Chapter 3 - Blue
Marinette was mulling over the roses on the bed when the third set arrived. A drop of loud footsteps echoed above her. Three steps, then two, and then nothing at all.
She stayed there, frozen for a few seconds before slowly rising from the mattress and making her way to her balcony.
Lifting up the skylight, she poked her head out, turned it to the right and—
"Chat Noir?"
"HI WHAT'S GOOD MARINETTE I WAS JUST DROPPING OFF SOME FLOWERS FROM ADRIEN AGRESTE! BYE, NOW!"
"HEY! WAIT!"
But the superhero had already left, jumping from building to building before disappearing completely behind a wall.
Marinette stayed there, eyes wide in both panic and shock as the words he had said to her sunk in. She let go of the edge of her skylight, dropping onto her bed with furrowed brows.
Tikki's facial expression mirrored her owner's as she settled on Marinette's shoulder.
"What the heck just happened, Tikki?" she asked.
"You're asking that like I have any idea," Tikki said.
Marinette later found out that the flowers were blue. There was a card this time, and lo and behold the initials A. A. were found in the corner under the beautiful poem that was written on it.
Yeah, she was freaking out.
She didn't know Adrien was the one sending her flowers. She didn't know why she was being sent flowers by Adrien. She was even more confused about the fact that Chat Noir was the one who had brought them and she wasn't even sure if it was a romantic gesture or just friendly gifts.
When she got to school the next day, she was still thinking about them. It was kind of hard not to since, as per her new tradition, she wore them in her twin braids.
"Hey, Marinette!"
Marinette, who had been talking to Alya and Nino, froze. Her eyes widened, blood rushing up to her cheeks as she forced a smile onto her face. She whirled around, "HI, ADRIEN!"
She winced. So far, Operation Play Everything Cool wasn't going well.
Adrien's face, she noticed, was flushed red as he too smiled tightly. "How're you doing?"
"Totally fine!" she said happily, "I am totally okay, I've just had the best day today. How's yours?"
"Exceptional! This day—and yesterday too—went perfectly fine with nothing weird happening whatsoever!"
"Right?" she exclaimed, smiling wide enough that it hurt, "Everything is perfectly normal."
Both Nino and Alya knew that nothing was going perfectly normal and both of them understood that they weren't gonna get an explanation any time soon.
Both Adrien and Marinette knew that nothing was going perfectly normal but unlike them, they were freaking about it much more.
"You have the flowers again?"
Marinette nodded, tugging on one of them, "I found out who was giving me flowers."
"You did?" Adrien's voice was higher than normal, his shoulders tensed as he eyed the rose that had led him to this moment.
"Yes!" Marinette squeaked, "And I'll talk to him... later."
Stupid, stupid, stupid! A voice chided herself in her mind, the boy who you've been in love with for the last couple of years is sending you flowers and you're ignoring it?
Of course, I'm ignoring it! You want me to pursue a relationship with this guy?
That's what you wanted you idio—
She was shaken out of her thought as the bell rang, cutting through the air like a whip. She blinked before being dragged into the school by Alya.
~
Time goes much faster when you're nervous. Marinette could've possibly forgotten about the flower if it wasn't for the fact that Adrien sat in front of her for the entire day. She had no choice but to stare at his mop of golden hair and daydream about him coming to her house on a rainy night with a bouquet of red roses in his hands as he confessed his love for her. Then kissing her senseless after she says it back.... No choice whatsoever.
Marinette wasn't paying attention to the lesson; that much was obvious to everyone around her. Especially Alya, since she had a front-row seat to the awkward nervousness that fourteen-year-old Marinette had. The ramblings had come out of nowhere. Well, at least when her friend was talking to Adrien. She had calmed down a little since then but she was still Marinette and... well when she started, it was hard for her to stop.
"Marinette, are you okay?" Alya asked when they left for the canteen. "You seemed pretty out of it today."
"I'm fine," she lied, twisting her braid in between two of her fingers as she looked in another direction.
Alya squinted at her before looking in the direction of where Marinette was looking and letting out a short yet sharp laugh when she saw who she was staring at so intently.
Marinette blushed and faced her again with a distressed expression. "Alya, help!"
She chuckled, "What, are you crushing on Adrien again?"
"Alya, this is serious," Marinette huffed before cringing, "and weird, oh my god."
"It can't be that bad," Alya said.
"Adrien sent the roses."
Alya blinked. "Come again?"
"This sucks!" Marinette groaned, flopping onto one of the tables.
"Girl, what are you talking about?" Alya slid into the seat in front of her and reached over the table to hold her hands. "Adrien sent you the roses! That means he likes you back!"
"We're talking about Adrien here," Marinette said glumly, "He probably thinks it's some sort of friendly thing to do."
"I think he's gotten past the 'she's just a friend, but let me hold her close while I ask her to dance with me in the moonlight' phase."
Marinette looked up to meet her eyes, "He kissed my cheek last week when he came over for that science project and told me he wouldn't mind sleeping in my bed every day."
"Ah."
A short silence ensued.
"I mean... he did say that you probably had a secret admirer," Alya offered, "And I'm pretty sure he knows that flowers are like... romantic. I mean, everyone knows that."
Marinette made a noncommittal noise, "Who knows? I can't just ask him."
"Why not?"
"Because he sent someone else to send them," she chuckled, clearly not controlling what came out of her mouth in that moment. "Idiot."
"Who'd he send?" she asked.
Marinette didn't answer immediately.
"Chat Noir."
Alya parted her mouth slightly before closing it again.
After a moment she finally whispered, "He sent the boy who's also in love with you as Ladybug to confess his love for you?"
" I don't know! " Marinette whined, "I don't even know why he asked Chat Noir of all people and why he agreed to it. We're not supposed to socialize with civilians for stuff like this."
"Maybe he knows him in real life." she offered.
She laughed, "Chat? Knowing Adrien? Please, my kitty couldn't possibly know him let alone be friends with the guy."
"You don't give him enough credit," Alya told her, "I'm pretty sure everyone in this school has at least thought he was handsome, he could be a model."
"Well, yeah. He's charming, but he isn't exactly... Adrien Agreste friend material? I don't know, he just doesn't seem like he'd be friends with him. Plus, every time we pass a poster of him he's always weirded out."
Alya sighed and stood up, grabbing Marinette's hand and dragging her out of the seat, "We'll talk about this later after we get some food."
~
Adrien regretted all of his life decisions when he met up with Marinette in the morning. She was totally thinking about what he said as Chat Noir. He was too.
There were a thousand better ways to get out of that situation. But no, instead he blurted out that he was sending her flowers and ran away. He groaned and Nino rolled his eyes for the seventh time in the last five minutes while they were standing in the lunch line. "Dude, what are you sighing so much for?"
"I messed up so bad."
"Messed up what?" he asked, while the lunch lady gave him a sandwich, "Your science project with Marinette?"
"I messed that up too!" he realized. "Dude, I kissed her cheek and told her that I wouldn't mind sleeping in her bed every day, " he turned around to face his friend, "I don't even know what that means! I got it from an anime!"
Nino looked at him for a second and then he burst into laughter right in front of his friend's face.
"Nino!"
"I'm sorry, but you did what?"
"I'm- I'm not saying it again!" Adrien could feel his cheeks heat up. "Nino this is bad! She probably thinks I'm a creep!"
Nino bit his lip, trying to recompose his face though he was still grinning like a maniac, "Marinette's not gonna think you're weird. She's done plenty of weird things too."
"But I—" Adrien sighed, "I'm just worried."
As they left the line-up, Nino put his hand on his shoulder and smiled reassuringly, "You and Marinette'll be fine dude."
Adrien really hoped he was right.