"A-Adrien!" Marinette waved out, only to retreat her hand to behind her back once she got his attention. "I, u-um, I-uh… um… hi!"

"Hey, Marinette," Adrien greeted back with a warm smile.

Marinette had planned this for a while, including her catching the love of her life in front of their school before it would begin as soon as he left his limousine. Sure she had to wake up earlier than usual to avoid sleeping in or even coming in to class late, but Alya had reassured her that this plan of hers was all worth it. Alya even called her early morning to make sure she didn't back out at the last second. No one could stop it, not even Chloé. Now all Marinette had to do was keep her nerves under control, not faint, and not run away at the first sign of trouble. She was lucky that the other students coming in ignored her for the most part.

She relied upon her inner Ladybug confidence to see this through.

"Uh, hey," Marinette greeted back bashfully. "Oh, wait, I already did that… I mean, what I meant to say was… um… uh… I something made you… I mean, I made you something."

Taking a quick breath and forcing her usual hesitancy to the sidelines, she unveiled her supposed gift from behind her back while keeping her head low and eyes closed shut, too afraid to gauge his reaction at the moment. Adrien's curiosity was intrigued. He knew Marinette well enough that gifts from her were either two things: baked goods from her parent's bakery or her own brand of clothing.

It was the case of the latter as upon Marinette's hands rested a simple bright green tee folded up neatly. The shade of green matched his eyes. It was certainly no surprise that Marinette was the aspiring fashionista. Adrien hummed in satisfaction, prompting Marinette to look up with a bright shade of red lighting up her somewhat pale cheeks.

"It looks awesome, Marinette," Adrien finally said. "You sure it's for me? It's not my birthday and today's not a particular holiday I can think of."

"Y-Yes, please," Marinette nodded, facing her feet again out of sheer nervousness while holding the shirt she made higher. "Please take it."

Of course, once Adrien took the garment off her hands, she felt her heart clench harder in apprehension. People would say that the first step would be the most difficult, but in her case, it would be this next step once the blond boy opened the shirt up. Doubts began to fill up her mind like a huge flood. It wasn't simply that matter if Adrien liked the shirt or not.

It was what was on the shirt that threatened to make her die in shame if Adrien reacted the way she feared he would.

As expected, Adrien carefully unfolded the shirt, allowing gravity to unravel it as he hung it high in the air. The shirt was in his size from quick inspection. He was a bit surprised on how Marinette managed to guess his measurements so accurately. She would have to be some sort of stalker to know such details, but she was an expert fashion designer for someone her age.

Marinette observed his gorgeous green eyes scrutinizing her handiwork and held back a gasp when his gaze focused upon the center of the shirt. She was practically trembling when his eyes narrowed in concentration. If she wasn't as fearful as she was right now, she would be fawning over how cute Adrien looked when he had his focus face on.

"This is… interesting," Adrien started. "Chinese characters?"

"Uh, yeah!" Marinette yelped, struggling to maintain whatever cool she had left in order to answer for herself. Just like she had rehearsed many times with Alya and Tikki. "Wh-While designing the shirt, I was also… um… Chactising my prynese… I mean, practicing my Chinese! Yeah, be-be-because my great uncle was going to visit again and, um, I wanted to depress him… I mean, impress him. Impress him, yeah."

"Cheng Shifu is going to be in town again?" Adrien asked. "Do you mind if I visit? He's really awesome to be around and watch him cook."

"N-Not at all, Adrien," Marinette replied shakily.

"Thanks, Marinette," Adrien smiled softly, placing the shirt over his right arm. "I'm going to the restroom to do a quick change. You don't mind if I wear it now, right?"

Marinette blinked blankly. Her fear was replaced with bewilderment. She was sure that being the Chinese expert that he was, he would understand what those characters said. Was this really a dream? If she had Tikki pinch her again, would she wake up back in her bed to actually enact this plan or wind up with another bruise under her arm in this reality?

"Well, no, that's… that's the point, I guess," Marinette managed to utter. "Uh, do you, y'know, understand what the shirt says?"

"Yeah," Adrien nodded simply. "It's your way of doing your signature, isn't it? Practicing in Chinese is perfectly fine with me." Maybe Marinette's imagination was playing tricks on her, but she could've sworn she heard him place particular emphasis on the first syllable of perfectly, as though he was making a Cat Noir-brand pun. Nah, it was just coincidence. "Besides, I wanted more casual-styled clothing. That's what you were aiming for, right? No?"

"Oh, no, I mean, yeah," Marinette laughed timidly. "I-I thought it'd look nice on you regardless… Though you look nice in almost anything."

"What was that?" Adrien questioned. "I didn't catch the last part of what you said."

"It's nothing," Marinette quickly waved off, exaggerated hand movements included. "So… just to make sure you know what it is and that I didn't say anything ridiculous on it, what do the characters say?"

"It says, 'Property of Marinette Dupain-Cheng,'" Adrien recited without another thought. "I mean, the shirt technically belongs to you as you made it. Is there a problem?"

At this exact moment, Marinette was internally conflicted by a wicked combination of relief, fear, and frustration. All the while, she was unresponsive as she was processing all of this in her head. Concerned, Adrien waved a hand in front of her face after ten full seconds had passed. Marinette's brain finally decided on a reaction, allowing the troubled girl to smile back widely, probably too widely for anyone's tastes.

"… No problem at all."

In class…

"Whoa, cool shirt, dude," Nino remarked as his best bud joined him at their usual seats.

"Yeah, Marinette made it," Adrien said, looking upon it.

The shirt she made replaced his black undershirt. The Chinese characters were fully visible on the front and were framed by his open white shirt. Overall, it really didn't look half bad on his usual attire, but Adrien didn't care as he had a treasured gift from a friend.

At the meantime sitting behind them, Alya gave Marinette a sly triumphant smirk.

"Atta girl," Alya praised in approval. "I knew you'd pull it off."

"I guess," Marinette sighed. "But it still doesn't feel quite right. I really don't think Adrien understands what's going on. He even knows what it says, but I'm sure he misinterpreted it. I feel bad taking advantage like this."

"Cheer up, girl," Alya assured. "Only you, he, and I know what it says. C'mon and be proud! That shirt is preaching the future. True doctrine, if I may add. Besides, anyone else who does know what it says will know to back off. After all, all's fair in love and war."

"Hmm… you're right, Alya," Marinette beamed. "I do like the idea of others backing off of Adrien. It's fine if he's just friends with them though."

"Don't worry," Alya reassured. "If they're really his friends, they'll respect it. Though I can't really say the same for our 'dear Chloé' over there. Did you catch the look on her face? I'm sure she can't read Adrien's shirt, but I think even she's getting the message."

They glanced over to Chloé's seat, observing her as she was inspecting Adrien's new shirt with her ever present expression of disgust. Head resting on her hand, she seemed particularly peeved.

"Hmph, should've known that Marinette would make such a trashy shirt," Chloé muttered. "I can understand Adrien wearing it out of pity, but why does that shirt itself make me feel so… angry? Ridiculous."

"That settles it then," Marinette concluded smugly, leaning back on her seat with her arms folded behind her head. "I regret nothing."

Just something random came to mind when I was looking at old graphic tees. Think this is actually believable? Ah, well. It's done now. The twisted machinations of my mind have struck again.

Please review!

Edit: Sentence fixed. Thanks, pajamawolfie!