Every time Adrien Agreste passed her desk at work, Marinette swore all of the lights in the room dimmed because he was the sun. Bright blonde hair, inquisitive green eyes, kind smile. Listing off Adrien's traits was the same as listing off Marinette's list of interests in a partner.

She knew it was a bit odd to be so infatuated with someone she doesn't know, but they had spoken before, so it wasn't unfounded.

And, if she wasn't mistaken, Adrien seemed to enjoy their brief conversations.

Marinette swore that it was probably because of every weird thing she seemed to say because she stopped functioning as a rational human being any time she saw him, but the enjoyment was still there.

His voice sounded so familiar, but she chalked that up to constantly running their conversations over and over in her head. Every single time, she swooned. She was very thankful that she had a chair.

But, she was also an adult. She understood that the Adoration of Adrien (as Alya called it) was just a crush. It wasn't something sustainable because she wouldn't ever be able to form coherent sentences. And it made her feel conflicted. With the realization that her crush on Adrien existed without her even knowing anything about him other than his pretty face and his contagious laugh, she was forced to reckon with the fact that she maybe-sort-of started developing a teeny-tiny crush on her mystery cat.

That much really wasn't apparent until he told her that he loved her over the phone.

When she called Alya to complain about it, the brunette only sighed and said,

"Maybe it was an accident, you know? Like when kids call their teachers Mom or something. It's just an end of a phone conversation reflex, girl. Chill."

Marinette wrung her hands worriedly as she laid prone on her couch, her voice carrying over the phone speaker's crackle, "But, Als, what if he meant it? Like really truly meant it? Now I'm too afraid to meet him because what if he's creepy or what if he thinks I'm creepy or what if he wants too much or what if he-"

"I'm going to stop you, because I'm not gonna play the what if game all night. Do you want to know what I think? I think you two would be perfect for each other. I think you're scared you might have a crush on him, as childish as that sounds. I think he brings you out of your shell. You never know, Mari, this guy could be closer than you think."

Marinette paused for a moment. "Do you know something I don't?"

"I know a lot of things you don't," came Alya's voice, smirk audible around the words. "I'm really clever that way. Like a fox."

"Or a bloodhound. Always sniffing around in other people's business."

"Just...get over your mental block here. You're awesome, you're cute as heck, and anyone would be lucky to have you- real sons of your boss or mystery radio men or anyone else."

Marinette smiled and told Alya she loved her optimism before hanging up for the night. Being confronted with having a crush is a terrifying feeling, and can show up in so many different ways.

She knew she was interested in Adrien. She saw him just that morning and their conversation did nothing to quell the admiration she had for him. (She couldn't remember and hoped she didn't say anything embarrassing). But realizing that Chat Noir had wormed his way into her mind enough to garner mild-crush status...that was news to her. They were strangers. Except- they weren't. They texted frequently, and sent each other fragments of their day; things they had overheard or photos that made them think of the other were sent. They were friends! But that dang cat was also such a flirt, and she encouraged the flirting by teasing him back! The banter was just so natural between them.

Her growing affections for the two showcased two different sides to her personality. Not only did she feel incredibly guilty for harboring two crushes on two separate people at once, but she also began doubting herself. Neither of the ways she presented herself to either Adrien or Chat felt like the real her. She sighed under the weight of the realization that she wasn't quite sure which parts of her radio persona were actually her.

Glancing around her living room, books scattered about and random items of discarded clothing strewn along the floor, she closed her eyes to ignore the problem for a bit. It's like a metaphor for my life.
_

"Adrien. Bro. When you get this message, you need to picture my disappointed look staring at you with a small frown. And then you need to call me back."

He laughed at the voicemail left not even ten minutes ago. Nino could be overly dramatic when he wanted to be. Packing up his bag from the day of teaching, shoving papers into the beat up brown messenger bag with his right hand while dialing Nino with the other, he made his way out of the empty classroom.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Why are you disappointed in me?"

"Why are you disappointing?"

"Touché." Sounds like my father, Adrien thought.

"I'm disappointed because you mentioned you talked to that girl Marinette when you went to eat lunch with your dad, and yet you still won't ask her on a date."

"I see no reason to ask her on a date when I'm not interested in dating her."

"To get to know her? That's a good reason."

"My heart is devoted to whoever Ladybug is. You know that. We have a really good connection and I don't want to accidentally hurt someone else by having my heart be in another place. That's not fair to me or whoever I date. Marinette seems nice and all, but she's just not Ladybug."

The long silence on the other end was broken by Nino muttering something about how his life felt like a movie with an unnecessarily complicated plot, and that he might need to "rethink the bet," whatever that meant.

"You're not making any sense to me."

"For someone so beautiful and smart, you lack common sense. I will say no more. You still planning on meeting up with Ladybug at the concert?"

"Of course I am. It's going to be so great. I really think we'll hit it off. We're building something great that will change the world. Or, at least, our worlds. Forever," he trailed off wistfully.

"You've got it bad. I really hope this all works out- for you, and your bug. Listen, I gotta eat dinner and then head up to the station, but I'll talk to you later?"

"Yeah, see ya."
_

There was a week before the concert, and Nino and Alya were at their wits' end with their friends. The dancing around each other was infuriating, especially for a busybody like Alya.

Sitting in a diner, sharing a large plate of fries before Nino had to broadcast, the two talked about their wants to end the square of stupidity they were now both helplessly tangled in as their respective best friends kept coming so close- yet, so far- to the person of their dreams.

"I just want it to end so I can stop listening to phone calls about how cute Adrien is. Like, I get it, he's a model. They're always cute. And then having to point out to a grown woman she's got a crush on her radio lover? It's ridiculous!" Alya grumbled, grabbing three fries and shoving them in her mouth. Potato products solved a lot of her problems.

"I want to tell. Can we please tell? Because you start nearly foaming at the mouth every time you get a call from her, and if I have to hear how devoted he is to his "spotted lady love" that he won't bother asking out the cute girl at his dad's work, I am going to shake sense into him. I don't know how much longer I can do this, babe."

"We've got a week until the concert. Hopefully it lasts that long and no more. Mostly so I win the prize money, but also because I'm very done with them."

Nino grabbed a fry and popped it in his mouth, before offering the final few to his girlfriend. If they could survive the hurricane of bad that their friends were bound to bring because of their own stubbornness and blind obliviousness, they could survive anything.