Here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy.

Credit for the next song suggestion goes to a guest comment, Usagi Tsukino.

Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or the song, they belong to their rightful owners. The content in here is for entertainment purposes only.

Next song actually fits with what Nathanael thinks about Chat Noir/Adrien & Marinette's relationship, and how Marinette would react to it if she knew, so thanks for the suggestion Usagi!

Seems like there's always someone who disapproves
They'll judge it like they know about me and you
And the verdict comes from those with nothing else to do
The jury's out, but my choice is you

So don't you worry your pretty little mind
People throw rocks at things that shine
And life makes love look hard
The stakes are high, the water's rough
But this love is ours

Song: Ours by Taylor Swift

It's a bright Monday morning, and Marinette takes a breath before entering her classroom. She strides as confidently as she can, though she still takes shaky steps on her way to her seat. She can feel Adrien's eyes on her, but tries her best to ignore them. She can't meet his gaze, she won't after what happened last Friday. She isn't sure she will ever be able to look at him the same way ever again.

Adrien feels his heart clench and sighs deeply. He turns around, risking another shot, "Marinette, I want to apologize for-" "Class is starting." Marinette says firmly, her blue eyes looking at anything but his wavering emerald ones. Adrien nods and turns back around. Though he is most definitely not giving up, despite the awkward, tense air between the two of them.

Three days ago, last Friday...

The sky is a bright blue, clouds are white and few, the sun is up and smiling bright at the citizens of Paris down below. Marinette walks with a little skip in her step on her way to her locker, a smile marks her features. She'd never before gotten the courage to ask Adrien to accompany her to anything, so when Nathanael said it was a 'friend date', what better chance to invite Adrien as well? Besides he seems like he really wants to go.

Of course though, she is aware of Nathanael's feelings for her. Well, has been suspicious for a while, especially after Adrien said it himself a while back when they went to his home. She doesn't feel that way about Nathanael. And even if she got over Adrien, he probably wouldn't be the next person. Chat Noir would, if he can prove his feelings are genuine and not just heartless games of love. However, Marinette is still as clueless as ever when it comes to Adrien. More than that, she's in denial about his obvious feelings for her. When around him, her stomach becomes a tangled knot, words get stuck in her throat, her heart races 100 miles a second, her face begins to feel flushed, and her hands get a bit sweaty from the nerves of being in his presence. He's got a god's sun kissed skin that glows, smooth fair hair that sways in just the right way, and of course, he's got those eyes, those beautiful, enhancing, dangerous emerald eyes. His heart is that of gold, he demonstrates kindness to even demons like Chloe. So getting someone like Adrien, to like her back? Marinette knows that will only happen in her wildest dreams (no Taylor Swift pun intended). Right?

Marinette opens her locker, she takes a look around her before opening her purse and letting Tikki fly out. "Tikki, how have you been hanging in there?" Marinette asks out of concern for the small kwami. "I've been doing fine, it's a little hot at times, but nothing I can't handle." Tikki smiles, "How about you and Adrien?" Marinette bites her lip, trying to contain a smile. "Come on girl, spill." Tikki says taking a seat on one of the textbooks inside Marinette's locker. Marinette shifts her weight from foot to foot. "Oh I don't know... I just so happened to invite him to come with Nathanael and I after school, and I'm really excited, but I don't what to do. I feel like I'm going to mess up somehow and make a fool of myself in front of him. I'm especially more nervous and jumpy around him after the whole kissing thing but I-" "Calm down Marinette." Tikki floats up to her, "I think you'll do just fine if you just be yourself, Marinette."

"I wish I were more like Ladybug, have her type of confidence, you know?" Marinette sighs and begins to put in the textbooks -she doesn't need for the weekend- inside her locker. "But you are Ladybug, Marinette. You sometimes act that way, but if you showed everyone how capable you really are, I'm sure you'd be fine." Marinette shrugs with a smile, "You're right. I guess it's time to get my actions straight, and become more confident in myself. I'll remind myself that I'm Ladybug." "That's the spirit." Tikki giggles and floats up to Marinette's face to nuzzle her in the cheek. Marinette giggles back. Tikki floats back into her locker as a few more students enter the locker room. "But you know Marinette," Tikki lowers her tone, "If you come to, like Ladybug, you'll come to realize a lot of things. Especially about Adrien..." Tikki begins, she can only say so much.

If she spells it all out to Marinette the girl will never learn. In a way she's helping her become more observant. "Huh, what do you mean?" Marinette raises an eyebrow. "To come to truly love him, you must love all sides of his personality, even the parts you may not like at first." "So you're saying I should get to know him better?" Marinette asks. "Yup! And of course, let him get to know you better. Though I get the feeling he already knows all the sides of your personality..." Tikki mutters the last part to herself. "Thanks for the advise Tikki. You always know what to say-" "Mari, girl, who are you talking to." a voice sighs. "Eek!" Marinette slams her locker door shut.

"Alya! Don't scare me like that." Marinette smiles with a hand over her heart area. "Hahaha, sorry girl. I just couldn't help but notice that you were having a one-on-one conversation with your locker, what's up with that anyway?" Alya tilts her head to the side and places her wrists at her hips in a questioning manner. "I was...reciting out loud. You know how forgetful I can be, I needed to make sure I got everything, you know?" Marinette giggles nervously. Alya shakes her head, "You're and adorable little dork. Shouldn't you be getting ready for your date?" Alya asks teasingly. "Three people on a date? I've nerve heard of anything like that." Marinette says with a smug face. Alya sighs exasperatedly, "Oh my gosh girl, have you not realized it yet? Nathanael totally asked you out. If it weren't for Adrien, you'd be going alone, with Nathanael. And let's just say you two are not really the social conversation-starter type of people." Marinette slumps her shoulders, "I...I realize that. But I don't know how to face Nathanael. I don't want to hurt his feelings. Last time, he tried to confess, if it weren't for Chat Noir rescuing me and coming into the conversatio-" Alya waves her hands and shakes her head, saying, "Wait, wait, hold on." Marinette pauses, so that Alya asks her question. "Chat Noir rescued you from a previous attempt at a confession?" Marinette nods, "I guess. But he did it in a really rude way. Well what to expect, he's done that to Ladybug too-" "How..would you know that?" Alya asks.

Marinette gulps a bit, "I've seen it before? Heh heh." she chuckles nervously with a rub at the back of her neck. "How? You always disappear during each akuma attack. You've never seen Ladybug or Chat Noir fight. I should know considering I'm always there. And when I'm not you come back and say you were akumatized. Mari, is there something you're not telling me?" Alya folds her arms. Marinette holds her breath, here it comes, someone's finally going to discover her secret- "*gasp*" Marinette gulps, "you're in a relationship with Chat Noir aren't you?!" Marinette releases her breath in relief, "It all makes sense now! I thought it was weird that he whisked you away from Nathanael to begin with, what business would he have with you otherwise? You guys meet each other before or after the fights, right?" Alya says with an excited sparkle in her eyes.

"Um, actually, we're just friends. He's dating Ladybug, remember?" Marinette says, giving a silent hooray to herself for coming up with the clever excuse, or more like remembered the dreadful lie Chat Noir told to the public through the interview. "But he does come see me sometimes. Especially more often as of late." Marinette thinks annoyingly from the week that's gone by which in Chat Noir visited her each day after school on her terrace. "Oh, that's so cool! I can't believe my best friend is friends with one of Paris's super heroes! That must be how you got Ladybug to do an interview with me a while back, too, right?" Alya grasps Marinette's hands. Marinette nods as a sinking feeling of guilt enters her stomach for lying to her friend.

"Mmhm, but you can't tell anyone, alright Alya?" Alya nods like a bobble head toy. "It would be dangerous if anyone found out-" "I'm sorry Marinette but I kind of now know too." Marinette turns around to stare at Adrien with wide eyes. Adrien grins his cute little toothy smile at her. All Marinette does is freeze for a second before backing away and jumping behind Alya, hiding behind her.

"Hey Adrien." Alya greets. "Hello Alya." Adrien greets back. Alya then mutters towards Marinette, "Mari," she says through gritted teeth, "I'm pretty sure he already saw you." Marinette breathes and breathes out and releases her previous grasp on Alya's shoulders. She then walks around her ombre haired friend and waves shyly at Adrien. "Hi." she smiles too widely, as she usually does when around Adrien. "Hello Marinette, you're not trying to hide from me, are you?" He chuckles, Marinette feels the freckles on her cheeks flip over to red. "N-no, just, um.." she tugs at her left pigtail in a nervous gesture. How cute, Adrien thinks to himself. "Well, I'm out. See you Monday Mari. Goodbye to you too, Adrien." Alya says, excusing herself. The mentioned teenagers wave goodbye. Alya winks at Marinette then leaves. "Shall we, princess?" Adrien makes an elegant gesture with his hand. Marinette takes it while biting her lip, trying to contain both a squeal and a smile.

"Oh wait, I need to get something from my locker." Marinette recalls she trapped poor Tikki in her locker.

Nathanael waits by the entrance of the school for the pair of teenagers. He can't help but think of the way Adrien reacted to his invitation to Marinette all those days ago. He obviously feels something for her, whether it be a protective friend or a jealous lover. He frowns, Well joke's on him, because Marinette is already taken by Chat Noir, the red head sighs and lets his turquoise go downcast. No, joke's on both of us. Either way we lost. But I can't let Chat Noir get away with what he's doing to the girls. What does Marinette even see in him? I mean sure he's one of Paris's famous heroes, and sure he's handsome! And..and cooler, stronger. He's everything I'm not... a dark butterfly begins to fly his way, but Nathanael spots it before it lands on him. What an odd butterfly, Nathanael swats the creepy bug away with his sketchbook and it begins to fall towards the ground before it recovers and flies towards wherever the heck it even came from. "Hey Nathanael." a sweet voice beckons his head to turn.

Nathanael turns his head and instantly he feels a wave of happiness overwhelm him at the sight of Marinette. His expression droops noticeably though when he catches sight of her right hand holding Adrien's left. "So..where are we going?" Adrien inquires. "Oh, that's right," Nathanael lets his sad feelings melt away and be replaced with genuine excitement for the place they are going, "There's a fair in town, and my mother will be working at a face paint booth for children there so I was able to get free tickets." Nathanael says taking out three tickets from his grey messenger bag. "Awesome, I thought I wouldn't be able to go because I got a busy schedule." Adrien comments. Marinette smiles, glad the tension between the males disappeared, "My father and I were planning on going too, but he and mom had to go to an important event, so this is great." "Well then let's go. Good thing it's at a walk-able distance from the school." Nathanael says.

In the beginning, they spent most of their time eating cotton candy, taking silly pictures, playing carnival games at the booths, getting on rides, just having plain fun under the florescent lights of rides and booths. The trio were able to forget about the tension from a couple days back at the beginning of the week and were able to have fun just as friends. Marinette forgot -for most of the time- about her nerves around Adrien's presence. Of course there was still a rivalry -when they were playing games at the booths- between Adrien and Nathanael, betting who could win the most prizes. Though Marinette ended up beating them both as she managed to get all the grand prizes without breaking a sweat.

"Hahaha, you should have seen the look on your face in the haunted mansion when that doll popped up." Adrien says to Nathanael. Marinette giggles, "Adrien you have no room to talk, you kept on bumping into your own reflection in the house of mirrors." Marinette says and Adrien looks to the side with a nervous chuckle escaping his lips, "Wha~t? I don't remember that." Nathanael chuckles, "If you can see your own reflection I'm pretty sure that's how you can tell not to go through there." "If you can see the strings connected to the doll that pops up in your face, I'm pretty sure that's how you know it's not real." Adrien counters. "Touché." Nathanael says. "Guys, is it okay if we take a stop here, I need to got to the restroom." Marinette admits a bit embarrassingly with a thumb jabbed in direction of the restroom department. "Sure." Adrien and Nathanael say simultaneously. "Thanks, hold this please." Marinette hands them her stuff and the huge, fluffy teddy bear she won.

As they wait for the raven haired girl, Adrien and Nathanael continue to converse. "You know Tomato Head, you're not so bad." Adrien says with a joking grin. "I could say the same to you, Bird's Nest." Nathanael says with a smirk. "Hey, my hair does not look like a bird's nest, I make sure to wash it well with model's hair formula at least five times a week." Adrien retorts. Nathanael chuckles and they both go silent. "Adrien, I know that you like Marinette.." "As do I know that you do too." Adrien replies. "But I need to tell you something, but d-don't think I'm helping you or anything," Nathanael stammers, "I just think you should know." Adrien nods, "Alright, go on." Nathanael's face expression droops, Adrien notices and can tell what he's about to say ain't going to be pretty. "Neither of us really have a chance with Marinette." Nathanael says and Adrien's eyes widen. "What do you mean?" Adrien asks. "She's already with someone."

At Nathanael's words, Adrien's world collapses for a second. All goes silent until he hears the sound of a child crying from a distance, wailing about a fallen ice cream. Adrien looks down at the ground and can't help the tearing of his heart. "H-how do you know?" Adrien asks with a shake in his voice. "I won't mention who he is because he's someone very important to both Paris and Marinette, but a couple days back I saw him take Marinette away for a while. I saw from afar as he was about to kiss her, I turned away of course before it actually happened because I -I couldn't stand watching." Nathanael clutches his things tightly to his chest. "I see." Adrien sighs deeply.

He frowns and tightens the hold on the things he carries, "I'm not giving up." he looks up with determination at Nathanael. Nathanael grins, "I didn't think you would. And neither am I. I can tell Marinette doesn't return my feelings, so I will lay back for a while -though I was planning to tonight, I will wait until I have the courage to tell her my feelings and explain to her that she should leave the guy she's dating." "Isn't that a bit bold?" Adrien raises and eyebrow. "Well hear this, that guy is two timing her." Adrien's eyes widen, "What?!" he yells. Nathanael holds his index up to his lips, "Sshh, not so loud. And yes, he is. He made his other relationship be known quite publicly." Adrien frowns, "What is he, some sort of celebrity?" Nathanael shrugs, "In a way, yeah. I don't understand how Marinette hasn't found out yet. It was all over the news." "That...might actually be my fault." Adrien says. "What how-" "Hey guys." they both turn around to find Marinette standing there with a smile on her face as the multi-colored lights from the fair fall on her face and hair, creating a glow around her body. "Um, guys?" she says as they continue to silently stare at her. "Marinette," Adrien grins, "have I ever told you how breathtakingly beautiful you are?"

Well shit.

There goes being nerveless around Adrien.

Next chapter will be a continuation of what happened on Friday that caused Marinette not able to look Adrien in the eye, a conversation with Mr. Agreste, and more jumbles of fun. Oh and Shipfinder, I am definitely thinking about the suggestion you gave me ;).

Sorry for the extremely little fluff in this chapter, it's just a bunch of friendship and a bit of plot development with the conversations.

Until next time.