Marinette slightly frown at his answer. She wasn't sure if basketball could be that rough. Then again she didn't really know much about sports. Marinette stared at it a bit closely. It was the same exact spot where Chat got injured. She quickly pushed that thought out her mind. It was a coincidence. 

"Better, but I still have a bit of a cough," she replied. She looked away slightly not sure if she should say anything else. Marinette then noticed Nino was gone. "Where did Nino go?"

Adrien looked around, suddenly confused.  "I don't know.  He was here a minute ago..." he said with a shrug. He wondered if Nino had left on purpose or if he saw Alya and decided to go talk to her.  They were together, so it wouldn't be too odd for him to join her.

"Hey, do you want to hang out after school?" Adrien asked a little more sudden than he'd meant to.  His father was still sour with him about the botched photo shoot, so Adrien was a little reluctant to go home right after school.  His father was also going on a business trip tonight; meaning hanging out with Marinette would be fun and would keep him from having to see his father for a good three to four days.  

He hoped she was free.  She had said she was still coughing...

Marinette blinked twice, when he asked if she wanted to hang out. She wasn't expecting that at all. She smiled and nodded her head. "Yeah, I'm free."

After school they decided to go to a local cafe, it wasn't crowed so they were able to sit outside. Marinette decided to order a cream puff. She wanted to treat herself to something nice. The waiter then left them alone, when he was done taking their order. Marinette just sat back in her seat. She wasn't quite sure what to say to him. It was easier to talk to him, when they were working on homework or playing DDR.

"So.." She began to say. "How was your weekend?" Marinette hated small talk, but it was the only way to break the ice.

Adrien hesitated a moment when she asked about his weekend.  He hadn't gotten a chance to say much to Nino (his usual outlet for talking about his father) before class started; just small talk about how he'd hurt his arm.  He didn't really want to burden Marinette with the details, but... He also really wanted to talk to someone.

"It could have been better," he said with a sigh. "I scraped my arm up the day before a photo shoot, so my dad wasn't too happy about it." He paused and decided to leave it at that.  He wanted to see what she would say first. She shouldn't have to hear his family drama unless she absolutely wanted to.

"What about your weekend?"

Marinette just stared at him, his dad wasn't too happy? It wasn't like he did it on purpose. Shouldn't he be concern for his son's well being? Now she was more curious about his home life. She leaned forward to show she was interested in his weekend. "I was just getting over this stupid cold." She paused for a second. "Shouldn't your dad be more concern about your arm? And not some stupid photo shoot?"

"Well, I'm glad you're feeling better," he said, before taking the opening to vent. 

"You would think he'd care... He's always thinking about work. Sometimes it feels like that's what's most important to him. I help him by modeling, but he doesn't seem to appreciate it."  He couldn't mention that his dad knew he was lying to him.  That would give away his injury being something other than the harmless basketball accident.

Adrien took a sip of water.  Had that been too much at once?  He seriously wasn't sure how much to share without sounding whiny.

Their food finally arrived. Marinette's eyes sparkle, when the waiter placed the creme puff in front of her. Adrien got mousse. Marinette dug into her food to give herself some time to think. She opened the door a bit. She wondered if she could get more out of him. She decided to take the plunge. "Is that why you model? Do you like it?"

Adrien paused, fidgeting with the spoon in his hand before eating a scoop of mousse. He wasn't supposed to admit the fact he didn't really like modeling. It would definitely become some kind of scandal or something if the news picked it up. 

Then again, he trusted Marinette.  It was strange how much he trusted her for the relatively short amount of time they'd started hanging out, to be honest.  Almost like he'd always trusted her..

"Truthfully... I model to try and make him happy.  I've never really cared for it, and now it feels like I have a real job. Getting so much attention just for looking pretty isn't as satisfying as actually doing something to earn it."

"Oh wow," Marinette replied. She wasn't expecting that answer. She bit into her creme puff. Marinette wasn't quite sure what else to say. She felt bad for him and wanted to do something. But what? She took a sip of a water to think some more. There was only one thing she can do. "Well if you ever need to vent about it. I'm always here to talk."

Adrien brightened at her words. It was a relief he hadn't somehow chased her away with his problems. That brought his list of people he could talk to up to three... or two and a half... Plagg wasn't always the best at letting him vent. Sometimes the kwami tried to interject by suggesting he do something passive aggressive to get back at his father.

Adrien smiled, "Thank you. I'll remember that."  He took another bite of his mousse before continuing.  "Hey, my father's going to be gone on a business trip for a few days.  Would you like to hang out?"

Marinette returned his smiled. She was so happy that they were getting closer. She looked down at her creme puff. She hoped something would come out of this. Marinette perked up, when he mention about hanging out. "Sure." She then smirked. "Missed getting your butt kicked at DDR?"

Adrien's eyes widened in mock offense.  "How dare you?  I am the king of DDR." He said, unable to keep a straight face.  It felt strangely natural to open up to her now that she had offered to listen when he needed to vent.  He chuckled and added, "If I felt like getting my butt kicked, we'd go to your house and play Ultimate Mecha Strike III."

Marinette was trying so hard not laugh. It was strange how they could be so snarky with each other. It was like they always been this way. "Ha! I will kick your butt and you will become the Fool of DDR!" She then burst out of laughing. She couldn't believe she just said that.

Below the table Plagg and Tikki were hanging out. They both were trying not to laugh at their owners. Tikki looked at Plagg. "We need to some how get them together. I think it would best do it before they know the truth."

Adrien laughed with her.  "You're on.  We can do an ultimate DDR challenge using the hardest songs available. The one who wins the most is the King of DDR.  Loser is the fool."

Plagg nodded. "She needs to get used to the idea of Adrien's true personality being more like Chat's or she's going to be shocked when she realizes who he is.  Good thing he's already opening up."

Plagg sighed.  The food in the cafe smelled so good right now.  "So what did you have in mind to get them together?"

Tikki paused for a moment. "Convince them to like their other side. Which should be easy for you. Adrien is falling for Marinette. " Tikki sighed. Convincing Marinette to give Chat a chance might be difficult. 

Later that week Marinette went over to Adrien's house after to school to hang out. Adrien told Nathalie that they were working on homework. They entered his room and she threw her bag on the couch. She was ready for this DDR match.