Truth Seeker

Chapter Nine

Marinette's alarm went off in the morning, and unlike every other school day, she leaped out of bed. Today was the day! To cheer up Adrien about his akumatization, of course. Not the other thing. No, no, definitely not that one...

She grabbed a pen and piece of paper. Eagerly she wrote a letter with a few little hearts doodled at the bottom. Then she dashed downstairs and almost ran out the door when she heard her mom. 

"Marinette, aren't you forgetting something?" She said as she poked her head out of the kitchen to look at her. 

Tikki peeked out from behind her and pointed at her holder. Marinette sighed. She was still in her pajamas...

"Thanks, mom!" Marinette giggled as she hurried back upstairs to get properly ready.

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Marinette slipped the letter she had written earlier into Adrien's locker, almost dancing with joy. She couldn't believe she had given a letter to Adrien. To Adrien. To. ADRIEN!!! She was so proud of herself. Echoing her thoughts, Tikki's head appeared out of her purse and she winked at her. 

Suddenly, Adrien opened the door to the locker room and began to walk to his own locker. Marinette quickly ducked behind a bench and watched.

He opened his locker with mild surprise when the letter dropped out. He picked it up and muttered, "It's from Marinette?" and then he muttered it aloud to himself. 

"'Dear Adrien,

 I'm so sorry about your akumatization. I bet that was really hard for you to deal with, during and after. I have definitely felt that way before, like I would never be able to do - or , for my case, say - something. But that's not true. I just wanted you to know that if you ever need to talk to someone, whether it's serious or not, I'll be here for you. I'll always care for you and what you have to say. 

 Love, Marinette.'"

He stared at it for a moment in silence. Then he smiled a little. 

"Wow. Marinette is one amazing girl," Adrien murmured. He folded up the letter, stuck it in his pocket, and walked back out, whatever he was originally coming to get forgotten. 

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"Are you kidding? You gave a letter to Adrien, and eavesdropped at the same time?!" Alya squealed. "Oh my gosh, I wish I had that on video!!" They were outside in the courtyard after school, just hanging around until campus closed.

"Um...yeah? I wanted to see his reaction without him knowing I was there. If I was there, I would've just stuttered and ruined the moment anyway," Marinette said. 

"Look, here he comes now!" Alya said, pointing at Adrien walking towards them. Wait, no, not them...he was going towards her!

Alya leaped behind a pillar and pretended to be absorbed in a magazine. 

Adrien stopped in front of Marinette with a little sideways smile that made her heart flip. "Hi, Marinette. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Um, y - yeah, of course!" Marinette said. She looked out of the corner of her eye at Alya, and she flashed her a thumbs up. Marinette had to agree, she was doing a lot better than normal. "What's on your mind?"

"I was coming to thank you for the letter," Adrien said. "That was really cool of you. You're an awesome friend, Marinette."

"No problem! What are friends for?" Marinette replied with a giggle. "Did you have anything else you wanted to say?" 

"Yeah, I do," Marinette swooned silently to herself when she heard the words 'I do.' "Nino and I are planning to go to the movies tonight. Do you and Alya want to come with us?" 

"YEAH!" Marinette squealed excitedly. "Um, I mean, yeah, that sounds awesome." 

"Great! We'll see you there at five tonight," Adrien said with an adorable grin as he walked away.

"Right...five...yeah..." Marinette murmured dreamily.

"Good job, girl!" Alya exclaimed, giving her friend a huge hug. "You actually managed to uphold a normal conversation with him! And he just asked you out!!"

"OH NO! I only have..." She checked her phone. "half an hour to get ready! See you there!" Marinette called as she ran back to the bakery.

Marinette's pride for herself began to rise as she sprinted, not believing how well she just did with the love of her life. When Tikki winked at her with excitement and encouragement, Marinette knew that that night would be different, in a good way.