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“How dare you talk about me!” Chloe shouted as she entered the crowded classroom. “It is ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous! I’m telling Daddy!” Chloe walked up to Mylene, shouting directly in her face. Mylene looked shocked and starred back at Chloe without saying a word. It was Ivan who stood up to Chloe and put himself between the two girls.
“What are you talking about Chloe?” Ivan growled, trying to control his temper.
Chloe’s nostrils flared as she pointed at Mylene. “She has been telling everyone that I cheat on all my tests and sleep with a teddy bear! And I do not! It’s not cheating if Sabrina takes my test for me!” she said smugly. The rest of the class had gone silent had gone silent as the watched the exchange. Adrien, who had been sitting in his regular seat next to Nino while turned around talking with Alya and Marinette, felt his mouth drop open a little bit in disbelief. Everyone was used to Chloe throwing temper tantrums, but this was a bit much even for her. He made eye contact with Marinette, whose eyes were wide open, her small hand covering her mouth, and shrugged, causing her to turn bright red and look away. Mme. Bustier arrived then to see the state of her class.
“Mme. Bustier! Mylene is spreading rumors about me!”
“Chloe,” Mylene started, poking her head around Ivan’s massive frame. “what I said was I really like your new dress and how you styled your hair.”
“No, you didn’t! You are saying things about me and I want you punished!”
“Sounds to me,” Mme. Bustier said loud enough for the entire class to hear, “like this is a case of misinformation. This is how rumors spread. Something is heard out of context and turns into something different.” She moved behind her desk as the rest of the class took their seats, even Chloe who huffed and sat with her arms and legs crossed and angerly tapping her foot. “There is an activity I would like to try to prove my point. Let’s all reconvene in the courtyard after lunch break.” With that she started the lesson for that day.
Adrien hurried back to school after lunch. He was anxious to see his friends, interested in this mystery activity and frankly just looking for any excuse to get out of his house. His Chat Noir duties kept him busy at night but when he doesn’t have school, he feels like he is locked in a cage, willing to do anything for a little fresh air. As he arrived at school, he saw Alya talking with Marinette and headed to join them. He said hello and pretended not to notice the blush that spread across Marinette’s checks as she returned the greeting. What he couldn’t ignore were the butterflies that had recently started to fill his stomach when he saw her pretty pale cheeks tinged with pink and knowing that he had caused it.
His feelings for Marinette had grown in the last year and he often found himself wondering if she could be more than a friend. Usually it was late at night, alone in his bed, after seeing Ladybug. Adrien knew he loved Ladybug, but he had begun to realize all the qualities he loved about his lady, her bravery, her intelligence, her beauty and her spunk, were all qualities he could attribute to Marinette as well and more often that not when he dreamed of Ladybug at night, Marinette was there too.
“Gather round class,” Mme. Bustier called as Nino came running up to join his friends. “I want you to sit in a big circle.”
“Ewww, on the ground?” squealed Chloe.
“Yes, on the ground, hurry now.” The students formed a large circle before sitting on the pavement. Adrien was sitting with Nino on his right and Marinette on his left. Mme. Bustier was sitting at the head of the circle between Mylene and Chloe. “Now this is a game that American children sometimes play, called telephone. I am going to whisper a sentence into the ear of my neighbor on the left who will then pass it on to the person next to them and so on and so on. At the end of the circle the person on my right will say the sentence out loud and we will see how much it has changed. Are there any questions?” she looked around the circle at the smiling faces of her students who were just happy not to be doing any lessons at the moment. She thought for a moment and then leaned down and whispered something in Chloe’s ear.
Chloe rolled her eyes before begrudgingly leaning towards Sabrina and whispering in her ear. Sabrina giggled and leaned towards Alix. The sentence continued around the circle. Adrien watched as Alya whispered into Nino’s ear, which turned bright red at her touch. How lucky his friend was to have someone make him feel that way! Nino leaned towards Adrien.
“Purple Monkeys Dance to Hip Hop.” Nino’s breathe was hot on Adrien’s ear and he began to wonder about the wisdom of playing this game after lunch for he was sure Nino had eaten a garlic and chili pepper toast before coming back to class. Not to mention the amount of spit that ended up in his ear, it was everything Adrien could do not to reach up and rub his ear and hurt his friend’s feelings. This game was gross. It was at that moment that Adrien realized that he had to whisper into Marinette’s ear next and he was forever thankful that his stomach had been bothering him at lunch and all he ate was clear broth.
Adrien leaned next to Marinette. A thick strand had come loose from her tied back hair and absentmindedly, pushed it behind her ear, noticing with glee that she too flushed red at his touch, before looking at her ear. His hand froze next to her ear as he stared at her red and black earrings, earrings he had seen hundreds of times and even worn once. They were Ladybug’s earrings! How could this be? Adrien felt the eyes of the class on his back, so he quickly told Marinette the secret before leaning away from her and letting himself get lost in his thoughts.
They had to be fake, Adrien thought. Maybe they were part of the Ladybug and Chat Noir collection that was sold as souvenirs to tourists all through Paris. Or maybe they were costume jewelry. Yeah, that made sense, he thought to himself. Marinette is into fashion after all and she is more than capable of creating something like that. Maybe she is just a fan of Ladybug. Marinette couldn’t be his lady.
The game continued around the circle until Ivan whispered the secret to Mylene. She looked at him funny before saying the sentence out loud.
“Puddles of mud fall on top.” The class laughed.
Mme. Bustier smiled. “The original sentence was believing gossip needs to stop.” Chloe pouted again and looked in the other direction. “Let’s try a fun one, this time in the other direction. Mme. Bustier leaned towards Mylene and whispered in her ear.
Adrien was lost in his thoughts and stopped paying attention as the game continued. Maybe Marinette could be Ladybug. That would certainly explain why he was so drawn to both of them. And hadn’t all his recent dreams shown him how similar the two ladies were, he always dreamed of them together. They were both caring and intelligent. They both put the needs of others before their own and honestly if he really thought about it, they really did look alike. Maybe it was just wishful thinking. His love life would be so much easier if the two women he was in love with, yes, he had come to the conclusion that he was in love with Marinette, were the same women. But, unfortunately, he knew he didn’t have that kind of luck.
He was vaguely aware of the game continuing around him until he noticed Marinette leaning towards him, her face pink again. He quickly shut his eyes as he felt her lips slightly graze his ear. His heart stopped as she spoke into his ear, way better than when Nino had.
“Chat Noir,” a chill ran down his spine, “and Ladybug are the best sub sandwiches.” She pulled away but Adrien was frozen in place. It was his lady! He knew it the second she said his name. No one said his name the way she does. Marinette was Ladybug! He couldn’t control the grin on his face as he sat there foolishly, lost in his thoughts and fantasies. Someone cleared their throat and Adrien was brought back to reality. Everyone was staring at him, including the girl of his dreams, who was also turning redder than her ladybug suit.
“Dude, come on!” Nino whispered. Mentally shaking himself free of his daydreams, he leaned over and told Nino the sentence. Afterwards, he looked back at Marinette, but she was turned facing Rose, refusing to look in Adrien’s direction. What was she thinking? Was she thinking about me? Adrien heard the class break out in laughter around him and realized he had missed the end of the game.
“I hope you all understand the lesson that we learned today,” Mme. Bustier, said dismissing the class. “Have a wonderful weekend.” Everyone began to rise from the circle, chatting amongst themselves. Before Adrien could turn to Marinette, Nino grabbed him by the shoulders.
“Dude! What was that all about? Nino said laughing. Alya came up next to Nino, throwing her arm around his shoulder.
“Yeah, what did Marinette say to you?” Alya giggled as Adrien turned a darker shade of red, as if that was even possible. Adrien ignored both of them and began searching the grounds for Marinette. She was nowhere to be found.
“Where did she go?” Adrien asked/
“Who?” said Nino
“Marinette! Where is she? I need to talk to her!”
“She’s probably in the locker room getting her things,” Alya said with a shrug. “Let’s go catch up.” The group of friends made their way to the locker room but found it empty.
“I wonder why she hurried out of her?” Alya said before turning to face Adrien, fire in her eyes caused by the desire to protect her best friend. “What did you do, Agreste?”
“Nothing.” Adrien said, raising his hands defensively.
“Then why do you need to talk to her so badly?” Alya asked, crossing her arms and attempting to stare him down.
“I just realized something during the game, and I need to talk to her.” Adrien said frustratedly.
“What did you realize?”
“Stuff, ok?” Adrien was staring to get frustrated and he was wasting time he could be using to find Marinette. “Will you just call her and find out where she is?”
Alya’s eyes grew wide and a smile spread across her face. “You finally realized you were in love with her!” She jumped towards her friend and hugged him.
“Dude!” Nino clapped Adrien on the shoulder. “Bout time!”
“Did everyone know except me?” he said weakly.
“Everyone but you and Marinette,” Alya said with a laugh, pulling out her cell phone. “Oh, I have a message from her. She says she headed home, she had to get out of here before she died of embarrassment.” She looked at Adrien again. “What did you do?” she asked again. But this time Adrien didn’t stop to answer, he grabbed his bag and ran out the door, determined to catch up with Marinette. “I want details later!” he heard Alya shout after him.
Adrien rushed to the front of the school and looked around. He didn’t see her among the groups of students chatting, but he did see his car waiting for him, with the Gorilla standing next to an open door waiting for him. Adrien looked at the Gorilla, mouthed sorry to him and then ran off in the direction of Marinette’s house.
Adrien didn’t know what he was going to say when he caught up with her, he just knew he had to see her. Would he tell her he was Chat Noir? Would he tell her that he knew she was Ladybug? He didn’t want her thinking for a second that he only loved her because she was the superhero. Adrien wanted Marinette to know that he loved her because she was Marinette. Adrien felt sure that Marinette had feelings for him, but he also knew that Ladybug had rejected Chat Noir so many times that it was unlikely she would love him once she found out who he really was, so did that mean he shouldn’t tell her? Or did she have a right to know he was Chat Noir because he knew she was Ladybug? Adrien just kept running and hoped he would know what to do when he saw her.
The bakery was in sight now and his side was screaming at him from running so hard. Ahead of him he saw her reaching out to open the door to the business and he called her name. He watched her freeze and turn towards the sound of her name. Adrien could see her cheeks turning red from a distance, but he was too focused on his goal to appreciate it. He stopped first of her breathless and hunched over trying to get his breathing under control.
“Adrien, what are you doing here?” Marinette sounded embarrassed as she looked at the boy who had been so desperate to talk to her that he nearly collapsed upon reaching her. “Look, I am sorry about class today.” She said as bright as a tomato. He tried to stand up straight to look at her, confusion showing on his face. What on Earth did she have to be sorry for? “I know I leaned in too close to you and accidently touched you ear with my lips.” She said quickly. “It wasn’t like I was trying to kiss you or anything, not that I wouldn’t want to kiss you, I mean why would I want our first kiss to be on the ear, not that I have thought about first kisses, since you are my friend.” Marinette stumbled along, looking like she wanted to crawl into a hole.
Seeing this beautiful girl apologize for something that hadn’t even occurred to him was enough for Adrien to gain his composure and decide what he was going to say to her. Adrien reached out and took Marinette by the hand.
“I came here because there are two things, I wanted to say to you,” he said, looking into her eyes. This was it, moment of truth. “I think you are amazing. Probably the most amazing girl I have ever met, not to mention one of my best friends and I want to know if you will be my girlfriend.” Adrien couldn’t believe he had managed say what he wanted to say so concisely when all through his head were love songs and epic poetry to describe how he was feeling in that very moment. He held his breath as he waited for her answer.
Marinette smiled, a true smile, one he only rarely saw when she didn’t know he was watching her. “Yes, I’ll be your girlfriend,” she answered giving his hand a squeeze. Adrien smiled and pulled her into a hug. He held her tight, her scent overcoming him as he grinned into her shoulder. He felt her start to pull away, but he wasn’t ready to let her go.
“Adrien, my parents are watching,” she whispered with a giggle. He remembered that they were in front of the bakery door, but he didn’t care who knew. He had finally found everything he was looking for in this creative, funny, loving girl.
“Let them watch,” as he pulled her close to him again and kissed her for the first time. And it was amazing. He smiled at her and she at him as she pulled his hand towards the bakery so they could tell her parents.
As they stood in the bakery, listening to her parents proclaim how happy they were and telling stories of when they were first in love, Marinette leaned over and whispered into Adrien’s ear.
“What was the other thing you wanted to tell me?”
Adrien leaned over towards her ear, seeing the telltale earrings once again and whispered back.
“I love you.”