"Welcome to the wonderful world of jealousy, he thought. For the price of admission, you get a splitting headache, a nearly irresistible urge to commit murder, and an inferiority complex. Yippee."

― J.R. Ward, Dark Lover.

Once again at the studio…

Marinette took a deep breath to catch the scents that inhabited the place. New fabric and hard work; oh, the things she loved the most! She was, for the first time, admiring every single detail of the small part of the fashion world she had within her reach. She had been too caught up in her anxiousness that she hadn't stopped and just… watch.

She smiled at herself, happy to be there and to have an opportunity like the one she was living. She looked around her and spotted Natalie; still with a smile on her face, she lowered her gaze and started to walk up to her. Too distracted by her happiness, she bumped into something; no, not something, someone.

She raised her gaze until that someone's face was within her sight. He was taller than her, so he was looking down. She smiled and he smiled back.

"Oh, I'm sorry; I didn't see you there," she excused herself.

"Don't worry," he had a pretty smile and Marinette had to admit he was really handsome. He was probably one of the models that accorded to help throughout the week. Marinette was hypnotized by his hazel eyes; they were beautiful, but they were nothing compared to Adrien's green eyes.

Suddenly, she realized what she was doing and cleared her throat.

"I really have to go back there, so…" to her surprise, he was kind of lost in his thoughts as well and he gave an almost imperceptible jump when he snapped out of it.

"Yeah, sure. But, wait; what's your name?"

"Marinette, and yours?"

"Dante."

"Well, nice to meet you, Dante," she smiled at him and continued her way to meet Nathalie.

Marinette arrived to her destination, where she had a better view of almost every single part of the studio. Her gaze was trapped by Adrien, who was looking at Dante, who was looking at Marinette. The girl was frowning in confusion, until she directed her gaze upon Dante, who smiled at her, and she smiled back. Adrien looked at her and now he was the one frowning.

"Is everything alright?" asked Nathalie, directing an inquisitive look to the girl.

"Uh… yeah, perfect," Mari responded looking back at Agreste's assistant.

…

Adrien had never seen Dante smile; for all that he knew, he couldn't even smile. Yes, he was a model, but he always took the rule of "models don't smile" way too seriously, even out of the runway.

And yet, there he was, smiling at Marinette… Yeah, she is great, but was she that great? Of course she is! She is freaking Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the sweetest girl alive!

He looked over at Marinette and, when she locked her gaze upon his eyes, he waved at her with a smile. She blushed and returned the gestures.

"So, you know her?" asked a voice at the right of his head.

"Yes, she's a friend from school," Adrien answered.

"Does she have a boyfriend?"

Adrien, being as clueless as he usually is, couldn't figure out the reason he was asking that.

"I don't think so…"

"Well, maybe she is about to." Dante finished and went to his previous place beside the photographer.

Adrien couldn't be more confused. What did he mean? Did he know that she liked him? Was he implying that he should ask her out? He couldn't do that, he was in love with Ladybug… Although he hadn't seen her in a while and he had been spending a lot of time with Marinette. Maybe he should ask her out just to see if things work out.

…

Marinette was staring, she knew she was, but how could she not? Adrien was using a plain white shirt and the jacked she had repaired. He was showing some poses to his pupils while the photographer took pictures of him. He was putting on and taking off the jacket, which almost cause Marinette to drool. Almost.

"So, what are you doing tonight?" she jumped in surprise, not expecting someone to talk to her, especially not when she was admiring Adrien.

"I actually have a very important project to do tonight," she answered, looking to the guy beside her: Dante.

She noticed he actually looked a year or two older than her and his accent was a little weird. Marinette's mind played with the idea that he was Spanish, but she wasn't sure. His messy blond locks were now covering part of his eyes.

"You know? I've been asking around about you and I heard you are a designer in process, so… if you ever need a model to try on your designs, you can give me a call," he winked at her, playfully. He actually reminded her of someone she knew quite well…

"Thanks, but I'm good for now," she smiled back at him with a skeptic look on her face.

"Well, at least can I walk you home?" he asked in a last attempt, which she thought was kind of cute.

"Sure, why not?" she replied.

"It's settled, then," he smiled at her one last time before Adrien called him out and asked him to give some examples to the people there.

Dante… huh. Could it be him? Like, he behaved somewhat like him… Sure, he has green eyes, but his whole eyes were covered in green like it could be another part of the mask just to let him see in the dark; so that green could mean nothing… but Chat already knows my name said the part of her who refused to think Dante was Chat. Then again, he has to cover up that fact replied the other part of her.

Marinette had to freshen up, put some thought into it and think logically, so she decided to excuse herself and go to the bathroom. Once there, she decided to talk to the closest person that might shove some sense into her head and the only one that knew the secret.

"Tikki, did you hear Dante?" asked the girl.

"I did. He seems kinda nice," the kwami gave a smile to Marinette.

"Yeah, but… do you think… do you think he might be Chat Noir?"

"I don't know, Marinette; what makes you think that?"

"Well, the way he talked and the things he said… I don't know, Tikki; I would have to spend more time with him," Marinette meant that, not because she wanted badly to or because she wanted to know who Chat really was, but because she was curious. And, besides, it would be nice to have someone to talk about superhero stuff that actually understands what it means and what it represents without a mask hiding their true selves. Or, at least, her true self.

…

Marinette stayed a few minutes more after everyone was gone to clean some stuff. She also took some materials she had asked Nathalie for her final assignment and shoved them in her backpack. Finally ready to go, she looked around her and headed to the door.

"You're not going without me, right?" she heard Dante say

"I wouldn't dare to," she smiled at him and they both got out the door.

"Are you seeing that, Plagg?" said a certain blond boy to his kwami, clearly disgusted by the events.

"Oh, is that jealousy? Did poor little Adrien developed a crush on Marinette?" Plagg was teasing on him and laughing about it.

"Of course not! What are you talking about? You know I am in love with Ladybug!" he screamed in an overprotective way, causing a worker who was taking off the lamps to look at him. Adrien only smiled at him and moved farther from him.

"Whatever, wouldn't you like to follow them?" to Adrien's surprise, he actually thought that was a good idea, but there was only one way he could do it without being noticed.

They both hid in a dressing room where no one would find them, that's when Adrien shouted "claws out" and Chat Noir took his place. He left the room trough a small window it had and caught up with Dante and Mari, although he was on a roof for them not to notice.

They were walking and talking, laughing every now and then, but always smiling at each other. This was weird; to see two people from his different environments together. Chat needed to know what they were talking about, so he jumped to the ground, hiding in an alley.

"So, what is that important project you have?" asked Dante.

"My final assignment for my course with Mr. Agreste."

"You better not bee too busy, cause I'll make your phone buzz with my messages," he said.

Marinette rolled her eyes at that comment, convincing herself more that perhaps he was Chat Noir, indeed. But the real Chat was listening and rolling his eyes as well; he was so much better than that.

"You never asked for my phone number, though," she said.

'Huh, what an idiot' thought Chat.

"I was doing so," Dante got a little closer to Marinette with a grin on his face, causing her to put her finger in his nose and pushing him back.

Adrien caught himself hissing at the couple, bothered by his words and mad at Marinette for not stopping everything completely.

When they arrived at her house, Adrien was still hiding, but now on a close awning, which made him able to hear everything.

"So… this is it, my home," she informed.

"Well, m'lady, it was a pleasure to walk you home," he grabbed her hand and kissed it.

That was it. Adrien was already tired of his constant flirting, but those precise words and the actions that came with them were the straw that broke the camel.

Chat jumped, landing in the middle of them, separating them. Marinette jumped back, getting her out of his way.

"Let me tell you something," he started, "this girl has someone looking after her already, so you better back off or I will have to make you," that sounded more of a threat than he intended too, he noticed.

"Sorry man, I mean no trouble," he said with an impassible look on his face.

"Then leave."

Dante directed one last smile to Marinette and waved at her before leaving. Chat turned around with a smile on his face that slowly faded away when he saw Marinette. Her face was red, but he figured it wasn't because she was blushing. Her eyes wide open, her hands turned into fists and her breathing was irregular.

"What the heck was that!?" Marinette shouted.

"I… I just…" he didn't know how to finish that phrase, but he didn't have to because he was interrupted by Marinette.

"I can't believe you! Why did you even do that!?" she was furious. How dare he do that?

"I'm sorry, I was trying to protect you," he said, which only made Marinette angrier.

"Protect me!? I'm not a fragile little girl you need to protect, I can take care on my own, thank you!" she spitted the words with such disgust on her tone that Char felt horribly wrong and incredibly upset. She went into the bakery, slammed the dorr and went out of sight to Chat.

He stood there for some minutes and then left. He didn't felt like being Chat for a while and he didn't want to go home, so he de-transformed and went for a walk like Adrien.

…

Marinette was incredibly mad. What was Chat Noir thinking? Why gave him the right? Now there was no doubt Dante wasn't Chat, which made her happy because she was furious with the cat.

When she got to her room, she tossed her bag on her chair and started pacing around. Tikki got out of that bag, but said nothing about it, knowing Marinette's rage too well. Although, she had to shove some sense into the girl.

"Weren't you a little harsh with him?" asked Tikki once they were both at Marinette's room.

"What do you mean?" the girl's thoughts were fogged with her rage.

"That maybe you shouldn't have spoken to him that way."

"Tikki, he had no right of doing what he did," Marinette explained as it was the most obvious thought in the world.

"I know, but how would you react if someone was flirting with Adrien?" Marinette stopped in her place and turned to look at Tikki.

"But it's not the same, Tikki," she said, looking seriously at Tikki.

"Maybe it is, Marinette. You can't take for granted someone else's feelings," she explained.

"I need to think, Tikki," she looked at the kwami.

"Spots on."

She climbed on her bed and left through the roof door as Ladybug. She jumped and walked from roof to roof, stopping every once in a while just to appreciate the view. Soon, it started to rain and she was about to head back home when she spotted a blonde boy she knew too well to ignore. He was walking on his own with his head down, clearly upset. Using her yoyo, she lowered herself to ground level just in front of Adrien.

He raised her gaze from the floor to her face. She was smiling with concern and he responded with a sad smile.

"Are you okay, Adrien?" she asked.

Was Ladybug worried about him? Yes, she was. Did this have to do with his father? Why was he alone on the street? And under the rain…

"Y-yeah, I just… did something that I shouldn't have," he answered.

"Oh…" was her answer, then she lowered her view to the floor. But she couldn't do that, she had to support him and make him feel better. She looked in his eyes, smiled sincerely and grabbed his hand, which surprised him and made him blush a little, "you know? In my experience, it gets better."

"Thanks, Ladybug, but in mine it all gets worse."

She was sad. He was so lonely and broken and she could do nothing.

A horrible thought crossed her mind: akumas. Hawkmoth could send one at any moment, which meant she had to do something to make Adrien think positively.

"Do you like candy?" Ladybug asked, to which Adrien responded with a confused look on his face.

"Sure…"

"Well, there's a near candy shop we can go and I can walk you home," she said.

"But why do you care?"

"Look, as a super heroine that has to battle akumatized people, I worry about anyone who is upset," she smiled at him and he felt a little better, but he was still regretting his actions.

Noticing they were still under the rain, they ran to the candy shop Ladybug mentioned and they both grabbed plenty of candy. Adrien, being a gentleman and as polite as he is, paid for everything despite Ladybug's desires.

"Wait! You like those?" said Ladybug pointing at some kind of candy Adrien had just taken out of the bag.

"I love them!" he laughed. "Do you?"

"Are you kidding me!? They're my favorites! I thought no one liked them," she said, with surprise on her tone.

"I thought that too! Have you ever tried this ones?" he said, pulling another candy out of the bag. She shook her head. "Really? They are amazing! If you like the others, you are gonna completely fall for this."

He opened the candy and took a piece out of it. It was like a large acidic gum covered in sugar. He gave the piece to Ladybug and she tasted it. Her eyes widened.

"This is great! How come I've never tried this before!?" she said.

"Told you," he smiled at her and she did the same. They were looking at each other's eyes and getting closer without even noticing. Suddenly, they snapped out of their moment when the bag of candy fell to the floor.

She separated from him quickly with encountered feeling about the situation. She wanted to kiss him, but not like this. She wanted him to love Marinette, not just Ladybug. Then again, she REALLY wanted to kiss him, but she couldn't, at least not yet. She walked him home and then she went back to hers. Her mind wasn't clear enough, but she had work to do.

She grabbed the thinnest paint brush she had and commenced to give the final touches to one of the pieces of her last assignment. It was a blue hand fan that was gradually changing to a clearer shade of blue from side to side with white and blue spirals for wind. It was kind of simple, but she needed time for the four elements so she decided to do simple things for each and every element.

She knew how fancy was Agreste's line of clothing, which made her a little hard for her to think on the stuff she could do, but she managed to and now few things were missing from the designs to be completed.

Basically, she just had some more hours of suffering and she was done working with Gabriel (for now). Her schedule marked that she would be working on her final assignment all Thursday long in the Agreste Mansion. She had stuff to do and fantasies to achieve.

"Soon enough, I'll be living my dream."

/I promised it would be here and here it is! I hope you like it because I had so much fun writing this!

Okay, so Marinette is almost done with her week with Gabriel, which means the fic is coming to an end ( :( ) But! I may have planned something to make it last just a little longer.

Anyway! Enjoy and I hope you have a great day :)

P.D: I love reading your reviews! You guys are the sweetest!

~M Noir/