A/N: Hi everyone! Another chapter for you :) BTW: The art teacher here, my OC, Miss Marguerite LaRue, leads the (fictional, not canon) optional art lesson after school which Nathaniel attends and is their main teacher at Arts and Crafts (which is like two times a week here). I had planned for Marinette to temporarily sign up for arts class after school the closer friends she's becoming to Nathaniel (as a way to get our favorite kitty jealous) :P Oh and this two shot includes Adrientte as well as Marichat!

MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FELLOW MIRACULOUS FANS! :)

Prompt: Adrien gets jealous of Marinette working together with Nathaniel on an art project, Chat gets jealous after Evillustrator protects and helps Marinette.

Rating: T

Accepting Christmas prompts!

A Jealous Streak

Adrien tapped his fingers rapidly against his desk and Nino's left eye twitched for the fourth time, "Dude, what's gotten you so riled up? You've been doing that for like ten minutes,"

He rose an eyebrow when Adrien's head snapped toward him as if he startled him, before shaking his head and making his fingers stop drumming against his desk, "Huh? What do you mean?"

Nino gestured at his now still hand, "Don't tell me you didn't notice that? You kept tapping your fingers all the time," his eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion, "What's eating at you?"

A million thoughts ran through Adrien's mind and none seemed reasonable by this point.

He didn't know why, but ever since the Evillustrator incident, which was quite a way back, he noticed he was paying closer attention to Marinette, as Adrien and Chat Noir. Of course, he was only concerned for her safety, after all, akumas may be targeting her again in the future.

But this…he couldn't explain this. This wasn't even an akuma attack, Marinette wasn't even in danger and yet he could feel his imaginary cat fur stand on end.

He released a low growl when he heard laughter behind him and Nino's eyebrow shot up to his hairline, "Dude, did you just growl?"

Crap, his Chat was showing again.

Adrien cleared his throat, pounding his fist against his chest, "Sorry, had to clear my throat," he coughed for good measure, "Anyway, about our project…"

He grit his teeth at the sound of Marinette and Nathaniel laughing behind him and Nino noticed the way he was almost strangling his pencil, "Man, Adrien, dude, stop you will kill your pencil," Adrien immediately snapped out of it and returned his attention to Nino.

"Ah, right, sorry," he released his pencil and settled for clenching a fist under the table.

Meanwhile, Marinette was laughing at something Nathaniel said.

"Don't tell me, you really did do that?" she covered her mouth while she giggled and Nathaniel had to chuckle at the memory.

"Well, it was Kim's fault really. I didn't notice Rose behind me and he shook my shoulder a bit too hard so I stumbled back and Rose…stumbled into Juleka," he stifled a laugh in his fist.

Marinette giggled, chancing a discreet look behind Nathaniel at Juleka and Rose who were immersed in their project, "Wow, so they really did…kiss?" she whispered the last part, leaning in closer to Nathaniel so only he heard.

The redhead blushed at their close proximity, but nodded nonetheless, "Y-yeah and since then I know they like each-other, the problem is they don't know." He shook his head, "They both deny it meant anything and claimed it was just an accident. Well, it was but for an accidental kiss, they sure took their time," he chuckled again and Marinette giggled, gently nudging his shoulder, "And their faces were redder than my hair, that has to mean something,"

"You know, after our project we could help them go on a date, what do you say?" Nathaniel rose an eyebrow, looking a bit uncomfortable.

"Oh…I-I don't really know Marinette, I'm not sure if they would appreciate that. I mean, I want them to be happy, but I don't know if forcing them on a date would be a good idea," he shrugged.

Marinette shook her head, both her hands settling on Nathaniel's shoulders and he felt a blush slowly creeping on his cheeks, her fingers leaving an electric current surging through him, "No, no, don't worry. We could all go out on that summer festival and we would just all go our own way and leave them two alone to enjoy it together," she smiled, "Besides, I doubt they wouldn't be happy, on top of having feelings for each-other, they're good friends, so it won't be that awkward from the start," she beamed happily, still failing to notice the effect she had on him.

Nathaniel couldn't help but smile back, rubbing at his neck, "Yeah…I guess you're right," he looked down at his drawings, "I, um, I drew something for our project but I'm not sure if that fits the theme," he showed Marinette some of his drawings he speed-drew the minute Miss LaRue announced the groups and the themes.

Their particular theme was the natural element, where they had to draw something, anything even people, in their natural element where they behave like themselves. The trick was to draw someone having completely natural reactions, which was difficult when said person was meant to be still for a few minutes while Marinette and Nathaniel had to draw them and capture the emotions from the situation and on the person's face and body language.

The pictures were of Marinette and on each one she was doing something that Alya would dub as 'Marinette-like'.

Tripping over her own two feet when greeting Adrien in the morning in a stuttering mess, smiling brightly at something Alya said, glaring at Chloe with her hands on her hips while defending a classmate from her and playing with her fingers when she felt shy or embarrassed.

Marinette's eyes were wide in amazement as she looked at each picture, finally looking at a red-faced Nathaniel, "N-Nath, these are great!" the redhead's face shot up to look at her in surprise.

"H-How did you manage to draw me so quickly?" she looked particularly at the one where she had a stare down with Chloe just this morning about bullying Alix, their stare down had only lasted a minute or two before Miss Bustier entered the classroom.

Nathaniel shrugged, scratching his cheek, "I-I practice a lot," at Marinette's confused expression, Nathaniel quickly elaborated, red faced with flailing hands, "I-I mean um, I-I practice drawing p-people a lot I mean, n-not you, I mean I do sometimes draw you but I-wait, I mean," he tried getting his stuttering under control, knowing he just wrote his own death sentence by confessing he actually had more pictures of Marinette, all drawn without her permission.

Instead of getting angry or feeling violated, Marinette laughed heartily.

Nathaniel didn't understand, he suspected this was one of those moments Juleka and Rose had told him about, how he just didn't understand how a girl reacts to certain situations because he only ever spends time with a girl when it was with them.

Bluebell eyes shone brightly in amusement and her smile was like the sun itself, "Nath, that's amazing! I mean, I always knew you were really good at drawing but this is just great! You even drew my freckles!" this time she blushed in embarrassment, "Eh, I thought they weren't so noticeable…" she sighed, consciously tracing them.

Nathaniel, in a uncharacteristic moment of confidence, bravely spoke up, although quietly, "I think your f-freckles are just f-f-fine,"

He couldn't bear to look at her, it would be his undoing, but when she didn't speak for several moments, he grew even more anxious and decided to chance a look at her face.

Her cheeks were a light pink, a color he usually only ever saw her get around Adrien, and she was smiling softly at him, "Thank you, Nath,"

His heart skipped several beats and he smiled timidly, playing with his hair that clashed with his bright pink cheeks.

She said his drawings were amazing.

She thanked him.

Nathaniel felt like he was on cloud nine when Marinette started to laugh at his barely suppressed grin.

"Dude, this is like the sixth time! What are you even looking at?" Nino turned his head to look behind him, spotting Alya and Mylene jutting down notes for their project, Alya noticed his stare and waved, Nino smiled and waved back, before his gaze trailed over the rest of his class, "I seriously don't see what you could be looking at-" his eyes froze on a certain pair.

Marinette and Nathaniel were at the far back, laughing about something together, Marinette more so than the redhead, the boy looked a bit red in the face, but Nino assumed it was because of the close proximity to Marinette, since he knew he liked her.

Nino's eyes narrowed suspiciously when Adrien's gaze automatically followed his, before he quickly turned around, a little too quickly.

"Dude,"

"What?" Adrien looked at his friend defensively.

"Dude,"

"What?" Adrien rose an eyebrow, feeling slightly agitated at Nino's prying.

"Dude!"

"What, Nino?" Adrien was about to say something more until Nino leaned in close to him and whisper shouted right next to his ear.

"I can't believe you're jealous of Nathaniel!" Adrien's eyes widened and he quickly drew back from his friend in shock.

What?

Him jealous of Nathaniel?

Not that he had anything against the boy, he barely knew him outside of greeting him from time to time and working on some projects here and there, in very rare cases.

"I'm not jealous, who gave you that idea?" he couldn't believe what Nino made up, how did that even make sense?

Nino adjusted his glasses, as if making sure what he was seeing was correct, "You've been in a bad mood since Miss LaRue announced the pairs for the project, you kept tapping your fingers against the desk or started growling like some animal whenever Marinette or Nathaniel laughed together." Adrien huffed, pretending to stretch as he turned his head slightly, before freezing up at Nino's words, "And you keep looking back to see what they're doing,"

Adrien visibly straightened, shaking his head, "What? No, no of course not! You're insane Nino, I'm not jealous of Nathaniel and I don't have anything against him spending time with Marinette. Besides, it's a group project, you have to spend some time with your partner after all." He shrugged, trying to bury down the conflicting feelings waging a war in his stomach.

Nino leaned his elbow on the desk, eyes narrowed accusingly at the male model, "Oh, really? So, you didn't hear Nathaniel asking Marinette out to the summer festival?" he rose an eyebrow, his grin almost evil.

When Adrien looked at him, he was the picture of innocence, "…What?"

Quickly, Adrien adjusted his tone and composed himself, "So, what? Marinette can go to the festival with whoever she wants, I'm sure Alya will go with her anyway,"

Now he was sure, Nino was grinning like those evil witches in fairy tales, "I heard it would just be the two of them," he shrugged, pretending to read the messy notes he scribbled down on his notebook, "So, anyway, when do you want to meet up for the project?"

Adrien's face was serious when he asked him this, "…When's the summer festival anyway? Maybe we could go there too,"

Nino grinned, already forming a plan inside his mind. All he needed was to consult Alya about it and it would all set into motion, "As far as I know, in two weeks," he leaned in closer, "Why?"

Adrien ignored the weird feelings brewing inside of him, as well as the teasing chuckle that came from the inside of his shirt, "Just asking," he shrugged.

Nino looked at Marinette and Nathaniel from the corner of his eyes and his grin widened when he noticed Adrien wasn't looking at him anymore, "Sure,"

"Hey, mom, can Nathaniel come over today? We need to work on a group project for Miss LaRue's class," Marinette smiled when her mother put the freshly baked cupcakes in the display case, each cupcake with a different colored swirl of frosting on top.

"Sure, he can sweetie. Hmm…Nathaniel…isn't that the boy that can draw really well?" Sabine smiled brightly at her daughter.

Marinette smiled, "Yeah, he is. He's also a part of Miss LaRue's after class art lessons," she nibbled absentmindedly on a chocolate croissant and her mother smiled.

"Do you need any help with your project?" she stored away the clean kitchen utensils, making space for when she would need to bake another batch of cookies.

Marinette washed down the croissant with water, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, "No, thank you mama. Could you just show Nathaniel to my room when he comes?" before she could dash up the stairs, Marinette stopped dead in her tracks, her voice a low whisper, "And don't let papa distract him with his puns!"

Sabine giggled, nodding before looking after her daughter in amusement.

"…What's so bad about my puns? And I thought they were perfect," Tom crossed his arms, emerging from behind the kitchen.

Sabine smiled and placed a hand on her husband's forearm, winking at him, "Don't worry sweetie, I always laugh at your yolks," she giggled.

Tom's eyes sparkled, and he enveloped his wife in a hug, "You punned! I love you!" Sabine could only laugh as she hugged her enthusiastic husband back.

"That sounds really exciting!" Tikki floated above Marinette's head, giggling when she cupped her hands under her and Tikki settled down on her warm palms, facing her, "I'm sure you're a great inspiration for him Marinette!"

The blue haired girl sighed, "But how Tikki? I mean, I'm really clumsy and awkward and the problem is he drew it so well! I can remember exactly what I felt at the time just by looking at his drawings!" she hung her head in defeat, "Oh Tikki, I'm not sure I can be a big help on this. I'm not too good at drawing people, I can sketch clothes and designs but that's as far my artistic skills go. I usually avoid drawing people if I can help it,"

Tikki flew to her face and gently lifted her chin, "I'm sure you'll be fine Marinette, trust in yourself more! You can draw just as well as Nathaniel if you put your mind to it, I'm sure of it!" she did a pirouette mid-air, giggling, "Besides, you're a big part of the whole project! Nathaniel needs a scenery or person to draw for in their natural element, right? You can be his model!" the small kwami giggled.

Marinette blinked.

His model?

Suddenly, Tikki zipped right past her and flew into her drawer just as a knock sounded on the door to her room and a timid voice spoke behind the wood, "Um, m-may I come in? It's me, N-Nathaniel,"

Eyes widening, Marinette quickly made sure nothing was amiss in her room and quickly corrected a few things on her desk that were previously strewn about and finally she opened the door and was greeted by the timid redhead, "Hi Nathaniel! Come in!" Marinette grinned and stepped aside and the boy shyly made his way into her room.

He looked slightly out of place, as if he didn't know what to do or if he was even allowed to sit or touch anything. Luckily, Marinette was there to help, placing a calming hand on his shoulder, which made him jump, "You can put your bag there, there's a chair over there if you want to sit down or you can sit on my bed, it's no problem,"

Blushing, Nathaniel gently set his bag beside Marinette's desk and after nervously clutching his notebook against his chest, he settled for sitting on Marinette's swiveling chair.

Marinette sat down on her bed and in that moment, a knock sounded on her door and her father's head poked out in the next second, "Cookies anyone? Fresh from the bakery!" he laughed heartily, holding up a plate full of the delicious goods.

Marinette was about to protest, but seeing the puppy dog look on Nathaniel's face, she accepted them from her father and thanked him, pointedly staring at him. Tom caught the hint and grinned brightly at Nathaniel before disappearing downstairs again at his wife's call.

Marinette set them down on her desk and after nodding reassuringly at Nathaniel, the redhead tentatively took a cookie and chewed on it.

"So, um, what should we draw for the project?" Marinette rubbed her chin thoughtfully, looking all around her room.

Then, her eyes widened.

The pictures!

Barely suppressing a shriek of horror, Marinette raced toward the wall and promptly, but carefully, took off all wallpapers and pictures of Adrien, quickly storing them in her closet before Nathaniel could take another look.

Nathaniel spoke after swallowing down his cookie, "Y-You don't have to hide them from m-me," there was something sad in his eyes that made Marinette's heart heavy with guilt, "I m-mean, Adrien is a model and I-I know you like him Marinette so it's okay to leave them really," he offered her a small smile beneath his bangs.

Marinette could shoot herself over and over again, "I'm so sorry Nath! I completely forgot!" she sat back down on her bed and looked nervously at her friend, who shrugged.

"It's okay honestly, it's fine," he offered her another shy smile, "Too bad you were so fast, it would have been the perfect moment to draw you," he chuckled softly, a fierce blush clashing horribly with his red hair.

Marinette froze, before laughing along with him when she relaxed and realized he was only joking, "Hey, that's not fair," she giggled, smiling brightly at her friend.

"I think I could draw you in every day things you do, you know, after you get home from school and such," Nathaniel took out his pencil, flipping his notebook to a clean page.

Marinette froze up again, realizing with a sense of dread that usually, after she came home from school she would do a solo patrol or sometimes with Chat Noir through Paris and meet up later with Chat for their nightly patrols.

Crap.

"Uh, after school, what I do, I uh…" Marinette scratched the back of her head, searching for answers, "I, uh, do a lot of things! I work on my designs and sketch a few clothes and, and…" scanning the room for any clues, Marinette's face lightened up, "And I read sometimes and work on my Ladybug and Chat Noir dolls," she quickly retrieved said dolls from beside her pillow, showing them to a curious Nathaniel, who took them gingerly in his hands, as if afraid he would break them.

She giggled shyly, "Y-yeah…I babysit a little girl from time to time and she really likes Ladybug and Chat Noir so I made these to play with her whenever she comes over,"

Nathaniel smiled, marveling at the details and careful threads and colors used for their costumes, "Wow, these are great Marinette," he looked at her then, turquoise eyes looking at her with adoration she usually showed whenever she looked at Adrien.

Marinette fidgeted with her fingers shyly, smiling brightly at the compliment, "You…really think so?"

Nathaniel nodded without hesitation, "Yeah, I mean you're usually great – I-I mean your drawings are, I mean- not that I usually know what your drawings or creations look like but um," his blush grew worse, threatening to overtake his entire face, "W-what I meant was, that, um, you're really good at these things Marinette,"

She smiled, feeling appreciation blossom in her chest for the shy artist before her, "Thank you Nath," she giggled into her hand, "I'm glad Alya is not the only that likes them," she winked, giggling.

Nathaniel chuckled, smiling as he watched her laugh.

Both teenagers froze when a strange, scratching noise sounded on the hatch from the outside.

When Marinette rushed to her window to see what it could possibly be, she was met with vibrant, green eyes.

It was Chat Noir.

And…cliffhanger! Yes, I'll write a part 2 to this! :) I hope the characters weren't too OOC here, I do know that I wrote Nathaniel a bit too OOC (I have to work on his character more .) If you have any ideas for the second part, feel free to write them in a review!