Thanks for reading my story! You can find the image board on my Instagram called miraculous_mxngo. I've kinda been having a writer's block so I posted a bit late this week, just so I know I have chapters in advance. I'll try to upload next week but I make no promises! I hope you enjoy the chapter!
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On Monday morning, Marinette felt bold. After her conversation with Adrien, he seemed to like her sassy side, which rarely came out. She had also started designing a new line of clothes and wanted to show it off at school. On Monday she put her outfit together and straightened her hair. It dropped a bit lower than her butt and made her look like an anime character. She decided that was a good thing. She also decided to wear Adrien’s hoodie, just to placate him. As she buried her nose in it, she noticed that his intoxicating scent was beginning to fade. “Can I ask him to wear it without making it weird?” she wondered absently. “No. It is most definitely weird.” It was at moments like this that she wished they were dating already. Life would be so much easier then. Suddenly, another blonde-haired green-eyed boy popped into her thoughts and she felt decidedly guilty. She really ought to pay more attention to Chat; he had, after all, convinced her to go after her crush in the first place. “But hasn’t Chat become my crush?” Scattering away her battling thoughts, Marinette sat down and carefully applied a cat-eye and mascara onto her eyes. Deciding to be even bolder, she wore dark red lipstick and blew a kiss to herself in the mirror. She didn’t wear make-up often, mainly because she didn’t have time, but when she did, she felt like a queen. And wasn’t that the point of make-up anyway?
Tikki flew out of her mini-bed and her eyes lit up at the sight of her miraculous holder. “Wow, Marinette! You look stunning! I’m sure Adrien will love it even more!” she exclaimed
Marinette beamed and replied, “Thanks, Tikki! I’m also gonna try and be more confident today, not just for Adrien, but for me too!” She put up a finger for Tikki to high-five with her hand (or the equivalent for a kwami) and grabbed a black purse. After hugging her mum and grabbing an apple and croissant, she rushed to school, already a bit late.
Already in the classroom, Adrien was eager to see Marinette again. He had never seen sassy Marinette and wanted to tease her about it. Nino looked at his best friend with an amused glint in his eye. He had suspected that Adrien had a crush on Marinette for nearly 2 years. Finally, they had a chance now that his creepy Ladybug obsession was over. Suddenly, the door slammed open and in came a very breathless Marinette. “Sorry I’m late, Ms Bustier,” she panted. As she pulled off his hoodie, Adrien felt his jaw drop and eyes widen.
“Holy fucking shit…”
Marinette was wearing a dark green off-the-shoulder top with black paw prints going diagonally from her left shoulder to just under her right bust. Her right shoulder was exposed and the fabric held together with golden straps. Her bottom half was just as amazing - she was wearing blue skinny jeans that hugged her hips and black ankle boots with a green and black kitty anklet. Even her light make-up just accentuated her natural beauty. Her hair looked so dark, silky and perfect - she looked like a goddess and Adrien would gladly worship her all day. “Jesus Christ, Agreste, you sound like a lovesick poet.”
When Marinette walked to her seat, Adrien felt a light touch on his shoulder and shivered. He spun around to look confusedly at her but she only smirked and winked. He activated tomato mode and quickly turned back to face the front. “Ok, smirking winking Marinette is not something we’re used to but we can survive ok! Agrestes always know what to do. Oh my god, did I really just say that? What is this woman doing to me? Wow, now Nino’s doing that eyebrow thing again. I really don’t understand how Alya puts up with him.”
Nino was watching his friend's inner turmoil and trying his hardest not to laugh. Alya was busy hyping up Marinette about how fantastic she looked and Ms Bustier was busy questioning her life choices and contemplating whether or not to become a priest just so she can illegally wed her two favourite students. Remembering that she had a class to teach, she stood up and clapped her hands. “Pull yourself together Caline. In 6 hours, you can go back to rosé, the cats and Friends.” When everyone and looked up, she announced, “Ok, class! Before we begin another exciting lesson in history, I have an announcement to make. It will soon be Christmas and it’s a Collège François Dupónt tradition for you to have some sort of gift-exchanging on your last year. Our class president, Marinette, will be organising it so any ideas should go to her.”
Adrien turned around again to admire his princess. How she was able to design clothes, stay near the top of the class, help out in her bakery and be class president for 3 years running, he didn’t understand. She smiled a little and did a little finger-wave. He grinned back and leaned forward to whisper, “Hi princess.”
She blushed a little but leaned forward as well to whisper, “Hi hot stuff.”
“She will be the end of me.” Adrien went very red and turned back around. He could hear Marinette and Alya giggling behind him and Nino making confused sounds beside him.
“Dude, what was that? Are you and Marinette dating or something?” he whispered incredulously. Adrien shook his head so much, it could have spun off and flown away. Ms Bustier began the lesson but once again, Adrien couldn’t focus, only thinking about his princess.
“Not yours, Agreste. She’s her own person. Feminism and all that.” He was ready to start putting more action into plan Princess.
At the end of History, Marinette called for everyone to meet in the canteen so they could figure out a gift-exchange. “Ok, guys. You can give ideas and we’ll all decide whether we want it or not. At the end of break, we should have at least 5 ideas that we can vote for in class at the end of the day,” she announced. Everyone nodded their heads at this and began to shout ideas. “Ok, Kim, what’s your idea?”
Kim stood on the table and posed dramatically, “We should do a dare exchange!” He yelled the last part and everyone shook their heads at the same time while Alix cried with laughter.
“Anyone else?”
Sabrina put her hand up excitedly. “Ooh, why don’t we do a fashion exchange! We all design something that matches the personality of your person!” Some nodded in agreement.
“Ok, I’ll write that one down. Any other ideas?” After a few minutes, they had come up with 7 ideas: fashion, food, Pokemon, cookie, poem, jewellery and random gift. Most people had left to go to the other class and only Marinette and Adrien remained.
“Thanks for waiting up, Adrien,” Marinette said to him while packing her stuff.
“No problem, princess,” he smiled back. “But I am rather annoyed because my idea wasn’t heard.”
Marinette’s face fell and she said worriedly, “Oh I’m sorry Adrien. What was it? I’m sure everyone would like it.”
Adrien grabbed her hand and brought it to his mouth, smirking. “We should do a heart exchange because I’ll gladly give you mine.” He kissed her hand in a very Chat-like manner. Marinette blushed and slapped his hand away, laughing.
“That wasn’t very chivalrous of you, dear knight. Aren’t you supposed to protect me from people stealing me away?”
“I’m the only one allowed to steal you, princess.” He grinned at her as she burst out laughing again. “She’s beautiful.”
“But what if I want the blue-haired monster to steal me away from you?” she asked mischievously. Adrien growled and tickled her tummy.
“Never. You’re my princess.” She stopped laughing and looked up at him fondly, her hands on his toned chest.
“Is my knight possessive of me?”
Adrien didn’t reply, he only leaned into her face. She blushed intensely but leaned in as well. Their noses were almost touching, just a bit closer...
“DUPAIN-CHENG! COME HERE!” They jumped apart to see Chloé standing in front of them. “Hi, Adrikins! DUPAIN-CHENG! GET YOUR HALF-ASIAN ASS OVER HERE!”
Marinette rolled her eyes and grabbed her bag. She leaned in to whisper, “See you later, hot stuff.” She walked away with a grin on her face while Adrien stared back at her, dumbstruck.
“She really will be the end of me.”
Chloe grabbed Marinette’s arm and dragged her to the locker room. When they got there, Marinette was pretty pissed off. “Is there a problem, Chloe? Why did you have to interrupt Adrien and I's ...conversation?” she asked.
Chloe flicked her hair and looked at her nails. “Don’t make this weird or anything but I need some advice,” she muttered. Marinette had to double-take. Chloe Bourgeois, queen bee of the school, needed her advice?
“Wait, what?”
“You heard me, Dupain-Cheng. I need your help.”
Shaking her head in disbelief, Marinette slowly said, “Okay, what do you need help with?”
“Tomato-boy.”
Marinette almost fell over from shock. “Nathaniel Kutzberg? You’re into him?”
Chloe looked up and said sarcastically “Oh no, I just want to burn his face off and I needed your help on how to do that. Could you lend me a blowtorch, maybe?” Marinette stared dumbly at her. Chloe threw her hands up in exasperation and exclaimed, “Yes, I’m into him! Aren’t you supposed to be smart?”
“Ok, so why do you need my help?” Marinette inquired.
“Well, he liked you that one time and basically all the boys wanna date you. How do you do it?”
Marinette laughed at the irony. “Alright, Chloe. First rule, you’re gonna need to start calling me by my name.”
“Dupain-Cheng?”
Marinette rolled her eyes. “No, my first one!”
“But I don’t want to!”
“Do you want my help or not?”
“Fine...Marinette,” she reluctantly let out. Marinette smiled.
“Great! Now, to start with, you need to be much nicer to everyone.”
“Nope. I’m only here for tomato-boy. Everyone else can piss off.”
“Fine, be nice to only Nathaniel. But don’t go up to him and compliment him or he’ll think you’re making fun of him. Maybe buy him paintbrushes for his birthday next week?”
“Sure, Marinette.” She shuddered. “Ooh, that feels weird in my mouth.”
Marinette started to leave but Chloe grabbed her arm. “I….uhhh...I just wanted to apologise for.. you know,” she mumbled
Marinette raised her eyebrow. “Tormenting me for most of my life?”
Chloé went a bit red. “I was a troubled child, ok? But yeah. Can we try to be… not enemies?”
Marinette honestly wanted to throw her apology back in her face. But the fact that Chloe was willing to change, even if it was just for her crush, made Marinette see that maybe there was a heart under all that ice. She had grown from the jealous, vindictive bitch into a slightly less intense version of her younger self. So Marinette smiled and nodded. “Frenemies?” She put her pinkie out. Chloe smiled and linked her pinkie with Marinette’s.
“Frenemies.”
They walked out of the locker room grinning at each other. Adrien, waiting for Marinette, felt his jaw drop and eyes widen at the sight of the two girls next to each other without arguing. Chloe smirked at him and closed his mouth. “I can be mature when needed, Adrikins. Good luck with your girlfriend!” she teased as she walked away. Both Marinette and Adrien blushed intensely and giggled at each other.
“We should probably get back to class,” Marinette mumbled. Adrien grinned fondly and put his hand on the small of her back.
“Let me escort you, fair princess,” he said dramatically. Marinette giggled and moved his arm to rest on her shoulders. It felt strangely comfortable and they walked to class laughing and blushing at each other.
At the end of the day, the class voted for which exchange to do. They ended up choosing a cookie exchange, which won against food and poem by just 1 person. Marinette had written everyone’s name on small pieces of paper and put them in her purse while Tikki hid in her hoodie. The exchange pairs were:
Sabrina got Kim, Kim got Rose, Rose got Nino, Nino got Alix, Alix got Alya, Alya got Juleka, Juleka got Chloe, Chloe got Nathaniel, Nathanial got Mylene, Mylene got Alya, Alya got Adrien, Adrien got Marinette and Marinette got Max and Max got Sabrina.
Most people were happy with who they got and Adrien was over the moon. “Now’s my chance to spend more time with her as Chat!”
When the choosing was finished, everyone went home and Adrien walked out to his car with Marinette, laughing and joking with her. When they got there Adrien pulled Marinette into a hug, as they usually did. When he put her down, however, she was blushing a lot. “Come on, Marinette. You’ve done this before.”
Adrien’s eyes widened as Marinette leaned in with her eyes closed. He felt her warm breath on his ear and her soft lips touched his cheek for a few seconds. When she pulled away, they were both blushing a lot and Marinette smiled sheepishly at him. Adrien smiled back and leaned in to kiss her cheek as well. Both were grinning stupidly at each other and didn’t even register Nino’s gasp or Ms Bustier’s squeal of excitement. “Bye, princess,” he smiled.
She smirked and replied, “Bye, hot stuff.” Adrien stared after her for a few seconds as she walked away, then got in his car and drove off.
“WOOOOOOOOOOOO!”