Marinette:
Two years. I've had a crush on Adrien for two years now, and I've done nothing about it. Alya gets on my case about that regularly, and why don't I just ask him out and get it over with because it would be beneficial for all of us. Besides, it's junior year, and if I don't ask him out, somebody else might. I might as well try while he's still available, right? Well, there are many things to consider.
I mean, what if he says no and I get Akumatized, or what if he files a restraining order against me because he thinks I'm stalking him and they put me in an asylum where I spend the rest of my life, or what if he says yes and our first date is a total disaster because I'm so clumsy and I spill food all over him and he hates me for being a klutz and ruining his life? I'm just saying, you have to view the issue from several different angles before making a decision.
I finally had escaped Alya's wrath one day and I was on my way home. These days, I was especially grateful for Nino dating Alya for two reasons. First of all, it meant that when the three of us hung out, Adrien usually tagged along, which meant I had more time to get up my nerve to ask him out.
"And more time to lose it," Alya would tell me. The other reason was that Nino and I had been friends for a long time, and he was pretty willing to go along with me when I asked him to take Alya out on a date. If they went out together, Alya couldn't come home with me and pester me to be brave and ask Adrien out. I loved Alya, but she was very persistent and anxious for me to get it over with, and I just wasn't ready. I needed a little more time.
In her defense, she had listened to many, many rants about Adrien over the years, schemed numerous times to get us together, and been awesome about it the whole time. She had been supportive through it all, encouraging me to not give up hope when I felt like I should just give up. She had been a true best friend, and I was so very grateful for that.
Anyway, I was walking home as usual at the end of the day. I waited patiently for the traffic light to change so I could walk across the street without getting run over by a car. I mean, priorities, am I right? I reached the sidewalk in front of my house and was about to go inside when I heard a voice from behind me.
"Hey, Marinette." I whirled around to find Luka closing the door of his new car (he had gotten one as a gift on his birthday), a sweet smile on his face. He had gotten a lot taller, making me look really short when I stood next to him. He was eighteen now, I remembered, because he had invited me to celebrate with him. We just got coffee and hung out at the park for a while that day. I had a great time, which was part-Luka, and part-Adrien-had-a-photoshoot-in-the-park-that-day.
"Oh. Hey, Luka!" I was surprised to see him, because other than the time we went to the ice rink with Adrien and Kagami a couple of years ago, I hadn't seen him in public. He walked up to me and gently took my hands in his, his closeness making me blush and my heart pound faster.
"I have an extra ticket to the Jagged Stone concert tomorrow night. Do you want to come with me? I know you love his music." A Jagged Stone concert? How could I pass up that opportunity?
"I'd love to! Thank you!" I was super excited to go and...but...wait. Was Luka asking me out?
"Great! I'll pick you up here, then? How does six-thirty sound? The concert starts at eight, so we could get dinner first, if you'd like."
Okay, yeah. It did sound like he was asking me out. But...it wasn't like I was getting anywhere with Adrien, and it was just dinner and a concert. "That sounds great, Luka. Thanks for inviting me!"
"Hey, no problem. It's always a good time with you, Marinette." He smiled at me and waved before getting in his car and driving away. Did that mean he drove all the way over here just to see me? He didn't usually live very close. No, he probably had some other thing to do and he just dropped by to say hello. No big deal. Now I just had to decide what I was going to wear to that concert tomorrow.
Adrien:
Today I had the rare pleasure of being in school the whole day. No Akuma attacks, no photoshoots or fencing lessons, and I even got to eat lunch in the cafeteria with Marinette, Nino, and Alya. So, needless to say, I was in a good mood. When the final bell rang, I knew I had a photoshoot at four, my Chinese lesson at five-thirty, and fencing at eight, so, you know, the usual. I was pretty used to it by now, though.
I was going to play the new Ultimate Mecha Strike 4 with Nino for a while until it was time to go to Trocadero for my photoshoot, but he was going out with Alya, so I had a little time to "relax" before I had to do anything else. Another rarity was the tardiness of my bodyguard, but there had been a huge accident on Rue Saint-Antoine that hadn't quite cleared, so traffic was especially slow there.
"Dude, do you ever have free time?" Nino looked at me with confusion and a hint of sympathy in his voice. I had just checked my schedule for the afternoon.
"Yeah, see? I have forty-five minutes between dinner and fencing to do my homework and relax in my room." I pointed to the small blank part of my calendar.
"Um, last time I checked, doing homework isn't the same as 'relaxing in your room.'" Nino made air quotes to emphasize that I had a weird way of relaxing.
"If you were me, you would take what you could get. At least I didn't have to leave school early for a photoshoot or something."
"You're gone from school a lot of the time anyway, bro." Nino pointed out, referring to all the times I excused myself from class to battle an Akumatized villain. I opened my mouth to say something, but found there wasn't much I could say that wouldn't lead him on. "Whatever. You going to the Jagged Stone concert tomorrow?"
"Oh, yeah. Nathalie gave me permission to go, for once."
"Sweet." Nino held out a fist and I bumped it against mine in return as Alya walked over to us.
"Hey, guys. Marinette went home, so my girl talk time is over. What's happening over here?" Alya asked, slipping her phone into her jeans pocket. A few minutes prior, she had been in the middle of an animated conversation with Marinette while showing her something on her phone, likely from the Ladyblog.
"Not much." Nino answered honestly, slipping an arm around his girlfriend's waist. It was so natural to them now, since they had been dating for almost two years. Marinette and I had been planning a two-year anniversary surprise for them. We told them we would go out for dinner and maybe see a movie, but that wasn't it.
"Bye, dude." Nino called out, waving to me before walking away arm in arm with Alya.
"See you tomorrow." I called back.
Here's how the plan was supposed to work: Marinette designed a special cake for them and was going to help her parents make it before Alya came over to get ready. We were going to have dinner, then go to the Place des Vosges where the real surprise happened.
Marinette was going to contact Ladybug and bring her to the park, and I was going to do the same with Chat Noir. I felt bad ditching my friends on their anniversary, but I imagined they would prefer having Paris' superheroes celebrate with them instead. Besides, everybody from the class was going to be there to celebrate. If all went well, it was going to be an unforgettable evening for them, which was exactly what Marinette and I wanted. After all, they were our best friends. They deserved it.
I looked at my phone to see a text from my bodyguard that just came in. "Cinq." The Gorilla rarely spoke, so it was pretty uncommon to receive a text from him at all. He used the whole word, too. Usually, if anything, it was just a number. I had deciphered it, though. He meant he would be there in five minutes. I didn't know what to do while I was waiting, since I rarely had to wait at all.
I looked around, seeing that most people had already left, and found Marinette walking across the street. I considered talking to her for a few minutes, perhaps finalizing our plans for the surprise. Either way, it would be nice to talk to just her for a change. Usually if we hung out, Alya and Nino were there as well. I didn't mind that, but I hardly ever got to talk to just Marinette.
I was about to call out her name and walk over to her when a car pulled up beside her, and who should get out of the driver's seat but Luka Couffaine. I liked Luka. I really did. He was a great guy, and he had been super nice to me since I met him during the music festival two years ago. I could have gone over to the two of them and started a conversation, but I wanted to see what happened with the two of them first.
I couldn't hear their conversation, but I could see them clear as day. Marinette turned around as he got out of the car and waved, and Luka waved back. He walked up to her and held her hands, and even from across the street I could see her blush. They spoke for a minute, both of their smiles growing. And after what felt like literal hours, Luka backed away, got into his car, and drove off. Marinette, meanwhile, watched him leave before going inside.
My jaw clenched in anger and my hands balled into fists. Plagg peeked his head out of my shirt. "Still 'just a friend', huh?" He snarked, obviously finding this whole thing amusing.
"Yes. I-I just...don't think Luka is right for Marinette." I shoved my hands in my pockets.
Plagg sighed. "I thought you liked Luka."
"Yeah. I liked him. Before he started hitting Marinette. He's obviously taking advantage of her!" I pointed out.
"Really. How exactly?" Plagg wasn't buying it, I could tell.
"He...he...well, he got too close to her for one thing." Plagg just stared at me. "And who knows what they were talking about. An undernourished rat couldn't have fit between the two of them! He could have been, I don't know, proposing marriage or something!"
"Kid, you wouldn't happen to be just a tiny little bit jealous of Luka, would you? I mean, come on. Propose marriage?"
"I'm not jealous! Marinette is just a friend." The words tasted bitter in my mouth. She was just a friend. That's it. That's all. Besides, I had other things to worry about. But there were some things I couldn't forget.