Delicate, Chapter 23

Marinette threw open the door to her apartment and considered the weary young man standing in front of her.

"Hi," Adrien said, quietly. "I got your message that you were coming home early, so... I figured that I'd come here next."

"Absolutely," she replied, ushering him inside. "How did it go?"

"It had its moments," sighed Adrien, kicking his shoes off. "But I've seen my mother now. I've even touched her! She's alive! That's the important thing."

Marinette guided him to her couch and sat down next to him. He slumped down, clearly emotionally exhausted, and began relaying the details of his trip downstairs.

"...She really didn't look that bad, all things considered," Adrien noted, "but inside, I'm still pretty shaky. You did prepare me for what I would be seeing, but, well... that's my mother! Seeing her like that just... threw me."

"Of course it did," Marinette assured him. "I'd only seen her in pictures... This is someone that you grew up with. Someone that you love so much."

Adrien looked down for a moment, feeling motion by his left hand. Audrey had hopped up on the couch next to him, nuzzled his arm, and was looking up at him with a curious expression, as if asking Are you okay?

"Someone else is worried about you, too," smiled Marinette.

"She's a sweetheart," Adrien agreed, scritching behind Audrey's ears. Audrey purred appreciatively, but continued to watch him carefully.

"Her hand was warm, when I touched it," he added, a little bit dreamily. "If she'd been cold... I don't know if I'd have any hope now, magic or no magic. But feeling that made a difference for me."

"You know that we'll do everything that we can," Marinette told him. "That goes without saying. Wayzz seemed at least hopeful, if we can prepare for it the way that he wants to. Did your father agree to try to gather those ingredients for us?"

"He did. He gave the list a few strange looks, but by the time I left, he said that he'd already assigned people to tracking them down," confirmed Adrien. "I told him to send whatever he finds here, so keep an eye on your mailbox or front door, I guess."

"I'm okay with that. I've never had any problems with packages disappearing here," smiled Marinette.

Audrey tapped her paw on Adrien's leg, very gently, then turned and stared at Marinette.

"I swear that cat can read my mind sometimes," chuckled Marinette, looking down at her. "Yes, Audrey, there is something else that I need to talk to Adrien about."

She turned soft eyes towards Adrien once more. "As far as you and your father went, and where the two of you stand now... how did that end up?"

Adrien took a deep breath.

"It's... complicated," he began.

Marinette nodded, but remained silent, indicating that he should continue at his own pace.

"We talked about a lot of things today. Where I'm living now. How I'm living now. How I lived in that house for years without knowing my mother was right beneath me. What made him become Hawkmoth... and why. Why he thinks that I should have joined him. Why he knows that I never would've."

Adrien's tone was steady, and deliberately unemotional. "He told me that he loves me. Something that I hadn't heard from him since I was a little boy," he said, plainly. "That was new."

Two blue eyes widened rapidly.

"...Do you think that he meant that?" Marinette asked, after a pause.

"Does it matter?"

She bit back an "Of course it does" that threatened to burst out of her, and looked down at her lap.

"Adrien... I am here for you, for as long as you want to talk about this. As long as it takes," Marinette ventured. "But you don't have to talk about it now, if you don't want to. You've been through enough today."

"Marinette..."

Adrien reached across the couch, comforting her. "It's okay. I want to," he assured her. "And I appreciate your letting me vent."

She listened attentively as he described his father's manner. "He's full of contradictions, which seems unusual for him. Or at least it used to be," Adrien recalled. "He'll defend why he acted as Hawkmoth to the end... but he seems remorseful about it, as well. It's hard to say whether that's because he knows how badly his being Hawkmoth hurt me... or that he got caught at it. Or that he just wants to keep me wanting to help him and Mother, and he's using the carrot now instead of the stick."

He shook his head. "As if anything could stop me from wanting to help her," he laughed, a bit bitterly. "He all but offered me a job at Agreste, modeling again. Can you believe that? Or to help me find a job with some other agency, if that's what I'd rather do."

"...Is that what you'd rather do? I mean, modeling at all?" asked Marinette.

"I'm really not sure right now. I'll have to think it over some more," Adrien shrugged. "I've been away from modeling for a couple of years now, though it's not as if it's an extremely intricate skillset that I'd have to relearn from scratch." He struck a pose, giving Marinette a seductive look that made her laugh lightly, then resumed his previous demeanor. "You know me well enough to know that it's not what I ever pictured as a career... though it could certainly earn us some moving-forward money for the near future."

He watched as Marinette jumped a bit at his statement. "What?" he asked her.

"You said 'earn us moving-forward money,'" Marinette managed.

"I know I did," said Adrien, with a smile.

Fourteen-year-old staring-at-an-offered-umbrella Marinette reemerged for a brief moment, until grown-up Marinette managed to punt her back down and reassert herself.

Gonna leave that one lying right where it landed for now! she told herself, her pulse accelerating. It's not like we haven't both hinted at a future together... it's not like we don't KNOW... but for him to be that matter-of-fact about it, that certain that we're going to...? Ai-yi-yi!

"Let's... focus this on you and him for now," she breathed, the smile on Adrien's face calling out that he knew that she knew what he'd meant, and that it'd struck home.

"And that's not so easy," he replied, his smile fading again. "He seems reasonable, he seems open to reconciliation, he seems... sad, more than anything else. He's a lonely old man staring at all the bridges that he's burned down, marooned all by himself on the island that he's made. And part of me wants to give him that chance to try to begin to redeem himself... to be my father again. And then he says something else, and I hear the Hawkmoth in his voice, and I'm just staring at him like, How can I ever trust you again, for as long as I live?"

Adrien shook his head. "How can I be certain that this isn't some kind of bizarre manipulation, that he's not gaslighting me, like he was for years of my life?" he lamented. "Or that he won't get what he wants and revert right back to being the ratbastard that he's been?"

Marinette frowned at that. Audrey flinched slightly as Adrien's tone grew harsher, but seemed to understand that he wasn't angry at her or at Marinette.

"We don't know that. We can't," agreed Marinette. "And that's for you to decide, whether he can have any place in your life going forward, but not tonight. I think that he's taken up enough of one day for you."

"Yeah," Adrien agreed, forcing a smile. "He drives me insane... but I won't let him live in my head rent-free."

The conversation continued for the better part of an hour, hashing out one point or another, discussing what could or should come next, as well as relating some of the gossip that had floated around Marinette's workspace that morning.

"I hope that you won't be too embarrassed if you come with me tonight to Gail's," Marinette apologized. "I'm not usually so forward with juicy details with them, but, well... it was bursting out of all three of us together."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure that I can manage. I know how lucky I am; I don't mind if they know, too," Adrien replied. "You didn't show off pictures, right?"

"Do we even have pictures like that?" wondered Marinette. "And who took them, if we do?"

"I was kidding, sorry," smiled Adrien. "Of course we don't, unless the Kwamis know something that we don't. They may be unfilmable, but if you have an old-style camera, I bet that they could push a button on it."

"Speaking of Kwamis..." Marinette noted. "I may have a job for you, sometime very soon."

"Ah, you spoke with Tikki?" assumed Adrien. "What was bothering her?"

"That's... ah... not exactly what I meant."

Marinette squirmed a little bit where she sat. "I, uh... did speak with Tikki... but do you mind if I back-burner that for a little while?" she requested. "It's, how should I put this... something personal going on with Tikki, that I'm going to try to help her with. For now, she asked me to keep it in confidence between us."

"And it had to do with what she saw this morning?" Adrien frowned. "Why would that have bothered her?"

"She's not angry or upset with either of us, I promise. It's not just from what we did today. It's... a little hard to explain," replied Marinette. "Trust me, okay? I don't know if I'll need your help to get her feeling better, but if I do, you know that I'll reach out. I'll tell you more about it then."

"If you're sure," said Adrien, not looking quite convinced.

"I am," she answered. "What I was referring to... was someone else."

Adrien watched as Marinette retreated to her bedroom for a moment, then returned with a small black box in her hands.

"At least one of us needs to talk with Plagg, and soon," said Marinette. "Not right this minute; I'd rather have us think about how we want to approach this first, and you've already had a hard day. But we can't do what we want to do without his buy-in..."

"...and that means that I need to convince him to help me. And them," agreed Adrien, glumly.

"It's up to you," replied Marinette, in a quiet voice. "We can try to persuade him together when you're ready, if you'd rather."

"I can do this," Adrien declared. "I confronted Father today, didn't I? After that... talking down the eternal spirit of destruction ought to be easy."

"For what it's worth, Tikki thinks that he's starting to come around, and he's almost certainly not going to disintegrate you," Marinette smiled. "And he was in the path of the Bliss Wave just like everybody else, so he's probably pretty mellow right now."

"That might help."

Adrien picked the small box up and studied it, remembering the first time that he'd opened it, all those years ago.

"But for now... I have a get-together to get ready for," he decided. "So I'll stop at home and change, and then you said that later on, you'd pick me up and we'd go over in your car?"

"I was hoping that you'd still want to," said Marinette. "It should be a good tension-reliever, at least."

"After the morning that we had, I wouldn't say that I was tense," grinned Adrien. "But you're right. I could use a little more pleasant socializing than with Father and Nathalie."

A couple of hours later, Adrien stood in his own bedroom, carefully tucking away the black box in the rear corner of a dresser drawer.

Nooroo watched him from the bedpost. "Not taking him with you tonight?" he asked, knowingly.

"...I don't think so, no," said Adrien. "I don't expect a shouting match quite like the last time we met... but whatever's coming, I'm not inflicting it on a friendly party. You can come along, of course; just stay out of sight."

"I wish you luck with Plagg," Nooroo replied. "Not all wounds need be healed at once."

"If I can get his help one last time... that might be more than I deserve. But I'll take it," Adrien declared. "And if I can't... I'll see if Marinette can convince him."

"She can be very persuasive... but so can you, when your motives are pure," said Nooroo. "And yours almost always are."

"Thank you, I think," grinned Adrien.

"Oh, I meant it as a compliment, believe me. I have had many, many hosts over the ages, Adrien... but you are certainly one of my favorites. And not just for rescuing me that night," Nooroo smiled. "I can see why you and Plagg grew as close as you did; not many humans can crack through his shell, but you did! And I can prove that."

"How?"

"By how heartbroken he was when that ended."

Adrien stared at Nooroo for a moment. "I don't think I want to go over that again right now," he said, softly.

"We don't have to. I'm just reminding you... there is a lot more history between you two than 'You betrayed him and he'll hate you forever,'" Nooroo noted. "If you want to talk it out with me before you talk with him, I'll be here."

"I appreciate that."

Gently, Adrien pushed the drawer shut.

"Another time," he decided. "Marinette should be here in a few minutes, anyway."

As Adrien walked towards an unfamiliar apartment complex with Marinette, he took some mental notes as to what he saw; its surrounding neighborhood, its age, its decor, among other things.

Affordable housing in Paris is such a struggle, he mused. I like what Marinette's done with her apartment - certainly more than I've done with my own - but it's very much a starter kind of place, and I would love to see her have a bit more room to stretch out in!

And my own little hole-in-the-wall was all that I could manage on what I had left. I will want to upgrade to something a bit nicer, now that I can.

He turned and smiled at Marinette, who beamed back at him.

Especially if I plan on a certain frequent visitor. Or, someday... something more than that.

Gail greeted them at the door and motioned them inside. "Welcome, you two! I'm glad that you could make it, Adrien," she said, sounding pleasant and sincere. "The others are in the living room."

From their hallway vantage point, they saw Peter wave to them, with Amy's grinning face popping up behind him. "Welcome aboard," Peter called. "It's hardly a mansion, but it's home."

"I haven't called a mansion home in many years," Adrien smiled back, "and this looks very good to me. It's certainly much nicer than where I've been staying lately."

Amy's face lit up in mock indignation. "Marinette! Are you going to let him get away with talking like that?" she teased.

Marinette flinched momentarily... then burst into giggly laughter.

Adrien, however, didn't see the humor in it. "I... did not mean it that way!" he backpedaled, rapidly. "Marinette, there's nothing at all wrong with your apartment..."

"You haven't moved in there yet, Mister," she grinned. "And how often you've been staying there lately is between us."

The group joined the others in the living room, Marinette and Adrien settling together on a loveseat across from Amy and Jacques.

"What I meant was... I just have a small studio apartment, over on the east side of the city," Adrien endeavored to explain. "Barely enough room for just me. Marinette jokes about how small her kitchen is, but I could hit my stove with a thrown tennis ball from my bed. I have to envy hers."

"For a young man, living alone in a city like this, that's not surprising," Peter noted. "Gail and I went in together on this place; alone, neither one of us could afford its rent."

"All the more reason why we try hard to stay in each other's good graces," Gail smirked. "Not that it's very hard to do."

Jacques nodded, agreeing with the general sentiment. "Amy and I have... thought about that sort of thing," he mused. "Talked about it sometimes. For now, we each still have our own little hideaway..."

"Yup," agreed Amy. "We kind of go back and forth. Sometimes I stay at his place, sometimes he stays at mine. For now."

"That's pretty much..." Adrien trailed off. "It's okay if I say that, right?"

"I think that we're rapidly running out of secrets about that," Marinette giggled.

"Okay," he continued. "I'm still showing up at my apartment enough to call it 'mine,' but... yes, I've been a gracious houseguest more often than not lately."

"It's not like I'm going to chase him out. He's..." began Marinette.

"Well, duh," Amy grinned.

"He's tidy. He does his own laundry," Marinette continued, undaunted. "Audrey's practically adopted him already. He's cooked dinner for me, and I don't need to tell anyone how good that feels to come home to, right?"

"And it was even edible," ventured Adrien.

"Oh, of course it was," countered Marinette. "And it was delicious." She paused, then added with a grin, "And dessert was even better."

Adrien thought for a moment... then grinned as well. "It certainly was," he winked.

"What did you make for that?" asked Gail.

Studying the looks on their faces at that, she added, "Or perhaps I shouldn't ask that," to general laughter.

With the ice broken, conversation flowed quite naturally. A certain blissful topic of the day was being nudged aside by the group, at least for the moment; apart from that, Adrien seemed very much at ease with everyone, and they with him.

As it progressed, Marinette watched Adrien's socializing with adoring eyes. It's not as if he hasn't always WANTED to be close with other people, to make friends easily, she thought. He doesn't have his father holding him back that way any more, he's traveled halfway around the world, he has nothing to fear here... so why shouldn't he look comfortable like this?

But that first night at my apartment, when he met all of them, there was a... novelty to that, reasoned Marinette. Everyone was being polite, Adrien was the center of attention, they were all so curious about him... and he held himself back, just a little. I could tell, and even without knowing his other secrets... his HUGE secrets... that made sense. He barely knew the other couples; there was only so much that he'd feel comfortable talking about. Plus, Amy was all "Hello, I'm Amy, I used to want to mount you. But not any more. Unless...?"

Sometimes you don't really know if you click with people until you've been around them a few times. The first time was sort of an introduction. This time, we're just... BEING, right? Hanging out as a friendly group, just because we can, for no particular reason other than that. And it's up to Adrien whether or not he feels comfortable with that...

...and it sure looks like he does.

This just feels right.

Adrien caught Marinette gazing at him and turned her way, once he'd finished his current thought with Jacques and Amy. "...What?" he smiled.

"Nothing," she replied, leaning her head on his shoulder lightly. "I'm just glad that you're having a good time. You had quite an afternoon to deal with."

"I did... but this is helping me relax, I promise," he told her. He turned back to the group and added, "...I had it out with my father today."

All remaining heads that were not turned his way... quickly did so.

"Oh, my," said Peter, quietly.

Gail touched his leg, very gently, to get his attention and silence him. "Adrien," she interjected, "do use your own judgment as to how much of that story you want to tell. I mean, I'm sure that everyone here would be interested in what happened... but if you'd rather keep some family things private, that's fine, too."

"Honestly? There's not that much to tell, and I don't mind telling it. You don't seem at all like people that I'd need to hide things from," Adrien replied, with a smile. It didn't appear to Marinette to be a forced one. "There are some details that I'll skip, of course. But anyway..."

Adrien summarized his visit to his father's house as succinctly as he could; how he'd caught his father off-balance by turning up unexpectedly, how they'd had a long talk about what had happened in his absence, and how his father seemed more receptive to at least some reconciliation than Adrien had expected.

Marinette listened carefully to make sure that nothing slipped about about Adrien's or his father's past costumed hobbies, or about his mother and her current status, but heard nothing to worry about. Not that that should surprise me, she smiled. He's an old hand at secret identity stuff.

"It's not going to turn my life upside-down, I'm sure of that. I'm still wrapping my head around what I want to do about it," explained Adrien. "Like, I'm not going back to model for Agreste; there's too much water under the bridge for me to ever be comfortable doing that."

"Understandable... but that's still a shame," lamented Amy. "You were so good at it!"

"Thank you," he smiled, appreciatively. "But if Father won't sue any company into the Stone Age that might dare to hire me in some capacity..."

"...That could open a lot of options for you," Jacques agreed. "Though... and I don't mean this to be rude at all, the question just leaped into my head..."

"You're about to ask, 'What else can you do for a fashion house, other than modeling?'" Adrien laughed. "And you shouldn't feel bad about that at all, Jacques! I'm asking myself the same question."

"Well, you know quite a bit about the inner workings of a major house, how the processes work, what goes into much of the decision-making, yes?" asked Gail. "Simply from being near your father and being its top model for several years. Your looks and charm certainly haven't faded with time, should you choose to do some light modeling somewhere instead of some position in logistics. You also have something of an eye for design, from what Marinette's told us. And you have a very talented designer next to you right now... in case you wanted to offer some company a most attractive package deal."

"I wouldn't go that far," mumbled Marinette, looking a bit startled as Adrien considered Gail's logic. "I'm not bad at all at designing clothes, but... um... I don't have the resume to draw much attention anywhere important. I certainly wouldn't want to complicate Adrien's job hunt by throwing 'You'll have to hire his girlfriend, too' in there."

"Oh, that's between the two of you to decide, dear. I'm just saying... Amy and I would miss you a lot, but we both know that you were meant for somewhere bigger and brighter."

Amy nodded in agreement. "There's a new power couple in the Paris fashion world, just waiting for everybody to take notice," she declared.

Marinette went silent for a moment, turning a bit red. "You're very kind," she murmured. "But if I was going to make it somewhere, I'd want it to be for what I can do... not for who I'm with."

"And I'll stress to you that it would be."

She looked up at Adrien, who was focused on her rather intently.

"I know how talented you are at anything you set your mind on, Marinette. You always have been, long before you met me," he told her. "To make it in the fashion industry, you've got to be both lucky and good... and for a while there, the breaks didn't fall your way. Circumstances made you focus on other things, and that's who you are; you'll always drop everything to help someone else in need. You'll always put others first."

"It's a big reason why I fell in love with you, so long ago... even before I'd realized that I had," Adrien added, softly.

A small squeeing noise was heard from across the table, swiftly self-muffled by Amy.

"So, if I can help your life get better... if I can shine a light on someone so amazing, so that other people can see that, too... there's nothing else that I'd rather do," he beamed. "Marinette, you know me. I've never wanted anything to just be handed to me, either. When I wore your derby hat on that runway that time, it wasn't because I was sweet on you... it was because you had earned it. And I know how much more that you're ready to earn! The world just needs to give you that chance."

Words failed Marinette, briefly.

"I believe you. I really do," she managed, feeling a rush of emotions sweeping through her. "But we'll talk about this later, okay?"

"Okay."

Slowly, they turned back towards the group. Amy seemed about to burst with joy, Jacques was giving them a gentle slow-clap, and Gail's face looked utterly satisfied as Peter rose to his feet, his hands held up in a posture of surrender.

"I give up," he laughed. "You two are far too adorable together for mortal man to bear! And I think that calls for a drink."

He walked toward the kitchen. "Glass of wine, everyone?" he called back as he reached the door. "Adrien, Jacques, can I get you anything different? Beer, something stronger?"

"Wine will be fine. Not too much, please," Adrien replied.

"Likewise," smiled Jacques. "Whatever everyone else is having."

Peter returned with a double handful of wineglasses, then doubled back to retrieve an open bottle. Marinette nursed hers very slowly and stopped at one, as did Jacques, reasoning that they would be driving before long, Adrien did much the same, but did accept an offered refill to be sociable.

About half an hour later, a bubbly Amy burst into giggles as she put her glass down on the table. "I just had a wicked thought," she grinned. "If another Bliss Wave was to pass through town tonight... things aren't going to get weird in here, are they?"

Marinette and Adrien froze in place, then stared at each other. Jacques gave Amy a "Really?" kind of look, while Gail burst out in laughter.

"I would hope," Gail managed, "that we would at least manage to pair off and stagger into separate rooms."

"Dibs on your kitchen," Jacques deadpanned, sending Amy into a fresh wave of giggles.

"I... really don't think that another wave is coming tonight," Marinette replied, forcing a smile. "That might've been a one-time thing."

"What makes you think so?" asked Peter. "I mean, it could well be. But we don't know yet where the first one came from, or how, or why."

"Well, whatever generated that must have been one hell of a power source," Adrien noted. "That wave didn't affect one person... it charged up half the city, several times!"

"Akumas have been citywide before," Amy pointed out. "I still get teased about the time I became a kissing zombie. Did any of you get caught up in that?"

Adrien raised his hand, slowly. Marinette gave him a small, acknowledging nod, then replied, "I, uh... did a lot of running that day."

"Hee!" Amy laughed, brightly. "You should've come out to play! Adrien might've been the one to kiss you."

Marinette's face fell somewhat at that, which Adrien saw. "On the contrary... if she stayed out of reach, she was one of the smartest ones. Hawkmoth's creations didn't do any of his victims any good. And many good people suffered because of them," he pointed out.

Jacques sipped at his drink, then added, "Well, that is certainly true. But if this latest burst of superpowered craziness was his handiwork, that wonderful gift to the city... I almost have to say..."

He reached his glass out as if proposing a toast. "To Hawkm-," he began.

"Don't do that."

Jacques's hand pulled back by reflex, as all heads turned Adrien's way. The clear flash of anger in Adrien's voice was unmistakable, as was a hint of menace flashing in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, what?" Jacques mumbled.

"Adrien?" Marinette asked, quietly.

As quickly as it had arisen, Adrien's vehemence dissipated.

"I am so sorry, Jacques," he sighed, closing his eyes. "You didn't deserve that kind of reaction. I must apologize."

"Adrien, are you all right?" Amy asked, her giggly mood fading abruptly.

"You're forgiven, I assure you," Jacques replied. "I didn't mean to offend you... however I did."

Gail studied Adrien with a discerning eye. "Adrien, if I'm not mistaken... you have something of a family history with Hawkmoth, don't you?" she asked.

Adrien whipped around to face her, turning pale. "What... do you mean by that?" he replied, haltingly.

"Wasn't your father Akumatized by him once?" Gail wondered. "I could swear that I saw that on the news, back in the day."

"You're right," Adrien agreed, seeing his way out of this train of thought. "He... did Akumatize my father once. And my bodyguard. And many of my friends."

"It felt as if the class we shared was cursed, somehow," Marinette jumped in. "He got nearly all of my friends at least once. He targeted me more than once. He got my father."

"Whoa," Peter gasped. "That's quite a history."

"And," Adrien emphasized, "for whatever reason, he seemed to enjoy putting me in danger." His eyes flashed again, albeit at no one in particular this time, as he continued. "I got turned into a gold statue once by one of his villains. Nearly cut in half by another one. Nearly fell to my death off the side of a building because of a third."

"I still have nightmares about that sometimes," muttered Marinette, pitching it low enough for just Adrien to hear, she hoped. "I'm so sorry."

"Another one tried to shoot a train my class was on into outer space," Adrien growled. "After a while, it's kind of hard not to take it personally. Even before I-"

At that, Marinette nudged him gently in the ribs, disguising her action as part of reaching for something on the table. "So that's why that's a tough subject around the two of us," she interjected, smoothly. "We're not, like, traumatized by what we've been through... but we've been through quite a lot together."

Gail watched Marinette with curious eyes, then Adrien... her mental wheels clearly spinning.

Adrien turned to Jacques, looking apologetic once more. "But you would have had no way of knowing that. Again, I'm sorry for my overreaction," he stated.

"And, again, I apologize. I meant no harm, and I know that you didn't, either," Jacques replied. "We're good?"

"Of course we are."

Adrien reached across for a firm handshake, and with that, the jovial mood began slowly returning to the room. Gail caught herself staring at Adrien and Marinette on a couple of occasions... but did her best to put an errant thought out of her mind.

When the hour grew late, the couples gathered up their coats and headed for their respective cars.

"I had a marvelous time, Gail, Peter. Thank you for having me," Adrien said, warmly. "And it was good to see the two of you again, too."

"The pleasure is all ours," Peter replied. "You're welcome to stop by any time."

"I feel like I'll have a million questions for you tomorrow, Marinette..." Amy declared, "but I'll shut up for now. Adrien, I'm so glad that you're becoming part of our little circle."

"How can I not?" Adrien smiled, aiming it at her and Jacques. "Good friends, good company, good conversation."

"I feel like I'll have... ah... never mind," Gail added, faltering slightly. "It was a wonderful evening. Next time, your place, right, Amy?"

"You betcha," grinned Amy.

Marinette watched Gail's face for a moment, curiously, before they left. Gail seemed back to normal now... but for just a second or two, then and a couple of other times that night, her facial expression had caught Marinette's attention. To Marinette's eye, it was as if she and Adrien were being studied, or perhaps looked upon with wonder... as if they were some sort of optical illusion that Gail had seen clearly for the first time.

Once everyone else had left, Peter turned to Gail, questioningly. "Is something wrong?" he wondered aloud. "You look like you're lost in thought."

"I'm fine," she replied, quickly.

"You're sure?" repeated Peter. "I thought that everything went very well. There was that one little flare-up with Adrien and Jacques, but they patched it up quickly, didn't they?"

"Oh, yes," Gail answered. "Yes, they did. I don't think there were any hard feelings there, and I couldn't really blame Adrien for... reacting the way he did."

"What do you mean by that?" Peter asked her.

Well... Gail thought to herself. How do I put this into words?

Marinette is a remarkable young woman; there's never been any doubt of that, from the day that I met her. So talented, so forthright, so pure. And Adrien was quite correct; she's giving to others, almost to a fault. She focuses on everyone else far more than herself.

She's young, slim and dark-haired. And she has a young blonde friend whom she was very close with, whom things burst quickly into romance with once they reconnected... and he has a FIERCE dislike of Hawkmoth. They both do, to be honest; Marinette just hides it a little better.

And, good lord, they have plenty of reason to! It sounded as if Hawkmoth used Adrien and Marinette and their friends as punching bags back in the day.

But... why THEM? Hawkmoth had an entire city to choose from. Why would his targets tend to circle around two ordinary teenagers?

Two ordinary kids. Who were right around the age of the people who put on masks and protected the city from him.

A couple of years ago, Ladybug and Chat Noir and Hawkmoth all kind of disappeared at once. And Marinette told me that that's when Adrien disappeared from her life, too... right after something weird had happened at the Agreste mansion, an explosion that took out half the building. And no one ever came forward and explained what THAT was.

And now, they're back together at last, and clearly falling deeply in love... and as if on schedule, all of Paris got drenched in an unexpected wave of positive emotional energy right after that happened. Centered right around where Marinette lives, from what the news had theorized. And she'd hinted that it might be "quite a night" ahead of her, hours before it happened. She hinted at things that she couldn't say out loud.

Peter's right; they are completely adorable together, so meant for each other. A perfect partnership.

But... could they POSSIBLY... have been partners all along?

She shook off her train of thought.

"It's nothing serious, I promise," she told Peter. "I'm letting my imagination run away with me, just a little bit. They're both perfectly charming. I just have... a small question for Marinette, that's all."

And I might be up all night wondering whether or not I dare ask it.

As they entered Marinette's car, Marinette turned to Adrien and asked, "How are you doing?"

"Pretty good, honestly," Adrien smiled. "I enjoyed myself. They're definitely people that I could see myself spending a lot of time with. As long as I didn't screw things up in there tonight..."

"How do you mean?"

"The thing with Jacques," he worried. "How I snapped at him. I did my best to apologize, but..."

"I don't think you have anything to worry about," Marinette consoled him. "He hit your sore spot by accident, and he had no idea that it would sting you that much. You apologized, he accepted it, he apologized, you accepted it. We all saw that."

"If you're sure."

"You know I am," insisted Marinette. "They really like you. All of them do."

"Good. The feeling is mutual," Adrien smiled.

"Now, as far as tonight goes... I can either drop you off at your apartment, or I can take you home with me," Marinette pointed out. "Either way is fine with me. You have had a ridiculous day and I want you to be comfortable tonight, and to get some sleep."

"And I don't always get to sleep right away at your place," teased Adrien.

"Oh, tonight you probably would," sighed Marinette, pleasantly. "After everything we did yesterday and this morning?"

"Well, yeah. We could both use a little recharging time," he grinned. After a moment of thought, he ventured, "...You're sure that you won't feel hurt if I go home tonight?"

"No, I won't. Why do you think that I would?" she asked.

"It's not like being in your arms isn't one of the most relaxing places in the world," Adrien declared. "One of the few places where I truly find peace. But after everything with Father today, I kind of want to just lie in my own bed and put my thoughts in order... to try to make sense of things, and not have you worrying over me all night."

"I'll worry about you no matter where you are," Marinette chided him. "But I know that you'll have company there with Nooroo, if you need it. And you know where I live... and I can come running any time that you call."

They leaned in and shared a long, gentle kiss.

"All right, then." A pleased Marinette reached over and put her car into gear. "Let's get you home for now."