#gecm

‘That’s an understatement.’  Alya folded her arms.  ‘All this time crushing on Adrien, you finally give someone else a chance, an older man no less, and that’s what gives him a kick in the ass?  What did you do?’

‘I accused him of only asking because of Luka and of being territorial.  And I left.’

‘You just walked away?  From Adrien Agreste?’  Alya asked in disbelief as Marinette pulled a face.

‘Yup.’

‘So what are you going to do now?’  Nino asked.

‘I’m going to ignore him and go on my date with Luka.’

‘You’re actually going to go on a date with him?’

‘Yeah, I am.’

‘After Adrien said he wanted to go on a date with you?’  Alya said in disbelief.

‘After Adrien made an ass of himself trying to do so!’  Marinette got to her feet.  ‘I’ll talk to him when I’m ready, but that’s not going to be today.  Excuse me.’  She made her way into the girls bathroom, knowing she was going to hide again, but she didn’t want to go over any more details.

The bell rang and classes resumed, but Adrien was noticeably absent.

‘See?’  Chloe sneered.  ‘He’d rather get in trouble for ditching than have to share a classroom with you.’

‘You know what, Chloe…’  Marinette started to get up but Ms Mendeleiev entered, insisting they take their seats.  Alya pulled on Marinette’s arm, encouraging her down.

‘We’re going to pick off where we left off on Wednesday.’  Ms Mendeleiev began, but the door burst open, and standing there was Chat Noir.

‘Oh no.’  Marinette groaned, dropping her head into her hands.

‘Sorry to interrupt.’  He nodded to Ms Mendeleiev.  ‘I need to take Marinette Dupain-Cheng to safety.’

‘No, you don’t.’  Marinette argued.

‘If Chat Noir needs you to go with him, you go with him.’  Ms Mendeleiev snapped.

‘Also, Adrien Agreste is at a safe location with Ladybug.’  Chat added rapidly as Marinette glared at him.

‘Is he really?’  Marinette said sarcastically.

‘Girl, I know you’re pissed with Adrien, but you should go with Chat Noir, if he thinks there’s good reason.’  Alya encouraged her.

‘I think I’ll be fine.’  She argued.  ‘There hasn’t even been an akuma alert.’

‘Marinette!’  Ms Mendeleiev raised her voice.  ‘You will go with Chat Noir!  Now!’

Marinette resisted rolling her eyes as she got to her feet, Chloe laughing from her seat.

‘That’s right, Marinette, go with that mangy alleycat.  He’s much more your league.’

Marinette swung her bag over her shoulder, hitting Chloe in the back of the head as she turned towards the front.  ‘Oops.’  Marinette shot her a look before heading out of the door without so much as even looking at Chat, who closed the door behind them.

‘I can’t believe you did that.’  She complained as he caught up with her.

‘I had to get you to talk to me somehow.’

‘I’m still not talking to you.’

‘You kind of are, princess.’  He quirked her a sideways smile as he drew his baton.

‘No, I’m arguing with you.  That’s something completely different.’

‘If we’re going to argue let’s do it somewhere more private.’  He said as he scooped her up in his arms without breaking his stride.

‘Put me down.’  She growled.

‘I need to get you to safety.’

‘With Adrien and Ladybug.  Really?’

‘Really.’  He extended his baton until they landed on the roof then set off as she folded her arms angrily.

Chat didn’t stop until he reached The Louvre, setting her back on her feet on the roof overlooking the pyramid.

‘You saw us working on my assignment.’  She stated, knowing the location was far from a coincidence.

‘If that’s what you want to call it.’  He leant back on the roof and folded his arms.

‘That’s what we were doing.’  She turned to him angrily.

‘I don’t remember the assignment including kissing.’

Marinette folded her arms to match his and gave him a defiant look.  ‘He kissed my cheek.  I didn’t ask him to.’

‘You agreed to go on a date with him.’

‘What was I supposed to do?’  She threw her arms up in the air.  ‘Wait for you forever?  You weren’t interested until Luka was!’

‘That’s not true.’  He argued, even as he realised it was.

‘It’s completely true.  So what is it?  You don’t want me but no one else can have me either?  Because that’s not very fair.’

‘I never said I didn’t want you.’

‘You didn’t exactly make it obvious that you did.  Calling me just a friend at every opportunity pretty much saw to that.’  She recrossed her arms.

‘When did I…oh.’  He realised she was right.  He had been caught up in the fact he had wanted Ladybug for so long that he had forgotten it had put Marinette firmly in the friendzone.

‘Yes, oh.  And that hurts.  You were so blinded by Ladybug you couldn’t see what was right in front of you.  So when Luka asked me I figured I had nothing to lose by going on a date with him.’

‘I’m not the only one who did that.’  He said, ignoring her mentioning Luka again.

‘Did what?’  She asked in confusion.

‘Couldn’t see what was right in front of me.’  He shifted slightly as he pouted.  ‘You couldn’t see Chat for Adrien.  That’s not who I am, not entirely.’

‘I saw Chat.’  She argued.  ‘I’ve always seen you, both sides of you, and had I not met Adrien first then Chat would have had a damn good chance!’

‘What?’  His head shot up to look at her.  ‘You…like me, like this?’

‘I did until you started acting like a jealous idiot.’  She huffed.

‘You mean because I came to my senses you don’t like me now?’  He said sceptically but she knew it hurt him.

‘I mean you need to come up with something better than effectively kidnapping me to get me to think you’re interested, and not because someone else beat you to it.’  She shook her head.  She found it hard to stay mad with him but she had to keep some distance or her resolve would melt.  She needed to know she was worth something to him as Marinette, not just because he was jealous.  ‘I’m going home, and unless there’s an akuma I think we should patrol separately tomorrow night.’

He looked at his feet.  ‘If that’s what you want.’

‘It’s not what I want, it’s what I think we both need.’

‘Fine.’  He sighed, knowing, as always, she was right.  ‘I’ll see you, princess.’

She left for school early but only because she hoped to get there without running the risk of bumping into Adrien for anything other than classes.  Sure enough she arrived before him and went and waited in the girls bathroom for the first bell to ring.  While she sat she toyed with her phone, hoping for a distraction, she received a message from Luka.

L - How do you feel about attending an open mic night and supper after?

Marinette stared at the text.  In all her anger at Chatdrien she had forgotten they had plans, the plans that really had caused a large part of the problem.

M - An open mic night?  Do I have to sing?

L - Not if you don’t want to.

M - Then that sounds great.

L - Eight o’clock tomorrow then?

M - It is literally a date.

L -;)

She didn’t know if this date was the right thing to be doing or not.  She held so many feelings where Adrien was concerned it was hard to see past them, but Luka, he was sweet and kind, and she truly liked him.  He deserved a chance and, if it came to it, an explanation.

The bell rang and she slipped her phone into her pocket, checking the coast was clear she ran to the classroom and peered through the door.  Alya waved at her from her seat, Nino was already there, but Adrien’s seat still stood empty.  That was fine, it meant she didn’t have to walk past him.  She could sit down and scowl at the back of his head.  She wasn’t even sure if he would reveal himself…

‘Princess?’

She squealed at the voice from right behind her, jumping into the room and spinning on him with a glare.  At least that explained if he would or not.  ‘No.’  She said firmly, adjusting her hold on her bag and marching to her seat.

‘Mari, come on, talk to me, please?’  He followed her to her desk where she took her seat.

‘No.’  She repeated, not looking at him while Alya and Nino shared a confused glance.

‘I’m sorry, what can I say?’

‘You can stop saying anything and sit down.’

‘But…’

‘Good morning, class.’  Mademoiselle Bustier’s arrival put paid to any more conversation and Adrien sighed before taking his seat.  He had to find some way to get her to talk to him.

‘Dude,’ Nino whispered, ‘what did you do to get Marinette so pissed?’

‘Girl, what happened?’  Alya hissed, shuffling closer to her best friend as she unpacked her bag.

‘Luka asked me on a date.’

Alya blinked twice as this information sank in.  ‘Whoa, what?  Wait, if Luka asked you, why is Adrien sorry?’

‘Because he’s a dramatic little shit.’  Marinette growled as role call started.

‘Since when does Adrien have a claim to you?  And why are you mad about it?  Isn’t this what you wanted?’

‘Alya.’  Mlle Bustier said firmly.

‘Sorry, Mademoiselle.’  She smiled apologetically before flipping open her notepad and scribbling something before sliding it towards Marinette.

A - What happened?!?

M - I’ll tell you later.

A - No!  Now!

Marinette sighed.

M - Adrien saw Luka and I together and got jealous.

A - I need more deets!

M - Later!

A - Recess?

M - Maybe

Lesson got underway and quickly distracted them but Adrien couldn’t help but to keep trying to steal glances of Marinette, his lady, seated behind him all this time.  Damn that explained the fire in her, her passion, her talent, why there had always been a certain je ne sais quoi about her.  She had always been there yet just out of reach.  He had hardly slept, going over everything he could think of, every akuma, every time they had fought together, laughed together, both in and out of costume, and he had missed it.  It was so obvious!  Had she known who he was before he called her princess this morning?  If she had, had it been long?  He had so many questions, but none of them would do him any good if she wouldn’t talk to him.

He had to do something.  He scribbled out a note, asking her to meet him for lunch.  He folded it in half an passed it to Nino.

‘Could you ask Alya to give this to Marinette?’  He whispered.

‘Sure, but you have to tell me what you did.’  He replied quietly.

‘I was an idiot.’  Adrien muttered.

‘I figured that.’  Nino replied, waiting for Mlle Bustier to turn around before slipping the note up to Alya and tilting his head briefly towards Marinette.  Alya already knew who the note was for, she had watched the boys whispering and Adrien handing it over, and she wasn’t the only one.

Alya slid the note towards Marinette who, without looking, picked it, screwed it up in a ball, and threw it at the back of Adrien’s head.  He turned around and looked at her pleadingly as the paper bounced to the floor, the glare she gave him fierce enough to make him mouth he was sorry.

‘What is going on?’  Mlle Bustier asked as Chloe picked up the crumpled piece of paper and straightened it out.

‘Marinette is throwing notes.’  She shot the dark haired girl a look.  ‘Apparently that’s the only way she can get a boy to show her any attention.’

‘I didn’t write that.’  Marinette snapped.

‘Of course not, this is far too legible to be your handwriting.’  Chloe scoffed.

‘Enough, thank you, Chloe.’  Mlle Bustier took the note and glanced at it before looking back at Marinette.  ‘Did you throw this, Marinette?’

‘Yes, Mademoiselle.’  She sighed.

‘I would expect better from our class representative.  No more disruptions, please.’

‘Sorry.’  She slid down in her seat as Mlle Bustier returned to the board, Chloe shooting her one last sneer.

Lesson remained uninterrupted until the bell for recess rung and, to Marinette’s surprise, Adrien was the first out of the door.  She had expected him to try and talk to her again, anything, but he was gone.  Part of her was relieved, she didn’t know what to say to him, or how she felt, but another part of her was disappointed.  Had he actually given up?

‘Okay, girl, as sunshine boy has disappeared you can tell us both what happened.’  Alya looked down at Marinette as she took her time packing her bag, wanting to go as slowly as she could so there was less time to interrogate her.

Adrien ran up the stairs to the top floor, checking around him before letting himself onto the roof, pulling his bag open as he did so.

‘Plagg?’

‘You’re going to do something stupid in the name of love, aren’t you?’  The kwami groaned.

‘Absolutely.  Claws out!’