I wish there were school buses in Paris, that way I'd have enough reason to get up early enough. For some reason, my alarm clock hadn't gone off in my ear but, fortunately, I had a Tikki who'd woken me up just at the perfect time. I knew I should have slept early anyway but I'd been kept up drawing a new fashion croquis inspired by Chat's visit last night. Who am I kidding? I couldn't keep myself from drawing in fear of forgetting exactly what I wanted to draw or losing interest in drawing altogether.

In that case, I'm more sluggish than usual. Yeah, my reflexes have much improved in the time I've been Ladybug and now I'm less clumsy than my old self but I somehow always forget the gaping hole on the ground in my bedroom which leads down to the living room. My parents mechanically hand over a box of macaroons and kiss me on the cheeks before wishing me luck in school every day. It's a routine we always keep up but today, since I fell out of my room and sent my body flailing into the living room, I end up almost knocking over a vase on my way to the exit.

"Be careful!" Dad says but I stuff a macaroon into my mouth and say:

"Will do, papa!"

Now I'm outside of the complex and on the streets of Paris. I'm running even though I know damn well I have a lot of time before any of my classes starts but it's better to be cautious anyway.

Other schoolchildren are lined up in their blue uniforms holding hands as they wait for the pedestrian light to go green. I don't see any cars on the road, so I dash past them and cross the road. I can't believe the traffic police didn't even see me do that, but hey, I'm alive.

A few feet away from the school stairs are the school's number one couple, Alya and Nino, holding hands as they walk into the school courtyard. I'm not surprised when I see them turn back to wait for me. Sometimes, my boots are loud enough to wake up all of Paris whenever I'm running around. That makes me wonder why I even bothered to wear those pink flats when I was younger. They made me look so short. And what was with the whole look I'd had? Pink trousers, white tees and a classic grey blazer. My hair was constantly tied in two pigtails for Pete's sake! I'm surprised I'd ever even won that one Gabrielle Agreste bowler hat fashion contest with the fashion sense of a basic barbie doll. These days, I only wear the pigtails when I'm Ladybug since it's a Ladybug trademark and all. My new Marinette hair trademark, however, is constantly down, just long enough to touch the shirt I'm wearing. Now I roll with black turtle necks with oversized printed tees over them and skater skirts accompanied with, of course, my avalanche boots.

Alya's hair looks curlier than ever today and her orange highlights look brighter. Nino, on the other hand, doesn't have his signature cap on but his signature headphones are hanging by his neck.

"Who's the new guy?" I point at Nino jokingly. "He looks familiar but I just can't put my finger on it." I eventually end up laughing when I realize Alya's trying so hard not to.

"Har har. Very funny Marinette."

"Sorry babe, but you're head's gonna shrink in that cap if you keep wearing it." Then my best friend and I start laughing, as we should, naturally.

"Wow," Nino says. "I didn't notice I was dating someone so evil."

"Woah! You found out I'm Hawkmoth! Finally."

All of us start laughing altogether. I even end up closing my eyes because I was genuinely enjoying myself laughing with my friends but Alya pokes my rib and I notice no one's laughing anymore. I open my eyes though to see both Alya and Nino stare towards the road with smiles on their faces. I find myself looking toward the road too and a smile automatically forms on my face.

"Adrien! Dude!" Nino calls as he leaves Alya and I to go pounce at his best friend with a hug.

"Gee, those two should start dating," Alya jokes but this time, although I want to laugh, I don't. I keep staring ahead, at him. "Girl, you left some of your drool on the floor over there-"

"Huh? What?"

"Don't act like you weren't ogling." She sighs. "You keep saying you're over him but Juleka says Luka told her you guys broke up because you still have a massive crush on Adrien."

"Massive is an overstatement." Alya gives me a look and I immediately confess. "I might still have a few pictures of him, but trust me, I haven't stuck any new ones on my bedroom walls yet."

"That is borderline creepy, girl."

"I know! That's why I stopped!"

Then I suddenly, for whatever dumb reason, remember what Chat said yesterday about precious moments. Does Adrien consider any moment we've had alone together precious? Or is it just me?

"You know, maybe you should tell him and just get it over with. Rip the band-aid off."

"Yeah, if I rip the band-aid off to reveal a nasty bloody mess of a wound, what next?"

"It'll heal!"

She pats my back.

I look at Adrien again and actually consider it. Chat's always telling the Ladybug part of me how he feels and although I always play it off, he's never afraid to just say it outright. Damn Chat Noir.

I flinch when Adrien's eyes meet mine and I could've sworn a feeling of deja vu had washed over me. He and Nino walk towards us but the latter proceeds to talk with his girlfriend leaving Adrien and I to catch up, alone, together.

"Hey, Mari."

"Adrien!"

His voice is deeper. Has it really been so long since I heard it though? He'd only been gone a whole fortnight, so why does he sound different?

"How was the States?" I ask and my head's now constantly telling me not to rumble off like the idiot I was a few years ago.

"It was so cold, but, I managed. Father was just always travelling even on a business trip, like a typical fashion designer looking for fabrics and going over meetings with some American brand. It was sooo boring I swear..." He starts laughing. "You'd have enjoyed it though since you're into fashion."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, totally. In fact, let's switch lives for the rest of our lives."

"Haha, and what would you do as a Dupain-Cheng?"

"Probably steal all my parents baked goodies."

We both laugh and I realize I'm really enjoying this. Just being friends. Maybe being friends is the precious moment we've always shared. Maybe I should just tell him I like him, just to get it out of the way and stop seeing him as a love interest instead of a friend.

"Adrien!" says a cursed voice. "Adrikins! Is that you?"

Chloe Bourgois herself finds her way to where Adrien and I are with Sabrina tagging along like some rowdy dog. Adrien smiles at Chloe and, of course, he'd be nice to her too. He's just nice to everyone. Even to evil witches who love to torture me. I should be glad she exists just because she'd been a friend to him before he came to our school. Before her, he wouldn't really have had friends, huh? Either way, she didn't have to interrupt Adrien and I especially when I was right about to tell him something of utmost importance.

"I missed you so much, Adrien!" Chloe gives him a tight hug but narrows her eyes at me as she's safely hidden from his view. They pull apart and briefly, Chloe starts blubbering on about her entire week while Sabrina's just nodding in agreement to everything she says.

Let's just say I don't think most of what she said was true anyway. Like, Chloe skydiving during the weekend... I thought Lyla was the only lying bitch at our school.

"Chloe," Adrien interrupts. "I know we need to catch up but Mari and I were in the middle of something."

She looks at me then at Adrien then back at me with even more narrowed eyes than before.

"Fine. I'll give you a call later then so we can talk, yes Adri?"

"Yeah. Sure."

And just like that, the two girls leave. I consciously look at the time and class seems to be starting in just a few minutes.

"Where were we?" Adrien asks sheepishly with a nervous laugh at the end then he scratches the back of his neck.

Well, it's now or never...

"Yeah, er, I was about to tell you I've actually had a huge crush on you since the day you gave me your umbrella, I'm not even sure you remember but I was blushing and then it's been this huge rollercoaster since. I tried dating Luka but then realized I still have a crush on you and-I'm rumbling, aren't I? Don't worry, you don't have to say anything. We can just continue being friends, no big deal. I just wanted to let it out of my chest and whew! It feels great!"

And it did! Damn, I should give Chat a little more credit for having a crush on Ladybug. This whole confessing thing is no joke.

I'm not expecting to hear much from Adrien so I play it off as normally as possible before leaving him to process what I'd just told him on his own.

"Marinette, wait."

I gulp. Suddenly, the words I've just mindlessly spewed out feel like I've just viciously puked on Adrien Agreste. Stupid Chat, he made me think this was easy, but then he's usually in a mask whenever he tells Ladybug all those things. But I'm not in a mask. I'm Marinette. Chat can just be any messy-haired guy in Paris behind the mask, but I'm unmasked and frankly, the only Marinette. There's only one of those in Adrien's life...

I turn and try my best to at least face Adrien and the consequences of my actions.

"Thank you."

"Wha-?"

"Thanks for saying how you truly feel about me and yeah, I don't have to say anything but you're a really close friend so it must have been hard to say all that..." he sighs. "I do like someone at the moment and I'm trying to figure things out with her-just please don't feel bad about it."

I smile at him. "Sure. Whoever she is, she's the luckiest girl in the world, bet on it." I offer him a pinky.

"Bet." His pinky wraps around mine and we both laugh at that.

"Now let's head to class before we get busted by Ms Bustier."

"Was that supposed to be a pun?"

"Yeah, and if you tell me it's bad, I'll make many more dumb puns."

"Oh, if that's the only way I get to hear your priceless puns, then it was horrendously awful!"

a/n

hey! I guess that's part 2 of the fanfic so far. Thanks for reading! Also, am not sure if there's a comment section here, but if there's some way to share feedback on whatever, please share it. I also have to mention that I obviously don't own MLB, so this is not part of canon, duh. I think I mentioned this, but in case I didn't, in this fanfic, the only miraculous holders are Adrien and Marinette (And Gabrielle too, duh). I genuinely don't like the idea of multiple miraculouses all over the world and the fact that basically everyone in Marinette's class has one in the show. It tends to make Ladybug and Chat less unique if they're just a small couple of the many many holders, so yah. That's my reason. You don't need to love my reasoning lol. But thanks for reading the fic. see ya in chap 3! :D