"You're grinning."

Adrien woke up from his thoughts. Thoughts revolving around one specific blue-haired girl. Adrien tried to put on a pokerface, but failed.

"So what?" Adrien looked at Nino, who had snuck his way to Adrien's room without his father seeing. Adrien was always surpised at how Nino never got caught.

Nino was exhausted from Alya going on and on about how they should match outfits. "Don't you think you're a bit too excited about the party?"

Adrien fell on his bed. "But it's my first party with the whole class, Nino." Adrien's smile grew bigger. "And I'm going with Marinette."

"What?" Nino's eyes widened behind his glasses. "Since when are you so close with Mari?"

"What do you mean, we've always been friends." Adrien shrugged and tried to act like it was no big deal.

"You don't even talk to each other," Nino spun around in Adrien's blue chair. Adrien glared at Nino. We do talk! "What happened between you guys, man?"

Truthfully, he wasn't sure himself. Spending a bit of time alone with Marinette had made Adrien want to spend more time with her. And more. And more. He didn't know if Marinette felt the same way, since half the time they'd spent together was with him as Chat Noir. Still, Marinette had asked him to the party, so obviously she must feel more comfortable around him.

"I don't know..." Nino looked like he wanted a better answer than that. And Adrien did want to talk about Marinette. "She just gets me." She really does. And Adrien felt like maybe he had a better understanding of Marinette now, too?

"Mari's sweet, still..." Nino paused. "I thought you had a crush on Ladybug?"

Adrien's face turned red. "W-whaat? I n-never said I liked Marinette!"

Nino looked at Adrien knowingly. "Ladybug's my hero. She is honestly so great I can't even describe it. But..." Adrien sighed. "Marinette is great too. And I get to share my life with her."

Nino let out a laugh at the last sentence. "I mean share, like, stuff about my life! Not share my life!" Adrien was even more flustered now. "You know what I mean!"

Nino tried to swallow his laughter. "Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh at you." Adrien glared at him and he chuckled again. "Yeah, it would be pretty hard to get to know a superhero."

Adrien knew what he liked about Ladybug. He liked the qualities she held. He liked how he felt at ease around her. But he could see those same qualities in Marinette, too.

She was so kind and thoughtful it was very easy to be her friend. Friend. Adrien had always appreciated Marinette, someone who treated her in a friendly way even though he had no experience with friendship. He was happy now that he could confidently call himself her friend.

But they still weren't friends in the same way he was friends with Nino and Plagg. Somehow, he didn't want Marinette to think of him as just her friend. He wanted to be something more. Am I being selfish or delusional?

Nino stood up. "Ok, girl talk is over. Let's play some video games."

o - o - o - o - o

Marinette's hands were fidgeting. Adrien would arrive any moment now. One more time, Marinette stole a glance at the mirror behind her. She had decided to let her hair down. She didn't want to be shallow, but couldn't help but to hope Adrien would like how she looked.

The doorbell rang.

Help.

Adrien stood with red and black flowers on his hands. "Hi."

"Hi," Marinette replied.

They looked at each other for a moment before Marinette's mother came to take the flowers while calling Adrien a sweet boy.

Once they got in the car, Marinette realized how big the silence was. She didn't mind it that much though. She was overwhelmed by how happy sitting next to Adrien made her.

"I like your dress. Did you make it?" Adrien asked.

"Y-yeah, I did, actually. I was kind of going for a Christmas theme," Marinette got excited. "I was really inspired by candy canes."

"It's really cool," Adrien smiled.

Many people were already at the party when Marinette and Adrien arrived. Nino was at the DJ booth and Alya was in a rush trying to get the best pictures. The room was decorated with paper snowflakes and red and green decorations. Marinette walked up to the table full of sweets and placed their gingerbread cookies in an empty spot.

"Shall we be the first ones to taste them?" Marinette asked.

"These look really nice," Adrien looked like he knew which cookie he wanted. He quickly grabbed the black cat.

Marinette felt surprised. She hadn't expected Adrien to choose that one. Somehow it seemed right, though. There was something similar between Adrien and Chat Noir. It might've been the way they were both very caring and always doing their best. They were a lot different to be around, but Marinette could still see the similarities.

Marinette grabbed the princess cookie. She didn't want anyone else to have it, since it had seemed like Chat had made it specifically for her.

Is Adrien blushing? Maybe I'm just imagining it.

"Do you wanna dance?" Adrien asked.

Marinette looked to her both sides just to make sure Adrien was talking to her. "Su-su-sure! I'm n-not a very good dancer but if that's okay..."

Adrien grabbed Marinette's hand and led her to the dance floor. Nino switched the song to a slow one and Marinette could see Adrien glare at him. Dear Lord.

Marinette refused to look at Adrien's face. She was secretly happy for what Nino had did and could feel the blush on her cheeks, but it was too embarrassing to look Adrien in his green eyes.

After a few more songs, ones that were sped up, Adrien abruptly stopped dancing. Marinette stopped dancing too and forgot to keep her gaze away. Adrien's face looked flustered and his eyes were as green as ever.

"Hey, Marinette." Adrien gulped. "Why did you invite me here with you?"