Chapter One

"Marinette? It's time to wake up...Marinette, you're going to be late." Tikki tapped Marinette's head, scrunching her face in disapproval.

"mhm, in a minute Tikki."

"MARINETTE!"

"Okay okay!"

Sleepily, Marinette sat up. She yawned, stretched and groggily peered at the time on her phone. She rubbed her eyes and looked again.

"OH NO I'M GOING TO BE LATE!" She leapt out of bed, stumbling around, looking for her clothes.

"Hehe, I told you Marinette." Tikki grinned and sat on her shoulder.

"I was dre..."

"Dreaming about Adrien?" Tikki chuckled.

"You know me too well Tikki."

Marinette smiled and rushed to the bathroom. She grabbed her hair bobbles, hurriedly separating her dark, silky hair into pigtails. She glanced to the mirror, huffing at the stray strands, refusing to comply. She went to pick her toothbrush up but clumsily knocked the cup over, sending everyone's toothbrushes flying across the sink. She quickly put them all back, being careful not to knock it over again as she scrubbed her teeth. She ran back through to her room, rummaged through her drawers, throwing her clothes into the air behind her. As she turned she lost her balance and stumbled to the floor. Tikki swirled around and giggled at her friends clumsiness. When she was finished getting ready, she ran down the stairs, through the bakery, grabbing a croissant on the way, mumbling 'bye' to her mum as she left.

Fifteen minutes later she quietly crept to her place, trying her best to make as little noise as possible. She mentally high-fived herself for making it to school in record time.

Alya grinned and shook her head, "Oh gurl, why are you late this time?"

"I overslept." Marinette smiled cheekily at the look on her best friends face.

Nino turned and faced them, "At least ma man, Adrien made it on time for once."

They all giggled as Adrien smiled and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Maybe I can give you some tips." Adrien teased.

Marinette's face glowed a deep red. The four friends started laughing.

Chloe looked over and grunted in disgust at Marinette. Sabrina leaned back and glared at them.

"Urgh, I can't stand her, I don't know why Adrien is friends with her." She whispered.

"He won't look twice at her, when I'm finished. He'll laugh at her like everyone else does." Chloe sneered.

"Erm, Chloe, no one laughs at her."

"Oh Sabrina, obviously I have enough brains for the both of us. Can't you tell? They're laughing at her because she's SOOO pathetic!"

Chloe glanced at Adrien and blew a kiss to him. Adrien awkwardly smiled and looked away as fast as he could.

"QUIET!" The teacher exclaimed. "The next person to interrupt my lesson will go to the Principal's office!" She spun around and sternly looked at her students. The class immediately fell silent. "Good. Now turn to page 70 of your textbooks."

After class, Marinette, Alya, Nino and Adrien walked across the courtyard, heading towards the cafeteria. Chloe walked passed Marinette, she pushed her shoulder hard against her and shrieked.

"OWWW! Adrikins! Did you see that? She walked into me!" Chloe feigned shock.

Alya quickly turned to defend her friend and retorted "Chloe, you walked into her."

Chloe threw her arm to her forehead, "And WHY would I do that? Sabrina? You saw it didn't you?"

Sabrina nodded enthusiastically.

"I didn't walk into you Chloe, you pushed me." Marinette spat as she started walking away, clenching her fists.

"AND where do you think you're going? I'm not finished with you yet, brat!" Chloe sneered.

Alya ran after her friend dragging Nino with her. Adrien followed, shaking his head at Chloe as he went passed them. Chloe groaned and stamped her foot in frustration. She watched as they entered the hall, desperately trying to come up with a plan. When Chloe walked through the doors, she saw someone nearly drop their tray and an idea popped into her head. She grinned nastily and whispered into Sabrina's ear.

The four friends got their food and sat together at a table. Marinette sat opposite Adrien because Alya had insisted on sitting across from Nino. They both instantly blushed when their legs accidently brushed together as she sat down. Marinette felt the butterflies in her stomach begin to rage like a storm. She took a deep breath and shook her head.

"Sorry, I-I didn't m-mean t-t..." Marinette stuttered.

"It's ok, don't worry." Adrien smiled kindly at her.

Suddenly Marinette screamed as a full glass of orange juice fell over her head. She shivered and went to grab a napkin from her tray when a plate of fish pie slopped on her hair. Alya, Nino and Adrien gasped.

"Oh I'm so sorry Marinette, I slipped and my tray fell onto you!" Sabrina said sarcastically as she tried to stifle a giggle. Chloe came behind and slipped, rather dramatically, banging into Sabrina and dropping her tray onto Marinette. A tuna sandwich landed on her shoulder. She gritted her teeth and turned to look at Chloe.

"Oh no, poor Marinette," Chloe mocked "Poor fishy Marinette. Eww you stink brat, don't you wash? AHAHAHAHAA."

"Hey, leave her alone, what did you do that for?" Alya shouted.

Chloe laughed, she crossed her arms and cockily flicked her hair. "I SLIPPED, didn't you see? Or do you need your glasses changing? Come on Sabrina."

Chloe and Sabrina walked away laughing. Marinette stood up and stormed after them, wiping the pie from her face.

"HOW DARE YOU! I know you hate me Chloe, but there was no need to do that!"

Chloe pinched her nose and glared at Marinette, "What's that smell, oh, it's you. Why are you shouting, Marinette? Are you trying to impress Aaaadrien? It won't work because he's MINE."

Marinette stood and thought of all the things she wanted to say, but with the whole cafeteria watching them, she felt a lump growing in her throat. She tried hard to fight it, but she couldn't hold it back, tears streamed down her face. She looked back to her friend Alya, who was rushing to help her and looked towards the door. Kim started laughing whilst Sabrina taunted her.

Chloe leaned forward in an intimidating way and whispered, "Everyone's laughing at you brat."

Marinette ran towards the door, with Alya close behind. Nino shook his head and mouthed 'too far' to Adrien. After Chloe finished cackling, she went to sit with them but Adrien abruptly stood and shook his head.

"Not cool Chloe." He said and he walked off, following the girls.

Adrien walked down the corridor wondering where she had gone. He felt a gentle tapping on his chest so he looked around checking no one was near and stood at the wall, opening his shirt.

Plagg popped his head out and said "She'll be in the girls toilets kid. You might wanna go and find her, we don't want her getting akumatized."

"I can't go in there. But Alya went after her so I'm sure she will be fine." Adrien sighed. He turned and went to his next class, hoping that Marinette would go there early to avoid bumping into Chloe.

Alya walked into class a while later and sat in her place, looking frustrated. Nino came in next and sat next to Adrien and shrugged when he asked where Marinette was. One by one, everyone sat in their places, except for Marinette.

"Where is fishy Marinette, Alya? Did she go home to have a wash?" Chloe scoffed.

Alya huffed but chose to ignore her and started furiously tapping on her phone.

Adrien could hear Chloe and Sabrina laughing hysterically. He turned to face Alya, who looked like she was about to burst with anger.

"Where is Marinette, Alya?"

"She's gone home. She was too upset to come back to class so Miss Bustier told her to go home. Her dad picked her up."

He saw the worry on Alya's face and felt bad that he hadn't gone to find her. He knew Plagg was right, he had to check she was ok.

"Could I have h-her number? I just want to make sure she's ok." Adrien nervously asked.

Alya smiled and wrote Marinette's number on a page in her notebook, with a smiley face and 'Mari' underneath. She tore the page out and passed it to Adrien.

"She will be happy if you did, just make sure that WITCH doesn't get her claws on it." Alya nodded in Chloe's direction.

"Thanks, don't worry, I wouldn't dream of letting her get it." Adrien replied as he took it from her.

Marinette lay soaking in the bath, fuming over her lack of confidence to retaliate. She thought about it over and over, thinking about all the different things she could have said. Tikki could sense she was mentally beating herself up, so she flew up from under a towel and sat on the edge of the bath.

"Are you ok Marinette?" Tikki gently asked.

"Yeah, I'm just so annoyed at myself. I cried in front of the whole school practically!" Marinette pulled her hands up to hide her face, for fear of crying again.

"Don't beat yourself up Marinette, what she did was horrible." Tikki soothed.

"But Tikki, they all laughed at me." Marinette sadly dropped her gaze to the water.

"Alya didn't, Nino didn't, ADRIEN didn't."

"I bet they wanted to." Marinette said quietly.

"Stop it, they didn't laugh, nor did they want to." Tikki flew up to her face and nuzzled her.

Marinette sighed and got up out of the bath. She dried herself and put her dressing gown on, gently picking Tikki up and placing her in the pocket. She walked out of the bathroom, heading to the steps up to her room. As she passed the kitchen, Sabine looked up from the newspaper she was reading.

"Marinette? Are you wanting any supper?" Her mum asked.

Marinette shook her head "No thank you maman, I just want to go to sleep."

"Ok darling, just ask if you change your mind." Sabine watched her daughter go up to her room, giving Tom a sad look.

Marinette closed the hatch door and went to the chaise where she had laid out a tank top and shorts pyjamas. She changed and climbed up the ladder to her bed, flopping onto it face down. She groaned and closed her eyes, she drifted in and out of sleep, replaying the day in her head, imagining Adrien jumping to her defence. Then she heard knocking, thinking she had imagined it she opened her eyes, listened and shut them again. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. There it was again. Marinette sat up and switched her lamp on. She looked up to the skylight and saw a dark figure peeking through.

"Puurrincess?"

Marinette froze. Who would be on her roof terrace in the dark other than Chat Noir, but why would he be visiting her? She looked down at herself, suddenly cursing herself for not choosing her flannel pyjamas.

"Princess! I'm going to freeze out here, please can I come in?"

She stood up and opened the skylight, there peering at her, with a big cat grin, was Chat Noir. She looked in disbelief as he made his way down onto her bed. She shuffled towards the ladder and climbed down, Chat followed soon after. She stood nervously looking at him. She was hyper aware of her lack of clothes and her red puffy eyes. When he finished climbing down he turned and smiled at her.

"I came to check on you because I heard through the grapevine that some girl named Chloe had been nasty to you and I wanted to make sure you weren't akumatized."

"Heard through the grapevine?" Marinette looked at him suspiciously.

"Yeah something that." Chat grinned.

"Do you make a habit of visiting girls who might be akumatized?" Marinette said in a sassy way.

Chat Noir laughed and rubbed the back of his neck, he suddenly looked nervous.

"Errm, well no, I've never done this before, I-I just wanted to make sure you were ok."

Marinette felt bad that she had been so short, she knew he was only concerned about her. She looked down and crossed her arms, fighting back the tears again. She didn't want to cry, not in front of her partner, but she couldn't help it. She felt humiliated that he had found out. She wondered who had told him, and why did they? Her thoughts began to spiral out of control when she felt his hand tip her chin up. He gazed into her eyes, with those big green eyes, all full of worry.

"I'm sorry Chat, I just...I don't understand..." Marinette choked.

"You don't have to, just know that people out there care for you and we don't want you to feel upset." He said softly.

"We?"

"Yeah, you're friends, Adrien, Alya and Nino. I care too."

'Strange, he said Adrien's name first' she thought.

"Who asked you to come to me?"

Chat fell silent, thinking carefully how to respond.

"No one did, I heard and wanted to come."

"Oh..."

Marinette felt a warmth in her chest, knowing that Chat Noir cared for her. She felt an urge to be close to him, so she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. She felt him reciprocate, gently placing his arms around her. He nuzzled her hair, breathing in her smell. She listened to his heart pounding in his chest, it was soothing. They stood for a while, neither of them wanting to pull away.

Marinette did first, her legs ached from leaning on him, so she grabbed his hand and pulled him over to sit on the chaise.

"Thank you, I needed that." She nervously giggled."Sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable."

"Don't be silly Princess, that's what friends are for." He leaned and nudged her gently.

She looked up at him and felt happy that he'd called them friends. He had no idea how much he meant to her as Ladybug and Marinette.

"I'm lucky to have a lovely kitty looking out for me." She smiled. Chat gently moved a strand of hair that was covering her eye. Marinette felt a tingling sensation that ran through her body, catching her breath.

Chat spoke softly, studying her face, "That's better, I love to see my Princess smile."

He found himself staring at her lips, a warmth beginning in his stomach, traveling through his veins. For a moment, he wanted to feel her lips on his. But then he thought of his Ladybug, he cursed himself for betraying her. He loved her, not Marinette. Although she was just as beautiful he thought.

Marinette looked away, taking a deep breath, trying to control her feelings too. When she looked back, she noticed that Chat's expression had changed, he looked lost. She didn't know why but she poked him in the ribs. He turned, staring at her with a mischievous grin. She couldn't help but start to giggle. He looked at her surprised.

"Little Lady, why are you laughing at me?"

He suddenly leapt at her, she shrieked and he put her over his shoulder.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? PUT ME DOWN!" She couldn't help but laugh as she tried to struggle free. Chat started walking towards the ladder, gripping Marinette tightly.

"I think I need to teach Puuurincess some manners."

"Ha! I didn't know you had manners." She giggled.

Chat swung her to her desk chair and began to tickle her mercilessly. She laughed and shouted. Trying to get him to stop.

"I'll stop if you say sorry!"

"O...kay...OKAY I'm SORRY!"

She took a deep breath when he stopped tickling. She jumped up, wrapping her arms around his neck, taking him by surprise and kissed him lightly on his cheek. She heard him gasp, it sent a warmth through her body down to the pit of her stomach.

They both smiled feeling flushed and a bit awkward. She stepped back a bit to give him space, trying to think of something to say to break the silence, but she couldn't. Chat looked just as awkward as she felt. She shook her head and smiled a big happy grin at him.

"Thank you kitty, I feel so much better now." She said as confidently as she could.

"You're welcome Little Lady, I'm happy I could be of service. But I should go now, People will be wondering where I am." He awkwardly leaned forward and hugged her, bowed, then left.

Marinette woke up the next morning with sweat dripping down her forehead. She had tossed and turned all night, dreaming of Chat kissing her. 'WHAT were those dreams?!' She threw her covers off and sat up. Tikki opened her eyes, surprised that Marinette had awoken so early.

"Marinette, it's not like you to be up so early! It's not even light yet, are you ok?" Tikki worriedly asked.

"I'm fine Tikki, I just...just had a bad dream that's all." Marinette shook her head.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, it's ok, I'm fine Tikki, honestly." She tried to smile convincingly. Tikki eyed her friend with suspicion, but decided to leave it. She yawned and led back down.

Marinette's mouth was uncomfortably dry so she climbed down and walked over to the sink, she splashed water on her face and drank some water, it was refreshingly cold. Her thoughts went back to what she'd just dreamt, She had never thought of Chat Noir in THAT way before. So why was she suddenly having such strange dreams with him in?

She grabbed a towel and dried her face. 'Come on Marinette, pull yourself together, it was just a dream right?'. She put her dressing gown on, made her way back up the ladders and through the skylight.

Up on the balcony, Marinette looked over Paris, the fresh air, clearing her confusing thoughts. She had to prepare for the exams today and no boy would distract her. Tikki flew up and landed on her shoulder.

"I love this time of day, the sun rising, the quiet streets, the chill in the air." Marinette took a deep breath, enjoying the gentle breeze on her face.

"Me too." Tikki replied, snuggling up to her.

"Oh Tikki, why is life so confusing?"

Buzz Buzzzzz

"Who would text me this early?" She thought out loud. Tikki shrugged, getting Marinette's phone out of her pocket. Marinette unlocked it and stared at the screen.

04:58 Hi Marinette, its Adrien. Sorry its early, I just wanted to make sure you're ok. Chloe is so nasty sometimes. I hope you don't mind me texting, Alya said you wouldn't. A x

"OH MY GOD TIKKI! He's text me!" Marinette jumped with delight.

"Well don't keep him waiting! Text him back!" Tikki laughed.

05:01 Hey there. No I don't mind, I kind of already had your number haha, sorry. I'm ok thanks, I shouldn't let her get to me. Thanks again, Mari xx

Marinette let out a sigh of relief. After retyping that message 3 times, she'd decided to be brave and send it. Almost straight away her phone buzzed again. 'Wow that was fast'

05:02 Oh right, when did you get it? No one blames you, she went too far. Did you tell the principal? Will you be in school today? A x

Marinette squealed again, she spun around, holding her phone to her chest. She couldn't believe it, Adrien Agreste texting plain, boring Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She quickly typed out her next reply.

05:05 Ohh a while ago, Alya got it from Nino but I never used it, sorry I hope that's ok! Yes I did but he won't do anything because of her father :(. Yeah I will. Mari xx

Was she dreaming? Surely this was a dream. Tikki swirled around her, giggling at her friends happiness.

05:07 Dont say sorry it's cool. That's rubbish, well, I'll stick up for you if she starts again. Anyway, gtg I have a shoot before school. See ya. A x

Marinette sat for a while, wondering if she should text back or act cool and leave it. But she couldn't contain her excitement and started tapping away.

05:17 You sure it's cool? Aww thanks, I really appreciate it. Ok, must be fun being a model! See you in class. Mari xxx

Feeling extra confident, partly in the knowledge he probably wouldn't look at it straight away, she added an extra kiss on the end, pressing send as soon as she could, so that she couldn't change her mind. She looked over at Tikki and kissed her kwami lightly.

Buzz Buzzzz

Marinette jumped in shock, nearly throwing her phone over the railings. She relaxed and pulled the phone up to her face.

05:23 Not that much fun, schools better ;) A xx

She blinked at the screen, taking in his last message. Her eyes were drawn to the extra kiss on the end of his text. 'Did he do it accidently? Or did he do it in response to hers?' she thought.

She scrunched her face, thinking and thinking, but she just could not think of a way to respond. So she put her phone in her dressing gown pocket and made her way back downstairs.

Adrien looked at his phone wondering if she would reply. He decided to get washed and dressed whilst he waited. After he was done he checked his phone but she still hadn't text, so he wandered downstairs to eat his breakfast before Natalie would start pestering him. As he walked down the corridor he looked at the blank screen, accidentally walking into his father, Gabriel.

"Adrien, what do you think you're doing? You're going to be late." He growled.

"Sorry father, I-I didn't see you." Adrien stammered.

"No. You were too busy staring at that...thing! Get yourself together boy!"