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Adrien looked at the two pieces of paper.
“I-it can’t be. She’s told me that she doesn’t love me. She just had my pictures because she’s wanting to become a fashion designer and likes my father’s work. Plus she brought Luka with her to the ice skating rink,” he told himself.
“Have you heard her talk about Luka lately? Have you seen them together? Why would she have said she loves Chat Noir if she was with Luka?” Plagg inquired.
“Fair point but even still she’s told me she doesn’t love me. What reason would she have to lie?” he wondered.
“Do you really believe that? She’s always nervous and stuttery whenever she’s around you. Why do you think she’s like that?” Plagg pressed. He was either going to make this boy fall in love with Marinette or he was going to make him put the pieces together that she and Ladybug are the same person. Right now, making him fall in love with Marinette seemed more convenient and easier.
“My fame? I mean she likes my father’s work,” the blond offered as a solution.
“But she’s your friend. She shouldn’t be like that now. Fans who don’t know anything about you should be like that. Not a friend like her. Plus she wasn’t all stuttery around when you two first met. She would’ve recognized you then.” the kwami countered.
Adrien plopped down in his chair and let out a frustrated groan. “This is all too confusing. What are you trying to tell me Plagg?” he demanded.
Plagg looked him straight in the eyes before replying, “I think she’s in love with you. And you’re a bit in love with her. You’re just too blinded by your love for Ladybug to realize it so you deny that she’s in love with you and that you’re in love with her.”
Adrien got up and walked towards his window, shaking his head.
“No. No, I’m not. She’s not. S-she can’t be,” he paused then turned around to face Plagg. “You really think she’s in love with me?”
“I believe that everything I just said is true. She’s in love with you and deep down you know you’re in love with her,” the kwami stated firmly.
Adrien shook his head. “No, no. I’ll believe you when you say that she’s in love with me but I can assure you that I’m not one bit in love with her.”
Plagg rolled his eyes and sighed. “Whatever. So how do you plan on finding out if she really is in love with you?”
Adrien sighed. “I-I guess I could ask Alya?”
“Or you could go straight to the source,” Plagg suggested.
“She already said she didn’t have a thing for me before and I didn’t even ask her. What’s to say she’ll tell me now?” Adrien asked.
“Because you’ll have asked her,” Plagg pointed out.
Adrien shook his head. “I think going to Alya would be better. She’s Marinette’s best friend so she probably knows everything.”
Plagg shrugged.
Probably not everything considering you haven’t told your best friend that your Chat Noir. Granted you shouldn’t but still. Best friends don’t always know everything.
“I’ll call her tomorrow after my photoshoot. Right now I guess I should get started on that homework,” he muttered to himself as he walked over to his desk.
***
“What’s up Agreste?” Alya greeted from the other end of the line.
“Nothing much. I just wanted to ask you something,” he told her.
“Hold on,” she requested.
There was silence on both ends for a few moments.
“Ok. Shoot,” Alya instructed. There was the sound of keys on a keyboard clicking.
“Why are you typing?” he asked.
“I’m updating something on the Ladyblog. I can multitask. Talk,” she demanded.
Adrien sat down on his bed and sighed. “Well I uh wanted to ask you something about Marinette,” he started.
The typing suddenly ceased.
“Woah, woah, woah. About Marinette?” Alya questioned, completely shocked and confused. Her voice was back to the volume it was when he had first called her so he assumed she had taken herself off of speakerphone.
“Uh yeah. You’re her best friend so I figured you’d know the answer to my question,” he replied.
“Ok. W-what do you want to know?” she wondered.
“Well yesterday when Marinette delivered the homework I had noticed she left a small note on it. Nothing big just saying it was from her. I recognized the writing from an unsigned valentine’s card I received last year. It was a response to a poem I was trying to write for my crush but ended up throwing it away. I thought it was from her but when I saw the handwriting was almost exactly the same as Marinette’s I realized it couldn’t be from her because…she doesn’t go to our school,” he sighed, “What I want to know is, is Marinette in love with me? The card made it seem like that but she’s said that she doesn’t have a thing for me before plus she seemed like she had a thing for Luka. So, does she have a thing for me?”
There was silence for a few moments before Alya let out a sigh then muttered something under her breath before finally saying, “Yes, she does. She’s had a thing for you I believe about the day after you came to school. She can’t say anything properly or act normally around you because she’s nervous. She’s worried that you’ll… reject her. She wants to tell you how she feels but at the same time she doesn’t. The whole school knows that she likes you and we all try to help. Except for Chloé of course,” she explained.
Adrien pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose. He owed Plagg a whole week of not complaining about his camembert.
“You said you thought the card was from your crush? And that she doesn’t go to our school?” Alya questioned.
“Yeah,” he answered.
“I’m not sure which would be better. Me telling her you have a crush or you letting her down easy. And I mean real easy Agreste. You hurt that girl when you break the news to her you will wish you never did,” she threatened.
Adrien sighed. He didn’t want to risk hurting Marinette but at the same time, he couldn’t keep his mind off of Ladybug.
“Does your crush like you back, Adrien?” Alya wondered.
Adrien took in a deep breath. “No, she doesn’t. She likes someone else. But I-I can’t help it. I just still hope that someday she’ll fall for me. I know it’s not good for me to wish that she doesn’t end up with the guy she likes and I really do want her to be happy but I just can’t stop thinking about her,” he explained.
“I’m going to propose something to you, ok? I want you to listen to all of it before you make a decision. Now, I highly suggest that you take my suggestion but you don’t have to,” she offered.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Since your crush doesn’t seem to like you back maybe it wouldn’t hurt to… see who else is out there. That’s what Marinette did with Luka. She thought you two were never meant to be so she turned to Luka but he saw that she liked you and let her go,” Alya told him.
“I’ve already tried. I tried with Kagami but I couldn’t get my crush off my mind,” he stated.
“You’re just going to refer to her as your crush? You aren’t going to say her name?” Alya questioned.
“Are you done with your suggestion, Alya?” he wondered, dodging the question.
“No. Basically I say you take the rest of this month to get to know Marinette more. Not the stuttery, clumsy Marinette that you constantly see when she’s around you but the Marinette that I know. Try and forget about your crush, just for the rest of the month. Just hang out with Marinette. Not necessarily dating just hanging out. If you still don’t find interest in her and are still stuck on your crush even after not thinking about them for the rest of the month then let her down easy. However, if you do find interest in her then date her. You’ll both have developed feelings for each other and your crush can focus on the guy she likes,” she offered.
“But I feel like that’s leading her on, y’know? Playing around with her feelings. It’d be like lying to her because I’m in love with someone else. I...I don’t want to hurt her. If she feels like she’s been lead on, when I tell her that I like someone else then it’ll hurt her more. I wouldn’t be able to bear knowing that I hurt her,” he explained.
“It’s not like you’re doing anything romantic. You’re just hanging out. Talking. Getting to know one another,” Alya countered.
“But what if she thinks it’s the start of something?” he asked.
“She’ll mention to me if she thinks it is. If she does then we abort mission and I tell her that this was all my idea. Hopefully, no damage will be done. If there’s some damage I’ll help try to cover it up. After all, this whole thing will technically be my fault because it’s my idea,” she told him.
Adrien sighed. “Fine. I’ll try it. I can’t guarantee anything but I’ll try,” he agreed.
“Alright then. Tomorrow it starts. You hang out with Marinette more and you don’t think about your crush for the rest of the month. See you tomorrow,” she said then hung up.
Adrien put his phone down next to him then fell back on his bed. Plagg came up to his face with a piece of camembert in his small hands. Adrien did nothing more than internally grimace.
***
Time went on. Adrien and Marinette hung out more and she slowly began to come out of her shell. She stuttered less and wasn’t clumsy anymore then she would be on a normal basis. Everyone could tell how jealous Chloé and Lila were of the pair spending more and more time together. Adrien had pushed Ladybug to the back of his mind though it was hard at first. For starters, there was an akuma the day after he had talked with Alya which meant he had to see her and whenever he had to patrol he would see her. As time went on he had held his tongue and didn’t call her any of the cute nicknames that he gave her. No “Bugaboo” or “M’lady”, just “LB” or “Ladybug”. He could tell she was finding his behavior odd but she knew better than to try and address it. He had also sworn off the Ladyblog and tried to steer clear of any conversations about her. He had to focus on Marinette but he couldn’t help counting down the days to the end of February. He had pushed Ladybug to the back of his mind but he still couldn’t find any feelings for Marinette anywhere inside him. Plagg kept telling him that they were there and he just didn’t want to find them but he didn’t believe him. He just thought the kwami wanted his cheese and would do anything for it seeing as how they made a deal that if Alya’s scheme made Adrien fall for Marinette then Adrien would have to give Plagg whatever cheese he wanted whenever he wanted it and he couldn’t complain for an entire week. He had agreed because he was practically 100% certain that he wouldn’t fall for Marinette. She was a good friend but he just didn’t see her as his type.
Today was February 28th. The last day of February and the last day of Alya’s plan. Today Adrien would tell Marinette that he liked someone else and was sorry that he couldn’t return her feelings. He was going to let her down easy. He wasn’t sure how serious Alya had been about her threat but he didn’t want to risk it. Surprisingly Marinette hadn’t said anything to Alya about her thinking that them talking was leading to something. He didn’t want to risk someone in public seeing them when he was going to let her down so he invited her over to his place after school to watch some shows on Hulu.
He saw Marinette walking down the entrance stairs to the school.
“Hey, you ready?” he asked.
“Yep,” she answered.
He opened the car door and gestured for her to take a seat inside. When she was situated he got in and closed the car door behind him.
“Alright so what what do you want to watch?” he questioned.
“Um well do you have Netflix?” she wondered.
“Yeah but I don’t use it too much. I find more stuff on Hulu.”
“I have a really good show in mind. I think you’ll like it. It’s kinda a romance show but it’s really funny. Plus, even if you don’t like the show you’ll want to ship these two people soooo badly. When it first came out the fans had to wait like 4 years for the two to become a thing,” she explained.
“Sure, why not. I’d be up for a show with a bit of romance and humor. I’ve watched CSI: Miami and there’s a bit of romance in that.”
“Ok. I really think you’ll like it but I’m not going to show you the pilot. I don’t think it’s a good episode to show newcomers.”
“But the pilot introduces newcomers to what’s going on. It’s not really good to just throw someone into the middle of a series.”
“Well the episode I want to show you is still in the first season plus if you like it then you can start from the pilot. It’s a great show to binge watch. I’ve seen it like 5 times.”
The car pulled up to the mansion and Nathalie opened the door for the two to get out.
***
The two entered Adrien’s room. He laid his bag on his desk.
“You can set up the show while I go tell the cook to make us some snacks. Any suggestions?” he offered.
“Croissants, macaroons, cookies, chips, popcorn, any of those will work,” Marinette responded as she grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.
Adrien walked out of the room closing the door behind him. Marinette plopped down on the couch and pulled up Netflix and went to the search and typed in Gilmore Girls . She scrolled through the episodes, which didn’t take long, and found the one she wanted. While she waited she decided to pull out her phone and talk to Alya.
M: Hey.
A: ‘sup girl, aren’t you supposed to be watching shows with Adrien?
M: he’s getting snacks. I’ve got the episode pulled up on Netflix
A: oh no. It’s not what I think it is.
M: shut up. Leave me and my obsession alone.
A: you don’t need to spread your obsession!
M: well I have a point to watching this particular episode. Lorelai keeps saying Luke is just a friend but obviously that’s not true because they’re 100% meant to be. I’m going to show Adrien this because he always thinks of me as a friend when I really think we should be together and you know it too. The whole school does.
M: We’ve been getting really close and I think he’s starting to like me so after the episode I’m going to tell him how I feel. I think he’ll feel the same way. I’m practically 100% certain.
The three dots showing that Alya was typing stayed there for a while then suddenly stopped.
M: Alya? Hello?
The door opened and she jumped slightly. Adrien walked in.
“Hey. I got some chips, popcorn and some fruit,” he stated and walked over towards the couch. Marinette quickly put her phone away.
“Fruit? Why do you have fruit?” she wondered.
“I can’t splurge on junk foods too much. Usually just when friends are over but even then my chef gives me some fruit too. I need to keep up that perfect model image,” he responded as he set the food on the table and sat down. “So you wanna give me the synopsis of this series?”
Marinette reached for a chip. “Basically it starts off with a 32 year old mom and her almost 16 year old daughter. The show pretty much follows their life. They date lots of guys, get into a few fights and the daughter’s really smart. She’s currently at a private school that her grandparents paid for because her mom didn’t have enough money. The mom has a terrible relationship with her parents,” she explained and took a bite of the chip.
“Sounds interesting. Let’s get started then,” he said, grabbed the remote and started the show.
***
“And this man with the ice,”
“Luke.”
“how long have you been seeing him?”
Lorelai shook her head. “Luke? I’m not seeing Luke. He’s just a friend.”
Emily looked at her unconvinced.
“Mom, I swear. Luke keeps me in coffee, nothing else.,” Lorelai defended.
“He seems to like you.”
“And you’re judging this by what?”
“By the way he looked at you.”
“Which is how?”
“Like you were about to give him a lap dance.”
“He did not. He gave a perfectly friendly smile,” Adrien argued.
Marinette paused the episode. “Oh come on. Don’t tell me you don’t ship Luke and Lorelai.”
“I don’t know enough to have a reason to ship them,” he retorted.
“You will, trust me. Plus everyone in Stars Hollow thinks they should be together. They are totally meant to be. They say that their just friends but they’re clearly not. They’re always there for each other, they enjoy each other’s company unless their in a fight, and their chemistry is great. They may not realize it yet that they like each other but they do. I think Luke realizes it quicker then Lorelai. I think they just don’t want to believe it. I mean Lorelai’s sorta brought up the idea of dating Luke before. They’re just so meant to be. Like us.” She had muttered the last part but Adrien heard it.
“What?” he was completely shocked by what he had heard.
Alya was supposed to warn me! Why didn’t she? Did Marinette not tell her?
Marinette sighed. “I’m sorry. I was going to wait until the end but I just couldn’t hold it. I love you Adrien. I have ever since you gave me your umbrella. I could never talk normally to you because I was so nervous because you never gave signs that you liked me and I was worried you’d reject me but now since we’ve gotten a bit closer I thought maybe that had changed so I thought I should tell you now,” she explained.
Adrien rubbed the back of his neck and looked down sheepishly. “Marinette, I…” he trailed off.
Her look of joy and hopefulness fell. “Oh, ok. I see. I guess you thought that we were just two friends casually hanging out. I get it. It’s fine,” she said softly and backed out of the episode. “I should leave. My parents asked me to um help them today anyways. I-I’ll see you at school.” She stood up and walked towards the door. Adrien watched as she walked away and something seemed to click.
“Marinette, wait,” he called out as he got up from the couch and walked towards her. He sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“For what? For practically leading me on? You think a simple apology will make me feel better about that?” he wondered.
“No. I know it won’t but I didn’t say sorry in regards to that.”
“Oh gee, that’s real nice. What are you sorry for then?”
“I’m sorry that I didn’t see this sooner. I’m sorry that I didn’t realize that I love you sooner. I was just so caught up in my own crush that I didn’t think about the girl in my life that is just as great, maybe even more, then her,” he apologized.
She shook her head. “It’s too late. You can’t make up for all this now. I don’t believe you. I want to but I don’t. Not after you’ve just lead me on for a whole month. I’ll see you around.”
She turned to the door but her hand was grabbed and she was spun around to face Adrien. Before she could gather what was going on his lips were already pressed against her’s. She wanted to pull away. One simple kiss couldn’t make up for a month of being lead on. But at the same time she had been waiting a while for this. This was greater then she had ever imagined…..not that she had or anything. That would totally be weird. His hands wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer and she wrapped her arms around his neck. It seemed like fireworks were exploding everywhere but suddenly they were gone. He had pulled away and she was wishing he hadn’t but she was also still mad at him. He lifted her chin up so she was looking him right in the eyes.
“Do you believe me know?” he asked softly.
Marinette closed her eyes then sighed and backed away from him a bit. “Just...give me a bit. Let me figure out how I feel because I feel a lot of different things right now,” she requested.
He sighed and put his hands in his pockets. “Sure.” He opened the door for her. “I’ll see you around.”
Marinette started walking past him but suddenly froze. “This is just a possibility, it’s not set in stone or anything, but there’s like an 80% to 90% chance that I do believe you. I just need to see if I can convince the part of me that doesn’t or not.” She gave him a soft smile and he returned it.
“I’ll keep that in mind. Also that show is pretty interesting. I think I’ll continue to watch it but starting from the beginning,” he told her.
“It’s really good. You won’t be sorry,” she assured him as she walked off. He closed the door behind her with a sigh then pulled out his phone. There were a lot of texts from Alya. Most of the were telling him to “abort mission”.
So she did tell Alya. Maybe it would’ve been good if I had kept my phone one. Then again, maybe it was better that I didn’t. Guess will never know.