It's been a while since I've had the energy or desire to write. I recently got a promotion at work and while it is great it's a lot. And if I'm honest maybe it's been too long between episodes but I['m having a hard time staying interested in the show or maybe it's watching the more toxic side of the fandom on other platforms. It's just losing its fun. Maybe the adult world has truly worn me out. Or because I'm writing a novel and working on quilts who knows. So hope you don't mind waiting for this, but it was fun to write this rare pair!
Marinette sat on the steps of the school, gaming club had just a need and sometimes if Adrien's fencing class got out at the same time, they talked about gaming club, Adrien wanted to be a part of it so bad, but his father had strictly forbidden it. But today, she got out just in time to see Adrien leave with Kagami. She knew they weren't dating, Kagami had told her as much. If anything Kagami was really unimpressed with him, the girl he liked wasn't her, and well Marinette wasn't sure what that said about him. Sure she had liked Adrien and Luka at the same time, but she'd been very open with Luka about her feelings and had made it clear that she didn't want him to wait for her because she couldn't promise him anything, and that just seemed unfair.
She sat there pondering her life a little, was she as obsessed with Adrien as she had been? No not by a long shot. He still held a small place in her heart, but after Luka had shown her how a guy who likes you for you treats you, she wasn't so sure Adrien was the guy for her. Luka had asked her on a real date, and she'd wanted to say yes, but with just becoming the Gardien and all the class stress, she'd turned him down. They were still good friends though, and he'd even met a girl in his grade and they seemed to be getting along splendidly.
"By my calculations, your mood had downgraded by 30% since you left the game club room. While it's not an alarming change, it seemed noteworthy enough that I should inquire if you are alright Marinette?" She jumped a bit and found Max sitting next to her.
"Max! I'm sorry I didn't hear you wake up like at all!"
"I noticed, I even called your name. I was going to ask if you had a partner for the art project yet, I know I'm not your usual pick, but we have been getting closer through the gaming club, and art is my weakest class..." He paused, "But then you didn't even notice I called out so I figured I should make sure you were alright before I asked you that."
She had wanted to be Adrien's partner, she knew Alya and Nino had paired up in hopes of making that happen, but Max would be fun to work with. "I'd love to be your partner Max, Maybe we can do something video game-related, after all, it's the final project for art class, so we can do pretty much whatever we want." He smiled but didn't get up, clearly waiting for her to answer his other question, "Oh, yes I'm perfectly fine. I've been debating some of my life choices that's all." She smiled at him and stood up, she good goes sit on her balcony at home and debate with a much better few and maybe get some perspective from Tiki.
"It's always good to reflect on the choices we made and see how we got where we are. We can start talking about the project tomorrow." Max gave her a wave and headed towards his home.
After spending a quiet evening with Tiki and patroling with Cat she headed into her classroom for the day. She sat in her spot and put her head on the desk. She hadn't really done any processing as when she got home the feeling of needing a debate faded. Now that she was back in the classroom surrounded by her classmates and the boy who caused most of her pain wasn't here yet, the weight of her debate was suddenly feeling heavy.
She felt a hand on her shoulder she tilts her head slightly and sees Max giving her a soft look, one that felt almost out of place for the ever mathematic Max. "I gather your self debate wasn't successful." She sighed and simply looked back down. "Well I know I'm not someone you always talk to but If my math-minded brain can help let me know. Can't have my gaming partner distracted." Mari smiled to herself, she felt like she saw a side of Max so few people ever saw. When Max was comfortable with you, he could be like, cool and maybe even a little bit smooth? Or maybe that was just her. She pulled herself together and gave Max her dazzling smile and he returned to his desk.
"I forget you and Max are friends outside of class, you totally ignored me and Nino and didn't even notice Sunshine boy walked in." Alya teased her a little bit. "Don't tell me the Math Knight is stealing Sunshine's attention."
Mari looked over at Max who was dealing with Kim and Alex she gave a small smile that no one noticed. "I don't know Alys, maybe I just wanna not be obsessed with a boy anymore. And if my other guy friends can remind me I'm worth something, I'm not going to complain."
Alya didn't respond, she seemed to reflect on some things too. The day flew by and soon it was time for art class. Where much to the class's silent shock Mari and Max found a spot in the art room and started brainstorming. "Thanks again for being my partner Marinette."
"Anytime Max. I had an idea, what if we made a puzzle game that as the player solved puzzles or won battles they created a piece of art?"
Max tapped his chin, "I think that works, you could draw the final art piece that they make and I could design the game mechanics, and then together we can design the puzzle parts and maybe a few battles."
Marinette nodded and pulled out her sketchbook to start a ruff design. But Max put a hand on her shoulder, "Wait, you seem dishearted, can I help at all?"
She sighed and looked over to Adrien, "What are the mathematical odds, Max?"
He looked over to where he assumed she was looking, "Well 76% of best friends end up in some kind of relationship, but only 29% present end up married. But it doesn't work out, you have a 50/50 chance of it ending your friendship for life. Would you consider him one of your best friends?"
She giggled, "I think I'm safely in the good friend group."
He laughed, then gave her a firm look, "I would argue with math, it not worth the risk. Even if you did fall in love, you wouldn't statically last." He looked over at Alex and Kim who had chosen to work together, "It's why I'd never date either one of them, it could be fun, may even be successful, but I could lose them forever and I could never do that. I'd rather have them in my life forever than let feelings wreck two of the most important people in my life." He smiled at her.
"I'd never looked at that way... I guess I just saw the boy I liked, not the boy who is my friend."
"Maybe, that's why you can't talk to him but you can talk to every other guy in the class, even Luka who is another boy you've taken interest in at some point right?"
"I suppose, I hadn't thought of that. But who do I fix the way I look at him?" she looked over at Adrien, who happen to look up at her, clearly enjoying working with Nath. He gave her a wave, she smiled led to red cheeks and she looked to Max, begging in her eyes.
"I have a few ideas, may I come over tonight? We can tell your parents it's for the project. especially if we get some work on it right now." Max pulled out his laptop and got fast to work. Marinette trusting him got to work on the painting.
That night Max come over and walked up to Marinette's room, "You know pink isn't the most amble colour for rest and studying." Max teased.
"Yeah, I know but it makes me happy so that enough. So where do we start?" She stood with her hands on her hips ready to make changes. She brought up a few garbage bags from downstairs, she was committed to this.
"Well, you have a lot of photos of him in your room. That doesn't help your odds of lessening your feelings?" Max looked around counting the photos.
Marinette looked down, "Ya, I suppose you're right... I've been debating taking them down. So let's start there. Cuz this isn't even all of them." She pulled out a box from her desk drawer, walked up and pulled the pile out from under her bed.
"Wow, why? I don't understand, I understand liking someone, but this is a lot." Max looked around giving up counting.
"I guess if filled a void. I guess it was nice to dream that someone would want me that bad. So I went a little crazy." She sugged and started removing her pile from under her bed.
"You think you are not likeable?" Max started pulling pictures off her walls. "You seem so confident thou..."
"Well not unlikable just not worth Adrien. And I've never really looked at how the other boys notice me. Well other than Luka, he made really hard to ignore thou." She sighed.
"Maybe that's step two. Let yourself notice how the boys around you treat you. Maybe that will get you past the stuttering. Think of it as a game? You know, every observation you make is a power-up?" He smiles and opened a garbage bag and tosses the photos in it.
She tosses her photos down, "Gameavife it eh? That could work. Odds it will be successful?" She pulled more photos off the wall.
"If you give it your best try? 100%." He laughed and they worked in silence. And after a while, they had all the photos off the walls, off her computer, and off her phone, the only photos of Adrien left were ones when he was in groups shots. They even had time to work on the video game together.
Over the few days, Marinette take note of the guys in her life, even though Nino, Kim, and Ivan all had girlfriends, and Nath was definitely into Marc, they were all very kind to her and made a point of praising her. She started noticing that they treated her no different than Adrien and soon the sight of him no longer made her stutter or made her a mess. She and max started staying after school together to work on their art project or if they needed a break practicing for the big city-wide tournament coming up. Best of all, Max never complained when she ran off to do Ladybug things. He just seemed to shrug it off.
A week or two later, after she had very much gotten over Adrien, the class was having its weekly debate over Ladynoir. A conversation she was soo over... Finally, she put her hand down on the table and the noise got everyone's attention she normally put her headphones in and ignored them. But not today, "Can we remember that these are heroes are real people not some characters in a show! And Ladybug has made it clear that she is not interested in Chat Noir."
"But maybe she's playing hard to get!" Adrien integrated.
"I'm not done talking!" She looked at him sharply. Adrien sunk back like a scared kitten. "How would you feel if people were shipping you with someone you openly expressed not being interested in. What if people were shipping Ladybug with Carapace, Rena Furtive, Queen Bee, Pegasus, Viperion, Purple Tigress, Pigella, Polymouse, Bunnyx, King Monkey, Minotaurox, Caprikid, or Miss Hound like they do with Chat Noir?" she watched as all her classmates sunk down, realizing how uncomfortable that would make them. "Max, what are the odds that LB and CN would actually be life-lasting?"
He paused quickly doing the math with Markov, "33%"
"Why?" She shot him a smile. They had started making a game of what are the odds, some times making them up other times doing the math for real.
"Well one they don't really know each other... what if they have already met and don't like each other? And what if the trauma of watching Chat Noir get hurt so many times some times at her own hand gives Ladybug PTSD? And she can't ever relax around him? I just don't think the odds would ever be in their favour." He shrugged and went back to work. And the class soon followed. Mari breathed a sigh of relief.
Later as Max and she sat in the game room doing the last trial run of their game before filling a playthrough, for their presentation, Mari sighed. "Mari? What are the odds Ladybug really hates how much people ship her with Chat Noir?" Max set down the controller.
"100%" she didn't look up at him. "It makes her very uncomfortable."
"What are the odds there is another hero she would rather be paired up with?" Mari looked up at him, her cheeks turned pink.
"1...100%..." She stuttered. Max couldn't know, could he?
"I see. Mari remember how we talked about best friends and their odds of being successful? " she could only nod. "Well Summer is around the corner and we have little reason to run into each other. And I'm wondering what are the odds you would want to risk our friendship?"
She put her hand on his, "100% How about you?"
He squeezed her hand, "100%" They shared a smile. "What are the odds, Pegasus could start joining Ladybug on patrol, maybe give Paris someone else to talk about?" Of course, Max knows who could he not.
"0, Chat Noir knows who Pegasus is, it would expose Ladybugs identity if he put two and two together." Max's face fell a bit. "But Ladybug could get Pegasus to create a new costume and name and maybe the odds would be high enough to through Chat Noir off?"
"I think that's a risk he would take." They shared a smile and looked forward to the summer. No one needed to know their secrets for know. She rested her head on his shoulder and watch him play their game. Happy with the odds.