The rain hit the side of the building at such force Marinette was surprised it didn't break through. She stared out into the darkening sky as the man in front of her groaned on and on about the colours which would be best for the spring line.

"Green, the colour of Adrien's eyes." She'd spoken without thinking. To be honest she thought she'd said it in her head, it was the only colour which said spring to her. The first that came to mind anyways.

"Interesting choice there Ms Dupain-Cheng." Gabriel looked over at his young intern, face set in his usual bored expression. She could feel the colour rise to her cheeks.

Her eyes met his steal like ones before moving to the blonde next to him. The guy she'd just outed as the perfect spring colour. This was her first week of her internship and it wasn't quite going at planned.

Sitting up straight in her chair she looked back to the guy who was leading the meeting and channeled her inner bug. She'd spoken now. She needed to go through with this.

"You see the shine in Adrien's eyes would reflect perfectly on the style you are trying to introduce for the Spring collection. You see it's the perfect blend of new beginnings and ... um ... freshness." Hopefully her ramblings were enough to deter the conversation from her. Truth being told she'd actually been looking at Adrien's Instagram all morning. How his eyes did things to her that she'd never admit, especially whilst in a room with his scary father.

Over the past week the media frenzy had died down between herself and Adrien, however it seems people now just considered the two of them in a "private" relationship. She'd spoken to Luka during their coffee meet about what she should do. Her friend advised her to go with the flow of her heart and listen to the rhythm he made her heartbeat. When that ended with her telling Luka she wanted to propose to him, her blue streaked friend put a foot down. Apparently asking Adrien to marry her before they'd even ventured on a first date wasn't seen as ideal. Who would have known?

"Adrien green it is." Gabriel announced. "I like that green myself, I can see it fitting with a lot of pastel colours. Good eye, Ms Dupain-Cheng."

"Thank you sir," Marinette felt a warmth of pride, an intern who'd just managed to get a credit in the Spring line colours, perhaps all wasn't too bad. Adrien looked over to her with a bright smile. She could tell he was proud of her and it caused a lovely bubbling feeling in her stomach and heart.

Things hadn't been the same since Adrien had been round to bake with her and she hated it. Not seeing him everyday felt like she'd lost her arm, her left arm to be exact ... her yo-yo arm. He was her power and she needed him there. She understood now the intensity of the crush she'd had on him. It was some crazy miraculous pull. She needed to know where he was, she needed to protect her kitty at all costs. So when things began to change her mood did too. She found herself becoming clingy and stalker-ish. She'd go out her way to try and see just a snippet of him; photoshoots, fencing (luckily she was still friends with Kagami), and even, shamefully, walking past his office numerous times whilst in the Agreste building. Considering it was only her first week on the internship she was worried what the other designers were saying about her.

Worst of all she knew it was to do with her coffee date with Luka. Herself and Luka had slowly became closer over the past couple of months, only because it was now purely platonic and it worked. She loved Adrien, Luka had his own love life going on around him. Things were how they should be, apart from she should be with Adrien not shouting out about her adoration of his eye colour in serious business meetings, where really she shouldn't be talking anyway.

"Last thing on the agenda," Nathalie pulled Marinette back to the job at hand, "New York fashion week is coming up and we need a handful of you out there to help support the brand."

The table began to chatter. New York fashion week was a massive deal. Marinette wished she could go along, but interns never had that option. There wasn't really anything they could offer to the cause.

"Obviously myself and Gabriel will be leading the show, Adrien will be attending to model as usual with our top ranking models," great, Marinette thought, Lila will be there with Adrien for a week.

As Marinette got carried away with the awful scenarios of Adrien and Lila in New York she almost missed the last name Nathalie announced.

"and Marinette."

"Me? What? How?" Her startled reaction caused everyone around the table to look at her, obviously doubting her professionalism with the sudden outburst. It was then she realised she was standing, fists placed in front of her on the table.

"I mean ... thank you so much for the opportunity, I won't let you down." She slowly sank into her seat and covered her face. The red on her face would be a permanent stain the way she was going. Tikki was currently situated in her side bag with Plagg and she knew the little black fuzz ball would be having the time of his life.

Nathalie's nod back to Marinette adjourned the meeting as everyone around her stood to continue with their days, not without a quick glance at the red faced, outspoken intern who had a clear obsession with the owners son. Could things really get any worse?

She looked over towards where Adrien was sitting and noticed he was gone. Stealing herself she knew this needed to be sorted. He'd hardly spoken to her during her first week and she knew if her kitty was acting normal she would have had a rather embarrassing bouquet of flowers on her desk when she walked in on Monday morning. Marinette decided if they were going to New York in just over two weeks this, whatever it was, was being sorted out today.

Making her way down the corridor she found Adrien talking to another of the models just outside his office. She waited patiently for them to finish, this gave her time to properly look at him. Apart from the slight stubble on his sharp jaw he looked every ounce the Forbes Magazine front cover. He was in a grey suit, black shirt and silver tie. His older self made young model Adrien look pathetic. The extra muscle also helped the irresistible look, her kitty was stunning.

Finally, he said goodbye to the model and began to walk away towards the elevator. Before he knew what was happening she moved swiftly pushing him into his office and slamming the door shut.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She whispered shouted at him, finger poking him in the chest.

"I have no idea what you're on about? Listen, I need to go meet with Nathalie so if you could just let me pass."

"No!"

"No? What do you mean no? We're at work Mari, you can't be doing this." He sighed out, reaching for the doorknob.

"Fire me! Go on! I really don't care at the moment. All I want to know is why my best friend is acting like a complete ass!"

"An ass? Seriously! You're insulting me!"

"Well if the boot fits!" She challenged.

Adrien glared at her, edging the firey superhero to back down. He should have known after all their time together that when it came to him there would be no backing down. She was as stubborn as a mule. He looked away and crossed his arms over his chest in a protective manner as he spoke.

"How was your date with Luka?"

So she was right, it was about her ex.

"It was fun. We managed to arrange everything for his anniversary with his girlfriend, she'll be so surprised when he takes her out."

Adrien's stance visibly changed as her words hit him. He really was an ass.

"I'd forgotten he was with someone." He turned to look at his partner. His right hand finding solace behind his neck.

"And thanks to that you'd forgotten my cheese puffs too, you ass!" Plagg zipped out of Marinette's bag before heading towards Adrien's mini fridge, or as he liked to call it Plagg's Palace.

"I'm an ass." He said staring through his eyelashes to look at the girl in front of him.

"Yes you are, and as an apology you're going to help me with my English ready for New York. I'm not making a fool out myself again!" Marinette stood out the way of the door allowing Adrien chance to exit.

"Sorry." He mumbled as he passed.

"You should be too! Now am I coming to your place, or you coming to mine?" Her voice was still sharp as he slunk his way to the door.

"Mine." He answered.

"Fine. I will bring cheese puffs for Plagg and some macaroons. See you at 8pm." Her voice still in angry Marinette mode, he hung his head low and headed off to see Nathalie. He'd been a bad kitty. He was going to end up paying for this, yet he wasn't sure what punishment she'd hit him with. Oh dear!

~~~~~~~~~~

Six hours later, Adrien was tutoring Marinette on her English skills.

"Remember there's a difference between US English and UK English so I thought we could go through things that are the similar, and things that are the same that you will need during the fashion shows. Obviously we can still talk in French, no need for others to hear our conversations."

Marinette nodded at Adrien's words and made sure she was concentrating hard on the pronunciation of the specific words. Yes she was spending a lot of time glaring at his mouth, but what could she say? It was a nice mouth.

"What should I expect from fashion week?" She asked, tapping her two index fingers together.

"Lots of running around, watching shows, buying things and, of course, the end of week Gala. You'll need to make sure you have a ball gown for that evening. I can't always ask my father again?"

"It's ok Chaton, this bug has got something hidden up her sleeve." Marinette winked at Adrien causing him to laugh.

"Of course you have," he scratched his neck again and Marinette studied him. He looked nervous. "What's going to happen here? In Paris I mean. We made such a mess last time we went to New York, and it's not like either of us can stay."

Marinette had already been through this with the other kwami's when she arrived home.

"I'm going to pass the Miraculous out to Juleka, Rose, Mylene and Marc, maybe Zoe too. I'll take Kaalki with us and we have the astropowers incase we need to get back ASAP. I'm not as worried this time. I'm just glad that where we are we're there together. I couldn't have spent the week without you." She was admitting, she was telling the truth, she was actually talking about what's on her mind. This was good steady progress.

"Sounds like a plan, M'Lady." He smiled at her and they were caught in a moment again. He placed an arm behind her on his pristine white sofa and began to move forward. Keeping his eyes and hers he noticed she was moving too. Score!

"You're a very smart little bug, beautiful too." He continued. His heart was beating out his chest. This time it was going to happen. It was actually going to happen. He was going to kiss her with all his might and their fairytale would begin.

Within an inch of meeting her lips with his, his phone rang. He kept his eyes on Marinette uncertain what to do. It stopped and he smiled moving closer to her again, she was grinning. This could be it, this could be the moment. Not romantic in the slightest but still ...

His phone rang again.

"I think you better get that." Her breath warmed his face. They were so close.

Picking up his phone he looked at the name. Number one on his hit list. Nino!

"Yes." He barked out. His voice was gruff with lust. He really felt like cataclysm'ing his best friend.

Marinette straightened herself up as she watched Adrien's animated conversation with Nino. She wondered if he was as pissed off as she was. They were close. Oh so close!

"She's here at the moment ... yes I'll ask her ... tell Alya I'll bring her with me ... yes I can look after her ... ok, see you then." Adrien ended the call and threw his phone onto the sofa before swiping his hands down his face.

"You ok minou?" Marinette asked as the frustrated groans left his mouth again and again and again. She couldn't help the slight snicker.

"Kim's having a dorm party at the university tomorrow night. Apparently it's a normal occurrence for the first week. Nino wants to know if we're in?"