A/N: Hey everybody! No, you're not dreaming, this is another chapter of Hazard! I haven't forgotten about this story (or, consequently, Something in the Night, which I will be updating soon). This isn't quite the continuation of Hazard that I've been promising—yet. I'll be getting to that hopefully sometime soon. But in the meantime, the lovely Robin (whodecidedweneedrealityanyway on Tumblr) sent me a request for a writing meme on Tumblr that resulted in this chapter. It was just meant to be a little piece of fun writing for the meme, but it wound up turning into a full fledged scene in its own right.

The request was for a scene from Hazard from a different character's POV. Part of the joy of writing this story was doing the entire piece from Adrien's POV. I love getting to dive into his head and watch as everything plays out. However, I was really excited to get the chance to see what Marinette is thinking, especially in this particular scene. (And somehow it ballooned and became three times longer than the original scene from Adrien's POV? Hahah…) Because I was so happy with how it turned out, I decided to share it. I hope you all enjoy!

Marinette took several deep breaths as she opened her locker. It was just going to be a normal first day back after break. She was probably getting herself all psyched out for nothing. She would go to class, sit down, wave at Adrien when he walked in, and everything would be perfectly normal—

"Good morning," a familiar voice chirped behind her.

Marinette jumped, her heart stopping. She spun around to find Adrien standing right behind her with a heart-melting grin on his face.

"Oh, hi!" Her voice came out as a squeak, and Marinette winced. Stupid, she scolded herself. There's nothing different about him, he just also happens to be…

Chat. Adrien was Chat. Eyeing his broad grin, Marinette had to wonder how she had never noticed before. Sure, he always seemed so reserved and put together at school, but their smiles were exactly the same.

She had spent most of their break trying to fit the pieces together in her mind. Surprisingly, it had been much easier than she expected. Adrien was kind and gentle and talented. Chat was dashing and protective, if sometimes a bit over the top. Two sides of the same coin.

Oddly enough, she found her own emotions on the matter split right down the middle.

Normal conversation! her brain shouted at her. Stop being so awkward in front of Adrien!

But another part of her mind pushed back. What are you so worried about? she found herself thinking. It's just Chat. Which wasn't quite true. Adrien could never be just anything—nor, really, could Chat. And yet somehow, together, he was just … himself. Her classmate, her partner. One coin, she reminded herself.

For some inexplicable reason that thought put her at ease, and Marinette found herself asking—in a perfectly normal voice, thank you very much—"How was your break?"

Adrien shrugged. "Eh, it was okay. How was yours?"

See? Nothing to worry about. Marinette struggled to hold back her giddy relief and focus on not messing up the easy air of their conversation. "I wish it weren't over," she replied truthfully. "I'm not ready for homework again."

"Yeah, me either," Adrien replied. He chuckled, and the sound hit her square in the chest. Oh god. He was too perfect—the way he crinkled his eyes happily, and the way his voice sounded deep and smooth, and the way his lips curved. The whole gesture was so … so … Chat-like. She could perfectly picture his black cat ears poking out of his gold locks, even now, and she had the sudden urge to scratch him under his chin. The instinct jolted her memory. Oh god—she had scratched Adrien under the chin. In public. Marinette struggled not to turn beat red on the spot

"You know," Adrien continued, thankfully distracting her from that line of thought. "I was pretty surprised that things were so quiet over break."

The comment dragged her back to reality, and Marinette frowned as she quickly cast her gaze around the locker room. Just because they knew about each other didn't mean that Marinette was ready for any of their other classmates to find out. But no one was nearby, and Marinette let her shoulders relax a little.

"Yeah," she agreed. The absence of akuma attacks over the holiday had been bothering her, too. "I was expected at least something to crop up."

"Hm," Adrien hummed thoughtfully, tapping his chin. "Perhaps the fact that I'm so devilishly handsome scared them all away."

She could feel the rush of blood as it flooded her cheeks. She had actually said that to him, hadn't she? Why, oh why was she so stupid? Somehow, she managed to roll her eyes and push at his shoulder. Chat did always tend to have an inflated ego—she had just never really thought of Adrien as being the same.

"Keep dreaming," she chided him, proud of the way her voice stayed steady. Of course, he was quite handsome. Very much so, actually. But he didn't need to know that right this moment.

Marinette grabbed the last of her books and closed her locker. She started toward the classroom, heart beating excitedly as Adrien fell into step beside her. They were walking to class together. Because Adrien wanted to. Oh god—what if they looked like a couple? That's what they probably looked like, didn't it?

Settle down, girl, she scolded herself. You are getting way, way ahead of yourself.

"So," Adrien said suddenly, voice sounding almost too breezy. "I've been thinking…"

Marinette looked over to find him glancing at her carefully, apparently waiting on some sign from her that he should continue.

"Yeah?" she asked. She watched him closely, a small glimmer of something small and warm flickering in her chest. He seemed almost … nervous. Was she making Adrien nervous? She barely dared to consider the possibility.

"Well," Adrien pushed on, not quite meeting her eyes, "since I'm such a Tramp—"

Marinette's heart stopped. "Oh god, Adrien," she said hurriedly, before he could go any further. Had the floor suddenly vanished? Because she felt as though she was pitching forward into pure nothingness. "I'm sorry, okay?" she assured him earnestly. "I didn't mean it as an insult, really, I—"

Suddenly, for some incomprehensible reason, Adrien burst out laughing. Marinette watched in shock as Adrien shook his head and his laughter slowly died down. "Really, it's fine," he assured her.

Marinette bit her lip, still feeling unsure. She hadn't thought at all before making that comment—really, she had still been in such a state of shock that she had just blurted out the first words that came into her head.

Adrien caught her gaze and gave her a reassuring smile. "The more I've thought about it, the funnier it's become."

She hesitated. He seemed to be telling the truth… But then again, Adrien was such a nice person—surely even if she had hurt his feelings, he wouldn't tell her. Feeling miserable, Marinette decided that she would never, ever make another comment about Chat's flirtatious tendencies.

"Anyway, like I was saying," Adrien continued. She noticed that he glanced away again, and her stomach did a little backflip. "Since I'm such a Tramp, maybe I could take you to get a spaghetti dinner sometime, hm?"

Marinette's entire body short-circuited, her feet stopping mid-step, her mind going completely blank. Had … had Adrien just asked her out on a date? Adrien Agreste? Charming, sweet talking Chat Noir?

Not a date, her mind quickly pointed out the moment it started working again. He never called it a date.

Oh, who was she kidding? A spaghetti dinner purposely intended in the fashion of Lady and the Tramp? He was so asking her on a date.

How was she even supposed to respond to something like this? She was half surprised she hadn't melted into a pile of goo on the tiled floor. She was going to start stuttering again, wasn't she? She—

Marinette glanced up to find Adrien watching her anxiously, one hand awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. Slowly, slowly she felt her frozen nerves thaw. She hadn't been wrong—he was nervous.

Of course he is, silly! her brain chided. He's asking someone out! That someone just happened to be … well, her.

He wanted to go on a date with her.

Her stomach broke into a million tiny butterflies, but for once the tickling sensation they left behind didn't overpower her. It was just there, a small echo in the background. She felt a small smile creeping onto her lips as she started walking again. "You know," she told him thoughtfully, "I think that'd be nice."

Relief broke visibly across his face, and Marinette felt another surge of pleasant disbelief. She had spent so long pining after him that watching Adrien experience the same uneasiness somehow made him seem more … human.

Of course he is, she told herself. Yet she couldn't help but admit how much easier she felt knowing he was having some of the same doubts.

"Alright, cool," Adrien told her, a goofy grin spreading across his cheeks. Somehow, the expression made him look only that much dreamier. "When are you free?" he added as they walked into the classroom.

"Let me check my calendar." She reached to grab her phone from her purse.

"If you want," Adrien said hurriedly, not quite meeting her eyes again, "I could just give you my number and you can text me what works best."

Marinette's voice died in her throat. How was she supposed to admit that she had filched his number from Alya as soon as she had been able? That sounded so … lame. And kind of stalker-ish. Oh god, how was she supposed to tell him that she had literally stolen his phone? That, she decided firmly, was not something they were going to talk about. Ever.

Adrien was still watching her curiously, waiting for an answer. Guiltily, Marinette mumbled, "I … actually have your number."

Adrien did a double take, and Marinette's stomach sank. She quickly looked away, not wanting to see whatever look he was about to give her. She shrugged in her best attempt at nonchalance. "Alya gave it to me once," she told him. Hey, it was the truth. Most of it.

To her immense relief, Adrien simply smiled. "That works!" he said. He sounded excited. To spend time with her. This was going to take some getting used to. "Just let me know."

"Sure thing!" Marinette replied quickly, voice coming out far too high to be acceptable. She hurried to her seat before she could do anything more embarrassing and plopped down next to Alya.

She watched discretely—well, what she hoped was discretely—as Adrien settled into his seat in front of her, carefully ignoring the very pointed look that Alya was shooting her. For a moment, Marinette was foolish enough to believe herself safe from questioning—there was no way that Alya would ask her with Adrien sitting unoccupied right in front of them. But then Nino walked in, and immediately the two boys launched into a conversation about winter break.

Marinette braced herself as Alya leaned toward her conspiratorially. "What was that?" Alya asked with a quiet giggle.

"Nothing," Marinette replied quickly. Too quickly. Drat, Alya was never going to let this slide now. Marinette busied herself with arranging her pencil and notebook on the desk.

"Yeah, right," Alya hissed, rolling her eyes. "That was so something. Now spill!"

Marinette glanced carefully at Adrien. He was listening intently as Nino complained about his dad's annoying car. She should be safe, right?

"You know," Marinette said slowly, throwing in a little shrug. Alya merely gave her a very flat look. With a sigh, Marinette relented. "Just a date."

Alya squealed suddenly, and Marinette turned bright red. But she was far more concerned with Adrien, who had flinched ever so slightly at the word date. Had he been listening to them? The faint tinting of pink in his ears seemed to confirm that he was.

A small piece of Marinette was mortified. But that was overshadowed by a much larger surge of thrill. Adrien was blushing? Because she had called their dinner plans a date? Marinette had spent the past year turning bright red at even the sight of Adrien. The knowledge that she could somehow, in turn, take Adrien off guard felt oddly ... empowering. In the best possible way.

Feeling ridiculously giddy, Marinette slid her phone out of her purse. She threw a quick grin to Tikki before snapping her purse closed. Then, fingers shaking slightly, she texted, Saturday?

She heard Adrien's phone buzz, and held her breath as he slid it out of his pocket. Not ten seconds later, a new message lit up her screen. She opened it quickly, grinning widely. Saturday. 5 work for you?

Alya was giving her yet another pointed look, but Marinette willfully ignored her. Works for me, she typed.

She hit send, then hid a grin as Adrien quickly grabbed his buzzing phone.

"Who's that?" Nino asked suddenly, leaning to get a closer look at Adrien's phone.

Adrien jumped—again—and Marinette very carefully restrained herself from giggling. Dang, Adrien being all jumpy was actually kind of sort of absolutely adorable.

"Oh, just Nathalie," Adrien assured Nino. Marinette didn't miss the way Adrien drew his phone in closer to his chest, away from Nino, nor the way his ears were slowly starting to turn pink again.

There was a slightly longer wait this time, but eventually Marinette's phone lit up again. Can't wait =(^˃ᆺ•^)=

At the sight of the kitty emoticon, Marinette felt her heart rate spike. It was just a silly little cat face, but yet again she was struck by what a complete and utter Chat thing it was to do.

"Since when do you send cat faces to Nathalie?" Marinette looked up to see Nino frowning suspiciously at Adrien's phone. Obviously he had taken a page from Alya's book, because he did not seem to be buying Adrien's excuse in the slightest.

But somehow, Adrien brushed it off as if it were nothing. "Ever since I learned how much she hates cats," Adrien shot back, leaning back a bit in his chair.

Marinette felt her mouth fall open and quickly shut it. Forget their pending class—she should be taking notes on this. The only small sign that Adrien hadn't been telling the truth was the slight but persistent tint at the tips of his ears.

The teacher walked in then, and the class quieted down, but Marinette was far, far beyond focusing on the lesson.

Saturday, she had a date with Adrien. But Saturday was so very far away. Sure, they might chat a bit after school. And she was going to see him in class every day. And now that he had her number, she could text him whenever she wanted. But none of that seemed like enough. She wanted to spend time with him and just talk. Get to see every little gesture—when he hesitated, when smiled, when he blushed.

Oh god, she hadn't thought it possible, but somehow she had fallen even deeper for him.

Stop being greedy, she scolded herself. Getting to see him every day and talk with him more is enough. It's enough.

Except it wasn't.

Maybe … maybe he would want to hang out with her after school. A part of her mind kept warning her not to get too clingy—what if she scared Adrien off before they ever even got to go on their date? She ignored that whispering voice just as willfully as she ignored the smug grins Alya kept shooting at her.

But how was she even supposed to ask him to spend time with her? Maybe she could think up some kind of excuse?

I didn't understand the Physics homework—would you be willing to help me with it after school?

Marinette struck that idea down almost as soon as it entered her mind. Adrien did seem to be good at Physics, and Marinette most definitely was not. But they hadn't even HAD Physics class yet—it would be way too suspicious. Besides that, asking for help with homework just seemed too … transparent.

Things have been too quiet—maybe we should look into it tonight?

No, no, definitely not. Even with their patrols, they had always taken a rather passive approach to addressing Hawk Moth. They had no way to track him, after all. Suggesting it now would probably be too obvious. And besides, that was work. She wanted to just hang out with him.

God, why was this so hard? Marinette slumped in her seat, fingering her phone. Maybe she should just drop it for now. If she was patient enough, she could just wait until she actually was struggling with the Physics homework and just ask him them. Carefully she opened her purse, ready to put her phone away, then stopped. Tikki was sitting at the bottom, smiling happily up at her. Right, Tikki.

Elated, Marinette quickly yanked her phone back into her lap. She glanced up to make sure the teacher wasn't looking, then typed, I got to meet Plagg, but you still haven't met Tikki. She hesitated, trying to figure out how to phrase this in a way that seemed … not annoying. Eventually, she added, Want to swing by my place after school?

She hit send, then bit her lip as Adrien's phone buzzed softly. He straightened suddenly, obviously taken off guard, and Marinette wondered belatedly if he would be irritated that she was texting in the middle of class. Maybe she should have waited. Maybe this was too obvious. He probably wasn't even going to reply until after class, in which case wouldn't it have been better to just wait patiently and ask him then? Maybe—

The teacher turned away, and Adrien quickly bent over his phone. Marinette felt her pulse pick up, and she watched with pleased curiosity as Adrien's ears slowly turned pink yet again. That was a good sign, right? He wasn't upset?

Her phone lit up a moment later. She opened the message, then felt her heart stop.

I'd love to.

He had said that he would love to spend time with her. He wanted to come over her house. He wanted to hang out with her. Ostensibly, he probably also wanted to meet Tikki, and Marinette tried not to read too much into it. But then why did his ears turn red again? No matter how she looked at it, it was hard to deny that he also seemed excited.

The knowledge set off a thrill that seared through Marinette's stomach. Determined to keep his ears burning, Marinette threw her good judgment to the wind and quickly replied, Great. Meet me after class, handsome boy. She hit send before she could second guess herself, though she felt the heat already beginning to blossom across her cheeks.

Adrien's phone buzzed right as the teacher turned back toward the class. She waited in pained silence, fervently hoping she hadn't just made the most embarrassing mistake of her life.

Finally, the teacher turned back to the board, and Adrien quickly ducked over his phone. Marinette bit her lip, watching carefully for his reaction.

It didn't take long. Within moments Adrien's ears had turned bright red, and the color quickly seeped down into his neck as well.

Oh… oh no. He was too cute. Her chest felt so full of happiness that it was difficult to breath. For the billionth time today, Marinette decided that she was in way too deep.

Dazed, she slipped her phone back into her purse and attempted to focus on at least part of the remaining lecture. But it was far too late for that. Her mind was filled to the brim with buzzing, flittering thoughts of Adrien. Who she was going to get to see. After class. In her ro—

Marinette's mouth dropped in horror. She had just invited Adrien over to hang out. In her room. In her very Adrien-bedecked room.

This … was going to be harder than she had thought.

A/N: Like I've promised before, I WILL be continuing this story eventually. I don't think it'll wind up being a lengthy continuation. Probably only one or two long chapters similar to the original one. I have some vague ideas of what I'd like to do. Really, more than anything, I just want to have a chance to write some post-reveal Adrienette fluff x3 So anyways, keep your eyes open for more to this story sometime (relatively) soon.

For anyone who has been following my other ML writing projects, Chapter 10 of SitN is next on my list. Since that story is going to turn out being so HUGELY long, I'll probably weave in some other, smaller ML projects along the way as well. These are (in no particular order):

1. The ice cream date from It's Complicated
2. Marinette waking up one morning and realizing she's in love with Chat (and being super salty about it)
3. A fake dating Adrienette story! This one is actually completely plotted, so it might come sooner rather than later.
4. A million other ML fic ideas that I have—you can see the whole list on my Tumblr (at /katwrites)

As always, thank you so, SO much for reading! I get notifications on a daily basis of new readers finding this story, and it makes me so unbelievably happy to know that so many of you have enjoyed it. You folks are seriously amazing and never fail to make me smile.

If you ever want to come scream with me about Miraculous Ladybug and these two lovely dorks, you can find me on Tumblr (Konekat). (And, of course, be warned that my blog is NSFW.)