Hi everybody! This is chapter three! Enjoy the story! Sorry it's a bit late...

Chapter Three - It's Probably Flu Season

Adrien's POV

Lunchtime. Ah, my favourite part of the day. Nino and I sat with Marinette and Alya again (we pretty much always sat with them nowadays) and ate together while we talked about anything and everything.

"Hey, I baked cookies this morning, does anyone want one?" Marinette offered.

Just the words I wanted to hear! "Yes pleeeease," I hummed, anticipating the amazing, chewy, soft cookie...

Marinette giggled as she passed me a cookie. "How is it?" she asked.

I chewed on the cookie and gave Marinette a thumbs up. "Marinette you're so amazing at baking," I said once I had finished it.

Marinette's POV

"Th-thankyou!" I laughed nervously. "You're really – good at eating! I mean – ugh..." I slapped my my palm onto my forehead. "Nothing." He did look good eating though...

"I wish I could bake like you. I tried once, but that didn't go well at all..." Adrien sighed. "I'll always remember my goldfish..." I wasn't even going to ask...

"Oh yeah, that was disgusting," Nino added. "His 'cake' made me ill for a whole week."

"Thanks Nino, glad to know you're so supportive."

"No prob bro." Nino sighed contentedly.

"Heyyyyy Adrien, I know how you can get better at baking!" Alya chimed in. Was she going to... "Marinette can teach you!" she suggested. She did.

"Great idea Alya! Marinette what do you say?" Adrien eyes glistened and he looked so eager to bake.

"Yeah, okay I can teach you – if -if you'd like," I stammered.

Adrien looked so happy! Aww, I tried not to melt! "Awesome! Alya and Nino do you guys want to come?"

"Yeah sur-"

"No! No. Nino and I have to do something else, so you two can do it... alone. Together," Alya interrupted. She always had my back. She glared at Nino.

"But I wann-"

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Alya pulled him away from Adrien and I.

"Alright, after school then Marinette?" Adrien proposed.

I nodded and made a weird noise. "Perfect," I managed to say. Wait just one moment as I scream of happiness.

ADRIEN LOVES MY BAKING AND IS COMING TO MY HOUSE TO LEARN FROM MEEEEEEE!

Done. Click play now.

School had finished and I stood outside with Alya, who was giving me a pep talk. "Alright girl, you're getting far with Adrien and you canNOT blow it now!"

I nodded. "Right!"

"No stammering."

"That's impossible."

"Yeah... I figured I was asking for a bit too much. Just try."

"Yeah..."

"And- HE'S HERE! Act natural, girl!"

Adrien came strolling out of school, hands in his pockets, looking as adorable as ever. It hurt how good he looked. EEEEP! He climbed down the stairs and made his way over to Alya and I. I blushed a deep red. "Hiiiiiiii A-Adrien!" I said.

"Hey Marinette, Alya," Adrien waved. "You ready to go to your place, Marinette?"

"Oh-uh-yeah! Sure!"

"This will be great! Thanks Marinette! And you have fun Alya with what you have to do."

"Oh yeah... what I have to do... he he..."

"Let's go."

Adrien's POV

I had never actually been to Marinette's house or bakery. Only outside it. If that smelt good, inside would have been heaven. I was really excited! We finally arrived at the bakery. "Here it is, Adrien. My bakery!" she announced.

"It smells heavenly!"

"Come on in-if you want!"

I strolled in after Marinette. "Hi Mama," she said.

"Hi honey," her mother said.

"Oh, this is Adrien," Marinette introduced as I waved. "He's a friend from school and-uh-he's here to bake..."

"Well it's lovely to meet any new friend of Marinette!" She smiled. "You two want to use the bakery kitchen?"

"I'd love to! Your bakery is awesome!" I said, admiring the cakes.

"Aw, thankyou!" Marinette's mom laughed. "I like this one Marinette, he's a keeper," she told Marinette. I laughed nervously and acted like I didn't hear her say that...

"A-Anyway... Do we have permission to use the kitchen? We want to do some baking," Marinette asked.

"Oh of course you can, just try not to make a mess. I know how much of a messy baker you are darling. Well I'll leave you two alone." Mrs Cheng gave me a warm smile and walked off upstairs.

"Oh cooool, we get to bake stuff!" I exclaimed, really excited.

Marinette's POV

BREATHE MARINETTE! I led Adrien to the kitchen and layed down my stuff. "So, A-Adrien, what do you wanna bake? There's a looooong list of things."

"Uhhh... everything looks good!"

"Pick one."

"How about...that cake thingy over there!"

"Sure. That cake thingy over there!" I giggled.

Adrien's eyes shimmered in the light, making me shiver. He placed down his bag. "LET'S BAKE!"

So, long story short. Adrien cannot bake. "Soooooooo, Adrien, let's he he try again, shall we?"

Adrien laughed sheepishly, his hands covered in flour. He was so handsome laughing... oh just help me."Sorry Marinette!" he smiled. "I just can't bake! I need an awesome, inspiring teacher like you! I love yoooou!"

I gulped, my face the colour of a tomato. "Uh-oh-yeah-um-sure-cool-he he-love-me-no-you-no-I-thanks?" Did he realise what he just said? My heart almost stopped.

"Let's try again now! Inspire me, Chef Marinette!"

"Okay, let's gather up some ingredients. That's the first step."

"Right. Seems simple enough... I guess."

Adrien and I both put out our hand for the flour, so we ended up touching. I pulled back, red like always. "Sorry!" I almost shouted.

"Sorry!" he said. "Uh-here!" he tossed the flour over to me, but missed and it opened, pouring out a little on the table. "THAT WASN'T ME!" he claimed, hands up in the air.

I giggled. "Adrien!"

"Hey hey hey, Marinette," he whispered, coming in closer to my face.

"Yeah?" I blushed.

"Come closer."

"Huh?" I blushed furiously.

"Come on... don't be shy!" He tapped my nose with the flour and smiled. "There! You're a beautiful piece of art!" He laughed.

I giggled, shaking off the flour from my nose. "Hey, that's not fair, now i'm decorated but you aren't. Lemme help you!" I tossed some flour on his clothes, laughing.

"Oh, why thank you! Let me fix up that makeup for you." He dug out some flour and spread it over my face. I giggled again, blushing like mad. Gladly the white flour covered up my face. PHEW.

" And your bright hair is beautiful! Lemme make it even brighter for you!" I threw the flour at his hair and he shook his head. HE WAS TOO ADORABLE.

Adrien laughed. "Let's make your clothes as bright as those blue eyes!" He threw even more onto my shirt.

I giggled. "And here's your tip for your wonderful work!" I picked up all of the flour and turned it upside down over Adrien's head. He laughed, shaking off his hands. He shook his hair, flour flying everywhere. He looked too cute. "Thanks! That was such a large tip! Let me pay you back!" He did the same with another packet of flour to me.

I laughed quietly. "Beautiful!" he shouted. "Magnificent!"

I shook off some flour off myself. I couldn't stop smiling. "Sorry," I laughed.

Adrien picked up a small cloth and started to wipe off my face. I blushed, holding back a squeak. "Let me clear that up for you."

I gulped. Then I died. Just kidding. Well kinda.

"Well, there goes my clean clothes!" Adrien said, smiling.

"Kids, I thought that you could have some-" My mom walked in with two glasses of milk and froze when she saw us. "What have you two kids been up to?!"

"Sorry," Adrien laughed sheepishly. "He he. Stupid flour. It malfunctioned. That darn flour, you know... ha ha … how it is."

"Yeah... flour..." I added.

"Marinette?!" My mom laughed. "You seriously need to clean up here, you know that?"

"Ha ha... yeah..."

After I pulled myself together after realising what actually happened, I started to clean up. Between throwing the flour earlier Adrien called me beautiful. He also noticed my eye colour! In the eyes of a normal person, that wasn't much, but for me that was amazing and would leave me happy for the rest of the year. I bent down to pick up a packet of flour, and Adrien and I bumped heads together. This day. IT WAS TOO MUCH TO HANDLE.

Adrien's POV

"Sorry!" Marinette said.

"Sorry..." I said, lost in some weird daze. "Were your eyes always that pretty?" I mumbled.

"Hmm? What? Uh-I-yeaaaaaaaaah- my eyes - I inherited the genes from my mother – no wait my father – I mean – yeah genes - I have some jeans and stuff- or skirts- maybe skirts- my mom bought me my jeans... I think..." She slapped herself in the head.

I pulled back. "Sorry."

"Yeah..." she jumped up, wiping away some flour from the counter with a cloth.

"Can I use your bathroom to wash this up?" I laughed.

"Sure. It's just down there." Marinette showed me the way to the bathroom.

Marinette and I had cleaned up the flour and after I finished laughing, I decided it was getting late. "So, Marinette," I said. "We didn't do any baking," I laughed.

"Yeah. I figured. Want some fresh bakes to take home?" Marinette offered, smiling.

"I'd love to!" I jumped with excitement for even more of the bakery amazingness. I don't care if that isn't a word!

Marinette put some fresh cakes and pastries in a small bag and handed it over to me. "Here you go. Enjoy," she said, smiling.

"Thanks Marinette." I could always trust Marinette to give me some nice food... yum.

"So... it's getting late..."

"Yeah. I should be heading back. Thanks Marinette. I loved being here. Even though I still can't bake!" I laughed.

"At least you tried!" Marinette giggled.

A loud beep came from outside. "My limo? Oh yeah! Totally forgot I had another photoshoot..." I sighed.

"Another?"

I rolled my eyes at the idea of a camera man yelling at me to 'GIVE HIM SOME SPAGHETTI'... I just wasn't in the mood for that..."Yeah. I'll see you at school tomorrow, Marinette!" I smiled, waving back at her.

Marinette's POV

"Bye Adrien," I waved to him as he jogged out. I fell back on the wall and sighed. "I'm a mess."

"It's okay you were less of a mess this time I think," Tikki giggled beside me.

"Yeah. Yeah, I was wasn't I? Progress!"

The next day I dragged myself to school, Tikki cheering me on about Adrien the whole way there. I explained the whole thing to Alya and she was pretty much being like Tikki throughout the day.

Class had not begun yet and for some reason Miss Bustier hadn't arrived yet. The classroom was still locked, so everyone just waited in a line outside. Alya and I were playing around and doing little clapping games from when we were young.

"Know any more?" I asked her.

"Uhhhhh, nope. I'm bored... Marinette, put your hands out," Alya insisted.

"Okay," I spread my hands out in front of me. She put her hands over mine. A thing we always used to do as kids to measure our hand sizes.

"Whoa, your hands are super small compared to mine," she laughed.

"Yeah, they are! Like they used to be, huh."

"Hey, Alya," Adrien said beside us. "Move over." What was he...

Alya moved to the side, and Adrien slid in front of me, placing his hands on mine. I almost exploded and became a human volcano, as his hands touched mine. He smiled. "Your hands really are small," he laughed, his gorgeous green eyes catching the light so beautifully.

"U-uh-uuuh-hah-uuum-well-uh," I stuttered. Even though I had gained a little confidence, this was too much for me to handle. "Ye-yeah! I guess they are..."

Miss Bustier suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "Flirt on your own time, sorry I'm late," she said hurriedly. Flirt? NOOOO WAS SHE TRYING TO EMBARRASS ME?

Adrien's eyes widened at the same time as mine did. He laughed nervously and withdrew his hands. I felt like one of those cartoon characters who had steam gushing out of their ears.

"And he did that all on his own!" Alya whispered, only making my death-blush worse. That's a good one, from now on I'd call it the death-blush, because one day it would be the death of me.

"Alright, come in class!" Miss called.

"Gladly..." I sighed, taking my seat.

Adrien's POV

The next day at school I realised Alya and Marinette weren't in... it was kinda disappointing because I loved talking to them. Alya would talk about her Ladyblog which was really interesting, but I still was miles away from learning Ladybug's true identity. Marinette would talk about... anything, and she could still make it intriguing for some reason. If she was sick I hoped she'd get better soon. Nino and I walked into class and Miss Bustier began the lesson.

"Alright class let's begin the lesson!" she announced. "But before that: homework."

The class moaned as Miss Bustier started giving some handouts. I took my sheet and handed one over to Nino.

"Oh, Marinette and Alya aren't in," she said.

"Luckily!" Chloe added, laughing.

"Be quiet, Chloe," Miss Bustier scolded. "I'd usually ask one of them, but... Adrien, you're friends with Marinette and Alya, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"What..." Chloe muttered by the side.

"Could you give them their sheets?"

"Sure Miss." I took the two sheets off Miss Bustier.

The bell rang for the end of the lesson. I stood up, dusting off my bag. "I guess I'll have to go to Marinette's house," I mumbled, kind of maybe looking forward to it.

Nino jumped up. "Or you could just call Alya and tell her t-"

"Wait?! What did you say?! Sorry! Gotta go! Bye Nino!" I laughed, running out.

"But- okaaaaay..."

The day ended really slowly. Time flies when you are having fun and that certainly wasn't happening to me.

Nino walked up to me outside the school. "Hey dude," he said, "Soo, I was wondering..."

"Yeah?" I turned to him, gripping Marinette's homework in my hand still. Oh, and Alya's... of course... "What's up?"

"Well I was just thinking, are you... and... you know... Marinette like something or what?"

"Me and Marinette?"

"Yeah. I dunno. You two just seem really... I dunno..." Nino mumbled.

"Well...uh... I dunno either."

"Yeah. I figured."

"Anyway, I should get this to..."

"Marinette."

"Yeah. See you, dude."
"See you Adrien."

What... was that?

Gorilla dropped me off outside the bakery where I smelt, yet again, the wonder of baking. Yeah. The thing I suck at. I entered the bakery. "Hello. Anyone here?"

"Adrien?" Marinette's Mom came out. "Sorry. Marinette's a little sick."

"Oh, well I just came to give her some homework," I waved around the sheets of paper... Poor Marinette...

"Thank you, Adrien! You are a very kind boy. She's in her room."

"Thanks."

Marinette's POV

Agghh. Long story short. I was dying. I laid in bed, looking like a complete mess. Geez. If someone saw me now. Then there was a knock from my door below me. "Don't come in! I'm a dangerous, disgusting mess!" I shouted, coughing.

"Marinette? It's me," I heard a familiar voice say... don't tell me that... ADRIEEEEEEN?! WHHATT?!

"Ohhhh-uuuhhh- I'm ill, don't come in! I'm a mess," I called, hiding under my covers. I heard my door click.

"I'm sure you're over exaggerating, Marinette," he laughed. I sunk even further into my covers. Maybe he wouldn't be able to find me... oh who was I kidding...

Huh, there were no more noises of Adrien's footsteps... maybe he had left. I popped my head out of the covers, and yup, there was Adrien – those leaf-green eyes undoubtedly belonged to him. "Marinette, are you okay?" he asked, with a sincere look of worry on his face. No way... was did he really care about me, even the tiniest bit? "Sorry to come at such a bad time," Adrien laughed, looking adorable.

"No no! It's fine! Really!" I said, sneezing.

"I'm so sorry. Get well soon." Adrien smiled.

I sighed, butterflies dancing around in my stomach. "T-thanks A-Adrien! Soooo..."

"...Yeah! I just came to give you this weeks homework."

"Homework?"

"Yeah. Here you go," Adrien handed over a sheet of paper and our hands touched for a few seconds until I pulled away. I felt even more hot than before...

"T-thanks..." I placed the paper next to me on the floor.

"It's fine, Marinette. I hope that you get better soon. It's a little boring without you at school."

"R-really?! It is?!" I jumped up in enthusiasm. "Uh-I mean-yeaaah. Thanks."

"Could you possibly give Alya hers as well?"

"Sure." I took the other sheet and froze as I touched Adrien. AGAIN. "I'll give this to Alya, of course – uh-huh – yep... ha ha"

Adrien's POV

Marinette looked so tired and delicate right now, and for some reason it was kind of – what's the word – attractive? "Um, so I guess I should uh, leave and let you recover," I laughed nervously.

"Oh, thank you for going out of your way to give me this Adrien. Even though it's homework, I really appreciate it! You've helped me get a little stronger. I think I'll be better by tomorrow!" she giggled.

"That's great news! I – uh – I mean that's good. I'm going to – uh – I'm gonna leave now, I'll stop pestering you, ha ha... Bye then Marinette," I called, as I closed her door as softly as possible.

"Bye bye Adrien! Thanks!"

Soon after I had left Marinette's place, (her mom had given me two croissants – she must've liked me!) someone had been akumatised. I arrived as Cat Noir at the scene of the crime and found a very strange Ladybug stumbling around.

"My lady... are you okay?" I asked.

She wobbled around. "Oh, yeah, never – achoo – never better! Let's go get that aku-achoo-ma"

"Ha ha achoo-ma. You're ill?" I asked.

"Yes. A little." Seriously? First Alya and Marinette, and now Ladybug. Wait... that meant... that I had to watch out! It was probably flu season.