In Marinette's opinion, Alya was probably even more excited by this development than she was. "I cannot believe this." Alya said. "My best friend has Chat Noir's phone number."

Marinette flushed a little. "Well it's not like I can just text him. The number is linked to his baton, so he can only see it when he's in his suit."

"Still!" She exclaimed. "He asked for your phone number! For the purpose of coming to visit you again!"

With a nervous laugh, Marinette decided she should mention another part of the story. "Aha, about that. I, uh, may have… invited him back to my place for tea."

Alya gave her a blank stare for several seconds. It seemed as if her jaw refused to move back into place after it dropped straight to the floor. "You asked out Chat Noir?!" She screamed.

"Shh!" Marinette covered her friend's mouth with her hand, cutting off whatever was going to come next. "Relax, it's not a date! It was… kind of an accident anyway. I was joking around and he seemed excited about the idea so…"

"I can't believe my best friend asked out Chat Noir."

"I didn't, it's not a date!"

"And he said yes oh my god."

Marinette sighed. "Still not a date." She reached into her bag to grab her phone, resigning herself to the teasing. May as well get it all out, rip it off like a band-aid. "But, just because I know you'll explode, look at what he named himself in my phone."

Alya peered down at the phone Marinette held out for her and screamed.

Marinette would have covered her ears if Alya hadn't grabbed her wrists and started jumping up and down. "Marinette, oh my god, he likes you!"

"Alya, calm down! It's just a joke." She giggled. "Since he calls me 'princess'."

"And the hearts?"

"Flirting, he does that."

"No, one heart is flirting. Three of them? That's trying to tell you something."

"I don't think that's how it works."

"Girl, how are you not freaking out right now? You have a date with Chat Noir." Alya was already shaking Marinette just a little violently in her excitement.

"Why aren't I…" Marinette began to say. That's actually a good question. She tried to think about what exactly it was that made her so calm about the situation. She was ecstatic, of course, and excited, but if a month ago Adrien had done or said even a fraction of what Chat had, she'd be practically melting right now. Chat Noir was just… well he was her trusted partner. Feelings or no that would always be the case. But what exactly was the difference? "Because… because he's Chat, I guess." Mariette face a face at her own answer, knowing it wasn't nearly good enough, but not knowing exactly how to articulate the difference.

"Marinette, oh my god, you like him!"

Marinette just smiled and shook her head.

"Alya," Nino said, walking up with Adrien at his side. "Is that you screaming so much?"

"Nino you won't believe what just happened!" She screamed. Nino flinched a little and just gave Marinette a look that said "yes, it was her screaming, why is this happening?"

"What happened?" Adrien asked casually.

"Okay so last night-"

"Alya!" Marinette cut her off. Everyone turned to look at her. "Look, you can tell them, but don't go around telling everyone, please?"

Alya rolled her eyes. "Fine. I hope you know how hard this is going to be." She turned, muttering, "Chloe's reaction would have been gold." And then she focused on the boys. "Anyway, so last night, Chat Noir visited Marinette!"

"Really?" Adrien seemed politely interested, while Nino just frowned.

"We already know they're friends."

"Okay but that's not the best part. Marinette has his phone number! And he entered his name into her phone as 'My Knight' with like three hearts around it!" She smirked before adding, "Adrien, you're really going to have to step up your game if you want to woo Chat Noir. Marinette's beating you to the punch."

Marinette opened her mouth to protest, but stopped short when Adrien burst out laughing. "I guess I will." He said. "Though it's not like I haven't talked to him once or twice." He gave them a wink like he knew something they didn't.

"What?" Nino said, looking taken aback. "You've talked to Chat Noir?"

Adrien just kept letting his laughter escape into the sky. "Not as much as Marinette, I'm sure."

"And why haven't you told us about this?" Alya's voice was, luckily, excited rather than accusatory. "Two of my close friends vying for the attention of a superhero, this is actual book material, I should definitely write about this."

"Alya!" Marinette exclaimed.

"I'd present it as fiction!" She said in response.

"Seriously bro," Nino said. He didn't look upset at all, just curious. "Why didn't you tell us? When did this happen?"

Adrien shrugged, though his cheeks gained a faint pink color. "It wasn't anything like with Marinette. I've just run into him a couple times."

"Mhmm." Alya said. "And just what is your relationship with him then?"

Adrien looked away for a moment, looking thoughtful. "You could say we know each other pretty well." He laughed after he said it, and Marinette couldn't help but frown slightly and think, Chat told me he was meeting… well, me. And I knew he met Nathanael. Why wouldn't he have told me that he met with Adrien? "Don't worry though Marinette, I wouldn't dream of stealing your knight in shining armor."

Marinette felt her face flush. "As if you could. He's my kitty."

She almost missed Adrien turning about as red as Tikki after Alya started shaking her by the shoulders and shouting "Oh my god!"

"I'm only teasing, Alya! Geez!"

She called me her kitty. Adrien thought with a goofy grin that seemed, over the past few days, to be stuck on his face permanently. He couldn't name exactly why the thought made him so happy, and sure, she had been joking at the time, but it still was just… so… so captivating. Honestly, she reminded him a little of Ladybug when she said that, like she knew she was the sun and that the entire solar system revolved around her.

But it wasn't in the same way Chloe sometimes did things like that. Marinette was teasing him, challenging him to shine at the same level as her. She was just so confident and "Oh god, I have it bad."

"What?" Nino turned to him when he muttered.

Adrien couldn't meet Nino's meaningful gaze when he said, "Uh, nothing, just… thinking about something."

Nino smirked and hummed a "mhmm" in response, but turned back to his phone. And everything gets more complicated. Adrien thought with a sigh. No denying it now I guess, I like Marinette too. Good thing I'm not dealing with actual relationships right now or this would be a whole lot more difficult. And confusing. For now though, I can just live like Plagg and not worry about it.

What he did worry about, however, was the conversation with Ladybug that he promised himself he'd have soon. He wanted her to know how he felt about the secret identities. It wasn't really a "I want you to know who I am" so much as a "I want someone to know who I am, and I love you", and even then he wasn't really expecting the reveal to come anytime soon, he just felt she needed to know his thoughts. Not to mention the whole dating thing he still needed to figure out. Ladybug was his partner, even if he did start dating, he probably wouldn't reveal his identity to them unless Ladybug thought it would be okay, both because he trusts her judgement probably more than he does his own, and also because if anything went wrong during the whole event, she could also wind up in trouble. No, there's definitely no way that's happening without her approval, even if they don't reveal their identities to each other.

That was a conversation he was both excited for, and also terrified about.

And then it maybe doesn't even have to be just whoever I end up dating. He thought. I'd like Marinette to know, if possible. It felt just a little bit weird to him to be befriending someone on two different sides of his mask without them knowing. Yes, it was entertaining, but it was also frustrating. The way she talks to Chat… it's not quite as different anymore, but there's still a very noticeable difference between how she treats him as Adrien and Chat Noir.

As Chat, she felt closer. Like she's trying very hard to get close, to care for him, like she really loved him.

As Adrien, he could definitely still feel how much she cared, but he got the impression that she was pulling away instead of pushing closer. Her banter was just a tiny bit more restrained, she resisted complimenting him too much, and she wasn't nearly as tactile (but then, neither was he, so maybe that one was just his own fault).

"Nino?"

"Yeah bro?"

"I think I like Marinette."

"I know."

Adrien turned fully to his best friend, "Wait, what? You know?"

Nino smirked at him. "Yeah, dude, you stare. It's about as bad as you are with Nathanael."

"Oh." He flushed slightly, realizing that he did indeed stare a lot. I'm going to have to stop that. "Right."

"I swear man, you keep getting new crushes like this and I'll start getting worried. This is what, the third in like three months, max? That's not including your strange obsession with Ladybug."

"It's not that bad."

"Nathanael, Chat Noir, oh man I just realized you're pretending to crush on both of the heroes, and Marinette now. It's a little bad."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well I know you don't actually have a crush on Chat Noir. Seriously dude, you're my best friend, I know a joke when I see one." Adrien thought about saying anything about that at all, confirmation or denial, but decided a shrug was appropriate enough. He was right, after all. "It's a good one though. I've had fun watching you and Marinette argue about who loves him more."

"That's not… exactly, what happens."

Nino laughed. "It may as well be. But it's good to see you two talking like, well, not like normal people, but like the dorks you are, even if you're both blushing messes the entire time." Adrien pretended to pout when Nino called him a dork. "So what are you going to do?"

Adrien sighed, "I still don't even know. There's at least a few things I need to sort through first if I want to ask anyone out, so I'm just going to… not worry about it. Does that make sense?"

"Totally, dude. And you know I'm here if you want to talk about it."

"I know." Adrien gave Nino a huge grin. "For now, I'm going to think through it on my own though." And talk to Ladybug, because this could get dangerously close to telling him. He thought. And I should add Nino to the list of people I want to know anyway.

Nino gave him a smile. Adrien knew that Nino would be there if he needed him, and he also knew Nino wouldn't worry. They both knew that he'd definitely talk to Nino if anything was really bothering him. "Dude, your car's here." Adrien followed Nino's gaze to the while limo pulling up to the school where they were waiting.

Adrien sighed. "Yeah. I'll see you later then."

Nino flashed him one last smile before turning back to his phone. "Yeah, see you bro, love you."

Nearly tripping down the steps when he heard it, Adrien turned back to Nino. He had been saying it often, so it wasn't anything new, but Adrien tended to avoid it in public, since he didn't want to make Nino uncomfortable or give anyone else the wrong idea. Hearing the words in the open air, not over text or on the phone, made Adrien feel that dumb goofy grin fall back onto his face. "Love you too! Bye!"

Nino just glanced up with a small smirk before Adrien turned and climbed into the car, ready for the short drive back home, and the inevitable raiding of the kitchen for cheese before he could go out as Chat Noir and maybe, just maybe, finally have that talk with Ladybug.