"Alright, dude, I'm totally gonna do it." Nino whispered, leaning closer to his best friend and deskmate.
"You got this, man!" Adrien quietly said back, pumping his fist to show his encouragement. Nino nodded and smiled in acknowledgement as the two boys pumped fists behind their raised books.
Suddenly, the bell rang, signaling the end of class, and just like that all of Nino's previous courage was wiped away, replaced with what he could only describe as a serious case of the butterflies. His stomach felt like it was doing parkour tricks off his ribcage, his heart racing like he had just been running a marathon, his palms beginning to sweat profusely. This was a stupid idea, who thought of this stupid idea, this was never going to work.
"Dude? Helloooo?" Adrien waved a hand in front of Nino's face, noticing the complete 180 in his friends demeanor. As he waited for his friend to return to this planet, Adrien saw the objective of the boys earlier ramblings already on her way out the door. "Nino, look! Alya's leaving! It's now or never!"
Snapping back to reality, Nino saw exactly that. The girl he'd been secretly pining for, the object of all his day dreams, walking out of their last class of the day, completely engrossed in a conversation with her best friend by her side. Quickly, he jumped out of his seat, jogging the few steps between his desk and the front door to the classroom and hoping, praying, that he had enough nerve to open his mouth when he got there.
"A-Alya! Wait!" Nino called out, hoping she didn't hear the stupid stutter in his stupid voice. Be cool, be suave, be like Chat Noir! he thought, steeling himself as both girls turned around at the door.
"What's up, Nino?" Alya asks, her hazel green eyes locking with his own brown ones, her hair twisting around her face as she turned, the red ends looking just a little more vibrant in the sunlight seeping in from outsi—Focus, Nino!
"U-Uhh…I, uh, was thinking…" Nino practically felt his courage seep out of him the longer he kept eye contact with her. He could feel his nerves causing his hands to shake already. He was making a fool of himself in front of her.
"Yess?" Alya probed, waiting for Nino to finish his thought, wondering what had the boy in such a fit, but as she raised an eyebrow at the situation, she couldn't help but spare a glance to Marinette, hoping for some clarity, only to have the girl shrug in response.
Quickly, Adrien swooped in behind his buddy, jabbing him once in the side with his elbow to try and give a jumpstart to the file that was currently not responding.
"Later! I-I mean, I was wondering are you doing anything later?" Nino felt his face begin to heat up now that he'd finally gotten the question out there. Well, that, and for that good minute he went comatose in front of her.
"Oh, yea! I've got a ton of backlog submissions for the Ladyblog I need to catch up on. These past few days haven't really given me enough time to go through them as I'd have liked." Alya immediately flew into talking about all the new fans that have been flocking to her blog this week thanks to a very particular and widely televised Akuma battle.
"Oh, yea, dude, that's cool. Sounds like you'll be pretty busy this weekend, huh?" Nino couldn't hold back the disappointment in his voice, unable to keep eye contact with her as he had before, voting to instead find his shoes super interesting. "Nah, it's cool. Have a nice weekend." And with that, he turned back towards his desk to gather his things and prepare to leave, Adrien following after him despite already having his school bag slung over his shoulder.
Alya and Marinette exchanged glances, both filled with confusion of their mutual friends behaviors, before they both turned to leave, walking down the metal stairs leading to the courtyard and out of the school building in complete silence. It wasn't till they were a good block away from the school that Marinette decided to break the silence.
"You know, I think Nino might have been asking you out. Like, on a date!" Marinette exclaimed, gesturing with her hands how big of a deal that seemed to her. Alya cocked an eyebrow from behind her glasses and gave her best friend a sideways glance.
"Puh-lease! Nino and I are buds! He probably wanted to invite us to some sweet DJ gig he got or something." Alya giggles a little to herself as she thinks back to all the times she and Marinette had been dragged to some backyard rave to watch Nino "play". Marinette, not convinced in the slightest, was about to counter her friends dismissal of the topic when her phone beeped, making her aware that she had a text message.
Confused as to who could be texting her, she quietly took out her phone from her bag, making sure that Tikki wasn't revealed in the process, and promptly chocked when she saw who the message was from. There, on her screen, was Adrien's face, and Adrien's number, with a small little red icon beside it with the number "1", signaling one unread message. One unread text message. From Adrien. To Marinette. On her phone. Had hell just frozen over?
While Marinette was running through all the scenarios of why her super-secret crush could be texting her, one of them being the world was coming to an end and he needed to confess his undying love for her, her phone beeped again, now displaying a number "2" in the field beside his name. Yup, dead.
At this point, the poor girl's body had stopped functioning and left her standing in the middle of the sidewalk while her best friend continued on ahead unknowingly. It wasn't till Marinette was a good 10 paces behind her that Alya finally noticed her friend had stopped walking as she stared at her phone like it was trying to suck her soul out of her eyes.
"Is everything ok, girl?" Alya asked. Was there something in the water today? Why was everyone acting so weird?!
"Uhh…" Marinette wanted to tell her friend what she was looking at, hell, she wanted to show the world that Adrien Agreste was texting her, but she couldn't get her mind to work right. She hadn't even read the first message, and now there were two! Swiping the screen to the right, effectively opening the messages, Marinette quickly read through them, imprinting every word to memory for her future 'how your father and I met' story she'd tell their future kids.
A- Hey Marinette! It's Adrien, from class. I got your number from Nino, hope you don't mind.
Oh, Nino. Dear, sweet, lovely, beautiful Nino. She'd have to bake him his favorite chocolate bread as a gift. Maybe 20 loaves would be enough to pay him back for this?
A- So, not sure if you noticed earlier, but Nino really wants to ask Alya out on a date, but he gets all clammed up around her. Think you can help me out?
Marinette mentally pumped her fist in the air. She knew it! Nino was trying to ask her out on a date! He totally has feelings for her. Wait a minute, did Adrien just ask for her to help him?
Suddenly snapping back to the real world, Marinette flung her head up, pulling her eyes from her phone and noticing Alya had been waiting for her with a very confused, very concerned look on her face. Marinette knew she had to keep this plot secret from her best friend, she knew if Alya found out, she'd just brush it off again saying that Adrien was 'just meddling'. Alya placed a hand on her hip, leaning her weight onto one foot as she looked on at her friend with worry.
"Everything alright?" She asked again, figuring the first time she'd asked probably falling on deaf ears.
Marinette quickly hid her phone behind her back, raising her other hand to rub the back of her head nervously, her eyes closing as she smiled big.
"Hm? Oh, nothing! Just Mama wanting to make sure I knew I had to clean my room once I got home." Marinette said while giggling, trying to hide her nervousness over the text messages with a coverup of having been scolded by her mom. At first, she worried Alya wasn't going to buy it since when she opened one of her eyes to peek on her reaction, her friend was making that look that said 'girl, I know that isn't what's going on here', but whether she believed it or not, she shrugged it off and accepted that it was all she was going to get for the time being.
"Okay, well, I'm heading this way. Talk to you later?" Alya wondered silently to herself if she'd be able to get the truth from her tonight if she sprung it on her unsuspecting friend at the right time.
"Of course! See you!" Marinette waved enthusiastically, wasting not time in turning on her heels and running down the street that would lead her to the bakery. She had to get home quickly and reply to Adrien.
—
After a quick greeting to her parents, and using the excuse that she wanted to get a head start on her weekend homework, Marinette ran straight up to her room, closing the hatch that lead down into the rest of the house immediately.
"Oh my god, Tikki! Adrien texted me! ME!" The girl squealed and did a little happy dance while she clenched her phone to her chest while the little red kwami shot out from inside her bag.
"I know! That's great, Marinette! What did he say?" Tikki's little voice sounding like bell's in the wind as she buzzed around her charge as she danced around the room.
"He needs my help! ME!" Marinette squealed again. The jumping around her room was only interrupted when she'd dance in one place, staring at her phone in disbelief while giggling happily to herself.
"Well then, don't you think you should respond to him?" Tikki pointed out, having given up trying to keep up with the young teen and taken a seat on the desk by her computer. Her question caused Marinette to freeze in place. Respond? She hadn't thought about that. Judging from his last message, he was expecting some sort of response from her, but her track record when it came to carrying on a conversation when this boy was involved wasn't exactly something to be proud of. Suddenly, all her excitement over the text messages turned to dread as she looked at her phone like it had just betrayed her trust.
"Oh no. Tikki, what do I do? I can't respond to Adrien! You know how I am!" Marinette turned to her kwami for help, panicking now as she realized she hadn't sent any kind of response to the blonde boy. What if he was waiting for a response? What if since she'd taken so long, he saw her lack of a response as her brushing off his request for her help? What if he never talked to her again?
Tikki giggled to herself, watching as her charges mind spun more and more out of control. Quickly, so as not to lose her forever in a pit of sorrow, Tikki spoke up.
"It's ok, Marinette! You can do it! I'll help." the little kwami floated over to Marinette, landing on her shoulder and patting her cheek affectionately. Her presence alone helped improve the teen's mood, watching as the girl smiled to herself and gave a slight nod. She wasn't in this alone, she could do it. She had to. For Alya.
"Right! Ok." Marinette took a deep breath, sitting on her swivel chair and holding the phone at arms length like a bomb that could explode at any moment. "Right…" she repeated herself, this time with less enthusiasm as the first. She stared at the dark screen of her phone for a few moments more before turning quizzical eyes to her red companion.
"Unlock the phone, Marinette." Tikki sighed to herself, Marinette looking more like a lost child than a super hero who saved Paris on a daily basis. With careful concentration, Marinette unlocked her phone, the previous screen coming to life again in her hands, the two messages from Adrien still very visible and very un-answered.
"How about asking what he had in mind?" Tikki offered, trying her best to lead the girl rather than just giving her the answers. Marinette immediately started typing her response, nearly copying word for word what Tikki had said. Then, with only a slight quiver in her hand, she hit send, holding the phone up above her head as she did, like she was making an offering to the gods.
"There, see! That wasn't so bad." the kwami assured the girl, tapping her once again on her cheek for a job well done. There was no knowing when the boy would see the message or wether he'd reply again or not, but this was a huge step for Marinette and despite the emotional roller coaster ride, Tikki was proud. Marinette started to lower her arms, finally starting to relax for the first moment since she'd received the first message what seemed like hours ago only to have the moment cut short by the beep of her phone.
Adrien replied.
The screen was still unlocked, so the message immediately was visible to the Ladybug duo, he hadn't taken long at all.
A- Does that mean you're on board? Great! But I'm not really sure how to proceed. I thought about making a reservation for the two and having it be a surprise, but I don't think Alya would fall for that.
Marinette giggled at the last part of the message. She could just imagine the accusatory look on her best friends face at the setup. She wouldn't fall for it for one second. Without even thinking, her fingers were already typing her response, hitting send without realizing exactly what was going on.
M- Yea, Alya would see through that in a heartbeat. It's going to be hard to get one past her. I still have a hard time with it.
A- How would you go about it?
Marinette sat back in her chair, her hand coming up to rub at her chin while she thought about how exactly she'd gotten Alya to go along with her in the past. There was the time she'd dragged her to the museum using the pretense that she'd learned something new about Ladybug, but she doubted if that would work so well a second time.
Tikki, still perched on her shoulder, watched with silent pride at how well Marinette had been handling the conversation so far. She'd responded all on her own and without the spasms like before. She knew the girl just needed to familiarize herself more with the boy she pined for and she'd eventually be able to carry on a conversation with him. Just then, a wonderful idea came to the little fairy. Excitedly, she flew over to hover just in front of Marinette's face, her little face all lit up with joy.
"Marinette, why not have all four of you go together?" Tikki proclaims, not waiting to see if her charge was even paying attention to her. Marinette let out a little strangled noise, her eyes widening as the idea sunk in.
"M-Me? Go on a d-d-double d-date with Adrien?!" Marinette squeaked, her voice growing in octave with each passing word, her stutter caused by her whole body shaking.
"Yea! That way Alya wouldn't be the wiser and Nino could have the courage of his friends being nearby." The more Tikki thought about the idea, the better it was sounding. It fit everyone's needs perfectly, even one of sweet little Marinette's deepest darkest fantasies.
Marinette was about to tell Tikki how she must be out of her little bug mind when her phone beeped, again, signaling yet another text message. The phone was back into it's locked position, showing just how long she'd been thinking this over.
A- Marinette?
M- Sorry! I was thinking about the 2 of us going out together.
Marinette hit send before she realized what she'd typed. It was like her word regurgitation problem she had when she was in front of him, but now it was concrete, forever stuck as evidence in her text message history. She was doomed.
Ding goes the phone that would be the final nail in her coffin.
A- That's a great idea!
Wait, what? Marinette stared in disbelief at the latest message. Had Adrien just acknowledged that the two of them 'going out' was a 'great idea'? Is this real? Had she really died earlier and gone to heaven? Before she could think too deeply on the subject, another beep pulled her from her thoughts.
A- How about this Sunday?
"YES!" Marinette jumped up from her chair and screamed, holding her phone only inches from her face. This couldn't be happening, a date with Adrien on Sunday! This had to be a dream. A date. With the boy she's loved all year. Marinette began dancing around her room again, singing a song she didn't know the tune to, but didn't care, everything was great. Ding goes the sweet, sweet sound of her precious phone that has taken the role of cupid and united her with her true love.
A- Do you think Alya will be suspicious if we meet up at Jardin des Tuileries?
Wait, Alya? Marinette's euphoria was suddenly cut short as a she realized what had happened. She had slipped up in her previous message, that was for certain, the evidence still very clear in her text history, but Adrien hadn't read her message as she'd intended it. Instead of reading as 'You and I going out together on a date', the true meaning behind her message, he'd read it as 'You and I going along with Alya and Nino on THEIR date'. She couldn't let herself feel depressed over this. It was her own misunderstanding of his meaning, after all. With a heavy heart, Marinette replied.
M- Sunday will be great. I'll find a way to explain it to Alya so she won't be suspicious.
A- Great! How about we plan to meet at the fountain at 10?
M- Sounds great.
Feeling the conversation end, Marinette locked her phone and sat on her lounge, hanging her head and trying to calm herself down from the previous excitement. She'd felt the highest of highs only to have all her hopes and dreams dashed in an instant. It was ok, though, she could do this. For Alya. For her best friend. For the girl that was always so selfless with her and dealing with her clumsiness and her obsessive infatuation with a boy she could barely say hello to without falling all over herself.
With a heavy sigh, Marinette lifted herself off of her lounge and made her way over to her discarded books on her desk, getting ready to settle down and preoccupy her mind with some homework. Tomorrow, she'd spring the idea on Alya that she needed to come with her on a trip to the famous public garden under the pretense that she needed inspiration for some new design. That should work.
Right as she cracked the spine on the first book, her phoned dinged. Without a second thought, she reached over and unlocked the screen only to see that the message was, again, from Adrien.
A- Thanks, Marinette. Really. See you Sunday!
With a smile on her face, Marinette locked the phone and placed it back on her desk, feeling a small bit of warmth beginning to spread in her chest.
"Well, at least I'll get to spend the day with Adrien." She said to Tikki, giggling happily before burying herself in her homework.