One of my readers on AO3 gave me a suggestion for the story and I had incorporated it into this chapter. This is the longest chapter I've written so far. I'm in the middle of writing the next chapter and that one seems like it's gonna end up being pretty long too. Yikes, why am I doing this to myself.

Anyways, if anyone has ideas or little bit you'd like to see, let me know, I'm open to suggestions and sometimes it helps when I'm suffering from writers block. If you have a tumblr, my username is malibumomner, Send me messages there, I'll see them faster. Or just drop by and kick my ass. I'm open to whatever.

Marinette figures in her line of work there wouldn't be much that still surprises her, but of course life has an interesting way of proving her wrong.

Nathanael has a crush on her.

Not on Ladybug. On Marinette.

She's used to hearing people gush over Ladybug's heroics, she's used to child like crushes many of her classmates develop for the spotted heroin, but surprisingly enough she has never experienced someone harboring a crush towards her civilian self. Nathanael had been her friend for years, she had never noticed any behavior that hinted at his true feelings, but of course she wasn't able to see any physical queues he might have given.

Chloė had been the one to break the news to her. And the whole class. Nathan had gotten in trouble for doodling in class again and was sent to the principal's office. He had tripped down the stairs and his sketches had gone flying. Marinette heard the papers fluttering and settling, she heard Nathan scramble to gather everything. Chloė announced to the class that Marinette had been the subject of his art. Some people had laughed, Marinette blushed a little, but poor Nathan had scrambled from the class as quick as he could, completely embarrassed.

Marinette had felt bad for the boy, and admittedly she was a little flattered. Her parents had raised her not to rely on validation from boys. She was told never to determine her beauty based on whether boys liked her or not, but it was hard for her to be confident about her own image when she couldn't actually see herself.

She compared the features of her own face to her parents and her friends. She had found similarities between herself and her parents, but her friends were vastly different. She thought her friends were beautiful, but she had wondered if she lived up to other people's standards of beauty. She felt almost guilty about how much more confident she felt knowing Nathan had a crush on her, especially since she didn't reciprocate the feelings.

At that point, it was just a matter of waiting, undoubtedly Nathan was going to be Akumazed. She was a bit on edge, she hated when attacks happened when she was with her friends. Bless them, they were concerned for her and she appreciated it, but it was so much harder to get away from them and take care of business. Lucky for her, nothing happened until after school.

She had been studying in her room, one earbud in as she listened to an audio tape of the chapter they had to read for homework. She heard Tikki drop the cookie she had been happily munching on moments before and then quickly flitting away to hide.

"Marinette, brace yourself! There's someone approaching your window!" The tiny creature whispered loudly from her hiding place.

Marinette froze. It was definitely an Akuma. Had Hawkmoth figured out she was Ladybug and sent someone after her directly? What did this Akuma want with her? She braced herself for someone to come smashing through the window. Instead, she heard a gentle tapping on the glass. Even though she had been prepared, the sound still made her jump. She pivoted in the chair to face the window, ripping out the earbud so she had full use of her hearing.

"Hello?" She called. She heard a strange swoosh and then there was a breeze in her room.

"Marinette, please don't be alarmed." A familiar voice said calmly.

"Nathan?" Marinette knew how he got into her room, knowing from experience that only a superpowered being could get onto her balcony, but his motives were still unclear. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

"Hawkmoth gave me special powers so I could get revenge on Chloė for embarrassing me. You can call me Evilustrator today. But I just had to come see you first. By the way, sorry about your wall."

What was wrong with her wall?

"What's wrong with my wall?" Her brows drew together.

"I had to erase it to get in here. Don't worry, I'll fix it on my way out!" She can hear his arms flailing about as he tries to reassure her.

"Why did you come see me?" She inquired.

"You probably didn't know this, but today's my birthday." She did know. She had made him a small zippered pouch to hold his art supplies, but he had never returned to class so she never had a chance to give it to him. "I came here to give you an invitation to my Birthday party tonight."

She felt a small gust of wind as he stepped closer to her. He held out his arm to her, letting the small slip of paper flicker so she could hear it and would know to grab it, She raised her hand and he pressed it to her palm. The invitation had been specially made so she could feel the raised edges of the design, the information for the party dotted on the page in braille.

"It'll just be the two of us, if you don't mind. If you can come, meet me by the Seine tonight."

She agreed to go on the condition that he left Chloe alone. He was hesitant, but his desire to spend the evening with Marinette outweighed his frustration with Chloe. Evilustrator left after repairing the damage to her wall and Marinette transformed. Chat and Ladybug had discovered that the could contact each other so long as one of them was transformed. Their Kwamiis could sense when their partner was trying to call, so it wasn't long before Chat appeared on the screen of her yoyo. They arranged to meet, Ladybug was apprehensive about her plan, but she needed Chat's full support.

"My Lady, lovely to see you, as always." Chat placed a kiss to her hand.

"Always a pleasure, Chaton, but we have some serious business to handle." She paced across the rooftop a few times, trying to decide the the best way to address the situation. "A close friend of mine encountered an Akuma earlier today. He specifically sought her out, not with malicious intent but because he wanted to take her on a date."

"So he was Akumazed because she refused him?"

"No, he had been embarrassed by Chloė Bourgeois earlier." Ladybug sighed. She and Chat had to deal with far too many Akumas that held grudges against Chloe. "He's targeting her, and my friend agreed to go on this date so he wouldn't attack. I need you to look after her for me."

"Of course, my Lady. When and where shall we meet?"

"There's a slight issue." Ladybug twiddled her fingers together nervously. "I have a very important prior engagement tonight and I won't be able to get there till later. I need you to keep an eye on her until I arrive." It was the best excuse she could come up with on such short notice. There was no way for her to be two places at once, and she figured it would be easier to have a happy Akuma than one trying to murder Chloe.

"I think I can manage on my own for a bit," Chat reassured. "Now, who's this prestigious friend of yours?"

"Just to give you a heads up, Chat, my friend is... Like me. She's blind, but trust me, she can handle herself. Her name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

Chat's heartbeat faltered for a moment as he inhaled sharply. Before Ladybug had a chance to question his reaction, he composed himself quickly, taking her hand and squeezing it affectionately.

"I will keep her safe. You can count on me."

Ladybug sent him the address to the bakery and rushed home to prepare for her first date. Normally, she would have been far more excited at the concept of having at date had it not been for the abnormal circumstances. Chat arrived in grand fashion, playful and flirty, and cracking bad jokes at every turn, as always. It was peculiar being around Chat as Marinette. She had once interacted with him during an attack, but it had been awfully quick, she just remembers flying across Paris in his arms.

It was strange not being able to see her partner, and just knowing he was nearby, feeling his presence, made her even more clumsy and awkward. She had also noticed how different he sounded without her enhanced hearing. She could tell he was Chat, but there was something else familiar about his voice that she couldn't quite place.

As expected, her first date was a disaster. Her plans to get the stylist pen away from the Evilustrator were foiled when Chat revealed himself too early. Realizing he had been tricked, the Evilustrator broke his promise with Marinette and went after Chloė, trapping Marinette and Chat into a box before rushing away. They manage to escape, thanks to quick thinking on her part, and Chat escorts her to safety before pursuing the villain. She joins him shortly after as Ladybug.

The battle isn't particularly long. Once she realizes he can't use his tablet without light, she's actually incredibly grateful for her unique vision. Using the small red and black bouncy ball, she slams it against the wall, it ricochets and knocks out all the light fixtures in Chloe's room. She takes advantage of the villain's temporary blindness and plucks the pen from his hand, snapping it over her knee and fixing the mess.

Nathan approaches her at school the next day, apologizing profusely for the whole ordeal and checking to make sure he hadn't harmed her in any way. Even after she's assured him she's fine, he still feels incredibly guilty. He apologizes more while she rummages through her bag. She pulls out a small packaged, very neatly wrapped in Birthday themed paper. He hesitates to take it from her, she nudges it at him until he finally accepts it and opens his gift. Alya had helped her pick the material, it wasn't anything extraordinary, but she had wanted to make a small gift for her friend.

"T-thank you Marinette." He stammers out, clutching the pouch to his chest.

"Happy Birthday, Nathan." She reaches out and places her hand on his arm. "I'm sorry yesterday didn't turn out very well for you." He tenses at her touch, obviously still nervous to be around her, but he eases after a moment.

"This makes up for it." She can hear the smile in his voice. "Thank you!"

Once he wanders off, Adrien approaches, carefully linking his arm with Marinette's.

"That was really nice of you." Adrien nudges his hip into hers. She nudges back. "I heard what happened yesterday. You alright?"

"I'm fine," Marinette's cheeks heat up. "Chat helped me out yesterday."

"Ohhhh." Adrien drawls teasingly, "You got to spend yesterday with your boyfriend?"

Marinette bumps his hip hard and he stumbles away from her laughing. "It's not funny, Adrien!" She buries her face in her hands. "I was a total mess around him! It was embarrassing!"

"Oh c'mon, I'm sure it wasn't that bad," Adrien chuckles. "I'm sure Chat Noir is head over heels for you already."

She shoves Adrien away again, "Oh, shut up!" She cries. The idea is absolutely absurd. Adrien busts out laughing at her half hearted attempted to be angry at him.

"Hey, how come you never made me a Birthday gift?" Adrien asks abruptly.

Marinette stops in her tracks. She had made a gift for him. Adrien didn't know that she had taught herself to knit and had spent weeks making him a scarf. She had forgotten to ask her parents to sign the card for her, she had just given it to Natalie to give to Adrien. Adrien had been lead to believe the scarf was a gift from his father. He had been so overjoyed by the idea, she didn't have the heart to tell him the truth so she played along.

"I made you a shirt once!" She defends.

"Doesn't count. It wasn't my birthday." He counters.

"I… I… Um…" She doesn't have any excuse to give him. It's not in her nature to forget people's Birthdays and he knows it. Any excuse she can give him at this point would just sound cruel.

His voice drops to a whisper, "you made that scarf, didn't you?"

Her breath catches. God, what she wouldn't give to be able to see his face, to read his expression. "How did you know?" she breathes.

"My father saw me wearing it the other day. He asked where I got it." There a tinge of sadness in his voice.

"Oh, Adrien." She reaches out to him. He takes her hands and he allows her to comfort him. "I'm so sorry."

"For what?"

"You were so happy that he got you a gift, I didn't want you to know…"

"Marinette, I'm used to him forgetting things like that," He sighs." In all honesty, I was more upset that I didn't get something from you. "

She groans and thumps her head against his chest. "I'm so sorry. Next time, I will make sure I personally hand the gift to you so this doesn't happen again."

She feels his laughter shaking chest. "Don't stress out over it." He places his chin on top of her head and takes a deep breath. "I just really wanted to say 'thank you'."

"N-no problem."

Marinette had always found Adrien's sincerity to be endearing. But the way his voice sounds now, so genuine and soft, coupled with the position they're standing in makes her heart hammer unnaturally hard in her chest and leaves a foreign feeling in the pit of her stomach. She takes a few calming breaths to slow down her heart.

But the feeling still lingers.

After he finally tells Marinette about the scarf, she starts adding a signature to to all her pieces. It's incredibly subtle, he had only figured it out because he usually sat with her as she worked and he had noticed the simple similarity between her designs. It ends up being incredibly beneficial when Chloe tries to pass off Marinette's hat design as her own for a competition.

His father had been judging and asked for an explanation as to why both hats were the same. Chloe, dramatic as usual, began crying and claimed that Marinette stole her design. Adrien was about to interject, but Marinette leaned over and whispered to Alya for confirmation that the hat were exactly the same. When Alya confirmed that yes, the hats were completely the same down to every last detail, Marinette stepped forward, took Chloe's hat and flipped it upside down, revealing her own name embroidered into the design of the band.

Chloe stormed from the room, absolutely livid, and Marinette was declared the winner. Adrien was disappointed in Chloe but overjoyed for Marinette. This was exactly what she needed to start building her confidence as a designer. He was even more pleased when his father personally extended an invitation to Marinette to their home so she could give her input on the rest of the design for the photoshoot.

Well, as personal as you can get via webcam.

Regardless, Adrien was thrilled, this was the first time one of his friends was allowed to visit his house. Nino had come by once when his father had refused to let Adrien host a Birthday party. The encounter had not gone well, and after that, Adrien was hesitant to ask his father if friends could come over. But Marinette was finally coming!

He waited patiently in the foyer as his father bustled around his office. He had wanted to pick Marinette up, but her parents were just as excited and wanted to drop her off. When she finally arrived, he threw open the door before the bell had stopped chiming.

"Hi Marinette! Come on in!" He steps aside and places his hand to the small of her back to guide her in.

"Hello, Adrien. " She crosses the threshold and pauses for a moment. "My goodness! This place must be huge, the acoustics are incredible!" Her surprised voice echoes off the walls.

"Well… It's home." Her house feels much more like home to him than this place. Her small apartment above the bakery had so much warmth and activity and love, whereas his home was a constant echo. "My dad's waiting for us, let's go."

She collapses her cane, shoving it into her purse, and relies solely on Adrien's guidance. He knocks on his father's office door to alert him of their presence.

"Father, Marinette's here."

Without turning to address them, Gabriel waves them into the room. "Unfortunately, there are some issues at work I must deal with, so we will have to make today's meeting a short one."

He rummages through the papers on his desk, pulling out a large sheet that features a grey men's suit that matches the feathered hat Marinette had designed. He shifts the paper to lay on top of the mess on the desk.

"Tell me Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, what do you think of this design? Be honest. Considering we are basing the photoshoot around the hat you designed, we would like everything to fit into your vision." He crosses his arms and finally turns to look at Marinette for the first time. He stares down at the petite girl expectantly.

Adrien notices Marinette shifting uncomfortably with Gabriel's attention focused on her. He knows. His father's gaze is intense and predatory at times, and it creates a tension in the room you can feel. You don't need to see to know that Gabriel's stare is intimidating. He guides Marinette forward and pulls her hand to the page.

"It's a double breasted men's suit. It's grey, hard as concrete. There's a wreath of feathers on the lapel. Some are the same hard grey as the suit, some are purple and green, to match the feathers you'd find around a pigeon's neck. The purple and green are cooler shades. They're calm but bold colors, they compliment each other nicely and it looks wonderful against the grey color, like finding plants growing within the cracks of a sidewalk. An unexpected, but not unwelcome, surprise."

Gabriel's brow draw together as he observes the interaction and Adrien can't quite decipher the expression on his father's face. Marinette absorbs the information and allows the image to fill her mind. Gabriel studies the girl as she thinks and Adrien shifts his attention between the two of them.

"I think perhaps a lighter grey would be better, something that matches the softness of a pigeon. When I designed my hat, I was inspired by the cooing noise they made, so something that fits the softness of the sound. Also, I'm concerned that having the feather's on the lapel might look like they're trying to suffocate the model. The design shouldn't be inhibiting, but I do like the idea of incorporating feathers into the rest of the look. Maybe creating some feathered epaulettes would be good way to draw it all together and then bringing the green and purple colors into the lapel. It might also be better to switch the design from double breasted to single breasted. Double breasted suit tend to have a more formal feeling to them, I feel single breasted would enhance the playfulness of the look," Marinette says. Gabriel regards her for a moment.

"Mademoiselle, forgive my rudeness, but are you blind?" Gabriel asks. Adrien tightens his grip on Marinette's arm.

"Aaah... yes I am, M. Agreste." Marinette fidgets slightly.

"Huh." Gabriel turns away from Marinette to look at the sketch. "Very interesting."

Adrien doesn't know how to respond, neither does Marinette, so they allow the silence to fill the room as Gabriel studies the design.

"Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, I believe your observations are correct. I will redesign the look and give the new sketches to my son so that he may show you. Once we have your approval, she shall proceed. I appreciate you coming today to give your input, and I must apologize again for the shortness of this meeting, but I have other work related matters to deal with, so if you'll excuse me…" Gabriel steps behind the desk, sits, and resumes his work.

Adrien leans down to whisper in her ear that they can leave, and guides her from his father's office. Once the door clicks shut behind them Marinette lets out the breath she had been holding.

"Oh my god, my heart's pounding right now. I've never been so nervous in my life!" She presses her hand to her chest.

"You did wonderfully." Adrien starts the journey to his bedroom.

"I was a little surprised he didn't know I was blind," Marinette confesses. "I would've thought he had noticed when he was judging the competition."

"Well, he was judging over webcam, so it's kinda hard to catch some details. Plus, he gets really wrapped up in work, sometimes he just misses things." Adrien rationalizes.

"Anyways, thanks for helping me out."

"No worries. What are friends for?" Adrien opens the door to his room and ushers her inside.

"Where are we?"

"My room."

"Huh." Marinette clicks her tongue. "It's definitely less echoey than the rest of the house." She extends her hand out. "Can I?"

"Go for it."

Adrien places her hand against the wall and allows her to roam. He follows close behind.

She flops down when she finds his bed and gushes over his egyptian cotton sheets. She wants a set and he promises to get her some for her Birthday. She says she'll refuse such an extravagant gift, but he decides he'll get her some anyways.

She laughs when she finds the staircase, of course his room would have two floors. She's giddy when she stumbles into his closet. The high quality fabric and specialty stitching feel like heaven and she demands to be buried in his wardrobe so she can spend eternity wrapped in the comforts of the finest silk.

"Woah, what's this?" She asks when her hand brushes against an unusually bumpy wall.

"Rock climbing wall," he responds sheepishly.

Marinette giggles, "somehow I feel like I shouldn't be surprised anymore, yet I still am." She runs her hands along the rough, raised surface. She grabs onto a few of the holds experimentally. "Can I try it?"

Adrien tenses, "uhhh"

"I know it's hard to believe, but I'm a surprisingly good climber. Used to scale a lot of trees back in the day. "

Adrien sighs, knowing there's no chance she'll change her mind, it's better to just make sure she doesn't hurt herself. "Well, I can't stop you, but please be careful."

She quickly toes off her shoes, then lifts the strap of her purse over her neck and gingerly places it on the ground. Adrien assumes her Kwamii is in the purse and smiles at the affection way Marinette gently pats the bag before standing and facing the wall. She wiggles her toes and reaches out, finding two good holds and lifting one of her legs to feel for another stone to place her foot.

Damn. He forgets how strong she is. As soon as she's off the ground, she moves quickly. Using all her limbs to find the best anchors and scaling the wall effortlessly.

She's Ladybug in this moment.

No. She and Ladybug are the same.

This is the courage and strength that led to her Kwamii picking her for such a task. He's always admired and envied her kindness and determination, and as he watches her climb, so carefree and full of joy, he thinks that she's the best person that could have been chosen to be Ladybug.

She's almost to the ceiling when her foot slips and she dangles from her arms.

"NO!" Adrien rushes forwards, positioning himself to break her fall. Marinette grunts and pulls herself up, finding a foothold and securing herself to the wall.

"I'm fine!" She calls down.

"Marinette, please come down!"

She pushes herself higher, "I'm almost to the top!"

"How do you know?"

"I can feel it!"

She is close, he's not sure how she knows, but he doesn't want to doubt her. He grinds his teeth as she covers the last few feet to the top. Her hand collides with the ceiling and she finally stops.

"OH! I made it!" She calls.

The tension rolls off Adrien's shoulders when she starts laughing, clear and loud and so full of unbridled joy. His eyes never leave her as she makes her way down the wall, not as quickly, climbing down is much more difficult than climbing up. He finally fully relaxes when both her feet are solidly on the ground. Her face is pink from exertion and her chest rises and falls quickly, trying to pump air back into her lungs.

She claps her hands together, wiping away invisible dust. "Well, that was fun."

"That was horrifying," he scolds.

She scoffs, "you're such a scaredy cat, lighten up a little."

He gives a nervous laugh at her particular choice of words. She slips on her shoes and picks her bag off the floor, carefully slinging it across her shoulder.

"Can we keep our feet on the ground for the rest of today?" He pleads.

She raises her eyebrows in exasperation and lets out a puff of air, he's learned it's the Marinette equivalent of an eyeroll. "Fine," she agrees.

He plops her down in his desk chair while he goes to call on one of the staff to bring them snacks. When he returns, he find her running her fingers along the frames photos on his desk.

"These two are your favorite." She plucks two of the frames from the desk.

He glances at the ones she's picked. "How did you know?"

"The frames are more worn down than the others." She cradles the pictures in her lap, running the pads of her fingers along the glass forlornly. He crouches down next to her and places his hand over hers.

"This one is the photo," his finger taps on one of the frames, "Alya took the first time the four of us went out together."

"Oh! I remember, we went to that museum cause it had that audio tour and then had an impromptu picnic at the park." She smiles fondly at the memory.

Alya had organized the outing. She had heard the modern art museum had just created an app that would give audio tours to the 'visually impaired'. They had all downloaded the app and spent about ten minutes walking around listening to the dull voice drone on and on before they decided they could give Marinette a far more interesting tour. They took turns describing the sculptures and paintings in the most outlandish ways possible. Marinette was practically in tears from laughing so hard. The other museum patrons weren't very pleased by the behavior of the boisterous teens, so the group decided to leave before they were formally asked to vacate the premises.

None of them could agree on a place to eat, so they each got carry out and ate at the park. Alya had been faithfully documenting the whole day, but had decided they needed a group photo. Adrien had never taken a selfie before, he had been used to photos being meticulously planned. Honestly, he wasn't sure how to even take a group selfie. Unaware of his inner turmoil, Marinette had casually flung her arm across his shoulders and pulled him in, closing her eyes and smiling wide. She and Alya flashed matching peace signs, Alya had opted to look grumpy. Nino had gone cross eyed and had taken a strand of Alya's hair and held it under his nose as a temporary mustache. Adrien was a mess, he looked completely flustered, his eyes were wide, his mouth was open awkwardly, and his whole face and neck had gone red from embarrassment.

He loved everything about the photo.

"Alya described the photo to me, I love it so much. I just wish I had known we were all doing silly faces."

"We can always take another one." He wanted many more photos with them.

She placed the group photo back on the desk. "What about the other one?"

"It's a photo of my mother."

Marinette's hands froze on the glass, "oh"

Talking about his mother with Marinette somehow never made him sad. His mother would have loved Marinette. She would have pestered him daily about why he hadn't asked the girl out yet, he would have lied and said their relationship wasn't like that, but both of them would know the truth. He would have told his mother about all of his crazy excursions with his friends, she would have laughed for hours at the ridiculousness of it all. She would have insisted that his friends come over often. The house would be full of people constantly, she would have hosted hundreds of parties as an excuse to meet all of Adrien's classmates.

Telling Marinette about his mother kept her spirit alive, made it feel like she was still around.

"People say I look like her. We have the same hair and eye color, but besides that, I don't think we look very alike. She was a model too. I think you said once that my features were really defined?" Marinette nods. "Well, her features are sharp. She used to get tons of offers from companies, but she insisted on only working with my dad. She had the kindest eyes. They were so soft and full of love. Whenever she smiled, it lit up the room." He pauses and strokes the photograph.

They wind up sitting together on Adrien's couch, her legs casually flung over his, they pass an illegal bag of potato chips between them (one of the chefs had kept a secret stash of junk food for Adrien in case of emergencies). Adrien tells Marinette fond stories about his mother. How she would chase him around the house and they would drive his father crazy by occasionally running through his office. His mother loved plants, so they would garden together. She taught him to play piano. His father insisted that he keep up with the lessons, but it's not the same without his mother teaching him. Adrien had inherited his sense of humor from his mother. Marinette laughs at the jokes his mother used to tell, Adrien enjoys the sound filling his usually empty room.

"You have her smile." He confesses.

"Me?"

Yeah. When you smile, it makes other people want to smile with you." Marinette pinks at the compliment. "I wish you could have met her."

"I would have liked to meet her too." Marinette reaches out and finds his face, she cups his cheeks delicately. "I can tell she was a beautiful and wonderful person because she raised such an incredible person." She leans forward and places a soft kiss to his forehead.

Miraculously, Marinette always knows the best thing to say to him. She makes his heart feel full for the first time in years. Sometimes Adrien wondered if meeting Marinette had been some predetermined fate, or if he was just incredibly lucky.