The feeling of furious tapping on her face was what woke Marinette up. She groaned and tried to bury herself deeper into the bed. She really didn't want to face the day- or Adrien. Contrary to what one would believe, she wouldn't wake up and have a blissful moment where she did not remember the events of the previous night. No, the moment she gained consciousness she remembered.

"Marinette, what happened? What did you do?"

She flipped over on the bed to try and ignore the tiny god. She was reeling from her bold actions with Adrien.

She felt her eye dragged open, forcing it to focus on the red floating Kwami. There was no reason to pretend to be sleeping anymore. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and made her way to the mug that held all her problems.

"Something stupid, " she finally answered.

She grabbed it and went off to the kitchen to dump its contents. She thoroughly rinsed it. She didn't want any of the taste to be left back in case it was enough to trigger a reaction.

It was early enough for everyone else to be still asleep. So, she didn't have to run back into her room to avoid Adrien. He shouldn't be up, yet.

Back in her room, she decided to forgo her exercise and ran straight to the shower for a nice long bath. She sometimes had her best reasonings while she soaked in water. And after almost an hour of being in the water, she had only one thought.

She needed to call Alya.

With that thought in mind, she quickly got dressed in her expansive closet. She through on a high waisted green swing skirt reaching above her knees and a black sleeveless turtleneck. She sat by her vanity and rolled on her unprofessional black thigh-high socks before calling Alya.

"Girl, this better be good" Alya said groggily as she answered her phone. Marinette could tell her call had woken her up.

"I kind of sort of kissed Chat Noir last night." She said looking away, a blush staining her cheeks.

She looked back at her friend and took in her reaction. Whatever vestiges of sleep Alya still had, was clearly gone at her admission.

"I had a yarrow incident..."

Alya knew fully well what a yarrow incident entailed after a sleepover with a very graphic confession of what happened during it.

"Spill"

"Well, I accidentally made and drank some tea made from it. Then Chat came to check on me while he was on patrol. I somehow tied him up in my aerial silk-"

"You tied him up. The guy with the power to destroy and the extremely sharp claws; you tied him up and he didn't easily break away? You sure this isn't a dream?"

"I might have threatened him"

"Mari!"

"It was the tea!"

She then started to fill her friend in on everything that transpired after restraining him. Details that might have inferred to his identity we're obviously left out, but no detail was spared. After her tell-all, Alya was more than shocked.

"I thought you said you kissed him?"

"I did"

"After you almost sucked his dick!"

She shot Alya a frigid glare through the screen.

"So, you finally took what you want from him. All it took was your strange allergy and opportunity. And from what you said, he sure liked it."

"Huh?"

"Girl, if he really wanted to, he would have broken out."

"But I threatened him"

"Sure." She said rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I think you should do that with Adrien. You know, be direct. Maybe confess"

"You know I can't. Adrien has and will always see me as just his good friend. Nothing I'll say will change that. And if I confess, everything will be weird between us. I can't have that change, Als."

Alya seemed to run it through her head. In the meantime, Marinette re-entered her closet and pulled out her pair of ankle boots. She was walking next to M. Agreste today in his company. She wanted to stand tall next to him.

"Why not have an 'All I Ask' moment with him?"

'All I Ask.' Luka had done a cover of that song for her when they broke up. It actually started to bring attention to his music career. But the song... The moment wasn't as sad as the one in the song for them, but it would carry all the meaning if she were to have a moment like that with Adrien. It would just solidify in her mind that they will always just be friends.

"Finally get him out of your system seeing that you don't want to change the status quo."

Marinette opened her mouth to give off some retort to decline that what she said could ever be a possibility before Alya cut her off.

"think about it. So, I have been doing some digging into our missing ex-girlfriend and I found something."

Alya smoothly changed the topic with practice ease. She most likely knew that she couldn't push Marinette into a decision. At the end of the day, Marinette needed to make her own decisions and live with the consequences. By changing the topic, she was signalling that she would not further press the issue.

"go on."

"It would seem that she has been doing things with Nathaniel since before Adrien. Also-"

A call for Alya was heard in the background. Alya huffed and said a quick goodbye with the promise of calling her back later. With the call hung up, she was left with her thoughts. Could she really have that with Adrien? A moment that would solidify that her years of pining for him, both sides of him, have led to nothing but the platonic relationship they now shared.

Those were thoughts for later. Now she would revel in the affection he freely gave and pretend like the events of the previous night never happened. She strode confidently to her door, threw it open and made her way down the hall to his. She raised her hand to rap against the door when it was opened, Adrien stood there in all his glory: black suede leather oxfords, acid-washed ripped jeans, white t-shirt, and a black jacket with a popped collar. Just peeking out his t, Marinette could make out what like a bruise and her face heated up.

"Marinette." He said. She didn't have time to appreciate the way a blush diffused across his tan cheeks before she was pulled inside his room and pressed against the wall.

His lips were on her, slow and deliberate. She couldn't help but compare it to the heated, needy, frustration filled kissed they shared last night. He slowly but surely coaxed her lips to life against his own. There was a light warm feeling in her chest. Maybe he took her words last night to heart, to take charge of her. Maybe he liked her back.

He pulled away from her but kept his forehead leant against hers. He was panting against her lips.

"Bonjour, princess" he purred the r on princess.

Marinette nodded fumble. Words were escaping her heavy tongue.

His eyes roved across her outfit, drinking it in. The uptick of one corner of his mouth showed his liking. One of his hands moved to her hair. He played with the strands, knuckles lightly brushing against her bare shoulder, causing shockwaves through her system.

"I like you with your hair down, but your missing something. Stay there."

He pushed off the wall and disappeared into his closet. He came back a short while later with a silver chain. He turned her around and she swept her hair to the side. He placed the necklace around her neck and she looked down at it. It was flat and circular, and etched into the cold metal was one word.

Princess

"I'm sorry I went out last night. I was just feeling cooped up here and I needed to escape. I got you this yesterday for being there for me and helping me since the accident. You're my good friend if not my closest, in and out of the mask. I shouldn't have worried you."

She was glad her back was still facing him. Tears glittered in her eyes and cracks began to work their way across her heart. The kiss was an apology. That's why it was different. He felt bad about worrying his friend; he didn't return her feelings. Last night was nothing but his body responding to her touch.

She straightened her back and spun on her toes pulling herself from the hands still on her shoulders. She plastered on an award-winning smile that would fool most.

"It's alright. Let's go have breakfast, " she saw the confusion in his eyes. Of course, he wouldn't be fooled.