Which One

7 Adrien

"Well, I c-can't really um...explain..."

Adrien needed to confirm his emotions. He leaned in and kissed Marinette on the lips, touching them softly. Pulling away, he finished what he was attempting to say.

"I like you, Marinette. A lot."

Adrien had been rehearsing all night, getting ready to tell her about his feelings, but that's all that managed to come out of his mouth.

Marinette blushed. "I-I..."

She was too stunned to say anything, so she hugged him. Her hands wrapped behind his head and touched his fluffy, blond hair and warm neck. Adrien rested his hands on her back, pulling her in tighter. Classmates who saw them raised their eyebrows and gaped at them. Especially Chloe. She ran out of the library, furious.

Once they separated, Marinette looked into Adrien's eyes.

"I like you too."

Adrien felt a weight lifted off his chest. He did it. He confronted his feelings. So why was he still confused?

Forget about them for a moment, Adrien. You have an amazing girl who likes you.

"Maybe you can come over to m-my house and we can work on the project," Marinette suggested. "You can stay for dinner too."

"Free food? I'll definitely be there," he said with a teasing grin.

Adrien and Marinette turned around to the sound of a scream. Someone had been akumatized.

The akumatized victim pointed her staff at Rose who was screaming. Juleka wrapped her arms around Rose and they both turned into glitter statues. Then she turned her head at Adrien.

"I am Glitter Rush! And I've come for Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous. And...revenge on you."

She pointed her staff at Adrien. In an instant, she flew over to Adrien and slammed him against the wall. Glitter Rush was holding Adrien up by his neck, strangling him.

Marinette ran behind one of the bookshelves. "Time to transform! TIKKI, SPOTS ON!"

And just like that, Marinette was Ladybug with the help of her kwami.

Ladybug knocked Glitter Rush in the head with her yo-yo, causing her to drop Adrien. He was gasping for breath, the color coming back to his face.

"I wouldn't move an inch, Ladybug! Unless you want to see Adrien turned into glitter," Glitter Rush warned.

She pointed her gold staff at Adrien once more. He didn't dare move.

Ladybug growled. "Don't you dare hurt him or you'll be sorry!"

"Is that a threat, Ladybug?" Glitter Rush asked with a smirk.

Glitter Rush squeezed Adrien's arm and they were gone in a cloud of glitter.

Ugh! Where did she go?

Ladybug eventually found Adrien at the top of the Eiffel Tower, but no villain. A crowd of people was surrounding the tower, pointing at the boy trapped in an enormous hourglass that Glitter Rush must have created with her staff. Glitter was forming around Adrien's ankles. In a few minutes, he would be covered in it and suffocated to death.

"Are you okay in there?" Ladybug shouted.

"Yeah, just hurry. It's getting hard to breathe in here," he answered, his voice muffled.

All Adrien could feel was his throat burning as if he were drowning in hot sand. He was out in the open with people watching him so he couldn't transform. He had to wait.