" Adrien started.

"No! Nothing at all!" Marinette said before walking into the room. She turned to Adrien and said, "Bonne nuit."

"Bonne nuit." He responded as Alya shut the door. Adrien gave a satisfied smile before walking to his dorm room.

The following morning - pretty late in the morning, actually - Adrien was still asleep in bed, dreaming about his beloved Marinette. The previous night's near-kiss was repeating in his mind. For some reason, his body felt heavy and he didn't want to move.

'Marinette...' His mind purred, and his heart was pounding as if he were wide awake.

He felt the blanket get yanked off of him, with Nino calling out, "Rise n' shine, sleeping beau- I mean, sleeping kitty."

Hearing this, Adrien's heart jolted. He leaped off the bed and ran to the mirror. Fear across his face, Adrien let out a scream.

"Dude, what's the problem?" Nino asked. "You've woken up as a cat before!"

Adrien didn't hear Nino. His ears went flat against his head and he froze in place.

'I don't get it!' Adrien thought, in internal panic. 'I told Marinette I love her and we're dating now, but I'm still transforming! Why is this happening?!'

"Adrien? Is everything okay?" Félix asked, having finished putting his tie on.

'The fortune-teller told me that I need to develop my relationship with Marinette to get this cycle to stop! What else do I need to do?!' Adrien thought, frustration pulsing throughout his body.

Félix just took his table fan, turned it on, and blew it in Adrien's direction to cool him down.

'Just when I thought my luck was turning around...' Adrien moaned on the inside. He hung his head.

After breakfast, the group had gotten together and were now putting up fashion show flyers around the school. Marinette, smiling and humming taped one up against the window door to the library. Her mind was still replaying the events of the night before, near-kiss and all.

She looked at the flyer, and she thought, 'I don't think I've been this excited in a long time! Certainly more excited than when I first started here!'

But she looked to her side, and she saw Adrien, who was also taping up flyers, was looking a bit distracted.

She walked over to him and she asked, "Everything okay?"

Adrien startled a bit before looking around and saying, "Huh? What?"

"Adrien, is something on your mind?" Marinette asked, looking at him with a knowing expression.

Adrien, looking at his girlfriend, sighed before muttering, "Woke up as a cat this morning."

"Really? Hasn't that happened before?" Marinette questioned.

"Yeah, but I guess I was having a... Passionate dream last night... About us..." Adrien murmured, his face beet red while unable to look Marinette in the eyes.

Marinette's face also turned red before saying, "I-I see. I guess it was making you a little... uncomfortable?"

"Y-Yeah..." Adrien confirmed.

"Okay," Marinette said. "Well, back to flyers, then?"

"Yep." Adrien agreed. Marinette planted a kiss on his cheek before scampering off.

Outside, Alya had just taped some flyers onto the wall. She took a picture on her phone before turning away to go hang up more. A strong wind gust blew one of the flyers off, carrying it far into the sky, into the city. After a long journey, the paper landed near François-Dupont Lyçée.

A shadow came over it, and a hand picked it up.

"So, another fashion show, huh? Looks like an opportunity..." A familiar voice chuckled, but it sounded sinister...

Later on, in Marinette and Alya's dorm room, Adrien was watching Marinette at her sewing machine, working on some of her showpieces. She'd finished up Rose's princess gown and was now working on Zoé's dress.

'I don't understand what I'm missing here,' Adrien thought, watching Marinette work. 'Marinette and I are in love, we're together, and yet I'm still changing into a cat. Maybe I need to reexamine what the fortune-teller said?'

"Adrien?" Marinette asked, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"Oh, um... Yes?" Adrien asked, looking at Marinette as she held up Zoé's finished dress.

Marinette gave him an unimpressed expression, and she asked, "Okay, Adrien, what is going on? You've been preoccupied all day."

'Is there something other than his cat troubles bothering him? He's usually not this quiet.' Marinette thought, concerned.

She kept an eye on his body language, which seemed a combination of uncertain, like he was wrestling with some sort of choice.

"Marinette, I know I'd do anything for you, including this fashion show, but I'm just... A bit anxious." Adrien said.

"Why? It's no - Oh, you're scared of transforming during the show." Marinette said.

"Y-Yeah," Adrien spoke, sounding like he decided to just roll with it. "The lights can get pretty hot. I mean, I know I'm behind the scenes for the most part, but what if I transform into a cat and someone else sees me?"

"I chose this particular place because it has a lot of other rooms for you to duck and transform into just in case," Marinette spoke up. "And we can bring our other backups, like the cooling neck wraps and ice packs."

"That's a good point," Adrien spoke. "Maybe I'm worrying over nothing?"

"I don't think so," Marinette shrugged. "We've had close calls in public before."

Adrien gave a nod.

"But the show must go on, come what may," Marinette said. "Whatever little flaws come up, either in the pieces or the show, we have to accept."

That caused something to click in Adrien's mind.

'That's it!' Adrien thought as he remembered what the fortune-teller told him.

~Flashback~

"You need to help her heal from that pain, and get her to fall for you, fully accepting you as you are, flaws and all," She said as she pointed between The Empress and The Lovers cards. "Once that's done..."

She flipped the last card - Death again.

"Your transformations will stop and your suffering will end. Then and only then will you be free from the black cat." She said.

~Flashback End~

'So THAT'S what I've been missing!' Adrien thought while looking at Marinette, who was giving him a reassuring smile.

Adrien got his mind back on track - the fashion show - and he smiled at Marinette.

"You're right," Adrien said, putting his hand on Marinette's. "We'll deal with whatever comes up when it happens. You know how to think on your feet."

Marinette blushed, feeling her heart pitter-patter, and she responded, "Thank you."

The day of, everyone met up at the Grand Palais to set up for the show. Marinette was talking with everyone, delegating tasks and making sure they all knew their roles in the show.

"Okay so we have Max on lighting and technology," Marinette said, writing everything down on a clipboard. "Alya, not only are you modeling, you're our social media manager for the show, including some behind-the-scenes pics. Nino's DJ-ing, obviously, and the rest of the boys are on setup - I've asked Marc and Nathaniel to get an itinerary of who goes in what order on the catwalk."

"With the finale consisting of a round of applause for the designer." Marc added.

"Right," Marinette spoke. "Now, let's fire on all cylinders, everyone!"

"Yeah!" They cheered, bumping fists in the air. Everyone turned around to go inside the building.

Adrien was about to follow them, but he heard the sound of a car stopping in front of the building. He turned around and saw a familiar limousine pulling up. Adrien hid out of sight, and sure enough, Chloé and Ulises came out of the car.

'Uh-oh!' He thought, pulling his phone out to record them.

"Brilliant plan, coming to ruin Dupain-Cheng's show again, Ulises!" Chloé cackled - Ulises was carrying duffle bags with stuff inside. "We ruin her shows twice, that will make her suffer and she'll be crying her eyes out again!"

"That will be fun," Ulises chuckled as he unzipped the duffle bag and pulled out multiple items to stain clothes with. "And that'll teach Agreste to assault the Spanish Counsellor's son. I should press charges, though."

Hearing this, Adrien scowled in anger, but instead of confronting them, he stopped the video and snuck inside the Grand Palais.

"Adrien?" Marinette asked as she watched him run in. "What's the problem? You seem agitated."

"Oh, um... Sorry, Marinette, I... Gotta go to the bathroom!" Adrien said before dashing off.

Marinette gave a shrug, thinking, 'Well, it IS a bit hot out, so maybe he's going to cool off before he transforms?'

Not paying it any mind, she turned to her friends and they began going to the main area of the building, where the show would be held.

Meanwhile, Adrien was running for the storage room where Marinette's outfits were being stored. He threw the door open and ran inside before slamming it shut.

"Okay, think, Adrien, think. How can I stop them without making a scene and repeating what happened?" Adrien asked out loud to himself, while pacing around the room.

He heard footsteps coming closer, and panic started to bubble up.

"I can't wait to see her crying! It'll be so worth it! I don't think that'll get old!" Ulises chuckled.

"Absolutely!" Chloé agreed. "Her crying will be music to my ears!"

'Those... Those loathsome trash piles!' Adrien thought, anger boiling up. 'If I knew Marinette wouldn't want me to beat them up because violence is never the answer, I'd claw them to-!'

That thought gave Adrien an idea. He closed his eyes and willed his way into transforming.

*POOF!*

"Purr-fect. Now it's time for this cat to play." Adrien purred, ready for a fight.

As Chloé and Ulises walked in, they sneered at the outfits.

"Good. Let's get to work!" Ulises spoke as he took out a bottle of carbonated pomegranate juice. He handed Chloé a ketchup bottle.

He walked over to the suit made for Juleka. He sneered at it, shook the bottle, and opened it, shooting fizzy juice all over the suit. Meanwhile, Chloé was cackling and squirting ketchup all over Zoé's outfit. Rubbing melted chocolate onto Kagami's kimono.

Adrien, unable to stand and watch, let out a loud hiss. That got the pair's attention.

"¿Qué? ¿Un gato?" Ulises asked as Adrien walked over. "How'd it get in here?"

"Ugh, and it's a black one, too!" Chloé shuddered before giving a cruel smile. "Hey, maybe rubbing it over the clothes some of its hair on them will give Dupain-Cheng the worst luck of her life!"

She went to pick Adrien up, but he scratched hard at her hand, piercing her skin. She stepped back, screaming in pain like a little child. Adrien arched his back, raised his tail and puffed its fur up, he let out a loud his, and his ears were flattened against his head.

"What the hell?! You stupid little-" Ulises began as he grabbed at Adrien, only for him to bite Ulises hard on the forearm, causing him to shout, also in pain.

Adrien ran between Ulises's legs, only for Chloé to grab him up by the scruff of his neck and force her face into his space.

"You're going to get put to sleep once we're done here, you mangy-" Chloé began, but Adrien scratched again, landing a deep one on her cheek. "Hey! I demand you stop- OW!"

One or two more scratches, and Chloé dropped Adrien, but he landed on his feet.

"No! My face! My perfect, fabulous face! You ruined it - EW, bloody!" Chloé whined.

'You had it coming!' Adrien chuckled to himself.

But he felt someone kick him, and Adrien tumbled on the floor. He looked up and saw Ulises had been the one to kick him. Adrien hissed again and pounced, grabbing onto Ulises' forearm with his paws and biting him again, his legs dangling. Ulises tried throwing Adrien off, but his waving his arm around only gave Adrien access to the Spaniard's face. He landed another scratch on him, over his eyebrows.

Adrien was soon thrown off, but true to form, he landed on his feet. He saw the two wealthy, spoiled teens sitting on the ground, itching at their wounds.

'Hah! Now that's what you get for hurting my purr-incess!' Adrien thought, proud.

"Why you little-!" Ulises growled, once again trying to snatch Adrien up to do him harm, but all Adrien did was scratch at his pants, ripping them, and hissing again. Satisfied with their state, Adrien gave one more yowl before running around. He intentionally ran through all of the stain materials and knocking them over to prevent any further ruin to the dresses.

"That's it! You're getting... AH! Man, that bite hurts!" Ulises hissed. He yanked Chloé up by the arm and dragged her outside. "Where's the first-aid kit?!"

Adrien stood in front of the outfits, licking his paw in triumph. He thought, 'Now THAT was satisfying. And with the added benefit of them being unable to tie it to Adrien Agreste.'

Meanwhile, Marinette was walking through the building, having changed into her clothes for the show, which was essentially her usual outfit in the form of a pant suit with dark gray pants. Marinette had noticed Adrien hadn't come back, even after thirty minutes, so she went to look for him while everyone else was setting up.

"Hello? Adrien! Where are you? The show's about to start!" Marinette called.

She pulled her phone out and shot Adrien a text, asking where he was. But there wasn't an instant reply, so she put her phone back in her pocket, sighing.

"I hope he's okay..." Marinette murmured. "Maybe he's stuck as a cat somewhere?"

"Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous - OWIE! HEY! Stop manhandling me!" A shrill voice echoed through the hall. Marinette looked around the corridor and saw Chloé and Ulises standing outside the room where the outfits were being stored.

They were scratched up on their faces, and there was at least one or two bite marks on Ulises' forearms - he was using metaphorical kid gloves trying to clean their wounds.

"It wouldn't be so painful if you'd just hold still, perra!" Ulises griped.

"You did not just call me that!" Chloé screamed, her tone of voice dark.

"Sí, lo hice, and I'll do it again if you don't keep still and let me treat these scratches!" Ulises shot back.

"Ugh, whatever," Chloé snapped before looking down like the petulant child she was. "If that stupid stray cat hadn't gotten in, we would've been able to tear those horrible outfits to shreds! Daddy is so going to hear about it!"

'Stray cat?' Marinette thought. She turned around so she was out of sight, and she clutched her heart. A smile grew on her face, as did a blush. 'Oh, Adrien... You went that far to protect me? That's so sweet...'

"Okay, we're done. We'll get to a doctor once the shitshow's over." Ulises said, and Marinette heard shuffling around.

She hid as Chloé and Ulises made their way away from the storage room, grumbling, and began walking to the main show area.

'The show must go on. No matter what happens.' Marinette thought, her expression unreadable.

Okay! So the show's about to start, but Ulises and Chloé ruined the outfits again. But thanks to Adrien, those two didn't get out of that unharmed 🤭! But what's Marinette gonna do now?! You'll have to wait until next time!

And HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE!

Chapter Text

Time for the finale chapter! Then I get back to "Stray Werecat Strut", thank goodness.

The fashion show is under way, but with the wrecked clothes, courtesy of Ulises and Chloé, how will Marinette make sure things go on? And where did Adrien get to?

Marinette made her way backstage, where the team was waiting.

"Girl, did you find Adrien?" Alya asked, walking up to her.

"No, but I know he'll be here. With my heart and soul." Marinette said, confident, while thinking, 'He's probably still trying to cool down so he can change back.'

Alya peeked out from behind the curtain to look at the audience. Marinette's parents were there. Some people were Miracle Lyçée students and their family members. Oddly enough, there were a few students from Françios-Dupont Lyçée in the audience, too. But Alya cringed when she saw Chloé and Ulises, sitting there in the way back row, with nasty smiles, despite the bandages all over their faces.

"Oh, fuck..." Alya grumbled.

"Let me guess: Chloé and Ulises are here?" Zoé asked, fiddling with one of her accessories.

"Yep." Alya muttered.

"Don't worry, everything's going according to plan, Alya," Marinette assured. "You said it yourself: no repeat performance."

Alya gave a knowing smile, as did Zoé.

"Good. Now, let's not let those two ruin the show," Marinette spoke, before turning to everyone else. "Okay, everyone, gather 'round! Almost time to get started!"

"But where's Adrien?" Félix asked, sounding a bit worried.

"Have faith in him. Nino, on the DJ stand," Marinette spoke. "Max, you and Markov get to the lighting station. Girls, to the changing rooms. Marc, Nate, you two are to stay back here and keep the itinerary organized. Everyone else, get to your seats in the audience - time to enjoy the show."

"Right!" They said, with Nino and Max running to their respective posts.

Marinette took a deep breath, touching the rose hair comb Adrien made her for reassurance. Standing proud, she turned on her heels and walked out on stage. The spotlight hit her as she made her way to the microphone stand at the apron of the catwalk.

Taking it in hand, she said, "Hello, everyone! Welcome to the MDC Fashion Showcase. I'm your designer and show organizer, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Please, sit back, relax, and marvel at each and every outfit that brings out the best in all of my friends."

Ulises and Chloé watched with smug smiles, believing Marinette was just saving face. Nino started the DJ, but kept the volume down so Marinette could narrate.

"First up, we have a sleeveless, golden-orange high-low dress." Marinette said, walking to the right to get out of the catwalk's path. She gestured to the back of the stage as Alya came out and walked the runway, striking poses with every few steps.

Her hair was in a high ponytail with a hair comb with large, golden-yellow leaves on it, and she was wearing subtle makeup (courtesy of Juleka) in line with the color scheme of the outfit. As described, it was a high-low dress in golden-orange without any sleeves, a sweetheart neckline, and it had shingled, golden-yellow and golden-orange maple leaves on the bust. She was wearing matching block heels with leaves on the toe boxes, and elbow-length lace gloves that matched the pattern of the tuile layer on the dress.

"This dress, as you can see, is appliquéd with on the bust area with turned sugar maple leaves in subtle variations, accompanied by a hair clip decorated with the same leaves. There's a layer of golden-orange lace tuile on the high of the high-low part of the dress that has subtle inlays of leaves, repeated by the gloves. This ensemble is to showcase the discreet, yet cohesive beauty that one autumn tree's leaves can bring to one piece."

The crowd was fixated on the outfit, and phones were already out, taking pictures of the pieces. Adrien used some of his old modeling connections to get professional photographers to take pictures, too.

As Alya came closer to the apron of the catwalk, Marinette gestured to the curtain area, and said, "Next up, a floral sundress modeled after bee orchids."

Zoé came out, wearing the aforementioned dress, which was a knee-length halter neckline sundress that was a subtle lavender color, that had pictures of the titular flower, the bee orchid, on the skirt of the dress, and it included a wide-rimmed, lavender hat a la Kate Middleton, that had a bee orchid decoration on top. It was accompanied by flat shoes, also in pale lavender.

"This dress is an homage to bees, and their relatives, wasps - who are not only pollinators in their own right, but are also predators like ladybugs, eating pests in the garden," Marinette narrated. "The intent is to show that while the reputation of the wasp is not unjustified, we have to remain educated on their role in our ecosystem."

Chloé and Ulises kept watching, surprised and confused at what was happening.

Backstage, Myléne and the rest of the girls were watching the show.

"Everything's going well," Kagami commented. "But we're missing someone."

"I hope Adrien gets here soon." Juleka mumbled.

"Oh, he will," Rose spoke up. "He's-"

"Rose, hurry up! You're next!" Nate said from the side.

"Okay!" Rose said before standing up and walking to the catwalk, just as Alya came back in.

"No sign of Adrien yet?" Alya asked.

"Nothing so far," Marc confirmed. "Where is he?"

"I'm sure he's texted Nino, but considering he's the DJ, maybe he can't hear over the music?" Alya suggested.

"Not unreasonable." Myléne agreed.

"Okay, so after Rose's turn, the order goes Kagami, Myléne, Juleka, Sabrina, but..." Marc said, looking over the list. "Where's Adrien?!"

The blonde boy in question was in one of the changing rooms, hurriedly getting his clothes on, his phone blowing up with text messages asking where he was. As he adjusted his pants, he snatched the device up and quickly told everyone in the group chat he was on his way.

'I gotta hurry up! Or the show's gonna hit a snag!' Adrien thought, in a panic. He made a dash out of the dressing room.

Back at the show, Marinette was maintaining cool, even though she was worried about Adrien and where he was.

"Piece #4: traditional kimono inspired by Eastern Asian depictions of dragons," Marinette announced over the microphone while Kagami stood and started walking down the catwalk. "In Asian cultures, dragons are often associated with the weather, particularly water - hence the black raindrops raining over the black and golden dragon on the hadajuban in the front. The black hukuro obi has been embroidered with subtle cloud outlines that, at just the right angle, shimmer in the light. Also in the ensemble is an enamel hair pin designed as a crimson cherry blossom with golden accents, which are repeated on the straps of the traditional sandals."

With every piece presented, the more confident Marinette got. The audience got more enthralled with the show, and cameras lights kept flashing. Meanwhile, Chloé and Ulises were getting angrier and more confused, which was palpable on their faces.

Backstage, the girls who'd taken their turns were pacing around, wondering where Adrien had gotten to.

As Sabrina exited the stage (her outfit was a nurse's uniform inspired by therapy dogs), Marinette turned to the crowd and had the microphone in hand.

"And now, our final piece..." Marinette said, while thinking, 'I hope he's here. He has to be here!'

She gestured to the back curtain.

The stage curtain opened and the spotlight hit the final model: a boy. He was wearing a suit with black pants and shoes, and his jacket was dark silver with black lapels, and his undershirt was a paler silver color, accompanied by a black necktie. The boy was standing with one leg crossed over the other, as if tapping his toe on the floor. One hand was on his hip with his fingers in his pants pocket, and the other was holding a black derby hat with a feather-like texture and a feather in it over his face. He lifted his hat off his face to reveal himself as Adrien. The whole crowd erupted in cheers and squeals at this, and camera lights were flashing faster than the eye could blink.

Marinette's face became awash with relief, thinking, 'Thank goodness!'

He put the hat on his head and tipped it a bit before walking down the catwalk, striking dynamic poses to make sure the clothes got the most exposure to the audience. He did some funnier poses, including imitating a backwards moonwalk, causing the ones watching to laugh. Even Marinette laughed.

'He's such a dork! But it's a nice touch.' Marinette thought, laughing to herself.

Marinette watched as Adrien kept posing, turning, and smiling with every step.

'Wow... I'm the one running the show and even I can't help but be mesmerized by him.' Marinette thought, her heart fluttering and blushing.

The lights were highlighting Adrien, making him look more handsome than usual, but it wasn't anything new, truthfully. At east, nothing new to Adrien. To Marinette, it was like viewing him in a whole new way all over again, similar to their reconciliation the night of the escape room - the night she learned about Adrien's cat transformations and they became friends. Her heart kept throbbing, swollen with love.

A few poses later, and Adrien came over to Marinette. He gave her a passionate smile, which she returned.

'He's looked handsome in magazines and other photo spreads, but seeing him wearing my design for him in the flesh?! Even more so!' Marinette thought, her pride and her love for Adrien bubbling up.

To her surprise, Adrien took Marinette by the waist, dipped her down over his knee, and he took his hat off to hide their faces from the audience. There were cooing noises and rising squeals from them.

"Adrien!" Marinette spoke, surprised. She was beet red. "What are you doing?!"

"Just wanting to tease the spectators. Give them something else to remember about the show, mon chérie." He chuckled, giving her a wink before pecking her on the cheek.

She blushed and giggled, and Adrien pulled her back up to stand before putting his hat back on. He quickly backed away, starting a loud applause for the designer. The girls came out from behind the curtain, lining up. Marinette looked around, and saw the audience, her parents, and her friends. They were clapping, whistling, cheering for Marinette, chanting her name. Hearing all of this, Marinette began crying tears of joy.

She wiped a tear away, only for a floral scent to tickle her nose. She opened her eyes and saw Adrien had approached again, this time with a bouquet of flowers.

"For you." He said, and Marinette blushed again as she took the flowers in her hands. She breathed in their scent, and she felt Adrien pull her into his arms, too. There was cooing, "aw"-ing and squeals from everyone in the area. She let herself be soothed by Adrien's hugs, as always, and she felt more relaxed, ready to wrap up the show.

As Adrien pulled away, he leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Knock em' dead, mon coeur."

He only stepped a few feet away - enough to give Marinette some room, but close enough in case something were to happen.

As the noise died down, Marinette took up the microphone once more.

Still choked up, yet happy, Marinette started, "Thank you, everyone. Now, some of you may recognize me from another fashion show that didn't go very well. Well, this show was intended to demonstrate all the new stuff I've learned, and how far I've come since then. But this isn't just my fashion show."

She gestured to the group behind her and spoke, "I may be the designer, but I can't thank everyone here enough for their help. Each and every one of you made time to help me, and thanks to our teamwork, we pulled this off without a hitch. Everything went smoothly and-"

"This is unacceptable!" Chloé's scream pierced through the air, killing the mood. Her shriek brought everyone's attention to her, including the spotlight. "This was supposed to be a flop! Another chance to prove how ridiculous, utterly ridiculous you are as a designer!"

"Clearly they were one step ahead of us, chica." Ulises grumbled, not looking happy, either.

"That's right, we were." Marinette said.

They looked at her with shocked expressions. Marinette herself was looking at them with triumphant confidence, meanwhile the rest of the group was looking at the two brats with disgust.

"Zoé and I had a hunch you'd try wrecking my fashion show again, so we had a few contingency plans," Marinette said. "See the clothes my friends are wearing? These are the final pieces that I gave everyone to keep with them. The ones you wrecked were the prototypes, which we put in there as bait."

"Oh, come on! We're the Mayor's daughter and Spanish Counsellor's son!" Chloé barked. "You can't pin this on us!"

"Oh, no?" Marinette asked, her face stone but quirking a brow. "Max? Markov? Care to prove them wrong?"

Max had Markov hook his arm up to the projector system, and he replayed a video of Chloé and Ulises ruining the pieces. Everyone in the audience, save for Tom and Sabine - who looked disgusted and were shaking their heads in disappointment - gasped. They looked to the two saboteurs.

Chloé and Ulises blanched.

"See, I had Markov activate the security camera in that room using a biometric face-recognition system - once you entered, the camera turned on and started recording." Max added, gesturing to Markov.

"Exactly," Markov agreed. "So, we can easily sue or press charges if you throw a tantrum over this."

"Like that will hold up with my daddy as the mayor!" Chloé snarked, though her face was red with humiliation. "And you can't even prove that we ruined the last show!"

"I have a phone recording of you two coming out of the car with all of those stain materials, admitting to your previous sabotage!" Adrien said, holding up his phone as he came up next to Marinette. "Your parents are going to hear about this!"

The two brats were pale and trembling with fear.

"So, see what your attempt at hurting me again resulted in? Making yourselves look stupid. You're the ones who are ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous," Marinette responded. "Security!"

A few security guards (courtesy of Adrien's Aunt Amélie (Félix's mother)) grabbed Ulises and Chloé by the arms before escorting them out.

"Let us go! We haven't lost! Our parents will make this problem go away!" Chloé screeched.

"Oh, shut up, chica..." Ulises grumbled.

The audience started clamoring about this.

"I'm sorry for that, everyone, but I can't control the behavior and choices others make," Marinette said, calling for calm. "That said, I hope everyone enjoyed the show. Thank you for coming!"

Afterwords, everyone went out to the main hallway, with the audience members eating pastries provided by Marinette's parents. Her friends, still in their show pieces, were in front of a photo shoot setup, with the professional photographers doing their jobs.

"So the final photos will be sent to me to keep for my website and portfolio? And I can use some of them as submissions for my final project?" Marinette asked.

"That's right," Adrien confirmed. He was still standing by Marinette's side, holding her hand. "And-"

"Excuse me, may I have a word with the designer?" Someone spoke up.

"Oh, excuse me." Marinette said as she let go of Adrien's hand.

As Marinette walked away to speak with the woman in question, Adrien watched, pride bubbling up in his heart.

"Hey, dude," Nino said as he came up to Adrien. "Great job on the catwalk, but seriously - what happened? You made it just in the knick of time."

"Sorry, I was..." Adrien said, before looking around and making a claw with his hands. "Having some trouble."

Nino gave an understanding nod. Adrien turned to watch Marinette, and he murmured, "She's absolutely glowing, isn't she?"

"More like blooming, like those flowers you gave her, dude." Nino chuckled.

"Yeah..." Adrien agreed, a lovesick smile on his face.

Marinette, meanwhile, was talking with some of her teachers, who were praising her decorum in handling Chloé and Ulises.

"You did an amazing job with the show, Marinette," Her Textiles teacher spoke. "You didn't just use what you learned in my class-"

"Or our classes." Some of her other teachers agreed.

"But you also applied leadership skills to this, too - and I absolutely loved how you prepared you were." She said.

"Thanks," Marinette said. "But it took a lot of encouragement and support from my friends to get this together."

Marinette started tuning her teachers out as she once again looked over at everything she'd accomplished. She saw her friends doing a group photo with the photographers, her parents singing her praises, the audience members looking at the clothes up close. It was a blissful moment.

'This is a dream-come-true. And I have all my friends to thank for it.' Marinette thought, smiling. She started to feel herself cry tears of joy again.

She turned to look at Adrien, who was talking with Nino about something.

'Adrien especially... My hero.' Marinette thought, her heart swelling at her boyfriend.

Once the show was over, Marinette and Adrien found some privacy in one of the dressing rooms - the one Marinette had used earlier. When they got inside, they heaved tired sighs.

"That was a great show!" Adrien said. "It's like you've done them a million times, you did so great!"

"But you modeling for the finale was the perfect je ne sais quoi," Marinette giggled. "And last time I checked, you're the one who's done something like that a million times."

Adrien laughed in response to this, managing to chuckle out, "That's true."

Marinette laughed as she turned to Adrien. With a smile filled to the brim with gratitude, she said, "I can't thank you and the others enough for this."

"You did a big chunk of the work, Marinette. I'm just glad things went off without a hitch," Adrien responded, blushing. "Everyone was impressed by your work, and I'm sure even Chloé's mother would say it's exceptional."

"Yeah, assuming Chloé's mother can be bothered to look at her daughter's victim's designs." Marinette scoffed.

"That was smart, deliberately putting the prototypes in place of the final pieces and having Markov record their vandalism as a trap." Adrien added.

"I can't take all the credit for that idea," Marinette commented before telling Adrien with a teasing, knowing voice, "And you turning into a cat came in handy today."

"Huh?" Adrien asked, pink in the face. His eyes went askance. "What do you mean? I didn't transform today."

Marinette walked closer, and stood on the balls of her feet. She gave him a sly smile before saying, "Oh, come on, Adrien. I know you deliberately changed into a cat and scratched Chloé and Ulises up."

Adrien's face went from pink to red. He gave a chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck, asking, "R-Really? What gave it away?"

"I saw them treating their wounds, and overheard them complaining about a "stray cat" that got in," Marinette spoke, a flirty tone of voice. "How if the cat hadn't scratched their faces, they would've ruined the outfits even more. Chloé's going to cry to her father about euthanizing that cat, no doubt."

"You got me." Adrien conceded, his face falling in defeat, but still smiling.

Marinette giggled before saying, "I'm glad you did that, though."

"Really?" Adrien asked, surprised.

"Yeah. It was certainly less convoluted than rigging a bunch of Rube Goldberg devices as booby traps, even if it was for the prototypes," Marinette stated. "Thank you so much for being my guard cat."

Adrien gave a light sag in relief, saying, "You're welcome."

They shared a hug. Marinette, as usual, felt peace and comfort from his hugs, and his gentle rubs up and down her back made them feel any better.

"Now... Um... Marinette, while we're on the subject of my little cat problem, there's something else I need to come clean about." Adrien said.

Marinette, surprised, pulled her face away from his chest and asked, "What's the matter?"

Did another glitch in his cat transformations happen? Marinette examined his body language, and he seemed like he wanted to tell her something, but at the same time knew that telling her wouldn't help anything - possibly harm something, actually.

"Come on, you know you can tell me anything." Marinette reassured.

Adrien looked at her with hope, yet a bit of doubt, in his eyes, and he took a deep breath.

"Marinette, I need you to be honest with me," Adrien spoke up. "There's a possibility that I may never be able to stop transforming into a cat. Like, that little quirk will be with me for the rest of my life."

"So?" Marinette asked, quirking a brow, while thinking, 'Why is he bringing this up now?'

What was the idea, telling her something that was already a forgone conclusion in her mind? She'd already gotten used to his cat transformations, so why...?

"I'm not perfect," Adrien elaborated. "The cat transformations aside, I have my flaws like anyone else. The puns, clownish behavior, not knowing how to tie my laces, being a glutton for sweets... I'm not the Adrien Agreste the public thinks I am."

"What's your point?" Marinette asked, starting to sound bored and annoyed with the conversation.

Adrien sighed, sounding a bit frustrated, and he looked Marinette in the eyes.

"Marinette, I love you, that's the truth, but..." Adrien began, sounding scared. "I... I need to know if you can accept me as I am - that we may have close catcalls in the future, ups and downs, the whole bit. And-"

'I've heard enough!' Marinette thought, irritated. She flicked him hard in the forehead to get him to stop. He put his hand up to it before looking at Marinette in disbelief.

"Wh... Why'd you-?" Adrien started, but Marinette put a hand up to stop him.

"Who do you think I am, Adrien? I have more respect for you than that!" Marinette said, sounding angry. "You've been coping with that cat curse for years, and of course everyone has imperfections and weaknesses! You've fully accepted mine, haven't you?"

Marinette kept breathing to try calming herself down. She looked at Adrien, who was still looking at Marinette in awe.

"And like I said before, if something could've been done to stop your transformations, we would've done so by now!" Marinette said. "To me, the cat transformations are part of who you are - what make you you! It's normal to me at this point."

"Yo... You really feel that way?" Adrien asked, sounding choked up, like he was about to cry happy tears.

"Of course I do!" Marinette insisted. "Why wouldn't I?"

Adrien didn't answer. Getting the impression that Adrien needed more from her, Marinette felt tears pricking at the back of her eyes.

"Adrien, you have no idea how much you mean to me," Marinette said, on the verge of crying. "Not only did you become my friend, but my confidant, protector, and boyfriend! If not for you, I'd probably still be wallowing in my trauma from Ulises, pushing down that pain and trying to go my whole life without finding love! I wouldn't have gotten the courage to put on this fashion show without the support from you and everyone else."

Again, Adrien was silent. Marinette kept going.

"And didn't I just say your cat transforming came in handy today?!" Marinette cried. "Give yourself some credit!"

"Marinette, I-" Adrien started, but Marinette put a hadn't up to stop him.

"You're loyal! Kind! Generous! Willing to give people the benefit of the doubt, but call them out on bad behavior at the same time!" Marinette ranted, hot tears coming out of her eyes and running down her face. "You're patient, even with an insufferable klutz like me! And you didn't chafe at the idea of modeling for the show, even though I know you left that life behind for a reason! I couldn't have asked for a better guy to be my boyfriend!"

After that, Marinette had to take a few deep breaths before laying it all out and saying, "Can't you understand?! I love you! Whiskers and all!"

Silence. The only thing that could be heard was Marinette's breathing. A few moments later, Marinette seemed to settle down. She didn't see Adrien getting emotional, like he was about to burst into tears of joy.

Feeling like she'd gotten her point across, Marinette looked up at him, and while beet red in the face, she asked, "So, shall I give my hero a... A kiss?"

She heard Adrien's breath hitch, so she got nervous and shrunk back a margin. She thought, 'Was that too forward of me? Outright asking to kiss him?'

That question died off when she felt Adrien put his hands on her cheeks and yank her face up, planting a firm, decisive kiss on her lips. Her heart thumped, her eyes started watering with joy, and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She heard him let out a quiet moan of passion, which she returned.

They broke the kiss, a loud smacking noise from their lips. Marinette looked Adrien in the eyes and saw he was even darker red than she was, and he still looked like he wanted to cry.

"Marinette, do... Do you have any idea how happy you've made me?!" Adrien asked, choked up, smiling.

"I guess not." Marinette murmured, also smiling. Was her speech that moving?

Adrien pulled Marinette's face into another intense kiss. If music were being played, it would be similar to any climax music leading up to and doing a kissing scene in any romantic movie. They kept kissing, she felt Adrien move his hands from her cheeks to her waist, and pull her closer. Adrien used his tongue to poke her bottom lip and ask for consent to enter. Marinette complied, opening her mouth, and the two of their tongues came together - similar to the lines leading up to the titular couple's first kisses in Romeo and Juliet.

Marinette felt lighter than air, and hotter than usual with this, and was trying her best to keep herself quiet. The blissful haze of their kisses surrounding them like a cloud.

'This is even better than I could've imagined.' Marinette thought, her heart on a high.

Moments later, Adrien pulled his mouth away and started kissing a trail from her lips to her cheek, all the way down to her neck. Marinette's hands happened to land on the nape of his neck...

"Adrien, we gotta stop!" Marinette said in panic as she pulled away. "Your neck's on fire!"

Marinette, thinking, 'I can't believe we got so carried away that I nearly forgot!'

She made a dash for the duffle bag she brought and snatched out the cooling neck wrap to put around his neck. To her surprise, Adrien put his hand on her wrist and gently pushed it away.

"It's okay, Marinette." Adrien spoke.

"What?" Marinette questioned, looking up at him like he'd completely forgotten his reality. "How is it okay? You're gonna change into a cat again if we don't cool you down!"

With a gentle smile, Adrien shook his head, still smiling, and he said, "I don't care anymore."

Her eyes bulged, and she asked, "What?! Why?!"

Her heart throbbed when he looked at her with misty, joyful eyes. Confused, Marinette kept looking at him like he'd grown two more heads.

"Because of you." Adrien spoke, causing her heart to warm.

"I don't understand..." Marinette asked, her stomach getting butterflies and her heart fluttering.

To her surprise, Adrien said, "When I'm with you, I feel the freest I've ever been. And thanks to you, my cat troubles will be behind me now."

Marinette, still a little puzzled, said, "You're making it sound like I cured you of this."

'Impossible,' Marinette thought, shaking her head. 'As if my feelings for him would be a cure. Weren't the notes of that experiment gone wrong destroyed in the explosion?'

"You did." Adrien spoke, catching Marinette by surprise.

"Excuse me?" Marinette asked. "How did I...?"

"Because you love me," Adrien explained, tears of joy running down his face. "Whiskers and all. I found out that that was the key to solving my problem. I wasn't allowed to tell you about it, though."

"You mean..." Marinette began. "You... You're free? You won't be turning into a cat anymore?"

"That's right," Adrien said, still crying happy tears and his face red. "And it's all thanks to you."

Marinette felt her heart swell again, and she started crying.

"Oh, Adrien..." Marinette said, choked up, and she leaped on to him for another hug. She felt Adrien kiss her forehead, and begin rubbing his hand up and down her back.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!*

They turned to the door.

"Adrien? Marinette? Are you two in there?" Alya asked.

"Oh, um... Yeah, we are!" Marinette said, red in the face.

"We're going out to celebrate the show's success!" Alya said. "And you two were the stars of it, so come on!"

Marinette turned to Adrien and asked, "Shall we?"

"Let's go!" Adrien said, taking Marinette's hand.

They gave each other loving smiles and they shared one last kiss before opening the door to the dressing room.

Later, they were at the Île aux Cygnes, where André the ice cream man was. After serving all the de-facto couples in the group, Marinette and Adrien went out to the sandy part of the beach, away from the rest of their friends, for some privacy.

"This is delicious!" Marinette said, taking a bite of ice cream.

"It sure is!" Adrien agreed.

Marinette giggled, but she saw something and said, "Oh, you've got some ice cream on your face."

"I do?" Adrien asked. "Where?"

"Right on your lip over here." Marinette said, wiping the left corner of her mouth to show Adrien where the ice cream was.

"Well..." Adrien said, a sly smile on his face. "I know the purr-fect way to get it cleaned off."

"And what's that?" Marinette asked.

"Kiss me." Adrien requested.

Marinette laughed before kissing the corner of his mouth to clean the ice cream off, only for Adrien to catch her lips into his own.

He broke it, chuckling.

When they finished their ice cream, they sat on the sand, looking at the sunset over the Seine, with Marinette sitting in his lap and his arms wrapped around her.

'A great group of friends, a boyfriend, a fashion show that went extraordinarily well?' Marinette thought, happy. 'Can my life get any better?!'

She leaned her head against his chest, closing her eyes in bliss, thinking, 'Transferring to Miracle Lyçée was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I can honestly say, I'm happier than I've ever been in ages.'

And CUT! That's the finale!

I actually was going to pull the "Home Alone" thing and do a bunch of booby-traps in the last chapter, just to humiliate Chloé and Ulises for laughs. But I just felt like that was too petty for Marinette to do.

Not to mention that in the real world, booby-trapping, no matter how harmless it may seem, is illegal, so even if it is funny in a cartoon, it's not a good idea. And realistically - Marinette's booby-trapped diary box aside - Chloé would've thrown a fit and gotten Marinette in hot water.