Ladybug's head whipped around to where Chat Noir was standing. "Chat, what the hell?"

"What?"

"You're whistling. You're not even doing anything!"

"I'm watching you work, LB. Calm down."

"Can you at least watch quietly if you're not gonna paint?"

"Since you asked so nicely, sure." Chat leaned back on the bench he'd sat down on, draping an arm over the back. He wasn't in the mood to paint, but Marinette had insisted that they get her troll out, which led them to this little place—safe under a bridge.

"How does it look?"

"If I close one eye and cover the other, it's awesome."

Ladybug huffed. "Chat! Be serious!"

"It looks great, Lady. You look beautiful."

"I look beautiful?"

"I mean. Uh. Well, you do, of course, but, uh. I meant to say that the trolls look beautiful. Yes, the trolls. Definitely the trolls that look beautiful, not you. Not! No, not not you. I'm gonna shut up now."

She sighed. "The trolls are supposed to look ugly."

"They do! They look beautifully ugly!"

"Ugh!" She slid down against the wall and plopped onto the ground. "Why is this my life right now?"

"Hey, hey." Chat sat next to her and put his arm around her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

Ladybug leaned into his side. "You didn't. I guess I'm still upset about August because that's why I stress-crocheted this so fast, and now putting it up is like it's over for real or whatever. It only took me a week and a half."

Chat pressed a kiss to her temple and rubbed her shoulder. "I get it. You liked him and he was a jerk, and now the last vestiges of your relationship are going out the window."

"Yeah. Maybe seeing it cut to pieces will be therapeutic. Like a big 'screw you' to the jerk."

"I like that idea, snugglebug."

She smiled up at him. "Come on. Let's go before I start crying." She pushed herself to her feet and gave Chat a hand up. "It might be a little late for coffee, but you can hang out at my house for tea if you want. I'm not the expert my mother is, but I do make a good brew."

"You've proved as much to me, for which I'm eternally grateful. I might make you move in with me and pay you to make me tea." He took her hand as they walked to her car.

"Getting paid to live with an actual model? Sounds like a good plan. I'll put in my resignation at Tendance in the morning and make moving arrangements as soon as possible. Will you pay to get me out of the rest of my lease?"

"For you? Anything."

Marinette flopped onto her couch a few days later, opting to scroll through Tumblr instead of starting on her laundry or anything else important, surprised to find little from Alya.

"That's odd. Shouldn't there be something else by now?" Mari called her despite thinking she was at work.

"What do you need? I'm a bit, er, busy." Rustling was heard in the background.

"Oh, sorry. I'll make it quick. You haven't done anything else about my troll, and I wanted to know why."

"Oh! That's because it's still intact."

Marinette nearly dropped her phone. "Excuse me?"

Alya shifted. "You heard me. Now I'm busy with Nino, so I'm gonna let you go. I'll call you back later."

"I would tell you to have fun, but it sounds like you're already working on that." She laughed, sure it would irritate Alya.

"Goodbye, Marinette." Alya hung up the phone, leaving Mari to wonder why her art wasn't yet torn to shreds.

"Something weird is happening, Tikki."

Tikki kept sleeping; she'd been doing that more lately, Marinette noticed. "Ah, she probably misses Plagg. Huh, wonder if Adrien knows about this." She dialed his number, disappointed to get his voicemail.

"Bonjour! You've reached Adrien Agreste. If you're trying to hire me, please contact Nathalie Sancoeur or Pierre Passereau. Otherwise, leave me a message, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Merci!" The line beeped.

"Hey, Adrien. It's me. I just had a question and—oh, you're calling me back. Never mind." She switched the line over. "Hey. You have a voicemail from me, I think."

"I'll worry about it later. I'm at a shoot. What's up?"

"My troll is still whole."

"Oh. Weird. I don't know what to tell you about that."

"Yeah, I didn't figure so. It'll be okay. I'll let you get back to your shoot."

"Have you talked to Alya about it?"

Marinette sighed. "That's how I found out. She's busy, so I called you."

"What about Nino?"

"He's busy with Alya."

"Oh. Oh. Yeah, I'll be right there. Maribug, I have to go, but I'll call you back later, okay?"

"Okay. Sorry to bother you."

"Don't worry about it. Bye." Adrien hung up, and Marinette dropped her phone to her couch with a dramatic sigh. "This is hardly fair. I'm the only one available to deal with it, and I have fewer answers than they do." She flopped over for a minute, springing up when she had an idea.

"I'll see you later, Tikki."

She was silent.

Marinette drove over to her parents' house, which was still on top of the bakery. They were just closing for the day when Mari arrived. She called out, "It's me," as she walked through the door.

"Hi, sweetheart. Your father is spending time with a friend today."

"That's fine. I just needed some advice, but it can wait until we finish cleaning." Mari grabbed a broom and got started on the sweeping.

"We can multitask. Tell me about your troubles."

Marinette laid out the whole story for Sabine, including everything she could about Papillion and the yarnbombing situation. Little of it was a surprise for her mother.

"And that's everything?"

"I think so. It just feels like a lot to deal with, you know?"

"I understand. How can you keep going when someone is out to destroy the thing you've made? But you must, which you're already doing. Why bother coming to me?" Sabine scrubbed at a particularly tough spot on the counter, all the rest of her attention focused on her daughter.

"Because I'm pretty sure the target is Adrien, not me. This last one that I did on my own hasn't been taken down or anything, and it still looks as good as new. Better, actually; the rain the other day made the colors run just how I wanted." Mari swept the last crumbs into a dustpan.

"I've seen pictures! It looks great. I'm very proud of you. But what does that have to do with Adrien?"

"Surely you heard about the poster fiasco last week."

"Oh. Hm."

"Yeah. I'm trying to be supportive of him, but I also don't want to keep doing this without him, but I also also think that maybe he should keep a low profile for a while." Marinette pushed the dustpan into the trashcan, tapping it to get all the crumbs.

"Do you like it?"

"Yes, or else I wouldn't have started it."

"You did it without him at the beginning, remember?"

"Yes, but now it would feel wrong if I did. We didn't start as partners, but that doesn't matter at this point. We're viewed as a unit now, and I feel like we have to act accordingly."

"Adrien would understand if you were to go without him."

"I know that, Maman, but it feels so wrong to not have him by my side."

"Then keep him there."

"You're not helping, Maman."

"No? Well, you're helping me. Look, we're almost done."

Marinette looked around the bakery, almost surprised. "Yeah, I guess we are."

"I think you'll figure it out, my love. Answers are often closer than you think. Besides, when people like you and Adrien get together, miraculous things can happen."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Sabine laughed. "It means that you two create beautiful things together. You both have that creative spark in you, and it's the same spark. I've never been able to figure out if it's God-given or innate for you, but it's a lovely thing to watch one like you blossom. If you put two of those blossoms together, it multiplies into a bouquet of wonder. I'm saying that whatever you and Adrien do, do it together, and you won't be disappointed."

"We're just friends, Maman."

"Friends can still do most everything together, Marinette. Adrien's father isn't married to any of his business partners, many of which were his friends when he was younger. Now, there's some cheesecake left from today, and I don't intend for it to make it through the night. Help me with it?"

Mari grinned. "Always, Maman."

"No, no, you look ridiculous!" Marinette giggled as Adrien licked another sugar packet and stuck it to his face.

"What, this isn't the way to attract fine young women?"

"Depends on the fine young woman." Mari shrugged a shoulder and grabbed a sugar packet for herself. She licked it and pressed it to her forehead. "How do I look?"

"As sweet as ever." Adrien grinned, causing some of the packets to fall.

She rolled her eyes, catching the packet as it fell.

"Don't look now, but I think there's a paparazzo outside that window." Adrien nodded in their direction and removed the packets from his face. "Can I convince you to take these? I feel weird about leaving them here."

Marinette held her purse out. "We should leave a nice tip for being slightly obnoxious."

"Gee, Maribug, I don't think I can afford that."

She snickered. "Yeah, it's doubtful. What's the paparazzo doing here, anyway? They haven't bothered you in a while."

"Probably because it looks like I'm on a date with a girl, and we match." Adrien shrugged. "Hell if I know the real reasons."

"In that case, want to stage a breakup scene?"

He pondered it for a second. "Nah. I'll just go out by myself so you can escape. No need to drag you into it."

"If you're sure. I don't mind being a spectacle just this once."

"No, but thanks. I appreciate the offer." He got his wallet out and left plenty of cash on the table. "I'll take them a few blocks down so you can fetch Nellie and meet me back at my place."

"Surely you're not walking that far!"

"I'm not. What good is a driver if I never use him?" Adrien pulled his phone out and texted his driver. "There. Done. Now we wait."

"At least you look cute today." Marinette winked, a look of amusement growing on her face.

"Excuse me? Today? I look cute every day, thank you very much." Adrien flipped his hair and posed for a brief moment, earning another laugh when his phone chimed. "And that would be Garrett. He's in the area, so I'm gonna go ahead and leave." He stood and patted Marinette's shoulder. "See you back at my house."

"See you. Wait, Garrett?"

"Yeah, the Gorilla's on vacation with his nephews or something." He shrugged. "Ciao." Adrien left and flashed a smile to the paparazzo, intentionally taking them in the opposite direction from Marinette's car.

Marinette got up when he was out of sight and drove over to his place to wait for him.

Garrett pulled up not much longer, and Adrien untangled himself from the car and let Marinette in.

"Oh, hey, I have something for you."

"Yeah?"

"We've been hanging out way too much for this to not be practical. Here." Adrien handed her a small box. "Open it. It's not a ring."

"And here I was worried. Oh, Adrien, you didn't have to do that." Mari took the ladybug-spotted key out of the box. "I would do the same, but my landlord only allows a certain number, and Alya and Maman both have one."

"I understand. Don't worry about it, okay? It's also kinda so you can bring Tikki over to play with Plagg. If you want to. You know."

Marinette put the key between hers and Alya's, smiling at him. "I'd love to bring Tikki over."

Plagg wandered over and meowed at them.

Adrien sighed. "Okay, okay. We'll feed you. Needy cat."

She giggled. "I can feed him. Come on, little monster."

Plagg meowed and plodded after her, loving the attention.

"Maribug?"

"Hm?"

"Can I tell you something?"

She closed the cupboard and scratched Plagg's ear. "Yeah."

"I—we—um." He took a breath and stared at his cat. "I still love you." He dared to look at her eyes, blown wide in surprise.

"Oh. I, ah, er..."

"I know you probably never will, but I felt like you should know that. I guess."

"I-is that what the..."

"No, that's not what the key's about. Anyway, I know you might never, but I wanted to be open with you, and—"

"Adrien. I don't know. Yes, I could love you. I just don't know right now."

"Oh."

"Just...don't give up on me, okay?" Marinette looked down at Plagg, who was headbutting her leg. "Thanks, Plagg."

"Mari?"

"Yeah?"

"I won't."

She looked up, and he was smiling through his fear. "Okay."

Marinette was lounging at home the next week when she got a text from August.

'Can't wait for you to do everything on my birthday that you did when I got back from London! I'll bring the handcuffs this time. ;)'

"But we didn't do anything when we got back from London!" Marinette let the shock wash over her and cried, trying to make sense of it. She stopped in the middle of a sob when it hit her: "Steph."

She sank to the floor and cried harder, reaching for her phone. No, Alya's on a date with Nino, and Maman and Papa are catering for that wedding. Adrien. Adrien's home, and I have a key if he's not.

She grabbed her phone and keys, pulling herself off of the floor. Mari called Adrien on her way out, but both numbers went straight to voicemail.

Marinette parked and knocked on Adrien's door. "Chaton? It's me…please answer it." She knocked and was about to get her key out when he opened the door.

"Maribug?"

"Your phone's dead. Can I come in?"

He moved aside wordlessly, pulling his shirt on the rest of the way.

Mari curled up on his couch. "Thanks."

"What happened?"

"August texted me. Here, read it." She scrolled to the appropriate message and handed him her phone, saying the words quietly to herself. "'Can't wait for you to do everything on my birthday that you did when I got back from London! I'll bring the handcuffs this time.' I didn't do anything when we got back from London, especially not with handcuffs for a guy I'd just met! I came here because that bitch spilled dip on my dress, and it turns out that she banged my boyfriend. It shouldn't matter. I broke up with him a month ago anyway, but still." Marinette hugged her knees closer. "Still."

"That's pretty bad. I'm sorry." He reached out and held her hand, drawing her fingers up to kiss them.

Marinette shyly looked away from Adrien's gaze, silent for a long few minutes. "Adrien?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you still love me? I mean, you told me that last week, and I was scared to say it back, and I don't know why, so it feels like a valid question and—"

"Of course I do. Don't let any of the stupidity that's going on make you question that." He patted her knee and smiled at her.

"Adrien?"

"What question do you have this time, fair maiden?"

She was blushing too much to roll her eyes. "May I kiss you?"

Adrien kissed her instead, softly cupping her face to his. Marinette kissed him back, settling into his lap. She relished the way his hands found their way up her legs like they had the first time and gasped when he teased her sides.

He slid his hands up her spine, loving the way she pressed into him and grasped at his hair.

She was much more focused than the first time they kissed—hungry, desperate. He wondered if she'd unnecessarily apologize for anything later, but that didn't matter to him. Now was now.

They continued like that for a few minutes, leaving a few love bites on each other's necks. Marinette unbuttoned Adrien's shirt, and he tossed it aside, far out of his way. Her hands roamed his chest but still found themselves back in his hair when he unbuttoned the top few buttons on her sweater and ducked his head down to mark her collarbone.

She whispered his name, tugging on his hair. He murmured hers against her skin as though he could tattoo it onto her with his lips. She shrugged out of the sweater and the cool air of the room stung her skin, causing her to shiver. He rubbed her arms and planted more kisses on her shoulders to wipe the goosebumps away.

"I know someplace warmer." Adrien stared up at her, toying with her bra strap.

Mari knew her face was a deep crimson—or something like it, anyway. "Oh yeah?"

"It has blankets and pillows, so it's probably more comfortable anyway. Wanna try it out?"

Marinette nodded, squeaking when he lifted her and carried her to his bedroom.

Adrien fell backwards with her, gently hooking his legs around hers. "How's this?"

She kissed his neck. "Fine." She let her kisses trail down and left a dark hickey on his shoulder.

He hissed, her name still on his lips. "You know I'll have to cover all these for my shoots, right?"

She grinned up at him. "Oops."

He flipped them over and left matching mark on her shoulder.

"Adrien?"

"Hm?" He continued his way down her collarbone.

"Is this a good idea? I mean, I want to, but I'm scared of hurting you."

He didn't hesitate in answering her. "You could never hurt me by wanting comfort. Besides, if I didn't want to, I wouldn't. You know me well enough to know that, especially after the past few weeks we've had."

"What are we doing, anyway?"

"Whatever you want. My comfort zone is exceedingly large."

"J-just how large is it?"

Adrien propped himself up on his elbow and bit his cheek to keep from smiling or even smirking. "Do you know how that question sounded, princess?"

Marinette huffed. "You're incorrigible." She pulled his face down and kissed him, hoping he'd melt against her. She rolled them back over when he did, gently pinned his wrists down, and kissed him again. "How big is your comfort zone?"

He grinned. "Wanna find out?"

A/N: FINALLY. This is the scene I've been waiting to publish for literal months now. And this chapter's a little longer because I have to change my update schedule again...to once a month...BUT THEY ARE FINALLY KIND OF TOGETHER, AND IT'S AMAZING. That is all. I love you all, and thanks for all the reviews! xoxo -wwot