"What was that?"
"What was what?"
"What was your flirting with Marinette? Who has a boyfriend in case you've forgotten!" Nino yelled at Adrien. He threw his hands up in exasperation.
Confused, Adrien stared at him blankly. He hadn't really been flirting with Marinette, had he? Besides, he was her 'boyfriend', he could flirt with her if he wanted to. Not that Nino knew that. Sighing, Adrien flopped back onto the bed where he didn't have to meet Nino's steely gaze.
"I wasn't flirting with her, Nino."
"Yes you were. I was kidding before, but honestly dude, is your type girls who Chat Noir likes?"
"I wasn't flirting with her. Marinette is just…"
"a very good friend, I know. You've only said it, what, a dozen times since Friday," Nino interrupted, flopping back onto the bed with Adrien. "Whatever man, but it isn't cool. For the last time, Marinette has a boyfriend."
"What did I do that you think counts as flirting?" Adrien asked, genuinely confused.
"I don't know, maybe the lingering hug, the holding hands, the leaning in close to her face," Nino said sarcastically. Well, Adrien thought he was being sarcastic – it was sometimes difficult to read Nino.
Wait.
"How did you know I did all that, anyway?"
"Didn't I mention it?" Nino shifted uncomfortably. "Alya dragged me to the other side of the window in the art cupboard and we watched from there."
"Why did you lock us in together, anyway?"
Nino threw his hands up into the air. "It was all Alya's idea dude. Well maybe not entirely, but then things changed and ugh. It was a bad plan."
Adrien took that answer. He could push for one that actually answered his question, but Nino had a habit of being unconsciously vague when he was pressed for information – Adrien guessed it was a survival mechanism he had developed when he started dating Alya.
"But back to the point, my man. You really need to sort yourself out. Do you like Marinette?"
"Yes of course I like Marinette, she's so kind and sweet and she's our everyday ladybug."
"Glad to see that obsession hasn't faded," Nino muttered under his breath.
"Nino, no, it isn't like that," Adrien protested.
"Then tell me what it is like. Because…just…I haven't seen you look like that at someone before. You looked like a love struck puppy."
Kitten, Adrien corrected automatically, but let it go. Alya didn't seem to have realised his identity, after all and he wasn't going to jeopardise it now.
"Bu.."
Nino didn't let Adrien get a word in.
"And it's been like this forever but lately its got so much worse. There were those lucky charms you gave each other – don't think I didn't recognise Marinette's lucky charm, dude, I've known her since she was six. What about the hand-holding, as well, or the fact that you punned in front of her, and normally you only pun in front of me? Or how about the fact that you kept finding excuses to make her look around at you when she'd finished the chemistry test? Not to forget the numerous times I've caught you staring at her? Above all, what was going on with the 'Who does Marinette like?' 'How did Andre describe her crush?'? You can't just deny all of that."
Adrien took a moment to process the rant. The lucky charms were something friends did with each other – like friendship bracelets. Sure, he'd slept with the charm under his pillow for a month, but only because he was so glad to make a new friend in Marinette! The hand-holding was just, well. Adrien's thought process buffered for a second. The hand-holding was a side-effect of being Chat Noir, that was all. As for the puns, they slipped out naturally when he was around Marinette – she just made the line between Adrien and Chat Noir blurry. Adrien could excuse everything Nino had said, but a little voice in the back of his mind that sounded suspiciously like Plagg whispered all the flaws in his reasoning.
"You're seeing things that aren't there," Adrien sputtered weakly.
He barely managed to roll away from Nino's slap.
"Denial doesn't suit you, Adrien."
Yeah, Adrien denial doesn't suit you laughed the voice in the back of his head. If you weren't in denial, you could date Marinette for real, not just pretend to. You could… Adrien shook his head to cut off the errant thought. His Ladybug held his heart. But does she? She would always be the only one for him.
"I'm not in denial. Marinette's a sweet girl, but I like Ladybug."
As soon as he said it, Adrien realised it was a lie. When was the last time he'd thought about Ladybug? For weeks, his only thoughts had been about Marinette – her crush, her half-hearted dislike of his jokes, the ways he could make her laugh. Even when he'd been in battle with Ladybug, his thoughts had constantly skipped back to Marinette, and how whiny she was going to be if he made her wait for too long. And you've been flirting with Marinette too, his subconscious piped up. All along, he'd been slowly falling for the girl with the macarons, who'd clung to his arm and giggled and been his very first date. He'd fallen for the girl that had been under his nose the whole time.
He'd done exactly what a character from a rom-com would do.
"Whatever, dude. Your denial will fade sooner or later."
"Why does it matter so much to you anyway?" Adrien asked suspiciously.
"Just looking out for a friend. I still can't believe your dad let me come back to yours, or that he let you out in the first place," Nino remarked casually, changing the subject with a complete lack of subtlety. Adrien latched on anyway.
"We had an argument the other day and I think he actually listened to me for once. He's been way more lax recently about when I go out, so long as I tell Nathalie or my bodyguard where I am."
"Good for you dude, nice to know the old man can still listen occasionally."
"Yeah," Adrien paused, "so while you're here, do you want to try out the new additions to my video-game collection?"
Nino shot up like a rocket.
"Duuude! You have new games and you didn't tell me? Bro, this is how relationships end!" he hissed excitedly.
Taking great care not to show how pleased he was that his attempt to change the subject had worked, Adrien got up and turned the console on.
"Well in that case, I guess I'll just have to play on my own," he grinned.
"Shove over," Nino replied, grabbing a controller and planting his butt on the couch, "you couldn't stop me if you tried."
Line Break
"Nora! I'm home!" Alya yelled as she dumped her keys into her satchel and kicked her shoes off. When no one answered she dragged Marinette upstairs to her room and locked the door behind them.
"He was flirting with you! He was flirting with you and you still managed to hold a decent conversation with him! You only fell over once! What is going on Marinette? Did I need to lock you in a cupboard together earlier? What was that hug? I need deets."
"If you were spying on us through the window you have all the 'deets' already," Marinette sniffed.
Alya rolled her eyes, and when Marinette didn't continue, crossed her arms impatiently, tapping her foot as she did so.
It took all of ten seconds for Marinette to cave to Alya's glare.
"What do you want me to say?"
"Umm, I don't know, let's start with the holding hands."
"He helped me up and forgot to let go."
"The flirting."
"He wasn't flirting with me."
"Denial, ok. The hug."
Marinette squeaked as she remembered it, a faint blush rising to her cheeks.
"That answers that then. Why are you in denial? You should be over the moon. Marinette, he was hard-core flirting with you."
"You really think so?"
"I know so," Alya smirked.
"Can you imagine?" Marinette sighed blissfully.
"And you managed to hold a conversation with him. A long conversation. You only fell over once."
"I can't believe it." Marinette paused, as another thought occurred to her. "Now Chat can't tease me about Rule 2 anymore," she said smugly.
Alya stared at her in disbelief.
"You're kidding me. I tell you that Adrien was flirting with you and one of your first thoughts is Chat Noir? I think I've figured out why you were able to hold a conversation with Adrien after all."
"What are you talking about?" Marinette asked. Her friend wasn't making any sense. What did that have to do with anything?
"You…" Alya paused for dramatic effect, "like Chat Noir, not Adrien."
Where had Alya gotten that from? Her kitty was one of her best friends, but her heart would always belong to Adrien. That was just the way this worked. Besides, none of Alya's logic was making any sort of sense.
Alya must have sensed Marinette's scepticism, because she huffed, and began to explain.
"I say Adrien was flirting with you, and instead of freaking out, your thoughts immediately turn to Chat Noir. This is because you have a crush on Chat Noir and are no longer interested in Adrien," Alya said patronisingly. "That is piece of evidence one. Piece of evidence two, is that you were able to have a conversation with Adrien without embarrassing yourself. You could do this because you no longer have a crush of astronomical portions on him, so you aren't as nervous around him anymore. Piece of evidence three is that he hugged you, and I have yet to hear you rapturise about your future children, or your wedding day. Admit it, you're over Adrien."
"Alya, no. I…I can't even understand why you would think something like that."
This was just another one of Alya's misguided ideas – like the time that she thought Ladybug was Chloe, or when she gave the twins chocolate bars before bed when she was baby-sitting, because she thought it would stop them from bothering her. Marinette tried to entertain the idea, but gave up. Chat Noir? She imagined him in her house of dreams, as Hugo, Emma and Louis ran around their feet – Chat lifting Hugo up and throwing him into the air and catching him again – Chat covering for her when she needed to transform. The daydream came crashing down around her ears. Chat would be a good father, she could grudgingly admit, but she didn't even know what he looked like without a mask. She didn't know where he went to school, or who his friends were, or what he did in his free-time (other than spend it with her).
"I don't even know anything about him. The mask, remember?"
"Surely you've picked up a few hints about his identity?" Alya asked incredulously. "Have you not asked him whether he goes to school, or if he does any extra-curricular activities, or if he looks different without the mask? Have you not even asked whether he lives close by or not?"
"No! I would never ask him to compromise his identity like that." Marinette remarked indignantly.
"You're crazy. You have the opportunity to solve one of the biggest mysteries in Paris and you haven't even tried to get clues? Are you not curious?"
"If I knew his identity, it could put him in danger if I was controlled by hawkmoth. If Hawk Moth knew that I knew his identity, it would put me in danger, because he would target me. It's a lose-lose situation."
"I just thought you were being tight-lipped about the details!" Alya exclaimed. "When you said you didn't know his identity, you didn't mention that you didn't want to find out."
"You know I don't agree with your crusade to discover the superheroes' civilian identities. Anyway, this is beside the point."
"Yes. And would you like me to get back to the point?" Alya said, eyes glinting maliciously. "We didn't quite figure out why you're still in denial about Adrien's crush on you – oh wait, no, we did. It's because you've moved on. Congratulations." Alya's tone was sardonic.
"For the last time, Alya: my heart belongs to Adrien."
"Hmph."
Alya must have sensed that she wasn't getting anywhere, because her eyes eventually softened and she changed the subject.
"So, what's our next plan of attack then? If Adrien likes you, you have to ask him out. We all know the sunshine child won't do it on his own."
They shared a knowing smile.
"Was it Friendship Rule 20 that said all our plans have to be overly long and complex or…" Marinette's mocking words were cut off when Alya poked her under her ribs. The unexpected sensation made her squeal, and Alya's grin turned feral.
"I'll get you back for that, missy," Alya growled, in an imitation of her father.
Marinette had only one moment to realise what was coming, before Alya tackled her. She started tickling at Marinette's ribs, but before long, the terrible, evil hands had worked their way up to Marinette's neck, which she was trying in vain to defend. She couldn't use her hands because then Alya would be able to get to her armpits, so she clamped her shoulders to her ears instead, and thrashed out desperately with her legs.
"St – o – op. Ah! No! Stop it! Ek! Al -y-a-aa-aahh!"
"Regretting your decision to sass my plans yet?" Alya smirked victoriously.
Marinette nodded furiously, before realising that this left her neck vulnerable, and settling for a squeaked 'yes!'. Alya relented, and hauled her back up to sitting.
"Repeat after me – Alya's plans are superior to anyone else's. It is not her fault that people don't follow orders and they fail."
"Alya's plans are superior to anyone else's. It is not her fault that people don't follow orders and they fail," Marinette muttered resignedly.
"There we go! If only we could work through the rest of your denial so easily."
Marinette stuck her tongue out. She was not in denial of anything thank you very much.
And she blamed her, frankly disturbing, dreams that night - of the wedding she'd always wanted, but with a very different groom - on Alya. If she hadn't brought up the idea of a crush on Chat Noir, then Marinette would not have had such nightmares.
A/N:
*smirks*