A/N: I loved writing this chapter SO MUCH! It's a little shorted than the other more "current" chapters (meaning 20ish and on) but I am VERY satisfied with the turnout!

Chapter 41

~Marinette's POV~

A strange sense of calm was continuously washing over me as I held the small mistletoe decoration in my hands, waiting for my cue to start this scene. It was easy enough, really. I would put up the mistletoe, Adrien would come in, he'd walk past me, we would talk for a little bit, then I would take it back down.

I still wondered exactly what Sarah, Rose's character, would make of Zachary not kissing Marilee at all. She had mentioned a kiss on the cheek, a kiss on the lips, but nothing about there not being a kiss.

Way to bring some drama into these last few scenes, Alya…

I smiled to myself in slight amusement as I looked towards the girl questioningly. "Is he here yet?"

"Not yet." Alya answered, looking out the window towards the streets below. Nino was getting the camera ready in the meantime, Alix was lazily opening and closing the clapperboard, and Kagami was with the two cats, sitting on the staircase.

"Are you excited for this kiss?" She asked with a teasing tone as she pet Ambrose while Queenie lazily laid on a step below her.

I smiled in amusement and shook my head at Kagami. "There's not going to be a mistletoe kiss." I said. "And don't worry, I'm okay with it. I don't want there to be one."

Kagami gave me a look but shrugged and didn't press the issue. The others didn't say anything about it either until suddenly Alya spoke up excitedly. "He's here! Get into place, Marinette, and Nino, get that camera ready. I'm going to go out and tell him that we're ready to shoot."

I smiled to myself as I walked over to the doorway where I would put up the mistletoe then turned to the position I would take. Standing in my bare feet, but the same outfit I wore for the previous scene with Rose, I felt more than ready for this; to film the scene, then laugh about it with the others when we watched it later.

Alya came back inside a few minutes later and grinned at me. "Alright, Adrien's ready." She said. "You start the scene out, Adrien will come in for his part when I give him his cue, and Nino will add special effects later. This scene will be great!"

I chuckled quietly at Alya's excitement, and as Alix called out, "scene fifty-four, take one" I forced my smile away. Lifting my arms, I prepared to put the mistletoe up on a small hook in the doorway and kept and waited until I heard Alya call, "action!"

I fiddled with the ribbon on the mistletoe for a moment, acting nervous. I glanced over at the cats on the staircase, each on a different step. Queenie was still laying on the step she was on when Kagami was there, and Ambrose was a step above, sitting and staring at me. Nino would later insert a couple meows to make it sound as though I were holding a conversation with them.

"This is nothing." I said to the cats before I lifted my arms higher to hang it on that small hook. "I'm just decorating."

I turned my head to look at the cats again with a slight glare, after a meow. "Don't judge me." I turned back to the mistletoe and slowly took my hands away from it, admiring the way it looked hanging in the doorway. "Okay…" I muttered to myself, turning in the doorway. I put both hands on my hips as if practicing a pose, then put a hand on the side of the doorway and leaned forward slightly, looking extremely nervous.

I walked forward to the window Alya had been looking out of earlier then peered outside. Kagami was out there for her place to shine a flashlight on the window to make it look like headlights from a vehicle, and Nino would add the sound of a truck coming to a stop.

I winced and grimaced before quickly moving away from the window and hurrying back over to the doorway. I turned around quickly towards the front door where Adrien would walk through, putting both hands on the sides of the doorway. I frantically stepped in place and moved my arms and head around, putting on a show of me panicking last minute before he would come it.

I checked the clothes I wore by brushing them of, quickly touched my loose hair, put a hand on my hip as my other went up next to the mistletoe, then immediately came back down as my other hand rose to my zip-up sweater. I unzipped it halfway to show a white, laced tank top underneath before grimacing and zipping the zipper back up quickly. One hand went back to my hip and the other up to the side of the doorway just as the front door opened.

"Hey!" I said with an awkward, happy tone. "Welcome home!" Adrien gave me a quick smile as he walked in then closed the door.

"Hey." He greeted me, starting to take off the jacket he was wearing over a red shirt.

"Hey." I instantly responded awkwardly.

"How was your day?" He asked.

"Good." I replied with an awkward nod as I shifted my feet slightly. "Great. Great. How—How was yours?"

"Oh," Adrien said with a grin as he finished taking the jacket off and held it in his arms. "Great."

He took a step towards me and I puckered my lips ever so slightly only to have him walk right by me through the doorway. A look of disappointment crossed my features and I stayed in that exact position before I turned to the direction he was walking, both hands awkwardly on my hips. I just saw him walking into the kitchen before I turned away.

"Well," I called, looking down and talking as if I were trying to keep disappointment out of my voice. I then looked up towards the door he walked through, forced a big smile, then looked away again, pointing to the staircase with my thumb. "I'll see you later."

~Adrien's POV~

I walked into the kitchen and waited a few seconds then came back after I heard Marinette call after me. "Oh." I said, sounding and looking just as disappointed as I felt as I rolled up the sleeves on the long-sleeved button-up shirt to just below my elbows. "You're leaving?"

She looked at me for a second with a wistful look, and I mentally cursed myself for even considering that it may have just been more than just for this movie. "Yeah." She said after a couple seconds. "Why?"

As she said her line, my eyes flicked up to acknowledge the mistletoe above her. The same mistletoe that had been above the both of us when I walked under the doorway. My eyes went back to her, though I kept glancing at it as I said my line then as she said hers following it.

"I just—Um.." I started, cursing myself again for stuttering. It wasn't in the script, yet Alya wasn't calling "cut" either. Maybe she was wanting to see how this played out? "I just thought that maybe you could help me… grout the kitchen sink?"

Marinette placed a hand over her chest and gave me a smile, only reminding me of why I felt disappointed while filming this scene. "Sure." She said then looked down for a second before looking at me again. "Yeah, I could do that." Her hands settled back on her hips. I smiled slightly before looking down, my own hands awkwardly on my hips. Without another word, I turned and walked back into the kitchen.

When I turned and walked into the kitchen a second time, I knew that this was supposed to be the end of the scene. Marinette would take down the mistletoe, and in the next scene I would talk to the other guys about it. They would scold me for not kissing her, and the movie would go on.

But there was just something about this part of the movie that didn't sit quite right with me. I remember Alya saying something to me about this scene yesterday when she gave me the revised script and I questioned why she revised it the way that she did.

"Wouldn't a kiss be more ideal here for the movie?" I had asked, curious to know why she took it out. "The romance between Marilee and Zachary is building, after all." Alya gave me a look and a slight smirk before she replied to my question.

"You know what? Just do what you feel is the best for your character."

I still felt the disappointment I felt yesterday when I found out Alya revised the script and that there wouldn't be a mistletoe kiss. But what Alya said… That was her giving me permission to go off-script, wasn't it? That if I wanted to change the end of this scene, I could? I turned around and faced the doorway I just walked through, feeling ready to walk right back over to Marinette and change how the scene was written.

But should I?

I felt nervous as I actually thought about what it would be like to kiss her. I already kissed Chloe, but I knew that it would be so much different to kiss Marinette. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do it. But was it necessary for the movie?

I knew I was running out of time to make a choice, but I knew my decision already. I had to act now because I knew that if I didn't, I would regret it.

Taking in a quick breath in hopes to steady my racing heart, I took a step forward. Then another, and another, until I was walking quickly back to Marinette. I watched as she was taking down the mistletoe, and I knew I wasn't too late.

Just as she took down the mistletoe I reached her. Instead of letting her mutter her line of failure, I put my right hand on her left side of her waist and turned her towards me. I barely noticed the look of complete surprise as I leaned in and closed my eyes.

The kiss lasted for a few seconds, during which I had moved a hand up to gently hold her cheek. As I pulled away, but stayed close to her, I couldn't help but smile as I watched her eyes open and look from my eyes to my lips then back up again many times. She was confused and in shock to say the least.

"Sorry." I said quietly with a slight awkward chuckle, knowing that I completely went off script. "I didn't have a choice."

Marinette continued to stare at me in shock as I took my hands away from her face and waist, her lips parted slightly in surprise. "Wha—?" She questioned, obviously dazed.

"Mistletoe." I said, looking down at the small branch that was in her hand then looked back to her stunned face.

"Oh." She said then awkwardly raised her arm as if to show me the mistletoe I was referring to. She was smiling at me with the most awkward smile I thought that I had ever seen on her. "Yeah…"

We looked at each other for a few more seconds, and I swear her expression was the most adorable reaction I could have ever imagined getting from her by kissing her. I definitely didn't regret changing the scene up one bit.

I looked up from her and over to Alya, Nino, Alix and Kagami as they all gaped at me in shock. "Sorry," I repeated, unable to stop smiling even though I knew I'd messed up the scene. "I just thought—I liked this scene ending better. Do we need to run another take?"

"No." Alya said so quickly that she almost cut me off. My smile faltered slightly in surprise.

"Really?" I asked. "Are you sure? I went off script and—"

"Improvised very nicely." Alya interrupted with a grin. "As for the scenes to follow, I'll have to revise them, but I'll make this work."

"Are you sure?" I questioned, feeling a little guilty now as I thought about what Alya had to change now because of me.

"Positive." Alya assured me. "Don't you worry about a thing, Adrien. I can definitely make this work."

There was something about the way that everyone, except for Marinette who was still stunned, looked at me with wide grins that told me I had made the right choice, and that maybe this kiss under the mistletoe was what everyone wanted after all.