Marinette Dupain-Cheng was shocked. In fact, she thought her heart would give out any moment. Had he really said what she thought he had?
"Huh?" She squeaked, looking up at Adrien who smiled awkwardly.
"It's okay..if you don't want to. Or you're busy."
"Girl!" Alya nudged Marinette sharply, before whispering. "He just asked you to the movies! Say something!"
"Something! I mean- yes. Yes, I'd love to!"
"Great! I thought I could pick you up at 6?" Adrien smiled as Marinette nodded.
"Great sounds!"
"Sounds great to me too, Marinette." Adrien smiled then slid into his seat and Marinette turned to Alya who was giving her a thumbs up.
"Good enough, I guess!" Alya laughed. "At least he understood you. And you've got a date."
"I've got a date with Adrien Agreste."
~•••••~
"I've got a date with Adrien Agreste!" Marinette yelled later that evening as she tore through the bakery on the way to her room. Tom and Sabine both cheered as Marinette stamped up the stairs to get dressed.
Before she knew it Adrien's driver was pulling up to the bakery and her parents were shooing her out the door.
"Have fun!" Tom called.
"And be safe! Call us if you need anything." Sabine waved to Adrien who was in the middle of opening the car door for his classmate.
"You look beautiful, Marinette." Adrien complimented, smiling when her cheeks turned red.
"Thank you." Marinette tried to avoid tripping as she took her seat. The ride to the theatre was quiet and mildly awkward. Once they arrived and went inside, Adrien burst into laughter.
"I'm sorry. It must be so awkward having the Gorilla listening in on us the whole way here."
"It's okay. I'm glad he didn't mind driving us." Marinette tried to calm herself as Adrien nodded.
"Me too. C'mon, let's get some snacks." Adrien took her hand, leading her to the concessions counter, and Marinette felt her heart stutter.
She was holding hands with Adrien Agreste. As Adrien ordered snacks and drinks, Marinette peeked in her purse, checking on Tikki who happened to be taking a nap.
"Marinette?" Adrien asked, causing her to look up from her purse. "Everything okay?"
"Oh, yes. Just making sure my phone is on silent."
"Oh I should do that too." Adrien sat their snacks down and rummaged through his pockets for his phone. Once it was on silent and placed carefully back in his pocket, they gathered their snacks and found their seats.
The movie was entertaining, not the most thought out movie she'd ever seen, but Marinette had been happy to be there with Adrien anyway, so when it ended she felt a rush of disappointment. At least, she did until Adrien took her hand again and smiled.
"Actually, Marinette..there was something I wanted to ask you about..if that's okay."
"Of course, Adrien. You can ask me anything."
"Will you hook up with me?"
"What!" Marinette squeaked, nearly dropping her drink and looked up at Adrien who winced.
"Never mind. This was a bad idea. I just-"
"You want to hook up with..me?" Marinette felt a sudden sense of familiarity from the conversation. "Why?"
"Well..the girl I liked..she doesn't like me at all. She doesn't return my feelings. I want to move on. A friend of mine suggested a hook up, just something to take my mind off it. And I wanted to be completely honest about my intentions with asking you out so.."
"Completely..honest." Suddenly it clicked. Adrien was Chat Noir. She had told Chat Noir to move on from ladybug, her, and so he had gone after Marinette, her, instead. Good lord, the cat picked her twice. "Adrien, I.." What did she do in this scenario? She had loved Adrien for years. And she'd always pushed Chat away but of course she had feelings for him too, no matter how complicated by identities and other interests as they may be..especially now that the other interest had been him all along. Should she tell him? Reveal her identity? No. That's not safe. So what could she say? What could she..her heart thumped in her chest and she knew.
"Yes. Yes. I would love that."