Chapter 5: Take It or Leaf It

Marinette...

Marinette, your mouth is open. Shouldn't sound be coming out of it?

She closed her eyes for a moment, frustration seizing her, then opened them again. Adrien's green eyes were focused on hers, soft and unthreatening and perfect.

This is the moment of truth, Marinette thought. Three red carnations for me, when I didn't even have the nerve to sign my ONE for him. The third one said that he'd be up here waiting for me, reaching out to me, dying to hear me tell the world how much I love him.

And here he is.

Here WE are.

This is real.

She stared intently at Adrien, pleading with her eyes. Show me, my love. Show me how much you're feeling this moment inside. Give me the courage that I need.

Adrien watched Marinette waver, ever so slightly, hovering on the edge of something momentous.

That's what she'd promised this moment would be. Very, very special. Something that had been burning inside her. Something that the whole world needs to know. And it involves me.

She said that if she found me here, if I waited for her, if I took her hands in mine, she'd tell me what it is.

And here she is.

Here WE are.

She's struggling with it, whatever it is. I'm not sure just what it is that she needs to get out... but I need to be here for her.

His eyes searched hers. Those beautiful blue eyes, he thought. So much like Ladybug's. And the sweetest person behind them.

I'm here for you, Marinette, no matter what. What can I do to help?

"Adrien... there's something that I need to tell you," Marinette began. "Things that I read today... inspired me. There were words there that I never thought I'd see... but there they were. And I need to respond to them... I need to tell you something very important... and tell everyone."

She turned her head to the tables closest to them, seeing a double-handful of students settling down to eat, Chloé among them. "May I have your attention for a moment?" she called, which caused several of them to turn their heads in her direction. "There's something that I need to say out loud about the boy next to me. Something that I don't want to hide any longer."

Marinette turned back to Adrien, giving him a small smile, watching his face one more time, looking for his reaction.

Adrien heard Marinette's words and swallowed hard.

I'm still not completely sure where this is going, he thought. The card that was all lovey-dovey, the "I've been secretly in love with you" card... that was the fake. It has to be; Nino said one of them was faked, and everything in the other one has lined up perfectly!

So if she's not confessing that to me right now... and I'm not all the way sure what I'd do if she DID... what's about to happen here?

Each of them studied the other's face, their hands clasped together, their minds running on overdrive.

Each thought very hard about what they knew about each other, things that they had said, times they had spent together, the good and the bad, all of the shocks that this day had brought.

Marinette reached out with everything inside her to Adrien, and Adrien to Marinette. And they both reached the same conclusion...

They're not eager right now, they're not hopeful, they're not excited...

...They're SCARED!

"W-wait!" Marinette and Adrien both blurted out, nearly simultaneously.

There was a long pause.

Chloé caught her breath, nearby. A couple of the other students gave them an annoyed look, as if to ask, Well? What is it?

"O-okay. Adrien... I need to say something else first. M-may I?" Marinette managed, to which Adrien nodded nervously.

"I know that what I'm about to say... it's something very important to you. You made that very clear in the cards that came with your carnations," she began. "But I know you, Adrien. I like to think that I know you very well..."

The words "your carnations" registered with Adrien, and Marinette read the confusion on his face accurately. I knew it, I knew it, I KNEW IT! her brain shouted. It was too good to be true!

"...And I can't believe that if you truly meant what you wrote in those messages, if you know me like you think you do... that this is is how you'd want us to do it," Marinette said, quietly. "It just doesn't seem like you, Adrien."

"That's... because I'm not sure what those messages were, Marinette," Adrien said, picking his words extremely carefully. "I want you to know that I'm here, and I'm listening, okay? I'm ready if you are. But if you're not comfortable saying what this is about here and now, we can go somewhere private, or we can wait for another time..."

"And that's the Adrien I know," Marinette smiled. "I have to ask... did you send me any red carnations, Adrien, let alone three?"

"I didn't. Are you saying that those have MY name on them?" boggled Adrien.

"I am."

"Marinette... I have two red carnations here with your name on them. Did either of them come from you?" he asked.

It was Marinette's turn to look like a deer in headlights. "N-no..." she gasped. "Not with my name on them."

They stared at each other, wordlessly...

Both of them laughed, a hard, tension-shattering laugh...

"W-WAIT!"

Thundering feet presaged the imminent arrival of a sprinting group of friends, with Sabrina right behind them.

"Wait! Don't do it!" shouted Mylène, at the head of the pack. To her mild astonishment, she saw the two of them standing together, hand-in-hand... looking fairly relaxed?

"Which one of us are you yelling that to?" called Marinette, with a smile.

"Both!" answered Alix, frantically. "Someone's screwing you both over, and we know who it is!"

"And what a surprise... she's here, watching her handiwork up close," Mylène snarled, seeing a familiar blonde head at a nearby table.

The group closed in on Marinette and Adrien and caught their breath. Chloé stared at Sabrina, What are YOU doing with them? raging in her eyes, then scoffed loudly.

"I'm just here to enjoy my lunch," she drawled, smugly. "Or at least I was about to, until you interrupted things."

Adrien squeezed Marinette's hand gently, giving her a slight and unexpected thrill. "This is way too crazy... Come on over here, and let's compare what we received, okay? Let's see what we can figure out."

"I'd like that very much," smiled Marinette. "And thank you for stopping me. I just came pretty close to... something I wasn't ready for."

The pair sat down at a table across from Chloé's, spreading their carnations out, and their friends gathered around them. The students at other tables turned back to their lunches, seeing that there wasn't to be a floor show after all. Chloé waited for Sabrina to join her... but she didn't come, preferring to stand alone a short distance away.

"All right, let's start with what we do know. I sent you this one, Adrien," Marinette said, pointing to his pink carnation, "and you sent me mine, right?"

"I sure did! And I assure you that I meant every word of it," Adrien beamed.

"Good. That much is right with the world," she grinned. "Now... one at a time, I got these three today... all of which were supposedly from you. Take a look at the cards, please?"

Adrien's face told Marinette everything she needed to know about them. "Oh... my... I would never have made you... well, not like this... Marinette?"

He looked up at her, helplessly. "You spent all day getting these... thinking that I was pushing you really hard to do this?"

Her smile was reassuring. "Maybe... just a little bit?" Marinette admitted. "It didn't seem like you... but I was too overwhelmed to think straight for a while there, and when I came in here and you were waiting for me, just like the third card said... it seemed like maybe they were true after all."

"That's because I got this one..." Adrien explained, passing that card across to Marinette. "Which told me to be here, to wait for you and to listen to what you had to tell me... and when you showed up and came right over..."

"Oh-ho-ho-ho, very clever," admired Marinette. "And this one has the same handwriting as those three, doesn't it?"

"It sure does." Adrien looked up at their friends, surrounding them. "And I'll bet that they've got some insight as to whose handwriting that is... as if I didn't know."

All heads turned towards Chloé Bourgeois.

"Fine!" Chloé crowed. "I'll take credit, if I must! Best idea I've had in months. Two Euros for four flowers, and I had so much entertainment all morning long!"

Juleka's hand on the back of Rose's blouse kept her from charging at Chloé.

"It's your own fault, Dupain-Cheng. You were so rude to me in line, I had to do something!" Chloé sniffed. "First you held up the line, taking forever to write out your little love poem or whatever, then accusing me of buying my own flowers?"

"Why not? You did," snapped Sabrina.

As if at a tennis match, the heads collectively whipped from Chloé to Sabrina. A low "Ohhhhhh...!" was heard.

"You are crossing a line here, Sabrina," snarled Chloé.

"You crossed that line. I've helped you pull pranks and do a lot of stupid things... but this was simply cruel," Sabrina stated, flatly. "And I'm ashamed that I didn't come forward with what I knew until they made me do it."

"And that brings me to this carnation," interrupted Adrien, standing up with a red flower in his hand. "This had a very simple message on it: From Chloé Bourgeois, 'From your perfect match.'"

He looked over at Chloé, who remained impassive.

"So this is going where it belongs," he shrugged. With a smooth motion, he hurled it away, banking it off the wall and bouncing it straight into a large grey trash can.

"Fine! Go right ahead, take her side... utterly ridiculous," Chloé muttered. "You'll come back eventually. You always do."

A coldness came over Adrien's face, an anger the likes of which no one there had ever seen from him. "That white one that you got from me, Chloé? Throw it out on your way out," he told her. "Because you and I are done as friends."

"Oh, I'm so sure-"

"Chloé... Close your mouth," Adrien commanded her, his voice ringing.

Everyone froze... but especially Chloé.

He walked over to her and leaned in close. "Understand this," Adrien intoned. "You and I have known each other for a very long time. We didn't ask to be friends; we just were. We were two kids thrown together because of who our parents were. And I put up with a lot from you because I couldn't disappoint my father... but there were many other times that you really did try to be a friend. When you did reach out. When you weren't Chloé Bourgeois, Aspiring Diva of Paris, but a real person."

"But someone who could be this petty, this nasty, this hurtful to someone that I truly care about? I don't care what brought it on; that's not the person I knew. And it's not a person that I want to know."

"Adrien... I... but she said to me..." stammered Chloé.

"I. Don't. CARE," Adrien cut her off. "I'm done making excuses for you. You've burned that bridge, and I hope that you're proud of yourself."

"You cannot be seriously picking Dupain-Cheng over ME!" gasped Chloé, desperately.

"If I did... if I do... it'd be the easiest choice I'd ever make," Adrien smiled, coldly, then turned his back on her and walked away.

Chloé sputtered something incoherent, then looked around the room, searching for anyone who might count as an ally. None were visible. Cold stares came in return, along with an evil grin from Alix, who added, "You should be running."

Scooping up her belongings, Chloé searched for one last zinger to drop; not finding it, she left the cafeteria in a hurry.

Marinette watched Adrien return to his seat, with a slightly awestruck look on her face. His impassioned defense of her and Someone that I truly care about hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Well... um... I suppose that these should go in the trash bin as well," she said, gesturing to her three red carnations. "But I think I have somewhere better for them."

She stood up, picking the carnations up, and presented one each to Mylène, Alix and Rose. "It's wonderful to know that I have such good friends who have our backs," she grinned. "You two were right there for us when we needed you," she told Alix and Mylène, "and I think Rose needs this to keep from taking Chloé's head off her shoulders."

"Oh!" Rose beamed. "Marinette, you don't have to... that's so sweet of you," she cooed, and her soft-spoken self returned quickly, drawing some light laughter from the group.

"I mean this... nobody, like, beat her up in the parking lot, okay? I kind of think she lost more than she knows today already," soothed Marinette.

"And I meant every word of that," Adrien said, quietly. "There are things that can't be undone."

"My hero," smiled Marinette, with soft eyes.

"Now... Marinette, I have to ask you about this other one I got," ventured Adrien, cautiously. "This one wasn't part of Chloé's prank, as far as I know. It has different handwriting. Sabrina?"

Sabrina nodded. "I saw her fill out five of them. One real one to you, if anything she does is ever real... one fake one to you, and three fake ones to Marinette. I don't know anything about those other two reds you have."

"Could... I'm not sure I should ask this of you... no, I won't," evaded Adrien. "I'll just toss it."

"Adrien... what is it?" Marinette asked, holding him back gently. "What does the other one say?"

"This was the first one I got after we'd talked this morning. And it had me... well, just read it," Adrien managed. He passed it to her, clearly reluctant, his own face reddening.

Alya watched Marinette pick up the card and read it silently, Marinette's eyes bugging out in utter shock.

Come on, girl, she thought to herself. I shouldn't have done what I did, I know I shouldn't have, _but I set you up so perfectly!_ You just heard how much Adrien really cares about you. You haven't been able to tell him your feelings all year. Well, they're right there in the open now!

Please... you can do this, Marinette, begged Alya, trying hard to project those thoughts to her without saying them out loud. Nino gave her an uncomfortable look and stepped back slightly, which she didn't notice in the moment.

There may never be a better time than this! He's YOURS if you just reach out now!

With disbelief on her face, Marinette read the card again, this time aloud in a quiet voice:

"I've been too shy to tell you this, Adrien... but I absolutely adore you. There are so many days that I can't think of anything else when you're around... my brain just shuts down. If I seem tongue-tied and nervous around you... it's not because I don't like you, it's because I'm forcing myself not to throw my arms around you and kiss you until neither of us can think!

Be gentle with me, please... I might deny it at first... but I promise you that if you ask me the right way, I'm yours, if you'll have me."

Marinette closed her eyes, sinking into deep thought.

Alya... I am going to STAB YOU! came to her mind first. I know that you meant well, but this is... this is nearly as bad as what Chloé did. Worse, in a lot of ways!

She reopened her eyes and gave it a third reading, silently this time. Though I have to admit... if I wanted to put my feelings into words and explain how I've behaved all year... you did a good job. What you wrote was SO WRONG... but it wasn't a lie. At all.

Her eyes flickered over to Adrien... who was, all of a sudden, looking far more unsure of himself than he had just a minute before.

"I know what you'd told me once before, Marinette," he said, low enough to be not far above a whisper. "That you weren't crushing on me, that you were just really into fashion, that you liked being close with me but you didn't have feelings like that. But I'd be lying if what was there on that card didn't... well... resonate with me at least a little."

The look Adrien was giving her made Marinette melt inside. "Marinette... did you write this card?" he asked her.

I've actually said the words out loud now, Marinette shivered, though I was basically reading them from a script! She gazed at him once more, struggling within herself as to how to react.

Alya held her breath...

"No, Adrien, I didn't," Marinette breathed. "The words are beautiful, I have to admit... but I didn't write them. I have to be honest with you about that."

She watched his face very carefully... and couldn't tell if there was disappointment there mixed in with the acknowledgment and relief.

"I think that I know who did write it," Marinette added in a sharper tone, "and she and I will have lots to talk about, once I decide that I'll be speaking to her again."

The group stared at each other, looking confused... until Alya raised her hand, with her head down.

"Guilty as charged," she admitted.

Adrien looked astonished, then angry once more. "You?" he gasped.

"Yeah. That one was my fault. Nino tried to stop me," Alya stammered. "It was wrong of me to do, I know it was."

"I probably could've expected something like this from Chloé... but from you? Someone who's so close with Marinette?" Adrien glared, barely believing it. "Why on earth would you do this to your friend? Why would you lie about her like this, put her on the spot like this?"

Alya closed her eyes, knowing that she was trapped. I can't just say "because that's how she really feels and you haven't noticed it, you big dummy," because that would violate her trust AGAIN! She shook her head, remaining silent.

Adrien looked back and forth between Alya and Marinette, hoping that Marinette would give him some cue as to how to handle Alya's betrayal. Marinette simply closed her own eyes and turned away from both of them.

"Tell me! What were you thinking, Alya? Why would... you..."

Adrien's words faltered somewhat.

She wouldn't have wanted to hurt Marinette like Chloé did. I know that much, he reasoned. But why else would she have faked a card like that? Writing out something soft and sweet and romantic and...

...and...

...whoa.

Marinette said she came pretty close to... "something she wasn't ready for."

What did she mean by that?

He scanned the two of them again, looking for some hidden clue that would explain things more fully. Their other friends stood quietly, trying not to react more than was called for.

Chloé was being mean and vindictive. Alya... clearly wasn't. So why would she put THOSE words into Marinette's mouth, and not be able to explain why she did? Unless...

Marinette can barely look at me right now, after saying those words aloud...

She read those cards. She thought I was in love with her. That I needed her to tell me and the world that she wanted to be much more than friends.

And knowing that, she came up here... to say that...

The truth smacked his brain across the mouth.

...There's something genuine there!

Alya withered under the stares she got from her other friends, knowing how much they were deserved.

"Not cool. NOT cool," muttered Alix. Mylène's jaw dropped, her eyes screaming Do I even KNOW you any more?

"I know, I know!" Alya gasped. "We will all talk about this later, I promise, but not right here, okay? Especially you and I, Marinette. You have to know how sorry I am."

"Not now, Alya. Not today. I'll let you know when," Marinette managed.

Adrien cringed, and decided to change the subject as best he could. "There is one last mystery," he noted. "I got this one other red carnation... but I have no idea who it was from. It's addressed to me, but there's no name and no message."

He looked around the group, giving Alya a prolonged stare. "Do any of you know who could have sent it?"

Sabrina made as if to say something, then held it back, unwilling to stick her neck out. The others looked confused...

"I know... because I sent it."

The smallest of voices spoke up, pitched just loud enough to reach Adrien's ears. He turned, startled... and saw Marinette blushing redder than he'd ever seen another human being blush.

"You did?" Adrien half-whispered.

"Yeah, I did," Marinette breathed, tuning out the gasps among her friends. "And that one's not a fake. I meant to."

"Why didn't you sign it, then?" asked Adrien, gently. "So I would've known that it was from you?"

"Chloé and Sabrina were kind of rushing me in line, and I had to meet Alya in a hurry, and I ran out of time, and I... I kind of just couldn't find the right words," admitted Marinette. "I tried so hard to put... a bunch of things... together into words and nothing seemed quite right and I didn't get anything down on paper. And I ran off, and I guess the girl put it on the order pile as it was."

She looked up at him, helplessly, the words spilling out of her. "I'm not very good at signing things. Like flower cards... or Valentines..."

"Or other things that I could name," added Alya.

"But you won't," squirmed Marinette. "I'm digging enough of a hole on my own right now, thank you."

"You're really not," said Adrien.

She watched a soft smile form on his face, and dared to hope.

"Now that I know that this is from you, Marinette..." he began, "I know that I'll be keeping this one. And I have this other red carnation with your name on it, even though you weren't who sent it..."

Her hand shook slightly as Adrien leaned over and placed the red carnation into it. "So I want you to have one red one today from someone who really means it."

Marinette's whole world shook like her hand had shaken.

"Are you sure?" she asked, giving him an out if he needed it. "You don't have to. I love the pink one that you gave me already."

"I'm positive," smiled Adrien. "We can figure out... what it means... later, just between us, okay? But do you remember this morning, when you told me you were worried about whether you should go past white, if you and I were there yet?"

"Uh-huh," Marinette said.

"I know that you're well past pink in my eyes, Marinette," Adrien told her. "No doubt of that at all."

The two of them leaned into a long hug, to the cheers of their friends.

"Okay," Alix quipped, once the pair managed to let go of each other. "Does anyone know of any more carnations lined up? I think we've all had enough excitement for one day."

She looked around, and when no one mentioned that they did, she added, "Good! 'Cause it's lunchtime and I'm hungry, I don't know about you all..."

That got a round of laughter, and with the crisis past, the group split off to the various lunch lines and to give Marinette and Adrien a little much-needed privacy.

On the way to her next class, Marinette heard Tikki rustle up to the top of her purse. "Your carnation matches your cheeks," Tikki giggled.

"Can you blame me?" Marinette giggled back. "My dream finally came true! Well... kind of my dream. I don't know what I'd have to eat before bedtime to have dreams quite like how today went."

"I'll say... it was quite a ride. What do you think you're going to do about Alya?" wondered Tikki.

"Oh... I'll make her squirm for a while. I am not happy with what she did, even though I kind of understand why," said Marinette. "She's had her hand on my back so many times, shoving me towards Adrien, and this was just a more... direct way of that. We'll be friends again, I'm sure, but there will be some groveling-because-she-understands-what-she-did first."

"But I'm in too good of a mood to dwell on that right now," she smiled. "I finally got my secret feelings out to Adrien... the hard way... but it happened, and he has some feelings for me, too! It's a great start, and I can't wait to see where it goes."

Marinette gestured to the red carnation Adrien had given her, tucked into the corner of her purse. "And this time around... I'm ready for the whole world to see it."

~fin~

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Thank you for riding along with me through yet another quick fluff-fest! This idea came up in conversation with some fellow authors, and I figured I could do something cute with it. I might just have had something similar happen once upon a time in my own school days, too! (Thirty years ago, but it still counts.)

My apologies to those who have an accurate grasp on the French school system and its structure, because I do not. Françoise Dupont High School was undeniably Americanized in this story, from grade levels to class structure and student movement, because that's what I know. Given that the English dub paints it as "High School" and doesn't give a lot of context beyond that, I fudged it. Hope that you don't mind!

No apologies for the Part 4 cliffhanger. I'm just that evil. ;)

As always, thank you for reading. I write these stories because they're enjoyed, so your praise and feedback mean a lot to me.

-DFC