Marinette was up in her room on a Saturday afternoon. Having logged onto her PC, she was ready to record herself playing Minecraft with her friends. She set up her motion capture devices, and before Marinette knew it, she was the cartoon girl wearing pigtails in a red, black-spotted outfit and mask covering her eyes. Since she was gaming, headphones completed her outfit.
She was soon joined by her friends. Her group of youtubers consisted of Chat Noir, Carapace, Rena Rouge, and Queen Bee.
The first person to log onto her Discord voice call proved to be Queen Bee.
"Hey Ladybug!" greeted Queen Bee.
"Hey Ch— Queen Bee!" Marinette caught herself. Despite having known her online friends for 2 years and Chat Noir for 4, she still sometimes made a mistake that might give away her identity.
Carapace, Rena Rouge, and Queen Bee met Marinette online and soon they began to collaborate, but they did not care about keeping their identities a secret. Hence why Marinette almost called Queen Bee "Chloe". Marinette was not surprised that Chloe revealed herself at school by promoting her YouTube channel. It really is still the same Chloe, and even though she took multiple steps to becoming nicer, she still had the same trait of being a bit annoying and always wanting to be the center of attention. The name "Queen Bee" really fit, as she was popular in school. Although Marinette seemed like the unofficial leader of the youtubers, Queen Bee did not seem to mind, and she never tried to take charge.
Rena Rouge logged on next. "Hey girls!"
Marinette and Queen Bee greeted her.
"Sup, dudettes!" the unmistakeable voice of Carapace joined in.
"Hey, how are we doing, guys?" Chat Noir joined a few seconds after.
"I'm good!" said Marinette.
Marinette clicked the record button. "Hello everyone, this is Ladybug and welcome back to Miraculous SMP."
They went to the world called "Miraculous SMP". SMP stood for Survival Multiplayer. Even though they had multiple Minecraft worlds, this was the one they used the most. They were Team Miraculous. There was a series they recently did where they focused on beating the Ender Dragon, but they also did creative projects together whenever they decided not to record a video and just hang out together.
The Miraculous SMP had a town that was built from the ground up without using creative mode or mods. The youtubers lived in a mansion which had surprisingly been bigger than the town for a while.
Marinette was in her room. She had woken up in a bed that was bigger and fancier than necessary in the game. Her room had a lot of space –– with a desk and chair, and multiple blocks of wool to represent beanbags, it was quite a fancy room. Because it was her favorite color, a lot of stuff was purple and pink.
She went downstairs to the first floor where everyone else gathered. They were all in skins that looked like animal-themed superheroes, each with a mask covering the area around their eyes. Carapace was a turtle and Rena Rouge was a fox.
In the early episodes, they were focused on survival and gathering resources, but now they are more focused on roleplaying. They always roleplayed on this world, acting like superheroes sent to protect villagers. As they had been roleplaying for 2 years –– building the world along the way –– this was going to be their 173rd episode.
"Today's the day, fellas," Marinette said semi-dramatically, as they all sat at the massive and very grand dining room eating. "We're going to tackle an ocean monument. Pack your bags."
They grabbed everything they needed. This was a long-awaited expedition. Marinette put on her armor and made sure she had all her enchanted tools. They had tons of backups in case they died. She did not carry much since she wanted to keep her inventory free enough to gather loot, so she just had two stacks of cobblestone, crafting benches, and food. Before going, she made sure everyone had a bed.
They went over to the stable, mounted their horses, then went to the gate. The mansion was massive with dozens of rooms and surrounded by farms and fields. It was enclosed in a wall of stone bricks easily protecting them from unwanted mobs.
They rode up to the gate and Marinette pressed a button. The redstone-powered gate opened, and they closed the gate behind them.
They were heading off in an area they weren't familiar with. There were no minecart railroads there. After heading to the edges of the town, they set off into the woods. They rarely went there unless they needed to chop wood.
"We're a long way from the coast," said Marinette, taking the lead as usual.
"Hey, slow down," said Chat Noir playfully. "You better not leaf us behind –– it wood be bad if you did."
Marinette facepalmed upon hearing the lame pun.
"Don't worry," said Queen Bee. "We can always send our coordinates in case we get lost."
"Come on, babe," Carapace said to Rena Rouge. "Are you excited to go to the ocean?"
"I'm a little afraid, but we're a team," said Rena Rouge. "And I know you'll always protect me."
Marinette could handle Carapace and Rena Rouge being mushy. They were her friends in real life, Nino and Alya, respectively. It seemed that their relationship was part of the roleplay, just like in real life.
They found a beach by dusk. They tied their horses and built tents that they could sleep in. Carapace put torches, Chat Noir ate, Queen Bee placed her bed, and Rena Rouge attacked monsters with her sword. Marinette had just finished building her tent.
Carapace and Rena Rouge went to sleep in their tent.
Chat Noir stood in front of her. "Hey, Ladybug, what if I put my bed next to yours?"
"Uh …" Marinette trailed off.
"Why don't you put your bed next to mine, Chat?" Queen Bee said.
"You may put your bed next to mine, Chat, I don't mind," said Marinette.
"Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!" Queen Bee yelled.
Marinette knew about the joke, but she wasn't going to be dirty minded about the situation.
"Hey, honey, you may still put yours next to mine," said Chat Noir.
"Aww thanks kitty," said Queen Bee.
"Ayo," said Marinette. "You guys are sounding really sus right now."
There was a love triangle between Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Queen Bee, and it had been brewing between them for a hundred episodes now. It was easy for a casual viewer to understand. Chat Noir liked Ladybug, and Ladybug hadn't reciprocated yet. Queen Bee was obvious about her crush on Chat Noir, and it looked like Chat Noir was soon going to reciprocate.
It reminded her of real life, though it was Adrien instead of Chat Noir. Except both her and Chloe crushed on him, but Adrien was either oblivious or did not reciprocate. Adrien had told Marinette about what he thought of Chloe. His famous sentence "she's just a friend" came out of his mouth. It was acceptable for him to say that in that situation.
"It's fine," said Queen Bee. "Get your mind out of the gutter and don't worry about it."
"This is gonna be a nice little camping trip before we go for our deep dive," said Chat Noir.
They then went to sleep.
They crafted some boats but didn't board just yet as they decided to call it a day and stop recording.
"I've been looking forward to sailing on the sea," said Chat Noir. "Until next time."
They all logged off.
Marinette went downstairs to the bakery to pick a snack. There was a wide selection of food that her parents made for themselves. She settled on a croissant.
She was eating in the kitchen when she was approached by a short Chinese woman with red streaks falling at the front of her head from her black hair.
"Hey Tikki," Marinette greeted her cousin.
"Hey Marinette," said Tikki.
Tikki grabbed a few cookies. They both stood silently eating.
"So, have you made any moves on Adrien, or vice versa?" Tikki asked. She winked.
"We've been in the same friend group for a while, so that should mean something," said Marinette. "But that's it. I'm not sure if we're getting closer right now. Now that we hang out more regularly, I've been better at managing my feelings and keeping my cool. The feelings have changed, though. Maybe they don't feel as intense as they did when we were 13. I'm not sure if the fire inside is dying. There's a slim chance that he would eventually like me back."
"Let me guess, he's still insisting that you're just a friend to him?"
"You got that right. It may seem like he likes me too –– I mean, it seems like he enjoys his time with me. He might spend more time with me compared to other girls, but I don't know. I don't know how I can pick up signs. Some guys are obvious, but Adrien just isn't that kind of guy."
"If you want to pursue him, you could be more forward. It worked out for Plagg and I. I was starting conversations more often than he did. I always asked him about his day whenever we weren't in class."
"There must be other reasons. You must've attracted him too."
"There must be something about me, like my bubbly personality. Anyway, when was the last time you did something alone together?"
"Just the two of us? We haven't done that in months."
"Well, you should. Maybe you can drop hints until he asks you out. Or better yet, ask him out."
"Never heard of a story where the girl asked the guy out, but whatever."
"Do whatever you feel like doing, but make sure you plan carefully. You might want to talk to Plagg too. I bet he's more than willing to hook you up with Adrien. Unless you don't want us to set you guys up."
"Maybe next time he comes over. Or maybe next time Adrien and I hang out at his house on the weekend."
After eating, they went upstairs to watch some TV. They were currently watching Cobra Kai since a new season had just come out. They had watched a few episodes with Adrien and Plagg, but the two guys didn't mind if her and Tikki watched without them. Adrien had recommended it to her when it just came out. It inspired her to take karate classes. She now had another common interest with Adrien and Kagami.
Something clicked in Marinette's brain. Adrien always told her about his favorite forms of entertainment. He told her about the books he read and shows he watched. Maybe if she talked more excitedly about her favorite entertainment, they might get closer if he checked out the things she recommended. She had been doing that for a while, managing to get him to watch Outer Banks, but she should do more of it.
She had come a long way from being the shy and clumsy girl from middle school. She used to be the girl who couldn't say two sentences to Adrien without being tongue-tied. She imagined herself being more confident, like anytime she was Ladybug, but in real life, she was shy. She slowly grew out of it when she was in a friend group with Adrien, Alya, and Nino. She was more confident and composed around Adrien, though sometimes, her heart would beat faster out of excitement.
"I should probably recommend more of my favorite shows and music with Adrien," said Marinette. "Adrien enjoys listening to music, but not playing it. His Spotify playlist has a lot of different genres."
"Good idea, Marinette," said Tikki.
She had been thinking about what to say to Adrien, but she was also quite focused on the show. They then played the second episode for the day. Marinette found that there was a lot of suspense in the show. Each season seemed to have its own story arc and then the action just builds until the end of the season.
It was then time for dinner. Marinette and Tikki were joined by Marinette's parents: Tom and Sabine.
Dinner was quiet. Marinette savored her food, but she was busy thinking about what she was going to do the next time she saw Adrien at school. Maybe she would share more songs from her favorite artists. She never wanted to directly confess because she did not want to ruin their friendship. Yes, Adrien was a good friend, but she wanted to be more than friends. She was still sometimes thinking about the rare chance that they would get married and have three kids and a hamster.
She knew Adrien had a crush on Ladybug. It was a bit obvious, and it became common knowledge among their friend group. It would seem weird that Adrien would reject her, for her. Well, another side of her. She didn't want to give away her identity just to have a better chance with Adrien. She was hoping Adrien would get over what seemed like a stupid celebrity crush. She was crushing on a celebrity as well because Adrien was a famous influencer, but that was different. Marinette knew Adrien personally.
"Hey Marinette, with all those shooter games you play, you should probably shoot your shot with Adrien," said Tom.
"I'm not so sure," said Marinette. "Maybe he should shoot his shot first."
"I hope one day you'll get out of the friendzone," said Sabine.
"Been waiting for that forever," said Tikki.
Marinette scrolled though Instagram in her room. She saw some posts from fashion pages, people's drawings, and she also looked at some stories. She saw the stories from her friends in Team Miraculous. Chat Noir had posted saying that he just uploaded. He usually updates his Instagram and sometimes posts some highlights. He had posted a reel where he made that joke about putting Minecraft beds together. Marinette laughed as she looked through the comments. The comments were congratulating Adrien on apparently winning over both girls. A lot of comments had the emoji where an eyebrow was raised. Looks like the love triangle was going to continue, though she wasn't sure if Chloe was crushing on Chat or pretending for the sake of a roleplay. Her fans either shipped Chat with Ladybug or Queen Bee.
Marinette decided that she was just going to relax and enjoy the weekend by herself. She could work on more fashion designs and sewing and had no need for worrying about seeing her friends at school.
