Chapter One

She was exhausted.

Stifling yet another yawn Marinette lifted her face from where it lay upon her journal. She rested her chin upon the desk as she watched their English teacher step into the room.

On a good day Marinette enjoyed English.

On a day like this however, when she had come to school with little to no sleep due to an akuma and a unfortunately-timed wedding to cater for, she couldn't enjoy it.
In fact she wouldn't be surprised if it sent her to sleep.

Especially if they were continuing with Chaucer and his crap poetry in his Middle English weirdness that gave her a headache on the good days.

The teacher was talking.

And she should be listening but instead she closed her eyes again, the only indication that she could feel Alya poking her with her pencil being her reluctant mewlings.

They sounded very much like Cat when he whined at her sometimes.
Hers were much cuter though.
Not that his weren't cute.

Not that they were, of course, just…

Urghh she was too tired to deal with this. She yawned again, lifting her face to try and attempt to pay attention. And she was pretty pleased she did too, because the teacher was telling them they'd be working on something different today.

Oh Thank God.

"… and of course we all enjoy a good play on words now don't we?"

Well.
Maybe.

"… commonly referred to as puns. You'll be working in pairs to…"

The voice faded in her ears as she felt herself dozing again.

What?
Urghh, puns?
Really?

Didn't she suffer through enough of them already?

Being a secret superhero sucked. Sleepless nights and a drop in her grades, having to make up excuse after excuse as to why no-one can find her during akuma attacks…

And puns.

Hell, they were a complaint in their own damn Category.

Oh God.
Now she was doing it.

Why me?

"Marinette."

She winced as the pencil poked her in an already sore spot.

Cat had been playful the night before and they'd ended up arguing. They'd wrestled during patrol, a friendly game that was becoming more and more of a regular thing, even though she tried to stay the serious one. He'd poked her hard enough in the ribs to leave a bruise when he was trying to pin her down to tickle her.

"Oww, Alya. I've got a bruise there you meanie."

She blinked up at her friend, resisting the yawn that jumped to her jaw. And failing spectacularly, because it made its presence known and brought a friend. Much to Alya's delight.

"A bruise? From what, sleeping in? Staying up late and scribbling in your sketchbook?"

She tried to glare. She did. She could hear the class chatting in their pairs, hear the laughter that could only be at terrible puns and she groaned again.

"Alya i don't think i can take any more puns. My life's too full of them already." she whined, setting her head back on her desk.

Nino and Adrien were already starting, and she could hear Nino laughing. Which could mean that Adrien was good at puns.
Well.
It had taken more than a year but she'd finally found something that might be a sign that he wasn't completely perfect after all.

She drifted again as Nino's voice was whispering, thoughts of Adrien lulling her into a doze as she silently bemoaned Cat Noir's terrible puns and his even worse comedic timing.

That damn feline was the world's worst.

And he was always so dang proud of them, that infuriating teasing lilt in his voice when he said things like-

"What's wrong, Sleeping Beauty? You look like you're feline pawsitively bugged out. I wonder what could be the claws of your cat-napping?"

Someone chuckled. She whined, a tired sobbing sound that escaped her throat in complaint to his assault on her ears.

"Come on Noir please, haven't we talked about this? I will string you up."

Her partner was quiet in response and she sighed in relief, yawning as the conversations and laughter created a pleasant backdrop as she dozed in and out.

The poking was back and she grumbled, scooting away from it. She lifted her face from her journal and looked at Alya through her heavy lids.

"Why must you stab me? I thought we were friends." she yawned, stretching and trying to wake herself up.

If they were determined to stab her with pencils then she'd try to avoid that as best she could.
She yawned.

When she finally turned her gaze on her friends though, they were staring at her in surprise. She looked between them all, six wide eyes staring at her like she'd grown a second head. She began to feel self-conscious as she woke up properly, and she looked at Alya.

"What? Do i have pen on my face or something?"

Alya just blinked, and Marinette looked to Nino for help. He opened his mouth, frowning as he looked like he was trying to decide what to say. As a last resort she glanced nervously at Adrien, blushing under the intense look in his green eyes. He looked like he was thinking really hard about something, and she must be more exhausted than she thought because he actually looked a little bit afraid.

"What did you say?"

Alya found her voice first, looking at Marinette in wonder. Marinette had no idea what was going on, her brain foggy and tired.

"Pen? Do i have pen on my face? Why are you looking at me like that?"

She raised a hand to her face, her cheeks beginning to burn as she brushed at her face just in case. She sent Alya pleading look when she didn't reply.

"Dude. You said Noir. Like, as in Cat Noir."

She frowned at Nino as her brain slowly wired up, turning cogs slowly.

And then it clicked.

Oh.

Oh.

She turned scarlet and scrambled for an excuse. Her head was full of clouds and water as it tried to wake up.

"I- uhm- sleepy- night- ahh- puns…"

She took a breath, cursing her luck.

That damn cat.

"Uhm."

Alya was giggling. Marinette looked to her for help, only to receive a sly side-eyed look.

"You're so red Girl! Calm down before you boil over." she snickered.

Marinette swallowed.
Thank goodness for friends like Alya.

"Anyone would think you have a crush on him you know. Talk about muttering his name in your sleep…"

Maybe not.
Curse goodness for landing her with Alya.

Marinette couldn't breathe properly, the implication that she would ever crush on Cat Noir making her skin burn.

He-
Well.
He was her partner.

And he bugged the crap out of her but she loved him regardless.
But not like that.

She couldn't could she?
That was saved for Adrien.

Oh God. And now he would think she liked Cat and he'd never give her the chance to prove herself to him and Oh, you exhausting feline and your stupid puns!

"On Noir? Hardly." she snapped, perhaps a little fiercely.

She didn't see the way Adrien jerked back, or the flicker of surprised hurt that flashed across his face. Because she was purposefully not looking at Adrien.

If she did, she might really combust. And then where would Paris be?

"Oh?" Alya was not deterred, her wicked smirk growing under the influence of Nino's laughter.

"Yes, oh. I just- He likes puns. That's all."

"Uh-huh."

She scowled and crossed her arms at them all and their laughter. She was telling the truth, wasn't she?

Her partner was a sucker for rubbish puns and she had to put up with them every bloody day.

"It's true! When we- Just last night he used six all in one go and thought it was funny."

Whoops.
Wrong thing to say.

Alya's face lit up and Nino sat straighter.

"You saw Cat Noir last night? Bro that's wicked!"

"What? How- when? Why didn't you call me Girl? I could have asked for an interview, put him on the LadyBlog! Marinette!"

She fidgeted, hating to lie but seeing no way out. Her face had cooled a little thank god. Her brain was awake, whirring and kicking up the easiest excuse she could think of.

"He- uhm. He dropped by. Just to say hello."

Her mind jumped back to the night before, inspiration striking. Yes, lace the truth in! That's what made a believable lie, right?

"He made a baking joke, actually, seeing as how i'm a baker and everything."

Not technically true, he'd made in on patrol, but the joke was still fresh in her memory because it had been so awful. And because she'd panicked for a moment that he might know her real identity.

"It went something like, Why are cats better than dogs at making cakes?"

She looked between them all, missing the wide-eyed shock in Adrien's face as she stumbled over her words to get the punchline out and make them believe her tale. The nervous smile on her face had nothing to with any eagerness to see their reactions.

Because the joke was terrible.
Totally awful.

"Because they have better whiskers!"

She chuckled.

From the adrenaline of her lie and narrow escape, not because his joke was funny.

Nino and Alya were sniggering but Adrien had jerked back so hard he'd knocked his textbook from his desk. It hit the floor with a thump. Marinette looked at him curiously, about to ask if he was okay. She didn't expect him to be staring at her with the widest eyes she'd ever seen, one hand coming up to cover his mouth. The expression was unnerving. It made her incredibly anxious.

"U-uhm. A-Adrien? Are- are you o-okay?"

He seemed to come to, blinking in surprise and glancing at his friends' worried faces. He licked his lips uncertainly, an action that would normally send Marinette into fits because it was so adorable. But she was beginning to worry. He looked positively frightened as he looked at her. Nino nudged him gently.

"Dude? Ad, you alright bro?"

Adrien looked at him, his eyes clearing as he seemed to realise where he was.

"Uhm, y-yeah. Sorry Nino. I just- ahh. The joke was familiar, that's all. Surprised me."

He rubbed the back of his neck with a nervous breathy chuckle, his eyes flicking to meet Marinette's concerned gaze. And then he did the weirdest thing.

Adrien Agreste turned pink.

Marinette couldn't breathe as she watched the colour blossom across the tops of his cheeks, painting the pale skin the sweetest shade of pink she might ever have seen in her life.
She might actually pass out.

She stared at him long after he looked away, muttering something about his book. He left his seat to retrieve it, sliding back onto the bench with his head down. He didn't look up for the rest of the lesson, scribbling furiously in his jotter and replying noncommittally whenever Nino tried to catch his attention.

Nino gave up, turning to work on puns with Alya and Marinette, though the latter wasn't much help. She spent the rest of the lesson like she'd spent so many before - especially in the year's beginning when she had been new to her crush on Adrien - staring at the back of his blonde head and wondering what was going on underneath those perfectly styled locks. Underneath his vivid green eyes.

Only this time she wanted to know why on earth he had had such a strange and out of character reaction to a plain old terrible joke her partner had told her.

And why he'd turned such a gorgeous shade of pink.