She had fallen asleep somewhere in the middle of the last movie in the early hours of the morning. Between the late hour, the cosy setting in Adrien's arms or the eventful day they had, Marinette had lost the battle to stay up.

When she awoke, it was to fingers playing in her midnight bangs and a soft caress to her cheek. Her eyes fluttered open and she let out a content sigh. Her dream was still clinging the edges of her consciousness as she stared into his green eyes. There was a soft yet intense look in his eyes that melded well with the gentle smile on his face. Seeing her awake he bent over and placed a kiss to her brow causing her eyes to flutter close momentarily.

"Good morning, princess." There was a husky quality to his voice that sent a shiver down her spine.

She returned the greeting with a shaky voice. A simple look at what she slept on told her several things.

She was still in Adrien's room.

She slept in his bed.

He most likely slept next to her.

That third fact she summarised by just knowing a simple fact about Adrien. He could fall asleep anywhere, except on the couch. The couch, while the perfect length for snuggling when watching a movie, it was a tad too short to comfortably fit his long frame to sleep lying down.

She pinked slightly at the thought of sleeping next to her long time crush. A crush she was going to give up. A crush that she was having a date with for the remainder of the day.

"Wait, right there. I'll be back in a sec." He tore himself from the bed and bounded out of the room.

Alone in the room, she tried to shake off the alluring pull of the dream she had. The cloying images had her feeling warm, and the sweater she wore was making it hard to cool down. Without a thought, she pulled it off her person and threw it at the foot of the large bed.

Seconds later Adrien reentered the room with Gorilla in tow. The former held what she was sure was two glasses of grapefruit juice and a teapot while the latter an enormous tray with a metal covering over it. Carefully he made his way to the other side of the bed and carefully climbed in with a sure grip on the items. Once seated Gorilla placed the tray between them. With a flourish of his hand, Adrien removed the covering and revealed the contents.

"Bon appetite"

Her eyebrows lifted high in surprise. She wasn't expecting this. Not at all.

"Breakfast in bed?" She said incredulously after thanking them both. Gorilla only nodded his head and exited the room.

"Why not start the day like this? Sets the mood for the day, doesn't it?" He said with a secretive grin.

"It does..." She trailed off as she slathered her piece of baguette in butter.

"I thought about making it myself but we both know I'm a disaster at baking. So I had Gorilla pick up the bread and pastries from your parents. I made the tea; don't worry it isn't yarrow."

As they ate, they continued to talk. Well, not talk. There was a lot of teasing and joking, especially from Adrien's side. He seemed to make an extra effort to make her laugh and blush this morning. But he also seemed slightly anxious. She felt it radiate from his person as he helped her off the bed and to her bedroom's door.

"Marinette, " his voice brought her from her thoughts, "I know for a fact those are the pyjamas I gave you for Christmas. But what I can't remember is the top having "I like C. , they make me purr" on it. You like C. ?"

She tried to laugh it off and subtly wrap her arms around her body as if her arms could somehow retroactively stop him from seeing the words.

"Yeah, I kinda have to since I had an alley cat regularly invade my space for years." She tried to play it off as it was just innocent words.

"Really? But you have it as an acronym. It makes it looks like you mean Coital Alignment Technique." His smirk was knowing and teasing. She was caught.

She slumped her head in defeat, " I lost a bet with Alya..."

He nodded understanding where she was coming from.

He leaned down to her and his breath ghosted her lips. His eyes were a dark colour as it started intensely into her blues.

"If it's any comfort, I like C. too." he pressed a quick kiss to her lips.

He turned around and began walking to his room. Marinette was so stunned by his actions that she almost missed his words.

"Dress like you normally do. And bring your sketchbook."

Right they were going out for there date, to a place he refused to tell her. It would take away from the surprise.

Half an hour later found her dressed as she usually did: a baby pink skirt that stopped mid-thigh, a white long-sleeved crop top sweater with black cuffs and a black peter pan collar that showed off her stomach when she raised her arms, black ballet flats with baby pink thigh high socks with the black bows on the back and the necklace Adrien gave her yesterday.

She met Adrien in his room and was pleased with his reaction to her outfit. His eyes raked her form appreciatively. He snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her to him to kiss her hard.

"Come, let's go," he said directing her out the house.

Waiting for them outside the mansion was a sleek black. She recognized it instantly as Adrien's barely used car. If this was here, that meant-

"I gave Gorilla the day off. This way it's only us. Makes it more intimate." He completed the thought for her.

And then it happened. One big fat drop of water fell from the sky unto her cheek with a heavy splat. It was the only forewarning for what was about to happen. As Adrien wiped away the water, dark clouds rolled in and emptied themselves above them. The weather went from clear skies to a freak storm in a matter of seconds and Marinette couldn't help but wonder if this was the work of another version of Stormy Weather.

"Let's get back inside" she pulled on his arm to steer towards the mansion's entrance.

"Go on. There's something in the car I need."

She started at him for a second before retreating inside. Adrien followed her inside a minute later with a blanket and a picnic basket. There was a look of disappointment in his green eyes.

"Well, there goes my plans" he slumped against the nearest wall. He slowly slid down its length until he sat on the cold tiled floor.

He looked up, mouth open with a half-smile as if he were to say something positive; then there was a loud crash. Seconds later, the entire mansion went black.

"Oh, shit" he muttered as he scrubbed a hand down his face.

Marinette looked down at him confused. They lost electricity because of the weather and the generators had more than enough power to last the minuscule time it would take for electricity to return.

The click of the front door's lock drew her attention away from the returning lights. It was then followed by the slamming of windows and the clicking of multiple locks before the generator kicked in.

"What the-" she began to say before Adrien cut her off with an explanation.

It was the security system. His father when he bought the mansion outfitted it as a precaution against paparazzi to keep them from getting in. After his mother disappeared "to find herself" all those years ago, his father had overtime stopped using it. With electricity down, the security system kicked in automatically and wouldn't come down until his father or Natalie reset it. He took out his phone and sent a quick message to his father's assistant.

"Just my luck. The day we're supposed to go on a date, it rains and we get locked in my home." He hung his head.

"It could be worse. Now, tell me, " she elbowed him playfully bringing a small smile to his shadowed features, "If we had been able to leave, what was this date going to be?"

"First, " he said after a while, "We would have gone to Luxembourg Gardens. I was supposed to have a shoot there today so my father had the entire garden closed from the public. Then yesterday happened and he decided to give me some time off. He had already paid for it to be closed and I had asked you on a date so I asked permission for us to still use there. We were going to have the lunch that I made this morning while you were sleeping, play some games as you might get inspired by the scenery. Then we would come home and change and I would take you to the Opera because I remember you said that you liked their costuming. Then we would have had dinner under the stars."

Her traitorous heart melted at his words. For something so last minute he put a lot of thought and effort into it and seemed genuinely distraught that he couldn't give her the day he planned. This really felt like a real date.

"But now we're stuck here and I kind of wished we didn't watch all those movies last night." He laughed.

She wrapped her arms around his side and laid her head on his shoulder. "For what it's worth, you planned a wonderful day. If I hadn't kept us in bed so long, we could have been trapped in the gardens and then go off to my home since here would be locked down. Anyway, if you want, I can count last night as the date or we can have a do-over on a later date."

If she had been watching his face she would have seen his face fall momentarily, and his eyebrows furrow as he tried to think of something. Next thing she knew Adrien jumped up with a determined gleam in his eyes.

"I know what we're going to do today. Go to your room and grab as many cushions and pillows and blankets as you can then meet me in my father's office." He took off running.

She was left on the floor, mildly confused. Shaking her head she headed off to her room, took off her shoes and went about getting the things he asked for.

Sometime later, she stood in the office.

"Adrien, why are we here?" She asked.

"I'm going to take you somewhere special. Just stand right there." He was fiddling with the bookshelf behind the desk. With a triumphant sound, he pulled one out and the floor beneath her feet began to move. His long legs quickly made the short distance and joined her on the quickly descending platform, his arm wrapped around her middle and pulled her close to him.

A few seconds of darkness gave away to an awe-inspiring sight. Apparently, beneath the mansion was an underground garden. Upon seeing her shocked face Adrien began an explanation of its existence.

His mother had a deep love for nature and he created this hideaway for her where she could relax and forget all her stresses.

The elevator dinged open and they entered the botanical wonderland. He guided her to a secluded spot amongst the flowers. If she breathed deeply, she got hints of a cloying, familiar scent along with the air. She wasn't able to put a name to it so she ignored it

It was nearing 1500h by the time they set up and ate. Adrien insisted on making the biggest fort possible for his princess but lacked the experience to act out his vision without Marinette gently guiding his exuberance.

It didn't help either that Adrien just couldn't stop his hands and lips from straying towards her form. A quick kiss to the underside of her jaw, the brush of his fingers along her neck as he brushed one of her pigtails back over her shoulders, his fingers lingering a beat longer on the back of her hand as she handed him a pillow, a lingering kiss to the back of her neck and a light squeeze of her thigh near her knee had her body quickly intuned and hyperaware of his innocent touches. It didn't help that his eyes were intensely gazing into hers anytime he got the chance or the casually sexual undertones of their lunch conversation that he skilfully mixed in had her skin feeling heated, warmth pooling between her thighs that had her clenching tightly for some form of friction.

She was sure he knew what he was doing to her, yet there was a nonchalant air about him that gave her doubts.

Her question was answered when they had finished eating and he reached over and with the pad of his thumb wiped the sauce that was left on the corner of her mouth before sticking said digit in his mouth while keeping smouldering eye contact with her.

That was her breaking point.

Without thought, she scrambled into his lap and straddled him, his hands reflexively found her hips and steadied her wiggling form. She didn't kiss him. She couldn't. The still clear piece of her mind was rife with fear of rejection. Instead, she flicked her lidded blue eyes from his eyes to his lips and back.

"Princess..."

"Please Adrien, " she sighed against his lips.

That was all he needed to hear to crash his lips into hers.

It was like the night before when she kissed him as Chat Noir and nothing like it at all. With his hands free, he was able to place a punishing grip on her hips and force her lower half closer to him. He kissed her hard, almost gaining dominance of their battle of tongues before pulling away and trailing his lips down her neck to her collar bone. His right hand slid up her body to under her shirt, teasing the skin right under her bra. All the while Marinette couldn't help but wantonly moan and writhe in his lap. The feel of his length straining against his jeans, pressed up into her core had her wantonly grinding down on him for some form of relief.

It was too good to continue. M. Agreste had called and Adrien couldn't ignore it. He gave a lingering kiss on her forehead before stepping away to take it with great reluctance.

Even through all that Marinette knew she wasn't getting the full Adrien Agreste. There was still a lot of restraint with his actions. It was like he was unsure of what to do. Maybe he wasn't into her as she was him, or maybe it was purely sexual and he didn't want to confuse her. A small part of her that was steadily growing louder over the course of the day.

Clearly, he must be interested in her. Why else would he ask her on a date so meticulously planned? Why else would he kiss her the way he had the past few days? Why else would he have stayed tied up and responded eagerly to her actions? Why else would he have chosen her to help him regain his memories?

She flew up from the pillows and quickly made her way to where Adrien had run off.

The answer was simple and it drowned out her pessimism. Adrien Agreste liked her, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. This wouldn't have to be an 'All I Ask' moment, this could be their first date of many more to come. She could finally express her deep-seated feelings for him and-

"Yes father, everything is going to plan." He raked a hand through his blonde locs. She was behind him and couldn't possibly see his facial expressions. "I just- I don't... I don't think I'm going about this the right way. ... I-I think she is beginning to like me. ..." he scoffed "Yes father, she will inherit your company, even if I have to marry her to do so" he laughed slightly. "Goodbye, father."

"So, this is what it is, huh?"

"Mari-"

"This date is over. It's been a nice day, but I think either of us would like a repeat of it." She said flippantly

"It's not -"

"Tell your father forcing marriage on you when you obviously don't want me is not necessary. " She said with a small laugh, giving him a dismissive wave of her hand.

"But-" he looked as though he was scrambling for any words to soothe her. To make his actions hurt less.

"As you said, we're just good friends. We'll only ever be good friends. Nothing else." Her bright smile plastered on her face belied the emotional distraught wrought from his callous actions. "I think we need a break from all this to get back to normal so as soon as the security is reset I'll be staying a few days at home"

He walked up to her and his hand reached out as if to cup her cheek. She evaded his touch and as calmly as possible she turned and walked away. He followed her quick pace to the elevator

"I could never force you to do something like that when you don't want to. I respect your feelings, Adrien." Surprisingly her voice stayed strong as she stepped into the elevator and gave him a dazzling smile as it ascended.

She didn't see him drop to his knees right where she left him.

"Princess, please"