Secrets, Lies, and Everything Else Chapter 10: "More Than a Friend Part 3"
"Great job, dude! You won!" Nino congratulated the Adrien.
The model smiled, taking off his helmet, "Thanks. Did Marinette see?" He peeked behind his friend, disappointed when he couldn't see her.
"Alya said that Marinette wasn't feeling to good, so she left with Luka."
"...is she at the nurse's office? Can I go see her?"
"Well...uh...actually...she already went home."
"...'kay then. I'll drop by the bakery on the way home."
"Actually...Marinette wants to be alone."
"Alone? With Luka? Why would she want to be alone with him?! Why not me?!"
Nino put his hands up, "Don't shoot the messenger! Alya told me this."
"I'm not! I just...don't understand..." Adrien fidgeted with his saber, "I should get going. Bye Nino."
;.;.;.;.;.;. ❤️ ALYA ❤️ .;.;.;.;.;.;
Alya scowled as Nino exited the school building.
"Seriously?! You're late! I called you, like, 5 times already."
"Adrien's suspicious about Marinette. He's acting really weird."
"No duh, Nino. You shouldn't have stuck around. Explaining this whole thing to Adrien would be hard, and he's got every right ti be suspicious."
"Can't we just tell him how Marinette feels?! That would be so much easier.
"Nope. I promised my friend that only she would be the one to tell him. And who knows how Adrien will react?"
"Makes sense." Nino shrugged.
"Although, I've noticed that Adrien's acting up too. Did you see that look he gave Luka? Something's going down. Maybe we can ask him."
"I think he's already home by now."
"Drat. There goes any chance we had of figuring this out." She spotted a girl in a white shirt walking down the school stairs, "Oooh! We can ask Kagami! Hey! Kagami!" Alya called her over.
"Do you know where Adrien is? Like, since you're his girlfriend and all that-" Nino got cut off by the short-haired bluenette.
"What? Who told you that?! I'm not his girlfriend. We broke up." Kagami said, confused.
"You DID?!" Alya asked. She told her, "But Adrien told Mari that-"
"-he was just trying to make a certain someone jealous."
"Jealous? But why would he want to make Marinette jealous?" Alya asked.
"Adrien likes Marinette."
"So? They've been friends for like a year or two now. I thought you'd know that." Alya crossed her arms.
"I meant as in love. As in Adrien has a crush on her."
"..."
Nino and Alya burst into laughter.
"What are you guys laughing at?!" Kagami put her hands on her hips
Alya said in between laughs, "Adrien?! In love?! With Marinette?! Impossible! That boy's blind, figuratively speaking."
"Laugh all you want, it's true. He's jealous of Luka."
"I guess that would explain why Adrien's been so cold towards him...he didn't act like this before..."
"...which is all the more reason, to believe that he sees her as more than just a friend now." Nino finished, "It all adds up."
Alya narrowed her eyes, "We need to have a talk with Adrien."
;.;.;.;.;.;. ❤️ ADRIEN ❤️ .;.;.;.;.;.;
Adrien stared at the ceiling.
"I'm a freaking idiot." He was sitting on his bed, his feet dangling off the edge.
Plagg, who was floating on top of his dresser with a piece of camembert in his paws, "I already knew that." He told him casually as he bit into the cheese.
"Wow, thanks a lot. You're truly such a supportive kwami." Adrien said sarcastically in response.
"I mean..." The kwami questioned, "Why would you think that?"
"Why?! WHY?!" He seethed, "Because! I'm not supposed to be in love with Marinette! I'm in love Ladybug!" The blonde face-palmed, "I feel soooo guilty!"
"Just because you love someone doesn't mean you need to stop loving someone else." Plagg argued.
"Still...Marinette's just supposed to be my friend! We've been friends since as long as we've known each other! I can't have feelings for her; I'd ruin our friendship! And then there's Luka, and, and..." Adrien groaned.
"You need to chill ou-"
"I can't! I-I..." Adrien stammered.
"Spit it out already."
"...I don't think I had a crush on Mari before. It was after Luka came into the picture that I finally realized I loved her."
"Uh-Huh," Plagg wasn't listening, "Now I need some more camembert. I just finished the slice I-"
"You can get your camembert later."
Plagg told him, "Look, if you want my opinion, kid, I think that you liked her from the start. The dancing, the umbrella, the hand-holding, not to mention that you were going to kiss her-"
"That doesn't count; it was for the school play!" Adrien hissed.
"All I'm saying is, that doesn't really sound like something that a 'just a friend' would do."
"It doesn't matter, anyways. I made her hate me, and now she's spending time with Luka! WITH LUKA, PLAGG, WITH LUKA!"
"She spent time with Luka before. What's the big deal?"
"They're even closer now. I didn't really mind it before. But now, I just feel like that should be me spending time with her."
"So? Why don't you? You can transform into Chat to go see her." Plagg suggested. His eyes widened in alarm, "Not now though, I need my chee-"
"Plagg, claws out!"
;.;.;.;.;.;. ❤️ MARINETTE ❤️ .;.;.;.;.;.;
Luka was at the front door of the bakery, "Are you sure you don't want me to stay longer? We can do our homework together."
"No thanks Luka, I need some time to think about everything."
"Alright. Take care." He hopped on his bike and rode away.
Marinette closed the door, walking upstairs and into her room. She spotted her sewing machine to the side of her desk, along with a notepad full of unused Kitty Section outfit sketches. She flipped through the notepad for any ideas on how she could create the remaining Kitty Section outfits. Her own Kitty Section shirt was actually almost done, as was the rest of the band's, but she needed to get started on Rose and Luka's outfit designs as well, especially Rose's, since she was the lead singer.
"Hmmm...I'm sure Rose would love something that's pink." She spotted a sketch of a mannequin wearing a shirt with poofy sleeves.
"Oooh, maybe If I mixed this design with the other one I saw..." Her gaze wandered to where unfinished Adrien's 61st birthday gift was. (she'd finished the 60th one not too long ago)
No Marinette, you are not going to get distracted. Snap out of it!
...But on the other hand, making another gift for Adrien would be really fun...no, stop it! You told Alya you were done with Adrien!
...it wouldn't hurt to make another gift...just one...
Gah, stop it brain! Marinette mentally argued with herself.
That was when Tikki tugged on her sleeve, "Marinette! You've got a visitor! Chat Noir's on the balcony." The red kwami informed her.