I tried to get this out before Christmas but time flew by as I stayed with my family. Hopefully you enjoyed the holidays, too. :)
Therefore, chapter 4 is a bit longer. ;)

The door behind them fell close with a heavy bang. Seconds later a key was turned locking them into a small changing room.
"We will return in one hour. Relax, children." A voice declared, followed by footsteps fading into the distance. Adrien listened to them a while longer, cocking his head to the side as he concentrated on the sound.
„I'm sorry, princess," he whispered.
„You are not." Marinette took a tour around the room, eyeing every corner, even looking under the benches before her tension vanished.
"I'm sorry for the slip." He confessed. "And that we were separated because of Chloé's outburst."
Due to their highest scores in their lycée Adrien and Marinette were whisked away by the adults. Locked into two different rooms, their teachers explained that they had to take immediate action. There was no more time to loose, so that the duo was sent to a recreational hour right after school. Their parents were informed, even Adrien's fencing lesson was canceled as everyone rushed into preparations.
"Nevermind, kitty. I used the break for sketching." Marinette smiled at him lovingly making Adrien's heart skip a beat. "Chloé probably did visit you seconds after my leave. This is punishment enough."
"Now, I'm positive to score a higher mark in Alya's survey." Ever so clingy Chloé had assured him that hadn't to take this ridiculous recreational hour. She had squeezed his arm, until his fingers went numb, blared non-stop but didn't ask him one personal question. Really, Adrien wondered how anyone could ever think that they would look good as a couple.
Adrien watched Marinette as she carefully put away her bag and slipped out of her flats before he placed his things beside hers. His action shielded Tikki's flight out of her hide-out into Adrien's hoodie pocket where Plagg already waited for her.
Marinette stretched and rolled her shoulders while he tucked away his trainers; giving Tikki time to adjust. No spectator would suspect this; at worst they would question their fine-tuned movements. Lately they've often swapped kwamis at school or left them in the care of one of the pair.

"Why did you pull that stunt?," Marinette asked squinting.
He grinned his signature smile discarding his civilian mask. "I figured you would answer honestly. So we could spend time together."
Nevertheless Marinette sent him an angry glare. "How did you manage that we're together in this?"
"Natalie worked her magic. "
Her face lit up with excitement for a second.
After revealing the real creator of Adrien's scarf the manager excused profusely her behavior, expecting to get fired on the spot. But Adrien had taken a liking on her. Despite her strict work ethic, she started to clear up time slots where he could meet his friends, catch a movie or sleep longer on a Sunday. The news of their blooming relationship sent her to bliss; instantly becoming their biggest supporter.
Nathalie protected their little secret as if it could compensate Adrien's hardships. No one would take this happiness from them if she had a word in that. She dodged every interview, cemented the lie that they were mere classmates. Even told Gabriel Agreste that Marinette was an upcoming designer his son had taken a professional interest into. This ended in sending in a portfolio with her designs that returned with hastily scribbled comments. Adrien smiled at the memory of a gooey-legged Marinette, flushed and extremely nervous because of her very first review.
"Nevertheless …" She still doubted his decision. "We should be more cautious in the future, Adrien."
He nodded ruefully, beckoning her to turn. Without second thought she followed his command and a content sigh slipped from her lips when Adrien let her pigtails down, combing through them with his fingers. He was extremely fond of this silky feeling plus the certainty that Marinette trusted him fully.
Gently pulling up her bluish strands, he twined them into a messy bun. Even nowadays his hair styling skills were odd, a perk of growing up between models and make-up crews. Marinette giggled as Adrien fixed his work with some pins he always carried around.
"Satisfied, kitty?"
"Always." He focused on the little mole on Marinette's neck, pondering if he should brush it or even kiss it lightly. "If my cat senses don't betray me, you wouldn't like to get your pretty hair all tangled up."
Yet, she'd never questioned his urge to play with her hair. For Adrien it was the only way to actually create something. At least temporally.
He made a few finishing touches, catching the way Marinette arched an eyebrow questionably. "Well, ready to discover those calming activities?"
"Yeah, let's tackle that."
He chuckled. "Relax, princess."
"Something the mayor decided mostly turns out to be bad."
"There's no akuma…"
"Yet." Marinette interfered. Her sunshine mood seemed awfully cloudy today.
"No one can disturb us, one hour of peace and …" Adrien tugged gently until she followed him and opened the door at the other side of the room. "Apparently kittens."
He didn't regret his decision as Marinette squealed in delight.

Meanwhile in Alya's room Nino was analyzing each and every survey. Depending on the answers Alya wanted to create an early-warning system. Ladybug and Chat Noir could only have benefits of a database full with information about possible akuma victims. Plus connections who could help them to identify the cursed object and calm the culprit down.
"Funny that Adrien und Marinette had the highest scores," Nino said. He was not as eagerly reading as he should. Though spending time with Alya could be certainly worse. More dangerous, colder, rainier. More crouching in uncomfortable places. Almost cuddling with her was a huge improvement. Unfortunately she was way too focused.
"Adrien didn't surprise me, being the workaholic as he is." Alya shook her head. "I've never thought Marinette was this stressed. What is she doing all the time?"
"Maybe her anxieties trigger it." Nino guessed leaning back on the sofa. His own hue had been surprisingly calm. Referring to Alya's color code he was now labeled as sky-blue.
"Yeah … she's always on the edge. Though she calmed down in the last weeks around Adrien, I don't know, I always assumed she was the busy artist type. A scatter-brain full of ideas."
Although the survey should be handled super confidential, Alya had sneaked into the principal's office and downloaded everything to a flash drive.
Nino still didn't know why he agreed to keep watch.
Nino didn't know either why he agreed to accompany Alya to the next copy shop, paid half for printing at least three thousand pages and carried them to his girl's home.
At least he knew one reason: Liking Alya made him to do stupid things.

According to the student-IDs the stacks of paper in front of them were their classmate's answers because Alya wanted to analyze those first. Nino had snatched their best friends, hopefully treading into safe terrain. Honestly he didn't want to see Ivan's or Alix' surveys. Revealing unadorned truth could destroy their mostly friendly class atmosphere.
Plus he was the worst at keeping secrets.
He read in silence while Alya was still mumbling how Adrien and Marinette did score so many points.
"Reading confined stuff …" Nino hesitated to voice his doubts. "Isn't this called cheating?"
"It's for their best. Do you want them to be minions of evil?"
"No." Although he didn't remember much of his short time as The Bubbler his classmates still offered embarrassing details of his actions. "Honestly, I'm feeling guilty discovering their secrets."
"I know everything about my girl."
Nino decided to test her resolve. "Who's Tikki?"
Alya jolted. "What?"
"T-i-k-k-i." He spelled out. "Adrien and Marinette surprisingly wrote the same best friends. Our group, of course. Adrien never told me he has a cat named Plagg, but I'm not staying very often at his home because his dad absolutely despises me… And this Tikki. I've never heard of her."
A cute wrinkle appeared on her forehead and Ayla pushed back her glasses. Nino tried not to stare, heck, he had a thing about those black-rimmed specs. „They sharing a friend none of us has ever met or seen? And Marinette befriended with his cat?! She would probably hyperventilate if she touched the same floor as genius designer Mr. Agreste."
"Genius or not, he's a prick." Nino shrugged, wishing to get close enough to gently pull down her glasses.
"Stop joking."
"I'm not."
"You are!"
Nino shoved the current answers into her hands. Instead of listening to Alya's complaints he scanned Marinette's print out briefly. "Hah, who would have thought this? The odds must be one million to one."

"What now?" Ayla didn't even bother to lower her voice. She was still fuming over this mysterious Tikki. "They're secretly perfect for each other but damn oblivious?"
"Close." Nino let out an amused chuckle. "They're both having a secret relationship."
The stack of papers Alya was holding rushed to the floor. "Repeat that."
"Listen. Question 78: Are you in a relationship? If yes, with whom and how long?" Nino held up Adrien's paper. "'Yes. It's a secret. For 12 weeks, 5 days.' My bro's adorkable, right?"
Alya pierced him with an incredulous look, her fingers gripping into her jeans and red blotches forming on her cheeks. "Continue reading. Now."
Nino switched the pages. "And Marinette answered: 'Yes. It's a secret. For 12 weeks.'"
Alya's scream startled him so much Nino ducked instinctively, using the paper as a shield. He liked her a lot, but sometimes she could be scarier than his mom.
"Do you get what this means?" Alya took a deep breath. "Oh my GOD!"
"Marinette is over her crush?" Nino guessed. "And didn't tell you?" That would explain her reaction, wouldn't it? Well, Adrien divulged Nino about a secret girl he was trying to charm for months. Nino had always thought secret meant it was another model or someone popular who would be hunted by the media as equally as Adrien.
"You idiot!" Alya lunged at him, hitting him flat against the chest. "No! Try again!"
"Adrien finally won the heart of his mystery girl?"
Alya groaned and slapped him once more, not minding their closeness. He hid a smile and shuffled his weight so that she instinctively leaned on him. Playing dumb definitely had merits. He blurted out two other options, both ridiculous, enjoying Alya's wrath a bit more than he should have. Then his mind shifted to the bizarre scene he had witnessed this afternoon. Marinette and Adrien bantering, sharing jokes, and subtly flirting like … like a couple.
Wow. They should celebrate this huge success as soon as possible!

Suddenly Alya grabbed her laptop, the most determined look shown on her face Nino had ever seen.
"What are you doing?"
She threw her hands into the air after pressing the power button. "I'm hacking into the security system of our school! The recreational hours are recorded because … nevermind. I need a proof of that secret relationship."
"But …"
"I wondered why the hell being all alone with Adrien should reduce Marinette's stress and why his manager almost threatened the teachers to – they're so cheeky!"
Nino laughed at her antics. "You could simply ask them?"
"No, they've lied for twelve weeks. I won't be waiting any longer."
With a sigh Nino gathered up the papers and continued reading. Once set on fire nothing could stop this girl.