Chapter Two

Alya was currently dragging Marinette down the street in search of a place for them to eat, not wanting to waste their limited lunch break by heading to one of their houses but not wanting to deal with Chloe or anyone of the likes at school. Nino and Adrien were somewhere behind them, trying to keep up with the girls as Alya hurried them all along.

"Here we go," Alya said as they stumbled across the first place to eat, a small cafe. "This is where we're eating, no is not an answer, everyone hurry up and order we don't have time to waste. Nino you order for me I'll grab us a table."

And with that she hurried to one of the outdoor tables, picking the one farthest from the others so they'd have minimal distractions. She glanced back at her friends– Marinette was chuckling, Nino let out a sigh, and Adrien was staring fondly at Marinette as they headed inside to order. Her eyes narrowed, and she reached inside her backpack, pulling out a notebook and flipping it open. She looked over the notes she had taken in class:

-Mari and Adrien are finally dating!

-Both confessed sometime yesterday.

-Adrien has had a crush on Mari this whole time? Since when? I've had Nino ask him several times and we've always gotten the annoying "she's just a friend" response each time. Apparently Agreste is good at hiding his feelings.

-Adrien has told Mari about the "girl he loves" before but gave no hint it was her.

-According to Mari Adrien once said the "girl he loves" doesn't like jokes– yet Mari has always loved anything remotely related to Adrien?

-Adrien has looked back at her 2 times– 3 times– 4 times– 5 times during class.

-They've kissed before?!

-Nicknames from nowhere.

-Blushing Mari is present, but no stammering Mari.

-Adrien confessed first.

-They apparently wanted to take this slowly and are failing.

-They met up sometime somewhere yesterday on accident.

-Mari didn't call me last night freaking out that she's now dating Adrien and has kissed him?

Who knows what the teacher had actually been talking about in class– but this reporter had more important things to get to the bottom of. There was something off about her friends, and she wasn't liking it, which was annoying because she was so happy that they were finally together. The Adrienette ship was sailing but yet she wasn't completely on board. They were just... so close, and every interaction between them before had always been so awkward at times.

She had already formed a list of several ideas of what could have happened, an akuma being at the top of her list and being in an alternate universe at the bottom. An alien abduction and experimentation was on there too, as it was too early in her investigation to rule anything out. She tapped her pencil against the paper for a moment, before looking up to see Nino and the new couple making their way towards her table, food in hand.

"Kitty, my hands are full, I can't kiss you."

"But I can actually kiss you whenever I want now."

"Not whenever you want, and you can wait thirty seconds."

-Adrien is a lovesick puppy.

She jotted down her one last note, before flipping over to a blank page. She smiled up at everyone as they approached, Nino taking the seat next to her while the others sat across from her. The food Nino had gotten her was set down in front of her, but she barely even glanced at it, watching in disbelief as Adrien pulled Marinette in for a kiss the moment they were sitting down. She flushed red and let out a nervous giggle before smiling fondly up at him. This made Alya relax, because that's exactly how she pictured Marinette to react.

"Cat got your tongue, Purr-incess?" Adrien asked with a sly smile. "Because it would be absolutely claw-ful if I couldn't hear your sweet voice again."

Marinette rolled her eyes and pushed him away– which was the last thing she'd expect Mari to do to Adrien. With a sigh she flipped back over to her notes, jotting down three more bullet points.

-Nino wasn't lying about Adrien making horrible puns.

-Adrien is flirting very openly with Mari, something he's never done before.

-Mari pushed Adrien away instead of fainting over a compliment.

"How much do I owe you?" Alya asked Nino, at last pulling her food towards her. She smiled as she saw her favorite– her man knew her too well.

"It's on me today, babe," Nino replied, grinning as he put an arm around her. Alya smiled, taking a sip of the coffee he had gotten her– thank goodness, she needed something to clear her head– before turning her focus to those across from her.

"So," Alya said, causing Marinette and Adrien to look at her instead of staring into each other's eyes. "Time to spill."

"Spill what?" Adrien asked, blinking.

"Your story," She replied, crossing her arms. "I want to know what happened last night, I've been waiting forever for you two to get together, and I need to know exactly how all of it went down."

"Well..." Marinette began, looking at Adrien uncertainly.

"We, um..." He trailed off. "Hmm, well, um..."

Alya narrowed her eyes, it shouldn't be complicated at all. Sure if they didn't want to tell her every little tiny detail she could survive, but they shouldn't be acting like they needed to come up with a whole story on the spot, which only seemed to be proof that there was something else going on here.

"You know the akuma attack that happened downtown yesterday, right? The one with the ice powers?" Marinette asked.

"Of course she does," Nino said with a chuckle. "She wouldn't stop talking about how upset she was that she missed it. Got plenty of fan submitted videos for the blog though."

"Well, that's how everything started," Marinette said with a shrug. "I bumped into Adrien while doing some shopping, and the next thing I know we were trapped in a dome of ice together. It was so thick we couldn't even see through it."

"Mari started panicking," Adrien added, which earned a glare from her, which he ignored. "Trying to break through the ice, but we couldn't even make a crack. I was getting nervous, because, um... well, you know– tight schedule and all. I had places to go and things to do."

"But we weren't exactly going anywhere when we were stuck like that, and so Adrien here thought that he should reveal," She coughed. "His feelings. And well, I'm sure you could imagine how that went for me, Alya."

"All red and not being able to stutter out a word?" She said, smirking.

"She was so pale," Adrien cackled. "White as a ghost, wouldn't say a word, just kept staring at me with this flabbergasted expression!"

"Well what was I supposed to think when you dropped that on me?" Marinette demanded. "You were honestly the last person I expected!"

"What, the good looks didn't give it away?"

"Your puns ruin any good looks you have."

"Hey!"

"Then what happened?" Alya asked, drawing them back to the conversation. "How long did it take for Mari to finally confess?"

"...The whole akuma fight?"

Alya resisted the urge to facepalm. "The love of your life confesses feelings for you, and you're telling me you sat in that ice block for like what– a half hour– without telling him you felt the same way? I know you get flustered girl, but really?"

"It... it was a lot to take in, alright?" Marinette said defensively, inching closer to Adrien, who happily put his arm around her shoulders. "But yeah... that's basically what happened. After the akuma was defeated we were about to part ways when I was able to tell him everything, and we spent the rest of the evening together."

"Doing what?" Alya asked, and they replied at the same time:

"Talking?"

"Kissing."

"We were not kissing the whole time!" Marinette protested.

With a grin that Alya had never seen on Adrien before he leaned in close to Marinette, placing a kiss on her nose. "We should've, it would have been wonderful."

Marinette placed a finger on his nose, pushing him away, a gleam in her eyes. "Alright then, kitty, you can't kiss me for the next hour. Let's see how long you last."

"What! No! That's not fair!" He cried in protest. "I finally get to kiss you and you want to take that from me?"

"Can't handle one little hour, kitty kitty?" Marinette asked with a teasing grin. "Let's see if you last two then."

"Mari!"

Alya gave Nino a pointed stare, gesturing at the two of them in frustration. Didn't he see that this was so different than what they had ever seen between them? When they had started dating each other they had become closer, but yet when Marinette and Adrien started apparently everything about their dynamic changed. Mari denying kisses from Adrien, and him being the one dying to have them? You'd think that Marinette would be the one that couldn't go an hour without them!

...Perhaps she needed to add a personality switching akuma onto her list of possibilities for what happened.

"That's interesting and all... but pretty vague at the same time," Alya said, leaning across the table. "Adrien confessed right after the akuma attacked, yet you didn't say anything until the end? That leaves a good thirty minutes of silence between all that, so what were you doing during all that? Sitting in awkward silence? Changing the topic and pretending nothing happened? Or did Marinette faint from the shock?"

"I'm surprised she didn't," Adrien said, dramatically running a hand through his hair. "With my fabulous looks and all."

"Who are you and what have you done with Adrien Agreste?" Alya asked– Adrien was the most modest person she knew.

"Maybe this caterpillar is ready to come out of his cocoon," Adrien replied.

Marinette groaned. "That one doesn't make any sense!"

"I betcha he spent the whole time telling dudette puns when he embarrassed himself confessing," Nino said to Alya as the two continued bickering. "So many that Mari can't stand them anymore, even if it is coming from Adrien."

Not a bad theory, Alya had to admit.

"Fine then, no kisses for three hours."

"Bugaboo!" Adrien whined– literally. A high pitched whine filled the air as he called out in protest, crossing his arms unhappily, while Mari laughed. There was a grin on her face, which only grew when Adrien gave her puppy dog eyes.

Nino's theory didn't explain all of these other changes though. She opened up her notebook once more, jotting down the story they had told, alongside a few other things she had noticed. Nino glanced at the paper then shook his head.

"Okay, time for your assignment," She said quietly, turning to Nino as the suspicious duo continued chatting away.

"Babe–"

"I need you to question Adrien alone, ask him whatever you can, try to find anything that seems unusual."

"Has it occurred to you that maybe they're just really in love?" He asked.

"Has Adrien ever acted in love with Marinette before?"

"He's always admired her as a person, he's always said that she's–"

"'A very good friend'," She finished. "She's always been in the friendzone as far as I've seen, but now he can't look away from her. I want to know what changed."

"What changed was my eyes finally being opened," Adrien said, causing the two of them to jump. The blonde was grinning at them. "We're right here, you know, and we can hear every word you're saying."

Alya flushed, causing everyone to chuckle, though Nino stopped when she glared at him.

"It's true that I only saw Mari as a friend for a while," Adrien said. "I kept her there on purpose, I thought someone else had my heart, and I was too blind to realize that she was the one I wanted," He grabbed Marinette's hand. "And I'm truly sorry about that."

"I was just as blind, kitty, don't apologize," Marinette said, giving him a quick peck.

Adrien's eyes lit up. "Can I kiss you now?"

"Nope, you still have a three hour probation."

"But you just–"

She poked his nose. "I said you can't kiss me, I never said that I can't kiss you. Maybe if you're a polite kitty I'll give you another one."

"Sorry, My Lady, this alleycat has a reputation to uphold."

So Adrien admitted that he saw her as only a friend up until recently. The way he worded it made it sound like there had been someone else he had been interested in... but this morning he said his girlfriend was someone he had been in love with for a long time.

She closed her notebook, this small hole in his story only confirming the fact there was more going on here than what meets the eye. Making sure they were distracted this time she leaned over to Nino once more, whispering quietly.

"You talk to Adrien, I'll talk to Mari," She muttered. "Got it?"

"Um–" Nino began, but when he saw the look in his girlfriend's eyes he nodded, deciding it would be best just to agree.