Mari, Adrien, Nino and Alya sat at their table for the first time without Luka, the weekend had come and gone. Alya had calmed down about her best friend being the designer behind the brand she had a whole blog dedicated to. Mari had told the group was that Luka wasn't her soulmate and she didn't want to talk about it. And Adrian made sure the group respected that. He couldn't have anyone know they where soulmates yet. Even they're best friends.

"So dudes your working together now?" Nino wanted to quiz Adrian a bit more but didn't want to embarrass Mari so he would wait.

Adrien went to answer but Mari beat him to it, "Actually I work for him. Or will work for him. I'm his new assistant, and his father is giving him a part of the company and My lady is going to be the first brand Adrian gets to build." she acted as though it was no big deal.

"Hold on, Agrest men only have live-in assistants... Mari are you moving to the man" Alya started to say then Adrien cut her off.

"No, my father gave me house for my 18th birthday, he and mother bought it before I was born and he never had the heart to get rid of it. So now it's mine." he shrugged.

"Wait, so you two are gonna live together?" Nino sat there slacked jawed.

"Well yes, she is going to be paid for being my assistant and live in the house for free because she'll do 80% of the cooking and cleaning until we are busy enough to need a cook or a maid." Adrian started as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Or I'll teach you to cook and clean and we won't need a maid." she poked his chest and giggled.

"Dude... what about your soulmates. There's no way they will be cool with this?" Nino pointed out.

Adrien and Mari looked at each other. "Well, we will cross that bridge when we get there." Mari darted her eyes to Alya begging for help.

"Can we see yall's new place?" Ayla leaned in. Nino nodded excitedly.

"Well when I brought Mari over on Friday, I had a bunch of show furniture in for the main space so we picked out some new stuff that fits our style and I've had it delivered, but I figured we could put it together. This weekend, then we could use the house to get ready for grad together in a few weeks?"

"Love it!" Alya hit her fist table, "Hey Girl why don't we move some your stuff over and do a Luka purge from your room while we at it?"

"Ya dude that might be good, Adrien God a fire pit in your yard?" Nino asked.

Adrien could tell this was too much for Mari, he could feel her anxiety rising. "Woah guys, it's like a month till grad, no need to move Mari out yet, and we can't force her to purge Luka from her life, they're still friends! I'm still in his band, there just not soulmates and Mari's dream is to end up with her soulmate. So let's just build stuff and Ayla you can help Mari see the layout potential in her space and what she's missing."

"Maybe, I'll bring the box of Lukas stuff over and we can see what needs to be returned to him and what I can donate or burn." Mari's voice came softly. "I have it all inbox already."

"Hey, there's no rush, though if you have some of his clothes he might want them back." Adrien teased.

"Well, girl you need to stop wearing that pick he gave you. You need to be ready when you find that soulmate of yours." Ayla challenged.

Adrien looked down to see Mari fiddling with a necklace, she was still hung up on Luka, this made him angry, but he remained cool, calm and collected, Chat could deal with it later.

The group agreed to meet at Adrein and Mari's new place. That Friday after school. Alya and Nino left for a date night.

"I hope you don't mind I did that. I should have asked." Adrien apologized as he walked Mari home.

"I actually was going to do the same thing. So It's all good, see you Friday partner." Adrien knew she was unhappy with what he was doing to her. But he wanted her, and he had a plan to get her to agree to go public with a pretend relationship and this Friday was his next step.

--------------------------------------------------Friday After School----------------------------------------------------

The boys worked downstairs on putting together a table, Nino took his chance to drill Adrien.

"So dude Mari is your soulmate tight? That's what she is living with you and working for you right?"

"What no, dude, Mari is my best friend! Who better for this job than her, and she's already an amazing designer, she's perfect for the type of company I want to turn Agrest Industries into. So asked Father and he let me."

"You're telling me there is no way she is your soulmate? he challenged.

"I'm telling you when I can tell you who my soulmate is, it will be minutes before the press knows. I'm not aloud to risk it. Not even for you Nino." he said with a wink.

"I think I get what you're saying, she's to hang up on Luka to even think about dating you." Nino teased and Adrien though a skew at him.

Upstairs Mari was thankful she had asked Adrien for that favour:

~Flash back to earlier~

"Adrien promise me you'll keep it a secret!" she was almost begging.

"Marinette I've told you three times now it's our secret. I haven't forced you to do anything remember."

"Okay, okay, then do something else for me?" he nodded, she looked so serious.

"Tell me not to tell anyone please!" Adrien couldn't help but laugh, she was usually so mad when he told her to do something and yet here she was almost begging him to do so. "Adrien this isn't funny! You're the only one who can tell me not to tell anyone. And I will have to listen! Please!"

"Alright Mari, You can't tell anyone that I am your soulmate." he watched her relax. then he smirked and watch her stiffen up, "The only person you can tell is Chat, I want him to know that "his lady" is mine. I know you flirt online for business but still, he should know. And Mari, from now on, try to avoid telling people the truth when they asked about you doing whatever you're told, might save you some trouble of people testing it to see if you're lying."

~back to current time~

That last part of the memory stuck out in her mind. Why had he said that, yet as Ayla tried to get out of her who her soulmate was?

"Come on I know you know! Why can't you tell me?" Ayla helped Mari placed the few things she brought over.

"I made a promise Ayla. Please when I can tell you I will." she placed a view pictures around that she brought.

"So you got to wait till Adrien can tell the press." Alya knew Mari well enough to read her like a book. She knew but she was hoping Mari would tell her. "Alright, fine don't tell me. but hey check it. I have a great idea."

She pulled Mari out of her room and pulled into her design space. "You should design some pillows and a curtain for the bay window then you can curl up there and design but be hidden from the world."

"Alya! I love it! Thank you!" she gave her a hug.

"Girl no problem! Hey, in the fall when you're all settled here we should do a My Lady space vlog for my blog and your website!"

They stared plaining, then the crew ordered pizza and finished built a few more things. Then Nino and Alya left for a DJ event that Nino had at eight.

Mari and Adrien waved at them from the door. "Hey Mari, wanna stay and watch Toy Story two?"

"Duh! It's like my favourite one!" She ran back to the couch and jumped on.

Adrien laughed and stared at the movie. Five minutes in he leaned over and whispered, "It's fine if your tired, fall asleep."

"Adrien I'm not" she yawned, "Tried." and she was asleep. He chucked and carried her away to his secret room.

Once again, he tied her to the chair and changed then woke her up while standing behind her. "Wait, what. I thought this was a dream."

He walked in front of her, "Awe, my princess thinks I'm dreamy." he laughed. "Maybe you are dreaming my lady or maybe you're not. I'll never tell."

"What do you want Chat." she rolled her eyes.

"To play a game with you." he leaned close and then reached behind her and cut the ropes.

"W...what game?" she lost all her courage.

"It's called the Master. The rules are simple. You do what I say if you don't I get to punish you."

"What if I can't disobey?" she muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" he stepped closer.

"No...thing" she gulped.

"Nothing what?

"Nothing master."

For the next forty minutes, Chat had Mair do all kinds of cleaning and ended with her giving his shoulders a back rub. "Alright, Princess you can stop now." He stood and faced her.

"I've been watching you, for a while now. And I've noticed something."

She panic, "Oh no." she whispered.

"Oh yes, I've noticed you are a very obedient girl. I've rarely seen you say no." he stepped closer.

"Your seeing things. That's not true." she stepped back.

"Oh, princess lying isn't becoming." he took a step forward.

"I... I...m not l...lying." she stepped back and hit a chair hit in front on the wall.

"Right." he stepped back, "Twirl." She did, "Jump." she did, "Touch your toes." She did. "Okay you who won't tell anyone you're soulmates name, tell me."

"Adrien Agrest." she looked at the floor.

"So the Princess lied to her master. I think that grounds for punishment. I'll have to thank that boyfriend of yours, I bet he's the one who told you to lie. Bet he never thought it works against you. Then again... I'm the only one who steals your sleep."

"Please, I didn't want to." she looks up at him.

"Your master doesn't care. Sit." she did. "Arms up." she did. He placed her arms in locks so she couldn't move them.

"Hey!" she called out.

"Want me to gag you again princess." she shook her head. "Then shh. And let me work." he then tied her waist to her chair, then placed her feet on a stool and locked her ankles in place so her feet were flexed up. "Heres the deal. If you can't keep from laughing for five minutes, the punishment ends here. If you crack before then, I get to finish my plan."

"What's the catch?" she knew better.

"You can't see the clock." he quickly blinded folded her.

He sat at her feet. As Adrien, he knew her feet were her weakest point. He slowly slipped her shoes off, then her socks. He then took his thumb and pointer finger on both hands and grabbed her big toes on each foot. He then said a rhyme and worked his way down to her littlest toe.

"This little Princess lied."

"This little Princess got caught."

"This little Princess fell into a trap."

"This little Princess is gonna lose."

"This little Princess will be punished."

He then started to tickled her feet. She tried to squirm but couldn't. Mari could have sworn it had been forever. She caved after two minutes. He stopped as soon as she laughed he took off her blindfold. "Looks like you lose."

He went and picked up a sharpie. Then went back to her feet. She was confused. He grasped her right foot in his hand and wrote slowly just to make her cringe then repeated the process on her other foot. "There, Property of Chat. Now that boyfriend of yours knows."

"Chat, he's not my boyfriend." she looked away. He started to put her socks and shoes on.

"I know, You won't wear your ex-necklace if you were dating that boy. So I'll keep fighting for you." Then unlocked her. "Oh and princess. No peeking at my artwork until tomorrow. Can't have you finding out if you're in dreamland or not."

"You've marked me like a toy..." she curled up into a ball.

"Oh princess, you're so much more than my toy now sleep." She fell asleep.

He changed and took her back to the couch. The movie was almost done. She woke up rather suddenly. "Adrien?" her voice was sharp. he sat at the foot of the love seat she was on. "Did I sleep through the movie again?"

"Yes. What's wrong?" he offered her a hand.

"I had a really vivid dream can you take me home now?"

Adrien didn't argue. Maybe he pushed too hard. He'd have to have her over and not be Chat so she could be comfortable at the house. "Mari next time you have a dream like this, I'll make you tell me." He said as he dropped her off. She nodded. Next time he would mark her in a way she couldn't hide it then he as Adrien would step in as the hero. Then she would love him, right?

Mari went to bed as soon as she was in her room. The next morning she showered. She looked at the tops of her feet. No, she thought. If I never look, I never have to know. And if it was a dream I don't want to give it credit. It was just a dream, right?