Marinette knew she had screwed up when she bumped into Adrien but she had no idea how disappointed she would be when she hears what he has to say.
"Marinette! Perfect timing!" exclaims Adrien
"Huh? You think so?" replied Marinette kinda hopeful
Adrien helps Marinette up and says "Actually, what I meant was... I need some advice right now. Can we talk?"
"Uh... abosutely" stuttered Marinette sitting down next to him on a bench.
Adrien begins saying "Okay, well... I'm sorry, this is a bit awkward for me because it's about a girl."
"A girl?" wonders Marinette
"We see each other all the time because we study together. We've just been friends, you know. Until recently." says Adrien
Marinette starts to get excited thinking that Adrien is talking about her "'Till recently?" echoes Marinette
"Now I'm starting to see her differently. Has the same thing ever happened to you?" asked Adrien
"Yes... no. Well, probably. What's she like?" stutters Marinette
"She's special. Very pretty. She's got dark silky hair, deep and mysterious eyes..." describes Adrien
"Do... do I know her?" asks Marinette
"Yeah, it's Kagami." answers Adrien. Marinette's smile fades after hearing that as she pictures Kagami evilly laughing her.
"Marinette?" said Adrien wondering why she zoned out.
Marinette snaps out of her imagination saying "Uh... what?"
"I was just asking you what you thought I should do about Kagami." explained Adrien
"The Ice Queen?" said Marinette before realizing what she said so she puts her hand over her mouth when she does realize.
"What?" said Adrien thinking he misheard her.
"The ice... rink! Yeah, that's what I said. No better place to break the ice than the ice rink." lied Marinette with a guilty smile.
Adrien contemplates for a moment then replies "The ice rink? I think I'd be too shy to go there with her by myself."
Marinette notices that Adrien seems sad so she tries to cheer him up. "Well, uh, I could come along with you if you'd like."
"You'd do that? That's awesome! (gets up) I can't wait to go to the ice rink together. Thanks!" thanks Adrien taking off.
"That's what friends are for." said Marinette as Adrien leaves. She then turns to her purse where Tikki is hiding and says "Tikki, please tell me what just happened didn't really happen at all."
Tikki shrugs and smiles nervously as Marinette facepalms
Marinette tells all of her girl friends at Juleka and Luka's houseboat. After she tells them Alya tells everyone to brainstorm ideas on how to get her out of being a third wheel. Marinette doesn't really like those ideas so she replies "Actually, girls... I don't think I want to cancel."
All Girls the girls are confused saying "Huh?"
Marinette explains "Adrien really needs me and if he wants my advice then why not? After all, it's not an issue and I'm definitely not jealous because..."
"Because you two love each other." interrupted Rose
"Because there's nothing between us." finished Marinette
"What do you mean nothing between you?" questions Alya
"There's everything between you, actually." adds Mylene
"I agree I mean you even got him stuttering once after the Frightningale akuma incident." said Gwen.
"I always jumble my words around him. So how could I even manage going out on a date? I think we're actually just meant to be friends. Whenever I talk to him as a friend, I hardly stammer at all. That's a sign right there. Right?" asks Marinette but more as a question to herself and on her own feelings.
The girls look at each other silently for a moment and then start talking at once
"Um..., Totally not!, You have liked this man for, like, a million years and you're not gonna give up on him right now." the girls words all blur together as they start arguing
Marinette walks away and stops at the front of the boat where Luka is playing music on his guitar.
Luka notices that Marinette seems sad so he decides to do a little music. "Do you feel kinda like this? (plays tune) Personally, I think a girl like you deserves to feel more like this. (plays a different more positive tune) And whoever made you feel this way is nothing but a... (plays another tune)
Marinette giggles and thanks Luka she was about to ask him to come with her to the ice rink tomorrow when Gwen came up and called Marinette over.
"I'll see you later Luka." said Marinette running over to Gwen at the entrance to the interior of the boat.
"What's up Gwen?" asked Marinette
"Hey so I know you want to go to the ice rink tomorrow but you don't have to go I could go with you and I know Ben doesn't have anything planned so he could come to" suggested Gwen.
"Wait Ben is free tomorrow?" said Marinette
"Yeah he could be there for you as friend if you need him?" suggested Gwen
Marinette pondered that for a second then replied "Yeah that's a great idea can you ask him to go with me to the ice rink tomorrow?"
"Yeah sure me and Ben will be there." said Gwen
"Well actually... I was maybe hoping to go with just Ben." said Marinette.
"Oh well that's fine but may I ask why?" said Gwen
"I kinda want to spend more time with Ben is all..." explained Marinette
"Oh I see you like Ben don't you." said Gwen with an I know you like this guy face.
"What no I just... uh... feel nice with Ben is all." said Marinette.
"Right well ok I'll tell Ben and he'll meet you there tomorrow." said Gwen
Marinette hugged Gwen saying "Thank you."
"No problem it's what friends do." replied Gwen.
The Next Day at the ice rink
Ben was there at the ice rink with Marinette and Adrien with Kagami.
Marinette was finishing tying her skates laces while Ben was sitting in the row behind her fiddling with the Omnitrix since he already has his skates on.
Adrien scooted over to Marinette and said "It was really cool of you to bring Ben, Marinette.
"Of course. That's what friends are for." replied Marinette feeling internally sad but kept up a positive face so Adrien wouldn't worry.
"I don't know what to do about Kagami. Should I offer to hold her hand?" asked Adrien
"You have to let her fall." answered Marinette getting a shocked face from Adrien and Ben who had stopped fiddling with the watch as soon as he heard that.
"No, what I actually meant was that you cannot let her fall in any way. I mean, do whatever you can so that she doesn't fall. (stands up) So yeah, grab ahold of her hand and take her onto the ice and then..." stuttered Marinette.
After seeing Marinette and Adrien stutter around each other after Frightningale Ben suspected that they might have crushes on each other so last night he googled signs of a crush. One of the signs can be stuttering and nervousness which now that Ben thought of it he recalls Marinette doing both of those an awful lot around Adrien but the other day was the first he saw Adrien stutter around Marinette. So seeing it now Ben wasn't surprised that Marinette was messing up her words again.
While Ben was thinking Marinette had accidentally tied her laces together somehow so when she tried to walk she tripped and fell.
Seeing this Adrien was about to rush up and help her but Ben beat her to it.
"Ouch" groaned Marinette.
"Hey you okay?" asked Ben helping Marinette onto a seat.
"Yeah just need a moment to let the pain subside." answered Marinette as Ben retied her skates.
After Ben finished doing that he said "There all done. Want to skate? He offered out his hand
"Ye-yeah" replied Marinette taking Ben's hand.
Ben guided Marinette onto the ice. As Ben and Marinette skate together, Marinette notices Adrien skating with Kagami and nearly falls as a result, but she is caught by Ben.
"You okay?" asked Ben as he holds onto Marinette's hand as he continues to skate with her
Suddenly some weirdo jumps in between Ben and Marinette and said enthusiastically "Hey, young man! Have you ever thought about signing up for ice skating lessons? The judges wouldn't be able to resist that sparkling smile of yours."
"Uh no thanks I already know how to skate." replied Ben
"You might learn some new skating tricks if you sign up for lessons you know. Think about it!" added the man while orbiting them on the ice. Ben had thought about it but knew it could get mixed up with his double life and cut into his Sumo Slammer video game time so immediately he knew he shouldn't sign up.
The weirdo left to go badger Kagami and Ben showed off a bit of his skating doing some spins and standing on one leg tricks. Also he caught Marinette a few times as she kept losing her balance staring at Adrien.
"If you want to skate with Adrien then go ahead. I can skate alone." said Ben
"What no no I do want to skate with you it's just-" started Marinette but Ben finished her thought. "You have a crush on Adrien." Marinette's face instantly turned bright red and she blurted out.
"Wha how wha ug how do you know that! Did Gwen tell you?" panicked Marinette. She began to lose her balance due to her no longer focusing and was about to trip again but Ben caught her before she could hit the ice and pulled her back up.
Ben was about to explain but suddenly the weirdo was back and trying to persuade Marinette into the same skating lessons he had tried to get Ben to do. "I'll give you a week's worth of lessons for free. Just a few hours a day and you'll be a star."
Marinette thinks about her Ladybug activities then replies "Thanks, but I'm already very busy as it is."
The weirdo then notices Adrien. "Is that Adrien Agreste!?" and approaches him.
"So uh don't worry about me knowing about your crush Marinette I'm not going to tell anyone." stated Ben as the two skated together, Marinette using Ben to keep her balance.
Marinette blushed and then asked "How did you find out?"
"I started getting suspicious after the two of you stuttered around each other after the Frightningale thing and realized most people don't do that around others. So I googled signs of a crush and acting socially awkward is apparently a sign of one" answered Ben.
"If you know then who knows how many others have figured it out." groaned Marinette looking at Kagami and Adrien, causing her to unintentionally let go of Ben and skate into a wall, falling down in the process.
Adrien and Ben both rushed over to Marinette and offer their hands out to pull her off her butt asking "Are you okay?". Marinette is unsure which hand to take and before she could decide the weirdo butted in between them trying to persuade them all one last time to sign up for ice skating lessons.
"See how a few lessons from me could come in handy? Please, Adrien Agreste. Just put your name on this form and your fans will come running. And my ice rink will be saved!" pleaded the weirdo
The mayor of Paris grabs the forms from the weirdo. "None of these young people want to sign up, Philippe. You can't force them now, can you?" stated the Mayor to the weirdo now known as Phillippe.
Philippe sadly agrees with the mayor and skates away
Kagami skates over to Marinette) and tells her to get up. She helps her up and then whispers in her ear "The only reason you can't stay on your feet is your hesitation. I never hesitate. (to Adrien no longer whispering) Shall we go?" Kagami skates away with Adrien.
"Marinette? Are you okay?" asked Ben
"I think I hurt myself. It's probably best we call it a day." said Marinette leaving the rink and heading to the bathroom to dwell on her feelings.
After Marinette left the rink and Adrien followed her Ben decided it was best he do the same since he didn't even know a thing about Kagami other than the fact she takes fencing with Gwen and Adrien.
So Ben was removing his skates in the locker room when he saw everything was beginning to freeze over. He quickly reacted by activating the Omnitrix and fortunately the Heatblast icon was the first one selected so Ben just slammed the dial and transformed in a bright green flash whilst ice consumed everything in Paris.
When the light died down Ben wasn't Heatblast but Arctiguana. Arctiguana has small spikes around his face, three dorsal fins reaching down his back and white gills on the sides of his head. He had white pants and a black open-front shirt with white cuffs and he wore the Omnitrixsymbol on his left hand. He looked at himself for a moment and then complained to the watch. "Of course when I want Arctiguana I get Heatblast but when I want Heatblast I get Arctiguana. Seriously its like you think hot is cold and cold is hot omnitrix." complained Arctiguana to the Omnitrix on his hand.
Arctiguana left the building to find all of Paris had been frozen as well as all of the people. "Oh man. Looks like I'm on my own for this one." thought Arctiguana to himself before he saw Ladybug and Cat Noir meet up on a frozen roof top in new ice themed outfits.
Before he could go up to them Cat Noir leapt off the roof and skated away with Ladybug shouting "Cat Noir, don't get all pouty on me!" She then groans and takes off on her yo-yo leaving Arctiguana alone.
"Great so they split up when they're needed most. Perfect." groaned Arctiguana.
"Now if I was an evil supervillain where would I hide?" thought Arctiguana. He's already frozen the whole city so if it was a material object he wants then he would have frozen it so that's out. Since this is probably an akuma it probably means he is after Ladybug and Cat Noir. But which one of them?
Arctiguana decided to go after Cat Noir and hoped he had chosen correctly as he followed the skate marks Cat Noir left on the ice.
Eventually he caught up to Cat Noir who seemed to be hiding behind a bus. Arctiguana also observed Frozer had just leapt off of the Eiffel Tower and was preparing to smash Ladybug (who was unaware Frozer was there) into the ice.
Before Frozer could smash her Cat Noir pushes her out of the way and the two begin skating away from Frozer who is hunting them and shooting icicles out of his skates. Arctiguana intervenes by blasting Frozer with his ice breath. Frozer however wasn't frozen. It was like Ice just wouldn't form around him.
When Frozer got back up he stared at Arctiguana growled and shot some icicles at him. Arctiguana froze the icicles in a block of ice then leapt over it and shot his freeze breath again at Frozer. Frozer skidded to the side and fired icicles at the airborne Arctiguana.
Arctiguana formed an ice slide and slid down it to avoid the icicles. At the slides end he leapt off and tackled Frozer pinning him to the ground.
While the two were fighting Ladybug and Cat Noir had regrouped and were discussing a plan "My Cataclysm could destroy his skates but he'd have to be up in the air. You were right, M'lady. We're gonna have to set a trap." said Cat Noir
"You were right too. We observed and now we know enough." replied Ladybug
"Seems we're just missing a little push of luck to get the edge on him." hinted Cat Noir
Ladybug nods and uses her Lucky Charm and receives a rope "A rope?" questioned Ladybug.
She notices a frozen tree and that one end of the rope is tied into a circle knot. "I got a plan hold this the end of the rope over the tree and make sure the circle end is on the ground." directed Ladybug giving the rope to Cat Noir. Ladybug whispers the plan into Cat Noir's ear. he nods in understanding and the two get to work setting up the trap.
Arctiguana really hated the feeling of icicles trying to cut through his thick scales and every time Frozer did manage to land a hit on him it only frustrated him. So when he saw an opening he took it.
Arctiguana swiped his claw underneath Frozer's legs tripping him. Once he hit the ground Arctiguana fired his ice breath at Frozer but once again the ice wouldn't form around him.
Frozer got up and gloated "Hah fool! Ice is my element! You cannot harm me with it!"
Just then Frozer got whacked on the head by Cat Noir's staff. Frozer turned eyes blazing with fury to see Cat Noir sticking his tongue out and taunting him.
Cat Noir skated away with Frozer in pursuit.
"No Frozer it's a trap!" warned Hawkmoth through their psychic connection but Frozer was to blinded with rage to listen and continued after Cat Noir.
Cat Noir passed by the frozen tree and Frozer followed until Ladybug sprang the trap. She pulled on the rope bring the knot up and around Frozer's leg hoisting him up.
Frozer dangled above the ground helplessly while Ladybug held him up.
"Release me at once!" demanded Frozer.
Cat Noir and Arctiguana went over to them. "Anytime now Cat Noir." said Ladybug struggling to keep Frozer up. Arctiguana helped hold the rope up whilst Cat Noir triggered his Cataclysm power.
"Cataclysm!" exclaimed Cat Noir slamming his hand onto Frozer's skates turning them to dust and releasing the akuma.
Ladybug let go of the rope and purified the akuma. Arctiguana handed her the rope and she tossed it into the air activating her Miraculous Ladybug. "Miraculous Ladybug!" shouted Ladybug as a swarm of magical ladybugs appeared and began turning everything back to normal.
Philippe is deakumatized leaving him confused as the heroes did their signature fist bump.
"Pound it!" The three said.
Marinette is standing outside the ice rink looking sadly at Adrien and Kagami. She was especially saddened when she saw Kagami kiss Adrien on the cheek.
"Do you want a ride back home Marinette? My Grandpa should be here in a minute or two." offered Ben as he approached her but he then notices that Marinette is staring at Adrien. He smiles and says "You should probably go over and talk to him. Thanks for inviting me out today."
"Thanks for coming with me, Ben." said Marinette kissing Ben's cheek and then runs towards Adrien, in his car shouting "Adrien! ADRIEN!"
Ben was left blushing and confused. "Was that a form of a french goodbye or a romantic thing?" he wondered.
The Rustbucket pulled up behind Adrien's car so Ben walked over but also overheard Marinette and Adrien's conversation.
"You OK, Marinette?" asked Adrien
Marinette composed herself and said "I just wanted to say that... we should go and skate at the ice rink more often. Yeah!" Ben knew she had wanted to tell him that she is in love with him.
"You mean...just you and me?" asked Adrien
Ben intervened then to prevent Marinette from screwing up with her stuttering. "Yeah she was telling me that's what she wants to do right before we left the rink. right Marinette?"
"Uh yeah yeah totally." replied Marinette mentally thanking Ben.
Adrien pondered for a moment then replied "Sure I feel I don't know you that well Marinette and friends should definitely know each other well. I'll try to free up some time to do that. See you both at school." He got in his car and his driver drove him away.
Marinette waved goodbye and when his car was gone she was mentally cheering and panicking at the same time.
Ben smiled and entered the Rustbucket and took off leaving behind an oblivious Marinette too lost in thoughts of excitement and panic to notice.
I know this chapter took a while to make and it isn't extra long and there are two reasons for that. First being I had exams so I had to study some more which tired me out more mentally. Second I am starting to get writers block so I think I may reduce the numbers of chapters released to once or twice a month? Don know or maybe I'll just release them whenever they're done but one thing is for certain. I will not give up on the story I made a commitment to stick with finishing this story and since it is popular I will do so. Also Marinette is sorta going to go on a date with Adrien so we'll see how that goes. See you guys next time (whenever that is) and please review, fav, and follow