Another Ladybug fic that never gets completed I guess.

Bugs for Jewels

"I think everyone knows that," said Alya as she rolled her eyes affectionately from her place on the chaise next to Juleka.

"It was a bit obvious," added in Alix.

"We knew," said Mylène, gesturing uncertainly. "But it seemed rude to point it out."

Rose smiled slightly with embarrassment.

"How have things been going with Prince Ali?" asked Alya.

Rose started talking at a million miles a minute.

"It's been good! We've been talking a lot. He's in Korea at the moment with his father while he organises a business deal. After that he is heading to America for a month and then back to Achu." Rose always sounded incredibly enthusiastic when talking about Price Ali. She just wished she could do the same with Adrien. "He said he's trying to convince his father to let him come back to Paris early next year!"

There was several enthusiastic and encouraging noises from the other girls in the group which made Rose smile.

"Your turn, Marinette," said Alya.

She blushed slightly.

"It's not exactly a secret, everyone knows at this point."

"Oh, I am well aware," said Alya, her face adorned with a Chershire smile. "But the point is sharing."

"But everyone knows," she replied weekly.

"Sharing is caring."

Alya's expression didn't change a millimetre. It was clear that she was never going to budge.

"Adrien," she replied with a small blush.

No one even pretended to act surprised, because…

"We know, we helped you try to hook up with him just last week," said Alix with a small amount of frustration.

Marinette didn't like the words "hook up" very much; it implied something a bit frivolous to her, but Alix's general sentiment was correct and there were a few small nods around the room in agreement.

"I guess that makes it your turn, Alix," said Alya.

Alix fell back into Marinette's carpet with a groan.

"No one," she replied.

There were a few moments before Alya exclaimed: "Bullshit."

Alix pulled herself up with an annoyed look on her face.

"Not everyone is as relationship crazy as you, Alya."

"I'm not…" Alya tried to shoot back before floundering. "I'm not relationship crazy. Only one boy. One."

"Oh yeah, one boy, and the bazillion other relationships you keep trying to build between other people."

Alya's eye narrowed a fraction.

"Kim! You like Kim!" she exclaimed.

Alix actually cackled at the suggestion, falling backwards onto the rug again. She raised a hand like she was answering a question in class, moving her finger at each word for emphasis.

"Kim is an idiot."

Alya opened her mouth to say something, paused, closed it again, and then after a few moments' consideration opened it again.

"He's your friend."

"Yep, and he's an idiot. Doesn't mean I want to date him or whatever."

"There has to be someone," said Alya, slightly deflated.

"Nope," replied Alix with confidence.

There were a few awkward moments.

"Mylène, how about you?" asked Marinette quickly.

It seemed best to… move on.

"Oh, well Ivan and I are doing great" replied Mylène slightly breathless.

Alya seemed to get her mojo back at that moment.

"Yes, you two must be the only ones actually dating in our homeroom!"

"Only ones, eh?" asked Alix not too kindly.

"Nino and I are… getting there," replied Alya carefully.

"Hmm…" hummed Alix skeptically.

"Juleka!" exclaimed Marinette suddenly, hoping to pre-empt an argument. "What about you?"

Everyone turned, and under the spotlight Juleka quickly blushed.

"Well – um – ah…"

Everyone continued to peer curiously at her. Only perhaps Rose wasn't as nosily curious as everyone else.

"Ladybug?"

Marinette's brain short circuited a bit there as everyone paused. For some reason her first thought was why Juleka had posed it as a question.

"Huh…" was Alya's sophisticated response.

Everyone tuned to their group's matchmaker.

"I can see that."

Marinette had no idea what Alya meant by that.

"Ladybug?" asked Rose.

Juleka scratched her arm awkwardly, avoiding everyone's eyes.

"Well, yes…"

Rose gave a gleeful shout before wrapping her best friend in a hug.

"Oh my god! You two would be so cute!"

There were a few more encouraging words from the group as Marinette's brain rebooted. Alya continued to look at Juleka contemplatively.

"This would ruin Ladynoir though," she said after a few moments.

Marinette actually choked for a moment there; this was absolutely not the appropriate time for that discussion. A ridiculous idea to begin with and so not the right time.

Juleka looked a bit torn at Alya's comment but slightly more curious at Marinette's reaction. Alix beat her to the punch though.

"What was that about?" she asked.

Before she could reply Alya chimed in.

"Mari thinks I'm completely wrong about Ladyinoir, that it could never happen," said Alya with unhidden skepticism.

Everyone turned to her again.

"Well… Ladybug is clearly not interested in him that way." She said, as definitively as she could. "And even if she was Chat isn't into her like that anyway."

The first statement got a few agreeing nods, but the second got many shakes of disagreement.

"Chat is flirty with every girl he meets, I'm sure of it," she said resolutely.

It was – well – obvious.

"What makes you think that?" asked Alix as everyone looked on curiously.

"Well… he just is."

The line sounded unconvincing even as she spoke it.

"Well – um – I spoke to him several weeks ago and he did the exact same thing to me. He does it with all the girls!"

"Wait, what?" exclaimed Alya. "When did you meet him? Why didn't you tell me? I could have put it in the blog!"

There were a few awkward seconds as she tried to put a satisfactory explanation together.

"It was… embarrassing." She replied before having an idea. "And! And telling everyone about it would just encourage him, he's a show-off!"

The tale seemed to satisfy most, but Alya looked like she was going to press for more details later.

"So, do you think I have a chance?" asked Juleka.

To Marinette's eyes Juleka look so unsure of herself at that moment. Her gut wrenched as an easy fib to tell began forming in her mouth.

"Yes," she replied, trying to make it sounds as convincing as possible.

But, she was screaming inside. This is a terrible terrible idea.

It was nice to see Juleka smile; she spent so much time trying to hide away at the back of the crowd.

"We –" said Rose, jumping up in excitement "–should start on plan Julebug immediately!"

There was a moment of silence before Rose suddenly looked a bit unsure of herself.

"Like Adrienette," Rose tried to explain moving her arms for emphasis.

Marinette couldn't help but cringe at the name Alya had given their attempts to get Adrien to notice her. But there were a few murmurs of agreement with Rose's chosen name.

"Yeah, that – uh – works," she said.

Nope, nope, nope. This is a terrible idea.

"I'm not so sure."

Marinette couldn't deny a small part of her was gleeful at Alya's Ladybug/Chat Noir shipping fantasies falling apart. It was almost tiresome in a way to hear about. A significant part of it couldn't be helped: she couldn't tell Alya she and Ladybug were one in the same. That didn't stop it being grating though.

Maybe she could use this to put Alya's shipping fantasies to bed.

The group seemed to gain momentum though, ideas of how to set the pair of them up running abound. Even Alya managed to get into it, even though she acted like none of this would work, that Ladybug's one true love was Chat Noir and nothing would change that.

Though clearly blushing in embarrassment, it was clear Juleka enjoyed the stream of romantic ideas being thrown about even though many were ridiculous.

Maybe she could do this for Juleka as well.

"We could just ask Ladybug," she stated simply.

There was a sharp lull in the discussion at her suggestion.

"She's around often enough. Ladybug knows Juleka, she won't say no."

She could see a small amount of fear in Juleka's eyes, the fear she felt every time Alya suggested something direct. Hypocrisy perhaps, to suggest the same.

"You're… pretty confident about that," said Alix.

Heads turned to her again.

"Yeah, I – uh."

There was a beat as she considered it.

She would say yes and show Juleka a nice time, a nice date. She would tell her how nice it was to spend time with her, how wonderful she looked that night, that she wished she could do this again and again, but she is Ladybug, her of Paris, and she can't risk Juleka's life like that.

She might be getting something out of this, but she would do everything she could to make the night special for Juleka.

She would make her friend happy.

She would sooth the guilt she felt as she constructed this web to get Alya off her back.

"I will have a date arranged inside a week," she said confidently.

There was again undisguised skepticism around the room. Juleka was almost unreadable, she wasn't even sure what Juleka was feeling right now.

"I promise you Juleka, I will get you a date with Ladybug."

She would give Juleka an excellent night, and Alya would never mention her Chat shipping fantasies again.

Sorry not sorry I kneecapped Julerose for my Marinette/Juleka shipping story. I hope this will actually get completed unlike my other two Ladybug stories.