Author's note: well, you people actually made me think and instead of writing an entirely new story that I have cooking, I suddenly couldn't leave this one in peace. Let's see if you like this chapter – don't forget to let me know!

Special thanks to mayuralover who actually inspired the turn of events below and in future chapters.

Chapter 4

'It's, it's…' Marinette stuttered, her eyes growing wider and wider. Her mind felt like it was caught in a hurricane when one realization after another hit it repeatedly. It was the pin she'd given to Chat Noir. It was now resting on Adrien's hand. It was Adrien standing now before her with a rather puzzled look on his face, as he waited patiently for her reaction. Does he know who she is? Is he who she now thinks he might be? Why is he showing this to her in the first place? Oh, that's a good start, let's go that way.

'It's s-s-sweet,' Marinette managed to gather her voice, noting his sigh of relief. She must have scared him with the comeback of the stutter. 'W-w-what is it?' Way to go, Marinette, now he'll think you're turning mute again and stupid as well. She shook her head and decided to put the thought of him being Chat Noir for later. That could wait. Not making a fool out of herself couldn't. 'I-I-I mean I can s-s-see it's a p-pin, but where d-d-did you get that?'

On second thought maybe it wasn't a smart move after all, considering her friend's instant blush and sudden panic in his eyes. She was clearly being too nosy. But he wanted to show her the pin. Why exactly? Then a familiar weight of the bracelet on her wrist reminded her that he thought of her as his friend. Hmmmmm, she might as well act like one. If it's friendship he wants, friendship he'll get.

'Did you get that because of Valentine's?' Oh, boy, what was she thinking?! Was there any possible worse opening line?!

'Err… No! No! Not at all!' Adrien turned an interesting shade of red as he spluttered the denial. He was totally at a loss. His first intention was to show Marinette – his dear friend Marinette – the very thing that made him happy, but now it started to dawn on him, that she was bound to ask where did the pin come from. And since he'd already confessed he didn't like those Valentine's gifts, the explanation would be much trickier than he thought.

He could tell her, that it was from another friend, but somehow it didn't seem right. He suddenly got that feeling, that he didn't want Marinette to know, there was another close friend in his life and that it was also a girl. He wanted her to think that she was the person close to him and that he was… available? No! Adrien Agreste, calm down this minute! Marinette is just a friend. Just a friend! Admittedly a very nice and pretty friend, someone he could talk to for hours and hours, and never get bored of her company, when he could just look into those beautiful bluebell eyes, and admire that adorable blush on her cheeks and pink kissable lips. Noooo! What the hell was happening to him?!

'It's, it's just a pin. I just… I like pins! Yeah! I like pins! A lot! Yeah!' Yeah, Adrien, that was pathetic. What happened to all your suave talk? The boy could swear that he was scolding himself in his mind with Plagg's own voice. Or maybe it really was Plagg's cheeky input from the pocket of his shirt? Now he wished there would be a meteor strike, that could knock him out and spare him the humiliation as Marinette's eyes were clearly in the danger of poping out of her head.

'So… you like pins, huh? I didn't know that,' the girl said quietly, trying to make some sense out of his act. But then she felt a twang of mischief that stirred in her Ladybug lining. 'Why ladybug, though?' she fluttered her eyelashed, aiming for the look of pure innocence.

The blonde gaped at her in shock. He open his mouth to speak but found no voice whatsoever. He closed his mouth, muttered something under his breath, opened it again and...

'Yeah! I Ladybug love. What?! No, I mean Ladybug love I! Nooooo! I mean… I mean… I mean… Ugh! I lo- like ladybugs. Yep. I like ladybugs. They bring luck, yeah!' Any chance of that meteor now? He watched in horror as her eyes were getting bigger and bigger again and felt he just couldn't take it anymore.

'Oh, is that… is that… Max?!' Ah, rescue. 'I gotta, I gotta go and him to talk! No! I mean I gotta talk him to go! No! Ugh! I've… got… to… go… and… talk… to him. Pffff!' Finally Adrien blurted out the whole sentence and with an apologetic look and a quick 'S-s-see you later! Bye!' ran into school.

He was beet red by the time he reached the boys' bathroom, which thankfully was empty. He leaned on the door and released a groan of exasperation. Plag flew out of his pocket.

'Kid, what the hell was that all about?!' he asked, his voice dripping with nastiness.

'I've got absolutely no idea!' Adrien felt he left his brain on the pavement outside school. For the life of him he couldn't understand what just happened and why. Right now however he had to focus on more imminent thread. It was barely 9 o'clock and he had before him a whole day of sitting in front of Marinette, after making a complete fool of himself.

Marinette watched Adrien fleeing into school with secret amusement.

'That went well…' She heard Tikki's voice from her bag, lined with unusual sarcasm. Marinette suspected that she was the reason for that, though she didn't really do anything wrong. However, she couldn't help feeling a prick of satisfaction at the state of Adrien when he left, clearly embarrassed, reddened and stuttering. The very effect that he had on her all these years. Ah, revenge is so sweet.

AN: How did you like it? It kind of happened all by itself, so this was probably just meant to be XD I need some time to figure out what exactly will happen next, although I have a few ideas already. But i WILL definitely UPDATE this fic, I haven't given up on it. Just be patient. If you have any suggestions, please share them in your reviews.