I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or any characters that were lovingly created by Hawkdaddy

Four friends sat together in the corner booth of the café. Adrien's arm was slung casually over Marinette's shoulders as he teased Alya about her new girlfriend.
"She is not!" Alya protested.
"Sure, sure." Adrien grinned. "Bet the two of you get up to all sorts of trouble when your parents aren't home right?"

Alya groaned and put her head on the table. "Stop."

"Dude, I don't want to think about my cousin getting it on with her girlfriend. I'm eating. You'll ruin my appetite." Nino complained, shoving French fries into his already full mouth.

Adrien raised an eyebrow at him. "As if."

Marinette jabbed him in the side with her elbow. "Leave her alone."
"Aw come on Mari, she gave us a hard time when we got together. I'm just repaying the favour." She frowned at him. "Okay, okay." He complied pulling her into his side. "Anything for you." He winked and kissed her cheek.

"Bro." Nino whined.

"It's not my fault she's so cute!" Marinette's face flushed scarlet as she reached for her drink.

"Shouldn't we be discussing our final project?" Alya asked, arms folded. "That is what we came here for."

Discreetly, Marinette slipped some food into her purse and Adrien's jacket pocket for their Kwami. Adrien catches her hand as it withdraws from his pocket and laces their fingers together, slowly drawing circles on the back of her hand with his finger.

"Modern day heroes… I was thinking Ladybug and Chat Noir. I mean, if they're not heroes who are?"

Adrien winked at his girlfriend. "Ladybug is definitely my hero." He purred, causing her ears to go pink again.

"And here I thought once you finally hooked up with Marinette, you'd get over your obsession with Ladybug." Nino snickered.

"What do you mean finally! And it's not an obsession!" He protested.

"Yeah, sure. Let me tell you something about this guy." Nino directs his speech to Marinette and pointed his finger at Adrien. "He has like a shrine-" He stopped mid-sentence as Adrien shoved the remains of his burger into his mouth.

"Shut up I was like twelve."

"You were 16 and I saw it last week!"

Marinette giggles and Ayla rolled her eyes as she scrolled down the news section.

"Oh look!" She exclaimed, turning the phone around so Marinette could see the screen. "A super villain is rampaging up the main street, that's two blocks from here! This could be our chance to get an interview. Let's go!" Marinette stood quickly, the table shook and Adrien grabbed her cup so it wouldn't fall.

"I just- uh- um.. I just remembered I had a thing to do."

"What thing?" Alya asked dubiously.

"Remember Adrien? The thing we had to do?" Her eyes fixated on his, full of meaning. He had not heard Alya mention the villain so he frowned at her.

"No, what thing?" He looked up at her confused.

She gritted her teeth. "The thing that we-" A loud crashing sound interrupted her. "Oh for god's sake. Come on." She grabbed his shirt and pulled him out of the booth. Adrien winked at their two friends, saluting with two fingers. "Duty calls." He said smugly, not thinking about the possibility of a villain but intead about Marinette and her firm hold on his shirt.

Nino and Alya stare at the retreating couple.
"The…"
"Thing?"
They glance at each other and smirk knowingly.
"Right." Nino snorted. "The thing."
"And he thinks I'm all over my girlfriend? When's the last time the four of us hung out together and they didn't come back breathless and readjusting their clothes?"

Ahem... I am just trash