Chapter 7: nails

"Ohhhh! You should do red! Red always looks so good on you," Alya grinned as the three women looked through the nail polish rack.

"I agree. In China red is often the symbol of good fortune and happiness," Sabine informed her daughter. Marinette looked at the red presented to her.

"I dunno. It's a pretty color, but it's a bit much for now. I don't think I'm comfortable wearing that on my nails just yet," she admitted. Sabine smiled and put a comforting hand on Marinette's shoulder.

"That's okay, you can get a French tip. It's very subtle," she assured her. Marinette smiled up at her mom.

"Thanks mom."

"Well, if you're not gonna get this color then I will. Do you see all the sparkles in it? I should get my accent nail painted black as a tribute to BeetleBug! I'm sure he'd be charmed if he sees it, and then we'll be best friends and eat ice cream together and maybe I could do his nails too!" Alya rambled whilst searching for a black polish. Marinette and Sabine giggled at the excited girl and picked out softer colors. Marinette settled on a sheer pink for the base and a nice white for the tip. Although she wasn't quite sure if she would have much of a tip left after all her nerves from transitioning. Her mother picked a soft mauve.

"I heard that people designated male at birth have larger hands than people designated female do, but you've always had such small hands I couldn't believe that. Like our hands are about the same size and you've got such dainty seamstress hands," Alya continued once she found the color she was looking for.

"Where did you hear that?" Sabine asked.

"I read it on Wikipedia. Which I know, sounds unreliable, but I checked the source and that website seemed rather trustworthy. Anyways, I thought that was interesting," she said.

"Marque has alwa-oops! Sorry," Sabine apologized. It was hard to adjust, but she was honestly trying her best. After 16 years of calling her daughter Marque it was going to be hard to change.

"Don't sweat, mom. It was a mistake," Marinette smiled. Her parents rarely slipped up, but when they did they always seemed more guilty than Marinette was upset. She understood it wasn't just her making changes and cut them some slack the rare moments that they messed up.

"What I meant to say was Marinette has always had softer features. Her eye shape is kind of a mixture between mine and Tom's, but her chubby cheeks and pretty lips come from me," Sabine continued and pinched Mari's cheek.

"Mo-oom," Marinette groaned and rubbed at her now red cheek. Alya giggled.

"Aw, that's cute! I always thought you looked more like your mom," she said pinching Mari's other cheek. She frowned and crossed her arms with now two red cheeks.

"You guys are patronizing me," she grumbled. Both the ladies laughed, and were soon escorted to the nail station. There was two desks per row, so Sabine let Marinette and Alya sit together while she sat in the row next to them. At first Mari was a bit hesitant since it was originally just her and her mother, but Sabine insisted and told her she was already planning on inviting Alya. The two friends sat in their seats as the nail ladies started to groom their fingers. Mari looked back to her mother over her shoulder and she was rambling with her nail person in Mandarin.

"How do you want your nails shaped, honey?" The lady asked, turning her attention back in front of her.

"Um, I dunno?" She replied.

"I think rounded nails look cute, but they break easy," Alya told her.

"Oh, what shape do you suggest?" Mari asked.

"Hmm, your nails look long enough to be squared with rounded edges."

"Okay…what she said," Mari told the lady. She smiled and started filing at her nails.

"So, we didn't get a chance to talk about what happened in class yesterday," Alya spoke with a smirk. Marinette's body stiffened and she swallowed hard.

"W-what are you talking about?" She stuttered.

"You know what I'm talking about. 'It's a good thing you always look cute, not much of a sacrifice needed.' With love, Adrien Agreste," Alya teased. Mari wanted to hit her head on the table, but that would be rude to the woman she was currently employing. She shifted her feet and tapped the tips of her shoes together out of nerves.

"Uh, that was nothing, really," she muttered and looked up at the ceiling to avoid her eyes.

"C'mon Mari. That was the second time you two were passing notes in class. I think there's some romance starting to bloom between you and your dream guy," she hummed. Mari blushed at the thought of cheesy romance between her and the blond. She was never a fan of the cheesy stuff like arguing who would hang up first or cutesy pet names, but thinking about him in that context made her want to faint from the potential cuteness.

"I doubt it. He's just being friendly," she mumbled.

"Girl, stop lying to yourself. There's something there. I think you should ask him to the movies."

"I already tried that, don't you remember?" She reminded her.

"Well that was before he was showing signs that he likes you."

"I stole his phone because I couldn't even talk to him properly."

"While that's true, I think you can ask him in person this time," Alya said with confidence.

"No. It's not happening. He's probably being extra nice because…" she trailed off and frowned, not exactly wanting to out herself to the two ladies doing their nails. She had no idea how well she passed.

"…you know why," she sighed.

"Oh, c'mon girl! You don't really think he's treating you like a charity case, do you?" She questioned.

"H-he might! I dunno what he's thinking. All I know is that he's being nicer than usual, and I have no other choice but to be cautious. I'm not out to everybody, so I haven't faced a negative reaction yet. I dunno how he thinks of me," she defended. Alya frowned. It was hard to remember how dangerous her friend's life was now as a trans girl. She's read the statistics, and they weren't too up lifting.

"I know it's hard to be optimistic about things in your shoes, and I'm not gonna pretend like I'll ever understand how scary it is to be you. But I really don't think Adrien is that kinda person. He's nice, but he's also genuine. Like he's polite to Chloé, but won't hesitate to call her out on her bull-crap. I think if he was just being nice he wouldn't have passed notes back and forth and called you cute," she said gingerly. Marinette sighed again and let the lady start to paint her fingernails.

"Boys are so…ugh," she groaned and pouted.

"Look, how about this. Instead of just you and Adrien going to the movies, Nino and I could come too like last time. That way it wouldn't be mistaken as a date, and it would be less stressful because I'll be there," Alya suggested. Marinette thought about her proposal for a moment as she watched the polish glide on her nails like liquid glass.

"I guess that would work…but what would we go and see? It can't be anything too raunchy or romantic because that would be embarrassing."

"Hmm, how about an action-adventure movie? That'll keep the excitement going."

"All action movies have some sort of unnecessary sex scene in it. Could you imagine how awkward that would be sitting next to Adrien and watching a secret agent bone his assistant?" She hissed.

"Okay okay, you have a good point. What about a thriller? Maybe he's supper scared of those kinds of movies and needs someone's arm to hold on to to ease his fear? Good cuddling opportunity," she said and smirked with triumph from her amazing idea.

"Well then we're both gonna be crying on each other's shoulders because I'm terrified of those movies!" Marinette whined, her body clenching in fear at the mere mention. Alya's eyes sparked and her grin widened.

"That would be twice as much cuddling! We're definitely seeing a thriller!" She decided. Marinette whined again.

"Nooo! I-I might cry! He can't see me crying!" She protested.

"Well maybe if you cry, he'll escort you out and you guys can hang out by yourselves in the lobby until it's over. Men are suckers for a damsel in distress."

"I swear you want me to date him more than I do," Mari pouted.

"I'm just a great wingman, girl. Besides, we both know that's not true."