A/N: So... I don't think I've ever left an author's note on any chapter of either fanfiction I've posted, but I feel that this one is important to make. I've received a few comments about when I will update and what the schedule is, so I'll just say this:

I have no schedule for this fanfiction.

I update as soon as I have a new chapter finished. Even then, sometimes it's a day or two later, sometimes it's sooner, sometimes it's later. But I will say that it shouldn't ever be longer than a week of waiting. It just depends on how busy I am with life.

Thank you so much for everyone's comments! I really appreciate the feedback (:

Chapter 30

~Marinette's POV~

It was a little weird because Adrien and Nino weren't talking like they normally do. There was a lot of what looked like teasing from Nino based on how much he laughed and grinned, and that Adrien didn't look too particularly happy about it.

As I was trying to very subtly get closer to hear what they were saying from, slowly walking across the snow-covered grass of the park to the tree they were standing under, Alya suddenly appeared in front of me, offering me a large stack of papers.

"What's this?" I asked curiously as I took the papers and looked at the first page. Even as Alya answered, I knew what it was because of what was written on the cover.

"Some more scenes I finished writing yesterday." Alya told me with a smile. "All just between you and Adrien, except for one with the other firemen."

"Are you serious?" I asked with a very hopeful tone. I couldn't help but grin when she nodded in response and I even jumped slightly on the balls of my feet.

"Yep." Alya said, returning my grin happily. "Eight more scenes right there, and I'm working on the scenes to come. I have this idea for scene fifty-four, but I haven't decided if I should use it or not. I think it would be nice, but I don't know if you could handle it."

"Handle what?" I asked, lifting an eyebrow at her. I felt like I could handle next to anything because of how easy it was becoming to talk to Adrien while we were filming. I wasn't spacing off so much anymore!

Though before she could answer, I blurted out another question. "Wait, eight?!" I asked in amazement. "Seven more scenes with Adrien ready?"

"Well, actually Adrien's in all eight." Alya pointed out, reminding me that she had mentioned the other 'firefighters' having another scene ready as well.

"Okay," I agreed, but that wasn't my point. "But you said 'eight'? This doesn't look like eight."

"That's because some of them are really short scenes that are just showing how much time Zachary and Marilee are spending together." Alya said. "Really, they won't take long to film at all."

I sighed dreamily, imagining what it would be like if it were actually Adrien and I spending so much time together, not just the characters we were playing for this film.

I was very sure that this whole romance film in which Adrien are the two leads was just a plot of hers to get us to end up together for real, and even though I dint' think it would actually work out that well when it was all over, it definitely seemed that Adrien had grown a little closer since we started this film.

I mean, I could actually say my lines normally around him now! That in itself was a HUGE step up!

"So…" Alya said, taking me out of my thoughts. "Do you want to hear that idea I had for a scene that'll be coming up fairly soon?"

I nodded in response after I took a couple seconds to remember what she was referring to. "Yeah, I'd like to know what it is that you think I can't handle."

Alya smirked at me, and it was so big that she couldn't properly speak for a moment, which only made me more suspicious. "Just tell me, Alya." I told her with a small smile of my own. "It can't be that bad."

"Oh, no." Alya said, shaking her head slightly and holding up a hand for emphasis. "It's not bad." She still hesitated from saying her idea, and it was starting to annoy me, though she lifted the remaining packets in her arm. "I still have to give these out to everyone, so I'll tell you more about it later."

"Alya…" I said her name with a whine as I watched her take another set of the scenes from the stack and offer them to me. I took them without question though I was still confused as to why she'd give me another copy of all the scenes she just gave me.

"Another brilliant idea of mine: Go give those to Adrien for me." Alya told me with a smile. "Maybe you can run through those seven scenes with him."

I held the papers and stared at them for a moment as I though about what Alya was telling me to do. Finally, I looked up again, my mouth opened to protest, but I saw that she was already heading towards where Ivan was with Mylene, no doubt going to give him his scene with the other 'firefighters'.

I looked towards where I knew Adrien would still be with Nino, and it took me by surprise when green eyes met mine. I felt myself blush, wondering why he would've been looking towards me in the first place, and felt even more confused when he looked away from me, seeming to try to look anywhere else but at me. Meanwhile, Nino was having a hard time not doubling over with laughter.

I'm going to kill her…

I took in a deep breath to clear my head as much as I could, then exhaled slowly. "You can do this, Marinette. It's just Adrien. There's nothing to overreact about." Even as I quietly muttered to myself while forcing my feet to take me to him, my heart started racing.

Even though he seemed to try not to look at me, it was the way he was reacting to whatever Nino was doing. The way he rolled his eyes and tried not to smile though his cheeks were noticeably a light shade of red. It was so cute!

Why does he have to be so… him?!

Everything was going fine despite my heart beating rapidly in my chest as I approached him. I was even feeling a little more confident in how I'd try to go about a conversation with him. That was, at least, until I stumbled over something I didn't see in the snow; probably a rock or a stick or something.

I let out a cry as I fell forward, arms flailing as if I hoped to stop my fall using the air as support. I saw the papers fall out of my hands and land on the ground, but before I joined them in the now, I felt hands gripping my arms, stopping my fall and holding me steady.

"Are you okay?" I heard his voice first, then my eyes snapped up to look into Adrien's green ones. I stared at him in shock for a second before I started giggling nervously. "Fine!" I said a little too loudly then quickly went down to pick up both of the packets. Thankfully, the snow hadn't done anything to get the paper too wet.

Adrien watched me curiously as I kept my attention on the papers as I struggled to straighten them out after dropping them. I avoided looking at him, and ignored Nino's laughter, as my cheeks burned with embarrassment. Though, the laughter slowly became quieter, telling me that Nino was walking away. Which meant…

I glanced up quickly and smiled awkwardly when my eyes met Adrien's concerned ones, then looked back down again just as quickly.

Yep. Nino left me alone with Adrien.

Maybe I'll kill him too…

After what felt like a lifetime, I was finally satisfied enough with the condition of the packets, then held his out to him quickly, making him take a quick step back in surprise. "These are yours." I said, relieved as I could feel my embarrassment from my almost trip fading away. "They're your next eight scenes."

Adrien took the papers, giving me a small smile, then started to flip through the pages. His eyebrows raised in what appeared to be surprise. "Are all of these scenes for the two of us?" He asked.

"Oh, uh, no." I answered quickly. "No, there's one of you with the other guys."

"At the fire station." Adrien muttered to himself and slowly shook his head to himself as he flipped back to the cover page then smiled at me. "So that means seven together."

I nodded slowly, feeling awkward as I shuffled my feet. "Yep." I answered. I really didn't know what else to say. I still wasn't sure about how he felt about all of this romance stuff between us, or our characters at least. None of it was real, and to avoid getting my hopes up, I just had to keep telling myself that.

"We… could practice?" Adrien suggested after we were both quiet for a few seconds.

I slowly nodded in response, fighting a huge smile as my heart thumped so loud I was afraid he could hear it too. "We could…"

"Would you like to?" He asked curiously, to which I slowly nodded again. He smiled and let out a breath, which I almost mistaken for relief, but I couldn't kid myself. I couldn't give myself false hope.

Alya pulled me away from everyone else with an excited gleam in her eye that honestly kind of scared me. "So…?" She questioned, and immediately I blushed because I knew exactly what she was getting at.

"Nothing." I answered quickly. "Nothing happened. We just read over our scenes together."

"Right." Alya said, nodding, though I knew she was not convinced one bit. "You two have really grown closer these past couple weeks, you know."

"Yeah, thanks to us being the stars of a romance movie." I said, blushing a little more. "But that doesn't mean anything. Nothing's changed between us, other than the fact I've gotten better at speaking and acting properly around him."

"You can't tell me that Adrien doesn't seem to see you differently though." Alya told me, and though she didn't speak too quickly, I was taken aback by what she said.

"What?"

"Moving on." Alya said quickly with a small, mischievous grin. "Now, about that idea I mentioned earlier, that you are totally going to shut down because you're too scared—"

"I am not scared." I said stubbornly, cutting her off. "Just tell me what this idea of yours is."

Alya grinned at me, obviously hesitating for dramatic effect, and I knew she was really enjoying how impatient I was getting as I slowly nodded, urging her on. "Okay, so… I'm wanting to let Marilee hang up a little mistletoe—"

"What?!" I demanded, my face heating up much more than before. "Alya, why?!"

"So she and Zachary can share their first kiss, duh." Alya said, and although she shrugged my questions off, she was grinning at me and I knew she expected this kind of reaction.

"But that would mean Adrien and I kiss!" I said, making sure to lower my voice so instead of exclaiming it to the entire park, I just whisper-shouted at her. "I can't do that, Alya!"

"Okay, okay." Alya said, snickering at my flustered reaction at the thought of kissing him. "See? I told you that you wouldn't like the idea, so we'll scratch the kiss. However, the mistletoe stays."

"But—"

"I've already had the next scene you have with Rose all planned out, and I'm almost finished writing it!" Alya said, interrupting me. "The mistletoe stays!"

I didn't like that idea at all. I didn't want to kiss Adrien yet because I knew it would be just for the movie. Although I knew there was one that had to come up to make this a true romance film, I'd rather it be at the very end, so that way afterwards I could die of embarrassment and not have to worry about my role needing to be filled.

"Fine." I finally said with a heavy sigh. I wasn't looking forward too much to having mistletoe, but I suppose that there had to be at least a little bit, seeing as this was a Christmas romance movie. I mean, just because there's going to be mistletoe doesn't mean that there's going to be a kiss too.

Right..?

Marilee could just put it up, leave it up for a couple days, then take it down again when it was obvious there wouldn't be a kiss. I mean, that's what I would do if I was serious about getting a kiss with Adrien.

My face heated up more at the thought, causing Alya's laughter to fill my ears, as well as the sound of my pounding heart. I really, really need to stop imagining things like that happening with Adrien. It was so embarrassing, but more importantly, I knew it would never happen anyway.