Marinette didn't see Adrien for a few days after that party. The next time that she did was a short while after an akuma attack. It was starting to feel like that was when she saw him the most, but she tried not to think about that because she didn't want to connect her life as a hero to her life as a civilian too much.

She was surprised when she saw that Adrien was wearing fencing gear in the park. When he mentioned fencing at their picnic, it sounded like he wasn't a fan of the activity. He was drinking out of a water bottle and talking with a girl who was wearing a set of bright red fencing gear. Marinette debated whether she should go over and talk to him or not.

Her mind was made up for her when she saw the smile light up Adrien's face along with his wave when he saw her from across the park. Marinette blushed and walked over to the two of them. The girl that Adrien was fencing with was gorgeous, in Marinette's opinion and she felt a little pang in her heart.

"Hey, buttercup," she greeted when she approached him. He leaned over to give her a brief kiss on the cheek in greeting. "I wasn't expecting to see you today."

"Neither was I," he said with a bright smile on his face, "but I'm glad you're here, princess. This is my friend, Kagami. We used to do fencing together when we were younger."

"It's nice to meet you, Kagami," Marinette said, extending a hand to the girl in front of her. Kagami shook Marinette's hand and her eyes were clearly looking Marinette over as she stood in front of the two. Adrien wanted to hug Marinette, but he knew that he was sweaty and didn't think Marinette would appreciate a hug from him when he thought he smelled gross.

"It's nice to meet you, too." Kagami's smile was stilted and Marinette was a little put off, thinking she might have made the wrong impression on Kagami. Did Kagami like Adrien, was Marinette accidentally getting between the two of them? Did she do something to make Kagami not like her?

"Adrien, I need to do one more point, then you can run off with your girlfriend." Adrien blushed lightly, stuck between wanting to spend more time with Marinette and wanting to go home to take a shower before spending more time with her.

"Oh, you two can continue hanging out," Marinette offered, "I just wanted to stop by. If you have plans you should definitely hang out with your friend, Adrien. We can meet up later." She pointed her thumb in the direction she had come from to indicate her willingness to leave for Kagami.

"I have to leave to prepare for dinner with my mother soon. I just want to try one more point before I finish for today." Kagami stretched a bit to prepare for the final point.

"Do you want me to wait here?" Marinette offered shyly. "I can leave if you have something else to do after this."

"Sure," he reacted shyly, "but I'll probably want to stop off and change before we do anything." Marinette nodded in understanding and smiled brightly at Adrien. She sat on the bench next to his water bottle and watched him fence against Kagami.

It was an extremely intense match, more intense than Marinette knew fencing could get. During the point, Marinette couldn't help but to feel a strange sense of familiarity as Adrien parried with the saber. She thought she may have seen it before, even though this was the first time she'd ever seen a fencing match in real life.

Adrien's movements were quick and precise as he moved, blocked, and lunged. Eventually, Adrien got the drop on Kagami and stuck her. Marinette thought, again, about the fact that he made it sound like he didn't fence anymore. She was confused about why he seemed to be easily able to match this other person step for step and well enough to win.

Adrien let out a pleased sigh when he won. "Congratulations Adrien," Kagami said with a smile. "I knew that giving you a pretty girl to impress would make you a better opponent." Kagami's voice was loud enough for Marinette to hear and the comment made Marinette and Adrien blush.

"The same trick has worked for you for the last 4 years," Adrien joked to his friend. Marinette smiled at their playful interaction.

"How did you think I came up with it?" Kagami said in a neutral tone as they walked back towards Marinette. She picked up her bag and said bye to Marinette and Adrien with another stilted smile on her face and Marinette smiled back, politely. "I will see you soon, Adrien. Please let me know when you will be available to join Zoé and me for dinner."

She left and Adrien turned to Marinette with a bright smile on his face. "That was pretty impressive," Marinette told him. "Can you show me how to fence?" He nodded and took her back over to the more open area of the park where he had been fencing with Kagami earlier.

Adrien held Marinette's hand across the back and placed the saber into it. He closed her hand around it and adjusted her grip until it was in the correct position. When her hand was holding the saber correctly, he showed her a few bouncy steps. She repeated the actions that he did and they spent a short while at the park while Adrien was showing Marinette fencing moves.

As usual, there were photographers at the park who were taking pictures of the two of them. They had been together in the eyes of the public for a few months, so news about their relationship wasn't as much of a selling point for the paparazzi as it used to be.

When the two of them finished practicing fencing, Marinette could tell that she had been moving a lot. She felt kind of gross and blushed. "Do you want to have dinner tonight?" Marinette suggested. "I want to go home and change first, but if you would be willing to go to dinner with me, that sounds like it would be nice."

"That sounds wonderful princess," Adrien said with an even bigger smile on his face than he'd had before. She didn't think he could get any happier. "Do you want to meet me downstairs at your apartment complex at 19h30?" She leaned up on her tiptoes to give him a confirming cheek kiss before she left.