"Tikki," Marinette calls out for her kwami, who was nibbling on a cookie at her desk, "What's the time?"
Tikki takes a glance at the computer screen for the hundredth time, "It's still five."
Marinette heaves out a sigh, flailing her arms out in the air, still lying on her day bed. Tikki smiles reassuringly, "Stop stressing over this Mari. A night out with Chat might be good for you, you might be able to finally move on from Adrien," the kwami reasons, trying to calm down her tense chosen.
"But am I even ready to me on?" Mari asks, pouting, sitting up.
Tikki finishes up her cookie, flying over the blunette's shoulder, "There's only one way to find out," the little ladybug says, "Adrien's going to be here any minute now for your project. Just see what happens!"
Marinette bites the inside of her cheek and nods, figuring that her kwami was probably right in this matter. Almost on cue, she hears her mother's voice from downstairs, calling for her, "Marinette, dear, you're friend is here for you!"
"Just send him up!" she calls back, not feeling like getting up. She didn't see much of a reason to try to impress him at this point. He'll never see her the same way she sees him. He was probably soaring in some other blunette girl's sky blue eyes, like the poem suggested. She was probably smarter and more courageous than her. There's so reason for Adrien to like a clumsy, awkward loser like her.
The trap door creaks open, the blonde boy peeking in, checking to see if it was okay to come in. Marinette stands up, trying her best to keep her cool, "H-hey," she blushes, tucking her hair behind her ears as Adrien walks into the room.
"Hey," he smiles, setting his school bag down on the chair. He looks back up at the flustered girl, blushing a little himself as he watches her play with her hair, nervously. 'Cute,' he smiles to himself. He'd be lying to himself if he said he didn't at least have a little crush on her. A lot of the boys in their year did. It was just the little things, like how she'd bite her thumb a little when she's concentrated or how her eyes would light up when she got excited and her little happy dance that would come out of it. Marinette was something else. Her positivity radiated off her onto the rest of the class and the only person who can't feel it is Chloe, who's willingly choosing to block it out.
It was the little things that made him love his lady too. The way she'd gets so determined when fighting an akuma, the little smile she thinks he doesn't notice when he cracks a pun and she pretends to hate it or the way she gets so worked up when he jumps in front of her to save her.
They were two people that you couldn't help but love and though his heart was given purely to his lady, there was still a little room for Marinette there too. A little soft spot. A little flower that had to be protected no matter what. A little ray of sunshine on the darker days when all seems lost. He wanted to be a part of Marinette's world, to be her friend, but first he has to prove to her that there's nothing to be afraid of. That he was someone she could trust instead of running away every time she saw him.
Marinette pulls out an extra chair and takes out their poster, sitting down, "I went a bit ahead, if you don't mind," she unrolls the page as Adrien sits next to her.
"No, no, that's fine," he smiles at her.
Marinette smiles back, a rosy pink hue dusted on her cheeks. They both take out their school supplies and begin working, Adrien doing the research and Marinette writing it up on yellow scrap paper in cursive writing and pasting it on the pale pink poster. This goes on for about thirty minutes before Marinette finally says something, "So how's things between you and that girl?" she asks innocently.
His eyes light up, mind going back to their date, "I think they're looking up," he says, a little dreamily, "I took you're advice. I asked her out."
Marinette fakes a smile, trying to think about her own date to keep her spirits up, "What did she say?"
She already knew the answer to that by just looking at the cheesy smile on his face yet somehow he heart still ached when he replied, "She said yes."
"I'm so happy for you Adrien!" she tries to sound positive, hiding her sadness as much as possible.
"Thanks," he grins, happy to be getting closer to her.
Sabine peeks through the trap door, calling for her daughter, "Marinette, can you help me downstairs for a moment?"
The girl looks over at Adrien, almost as if she was looking for approval to go. Adrien nods, "Go ahead, I'll wait!"
Mari nods as well, getting up and heading downstairs, "I'll be back in five!" she calls as the door closes behind her.
Adrien spins around in his chair, looking around the room as he waits for her. Time seemed to go a lot slower without her around. He let out a sigh as he stops spinning and taps his pencil on the desk. He tries his best to keep himself from touching his face subconsciously so he doesn't rub off the make up that covered his bruise. He really did give his make up artists a hard time today covering that injury up. It was even harder to come up with an excuse for it, seeing as how Adrien didn't have a lot of time to hang around after school.
Out of sheer boredom he lets Plagg out of his shirt, seeing as how he could get the kwami to entertain him for a bit.
"Wow, that's a whole lot of pink," the little cat comments, flying out of the shirt and into the open.
"Don't be rude Plagg!" Adrien scolds him, standing up and taking a good look at the place himself. He didn't get a chance to really explore with all the project work. Plagg, however had a different idea of looking around.
"Oooh~" the kwami chimes, eyeing the closed drawer, "What's in here?~"
Without much hesitation the kwami flies in the drawer, ignoring Adrien's attempts to stop him, "Hey, stop! We can't just snoop around!"
It was too late, Plagg was already in the drawer, pretty much forcing the model to open it. Adrien, scowls at the kwami but the disgusted expressions quickly gets wiped away, his cheeks flushing when he accidentally sees the drawer's contents.
Posters. Posters of him. A lot of them too. Wow, wow...wow okay. That's...a lot of pictures.
"Oh, this is rich!" Plagg cackles, getting a crack out of this as he flies over Adrien's shoulder.
"You think this is funny!?" Adrien flails his arms. From what it seems like, poor Marinette has a crush on him. A big one too and suddenly everything made sense, her nervousness, the way it took her months to be able to say a full sentence around him...oh God...and she was helping him with his love life! He felt like the biggest asshole in the world. How selfless does someone have to be to give up their feelings for someone just to make them happy?
Just then he hears footsteps coming up the stairs. In a fit of panic he slams the drawer shut, "Quick, hide!" he orders, making room for Plagg. The kwami zooms into his shirt as Marinette opens the trap door and walks inside the room.
"Hey, sorry. That took longer than expected," she laughs awkwardly. Adrien chuckles nervously, feeling beads of sweat dripping down his forehead, "Haha, that fine! Totally fine!" he tries to keep his cool, scratching the back of his neck.
How could be possibly act cool around her now though!? He felt absolutely terrible for even stumbling by this information! Never mind the fact that she was completely putting aside he feelings to help him!
Marinette cocks her eyebrow, taken back by his behaviour, "Okay..." she sits down in her seat. Adrien shifts uncomfortably, oh how could he have been so stupid? He couldn't just let her continue hurting herself for him but he couldn't confront her either. That would be even more dickish.
Maybe he could set her up with some other guy. A better guy. Someone who could treat Marinette like the princess she was. Kim seems like a pretty cool guy but not really Mari's type. A lot of the time he seemed to get on her nerves. Ivan? No, he was with Mylene and he doubts that he's her type either. What about Nathanael? He was nice, a little shy but nice. He was a good artist so they might have some stuff in common. He already has a crush on her too. He could make this happen...yes...he could!
"So..." he coughs to clear his throat, "What do you think about Nathanael?"
Marinette looks up from her work, a little confused as to why he'd ask that question, "Um, he's nice, I guess."
Adrien feels his non-existent beard, nodding at the match he made, "Would you say he's cute?"
"I guess?" she cocks her eyebrow. Nath was nice but she couldn't really see herself going out with him. At least not for long.
"Good, good," Adrien nods, "That's purrfect."
Marinette laughs, "Was that a pun?" she crosses her arms.
"Maybe~" he plays along, leaning in a little, letting his Chat Noir show a little.
Marinette rolls her eyes, getting back to writing, "You dork."
Adrien laughs along. If it weren't for Ladybug it would definitely be Marinette, "Oh shush, the ladies love my puns."
Marinette groans at that remark, "Maybe with bribery!"
"Hey!" he exclaims, putting a hand on his chest dramatically.
"What? It's true!" she chuckles, glad to finally be able to joke around him.
"You wound me, Mari," he gasps dramatically, spinning in his chair, earning another eye roll from the blunette.
"Dork," she repeats, smiling to herself. Adrien smiles back.
Today he just made a friend.
And tomorrow he was going to help her with her own love life.
The heroine lands on the grass, looking around for her partner. He said he was going to be here, why wasn't here? Chat wouldn't really bail on her, would he?
Just then, she hears a voice from the distance calling for her, "My lady!" Chat calls, "Over here!"
Ladybug's eyes light up as she swings over to him, landing gracefully in front of the large cherry blossom tree. She looks up at it in awe, then looking down to see a blanket spread under the tree with a small basket waiting to be opened.
It wasn't much, but in a way that's what made it even more special. Sure, it wasn't some dinner or a ball room dance like she expected him to try and pull off, him being Chat and all, but the simplicity of it all made it even better. The way the little flower petals would occasionally float down on the grass, some landing on the blanket or the little daisies that were spread across the hill.
"You like it?" Chat asks hopefully, eyes beaming, "I thought this place looked pretty so it reminded me of you!"
Ladybug gapes for a moment longer before smiling, a faint blush tainted across her cheeks, "It's beautiful," she says, kneeling down on the blanket. Chat grins victorious as he sits down next to her, crossing his legs.
"I'm glad you like it, my lady," he says as he opens the basket and pulls out two glasses and a carton of cranberry juice, "I figured that since we're too young to drink wine, I'd bring the second best option," he explains, pouring the juice in her glass first before his.
"Cranberry juice?" she cocks her eyebrow, laughing a little.
"Well it's red," he counters, happy to see her enjoying herself.
"You're ridiculous," she teases, taking a sip from her glass.
"You love it," the cat smirks, drinking from his own glass. Ladybug smiles, rolling her eyes. Sure, she was still upset over Adrien but she was comforted, knowing that he was happy and right now, at this very moment in time, Chat made her happy and she knew that she made him happy too. So it was all good, for now, right now, everything was good.