"Hey, Bro!" Nino calles happily as he saw Adrien walk over to his lunch table. "You actually eating at school?"

Adrien nodded with a large smile, holding up a packed lunch for Nino to see. He slid into the seat next to his best friend, across from Alya who sat next to Marinette.

"Hey Guys!" He said cheerily, dumping out his packed lunch. Which was just a salad and water bottle. He loved being a model.

Loved it.

Alya and Nino frowned at his food and he pretended to not notice.

"Dude, that's all you got? You have to eat more than that!" Nino exclaimed.

"Natalie packed it. I'm on a diet, remember?"

Marinette silently pushed a croissant over to him, not meeting his eyes.

"Oh, no, Mari it's okay. You have it. I can't eat bread until this next photo shoot is over." He said. She frowned too and bit her lip, but took the croissant back anyways.

"Fine. Here, eat this then." Alya said, handing him a red circle.

He took it and curiously turned it over in his hand. "What is this?"

Alya raised an eyebrow. "It's cheese."

"Oh, I can't eat this either-"

"Bro, don't even start. You always eat cheese, diet or no. You even smell like cheese half the time. Eat it." Nino ordered.

Adrien sighed and gave in, setting it next to his salad.

"So, what's up guys?" He asked as he opened the salad.

"The Ladyblog is going even better than ever!" Alya exclaimed, shooting off on a tangent about Ladybug and Chat Noir. Adrien smiled and listened in to every little tidbit Alya had to say about his Lady as he reached for the cheese.

"W-wa-ait-" Marinette stuttered slowly as he bit into it. Alya's words died off slowly as her and Nino turned to look at him.

Adrien scrunched up his face. "I don't like the exoskeleton." He said, putting the cheese back down on the table as if it were a bomb. He felt Plagg stir in his shirt pocket.

"Th-the exoskeleton..." Nino repeated slowly to himself, turning the words over in his head.

Alya facepalmed.

"What?" Adrien asked, looking between the two. Nino was still trying to process the stupidity of what he said and Alya was lost deep in the world of idiots, trying to find her way back, so he turned to Marinette.

Her eyebrows were furrowed and her mouth was slightly open from when she had tried to stop him.

"What did I do?" He asked her.

Apparently, all Marinette needed to talk to Adrien was for him to do (and say) something incredibly stupid, because she was able to reply.

"That... was not an... exoskeleton." She said slowly, also still processing what he just did. "It was... wax. That was a wax wrapper..." she explained.

Adrien's mouth formed an 'o' as his ears burned bright red. "Whoops..." he laughed awkwardly, picking the cheese back up.

"W-wait, did you swallow that?!" Nino exclaimed suddenly.

"Uh..." Adrien merely smiled nervously as he worked the rest of the wax off. "Maybe?"

"Oh my God. Adrien!" Alya groaned.

"He ate wax..." Marinette said quietly to herself, still frowning. Alya laughed.

"Even you aren't that ditzy!" She said, elbowing her bluenette best friend. Adrien's blush deepened and he took a large bite of his salad. Which was not wrapped in wax.

Nino started laughing finally as the last of the shock and confusion wore off. "Nice, Bro." He said. He turned to Marinette. "Hey, Maribro. You want that croissant?"

"It's all yours, Nino." She said, pushing it over to him.

"Thanks, dude!" He exclaimed, tearing into the poor baked good.

Adrien continued to eat his salad, thinking about Ladybug and what Plagg had said to him the night before.

"Adrien? You good there?" Nino asked, poking his shoulder.

"Hu? Oh... fine. Just thinking."

"About what?" Alya prompted.

"Well... What do you do if a girl doesn't take you seriously?" He said, throwing caution out the window. This was Alya he was talking to.

As could be expected, her smile turned devious. "Oh? Serious how?"

"I... I really like her, but she doesn't take me seriously. She just thinks I'm joking all the time..."

He missed the shared look between Alya and Marinette.

"Who?" Nino asked.

"I... Can't say. But I don't know what to do! I just want her to actually pay attention to me, you know? To believe me when I say I lo-like her." He said, stuttering over the save.

"W-well maybe she's just blind." Marinette huffed. He raised his eyebrows and looked over at his usually soft and quiet classmate.

"What?"

"You're great. More than great! N-not that I like you- I mean, I do! But uh not like like you, not that I shouldn't, I- ugh. I mean, that if she doesn't pay attention to you, she must be blind, because you stand out a lot." With that, she scooped up her lunch stuff and zipped out of the hall.

Adrien sat silent for a moment, looking off towards where she had rushed out the doors with his mouth hanging open.

Alya started slow clapping as she whistled low. "Wow. Must be a new record for her. She's on a roll today. 'It's a wax wrapper, not an exoskeleton.' 'If she doesn't pay attention to you, she must be blind, because you stand out a lot.' I'm a proud mother..." she pretended to wipe away a tear.

"She meant that as a compliment, right?" Adrien asked, slightly worried. He had a feeling Marinette didn't like him all that much, and his stunt with that wax today probably hadn't helped, but he couldn't bring himself to accept the possibility she really didn't like him.

Alya face palmed again. "Are you serious? Boy, she just told you that out of everyone else in a room, every single eye goes to you!"

"... That's a compliment, right?" He repeated.

Nino started laughing again, drawing irritated looks.

"Of course it was. She was right, you know, you really are great, Adrien. Any girl can see that so if this girl can't, she must be more than blind. If she doesn't take you seriously, maybe you need someone who does. And sometimes that person is closer than you think." Adrien, being the oblivious dorkasorus that he is, missed her very pointed look after Marinette.

"Hey, Marinette!" Adrien called. Marinette froze and turned to look at him from where she stood by the front doors of the school.

"A-Adrien. Hi!" She said with a pained expression. Adrien frowned.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"M-Me? Alright? Heheh, you're alright. No, you're-you're perfect! I mean- ... I'm fine..." she cringed.

"Oh... Alright... well, uh, I'll see you tomorrow." He waved and left, wondering about the two confusing girls he knew.

"Why doesn't Marinette like me, Plagg?" He asked as he walked towards the car.

"Who?" Plagg said, popping his head out of the pocket.

"Marinette!"

"Oh, you mean Pigtails?" Plagg said. "Yeah, I don't know. Maybe she doesn't like rich people, she seems to despise Chloe."

"Pi...Pigtails...?"

"Yeah, Pigtails. Got a problem?"

"No, it's just... weird." Adrien said, scrunching up his nose. He opened the door to the car and slid in, closing the door with a snap.

"It's not weird. She wears pigtails. Her name is long and hard to remember. So Pigtails."

"Yeah, okay, sure. But why doesn't she like me? Marinette's nice, and she doesn't dislike Chloe just because she's rich, that's not like her. So that can't be it..."

Plagg shrugged and flew out into his bag to dig around for cheese. "How am I supposed to know? She seemed to like you just fine as Chat. Maybe she doesn't like models?"

"Plagg, she wants to be a designer. She can't not like models."

"Blondes?"

"Chat's a blonde."

"Ah, right. Maybe she thinks you're an annoying pushover?" Plagg offered.

Adrien stopped and looked down at his Kwami. "Are you calling me an annoying pushover?"

The little God shrugged. "It's only the tru-uuuuuth!" He said, his words slipping into a yell as Adrien plucked him from his bag, and ultimately, the cheese. "Hey!"

"I'm not a pushover!"

"So you admit you're annoying?" Plagg asked.

"Plagg!" Adrien growled.

"Hey, look! ladybug!" Plagg exclaimed.

"What? Where?" Adrien said excitedly, whipping around to look out the window. "I don't see her."

He frowned as Plagg cackled and slipped from his hand.

"Damnit." He muttered.

"Alright, Lover Boy. Let's go."

Edited: October 23, 2018