21. Chapter 21

Jagged Stone absolutely loved all of the sunglasses designs Marinette sent him. Adrien listened to the star exclaim over every single one over the Skype design session Jagged, Penny, and Marinette had the second to last Saturday in August. Adrien sat in the couch, just out of sight of the computer's camera, and watched Marinette absolutely glow from the praise. Jagged only had a couple minor requests for changes, and Marinette nodded along and clarified everything, making notes on a pad of paper next to the computer so that she could remember everything.

"And how is the CD cover going?" Jagged wanted to know as soon as they were done discussing the last pair of glasses. "Have you had time to work on it?"

Adrien cringed. Just yesterday, Marinette had ditched her most recent attempt at the cover. He had thought that it looked fine- amazing, even- but Marinette wasn't satisfied. She had assured him that this had happened with every other cover as well- "well, except for the first one. I only made two then because Mr. Ross gave me bad instructions the first time around" - and it was nothing to worry about, really.

"I've made a couple drafts, but none of them feel right yet," Marinette explained. "They don't quite match the feel of the songs you sent me. I'm sure I'll get there, though. I work on it nearly every day."

"No worries, dear!" Penny assured her. "Jagged takes a while to put together his songs- there's always some little thing that's not quite right- so we understand. That's why we asked you with plenty of time this time around."

Adrien made a slight face. Being given plenty of time still wasn't going to keep Marinette from worrying about how much time she was taking to finish. She liked being on top of things (a trait that was apparently largely a side effect of being Ladybug for years on end and never knowing if she was going to have time to finish her schoolwork and projects later on), and having a project drag on like this wasn't her style.

"I've definitely found a few elements that I really want to use in the cover, so hopefully it won't take much longer," Marinette was telling Jagged Stone. "It's just a matter of incorporating them all together."

"I can't wait to see it!" Jagged Stone told her. "But take all the time you need to let your genius work!"

Marinette nodded.

It didn't take long for them to wrap up the call after that, and Adrien bounced up to go hug Marinette as she slumped into her chair with a sigh.

"That seemed like it went well," Adrien commented. "Jagged Stone sounded really happy!"

"I just wish that I had something ready for the CD cover," Marinette admitted. "I did like the last thing I made, but then I looked at it again and realized that I was reusing a lot of ideas from my last cover. It looked cool, but it was way too similar."

Adrien just shrugged. He had thought that the latest cover to be discarded was pretty cool and he hadn't noticed any similarities, but Marinette was definitely more familiar with her designs than he was. If she said that there were similarities, then he would believe her.

"Would it help to take a break from it for a couple days?" Adrien suggested. "Just step away, work on some other projects or watch a movie or take a walk, then come back refreshed. You've been working on this really hard."

"I think that sounds like a good idea, Marinette," Tikki piped up, popping out of the little nest of fabric scraps that she had built for herself on the windowsill. "You've been working really hard both at Madam Rosalie's and with the stuff for Jagged Stone, and you don't want to burn out!"

Marinette worried her lower lip for a second and Adrien waited, patient. If she wanted to keep working on her designs that was fine, but he really thought that she was running herself into a wall without taking a break. Sure, she was designing different stuff at work, and both of them took time off at the end of the evening to hang out together, but it wasn't a long break. If she stepped away, relaxed, and did something else, then maybe those creative juices would come flowing back in.

"Actually, I like that idea," Marinette decided, setting her notes aside. "Let's do literally anything else. I like your walk idea, and then maybe tonight we can go out for a run?"

Adrien grinned and held out his arm. "That sounds like a plan, my Lady."

Marinette had to admit that stepping away from her designing for a bit was relaxing. She and Adrien simply strolled around the neighborhood, enjoying the mild day and popping in and out of some of the shops around their area. They got distracted for a while in a pet store after Adrien spotted the kittens and immediately made a beeline for their pen.

"They're so cute," Adrien cooed as an orange kitten batted at his finger. "I want to get one, but I have no idea how you're meant to house-train them."

"And we aren't supposed to have pets in the apartment building," Marinette pointed out, amused at how Adrien continued to coo even as the kitten started claw its way up Adrien's sleeve. "And it might be a tad difficult to travel between here and Paris if we had a kitten to take care of."

"Aww, man." Adrien made a face, then had to try to pry the kitten off of his arm before she could make an escape over the edge of the cage. "Maybe once I finish school and we're back in Paris, then? They're just too cute to handle."

Marinette just smiled and tried not to laugh. The kittens were cute, sure, but watching her boyfriend cuddle with the kitten was even cuter. They would definitely have to get a cat once they were settled back in Paris. Maybe two.

"They definitely like you," Marinette commented as Adrien lifted the kitten up to perch on his shoulder. The other cats in the pen were crowding up along the edge near Adrien, mewing up at him for attention. "They would be crawling all over you if you could actually get in the pen."

"Now I wish I could get in," Adrien grumbled as he plucked the kitten off of his shoulder. "I'd love that, honestly. I've always wanted a pet but Father always forbade it. I mean, he is allergic," Adrien added. "He's allergic to cats and dogs and I'm allergic to birds. I'm honestly surprised that I haven't started sneezing yet, but maybe it's because the bird section is all the way across the store."

Well, if she and Adrien wanted to discourage Mr. Agreste from coming over too often and overstaying his welcome once they moved back to Paris, now Marinette knew how. Maybe getting two cats would be a good idea.

Sighing, Adrien put the kitten down. The other kittens crowded around his arm, begging for attention. He gave a little pat to each one, ignoring the way some of them were snagging his shirt sleeves as they tried to climb up his arm just like the orange one had. Adrien looked absolutely enthralled, and Marinette was torn between enjoying the view and diving in to play with the kittens herself.

The decision only took a few moments. Marinette slid in next to Adrien, reaching in to pick up a black kitten with green eyes. It was absolutely adorable...but then again, she could say the same thing about any of the kittens.

Maybe Marinette just had a soft spot for cats.

"Are you looking to buy a kitten?" someone asked, and both Adrien and Marinette spun around. The black kitten dug its claws in to Marinette's shoulder in surprise. An employee stood behind them. "Have you owned one before?"

"Oh, we were just looking," Adrien admitted. "I love cats, but our apartment building doesn't allow them."

"Otherwise he'd probably be leaving with three," Marinette teased. Adrien had a black and white kitten in his arms now, and its tail kept whacking him in the face as it waved back and forth. He clearly didn't mind at all. It was really cute.

"Ah. Well, if you change your mind, or if you have any questions, I'll be around," the employee told them. She headed off, leaving Adrien and Marinette alone with the kittens.

"I think that's a hint that we can't just stay here all day," Adrien joked in a loud whisper. He cuddled the kitten close. "It's a pity. I'd love to be able to take one of these guys home, but I think I might have problems getting homework done once school starts again if there was a kitten running around."

"I don't want a kitten," Plagg piped up, popping out of Adrien's jacket to regard the kitten in his arms. "It would steal my cheese."

Adrien heaved a long sigh. "Plagg, kittens wouldn't want your cheese. They're lactose-intolerant after they grow a bit, anyway."

"It would tug my tail," Plagg complained. "Or try to eat me."

"Plagg, it's just sniffing you now," Marinette pointed out. "It's curious, not hungry."

Plagg grumbled and retreated back into Adrien's shirt with one last distrustful look at the kitten. From the safety of Marinette's bag, Tikki giggled.

They played with the kittens for a few more minutes and then, after noticing the employee floating closer to them again, they patted the kittens good-bye and left the pet store.

"They were so cute," Adrien said mournfully as they headed down the sidewalk. "I can't believe our apartments ban pets. Who could ban a kitten with eyes like that?"

"I couldn't have pets growing up because we lived above the bakery," Marinette pointed out. "We were worried about fur getting tracked downstairs. I wanted a hamster because that wouldn't get fur all over, but then there were concerns about if a hamster could get out of its cage."

Adrien patted her arm. "We'll have to get a pet once we're back in Paris, then."

Marinette was going to hold him to that. She wouldn't mind seeing Adrien covered by kittens every day.

The rest of their walk wasn't quite as exciting (though they did pop into the nearby bakery as they passed for a bit of an afternoon treat), and then they headed back to their building. As soon as they stepped into Adrien's apartment, Marinette had to refrain from picking up the design tablet that she had left on his couch. It was almost automatic, and it was probably not a great habit.

"Movie?" Adrien suggested. "Since we won't have to work on dinner for a bit?"

Marinette eagerly agreed. It didn't take long for them to settle down on the couch with a movie, and Marinette let herself burrow into Adrien's side. The one downside to walking around the city was that they had to keep some distance between them to try not to attract attention from any stray reporters that had yet to get a life. Now, in the privacy of Adrien's apartment, they could get as close as they wanted.

"Ew, I don't want to see that!"

...well, almost. Privacy could sometimes be a foreign concept when there were kwamis around, and especially when one of those kwamis was Plagg.

Adrien sighed as he and Marinette untangled themselves from their kiss. "Seriously, Plagg? Just go into the other room, then."

"But I would miss the movie!" Plagg protested. Marinette could see the devious little grin on his face. Clearly he didn't care about the movie that much.

"Plagg..." Adrien practically growled.

"We kiss all the time," Marinette pointed out before Adrien could start threatening Plagg with bodily harm. "This isn't that much different."

"There were hands in inappropriate places," Plagg informed her haughtily, as though he was some sort of prudish teacher. "It was burning my innocent eyes."

"So you're saying that none of your past Chosens ever dated?" Adrien asked pointedly. "Never married? Never had kids?"

"They weren't as gross as you about it!"

Somehow, Marinette sincerely doubted it. She had heard some stories about past holders, after all, and there were more than a few that had ended up getting married and having kids.

"Fine, we'll behave for the rest of the movie," Adrien sighed, shooting Plagg a glare. "Even if I'm tempted to dial up the gross just to spite you."

Plagg scoffed. Next to Adrien, Marinette turned pink.

Once the sun set and the city grew dark, Adrien and Marinette wasted no time in finishing up their dishes from dinner and transforming, heading out for the second time that day. Only this time, they could run and jump and swing from rooftop to rooftop. If they really wanted, they could even cuddle and kiss.

"We really should go out like this more often," Ladybug sighed as they sprinted down a row of houses. They had had to wait until it was late and properly dark, but now they could go out without being easily spotted as they ran across the rooftops. The streetlights down below provided just enough light for Ladybug to see where she was going. "It seems like we're not even going out once a week anymore. I miss getting to stretch my legs."

"To be fair, we do have to wait until it's pretty late to go out now that it's summer," Chat Noir pointed out as they slowed down a bit to a stroll. He sounded a little out of breath, but he was grinning as he stretched. "And since we know that we don't have to transform to hang out anymore, the only real reason to transform here is to run around."

"We could also just stroll like we want to," Ladybug said, linking her arm with Chat Noir's so she could snuggle up to his side. "I wanted to do this earlier, but..."

"Same here." Chat Noir twined his fingers around hers. "Of course, it might have been a little warm to snuggle-walk, but still. By the time it gets cold, I don't know how I'll be able to keep my hands off of you outside."

Ladybug laughed. "You're going to be Mr. Handsy again, hmm?"

"That makes it sound bad," Chat Noir complained, but he was laughing as well. "I just meant that I would want to cuddle with you all the time. But you know that, you dork."

They sped up again, leaping over a gap in the buildings easily. They had just started to circle around to head back to their building for the night when a shout from the streets below caught their attention.

"Momma, there's people up there!"

Ladybug and Chat Noir both whipped around to locate the sound of the shout. Ladybug was still squinting around when Chat Noir hissed and suddenly grabbed her hand, pulling her up and over the ridge of the roof and onto the other side and then yanking her flat to the roof.

"It was just a little kid," Chat Noir whispered. "Hopefully the mom didn't see us." His ears twitched and then his expression dropped. "Oh, crud. She spotted movement and now they're sticking around and looking up."

Ladybug groaned and dropped her face to the shingles. This was exactly what they were always afraid of when they transformed and went for a run around London. If they were spotted and word got out that Paris's superheroes were in London, that could endanger their secret identities. People would look to see what Parisians were now in London and which of those people went back to Paris around the holidays, and that would narrow down the field of candidates quite a bit.

And considering that people would also be comparing moving dates with when Ladybug and Chat Noir vanished from Paris, that would really not be good. Maybe there weren't any active supervillains at the moment, but secrecy was always key. They didn't want any would-be supervillains knowing who they were and attacking them while they were off-guard to steal the Miraculous.

Five minutes later, the superheroes were still lying flat on the roof as Chat Noir listened. The girl and her mother were staying around, peering up at the roof. At one point Chat Noir peered over the ridge of the roof and spotted them aiming a flashlight up towards the roof, and he beat a hasty retreat back down to the safe side of the roof.

"Some people are just too persistent," Ladybug grumbled as they waited for the civilians to leave. "Ugh. If we hadn't changed into pajamas before transforming, I would just suggest jumping down and detransforming in an alley and just walking home."

"I think that might make tabloid front-page news if a reporter spotted us doing that," Chat Noir agreed. "Darn it I hate not being anonymous. No one would care if we were just random people. But nooo, the press has to practically work as a free pair of extra eyes for my father while I'm here."

"It is annoying," Ladybug agreed. "So, do you think that you'll stop modeling once you get a job in Physics? Surely the press attention would go away after a bit."

"Maybe, maybe not," Chat Noir told her. He shrugged. "My father is still famous, after all. That's why I'm even getting attention as a model in the first place. And I haven't decided on the modeling. It's a nice bit of extra income, but if my father won't let me scale it back when I'm in Paris, I might just flat-out quit." He grinned at her. "Well, quit Gabriel, at least. I wouldn't mind modeling your designs."

"You'll be the prettiest physicist in Paris," Ladybug teased. She reached over to rearrange his bangs in front of his face. "And the prettiest kitty, too."

Chat Noir grinned and opened his mouth, clearly about to respond, when his expression froze. His eyes darted towards the street below, and then he was tugging Ladybug's arm again, yanking her back up and over the roof ridge before flattening them both down again.

"Wha- Chat Noir?" Ladybug asked as Chat Noir listened intently. She glanced down at the street, but no one there was looking upwards. "What is it?"

"The kid and her mom decided to circle around to look at the other side," Chat Noir reported with a hiss. "I heard them right before they got all the way around. They aren't going to drop it easily." His ears flicked. "And- oh, shoot. They think they saw movement near the ridge, when we flipped over. They don't think it's superheroes, though. They think that there's robbers or something, and now they're going to the door to ask the people there if they know that there's people on the roof."

"We need to move, then," Ladybug decided. "Just keep low and get off this set of houses, and be super-careful for at least a couple blocks. I wish there were more clouds so the moon wasn't so bright, but we'll just have to work with it."

Chat Noir nodded. His ears flicked again as he listened to the conversation down below. "The people from the house are watching the other side now and the kid and her mom are coming back around again. Let's go."

Ladybug nodded, pushed herself up, and, keeping herself bent practically double, she sped over the rooftop. Chat Noir followed close behind, hissing instructions as he listened to the conversations behind them.

"Over the ridge," he instructed, and Ladybug kept herself close to the roof as she rolled to the other side and continued speedwalking. She glanced down at the street, and didn't see anyone looking up. She could still feel Chat Noir's tension as he followed her closely, so she had to guess that they weren't in the clear yet.

"Back over!"

Ladybug followed the instructions immediately. Chat Noir guided her to a section of the roof that was hidden from the rest of the street by a dormer jutting out so they could keep moving.

"If someone looks out of any of these things, we're done for," Chat Noir panted. There was a pause, and then he spoke up again, a grin in his voice. "That might be a little bit of an exaggeration. But Alya would be over here every weekend if she knew we were here, and there would be way too many people prying into our lives for my comfort."

Ladybug just nodded.

"They've called the neighbors," Chat Noir reported as they vaulted over another dormer. "So there might be more eyes. But they haven't spotted us again."

Even once they cleared a couple streets, they were still tense. They waited until there weren't any people on the sidewalk below before making the final jump onto Adrien's balcony and rushing inside.

"Well, that was unnecessarily stressful," Adrien said with a laugh as they detransformed. "We might want to not go to that area for a bit, though. And maybe we should stick to nights that are either overcast or don't have much in the way of a moon. We would have been fine if the moon hadn't been so bright."

"You would have been fine if you hadn't gone out at all," Plagg grouched, flopping on a pillow on the couch. "Unnecessary transformation. Ridiculous. I could have been eating cheese during that time."

"I think it's fun going out!" Tikki protested. "Maybe tonight didn't go as smoothly as usual, but it's nice to transform every once in a while even if we don't have a supervillain to fight."

"Maybe we should just stay in tomorrow," Marinette suggested. She had really been hoping to do another superhero stroll over the rooftops, but after tonight it would be a good idea to sit back and take a break. "We can bake something- maybe croissants or pain au chocolate, those both take a while- and watch movies while the dough chills. That would be relaxing, but we wouldn't have to worry about anything except burning the dough."

"That sounds like a plan," Adrien agreed. He smiled at her. "But right now- bedtime?"

"Hey!" Plagg protested, even as Marinette nodded. "What do you mean you're going to bed already? What about my midnight snack?"

The rest of the weekend sped by in a flurry of design-avoiding activities, and then Adrien and Marinette both had to head back to work. Adrien slogged through the day, trying not to get distracted by a commotion happening in the rest of the office, and then took off almost as soon as he could at the end of the day. He arrived home from work to find Marinette hunched over her tablet at his kitchen table, frowning as she sketched out ideas for Jagged's CD cover. Several of her previous design attempts were printed out and spread out on the table around her, and she kept glancing over at one as she worked.

Adrien thought they all looked awesome, but Marinette was positive that there was something that just wasn't quite right.

"How's it going, love?" Adrien asked, setting his bag down and crossing the apartment to bend over and press a kiss to Marinette's head. He glanced down at the tablet and grinned. "That looks amazing, Marinette!"

"Thanks! I'm really liking this one," Marinette said, twisting around so she could properly press her lips to his. "I think this is it. It just fits the music so well!"

"I'm glad you're happy with it," Adrien replied with a smile. Then he frowned slightly. "How long have you been working on that? It looks almost complete."

"Oh, I salvaged chunks from some of these designs," Marinette assured him. "Most of this was just a matter of copy-paste and then some color changes so they would all tie in together. I've only been working on it for maybe half an hour at most, and I did some of the moving stuff from previous designs at lunch. I really only just got home."

That was a relief. For a moment there, Adrien had been worried that Marinette was pulling an Alya and neglecting her actual work for the commission.

"Having the break really helped, I think," Marinette continued as she went back to designing. "I felt like I could really just look at everything with new eyes. So thank you for that suggestion."

"No problem," Adrien assured her. "I'm just glad that you've gotten out of the designer's block. It didn't look like fun."

"Not at all," Marinette agreed. "And I wasn't helping things along at all by over-thinking it. So, how was your day?"

Adrien told her about the drama that had broken out in the office as Marinette drew and asked questions whenever he paused for breath. By the end of the story, she had to put her pen down as she laughed.

"I just guess that's the danger in hiring two brothers to work in the same office," Adrien finished. "I'd be surprised that they haven't been fired yet, because they apparently bring their family problems into the office a few times a year, but they're really good at what they do. I think people just learn to ignore it."

"I can't believe that a grown man would threaten to tell their mom on his brother," Marinette chortled. "And while they were at work, too. It's funny, but that's just so unprofessional."

"It makes things awkward, too," Adrien admitted. "I had a few forms I had to run by one of them, but he was still stewing about the fight and about the boss telling them off. And then it turned out that it was a form that his brother was partially responsible for, too, and that practically set him off again."

"Did they get things figured out, though?" Marinette asked, picking her pen back up again. "Like, they aren't going to be all ticked at each other all week, are they?"

Adrien just shrugged. He honestly had no idea. His colleagues hadn't told him that much. He was just a temporary worker, and was treated as such. "I really don't know. I don't think they'll explode like that again because the boss really did tell them off, but unless they resolve things out of the office it could still be awkward."

"Pity," Plagg piped up. "I thought the fight was funny. All I needed was some popcorn, and I'd have a proper show to watch."

Adrien just rolled his eyes at the kwami. Plagg had just liked the fight because it had meant that the brothers were too ticked at each other to notice that their sandwiches had both been strangely devoid of cheese at lunch, and the distraction of the fight itself had meant that only Adrien had noticed him slipping into the break room.

"I hope that they won't explode again while I'm there, though," Adrien said. He stood up and wandered towards the kitchen to see what was there to eat. They had made a large pot of stir-fry the previous day, but he didn't really feel like eating it again right away. "I didn't get as much done as I wanted because the fight was really distracting and then I was a bit rattled. I lost probably an hour of work."

"I'm sure your boss won't blame you for that," Marinette assured him. "You've been working super-hard all summer, and of course unprofessional working conditions are going to affect you. You can't churn out the same amount of work every day, that's just unrealistic."

"I suppose." Adrien ducked his head into the fridge. There were a lot of assorted leftovers, so maybe he should make shepherd's pie. That would be tasty. He started to gather up some of the things that he wanted to use. "I just don't like getting everything I wanted to get done finished."

"We don't do the same amount every day at Madam Rosalie's," Marinette continued. "I mean, if we have designer's block, then we might just spend the entire day whacking our heads against the desk until we get an idea. Or we can spend three days trying to re-draw the same skirt. I know office work isn't the same, but, like, not all forms are alike. Or something."

Adrien muffled a snicker at that.

"D'you want me to help?" Marinette asked ask Adrien started to wash up potatoes. She craned her neck to see what he was doing. "What are you making?"

"Shepherd's pie, and don't worry, I've got this," Adrien assured her. "If you're on a roll with the design, then keep at it. This isn't that difficult to make."

"Does it have cheese?" Plagg wanted to know as Adrien got to work chopping. He floated over Adrien's shoulder, peering at the potatoes and at the leftovers Adrien had pulled out. "I don't see any cheese."

Adrien sighed, headed back to the fridge, and pulled out a round of Camembert so he could cut off a chunk for Plagg. Once his kwami was taken care of and no longer hovering over his shoulders trying to steal from their dinner, Adrien went back to work.

In the living room, Tikki turned on Marinette's music player, and the sound of Jagged's demos filled the apartment. Adrien bobbed his head along to the beat as he worked, and it felt like practically no time at all before he was sliding the pie into the oven and setting the timer.

"Dinner in forty-five minutes," Adrien announced as he flopped back onto the couch. "...ah, bugger. I suppose I should have made a salad or something to go with that."

"Just toss some strawberries on a plate and call it a day," Marinette suggested. Adrien laughed.

"I was trying to be a responsible adult, Mari!" Adrien protested, but he couldn't help but grin. "I was trying to make sure that we got our vitamins and whatnot, but noo, someone is trying to persuade me to just throw that out the window."

"Fruit is healthy!"

Adrien just shook his head, grinning. Marinette was right, of course, and it would be easier to just wash a few berries and toss them on a plate, but that didn't mean that he wasn't going to tease her about her lax approach to it.

Picking up his book, Adrien settled in on the couch. He opened it, but instead of reading he watched Marinette drawing at the table. Tikki danced around behind Marinette, prancing and twirling to the beat, and Marinette focused on her drawing. She looked gorgeous like this, relaxed and clearly enjoying herself as she designed. The summer dress she had picked out fit her perfectly, and it exposed her lovely freckled shoulders.

How Adrien had gotten so lucky to get such an amazing girlfriend, he didn't know. He could be himself around her without fear of rejection, the banter was amazing, and she was his best friend twice over. Marinette was brave and spirited and smart and creative, and she always ranged between cute and absolutely drop-dead gorgeous.

"Done!" Marinette announced. She turned around and grinned, holding up her tablet. "I love this! I'm saving it and then sending it to Jagged Stone right away for feedback."

"Congratulations!" Adrien exclaimed. He set his book aside (he hadn't read a word of it anyway) and crossed the room to examine the cover more closely. Like he had suspected from his earlier glimpse of the piece, it was absolutely stunning and had a play of colors that just made it pop. In his opinion, Jagged Stone would have to work super-hard to make the songs live up to the gorgeous cover's promise. "I'm sure Jagged will love it."

Marinette grinned. "He always does," she admitted. "He's never once had requests for changes of CD covers apart from that very first time, and that one hardly counts. I'm always glad when he likes what I did, especially since he never really gives me much direction."

"Right," Adrien agreed. He ducked down for a kiss. It lasted perhaps a little longer than strictly necessary, but then again there were absolutely no rules about limits on kissing time when the kissee was his girlfriend. Marinette leaned up to meet him, and Adrien deepened the kiss with a grin. It was an awkward angle, sure, but he wasn't about to let a little problem like a slightly sore neck (and a slight twinge in his back from being hunched in front of a computer all day) get in the way of his kissing.

"I'm looking forward to having my evenings free again," Marinette admitted once they separated. "I mean, I know I tended to kind of low-key design before when ideas came to me, but it was stuff for myself and I didn't feel like there was any sort of rush. And I like having commissions, but this one just took longer than I expected. Having done several covers for Jagged before hurt rather than helped, I think, because it's harder to come up with something different than what I've done for him before."

Adrien opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by the timer in the kitchen going off and he glanced over at it with a frown. Was it time to take the pie out of the oven already? He must have spent more time staring at Marinette than he had thought.

Ah, well, it was time well spent.

Adrien headed off to the kitchen to pull the shepherd's pie out of the oven to cool slightly as Marinette quadruple-saved her design and then saved a copy in a file that she could send to Jagged Stone for approval. By the time their dinner had cooled enough to dig in without burning their mouths, Jagged had sent an email back singing her praises.

"Well, he's definitely happy," Adrien laughed, passing Marinette her plate. "Congrats, Bug. That's a job well done for sure."