During the first summer when the Alya, Nino, Adrien, and Marinette were friends, their first (and only) pool outing as a group went pretty much as expected. Alya brought a few balls to toss back and forth, Nino brought along some speakers so they could listen to music if the pool wasn't super-busy, and Marinette spent a good minute gaping at Adrien's exposed chest before Alya shoved her mouth shut before he could notice. Adrien, as per usual, was oblivious.

"All right, let's get in the water!" Alya announced as a diversion, dragging Marinette along with one arm and holding the beach ball under the other. "Did you put sunscreen on, Adrien? You'll roast your pretty pale skin if you didn't."

Adrien flushed at the comment. Marinette watched with interest as the flush spread down his neck and across the upper part of his chest. "I put plenty on. Father wouldn't let me leave the house until I was practically drowning in the stuff."

"What was the SPF?"

Adrien looked a bit defensive. "Does it matter?"

Nino grinned, happy to get in on the ribbing of his best bro. "Curious minds want to know, dude. So how strong is your sunscreen?"

Adrien muttered something incomprehensible. Instantly, Alya and Nino's grins turned predatory. Marinette realized that she was still staring at Adrien's flushed chest and tore her gaze away, only for her eyes to creep back moments later.

"I'm not sure I could hear you there, model boy," Alya sang. "Care to repeat that a little louder?"

"It's at 100," Adrien finally admitted. "And it's waterproof. I have a photoshoot coming up tomorrow, so I can't risk getting burned today. When I don't have anything coming up, then I can go down to SPF 70, or maybe 50 if I'm not going to be out for more than an hour."

Nino blinked at him, clearly taken aback. "Dude. I wear, like, 15 whenever I do bother to put sunscreen on. You're too careful."

"You don't burn as easily as I do." Adrien shrugged a pale shoulder as he rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "I sometime don't wear sunscreen if I'm only going to be out for a short while. I get my Vitamin D from that."

"Laaaaaame," Nino drawled, grinning at the playful glare Adrien sent at him. Alya snickered. Marinette stayed quiet, partly because she didn't quite trust her voice yet and partly because she knew full well that her sunscreen was just as- well, nearly- as strong as Adrien's.

It didn't take long after that for Alya and Nino to leap into the pool with gleeful shouts, causing giant splashes as they plunged into the water. Adrien and Marinette took the stairs and then spent forever wading through the shallow end, much to Alya and Nino's disgust.

"I'm getting used to the water," Marinette claimed, wading deeper. Adrien nodded in agreement from a full meter behind her.

"Get used to it faster," Alya suggested, chucking a soaked squishy ball at Nino's chest and snickering when he let out a yelp. "Come on, just go under and you'll get used to the water in a second."

Adrien paused at that. One hand crept up to rub at the back of his neck. "Uhhhh..."

Nino sent him a suspicious glare. "Please don't tell me that you aren't going to get your precious hair wet."

Adrien cringed. "Weeeeeeelllll..."

Alya crossed her arms and fixed him with a look.

"It takes a while to style it like this!" Adrien said defensively. "I'm not just going to dunk my head in, my hair would get plastered all over my face."

"It is kinda long," Alya said, tilting her head and squinting at Adrien. "But seriously. Adrien. Dude. You knew we were going to the pool. Why bother styling it at all, then?"

"My father wouldn't let me out of house if I didn't style it," Adrien pointed out. "Believe me, it's a mess when I don't do anything with it." He grimaced. "And I didn't think about it."

"Put it up in a ponytail, then," Alya said, pushing her own sodden ponytail off of her shoulders. "I bet you could rock it, Agreste."

Adrien snorted, sloshing a couple more steps forward. "Right. I'll consider it next time."

"But seriously dude, you didn't think about how the water could affect your hair?" Nino asked doubtfully. "It's the pool, you're going to get wet."

"I'm just going to point out that before this year, whenever I went to the pool it would be with Chloe," Adrien said as the water rose up nearly to his armpits. He automatically rolled onto his tiptoes in response. "There was a lot of sunbathing and very little actual swimming."

"Sunbathing with SPF 100 slathered all over your body," Nino sighed, shaking his head in complete disbelief. "You have a sad, sad idea of fun, dude."

"Not entirely my fault."

"Less talking, more playing!" Alya ordered, winding up with another waterlogged pool ball. It went sailing past Adrien's head. "C'mon, we don't have all day. I have to babysit later. Let's have fun now."

They tried. But between Adrien's (mostly successful) attempts to keep his hair dry and Marinette's still Adrien-impaired tongue (and limbs), the end result ended up with their ball-tossing being more like an awkward game of hot potato rather than the frolicking fun that Alya and Nino had envisioned.

"I don't know what I expected," Alya sighed to Nino after Adrien got picked up and they had dropped Marinette off at the bakery. "Marinette plus shirtless Adrien? Anyone with a brain could have told me that she would freeze up. And I don't know why we didn't anticipate Adrien never having been to a pool properly before."

"Dude's in crazy good shape," Nino said as way of agreement. He frowned, just a little. "I'd wonder what kind of crazy exercise regimen his dad has him on, because I'm fairly certain that fencing and basketball don't produce those kinds of abs, except Adrien doesn't do, y'know, topless modelling or anything. And Gabriel doesn't do swimwear. So it wouldn't make sense for his dad to make him do that kind of workout."

Alya snorted. "You say 'those kinds of abs' like they're crazy defined or something."

"They're more defined than mine!"

That sent Alya into peals of laughter. She doubled over laughing and had to clutch at a lamppost to stay upright. Finally, she managed to choke out words again. "Nino, you're a couch potato. Adrien is pretty active. Of course he's going to be more in shape!"

"I have such a supportive girlfriend," Nino said dryly as Alya pulled herself together. "...but okay, yeah, I can see your point."

"I can't wait until those two relax around each other more," Alya sighed, leading the way up the street again. "These kinds of things will be way more fun."

"Be careful what you wish for," Nino joked, following her. "Who knows? Maybe by this time next year, they'll be dating and all over each other and we'll wish that they were awkward again."

Alya laughed again. "Right. Uh-huh. I'll believe that when I see it."

Their second summer, Adrien was clearly more prepared for their poolside fun. He snuck out of the mansion without his father noticing, hair pinned back in a messy ponytail and hidden under a baseball cap he had gotten on loan from Nino. He had (at least temporarily) ditched his SPF 100 sunscreen for a SPF 50 (his photographer was gone for a month, he explained, and they wanted him to have a healthy tan instead of looking like he lived in a cave year-round), and he even had gone out and bought a couple pool toys for them to mess around with.

"It's called a pool torpedo," Adrien told Marinette, who had grown far more comfortable with him over their second year together. He mimicked a throwing motion and nearly dropped it. "You throw it underwater to other people and then they catch it and throw it to someone else."

Nino snorted. "Laaaaame. Dude, if we're just going to stand around tossing a ball or that thing like we did last year, I'm out. That got boring after ten minutes."

"You just get bored too easily," Adrien shot back, putting the toy down to shuck his t-shirt. He tossed it down on one of the chairs they had claimed and held out a hand out for the cover-up Marinette was in the middle of removing. "It'll be fun. Besides, this year I don't have to worry about getting my hair wet, so we can go to the deep end."

Nino snickered. "Maybe just to the middle section. Marinette hasn't grown much in the last year, after all."

His response was a cover-up to the face.

"Marinette is a fantastic swimmer," Alya said, coming up to join them. She was wearing the same swimsuit she had the year before. "She could probably swim circles around you, Nino- ooh, nice swimsuit, Mari!"

Marinette blushed slightly as all attention turned to her. She had traded out the previous year's innocent spotted pink one-piece for a black bikini with electric green edging and laces. Alya let out a whistle as she admired the outfit. It was hardly inappropriate (if anything, it was fairly conservative for a bikini), but the colors were striking against Marinette's pale skin and it showed off her strangely toned midsection. Nino gave Marinette a once-over before shooting a double thumbs-up at her. And Adrien...

Adrien couldn't tear his eyes away.

Normally Adrien didn't stare. He didn't gape. He was polite to a fault on a typical day. But it appeared that Adrien "Gentleman" Agreste had up and left the premises, because Adrien wasn't just admiring, or even staring. He was straight-up ogling and he wasn't even trying to hide it. The model was very obviously checking Marinette out, even going so far as to circle her to get the view from the back.

What was equally strange was Marinette's reaction. She didn't look surprised by his reaction at all. In fact, it even seemed like she had been expecting it. She smirked as Adrien drew closer, running his fingers over the electric green trim. His eyes flicked up, meeting her gaze. He didn't look the least bit abashed, and she didn't look the least bit embarrassed by the attention.

Alya and Nino gaped.

The strangeness didn't stop there. In the water, Adrien almost seemed glued to Marinette's side. Instead of keeping his head above the water like he had the previous time or acting even remotely hesitant about getting wet, Adrien dove in like a seal. He resurfaced next to Marinette long enough to shake the water out of his hair like a dog, drenching Marinette within seconds. She let out a shriek of protest and shoved his head back under without even pausing, not even looking remotely remorseful when Adrien reemerged with a pout on his face.

Minutes later, Adrien dove across the pool to pounce on the ball intended for a sopping and startled Marinette. She narrowed her eyes at him as Adrien flashed a roguish grin at her, tossing the soaked squishy ball to Nino.

Within the first five minutes, the friendly ball-tossing had become an all-out war as Marinette and Adrien tried to steal the balls intended for the other. Alya and Nino watched, torn between alarm, amusement, and complete and utter confusion at the scene unfolding in front of them.

"MINE!" Adrien yelled, diving through the water again as he lunged for the ball that had landed only half a meter in front of Marinette. Marinette squealed, trying to wrestle Adrien away from her prize. There was a short scuffle before Adrien emerged, smugly victorious.

Marinette snarled.

The competition between the two only intensified from there, with the two teens wrestling each other for control every time the ball came anywhere near them. Adrien slung Marinette over his shoulder at one point so he could grab the ball, ignoring Marinette pounding at his back in outraged protest.

"I don't understand," Nino muttered to Alya as the splashy struggle continued. "They were barely even talking to each other that much a few weeks ago, and now they're all touchy-feely."

Alya was torn confusion and delight as she watched. Marinette didn't seem to have any qualms about touching Adrien- a far cry from the previous year, when Adrien simply being shirtless in her general vicinity had made her blush- and Adrien, Mr. Keeps-His-Hands-To-Himself, wasn't holding back either.

Very mysterious.

"You would think that Marinette would have told me if she asked him to go out with her," Alya said as Marinette finally got Adrien tangled up enough that he couldn't grab the ball. Before Adrien could extract himself, Marinette lobbed it to Alya.

"You think that's what's going on?" Nino asked as Adrien and Marinette slid apart, eying each other and Alya as they waited for her to throw the ball. "Adrien hasn't said anything about liking anyone to me."

"What else could it be? People don't just get this comfortable with each other that fast." Alya threw the ball to Marinette and watched in bemused amusement as Adrien sent a giant wave at Marinette to keep her from catching the ball before charging over to fight her for it. "And something had to have happened to get them to go from polite with each other to, well, climbing all over each other. They definitely weren't like this last week." She snorted in amusement as Marinette dove under the water and pulled a started Adrien down with her. Moments later, Marinette popped up, claimed the ball, and lobbed it at Nino.

"I just don't know," Nino said, shaking his head as he dodged the ball Marinette had thrown. Behind Marinette, Adrien popped out of the water and shook his hair out, sending water splashing into Marinette's face and making her splutter. "But if they aren't dating now, they're gonna be within a week, I bet. That level of flirting is disgusting."

Alya sent him a look. "It's cute."

"It's beyond cheesy. It's so cheesy that it wouldn't even be allowed in a low-budget romance because people would just roll their eyes." Nino finally grabbed the floating ball, tossing it up and down as he watched Adrien and Marinette finally separate. "Hey, do we need to separate you two, or are you going to behave?"

"I never behave," Adrien claimed a bit breathlessly, shoving back a stray bit of hair that had come loose. The claim made all three of them raise their eyebrows in synchronized disbelief.

"Dude, you practically need a signed permission note to misbehave," Nino said, rolling his eyes. "A permission note and about five people standing behind you cheering you on, at which point it hardly counts as misbehaving anymore."

Adrien grinned. "I resent that." As he spoke, Marinette suddenly jumped and let out a yelp. She scowled at Adrien and swatted his side. He flashed his grin down at her, wide and decidedly impish.

Nino and Alya stared.

"I don't know what happened," Nino muttered out of the corner of his mouth as the swatting turned into a full-fledged splash fight. "But this is weird."

What had happened was really quite simple: three weeks earlier, Marinette and Adrien had discovered each other's secret identities. What had followed was a slightly rough transition week where they got used to fighting alongside each other again now that they knew who the other was, figuring out how the different parts of their personalities clicked together. Chat Noir had been comfortable grabbing Ladybug around the waist to haul her to safety or to a better vantage point, but Adrien wasn't used to acting the same with Marinette. They were a little more careful with each other, keeping a little more distance when they fought together.

The second week, they had managed to get their regular rhythm as Ladybug and Chat Noir back together. There were fewer stumbles, fewer pauses, and this time when their timers ran low, they could detransform in the same spot. They hadn't gotten to hang out in their civilian forms much or talk about what their mutual crushes might mean for them in the long run, but that was fine. They were friends and partners first, and anything beyond that didn't need to be rushed.

The third week, there were fewer attacks and so fewer chances for Ladybug and Chat Noir to talk, though Adrien and Marinette did get to hang out together a few times. Since Alya and Nino were always right there, though, they didn't get the chance to really talk. By silent agreement, they resolved to act normally around each other. Alya would pick up on any changes and would no doubt interrogate Marinette and send Nino to get answers out of Adrien. Since they didn't have any good explanations (like dating, Adrien's mind whispered a bit traitorously), it was better to avoid that altogether.

But they had had a conversation the previous night during an impromptu patrol and agreed that neither of them would be opposed to dating- the opposite, really- so if any of their behavior drew questions from Alya, they would have a ready explanation on hand.

Adrien grinned as Nino threw the ball again and Marinette charged at him, intent on grabbing the sopping squishy ball before he could get to it. If they were on land, he'd be worried, but the water's resistance slowed Marinette down enough that she couldn't knock him over. He held her to his side with one arm as he reached out and snagged the ball with his other hand. This close, he could hear Marinette's grumbling curse as she flailed, trying to wrestle him for the ball. She was stronger than she looked- Adrien was barely keeping his hold on her, even as strong as he was- and she was far more flexible than he was.

Still, Adrien was taller and had a longer reach. All the drive and determination in the world couldn't make Marinette reach his size, though it wasn't stopping her from trying. The best she could do most of the time was get his arms tangled up enough that he couldn't reach anything, and then she would be able to claim the ball.

Nino and Alya were staring, Adrien knew that, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. Being able to act so wild and carefree as himself when he wasn't transformed was too much fun. Knowing that Marinette wasn't just his fantastic friend but also his fantastic partner in crime-fighting allowed him to let loose and be far more playful than he would allow himself to be with anyone else.

Grinning, Adrien blew a raspberry into the crook of Marinette's neck, making her squeal and push his face away.

"Okay, okay, that's enough," Nino announced loudly, splashing across the pool to push them apart. "You're going to make me sick, and you're holding up the game. Just toss the ball back like normal people without fighting for it."

"What's the fun in that?" Adrien pretended to whine as he let go of Marinette. He grinned as she spun away, slapping his chest with a soaking pigtail. She stuck her tongue out at him as she danced away, waving the ball she had snatched from him as she did. He stuck his tongue out right back at her.

"The fun is that I don't have to watch you two flirt in the cheesiest way possible." Nino did look a little uncomfortable, which made Adrien feel bad. He and Marinette hadn't planned to tussle with each other so much, and he definitely hadn't considered how it might come off to other people. "Seriously dude, if you don't ask each other out in the next week, I- I don't know what I'll do, but it won't be pretty. The sooner you two start dating, the sooner you can get this- this- mushiness out of your system."

Adrien had to grin at that. If Nino thought that a little water fight was mushy, he hadn't seen anything yet. He and Mari would probably tone it down eventually, but right away?

Not happening. Adrien had an entire notebook filled with cheesy ideas for dates and gifts and things he and Marinette could do together. He fully intended to carry out each and every single one of those ideas- not all at once, of course, but eventually. He was going to spoil Marinette as much as she let him (though not as much as he wanted to, if Marinette's reaction to some of his gifts was any indication) and of course, he was always cheesy when it came to anything romantic. He had said as much when Plagg grumbled about him being mushy, which only resulted in Plagg huffing that labelling anything romantic that Adrien did as cheesy was an insult to cheeses everywhere.

(He had to tell Marinette that. She would probably howl with laughter.)

"Typically, dating makes people more mushy, not less," Adrien pointed out. "You sure that's what you want Mari and I to do?"

Nino's eyebrows shot up. "Huh. I thought you'd be denying anything was happening for sure."

"Why would I do that?" Adrien asked as he watched Alya pounce on Marinette. "I like Marinette. She's fantastic." Fantastic wasn't even enough to begin describing Marinette. She was amazing, flaws and all, and he was lucky that she returned his feelings. "Seems kind of pointless."

"You were definitely in denial at least several months ago," Nino said, folding his arms across his chest. Adrien turned wide eyes on him, startled. What did Nino mean by that? Several months prior, Adrien had been in love with Ladybug. While he definitely noticed her civilian identity, he had only had friendly intentions at the time. He had admired Marinette greatly, sure. He had thought she was cute, of course, because no one with eyes could deny that. And of course, he had thought that she was a fabulous friend, because she was. But he hadn't had a crush on her...had he?

Nino snorted at the look on Adrien's face. "Really, dude? You didn't know? I'm amazed you didn't have Alya interrogating you, considering how much time you spent looking at Marinette with a dopy look on your face. I was gonna say something about it, but there never seemed to be a good time."

"I...uh..." Adrien wasn't sure what to say. Had he really been spending that much time looking at Marinette? He hadn't thought so. But maybe he had subconsciously known all along that his fabulous, talented, adorable friend was Ladybug and he had developed a bit of a crush on her without realizing it. "...did I really?"

"Dude." Nino shook his head, incredulous. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter now that you've stopped being oblivious to each other. But, like, dude- like I said earlier, maybe keep the flirting down when we're out as a group? I'd like the contents of my stomach to stay put, oddly enough."

"I'll try," Adrien promised. True, it wouldn't be quite as fun to not wrestle with Marinette in the water, but if he really wanted to do that, maybe they could go to the pool by themselves on a date. That would be fun, and he would get to see Marinette in her bikini again- the bikini that he was 96% certain Marinette had bought just to drive him crazy. She had hinted as much earlier, before they got in the pool, and now he could see her fiddling oh-so-innocently with the straps as she chatted with Alya. If it weren't for the flirty little glance she had shot over her shoulder at him, he would have thought she was doing it unintentionally.

The little minx. They had only just done an identity reveal and already she was teasing him. Adrien honestly wasn't certain that he would be able to handle the double punch of Ladybug's flirting with Marinette's cuteness.

"You're staring again," Nino sighed after several moments. "Dude, really?"

"You can't tell me that you weren't staring at Alya last year," Adrien shot back after a moment's pause, regretfully pulling his eyes away from Marinette for the moment. "And that you didn't stare when she dressed up at Christmas, and at your birthday party, and on Valentine's Day..."

"Except I was already dating Alya then," Nino retorted. "I had an excuse. Have you asked Marinette out yet?"

Adrien had to shake his head. Even if he and Marinette had discussed being open to dating each other, he hadn't been able to get his head far enough out of the clouds to actually decide on a date idea. Part of him- the logical side of his mind- said that it didn't matter, that Marinette would say yes to the date and enjoy it no matter what they did, and even if the date somehow ended up in disaster, they were a strong enough team that it wouldn't derail them permanently. Probably. But the side that was a little more inclined to freak out said that it had to be perfect, that he had to make a good first impression- never mind that it was hardly a first-first impression, more like a first romantic impression- or else Marinette might not want to continue dating him anymore.

Plagg had called him ridiculous. Nino would probably say the same. Heck, even the logical side of him thought he was being ridiculous.

"You should, then." Nino pulled Adrien out of his thoughts, shaking him lightly to make sure that he had Adrien's attention before they started their game again. "Just maybe do it later. I don't want to watch the two of you making out after she accepts."

As Nino headed back over to rejoin Alya, Adrien could only stare blankly at the pace his friend had just occupied, mind completely derailed by that sentence. His brain staggered under the barrage of images and it took him several seconds to beat back the thought of making out with Marinette while she was still in her bikini and he was still only wearing his swimming trunks. As his brain slowly came back online, Adrien shook himself and firmly reminded his brain that he was a gentleman and gentlemen did not make out with their girlfriends before taking them out on a date first.

(Still, the date-to-a-pool idea would definitely have to happen now.)

A/N: This particular story was actually inspired by my cousin and her boyfriend, who are an actual pain to be around when they're together. I figured that if I had to sit through their ridiculous splashing around at the pool, I might as well make a story about it.

As with most of my stories, this is a one-shot and therefore complete. Please leave reviews, they really make my day! :)