Today was Adrien's favourite holiday for one reason; his mother loved it, which meant his father loved it, which means he was always fond of the holiday and let Adrien celebrate it outside with Gorilla watching in the car from a distance. Today was the 31st of October, Halloween morning. Adrien woke up early bright and cheery, he kissed the photo of his mother and spoke to her for a bit.
"Hey mom, this is the 3rd Halloween without you. Last year father was hesitant but he let me go out, but yesterday he said that Gorilla didn't have to stand over me! He would watch from a distance! In a car! The costume you made me is a tight fit but it'll work, I asked Marinette to make extremely slight modifications and give it to me at school today. Miss you tonnes, love you mom."
He stood up and played a little tune on his piano, turned on the news, had a shower, got dressed, packed his bag, woke up Plagg and ran downstairs. While he was running out the door he stopped,
"Happy Halloween mom."
Meanwhile at the Agreste bakery...
*Large sniff* "Tikki! It smells like cheese and Agreste fragrance! What cheese do you think it is?"
Tikki very well knew what cheese it was, she was hesitant to sniff the disgusting stuff but did it for Marinette's sake. She did a quick sniff and flew up to her bed, "That's camembert! 100%! I know that stuff anywhere!"
"Why such hate Tikki? Camembert is a flavoursome cheese, I'm disappointed you recognised it before me but that's- Hey. Why did you get it so quickly and fly away?"
Tikki couldn't sweat but it damn would be a perfect time for the bodily function to kick in, she had to lie to Marinette, this was the only thing she couldn't discuss with Marinette. "One of my old owners, uhh- his name is a bit fuzzy. He was obsessed with the stuff, used to buy wheels and wheels of it and let it mould and rot then eat it as if it were a delicious macaroon. He had some good in him, but the only thing he cared about other than cheese was himself. If he existed now he could probably stumble upon a safe of miraculous in Hawkmoth's house and only care about something to eat or get at me for."
"Don't worry Tikki, that's like the opposite of Adrien. There's nothing to worry about. I've finished the costume that his mother made, just a few thread extensions; he asked me explicitly not to change any details. I was hesitant at first but-"
"I remember Marinette, you spoke about it all afternoon yesterday and even during your sleep. He said 'come on Mari please!' and you were like 'well, umm, surely your father or servants or' and he interrupted you and was like 'you're perfect for the job Marinette! How about this? You do this simple favour and you can do whatever you want me to for an hour!' then you got lustful thoughts, blushed, and agreed with a nod. Trust me I could recite the previous and next 2 hours of your life you were that specific, I'm at your side always, I hear everything."
"Sorry Tikki, I spent the whole time wondering what I was going to ask him. I just kept repeating and repeating it all to think of something and I finally got it, tonight when he joins our group for Halloween I'm going to-"
Sabine stuck her head up the trap door, "Marinette! School starts in two minutes! Your dad has your breakfast to-go, you're going to be late again!"
Marinette skittered down the stairs and ran to school, putting the costume carefully in a box, picking up her bag and rushing to school with a croissant in her mouth. Adrien was also running late, their normal route had been blocked off because of a car crash. No fatalities or major injuries, he saw it on the news that morning.
They bumped into each other on the school steps, "Marinette, hey! Is that it?"
Marinette confidently handed the box to him, "Here, great material by the way."
"Hope it wasn't to much trouble."
"It was worth it, because I chose between 8 and 9pm as my hour of owning you."
"I'm excited to see what you've come up with, we better get to class." Adrien took the box and put it in his grey and black laptop bag, he also wasn't thinking and took Marinette's hand. She blushed as he guided her up the stairs and toward their class, Ms Bustier was doing roll call when they stopped at the door hand in hand. Alya, Nino, Mylène, Max, Juleka and Alix all smiled, Nathan, Ivan and Kim gave them a thumbs up and everyone else silently giggled. Except Chloe and Sabrina, they gasped and looked away in horror of the major crime Adrien just committed, treason to Chloe.
Ms Bustier tapped her pen on her clipboard, "Now now. Adrien, Marinette. You know the rules, couples can only do their thing during lunch brakes, not during class. Okay you two?"
Everyone burst into laughter as Adrien dropped Marinette's hand, looking away to cover his red face. Marinette didn't blush, she froze. It was as if Time Breaker just slapped her back, frozen in time, but instead of her body it was her soul slowly disappearing. It flew back to her body when Alya shouted "You go girl!" and Nino followed that with a "Whoo-Hooo. Well played dudes!"
Her face turned coral red and she sat down next to Alya, the same with Adrien when he sat down next to Nino. Throughout the whole day Marinette's head filled with questions.
Why did he blush? Why did he hold my hand? Does this mean he shows affection towards me? I smelt the camembert on him! This better not affect my plan for tonight! Is he asking himself the same things?
In Adrien's head these questions these questions were reoccurring.
Why was I nervous? My heart has never pounded that fast before! I'm going to look great in this costume! Why does Ms Bustier have to be so announcing about the whole thing? Chloe's going to kill me! I can't believe I held hands with a girl like that!
The classes wen by so quickly it was almost hypnotic, the sound that broke their spell was the ring of the school bell for lunch. Morning tea was eaten inside because of rain, even then Marinette was bleak and motionless. She made small talk about the Ladyblog with Alya, just when she began the topic Nino dragged himself and Adrien into it. "You dudes were so cute! Showing up late holding hands!"
"Yeah Mari, that was so adorable! So spill, who confessed love first?"
Adrien and Marinette used voices that they seemed as frustrated, but was obviously the 'in denial' voice. "We didn't confess each other's love."
Adrien realised what he said and scratched the back of his neck, "I mean, not like I have any. Marinette is just a very good friend who likes fashion."
Marinette looked down at the couples in the schoolyard and agreed sadly, "I didn't confess anything, Adrien and I are just friends."
Adrien looked at Marinette, with her head on the rail. "We are not just friends Mari, to me you are two ranks above my best friend."
"Hey! Aren't I your best friend?!"
"No Nino, you are my dude."
Nino was flattered in the non-sexual way at that comment, he hugged Adrien. "Thanks dude! That means a lot!"
They all stood up and ate lunch, barely anyone spoke a word. The only conversation they managed to have was their meeting point, a street away from Adrien's place at 6. Once that happened everything went typical for the rest of the day.
When the group met up they spent 10 minutes walking without trick or treating, talking and laughing about everything. Marinette was wearing a cute cat costume, she had a fluffy tail that was wired to stand up and wiggle around, she was rocking a set of cat ears and whiskers. A short black skirt and fluffy, black leather coat with a dark shirt underneath covered her body, dark stockings covered all her legs and nice, shiny black shoes on her feet. Her nose was marked black and she even had paw-gloves on with a bell around her neck.
Alya was obviously dressed as Ladybug, but when Alya and Marinette worked on it together this year Alya made most of the aesthetics different. The primary red changed shades slightly as you looked at it, like a very slight but noticeable and good-looking change. The yo-yo string was wrapped with a second red string and you could keep small things in it like a phone, money or keys, the ribbons tying her hair into two pigtails were longer and came down to her hips.
Nino was dressed as a DJ, he had a homemade strap-on DJ station (No idea what it's called), on it was two places for disks to go, buttons and turning knobs on the left and little up and down sliding buttons on the right, the entire thing was fitted with neon LED lights, blue, green, pink and yellow lit up their area. Large headphones and a microphone hung from his head as well as dancing shoes, jeans, a long-sleeved shirt with a green rectangle pattern covering the middle chest, as well as a plain dark blue jacket over the top.
Adrien was dressed as Dracula; at first he was upset no one else was a monster but he soon fit in with his friends. His cape featured a black chrome-like silk with knives, fake bullet holes and bloody tears all over it, the inside was a deep and beautiful purple, the cape was made by his mother so he was endeared by how little it had changed. The suit was created by his father, the long black pants were made out of the same silk as the cape, except there were no holes, next was a white collared shirt with a black buttoned up suit over the top. He wore a white ruffle collar and a purple western bowtie on top, he had put in realistic fangs that matched his teeth, he also drank red food colouring so his mouth was stained red, not insanely but creepily. The coolest was his cane, the bottom was spiked like a small mace, the ball was about the size of a golf ball; the cane was a swirled mix of purple and black with a silver handle studded with gold and gems. In his suit pocket was a blood stained handkerchief, he had contacts that made his eyes red and his hair was gelled all the way backward like Macaulay Culkin in Richie Rich.
The four of them chatted as they strolled the streets of Paris, taking small stops for a snack. Their main goal was the Eiffel Tower, Adrien's plan was to finally go up there as Adrien, ever since his mother died only Chat Noir has had that pleasure. Unfortunately Marinette realised that when Alya and Nino were having a couple moment. "You haven't been up there in a while huh."
"No I haven't, not for a few years. It's really sad when I say it out loud." Adrien looked down as they walked, Marinette moved his shoulder so his slumped face was staring into hers, even though it was like a foot below.
"Your father will move on Adrien, just give him time. You lost your mother at a reasonably young age, he lost the person he was going to grow old and die with, his best friend, his soulmate, his wife."
"Thanks Marinette."
"Your welcome, if you ever need someone to talk to I'm here."
"Oh yeah, thanks for that moving on speech as well."
"What were you thanking me before for then?"
"For speaking English, it's good you finally decided to learn it." Usually that comment would sound mean, but the tone and face Adrien made while saying it made Marinette laugh and blush hard, she wiped a small tear of joy from her eye.
"You're so funny Adrien."
Adrien stared at Marinette and imagined Ladybug, 'you're so funny Chat Noir' ringed in his head over and over. He hugged Marinette, she blushed even harder and was sure she lost her English, so instead of talking she just hugged him back. It was all just small talk as they came closer to their destination, standing up at the top of the tower, with the bodyguard waiting down on the ground. They all hugged and shared a snack, Alya and Nino went to 'talk in private because aLyA nEeDeD tO sAy SoMeThInG iMpOrTaNt To NiNo' which was code for 'leave Marinette and Adrien alone so they can finally kiss'.
Marinette took a huge inhale of the night Parisian air, Adrien was checking Marinette out when he noticed the lucky charm on her wrist. "Is that the lucky charm I made you Marinette?"
Marinette looked at her wrist and blushed as she responded "Of course... I wear it pretty much everywhere, on my ankle usually."
"What a coincidence! Me too!" Adrien pulled up his sleeve revealing the green, pink and white bracelet on his wrist, Marinette eyes widened.
"I didn't know you cared about it that much."
"Well I've been waiting to tell you for a few months now, and we're alone on the Eiffel Tower at night so it's no or never."
"What-?"
"Marinette, I love you. I admit I was in denial at first but the past few days have shown me my true feeling, my old crush is slowly slipping from my heart and you are growing stronger than hers ever was. I know that there's Luka and to you I'm just a friend but I can't lie to you any-"
Marinette shut him up with a kiss, "I love you to Adrien."
"You go girl!"
"Yeah dude! Get some of that!" They both looked at each other with blank stares and burst into laughter. They all gather into the elevator after a little celebration.
"It's about time that happened girl, I still can't believe it took you two and a half years to get together!"
"Yeah, I knew my dude was in love with Mari even when she hated him. He looked so sad, then when you made up he was more cheery than I've ever seen him before."
"I'm sure that's going to change tomorrow Nino, because for the first time I'll walk my girlfriend to school."
"Girlfriend huh?"
"Wait you deny?!"
"Pfft I was kidding, your cute when your frustrated."
"And that was how your mother and I got together, we got married four years later and had Emma a year after, then you Hugo about 10 months later."
"Tell us again daddy!"
"Kids! Kitty! Dinner's ready!"
"Coming M'Lady! come on you rascals, your mommy cooked us tacos today."
"Tacos is tomorrow Adrien tonight is chicken confit!"
"Come on you rascals, your mommy cooked us chicken confit today."
Adrien walked over to the kitchen with the kids snuggled at his side, they sat down at the table and Adrien kissed Marinette. "You're such a dork kitty."
"You love me for it."
The two children eagerly sat down awaiting their food until Adrien said "You know kids, mommy and I are thinking of working on getting you a little brother."
Marinette gaped and blushed as Adrien winked at her, her look became stern as she lightly slapped his shoulder. "Not in front of the kids honey!"
"Yes! Mommy and Daddy are going to get us a brother!"
"As well as a bun in the oven!"
"Please just shut up and take the dinner before I hit you harder"