Alya stood swinging the microphone around in a circle, the girls all giggling as they discussed the night's events.

"I just know Kim's going to be freaking out," Alix cackled, laying on her front hugging one of Rose's pillows. "We've left them completely on a cliff hanger and they haven't got a clue."

"You were brilliant, Marinette," Zoé continued.

"Very believable." Kagami stated, a slight upturn on her lips.

"How did you know they were listening in, Marinette?" Rose asked, moving towards the microphone and taking it from Alya's hands to inspect it. The look on her face showed sheer devastation and the girls couldn't blame her. It had been Rose's room the guy's had violated, and the fact the microphone had been there since the previous evening ... well, who knows what they had been listening to.

"I can't tell you that," the red tinge in her cheeks told all the girls the answer. Someone had split the tea.

"So, lover boy let you know then?" Alix said, wiggling her eyebrows towards her friend, causing Marinette's cheeks to continue flaming.

"I am neither confirming nor denying," she said, moving away and focusing her attention on Rose's book collection. She'd always wanted to read the 'Shopaholic' series, maybe her little blonde friend would allow her to borrow them.

"She's in loveeeeee," Rose sang.

"I think he is too," Juleka said. The girls began to fawn over Adrien and Marinette only to be interrupted by a resounding knock from the doorway.

"Girls, are you all decent?"

Luka had arrived and it was time to get planning. The guys had no idea what was about to hit them, both metaphorically and physically.

~~~~~ =^-^= ~~~~~

Before they knew it Monday morning rolled around and it was time to put the plan into action. Luka would be meeting the girls in the park at lunchtime, and Marinette would be absent due to the ''cramps' in the morning preventing her from attending class. As terrible as she felt for lying to her parents, she justified it to herself by being a superhero and needing just a little bit of extra rest. After all, she'd been up late 'patrolling' with Chat Noir. It was therefore left to Adrien and Luka to put the plans into action.

As usual, the guys had met up in the locker room ready for their pre week briefing, none of them any wiser to what would be lying ahead.

Adrien took a deep breath before pushing open the door and heading into the locker room. It was time to put his game face on.

"Morning," he greeted his friends as he made his way to his locker and proceeded to fill it with his books for the day. The door opening and high pitched giggling pulled his attention to the gaggle of girls which had just walked in and over to the opposite side of the room.

Turning his head, Adrien made a big deal of looking over towards the girls, making sure the guys noticed his scanning glare and his obvious need to find a certain 'raven haired' someone.

"Looking for anyone specific, Agreste?" Kim was leaning one leg on the bench, tying his lace as Nino sat listening to music and Max was chatting with Markov.

"Just wondering where Marinette was. I messaged her yesterday but she never replied." He kept his eyes towards the girls, the back of his head to his friends. Alya looked over and caught his eye, before he signalled to her with a wink.

Game on.

"Alya," Adrien called over, moving away from the guys and over to his friend. He made sure to keep his voice loud enough for them all to hear, but not loud enough to sound like he was shouting. "Have you got a minute?"

Alya looked from Adrien to her friends before sighing out a huffed breath of annoyance. Damn she was good.

"Talk fast, Adrien." Alya began to walk with Alix, both of them heading towards the door and ultimately out into the hallway. "You don't-- I mean, wehaven't got much time."

Adrien walked next to them, struggling to keep up with their rather large steps. "I tried to call Marinette over the weekend, but she wasn't answering her phone."

"Oh, well, she wasn't in the best place. She really needed me, but unfortunately I was babysitting so I think she went to spend the day with Luka."

The sound of gasps coming from the guys made Adrien want to burst out laughing, this was going swimmingly at the moment.

"She needed you? Is - is she okay? Is there something wrong?"

Alya looked to Alix, before turning back to Adrien, a sudden look of unease on her face. "I really shouldn't be talking about this. I've got to go."

"Alya," Nino had removed his headphones and walked over to where Alya and Alix were standing with Adrien, "what are you trying to say? What's wrong with Marinette?"

The guys had all moved positions, each coming closer to Adrien and the girls, looks of intrigue and suspicion on their faces.

"Look, Adrien," Alix began, "I really care for you and I just really don't want to see you get ..." Alix trailed off, Kim stepping forward and grabbing a hold of the girl's upper arm.

"Get what?" He asked, a slight tremor in his voice.

Alix looked over to Alya, who gave a quick nod before crossing her arms and turning away.

"Hurt." Alix finished, Kim let go and moved away behind Adrien.

"As in emotionally hurt?" Max asked, attempting to get Markov to provide some information about their friend and possible illnesses.

"Ha! If only you would be that lucky." Rose replied, stepping forward and poking Kim in the chest. "Marinette doesn't hurt people emotionally."

"Then how does she -" Nino's words were punctuated with a sharp intake of breath. No way! No way! "Do you mean physically?"

"Look, we've been friends a long time, Adrien, and we all think a lot of you. Just -" Rose trailed off and looked out the door window, "It doesn't matter. See you all in class." Pulling open the door she offered the girls to lead the way before turning to Adrien and giving him one last sad smile.

The girls are good, Adrien marvelled. Perhaps with skills like these they need to do another movie and pronto.

"You don't think she'd - you know?" Adrien said, watching the girls leave the room and fighting against his sudden urge to laugh.

"Naa, man, definitely not." Kim came along and stood behind Adrien, one hand resting on his shoulder. "It's Marinette ... she wouldn't ...?"

"I didn't think she would, but now I'm not too sure." He responded, only for Nino to walk to the door and open it into the hallway, ready to guide the rest of the gang to the classroom.

Phase one complete.

Marinette hadn't turned up, as planned, to any of their morning lessons and Adrien could see the rest of the guys on edge.

When the principal came in to check on the class Ivan almost broke the table he was clutching it so hard, obviously anticipating the arrival of Marinette. A whoosh sound left Kim's mouth and Nino almost fell off his seat, and Adrien coughed ... he coughed a lot, because if he didn't he would be bursting out laughing right about now.

Hiding his phone under the table, he pulled up Marinette's name and dropped her a message.

Adrien
Did I ever tell you how brilliant you are Bugaboo?

A response came quickly.

Purrincess
Saying things like that will give me the wrong idea, Chaton.

His heart fluttered and he couldn't help but smirk. Both of them were so much more confident behind their phones, knowing full well they needed this conversation in person but too afraid to broach it.

Adrien
How do you know it's not the right idea?

After sending the message he knew he would have caused her to fluster, if only he was there to see it.

The bell rang, signalling it was time to break for lunch and all the guys, including Adrien, jumped at the sudden noise. They headed to the front of the class waiting for the girls to come and join them.

"So, do you all fancy a picnic in the park?" Alix said, jumping down the steps and coming to stand beside Max. Kim looked to Adrien before turning his attention back to Alix.

"Will," he coughed to clear his throat, "will Marinette be joining us?"

"Oh, no. I don't think so, she had a - um - bad night last night." Rose explained, moving closer to the gathering group.

"A bad night?" Max asked, "Is she okay?"

Rose shrugged before turning to Juleka. "Luka was around hers last night, wasn't he?"

Again the attention flickered from Rose and Juleka to Adrien before back to the girls. Their faces all morphed into a mixture of sorrow for their buddy but also relief that whatever had happened to Luka hadn't happened to Adrien.

Juleka mumbled something nobody understood, before leaving the room, eyes a little teary.

"Is she okay?" Nino asked.

"She is," supplied Myléne, "not too sure about Luka though."

Before anything else could be said, the girls exited the room leaving the guys to either stand around and ignore or follow after the girls, and after what had just happened it was too intriguing to ignore.

~~~~~ =^-^= ~~~~~

The guys and girls settled in the park over from Marinette's bakery, Alix and Kim taking it upon themselves to start racing around the fountain, when Luka turned up ... plasters on face and balancing on crutches. He looked horrendous and all the guys flocked towards him wanting to know if this had anything to do with Marinette.

"Wow, what happened to you?" Kim asked, coming to a stop next to Luka.

"I don't want to talk about it." He said, stumbling over towards Adrien on the bench and settling next to him.

"What?" Adrien asked, the other guys coming to gather around the obviously bruised and battered boy.

"Were you in an accident?"

"Did you fall down a flight of stairs?"

The guys began to ask question after question, wanting to know why Luka suddenly looked like he'd gone 'ten rounds with Tyson'. Luka sighed, looking up at Adrien before turning his attention to the others.

"You promise you won't laugh? It's ... quite embarrassing."

"We swear we won't tell anyone, man." Nino said, settling on the bench, the other side of Luka.

"Well, Marinette, beat me up."

Kim burst out laughing, before looking into Luka's eyes and stilling. "What happened man? I mean no offence, but what's Marinette? Like five foot three?"

"Five two actually," Adrien said, before reaching up and stroking the back of his neck.

"Stalkerish, but carry on Luka." Kim said, eyeing Adrien with disbelief.

"She asked me over last night, something about missing me and wanting to see me."

Ivan placed a hand on Adrien's shoulder, and patted it. An obvious sign of support for his friend.

"It was fine at first, you know, sharing pastries, talking about my father and looking at some designs for the next Kitty Section outfits, which are amazing by the way." He indicated to Ivan before carrying on. "But then she got this ... this ... crazy, like, headache, and then snap ... our darling Marinette disappeared."

The boys began to chatter amongst themselves, sounds of disbelief airing along with fears for Marinette's health.

"What happened next? Did she have to have tablets or anything?" Nathaniel stood at the back of the group, playing his part in this drama too. Adrien was suddenly incredibly glad all his friends were such great actors.

" I don't remember."

"How can you not remember?" Max asked, looking at Markov to see if his robotic friend had found any information online about Marinette's 'illness', he'd been looking for a few hours now.

"Not a clue, I woke up in the emergency room, not a memory of what happened." Suddenly, Luka turned his head towards Adrien, eyes serious as he studied his friend. "Adrien, please be careful, she told me she likes you more than me."

With that Luka stood up, stumbling away and out of the park, the opposite direction to the bakery. The guys all turned their attention to the nervous supermodel. "That can't have happened? Right? I mean, Luka's kidding?"

A soft chirpy voice sounded out across the park, causing all the guys to focus on the owner ... she was here. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was ready to play her part. She bounced over towards the guys, greeting them as she grew closer.

"Hey, Adrien. I was wondering if I could walk you back to school. There's something I want to talk to you about?" She fluttered her eyelashes, looking every inch an innocent flower as she offered her hand out to Adrien. None of the guys knew what to do, each standing still and leaning slightly away from the essence of violence in front of them.

"S-s-sure." He stuttered out, placing his hand in hers and making his way back to collége with her.

Phase two complete.

~~~~~ =^-^= ~~~~~

"If this works, what do I get?" Adrien asked, standing in front of Marinette who was currently sitting on his desk swinging her legs.

"What do you want?" Marinette asked, a slight shrug of her shoulders. "Luka's asked for a coffee date, so what can I offer you?"

"A coffee date? Are you two -" he trailed off, unsure whether he actually wanted to know the answer.

She laughed, before hopping down from the desk. "No, silly kitty. We're just friends, and I mean just friends. I haven't spent a lot of time with him recently, so he's found a way we can catch up."

"Oh okay," Adrien crossed his arms over his chest and looked out the window, his lips pursing in a thoughtful expression.

"Chaton, stop. I thought where my loyalties lied were very clear." He snatched his head back to see the shine in her wonderful bluebell eyes. He edged closer, wanting to take full advantage of this opportunity, but, alas, her phone vibrated and broke the tension which had just formed.

Alya
Coming up the steps now, it's showtime.

"It's time kitty cat, are you ready?" He nodded towards her, and she took the opportunity to stretch up on her toes and press her lips to his cheek.

~~~~~ =^-^= ~~~~~

The gang had made it to the classroom door when the sounds of Marinette and Adrien's voices halted them in their tracks. They could just make out the silhouette's of the two in the classroom, something long and 'stick' like in Marinette's hand.

"I finally have you all to myself, I've been trying to get you alone for weeks, Adrien."

"Uh - well - w-what are you going to do to me? ... and why do you have that bat?"

"Baseball practice, silly."

"Sure, is that what you told Luka?"

"I want you, Adrien, forever. It's always been you."

"Forever is such a long time."

"But it can be a very short time, too."

The guys moved closer to the door, oblivious to the fact the girls plus Nathaniel had blocked them in.

"Do you think we should go and help him?" Nino asked.

"She has a bat," responded Max.

"I'm 87% sure she's going to hurt Adrien." Markov joined in, moving itself closer to the door.

"Don't fight it, mon mimi. You know you like me."

"Sure I do, but... I also like croissants, and I like UMS, I like life, actually no, I love life."

"Kiss me, Adrien, and change both of our lives forever. Aa-ah!"

"What's happening? She sounds in pain." Ivan said.

"Pain? Oh, does that mean she's going to - guys we need to get Adrien out and now!" Kim said, heading towards the door and placing his hand on the handle.

"What, what?

"My head, the pains back again, I don't know what to do."

"I'll go get the nurse."

"No! You're not going anyway."

Before hearing anything else, Kim twisted the handle attempting to open the door, only to find it was locked.

"Marinette, put the bat down please. I'll kiss you, I'll do whatever you want. Just please put the bat down."

"I can't ... control ..."

"I'll kiss you ... I promise, just don't hurt me."

Suddenly the door burst open and the guys fell on top of each other to get in and 'save' Adrien. Poor Max was squished at the bottom, 3 other males slumped on time. They all raised their heads, only to find Adrien's lips locked tightly with Marinette's, who consequently didn't have a baseball bat in her hand, but a baguette. The two broke away at the sound of the collision, and Marinette looked over, keeping her arms around Adrien's neck and a savoury treat in her hand.

"Can't a girl get some privacy as she kisses the guy of her dreams?" She said, turning her head back to Adrien, and laughing.

"B-b-but we thought ... " Nino began, stumbling to get up, along with his friends, Max remaining as flat as a pancake on the floor.

"I'm totally harmless, guys." Marinette laughed, finally letting go of a pink cheeked Adrien, and turning to face them.

"And I want to return something that belongs to you." The guys turned around spotting Rose swinging the microphone around her finger, each of them bowing their head in shame.

"You mean you know we were listening?" Ivan said, looking apologetically to Myléne. The girl crossed her arms over her chest as she looked down at the guy still sitting on the floor.

"And Luka's injuries?" Max asked.

Juleka mumbled something which they thought sounded like "he was part of our plan."

"And just be glad this was your punishment ... because if Kagami had had her way, none of you would be walking right now."

The guys bowed their heads in embarrassment before moving to the girls and grovelling for forgiveness.

"Thank you for keeping us informed Kitty. I love knowing I always have you on my side." Marinette turned to Adrien and laid her head against his shoulder.

"I think I know what I want," he said, grabbing her hands in his.

"And what is that?"

"Well it's two things ... firstly I want that nickname you gave me to stick, and secondly I'd like another kiss please, if you want to that is, I mean if that's okay with you?"

Marinette placed a finger on his lips, a smile taking over her face. "Of course it's okay with me, I'd like to do it more often if that's okay with you?"

"It's more than okay, it's perfect."

She closed her eyes and moved her head towards him, only for him to stop her and mimic her action by placing his finger to her lips. She opened her eyes in shock, her eyes crossed as she looked down at his finger.

"Our next kiss will be after I take you out on a date."

"A friend date or -"

"Definitely not a friend date."

"Then I'm all in mon mimi."

He wrapped an arm around her waist as they both turned to look at their friends. Thank kwami's they didn't keep anything from each other, as he was quite sure she'd have had him strung upside down from the top of the Eiffel Tower for this one.