Just Friends
Marinette sat at her desk, her mind filled with yesterday events. She held her cell phone in her hands, looking into the screen at Alya's face she asked
"If Adrien was trying to set me up with Nino… does that mean he doesn't have any feelings for me?"
"Who knows Marinette," Alya responded. "You won't know until to do something about it. Why don't you tell him you like him?"
Marinette's face turned bright red. "I-I don't think I can." She frowned slightly "What if he really doesn't like me? I don't think I can stand to find out!"
"What if he does like you?"
"Well… I uh, hmm." Marinette thought for a moment, "I don't know." She looked away from her phone.
"Come on girl! What do you have to lose? You've been crushing on him for a while! Don't you think it's time you tell?"
Marinette took a deep breath, "You know what? You're right!" She smiled uneasily, "I think, I might be able to tell him!" She held her one hand in a fist.
Alya had a smile glued to her face, she was so happy for her friend, "So when are you going to tell him?"
"Tomorrow! After school. Or at least… before I lose my nerve." Marinette responded.
"Great! I'm rooting for you!" Alya cheered, "So I'll see you tomorrow. Don't stress too much on this."
"I'll try not to." Marinette smiled, "I'll see you tomorrow." She hung up her cell and placed it on her desk. She let out a loud groan. "This is going to be super hard."
"Chin up Marinette." Tikki spoke. "I know you can do this."
Marinette smiled at her, "Thanks Tikki." She knew she had the support of her friends, and she was happy with that. Although, as fear ran through her, she thought to herself,
"what would happen if Adrien doesn't like me? How much it would hurt... What if he did like me? What then? Do I even have time for a boyfriend?" She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. "Let's not over think this Marinette." She told herself. "Let's just… Do my homework… and stop thinking about tomorrow."
Marinette walked to into her classroom and sat in the seat next to Alya. She smiled at her friend "Good morning."
"Morning!" Alya waved "Are you ready?" She asked in a low tone.
"As I'll ever be… I guess." Marinette responded. She saw Adrien walk into the classroom. They made eye contact; she smiled stiffly and waved at him. He gave her a smile and a wave back before he sat down in the seat in front of her.
Marinette stared at the back of his head, her stomach in knots, her leg was jiggling up and down and she was tapping her pen against her notebook.
Alya reached out and touched Marinette's hand, "Calm down. It's going to be ok." She reassured her. "You don't have to if you don't want to."
Marinette took a deep breath and looked at Alya, "But I want to… the more I think about it… the more I want to know" She said in a low tone. "I'm scared but I'm still going to do it."
"You're going to be great." Alya smiled softly.
The teacher started to take roll call of the students. Marinette and Alya stopped talking and paid attention to class.
Throughout the day waves of fear, excitement and nausea hit Marinette. She did her best not to stare at Adrien but it was so hard not to. Hearing his voice when he answered questions the teacher asked sent chills down her back. Getting glimpses of his face when he turned his head made her heart beat fast. The more she focused on Adrien the more resolute she got in her feelings. It was time, she needed to know. She wanted him to know how she felt. Marinette kept looking at the clock waiting as time trudged by.
Eventually the time Marinette dreaded, and looked forward to, approached. She started to pack her school bag just before the bell rang releasing the students. As everyone started to leave Marinette got up with Alya by her side and she followed Adrien into the courtyard.
"You got this." Alya said as Marinette walked up to him. She stood off to the side, not too far, giving her support to Marinette.
"Um, excuse me… Adrien?" Marinette said in a sweet voice.
"Oh, Marinette! Can I help you?" He turned to her with a friendly face.
"Well… yes? No… maybe?" She rambled a little. "I just… well um… heh…" Her hands were shaking. Doing this was way scarier than anything she had faced as Ladybug.
"I have to get going Marinette. But it was nice talking to you." Adrien smiled and went to walk away.
"Wait! I'm sorry." Marinette said "I just… well... Adrien!"
"What?" He asked.
Marinette clenched her fists and took a deep breath. It took all her strength to look him in the eyes, "I like you."
Adrien smiled "Well I like you to Marinette! You are a really good friend."
Marinette winced, "No… I like LIKE you." Her face was beet red, "And I wanted to know… if you maybe... felt the same way?"
Adrien blushed, and then a sympathetic look crossed his face.
"Marinette. That's really sweet of you. Thank you but-" He looked away from her and put his hands in his pockets. "I like someone else."
Marinette felt like she had been hit by a truck. Her heart was pounding in her chest so hard it hurt. She crossed her arms and let out a shaky breath.
"I see…"
"I hope this doesn't do anything to affect us as friends." Adrien said, "You're a really nice person."
"No… no, of course not. Why should it? I respect your feelings…" Marinette said sadly. Tears welled up in her eyes.
Adrien placed a hand on her shoulder "please don't cry. I didn't mean to-"
"It's ok." Marinette rubbed the tears from her face, "I'm just glad to know." She faked a smile.
"Friends?" Adrien asked.
"Friends." Marinette responded. She stepped away from him and walked slowly back to Alya.
"Marinette…" Alya said in a soft voice, she wrapped her arm around her friend's shoulders "I'm so sorry."
"I just… want to go home." Marinette said.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Alya asked.
"No. I want to be alone for a bit. I'm going need some time to…" Marinette bit her lower lip and squeezed her eyes shut, "...Cry" She said in a strained tone as tears slid down her face.
"Oh Marinette!" Alya hugged her, "let me at least walk you home."
Adrien was extra nice to Marinette for the past few days; he was very polite and said hello and asked how she was doing every time he ran into her. He felt awful for making her cry. Although he didn't regret telling her there was someone else. He liked Marinette and felt that if he didn't have a thing for Ladybug going on he just may have dated her. Adrien was happy Marinette still talked to him, although she didn't stammer or stutter like she used to.
Marinette was sitting on the steps in front of school looking at the clouds. Everyone else had gone home or so she thought.
"Marinette." A voice called out to her from behind.
Marinette tensed up, she turned her head to look at who was talking to her. A young man, with red hair walked over to her.
"Oh, Nathan! Hello. You startled me a little." She let out a sigh. "I didn't think anyone else was here."
"Well. I stayed behind to talk to you." He smiled at her, "Can I sit next to you?"
"please." She patted the steps next to her.
Nathan sat down and looked at Marinette "I saw what happened between you and Adrien."
"Oh." Marinette looked away, "Yea… that was terrible." She felt her throat dry up and tears form in the corners of her eyes.
"I'm sorry that he didn't like you. But I'm kind of happy he didn't." Nathan's face turned red, he scratched the back of his head "Seeing what you did with Adrien gave me the courage to try and tell you how I feel…"
"What are you talking about?" She asked.
"I like you Marinette." He said in a soft tone. He couldn't keep eye contact with her.
"Oh." Marinette rubbed her eyes and looked away from Nathan.
They sat in silence for a short time before Nathan spoke up again, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make things worse for you."
"You didn't." Marinette said, "Look Nathan… I'm still hurting over Adrien."
"I understand…" He said quickly. "I should go…" Nathan still could not look at Marinette, he felt his cheeks get hot and his stomach felt like he had swallowed a pound of rocks.
"Nathan wait!" Marinette touched his hand "I'm not saying I don't like you… it's just a little hard for me to feel anything right now…" She looked him in the eyes, "But please… Don't stop trying?"
Nathan looked at Marinette before her words sunk in. He smiled at her, "I'll give you your space. But before I go… I also wanted to give you this." He pulled out his sketchbook from his school bag. He opened it and sifted through a few papers before deciding on which one he wanted. He handed the drawing to Marinette. It was a gorgeous very well detailed portrait of her.
Marinette looked at it and smiled softly, "Thank you. It's beautiful."
"You're beautiful." He said.
Marinette gave him a pained look.
"Right, sorry. I'll get going…" Nathan's face was red as he stood up. "I'll see you around Marinette."
"Good bye." Marinette called out to him as he walked away.
It had been around a month since Marinette confessed her feelings to Adrien. She and him were still friends and seemed a bit closer since it had happened. She wasn't so stressed out or frozen around him anymore. She could actually talk to him like a normal person. She appreciated his friendship and was glad things didn't turn out for the worse. She was walking out of school with Alya when she was stopped by Nathan.
Alya said in an assured tone "I should get out of here." She looked at her friend. "Call me later ok?" She gave Marinette a quick hug before leaving.
Marinette waved at Alya as she walked off. She quickly gave her attention to the boy standing in front of her. "Hey Nathan." She said in a sweet tone.
"Hey Marinette. I was wondering… well I feel… umm…." He let out an awkward laugh. "I'm sorry I still get all tongue tied when I'm around you."
"It's ok. Take your time." Marinette said softly as she looked into his beautiful blue eyes.
"Well, there's this new movie coming out over the weekend… any chance maybe you'd like to come with me to see it?" He asked shyly. "I mean… that is if you're not still torn up about-"
"No. I'm not. I'm actually doing a lot better." Marinette held her hands behind her back and shuffled her foot on the floor. "I would love to go to the movies with you." She said with a smile.
"Really?" Nathan asked surprised. A wide smile crossed his face "That's great! I'll pick you up on Saturday, say six-ish?"
"Sounds like a plan." Marinette smiled.
Across the courtyard stood Adrien and Nino, "I'm happy for her." Adrien said.
"Really? You didn't have any kind of feelings for her?" Nino asked, remembering not too long ago he had a crush on Marinette.
"I mean, she is pretty, and really nice. But-" Adrien shrugged.
Nino looked at Adrien "Well if it's cool with you that she's gotten over you already."
"It's not a big deal!" Adrien reassured him. He looked at Marinette and Nathan and thought they'd make a cute couple.
As the weeks passed on Nathan and Marinette became a couple. They were very happy together and nothing seemed to get them down. No one seemed upset or torn up over how things went. Adrien liked hanging out around them and Marinette had no residual feelings for Adrien now that she was with Nathan. Although she found it harder and harder to balance her life as ladybug now that she had a boyfriend. It wasn't like the akumatized people were getting any weaker or her job any easier. In honesty it seemed that the monsters were getting stronger. She and Chat Noir were getting beat up a lot more than they used to.
Marinette sat in her room with Tikki.
"Tikki… What going on with my powers?" She asked. "I feel like I'm not as strong as I used to be."
"Nothing's going on with your powers Marinette." Tikki reassured her. "It's the akumas. They're getting stronger. The more HawkMoth produces the stronger he can make them."
"So I'm not getting weaker… their getting stronger?" She asked.
"Yes. It seems that way Marinette." Tikki responded.
"Then what am I supposed to do about it? What if one day HawkMoth actually beats me and Chat Noir?" Marinette asked distressed.
"He won't beat you! All you need to do is train! Plan out attacks! You can Chat Noir are a great pair… but you could be even greater… if you got to know each other better. Train outside of being Ladybug! The stronger you and Chat Noir are without the miraculous the stronger you'll be with them." Tikki explained.
"But- what about our identities? Weren't we supposed to keep them a secret?"
"Well yes… But don't you trust Chat Noir?" Tikki asked.
"With my life!" Marinette responded.
"Then trust him with all aspects of your life… even the normal Marinette one."
"I don't know…" Marinette looked away from Tikki.
"It's up to you Marinette but I know if you and Chat Noir could plan and train outside of using the miraculous you'll have an upper hand against HawkMoth." Tikki said. "It's worth thinking about."
"You're right Tikki." Marinette said. "But, I don't if I'm ready to show Chat Noir who I am… Or to find out who he is."
Ladybug stood atop a rooftop and noticed her earrings were down to one spot left.
"M'lady. You should think about getting out of here." Chat Noir said.
Ladybug touched her earrings and thought of the conversation she had with Tikki. "Chat Noir!" She exclaimed.
"yes?" he answered
"we've known each other a long time now right?" She asked.
"Yes. I guess you can say we have." Cat Noir responded as he looked down at his own miraculous, the paw mark was blinking. "Lady we need to hurry this up! I'd love to stay and chat but I'm about to-"
"It's ok!" Ladybug interrupted him. "I just wanted…" she took a deep breath. "We should get to know each other. Meaning… if you're willing. I'm ready to show who I am outside of Ladybug."
Chat Noir stood speechless. His heart felt like it exploded in his ribcage. Hearing Ladybug say she was willing to show him who she was made his feelings soar. He was finally about to meet the woman of his dreams.
"Chat?" Ladybug said to get his attention.
"oh! Yes! PLEASE!" He said in an excited tone. "You don't understand how happy I am to hear you say that." Chat Noir said with a smile glued to his face.
"Then follow me-" Ladybug jumped swiftly from rooftop to rooftop. She got to her home and jumped into her room through the open door on her balcony. Chat Noir following right behind her.
When they were both inside Chat Noir looked around. "Hey. I know this place. Marinette-"
As he was speaking Ladybug's miraculous clocked out and Marinette stood before him,
"Marinette?!" Chat Noir exclaimed.
"Y-you know me?" She asked.
Chat Noir's miraculous timed out as well.
"I do know you." He replied.
"Adrien?! You're Chat Noir?!" Marinette said in disbelief.
Adrien felt like crying, the woman who had his heart was a woman that he had rejected.
"Wow, Marinette… Who… who would've thought?" he stammered out.
Marinette smiled at Adrien, she took a moment for herself. She didn't know what to think. She was expecting him to be anyone just not Adrien!
"I wasn't expecting Chat to be you." She finally spoke. "Well. I don't know what I was expecting." She walked to her bed and sat down. "Well out of anyone. I'm glad to at least know you. Both sides of you."
"l-likewise…" Adrien said in a low tone. He couldn't look at her, he was so upset. He felt like throwing himself down before her feet and asking for her love and forgiveness.
"Ladybug-"
"Marinette… Call me Marinette. I'm not ladybug right now…" She said.
"Right… Marinette… look. I um…" Adrien took a deep breath. "It's now or never…" He thought to himself.
"I guess I should tell you." Adrien said.
"Tell me what?" Marinette asked.
"Ladybug was the girl I liked…" He said.
Marinette's face turned bright red. She let out a small gasp, "So… um…" She let out an awkward giggle, not knowing what else to do.
"Marinette I know I said I just wanted to be friends with you but- now that I know you're Ladybug… Do you still have feelings for me? Please say you do." He pleaded.
"Oh Adrien… You know that Nathan and I are dating right?" Marinette said warily.
"Yes…." He turned his head away from Marinette. Adrien was so mad at himself. He ruined everything. His heart felt heavy in his chest. He clenched his teeth and tried to hold back tears.
"I'm sorry… if things had turned out differently. Then maybe..." Marinette paused then said "But... We're still friends right?"
Adrien sighed "yes we're still friends…" He said bitterly.
"Just friends." Marinette said with a weak smile.