Neither of them really noticed when suddenly six months of fake dating rolled around. Nothing changed between the two of them, they were both just as affectionate as ever, holding hands, wrapping their arms around each other, and cheek kisses. If you asked the gossip columns, they would say the two are the pinnacle of a happy relationship, but they were both wrapped up in the knowledge that they were just good friends.

In early March, the first of many spring rainstorms started. Marinette sent Adrien a text to kill time while she waited out the storm in the design building.

'SOS (Save Our Sanity). I'm trapped in the design studio until the rain clears up because someone (me) didn't think ahead to pack an umbrella even though she's lived in Paris for literally her whole life and should know to expect spring storms by now.'

'SOS- Save Our Stitches?'

'SOS- Save Our Studies.'

'SOS- Stitch Our Shirts?' Adrien was able to distract her for a while by sending back and forth different meanings for the acronym. "Ready to go?" Marinette turned around quickly when she heard a voice suddenly in the room with her. It was Adrien, wearing a rainjacket and holding an umbrella.

"There's a ride downstairs to get you and your project home if you think we can keep it dry from the walk to the door to the parking lot." Marinette tried to keep the blush off of her face when she thought about the fact that Adrien put in the effort to come to campus because she made a joke about not being able to go home yet.

"I think that should be easy enough," she said shyly. Adrien extended a hand to her and she stood from the stool she was sitting on. She picked up the garment bag she had already packed when she originally wanted to leave, almost an hour ago at that point. Marinette took his hand in hers and he led her out of the building.

He opened the umbrella over the two of them, making sure that the garment bag between them was completely covered. Marinette looked up toward him as he held the umbrella above her head and she felt her heart race as she looked at the face of the boy she'd been trying to not fall for for months.

He opened the door when they arrived at the car and Marinette was glad when she found that they arrived in the car with the bag completely dry. "If you come over, I can guarantee your design stays dry, but you might need to stay for a while. If you want to go home, though, we can take you there."

"I'd be fine going to your place," Marinette confirmed, "I just really didn't want to be stuck at the school anymore, so thank you."

"I'm always happy to help, princess," he told her. She placed her hand down on his while Gorille drove them to Adrien's apartment building. He took them toward the covered garage area where they could enter the building without risking getting caught in the rain. Adrien thanked the man and he left.

When they got up to Adrien's apartment, Marinette put the garment bag onto a hook next to the door. "What do you want for dinner?" Adrien asked.

"Nope," Marinette said, "go sit down. You saved me from having to stay at school, I'm cooking for you tonight. I'll figure something out from what you have." He wondered, again, if he could tell his fake girlfriend that he was really in love with her before he decided against it, just like always.

He followed her directions and Marinette started going through his pantry and fridge to see what she could make for the two of them. She couldn't make anything super exciting, but she was able to make an easy chicken and pasta dish for them to share.

"You're the best," he told her in thanks when she called him over to eat. He placed a feather-light kiss on her cheek and took the pasta dish she was handing to him. "I love you."

"I love you too," she said with a smile on her face. After dinner, Marinette texted Alya that she was spending the night at Adrien's. She borrowed a pair of his pajamas and the two ended up crashing on the couch together after they decided that they wanted to watch Ponyo.

The next morning, Adrien offered to walk Marinette back to her apartment, just like he did every time she spent the night. She accepted like usual and was happy that there was no rain that day. She held the garment bag in one hand while they walked and neither of them had noticed that their phones were dead as they went toward Marinette's apartment.

Marinette was surprised by how few people were on the streets of Paris that morning, but she was even more surprised to see an abundance of cardboard boxes and crates. She was momentarily reminded of Box Noir from the Oblivio fight when they were in collège, but all the boxes around them sent a weird shiver down her spine.

It felt strangely silent and almost sterile around them as the two of them walked through the streets of Paris. "Beware! I am the Box Ghost!" they heard a voice call out from behind them. The two secret heroes whipped their heads back to look at the blue-skinned akuma that seemed to suddenly exist in the street.

They ran off and dove behind a car as Box Ghost shot at them with the ray that came out of his hands. "Did he just say 'Box Ghost'?" Marinette whispered to Adrien as they tried to hide behind the car. He nodded, unsure. "I'm pretty sure that's a cartoon villain. Has Shadow Moth gotten even less creative? Now he's just stealing villains from other shows."

"Bring back Danny Phantom!" Box Ghost demanded as he continued to shoot his rays. Every time they would hit something, whatever they hit would get surrounded by a wooden crate or cardboard box. "Fairly Odd Parents didn't deserve to stay on the air if Danny Phantom couldn't stay too!" Marinette agreed, but she wasn't about to admit that out loud.

"You should get out of here," Marinette and Adrien said in unison, "I can distract him while you get to safety." They met eyes, surprised by how easily they made the suggestions in unison. While they were distracted by that, Box Ghost came up and captured the two of them in a box from close range.

"Shoot," Marinette said when she realized the two of them were trapped in the same box. If they were in separate boxes, she would've been able to transform and break her way out, but now she needed to figure out a way to get them out without revealing her identity to him. "Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot."

Adrien could see Marinette was starting to panic and he knew that he wouldn't be able to focus on defeating 'Box Ghost' if he was just worried about her the whole time. More than that, he knew that he wouldn't even be able to fight until he got out of this box. He could see that the edges were reinforced and it would be practically impossible to knock out one of the walls as a civilian.

Marinette's panicking became more frantic and she was slamming and kicking on one of the walls of the crate. He knew that even if Ladybug did hear them, there was no reason why she would let them out of the box instead of anyone else in the city. He swallowed deeply and let out a deep sigh.

He walked over and placed a hand on Marinette's shoulder. "Princess, do you trust me?" His voice was reverent and Marinette could tell that he wasn't trying to joke around. She nodded, firm in her answer, "can I trust you?"

"I think so," she responded. Her voice clearly conveyed her nervousness and her heart was still trying to beat straight out of her chest.

"Please close your eyes," he whispered. She did and the next thing she heard was the phrase "Plagg, claws out!" She could almost see the flash of green through her eyelids. "Cataclysm!" She felt the breeze of the air as the box disappeared from around the two of them and the next thing she knew, she was being picked up. "You can open your eyes."

Adrien, Chat, Adrichat, Chatdrien, he was carrying her in the direction she knew led to her apartment building. She was surprised and honestly kind of impressed that he could tell which window was hers from the outside and that was all she could think about to stop herself from having a heart attack at the situation.

"Princess, can you hear me?" he asked once he placed her down on her bed. Her nod was almost impossible to see, but it was there. "I'm sorry for lying to you, but I need to go. We can talk about this later. I love you." He stood back up and made for her window to get back to fighting the Box Ghost.

She reached out for him before he could leave through the window. She managed to capture his hand in hers. He turned back to look at her, not ready to know what she possibly had to say to him at that point. "I love you," she said simply, "we'll talk soon." He nodded and tried to offer her a reassuring smile before he leaped through her window.

Marinette let him leave and took a few long, deep breaths before she could follow after him. She had an idea for how to defeat Box Ghost, but she needed a different Miraculous to use the solution she came up with. She put on and unified the Miraculouses before she jumped out the window and showed up to the fight as Ladyhen.

She wasn't ready to meet his eyes, so she kept her gaze fixed on anything else. She summoned her lucky charm and was thankful when a thermos fell out of the sky into her waiting hands. She took a deep breath and called for her power of Sublimation, using the power to give herself the ability to use the thermos to capture ghosts.

She was shocked when the power actually worked and she could shoot a blue beam from the thermos in her hand. The physical being of the ghost got sucked into the thermos and the akumatized object, a flash drive with a sharpie label that said 'Every DP episode' fell onto the ground in front of her.

She crushed the flash drive under her foot and captured the Akuma. She let the 'Box Ghost' out of the thermos just in time for him to be turned back into a human kid. She called for her Miraculous Cure and gave the flash drive back to him.

"Ladybug, can you take him home? I have to deal with something." Ladybug couldn't tell him that Marinette wouldn't be there when he arrived unless she left first.

"I had to leave in the middle of an emergency," she said, only about half lying and his heart went out to her. He was dealing with his own emergency, but he knew that a few minutes wouldn't be enough to change the outcome of his talk with Marinette. He took the kid home and was happy to spend the entire time learning about the show he'd never heard of until that day.