Hello! Thank you for opening my first ever story! I have a bit planned for this story and I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! This Marinette is pretty close to the cartoon version, 'stalker' habits and all, so bear with me, she will get better! Endgame is probably Marinette/Ladybug with Chat/Adrien but I'm enjoying the romance between Luka and Marinette. I think they make a very good couple; probably better than the canon pairing. Prepare for Marichat, Ladrien, Ladynoir, Adrinette, Lukanette, and a couple of other surprises I've thrown in. Enjoy!

Marinette was not a stalker. She refused to think of it as anything other than strategic placement. If her position in the large oak outside Adrien's house was anything, it was strategic. From here, she could watch the times he came and went so she could plan the perfect moment. The perfect moment. She paused, thinking.
What was The Perfect Moment? She had spent so long thinking about The Perfect Way to ask Adrien Agreste out that she hadn't thought about the time she would ask him out.

Huh, she thought, I guess that's why I'm here, watching for the perfect moment. Marinette liked the sound of that, it sounded like something out of a romantic movie.
The gate to the Agreste mansion creaked opened and Marinette nearly fell out of the tree.
Damn, she should have watched him as Ladybug; she was so much more co-ordirnated when she had her yo-yo. Her eyes locked onto the figure exiting the gates. It was Adrien. She wanted to squeal as she felt her heart rate accelerate, and she furiously told herself to calm down.
If she was going to ask him on a date she was going to have to be a lot more immune to his charms; she was going to have an entire conversation with him. She was going to be witty and charming and totally irresistible.

Marinette winced. That didn't sound like her at all. She watched his receding figure, deciding that around his house would be the worst place to ask him out; his father could be listening. So where should she ask him? School was out of the question, but it was the place they spent the most time together…Marinette was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't feel her grip on the branch slide. She felt the sensation of falling too late.

Marinette blinked as harsh sunlight glared down on her. A dark silhouette blocked out the majority of the glare but she still felt like she had been run over.

"Ugh," she groaned, rubbing her sore head.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" the silhouette was saying. Marinette blinked hazily and stared right into the jade green eyes of none other than Adrien Agreste.

"Marinette? Are you okay?" He was saying.

Marinette stumbled on vowels before her brain caught up to her. I just fell out of a tree in front of Adrien. Oh no. NO. Just scrambled to get to her feet.

"Oh! Hi Adrien—I didn't see you there—I'm bait, how are you?—I mean, gate, no, GREAT. I am feeling great. How are you?" Marinette wished she could just stop her stuttering, but his intense gaze was undermining her ability to speak.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked gently. "What were you even doing in that tree?" He shook his head, bemused. Marinette could watch him shake his head like that all day. Oh no, now she was getting side-tracked.

"Oh—I was just, um, nerd watching—I mean BIRD WATCHING—WATCHING BIRDS. Big birds, little birds, blue birds…" She waved her hand in a manner that she hoped was casual.

"Ah—okay." Adrien sounded confused, but he smiled at her as he lifted her from the pavement. She brushed her palms off self-consciously.

"Thanks, Adrien!" She said brightly. "The park's better to see birds anyway—in fact, I'm heading there now—" she faltered. It was now or never. In a sudden burst of confidence, she said, "did you want to come? We could get ice-cream and we wouldn't have to watch birds, or we don't even have to go to the park at all, there's a new exhibition in the Louvre that you'd like or we could take a rickshaw or anything you wanted to do." She was red in the face and trying not to hyperventilate. What had just come over her? Was she crazy? She needed to do some serious damage control. "Or not, I'm not too fussed; I was just thinking I had nothing planned for the afternoon and if you wanted, we could do something together."

Adrien had said nothing, and he had a pained expression on his face. Was she being too needy? Oh no. She had really stuffed this up big time. She attempted to backpedal. "As friends, you know?" Oh no, now she had really put her foot in her mouth. She knew she sounded desperate and she wished she could get out of this situation once and for all. She was about to turn and run when he smiled and said, "I'd love to hang out sometime, but I have fencing class now. Thanks for asking though, I'm glad to have interesting friends like you. Perhaps we can birdwatch sometime?" Adrien was smiling. Marinette knew that he was putting on his 'Agreste Face', the one he reserved for being intentionally nice to his father's customers. And now she was on the receiving end. Oh great. Just great. Marinette wiped her sweaty hands on her pants and quickly said. "Oh, okay; I'd better get going."
"And you're sure you're okay?" Adrien asked, concerned. Marinette nodded vigorously. She smiled and waved.

And then she sprinted off, trying to escape the terrible conversation that had just occurred. Before long, she was puffing and sweaty in the summer sun. She leaned against a wall and breathed out slowly.

"Marinette?" Tikki's high voice was concerned. "Are you alright?"

"I'm—I don't even know anymore." Marinette sagged, feeling defeated.

"Maybe," Tikki said slowly, choosing her words carefully. "you should approach him as a friend, and get to know him a bit."

"But Tiki, I already know him!" Marinette knew everything there was to know about Adrien. She knew his favourite ice cream flavours were chocolate and lemon, and he didn't mind when they touched. She also knew that he was allergic to feathers and that he had a surprising love for renaissance paintings. She had read every article, every piece ever written about Adrien. She knew him as well as he knew himself. "I just want to hang out with him and really get to spend time with him."

"I know," Tiki said almost sadly.

"We'd better head home," Marinette said, frowning. "I'll have to ask him another time."

In the darkness of an ally, the shy, stumbling Marinette became the confident and witty Ladybug.

There will be more! Please let me know what you think, it's still being written so comments can change the storyline :)

Hang in there, if I get a review, the next chapter will be up by tomorrow!