Over the course of the next few days, Adrien and Marinette talked some more than usual. She was progressively more confident, which was really good since Adrien seemed to be getting "attached at the hip to Marinette" as Nino explained it. Her stutter was almost completely gone around him, and she didn't backtrack on her words constantly either. In fact, she even interrupted him once to correct him on his facts! How cool is that! Of course she apologized profusely afterwards, but still, the point of the matter was that she was growing more confident.

And, if it made sense, Adrien was growing more confident around her, too. Not in the same way, of course, since he was never a fumbling-bumbling mess to begin with, but confident in the way that he could confide more in her, and trust her to be there for him. Confident in the way that he was getting more comfortable with her, and more at ease.

All in all, they were getting along even better lately. According to Alya and Nino, the stars finally aligned and they stopped worrying about everything. But Marinette felt a little differently. Sure, the stars very well could be aligned or whatever, but there was something in his eyes lately that she couldn't just ignore. It was something she'd lie and say she couldn't figure out, or something that was too fleeting that she couldn't tell what it was. But she knew exactly what it was, because she knew she was looking like it, too.

It was familiarity.

Neither of them said anything even remotely along the lines of the Parisian Superheros during when they hung out. Even when it was just them, they never brought it up.

Until today.

Adrien was studying with Marinette at her house- at her house! And she was totally okay and speaking and breathing!- and he sat across from her at the table in her room. They were taking a break, since science was hard, and nibbling on some chocolate cookies, when Adrien started speaking.

"Cat Noir is pretty cool, huh?" He mumbled, taking a bite of his cookie and glancing to Marinette.

She froze for a moment, as was her normal reaction when anyone mentioned Ladybug or Cat Noir around her, but she 'relaxed' after a moment.

"Um… Yeah…" She nodded. She still had to tread carefully, in case she was wrong about her hunch.

"W-Well," Adrien started, realizing his question was totally out of nowhere, "You met him that one time, right? With Nathanael and all?"

"Oh!" Marinette nodded again, this time actually relaxing, "Yes, I did. And yes, he is cool."

She was proud of herself for actually saying Cat Noir was cool instead of spitting all over Adrien like she did the first time he asked her.

"Yeah…" He nodded, his smile showing he was trying to hide some pride. Marinette knew he would have actually hid that if he were the others, but he seemed to be catching up to her as well.

"Ladybug is cool, too…" She added, staring out the window, all nonchalantly.

"She sure is," Adrien agreed, staring out as well, with a small smile.

"I wonder what they're like in their normal lives. Alya already determined their grades, after all," Marinette laughed, remembering how Alya even made a post on her blog about the theories on their grades.

Adrien laughed with her, nodding.

"Well, I'm sure they're nice," He answered, after a moment, "and very, very cool."

"You don't think he's only cool as Cat Noir?" Marinette asked, grinning inside at her sneaky questions. If nothing else proved he could be Cat Noir, then this question sure would.

"I'm sure he's super cool!" He answered far too quickly, then leaned back and corrected himself, "He strikes me as a very cool person."

Marinette couldn't help but giggle loudly at his flump.

Yeah. She was like 90% sure it was him. Either that, or Adrien was one hell of a fan.

"I agree." She said, taking the last cookie, "I think he would be very cool in his normal life as well."

Adrien smiled and nodded, taking the last bite of his cookie.

As they slowly got back into the swing of their schoolwork and studies, Marinette couldn't help but smile. She knew he had to be figuring it out as well, after all the hints she's dropped over the week. And clearly he was dropping some as well- intentionally or not. And from how he acted, she was pretty sure he was more than an avid fan.

And it was pretty nice, figuring it out.

As Marinette worked on her schoolwork, she realized something that almost made her freeze on the spot.

This is nothing like she imagined.

She imagined their reveal being dramatic, with gasps or at least some shock. If they didn't know each other, like she first thought, it would still be some dramatic event where they would close their eyes and undo their transformation together and have some over-the-top meeting.

But here they were, putting the pieces of the puzzle together slowly, over croissants and cookies and science.

And Marinette liked this way much, much better.

first AN of this fic! to address what some of you have been asking: yes! I will in fact be writing a partner fic from Adrien's POV! Don't worry, it'll happen!

Also, thank you for all your support!