By the time Adrien transformed back into Chat Noir and headed home from Marinette's balcony, it was almost 12:30. He expected himself to stay up the few hours he had left before school thinking about his Lady but was instead met with fast sleep as soon as he hit his pillow. The last hour and a half was filled with talking and joking about all of terrible villains Hawkmoth had been sending out recently. Once they slowly ran out of laughable names and costumes, they shifted to how many messages Alya and Nino had sent already. The two friends were determined to get an answer for the first 15 minutes, trying to message them on every social media possible. They had racked up dozens of messages each. Thankfully for their poor phones, the two let up after a while. Leaving them be with a string of ;))))'s from Alya. Adrien and Marinette talked a lot but carefully danced around the subject of being 'together' or what this meant as partners/friends. He was sad they didn't approach the subject but also figured it'd be better to think about that after a decent night's rest. He was in a sleep so deep that what felt like minutes was actually hours of fanciful dreams about Ladybug and Marinette. When he woke up again light beamed through his window, hitting his eyes blindingly. He got dressed and ready for school with no prompting from Nathalie, unlike most days. He was excited to see his partner and present their amazing project together. After shuffling through his vast closet for a bit to find the right shoes, he put them on and headed out. He printed the essay portion at Marinette's house the day before and shoved it in his bag already so he didn't have to worry about it too much. He rode to school in the usual silence but was somehow more comfortable with it today than the day before. His mind drifted back to where his dream had left off for a short while till the school came into view. He ran past where he knew Nino would be in front of the school, hoping to prolong the inevitable line of questioning. He slowed down and softened his steps when he got closer to Marinette, who was standing in front of her locker. Her back was turned to him so he thought it'd be the perfect chance to get back at her for trying to scare Chat the night before. He snuck up and put his arms around her waist pulling her close with no warning. The sudden contact causing her to squeak and flail her arms in surprise for a split second. Her shock subsided when Adrien laughed and whispered

"Hey, it's just me bugaboo"

She spun around, his arms still lingering on her.

"You can't do that at school, kitty." She stepped back out of his touch and straightened out her clothes. He whined and asked her why nottt

"Because- uh- I don't know but-"

He stopped her babbling by placing a comforting hand on her arm

"If you don't want me to I won't"

She waved her hands in front of her body and shook her head

"No! I want you to! Let's just face the questions Alya and Nino have from last night before adding on to them?"

He nodded firmly, trying to muster a super serious face but quickly breaking into a short chuckle. He glanced over her shoulder and saw the two friends coming up to them at an alarmingly angry speed. He muttered out
"Speak of the devils and they shall appear"
Before grabbing Marinette's arm and dragging her in the direction of their classroom. She only barely had time to ask what the hell he meant before she was being pulled into Nino's seat in class. They were the only two in the room other than the teacher, Madame Bustier. Adrien had that gleam in his eye that he gets whenever Chat flirts with Ladybug and Marinette recognized it immediately.

"You're gonna make me steal Nino's seat for class today aren't you?"

Adrien nodded while grinning evilly in response. She groaned but agreed before asking if they even could move seats like that. He thought for a second and said

"Well, she never said we exactly have assigned seats, so I guess we could?"

He turned his head to their teacher who wasn't paying them any mind and asked her if it was okay. She didn't bother to look up from her papers, just nodding slowly. He focused back on Marinette, only just realizing she was empty handed.
"Where are the eclairs we made?"

She saw the confusion painting his face and decided she would love to get back at him for startling her in the hall

"Oh shit, I forgot them!"

His face fell and looked genuinely depressed till she giggled and told him

"I'm kidding. They should be in the back room waiting for us."
He felt a wave of relief wash over him till the confusion came back

"Should be?"
She nodded and said

"Yeah, should be. Dad came in and gave them to Madame Bustier while I went to my locker."
As he let out an ohhh the door opened, letting in more students. They quickly recognized them as Juleka, Rose, and Mylene. They were too caught up in their own conversations to notice the giggling Marinette sitting in Nino's seat as they passed. Once they sat down however, Rose quietly tapped her girlfriend's shoulder and pointed to the two. Juleka motioned for her to keep her voice down and not ask anything about it.

Adrien and Mari were discussing their shoes when more students came in. This time it was Kim and Alix. They chose not to question too, no matter how badly Kim wanted to. Right after the two athletes, Alya and Nino rushed in. The two best friends seemed to realize the stillness in the classroom quickly, adjusting the volume and excitement accordingly.

"Nonono you are not stealing my seat-"
Alya smacked his chest, forcing the breath out of him. She took his hand and led him to the seat where she used to reside with Mari. They wasted no time in bombarding the two with question after question about the events of last night and this morning. The two being questioned did the best they could to ignore the others, trying to continue their previous conversation. Nino clapped Adrien's shoulder but Alya didn't take well to being left unanswered

"Do not ignore me, child. I saw that lovey dovey cuddling in the hall, you explain yourselves right now!"

She tried to keep her voice low, the others that had slowly trickled in being just as invested as Alya and Nino. The whisper-shouting was replaced by actual shouting as Chloé entered.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY ADRIKINS!?"
Madame Bustier yelled over the top of the brat's shrill voice for her to calm down. Chloé stomped her feet and crossed her arms, turning to the shushing teacher

"Tell Marinette to move! It's bad enough he's being forced to work with her on this project, now she's sitting next to him!"

Madame Bustier had already focused back to her paper stack, calmly telling her

"We have no assigned seating, they can sit together if they choose. Now please take your seat."

Sabrina tried to urge her friend to move on and let it go but Chloé wasn't having it. She stayed in front of the desk, turning back to Marinette

"You need to unhand my Adrikin's!"

Marinette glared comically at her and motioned between them

"I'm not touching him?"

Adrien spoke up finally

"Chloé just please sit down"

Either her 'Adrikins' telling her to give up on it struck a chord or the bell ringing motivating her to move to her own bench where Sabrina had been sitting since the teacher told them to in the first place. She rubbed her shoulder after she slammed down, trying to calm her. The majority of the kids came in while Chloé was throwing her tantrum but didn't actively try to make themselves known.

After the bell announced the start of class the teacher finally stood and put on a fake-friendly face. The kids went silent as she talked about who would be presenting first for the day. Adrien looked towards his project partner to confirm what he was thinking before raising his hand. Madame Bustier agreed and moved to sit, giving them the floor to speak. He handed Bustier the physical copy of the essay before dodging into the back to grab the sweets they baked. He passed them out while he kept an ear open to hear Marinette speak. She tossed him the pun he had recited to her the day before. He couldn't help but smile. Chloé stuck her nose in the air when offered an eclair, Sabrina taking one for both of them though. The presentation went by quickly, soon after Adrien handed out the last baked good, Marinette finished the oral presentation. He stood next to her for the last couple sentences, Alya noticing how close he was to her and how much he was smiling but Mari being focused on her notecards and the class. After they were done scattered clapping rippled through the room, most kids still having chocolate on their hands and settling for other forms of appreciation instead. Before they could brace themselves for the storm of more questions, their friends were called up to present next. Alya's eyes narrowed and she motioned from her eyes to Marinette, warning her that she was not gonna give up on this. Adrien and Mari laughed silently while they sat back down together, trying to stay quiet enough to not attract the teacher's attention. Luckily for the two, every time one of them tried to catch the attention of the others, they'd catch Bustier's instead and were shushed.

By the time Alya and Nino got the chance to talk to them again, it was almost lunch and everyone had finally presented. They crowded by the first row desks, waiting for the class to be let out. The DJ and the journalist finally gave up on weaseling out answers and let the group was able to carry out a normal conversation. They tossed out some ideas on where to eat lunch before agreeing on a restaurant acclaimed for being healthy around the corner. Alya's argument about just eating hundreds of calories in sweets and needing something to balance it out winning them over. As they walked the short distance together, Nino tried to walk next to Adrien but was pulled back by his girlfriend. They walked in pairs but close together. While they ordered Adrien paid for Marinette's food, much to her protest. Nino did the same for his girl, trying to show off that he can be just as good of a boyfriend. Once they sat, Alya teased about Adrien being the better boyfriend and earned a protest from both friends. Alya looked at them accusingly

"If you're not together, what was last night about? Nino refuses to tell me what happened, but I know he knows!"
Nino tried to defend himself but was interrupted by Adrien

"No, I don't think he does. He told me that Marinette had a crush on me and I went over to talk to her because I like her too. Then it was her idea to piss you off with the selfies for blabbing."
Marinette offered no more explanation, just nodding with a blush on her cheeks. Alya grinned widely
"Well, I'm happy for you. Whether you've sealed the deal or not."

The conversation flowed easier after that until the food arrived, then their mouths were too filled to talk. Adrien spoke again after their salad plates were almost empty. He pierced a piece of cucumber with his fork and held it up for Mari to see

"Hey hey hey. You're a cutecumber"

She shook her head in shame at the words he dared to utter. He decided that reaction wasn't what he wanted and held up a piece of avocado after he ate the previous pun.

"Let's avocuddle?"

Adrien was too caught up in finding the right pun to impress Marinette to notice their other friends' reactions. She, again, didn't react they way he wanted, so he continued

"My heart beets for you"

She tossed her hands in the air a little, exasperated

"There's not even any beets here? None of us are eating beets?"

He stopped for a second, but not acknowledging how she pointed out the flaws in his puns.

"Uhh. Will you lettuce be together?"

Her face shifted from laughing lightly at his shit puns to flushed. She searched for a decent answer and came up with

"I will if you calm down the puns"

He nodded excitedly and said

"Deal!"

She rolled her eyes at him as she turned her head to see Alya and Nino almost as excited as Adrien. She leaned over, ignoring her other friends to whisper into his ear

"I mean kitty has to chill on them too, by the way."
His excitement faltered but didn't fade much. He stayed gazing at Mari till Nino spoke up a protest

"So this means your big head is gonna be in my way in class for more than just today?"

((A/N: That's the end of So Soon! Thank you so much if you read this far! I have a favor to ask of you, my lovelies. I have an entire story line chilling in my head about Chloé. But it's long. Like, as long if not longer than this story. It's got HC backstory, Ladrien, Chlonath, a Chloé redemption, and more! If you'd like to read it, please let me know with a PM or comment? That'd be awesome!))