MiraculElse #5: The Marinette Project

by DFC

(Timeframe: Midpoint, Season 2. Post-Syren, perhaps, but it's not essential at all. Knowledge of Glaciator and the Marinette - Chat interactions therein WILL be very useful. Some tweaking applied, some context added, some more may be coming.)

On the last day of classes at Françoise Dupont High School, Marinette Dupain-Cheng was less enthusiastic than most of her classmates were. It was good to be done with homework, exams and being in the same room as Chloé Bourgeois on a daily basis, of course... but for Marinette, those were small prices to pay to be able to sit behind a certain blonde boy for hours at a time.

Would Adrien be in her class again next year? Would she see him at all over the break? Would he even remember her by the fall?

Her rational mind knew that of course she and Adrien would remain friends. Their paths were sure to cross now and then, and she would certainly hang out with Alya and get together with her other girlfriends and do things together. She wasn't a hermit or a leper; she could at least pretend to have a reasonable social life. But she'd spent months plotting out a few thousand ways to tell Adrien to his face that she adored him, she dreamed of him, she loved him utterly. She'd managed to execute precisely none of those plans and ideas from her school vantage point, one seat behind him... and now she was out of time.

Groups of friends moved past her as she stood at the front steps, lost in thought. Mylène and Ivan were cuddling, as usual. Alya called out "Hey, girl, call me!" to her as she and Nino hustled by. Rose and Juleka waved as they left together, hand-in-hand. Seems like almost everybody's pairing off but me, she thought.

"Hey... are you okay, Marinette?" came a familiar voice from behind her, seeing her with her head down. She spun around to see Adrien by her side, a somewhat concerned look on his face.

"Adrien! Hi! I'm... just... going to miss everyone this summer," she murmured. Some more than others.

"It's not like we're disappearing," Adrien said, comfortingly. "Most of us are staying in town for the summer, so I'm sure we'll see..."

He heard a car horn, and turned and glared at his bodyguard, impatiently waiting for him by the curb. "Agh. He's waiting for me... you have my number, right?"

Marinette nodded, knowing that she could recite it from memory backwards, forwards and in binary if absolutely necessary. Not that I'm capable of dialing it without having a panic attack... "And you have mine, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, I do! Okay, um..." he said, as he half-stumbled down the stairs towards the waiting car. "Keep in touch, okay, Marinette? I'll... see you!" he managed before the bodyguard swept him into the vehicle.

"You too," she said, somewhat sadly. She waved as it pulled away, and imagined that she saw him waving back from the back seat. It was hard to tell for sure, between tinted windows and slightly soggy eyes.

Marinette walked the short distance home alone, and put a smile back on before entering the bakery on the bottom floor of her home. She kissed her dad on the cheek and hugged her mother, exchanged small talk about her exams and her classmates, then headed up to her room to unwind.

"Are you going to make it, Marinette?" asked Tikki, emerging from her purse. "You seem really down today."

"Yeah," she answered. "It's nothing that I won't get over. Maybe Hawkmoth will give me something to keep me busy tonight."

"You're HOPING for an Akuma attack?" boggled Tikki.

"Not exactly," Marinette replied. "But sometimes I feel like I'm a lot better at being Ladybug than I am at being Marinette. Villains, I can hit. My life, I have to live."

"Hang in there," Tikki soothed. "You'll get the hang of things again soon. I promise."

Adrien arrived home to his usual greeting from Nathalie and the usual invisibility of his father. He nodded at Nathalie as she ran down his remaining daily activities - Chinese lessons, fencing, piano practice. Does the phrase 'summer vacation' mean anything around here?

He headed back to his room and plopped down in front of his computer, idly poking around on the Internet. Marinette's melancholy stuck with him, for some reason, and his thoughts went back to a lunchroom discussion from a couple of days prior. The guys around him were busy going over all of their plans for the break, plus what high school guys' conversations inevitably circle back around to - high school girls.

"You finally going to take Ondine to the movies this week, Kim?" Max asked.

"Definitely. How about you, Nino?" replied Kim.

"Alya and I have seen (that movie) twice now," said Nino. "We're thinking about the zoo again for our six-month anniversary."

Adrien watched Marinette eat her lunch over at her friends' table. She hadn't really seemed like herself lately - normally, she was full of energy, but something seemed to be weighing on her. Nino followed his gaze and grinned, then nudged Max to follow his lead.

"Hey, uh... maybe I ought to invite Marinette to go to the zoo with us. She's half the reason Alya and I are together," he said.

"Maybe find a fourth? Some guy who could spend time with her there? Hold her hand?" replied Max, dutifully.

Kim grinned. "What about you, Adrien? I bet she'd like that."

Adrien seemed lost in thought. "Maybe... Oh! I missed that. What did you guys just say about Marinette?"

"We're just trying to figure out who Marinette might be into," said Nino. "She seems like she could use SOMEONE to spend time with..."

Adrien looked at her again, surrounded by her table full of girl friends, chatting happily and pulling her into the conversation as much as they could. "She does? Hmmm." Then he sank back into thought.

Nino shrugged at Max and Kim, as if to say Hey, we tried.

Back in the present, Adrien thought to himself, Maybe I'll drop by her place as Chat Noir tonight, if she's around, and see if I can help her mood any. She's too nice to be feeling so down.

Marinette stretched out on her balcony after dinner, enjoying the warm evening breeze. She doodled on her sketchpad, made lists of things she wanted to do over the summer - more time learning baking techniques from Dad, I need to ride my bike more, call Alya tomorrow, there's that book I haven't read yet - and closed her eyes. She listened to the sounds of the city around her: people talking, distant laughter, a dog barking at another dog, *TH-BMMP*, cars zipping by.

*TH-BMMP?*

"Is that you, Chat?", she called out without turning, but with a hint of a smile.

"Do a lot of other people fall out of the sky and land on a pretty girl's balcony?" Chat Noir's voice asked.

"I have no idea about the pretty girls, but you're the only one who lands on mine." Marinette sat up and waved hello. "What brings you by tonight?"

"Nothing special. I was in the neighborhood, so I'm checking on a friend," Chat said. "That would be you. How are you doing?"

"Ehhhh," she said. "Okay, I guess. I've been worse."

"Not sensing the enthusiasm here," drawled Chat. "Something on your mind?"

"Ohhh," said Marinette, slouching a little, "I'm just not much of a summer girl this year. I don't have anything planned, I have nowhere to go, my friends are all busy with their boyfriends, which I certainly have no prospects for because I don't know if I'll even see my... uh..."

"Crush?" Chat asked. Her red cheeks answered for her. "Been there. Still doing that," he grinned.

Still sorry about that, she thought. "How about you? Anything lined up for the summer?"

"Not really. This cat's on the prowl."

Marinette groaned. "What?" questioned Chat. "That wasn't even a pun."

"It was close enough."

The "still sorry" was a little bittersweet for Marinette, of course. It reminded her of the first night Chat Noir had visited her this way, many months before.

She still remembered the surprise she felt when she felt the quiet thump behind her on the balcony rail. Of course she'd known that Chat COULD leap like a gazelle and baton-copter out of the sky, seemingly from nowhere, on her private balcony of her parents' house. It hadn't ever really occurred to her that someday he'd have a reason to.

The company was certainly welcome that night, after she'd made a fool of herself at Andre's Ice Cream, and it was a real eye-opener for her from several angles. It wasn't EVERY night that your partner-in-crimefighting told your uncostumed self that he truly loved your alter ego, after all... and it broke her heart to say what she felt she had to say afterwards, as Ladybug. But it also ran deeper than that.

Of all the people in Paris Chat Noir could have gone to for comfort, for company, to help him through his pain... he'd come to her. And then he'd sat his own pain aside to try to ease hers, once he saw that she was heartsick, too.

A tiny part of her always wondered why he'd chosen her that night, in particular. They'd been acquainted before that, were certainly friendly, but hardly bosom buddies. But that night he'd won his own little permanent place in her heart, costumed or not. And it pleased her very much that in the months that followed, once in a while on evenings she looked forward to, her friend kept coming back.

Chat Noir and Marinette hung out together for another hour or so, simply enjoying each other's company and chatter.

"Well..." yawned Marinette, "I do appreciate you cheering me up, Chat, but I ought to get back inside and get ready for bed. I feel like a lump."

"Best looking lump in town," admired Chat.

"Oh, you. I bet you say that to all the lumps."

"It brought your giggle back, I'll count that as a win."

Marinette gave him a sincere smile. "You are too much, you know that?"

Chat came to a decision. "Maybe... but I know I don't want you feeling sad and lonely this summer. You're too awesome for that. Can I borrow your sketchpad for a second?"

"Huh? ...Sure."

He took it from her outstretched hand, scribbled something on a blank page, and returned it. "My number. Day or night, rain or shine. Any time you need some company, want to get out of here and go somewhere, or you just need a friendly ear, call me or message me."

Marinette looked surprised. "Seriously? This isn't the number for Joe's Bar and Grill, is it?"

"Nope. You're the only person I've ever given this number to," smiled Chat. "And I really mean it. Any time you need me."

"Oooh! A superhero hotline!" she grinned. "Thank you, Chat. That really is sweet of you. I promise I'll call."

"On that note, then..." Chat hopped up on the balcony rail, ready to leap away. "Sweet dr..."

*BZZZZZ* Something on Chat's utility belt buzzed loudly. He turned and saw Marinette with her phone in her hand.

"Just checking."

When he got home, Chat transformed back to Adrien, which popped Plagg back into the air around him. "That was something new," Plagg said. "What are you up to?"

"Marinette needs a boost. She's too great a person to be lonely this summer. I've got a few ideas to keep her smiling, and maybe even put a little romance in her life."

Plagg gave him a questioning look. "You're serious? I thought you were still hooked on Ladybug."

"Sure am," Adrien explained. "And Marinette's hooked on her Mystery Guy. She'd never take me seriously as Chat, anyway. But she could use at least one guy in her life who knows she's special to help build up her confidence, and maybe Chat can help make that other guy jealous enough to notice her. I'm gonna help her win her Mystery Guy."

Bahahahahaha! Plagg did his best to hold back gutlaughing, and was only partially successful.

"What?" asked Adrien, with a glare.

"Nothing," Plagg chuckled. "Any reason you're not doing that as Adrien?" Since that would solve the whole problem in ten seconds?

"I thought about that," Adrien said. "I know Marinette likes me as Adrien. I don't mean LIKES me likes me..." He tried to ignore the face Plagg was giving that statement. "But when I'm Chat Noir, she's so much more... open, relaxed, comfortable. She sasses the heck out of me. She's so funny! I don't know if it's just me turning on the superhero charm, or what, but... I don't know, Marinette just seems to like me better as Chat than as Adrien."

If I didn't just hear that, I wouldn't believe it just came out of his mouth, Plagg thought. "And what happened to Mr. 'It's not cool to play with other people's feelings?'", he asked, crossing his tiny arms.

"That's... not it at all, Plagg," replied Adrien, defensively. "I'm not trying to make her fall for CHAT. I don't think that could happen anyway. I do want to spend this summer making her feel desirable, though, and see if that'll help her tell her crush what he needs to hear. He's blind if he can't see how great she is."

Plagg grinned. You've got a heart as big as all outdoors, kid. But sometimes you couldn't find your own butt with both hands. HEY, wait a minute...

"WAIT! I just thought of something," panicked Plagg. "You just gave her your phone number, right? What happens when she puts that in her contacts and it says 'Already entered as Adrien?'"

"All in the plan," Adrien smiled, holding up a phone unfamiliar to Plagg. "Isn't it nice how cheap prepaid phones are these days?"

Plagg laughed. I almost have to tell him. Almost. But I have to see how this turns out.

The next morning, Marinette woke up and stumbled downstairs for breakfast. She was looking forward to a quiet day, helping out in her father's kitchen however she could.

Around lunchtime, she was focused on frosting some pastries when she heard her father call to her. "There's someone at the door for you, Marinette."

There is? I thought I told Alya I was working today. She went to the front door and saw a fairly young boy standing there, his arms behind his back.

"Are you Marinette?" he asked. When she nodded, he handed her a small bouquet of daisies, saying "Someone asked me to deliver these."

She looked down at the flowers with wide eyes, thoroughly surprised. "They did?" The bouquet was simple, but nicely arranged. "Who was it?"

The kid grinned. "He paid me an extra half-Euro not to say," he said, then dashed off.

Her father looked out and saw her standing there, processing what had just happened. "Those are pretty, Marinette. Who are they from?" he called out.

"I have no idea," she mumbled, looking for a card that wasn't there. "These aren't from you or Mom, are they?"

"Not that I know of. Looks like someone has an admirer!" he smiled.

"I do? ...Huh." Who in the world would send flowers to ME? she thought. Her mind fluttered immediately to Adrien, of course, but Yeah, right circled close behind.

The last time a guy was interested in me was Nino, and he got redirected over to Alya about ten minutes later, and before that... eep! The Nathaniel/Evillustrator incident leapt out at her. Maaaaybe I'll keep a close eye on this, and have my partner keep watch too...

Marinette reached into her pocket, pulled out her phone and IMed Chat. "Could you stop by tonight? Something odd happened today..."

Around six, Chat Noir spun down onto Marinette's balcony. He was a little relieved to see that whatever had happened wasn't enough of an emergency for her to seem flustered.

"Hey, Marinette. I got your message. What's up?" he asked.

"I got a strange delivery this afternoon. Someone sent me flowers without a card or any other clue where they came from."

"That's great, Marinette!" Chat smiled, then noticed that she wasn't so sure. "Isn't it? Maybe your guy that you like finally woke up."

"I doubt it..." she pondered. "I can't imagine that he wouldn't have signed his name. I mean, it WAS nice of whoever sent them, but I have had one secret admirer already who ended up Akumatized and obsessive..."

"OH! Y-yeah." Completely forgot about that, thought Chat. Very smooth. "Honestly, I don't see anything like that happening again. I mean, not that you couldn't have admirers! Of course you should. Would. Could."

Marinette gave him a funny look. "Are you okay over there? But yeah, I doubt it's anything serious. Just saying, if you stumble across anything strange involving that..."

"No problem. So what else are you up to tonight?"

"Nothing, really. Spent the rest of my day knee-deep in frosting," she replied.

"Yum!"

"A little less yum when you're working with it and not eating it, but yeah," Marinette smiled. "Want to see? I'll meet you downstairs."

Marinette climbed down the hatch into her room. Chat leapt down to the sidewalk, entering the ground-floor bakery through the front door. Marinette's father, Tom, brightened visibly at his approach.

"Well, it's Chat Noir! Come on in. What can I do for one of Paris's finest heroes?"

Behind him, he heard his daughter say "I wanted to show him some of the designs I worked on today. Over here, Chat!"

Tom looked on with interest as he watched the teens interact, Chat appearing genuinely interested in Marinette's handiwork, Marinette letting him taste-test a couple of small pieces. Both were full of smiles. They certainly seem to get along well.

As Chat left, Tom waited until the door shut and commented, "A nice young man, hmmm?"

"Very nice," replied Marinette. "He's actually a very good friend of mine."

"He has good taste in baked goods. And in flowers, I'd say," Tom grinned.

"Oh... no, those daisies weren't from Chat! I mean... I don't THINK they were." Marinette pondered this for a moment, as if she'd never considered that as a possibility. "Anyway, I'll be back, we're going back upstairs to talk some more."

She waved and vanished up the stairs. Tom thought, BACK upstairs? I think this explains all those *TH-BMMP*s I keep hearing on my roof.

Marinette made it upstairs quickly, but Chat was already there. Of course! He took the direct route, straight up.

"You liked them?" she asked.

"Definitely. I've gotten baked goods from your shop out-of-costume before. Always good stuff."

Another thing I'd never considered, she thought. It seemed strange to think of Chat Noir as a regular guy, out of costume, shopping for cannoli and croissants but of course he was! Now he's got me wondering what he's like in his normal life.

"Do you... live around here?" Marinette asked, then waved him off. "Never mind! Of course you don't have to answer that."

"I can give up that much. Not all that far away," replied Chat.

"Hmmm. You look like you're about my age. I wonder if you're in my grade! Or even some of my classes," Marinette smiled.

One seat in front of you, he thought. "It's possible."

"Ohh... make me stop asking things!" Marinette averted her eyes, grinning. "Too much information. I'm going to Twenty Questions you right out of your mask if I'm not careful."

"THAT I can't let you do," Chat grinned. "But I'd trust you with just about anything else."

"All right, then," she said. "When you're... you, what's something you like to do? I'm curious."

"Oh, I don't know, I'm not too complicated." Outside of my dad making me learn Chinese, piano, fencing, karate and how to dance the waltz, I guess... "Video games, for one?"

"Heh. I bet you can't even touch me on Ultimate Mecha Strike III," bragged Marinette.

"Oh-ho! Is that a challenge?"

"You bet. Next time you visit, you'd better have been practicing," she said. "I want at least a little competition before I demolish you."

"Hah," Chat laughed, mockingly. "She threatens me with humiliation and she's sure I'll be back!"

"...Please?"

He saw her face change in an instant, going from a friendly mocking grin to wide, pleading eyes and a sincere smile. Inside, his willpower chipped and cracked.

How do girls know how to make that one perfect Please face? Do they get training in that?

"You call, I'll come running. That was a promise," Chat beamed.

"Sounds good to me, kitty. See you soon?"

"It's a date." Chat blew her a kiss, theatrically, and waved before rooftop-hopping towards home.

Marinette grinned. A date, huh? Guess it's about time that I had one of those. Even if this one won't really count.

Her father gave her a warm smile as she reentered the bakery's kitchen. "Expanding your horizons a bit, Marinette?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, puzzled.

"Well, I thought you liked clean-cut boys like that Adrien. And here you bring home a roughneck in black leather!"

"DAAAAAAD! I... he...," she stuttered.

Tom laughed, loudly. "I'm just teasing, Marinette. I know very well that he's a fine young man. You should see your face right now!"

Marinette growled a little, but grinned sheepishly. "How long have you known him?" Tom asked.

"About a year, that I know of." At his questioning expression, she replied, "Well, I might know him when he's not in costume, but I have no way of knowing that, right? I saw him many times fighting Akuma villains with Ladybug, we met during one of those when he was protecting me. He seemed a little goofy at first, you know, all puns and posing?"

Marinette did her best Manly Hero Saving The Day impression, striking a pose, making her father laugh.

"...but I think most of that's just play-acting to fit the role. Real Heroes Talk Like This, right? We've talked a lot, he is really nice and down-to-earth inside, a really great friend! He stops by sometimes to see me when he's on patrol."

"Which explains why I keep hearing a cat on the roof..." mused Tom.

"And that's as far as he goes," Marinette protested, crossing her arms. "The hatch to my room is just for me."

"Oh, I knew that already. You're not blushing," her father laughed. "Plus, I know you better than that. I raised a good girl. She won't learn how to be bad until she's ready for that."

NOW she was blushing. "Even if I was... which I'm NOT... you'd have nothing to worry about. He's head-over-heels for Ladybug."

"Aren't half the young men of Paris?"

Tom wasn't sure what to read from the expression that brought to Marinette's face. Halfway between goggle-eyed astonishment and protest, he judged, and he wasn't sure why.

Marinette went upstairs with her head spinning. "Can you BELIEVE that Dad just SAID that?" she asked Tikki, incredulously.

"Said what?" Tikki replied. "That lots of young people have a thing for Ladybug?"

"YES!", she nearly screeched. "How? Why? What?"

"Look at it this way," explained Tikki. "Before you wallpapered your room with pictures of a certain blonde hunk, you had the occasional movie star or rock star on your wall, right? The occasional TV star or singer that you were attracted to? You'd never met them, you didn't know what they were really like as a person, but they were larger than life and that caught your eye."

"Yeah, but..." Marinette stammered.

"Ladybug is a symbol like that. You're in the public eye all the time, you're a hero, you're young, you're brave, you're beautiful, yes you are so stop protesting, of course people are going to notice you! You're also a great role model because you DON'T let that go to your head! Imagine if someone like Chloé had become Ladybug."

"Ewwwwww..."

"She'd spend half her time posing for the cameras and the other half throwing herself at Adrien, or whoever else she wanted. You want people to like you for you, not for the costume you wear, which is one of many reasons that you're a perfect Ladybug," reassured Tikki. She thought for a second, then added, "And you gravitate to people who look beyond the surface, too. Look at Chat Noir. He was crushing on you on day one. He fell for you once he got to know you better and really liked who he saw."

Marinette was speechless for a moment. "...But he DOESN'T know the real Ladybug," she said, softly. "He doesn't know who she really is, what she's really like."

"He spent half of today with her. You think he doesn't know you well?"

"But-"

"Of course Chat doesn't know that Marinette is Ladybug. But he knows Marinette, and he really likes her. And he knows Marinette-in-a-red-mask-and-costume, and he loves her."

"..."

"Like you said, he play-acts quite a bit as Chat because that's how he thinks a superhero acts. You don't do that as Ladybug; you talk with Chat, you spend time with him, you risk your life next to him all the time. He knows you very well because the Marinette in Ladybug shines through. And you've heard him open up to you as Marinette about how he really feels about Ladybug..."

"Whoa." She looked a bit staggered by that stream of logic. "But when I'm Ladybug, I'm so different from when I'm Marinette!"

"Are you really?" Tikki's gaze was steady.

"Yes! I... aren't I?" Marinette was lost in thought for a moment, her head buzzing. "Well, I thought I would be able to sleep tonight..."

And she wasn't wrong. A few minutes 'til one and Marinette was still tossing and turning, lying in bed in her pajamas. She'd been blindsided and she had a lot to ponder.

"You are Ladybug, with or without the costume!" Tikki told me that once, she thought, that time that I saved Chat from Antibug. And there's... some truth to that. Ladybug's powers let me do so much more, but I'm still ME inside the suit.

But I'm NOT the same as Ladybug! I'm hiding behind a mask and behind the role I play. I could never do some of the things I do as Ladybug as just plain Marinette.

And people certainly treat me differently when I'm transformed. That counts for a lot. Look at Adrien; he gets all goggle-eyed and nervous around Ladybug sometimes, but as me I fly right under his radar. Look at Chloe; she's a huge fan of Ladybug and treats me like dirt when I'm Marinette. Look at Chat Noir...

A little voice in her head said Yes, look at Chat Noir. It sounded like her own, but it seemed a little alien to her normal thought processes.

He... really is sincere about Ladybug. I heard that in his voice, clear as day, both that night as Marinette and in how he treats me as Ladybug. I see it in his actions. And I've seen it grow from "Kiss me, bugaboo" every ten minutes to something a bit... deeper. It still hurts that I hurt him that night, though he did his best not to show it. And I haven't been able to share the private Ladybug with him; he's still in the dark about that and he has to stay there.

The contradictions inherent in her dual identity gnawed away at her inner thoughts.

But I _am_ sharing the private Ladybug with him every time he comes to see me! Because _I'm_ the private Ladybug, he just doesn't know that! And I know he's not falling in love with ME the way he did with Ladybug. That's just a silly thought.

...Right?

No. That's ridiculous. We're really good friends and part of that is _because_ neither of us wants to romance the other! He loves Ladybug, not me. He knows I have my own crush. My "Mystery Guy," he calls him.

But...

Marinette rolled over on her stomach. Sleep was still very far away.

Think about how Tikki put it. Chat crushed hard on Ladybug. Then he got to know the sides of Ladybug that are... more like Marinette, and... THEN he fell in love? What does that say about how he feels deep down about my Marinette side?

"My Marinette side." That sounds so strange. As if I'm a different person when I'm Ladybug. But... aren't I? In a lot of ways that count?

The concept was a bit dizzying.

And Chat does come visit me, just to spend time with me. He opens up to me like he doesn't even do with Ladybug. The way that I wish that Adrien would.

It's not even just our little Lonely Hearts Club, either. Some nights, it's all jokes and teasing and having fun. Some nights, he's serious. We help each other through problems as much as we can. Sometimes we don't even talk much; we just lay back and watch the stars.

Chat never talks about visiting anyone else like that. IS he just being friendly?

The... way that Adrien thinks I'm just being friendly with him? THAT sent a shiver through her.

And from what he said, he's local, and my age. ...Do I know the real him? And if I do, what does HE think of me?

She rolled over again, with a frustrated grunt.

Am I overthinking this way too hard, like I always overthink things? Chat's NEVER made a move on me as Marinette. He flirts, but he flirts with anyone in a blouse. I know he's still hooked on Ladybug. I know what Tikki said, but I'm just not the same person when I'm Ladybug. WHY would I think that he would ever look at Marinette the way he looks at Ladybug?

The quiet, seemingly alien voice piped up again in her mind, with one more question that she was surprised she couldn't answer right away.

And with how I know he feels about me as Ladybug, and how he takes care of me and reaches out to me as Marinette...

...how WOULD I react if he did?

She pulled the pillow over her head briefly. "Nnnngggh!" Why can't anything in my life ever be uncomplicated?

Across town, Adrien was fast asleep. Plagg hopped up and down on the keyboard of Adrien's computer, idly looking up things to amuse himself. He'd found a couple of cheese delivery services, but Adrien was smart enough to clear his credit card data before logging out, so he was out of luck there.

Not long before, Plagg had asked him, "So how do you think your Cheer Up Marinette project kicked off today?"

"Not bad," Adrien smiled. "Her mood seemed a lot brighter and I think she enjoyed the company. I can't believe I forgot about the Nathaniel thing before sending her those secret admirer flowers, so dock me points for that. But she fed me sweets, she invited me to come back, she seemed more like her normal self! All good signs. I'm debating what I want to do next, but I've got a handful of ideas that I think she'll like."

He leaned back on his pillow and closed his eyes. "Yep, Plagg, I think this is all going to come together. I don't know if I can get Marinette into her crush's arms or not, but at the very least I want to make sure she's happy and relaxed this summer."

You go ahead and sleep the sleep of the just, thought Plagg, watching Adrien snore quietly. Just so freakin' oblivious.