Adrien had just gotten back to his room when his phone chimed. Looking at the screen he noticed the time. It was 3:00 o'clock. Mari would just be getting out of school, Speaking of the bug, a message from his popped up on her screen.

Marinette~outside with your homework. Are you ok?

Adrien~ Fine, I'll be right out

Marinette~ ok see you in a minute.

Adrien turned around and walked to the grand entrance and out the door to see 3 figures at the iron gate: Alya Nino and Mari,. The former two dressed in their usual school clothes while Mari was wearing dark jeans and a hoodie. She looked tired. Her hair was in a messy bun smudge concealer under her eyes and none of her usual upper eye makeup was present.

"Hey guys." the blond caught their attention while he was tying in the code for the gate to open.

"Dude, we missed you today" Nino threw an arm around the blond. "Where Where were you?"

The blond scratched his head thinking of a lie "um… it's a secret project for my father.I can't really talk about it because it hasn't been released yet." the Adrien smiled slightly proud of himself for not actually lying.

"Ah come on sunshine, give us the deets we won't tell," Alya said as she started to record on her phone.

"Come on Alya, you know he can't say anything." Marinette piped up "His father's company would implode if an unannounced project were to be leaked. Not to mention Adrien would be grounded for the rest of his life." Marinette piped up. She sent him a nod as she knew the 'project' had nothing to do with fashion. But a villainous Father.

"Aw Mari, why you gotta shoot down your besties chance for a juicy story." Alya bumped the smaller girl with her hip playfully while putting away her phone. Though the unexpected force of the bump knocked the bluenette off balance and she started to spiral downward-in true Marinette fashion. But before she could hit the ground a pair of slim arms wrapped around her.'

"Whoa, you ok Mari?" Adrien asked down to the girl in his arms. She smiled up at him.

"I'm fine," she replied as he helped her upright from her previously slanted position in his arms. "I'm sorry. You know how clumsy I am," she muttered fixing her clothes.

He chuckled "So did I miss anything today in school?" the blond asked still looking at the clumsy girl.

"Nothing out of the usual. Though Chloe did throw a fit over you not being there and how she was going to talk to your father then… something. To be honest when she started yelling I zoned out."

"In other words." Alyas cool voice cut in with a smirk on her face. "You didn't miss anything."

"Well, I don't like to miss school regardless" The blond scratched the back of his neck.

"Adrien. What are you doing out here?" Natalie asked, her voice and footsteps sounded behind him. Adrien didn't need to turn around to know she was marching down the stairs with her usual grace.

"Oh, I was just getting my school work today," he said quickly. "I'm sorry I'll be inside in a minute." the boy looked down.

"Your father sent me out here to see if you would like to invite your friends for a little bit" Adrien looked up I surprise."

"Yes!" he shouted "I mean," he said more quietly "do you guys want to come in?

Nino and Ayla looked excited and surprised. Alya had never seen Adrien's room before and Nino had only seen it once before the Akuma 'party-crasher'. On the other hand, Mari's face had paled and she looked as if she were going into the nest of a dragon- which she was.

"We would love to. Thank you, Miss. Sancouver. Come on girl!" The red-head pulled Mari past the gate followed by Nino and Adrien.

"Thank you, Natalie," he said as he walked next to her into the house.

She nodded in response. "M. Agreste is very busy right now. Adrien, please take your friends up to your room. If you get hungry just let the kitchen know." With that, she walked into his father's office and disappeared from sight.

"Ok, um my room is right up here." He motioned to the steps and walked up them opening the door for his friends. Who marveled at his room.

"Wow, sunshine Your room is bigger than my whole apartment." Alya looked around

"I know My bros got a sweet pad." Nino took his book bag off his shoulder and jumped on the couch while Alya sat next to him.

"So what subject do you guys want to start on first?" Mari asked sitting on the couch a few feet away from the almost cuddling couple that was Alya and Nino. She dug through her bag looking for her tablet. "I think we should do chemistry since we have the most homework in that and since we have Adrien with us." She pulled out her tablet and her notebook.

"Why me?" Adrien asked dropping down next to her so that his thigh was almost touching Mari's, digging into his book bag and pulling out his supplies.

"Because you're the one who understands this stuff," Mari said, pulling up the online worksheet. Alya and Nino did the same. Then she casually took Adrien's tablet out of his hands to pull up the same lab. Alya and Nino saw them and then slowly gave each other a look.

"So question 1" Alya said, moving onto the worksheet.

They worked on all their homework and got done within an hour, even though they were joking around the entire time. Once they were done the 4 decided to watch a movie- the Ladybug and Chat Noir movie. Adrien called down to the kitchen to send up some popcorn, along with other assorted snacks, like fruit, sweets and of course cheese. They got about 10 minutes in when Mari leaned over and whispered in her partner's ear

"I can't believe that no one figured it out." Her warm breath tickled his ear and she smirked.

"I know, Do you know how much of that was unscripted? If the director hadn't liked me and the unscripted lines, I would have been fired." he breathed back into her ear, throwing an arm around her shoulders.

She blushed and whispered back "Getting comfortable there mon chaton?"

"Oh I'm purr-fectly comfortable buginnte." he whispered., just as her phone buzzed

Ayla~What's going on with you and Adrien.

Mari~What do you mean?

Alya~Girl he has his arm around you and you're aren't at a stuttering mess. You're also whispering in each other's ear.

Mari~ Huh. Weird

She put her phone down and snuggled into Adrien's form a little more to make her best friend fume a little bit. They hadn't talked about it yet, and with all that was going on, she wasn't going to push it. She was his partner and friend, She was going to be there for him.

The movie eventually ended and the sun was getting low in the sky. Soon Nino's dad was there to pick up both Alya and Nino. Adrien walked them out while Mari cleaned up the room a little and packed up her school bag.

"So it's just us now," Adrien said grabbing her attention, He was leaning on the door frame with his arms crossed.

"So it is," she replied still packing up her bag. "Are you ok? I'm worried about you, and I'm worried about Wayzz-..." she thought about it for a second. "Oh my god, Wayzz, Plagg are you guys ok?" she called, looking around for two flying green and black blurs, and blinked when she found not two but three tiny gods flying down from the second floor.

"Yes, we are ok. Thank you for your concern," Wayzz said as he dropped down into her open hand.

"Speak for yourself, I'm hungry." Plagg moaned, diving into the mostly untouched cheeses still on the plate.

"Plagg" Tikki flew over to the plate and pulled her yin, up by the scruff of his neck. "Can't you see that this is important? More important than your cheese obsession."

Plagg wiggled out of her grasp and dove back to the plate. "Sugar cube, there is nothing more important than cheese."

"Really." She crossed her tiny arms. "So is cheese more important than me?" she asked, watching smugly as the black cat froze.

"No," he said quietly. Then went back to eating his cheese, The sincerity in his voice took Tikki by surprise. She softly smiled and shook her head pulling Wayzz over to some fruit, while she grabbed a cookie and sat next to Plagg.

"They're kind-of entertaining," Adrien whispered in her ear wrapping his arms around her shoulders from behind. It was a weirdly intimate gesture that made her blush.

you will probably have a strange relationship. I think it's cute." She leaned her head on his arm. They stayed like this for a few minutes, and just as they had pulled apart the door opened.

Gabriel walked in looking as stern as ever. "Adrien, I would like to talk to you," He turned, and then blinked when he caught sight of Mari as if he had just noticed the other person in the room. "Miss Dupain-Cheng. I was under the impression that you and your friends had left."

She paled looking at her nemesis. She felt a strike of fear go through her but then remembered that one of his powers was to be able to sense emotion. She carefully boxed up her fear and pushed it down.

"Oh, I'm sorry sir. I was just leaving. Alya and Nino left a few minutes ago together since they live close together. I live a few blocks down so I was just going to walk home. I just got finished packing up my school books," she rambled cursing herself in her mind for acting weird.

"Why don't you stay for dinner? Then my driver can drive you home." When she tried to decline, he held his hand up. "I insist Miss Dupain-cheng, as I would like to see how your designs have improved."

With no other options, she was forced to agree. "Ok, I will M. Agreste." She nodded looking down at her feet.

"Natalie will let you know when dinner is done." And with that, the fashion mongrel walked out of the room. Mari breathed a sigh of semi relief.

"Did that just happen kitty?" she asked

"I think so. I think my father likes you?" he said, just as confused as she was. They were in for a long night.

Hello, I'm sorry it took over 2 months for this to get out. I've been really busy with school and I've been sick a few times as well. I just want to say a huge thanks to my Beta Anne-Norelica her tumbler is . go check her out she does all sorts of things and her soul needs to be blessed after the rough draft I sent her. reviews are my reasons to live, so make sure to do that. See you in the next chapter! ~birdy