"Tikki, could you stop dancing for just a minute!"

Marinette was growing aggravated, her mad swipes in an effort to detain her kwami getting more and more erratic. Tikki was twirling around her bedroom, giggling openly and making little hops of glee every now and then. It had been like this ever since Chat left, soon after his reveal to Tikki. And it was infuriating.

"Ohh, Marinette…" sighed Tikki in a sing-song voice. "It's unbelievable…"

"Great. Thanks." Marinette growled, hands on her hips. Tikki refused to make any sort of sense, so she knew little to nothing about Chat's reveal- except for the fact that it seemed to have made the kwami very happy. "Wasn't there a point to this? Aren't you meant to be 'assuaging my fears' right about now?"

Tikki snorted, finally letting her feet touch the solidity of Marinette's desk.

"Well, he's definitely not married."

"That's good to know." Marinette sat in her desk chair, trying to ignore the faerie's uncharacteristic sniggering. "Is he… uh... well, how old is he?"

"Ah-ah-ah!" Tikki waggled an antennae in the form of teasing scolding. "I can't tell you that! I promised, remember?"

Marinette groaned.

"Fine. What can you tell me? Please, anything."

Tikki seemed to calm down at the desperation in Mari's voice. She fluttered over to the girl, placing her hands on her cheeks.

"It's good, Mari." She informed her charge solemnly. "Really good. Promise."

Mari smiled weakly.

"Really?"

"Oh yes." Tikki started singing again, twirling away in glee. Marinette giggled.

"I guess that's okay then. I trust your judgement. And I trust that he'll tell me when the time is right."

oOo

Marinette looked extra pretty today. Despite her paleness from her late night, her eyes were sparkling and her hair was styled anew, in two little braids that Adrien found it hard to tear his gaze away from.

She smiled brightly at him as she entered the classroom, taking her seat as his neighbour. Her leg had come out of the cast yesterday so the stairs didn't pose a problem, but Alya and Nino (now dating) were very happy with the new seating arrangement and didn't want to change back. Adrien felt the same, and Mari did too, apparently, as she sat down next to him with a happy sigh.

"Morning."

"Morning, Mari." Adrien grinned back at her. "What's got you so perky?" He hoped he knew the answer, he just wanted to make sure.

She giggled.

"I just got some good news last night is all. Plus, I'm finally out of that ridiculous cast! But yeah, good news is… good."

Adrien chuckled back at her.

"What sort of news?" He sadistically enjoyed the slight panic that crossed her eyes before she casually stretched her arms and smiled dreamily. It was adorable, very much so.

"I've been worrying about something and… turns out I don't have to be worried anymore. S'all good." Marinette tilted her head in satisfaction, then looked at him strangely when he let out a snort. "What?"

"I… nothing." He lied, neglecting to mention how much he wanted to kiss her, and the fact that he was glad she now knew he definitely wasn't married. "It's just nice to see you so happy."

She sighed and leaned forwards, the dreamy contention filling her face again.

"It's nice to feel so happy."

"Why don't we go out at lunch to celebrate? Your leg's out of your cast, you can finally walk up stairs without assistance! It's a miracle!"

She threw a pencil at his head, and he dodged it, laughing.

"What do you think, though?"

"Sounds good." She smiled at his dorkiness, and his stomach fluttered.

"Why don't we invite the others?" Adrien suggested, turning round to face Alya and Nino when her face lit up even further. "You guys up to go out for lunch?"

"Sure." Replied Alya, while Nino nodded eagerly next to her.

"That's settled then." He turned back and smiled at Mari, who now was frowning.

"Actually, now that I come to think about it, Adrien...I'd love to, that sounds great, but I just realised I, ah… don't have any money right now." She said sheepishly. "I bought a bunch of stuff for… a project last week, and I won't get my allowance until next month."

Oh. Adrien had forgotten. A couple of nights ago, while in her room as Chat, he'd noticed a jacket hung up half-finished on a mannequin with a cloth thrown haphazardly over it, and had gotten curious. It was gorgeous- intricate, careful stitching held it together, and the shape was sleek and stylish. The shoulders were broad, but the sleeves were narrower and the lapel flared outwards across the front. Pockets were stitched in at elbow height, and the zip down the middle was plated with gold. Upon peering closer, he'd noticed the pattern of green paw-prints scattered along the hem of the bottom and the sleeves before Mari had some back into the room and shooed him away with a furious blush adorning her cheeks.

"Kitty!" She'd scolded. "That was meant to be a surprise…"

"It's- it's for me?" He'd barely dared to believe it. "You're making me a jacket?"

"I was." Marinette had grumbled, throwing the cloth back over it before turning back to him with a half-hearted glare. "But I've half a mind to give it to someone else now. Curiosity killed the cat, ever heard that phrase?"

"Awww, Mari…" He pleaded her, eyes wide and begging. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be nosy, it… uh… maybe the cloth fell off and I was just picking it up? I didn't see anything, I swear."

She snorted, stalking off as best she could with crutches and a broken leg. He followed, mewing pitifully.

"Pleeeaaase?" He pouted at her when he drew her around to face him. Marinette had tried to maintain the frown, but couldn't. She'd giggled at his expression, then made a big deal of rolling her eyes.

"Fine. I'll give it to you when it's finished. But no more peeking, okay? It's not finished."

"Yay!" He'd pounced on her, wrapping her in an enthusiastic hug. "And you know satisfaction brought the cat back right?"

She snorted, batting him away, but his energy wasn't to be discouraged.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou! It looks amazing, I can't wait!"

"I thought you said you didn't see anything!"

Oops...

Adrien smiled now at the memory, then felt guilty. He'd noticed the quality of the materials at the time, but only now realised how much they must have cost her.

"That's okay- my treat." He told her, wanting to repay her for something she didn't know she'd done- for him, anyway. This was all getting a bit complicated.

"Oh no- that's very generous- I c-couldn't," she protested, some of her old stammer coming back in the light of his apparent kindness and generosity.

Adrien shook his head, smiling widely.

"No, no, I insist. It's a celebration in your honour, after all."

Mari blushed deeply, but smiled gratefully.

"Well… okay then. Thank you, Adrien."

He grinned back at her, the teacher entering the classroom before he could say anything more.

Throughout the morning, he cast sideways glances at her, hoping she wouldn't notice. The braids puffed her hair out a little as they travelled backwards, framing her face and accentuating her beautiful bone structure. Her cheeks were back to the roundness and pinkness they had been three months ago, and her skin was back to a healthy pallor. Her cerulean eyes were bright and sparkling and beautiful and mesmerizing… he could get lost in them all day. The sunlight that flowed through the open windows glinted in her raven hair, the beams gleaming and highlighting the slight navy undertones.

At one point during History, she caught him staring and sent him a confused but flattered smile. He grinned back, feeling the blush spread over his cheeks. She looked questioningly at him for a moment, then shook her head and returned to her worksheet with the small smile still stuck on her face.

Adrien smiled to himself again before devoting himself to the work. He shot a couple more looks at her during the remainder of the morning, but always looked away as soon as she felt him staring. She was so… and the way she… it was all just… he really wanted to…

Finally, the bell announcing the lunch break tolled loudly, and the students rushed to stow away their work equipment. People began to file out of the classroom, Chloe stalking past without a glance at either of them. She'd remained frosty to Adrien for the first few days after his outburst, and then began ignoring him even more after he failed to offer up an apology. He didn't mourn the friendship much.

Her relationship with Marinette was somewhat confusing, though. There remained an underlying hatred, and Chloe still very much wanted to reveal the girl- that much was obvious. But the fear Chat had instilled in her of the repercussions of that action was enough to scare her into silence. She barely interacted with the girl, nervous to say anything that Marinette might not like and then report back to Chat. In the end, the blonde opted to just ignore her as much as possible. Marinette clearly wasn't too bothered with her, just glad to finally be free of her tyranny.

Waiting for Nino to finish folding his worksheet and putting his stuff in his backpack, (how long did he have to take?) Adrien turned to Alya and Marinette as they stood by the door.

"So where do you guys want to go? I've heard great things about the new café on Rue de Rennes."

Marinette shrugged.

"I don't mind. Nothing too expensive though, seeing as you're paying."

She knew money wasn't an issue for him, but her innate politeness made him smile. She was so considerate… and he was so smitten.

"What about you Alya?"

"I dunno, Rue de Rennes is kinda far. How about somewhere on the Champs Elysses?"

"Sounds good to me." Nino said, bounding down the stairs towards them. The quartet began to make their way out of the classroom and towards the front of school. "I know a great little Italian place, my cousin worked there. They're super fast and make a mean pepperoni pizza."

"Great." Smiled Alya, taking her boyfriend's hand. Mari turned to Adrien.

"Adrien?"

He shrugged and nodded.

"Sounds perfect. Shall I call my driver, or do you guys want to walk? It's lovely weather."

"Walking's good." Nino and Marinette nodded their agreement to Alya's statement, and the four set off in the beautiful Parisian sunshine.

It was a comfortable walk, the teens pointing out the street performers they passed and laughing at the way the pigeons scattered around their feet as they neared. Adrien longed to take Marinette's hand, irritated with knowing full well he could if he just revealed his secret. But now wasn't the time to focus on himself- they were celebrating Mari's good health.

They soon arrived at the little restaurant and were pleased to find a table for four outside under the candy-cane striped awning. They ordered drinks and sat back comfortably, blinking the light out of their eyes.

"It's so nice today." Sighed Nino, resting his head in his arms as he leaned back to take the sun on his face.

Marinette hummed an agreement, her chin resting on her hands as she propped her head up against the table. Her eyes were closed, but Adrien couldn't take his eyes off the way the sunlight cast long shadows of her eyelashes on her cheeks.

"It's a great view, as well." Sniggered Alya, grinning as she caught Adrien ogling. He saw her making a mental note to bug him about it later, but was distracted when Marinette opened her eyes to blink slowly at her chuckling friend.

"Hmm?"

"Oh, nothing…" Alya waved her hand airily. "I just think Adrien's having a nice time, is all." She dissolved into snorts again, and Marinette turned to Adrien with an exasperated smile on her face.

"What exactly is she on about?"

Adrien shrugged, embarrassed but determined not to let it show.

"Who knows?" He brushed off his nervousness. "I think she's drunk on the sunlight."

Alya cracked open an eye to glare at him, but soon went back to sunbathing.

Their drinks arrived, and Nino basically downed his while his girlfriend looked on with disgust and glee at his antics.

"Ah, I needed that." The boy sighed, setting his nearly-empty glass back on the table. "There's nothing like a mid-maths lesson nap to make a boy thirsty."

Marinette laughed.

"Sleeping in maths? Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be? It's not like we're ever going to use any of that crap."

"Well yeah, not until the exam next week anyway." Alya giggled.

"What? Exam?" Nino sat up abruptly, nearly upsetting the table in his shock. The other three laughed.

"Yep. Madame told us today. It's going to be fifteen percent of our end-of-term grade. Good luck, buddy." Adrien patted his friend on the back with a grin. Nino groaned and bashed his head on the table.

"Oh, crap. This is not good. I'm never going to-"

Nino's despair was cut off by a ginormous BOOM as the shop three buildings down from the pizzeria exploded.