Alya can't be a third wheel if she's the ship captain, right?

Fear

Alya thumbed her phone and grinned. "Thank you so much, Ladybug!"

The spotted hero shrugged. "It's no problem, Alya. I'm more than happy to help when I can. I always feel bad when we have to run after an akuma. And when Marinette mentioned to me your project I thought it would be a good time to make up for it." She blushed lightly as her eyes went to Adrien. While Alya had interviewed Ladybug for their class project about the hero in their lives, Adrien had quietly sat through it.

The blogger noticed the look and grinned. "Well, next time Marinette will need to be quieter about her plans," she pointed a thumb at Adrien. "As soon as he heard your name, he was like a love-sick puppy. Practically begged to come with."

Marinette knew full well what Alya was talking about, but Ladybug didn't. "Oh…that's…" It made the girl behind the mask super giddy that her crush liked her. Unfortunately, he liked the wrong side of the mask.

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "She's exaggerating. I was excited, but I wasn't-"

"Oh please!" Alya interjected. "You bribed me with Jagged Stone tickets!"

Ladybug grinned. She knew about those tickets. After all, she was going with Alya next weekend...with Adrien and Nino. "I love Jagged," Ladybug supplied. She smiled when she saw Adrien's face light up and he no longer seemed embarrassed.

Alya tossed her phone into her purse. "So, off the record?"

Ladybug shrugged. "I mean, I thought it was common knowledge I liked Jagged, but if you don't want to share it-"

The darker teen shook her head. "No, I mean, you answered one question too script-like. I want a real answer. Don't sweat," she attempted to calm the hero when she saw the look a fear cross her face. "I won't ask the forbidden question. And this one might be forbidden, but I gotta ask."

"Go ahead," Ladybug said after a slight pause. Alya wouldn't ask anything too bad, right?

Tapping her notebook, Alya said, "When I asked you about your greatest fear, you said the usual stuff about people getting hurt and blah blah blah. It was pretty much line for line from a comic. But, then you mentioned specifically that you feared for the people you love getting hurt." After Ladybug's nod, Alya continued, "What about Chat?"

"Huh?" A bit of Marinette broke through Ladybug's cover.

Alya rolled her eyes. "It's not really a secret that LadyNoir is my OTP. But, can you tell me how much of his antics are just for show or for real? I mean, the guy practically gets the crap beat out of him every time. Don't you ever get nervous about that?"

Marinette was taken aback by Alya's question. She really shouldn't have been, but she didn't even think to prepare some lines about Chat. Especially…She glanced at Adrien who had suddenly gotten very serious. She worried her lip for a second before catching herself. She was Ladybug, not Marinette right now. "Um, yeah, I do worry about Chat," she started awkwardly. "Truthfully, I'm more afraid of him killing himself to protect me than anything else. But, at the same time, I have to remind myself that it's our jobs. When we took on these roles, we knew what they would possibly bring." Would that be good enough? Please be enough. She didn't want to talk about her feelings for Chat in front of Adrien!

"Do you love Chat?"

The wind whooshed out of Ladybug in a dying dolphin like noise at Adrien's question.

"Oh, look at the time!" She squeaked. "Gotta go before I turn back!" She nearly tripped over her feet as she lurched upwards. Twisting, she sprinted towards the windows behind her.

"Wait!"

The grip on her wrist stopped her from opening the window. Her face burning and heart racing, she peeked over her shoulder to find Adrien. He seemed so stressed out. The creases between his brows were deep and her fingers twitched with the desire to smooth them out.

"Ladybug," he breathed. "What are your feelings for him?"

Gently, she pulled her hand away. "I don't know," she admitted. "I would like him if there wasn't someone else."

His brows twitched and he opened his mouth to respond when Alya whooped. "I'll take that as cannon! Nino owes me ten euros!"