Wggling through the window, Adrien finally managed to twist through and land in a disgruntled heap on the desk underneath. Shaking himself off with a noise of irritation, he made his way over to where Marinette slept, an air of duty hanging around him. Perching himself on the nightstand next to her bed, he took a deep breath and yelled. Loudly. It was more of a yowl, really, but what matters is that it was loud enough to catch a sleepy Marinette's attention. She could sleep through anything. It also didn't help that she was up late last night- he had seen her at the desk late last night, throwing herself into the designs for Maria. Briefly, she had looked up from the paper to stare out the window with searching eyes. She had shivered, then looked back down and threw herself back into the designs.

Clearly, the encounter from a few days back had affected her- not terribly, but he had noticed her starting and acting defensive whenever something startled her. But noon wasn't too far off, and she really should be up by now, which was why he had taken it upon himself to get in and wake her up. It wasn't like she minded him in the house either- just a few feet away sat the bowls she had bought at the market. Letting out another yowl, he finally caught her attention. Rolling over, she lazily swatted in his direction as she mumbled something about Tikki and leave me alone. Purring, Adrien swatted at her hand, still waving back and forth in front of her hand.

Grumbling, she pushed herself up onto her elbows, opened her mouth to scold him, and… noticed where the sun hung in the sky. With a curse-something about the three sisters, whatever that was- she scrambled to get out of bed. As far as Adrien knew, she didn't have anything planned for today other than a meeting with Maria. She was excited, since Maria and her got along rather well, and they were going to discuss plans at a small cafe in the town square. A new bard had arrived in town, and he was to be playing there- and it had apparently been a while since Marinette had last come to see a bard.

Adrien just sat there, bemused as Marinette rushed to gather her things. She had just ran out the door when he meowed loudly. With a groan, she looked down at her nightwear and dashed to get some clothes. Averting his eyes, he waited until she moved to the door and motioned to him to jump up into her bag, using several different pieces of furniture as a launchpad. Once he was secure, she flew out the door, slamming it in her haste.

In no time at all, Marinette skidded to a halt in front of Maria, who simply waved for her to sit down, beaming as usual.

"Sit, sit! So, how is my dress coming along?"

With a small, breathless laugh, Marinette reached down to grab her designs and spread them across the table. "Rather well, actually. I couldn't sleep last night, so I've finished a few basic dress forms- you can pick which one you like best, and we can alter the design from there."

Picking through the designs, Mariaconsidered with a furrowed brow. After a moment, she glanced up, and her expression lightened. Picking two of the three papers up, she held them up to the light and squinted exaggeratedly, moving them back and forth as she hmmmed. Sharing a laugh, Maria gave Marinette a happy smile before placing the papers down and pointing to the one on the right.

"I like the one the best. Could we change the sleeves though? I really like the sleeves on this one, but this was my overall design."

"Of course! That's actually a rather good idea. Just let me…" Grabbing a pencil from her bag, she quickly made some adjustments in light pencil before turning it back around.

"Better?"

"Ohh, I love that! And I was also thinking maybe we could change the length of the skirt?"

"Shorter of longer?" With that, the two fell into happy discussion, slowly getting further and further off topic. The cafe they were at had recently gotten someone to play music for them, and right now he was playing a rather pretty piece on the piano. After a bit, Adrien noticed the bard's eyes returning to another young lady shopping around in the area they were at. And by the looks of it, Marinette had too- she was quietly pointing this fact out to Maria, who giggled slightly before seeing the lady Marinette was referencing.

"Oh! You're talking about Alya! Hey! Alya!" She waved to the girl, who started and looked over.

"I met her just a few days ago- she just moved into town, and she's super nice, don't worry," Maria informed Marinette. Pulling out a chair, Ayla took a seat.

"What's up, girl? And who's this?" She looked at Marinette for the first bit, though her eyes were trained onto Adrien.

"Hey Alya! This is Marinette- she's a super good designer, so she'll be making my dress."

Ayla looked over, confused. "Your dress?"

"My wedding dress, obviously! Look, look- here's the design!" Maria hastily searched around for the right slip of paper, then shoved it towards Alya. Alya's hand had been inching closer to Adrien, but at this she quickly withdrew it in obvious surprise. With a purr, Adrien got up from where he had been laying on the table and made his way over to Alya. Flopping onto his side, he lounged in the sun- and noticed the piano player again.

He was at the perfect angle to see him, and the piano man was currently peeking back at Alya. With another purr, he stretched out and found a good position to watch him. Idle chatter buzzed around him, and he smiled as he noticed Marinette slowly began to relax, laughing and chatting and acting more like herself then she had been with Maria. After a while, a lady from inside the little shop they were eating at came out and said something to the person at the piano he couldn't quite catch.

With a broad smile, the man stood, stretched his arms out in front of him, and followed the lady into the little store. Surprisingly enough, he was shoved back out of the store by none other than the person he was following. She said something stern to him, and he stared at her wide eyed for a moment. When she didn't let up, he visibly slumped, then began walking, to the lady's obvious satisfaction. Once he was only a table away, he drew himself up, puffed out his chest, gave her a reproachful look, walked over, and… immediately lost whatever confidence he just had.

Maria, though, ever the matchmaker, gestured to him excitedly, urging him to sit down.

"HI there! Come join us, cutie! I'm Maria, she's Marinette, and this-" she locked eyes with Marinette briefly, giving her a mischievous look- "is Alya. She's our resident hottie."

Alya was clearly not expecting that, and she spluttered into her cup of tea, her hand flying up from Adrien's back to her mouth. Adrien nearly choked on his next purr and it rather looked like the poor guy did choke.

"Well, uh… I'm Nino. It's nice to meet 'cha," he said, offering a weak smile.

"Likewise," Marinette told him without looking up. She was currently trying to help dab the tea out of the front of Alya's dress, but it looked like the two were only going to be able to do so much. With a sigh, she put down the napkin and looked at him.

"Sorry. You're the piano man, right? You're pretty good. How long have you been playing?" Gathering the papers and the various pencils now scattered about, she neatly aligned the papers with a few swift taps and stowed them away.

"Thanks! But, ah, I haven't been playing for long, really. I started- was it two years ago? Yeah, two years ago. I played- still play- some stuff before that though. Uhh- the lyre, for one. The violin, a few different varieties of wooden flutes- they're kinda the same, y'know?- and some other stuff, too. Sorry, can't remember them right now." Bashful, he had shifted his hat around a little bit before ticking off the list on his fingers. He looked up, nervous again, looked Alya in the eye for a second, and immediately looked away again.

"We've got a man of many talents on our hands, then. Maybe you should play for us sometime, cutie," Alya said with a wink. She had finally gained her composure, and now it looked like she was determined to make him lose his in retaliation. Poor Nino couldn't do anything but stutter.

"Maybe I will, then." This didn't come out as defiant as it looked like he had meant it to, and Adrien just felt sorry for him. And a little bemused, if he was being honest. He seemed like a nice enough guy, just absolutely smitten with Alya already. Mariette seemed to have a pretty similar opinion, based on the look of pity on her face, but Maria just seemed happy to watch them go back and forth. Kinda too happy. She seemed the sort to thrive off of this sort of stuff though, and it wasn't like she was doing anything wrong. Just sitting back and enjoying the chaos she had created.

Marinette, kind as she was, must have decided enough was enough. Nino was clearly going to melt if someone didn't do something, and Maria looked all to happy to just sit there.

"I, for one, would like that. Would anyone like desserts? And Nino, do you want anything to drink? I can smell something delicious being baked right now, and I want to see if I'm alone in that."

"Yes! I mean, yeah. I could really use something sweet right now."

"Ooh, that sounds good. But you know," she said, looking at Nino slyly. "I'm not all that hungry. What do say we share something? Maybe a slice of cheesecake? I could come and sit next to you."

A simple suggestion, but Nino looked ready to combust. Marinette laughed.

"Why don't you share something with me, Alya. I just want to try something. What do you say we get some cheesecake and let poor Nino have his own dessert?"

Alya looked slightly disappointed-as did Maria- but Nino nodded frantically, so Marinette laughed and flagged down a nearby waitress.

"Could we get a slice of cheesecake? I'm thinking strawberry. I'd also love some some lemonade, but that's just me. What do you guys want?"

Maria quickly chimed in, asking for a refill of her water, though Nino mulled his over for a moment. The awkwardness started to dissipate, though Alya kept saying little things to make Nino react, making Marinette laugh quietly every time. After a bit, even Nino grew comfortable, laughing and joking right back at Alya. After about an hour, though, Alya started gathering her things.

"Thanks for calling me over, Maria, but I've still got things to do- after all, I am new to town. Maybe I'll see you around, cutie." She winked and Nino, to his credit, managed not to turn into a mess again and actually respond.

"Hope you will. Bye, Alya!"

"Bye!"

And with that, she was gone. Nino finished the last of his pastry, then stood up.

"This has been fun, but uh…"

"Oh, shoo," Maria told him with a laugh, flapping her hands at him. "You were just here to talk to Alya- now that she's gone, you can leave." Looking rather embarrassed- though grateful- Nino bid the two goodbye and left.

"And then there were two," Maria joked. "So what do you say we part ways too? I'm pretty comfortable with this design, and I trust you to make it look fabulous. See you soon, 'Nettie!"

Laughing slightly, Marinette beckoned to Adrien. He stretched and jumped down to the ground next to her, and she grabbed up her bag. Keeping a comfortable pace, the two made their way home, basking in the warm sun and gentle breezes. Marinette broke the silence after a few comfortable moments.

"Nino, huh? He was pining after Alya lirk a lovesick puppy, wasn't he."

Adrien purred loudly, thinking of Nino. He seemed nice, the sort he would normally try to befriend, and Alya and Marinette got along quite well. He'd like to see them again.

"He seemed sweet, though. And Alya really didn't help, either. She's a bit of a fireball, huh, Chat?" Adrien purred louder, and Marinette looked please.

"You're a smart one, aren't you? It rather seems that you understand me. Oh! Understand me! I should look into that- I would swear I've seen a potion or spell or some such that let's me speak to animals. That could be fun. How about we try that sometime?" Adrien stilled. He hadn't even considered trying to turn back- probably Plagg's inherent laziness peeking through. Dashing forward with a yowl of excitement, he slipped slightly on the thin layer of fallen leaves that had recently started to come down. Facing her-slipping on more leaves in the process- he yowled again.

Marinette blinked, taken aback, then laughed out loud. "Looks like I've got a spell to track down! No promises, though. I haven't organized my spellbound in forever, so they're kind of a wreck."

Satisfied, Adrien purred. Considering, he ended up throwing caution to the wind and jumping up onto her bag in a single bound, then jumping a second time- with a bit of scrambling, though he made sure to sheath his claws- straight onto her shoulders. She just smiled, rubbed his head affectionately, and started walking again. Now that he knew she wouldn't object, he relaxed, making himself comfortable as they walked home together.

AN: So sorry for the late update!