Marinette walked into the dance studio with as much enthusiasm as she'd walk into the dentist for a root canal filling. There was no one else here. She was the first to arrive ... great. She sat herself down on the floor and stretched her legs out in front of her. Stretching was the only thing she could think about doing until the others arrived.

Alya had the insane idea that herself and Nino would have a professional dance routine for their first dance at their wedding. The insane idea then developed into asking Marinette and Adrien to be co-conspirators and learn it too. Apparently it would wow the audience, Marinette just thought it would make the audience feel sorry for her, and make Adrien dislike her even more. There was no doubt she would end up causing him one of two things; a broken toe or serious concussion.

Marinette was not known for her dance ability, God she used to be applauded for walking into the classroom without causing a spectacle of herself. She was clumsy and accident prone, and hopeless when it came to sensible options regarding Adrien Agreste. She'd remembered dancing with him once at Chloe Bourgeois sixteenth birthday party, and surprisingly it was nice. She'd thought he'd enjoyed it too, that was until she found him dancing with Lila Rossi and sticking his tongue down her throat. She went home that night and cried herself to sleep.

She continued stretching whilst giving herself a mental pep talk. You are a grown woman now, you are strong and confident, and you have a date tomorrow night with Luka Couffaine. Lead guitarist of Kitty Section.

You will enjoy the date with Luka, or at least you'll get free food out of it. No, no Marinette, bad thinking.

She sighed to herself, it made no difference. Going on this date with Luka transpired as just something to stick in Adrien's face. She could see the unease Adrien felt when Luka was around and it gave her a sense of a thrill, perhaps he did like her more than he was letting on.

The only problem was he still treated her like the frail young girl who stuttered and wore piggy tails. She wanted him to see her as serious, not just a goofy kid who challenged him at video games. It wasn't just Adrien that didn't see her as serious. Most of her friends didn't either. Many were now encouraging her to seek a different job, something a bit more stable financially. She hated the fact that a lot of her friends saw her as failing.

Adrien's comment about Monaco hit her again. Did he think that way about her too? Of course he did. Adrien Agreste, the world famous athlete and model, son to an insanely rich and famous fashion designer father ... why would he think any different of her?

"You know, it's quite important that you blink, Princess?" She scoffed at the nickname. There was only one person who called her that. She looked up into the reflection of the mirror and saw his piercing emerald eyes staring back at her. "Hope I wasn't interrupting dreams about me." Marinette actually snorted at him, before turning a beautiful shade of red.

"I have taste thank you very much Monsieur Agreste." She stood up brushing herself down. She was wearing a pair of tight fitting leggings again and a long sleeve baggy jumper. He looked over her body and noticed the cling of the material. He was quite sure no one should be this attractive in sportswear, and he knew this from having modelled it a gazillion times. Her hair had been pulled back into a high ponytail with a red ribbon wrapped around tightly. Giving him a good look at her face and her neck.

"You certainly do." He couldn't help the natural reaction to lick his lower lip. He took one step towards her as she took one back.

"Oooo are we practicing in here already?" Alya and Nino walked hand in hand into the studio and looked between Adrien and Marinette.

"Yes, I'm practicing my escape from a womaniser dance moves. Channelling my inner Britney and everything."

"Hummmm..." Alya looked over at Marinette before raising an eyebrow. The tension in the room was visible to anyone entering, what kind of tension that was is yet to be explained. Firstly this was uncomfortable with Adrien being so close to her and being caught advancing towards her and secondly she was now going to get up close and personal dancing with him. She prayed they hadn't chosen a rumba, known as the dance of passion.

"Awwwww Madame Césaire, lovely to meet you again." A flamboyant male entered the studio with a slide and a spin and Marinette felt herself throw up a little bit in her mouth. Was she seriously going to be learning how to dance? Adrien looked over at her smirking with one eyebrow lifted. She stuck her tongue out at him. OK Marinette, that was probably not the kind of impression you wanted to be making when it came to the 'new and improved grown up Marinette'.

"So I've met the beautiful bride and groom but my, my what a glorious couple we have here with you. Are they also a bride and groom to be?" He was looking straight at Marinette and Adrien. They began to scramble over each other with words.

"Him? No way!" "Her pfft why?" Everyone in the room were gapping at them and their sheer determination to make sure they weren't seen as a couple.

"Shame really," he said "you'd create beautiful children." Adrien and Marinette glared at each other before swiftly looking away and crossing their arms. Yep, Marinette. You're full of maturity this evening.

"Mari, Adrien this is Louis, he's going to be teaching us for the next few months." Alya announced.

"Months?" Marinette announced. Seriously? She'd have to endure this for months. Perhaps when Louis saw how bad she was he'd ask her to leave.

"Ok men, grab your ladies and bring them onto the floor. We're going to be working on a rumba." If looks could kill Louis would be dead. She did not want to rumba with anyone, especially stinky Agreste. She closed her eyes trying to steady her nerve when a warm breeze hit her neck.

"I think you need to dance with your eyes open. It might help a lot." She smirked at Adrien as he offered her his hand. Everyone was staring waiting to see what she was going to do.

Marinette, you are a woman now start acting like one!

She placed her hand into Adrien's and let him lead her to a space marked out for them by Louis. He walked round to the two of them and placed Marinette's hands on Adrien's shoulders and Adrien's hands on Marinette's hips.

"No no no, this won't do. Rumba is the dance of love, you need to get closer." Placing one hand on each of their backs he pushed Adrien and Marinette in so their bodies were in contact. They were both staring into each other's eyes as their bodies connected.

He'd never been this close to a woman without it involving some sort of naked exploration, but for some reason looking into Marinette's eyes as they were stood so close felt incredibly intimate. He couldn't stop staring at her, her eyes really were magnificent, he'd always known that but he'd never just stood and admired the true depth of them.

"Are you sure you're not together? This is a very convincing look of love." The two shook themselves out of it playing their defence again. He could never be with Marinette, he was not what she needed. Someone like Luka was. He felt his heart drop for the millionth time since Tuesday night. For some reason he couldn't get his head around the thought of Luka touching her, yet he had no rights over Marinette. He was just having a physical attraction to her ... that was all. But what he couldn't fathom was why she was the only woman he'd think about.

Women were throwing themselves at him yet he didn't even bother to acknowledge them. He couldn't do this to Mari though, the girl who constantly stuck around in his life and pushed him to be better. For some reason he had an overwhelming desire to tell her about the offer from SciencePro college.

He hadn't told anyone, it was still early days but the thought of telling Marinette was heart warming. He knew she'd be proud of him. She always had been. How had his life began to revolve around this girl in his arms, he hadn't got a clue? But she crept into all his conscious and unconscious thoughts.

"Ok," Louis clapped pulling all their attention to the front of the room. "Remember the rumba is the dance of passion, of love, of romance. This is only going to work if you truly believe your partner is God's single creation for you and your body." Marinette snorted. Adrien bent down to whisper into her ear.

"What's wrong purrincess, my body not purrfect for you?" She looked back at him in shock. He'd used cat puns constantly during their superhero assignment when they were fifteen years old. His superhero being Chat Noir with the power to destroy all with his magical cataclysm.

"Stop bugging me!" She whispered back, turning her attention back to the instructor. He smirked, obviously she'd remembered too.

"You want to hold each other close and sway together. We'll start with practicing the sway. Step onto your toe and lower your heel allowing your hip to move with your leg." Louis was demonstrating and to be honest it didn't look as hard as Marinette was expecting, that was until the breath was knocked out her body by the full force of her built partner.

"Adrien!"

"He said to get close Princess, I'm just following the instructions." Adrien was grinning, she just wanted to reach up and smack it off his face.

"Since when did you follow what anyone was telling you?"

"I thought I'd change a habit of a lifetime just for you, Bugaboo."

"Call me that again and I'll kick you where it hurts."

"Oooo you're feisty when you want to be." Unbeknownst to either of them, whilst bickering they'd moved into a synchronised pattern. Right, left, right, left.

"Have you two been having secret lessons?" Nino was staring open mouthed as he struggled to get any of the steps right, much to Alya's annoyance.

"I must agree with Nino. I'm shocked you two are actually managing to do this. You're incredibly in sync." Marinette and Adrien stopped and looked at each other. They had some how found themselves in a very synchronised position.

"Right, my lovers, it's time for the next move." The instructor walked through the steps with them a few times, before giving them time to practice.

Nino managed to pretzel his legs and fall, ending up on top of Alya, much to her dismay.

"Get off me you turtle!"

"Who you calling a turtle, Fox?" They began to bicker as Adrien and Marinette continued their dance.

1, 2, 3, 4,1 ... 2, 3, 4,1 ...

Adrien was staring deeply into Marinette's eyes. They were truly mesmerising. He can't remember ever seen eyes like it before in his life, and he'd seen a lot of women. What confused him most was how he felt when he gazed into them. He found himself wanting to be better, to be making more of himself, to get this new job and do as he was asked - settle down. The thought terrified him though, what if he ended up like him? What if he ended up like Gabriel? It wouldn't be fair on anyone. His parents behaviour had truly screwed him up.

"Adrien," he snapped out his trance and smiled to Marinette, a full on fake, showing all your teeth smile. "You're freaking me out." Quickly he looked around the room and noticed Alya and Nino were no longer with them, and the instructor was beginning to pack up ready to leave.

"Where have Nino and Alya gone?" Adrien asked, how did he miss them leaving? How long had he been staring at Marinette?

"They got into an argument because Nino fell on Alya. I suppose they can't take that we're so much better than them." She started to laugh as she stepped out of his hold. Suddenly he was a thousand times cooler.

He'd enjoyed holding her, she really did have an incredible body. His right arm went straight to the back of his neck and he glanced over in her direction. She was walking to her bag and bent over to pick it up. That was the moment he lost all control over his body.

Why is she getting into my head? He thought as he shook himself. He could get any women in Paris, why they hell was this girl mattering so much?

His thoughts suddenly turned into what Marinette would think if he started dating around in Paris, like he had done everywhere else he had been. The thought made his insides quiver. She'd be so disappointed in him, she really believed he was worth more than him sells himself for. It had been years since someone cared so much.

Not concentrating on his walking, he misjudged his timing and stepped onto the side of his foot. The pain shot through his knee as he buckled to the floor. As he hit the floor the sounds of many expletives could be heard echoing around the studio. Marinette rushed to his side and knelt down beside him, leaving her bag and water bottle where they were.

"Adrien? Are you ok? Is it your bad knee?" He looked down at his already ballooning knee and winced. This could only be one of two things; bad, or really bad. He rubbed the sides of his knee before rolling up his trouser leg to have a look.

"Ouch!" Marinette was looking over Adrien's shoulder at his knee which was now at least two times its normal size. "Will you be ok to drive back to your apartment?"

He looked her directly in the eye. The pain subsiding with the genuine worry Marinette was displaying for him.

"I walked." He spoke so matter of fact Marinette was taken aback.

"You walked? But it's miles?"

"I felt like the fresh air." Actually what he should have said is he'd seen Luka earlier that day, who took great pleasure in telling Adrien all about his date with Marinette tomorrow. Adrien had never felt possessive anger like this before. The more he saw, spoke and thought about Luka, the more angry he seemed to become. The walk was meant to help him relax before seeing Marinette. The last thing he wanted to do was take it out on her.

"I'll take you home!" She stood up and grabbed her bag. As she walked back towards him she looped one arm under his armpits to help him stand up. It took him a few seconds to release what she was doing and then a few more to react.

"I'm not getting in a car with you. I know how much of a crazy driver you are." He stated, as he tried to help her support his weight.

"Please! Who's had the most car accidents? Me or you?"

"Who wrote her car off two days after having it?" She gasped in surprise.

"How do you know about that?" She was shocked, he wasn't around when that happened.

"I may have asked about you a couple of times." He leant against her as she picked him up, screwing his face at the pain he felt from the impact of his foot on the floor. There was no way he could walk home and he didn't feel like the awkwardness of an Uber ride. As they reached her car, she looked at him like she was about to scold a child and take away it's favourite toy.

"Get in." She unlocked the car and opened the door for him. He slowly lowered himself down into her tiny car and stretched his leg out as much as possible. He pushed the seat right back to give him extra space.

Marinette giggled to herself as she shut the door behind Adrien. He looked like a giant getting into her tiny car. It was similar to clowns in a car at the circus. He had to push the chair all the way back to stretch his leg into a semi comfortable position. She'd enjoyed the evening with him. The way they interacted with each other excited her. She wanted to know more about him. Not the olympian or model, but about the man, about his travels. What he'd seen and done, without the added extra of who he'd done. She climbed behind the wheel and began to drive to Adrien's apartment.

"I'll help you into your apartment and get some ice for your knee."

"You don't have to Mari, I'll be ok."

"Adrien, your on the verge of tears. Please just let me help you. It'll make me feel good." He looked her over, knowing what she said was exactly what she meant. She helped people, she was so selfless.

"Fine, but no throwing food around." He smiled, he actually smiled at her and a tingling feeling passed through her body. No matter how much she'd like to say she's moved on from her lycée crush, one smile still turns her into mush.

As she pulled into one of his allocated spaces she rushed around to help him out.

"Princess, you can't keep lifting me. You'll pull your back, I'm too heavy."

"Well a Princess should always look after her Prince." Her cheeks flamed red. Why the hell did she say that? What was she thinking? Looking away she tried to gather herself together. Luckily the sound of Adrien's deep manly laugh pulled her attention away from her mishap.

"Prince? I don't think I'm noble enough." They started to laugh.

"I think you're right there." She replied. It had been years since they were this carefree in conversation. They could have only been about sixteen years old. Before Adrien turned into the womaniser of the century, and before his 'relationship' with Kagami.

Adrien lent against the wall as he fished in his pocket for his keys. Marinette watched him intently. If only he had the opportunity to be the man she knew he could be. There was so much more to Adrien Agreste than people gave him credit for.

Finding the right key he opened the door and signalled for Marinette to lead them inside.

"I'm not sure if I want to go in first. The rats might eat me." She smirked up at Adrien with one eyebrow raised.

"I think you'll be pleasantly surprised, Ms. Dupain-Cheng." She stepped inside and he soon followed hopping and hobbling behind her. He shut the door before flicking on the light switch with a big "ta-dar".

Marinette looked around in complete shock. It was clean. The apartment was spotlessly clean.

"How much did you pay someone to sort out this mess?" Adrien chuckled as he manoeuvred himself to the couch and flopped down. He found one of his bigger cushions and placed it under the bow elephant sized knee.

"I'll have you know, Princess, I did it all myself."

Marinette fake gasped as she moved her way over to the adjacent kitchen. She opened the freezer to grab some ice. Luckily Adrien had professional ice packs, so she quickly grabbed one and wrapped it for him in a tea towel before making her way to the couch. He couldn't help but smile at her. She fit this apartment, she fitted him.

"So how are things with your designing?" Adrien asked. Expertly positioning his ice pack on his knee.

"Great." She said through a fake smile, she sat the other side of his leg on Adrien's huge sofa, this definitely wasn't like her discount store purchase. Then she let out a body deflating sigh. "Actually if I'm going to be honest? It's going awful." She lent forward resting her elbows in her knees and her head in her hands.

He looked over to her, eyebrows knitted together. She looked into his eyes and sighed.

"Don't look at me like that, Adrien. Everyone looks at me like that. If someone else tells me to stop pursuing my dreams I might scream. I know we're not young anymore and I should have something with more stability but this is what I've always to do, and I'm good at it."

Adrien's eyebrows relaxed and he looked down at him knee. He wanted to tell her about his professor job opportunity. He wanted to confine in her just as she did to him.

"I had a call from SciencePro a few days ago. They want to interview me for a professor position there." He spoke with the most vulnerable voice she'd ever heard him use. She knew this was his dream from when he was younger. They'd spend many nights FaceTiming each other discussing his ability to help her through her advanced math and chemistry homework, she often told him what an amazing teacher he'd be.

"That's incredible, Kitty." She hadn't called him that in years. He looked at her with a smile.

"Thanks bug." He responded. She let out a sweet laugh and Adrien couldn't help being pulled in by her. Her smile and laugh was magical. He couldn't help but want to hear it more often, especially if he was the cause. "There's one problem though. They need me to change my imagine. Apparently the drinking and sleeping around isn't something they want to promote to the students."

"No way!" Marinette laughed, "You'd think you were the perfect role model for most teenage boys."

He laughed leaning forward to give her a slight push.

"They want me to be more family friendly." He looked her straight in the eyes and an unusual feeling pulled through his body. He'd had an idea, and hopefully one that could help both of them and get Luka out the picture, at least for the foreseeable future anyway.

"Mari, I've had an idea." He turned to face her. "Let me do your modelling-" Marinette lifted her hand, they'd been through this.

"Adrien, I've told you Luka's doing -"

"Marinette stop cutting me off and let me speak. I can use my contacts to get you appointments and into fashion shows. Let me use my name for something good for the first time in my life." Marinette nodded slowly.

"And what will be in it for you?" There's no way Adrien would do something so selfless without a reason.

"Princess, you're the most family friendly person I know. Pretend to be my girlfriend, help me to get the position please." He was practically buzzing with his idea.

"How are you going to get it across that we're dating? Post on Instagram?" Marinette started to laugh. This is seriously ridiculous.

"Well Instagram could help, and Twitter. But I'm thinking more about the paparazzi still following me, and attending fashion events with you on my arm would raise a buzz." Adrien had one last card hidden up his sleeve incase she still wasn't buy it.

"So a fake relationship."

"A family friend one."

"Of course." She sighed, "I just don't know."

"We'll both royally piss off my father." He knew this would work, the tightening in her jaw made it obvious. The thoughts ran through her head, could she seriously be in a fake relationship with Adrien and not get attached? She had no doubt she still loved him, but she'd need to control herself and push those feelings away. She'd finally get a helping hand to battle against Gabriel, and with his own son too.

"I'm in."