19. Chapter 19

Because I've seen several people wondering: last chapter, when everything that could go wrong with Adrien's projects did go wrong- no, that wasn't Plagg's fault. Plagg might be an ass at times, but he wouldn't sabotage Adrien like that. It was just bad luck.

Also, because I forgot to mention it- Adrien's project with the "tagging" thing that he was staying up so late for was based off of a project I had to do in college, except in my case I had to identify over 50,000 bat call sonograms by species and it took a hell of a lot more than just one night to do (also I was the only one in the entire class to complete that assignment. Everyone else gave up at, like, 10,000 or less). I don't know how common projects like that are outside of the wildlife field (where we have not only bat call sonograms but also trail camera photos to tag and analyze as summarized data), but I needed a project that Marinette would be able to help with.

Adrien trudged up the stairs, completely worn out from his final day of exams. While the exams were meant to be spread over the course of two weeks, Adrien's exam schedule had meant that he had his final two exams back-to-back, with both of them taking two hours. To make things worse, it had been his two hardest classes left for last. The whole day had been absolutely exhausting and had left Adrien tired, hungry, and just a bit cranky.

He was just very, very glad that Marinette would already be in the middle of making dinner, because he was in the mood to just flop on the couch, inhale a meal, and maybe watch a movie before going to bed. A nice, quiet evening was in order.

Unfortunately, he wasn't about to get his wish. When Adrien got up the stairs, he was met with the sound of blaring music coming from down the hallway. Clearly their uni-aged neighbor was celebrating the end of exams. Adrien supposed he should at least be thankful that the neighbor hadn't finished before he did, since he wouldn't have been able to study with the racket.

(If their neighbor had been loud during exams, he would have seriously considered sending Plagg over to destroy their sound system. He still wasn't completely eliminating it as a possibility.)

"This is ridiculous," Adrien grumbled as he dug out his key. Even after months of complaints from pretty much everyone on their floor, their landlords still had yet to evict their inconsiderate neighbor. Everyone was hoping that he wouldn't be able to renew his lease once it came up, and maybe he would do something stupid soon that would mean he could be forced out earlier.

The only upside to the constant noise from down the hall was that Marinette would be staying over for the night and they would get to cuddle.

Adrien liked cuddling. It was really relaxing.

Adrien reached for his doorknob to unlock it- he did have to drop off his backpack at the very least before going over to join Marinette in her apartment- and found that it was already open. He frowned, confused- he was positive that he had locked the door when he left for classes- but opened it anyway, and was greeted by the smell of cooking food. A moment later, Marinette's head popped out from the kitchen and her face lit up.

"Hey! I was wondering when you would be back!" She took in his confused expression and looked a bit sheepish a she started to explain. "I used my key to get in, I hope you don't mind. I just didn't want to cook with the idiot's music blaring right next door and I figured you wouldn't want to eat with the racket."

"That's fine," Adrien assured her. He shouldn't have been surprised, really. Marinette used the spare key he had given her on at least a weekly basis to let herself in after he had gone to bed and her other neighbor was being loud. It made sense that she would use it other times as well. "It just surprised me, that's all."

Marinette studied his face. "Are you sure?"

"Pawsitive."

Marinette laughed and ducked back into the kitchen to return to her cooking. Adrien kicked off his shoes, hung up his jacket (Plagg zipped off towards the kitchen in search of cheese), and dropped his backpack by the couch before heading into the kitchen to see what Marinette was cooking up. She was stirring something on the stovetop- some sort of soup, perhaps?- and the first whiffs of freshly baked bread were wafting out of the oven. It all smelled fantastic.

"Long day?" Marinette asked when Adrien wandered up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She leaned backwards, relaxing into him as he dropped his chin against the side of her head. "But you're all done with exams now, right?"

"Right. Finally." Adrien let out a huff. "The semester is finally over. I thought it would never end."

"Please tell me you'll be able to get a better schedule next semester," Marinette said, craning her neck to look back up at him. "Because you want to get classes that aren't all one after the other like you had this semester, right?"

Adrien shrugged as much as he could without jostling her. "Hopefully I can. I'll have more seniority after this semester and hopefully won't have to scramble for whatever seats are still open. I do like having a day where I don't have to go in, though. I can just study all day without any interruptions."

Marinette laughed at him. "Is that what you're calling it? I thought you liked your day off only because you could come bug me at lunch because you got bored."

Adrien grinned. She had a point; he hated studying nonstop and lunch was a welcome break. Visiting Marinette over her lunch meant he got to enjoy her company even more (Plagg teased him since they spent their evenings together anyway and yet Adrien still wanted to practically be glued to Marinette's side; Adrien always argued that it was natural to want to spend time with his best friend/superhero partner, never mind the fact that he had done the exact same thing before he ever found out that his friend was also his lovely Lady). It was also a good way to make sure that Marinette didn't forget to eat because she got on a design kick. It had happened a few times before.

"Too much work and no play makes a kitty a dull boy." Adrien nuzzled Marinette's hair, smiling when she squirmed. They had gotten even more touchy-feely after the reveal, mostly because Ladybug and Chat Noir had gotten used to grabbing each other during akuma fights and had pretty much eliminated the personal space between them. They were crazy comfortable with each other, and since Adrien really, really liked cuddles...

Thankfully, Marinette was more than willing to oblige.

Adrien let himself relax against Marinette as she continued to stir the soup, letting go of the stress of the day as the comfortable atmosphere surrounded him. The whole scene had an air of domestic bliss to it- all they needed was a cat pattering down the hallway, or maybe even a kid, a few years down the road-

Adrien's eyes flew open as his heart skipped a beat. Whoa. Where had that thought come from?

He would be lying if he said that the thought of dating Marinette hadn't ever crossed his mind before. Adrien had definitely though about it (even more so since he found out Ladybug and Marinette were one and the same- his long-time superhero/partner love and the friend that he had always had at least a small crush on- there was no way to beat that combination), but he had never acted on it. Marinette hadn't given him any indication that she liked him as more than friends (despite what Plagg claimed; Plagg, after all, delighted in causing mischief and could not be trusted), and Adrien wasn't going to mess up their easy friendship by trying to make a move on her.

"Are you okay, Adrien?" Marinette asked, interrupting his thoughts. He had probably been quiet for too long, or perhaps she had felt him go stiff against her back. Marinette twisted in his arms, trying to catch a glimpse of his face. "Adrien?"

"I'm fine," Adrien claimed, forcing himself to relax again against her again. He pressed a kiss- a friendly kiss, a platonic kiss- against her forehead. He wasn't going to let himself overthink it. "Really."

Marinette didn't look convinced.

"I just had a long day. At least the semester is over now." It was a relief to be done, especially after the craziness that surrounded getting his projects in. Now he would have a few days to relax and get caught up on the housework he had fallen behind on before heading back to Paris for a week and a half. That period would be chock-full of fittings and photoshoots, and then he was going to start his first real, non-family-business-related job back in London. His father hadn't been pleased- Gabriel had wanted Adrien in Paris for the summer, even if Adrien would have had to spend most of his time lounging around bored out of his mind between photoshoots- but Adrien had insisted, and from the sound of it, Nathalie had helped persuade Mr. Agreste that a summer job outside of Gabriel Fashions would be more beneficial for Adrien in the long run.

He owed her big-time.

"Well, I have one more day of work and then we can celebrate properly this weekend," Marinette said. "We can make cookies or something and do absolutely nothing."

Adrien laughed, determined to get past the momentary weirdness that had overtaken him. "That sounds perfect."

After sleeping in Friday morning, Adrien spent the entire rest of the day catching up on chores he had slacked on leading up to his projects being due and finals. His entire apartment got vacuumed and scrubbed, his laundry finally washed, and his fridge got restocked.

Just a little, though. After all, Adrien was going to be gone for over a week, and he didn't want to come back to things rotting in the fridge.

"Why didn't you get more cheese?" Plagg wanted to know as Adrien put away the last of his purchases. "That's not very much. I'll starve."

"Because I didn't want it stinking up the fridge while we're gone, and I'll buy more when we get back to Paris. If you finish all of this up before we leave, then that just means you're a little glutton." Adrien straightened up and closed the fridge door before heading back to the living room. "And no, you aren't allowed to go whining to Marinette for cheese. I'll tell her to ignore you."

Plagg scoffed, floating along behind Adrien with a small scowl on his face. "Uh-huh. You say that like I can't blackmail you into giving me more cheese. All I need to do is talk about how much you luuurve Marinette when she's in the room and you'll do anything to get me to be quiet." He smirked. "And if you tell Marinette not to give me cheese once I've exhausted that pitiful supply, then I'll float along behind you talking about that the whole time."

"No, you won't," Adrien said immediately. "Because then I'll just transform and hang out like that for hours, because I can now."

"Then I'll alter your outfit to make you look ridiculous," Plagg countered.

"And I'll just wear something over it," Adrien shot back.

"I'll make it so ridiculous that nothing will fit."

"I'll rock ridiculous. Ridiculous is my middle name."

"Well, I'll-"

The sound of the apartment door opening shut both of them up. Adrien spun around to see Marinette stepping in looking somewhat puzzled, presumably having caught the tail end of the conversation. As soon as the door shut behind her, Tikki floated up out of Marinette's purse.

"Should I even ask?" Marinette asked. Next to her, Tikki leveled a narrowed-eyed gaze on Plagg. Adrien and Plagg exchanged a glance and immediately feigned innocence.

"Nope," Plagg said quickly.

"Definitely not," Adrien agreed.

Marinette didn't particularly look like she believed them. Adrien didn't blame her. So instead, he went for distraction.

"I'll get some pasta going," he offered. "I would have started earlier, but I just got back from shopping a few minutes ago."

Marinette grinned and followed him back to the kitchen. "Ah, so you did manage to actually get things done today, then? Nino and I were taking bets on how likely it was that you just flopped and slept all day."

Adrien couldn't hold back the snort as he turned on the water to fill his pasta pot. "Ah, such supportive friends I have, ones that believe in me no matter what." At Marinette's giggle, he hid his smile and continued on, working to make his voice sound as sorrowful as possible. "Even my Lady doesn't believe in me. Woe is me."

That only made Marinette laugh harder.

"Well, I was productive, even if no one believed in me," Adrien insisted, turning the water off and moving the pot to the stove. "I cleaned everything, and grocery shopped, and did my laundr- AAAH! My laundry!"

He was an idiot. He had forgotten his last load in the dryer. He scrambled for a second, caught between dinner and running downstairs to get his hopefully dry load of sheets. He didn't want to just leave the pot unattended, but he had tossed that load into the dryer before heading to the grocery store and that was over an hour ago. Other people would be getting home from work soon and want to do their laundry, and him just ditching his things there for who-knows-how-long would not earn him any Good Neighbor Points.

"You just put the water on, it isn't going to boil over right away," Marinette reminded him, grabbing his shoulder and shoving him towards the door. "I'll go grab the leftover bread from yesterday from my apartment so we can make garlic toast and then come back over to keep an eye on the pot. Go get your laundry before someone yanks it out and tosses it on the floor."

Adrien went.

Saturday dawned rainy and with just a hint of chill in the air. Adrien was a little disappointed since he had been hoping to go out on a walk around the city with Marinette before he had to go back to Paris for a week, but Marinette wasn't particularly bothered. According to her, it was perfect cookie-making weather.

And, since they were going to be inside all day, it was also perfect cookie-frosting weather.

"You're making a mess," Marinette complained as Adrien ever-so-carefully tried to pipe frosting on a cookie. More than a little of it was getting on his fingers and the cutting board instead of the cookie. "I can't even figure out what you're doing wrong- eep!"

Adrien had taken advantage of her momentary distraction to abandon his poorly-decorated cookie and bop her on the nose with his frosting-covered finger. As her eyes crossed to stare at it, he grinned mischievously and wiped his other fingers off on her cheeks, leaving long multicolored streaks across her face. It was a good look on her, Adrien decided as he stepped back to admire his work. Then again, everything was a good look on Marinette. She was too adorable to ever look bad, but maybe he was just biased.

After all, Chat Noir had always adored his Lady and Adrien had always thought Marinette was cute.

"Adrieeeen," Marinette complained, reaching up to wipe at the frosting. "Don't waste the frosting like that."

"It's not wasting it," Adrien shot back with a grin, batting her hands away from her face. "It looks quite nice on you, really. Have you ever considered wearing frosting out as a fashion statement?"

"You are impossible," Marinette informed him. "And it is wasting the frosting, we can't exactly eat it if it's on me- eep!"

Adrien cut Marinette off, leaning closer and ducking in to lick the frosting off of Marinette's cheek before he could think about it too much. When he pulled back, Marinette had turned red and seemed to be at a loss for words. Adrien's eyes dropped to her lips. There was a smudge of frosting at the very corner, and he wasn't sure if it was from when she was snitching a taste earlier or if he had somehow gotten it on her. Either way, that smudge was looking incredibly tempting. Adrien leaned forward just slightly, eyes locked on the frosting. Marinette had her eyes on him, and she didn't seem put off at all. Adrien's breath caught in his throat, entranced.

So naturally, Plagg had to spoil the moment by letting out an incredibly rude noise as loud as he could.

Adrien and Marinette both jumped, moving away from each other quickly. They both floundered for several seconds (above their heads, Plagg sniggered), and then Marinette cleared her throat and moved back to the counter, her eyes firmly focused on the cookies. "S- so! Cookies! Um, maybe you should be bracing your frosting hand with your other hand so the line isn't squiggling around so much. The designs should turn out better that way, I think."

"Right, of course," Adrien replied, forcing his tone to match Marinette's casualness. He swallowed and stepped forward, trying not to react when his arm brushed against Marinette's. "And here I thought just a minute ago you were trying to tell me that you didn't know how to fix my frosting abilities."

"It might not work," Marinette said, stepping back to give Adrien a little more elbow room. "Some things just can't be fixed, after all."

"Mhm." Adrien stuck out his tongue as he concentrated on piping a straight line along the edges of the cookie. Just like before, it turned out all squiggly, and Adrien straightened up with a sigh. "At least it'll still taste good."

Marinette didn't look particularly impressed.

"I'm just not that artistic, Marinette," Adrien insisted, finishing off the cookie with a few particularly un-artistic dollops of frosting before handing the piping bag back to her. "And that piping bag just gets the best of me every time. If both you and your parents have tried to teach me and failed, then that just means I'm not cut out for it." He grinned. "I'll just stick to eating the cookies. I'm good at that."

Marinette groaned.

The weekend flew by too quickly, and then on Monday Adrien found himself on the train back to Paris. He found himself fidgeting in his seat, wishing he had brought along a book or something, like Marinette had suggested, just so the ride wasn't so unbearable. It wasn't that he didn't have elbow room, because of course his father had asked Nathalie to get Adrien one of the best seats, but staring at the back of the seat in front of him got boring before they even left the station.

One would think that he would be an expert traveler by now, between the times he had traveled for modeling things and his trips between Paris and London, but those times he had always brought homework or a book for research along. Since he had finished the semester and hadn't yet bought his books for the fall term yet, he had nothing to study.

Not that he wanted to study, of course. After finals week, it would be good to have some time to rest, recalibrate and think about things that weren't physics.

Thankfully, the ride wasn't long at all, and it didn't take Adrien long to get off and work his way through the train station. Nathalie and the Gorilla met him right outside the station, and soon he was being whisked back to his father's mansion. Unsurprisingly, his father wasn't actually home to greet him. Also unsurprisingly, Nathalie had printed off a color-coded schedule for Adrien to follow while he was in Paris.

"You'll be kept busy," Plagg observed as they reviewed the schedule in Adrien's room. "Look, your first fitting is in an hour. They didn't waste any time, did they?"

"And I have a haircut scheduled, too," Adrien pointed out with a sigh. "It's like Nathalie and my father don't think I would have gotten things like that taken care of in London."

Plagg sniggered. "Maybe it's Nathalie's way of telling you that you look like a mop."

"I do not." Still, Adrien couldn't resist glancing at his reflection in the computer screen in front of him. Maybe his hair was a little messy from the weather in London before he left, but it wasn't anything that a comb couldn't fix. Maybe he kept his hair a little longer than he used to, but it was hardly a mop. And besides, he had had a haircut only just-

Adrien had to pause to think about that. When had he last gotten his hair cut? He hadn't been able (or, rather, willing) to take the time when he was in study mode, and he had been planning on getting it cut during the week when all of his projects were due, but that idea had been abandoned the second Adrien had realized that not everything was running smoothly as planned. He probably should have then gotten a trim sometime during the three days between his final exams and leaving for Paris, but he hadn't. That meant that it had probably been two weeks before that when Adrien had last gotten a trim.

He took a closer look at his reflection in the computer, adjusting his bangs with his fingers. Okay, maybe his hair was a little on the shaggy side. That still didn't make it a mop. He kept his hair very nicely groomed, thank you very much.

...but maybe Nathalie was right to get him cleaned up before he saw his father.

One haircut and a three-hour fitting session later and Adrien was exhausted. It wasn't that any of those activities were particularly tiring, but standing around getting prodded by his father's army of assistants wasn't particularly invigorating and he had had to get up early that morning to catch his plane. The assistants in charge of his fittings hadn't been remotely interested in his attempts to strike up a conversation, so Adrien had had to resign himself to several hours of being a breathing mannequin.

So of course, Adrien was not particularly happy to get back to the house and find that Nathalie had altered his schedule to take out several previously free hours and replace them with business meetings, presumably at his father's request. Clearly Gabriel wasn't quite ready to give up on the idea of Adrien working for Gabriel in the business department.

Oddly enough, Adrien objected. There was absolutely no reason for him to go to any business meetings for Gabriel. He had come home to do modeling, and modeling alone. Any extra time should have been time for Adrien to get together with Alya, Nino, and the assorted other former classmates he kept in touch with who were still in the city, or for just wandering around Paris and exploring a bit, visiting his favorite places.

Still, Adrien hesitated. Obviously he would have to break it to his father somehow because there was no way he was going to set a precedent of allowing his father to push him around like that every time he came home, but how? Adrien was sorely tempted to just not show up to the various meetings, but that was bound to not go over well. And because his father was the one paying for the apartment and Adrien's university, it was probably not a great idea to tick him off too much. It would be far safer to go through Nathalie and argue that there would be no benefit to Adrien from going to the meetings. She was more likely to listen, and knowing Nathalie, she would probably add in a few well-thought-out arguments of her own.

So now Adrien just had to drag himself off of his bed and go track down Nathalie before his father got home.

"It's stupid that I even need to do this," Adrien grumbled, brushing his newly-trimmed bangs aside. The hairdresser had cut off a little more than he would have liked, but it did look nice and neat, the ideal Gabriel image. "They should have mentioned this earlier, and then I could have argued about it earlier. Or they could have recognized that I'm a model for the business and only a model. That's all I'm being paid to do. Model."

Plagg just yawned and stuffed his face with more cheese from the cheese plate the Agreste chef had prepared for Adrien upon arriving back at the mansion.

Sighing, Adrien shoved himself off of the bed and headed out of the room. He should have known better than to expect sympathy from Plagg.

It didn't take long to track Nathalie down, or to express his complaints to her, but it did take a while for Nathalie to persuade Gabriel Agreste to back off on his request that Adrien sit in on business meetings. What finally persuaded him to back down was Nathalie pointing out that Adrien might decline to come back and visit if Gabriel made him go to business meetings that Adrien had no interest in.

"You're the best, Nathalie," Adrien said cheerfully when Nathalie finally ended the call, looking somewhat exhausted. Arguing with his father was never a fun thing to do. "Thanks so much!"

"Just make sure you're on time to all of the fittings and photoshoots," Nathalie reminded him, straight-faced even as Adrien practically lifted her off of the ground in a hug. "No running late, are we clear?"

"Perfectly," Adrien promised. "I'll be early to everything, even. I promise."

"Nathalie is gonna kill me," Adrien groaned as he sprinted down the block, three days into his visit to Paris. He had been hanging out with Max at a library, and they had lost track of time. Now he had to be at a photoshoot in three minutes, and it was a five-minute sprint yet. To make matters worse, he had left Plagg at home and couldn't transform. And even if he had had Plagg, he and Marinette had agreed before he left London that it would be a bad idea for him to transform while he was in Paris, just because they didn't want people noticing any correlations between when Adrien was home and when Chat Noir showed up in Paris.

All of that meant that there were no shortcuts or cheats that Adrien could use to speed up his trip to the photoshoot location. He could only hope to be slightly late at best, and that was only if the lights were all green for him. Even then, he would be sweaty and gross, adding to the time that the makeup artists would have to spend on him.

He knew he should have set an alarm on his phone, but he hadn't expected his time with Max to stretch out so long. Adrien had figured that Max would be busy and could only spare an hour at most, since he had his Masters programs to keep him busy, but instead Max was eager for a bit of a break. Their one hour together had turned into two and a half before Adrien spotted the alert on his phone about the photoshoot and shot out of his seat with an embarrassing squeal. He had spared a few seconds to splutter an explanation to Max before bolting out of the building. Hopefully his friend had managed to understand him.

Seven minutes later (the lights had not been in his favor), Adrien skidded into the makeup tent. Several other models were already in the chairs, sitting patiently as the makeup artists worked. A couple others were waiting their turns off to the side, making Adrien breathe a sigh of relief. He wasn't too late. There had been times when he was younger and still fighting akuma when he would arrive late for a photoshoot and find out that either a) he was the only model and therefore it was very noticeable that he was missing or b) there were other models, but they were all ready and were just waiting for him. He did get a few curious looks this time as he burst in panting, but it was ages better than Nathalie's stern frown or his father's scowl.

The photoshoot of the day was ridiculously long. They had breaks, of course, just so the models didn't get too worn out or distracted, and most of the other models got to leave after the initial group and duo photos were over. That left Adrien, still the face of the brand despite himself. He had another hour of photos, followed by an hour break before sunset shots started.

Adrien couldn't wait for it to end.

Ten minutes into his break, Adrien's phone chimed. He checked it from where he was sprawled out over a park bench. Nathalie was giving him one of her famous Looks, probably because his posture was basically not there at all, but Adrien couldn't find it in himself to care. His posture had been nothing short of perfect for the entire photoshoot, and spending his off time sitting stick-straight would just result in him being completely sore and wiped out for the sunset shoot.

On his phone, there were a whole slew of messages. Some were from Nino, some from Alya, one from Max, and one from Marinette. He went for Marinette's message first, since she was the one who texted him last.

Marinette: How's Paris, kitty cat? Are people taking lots of pictures of your pretty face yet?

Adrien snorted and started typing back.

Adrien: So many pictures. Too many pictures. Mariiii, save me :(

Marinette: He lives!

Adrien: But I'm not done yet. I still have a sunset shoot tonight, and then more fittings photoshoots etc tomorrow. My dad's trying to get all of my summer shoots done now.

Marinette: how many can there possibly be?

Adrien snorted a laugh. That had been his response, too. Even as big as Gabriel was, there were only so many ads to run. But then there was the catalogue photos, and then apparently a couple commercials to film.

Adrien: oh, you know, the usual: ads, catalogue shoots because apparently I'm the only male model in the company, commercials to film...

Adrien: Kill me now.

Marinette took a moment to respond, probably either in the middle of making dinner or reading a book. Adrien flipped through his other texts while he waited for a response. The texts from Alya and Nino were mostly nonsense, teasing comments about working all the time. He updated Nino about when his next break was meant to be so they could get together before Marinette responded next.

Marinette: Yikes!

Marinette: Don't die on me, kitty! I'm gonna make cookies on Sunday and Tikki and I can't eat them all by myself!

Adrien groaned out loud. Now he wanted cookies. Marinette's cookies, fresh out of the oven, were close to heaven. His family's chef made decent enough pastries and treats, but it was a bit of a weak point in his otherwise superb cooking skills. He just didn't have that Dupain-Cheng magic.

Adrien: Any chance of refrigerating some of that dough and baking them fresh when I get home? pretty please

He was not above begging. Marinette's just-out-of-the-oven cookies were just that good.

Marinette: Mmm...I don't know. It might be hard to remember to do that...

Adrien pouted at his phone. She was just teasing him, of that he was pretty sure, but he wanted the promise of nice warm, gooey cookies once he got back to London.

Adrien: Purr-ty please, my Lady?

"Adrien, you have to get back into hair and makeup!" Nathalie called to him before Marinette could respond. "Break is over, we've got to go before we lose the light!"

Groaning, Adrien pushed himself off of the bench and headed for the hair and makeup tent, pocketing his phone as he went. This was going to be a looong week.

Adrien was pretty much sleepwalking by the time Sunday hit and he got to go hang out with Nino. Alya was busy covering a story across town, so the two men met up in the park and wandered together towards a café near their old lycée, tossing stories back and forth. Adrien fell quiet a few times, just too tired from his grueling schedule to keep up a conversation. Nino seemed not quite as chatty as usual as well, making Adrien wonder somewhat absently if his friend was feeling okay. He hadn't mentioned being overworked, despite working on both composing the score for the latest indie film he had been tapped for and DJing several nights per week.

"All right, out with it. What's wrong?" Adrien asked, pushing his salad (he was so sick of salads at this point, honestly, and he wasn't going to eat them for a week at least once he got back to London) aside so he could focus on Nino. "You're quieter than usual."

Nino opened his mouth, clearly ready to deny that anything was wrong (Adrien knew how to read Nino like a book at this point) before the look on Adrien's stopped him. He let out a long sigh and his shoulders slumped. "I...fine. I..." He huffed. "Fine, no beating around the bush. You knew about Alya's plans to enter the newspaper contest, right?"

...aha.

"I did, yeah," Adrien confirmed. "Marinette and I have been trying to get Alya to tell you. I'm glad she finally did."

Nino made a face at that. "But it's been months. She's been planning this for absolutely ages and I would never stop her from following her dream, she knows that, but she didn't tell me for forever. I can understand why you guys didn't tell me- it wasn't your responsibility- but she should have told me earlier and she didn't. And that hurts."

"From what I've heard, she was nervous," Adrien offered. This was the exact reaction that he was worried would happen, and this was why he had hoped that Alya would tell Nino sooner rather than later. "Because you were talking about missing us because we were out of the country, and she didn't want you to then get the news that she might be traveling for six months. It's not an excuse to not tell you for that long, I know, but..."

Nino just shook his head. Adrien fell silent.

"I... yeah. I know there isn't any way to go back and change that now, so there's no point in holding grudges about it for ages, but..." Nino let out a huff. "We apparently need to work on communication. I hadn't ever thought that that would be a problem before."

Adrien stayed silent. Nino probably just needed to get things out of his system, and spewing Alya's (poor) excuses for not telling Nino sooner wasn't going to help.

"I get that she didn't want to throw the news at me right after you guys left and I was really down, but there's been plenty of time since then." Another sigh. "And I don't know- like, would she think that I would try to stop her or something? She didn't say that, but I wonder because the missing you guys things just doesn't seem like enough of a reason, you know? And, like... I would never do that. I wouldn't try to stop her or persuade her not to go or anything. I love seeing her happy, and she's been so happy and interested in the research she's been doing for that. And I know she's wanted to travel, and this is the perfect opportunity. Like, all expenses paid? That's great. And I've been thinking, and I could probably go visit her a few times over the six months. I have enough money saved up for that."

"That sounds like it would be fun," Adrien agreed. "Mari and I thought that you guys might do that."

"I like how you were apparently already planning what we were gonna do," Nino quipped. "Did you find hotels for us to use, too? Train schedules?"

Adrien snorted. "No. We didn't go quite that far. We don't know where Alya would be going yet, it would be impossible for us to somehow just divine it all just so we could plan out your lives."

Nino laughed.

From there, the conversation moved back to more cheerful waters. Nino told Adrien about some of the new movie projects that he had heard about that he was hoping to be a part of, and Adrien filled Nino in what he would be doing for the job that he had in London over the summer (paperwork. Lots of paperwork). They compared notes on apartment-renting (and Nino made fun of Adrien's lack of knowledge about what all was in his contract; apparently despite living in the apartment for the majority of a year now, Adrien still had a lot to learn about the whole process). As they finished their meal, their conversation turned back to Alya and the newspaper competition.

"I'll get over it soon," Nino promised as he and Adrien gathered their things. "I'll just talk to Alya about everything tonight so we understand each other and don't have any secrets. I don't want this to get between us."

"I'm glad to hear that," Adrien said, giving his friend a side hug. "Say hi to Alya for me, will you? Will she be able to get off while I'm here?"

"No idea," Nino said immediately, then frowned. "...aaaand another thing we need to get better at communicating about. Bugger, now that that problem's been brought up, I keep seeing it."

Adrien cringed slightly at that. "At least you're finding that out now, though, and not when you're, like, married or anything..." He trailed off at the look on Nino's face. "...uh, is there something that you maybe aren't telling me?"

"No!" Nino claimed immediately, and then he wilted just a bit. "Okay, that was something I was...considering thinking about. For the future. Not right away, because we're so young and what's the rush, right? And then with Alya doing this six-month thing..."

Adrien snickered quietly. "I like how we're all just assuming that she'll get the win," he said, grinning. "I'm sure she'll appreciate that."

"Probably," Nino agreed, grinning as well. "She's probably pretty confident herself. That's just how she is." His grin turned somewhat lovestruck for a moment before he refocused. "Anyway, I don't think it would be a good idea to ask her before her trip, because then we would be apart. Like, there was a shift in expectation between friends and dating, and then again when we moved in together. And I think that would happen again once we get engaged, and that would make it tougher to be apart for that long."

"No, no, I get it," Adrien assured him. At Nino's doubtful look, he grinned sheepishly. "I mean, yeah, okay, maybe I haven't experienced that-" yet, he added mentally "-but, uh, that just seemed like the right thing to say, I guess?"

"Right, right," Nino said, then paused. "...uh, unless you have experienced that. Do you have something to share about you and Marinette, by any chance?"

Adrien frowned, then realized what Nino was implying. "Oh! No, no, I did just say that because it seemed right. We're just friends, dude. Seriously."

For now, Adrien added mentally. If he said anything to Nino about liking Marinette, it was bound to get back to Alya, and if Alya knew then it was only a matter of time before Marinette knew as well.

Thankfully, Nino just sighed and shrugged. "Okay, if you say so. It was worth a try, at least. Do you think you'll be free again before you go back to London?"

"Honestly? Not a clue."

Adrien fidgeted in his seat as the train slowed down to pull into the London station. He couldn't wait to be back in London, even if it had only been a week and a half since he left. Marinette would be waiting for him with just-baked cookies in either her or his apartment once he took the bus back to their neighborhood, and he was more than a little eager to see her again. She was much better company than his father, and he had grown too used to cuddling up to her side during their after-dinner movies. To go back home to where he was ignored when he wasn't having photos taken...

Well, Adrien knew where he would rather be. It was no contest.

He jiggled anxiously as he worked his way through the thick crowd on the platform, powerwalked through the station, and dragged his suitcase (stuffed with new clothes, because of course his father was worried about him being out of style) up the stairs to the street. Adrien practically sprinted to the bus stop before remembering that the tabloids could be lurking anywhere and they would no doubt pounce like starving wolves if they suspected Adrien was in a hurry to, say, get back to a girlfriend.

He had to pretend that he had at least a little chill. Still, couldn't the bus go any faster?

Adrien hopped off the bus at his stop and pulled his suitcase down the sidewalk. He couldn't help the way his footsteps were picking up speed as he got closer to their building. He was just hungry, that was all, and Marinette would no doubt have something ready. He had had Plagg text her at the airport, though if she had responded Plagg hadn't told him.

Adrien fumbled the key as he unlocked the main door, then turned the knob the wrong way, and then tripped over the carpet once he got inside, all because he was in too much of a hurry to get in and see Marinette. Once he managed to get in (Plagg was snickering loudly at him), Adrien trotted up the stairs as fast as he could with the weight of the suitcase slowing him down. He tripped over the last step (more snickers from Plagg), caught himself, and made himself slow down as he opened the door to his hallway.

"Did she say which apartment she's in, Plagg?" Adrien asked as he reached for his keys again before thinking better of it and reaching for his door. If Marinette were there (which was fully possible, since she liked how much light his windows let in at this time of the day), the door would be unlocked.

It was.

Adrien pushed open the door fully, letting his grin spread across his face. Whatever Marinette was making smelled amazing- it always did, Marinette was an excellent cook- and she was waiting in the middle of the apartment.

"Bugaboo!" Adrien exclaimed, letting the door swing closed behind him as he bounded forward to scoop her up in a hug. "I missed you!"

"Yeah, I can tell," Marinette said with a giggle as he swung her around, only just refraining from peppering her face with kisses. She was just too cute. Instead, Adrien contented himself with pressing a single kiss to Marinette's cheek. He dipped his head and turned it, aiming to press a kiss to her lower cheek. He would have kissed right where he meant to, had Marinette not had the exact same idea and turned her head at the same time.

Instead of kissing her cheek, his lips connected with Marinette's.

Adrien's eyes flew open in surprise, but he didn't pull away. This was his chance to find out if Marinette liked him like he liked- no, loved- her. If she pulled away, he could excuse the whole incident like the accident it was. If she didn't...

Marinette didn't pull away.

Adrien kissed her again, and Marinette melted into it, kissing him back as she tightened her arms around his shoulders. They shifted, finding a better angle, and kept on kissing. Adrien's suitcase tipped over with a loud thud, but neither of them paid it any attention. They were too wrapped up in each other to be concerned by anything else.

It was bliss.

When they finally pulled away from each other, it took Adrien a moment to refocus. He couldn't stop the goofy grin from spreading across his face as he leaned down to press his forehead against Marinette's. Her eyes blinked open and she gazed up at him, a small smile of her own spreading across her lips. It made him want to kiss her again, so he did.

And again, and again, and again.

A/N: And now they've finally figured things out. :)

But wait! Hasn't Adrien's father forbidden dating? Aren't the paparazzi still being an occasional pain (or, at the very least, a concern?)? Is this the end of the story?

No, it's not the end of the story and yes, there is more. :D HOWEVER, I've caught up to the end of what I had completely written/edited when I started posting, and while I had been intending on continuing to focus on writing HTFAM while I posted it, I miiiight have gotten a little distracted with one-shots and Plagg and the Butterfly Costume (whoops). So I don't have as much of the next arc written as I had planned, and therefore there will be a bit of a break (hopefully not too long!) while I work on the next chunk of HTFAM and get the plot there a little more straightened out. Because the next part will be spanning 2 years (aka the remainder of Adrien's time in university), there might be more time jumps/skipping over inconsequential details, just so I'm not still working on this when I'm, like, 80 (okay, it probably wouldn't take that long). I want to have another 10 or so chapters written and ready before I start posting again (just because it's easier to work in subplots that way; also, I have maybe four or five of those chapters already largely written so it hopefully won't take THAT long. Also, I have PATBC plus the side stories for that done and edited so I can stop distracting myself with them).

Also, for those of you who weren't already aware, I do have a How to Fake a Marriage: Outtakes story with one-shots from other POVs. Currently there's just one story there (Chloe's reaction to the "marriage" news), but I might be inspired to write other scenes in the future.

As always, reviews are much appreciated and always make my day (and also my birthday is tomorrow, so reviews are doubly appreciated :D)