Adrien might have been good at Ultimate Mecha Strike III, but Marinette was smoking him! He couldn't believe it! After all this time practicing, she was still better than him. How?!

His expression became more and more concentrated by the minute as he fought against Marinette, but after delivering a death blow with an expertly aimed kick to his head, his character fell over defeated. All he could do was stare at the screen disbelievingly. Marinette beat him. He couldn't believe it!

"Don't tell me you were going easy on me," Adrien joked as the game returned to the home screen for them to pick their characters.

"Maybe a little," she laughed. "Told you that you would meet your doom."

Still, he couldn't believe how good she was at playing this game. "I demand a rematch. You're going down this time, Marinette."

They both laughed but then stopped mid-laugh as Marinette's mom, Sabine, poked her head into the room while carrying a plate of delicious looking cheese pastries. "Anyone in the mood for gougères?" she asked with a smile on her face.

"Cheese!" a small, excited voice came from just inside his backpack, nearly making Adrien have a heart attack.

Marinette's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "What was that?"

"Uh... My stomach growling!" Adrien cried, patting his stomach while grimacing. "I haven't eaten all day."

She giggled and looked at him pointedly. "You ate half the plate of cookies, Adrien."

"I'm a growing man?"

Before she could respond to his comment, he grabbed his backpack and rushed toward the door, but not before stealing a few of the gougères off the plate. "Be right back! Gonna hit the restroom and I'll be back in a jiffy."

Adrien hurried down the hallway and when he shut the bathroom door behind him, only then did he allow himself to sigh in relief. That could have been messy.

Opening his backpack, he glared down at Plagg. "You need to be more careful, Plagg!" he hissed. "Marinette heard you. What would she think if she actually saw you?" Still, he handed the kwami the gougères and he devoured them hungrily as if he hadn't eaten in days, perhaps even weeks.

"So? What's the big deal?" Plagg said as he munched happily on the cheese pastries.

"The big deal is that I'm supposed to keep my identity a secret. If word got out that I'm Chat Noir, my normal life will never be normal again. I'll be Chat Noir full time no matter where I go. Besides, I don't want Marinette to find out. What if she told Alya? My identity would be leaked."

"Trust me," Plagg said as he savored his last bite. "Marinette wouldn't tell anyone."

Adrien shook his head at the thought of Marinette's reaction if she found out. It probably wouldn't be good. "You don't know that. Anyway, I'm about to go back upstairs. Not another peep from you, alright?"

Plagg groaned and sulked in the dark corner of Adrien's backpack. "Fine. But I expect another gougère before you eat them all."

He grinned as he swung his backpack over his shoulder once more and headed back to Marinette's room. One problem taken care of and one more to figure out. He had to beat Marinette at least once.

As he entered the room, the sight of her caused his stomach to get akumatized all over again. There was just something about her. Something so familiar...

Careful not to disturb Plagg, Adrien pulled his camera out of his backpack and began filming Marinette who suddenly looked shy all over again. "Alright, you won this round, Mari. Are you ready to get your butt whooped on this second round?"

Marinette rolled her eyes and laughed. "That's what you said about the first round too. You sure can try, but you won't succeed."

When he put the camera down, they started round two and this time, he put a little more effort into his fighting. A kick here. A punch there. And then finally, he won by the tiniest sliver.

"Whoo! Second round goes to me. What do you have to say about that, Marinette?"

"Are you still filming? Give me that."

She turned the camera around on him and filmed him instead. "So you've won this round, Mr. Agreste. But they invented the tie breaker for a reason. Whoever wins this next round is reigning champion of all things Ultimate Mecha Strike III. Are you prepared?"

"Oh, I'm prepared. I look forward to the ultimate showdown."

They shook hands and when she set the camera down on the table, they started the round. Adrien had to admit—he had never seen Marinette get this aggressively competitive before. He could hardly get in a good hit and before he knew it, his character fell over defeated and the screen kept flashing, naming Marinette the winner.

"Defeated!" she cried and just seeing her so excited made him smile. He was never very competitive, even when he dealt with Ladybug on a regular basis, but he sure liked being involved in the competition.

Adrien held his hands up in defeat. "Alright, alright. You won the title as the reigning champion fair and square. What do you have to say for yourself?"

He directed the camera at her once again and caught a small, secret smile before it disappeared once more. "I say it's time to tone it down a notch. What do you say to a game of Mario Kart?"

A wide grin split across his face. "Sounds great. This was something my dad used to play with me once in a while before—" He stopped himself right there as he turned off the camera and put it away, receiving a quiet groan from Plagg who looked to be trying to get some sleep in his backpack.

"I'm sorry about your dad, Adrien," Marinette said softly as she placed her hand on top of his. "That must be hard."

"Yeah, it is."

What he didn't tell her was that it was his fault. He couldn't tell her that, otherwise she'd find out he was Adrien by day and Chat Noir by night. The sole responsibility of that burden was his to bear and his alone.

When Marinette didn't say anything else as they started a game of Mario Kart, he continued, "I'm glad he's alive, though. I don't entirely know what I'd do if I lost him. Plus, he's around more often. I never thought I'd see the day."

He smiled at that. Whenever he visited his father's home, he was always nearby and in a way, it felt as if they had grown closer as father and son.

"Your dad seems like a great man," she replied with a smile.

"That he is. Though, I feel as if we're nothing alike. Sometimes I imagine that if my mother were still here, I'd be exactly like her."

Marinette smiled softly as they continued playing, zooming around and around on the course. Whenever the bridge part came, Adrien always fell off it at least once, but he didn't mind. He just really enjoyed spending time with Marinette. She was so kind and fun and definitely pretty.

"And what about Alyssa?" Marinette asked hesitantly. "Does your dad like her?"

Adrien sighed, hoping that this wouldn't be brought up. But it had to eventually, he supposed. "Yeah, he adores her. The two of them have a great relationship. My dad actually set us up in the first place. Apparently, they knew each other for a while before. Family friend or something like that."

She nodded slowly. "So it's going well, then."

It was a statement, not a question, but either way, it made Adrien snort with laughter. "I didn't say that. I broke up with her."

Glancing over at him in surprise, Marinette asked, "You two broke up?"

"Yeah," he shrugged. "I definitely don't want to be around when my dad finds out, though. Can I move away for a few months?" It was just a joke, but he meant it all the same. Marinette laughed and he joined in, feeling overly relieved that his chapter with Alyssa was over. Now that Ladybug was back in town, he couldn't even fathom the idea of letting it go on for any longer. It almost felt like a betrayal to the partner he cared so much about.

This time, Marinette's dad, Tom, poked his head in the room carrying two delicious looking ice cream sundaes. "Sundaes anyone?"

They paused the game to take the sundaes and when Tom disappeared, the two of them sat cross-legged on the floor to eat them.

"Wow," Adrien mused as he took a big bite of vanilla ice cream smothered in chocolate sauce. "Do your parents usually feed you this good? I'm surprised you're not fat."

Marinette chuckled and nudged him with her foot. "Not usually this good. You must've done something right to get on their good side."

Adrien grinned from ear to ear as he nudged her back with his own foot. "I couldn't imagine what that would be. All I ever do is steal your food and lose to you in Ultimate Mecha Strike III."

"That must be it," she teased and nudged her again, but this time he caught her foot and to his delightful surprise, she screeched with laughter as he tickled her foot. He just couldn't help himself—if he found a ticklish spot, he had to tickle. He just had to. So he tickled her foot and laughed as she squirmed and kicked and screeched with laughter some more. At least he found it amusing until she retaliated and found the ticklish spot on his sides. Now it was his turn to squirm and laugh, and when he tried to push her off of him, he felt overly surprised to find that she was much stronger than she looked.

He reached for her foot again and made her squeal, but then somehow they flipped over and he found himself straddling her with her arms pinned over her head, their faces only inches apart. Immediately, his heart rate picked up as he gazed back into her big blue eyes, feeling as if his whole body froze over completely.

Thankfully, he shook himself out of it and pushed himself off her, rubbing the back of his neck bashfully as he grabbed his backpack. "I should probably go. Thanks for letting me help out with your dress. When it's finished, I'll definitely be your photographer."

She got to her feet and even her cheeks were completely flushed over with pink as she smiled shyly. "Thanks for helping. I'll see you later, Adrien."

Adrien nodded. "Yeah, I'll see you later."

And then he left as quickly as he could, grateful when rain started pouring on him when he exited the Dupain-Cheng's home. The drops of rain helped clear his head. He and Marinette were just friends. He just got a little carried away, that's all.

A loud groan sounded from his backpack and Plagg unzipped it the smallest bit to poke his head out. "It's raining? I hate the rain. Can we go home yet?"

He grinned and nodded as he started in the direction of his apartment. "Though if you keep on complaining, I have half a mind to leave you out here."

"You wouldn't..." Plagg scowled. "I haven't even had dinner yet!"

Adrien chuckled and closed his backpack again. One thing he felt sure of—his life would never be the same without Plagg in it.