Marinette snickered again as she looked at him, though her hand stayed firmly clasped in his.

"It doesn't look that bad," Adrien said with a grin, though he couldn't stop a snicker of his own.

"Yes, it absolutely does," Marinette said, a laugh in her voice. "I get the disguise part but couldn't you let me handle this? After all, we established early on that you suck at fashion."

Adrien dramatically clutched his free hand to his chest and gasped. "How cruel, Princess."

To be fair, she was not wrong. The most effective disguise he had ever worn outside was the girl outfit Marinette had made for him a year ago, but he hadn't wanted to dress up as a girl for their first date. And a more casual disguise for summer had always been tricky. In lack of a better alternative he had just opted for sunglasses and a sunhat. It was the latter that had thrown his girlfriend—he still couldn't quite believe that he could actually call her that now—into hysterics.

Marinette laughed, a sound sweeter than summer rain and birdsong that always managed to brighten his day.

"You look like a tourist with no fashion sense," she said.

He grinned. While she clearly didn't approve of the sunhat as a fashionable accessory—probably because she herself wore a sunhat too, though that one looked absolutely adorable and perfectly fashionable—she also didn't say that it was inappropriate or something along the lines of 'I can't believe you wore this to our first date'. He had actually feared the latter, but that seemed like a silly thought now. Marinette knew very well that he had no fashion sense whatsoever and this wasn't the first time she had seen him in an absolutely disastrous outfit. And still she loved him all the same.

Adrien pecked her on the cheek just because he could and it made her giggle.

"Well, only one of those things is true," he said. "Though I'm not doing much to disprove the tourist part so far."

"Nope, you're really not," Marinette said and he imagined she gave the close Eiffel tower a look, though he couldn't be sure as her own sunglasses hid her beautiful eyes.

"No worries, we're not going up there today. Unless you want to of course," he said with a grin. No, he had something else planned. It was a little cheesy but he was sure she'd appreciate it.

"Oh, care to finally fill me in then?" She asked but Adrien just shook his head.

"It's not far. I'm sure you'll guess it within the next two hundred metres or so."

Marinette's face took on a thoughtful frown as she suddenly started to inspect their surroundings more closely. It was the exact same face she made when she tried to figure out a Lucky Charm and Adrien suddenly felt himself—probably for the tenth or so time that day—falling a little more for her. He still couldn't believe that such an incredibly smart, talented, brave and beautiful girl had not only become his best friend, but now also his girlfriend.

Adrien felt like singing and dancing and wanted to shout his love to the world! He had always loved Marinette in a way, so he hadn't thought that much would change when he asked her to be his girlfriend—well, apart from the kissing and similar activities of course. To have her confess her love to him over and over again, in words as well as in gestures, was something incredible beyond belief though. To love and to be loved in return. It was the most wonderful thing in the world and he would never trade it for anything else. Love songs had been true after all, and more. Even the otherworldly songs of Faerie had nothing on the songs of his heart—that, by the way, constantly felt like bursting from an overload of sheer happiness. He could wax poetically about the feeling of love for hours! In fact, he had done so. When they had arrived home from their trip, he had said goodbye to her with a shy kiss and a pink post-it note. She had beamed and kissed him again after she had read it.

I've found love…

It's as the leaves in Autumn

So colourful and kind

It's as the sunshine

So warm and bright

It's as the first snow in December

It's more than words can say…

Especially the last part was true. He could use every lovely word in existence and it would still not be enough to describe what he was feeling. Like floating. It was pure joy and pure happiness, two things he had never thought he'd be allowed to experience.

He didn't dare to jinx his luck it by thinking or saying something along the lines of 'I never thought a black cat could be this lucky'. Instead, he simply reflected on his past from before he met Marinette—which honestly was a little depressing—and compared it to the present. Was this really what pure luck and happiness felt like? He felt blessed.

"The Trocadéro?" Marinette suddenly asked, drawing him out of his thoughts. Without him even noticing, they had gotten closer to the famous landmark and Adrien couldn't hold back a grin.

"Told you you'd guess it," he said.

"And why the Trocadéro of all places?" Marinette asked expectantly, though he could tell from the tone of her voice that she already knew the answer.

"It's where we first met over two years ago. Time flies, doesn't it?"

"It rather feels like an eternity," Marinette said. "I almost don't remember what it was like before you started bursting into my house at, at least, a weekly basis."

Well, he, in turn, remembered only too well the cold loneliness he had suffered before he started sneaking out of his house. It wasn't a life he ever wanted to go back to.

"Come on!" Marinette suddenly said and tugged him forward with a smile. They walked around, dodging tourist groups and eventually descended the stairs on the other side that led to the gardens.

"By the way, what was the photoshoot about?" She suddenly asked, making Adrien tilt his head.

"Which one?"

"The one you had when we first met. Your photographer sent me away, remember?"

Ah, right. The photoshoot where he had been so terribly distracted by thoughts of a certain noirette beauty that Vincent had eventually given up and declared all pictures unusable. Or at least all the ones that included Adrien. His father had not been happy with him.

Adrien grinned. "It was just regular Autumn wear but it ended up being a catastrophe. After all, I could only think of a certain beauty in a pink summer dress," he said and pulled her closer to him. Marinette rolled her eyes.

"No, you didn't. You've only seen me this once at that point."

It wasn't true, but he wasn't going to correct her.

"You know, I'm not planning to start this relationship with false flattery," he said and shortly mourned the fact that her own huge sunhat was in the way, otherwise he would have kissed her hair.

"I can't possibly have made that big of an impression," Marinette said.

"Don't underestimate your charms, Princess. I was smitten from the first moment I saw you, even though I didn't realise that for quite a long while."

It wasn't a lie at all. There had always been something different about his feelings towards Marinette when compared to his feelings to literally anyone else. It had only been upon intensive reflection in the last few months that he had figured out why. He hadn't known what it was like to be in love back then, so it was no wonder that he hadn't realised it until much later when his appreciation for his best friend had grown immensely.

His mother had once told him that fae fell in love easily, basically had crushes all the time, but that they were fickle. Adrien wasn't fickle though. Perhaps that was a small blessing of his human side blending through.

"That's so…cheesy," she said with a groan but still a wide smile as she hid her face under the brim of her sunhat.

"Are you starting to have regrets?"

To his horror, Marinette actually hesitated for a second before replying. "You know," she started but Adrien could hear the teasing lilt in her voice. "I just might."

"Too late now. You're stuck with me, cheesiness and all."

"Oh no, how will I survive?" Marinette said dramatically. "I'm now stuck with a gorgeous boy who'll wear cat pun shirts to every one of our dates."

"Puns are a form of art," Adrien stated. "And this shirt is cute."

His current shirt was green and had a cat with clovers as eyes on it. The text said 'I'm So Lucky Right Meow. No Kitten Around!' and he thought that was quite appropriate for the occasion.

"If you say so."

"Hey! No hating on the symbolic cat pun shirt!"

Marinette laughed. "Okay, I give up. It is kind of cute."

"Only kind of?"

He directed the cutest puppy eyes he could muster at her.

"Look, I'm not gonna give you a pat on the head just because you chose one of your less cringeworthy pun shirts."

"But you'll give me one for something else?" Adrien asked with a grin.

Marinette hummed thoughtfully, as if she really needed to think that question over thoroughly before replying. "Maybe," she then said with a teasing smirk.

This girl was going to be the death of him. Getting used to her friendly teasing didn't mean that his heart was immune to it in any way. She giggled, which probably meant that no, his sunhat hadn't suddenly stopped working and he had gotten a sunburn from it, and yes, he was blushing.

"My ridiculous Kitkat," she said fondly and stretched on her tiptoes to give him a peck on the cheek. When he looked down at her, properly flustered, he saw that her cheeks were also a little redder than they should be. It was good to know that he wasn't the only one who still had to get used to their new relationship status. Their new secret relationship status.

Both the press and the Court would have a field day if they knew about it—one much more dramatic than the other. Going to such a public place for their first date wasn't ideal, but the significance of the place where they allegedly first met was worth the risk in his eyes.

Adrien remembered what Félix had said back then after Marinette had stormed off. That she was a person and not a possession. He'd been right of course, but back then neither of them had really understood that there was also another kind of ownership. A mutual ownership instead of the one-sided one the fair folk practised. He was hers and she was his. It was as simple as that.

"My beautiful Princess," he said after what was at least a minute of flustered silence and returned the peck to her cheek. He grinned when her blush intensified and she muttered something under her breath that sounded like 'flatterer'.

Adrien didn't think anything by it when Marinette let go of his hand shortly after and instead roamed freely, looking at the trees or some flowers or just the people around them. That was the Marinette he knew. The one that always sought inspiration from her surroundings. When she returned to his side shortly after though with a way too innocent grin, he started to get suspicious.

"So, what was that all about?" He therefore asked.

Marinette's innocent grin grew even more falsely innocent. "Oh nothing," she said coyly.

His mind went over what in heavens she could have achieved in those three minutes she had roamed not four metres away from him. Surely, he would have noticed something, but nothing out of the ordinary came to mind. Did she have a plan? Danu help him if she had a plan. Her ideas could be on par with some of his feyer thoughts sometimes.

When her grin turned mischievous and she withdrew her hand from behind her back, he almost had to laugh out loud.

"I just found something that compares to your beauty and wanted to give it to you," she said, the grin never leaving her face, as she handed him a chestnut leaf.

Adrien couldn't help but laugh at the undoubtedly intentional irony then. "Oh, who's the ridiculous one now, chérie?"

"Ch-chérie?" Marinette squeaked, her face suddenly fire-red. Adrien could feel his face turn into a similar shade and he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"S-sorry. I…I…uh…just wanted to try out how it sounded?" And he had clearly gone too far too soon, as he realised with a cringe. "S-so yeah, n-not gonna call you that again. Nope. Sorry again."

"I-it's okay," Marinette said while she pressed her face to his shirt like she was trying to hide. That didn't help his flustered state at all. "It just surprised me, that's all," she mumbled into the fabric.

Finally, Adrien spotted what could be his saving grace: an ice cream vendor.

"H-hey do you want an ice cream? My treat."

Marinette raised her head from his shirt. Her sunglasses had slid down a little so he could see part of her bluebell eyes when she threw him an indignant look.

"Why won't you ever let me pay?" She whined.

"Because I'm a gentleman," Adrien almost automatically replied with a grin, trying to hide his previous embarrassment. "And because it means that I'm wasting my father's money."

Marinette's indignant look morphed into a sly grin. "In that case, go ahead."

Adrien was very thankful that it was summer and that it also wasn't raining. Because, as it turned out, the smell of incense was a very persistent one that required constantly open windows to have any chance of dissipating. Luckily, it had just been a cinnamon-scented one and not one of the many herbs that did him harm. Otherwise it wouldn't have stayed at just walking backwards down the stairs and stubbornly staying in the kitchen unless Marinette would open all of the windows in her room.

And while he had caught her muttering something about him being 'oversensitive' under her breath a couple of times, he wasn't mad at her. He hated as much as she did that his stupidly good sense of smell was once again making something commonplace into an exceptional situation.

He tried not to make a big deal of it while he lay with his head in Marinette's lap, both of them on the chaise lounge. She had been drawing earlier as he had half-napped, half-watched her while she worked. When motivation had left her eventually, she had moved over to the chaise lounge where he had already lain sprawled, which brought them to their current predicament.

Only with immense difficulty was he able to swallow the purr that threatened to rise up in his throat when Marinette lazily let her fingers glide through his hair. He loved it when she did that. It was a sweet torture to have to concentrate on keeping his cat side in check while he at the same time wanted to do nothing more but melt into her touch.

Ever since he had gone a tiny bit too far by calling her 'chérie' on their first date, the two of them had decided to just ease into this new relationship, starting with the things they already knew they liked before trying out more. Cuddles were a big part of that, as were their already familiar nicknames and the occasional pecks on the cheek. Both of them were still very shy about actually kissing, unless they were guaranteed to not be disturbed.

What they hadn't known back when they had both confessed to each other and shared their first kiss—undoubtedly the very best moment of Adrien's entire life—was that kissing was much more complicated that it always looked like. Alya, who even had secretly filmed the whole thing—Adrien still wasn't sure if he should thank her or curse her for that—had later on rather unhelpfully pointed out that practice made perfect. Well, he just hoped that it would also make it less awkward.

When he had brought Marinette home after their first date, he had kissed her once they were upstairs in the living room. Since both her parents had been downstairs, neither he nor Marinette had expected an interruption.

The sentence 'I'm starting to have regrets' had therefore properly startled them. Marinette had even let out a small scream while Adrien had just frozen for a moment and probably blushed to oblivion. It wasn't like they had done anything inappropriate but neither of them had been able to look Félix straight in the eye for several days, especially not Marinette.

After that…incident, they had always double and triple-checked if they really were alone before trying to kiss the other. Unfortunately, the moments where the coast really was clear were rarer than Adrien had expected. Tom and Sabine had developed an overly large interest in Marinette's and his relationship and randomly popped into the room at any given time. Much to especially Marinette's annoyance, they weren't even allowed to close the hatch. Apparently, that was a regular rule, since Nino had told him about something similar about his door always having to be open whenever Alya visited.

Therefore, playing it safe by simply cuddling seemed like the safest bet for the moment. He loved to be able to be so close to her and he could feel that she loved it too. She was calm like this. At peace in a way that she wasn't otherwise. And he definitely was too.

To be able to say 'you are mine and I am yours' without meaning it in a fey way was wonderful as well. Before, he had often been afraid to call her 'his' in fear that it would awake some primal fae instinct of ownership in him. Yes, she did belong to him, but it wasn't in the same way as a fae would ever put it. Marinette wasn't an object or some price. She was his other half and he was proud to be able to say that he belonged to her just as much as she belonged to him.

"So, even though I did all that as a precaution, nothing happened while we were on vacation!" Alya ranted. For five minutes already she was lamenting about the lack of Akuma attacks or generally about the non-appearances of Ladybug and Chat Noir during the previous three weeks. That she, Nino, Marinette and him were at a restaurant at a double-date, didn't seem to faze her in the slightest. Neither did the stares some other patrons sent her while she was lost in her dramatic bemoaning. Nino and Marinette at least tried to return those with apologetic smiles.

"All I can do is post old pictures from patrols and theorize about how many spots Ladybug's costume has!"

Adrien couldn't help but snort at the last one, which earned him a soft glare from Alya.

It wasn't the first time she had mentioned it, so he had once, driven by sheer curiosity, brought it up on patrol. The result was one hundred and twenty-four spots. For the Ladyblogger, however, it seemed to be the bottom of a barrel topic. The fact that she was even considering it, spoke of immense desperation. The last time it had been brought up was during the three Akuma-free weeks after Valentine's day.

"What about the last Akuma attack?" Nino suggested, but Alya waved it off.

"There barely is any footage since everyone who got too close fell under the Akuma's spell. I only have zoomed-in grainy shots and some few pictures to work with."

Adrien was actually quite happy about that. The last thing he wanted was for Alya to find out that Chat Noir had been hit during the attack and draw a connection to the Akuma break when he has also got hit by Dark Cupid.

It hadn't been one of his prouder moments, when the horrible smell Chloé had been temporarily cursed with had made him open one of the car's windows. It had been pure instinct and it had almost been his downfall. Félix had been right to give him hell for his stupidity afterwards.

But, in contrary to the Dark Cupid incident, the power had not been based on emotions but rather on control. And to attempt to control a fae was a very grave mistake. While Princess Fragrance had managed to control his human mind, Plagg had given just the right suggestions—or rather incentives—to let him be able to work with his fae side and not let a repeat of the last time happen.

"Trick her," Plagg had said. "Pretend to be enchanted and then strike when her back is turned."

While that plan had worked, especially as Ladybug had shown up later, it still had been a close call and very risky.

"Maybe write something about all the Lucky Charms Ladybug has ever used so far," Adrien said, if only to get Alya away from the mildly dangerous topic. To his relief, her eyes lit up at the suggestion.

"That would be one idea," she said though her grin betrayed her thoughtful tone, as if she was still pondering about it.

"So, can we change the topic now?" Marinette asked.

"Oh, we sure can," Alya said with a smirk while she looked at both him and Marinette. "For instance, I haven't heard anything about yesterday yet. Do tell what happened."

Ah, right. Yesterday. Adrien still wasn't quite sure how much of it had been a dream. Honestly, that wasn't very surprising, as Lughnasadh was only four days away, but he had still been able to manage just fine.

"It was amazing!" Marinette enthusiastically said and a look to his side revealed the excited gleam in her eyes. It was hard to not let his face morph into a lovesick expression, and he hoped he managed. They were on a double-date for a reason after all. Without disguises, they were prone to be recognized sooner or later and he still really wanted to avoid the tabloids getting wind of his relationship with Marinette. If it had been safer, then he would have gladly proclaimed his love for her to the world, but safe was just a feeble concept for the moment being.

"We went to picnic at Jardin des Tuileries and it has such beautiful flowers at this time of year!"

Memories of the previous day flirted through his mind.

"Look! They're so pretty! I wish I could have some in this colour," Marinette said, a smile of pure joy on her face as she motioned to yet another batch of flowers. Adrien watched her, the fond smile never leaving his face.

"Not as beautiful as you, Princess."

She had rolled her eyes but blushed anyways.

"And then, since we were on our way to Montmartre anyway, we went to a few haberdasheries since I needed new buttons and wanted to look for some interesting thread colours," Marinette continued and then giggled. "This dork here kept suggesting various shades of pink."

"It's your favourite colour!" Adrien defended himself.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that I'll use it in every project. I ended up with a super pretty copper-coloured thread though. I'll definitely make something for autumn with it."

He could see the glee in her eyes at the thought just the way he had the previous day when she had discovered the thread in the shop. In truth, she had even let out a small scream because, apparently, she had looked for a thread like it for months already. Of course, he had paid for it.

"And then?" Alya prodded curiously.

"Fabric shopping and strolling through the neighbourhoods," Adrien said with a shrug, intentionally wording it in a way that didn't sound like it had been a date—in case someone was listening in. And because they couldn't go too much into detail on this part of their day while Alya was present.

"Oh, Alya, is gonna love this," Marinette gushed excitedly as she held up the bolt of red viscose fabric. "Since her birthday is coming up next month, I thought I could make her a Ladybug-themed shirt. I was thinking about making her a dress, but summer is almost over at that point so she wouldn't be able to wear it much. What do you think?"

Adrien could only grin in return.

"I think it's purrfect."

There was a short moment of silence.

"That's it, we're breaking up," Marinette said with an eyeroll and a grin. "Just to get me out of this mewsery of overused puns."

Adrien laughed. "Okay, you win," he said and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Deets, guys!" Alya urged, but luckily that's when their food arrived and the topic was dropped.

"This was fun and all, but I don't like that we're excluding Fé in all of this," Adrien said when they were on the way home from the restaurant.

"Yeah, that really sucks. But honestly, dragging him along to be a fifth wheel isn't very nice either," Nino pointed out.

"We can still all hang out as friends," Marinette said. "Besides, Félix isn't the extroverted type. Missing out on a few outings isn't gonna kill him. We'll just have to try to balance it out so that we do both this and normal friend-hangouts equally often."

Like so often, Marinette raised a good point. But still.

"I'm just afraid that he's secretly jealous or feels left out. What if he'll hate me?!" Adrien exclaimed, now starting to panic.

"Alright, Sunshine, calm down. And don't steal Mari's tendency to draw the worst conclusions," Alya said.

"Hey!" His girlfriend threw in.

"I dunno. What if he's mad?"

"Where did you get the ludicrous idea from that I was mad?"

Adrien blinked while Plagg cackled silently before going back to eating the last bits of his daily wheel of Camembert.

"I…I just thought—"

"Ah, you thought. Now that explains everything," Félix said with a roll of his eyes. "Just for your information: I was perfectly fine on my own, thank you very much. I studied some spells, read half a book and took a well-deserved and very needed nap. Your day, on the other hand, sounds like it was entirely exhausting. I very much prefer my version."

"B-but, don't you feel left out?" Adrien asked, a little bit confused. Yes, he was very much aware that his brother wasn't the outgoing type, but he also knew that Félix treasured Marinette, Nino and Alya very much. There must be some emotion in play that he wasn't telling him about.

"No, I honestly don't. The way I see it, I have the choice between being a third or fifth wheel, or spending a peaceful day on my own. The ideal choice for me is obvious."

"But—"

"Adrien," Félix said, raising his voice a little as he interrupted him harshly but not unkindly. "I seriously am fine. You're worrying about the wrong things." He then picked up his book again and searched for the page he had stopped reading at, probably having memorized the page number instead of using a bookmark like he always did. "It's nice that things seem to be working out between you and Marinette, but I really don't want to be present when you're—"

"I get it! I get it!" Adrien quickly said, most likely blushing scarlet.

Plagg, from behind them, made a disgusted noise. "I wish I had that option, kitten. With all the mushy, disgusting things I have been forced to listen to in these last few weeks it's a miracle I haven't thrown up in his pocket yet."

Adrien sent him a glare. "I'd appreciate it if you'd keep that up."

Plagg just grinned. "No promises."