Adrien listened into Marinette's conversations intensely. He was eager to hear her telling Alya about meeting Ladybug, because he was desperate to find out what she had said. It had been days and he was yet to hear her say anything about it.

"I mean, I get why Nino wants to do this film project, but, man, what's the point? It's not like there's any story here. He's going to have to invent one, and he's going to have to get Chat's permission for poetic licence!" Alya complained.

"Chat would give it," Adrien said coolly.

Alya raised an eyebrow at him. "How would you know?"

Adrien's heartbeat faster, but he tried to keep cool with a shrug. "He just seems like that kind of guy."

"He defiantly would if Mari asked. She said that he came to her bedroom the other night and promised he'd be there if she needed him," Alya's tone was dangerously near to teasing.

"I don't need him! I'm fine!" Marinette countered.

"But Nino's movie would be better with his permission to fix it," Alya insisted.

"I don't know why he's so keen to film it anyway. I didn't do anything amazing," Marinette groaned.

"You saved his life!" Adrien countered.

"He saves ours all the time!" She countered instantly.

"Yeah but that's his job, and he's got the protective clothing. You're just one of us. You could have been seriously hurt. Adrien was when he protected Ladybug," Alya said, firmly.

Marinette smirked to herself. She couldn't bring herself to look at Adrien at the moment. He seemed to always be looking in her direction at the moment. Alya got called away by Nino, Marinette followed her with her eyes, and she spotted a fluffy black and white cat wander out from the bushes. The cat wandered onto the path, sat down, and started cleaning its paws. Adrien shuffled closer to Marinette. She felt him do it. She didn't look away from the cat.

"So what's Chat really like?" He grinned.

Marinette pointed at the cat. "Like that."

Adrien glanced up and spotted the cat. He wasn't sure whether to laugh or yell. All his friends seemed to be tearing him apart at the moment. Then he heard her laugh. He turned his head and she grinned at him.

"What?" He asked.

"For a moment you looked like you really thought he was going to be standing there," she said.

"Well Alya says he's protective of you now," Adrien smirked.

Alya was severally exaggeration the depth of Marinette and Chat's relationship.

"He gave me his number. Just in case I need it," she explained.

"So you could prank call him?" Adrien grinned.

Marinette laughed. She'd never thought of pranking the cat before. But she assumed only two people - well only one but no one but she and Tikki knew that - had the number. By process of elimination, he'd figure out who it was. She could give that number to other people, so it would be harder to figure out who was calling, but again, only she had the number to give to other people. And he trusted her to keep it secret.

"I really don't think I'll need it," she admitted, "I basically never go out alone, and if I do its somewhere safe. I'll never be in enough danger to call."

"At least you have it, just in case," he said.

Marinette glanced back in the direction Alya had gone. "Do you think... do you think Nino would want him to come for his film?"

Adrien shrugged. "Nino probably would."

Marinette and Adrien sat in silence for a moment or two. Neither of them really knew what to say. Marinette was busy thinking about whether it was worth calling Chat or not, and Adrien was wondering if he was ever going to get a chance to pay her back. Their knees knocked together while they were distracted, and neither of them tried to move away.

"I'm going to do it," she declared suddenly.

"Do what?" He asked.

"Ask Chat to come talk to Nino. I don't need a favour from him, but if I can use it to help Nino, it'll make his day," she explained.

Adrien gave a soft smile. She was passing up the opportunity to make Chat her servant in order to help a friend.

"You're a good friend Mari," he smiled.

Marinette blushed and shrugged. She wanted to be more than s good friend, but right now, she'd settle for just sitting this close to him.

Adrien was beginning to think she'd changed her mind about calling as the night wore on. It wasn't until he'd just yanked on his pyjamas that he heard the call. He lit up and snatched it into his hand quickly.

"Hello princess, your knight in shining armour is here," he purred.

He heard her giggle and he grinned to himself. "Hi Chat, I have a favour to ask."

"Ask away princess, I'm sure I'll say yes," he said.

"I have this friend, Nino, he wants to make a film about..."

"About?"

Her voice shrank, like it was something she didn't want to talk about. "Me saving you."

Adrien frowned. "You sound ashamed."

"I'm not ashamed! I just don't want people to keep going on about it! You and Ladybug save the whole city all the time, all I did was save my - you."

She felt her heart beat faster. The words "my partner" rolled off her tongue far too easily when she was talking to him. Even not as Ladybug. That could end badly. Chat didn't seem to notice.

"People appreciate that sort of thing princess," he said.

"Well anyway, Nino needs help to make it interesting, and, like, I told him, maybe id talk to you, and err, maybe, you'd, sort of, err, maybe, like-"

"Marinette take a breath. You're panicking."

His voice was calm and soft, and just what she needed. He heard her take a deep breath, and let it out slowly. The ease in which she took his advice made him smile.

"Would you come to the park near my bakery tomorrow and talk to Nino, so he can discuss his plans for his film with you?" She asked, calmer.

And maybe drool over you a little bit. Nino wasn't the best at controlling himself, especially around his hero. Down the phone she could hear his velvety laugh.

"Of course, I'll talk to your friend. Is there nothing I can do for you?"

She sighed with relief and beamed. "No, I told you, I'm fine."

"As long as you're sure. I'll see you in the park say, tomorrow at one?"

"Purr-fect!"

Adrien sat upright and beamed. In a knowing, yet teasing voice, he asked, "Was that a pun princess?"

He could hear that cheesy grin in her tone as she said, "Goodnight Chat."

When she hung up Adrien was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Plagg just tutted.

"Both of you should focus less on tomorrow and more on tonight. You'll never get to sleep if you're busy staring at your phone all night! Then you'll be tired and ratty in the morning and your father will yell. I hate when he yells at breakfast. He ruins the mood of the cheese!"

"The cheese mood?" Adrien repeated.

"Cheese has moods!" Plagg snipped.

Adrien threw his arms up in surrender when Plagg gave him that ready-to-fight scowl. Then, out of sheer curiosity, he asked, "Don't you have nightmares like every night?"

"Not really. I've lived worse nightmares than my imagination can come up with. They don't scare me anymore," Plagg shrugged.

Adrien frowned. Plagg was always so apathetic Adrien often forgot he had lived through all of man kinds worst horrors, and probably fought to defeat most of them. The things he must have seen... Adrien shuddered at the thought. But if there was one thing that kept him going, one thing no one could ever take away from him, that one thing, was camembert. Adrien ran an affectionate hand down the kwamis back, and scratched behind his ear.
The world might not appreciate him, but Adrien did.

Nino span through a million different emotions when Marinette told him Chat was coming. He came close to tears with both excitement and fear. Then he ended up throwing his arms around Marinette so hard that she stumbled backwards before catching back onto him. Nino was unashamed at home much of a fan boy he was. Alya was unashamed about how much of a fangirl she was, for Ladybug. She often joked, in fact, that she, Adrien and Chloe would make a Ladybug fan club, while Marinette, Nino and (for some reason) Rose would make a Chat Noir fan club.

Alya elbowed Marinette playfully. "I think you just made his life. He's never going to get over this."

"You never got over that exclusive interview with Ladybug, did you?" Marinette teased back.

"No, no, that's true. Look at you, setting up hero meetings like you're their mangers! Maybe you are a hero's hero," Alya gave her a fake suspicious look.

Marinette gave a tight, forced laughed, "don't be silly!"

Alya smirked. Marinette was incredibly gullible sometimes. They turned back to watch Nino. Chat Noir was grinning at him brightly, which made Nino grin back. They clicked instantly. It was weirdly like watching Nino meeting his best friend for the first time.

"I'm glad Adrien isn't here. He might be a bit jealous," Alya chuckled.

Marinette laughed brightly, closing her eyes and bowing her head as she did. Alya elbowed her again.

"Hey, he's looking at you," she hissed.

Marinette looked up in surprise. Nino and Chat were looking straight at her. Chat waggled his fingers in a wave. She smirked, and waved back. Alya sniggered.

"Adrien would be so jealous," she muttered.

"What'd you think they're talking about?" Marinette asked.

"You."

"But why?"

Alya shrugged as if she didn't have a clue, but she did. Nino had told her his plan last night. Nino didn't just want permission to use Chat's story, he wanted Chat to be in it. Right now, he was probably pointing at Marinette to let Chat know it was going to be the same girl that actually saved him. Neither of them wanted to tell Marinette that they were going to get Chat to play Chat, because she would insist that he didn't have time for it, and he didn't have to, and it was really ok, because Adrien would do it, and really its fine! Alya understood why. If she had a chance to be on top of her crush, she'd take it in a heartbeat. But in the end, it was Chat Noir in the story, so it would be him in the film. Nino came running over, excitedly.

"Good news, he said yes!" He beamed.

"Congratulations, I call maid of honour!" Alya beamed.

"Oh, it'll be a beautiful wedding, I'll make the dress myself!" Marinette laughed.

Chat Noir leaned against her shoulder, and grinned, "I want a tutu skirt on mine, I like how fluffy they are, and they make me feel like a ballerina."

Marinette didn't hesitate when it came to teasing him back. "Aren't you a ballerina? You balance on that staff like one."

"You should see me dance," he winked.

"I'll take you up on that at the wedding," she grinned.

"The wedding?! He's got a pole right on his belt, I think his dancing belongs at the hen do," Alya snorted.

"Even Adrien doesn't have enough money to pay the debt you'd get into if you saw Chat pole dance," Marinette smirked.

Alya raised an eyebrow at how easily and flawlessly she could act around Chat Noir, despite his hero status, and yet put her in front of charming, handsome model Adrien Agreste and suddenly she couldn't string two sentences together.

"Let us see the ring then! I hope it wasn't that one," Alya tapped Chat's miraculous.

Chat held his miraculous to his chest with his other hand, defensively. "What's wrong with my ring?!"

"An engagement ring has to sparkle! This is dull as the rest of your outfit, Nino how could you be so cheap?" Alya smirked.

"How dare you call the love of my life cheap?!" Chat joked.

Alya opened her mouth to retort, but Marinette tugged Alya's sleeve, her voice soft, "Alya... Alya it's time to stop now."

"Why? Oh."

Nino was so red he could be used to paint a fire engine. He was so embarrassed that he was overheating. His eye was twitching, and he couldn't talk, and he was like a malfunctioning robot. Marinette put an arm around him and Alya turned him around by the shoulders. Together they hurried him over to the nearest bench, so he could sit down, and the blood could run back up to his brain instead of his cheeks.

"What'd you say yes to then?" Marinette asked, curiously, as Alya fussed over Nino.

"they didn't tell you?" Chat sounded surprised.

"tell me what?" she asked.

"You are I are going to be co-stars," He bumped his shoulder against hers playfully.

Her expression was hard to place, but it was easy to say that it was not positive. "what about Adrien?!"

"I guess he's busy or something," Chat shrugged.

Marinette scowled. "Damn. I was looking forward to working with him."

"well hey, now you get the chance to work with me."

"Nino will need you to be there. Last time an akuma interrupted us, if it happens again you'll have to leave, and Nino wouldn't be as happy as he says he is. Are you sure you're prepared for that?"

"Don't worry princess, I'm as reliable as they come. And I'm as good an actor as I look," Chat winked.

"Then we're doomed," she groaned.

Chat's eyes widened at her, ready to be offended. Then he caught a glimpse of that little smirk behind her hair. She was teasing him. wow. Marinette was so different around Chat than around Adrien. This became so much clearer when they were on set.

Marinette burst into laughter for the sixth time since Alya told her to stop that. Alya growled under her breath. There was another squirt as Alya sprayed that awful smelling hairspray over the hair she had just pinned into place again. every time Marinette moved, even to giggle, she tugged it out of Alya's hand, so Alya gave it extra spray so it wouldn't break out of shape so easily. Hopefully. Marinette couldn't help giggling. Nino had set up a little tent in the park for costume changes and hair and make-up, but she could see through a gap in the flap, and Chat Noir was pulling faces at her, then diving out of view whenever Alya looked up.

"Girl, stop! You're going to ruin your hair!" Alya huffed.

"It's not my fault it's Chat! He's pulling faces at me!" Marinette insisted.

Chat pulled back the tent flap and put his hand on his chest dramatically, "would I do a thing like that?!"

She gave him a glare, but she couldn't help grinning. It was nice having him around. Sometimes it almost gave her a heart attack when she found him glancing her way when she was talking to Tikki, and Alya but otherwise it was fun. Alya seemed to enjoy having him around too.

She threatened him with her hair brush. "Quit it you, or I'll brush a fur ball off of you!"

Chat Noir's ears flattened nervously and he lifted his hands into the air in surrender. Alya twitched the hairbrush towards the seat beside the mirror. He sat on it obediently. Alya smirked with satisfaction and went back to brushing Marinette's hair. Now she could keep an eye on Chat, she could threaten him with the brush if he misbehaved. Every time she turned her back, he pulled a face at Marinette. Whenever she could Marinette pulled one back.
That's why Nino walked in to see Marinette with her tongue rolled and her eyes crossed, while Chat Noir bared his teeth, and used his index fingers as horns on top of his head. Marinette bit her lip.

"Sorry Nino," she muttered.

"Are you two ready yet?" He asked.

"Almost, I just have to fix Chats hair. Again." Alya glanced over at Chat who flashed her a cheesy smile. He'd messed it up by jumping back and forth to make faces through the tent flap. Alya tutted, but she smiled. Dealing with these two together was like herding cats. Nino took Marinette by the arm and dragged her out of the tent. Marinette stuck her tongue out at Chat as she left, so he grinned back.

"You stand here and pretend to be talking," Nino directed, "I'll be back in a minute. To tell you what to do."

Mylene and Max were pretending to be Alya and Nino chatting with Marinette at the side of the road. Other class members were scattered around the street to be extras. Chloe had yet to turn up, and Chat was hoping she wouldn't. He was having fun acting with his friends as himself, his true self, rather than perfection embodied, and he didn't want Chloe to turn up and start picking on people. Since no one was there to stop them yet, Kim wandered over to join Max and the others.

"Do you think Chat Noir will talk to us?" He asked Marinette.

"Sure, just say hi and start talking," she shrugged.

"What, just talk to him? What would I even say?" Kim asked urgently.

"How about, "thanks for saving me from the man that transformed into a jaguar"?" Max suggested.

"Or thanks for rescuing us last time we helped Nino with one of these things and got trapped in school," Marinette offered.

"Or thanks for saving me when Alix became the Timetuner and tried to steal my energy," Mylene suggested.

"Or thank you for helping me when Hawk Moth took control of me," Max said.

Marinette bit her bottom lip. Chat Noir had helped Kim a lot that day. Not all of it was for the best. Kim put his hands on his hips and gave an unimpressed face.

"Alright, I get it, I'll just be grateful he's here," Kim tutted.

"Grateful who's here?" Alya asked as she wandered over.

"Grateful Chat Noir is here," Kim explained. "It's awesome of him to come and help out Nino like this."

Chat appeared from nowhere with a pun ready to go. "Don't you mean pawsome?"

Max adjusted his glasses nervously. Mylene became too star struck to talk. Kim's mouth became a circle of surprise, but then he broke into a grin.

"Sure, pawesome. And thanks for saving us like a million times," Kim grinned.

Chat shrugged, "Don't sweat it, it's a pleasure."

"Thanks anyway." Kim held out his hand for a fist pump. Chat smirked and bumped his fist.

Max gasped under his breath. Kim couldn't stop grinning. Marinette shrunk back so she could admire the faces of her friends. Every single one of them seemed utterly delighted and awed by the presence of a hero, and she was the one who brought him. Their words merged into a single muted mess to her, as she was busy focusing on the sunshine captured in their smiles. Then there was a moment where she realised everyone was staring at her. Her smile drooped.

"Huh?"

"Get your head in the game girl!" Alya was somewhere between a laugh and a sigh. She was pretty stressed on Nino's behalf, but Marinette always amused her in some way or another.

"Put this on your lapel, under your shirt, and put this in your back pocket," Nino said.

He handed her a lapel microphone, which was wired down to a pack to fit in her pocket. Marinette raised an eyebrow. Nino was getting access to better technology than he had before.

"Are you sure it won't break when we roll across the floor?" Marinette asked, uncertainly.

"Well... I actually haven't thought of that. Wear it anyway. We really need the audio," Nino said.

Marinette shrugged and agreed. Her hair didn't even flap as she moved. Alya had used so much of that awful tar-smelling hair spray that Marinette's hair was like cement. As if she realised she'd gone overboard and trying to apologise in some small way, Alya stepped forward and clipped the microphone into place for Marinette, and helped her tuck it out of view of the camera.

Nino cleared his throat, "Stay on this mark and talk through your lines, alright? When you get to the last line-"

"That's the cue to turn around and watch Chat act. Yes, you have told us precisely nineteen times now, Nino," Max stated.

Nino's shoulders sagged. Then he pulled his cap down, pointedly and huffed. "Then let's hope you'll get it right first time."

Let's just say they didn't. Chat winked at Mylene to wish her good luck, and she went so pink they had to wait for her to calm down before they could start filming. Then, Kim was on the side-lines making faces at Max to try and throw him off. It worked a couple of times. By the third time Max struggled through his lines regardless, and Nino grinned at him.

"That was perfect. You looked really distracted by the akuma. It'll be really realistic!" He beamed.

Max smirked at Kim, smugly, and Kim scoffed. He had been defeated this time. Now they got to watch as Chat Noir came swooping into the park they were acting in, and pretended to fight with the big green ball on a stick that Kim, Rose and Alya were trying to move and keep controlled even though it was a lot heavier than it looked.

"Cue Alix!" Nino called.

Alix came gliding out from behind a tree on her roller skates. She had been painted a light shade of green with heavy black eye liner and lipstick to offset it. The camera zoomed in on her. She gave an evil cackle, said something to Hawk Moth, and raised her arm in the air. Sat on her forearm was a little silver ball, like a tennis ball but shiny, with a glowing red spot like a laser. It was a laser pointer.

"Excellent work on the robot," Alya whispered to Rose.

"Thanks. Max made the laser, I just put it together, and Nathanael painted it," Rose explained.

"Well it looks awesome," Alya winked.

"Shh!" Kim hissed.

Alix was on stage and she was in the zone. Kim wasn't about to let that get interrupted by whispering. Nino clearly thought she was in her element too, because he kept filming longer than he needed to. Right up until she was improvising, moved too far without paying attention, tripped on a crack on the path and fell over. Marinette gasped at the same time as Chat Noir and Kim. All of them hurried over at the same time. Nino stopped recording and joined the close to check she was ok. She was fine. Alix stood up, dusted herself down, and smirked.

"I can take a battering just as well as I can give one!" She declared.

"Yeah but you get more than you give!" Kim grinned.

"You wanna bet?" Alix grinned.

"Always. I'll get Max!" Kim set off, about to run, and Alya dragged him back.

"NOT UNTIL THIS IS OVER!" She hissed.

Nino realised in that moment that Alya was probably a little more stressed than he was, since he had put her in charge of everything. He decided that it was probably best to speed up now.

"Everyone into first positions, Mari, I need to talk to you!" Nino yelled.

Everyone shuffled off to set up their positions for the jump. The girls wandered over to grab the air mattress they were borrowing from Kim's gym, and drag it into position. Marinette wandered over to Nino.

"We'll do your close up here, now, and then go into the jump. Now this part is important. Watch out for that guy on the bike, aim for the mattress, and please don't die!" Nino said, seriously.

Once they were prepared for the jump, the nerves were beginning to set in for Marinette. It was funny, she'd done it before, when it was really dangerous, without thinking, but now she was nervous. Chat saw that nervousness in her eyes and body language as she shifted uncomfortably.

"Hey, don't worry. I'm pretty indestructible in this suit," he winked.

"Positions everyone!" Nino called.

Marinette and Chat separated, to where they needed to go. She knelt down to put Tikki safely in the grass. She didn't want her to get hurt. The others crowded around the stage area, ready to film. There was pin drop silence. Everyone was watching, eagerly. Chat Noir looked at the ball of green and Alix stood nearby with her arm stretched. Marinette took a deep, shaky breath.

"And action..."

In the blink of an eye Marinette and Chat Noir went from standing still to laying tangled on the mattress nearby. It was pretty anticlimactic, but there were cheers anyway.

"Ready for your close-up guys?" Nino beamed.

"Nice jump," Chat grinned.

"Nice land. I thought cats always landed on their feet. Every time you fall you seem to fight that stereotype," Marinette said.

Chat shrugged. "What can I say? I'm not a stereotype."

The close up required chat to lay on the floor and Marinette to lay on top of him. It was super awkward. Chat kept rolling out the puns, which did not help. When Nino said action Marinette was struggling to remember her lines. Chat didn't have that problem. There was only one thing on his mind.

"Tickle my bell," chat said suddenly.

Marinette flushed red and raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?!"

Chat blushed hard and had to glance away from her, mumbling, "not like that!"

"CUT!"

Nino's voice rang out across the entire area. She sat up and squatted in the road beside him. He propped himself up on his arms.

"Nor like that," he repeated seriously.

"Back to third positions everyone!" Nino called.

"Then what are you on about?" Marinette asked.

"My bell," he tapped the shiny golden bell on his collar. "You played with it on the day it happened. Remember?"

"Oh. Right, ok," that made more sense.

"It's just, it rings, and the microphone is right there, so if you tap it like you did last time-"

"Yeah, no, I get it. I'll do it this time," she nodded.

"Guys! Third positions!" Nino called.

"Just pretend we're standing up in a packed lift or something. Imagine were somewhere where we have to be close, but not intimate... y'know? Might help make things less awkward," Chat suggested.

Third position for them was laying down on top of each other. Marinette took his advice. It was easier to remember her lines now. Even to improvise a little. Then, on her cue, Marinette heaved herself to her feet and held a hand out for Chat Noir to pull himself up too. They ended up standing close, but not as close as some people would like.

"NOW KISS!"

Marinette turned her head sharply, "ALYA!"

"WHAT?! That was Rose!" Alya complained in offence.

"ROSE!" Marinette corrected.

From behind her hands Rose muttered, "Sorry, I got caught up in the moment."

Chat laughed. Marinette rolled her eyes.

"That's a wrap folks, thanks for helping out," Nino called.

Marinette wandered over to where she put Tikki, and knelt down to scoop her back up. in her palm, Tikki beamed up at her. "That was brilliant Marinette, you could be a hero of Paris if you keep this up!"

"Ha-ha very funny," Marinette chuckled.

Tikki giggled. She sounded like a twinkling bell when she did. Marinette thought it sounded beautiful.

"Whatcha doing princes?" Chat asked from behind.

Marinette leapt to her feet, and hid Tikki in her jacket as she turned to face him. "Oh just err, tying my shoelaces!"

"Ah. Kim and Alix are about to race. Wanna watch?" Chat asked.

"I have to go home, I'm helping in the bakery tonight," Marinette explained.

"I'll walk you home," Chat offered.

Marinette gave him a funny look. "It's literally across the road."

"Yeah, but I'll still walk you home. anyway I feel like a cookie after all this acting!" He grinned.

Her stomach grumbled. They'd been working for hours and no one had thought to bring snacks since the bakery was so close. They were all pretty hungry.

"Fine, this way," she beckoned.

Chat beamed, and bowed so she could lead the way. She rolled her eyes, shook her head, and took the lead with him following obediently. Nino and Alya shared a look. It was almost suspicious how well those two got along.