Marinette's heart was racing.

After Adrien had postponed their meeting further and further due to extra fencing lessons and spontaneous photo shoots today was finally the day she'd meet him.

At his home.

All the built-up excitement flooded Marinette at once when she entered the mansion through its huge, impressive front doors and she felt like this could very well be the time and place where she'd take her last breath.

"Father, my friend Marinette is with me to work on a project together!" Adrien called up the stairs into an empty hallway, his bodyguard and Gabriel's assistant standing in some corner of the foyer. To Marinette's surprise Gabriel Agreste appeared just seconds later and her heart stopped for a second at the sight of her greatest idol. And if all that wasn't enough already he also inspected her intently from where he was standing and even addressed her directly.

"Hello Miss…" He raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Dupain-Cheng" she blurted out tensed, little droplets of sweat forming on her forehead.

"Hello Miss Dupain-Cheng. I don't understand what is withholding my son from studying with my assistant Natalie as usual but I guess as long as it is for school I can accept it."

Adrien didn't feel the need to correct his father who once nodded his head at them and then disappeared into the hallway as fast as he came.

Normally Marinette would have been worried about putting Adrien in trouble for lying but she barely realized what his father had said because she was too overwhelmed by… everything. The impressive mansion and its noble furniture, Adrien so close by her side, Gabriel Agreste right in front of her eyes. It was a lot to take in.

So she stood there, frozen, and stared in awe, still processing.

"You're coming?" With an amused chuckle Adrien startled her out of her thoughts and she saw that he was already halfway up the stairs.

"Oh, uhm, sure…" she mumbled embarrassed and hurried up the stairs behind him.

Once they settled on Adrien's comfortable couch he gave Marinette an eager look. "I am ready to learn!" he stated with excitement shining in his eyes, triggering tension and happiness in Marinette at the same time.

"Well… I never taught anyone these things before so don't expect too much, okay? I don't want to disappoint you" she responded cautiously but Adrien's expression stayed as cheerful.

"I'm certain you won't. Let's try this out together! What do you think is a simple thing even I can handle?" he asked with a goofy grin. It reminded Marinette of someone else but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Relieved about his response she smiled at him and relaxed, starting to bloom as she talked about her passion. "It shouldn't be a problem for you to modify already existing objects to your heart's content. Decorating them, you know? And it may not sound like it but it's much fun! It's an easy way to give free rein to your creativity with little chances to muck it up. To begin with something appropriate…"

Gleefully babbling Marinette scrabbled through her bag until she finally found what she was looking for and proudly handed Adrien a simple white picture frame and a… gun? Adrien's eyes widened in shock and he scrambled away from her a little, unable to rip his gaze off the small, black object in her hand.

Puzzled Marinette looked at him and then followed his gaze to the items she was holding. As soon as she understood where his fright was coming from she couldn't help herself but start to giggle. "That's… That's just a hot glue gun" she explained trying to regain her composure as quickly as possible since she didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable. "You never saw one? When it comes to handicrafts it is your very best friend!"

Embarrassed Adrien looked to the ground, frantically trying to come up with something to say that wouldn't make him seem as dumb as he felt right now. "In that case I'm going to call it Nino" he said to distract her from his awkwardness, gladly realizing that it worked out perfectly.

As always such sweet words coming from Adrien caused Marinette to blush intensely and she hurried to continue with her explanation to not get lost in his beautiful eyes. "In that case take... Nino and some of the decorations I brought that you'd like to stick to the frame. Of course you could paint it previously too but it would be a waste of time to wait for the color to dry now so we'll directly start with the glue."

"Well, I think that spending time with a friend is never a waste of time but I get what you mean" he objected gently and smiled at her. "Go on, your lesson's already very promising and encouraging so far!"

This cuteness again. If he would go on like that he would end up accidentally killing her.

Marinette had to clear her throat before continuing to speak. "I have to offer… beads of all kind, glitter, colorful buttons, feathers, small bells and… a lot of other things, actually." They laughed together and Marinette realized that she grew more comfortable and relaxed around Adrien with every passing day. Slowly but surely she even grew more confident around him.

At the end of the afternoon Adrien knew the basics of crafting and Marinette made her way home extremely happy and proud of herself, motivated by a set date for another crafting session that most certainly wouldn't get delayed for a week.

"I'm curious, Chat." Prying Marinette approached the hero of Paris who she found herself next to on her balcony yet again. He had grown a habit of visiting her in the evening and their encounters had become an almost daily thing both of them were looking forward to during most of their days.

"Someone's being a nosy princess" he teased, provoking Marinette to cross her arms in front of her chest playfully huffy.

"I've only got one question, minou. Don't act like such a jerk!" she complained with an adorable pout on her face.

Chat's smirk softened and turned into a genuine smile. "You know you can ask me anything, Marinette."

Ignoring the light blush on her cheeks she smiled back. "What… Uhm, what would you like to be if you weren't a superhero?" she finally asked the question she'd been wondering about all day long.

Chat looked at her in surprise. He didn't know what he had expected but it certainly wasn't a question like that. "Hmmm…" He scratched his chin and narrowed his eyes.

"No idea?" laughing Marinette nudged his shoulder with her own and Chat began to laugh too.

"In fact I'm 100% sure what I want to be but it's kind of embarrassing" he confessed, shy all of a sudden.

"What is it?" Marinette asked encouraging, excited for his answer. The intense green eyes of her counterpart searched for her innocent blue ones before he took a deep breath and answered.

"A pokemon trainer."

"A… pokemon trainer?"

"Yes. Absolutely. No other option."

Marinette blinked in disbelief and Chat got worried that he unsettled her with his nerdy confession but after a few painfully slow seconds had passed she finally began to beam at him. It was easily the most sincere and brightest smile Chat had ever seen aside from Nino's. "It suits you, minou."

"It does?" He looked at her in surprise, visibly delighted and relieved.

"Yeah, I mean it. Out there looking for adventures and caring for your friends, I can even see it in front of my inner eye!"

"You don't think it's weird and… awkward?" he asked to reassure himself and Marinette gave him her 'Are you serious?'-look.

"Chat, I outed myself as the biggest Ghibli fan there is in front of you so, no, that's not awkward at all. Never be ashamed of the things you love. They make you who you are and I like who you are."

Pondering yet comfortable silence fell upon them while a warm feeling filled Chat's chest. Rarely anyone took him or his dreams seriously, especially his childish ones. But Marinette seemed to understand and even support him and he added that to the list of reasons why he cherished her.

"So!" Marinette crossed her legs, leaned even closer to him and looked at him as curious as ever. "Which one is your favorite pokemon?"

He didn't even need a second to think about his answer. "Easy. It's Eevee."

A complacent grin appeared on her lips since she had expected that answer. "Ah, I guess your favorite eeveelution is Umbreon then?"

"Purrfectly right, my Princess. You seem to understand me incredibly well, I truly appreciate that." Despite his joking undertone a sincere smile was tugging at the corners of his lips. "But you still have to tell me what's yours."

Marinette's face turned bright red. "Mi- mine?"

"Of course" Chat laughed. "You obviously know pokemon pretty well. You can't hide your inner nerd from this Cat with super vision!" He pointed at himself with a smug grin. But he quickly dropped his act and turned back to the gentle boy Marinette had grown so fond of in the past few weeks. "Tell me, you have to give me the chance to make a guess too."

Sighing she squared her shoulders and looked straight into his attentive green eyes. "Skitty."

An amused yet affectionate grin appeared on his face. "Seriously, that pink little fur ball? You gotta be skitten me."

An unexpected laugh bubbled out of Marinette's mouth and she smacked his arm lightly. "Oh shut up, you moron!"

Chat couldn't help himself but laugh too, her melodic chuckles were simply way too infectious. "Besides, I guessed right."

"Yeah, sure you did." Amused Marinette shook her head.

"I did!" Chat insisted, but still couldn't ban the happy smile from his face.

They spent the rest of the evening mocking each other, laughing and talking a lot without realizing that Chat had started to call Marinette 'my princess'.

But Tikki did.