Amateur fashion designer and student by day, superhero by night, Marinette Dupain-Cheng had everything she could have wanted in life. Fame, a supportive family, an amazing education, and a passion for design which defined her. Well, almost everything. In all her seventeen years, she was still missing one thing. Love. Not to say she hadn't tried to get it, but it always seemed to evade her. Well, he did. He being Paris' favorite young model, Adrien Agreste. He was beautiful, perfect, kind, sweet, and the guy of her dreams.
Contrary to what her best friend Alya would have told you, Marinette had tried a few times, to tell him how she felt, but it never seemed to go as planned. Whether she'd accidentally drop the gift she made him, stumble over a sentence and change the subject, or just fall over, luck was never in her favor. Which, was ironic, as she was the miraculous Ladybug, half of Paris' superhero duo, the luck half. She sometimes wondered if she had to be lucky outside of the suit, to balance out her luck in it.
Whatever her problem with confessing to Adrien was, it didn't matter anymore. She was determined that today was the day she'd tell him how she felt. That was, if she could get to school in time to talk to him.
Most of the time, Paris was an incredibly sunny place, which made walking to school in the mornings a pleasant way to start the day. But, every so often, it'd rain. That was normally fine, but today her parents were far too busy in the bakery to give her a ride.
"Are you sure you can't call Alya, dear?" Her mother, a small chinese woman with blue-black hair asked.
"I can't, Maman. Alya had to leave early today so she could drop her siblings off at school. Besides, it's not a long walk." She said, as she grabbed a random umbrella which was leaning by the door.
"Alright, Marinette." Her mother spoke, handing a pastry to a customer. "Just make sure to stay safe, alright? Due to the weather, there will probably be more traffic. Plus, if you get too wet you could get a cold." She quickly looked at her daughter with a hint of worry, but had to go back to helping customers.
"No worries, Maman. I'll be safe!" Marinette called, then quickly dashed out the door, so not to be late.
Well, that was her original plan. But, now she was really regretting not asking any of her other friends for rides. Her mother was right, traffic had picked up and the rain had as well. Even with the umbrella, she was soaked. A little voice sounded from inside the bag at her hip.
"Marinette… the water got in the bag."
Marinette opened the clasp on her bag and two big blue eyes stared up at her from within.
"I'm sorry, Tikki." Marinette said with a sigh. "I should have brought a raincoat, you could have hidden in there. I didn't expect the rain to fall this hard."
The voice, which belonged to her Kwami, Tikki, softened. "It's okay, Marinette. But, when we get to school, could we take a second in the bathroom so I can dry off?"
Marinette bit her lip. She was already going to be late. At this rate, she'd have to wait until lunch to talk with Adrien. But, she didn't want her friend to suffer.
"Alright, Tikki. We'll just have to be quick." Marinette quickened her pace, dashing to the school and up the steps. Just as she was about to head up to the main door, a familiar car stopped in front of the building.
Marinette swallowed, realizing she wasn't the only one late to school. The car's door opened and Marinette stopped breathing for a second, just staring at the boy who stepped out. Golden hair, perfect skin, and the most beautiful green eyes she'd ever seen. There he was, Adrien Agreste.
Why is Adrien late? He's never been late before, not that I can remember… Marinette thought, forgetting about school, and the fact that she was late as well. She watched as Adrien shut the door, then quickly jogged up to her.
"Hey, Marinette!" He said, with a gorgeous smile.
Whoa… she kept staring.
"Marinette…?" He asked. "Are you alright?"
Marinette nodded her head quickly. "I'm b-better now that you're here!": She then realized what she said. "I-I mean, I'm better now that I'm here! At school! I love school!" She sucked in a breath, hoping he didn't think too deeply about her small blunder.
It seemed to work, as he just continued to smile. It was such a beautiful smile. "I agree. I'm glad my father lets me attend."
Me too… Marinette forgot to respond.
"We should be getting inside, though." He said with a smirk. "We're already late, it'd be a big purroblem if they caught us chat-ing out here."
Marinette stared at Adrien for a second. Did he just pun? She shook her head. Surely she must have misheard.
The only person she'd ever met who punned like that was her partner, Chat Noir. Adrien would never do such a dorky thing. He was purrfect.
Now I'm doing it, too… She put her hand on forehead. It must be the weather.
"C'mon, Marinette!" He called out to her, as she'd already gotten behind. She could feel her bag nudge, a reminder of her promise.
"I'll be there in a moment, I need to… fix my hair! Yes, that!" She quickly waved Adrien away, then ran to the bathroom.
As she entered, her eyes widened as it dawned upon her she could have confessed to him then. Not again…
Marinette tapped her pencil on the desk, watching the clock go by. I can do this. I can do this. I can- I can't do this. Class so far had been… difficult. It was bad enough she was late, but that was topped with Chloe snickering, and the knowledge as soon as class was dismissed, she had to tell Adrien.
At this point, there was no backing out. Not after she told Alya she was going to do it. She loved her best friend, but sometimes she wondered if Alya wanted Mari and Adrien to get together more than Mari did. In fact, to make sure Marinette couldn't back out, she had texted Nino to keep Adrien at the school over lunch, to give Marinette the chance to talk to him.
"Class dismissed!" She heard the instructor call. Marinette quickly picked up her things and dashed out of the room to her locker. She had to talk to Adrien before lunch was over, but she wanted to at least give herself a bit of a break first. Tossing everything into her bag, she quickly shut the door. It closed with a bang.
"What'd the locker do to you?" A voice asked from beside her.
Marinette quickly turned to the owner and squeaked. "Adrien! You here are! Are here you!"
"I am here?" He laughed, then leaned on the locker beside her own. "Nino mentioned you wanted to talk to me?"
Marinette swallowed. "He did?"
"Yeah, he didn't say what for, though. I'd imagine it's about that?" He nodded at the umbrella in her hand. She looked down at it realizing it was the one he had given her years ago.
Marinette just stared, not sure what to say.
"No worries, Marinette. You don't have to give it back. You probably have more use for it than I do." He chuckled. "Although, I'm surprised you kept it."
"O-ofcourseIkeptititwasgiventomebyyouandIhavethebiggestcrushonyoueverythingyougiveisamazing."
"Wait, you have a crush on me?"
Marinette's hand went over her mouth. She had no idea how to fix this one
"Marinette?" He gently removed her hand from her mouth. "You have… feelings for me?"
The bluenette bit her lip. She peered up at him through her long lashes and took a breath. "I… do, yes. I've had feelings for you since we were fourteen…" She realized their hands were still intertwined and took hers back. "I was going to tell you before but… I couldn't."
She looked away from him, waiting for a response. It took a moment, before he finally spoke.
"Marinette, you're amazing. You've always been such a wonderful friend. You matter a lot to me, but…" she heard him take a quick breath. "I have feelings for someone else. I've had feelings for her a long time. You're a sweet girl, but I… I'm sorry, Mari."
She looked up at him and smiled, although it took all of her willpower to do so. "It's okay Adrien." Her smile faltered and she could feel tears welling up in her eyes. Not wanting to let him see her cry, she quickly sped out of the locker area.
"Mari!" She heard Alya call from somewhere, but she didn't want anyone to see her like this, not even Alya. She took her phone out and texted her mother, saying she'd be headed home for lunch. Making sure her little bag was safely swung around her shoulder, she ran out the door of the school in the direction of home.
Hey, Fi here! I'll be writing longer chapters in the future, this one was just a little intro. I'm kinda new to this, so advice is welcome!