Throw Me Around Like One Of Your French Girls, Chapter 14

At the back of the library, near the dust-encrusted historical autobiography section, Adrien sat at a desk and mentally willed everyone else around him to go somewhere, anywhere else, just away from him for now.

It was hard enough to concentrate with his conscious mind shrieking at him about what it had just seen, what the state of Marinette's makeup implied, and how porous her spoken alibi seemed to him. With other people milling about the room, talking quietly amongst themselves, and a couple of them socializing a short distance away from him?

Impossible.

His first impulse was to run; to duck away somewhere private, transform to Chat Noir, and use his mobility to go somewhere that he truly wouldn't be found any time soon. On top of the Arc de Triomphe, perhaps, he considered. Or down by the riverbank. A part of his brain considered going to Marinette's balcony; he tended to get some of his clearest thinking done there, he smiled, and he knew that she wouldn't be there right now.

But simply being late had gotten him in some trouble once today already. A full disappearing act would raise many more questions than it could answer, he reasoned. This is where his teacher had told him to go; disobeying her might carry with it a much larger penalty than the leniency she'd bestowed upon him so far.

Finally, as lunchtime approached, he looked around him and felt as if he was alone enough to take a small risk. He tapped on his messenger bag three times, in a code signifying "you can come out now."

Warily, Plagg emerged, sticking to the shadows of the desk as best he could. One look at his host's face told him that this wasn't going to be the easiest of conversations.

Pigtails, I'll do my best to help you wriggle out of this one, he thought, ...but, girl, you've dug yourself a hole this time.

As Ms. Bustier's class dispersed for lunch, Marinette stared as the last other person went through the door, then gave her teacher a pleading look. When she received a small smile coupled with a "no" head-shake in return, she pulled a chair over next to the main desk.

"All right. Marinette... you understand why I wanted to speak with you, don't you?" Ms. Bustier began. "I do not want you thinking that I'm 'picking on you,' as certain other people tend to describe my discipline when they think that I'm not listening."

"I wonder who that could be?" drawled Marinette, sarcastically. "Yes, I understand. I was late, again..."

"Well, let's both be fair about this. You were late first thing this morning, and then late again coming back from break. And the second time, you didn't have any excuses as to why... and you had company with you. Tardiness is not supposed to be contagious."

"No, it isn't. I apologize."

Ms. Bustier paused for a moment. "I do give you quite a bit of leeway with this sort of thing, Marinette. I know that you are aware of that," she continued. "Part of why I do that... is that I know the giant heart that you possess. On more than one occasion, you've come to me with the best of reasons why you were late, because you were helping someone else through their problems. So I do try to give you the benefit of the doubt."

"And then there are days like today," she shook her head, "when I don't know what I'm going to do with you."

Marinette tried to respond, but a raised finger cut her off. "Not yet. You will get your turn to respond, I promise," Ms. Bustier insisted. "And then you may go find him."

Gently chastened, Marinette nodded in assent.

"As it happens, your two small disruptions today may be the least of my worries." Closing her eyes briefly, the teacher gathered her thoughts. "I have a responsibility to my students, both to help them learn and to promote their well-being. I am now dealing with not just a tardy student... whose facial bruise seems to have mysteriously vanished, now that I take another look at her," she puzzled, "...but also her influence on another student, who's come in here battered and bruised this week, now both physically and emotionally."

Again, she cut off Marinette's response before it could burst out of her. "I asked Adrien yesterday what had happened to his face, and he told me," she smiled. "Self-defense lessons, sparring, an errant strike to the eye by reflex. I fully understand that you did not mean to hit him, as does he. If you were to attack Adrien Agreste, I sense that it would be with far more tender weapons... though he still might end up with red marks on his face."

Watching Ms. Bustier touch her own lipstick momentarily to explain her reference, Marinette's jaw dropped. "So... ah... you are aware of my, um... crush on him?" she managed.

Her teacher's laughter at that was bright and heartfelt, if brief. Marinette sensed that it was not meant to mock her in any way, but was meant more to ask, Are you SERIOUS about that?

"I will make myself clear. I am aware that you did not deliberately injure Adrien. It was obvious that he did not injure you, or if he did, he had absolutely no idea that he'd left a mark," Ms. Bustier declared. "And, yet... I have two students who have at least the appearance of having been in fights recently. I have the duty to investigate this, even if I find it improbable that either of you are engaged in street brawling, much less with each other."

"So... enlighten me, please," she asked Marinette. "Why was Adrien so shaken up when the two of you returned this morning? And why should I not write either of you up to stay after school?"

Marinette sat in silence, wondering what was best to say.

"Your private life remains your own," Ms. Bustier clarified. "As does Adrien's. If there are confidences that you do not feel comfortable telling me... say so, okay? But this classroom has had far too many Akumas already. If I can help in possibly preventing one... especially if it might come after him... I trust that you would want to help me do that."

Now, THAT's so ironic, it's criminal, thought Marinette. Believe me, Ms. Bustier, I have a VERY VESTED INTEREST in preventing an Akuma - and ESPECIALLY one aimed at Adrien!

Nodding, Marinette came to a decision.

"There... is an aspect of this that I can't talk about," she began. Because if Adrien just figured out my secret identity, and from the look on his face and the way he was shell-shocked just now, he might've... getting punished for lateness is the least of my worries. "And, yes, Adrien and I... um... might be on the brink of trying out those tender weapons you mentioned. And if we are, I don't intend on missing."

"Good for you, if you are," beamed Ms. Bustier. "It's about time, I might say, even if I shouldn't... and you might just win me five Euros."

"...Hah?"

"Oh, another teacher bet me that it might take the rest of the school year for you two to be an item. I disagreed," she grinned. "Pretend that you didn't hear that."

"I, um..." Marinette faltered, alarmed at the concept of her love life being the object of instructors' wagering. "I swear to you that Adrien's welt was an accident, and that he has never laid a finger on me. I mean, in anger. Or any other way!" she babbled, feeling herself beginning to spiral out of control. "You know what I mean by that! He's been a perfect gentleman."

"Noted," her teacher nodded. "So, how do you explain this today?" she continued, indicating Marinette's right eye. "I found it more than a little odd, that it appeared and disappeared."

I don't want to endanger my identity AGAIN... but I don't have a lot of choice here, thought Marinette. She's looking straight at me. I have to trust her judgment and that my cover story will sound at all convincing.

"Like this," Marinette replied, gritting her teeth, praying that three-quarters of the whole truth would be enough. "I did get hit last night... but definitely not by Adrien."

She leaned in a bit closer to her teacher. "Do you see this?" she asked, pointing out the layers of makeup on her left side.

"Oh... oh, my!"

"There are many, many girls around my age in Paris," Adrien began. "Tens of thousands of them, probably."

Plagg nodded, letting him wind this out at his own pace.

"Now... let's assume that Ladybug's appearance doesn't change all that much when she transforms. Same hair color, for instance. Same height and weight and build. Does that sound reasonable?"

"I haven't seen anyone who's been all that different so far, at least in this generation," mused Plagg. "Akumas, they can get twisted into all kinds of shapes. Hosts, they're usually about the same unless they want to be a little different. Like your funky hair."

"Hey! I like my hair as Chat," grumped Adrien. "But you get what I'm saying. Ladybug, in real life, is probably a small, thin girl with dark pigtails."

"That's hard to argue with."

"Okay, then," Adrien declared, his voice beginning to waver. "Now, if I narrow it down to just the small, thin girls with dark pigtails in Paris who were there at the scene of the fight last night, and got punched on the left side of their face by Beauty Mark... how many of those do you think there might be?"

"Oooh! Is this a math problem?" chirped Plagg. "I hate math. Okay, divide by seven... then carry the two..."

"Plagg!" hissed Adrien. "I'm serious!"

"I don't know what it is that you want me to say," countered Plagg, sounding serious. "You know that I know precisely who Ladybug is. And you know that that does you no good-"

"Wait. You do know?"

Plagg just stared at him. "Of course I do. I've known for months," he declared. "You transformed right in front of each other in Dark Owl's trap, remember? You kept your eyes closed like a good boy; I didn't have to. But that does you no good because I can't tell you and I can't even give you more than the vaguest hint."

"Then just tell me that I'm not going insane," Adrien begged. "Tell me that Marinette Dupain-Cheng... that she could be the girl I've been in love with all this time."

"He doesn't listen to me," Plagg grumbled to himself... then faced Adrien again. "Could be? Sure. Could be someone else, too. I can't say!"

Adrien went unfocused for a moment, staring into space. "She's never been Akumatized. Never had to be rescued by us, unlike the rest of our class," he mumbled. "I did see her with Ladybug once... as Multimouse... but I pulled a stunt like that once, too, with Wayhem's help. So that could have been some kind of trick."

"Adrien," Plagg declared, pulling him back from the mental cliff-edge. "I have a question for you."

"Uh-huh?"

"Suppose that she is Ladybug. Which is you saying that, not me. I'm stressing that again," Plagg began. "Suppose that she is. That she wasn't the first civilian who got hit before you arrived last night, and she didn't run away before you could find her, and that makeup is to cover up her battle scar, and that she's fallen for you, just like you've fallen for her."

"Uh-huh?"

"What does that change?"

Adrien struggled for words. "...Everything!" he sputtered.

"...Does it?"

A sudden silence invited Plagg to continue.

"You think that Marinette's amazing... just like Ladybug is. Brave and passionate and funny and even a little flirty sometimes. A gentle side, too; she'd storm Hell with a bucket of gasoline to rescue someone, but she wouldn't hurt a fly there if she didn't have to," he ventured. "You were already preparing to date Marinette; I know you were. She stole your heart the moment that she could relax around you."

"...Why couldn't she relax around me before?" wondered Adrien. "I mean, we were good friends-"

"FOCUS!" hissed Plagg. "So your 'everyday Ladybug' might be your real Ladybug. Might be. If it is true, is that going to change how she - the real, everyday her - acts around you? Is that going to make her love you more, or less? Or make your feelings change? The feelings that already made you break it off with your first girlfriend, so that you could be with Marinette instead? Is it going to change who she is?"

As that sank in, Plagg mused, "I mean... you two would have an awful lot to talk about, if it is true. Like, I don't know that she'd want you to know her secret, but if you did know that, it's up to you how and when you'd tell her that you do know that. Or if you'd want to tell her who you are, and that you have me. Which maybe she'd need to know anyway, if she's the Guardian, which I'm not saying that she is."

"But work with me here," the Kwami said. "Did you fall for Marinette because she might be Ladybug... or because she's awesome?"

"When you're ready to answer that," he added, circling back into Adrien's bag, "you'll be ready to talk to her again."

There was a long pause.

"Th-thank you, Plagg," mumbled Adrien. "I think that I needed to hear that."

"...You're better now?"

"Not all the way," Adrien considered. "Not even close. But enough that I'm not going to freak out when I see her again."

"Camembert in the usual places," a muffled voice replied. "And maybe in some unusual ones, too. We'll talk again later."

Hesitantly, Marinette told Ms. Bustier what she'd told Adrien a short while earlier, regarding her encounter with Beauty Mark - suitably censored, of course - and what she'd done to disguise its aftermath.

"It took me an hour to put this coverup on, and it's barely holding up," she explained. "I don't want to smudge it to show you what's under it... because it's really embarrassing to be marked up like this. Chloe would have horrible nicknames for me for the rest of my life. It looks really bad."

"I can imagine," Ms. Bustier sympathized. "How far down does it go?"

"Face, neck, left shoulder, upper chest," gestured Marinette. "His fists were huge. It took everything I had to hide it from my parents."

"...They don't know about this?" asked Ms. Bustier, raising an eyebrow. "Don't you think that they should?"

"I'm hoping that Ladybug will wipe it away very soon. She's usually very quick about dealing with Akumas," Marinette replied. "If she can't, then, well, yeah, I'll have to show them. I'm not physically hurt, I'm not slowly turning into some kind of horrible bruise monster... I don't want to worry them, and one look at this would worry them."

"What were you doing in that part of town by yourself, anyway?"

Her teacher's question was in a normal tone, but her eyes seemed to pierce through Marinette. "It's... not the nicest part of Paris, is it? And if your parents weren't around when you got targeted..." she wondered aloud.

Marinette took a deep breath. "That," she stated, "is kind of my own business, isn't it?"

That got a stare in response... and then a smile. "Yes, actually, it is," Ms. Bustier agreed, grudgingly. "And good for you for not allowing me to pressure you. I'm sorry, I was just curious."

"That's fine."

"And the facial bruise on the other side? Was that at all real?"

"It was not."

Her pulse racing, Marinette continued. "I saw on the news how people were out searching for Ladybug, all marked up on her left side, just like I am. And I thought... not only do I not want people staring at my face, I don't want them even looking over there. So if there's something over here... that would draw their attention away, wouldn't it? The last thing I wanted was some reporter chasing me around, thinking that I'm secretly Ladybug."

Marinette managed a nervous laugh. "I mean, how ridiculous would that be? Me? A superhero? As awkward and clumsy as I am?" she laughed, hoping Ms. Bustier would laugh along with her. "I'd tie myself upside-down with my yo-yo in the first ten minutes."

"True," Ms. Bustier smiled. "Though, I will note... that you really aren't all that clumsy, when a certain young man isn't around. Don't sell yourself short, Marinette. When you are confident... there is very little on this Earth that you couldn't accomplish."

"Ah... yeah! It's nice that you think so but I'm really not superhero material, at all, like, ever," babbled Marinette. "That'd be silly. But... okay! So I made this distraction," she continued, pointing to her right eye, "to get people to look there instead. I kind of dashed out the door late on purpose, so that my parents wouldn't see it, and I figured that I'd wipe it off before I went home, so they wouldn't have a reason to wonder about it. Everyone looked only where I wanted them to... except for Adrien."

"Which startled him greatly, as I witnessed," her teacher mused. "What did he have to say about that?"

"Um... he was very worried about me, of course," parried Marinette. "I'm... not sure what he thinks now. I told him that I wasn't out using what he'd taught me to go looking for a fight, and that no one had come after me, or anything bad like that. He seemed to believe me when I told him that an Akuma had done this. You... you believe me, too, right?""

"Does it seem a little bit crazy to me? It does. But, then again," Ms. Bustier sighed, "if you had told me a year ago that I would turn into a contagion-spreading kissing-zombie one day..."

"Heh, yeah," Marinette agreed, perhaps a little too quickly. "You never know where those things will strike."

Her teacher studied her face for a moment, and not just where the coverup was.

"You are a complicated young woman, Marinette," she noted. "Perhaps in more ways than you can say out loud."

What does she mean by that? Marinette worried.

"But I have a hard time believing that you could ever do anything from poor intent," she smiled. "Promise me this. That you will make a valiant attempt to be and remain on time for the remainder of the week..."

"Absolutely."

"...and that if this marking continues beyond today, or if anything even remotely like this happens to you ever again, that you will keep your parents in the loop?"

Her expression became quite serious. "I cannot imagine how worried they would be, if they were aware of what you're going through, or how you got there," she insisted. "Or what they would think of me if they knew that I knew something about it, but that I said nothing."

"You're... not going to approach them about this, are you?" worried Marinette.

"Not right away. I would rather have you do that yourself," Ms. Bustier instructed her. "But I will be watching over you. We are understood?"

"We... are."

"Then, go, find Adrien and wish him well for me. I am certain that the two of you have much more to talk about," said Ms. Bustier, dismissing Marinette with a smile. "And that knowing that you are well will comfort him greatly."

"Thank you," exclaimed Marinette. She rose, but hesitated before dashing out the door.

"There are... things in my life that are difficult for me to talk about, Ms. Bustier," she ventured, slowly. "I promise you that they're not bad things, okay? My parents are great, I'm not being bullied, I'm definitely not being abused, I'm on the brink of having the best boyfriend ever... and I don't have any vices or bad habits that I would want you to have to worry about."

Her teacher nodded in agreement.

"But when I do have things that I need to talk about... you are the kind of person whom I'd like to come to," added Marinette, shyly. "Thank you for that."

"Don't be afraid to reach out," she replied. "Now, go and settle things with him and get some lunch before class resumes!"

A growl from Marinette's stomach reminded her that she had skipped breakfast. With a relieved smile, Marinette waved and headed for the door.

Ms. Bustier watched her go... then exhaled, slowly.

I so need to review my Faculty Handbook, she grimaced. Surely, there must be a page in there explaining how it is that I signed up for this sort of thing.

With Adrien's instructed destination in mind, Marinette headed for the library at high speed... and slowed down when she saw him waiting just outside its front door.

"H-hi," she breathed, as she came to rest in front of him.

She watched him carefully, to see if he seemed nervous around her, or if he showed signs of having deduced what he shouldn't... but to her relief, he seemed relatively relaxed. At least more relaxed than how he had been when he'd left her, anyway.

"Looking for somebody?" Adrien smiled, disarmingly.

My heart is p-pounding like a jackhammer, he thought to himself, but I HAVE to play this cool. I can't overreact... not now. Not like this.

"I might be," Marinette smiled back, still feeling cautious. "Are... you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so," he answered. "If you are."

"I'm better now. Ms. Bustier wanted to know all about what happened, and why we were late getting back, and why you looked so shaken up... so I told her. We're off the hook; she's going to let it slide this time, for both of us."

"That's good... I think," Adrien pondered. "I'm sorry that you had to go through that, though. You weren't all that comfortable talking about it with me."

"I don't want to lie to her any more than I would to you," she reassured him. "So I'm fine with what I told her. And I'm hoping that this situation won't last much longer."

"It won't. It can't," intoned Adrien. "We are going to make sure of that..."

"...We?"

"...Chat Noir and Ladybug are. Of course," Adrien stammered.

"I was going to say," Marinette ad-libbed. "I didn't think that I had any after-school plans today."

"Hehe... right," Adrien managed.

"I did tell her that I gave you one heck of a shock this morning. And I'll tell you again... I'm sorry about that," continued Marinette, taking his hand in hers. "That was never my intent."

"You're forgiven. Of course you're forgiven," he insisted. "On one condition."

"Name it."

"No more getting punched in the face by Akumas, okay?" Adrien begged her. "Or at least warn me about it, if you do make plans like that."

"I'll do my best, I promise you," Marinette smirked. "I didn't exactly plan it this time."

"Seriously. I close my eyes, I have visions of you flying through the air, injured, falling... it'll be my nightmare for weeks."

"I don't mind falling," she told him. "As long as I have someone there to catch me. Like you did today."

"I'll do my best," Adrien smiled. "And you can tell that I don't mind falling, either... because I've already fallen so hard."

"Ohhh...!"

Marinette's smile widened... and she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"Is this going to be us from now on?" she murmured. "All sappy and romantic and hopeless around each other?"

"I certainly hope so."

Adrien's grin was contagious, as his hand went up to his cheek by reflex. "We're still saving that one true first kiss, though, right? The knee-buckling, world-changing, it's-official one?"

"If you're okay with that," Marinette replied. "I think we'll know when the moment is right... like when we're both not freshly bruised, maybe? And I promise you, when that moment arrives... there won't just be one."

"That's my plan, too," Adrien beamed.

"So," she smiled, teasingly. "...Are you as hungry as I am, Adrien?"

Adrien considered Marinette's question...

...and then realized that she was talking about food.. "Probably," he admitted. "Let's go grab something, fast!"

In the lunchroom, the two of them sat together at a corner table, which was out of the ordinary for both.

As Marinette had hoped, Adrien's presence next to her served to keep her other classmates at arm's length, giving the two of them some room to talk and to (finally!) flirt and to stay out of the others' makeup-inspection range. There was no shortage of people wanting to know whether breakthroughs had been made, of course... Alya in particular did everything but use interpretive dance and smoke signals to try and communicate with Marinette, for instance. But the are-they-a-couple? did get a short opportunity to eat and talk without interruption, which was fine by Marinette on many levels.

The mantra Keep your distance... nothing to see here, move along... keep your distance ran through Marinette's head on a loop during her afternoon classes. It wasn't that she was feeling antisocial, or that she wouldn't respond politely when someone spoke to her, of course; it was simply her being quiet as a mouse and putting out a "can we talk about this some other time?" mood.

I will be so nice and social with everybody once these markings are gone, that they'll forget all about it, she hoped. And if things go like they seem to be, they'll have something else that's big to talk about!

Adrien is being such an angel for me today, she smiled. Not only is he so concerned about me... but it's as if he senses that I need some space from everybody else for now, and he's helping me keep that little bit of separation. He's just what I needed to get through all of this.

We really ARE right on the brink... so close to being a real couple. This whole Beauty Mark thing couldn't have come at a worse time.

I was so afraid that finding what had happened to me would give away my secret; he'd put two and two together and figure out that I was Ladybug. He seemed so shaken up... but there's no way that he would've been that calm afterwards. Not that quickly. At the least, he would've asked me about it, or something...

All I have to do is get through a few more hours, then draw Beauty Mark out of hiding... do our thing...

...and then, it all begins.

Walking towards the front door at the end of the day, Alya and Marinette shared a slightly uneasy vibe.

"You're sure that everything's okay, that there's nothing that you want to get off your chest?" wondered Alya, pleadingly. "Good or bad? I'm here for you."

"I know that you're here for me, Alya. And I always appreciate that," Marinette smiled. "And when I need you, I'll reach out to you. You can count on that."

"Uh-huh..."

Alya gave Marinette a meaningful stare. "And there's nothing weird going on today. Nothing unusual. No magical shiners, no mysterious disappearances, no Adrien riding an emotional rollercoaster."

"It's been a strange day. I won't argue with you there," sighed Marinette. "I'm on that rollercoaster, too. And at this point, I just want to get to the end of it and see how I feel then."

"Hmmmph," Alya grunted, then shifted to a smile as she saw two familiar silhouettes waiting for them in the archway, instead of the usual one. "And what do you think of that particular loop-de-loop?"

Marinette followed Alya's gesture and saw Adrien waiting there with Nino, watching her approach. She let out a small "Whooo!" exclamation, throwing her hands up as if her coaster car had just started rocketing down a steep hill, making both of them laugh loudly.

The look in Adrien's eyes as Marinette got close made her stomach flutter a bit. There was warmth there, there was visible excitement... and there was something else, too, that she couldn't quite identify.

"Ladies," Nino greeted them.

"Gentlemen," Alya parried. "You two both qualify, right?"

"So far, definitely," Marinette declared. "And I'm pretty sure that that's a good thing."

They all got a chuckle out of that, with some brief small talk following.

"I do need to get home," Marinette excused herself, after a short while. "So..."

Adrien perked up at that. "Would you like some company?" he asked.

"I, um... sure, I would," she wondered. "But isn't your car here? Actually... hasn't it been here for a little while, now that I think about it?"

"Uh... yeah, it has?" Adrien replied. "But I told my driver that I wanted to walk you home first."

"You did?"

Three faces asked the same question, but only Marinette had the words come out of her mouth.

"If you'd want me to..." he smiled back.

"I wouldn't turn it down," Marinette cooed.

She took his outstretched hand in hers, allowed herself a quick This is HAPPENING! nervous grin towards Alya, and trotted off with Adrien in the direction of her house.

"Oh, yeah. Nothing unusual today," Alya smiled to herself as they left.

As they walked hand-in-hand, Marinette and Adrien passed by the waiting sedan. The Gorilla gave them a smile; Nathalie's reaction was more of an amused smirk with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"You're not holding them up by walking with me, are you?" wondered Marinette. "I know how -"

"I don't really care," grinned Adrien.

"I know how much they try to hold you to a schedule," Marinette emphasized. "I don't want... us to cause more problems for you that way. I mean, I'm already on their list after the black-eye thing."

"Let me worry about that," he countered, "but, yes, I am keeping that in mind. I'm more worried about what your parents might do to me."

"Like I told you... I haven't shown them what happened to me yet," she reminded him. "I'm hoping Ladybug will fix it before I have to. And if I do, I'll be honest... that Beauty Mark did this to me, not you. I know that you would never lay a hand on me in anger, and they know that, too. One look at you tells them that."

"One look at you tells me lots of things," Adrien breathed.

Marinette closed her eyes briefly, trying to suppress another blush. "I could get very used to this," she admitted, squeezing his hand gently.

As they reached the front door of the bakery, Marinette turned to face Adrien. "Well, here we are," she quipped, "after a vigorous and time-consuming one-block walk. Was it everything that you'd been hoping for?"

"Almost?" he answered. "I just wanted to ask you one little favor, before I leave."

"Sure."

His face clouded slightly, as if he was straining for how to phrase his question.

"If you should happen to... um... go out tonight... will you promise me that you'll be careful, and you'll protect yourself?" asked Adrien. "I mean it."

"Adrien..."

Marinette felt fluttery again... both from the sincere look in Adrien's eyes and the potential implications of what he was asking.

"I don't... Adrien, I didn't exactly want to get punched the first time," she evaded. "I have no intentions of that happening again. I'm probably just going to hide out in my bedroom for a while. And I promise you, if that Akuma comes back out, you're not going to see Marinette Dupain-Cheng in an aikodogi facing off against him on the news."

"I know, I know," Adrien replied. "I just... I shouldn't worry, but I do. I care about you, very much."

"The feeling is mutual," beamed Marinette.

He leaned forward, as if to kiss her on the cheek... and was a bit startled when she backed away slightly.

"What?" he puzzled. "You kissed me on the cheek earlier."

"Not on that side!" she replied, peeking through the store window to see if her parents were watching. "That's still coated in coverup."

Marinette turned her other cheek to him... but he moved with her, facing her head-on.

"There's no coverup here."

His kiss was light and gentle, barely more than a brushing of the lips, as if he was afraid that her mouth might be bruised and sensitive, too. Or, perhaps it was merely hesitation, an awareness that this was the first time he'd leaned in like this, head tilted slightly, intent on a real kiss, fearing that he was overstepping but unable to resist.

With his eyes closed, he didn't see her immediate reaction... but he heard it, a tiny gasp-yelp-giggle combination that slipped out of somewhere deep within her.

When he leaned back and reopened his eyes, though, Marinette's eyes were both wide open. She didn't look unhappy, he felt, but...

"Was that okay for me to do?" he asked, quietly.

"...Yes?" breathed Marinette, barely above a whisper. "But could you do it one more time, just to be sure?"

Adrien stumbled back to the car moments later, with a wide grin newly and, perhaps, permanently etched onto his face.

The Gorilla held the door for him with an approving grin of his own. Nathalie withheld comment until the vehicle was in motion.

"Well! That was new for you two, was it not?" she inquired.

"Uh-huh," Adrien murmured.

"She did not seem to disapprove?"

"Nuh-uh," he replied.

"Good, then," replied Nathalie, flatly.

A whole lot more than good, Adrien thought. I just kissed Marinette... and she liked it. And she asked for more.

I might've just kissed LADYBUG on the lips... and she kissed me back!

A faint voice in the back of his mind did remind him that if she was in fact Ladybug, his being Chat Noir might make those kisses about ten times more complicated... but in the emotional rush of the moment, it stood no chance of being heard.

"...Adrien?" Nathalie piped up.

"Uh-huh?"

"When your father asks questions of you when you get home," she deadpanned, "you will have recovered sufficiently to be able to respond beyond 'Uh-huh' and 'Nuh-uh,' correct?"

"Uh-huh."

A starry-eyed Marinette wandered through the front door of the bakery, mostly from force of habit and muscle memory.

"Well!" her mother grinned at her, from across the store floor. "Someone's day just improved quite a bit, I see."

"You could say that," gasped Marinette, grinning her head off.

"Good for you," Sabine beamed, motioning to the next customer in line that she'd be right with her. "Is he coming inside?"

"Not right now. He had to get home. All the things that his father keeps him busy with."

Marinette waited patiently a short distance away, knowing that her mother would have more questions and that she'd rather satisfy her now than get chased around the house.

"Six-fifty... here you are, and thank you," Sabine told the customer, then glanced back at Marinette. "Did you get in trouble for being late again?" she asked.

"No... Ms. Bustier was very understanding. Um..."

Here goes nothing, Marinette thought. Let's see if I can kill two birds with one excuse...

"I was running late because, uh, you remember that facial mask I was trying last night? It made my skin break out, and I was fiddling with makeup to cover it. It looked hideous," Marinette offered, turning to give her mother a glimpse (but just a glimpse) of her coverup. "It's getting better; I checked it at lunchtime. No need to go to the doctor."

"...If you're sure," frowned Sabine. "It's no trouble for me to call him."

"You're really busy right now, and I'm... well, I'm a lot of things after that kiss," smiled Marinette. "I'll talk with you about it later?"

"All right. Go enjoy the moment," said Sabine.

As her mother turned back to the short line of customers, Marinette raced upstairs with a huge sigh of relief that she'd pulled off the coverup of the decade...

...for now.

Marinette reached her room and half-danced, half-tripped across her floor, visibly overwhelmed.

"I think that congratulations are in order," Tikki cooed to her. "That boy is yours."

"He is," Marinette declared. "He is, he is, he so is, but he isn't! Not quite yet."

Slowly, she walked to the bathroom to make sure that her makeup job was still holding up. "He'll be mine... when I've gotten rid of this," she insisted, pointing to her discolored region. "When I can pull him close and not be afraid. When I don't have to hide anything that I don't normally have to."

Marinette took a deep breath. "When he saw my big makeup patch this morning, when he leaned in close and he realized what it was... Tikki, I was so sure that my cover was blown. He knew. That look on his face said so much," she sighed. "And he was still shaken up in class, like I had dropped an identity bomb on him by accident! But, later on..."

"...He seemed different?" suggested Tikki.

"Yeah. As if he'd changed his mind again. That I was the same classmate and friend and almost-girlfriend as before."

Oh, he knows, thought Tikki. He's about 99% convinced. Plagg is SURE of that. I caught up with him during your math class and he told me all about Adrien's reaction.

And yet... he DID seem different by lunchtime, didn't he? Calmer. Collected. Either Plagg was uncharacteristically good at a reassuring pep talk, or...

"But now, I have such a short window to act in," worried Marinette. "I got lucky today and got away with most of my cover stories, but I can't hide this much longer. Mama's going to want to see what my face looks like without the coverup. My other classmates will notice and ask questions. All those other people are out there, marked up like I am, and I need to help them... and I don't know if the paparazzi will be out there day after day-"

"Marinette?" interrupted Tikki. "Listen... you're right. But I want you to do something for me, please. Right now."

"...Okay?"

"Close your eyes."

Once Marinette did, Tikki continued. "Adrien Agreste just kissed you. On the mouth. With no Akumas, no cameras, no dares, no reason except that he really wanted to. Take a moment for me and just soak that in. Remember every single detail of how that felt."

Tikki watched Marinette's body relax, as a smile spread across her face...

"You've got lots of things to take care of, and you do need to do them quickly. But..." grinned Tikki, "you looked like you needed a little reminder that once in a while, life does turn out just the way you want it to. I didn't want you to lose track of that... not after how long you've been wanting that."

"Y-yeah, I guess it does," she smiled in response. "I felt like I was about to burst, I was so happy!"

"All right. Now that you've got that memory locked away," Tikki continued. "You said that you had a plan to draw Beauty Mark out?"

"I do," confirmed Marinette. "And a certain reporter friend of mine's a big part of that."

She turned on her television, changing the channel to TVi, and called up the station's web site on her computer. A few minutes of research revealed what Marinette needed to know.

"Nadja's reporting a story on Beauty Mark's victims in about half an hour," she noted, "on the north side of the city where the battle was. That means that she's probably interviewing witnesses and victims right now."

"And she's about to interview one more?"

"You got it. And there's a little message for her to deliver."

At Tikki's nod, Marinette steadied herself once more.

"Spots on!"