Chapter 13
Ever since Chloe turned a new leaf, there were many concerns that raced through her mind. Much of which were handled well the first week. It took a bit but she managed to convince the whole school that she was trying to be a better person, though she did have a few slip ups which she was able to recover from. But all of that paled to the situation that came tonight. For tonight was her alone time with Nathanael Kurtzburg.
"I still can't believe that this is happening," Chloe said as she sat in her bedroom with Marinette, and Alya.
"Well he has been waiting long enough to get this date with you," Marinette said as she brushed the blond girl's hair.
"Are we even sure that this is a date?" Chloe asked as she stared at herself in the mirror, "What if it's just a get together as friends? Or what if his plan was to make me think he sees I'm different but actually gets revenge for-"
Before she could finish, Chloe felt a small hand close her mouth, and looked to find Tikki saying, "Chloe, you're overthinking things. Just relax, and try to think positively."
Chloe gave a slow nod and took deep breaths as she tried to calm down, "Thanks Tikki. I appreciate the support."
"Well I did have to support this one for a while," Tikki said as she pointed to her chosen, causing the others to laugh.
"Oh come on. Give me some credit," Marinette said frustratedly. Their train of thought was interrupted when Chloe grunted in pain. When Marinette looked down, she realized that not only had she tugged hard on a knot in her friend's hair, but her left hand currently had blond locks tightly held, and she was actually pulling. Marinette instantly released the hair, and said, "Sorry."
"This is why I wanted Alya to help me with the makeover," Chloe said jokingly.
"Why do you think you need a makeover anyway?" Pollen asked from the vanity, "I think you look beautiful enough my queen."
This time Alya decided to answer, "It never hurts to look extra hot. So when he sees you, his face should be as red as his hair."
When Marinette finished brushing Chloe's hair, Alya got to the makeup. This was the task that Chloe insisted be up to Alya to complete. It wasn't so much that she didn't trust Marinette, despite the bluenette's accident prone qualities, but it was more that Alya was generally better at the makeup aspect. So much so that Marinette didn't even argue or put up a fight when Alya was requested. That and it gave her more time to focus on the outfit for her.
"So what were your first dates like?" Chloe asked to ease the tension she was still feeling.
Alya decided to answer first as she started with applying Chloe's mascara, "Well Nino, and I didn't even consider dating each other until after the whole zoo situation."
As Alya finished, Chloe gave a quick confused look, "What whole zoo situation?"
"Pretty much Nino was trying to ask me out with help from Adrien while I was expecting Adrien to ask me out while Alya was coaching me along," Marinette explained.
This only served to baffle Chloe even further, "You're kidding."
Alya continued telling the story, "That's not even the stranger part. Marinette deviated from the plan and tried to set me up with Nino who flubbed his confession by saying that he was interested in me. Eventually we ended up in a cage from the Animan incident, and we got to talking. One thing led to another, and we decided to give it a shot."
Chloe then closed her eyes as Alya began working on her eyeliner, "So how did that go?"
"Better than we thought. Truth be told, we didn't know what to expect. But he was really sweet, and I ended up really liking him. So we talked about how it went for each of us, and we've been dating ever since," By the end of the story, Alya had finished with the eyeliner, and moved on to the next step.
Chloe decided to keep the topic going, "So what about you Marinette? Your first date?"
Marinette smiled but she still felt awkward. She was happy to admit that she was dating Adrien, but it felt weird talking about it with her former rival. But she knew why Chloe was asking. It was her own little way of moving forward. So Marinette decided to indulge the blond girl's curiosity.
"We went to a Jagged Stone concert and it went well. Then the akuma attacked so we had to deal with it."
Alya paused her work for a moment to ask her own question, "This was before you both found out each other's identities, right?"
Marinette nodded, "Anyway after the akuma was dealt with, the audience had pretty much left. Adrien salvaged the date by playing the piano and singing to me. Then Jagged came back with the band and we all performed together. I'm still convinced that he recorded us singing and saved it on an album. And after he took me home, we kissed."
"Aw," both friends said in unison, only partially teasing her.
As Alya got back to finishing the makeup, Chloe posed another question, "So did he take you upstairs bridal style to your room yet?"
Alya laughed as she provided her own quip, "Actually I think he might have proposed to her. Our little girl is growing up."
Marinette gave a deadpan glare at both of them, "I also provide snacks for your kwamis. Unless you want me to stop doing that."
That was when both Trixx And Pollen flew up to Marinette with Trixx speaking first, "Wait. Please don't take away the snacks."
"We won't make fun of your relationship with Adrien. Promise," Pollen pleaded.
Marinette eased the concerns of the kwamis as she put together an outfit for Chloe. The outfit she chose was a fancy yellow top with a black jacket over it, paired with a black and yellow plaid skirt which reached Chloe's knees, and a pair of short yellow high heels. When Chloe noticed the clothes, she only had one thing to say, "Great style choice, but why the black and yellow?"
"Color confidence," Marinette answered with no follow up.
When she noticed that neither teen understood what she meant, she explained further, "Whenever I wear red, I get the confidence that usually comes with Ladybug, and I feel like I can do more things that I normally wouldn't feel great about doing as regular old me. So I thought that matching the Queen Bee colors with you as Chloe would help."
"Ohhhh, now I get it," Chloe replied with Alya giving an understanding nod behind her, "Okay, I'll give it a shot."
By the time they finished up, Nathanael was waiting in the lobby. When he had arrived, he noticed Adrien and Nino talking in the lobby as well. However, seeing Adrien made him want to turn around and wait outside. It was clear that Adrien was thinking the same thing. And both boys knew perfectly well why that was the case.
After Adrien and Marinette came out as a couple, the boys had a little incident. Word got out that Nathanael was a little upset about the fact that they were dating which Adrien was worried about. Eventually Nathanael heard that his little secret dislike got out much to his chagrin. Thus, both boys had been avoiding each other like the plague. Adrien to avoid any awkward encounters, and Nathanael to avoid getting punched in the face for his response to the announcement.
Unfortunately, Nino didn't know what the issue was and thus as soon as he saw the young artist, he said, "Hey Nathanael, good to see you."
Both boys froze as they tried to think of ways to make the situation less awkward. Unfortunately it only got worse since it was just silence in the lobby as Nino looked back and forth at both boys. Their gazes were fixed on each other with no sign of breaking. And for a second, Nino thought one of them was potentially going to hit the other. But instead nothing happened.
Finally Adrien broke the silence by saying, "Nathanael."
Nathanael responded in kind, "Adrien."
Eventually Nino spoke again, "Can you guys please fix this? It's becoming way too tense, and awkward."
This caused Adrien to sigh as he spoke first again, "Nathanael, I'm sorry if the fact that I was dating Marinette had upset you. If you're pissed at me, I totally understand. Just wanted to get that off my chest."
Nathanael gave a confused response this time, "Pissed at you? I thought you were angry with me. I saw what happened after what Chloe did, and I figured that would be my face. And honestly, after I had some time to think, I realized that you and Marinette were perfect for each other. But the rest of the worry was that I thought you wouldn't be happy with me asking Chloe out. So I'm sorry for this whole….debacle."
Adrien smiled as he felt the tension dissipate, "No worries buddy. Though I'm a little surprised you asked out Chloe."
"You're surprised?" Nino jumped in again, "I got whiplash from that."
Nathanael then began his explanation, "Well I was nearby when she apologized to Sabrina. She seemed so genuine that I thought I'd give her a chance. In all honesty, she is pretty, but her personality sucked."
"Yeah it wasn't fun calling her my friend back then," Adrien admitted, "We were mostly friends because she was the only other person my age that I knew growing up."
The boys continued talking and sharing a few laughs until the girls came down to meet them. Once Nathanael saw Chloe, the other boys could've sworn they heard his jaw drop. However their faces showed equal shock at Chloe's little makeover. Meanwhile Marinette and Alya were clearly proud of their work. Chloe decided to break the slowly building silence as she nervously said, "Ready to get going."
"Right," Nathanael said as he walked over to her and extended his elbow for her to link her arm around his.
Once she did so, the two began walking out the door, leaving the other four in the lobby. After they were out of view, Wayzz popped out of Nino's pocket and asked, "So should we see how this plays out?"
Tikki flew out next, "We're not going to spy on Chloe's date."
Trixx was quick to follow his kwami friends, "You have to be the least bit curious."
Finally Plagg joined them as well, "Besides, she can consider this karma for all of her akuma attacks."
"Guys come on," Marinette spoke up, "We should at least give them a little break, right?"
She looked around at her friends and it was clear that only she and Tikki objected to the suggestion. Alya had her phone in hand ready to record obviously. Nino was getting giddy about spying on the date that he had too big of a grin on his face. Adrien did have the curious cat expression that Marinette only saw on Chat Noir. And even Marinette wanted to see what it would be like for the first date.
So the bluenette let out an annoyed sigh, "Fine. But the minute it goes too far, we call it off. Deal?"
"Deal," all seven voices replied.
"Alright then," Marinette said with a smile, "Team Miraculous has its next assignment."
