*A/N Not my characters. Sorry for a shorter chapter, but the break fit here nicely.

The rest of the week was incredibly discouraging. Adrien was denied any chance to speak with Marinette by Alya. Not only that, but it seemed like Marinette didn't even notice that he was trying to speak with her. When he would walk by her, he would raise a hand as if to say good morning, but she wouldn't even look his way, leaving him standing alone with his hand raised in the air like a moron. Adrien didn't care that he looked kind of like a loser; he cared that Marinette appeared to want nothing to do with him.

Noticing that Marinette had started getting to school on time, Adrien decided to show up even earlier than usual to school one day, just in case there was some sort of miracle that would let him catch Marinette alone again. Hopefully, if he did see her, there wouldn't be an akuma, or an Alya, to disrupt them.

Yawning, Adrien strolled into the classroom. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Marinette at her desk. His eyes widened as his body froze, leaving him gawking at her slightly. Adrien hadn't actually expected to get another chance like this. But here it was. And now that he got this chance, he was speechless. What… what should he say?

Marinette looked up at him, smiling politely, "Good morning."

"G-g-g-good morning," Adrien stuttered, making his feet move again so he could sit down. He remained facing away from her, unsure of what to say, and he wasn't exactly excited to see what her reaction would be to him, a massive jerk, trying to converse with her, especially after everything that had happened between them. The boy sighed. He just wanted to move past his mistakes.

"You know," Marinette suddenly said, beginning to yawn, "getting to school on time means waking up earlier. I don't think my new lifestyle of being here on time every morning is exactly suited for me." She yawned again, "I'm exhausted."

"R-right. M-me, too." Adrien was shocked by her easy conversation. This girl who used to stammer and blush around him. How the tables had turned. His cheeks flushed. "At least it's almost the weekend," he muttered out, looking over his shoulder at her.

Marinette grinned with a nod before rifling through her bag for a notebook or something. Once she found it, Adrien sneakily watched her open it on her desk and started erasing and drawing. He couldn't help himself.

"Oh, working on a design?" Adrien asked.

"Just a quick sketch for this dress I've been thinking of," she answered easily. Spinning the notebook to face him, she frowned slightly. Her pencil tapped against the desk a couple times before she groaned, "I'm having a hard time deciding if I want those ruffles or not."

Adrien spun around completely in his chair to face her, craning his neck to glance at the dress. It was a cute and simple design. He let his eyes wander up to Marinette before he darted his glance away; this dress would look really good on her. "What's the occasion?"

Marinette blushed, quickly hugging the notebook to her chest. "It's not for a date, if that's what you were thinking."

Adrien raised his eyebrow teasingly at her, "I never said anything."

"You were thinking it," Marinette accused, pointing her pencil in his face pointedly.

"I wasn't. Honest," Adrien replied. He raised his hands in surrender.

The tint in Marinette's cheeks lessened a bit as she switched her glance from Adrien to the notebook snug against her. Tilting her head to the side, she erased at the page intensely, explaining, "They're a bit childish, anyways."

Adrien opened his mouth to say something when he was knocked in the head hard. His hand reached for the bumped spot as he turned to see Alya clutching at her textbook.

"Oops! I'm so sorry, Adrien! Didn't mean to," the girl sputtered out, sounding sincere, though, Adrien knew better.

"It's fine, Alya," he muttered.

"Good morning, Marinette," Alya smiled.

"Morning, Alya."

Adrien rubbed at his head and turned away from Marinette.

"Oh, you took out the ruffles."

"Yeah, they were a bit childish."

Adrien pouted slightly; Marinette didn't even seem concerned with the fact that their conversation was over. Adrien groaned and sank into his seat; he had thought there was a connection between them. That blush on her cheeks. It meant something, didn't it? Or she blushing because was she thinking about… what, a date? With who?

Adrien swore to himself that Marinette wouldn't get over him so easily. He was going to fight for her, but in his own subtle ways. And out of the sight of Alya and her refusal for him to so much as glance at Marinette's cute face.

He stopped trying to catch peeks of Marinette, knowing it was worthless to try and look at her when he would receive a mighty glare from Alya, too. It made him realize that in order to change his relationship with Marinette, he would also have to get Alya on his side, too. The idea sounded so impossible that it made his stomach tighten. Adrien focused on his schoolwork instead, though, it made the day drag on longer than usual.

Nino raised a hand in parting, and Adrien also waved goodbye, starting to slide into his car. Just as he was about to close the door, he saw Marinette standing at the bottom of the steps, watching him. He gave her a small smile before he closed the door and drove off for home.

The next day was equally as sluggish. Adrien focused completely on his homework instead of thinking about Marinette and what she could possibly be up to today. Was she working on the dress? Some part of him wanted to go visit her. Maybe he would. He shouldn't, but he knew he would.

It wasn't until late afternoon that his day grew really exciting. While checking the Ladyblog, he noticed that Alya had posted a video update from an akuma attack. Marinette was already there. With a hammering heart, he transformed and hurried to the fight and to his lady.

Ladybug and Chat Noir defeated the akuma fairly easily, but Chat had needed to use his Cataclysm, so there was no way he could head right over to Marinette's at that moment. Even if he wanted to risk it, it was too light out for him to sneak into her room without suspicion.

The strangeness of his action's almost made Adrien laugh; was he really sneaking in and out of Marinette's room as often as he was? That was something he never thought he'd be doing.

Chat quickly dashed behind a building that was shaded enough and lifted his transformation, catching Plagg in his hands and taking out a piece of cheese to re-energize his kwami.

"Take your time, Plagg," Adrien insisted softly.

The kwami looked up at Adrien with a smirk, "That's something I've never heard before."

"It's almost evening," Adrien explained with a short chuckle. "Might as well just wait until it's darker and head over to Marinette's."

"I should have guessed that your patience had nothing to do with my desire to savor my Camembert."

Adrien laughed and even pet Plagg's head a bit as he waited for his kwami to finish eating.

Once Plagg was finished, Adrien transformed back into Chat Noir and stretched out a bit, ready to head over to Marinette's house. He really hoped she would be home.

The hero stepped out of the shadows of the buildings and into the dimming light of the sunset as he took out his baton to take him to the rootops. He had already begun to extend the baton when he heard a voice behind him speak one single word that stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Adrien."