Marinette's POV

Afternoon

"Pound it." I say and chat and I fist bump. Once again we saved Paris from Hawk Moths reign. I hear the groan from the person we just defeated. His name was Peter Piper with the power to control people and things with his flute, just like the fable.

I help him get up from the ground. "Are you alright sir?" I ask him

"Oh, yeah I'm alright. Sorry if I hurt anybody. I didn't mean to be angry." He says.

"Your name is Peter right?" I ask him.

"Peter? No, my name is Marc." He says. I just stare at him, confused. I assumed that his name is Peter since that was his akuma name. Well, I thought it made sense.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Well, Marc, care to tell me your story?" I ask him.

"Well, if it's alright, I wouldn't like to tell anyone. Just know it was stress and something that has to deal with music." He says.

"Oh okay," I say. That's a first. I shrug it off. "But if you need any help at all with anything, please don't hesitate to look for help from someone." I say.

"Yeah." He says and he's on his merry way. I look at him walk away in confusion. 'Alright.' I say to myself.

"Well, that was different." Chat says.

"Yeah." I say and look at Chat.

He turns to me and says "You look good today." I look down at my new suite. I guess my miraculous can tell that the temperature is shifting because my used to be thin, red and black poke-a-dot suite now feels and looked like a jacket, and I was given a pair of ladybug patterned ear warmers. I like the way it moves on my body, I'm able to have full range of motion just like my other suite.

"I can say the same about you too." I say. His suite looks similar to his old suite, just a bit bulkier. His mask covers his hears to keep them warm, and his black cat ears are a bit fluffier.

"Why, thank you m'lady. So, about that promise you made me-" He says, but I interrupt him.

"Chat, I told you multiple times before, not until you find out who I am." I say, kind of annoyed.

"I know, I know. Well, it's just that you haven't given me anything to work with, so I just have to ask you for one clue. Just one clue." He says his hands griped together in plea.

I roll my eyes. 'If I roll my eyes anymore, they're going to pop out of my head.' I say to myself. "Alright fine." I say. I think for a bit, what to say what to say. 'I got it.'

"I'm best friends with the person who adores me the most." I say and poke his nose. He goes cross eyed watching my finger, then glares at me.

"Of course you're befriended with your biggest fan. You're Ladybug. Your friends with everyone." He says. "Give me a better one." He says, giving me baby doll eyes. Oh, my biggest weakness, but with Chat, it's not the same. He looks cute, but not irresistible. In response to him, I give him a sweet, seductive glare, then scoop his chin with my pointer finger. His head moves with my hand, and grows a deep blush on his cheek. He looks like he's about to pass out.

"No, no, no, silly kitty. That's all you get. You said 'one'" I wave my finger in front of him and start to walk away. 'I've got him there.' I look back at him one more time. He's just staring at me, unmoving. I give him a wink and I shoot my yo-yo and fly away.

I laugh at myself. I have to do that more often. He looks so funny when I leave him like that. I giggle all the way home. I hear my earrings beep and I land on my roof. I transform back to Marinette and run downstairs.

"Well that was something." Tikki says. She must be talking about the man we just fought.

"Yeah, he was a bit, different, but he was also easy, so that was nice." I say, going to lay on the bed.

"Oh no, I'm not talking about that, though he was weird. I'm talking about you and Chat." Tikki says.

"What about it?" I ask.

"I think Chat might have gotten a wrong vibe from your actions." She says. "With your body language, you basically told him that you want him to figure you out."

"Well, it's not like I don't want him to. He will eventually, but I want to have some fun with him before that happens." I defend. I'm done with the conversation so I head downstairs to watch some television. After a few episodes, I hear my phone buzz from a text message. I check and its Adrien.

Hey, will you be going anywhere for winter break?

~Adrien

I think about his message. Am I going anywhere? I haven't planed anything. I go to the kitchen where mom is making dinner.

"Hey mom, just asking, but are we going to go do anything this winter break?" I ask her.

Mom looks at me, "No, unless you want to go somewhere. It'll have to be close by because we're not prepared to leave, and we don't have money for a long trip." She says.

"Oh, n-no, I was just asking." I say. "Thanks mom." I say and head back upstairs. I text Adrien that I'm free for the next few weeks. He doesn't message me right back so I set my phone down. I wonder why he's asking.

Tikki comes up to me, wanting to say something, but looks hesitant about it. "What is it Tikki?" I ask.

"Oh, eeh, it's nothing." She says and goes to her pillow to take a nap. She's been acting strange since the night at Adrien's house. Just a few days ago she asked if we were going to head back to Adrien's house anytime soon, like she really wanted to go.

I look at her curiously and then hear my phone buzz.

Do you want to hang out with me and Nino tomorrow? :P

~Adrien

Just me, Nino, and Adrien. That could get awkward quickly. I reply:

Sure! Can I bring Alya as well?

~Marinette

I quickly get a response.

Yeah. Of course! We'll meet you in your bakery during lunch. See you then! ;)

~Adrien

Okay. See you then!

~Marinette

I look at the texts that I sent. I wonder what we'll go do. I message to Alya about the get together we're going to have, and she says she can come, and that she'll come as soon as she could.

I run downstairs and tell mom that everyone was coming tomorrow for lunch. She got suddenly excited.

"Oh my, should I make some sandwiches then? Or, how about some pizza? Everyone liked it last time. Oh, where is your father? We have to tell him." She says, and stops what she's doing. She is about to run downstairs but I stop her.

"Uh, mom? It's fine, you don't have to do anything real special like last time. They're just going to stay for lunch, then were going out." I say. Mom stops in her tracks.

"Oh, alright dear. Let me tell your father though." She says and storms downstairs. I give an exhausted sigh. Oh boy, what did I do?

I head back upstairs and Tikki comes flying at me. "Can I come too?" She asks.

"O-of course. Why wouldn't you?" I ask her.

"Oh, I-I just wanted to make sure." She says and looks away. I give her a raised eyebrow.

"Why are you acting so strange?" I ask her.

"W-what do you mean?" She asks folding her arms.

"Ever since the night with Adrien, you've been acting very strangely." I say. She doesn't answer. "So, what happened that night?" I ask.

"Oh, n-nothing, it's just that…" She mumbles something, but I don't understand.

"I'm sorry?" I say.

"Iknowwhochtis" She mumbles again.

"Say again?"

"Ugh, I can't tell you, but I really want to tell you." She says. I give her a confused expression.

"But, I will tell you this. You and Adrien were totally snuggling that night." She says. It takes me a moment for me to understand what she said.

"W-what did you say?" I ask.

"You and Adrien were snuggling in bed. I'm surprised that you didn't ask why you were in Adrien's bed." She says, a giggle in her voice.

My head starts to spin. "W-we were…?" I half ask.

"Yup." She replies. "Um, Mari, you need to sit down. You look dizzy." I don't understand. I'm a light sleeper, I should have woken up. I go total freak-out mode. I start to pace about the room.

He wasn't there when I got up, he was in the shower. I remember that I was warm, really warm, then suddenly cold. I believed it was a blanket, but what if it was actually Adrien? I blush. Does that mean that he was awake and found us like that? He knew we were that close? Could he have-?

"Marinette!" Tikki interrupts my thought, "I know what you're thinking, but he was clean. He didn't do anything to you. If he did, I would have done something. He's a good kid. I most definitely approve." She says. I look at her with thankfulness. I look at my phone. We're going to meet up tomorrow. I'm going to have to talk to him about this.

"I know he's a good kid. Thank you Tikki. If anything did happen, I know that you would have done something." I say. She nods her head. "And, yeah, I'm totally going to bring you tomorrow. I need to talk to him about this, so I'll need some back up." I say. She nods her head again, then suddenly flies behind my bed. I hear the creak of my door and my mom pops up.

I grab my phone from my bed. "Are you talking to someone?" She asks.

"Oh, I-I was on the phone with Alya." I lie.

"Oh, alright. Just checking." She says, then heads back downstairs. I give a heavy sigh. That was a bit close. I look back at Tikki. I laugh a little. Oh, what a day tomorrow.

Adrien's POV

"You're inviting Marinette and Alya?" Nino asks me.

"Well, I invited Mari, then she invited Alya." I say.

"Oh okay. That's good." He says, a bit stressed.

"Hey, I have an idea. You should ask her out tomorrow." I say.

"Who? Alya? Yeah, we saw how last time went." He says. He's referring to the time at the zoo when he tried to ask Mari out, the same day he first started having feelings for Alya.

"Well, this time it'll be different. I'll be there in the flesh, and we'll have Mari there too." I say. I hear a sigh from his side of the phone. There was a pause in the conversation.

"F-fine. I will, but you need to promise me something." He says.

"Yeah dude. Anything." He says.

"You have to ask Mari out too." He says. My eyes go wide. Oh man.

"Oh, yeah. Mari. Y-yeah. Sure. I'll do it. As long as you do." I say.

"It's a deal. I'll see you tomorrow at Marinette's place." He says.

"See you then." I say then hang up. I put my phone down. I lie down on my bed and put my arm over my eyes. I think about Ladybug and her riddle. 'I'm best friends with the person who adores me the most.'? She couldn't have given me anything harder to understand. Friends with her biggest fan? The same thing has been going through my mind endlessly. Do I know her biggest fan? The only people I know that are big fans are myself, Nino, Alya, and Chloé, but there are a lot of people in France that love her. I can mark Chloé off the list because of past instances. It's obvious she hates her. So who can she be.

I also suddenly wish that I didn't invite Mari to come along. I should be trying more on getting a date with Ladybug, not Marinette. Not that that's going to be awful. Not at all, in fact, I really want to, it's just that I have a goal. Alright, I've decided. I'll go on one date. One, and if it goes well, and if I just can't figure out who Ladybug is, I'll be with Marinette.