Chapter Text
That was completely irresponsible!”
“Totally.”
“You just think you’re soooo smart, don’t you? Did you ever stop to think that someone else may have gotten your little double entendre back there?”
“So unprofessional.”
“And- and you can’t just announce that you love me like that, what the hell!”
“Definitely not cool.”
Marinette finally stopped pacing long enough to take a good look at him and narrowed her eyes, hands on her hips; Adrien had to admit the stance would be quite terrifying, if not for the completely adorable blush that currently dusted her cheeks and made him smile like an idiot. She threw her hands up in the air in a clear sign of exasperation. “Seriously? It’s like you don’t even care about what I’m saying at all.”
Adrien did his best to look sheepish even though he was relishing every minute of flustering his sweet classmate (much like he had been for the past week since he’d figured out she was also his partner). “I’m sorry, I just really wanna kiss you again and I honestly can’t seem to focus on much else.”
Marinette let out a small meep sound and punched his arm. The blond pouted. “Me-ouch, Mari. I was just being honest.” Marinette opened and closed her mouth several times, then she was reaching up on her tiptoes and pressing a quick kiss to his lips, not before she checked both sides of the deserted corridor she’d dragged him into after his little stunt. “There. Happy now, you silly kitty?” She crossed her arms over her chest, feigning nonchalance even as her cheeks reddened further, but Adrien just grinned wider and pulled her close to him again. “Oh, hardly, my lady. I don’t think I’m ever gonna get enough of that.”
Marinette blinked owlishly up at him and her blush went positively nuclear; but she was Ladybug after all, which meant two things: she could definitely pull off the color red, and she certainly wasn’t gonna give him the upper hand just like that. He watched her smirk slightly as she disentangled herself from his embrace and then tilt her head to the side, crossing her arms once again in a defiant attitude. “Well, that’s too bad, because I have a lot of exams next week, and I really need to focus on studying, you see.” She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye with deliberate indifference. “I have no time to be satisfying the whims of irresponsible cat-boys.”
Adrien put a hand to his chest, gasping exaggeratedly. “Irresponsible? My lady, you wound me.”
Marinette merely shrugged, failing to hide her amusement as she waved at him before heading back to the library. “Tchau for now, Chaton.”
The next few days passed rather uncharacteristically at the collège, at least for the 11th grade, who seemed to be entirely flabbergasted at the new dynamic between everyone’s favorite ship that had apparently been established since the impromptu kiss in the library.
Marinette was no longer a blushing mess around Adrien. Instead, she was as collected as one could be during exam season, while the blonde model took to carrying her books, without getting anything more than a thank you every time – not that it seemed to affect him; in fact, every time Marinette gave him one of her small smiles and a strictly polite “Thank you, Adrien”, all he did was roll his eyes affectionately and blow her a kiss, by which she, in turn, wasn’t affected either.
The most interaction they had with each other was during their study sessions, but even then – and despite the fact that the class had taken to rotating turns watching them (no, they were not freaks, mind you, they were just a little over-invested) – there seemed to be nothing but actual studying going on.
Even their best friends were entirely clueless. The most that Nino had been able to get out of Adrien was something that had sounded a lot like “Mari has me in the kitty house”, and the blonde had burst into laughter before he could come up with any follow-up questions. Alya, for all her journalistic skills, hadn’t been any more successful in prying information out of Marinette – the pigtailed girl had smiled with a somewhat predatory glint in her eyes before shrugging and commenting on how nice it was that people seemed to be finally gaining some sense of responsibility.
To put it lightly, everyone was disoriented. They had hoped the kiss meant they were moving forward and could actually start dating… they had most certainly not seen this coming.
Things eventually got so bad they had to bring out Plan C; no one was too happy about it, but at that point getting a rise out of Marinette was priority numero uno.
“Oh, Adrii-kiiiiiins!” Chloé drawled loudly, her eyes dashing to Marinette across the room for just a second before she launched herself at her friend’s neck, pushing herself on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek. “Wouldn’t you help me go over chemistry for tomorrow’s exam, please? I could really use some pointers.”
Adrien rubbed at the back of his neck somewhat uncomfortably, his eyes too darting over to the pigtailed girl who seemed to be packing her stuff to leave. “I- actually, Chloé, I was going to go over to the library with Marinette…”
Chloé pouted at him, looping her arm through his. “But I’m your best friend! Come on, pleeeease?”
Meanwhile, Alya nudged Marinette’s arm, pointing her head towards the other pair. “What a pain, isn’t she? I mean, she clearly isn’t interested in studying.” To her surprised disappointment, her best friend merely shrugged. “I mean, Adrien really is good at Chemistry, and it’s not like Chloé’s father can actually influence a national exam result.” She finished packing and descended the rest of the stairs, pausing in front of the couple. “You can come with us, Chloé, I’m sure we can manage to study together.”
The other girl gaped at her for a second, eyes darting back to where the rest of the class were all huddled together. Alya was making her frenetic hand signals and Nino was bunching his hat in his hands in nervous concentration; Rose kept jumping up and down in excitement and Max still seemed to be discussing the probability of success of the mission with Kim, his boyfriend rolling his eyes affectionately (he’d informed her it was about 20% before, and she was inclined to believe him now). “Ah, well… you see, I… uh…” Chloé finally pushed her hands up with a groan. “You know what, I give up.”
Adrien frowned. “What? Chloé, you can’t give up on this exam, it’s a big deal! If you actually need help that badly, I’m sure Marinette wouldn’t mind studying alone for a bit while I run you through the basics…” he trailed off, side looking the other girl, but she was smiling coyly up at him. “That’s very responsible of you, Agreste.”
Adrien’s grin spread like wildfire across his entire features, and he shifted to face her entirely. “Well, that’s me. Very responsible, you see.” Marinette suppressed a giggle and nodded, failing to keep a straight face on. “Oh, I do see that now.”
“Yeah?” He smirked, coming closer, and she nodded again, flicking his nose. “Undoubtedly.”
“Mon Dieu, just kiss already!” Chloé practically screeched, drawing them both to a halt. There was a brief moment of silence in which everyone seemed to be caught in the suspense before Adrien raised a brow. “My- Mari?”
Marinette chuckled at his almost slip up then released a dragged out sigh, feigning boredom. “I suppose you have earned it, I mean, not that you’ve apologized or anything…”
The blond took her hand in his and raised it to his lips, giving her his best innocent smile. “I am deeply sorry for acting so recklessly. Forgive m-” He was cut off as the pigtailed girl surged forward and practically tackled him with the force of her kiss, both of them laughing against each other’s lips.
Chloé blinked at the scene before turning towards her classmates, hands on her hips and a smug smile plastered on her face. “Well, what do you know. I’m a miracle worker.”