Sorcellerie

by Yilena

While the popularity for their show grew, their friendship dwindled. With Adrien barely able to talk to her, Marinette tries to figure what had happened between them, but it's only when she watches fan-made videos that she starts to understand. AU.

AN: For KitKatCatFangirl. Jennifer, hi! I'm your secret santa for our discord server. I kind of started it before Hari asked us any for our preferences, so I hope you still like this. Do I know anything about acting? No, I do not. Let's just go with the flow and pretend this is correct, okay? Thanks to Slow for listening to me rant and my lovely cabbage for betaing a good half of this.

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Chat Noir © Thomas Astruc

"I can't do this," she choked out, breathing loud and irregular, making her voice shake as she tried to talk. Falling down to her knees, Marinette ran her hands through her hair, gripping tightly at the roots as she clenched her eyes shut. "I—this isn't... I can't."

Her eyes felt irritated as tears gathered in the corners, throat feeling tight in response to her emotions, and she was aware of the uncomfortable feeling of the ground digging into her knees, digging into her skin through the thin material of her tights. As she tried to breathe out evenly, to try and gain some sense of control, all that came out were loud sobs.

Pressing her palms into her eyes, Marinette breathed out raggedly, before she dropped them down to the ground below her, hands searching through the dirt for the item that she'd tossed aside emotionally what seemed like only moments before.

The focus, a small crystal that she'd been gifted by her mother as a mere babe, was cold to touch, but Marinette didn't flinch. She grasped it slowly, using her free hand to wipe at her blue-coloured eyes with a pathetic sniff, vision blurred from the remaining tears that were still present.

The crystal started to glow softly, the light standing out amongst the darkness.

Marinette sniffed. "It was never supposed to be like this."

Through her tears, she stared down at the soft light. The crystal had flickered dangerously before turning dormant when she'd tossed it aside, no longer responding when it wasn't touching her skin, something that she'd been momentarily happy for.

It was the cause of everything that was wrong, but she couldn't find it in herself to hate it.

With a shaking breath, she reached down to collect the necklace that she'd discarded, wiping off the dirt before she gently handled the crystal to slip it onto the silver chain.

Her breaths still weren't quite stable when she pushed her dark-coloured hair over her shoulder, clumsily clasping the necklace around her neck with only a few fumbles. The crystal felt cool against her skin when she tucked it safely under her shirt, and even though she knew that the tiny make-shift pendant wouldn't be seen by any mortal as it was, she felt more comfortable with it hidden.

But when she touched it with the intention of placing it beneath her shirt, the light flickered before disappearing.

She made a noise of frustration. "It's broken again!"

That was all that needed to be said for the scene to be cut. It was the fifth time that they'd redone it in the past week, all due to the prop not performing as intended. It was supposed to be smooth, with someone holding a remote to control the amount of life that was being given off, but more often than not, it stuttered and failed to do what they wanted.

Still, the director wanted it to be physical, rather than edited in completely.

With a break being called, Marinette tugged at the collar around her neck, not too fond of the outfit that had been chosen for her that day. They were filming outside, and the thin material of the shirt wasn't doing much to hide her discomfort between takes.

She gratefully accepted the hot drink and coat that was offered to her on her way past.

With a pleasant smile, hiding her frustration, and brief conversation, she made her way to where she knew her friend was residing, waiting for the time when another scene was due to be shot.

"Hey, loser," was the greeting she received as she walked into the room.

With a dirty look, Marinette wasted no time settling down on the small spot that was left on the sofa, making a noise of disapproval as legs were immediately put over her lap, the action far too comfortable.

If it was anyone other than her friend of the past two years, it would've been awkward.

"Still hogging all the screentime?" Chloé questioned, one arm behind her head to prop herself up to make sure that she could see. "I'm getting more wrinkles by the second due to your stupidity."

While Marinette was small, had pale skin, and dark-coloured hair that stood out despite her small stature, Chloé was the opposite; tanned skin, naturally blonde hair, and long legs that had graced more than a few magazine covers since her acting career had began.

Marinette just continued to hold the hot drink she'd been given with two hands as she raised her eyebrows before taking a deliberately loud sip.

"I'm taking that as a yes," Chloé mused, rolling her eyes. "Did you forget to practice in your mirror this morning?"

When they'd first met on set of Sorcellerie—when Marinette was a small name that had only been in two other shows as a supporting character, while Chloé had been acting since she was a teenager—Marinette had been intimated by her, but it had only taken a couple of weeks for their friendship to form.

And two years later, it was still hilarious to her that Chloé's character was supposed to be her enemy. There were some takes where they burst out laughing at ridiculous lines, particularly the ones where Marinette was nervous and had ended up blurting the wrong words—in those instances, Chloé's laughter had made her feel more comfortable, especially in the beginning when she'd been mortified at her mistakes.

She wiped her mouth. "It's not my fault that fucking crystal doesn't want to work."

"Still?" Chloé snorted. "He needs to get the fuck over it. It's never going to work how he wants it to."

"Yeah, you try telling him that."

There wasn't really much point trying, not after they'd done so many times in the past. There were some details about filming that could've been much easier, but that was never what their director wanted to do.

The producers had set out to do something different, to make their show stand out from the rest along with casting Marinette who wasn't known in any household, and although it had seemed that they'd succeeded, she still felt frustrated at times.

She fiddled with her cup. "So."

"So," Chloé echoed, no emotion in her voice.

It made Marinette want to squirm in her seat, but she resisted. "Adrien didn't talk to me again."

That caused laugher to spill from her lips. "Did he make sounds at you this time, at least?"

Marinette shook her head. "He... I don't know, he kind of looked at me strangely then walked away when I said good morning to him?"

"Nice."

Turning to shoot her a disapproving look, she admitted, "I really don't know what I did wrong, Chloé."

But, as always, Chloé's wise answers weren't quite the type that she was looking for. "He's a pussy," Chloé stated bluntly. "And I'm fed up with you whining about it—either fucking confront him or stop bothering me about it."

Although the words sounded harsh, it was as though it was sugar-coated due to the non-sharp tone that it had been said with. If Chloé had really meant them—harsh retorts that were hardly ever directed at her any more, not since they'd become friends—Marinette was sure that she would've been able to tell.

"Thanks for the wonderful pep-talk," sh grumbled, taking a long sip of her drink. "I'll just go back to freezing my ass off out there since Bri has to wear the thinnest clothes in the world, apparently."

Chloé smirked, purposely adjusting the arm that she was resting on to show off the warm clothing that she was wearing. "Happy November."

"I hope you freeze to death when you sacrifice a puppy."

"Don't be so cruel." Chloé clicked her tongue in disapproval. "I'm sure it's not a puppy. Higher-ups would be too scared of some animal activists saying we're not family-friendly enough."

With a laugh of disbelief, Marinette pointed out, "We're a teen drama."

"A dark teen drama." The stressed word was more than apparent. "I'm the only dark bit for now, sadly."

She rolled her eyes at that and echoed, "For now."

"Yes." Then, with a wide grin, Chloé added on, "But I am really looking forward to your kiss scene soon. Are you practising that?"

It was all in good humour, but it brought her back to her previous complaint. "Sure, I'll just practice talking to a wall since that's all trying to talk to Adrien feels like."

"Cry me a fucking river, Mari," Chloé replied.

She snorted. "Bite me."

The retort that earned her was entirely truthful. "Sorry, the fans didn't vote for that."

Their conversation turned into their usual banter, staying away from the heavy topics when they were on set. Marinette had learned to trust her with her troubles after some months, but it had taken even longer for Chloé to call her one evening—after six months—and ask her to come over since she was annoyed.

It was nice that they were friends outside of work.

After some time, when her cell phone rang from within her coat's pocket to alert her that she was needed back on set, Marinette stood up with a loud sigh that earned her a light kick to her thigh.

"Rude." Marinette huffed.

Chloé just stretched out and took up the space that Marinette had been in. "Get your ass out of here."

It took two more shots to get the scene done. The tights she was wearing ripped at one, so they had to be replaced, but everything went okay after that, thankfully. Marinette was more than happy to change out of the thin shirt, pulling on her favourite hoodie, collecting her belongings on her way out.

Filming at night was bad enough at it was, but when it was only going to get colder in the winter, she found herself dreading the outfits she'd have to wear in the future. As aesthetically-pleasing as they were, they really weren't appropriate for the weather.

She said good-bye to each person she went past, or a tentative smile when she saw that they were busy, and was almost at the exit with her keys in her hand when she caught sight of a mop of blond hair.

Although his appearance hadn't changed much in the two years that they'd known each other, it was one of the reasons that he'd been picked by the fans to be upgraded from a background character to her character's love interest. With his dimpled smile, green-coloured eyes with blond on the end of his eyelashes—something she'd seen countless fans gush about, surprisingly—and generally friendly aura, it was no wonder that people liked him.

"Adrien!" she called brightly, taking a step towards him.

As she'd come to expect, Adrien's body language seemed to tense up when he looked up from his phone and caught sight of her.

"Hey," she started, fiddling with her keys. "How are you?"

But rather than reply, Adrien stared at her for a moment before he bolted off in the opposite direction without a single word.

The sigh that escaped her was loud.

It hadn't always been that way.

In the beginning, back when she'd been nervous and apologising to everyone on set if she so much as kept eye contact with them too long, Adrien had been a cast member that she'd gravitated towards. His laughter had been reassuring to hear within the first few weeks, when she was slowly starting to know each person, and he'd been there to strike up a conversation with her between takes.

He might have been a background character, one that didn't have any lines for half of the first season, but when the showrunners had decided to let fans vote for the main love interest after season one had ended, Adrien had beaten the person below him by almost double.

It was remarkable considering how little he'd been involved in the main plot.

But, sadly, somewhere along the lines of them being friends for over a year, that had dissolved and turned into him barely responding the past few months. Marinette had no idea what she'd done wrong, but it had resulted in him no longer texting her—not even to say that he'd be on set the same day as her, as he'd done in the past—and it was beyond frustrating that she was left in the dark.

He was a good actor, though. When they were in the same scene together, he was able to recover from what he was holding against her, delivering his lines perfectly with the right feelings, but as soon as the scenes ended, he scampered away and put distance between the two of them.

It would've been a lie to say that she didn't cry when it had first happened.

Outside of Chloé, Adrien had been her closest friend within the cast. She was friends with some of the staff members, occasionally hanging out with them, but she rarely saw the other cast members outside of when they were needed together for publicity or for work.

She would've gone mad without Chloé.

-x-

"Please stop," Marinette groaned, pressing her face further into the pillow she was holding against her chest. "You're only pushing the dagger deeper into my heart."

"First of all, dramatic much?" Chloé scoffed. "Save the dramatics for when you're Bri. You're not a whiny kid right now."

Her laughter was muffled. "Bri's having a very emotional time, okay."

"Yeah, but I'm convinced she's just sexually frustrated—which leads me to my second point. Marinette, I'm actually terrified of your fans."

There was a lot of things that came out of being a part of a popular show. Sorcellerie had aired with high ratings that only improved, the popularity booming out of nowhere, the support and success that came with it utterly baffling to her. Marinette had only played background characters before, and when the pilot episode aired, she'd bawled into her hands with her parents sat on either side of her.

And two years later, Sorcellerie was more popular than ever. The second season had introduced Adrien's character, Félix, properly and continued to flesh him out to high praise and acceptance, as he was a stark human contrast to the troubles and the world that Marinette's character had to deal with.

"Do you really have to tell me?" she mumbled, turning her head to the side so she could breathe easily, peering up at her friend with a dubious expression. "It's probably just some weird porn again."

"Well, yeah," Chloé admitted without any shame. "But it's porn about you. I'm allowed to feel weird about that."

She snorted. "Don't pretend you weren't rooting for the fans to pick your character to smooch me."

"I wanted the screentime, not your crusty lips." Chloé's gaze briefly flickered away from her phone to shoot her a knowing look. "Besides, every time you say the word smooch, my sex drive shrivels up and tries to die."

Marinette laughed. "Smooch is such a good word."

"It's really not," she disagreed. "And if the day comes where you have to say it as Bri, I'm going to fucking die."

"Sure, sure," Marinette agreed, knowing that she'd said that about countless things in the past. "Now, what's so bad that you feel the need to tell me about it?"

The way Chloé's grin grew wider should've been a warning. "For one, I found some gross posts about you and Plagg. I'm really not on board for that, I'm afraid. I want to bleach my fucking eyes."

For a show that revolved around a teenage witch, the amount of content that could be twisted was beyond frustrating. The trope of a witch having a cat as a partner—familiar, whichever word needed to be used—meant that she, of course, had to have one, and Marinette had to sit through hours of the cat auditions, trying to give her quiet opinions and see which one would be most comfortable with her.

The cat could've been edited in, or be purely animated, but the same as the crystal, that wasn't what they wanted. So, with an actual black-coloured feline on the set and having to interact with her, it meant that between takes her outfit had to be cleaned to make sure that it was free of fur.

It was a lot of hassle, along with making sure the cat behaved as they wanted it to.

Still, Plagg wasn't too bad. He was the third cat—they'd gone through two in the first season—and had made it all the way to their recordings of the third season with high praise.

"And what else?" she prompted, reaching out to poke Chloé's side. "Come on, continue telling me all about my upcoming doom with Adrien. Wasn't that what you were doing before you found the porn?"

Chloé's laughter was loud. "Look, I think you're just being a bit over-dramatic."

"Coming from you?" Marinette gasped, hastily sitting upright and putting a hand over her chest. "That's so fucking offensive. You're the queen of overreacting."

Chloé sniffed. "Fuck you."

"No, thanks."

With a practised flip of her hair, Chloé mused, "I found a video that you might find interesting."

Dubious, she felt the need to point out, "The last time you said that, it was a video of a puppy taking a bath."

"And you fucking loved it, what's your point?" And after rolling her eyes, Chloé added on, "It might give you the courage to stop being a mopey bitch off the set."

She jutted her lower lip out childishly. "I'm not mopey."

"Mari, you literally monologue about what you could've done to offend Adrien," was the deadpan answer she received. "At least once a week."

"Because I'm troubled!" She threw her hands up in exasperation. "He runs the other way or just blanks me!"

But that wasn't what Chloé wanted to hear. Instead of replying, Chloé expertly tapped on the screen of her phone to bring up the video that she'd mentioned, immediately turning off the volume as soon as it started to play.

Obediently, Marinette shifted closer so their shoulders were pressed against each other as a message in text from the creator popped up at the beginning. Not knowing what to expect, Marinette was a bit startled when the first clip that appeared was a zoomed in one of her face, showing her on set.

When she opened her mouth to comment, Chloé shook her head in a clear sign of disapproval.

It was a video filled with backstage footage, compiled of videos that cast members had taken and posted to their own accounts edited together. The main theme seemed to be getting her on screen and then the camera panning away, showing Adrien staring at her from across the room.

A lot of them seemed to be from Adrien's closest friend on the set—since she'd been pushed aside and the new actor had been brought on for season three—and showed Adrien stuttering as he hissed at his friend to stop filming him.

It was another reminder that he didn't speak to her like that any more.

But he—there was so much footage of him looking at her. From being in the make-up chair and barely paying attention, or to her just reading over her lines as he shuffled awkwardly beside his friend, visibly embarrassed when the camera turned his way.

It was confusing, to say the least.

Befuddled, Marinette didn't say anything when the ten minute long video ended. She didn't know what to say, honestly, not after she'd suddenly became aware of his attention on her that she hadn't even realised about.

"Weird," was all that she summed it up with.

Chloé sighed. "Not weird enough for you to do anything?"

"You could always talk to him," she pointed out.

The bland look she received was very telling. While Marinette had befriended her and Adrien in the beginning, the two of them didn't get along well together. Marinette wasn't really sure why at first, but Chloé had eventually admitted that she found his bright personality grating to be around (something that baffled her, but Marinette wasn't going to push her for anything more—she didn't want to make her friend uncomfortable).

"He looks at you a lot," Chloé mused, putting her phone in her lap before holding up one finger. "The idiot can barely speak a sentence to you and runs away when you approach him. What does this say to you, Marinette?"

She blinked. "That he's a good actor?"

"He's a fucking idiot, actually," Chloé snapped. "You're being ridiculous. It's not like I'm outing him or something."

Furrowing her brow, Marinette eloquently enquired, "What?"

"Fucking hell," Chloé cursed, running a hand through her hair and ruining the middle parting that had been perfectly down the middle. "Marinette, there's also videos that show him turning red without make-up on."

"Well, yes," she replied slowly. "That's kind of the point of make-up—to hide that sort of thing, you know? Though, it is a bit annoying that it hides my freckles when it's on so thickly. I like them."

Chloé visibly looked frustrated. "Red while looking at you."

"I—oh." Marinette paused, eyes widening in surprise as she took that statement in.

As much as she wanted to play oblivious, to ask whether Chloé thought that was due to anger or not, she knew that that wasn't what had been implied. It was all just—it was so out of the blue, to her at least, and she wasn't too sure what to think about it.

Adrien had ignored her for months.

They'd been friends. They'd talked every single, told each other about what was happening in their lives, and even sent candid pictures of themselves in the mornings when they felt like death after staying up late with filming. She'd been so terribly happy whenever she'd gotten a message from him since they'd gotten along so well—

And for him to have thrown that away because his reaction to having a crush on her was so-terribly-juvenile?

It was just as hurtful as him ignoring her.

"Oh," she repeated, voice soft. "That—that changes things, then."

-x-

Bridgette was a soft-spoken girl who's powers activated when her parents died in a fire. Bridgette liked sweet-looking clothing with collars, skirts, and soft colours. And most of all, Bridgette was starting to like Adrien.

Well, Adrien's character, Félix.

Marinette, on the other hand, hadn't said a word—outside of their lines—to Adrien in over a week. After seeing the video with Chloé, she hadn't quite worked up the courage to confront him about it, choosing to stop attempting to talk to him instead as she thought it through, but she did make the decision to follow the social media account of the cast member that Adrien was closest with.

Nino, with his tanned skin and dark-coloured hair, was someone that she hadn't spent too much time with. They'd been on set together, yes, but he'd appeared after Adrien had distanced himself, and she'd never had to actually say a line to him in the show.

During that week of not talking, Nino took two pictures of Adrien looking flustered, and posted one short video clip that showed Marinette getting her make-up done and Adrien staring while continuing to screw the lid on top of his bottle, even though it was already done.

She didn't know how to feel about that.

When she got the script for the next episode that was being filmed, she wanted nothing more than to just not turn up. Sadly, she couldn't do that, so it left her with a remaining option.

She had to work up the courage to talk to him before they had to have their first kiss.

Chloé's following pep-talk was filled with the usual amount of cursing, but it only took two days for her to take a deep breath and march across the set when she'd finished filming the time being, knowing that Adrien had a break before he was supposed to go on.

"Hello," she interrupted his conversation with Nino, lips curling down in a frown as she saw the surprise that flickered across his expression as he turned to look at her with wide eyes. "You're free now, right?"

It wasn't Adrien that answered. "Yeah, he is," Nino replied, clapping his hand down onto Adrien's shoulder in a show of support. "Want me to leave for a bit?"

And the fact that his friend—someone Marinette had barely ever spoken to for an actual conversation—was willing and ready to push his friend onto her was speaking volumes. And from the bright smile that Nino was sporting when Adrien turned his wide-eyed stare to him, it only caused her to feel irritated.

Her smile was tight. "Please."

As Nino walked off, leaving the two of them alone without another word put in, Marinette was more than aware of the height difference between them. She suspected it was another reason why he was voted her; she came up to his chest and would surely have to put her weight onto her toes to try and kiss him when the time came.

Which, unfortunately, was set to be during that week if everything went according to plan. Sure, it wasn't the romance-filled situation that all the fans wanted for the two of them, but the fact that it was Chloé's character's fault would've been hilarious to her at any other time.

At that moment, it was a nuisance.

"If—if you even think about running off," Marinette started, face feeling a bit hot from how she'd stuttered over the words that had been floating around her head all day. "I will absolutely run after you and cause a scene."

Fiddling with the long sleeves of his shirt, Adrien nodded.

It irked her that he still wasn't talking to her, but all that came out was, "So."

He blinked.

"It's very obvious that you don't actually want to spend time with me any more, don't worry. I get that now." There was no mistaking the hurt in her voice as she folded her arms across her chest, staring up at him with a frown. "I'm not trying to put you on the spot or anything, but this—" Marinette paused, gesturing between them with a hand. "It's really fucking awkward."

"I—what do you mean?" Adrien enquired, voice cracking on the last word.

It was probably the most he'd said to her out of character in a while.

Bluntly, Marinette replied, "Your crush on me."

There was a beat of silence between them before horror appeared on his expression and he took a step back. Marinette stubbornly held his gaze, the awkward thumping of her heart becoming apparent, and she tried to ignore the nagging guilt for what she was doing to him. If it had been the other way around, with her too terrified to even talk to him, she certainly wouldn't have wanted him to bluntly call her out for it.

His reaction was definitely a confirmation.

Adrien's voice was high with panic as he choked out, "What?"

"That's what it is, isn't it?" Marinette asked, although she was almost fully certain that that was the case. "You—I saw all the videos and things that Nino's posted about you staring at me."

Running a hand through his hair, he made the blond strands stand up and surely warrant a trip back to hair and make-up. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

It was still hurtful. Adrien wasn't outright denying it, choosing to try and play dumb instead, but there was still the lingering feeling of resentment from him ignoring her for all those months. They'd been close, friends on set and one of her most messaged contacts on her phone, and that had stopped out of nowhere.

She'd really been complacent for too long from not wanting to demand answers.

"Is that not why you're not talking to me any more?" There was no crack in her voice, no indication of how nervous she was feeling—but she was sure that it was nothing compared to him at that moment. "I've just—I went along with it when I thought I offended you, okay? But now—"

"I'm sorry," Adrien blurted, interrupting her before he put a hand over his mouth, averting his gaze as he did so. There was a brief silence before he broke it by quietly adding on, "I never—I enver meant to offend you."

It was clear that he was nervous.

Her brow furrowed. "So, running away from me talking to you isn't supposed to be offensive at all?"

The hand covering his mouth went to the nape of his neck, running through the short hairs there in a clear nervous gesture. When he'd first been upgraded to a more pronounced character in the second season, they'd had to redo a few rare scenes due to the clear tell of his nerves.

He'd grown out of it towards the end of season two.

Rather than reply to her, Adrien just looked more panicked than before.

It definitely made her feel bad. "I'm not going to say it's okay, because it's not," Marinette stated, smoothing out the material of her coat. "But I have missed you—as my friend, I mean. We were pretty close before you started to ignore me."

All he could say was, "I'm sorry."

She really didn't know whether to think that was sincere or not. "Are you?" she queried, dubious. "Because I'm pretty sure if I didn't come over here and corner you, you would've continued to avoid me."

The way he turned away from her gaze was all the confirmation she needed.

Then, he mumbled, "This isn't a corner."

It was a peek of the old Adrien that she'd known; the one that had a good sense of humour, a bright personality that made most conversations fun to be involved in, even if they were about silly debates that she never would've usually been interested in.

There had been a time when he'd only mumble under his breath when the comment wasn't intended for her, rather than everything that he said.

"Well," she started, swallowing audibly. "I'm kissing you next week."

A choked noise escaped him.

"Acting," she retorted. "I just—you're not going to hate me for that or anything, are you?"

"I—no," Adrien stuttered out, turning to look at her with green-coloured eyes wide. "I... I just get all nervous when I think about you, but I'd—I'd never hold it against you. It's our job."

She pursed her lips.

With a grimace, Adrien shifted his feet. "I don't... I don't know how to act around you."

It wasn't the answer she was looking for. "Why?"

"Because I—" Adrien cut himself off, letting out a breath loudly. "I'm an idiot, okay? I think of all the ways I could mess around with you—mess up! I mean up! And I get all picnicky—panicky—and want to throw myself in a hole and just die."

The words had been rushed, stumbled over, and it reminded her terribly of how hopeless she'd been during her early teenage years; from the wrong words coming out to her overreacting to every single encounter that they'd had. But she'd—Marinette had grown out of that, and they'd never been anything more than juvenile crushes.

They'd been on people that she'd barely known, really. There was no telling what Adrien's trail of thought was, and if his feelings were directed at anyone else, she wouldn't have been judging him for them.

She frowned. "But we were friends."

"Yes," he confirmed, shifting uncomfortably. She had to wonder whether he was blushing underneath the make-up. "You're—I think you're amazing, Marinette."

As nice as that was to hear—praise of any kind was—it wasn't the time. "You barely know me any more."

"I'm sorry," Adrien quickly replied, but she still wasn't sure whether it was truly sincere or not. "I never meant to hurt you. I'm... I'm hard at this."

She stared.

"Bad!" he blurted, frantically waving his hands in front of him to try and make her understand that it was a mistake. "I—this is what I was talking about, okay? I'm so bad under pressure."

It was hard trying not to laugh, as she didn't want to offend him, but she ended up with her lips curling upwards from restrained amusement. "But it's nice having you talk to me again," Marinette admitted. "Don't get me wrong, I'm still really annoyed with you since I thought I greatly offended you somehow."

Again, Adrien's reply was in the form of a quiet, "Sorry."

"Apologies don't prove anything," she replied, putting her hands into the pockets of her coat, readying herself to leave. "I promise not to bring what happened here up again—unless you want me to, but I really doubt that—if you try and talk to me again, okay?"

She could see him swallow. "I can do that."

-x-

Chloé found it absolutely hilarious.

"You blackmailed him with his own feelings!" she cackled, throwing her head back to laugh. "Oh, Mari. I completely underestimated you."

Marinette narrowed her eyes. "I did not."

"Has he spoken to you since then?"

"It was yesterday!" she responded, putting her elbows on the table and resting her face on her hands. "And we weren't scheduled to work together today. There's been no logical reason for him to talk to me, let alone see me."

Chloé snorted. "And why not text him?"

"Because he hasn't responded to anything but work questions for months?"

It wasn't a new sight for them to two of them to go out to eat together in public. When Sorcellerie had aired and caused her to gain fans—a concept she'd found hard to grasp in the beginning—she'd been bewildered when someone had flagged her down to talk to her. Since then, she'd become more adept with talking to fans, managing not to be rude to paparazzi that sometimes followed her, and got used to the idea that there would always be some eyes on her when she was walking outside.

Chloé had warned her about the results of going to the grocery store in messy clothing, but she hadn't really believed her.

"That was before the blackmail," Chloé supplied, perking up when the waitress brought them their drinks. "Help him get over his ridiculous crush by talking. He'll get to know you again and realise what a bad choice it was."

Fans had proclaimed their love for her, strangers had heckled her when she was recognised, and she was called Bridgette down the street more often than she'd ever wanted, but she'd never thought that someone she worked with would develop those sorts of feelings for her.

That wasn't quite right. She'd put her career first before dating, choosing to keep off of the dating sites that had been suggested to her, and had declined the dates that friends had tried to set her up on, preferring to spend the night in or be with a friend (namely, Chloé, who much preferred only going out if it was bound to get her photographed and cause a bit of a stir).

Adrien had worked with her for two years. He'd seen the itchy outfits that she complained about, knew how grumpy she was when she first woke up and walked into work, only nodding or shaking her head in response to the hair and make-up staff, and he'd still found her attractive.

It was beyond her why.

With a furrowed brow, she asked her friend, "Am I that unlikeable?"

The response she got wasn't very reassuring. "You can be fucking annoying, but in a good way."

"Thanks," she muttered, sour. "That's really good to hear."

Chloé reached across and patted her head. "That's what I'm here for."

"To annoy me?" Marinette laughed. "I'm honoured, thank you."

It had occurred to her how insensitive she'd been, but she'd tried to ignore that. When Marinette returned to her apartment and had shrugged off her coat, she took out her phone and took a chance on dialling Adrien's number.

To her surprise, he accepted the call.

"Hello," she started when there was no verbal greeting from him at first. "I wasn't expecting you to answer."

A laugh came from the other end. "I could hang up, if it'll make you feel better?"

"No, it's fine." She smiled despite herself. "I just wanted to apologise for yesterday—but that's not an invitation for you to do the same, though. I'm really sorry for cornering you like that."

There was a beat of silence before he quietly replied, "It's okay."

"No," Marinette disagreed, sitting down on her sofa with a sigh. "If that had happened to me, I would've actually cried. I was really insensitive about it."

Adrien's pleasant personality shined through as he tried to placate her with, "I did ignore you."

"You did." There was no point denying that. "Chloé kind of made me realise that you have feelings for me? I mean, I don't get it, but I'd really like to be friends with you again so it's less awkward on set."

He cleared his throat. "I'm—"

"Stop apologising," Marinette grumbled, closing her eyes. "I'm not trying to be a bitch, really, but an apology doesn't really mean anything right now? I thought I'd done the equivalent of spitting on your mother's grave or something."

There wasn't an answer to that.

"I'm asking to go back to how we were," she admitted, knowing that that wouldn't happen out of nowhere. "But if we're going to be up close and personal with each other on camera, it would be so much better if you didn't sprint the other way after they've stopped recording."

She could hear him breathing on the other end.

It was mostly a one-sided conversation. As frustrating as that was, she hated that she was still trying to sympathise with him, even though she was the cause of his distress (that she could've just been imagining, it wasn't as though she knew him well any more).

Putting her knees up against her chest and resting her chin on top, Marinette started softly, "If there's anything I can do to make you feel more comfortable with me—"

"You're fine," Adrien hastily replied, voice loud and causing her to startle, pulling the phone away from her ear in surprise. "It's not you, it's me, I promise—"

A disbelieving laugh escaped her. "Did you really just use that line?"

"I—yes," he confirmed, tone not quite recognisable. "I panicked."

A small smile appeared on her lips. "Picnics aren't on your mind this time?"

"Marinette!" Adrien exclaimed, surely embarrassed.

"Sorry," she apologised, though it wasn't completely sincere. "I'm not trying to make fun of you, okay? I really do want to make you comfortable around me, so, please, if there's anything I can do, please tell me."

The quiet laugh that came from him was nice to hear. "That's a lot of pleases."

"Does that mean it was pleasing to you?"

His laughter was louder that time, clearly appreciating the dumb joke that she'd said for his amusement. "I guess," he agreed, voice wavering from his laughter. "You're—you're fine, okay? I'll try and stop avoiding you."

The fact that he'd answered her call and readily spoken to her was so different to the past months that it proved that he was willing to try—but she didn't know whether that was his his choice or not.

"I wasn't trying to hold your feelings hostage or something," Marinette quickly got out, running a hand through her hair before tugging it out of the ponytail she'd had it in. "I'm not going to tell anyone. Well, other than Chloé, but she's the one that made me realise in the first place? I just—I don't want you to think that I'm making you talk to me or something. I'm not blackmailing you, I promise!"

It was rushed and spoken quickly, and she could feel her heart beating nervously as she tried to get through everything that she wanted to.

"Marinette," Adrien gently said. "You're rambling."

She cleared her throat. "I—yes."

It was a nervous habit that she had, and she was certain that he hadn't forgotten about that.

His voice was still soft as he added on, "I never thought that of you."

But it seemed like he didn't think there was anything wrong with her. Marinette hadn't been kind the previous day—not when she'd reflected upon it—and yet, Adrien continued to insist that she hadn't been wrong and had nothing to apologise for. It seemed to her, at least, that he'd decided to place her upon some sort of pedestal when he'd realised his feelings for her—

And therefore hadn't wanted to embarrass himself in front of her, choosing to avoid any casual conversations instead.

It still hurt.

"Well," she started, her voice cracking. "Maybe you should've."

Audibly confused, Adrien questioned, "Marinette?"

"I—sorry," Marinette hastily apologised, not wanting to get into it. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

She didn't give him a chance to reply.

It was frustrating how their friendship had ended out of nowhere. She did remember a time when she'd been tongue-tied and awkward around her crushes, but they'd never amounted to anything, and she'd gotten over them with time, sometimes not even realising that the feelings she'd had had disappeared.

Her thoughts were completely different to how they were weeks ago; rather than thinking of how to make Adrien like her again, Marinette was wondering whether she had to show him her worst sides to make him dislike her—maybe, he might've not been paying attention any more to how grumpy she was in the mornings, or all the other flaws she showed when they were working together.

It was with a sigh that she started to plan out her future interactions with him.

-x-

It wasn't working.

Accidentally—not on purpose at all—Marinette had stuttered and messed up her lines when they were filming a scene together, all because she'd had to be leant over a desk during classes and talking to him quietly, as though they were trying not to attract their teacher's attention. It was such a simple thing that their characters had developed as of late, something they'd filmed before, but as they were close enough that she could feel his breath on her face, Marinette couldn't help but wonder why he'd be flustered with her so close.

There was no sign of it on his expression, though. Adrien was a good actor, one of the best that she knew on their show, and it truly showed when he was able to push aside his own feelings and channel Félix on a whim.

Marinette caused them to reshoot the scene five times.

Afterwards, when she was lamenting in the corner and resting her head on Chloé's shoulder with her eyes closed, it was a complete surprise when Chloé suddenly remarked, "Look who's decided to make an appearance."

Almost groggily, she stood up properly and turned to face whoever had joined their corner for the time being. And when she saw that it was Adrien—with his dark-coloured sweater making his skin appear paler than usual—standing a few steps away from them, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans as eh offered an awkward smile as a greeting, she couldn't help but be caught off-guard.

Marinette's eyes flickered behind him, trying to see whether Nino was recording them, but she couldn't spot him.

"You're supposed to say hi," Chloé remarked, hitting her on the shoulder without the force to make it hurt. "Come on, master blackmailer. You need to up your game."

She snorted. "And you need to fuck off for a bit."

"Fine." Chloé sniffed, haughtily raising her chin into the air. "I'll grace someone else with my presence since you're being a brat."

And it was only when her friend had disappeared that Marinette returned his small smile and greeted him with what she hoped to be a casual tone, "Hey."

"Hi," he answered, shifting his feet. "Are you okay?"

It was nice that he was trying to make small talk with her. Marinette hadn't actually thought that he'd approach her in their break, but to see him there and visibly nervous made her feel happier than she thought she would be.

"I'm fine," she replied with an awkward laugh, reaching up with the intention of running her fingers through her hair before she realised it would ruin the hairstyle that she had to have. "I'm sorry for messing up earlier."

Adrien waved a hand dismissively. "I don't mind, really. You deal with me enough."

But that wasn't really true. Adrien wasn't prone to making mistakes; the most common for him was mispronouncing a word, but that only happened when he had to talk in a certain fashion when he had scenes with Félix's father.

"Still," she said, grimacing. "I ended up hovering in your face for, like, an hour because of that."

"I can't say I minded it," Adrien replied without any hesitation.

And for a moment, she could only gape at him in surprise. Then, it seemed that he'd realised what he'd said, as his eyes widened and a look of horror appeared on his expression as he took a step away from her.

It was all that she needed to burst into laughter, the sound loud and honest, drawing attention to them even when she tried to calm down. And when Adrien joined in, it only became worse; she was absolutely aware of the tears that had built in the corner of her eyes, surely ruining her make-up, but to hear his breathy laughter again, she deemed it worth it.

Wiping her eyes and causing a black smudge to appear on her palm, Marinette commented, "Smooth."

Adrien's response sounded strangled. "I want to die."

She laughed even more.

Neither of them fumbled with their lines for their next scene together. Marinette was relieved that she wasn't in his personal space, though, and was more aware than ever of how often they were close together—it was no wonder that fans reactions to their interactions were amusing to watch once she'd realised that.

Although there wasn't a romance between their characters yet, she hadn't taken much notice of their interactions. The direction had always told them to retake, to have his fingers brush against hers in a more natural way when he was passing a pencil to her, and she'd never thought twice about it. It was something that was needed in the plot—it was a teen drama, after all, even if it had blood and gore in it—and she'd never considered how Bri's heart was supposed to be pounding from his closeness.

It really made her wonder whether he felt the way her character was supposed to.

Félix was her class-mate who was distant with others, but when they were paired together for a project, he'd slowly opened up to her. Their viewers didn't know it—not until the third season was set to be aired—but they all knew that his attitude was due to his neglectful father at home, and that was why he strived to be the best.

While Bri dealt with the harsh situations of the supernatural world, Félix was supposed to be her counterpart in the normal one (at least, that's what their director had stated many times despite the script not say that at first).

When they were done for the day, Marinette's smile was honest when Adrien said good-bye to her without her prompting him to do so.

She was suspicious that it wouldn't last—that he'd go back to his old ways of avoiding her—but she was hopeful that it wouldn't happen.

Chloé decided to appear at her side at that moment and remark, "Gross."

She shot her a disapproving look. "Don't scare him away."

"He's the one that came up to us earlier," Chloé pointed out, shrugging before she put her coat on, along with her matching gloves and hat (a statement piece that she was overjoyed that it had been featured on fashion blogs when she'd been candidly photographed). "Boy's trying, I'll give him that, but that doesn't mean I don't think he's going to revert back into being a pussy."

It was beyond her how Chloé was able to stop herself from cursing and being vulgar in interviews.

"You're the best cheerleader."

Chloé laughed aloud at that. "I'd look really good in the outfit."

"I don't even want to think about that." Marinette shuddered. "Especially not in this weather. I'm so glad I bought a new bra so my nipples aren't visible any more."

Chloé bumped her shoulder against hers. "I have that image saved, don't worry."

"Yeah, and so do a lot of my fans," she grumbled, crossing her arms on her chest as they wandered outside. As they lived close to each other, they took it in turns to drive if their schedules were similar. "I don't even want to think about my parents seeing it."

The keys in Chloé's hand jingled as she pulled them out of her pocket. "I bet Adrien has it saved, too."

She gaped. "I—no!"

"No wonder he couldn't look you in the eyes," Chloé mused, purposely humming afterwards, as though she was deep in thought as she needed her head. "That's clearly it. I've solved your riddle for you, Mari."

As always, Chloé input was always wise and appreciated.

The following morning, Marinette's eyes were half-lidded and she felt sluggish and tired as she wandered into the studio, dutifully changing into the outfit that was passed to her. The shirt was buttoned up to the top—Bri would never have some buttons left open—and the lace that was decorating the collar was a little itchy, meaning she was tugging on it before she sat down onto the make-up chair with a large sigh.

The amused smile she received from the stylist was a common sight.

They didn't try and make conversation with her, thankfully.

She'd almost fallen asleep in the chair when someone cleared their throat beside her.

Marinette startled, blinking rapidly as her eyes adjusted to the sudden light, and she looked up in surprise to see Adrien standing in front of her.

He was wearing his coat, his hair was messy, and the redness across his cheeks and the end of his nose was visible, rather than covered up with make-up like it was on shoots. It was a natural look that she didn't see often.

But it was the cup in his hands that he was holding out towards her that had her attention. With a furrowed brow, she accepted the offered drink, feeling the warmth in her hands immediately, and before she could even thank him, he'd turned on his heel and walked off towards the wardrobe section.

It was an appreciated gesture.

When they were set to film the kiss, Marinette was adamant that she needed something to freshen her breath first, since she was convinced that it still smelled like the drink that he'd given her.

Adrien laughed at that.

It wasn't a romance-orientated kiss, though. Chloé's character had found out about Bri's sudden fondness of Félix, and it was because of that that a spell on Félix could only be broken with her kiss.

To Marinette, it sounded like an excuse to have a kiss before any romance happened, but she knew that their audience would approve of it. Adrien was set to be unaware of what had transpired between them, along with his violent actions before she'd finally kissed him.

"It's so non-consensual," she muttered as they were being directed on where to stand. "Would you ever want to be kissed when you wouldn't be able to remember it? Because I would not."

Adrien cracked a smile that showed one of his dimples. "If it's between forgetting a kiss or continuing to be a murderer, I think I know which one I'd prefer."

"Bri sucks," she remarked, smoothing out her skirt. "A kiss that breaks a curse and causes amnesia, really? It sounds like shitty writing."

He shrugged. "Don't ask me, I'm just a poor civilian."

"A civilian who gets to suffer by my lips," she deadpanned.

And as he shifted his feet, Marinettte had to wonder whether she was making him uncomfortable. There wasn't any time left in which they could talk, though, as their attention was called by the director, interrupting any question that she'd wanted to ask him.

When Adrien starting acting, his nervous ticks disappeared. It was one of the major tells that he was confident in what he was doing.

They had to reshoot three times before they were able to get to the kiss properly. The extras that were acting dead were surrounding them on the floor—they had redo because one sneezed before—and Adrien was standing stiffly in front of her, an effect set to be added in post-production to show that she'd managed to immobilise him with a spell.

With only his eyes able to be moved, darting around in what was supposed to be panic, he was clearly trying to understand what was going on while the curse on him caused him to only have violence on his mind.

Marinette's prediction was right.

When it came time for her to kiss him, she really had to go onto her toes to try and gain height before they realised that she'd only be able to kiss his chin unless Adrien moved down to meet her—but he couldn't do that in character.

It had caused a lot of laughter when she pecked his chin, almost falling against him from trying to get to her tallest height.

Bri wasn't the type to wear high-heeled shoes, so that wasn't an option, so it was remedied that Adrien would be bound on his knees after Marinette had knocked him over.

At one point, she really did kick his shin.

Adrien gasped in pain and reached down to touch the part of his leg that she'd kicked as a reflex, and she stared down at him in horror, rushed apologies leaving her.

But when he laughed and looked up at her, he mused, "It kind of looks like I'm kneeling to you right now, doesn't it?"

Her lips curled upwards. "Is this what kissing your chin does to you?"

They were able to finish the scene by that evening. Adrien had to have his jeans cleaned between each shoot, as dirt kept getting on his knees, but it was worth it.

He'd fallen down onto his knees, his frozen stance a familiar one that he'd made himself go into for hours on end, and Marinette had stood in front of him, staring down with the right emotions flickering across her expression.

The kiss had been completely one-sided.

Marinette had felt his breath against her skin, watched as he wasn't able to move anything but his eyes while staying in character—something that he'd only broken three times that day, surprisingly—before she closed her eyes and gently pressed her lips against his.

They were soft, but her main wonder was whether his make-up was going to rub off onto her.

Marinette had protested until the director agreed that it only had to be a peck; she was still adamant that it wasn't consensual, that it shouldn't be romanticised, and that Bri should be conflicted about it afterwards.

Back in the beginning, she would've never spoken up like that. She would've let it pass, along with the uncomfortable undertones that would've been shown for the world to see, but as the show's popularity had risen, her confidence had, too. There had been instances in the past where she'd voiced her complaints, though she wasn't as vocal as some of the others on set.

When they were set to be done for the day and had changed out of their outfits, back into their regular clothes, Marinette was fiddling with the hood of her coat when Adrien emerged, almost knocking into her from where she was waiting outside of his door.

He looked at her in surprise. "Hi?"

"Hey," she returned, a small smile appearing on her lips. "I just—I wanted to say good-bye."

"I—yeah," he stuttered, reaching up and touching the nape of his neck. "You, too. I mean—good-bye to you. Yes."

The nerves were back, then. "You did good today."

"You were really good," Adrien echoed, words tumbling out of his mouth. "Your acting! Not your kissing—well, that was good, too? I—wait, I wasn't supposed to say that—"

Her smile widened. "Are you trying to say you enjoyed it?"

"No, no." He shook his head with enough force to cause his hair to move. "I'd remember if we ever kissed—not that you'd want to."

It was kind of cute. "It was more a familial peck, really," she mused, putting her hands comfortably into the pockets of her coat. "You're welcome to really class it as a kiss if I ever have to use tongue; which, honestly, will probably be next season."

A choked sound escaped him at that and all he could say was, "Tongue?"

"You know, the wonderfully named kiss of our people?" Marinette supplied, smile reaching her eyes as she was able to see him swallow. "Or it can be a kiss when you actually get to return it."

His voice was a bit high-pitched as he asked, "Can we stop talking about us kissing?"

"Potentially kissing," she teased. "But yes, sure. I really did just want to say good-bye and see whether we're okay."

Adrien's expression visibly softened at that. "I—yeah, we are."

The stuttering was still there, along with his rambling when he wanted to cover up what he'd said, but it was still a start. Marinette smiled brightly at that, taking out one of her hands to wave at him before she left.

-x-

Adrien continued to buy her coffee in the mornings.

They hadn't quite worked up to texting each other again, so it made her curious how he was able to tell when she was due to be in on set at the same time as him. It wasn't as though he was ducking out of the studio to buy coffee a few minutes before she arrived, not when fans were sometimes out the front and waiting to catch a glimpse of them, so it was curiosity that she brought up the topic with him the next time.

Adrien's body language was flustered as he touched the nape of his neck. "Chloé told me."

And that was definitely a surprise. When she questioned her about it later, Chloé just shrugged and said that she was being helpful, for once, but it was the fact that Chloé hadn't told her at all that had her baffled.

"I told you, he's trying," Chloé said, shrugging. "I'm not exactly cheering him on, but since he's made you so miserable, the least he can do is buy you coffee."

She sniffed. "I wasn't miserable."

"Yeah, I'm fucking sure."

"I wasn't!" Marinette insisted, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "I was just—I was confused, okay? I still am, a little bit, but it's getting better, I think."

Chloé looked like she was on the verge of rolling her eyes. "What? Are you two not clicking like you used to?"

It was a reference to all those times Marinette had lamented that her friendship with Adrien was over when they'd gotten along so well in the past, something that Chloé almost seemed jealous of at times. But now—now that was ridiculous. She'd been with Chloé for two years, had only gotten into petty fights every now and then, and there was no denying that she was her closest friends, even when the ones before she'd gotten into acting were included into the equation.

Chloé would've been greatly appreciated back when she was growing into her limbs and suffering from the owes of puberty.

"Not really?" she admitted. "Sometimes, he acts kind of comfortable with me, but then he clams up and doesn't respond properly—at least he's not running away from me, I guess."

For a moment, she thought Chloé wasn't going to respond to her, but her friend just tossed her long hair over her shoulder and simply stated, "Well, all you have to do is take him somewhere where he really can't run away."

She blinked. "I just said he's not running away."

"Bitch, I am listening to you," Chloé retorted. "I meant take him somewhere public. A bit of pressure will do him good."

Dubiously, Marinette replied, "That sounds like a terrible idea."

"You don't know until you try."

It was absolutely a terrible idea.

Marinette had ended up pulling Nino aside one afternoon, asking him whether they'd planned anything for Adrien's twenty-fourth birthday, and it had escalated into him convincing her to come along for a small dinner.

He was set to have a large party with the cast that weekend—when they had a day off from filming to be able to drink and actually suffer the consequences without the cameras rolling—so it was in the evening during the week that the dinner was set to be held.

Marinette had to ask for clarification, "You're not going to try and set it up to be just us two, are you?"

Nino didn't even look guilty. "What? No, of course not."

It seemed justified for her to ask. Nino had been the one posting the pictures and videos of Adrien staring at her, clearly teasing him, and had helped supply the fans that supported their upcoming fictional relationship with all of the content.

She really wouldn't have put it past him to make it happen.

As it turned out, it was a dinner with four of them.

Marinette had awkwardly gone to the restaurant that Nino had given her the name of, told that his girlfriend would be waiting for her so they could go upstairs together, while Adrien would be riding with Nino, set to be surprised by the two that were already seated.

Thankfully, Nino had given her a picture to put a face to the name.

Alya was someone that she'd seen a few times on Nino's social media accounts, back when she was scouring for content related to Adrien to confirm her suspicions, but they'd never met face-to-face before.

So, it was with an awkward wave that Marinette met her outside of the parking lot.

"Hi!" Alya greeted her brightly, a lot more enthusiastic than Marinette had thought she'd be. "I'm glad we're finally meeting! I've heard a lot about you."

With red-coloured hair that stood out, along with tanend skin and a pair of spectacles that had thick frames that stood out against her face, Alya's appearance was as pleasant-looking as her smile.

"I—hi," she stuttered, tucking her hands back into the pockets of her coats. "I haven't really heard about you."

It had come out without her intending it to, but Alya practically threw her head back and laughed. "I'm not surprised about that at all."

It was nice that she wasn't offended.

Alya happily invited her inside, showing the way to the apartment she shared with Nino—who she'd known since secondary school, and was more than happy to tell her tale of them two getting together, saving Marinette from making small talk—and hanging up Marinette's coat without a moments hesitation.

Alya continued to talk, thankfully, asking for Marinette's input every now and then, having clearly been warned that she wasn't so good at talking to strangers. It was laughable, really, how comfortable Alya seemed to be with her there—a stranger that had barely said much at that point.

"So." She cleared her throat. "You're Adrien's friend?"

"Yeah, I'd like to think so." Alya smiled widely, showing her white teeth. "He's been coming round here for dinner, like, once a week, so if I'm not considered a friend by now, I'd be really offended."

Marinette didn't really know much about that.

While Alya offered a series of drinks for Marinette to choose from before eventually disappearing to get the one she'd thought would be most liked when Marinette was sure she looked visibly overwhelmed, she had to wonder whether she was really welcome at that moment. It was clearly a birthday dinner that was meant for close friends—from the colourful decorations on the wall, to the party hats that were waiting on the table for them all to wear—and she really didn't fit into that.

She'd never really fit into it.

Adrien had been her friend for a while, yes, someone she'd talk to and send dumb pictures of herself when she felt awful in the mornings, but he'd never been the one that she sought out to tell her problems to.

And she'd never really been that for him.

So, maybe, it hadn't been that big of a deal when he'd realised his feelings for her—

Alya startled her out of her thoughts by returning with a tall glass of something that was suspiciously brightly-coloured.

"Non-alcoholic, I promise," Alya quipped. "I know you probably have to film tomorrow, so we're all being boring tonight."

It was considerate of her. "Oh, thank you."

They managed to chat for a bit more. Marinette warmed up to her eventually, after realising that Alya wasn't comfortable with silence and preferred to fill it with any words that came into her mind, and her laughter was genuine and not forced by the time the sound of a key turning the lock on the front door became apparent.

Alya quickly gestured for her to duck down behind the sofa, and Marinette easily followed the plan that she'd been filled in on earlier. Adrien had no idea that Nino was doing anything different to normal for him—he thought they were watching a film and eating dinner.

The lights hadn't needed to be turned off, not when Adrien knew that Alya was home, but she'd done it anyway before diving down beside her, turning to face Marinette and sharing a smile that was only visible due to the small amount of light that was coming in from the window.

Nino and Adrien's voices were able to be heard within a matter of seconds, along with their footsteps.

Alya was the first to spring up and cry out, "Happy birthday!"

Then, as Adrien spluttered before bursting into laughter, Alya reached down and tugged on the sleeve of Marinette's jumper, doing more than hinting for her to jump up.

Almost shyly, Marinette stood up slowly, one hand going to touch where her jumper was covering her elbow, the other being raised to wave awkwardly, similar to how she'd greeted Alya, as she offered, "Happy birthday?"

It definitely came out sounding like a question.

Adrien visibly gawked at her.

She could feel her face growing warm.

Thankfully, she was saved from any further embarrassment from Nino laughing and throwing an arm around Adrien's shoulder, pulling him closer and repeating the words that they had already.

A drink was soon in his hands, excited chatter all around, and Marinette greatly appreciated whenever Alya or Nino tried to include her in on the conversations, asking for her opinion. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that she really shouldn't have been there—they clearly weren't close enough for her to go to such a private celebration, but those worries were addressed when Alya and Nino purposely puttered off to the kitchen to collect the food, leaving her alone with Adrien.

"Hi," he greeted her, smile appearing to be goofier than usual. "I wasn't expecting you to be here."

She returned the smile hesitantly. "Same, really."

"I—thanks for coming," he started, running a hand through his hair. "I didn't think I'd see you today."

Their times had been different, having not filmed any scenes together that day, but she was still able to see some remnant of make-up around his eyes that he hadn't quite gotten rid of.

"I couldn't just miss your birthday," Marinette replied. "I didn't know whether you wanted your gift now or not, but it's in my car."

He looked visibly surprised. "You got me a gift?"

"I've gotten you a gift every year," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but—but I was a dick this year," Adrien admitted, the tell-tale signs of him being embarrassed appearing as the top of his ears turned red. "I really didn't think you'd get me anything."

Her smile dimmed a bit. "It's fine."

"It's not," he tried to insist, hand falling down to fiddle with the end of his shirt. "I'm... I still feel really bad about you."

The main problem she had was that she didn't know whether he was sincere or not. She was still convinced that if she hadn't confronted him, Adrien would've still been avoiding and ignoring her to that very day.

So, it was with a half-hearted laugh that she said, "Let's not talk about that tonight, okay? It's your birthday, so we should focus on you."

It wasn't a bad evening.

Marinette did continue to feel out of place, but her cheeks hurt from laughing at some points, and she definitely enjoyed her time there by the end. It was nice to see Adrien open and talking to his friends, though he did slip up and glance at her with wide eyes when he'd forgotten she was there a few times, face visibly colouring up and his shyness becoming apparent.

When it was time for her to leave, Adrien had fumbled for his shoes and walked her to her car—despite her protests since he'd been given a lift by Nino—and the sound of their footsteps as they went down the stairs were quite loud compared to the lull in their conversation.

"Tell Nino thanks again for inviting me," she started, tucking some stray strands behind her ears. "It was a fun evening."

"It was," he agreed, dimples visible on his cheeks. "I'm really glad you were there."

Honestly, she replied, "I felt really awkward at times, though."

"Did you?"

"Yeah," Marinette admitted, fiddling with her keys. "I just—it's obvious that you three are really close, and we're—we're not really friends right now, are we?"

The words that left her had been blunt, straight to the point, and probably not what she should've said. There was always the chance that he'd find it offensive, or that he'd finally come to his senses and realise that he didn't feel anything more than friendship for her—

He cleared his throat. "I thought we were working on that."

Her smile was soft as she peered to the side to meet his gaze. "We are."

"You—you came tonight," Adrien started, stuttering over his words. "Doesn't that mean something?"

For a moment, she just looked at him, trying to see whether he was reaching out and searching for her to say something else entirely—although he hadn't asked, and he probably never would, Marinette had assumed that she'd made it clear that her feelings weren't the same as his.

"I wanted to talk to you," she admitted, fidgeting fingers causing her keys to make some noise. "Outside of work, I mean. I didn't know what else to do, so I asked Nino whether he'd planned anything for your birthday already."

There was no visible change in his expression. There was still a shyness to him, though that could've been from the cold weather causing his nose to steadily grow redder, and she was sure that she looked similar.

The smile that appeared was lopsided. "You could've just asked me."

"I was shy." She shrugged. "This seemed like a good idea, so—"

"It was," he interjected, putting his hands into the pocket of his coat. "I'm really glad you came."

Her smile reached her eyes. "Me, too."

It took her two tries to unlock her car, reaching into the back to collect the wrapped gift that she'd left behind. She handed it to him unceremoniously, choosing to close the door again and lean against it, making it clear that she wanted to be there for him opening it.

Adrien's smile only grew wider. "Is this my present?"

"What else would it be?" Marinette retorted.

"An apology gift, since you seem to be so hung up on—"

With a laugh, she interrupted him with, "Open it before I take it away."

Adrien clutched it to his chest. "You wouldn't."

"I'm starting to think you don't deserve it," she mused, eyes flickering between the gift in his hands and his eyes. "Plus, it's cold. You need to go back upstairs, don't you?"

"I—yeah," he admitted. "Nino gave me a lift here."

It didn't need to be said that she already knew that.

When he opened his gift, the smile on his face was definitely worth standing out in the cold weather. Adrien was thankful, but he didn't try to hug her, or even step closer—all he did was close the car door after she'd sat down.

She could see him waving in her mirror as she drove away.

-x-

The party that everyone on set threw for him involved a lot of confetti, alcohol, and pictures of Adrien blowing out absurdly large candles posted on all of their social media. It was clear that he'd enjoyed himself from the evidence online, and she was glad that everyone there was able to get along with each other. It wasn't the small and reserved celebration that he'd had with Nino and Alya, but his smile was just as bright throughout it.

He sought her out a few times throughout, just to offer her some new food that had been shoved into his hands, insisting that she try anything that he'd liked the taste of.

It was kind of cute.

Since Adrien had actually started to talk to her, his use of the wrong words and stuttering had started to decrease. He continued to bring her coffee when they were set to work together, even despite her protesting and saying that he was doing too much, but he genuinely looked happy whenever she accepted the drink.

It still made her feel a little bad.

"You really don't need to do this," Marinette insisted, cradling the drink in her hands.

"It's fine," he replied, smile reaching his eyes. "Besides, the barista knows me by now. I can't just suddenly turn up about order one, can I?"

She raised her eyebrows. "You could give it to someone else."

"I want to do this," Adrien stated, the only tell of his nerves from how he adjusting his hold on his own drink. "It gives me an excuse to talk to you in the mornings. I don't see anything wrong with that."

It was sweet of him to say, but Marinette had to point out, "You could come over and talk to me without a bribe, you know."

"It's not a bribe," he said with a laugh. "It's more of a peace offering."

If she hadn't been holding a drink, she would've crossed her arms defensively. "I know I'm sometimes grumpy in the mornings, but I'm not going to bite your head off."

"Are you sure about that?"

She sniffed. "Absolutely."

It was only when Chloé wandered over that he said a hasty good-bye, disappearing onto the other side of the set to be seated for hair and make-up.

Marinette turned to her friend accusingly. "Why does he still run away from me?"

Chloé just laughed. "I may be helping him a bit, but that doesn't mean I actually want to speak to him."

"...You didn't actually say that to him, did you?"

"Of course," Chloé responded, sounding as though the answer was obvious. "Why wouldn't I? Adrien wouldn't have read between the lines and left me alone otherwise."

"You literally just scared him off."

Chloé grinned, showing her teeth that had been recently whitened. "He might be under the impression that I won't share your schedule any more if he bothers me."

It was still bewildering that Chloé was helping out at all.

Marinette mused, "He could just ask me."

"Maybe you should tell him that." Chloé shrugged. "I have no idea what's going through that weird head of his."

So, it was later that evening that she text him to tell him that. Marinette had just settled down on her sofa, tucking a blanket around her and had been in the process of finding something to watch when it popped back into her head.

To her surprise, he responded within a few minutes.

They ended up chatting for a bit, talking about what they were doing in their spare time, before she carefully inserted in what time she was due to be on set the following day. Adrien didn't question her on why she'd said it, only stating that he'd be there at similar times, and then they comfortably moved onto a different topic without it being too forced.

It was pretty nice, actually.

Marinette reached out to him the following day, sending him a message saying good morning.

It wasn't as though she was expecting him to reply immediately—

But he did with an image of her coffee that was waiting for her.

They didn't get much time to talk on the set—not with him being whisked off to film his own scene, while Marinette lounged around for a while with Chloé—but when they said good-bye to each other, she awkwardly waved at him from across the parking lot before Chloé snapped that she was taking too long to get into the car.

"Sorry," she apologised, insincere.

Chloé made a point of plugging her phone into the radio to be able to choose her own music. "You're being ridiculous."

"I'm just trying to make him feel comfortable," she defended.

Chloé, however, didn't see it that way. "Would you feel comfortable if someone went out of their way to greet you all of the time?"

Marinette made a noise of acknowledgement when she realised how right her friend was being then. While she did went to build up a friendship with Adrien again, her main point had been to ease him along to get over his feelings that he'd build up for her—and to do that, she'd thought that he actually needed to get to know her properly.

It didn't occur to her that she was being too overly enthusiastic about it.

She toned it down after that.

Marinette greeted him if they happened to pass each other, happily holding the drink to her chest whenever they were set to work at the same times, and she made small talk through texts when they were both at home. Marinette asked him random questions about his interests, the same awkward tactic she'd used to get to know everything else, and she didn't push him for anything.

It wasn't as though she was going out of her way to make him spend time with her. Sometimes, Adrien wandered over to talk to her, seeming to be much more relaxed when it was just the two of them, rather than when either of their friends were there.

That didn't mean that no one else had noticed that.

Nino continued to upload pictures and videos of the two of them to his account. She checked after a couple of days when she'd gotten a few questions from fans online, only to see a picture of her leaning against Adrien's shoulder on his account.

It was a reminder that they were watched more often than not.

By the middle of December, she was talking to Adrien more through texts than anywhere else, but she got the first comment on his post when he put up a picture of him with Plagg on his shoulder.

The producers were almost tempted to make it a plotline for her cat to take a liking to Félix, all because Plagg liked to be pet by Adrien the most on set.

They were set to be finished filming the following week, just in time for her to go home and visit her family. Everyone on set seemed to be stressed at times, trying to perfect all of the footage so there wouldn't have to be reshoots, and the director snapped at more than a few when they messed up—but most of the staff had been there for the beginning, meaning that they were able to work together well.

A few had been replaced, others added on when it became apparent that they needed more help, and the added budget from the success of the first season had led to more extravagant sets and effects. There was a clear difference between the magical edits from the first season and the second, and she was excited to see the third when it aired.

She liked that she had a lot of scenes with Adrien towards the end.

The kiss scene had already been done—as it was the climax for the season—but there were still scenes of friendship-building and foreshadowing that needed to be taken. Marinette ended up bursting out in laughter more than a few times when she was together with him, staring at the curl of his lips as he frowned, visibly trying not to laugh when she'd accidentally hit him in the face with her pen.

Bri's clumsiness was always amusing to act out.

"You attacked me," Adrien lamented as they walked off set together, holding a hand up to his cheek. "I can't believe you'd do this to me, Marinette."

She rolled her eyes. "That's not even the worst thing I've done to you."

To her surprise, he chose to tease her with, "I think your kiss ranks up high as pretty bad."

Marinette made an offended noise, turning to stare at him with what was surely a shocked expression, only to see his wide smile. "I—that's so rude."

"Sorry, sorry," he apologised through his laughter. "I forgot, it can't be classed as a real kiss yet."

But him being able to talk to her so casually about kissing—their kiss—was reassuring. Her shoulders sagged in relief when she realised just how sincere his laughter was, not forced at all, and she reached out with one hand to lightly shove him.

"Hey!" he protested, still laughing. "You said that yourself."

She raised her chin haughtily. "That doesn't mean that you get to say that it was a bad kiss."

Adrien hummed. "It wasn't a kiss at all, then."

"Sure, let's go with that."

It was little teasing conversation like that that popped up. Adrien continued to clam up less and less, talking to her normally, and during their last week of filming, he actually came over to talk to her when she was with Chloé, happily bringing Nino along with him.

While Chloé still didn't like him much, she'd stopped trying to chase him away. Marinette had made sure to mention her times whenever she texted Adrien—meaning his reasoning for walking away from Chloé were even more ridiculous than they had been before—and although she knew that they'd never really be friends, they were able to put up with each other.

It was a good thing, too. Ever since Adrien had been promoted to the main cast, it meant that he was invited along to interviews, panels, and other promotional activities, and having him be comfortable with everyone was a must.

While Marinette was the main character throughout, with Chloé considered by the fans to be the second due to her plot that had been integral to the story from the beginning, Adrien had risen up the ranks to be considered important, a lot more than Marinette's friends that she had at school and even one of her parents.

On the last day of shooting, Marinette had just taken a sip of the drink Adrien had given her when she stuck up the confidence to ask, "Do you think I could buy you a drink sometime?"

It really hadn't occurred to her that it would sound like an offer of a date.

And from Adrien's reaction, he'd picked up on that, too. It was a relief that he didn't have his mouth full, as he made some sort of a choking sound from inhaling sharply, immediately coughing into his clenched fist to try and relief the uncomfortable feeling, and the whole while she could feel her face growing gradually hotter.

"I—not like that," she started, fretting and moving the cup from one hand to the other. "I just—I wanted to thank you for all of this, you know? I know we don't really see each other off set, but—"

His ears had grown red. "No, I-I'd like to."

"Are you sure?" Marinette questioned, voice higher-pitched than usual. "I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable or anything."

"I—no." Adrien shook his head. "I'm getting better at talking to you, right?"

It definitely hadn't escaped her. "Yeah," she agreed. "But if you really don't want to, it won't hurt my feelings, okay? As much as I'd like to, I'd still really like to be your friend."

Adrien ran a hand through his already messy hair. "Absolutely not a date, right?"

"No." Her voice sounded a bit strangled. "Definitely not."

There wasn't any visible disappointment in his expression; rather, the look in his eyes was as soft as the small smile that curled on his lips as he uttered, "That's fine, then."

"Really?" she questioned, surprised.

"Yeah," Adrien confirmed, dimples showing on his cheeks. "I've always wanted to spend more time with you outside, so this is a good thing, really. Thank you for asking me, Marinette."

She grinned right back at him.

With the filming finished, it was a relief for everyone. Marinette was happy to have a small amount of time off to visit her parents before she was due on set for a film that was coming out the following year, and she knew that her co-workers all had plans of their own.

While all the other roles she'd played hadn't quite held up to the popularity of Bridgette, she was hoping for the best.

The cast had all agreed to go out for a drink together the day before she was driving back home. Marinette already called in her favour so Chloé would be the one to drive the two of them—including the offer for Marinette to sleep over at hers, which was nice—and it was with a bright smile that she clambered out of the vehicle and met everyone else inside.

To her surprise, Alya was there, too.

"Hey," Marinette greeted, the friendliness in her voice not forced. "I didn't think I'd see you here."

"Same, honestly," Alya answered, a bit wide-eyed as she held her drink holder to her chest. "This is a really nice place, too. I feel like I'm sticking out like a sore thumb."

She could understand that feeling well.

"Well, you look the part," Marinette offered, gesturing towards Alya's outfit. "Would you mind if I took a picture with you? I—it's kind of a thing I do after every season."

Alya blinked. "But I'm not even on the show?"

"No, but it's because of it that I met you at all," she explained with a half-hearted shrug. "That has to count for something, right?"

The pictures she took throughout were all updated to her social media, sometimes the shots being with a group or her one-on-one with a friend and laughing, and she was pleased to see that none of them looked stiff or awkward. And when it came time for her to get a picture with what was considered the main cast, she happily dragged the actor that played her father and Chloé over to where Adrien was chatting with Nino.

He caught on immediately. "That time again?"

And unlike the previous years—when they'd stood side-by-side with a few others—Marinette rested her cheek against his shoulder as Nino took her phone, volunteering to take the picture for all of them.

She didn't flinch when he loosely wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Thank you," she said when she got her phone back, tucking it back into the bag that she had hanging off of one shoulder.

While she'd planned to go off to the bar to get another drink, Adrien ended up accompanying her after gesturing to his own empty glass.

"Let me buy it for you," she offered immediately, reaching out and lightly grasping onto his arm to stop him from flagging down the bartender.

He turned to look at her with a side. "Wouldn't that could as the drink you wanted to buy me?"

"It doesn't have to," she pointed out. "And I'd like to buy you multiple—many times to make up for everything you've done for me."

"That's really not needed—"

Marinette hastily interjected, "I want to."

And she did. Since they'd started to mend the distance between them, it was enjoyable being his friend again. Sure, they didn't send pictures of their tired faces in the mornings, but they were talking more than they had done before; she knew a lot more about him, from his favourite colour, to foods he liked, and what music grated on his nerves—all the things that she hadn't in the past.

While they'd advanced on some things, they were still quite far behind. Marinette hadn't actually met him outside of filming, other than the dinner on his birthday, and she wanted to remedy that. They were set to see each other for promotional events, but she wanted to see him on her own accord, rather than when cameras were there to look at them.

She'd never really wanted that with him before.

Adrien cleared his throat. "If you're sure."

She bought him enough drinks that he was past tipsy by the time they all left.

-x-

They were definitely friends.

Adrien had continued to text her more frequently while she was with her parents, and by the time the holiday was over and she returned back to her apartment, it was a common thing for her to text him randomly throughout the day, rather than just at night when they'd finished working.

He'd updated her on the time he spent with Nino and Alya for the holiday, rather than going home to his family, and told her the funny situations that had occurred when he'd met up with some old friends. And in turn, Marinette told him the same; from the childhood friends that were glad to see her home—some asking for pictures with her—and others that noticed her on the street and excitedly asked whether she was really who they thought she was.

While she was frequently shy, talking to fans was always an experience.

When she sent him a picture of her front door to say that she was home, Adrien called her.

"Hey," he said as his greeting, no hesitation in his voice. "Welcome back."

A smile curled on her lips. "Let's hope it's good to be back."

He snorted. "You're closer to Chloé, how could that ever be bad for you?"

Marinette had told him all about how close she really was to Chloé—just because she didn't always post pictures of the two of them when they were together didn't mean that she didn't consider her a great friend. Adrien had made a noise of understanding, and she had to assume that it was because of his close friendship that he'd struck up with Nino.

"What are your plans for tonight?" she replied instead.

Adrien breathed out audibly. "I don't know, really. I'm pretty bored."

As they'd spoken about it while she was away, she asked, "Want to play online with me?"

After that, that became a regular thing for them. Nino joined them sometimes, along with Alya, but it was mostly just the two of them. Depending on the game, they stuck to typing or staying in the group voice chat, so they wouldn't talk to anyone else, preferring to keep their experience positive, even when some of their team-mates ended up squabbling.

It was definitely fun.

A few reshoots had to be called, but it was only for one scene that Marinette was in. It was one where she was facing off against Chloé, and it turned out a leaf had flown across the screen towards the end, capturing attention and being a nuisance.

But other than that, they were free for a while.

A teaser video was set to be uploaded to the internet to advertise the third season, and it was because of that that the main cast was being asked to go on a talk show together.

Thankfully, her stylist didn't choose a tight collar for her clothing. Outside of filming, she generally avoided them, but sometimes she was required to dress similarly to Brigette when they were somewhere promoting.

It was her, Chloé, and Adrien that were set to be there for the talk show.

She greeted the two of them nervously before going to get her make-up done, and then as she was ushered back with the others, she was trying to avoid licking her lips and ruining the lipstick that had been carefully applied.

Chloé's dress had a large slit up the side—a statement piece as she always liked to have.

They were sent into a room with the three other guests, each sitting down on different sofas so the cameras could have a different angle for everyone, and they had a large screen to show what was happening outside with the host. Marinette had been terribly nervous the first time she'd been featured on one, but over the past two years, it had slowly lessened.

Still, she fiddled with her dress, smoothing out the material while making small talk with the others.

When the three of them were called out, the questions weren't too bad. Although they were mostly directed at her and Chloé, Adrien was included a lot—mostly due to the audience cheering whenever he spoke up, which was a welcome surprise. The make-up covered up any of their blemishes and embarrassed blushes, so no one had to know that that her face had coloured greatly when the host asked whether the upcoming would be raunchy or not.

As it was, the only reason for their higher than family-friendly rating was because of the gore and darkness—mostly Chloé's character's doing.

It was a good night. At one point, she'd laughed so hard that her eyes had watered in the corners, surely ruining her make-up, but she doubted that anyone would notice.

The amount of fan speculation that came the following day amused her greatly, too.

Between reading over her lines, trying to memorise everything for the film she was getting ready to be a part of in the spring as a lead, she met up with Adrien for lunch a few times.

The first time they visited a café together after she admitted that she needed to buy a gift for a friend, and Adrien had happily volunteered to walk around the shops with her. Rather than feeling awkward, it was surprisingly comfortable to pick up random objects and make fun of them with him, especially when they were in a clothing aisle with him putting on outrageous hats.

She uploaded a few pictures of him onto her accounts.

Adrien responded in kind and took a picture of her in the middle of eating cake, not paying attention to him as she stared down at her plate.

It was with that afternoon that she decided that she'd definitely like to meet up with him in the future; there wasn't any awkwardness, surprisingly, and the lack of stuttering on end was always a welcome development.

"Thanks for today," he said as they wandered back to their cars, tucking his hands into his pockets.

He hadn't worn any make-up, so the cold had caused the end of his nose to turn red.

"No, no, thank you," Marinette replied, still pleased that he'd wanted to accompany her today. "It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be—not that I thought it would suck with you or anything, I just—"

Adrien laughed. "I get it, don't worry."

Her smile was soft as she bumped her shoulder gently against his. "You're a good friend, Adrien."

There was nothing but smugness in his tone as he questioned, "I'm a good friend now, am I?"

"Yes," Marinette confirmed. "You've been promoted."

"Well, this is now my greatest accomplishment," Adrien mused. "Nothing will ever top this."

Her laughter wasn't forced. "No need to be so sarcastic."

"No, I'm very serious," Adrien insisted, his voice shaking from his own amusement, and his hands had come out of his pockets to move along with his words. "I never thought we'd get this far—you know what I mean."

She let out an audible breath.

"Yeah, I think I do," Marinette said quietly, reaching up to tuck some stray hairs behind her ear. "We were kind of friends before, but this is definitely more than that."

"Yes." His voice was soft. "I'm just—I'm really sorry about before."

She hummed, as though she was contemplating. "I don't know what you're talking about."

It was clear that she'd given him an out, a chance not to bring it up, but as they came to a stop beside her car, Adrien clarified, "About how I treated you."

"It's fine—"

"It's not," he insisted, hands falling back down to his side, the slant of his eyebrows showing how serious he felt. "I—you didn't deserve that. It was really... I hate that I did that to you."

And unlike the other times, there was nothing but sincerity in his tone. There wasn't a hint of the bright smile on his face at that moment—no lingering amusement from how light-hearted they'd been barely a minute ago—and as he gazed down at her imploringly, she couldn't help the small smile that spread across her own lips.

She swallowed.

"Thank you."

But it seemed that he wasn't done. "I'm sorry," Adrien apologised, not breaking eye contact. "I—it was really immature of me, okay? I never thought that I was hurting you, or that you'd even notice me acting any differently—"

It was more than she'd ever wanted from him.

"Thank you, really," Marinette repeated, smile reaching her eyes. "It's really nice of you to say that."

He reached up to touch the nape of his neck. "A little bit late, I think."

"No," she disagreed. "What's late is me apologising for embarrassing you—I'm still really sorry about that. If it was the other way around, I would've cried."

His laughter was quiet. "Rest assured, I didn't cry. I did consider drowning myself in the bath, though."

"Because that's better."

He hummed. "Just a bit."

-x-

The apologies had cleared any lingering awkwardness between them. And when it came time for her to live away for a few months, the location hours away from her usual home to shoot the film, Adrien ended up being her most contacted person, right next to Chloé.

The casting had called for her to get her hair bleached and then dyed a light shade of brown, something that she'd never done before. It was strange for the first few days, but she gradually got used to seeing the difference in the mirror.

She didn't know anyone on set.

They'd seen each other in passing sometimes, but the staff members were all unknown to her, and she felt awkward around her co-actors at first. So, when she was alone, she vented her frustrations to Adrien, being vague and keeping within the contract she'd signed not to reveal anything too soon.

He called her sometimes.

It made it easier. Marinette eventually bonded with her new co-workers, getting along with some more than others, but when the day was over and she retreated to her temporary bedroom, she preferred to stay in and talk for a while. There was only so much that she could do on the laptop she'd brought along—meaning most of their games were ruled out, as the device wasn't suited for him—but they were able to talk freely while playing ridiculous games that they hadn't invested their time in before.

Along with using her webcam with her parents weekly to show that she was okay, she made use of it with Adrien from the second week.

His was a bit grainy, but it would do.

Adrien's schedule wasn't as busy as hers, but he vented to her sometimes, too. It was nice that the telling of frustrations wasn't one-sided, and she definitely felt a lot better from her previous rant when he started his—it meant that he trusted her with it.

And that was definitely worth something.

The shoots for the film took just over two months, all of which had been in the middle of winter, so she'd worn thick jackets and even earmuffs on the way to and from the set. When the directors had stated that no more reshoots needed to be done for the time being, and she was relieved that she was able to travel back home.

A few of her co-workers ended up in the contact list of her phone, though she didn't have any promises to meet up with them in the future. As nice as they'd been—especially once she'd gotten the hang of knowing their personalities—none of them had clicked with her well enough to warrant her wanting to reach out to them.

There was the matter of them living far away, and that she'd only ever gotten close enough with Chloé and Adrien to warrant seeing them outside of work-related activities.

Chloé came over to watch a film with her on her second day back.

When she and Adrien were talking one evening, seeing whether there was anything that either of them wanted to do, she asked whether he wanted to come over to her apartment.

She didn't need to see him through his webcam to tell that he was surprised.

When he appeared the following afternoon with a plastic bag in his hands, Marinette let him in with a large smile. Then, when he'd shut the door behind him, she wasted no time excitedly wrapping her arms around his neck for an embrace.

It didn't even occur to her why he was surprised about that at all.

Adrien let out an audible breath, stiffening a little from the sudden hug, but he returned it within a few seconds. "It's good to see you, too," he greeted her, smile able to be heard in his voice.

She grinned into his neck. "I feel like I haven't seen you for ages."

"Well, not since the start of the year," he pointed out, awkwardly leaning down to place the bag he'd brought along onto the floor before putting his arms back around her waist loosely. "It's been a couple of months."

"Ages," she lamented. "It's not the same just seeing your stupid face through cameras."

And when he laughed, she was able to feel it on through his chest. "My face is stupid now, is it?"

"Definitely," Marinette confirmed. "The worst."

He whistled. "This is really doing wonders for my self-esteem."

"I don't think you need any help there," she teased, removing herself from him, adjusting her t-shirt to make sure that it was still tucked in. "All you have to do is look online and get an ego boost nowadays."

"Me?" He snorted. "I think you might be talking about yourself there."

Marinette purposely pushed her hair over her shoulder. "I don't need any help there."

"That's good," Adrien replied, his smile reaching his green-coloured eyes. "That hair colour looks good on you, by the way. It's different than seeing it in person."

She tucked some strands behind her ear. "Really?"

"Yeah, it really does," he assured her, reaching out to touch the top of her head lightly. "I never thought I'd see you with a colour so light, honestly."

"It's not that light." She laughed. "They could've wanted me to go platinum blonde and made me cry."

With a hum, Adrien lifted up a strand of her hair, as though he was inspecting it. "I don't know, you might suit joining the gang."

"The gang?" she questioned, laughing.

"I'm absolutely convinced I'm in a gang with Chloé and you can't change my mind," he explained with a large smile, letting her hair drop back down with the rest of it. "She's certainly got the attitude to be in one, don't you think?"

The clichéd image that popped into her head only amused her further. "She does, but I'm not so sure about you."

Adrien sucked in an audible breath. "What are you trying to say?"

"You're too cute," she declared, using her index finger to poke at his cheek. "You're too wholesome to be in a gang—unless you're the mascot or something to try and make them get a more positive reaction from others."

He lightly pushed her hand away. "I don't think gangs work like that."

She just grinned. "You clearly aren't in one, then."

"That's not—"

"No, no," she interjected, laughing. "You said you don't know, therefore you're clueless and just a normal person. I'm sorry to break it to you, Adrien."

He sniffed dramatically. "You've ruined my life."

"I'll be sure to tell Chloé that you want to be in her gang," Marinette offered, reaching out to pat his shoulder in a mocking way. "She'll be thrilled."

As natural as it had been for her to message him when she woke up, or when an amusing thought crossed her mind, being beside him in person didn't make her feel nervous. The heating was turned up despite the fact that it was supposed to be the start of spring, and the fluffy socks that she had on were a point of pride for her, especially when Adrien remarked that his feet were cold after she'd made him take his shoes off at the front door.

It was really easy being his friend.

And when she truly realised that when her laughter was coming out practically silent, in the form of wheezing as her eyes grew damp, she regretted not trying harder to befriend him properly in the beginning.

"You're a really good friend," she complimented him when it became apparent that the bag that he'd brought along had a dessert within it.

He grinned. "So you keep telling me."

"I'll tell you until you accept it," Marinette replied, happily going to get two plates for the both of them. "I might have to fight anyone that says otherwise."

Adrien raised his eyebrows. "They're not going to say it to my face."

"I'll listen out, then." She shrugged. "Someone has to protect your honour, right?"

He laughed. "Isn't that what fans are suppose to be for?"

"I'm your fan," Marinette proclaimed, enthusiastically gesturing to herself with her hands. "I may not be the biggest, but it's still valid."

As they sat down at the table together, Adrien's smile was soft as he said, "You're the reason I have any fans at all."

"No way." She shook her head. "I didn't do anything! You're the one that made people pick you just because you're attractive."

Adrien didn't protest to that. "Still, I'd like to think it's thanks to you."

"No way—"

"I only got promoted because fans want us to kiss," he pointed out, voice as though he was talking about the weather. "Therefore, it's all thanks to you. Good job, Marinette."

She laughed. "Good job being kissable?"

"Yes," he agreed, nodding. "You've done great."

It didn't feel awkward between them at all. She couldn't image the Adrien that had stuttered and ended up blurting out the wrong words with her only a few months ago to talk to casually with her, let alone about the topic that they were currently on.

The progress made her feel proud of him.

Marinette tapped her finger against her chin. "I'll make sure to put that on my résumé in the future."

"Talking of kissing," Adrien said, drawing out the last syllable and letting silence hang between them, piquing her curiosity. "Are you ever going to tell me if you had a real kiss with your co-star?"

It made her laugh. "You know I can't tell you that."

"I have to know if he's beating me—"

She just grinned. "You'll have to see the film to find out."

-x-

Adrien became a stable part of her life.

With him and Chloé living close to her—meaning not an hour or so away, so she wouldn't have to go out of her way to visit them—it was only natural that the three of them would be together at the same time willingly.

Marinette decided to placate Chloé with food the first time.

"It's not like I hate him," Chloé muttered as they arrived at the restaurant, the two of them planning to get a table before Adrien arrived. "He just—he's so positive and it gets on my nerves, you know?"

"Not really," she admitted, honestly. "That's what I like about him."

Chloé shot her a look of loathing. "Yeah, now that he's able to fucking talk to you."

"Talking does wonders for a friendship," Marinette agreed with a laugh. "I mean, look at us! I thought you hated me at first, honestly."

Chloé sniffed. "I still do."

"So sweet."

The afternoon wasn't too bad, surprisingly. Marinette ended up laughing so much that her cheeks hurt at multiple points, tears gathering in her eyes and surely ruining her make-up, and she was more than happy from Adrien commenting that she'd dyed her hair back to her natural shade.

"Really no chance of you going blonde now, eh?" he questioned, amused.

She wrinkled her nose. "I don't even want to imagine how damaged my hair could be after that."

Chloé and Adrien butted heads at times; meaning, Chloé's sarcastic comments were glossed over due to his bright personality, either missing the meaning of them completely or choosing not to acknowledge the slight snubs or remarks, and while Marinette shook with silent laughter, she saw the increasing frown on Chloé's face as she stared right back at Adrien's polite-looking smile.

"You're doing it on purpose, aren't you?" Marinette asked when Chloé excused herself for a moment.

Adrien had the gall to sniff. "I don't know what you're talking about."

She hummed. "I'm sure."

"My mother taught me not to respond to bullies."

It was such a strange comment that her own laugh caught her off-guard. "I—bully?" she choked out, not quite connecting the word to her friend.

"I'm just kidding," Adrien clarified, laughing. "It's just amusing to see her glare gradually get worse. I don't think she could hate me any more than she already does."

Marinette let out an audible breath. "She doesn't hate you."

"You can't convince me of that."

"Really, she doesn't," she insisted, glancing behind her to check whether Chloé was within hearing distance. "Other than thinking that you're, well, too full-on, I guess? I think she just disliked the whole ignoring me think you had going on."

Adrien made a noise of acknowledgement, his gaze flickering down to his drink and he purposely took a sip, stalling his answer. "I can understand that."

"I—okay," she replied, because she didn't know what else to say to that.

When Chloé came back, she was much nicer to Adrien due to the drink in her hand.

Marinette found it hilarious.

Of course, it didn't evolve into the two of them being best friends, but Adrien did try his best to actually be sincere in what he said to Chloé, rather than trying to annoy her the whole time. Still, Chloé was Chloé, and there wasn't much that could be done about that.

Marinette thought it was a pretty successful day.

Considering that the three of them were set to be together more often—for interviews, upcoming photoshoots, and other things—her goal was for all of them to get along. And, of course, because she'd become close friends with the both of them, it was only natural that she'd want them to be civil with each other.

It was lucky that she'd dyed her hair back to her natural colour—the one that was always intended for Brigette—since a photoshoot popped up in her schedule.

Chloé bitched as soon as she found out she'd only be included in a group photograph, and not in the solo pictures that would take up a page each.

Adrien was the most surprised to realise that he was getting a page all to himself.

It took a couple of weeks to arrange it—and within that time, Marintte lounged inside her home, having as much time to herself and eating whatever she wanted, as she didn't have to film anything for a while—but when the day came, it wasn't too bad.

Sadly, the weather wasn't too sunny in April, but the photographer assured them that it would be fine. The shots were outside, with Adrien and Marinette in different types of semi-casual clothing which were nothing like their characters. However, it did involve showing a lot of collarbone, suggestions poses, and a shot that had her back to the camera, looking off into the distance, that she was absolutely sure was used for her backside.

Although it wasn't all of the cast that was there, Marinette was pleased to see the ones that had arrived. It was two months until the new season of Sorcellerie was set to air for the first episode, and while they were told not to spoil anything, it was within their job to hype fans up online by posting pictures together, or chatting publicly with their co-stars.

Of course, Marinette always did that with Chloé after they'd become closer, but she wanted to see what would happen with the fans if she spoke so candidly to Adrien.

Along with the solo shots, she had to do one with Adrien where he had his arm wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her closer as they laughed as though either of them had quipped a funny joke.

In reality, Adrien just commented that he wanted to die at that moment, and her laughter was more than genuine.

After the shoot, she managed to flag down Adrien in parking lot by calling his cell phone since he was too far away to hear her, and she raised her arm up high to wave at him when he turned around to look for her.

He was more than happy to get dinner with her.

Her eyes were stinging a little from just taking her make-up off, her comfortable clothing felt wonderful to put back on, but she was perfectly fine with whatever they had in mind. Since the two of them both drove to the location, Marinette proposed for him to come over to hers that evening and the two of them order food in, and he readily agreed, his sigh of relief still audible over the phone.

He beat her there by a few minutes.

Their food came quickly, and Adrien helped out by fetching the cutlery and plates from the drawers she gestured to while she answered the door, and she got the two of them drinks while he served the food. It was a nice little system that didn't make either of them feel too awkward about, thankfully.

She really liked spending time with him.

Whether it was eating dinner without a television show on quietly in the background, or playing online while they either typed or spoke through their microphones, it was rare for her to feel bored while they were doing something together. She appreciated that his hobbies matches up with hers, along with his taste in music, the silly videos online that would make him laugh, and the genre of films that he preferred to watched—all of it seemed to align with hers.

Sure, there were a few things that she didn't understand—artists, or a particular film that he was genuinely enthusiastic about—and she had a few herself, but he never made her feel uncomfortable about speaking about them, and she hoped that he felt the same way in return.

It was the kind of friendship that she really wished she'd pursued sooner.

There was still something that she couldn't help but be curious about, though.

So, after they'd finished eating and had just put on a film that they'd spoken about before, Marinette bluntly asked, "Why did you like me?"

Adrien cleared his throat. "What?"

"You know." She gestured vaguely between them. "When you suddenly became afraid to look me in the eyes? I just—is it rude to ask why?"

He reached up to touch the nape of his neck, visibly cringing. "Do you really have to ask that?"

"Well, yeah," she admitted with a shrug. "I still don't understand. It's not like we were really that good of friends."

Then, he decided to answer with, "Do I really need a reason to like you?"

"Oh." Marinette was stumped at that, not quite expecting such an honest answer. It was, after all, a good explanation for her earlier crushes that were probably terribly placed. "I guess that's a good answer."

"I really hope you're not asking this to get your ego stroked—"

She hit his arm lightly. "I'd never."

Adrien purposely hummed, looking at her dubiously. "Are you sure? I'm well aware of how much you like to be complimented."

"That's definitely not true."

He just laughed. "I'm sure."

"It's not!" she exclaimed, moving her hands to emphasise her words, almost hitting him accidentally in the process. "You're seeing things that just aren't there."

"Why are you fishing for compliments, then?" His smile was wide, indents clear on his cheeks. "Having a feeling of self-confidence that can only be cured by me waxing poetry about you?"

She sniffed. "I never took you for the poetry type."

"I could be for you."

"Careful," she started, voice shaking from amusement. "It almost sounds like you're using a pick-up line on me."

He winked. "Maybe I am."

"Yeah, right," Marinette replied, her laughter coming out fully and making her voice more high-pitched than usual. "I have it under good authority that if you like someone, you can barely even talk to them."

Adrien didn't look offended at that, but he did say, "I'm going to cry."

"You can cry on my shoulder," she offered, reaching out to pat his gently. "But only because I'm such a good friend."

He brushed off her hand without much force. "I'm regretting being your friend at all."

"And I'm starting to think it's one of my best decisions yet." She grinned.

"Oh?" And if she hadn't been looking at his face, she would've been able to hear his surprise in his voice. "Really?"

Feeling a bit shy, Marinette tucked some stray hairs behind her ear. "I—yeah," she confirmed, clearing her throat after she stuttered. "I really like spending time with you and all that."

"And all that," he echoed, grin growing until it reached his green-coloured eyes. "I definitely feel the same way."

"Well, that's good," she replied, playing off how suddenly shy she really felt as being flippant. "Does this mean you'll take a good picture with me so I can post it online?"

He laughed. "I'd take one with you even if you didn't."

"You want to take a personal picture of us?" Marinette teased, raising her eyebrows. "I don't think we're quite that close, Adrien, but nice try."

Rather than be embarrassed by the implication, as he would've the previous year, Adrien's laughter become breathier, more genuine. "I'll get you to agree eventually."

"It still sounds like a pick-up line." She wrinkled her nose in distaste. "You might want to work on getting better ones."

"Maybe my intention was to make you laugh," he pointed out. "Did you ever consider that?"

Marinette tapped her chin with her chin, purposely humming aloud so he could hear. "I never thought of you being that smart, honestly."

He sniffed. "Please appreciate my friendship pick-up lines."

"Maybe in time."

-x-

It came out of nowhere.

Well, that wasn't quite right. Marinette hadn't really been paying attention to it, just floating through her life and going wherever was needed, and she used her free time to indulge herself with whatever made her happy.

And, coincidentally, that was Adrien.

She didn't realise how much time she was spending with him on an average—more than she'd ever spent with Chloé in a month, let alone a week—or that her first thought when she woke up was to text him to tell him the ridiculous dream that she'd had. Then, there was also her linking him to particular comments that she found online that she thought were amusing, or the way the two of them interacted publicly on their social media for the sole purpose of riling up the fans in the responses.

When they'd first started to try and become friends again, she'd been more than aware of how close they were when they were filming scenes, constantly wondering whether the way Bri was supposed to feel was how he felt when she was close, but that had calmed down as more time passed. Adrien didn't seem bothered by her doing anything—from hugging him as a greeting, draping herself over him when she ranted, to name a few—and she was utterly sure that he was fine with her.

So, it was a complete surprise for her to realise that her feelings for him had shifted.

It wasn't that drastic of a difference, but she found herself thinking of him more often, bringing him up in conversation only to be bemused whenever someone pointed it out, and she'd thought it was all purely platonic—

Until it wasn't.

And all she could say quietly under her breath was, "Oh."

And, almost as if she'd planned it, she felt instantly dreadful about it. Sure, he was good-looking, but he always had been, so it wasn't that that was the cause of her feelings; they weren't juvenile, based purely on looks, and it wasn't because he gave her the time of day.

It was about how secure and comfortable he made her feel, and how she hoped that any happiness she felt when they were together was experienced by him, too.

She was determined not to treat him any differently.

It didn't really change much with them. They'd grown close as it was, the two of them spending a lot of time together—online and offline—so it wasn't unusual for her to spend time with him regularly.

While his closeness at times did make her feel a bit shy, it was only because she wasn't quite used to acknowledging that she was seeing him in a different light; but he didn't make her palms grow clammy, and she wasn't thinking of all the things that she could say wrong to him with her heart pounding—

It wasn't that kind of like at all.

She knew what he looked like when he hadn't showered that day, when his clothing had a stain on it but he was too lazy to change when she went over to his home, and all the ridiculous things that made him laugh.

It was so much more than she'd known in the past.

So, it was understandable that her crush—if it could really be classed as that—was more fleshed out than ever.

She didn't mind how much of a dork she thought he was; rather, she found it endearing. She liked the sound of his laugh, the way he brightened up the room when he was in it, and it didn't hurt that his looks were definitely something that she found herself admiring.

Suddenly, the prospect of acting as though she was in love with him the next season of Sorcellerie didn't seem so hard.

But the sudden enlightenment of her feelings still made her feel guilty at times. She'd confronted Adrien about his, almost shaming him in the process, and for her to turn around months later and see him in a romantic light?

It made her want to cry a little.

So, she kept it to herself. It wasn't as though she was going to gush about it to anyone—nothing would come out of it, and telling Chloé the woes of her unrequited not quite love wasn't something she wanted to do, not even for Chloé's sarcastic reaction.

They'd started to regularly take pictures together whenever they met up, even if they were both messy-haired and planning to laze around for the day; from pictures of them in pyjamas—Adrien was completely fine with her driving over and arriving in them, only laughing and changing into his own—to the two of them outside together normally, or both with make-up on and looking considerably more professional than before.

She especially liked it when he leaned down to press a kiss to her cheek for some shots.

And when she was invited to a premiere of a film series that she knew Adrien was a fan of, she extended the invitation to him.

The tight hug she received was definitely worth it.

Sure, she pined a little a wondered what it would be like to be together with him—but she wasn't going to ruin their friendship over it. Adrien was a major part of her life that year, and she wanted to keep it that way. She knew that he wouldn't be offended if she admitted it, but the fact that she'd had to squash his feelings so they could be professional on set together made her feel guilty.

It was just a relief she didn't act too differently with him.

They continued on as usual; visiting each other's homes, going out to lunch sometimes, and meeting up with work-related events where they gravitated towards each other. It was pretty natural, nothing out of the ordinary when their friendship had become known, but the fans reacts to all the picture of them in the past months greatly amused it.

It didn't help that she felt a little wistful whenever someone questioned whether they were really together or not.

Two weeks before Sorcellerie was set to air, Marinette had taken another picture of her kissing Adrien's cheek, happily uploading it while he sat bemused beside her.

"You really like taking pictures like that," he remarked.

She didn't even flinch. "The reaction we get for them is great—plus, you've got soft skin. It's not too bad to smooch."

"Please, don't say smooch."

Marinette almost threw her head back while she laughed. "You're starting to sound like Chloé."

"I think she makes a lot of sense," he mused, reaching out to prod the end of her nose before retracting his hand. "You haven't even given me a real kiss yet you're here saying you've smooched me? For shame, Marinette."

She crossed her arms. "You're still bitter about that?"

Adrien felt the need to point out, "There's still many months until I find out if you've kissed your new co-star."

"You're just bitter that I won't tell you anything," she replied, raising her eyebrows. "Besides, the first trailer for the film's already out."

He snorted. "Yeah, but that barely shows anything."

"Not what you want to see, no," Marinette agreed, looking at him with a smile creeping on her lips and her eyes narrowed. "Is there a specific reason you just want to watch me kiss other men, Adrien?"

"...Research."

That made her laugh loudly. "I'm sure."

"It's true."

While Sorcellerie had been her first leading role, she'd had to kiss another as a background character years before, and a clip of that had definitely surfaced when her popularity as Bri skyrocketed.

She patted his shoulder. "There, there."

"This feels strangely like you're mocking me," he mused, putting his hand gently on top of hers, still upon his shoulder. "You wouldn't ever do that, would you?"

"No, definitely not," she replied, grinning. "Why would you think that little of me?"

Adrien squeezed her hand. "I don't know."

Then, Marinette decided to lean forward, using her other hand to cup around one side of her mouth, as though she was a child and telling him a huge secret. "If it helps, you're my favourite co-star."

Adrien laughed at that. "What about Chloé?"

"Okay, male co-star," she corrected, sitting back up straight and taking her hand back from him, even though his had been warm. "That has to count for something, right?"

He sniffed. "It eases my pain by only a little."

It was the conversations like that that always amused her. She knew that Adrien wasn't serious—that he wouldn't be offended by anything that she said that was meant to be teasing—and it always made it enjoyable to be with him. Sure, he was over-dramatic at times, liked to pretend to swoon or gasp and clutch his heart when she teased him, but it was the little things that made her like him even more.

And knowing his nervous ticks made it so much easier while being together with him. From running a hand through his hair, touching the nape of his neck, or awkwardly putting his hands into his pockets, she knew the signs well, which made it obvious when he wanted to leave when they were outside together, and he didn't want to speak up to say he wanted to go somewhere else.

She wondered whether he knew those type of things about her.

The network they were featured on decided to have a small clip of some of the main actors for Sorcellerie speaking about their favourite parts of the upcoming season.

And when it came to Marinette's turn, one of the last, she admitted, "It was getting to know Adrien more? I spent a lot of time with him on set this time, so that was nice. Well, that and Chloé being Chloé—that's always fun."

She didn't think too much of it, but the next time she was alone with him, Adrien brought it up.

"Did you really mean that?" he questioned.

As they'd already settled down on her sofa, him having been there for at least an hour at that point, she had to say, "I need a bit more information to answer that. I have no idea what you're on about."

Adrien swallowed. "About—what you said on your interview."

She squinted. "The one from this afternoon?"

"Unless you've taken one secretly afterwards, yes," he replied, adjusting how he was sitting so their knees were no longer touching. Before, she'd been self-conscious and had tried not to sit too closely to him, but she didn't really care any more, not when Adrien seemed fine with her doing anything. "When you said I was the best part."

"Yeah," she readily admitted, using a picture to gesture between the two of them. "This whole thing? One of the best things that has happened since, honestly."

His smile reached his eyes. "Really?"

"Well, yes," Marinette started slowly, trying to figure out how to word it correctly. "I'm close with Chloé, but I don't do the same things I do with her with you, you know? The friendship I have with you is really... relaxing, I guess."

A noise of amusement left him. "I relax you?"

"You're not wanting to drag me out with the intention of getting photographed," she pointed out. "I never thought I'd have this with you but—but here we are."

His expression grew as soft as his voice as he echoed, "Here we are."

There wasn't anything else that she could say at that moment. They were just sat together, her television playing quietly, and the fondness that was visible in his gaze as he looked at her made her feel warm inside.

She wetted her lips.

Then, as if to break the silence, Marinette reached out and patted his shoulder. "I think you've earned the title of my best friend. Congratulations."

He raised his fist in the air with a grin.

She had no qualms laughing as she exclaimed, "You're a dork!"

Adrien grinned, dimples clear on his cheeks. "Yeah, but for some reason, you like that about me."

"I like a lot about you, actually," she retorted. "Not just when you make a fool out of yourself."

He almost looked tempted to whistle, but all he said was, "Well, that's certainly reassuring."

"What?" Marinette questioned. "That I like you?"

"I'd be a bit worried if you didn't when we spend so much time together," he mused. "Unless you're saying this as an excuse to stroke my ego? If so, go right ahead. I really need it right now."

She snorted. "No, you really don't."

"I absolutely do," Adrien replied. "I feel terribly inferior whenever I'm beside you."

It was such a ridiculous statement that she couldn't help but say, "Oh, please."

"I'm serious," he defended himself with a laugh, edging closer and bumping his shoulder gently against hers, a move that he wouldn't have done all those months ago, back when he was awkwardly pining for her. It was just more proof that he was more comfortable. "You're out here being so successful despite your setbacks."

She squinted. "What setbacks?"

It should've been a sign that he was going to say something ridiculous when his smile widened. "Your height, of course," Adrien stated, dramatically gesturing towards her. "All the trouble you have to go through—"

She was thoroughly tempted to kick him. "My height?"

"Yes." He nodded enthusiastically. "You can't even kiss me because of it."

Marinette huffed and pushed her hair over her shoulder. "Have you considered that, maybe, you're just too tall?"

"That's offensive."

"Yes, definitely." She rolled her eyes. "It's not my fault you had to kneel for me to kiss you—"

Adrien's laughter was nice to hear. "Who's fault is it, then?"

Marinette decided to answer, "Everyone else's, clearly. They could've had us sitting down next to each other instead—because, look, we're fine right now."

His smile reached his eyes. "We're fine to kiss now?"

"The heights," she replied, emphasising the last word by gesturing between them. "I don't have to push you over or anything right now. Isn't that wonderful?"

"It's wonderful that you're not pushing me over?" Adrien questioned, voice wobbling as he tried not to laugh aloud. "I don't know, Marinette. I might be a fan of that."

It was just teasing, she knew that, but she was able to feel the way her face grew hot in a matter of moments. Still, she wasn't going to suddenly blabber or start to feel nervous around him; rather, she raised her eyebrows and asked, "You like being pushed over by just anyone, do you?"

"No, I don't think so," he replied, his smile growing lopsided. "But I probably wouldn't mind if it was by you."

She pointed at him. "That sounds like a pick-up line again."

Adrien held his hands up in a sign of surrender. "Dang, you caught me."

"And you said dang!" Marinette exclaimed, her laughter honest and loud. "You can't make fun of me saying smooch ever again."

At that point, they were definitely talking louder than the television, not paying attention to it any more. Marinette had turned in her seat towards him, and Adrien was giving her his sole attention, rather than having his eyes flicker back to the screen to catch up on what was happening.

It was definitely flattering.

"Can you really blame me for trying?" he quipped. "I mean, unless it makes you feel uncomfortable? I, well, I can stop, if that's the case."

It was almost like what she'd said to him, all those months ago while trying to squash the crush that he'd developed on her, and it caused her to laugh aloud from remembering it. Their roles were almost reversed, but she doubted that he had any inkling of her feelings for him.

Adrien had joined in with her laughter, but his hadn't been as loud, or as long, as hers.

Once she'd recovered and reached up to wipe at her eye, she stated, "No, no. I don't feel uncomfortable at all with you, Adrien. Besides, I would've told you by now if I did."

"That's true," he agreed. "You are pretty forward."

She shook her head at that. "I don't think I am."

And it was honest. While she stood up for herself when the time was needed, much like when she'd been back in school and had to get something done, she tended to stay quiet most of the time when she was surrounded by new people—much like she'd down at the start of Sorcellerie.

"You are with me," Adrien said, close enough that their arms were touching, "aren't you?"

She averted her eyes.

It was a chance, she knew that, but she—she didn't want to ruin what they had. But if Adrien had been able to overcome his crush to talk to her normally, saying that he was sorry and refusing to listen to her own apologies, then, surely, he wouldn't react so badly to her admitting her feelings—

It wasn't as though she was causing problems between them. In the time since she'd come to terms with liking him, nothing had really changed.

But he was her best friend.

Rather than all the other things that she could've said, Marinette instead announced quietly, "I'm a hypocrite."

Adrien made a questioning noise, curious. "Are you?"

"Terribly," she insisted, nodding her head. "The worst."

"I think you're the opposite of the worst, actually," he said, resting more of his weight against her shoulder, though still sitting upright enough to look at her. "Some might say that I think you're the best."

She snorted. "Only some?"

"Well, it depends who you ask," Adrien replied. "If it's Nino, he'll fight you to the death for the title of my best friend nowadays."

Marinette let out a laugh at that. "It's possible to have more than one best friend."

And when he joined in, she could feel his body shaking. "I don't think everyone's quite aware of that just yet."

"That's a shame."

"It is," he agreed, voice soft and quiet, a gentle lull that stood out against the silence of the room (which indicated that the film had ended, but neither of them wanted to pay attention to that). "What's worrying you, Marinette?"

She reached up and tucked some strands of hair behind her ear. "It's—I don't quite know how to say it."

"Then, say whatever comes to mind," he suggested. "I'm not going to complain about you rambling. I think it's quite cute, honestly."

Her smile widened. "You do?"

And within seconds, his own grin matched hers. "I do."

It was just a passing comment, something that if it had came from anyone else wouldn't have done much for her—but it was Adrien.

"I'm very aware that I was awful about it before, so any reaction you have is probably justified," Marinette started, fiddling with one of her sleeves, eyes darting between her hands and his curious gaze. "But I—well, I kind of like you?"

And it was only because she was staring down at her lap that she didn't see his reaction, but she was able to hear his surprised intake of breath.

Then, he chose to question, "Only kind of?"

Marinette let out a laugh. "Is that really what you should be asking?"

She could hear the smile in his voice as he said, "You can't blame me for wanting you to be clear."

"I'm still sorry," she replied instead, continuing to fiddle with her sleeve. "I know it's terrible of me after asking you to get over your feelings for me, but I—I really don't want to make you uncomfortable with me, that's all."

Adrien reached out and gently pried the material from her hand. "Marinette, I didn't even realise you like me that way," he pointed out quietly. "Why would I feel uncomfortable with you?"

She swallowed. "Because I made such a fuss about you liking me."

"It was completely different," he admitted, the softness of his voice still there. "It was—I didn't really know you, remember? But it's different now. There's no comparing the situations."

She couldn't help but insist, "Still."

"No," Adrien said. "We've already been over this so many times. There's no need for either of us to apologise any more, no matter how much the other insists it's not necessary, okay? It was, like, half a year ago."

But he wasn't—he wasn't saying anything else. Marinette risked a glance at him, just to see what type of expression he was making, and when noticed that it was just as soft and fond as it had been only minutes ago, her lips parted silently.

Still, she had to ask, "You're not mad?"

"Why would I?" he questioned, smile reaching his eyes as he met her gaze. "It would be pretty stupid of me when I never really got over you."

It—it wasn't what she'd expected for him to say at all. While she knew Adrien not to be someone to get angry—only grow irritated at times, or be petty about the most ridiculous things—she was allowed to have those insecure thoughts, even after knowing him so well.

But for him to say that?

She truly didn't know what to say.

And it must've shown on her face as he just let out a fond laugh, the sound as soft as his expression, and she couldn't help but gape at him, shocked.

Then, he reached up to run a hand through his hair as he asked, "Was I that—that, well, not obvious?"

Compared to how he had been before, all that time ago, Marinette couldn't help but confess, "I had no idea."

Adrien's laughter was honest and slightly breathless. "I guess we're both pretty clueless."

"I—yeah," she stuttered, fiddling with her sleeve once more. "I... I really had no idea."

And rather than comment on her repeating the same phrase, Adrien only reached out to take the material out of her hold again, but rather than pulling away afterwards, he gently placed his hand on top of hers.

"Just to be clear," he started quietly. "You do—you do mean you like me romantically, right?"

It made her laugh that he had to ask for clarification at all.

Her voice was kind of breathy as she replied, "Yes."

And yet, he continued on to ask, "In the wanting to kiss me kind of way, right?"

It wasn't awkward. His few replies since her confession had only caused her to relax, the nerves to melt away as he smiled softly at her, and she couldn't have asked for her feelings to have been directed at anyone better than him. While she hadn't thought it would be possible—not even back when they'd first met awkwardly on set—it was hard to think otherwise, now that her feelings had shifted.

She was grateful that he was so likeable.

Her grin widened. "Very much."

Then, as if to remind her of why the topic had changed to such a thing, he raised his fist in the air with a laugh.

-x-

Chloé, Nino, and Alya were the first to be told that they were dating.

As they were already close, they'd decided not to announce it publicly. They weren't the most well-known figures—Marinette was sure she could never count herself as that—but it wasn't as though they were actively trying to hide it. Speculation about their relationship been there from the fans, so she wasn't too concerned about anyone else thinking the same.

And if she was ever asked in interviews, she was determined to dodge the question, choosing to focus on what she was actually there to talk about. There was nothing in her contract for Sorcellerie stating that she couldn't date anyone on set, thankfully, and she didn't feel like it was a big deal to mention it to everyone that she met, not when she was generally a private person.

As pictures of her kissing his cheek, either of them draped over each other, and spending any amount of time together were normal, she didn't worry too much.

Still, they felt fit to tell their friends.

Chloé's response had been to hang up.

The transition to actually dating Adrien—something she'd never thought would even happen—was as comfortable as the rest of their friendship. It didn't feel like there was sudden a switch that made her hyper-aware of him or anything, no; rather, it was just as it had been before, but with the added touches, being able to hold his hand, and cuddle up beside him for longer without being too obvious about her feelings.

And the amount of compliments she gave him definitely skyrocketed.

Adrien was more than happy that he was able to kiss her forehead, brush hairs away from her face and press kisses to her cheeks, and other tender touches that would've been crossing the limits of their friendship before. And rather than having to get adjusted to them, Marinette easily welcomed the changes, grinning widely the first time he kissed the top of her head.

It wasn't as though they were jumping into everything immediately, and she appreciated that.

When it came time for the first episode of Sorcellerie to air, she opted to watch it with Adrien.

She slipped her shoes off when she'd entered through his front door, hanging up her cardigan with practised ease, and called out his name to find out where he was in his home.

They ended up on the sofa together. Marinette had her head resting against his shoulders, her legs curled up underneath her, while Adrien was bouncing his foot on the floor, his moving leg giving away his nerves at that moment.

She didn't comment on it, though. Sure, she was curious about what the reaction of the fans would be for the new season, but from all the hype and the positive responses they'd had from the teasers and all the promotional things leading up to it, she was sure that they'd be fine.

She chose to clasp his hand gently in hers, bringing it up to her face to kiss a press to the back of his hand.

Adrien turned his head to face her, a lopsided smile already visible. "What was that for?"

She returned the grin. "Do I really need a reason?"

"I suppose you don't," he replied. "This time."

With a laugh, she questioned, "Is that a threat?"

"Absolutely." There was no denying the amusement in his voice. "If you don't have a reason the next time, something terrible will happen."

She intertwined her fingers with his. "How terrible are we talking?"

"Why don't you try me and find out?"

Meeting his gaze, she purposely raised his hand and placed a kiss to the back of it again, letting her lips linger there for a few more seconds than before.

Adrien laughed at that.

Then, as she let their hands fall back down to her thigh, she didn't protest as he moved closer, nose brushing against hers for a moment before she closed her eyes as his lips pressed against hers. It was soft, almost hesitant, but just as nice as the others that they'd shared in the two weeks of them dating.

She didn't have any complaints.

From the feeling of his lips against hers, warm breath caressing her skin, and how he seemed so unsure on where to put his hands on her whenever they were so close—all of it was enjoyable.

Marinette moved closer to him, squeezing the hand that was in hers, and smiled against his mouth as he ran his fingers through her hair, clearly getting more comfortable. The kiss continued on, not filled with lust or rushed at all; it was slow, steady, and she liked the simplicity of it. It never felt like Adrien was pushing her for anything more—it was everything that the two of them were willing to give.

So, when she swiped her tongue across his lower lip, silently asking for more, she knew that he wouldn't feel pressured. Adrien had already babbled and said that she didn't have to hold his hand if she didn't want to, back when they'd first confessed to each other.

And there she was, holding his hand and doing so much more.

Adrien readily accepted, the kiss becoming more intimate, and she made a hum of approval, to which he let out a breath of amusement, one that was noticeable due to their close distance.

She really liked him.

And when they parted, her eyes flickered down to his reddened lips, a smile appearing on her own.

Adrien squeezed her hand that time.

Purposely, she raised their joint hands to her lips again, pressing a kiss to the back of his hand before musing, "I suppose I can tell you something now."

He raised his eyebrows. "Oh?"

"Yes." Marinette nodded, their intertwined hands falling back down onto her lap. "You're the only one I've had a real kiss with this year."

It took a moment for him to comprehend, but when he got it, he laughed loudly.