Adrien had one more thing to add to his New Year´s Resolution list:

3) Definitly try not to sneeze on a beautiful girl´s face again.

Well he hoped that for the last hours of 2017, it wouldn´t happen either. Take it as an early resolution.

One time was traumatising enough. He knew he wasn´t particurlarly good at flirting, not that he had actually much of a chance each time, since he didn´t even get to date people he actually wanted to date, but now it was just crossing the line. He had always hated this feather allergy, but now he was silently asking God why he was putting him through all of this! He couldn´t help but let out a curse as another sneeze broke through him. His eyes were red and teary, and his nose was starting to get blocked.

Someone waved a tissue on front of his face, he took it without looking at the person, who was probably Alya or Nino. He mumbled out a thanks before he turned around and blew his nose. He felt his nose and eyes calm down, now that any feather was in sight. He made his way towards the kitchen in order to throw away his tissue, before washing his hands in the sink. He tried to blink the tears in his eyes away, but his body´s immune system still thought there were some feathers in the air.

While Adrien was still blowing his nose in the kitchen, Marinette finally decided to face the others and leave the bathroom, where she definitly couldn´t hide all night. She slowly approached the living room, where everybody was chatting.

"Mari! Be glad you brought dessert, because would have to be extra nice to everbody." Kim said as he saw her enter.

"How come you still come late after so many years?" Alix asked chuckling.

"I have stopped asking myself that." Alya answered as she sighed. She was now standing next to Marinette, lifting her hand up to her friend´s shoulder. Marinette slapped her friend´s shoulder.

"Hey! I´m not always late!" Marinette tried to defend herself, before crossing her arms over her chest, clearly annoyed by the accusations.

"Well the only time you are not late is when I tell you the right time minus half an hour." Alya said, which had all her guests in the living room chuckling.

Suddenly, everybody turned to Nino as they heard him pop the champagne.

"Who wants some champagne?" Nino asked as he started to fill the flutes.

"Mari? I´m not even asking, I know you like champagne." Nino said which made her blush bright red.

The blond man entered the living room, quickly crossed the room after Nino had called him and picked up the flute Nino had filled for him.

Alya left Marinette´s side to go migle with Rose and Alix. Marinette was already lost in thoughts, before she felt someone approach her. She lifted her gaze up to meet emerald green eyes. She felt her her whole body relax as she gazed up at those eyes.

"Salut! I wanted to excuse myself for..." Adrien began to scratch the back of his head, clearly still embarassed. "Well for... sneezing on you..." He ended on an awkward note. Marinette gaped up at him .

"Nono! It was totally my fault! I shouldn´t have had any feathers on! Well not that I knew someone could be allergic to them but still..." She mumbled the end. Adrien chuckled.

"Now you know that feather allergies are a thing!" He said with a small smile, which had Marinette´s heart racing in her chest. "But yeah...sorry for sneezing on you."

"No worries, it wasn´t that bad." Marinette said before her smile froze.

What did she just say? Her head dropped as her cheeks flamed anew. Suddenly she realized, the young man was chuckling. She shyly looked up between her bangs, before quietly giggling herself.

"Well, I will still make sure to not do it again if you don´t have anything against my decision." Adrien asked all the while chuckling.

"I think I can live with your decision." Marinette said as she righted herself up to a more confident stance, and sipped at her flute.

"Oh! Since our introduction was sneezed short. I never got to present myself. I´m Adrien." The blond man said as he extanded his hand. Marinette eyed his hand before clutching it and shook his hand.

"Are you scared you are going to sneeze at my face again, Adrien?" She asked with a smirk as her gaze went from their hands to his face. Adrien froze, his eyes locked on her lips.

"Let´s not take any chances." Adrien admitted.

"No problem, I´m Marinette. But I guess you already knew."

"The others kept calling you Mari. So no I didn´t know your name." He said with a content smile.

Marinette really suits her.

"Well it´s Mari for short. You can call me Mari if you want." Marinette proposed with a sheepish smile.

"Mari! Can you come help me in the kitchen? Why I am even asking? You owe me, you were late." Ayla screamed from the kitchen. Marinette excused herself form Adrien, before slowly walking towards the kitchen. The small kitchen was filled with so many things that Marinette halted for a second, trying to get a view over everything.

"Can you cut the avocados?" Alya asked as she pulled something else out of the fridge. Marinette began to search for the avocados and a knife.

"Wear an apron, please." Alya demanded, scared her clumsy friend would stain her beautiful dress.

"Alright, alright, Mlle. Bossy." Marinette laughed.

"So does your dress fit right?" Marinette asked as she started with the avocados.

"Mari? Your dresses always fit perfectly. I´m under the impression I don´t wear anything since they fit so perfectly and the fabric is so smooth." Alya answered with a beeming smile. "Are you finished with the avocados?"

"Yeah? What do you want me to do with them?" Marinette asked as she looked around the kitchen.

"Can you put them equally inside each small cup ?" Alya asked.

After Marinette had finished her task, Alya put a few cut tomatoes and shrimps on the avocados, before going in the living room.

"Everybody sit down at the table! We just finished the entrée." Alya announced.

Meanwhile everybody was taking a seat, Marinette decided to clean up the kitchen a bit, since it looked like a storm had passed through.

Alya rushed inside the kitchen and opened the fridge and got two bottles of white wine and got out to put them on the dinning table. Marinette was putting the small entrées on a tray so it would be easier to transport. As she was about to pick up the tray, Alya rushed inside the kitchen once again and let out a gasp as she saw Marinette.

"Leave it! I really want to it, so I´m not taking any chances for you to drop it." Alya said. Marinette laughed, not surprised by her friens reaction.

"Alright then what can I take?"

"Well, the rest of the shrimps and the mayonnaise I made in the fridge." She said before turning on her heels and walking out.

It took Marinette quite some time to find what she was looking for in the fridge, since the whole fridge was filled to the brim.

Once she arrived in the living room, she saw that every seat was taken and that the only seat left was the one next to Adrien. She blushed heavily. She was sure, Alya had done it on purpose, well... not that she really minded now...

She put the mayonnaise and shrimps on the middle on the table, before sitting down next to Adrien. Adrien appeared to be struggling with the buttons of the cuffs on his white dress shirt. Marinette looked around to see the boys had all rolled their sleeves up, hoping to not stain them with shrimp juice.

"Need a hand with that?" Marinette asked before she realized it. "M-my h-hands are clean." She said as she waved them in front of her face. Adrien smiled nodding.

"Well, if it doesn´t bother you."

After fiddling herself for a minute with the buttons, she expertly rolled his sleeves up. She thought she died and went to heaven, when her finger tips grazed his smooth taned skin. She could feel his superficial veins that were right under his skin. She blushed heavily as she kept her hand ducked so he wouldn´t be able to see her reddened cheeks.

"Thank you." He said with a huge smile once were rolled up to his elbows.

"Adrien! Serve Mari some wine!" Mylène said with smile, hoping it would calm Marinette´s nerves. Adrien picked up the bottle and filled her glass and his.

"So Mari? How was your internship in London?" Rose asked, she was seated to Mari´s left.

"It went really well! It was tough to speak English all the time, since it´s not my forte, but it was realy exiting. You should have come visit me! I could have shown you around!" Marinette said.

"I´m sure you had many things to do."

"That´s true."

"Glad to be back in Paris?"

"Absolutly! I missed you all so much!" Marinette admitted. "I didn´t even get to visit my parents so much, since I didn´t have much free time and it´s not like that could."

"Why? Where are your parents working?" Adrien interrupted, too curious. Marinette cheeks blushed as she hadn´t realized he had been listening.

"They own a bakery." Marinette explained "They can´t really take much time off. And my mother and father are nearly the only workers, so they need each other´s help." She shrugged. "Now I hope I will be staying here, so... yeah... my superior was kind enough to let me come here for the Fashion Week." Marinette smiled at the memory, she had neevr been happier to be home.

"The Fashion Week?" Adrien coughed up, clearly surprised.

"Mari is the best fashion designer I know!" Mylène beemed from her seat in front of them.

"Well, I´m the only one you know Mylène." Marinette pointed out with a small smile.

"But you are definitly more than good." Mylène argued back, her eyes daring Marinette to say otherwise.

"Where were you interning?" Adrien asked, genuily curious. After leaving work he had been hoping to not talk about fashion or anything in that direction, but now he felt the need to get to know her.

"In a small fashion house in London. Not really well known, but I always liked the designer´s work. It was my last internship before graduating from my école de couture." Marinette explained.

"And now? Any project for your future?" Adrien asked. "Do you want to start your own boutique and brand?"

"This woud a dream, but... I´m nearly not organized enough to be able to open my own boutique. And I still want to work with other more experienced designers. well at least I hope they will be willing to help me learn new things." Marinette admitted sheepishly.

"Don´t worry Mari! You are going to do great there! Soon you are going to knock Gabriel Agreste of his thrown!" Rose nearly screamed as she tried to encourage her friend.

Whereas Marinette started laughing, Adrien started chocking on the piece of shrimp he had been about to swallow down. Marinette whipped around as she heard him and rubbed circles on his back, waiting for a sign to slap his back. After a few seconds, Adrien´s coughs calmed down.

"Adrien man are you alright?" Nino asked form the other side of the table.

"Yeah, y-eah. No worries." Marinette inspected his face for a second, before turning around to look at Rose.

"I´m not going to knock him out of his own company, Rose. I think I would be out of a job, before I did that." Marinette thoght out loud.

"Why would you be out of a job?" Adrien asked after a sip of wine, his eyes were focused on her.

"I got a job in designing at Agreste. I start next week!" Marinette said, excitement laced in her voice and etched in her facial expression. She was nearly jumping up and down in her seat.

"You seem to really like the Agreste fashion house..."

"Who wouldn´t? The designs are amazing, I have no idea where Mr. Agreste gets his inspiration on, but the fabrics are always amazing and the patterns. And don´t get me started on the colours they use! It´s modern yet the designs are still classic. I simply love his work!" Marinette explained.

Adrien was stunned. He never had met one of the designers that had been so passionate for the designs of the house.

"Then I guess we will see each other more often." He said with a small smirk. Marinette stared at his lips as she tried to figure out what he had just said.

"W-What?" She mumbled. "A-are you a model there?" She asked as she tilted her head, as if trying to remeber if she had seen him somewhere before.

"Sometimes..." He shrugged, keeping the small smirk on his lips. He was surprised she hadn´t him... she was a design student and a fan of his father. Her eyebrows furrowed as she concentrated on his face.

"Well... You look like a model..." she admitted.

"I´ll take as a compliment." He smirked back as he leaned his face down to hers, making the young woman blush.

"Since when have you been modelling?" Marinette asked with her eyebrows still furrowed.

"Since I was a teenager..." He answered with his face still near hers. His smirk growing when he saw her eyebrows furrow further. He could see it in her eyes, she was trying to assemble something inside her head, but a piece was missing.

"Since when have you been a fan of Gabriel Agreste?" He asked.

"Since I was a teenager..." Marinette answered quietly.

"Who were you modellling for?" Marinette asked as her eyes nearly squinted shut, making Adrien miss the bright blue of her eyes.

"Mostly my father..." He answered as he shrugged and smirked down at her. A few seconds passed before her eyes shot open. He could see her pupils widened as she roamed his face with her gaze. Her mouth gaped open like a fish. His hand shot up and closed her mouth as his hand craddled her chin. He started chuckling after a minute, Marinette hadn´t said a word, the news had completly shocked her.

Her pale cheeks coloured as her brain somehow registered his laughter, before she buried her face in her hands in embarassment. Adrien pried her hands away from her face still laughing.

"Stop laughing at me! I was interested on the designs ! Not the models!" She laughed as she gently slapped his arm. She was mortified for not having recognized her idol´s son.

"What´s got you two laughing?" Kim asked with a smirk.

"Nothing." Adrien and Marinette answered at the same time, making the others chuckle.

Hi!

I hope you liked this chapter! One guest suggested I make the chapters longer. Sorry I always post small chapters :/

I hope this chapter made you smile, like it did to me.

Thank you for the kind reviews! :)

Eat chocolate!