The prom is beginning to draw near… Now is the time when panicked last-minute proposals result in disappointment, when the anxiety of running out of time rises, when my akumas flourish. Fly away, my akumas! Darken the hearts of the teenagers of Paris!
Marinette flopped down on her bed, exhausted. The last few weeks had gotten worse and worse in akuma frequency, nearly all of them because of the prom. Mostly promposals. She was losing track of all the backstories, but one boy had been upstaged by another who asked first, and another boy asked a girl in a simple ask, leading another boy to get mad because his elaborate plans were wasted, and there was a girl who'd felt pressured to say yes but really wanted to go with someone else. And so on. And they were not given a wide variety of supervillain powers.
"If I see one more flower based akuma," Marinette said to Tikki, "I'm getting rid of the rooftop garden. I'll get a new favorite shirt. No more flowers."
It wasn't just the prom asks, though. The girls of Paris had picked up on the American tradition of wearing a dress unique from everyone else's. There were only a few such akumas now, but Marinette knew on the day of the prom, a few would realize they had the same dress, and there would be akumas for days and ugh.
"Knock knock," Alya's muffled voice came through the trapdoor.
Tikki flew into Marinette's bag. "Come in," said Marinette, sitting up.
Alya climbed up. "I did some research," she said. "The good news is that often times, Americans just go to prom in groups of friends. It's totally okay. So worst case scenario, it won't be too bad if Adrien says no."
"Aside from me being a wreck as a result," Marinette sighed.
"Get it together, girl," said Alya, planting herself on Marinette's bed.
She'd tried. She really had. But with the increasing number of akuma appearances, her capacity to actually come up with a plan for asking Adrien was waning. As for her ability to execute it – had that existed in the first place?
"What else?"
"Nino was right. Americans do sometimes form relationships as a result of prom. Not always. Sometimes. Also, in America, each school has its own prom. It's not usually citywide. And prom takes place in 'high school', which is what we'd call lycée."
Marinette frowned. "Why is it collège for us, then?"
"I dunno. Probably because it's Mayor Bourgeois and Monsieur Agreste sponsoring it. They want their kids to experience it."
"Yeah, but couldn't they wait…?" Marinette frowned and filed that information away for later. "Anything else?"
"Um… oh, couples usually match. Usually it's the boy who matches the girl, since it's easier to pick a certain tie and shirt than it is to pick a specific color dress. Couples also wear matching corsages and boutonnieres."
"Wait, so I'm actually running out of time," Marinette realized. "I need to coordinate all this… I haven't even started making my dress yet… I still need to ask Adrien…"
She could see it now. Running into the ballroom with a haphazardly put-together dress, and then suddenly realizing she'd forgotten to ask Adrien, and then her skirt falling off in front of everyone, and this was going to be a mess…
"Relax. You have some time. You just need to hurry up and ask Adrien. That'll be a good first step," Alya said, patting Marinette's shoulder.
"Easier said than done…"
"Hey, I've got your back. I'll help you plan." Alya pulled a sheet of copy paper off a shelf. "Okay. Let's do this."
At nine o'clock at night, they had an idea that could work. Marinette finally started to relax.
No matter what, at least Alya's got my back, she thought.
"Hey dude."
Adrien looked up from his book. "Hey Nino."
Nino slid into the seat beside him. "Okay. So, I need to know. Are you planning to ask anyone to the prom?"
"I haven't decided," Adrien said.
"Alya and I did some research," Nino said. "Couples are supposed to match for prom. They wear the same colors and order matching flowers."
"I'm sick of flowers," Adrien groaned.
"That's not the point. Time is running out," Nino said. "If you're gonna ask someone to prom, you've got to do it fast."
Adrien leaned back with a sigh. Nino was right – it was getting too close to ask Ladybug, and he knew it. The only problem was that this prom ask had uncertainty on another level.
"What do I do if she says no?" Adrien asked.
"You say…" Nino shifted in his seat. "…you say…I think you say, 'Okay,' and pretend nothing happened. I mean, you never really know why she said no, and it doesn't mean necessarily that she hates you or even that she doesn't love you. For all you know, she promised to be someone's backup already, or her friendgroup decided to go together, or her family wouldn't let her go with a date. So you say okay and move on."
Adrien nodded slowly. "Okay. I'll…" He breathed deeply. "I'll do it within the next week."
"You'll let me know what happens, right?" Nino nudged his friend's shoulder.
Adrien grinned. "Yeah. I will."
Nino took out his phone to chill beside Adrien while the latter studied.
Even if Ladybug says no, Adrien thought with a smile, Nino's got my back.
"Kim, it's okay."
"I can't believe she rejected me again," Kim sobbed. Heartbreak aside, it was almost a humorous scene: a giant athlete sitting on the steps of the school, being comforted by a tiny boy in suspenders.
"It's okay. She'll come around."
Max was doing his best not to seem surprised. Chloé had not only rejected, but ridiculed Kim before. He knew Kim's feelings were more infatuation than love. But Kim was his best friend, and Max did his best to help him.
Though encouraging Kim might not necessarily have been helpful.
"Okay, look," said Max. "Chloé is betting on Adrien asking her to the prom. I think we all know this isn't going to happen unless Adrien's desperate for a date, which he's not. Chloé's being traditional about this whole thing, so she's not going to ask anyone herself. And the likelihood that Chloé will be content to go alone is so small it's negligible."
Kim sniffed. "What are you trying to say?"
"At some point, Chloé will be desperate. And that'll be your time."
Kim nodded slowly. He smiled. "You think so?"
"Do you trust me?"
"I trust you."
Max helped his friend up. If he was being honest with himself… he didn't really want Kim to go with Chloé. He was – guiltily – hoping his straight best friend wouldn't have a date, so they could go as friends. Just as friends. I mean, he really would've rather gone with a date, meaning a boy date, but there wasn't a particular boy, and it didn't seem any boy would ask him. So going with friends was the best option.
It did get more complicated. Max had written out his priorities for both him and his best friend:
Max: 1) go with a boy
2) go with Kim as friends
3) go alone and be lonely
Kim: 1) Kim has anyone-but-Chloé as a date and is happy
2) Kim has Chloé as a date, whatever
3) Kim doesn't have a date, emotions indeterminate.
The problem was his first priority for Kim aligned with Max's last priority, and Max's first wasn't realistic, and his second aligned with Kim's last.
In other words, it was up for debate whether they both could be happy. Max wanted to think he'd be fine as long as his best friend was happy, but if he was being honest with himself, he wasn't sure.
…well, no, he was sure. He still wouldn't be happy.
YAS SUMMERTIME IT'S TIME TO WRITE EVERYTHING LIT LIT LIT
