Adrien sighed quietly to himself and looked glumly at the dance before him. He had been nominated to be the 'Prince' of the ball. And he knew it was all because of Chloe.

They were having a fairy tale ball, with costumes and a symphony, and as much teenage drama you could shove into a gym.

The students chose the prince and then at the end of the night he would choose 'the princess'. And through his own observation he had watched Chloe pressure the students to nominate him, and now she expected him to choose her as the princess. He felt like throwing up. She was even wearing a glittery crown to go along with her oversized and overly-expensive dress. She was probably going to be furious if he didn't pick her, and that made him want to pick someone else even more. But he wasn't sure who it would be.

Everywhere he looked, people were pairing off with each other for dancing, and if they weren't, they were girls coming up to ask him for a dance. He smiled for all of them, but he was actually sick to his stomach inside, he felt so awkward. He wished there would be an Akuma attack so he could go spend time with Ladybug instead of avoiding a dance with Chloe-

"Adrien! You keep disappearing! I've been looking for you!" he cringed as the demanding voice came from behind him. He turned with a pained smile saying lightly,

"Hey Chloe! You look nice!"

"I know, we both look great, don't we? Now let's dance already!" she hooked his arm, tugging him to where there was room to dance.

He put on his platonic smile, the one he usually wore around Chloe, as they twirled around the floor. She chattered to him about her dress, and where it was made, and who was the designer, and how the designer was friends with his father, and how much it had cost, and how she had bought it for the ball four months in advance. He then saw Nino and Alya dancing nearby and took the opportunity to say something when they neared each other.

"Hey Nino!" he interrupted Chloe as soon as she took a breath.

"Hey!" his friend said with a grin. He looked so different without his red hat and earphones. Then Adrien said hello to Alya as well, and his eyes widened a tiny bit.

"Alya, where is Marinette? I just realized I haven't seen her all night! Didn't she say she was excited for the ball?" he asked, and Alya smirked at him for some reason.

"Oh you noticed she's not here? Yeah, I'll go text her to hurry up, she'll be here soon." Alya laughed, and Adrien smiled. He'd heard Marinette gushing about the ball to Alya, so he was surprised she wasn't around. He smiled even more to himself as he thought about her. He would definitely dance with Marinette, she was so sweet.

"Ugh, coming late to the ball? It's not fashionable when it's this late." Chloe scoffed, and Adrien gave her a warning look.

"Hey Adrien, you should compliment her when she gets here, just so you know." Alya added before they were too far to talk anymore.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"She made her own dress and it's gorgeous! A compliment from you would mean a lot!" Alya said, almost more demanding than Chloe…

"Really? That's amazing, I can't wait to see it!" he said with a nod, grinning. With his father as the top fashion designer that he was, he figured a compliment from him would mean a lot to Marinette the fashion designer, even if he wasn't actually interested in the subject too much.

Chloe who was then very much done with not having his attention, pulled him away from his friends and Adrien rolled his eyes, continuing to dance with the chatty girl.

–

Alya: You need to come to the ball right away.

Marinette: But Adrien is gonna pick Chloe as the princess and I'll probably cry or something.

Alya: You have worked on your dress way too long to have that happen, get your butt over here!

Marinette: I don't want to! My dress has flaws anyways, I should work on fixing them and wear it to the next dance…

Alya: THERE'S NOT GOING TO BE ANOTHER FAIRY TALE BALL.

Marinette: :(

Alya: You really should come though.

Guess who wondered where you were?

;)

Marinette: ILLL BERIGHT OVER DSLKGH9(*&

—

"Okay Chloe- I gotta get a drink- we've been dancing for like fifteen minutes- thanks for the dance- okay-" Adrien detached her arms from around his neck and then he sprinted as elegantly as he could over to the snack table. The good thing about dances was the fact that you could disappear quickly. Maybe he could hide from Chloe for the rest of the night….

He still didn't know what he was going to do about the princess thing.

"Oh my GOSH YOU ARE FREAKING GORGEOUS- HOW ARE YOU SO GORGEOUS- NINO- LOOK AT THIS GIRL."

"Yep, you do look really nice Marinette!"

Adrien looked over to see Alya and Nino standing in front of who had to be Marinette, and he moved behind one of the light wrapped pillars of the gym, to hide from Chloe and to get a better look.

"Thanks guys. There are still a few things I want to tweak but… I think it turned out nice." Adrien could hear her speaking as he looked around the pillar. His jaw almost dropped open. Marinette MADE that?!

It was a beautiful big ball gown, with layers of pearl pink silk and white lace icing her bodice and shoulders. Then he looked at her face. She was absolutely glowing. Her hair was pulled up into a bun, small parts coming out into little curls, and jeweled pins keeping everything in place. She didn't wear a lot of makeup, at least not enough to cover the faint freckles across her nose that were so charming. He found himself blushing deeply. She was absolutely radiant.

"Adrien." came a cool voice behind him and he nearly jumped a foot in the air, turning around quickly to see his teacher standing there.

"Uh- wh- wha- Hello!" he stuttered, his heart pounding.

"…I just wanted to let you know that in about 5 minutes we're going to be announcing the Princess of the ball. Do you know who you're going to choose?" she said, looking as if she already knew the answer. But he was pretty sure they weren't thinking the same person.

"Yes!" he said without a shadow of uncertainty.

"Okay…" his teacher said, looking a little amused at the serious look on his face. She pulled out a small tiara from behind her back then and handed it to him saying,

"You can give this to them when we announce it, alright?" She left him then, and he instantly turned around again to look at Marinette. But she was gone. Adrien ran over to where Alya and Nino were, and screeched to a stop before them, breathing hard.

"Hey! Where did she go?!" he asked, and they looked at him in surprise.

"Marinette?" Nino asked, and Adrien nodded.

"I gotta tell her I like her dress, right?" he gave his weak explanation, smiling at Alya. He really just wanted to ask her to dance.

"She told me she was going to find someone to dance with, but I think she was lying." Alya said, rolling her eyes.

"Lying?"

"I think she's feeling a little shy. GO FIND HER." Alya turned him around and pushed him forward. Adrien did as he was told and cut his way through the crowd of dancing couples, and dodging every flash of a light yellow dress he saw, Chloe being the last person he wanted to run into while holding the princess' crown. But he couldn't see her or her pearl pink dress anywhere.

"Marinette, where are you?" he muttered under his breath, noting that his five minutes were almost up. He spotted Chloe and ducked, hiding his height amongst everyone in the crowd as he moved to the side of the gym quickly. He glanced over at the small stage to see his teacher turning on a microphone and looking around. Looking around for him.

"Noooo…." he hissed, hiding behind another pillar. From his hiding spot he looked around, his eyes darting around at the mass of dresses and suits. Then out of the corner of his eye he saw her. She was doing the same thing he was.

Hiding behind a pillar and watching the crowd.

She had a nervous and sad look on her face as she looked over her classmates and he strode towards her, trying not to act like an out of control train wreck and more like someone who just wanted to ask her to dance.

He was halfway to her when his teacher stepped in front of him, microphone in hand.

"There you are! Alright-" she brought the microphone up to her mouth and began speaking in it. "Alright everyone, it's now 10:00 - well- more like 10:03-" she gave him an annoyed look, "and it's time for the prince of the ball to choose the princess! Adrien?"

He looked up at her, his mouth open with no sound coming out. He glanced over at the Marinette and knit his eyebrows together when he saw that she wasn't looking at him, but at the ground, her forehead pressed against the pillar and her lips twisted into a trembling frown. He looked back at the crowd and could see Chloe shoving her way up to the front to take her crown.

"Uh…" he said into the held out microphone, gulping a little. Then he stepped away and continued over to the hidden Marinette, and his teacher turned around to try to follow him, looking a little frustrated with his darting around.

Adrien reached Marinette and took her hand, making her look up with a start. Her face went pale and blank and he pulled her over to the microphone again, smiling at her.

"Marinette!" he said happily, and the teacher looked surprised and maybe a little too grateful. He looked back at Marinette to find that she was still staring at him with wide shocked eyes. He heard Chloe give a disgusted yell, Alya scream something he couldn't quite catch, and then the whole school broke into applause. He carefully set the glittering tiara on top of her head, and her cheeks turned pink.

"You made your own dress, didn't you? It's incredible! You look beautiful Marinette!" he said sweetly, and she breathed out a thank you. He led her onto the middle of the dance floor where a space had been cleared and then started to dance with her, feeling considerably better than he had.

–

He hadn't stopped holding onto her arm all night. A small part of it was because Chloe would have definitely come to ask him to dance again, or scold him or something, but the main reason was because tonight she was his princess and he was quite content with that.

He'd actually gotten her to come out of her shell a little, and he'd been able to talk about her dress with her, and how long she'd spent on it. He'd promised her he'd tell his father about her, even though he wasn't sure it would matter to the man… but it mattered to her and that's all he cared about. She'd looked so happy when he'd said it, her blue eyes lit up more than he'd ever seen them light up before.

Her eyes were so blue. There was someone else with eyes like that but he couldn't remember who it was.

He knew there was someone else, but in his mind she was the only one he could think of….. Maybe she really was the only one person.

It was the end of the dance now, and the last song was playing. They didn't talk the entire time, they just danced and it was nice.

The song ended and he bowed to her with a smile. She curtsied, her eyes still wide open in what looked like amazement.

"You have no idea how wonderful tonight was, Marinette." He told her, incredibly grateful for the experience that had been so much nicer than he was worried it would be.

"I- I had a really nice time too!" she said, her voice almost whispering, and Adrien almost laughed at how cute her face looked. Her facial expression was almost unreadable, somewhere between happy and terrified. Marinette had the best faces.

They'd talked so much more than they ever had before, besides the time he'd talked to her as Chat Noir. She'd seemed so comfortable around him then… it had been so nice. He grinned as he looked at her, thinking of her working with him that day.

"Thank you so much, My Princess." he said, maybe saying a little too Chat like as he leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"I gotta head home now- but- really- I had a blast!" he called to her then as he dropped her hand, running towards the door where he could see his chauffeur had been waiting impatiently. His cheeks were a little red, and hers were too as she weakly waved at him, and he felt very content with how his day had gone.

—-

"Oh my GOSH! I am so proud of you Marinette!" Alya said, punching her friend's arm lightly. Marinette stood in the middle of the floor, the clean up crew taking off the decorations of the dance as everyone left. She didn't respond, she just blinked.

"You didn't stutter- you didn't turn red- you actually TALKED to him- AND OH MY GOSH! He freaking kissed your cheek and you took it so well! I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!" Alya cried, shaking her friend by the shoulders.

Then Alya looked at her friend who was melting down onto the ground in her dress, her face white as a sheet.

Alya frowned.

"Oh."

She lifted Marinette up and put her arm around her shoulder, practically dragging her out of the gym.

"You've probably been in shock since the moment he put the tiara on your head."

"HMMMMM." Marinette made a very undignified noise and turned so red she was turning purple, her legs refusing to walk as she let Alya drag her away.

–

My Princess….

Marinette frowned a little as she failed at trying to sleep, her room dark and quiet.

Quiet so just his voice echoed in her mind.

Or was it Chat's voice?

She couldn't remember how they sounded different.