Ch 6. The Butterfly effect

Marinette wasn't sure how it had happened. The only thing she knew was that she had ended up getting a date with Adrien Agreste.

Okay, scratch that. She actually did know how it had happened, but she couldn't believe her luck. She also couldn't believe it had turned out so well.

You see, everything was part of one of Alya's multiple schemes of what she called "making her OTPs canon". They had known for a while that their class was going to get a big assignment for their art class soon; they had two weeks to work with a partner in a painting, where they had to show two different art styles in the same canvas, and that would be half of their score in that subject.

Marinette was actually excited to start that project. She had wanted to test for a while if she could draw something else than clothes, and that was the perfect opportunity for it. Moreover, she was teaming up with Alya, which wasn't very fond of drawing, but also could defend herself with charcoal and paint. They had this.

That was until two days before their teacher announced the theme for their painting.

They were in their classroom, in the little recess between classes. Everyone was talking about their nearing assignment with different excitement. Chloe was in her seat with Sabrina, gloating about the painter that would do the work for her while she got her nails done. Alix and Kim were fighting each other to see who got to pair up with Nathaniel, who had buried his head in his sketchbook in order to avoid any stray hits that might come from the competitive pair. Rose was chatting animatedly with Juleka, expressing how excited she was to see what they needed to draw, while the taller girl just smiled fondly at her excitement.

And Adrien was hunched in his seat, concentrated in the paper in front of him. Marinette couldn't help but sigh at the adorable sight that was Adrien Agreste focusing on something, and she found herself feeling curious about what he was doing. Was he writing another poem, perhaps? She had loved the last one he'd written.

Adrien chose that moment to straighten up, and Nino leaned to his side to look at whatever the blond boy had been scribbling on the paper. Both girls watched Nino's face turn from a frown, to surprise, to an expression torn between horror and amusement.

"Dude."

"I know." Adrien winced.

"Dude."

"What? What is it?" Alya asked beside her. Both boys turned to look at her, and Nino rubbed his neck.

"My bro and I were going to team up for the art project. I'm not very good at drawing, and I had hoped Adrien knew what he was doing, with his father being a top designer, and stuff. Then I asked him if he could draw me something, and…"

Then Nino took the paper lying on the table and handed it to them. Alya grasped it with eager hands, and both girls hunched over the paper, looking at what was drawn on it. Marinette could only describe it as a black blotch with weird appendages, with some colour here and there. To be honest, even some toddlers managed to draw better than this. However, it reminded her of something, but she couldn't quite put a finger on what…

"Oh my god," Alya gasped.

"I know." The blond boy winced in embarrassment. "I'm horrible at drawing."

"Well, everyone has their own Achilles' heel, I guess. You couldn't be perfect in everything you did, sunshine. How have you managed to pass art until now, though?"

He shrugged. "Either we had handiwork projects, which I did just fine, or I paired up with someone that could cover for my… lack of talent. Everything had gone quite okay until now."

Nino put a hand on his shoulder in kindred, and Adrien nodded at him, a moment of comradery going between them. This moment was completely ignored by Alya, who kept on looking at the drawing, tilting the paper slightly and frowning.

"Well… you could say you did an abstract painting, I guess. What even is this black splotch? Is it a cockroach?"

"It has to be a black chair, isn't it, Adrien?"

Marinette shook her head, but no one noticed it. She knew what the drawing represented, she was sure she knew, but her mind failed to give her the answer. It was at the tip of her tongue…. If only she could just-

"Nino, how can you say this is a chair? It has too many legs to be a chair, and I think Adrien knows that too."

The boy shrugged. "it can be one of those modern chairs, you know? With weird shapes and stuff. The other day I saw one chair in Ikea that had three legs, so everything's possible."

"But Nino, this chair would have a leg in the middle of the seat! You wouldn't be able to sit! It's ridiculous! Who wants a chair like this?"

"There's eccentric people everywhere. Remember that exposition we went three weeks ago? It had a chair hanging from the ceiling. Are you going to sit on that chair too?"

"That was art, Nino. Really weird, and completely useless art, but art nonetheless."

"And this drawing falls to the art category, too. It's just a sketch."

Alya rolled her eyes at the boy's insistence. "You're not going to convince me, Nino. This is a cockroach, not a chair."

Marinette's eyebrows furrowed. It wasn't a cockroach. It was-

Adrien called for their attention, looking a bit sheepish. "Actually, it's-"

"A cat!" Marinette exclaimed, hitting the table animatedly. "It has to be a black cat. See? If you squint, you can see the ears on top of its head. The thing you said it was a weird leg is its tail. And this bright spot in the middle is a bell, am I right?" she raised her eyes from the drawing, and saw the three of them startled by her outburst. She started to shrink in herself, feeling self-conscious. "… A-at least, it's what I think."

Adrien's face brightened, and grabbed her hand between his two hands, shaking it excitedly. Marinette felt herself combust.

"That's right! It's a cat." He then looked at Nino and Alya. "See? My drawing skills aren't that bad."

"Well…" escaped from Marinette lips before she could stop herself. She brought her free hand to cover her mouth at the same time that Adrien looked back at him, betrayal with a hint of amusement clear in his face.

"Remind me why am I friends with all of you? Just so you can gang up on me?" he let go of Marinette's hand, and she hid as much as she could the pang of disappointment she felt. He leaned backwards dramatically, sighing. "No one here appreciates my art."

Alya rolled her eyes again, and looked closer at the picture. "I mean, now that Mari said it… I guess I can see it." She handed him back the drawing. "Anyway, I know how Nino draws and, honestly, if you two pair up for this project… you're screwed."

"Wow, dude, thanks for your kind words." Nino huffed.

It was then when Marinette saw it. That glint in Alya's eyes, the one she got when she had an idea but wanted to hide it. The glint she got when she was about to manipulate everyone around her so they ended following her plan without her saying anything about the matter. Marinette shuddered, expecting the worst.

"Say… what if we change partners? Marinette and I can cover for your mistakes this way, and we can manage to get a decent score this way. Nino and I can pair up, and Adrien, you can go with Marinette. After all, she's the only one that could understand your art."

Said girl opened her mouth to protest, but closed it again when Adrien turned to look at her with the most shining, cutest puppy eyes she had ever seen in her life. All her protests flew away from her mind, and she could just stare dumbly at him.

"Would you really pair up with me, Marinette?"

She could only nod dumbly at him. if it was even possible, his smile widened, and Marinette really feared she was going to have a heart attack, considering how fast it was beating.

"Great! So why don't we meet after school and decide what to work on?" Another silent nod. "Then, it's settled. Thank you, Marinette, I really owe you one."

The bell signalling the beginning of the class tolled, and both boys turned ahead. Marinette let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, and felt her heart trying to regain its normal pace.

"I guess someone has a date," Alya whispered mischievously. Marinette looked at her doe-eyed.

"I'm meeting Adrien this afternoon. It'll be just the two of us. Alya! What if I mess up?"

She shrugged her shoulders in answer. "I believe in you. You've managed to pull of some crazy stunts under pressure, and it's not the first time it's been just the two of you, right? You did manage to survive the UMS tournament training with him, didn't you?"

"An Akuma kind of interrupted us, but I see your point." She sighed. "I messed up a bit, and I was still a bit too jittery around him, but it was fine, I guess. Maybe… maybe I can do it?"

"I know you can, girl. You'll do great in this totally-not-a-date-just-painting-buddies date, I know it."

Marinette nodded alongside her, feeling her confidence coming back. She could do it. She'd managed to be alone with Adrien before, and this wasn't that different. She'll just need to control her babbling and stutter. Piece of cake.

When the bell tolled, signalling the end of school, Adrien and she went to their totally-not-a-date-just-painting-buddies date. They decided to go to the park, both of them agreeing that it could be a good place for getting inspiration for their project. So, sketchbook in hand, they sat in one of the park benches, chatting amicably and trying to come up with something to draw.

At first, Marinette had felt jittery and awkward, not sure about how to answer his questions, or how to even articulate correct human speech, but after a while, she got used to it. She began relaxing in his presence, and actually started feeling as herself, her stupid crush on him out of the way.

She made drafts of some flowers, trees and the fountain in front of them, and actually laughed a bit when he showed her his sketches. She immediately apologized for it, but he shook his head in answer, his cheerful smile showing he wasn't annoyed by it.

She was concentrated in her drawing, trying to make her hibiscus look more like the real thing, when Adrien spoke up.

"Hey, isn't this the bench we were sitting on when the Gamer attacked?"

"Huh?" she raised her eyes from the paper and looked around. "Oh, it is! We were having my mum's quiche in here."

"It is! God, your mum's quiche is the best I've had in my life. I'm dying to get a taste of it again."

"Why don't we meet up at my home next time, then? I can ask my mother to prepare some more, if you wish."

"You could do that?"

she nodded. "Yeah, sure."

He grinned. "That would be awesome! Thanks, Mari."

She returned his grin and looked down at the paper. However, she stopped before her pencil touched the paper. Had she… had she invited Adrien to come over? To her home? Without second-guessing, stuttering or making a fool of herself?

She… she actually didn't feel nervous at all. Yeah, sure, she was still head over hills for Adrien, but she didn't feel herself falling apart every time she spoke to him. She raised her gaze to the boy sitting beside her again. He was concentrated on his own sketchbook, his brow scrunched in a tiny frown, and he was tapping his pencil against his lips, trying to come up with something to draw about. She felt her heart speed up at the adorable sight, but her brain didn't turn into pooty.

"Hey, Adrien-"

She saw something from the corner of her eye. Something fluttery and dark, and flying at their direction. All her senses high-lightened, and her instincts brewed in battle kicked in.

"AKUMA!"

They bolted immediately from their seats and leaped behind the bench, putting as much distance as possible between them and the bug. Marinette crouched and reached for her earrings, trying not to lose sight of the threat, and Adrien stood in a guarded position, his eyes never leaving the butterfly, and his right hand clenched tightly.

At this position, she could look at the threat better, which, after a couple of seconds, she regretted she could do. Because in front of them wasn't a dangerous Akuma, no. Instead it was a…

"A… butterfly," she stuttered, "a normal, totally non-threatening butterfly."

Marinette felt her cheeks blaze up in embarrassment. Adrien chuckled breathlessly, running his hand through his perfect hair, making it look puffy and at bit wild.

"Wow, that startled me." He chuckled nervously.

"I-I'll say." She placed a hand on her chest, feeling her fast heartbeat. "That almost gave me a heart attack."

He bumped shoulders with her. "With everything going on, butterflies aren't the same, huh?"

"No, they're not."

Marinette picked up her sketchbook, which she had thrown in her haste to get away from the butterfly. She patted the surface, getting rid of the dirt, and closed it properly.

"Well, I think we've had enough emotions for today, don't you? Maybe we can call it a day."

"Sure. Should we meet at your place next? We could discuss what we're going to do with our project then."

"Sounds good to me. I'll make sure I tell my mother to prepare a quiche."

His face brightened. "You're a godsend, Marinette."

So, after short goodbyes, both teenagers parted ways. The clasp of her purse opened, and Tikki looked at her from the inside, smiling at her.

"Well, this date didn't go as bad as you thought it would, did it?"

"Yeah! There was a point I didn't even feel nervous. Although the butterfly freaked me out a bit."

Tikki nodded. "Remember; you have to be careful, Marinette. I almost thought you were going to transform in front of Adrien. You have to keep your identity secret from everyone. Remember what we said about protecting everyone?"

"I know, Tikki. I wasn't going to transform in front of him, I just wanted to make sure the, well, the butterfly didn't possess him. However, I'll be more careful from now on."

Her kwami nodded proudly at her, and Marinette made her way home, the incident with the butterfly becoming a silly anecdote really fast. However, what Marinette didn't expect was that this silly episode put in motion a series of events that would change her world sooner than she expected.

After working in their sketches for some days, they decided to meet up at Marinette's house, as promised. They shared ideas back and forth, what surprised Marinette for the lack of nerves from her side. They both finally settled on one design, and they started sketching it on their canvas, Marinette giving Adrien tips on how to draw it better.

After what felt only minutes, her mother opened the hatch of her room with a just made quiche, and Adrien almost dropped his charcoal pencil for the delicious smell. They both decided to take a rest, and placed their pencils and sketchbooks aside to have a well-deserved snack.

Adrien bit into his portion of quiche, managing to stifle a moan just in time. "Marinette, this is amazing."

"I'm glad you like it. My mother was ecstatic when I told her you were coming, and started cooking it even before I told her to."

"I have to thank her later. I had missed her quiche."

Marinette covered her mouth with a hand and giggled. "But you already did, Adrien."

Adrien felt his stomach flutter with something that had nothing to do with the quiche he was eating at the moment.

They fell in a companionable silence, both of them eating their treat. It was strange, Adrien mused, how at ease he felt with the dark-haired girl. Long gone was the painfully shy girl that couldn't speak to him; in her place stood a girl confident in herself, albeit a bit self-conscious sometimes, talented and caring. He didn't know what had struck that change in her, or if it was him the one who had changed instead, but he was glad it'd happen.

His eyes rested on their rough draft. You could see clearly which of the halves was Marinette's; her strokes were delicate and precise, beautiful images resurfacing from soft hands. While his were… well. Better than before, at least.

Which wasn't saying much in his case.

It was then when he noticed it. From the corner of his eye he saw something moving, fluttering around Marinette's room. Something dark, and with a familiar shape.

Without thinking, he grabbed one of the notebooks and threw it at the bug, his heart in his throat. Marinette was startled by the loud sound, and jumped on her seat, immediately on guard. Both of them looked as the bug avoided the notebook, just to flutter by and land on the wall.

"It's a… moth," Marinette muttered, heart racing.

"A… moth," Adrien gaped, his face burning.

There was a stifling silence in the room, until they both burst out laughing. The moth flew out of the room, ignored by both teenagers, which were trying not to cry because of the hilarity of the situation. With aching stomachs and heaving chests, they tried to calm down, bursting in silly giggles when their eyes landed on each other.

"Oh my god, we're a bit too weary of butterflies, aren't we?" Marinette commented, cleaning some stray tears from her eyes.

"We are," Adrien answered, eyes shining with mirth, "Hawk Moth is going to make everyone paranoid. Butterflies will be extinct by the hand of scared Parisians thinking they're going to be Akumatised again."

"Poor little bugs. They've done nothing wrong."

"Well, that's what Ladybug and Chat Noir are here for, isn't it? To defeat Hawk Moth and liberate butterflies from the citizens' paranoia."

They smiled at each other, their minds thinking on their partners, not realising they were sitting beside each other.

Marinette snapped out of her musings, and grabbed their charcoal pencils. She handed one to Adrien. "So, should we resume our work?"

He nodded, grabbing the pencil. "Yeah, let's."

They fell back again into their comfortable silence, working together flawlessly.

Despite working together most of the afternoon, they didn't manage to finish their assignment. So they decided to meet again, this time at Adrien's home. His father was out of town, preparing an exhibition in Milan, so Adrien was using his chance to show as many friends as he could his home, knowing that was an extraordinary situation.

Marinette took her surroundings calmly, getting a good look on the mansion for the first time. The only times she had been there had been for akuma attacks, so she hadn't had time to dwell on the details.

And oh, wasn't that place gorgeous.

Tall ceilings and stylish decorations greeted her in every room, making the designer in her swoon in delight. She tried to notice as much details as possible, taking in the unique style of one of the most successful designers of Paris. Although the big painting at the main hall was a bit too gloomy for her liking.

They made their way to the kitchen, and prepared some snacks for themselves. Carrying the dishes and two mugs, they made their way to Adrien's room. Just as she stepped in, her eyes directly darted to the door she knew lead to the shower. Trying not to blush at the memory, she let her eyes wander around, remembering the last time she'd been there. But for the sake of her anonymity, she made it seem as if it was the first time she saw it, 'oh'-ing and 'ah'- ing when necessary.

"Your room is so big, Adrien. 5-year-old me would be so jealous. Imagine how huge of a blanket fort you can build here. You could have a huge castle!"

Adrien smiled to himself, the image of an adorable tiny Marinette wearing a pink princess dress in his mind. He'd known his nickname fitted her.

Marinette left her dish and mug on the table, snorting when she caught a glimpse his drawing of a cat. She didn't know he liked his own drawing so much. She stopped to look at his computer screen, which had switched on when she moved his mouse on accident-She looked up at Adrien with a tiny smile on her face, and he was startled to see how similar his mother and Marinette's smiles were. Huh.

"Your room really is amazing, Adrien. It's a shame you can't invite people over normally."

He shrugged, shaking out his thoughts of smiles from his mind. "At least I can invite you guys to come over now, don't I?"

"Yeah."

They grinned at each other, then sat down, nibbling at their treats. Her eyes roamed around, landing on a cardboard box tucked under the table, looking like it was about to burst.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing at the box. Adrien followed the direction where she was pointing to.

"Oh, they're gifts from fans."

"Do you get many of those?" she asked.

He scratched his neck. "Sometimes, mostly in runaways. I haven't had time to go through that box, to be honest."

Now, Marinette knew she couldn't be nosy. Fan gifts were something very personal, and that conveyed their feelings towards their object of admiration. But her eyes kept on trailing on the cardboard box, begging her to open it and dig in. Adrien, noticing her curiosity, couldn't help but chuckle amused.

"Do you want to go through it?"

Marinette faced him, her eyes wide. "N-no! It's your thing! Even though I'm slightly curious I couldn't go through your fans' stuff like that. Moreover, we have to finish our projects and-"

Marinette's ramble was stopped by Adrien's hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him with wide doe-like eyes, and Adrien had to stop himself from chuckling at the sight. Or swoon. Either or.

"Marinette, I don't mind. We're almost finished with our project; we can afford slacking off for a bit. Moreover, two hands are better than one, right?"

She shrugged. "I-I guess."

He stood up, and took the box out from under the table. He picked it up with a soft 'oof' and placed it in front of them, opening the lapels. He threw his arms open wide, and she laughed at his theatrics.

"There you have it, Marinette. A box full of secrets for us to dig in."

She shook her head, but couldn't keep the smile off her face. "Shall we, then?"

So they both dug in. The box was full of little knickknacks, like bracelets, handmade figurines—some of them smashed due to the transportation, and turned into dust—, scrapbooks and letters. She also spotted a Ladybug action figure, and pretended to cleanse a non-existent akuma. Adrien fell off his seat in laughter at that.

After putting on a long pink scarf with mittens in the ends, and Adrien putting on a beanie with cat ears, she took out a really well enveloped package. She looked at the signature, frowning when the only thing she could read was 'Fu', and proceeded to unwrap the present. Her eyes widened when two really good copies of her yoyo and Chat's baton fell on her lap.

"Adrien, look!"

Said boy had just put on a flower crown on top of his beanie when Marinette had called for his attention. He scooped over to where she sat, and his eyes widened at the objects Marinette was holding.

"Whoa." He reached for Chat's baton, twisting it around. He was amazed by the amount of detail it had. "This is amazing. Was there any letter or something to go with it?"

She shook her head. "It was just signed by someone named Fu, or something like that. I couldn't read anything else." She shifted one of the yoyo faces, discovering a pocket mirror underneath. "Look, it's really detailed. Someone put a lot of thought into this."

"I know. Yours is a real yoyo, right? Wait, let me-" he pressed on both ends of his baton, and the toy extended instantly. Adrien couldn't help but smile saucily at it. "This is so cool!"

"I know! I-"

Suddenly, something dark fluttered in the corner of their eyes. Acting instinctively, they pounced, Marinette throwing her yoyo at the threat, while Adrien swung his baton expertly, trying to hit the bug. Marinette's yoyo landed on his table, knocking down a mug full of pencils and pens, while Adrien hit a stack of papers, which flew around the room.

Neither of them said anything when the dark butterfly landed on Adrien's computer screen, her wings fluttering slightly before taking flight again.

Marinette was the first one to react, as her eyes widened in horror at the mess they had made. "Oh my god Adrien, I'm so sorry!"

"No, no, don't worry. We're both at fault." She scratched the back of his head. The flower crown had fallen off his head, and the cat beanie was askew. "We're a bit too edgy with butterflies, aren't we?"

Marinette breathed out. "Yeah. After all, you haven't been akumatised, right?"

"Nope. I don't remember seeing you akumatised either." He looked down at the mess by his feet, and sighed. "I'll better clean up this mess."

Marinette turned to Adrien's table, clearing away all the pens and pencils. So Adrien hadn't been akumatised yet? Well, she would remember if he had, but it had just struck her how strange it was, when almost everyone in their class had been akumatised but them. Considering how stressful his life was, it was a matter of time. She frowned; she'll make sure that doesn't happen.

Her eyes landed on her yoyo, the lid hiding the mirror slightly open. She opened it fully with her fingers, smiling at herself when Adrien's awful cat was reflected on the mirror. How she had guessed it was a cat in the first place, she had no idea.

Until her eyes rested on a painfully familiar spotted drawing.

Marinette untucked the paper from his wall, bringing it closer to her. There it was, Ladybug's signature beside that awful cat. She turned the paper around, and saw the drawing of a better looking cat following a flying ladybug that looked like Tikki.

She remembered the night she had drawn that. She had been sketching on a rooftop after their patrol, waiting for Chat Noir to show up, when he'd jumped on her—that was why there saw a thick black line going from his tail to his paw. After their usual teasing, she had dared him to draw something, and he had used the same paper to draw a cat himself, or at least that was what he said he'd drawn.

The drawing had her doubling over with laughter, and had been grumbling for ten minutes just because of that. As an apology, she drew her signature beside his cat, saying that 'every Chat should have a Ladybug beside him', and he was over the moon for that. He'd asked to keep the drawing, and Ladybug had accepted, thinking she would never see that drawing again.

But she had. And god, despite her initial reticence and Tikki's request, wasn't she ecstatic that she had.

She turned around abruptly, and Adrien was startled out of picking up the sheets, which slipped from his fingers and fell once again to the floor. He had rearranged his beanie, and the fake cat ears rested just at the same spot where his ears would be within costume. Marinette giggled at the sight, not understanding how could she been so stupid to miss all the clues staring at her face.

"What? What is it?"

She showed him the drawing, and laughed harder. "That's why I recognised it! You had shown me your cat the night before."

His eyes went from the drawing to the laughing girl. "What?"

"We've been so stupid!" She covered her forehead, her body still shacking with giggles. "After all this time dancing around each other, and it has to be your drawing that outs you."

He just blinked at her, uncomprehending. "I don't understand."

She smiled excitedly at him. "What I'm trying to say is that you're Chat Noir."

All at once, his body froze and his mind reeled up in panic. How!? How could have she guessed!? He had been really careful with his identity; he had made sure of that? So what could have outed him!? Okay, the cat beanie hadn't been very conspicuous, but it had been both cute and hilarious, and he had to put it on. But that shouldn't have outed him! That was impossible!

He waved his hands in denial, his face falling into his model smile, although he felt it was a bit too crooked to be convincing. "M-Marinette, what are you talking about? I'm not-"

She rolled her eyes and interrupted him. "Chaton, stop it. I know it's you. I drew the other half of this drawing, after all." He looked at her, eyes wide, and she continued. "Then, after you finished drawing your cat, I drew a ladybug, because every Chat should-"

"-have a Ladybug beside him," he muttered, his eyes never leaving her. He took a step forward, ignoring the papers thrown around them. "My… My Lady?"

She reached up and tugged at one of his fake ears. "My Chaton."

He took another step, until they were almost flush against each other. Neither of them flinched at the action. After all, they were already used to the closeness.

Adrien placed a hand on her cheek, and his warmth sent shivers down her spine. "Is that really you?"

"Yup."

Suddenly, he dragged her to him, capturing her lips with his. Marinette had enough time to close her eyes, a soft gasp leaving her lips, and when she was about to answer, he drew back abruptly.

"Sorry!" he blurted out, "I-I wasn't thinking, and- Oh god, I kissed you! I'm sorry, please don't be mad- I just-"

She kissed him to shut him up, and she had her desired result. He looked at her wide eyed, his mouth slightly parted. She felt herself blush at his gaze.

"Y-you can do it again. I don't mind. Well, I do mind. Kiss me?" she winced.

Slowly, a full grin made way to his face, reminding her of his superhero counterpart. His arm sneaked around her waist, and pulled her closer. He rubbed his nose with hers, almost swooning at how she scrunched it up cutely.

"As my Lady desires."

He leaned towards her again, this time deliberately. He noticed how her eyes lidded and her breath quickened, and how her cheeks acquired an adorable pink before their lips joined again. If their first kiss had been frenzy and surprise, this one was sweetness and slowness.

Marinette let her hand trail up his chest to his neck, where her fingers buried into his soft hair. He groaned softly in her mouth, and his grip around her tightened, pulling her flush against him. Suddenly, she could feel his heat surrounding her, his wild heartbeat against her chest. She had never felt safer.

However, it seemed that they wouldn't have a peaceful kiss for a while, as a thought chose to cross her mind right at that moment, and Marinette drew away with a start. Adrien blinked down at her, confused. His tousled hair and reddened lips almost made her forget what had made her stop.

"What? What is it?"

"I can't believe the plan worked!"

"Plan? What plan?" He frowned.

"Alya's plan. It actually made her OTPs canon!"

He shook his head, not understanding one bit of what was going on. It seemed to be something that happened around one Marinette Dupain-Cheng quite often.

"Which plan? And which OTPs?"

"Adrienette and Ladynoir. When she proposed the partners change back then, she was actually trying to set us up. Like, in a date." She snorted. "She actually called it the totally-not-a-date-just-painting-buddies date."

His mouth opened in realisation. "Oh."

Marinette shook her head. It seemed so long since that had happened. She couldn't believe everything that had carried them to that point. "Then all these butterflies' freakouts happened, I found our drawing, we revealed ourselves and… well…"

"We made out."

She nodded. "We made out."

He ran a hand through his hair. "So, are you telling me that we are together thanks to one of Alya's half-baked plans and three stupid butterflies?"

"Yep."

He guffawed. "Man, if I'd known it would work, I'd have tried sooner."

Marinette hit his arm playfully, then scratched his nape, earning a soft purr of appreciation. "Now, I think we were in the middle of something?"

Adrien smirked, and tightened his hold around her. "Yeah, I think we were."

She leaned in, but kissed his nose instead, then weaselled out of his arms. "That's right! We have to finish our project. I think we've put it off for too long already, right?"

She put some distance between them, smiling challengingly at him. Understanding instantly what she wanted, he started chasing her around the room, then the whole house, quickly becoming a game of hide and seek. The house filled with loud laughter and cheers, and when night came, the stars twinkled brighter than ever, the only witnesses of Paris' superheroes dancing on the rooftops.