Ch. 3. You and I

It was a beautiful day in Paris. The sun was shining in the warm morning of May, and despite being a workday, it didn't seem to down people's mood.

It was break time at the Collège Françoise Dupont, and every student was spending their time at the courtyard. One of them was a blond model that went by the name of Adrien Agreste, who was listening absentmindedly to his best friend Nino's speech, as his eyes kept drifting to one dark-haired girl with sky-blue eyes.

She was just so beautiful and adorable. He loved how her eyes seemed to convey everything she felt like an open book, and how the sunrays seemed to kiss her perfect ivory skin decorated with soft freckles, drawing entire constellations on her face.

The petite seamstress had been roaming in his mind non-stop since he rescued her from the Gamer. He could still remember her warm hold around his shoulders, her delicate fingers caressing his nape despite being roughly carried to safety. If he had been intrigued by her before, it was nothing compared to the curiosity he felt now. His heart demanded to know every tiny detail about her, and well, who was he to deny his heart's wish?

Nino's speech became an unrecognizable background noise as he kept on watching Marinette. His hand darted inside his pocket, and his fingers closed on the familiar charm he had received some days ago. He had to give it to her; his luck had improved considerably since he had borrowed the charm. Let's see… he'd finally faced his confusing feelings just to discover that Marinette lo- liked him back.

Yeah, it had definitely improved, no doubt.

And the way it did… God… the way her eyes narrowed in determination before she yanked him down at her level and her sweet soft lips caressed his skin near enough from the corner of his lips to feel them tingling afterwards yet too far to leave him craving for more.

He closed his mouth, realizing he had had a dopey smile the whole time he had been staring at Marinette. He pulled himself together, praying that Nino hadn't noticed his absentminded demeanour.

"… and then I'm going to adopt twenty cats and I'm going to name each one of them after everyone in class. As you're my best friend, you'll get to pick which one will be named after yourself, even if you are too busy to do so right now."

Well, I guess that answers it.

"Sorry Nino," He smiled apologetically at him, rubbing his neck uncomfortably. "My head's been on the clouds lately."

He smirked. "Well, I wouldn't call Marinette a cloud, but whatever's your cup of tea." He raised his hand to stop him before he could protest. "And don't even try to deny it, I've seen you ogling at her for fifteen minutes. You've got the hots for her."

"Wha- ho- I've not been ogling at her, Nino!" He blushed despite trying his best to deny it. As expected, it didn't work.

"Peeping, eyeing, gazing, regarding, gawking, whatever you want to call it, dude. And don't even think I didn't notice how you didn't deny having a crush on her."

He gaped. "I-I-"

"Don't worry about it, man." Nino shrugged and patted his shoulder. "It was inevitable anyway. Every single guy at school has gone through their Marinette crush™ in one way or another, believe me. You should have seen her last year – she had her hair tucked in this adorable bun, and with her sweet smile and those tight jeans of hers…"

"Nino." He called at him warningly, the thought of anyone else but him og- admiring her charm not settling well within him.

He waved his hands in defeat. "Relax, dude. What I was trying to say was that you shouldn't feel ashamed about it. Marinette's cute and really nice, no one's able to resist to her charm. Why don't you ask her out?"

He felt the blush rising once again to his cheeks, biting his tongue before answering. Marinette wasn't cute, some part of his mind hissed protectively, she was stunning; with her doll-like complexion, her sapphire eyes and the fieriness of her soul. Moreover, nice didn't even began describing his Princess. She had a heart of gold and did her best to help those in need, and Adrien wouldn't be surprised if birds and butterflies fluttered nearby every time she smiled.

He tried to stop that line of thinking, as he was one inch short of being carried away to his daydreaming again, and did his best to control his razing heart. Her giggle some feet away from them didn't help him to do so.

How could he even convey how wrong it felt just to ask her out? Marinette deserved much more than that; she deserved to be pampered until her cheeks got that lovely rosy colour he adored so much, and make her giggle in a way that even the coldest of hearts would melt at the mere sound of it. She deserved to be treated like the princess she was.

Nino seemed to notice his wariness, and he spoke up. "Come on! What are you even afraid of? You're literally M. Front-of-the-cover-Teen-Model-weekly. No one can win you for coolness. Surely asking someone on a date isn't difficult for you, is it?"

On the other side, Adrien continued his musings, only half-hearing his best mate, he was dying to ask her out. She was present in every breath he took from he woke up until he fell asleep, and even in his dreams she had found a place to warm his undeserving heart. And the best of it all was that she didn't have the foggiest of what effect she had on him.

He was so screwed.

"What should I tell her?" He muttered to himself. However, Nino heard him and shrugged in reply.

"I don't know, I haven't asked anyone out in my whole life."

That made Adrien finally avert his eyes from Marinette and stare at him in surprise. "You haven't? What about Alya?"

"W-what about her?"

Oh, look at that. It seems that the tables have turned.

He casually leaned on the wall and gave him a practiced dismissive look, waving his hand nonchalantly, while he was mentally patting himself on the back for it. All his modelling came in handy sometimes.

"Well, since we filmed that film with the Akuma on it I've seen you two all buddy-buddy together, so I assumed you two were going out. And I'm really happy for you, Nino, although I'm a bit hurt you didn't tell me about your crush."

"I DON'T-" He cleared his throat and lowered his voice, trying not to get both girls notice them. "Don't even try, dude. I know what you're trying to do, and that's totally not cool."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"We were talking about your love life, not mine. Not that I l-love Alya. She's a friend."

"Sure she is." He teased, but at the sight of his growing glare on his face, he decided to give up. "Okay. You win. I'll ask her out. But!" He stopped him before he began cheering. "You'll come too." He nodded at both girls "With Alya."

"Dude! No! Absolutely not! What the hell, man?"

"You take it or you leave it." He didn't look convinced. He decided to take another route. "Come on, Nino! It'd be like a double date! And if things get awkward, well, we're just some friends hanging out together. No big deal." He smirked at his hesitant face. Just a little bit more… "Come on, Nino. I need my best man beside me."

Nino frowned as he looked at him, then threw a side glance at the two girls sitting on the stairs and chatting about a magazine. He then looked at Adrien once again and sighed in defeat.

"Okay…" Yes! "But I'm doing this for you, not for A-Alya."

"Yeah, totally. Thanks bro, you're the best friend I could ask for."

He threw his hands to the air dramatically. "I know. And I will ask for a reward for being the best friend you could ever have, you hear me?"

Nino didn't even need to ask for it, as Adrien was already planning on making him a gift for it. Maybe those headphones Nino kept throwing longing stares when they hung out together. Yeah, they'd be just fine.

"Now we have to decide where to take them." Adrien mused. "Does the cinema sound too date-y?"

"We could go to the zoo." He commented. At Adrien's frown, he added. "I've heard they have this sick new panther there. It could be cool."

Before he could answer, the bell warning of the end of the break startled both teens, and everyone began making their way to class. Adrien nudged him, and they headed to their respective seats, noting that the girls were already sitting down and waiting for the class to start.

Adrien flashed Nino a look that said 'Follow my lead' and he turned around on his seat, facing both girls while trying to maintain his casual façade, Nino following soon after. Some part of his mind catalogued how her eyes rose to meet his and glinted curiously.

"Hey, Alya, Marinette." He hoped anyone noticed the adoration he couldn't help but give off when he said her name. "Nino was telling me of this new exhibit at the zoo, and we were planning on checking it out after school. Do you two want to join us?"

"Sure." Alya chimed. "What do you think, Marinette?"

"Um- yeah! It'll be fun."

The dark haired girl grinned at them, an adorable soft blush in her cheeks, and he had to run his hand through his hair to stop himself from og- looking at her. The movement caught her eye, and something flashed in them, something he couldn't put a name to. However, as soon as it came it was gone, and Nino cleared his throat, oblivious.

"Um, how about we meet at the zoo's entrance at five?"

"Okay." Marinette agreed, nodding in emphasis and making her pigtails bounce slightly at the action. Cute.

Mme Bustier chose that moment to come in and begin the class, so the two boys had to turn around and face the front of the class. Adrien decided to throw Marinette a glance while doing so, just to meet her eyes. He opted to grin at her, which she answered with a playful smile, her cheeks reddening adorably again.

Oh and what that did to his poor heart.

With all the willpower he could put together at that moment, he turned fully around to face the teacher, but his mind was miles away from her lecture. Well, not miles. Just some inches behind me.

He hadn't be lying to Nino when he told him he needed him on the date. It wasn't that he thought he would make a fool of himself; but that if he really met her alone and she did something cute – almost everything she did in her case, he remarked with a dreamy sigh – he couldn't be sure he would be able to resist taking her away and keeping her all for himself.

It was too soon for that, wasn't it?

He felt restless until the classes finished. He'd sent a message to M. D'Argencourt to tell him he wouldn't be going to his fencing class today, and another one to the Gorilla telling him he'd walk to his fencing practice. That meant he was free until 6:30. Well, he had time to come up with more excuses, anyway.

When the final bell rung, everyone in the class began chatting and picking up their things to go home. Nino suddenly grabbed his wrist, his grip so tight that if he didn't have enhanced superhero strength, he'd surely sport some bruises later. He turned his head and looked at him questioningly, but when he noticed his fidgeting state realisation downed on him and smirked.

"Something wrong, Nino?" He asked aloud, feigning obliviousness. Nino let him go as if his skin burned.

"N-no! I'm cool." His outburst caught Alya and Marinette's attention, and both were looking at him oddly.

"Are you okay, Nino? We can postpone the meeting to another day if you're not feeling well." Marinette worried, a tiny frown marring her face. He resisted the urge to kiss her forehead to soften it.

Nino stood up and tried to grin at them, but his smile was a bit wonky. "I'm o-okay, really. I'll see you later. Adrien, are you coming to my place?"

He was quite sure Nino wouldn't accept a no for an answer.

"Yeah, sure. I've got some free time."

"Cool. See you two later, Marinette, A-Alya." His tongue got slightly stuck when he mentioned the brunette, but tried to hide it with a slightly crooked smile and a hasty retreat. The other teens looked at his back funnily.

"Well, I'll better follow him. See you later." Adrien smiled at them, his gaze lingering subtly on Marinette before turning around and walking out of the door.

And he wasn't sure, but he could've sworn he heard Marinette squealing once he walked out of the room.

The hour they spent at Nino's place was uneventful, full of curses from the darker boy directed at him and Adrien trying to stifle his laugh, mindful of Nino's uneasiness. And their way to the Zoo? Nino kept adjusting his cap every minute, checking out it still was at its place.

Oh, and if you asked Adrien, he would totally deny he spent 15 minutes at Nino's bathroom styling his hair.

Marinette and Alya had beaten them to the zoo, and they were chatting with Kim and Max, who seemed to have had the same idea as them. It was when they came closer when Adrien noticed it; Marinette's hair was down.

His breath caught momentarily and his step faltered, memories of their last night together seeping through his mind. How those silky strands slipped between the teeth of her comb, and how her eyes seemed so deep at the dark room-

He shook those thoughts out of his mind before he went into what Plagg called his 'Sappy Mode' and ignored Nino's questioning look, silently praying for his blush to go away. By the time they made it to where they stood, Adrien had put his emotions in check. Somewhat.

"Hi boys!" Alya greeted them when they were near. "Ready to go?"

Nino spoke up after being nudged by Adrien. "Yeah, sure! Lead the way."

The four of them began walking towards the entrance, making small talk.

"Kim and Max told us they came to see the panther too." Marinette commented. "It seems that the zoo has received much more visits since they brought it here."

"Yeah." Alya agreed. "And it's been here for only three days. How did you find out, Nino?"

"At a radio podcast. It sounded cool, so I wanted to check it out."

Alya began walking a bit ahead of the group, chatting amicably with Nino and leaving Marinette and Adrien to follow. He was looking around when he felt a warm hand tugging at his right one. He looked behind him in surprise to see Marinette with a finger on her lips (and rosy cheeks), her eyes pleading. Their friends didn't notice they'd stopped and continued forward.

When she deemed they were far enough, she dropped the finger on her lips and smiled, and Adrien looked at her amused. "And what was that?"

"I'm trying to make a point." She explained, her voice clear and her eyes tingling in glee. "Alya has been telling me nonstop that there was nothing between them, and that she held no feelings for Nino whatsoever, so I'm trying to prove her wrong."

"Really?" Adrien asked, and both of them began strolling around the Zoo, neither of them remembering their joined hands. "I was trying to do the same thing, although I've got to admit that Nino isn't very subtle about his feelings."

"So he was trying to make a move on Alya?" She raised an eyebrow.

He snorted. "Nino? Oh no, he's not good at the feelings section. He didn't want to recognise he liked Alya, although it was as clear as the day." He heard a soft snort coming from the inside pocket of his shirt and he hit Plagg subtly, praying that Marinette hadn't heard the annoying Kwami. He continued. "I even had to trick him into this. God knows Nino wouldn't have the guts to do it by himself."

"So you're kind of his wingman?" She teased.

"Yep." Kind of. They were wingmen to each other. Was that a thing? "I was trying to come up with any excuse to give them some alone time, but I see you've got it covered. I'm glad you're in my boat, Marinette." He bumped his shoulder with hers softly, teasing.

She giggled and returned the bump. "Alya is too stubborn and Nino too coward. They're both idiots." She looked at the direction where the pair had gone. "How much time do you think it'll take for them to realize we're not there?"

He rubbed his nape with his left hand. "I don't know about Alya, but Nino will be too worried about not being a doofus in front of her to even notice we're not there. I give him at least half an hour."

"Alya will notice faster, I think." She mused, her fingertips playing with his ring absentmindedly. Adrien's thumb unconsciously began rubbing soft circles on her hand. "But when she does, I don't know if she'll text us or not."

"Why?" Adrien looked down at her and oh god, why is she so close?

She looked up, smiling, but she froze after seeing they were, indeed, really close to each other. She looked down and her grip on his hand tightened momentarily, making a soft blush colour his cheeks. She looked up once again and Adrien was fascinated to see the explosion of colour on her cheeks, her mouth opening and closing like a fish before dropping his hand like it burnt.

"OH- Oh, god, I-I'm so sorry! I-I hadn't noticed I was still h-holding your hand. Not that your hand isn't fine! It is! I mean, it's really soft and big and I wouldn't mind holding it m-more but I- stop me please." She pleaded at the end, trying to control her stammering. His heart beat wildly in his chest. God, how have I missed the stammering.

He smiled at her reassuringly, but he had the feeling it was a bit too saucy to be supportive. He was still internally swooning, it wasn't his fault his inner Chat Noir decided to show up.

"Don't worry, Marinette. I didn't notice either. Tell you what," he added, grinning widely, shamelessly channelling Chat and grabbing her hand again. Her eyes widened and her cute pout dropped, opening her mouth slightly in surprise. "Why don't we hold hands? That way we won't get lost in the crowd."

She looked around and checked that the Zoo wasn't so crowded to 'get lost in the crowd', and she regarded him with a raised eyebrow, but he didn't falter in his grin, refusing to give up in their game. Something familiar glinted once again in her eyes, and a soft smirk made its way to her face.

"Okay. Why don't we go that way? This is where the panther is."

He mentally cheered as he squeezed her hand, she returning the gesture afterwards. He was glad his little test had come out so great. He had been checking how she would react if 'Perfect Adrien' began acting like his counterpart, the fli- charming superhero, if she would be thrown out by it, and he was glad she'd accepted it without even asking why.

He didn't want to be 'Perfect Adrien' forever, and much less with Marinette. He wanted to drop that mask and be his real self, at least with her. He wanted to be accepted for who he was, not for the image his father decided to sell. He wanted her saying his repressed self wasn't so bad, after all.

He still loved Ladybug. She was like this unreachable dream you can't help but look up to, and whenever they were in battle, her safety always came first. He adored her strong will, her need to do what's best for Paris and to protect every inhabitant of the city. Everyone was important in her mind. She was friendly, witty, brave, and everyone was charmed by her.

But she was out of reach. She did her best to keep herself as a secret, and although they sometimes had some chats after battles or in patrol, she closed off when his questions became more personal.

He wouldn't be able to have with her what he had with Marinette. He wouldn't be able to hold her hand casually around. He wouldn't be able to see her when he needed someone, he wouldn't be able to hold her closer without an excuse for it. Marinette was like a calming balm for his tattered heart, healing with soft caresses and warm hands the scars left by people who should be beside him but weren't. She was healing him, whether she knew it or not, and he was so thankful he had gotten to know her better.

He had fallen for her natural charm, and he had fallen real deep.

A comfortable silence fell between them, as Marinette seemed deep in thought too, and both of them simply enjoyed being with one another. They sometimes made one remark or another, or hid from Alya and Nino when they saw them at the distance, but silence fell again, and none of them were too eager to break the moment.

It was strange, Adrien thought, how someone that made his heart beat like crazy and his mind go awry had such a soothing effect on him. With her by his side, there were no obligations, no extracurricular classes, no strict fathers nor modelling, not saving Paris. They were Marinette and Adrien. Nothing more, nothing less.

A shrill scream startled both of them, and Adrien cursed at his thinking process. And his rotten luck. Really, this kind of things only happen to me.

They turned around quickly, only to see an animal stampede coming their way. Meeting Marinette's eyes, both teens began running away from the mob, trying to find a place to hide and, in Adrien's case, transform.

The path suddenly split in two, her hand slipping from his and he looked back at her with alarm, the situation reminding him way too much of the Gamer. Time seemed to slow down as their bodies separated from each other due to the inertia. Marinette nodded at him, her eyes determined, and she ran towards the right path, him following the left one. He would've lost too much time going after her, and the stampede would've caught up with them.

He looked for hiding places while trying to avoid the angered animals, turning without aim, and cheered when he bumped into a bush big enough to cover him. He dived behind it and waited for the animals to run past him, catching his breath.

Plagg took this chance to make his way out of his shirt's inner pocket. "Finally! I thought I'd drown in all this school drama. I haven't even eaten yet!"

"Shut up, Plagg." He wheezed, taking deep breaths. He still felt the adrenalin pumping through his veins. "We have a situation here, if you haven't noticed."

"Yeah, the Lion King live action. This stinks of Akuma, if you ask me."

Adrien rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I noticed. Time to take them back home." He clenched his right fist, getting ready to transform. "Plagg, cl-"

Suddenly, someone else jumped behind the bush he was hiding in, and Plagg flew out of side. Adrien's eyes widened when he saw Marinette in front of him, her eyes wide too. She looked to his shirt, then to his still clenched fist, and the strangest thing happened. Her mouth quirked up slowly, her gaze meeting his, and when her mouth opened, she said something he'd never expected to hear.

"Tikki, spots on!"

Pink bright light engulfed her and his mouth fell open when he saw Ladybug crouching in Marinette's place. Amusement rolled off her as she watched him unable to form a coherent thought. In a way so reminiscent of what Marinette had done to Chat, she ran a gloved finger from his collarbone, then his jaw and ending on his chin, giving him goose bumps in the way.

She grinned and booped his nose. "See you in a bit, Minou."

Then she leaped out of the bushes and left him there, his brain close to collapsing. He didn't know how much time had passed, but the next thing he was aware of was Plagg slapping his cheek with his little paws. He looked down at him disoriented.

"Finally! I was seriously considering biting you." He scrunched his tiny nose. "I shudder just thinking about it. My mouth is reserved to cheese only."

"Wha- She- How- What?"

The black Kwami rolled his eyes. "For being such a smart boy, you can be really stupid sometimes. Your princess is your bug. The end. Hooray. Now, could you close your mouth and transform so we can kick that Akuma's ass?"

He shut his mouth automatically, his teeth clinking because of it and he shook his head, trying to put aside his confusion and awe because he couldn't be that lucky and-

Right. The Akuma.

He muttered the words mechanically and seconds later Chat Noir was jumping from cage to cage, trying to spot the red-clad hero – that was Marinette, holy- and hopefully the Akuma.

And it seemed that, once again and against everyone's belief, he was a lucky cat. Because there it was M-Ladybug, standing between Kim and a talking panther. It wasn't too wild to assume he was the Akumatised victim.

Then Kim bolted to the side and the panther began following him. Ladybug, in a demonstration of quick reflexes and agility, took her yoyo and threw it at the panther, the hard string tangling around the animal and successfully stopping him on his tracks and capturing him.

He took a deep breath to calm his erratic heart and spoke up, trying to hide that minutes ago he'd received the mental whiplash of the century – because oh my god, Marinette was- and she probably knew that he- and feigning nonchalance.

"I see that you've got everything under control, my Lady." Even my heart.

She looked up at where Chat was perched on top of one of the cages and smiled with a knowing smile that did things to him.

"Took you long enough, Chaton. What was holding you up?" She asked smugly.

Sweet mother of Jesus, she was going to kill him.

He jumped down and landed beside her, his mind whirling. He shook his head to clear it; they had an Akuma to cleanse.

"Later?" He asked, his voice conveying every ounce of confusion, awe, hope and worry he felt at that moment.

She nodded, a soft smile that was distinctly Marinette's on her lips. "Later." She promised.

When he said 'later' he hadn't expected to nearly lose her to a bloody T-Rex.

Watching how the ridiculously big predator closed his mouth around her had almost broken him to pieces. He'd lost her, and after all his searching, all his yearning for the girl under the mask, he couldn't believe she'd slip through his fingers just when he'd found her – or she'd found him, to be more precise.

But then, the dinosaur's mouth opened slowly and he realized it was just another one of her crazy plans. He observed her as she took his bracelet and broke it, releasing the Akuma, then proceeded to cleanse it. She waved the while butterfly goodbye and then looked back at him in confusion, seeing that, indeed, he hadn't moved an inch.

She made her way in front of him, worry marring her face. "Chat, wha-"

"Marinette!" He cried as he hugged her. He wasn't able to supress his trembling as he held her against him, desperate to feel her breathing and alive, to erase those terrifying images from his mind.

Some part of him was afraid of her pulling away, but after some moments of surprise from her side, he felt her returning the hug, one hand resting on his shoulder blades and the other on his nape, her fingers playing absentmindedly with his hair in a very familiar way. They understood each other perfectly, even without words; she knew he needed the reassurance, so she let him.

The beeping of his miraculous startled both of them and they pulled apart slightly, their hands never stopping touching the other. He looked down at her amused gaze and rosy cheeks, something he'd never been able to see in the hero, and he was reminded of something rather important.

"Is it later yet?"

She mused. "Yeah, I guess. We need a bit of privacy, though. You want to come to my place?"

He let her go and bowed dramatically. "Lead the way, my Lady."

She unclasped her yoyo resting around her hips and tied it to the nearest building, taking off without looking behind. He followed quickly, counting the seconds he had left until his transformation faded. Luckily, they made it to the roof of her room seconds before it dropped.

Ladybug gasped at the sight of Chat Noir turning into Adrien Agreste, and chuckled lightly. "God. Even though I knew what was coming it still surprised me."

"Then you can guess what your transformation did to me, Marinette. I wasn't expecting it at all!"

She dropped her transformation, her hair loose again. He'd just seen the process two times, but he was sure he would never get tired of seeing it. She smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry?"

She didn't look sorry at all.

She opened the hatch to her room and dropped down her bed, then to her room. Adrien followed her, closing the hatch behind him and observing how she snatched some cookies from a jar and gave one to Tikki, who gladly accepted it.

"Um, does your Kwami want something?"

He rubbed his neck, suddenly nervous. "Ah… some cheese would be okay."

"Not some cheese!" Plagg's tiny head poked up from his shirt, scowling. "Camembert. I am a cat with standards."

"Plagg!" He hissed.

She laughed. "It's fine. I think we have some Camembert left, I can go get it for you. Do you mind waiting a little?"

Plagg squealed and dashed out of Adrien's shirt, floating in front of Marinette's face. "I don't mind waiting, Princess. But come back soon." He then nuzzled her cheek with his, purring grateful. Once Marinette left the room, Plagg spoke up, not even turning around. "Boy, remember all the times I complained about your sappiness? Forget it all. Also, marry her as soon as possible. She gives me cheese. She'll take care of me properly."

Adrien spluttered, his cheeks reddening furiously. "Plagg!"

"You haven't changed a bit, Plagg." The red Kwami said from where she was sitting, tiny cookie crumbles around her mouth. She looked at the blond boy and rubbed them off, smiling. "Hi! I don't think we've been introduced yet. My name's Tikki, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Adrien."

He looked at the red Kwami. She had big blue eyes and an earnest smile, and he couldn't help to be reminded of her wielder. Both of them were adorable.

"Likewise."

The hatch opened at that moment and Marinette stepped in the room, a dish on her hand. She placed on the table beside Tikki, and Adrien could feel the cat Kwami physically repressing himself from pouncing towards the food, something new in him.

"That's all I could find. There wasn't much Camembert left, so I grabbed some cheese scones from the patisserie. I hope you don't mind?"

Plagg yowled in delight and let himself tackle the pastries, biting off half of one scone in one bite. He chewed happily, humming in delight.

"Remember what I told you before, kid." He said after gulping down. Marinette looked at him questioningly, and he hoped his cheeks weren't as red as he felt them.

"So," He said, leaning on the chaise and pulling out one of his modelling poses, trying to appear calm and collected, something that he really wasn't feeling. At all. "What gave me away?"

"Oh, right." She frowned lightly, trying to come up with the best way of explaining it. "It was a lot of little things, really. There were times when I saw something of Adrien in Chat, and something of Chat in you; I was really confused by that, but I didn't make the connexion until I noticed your ring, to be honest."

"My ring?" He looked down at the silver Miraculous.

She nodded. "The other night, when you grabbed my hand as Chat it reminded me of the time you grabbed it as Adrien, that same afternoon. I hadn't even realized you two had a ring on the same finger until then."

He reached for her ears and put aside her bangs, looking at her black earrings – some part of him was swooning for finally touching her silky hair, but he paid no mind to that. "Huh, now that you say so, I didn't noticed your earrings either. I suppose it's the Miraculous' magic?" He couldn't help but grin saucily at her blushing face. She swatted his hand away.

"I-I suppose. Maybe that's why anyone notice our striking resemblance to Paris' famous superheroes… maybe there's some kind of… glamour or something, keeping everyone for finding out, even Alya. Even I wouldn't have given it a second thought if someone had stuck to his alibi." She teased.

He frowned in confusion. "What?"

"Last week, at the Gamer, Chat said he'd saved Adrien before and after saving me from the Akuma, something that struck me as odd, because why would Chat lie to me? Then I noticed the ring, and everything started adding up."

"So you…" He smirked, and her eyes widened in realisation, but she was a second too late to stop him. "… connected the dots?"

He got the reaction he was looking for. She groaned at his horrible pun.

"God, that was awful. Why do I even let you come into my room?"

"Well, for starters, I'm a dashing superhero that saves Paris in his spare time. Who wouldn't invite Chat Noir to their homes? Moreover, I'm a trained cat, I don't make a mess in exchange of a pat in the head."

"You're horrible, that's what you are. And a handful."

He leaned forward, his eyes glinting teasingly. "Oh, I don't think you mean that, Princess. Why would you have a framed picture of me then?"

Adrien had never seen her face as red as it was at that moment. Her eyes widened and darted from his mischievous grin to the basket where he'd seen the picture, then to his face again. Her mouth opened, but only a soft squeal came out of it.

"Y-y-you saw that?" She stuttered.

"Yep."

"Ah- w-when?"

"When I visited you as Chat."

She groaned loudly and buried her head on her hands, letting herself drop on the chaise. "God, this is so embarrassing. Let me crawl into a hole and die."

"Hey, don't do that. I wouldn't be able to see you pretty face if you did." She whimpered softly, her hands still on her red face. He kept on, kneeling in front of her. "Moreover, you'd laugh at me if you saw how much Ladybug merch I have in my room, really."

"A complete shrine in your honour, bug." Plagg quipped from the table. Adrien glared at him.

"She didn't need the details, Plagg." She still didn't move her hands from her face, but he could grasp the ghost of a smile on what he could see from her lips. He placed a hand on her cheek, dropping the joking tone. "Come on, my Lady, let me see you. Please."

That seemed to do the trick, and she slowly dropped her hands, her eyes meeting his shyly. She bit her lip but her eyes didn't waver, holding his gaze and almost daring him to drop it, a mix from her both sides that drove him crazy.

"Hello." He muttered, a soft smile on his lips.

"Hello." She answered, replying with a smile on her own.

He gazed at her lovingly, cataloguing her every freckle and the softness of her skin, something he hadn't been able to do until then.

"There are so many things I want to tell you, Marinette… so many things I've wanted to say, to do, but I didn't have the chance to do so. But that's changed now, now that we both know who we are. And I don't think I'll be able to pretend to be 'Perfect Adrien' around you anymore, not after all that."

She leaned on his hand. "Good, because I don't want you to be 'Perfect Adrien' anymore. I want you to be yourself, Chaton, you don't have to pretend in front of me."

Warmth ran through him at her words, and he embraced her, feeling her against him, her hands immediately finding their rightful place and caressing the back of his head, earning a soft purr in return.

"I'm so happy it's you, Marinette. I'm so, so happy right now." He whispered against her hair. It smelt really sweet, just like her.

"Me too." She put a bit of distance between them so she could look at him. "last week, when I started looking for any sign of you being my Chaton I just… I wished so badly for it to be true. I didn't want it to be anyone else. Not any other boy from school, not a complete stranger. I wanted you to be Chat Noir."

"Why?"

"I couldn't imagine having our relationship with anyone else. I trust you with my life, Adrien, and imagining this with anyone else feels wrong."

"Good." He growled and tightened his grip on her. "Because you don't need anyone else. You have me now."

She giggled. "Possessive much?"

He shrugged. "It's your fault, my Lady. You've found me, so now how do you expect this alley cat to control himself around you? "

"Hmm, is that so?" She leaned closer to him.

"Yep. This cat's come to stay." He leaned forward too, his eyes closing, and the tip of their noses touched.

"Good. Hey, you know what?" She whispered against his lips.

"What?" He asked, barely able to have coherent thought.

"I love you."

Okay, now he was 100% unable of coherent though.

"Good. Because I love you too."

And he closed the distance between the two of them, their mouths finally joining. Marinette let out a little moan that urged him to press himself against her, cradling her head with his hands and tilting slightly her head until they found a posture comfortable for both of them.

Her lips tasted of cherries, and Adrien couldn't get enough of them. He nipped her lower lip to deepen the kiss and she responded eagerly, her grip tightening on the back of his head and flushing herself against him. She was sweet and spicy at the same time, and he wouldn't mind to drown in her lips.

He softened the kiss slowly, letting both of them catch their breath and their lips finally separated, Adrien resting his forehead against Marinette's, his eyes still closed. When he opened them, he was proud to see her half-lidded eyes, still hazy from the kiss. He was about to kiss her again when a ring startled them both.

Marinette opened her eyes and looked for her phone in her purse, Adrien's hands still on her hips, and her eyes widened when she saw who was calling.

"Alya!" She exclaimed. "I'd completely forgot about her! I locked her and Nino inside one of the animals' cage."

"Well, answer her." He sat on the chaise and tugged her towards him until she was sitting on his lap. She raised an eyebrow at him, the phone still ringing on her hand, and he threw her an innocent smile. "My knees were hurting from kneeling on the floor."

"That doesn't explain why I am in your lap, or does it?"

He nodded at the phone. "She's gonna hung up."

She rolled her eyes, but made no move to climb down his lap, something he counted as a little victory. She answered the call and put her phone on her ear.

"Alya! Are you okay? I'm sorry I left the zoo, but there was an Akuma and-" He could hear Alya answering from the other side, but he couldn't make up the words. Marinette's lips quirked up, and he could see she was struggling to conceal her amusement. "So Ladybug threw you and Nino inside a cage? Are you still in there? Do you need me to go get you out?"

She paused, listening to what Alya was saying. "Oh, so you're out? And where's Nino? Is he with- wait, what was that?" A pause. Her eyes widened. "Was that my mother? A-are you here? Are you in my house!?"

She didn't react fast enough, as Alya opened the hatch connecting her room and the rest of the house, and looked at the frozen teens with wide eyes. A soft smile made its way on the future journalist's face.

"Well, well, well. Look at that, Nino. We were locked in a cage, but look who was all cosy and lovey-dovey."

Nino's head popped up from the hole of the floor. "Duuuuude, when did that happen?"

Marinette groaned and buried her head on his shoulder, not even half ready to have that conversation, and Adrien could relate to her. They hadn't even come to terms to where they stood, he wasn't ready to pop up the news to them. Heck, they were lucky their Kwamis had reacted way faster than their wielders.

"So we'd come to check on you, but I see you're… busy. Don't mind us. We're leaving, right Nino?"

"Totally. See you later, bro, Marinette."

Marinette groaned again. Alya closed the hatch behind her, leaving both superheroes alone in her room once again.

"Just kill me now." She muttered against him.

"How many times I have to repeat myself, Princess? If I kill you I won't be able to see you again, and that won't do."

She hit him half-heartedly. "It's your fault, you mangy cat."

He chuckled. "Worth it."

She pulled apart from him. "Shut up."

"Make me." He dared.

She did, and in a way that was quickly becoming his favourite. They still had a lot to talk about, from where their relationship laid to what would they do about Hawkmoth, but all that could wait for an hour.

Marinette bit his lip teasingly and sucked lightly.

Ah… make that two hours.