"You ready?!" Alya playfully punched her friend's arm. It was 17:45 and Marinette was lying on Alya's bed, trying to calm herself.

"You look great, the red dress I lent you really suits you," Alya smiled, "And it's only for a few hours. I'm sure it'll be nice sharing a fun experience with your crush."

The dress fit Marinette beautifully. It was burgundy and white with 3/4 sleeves. It went to her knees and swung around nicely when she walked. It almost looked like too much but Alya convinced her friend that the dress was perfect for the event. Alya herself was wearing dark jeans, boots, and a wool long-sleeve top.

"How do you have this much confidence?" Mari whined. But she wasn't feeling as awful as yesterday.

"Fake it 'til you make it, girl," Alya responded.

Just then, a knock came from the blue bedroom door. Marinette thought she was going to throw up. Alya grinned at her and went to open the door.

"You ready?!" Nino asked loudly when the door swung open. He was holding a video camera.

"You bet!" Alya said, pumping her fist in the air.

"Adrien's gonna meet us there, he told me he had practice until 18:00 for some fencing competition," Nino said.

Walking to the Karaoke place was freezing. The friends walked super close together, huddling for warmth.

"I'm hoping they'll have some electronic music," Nino said.

"They'll only have ones with singing in it, Nino," Alya laughed.

"I know Adrien likes the alternative stuff, so he probably won't know music they'll have."

"Well Marinette could help him! She knows a lot of different music," Alya winked.

"I don't know as much as you think I do," Mari admitted. She actually knew a lot about music, but she was too nervous to think about talking to Adrien.

They were assigned a very cozy room when the group got to the place.

"Problem, guys. Most of the music here is in Japanese," Nino sighed, "They have some pop junk but nothing electronic."

"Boo hoo, you're going to have to sing something popular," Alya joked. They all had to sit very close together, stuck closely in a booth.

On their second song, Je Veux by Zaz, Adrien opened the door and poked his head into the room.

"This is right one?" He whispered, "I've been in two that were wrong already."

He closed the door behind him and went to sit down where there was space. Beside Marinette. She tried to smile at him through her tummy akumas but just managed to make an uncomfortable smirk while the boy sat down. Good thing it was super dark in there. Alya motioned to move over and the group ended up almost on top of each other.

Oh no. Oh no. Marinette felt Adrien's leg right up touching hers, the side of his hip against her hip.

"How was your day, Marinette?" Adrien asked, looking around at her. He was so close. Too close. His eyes were so pretty. His skin was so nice. From here she could even see some freckles in the glow of the neon lights from the TV.

"N…Nothing!" Marinette stammered loudly, "I… I mean, it was good!"

Nino chose the next song. He started to sing it with Alya.

Adrien turned around again and said something. Alya's singing was too loud for Marinette to hear him. She shook her head and mouthed what. Adrien then looked away for a second and suddenly leaned in to Marinette's ear. Oh no. She could feel his warm breath against her skin. She was melting.

"Your parents run a bakery right? Do you ever make croissants or sweets?" The boy asked, his lips centimetres from her ear. Marinette's legs started feeling warm.

"Y-yeah! I make them a lot! Cupcakes and cookies mostly," Marinette said. Adrien looked at her and shook his head while pointing to his ear. Her heart jumped and danced in her chest. She leaned into him and said it again. She could feel some of his hair on her cheek, and one of her hands brushed his thigh while she went to put it on the table. She was glad the room was dark- her face was as red as her alter-ego's costume.

"Hey, you two do a song while I go get us something to drink!" Alya said, scooting awkwardly past Nino. Marinette started reading through the songbook, looking for something she knew and something she could probably do a good job with.

"Do you know Je Sais by Shy'm?" Marinette asked, turning around.

"Oh, yeah! I've heard that one once or twice. I'll just follow your lead," Adrien said, looking at her. I'll follow your lead… Something about how he said that sounded so familiar. She didn't know why.

"That's a good one! I wish there were more mic's." Nino said, leaning his head on his arm. Adrien smiled at his friend.

Alya came in, holding 4 fancy pink drinks. She put them on the table and flicked on the lights and started looking through her bag, probably for her phone.

"Oh!" Adrien said, looking at Marinette, "Your dress is so pretty. You look cute, Marinette."

The lights went off again and Mari smiled a big smile. She thanked him, no stuttering or anything. She pressed a few buttons on the remote and the song went on. Marinette sung it perfectly with her crush (although he didn't know the lines in some parts) and the two teens laughed afterward. She sipped at her drink and slowly became increasingly more relaxed throughout the night. On Mari's third drink, she was standing on the couch with Alya and yelling out the lyrics to some song she had never heard before.

It wasn't until Nino brought back some food from the bar that Marinette realized how comfortable she felt with her friends. Adrien was her friend now. They were sharing such a fun time! This was fun! Adrien was looking tired beside Marinette; she guessed he was more of a sleepy drunk. It was adorable. The room was still dark and Alya was singing a heartfelt love song, occasionally looking over at Nino.

Marinette was starting so feel a little sleepy too. Maybe it was all the drinks. Or the song. But she sat back and reached over for Adrien's open hand, beside him. She didn't know why. It felt right. Her heart didn't start beating wildly until he noticed her hand and held it back. He intertwined his fingers with hers.

Then Marinette's stomach started turning. Something… Something was weird.

The last time Marinette held hands with another person was Chat Noir, just yesterday.

And yet… Adrien's hand was so similar. How his pinky finger pressed a little harder than the rest of his fingers… How his thumb started drawing little pictures on the back of her hand.

Marinette quickly pulled her fingers away, but it was too late. Adrien was asleep on the table.

"Thanks for the night, Alya!" Nino said as he waved goodbye. Adrien was slumped over Nino's shoulder. They hobbled away, signalling for a taxi.

"Wasn't that fun, Mari?!" Alya said, pumping her fists into the air, "Love is a beautiful thing. You still sleeping at my place tonight?"

"Sure," Marinette said, still feeling a little sick. She didn't understand what was wrong and she was too tired to think about it.

The next morning Marinette woke up in a bad mood. She had a massive headache, her throat was raspy, her arms hurt, and she was still exhausted. She didn't really want to think about yesterday; Marinette remembered the whole night in a haze. But duty called. Soon enough, Alya's radio turned on beside her bed and blurted out that two superheroes were needed to save loose animals who escaped from some French pet stores.

"Really?" Marinette sighed. Alya was still fast asleep, snoring like a puppy.

Tikki flew over to Marinette and gave her a huge yawn. Today was not a good day and Marinette just wanted to go back to bed… Why couldn't she just have a normal life like everyone else? Alya, Nino, and even Adrien didn't have to put up with this stuff.

Ladybug swung from building to building, slowly stretching her limbs out when they started aching. She managed to land right on top of the main pet store downtown. She felt that Chat would probably be way better than her at this challenge than she, so the hero picked up her phone and tried to call him. No answer. Maybe he was on his way. Or not. Either way, Marinette needed to get to work at finding some animals.

In just under forty-five minutes, Ladybug had put the cute animals back in their cages. She didn't feel it was right to have them in there, but it wasn't her decision and making a big deal about it wouldn't have helped the situation. The business owner shook her hand and thanked her a hundred times, telling her that his business would have been over if she hadn't helped out. She blushed and mumbled that it wasn't a problem. He offered her an animal if she wanted one, but Ladybug just shook her head and told him that she already had a kitty to take care of. She waved goodbye and turned.

And then the same feeling as yesterday washed over her. Marinette started feeling a little dizzy. Something told her to look over to her left and when she did, a young boy with blonde hair came walking around the street corner. He had bags under his eyes and he was carrying a black duffel bag with L'Ecole D'Escrime written on it. Oh no. It was Adrien. When he saw the hero he stopped in his tracks, wide eyed.

Had he ever seen Ladybug in person before? She thought. It was his lucky day, then. Suddenly, with a high-pitched meow, a small black kitten jumped out of the bushes beside the teens. It ran over to Adrien and started to crawl up his pant leg. Adrian looked at the kitten and laughed. Ladybug walked over to him.

"I guess I didn't put them all away yet," Ladybug giggled. She didn't feel nervous at all. Maybe it was the costume?

"Sh- She's so cute," Adrien said, stuttering. He started blushing. The cat climbed up the boy's shirt up to his shoulder and started to rub its head on Adrien's ear. The kitten started purring. She had one green eye and one yellow.

"She likes you, Adrien," Ladybug said as she put her hands on her hips.

"Cats seem to naturally like me…" He sighed, looking down, "You know my name?"

Oh dang it.

"I know many civilians!" Ladybug said, quickly. Adrien's eyes widened, "The characters in your class get into trouble a fair bit, so Chat Noir and I study them!"

It wasn't true but Adrien wouldn't know that. The boy looked up and scrunched his eyebrows together, confused.

"The kitten belongs to that shop over there," Ladybug said as she threw up her yo-yo and flew off.

That night, Ladybug saw Chat Noir. Watching the streets above Paris atop the old factory building, he asked her to attend his fencing competition this Saturday. She politely declined.