Ep: I understand it's the 1,002nd cycle for Lyra today. I tell you what, she doesn't look a day over 923.

MR: Really? She told me she was still in double digits!

Adrien had never seen Marinette so angry. Her cheeks were flushed red, her eyes an icy blue, and she looked ready to snap somebody in two. As she stormed across the courtyard, people leaped out of her way as she sailed towards her hapless victim. He pitied the poor soul who had done something to make her this livid. When she stopped in front of him, his heart sank into his stomach.

"Adrien Gabriel Graham Sebastian Athanase Agreste! What. The. Hell?"

He'd never heard Marinette swear before, and he was mesmerized by her. It wasn't until she gripped his arm a little tighter than he was comfortable with and dragged him away from the crowd that was already beginning to stare that the thoughts flashed through his mind. He was embarrassed to say that he found himself thinking how incredibly attractive she was like this, as well as reviewing the training he'd had should a kidnapper attempt to whisk him away to either ransom or murder him. Murder seemed like the more likely option in this case.

As Marinette led him around the corner and down beside the school, his fear subsided, and his confusion took its place. That is until she rounded on him. "I cannot believe you said that! What were you thinking?"

Adrien just blinked at her as her tirade wound down. "What did I say?" He was genuinely perplexed.

"What did…?!" She spluttered. "You called Chat Noir a sidekick! He is Ladybug's partner! How could you be so disrespectful to a hero?!"

To both of their astonishment, Adrien started laughing. At first, it started out as a bubble of disbelief, escaping in his shock that she was so angry with him for disrespecting, well, himself. Soon, as the true ridiculousness of the situation hit him, the laughter turned hysterical, until Adrien was sitting, slumped, against the side of the school, tears streaming down his face, clutching at his stomach, as Marinette stared down at him, eyes narrowed to slits, practically growling at him.

She'd taken a deep breath, and started walking back to the front of the school when Adrien was able to get himself under control enough to scramble to his feet and call her name. She whirled back towards him, eyes still ablaze with righteous fury. A final burst of giggles escaped his lips, but he had his hand loosely encircling her wrist, eyes imploring her to wait.

To his relief, she did, not terribly patiently, but she didn't try to walk away again. He was grateful as he composed himself, apologizing as a few more snorts of laughter snuck out, Marinette's expression growing stormier each time. Finally, he was able to choke out, "that's all?"

He thought back to the presentation that he'd given in class on an influential person in French history. Naturally, he'd chosen Ladybug. He vaguely wondered if she would be offended by being considered history, but then snapped his attention back to Marinette as she hissed something unintelligible. He hadn't said anything negative about his alter ego during the presentation, just that, while all the other superheroes served their purpose, they were all secondary to Ladybug, even Chat Noir, for, without Ladybug, Paris could not be saved.

Marinette, however, was having none of it. "While you may think that the rest of Paris' superheroes sit around and do nothing, that couldn't be further from the truth. Ladybug is the one who is dependent on them, not the other way around. Where would she be without them?"

Adrien looked shocked. "But she's the only one who can purify an akuma."

"You don't think Chat could Cataclysm it if he absolutely had to?"

"But then who would fix the damage? Only Ladybug can do that. She's the most important one."

Marinette sighed. "None of the heroes have to do what they do. All of them matter, even if they are only called upon once. I just hate it when people downplay their contributions."

She paused and looked up at Adrien, her belief in her words giving her the strength not to stutter, even as she stood incredibly close. "Especially Chat Noir. He's been with Ladybug since the beginning."

Her smile grew soft. "I've met him, you know. He really is a nice guy."

Adrien was doing his best not to blush under her compliments when Marinette laid a hand on his arm and looked at him with her eyes wide. "I'm sorry I shouted at you, Adrien. I just get so frustrated when people imply that Chat is something less than Ladybug."

"It's alright." He chuckled. "I'm sure it means a lot to him to have someone like you on his side." He reached over to give her a brief hug. As she relaxed into his arms, Adrien involuntarily let out a soft purr. Over the past few months, he'd noticed more and more cat-like tendencies had crept into his civilian life; most, like his insane desire to curl up into a ball within the nearest sunbeam had been fairly easy to stifle, but the purring was more autonomic and harder to control.

Why he was purring just then confused him, though, as it had previously only happened when he'd been daydreaming of Ladybug - or on the exceedingly rare occasions when, as Chat, he'd been fortunate to hold her just as he was currently holding Marinette. To his horror, as he tried to quash the purring, it notched up a bit louder, causing Marinette to look at him oddly as she pulled away. "Are you trying to make fun of me?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

"No!" he said hastily, feeling his face flame as he answered.

Marinette found herself staring at Adrien, surprised to see him as flustered as he appeared to be. And despite his protestations to the contrary, she had heard what she had heard. As she started to say something, though, she found her eyes drawn to his green ones, and then upward to his golden head of hair that was suddenly spotlit in a stray beam of sunlight. She tuned out as Adrien continued to stammer through some sort of apology - an unusual reversal of roles for the two of them - and instead found herself wondering why he'd said what he'd said during his presentation.

Trying (and failing) to ignore the curve of his bicep as he slid a hand behind his neck, she was struck by another thought: what if Chat really felt as though his role were just as Adrien had stated? If the general public vis-à-vis her friend had that view, it was possible her rather sensitive kitty might feel that way, too. For contrary to his sometimes overly dramatic flirtations with Ladybug, she knew deep down he really cared for his partner.

Adrien's level of panic continued to increase the longer Marinette stared at him; those deep emerald eyes of his were growing wider and wider as they darted between her face and random spots along the front of the school. Blinking, she tuned back into his rambling "...seasonal allergies. And I've never met yo-him as you have, so I wouldn't, you know, know, exactly how I could, uuuuh…"

She knew a thing or two about Adrien and his allergies, given how she'd nearly killed him with that pigeon feather cap she'd designed. Marinette smiled a bit at her overly dramatic thoughts when in reality he'd just been seriously congested for days after having proudly worn it for her when she'd won the contest his father had created. It had been pure Adrien, and it had endeared him even further to her.

"Adrien Agreste," she said, dipping back into her earlier anger-infused tone. "If you're not mocking me, you are mocking Chat. I won't abide by it."

"I'm not!" Adrien replied defensively. "It's… allergies," he repeated, flailing a bit for an explanation and wondering how he'd become so twitterpated. "And I'm a huge fan of Chat!" he rambled on as he tried to figure out how to salvage himself. Fortunately, the purring had ceased. "I wish I'd actually met him. Like you. Did," he finished badly, his hand reaching to the back of his neck again as his face continued to flame.

Marinette looked at him, and for a moment he thought he was still in deep. Then she half-smiled at a remembered memory. "I used to think he was a little over the top, to be honest. He didn't make a very good first impression when Ladybug sent him to protect me against an akuma."

Adrien swallowed. He remembered that incident - it was fairly early in his superhero career and if he were being honest, he might have been a tad cocky. Marinette had actually been the cool-headed one to save them when Evillistrator had trapped them on a sinking barge. "Yikes," was all he managed to say.

Marinette smiled a bit broader. "Then I got to know him better." Her eyes snapped up to his. "I mean, it's not like he visits me regularly—" she started and then paused, seeing Adrien widen his eyes on that. Deciding to change tactics, she narrowed her eyes at her friend. "You had some unique observations about Ladybug," she pointed out. "How well do you know her?"

Adrien shuffled uncomfortably, wondering now if he'd inadvertently included material in his presentation that might not be backed up by old-fashioned primary sources other than Chat knowing her purrsonally. "She's saved me a few times," he replied cautiously. "I won't lie - Ladybug has defeli-definitely made quite an impression on me," Adrien added, his eyes taking on a bit of a dreamy expression.

"I can see that," Marinette said, trying to quell the strange feeling that suddenly bloomed in her heart. Does Adrien like Ladybug, too? she wondered as she scanned Adrien's face for clues. Chat is one thing, but Adrien…

Impulsively, she blurted out: "Ice cream? Tonight? We can swap stories about the heroes of Paris."

Adrien blinked. Had Marinette just asked him on a date? He thought she had; it wasn't the first time the two of them had hung out together, but this felt different - and he immediately knew he wanted to go out with her - and he wanted it more than anything. "Sure," he replied eagerly. "I'll clear it with Nathalie. Where should we meet?"

"Trocadero," she said as the continued up the steps to the school. "If we start there, we have a good shot at tracking down Andre without walking too far."

He nodded and held the door for Marinette, grinning widely. "I can't wait to meet you there."

True to form, Adrien's father had declined to allow him to leave the mansion; Nathalie had broken the news to him in as gentle a fashion as she was capable as he finished dinner. Perhaps it was the long-term effects of having the Kwami of Destruction as his constant companion, for he'd sedately nodded to Nathalie as he walked past her and up the stairs to his bedroom; three steps into the space, he transformed into Chat Noir without breaking stride before vaulting out the open window, determined to make good on his promise to Marinette.

Landing on a rooftop overlooking the broad plaza, Chat crept to the edge of the brick facade and poked his unruly mane around the edge, masked eyes scanning the sidewalks looking for a specific ravenesque head of hair. His plan - such as it was - consisted of waiting to see her approach before dropping to a side alley and de-transforming back to Adrien. Chat's reasoning was that she wouldn't particularly notice which direction he'd appeared from, so long as he was there.

His plan needed to be slightly modified, however, when he saw Marinette sitting on a bench, her sketchbook out, facing him, although what she was seeing probably did not yet exist in this world.

Dropping into the alley, Chat quickly transformed back into Adrien and peeked out onto the larger street to locate Marinette. To his surprise, Marinette was still staring at the roof he'd just vacated, tapping the top of her pencil to her lips. He smiled as he approached her, and was still a good distance away when her eyes snapped to his. Her mouth formed a little 'o' of surprise, as she looked at him, frowned and then her eyes drifted back to the roof.

Internally, Adrien panicked, but externally he kept calm, waving at Marinette as her gaze drifted back to him. She waved back and started packing up a surprising amount of art supplies into her backpack. By the time he reached her, she was standing and dusting herself off, smiling at him. "I'm glad you could make it, I wasn't sure you'd be allowed to come."

He looked a little embarrassed. "Well, technically I'm not." He shivered, shaking away the bad feelings. "Why are you here so early? And what's so interesting about that building?" He indicated the building he'd landed on as Chat. "It's definitely not the most interesting around here."

Marinette laughed. "I often come out here to sketch. I find lots of inspiration in the architecture and the people. I decided to come by after school today in order to clear my head." Her smile turned a little mischievous as she answered the second part of his question. "As to that building, well, I thought I saw Chat Noir, you know… Ladybug's Partner, Hero of Paris." She nudged Adrien with her elbow. "I was worried that there was an akuma in the area, but he just seemed to be out to check on everyone."

Groaning, panic alleviated, Adrien grinned back at her. "I guess I deserved that. I would like to say, for the record, I have nothing against Chat Noir… I just think Ladybug is way more amazing."

Marinette didn't miss the way his face softened when he said the name of her alter-ego. The very familiar way his face softened. Her eyes widened as she looked between the rooftop, the alley and Adrien's face. Catching her glances, and the calculating look in her eyes, Adrien's panic from earlier returned. Hoping to derail her before she drew some very obvious conclusions, Adrien pulled his phone from his pocket. "Shall we see if we can find Andre?"

Ignoring his comment, Marinette turned fully to face him, and, eyes raking up and down his body, clearly spoke a few words that shocked him to his core. "I have cheese."

To his shock, a voice floated out of his pocket. "Camembert or nothing."

Marinette simply smirked, gently pressing on the purse at her side, calming Tikki so that she wouldn't come out and start yelling at Plagg. Marinette pulled a small insulated bag out of her backpack. "Good thing it is camembert, then, isn't it?"

Plagg flew out of Adrien's shirt and immediately phased into the bag. Adrien was frozen, not sure what had just happened when Marinette's voice broke through the fog in his brain. "Don't worry, Kitty, it's not the first time I've met Plagg. But maybe we should take this somewhere more private?"

When he didn't respond past a few slow blinks, Marinette reached over, touched his arm, and called his name. "Adrien? Let's talk." When he still didn't respond, she started to look nervous. She leaned in, and breathed the words right into his ear. "Chat Noir?"

That got his attention, and he blinked, this time, the fog clearing and he just looked at her, a smile blossoming across his face. "Bugaboo?"

Marinette shook her head, fake-glowering at him. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" She nervously slipped her fingers into his, and he looked down at their joined hands, then back up at her, his smile growing impossibly wide. "I do believe you agreed to ice cream."

He smiled, and they went in search of Andre's cart.

Their flavors didn't surprise them now that they knew how the magic of the ice cream worked; finding a park bench in a quiet corner, the two sat and exchanged bites of their treats while they unpacked what transpired back on the Trocadero plaza. Heads bowed together, Adrien and Marinette talked long into the evening - at least, as long as Adrien thought he could get away with before his presence was missed at the mansion. When they finally had to part for the night, each knew it was only temporary; a gentle press of the lips bespoke the promise of what was yet to come for the newly minted couple.

When Marinette arrived at school the next morning, she walked over to where Adrien was talking with Alya and Nino and just slipped her hand into his; the happy scream that Alya unleashed reverberated around the courtyard. The pair just flushed and smiled at each other, their clasped fingers give each other a reassuring squeeze.