Chapter Text
Adrien stared his homework but he did not really see the words in front of him. He chewed on the end of the pen while lazily flipping pages, his mind anywhere but the history textbook in front of him. He couldn’t focus on just about anything and he couldn’t wrap his head around any of the assigned reading.
It was past eleven at night, but he wasn’t the least bit tired. He got plenty of sleep earlier in the day- Lila was akumatized for the... third? Fourth time?
Geeze , he thought to himself. She definitely has a problem.
He sighed and closed the book and leaned back in his chair. No sense in pretending to do work when he was this distracted. The whole day had been weird, from switching seats, Lila lying all day long, to him passing out in the locker room, the akuma fight. He groaned to himself, he really wasn’t much help today. He was asleep for most of the battle, and it frustrated him more than words could say that he couldn’t do more to help his Lady. He had to take the hits, didn’t he though? If she got hypnotized or frozen or whatever else the villain of the day threw at him, she couldn’t purify the akuma and then they’d be in a real mess. So he would trudge on and keep protecting Ladybug by throwing himself between her and Hawkmoth’s wrath until they figured out what they were going to do about the actual, real life super villain that terrorized Paris on a regular basis.
Still chewing on the pen to ease his worry, Adrien glanced over at his sleeping kwami and wished his life was as simple as eating cheese, hiding in his jacket, and being sucked into a magical ring to fight crime and save the world. Uh, well, maybe Plagg’s life wasn’t as simple as he thought. He was a tiny little god after all.
Adrien then looked at his desk and saw the framed picture of himself and his classmates at the park. He looked at all his friend’s faces but paused at Marinette’s. He wondered if she was as frustrated as he was, for different reasons of course.
Marinette knew about Lila’s habit to exaggerate, to put it nicely. They both knew. She figured out Lila was lying to everyone about just about everything, but he didn’t really think about how she figured it out. He thought of how determined she looked while walking down the stairs earlier in the day to call Lila out. Maybe he shouldn’t have stopped her, maybe it would have been better if everyone knew the truth. She would get what was coming to her, eventually, he knew deep down. However, Lila probably would be even worse if everyone knew now, so maybe she’ll admit after a while or maybe her lies would catch up to her once she got too deep, if she wasn’t already too deep now. He glanced down at his hands and at the silver ring on his finger. At least him and Marinette knew the truth. It was like a secret just between the two of them...
He smiled softly to himself and looked back up at the photograph, focusing on Marinette again. Still smiling, he thought back to earlier in the day, after the akuma, after talking Marinette down from calling out Lila on her lies. He had a deep admiration for the girl. She was always ready to stand up for her friends and do what was right, and he regretted that the class had failed her today. He called her amazing one time, and she proved that time and time again tenfold. He wished he could had stuck up for her like she would have him, or really anyone else in that matter. Maybe it was his shyness, or the fact that he didn’t want to cause a scene at school in case word got back to his father, but he promised he would apologize to Marinette the next time he saw her. He thought of him walking up to sit next to her, all alone in the back of the class. Adrien failed to realize his cheeks were getting a little warm. Was she always this pretty?
Wait.
….What?
He huffed and adjusted himself in his desk chair, put his pen down, then quickly pulled out his phone. What was he even thinking about. He mindlessly scrolled on social media. Marinette was his friend, not someone who he thought about like that!
After pointlessly looking at his phone, his mind wandered back to the school day, and of course further drifted to Marinette. He thought of how he decided to sit next to her, and how the light shined just right on her while she looked out the back window and how it made her black hair seem like silk, and those bluebell eyes twinkle, and how when he sat down he could smell vanilla and what seemed like pure sunshine-
WHAT . He felt his face burn, like the sun was shining right on his cheeks even though he was inside and it was almost midnight. What was up with him?
He still scrolled on social media, when of course, Marinette’s name popped up. She posted a picture of a work in progress design, and clicked on the picture. She really was talented. Adrien snorted to himself and thought that she’d give his dad a run for his money one day.
He glanced over at Plagg again, making sure he was still asleep on his bed and tapped on Marinette’s profile. Embarrassed he was even entertaining the thought, and feeling slightly guilty for some unknown reason, he tapped on her profile picture. He stared at her for what seemed like forever.
Was she really... always this pretty? He guessed so, he’d probably just wasn’t looking. Adrien knew she was always talented, maybe a little headstrong and stubborn, sure but also fierce when she needed to be mixed with the perfect amount of sass and kindness. When she managed to actually talk to him and get out some coherent thought (which he thought was endearing, and definitely NOT. CUTE.), she was really adorable... and thoughtful... he found himself zooming in on her the picture, a selfie of her and Alya, and noticed for the first time freckles that scattered her nose and cheeks. Adrien then started to notice his skin felt a little hot.
He stared at the ceiling for a second. God, really, what was up with him?
He looked back at his phone. Marinette really was pretty. Only as a friend, of course, she was just a friend. Friends could think other friend were cute? And sweet? And smelled like vanilla and pure sunshine? Friends wanted to run their fingers through what he thought soft, silky hair and talk to about video games and TV shows and complain about their day to. Friends could want to lounge on the couch all day or walk around Paris together, eat pastries on a balcony and watch Paris at night from a rooftop? And want to spend a lot of time with each other?
...Right?
A wave of confusion hit him. Adrien REALLY felt hot now. He felt like the sun was under his skin, every part of himself on fire.
What the hell? He only thought about Ladybug this way? She was fierce and headstrong but also sweet and amazing. But... didn’t he just think the same thing about Marinette? He looked back at his phone again, to the face of what he thought was his really pretty and really amazing friend. Did he have a crush on Marinette? He started to turn to face the bed again, but was interrupted by a noise behind him. He quickly swiveled around in his chair, to find his kwami, floating behind him, cackling.
“Plagg!” Adrien locked his phone and slammed it down on his desk, caught right in the middle of
staring at Marinette’s picture.
“Wha-what are you doing?”
Adrien stared at Plagg’s face, now silent, with no humor and expression, and he silently flew a bit closer to Adrien. After what seemed like an eternity, Plagg crossed his little arms in front of him while Adrien’s heart still hammered in his chest.
Then a smile crept on Plagg’s face, “So... Marinette, huh?”