#halfway to the bakery Adrien is like ‘I guess nathalie told you I’m in love with marinette’

[snoozingcat]

Monarch should exploit Chat Noir’s feelings for Marinette Dupain-Cheng…maybe with a romantic rival. I bet if he picked someone really well-known and liked and handsome like, say, his own son, Adrien Agreste, and helped him woo Marinette, Chat Noir would get so upset he got akumatized!

That’s just what I would do. Strategically.

[rena-rain]

...Smile the Brightest

The saddest people…

It’s that friend you never thought you’d have to worry about. The one with the infectious laugh. The one you don’t know is hiding the most pain.

Marinette realizes she should have been watching closer.

ao3 link

----

Marinette was struggling to keep her eyes open. Hawk Moth had decided three AM was an excellent time to release an akuma. The fight was over by three-twenty, but the adrenaline and nerves and general anxiety kept her awake much longer. She woke up frustrated and dead on her feet.

She was late for school and kept tripping over low walls and her own feet and fire hydrants she didn’t see because of her falling eyelids. It all culminated when she miscalculated where she walked and slammed her shoulder into the locker room door. She heard a stifled gasp. Marinette froze on instinct, listening. There was a moment of silence followed by a sudden series of hard, shuddering gasps.

Somebody was crying, and holed up in the locker room to hide it. Cautiously, Marinette turned the corner.

“Oh my god, Adrien!” She rushed to his side, knelt where he was curled up against the lockers with his face buried in this knees, and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “What happened? What’s wrong?”

He didn’t reply, just cried harder. Heart in her stomach, Marinette wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Adrien tucked his head into her neck and gripped her tight. His body shook against hers. Hot tears spilled onto her skin.

Marinette had no idea how long they sat there on the cold ground as Adrien sobbed. It hurt to see him like this. But the only thing she could do was stay and stroke his hair, letting him cry himself out.

Once the tears petered out and his breathing became even, Adrien’s hold on her loosened. His form went slack. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.

Marinette looked down at him in shock. “Sorry? Don’t be silly - not, not that you’re silly! I mean - you have nothing to be sorry for. I’m here for you when you need me.”

Adrien closed his eyes. “Thank you, Marinette.”

A few minutes passed with neither of them moving. Finally she asked, “Do you want to talk about what happened?”

“It’s nothing.”

“It made you cry.”

“I’m just tired.” Adrien pulled away and gave her a wan smile. “I didn’t sleep much last night and I just got set off easily today.”

He stood and pulled her to her feet, too. Marinette fiddled with her backpack strap. “Adrien...you don’t have to tell me. But if you ever want to or just need someone to listen - ”

The school bell interrupted her. Did they just miss all of homeroom?

Adrien surprised her with a quick hug. “I appreciate it, Marinette. Really.” Students filed in to get their books for their next class and Adrien released her and walked away, leaving Marinette frozen in her hailstorm of emotions.

“ Girl. ” Alya jolted her to her senses. “Did I just see Adrien hugging you? Did you and Adrien skip class together? Oh my gosh, tell me everything, spare no details.”

Oh, shoot. Alya thought she’d walked in on a … romantic overture. “No, no, it wasn’t like that. I was late and Adrien was already here…” she trailed off. It wasn’t her place to tell anyone Adrien had been upset. He obviously wanted to keep that on the down low, and he’d never trust her if she blabbed about walking in on him in tears , even if it was just her best friend, who was his best friend’s girlfriend, so Nino would probably find -

“Then what was it?”

“I shouldn’t say. It’s kind of private.”

Alya’s face fell for a moment. It wasn’t in her nature to just let things go, especially stuff involving her friends. Then she shrugged and grinned. “I get it. I’m happy you guys are getting closer, at least.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

“I’ve got notes from Ms. Bustier’s class this morning I can send you. Did you hear about the akuma last night? I slept through the whole thing, I’m so bummed…”

It was hard not to get excited when Alya was excited; her enthusiasm was infectious. Marinette loved having her as her best friend.

-

Marinette’s phone went off at eight that evening. It was a text from Adrien.

Adrien: Thank you for staying with me this morning.

Adrien: Is your offer to talk still on the table?

Marinette: Of course.

He didn’t respond for a while. The text bubble appeared and disappeared several times. Marinette bit her tongue anxiously.

Adrien: It’s stupid. As I was leaving the house this morning I heard my father yelling in his office. I think he was on the phone or something. Usually I can just ignore it and I thought I did but then Chloe yelled my name this morning and I just kind of lost it.

Marinette: This happens a lot?

Adrien: No, I normally have better control of myself.

Marinette: No no I meant the yelling.

Adrien: Sometimes I guess. Not like all the time but enough that it shouldn’t catch me off guard like that.

Marinette: It’s not stupid at all! Hearing your dad like that must feel awful.

Another five minutes passed before he responded. It only took two for Marinette to start spiralling.

“Oh my god, Tikki, did I say something wrong?”

Tikki looked at the phone. “Doesn’t look like it to me.”

“What if I accidentally offended him? What if he thinks I’m a bad friend and he never talks to me again?”

Her phone chimed.

Adrien: It does.

Adrien: It really does.

-

The next day Marinette met her friends to find them all cheery as ever. Adrien was laughing with Nino and Alya, looking like nothing could ever get under his skin.

He gave her a one-armed hug in greeting and her entire being immediately lit on fire. Alya smirked at her knowingly.

She kept one eye on Adrien for the rest of the school day. She noticed he seemed a little subdued when he had to go home for lunch but otherwise he seemed fine. Good, even. He laughed, he bantered with his classmates, he helped Rose study for their physics exam, he listened to a new mixtape Nino had made.

Maybe his bout of crying had been a one-time thing after all. Maybe she shouldn’t be worried.

He texted her again later that night.

Adrien: Can I ask you something?

Marinette: Yeah go ahead, anything

Adrien: How often do your parents eat dinner with you?

Marinette blanched at the question.Where did that come from?

Marinette: It kinda depends on how busy they are with the bakery.

Marinette: Like a lot of days, tonight was just me and my mom. But I get both my mom and dad a few times a week.

Adrien: I wish I had that. I’m lucky if I see my father two days in a row.

Marinette: Well, I’m sure my parents would love to have you over sometime if you’re eating alone.

Adrien: I don’t want to intrude

Marinette: I’d have to ask them first, but I don’t see them saying no.

Adrien: I doubt he’ll let me go out. But we’ll see.

Adrien: You’re an awesome friend, you know?

Marinette: That means a lot coming from you.

-

A couple things changed from then on.

First was a slight shift in Adrien’s behavior at school. He made a habit of touching her in a dozen small ways every day. A hand squeeze. A friendly side hug. A brush of fingers when he hands her a pen. Sitting next to her with their thighs lightly pressed together. Bumping her shoulder when he makes a silly joke. The contact flustered her at first, but with each day that passed she drew more comfort from his touches. Adrien was only touchy-feely with his friends. Marinette hoped this meant he trusted her.

Second, Adrien texted her every night without fail. Sometimes he just sent her a fashion-related meme that made her giggle and said goodnight. Usually they talked about their days, teachers and homework, Marinette’s projects and Adrien’s extra lessons. After some coaxing, he sent her a recording of an original piano piece he was composing. It was a little rough but the melody brimmed with emotion and it brought tears to her eyes. She saved the audio file and told him it sounded beautiful.

Marinette: I’d love to hear the later versions as you work on it

Adrien: Absolutely! I send you another recording once it’s finished.

Marinette: Would you be willing to play it for me in person?

Adrien: :) we’ll see

The more they talked, the more convinced Marinette became that Adrien wore happiness like a mask. She caught glimpses of sadness in his texts; she inferred he wasn’t happy at home. It wasn’t surprising. Whenever Adrien talked about his dad it was about his absence or his making all of Adrien’s decisions for him.

One late night he really opened up to her.

Adrien: I think I might hate him

Marinette: Your dad?

Adrien: Awful, right?

Marinette: Definitely

Adrien: Yeah. I feel like such a shitty son. I shouldn’t hate my own father.

Marinette: Wait no no no no no!

Marinette: I didn’t mean YOU were awful!

Marinette: You’re wonderful Adrien it’s just that you hate him is awful

Marinette: Ugh

Marinette: I meant the SITUATION is awful. I thought that’s what you meant. It sucks that you’re in this position.

Adrien: You’re right. It sucks.

Marinette: What brought this on now?

Adrien: Maybe hate isn’t the right word. More like resent. I’ve had to fight tooth and nail for every ounce of freedom he’s given me. I have to make an appointment with his assistant just to talk to him.

Adrien: Yet he controls every second of my day and I never even see him

Marinette: Is that why you snuck out to see your mom’s film last year?

Adrien: Yeah. We ended up watching it together at home. I remember he said I should’ve trusted him.

Adrien: He’d told me to schedule a meeting time with Nathalie. He couldn’t stop working for five minutes to hear me out

Adrien: It was just “not now, go practice your piano, Adrien”

Adrien: How exactly does that give me the opportunity to trust him?

Marinette: It doesn’t.

Adrien: I want to. My mother’s gone. He’s my only family.

Marinette typed a response. Then deleted it. Started a different response and backspaced halfway through the message. She wanted to make him feel better. She wanted to throw a Lucky Charm in the air and magically fix everything wrong in his life. A memory perked up, something her dad had told her.

He’d said, “You can’t fix all your loved ones’ problems. Sometimes the most important thing is to affirm that the situation is bad and let them know they’re not alone.”

Marinette: I’m so sorry, Adrien. That must be really hard.

Adrien: I’m sorry for unloading all that on you.

Marinette: No

Marinette: Thank you for trusting me.

-

On Friday morning, the bell rang, signalling all the students to move on to their next class. Alya turned to Marinette as they got up and packed their school supplies. “Hey M, wanna do a sleepover tonight?”

“Oh I’d love to!” Marinette replied happily. God knows she could use a break with her best friend. “Your place?”

“Actually, can I come over to yours this time? I could use a night away from home.”

“Something wrong?”

Alya chuckled as they walked into the crowded school corridor. “Nah, just too many sisters. It gets crowded and noisy and girl, I cannot watch the Ladybug cartoon again. ”

Marinette giggled. “Because of you, I savor being an only child. Let me call my mom and dad, I’ll leave them a message.”

Truth be told, Marinette could use the distraction. Adrien’s dual personality made her worried sick. He acted like the same Adrien he always had, though they’d become closer now. He was helpful, and quiet, and funny, and bright...a ray of sunshine that made her feel warm whenever he was near. At night when she struggled with the homework he called and talked her through the assignment. He texted her screenshots of animal memes all the time. (Her favorite was a picture of a squirrel that looked like it was water-bending. The one of a Labrador holding a glove by the middle finger had made her spit out her water in shock.)

But some nights...some nights, everything he kept dammed up inside him trickled through the cracks. He couldn’t even admit he was annoyed without two apologies and a self-flagellating monologue.

She felt like a bad friend. But Marinette needed one night of complication-free friendship.

-

After school Alya went home to pack an overnight bag then came straight back to the bakery, looking ready to chill for hours. But Friday or not Friday, Marinette insisted they get as much homework done as they could before dinner. Alya complained that they had the whole weekend and she felt exhausted but Marinette knew if she didn’t start now then she wouldn’t start until Sunday night and she refused to get grounded again and besides what if Hawk Moth chose that exact moment to set loose an akuma on the city?

Predictably, when Tom called them down for dinner Alya leapt out of her chair and vanished through the trapdoor before he could finish speaking.

Despite what she’d said earlier that day, Marinette sometimes wished she had a sister or a brother. She loved her parents, but the dinner table always felt a little fuller and livelier with a friend there, too. For a moment, she felt a pang of sadness when she saw her mom kiss the crown of Alya’s head before sitting down; it made her think how much Adrien probably needed that.

(She still thanked God there were no screaming babies or toddlers waking her up in the middle of the night.)

The girls did the dishes since Tom and Sabine had cooked - not to mention worked in the bakery all day - and spent as much time scrubbing as flicking soap bubbles at each other.

Out of the blue, Alya asked, “Marinette, have you ever played poker?”

“Umm...no?”

“Wanna learn?”

“Girls.” Sabine chose that moment to walk into the kitchen with her tea. “I’d advise against it. Gambling can be very addictive, I don’t want you to get in the habit of betting away your money,” Sabine admonished. “Marinette, you’re allowance is for you to practice managing your finances.”

“I mean, we can play without putting precious euros on the line.” Alya’s eyes lit up. “Hey Mme. D-C, how many leftover pastries does the bakery have today?”

Alya was a genius. She dealt the cards while Marinette divided up the sweets into their pseudo-currency. Marinette couldn’t shuffle for the life of her; the one time she tried it turned into a game of 52 pick-up. But her eye for strategy translated into cards as well as video games. After she won four hands in a row Alya pouted at her about beginner’s luck and “I’ll beat you so hard when you’re not new anymore,” making them both laugh.

-

Saturday morning, Marinette woke up to find herself as Alya’s new teddy bear. The blatant, subconscious affection warmed Marinette’s heart. With winter approaching and the weather getting colder, Alya’d gotten more cuddly the last few sleepovers.

She batted her hand around until it found her phone to check the time. Two messages glowed from her lockscreen, from 9:15 and 9:26 last night.

Adrien: Hey, are you awake?

Adrien: Sorry, you’re probably sleeping, I hope I’m not bothering you.

Marinette squeaked, then slapped her hand over her mouth. Alya thankfully didn’t stir. She unlocked the phone and started typing.

Marinette: God, I’m so sorry Adrien! Alya slept over last night and I just wasn’t paying attention to my phone - I promise I’m not ignoring you!

Adrien: No worries, it’s cool. Did you have fun?

Marinette: We stayed up too late watching old movies and playing blackjack. Right now she’s still asleep and has me in a death grip.

Marinette: Did your evening go okay?

Adrien: It was fine. Not as exciting as yours :)

Did a smiley face emoticon mean he was actually smiling? Or was it just a simpler smile to hide behind over the phone? God, she’d do anything to make Adrien smile.

-

Days passed. A week passed.

Nino and Marinette managed to snag Adrien on one of his evenings off. According to him, convincing his father to let him go to dinner with friends had been like pulling teeth, even though they never ate together anyway. But in the end he’d relented, so Adrien spent the evening being smothered by Marinette’s parents while Marinette watched with a red face and Nino sang praises to Tom Dupain-Cheng’s cooking. She’d rarely seen him so animated before. Something in Adrien just came alive. He shamelessly entertained Tom with horrible, horrible puns (that left Nino, Marinette and Sabine) groaning into their food. He talked to Sabine in Mandarin while she gently corrected his pronunciation. He even loosened up enough for Nino to shoot a grape into his mouth, though Nino was quickly admonished for encouraging childish behavior at the table that should really be reserved for the kitchen.

The only thing that could have made that night more perfect was if Alya could’ve joined them, but she’d been home sick with the flu.

-

Two weeks passed.

Marinette wasn’t sleeping well. She had nights like that, when no matter what she did she just wouldn’t drift off. Adrien hadn’t responded to her texts, so she hoped he was just asleep. She was passing the time bundled up in a warm coat and blanket on her terrace, knitting a new sweater for her mom.

She startled at the movement in her peripheral vision. A certain leather-clad superhero was perched on her railing, tail swishing agitatedly. He leapt to the floor and landed on his feet.

“Chat Noir? What are you doing here?”

“I...I…” he swallowed. “Alya Cesaire’s your best friend, right? The ladyblogger?”

That was incredibly low on the list of things Marinette expected him to say. “Yeah.”

“I saw her jump off a building tonight. I caught her at the last second and took her to the hospital, but she has some bruises and a broken rib.”

They stared at each other in silence. Moments stretched into minutes.

“She jumped?” The words were hardly a whisper.

Chat nodded.

“She tried to...to kill herself? No. No no no nonononono…”

Marinette yanked at her pigtails. She wasn’t looking at Chat Noir anymore but she did hear his soft voice. “If I weren’t there...I wouldn’t believe it either.”

“ Why? Why would Alya…” Chat seemed to understand what she needed. He held her tightly to his chest, arms around her waist and back while she muttered and stared at nothing in shock.

It would not surprise her if they’d stood like that for hours, smushed together and silent, while Marinette slowly came to terms with what she’d heard. It didn’t make sense. But this was Chat Noir. Her partner whom she trusted implicitly. He would never lie to her, he would never just make this up.

“You’re sure she didn’t just fall? She definitely jumped?” Her voice cut through the silence like a dagger.

“She jumped.”

But Alya would never do this. She was too…

...happy.

Alya was too happy.

The realization hit her like a bullet train. Whatever was going on, she’d been hiding it from the world this whole time.

For the first time Marinette sobbed. She pounded her fists on Chat Noir’s chest. “I’m her best friend! How did I not know? She should’ve told me she felt so bad, she - I can’t believe - I’ve been so blind, why didn’t I notice anything? Why didn’t I NOTICE anything? She needed me!”

They sank to the wooden floor of her terrace while she cried.

And cried more. She cried so hard at some point she started screaming. Her parents, well-attuned to their daughter’s distress, burst through the trap door.

“What’s happened? What’s going on? Marinette, oh dear, what’s wrong?”

Chat Noir gently transferred Marinette to her mother. “It’s delicate, Mssr. and Mme. Dupain-Cheng. I caught a jumper while I was on patrol tonight, and, um. It was Marinette’s friend, Alya Cesaire. She’s alive and in the hospital.”

Marinette heard Sabine gasp.

“I apologize for dropping this on her so late at night. I should’ve waited.”

When he let out a surprised mew, Marinette peeked over her mom’s shoulder. Tom had scooped up Chat Noir in a hug. “You saved my little girl’s best friend. Thank you, Chat Noir.”

Chat Noir looked miserable. Marinette tried to imagine being in his shoes, if she were out patrolling as Ladybug and spotted someone - a teenager her age, no less - try to jump to their death. She wouldn’t want to hear thanks after catching that person, either.

-

Nino did not take the news well.

Mme. Cesaire had called him and told him Alya was hospitalized. The next morning, at school, he was in a right state, frantic that his girlfriend’s mom sounded so upset and so cagey on the phone and no one was telling him anything.

Marinette bore the burden of sitting him down and explaining. It was a tough choice: she wanted to respect Alya’s privacy, but Alya keeping to herself got them there in the first place. He was her friend, too. She couldn’t leave him in the dark and let not knowing drive him mad.

Maybe not knowing would have been better.

Nino buried his face in his hands. “I should’ve known, I should’ve known, I should’ve known…”

Marinette and Adrien patted his back. “None of us saw it coming, bud. She hid it really well.”

“That’s just it though! I knew something was wrong. And you know what I did? Nothing. Jack lotta good I’ve done as her boyfriend.”

“Nino, please don’t blame yourself,” Marinette pleaded.

“Marinette, she’s been, like, pulling away from me. I thought she was getting ready to dump me, but I got too scared and selfish to see she needed - ”

Marinette grabbed his cheeks and forced him to look at her. “It’s. Not. Your. Fault.”

Nino shook her off and walked away. “I need some air.”

Marinette looked at Adrien desperately. “He shouldn’t be alone right now.”

“Honestly, some space might help.” Adrien leaned forward on the bench, elbows on his knees and fingers knitted together. “It’ll give him time to process things.”

“No, Adrien, Nino is a prime akuma target right now. That is the last thing he needs today.”

“Oh. Oh shit. Yeah, I’ll go keep an eye on him.”

-

After school, once he’d made sure Nino wouldn’t blow his lid if he left him alone, Adrien went with Marinette to the hospital. The front desk accepted that they were family without pause; it made Marinette antsy about the security around here.

She turned to Adrien. “Why isn’t Nino coming too?”

“He’s still really upset,” Adrien said. His eyes were sad and kind of hard. “He needs to process and get his head on straight before he tries to talk to her.”

She didn’t reply, just kept walking.

Nora stood outside Alya’s hospital room like a bouncer. “Nope.”

“If she’s awake, it might help her to see a friend.”

“Alya’s extremely sick right now, pigtails. She’s probably asleep anyways.”

Marinette stood her ground. “I know why she’s here, Anansi.”

Nora snorted. “In a hospital? Gee, I wonder.”

“No. I know what happened. I know what she tried to do.”

Nora’s eyes narrowed in obvious fury. She looked between Adrien and Marinette. “Who told you? Did that mangy Mr. Whiskers go blabbing about my little sister?”

“No! No, Chat Noir isn’t like that. I’m the only one he told - last night when he landed on my terrace. Plus, this is the psych ward. What did you think I was going to think?”

Adrien backed her up. “No one should be isolated when they’re feeling like this.”

“Be honest, you two. Did you have any, even a minuscule suspicion that Alya was depressed?”

Shame-faced, they both shook their heads no. Molten coal burned in Marinette’s stomach and her face.

“Then what do you possibly think you could do to help? Please, just leave.”

“But Marinette is - ”

“Adrien, let’s just go.” Marinette gently tugged him away and down the hall. She whipped out her phone and sent him a text.

Marinette: Could you cause a distraction so I can get inside?

Their eyes met. He nodded slightly. He went back while Marinette kept going and turned a corner.

She didn’t know what he did, exactly, or at all. Marinette heard a squeak, some yelling, the pounding of running footsteps, then more people running. Nora appeared, being dragged by two security guards toward the exit. Her face was maroon with fury.

Marinette jogged back to the hospital room door. “What did you do?”

“She was already on edge. It didn’t take much to get her to make a racket.” He shrugged. “I’m not proud of it.”

Marinette reached for the handle. She didn’t turn it. Her fingers hardened into marble around the metal.

A warm hand covered hers (completely covered - his hands were so big!) and Adrien helped her turn the handle and push open the door. She looked at him to find their faces inches apart.

“Good luck,” he breathed. Marinette’s heart ached. She tore her eyes away from his and went inside.

-

Alya looked like hell. She was buried under a pile of white blankets, lying in a white bed, wearing a white hospital gown. The only color was the red in her hair. Her glasses were gone.

“What are you doing here, Marinette?”

Marinette paused. “I’m not sure. I want to help?” Alya snorted. The sound was sharp, derisive, mean, alien coming from her throat. “I know I can’t. So I guess I want to ask why. Why did you do it? How long - ”

“I didn’t plan it, not really! It’s not like I got up and decided ‘Today is the day I’m going to off myself.’ Something about last night - I ran out of options, I couldn’t take it anymore.”

Marinette had no idea what to say. She felt so out of her depth. Alya was experiencing something she couldn’t ever imagine, and that was the understatement of the century.

Alya decided to keep talking, her voice a little quieter now. “I couldn’t sleep so I went out for a walk. I’ve wanted to die so many times, I can’t even count. Usually,” Alya took a shuddering breath, “usually I just ride it out and the wanting kind of passes and I can tolerate it all again. But for some reason I followed through this time.

“I’ve felt like I’m going crazy, Marinette. I can’t make sense of it.”

Marinette peppered Alya’s forehead with kisses. “Of course it doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t have to make sense. I love you.”

Alya scooted to her right and patted the bed. Marinette climbed in next to her. Alya took a deep breath then started talking.

“It’s like I’m empty. I feel like everything’s been drained out of me and there’s nothing but a vacuum left inside. And it hurts. Did you know feeling nothing hurts? Everything’s numb but it’s horrible pain like getting slowly crushed under a giant rock.

“In a way I already feel dead. Like I’m a body pretending to be the person I was, just going through the motions. I need it to end, Marinette. I’m so sick of just feeling nothing. The worst part is after finally talking about all of this, I don’t feel any better.”

Marinette held Alya close. “We’ll get you help. This feeling can’t last forever, and we can get you help. Just please, please be patient. And for now I’m just...I’m here. I hear you.”

She’d planned to stay as Alya fell asleep, but Marinette ended up drifting off. When she stirred, her best friend was still breathing.

[quicksilversquared]

How to Fake a Marriage Ch. 22

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(AO3) (FF.net)

Adrien was looking forward to a quiet evening of leftovers, cuddling with his girlfriend, and maybe a movie as he came home from work on Tuesday. It had been a long day- the brothers that had fought the previous day were still being frosty towards each other, and it made the entire workplace not quite as welcoming as usual- and Adrien was just glad it was over.

He stepped into his apartment and was greeted by the sight of his table draped in a gorgeous scarlet tablecloth and set for two, a vase of roses in the middle and candles set on either side of the flowers. A lovely smell came from the kitchen.

Adrien stepped inside, eyes wide. The light in the living room was dimmed slightly, and it gave the entire setting a romantic feel. A movement caught his eye, and Adrien turned in time to see Tikki flitting around, lighting small candles set around the tidied room.

Okay, a really romantic feel. Smiling, Adrien shut the door fully behind him. Tikki finally noticed him and abandoned her candle-lighting job to fly over. "Adrien! Marinette is next door, getting changed. She'll be back over soon."

"This is- wow," Adrien said, glancing around the room. He stepped towards the kitchen, curious. There were some delicious scents floating out, and he wanted to know what Marinette had made. There was definitely something sweet and chocolate-y, but he couldn't place exactly what it was or what else Marinette might have made for dinner- for their date, because there was no denying that that was what this was. "Marinette is amazing. I can't wait to see what she made-"

"But you will wait!" Tikki insisted, flying in front of Adrien and pushing at his chest. "Marinette said that you aren't allowed to look yet. Go clean up and then wait until she comes back!"

Adrien went.

"Ugh, now I'm going to have to put up with your soppiness all evening," Plagg complained as Adrien stripped out of his work clothes and started digging through his closet in search of clothes that would be suitable for a date, since that was apparently what Marinette was planning. "All that kissing and cuddling and ew."

"Can I just send you over to Mari's apartment with some cheese?" Adrien asked as he picked out a green button-up that complimented his eyes. "You could just stay over there overnight."

"And then get forgotten in the morning and have to starve all day? No thanks!"

Adrien could only sigh.

It didn't take long to put on a clean pair of black slacks and a fresh button-up and to slip on a pair of dressy shoes, and then Adrien spent several minutes in front of the mirror in the bathroom making sure that his hair looked good. As he finished, he could hear the front door open and close again, followed by the sound of Marinette's voice as she talked to Tikki.

Grinning, Adrien headed out to meet his girlfriend. He didn't get far before he caught sight of her and promptly stopped dead in his tracks, jaw dropping to the floor.

Marinette giggled.

"You can't just spring a dress like that on me with no warning, my Lady," Adrien managed once he picked his jaw off of the floor. "Wow."

"I've been saving it," Marinette admitted. "I found it in my closet over Christmas last year and just had to bring it back, even if I didn't know where I would wear it." She shrugged sheepishly, smiling at him. "Now just seemed the perfect time."

Adrien wasn't entirely certain that his heart had restarted. He was still a bit stuck on the way that Marinette's scarlet dress clung to her like a glove. And the skin- oh, the skin...

He was 97% percent positive that Marinette was trying to kill him. That certainty inched up to 100%- no, 130%- when Marinette turned around to lead the way into the living room.

How she had achieved that body-hugging fit with a back that low, Adrien had no clue. But he wasn't about to complain.

Adrien eagerly followed Marinette into the living room. All of the candles were lit now, bathing the room in a soft glow. As he glanced around, Adrien noticed that there were rose petals scattered around as well.

"I wanted to go really romantic," Marinette explained, twining her arm through his. "So I thought of the time you set up all of those candles and rose petals on the balcony, and I tried to do the same. Are you ready for dinner?"

Adrien nodded, and eagerly followed her directions to sit. Marinette scooted into the kitchen, and soon emerged with two bowls of her great-uncle's famous soup. A second trip to the kitchen, and she came back with a basket of bread.

"This must have taken all afternoon to make!" Adrien exclaimed as she set a plate down in front of him for the bread and then settled into the seat next to him. "You're amazing, Marinette."

Marinette shrugged, pleased smile playing at the corners of her lips. "I thought we could use a proper date- well, as proper as we can get while we're still in London! I used some of my time off to take the afternoon off to prepare everything."

"I love you," Adrien blurted out. Seriously, how had he ended up with someone so amazing? She had gone absolutely above and beyond to make the evening special. Somehow, she had managed to transform his plain old apartment into something practically magical.

Maybe they had only been together-together for a few months, but Adrien was positive that he was going to marry this woman.

"I love you too, chaton," Marinette told him. The soft smile she sent his way made Adrien melt. "Ready to eat?"

Adrien could only nod eagerly as he dug into the meal. Wang Cheng had clearly taught Marinette well, because the soup was every part as delicious as he remembered.

They were halfway through the meal before Tikki and Plagg showed up again. Plagg made a beeline for a buttered chunk of bread on Adrien's plate, while Tikki settled by some candles nearby. She didn't look happy, and Adrien had to wonder if she maybe had been meant to keep Plagg out of the way throughout the entire thing. He wasn't too bothered about it- not having Plagg nearby felt weird at this point, anyway, and he probably would have started wondering what his kwami was up to and if he was getting into any mischief without supervision soon if the two of them hadn't shown up.

"If we hadn't gotten spotted last time, I would have suggested going out on a run after dessert," Marinette said as she passed Adrien a lovely slice of chocolate cake. Tikki wriggled excitedly as she got her own thin, kwami-sized slice of the cake. "But the moon is practically full and the sky is clear, so it wouldn't be safe to go out. I guess that staying in is good, too."

"Any time I spend with you is time well spent," Adrien promised, catching Marinette's hand and pressing a kiss to her knuckles. "Purr-haps we can do a date like this next time we're back in Paris... whenever that is."

"It might not be until Christmas," Marinette admitted. "I might go back some weekend for a visit, but I have enough going on here that I'm not going back to visit as often as I thought I would." She let out a frustrated sigh. "I miss my parents, but they're always busy with the bakery when I go home for a weekend and we only end up getting an evening to be properly together."

"I might end up going back some weekend to do a fall photoshoot for my father, but even if you came back at the same time there's no promises that I wouldn't be too busy to do anything," Adrien said with a sigh. So much for his idea. Realistically, he knew that it would be impossible to plan anything with Marinette without Nathalie knowing about it first, and if he had a chunk of time free then he would also want to see Nino and Alya. "Since now I've been cramming my photoshoots in to a couple days, it means I'd either be getting fitted or in a shoot all day. And I suppose that just some weekend would be a kind of random time for the two of us to show back up in Paris again- as superheroes, I mean."

Marinette made a face but nodded. "Yeah. Ugh, that's annoying. And here I was thinking that it would be easier for us to date in public as superheroes. I can't believe I forgot the whole identity thing."

"Speaking of which..." Adrien started, suddenly reminded of something, and the kwamis both turned to look at him. "I was just thinking about it today, and I can't believe it took us so long to figure each other out after we ran into each other as Ladybug and Chat Noir! One would think that we would put the pieces together, but of course not. I was even considering asking if you wanted to do a reveal so that we could coordinate nights out better, but then we just always went out at the same time."

"I asked about doing a reveal after you mentioned that you had seen me going past your window," Marinette admitted, and Adrien's eyes went wide in surprise. "But Tikki said no."

"What? Why?"

Marinette blinked and then turned to her kwami with one eyebrow raised. "You know, I don't actually know why. Tikki, care to explain why you discouraged me from telling Chat Noir anything?"

Tikki looked positively sheepish as she stuffed a large chunk of cake in her mouth so that she wouldn't have to speak. Neither Adrien nor Marinette were going to back down, though, so finally Tikki swallowed and sighed. "Okay, okay! I just wanted to see how the reveal would go down without you two revealing to each other on purpose. Besides, it was funny! You two were making excuses to each other to run off and see- well, each other!"

"I think Plagg's rubbed off on her too much," Adrien whispered to Marinette as she stared at her kwami. "'Because it was funny' is such a Plagg reason for doing things."

"Besides, it all turned out fine!" Tikki added. A smear of frosting decorated her cheek. "You two found each other even without any help from the kwamis!"

"We figured it out because Plagg forgot to check and see if I had company before barging in demanding cheese," Adrien corrected her dryly. "We didn't just, y'know, spontaneously piece things together."

Tikki just pouted.

"Well, I'm glad we're good entertainment for the kwamis, at least," Marinette said. She set her empty plate to the side and smiled up at him. "So, what else do you want to do? A movie?"

Adrien grinned, reaching over and pulling Marinette into his lap. His hands itched to explore the bare back presented to him by Marinette's marvelous dress. "Oh, I'm sure we can find something to do for the rest of the evening..."

Plagg gagged loudly.

Lazy weekends with Marinette were the best, Adrien decided the last Saturday afternoon in August as he munched on the cookie he had gotten from the kitchen. Maybe they weren't doing a whole lot while they were together, but they could just near close by and enjoy each other's company and maybe nap in the sun. Adrien was just on his way back to the couch with his prize to do just that when a familiar logo on one of Marinette's letters caught his eye and he wandered over to check it out.

"Is that from apartment management?" Adrien asked curiously, bending over to look at the piece of mail on top of Marinette's table. "Are you having maintenance done or something? I haven't gotten any letters from them."

"It's a reminder that I have to renew my lease for next year," Marinette said, glancing over at him from the couch. "I'll do that tomorrow, I just haven't had time recently. My schedule hasn't lined up at all with the landlady's."

"Shouldn't you have already resigned the lease?" Adrien asked, frowning. "You came over here early summer last year. I've already done mine, since Nathalie had my place on hold for a couple months before I came over here."

Marinette laughed at that. It was a reasonable assumption, but she had just gotten a strange arrangement for her apartment in the first place. "I was actually subleasing my apartment for several months before I signed my lease. Some university student had had it and of course their lease ran through the end of the summer, but they had already gotten a job in another city and didn't need this place. So I rented from them over the summer, and then had things set up with the landlady so I would keep the apartment after the previous person's lease ran out."

Adrien looked pensive. "Huh."

"I got lucky, really," Marinette continued. "Abbey- you remember Abbey, right?- she wanted to get into this building, but apartments don't open often. And she's had terrible luck with when openings do come up, because they never line up with when her lease at her current place expires at all and her contract doesn't let her sublease, even if she could find someone to sublease to."

"That stinks," Adrien sympathized, making a face. "And of course she wouldn't want to be paying for an apartment that she wasn't using. Couldn't she coordinate with an outgoing intern? I thought Madam Rosalie said that a lot of her workers live here."

"She's tried," Marinette told him. "But the people leaving most recently that she knew didn't live here." She shrugged. "I'm sure she'll get in soon enough."

Adrien looked pensive, even as he nodded and turned back to his book. Marinette thought that the conversation was over, but that wasn't quite the case.

"We've been spending pretty much all of our time off work together," Adrien started a bit hesitantly as they finished dinner that evening and cleared their plates off the table and into the kitchen. He was looking nervous for some reason, fiddling with his Miraculous as he spoke. "And you've spent pretty much every night since we started dating over here."

"Right," Marinette agreed, brow furrowing in confusion. She really wasn't sure where Adrien was going with this, or why he was so fidgety. Normally it meant that he was uncomfortable or uncertain, but nowadays Adrien was rarely uncomfortable around her. "...what about it?"

Adrien swallowed, looking even more nervous as he reached up to rub the back of his head. "I, um- I was wondering if, instead of renewing your lease, if you wanted to move in with me."

Marinette froze. Part of her- the teenaged, very excitable part- was screaming yes, yes yes!

The other part of her wasn't quite so sure.

"I mean, I don't want to pressure you!" Adrien assured her quickly when Marinette didn't respond right away. She could see his expression drop a little bit, his expression closing off marginally. She had known him for long enough- and well enough- to read him well, even when he went into model-mode and controlled his expressions. "I mean, it was just an idea, I don't want to make you feel like you need to say yes or anything, just-"

"You aren't pressuring me," Marinette assured Adrien, reaching out to take his hands as she cut across his sudden stream of babbling. "And it's not like I don't appreciate the offer, Adrien. It's just that..." Marinette trailed off, biting her lip.

Adrien's expression dropped and his gaze fell to the floor. "You don't want to, it's fine."

"No, I-" Marinette cut herself off, frustrated. "As much as I would like to, I don't think it's a good idea, at least not right now."

Adrien's gaze flashed back to her.

"We just started officially dating, Adrien," Marinette reminded him. "Only a couple months ago. I think it's a little early to be moving in with each other."

Adrien's expression shifted to puzzled, which was much better than the downtrodden expression he had been trying to hide before. "But we basically live together anyway- we cook together and eat together, and you sleep over here more often than you sleep in your own flat."

That...was true. "But we still have our own spaces if we need them," Marinette said, remembering the advice her mother had given her when she moved to London. Marinette hadn't been planning on getting a boyfriend while she was out of the country (nor had she been planning on staying for more than a year; she was going to get her work experience and move back to Paris, that was the plan and she was going to stick to it), but Sabine wanted to prepare her for anything she might encounter. One of the things she said- well, besides warning against rushing into a serious relationship or letting a boy get in the way of her internship experience- was that even if she was sure that she loved someone and thought that they would get along well, sharing an apartment with only one bedroom was only asking for trouble when the relationship was young.

Adrien looked slightly taken aback, though he was clearly trying to hide it. "In case we break up, you mean?"

"No, nothing that serious!" Or, rather, possibly. Neither of them had ever dated before, after all- while they had seen other couples and how they acted, that was hardly a substitute for actual experience, which both of them were completely and utterly lacking. It was completely possibly (but not probable, in Marinette's opinion) that they would fight and fall apart for some stupid reason. They would probably make up again, if that happened- they were best friends, after all, and they definitely got along well- but in the hours or days that it took for them to cool down, having to share a one-bedroom apartment would only make things worse, not better. "Just, like, if we get in an argument, or if you need to study and I'm having to brainstorm out loud, it would really be nice to have the separate spaces."

Adrien's kicked kitten look didn't go away completely, and Marinette sighed. "It's advice my mother gave me," she admitted, sliding her chair closer to Adrien as she spoke. "Even if we hung out together all of last year, she told me that people tend to have slightly different expectations for relationships than they did for friendships, even if they don't realize it. I think it would be better if we got used to being, y'know, dating, before we make any permanent moves."

Adrien's face finally cleared. "So it would be to, like, ease the transition?"

"Exactly." Marinette scooted even closer so she could snuggle up to Adrien's side and much to her relief, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Next year at this time, I'm sure I would say yes. But not right now."

"Is that what your parents did?" Adrien asked after a moment. "The living apart for a bit, I mean."

Marinette nodded, remembering what her mother had said. Even if Marinette hadn't thought that she would need to use her mother's advice while she was in London, that didn't mean that she hadn't listened. "They waited two and a half years, actually. And then they got a two-bedroom apartment, and they each had their own designated bedroom. They shared a room most of the time, of course, but if they needed to they had somewhere they could go to be alone for a little while. It was more expensive, of course, but they said that there were a few times when it probably saved their relationship."

"Okay, I can see where that's smart," Adrien admitted. "I know Nino has said before that he's glad his and Alya's families are nearby, because one of them can go back home for some distance if they have a fight or something."

"And we don't exactly have that here," Marinette reminded him. "I mean, maybe I could go to Sarah's apartment or something and sleep on her couch if we had a fight, but that would require actually telling her that we were dating and sharing an apartment. And that wouldn't work for more than a couple nights."

"Right, of course. I just hadn't considered that before I asked you." He gave a small wince, feeling a bit bad about how pouty he had been about the perceived rejection. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine. I'm glad we had a conversation about it, at any rate." Marinette grinned. "My parents always said that communication is the most important thing in a relationship."

"I'm glad that we're doing well with that so far, then." Adrien dropped a kiss onto Marinette's crown. "Any other relationship advice from your parents? They certainly know what they're talking about. They've been married for almost thirty years now, right?"

Marinette nodded. "Yeah, they have." She paused, thinking back to the advice that her parents had given her. "I mean, most of the advice they gave me was, like, how not to get into a bad relationship and the signs of a toxic relationship. Which, I mean, it's important to know and all, but..." She trailed off with a gesture. I trust you. We've been friends and partners forever. "Somehow, I don't think we'll have that issue."

Adrien nodded and beamed down at her, and Marinette felt her heart skip a beat. He was still too cute for his own good.

"My parents also said that it's important for people to have a lot in common," Marinette added, remembering that particular conversation. "That it's important to have some different interests, of course, but it's easier to find things to do together if people have common interests."

Adrien grinned. "Let's see...we both love video games and Jagged Stone's music. I'm at least somewhat interested in fashion, especially when it's you doing the designing-"

"Flirt," Marinette grumbled, though she couldn't hide the grin on her face.

Adrien pressed a kiss to her forehead, just because he could. "Always. We're both superheroes. We're both decent cooks, although the finer points of baking still elude me, though that's fine because I adore your baking."

Marinette giggled. "You'll learn eventually. You pick up on stuff fast."

"We have similar cleaning habits, we have the same friends... Mari," Adrien said, suddenly serious as he turned to her. "We're actual clones of each other."

Marinette snorted and almost choked on the water she had been drinking. She emerged dripping and still snickering. "Adrien!"

"What? It's the truth!"

"We are not clones," Marinette insisted with a laugh. "For one, I don't have a ridiculous sense of humor like you do."

"Try again," Adrien teased, tickling her sides until she squealed. "You laugh at my jokes, I know you do. You're not as good at hiding your smiles as you seem to think."

"I don't understand Physics at all," Marinette said instead of continuing to argue the point. Adrien grinned at the small victory but didn't gloat. Instead, he nodded solemnly.

"Ah, yes, I know. Otherwise, you would be able to understand the true gravity of your beauty."

Predictably, Marinette could only groan loudly.

Despite Marinette's talk about keeping her own apartment so they could each have their own space, they rarely used it. She still slept over every night, and it seemed like more and more of her clothes were migrating over to live in Adrien's drawers and closet.

He didn't mind at all. In fact, he tidied up his dresser even more so Marinette could have a few drawers all to herself and he moved all of his things over to one side of the closet so she would have space there, too.

"I would have thought that you would have more clothes," Marinette admitted when she saw what he had done. "You only take up half a closet? Really? Even though your father is a designer?"

"I'm starting to be worried about how much space your clothes take up," Adrien joked. "But yeah, only half a closet. I mean, I didn't bring everything, of course. I've got loads more clothes at home. But I figured that I didn't need everything. I wouldn't get around to wearing it all." He chanced a glance at her. "...so, uh, how much space does your wardrobe take up?"

Marinette looked a little sheepish. "Now, after the trips I've done home to Paris? We might need to look into finding a wardrobe at a thrift store or something and using that, too once I move fully over here. Either that or I'll have to put out-of-season things in storage."

Adrien did his best not to laugh.

The two of them had also long since given up the idea of trying to keep their shopping and cooking separate. It was too hard to keep track of who had what ingredients and then where the leftovers were when they tried to keep things separate. Besides, combining their pantries meant that mid-week grocery runs could be kept to a minimum, and their weekend trips to the store were a whole lot more enjoyable when they both went.

"I swear, by the time I memorize where everything is in this store it'll be time to go back to Paris," Marinette said with a laugh as they turned around and headed back up the aisle they had just come out of. "You would think that between the two of us we would be able to remember where everything is, but no such luck."

"I think we just distract each other and that's why we always miss stuff," Adrien teased. "I swear I don't have to go back as often when I do the shopping on my own."

Marinette gasped, pressing a mock-scandalized hand to her chest. "Why Adrien, are you insinuating that I'm distracting?"

"You know you are," Adrien said without missing a beat. "Such a distracting Bug."

From inside of Adrien's jacket, Plagg let out a soft gagging sound. Adrien was about to ignore him and ramp up the flirting instead- even if they were out in public, people were shopping, not paying them any attention- when an unfortunately familiar face caught his eye. Promptly, Adrien froze.

Of course they couldn't just have a normal, non-eventful outing, even just once. Of course not.

"We gotta split up," Adrien hissed frantically, steering Marinette further up the aisle where the tabloid reporter Adrien had just spotted (and how did they run into them so often? Was London just overrun with tabloid reporters like rats?) wouldn't notice them. "I can take the second half of the list, if you want."

"Wait, are you serious?" Marinette asked in confusion. She twisted and frowned back at Adrien as he hurried her up the aisle. "I thought you were kidding about the whole being a distraction thing!"

"I was- well, mostly," Adrien corrected himself. "But I just spotted one of the tabloid reporters from one of the more pesky magazines. She's just out shopping, but if she sees us..."

"She would probably make a giant deal out of us grocery shopping together," Marinette finished. She made a face. "Ugh. That sounds so lame and paranoid but some of those magazines totally would."

"Welcome to the life of a very minor celebrity," Adrien joked through gritted teeth. "The life of a very minor celebrity on a slow news day, that it. Imagine what it would be like if anyone ever found out about our, ah, extra-curricular activities back in Paris!"

Marinette shuddered. "I'd rather not imagine that, thanks. That would be awful! We would never get any rest." She glanced down at the list. "Here, you take everything after the cereal. Maybe we'll be able to check out together still, but if not then I'll see you back at the apartment."

Adrien nodded, took the offered part of the list, and hurried off to get a basket. At least he would be the one paying for all of Plagg's cheese with the list divided like this.

"You're not shopping with your wife anymore?" Plagg asked, popping his head out of Adrien's jacket as he snagged a basket and quickly headed towards the dairy section of the store. "Oh, goodie. No more flirting! You were making me sick."

"We were not," Adrien countered, keeping his voice low so no one would give him any funny looks. "And she's not my wife yet, Plagg. You know that."

Plagg muttered something indistinguishable and vanished back into Adrien's jacket.

As he whizzed through the rest of the shopping trip, Adrien kept an eye out for the reporter he had seen earlier. He spotted her a few times, and each time he quickly headed up whatever aisle was closest. It made what should have been a very normal shopping trip incredibly stressful, and by the time Adrien checked out and started heading back to the apartment building, Adrien was starting to wonder if it was really worth it to keep their relationship a secret.

Sure, maybe their relationship would get plastered all over the tabloids and they might get hounded for a couple weeks until everyone figured out that they were cute but boring, and his father would be upset, but Adrien just wanted to be able to go on a shopping trip like normal.

"I know what you're thinking kid, and I wouldn't do it," Plagg warned as Adrien headed into the apartment building. "You and Marinette already discussed it, remember? You're trying to not tick off your father right now."

Adrien let out a huff and didn't answer. It sometimes seemed that most everything he did ticked off his father in some way, so what was one more thing? Still, Plagg was probably right.

Marinette was already in his apartment, busy unloading bags and putting things away. Tikki was trying to help and failing miserably, since most of the things they had bought were far too heavy for her to lift. Adrien laughed and caught the orange Tikki was trying to carry before she could topple off the counter and then dove into the nearest bag to help with the unpacking.

It looked like Marinette had gotten the lion's share of things to carry. Clearly it hadn't bothered her- if she had thought that she had too much to carry, she would have just waited for him outside the grocery store or somewhere on the route back to their building- but Adrien wasn't going to make her put everything away, too.

"Say, I don't remember chocolate being on our list," Adrien said after a few minutes. He held up the bag and raised an eyebrow at Marinette. "Last-minute addition?"

She reached out to take the bag from him. "Yup. I thought we could make cookies."

Adrien couldn't stop the grin from spreading across his face. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Marinette rolled up onto her toes to press a kiss to his lips. "But first, we have to finish unpacking the groceries. Pass the milk, please."

By the time the cookies made it into the oven, Adrien was in dire need of some sugar. His father had called him up- well, Nathalie had called him up, and then put his father on once she had gotten Adrien on the line- and spent a large chunk of time nagging on about Adrien doing menial office work in London instead of coming back to Paris for the summer instead to be at Mr. Agreste's back and call for fittings, photoshoots, and commercial shootings. He had then complained about Adrien's chosen major for another chunk of time, and then ended the call with reminders on how Adrien was expected to behave in London, because apparently Mr. Agreste hadn't learned anything at all from the prank.

"There must have been some article again," Marinette said once Adrien hung up, looking utterly exhausted. "Or maybe he's getting nervous with the start of the fall semester getting closer, if he thought that you would quit sooner."

"It's enough to make me not want to move back to Paris once I've finished here," Adrien grumbled, flopping onto the couch. "I mean, I don't want to let him control me that way, either, by driving me away from Paris, but... I just worry that he'll think he can control me more when I'm closer."

"Eh, he's bound to accept that you're your own person eventually," Plagg piped up helpfully from where he was . "Maybe it won't be until you've finished your degree and have a permanent job and your own apartment in Paris, but I bet you can out-stubborn him."

Adrien groaned. He would be in school for two years more, and right now that felt like forever to have to deal with his father's temper tantrums. At least he hadn't decided to go to a university in Paris. The distance between Paris and London at least provided a little bit of a buffer.

"Don't let him get you down," Marinette said, patting his arm as she curled up next to him on the couch. She nuzzled into his side. "Remember, now that you're an adult, all he is is hot air. He can complain and bluster, but you're in control, kitty cat."

"Right." Adrien let out a long breath, trying to let the negativity out. He was far from his father, following his own chosen major, Hawkmoth was defeated, and he had his girlfriend- his long-time love- at his side. And there were lovely chocolate-chip cookies in the oven. Even if his father insisted on being awful and inconsiderate, life was still good.

From there, the day just got better. Adrien ate far more cookies than was strictly a good idea (both he and Tikki got a scolding from Marinette after they burned their mouths on too-hot cookies just out of the oven), he and Marinette tried to learn how to dance around his living room under Tikki's instruction, and then they cooked dinner together.

It didn't miss Adrien's attention that Marinette had picked out his favorite meal from the week's menu to prepare that night. She really was the best.

Several hours and more than a few rounds of Mega Strike 3 later, the two of them went to bed. As they drifted off together peacefully, Adrien's arms draped over the woman he loved, he knew that together, they could do anything.

Adrien was rudely awakened at six twenty-three by a loud shriek less than a meter away. He jolted upright, years of fighting setting his nerves ablaze, and he positive flew out of bed, eyes scanning the room for the source of the sound.

He found Marinette clutching her phone, staring at the screen and looking incredibly excited. Tikki was floating by her shoulder, rubbing tired eyes with her little paws.

"What's going on?" Adrien asked, puzzled. He rounded the bed to join her, yawning as he went. "Marinette?"

"Jagged Stone's assistant emailed me!" Marinette exclaimed. "She says that some people he knows- other musicians- they want me to make their album art, too!"

Adrien grinned at her. "Really? Congratulations, Marinette! That's so cool!" It was great that Marinette could keep making connections with people that could really get her well-known and a great asset to whatever label she ended up joining. It meant that she would have a wider range of fashion companieswanting her, so she could pick and choose the job that she wanted to be associated with in the long run instead of having to settle with whatever she could get.

Adrien was of the opinion that Marinette was far too talented to settle.

"Yeah! I hope I can get them all what they want." Marinette was grinning widely now. "Oh, wow, I wasn't expecting another Jagged Stone cover, let alone having other musicians wanting me to design covers as well. I'm not- I'm not even a proper artist or anything, I'm a fashion designer-"

"You're an artist," Adrien corrected, smiling and wrapping his arms around Marinette's waist. He pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head. "Just because you chose to focus more on the fashion design aspect doesn't mean you aren't an incredibly talented artist. And you understand the music and you understand color and just... you're amazing, Marinette. Of course people would want you to design things for them."

"It's just hard to believe," Marinette admitted, putting her phone back down on her nightstand and wriggling around in Adrien's arms so she could cuddle into his chest. "Like, I'm only just starting out in fashion and design, yet I got an internship right out of university and now I'm designing album covers for famous musicians and designing fabrics from scratch and- it's just a lot, you know? I always hoped I was good enough to make it, but most people don't. I got an email from one of my old classmates a couple weeks ago and it seems like a lot of people are working other jobs during the day, like at a grocery store or pizza place or in an office, and then they're trying to design stuff to sell online during the time they aren't working. It makes me feel a bit guilty sometimes, you know? Like, how did I get so lucky?"

"Well, you're talented," Adrien pointed out, hugging her close. "Your design aesthetic seems to be one that sells easily. You work hard. It's not like opportunities just fall into your lap."

Marinette made a bit of a face at that. "They kind of do, though? Like, not everyone has the chance to design sunglasses or album covers for rock stars. And that was kind of what set me apart when I was applying to design school, and then again when I was applying for internships."

"So you've had some unique opportunities and took advantage of them," Adrien pointed out. He wasn't going to let Marinette get down on herself like that, not when she was amazing and talented and deserved all of the opportunities she got. And she had done amazing work even when she was protecting the city as Ladybug, which meant it was even more amazing. "Some people could have had the same opportunity and had it go nowhere. They could have just found something in a shop and called it a day."

Marinette cringed and ducked her head at that. "That was what I did at first, actually. I, uh, was a little jealous about Chloe getting to hang out with you while I was out running around, so I bought the first pair of Eiffel Tower-adorned sunglasses I spotted. Jagged hated them. It was only after that when I thought about designing them myself."

"And some people would have quit after that," Adrien said firmly. "I know I would have, probably. We weren't being paid to do the work in the hotel. Or I would have found the person who normally did those sorts of runs for celebrities and just accompanied them. I don't know why they didn't have you do that, actually. Literally everyone else except Chloe and I were just shadowing a normal worker."

"Maybe that person was off," Marinette suggested. "Or Mr. Bourgeois was still really flustered from Jagged showing up and forgot to call up the normal runner for me to work with."

Adrien grinned as he remembered just how shaken Chloe's father had been after he finally got Jagged Stone settled in. He had quickly retired to a private room after ensuring that Chloe had entered everything into the computer correctly, and Adrien and Chloe had spotted a cook bringing a tray with wine on it into the room just a short while later. Chloe had been worried, but Adrien rather thought that Mr. Bourgeois deserved the stress.

After all, he had been very rude to Jagged Stone before Chloe told him who Jagged was. There was no need to be so mean to anyone just because they weren't famous or rich, and it was honestly surprising that Mr. Bourgeois' attitude hadn't lost business for the hotel.

"Oh, this is going to take up my evenings again and I won't get to spend that time with you!" Marinette suddenly said. She was pouting again, and Adrien did his best to refrain from commenting about how adorable she looked with the pout and her messy hair. "That was the only thing I didn't like about doing Jagged Stone's commission. It felt like I was just ignoring you."

"You weren't," Adrien assured her. "I had my own things to do while you were designing. And we can't be doing stuff together 100% of the time anyway, that's just not realistic. I'll be starting up classes again soon enough and I'll probably be studying or working on projects during the evening a lot."

"Maybe we just need to decide on a time when we'll be done for the night, unless there's exams or last-minute project deadlines or something," Marinette suggested. "Then we can make sure we have some time to spend together every night. It'll keep my work from encroaching on our us time too much."

"I think that's a good idea," Adrien agreed, squeezing Marinette tight again and pressing another kiss to her forehead. There was a pause, then Adrien yawned and glanced over at the clock. It was still ridiculously early, not even seven o'clock on a Sunday.

"So..." Adrien started, a little hesitantly. "I know you're probably super-excited right now and everything- and congratulations, by the way, if I forgot to say it before- but can we go back to bed for a bit first before we have a celebratory breakfast?"