Hey guys, here's chapter 3, let me know what you think!

Thank you so much for those that are liking the story so far.

Chapter 3

Marinette kept staring at her partner. Who, because of her own stubborn insistence, slept on top of her bed. She had said that she wouldn't bother him and she wouldn't, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't stare. This sight was unusual, even for her. She was actually surprised that he had actually taken up on her offer, not that she had left him with much choice either way.

He looked so peaceful in his sleep, he had fallen asleep so quickly, which reassured her that she had made the right choice by forcing him to sleep. Maybe it had been a little bit sudden, but she trusted him enough. Looking up to her clock, she noticed that two hours had passed since the feline hero had fallen asleep. As promised, she woke him up.

Chat felt a slight nudge trying to rip him out of the sweet dreamland where he laid, one where his lady loved him back, and Hawkmoth didn't exist anymore. It had been cut short way too fast to his liking. As he opened his eyes he could see a blur of dark hair and blue eyes looking down at him. "Chat…". He grinned, thinking that his Lady was there, calling out to him.

With an even stronger shake that took him out of his reverie, his eyes focused and he could finally see that it wasn't his Lady. "Chat! Come on, you need to wake up". He lifted himself up leaning on his forearm, before sleepily smiling at his classmate. Suddenly he remembered why he was there, that he had slept on Marinette's bed and that his time was most likely up. "Hey, purr-incess, is my time up?", He yawned and stretched like a cat, sitting up on her bed.

"Yes, it's a bit late, it's almost…" She stared at the clock hanging from her wall, "10 pm, you should probably head home"

"Did you finish okay your homework." He felt bad that he hadn't been able to help her, but maybe he still had a chance.

"Well, I finished it for the most part, but I'm having some problems with one specific exercise"

"Show it to me" He was sure which exercise was giving her problems, he too had scratched his head in confusion for a bit because of it. Marinette went to retrieve her notebook, returning with a couple of the materials needed to solve the problem.

Plopping them down on the bed next to Chat, she sat down, and pointed to the exercise.

With a smirk, he started explaining to Marinette how to solve the exercise. She couldn't take her eyes away from him, right at this moment he seemed so different to how she's used to seeing him. A serious look, so unusual on his usually jovial face. Suddenly she felt his eyes on her, and she realized that she had been staring at him for too long and she had been caught in the act.

"Princess, did you get it?" His smile quickly turned into a smirk, "or were you too busy staring at my in-claw-dibly handsome face?".

Marinette's face turned red involuntarily, it was embarrassing to say the least. She hadn't been admiring him, at least not in that way. She was just surprised to see such a different facet of her partner; it wasn't fair that he could turn things on her so quickly. "Gosh, Chat, that was just awful" She couldn't come up with anything else, and knew that he'd make another remark as soon as his smirk got even wider, as if that were even possible.

"Princess, that's im-paw-ssible, none of my puns are claw-ful". She was so close to smacking him, but she knew that he needed him for her homework. "Chat, one more pun and I'll kick you out and won't let you in for a week".

Chat gasped in feigned shock. "You wouldn't"

Marinette glared at him, before a playful smile graced her lips "Do I look like I'd lie about such a thing?"

Chat got close to her, just a few centimeters away from her face, staring into her eyes. "No, I know my Princess wouldn't lie to me". With her palm on his chest she pushed him away, she didn't want to do the same mannerisms she did as ladybug, no matter how natural they seemed to come to her when she was around her partner.

I would, no actually, I do. Thought Marinette, but she knew that she couldn't tell him that. So with a pang of guilt she smiled at him.

"Chat, I think you should leave". Her voice had an edge to it and he flinched. She looked at him, she hadn't been expecting that reaction. "It's late" her voice sounded strange to her, far off and maybe to cold and standoffish.

Chat could only nod, "Of course, it's late after all, and it's a school night". He looked unsure of himself, "I'll be able to see you again, right?". His voice sounded small, and Marinette was scared that maybe she had been too aloof. At the thought, her shoulders relaxed and she let a warm smile grace her lips.

"Of course, Chat. You're always welcome here" She bit her lip in nervousness, she hoped the way she things hadn't made him doubt her, maybe it was a stretch but she wanted him to trust her.

Chat relaxed his shoulders, he hadn't even noticed they had tensed. The way Marinette had told him to leave had felt like an order, like she suddenly really didn't want him there. And it scared him, what if he stepped a line? What did he do wrong? Is this what could have happened with her as Adrien as well? He knew he wasn't good at dealing with people yet, and he was scared of losing her as both his civilian self and his superhero self.

So when he turned around, ready to leap through the door that lead to the balcony and felt a tug on his tail, he looked back in surprise. "I mean it Chat, you can come back. No. I want you to come back". He looked at her bright bluebell eyes, her sincere smile and a light blush that spread slowly onto her cheeks. And he knew then, he was welcomed here. He finally found a place where he was welcomed. So with a wide smile and a bow, he leapt onto the rooftops of Paris once again.

"Tikki." The kwami flew towards her from her hiding place, which was near her desk.

"Marinette." The bluenette turned towards the little god.

"Why do you think Chat has been visiting me lately?". She hadn't dared to ask the kwami before, but now that it seemed to be a recurrence her curiosity won.

"I'm not particularly sure, but try to be careful so that he doesn't find out your identity"

"What if he knows already?"

"I trust that he would tell you." Tikki wasn't completely certain that would be the case, but she had to give him the benefit of the doubt, besides she trusted that Plagg would let her know if his holder were to find out Ladybug's identity.

Adrien couldn't take his eyes off Marinette. The moment she had ran into the classroom, late once again. It felt like a magnet had been inserted into his eyes and she was the one thing that attracted it.

Her behavior didn't seem as different as it had days prior. Now she would nod whenever he made his presence known, so he guessed that was an improvement. It also let him know that he really had done something, which stung him so deeply that suddenly he wasn't sure wanting to know the reason as to why she was acting this way towards him.

Now it was lunch, and he turned towards Nino. "Invite Alya to eat with us".

Nino just lifted his eyebrow in question, which was received with a light shrug.

He turned towards the brunette behind him, ready to make the invitation. Meanwhile, Adrien kept an eye on Marinette, who kept avoiding looking his at him directly. He could tell that she was glancing at him from the corner of her eye and his curiosity jumped at the discovery.

However, what caught his eye even more than the slight jump and tense smile that stretched over her lips when Alya extended the invitation to Marinette.

Yep, it's definitely me. She hates me. Adrien felt his gut twist in the fear of losing his first friend.

Lunch had never been a part of the day Marinette usually dreaded, but having to spend a full hour around the love of her life, love that she herself had renounced, would be torture. She knew that she wasn't being fair with him, but she couldn't stop herself. She needed to prioritize herself after so much time of prioritizing him and her feelings for him.

Adrien sat across from her, and she couldn't decide whether she would have preferred to have him on her side, only so that way she could avoid his pointed stare.

Alya kept staring at the two, it was obvious something was going on, and she couldn't help but feel left out.

Marinette felt an elbow hit her side, followed by a pointed look from Alya. She could practically see the wheels turning in her friend's head and she knew that she would have to let Alya in on the whole "forget Adrien spiel". She owed her at least that after she had helped her for so long with her hopeless love.

Marinette couldn't remember how she had ended up between Luka's guitar and Luka himself again, but she found that she enjoyed it. It didn't feel the same as it when she was near Adrien, but it was a start. And it was one she would let herself indulge in.

This time when Adrien came around, sans Kagami, she didn't step away from Luka, although her first instinct had been just that. She didn't have to pretend that she didn't enjoy this, because it wouldn't bother him, because Adrien only saw her as a friend. And she would have to get used to it.

One day she hoped it wouldn't hurt as much as it did now. There would be a day where hearing Adrien call her just a friend would bring her joy, it just wasn't today or anytime soon.

"Adrien" Luka stepped out from behind her, leaving his guitar completely on Marinette's hands.

"Hey, Luka. It's nice to see the band all together again." Adrien stepped closer to the both of them, and with shy smile turned towards Marinette.

"Hello, Marinette. I'm glad you were able to join us today"

Marinette turned to him, she couldn't ignore him when he had her in the corner like this.

"Hey, I-uh. Well, It-it's not like I really do anything for the band besides the designs." She hadn't expected to bring herself down, but apparently that was all she knew to do when around Adrien.

"Nonsense, Marinette. You're the moral support for this group!"

Marinette couldn't help but blush at his words, she didn't want to blush.

"I think I need to go, I promised my parents I'd help them at the bakery" She was running, she knew it, but could you blame her?

"But wait, Marinette, Adrien just got here, and you said you had a few hours before you had to help your parents." She heard Alya's voice before she could see her, if she had maybe she'd had given her the look, but now all she could think of doing was throwing herself over the boat's dock.

So much for escaping successfully, Marinette thought bitterly.

With a forced smile, she turned towards Alya. "Yeah, but I just remembered that they had told me this morning that they had gotten this huge order and that they would probably need me even earlier than usual"

Alya didn't seem to believe her, and honestly her lie was as bad as they come, but she needed to get out of there ASAP. And like the good friend that she was Alya just snapped her fingers, "Oh! Right! You had told me about it during Physics class, right? The Boudoin wedding cake, right?"

Marinette thanked her with a look, "Yes, exactly! The Boudoir wedding cake"

Adrien just looked between the two in confusion, he hadn't heard them talk about any wedding cake during class, and much less had he heard the Boudoin name be mentioned.

"It was nice seeing you guys, bye!" Adrien just looked at her leave until she wasn't in his sight, then he turned towards Luka. "What was that?"

His question was only met by a shrug.

Hey guys, I couldn't update yesterday so sorry for that.

Also I made a really stupid joke with Marinette changing the last name of the wedding cake client. Boudoin would be the last name and Boudoir is (if I'm not wrong) a woman's private sitting room. Thought it was funny, considering Mari tends to butch up sentences quite a lot.

Also, heads up, in my story both Lukanette and Adrigami will be canon at one point. However, they will not be endgame, but instead will help with the plot.

P.s. I've been thinking so much about puns that Chat would likely use, that I've started using cat puns irl, y'all please send help.

P.s.s Feel free to message me as well, I like talking with people that have similar interests as me hahah [I have no friends that watch MLB (ㅠvㅠ)]