No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. This is actually an update lol xD Enjoy!

Chapter 18

Ever since that night, Marinette and Adrien only continued to grow closer. It was like an invisible weight was lifted from their shoulders after Adrien let himself be completely vulnerable in her presence. Marinette shared some dark experiences of her own, although she believed they were nothing compared to what Adrien went through. But like the good, warmhearted person he was, he assured her that it wasn't a contest and that she could confide in him about anything without fear of judgement.

That was around the time she was beginning to realize that her feelings for him extended past friendship.

Alya met Adrien, and Marinette was pleased that they instantly seemed to click. After the standard introductions, they went on to converse as though they were old friends. They joked around, shared information about their daily lives, and Adrien was nice enough to sate her curiosity about vampires. At the end of it all, Alya informed her that Adrien officially had her approval, but not before taking part in a secret handshake with Adrien when he eventually left.

Overall, Marinette would say that the meeting went better than expected. The next time she saw Adrien she was sure to tease him about it, especially about the handshake. She joked that maybe he should try to pursue Alya instead, since he 'obviously' liked her more. Adrien had laughed at that, then reassured her that she was the only one for him.

Days turned into weeks, until finally winter came around along with Marinette's 18th birthday. At school her classmates were sure to wish her a happy birthday, and she was delightfully surprised to see that Nino and Alya got her presents. Nino gave her a CD with all her favorite songs, and Alya gave her a body care gift set that smelled liked roses along with a gift card to her favorite fabric store.

Afterward, Alya asked what they were going to do for her birthday later that day. With flushed cheeks, Marinette informed her that they could hang out after school, but she had plans with Adrien that night. He asked to take her out on a date, and since she was rapidly developing feelings for him, she accepted.

She remembered how he smiled so widely and how his eyes gleamed in utter joy when she said yes. She couldn't recall any other time he ever looked so happy.

As soon as she heard, Alya smirked and teasingly told her to have fun. Marinette blushed and sarcastically told her that she will, then slapped Alya on the arm when she remarked that maybe she should've bought her a present from the drug store instead.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Adrien already has that covered," Nino assured with a devilish grin, prompting Alya to laugh louder and Marinette to lean forward out of her chair to smack him over his hat.

"That's not going to happen," she grumbled, pouting more when Alya and Nino refused to cease their incessant snickering. "It's just an innocent date, that's it!"

"Whatever you say," Alya conceded with a lingering grin and a shrug. Her eyes opened to refocus on Marinette, who swore felt a bead of sweat run down her neck at the look in her friend's eyes. It was the same look she had whenever she got invested in a juicy story and was hungry for more information.

She raised her finger to point at Marinette's nose, her tone brokering no argument. "But you better give me all the details tomorrow, okay?"

Marinette nodded, her lips naturally quirking up into a small, amused smile. "Of course. Best friends always tell each other about their dates."

Alya smiled in satisfaction as a mischievous twinkle took over her eyes.

"You got that right. Speaking of, hey Nino?"

Nino raised his eyebrows, a bit thrown off at the new attention directed on him. "Yeah?"

Alya rested her elbow on the desk, using it to help prop her chin on her fist. She peered down at him, eyelids slightly lowered and a tempting grin curling her lips. Nino gulped as he felt warmth instantly flood his face; he hoped his cheeks weren't noticeably red.

But when Alya snorted softly, he knew it was a lost cause.

"Since Marinette has a date with her prince, how about we go to the movies instead?" She leaned up and over the desk, using her arms to support herself. Nino's breath caught in his throat at the sultry look she was giving him, her seductive voice not helping any matters at all.

He licked his lips, eyes locked on hers as he tried to find anything that would tell him that this was a joke.

He swallowed when he couldn't find anything incriminating or untrustworthy.

"Does that sound good, wolfie?" she practically purred, and just like that he was rendered incapable of speech. Or any other reaction, really. He froze, his heartbeat pounding in his ears as her eyes gradually sharpened and she tilted her head in concern.

"Nino? Are you okay?"

He wanted to tell her that yes, he was okay. He wanted to tell her that yes, he would love to go to the movies with her. He wanted to be able to open his mouth and say something, anything, and not look like an idiot in front of her. Sadly, lately he was more prone to doing that whenever they conversed.

"He'd love to!" Marinette chimed, shooting a wink Nino's way before Alya turned around to stare at her in curiosity. Nino smiled and exhaled in relief, never more thankful for being friends with Marinette. He guessed he would have to thank Adrien for that…on second thought, it might be better not to. A smug Adrien Agreste was an irritating one.

Alya shrugged, then looked over her shoulder to grin cheekily at Nino. "Alright, guess I'll see you tonight then."

If he didn't know any better, he would say she knew exactly what she did to him. Hell, there was no doubt in his mind that she knew she could reduce him to a pile of frozen mush. At least didn't seem to be turned off by it.

When Mme. Bustier eventually came and started the lesson plan, Nino held his phone under his desk and searched for a movie that Alya would be interested in. Meanwhile, Marinette was thinking of what she could wear on her date. Adrien said it would be a nice place, which was undeniably code for 'super-fancy so dress like you belong there'.

Okay, the meaning probably wasn't that harsh considering it came from Adrien, but still! She couldn't just wear the first thing she saw in her closet; she had to put effort into this. Then again, she didn't want to dress so fancy that it looked like she was trying too hard, either. She had to achieve the perfect amount of elegance and casual.

She slowly smiled as she copied the latest note from the board into her tablet.

She had just the outfit in mind.

…

Marinette breathed out through pursed lips as she stared at her reflection in the full-length mirror set up in her bedroom. The black, collared button-down bodysuit was neatly tucked into the band of her pleated red skirt that swished around her thighs whenever she moved. She opted for a simple pair of black, round-toed pumps with a shorter heel for shoes. She knew how clumsy she could be; she didn't want to wear higher heels and risk falling in front of Adrien.

For the better part of the last five minutes, she kept fastening and undoing the top button of her shirt. She couldn't decide if it would look better with the top button undone or not, since both equally looked good.

She ditched her usual hairstyle of twin tails. Tonight, she left her hair loose, letting it fall naturally to her shoulders. She kept the mascara on her eyes but added a coat of red lipstick to her lips, the only addition of makeup to her face that she made.

She once more gave a critical eye to her reflection. Granted, she thought she looked great, but the little worries kept nagging at her in the back of her mind. Was she overly dressed? Too little? What if this shade of lipstick really didn't suit her at all? What if the heels really were too high and she fell, sprained her ankle, and have Adrien walk out of her life because he thought she was a klutz beyond helping?

Marinette scowled and shook her head. No, she looked fine. This date was going to go smoothly, she wasn't going to trip, and Adrien would be lovestruck. Tonight would be perfect.

With that in mind, she finally glanced away from the mirror to her black purse at her side, opening it up and taking out her cell phone from within to check the time.

5:42. Adrien said he'd pick her up at 6.

Marinette quietly giggled, musing that they really should exchange numbers at some point, preferably tonight if all went well. She wondered what kind of texter he was. He didn't seem the type to always use slang and shortened words. He probably always used correct punctuation, spelling, and grammar.

But she couldn't picture him being a boring texter like that. He most likely spiced it up with emojis befitting whatever mood he was in.

A sudden thought made her frown. What if he was the kind of texter who overloaded his texts with emojis? Marinette hated those kinds of texts…oh well, she supposed that if he was like that she could get over the petty issue.

"Marinette!" her mother's voice called, prompting her to turn towards the unopened trapdoor. "Your date is here!"

Marinette stiffened, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

Date? The only date she had tonight was with Adrien, who was probably going to come through the skylight to pick her up. He always came in that way. If he came through the front door, that would mean that he met her parents, and Adrien said nothing about doing that.

It couldn't possibly be Adrien, right?

"Marinette? Are you coming down?" Sabine asked, a concerned lilt to her tone.

"Ye-yeah," she answered back, buttoning up the top button and shoving her phone in her purse. She might as well go see this mystery boy and politely inform him that she wasn't going to go out with him.

You could say that Marinette was surprised when she walked down the stairs to see not only her parents sitting on the couch on either side of the mystery boy, but that the mystery boy himself was Adrien.

Her grip on the railing tightened in panic. Did Adrien tell them he was a vampire? No, they were all smiling and amicably talking with no trace of fear on either of her parents' faces. But surely they had to notice something was off, like the way his canine teeth were slightly sharper than the average human's. Or how his skin was colder to the touch than normal, because her father had to have shaken Adrien's hand at some point. Why would Adrien risk exposure like this?!

Her parents hushed as Adrien's head suddenly snapped up to look at her, green eyes slightly widening as he fully took her in. A coy smile stretched her lips when she observed his jaw slacken with awe.

Well, if everything else goes wrong, at least she could say that she accomplished in making Adrien lovestruck at the sight of her.

However, when Adrien stood, it was her turn for her mouth to drop.

Normally when she saw him he was either in his cat costume or some type of casual civilian wear. Up until now, she had never seen him dressed formally, and oh what a sight it was to see.

He wore a navy blazer over a dark gray dress shirt with the two top buttons undone. The shirt itself tucked into a pair of dark denim jeans, a brown belt secured in the belt loops although she had a feeling it was more for show rather than holding his pants up. Overall, he had a great taste in clothing, and it was effectively making her stare than what was appropriately necessary.

A throat being cleared distracted the pair. Their heads swiveled around to Tom, the source of the noise. He smiled slyly, as if he knew everything that they were just thinking about each other before he interrupted. Marinette resisted the urge to bite her lip as she descended the rest of the stairs; she couldn't have her lipstick ruined this early because of an embarrassed lip-bite.

"You should have told us that you were going out tonight," Tom teasingly scolded her, then clapped a hand on Adrien's shoulder.

The vampire bent his knees as he pretended to be affected by the sudden weight added to his shoulder before standing back to his normal height. It wouldn't do to stand there and not react at all to it; any human would have buckled a little under the sudden weight.

"Especially since it's with Adrien," Sabine chimed in, sending a warm smile in Adrien's direction, who quickly returned it. "He's so nice, Marinette, and a gentleman too! He actually called your father 'sir' when he walked in."

As she giggled at the memory, and Tom's repeated assurances that Adrien didn't need to be so formal, Adrien looked away with a half-smile and rubbed the back of his neck. Marinette grinned, knowing that her mother was right with her compliments.

Sabine's amusement gradually died down, and with it came a disappointed pout aimed on her daughter, who blinked at the swift change of mood.

"Why would you hide him from us like that? He's such a nice boy, we would've loved to have meet him sooner! We could've invited him to dinner or-"

"Oh, I could never impose like that," Adrien interjected, then walked closer to Marinette. She was pleased that when he neared her nose could only pick up a whiff of some expensive cologne. Thank God he wasn't the type to drown his whole body in the stuff like some other guys did.

"You wouldn't be imposing," Tom objected, scooting closer to Sabine to wrap an arm around her shoulders. His wife smiled and leaned closer into the touch. "We would love to have you! Of course, you must try all our pastries-"

"A-Actually, while that does sound wonderful, Marinette and I should really be going," Adrien said, chuckling uneasily, something that Marinette immediately picked up on. Why did the idea of trying food from the bakery make him so nervous? Did he hate sweets?

"Oh! Well we wouldn't want to keep you two," Sabine complied, probably not noticing Adrien's agitation if her easy smile was anything to go by. Beside her, Tom nodded in agreement.

"Alright, get going then. You better keep her safe," he threatened, scowling playfully and pointing a finger at Adrien.

Adrien's hand slipped into Marinette's, their fingers instinctively twining together. She felt her cheeks warm as Adrien looked determinedly at her father, no hint of amusement or cheek on his features at all.

"With my life, sir."

There was no hope of Marinette trying to hide her smile, especially from the knowing gaze of her mother.

"I told you to call me 'Tom'!" he laughed, before proceeding to usher the pair out the door. Marinette only had time to grab her coat from the coatrack and pull it on. Honestly, she wasn't sure who was more excited for this date: her, Adrien, or her father.

"Sorry," Adrien apologized sheepishly. They waved at Tom and Sabine until they closed the door, almost leaving Marinette and Adrien alone. Almost, because Marinette had no doubt that her parents were peeking at them through the window.

She fondly shook her head, allowing Adrien to guide her towards a nice-looking black car that she had no idea what the name was. But she could tell one thing: that it had to be very expensive.

"You drive?" she asked, thoroughly surprised. He never told her he could, and whenever he came over he just ran straight to her room. She assumed he didn't need to know how to drive and therefore wouldn't waste his time learning.

"Of course, even vampires sometimes have to drive once in a while," he quipped, flashing her a grin. "Besides, it's almost winter. I wasn't going to let you freeze, so I rented a car to keep you warm on the way there."

It occurred to Marinette right then that he didn't have to do this at all. He certainly wasn't bothered by the cold temperature; he could stand out here for hours and be just fine. Yet he rented a car just so that she wouldn't be cold. Even if he did carry her there, with his enhanced speed there still would've been a few minutes when she would shiver.

"Thank you," she bid, peering up at him brightly. Her next thought was bold, reckless even, but she could only think of one way to express her gratitude.

Stretching to her tip toes, she leaned in and pecked him on the cheek.

Adrien's eyes grew comically wide as her feet were planted flatly once more on the ground. She nearly laughed when his grip tightened on her hand and he looked away from her, but not before she caught the smile on his face. If vampires could blush, she would swear that he would be red from his neck to the tips of his ears.

"Well, we better get going," she said breezily, lightly brushing past him to get to the passenger door. Adrien managed to snap out of it, only because of his gentlemanly urge to open the door for her.

He cleared his throat once he got into the drivers seat, clearly trying to not be any more flustered.

Marinette had to press her lips together to keep from giggling. For being a creature that had the reputation of being terrifying and dangerous, he was such a dork sometimes.