Dating Under Pink Moonlight

"Come on Marinette you can do this! You've been practising it all morning flawlessly, you just need to say it one more time."

"But it's a lot harder in front of him Alya! I always stutter and say the wrong words. No matter how hard I try."

Alya put her hands on the sides of Marinette's head and made her look into her eyes, "Girl. Get. A. Grip." She released her, "He's just a normal guy who likes you already. There's no need to try and impress him, just be yourself."

Marinette looked at the ground, "But myself is a bumbling mess."

"Ok scrap that, don't be yourself, be someone you're not. Like Ladybug! Pretend you are her and talk to him how she would to any civilian."

*Oh Alya I wish you could understand how ironically unhelpful that is*

"Marinette?"

Marinette snapped back to alertness, "yeah I yes um what?"

Alya sighed as her face landed heavily into her palms. "Look, girl. I don't how to make this more simple: Just. Talk. To. Him. It's not like you ever get flustered talking to anyone else, pretend he's me for all I care just do it!"

"ok, I think I could make that work." Marinette said meekly before taking her first uneasy step towards Adrien. It was hard as she had to turn away from the safety of Alya who was currently sighing in relief just quiet enough for Marinette to not hear. Each step closer she got the more nervous she got. She started to remind herself to keep calm, she was Ladybug after all. A superhero! If a superhero can't even talk to a boy then she wouldn't stand a chance at defeating a villain like Hawkmoth. She can do this.

*I can do this!*

"Oh hey Marinette!"

*I CAN'T DO THIS!*

"H- h- hi A- Adrien!" her legs already felt like they'd turned to jelly. "I wan- wanted to ask y-you if- You know that there's the moon and- Alya and Nino are going so I-"

"You mean the Rose Moon tonight?" he said still smiling despite her poor attempt at communicating.

"YES!- I- yes that is what I mean."

"Oh yeah it sounds really cool, are you excited?"

"I-" *oh jeez this is hard, think about what Alya said, just do it Marinette* "YesAdrienIReallyAmExcitedAndIWasActuallyComingOverHereToAskIfYouWouldLikeToGoAndWatchItTogetherWithMe?". Marinette had to gasp for air after blurting it all out.

His face fell, "Oh I'm sorry Marinette but I'm already going with someone."

"You-"

"I'm sure you Alya and Nino will have fun together though!" He said putting his hand on the back of his neck awkwardly.

"I-"

"Anyway I should probably head off before my dad gets angry I'm late home. Sorry to bail on you guys," he said walking to his driver's car, "We can all hang out some other time though I promise."

"ughhhhh" She groaned putting her head in her hands.

"Sooooooo how'd it go?" Alya said out of nowhere from behind her.

"He was already going with someone." Marinette said without moving her hands off her face, "And even if he wasn't he thought I meant the 4 of us anyway."

Alya felt bad for her, "Well if you want you can come with Nino and I?"

"No, I'll just feel awkward third wheeling you, plus if I see Adrien with his date I'll just feel worse."

Alya paused, solemnly looking at her best friend. She could do no more, "Ok, but don't get too down in the dumps or I'll have to spend the whole night on my phone checking you're ok."

"I'll try not to, don't worry. I'll just distract myself with movies and ice-cream."

"Ok, take care of yourself. I'll call you after it's done." Alya said leaving as Marinette began to walk back home.

"Hey Marinette? Can I come out your bag?" A small voice said from below her.

"Tikki? Sorry I kinda forgot you were in there after all of that." Marinette said opening her bag to let her kwami fly out.

"It's ok Marinette" Tikki said perching on her shoulder, "Although if I can give my opinion: I think it's a good thing that Adrien couldn't go."

"why would you say that?" Marinette said completely confused.

"Well, it will make things a whole lot easier with Chat Noir. I'm still not sure how you were planning to go with them both at the same time."

"Chat Noir? CHAT NOIR! OH MY GOSH TIKKI I COMPLETELY FORGOT I TOLD HIM I'D GO." Marinette said manically.

"ooooohh, that would make a lot of sense."

"Oh Tikki do I have to? Going with him will just make me think about Adrien more and then I'll get all sad."

"Yes Marinette you can't stand him up. You would have to at least tell him you aren't going first."

"But I can't even do that, I don't have a way of contacting him unless we're both transformed."

"Well then you have to go don't you."

Marinette looked at Tikki with her best attempt at puppy-eyes.

"No Marinette. Think about how sad you feel that Adrien's unavailable, you would be making Chat Noir feel like that but worse because you already said you would."

Marinette dropped the face and sighed. "You're right Tikki, I'm being immature. If I can't have my night I should at least make Chat's."

"Spoken like a true hero." Tikki said smiling.

Chat had been ready at the top of the Eiffel Tower for over an hour, she wasn't late, he was just really really really early. He was too excited to care. He had some candles, roses, chocolates and a CD player playing some relaxing/romantic music. He even had a bottle of non-alcoholic champagne. It may have been too much but he didn't care. It was for her. Nothing was too much.

"Hey Chat!" Ladybug said as she landed on the platform beside him, "Have you been here a while?".

"No, no don't worry about that." He replied calmly, "All that matters is we're both here."

"Okaaay." She replied feeling a little awkward, "You uh- brought a lot of stuff huh?".

He looked up to see her eying up the romantic items he brought. "Yes I did!" he said jumping up to grab the flowers and presented one to her on one knee, "A rose, for the beautiful lady." He said allowing her to take it. She blushed at his words but looked away so he couldn't see.

"Would you like to have a glass of champagne?" He asked her, receiving a frown he told her that it was non-alcoholic so she agreed. As he was going to hand the glass to her, he noticed she was still holding the rose awkwardly in her hands. "Here let me," he took the rose and put in into her hair, "Now it's out of the way and makes you even prettier." She once again started blushing a lot but wasn't able to hide it as well, he handed her the glass smiling and they both drank.

He tried to put his arm around her but could tell she was very rigid. He stopped and looked away from her, "You're not into this are you?". The question hit her out of the blue so badly that she didn't even answer, "I'll stop it if you want."

"What do you mean?" She asked unconvincingly unware of what he was referring to.

"This whole romance thing, I can tell it's bothering you."

"No Chat it's not like that I just- Well I kind of- No- Look I just haven't had a very good day romantically and I can't help but think about it on an evening like this." She said also looking away from him.

"Is this because of the guy you like in civilian life?"

"Yeah"

Chat sighed before turning off the music. And putting his hand on her shoulder, "Come on, talk to me about it."

"I-"

"Come on. I'm a guy. I get how we think. Lay it on me and I'll see what I make of it."

Ladybug turned and looked at him concerned, "Chat are you sure you want to hear about this? We both know how you feel about me."

"M'Lady I'm certain. Yes I may lo- like you, a bit... ok maybe a lot. But I am first and foremost your partner and your friend. Regardless of how I feel, I want you to be able to talk to me about anything."

"Chat, that's- that's really mature of you." She said taken aback by his sentiment.

"So will you tell me now?"

"No."

"Wha-" Chat frowned, "But I."

"Forget about it Chat. I don't care about him. Well I still do but I don't need to care about him right now. It's more fun to forget about all that and spend time with a guy who's there for me."

"M'Lady"

"Come on, you brought all of this stuff and the moon's about to turn pink any minute now. Let's enjoy it all together."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, come on! Don't you know you'll bore your date if you ask too many questions."

Chat's eyes widened, "My date?!"

"Is that not what this is? Champagne, candles, music."

"But those were making you uncomfortable."

"No Chat, I was making myself uncomfortable" She said putting her hand on his shoulder, "I was too lost in thoughts to realise that all this date stuff is really fun. I'm not trying to lead you on, but as long as you know that, what's the harm in going on a date and enjoying it?" She grinned to reassure him, "Now put that music on and refill my glass or the mood will be dead before we even see the rose moon."

Chat smiled and did as she instructed, "Another glass of champagne for the beautiful lady." He said bowing to her like an old english butler.

"Why thank you o' fine gentleman."

"A toast! To the best date in Paris!" They clinked the glasses together, and drank from them before looking at each other and bursting into laughter.

At that moment the moonlight shining upon them changed in hue causing them both to look up at the moon which was now glowing a bright pink. An even rarer phenomenon than a blue moon, the rose moon was said by folk-legend to bind a pair of soulmates who embrace in its light, and at this time, nothing can stop true love from blossoming even from thorns hence it's name.

"It really is spectacular!" Ladybug said marvelling it's shine.

"It's beautiful." Chat Noir said before putting his arm around her, "But not as beautiful as you."

Ladybug turned her head to him and whispered by his ear, "Thanks for this wonderful date." She then lightly kissed his cheek before pulling away and smiling at him.

He looked at her stunned but then smiled back, "It was my pleasure M'Lady."

They stared into each other's eyes, the pink light reflected in them making them glow. Ladybug put her hands around his head and pulled him so that their faces were a tiny gap apart. "I don't know why I'm doing this Chat, but please forgive me because I don't think I can stop myself," She pulled him into a full on the lips kiss. He was shocked at first but eased into the kiss. It felt magical.

As they pulled apart the moon's light was fading back to normal hue. "Wow" Chat Noir said, "I didn't know you had that in you."

Ladybug, who's face was flushed red, quickly tried to reply to justify herself, "Well you know what they say about the Rose Moon's light. It makes people love. I couldn't control it."

"Yeah" Chat Noir said, "But that's all a myth of course."

"No" She replied sternly.

Chat Noir was grinning whilst picking up his things, "All the 'records' of it happening were people who already loved their partners, it's all a bunch of legends to make the rose moon more interesting."

"No that isn't true because I don't- I know I- I think that- ugh. I don't love you." Ladybug was so flustered and embarrassed that she could rival what she's like talking to Adrien.

"Don't worry Bugaboo, you don't need to admit it, your lips have said enough." Chat said making kissy faces.

"No! I swear that moon did something to me. I didn't choose to do it." She insisted, stamping her foot in emphasis.

"Well if you say so, but the legends say only soulmates have an effect. So I guess we're destined to have another date aren't we?" Chat said winking as he stepped to the edge of the platform ready to vault back home.

She frowned at him.

"Well I'm not hearing a no so you'll consider it?"

"Ugh, just go already. I'm embarrassed enough." She said looking away from him.

"That's a solid maybe to me, I'll take it." He said with a grin, "See ya round M'Lady!" He vaulted off into the distance.

*How can Chat Noir be my soulmate if my heart belongs to Adrien? The rose moon must be broken.* Marinette thought to herself as she swung back home aswell.

A/N:

Hi, so I know it's been a long time since my last fic and I'm sorry about that. I've been writing a fic since early December and trying other ideas before that but I keep changing my mind on how it's written so every time I've decided to post the first chapter I've backed out of it.

I really wanted to write something that wasn't it to get my mind off of it for a bit so I thought about a bunch of one-shot ideas including one where Mari asks Adrien out but he's going out with Ladybug. I decided to do this one because as I was going to bed literally the night I am writing this, the moon light was significantly more bright than normal and it inspired me to use that as the 'setting' for the date idea.

I like to leave it up to your interpretation whether the moon legend is true and it can see through the love square or if Ladybug really just was feeling something for Chat Noir and is in denial. (I think I like it that way more myself but I am a sucker for LadyNoir shipping.)

I hope you guys enjoyed this one-shot and hopefully I'll be posting the first chapters of that other fic within a week. (I would say no promises but it might actually push me to do so yeah: 1 week after this is posted at the latest.)

(Also apparently a full moon in June is called a Rose Moon according to the internet so disclaimer: I made up the Rose Moon in the story, it is not based off of any real world event (to my knowledge), I just like the name too much to change it now).

-LinguineReturns