Marinette

She was up early, inspecting her hat for mistakes but to her satisfaction she found none. Today was the day her fashion idol Gabriel Agreste would be at her school, judging the hats students had made for the contest. All week long, students had been talking about it, nearly half the school had made hats hoping to win. Alya and Nino didn't make one but had been pestering to see her design all week. Marinette had simply smiled, telling them they would have to wait.

Now she was just leaving the bakery when a car pulled up to it. The door opened, Adrien Agreste stepping out onto the sidewalk. "Good morning Marinette. Do you want a ride to school?" he offered, rubbing the back of his neck.

Marinette gave him a kind smile, despite the fact the Adrien didn't tell her his last name yet stopped bothering her a few days ago. She had noticed the way he seemed to get nervous around her and figured it was because he was afraid she wouldn't talk to him due to his relations. "No thanks, I prefer to walk," she politely refused, clinging tightly to the box that contained her hat.

He seemed to sadden, causing Marinette to feel regret for refusing the offer. Adrien had been trying to spend more time with her it seemed. He suddenly perked up, "Well perhaps I could walk you to school?" A moment later, he seemed to panic, something Marinette had noticed multiple times over the week but couldn't quite figure out the cause behind it. "I mean if you want me to, that is if you don't mind?" For a moment Marinette swore she saw fear flicker in his eyes as he babbled rapidly. "You don't mind do you?"

Marinette giggled, "Yes Adrien, I don't mind at all." Adrien reached in the car, grabbing his bag and telling his driver he was going to walk the rest of the way. The big man grunted and drove off. The two teens walked in silence, Adrien flushed and slightly freaked out as Marinette observed him with amusement. After a few moments, he finally worked up the courage to speak and gestured at the box, "So i-is your h-hat in th-there?"

Marinette smiled sweetly at him, unknowingly melting Adrien with her smile, "Yeah, it's the hat." As he opened his mouth, she cut him off, "No, I won't let you take a peek. You get to see it at the same time your dad does. I carefully made a point of not showing sketches to anyone of this particular hat."

Adrien's eyes shot open in shock, "Wait, you know my dad is Gabriel Agreste? Wait, so you know who I really am?" He seems hesitant, afraid almost Marinette thought to herself.

She smiled reassuringly at him, "Of course I know! I was surprised I didn't figure it out sooner, with all the posters of you everywhere, including my own room. And there was the fangirl comment on the first day of school." Marinette shook her head as she laughed at herself. Then she turned her eyes on Adrien, curiosity in them. "What I don't understand is why you, or anyone else for that matter, didn't tell me. Is there something wrong?"

Adrien had to shake himself loose of the memorizing gaze of her bluebell eyes, trying to get his brain going. "Um, well its um, kind of stupid now that um, I say it out loud after finding out you known for a week." He looked down, rubbing the back of his neck as he mumbled, "I was worried you wouldn't want to be friends."

Marinette's eyes widened, her mouth opening and closing. Did he really want to be her friend that badly? She had never met someone who wanted to be her friend this bad before, save for maybe Alya who was eager to hang out with her. "What makes you think that?" she asked, still surprised by his answer.

Adrien continued to look down, "I heard you talking to Juleka during the first Fashion History class, about how you think I was probably some snotty rich kid." He didn't bother mentioning that he had heard her say twice that she thought he looked cute.

Marinette sighed, "I'm so sorry, Adrien. I didn't even know you yet at the time, even then I shouldn't have made those assumptions about you." She shifted the box to her right arm, hugging him with her left, "You are a very good friend and I appreciate you." Adrien was barely able to squeak out a thank you, face red. Marinette broke the hug, eagerly chatting about the summer designs. He wondered if he could somehow get her a ticket to the Fall Fashion show.

Alya

When Adrien messaged her he won't be able to give her a ride, Alya figured it was because he had a photoshoot. But what Nino and her saw instantly shot that down. Adrien and Marinette walked into the school, Marinette smiling and talking with a black box in her hands, Adrien smiling and nodding with what appeared to be a sunburn on his face. "Do you think he confessed?" Nino asked.

Alya analyzed the pair for a moment before shaking her head, "Nope, he doesn't seem extremely happy and it doesn't look like Marinette curb stomped on his heart. Probably tried to offer her a ride to school again, just without us this time." Nino grunted in agreement at Marinette spotted them and head towards them with Adrien in tow. "Hey, girl! Is that the hat?"

Marinette nodded, as she clutched the box more protectively. "Yes, but no peeking until the judges arrive." She turned to look at Adrien, "When is your dad coming?"

While Alya and Nino exchanged a satisfied look that Adrien's worries were hopefully over, Adrien frowned for a moment. "He said in the announcement that judging is at lunchtime, but Natalie has him scheduled to be here halfway through the second period. Probably so people without hats don't clutter up the place." Marinette nodded in acknowledgment before heading off to her locker, leaving Alya and Nino to smirk at Adrien. "What?"

"Someone wanted some alone time this morning and now I know why," Alya smirked at him, Nino grinning from ear to ear.

Chloe glared at the trio from across the courtyard, then at the disappearing form of Maribrat headed into the locker room. "Sabrina, steal Maribrat's hat, will you? I need to ensure I win this contest." The redhead nodded eagerly, always ready to please Chloe no matter what the cost was.

Marinette

The principal had just called for all hat designers to retrieve their hats and head to the courtyard for the judging. But as Marinette searched inside her locker, her box wasn't there. "No no no no no! It was here this morning!" As she emptied out the locker, her hopes started to falter as her box wasn't there.

Adrien entered the locker room looking for her, "Marinette? The judging is about to start." He found her curled up in front of her locker, head in her arms. "Marinette, what's wrong?" That's when he realized the box he saw earlier was missing.

"It happened again, I let myself get comfortable and dropped my guard. Now someone has stolen my design again," she sobbed. Adrien felt uncertain what to do, wanting to comfort her and also wanting to get Alya who would be a lot more capable at that than him.

He slid down beside her, "We can go out there and find your hat. Whoever stole it will be there too." Marinette seemed to hesitate, then took a deep breath and nodded. Adrien stood up, offering her his hand which he wished would stop shaking. She accepted it and they walked out into the courtyard. There was a large variety of hats, most of which Adrien his father would ignore after a glance. They reached a corner of the courtyard, where Chloe was standing next to a display, a black hat with a feather attached to it.

Marinette gasped, "That's my hat!" Adrien felt anger stir inside, wanting to let loose on Chloe but knew his parents were present and would disapprove.

Chloe stuck her nose in the air, "I don't know what you are talking about, I have worked so hard on this hat all week long."

Before Adrien could retort, his parents approached from behind, "Adrien, your father doesn't seem to understand that you don't want a party with all of the business associates invited." His mother seemed to have a hidden anger under her kind smile.

Next to her, Gabriel Agreste seemed to scowl, "He is much too old for a childish party and should be making connections for his future."

Emilie snorted, "You mean the future you are forcing him into, not the one he wants. You just want to keep your star model around to make you a profit."

"Emilie now is hardly the time or place."

"And when are the time and place? Every time we have this discussion, you always have something that has come up." Marinette felt her own despair and frustration disappear as she saw the pain on Adrien's face as he watched his parents argue. Making a decision, she snatched his hand and pulled him away from the forming crowd, who came over to see what was going on. Adrien looked at her, mouth open in astonishment. Marinette gave him a reassuring smile as she led him into the library.

"What about your hat?" Adrien asked, astonished by her actions.

Marinette shrugged, her sad smile piercing his heart, "You didn't look okay out there, so I decided to get you out of there."

Adrien felt his heart beat faster, "T-thanks." Marinette simply shrugged as they found an empty table in the corner of the library. They settled down, Marinette setting down her bag and pulling out her sketchbook. "I guess I was hoping that they wouldn't fight here, guess I just hoped for too much from them."

Marinette placed her hand on top of his comfortingly, "I take it your home life is that great?"

Adrien nodded, "They tend to disagree a lot, mostly about me being a model. I do because it makes father happy, but I think he only likes it because it brings in profits. As a result, he's trying to control my life more, insisting I go on these ridiculous diets." He shook his head, "On top of that I am expected to do fencing, piano lessons, and Chinese as well."

Marinette stared at him in shock, "How does he expect you to be able to keep up with all that?"

Adrien shrugged, surprised by both her concern and his ability to speak clearly. "Mother got me out of Chinese but wants me to learn the piano. I enjoy fencing so I still do it."

Marinette didn't seem reassured, "Still, that's not fair to you. And if they are fighting a lot…"

Adrien waved her off, "It's okay, I'm used to it." Marinette opened her mouth to disagree but he cut her off, "Besides, you just had your design stolen. Shouldn't we be focusing on that instead?"

Marinette grinned at him then opened up her sketchbook and flipped through a few pages, before stopping at a certain sketch. "See this?" Adrien looked and saw her pointing at some embroidery along the rim of the hat. Marinette flipped the sketch upside down and he say it. In cursive was the name 'Marinette D.C.'. "I signed it. When I panicked, I must have forgotten about it."

Adrien couldn't keep the wide grin off his face, "And Chloe has no idea about it. Once my father inspects it, he'll realize it had been stolen by Chloe. You're amazing Marinette!" He blushed as he realized what he had just burst out.

Marinette looks away shyly, her own blush forming. "Thanks." No one had said that to her besides her parents. Everyone else before had insulted her instead of complimenting her. As the bell signaling the end of the second period and the beginning of lunch rang, she came to a decision. "Do you want to come over to the bakery for lunch?"

Adrien felt his nerves all fire up at the same time, "Um s-sure! I mean, if that's okay with you."

Marinette smiled at him as she put her sketchbook back in her bag, "Of course it's okay with me, that's why I offered."

Alya

As she and Nino searched around the courtyard for Marinette, they happened upon a screaming Chloe. When Gabriel Agreste inspected her hat, he had found Marinette's signature embroidered to blend in with the hat, but be noticed upon close inspection. The signature suggested that whoever really designed it either had advanced talents for a student or Chloe had professional designer make it for her. "You are disqualified from this contest Ms. Bourgeois and I suggest you reveal the true designer."

"I was the one who really designed it! That name was just a coincidence that just happened without me intending it to!" Chloe insisted.

Gabriel sighed, "Clearly you lack the skill to recognize that the name was deliberately sewn in. This was not your creation."

Chloe turned around and stomped off, Sabrina following her dutifully with her nose in the air. "My daddy will hear about this!" she screamed over her shoulder.

Gabriel sighed, looking back at Emilie who was now inspecting the hat for herself. "When is she going to realize I funded her father's campaign and am the only reason he got elected?"

Emilie shrugged, then gestured at the name. "I believe I know who this Marinette is. If you spent more time communicating with your son rather than managing him, you would have known right away too."

Gabriel ignored the jab at his preferred parenting methods. "Who?"

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, she is the daughter of the famous bakers. Adrien says she just started going to school here." Emilie gave him a stern glare, "In fact, he talks about her a lot and is unsure how to reach out to her if only he had a father to guide him."

Alya jumped up and down eagerly, shaking Nino excitedly. "That means Marinette won!" then she frowned looking around, "Wait where is Marinette?" Nino shrugged looking around as Alya pulled out her phone to call her. As she turned on her screen, she saw a text message from Marinette.

Marinette: FYI, bailed with Adrien to go to the bakery for lunch. His parents were arguing so I pulled him out of there.

Alya squealed happily, causing Nino to jump in shock. "Don't do that, I only have so much stress I can take in a day."

Alya shoved the phone in his face, "We don't even have to help him, she is doing all the work!" Then she paused and sent a message of her own.

Alya: Did Chloe steal your design?

Marinette: Yup, but I signed it, so she won't get away with it. Just hope she gets in trouble for breaking into my locker

Alya: I'm on it girl

Alya grabbed Nino, dragging him to the locker room, "Come on, we got a crime to prove." Behind them, the Agreste's headed to the head office with Marinette's hat in hand.

Adrien

Adrien didn't know what he expected when he entered the bakery, but he certainly didn't expect for Marinette's parents to welcome him so warmly. He lived in a cold home for so long and was shocked by the fact that they cared about him, even if they just met him. They wasted no time shoving food in his face, so much that his dietitian would have a heart attack at the scene. He attempted to pay for it, but the glare from Marinette when he reached for his wallet scared that thought away. Thanking her parents again, he let himself be led upstairs to her room.

He never expected Marinette's walls to be covered in his modeling photos. Marinette noticed his reaction and giggled at him, "I know I said I wasn't a fangirl, but I am, I just prefer the clothes and not the guy wearing them." She laughed again at his pout, "Not that you aren't a good friend." Adrien frowned on the inside, that was the second time she called him a good friend. What did he do to deserve this?

They ate the lunch her parents gave them in silence, Marinette analyzing him carefully. His birthday was coming up soon and from what she could tell it wasn't going to be a joyous occasion. Already she was brainstorming ideas, "What's your favorite color?"

The question startled Adrien, "Uh, blue." Marinette nodded, making a mental note of it. She was going to ask more when her phone went off. It was Alya.

Alya: Girl, it hit the fan. Sabrina is taking the fall for Chloe and got suspended, possibly expelled. Gabriel Agreste sends his congratulations and left, which pissed off Adrien's mom I think. Chloe is losing it, saying how if you didn't sign it she would have won.

Marinette smiled, telling Adrien about the message save for the bit about his parents. He grinned at her, "Of course you won!" Marinette moved to text Alya back when she realized the time.

"We gotta go, like now!"

Alya

Alya couldn't help but smirk as Marinette and Adrien burst into the classroom as the bell rang. The way Chloe's face went red with rage when she saw them enter together was also very satisfying. "What took you two so long?"

Marinette raised an eyebrow, "Nothing, we just lost track of time."

"Doing?"

"Eating lunch, why are you being so weird? Adrien and I are just friends." Alya smirked, knowing full well the blushing model would disagree. And Chloe didn't seem to approve at all. "Hey, when's Adrien's birthday?"

The question caught Alya off guard, "Um, next week Saturday. Why?" Marinette shrugged and didn't answer, leaving Alya to drive herself crazy wondering what was going on.

It was still bugging her when she got home that evening. Looking around the house, she found that no one else was home. Alya checked her dad's office, which was also empty. As she was about to give up, Alya noticed a closed file on the desk. Curiosity driving her, she read the name. Gasping in shock, she read it again: Marinette Dupain-Cheng.