(Tuesday)
Ring Ring Ring. Waking up with a slight headache I sit up and see a pretty positive Pluto floating above me "I have good news and I have bad news, which do you want first" he says
"Good new and then bad news" I say standing up slowly since I have to get ready for school
"The good news is that your fever broke and you should only have a cough, the bad news is because the fever broke you have to go to school." Getting ready for the day I walk into the kitchen and see a note from my parents 'Saw you were passed out with a fever last night so I went out and got some medicine' putting the note away I take two cold medicine pills and put the rest in my bag. Going to school I definitely felt better as the medicine worked its way through me body relieving some of the symptoms; by the time I arrived at class I felt a lot better and ready to take on the day. Walking to my seat in the back I overhear Alya and Marinette talking about Ruff Rider.
"Alya I still can't believe you keep inviting Ruff Rider to my parents bakery can't you guys meet somewhere else" Marinette says playfully
"What do you want me to invite him to my house, could you imagine the look on my parents face if I invited Ruff Rider to my house" Alya says back
"As long as it's not my house, I already have Cat Noir visit the bakery every now and then" Marinette says back before the teacher walks in and starts class. Halfway through the day I log onto the LadyBlog through my phone and message Alya.
'You know I bet your parents wouldn't mind me over' A few minutes later I get a message back
'Do you often eavesdrop on my conversations ;)' when I see the message I feel the blood rush to my face knowing I just admitted to eavesdropping, writing back I say
'Do you often talk about Ruff Rider' looking over to Alya I see her check her phone and immediately put it back down, I have to suppress a laugh knowing that Alya just admitted to talking about me. The rest of class went by pretty fast and eventually the bell sounded dismissing everyone, Adrien taking his usual seat during our tutor sessions and says
"Il est agréable de vous voir mieux"
"Merci, je me sens vraiment mieux" I reply not missing a beat
"I see you also remember everything I taught, I thought we were going to have to start over" Adrien says with a slight laugh. The rest of the lesson was lighthearted and fun and when we were done for today I felt that I learned a lot more than usual; walking home Pluto flies out of my bag and says
"I have a feeling that you forgot"
"Forgot what" I ask confused
"That you made plans to hangout with Alya this afternoon" Pluto says with a matter of fact attitude
"And when did I do this" I ask trying to remember what happened last night but all that comes to mind was the nightmare I had
"After you woke up from your nightmare you started to message Alya through the LadyBlog and made plans for Ruff Rider."
"You mean plans for me because last time I checked I am Ruff Rider" after I said that Pluto is forced to hide when people started getting near us; I hurry home so that I can get to the bakery on time. Getting home I throw my bag in my room "Time to Play" the moment the transformation was complete I jump out my window and make my way to the bakery. Getting there without breaking a sweat I enter the bakery and I don't see Alya but I do see Marinette who motions me to come sit down. When I do Marinette takes a sip of her drink and then says
"Alya will be here in a few minutes, you know you've been here for less than a month yet all of Paris has seen you personally" She says
"I think that's a bit extreme, do you not like me" I ask wondering where that remark came from
"It's not that but don't you think you should be Ruff Rider only when there is an akuma or if you want join LadyBug and Cat Noir on a patrol, I hear they do that at least once a week" Marinette says
"Maybe I do wander around the city as Ruff Rider a lot but how could I hang out with Alya as my civilian self when she only knows me with the mask on" I say starting to get nervous because I don't know what I did wrong
"That would be a good excuse except for Alya says you go to the same school as us and she told me that apparently we have both met you without the mask" Marinette says checking her phone after it beeps indicating she got a text "Alya is here" she says right when Alya walks into the bakery.
"Hey Marinette, hey Ruff Rider" Alya says pulling up a chair to the table
"Hey Alya me and Ruff Rider were just having a nice talk" Marinette says winking at Alya
"Marinette you did not" Alya says grinning at her best friend "If she gave you a hard time don't worry she did the same when she thought me and Nino were dating" Alya says blushing while at the same time hiding a smirk at the thought that Marinette could instill fear into someone with super strength.
"It's no problem really she was just making sure that I wasn't a creep or something" the moment the words leave my mouth I realize that Marinette must think me and Alya are dating if she did the same when she thought Nino and Alya were a thing. Marinette gets up and leaves saying something about needing to design a dress or something, when she is gone I turn to Alya and say "I never want to see that side of Marinette again."
Alya just looks at me and laughs, once she stops she says "If you are a good boy than you might be okay"
"Might be are the keywords" I say laughing and eventually we're both laughing when I get an idea "Do you want to see something amazing" I say unhooking the pendant from the suit so I can flip it open showing the map of Paris.
"What is that and how does it work" Alya asks looking at the hologram currently coming out the pendant showing a 3d image of our location
"It's a map that shows me every road, alleyway, house, and even other miraculous holders, I can either look at it from a bird's eye view or zoom in and watch locations in real time" I say while demonstrating various ways you can manipulate the map
"Do LadyBug and Cat Noir have a map like this" Alya asks while trying to find her house
"Yes but mine is way more sophisticated and complex" I say taking pride in that fact
"Ha I found it" Alya says zooming in on her house
"You have a magical map and the ability to look anywhere on earth and you choose your house" I say poking fun at her
"Don't tell me that wasn't the first thing you did" Alya says laughing
"Well maybe it was" I say knowing full well that was the first thing I did
"Hey you wouldn't happen to mind if you showed me your house" Alya asks hoping to see a glimpse into my civilian life, which I happily oblige by first turning around so she can't see the map and turning back around when I find it
"Here it is, home sweet home" I say handing Alya the pendant
"So this is your house" Alya says looking at it "Just by looking at it you wouldn't be able to tell that Ruff Rider lives there"
"Well I do, maybe one day I can show you it in person" I say knowing full well what that means
"You aren't planning on revealing your secret identity are you" Alya asks blushing
"I don't like to keep secrets" I say making the unconscious decision to scoot my chair a little closer "Especially from you" I say knowing full well that the red on my face is probably more noticeable than the sun in the sky.
"A-As much as I want to know who you are under the mask, you can't, what if I get akumatized than I would know who you are and that means Hawkmoth would know and there are so many other things that could happen" Alya says trying to convince herself that she shouldn't know the secret identity of Ruff Rider.
"You don't have to worry about Hawkmoth I will never let him lay a finger or a butterfly on you" I say with a fierce determination
"Maybe, but I still don't think it would be a good idea" Alya says using her last bit of self resolve
"Then don't think" I say before we both start leaning closer our hands intertwined when we finally kiss, it was brief but it was the best moment in my life, her lips tasting like ambrosia. When we break away we both sit there for a second our hands together, our eyes locked, and a blush on both of our faces, and of course Marinette who saw the entire thing.
"M-Marinette" Me and Alya both stammer at the same time
"How long have you been there" I ask trying to hide my face
"If you're wondering if I saw you kiss than yes I did" Marinette says wondering why Alya had to fall for Ruff Rider, the one person no one knows anything about.
"So are you mad" I ask
"Next time you want to make out do it somewhere else" Marinette says
"We were not making out" Alya says failing to hide her blush and slight embarrassment
"I need to go and compose my thoughts so see you tomorrow Alya" of course she won't know i'm Ruff Rider but she will technically see me, leaving I don't look back and rush home. Getting home I detransform and go to bed wondering what the future holds for me.
Doing the right thing and what the heart wants can be a constant battle, I just hope I can keep the peace.
Il est agréable de vous voir mieux-it is nice to see you looking better
Merci, je me sens vraiment mieux-Thank you, I really feel better
(Thanks so much for reading, and i'm thinking about doing the next chapter or part of the next chapter using the POV of Marinette to show Alya's reaction without just using Alya's POV to show it. Like always tell me what you think about the story and know that no ideas are a bad idea and I do want to hear them, your opinion matters to me since well you are reading this story)(Little side note: When Caleb transforms into Ruff Rider the necklace merges into the suit and the pendant attached to the necklace merges onto the suit in such a way that Caleb can pop it out and open it up to reveal the map)