"An obstacle course?" Marinette asked, taking in the sight of the equipment stretching all the way across the gym. "What's this for?"
"I don't know. Maybe it's supposed to be a big finish to our gymnastics unit?" Alya wondered, walking up to stand next to her friend. She frowned as she glanced over it, brow furrowed. "Wow. That looks… really hard. Marinette, I'm not sure you'll be able to survive this, considering you can't walk up stairs properly."
If Marinette wasn't regularly pulling off acrobatic stunts across rooftops every night, she might have agreed. The course merely looked mildly difficult to the heroine who was used to much worse. Somewhat challenging, but not impossible. Besides, it wasn't as if there was going to be an akuma to fight in the middle of it, either. At least, she sincerely hoped not...
Behind them, there was an aggravated groan as Nino came up to stand beside Alya. Adrien approached the trio a few seconds later, looking unfairly attractive even in a PE uniform. Marinette tried not to stare too obviously. She didn't think she entirely succeeded. "Hey, Marinette!" He said, glancing at the cute, red gym uniform looking much better on her than Alya.
"H-hi, A-adrien… Y-you llookk cutte, I- er, this place is cute, er, I'm cute, well, not as cute as you, ohIgiveup!" Marinette stuttered, burying her face in her hands. Alya walked over and placed her hand on the girl's shoulder, trying to give her more confidence.
"Oh, this looks like it might be fun," Adrien commented as he saw what everyone was looking at. He didn't appear all that worried, probably because he was so fit from fencing, or so they assumed.
"Fun?!" Nino squeaked. "Dude, you think this is gonna be fun?! It's gonna be torture, that's what it is! Have you SEEN what we're doing? Do you see that climbing wall?!"
Adrien laughed at him. "Relax, Nino," he replied. "You'll be fine."
Nino wasn't fine. Neither was anyone else, actually.
The teacher had decided that this would be a race. Two people at a time. The idea was that they finished the obstacle course in less than fifteen minutes. It wasn't that large after all, even if it was insanely complicated.
Nobody managed to do it. Everyone either fell off, went over the time limit, or both. The closest anyone had come was nearly three quarters of the way through, and even that had taken a good twenty minutes.
Finally, there was only one race left: Marinette and Adrien. She had nearly swooned when the teacher announced that they would be competing. However, it was quickly overtaken by near-crippling nervousness. What if she messed up? What if she tripped and fell or, worse, tripped him and fell? What if she lost by way too much? What if, what if, what if?
"You'll be fine!" Tikki assured her, the tiny kwami hidden away but still close enough to make herself heard. "Don't worry; you do stuff like this every night! Just pretend you're in costume and everything's going to go great!"
Easier said than done, Marinette thought, poised at the starting line. She closed her eyes and regulated her breathing as the teacher counted down, trying to slip into her Ladybug mindset. I can do this. I fight akuma every other week. I do backflips a hundred feet in the air without a safety net. This is nothing compared to that.
The teacher blew the whistle. Marinette's eyes snapped open. Smirking to herself, she bolted.
Adrien really hadn't expected her to be that quick. Marinette? The shy, sweet girl who couldn't say two words to him without stuttering or tripping over herself? No way. He had expected to have to all but finish and go back to carry her through the course.
Except, the moment that whistle had been blown, she'd taken off like a shot. Adrien was momentarily caught flat-footed. She was fast! It took him a moment to catch up, and by that point, they had reached the first obstacle.
Marinette didn't even balk at the wall, instead scrambling up like she was a squirrel or something. Adrien bounded to the top a moment later, unable to help the exhilarated grin that spread across his face. Finally, someone who could keep up with him besides Ladybug!
The pair shared a glance, took a second to survey the course from their vantage point, and then dove into it as one.
All things considered, Marinette and Adrien worked incredibly well, even though they were supposed to be competing. Their every action was eerily synchronized, each mirroring the other's movements like they'd been doing it for years. Marinette had completely switched to Ladybug mode, and Adrien felt like he was Chat Noir flipping jauntily across the rooftops. Adrien, who was taller, darted ahead of Marinette up the hanging rope ladder to the next platform. Marinette, who was more watchful, found the quickest path through a patch of three-dimensional, criss-crossing ropes.
Much to the surprise (as well as the jealousy) of their classmates, the pair were obviously having fun and somehow even making it look easy. They moved with a certain fluidity and grace that could only have come from long hours of practice, both jointly and apart. When had that happened? Since when had Marinette even been capable of so much as a coherent sentence to Adrien's face? Since when had Adrien ever been that open, been that carefree and remarkably at ease? Since when had any of that ever been a thing?
Oblivious to her classmates' thoughts, Marinette couldn't help but let out a breathless laugh as she did a handspring over a series of horizontal bars. As they dashed up a ramp towards a large gap between platforms, Adrien pulled ahead and didn't even pause before doing an aerial across. She mimicked it perfectly, and he laughed even as he leapt across a series of teetering logs. Marinette blew past him when they got platform riddled with holes like swiss cheese, avoiding the overhanging planks of wood with a near-boneless duck and twist-
The pair of them got so caught up in it all they didn't even realize when they started bantering, so comfortable as Ladybug and Chat Noir they forgot they weren't actually in costume.
"You're so slow!" Marinette called playfully as Adrien nearly slipped on a massive rolling sphere. She herself was balanced lightly on her toes atop a wall barely three inches across, knees bent and muscles poised for action. "Careful, don't want to hurt yourself, Kitty!"
"Don't worry, I always land on my feet!" Adrien replied, tone cheeky. A second later he landed beside her, crouched on all fours to absorb the impact before rising. Leaping ahead, he tossed back, "You're the one who shouldn't stop, or you're gonna get left behind!"
"Eh?!" Marinette shouted faux-indignantly as they just about danced across a net of ropes, easily finding purchase without either of them even having to think about it. "We'll see about that!"
She leapt up, grabbing a horizontal bar and swinging herself around, then tucking into a flip as she landed lightly on top of a narrow pillar. A second one next to it became Adrien's perch, the teens balancing themselves as easily as if they'd been on solid ground rather than almost ten feet up.
"Wow," Alya whispered, wishing she had her phone so she could film it. "Marinette is good."
"I didn't think Adrien was that acrobatic," Nino commented, eyes wide. "I thought he did fencing, not gymnastics!"
Standing on the sidelines, even the teacher could only gape as they finished in perfect sync.
Twelve minutes flat.
Twelve. Minutes. Flat.
"I think that's a new record," the teacher said blankly, staring at her stopwatch like it had suddenly grown wings and was about to fly away. "That's- wow. Nobody's ever been that fast. I don't know if even I could do it that fast!"
Adrien laughed, and so did Marinette, and they didn't even think about it before they turned to each other for a fistbump. "Mission accomplished," they chorused, freezing as the words escaped their lips.
The teens stared at each other in disbelief.
Did that just happen?!
"Good game, M'lady." Adrien said breathlessly. Marinette, on the other hand, could do nothing but stand, mouth agape, as the events were being processed. Unfortunately, Marinette was there and not Ladybug, causing her to trip and fall to her knees, only to be caught and carried away by Adrien.
"Nino! Did you hear that?!" Alya whisper-shrieked. The reporter had been on sight for so many akuma attacks and instantly recognized the signature phrase.
"What, dudette?" The DJ woke from a daze.
"Nevermind! Just don't go anywhere!" Alya immediately darted after the couple, leaving Nino near a whiny blonde.
"Ugh! Why did MY ADRIEKINS leave with that Maritrash?! I'm CLEARLY the better athlete!" Nino only rolled his eyes. Chloe failed at the first obstacle ("I almost chipped a nail! It was tragic!") and forced Nathanael to carry her the remainder, ruining his score as well.
In the girls' locker rooms:
"Adrien! Get out! You'll get in trouble!" Marinette warned.
"No. I need to talk to you. Is it true? Are you my lady?" The blonde stated soberly, his green eyes boring into hers.
"And you, my chaton?" The unmasked heroine squirmed.
"Je T'aime, Marinette."
"Je T'aime, Chaton." They both were knocked out of their transfixed gaze by a small 'aw!' Followed by a 'Shoot!'
The duo peered around the locker bay, only to find Alya fangirling. "YAY! MARICHAT! LADYNOIR! ADRIENETTE! LADRIEN! Wait wait wait!" Alya paused, pulling a piece of paper out of her pocket. She quickly scribbled the letter D on it and gave it to Adrien.
"Catboy, can you give that to Mari? Thanks." The reporter smirked evilly as she watched the unsuspecting, confused couple.
"A D? Alya, why…?" Marinette questioned.
"Ad-ri-en gave Ma-ri the De-ee!" Alya sang excitedly as the pair turned red.
"Ad-ri-en gave Ma-ri the De-ee!
Ad-ri-en gave Ma-ri the De-ee!
Ad-ri-en gave Ma-ri the De-ee!" Alya continued to sing, until the trio returned to their class, happy and plotting revenge.
A/N:
Hey everyone! The first bit is very similar to another story I was reading and basically was the basis of this.
Wow. Repetetive much?
The last bit is what my friend(basically a real-life Alya) did to my crush and told him to give it to me. He was so confused when she started laughing and I turned red. (O.O) She started singing the same song story Alya did, and we are plotting revenge... Muhehehe...
It was so funny. I like Oli.
Yea okay. Bye, my lovely shipping fans!