Seeing Adrien as his alter ego, fortunately gave Marinette the ability to string a coherent sentence together when the blonde arrived. His going in the opposite direction to where she lived had also given her enough time to get the snacks laid out with strategically placed cheese included. She hoped that Plagg would at least make some sort of appearance tonight, if only to give her another being to talk to than Adrien himself.

Chat stated that he wanted to talk to her about what happened earlier, but what exactly was he going to-

Thump.

'Guess I'm about to find out…'

The trap door opened and Marinette waved him down, the blonde seemed hesitant as he landed and did not drop his transformation: that may have had something to do with how his eyes roamed with pleasant surprise over the snacks she provided however. "What's all this for?"

Marinette turned and busied herself with folding up a stray piece of fabric, "oh, I…" she sighed. This was Chat, yes he was Adrien, love of her life and bonafide god, but still her dorky partner who made puns and terrible jokes at the worst possible times. "I thought I'd give your friend a selection to try," Marinette turned around and saw Tikki give her an encouraging nod from behind where the blonde was standing. A dark eyebrow cocked as she smiled teasingly with a new found confidence, "you still haven't told me what they prefer, so I thought I'd get a few different items."

"Hehe," the blonde rubbed at his neck guiltily, "yeah, I guess I didn't," and then turned his attention back to the selection of sandwiches and quiches that Marinette presented to him. "But it looks like you've covered his love for cheese."

Marinette cursed her involuntary blush, "ye-yeah well, I remember you saying about his lack of boundaries with cheese, so I thought that would be a good starting point." She pointed to a small plate at the back, "but those are for you," she smiled and shrugged her shoulders, "passion fruit macaro-oons!" She finished a few octaves higher as the teen found herself completely caught off guard by the leather bound arms which were suddenly squeezing her tightly. Marinette stiffened.

"Thank you," he said sincerely into her ear as the ravenette became lost in his natural scent when he continued to hug her tightly. "Plagg, claws in."

Marinette clenched her eyes shut when his transformation wore off and opened them again to see a smug looking black Kwami staring at her with green eyes full of mischief.

"Kid, I think Pigtails is about to combust."

"Plagg!" Adrien scolded his Kwami and released Marinette from her blissful torture. "Her name is Marinette, we've been over this!" He sighed exasperatedly before turning to look at his dark haired friend apologetically, "sorry about him he's…" the blonde rubbed at his nape while trying to find the right words to describe the tiny God of Destruction. "You get used to him."

The Kwami flew between them, facing Adrien with his arms crossed, "I'm a delight and one of a kind, I'll have you know."

Marinette giggled, and reached up to scratch behind Plagg's ears earning a purr from the powerful being.

"How did you-?"

The young woman giggled again and held out her other hand for Plagg to flop into lazily, "everyone likes scratches behind their ears don't they?" Marinette turned to deposit Plagg next to the snacks and watched him peruse the selection in front of him; he let out an impressed, nasally hum.

"Seems like Pigtails has an understanding of how to treat an immortal being," he turned to see Adrien giving him a pointed look. "Kid, nicknames are a sign that I approve, think of it as a compliment."

Adrien ruffled his hair and dragged his hand down his face when Plagg unceremoniously dived straight into the leek and walnut quiche without another word at the pair of humans. Marinette rolled her eyes at their exchange as she saw Tikki's head disappear into the sewing box and knew that Plagg would be joining her there soon. To save any questions about where his companion would be disappearing to, Marinette helpfully supplied:

"I wasn't sure if you'd want a nap or somewhere to chill out," she spoke towards the quiche that Plagg was currently immersed in, "so I put a cushion and a heat pack in the sewing box over there for you, if you wanted to use it."

Poking his head up from where he was greedily devouring the plate of cheesy goodness, Plagg tilted his crumb covered face and looked straight at Marinette. Amusement flashed in the being's neon green eyes before he turned his attention to his holder standing just behind her. "It's almost like Pigtails knows me already, huh?"

Marinette's eyes widened comically which Plagg seemed to enjoy before he became lost to devouring the quiche once more; Adrien simply sighed out a laborious breath and reached around Marinette to pick up several macarons

"Sorry about him, he can be a little menace sometimes-"

"I heard that!"

"-but he's the only uh, one, who I can really talk to about everything, y'know?"

Adrien turned and headed to sit on Marinette's chaise while enjoying the treats the teen had laid out for him. The ravenette looked towards the sewing box she knew Tikki was waiting for Plagg in, and then grabbed a sandwich prior to joining him.

"I get it," Marinette replied softly, thinking about how Tikki was the only one that she could be the same with, but at least Adrien could also talk to her now. As the ravenette sat down next to the blonde, she realised he looked a little deflated and bumped his shoulder, "but you've got me now too, I-I don't mind if, y'know, you want to, y'know..."

"Thanks Marinette," he smiled genuinely at her, "and thanks for remembering," the blonde held up the last passion fruit macaron in his hand, "these are delicious."

Marinette hid her blushing face by tilting it away from him slightly. Knowing Adrien wanted to talk to her about what happened earlier was starting to gnaw at her; and the ravenette really wanted to know what he wanted to say. "So," she began while picking at her sandwich, "did you want to go over the notes-"

Adrien silenced her with a 'come on now' look, and proceeded to wipe his hands on his jeans. "I took a look at Nino's and I've covered it mostly." He smirked at her furrowing brow and slightly parted, confused lips. "You didn't really think that I was wanting to use you for your notes," his face softened questioningly, "did you?"

Marinette shook her head slightly, "n-no, but-"

"I just needed a way to make sure Lila knew where she stood."

"Oh~"

Adrien sighed with annoyance, "I spoke to Nino earlier," he began explaining and turned to face her fully with his leg bent on the chaise. "She's told a few people she was coming to the shoot tomorrow, but I knew Nathalie had already told her otherwise… I just had to check first." The teen started talking with his hands and rested his elbow on the back of the seat. "So when I got that text message off you, I knew that she was playing games again." Adrien shrugged and placed his hand on her shoulder, "I didn't want Lila to have the ability to say that you'd pushed her out from coming, and I wanted everyone to see that you were the one I wanted to come with me, so I used my absences as an excuse."

Marinette's eyebrows raised in pleasant surprise as her slightly parted lips curled into a smile, "I actually had the same thought."

Adrien nodded with an impressed head tilt, "she's full of it, as you know, and it really annoys me how she winds people around that finger of hers." He shook his head and leaned back, "I know I kinda blindsided you by pulling you on to my knee, that was okay though right?" The blonde checked quickly, to which Marinette rolled her lips and nodded mutely as the mere memory stopped words from formulating again and her cheeks to warm. "Good," Adrien smiled, "I'm glad you didn't mind, I didn't plan it, just seemed like a good idea at the time…" he shrugged while Marinette came to the realisation that her throat was desperately dry.

"Anyway, yeah," the teen continued after a thoughtful moment, "I uh, I wanted to make it obvious that it was not your doing that she wasn't invited anymore… I wanted people to see that it was mine, that I made that call…" The hero trailed off again, "is it weird that I liked having you on my knee?"

"Ah-wh-what?"

"Kid," Plagg floated lazily over with a few shavings of Parmesan cheese in his tiny arms and shook the crumbs from his head. His green eyes drifted knowingly between the two teens, "you barely have any physical contact, your father's an ass, Nathalie's got a pair of stilettos up her bum… of course you're going to like having Pigtails on your knee." The black god threw the shavings up one by one and caught them with an exaggerated flair while he let the teens think about what he had just said. "And it's completely different to when Chloé, and that thing, attempt to hang off you. You chose to do that, Marinette didn't force it."

Marinette felt like she should not have been privy to their conversation, but she totally understood where Plagg was coming from: even if he was being a little menace at that moment. While Adrien nodded slowly in contemplation, the black being smirked at Marinette and discreetly winked, causing her to dread the next words that would come out of his mouth.

"Don't you remember the amount of times you've voluntarily had physical contact with Pigtails?"

'Oh Kwami!'

"Like the times you were happy to dance with Marinette but not Chloé, or when you grabbed her hand instead of Kagami's…"

Adrien tensed beside Marinette, but she could not bring herself to look at him as she was surely the colour of a tomato.

"Don't act surprised!" Plagg scolded in a bored nasally huff, "I notice more than I let on, and there are plenty of other instances that I could bring up when you've been closer to Marinette than was neces-"

"I get it," Adrien's warning tone was not lost on the ravenette, the ravenette who could hear her heartbeat thrumming quickly in her ears. "Can you, go, and take your nap now, or something? Please?"

Plagg caught Marinette's eye as he smirked between them, exposing a sharp fang and pumping his non-existent eyebrows. "Fine, I'll go, but remember you asked if it was weird that you liked having Pigtails on your knee… I was just helping to answer the question," he finished with mock haughtiness and floated away.

The blonde, sitting next to her, rested his forearms on his thighs and rubbed his face. Marinette snuck a peek to see that his ears still had the remnants of a red tinge to them and was glad that she was not the only one feeling slightly embarrassed. When Adrien spoke, his voice was muffled by the palms covering his face.

"I am so sorry about him," Adrien sat back again and slouched while letting out a sigh and mumbled, "I said he was a menace."

Marinette had to say something, she needed him to know that it was okay. "D-don't worry, Adrien, I get it." Before the raven haired teen knew, her arms had joined her words as she began rambling. "Contact is good, great even. Not it's like something I love or nothing, I mean uh-that came up wrong, out wrong… so what we've slept together, or you hand my hand to pull me to-with you… hugging! Hugging is formal-normal, normal… uh, completely not liked, I-gah! You're-It's fine, always fine, hugging's where's it's at don't y'kno-"

The teen was silenced by the blonde's shoulder bumping her out of her spiel before she could go any further. Marinette was grateful as she was aware that she was already not making sense in her flustered state after what Plagg had pointed out. It made sense though that he would seek out physical contact with how cold his father seemed; as crime fighting partners they would comfort each other and have plenty of contact-

"Did you say 'slept together'?"

Marinette whipped her head around to look at Adrien to see an amused yet questioning brow quirking his features. With her eyes wide, mouth open and words failing her, Marinette really wanted Plagg to come back and hopefully help her explain what she meant. "I-I-I-Eurostar!" She finished with a squeak and covered her mouth with her hands nervously causing the rest of her words to come out muffled. "I woke up and we were uhboth kinda," she moved to gesture towards him with her head, "y'know… which you're fine, totally fine."

Adrien's brow creased as he thought before realisation dawned on him and he smiled softly while fondness at the memory wrinkled the corners of his eyes. "Yeah, I do remember that," he rubbed his nape in an attempt to hide his slight blush, "but uh, maybe cuddled would be a better way to phrase it?"

Marinette suddenly snorted, which ultimately broke whatever tension had surrounded them. "Yeah, that would be a better way," she nodded and stood up to grab another sandwich, noting that Plagg had disappeared out of sight. The heroine hoped that the other Kwami would be keeping him and Tikki busy enough to prevent them from prying, and then realised that they had probably all become majorly invested in this turn of events.

Marinette glanced at as many nooks and crannies she could think of to see if there were any magical beings watching them.

"So it's not weird then?"

Marinette thought for a moment and took a bite of her food to give her more time to calm down. She needed to compose herself enough to glide over the fact he liked her presence on his knee, and was not opposed to physical contact with her, so she could reassure him. 'Should I just be honest and tell him that I like it too? I can't read too much into it as Plagg said, he's starved of physical affection…'

Turning with a kind smile after taking a steadying breath, Marinette saw how he stared at her with worried and pleading green. "It's not weird Adrien." Taking a few steps back to sit down next to him again, the secret heroine dug deep to find the confidence of what she wanted to do next.

Looking to his eyes first, and then down to his hand and offering hers out, Marinette bit her lip and was happy when he took her hand and laced their fingers. She felt her heart jump at the unexpected intertwining, but looked back up to see him smiling in understanding and placed her free hand on top of his. The blushing girl ignored how hot her face became.

"Most people like to have contact with others," she explained absentmindedly while looking at their combined hands. "I hug Alya all the time… sometimes for comfort or in celebration, and sometimes just because I can." Marinette smiled at the thought of her best friend who had kept and cherished all her secrets, "she knows me better than most, and I owe a lot to her." The teen squeezed his hand, "so contact between friends is normal."

Adrien twisted his lips in thought, "I wish I could have that with Nino, he knows me pretty well but he doesn't know about me being Chat Noir…"

The secret heroine could not believe the suggestion she was about to make, "wh-why don't you t-tell him? You have me now," she continued quickly as he jolted and searched her eyes with surprise, "but I know what it's like to keep secrets from your best friend."

Adrien's head tilted curiously as his eyes narrowed teasingly, "what would you know about keeping secrets?"

The ravenette panicked and shook her head so her pigtails whipped around her face, "Uh, nothing, no secrets, none! I can ah, just, imagine…"

The hero pursed his lips and scanned her alarmed face: there was no nastiness in his expression, just sheer amusement caused by her reaction. His crooked brow only made him appear so much more typically Chat, that Marinette managed to push him away by the nose playfully with the hand that was not laced with his.

"Any~way," she blushed when the blonde smirked at her and gave her hand one light squeeze before breaking the contact and standing to grab the full plate of macarons from her desk. "What d'you want to do tonight then? We can stick a game on, or just chat for a bit-"

"How about a film?"

"Alright," Marinette liked that idea, "what did you have in mind?"


While Marinette was putting on Twist, Adrien used his initiative and moved the chaise over so they could see the television better. He also tried to move the ottoman so they could put their feet up, but the blonde found it surprisingly heavy and just grabbed the blanket off the top of it. He established that the comparisons Plagg made earlier were very interesting, and quickly tried to remember all the times he had willingly made contact with the ravenette. There were tons!

But Marinette had stated that it was normal between friends, and he was sure that if he had more close friends around him, there would be more people to have contact with. 'I can't tell Nino, but it's not like I'm on my own anymore. I've got Marinette now, and she's a great friend.'

He was happy that contact between friends was not weird, as he really enjoyed the feeling of lacing Marinette's fingers with his earlier: her hand was so soft and dainty, but something told him that it would probably be different if he did that with Nino. From the way her eyes widened and lips parted, Adrien knew that lacing their digits together were not what she expected, but Marinette had not pulled away: she smiled and blushed.

'Her blush is adorable,' the blonde smiled to himself after laying the blanket and adjusting the cushions so they would be comfy while watching a movie together. Turning around to see Marinette staring with surprise at the set-up however, Adrien felt like he had suddenly done something wrong. "Is this, not right?"

"Fine, fine, fine," she said quickly before flickering her deep blue eyes to meet his and then grabbing the remote before sitting down. "I just uh, it's love me-lovely." She shook her head and smiled, "It's lovely."

'One day I'll find out why she fumbles her words around me,' Adrien smiled fondly and sat next to her. "Ready when you are Purrincess."


Aww the feels! I hope you're enjoying this story as much as I am writing it =^.^=

thank you for the reviews, follows, faves and for taking the time to read my fan fic. If you like what I've done so far, why not check out some of my other stories? If you have already, thank you so much =D

Take it easy!

Lady Rhi X