The scream which pierced the café made several patrons heads' turn in alarm.

When they discovered the source of the noise, most of them shrugged it off, though a few scowled in disapproval.

Alya, who'd been the one to scream, didn't care one bit.

"I think I'm deaf," Marinette grunted as she was enveloped in a crushing hug from her best friend. "Actually, I'm sure."

"Don't care! I'm so happy for yoooou!" Alya sang, in between squeals of delight, as she shook Marinette from side to side. Marinette turned her frantic eyes towards Nino and Adrien, who'd just fist bumped, and found to her horror that they seemed to be taking amusement from her predicament. "Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng, finally boyfriend and girlfriend! We need a selfie to commemorate the occasion. Oh! And let's put up a post-it too!"

The four of them were in the familiar post-it note café. The patio doors were wide open and inside was dark and cool. Most people were sitting under the canopy outside, soaking up the glorious late-afternoon sun the weekend, but Marinette had suggested sitting in a quieter corner- mainly because of the reaction she'd anticipated from Alya at her news.

In an instant, Alya snatched a pink post-it pad and the sharpie pot that was supplied on every table. Choosing a red pen, she immediately drew a heart with Adrien and Marinette's initials and the date inside. After she'd finished she stuck the post-it on the wall, where it joined the ever-growing layers, and surveyed her work with proud hands on her hips.

As the shock died down, and enough selfies had been taken to celebrate Adrien and Marinette's new relationship status, Nino gently tugged Alya back to their seats across the table from the other pair. Marinette mouthed a silent 'thank you' to him in response.

"How? When?" The DJ asked, his smile turning to a beam when Adrien shuffled closer to Marinette and held her hand. "Dude-" He clutched his chest at the gesture "-That's too cute! I'm so glad you guys finally got your act together."

With a quick glance at each other, both Marinette and Adrien made the silent decision to keep their mouths shut regarding 'getting their act together'. For obvious reasons.

Instead, Adrien turned back to their friends and decided to answer Nino's questions as honestly as possible- something they'd discussed beforehand.

"It happened after the spa, last weekend," he replied somewhat breathlessly. Truth be told he was still in awe of it. Glancing down at the beads of condensation on his plastic cup, Adrien fought the bashfulness he was suddenly struck with. "We got to talking and, I don't know I guess dealing with that akuma and our…err misunderstanding, it helped. So now we're here."

Marinette squeezed his hand, and was about to respond when Alya's cough of outrage disturbed the sweetness of the moment.

"Six days?! You wait a whole school week before you tell us? Hold up, have you even been on a date yet? Do your parents know?"

"Are you planning on being an investigative journalist, or an interrogator?" Marinette laughed, admittedly a bit sheepishly. It was true that, whilst they'd had many quiet and… intimate moments during their patrols (as well as after the two akuma attacks that had occurred the past week) they'd not been on an official date yet. Putting up her hand, Marinette began to check off the list of Alya's questions as she answered them. "We waited this long because things were so crazy, plus Nino's been super-stressed this week with his final group music exam. We wanted to tell you when things cooled down. Technically we haven't been on a date yet but we plan to after our exams-"

When Adrien chuckled under his breath, Marinette jostled his ankle with her foot in warning. She knew exactly where his mind had gone.

Naughty cat.

"-And," she added with a slight bite in her tone, "my parents know but Adrien's dad is still in London so Adrien's planning on telling him when he gets back. I think that answers all your questions!"

"Great! Can we finish our coffees and get this stupid presentation over and done with already? I'm so done with this whole school thing," Nino whined, placing his elbows on the table.

The four had decided to meet up at a café to finalise their points for their history presentation and delegate the making of each section of it. They were in the home stretch and eager to get things over and done with.

Alya, however, had other ideas.

"Hey, you know what!" she said, mid-sip of her frappe, "I just realised I left a bunch of my notes at home. How about you guys head back to Marinette's? Nino and I will meet you there!"

It boggled Marinette's mind, time and time again, how her best friend could be so obvious and yet still so full of bravado. Alya had more nerve than Ladybug ever would.

"Subtle, babe. Really subtle," Nino laughed.

"Well, you know what- shut up," Alya replied, "and grab your frappe sweetheart, we're leaving the lovebirds STAT."

"Do the lovebirds get a say in the matter?" Adrien replied throwing his arm around Marinette and winking. "Not that this one is complaining."

"Can'thearyoubye!" Alya cried as she grabbed her backpack and dashed towards the exit. Nino, ever the laid-back one, threw his own satchel over his shoulder with a look of amusement on his face. Shooting the aforementioned love birds a quick salute, he headed out the door after Alya- leaving the pair alone.

"Well, that went well!" Adrien chirped, swirling the contents of his iced tea with the long straw provided. "Pawsitively awesome, even."

Marinette groaned, wiggling away from him to flick his nose.

"You know, if I'd known dating you meant twice the amount of obnoxious cat puns, I might have considered my decision more," she teased, putting her notebooks back into her bag and whispering an apology to Plagg, whom she accidentally bonked on the head in the process. Since the identity reveal, the two Kwami's had been almost as inseparable as Adrien and Marinette, so they'd taken to hiding in either Marinette or Adrien's bag when the pair were together.

Adrien dropped his straw, choosing instead to clutch his forehead as if he were about to faint.

"Surely you can't mean that, Love Bug!" As quick as a transformation, his tone shifted from wounded to sultry. The heavy gaze which made Marinette's legs turn to jelly was back on his face. She rued the day she'd told him about it. "After all, how could you turn down the smoulder?"

"Stop-"

"Stop the look that made you fall for me? Never in a million years," he purred, but that was all he allowed himself to do in public- out of respect for Marinette and his own reputation. Paparazzi tended to leave him alone but, knowing his luck, they'd be sniffing around on the one day he was canoodling with his girlfriend in public…

Girlfriend. Marinette was his girlfriend. He had a girlfriend.

"I will yo-yo you in the face," Marinette grumbled, covering her own face with her hands and putting the brakes on Adrien's romantic musings.

"Careful Princess, wouldn't want to break the smoulder, now would we?" he replied, shifting in his seats so he was facing her. She was far too cute when she was flustered and now he knew the reason was him! All this time, he'd worried that she didn't like him as much but really, she'd liked him more than anyone!

He was acting like a fifteen-year-old again, but he didn't care. After their last akuma battle, a nasty thorn-themed villain, they'd had to talk through some boundaries. It was awkward, but necessary, to make sure their relationship remained private to the outside world. They couldn't risk Hawk Moth finding out how much Ladybug and Chat Noir cared for each other, who knew what diabolical plans he could concoct with that knowledge in mind.

But that had inevitably led them to the conversation about what their relationship was.

To put it simply, it had been the most amazing conversation Adrien had ever had in his life and his feet hadn't touched the ground since.

Adrien, far too wrapped up in his daydreams, missed Marinette's scoff, missed how she stood up and placed her bag over her shoulder.

"Hey," she called, poking his temple a few times for good measure, "pay attention mister daydream! If we don't do what Alya says, we're never going to hear the end of it."

Adrien shook his head a few times, snapping himself out of it and fixing her with a smile. It was just as he was about to whisper something flirty in her ear that a teasing smirk crossed Marinette's face. Her eyes filled with blue fire.

The look shocked Adrien to his core, rooted him to his seat.

Was this payback for his earlier comments? It had to be. She never did let him off easy (and he loved that about her).

Before he could even think of shielding himself from the incoming attack, she'd leaned down to his eye level- so that their noses were almost brushing. Her eyes were even brighter up close, and her freckles were blurring. In the past week, Adrien had learnt the majority of them gathered across the bridge of her nose, scattering out across her cheeks freely. He'd tried to kiss every one of them, but Marinette got ticklish too easily and when she was Ladybug the mask covered most of them.

Unfair- that's what is was. It was hopelessly unfair how smitten he was.

"Race you home," she challenged. "If you win, I'll let you kiss me. For as long as you want."

Adrien wanted to be suave. He really did. Out of all the times for his Chat Noir side to flee, tail tucked between legs, this was the worst. All he managed to do was form a short gurgling noise in response.

The laugh which slipped through Marinette's pursed lips was near-on fatal.

"What's the matter kitten, never played kiss chase before?" she winked, trailing her index finger across his jaw line.

Dangerous. So dangerous, Adrien thought- simultaneously praying there were indeed no paparazzi around to capture the moment.

"I- I was home schooled," he gulped, hating how high his voice went, "I'm pretty sure the butlers wouldn't have enjoyed that game very much."

Marinette responded by closing the gap between them, kissing him on the nose…

And promptly running out of the café.

---

"I could've won if you hadn't had such a head start," Adrien pouted as they headed upstairs to Marinette's apartment.

Though she was more breathless than she'd cared to admit, Marinette turned around gave him a reassuring look.

"Of course, you could." Her tone indicated that she believed the complete opposite of her words.

"You know, I feel like you're humouring me," Adrien chuckled- thankful that he'd lost the race and Marinette was currently walking ahead of him, for reasons he was too much of a gentleman to admit.

It didn't stop the blush from spreading across his face though.

"What gave you that idea?" she hummed, fiddling for her keys. When she reached the top of the stairs, she leaned back around in order to take Adrien's hand, and was promptly caught off guard when she realised where his eyes were.

"Enjoying the view?"

She tried not to laugh at the way Adrien's face went from scarlet to a sickly beige, or the way his head snapped up and his arms went rigid. Honestly, she did a good job at holding it in. But when Adrien squeaked out a mortified "sorry" and seemed like he was about ready to exile himself from the country, she lost the battle, and had to clutch her sides from laughing too hard.

"You know, you- you're allowed to look!" she gasped in between giggles. "But maybe think about the timing, my parents are hanging around."

"Yeah, I know sorry, I wasn't- you know- objectifying you or anything," Adrien stammered, uttering the word objectify as though it were the worst crime he could commit.

Marinette halted before her keys reached the lock. Once again, she twirled around to face him, placing her hands on her hips. With an arched eyebrow, she poked Adrien's chest, where his bell would be if he were in Chat Noir-mode.

"It's still ok for you to like that though," Marinette assured, "more than ok!"

"More than ok?" Adrien blinked, after a few seconds of timid comprehension.

"My hot model boyfriend is looking at me like I'm the hot one," Marinette explained, grinning. "Like I said I'm more than ok with it."

Adrien pressed a kiss to her forehead, his shoulders practically liquefying after the few moments of tension they'd just experienced. He sighed, breathing in her closeness.

"Well in that case," he whispered, reaching up to bury his hands in her loose hair, "you're far more of a model than I could ever hope t-"

The door to the apartment swung open. Marinette's father stood on the other side of it.

"Kids, for future reference, we can hear everything you say."

There was a brief pause, the type of pause that only comes from a level of embarrassment so deep it has you questioning reality.

Then the proverbial penny dropped, and the screeching began. Somehow Adrien and Marinette managed to stay as far away from each other as possible as they desperately implored for forgiveness.

"PAPA!"

"S-sorry Monsieur Dupain! I didn't- we weren't-"

"It's not what it looks like Papa! I swear we-we were just-"

"Flirting shamelessly in the hallway where your dear old dad can hear you?" Tom raised his eyebrows, fanning himself as though he were a delicate maiden from the old musicals Marinette's Grandmother used to watch.

"Papaaaa," Marinette groaned, burying her face in her hands.

"Oh, relax Tom, it's nothing we didn't do when we were teens," Sabine chuckled, coming into view from behind her husband's large frame. The look she gave Marinette was both amused and sympathetic.

Apparently, hearing about her parents implied past exploits, on top of being caught out by them, was too much for Marinette's mind to withstand. Spinning on her heel, she began marching back down the landing towards the top of the stairs.

"Ok, I'm done!" she cried, somehow sounding cheery despite her mortification, "Adrien let's go find somewhere else to finish studying. I hear there's a fabulous park bench nearby."

How can she tease me about saying top notch when she throws around phrases like fabulous park bench? He wondered, finding it hopelessly endearing despite the contradiction.

"Oh?" Tom called after his daughter, brandishing an envelope in his hand with an excited twinkle in his eyes. "So you're saying you don't want to know if you got into ESMOD?"

Marinette floundered, gasped, then slipped backwards on the top step. With a painful thud, she landed on her back, shrieking as she went.

In an instant, Adrien was by her side.

"Marinette are you ok?" He cried, about to help her up, but Marinette was used to years of her own clumsiness. By the time he'd extended his hand out, she'd already scrambled up, running towards her father so fast Adrien was sure a little cartoon puff of smoke appeared as she ran. He blinked, dazed.

She stopped at the door frame, digging her heels into the carpeted floor. In front of her father, she gazed at the envelope with a look of awe on her face.

"Papa? Is- is that what I think it is?" she said, her voice trembling as Adrien came to stand by her side, thoroughly confused by the whole exchange.

"You'll have to open it yourself dear," Sabine soothed, ushering them all inside to sit on the sofas. Marinette, at least, still had the presence of mind to drop her bag out of sight so that Tikki and Plagg could sneak off. "It's yours. We haven't touched it. We only noticed the seal on the back was the University's one."

Adrien sat beside Marinette, felt her shaking from head to toe. It was as she turned the envelope over in her hands that he caught sight of the ESMOD logo, and gasped himself, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Marinette, you applied to ESMOD?" he gaped in awe. The École supérieure des arts et techniques de la mode (ESMOD for short) was one of the most prestigious fashion schools in Europe, let alone Paris, and was incredibly difficult to get into. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"I- I only told my parents because- because-" she trailed off helplessly, staring at the envelop which contained her future.

Sabine kindly stepped in, pushing a plate of cookies over to them. Marinette didn't even notice. Deciding to show solidarity with his lady, Adrien opted against the tasty treats for the time being. He could wait.

"I think Marinette was worried about not being accepted. She didn't want anyone but us knowing until she knew an answer for sure," she explained gently.

Marinette nodded wordlessly in confirmation, leaving Adrien to squirm awkwardly in his seat, feeling as though he was intruding on the moment.

"Oh. Sorry," he apologized, attempting to shuffle away.

Marinette placed a feather-light hand to his leg. The sweetness of the gesture, the timidity of it, made Adrien zoom back to her side instantly.

"No, I'm- I'm glad you're here," she inhaled shakily. "Even though I'm pretty sure I'm going to throw up."

"I'll hold your hair back if you do," Adrien soothed, resting his palm in between her shoulder blades. Keenly aware of her parents watching, he decided against kissing her or caressing her the way he wanted to. He already felt he'd pushed his luck with the hallway flirting and didn't want to come off disrespectful.

Marinette leaned into his touch regardless, and he felt a warm sort of pride filling his chest at the thought that his comfort was useful to her.

"Well, here goes nothing," Marinette said and tore open the seal.

Though Adrien could see what the letter said from over her shoulder, he chose not to read it. The three of them waited for Marinette's reaction with baited breath.

Nobody spoke. It seemed like a scene from a silent movie as they prepared for the incoming jubilation or lament.

Adrien hadn't felt this tense in a while, and that was saying something. This was different to the miraculous, this was different to saving the day, this was their future. This was Marinette's future, written on a piece of fancy parchment paper.

When Marinette hadn't spoken for a while, her pale face frozen, and even her shaking stopped, Adrien leaned over to get in her line of vision. His face twisted into a frown.

"Marinette?" he implored, "Are- are you ok?"

"I got in."

There were so many gasps Adrien was surprised there was any oxygen left in the apartment. Both Marinette's parents leapt to their feet, Sabine covered her mouth in shock as tears sprang to her eyes.

"You got in?" Adrien clarified, his own mouth dropping open as he let it sink in.

The reaffirmation from someone else's lips seemed to make Marinette's brain click into place and she jumped up with a squeal.

"I got in!" she flapped her arms, pacing around frantically, not sure what to do with herself. "I got in WITH THE SCHOLARSHIP!"

"You got in!" Adrien laughed, following her "you're so amazing!"

"Mama! Papa! I got in! I did it!"

With a quick spin of delight, Marinette leapt into her parents waiting arms. They scooped her in, sharing her elation. Tom's large arms wrapped around both him daughter and his wife, and he squeezed them in delight.

Adrien watched from the side, his smile faltering ever-so-slightly, caught off guard by the sudden twinge in his heart.

"I'm so proud of you darling," Sabine cooed, kissing Marinette's cheek.

"My daughter, the future famous fashion designer! Look out Coco Chanel!" Tom boasted. Raising his arm, he turned to Adrien with a beam.

Adrien's shoulders rose in shyness before he could help himself.

"Get in here, son," Tom beckoned gently, yet somehow the words knocked Adrien sideways, filled his soul and reminded him of a yearning he usually let reside deep in the dark crevices of his mind.

Marinette opened her eyes, looking at Adrien in a way she'd never done before. There was a softness in the way her lips turned upwards, how there seemed to be another secret, another promise, weaving in the air between them- one that stood outside the realms of masks and miraculous, but seemed more magic than anything they'd ever encountered before.

Like a siren, she called him to her in a way that nobody else could.

He almost tripped over his own feet as he made his way over to the Dupain-Chengs, as they embraced him like he'd always been there, like he was supposed to be there.

A watery smile made its way on to his face. He hadn't felt this in a long time, and he loved Marinette so much for giving him such a gift.

They hugged for a long time, laughing and singing Marinette's praises. When Alya called, as predicted, to let Marinette know that her and Nino were unable to meet them for their study session- Adrien could hear the screams even from the other side of the room. They were quickly followed by Nino offering his own congratulations. After that Marinette called Nathanael, putting him on speaker phone (as he was with Louis), and got the same reaction from them both. Nathanael was upset he hadn't been able to help her with her application as she had for him, but Marinette assured him it was fine.

It was chaos, beautiful chaos. Tom decided to treat them all to celebratory pizza before the married couple went out dancing again (Marinette insisted they didn't miss their date, they could celebrate her acceptance letter any time after all). Sabine was on the phone to extended family, babbling excitedly in Chinese. She was speaking so quickly that Adrien couldn't understand most of what she was saying (not that he was trying to listen anyway). Marinette was torn between texting and calling all their friends, reading her letter over and over again, and jumping into Adrien's arms for cuddles.

And Adrien watched all the madness unfold with a smile, with a feeling of love and home.

He missed his phone vibrating in his pocket.

Later, when they'd calmed down and the pizza had arrived, talk turned to the future plans. Tom asked Adrien what he planned to study at University.

"Oh, I'm not going this year," he explained after swallowing a mouthful of pepperoni. He never got pizza at home, and shoved the guilt to one side by listening to his inner Nino.

Pizza, man. Pizza is always worth it. ALWAYS.

"Adrien's taking a year off to intern for his father," Marinette explained proudly, and Adrien glowed under her praise. He fought back a Chat-like purr and instead chose to gaze lovingly at her instead. She returned the gesture, unaware of a splotch of tomato sauce on her cheek.

"Oh that's exciting!" Sabine said cautiously. Adrien nodded.

"It is actually, we had a really good talk about it months ago," He replied truthfully. It had been the most open and honest conversation he'd had with father in a while and since then, despite his father being his normal busy self, it felt like they'd begun to bridge a gap they'd left alone for far too long. "He says that he'd ideally like me to take over the company, but he's aware that the company would suffer if my heart wasn't in it. He also said he wants me to be happy, and forge my own path like he did at my age. So, we came to a compromise. If at the end of the year I feel like I don't want to be his successor, we'll discuss alternate options. But if I feel passionate about it then he'll send me to a business school in Paris. Either way I'll be starting university a year after everyone."

Sabine and Tom looked at each other for a moment, conversing silently, before turning to him with an encouraging smile.

"As long as you're happy with that decision," Tom nodded.

"I am!" Adrien said keenly, and he meant it. "I really am. It's a good chance to prove myself at the very least!"

"You've already proved yourself," Marinette beamed, her eyes briefly flicking to the ring on his finger.

Adrien blushed, glancing at Tom and Sabine (who'd chosen to deliberately avoid eye contact with the pair for a moment). When he was sure they weren't looking, he winked.

After dinner, Sabine and Tom went to get ready for their date, and Adrien and Marinette decided to get some hard studying in. By which, of course, they meant watching something silly on Netflix. It was as they settled back into the sofa cushions that Adrien finally checked his own phone.

"Huh. My dad's coming back from London early," he commented, casually flicking through his texts from Nathalie. "He'll be back tonight."

"Do you think you'll tell him about us?" Marinette asked, unable to keep the nervousness out of her voice.

"Maybe, if I get the chance to tonight. I will as soon as I can get a moment alone with him," Adrien mused. "But I'm sure there won't be any problems. I mean hey, you won his hat competition AND you just got accepted into ESMOD! If anything, he'll chide me for not dating you sooner."

Marinette giggled, snuggling into his side and tucking her legs beneath her.

"I don't think either of us will ever live that down," she replied.