Author's Note:
I do not own any of these characters.
"My, my..." Plagg started in on Adrien, "two lovebirds. Which one to choose... I wonder..."
"Shut up, Plagg," Adrien said exhausted. "I always thought Marinette just wanted to be friends. I never knew she had feelings for me."
"Yeah..." Plagg started back in, "and you turned her down for Ladybug and got her father akumatized."
"Plagg!" Adrien lamented. "I don't need to be reminded. The memories of him using me as a human punching bag are still REALLY fresh."
"So, pine for Lady Luck or move on to your Everyday Ladybug?" Plagg teased knowing full well that he was pushing Adrien towards the same girl in the end. He just enjoyed toying with Adrien a little too much, not to mention the fact that Tikki would tie him up and for feed him processed cheese food if he just came out and told Adrien that Marinette was Ladybug.
"I've never had someone express their love for me," Adrien conceded. "I don't want to hurt Marinette, but it'd be dangerous for her to date Cat Noir. If Hawk Moth found out, he could use her as leverage against me."
"So..." Plagg prodded, hoping to get some movement in the Love Square... which he was really starting to get tired of even to the point of almost giving away Ladybug's identity the previous day, but was thankfully far enough away from Adrien to be heard.
"Well," Adrien pondered out loud, "if Cat Noir is out, then maybe... I could win her over as Adrien and then... after Hawk Moth is defeated... reveal to her that I was Cat Noir?" Adrien wasn't really expecting an answer, he just wanted to hear it himself to see if it was as absurd out loud as it sounded in his head.
"I thought she was just a friend," Plagg teased again, emphasizing just a friend. He enjoyed feeding Adrien his own words. It made Adrien change into the most interesting colors he'd seen in a long time, especially from a human.
"Well, it might work," Adrien huffed. "Nino has kind of implied that Marinette might be interested in being more than friends. Maybe she gave up on that idea in favor of Cat Noir. If so, then maybe it's not completely gone away for Adrien?" He looked at his kwami with a look that begged to be put out of his misery.
"Do what you want, kid," Plagg huffed, finally finished with teasing Adrien for the night. "Just as long as I get my camembert, I don't care who you pick."
The next day was a Monday and it was time to go to school. Adrien had laid in bed until he was too exhausted to stay awake (about an hour before his alarm was set to go off). Now in his zombie-like state, he was dressed and riding to school.
Upon exiting the car, he spotted Nino, Alya, and Marinette talking at the top of the stairs. He cringed when he heard, "ADRIKINS!" and braced for the Chloe freight train to come barreling in and knock him over. Thankfully, he was able to raise a hand just in time to stop her from jumping. She stopped dead in her tracks and just blinked in shock.
"Sorry, Chloe," Adrien managed to say groggily." But, I'm way too tired for you to jump on me this morning per our normal ritual." With that, Adrien began up the stairs leaving Chloe to look around for confirmation of what had happened, really did happen.
Upon reaching the top of the stairs, Nino gave Adrien a fist bump and Alya gave him a high-five for ditching Chloe the way he had. Marinette just smiled bashfully.
"Dude, that was epic," Nino crowed. "I wish I had been recording that."
Alya held up her phone and wiggled it side to side. "Don't worry, I did," Alya smirked and winked at Nino.
"Dude, did you get any sleep last night?" Nino asked looking at Adrien with one eyebrow raised.
Adrien looked between each of his friends, spending a little extra time on Marinette who was trying to hide a blush behind her school bag. "About an hour... I think," Adrien finally replied.
"Was she worth it?" Alya winked and jabbed her elbow into his arm insinuating a girl was the reason he was up all night.
"ALYA!" Marinette finally squeaked out, turning even redder than before and giving her friend a look that said it wasn't funny and to stop teasing Adrien.
Adrien smiled at Marinette, causing her to duck her chin back down, behind her school bag. "I sure hope so," Adrien replied without breaking eye contact with Marinette.
"MARINETTE!" Alya gasped. "You know Adrien needs his beauty sleep!" she teased. "Why were you keeping him up last night and how do you look so well rested?"
Marinette somehow reddened even more and quit breathing altogether. Adrien was sure she was about to fall over dead from the lack of oxygen. Adrien pushed between Nino and Alya to stand close enough to Marinette to catch her if need be. He leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Breathe, Marinette, for me at least." Adrien then winked at her.
Marinette inhaled sharply and dropped about ten shades of red to get back to her normal pinkish tint she had around Adrien. "Thank you," she whispered. "I think we should get to class before we're late."
Alya and Nino nodded and the quartet headed inside the building with a stunned Chloe still standing at the bottom of the stairs.
The morning classes passed very slowly and Adrien nodded off on more than one occasion. Lunch hour came and the four friends headed to the cafeteria. Adrien had brought a lunch that day and was able to join them. Alya and Nino sat together on one side of the table, allowing Marinette and Adrien to sit next to each other.
Adrien thought he'd test the waters a little and placed his hand on top of Marinette's hand. Marinette stopped mid-word, staring at Alya with her mouth still open as if she had been frozen in time and beginning to redden yet again. Nino and Alya looked at each other and then noticed Adrien's hand on top of Marinette's and looked at Adrien. "Sorry, Marinette," Adrien began, "I didn't mean to interrupt so abruptly, I just wanted to jump in at the next break in the conversation."
Adrien removed his hand and Marinette pulled her hand off or the table and cradled it in her other hand as if she didn't want the feeling to dissipate. Adrien knew from that interaction that she must still have some feelings for him even if they had already started faded in favor of Cat Noir. It gave him the courage he needed for the next step.
While Alya and Nino were still trying to process what had just happened, Adrien leaned over to Marinette an whispered in her ear softly enough that Alya and Nino couldn't hear. They watched as Marinette reddened even deeper and her mouth began to open an close as if she was trying to say something, but no words, no sounds even, were coming out. Alya and Nino just looked at each other and then back to Marinette with worry etched on their faces. Marinette slowly turned to look at Adrien after he quit whispering, and softly stated, "I love you... I-I mean, I'd love to."
Adrien kissed her on her cheek and then excused himself saying he needed to make some phone calls. Alya reached across the table to get Marinette's attention. Marinette slowly turned to look at Alya who now wore the textbook definition of concern on her face. "What did he say," she whisper-yelled to Marinette.
"He... He asked... He asked me out," Marinette finally said, still dazed but finally losing a few shades of red.
"Like on a date, or to hang out as friends?" Alya interrogated.
"On a date..." Marinette mumbled, still in shock and wondering if she was dreaming. "He's... He's on the phone arranging it now."
Alya clapped her hands and then hugged Nino (in lieu of jumping across the table to hug Marinette). She would have ran around the table, but Adrien was sitting back down by time she finished crushing Nino with a hug. Adrien just glanced at the two of them, smiled, and shook his head a little.
"It's all set," Adrien said to Marinette, who just nodded slowly.
Alya pulled Adrien aside on the way back to class to give him the standard best-friend lecture about not hurting Marinette or else he'd have to suffer her wrath. Adrien held up his hands in surrender and reassured her that he had no intentions of hurting Marinette. The rest of the day went quicker as Adrien was high on adrenaline from getting a date with Marinette. Marinette, on the other hand, doesn't remember anything that happened after lunch.