With a long groan, Marinette stumbled up the stairs and across the room, collapsing on her chaise. Tikki flew out from her purse as soon as the trapdoor had shut, fluttering around her head and fretting.

"Marinette! You shouldn't push yourself so hard!" Tikki brushed the bangs from her forehead, resting a little hand on her brow.

"I know, I know, I just need to get everything done before the deadline." Marinette sighed, stretching out her aching legs.

Marinette had signed up for a small fashion competition in the area, just a simple thing where she needed to submit a few outfits and would compete against other local designers. She'd signed up nearly a month ago, and after doing some intense work at the start, forgot all about it until a week before the outfits were due. Of course she had everything planned out, as soon as she'd seen the flier for the event Marinette had started working on design and had the mini-line finalized before she even walked in the doors of the offices where sign-up was held. Now it was just a matter of getting everything cut and sewn before the deadline passed.

Which, considering Marinette's designs were fairly ambitious, was challenging.

She'd had to run all over Paris to find the right supplies, and dug into her rather meager spending money to buy everything. After a day of bartering and testing fabrics, as well as planning out some last minute adjustments, Marinette was exhausted, but still had a lot to do in the next few days.

"Alright," Marinette stood, approaching her dress form, "I just need to pick up that last order tomorrow and finish up the ruffles tonight..."

"Don't burn yourself out!" Tikki warned. "You never know when another akuma will show up and you need to be able to fight."

With a huff and a distracted nod, Marinette continued fidgeting with the fabric while Tikki sighed and took her place at the girl's shoulder. She knew well enough by now that when Marinette had her mind set on something, it was difficult to dissuade her.

After another several hours of work and countless needle pricks later, Marinette's mother came up and sternly sent her daughter to bed.

"You can finish it in the morning, dear." Sabrine insisted, pulling the hem from Marinette's hands and carefully marking her place with a pin.

"But Mamaannn..."

"Bed, Marinette, you need your rest."

Tikki couldn't help but agree as Sabrine left, even tugging Marinette to the dresser to grab her pajamas and get ready for bed.

Marinette drifted through her nighttime routine, relying on Tikki to guide her to the bathroom and laundry hamper to discard her comfortable work clothes. She hobbled up to her loft, grabbing her phone and blindly scrolling through her contacts to send a text to Alya. They hadn't talked all day and her best friend probably thought that she was dead.

Marinette, of course, had to confirm that.

M: i think im gonna dieeeee

Marinette dropped her phone on her stomach, rolling over when it buzzed to read Alya's response.

A: What's going on?

M: just this design thing, its killing me. ive been working for 48 hours straight.

After a brief pause, Alya's response popped up.

A: Design thing? Is that the one we talked about at that restaurant?

M: maybe? i dont remember talking it about it then...

A: I definitely remember you bringing it up!

Marinette had been sure her and Alya had discussed it earlier than that, but maybe she was wrong?

M: ive been so out of it i must have forgotten lmao

A: You have seem a little zoned out lately.

M: um excuse me, r u calling me spacey?

A: No! No, of course not. I didn't mean to offend...

Marinette laughed out loud, surprised by Alya's response. She was usually so quick to jump on an opportunity to poke fun, it was odd for her to take Marinette's jibe seriously.

M: im teasing ya goob, its okay :P

A: Goob?

M: do u prefer goober?

A: Nope, goob is fine :'D

"Marinette..." Tikki chided, peeking up from the other side of her phone.

"Don't worry, I'll wrap it up in a sec." Marinette shooed off the kwami, flipping to her other side.

Marinette continued texting with Alya, a little confused by some of her responses. Marinette would bring up things they'd talked about and Alya wouldn't remember it, though she chalked it up to them both being tired. And it just meant she could tell Alya stories all over again, eliciting interesting reactions. Marinette had just finished retelling the tale of how she'd had to nab Chloe's cell phone on picture day when she remembered a comic she'd seen that she'd wanted to share.

M: wait i just remembered i found something that made me think of us

A:...'us'?

M: yeah one sec

Marinette sorted through her history until she found the comic and pasted the link into the chat. She waited for Alya to read it, anticipating her response, when the bubble popped up.

A: That's cute! Which one am I?

M: i think im the rabbit cause ~pigtails~

A: Obviously

M: and youre the bear cause...youre taller? and you work so hard. i just feel like thats something we'd do, y'know?

A: Yeah... maybe one day.

Marinette stared at her phone, trying to figure out her friend's response when another text popped up.

A: Sorry Marinette, but I have a photo shoot early in the morning so I need to head to bed. But it was nice talking with you!

M: Photo shoot?

A: Yeah, my dad's summer line is coming out soon and he wants the pictures ready for the press release. Hope your designs turn out alright, though I'm sure they will cause they're yours :) good night!

M: night...

"Dad's summer line, what the hell?" Marinette sat up, trying think what Alya could possibly be talking about.

She scrolled up through her messages, rereading some, then toggling back to the main text app screen before letting out a screech and dropping her phone on the bed.

"OH MY GOD!"

"Marinette! Are you alright?" Tikki flew up, looking into her eyes worriedly.

She was obviously panicking, her face red and eyes wide as she pointed at her phone. "I was texting him!"

The kwami blinked in confusion, looking down at the device. "Who?"

"Adrien!"

The next day at school, Marinette was hiding waiting in the girl's bathroom for the bell to ring. She'd already splashed her face with cold water (twice) and now was staring in the mirror, trying to gather up the courage to face the day.

To face Adrien.

"You can do it Marinette! I'm sure he isn't mad, he sounded happy to talk with you!" Tikki tried to reassure her, to little avail.

"Maybe I can say it was a joke? Or that someone stole my phone and texted him? Or! I could say that I was so deliriously tired that I accidently started texting him and hit my head the next day and now I have amnesia so I can't remember it!"

"Or you could tell him the truth?" A sudden voice came from the doorway, and Tikki hurried to hide while Marinette jumped in surprise.

"Alya! What's up?" She attempted to recover and lean naturally against the sinks, only succeeding in slipping a little and getting her shirt wet.

"Other than my best friend acting weird and talking to herself in the bathroom?" Alya rose an eyebrow, looking unimpressed. "Adrien's looking for you."

"He is?!" Marinette all but screeched.

"Wow, can you be a little louder? I don't think they heard you in Australia." Walking up to Marinette, Alya dropped her hands on the girl's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Marinette, what's going on?"

Marinette sighed, slumping and looking down at her shoes. "I was up late working on the designs for the competition last night and when I went to bed I tried to text you but I was actually texting Adrien."

"So...?"

"So! We talked for like, two hours! And I called him a goob." Marinette pouted, looking back up at Alya.

"Is that all?" Alya prompted, smiling slightly.

"It's a big deal!"

"No, it's not." Alya took a step back and laughed, straightening Marinette's shirt for her. "You spent hours talking to your crush and were able to actually relax. That doesn't sound that bad."

"I. Called. Him. A. Goob!" Marinette punctuated each word with a slap to her cheeks..

Alya chuckled again and made for the door. "And now he's looking for you cause he wants to show you something."

Marinette paused, glancing over to where Alya held open the door.

"Adrien wants to show me something?" Her voice was tiny.

"Yeah, so get a move on!" Alya motioned to the door and stepped out herself.

"O-okay."

Marinette trailed hesitantly behind Alya, following her step for step to the classroom. Almost everyone else was already there, sitting in the seats and waiting for Mme Bustier to arrive.

Adrien glanced up from his phone when Alya and Marinette entered, his whole face lighting up when he caught sight of them. He hopped up off his bench and lopped across the room, his toothy smile absolutely devastating. Marinette was amazed that she didn't pass out from the sheer force of it as Adrien came to a stop before them.

"Alya found you!" He beamed and Marinette couldn't quite catch her breath.

"Y-yeah!" Marinette shifted awkwardly, trying to fight off the urge to melt into the ground. "She said you had something t-to show me?"

"Yeah!" Adrien nodded eagerly, pulling up something on his phone before turning it to face her. "I found some more comics by that artist! They're really cute, and there's some good animal puns."

"Animal puns, huh?" Marinette made a pinched face, her mind going to a certain animal themed friend of hers, but read through some of the comics. "Okay that one's pretty funny."

"Which one?" Adrien moved to her side, leaning over her shoulder so they could both see the phone.

"This one here, the T-Rex one." Marinette pointed, glancing up before realizing how close they were and turning bright red.

Adrien was up against her side, and she could feel his laughter vibrating through her back as he chuckled.

"I liked this one," He scrolled back up, seemingly unaware of Marinette's crisis, "'I got a puppet!' It's just so goofy."

"U-um yea-ah." Marinette stuttered, looking at the phone. "Uh, Adrien?"

"Yes?" Adrien blinked down at her, expression curious. He turned red when he realized they were basically nose to nose. "O-oh! Sorry, I didn't mean to get into your space like that."

"No, it's not that!" Marinette was quick to assure him. "It's just..."

It would have been the perfect chance to tell one of her stories she'd come up with, or even the truth. But as he looked down at her, his face slightly red but still smiling and so happy, she couldn't make herself do it.

"Um, I'm just glad that we could text, uh, talk?" Marinette fumbled for the right words. "But, uh, yeah. Oh and that I shared the comic with you. Yeah."

Adrien's smile turned exponentially brighter. "Me too! I really like talking to you, Marinette."

He dropped an arm over her shoulder and gave her a quick, slightly awkward, side hug. Something about the combination of his smile, her name, and his hug was too much for Marinette, and she squeaked in surprise.

"UH! Okay! I'm going to sit down now! For class!" Her voice was pitchy as she managed to give Adrien friendly, if slightly harder than intended, pat on the back. "Good talk!"

Adrien laughed once again, detaching himself from her and pulling back his phone. His eyes crinkled around the edges as he nodded.

"Yeah, good talk."

Marinette made her way to her seat, face burning and avoiding the eyes of nearly everyone in the classroom. Alya have her a thumbs up and a consoling back once she sat and Marinette buried her face in her hands.

When Mme Bustier finally came in, Marinette was able to focus her attention elsewhere. Mid lesson, her phone buzzed, and she pulled it out with a frown. Anyone who would be texting her was already in her classroom, and her parents rarely texted during the school day.

It was a message from Adrien, and attached to it was another one of those comics, this time another one of the bunny and bear ones.

A: It's us!

Marinette giggled quietly, glancing up to see Adrien peeking up at her, phone held loosely in his hand under the table. He gave her a little wink before turning back around to pay attention to class.

Marinette screenshotted the pic and gave a dreamy little sigh, tucking it into her bag. Beside her, Alya sighed and shook her head.

"You two are absolutely hopeless."

AN: All the comics come from , they're some of my faves. The bear and bunny especially.

Also, there's a second chapter that I should be posting soon, same events but from Adrien's perspective!

I realized that I could work this into my Give The Boy a Hug 2k16 series about halfway through, and went back adn changed some stuff around so it would fit. The awkward side hug counts, right?

And finally, fic title is from Jason Mraz's song by the same name :P