Marinette sat in the cafe waiting for the others to arrive. Soon two of the three expected people came into view. Nino and Alya were having some kind of lively discussion, and for once Nino seemed to be coming out on top of the conversation.
Alya plonked down next to Marinette. "Mari, will you please tell this... this... this HEATHEN that he is totally wrong and that there is nothing in this universe that would ever get me to agree with him on this point?"
Mari giggled. "Ok." She turned to the boy that had just joined them at the table. "Nino you are totally wrong and Alya will never agree with you about this. Whatever it may be."
"See! I told you she'd agree."
"She doesn't even know what she's agreeing to," Nino pointed out with a smirk.
"But she does agree, and THAT'S what matters!" Alya stated firmly.
Nino looked at Mari as she sipped her drink.
"So, you'd totally be cool with dating Chat Noir over Adrien Agreste?" he asked waggling his eyebrows.
Mari choked on her drink. Some of it may have even found its way out through her nose.
"Nino!" Alya chidded. "You did that on purpose!"
He was laughing too hard to make a reply.
Once Mari had cleaned up the mess and Nino had settled down to a few remaining chuckles Alya started in again.
"You owe her an apology," she said with a scowl.
"I do," he agreed. "I'm sorry for trying to kill you with a well aimed spit take, Mari."
"And a new cup of coffee," she added.
"Yes, of course," he said as he stood.
"And you can pay for mine as well for all the aggravation you've caused this morning."
"What?" he looked at her incredulously.
She merely raised an eyebrow in his direction.
He grinned and went to get their orders.
"I swear that boy is going to give me high blood pressure before I'm twenty," Alya said to Mari.
"Only if your daily double espressos don't do it first," Mari replied.
Alya grinned at her friend. "A girl's gotta have her one guilty pleasure," she stated. "Speaking of which," she looked at Mari's red face, "Would you rather date Adrien or Chat Noir?"
Mari froze. What had she just asked her? Why had she asked her that? What should she say? Stall!
"What makes you ask that?" Mari said slowly.
"It was something that Nino said on the way over here," Alya shrugged a shoulder. "I was talking about how Ladybug and Chat Noir were perfect for each other when Nino asked if I had to date someone I knew or one of Paris' heroes, which would I pick?"
"And what did you say?" Mari asked fascinated despite the possibility that she was about to find out that Alya's love for Ladybug might be more than just fan girl level.
"I looked straight at Nino and told him that I'd rather be with my dorky boyfriend who asks me crazy questions like that, than to date either of those two."
Marinette grinned. "So you two are officially together?" she asked, hoping to steer the conversation away from her and Adrien or Chat.
"Yup," she said as she grinned up at Nino bringing their drinks. "But if he keeps insisting that You'd be better off with Adrien than Chat then I might just have to reconsider."
"Aw, don't be that way," Nino said. "I merely pointed out that at least Mari actually knows Adrien, and knows that he's a great guy and except for that one time Chat saved her, she's never even met him."
Nino missed seeing Mari duck her head when he said that.
"What if he's really just some perv that likes running around in a leather suit? Would you really want that for our precious Marinette?"
"Who's a perv after our Mari?" a voice asked.
Looking up Mari saw Adrien coming to their table. Just great! As if this wasn't getting uncomfortable as it was.
"No one," Alya said as she shot a look with daggers in it at Nino. "There's no way that Ladybug would ever associate with that kind of a brute."
Adrien looked puzzled. Nino rolled his eyes and groaned.
"He's too kind and funny to be anything but perfect for Mari," she continued, "and I'm sure if we could ask her, Ladybug would agree." She looked round the table, then nudged Mari with an elbow. "Besides he's pretty cute, don't you think?"
Mari's face was bright red with embarrassment. Adrien looked between the three sitting at the table with some confusion.
"So we're asking Ladybug if a cute and kind of funny guy is a perv out to get Mari?" he asked.
"NO!" said Alya a little more loudly than Mari appreciated, drawing a few stares from neighboring tables. "We're asking Ladybug if Chat Noir would be the perfect knight in shining armor for our princess Marinette!"
Adrien's eyes seemed to widen considerably. He sat down quickly. "And why are we asking her this? Wouldn't she want Chat for herself?" he asked knowing full well that Chat would most definitely want his magnificent Lady.
"That's beside the point," Alya said. Marinette gets to choose between," she caught herself in time from completely embarrassing Mari in front of her not so secret crush, "either someone she knows in real life or Chat Noir." She looked at Nino as she continued, "And there can be no doubt in any SANE person's mind that Chat Noir should be the winner hands down."
Mari was hunched down in her chair hiding her face in her hands, just wishing for an akuma attack so she could get out of this embarrassing conversation.
"What about you?" Alya asked Adrien. "If you had to choose between, say...Mari or Ladybug who would you choose?" She grinned wolfishly at the blonde boy. If he'd just say Mari maybe those two could finally stop being so shy around each other.
Nino laughed, knowing the growing crush that Adrien had on the little black haired girl sitting next to his girlfriend.
"Oh I know who he'd choose!" his grin matched the one on Alya's face. "He'd pick m…"
"M'LADYBUG!," Adrien said over Nino. Giving his friend a look pleading with him not to blab his feelings in front of the girl sitting across from him.
"Oh no you didn't!" Alya scowled at Adrien.
"Didn't what?" Adrien asked confused.
"Oh boy," Nino said. He put one hand on Adrien's shoulder. "It was nice knowing you man."
"You did not just say that you'd prefer Ladybug over my precious Mari," she began. "First off, Mari is the nicest person you will ever meet, so you did not just say that you'd rather be with that yo-yo slinging superhero over my sweet friend."
Mari didn't think she could get any redder in the face, but it seemed she was trying.
"Secondly, we all know that Chat Noir is so totally into Ladybug that you would only last about three seconds after he finds out you're making a move on his girl."
Adrien agreed with Alya, just let some little punk try to take his bug from him. He'd rip them to shreds, wait...that's himself he's talking about.
"Thirdly, Ladybug deserves the best of the best and MOST of us at this table," once again she looked at Nino, "can recognize that that would be Chat Noir."
"Come on Alya," Nino said. "If Adrien wants to be with Ladybug there's no need to crush his dreams like that." He looked at Adrien. "A guy has to have his dream girl," he said with a smirk.
Adrien blushed. Dreamgirls may, or may not, have been a subject of conversation between the two of them in the near past. Marinette looked up interested at this turn of events. It seemed she wasn't the only one that was going to die of mortification today after all.
"How dare you break Chat's heart by shipping Ladybug with another man?" Alya rounded on Nino.
"Well," said Nino casting about for any kind of life line. He looked at both Adrien and Mari, but realized he wasn't going to get any help from those sources. "That would free up Chat to go to Mari for consolation and she could then have the Cat and Adrien would have the Bug!" He gave Alya a big grin.
"No."
"What?"
"I said,"No" Nino."
"But it's a perfect plan," he said.
"No it's not, for reasons I can't go into at the present time," Alya said. "You were wrong this morning about Adrien and Mari and you're now wrong about this."
Adrien looked at the two of them arguing and then over at Mari. "I'm, um, just going to go get something to drink," he said quietly.
Mari nodded, but didn't look up.
"W-w-would you like to come with me?" he asked uncertainly.
"Anything to get away from this," she said.
"Do you think it's too early for wine?" he asked as they walked away, "because they could use some to go with all that cheese"
Mari smiled as she groaned a bit. With either Adrien or Chat the future was sure to be punny.