It was Friday. Marinette had been off and on about talking with Adrien the whole week. It went from not being able to find the right time, to being too nervous. She was sure she never would have been able to ask him face to face before, though even now the outcome worried her. In her head, it was as if she would be giving up a great part of her life, and opportunity for love. It was more likely that she had just been prolonging it for the sake of false bliss. But it was the end of the week, and for some reason, she felt oddly prepared for whatever would come. So when the final class of the day ended, she rather smoothly slipped away from Alya and approached where he was standing, fortunately alone.

"Uh… A-Adrien?" she asked meekly.

Right away, the boy turned his bright eyes to hers. "Yes, Marinette?"

"I, uh, this is going to sound a little weird, but umm…. Uh…." She searched widely for some phrase that would dampen the embarrassment, and quickly plucked one from her brain, "I'm actually asking for a distant friend, so, uh do you have like a crush on anyone, or…."

Her mouth had stopped really working, but fortunately Adrien had gotten the gist of her question. "Uh, sorry Marinette, but I actually do have a sorta crush on someone. Tell your friend I apologize, and I hope they're able to find someone else. Uh, sorry again."

Marinette's face had turned a deep shade of pink and she backed up slowly. "Oh no, it's fine, it was a weird thing to ask, I kinda thought you had someone else, so yeah, bye."

As she made her way backwards back to Alya, she ran into Nino. "Sorry!" she squeaked out and then scurried away.

Nino gave her a curious glance. "Yo, Adrien, what's up with Marinette?"

Adrien gaze was stuck on Marinette, who was having a quiet conversation with Alya, her friend's face slowly becoming more and more sympathetic. "I don't really know. She randomly asked me if I had a crush on anyone."

"Oh…." Nino gave a knowing look as he followed Adrien's line of sight to Marinette.

Marinette walked home slowly. In truth, she did not feel as horrible as she thought she would. She was still disappointed, but there were a ton of fish in the sea, right? And her mind kept leading her back to one who was indeed as sweet and kind as Adrien.

Suddenly, Tikki popped up from inside Marinette's purse. "Marinette, I just want to know, are you alright? I know you told Alya you were, but you've had a crush on Adrien for as long as I've been your kwami."

Marinette stopped and looked down at Tikki's sympathetic face. She smiled softly. "Yes, I'm fine Tikki. I was expecting it. Anyways, at least I won't be hanging on to something that's fiction anymore. I can look for other people."

Two days more, and Cat Noir was walking along the rooftops, making his way to Marinette's house. Suddenly a voice came from above him and to the left.

"You visit her a lot, don't you?"

He blinked and swerved his attention to the owner of the voice. "M'Ladybug! What are you doing out here?"

Ladybug smiled and skidded down from the very top of the roof to stand by his side. "I'm just patrolling a bit. It's a nice afternoon. Just so you know, I passed by where that Marinette lives. There was a note taped to the roof trapdoor. She said she was gone for the evening."

"Oh…" Cat Noir couldn't help but feel slightly crestfallen.

"I'm sorry you aren't able to hang out with her. But… would you like to patrol with me for the afternoon, Cat? A little boring, I know, but I could use the company."

The green-eyed superhero suddenly perked up. "Why, of course M'Lady! I would be honored to accompany you."

His Lady smiled at him. Soft, sweet, compassionate, loving, so unlike any smile he had gotten before.

It reminded him of another smile.

A/N: I know, it's quite an ambiguous ending, but that's how I like to end short fics, and I also don't want this once getting out of hand, especially when I have plenty of other stuff waiting to be written. Now, it's getting very close to school for me, so I'd like to map out my plan for you guys. I'm going to be less active during the school year, that's for sure, but I'm definitely going to try to write as much as possible. So far my vague plan is to write every weekend, which means every couple weekends I'll be posting a chapter to a story. This plan will be pretty fluid, but once I get into the school year, I'll likely be able to give a more solid layout of what/when I'll be writing. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed Mari's Cat!