Chapter Five: Hearts.

Hearts are everywhere and full of love.

Wednesday 5th February 2020. 07.40 a.m. Dupain-Cheng home.

Adrien knocked on the door and waited for Marinette to let him in.

Tom and Sabine had been busy with baking and serving customers but they had greeted him warmly and waved him straight on up. They were always so happy to see him and so welcoming, he adored the lunches and dinners he'd had with them this week. Adrien wished he could spend more time with Marinette and her family but he knew he only had until his father returned late on Friday. Gabriel's last line was showing today and it wouldn't take long to wrap things up.

He had tomorrow and Friday to spend with Marinette and he was determined to make the most of it. Especially since he would undoubtedly be heavily scheduled for the whole of next week, probably including Valentine's Day too. Adrien knew he would be arguing about that with Nathalie until the 14th and it would still only earn him an hour or two with his girlfriend on Valentine's Day.

All of those morose thoughts fled from his mind when Marinette opened the door. Adrien was pretty sure his jaw ended up on the floor somewhere but he was too captivated by his beautiful girlfriend to care.

Marinette was wearing a soft knit dress that wrapped carefully around her figure and ended just above her knees in a bright Ladybug red. Underneath was a pair of warm leggings that ended in pink fuzzy socks he just knew she would be covering with a pair of boots when they left.

It was the dress that had him captivated though. He'd seen it for the first time on their first date of the New Year and been a blushing and stuttering mess for their whole date. She'd worn it again a week later. The second time she had definitely been trying to kill him with that dress because she had embellished it in that week to include several small black roses around a shoulder and along the hemline. She'd added Ladybug spots.

Adrien gulped when he looked at the roses, the subtle similarity to her super-suit making him weak in the knees, but then his heart stopped when he saw that she'd added a tiny black cat silhouette to the roses near her left knee. Ladybug and Chat Noir. It was Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Adrien only dimly realised that her home smelled like an absolutely divine breakfast. He was too caught up in the smiling vision before him. She had dressed up just for breakfast with him.

She smiled softly up at him, a hint of pink on her cheeks from his very obvious perusal of her outfit. "Good morning, mon amour."

She stood to one side and he walked in dazedly, freezing in his tracks when he heard a tiny jingle and saw a glint of gold around her collarbones. With her hair loose around her shoulders, and a scattering of Ladybug-spot roses on her knit dress, he'd missed the black ribbon necklace she was wearing about her neck. The black ribbon that held a tiny gold bell on the end of it.

Adrien couldn't help himself.

He shut the door softly behind him and reached for her, pulling her in by her waist. Marinette moved all to willingly into his arms, her head already tilted up to welcome his kiss. He slipped one hand slowly up her back, trailing up and over her shoulders and making her sigh happily, before combing his fingers through her loose hair and tilting her head further to one side and deepening the kiss.

Adrien backed her into the wall and groaned when he heard the bell around her neck jingle. His purr revved up and burst from him as she slipped her hands into his hair, her fingernails immediately going for those spots that had him seeing stars. God he loved her.

She pulled back first, resting her head back against the wall and panting heavily. The arch of her neck invited him in and Adrien nuzzled into her throat, pressing a gentle kiss there just to hear her giggle.

"It's a good morning now," he murmured breathlessly into her skin.

"Adrien!"

He laughed and kissed her nose before pulling back to admire her wonderful outfit, fuzzy socks included. "You, my princess, look absolutely radiant. What did I do to deserve this?"

Marinette smiled at him and booped his nose. "You're you. Now come on, breakfast is waiting."

Adrien let her pull him around the corner to the kitchen table and he gasped in delighted amazement at the feast set out and waiting there.

It was beautiful!

Two plates were next to each other on the table, piled high with croissants, delicious looking fruit and berries, and breakfast muffins - his favourite treat for breakfast that he only ever got when Gabriel was out of the country. A steaming mug of coffee and a champagne flute full of orange juice sat next to each plate. A small tray of butter and jams was set between them and there was a set of cutlery wrapped in a bright red paper napkin by their plates.

Beyond the beautiful breakfast setting was an extra large bakery box, twice the size of the ones he had helped to assemble yesterday, covered in drawings of hearts of all shapes and sizes. The lid read 'Sweet hearts for my sweetheart' and when he opened it up he saw every variety of sweet pastry and dessert heart that he could ever have imagined.

Heart shaped red velvet chocolate chip cookies, delicate little shortbread hearts iced in pinks and reds, some yummy-looking cake pop hearts dipped in white chocolate and stripes of pink icing, heart jam sandwich biscuits with buttercream, chocolate as raspberry heart palmiers, a scattering of the love heart sweets that had given him his romancing plans in the first place, and pride of place was a diving looking heart shaped single-serving of white chocolate and red berry cheesecake topped with a strawberry rose bouquet.

Adrien didn't even realise his mouth had fallen open until two giggles echoed around him and Marinette gently slipped a hand under his chin to close his mouth.

He searched for Tikki, the source of the second giggle, and found her waiting sort-of-patiently on the other side of the dining table next to a place of heart-shaped cheese palmiers. Adrien immediately pulled Plagg out of the pocket of his school bag.

Plagg looked at the table set-up with bland disinterest until he caught sight of a smiling Tikki. He let out a whoop and somersaulted through the air and tackled Tikki into the palmiers. "Tikki, my sweet sugar cookie, my delightful strawberry crêpe, how kind you are to this old cat!"

Tikki giggled and kissed one of his ears. "You deserve it, you mushy, loveable wheel of brie!"

Adrien snorted. Such a gluttonous kwami. He turned to Marinette, feeling a sudden rush of love for his wonderful girlfriend. She was too good for him. "You two didn't need to go to all of this trouble for us cats."

"Speak for yourself!"

"Plagg!"

Marinette giggled. "He's not wrong, you know," she teased. She leaned into him and slipped an arm around his waist, sinking into him with a happy hum when she felt his low purr. He hadn't been able to shut it off since he'd walked into her home but at least the volume had decreased. He just hoped it stopped before they went to school. Adrien held her back tightly and smiled when she looked up at him, a sweet look filled with love and warmth. "You absolutely do deserve this, my darling kitten."

"But, I-" Adrien found himself cut him off with a kiss and, yep, right on cue, the purr escaped him again. Guess he'd just have to reveal himself to the whole class because there was no way this was stopping before school. Not with how happy she was making him. Not with how much he loved her.

Marinette's face was pink when she pulled back. "I know, I know. You want to spoil me. But I want to spoil you too, Adrien. I love you as much as you love me and I want to show you and spoil you and treat you just as much as you do."

"Marinette, my Lady, I…" he trailed off, too happy for words.

Adrien could feel his face flame and his purr roar. He felt so happy that he feared he would burst. How could one girl, one perfect and wonderful and amazing girl, possibly be so amazing? Whatever he had done to find her in his life he hoped he kept doing because he never wanted to let her go. He never would if he had anything to say about it.

Unable to speak due to the intensity of his happiness and his love, Adrien simply pulled out her chair for her. Marinette took her seat with a kiss as thanks and tapped on his seat, inviting him to join her.

It was the most wonderful breakfast he had ever had. He started with the cheesecake - what his father, Nathalie, and his dietician didn't know wouldn't hurt him - and insisted on feeding some of the strawberry roses to Marinette and stealing kisses between bites. The croissants were perfect as usual and the berry muffin was a delicious treat. He ate until he was full and then he had just a few bites more.

The sweet hearts stayed in their box, save for the quickly-devoured cheesecake, and he promised himself he would keep them in his bag and snack on them throughout the day. He helped her clear the table and stack the dishwasher before getting their coats and bags for school. Marinette had just finished a larger version of her tiny pink bag that would be more comfortable for both of their kwami and she slipped on pocket handwarmer in there so they stayed warm.

Adrien wrapped his arm around her shoulder and led her to school then. They stopped every so often to share a few kisses or to say hello to their friends.

Ivan and Mylène were cuddled up on a bench together, finishing off a crepe breakfast. Mylène giggled and kissed a spot of chocolate off Ivan's cheek and he blushed brighter than the strawberries she was eating. They bumped into Rose and Juleka next, and Rose was eagerly showing off the brand new travel mug and lunch box that Juleka had given her this morning, filled with coffee and breakfast. It was pastel pink with hot pink hearts on it and so perfectly suited to Rose. Marinette gave Juleka a big thumbs up when Rose was distracted.

Alya and Nino were already in the classroom when they got there, but Alya was sat in Adrien's seat and blatantly refusing to move. She shot the two of them a wink and pointed and the desk behind her. Adrien eagerly sat down and pulled Marinette down with him, getting as close to her as he could on the bench and letting her feel the purr that was still faintly going. She gave a happy hum and leaned up to kiss him.

Alya pulled a face at them. Nino just chuckled and carried on eating his heart shaped cookies. Adrien could tell that these weren't bakery standard cookies with one glance - the hearts weren't uniform, the chocolate chips were clumped together, and they were slightly overdone on one side. He assumed that Alya had made them and he was glad that Nino and Alya were dealing with his little freakout so well.

This was a great day for everyone.

Wednesday 5th February 2020. 12.15 p.m. Collège Françoise-Dupont.

The four couples in the class all had wonderful lunch date plans and the girls had eagerly shared the details with each other to see how they were progressing in the love war.

Ivan and Mylène disappeared to the park for a picnic almost as soon as the bell had rung to end the short school day. They had blankets and heat patches to fend off the early February chill but Marinette made them promise that they would go home once they started getting too cold. Rose and Juleka slipped to the bakery for a few sweet treats to take to Rose's home for their study-date lunch. They had a small science test at the end of the week and Juleka needed some help memorising the equations. Alya took Nino back to her house to cook for him - and Marinette cut Alya off but she could add anything else to that statement.

Honestly, they complained about her and Adrien?

Adrien was under the impression that he was having a nice lunch with her and then spending the rest of the day watching films… which they were, but she had a special surprise planned for him for lunch.

"Wha-?"

Marinette giggled at the shock on his face when he saw his bodyguard's car parked outside the school. He hadn't been expecting to see him until it was time to be picked up from her house later on, but their lunch date was a bit of a walk away. Yesterday, when she had sent M. Guérin a text asking permission to take Adrien out, he had agreed providing he could be close at hand should Adrien encounter any trouble. He was waiting to escort them through the streets.

"Come on, my love," she tugged on his arm then waved goodbye to M. Guérin. "Our date is this way!"

"You really are spoiling me today," he grinned and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She slipped her around his waist and snuggled into his warmth as they walked along.

There was no particular need to rush to lunch today so she set a nice and casual pace for their walk. It was a pleasant enough February day, grey skies but still fairly bright, no rain, and only a hint of a chill in the air. Why not enjoy it while they could? He immediately fell into step with her.

Marinette saw him catch sight of M. Guérin's car once, and then twice, and when he caught sight of it for a third time his face lit up and he chuckled. "You're quite a sneaky one, my Marinette."

"Anything to get a date with you, mon coeur." Marinette smiled up at him and rested her head on his shoulder. "And when we're done with this, we've still got a home cinema date back at mine."

"I absolutely do not deserve you."

"I absolutely disagree!" Marinette reached up and booped his nose then tugged him forward. "Now come on, kitty, I'm hungry."

Adrien fell into step with her. They walked along the mostly empty streets, enjoying the calm day despite the grey skies and cool breeze, content to just be with each other. Marinette set the pace and he was happy to follow along until they arrived at a familiar street. "Wait, we're going to Bastien's?"

"Yeah." Marinette's smile dimmed a little. This was the only part of their day together that she'd been uncertain about. "I know we go there all the time, but I-"

Adrien chuckled, interrupting her rambling before it really started. The arm around her shoulders tightened and pulled her closer so he could drop a kiss onto her temple. "Just when I was thinking this day couldn't get any more perfect, you surprise me with this. I get a wonderful date with you, a whole day really, with no fans to bother us. You're amazing."

Marinette blushed. "You're just as wonderful."

They reached the cafe and Adrien pushed the door open for them, waving her forward with a wink. Marinette's blush deepened. Who knew chivalry could be so hot? Or maybe it was just because her boyfriend was a devastatingly handsome model who looked attractive no matter what?

Marinette decided to go with both.

The cafe had been decorated to reflect the upcoming day of love, with fresh flowers on every table, pink and cream tablecloths, and red heart-shaped tealight candles everywhere. It was tastefully done and looked great.

Bastien looked up when the door opened and grinned at them, waving them in. He grabbed two menus and walked towards them. "Hello again Aubin, Mélanie," he smiled and directed them to their favourite corner booth. "Good to see you two back again."

Marinette shot a questioning look to Adrien but he looked as confused as she did. She knew Bastien never called Adrien by his real name to keep him from being mobbed by fans, something that made this their go-to cafe for dates, but he usually called them Ambrose and Marie.

Bastien chuckled lowly and subtly tipped his head towards the front of the cafe in answer.

Marinette sat down on one side of the booth and set her kwami bag between her and Adrien, and took the menu that Bastien offered. He shifted position in the act of getting his own and notebook out just enough so that they could see the table he had indicated…

...and Marinette's jaw dropped.

"I-is that…?"

Bastien grinned and winked at them. "Is that 'Adrien Agreste' you say? Why yes."

That must be the real Ambrose. The best non-professional Adrien Agreste look alike in the city.

Marinette could see why he had that title. He was extraordinarily similar in looks and build to her boyfriend.

She knew better though. Ambrose might look alike to Adrien, though his face was sharper and thinner than Adrien's, his hair was a few shade off and clearly dyed, and he was about 2cm shorter than Adrien, but the giveaway was in his body language. She knew her partner very well after all this time fighting together. She could read him like a book and knew his mannerisms and habits better than her own. Ambrose was good but he was no Adrien. Marinette was positive she would have known that even before she knew that Adrien was her beloved kitty.

Adrien would certainly never behave like that. Ambrose was talking about fashion and modelling from what she could make out of the conversation, but he was particularly self-absorbed, frequently interrupting the small group of girls hanging off his every word, only paying attention to the prettiest two, and not even offering to buy the coffee and cakes they kept ordering.

Yep. Passable imitation in looks, nowhere close in attitude.

"So what will it be today?" Bastien asked.

They both ordered soup and a sandwich, something light yet filling, and something they could follow with copious amounts of snacks once they got back home and started their film-marathon. Bastien promised to have it back to them as soon as possible and left them to their date.

Adrien's phone chimed with a text then and he glanced at it. He burst out laughing and slipped it across the table to Marinette. "Guess this place wasn't as secret as I thought."

[The Man. 5-Feb, 12.27]: If the double causes issues let me know. I'm next door.

She couldn't help but giggle too, both at Adrien's nickname for his bodyguard and at the fact that M. Guérin knew exactly where they were and probably had done all along. She hadn't told him where they were going when she had asked his permission to take Adrien out today, just given him a general area, but he was clearly too good at his job.

"I suppose you couldn't have kept this from him forever."

"True," Adrien nodded. He was still looking at his phone, lost in thought for a moment, before silencing and pocketing it. "I knew he came here sometimes-" he tipped his head towards Ambrose "-that's why I chose to come here initially. I figured people would mistake me for him." He smirked and she giggled. "But in over three years of coming here I've never once bumped into him."

Marinette felt her heart skip a beat. He sounded so downbeat and annoyed about Ambrose's presence here. Almost dejected. Maybe she should have chosen somewhere else to go for their date. "I'm sorry, minou," Marinette reached out and covered his hand with hers. "Do you want to go back home now? Bastien wouldn't mind giving us our food to go."

"No, no, no." Adrien pulled her hand up and kissed it, winking at her as he did. "I wouldn't give up our date for anything, my love. No, I'm just disappointed to find out he's one of those doubles. Especially as I've probably been confused for him in here before."

"Those?"

"There are a few doubles and impersonators out there who pretend they're actually me, they're not just playing a part, and they do it to get free stuff. Like he's getting from those fans over there. Nathalie brings the legal team down on them hard if they go too far, so most of them just stick to scamming lunches out of people." Adrien scowled over at Ambrise's table, noticing Bastien dropping off yet another assortment of cakes. "It's such a waste of money."

Plagg poked his head out of the kwami bag and snorted. "Yeah they could be spending it on the real deal over here."

Adrien rolled his eyes. "No Plagg, I wouldn't take it."

"But think of the cheese!"

"Not everything is about cheese, you know."

Plagg gasped, his eyes going unnaturally wide, a tiny paw over his mouth. "Blasphemer!" Plagg pointed an accusatory claw at Adrien and hissed. "How dare you! Apologise to my camembert right now."

"No!"

"I see how it is." Plagg snarled, his tiny tail lashing around furiously. "It's so clear now, you're a cheese-hater! That's why you wouldn't let me wish for unlimited camembert on the New Years Wishing Tree."

"You get unlimited camembert anyway or did you not notice all the money I spend on you?"

Plagg stuck his nose in the air. "Yeah but that isn't truly unlimited, now is it?"

Tikki popped up next to him and grabbed him by the whiskers. "Shut up, cheese head!" she hissed and dragged him back into the bag with her.

Bastien returned with their food then and distracted them from their talks about cheese and Ambrose. Marinette would be forever thankful to Plagg for cheering him up with that silly argument even when someone was approaching the table. Adrien wasn't as morose as before.

She deliberately steered their conversation onto the topic of films for their afternoon together. They debated the merits of different genres for the perfect sofa-date at home while they stripped the cheese from their sandwiches and slipped it into her kawmi-bag, along with the two cookies they almost always ordered when they came here. Tikki deemed Bastien's cookies to be adequate enough when compared to the ones from the Tom and Sabine Boulangerie-Pâtisserie. High praise indeed.

Adrien excused himself at the end of the meal to go and wash his hand while Marinette was distracted by refereeing the squabble that had erupted in her bag when a cookie crumb fell onto Plagg's cheese. It really was a wonder how the kwami hadn't been accidentally discovered yet with how boisterous they were.

Marinette managed to get them to shut up by promising to go to the fromagerie on their way home. Adrien returned just then and shot a questioning glance at the bag to which she just rolled her eyes. Kwamis!

"Ready to go now, Princess?"

She nodded. "I just need to pay."

"Already done."

"Adrien!"

"What?"

Marinette barely resisted the urge to stamp her foot at his completely unrepentant grin. "You weren't supposed to pay! I was treating you!"

"Any day with you by my side is a treat, my princess."

She slapped her hands to her blushing cheeks with a near-silent squeal. Damn that cat! "Oh my gosh can you not!"

"Sorry, lovebug, but I'm too far gone over you," adrien said, sounding anything but sorry.

Marinette was decidedly unimpressed. "I swear I'll get you for that if you do it again."

His answering smirk was far more Chat Noir than Adrien Agreste. "You're really not giving me any incentive to stop at all."

"Adrien!"

He chuckled as he helped her into her coat and once they were dressed for the weather and their kwami were safe and warm, he offered her his arm to leave. It was probably a good thing she loved this annoying cat of hers if he was going to carry on with stunts like this.

They headed towards the bakery but, after a whine from Plagg, Marinette remembered her promise and they detoured a few streets over to the Beauvais fromagerie. She could see M. Guérin's car following them and felt a bit guilty that she hadn't sent him a text telling him about their change of route.

It took no time at all to buy two of the smelliest wheels of camembert they had - though she was a bit concerned with how the owner kept looking at Adrien in a sort of confused recognition, like he knew him as a customer but didn't - and they slipped out of the shop and into a deserted side street.

"Here Tikki."

Tikki zipped out of the bag, balanced both wheels on her head, and called Plagg out to her. "I'm sorry one of my cookie crumbs fell on your cheese," she sighed and held both wheels out to her other half. "For you, my manic cheese fiend."

Plagg sniffled, wiping at an imaginary tear with a delicate claw. "Tikki, my sweet crème brûlée, I don't know what to say, this is so beautiful!" He grabbed both cheeses and held them close.

Marinette just sighed and resigned herself to having camembert crumbs stinking up her bag for the next week, no matter how much she tried to clean it. Making a mental note to design some removable and washable linings for her kwami bags, she held it open for the two of them. "Just try not to get it everywhere ok?"

Tikki giggled and pulled Plagg into the bag with her. He was still cradling the wheels of camembert like they were precious newborns even as Tikki yanked him in by the tail. "You really don't need to worry about that Marinette." Tikki promised and snapped the bag shut.

Author's note: Bastien and Ambrose were first mentioned in All I Want For Christmas chapter 4. Adrien thought that Gorilla didn't know about that little cafe, but Gorilla knows everything where Adrien's safety is concerned. The New Year's Wishing Tree was in chapter 30. Anton Beauvais is the name of the owner of the fromagerie in the 21st arrondissement in my fic Just Another Day in Paris, chapter 17. Adrien shops there for Plagg, usually heavily disguised so as not to draw attention to the fact that a model is buying excessive quantities of smelly cheese. Anton assumes his mystery customer is Chat Noir and so is very confused to see Adrien Agreste in his shop in this chapter.

I'm still having wifi issues and I now also have a headache from dealing with them over the phone today to get it sorted. Fun times. The router is old and worn and needs replacing so they're sending out another one. 5-10 working days for delivery. Oh joy. Be aware that chapters may be delayed, but I'll do my best to keep posting daily.

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