It was third period and Marinette was, as usual, freaking out. This particular freak out was due to Alya telling her that a certain blonde haired, green eyed boy seemed to looking at her more than usual today.

"I'm telling you... he's been looking at you way more than usual today for some reason."

"I.. I don't have anything stuck in my teeth do I? I'm not wearing pajamas?" Marinette fretted, trying to come up with a logical reason for Adrien to be looking at her more than usual.

"Relax girl, you look fine. This could just mean that he's into you." Alya tried to calm her friend's nerves. Grateful for Alya's reassurance, but still on edge, Marinette tried to go back to working on her homework. However, this was hard for her to do with Adrien attempting to make eye contact with her every few minutes. After the bell rang, Marinette and Alya headed for the classroom door to get to their next period, but were blocked by the duo of Adrien and Nino both doing excellent impressions of statues in the doorway.

"Alright.. what's going on?" asked Alya suspiciously, while Marinette turned a deep shade of crimson and tried to look anywhere but Adrien's face.

"I actually have a big favor to ask." Adrien began sheepishly, running his hands through his hair anxiously. "It's my father. He's planning this huge party to "introduce me" to the public, or something like that, when I turn 16. One of his requirements is that I be dating someone. I know it's a lot to ask, but since you're my really good friend, I was wondering if you could help me out Marinette, and pretend like we're dating so that he'll leave me alone." Adrien grew a darker shade of red the more he talked, saying all of this very quickly, barely pausing for breath between sentences. He waited for a response from Marinette, who was standing there speechless with her mouth open. Marinette only replied when a sharp nudge to the ribs from Alya brought her back to reality.

"M..me? Dating you? I.. uhh." she stammered, her complexion not becoming any less red. Adrien immediately felt guilty.

"I..it would be a big help. But if you don't want to, or if you'd be uncomfortable, I can always ask someone else-"

"I suggested Chloe." interrupted Nino. Adrien rolled his eyes good naturally at his friend and continued.

"The last thing I want to do is ruin our friendship Marinette, so I understand if you'd rather not-"

"I.. I'll do it!" Adrien was again cut off, this time by a blubbering,blushing Marinette. "I..of course I'll help cute.. I mean help you!" Marinette stammered. This had to have been why Adrien had been paying more attention to her today. He must have been trying to get up the courage to ask her this. Adrien laughed slightly, smiling at Marinette.

"Thanks Marinette. You're the best. I knew that I could count on you." the blonde boy offered one more dazzling smile Marinette's way and, together with Nino, walked out of the classroom and finally left the doorway open for Alya and Marinette to exit.

"I.. I think I need to sit down." an overwhelmed Marinette said weakly.

"But this is great, right? You finally have your chance with Adrien!" Alya reasoned. She and Marinette were now pacing back and forth across Marinette's room, trying to add some reason to the day's events. Or, rather, Marinette was pacing and Alya was sitting in a chair, trying without avail to calm her best friend's nerves.

"But I won't actually be dating him! We'll just be pretending to date!" Marinette flung herself on to her bed and buried her face in her pillow.

"Hey, out of everyone he could have asked to help him with this, he asked you, girl!" Alya pointed out, walking over and placing a comforting arm on Marinette's shoulder. "He didn't ask me, or Chloe, or anyone else that he's friends with. He asked you! There has to be a reason for that!" Marinette surfaced from her pillow sanctuary.

"Yeah.. I suppose you're right!"

"Always the tone of surprise." Alya joked, glad that her best friend wasn't freaking out as much anymore.

"I wonder how Chloe's going to react when she figures out that Adrien and I are "dating"." Marinette wondered, the words feeling weird as she spoke them aloud.

"Don't worry about Chloe, I'll take care of her. All you need to worry about is fake-dating Adrien!" Alya said, feeling equally weird as she said the worlds. She was happy for Marinette. This would finally give her friend a chance to see if the guy she had been pining over for over a year now was worth all of the drama.

"Thanks Alya." Marinette was grateful. It was no secret that Chloe had been crushing on Adrien for a while now too, and she wasn't looking forward to being on the receiving end of Chloe's wrath when she figured out that Adrien was now dating somebody. Briefly, she also thought of Chat Noir. What would this mean for her as Ladybug? Would she have to tell him that she was dating someone the next time that he tried to flirt with her? For some reason, that thought felt weird to her.

"She didn't seem too freaked out, did she?" an anxious Adrien asked Nino over the phone. He didn't want to overstep boundaries and lose his friend. He valued his friendship with Marinette deeply, and didn't want to lose that over being a jerk to her.

"Relax, dude. You just caught her off guard. She's got you. This will all work out." Nino reassured Adrien. Adrien breathed a sigh of relief.

"And you think this will work? We'll be able to fool my dad so he'll finally get off my back?"

"Of course! This plan is full proof. I went though every possibility, and with Marinette this plan will work!"

"I hope so Nino." Adrien sighed and hung up the phone. He wished that he didn't have to ask one of his friends to do something like this for him. It was embarrassing, having to ask someone to pretend to be dating him just so that he could get his dad to leave him alone. He was worried that Marinette was only saying yes because she was friendly and it was just in her nature to help people. After a few more moments of mulling over his life decisions, Adrien got up to go give Plagg his nightly meal of camembert.

"Yummy!" Plagg exclaimed, devouring half of the cheese in less than three seconds. Being the observant kwami he was, Plagg noticed that there was something on his friend's mind. "Hey, whats up Adrien?"

"I may have made a really bad decision today." Adrien admitted.

"Uhh ohhh. What was it?" asked an amused Plagg.

"So, you know that party my dad's planning for my 16th birthday? And you know how one of his requirements is that I be dating someone to show off at the party, otherwise I won't formally be recognized as his heir to the Agreste estate?"

"Yeah, but I still don't understand why he's doing that." Plagg said, eating the rest of the camembert.

"Something about proving that I have the potential to provide an heir of my own, or something like that. It's weird." said Adrien disgustedly. "Anyways.. I asked this girl in my class that I'm really good friends with, Marinette, to pretend to be dating me so that my dad would get off my back, and I feel really guilty about asking her to do something like that."

"Marinette's a good friend! It'll work out! Although, if you're fake dating Marinette, this means that you can't flirt with Ladybug any more." pointed out Plagg. Adrien frowned. He knew this, but unfortunately it was something that had to be done. Even if he was in love with Ladybug, he couldn't try to win her over if he was fake dating Marinette as Adrien. That wouldn't be right.

"I guess m'lady will just have to wait." Adrien sighed dejectedly.