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Marinette wrung her hands together, stubbornly not looking down but up at the boy in front of her. She'd practiced what she was going to say to him for the last week, since it seemed she couldn't do this impulsively. "Adrien I really enjoy hanging out with you and, well, we're friends," she would not make that a question! She knew they were! "But I, I wonder if you'd like to be, um, date friends instead? Because I really think you're wonderful."
Adrien blinked in surprise. That wasn't a bad sign.
He put his hand behind his neck a rubbed it. "Oh! Wow!" A good sign perhaps?
"I'm really flattered." Uh-oh!
"I really value our friendship." S.O.S!
"I mean I think of you as one of my best friends." At least he meant it.
"It's just that, there's someone else." And Marinette's heart sank.
Forcing to keep her smile, Marinette nodded. Adrien looked worried which was both sweet and frustrating. He cared but just not in the right way. "Oh, um, well, I'll see you later."
She saw the way his hand moved to her, just as she turned. She couldn't look him in the eye and it was just best to leave the awkward situation. After all, there was nothing more to say. She ran off, but waved her hand behind. He was still her friend, and she wanted to at least maintain that. Just as soon as she got over the heartbreak.
As soon as they were out of sight, a red kwami was trying to reassure her charge. "It will be okay Marinette," Tikki said quietly, peeking out from the girl's purse.
Marinette rubbed her eyes with the back of one hand. "I know you're right Tikki. It still hurts though."
"Of course it does. And I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but telling him was for the best. You don't have to keep worrying about 'what ifs'."
Marinette made a choking laugh. "At least, at least he still wants to be friends."
If Tikki was going to say more she didn't get a chance as another voice caught Marinette's attention.
"That doesn't look good," Nino muttered from his hiding spot next to Alya. They knew what Marinette had planned on doing, even if she hadn't told Alya the exact details.
Alya sighed as she watched the retreating form of her best friend. "I should go after her."
Surprisingly, Nino held her shoulder and shook his head. Alya looked at him ready to protest. "Wait until she calls you or something."
"But..." Alya tried to protest.
"She's probably really embarrassed right now and if she knows we were spying it might make it worse." Nino removed his hand but his expression was serious enough to keep Alya where she was.
"I can't just sit around and do nothing. She's my best friend and she's in pain!" Alya whispered with exaggerated hand gestures.
Nino held out a hand and shook his head. "I'm not saying don't do anything, I'm just saying..."
Nino didn't get a chance to finish as a shriek erupted not far from them. "Come out Adrien Agreste!"
A few meters in front of them was a female figure with a multilayered dress, sickening grey blue skin, long purplish nails and most telling of all, dark pigtails. With a gasp, Alya and Nino spoke at the same time. "Marinette!"
Adrien had walked off in the opposite direction as Marinette after the exchange. He felt weird about the whole thing. Marinette liked him, like liked him liked him.
Like he had told her, he was flattered. Marinette was an amazing girl and to have someone like that to feel that way about him was in many ways nice. The obvious problem of course was he was in love with Ladybug, which most the time wasn't a problem at all.
All the while he was ignoring anything and everything Plagg was saying because it was not helpful in the least. Not that the kwami was saying much, just snickering at him being flustered. At least that's what Adrien thought, though what exactly was 'more convoluted' he did not know.
His curious nature was interrupted by the sound of an angry voice calling out his name. That couldn't be good. He was afraid what Chat Noir was going to find.
Nino was looking at the business end of those long nails. They hadn't expected her to move so fast. "Tell me where Adrien Agreste is!"
"I...I don't know," Nino whimpered, Alya clinging to his back.
“Marinette please…,” Alya said softly, trying not to shake.
"I'm not Marinette, I'm Dressaster and if you can't tell me where he is I can use you both as bait," growled the akumatized girl.
The pair gulped in unison, but then to their relief they heard a new voice. "Instead of bait, how about we switch things up?"
The akuma turned around and snarled at the hero before her. "Chat Noir!“
Alya and Nino knew it was best to try to escape while Chat Noir engaged the akuma. Trying to be quick and quiet, they got around the bushes and retreated away from where they heard a few more quips from Chat Noir. Not only did he buy them time to escape, even as the akuma was likely now trying to engage him in battle, the hunt for Adrien postponed, but it allowed them to run into Ladybug!
“Are you two alright,” Ladybug asked as she landed in front of them.
Alya nodded. “Yes, thanks to Chat Noir.”
Ladybug looked in the direction the two had come from, then back at them again. “Okay, get somewhere safe.”
Nino started pulling Alya along, but she turned her head as they rushed away to look at the hero. “Be careful Ladybug, Marinette seems to have some really long nails!”
“Long nails, got it. Wait, did you say Marinette?!?” Ladybug turned to look at the fleeing form of the two, her mouth slightly gaping open until she heard a shout that sounded like it came from her partner. It was time to battle this akuma.
The clearing where Ladybug found Chat Noir and the akuma was littered with threads around benches and the branches of bushes and trees. It seemed Chat Noir had been dodging the threads, led by magically flying needles, because of course. She saw that the akuma was using multiple threads and it looked as though Chat Noir lost track of one of the deadly needles as he dodged the other. With no time to lose, Ladybug sent her yo-yo flying at her partner, wrapping his waist with the string, and pulling him to her.
With a less than graceful flight, it could be forgiven that the cat hero yowled in surprise and that he fumbled his landing, ending up at her feet like a lump. "Ladybug," he said in delight as the akuma, having lost sight of Chat Noir started calling out Adrien's name, as though he'd come. "Thanks for the save. Marinette is pretty tough."
Ladybugs eyes went wide as her partner picked himself off the ground. "Marinette?"
"Yeah, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Well she's calling herself Dressaster," Chat Noir amended.
"What makes you think it's Marinette?" Ladybug asked in an exasperated tone.
Chat Noir rubbed the back of his neck, not looking at Ladybug directly. "Well you heard her calling for Adrien right? He sorta, well, he rejected her I guess."
"That's stupid!" Ladybug stomped her foot in annoyance.
Chat Noir went from bashful to annoyed as he crossed his arms. "Marinette’s feelings are not stupid and you should know it's not the citizen’s fault when Hawk Moth akumatizes them!"
"I didn't say that! It's just... assuming... nevermind. Let's get this akuma."
Chat Noir nodded his agreement and they went to hunt down the akuma before she got too far. Fortunately for the duo either she just was taking her time hunting for Adrien or had been arguing with Hawk Moth over priorities. Either way they took her by surprise, but the upper hand did not stay theirs.
With multiple flying needles and the area covered in threads they could trip on or worse, they needed an edge. Chat Noir used his Cataclysm, which destroyed a good section of the thread made webbing and distracted the akuma as Ladybug called upon her Lucky Charm and received a red with black polkadots beach ball. After considering her options, Ladybug just threw it at the akuma. As she expected the akuma sent a needle to intercept it, causing the ball to pop close to her. Staggering back right into Chat Noir’s waiting grasp, the akuma tried to pull back her arm, but Chat Noir grabbed the wrist pincushion before she could.
Once thrown over to her, Ladybug considered the work of the homemade piece before tearing it in half and releasing the evilized butterfly. With practiced steps she cleansed the butterfly and threw up the remains of her Lucky Charm to cleanse the small amount of damage the akuma had wrought.
Chat Noir was standing next to a petite girl, wearing her dark blonde hair in pigtails. He looked surprised seeing the girl. Ladybug walked over. “Are you alright?” The girl, looking embarrassed, nodded. Ladybug continued. “Why were you after Adrien Agreste?”
“Well, you see, I was upset because, well, he didn’t say yes to Marinette,” the girl explained looking at the pincushion Ladybug handed back to her.
“Why does Marinette not getting a date upset you?” Ladybug wasn’t sure how she was able to keep her voice steady. Maybe because of the perplexed look of her partner.
“Because I’m her fan!” The girl declared.
“Her what?” Ladybug nearly choked on her words.
“I’m the vice-president of the Marinette Dupain-Cheng fanclub!” she explained. “You see Marinette is super talented, and amazing and several of us get together to talk about all her accomplishments!”
“Marinette has a fanclub?” A voice in the bushes asked excitedly.
Ladybug wasn’t sure how much of this she could take as Alya, phone in one hand, boyfriend’s wrist in the other, came out of the bushes. How much had been recorded? How much was already on the Ladyblog?
Before Ladybug could decided what she needed to question next her earrings gave out a beep echoing Chat Noir’s. “As interesting as this all is, we have to go!”
A fistpump, a wave to the civilians, and the two heros took off. Some small part of Ladybug’s brain thought Chat Noir looked like he wanted in on this fanclub. Naaaaaa!
"Are you, um, alright?" Adrien asked looking down at Marinette, who was frowning at her phone as she sat on the bench. She moved over and Adrien took that as a cue to sit down next to her.
"Why, because I found out I have a fan club, everyone thought I got akumatized or because everyone now knows that you..." She looked at him guiltily then looked at her phone open to the Ladyblog before flipping it around. "Knows about our conversation."
Adrien sighed then shifted with a smile on his lips that might have been forced. "I can at least help you with the fans if you ever need any advice."
Marinette looked at him and gave a small laugh. Genuine despite it's odd sound. "Yeah, you probably do have good advice on that front."
Marinette lowered her eyes too quickly for Adrien's comfort and he placed a hand on her shoulder. "But Marinette, is there anything I can do right now?"
And this was why she loved him. His care and sweetness. It was still too fresh, too raw, knowing she would never get any more of it than this. She was willing to fight for their friendship but she was still in love with him. So her words were nearly as much of a surprise to her as they were to him. "Tell me about her."
Adrien's eyes went wide. "What?"
"Tell me about the person you like," she insisted. They had to be someone amazing after all. Adrien deserved that much.
"It's sorta embarrassing, Marinette," he told her, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Come on, I've had a really bad day today. It's the least you can do." She wouldn't say he owed her. He didn't, but it would help all the same.
Her tone and look must have hit the right cord because Adrien sighed and leaned back on the park bench. "Ladybug!"
Marinette squeaked and looked at Adrien wide eyed. Adrien looked back and suddenly sat straight up. "Look, it's not a celebrity crush. Even though it probably sounds like it. I... I know her better than you'd think."
"Really," Marinette couldn't help the skepticism in her voice or her eyebrow arching up.
"Honest." And despite the fact that Marinette couldn't fathom how, she also didn't think he was lying.
"Maybe you should tell her," Marinette said with a confidence she wasn't sure the source of.
"What?" Adrien's eyes bugged out a little.
"The next time you see her you should tell her. Well," she held up a finger. "Assuming it's not during the middle of an akuma attack."
"Yeah, I won't make that mistake twice," Adrien muttered.
It was Marinette's turn. "What?"
"Nevermind." Adrien shook his head to try to ignore what he said, then he sighed.
"I'm sure it will go fine Adrien," Marinette assured him then stood. “Besides it's unlikely you'll see her soon."
"You might be surprised," Adrien disagreed with a grin. A grin that was achingly familiar.
Marinette blinked, but decided to leave well enough alone. "I guess I'll see you in class."
Adrien nodded. "Hey Marinette. I meant what I said earlier today. You're one of my best friends."
Marinette's shoulders sagged and she gave him a sad smile. "I know. And just give me a little time and..." She wasn't sure what. She wasn't sure what she wanted now. Not back to normal, whatever was was gone. "And we can continue to be good friends."
There was relief in his look. It wasn't his fault, it wasn't her fault, but it would be so easy that any bonds they had could be ruined by their mismatched desires. "See you in school Marinette."
She gave him a smile and a wave and walked off. Once they were alone, Tikki popped her head out of the purse. "What are you going to do when he confesses to you as Ladybug?"
Marinette tripped on thin air and barely got her footing back. She looked at the kwami with an anxious look. "I don't know, but I doubt I'll have to worry about it anytime soon. I couldn't just accept but if he really did ask me out, well, I couldn't say no either."
That night Marinette transformed into Ladybug and set out across the city to meet up with her partner. Upon landing on the preassigned roof the dark figure that had been sitting on the edge stood and walked over to her. "Good evening my Lady. You're looking as purr-fect as usual."
Chat Noir's flirting was accompanied a million dollar smile. Ladybug was accustomed to her partner's expressiveness, but something about that smile startled her and she thought her heart skipped a beat. Was she so fickle?
He stepped closer to her. "I have a confession," he all but whispered and Marinette wondered if she should have been so surprised by his next words.