The Gift and the Price

~~~Author's Notes:

I totally just did this for fun. After watching the cartoon, I couldn't help it! It's a three parter Short Story!

"Sooo, hey!" Cat Noir droned to get Ladybug's attention. They were staking out yet another suspect...at a mattress store. This was almost as lame as the time with Pidgeon Man... almost. She looked at him. He scrawled out on his side, showing her his rugged good looks.

"What?"

"When's your birthday? It's been a whole year now at this job and I'd like to at least give you a gift."

A look of surprise flashed on her face. "Um...April 21st."

"Mmmmmhmmm, a spring birthday. Lovely."

"Ugh, just keep a lookout, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah. But that's just a month away. Look forward to your amazing gift by yours truly."

...

"Oh what am I going to do?! I promised Ladybug an amazing gift for her birthday! It's only two days away!" Adrien freak out, walking to school.

"Relax! You can get her something quick. Your rich!" Plagg sighed.

"I want to give her something meaningful, not expensive. It sends the wrong message."

"Well you better figure out what message you ARE trying to send..." Plagg returned while heading into Adrien's backpack. They were now at school.

"...H-Hi Adrien!" A timid voice made him look up to see Marinette and her friend Alya.

"Hi two you..." He sighed.

"What's wrong?" Alya asked.

"A birthday is coming up and I don't know what I should do..."

Alya elbowed Marinette. "Maybe, Marinette can help you pick something out after school. She's got great taste." The blue haired girl let out a strangled squeal.

Adrien look up, wide eyed. Of course! Who better than a girl to know what a girl wants?

"That would be great! I want to give her something really special. Thanks, Marinette!" He smiled and walked away.

"Problem is none..." Marinette blabbed out.

"Oh yikes..." Alya groaned.

"What?"

"He wouldn't ask you to help for a birthday gift if it was for you! That means Adrien has the hots for someone else!"

"WHAT?! Oh no! B-but the Valentine letter-, "She yelped.

"Maybe he thought it was someone else..."

"But...but what am I going to do?!"

"Go with him and sniff out who he's going to give this birthday gift for."

"O-okay..."

...

"So... what's this girl like? I-I mean, what does she like?" Marinette stuttered. They were going through the shopping areas of Paris.

"Well...I don't know. I guess she likes ladybugs."

"What does she like to wear?"

"Ladybugs?"

"Is that all she likes?"

"It's all I ever see her in..."

This is going now where... They both thought, leafing through Ladybug merchandise.

"But I wanna give her something more meaningful. Special..." Adrien sighed.

Marinette froze with a squeak. Oh no! I'm helping him fall in love with someone else! What do I do?

"So-so you really like this girl..."

"Well, yeah. A lot of people do. But they don't spend as much time with her as I do." He let out a longing sigh.

"I-is she from our school? Maybe I'd know her..."

"I think she goes to our school, but i'm not 100% positive. And everyone knows her."

"W..What? How can you not know if she goes to our school?"

"Well, I think she's keeping her secret identity from everyone, but you can hardly expect Ladybug to just announce herself to everyone."

Marinette froze. "It's for Ladybug?"

"Yeah. I know her birthday is in two days. I really want her to know how much she means to me." He told her, bending over to look at the bottom shelf.

Marinette felt like she was being hit by a bus! Adrien is giving me a birthday gift! To me! She secretly gushed. This changes everything!

"If you really like her that much, what about this?" Marinette went down the rows of stuff and found a rhinestone heart shaped lock paired with a fancy silver key with a heart at the key head. "You can spray paint the body of the lock red and use black paint to dot at the rhinestones."

And paint the key black and green! He thought but his eyes lit up. "It's perfect! We can put it on the bridge together!" Adrien walked over to Marinette and picked it up before looking over at her, beaming. "Thank you so much, Marinette. It's the best gift ever!"

...Two days later...

Marinette had gushed over her 'secret surprise' gift from Adrien for the two days since they had been in the store. She could only tell Tiki, but it was the only thing she could think about! She was totally on Cloud 9 and even Alya noticed but she had kept her mouth shut. No matter what.

Even now, during their mission, Ladybug was very distracted... so much so, that she hardly noticed what a good mood Cat Noir was in.

"Hey, Ladybug!" Cat Noir landed on the roof a foot away from her.

"Hm?" She looked around, wondering where Adrien was going to show up. The day was fading fast and she hadn't seen him all day.

"I promised you a great gift for your birthday, remember? And it's been on my mind ever since~." He purred. She turned her head to look at him, finally aware of him.

"Oh really?"

"Yes! And I got the best thing to show you just how crazy I am about you..." He reached into his pocket with a big grin and pulled out a small nicely wrapped box. Her eyes widened.

"You're not proposing are you?! Cat Noir! We are only 15 and no way!"

"Hehe! No, it's not a ring, but I like where you're going with this." He purred, extending his gift to her. She took it slowly from him and began to unwrap it. She lifted the case, wondering if it was earrings when she froze.

There, in the little box, was the heart shaped locket as red as blood with gemstones as black as night. Next to it was the little heart shaped key that also had been colored black and green. Ladybug and Cat Noir's colors...

"What do you think? We could put it on the Paris bridge like the other tourists or we could make necklaces out of them. Lock for you and key for me, obviously..." He babbled on, confidently while a horrified look started to form on Ladybug's face.

"Did you...steal this from someone else?" She asked quietly.

"Huh? What's wrong? You don't like it? I totally thought you would-"

"Did you steal this from a boy?!" Ladybug flashed the gift at him, looking angry.

"W-what? No! It's my gift to you!" Cat Noir looked stunned and confused.

"This was a gift from a boy at my school! And there's no way you're him! SO you must have stolen this!" She yelled at him. He just looked dumbfounded.

"L-Ladybug? I got that for you! I'm not lying!" He held up his hands defensively.

"You know I never liked your flirty advances so you go and steal the heartfelt gift from the boy that I like?!" She continued yelling.

"What's the matter with you? And you never told me that you liked someone else."

"I can't believe you! Adrien was supposed to give me this gift! Now, you're lying to me right to my face. This is a new low, even for you." She hissed.

"What are you talking- "

BEEP BEEP

Both of their Miraculous' started to go off.

"I'm going to return this to Adrien, and tell him I'm sorry. I won't be seeing you around, I hope." She added scathingly, using her yo-yo to bungee jump away from a very confused and very hurt Cat Noir.

END OF PART 1

NEXT Part: The questions and confrontation