Adrien/Cat Noir's P.O.V.-

I was pacing back and forth on a sideways metal pole within view of Marinette's apartment. I'd only been Cat Noir- and known Marinette- for a couple of days and was still getting the hang of my new superpowers. Granted, I hadn't actually fought anybody yet but I wanted to keep on my toes. That, and to see as much of Marinette as possible.

I don't know what was happening to me! From the first second I saw her, I couldn't get her out of my head. Her silky pale skin, her hair tied up in those adorable ponytails, and her voice… Oh, don't get me started on the sound of her voice. It's my new favourite sound! Especially when she says my name. Just everything about her was flawless from where I was standing. And I know what you're thinking: that I must be standing pretty low to put her up on such a high pedestal. But it's more than that. I can't explain it! It's just that…. When I look at her…. I feel like I'm staring at the first woman I've ever seen. Well, you know, besides my mom; the first girl who's my age, I mean. The more I met her, learned of her, the more this growing need to be beside her inched into my cells, penetrating the very essence of who I am.

Now if I could think of a way to talk to her.

My gloved forefinger raised up to below my chin. My eyes wandered down for a moment while my feet kept pacing the pole. What should I say to her? How do you even approach an angel like Marinette? We've only technically spoken to each other twice, but that wasn't enough. I wasn't satisfied yet; I needed more! But how should I do? How do I get closer to her without coming off as a total creep?

"What to say….? What to say…..? "Hiya, beautiful? How're you doin'?" No! That's way too forward! How 'bout: "Hi, Marinette. What are the chances of seeing you here…. in your room?" Oh god, no! No, no, it's gonna work!" My hands rose up to grasp the sides of my head in agony. This was torture! I have no experience with girls- I've never talked to a girl my age. Well, except for Chloe, but this was totally different. I actually liked Marinette, and wanted her to like me. But I had no idea how to go about it!

"Marinette! Remember me? I'm Cat Noir, your friendly neighbourhood superhero," I tried again before shaking my head. "Of course she knows who you are, you idiot! Ugh, what's wrong with me?! Why can't I just go up and talk to her?! I'm never THIS flustered when I'm actually with her…. It's getting to BE with her that's the problem." I can't keep coming to quote, "check on her". She's going to start to think that she's really in danger, or worse, that I'm some sort of stalker! I have to come up with a different excuse. "Hey, Marinette! I noticed you weren't doing anything tonight, so I thought that maybe you'd like to go see a movie with me," I tried again. Tried, and failed. My head hung down in defeat, my arms falling at my sides. "There has to be some way I can see her more often without constantly showing up at her balcony….." While mulling over this, I finally noticed how good my balance had become, and all without me paying attention. This earned a smile across my lips. "I'm starting to get the hang of this."

My self-appraisal was forcefully interrupted by a screaming girl in a ladybug costume flying through the sky and straight in my direction. I only had time to flinch until contact was made. She crashed into me, sending us both falling off the pole to hang upside-down bound in some sort of string. As we swayed there I got a good look at her face. "Well hey there. Nice of you to drop in," though I'd be lying if I didn't wish that it was Marinette crash-landing into me. "I'm sorry! I-I didn't do it on purpose," she replied.

Letting me down, I hopped to my feet and inspected the new girl. I didn't recognize her and quickly concluded that I didn't know her in civilian form. Still, she had this gentle, sincere air about her. "I bet you're the partner my kwami told me about. I'm Cat Noir. What's your name?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips. The girl was currently trying to pull her yo-yo free. For some reason she seemed a bit flustered around me; if I didn't know any better, I'd swear she was blushing, which is bizarre since we literally just met. Her behaviour honestly reminded me of Marinette's whenever we previously talked. But again, I know that's ridiculous. This girl, whoever she was, wasn't Marinette; I would know. I'm one hundred percent sure that I would know, magic spell or no magic spell. Still, the way she incoherently stammered did remind me of her greatly…..

"C-Cat Noir!" She gasped breathlessly. "That's me," I smirked. Now I knew for sure she was blushing behind her mask. "I bumped into…..! Oh my god, I just crashed into you!" She shrieked this more to herself than me. It looked like she was going to have a panic attack. "You…. Cat Noir…. Me…. My name? What's my name? Wait! Did you say…. p-partners? You? Me….. Together? Partners?!" She couldn't stop stammering. After watching her a moment, I smirked to myself. Yep, just like Marinette. Hey wait; I know! If I can deal with whoever this is, I can figure out my issue with talking to Marinette no problem! It's perfect! She's a girl so she can indirectly show me how to interact with girls more naturally, particularly ones I have an insane crush on.

I later learned that this girl was in fact my new partner, and her superhero name was Ladybug.

Nino whistled impressed. "She's pretty. But I thought you were going to tell your dad to get you out of the arranged marriage," he then said. I was proudly displaying a picture of Marinette to him on my phone. It wasn't hard finding one; I had countless files with hundreds of her photos stored in it. Still grinning ear-to-ear, I shut off my phone screen and set it into my back pants' pocket. "That was before I knew who she was. There's no way I'm backing out of the marriage now," I countered happily. Nino unsurprisingly seemed confused by this sudden change of opinion on my part.

"Do you know her?" "U-Uh, w-we met last night. I… didn't know her before then," I winced a little; I hated lying at the best of times, especially to my friends. Nino's eyebrow raised up. "So why the change of heart? What makes you wanna marry her now? You don't even know this woman." "It's…. a lot of things. We got on really well and I lov-…. er, like her! I already like her. I can see myself being very happy married to her, and I think- in time- she'll come to feel the same way," my hand rubbed the back of my neck the entire time I practically word-vomited. Of course my best friend did NOT look convinced. His skinny arms merely crossed.

"How can you be so sure? It's still an arranged marriage, after all. You've never shown interest in dating anyone before now. Why are you suddenly onboard when "marriage" is on the table?" "Oh, you know… I've never had time for casual dating before, what with school and my modelling career and everything. And you know my dad. He's always made it explicitly clear to me that a martial partner will be selected for me. What other choice do I have?" "That's not what you were saying last week," his eyebrow rose suspiciously a second time. I tried to reassure his concerned with a tender smile. "Things are different now. After meeting Marinette for the first time, I…. I could just tell, you know? There's something about her- something I want to see in my future wife. Plus she already makes me so happy…." This is when Nino finally cracked a smile, slamming his hand onto my back. "I think you're confusing "love" with "lust" there, dude." "Well, she IS stunning," I grinned in return, though I was thoroughly uncomfortable with the implication of anyone "lusting" after my Marinette.

Nino chuckled, oblivious to my inner feelings on his previous statement. "Alright, Adrien. I still think you're being too hasty, but if you wanna go ahead with the marriage, I'll support you." "Thank you, Nino," I smiled at him for real this time. His hand gave my back another pat. "I still get to be your best man, right?" "Course! You've been my best friend since I started public school. I wouldn't have it any other way." "Hmmmm, good. Now we just need to find me a plus-one for the wedding," he teased, and I laughed. Yeah, I wouldn't want anyone else to be my best man besides Nino, which reminds me! Now that Marinette knows my civilian form- without actually "knowing" it- she and Nino can finally meet! I've been waiting for this moment since high school! I've gotta get onto introducing these two as soon as possible. And speaking of which….

"Uh, would you excuse me for a minute, Nino? I gotta go check on something in the break room," I stated, keeping a couple of feet away from him. His hand shooed me off. "Bring me back a coffee," were his instructions. "Will do!" I called out, rushing to the kitchen in our department floor. It wasn't anything grand, just a sink, fridge, coffee maker, and tea kettle. But it was the perfect place to sink into whenever I needed to talk to Plagg or transform; one of the perks of no one ever hanging out in here. As soon as we were inside, I opened my shirt so Plagg could fly out. He yawned, already uninterested in what I was about to say.

"Plagg, I need you to go check on Marinette. I want to make sure she's doing alright, emotionally speaking," I know Cat Noir calmed her nerves somewhat last night but I was still worried about her. Plagg finished his yawn and gave me one of "those" looks. "Why not just call her? You gave her your number on the train this morning." I blinked, taken aback by his rare moment of genius. "You're right!" Immediately pulling out my phone I found Marinette's number. In truth, I'd had her number saved on my phone since we were in high school, but this was the first time she had my civilian number in her contacts. Once her name was displayed on my screen, my thumb hovered over it for a second not moving. Plagg didn't look impressed.

"Mmmmmm, on second thought, I probably shouldn't. She might be busy; I don't want to disrupt her if she's working. I don't want to get her in trouble with Dr. Grinds either….. I'll call her if there's an emergency," I tucked my phone back away with a small sight. Plagg rolled his eyes. "You mean "until you think of some emergency to call her"," he rebutted. I shot him a look. "Very funny. Now come on, let's get back to our own work," opening my shirt again, Plagg flew in. I left the kitchen after getting Nino his coffee. He gave me a grateful smile as I handed him the cup.

"Thanks, man." "No problem. Did you manage to find those spreadsheets I needed?" "Right here, but we're still not done with wedding-talk," Nino held up the stack of spreadsheets in his hand, sending me a cocky grin. I mirrored his mischievous expression. "What's there to talk about?" "Well for one thing, what are you going to tell everyone when they find out you're engaged? Your dad's done a hell of a job keeping it a secret from the paparazzi." "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," I doubt Marinette had any idea of how famous I really am when her parents broke the news of our arranged marriage. This could be bad if not handled correctly….

Nino rolled his eyes, clearly not onboard with my answer. "Uh huh, sure. You think Marinette's gonna be ok with being thrust into the line-light like this? I've never heard of her before, but everyone's heard about you." "I'll protect Marinette from all that. There's no reason for the media to follow her. Just because I'm famous doesn't mean we're going to be a "famous couple"." He considered it a minute before gradually nodding his head. "Yeah, I guess you got a point. It's not like you're Ladybug and Cat Noir, after all." "Tell me about it," it was my turn to roll my eyes. His thoughtful gaze drew back over to me after a minute. "Even so, what about all of your fan girls? You get hundreds of love letters and marriage proposals every year. You think they'll be ok with their favourite boy suddenly being off the market?" "That's the beauty of an arranged marriage. They can't blame Marinette for stealing my heart because we're both being forced into this," that's a little extra insurance for my beloved. Nino's head nodded in a contemplative manner once again. "That makes sense, but I'm not sure how effective that reasoning is gonna turn out to be." "Ah, you're worrying too much, Nino. I'm sure everything's going to be just fine." He smirked at me. "Or at least until Chloe finds out." "Chloe?" I blinked startled.

Literally the second after I uttered these words, a mutual friend of ours- one, Max Kanté- came bolting through the department postgrad's floor door. Both our heads shot in his direction, only to find Max panting there with a copy of the university newspaper in his hand. "You guys!" He didn't waste any time running over to us to display the paper's front cover. The moment I saw it my stomach fell right down out of me and flat onto the floor. Nino looked equally as horrified.

"Did you see the school paper?! You're on almost every page, Adrien!" "Oh no….." My lips whispered in stunned terror. "It's the announcement of your engagement, bro!" Nino snatched the paper from Max's hands. Max was gawking at me now in disbelief. "I didn't even know you were seeing anybody! Is it true that this is an arranged marriage? Have you even met her?! Or have you been dating in secret a long time?" "Dude, stop it! Can't you see Adrien's already overwhelmed as it is?" Nino shouted at Max. His hands flung up defensively. "Hey! I'm just asking about what the article says! I've known you for nearly ten years now and you've never mentioned getting married. Did you really just get engaged yesterday, Adrien?" "I said stop, Max! It's none of your business either way! And now Adrien's gotta do a whole lot of damage control." It was then that my lips parted a sliver and I made myself breathe again. My arms were the consistency of jelly and steal at the same by hanging at my sides. My heart was beating a mile a minute, but you couldn't tell by just looking at my face. I gazed at both men, paler now than ever. "Would you excuse me for a minute, please?

I've got to make a call."