Oh, the pain of rejection… and so early in the game? My, we are in for an exciting several weeks. Fly away, my little akuma, and darken his heart.


"Exciting stuff, huh?" Plagg said, zooming out of Adrien's bag as the latter closed the door to his room. "You gonna ask somebody?"

Adrien sighed and fell onto his sofa. "I don't know…"

"Aw, don't give me that yucky lovestruckiness." Plagg flew into Adrien's minifridge and came out with a piece of cheese. "Don't tell me you're thinking of Ladybug?"

"Of course I am," Adrien grumbled. "I keep thinking about who to take to the dance, and even though I keep trying to decide on someone in my class…"

"Ladybug keeps popping up." Plagg huffed. "Of course she does. When does she not?"

Adrien stood up and pulled some books from his bag. "I'll figure something out."

An explosion echoed in the distance. "Plagg, transformer moi!" Adrien said quickly.

"But my snaaaaaaaack…" Plagg flew into Adrien's ring.


Ladybug analyzed the situation from atop L'Arc de Triomphe. From what she had heard from a civilian and from the mouth of the angry villain, a boy had just asked a girl to the dance and been turned down. She wasn't sure how that related to his transformation into a muddy brown creature which spewed various shades of brown glop over the town.

"It's a shame cats are allergic to chocolate," Chat Noir commented, landing beside her. "This seems like it could be enjoyable otherwise."

"Hmm… He must have asked the girl to the dance with chocolate…" Ladybug mused. Squinting at the villain, she noticed a sort of brown stick in his hand, which he was shooting chocolate from.

"Aim for the chocolate bar he's holding," Ladybug said, throwing her yoyo at a chimney and preparing to swing.

"I'm on it." Chat Noir pushed off of the Arc.

It wasn't a difficult villain to confront. The only twist was when Chat Noir landed in melted chocolate and the villain solidified it, trapping Chat post-Cataclysm. But while the villain confronted Ladybug, Chat Noir extended his stick to knock the chocolate bar from his hand. Ladybug caught it, broke it, and captured the akuma.

When all was cleaned up (and Ladybug had talked to the boy, who walked away looking a little more hopeful), Chat Noir approached her. "Bien joué," they said at once, fist-bumping in their traditional routine.

Then Chat Noir did the untraditional.

"By the way, you're not… do you happen to be a collègienne?" he asked her.

Ladybug looked at him suspiciously. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because if you are, you might be going to the dance in late May?"

Her suspicion melted into surprise. "I… you're in collège too?"

"I am. Will you be there?"

"I – yes."

Chat Noir cleared his throat. "Would–"

A beeping noise from Ladybug's earrings interrupted him. "Oops. Gotta go. I'll see you later," she said, throwing her yoyo and swinging away before Chat Noir could get another word in.

He watched her zoom off. A beep from his ring reminded him he needed to go, too.

"Maybe another time," he sighed.


A week later, Alya was purchasing a box of macarons from the Dupain-Chengs' bakery, to Marinette's chagrin.

"Thank you very much!" Alya said, having paid for the box. "Marinette, let's go."

"Alya, you can't just pay for my promposal," Marinette anguished when they were outside. "Besides, it's silly. It's what that boy who got akumatized last week did. I can't just offer him some food!"

"Girl, these are way better than some chocolate bar. Adrien loves your parents' bakery."

"But it's going to be a disaster–"

"Alya?"

"Hold on, we're having girl talk." Alya turned her back to Nino and whispered to Marinette, "Just relax! There's nothing to be worried about!"

"That's what you always say."

Alya handed her the box. "Worst case scenario, I've got your back." Turning around, she said, "What is it Ni–"

She froze. Nino was dressed up in a vest and tie, and was sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

"I, um…" He cleared his throat suddenly and sprinted up the stairs, where speakers and turntables had been set up.

"He's not serious, is he?" Alya murmured, eyes wide.

Nino smiled nervously at her from behind the DJ booth. He flipped a switch and began creating his art.

As much as she loved him, Alya had never been a particularly big fan of Nino's DJ skills. But this performance – Nino had created a mix of the best bits of her favorite songs – an underappreciated Jagged Stone piece, some of Madeon's Beings, a bit of Chandelier – and he had connected them with a beat and laced them together so well they seemed to belong together.

Complètement Fou was playing when Nino threw off his headset and ran down to Alya.

"Alya," he said, the piano interlude of her favorite song playing in the background, "May I take you to la bal?"

She laughed. "Mais oui."

"Complètement fou~" Yelle sang as they caught each other in a tight hug. The onlookers cheered, none more enthusiastically than Marinette.

"Well done!" she said, when the music died down and Nino and Alya seemed safe to approach. The spotlight on them had faded, but both were lit by a glow that had nothing to do with how many people were watching.

"Congrats, Nino," a voice behind Marinette said suddenly.

Marinette shrieked and dropped the box of macarons. They crashed to the ground, spilling everywhere.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Adrien and Marinette both bent down to pick them up.

"Nonono it's okay, it's just me! I mean, not my fault. I mean, not yours." Marinette groaned internally, wondering where her language skills went to hide when Adrien was around.

"Well, I guess we've cleaned up already," Adrien said, laughing a little.

Marinette looked down; the broken macarons were already in the box, thanks to their combined efforts.

"Wow, we make a good team," she commented. "Bien joué."

MARINETTE YOU JUST DID A LADYBUG THING YOU DONE GOOOOOOOOFED!

Adrien's eyes widened a little. "AHEM. UM. Are you. Uh. You know, cause. Nino's ask. Are you…?" Marinette stammered, trying to change the subject.

"What she means," Alya cut in, "is, do you have any plans for who you'd like to ask to the dance?"

"Not really," Adrien responded, face falling a little. "I'm sure Chloé will want to go with me…"

"Whoa dude," Nino said, "what about you? Do you want to go with her?"

"I mean, she's my friend. I don't want to let her down."

Nino narrowed his eyes. "My man. In America, you know what they do? Guys ask their girlfriends to prom. People become couples sometimes, as a result of prom. Do you want to be in a relationship with Chloé?"

"Er… not really–"

"Adrien." Nino slung his arm around his best friend's shoulder. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. If you're gonna ask someone to the prom, you need to mean it. Don't just settle. You can do better than that."

Alya and Marinette were having a silent but frantic conversation on the side. You should ask him! Alya mouthed.

I can't! Marinette responded.

Of course you can! Alya insisted.

Marinette gestured wildly at the box of wrecked macarons.

"I guess so." Adrien shrugged, like it wasn't a big deal. "I'll keep thinking about it. Right now, I've got fencing to get to." He waved at Nino and the girls. "See you all later."

"Bye."

When he was out of earshot, Alya said, "Okay, you win this time. But you're going to ask that boy to prom if that's the last thing you do."

"Right. Sure. But after this–" Marinette swept her arm over Nino's elaborate setup. "–I'm going to need something better than a box of macarons."