"Come on Girl! It's time, you've been putting this off way too long. I'm tired of watching you drool over Adrien from a distance and then stuttering nonsense while he's around." Alya sighs, pinching her nose as, yet again, Marinette star gazes at Adrien as he takes things from his locker.
Marinette swiftly snaps out of her reverie.
"Huh, what did you say Alya?"
"Man, you got it bad. But I'm already over this. You're going to march your cute little pig-tails over there and tell him how you feel!"
"I can't, you know what happens every time I try to talk to Adrien! When I'm around him it's like my mind takes a vacation." Marinette frowns, gazing back at Adrien with a longing.
"Yeah, I know, trust me I know. But that ends now." Alya decides, placing both arms on Marinette's shoulders.
"Wait, what're you-" Alya pushes her back, waving with smug smirk as Marinette nearly tumbles into the open locker door, Adrien's open locker door. As she adjusts herself, a blush creeping onto her cheeks, Alya mouths two words to her.
Tough Love.
"Oh, hey Marinette?" Adrien steps out from behind his locker door, and Marinette swerves towards him, throwing her arm into a neighboring locker, and trying not to wince.
"Wow! Hi Adrien, who knew I'd see you here, of all places, now and…yeah, hi." She averts her eyes from his stare.
"You, um, stopped in front of my locker." He says slowly, and she mentally slaps herself.
"Right, yeah, of course I'd see you at your, um, locker."
"So, did you want to tell me something?" He asks her, shutting the locker door, making all divisions between them vanish.
She takes a step back.
"Oh, right, well I um…Do you maybe…We could…Afterschool maybe…If you wanted to…Smoothies?" She stutters out, hoping she'd made one coherent sentence.
"Uh, smoothies? Like with Alya and Nino?" He smiles lightly.
She shakes her head.
"Oh no, just us…Unless you want to bring Alya and Nino!" She corrects rapidly, and he chuckles.
"It's a date. I'll meet you afterschool then," He grins, nodding her off before turning away and heading off to his next class.
"A…DATE?! I…" She stands there, eyes wide, gripping her own textbooks so hard her knuckles turn white.
Alya laughs lightly behind her as she comes up to her friend.
"I can't believe that worked?" Marinette says slowly, still very much in a daze.
"Yeah, who knew talking made communication possible?" She pauses, laughing some more. "You're the best, girl. Seriously."
…
The moment class ends, however, it finally starts to set in how real this situation is, for Marinette.
She finds herself unmoving in her chair, well after the bell rings.
Nino taps her shoulder, snapping her out of it.
"Hey, Marinette, you alright man? You've been sitting there staring off into space for about four minutes now," He checks his wristwatch. "Ok, five minutes. I thought Adrien mentioned you two were going for smoothies?"
"Oh, right…I just…Yeah I don't know if the smoothie thing was as great an idea as I'd first thought." She frowns, picturing Adrien's shirt covered in strawberry-mango due to her proneness to accident. "Uh, you waited here five minutes for me, Nino?"
He nods.
"Sure I did, you were still as a statue, it was kind of interesting guessing whether or not you were even awake." He chuckles.
She forces herself to stand. She knew Alya would kill her for running away from her first date with Adrien.
She also knew she would regret missing it after.
"Thanks for snapping me out of it. I really should go meet Adrien." She smiles, grabbing her bag, and waving goodbye as she walks out.
She sees Adrien waiting at the front entrance as she walks down the steps, and with slight hesitation, almost turns back.
"No. I have to face my fears. Adrien said yes, the hardest part is already over." She tells herself, as she crosses the courtyard to him.
His back is to her, so he doesn't notice until she's right at his side.
He turns to her, a relieved smile on his lips, his eyes lighting up.
"Hi," He greets. "I was starting to think you'd left. I'm really looking forward to hanging out."
She grins back, until his words hit her.
To hanging out. Like, friends? But…this is a date! She thinks, unless, it was only a date in her mind, and merely smoothies between friends to him.
The smile falls, but he doesn't notice, as they start down the steps.
"I know this great café by the Eiffel Tower, unless you know a place we can go?" He asks, adjusting his bag.
"Your café is fine," She sighs, not meeting his eyes.
He stops walking.
"Are you alright? Did I say something?" He frowns, reaching out a hand to her shoulder.
She looks up again.
"Huh? Oh no, you haven't done anything, Adrien." She plasters a false smile to her face.
He isn't convinced, but they start walking again nonetheless. He figures it best not to press the issue for now.
"So, how was school? Do you think the Physics exam went well?" He starts again, trying to ease her tension.
She smiles for real this time.
"That test was almost comically easy. I think I did great!" She admits, loosening up about her crush once more.
"Really? Me too, I thought I was the only one who felt that way. I was done like ten minutes before everyone else…So I handed it in and kind of…started to…doodle in my notebook." He tells her, his cheeks turning pink as he remembers just what he was doodling.
"Oh, I didn't know you liked to draw." Marinette pipes up, interested.
He smiles lightly, embarrassed.
"I don't usually draw, but I was bored, and…I just couldn't stop thinking about her…" He continues slowly.
Once again, her spirits fall. He was drawing a girl. And she just knew it wasn't her.
"Uh…who were you…drawing?" She chokes out, knowing that if she changed the subject now, he'd know she was jealous. And he'd realize that they were on a trek to smoothies for totally different reasons.
"…Ladybug…" He whispers sheepishly, looking away from her.
She can't help the blush creeping into her skin, nor her mouth falling open.
"Ladybug?" She repeats. So he had been drawing her, just not her. Her superheroine counterpart.
"Yeah…I just think she's really cool." They pause at a street light. "You know, you kind of remind me of her,"
Her eyes widen, and she can't stop her gasp.
"I-I do?" Her voice rises. She can never reveal her secret identity to anyone. Not even her partner Chat Noir. So what will she do if Adrien finds out, all on his own?
"Yeah, you both are kind and caring. And you both put others before yourself." He says, as they start walking again.
Her cheeks get redder.
"Oh. Th-thanks." She smiles.
"Hey look, we're here." He points at the café before them, and they head inside.
"I'll get us a table." Marinette suggests, reaching for her purse.
He stops her hand.
"No, I'll pay." He says. "Tell me which flavor you want,"
"Oh, you don't have to-"
"I want to, Marinette." Adrien grins at her.
"Oh…Ok, I guess, I want strawberry-mango?"
"Great, I'll meet you at the table." He nods, heading over to the cashier, while Marinette secures them a table for two under an umbrella outside, overlooking the nearby Eiffel Tower.
Tikki pops her head out of Marinette's purse, surveying the scene.
"I guess the date with Adrien is going better than you thought it would, Marinette." She observes.
"Tikki, you need to stay hidden!" She scolds the kwami. "But yeah, even though it isn't a real date…I am happy I came."
Tikki only giggles, before retreating back into the safety and security of the purse.
In a matter of moments, Adrien walks out of the café, smoothies in hand, and joins Marinette at the table, sliding a pink drink towards her.
She eyes the red striped straw a bit before taking a sip.
"This is delicious, thank you Adrien."
He takes a sip of his own, navy blue drink.
"No problem, I'm having fun." He grins.
"Me too."
"We don't get to chat often," He says finally.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that." She averts her eyes, imagining how hard it is to talk with a flustered girl who can barely say a word out loud.
She smiles at how far she's come in just the one day, finding herself surprisingly comforted around her crush.
"I've always kind of thought I scared you away somehow…" He trails off, taking another sip. "So when you asked me to come with you for a smoothie, I got so excited. I really want to get to know you better,"
"And I've already learned so much,"
"Like what?"
"Well, I know you like strawberry-mango smoothies. I know you're good at physics…" He stops to think a moment. "And, I know now that you get this twinkle in your eyes when you're excited about something, and how you close up and your nose scrunches when you're uncomfortable. And you, um, kind of have this streak of fury in your eyes when you're jealous."
"Jealous? What? Me jealous? I have no clue-" He cuts her off.
"You don't have to lie to me, I saw your face when I mentioned drawing Ladybug." He chuckles a little.
She frowns, shifting in her seat.
"Oh no, I'm not laughing at you…I didn't mean to-"
"I understand if you don't feel that way about me," She says slowly. He reaches his hand out, and wraps his hand around hers, over the pink smoothie glass.
"Hey, that's not true. You know, I meant it when I said you and Ladybug are a lot alike. You're both special people in my life. But you know what Ladybug is that you aren't?"
She watches their hands.
"She's a dream. That's what. I'll never have anything with Ladybug, I know that. But you, Marinette. You've always been right there, beside me. I want you to always be right there, with me. You know why I wanted to get to know you better? Because I wanted to know if it was possible you like me too…Did I guess right?" He finishes, glancing down at their hands.
She places her other hand at the glass.
He places his other hand over hers.
"Adrien…I can't do this-"
He drops his hands.
"Oh, I apologize." He says quietly.
"No, I meant…I can't do this, until I tell you the full truth. About me. And about Ladybug." She blurts out.
He meets her eyes finally, confusion across his face.
"Uh…just, give me a minute? Can we, um, meet in the alley behind this café? In two minutes." She stands from the seat.
"Wait, Marinette-"
"Please Adrien? I need to tell you the truth." He only nods, as she rushes away from their table, and around the corner.
When she's alone again, Tikki pops out of the purse.
"Marinette! What are you doing? You mustn't tell anyone your secret!" She reprimands her, hovering in front of her face.
"I'm sorry Tikki, but I can't lie to Adrien if he really wants to be something more with me! It's wrong, and I just can't start a relationship on a lie. He deserves to know that Ladybug isn't just a dream, that we're both here for him." Marinette explains.
"Think of Paris, Marinette. This isn't just about you two…If Hawkmoth finds out that Adrien knows, he can use it against you!"
Marinette sighs, shaking her head.
"I have to tell him the truth…" She pauses, closing her eyes. "Spots on!"
"Marine-"
And within moments, Ladybug stands in her place.
"Sorry Tikki." She mutters, as she swings up onto the rooftop of the café, and crosses over to the other side, where the alleyway is.
In the dark of the alcove, she can just barely make out Adrien's outline, as she hops down beside him.
He startles, but when he sees who it is, quickly adjusts himself.
"Ladybug? Um, where's Marinette?" He asks her, taking a small step back.
"Marinette, uh, told me how you feel about me. And…I wanted to tell you that I feel the same way." She says.
"But, what-"
"Spots off." She whispers, de-transforming in front of him. He stands there in awe, as the white light encapsulates her, and replaces Ladybug, with Marinette.
"Oh my…" His jaw drops. "Marinette, you're-"
"I couldn't start anything with you without telling you the truth first."
"But," He hesitates, "My Lady."
This time he watches as her jaw drops.
"We promised we wouldn't even tell each other… Claws out."
He transforms.
"Chat Noir? Adrien, you're my Kitty? My partner?" She jitters.
"In the flesh," He agrees, and she surprises him in a tight embrace.
"I'm…so glad it's you." She mumbles into his shoulder.
"And I'm glad it's you too, My Lady."
A/N: I apologize but I couldn't stop myself! I couldn't hold back the fluff!