Hey, this is a little one shot based off of a interest prompt. Thanks for reading.
...
Marinette was finally over Adrien.
As a friend, Alya was worried, but proud. The photos on Marinette's wall vanished, replaced by ones of the friend group. Marinette no longer had Adrien's schedule memorized, like a normal person.
But the thing that made Alya certain, was that Marinette had stopped doodling "Marinette Agreste," in her notebook. It was replaced by doodles of Ladybugs and Cats. It was cute, and good that Marinette was over her obsession.
Alya didn't want to confront her, at first, but she was sure that Marinette had moved on. Was dating someone else.
It was just a hunch, but after swiping Marinette's phone, for reasons, she found no solid evidence. Alya couldn't confront Marinette without evidence.
But Alya knew something was up with Marinette.
She was always smiling, and singing to herself.
She was too happy, even for Marinette.
Sunshine Boy himself wasn't even that happy- scratch that, maybe Adrien had a secret girlfriend too.
At the same time as Marinette. What a coincidence.
At least, Alya would've thought that, if she hadn't eaten lunch with them at school. There was nothing going on there.
Those smiling dorks were just very good friends.
But Marinette had to be dating someone.
Eventually she'd tell Alya, her best friend, right?
Alya had to research.
It wasn't Luka, because he went off to college.
It wasn't Nath, because he was with Marc...
Eventually Alya ran out of suspects.
But Marinette had to be dating someone. Her random disappearances and growth in confidence and happiness had no other explanation.
Marinette was always busy. She claimed that she had to help on the bakery or do homework, but Alya knew the truth, Marinette had a boyfriend and didn't want anyone to know.
But why?
...
It was about five months after Marinette started acting suspicious that Alya decided to confront her.
"Marinette, who's the boy?"
"He- I what?" Marinette blushed and stuttered, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Face the truth Marinette. You have a boyfriend. Spill the deets."
"I uh. Oh alright. Fine. I have a boyfriend."
"Who is he?"
Marinette's face turned redder. "It's kind of a secret? I mean. You know him, but we are keeping our relationship on the dl right now."
Alya nodded. "Makes sense. Like Ladybug and Chat Noir. So you won't tell me his name."
Marinette made a weird face. "Actually-"
"So tell me all about him. Spill the tea."
"What do you want to know?"
"What does he look like?"
Marinette sighed dreamily, "He's tall, blonde and has glowing green eyes."
"Mm." Alya nodded her approval, "sounds hot. What's his personality like?"
"He's really nice. He's super sweet and kind, even though he's a bit of a dork. Hes super romantic, but has a horrible sense of humor. I mean, I can handle a few puns, but this is obnoxious."
Alya smiled knowingly. "Yeah, you guys sound cute. Ill keep your secret. It makes sense. Adrien's dad would flip out if he found out you two were dating."
Marinette's face of confusion couldn't have been fake. "What? Who said anything about?"
"You aren't dating Agreste?" Alya was confused now. All the facts had lined up. It made sense. "Then who is he?"
"I can't-" Marinette froze. "I can't tell you."
Alya smirked. It was definitely Adrien.
...
The next day, Alya decided, it was definitely not Adrien.
Marinette acted the same way around Adrien that she did around Nino.
They were purely platonic.
It was weird that Marinette and Adrien kept disappearing right around the same times, but maybe they both used Akuma as excuses to make out with their s/o s.
It wasn't Alya's business, so she decided not to push it.
But she really wanted to know.
Who was the mystery guy?
...
Alya wasn't any closer to finding out mystery boy's identity after months of investigation..
MarieMari was as good at keeping a secret identity as Chat Noir.
Unless...
Marinette was dating Chat Noir.
The facts added up.
He was blonde and tall.
Known to make bad puns.
And Marinette always disappeared during Akuma attacks.
Maybe it was because her boyfriend wanted to keep her safe.
Alya had basically convinced herself of that when she remembered that Ladybug was dating Chat Noir. Not Marinette...
Unless Marinette was Ladybug...
Thats when Alya realized she was spiraling. If her own best friend was Ladybug, then she had to be the most observant person ever. It simply wasn't possible.
...
Alya never saw him with Marinette, so how could it have been someone they knew?
No one was that good at keeping a secret, even Mari.
It wasn't possible.
Maybe Marinette was mistaken and it was someone she thought Alya knew.
Or someone Alya had only met once and forgotten.
Still, it kinda stung that Marinette wouldn't share the details with her best friend.
What are best friends for if not to gossip with?
...
Alya was stumped.
She had no idea who Marinette could even possibly be dating...
That is, until Marinette didn't show up in the bakery after school.
She had promised Alya that they would work on their history presentation together, but hadn't shown up.
Sabine, Marinette's mom had suggested that Alya wait upstairs in Marinette's room, because the bakery was Cold, and had a worse wifi signal.
Alya awkwardly went up there, sat in Marinette's desk chair and started creating a PowerPoint presentation on her laptop.
It couldn't have been more than thirty minutes when there was a loud thump on the roof.
Two loud thumps.
Alya froze in the chair. She couldn't deal with burglars. How could any reasonable person get up there anyways? It didn't make sense.
Alya grabbed the nearest weapon-like object, a black umbrella, and held it out in front of her for protection.
The people above started messing with Marinette's trap door.
Alya was screwed.
She panicked and ran to the closet. She closed herself in, peeking out through the slots of the closet door. Alya Cesaire was not one to go down without a fight.
Umbrella in hand, she held her breath as the first person walked down the ladder.
Alya almost let out a sigh of relief. It was Marinette. But who was the other person?
Alya couldn't make out his face, as he walked down the ladder and flirted with Marinette. His voice sounded familiar enough, but he couldn't place it.
Then they started kissing.
Marinette and Blonde boy were kissing, Alya was still in the closet. Although, she had considered kissing Marinette at least once.
After a full minute of them making out, Alya stepped out of the closet holding the umbrella. "Stop."
Marinette screamed and threw a book at Alya- "Alya? What the hell?"
Alya shrugged. "You didn't show up for our study date, and your mom told me to come up here. I hid because I thought you guys were robbers."
At this, blonde boy started laughing. "Quite the opposite, eh? Buginette?"
Alya looked at him. Actually looked at him, and recognized him. "Adrien?"
Adrien blushed. "Guilty as charged."
"Uhh." Alya stared, "Don't you think you might've missed a step?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know, the whole dating part? You told me that mystery boy wasn't Adrien, and now you're in his lap making out?"
"Well to be fair, I didn't know it was him until-"
Alya rolled her eyes. "You can't date someone and not know who they are." At this Marinette and Adrien shared a weird look. "Okay. Uhh. Maybe you can. How long he you been together?"
"We've been dating for six months." Marinette insisted. Adrien's giggling wasn't helping.
"But you were over him. I swear. The signs pointed to you getting a boyfriend."
"Yeah." Marinette insisted. "Him."
"But you got rid of the schedule. Removed the obsessive pictures. I mean at this point you've probably forgotten his phone password."
Adrien looked at Marinette, "why do you know my phone password?"
"Thats a story for another time." Marinette insisted.
Alya continued. "The point is, you were over him. You didn't have that ridiculous crush anymore. I know you Mari."
"I'm sorry Alya, I just."
"I'm sorry you and your boyfriend broke up before I even met him, but this isn't fair. Adrien can't just be some rebound guy."
"Im not just a rebound guy." Adrien smirked. "I've been dating your best friend for nearly six months."
"Thats impossible." Alya shook her head. "You know what? I'm done. You can finish the history project on your own Marinette. This is too much."
"I didn't want to lie to you Alya-"
"No I get it." Alya waved Marinette away. "It makes perfect sense. Im just surprised you had it in you to keep a secret that big. That takes guts girl. I mean next you're going to tell me you're Ladybug or something."
"Actually-" Adrien started to say, until Marinette whacked him.
Alya chuckled. "You two are cute. See you at school."