Speckles of white lightly fell onto the window sills outside of Marinette's classroom with hardly a whisper into the air. This weather always mesmerized because of how calm it could be and of how it always felt like there were endless opportunities like-
"Psst!"
She looks over to her best friend Alya, a journalist persona, but with good heart. "What?"
Alya points forward to the entrance of the class.
The door opened and in walked in Marinette's ray of sunshine: Adrien.
Her heart flutters in seeing him wearing a leather buttoned coat while dusted in snow.
The moment lasted only for so long when Chloe jumped him with a kiss to the cheek the moment he took off his coat, yet in doing so...
She spotted the scarf she'd given him for his birthday. She faces conflict in her emotions: part of her wants to reveal that she made it, while the other refuses to remove the joy he has in wearing it, believing it's from his father. Regardless, it leaves her happy to see him using it again.
Not blushing from this is all together too difficult to accomplish as usual, which leads to Alya helping her out by distracting her. Marinette can't help but wonder where she'd be without the support of such a great friend and smiles as she hears about the new events posted on the Ladybug Vlog.
Work was inevitable to do in class, but whenever there was a moment of freedom, Marinette would look up to take a peek at her crush and sigh happily to herself. Her best friend would look at her with amused understanding.
It seemed forever until lunch time came and since it was cold, most people wanted to eat inside the cafeteria. Though, she and Alya preferred the opposite and as they headed towards the benches, Chloe interrupted their peace. "Ugh! Are you stupid? Good luck eating icicles of your food."
As much as both wanted to put duct tape on her mouth, they just groaned quietly on their way when Nino came over with Adrien to ask them something, "Hey guys, we were wondering if you were available tomorrow."
Marinette was too busy blushing to properly answer when Alya said, "Yeah, what's up?"
"Awesome! Well, Adrien hasn't ever played in the snow before," he mentioned as Adrien smiled sheepishly with a hand behind his head, "and I thought it'd be great if we show him what he's missing."
Alya's eyes twinkled with excitement for two reasons: she loved playing in the snow and it was a great opportunity for Marinette to be with Adrien. Happily she responded with, "That's a lovely idea Nino! We should go to the Parc des Buttes Chaumont."
"I was thinking the same," he added with a grin.
"What time would be best for you?"
"Hm, is 9 O'clock in the morning alright? We need all the time we can get for this guy," he declared as he pointed with his thumb at his best friend behind him.
"Nino!"
"Sure, sure. We'll see you then!" she agreed before dragging her overwhelmingly gleeful best friend towards the benches.
It was then that Marinette finally reacted and was freaking out about how she felt so blessed.
Alya couldn't help but tease her. "Maybe he'll wear another nice looking coat."
The redness that crept onto her bestie's face was priceless.
Her blush was cut short when she realized she had planned to do an errand tomorrow. "Oh! I forgot I was gonna get some materials tomorrow..."
"Whoops, I should've remembered, but the chance was too good to miss. We can do this afterschool. The shop doesn't close till 8 P.M. right?"
"Yeah, I'll just let Mama and Papa know. Mind coming with me or do you wanna meet up there with me?"
"I can't just leave you alone with your clumsiness."
Marinette felt the harshness of her words shoot through her heart. "So cruel..."
Alya laughed as her crimson haired shook off the light snow caught in it.
Marinette proceeded to take a bite out her warm lunch that her parents had prepped for her before getting excited in drinking some of their special hot chocolate. She tilted her head back, knocking off some snow from her own cobalt blue haired, and sighed happily at the taste. It was light, yet powerfully hot and the aftertaste was enjoyable.
"Whoa girl, is that what I think it is?"
She nodded and handed over her thermos to Alya, who took a sip and was overwhelmed with joy too. "Your parents are so amazing. Oh! We should bring this tomorrow! I'm sure it'd be a great treat when it gets too cold."
"What do we do about lunch?"
"Hm...we could explore by trying a new place or we could go back to your house Marinette."
Her best friend seemed uncomfortable with the idea. "I don't know. My parents can be pretty intrusive, even if it's not in an extreme manner."
"Yeah, you told me about the time when Adrien came over, but still, he enjoyed their food."
"True, and even Nino likes it there right?"
"Yup," she replied before taking a bite out of her warm meal. "We can walk around the city afterwards and chat about random things while we improvise on what to do...Maybeeeeeee-I might accidentally leave you alone with Adrien."
Marinette nearly fainted. She's killing me with my own imagination.
"Uh-um-er-since it has hills, shouldn't we bring sleds?"
"I was trying to recall where I placed the extras in my house. I think they're in my parents' room. don't worry I should have enough and if not, Nino should be able to help on that. Didn't you have any extras Mari?"
"We did, but my parents lent them to a relative that has yet to return it to us, since they'd have to come from another country to do that."
"Ouch."
Lunch time passed quickly as they discussed on what was going to be purchased from the craft store when the bell rang for class to continue. They hurried back and wondered if it would snow on the way home.
It seemed forever to finish the last assignment of the day, but the freedom was refreshing when the cold air hit her in the face. "Ready to go Mari?"
"Yup," she answered as she got her phone out to check the time, yet in the same instant Chloe relentlessly walked over and knocked it out of her hands while having an angry discussion on the phone. It flew for a moment before landing somewhere in a pile of snow next to the staircase. Her jaw dropped in disbelief prior to scurrying over to dig it out, but she was struggling to find it, even when Alya came over to help and the current snowfall wasn't making it any easier.
Adrien and Nino had just reached the bottom of the steps when they heard Chloe laughing mischievously behind them with her best friend(/slave) Sabrina, which prompted them to turn around to see Alya and Marinette looking for something in the snow: both faces filled with concern. Immediately they came over and Adrien asked, "Are you both okay?"
"We're fine, but Marinette's phone might not be. Chloe knocked it over here and we can't seem to find it," she replied in pausing while Mari remained distracted scavenging the snow.
"We'll help!" declared Nino to which Adrien agreed with a nod. Alya smiled at their kindness, "You guys are the best! Alright, you both look over there and we'll continue here."
The search went on for several minutes until a shout of, "I found it!" came from where Adrien was. "Nice job Dude!" praised Nino. When Marinette looked up, it was only then did she notice that they were there and a blushed exploded onto her face as the boy of her dreams walked over to return her cell phone. "I would've checked if it still works, but I didn't want to intrude on your privacy in turning it on."
If there weren't enough reasons why she loved him, now there were. "Uh-um-thank! I mean- er- you thank! doh!" she said before doing a facepalm and finally managing to say, "I mean-T-Thank you."
"No problem," he replied as he held it out for her.
In receiving it, she quickly pressed the home button to see if the screen would turn on and when it did she jumped in joy. "Yay!"
Adrien smiled at her reaction. That suites her better than the worried face she had on moments ago. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard his driver honking the car a few times. "Whoops! Gotta go! I'll see you all tomorrow!"
Marinette hugged her phone as she happily sighed. Meanwhile, Nino and Alya secretly high fived each other at the accomplished unexpected moment that happened. For once, Chloe being bad didn't always mean an awful outcome.
Upon opening the door to the bakery, the scent of chocolate, sugar, and flour amongst the variety of flavors of the diverse pastries filled the atmosphere. "I'm home!"
"Marinette!" gleefully called her mother, who was at the register tending to a customer. "And Alya! So good to see you!"
Her father came over to give his precious child a kiss on the cheek and greeted her bestie. "Always a pleasure to see that Marinette has someone looking out for her."
"Papa!"
The red head with her dark wood brown skin, proudly accepted the comment before placing a hand on Marinette's shoulder. "She's totally worth the trouble."
"Hey!" she exclaimed before she focused her attention back to her parents. "We're gonna go to the craft store, so I can buy some supplies. We should be back in 3 hours."
"Alright Mari. Please be careful. Oh and here's some snacks for your little adventure."
"Mhm. Always and thank you for the snacks!" she responded as she smirked and held up her right hand in a peace sign.
In walking out, Alya prompted, "Are we taking the bus or the train?"
"Let's take the train."
"I'm guessing you wanna tell them when you get home?" probed Alya as they waited for their stop, with her phone in hand set for any Ladybug action to catch in the act. The other held a cookie she'd taken a bite out of.
"Of course, or else they get ahead of themselves," explained Marinette as her body drooped in frustrated exhaustion at what they were capable of.
"There there. You have me."
"Would there be a universe if you didn't exist?"
"The big bang theory would've never happened."
"Oh god that was awful."
"Admit it. It was great. Maybe not as good as Chat Noir, but I have my moments."
"I'm beginning to think his puns are contagious now."
They both laughed and continued by discussing what would be best to have for lunch from the bakery. When it was finally their stop, they quickly exited and heading up the staircase. "I mean it's hard to decide, since Mama and Papa are amazing at everything they make. I swear they can make vegetables look not scary to eat."
"Yeah, it's impressive what they pull off for orders."
Once they reached the top, it didn't take long to reach their destination. The doors slid open and warm air welcomed them inside. "The yarn section right?"
"Yup!"
Marinette happily skipped towards the aisle while Alya shook her head in disbelief at how childish she could be, but it was reassuring to see nonetheless, that her best friend trusted her with this side of her persona. There was a certain thing she was well aware of that Mari had never shared with her, which began around the time Adrien first came to their school. As good as the red head could be to pick the information out of Marinette, her intuition had implied that it'd be an unwise choice. It left her worried for the most part, but she kept her faith at 100% for the cobalt blue headed girl and hoped that one day she'd be able to tell her what she's been constantly working so hard to hide all this time.
"Alya?"
Without realizing it, she'd ignored her. "Sorry, I spaced out."
That's a first. I'm usually the one doing that. "You okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine girl. Don't worry," she claimed as she waved her hand as if nothing was the matter. Marinette kept staring at her for a moment before she smirked in understanding. "Well, if anything's wrong, just tell me okay?"
"Understood," she vowed as Mari surprised her with a hug.