Alya leaned up against Nino's side with a long, drawn out sigh. Her eyes were glued to the TV as it replayed the latest akuma attack capturing Ladybug and Chat Noir's action as they saved Paris. Even though it had been almost a month, she was still in awe every time she saw the superhero duo end their save with not only a fist bump, but a kiss.
Since they first started working together it was easy to see how the flirted and teased one another, how Chat would make advances only to be rejected by Ladybug.
They were oblivious to their real feelings for each other for such a long time, no one believed they would catch on. But, almost a month ago they realized their feelings and announced it on live TV that they were officially a couple.
The whole thin reminded her of her own blind friends. Despite the struggles, Ladybug and Chat Noir overcame the hurdles and became Paris' number one item and yet, Marinette and Adrien couldn't seem to jump over the first one.
"Don't you think Marinette and Adrien would make a cute couple? Kind of like Ladybug and Chat Noir," she sighed. Even though she was starting to loose hope about her two best friends ever becoming an item, she still held onto some hope.
"It's never going to happen," Nino pointed out, never taking his eyes off the broadcast. "Marinette is way too shy around Adrien and he's so wrapped up in keeping his father happy he's oblivious of her feelings," he reminded his girlfriend.
"Yeah, you're right," Alya sighed in defeat. She hated to admit it, but he was right. They were just too different, too oblivious of each other to realize what was right in front of their faces. Alya shifted in her seat to face Nino as a light bulb went off in her mind. "What if we give them a push in the each other's direction?"
Nino stared at her confusingly. "What, like we help them?"
Alya moved closer, looking him dead in the eye. "You said it yourself, they're too shy and oblivious around each other to ever notice their feelings. But, if we set them up on, say, a date then they'll have to see that they're suppose to be together!"
There was a long pause between them before a response was made. "I don't know..." Nino fiddled with his headphones. "Marinette and Adrien. They're our best friends and I would hate to see them get hurt because of what we did" he said. "Besides, shouldn't we just let them figure it out on their own time?"
"Come on Nino," Alya begged, trying to push him on board. "It's perfect. We'll talk to them and convince them to go to the Eiffel Tower with us, but when they get there we'll make an excuse to leave. After that, they'll realize it's just the two of them and they'll have to spend the night together!"
Nino sighed, wondering what he should do. On one hand, he didn't want to hurt his friends, especially if the idea backfired. He just couldn't stand to see them mad at him and Alya forever. On the other hand, if they didn't try something they may never realize anything and they'll become lost causes.
"I just don't know if-" he was quickly silenced with a finger pressed against his lips. Unable to say a word, he could only watch in horror as Alya was already starting to dial Marinette's number.
________<3________<3________<3________<3________<3
"Awww, come on bugaboo, don't be like that," Adrien said, trying to grab Marinette's attention, but every time he looked at her, she looked away. He gave Plagg and Tikki a pleading look of help, hoping they would be able to help him, but no such luck. "I told you, it was an accident. I was saving your life," he argued.
Marinette crossed her arms firmly, staring out the window to avoid his gaze. "Saving my life or not, you threw me into the river! I had that akuma too!," she countered back.
Earlier that day, they had encountered a rather tough akuma, one that was close to harming Ladybug. Chat Noir, being swift on his feet, pushed her over the fencing and into the river to save her from getting hurt by the villain. While his quick thinking saved his lady, it didn't award him any brownie points.
"I told you she wouldn't forgive you," Plagg taunted with a snicker.
Adrien glared at his kwami, swatting him away as he was rather unhelpful toward the situation. He turned his attention back toward his girlfriend, giving her the best sad cat eyes he could muster, as she turned around. "You can't be mad at me forever. I'll do anything to make it up to you."
Marinette looked at him, tussling his hair with a cute smile plastered on her face. "You know I could never be mad at you forever, you're my knight in shining leather" she said as she brushed his hair back, brushing her lips against his forehead. "Especially when you're making cat eyes like that," she giggled.
Adrien perked up at the sounds of her laughter, his signature Chat Noir grin spreading across his face. "Maybe I should make cat eyes all the time" he wiggled his eyebrows playfully. In one swift movement he was face to face with his love, their faces inches apart from one another, her hands grasping the collar of his shirt.
"Maybe you should" she teased, her lips grazing his ever so lightly. The two stayed like that for a few minutes, never taking their eyes off of each other. However, the moment was disrupted by the sound of Marinette's phone ringing.
Tikki flew toward Marinette carrying her cell, it's screen flashing with Alya's name. She handed it to her miraculous holder, pressing the answer button with one of her paws.
"Hey Alya, what's up?"
"I was thinking, we haven't had a girls night in such a long time," Alya started, barely letting her friend get a word out. "So, I was hoping we could go out tonight. I heard there's a band playing at the Eiffel Tower."
"Alright, it sounds like a lot of fun," Marinette agreed. It was true she hadn't been spending as much time with Alya as she used to since she started dating Adrien, so she owed it to her friend.
"Great! I'll meet you there at six and wear something nice, like nice nice," Alya insisted.
Before Marinette could protest the call ended. "Alya want's to hang out tonight at the Eiffel Tower. She said there's a band playing," Marinette said, staring at her phone curiously. Alya would never insist on her wearing really nice clothing and she certainly hadn't heard about any concerts occuring that night, but she wasn't going to turn down a night with her best friend.
Adrien carefully slipped her phone away from her hands, setting it on the desk. He grabbed her by the waist, rolling her chair closer to his so their faces were meeting once again. "I like talking to Alya as much as you do, but her call was quite inconvenient," he purred, leaning in closer to her, his lips grazing hers. As fast as their moment resumed, it was interrupted by a cell phone ringing.
Plagg flew over from his spot on Marinette's bed and threw Adrien's phone at him, hitting his cheek. Before he could get scolded, Plagg scurried away to his safe spot, only to get scolded by Tikki.
Adrien glared at his kwami, but he quickly calmed at the sound of his girlfriend's giggles. He quickly answered the phone, spinning around in his chair a few times.
"Dude, we need a guys night," Nino said quickly. "As much as I love Alya, I need some space and what better way than to spend it with my best friend" he said, trying to sound desperate for some guy time while being given the death glare from Alya.
"Sure, whatever you want to do, I'm there," Adrien promised.
"I heard there was this cool band playing tonight at the Eiffel Tower. What do you think?"
Adrien didn't respond, his gaze locked with Marinette's. He was pretty sure he had heard Alya say the same thing to Marinette when she had called moments before, but he didn't question it too much. "Uh, yeah, sure, that sounds like fun."
"Awesome! I'll meet you there at six and it'd be cool to wear something nice. You know, you never know when you might run into someone important," he chuckled, quickly ending the call before he could further make a fool of himself.
Adrien set his phone down, staring at his lady. "That was odd. Nino also wants to hang out tonight at the Eiffel Tower to see some band," he said curiously.
"Hmmm..." Marinette thought about the situation, wondering what their friends could be up to. It was normal for them to call, they were all best friends after all, but right after each other? Not only that but they suggested the same place to see the same band. It was a little too coincidental for her liking and she had a very good idea as to why. "I think they're trying to set us up on a date."
"But why would they do that? We're already dating," he pointed out, figuring it should be obvious they didn't need to go through all that trouble.
"We know that, but they don't. When Ladybug and Chat Noir started dating a month ago and we decided not to tell anyone you and I were dating so as not to draw suspicion," she reminded him.
Adrien leaned back in his chair, throwing his hands behind his head. "So, what do we do?" he asked, wondering what kind of trick she had up her sleeve to get them out of their predicament this time.
"We go through with it and give them a surprise," she grinned, formulating a plan in her mind.
As six o'clock rolled around, Marinette and Adrien made their way to the Eiffel Tower. They were confident that their plan would work, after all they had spent all day working out the details to make sure it would go smoothly.
When Marinette got to the Eiffel Tower she looked around for Alya as if she would be there, pretty sure she was over acting. As if on cue, her phone rang, Alya's name scrawled across the top. "Hey Alya, where are you? I don't see you," she said, lacing her tone with worry.
"Oh, sorry girl, my parents need me to watch my sisters. It was short notice, you know," Alya said, holding back her excitement. She and Nino were going to be following them. They were currently hiding behaind a pillar. She was so sure her plan would work, she was afraid she would blow it over a single phone call.
"Don't worry about it, it's a nice night, I'm sure there's something I can do," Marinette assured her as she spotted Adrien through the crowd of people. "Adrien is here," she sucked in a breath, sounding as panicked as she could.
Alya smirked against the phone. "Go to him, ask what he's doing there and if he's alone make your move!" she insisted. "You'll do great," she quickly hung up the phone, peeking out on the side of the pillar she was hiding behind.
Marinette sighed, shaking her head at Alya's excitment. As much as she loved her best friend, sometimes she had too much confidence in her. She gave Adrien a half wave, her cheeks heating up when she saw him and she was pretty sure she saw hints of red against his face too. He was wearing a green button down shirt and dress pants with his hair slicked back. Was he trying to give her a heart attack?
"Hey Marinette. What are you doing here?," Adrien smiled causing her heart to melt. Even though he had given her that same smile a million times and he was her boyfriend, it still made her flustered inside.
"I was suppose to meet Alya here, but she just called saying she had to babysit her sisters," she informed him casually.
"Oh, well I was here meeting Nino, but he couldn't make it," Adrien let his gaze wander for a few moments before settling back on Marinette. "We shouldn't let this night go to waste though, why do we do something?" he suggested.
"Okay," Marinette smiled. Just her smile alone got his heart beating faster and he wondered how he was going to get through the night pretending they were just friends. Especially with the red dress she was wearing that framed her petite body perfectly and her hair, rid of its signature pigtails and put into a regular ponytail, was breathtaking at its true length. The night was going to kill him and Marinette owed him for it.
Silence hung in the air, neither one of them speaking for a while. They didn't want to jump straight into conversation, it would be too suspicious. After a few more moments of silence they decided to take a walk through the paths surrounding the Eiffel Tower, making small talk for a while as they strolled the grounds. Every so often they heard rustling, assuring them that their friends were following them.
"I told you this was a great idea," Alya whispered, pointing out to her boyfriend as they moved to the next bush, never taking their eyes off of the 'oblivious' couple. "They're so cute together," she sighed dramatically.
Nino rolled his eyes, wondering why he had gotten himself into this situation. "They don't seem comfortable around each other though," he pointed out, noticing that they kept a bit of space between them.
"Shhhh, it'll happen," Alya assured him, running to the next hiding spot she could find.
Adrien glanced at Marinette, never turning his head in her direction as he was sure Alya and Nino would catch the love struck look on his face. "Don't you think we should take this another step yet princess, I mean, we've been walking with space between us for a while now," he pointed out quietly, growing tired of not being closer to her.
"Hold your whiskers," Marinette teased. She walked closer to him, her hand brushing up against his.
Just the sensation of her touch sent shivers up his spine and he felt as if he wouldn't be able to keep up the act all night. "Hey, it's a beautiful night, you can even see the stars," Adrien said. He spotted an empty space on the Champ de Mars and motioned for her to follow him as he laid in the grass, Marinette laying opposite him as they stared up at the stars.
"Nino! Do you see that?!" Alya grabbed his shoulders, shaking him in excitement.
"What? They're just hanging out together," Nino said, fixing his glasses. "They've been doing it all night," he said.
Alya groaned, rubbing her temples slowly. "They're not JUST hanging out together, they're so very close to each other and Marinette isn't freaking out!" she exclaimed, causing a lot of people to look in her direction. Her cheeks began heating up from the sudden attention and she quickly shrunk back behind her bush. "This is big Nino! BIG!" she whispered screamed.
Nino looked over the bushes, squinting to get a better look. The more he stared, the more he noticed what his girlfriend was saying. It was true they had hung out together before and aside form Marinette's stuttering, they managed to be around each other rather normally. However this was different, they were so close to each other and he could see genuine happiness radiating from his best friend when he was with her.
"Wow," he breathed.
Marinette and Adrien laid in the grass star gazing for quite a while, pointing out different constellations and discussing many topics with one another. It was so odd to Alya and Nino, watching them have full conversations with each other without Adrien becoming flustered or Marinette stuttering. But none the less it excited them to see their best friends becoming closer with each other.
Eventually they moved on from their star gazing, deciding to push their plan into the next stage. They spent a good portion of their night searching for Andre's Ice Cream Cart and eventually found it back where they had started. The Eiffel Tower! As they were ordering their ice creams, they continued to assure Andre they were friends, but he was insistent that they were made for each other.
"Andre's Ice Cream...no way," Nino breathed, adjusting his hat. "I can't believe it, they got Andre's Ice Cream...together," he stated.
Alya didn't answer, she couldn't. Her two best friends, if she could even call them that anymore, had just gotten Andre's Ice Cream together. Andre's Ice Cream, which is said to bring people together. "I know..." she said slowly, unable to understand what was going on. There was no way that they would get Andre's Ice Cream together unless they believed it would bring them together and yet, they continued to insist they were only friends.
They quickly followed their friends as they headed to the park. Neither of them quite sure what was going on anymore. Not only were they oddly calm around each other, but it was becoming increasingly harder for Nino and Alya to figure out what was going on between them as they had never see their friends acting as they were.
Adrien led Marinette to the fountain in the middle of the park, the same fountain he had photoshoots at. He sat on the edge, motioning for her to sit beside him which she happily obliged to. He stared at his lady, her bluebell eyes sparkled in the moonlight making his knees go weak. There was just something about her that made him fall madly in love with her every time he saw her.
"M'La-Marinette," he corrected himself, gently placing his hand onto of hers. "I quite enjoyed our night together."
Alya leaned forward from behind the bushes, her eyes glued to the scene before her. Even Nino was intently focused on what was going on between his friends. It wasn't like them to act as they were, it was almost as if they were already a couple. But that was impossible, they had only spent one night together.
"I did too," Marinette moved closer to Adrien, closing the space between them. She could see Alya and Nino from the corner of her eye, but she quickly drew her attention back to Adrien. She could feel his hands on her waist, his touch sending shivers down her spine as she leaned in, her face inches from his. "I love you kitty," she whspered against his lips.
Adrien purred contently, unable to stop himself. "I love you too Bugaboo," he mumbled, pressing his lips against hers. Her lips tasted like strawberries and it was intoxicating. He wanted more, he didn't want the moment to end.
Alya's jaw dropped when she saw them kiss, her heart pounding hard in her chest as she felt an overwhelming rush of excitement. She had expected them to spend the night together and perhaps even realize their feelings, but she was completely unprepared for them to kiss.
"Dude..." Nino couldn't form words he was so in shock. He knew it would take some time for them to figure things out, but he didn't think it would only take one night.
Marinette pulled away from Adrien, her eyes locked with his as she ran her fingers through his hair. "I hope Alya and Nino had a good night," she said, hoping he would catch on to her hint.
"Why don't we ask them," Adrien chuckled, looking straight at the two.
Alya burst out from the bushes first, rushing straight for the two. "What was that?!" she exclaimed, her eyes full of confusion, hurt and excitement, with a whole bunch of other emotions. "We knew you guys were on a date, but we didn't expect...that!"
"Oh, so you knew?" Marinette hinted, raising a brow. She watched her expression instantly change to nervousness as she had just given away the fact they knew about their date.
"Well...umm...about that..."
"Yeah, we kind of set you guys up," Nino said, stating the obvious. "We didn't think you guys would ever end up together, so we tried to make it happen..." he chuckled, realizing how terrible of an idea it was. "Sorry."
Adrien laughed, motioning for his best friend to take a seat beside him. "It's okay, we knew and we set you guys up instead," he said, getting even more confused looks from them. "Marinette and I have been together for a while now and we were hanging out when you guys called us to hang out tonight. This whole thing was Marinette's idea, surprising you guys that is."
"What? Girl, you have some explaining to do," Alya said, sitting beside her with a grin on her face.
"Of course," Marinette sighed, laughing