Previously
"Ugg! I just wish that I could know the part of you that you say isn't there when you're Ladybug: the part of you that's hidden! I just wish.... I love.... I'll come up with something by tonight!" Chat stands up, shaking his hands for emphasis.
"Chat?"
He runs out of the park, leaving me on the wet grass from melted snow. I hope he's okay. That was such a random outburst.
But, he has a point.
Marinette
Even with the fact that I had to get up early for the akuma attack, I still arrive to school late like always.
Maybe it's because I HAVE NO IDEA HOW I'M GONNA SURVIVE TODAY!
Nino knows that I'm Ladybug. Alya won't stop with her Ladybug theories. I used to think that having a gigantic crush on Adrien was a giant obstacle. I rush into class to find that they were already divided into groups. Chloe stood yelling at poor Sabrina. Nino sat next to where I usually sat, and Adrien and Alya sat in front of us.
Nino was scratching his neck and finally glances at me.
"Oh, thank goodness!" he mutters and relaxes.
"Marinette! I've got a new theory: Ladybug and Chat Noir could be the same age as us! Since we know that Ladybug isn't thousands of years old, we can assume from her voice that she is around our age, maybe she even goes to our school!"
"I dunno Alya..." I start and look at Nino to continue. He gulps as if to say, 'Who, me?'
He finally opens his mouth, but thankfully, Alya unknowingly came to the rescue.
"That's what Nino claims, too! But, don't you remember the Pharaoh? Earlier that same day, Ladybug dropped a tenth grade text book! I originally discarded the lead after discovering that Ladybug was supposedly 50,000 years old."
I don't know how to counter, so I just reply, "You can only assume so much before they become lies."
She nods, but I'm positive that my words entered her ears and flew back out instantly. Nino shifts his position.
"Yeah, Alya. You should listen to Marinette- she has a point. You shouldn't assume so much. Just because the akuma said that she is not thousands of years old, she still could be- I mean, it was an akuma. You can't trust them..."
"But..." Alya starts, finally hearing what we were saying. Her wall was still up though; she wouldn't listen to us entirely. She was just thinking of how to counter.
"And, even if Ladybug dropped a textbook, can you be sure that it's hers? I mean, she could have needed it for defeating the akuma." Nino argues for me. I smile at him gratefully.
"But, it's still something. It's still a lead." Adrien simply says. I blush for some reason. He's so smart.
"Just don't be disappointed when you don't find anything..." Nino breathes out. Wow, that was a convincing sigh of lies.
Nino and I eventually fall out of the discussion and get to work on the project. But I can't focus. Too much is on my mind.
"Marinette?" Nino says, snapping his fingers in front of my eyes, "Marinette! Focus! You've been answering my words with 'yeah' the last few minutes. Is something up?"
I just sighed at his face and turned away. I'm probably not the person he wanted Ladybug to be.
"Ah, right. Marinette, ...this shouldn't be something to stress about." he says and leans in a bit, "Your secret is safe with me. Sorry I found out." I melt at that point; he's so kind! As a friend.
"No, no, no! I'm okay that you know about... it. I'm glad that someone knows about it, sorry for making you feel that way. It'll be nice: having someone to talk to." I say. Maybe some of my thoughts were sweetened, but most of it was the straight up truth. Nino smiles gratefully at me.
The silence thickens. Nino finally says, "Umm... thanks. That means a lot. Now can you focus?"
I laugh and pull out another sheet of paper.
"'kay, so how should we do this dude?" he says.
Adrien
Alya finally stops he Ladyblog blabbering when the bell rings, sending us off to lunch.
"So what do you think?" Alya sums up while getting her things together. After talking about the knowledge I can share on kwamis, miraculouses, and hints on Ladybug's identity, I'm somehow thrilled that it's lunch time.
I never thought I would get sick of talking about Ladybug and me.
"Um... those are some good theories. Just make sure you have facts to back them up. You're walking on the thin line separating lies from assumptions." I say, stating the truth the best I could. Alya sighs, defeated. We start walking out of the school.
"Yeah, I guess you guys can be correct, but it won't hurt to try, right?" she tries. I look at her and shrug.
"Wow. Thanks." Alya walks faster. Wait- why am I following her?
"Alya, where are we going?" I call to her. She looks back at me and grins.
"I'm off to lunch with Marinette at her place! You can come; I think I see Mari and Nino walking ahead." She motions me to follow her. I pick up my pace, too, and soon we've caught up to Nino and Marinette.
"Hey guys!" I say. Marinette jumps.
"Uh... Adrien, hey! Urr. Hi, Adrien?" she stammers, waving her hands in a way that walks Nino in the face.
"Nino! Oh my gosh I'm so sorry!" she exclaims, wincing. Alya just laughs.
"Marinette and I are going to walk ahead; will we see you at the bakery?" Alya tilts her head at Nino.
"Uh... yeah." Nino stutters. I must of envisioned his nervousness. Did I?
Alya and Marinette sprint ahead, just enough so we couldn't hear their conversation.
"Wait, Nino? Do you like Alya?" I blurt out. Nino flips out.
"WHAT! No..... We're... I..." he starts. I look at him and he looks down and mutters something.
"Yes."
"I SHIP IT! Nino, this is great! When are you going to tell her?" I exclaim.
"Not that loud!" he hisses, "It's nothing. She doesn't like me, so I dunno."
"Nino... you don't know that. Just ask her. I could be your wingman" I say to comfort him, yet I also elbow him in the stomach. He stares back at me.
"Like you'd understand. Basically every girl in this school- in PARIS- is in love with you! You just get to pick and choose!" he counters. I clench my fists, but understood that Nino didn't mean that to be mean. It's not even true. Pfft. I wish. I can't win over Ladybug. People only love me as the perfect daddy's boy model.
"Wait- what? You like someone? Who?" Nino asks incredulously. Wait, did I just say that out loud?
I walk a bit before I think of an answer. Nino waits expectantly.
"I... um.... Would you like to come over tomorrow? We can play games and whatnot.... I'll tell you then, when we're not exactly in the public who can see your reaction."
"YOU DO LIKE SOMEONE! HA! Why can't you tell me here?" That's why "What are you- gay?" he asks.
"What? No... I'll tell you tomorrow. I swear on the bro code." I imitate crossing my heart. He shrugs.
"Yeah, sure, I'll come tomorrow. I'm expecting an answer, though." Nino says. I scratch my neck nervously, "Yeah. Okay."
"But seriously bro, you should ask Alya out! You might be surprised!" I say.
"Dude, you know that I can't do that! Did you see how I used to talk to Marinette? I'm awful!" he whined.
"Bro, you might..."
"FINE THEN!" I hear. Alya, who must of said it, is running towards us, but not to greet us. She rushes past us and I spot Marinette in tears at the end of the sidewalk. She's glaring at Alya.
"You go help Alya." I say simply to Nino and run to Marinette. She's already treading off angrily.
"Marinette- WAIT!" I shout. She doesn't, but slows down. I sprint next to her. She starts to sprint too, and fresh tears fall off her face. This fight must of been bad. How did Nino and I not notice?
I try to catch up to her. She's got a great sprint. I wipe some sweat off my face, but she persists.
"Marinette! Come on!" I shout. I pull out a tad bit of Chat Noir and give it my full sprint. I finally catch up to her again, but my foot catches a rock.
"GAH!" I trip and fall into Marinette's feet. Her body comes tumbling down, too. I take a second to catch my breath before grabbing Marinette's ankle. She looks at me. Her face shows so much emotion that it seems as if there isn't any: anger, confusion, joy.
"I'm so sorry Marinette!" I apologize for tackling her. "Are you okay?"
Marinette shifts to stand up, but I hold her ankle to the ground.
"Adrien...." she mutters, conflicted.
"Are you okay?" I ask again. She furrows her eyebrows.
"Let me go. I just need some time alone!" she whispers angrily at me. I'm taken aback; she's never been this angry at me. She's never really been angry at me. I almost let her go.
"Marinette, what happened?" I try again. Marinette falls back into tears and manages to tug her foot away. I reach for her, but she's already sprinting away. I can feel some tears threaten to fall in my own eyes. Plagg flies out of my back and glares unapprovingly at me.
"Tsk... tsk. Tsk." Plagg mutters and facepalms.
"Plagg, I don't have time to deal with you." I mumble and stand up.
"Kid, you've got so much to learn. Go after her!" Plagg shakes his head like a disappointed dad.
"You heard her! She wants nothing to do with me!" I screech at him and look at the ground, "She doesn't trust me."
"So dense. Oh my Fu, you..." Plagg curses in a way that I can't hear it.
"Gee, Kid, if only you had a different identity so that you could talk to her." Plagg states as if becoming his superhero second identity and breaking into his friend's house to talk is the most reasonable action to take.
"Plagg. I can't..."
"Zip it!"
"Plagg..."
"Zip!"
"Plagg! I can't just..."
"Ziiiiiiiiiiip!" Plagg flies across my face. He glares at my deadpan expression.
"Fine then, I'll go myself." Plagg flies up out of my reach and heads straight for the Dupain-Cheng bakery.
"WHAT! Plagg! You can't let anyone see you! Stay low!" I yell at him. I'd be doomed if there were people nearby in the park. Let alone him start talking to Marinette! I start to run once again, but now I'm chasing Plagg.
I try again: "Plagg, what are you going to do: go up to her and say 'Hi I'm Adrien's kwami. Don't worry about what a kwami is, just know that I'm here as a flying cat who has a shoulder for you to cry on.'?"
"That's what I was planning on!" he shouts back. I groan in frustration.
I try to grab him out of the sky. He doesn't even flinch. We approach Marinette's home. People are all over the place: walking, talking, shopping....
"Only one way to get out of this!" he taunts. I can't let him go! I don't have many other options. Stupid Plagg.
"Fine!" I yell at him. He immediately floats back down with a gloating smile plastered on his face.
"Finally," he sighs, "Go one, say it. What are you waiting for?"
"A hiding place." I state.
He bounces in his float as he enters a thin alleyway. Wow, he's unusually giddy. I follow him. If there was any hope of not embarrassing myself in front of Mari, it's gone now. Plagg grins next to me with a glimmer in his eye. He's scaring me. I let him order me around and get to where no one can see me.
"Ready, Plagg?" I ask.
"Yep."
"You sure?"
"Kid, quit stalling. Transform!"
"Plagg, claws out!" I say. The mask covers me and I smile, despite the situation. All I have to do now is meet Mari and comfort her as someone she's only met once or twice. This'll be interesting.
I leap out of the passageway and leap to the top of a building. I bounce across the street and land on Marinette's balcony.
I can't believe I'm about to do this. I knock.
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Hi guys! If this seemed a bit unfinished, it's because I realized that I was going to put too much into this chapter. 😅 Oh well, just a cliffhanger to make you sad that I can't update frequently. Sorry if this chap. was dull. I don't know when I'll update next, probably next weekend.
I really don't care how many reads I get for this book, but I feed off of comments. So those of you that are reading this book, I'd love to hear feedback. Please with a cherry on top? 🍒
Thank y'all for reading! Please vote, share, and comment!
- doodlebug_7