Disclaimer: In case you were wondering, I do not own Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir, nor do I claim to. This fanfiction is made for fans by fans, and no money is being made from it.
Warning: Season four spoilers.
Adrien Agreste grinned brightly as he walked up towards his school. His usual Gabriel brand clothing was replaced by a jet black jacket over a red t-shirt and charcoal slacks. Long red socks with black polka dots and scarlet shoes covered his feet. The look was topped off with a black belt and red fingerless gloves.
While the Ladybug themed outfit would have normally irked Adrien's father, Gabriel, the school had decided to have a superhero themed costume day. Gabriel had relented his argument after Adrien had explained.
So, Adrien bounded towards the building with a bounce in his step, and screeched to a halt when he found his friends standing inside. Only Alya and Nino had arrived, since Marinette seemed to be running late again.
Nino was wearing a long sleeve orange t-shirt with black gloves and dark jeans. His brown hair had white tips, which explained why Nino had mumbled something about buying hair dye the day before. It was clear he had dressed up as Rena Rouge.
On the other hand, Alya had clearly created a Carapace themed look. She had adorned an emerald colored sweatshirt, camouflage pants stuffed into the top of her black sneakers, and what seemed to be an old scarf with eye holes on her face.
Since Adrien had recently learned Nino was Carapace and Alya was Rena Rouge, he was unsurprised. Especially since the two were dating and knew each other's identities! How could Ladybug even allow that? No, there was no time to fume about fruitless thi-
"So, are you gonna say hello, or are you just going to stand there staring at us?" teased Alya with a smirk that lit up her hazel eyes. "I mean, Nino and I both look shelltacular, but your blank stare makes me thing you're zoned out."
Adrien blinked his green eyes a few times before standing up straight and flushing from embarrassment.
"Sorry," he murmured while running a hand through his wavy blond hair. "Wait- shelltacular? Was that a… pun?"
Nino burst into laughter, and doubled over from the force of it.
Alya shrugged. "Nino dared me to say it, and this girl can't be known as a coward."
"Well that makes sense!" replied Adrien brightly, even though he was disappointed that Alya did not actually like puns. Not enough people did.
After a few awkward seconds of silence, other than Nino's laughing, the dark boy composed himself, and voiced, "So, you're dressed as Ladybug, Adrien? I didn't expect that."
Adrien found himself flushing. He was still in love with Ladybug, even after dating and being dumped by Kagami. However, he pretended not to be embarrassed, and curiously asked, "Who did you expect me to be?"
Nino opened his mouth to respond, only to close it. He glances around, before shrugging and saying, "I don't know, dude. You just didn't strike me as a Ladybug fan boy."
"Hmm," sighed Adrien noncommentarily. "Well, I suppose there are a few things you don't know about me yet."
The sentence, of course, was hinting at Adrien's superhero identity, Cat Noir. A slight smirk appeared on Adrien's face, similar to the ones that Cat Noir usually bared. However, there was a tinge of sadness in his expression. Being Cat Noir had lost much of its appeal when Ladybug started to trust him less.
Suddenly, the group's conversation was interrupted when Chloe shoved Alya out of her path, and scoffed, "A Carapace costume, ridiculous, utterly ridiculous! And Rena Rouge! Ugh, that fox is so annoying! What a pair of unruly superheroes! Though, that explains why you two picked the outfits! They probably reminded you of each other."
A horrible cackle of a laugh erupted from the blonde girl's lips, which had far too much lipstick, as always. To the surprise of no one, Chloe had an exact replica of her Queen Bee supersuite, which she had likely bullied her father into buying for her.
"Chloe," murmured Adrien warningly. Anger flashed in his green eyes. How could his childhood friend have turned into this?
Said former friend scowled, and sniffed before turning away. "You're no better, Ariki- I mean, Agreste. You associate with riffraff like them, and your costume is horrible. Ladybug! Ha, more like Lame-ybug!"
Adrien barely managed to refrain from leaping up and slapping Chloe across her face. Even if Ladybug no longer trusted him, she was an amazing hero, far better than the traitor, Queen Bee!
However, such a thing would be cruel, and Adrien could not be anything other than perfect.
"Hey, Ladybug is a great superhero, you brat!" yelled Alya suddenly. Her pale hazel eyes narrowed, and her hands clenched into fists. "She has ten times the courage and integrity of someone like you!"
"Hmmph, as if," Chloe chuckled rudely before spinning around on her heel. Her blonde ponytail smacked Adrien in the face, which sent a small wave of pain.
"We shouldn't waste time on the likes of her," sighed Nino, while he tried to console his girlfriend. The brunette had been more agitated than usual whenever Ladybug was insulted.
The three stood around for a few more minutes, but Marinette seemed to be running even more late than the three thought, so they decided to head to class.
Once they arrived, Adrien took a moment to glance at everyone's costumes.
Kim had a cheap King Monkey costume that he probably bought from a store, while Max had a clever Pegasus costume that seemed to be made of household items. Rose had a purple dress and cat ears, likely to represent Purple Tigress, while Juleka had a pink t-shirt with a pig on it, for Pigella. Sabrina, who had just come rushing in, did not have a costume. All she had was a sweaty red face and rumpled clothes, since Chloe had forced her to run all the way to school. Ivan and Mylene had matching Polymous necklaces, while Alix had bunny ears that no one knew the meaning of. Finally, Nathaniel had a red t-shirt and black jeans with a cheap yoyo that he had intricately painted to have the same design as Ladybug's.
No one had dressed up as Cat Noir. Such a thing was obviously disheartening, but Adrien was not surprised. After all, who would like a superhero of destruction? The thought seemed ridiculous, especially since Adrien felt he was nothing more than a sidekick who made Ladybug's life more difficult.
The sickly feeling of being unnoticed crept into Adrien's mind as he sat down. Until something- no, someone- changed that. Marinette had rushed into class, just before the bell rang, and her costume nearly brought tears of joy to Adrien's eyes. Of course his friend would dress up as Cat Noir! After all, he had visited her while in his superhero form before.
Closer examination of the costume warmed Adrien's heart even more. It appeared like Marinette made the costume herself! She had thrown a home made leather jacket over a black shirt, with a customized choker that had a fake little golden bell. In addition, she had worn black leggings and had attached paper to her shoes to make a replica of Cat Noir's boots. The entire costume was made complete with fabric ears pinned to her midnight blue locks with bobby pins, and a black belt, which probably belonged to her father, clipped around her waist to make a tail. All in all, the costume was exact, realistic, and almost as beautiful as the one who was wearing it.
Wait, where did that thought come from? Adrien blinked rapidly, and realized that Marinette was indeed very pretty. Her raven hair had been placed into an intricate braid instead of it's usual pigtails, which was a bit more elegant than her day-to-day adorable style. Plus, the dark hair seemed so soft and silky. Adrien really wanted to run his fingers through the dark strands. Marinette also had deep blue eyes, brighter than the clear sky, and deeper than the ocean. Both her hair and eyes reminded him of Ladybug, but they were so much better, because they belonged to Marinette. Ladybug was strong and responsible, but she could be cold, and her demeanor seemed fake. On the other hand, Marinette seemed so real, and she fearlessly helped others, while allowing herself to have fun.
"Hey, dude, are you okay?" whispered Nino abruptly, which startled Adrien out of his thoughts. "Your face is all red."
"I'm wonderful," murmured Adrien in return. Indeed he was. Life seemed so much brighter and better, just because he acknowledged a feeling he had always denied in the past. His feelings for Marinette really were more than friendship.
Nino gasped slightly, then glanced between Marinette and Adrien. Then, he smirked and raised his eyebrows.
The small action caused Adrien to hide away to hide his flushed cheeks, which were growing even redder.
At that moment, Adrien knew he needed to speak to Marinette. The same way he used to need to talk to Ladybug, before the superhero had lost her trust in him. However, class was starting, and Adrien had to wait for his important conversation.
"Hey, Marinette, wait up!" called out Adrien once class was over.
The girl turned around, and squeaked when she met Adrien's green eyes. Her face turned pink. Was she blushing? Adrien sincerely hoped so.
"Aah, um, Adrien!" gasped Marinette. "Do you newant something? I mean do you need something, or want something? Either one!"
Marinette smiled nervously, chuckled, and pressed her two pointer fingers together, like she sometimes did.
With a smile, not as wide as his modeling one, but far brighter, Adrien admitted, "Actually, I do want something. You."
The line, which was smoother than many of the things he said as Cat Noir, caused Marinette to gasp, mutter something about lucky socks, and stutter an incoherent mess. She then took a step backwards, and waved her hands in front of her while apologizing for her messy words, then tripped over her own feet.
Without a second's hesitation, Adrien stepped forwards, and grabbed Marinette's hand before she hit the ground. He pulled her up, put one hand on her shoulder, and used the other one to stroke her hair. Somehow, it was even softer and silkier than it appeared,
"Sorry if that statement seemed a little… weird," murmured Adrien. "I was just wondering if you might like to see a movie with me sometime? Maybe the new Ladybug and Cat Noir sequel!"
The blond boy almost scoffed at the idea. A movie was a terrible way to get to know someone, but the idea just appeared in his brain, probably because of the beautiful memory of going to see his mother's movie with Marinette.
"Y-you mean, as friends?" squeaked raven-haired Marinette, with a tinge of fear in her voice.
The question saddened Adrien, but he kept smiling anyway, while he questioned, "Do you want it to be as friends, or do you want it to be…?" He broke off, but Marinette seemed to get the idea.
"Do you?" gasped Marinette. Her blush had somehow increased beyond what Adrien thought was possible, and she blinked her dark eyelashes as though he would disappear suddenly.
"That's not the question," whispered Adrien serenely. "Do you want it to be… a date?"
A dreamy smile overtook Marinette's face, and she pressed her lips together while she nodded.
Adrien grinned like an idiot, and declared, "Then it will be."
"Yes!"
Adrien spun around, to where the explanation had come from. Excited giggling could be heard around the corner.
"Alya," muttered Marinette under her breath in a slightly irritated, yet endearing voice.
After detecting a very familiar voice whispering something indecipherable to Alya, Adrien added, "And Nino."
The two shared a glance. Their friends spying on them was unsurprising, but neither were happy about the situation.
"We can plan revenge on the way to the movie. How about I pick you up at seven? I am allowed some free time tonight," suggested Adrien with a wink.
"Mmhmm," agreed Marinette while Adrien walked away.
Before he fully disappeared out the doors of Francois Dupont, Adrien turned and admitted, "Your hair is beautiful. I'd suggest wearing it down more."
Then Marinette blushed, and compared to her black jacket, her face appeared to be scarlet as Ladybug's costume.
Yes, this would be a good relationship.
Bonus scene:
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Kagami! I can totally cancel if you want me to. I should have thought through it, but-"
"Marinette, Adrien invited you on a date, didn't he?" asked Kagami. Her voice was demanding, yet kind. "You don't have to worry about me. It would be an honor to see my two friends build a relationship, which I'm sure will be better than mine could ever be with Adrien."
A small grin fell over Marinette's face. "Thanks," she replied before hanging up on Kagami and slipping her black phone into her pocket.