"Come on! This will be the best not double date ever!"

"Fine. But I'm warning you, I'm going to make a fool of myself."

"You'll be fine. Let's go!"

"Right now? But I need to figure out an outfit and do my hair and-"

"Got it covered girl," Alya went to Marinette's closet and pulled out some clothes. "You're wearing this."

Marinette inspected the outfit. A black lacy tank top to go under an off the shoulder red shirt and her most comfortable pair of black jeans. Alya also threw a pair of black combat boots at her, narrowly missing her head.

"I can't wear this! Adrien will be there!"

"Exactly! Now get dressed and put your hair in a ponytail."

"Ugh. Fine."

Alya began rooting around Marinette's jewelry while the latter got dressed. "Ooo! This too!" She had pulled out a red ribbon choker.

Marinette finished the ensemble and looked herself over in the mirror. "How do I look?"

"Like a goddess ready to bring men to their knees. Just one more thing." Alya smeared some red lipstick on and gave her eyeliner wings before checking her phone. "Just in time! Let's go so we can beat the boys there."

Marinette rolled her eyes as she was dragged to the nearby arcade. She had gotten used to letting Alya lead her around after so many schemes.

"Dang it! They're here early. Oh well, they're facing the other way so let's sneak up on them."

"Is this why you had us take the long way?"

"Shhh," Alya dismissed.

She ran and jumped onto Nino's back who didn't react other than saying hello. Marinette walked up to the group as they turned around. If she didn't know better she would have sworn Adrien's breathe caught and his eyes widened for a second. But she did know better so it was obviously just a fantasy her brain was trying to work into reality.

"Hey, Mari. You look great. I don't think I've ever seen you wear something like that before."

"I had it laying around and Alya insisted."

"Damn straight. Doesn't she look hot babe?"

"For sure. Wanna go in? I bet I can beat you at ski ball."

"You're on!"

Marinette smiled shyly at Adrien who shrugged and they followed the couple into the arcade. Alya and Nino plays ski ball as promised where Nino did some comical warm ups before Alya absolutely annihilated him. Next they played four player air hockey where Adrien won simply by keeping his mouth shut and not challenging the three most competitive people in the city. Nino and Adrien moved on to a zombie game while Marinette and Alya tried out a VR 4D experience. That led them towards what Alya and Nino considered the main event. They stepped onto the DDR machine and even from the beginning were perfectly in sync. This of course had nothing to do with the hours they'd spent practicing so they could show off to their friends.

"Wow! You two were great!"

"Now it's your and Adrien's turn!"

"What? Me? I don't think that's a good idea, I mean I'm so clumsy and-"

"Come on Mari, it'll be fun. I'll catch you if you fall. It's not like we need to get the top score anyway."

"Ok." She paused for a moment to center herself. "Let's do it."

"That's the spirit!" Alya gave her a clap on the shoulder.

It actually turned out to not be that hard so after the first run of the pattern she nodded to Adrien and they spun around each other to switch spots. Having accomplished that, from there it just got more complex. Dancing was a lot like fighting so it was easy for her to slip into Ladybug. They danced around each other and hit the spots the other would have missed as they did. The game ended with her spinning and dipping Adrien. They were both breathing heavy with big toothy grins merely inches apart and looking into each other's eyes, high off of the dance, until they heard the clapping and cheering from the crowd they had unknowingly amassed and she dropped him.

"Oh my gosh! Are you ok?! I'm so clumsy, I'm so sorry."

"It's ok, Mari. No scrapes or bruises. Didn't even hurt. That was amazing. Where'd you learn to dance like that?"

"Where did you? You kept up perfectly."

"Uh, do you guys secretly come here to practice or something? Because A, that was amazing, B you two were so in sync like even more than Alya and I, and C you two didn't even have to talk to communicate."

"Girl have you been holding out on me and been taking secret dance lessons? You two are just like Ladybug and Chat Noir on that thing!"

They froze. She had totally done the Ladybug thing that she did with Chat when they couldn't communicate the plan out loud. And he had responded! They slowly turned towards each other. He winked on reflex and she went wide eyed for a second before rolling her eyes and smirking.

"Wonderful dance, M'Lady." He bowed

"Couldn't have done it without you, Chaton." She booped his nose.

"You two totally do practice in secret! No fair!"

If only they knew.