"That was so funny!" Nino said as they walked out of the movie.
"How come he's the 'God of Thunder' but he was being electrocuted half the time?" Marinette commented raising an eyebrow at Nino to which Adrien laughed.
They discussed the movie on the metro ride home until Alya interrupted the conversation.
"Oh! Speaking of lighting, did you guys see the Akuma yesterday?" Marinette's heart stopped in her chest, it wasn't that the Akuma was bad it was just when she didn't see Chat…
"Yeah I did, it didn't look like it was too hard for Ladybug and Chat Noir to beat," Adrien said vaguely. They got off the metro and began the walk towards Marinette's house.
"Did you see when Chat got knocked down though, dude? You gotta hear Alya's recording man, you hear this loud BOOM then Ladybug's voice…" Nino trailed off and shivered.
"Her voice?" Adrien asked confused turning to Alya who looked a bit troubled at what she caught on camera.
"From my perspective you see the lightning hit near Chat and him fall but I guess for Ladybug it looked like it hit him," Alya told him.
"Yeah, dude just hearing it on a recording gave me goosebumps" Nino added.
Adrien's stomach dropped, his ears had been ringing at the time from the thunder and lightning being so close.
"Yeah, I've never heard either of them sound like that but he was okay, he was there at the end of the Akuma to destroy it so they at least seemed okay," Alya added turning towards her friends noticing Marinette had been looking down and had been awful quiet.
"Hey, Mari? You good?" Alya asked cautiously but lighthearted. Marinette snapped up, she had been thinking about the incidents from both yesterday and early this morning. Adrien looked over to her as well, seeming a bit out of it too.
"I-um... Yeah, I was just thinking that it was probably a really scary moment for Ladybug, thinking her partner was hurt so much…" Marinette trailed off. Adrien thought to himself it was no wonder Ladybug didn't sleep well last night and maybe he should send her a message.
"Yeah, but they are the heroes of Paris! They can handle anything!" Nino said trying to lighten the mood, which unfortunately had the opposite effect. To most of their surprise, it was Adrien's voice that spoke up.
"You do realize they are just kids like us? Just because they have superpowers doesn't mean they can't be scared or anything," he wasn't mad at Nino's assumptions it was just so much pressure sometimes and they were still pretty young. The other three stopped for a second a bit shocked.
"I completely agree Adrien, it seems like so much pressure on them… I don't know how they do it if they really are our age" Marinette said confidently looking into Adrien's eyes, to be honest, she didn't know how she even did it. Adrien looked surprised and for a second they just stared at each other in a weird limbo until Alya cleared her throat.
"WELL, I'm confused where this conversation just went but I feel that and I'm sure Nino does too." She said as they finally reached Marinette's house.
"Adrien. Are you ready to have your life changed forever?" Alya paused looking intently into Adrien's eyes confusing them all.
"I uh yes?" He said suddenly a bit nervous. What was she talking about?
"Time to try Marinette's cupcakes!" She yelled grabbing his arm and shoving him into the bakery. Marinette was thankful for her friend's ability to break the tension. As they walked into the bakery Marinette's mom was at the cash register.
"Hello! How was the movie?" She asked the group.
"It was AWESOME!" Nino said excitedly to which her mother smiled.
"I'm glad! How's about you all go on upstairs and I can bring some of the extra pastries we have today in a few minutes." She said already pulling out some onto a tray.
"Could you put some of Marinette's cupcakes on there? Adrien hasn't had one before." Alya asked.
"Oh really! Absolutely!" Sabine Said smiling at her daughter.
"Sounds good maman! Thank you!" Marinette called as she started her way to the rest of the house.
Once they got upstairs Marinette set up the gaming console.
"Who's ready to get their butt kicked in Ultimate Mecha Strike III?" She said holding up two controllers.
"I will take that!" Adrien said plucking the controller from her hand. Marinette was flustered for a second but then took the challenge.
"Bring it Agreste," She said looking him in the eye. Alya snorted in the background and whispered to Nino,
"I didn't know this is how nerds flirted" to which Nino snickered.
After the first game, Adrien put up a fight but it was still Marinette that kicked his butt.
"I've got pastries!" Marinette's mother called as she walked into the living room, to which she got a chorus of thank you's as a response.
"Let Tom and I know if you all need anything we will be downstairs for a little longer. Enjoy the cupcake Adrien," She told the group as she went back to the bakery. They each grabbed something from the plate and for once were all silent. For a few seconds that is, until they heard Alya's phone snapping pictures. They looked over at her, phone pointed towards Adrien who looked like a puppy eating peanut butter for its first time. His eyes were wide and completely zoned out as he enjoyed the baked good. They all began to laugh pulling Adrien out of his trance looking very confused.
"What?" He asked innocently, to which Nino put a hand on his shoulder and said,
"Dude, now you know... Marinette's cupcakes" He gestured to her.
Adrien looked at his cupcake and then to her.
"You're amazing," he said breathlessly. To which Marinette's face instantly turned red.
"W-what you've never had a cupcake," She said looking at the pastry in her hands hoping he couldn't see how red her face was.
Adrien smiled a bit and laughed.
"Not recently? Not really something allowed for a 'models diet'" He said a bit sheepishly. Marinette's looked back up at him. It was unfair he wasn't allowed sweets like that normally, he was still a young and guys need a lot of food.
"Well, whenever you want one or any other baked good, you should come here, it is a bakery and we can't sell day-old pastries so I could keep some for you if you want?" Marinette said looking at Adrien. He was taken aback by the mix of kindness and determination Marinette had to get him sweets but it was just like her, to be kind and sweet.
"I might take you up on that" He smiled then taking another bite and melting onto the floor.
"It's so good! How do you not weigh a thousand pounds Marinette? How do you not eat these every second of every day?" He asked more dramatic than any of them had seen him before, to which they all began laughing. Marinette's face heat up again.
"See I told you her family's baking was the best!" Alya said regaining her composure.
"Wow, your family must make a lot of dough," Adrien said looking at Marinette with a familiar smile that she couldn't quite place. Her smile instantly disappeared, she sighed and said
"That was a terrible pun. I knead you to leave." Marinette said trying to keep her serious face. Adrien looked terrified for a few seconds, he didn't know what to do was she really offended by his jokes? Marinette kept her poker face until she realized he didn't get the joke.
"Knead. Like kneading bread?" She said beginning to giggle at his expression changing from terrified to realization to pure joy and laughter. They all began laughing at Adrien again.
"I didn't know you liked puns Marinette." Adrien wiped a tear from his eye from the laughter.
"I don't! I just... happened to make one. This ONE time!" She said with her hands on her head.
"This is actually terrible you two are the worst," Alya said flicking crumbs at the two of them.
"Hey, it wasn't a crummy joke!" Adrien said with a grin that gave Marinette another odd sense of dejavu.
After many puns and many rounds of Ultimate Mecha Strike III, they decided to call it a day. When this was decided Adrien looked like a little kid that was told it was time for bed.
"Don't look so sad Adrien we can do this again soon!" Marinette giggled. If you told her over a week ago that she would be able to joke with Adrien like she could with Alya and Nino she would have had a heart attack and exploded. Now it seemed silly that she couldn't talk to him, he was so much more childish than she had ever imagined. There was something about him that was so familiar to her but the feeling was never strong enough that she thought too much about it.
"Thank you so much for having us Marinette!" Adrien said with a pure smile. He didn't think he had ever had so much fun before. They weren't even doing some expensive activity! They just sat around playing video games and joking around! Adrien wondered if Chloe had ever thought of that before? When she wanted to hang out with him they always had to go shopping or do something fancy or expensive. He wondered if this was like Ladybug's life, did she hang-out with her friends like this? Alya's voice pulled him out of his thoughts,
"We have GOT to do this again next weekend!" they walked towards the door downstairs and paused to say goodbyes.
Nino gave Marinette a fist bump followed by Alya who gave her a hug and a wink followed by Adrien.
In the .3 seconds that Adrien was in front of Marinette she thought should I hug him? Fist bump? Nod? But Adrien had decided for her and was already going for a hug.
It was quick one like Alya's but it felt just as familiar, her head coming up to right under his chin and the way he hugged her felt so normal that when he pulled away she only had a light blush across her cheeks. As he pulled away she immediately missed the warmth of his hug.
"Thank you so much again I had a great day," Adrien said smiling as they walked downstairs. Marinette managed to get her words together before they left.
"I-I'm glad you had fun I'll see you later!" She couldn't be too upset with her little fumble of words he took her off guard!
After they left she cleaned up a bit and went upstairs with a soft smile on her face. She hadn't felt so normal in so long, just like it was before she was a superhero. It wasn't that she didn't love being Ladybug, but sometimes the lying to her friends and parents was just too much. To have a day where she was just a normal teenager was welcome.