AN: Hello again! So, I've started college. I may not have as much time to work on these and I'm trying to teach myself to not obsess over everything. I'll still try to make it good tho. Anyways, the last chapter is probably the most angst my story will have. No promises tho. IMPORTANT! IN THE CARD GAME, THE ACE IS HIGHER THAN THE KING! Anyways, enjoy.

Chapter 8:

Adrien fought the pink off his face as he made his way around his patrol route. He hasn't gotten any information from the police after he saved Abby so he doesn't have a lead to start with today. That's fine, that's why he made this route. So hopefully he can spot something and stop it.

Marinette kissed my cheek. Marinette kissed my cheek. Is all that was going through his mind at the moment. He can still feel the heat on his face. He ran faster so the flush was from exertion instead. So that's what he did. Until he got to the sewer part of his route. Here he had to take it slow, so he doesn't accidentally miss a turn. He then focused his mind on something else.

I'm glad I was there. He thought with relief. He couldn't bear the thought that Marinette probably wouldn't have made it out. He then went his way through the maze of the sewers, then back up to the surface before heading back home to sleep.

Marinette woke up for school a little late, but not late enough to rush around the house. She's surprised at herself. She doesn't feel as scared from last night's events as she probably should have. It just feels like a bad dream. She does know one thing for certain though. I want to see Chat Noir again.

She did a light jog to school instead of the usual darting. She hopped up the stairs and made it to her desk about a minute before class started. Adrien and Nino were already there, but Alya was nowhere to be found.

"Hey guys! Do you guys know where Alya is? She's usually here earlier than me."

"No dude. Last I heard from her is that she got news of an akuma attack and followed it. She was blogging the entire time." Nino said.

"You watch her blog?" Marinette asked.

"Yeah dude. She's pretty dedicated, so I feel I might as well show my support." Nino said and his face morphed into a far-off grin after he said that.

"I haven't seen her since either." Adrien said. "But, I'll be concerned if she doesn't show up in a few minutes. Everyone has their off days."

"I guess you're right. I'm sometimes later than this." Both boys laughed in agreement. A split second later Alya busted into the classroom right as the bell rang. The teacher then began her lesson and told Sabrina to pass out Bellwork.

Marinette tore a corner out of her notebook and wrote a message to Alya. Why are you later than me? The apocalypse must have started somewhere. XD

I was up working on the blog. I have a theory. I think Chat Noir dissolved the giant meteor last night.

Really? That sounds fascinating. Marinette knew that was probably the case. Tikki told her about his powers before she slept last night. Btw, Nino watches your blog.

Is that so? Alya looked at her with a delightful surprised expression. This made Marinette giggle, which caused Alya to elbow her as her expression turned bashful.

Adrien wanted to ask how Marinette was doing since last night's events, but it occurred to him that Adrien didn't know. So he decided to stay quiet. She seemed rather cheerful this morning, so she should be okay. Meanwhile there's been something he's needed to ask Nino for a while.

Class ended and the lunch bell ran. They picked up their trays and sat down. Adrien took a bite out of the apple he was given while Nino opened his milk. The girls weren't here yet so he took this chance. And out it went.

"Nino? Do you like Alya?"

It took Nino a moment to register this question as he was sipping his milk. Once he did though his face turned red before said milk came out of his nose and he started coughing. Bingo.

"Woah dude. You okay?" Adrien asked as he started patting his back, trying to hold back laughter.

"Woah that burns." Nino said when he was finally able to respond. His face was still flushed, but something told Adrien that it wasn't just from the milk burning his sinuses.

"That looked so funny though. I'll take all that as a yes?" Adrien said. Nino took a look at his smug face.

"Not a word dude. Not a word." he said, admitting defeat. Adrien just laughed.

Marinette decided she was sick of it. The longing glances Alya sent to the seat in front of them. The brighter than usual smiles that are directed only to one person. It was obvious. Alya had a crush on Nino.

Marinette decided she needed to do her job as best friend and set Alya up somehow. So, during class, she came up with a plan. The plan was simple, for the most part. She'd invite them all to a group outing, and then she'd ditch them and let them figure it out, hopefully. But, the problem was Adrien. She couldn't invite Nino to something without Adrien. It would make her intentions too obvious and she didn't want Adrien to feel left out. She needed to figure out a way to make him ditch too. But how? She'll figure that out later. But for now, she had to get Alya into going somewhere with her, and then ask the boys if they wanted to join them.

"Alyaaaa." Marinette sing-songed as they exited the school. "Are you free? It's been too long."

Alya thought for a moment. "It's been like a week Marinette."

"Please?" Marinette tried again with a pout on her lip and puppy dog eyes. She watched with satisfaction as Alya's resolve crumbled and she agreed.

"How are you ladies doing?" Adrien approached from behind with Nino in tow. Marinette couldn't believe it. She didn't have to hunt for them? You know what, I'm not going to question it. This is perfect. The opportunity will not go to waste.

"Actually, we're going to hang out. You guys wanna come?" Marinette asked excitedly.

Adrien looked to Nino who nodded. Adrien realized he can use this to help his friend hang with Alya. So he checked his phone and by some miracle, he was free this afternoon.

"Of course. I'll text the Gorilla and tell him not to pick me up."

"Yay!" Marinette said gleefully.

Everyone met back up after gathering their things and they started walking towards the bakery. Marinette made sure to stay a little behind Alya and Nino as they started talking.

"How have you been Marinette?" Adrien said next to her, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Waaah!" Marinette jumped as she looked at her. Adrien chuckled. "Not funny." she said as she jabbed him in the side.

"Sorry." he said as he chuckled some more. Then they arrived and walked inside. Her mom was tending the counter when she looked up.

"Hey hon. Would you like some macaroons?"

Both boys nodded vigorously, so then Sabine packed them a small box to take upstairs. So they went to the living room upstairs.

Alya found a spot on the rug in their living room and sat down. Marinette did too and she opened the box of treats. The boys came not a moment after.

"So? What do you guys want to do? Cards?" Marinette suggested. Alya shrugged and Adrien nodded.

Marinette then got a deck of cards from her room and divided the deck into four.

"Has anyone not played War before?" Adrien shook his head. Nino and Alya did tho so she decided to give a brief explanation while starting the game.

"So, you take the top card of your deck and put it face up in the middle. The person with the highest card takes all." Nino won this round. He grabbed all four cards and put them in the bottom of his pile.

"Okay doesn't seem too hard. So the winner is the one who ends up with all the cards?" Adrien said.

"Yup." Marinette said with a big grin as everyone placed more cards. "See what happened here though? If you're in a tie for the highest card, you place three cards face down in front of you face down and then the fourth card face up. Then you see what's the highest of you two again" Her and Alya both placed down a queen. She did as she said and placed three cards face down. Then drew her fourth card face up. Alya won.

"Ha! Let's see what i've got." Alya cheered. Adrien looked to Marinette in confusion.

"If these ties happen, you put the three cards down to make it more exciting. The winner gets to take the three cards you place down as well as the cards you placed before that."

"Dang. Well, that's simple enough. Let's do this." Adrien said with confidence.

Adrien went out first. He had the least amount of cards when it happened. It was a dramatic turn of events in which he and Nino tied for first, Adrien placed down his last cards, but Nino took all. Adrien thought the ace of hearts would win for sure but nope. Nino had a joker. The one card that could beat it. It was something to remember as he felt his smug expression fall into one of disbelief as Nino gasped and the crowd (Marinette and Alya) went wild. Whelp, befriending the embodiment of bad luck had to come back to him at some point

.

Adrien then watched from the side as the battle went on. Marinette went down second. Her defeat was more slow and painful. By some form or another, all her best cards were slowly replaced by low ones and then was defeated after about seven minutes of non stop losses. She seemed to take it really well though. She sat down right next to Adrien and cheered for Alya. After a few minutes though he and Marinette were almost being ignored completely as Alya playfully bickered with Nino as their cards swapped back and forth, and back and forth again. It seemed to be a cycle of one would win some and then lose some over and over. Their hands were both nearly the same size and have been for some time now.

"Psst." Marinette brought Adrien out of his thoughts by whispering into his ear and almost making him jump.

"They're probably going to be at this for a while. Wanna go downstairs and get some cookies?" Marinette whispered into his ear with a devious smirk on her face. "You know, give these love birds some time to themselves?" With that it clicked. He smiled and nodded.

They got up and headed down the stairs. They didn't even need to say anything because the 'love birds' were seemingly oblivious to them.

They went downstairs and into the kitchen. Tom was working on some croissants and Sabine was still at the counter.

"Hi papa!" Marinette said.

"Hello? What are you up to?" Tom replied with a smile.

"War. We were playing war and our other two friends are still at it." Marinette said.

"Oh yeah. Longest game that I've ever played lasted all night. I'm surprised you guys got out this quickly." Tom reminisced.

"Well, to be fair we were in for quite a while. Do we have any cookies?"

"No. Just sold out. Feel free to make more. That could be fun while your friends finish."

Marinette looked to Adrien who looked a little uncertain but nodded.

"I've never baked anything before. It may not be pretty." Adrien said.

"Marinette here will be here to help you. It should be fine." Tom then appeared to remember something and looked down at his watch. "Shoot. Look, me and your mom are going to close the shop for a few hours to deliver those cupcakes." he said as he gathered some things and called his wife. They then gathered the treats and loaded up.

"Good luck papa!"

AN: Sorry it took so long y'all. I'm not dead. I felt like I needed to clarify the Aces because some people play it as the weakest card. It doesn't change the game much though. Longest game I've been a part of lasted eight hours, and I got out in the first two. XD.