Whenever an episode goes out of the realm of the love square, my husband gives me extra cuddles and tells me it'll all work out in the end. He reminds me that Adrien and Marinette are endgame and it'll be worth the wait. And I know he's right.

But dang, do I just want to see that end of it right now. I need to pace myself. Good things come to those who wait.

P.S sorry that its short. It's been a long day.

The paparazzi was brutal at times.

It had been exactly four days since Adrien had given Marinette his mother's ring, and as expected, the photographers and journalist were almost animal like with how bad they were sniffing the couple out. They'd been chased down block after block more times than he could count.

He was thankful Marinette was taking everything in stride, as she always did, but that didn't mean Adrien didn't want to protect her from all the blinding camera lights, or the hounding questions that were being thrown at them daily now.

But it all paled in comparison to the fact that his mother's engagement ring now rested rightfully on her ring finger. He couldn't help the fact that he now took her hand every so often and pressed a kiss to the gem of the ring.

Marinette would chuckle softly at his actions, but wouldn't comment on it other than the laugh.

It was cute. She was cute. When wasn't his fiance, no wait girlfriend— yes, girlfriend he had to remind himself— cute?

"Adrien."

Adrien was jolted from his thoughts as his teacher's voice demanded his attention. It was then that he realized his classmates eyes were on him. Including his teacher's, who didn't look particularly pleased at the moment.

Opps?

Gulping down his fear— and ignoring his classmates' snickers, Marinette's included— he asked, "Yes, Ms. Bustier?"

She sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm very happy for you and Marinette, but I'd appreciate it if you paid just a little more attention to the lesson. I don't want to have to change your seats if I don't have to."

Coughing away the embarrassment that bubbled in his throat, he replied with. "Of course, Ms. Bustier. I apologize."

She nodded in acknowledgment before turning back to the board, the class now quitting down with their muffled laughter.

Adrien tried to keep his focus on the lesson, but his mind had been so buzzed with the past few days. One paparazzi had taken notice of the ring and now everyone was breathing down their backs— even though they weren't technically engaged. Yet

Adrien had been right. Kagami took out some of her anger on him the last time they fenced because she knew she was going to lose to Luka.

He would've laughed if it wasn't for a rather large bruise that was painted on his side.

Marinette had laughed hard enough for the both of them and actually high fived Kagami. So much for being 'love rivals' they seemed to becoming fast friends.

His thoughts were interrupted by a harsh flash out of the corner of his eye. Cracking his neck to look out the window, his gaze was met with a camera, covering someone's face.

A stupid photographer. Of course.

Before he could react, another flash went off, and the teacher finally took notice. Her eyebrows knit together and her eyes flared with disgust. "Again? That's the fifth one this week. I'm going to call security. Marinette, Adrien, head down to the principal's office and hide away there for now. The rest of you, start your next chapter reading. You'd think people would understand the common courtesy of privacy."

For a teacher that hardly ever got mad, it was a sight for Adrien to see her storm off, almost slamming the classroom door behind her.

The two followed suit, Adrien taking Marinette's hand and standing at her side to walk her to the door, trying his best to block the view from the camera. Protecting her was his only priority.

When they arrived at the principal's office, they quietly took their seats in front of his desk, eyes bouncing around to avoid looking at the older man. Both twiddling their thumbs out of nervous habit. They kept crossing and uncrossing their ankles, biting their lips as their eyes stole fleeting glances at each other.

It wasn't like they did anything wrong. It was the journalist and photographers that don't respect boundaries that should take the blame. They hear an Agreste giving out a ring to his girlfriend of a year and they throw every human decency out the window

So, why did it feel like they were the ones in trouble?

"This is getting ridiculous. I'm going to have to call both of your parents." The principle stated, causing their unwieldy attention to snap to him. "Maybe Mr. Agreste can somehow calm the press down and finally leave the school alone. Hold a conference or something because this is getting out of hand."

The pair nodded in sync, with Marinette speaking up first. "We really are sorry about this. The press is brutal, but we didn't honestly think they'd be so gusty as to come here."

The man sighed, pushing himself up from his chair to brace his hands on the desk. "I understand that, Ms. Dupain Cheng, but that doesn't negate the fact that they're still here, trespassing and interrupting class to just get a photo of you two."

Adrien tried his best to reason with him. "I understand if you have to call our parents, but you need to understand, and with all due respect, sir: we don't like this anymore than you do."

He seemed to think that over, eyes glossed over as his mind was lost in thought. "Be it as it may, we still have to figure this out. I'll explain the situation to your parents as best as I can."

Oh, this was gonna be fun.

Adrien could tell his father was not a happy man.

Not that he usually was, but today he seemed pretty upset over the fact that he had to be called to the school.

If Adrien was being honest, he was surprised his father even showed up, but by the way Natalie was looking at her boss, something told him she had a hand in it.

His father agreed to hold a press conference to answer some questions and to basically tell everyone that the invasion of privacy would not be tolerated, and they would take legal action if necessary.

Adrien could only hope that would actually work.

Adrien knew he was being overprotective of Marinette, but could anyone really blame him? He'd dealt with the press for most of his life. He knew what kind of beasts they could be, and he didn't want her to deal with that anymore than she had to. He still remembered how bad it was after they found out Adrien and Marinette had first started dating.

So, maybe he was holding her a bit closer than he needed to, or he was ducking in alleyways everytime they came across one. Or even that one time he ran down the street shirtless to get them off her trail. Oh, well.

"Kitty." Marinette stopped dead in her tracks on the sidewalk, causing him to do the same seeing as they were holding each other's hand. "I get that you're trying to keep me safe, but they're not akuma's. Your bodyguard is already trailing us pretty closely. I think we're good."

He sighed. "I know you're right. And I know you can handle it— I mean, you've done it as Ladybug. But as Marinette, you're more… vulnerable-"

"So are you!"

His lips fell into a frown. "I know. I need to trust that you can take care of yourself.. I just get scared."

Moving into his personal space, she tapped a finger to his lips. "Protection is a two way street, kitty. You protect me, I protect you. That's how we work. That's how we'll always work. We'll figure out the rest as we go along."

They finally realized the press had caught up with them. The scheduled conference tomorrow couldn't come fast enough. But even so, as the camera's started clicking and flashing in rapid succession, and questions were being thrown at them so fast that the words came out more as loud buzzes than anything else, an idea wormed its way into his head.

"You know..." He could hear the Chat's sultry tone in his own voice. "If they want a show, I don't see why we don't give them one to remember."

The smirk that gripped her lips could outrival Chat's on his best days. "It's like you read my mind."

The crowd before them didn't exist as his eyes dropped closed and his lips connected to hers.

Gorilla waited a good moment as a tear fell down his cheek before nearly ripping his suit, throwing the nearest photographer into the river.

Marinette opened her eyes after hearing the splash of water. "He's okay, right?"

"I think you broke my camera!"

Adrien shrugged. "Yeah, he's fine."

I'll see you guys next time. Thank you for all the support guys! :D Lots of love!