He was staring at her again and she didn't know why. Was there something on her face? In her teeth?

She glanced at Alya for support, but her friend had been suspiciously inconvenienced by Nino across the courtyard, arms waving animatedly.

Marinett's eyes flicked back to him as he watched her. His face was contorted in concentration, eyes squinting and mouth puckering as he seemed to consider something. And despite the silly expression, he was still gorgeous. The heat rising to her cheeks was not helping her in the slightest as his gaze seemed to only grow more focused, zeroing in on her blush.

Maybe if she tried to duck behind a wall, or a chair, or heck, even Ivan, he would stop. But she didn't want him to stop. But she didn't want him looking at her so intensely either.

"Tikki," she pleaded through the side of her mouth. "What do I do, he's staring again!"

Quiet giggling was her only answer.

She panicked. "Tikki!"

"Just talk to him!" she encouraged from Marinett's hip, poking her through the thin material.

"I can't!" She whined. She glanced back up to see that he had finally turned away from her, head looking down like he was searching for something in his bag.

"Just go for it Marinette!"

She bit her fingernail nervously as she rocked in place, unsure of what to do. Was it hot in here? She tugged at her collar to try and cool herself off, but that only made goosebumps rise on her skin. Oh boy, who turned off the sun? She gulped loudly.

Something pinched her hip and she squeaked. "Tikki!" She hissed.

Her friend only giggled.

"Fine! I'll go." She took a deep breath and urged her stiff legs to move. If anyone had been watching, she was sure they would have mistaken her for the Tin Man. With every rusty step, she slowly made her painful crawl towards him.

"Hi A-Adrien!" She said a little too loudly.

His head whipped up towards her, surprised. When he realized who it was, his shoulders immediately relaxed, whole body leaning casually back into the chair. "Hey, Marinette." The smirk creeping on his face reminded her of someone but she couldn't quite place who.

She rocked on her feet, not sure what she had wanted to say. "So…"

"So?" He quirked an eyebrow.

Tikki nudged her encouragingly. "So. I've been, um, meaning to ask you something."

He waited for her to continue.

"Uh," she laughed. "Well, you see, I've been meaning to ask you…"

"Ask me…"

"Why, exactly, have you been, um, staring at me? For the past week?" She finally managed to squeeze out, shutting her eyes tightly. Oh God she was going to die right here. Please. Let an Akuma attack her right now. Anything to get her out of this. Why had she walked up to him?

When no response came, she slowly opened an eye and looked at him. The grin on his face felt like a punch to the gut. That was Chat's grin.

She blinked, trying to get rid of the image. He couldn't be, she had already denied it. She had told Alya that she had been wrong.

"Adrien?"

"Oh, um," he coughed into his hand. "Ah, well. I just couldn't help but notice…" He glanced at her, eyes flickering over her face then pausing on something. "Your earrings!"

Unconsciously, she reached to cover them, twisting them nervously. "My earrings?"

"Yeah! I just, I never noticed you wore them," he said, rubbing his neck. A nervous habit of his she had noticed. It was something Chat did too.

She frowned. "I've been wearing them all semester."

"Oh," he laughed. "Guess I never noticed?" His relaxed posture from earlier had vanished, suddenly stiff as he fidgeted in his chair.

"Is something wrong?" She asked him.

"I didn't mean to stare at you!" He blurted. "It was just, I don't know, neat, I guess? It was just a little detail I never noticed about you. Kinda like your freckles–" He slapped a hand over his mouth, face reddening.

She blushed right back. "Oh," she said, simply.

"I didn't mean for that to sound so creepy."

"No! No, no you're fine! Not creepy at all! Just…um, sweet?"

He nodded awkwardly. "Okay. Cool."

God, could this conversation get anymore embarrassing.

"I just wanted to let you know," he said after a while, glancing up at her. "That I think your earrings look pretty cool."

"Oh. Thanks," she said, hands fumbling behind her back and doing as much as she could to keep the blush from getting worse. It didn't work.

Now people would mistake her for Nathanaël.

"Yeah, they're pretty int-ear-esting." He smiled up at her, shedding a bit of his nervousness.

Did he…? No, he'd never do that. Must have been a mistake, slip of the tongue.

"Thanks again." She smiled at him. "That's real endearing."

Something sparked in his eye and he was suddenly grinning wickedly at her. "Endearing?"

Oh no. He had. He went there.

"You did not just–"

"I didn't what, my–" he coughed again. "Marinette."

She squinted at him.

"I just wanted to compliment your appearance."

"Adrien," She warned.

"I'm not saying you look t-ear-able!" he laughed.

"Adrien!" That last one had been the worst one yet.

"Don't get so ear-itated, Princess!" Now he was laughing wholeheartedly and she couldn't believe her ears (no pun intended!). One, Adrien was laughing so freely and she hadn't heard him laugh like this in such a long time and two, he had called her Princess.

He. Had. Called. Her. Princess.

She gaped at him until his laughter subsided. His eyes were as big as saucers as he finally realized what he said.

"Um."

She breathed in deeply–

"I can explain."

and yelled as she ditched the courtyard, knocking anybody and everybody out of her way.

lmao this is so dumb pff.