It was nearly 2 am when Ladybug slipped into the Agreste mansion with Adrien in tow. He confidently jumped onto his bedroom floor while the heroine quietly perched herself on the edge of his open window. Adrien's head was swirling with emotions, leaving him with a stupid mixture of excitement and concern on his face. Being blessed with devastatingly good looks, he pulled it off.

Ladybug let out a quiet sigh, almost imperceptible. Her face was throbbing. Adrien turned to her and furrowed his brow. Marinette studied his expression in the dim moonlight. Sometimes she wished she could have Chat Noir's night vision. She bit the inside of her cheek when she quickly remembered she was standing in Chat Noir's window.

Adrien stepped towards Ladybug and cupped her face in his hand. Before she could react, he stood on his toes and gently kissed her cheek. Her breath hitched. Both teens hoped the other didn't notice their blushing face.

"G-Goodnight Ad-drien", she whispered.

"Au revoir, coccinelle", the model replied. He removed his hand from her face and stepped back from the window.

Ladybug tugged on her yoyo and let out a small yelp as she was jerked away, not wanting to stop staring at those beautiful green eyes. She looked like a ragdoll on a string flying back up to the roof of the mansion. Another flick of her wrist and she was on her way home, giggling like a school girl. Which, granted, she was.

Marinette was known to be a clumsy girl, so nobody questioned the occasional bruise or cut she came to school with. Especially since she lived in a bakery, where there were bound to be accidents. A black eye, however, was something people would question at least a little. Chloe would definitely find a way to make a spectacle of it. Her parents would be filled with worry.

The girl got a good 4 hours of sleep before she got up and made Tikki help her apply a generous amount of makeup around the mark the mugger left last night. She sighed as she remembered that Adrien Agreste kissed her there. Chat Noir. Marinette groaned, slumping over her vanity.

Satisfied with her handiwork, she slipped her backpack over her shoulders and headed to school. Both her parents were already working, so there was no attention paid to her face at all. She gave them both a quick peck on the cheek and slipped out the front door to the bakery. For once she was going to be early for class.

The other students filed in sporadically, all taking note of Marinette's punctuality. That was the only thing out of the ordinary anyone noticed. Even Alya didn't suspect anything had happened. Or, if she did, she didn't mention it. Marinette was in the clear, for all it seemed.

Adrien Agreste stepped out of his limo and drifted into school with a grin on his face. He was on cloud nine. His lack of sleep couldn't bring him down. Nor could the fact that Chloe was throwing herself onto him with renewed vigor (now that his splint was gone). Heck, he could have to fight 3 akumas today and it would still be the best day ever. Nino tried to figure out what was making the model so giddy, but he wasn't nearly as good at interrogation as Alya was. It was a mystery.

They walked into class and greeted the girls that sat behind them. Nino made a joke about Marinette being on time for once before immediately turning his attention to Alya, striking up a conversation about some concert happening that weekend. Adrien looked like an idiot with that stupid grin plastered on his face. Alya kept shifting her glance between him and Marinette, but eventually forgot about it and fully engaged herself with the boy talking to her. Marinette blushed and suspected she knew why Adrien was smiling like that.

Adrien beamed as he sat down and turned to his two friends talking beside him. He stole a glance at Marinette, who was wholly invested in the argument Alya and Nino were now having a row about the best kind of audiovisual equipment to use for live action reporting. Adrien drifted back to Nino, then took a double take at Marinette.

Between years of seeing all kinds of makeup techniques in the modeling business and more recent experience covering up some of Chat Noir's worse injuries, Adrien had a keen eye for when someone was hiding something. That was why he was the only one to notice how much heavier the foundation on the right side of Marinette's face seemed to be. He quickly looked at Nino and Alya, then back to Marinette. There was definitely a faint purple underneath her eye. Adrien opened his mouth to say something, but the final bell rang and it was time to start the school day.

For the rest of the day Adrien tried to get a chance to speak to Marinette, but to no avail. He would've preferred to privately ask her about it, but as the end of the day drew near just talking to her at all would satiate him. He had no such luck.

Maybe he was making a mountain over a molehill. While his friend definitely was hiding a black eye, that didn't necessarily mean anything. Maybe she hurt herself in the bakery and was simply embarrassed. It seemed logical knowing how vitriolic Chloe could be in class. Adrien was probably over-analyzing.

Probably.

Marinette thankfully made it through the day without any incidents. She was exhausted. Just one delivery of cupcakes a couple blocks away and she could go home and pass out for the next 10 hours-at least. It was dusk and the temperature was dropping rapidly. The girl handed off the pastries and turned back home, wondering if she could just transform into Ladybug to get there quicker. Just as she was about to slip into the alley, she heard it.

Thud.

She whipped her head around to come face to face with Chat Noir. Her mouth, which was in an "o" shape, quickly clamped shut and she pressed her lips into a thin line. Marinette folded her arms across her chest. Now what?

"Good evening purr-incess", the boy cooed.

"Chat", Marinette responded. It was clipped. She rolled her eyes and began walking home. She didn't have to pay any attention to Chat Noir to know he was right behind her with every step. If her attitude had any affect on him, she couldn't sense it, because he continued with his ridiculous act. It was actually hard for her to keep a straight face knowing it was Adrien Agreste acting like this. In a leather cat suit. Marinette stared straight ahead as a flush creeped up her neck.

"Are you feline alright, Marinette?" His tone was supposed to be light-hearted, but the girl was thrown off at her partner's inability to hide his genuine concern. She stopped and cocked her head at him. Blue eyes met green in an intense stare. It was only then Marinette had considered how much Adrien had grown in the past year. She was straining her neck just to meet his gaze. It didn't help that they were far closer than two people who hardly knew each other should be.

"Chat?" The two were standing under a streetlamp. Her partner leaned back so that he wasn't casting a shadow over her face and raised a gloved hand to wipe away what little concealer was left over Marinette's black eye. She winced.

"Marinette."

"It's not as bad as it looks." She realized Adrien must have noticed something was up during the day. She screwed her face up and narrowed her eyes. Why was it any of his business? Chat kept staring at her with an intensity usually reserved for Ladybug. Had he figured it out?

"This doesn't look like your usual work, princess", he chuckled as he gently turned Marinette's head to the side, getting a better look at it. He softly rubbed his thumb across her cheek. The girl looked to the ground and sharply inhaled. She put both hands on his shoulders and firmly pushed him away.

"Don't you know it's rude to ask about things like that?"

"Well somebody has to."

"Not really!" Marinette's voice was escalating. She just felt uneasy in general. Chat grabbed her wrist. She could easily slip away, but she stopped. Chat Noir had a pleading look in his eye. Marinette kept staring at the ground. She only looked up when she heard a sigh of defeat come from her partner.

Chat started, "You know, you can always tell me if…"

"It's me minou!" Thank goodness Adrien Agreste was pretty.

"LADYBUG?"

"Yes, Adrien! Oh my God I thought I was stupid but you had all day to connect the dots and- "

Marinette didn't get to finish her thought. Chat Noir had grabbed her and slammed his staff into the sidewalk, shooting them up to the nearest rooftop.

"IT'S YOU oh thank you I was so WORRIED but it's YOU and this is the best thing ever and YOU'RE OKAY Marinette it's YOU!" Chat was going in circles, swinging his partner around the roof. The boy was hysterical. Marinette couldn't help the smile that started spreading across her face. Adrien's excitement was contagious.

"Yes! It me!", she broke into giggles and doubled over. She went to sit, but was scooped up again and spun in a circle. Her hands ended up on Chat's shoulders and both his arms were wrapped tightly around her waist. Their noses were barely millimeters apart.

The giggling died down. Neither of them moved. Chat Noir was breathless. He found his lady, there was no way he was letting go now.

"Uh…Chat?"

"What?"

"I kind of need to go home."

"Are you sure? Like, is that really entirely necessary?"

Marinette started giggling again. She ran her fingers through his golden hair and pressed her forehead to his.

"Yeah."

"Whatever you say, princess."