Chapter two of this story is up and running! Hope you like it!

Marinette's still trying to come to terms with Adrien asking her out, and she can't decide on what to say or do about it. But Lady Luck may very well have to force Marinette's hand. 😉


Back in her room, Marinette had finished all of her homework and completed some of the commissions she'd gotten over her site. She had her phone out and was staring at the contact card Adrien sent to her, while occasionally glancing at the bracelet he'd returned to her. For one moment, her eyes went towards the one poster of him she had in her room. His face had been covered by a white piece of paper, and the poster had annotations of her observations of his outfit everywhere.

'It's so weird. I never thought I'd even meet Adrien Agreste, let alone have him ask me out on a date,' Marinette thought, lying down on her bed. 'What should I do?'

The entire spectacle at school was still repeating on a loop in her mind and the sensation of his lips on her cheek was rose fresh. She'd pinched herself and Alya had told her that she wasn't dreaming, but what on earth was Marinette supposed to do?

'Especially after what happened last time...' Marinette thought, feeling some bouts of PTSD. She didn't like thinking about it, though.

"Marinette?" Tom said as he opened the door to Marinette's room. "It's getting busy downstairs. We need your help!"

"Coming!" Marinette said as she got off her bed and started walking down the stairs to it, before making her way to the trap door of her room.

Down in the bakeshop, there was a flood of customers, people buying up pastries and breads. Marinette would hand out samples, run for ingredients, and take orders to help her parents (they didn't have the money to invest in digital ordering/queuing systems quite yet).

"We need two dozen macarons out here!" Marinette called as she ran back to her mom and gave her the ticket.

"Got it, honey!" Sabine said.

"Marinette, we're running out of pecans and a few other of our items! Think you can run for them?" Tom called from behind, giving her cash and a list.

"On it, dad!" Marinette said as she ran outside, where her electric scooter was parked and plugged in. She mounted it, put her helmet on, and started zooming off to the store.

When Marinette got everything on the list and ran out of the store, she put all the ingredients into the basket on her scooter. She put her helmet on, got back on the scooter, and turned it on... Only to hear silence.

"Huh?" Marinette began, as she tried turning it on and off again. Nothing. "That's weird... It was in the charger when I got it out! Of all the times for it to fail!"

She got off the vehicle and tried looking at it. She took out the manual and troubleshooting guide, and started on a few of the suggestions. But her scooter wouldn't cooperate.

Her phone started ringing. Marinette looked at it and saw it was her mom. She picked up the call and said, "Hi, mom. I'm sorry for taking so long, but I'm stuck."

"Stuck? Like in traffic?" Sabine questioned.

"No, stuck as in my scooter isn't working. I'm working on troubleshooting right now." Marinette reported.

"That's inconvenient." Sabine sighed.

"To say the least," Marinette agreed. "What am I going to do?"

"Think you can call one of your friends for help?" Sabine suggested.

"That's not a bad idea. Let's just hope one of them has a trunk big enough to hold the scooter." Marinette murmured.

A car pulled up to the curb, and Marinette looked at it for a brief moment. She did a double-take, recognizing it as the car Adrien came in when he showed up at school. Said model came out of the car with a smile.

"Um, mom, I may have to call you back." Marinette said as she hung up.

"Marinette, hi!" Adrien greeted as he walked over to her. "Fancy seeing you here."

Marinette saw the red tint in his cheeks, paired with a shy smile.

"Yes, it is," Marinette said quickly as she went back to her scooter. "Listen, Adrien, it's nice to see you and all, but I don't have time to talk."

"Something wrong?" Adrien asked, sounding a little deflated.

"My parents sent me out on an errand for the bakery, but my scooter here decided my need for it wasn't important enough." Marinette explained, not looking at Adrien and continuing to examine the issue.

"Has this happened before?" Adrien asked, coming up next to her to look at the scooter.

"No, this is the first time, and I've had this scooter for a few years." Marinette spoke.

"You know, since I didn't get a chance to do it last time, maybe now you'll take me up on my offer to give you a lift home?" Adrien said, giving her a smile.

Marinette looked at him with wide eyes. She grew a smile herself and she said, "Really?! You'd do that?!"

"Yeah." Adrien explained, still blushing.

"Oh, that's perfect! Can the trunk hold the scooter?" Marinette asked.

"Hm..." Adrien began, looking at the car and then at the scooter.

The car was driving to the bakery, with the scooter strapped to the roof of the car, and Marinette and Adrien in the back seat, with the groceries in between them.

"Thank you so much for this," Marinette said, smiling in relief. "I'm so lucky that you came by."

"Don't worry about it. Glad I could help," Adrien chuckled before looking at her in worry. "So, what are you going to do about your scooter?"

"I should probably ask Max, one of my classmates, if he can take a look. He's more into tech and IT development - he's even built and programmed an AI robot buddy - but hopefully he can help me with this." Marinette confessed, texting Max and letting him know what was going on with her scooter.

"Nice to know you have friends you can lean on," Adrien confessed. "I wish I had that."

Marinette looked him over, noticing that he seemed a little despondent. Like he was yearning for something that he wasn't getting. He turned back to her with a smile.

"But you know how you said it was lucky that I came by? Honestly? I'm lucky that I found you," He confessed, chuckling. "I know it's only been a day, but I wanted to see you again."

Marinette blushed in embarrassment, saying, "You did?"

"I'd finished my fencing class and thought you'd be at the bakery, so..." Adrien began rubbing the back of his neck, awkwardly.

"Speaking of which, here we are," Marinette said as the driver pulled up to the curb in front of the bakery. She snatched up her bundles. "Thank you for your help, but my parents need these yesterday!"

Marinette unbuckled her seatbelt and she leaped out of the car.

"Hey, what about your scooter?" Adrien called.

"Oh, that's right!" Marinette said. "Just let me get these inside!"

Marinette dashed into the bakery before calling out, "Sorry I took so long! Scooter shenanigans!"

Everyone chuckled at the alliteration.

Sabine noticed the BMW outside and asked, "Marinette, did you get a ride? How much did it cost?"

"Oh, about that..." Marinette began, only to see Adrien come out of the car. He and his driver started to untie the scooter.

The huge, hulking man took the scooter in his hands before walking away to store it, meanwhile Adrien came into the bakery.

"I had the Gorilla put your scooter back where it belongs." Adrien said to her.

"Thanks," Marinette said, blushing and sighing in relief. "Hopefully Max gets back to me soon."

"You called Adrien Agreste for help?" Sabine asked, surprised to see one of Paris's most iconic teen models in the bakery.

"Actually, I was on my way here when I saw Marinette having some scooter trouble. I couldn't leave the matter be, so I offered her a lift home." Adrien explained.

"That was very kind of you, young man," Tom said as he took the groceries from Marinette. "Thanks for helping her."

"No problem." Adrien stated.

"How about a package of macarons, on the house?" Sabine offered as she gave Adrien a package of the cookies.

"Really? That's so kind of you," Adrien said as he took the box and opened it. "I've heard that these are some of the best in Paris. Can't wait to try it!"

"They're one of the bakery's best sellers." Marinette commented.

Adrien took out one of the passion fruit macarons and took a bite. He smiled, pink in the face in delight, and he said, "Man, this is so good! No wonder this place is popular."

Marinette laughed in delight, not noticing that Adrien was giving her an affectionate smile, still pink in the face, and his eyes focused on her.

"My parents do great work," Marinette said before gasping in epiphany and running behind the counter to start gathering up items for someone's order. "That's right! These customers won't serve themselves! I'd better get back to it. Thanks again, Adrien!"

"Yo... You're welcome, but I was hoping..." Adrien began, trying to find the words.

Everyone around them started whispering with intrigued, eager smiles and quiet squeals.

"Looks like the prince is coming to court the princess who saved his life." "It's so adorable, how humble the lady knight is." "They're so cute together!"

Marinette went red in the face, not liking what everyone was saying. Adrien heaved a sigh, like he was used to it, but still didn't like it.

"Marinette, maybe you and this young man should find somewhere private to talk?" Sabine spoke.

"But don't you need my help?" Marinette asked as she looked at her parents in confusion.

"We do, but your prince needs your attention." Tom joked.

"Dad, he's not my prince." Marinette muttered through grit teeth, her face pink with embarrassment.

Everyone started whispering. Marinette sighed, as did Adrien. Marinette in humiliation, Adrien in resignation.

"Marinette, I-" Adrien began, but the Gorilla came in and put his hand on the blonde's shoulder. The hulking giant made a grunting noise. Adrien hung his head in dismay before looking at Marinette and said, "Um, actually, I do need to go. Chinese lessons. But don't worry, I'll come by again."

Marinette gave a shrug with an awkward expression before trying to tell Adrien, "Adrien..."

She was interrupted by the Gorilla escorting Adrien out of the bakery gently pushing him by the back. The teen model looked over his shoulder at Marinette. He was blushing with a shy smile, and holding up his bitten macaron. He gave Marinette the "call me" hand signal while mouthing the words out, before eating the rest of the cookie in one bite.

Once he was out the door, the customers were clamoring, talking about Adrien's appearance. Marinette heard some of the customers saying that the only reason they started coming to the bakery was because of Marinette's actions. Luckily, the bakery's products were so good that they were coming back for more, regardless.

Marinette, for her part, was beet red again, and she tuned the customers out as she served them.

'I don't know if I should be grateful or frustrated.' Marinette thought as she bagged up more croissants for someone, all while trying to maintain a professional, cheery attitude.

Later on, Max came by with his AI companion, a tiny robot named Markov, and they were working on the scooter.

"Thanks for coming, Max," Marinette said. She was leaning against the wall where the scooter's charger was. "This means a lot to me."

"You're helping me and Markov test our video games and app programs at least 87% of the time, so this is the least we could do." Max responded as he cued Markov to change his robotic hand to a flathead screwdriver tip. Said robot opened the panel leading to the motor.

Markov switched his robotic arm again from a screwdriver to a flashlight, and he started moving the light around the motor compartment.

"I'm 65.29% certain that the issue is the motor. It looks like it hasn't been maintained well enough in some time. Has this been in for repairs before?" Markov responded.

"No, but thinking on it, I should have had it inspected and maintained better," Marinette confessed, sighing. "Especially since I've had it for three years."

"Routine care for any machine or vehicle is important," Max stated as he brought out his own flashlight and looked at the motor. "And upon closer examination, I'm 78% positive that Markov is right about the motor."

"I'll call the number for the repair shop," Marinette sighed, a little sad. "Thanks for this, Max. I owe you one."

"I do need some extra beta testers for an app that I've developed to help find André the ice cream man more often," Max stated as he and Markov put the access panel back on the scooter. "Would you mind?"

"Not at all! Hey, maybe you should ask the rest of our friends tohelp, too." Marinette suggested.

"Indeed, I could," Max chuckled as he stood up while Marinette pulled up the number for a repair shop that specialized in motorized electric scooters. "I'll send you the app for you to download, and you can ask Adrien to help test it out."

Marinette's face froze and she went pink, and she said, "Not you, too..."

As she was about to press the call button for the repair shop's phone number, her phone beeped with a text alert. She saw she'd gotten a message from Adrien. It was a selfie of him with a smile and a wink while holding up another one of the passion fruit macarons, which had a bite taken out of it.

Adrien: "These macarons rate five stars! I could eat thousands of them! Tell your parents that I'll try and get my father to book them for a function one of these days 😀. I'll see you again soon, Marinette 😊!"

Marinette sighed, and despite herself, an amused smile came upon her face. But another flashback and an episode of lightheadedness later, she shook her head and thought, 'NO! Bad Marinette, bad!'

Her heart was pounding from the memories from times gone by.

'Call me a pessimist, but I'm scared I'll be in for a repeat performance.' Marinette thought.

After calling the repair shop and bringing her scooter in, Marinette made her way back home and back to her room work on her commissions.

She was at one of her mannequins, working on a small Barbie dress for a woman's daughter, who was inspired by rocket scientist Katherine Johnson. She had more than enough "Barbie Pink" fabric for the design. She already finished the sketches for it, and looked up a picture of the doll so she could get an idea of what she had to do.

The instructions that were given were "make sure it screams "Barbie Katherine Johnson Doll" but otherwise, creative freedom."

That was easy enough for Marinette.

"Okay, so a traditional, white Johnny collar with buttons to match the design dress, with Barbie pink fabric as the primary color..." Marinette muttered to herself as she looked at the details of the doll. "I'll make a rocket transfer to iron onto the dress!"

Marinette started making the pattern for the dress, when her phone started going off.

She looked at it and saw it was Adrien calling her. Marinette looked at her phone and then back at the mannequin. She declined the call before putting her phone on "Do Not Disturb Work" function.

Once her patterns were done, and she cut the pieces out of the fabric, she laid them down next to her sewing machine. She hit the pedal to the machine and began sewing the pieces together for the whole dress. Once she put the sewed garment onto the mannequin, she started designing the iron-on rocket on a program on her computer. She made sure the rocket was darker in color so that way it would show up against the pink of the dress.

"And... Perfect! This will work!" Marinette said as she saved the image (just in case) before printing the transfer.

As the printer did its job, Marinette saw the screen on her phone light up. She pushed herself away from her PC and picked up her phone. She saw Adrien left her a voice message.

'I'll just listen and get back to work.' Marinette thought, pressing the Play button.

"Hi, Marinette. It's Adrien. I wanted to check in and see how you were doing, with your scooter failing on you and all." The message started, followed by a shy, awkward chuckle.

Marinette gave a playful roll of her eyes before noticing the message had more to it.

"But I also wanted to know... I have some time this coming Thursday afternoon. Maybe we can get together and... Talk? I mean, if you have the time, it being a school day and all." The recording played.

Marinette grew a worried, nervous expression as she kept listening.

"Call me back when you get a chance, please? Bye." It finished before the message stopped.

Marinette looked at the number that was attached to Adrien's voicemail message, and she examined it, as if trying to find some sort of weird clue that would warn her about what was to come.

Looking back at her station, seeing all the works she'd finished, while seeing the dress was still in progress, she took a deep breath.

"I think I can take a little break." She murmured to herself as she called Adrien's number.

She waited with bated breath and a pounding heart, all while the phone rang. But it only took one ring for Adrien to pick up.

"Hello?" Adrien asked.

"H-Hi, Adrien, it's me." Marinette said, a little nervous.

"Marinette! You called!" Adrien spoke over the phone, delight in his voice. Marinette felt a blush coming on, while hearing him muttering under his breath over the other line. "S-So, um... What's the situation with your scooter? Is it working again?"

Marinette responded, "Well, it's in for repairs. According to Max, the motor hasn't been maintained in a while. It might need to be replaced. Good thing I have some funds saved up in case I need to pay for it."

"Glad you're getting it straightened out," Adrien said. "And, I..."

Marinette waited a little. Again, she could hear him muttering something, and it sounded like he was trying to give himself a pep talk.

"About next Thursday..." He began, clearing his throat. "Have you thought about it?"

"Oh, um..." Marinette began, not sure how to answer.

"I promise I'll do my best not to make a scene!" He vowed, a pleading tone of voice.

Marinette went quiet.

'I DO owe him one for helping me get home. And he SEEMS genuine about it...' She thought to herself. 'So... I guess it wouldn't hurt.'

"I... I think I have some time that day." Marinette said, her free hand balling up in anxiety.

She heard what sounded like a happy sigh of relief, and he heard, "Great! I can't wait to see you again, Marinette!"

The sound of the call being disconnected was heard. Marinette took a deep breath before saying aloud, "I hope I know what I'm doing."

At school the next day, Marinette was sitting next to Alya at their shared desk and talking to her about what happened. The rest of the girls (Zoé aside, as she wasn't in their homeroom) were surrounding them, listening in on it, too.

"So, he brought you home when your scooter broke down?" Alya asked, a teasing lilt to her voice.

"Yes, and he called me to check on me and see if I was okay afterwords. He asked if I could meet up with him next week." Marinette responded.

"Marinette, he likes you! He really likes you!" Rose squealed.

"Rose is right," Alix agreed. "Adrien wouldn't have gone out of his way to help you, call you, or invite you out a few times if he didn't want to get closer to you."

Marinette went pink in the face before saying, "I'm just a little bewildered by all of this. All I did was push him out of the way of a falling light. There's no way that sparked his interest in me."

Juleka mumbled something, and Myléne added, "It's true, people have fallen in love for more mundane reasons and under less chaotic circumstances."

"Like what?" Marinette asked, unsavory memories popping up.

"Ivan and me, for one," Myléne stated. "And we have you to thank for that. Remember how you helped Ivan communicate his feelings through that song?"

"Yes, but I definitely think I should've said, "Write it down and give it to her, don't sing." I hadn't realized his singing was like that." Marinette spoke.

"No kidding," Alya agreed, getting a laugh out of the girls. "Then there's me and Nino. I still can't believe it all started because he chickened out to confess to you."

"Yeah, and I got carried away, trying to set you two up." Marinette laughed, embarrassed.

Alix added, "Then the animals at the zoo got loose and you and Nino somehow got stuck in the panther cage for the rest of the afternoon until your dad came and got you out."

"It was like something out of a cartoon." Alya laughed in agreement.

"And look at you guys now: you went from saying he's like a brother to you, to not being able to keep your hands off each other." Marinette giggled.

"Lucky us," Alya giggled. "But you, girl, have Adrien wrapped around your finger."

Marinette, red in the face, sighed before saying, "...How do I know it's not the other way around?"

"It'd better be!" Chloé screeched from her spot. "He's wasted on the likes of you! All boys are wasted on you!"

"Shut up, Chloé!" Alya shot back, briefly turning her head to the blonde before turning back to Marinette.

"So, Adrien asked you if you were available next Thursday. Did you answer? What did you tell him?" Rose asked, eager.

"I..." Marinette began as she looked at each and every one of her gal-pals' faces. They were eager for answers, and it was palpable. "I took a chance and said yes."

The girls cheered a little.

"This is so exciting!" Myléne said, clapping her hands.

Marinette's phone vibrated with an alert. She took it out of her pocket and saw she had a message.

"He messaged me." Marinette said, garnering a squeal out of the girls.

"Read it aloud! What did he say?!" Rose eagerly asked, while Marinette read over the message.

Marinette, still red in the face, said, "He wrote, "I'm looking forward to next Thursday, Marinette! I've got some surprises for you!" He's enthusiastic about this, no doubt."

"He definitely is," Myléne said, only to see the anxious look on Marinette's face. "What's wrong?"

"Um... Is it strange that I'm feeling some butterflies in my stomach? Both good and bad ones?" Marinette confessed.

Juleka mumbled something again, and Alix said, "Yeah, you're right, Juleka - that kind of reaction is normal."

"On the one hand, you're excited about a new romantic prospect. On the other hand, you're also scared since..." Alya said, trailing off.

The rest of the girls grew uncomfortable facial expressions. Marinette gave a nod, her face falling a little.

"Good morning, class!" Mlle. Bustier said as she came into the classroom. Everyone went back to their seats.

Marinette put her phone on "Do Not Disturb School" mode before putting it away.


When she got home that afternoon, she opened the side door to the building to avoid nosy customers.

"Marinette! Nadja's here! She wants to talk to you about what happened with Adrien!" Sabine said as she poked her head in through the door to the stairwell.

"If it's for an interview for her news show, tell her "no comment," Mom." Marinette sighed as she walked up the stairs to the living space.

Sabine gave a patient smile and sigh before shutting the door.

Up in her room, Marinette was working on her homework, her mind trying to stay focused on the task at hand instead of worrying about Adrien's invitation. But as she looked over her physics assignment, all the formulas and equations were boggling her mind. It was like every time she looked at the formula, the numbers and symbols would dance around and rearrange themselves, leaving Marinette lost.

She slammed her head against her desk, groaning.

The rest of the week came and went. That Thursday afternoon, Marinette walked out of the school building with her backpack on her back and her purse over her shoulder.

'Okay, Marinette, you can do this. It won't be like last time, IT WON'T be like last time!' Marinette thought to herself, trying to avoid flashing back.

"Hey girl, looks like your suitor's here," Alya said as she came up towards Marinette. "Take a look."

Marinette saw Adrien standing at the curb, in front of the car. He had his hands behind his back, looking a little shy and anxious. His cheeks were pink. Marinette swallowed a lump in her throat when she saw his hands were behind his back.

"I'll be on standby in case shit hits the fan." Alya whispered to Marinette.

Marinette gave a nod before walking down the stairs to the school.

"Adrikins!" Chloé shouted as she ran down the stairs, shoving Marinette aside.

Marinette fell down a few steps, landing on her stomach. Alya came down to help Marinette stand up.

"Thanks, Alya." Marinette said. She looked over and saw Chloé once again hanging onto Adrien's arm, without any sense of personal space.

"Oh, you got me flowers?!" Chloé squealed as she took the flower bouquet Adrien had behind him. "You really should have, since flowers say "I'm sorry!" After all, your betrayal, ending our friendship, was ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!"

Marinette watched in dismay before hanging her head. She thought, 'I should've known...'

"These flowers are for Marinette, because that's who I'm here to pick up." Adrien said as he took the flowers away from Chloé before giving her an anger and hate-filled stare.

Marinette wasn't sure if the whole thing was a show, but she breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, 'Flowers, huh? That's good.'

Adrien saw Marinette before smiling, waving her over and calling out, "Marinette, over here!"

Marinette, her confidence building, started jogging down the stairs before making her way over to him.

"Hi, Adrien." Marinette said, blushing.

"Sorry about that scene, especially since I promised not to make one," Adrien apologized. "I got these for you."

He handed out the paper-wrapped bouquet, and Marinette gave a timid smile as she took them.

"For me? Thank you so much." Marinette said as she smelled the blooms.

"Hey, why are you giving her flowers?!" Chloé snapped.

Adrien looked at his bodyguard, who was in the driver's seat, before mouthing out, "Get Chloé out of here."

The big man came out of the came before blocking Chloé and moving her away. She was still screeching and yelling out for Adrien to pay attention to her, but he only had eyes for Marinette. Marinette was still looking over the flowers rather than the boy before her, as if trying to find something amiss with them.

"So... What do you think?" Adrien asked.

Marinette abruptly looked up at him before saying, "Y-Yes! I like them, they're beautiful."

She heard him breathe, almost like he was relieved about her reaction.

"Did you know? Yellow lilies are symbolic of gratitude, no matter the situation," Adrien said, still pink in the face while pointing out each flower in the bouquet. "And white hydrangeas are supposed to mean abundance. So, I guess I'm trying to say that I'm abundantly grateful to you, saving me from that falling light and all."

Marinette blushed in response before telling him, "You're welcome, but I..."

"No "buts" Marinette," Adrien said, stopping her with his hand up. "Now, shall we go?"

He held his hand back out for her to take.

"S... Sure." Marinette stammered as she put her hand into his own. Her heart thumped a bit at the touch. He brought her into the back seat of the car before shutting the door to her seat and going around the other side to get in.

When the driver came back and got into the driver's seat, he gave a grunt before driving off.

Back on the stairs, Alya had a sly smile on her face as she was messing with her phone. Her boyfriend, Nino Lahiffe, came up next to her and asked her, "What was that all about, Alya?"

"That, Nino, was the beginning of Marinette's love story with the boy she rescued." Alya said, not taking her eyes off the phone.

"Really?" Nino chuckled, amused. "Nice to see Marinette's starting to come out of her shell. But how do you know he feels that way?"

"Look at this," Alya said as she pulled up something on her phone to show her boyfriend. "I saw those white gardenias in that bouquet."

Nino looked over the information on the site, and a smile started growing on his face.

"I get you..." Nino said, smiling. "Think Marinette has any idea?"

"Probably not." Alya giggled.

In the car, it was dead quiet with a hint of awkwardness. Marinette was looking at the bouquet at every possible angle, smiling and smelling them. Occasionally, she'd sneak a glance out of her peripheral vision at Adrien. Every time, though, she noticed he was staring at her with his model smile, his face still pink. Marinette had to fight back her own blushing.

'Come on, Marinette, you gotta say something!' Marinette thought.

"You must really like those flowers." He chuckled, cutting through the awkward silence. Marinette looked at him, seeing his smile.

"Oh, yes, I do!" Marinette responded, blushing a little.

"I'm glad," Adrien said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I wasn't sure what you liked, so I asked the florist for some advice on which flowers to give you."

Marinette looked at him in surprise, and he saw his blushing face and timid, relieved smile.

"But I also gotta thank you for the other day," Marinette spoke to him. "You really helped me out of a tight spot with my scooter."

"Speaking of which, has it been fixed yet?" Adrien asked. "I can always ask my father to get you a new one if it comes down to it."

"Thanks, but no thanks. It'll be ready by tomorrow, and I've been saving up my own money to get my own motorbike for my eighteenth birthday." Marinette responded.

"That's incredible," He said, smiling. "I'm used to having everything handed to me on a silver platter right out of the gate. I'm sure it feels different, in a good way, to work hard for a while to earn what you want."

"It does feel different to earn it on your own." Marinette laughed.

"I... envy people who don't live the way I do." Adrien confessed.

"What? Why would you envy us?" Marinette asked, confused.

He had looks, money, and connections! Why would he be envious of people like her or her friends? But then Marinette had to slow her thought process down. She had to remember that two members of her friend group, Zoé and Kagami, were also from high socio-economic status families, but they were humble and more comfortable spending time with her and her friends instead of the upper class. Maybe Adrien was the same way?

He looked away and his face fell to the floor.

"...A tight-knit group of people who truly care about you. People that don't bend over backwards for you because of money or status, and don't look down on others for not having money and status... I've always wanted that." He murmured under his breath.

Marinette's face fell in worry, before thinking, 'He mentioned wanting to have friends he could count on before. I guess there's more to this guy than I thought.'

"Then... I guess you can count on me to be a friend." Marinette said as she gave him a smile.

Adrien looked back up at her. A few beats later, his face was still red as he smiled.


Hope you liked it! Now, keep the comments, kudos, and views coming, especially since I'm trying to figure out how this whole plot is going to go.

Coming up, Marinette gets to know Adrien more, but she's still anxious that something's going to happen. But what?