AN: Hello friends! I have a few chapters written but I'm just taking the time to look them over before mass-posting. I have a pretty solid outline and I'm excited to connect it all together!
I added a bonus scene that I wasn't really going to post but decided to anyway.

Happy reading xx

That night, Marinette had a dream. A certain type of dream, the type where you wake up sweaty and trembling and can't look the subject in the eye when you pass him in the hallway at school.

Every time she saw Luka with his rough black denim jacket and big black boots, all she could think about was how his dream doppelgänger had caressed her and whispered in her ear. He was just intoxicating. Meeting Juleka to work on their assignment before school without acting like a fool in front of Luka was nearly impossible. She blabbered, mumbled, and straight up said wrong things. It was like talking in front of a darker, bigger Adrien.

She wasn't the only one to notice Juleka's twin brother's reemergence in Paris. Word was that he'd been sent away because he kept getting into fights, and had spent the last few years doing military drills in the French countryside. Rose was particularly smitten with him.

Marinette was starting to get a headache from all the tittering and squealing.

Luckily, she was allowed a break from the shrills and shrieks during class periods, where she would stare at the back of Adrien's head and daydream like always. But then Mendeleiev called on Luka, and the sound of his voice gave her goosebumps.

"What's the matter with you?" Alya whispered. "You're practically drooling!"

"It's Luka. I think I have feelings for him!"

"What about Adrien?"

"Well, I still like him too!"

"Girl. You've been in love with Adrien forever. You're going to let one new kid get in your way?"

"No. I mean, yes. I mean, what if Luka likes me?"

"You're allowed to change your mind, you know. I didn't realize you liked Luka so much."

"I don't. I mean, I don't even know him. It's just… ever since Kagami transferred here I feel like Adrien only ever has eyes for her. He claims he doesn't like her, but it's hard to watch."

"I understand. For the record, he really doesn't. Nino told me. He's still in love with the same old girl as always, but won't tell anybody who she is. Not even Nino!"

Marinette rolled her eyes. Why were boys so obnoxiously annoying?

"In my opinion-"

"Girls! Pay attention!" Mendeleiev barked. They shut up and were silent for the remainder of class.

Normally, Marinette would have hung back and waited for Adrien after class. But as she saw Luka exit the room, she tried to hurry up to catch him. In doing so, she tripped over Adrien's book bag strap and landed in a mess of books, papers, and pens. Tikki was flung out of her purse.

Marinette wildly searched for the little red kwami, but Adrien was upon her.

"Sorry about that," he apologized, helping her up. "Are you okay?"

She froze. Speak, you idiot!

"Yes! Thank you for your fall-I mean, thank you for your help! Sorry for tripping."

He chuckled good-naturedly. "You have no reason to apologize. Let me carry your books for you."

He stooped to gather her notes and textbooks right when Tikki tried to surreptitiously return to Marinette's purse. He shot up.

"What was that?"

"Um, what was what?"

"Whatever just flew into your purse!" He made to reach for it but then stopped, apparently remembering that would be extremely poor form.

"I don't really know what you're talking about. Maybe you're imagining things," she suggested. She tried not to make it obvious that her heart was thumping and her head was swirling with fear. Why would Tikki choose that exact moment to move?

"I must have been." He had a very curious look on his face. "Well, we'd better get going if we want to be on time."

She pasted a very nervous smile on her face and followed him out as he chattered about the meeting he'd had with his father the other day. Marinette thought it sounded an awful lot like Gabriel was grooming Adrien to take over the company when he graduated.

"So what do you think of the new guy?" Adrien's subject change wasn't smooth or natural.

"Oh, Luka? Um, he's cool. I mean, he's really cool. Not as cool as you, but, you know. Cool." She mentally smacked herself.

"Seems like a lot of the girls around here like him." He shot her a sideways glance, and she caught his eye and blushed.

"Uh, yeah, I guess so. I mean, he's not really my type. Um, I mean, he could be - who knows? I don't know."

Adrien gave her a brilliant grin. "What's your type?"

You.

"Uh, I like the tall ones."

He snorted. "Tall ones?" he repeated.

"Yes! Tall ones."

"So...these tall boys. Do they need to be funny?"

"Well, they don't need to be, but it definitely helps." Marinette was getting a wee bit suspicious. Adrien never interrogated her about her romantic preferences before. "Are - are you trying to get at something here?"

He looked taken aback. "What do you mean?"

She found her voice in her incredulity. "You never ask me these kinds of questions. What's going on?"

"Nothing! Nothing, I - well, I just wanted to get to know you a little better. That's all. Because that's what part - ah, friends do, right?" He looped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a side hug. "Here are your books, I've got to use the restroom. See you in class!"

He left a very stunned, glazed-over Marinette in the hall outside history.

Bonus Scene

"Plagg, get your ass out here!"

"You stupid fucker!" the irate cat deity screeched. "You've had Ladybug in your class this entire time and you never noticed?" Adrien had not seen Plagg quite this angry before. "How do people trust you to save Paris every day if you can't even recognize your own partner? And I've had to listen to you whine about not knowing who she was for three years!"

"What about you? You must have known that red kwami was two feet away from you!"

Plagg had the decency to blush. "Leave Tikki out of this," he mumbled, unwilling to address his failure to recognize her signature aura.

Adrien expelled a loud breath. "What am I supposed to do now? Do I tell her?"

"Hoooo, no!" Plagg whistled. "Not if you don't want to bear the wrath of Tikki. She's stubbornly in the 'keep identities secret forever' camp."

"But Marinette's Ladybug, the woman of my dreams. Literally, Plagg. I've dreamt about her."

"Yes, I'm well aware," Plagg calmly said with a shudder. "You talk in your sleep."

His Chosen One waved him silent. "Yeah, okay, I get it. I can't believe I never fucking realized it. She's been sitting behind me this entire time. And it's Marinette. I just never - I've only had eyes for Ladybug, and Ladybug only. I can't believe the love of my life is one of my friends."

"Yeah, a friend who's been in love with you for years." Plagg's tone was dry.

"Would you knock it off? She has not. She's just a little awkward."

"You're a dumbass," Plagg retorted. Sometimes, he really questioned Adrien's observation skills. "It's obvious to anyone who's ever been around the two of you. And you just have no idea."

"Why didn't you say something?" Adrien threw his arms up in the air. "If it was so obvious, why didn't you tell me?"

Plagg sighed. "Because this is part of your love story, not mine."