Thinking of You
Spoilers to Season 3 episode 4 Backwarder, with mentions of Season 2 episode 18 Anansi.
"Constipation capsules…?" Alya peeked into the bag and saw the medication used to relieve stomach and other digestive problems.
Rose squealed in delight, "What a beautiful display of pure love!" Ever the romantic, she was oblivious to the other girls' chortling and chuckling and even Marinette's own groans of embarrassment.
Alya clapped her hands. "Alright, time for us to get to class, girls. Unfortunately, this mission was a failure." Alya stuck the bag under her arm and pulled Marinette up onto her feet. Together, the six of them made their way through the courtyard towards Ms. Bustier's classroom.
"I'm not sure what misunderstanding there was, Marinette, but it seems like you didn't quite confess your feelings to him," Alya said, patting Marinette on the back.
"But there's always next time," Mylène said encouragingly.
Alix stretched her arms behind her head and walked backwards in front of them. "And, hey, it doesn't look like that anything happened with Kagami, so there's nothing there to worry about."
Juleka mumbled, "Guess not, but I still like my plan..."
"If things ever take a turn for the worse, then I'll count on you guys to actually carry out that plan, then!" Marinette laughed. As ridiculous as Juleka's plan of kidnapping Kagami was, it wasn't as bad as the things Marinette had already done, such as stealing Adrien's phone or the Miraculous tome.
"I'm going to stop by the lockers and drop off the bag first. I don't want Chloe seeing this and getting any ideas," Marinette said. Even though Chloe was trying to be more kind to her classmates (and try to gain their favor because she had helped Ladybug and Chat Noir), if she saw an opening, it was hard not to take a cheap shot and pick on others.
"Good idea. I have to grab my history book, too," Alya said. She waved to the others, and they both made their way to the locker room.
Once there, Marinette swiftly turned the dial and popped open the door of her locker. A few lockers away, Alya tossed the bag to her friend while pulling out her textbook. Marinette caught the bag in one hand – now why couldn't she be so smooth around Adrien?! – and startled when she heard a jingling sound.
"What was that?" Marinette asked, turning her head to look around the room.
"What was what?" Alya replied, slamming her locker closed. "I didn't hear anything."
"There was a jingling sound! I heard it!" Marinette waved her arms around, flailing the bag around them.
Tink.
"There! Did you hear it?"
"Is it coming from the bag? I thought it was just constipation capsules," Alya said.
Marinette opened the bag and pulled out the box. "It couldn't be the box, could it?" She shook it a few times, but it just rattled with the pills in their packaging.
"Hey, Marinette. Look in the bag again; seems like the medicine wasn't the only thing Adrien brought back from London," Alya said, pointing to the not so empty paper bag.
Marinette tossed the box of capsules into her locker and tipped the bag into her hand. Tink. On her open palm lay a silver keychain with a charm attached.
"What is it?" Alya asked.
"Well, it's a keychain of some sort," Marinette answered. She picked it up by the key ring and stared at the charm. "Is it… a wheel?"
"Reminds me of a spinning wheel, like the one in Sleeping Beauty," Alya remarked.
Marinette shook her head. "It can't be a spinning wheel, because the base of this one is different, and there's no spindle like the one Briar Rose pricked her finger on." She flicked the wheel with a finger and watched it spin around before slowing to a stop.
Alya shrugged and said, "Well, if it's not a spinning wheel, at least we know one thing it is."
Marinette quirked an eyebrow at her best friend. "Oh, and what's that?"
"A conversation starter! You can ask Adrien about it after class!" Alya exclaimed. She took Marinette's arm and dragged them both to class.
"Bu-but!" Marinette stuttered. How could she talk to him about the keychain when she had barely managed to say "hey" and "thank you" not ten minutes before?
The two were the last to enter before the bell rang, and while Alya enthusiastically waved at their friends in the front row, Marinette sheepishly smiled at Adrien and Nino before hurrying to her seat.
Throughout morning classes, Marinette couldn't concentrate on her notes and was being silently encouraged (and poked) by Alya. While Marinette would have loved to talk to Adrien, she dreaded the inevitable moment she would trip over her words.
Finally, the bell rang for lunch break. It was lucky that Adrien had convinced his father to let him stay at school for lunch several days a week and Mondays were one of those days. Alya quickly shoved Marinette's materials back into her bag and hurried the two of them after their friends.
"Nino!" Alya called out. "Mind grabbing lunch with me today?"
"Hey, Alya! Sure, I don't mind, but my dude Adrien will be alone, then." Nino turned to his best friend and asked, "Do you want to come, too?"
Ever the good friend and wingman, Adrien shook his head. "It's cool; hang out with your girlfriend some time. I'll be fine eating lunch alone today."
"Not quite alone, Adrien." Alya jabbed Marinette in the side, and Marinette squeaked, throwing a scathing look at Alya while rubbing ribs. "Marinette will keep you company. Right, Marinette?"
Marinette looked up at Adrien through her bangs and replied, "Sure, I mind! I mean – I DON'T MIND! I'd love to have you for lunch. I MEAN – I would love to eat lunch with you…" She facepalmed at her blunder and hoped that the amused look on Adrien's face was a good sign and didn't mean he thought she had made a complete fool of herself.
"Thanks, Marinette! We don't often eat lunch together, so that would be awesome," Adrien said. He turned to Alya and Nino. "Have a good lunch, you two!"
"Oh, we will," Alya replied, taking Nino by the hand and leading him out the school.
Marinette waved good bye to her two friends and turned to Adrien, asking him, "So, is there somewhere you usually eat lunch?"
"There's a tree out back that has some shade that Nino and I usually go to. Hopefully no one has taken it."
"Well, lead the way."
They arrived at the bench, and thankfully, it wasn't taken. A little out of the way, it seemed like a good place to talk to Adrien without being interrupted.
They pulled out their lunches and quietly munched on their food. Marinette and Adrien didn't usually converse with each other (let alone just the two of them), but it was a companionable silence and they didn't feel the need to fill the quiet with chatter. Marinette was thankful for this, and after a few minutes, she had psyched herself up to finally take the plunge and start a conversation with him.
"So, Adrien… how was your weekend? Did you have fun in London?" Marinette asked.
Adrien swallowed his mouthful and replied, "It was great; thanks for asking. It's been awhile since my father and I have been outside of Paris. The wedding for the royal couple was just the one day, and then I had free time the rest of the weekend. Since you gave me that letter and it seemed so important, I made sure to get what you asked for. By the way, are you feeling okay?"
Marinette chuckled and tapped her fingers together. She was relieved that he didn't have anything noteworthy to mention about Kagami; she didn't think her heart could take it after worrying all weekend. "I'm glad you had a great time! And thanks for being so kind and considerate and thoughtful and…where was I going with this?"
Adrien quirked an eyebrow. "I'm not sure…?"
"Oh, right!" Marinette exclaimed. "Um, I wanted to thank you for not only the medicine, but the keychain, too. It was also in the bag, but you didn't mention it at all this morning." Marinette reached into her pink bag, and Tikki handed her the silver keychain. "It's really pretty, but I'm not sure what it is."
Adrien grinned at the keychain she showed him. "Oops, I forgot about that, to be honest. While I was hunting around for the medicine, I saw this in one of the gift shops, and it reminded me of you. It's a miniature of the London Eye, a famous Ferris wheel."
"Oh? How does a Ferris wheel remind you of me?" Marinette asked.
"Well, do you remember that one day Alya's older sister Nora was akumatized and became Anansi? Well, I couldn't be there in person, but we went to the Ferris wheel to watch the fireworks. And even through the phone, it was an unforgettable experience." Adrien rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I guess it's just a reminder that I would like to hang out with all of you and see the fireworks from the Ferris wheel for real next time."
Seeing Adrien so vulnerable made Marinette blush even harder than she already was. Adrien may be a famous model, but he just wanted to be a normal kid who hung out with his friends. And those friends were Nino, Alya, and herself! Plucking up her courage, she threw her arms around his shoulders and pulled him in for a hug. Adrien was startled, but eagerly returned the embrace.
"Next time, we'll do all kinds of fun things, including riding the Ferris wheel and watching fireworks, okay?" Marinette said.
Adrien nodded and hummed an "okay" into her shoulder. "Thanks, Marinette."
"Don't mention it," she replied, smiling all the while.
A/N: It's funny to see all of the crack versions of this, so I wanted to do a cute "what if?" continuation for the episode. Let me know what you think of it!