A/N: Hello all! I've come to the conclusion that even if I dropped the pace of the romance considerably that I'm actually not going to be able to do all the eps unless I completely abandon my original story plan, which I'm not going to do, so that puts this story at about six chapters so there's only four more to go! I know it's not that many, but hopefully the length of the chapters will redeem it and I do have another Miraculous fiction in the works, which I will work on getting up at some point soon! Without further ado, onto the chapter!


Marinette flicked her pen, it rolled to the top of her desk before gravity pulled it back down and she repeated the action, the last hour of school always dragged, it didn't help it was physics, from her position slumped on the desk she could see a few of her classmates keeping themselves occupied in their own ways.

Her eyes met the turquoise of the boy across from her, he started and dropped his down, quickly busying himself with a drawing, he was a little shorter than Adrien, messy red orange hair, his grey dress jacket was slightly to large for him and his sleeves were rolled up.

Nathanael had never concerned her, of course, that is until she saw that reaction, she was an expert at surprised starts and averted gazes.

Her eyes flicked over to the back of Adrien's head, she had to shake the image of cat ears in his messy blonde hair as she let out an airy sigh, Adrien shifted around and flashed her a grin and a wave which she returned quickly, managed to avoid any embarrassment with her Adrien is Cat Noir technique, of course that meant she was seeing the stupid ears again.

She sighed and leaned back, taking a few more notes as the teacher rounded to room, clearly unimpressed with the class and hoping to catch someone out just to exert the minimal amount of power she had, well maybe that was a little extreme but it was sort of true. In a way.

"Nathanael!" Marinette stifled a groan as she peered over the room carefully, the boy started up in surprise.

"Sorry miss!" He exclaimed quickly

Ms. Mendeleiev snatched the drawing from the boys hand quickly and peered at her through her glasses, apparently she had enough of a heart to not out the boy in the centre of class "Perhaps these drawings are the exact reason you are failing my classes."

"I'm sorry." Nathanael bowed his head quickly.

"Take this chicken scratch to the principal's office," The teacher commanded simply as she walked to the front of the class "See what he thinks of them."

Nathanael nodded his head and gathered the drawings quickly, as he moved down the steps his leg caught a bag and he toppled forward, a few of the drawings spewed into the air, on landed on Chloe's desk, another on Adrien's.

Adrien glanced at the drawing and lifted it, the girl was Marinette, that much was obvious, she was leaning against the chest of a boy, Nathanael himself, Adrien presumed, she had a giddy smile on her face and a look in her eyes that could only be described as loving, his stomach twisted and his face contorted into a displeased scowl as he crushed the drawing in his hand.

Chloe's reaction was much more, gaudy, she grabbed the drawing and looked at it for a moment before jumping out of her seat and laughing "Oh, drawing yourself as a superhero? And who's this, hah! Marinette!" Chloe laughed as she dangled the drawing in front of Nathanael's face, he snatched at it but she pulled it back out of his grasp and he glared at her.

"No, you two suit each other, quiet clumsy boring Marinette and equally as dull Nathanael!" Chloe laughed

"Return to your seat and be quiet!" Ms Mendeleiev snapped, Nathanael glanced around, eyes falling on Marinette, she tilted her head and him and grimaced slightly, he snatched the drawing from Chloe's hands before darting into the hallway.

The bell rang and surprisingly Adrien was the first in front of Chloe, scowl still planted on his face as he glared down at the blonde "What's your deal Chloe?"

"Excuse me?" Chloe questioned simply

Adrien ran a hand over his face in irritation "What's with outing Nathanael like that? Or targeting Marinette?!"

"What? You don't have to defend either of them-" Chloe cut of as Adrien spoke.

"Don't have to? Your right, I want to, they are my," Adrien paused for the slightest moment and glanced at Marinette "Friends, I may not speak to Nathanael that much but I know he's a talented artist, Marinette is a great designer, I don't even know if you could tie your own shoes yourself."

Chloe's mouth hung open in surprise as Nino gave Adrien a light tap and the blonde spun on his heel and stalked off, Marinette glanced at Alya, who was giving her a look and she groaned. This would require explanation, but she had literally no idea why Adrien had suddenly jumped to her defense, not that she was complaining, angry Adrien was a whole new set of facial expressions she now had neatly filed away in her head. But she still didn't have an explanation.


Adrien got to his locker and took a deep breath trying to calm himself, how dare Chloe talking about his Marinette like that, Nathanael certainly had no right to draw her like that either, her raked a hand through his hair and finally paused.

"My Marinette?" He audibly questioned on confusion, he'd have quite a difficult time convincing himself that didn't sound right coming out of his mouth.

No, I'm just tired and high strung, too many late nights and Akuma attacks recently, I need to take it easy for a few days, maybe Hawkmoth would be polite and give him a day off.

"Yeah, I'm also the queen of England and own all the mining rights to Neptune." Plagg had floated from Adrien's bag at some point while the boy was thinking, Adrien stared at the Kwami blankly.

Plagg moved his eyebrows in a suggestive manor before speaking "So, your Marinette huh? Being drawn by other guys and insulted by Chloe, how dare they talk about your Marinette like that huh?"

Adrien progressively grew to mimic the shade of red Ladybugs suit, Plagg would never, ever, in his entire life let Adrien live down that line, he also wouldn't ever let him forget it.

"Shut up." Adrien let out in embarrassment.

"Jealousy is such a bad looking emotion," Plagg continued to tease "But what are you gonna do, they were talking about your Marinette."

Adrien grabbed the small car Kwami and shoved it into his bag, not before giving Plagg a strong squeeze, the Kwami groaned and squeaked as he was once again confined to the bag.


Marinette leaned against her locker calmly, watching students move around slowly, Chloe confidently striding along caught her eye, until a small spider descended towards the top of her head and nestled itself in her hair, Chloe let out a high pitched squeal and shook her head wildly, Marinette's eyes widened as the spider seemed to simply vanish in a few lines of blue, like it had simply been erased.

Marinette's eyes trailed over the small trail of blue pixels to see a boy crouched on the second floor, wicked smile on his face as he pressed his pen to a drawing tablet, the boys skin was light purple, a black butterfly mask covered his face, his orange red hair was pulled back beneath a black beret.

Marinette looked around quickly, students were still everywhere, no way to transform without being scene, so she did the only logical thing a teenage girl could do.

Scream and point, scream hysterically and point. The student's heads darted to the boy, who seemed too distracted to notice it was Marinette that was screaming, there was a moment of silence, in which a pin dropping would have been heard before the students darted for every nearest exit.


Adrien had turned around when he heard Chloe's scream, at Marinette's he had already spotted the corrupted victim and had darted into the men's room.

"Plagg," Adrien opened his bag and paused when the cat gave him a blank look "What?"

"I'm not transforming you till you admit you got the hots for Marinette." The small black cat said bluntly.

"Somehow I don't think that's how this works," Adrien gave a wry grin "Let's go."

Plagg made a sound of discomfort as he was pulled into the ring quickly, Adrien rolled his neck as his ears appeared and his senses sharpened, he strode towards the door as his suit materialized and he ran his hand over his face as he dived into a quick roll, falling behind a set of lockers and glancing around the corner, Chloe was being chased around by a large hairdryer.

He was really attempted to just let this scene play out, sit back, maybe grab a bite to eat, let Hawkmoth do his thing, he was after the miraculous right? So if Cat Noir just never showed up, there wasn't actually all that much Hawkmoth could do.

Of course when he saw Ladybug's yoyo he quickly changed his mind, leaping to action with a spin of his staff he brought it down on the oversized electronic hard, the thing shattered.

"I got a tip you were dealing with a hairy situation." Oh, that was bad, even he knew that was bad, but the eye roll and the slightest ghost of a smile on Ladybugs face made it worth it as he cracked a wide grin.

They vaulted to the second floor and charged the villain, who quickly penciled something onto his tablet and a thick pane of glass appeared in front of them, Cat Noir took a quick step forward and spun his staff before bringing it down, the glass shattered and Ladybug used the back of Cat's head as a springboard, leaping off the top of him and landing in the villains path.

The villain merely grinned a moment before drawing something else "You'll have to excuse me, I've got somewhere I need to be."

Cat Noir lifted an eyebrow as the villain leapt through one of the windows on the roof, Ladybug jumped after him, but the villain was a second faster, a thick metal plate appeared over the window and Ladybug curled in slightly as she slammed into it, Cat vaulted the rail and darted atop the lockers, he dove and caught Ladybug and flipped over as he cradled her to his chest, he slid to a quick and shot a glare at the boy on the roof.

Marinette froze for a moment, she was once against surrounded by that scent of detergent, cologne and something she could only describe as Adrien, Cat Noir…whatever.

She took a quick inhale and pushed back, finding it a little more difficult to put the mask of indifference on her face when those bright green eyes turned a worrying look on her.

She pushed off and got to her feet, her ankle gave out a groan of discomfort and she winced, it would heal quickly, the beauty of superhero magic "It seems like he's after Chloe." She noted simply.

Cat Noir nodded quickly, not trusting his voice as his brain struggled with the feeling of Ladybug being so closely pressed against him, her suit certainly left nothing to the imagination and she still smelt like vanilla and fresh bread, although placing the scent with Marinette's was the furthest thing on his mind as he followed after his lady.


"The Evillustrator was clearly targeting you." Cat Noir explained to Chloe calmly

"Evillustrator?" Ladybug asked in confusion.

"That's what I named him, don't worry I won't get attached and want to keep him or anything," Cat Noir waved off "Can you think of any reason why he'd be after you?"

"Ugh, no, everyone adores me." Chloe responded, she had to be joking, Cat Noir hoped she was joking.

Ladybug rolled her eyes as a flash snapped in her eyes, Chloe smiled at her phone happily and Ladybug peered down at her.

"Hey, it's better than her usually." Cat Noir stated plainly.

"Well that's…wait how do you know what she's like normally?" Ladybug asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Cat Noir titled his head and smirked "Oh, is milady curious?"

"A little." Ladybug replied as Chloe pulled her into an odd embrace and snapped another picture.

"My smile is perfect, but yours is all wonky," Ladybug glared at the blonde girl in irritation "Let's do another one!"

Ladybug stared at the camera phone with a raised eyebrow and blank expression, as Chloe pulled away Ladybug moved to the balcony and pushed the door open.

"Where are you going?" Cat Noir asked

"I have a pretty good idea who the 'Evillustrator' is, I'm going to go see if I can get an angle." Ladybug explained simply.

"Okay, but what about that," Cat Noir pointed at Chloe with a thumb and glanced over his shoulder, an almost undetectable shudder racking his body "You can't leave me alone with…that."

"Sorry alley cat, Later." Ladybug gave him a quick three fingered salute and flashed a grin as she swung away, leaving Cat Noir on the rooftop with a displeased scowl marring his features.


Marinette plopped into her computer chair with a thud and quickly busied herself, Tikki hovered over the top of the monitor, eying her human in curiosity.

"I think the Evillustrator is Nathanael," Marinette explained "I have a feeling he's going to come see me."

"Oh yes, assuming that every person with a crush is as oddly obsessive as you." Tikki drawled with an eye roll.

"Sh." Marinette sounded quickly when her window erased and the boy from before rolled into the room and glanced around.

Marinette jumped in surprise and stared at the boy in wide eyed surprise.

"Sorry!" He exclaimed quickly "Didn't mean to startle you."

"Uh." Marinette sounded slowly.

"Oh, um, Marinette it's me, Nathanael," The boy introduced quickly "I, uh, wanted to invite you to my party later."

Marinette paused, so she was right, she resisted the urge to smile in satisfaction as she relaxed "Party?"

"It's my birthday." Evillustrator scratched the back of his neck and looked away nervously.

"Oh, um, yeah, sure I can totally come." Marinette scuffed her shoe against the ground and tried to think like Cat Noir, she flashed a small grin.

Nathanael nodded his head gratefully and moved to leave before Marinette caught his arm "I do have a request to make."

"Anything!" Nathanael exclaimed eagerly

"You can't hurt Chloe anymore, I simply detest violence." Marinette turned her head away and looked down, pushing her lip out in a small pout.

Cat Noir has charm, hah! I can just imagine that kitty's face if he saw this! Marinette thought to herself in slight satisfaction when Nathanael's eyes widened and he bowed his head "For you my dear, of course."

Then he jumped out the window, leaving a small card to land at her feet, she looked down at it, the meeting place and time were written next to a drawing of her face.


Cat Noir kicked his legs forward boredly as he looked over the city, the view from where he was actually quite extravagant, not that he cared for the view much when his staff buzzed "You can leave Chloe, Evillustrator's not after her anymore, instead I need you to protect this girl."

Cat Noir pulled his staff away from his ear and his breath caught in his throat.

"Her name's Marinette, the Evillustrator's got a thing for her and she agreed to go on a date with him in return for Chloe's safety." Ladybugs voice explained quickly "She's pretty cute huh?"

"Yeah," Cat sighed airily before catching himself "Where am I going?"

"The love bank, next to Norte-Dame at sunset." Ladybugs voice relayed quickly.

"Got it." Cat Noir nodded and jumped to his feet and leaping off the hotel balcony.


Marinette stared at the small beeping compact, her cheeks dusted a dark red as the call ended, there was definitely something in Cat's voice, the oh so familiar sigh he only used when he was talking to Ladybug. After a small amount of thought she thought it made sense, Ladybug was her, they quite literally were the same person

Birds fly, sun shines, Cat Noir likes her in either form. The revelation was a small ego boost and the warmth in her chest refused to be denied as she checked her hair in the mirror, straightening a few strands as she took a long breath.

Marinette glanced around as she stepped onto the curb, expecting Cat Noir to show up to boast in a few seconds, in fact she could almost predict some kind of pun, he hadn't used one surrounding claws in awhile.

"Hey there," Marinette started when a pair of green eyes dropped in front of her, she glanced up, he was hanging from the street light about her with a grin on his face "I heard you were going on a little secret rendezvous, I've been told to keep you out of evil claws."

Claws, she knew it, she rolled her eyes and watched the cat in amusement, he seemed very pleased with himself as he flipped around and landed with a light thud.

"Oh right, I haven't introduced myself yet," He prodded his chest with his thumb "I'm Cat Noir."

"Oh, I know, you're kind of a big deal you know?" Marinette gestured to a TV in the window of a store playing an old news report.

"Right," Cat Noir nodded "Well, I've been assigned to keep you safe on your little date." Cat pointedly ignored the rising irritation in his chest as he spoke.

"What about Ladybug aren't you guys a duo?" Marinette lifted an eyebrow.

Cat sighed slightly "Yeah, well she's got something to do I guess, apparently she doesn't trust me as much as I thought."

Marinette winced "There's no way that's true, she trusts you enough to think you can handle protecting little old me all on your own, I'm sure she has some kind of plan and she'll charge in last minute like heroes do!"

Cat Noir's face split into a wide grin "Well you certainly have a way with words Princess."

Marinette frowned after a moment "Wait, Cat?"

"Hm?" He hummed as he moved to leave.

"How do you know where I live?" Marinette asked, she had run over the information she had given him in her head a few times, but she never told him where she herself actually lived.

"Let's just say I'm a classmate of yours princess." Cat Noir winked at her suggestively and jumped off.

Marinette's eyes widened in surprise as she watched the boys back retreat from her, he was in her class, Cat Noir was in her class! Adrien's face hung in her memory for a few seconds too long, she pushed the image away and glanced at her phone, her eyes widened at the time and she darted around the corner.


She arrived at the location for the date shortly after and stopped, taking a few moments to collect her breath she stepped forwards slowly "Nathanael?"

The boys head jerked up and he glanced at her a small smile opening up on his face "Marinette," He said slowly gesturing to a seat beside him "You look lovely."

"Thanks," Marinette smiled kindly "Your very sweet."


Cat's eyes narrowed from his perch atop the rooftops overlooking the bank, Marinette sat down beside Nathanael calmly as he began drawing, lights, a small version of the Eiffel tower, some bushes and a number of other things. Cat Noir moved across the rooftops slowly, keeping low and out of sight, only his bright green eyes occasionally appearing over the top of the rooftops against the black backdrop of the clouded night sky.


Marinette glanced around, finally spotting Cat Noir as he leapt from building to another, Nathanael got to his feet beside her and she started, thinking of a way to draw his attention away from Cat if he'd seen him.

He wasn't looking at Cat Noir, he was giving the moon a specifically angry glare as he leaned towards one of the smaller lamps he had drawn earlier "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, I just can't draw well in the dark."

He drew a circle and a ball of light appeared on the small Eiffel tower, he drew small sound system beside her and walked over and hit play, he slid his pen into his sleeve and gave her a grin "A dance milady?"

The name sounded so foreign to her coming from someone else lips, in someone else's voice she almost flat out refused, but they had a job to do as she got to her feet with a smile and took the boys hand.

He relaxed in relief as she moved towards him and his hand fell on her waist as she put one hand on his shoulder the other still clasping his hand as they rocked slowly back and forth.

Cat slid down the side of the building and launched from it, staff snapping out, Marinette's eyes widened as she was pushed away and Nathanael dodged out of the way and flourished his pen.

"Sorry bud, I'm crashing this party." Cat's voice was constricted with barely contained anger, his eyes were narrowed into dangerous slits and his staff was in half allowing him to wield a second in each hand, his shoulders shifted with every breath, his ears twitched and the two boys watched each other closely.

"You know what they say, the pen is mightier than the sword!" Nathanael exclaimed with a smile.

"Is it?" Cat straightened out slightly as he slid his foot forward a half grin appeared on his face "Wanna bet?" He asked almost threateningly as he darted forward.

Nathanael's eyes widened as he ducked, Cat's staff flying over his head by a few inches as he whirled around, the other half snapping up, Nathanael jumped back and Cat smirked as he moved forward, pressing the artist further and further back on the boat, Nathanael created a small amount of space and flicked his pen forward a small disc appeared in front of him and flew forward, Cat cut up with his staff and the disc shattered.

Nathanael threw a few more as he backpedaled he threw a much larger disc towards him and Cat jumped flipping over it, he realized his mistake a moment too late as the saw like disc sped towards Marinette, who was standing a the other of the boat, Cat flipped up and speared his staff down, catching the centre of the disc, it spun to the ground inches from Marinette's face and Cat landed with a light thud.

The Evillustrator either didn't notice Marinette or no longer cared, Cat rolled his neck, the thing gave off a few pops as he launched forward, Nathanael smirked as a box of glass appeared in front of Cat who ran into it, but didn't slow as he cocked his hand back.

"Cataclysm." He practically growled as a small ball of black appeared in his hand and he slammed it forward, the glass shattered and shot towards Nathanael who was forced to cover his eyes as small shards of glass moved towards him.

Cat flipped over him and battered the pen towards where Marinette was standing, only Marinette had taken the time while the two boys were fighting to get off the boat and quickly transform, she landed on the boat with a light thud and picked up the pen, she snapped it quickly and watched the small black butterfly ascend into the air, she drew a quick line and her yoyo snapped open, she spun it around her body for a moment and caught the butterfly before it could get away.

She waited a moment and the now cleansed Akuma fluttered away.

Cat rolled his shoulder calmly as Nathanael reverted back to normal, Cat's mouth pulled back into a scowl before he felt something wrap around his back gently, he stiffened slightly as he glanced around, Ladybug eyed him with a gentle smile on her face "Calm down, kitty you got him."

Cat smiled "Of course milady, I take it you already rescued Marinette?"

"Is that concern I hear Cat?" Ladybug teased as she stepped away from him, she noticed the small feeling of numbness as she did so, like she really wanted to stay in the embrace a little longer.

"Yeah it is," Cat stated flatly "She was inches away from a corrupted Akuma, of course I'm concerned for her."

Ladybug ignored the swell in her chest a the words and just smiled "She's fine Cat."

He relaxed visibly and cracked a grin "Of course she was, with a Cat like me around she was purrfectly pawtected." He titled his head to the side as he extended his thumb towards himself.

Ladybug really tried not to laugh, a quick giggle escaped her lips as Cat Noir's ring let out a piercing beep he glanced down at it and smirked "And that's my queue to leave."

"Seeya alley Cat." Ladybug waved as he leapt over the bank and gave her a quick wave before disappearing over the rooftops.


Marinette plopped down onto her bed heavily, she frowned, going over Cat's behavior that night, he was more aggressive than usual towards Nathanael, he seemed really mad. She supposed it wasn't all that odd, even Cat Noir could have a rough day, maybe he was just tired. She nodded, trying to forget that he smelt the same as Adrien and how good it felt to wrap her arms around his chest.

A quiet tap at her window got her to sit up, she walked over slowly and cracked it open, Cat Noir swung into her room with a grin "Hey there Princess." He greeted as he fell onto her desk chair and swung around in a slow circle.

"Cat Noir? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be res-" She cut off, if she told him she knew about the timer it might arouse suspicion "Did you beat the bad guy?" She asked with a smile.

"Of course we did, Ladybug and me are invincible!" Cat Noir boasted with a chuckle as he picked up a picture of Adrien from her wall, the one that was right next to the picture of him.

He got to his feet and walked over to her, his face loomed over hers and his green eyes twinkled in amusement as he spoke "So, you think me and Adrien are connected somehow?"

Marinette had never felt her throat so dry in her entire life "M-Maybe." She squeaked out.

"Hm?" He hummed as his eyebrow lifted.

"You do look kinda the same, you've both got the green eyes your both really fit, the messy godlike blonde bed hair and the way you both smell are really-" She cut off when Cat Noir leaned forward ever so slightly, catching her lips between his.

Marinette took a few seconds to fully register what was happening, when she finally did her brain decided to shut down, her cheeks felt like they were on fire as her hands curled into small fists and rested on his chest, she tilted her head back, he was intoxication, his smell, his taste. His arms moved around her back slowly and then it was over and he pulled back.

He puffed a little bit, grin taking away from the slight red in his cheeks as he cocked his head at the slightly hooded gaze in Marinette's eyes "I'm glad you're okay, princess." He whispered quickly as he darted out of her window into the night.

Marinette's brain finally caught up to the rest of her.

She'd kissed Cat Noir, her fist kiss was Cat Noir and she wanted to kiss him again. Her heartbeat frantically against her chest in an attempt to escape her ribcage as her fingertips brushed over her slightly puffy lips.

She had kissed Cat Noir and she had really liked it.


Adrien fell on his bed heavily, his hand ghosted over his mouth and his cheeks colored, he hadn't intended for it to go like that at all. He didn't even really think about going into her room, but when he'd seen the picture of himself and well technically himself pinned to her wall, he had wanted to tease her, he had misjudged just how overpowering her scent was on his highly sensitive nose.

He had confirm something he had wondered when he had first learned what she smelt like, she definitely tasted like vanilla and so much more.

Adrien had kissed Marinette, well Cat Noir had kissed Marinette and both of them really liked it.


A/N: Snap, crack, pop! Heh, how many of you expected a kiss this soon? I hope that numbers low, this is going to move into my closing arc for this fiction, I know, it's going to be over so soon! What cruel twist of the universe is this! Woe is me. But I have another Miraculous fiction almost entirely planned out! So look forward to that!

I'm sorry this took a few days to get, you ever felt like life threw a lot of stuff at you but in reality it was only like 4 things? Yeah, that happened to me, I had to pull all these extra shifts, I got definitively and fabulously rejected by my two month crush, found out I'm going to be an uncle AND since and I quote "You're probably the most reliable of all us siblings, so I'm making you the godfather." Was my younger brother's text, I'd hope I'm the most reliable, I'm the oldest, jeez.

Replies!

nerwenadanedhel: I'm glad you are enjoying it so far!

TVDFan245: The Next chapter is going to be heavier on the Ladrien, it will vary slightly from the cannon version of the episode (I'm doing a little altercation.) But it's going to be primarily Ladrien and LadyNoir, so prepare thyself!

NitenGale: Glad to see I'm getting the desired reactions, I really wanted this to be kind of a 'OMG JUST KISS ALREADY' kind of lead-up, hope the pacing is still fine :D

ShadowSpirit020: Well, writing helps me distress from life, so I'll be sure to keep updating for your stress relief purposes :P (You slave driver XD)

foxchick1: Another update? Implying I don't update enough huh? Will you ever be sated?! (I am kidding, hope that got across :P) Glad you are enjoying.

And I'll see all of you guys, in the next one, peace!