Chapter 2

"Hey girl, I've never seen you look so nice and so terrified at once. What's the deal?" Alya inquired, one eye brow raised as she looked Marinette up and down.

"I've decided I'm going to ask Adrien out today." She said quickly, almost hoping she wouldn't hear it.

"What? Are you kidding me? After you've been telling me to drop it for two weeks? Suddenly it's back on?" Alya exclaimed, eyes widening and smile stretching.

"I've got it all organised, planned the perfect date that he would have the least amount of reasons to say no to."

"Wow and guns blazing too, apparently. All this time you must save been saving up energy for this moment. Very strategic of you. All those times I said don't improv must have paid off!" Alya leaned in to give her friend a proud hug.

Despite having a plan, Marinette was still terrified to bring herself to ask. Although, on the plus side, if he turns her down, that should make Alya give her a break. On the other hand, the idea of him saying yes was just as scary. A moment later, Adrien and Nino entered the classroom and made their way to their seats in front of them.

"Hey Adrikins! Word of warning, Marinette is planning to ask you out which is pretty sad, so you should probably avoid her as much as you can today until she gets the hint." Chloe called out from her seat on the other side of the room, clearly trying to get everyone else in the room to hear.

Damn.

Marinette hadn't even noticed Chloe had been eavesdropping, and now she had ruined everything! Before she could say anything to make it worse Marinette shot up in her seat and bolted out the classroom as Chloe's laugh echoed into the hall.

"Marinette! Wait!"

Was that Adriens voice? No, she probably imagined it.

"Marinette..." Tikki's soft voice came out of her bag, soon followed by her cute little face. Once Marinette rounded the corner, she slumped against the wall and slid down, hugging her knees to her chest and face down in her arms.

"That was so humiliating, Tikki! How did I let Chat talk me into this?"

"You love him and wanted to protect your relationship with him!" Tikki responded sweetly, pressing her forehead lovingly against her arm.

"Eep! Someone's coming!" Tikki yelped before diving back in her bag.

"Mari, are you okay?" Adrien asked softly.

Well, this couldn't get any more embarrassing.

"Marinette's too traumatised to come to the phone right now. Please leave a message after the beep." She mumbled, muffled through her arms. Adrien chuckled.

"You've never been afraid to make fun of yourself. I've always admired that."

That made Marinette look up.

"What?"

"Is what Chloe said true? Were you going to ask me out?" He asked, his smile dazzling her.

"I-it was the plan, yeah." She groaned.

"What did this plan include?" He asked, eyes flashing with curiosity. It reminded her of Chat, which helped her relax.

"I was going ask if you wanted to come over to mine to play video games so that it was easier to convince your father you were coming over for a group assignment and then once your bodyguard was gone we could sneak out for a movie. Figured sitting in the back of a dimly lit cinema would be low profile enough for you to not get caught. Saying it out loud makes me sound crazy, I know. I definitely overthought it." She explained.

"I'm impressed, Mari. I...didn't think you understood my situation that well. That actually sounds purr- perfect. I'd love to go on a date with you." He told her, his smile warm and sweet.

"Wait, what? You are? It does? You do? Ah..." Marinette's brain seemed to be overloading with information.

"Come on we should get back to class before we're late. We can talk at lunch to sort out the details." He held out his hand, which she took hesitantly, careful not to stumble as he helped her to her feet. His hand felt good in hers, and she couldn't help but feel a swell of feelings flooding her once again. No, she can't think like that, she's with Chat Noir now. Marinette went to take her hand away, but was quickly stopped by Adrien tightening his grip on her.

"Wait, Chloe's my friend, but what she did was pretty cruel. How about some mild revenge?" Marinette wasn't sure what he meant until he lowered their held hands and turned to face the classroom.

"Oh! I mean, oh. Yeah sure, I'm down for putting her in her place." Marinette giggled. He gave a chuckle and bumped her playfully with his shoulder.

The pair walked back into the classroom holding hands, striding to the side of the room they both sat at. The only people who seemed fazed were Chloe and Alya. Nobody else seemed to notice, but that didn't matter. The expression on Chloe's face was worth a thousand reactions. Before her or Alya could react, the teacher entered the classroom and ushered everyone to their seats.

Perspective Change

Adrien shifted impatiently in his seat, sneaking glances at his phone under his desk. Marinette promised Chat Noir that she would text as soon as the deed was done, but it had been twenty minutes since the beginning of class and he'd gotten nothing yet. To be fair, the plan was to ask outside of class hours so when she promised to text she was probably expecting to be able to without having to sneak. But still, waiting made him nervous. He felt bad using the opportunity to hear what she thought about his civilian personality, but it seemed so rare to be able to get someone's unfiltered reaction to you as a third party, and Adrien seriously doubted many people in his life are honest to his face about what they think of him.

-hey kitty cat all dkne

-*donr

-*DONE dammit!

-sorty about the typod I'm typing in class

tryin g not to get caught

-I turned autocorrect on I can't handle

this

He tried not to laugh. She really is clumsy.

-How did it go princess?

-Was he a gentleman to you?

He took a deep, but silent breath.

-he was a sweetheart

-as usual

-it went as messy as I thought it would

-but this time it wasn't my fault

-Chloe went full Chloe and tried to ruin

everything

-I almost need to thank her

-Oh?

-yeah if she didn't humiliate me Adrien

might not have felt bad enough for me

to say yes

-it's the exact type of thing he would do

-he's so kind and always trying to help

-can't help but feel like a loser but at

least we got what we wanted

Adrien was about to respond when he got the warning cough from Nino which meant the teacher was walking past looking in his direction. Immediately he pretended to pick up a pen from the floor and "continue taking notes", which seemed good enough for the teacher who moved on. Maybe it was how crazy about her he was, but he seriously had trouble understanding how she had such little faith in herself. It was times like this he found himself wishing she were more like Ladybug. She's so confident Adrien couldn't imagine anything getting to her. He was in love with Marinette, but he couldn't help but still have feelings for Ladybug. Maybe it would fade, like Marinette said about her crush.

Ugh.

Adrien preferred not to think about him right now. Marinette joked about how jealous he was, but she really didn't understand just how scared he was of the chance that if she got a better offer than him, she would take it. That's why he was only comfortable with her going on a date with his civilian self for their plan. She couldn't leave him for him; it was foolproof. Suddenly he felt a small vibration between his legs.

-phew that was close nearly got caught

-I'm putting my phone away before I

push my luck any further

-talk to you soon my love