Adrien: Good morning beautiful! I can't wait to see you at school today! XxXxXxXxXxXx

With his phone clutched in his hands, Adrien slouched until his chin rested on the desk in front of him. The glow of computer monitor irritated his eyes at such a close distance. He pouted.

Underneath his text to Marinette was the undeniable, damning little 'seen 07:22' which told him Marinette had gotten his text but had yet to reply.

He was aware he was being ridiculous, but couldn't stop the downward spiral if he tried. Was he coming on too strong? That probably wasn't the case. They'd kissed…a lot. They'd kissed until Ladybug's transformation had worn off. They'd kissed some more when Chat had carried Marinette back to the outcropping of the roof, pressing against her body (to shield her from the rain of course- it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she was wearing a very wet, white shirt). They'd kissed again when the rain had subsided and he'd taken her home, ignoring Tikki saying she was recovered enough to transform.

So yes, with the rain had come clarity. In between kisses there'd been confessions, talking and laughing, sighing at how clueless they both were. He didn't doubt her feelings; he couldn't doubt them. She'd stayed up texting him into the late hours and, even when they'd just been friends, he knew how much Marinette valued sleep despite the fact she rarely got enough. He knew she returned his feelings.

However…

The whole thing felt like a strange, blissful dream. One from which he was sure he would wake at any minute. He was so happy, and with that happiness came an abundance of anxiety, guilt, and pressure. Could he really be so lucky, so content, without consequence?

You're being an idiot, Adrien he told himself, physically shaking his head. It was no good. Love was in his grasp, love was here, it was his.

He felt on top of the world, standing amongst golden skies, arms wide as he embraced exhilaration, feeling the carefree breeze brushing against his skin.

But feeling on top of the world came with its drawbacks.

It was a long, long way to the ground.

He sneezed.

"Uh-oh, didn't catch a cold did you, bro?"

Adrien glanced over at Nino, who'd entered the computer suite hand-in-hand with Alya. Still no sign of Marinette.

"Everything ok? Is an anime character having a hard time or something?" Alya asked, settling into a chair. In a swift movement, she pulled out the books Louis had leant them and pushed the keyboard to make space for them. They were all heavy, worn books with yellowing pages. Nino leaned back, wrapping an arm around her chair as he adjusted his cap and spread his long legs under the desk.

"No nothing like that. I'm ok guys. Just tired," Adrien replied, shooting them a hopefully reassuring look before his eyes went back to his phone screen. The bell was going to go soon. What if Marinette was late?

What if she got hurt crossing the road?

What if she changed schools because she didn't actually like him?

What if, what if, what if-

"ARGH!"

Both Alya and Nino jumped as Adrien hit his head against the desk, mumbling to himself. They shared a worried look, about to say something when Marinette ran in, collapsing into a chair with a loud huff.

Adrien almost leapt out of his chair in relief.

"Made it!" she gushed, throwing her head back. Her cheeks were flushed, her breath came in short rasps. "Sorry guys, slept in this morning."

"So did we, no big," Nino shrugged with a cheeky eyebrow wiggle towards Alya, who responded by kissing his cheek.

Neither Marinette or Adrien heard a word Nino said. As their eyes met, the world fell away. Were it not for the recognition shimmering in Marinette's eyes, the red hoodie- his red hoodie drowning her body, the way her lips quirked, Adrien would have continued to question the reality of their night in the rain.

"Hey," she breathed.

"Hey," he breathed back.

Her presence soothed him. Though it didn't eradicate his fears, she made sure his heart stayed in the clouds without his feet leaving the ground.

Marinette's smile faltered and she scanned his face, undoubtedly reading him like a book. She shifted her chair closer to his, not commenting on it. Adrien didn't know if he was grateful for that or not.

During their lesson, Adrien was able to forget his anxieties for a while. It was difficult when Marinette kept shooting him questioning glances but, eventually, the four of them got lost in research. Moments of silence were interspersed with extra knowledge about how Alya's cousin was handling the extra publicity her spa had gotten (she'd managed to twist it into something positive), with interesting little factoids regarding the Elizabethan Chat and Ladybugs part in the war with Spain. Adrien found it odd how none of the research mentioned their relationship to each other. He supposed it was because it was so long ago and, unlike Catherine and Edward, nobody had discovered who they were. He'd have to ask Tikki about it- lord knows Plagg would never give him a straight answer.

Apparently, Louis had a theory that Chat Noir was William Shakespeare. He'd messaged Nino to tell him that, although he was certain, he hadn't been granted permission view the primary resources he needed in order to see if such a theory was true. It was the cost of being, what Louis called, a lowly first year. Still they decided to add a slide about it, because it sure was interesting. Adrien adored the idea almost as much as Alya.

Still, no matter how focused he was, his mind kept going back to Catherine and Edward- to the Elizabethan Ladybug and Chat Noir, to all the others. His eyes wandered to Marinette, curled up on her chair with one of the heavier books open on her lap. She was chewing her pen. He wondered if she always did that, wondered if he'd get the chance to discover all her other little quirks.

The Ladybug and Chat Noir legacy was a huge one, one which they were now a part of. But the question remained- what would they, Marinette and Adrien, add to that legacy? What happened now?

That question was one which had plagued them all recently. The end of school, the start of university, wasn't far away. Only a few weeks until the comfortable stability of young adulthood ended and they were off to make their own way in the world. Uncertainty was rampant, stress was the number one emotion amongst his peers, the anticipation that something great was around the corner, heading towards them faster than they really wanted it to.

Unless he had his mind fixated on it, Adrien didn't handle change very well. His whole life had been one rigid routine, to the point where even he was aware he took his freedom as Chat overboard at times. Sure, he was excited about writing his own life song, one which he now hoped would duet alongside Marinette's, but he was also sad about the things he was leaving behind.

He really needed to get more sleep. His thoughts, his emotions, were all over the place. Either that or he was coming down with a cold, his head was throbbing somewhat.

Marinette looked up from her book, eyes locking onto Adrien's and, for a second, Adrien blushed at being caught staring.

She frowned, taking the pen out of her mouth. It looked as though she wanted to say something, but she remained tight-lipped. Adrien wondered if his fretting had been too obvious. He hated the idea of worrying her over his stupid thoughts.

The bell rang for the end of class and the four of them, satisfied by the amount of headway they'd made into the project, vowed to buy something nice for Louis once their exams were over.

As they packed up and left the classroom, Adrien felt a hand grip his bicep hard. He turned around, curious.

Marinette's gaze was hard and focused, it bore into him and stripped his emotions bare, laid them out on a table for her examination. There was no masking his thoughts, no hiding behind a 'model smile' as she had called it. Even if he'd wanted to hide it, which he didn't, he knew she would have seen past it in an instant.

He let her sneak him away from Alya and Nino, let her drag him across the school. She led him to a familiar corridor, the empty art cupboard, frog-marching him inside and slamming the door shut behind her.

When they were alone, Tikki and Plagg popped out of their respective hiding places.

"You aren't going to do gross stuff are you?" Plagg whined.

"Plagg leave them alone!" Tikki giggled as the pair of them shifted and stammered in embarrassment. "It's not like you've never seen 'gross stuff' before. Remember Heracles and Hippolyta?"

"Ugh, don't remind me darlin' I still have nightmares," Plagg shuddered, shooting both Adrien and Marinette a glare. "If I see either of your naked behinds I'm going to make your lives hell do you hear me?"

Adrien opened his mouth to yell at Plagg but Marinette beat him to a response.

"Keep your eyes closed then," she surprised everyone with her sly retort, including herself. It took a moment for her to realise what she said, and her expression turned into one which resembled a slapped tomato.

Adrien didn't know what to do with his hands. Adrien didn't know what to do with himself, and the suggestions his Chat Noir side was yelling at him were really not helping the situation.

"Guys?" Adrien squeaked at Plagg and Tikki. "Could you maybe give us some privacy for a bit?"

"And so it begins," Plagg lamented, floating away with his tail low.

"Don't forget about your classes!" Tikki teased, following after Plagg. "You don't want to fail your exams because you're so…umm…enamoured with each other."

The two Kwami left. Marinette buried her face in her hands, leaning against the door. Silence rivalled the dust in the air.

Adrien was the first to speak.

"Are- are you ok Princess?"

This appeared to be the wrong thing to say. Marinette stood up straighter, whipping her hand away from her face angrily. But her fury wasn't directed at him, for which he was eternally grateful.

"Am I ok- ugh! No I'm not! I wanted to help you, but here you are asking me if I'm ok?" she babbled, pacing in little back-and-forth steps. "The first thing I do is make a complete idiot of myself the day after- and I wanted to- gah!"

"Err… I see?" Adrien hadn't a clue what she meant, but decided to nod along. Nevertheless, he felt a small smile creep onto his face. She was so cute when she rambled.

"No, you don't see," Marinette pointed an accusatory finger at him, then allowed it to flop back down at her side. Her eyes followed its movements and she stared at her feet, heaving a sad sigh. "I was worried about you."

Adrien reached out to hold the hand Marinette dropped, giving it a light squeeze.

"Ah love-bug, you don't have to worry about me!" he chirped, smiling brightly. "I'm ok!"

This time the glare, the anger, was focused on him- and Adrien fought hard not to step back and flinch. She really had no idea the power and influence she had, even outside her superhero persona. It was intimidating.

It's also really sexy, his brain reminded him and once again he mentally kicked himself.

"Adrien," Marinette said, her tone dropping low. It wasn't a threat, but it was laced in solemnity, and it made Adrien pay rapt attention to her. She drew in closer to him, taking his other hand and nudging him down until their foreheads were resting against each other. "What happens when we don't talk? What happened when the other Ladybugs and Chats didn't talk? What happened when Edward and Catherine didn't talk?"

He did flinch then, because he knew exactly what she was getting at.

"I know, I know." He let out a shaking breath, closed his eyes against her. Her nose brushed up against his in a kitten-kiss. "And I promised myself I'd always, always talk to you from this moment on. It's... it's hard though, I don't want you to think I'm stupid."

"You're not stupid, Kitty. I've never once thought that," Marinette soothed, wrapping him in a hug, "and I never will. I promise. Tell me what's wrong? I may not be able to help completely, but I can listen. My Papa always says a problem shared is a problem halved."

God he loved her, he thought as he buried himself into her shoulder, as he felt the way her fingers flexed and stroked gentle circles against his back. Her tender touches sent ripples of calm through his body- permeating through his emotional isolation like she did time and time again.

He loved her. He loved her so much.

"I'm scared," he whispered.

Marinette pulled out of their embrace, arms still locked behind his back, to look at him properly. She smiled.

"Why?"

Adrien shifted, forcing himself out of the quick-sand which threatened to pull him under, ignoring all his doubts about sharing his feelings. He made sure he was looking in her eyes.

"I don't want to lose you," he admitted, finally, and every single cell in him wanted to backtrack. Past experience yelled and screamed, told him to run away, to deny everything he said, that he was stupid- his emotions unfounded.

"Oh, well, I can understand that," Marinette's acknowledgement steamrolled over those doubts, squashed them into pulp and left them to rot. "I kind of feel the same, like you're so happy you're terrified of losing it?"

"Yeah!" Adrien felt himself brighten, his skin felt golden under the sunlight she was feeding him. "Yes! That's exactly right and it's so stupid because I feel like this should be the happiest time of my life. I found you, and you found me but I'm spoiling things because I'm being such a- such a fraidy cat. A part of me wants to hold you tight and never let you go but another part of me is worried that if I do that too much, I'd be overbearing and that would end up pushing you away. It's a lose-lose situation in my head."

He leaned over and placed his head on her shoulder, leaning up to kiss her neck to remind himself that he could.

"I'm ruining it."

Marinette giggled, reaching over to scratch his head fondly.

"You aren't ruining anything, you silly cat. Here I was, thinking I was the nervous wreck in this relationship!"

Adrien grinned against her skin, pulling her closer until she was pressed up against him.

"Oh? So this is a relationship now?" he asked, nuzzling her with his nose, his ego growing as he felt her shiver.

"Adrien," she whined and he laughed, feeling better than he'd done all morning, she responded by nudging his head with her own. "At least I know you're feeling better, right?"

"Yeah, but I get the feeling I'm going to continue to freak out from time to time," he replied, moving to kiss her ear, then her cheek.

"That's ok- we can freak out together. We'll start a club- the freakout-a-holics. I'll make the jackets," Marinette teased, kissing his lips chastely. "Ladybug and Chat Noir, saving the world with the power of the miraculous, and crippling anxiety."

Adrien burst out laughing.

"Hawk Moth doesn't stand a chance," he purred, his laughter falling at his feet as an entirely different emotion rose up to greet him, matching the sudden change in Marinette's own demeanour.

She kissed him again. The air between them twisted, became heavy with want and desire, a quick yet natural transformation- a culmination of Adrien's relief and Marinette's comfort. He curled into her and she, too, shuffled so that she was as close to him as possible. She stood on tip toes, hands turning from gentle to greedy as they roamed his back.

Love, the fading remains of his worries, and a sudden insatiable hunger for the girl in his arms, created a powerful cocktail in Adrien's brain- one which made him growl, made his hands wander. Lifting the hem of their hoodie, Adrien gripped the newly exposed skin of Marinette's hips and pressed her up against the door. He'd wanted to do that the last time they'd been here, and now he could.

Third time lucky.

Marinette let out a moan which made him weak at the knees. So she liked being pressed up against things, he realised, if the way her fingers dug into his hair was any indication.

Panting and gasping for air, they broke apart before diving back in for more kisses. Light kisses turned into deep ones as they ravished each other's mouths. Adrien drowned in her, loving how their once clumsy kisses had become more skilled. There was still the occasional nip, or meeting of teeth as their tongues sought each other out, but it was perfect to him, and bathed in the promise of learning each other- of becoming even more practiced in the art of pleasing the other.

"Marinette," he whispered her name against her, kissing any bit of her skin he could reach. Her cheeks, her ears, her neck. The sounds she made were unreal, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight or- if he did manage to- his dreams would be filled with her, making the same noises in other, much more intimate scenarios. "My lady."

Marinette stopped playing with his hair, stopped gasping against him and for a wild second he thought he'd done something wrong by calling her one of his favourite nicknames.

But no, all she wanted to do was lightly push him away by his shoulders. He obliged, meeting her glistening eyes.

What little breath he had left ran for the hills at the way she looked at him.

Softly, she reached out to caress his cheek, staring at him like he held the world for her on a silver platter. He wanted to, damn it. Forget the house, forget the sewing room, forget any pitiful promise he made her in the past. He wanted to give her the universe. He wanted to give her everything, anything, for her to keep looking at him the way she was now.

"Adrien," she said his name like it was a gift but she was wrong. She was the gift. Not him. "This really is real, isn't it, Kitty?"

His heart shattered, but not in the way one would expect. No. It wasn't a terrible thing, to have it smashed into a million pieces as though it were glass. On the contrary, it was wonderful. With her words, she took his fragile heart and broke it, only to help him rebuild it into something stronger than it was before. It wasn't like she was curing him with her love, but rather she was helping it grow, in the way water helps a sapling. He wanted to do the same for her.

"More real than the ring on my finger, Marinette." As she spoke his name like a gift, he spoke hers like a vow.

She moved to kiss him again, when the doorknob jostled.

Panic blew both their eyes wide open, made their limbs stiffen. Adrien twisted around Marinette to press himself up against the door, Marinette copying his movements, and whoever was trying to get in bumped against the other side of the door with a thud.

"Huh?" came the muffled, feminine voice. She knocked three times on the door, "Marinette are you in here?"

"ALYA?" Marinette yelped, then slapped a hand to her mouth too late. Impending doom destroyed whatever passion remained between them, dropping over them like buckets of cold water, and they froze- unsure of what to do.

"Mari? Girl are you ok? I was wondering where you ran off to- thought you might be here. Why won't the door open?"

Marinette turned panicked eyes to Adrien, her closed lips were a plea for him to remain silent. He agreed with her.

"Um- n-no not really!" she stammered, giggling nervously, "I'm- I'm- stuck, you see! I forgot to grab some art supplies but now this stupid old door is stuck! Ca- can you get help?"

Adrien's eyes bulged further. She wanted to get more people involved in this sure-to-be disaster?

Marinette mouthed the words trust me and Adrien decided to do so. She'd never steered him wrong before.

"Oh crap! Don't worry, I'll go get the caretaker or something. Just wait there hun," Alya's voice was so reassuring that Marinette cringed in guilt. She hated lying to her friend, she hated lying full stop, but she also didn't want Alya to find out about her relationship with Adrien like this.

"Ok!" Marinette called back, pressing her ear against the door to listen for the sound of Alya's fading footsteps.

Adrien, at least, saw the funny side.

"How much do you think Alya would have bugged out over discovering us here?" he whispered, cackling under his breath. "Could you imagine if we'd been suited up at the time too? Scoop of the century."

"Kitty, not now," Marinette replied, running a hand down her face.

"Aww are you embarrassed?" Adrien teased placing a finger under her chin and tilting it up so that her eyes met his. "Don't worry, Alya's going to think us dating is totally claw-some, given the fact that you've had a crush on me for so looong."

Adrien was pretty sure he could fry an egg with the heat radiating off Marinette's face. Oh, he could get used to this.

"You had a crush on me too!" she shot back with a pout. He laughed and kissed her nose.

"Oh, I've had more than a crush, Princess, I-" he stopped, his sentence dropping like a stone. He bit his lip, refusing to say more. It wasn't the time. It was so not the time.

Marinette blinked at him, confused for a second, before sighing and burying her face in her hands again.

"Get in the kiln."

Adrien wasn't quite sure he heard correctly.

"Huh?"

"You heard me!" she hissed twirling him by his hips and pushing against his back- towards the aforementioned broken kiln. "Get in the kiln!"

"My lady, don't you think that's-"

"Do you want the caretaker, and Alya, to find out that we've been making out in the art cupboard?" she argued and, when he shook his head at her, she grinned. "Then get in the kiln, kitten."

"Is this payback for my teasing you?" he groaned as she wrenched open the ancient door, and a cloud of dust blew out like a puff of smoke on a cold day. Plagg and Tikki were already in the kiln, and gazed at them curiously.

"Hmm, a little," she replied as he began to clamour into the kiln, sulking. "Don't move until I text you. I'm going to let Alya know I 'escaped from the art cupboard'"

"Then why do I need to hide here?" he sulked, "are you trying to get me all fired up?"

"I can do that without a kiln, especially a broken one," Marinette's voice was so smug, so silk-like, that he almost forgot what she was asking him to do. "Just hide in case she comes back!"

"My lady-"

"Byeeee!" she cooed, blowing him a kiss as she half closed the kiln door, making sure Adrien was blocked from view of anyone who came into the cupboard. He heard her cackling as she hurried out the room.

Once again, she'd one-upped him.

"Don't you dare say a word," he warned Plagg through gritted teeth, his cramped limbs already protesting.

It felt like an eternity but, eventually, his phone vibrated in his pocket. He almost fell out the kiln.

Marinette: Coast is clear. Sorry about the late reply! Was busy making out with a superhero in an art cupboard ;) XxXxXx

Love was a funny thing.