All roads lead to Paris… or something along those lines.
I do not own any of the world or characters created for Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir. I just own this fanfic.
Chapter 10: Rumors
Marinette found herself humming as she prepared something for lunch to take to a reunion with her girl friends this beautiful Sunday. Meanwhile, somewhere around the kitchen, Sabine stood looking at her recently extra upbeat daughter.
She was a very intuitive mother, but somehow she couldn't tell why Marinette was acting like that. Sure, Marinette was very optimistic on a regular basis, especially now that she had this project of fashion going on, but this time she had a feeling there was more to it. Love.
Was it something about Adrien? No, as far as she knew he was still dating that other girl. Plus, Sabine had also noticed how her daughter had been losing interest in Adrien.
For researching purposes, she joined her in the counter and gave her a few candy bars.
"For your friends." She explained, and Marinette thanked her with a smile. "Is Adrien coming too?" Sabine subtly inquired trying to get any sort of hint from her daughter's reaction. But all she got was…
"No. It's only girls today." She responded calmly. "Rose and Juleka have something to share with us. Seems important." Her smile never vanishing.
The older woman couldn't believe how composed her daughter was behaving. So, it wasn't thanks to Adrien. Then Luka, perhaps. He was the perfect gentleman to Marinette and he was always such a sweet boy, but she wasn't too sure it was him.
"Do you think it has anything to do with their band? Has Luka said anything yet?"
"Not really, mama. He's been busy with his part time job so I haven't talked to him that much." She said shrugged.
Nope, not Luka. And that's when she recalled, Chat Noir. Yes, his visit had something to do with that, after all she did say she liked him- not that she knew that Marinette had lied back then.
"Oh jeez. It's already late. Thanks for the candy, mama. See ya."
She blinked and waved at Marinette who was already leaving.
…
As usual, the girl managed to be the last one to get in the reunion point. Alya just shook her head not amused as she read the message of her best friend. "She's on her way." She informed.
Rose sighed. "She won't change. Will she?" She commented with a giggle.
"What do you mean? She's changed a lot recently." Juleka interjected. "Believe me. Even my brother could tell."
Alya felt sorry for Luka. He definitely felt something for Marinette, and now she was further than ever.
Juleka proceeded, "He even thought she was already dating Adrien or something. I already explained to him that she wasn't, but I could tell he didn't believe me. I wouldn't believe me. They sorta look suspicious."
Mylene joined the conversation. "I thought it was just me. Are you sure they're not holding a secret relationship or anything?" Alya remained quietly. Of course she had already ditched the idea of Marinette and Adrien together, but there was truth in her friends' words.
"I mean, I've seen Adrien glancing at her." The girl with cornrows added.
"And they seem to talk a lot more recently. And I think it is Adrien who's looked for her more often." Juleka said.
Alya agreed to herself. Marinette might not see it but the model did look for her.
"Has he?!" Rose asked excitedly. "Oh maybe he has finally fallen for her! If they're not already dating, they should soon!"
"Adrien and Marinette? No they aren't-" Alya started almost laughing.
"No offence Alya," Alix interjected, "but we understand that even if you happened to know anything, you wouldn't tell us anyway. We respect that."
Alya just shrugged. Seems like Marinette herself would have to do the explaining.
And that would be soon because in that moment…
"Sorry girls." Marinette apologized panting. "I-" She stopped as she noticed the glances they share with one another… "Ammm, were you talking about me?" She asked nervously.
"To be honest," Alix started, "yes, we were."
Marinette got nervous but then Rose got closer to her and asked, "Oh please, please. Would you tell us if there's anything going on with you and Adrien?"
Marinette almost burst out laughing at this, almost. She didn't see that coming.
"Adrien? And me? No, no, no." She finally laughed, albeit not hysterically. "There's nothing different in our relationship." All girls stared at her in disbelief. "Is it?"
"Uh- yeah!" Alya said finally participating in the investigation. "I told ya. Plus, Nino has asked me if I knew anything. He even had to ask him."
"What?!" Marinette asked surprised. "Nino? L- like why? Why?"
"Girl, everyone has seen something is different between you two. Nino asked him this Friday but all he got was a…
'Nah, I've been trying to open up with my closest friends recently, remember? Marinette is a close friend and she's also more relaxed around me, around everyone for that matter. I'm pretty sure you've noticed she's acting more confident. But that's all.'
"Well, there you go! That's exactly my answer. It's the truth, we have been naturally changing. That's all."
"…" Silence.
"Ever since Kagami, I… I- I'm over him, ok? I had to move on."
"Oh, that is…" Rose started.
"…disappointing." Mylene conclude to what all the girls nodded.
Marinette just shrugged.
The rest of the gang seemed to believe in her words and didn't ask any further. They avoided the topic for the rest of the afternoon and they ended up having a great time. Marinette, though, was secretly wondering how true that was, since she couldn't tell on her own. Was she really over him? And what was that thing about them being closer now? Maybe she was too focused on Chat Noir that she didn't see the growing bond between her and Adrien. She didn't mind, he was, after all, one of her best friends. She would have to pay more attention staring that Monday in class.
…
"Good day, class." Miss Mendeleiev greeted as she joined them in laboratory. It was the third class, the one after break, and Adrien hadn't showed up yet.
Marinette sighed inwardly, she had been meaning to play close attention to find what the other had seen in him, or them.
"Excuse me, miss. May I come in? Sorry for the delay."
"Oh, Adrien. Please come in. I was informed about your photo shoot today. I'm glad you could make it at all."
Marinette, seeing that she would be able to proceed with her plan, smiled widely, too widely, she noticed, as the model saw this and gave her a smile of his own. She immediately blushed as the good old days and tried to look away.
Alya saw the exchange and rolled her eyes. 'You're over him, huh?' she thought.
Alya had decided not to mention anything but she knew what her friend was up to. But the next few classes didn't give Marinette too much chance to interact with him since he was copying the previous classes' notes from Nino.
In the very last class, Marinette, as class representative, was called by Mr. Democles.
'There goes my chance to interact with him.' She thought in disappointment as she grabbed all her things.
She was still attending Mr. Democles speech when she heard the bell ringing. She sighed again and noticed ironically how her plans never used to work when it came to Adrien. Why would it be different now? She chuckled to her insides.
15 minutes later she was out of the meeting room and started heading to her home. Then she noticed that the tennis shoes she had manufactured weren't comfortable enough so she sat down for a moment to put on her regular shoes.
She sat on the school entrance steps to do so when… "Hey, Marinette." She turned around to see the ever-smiling Adrien walking to her. She just blinked and he sat next to her.
"Why haven't you left, yet?"
"I had to talk to Miss Bustier about the first classes."
"Oh. Right!"
"But I see I caught you just in time."
"Wha-?"
Without a chance to react, as it normally happened recently, he took her around his arm and took a picture of them both but focusing on her new pair of shoes. "I did notice them, and I really like them."
She smiled at his approval. "Though they're killing me. I gotta change them."
Adrien stood up and kneeled in front of her. "May I help, Cinderella?" He said and reached out his hand as if asking for her foot. She blinked a few times and then shook her head standing up. "No, no aaam. What are you doing?" She whispered mostly asking herself.
"What do you mean?" He asked also standing up a little shaken up with her sudden reaction.
"I – mean. This looks- you know… people will start talking."
"Talking? About…?"
"Doesn't it look… weird, as if- if we're more than… friends?"
"That's how best friends look." He played innocent. "Plus, since when do we care what others think?" He shrugged with an honest smile. "You're my closest friend now Marinette, and that's all I care about."
She felt flattered, truly flattered, and her cheeks started to tint red. Nevertheless, "But you're a public figure." she pointed out. "A- Aren't you afraid that they could think we're an item again?" She recalled that one time they had been caught by paparazzi in the movies.
"It didn't bother you the last time." He sounded more disappointed than he intended.
"Huuuh, this time is different."
"How's it different?" He pushed.
She seemed to ponder on the answer and bit her lower lip for a few seconds before she blurted out, "I- I'm dating someone!"