Okay, more for Stray Werecat Strut.
After their jazz club date, Marinette is on cloud nine. And not just her, but Alya and Nino are getting close, too. But...
Marinette was in her shop, swing dancing and humming to the music from the night before, all while using her magic to set up shop. The jazz vibes were infusing themselves into her magic and its influence could be felt throughout the store. Some of the plants and her wares in the boutique started "dancing" to imaginary jazz tunes.
"So, you two went out to a jazz club?" Alya asked.
"Sure did. It was so much fun!" Marinette laughed.
"That's what jazz is supposed to be." Alya laughed in response.
"I don't think I've danced like that in ages!" Marinette spoke as she kept repeating some of her swing dancing.
"I wonder if Nino has any jazz in his range as a DJ?" Alya questioned aloud.
"Wouldn't hurt to ask," Marinette suggested as she kept snapping her fingers and dancing a little. "You should've seen Adrien. He looked so snazzy in his outfit!"
"You've been talking about him all day, girl," Alya spoke up. "Sounds like you like him a lot."
Marinette blushed, her heart fluttering, before saying, "So, any progress with Nino?"
"He brought me to one of his DJ gigs last night," Alya spoke up. "And the venue provided earplugs and headphones."
"The jazz club did the same thing, too!" Marinette responded.
"Guess I shouldn't be surprised," Alya added. "Sensory overload accommodations are the norm these days. Certainly helps people and paranormals from all walks of life enjoy what the world has to offer."
"Sure does!" Marinette agreed.
Outside, Adrien was walking to the shop, but he was on the phone.
"Pére, can't you just leave me alone?" Adrien asked, sounding irate.
"Listen, mon fils, you should consider yourself lucky that I'm even tolerating the fact that your soulmate is that girl you met and got a crush on when you were only five. What if the child you two conceive is a magic user instead of a werecat?" Gabriel, his father, asked.
Adrien heaved an annoyed sigh and said, "Pére, you realize this exact same "issue" would've come up if Kagami and I had been soulmates? And don't forget about you and maman. Wasn't she a human noblewoman?"
Silence.
"That's what I thought. You're being a hypocrite." Adrien chastised, not amused.
"Touché..." Gabriel sighed. "Just hurry it up. Alpha werecats from other clans are breathing down my neck, trying to get you to mate with their daughters."
"Tell them that I've already found my fated mate, and they're just gonna have to get over it," Adrien sighed as he saw the shop up ahead. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some wooing to do."
Before his father could respond, he hung up the phone and put it on "Do Not Disturb" to make sure his father couldn't interrupt again.
He walked to the door, but he paused. He watched Marinette dancing and singing, snapping her fingers to a jazz song, similar to one of the songs from their date. He chuckled at the sight.
'Just like that day when I was a child...' He thought, the memory of her bright smile when he first met her. 'Still as sweet and vibrant as ever.'
"I hope to see him again soon." Marinette said as she snapped her fingers and turned the sign to "Open."
"Same for me and Nino," Alya giggled, but she seemed a little stiff. "He and I haven't been on a date yet, but I can't wait to see what he comes up with."
"Going to the movies is a classic. Didn't you tell me he likes making his own movies?" Marinette suggested.
"Great idea!" Alya said as she pulled up her phone to see what films were being shown. "I know Nino likes the classics, like Casablanca, but I wonder what's new that we can watch?"
Marinette laughed as the door to the shop opening.
"Morning, Marinette." Adrien said as he came in, his face pink and .
"Adrien, hi!" Marinette greeted, blushing on her face.
Alya, still a bit rigid, gave Adrien a greeting wave, and she said, "Hi."
"Hey, Alya," Adrien greeted. "It's great that you're here!"
"Is it?" Alya asked.
"Yeah," Adrien spoke, turning to Marinette. "Remember how we talked about a double-date?"
"Of course I do!" Marinette said, her face turning red, smiling at him.
"I was thinking that we could do it this afternoon. Nino's been a real slowpoke, trying to come out of his shell." Adrien joked.
Marinette held back a groan from the jokes, but Alya snorted and said, "Shy type, isn't he?"
"Well, I've never seen him interested in a girl before, so I guess I'm a bit shell-shocked." Adrien spoke, still trying to make a joke.
'Come on, whatever you do, don't laugh!' Marinette thought, covering her mouth and holding back her snickers.
"I suggested that he take you out for slow-dancing, given that it's a turtle's go-to romantic move," Adrien joked once more. "And I respect the fact that he doesn't want to shell out a lot of money."
That was the last straw. The girls started laughing their heads off, with Marinette slamming the desk with an open palm.
Adrien chuckled to himself as he put his hands in his pockets and sauntered over to Marinette. As Marinette came down from her laughter high, she looked up at him. She saw him smiling at her, his expression hopeful and debonair at the same time.
"So... Is it a date?" Adrien asked, trying to be suave.
Marinette gave a silent nod, her heart fluttering, and said, "Yes."
The two of them started laughing, but Marinette started looking at Adrien with a smitten smile.
Alya watched the pair with a smile of her own, but on the inside, her fox was on edge for whatever reason...
After Marinette closed up for the afternoon and changed into date clothes - more formal than her jazz outfit, less formal than the dress she wore to dinner - and met up with Alya outside.
"This is gonna be so much fun!" Marinette giggled.
"I know, I can't wait! I wonder what Nino has in mind!" Alya asked aloud.
"Not just Nino, but Adrien, too!" Marinette agreed - she was red in the face and nearly swooning.
"Yeah, Adrien, too..." Alya began, but again, she sounded a bit tense.
"C'mon, Nino!" Adrien said, pushing up against Nino's back as he tried getting the protection wizard to move. But Nino was stiff as a board, yet shaking like a leaf.
"Buddy, I really don't think I can do this!" Nino whimpered, digging in his heels. He conjured up one of his barriers to get Adrien to back off. Adrien was thrown back and he fell onto his rear on the ground.
He stood up, dusted himself off, and he walked over to the barrier before knocking on it.
"Nino, you've got nothing to worry about," Adrien assured, crossing his arms with a playful smile on his face. "Alya likes you, I promise!"
"And how do you know?" Nino asked, sounding panicked.
"She wouldn't go out of her way to see you, or drop hints about a date if she didn't." Adrien pointed out, still smiling.
Nino seemed to relax, and his barrier started getting a bit weaker in response to his calm.
"Are you sure?" Nino questioned again.
"I'm certain of it, Nino," Adrien insisted. "Besides, I'm here as your wingman."
Nino snorted and he began laughing. His barrier came down and he turned to Adrien.
"Funny," Nino chuckled as his nerves seemed to leave him. They got back to walking to the boutique. "I thought I was coming along as your wingman, dude."
"Nino, I think you need a wingman more than I do," Adrien admitted, putting a reassuring hand on his best friend's shoulder. "I can tell you're nervous about this."
"I'm surprised you're not nervous." Nino responded.
"Well, Marinette and I have been hanging out a lot more compared to you and Alya." Adrien conceded.
"Lucky you," Nino sighed. "Alya's not just a foxy... Well, fox shifter, but she's just so sly and self-assured that I feel inadequate next to her."
While leaving out the "Fated mate" tidbit, Adrien responded, "I'd try to learn from her and be more confident in yourself, too. Girls like confidence in a guy."
"Easy for you to say, M. Former Model." Nino teased with a friendly elbow nudge.
They laughed.
They brought the girls out to a bowling alley staffed by both humans and paranormals. There were some rules for gameplay that applied to paranormals, such as no telekineses to move the bowling ball on the lane, no strength magic to improve the throw, don't put magic barriers up to keep the ball out of the gutter, etc. Basically, if you wanted to bowl, you had to make like a human.
Adrien was holding the bowling ball, standing at the lane. He turned his face to look at Marinette. He gave her a wink, causing her to blush. He rolled the ball down the lane, and he knocked down all the pins.
"Strike!" He called, and the others started clapping.
"That was amazing, Adrien!" Marinette giggled. "A strike on the first try?"
Adrien shrugged, saying, "I guess I got lucky."
"Nice one, dude," Nino said as he and Adrien shared a fist bump. "Hey, isn't it Marinette's turn to bowl?"
"Oh, y-yeah, it is!" Marinette stammered, before standing up and walking to the bowling balls. She picked one up and she grunted at the weight. Seeing she was struggling with it, Adrien stood back up and walked over to her.
"Need some help?" Adrien asked as he came up behind her. "Let me show you how to perfect your form."
"Wouldn't that be cheating?" Marinette questioned.
"I don't think so." Adrien chuckled.
He put his hand over Marinette's bowling ball hand, causing her to blush. He stood right up against her back, guiding her movements to bowl. Marinette's heart kept beating a mile a minute, her face was still burning, and she began to feel a cold sweat.
"And..." Adrien began, helping Marinette swing her arm back. "Now!"
With Adrien's help, she swung her arm forward, let go of the ball, and it began rolling down the lane. Unlike Adrien's earlier strike, Marinette only knocked down six of the ten pins.
"Nice shot!" Adrien praised.
Marinette gave a tense giggle as she turned around to look at him.
"Thanks to you." Marinette responded, smiling, her face still pink.
The two of them kept staring at each other, affectionate smiles on their faces, both their hearts beating and melting at the same time. Even the background noise of the bowling balls against the pins didn't seem to disturb them.
The DJ pointed out the romantic mood between Marinette and Adrien to Alya, and he said, "Those two are getting cozy. This is great!"
"It sure is..." Alya said, but her facial expression was neutral as she watched the scene.
Nino only noticed her body language in fleeting. Feeling his heart fluttering, he asked, "Hey, isn't it your turn?"
"Oh, it is," Alya said, breaking out of her thoughts. "Thanks, Nino."
Alya went to pick up the bowling ball, but it was heavy that her three fingers couldn't hold onto it. She dropped it, and it was about to fall on her foot. A barrier with green hexagons covered her foot, causing the ball to land on it with a big thump. A pink aura appeared over the ball, and it started floating.
Alya looked up and saw Nino had used his magic to protect Alya's foot, meanwhile Marinette used her magic to hold the ball still so it wouldn't land and dent the floor. Marinette heaved a relieved sigh and used her magic to put the ball back on the return machine.
"Nice reflexes, Nino." Alya praised, giving him her sly smile again.
Nino blushed and gave an awkward chuckle in thanks before bringing the barrier down.
"Maybe try a lighter ball?" He suggested, his face still red from the moment.
"Definitely." Alya said before taking a lighter ball off the rack. She rolled her shot, and she ended up knocking down six pins, too.
"Great shot!" Nino praised, clapping as he watched Alya come back. She gave her protection wizard a hug.
Marinette gave a giggle before turning to Adrien and saying, "Your turn again!"
After they went bowling, they went to a "paint-your-own" pottery studio. The four of them were sitting at a round table, all wearing aprons. They each had their own piece of chosen pottery, palettes with different paint types and finishes, stamps, sponges, water, and more. They'd each finished one or two pieces, which were set aside to turn in later.
"This is great," Nino said as he painted a coffee mug, using different greens. "Who would've thought that pottery painting would be this much fun?"
"It is fun! And it gives us an excuse to come back together to pick up our finished projects." Adrien agreed, painting a plate.
"It's wild that this placed is owned by a chimera that fires all the pottery using their own flames instead of using a kiln." Alya said as she watched the establishment owner breathe fire out of their lion head onto painted pottery.
Once the fire ceased, the pottery pieces were hot, the colors had changed and set.
"That was amazing!" Marinette spoke while she kept painting a cookie jar she planned to give her parents - she was using a smaller tip brush to paint the bakery logo onto the jar.
"It was!" Alya agreed - she was painting several designs on a large salad bowl.
Nino, red-faced, was staring at Alya, not sure what to do. Adrien's hearing (which was stronger than average, given his species) could pick up Nino's anxious, lovesick heartbeat. The blonde former model made eye contact with Marinette, and then the pair looked back at the scene.
Deciding to take initiative, Marinette said to Alya, "That's going to look great once it's finished, Alya!"
Alya looked up and said, "I know it will! What do you think, Nino?"
Hearing his name, the protection wizard chuckled before clearing his throat, saying, "Y-Yeah, it will be so fire once it's done! I mean, once it's all fired!"
Alya tilted her head to the side in confusion.
Marinette turned to Adrien and gave a shrug. Again, Alya was looking at Adrien with an indescribable expression.
After they finished their pottery pieces, they went out to a movie. It was a modern-day retelling of Much Ado About Nothing with paranormals as the main cast and characters. Marinette was sitting next to Adrien, with a large popcorn between them. Meanwhile Nino and Alya were sitting next to each other in the row behind them.
Nino was trying to make a move, his hand jittery. He put his hand on Alya's, which was sitting on their shared arm rest. Alya looked up at him with a smile for a moment before looking at the pair in front of them.
Marinette tried to keep her eyes on the movie, but the man next to her seemed to be more important. She looked up at Adrien's profile, and the darkness of the movie theater just made Adrien look more handsome to her. She once again felt her heart flutter a bit. To silence it, she took some popcorn and ate a bite.
When the movie was over, the foursome began walking through the Champs-Élysées to do some window shopping. Alya and Nino were at the rear of the group, with Adrien and Marinette at the front.
Out of her peripheral, Marinette saw a tabletop mannequin with a necklace on it.
"Wow, isn't that necklace amazing?" Marinette asked, her eyes lighting up as she looked over the piece.
"It is," Adrien spoke as he looked over the necklace. He blushed and looked at Marinette's profile. He felt his heart skip a beat at how enthusiastic her expression was. "I think it would suit you."
Marinette turned to Adrien and asked, "Really? You think it would look good on me?"
"Yeah! I'll get it for you," Adrien said as he made to go inside the shop. "Wait here."
"Hold on!" Marinette spoke, holding Adrien back. "I don't need you to buy it for me. I can easily conjure up one of my own."
"Are you sure?" Adrien questioned, tilting his head in confusion. "I'd really like to get something for you."
"I don't want or need anything, Adrien," Marinette said to him, her face pink and her face becoming shy. "I'm just happy to be able to spend this time with you."
Adrien, hearing this, blushed hard and he looked at her with a tender look on his face, smile and all.
"I am, too." Adrien responded.
A few shops later, and Marinette was still awestruck at the wares that some of the clothing and accessory shops had.
"Isn't this pair of boots cute?" Marinette said as she pointed out a pair of witch boots in the window. "It clearly combines the traditional, vintage styles of witch boots with modern fashion tastes, considering the color palette."
The boots were black, knee-high with curly toes, had black shoelaces, pale pink lace panels, and a black/pink lace trim ruffles at the top, accompanied by a bow.
"Really?" Adrien asked. "Did witches really wear shoes like this back then?"
"Yes and no," Marinette responded. "Traditional witches would wear curl-toed shoes and other stereotypically "witchy" stuff out in the open. Since most women would wear shoes in similar styles, nobody really thought twice about it. But when the witch hunts and trials became more rampant, they had to assimilate, so everything about their clothes had to change so they wouldn't stick out and draw attention to themselves - trading their black clothes for all the colors that Georgian-Era women's fashion embraced, for one thing."
"That's interesting." Adrien said.
Marinette gave a nod before seeing another piece in the window.
"This boutique really knows how to combine vintage and modern designs. I'm a little envious." Marinette said as she looked at a dress that looked like it came out of Anne of Green Gables but combined design elements that were more modern.
The dress had traded the leg-o-mutton sleeves for a sleeveless, sweetheart neckline for one thing. The colors were also more saturated in tone and the skirt was shorter compared to most dresses of the time period.
"You shouldn't be envious. I mean, you're an amazing designer," Adrien responded, blushing as he caught himself. "I'm actually surprised you haven't moved your shop to a spot here on this boulevard."
"The rent for these spaces is way out of my budget," Marinette laughed. "Besides, I love having my home and my workplace in the same spot."
"That's a good enough reason!" Adrien laughed in response.
They kept walking the boulevard, talking and smiling.
Marinette felt herself relax, and she took Adrien's hand. She could hear his breath hitch, but it wasn't from discomfort. She looked up at him out of the corner of her eye, and saw he was red-faced and smiling.
The sound of a car coming came out.
"Look out!" Adrien shouted. He blocked Marinette from view as a car drove through a puddle of water.
The water splashed out, about to hit Adrien in the back, but Marinette used her magic to pull up an invisible umbrella of sorts behind him. An unintended (but happy) consequence of this was that the water droplets that hit the "umbrella" sprayed all around him - catching the sunlight, causing a small rainbow to appear behind Adrien.
Seeing this, Marinette felt her breath leave her. Her face went red as she looked up at him, her heart began throbbing like nuts. She couldn't keep her eyes off him.
Once the rainbow disappeared and the water stopped, Adrien looked at Marinette with concern and asked, "Are you okay?!"
Marinette managed to force herself to speak, and she squeaked out, "Yes. I'm good."
Adrien sagged, relieved, before saying, "That's a relief."
He put his arm around her shoulder and they began walking again, with Adrien looking at her at a tender smile on his face, backlit by the sunshine. Marinette, feeling like a fairytale princess, smiled as six words came up in her mind.
'It's official. I love this guy.' Marinette thought, leaning her head against his shoulder. He put his arm around her own shoulder to give her a gentle side-hug. She began to relax, and breathing in his familiar cologne added to her ease.
Alya and Nino were walking about three meters behind them, smiles on their faces. Alya's was a bit tense, and she tried her best to hide it. Again, her fox was on the alert for some reason.
"Alya? Everything okay?" Nino asked.
Alya looked to her fated mate, and saw the worried look on his face.
"Oh, um... Everything's fine, why?" Alya questioned, smiling at him.
"You just seem anxious today." Nino pointed out.
"Anxious? Me?" Alya asked. "Why would I be anxious?"
"That's what I want to know," Nino laughed as he put his hand on her waist and pulled her closer to him. "You can tell me anything, Alya. We can share everything with each other."
"Oh, really?" Alya asked, her sly smile coming back on her face as she looked up at him.
He gave an awkward chuckle before responding, "Y-Yeah, we can!"
Alya's fox had relaxed at the wizard's touch. Alya smiled and leaned closer in to him. But she kept looking at Marinette and Adrien with a look in her eyes that combined wariness and curiosity.
After their date, Adrien and Nino walked the girls back to Marinette's shop.
"Today was so much fun!" Marinette said to Adrien.
"It was," He agreed, chuckling. "But it isn't quite over yet."
"Huh?" Marinette asked, tilting her head to the side.
Adrien began leaning in closer to her, his eyes closed and lips pursing. Marinette gave a smile and she mirrored his movements, also puckering her lips. She felt her heart soar when Adrien put her lips to her cheek. He lingered there for a few seconds before breaking it.
She looked at him as he pulled away, that same suave, loving smile on his face, his face pink. One could argue hearts were fluttering out of Adrien's head. Marinette put her hand to her cheek, also looking at Adrien with a similar expression, but hers was more shy and her face was more red.
"I'll see you tomorrow?" Adrien asked, face not changing.
"Y-Yes..." Marinette murmured, giving an absent nod.
"Great. Bye!" Adrien said before turning and beginning to walk away. Marinette didn't notice that nearby, Nino was silently whooping and cheering for Adrien, and Alya was clapping in delight, too.
Alya turned to her date, and she flirtatiously asked, "So, I'll see you again soon, Turtle Boy?"
"Absolutely." Nino responded before following Adrien's lead - he gave Alya a kiss on her cheek, too. After pulling away, he winked at her with a click of his tongue. He turned on his heel and began sauntering away, trying to emulate Adrien's confidence.
"Isn't Nino awesome?" Alya murmured, still on cloud nine.
"He's a great guy, that's for sure. He's got nothing on Adrien, though." Marinette responded, and the girls laughed.
Once she got her head cleared, Marinette looked back at Alya, only to see she seemed to be deep in thought.
Marinette stepped closer and began, "Hey Alya..."
Alya turned to Marinette and asked, "What's up?"
"Is everything okay? You seemed a bit distracted today," Marinette spoke. "Is something bothering you?"
"Bothering me?" Alya asked. "No, nothing at all, really!"
Marinette quirked a brow in confusion, but Alya only gave her BFF a reassuring smile.
Marinette, with a bag from the pottery shop in hand, walked into the Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie - her parents' bakery.
"Papa, maman!" Marinette greeted as she opened the bakery's front door, causing the bell to ring.
Her parents - a warlock father and a witch mother - were tending to customers and working on products at the same time.
"Marinette!" Sabine, Marinette's mother, greeted as she handed a bakery box to a customer and took the money.
"Oh, my little girl is here to visit!" Tom chortled as he used his own magic to take hot breads out of the oven.
"Hi, dad," Marinette giggled as she walked further into the shop. "I came by for a little visit. And I brought you something."
Marinette put her hand in the bag and pulled out the finished cookie jar. It was a classic cylinder shape with a round handle on the lid. The bakery logo was painted on it the front, and the colors were the inverse of the signage outside - the cookie jar was a metallic gold while the logo was painted black, with the round handle and two thin, horizontal stripes at the bottom.
"Oh, that's such a beautiful cookie jar, honey!" Sabine said as she looked at the piece in her daughter's hand.
"Yeah! I was out at a paint-your-own pottery place and I painted this for you." Marinette said, using her magic to move the cookie jar to a safe space for display.
"It's wonderful, sweetie," Tom chortled as he took a closer look. "And it matches with the bakery perfectly!"
"Thank you so much!" Sabine said, only for the door's bell to jingle again.
"Hello, I - Marinette?!" A familiar voice spoke, and Marinette turned around to see Adrien.
"Adrien!" Marinette greeted, surprised and delighted. Her face tinted, as did his.
"It's a wonderful surprise to see you here," Adrien began, only to backtrack, his face going from pink to red. "I mean, I guess I shouldn't be surprised - this is your parents' place."
Marinette giggled and she said, "And I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you're here, either. Nobody can resist my parents' goods."
"No, they cannot." Adrien agreed, laughing. He stepped further in and approached Marinette.
He saw the cookie jar and said, "Wow, that cookie jar turned out even better than I expected."
"You think so?" Marinette asked, looking at the jar.
"Yeah, it looks even better than before, when the glaze was still wet and unfired." Adrien commented.
"That's very sweet of you." Marinette giggled.
"Sounds like you two know each other." Sabine spoke, a smile in her voice.
"And you two went out to that pottery place together?" Tom asked, a knowing tone to his voice.
Marinette and Adrien, realizing they had company, got stiff, their blushes became even darker, and they looked over to Marinette's parents. They had teasing, eager smiles on their faces.
"Y-Yeah, we did," Marinette admitted. "B-But it wasn't just the two of us!"
"Oh?" Tom asked.
"A double-date, then?" Sabine questioned, a smile on her face.
Marinette's words got stuck in her throat, but luckily for her, Adrien stepped in.
"Yes, a double-date," Adrien began. "Truthfully, it was to help Nino and Alya get closer with each other."
"That's right," Marinette added, feeling more relaxed. "His best friend and my best friend being fated mates? What are the chances of that?"
Tom and Sabine snorted with laughter, inviting laughter from Adrien and Marinette. Once they calmed down, Adrien got a bit more serious.
"Monsieur and Madame," Adrien began, feeling a bit nervous. "You two are some of the warmest, loving magic users in the world."
Marinette smiled at Adrien's kind words, but she was caught by surprise when he turned to face her with a tender, loving smile on his face, while taking one of her hands into both of his own. His cheeks were red again and he looked like joy could spill out at any moment.
"After all, if you weren't, I'm not sure you'd have such an incredible young woman like Marinette for a daughter." He praised, gently leaning his forehead against her own. Marinette's heart stopped for a few seconds before she smiled and closed her eyes.
"That's so kind of you, Adrien," Sabine thanked. "Marinette, you're so lucky to have found such a great boyfriend."
'B-BOYFRIEND?!' Marinette thought, her face going completely red.
She was about to protest this, but Adrien - not once removing his eyes from Marinette - cut her off by telling Tom and Sabine, "No, I'm the lucky one to have found such a wonderful woman to call mine."
Marinette's face seemed to go even darker and her heart began going a mile a minute and was louder than a Jagged Stone concert.
"I'm so flattered..." Marinette murmured, not sure what to make of Adrien's comments.
"Hey, since we just happened to meet up, how about we go out right now?" Adrien asked, pulling away and giving Marinette a slick grin.
"You two should!" Tom agreed, brightening. "We still have customers coming in! You two go and have fun!"
"Thank you, sir!" Adrien said before taking leading Marinette out of the bakery by the hand.
Tom and Sabine looked at each other with knowing smiles.
Outside, Marinette and Adrien had gotten about a block away when Marinette, still red-faced, stuttered, "A-Adrien..."
"Yes?" He asked, turning to look at her.
"A... About what happened back there when they called you my boyfriend..." Marinette stammered.
"What about it?" Adrien questioned, a smile in his voice and on his face.
"You didn't deny it," Marinette started, taking her hand away and stopping in her tracks. Adrien stopped a few more steps away from her. "Was that because you didn't want to kill the mood or...?"
Adrien turned his body to look at Marinette in confusion.
"What do you mean? Of course I'm your... Oh, we haven't talked about that yet." Adrien said, realization coming on his face.
"No," Marinette confirmed, her face still beet red. "...But I guess we can't take it back now."
"No, we can't." Adrien laughed.
A few moments of silence between them, giving each other furtive glances and blushing smiles.
"So... We're dating, huh?" Marinette asked, her heart pounding and her eyes squeezed shut.
She heard footsteps coming closer, and she looked up to see Adrien looking at her with that same loving smile he'd given her before. Her heart's throbbing got harder and faster, and her face got hotter. He put his hands around her waist, one of them on the small of her back.
"Yes. Now that you're officially my woman, I can do this." Adrien said before leaning in and giving Marinette a gentle, yet hungry peck on her lips, making her heart skip a few beats.
Marinette responded by putting her arms around his neck, accompanied by a red-faced, shy smile. Adrien smiled again before dipping her over his knee ever so slightly.
Apparently her joy was overflowing, because not only was she crying happy tears, but her magic caused their environment in the immediate area to "brighten up" the same way her shop would. After breaking their lips away from each other, Marinette looked up at her green-eyed beau, and she couldn't stop herself from getting lost in his pretty Peridots. She felt his tender embrace tighten around her as he gently lifted her back upright.
"Marinette..." He murmured as he pecked her lips again. She responded in kind, kissing him back.
"Oh, Adrien..." Marinette murmured back. "I... I don't know what to say."
"Say you're happy that I can call you mine, and that you can call me yours." Adrien spoke.
Marinette's face went red and she gave a huge smile, saying, "I am happy."
They shared another hug before taking each other's hands and walking down the block.
"I can't wait to tell Alya." Marinette giggled.
"I can't wait to tell Nino we've made it official, either." Adrien chuckled.
On the subject of Alya...
Back at her apartment, she was at her computer desk, typing away furiously, several books, printed articles, and other reference materials on paranormal species at her disposal.
"What is he?!" Alya murmured, as she kept hitting dead ends with her research.
Alya couldn't put her finger on it, but something about Adrien was... Well... off. When he first stepped into the shop, she smelled something on him, but she couldn't figure what. She could tell he was a paranormal, yes, but she wasn't sure what kind of paranormal.
It wasn't as if Adrien meant any harm, though. He was fun to be around, an absolute gentleman, open-minded and patient. Being her fated mate's best friend was another point in his favor. And he clearly had it bad for Marinette since he was treating her like a princess - being the Prince Charming her witchy bestie deserved. While she was happy to see her best friend finding love again, Alya couldn't help but feel a sense of disquiet. If she had an idea of exactly what Adrien was, then maybe she wouldn't feel so weird about the whole thing.
Luckily, her journalism job allowed her to meet all kinds of people - human, paranormal, you name it. She'd seen so many species, from fairies to trolls and many others in between. It didn't hurt that she and Marinette attended the same schools, and the students and teachers were very diverse. But the fact that she wasn't sure what Adrien was didn't sit right with her.
Alya decided to go full-on detective mode, and started narrowing down all of the possibilities. She immediately threw one theory out: hybrids. Inter-species mating within paranormals and humans was only just beginning to become reality. And even then, paranormals and/or humans conceived in inter-species mating were born either one species or the other - never both. Like someone being born to a dragon mother and a griffon father, but only being 100% dragon, for example.
So if not a hybrid, then what on earth was Adrien? The mystery was driving her insane!
The simple, straightforward thing for her to do would be directly asking him. However, if he wasn't open about what species he was in the first place, there had to be a reason for it. Alya knew better than to out someone like that! She would have to make like the sly fox she was to figure this out and then talk to Adrien about it. In the meantime, she wouldn't butt in on his romance with Marinette - her bestie's happiness was top priority, after all.
Okay, so now you guys know why Alya's on the alert about Adrien.
Coming up, while Alya continues to investigate, Marinette and Adrien's romance only gets better from there! But what's gonna happen if either Nino, Adrien, or Marinette find out what Alya's up to?