Author's Note: Behold the dating arc! This hasn't been beta read.

Day 25. Sneaking Out

'Come on, come on, come on,' Adrien was stomping from one foot to the other, to Plagg's silent complaints. 'Where are you, bug?'

He checked his phone again. His fencing practice ended exactly 20 minutes ago. That was enough time for the entire team to take a shower, change and leave the locker room. Now Adrien was the last one left, waiting for his girlfriend to sneak in, before anyone would notice them.

His girlfriend.

The boy smiled at the thought. His goofy megawatt grin earned a gagging sound from his kwami.

'Will you stop already?' Plagg chided. 'It's not like you're official or anything.'

That was, unfortunately, true. They weren't official. Or at least not publicly. Oh, the irony. The two of them had been plenty affectionate in public, when they had been only two friends faking it. And now, when they were dating for real, they were doing this in secret.

It was his idea, to which Marinette, his wonderful girlfriend and partner, agreed without protest. Adrien still wasn't okay with what happened with their pictures from the pool party. He still was reluctant to show himself in public with anyone except his bodyguard. He didn't want to attract this kind of attention, didn't want to bring it to Marinette. It was an awkward and humiliating invasion of their privacy the first time round. He hoped the hype around his person would die out with the end of the fragrance campaign. Fans would move to some other celebrity. The media seemed to provide an endless supply of those. Maybe XY would launch some new products drawing the attention he craved so much, or some other local wannabe would step in.

For now, Marinette and Adrien were left with surreptitious glances, seemingly accidental touches, and stolen moments between classes. Just a few days passed since the fateful Sunday, but he was still giddy with excitement at this new - as his father had called it - development. He had yet to take his girl on a proper date, and today he was finally going to do something about it.

Everything was already prepared and secured at the destination he had in mind. All that was left was for Marinette to finally appear, so that they could sneak out and head to the spot he had found. But she still wasn't coming.

Adrien risked a peek through the locker room door. A glimpse of dark blueish hair caught his attention. He chuckled, withdrawing instantly and hid next to the entrance, pressing himself close to the wall. He heard footsteps and launched himself at the girl who entered.

'Gotcha!' he cried, capturing her in a bear hug.

'Jeeeez, Adrien, since when are you so clingy with me?'

This was definitely not the voice he had expected. He loosened his grip. Kagami's confused face appeared in his vision.

'Sorry!' he jumped away, raising his hands in an apologetic gesture. 'I thought you were someone else.'

Kagami brushed her hair behind her ears. 'Who would that be?' she frowned.

'Nino,' he blurted out. 'I thought you were Nino. I'm waiting for him,' he babbled. 'Yes. He's very late. Have you seen him?'

The girl put a hand on his shoulder. 'Sorry to disappoint you,' she pursed her lips, suppressing a smile, 'but I saw him leaving with that blogger, washername-'

'Alya?'

'Yes, her. He already left,' she waved in the direction of school entrance. 'But I did see your ex girlfriend on the stairs, if you're looking for a replacement,' she supplied innocently. 'She's talking to the blueberry cutie pie.'

He choked on his own saliva. 'Who?'

'You know, the blue haired guitarist,' Kagami rolled her eyes, walking to her locker and taking her bag out, 'you're in that band together.'

'Luka?' Adrien asked. Now he was doubly confused, with his teammate's description of the boy and with the sudden spike of jealousy that made his teeth clench.

'I don't know his name,' she shrugged heading for the door, 'but I wouldn't mind getting his number,' she winked. 'I guess, I have something for bluenettes,' she smiled at him coyly, 'and a little bird told me, the one I had my eyes on, might not be as single as she officially claims to be,' she pouted in mock sulk.

'Just… just ask him out,' Adrien suggested, recognizing a good opportunity to get rid of two rivals at once. 'He's a really nice guy. And you might find that you're quite his type,' he dropped his voice to a confidential whisper.

Kagami eyed him up and down. 'Maybe I will,' she raised a brow. 'Have a nice date, Adrien,' she shot over her shoulder and sauntered out of the locker room, before he had time to look properly indignant at her suggestion.

When she was gone Adrien exhaled in relief, bending in half. He was never ever going to pounce on anyone again, or at least not in the next week or so.

'Are you okay?'

Now this was his girlfriend's worried voice.

'Yeah,' he straightened up and opened his arms. Marinette smiled and without any preamble slipped in between them, pressing her cheek to his chest.

'Mmmm,' she hummed, 'I missed you.'

'What took you so long?' he murmured, taking a lungful of her scent.

'Luka was asking me for help.'

Adrien stilled. He really had to learn how to tame his feline possessiveness. 'What kind of help?'

Marinette withdrew from the hug to look at him. 'He wanted to ask someone out,' she said smirking. 'He saw me and her talking a few times, and thought I could help,' she added, before he could get more jealous.

'Oh,' he deflated in an instant. 'Am I allowed to ask, who is he interested in?'

'You are,' she bopped him on the nose. 'It's your friend, actually. A very attractive fencer with quite a temper,' she giggled, as his brows shot up.

'Well then, he might be in for quite a surprise,' Adrien chuckled.

'And what's that supposed to mean?' Marinette frowned.

'Oh, nothing,' he shook his head dismissively. 'Anyway,' he took her hands in his, 'now that you're finally here, very, very late, I might add,' he scolded earning himself an unamused glare. 'Will my Lady do me the honor of sneaking out with me to our first date?'

Marinette brightened up. 'Do you even need to ask, my sneaky Kitty?' she whispered causing a pleasant shiver going down his spine.

He stuck his head out of the locker room, and after confirming the coast was clear, he pulled her to the entrance.

'Where are you taking me?' she asked.

'You'll see,' he wiggled his brows. 'It's a special sur-purr-ise, just for my Lady,' he added admiring delightful blush dusting her cheeks as he pressed his lips to her hand.

AN: Thank you for all your support for this fic, for your lovely reviews, favs, and follows, and reblogs over tumblr. This is like a dream coming true.

As always, I appreciate your comments. Let me know what you think!

If everything goes well, I should be posting two chapters tomorrow, and I'm going to try to complete this in April! Keep your fingers crossed! And follow/fav if you don't want to miss it. Fanfiction doesn't bump the story on the list if it's updated within less than 24 hours, which will be the case here.