Back again with the new chapter, sorry it took so long I have a bit of a cold and work is mad. Who knew an opticians would be so busy. So weve made it up to 16 reviews! And who am I to disappoint? Enjoy another Adrien POV ~Midnight

He couldn't believe his eyes. Shy Marinette. 'I stumbled over my own feet whilst talking to you' Marinette, Was whizzing around the makeshift obstacle course faster than humanly possible, weaving in and out of the wall frame like the wind through trees, launching on the spring boards onto the vault boxes like a cat , Climbing the gymnastic bars like they posed absolutely no challenge even at the ridiculous angles and heights they had been set to, and she might as well have skipped the balance beams and linked ladders as they were obviously no problem for her whatsoever either.

There was the confidence he was looking for earlier. Shining brightly from her strangely contrasting grim yet determined face.

It was his first time ever seeing her in an athletic environment, and shamefully he had pinned her as a rather clumsy girl (he didnt know that this was only around him specifically), but glancing around at the rest of the room, he took note that whilst the boys were all vaguely slack jawed and unable to tear their eyes away, the girls were pretty much ignoring it, having obviously witnessed this many a time before.

Especially Chloe, who was sat on her phone and occasionally throwing angry glances at her as she flew around the room. He'd seen the exchange minutes earlier when he had been coming out of the boys changing rooms and he really couldn't figure out why she disliked her so much.

How did she get such fluid movement? Did she take some sort of gymnastics class outside of school? Don't get him wrong, he knew that this was perfectly feasible to do as he himself would make light work of the course that wasn't even really going to present much of a challenge to the rest of the class either. But that came with his frequent trips out over rooftops as a cat themed hero, not something a timid fashion designer who lived above a bakery would partake in. He had to admit that besides now sitting beside her and before in front in class, and that she is the daughter of a very well known and popular baker, he didnt know very much about her at all. It made her almost as mysterious to him as his lady. Not quite but almost. He knew absolutely nothing about his lady.

That also bothered him quite a bit to be honest, but whatever she wanted him to know or not know was fine by him, so he wasn't about to pry.

He wanted to know more about both. First he wanted to ask Ladybug about her love life, little steps with ladybug or she was bound to block him again, and now in the space of less than 5 hours he really wanted to befriend Marinette and find out who she was as a person. He had no idea how to do either task.

Throughout this little derailing of his thoughts, his eyes continued to follow Marinette around the floor, following her every twist and turn, more than likely an atrociously dopey smile displaying on his face. And suddenly she was finished. landing on the ending map gracefully, a small smile gracing her petite features. Followed quickly by a deep blush as she caught his eye, suddenly back to the fumbling and the 'please don't look at me or i'll faint' behavior he was much more accustomed to.

"4 minutes 32 seconds, congratulations Marinette, you have beaten the previous record of 7:58" The girls teacher beamed at her before turning to the rest of the group. "Marinette has now officially thrown down the gauntlet on this task, I expect each of you to try your hardest but most of all to enjoy this, it isn't a punishment. Now for the next person" She scanned the group, almost immediately focusing on Chloe on her phone and frowned. Obviously not one to buy into the whole 'daughter of the mayor' crap that she spews. "Chloe, your turn next."

Sabrina had to poke Chloe to get her to react, she was now so engrossed in whatever was on the phone. A brief glimpse at the screen showed a fairly expensive ladybug replica yo-yo, and the thought that Chloe was possibly even more obsessed with Ladybug than he was made him shiver. She passed her phone to Sabrina and got up, flicking her hair with the same self-importance she had earlier whilst antagonizing Marinette before strolling over to the starting mat. The teacher rolled her eyes and blew the whistle.

And thus began the most embarrassing mockery of gym class that any of them had ever witnessed. She was off of the equipment more than on it and nobody really wanted to watch,and when she finally finished on a time of 15:23 everybody was relieved. It then became a rather slow lesson as they kept getting called up, nobody following the two extremes set by the first two girls and mostly averaging out about 9 minutes.

When it was his turn, he watched as all of the eyes in class turned to him getting up off of the bench, trying not to be too self-conscious about it as it was Chat that was the confident showman not him, and launched himself at the course with as much as could could gather. He vaguely felt a little sorry for Marinette, because he was sure that his extra curricular crime fighting and cat-like properties would give him the edge, that her new record was about to be broken, but he grinned and continued anyway. Time to show the class just what he was made of.

It felt like time had stopped as he raced around all of the obstacles and equipment, there really was much more to do than he had thought, and by the time his feet touched back down on the mat again he was confident. He turned to the teacher throwing them a questioning glance for his time. How many seconds would the difference be? On another thought, what would the difference be between him and his lady? now that would be an interesting match.

"4 minutes and... 33 seconds. 1 second difference. Bad luck Adrien, Marinette gets to keep her record time. Next person!"

He froze briefly before making his way back to the bench beside Nino. Who was already waiting to pat him on the back. Whispering so that he didnt draw the teachers attention.

"I knew you could do it Adrien, and to beat the old record as well!" Adrien shook his head, now absently gazing at the side of Marinette's head with both intrigue and a little bit of wonder. She must be in complete peak condition to go toe to toe with him on something like this. Responding to Nino offhandedly whilst lost in thought.

"yeah, but Marinette still keeps the actual record..." Nino frowned at this, also turning his head to look at her slightly.

"I know... that was the shock of the century. Never knew she had it in her. Does she do some sort of gymnastics outside of school or something...?" Adrien removed his gaze from the girl who was suddenly aware of his stare as she turned to face him unintentionally, focusing his attention on Nino.

"You mean you don't know how she got that good or...?" He shook his head and shrugged.

"Like I said, probably gymnastics. I cant imagine that the bakery is 100% healthy eating so she must do something to keep in shape I suppose" He nodded in response. It did make some sense that she wouldn't just be designing clothes 24/7 like he had originally thought. She was surprising, in more ways than one.

After that they had all finished their individual runs, the class looked at the board that their times had all been written on. It was all fairly average, and each was wondering how the pairing were going to be split. The teachers soon got everybody's attention again for the reveal.

"now, as this lesson although as a piece of fun for you all, is to identify those who may need help with the class, your pairs shall be the person below you on the list. Marinette who is at the top of the list pairs with Adrien in second. Alix in third place pairs with Kim and so on. This ensures that as your times are similar, neither of you holds the other partner back." The whole class seemed to be silent, staring at the board with abstract horror as they slowly figured out who the rest of them would be paired with. A quick glance to the side showed Marinette red in the face, just about looking ready for what he thought might be the second or third threatened heart attack today.

The prospect of being paired with her made him grin slightly. It should be very interesting indeed. The teacher cleared his throat to regain their attention.

"The way that we will divide the equipment is that the top third will have the skipping ropes tied around their wrists, the middle third shall receive the medicine balls, and the final third carries the small pommel horses" Sighs of relief were hear from those in the final third, save for the indignant huff that emanated from Chloe. They could put the horses down on the equipment just not the floor. The rest of the group looked at the balls and ropes with apprehension.

"We will move from the top of the board downward, so if Marinette and Adrien please step forward, you will help each other tie your wrists together and you will start the course" Adrien stood up full of confidence and just a bit happy about the arrangement. Someone that could keep up with Chat Noir was a rare and wonderful thing. But Marinette it seemed needed a soft shove from Alya to get herself moving.

He lost a little of his smile seeing that. Did she really not wished to be paired with him that much? She was very red, and not looking his way at all as she made her way to the front of the room, simply extending her left wrist towards him. Still astutely not facing him.

He picked up a rope from the basket beside him, red with black handles of course, and laced it around her wrist in a firm but not tight knot that wouldn't hurt her wrist. She looked down at her wrist for a moment with what he assumed to be a slightly bewildered expression before he placed the other end of the rope in her hand and offered his own wrist. It was only then that she looked up at him before quickly doing the same for him. That quick look was enough for him to realize why she was so red though.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was blushing. Blushing about being tied to him or working with him in general, or maybe even because of this morning he didnt know. He wanted her to feel comfortable though. he thought for a moment before he lowered his voice enough just for her to hear it, smirking widely.

"You ready to show Chloe how this is done?"

She looked up at him with a mixture of surprise and slight admiration, before a slow smile spread over her features. A smile that really, at some angles may have been a smirk. and she nodded slightly.

"Oh absolutely"

They turned together then, thoughts now matching up, and faced the course, giving each other a nod before they sprang as one.

Some might have called it beautiful.

They way the two of them wove around it so wondrously in sync, like they had been practicing together for months for this one final performance.

Some might have called it scary.

The way they seemed to attack the course so fast that they spent no longer than a few seconds on each equipment.

Where one person needed the tied hand to move on, the other quickly and without prompting filled the gap with their own free hand, their faces forming large and happy grins slowly throughout as they let go and had fun with it, but still giving it all they had, not ones to lose. it felt like it all happened all at once and at the same time spread over an eternity. Adrien couldn't believe how well they worked together, and he could see the walls Marinette had somehow built around him breaking in her mind as they moved practically as one being. She even let him hold onto her for swinging on the rope obstacle Tarzan style, it being the best way to get across. And they used each other to keep balance on the beams.

And all too soon it was over. They turned to each other and he raised his free hand in a fist at the same time she did so with her own to give a celebratory and obligatory 'mission accomplished' fist bump. Both fairly cocky and filled with adrenaline at this point they actually turned and made a bow towards the remaining students, all slack jawed and staring. The teachers both looking at them with amazement. One of them eventually moving his mouth enough to tell them their time.

"Well, individually you managed 4:32 and 4:33, but together you... I'm surprised to say actually managed to beat that by a very small margin. 4:29. You saved each other about 4 seconds." They both looked at each other in shock and surprise.

Working with her actually made him... better at this? he understood that with them helping each other out over it might have shaved off time, but he would never have thought Marinette of all people would be able to pull it off. Even after he watched her do it faster than ladybug probably could. It was still a tough thought to process. At least she was no longer looking at him like the most embarrassing thing she had ever seen. That was good.

"You two can go, I can tell you that nobody else will even come close to that time so you win by default, go and get changed and have an early lunch" They removed the rope and headed towards their respective changing rooms, individually going past Chloe to flaunt their success, maturely. Really, is it his fault that he laughed so hard when Marinette stuck her tongue out at her? He made the executive decision that he would find her after changing. See if they could have lunch together.

He was all for breaking barriers, and some were just destined to crumble.