When Marinette awoke before the sun rose that morning, she was very aware that her bed was breathing.

Initially cursing herself for allowing them to get too comfortable with this arrangement of theirs, she gently tried to rouse Chat with soft nudges. The usual sleepiness, which normally did not fully disappear until halfway through second period, was replaced by slight panic. The want to shout out for Plagg to come and wake him up was great, but she settled for prodding her pointer finger in Chat's side.

He let out a slightly high pitched muffled chuckle, and squirmed beneath her while groaning.

"Nnnmmph, sthop i' Pwaag."

Marinette giggled despite the situation, having to resist turning to see how cute he must have looked as he snuggled into her pillow. His arm, which was still draped around her, pulled her tightly into him as he grabbed dangerously close to a certain area.

He groaned with annoyed tiredness at being woken up.

"Gimme me bwanket."

Marinette giggled again and poked him in the ribs, a little harder while conscious of his sleepy hand and where it was positioned. "Kitty~" she cooed softly, "you need to wake up."

"Kid," Plagg's irritated being flew into Marinette's focus, shooting her an accusatory look, "come on, before Pigtail's finds out who you are."

Chat stilled, Marinette guessed he had finally realised he was not at home, and it took a few moments before he seemed to remember where he was. His almost groping hand quickly moved from its precarious position as if the feel of Marinette burned his bare hand.

"Hehe," he sheepishly forced out a laugh, "sorry about that."

Marinette rolled her eyes in good humour, a teasing lilt in her tone, "don't worry, you were half asleep, I won't hold it against you."

He sighed with humoured appreciation while giving her a squeeze. "Thanks Mari," she could just picture his cheeky smile, "claws out."

The glow of green engulfed the little loft space where her bed was positioned, and Marinette felt the tingle from his transformation as it washed over him. It was a weird sensation to feel it on someone else, not intense like when she, herself, transformed, but still, the magic left a warm feeling radiating through her. She hummed and relaxed back into him for one last moment of contented bliss with Chat.

"You'd better go," she said reluctantly while stifling a yawn, simultaneously stretching and rolling off him completely. The loss of warmth noticeable as she leant up on her elbows and looked over to him. "See you later?" She asked hopefully.

Chat moved onto his hands and knees as he started to shuffle off the bed, drawing her gaze as he went. "Definitely."

Marinette sat up and smiled at him while he straightened and stretched his back out as best he could in the small area. Leaning back into her personal space, Chat gazed into her big blue eyes intently, noting the blush dusting her cheeks in the low light.

"Thank you Marinette, I haven't slept that well in a long time."

"I didn't-"

The teenager was cut off by the lingering kiss he placed on her reddening cheek.

Enjoying the pleasant look of surprise on her blushing face, Chat half smiled adoringly down at her while sweeping the bangs out of her face. "Your hair looks beautiful down Purrincess."

"Th-thank you," Marinette stuttered out breathlessly, as her sparkling blue never left his glowing green.

With one last cheeky grin accompanied by a wink and his classic two finger salute, Chat bounded up and out of the hatch, making sure to close the trapdoor softly. Marinette fell back onto her pillow, stretching her arms up and suppressing a delighted squeal, before she reached for her mobile to check the time, Tikki approached her calmly with a neutral expression.

"How would you feel about finding out Chat's identity?"

Exiting the bakery, after bidding her parents and Bridgette good bye, Marinette hoped to make it to school early for once. Her mind was occupied by the question Tikki had sprung on her several hours prior, and Marinette failed to see the blonde leaning against the shop front. One leg resting on the brick wall behind him, he pushed himself off the building and intercepted her path.

"Good morning Marinette."

"Ahh!"

Blue eyes widened comically as she failed to stop herself from stepping into him, tripping as she tried to dodge, only to be caught before crashing to the ground. Her arms still flailing in preparation for the hard impact as the young man tentatively righted her to stand.

"Whoa!" The blonde cautioned with a low chuckle, "careful, I don't need another black eye."

Straightening her up, Felix placed both his hands on her shoulders, a hint of a smile resting on his face.

"Sorry Felix I-wait," Marinette shot him an accusingly pointed look, "why am I apologising when you startled me?"

Felix found his lips curling further, his smile becoming more apparent, earning raised eyebrows from Marinette. "You are right, I am sorry for surprising you, may I carry your bag as a way to make it up to you?"

"No thanks," Marinette continued to look at him with confusion, "what are you-"

"Doing here?" He smirked, a much more recognisable expression on his smug face. "I wanted to walk you to school."

Marinette shrugged off his hands that were still resting on her shoulders. "Why?"

He rolled his eyes in a knowing fashion.

"You and Bridgette-"

"Are fine," he interrupted her, positioning himself at her side and placing a hand on the small of her back. "You, on the other hand, still need my help." He started walking toward the school, bringing Marientte with him.

Marinette no longer needed Felix's help in the way this whole arrangement started out. Adrien was already showing classic signs of jealousy, even if it was only subtle, but Felix already feared that he had made the situation dire for himself. He had some major ground to cover, but was grateful that his behaviour would be considered somewhat normal as he had been flirtatious with her from Monday morning. All he needed to do was help her see that he was a much better match than his stupid, idiotic cousin.

He saw the risk of making Adrien actually realise his own feelings at the same time, but he was going to make sure he was able to monopolise Marinette's time as much as possible. This was no longer about making Bridgette jealous, this was no longer about showing Marinette that Adrien returned her feelings, this was about them.

This was about making Marinette fall for him.

"I still don't see what it is that you're meant to be doing…" Marinette sighed and rolled her eyes with a shake of her head.

Felix simply chuckled coyly behind his free hand, "as I said, all in good time, my fair maiden."

The morning so far had been pretty normal for a Wednesday. Algebra, literature and geography over and done with, the only thing that was out of the ordinary, was the tense way Adrien had been holding himself. Marinette had not had much chance to speak to him however, as at every opportunity she took to see what was going on, Felix intercepted her interaction with his cousin. The dark haired beauty was beginning to feel that he was doing it on purpose.

Even Alya could be seen clenching her teeth by the time lunch came around.

'And why is he so touchy-feely!?'

Marinette found concentrating on anything difficult though, as Tikki's question was still being debated in her head. She could not talk to the tiny goddess however, but she needed to try and talk a few things through to way up the consequences of finally revealing themselves. Marinette felt Alya would be perfect to talk about this with, from an outsider's point of view of course.

Finally managing to break away from Felix's contact when they entered the park, as he had yet again draped his arm around her shoulders, Marinette led the group to sit by the statue depicting the heroes. She hoped this would strike up a conversation about them, the secret heroine was not left disappointed.

"Any new activity on the Ladyblog Alya?" Adrien asked as he sat down in the vacant space next to Felix, leaving just enough space for a little one to sit on the other side of him. "I haven't seen much going on recently." They all took out their lunch as Alya pondered her answer while sipping on some water.

"Actually, I've only been sent pictures of Chat Noir patrolling these past few nights-"

Marinette instantly felt her face flush, glad that she had just taken some bits of rubbish from her bag to the bin before settling down to eat.

"-maybe he's taking a break though, Ladybug was out all last week so perhaps they're taking it in turns."

Marinette hummed in agreement before turning back to face the group. Normally there would be no problem with seating arrangements, as two would sit on one side of the bench, and two would sit opposite, now however, Marinette was finding two sets of green eyes looking at her. One expectant, and one pleasantly friendly.

"Move over babe," Alya casually motioned to Nino, giving Marinette the perfect excuse to avoid sitting next to Felix, and also allowing her to have a better chance at speaking with Adrien: he was now sat opposite her.

Surprised by the daggers that Felix was now sending Alya, Marinette could not place who he reminded her of, but the feeling of déjà vu was unsettling.

"Have you seen Chat out and about?" Alya asked Marinette nonchalantly.

"N-n-no would I seen? Ah-why would think you that?"

The budding designer cursed her panicked stutter while the aspiring reporter leaned in and bumped her playfully. The reddening bluenette was hoping the profound blush could be passed off as mere embarrassment, and not because she thought of Chat.

She missed the small adoring smile resting on Adrien's lips, he found it endearing when she became flustered, but it had not been happening so much recently.

"Oh how I have missed Yoda-nette," Alya jested, "I'm only asking because recently he's been pictured every night around here."

"Maybe it's just the route he takes," Adrien offered as nonchalantly as possible, feeling his own face dust with pink while his heart rate increased. 'I'll have to be more careful.'

"Possibly," Alya hummed, "or~ he lives by here somewhere and they've caught him coming and going-"

Both Marinette and Adrien froze momentarily.

"Maybe he just likes to look at himself."

Four sets of eye rounded on Felix, all with questioning looks as to what the British national was getting at.

He rolled his eyes and gestured to the statue, "he seems the type that would be vain enough to marvel at something inspired by himself."

"He's not like that."

'Damn I said that out loud!' Marinette cursed her big mouth, but at the same time no one was going to say unfavourable things about her Kitty. "I meant," she recovered, trying to pass the defensive need she had off as just a blaisé comment. "I-I-uh think, it's~ just a show he puts on yeah, just an act."

Alya was not buying her too broad a smile and comically nodding head, but chose to leave it there. She knew Marinette was getting flustered enough and did not want to add to her embarrassment in front of Adrien, she had been making great progress after all.

"Hmm," Alya hummed skeptically, "it still doesn't explain the five a.m. picture I received this morn-"

Alya was cut out by an almighty crash sounding out a few streets away.

"Babe-"

"Watch my bag!"

The four friends were sat watching as Alya jumped up and ran toward where the sound emitted from.

"I'm gonna have to go and make sure she doesn't get squished or something."

Nino left quickly following his girlfriend, leaving Marinette, Adrien and Felix awkwardly sitting on the picnic bench.

'How the hell am I gonna transform now!?'

Sorry about the long wait for this chapter! I hoped you enjoyed it anyway.

Thank you for the reviews, follows and faves, they really do make my day!

Take it easy and stay safe =D

Lady Rhi X