Steph: Thank you so much for your kind comment. I am glad that you are enjoying my story!

Niom Lamboise: Of course. Poor Alya getting in her own way.

Bittersweetlie: I am posting as often as I can. I have a full time job as a teacher and I have two kids. I am so glad that you love the story.

wolfrunnerable12 : You better bet Marinette will protect her man!

5/1/18

Chapter 21: Realization

Marinette never thought that she could get sick of hearing about herself, but here she was, elbow perched atop her desk leaning her head into the palm of her hand ready to kneel over in boredom. Alya had been rambling for hours about the reemergence of Ladybug coming up with theories on her return, lamenting on the trashy article that had beaten her own, and concocting all sorts of ridiculous plans that would hopefully find her face to face with the elusive heroine.

Marinette had tried almost everything to get her friend's mind off of her other persona; she had put on a movie - during which Alya somehow masterfully managed to connect everything to Ladybug; she had tried to play a video game, but Alya only commented on how a Ladybug character would make the game so much better; and she had even tried to offer her friend some wine (in hopes of muddling her mind), but Alya had refused - stating that she needed to stay as sharp as a tack in order to construct an irrefutably well designed plan .

Marinette's phone lit up, showing Adrien's response to her inquiry about Nino. If Alya wasn't going to change what she was talking about, then Marinette would just have to speak with someone else.

[Adrien: Not so great, but thanks to you I think I have an idea.]

The bluenette shifted uncomfortably in her seat. What were those boys up to? Marinette analyzed the message that she had sent. Nothing within those words should have given Adrien an idea. Maybe she was reading too much into things; he possibly could have been referring to something that they had talked about weeks ago. But even then, she still had no idea of what she had said.

[Marinette: I'm glad that I could inspire you, but what exactly is your idea? Please let me in on this before you decide to do something stupid.]

"Why did you ask Adrien about Nino's well being?" Alya blurted, having successfully snuck up behind Marinette. She had been curious as to what had been so important to her friend as to stop listening to her conversation. Her heart jolted within her chest when she had seen her boyfriend's name show up across the screen. Was something wrong with Nino? Was he not feeling well? If that was the case, then why didn't she know? But then she saw the words that filled her spirit with the most unease: still oblivious.

"What are you not telling me, Mare?" Alya's eyes narrowed.

Marinette jerked around to face her friend at the sudden intrusion on her privacy and much longed for change of topic. Alya stood, arms crossed, with daggers in her eyes. Well, this wasn't exactly the change in conversation that Marinette had been hoping for. Why couldn't Alya bring up something simple, like what they were planning to eat?

"I-um," Marinette muttered, unsure of how to answer her question.

"What do you mean I am still oblivious? Oblivious about what?" Alya stomped her foot.

Marinette froze, eyes unblinking, as she tried to think of a way to calm Alya down. She was like a storm catcher, watching, powerless at the edge of the storm. Would the storm intensify, encouraged by the conditions to multiply into a raging swirl? Or would it fizzle down, dissipating into nothingness, leaving no destruction whatsoever in its path?

"Is there something that I am supposed to know? Something that has to do with Nino?" Alya questioned, throwing her hands into the air. "He seemed perfectly fine at the zoo today. We had a great time. We talked, we laughed, and… well I guess he did leave suddenly, but I thought that was because Adrien needed him for something."

"Adrien was just trying to be a good friend," Marinette blurted without even thinking. So much for calming the brewing storm.

Alya placed her hands on her hips, "A good friend? You sound as if he needed some kind of saving. Why would Adrien have to save Nino from me?"

Marinette had said too much. This was not her secret to tell. Nino would undoubtedly try to propose again, and Marinette did not want to ruin that surprise. Therefore, she continued to sit, tight lipped, as her friend gave her best impression of puppy dog eyes, masking the turmoil that was stirring within.

It didn't take long for Alya to drop her sweet demeanor. "Fine, if you're not going to tell me, then I will just have to figure it out for myself." She sighed, taking a deep breath and pinching her chin between her forefinger and her thumb. "Right before Adrien had so rudely whisked Nino away, Nino had been telling me about something. Hmmm… what did he say?"

She began to pace across the room, one arm folded across her chest with the other still rubbing against her chin. "We had been talking about being locked in that cage, and he had mentioned something about Ladybug and Chat Noir not always being successful in saving people. I remember kind of being upset about that, but I wasn't mad enough to make Adrien pull him away."

"Let's see, I think there was more than that." She plopped herself down on the chaise, leaning back on her hands and kicking her legs off the edge. "Oh that's right, he told me about the time that he had gotten zombified. He said something about it being his choice to stay with me. That part had been really sweet. In fact, everything he said after that had been quite sentimental now that I think about it."

Alya placed her feet on the ground as she sat straight up. The sappy comments, the promises of never leaving her behind - Alya's eyes burst wide open, her chest cinching with realization as she stood, gasping.

"OH MY GOSH! Oh no!" she cried, grabbing onto her chest with one hand and covering her mouth with the other. "He was going to propose!" Her legs buckled beneath her as she crumpled to her knees. "I'm such as an idiot…" she breathed. "There's no way he was just planning on tying his shoe. The makeover, the call, the trip to the zoo, it was all a rouse."

Her breaths were labored as it appeared to Marinette that she was about to hyperventilate. Swiftly, Marinette abandoned her post at the desk, swooping in to wrap her arms around her best friend. "It's okay Alya; it's going to be alright. You didn't know. The whole timing of the thing just really, really sucked."

"You don't understand," Alya countered, placing her hands on Marinette's shoulders and extending her arms with wild and pleading eyes. "I've ruined everything. I allowed myself to get completely distracted as soon as I heard Ladybug's name. He's going to leave me. Nino is going to think that I love Ladybug more than him!"

How could she have done that to her poor, sweet Nino? Her mind had never been on him; it had been on Ladybug the entire time and the mere mention of her was enough to take Alya's attention completely away from him. What kind of girlfriend is too caught up in her own obsessions to not even notice an attempt at a proposal from her boyfriend?

Seemingly out from nowhere Marinette laughed - a hearty laugh that could not be contained. What started as a mere chuckle, quickly escalated to a laughter that was so pure, that she could barely breathe.

Dropping her hands, Alya stood, shoulders slumped, facing away from her friend. "You find my misery amusing?"

"No," Marinette grinned as she also stood up, and brushed off her knees. She wrapped her arm around Alya's shoulders. "It's just that your conclusion is so ridiculous that I just couldn't keep it in. Alya," she breathed, blue eyes unwavering, "Nino was going to propose. He's not going to give up on you just because of one failed attempt. He is going to try again."

"How can you be so sure?" A single tear finally escaped, processing slowly and regretfully down Alya's cheek.

Marinette grinned as she caught the tear on the tip of her thumb, "Because I helped him plan it the first time." She removed her arm from Alya's shoulders, gently grabbing, instead, onto her warm, smooth hands. "Believe me, it won't take long for him to come to me again."

Alya's breathing relaxed as Marinette's words sunk in. Looking into her friend's steadfast cerulean eyes, she knew that what Marinette had said just was true. Of course Nino wasn't going to leave her. He had just promised to stick with her through thick and thin. Besides, Nino was one of the most forgiving people that Alya knew. She had missed their one year anniversary dinner reservation because she had been off chasing an akumatized victim. He had forgiven her then, so he would definitely forgive her again.

"I have to do something to show him that I truly do love him." Alya schemed, releasing the hold that Marinette had on her hands and pacing, back and forth across the room. "He must feel absolutely terrible. I need to do something to lift his spirits. Should I call him and apologize? Or maybe I can bake him some sort of desert and deliver it to him."

Marinette crossed her arms and sighed, "You are overthinking things, Alya. Unless your goal is to immediately alert Nino to the fact that you figured out his plan, I think that your best course of action would be to sit back and do nothing."

Swiftly turning on her heels to glare at her seemingly delusional friend, Alya shouted, "Do nothing? How could you expect me to not to do anything? I have to try to make this right!"

"No you don't," Marinette said with confidence. "This was not your fault and Nino knows that. Anything that you do right now could ruin any sort of surprise that he has left. My advice to you would be to just listen next time you are with him. I don't care what is going on. There could be a brand new Hawkmoth spreading akumas throughout the city for all I care, but you just need to shut your mind from the outside world and focus on him. Can you do that?"

"I-um…" Alya hesitantly began. This was going to be hard. She easily got excited over the simplest of things. Her mind was a constant newsreel chalk full and buzzing with current events. But, but she had already let that ruin her proposal once; she couldn't let that happen again. Nino deserved her full attention, and she would block out anything to give that to him.

"Yes," Alya promised. Nothing would come between them again, and the next time she said this word with such truth and finality, she would be saying yes to him.

()

A few hours later, not long after the sun had set, the two girls were snuggled, contentedly, in bed. Alya had seen the weary look in Marinette's eyes, knowing that her early wake up call was catching up, and had feigned fatigue just to get Marinette to rest.

Now that her best friend was asleep, Alya's mind ran rampant with possible scenarios of her next encounter with Nino. Would he try to propose, or would he act like nothing had happened? She wished that she could pretend that she hadn't figured out his intentions, but she wasn't so sure she could.

It would be like discovering that Ladybug was actually none other than her best friend, Marinette. Would she be able to just act like things were the same, as if nothing had changed? Probably not.

*Thudunk*

Alya sat straight up, heartbeat racing, at the sound that emanated from directly above her head. She wondered if someone was on the balcony, but quickly dismissed the idea. Unless someone had a ladder, or was an extremely skilled climber, there would be no way for anyone to get there. One of Marinette's potted plants must have fallen over.

She settled herself back down on the bed, pulling the sheets flush against her neck. With a sigh, she relaxed and closed her eyes only to have them immediately flutter back open as unmistakeable footsteps were heard overhead.

Alya looked over to her sleeping friend; she looked peaceful. Breaking Marinette's serene rest was the last thing that Alya wanted to do, but there was someone, maybe even multiple someones gallivanting above them. If the intruders somehow managed to break open the trap door, they could jump directly on top of Alya and Marinette. She had no choice. It was too dangerous to stay in bed.

"Mari," Alya whispered as she nudged her friend. "You have to wake up. We have got to move."

"Five more minutes mom," grumbled Marinette, turning herself over, snuggling deeper into her covers.

The sound of the footsteps quickened, raising the hair on Alya's skin. Her throat tightened and her breaths were shallow and ragged. There was no time to wait. Throwing herself off the edge off the bed, she pulled the sheets back and grabbed onto Marinette's waist, dragging her across the mattress.

Wishing that her friend wasn't such a heavy sleeper, Alya heaved Marinette off the side of the bed, firmly clutching her waist with one arm and holding the ladder with the other.

"What's going on?" Marinette squirmed within Alya's arm. She could not see her assailants face as she was turned away looking into the darkness of her room.

On instinct, Marinette thrust back her elbow causing Alya to lose her breath and to release her hold on both the ladder and Marinette. Both girls tumbled, painfully to the ground, Marinette pinned, face first to the floor.

"What the heck, Marinette," Alya moaned, rolling off Marinette to lay on her back. "Why did you attack me?"

"Hmm… maybe it had something to do with dangling off the side of my bed." Marinette scoffed, propping herself on her elbows. That was the second time this day that Alya had so rudely woken her up. "Besides, how was I supposed to know that it was you who had grabbed me? I thought I was being abducted!"

"That's exactly what I was trying to prevent!" Alya covered Marinette's mouth with her hand. "Don't say anything else… just listen."

A chill made its way down Marinette's spine. Quickly, she removed Alya's hand, "A-are those footsteps?" There was no way that she could transform, not without revealing herself to Alya and giving away the location of where Ladybug lived to the intruders. They would have to come up with some sort of plan. No stranger would stomp around on Marinette's balcony and get away with it.

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Thank you all for your continued support, and I hope that you stick with me through the remainder of this journey.