When Marinette got home, she collapsed onto her bed and looked at the ceiling, her feelings racing round like little hyperactive butterflies in her stomach, trying to comprehend what had happened this evening. She felt better, knowing that her and Chat were no longer fighting, but the fact that she had gotten jealous in the first place made her frustrated. Especially when, right before she had gone to fight… Had Adrian almost kissed her? She looked at the clock on her bedside table. It was only 11:30pm… on a Sunday, mind you, but Marinette weighed how likely it was that Alya would be awake anyway. Just as she was about to give up on the notion and try to let sleep consume her – despite how unlikely it was – she got a phone call from none other than Alya herself.

"Wow, amazing timing," Marinette said as she picked up the phone, "I was just about to-"

"Oh my gosh, Marinette, you're never going to believe what happened."

Marinette was wrapped up in her own world, it was true, but Alya almost NEVER got this worked up over something, so she perked up and forgot completely about her own thoughts and went immediately into supportive friend mode.

"What? What happened?"

"Okay, so, it's kind of a long story, but basically I was out at the magazine stand today looking for any new issues featuring photos of Chat Noir or Ladybug when I ran into Nino and he wasn't doing anything because of course Adrian was with you all day working on your essay and I was all by myself all day too because you were with Adrian and so we decided to hang out and go get some ice cream and we realized we actually have a lot in common I mean did you know that his Uncle works for spotted magazine as a photographer and that he gets photos of Ladybug all the time and he said he could get him to send some of the unpublished ones that none of the magazines wanted which is super cool of him to offer and anyway we were hanging out and we were just having such a good time so we didn't even realize how late it had gotten to he walked me home and and and -" Alya stopped momentarily to gasp for air.

"Woah woah woah, Alya, slow down. Deep breaths. You're going to hyperventilate if you're not careful," Marinette said, talking her friend through some basic breathing exercises. "Now, I'm sorry, what happened?"

"Nino and I. We kissed." The phone went silent. Then, all that could be heard was Marinette squealing into the phone in delight.

"No way! Alya you sly DOG! What happened next? Give me ALL the details!" So, Alya filled in Marinette on all the gossip, explaining how it had kind of been an accident, because Alya had been turning away from Nino, to go inside, when he had said her name, causing her to turn around. She had, only to be met by Nino darting down quickly to plant a big one on her, taking her by surprise. He had brought his head back to look at her reaction, and they had looked at each other for approximately one nanosecond before Alya had pulled him back down, kissing him right back this time.

Marinette was ecstatic. This was one pairing that she had been egging on for quite some time now, but hadn't wanted to push the issue for fear of messing it up. Now it appeared, she didn't need to fear that any longer. Alya continued to explain that when they finally came up for air, Nino had a huge smile plastered to his face (as did Alya, Marinette was sure), and had simply said, "wanna do this again sometime?" Alya of course, had agreed instantly to a date on Tuesday, and he had left her on her doorstep. She had then run upstairs to call Marinette.

"And of course, you know the rest from there," Alya added with a giggle. She was obviously over the moon.

"Okay, so I'm obviously helping you get ready Tuesday," Marinette said.

"Well duh," Alya replied. "Wait," she said as though remembering, "you had said this was good timing. Were you gonna call me about something?"

"Oh, yea, right. But in comparison, it's not nearly as interesting."

"Spill the beans or I'll come over there myself and make you do it."

"Alright alright," Marinette said with a chuckle, "well you know how I was hanging out with Adrian all day-"

"Yes yes oh my god yes!" Alya replied with glee. Marinette laughed again.

"You don't even know what I'm going to say!" Marinette sighed.

"It doesn't matter; you were with Adrian so it can only be juicy. Wait, unless something bad happened. Please tell me nothing bad happened."

"Well I would tell you if you'd let me!" Marinette said, laughing at her friend's enthusiasm.

"Alright, I'll be quiet." The line went silent.

Marinette went on to explain what had happened that day, leaving out all of the Ladybug bits of course, until finally, she got to the good part.

"So, I walked him to the front door and... well, I could've sworn he was going to kiss me."

Alya screamed. "I knew it I knew it! Wait, hold the phone. Does that mean he didn't? Why the heck not?!"

"Well we kinda sorta got interrupted. We heard a scream come from outside and then… uh… Adrian ran off. I think to go get help." Marinette thought back to that moment. He had run off in an awful hurry. She knew why she had wanted him gone so quickly – so that she could change into Ladybug – but why had he run off in a flash?

"Wait," Alya interrupted her train of thought, "there was an Akuma attack tonight? That's two in one day! I didn't even know, what with the whole Nino thing."

"You must really like him to be paying him so much attention you miss a Ladybug appearance," Marinette teased.

"Ugh, that's the problem isn't it. He better be worth it!" The two girls laughed. "But actually Mari, that's such amazing news. You're finally making progress!"

"Am I though?" Marinette replied, having doubts.

"Wait, of course you are. What's the matter?" Alya asked, immediately trying to console her friend without even knowing the cause.

"I don't know. I just got to thinking. He did run off in a hurry after he heard the scream. Kind of... too quickly. Do you think he realized what was about to happen and thought that he would regret it? Or maybe he never even meant for it to happen and realized that what I was leaning in for and needed to avoid an awkward encounter. Oh god Alya I can't show my face tomorrow." Marinette muffled this last part into her pillow and she felt a sense of impending doom fall over her.

"Okay, woah, don't jump ahead of yourself. You don't know what he's feeling, and I wasn't there so I can't say I know either. But, from what you've said, I think we can assume he was going to kiss you and is just such a good guy that he didn't stop to think when he heard trouble and shot to action. Further, you don't have much choice about showing your face tomorrow, because tomorrow is the day you're getting judged on your designs, so you better show up!"

Marinette had totally forgotten about the contest with everything that was happening in her life right now. Remembering this now, the knot in her throat only increased in size. "Oh my god, the contest. I have to see Adrian and his Dad judge my work tomorrow."

"Well actually, only Adrian's dad is judging the wo-"

"Alya, how on earth am I going to face him tomorrow without losing all the feeling in my legs and falling over?"

"I believe in you and your coordination abilities. You two are, if nothing else, obviously friends now. So just treat him like a friend. You can do that, right?"

Marinette took a deep breath and tried to breathe in Alya's wisdom and rationality. She could totally do this. "You're right, I'll just treat him like a friend. Thanks Alya."

"What would you do without me?" Alya replied with a self-mocking sense of cockiness.

Marinette smiled. "Surely I wouldn't be able to go on."

"That's what I thought. Now, unless you're still feeling anxious, I'm going to go to bed, because we do in fact have school tomorrow. So goodnight!"

"Yea, that sounds like a good idea. Goodnight Alya."

With that, Marinette hung up the phone and got up to get ready for bed, knowing that tomorrow was sure to be an eventful day.

..

Marinette woke up before her alarm the next day, her anxiety keeping her from sleeping in. With no hope of being able to sleep any longer, Marinette rolled out of bed, and instead put her efforts into trying to make herself look presentable for Adrian and the judging today. She finally got herself ready enough to go downstairs and grab some breakfast. Her father was already downstairs working the cash at the store, and her mum had brought up a croissant for Marinette to eat for breakfast. Marinette grabbed the croissant from her mother's hand, kissed her on the cheek, and went to head out the door. Her mother wished her luck and Marinette went downstairs. She gave her dad a kick hug before she ran out the door, going to be prompt for school for the first time in a week; she needed to start a clean slate after that bout of detention. She had just rounded the block when she saw a familiar face down the street.

"Hey, Marinette!" Nino shouted, as he jogged towards Marinette, a big Nino grin plastered on his face.

"Oh, hey Nino!" Marinette replied.

"Mind if I walk with you?" Nino asked, already following step with her.

"Of course not, the more the merrier. So… how was your weekend?" Marinette asked coyly, knowing very well how his weekend was.

"Uh," Nino said, a slight blush forming on his face, "it was… pretty good if I do say so myself."

"In case you were wondering, I heard Alya had a pretty good weekend as well," Marinette teased, letting Nino know that she knew what happened. Nino let out a chuckle and a bit of a sigh, then smiled.

"I'm really glad to hear that she also enjoyed her weekend… activities." Nino blushed a bit again, a big cheeky grin on his face. "So, although I'm not surprised, I take it this means Alya told you about our… uh… encounter."

"Oh come on Nino, just call it what it was. You and Alya had a hot date and have another one on Tuesday, and yes I know all about it." Marinette grinned at Nino and he elbowed her playfully. Like a brother. Marinette and Nino had always gotten along, their relationship always being platonic (from her side anyway, but Marinette couldn't imagine Nino ever feeling anything more than that for her. Especially now, given his feelings for her friend). So, she didn't mind the prospect of spending more time with Nino.

"Yea, well, that," Nino said. "Anyway, I actually was wondering… do you know what Alya's favourite flower is? I would kind of like to surprise her with them tomorrow."

"Awww Nino that is so sweet. Well, she really likes tulips if I remember correctly. Especially yellow ones." Nino grinned and obviously made a mental note of the remark. They two friends arrived at school joking and laughing, arriving well before the bell. Marinette was happy with herself. She said her goodbyes to Nino and went up to Miss Bustier's class to hand in her essay and calendar before class started. She really wanted to start out this week better. Just as she was going to go up the stairs, she was beat to the staircase.

"Mademoiselle Cheng, I see you've managed to be on time today," Adrian said, turned towards Marinette, but blocking the staircase so she couldn't go up. There was a hint of teasing in his eyes, and a somewhat flirtatious tone, but Marinette couldn't be sure. "Friend. I can do friends," Marinette thought to herself.

"As are you Monsieur Agreste. What a pleasant surprise," Marinette replied back, teasing him right back.

Adrian gasped in mock horror. Similar to that of a certain cat she knew. Instead of finding the similarities shocking, like she might have before, she simply found it amusing. She was just grateful that Adrian had opened up enough to show this friendlier side of himself.

"Excuse me. I have never been late a day in my life!" Adrian joked back, as Marinette pushed him up the stairs, causing him to try and walk up the stairs backwards, which did not prove to be an easy task.

"Yea, this essay that I'm about to hand in that you should also be handing in really spells out the same story." Adrian somehow managed to stumble his way up the staircase – with a lot of coordination for a simple fashion model, Marinette thought to herself – and Marinette knocked on the teacher's door. She was greeted with an "Entrez!" from the other side of the glass, and she went into the classroom.

"Ah, Marinette, Adrian, I'm glad to see you so early to class. I trust you have your essays?" Miss Bustier commented, and a small grin formed on her face when Adrian and Marinette placed their essays and calendars on her desk. "Thank you. The bell is about to ring, so you might as well take your seats now. Adrian, I believe your father should be showing up any time now to announce the winner of the contest, so I'll nod to you when it's time and you can join me at the front. Does that work with you?"

"That will work out well for me ma'am, thank you," Adrian replied, took his seat in front of Marinette, and she did the same. As Marinette sat in front of Adrian, staring at the back of his head, her nerves went flying through the roof. If she won this contest, Adrian would wear her suit down the runway this Saturday. The time with Adrian would of course be welcome, but more importantly, this would be such an amazing start to her career. So, she sat, earnestly waiting for the bell to ring, signaling the beginning of class, and if she was lucky, the beginning of her future.