The Love Swap

Chapter 3 - Sugar, Spice, and Adrien is VERY Nice?

Marinette felt Alya check her pulse immediately. All her friends crowded around moments after Adrian left, hugging her in delight about the date Adrian had asked her on! 

"Girl, you okay?" Alya asked, "You didn't even stutter once!" Marinette laughed, but not before noticing Alya turned away from her in deep thought. 

"What's up Alya?" Marinette asked? Alya shook her head and all their friends quieted down to listen to what she had to say.

"Has... Adrien ever done something like that before?" A couple people shook their heads before she continued. "It just doesn't seem like him normally." She turned to face Marinette. "And you, Marinette, you were cool as a cucumber! It just doesn't seem like you! Is something going on here that I don't know about?" 

Marinette's head ducked down a little out of embarrassment. It was true, she didn't experience any blushing or stuttering like usual from Adrian talking to her. From Adrian touching her shoulder. A small blush appeared. 

Maybe I'm not so intimidated by my crush anymore, she thought to herself. Especially since I know now Adrian is the same as the silly cat who spouts puns and flirts with me at every moment. The blush grew. 

"Not that I know of," Marinette sheepishly told Alya. Not that you can know of. 

Suddenly, the bell sounded loudly above them. Marinette and her friends sighed as they walked into the classroom to start class. 

The school day can't be over fast enough.

***

Surprisingly, the school day passed without a sound from an akuma. It was nice to have full school days from time to time. Marinette felt as focused as ever on her schoolwork and just how she was going to woo Chat Noir the next time she saw him. 

Well, not that it was going to be very hard. After all, he was already in love with her. With Ladybug. Marinette reminded herself. Adrien is in love with Ladybug, not Marinette. 

"Hey Marinette!" Adrien exclaimed, surprising her by placing his hand on her shoulder again. Once again, she surprised herself by looking him straight in the eye and smiling without blushing too hard. 

"Hi Adrien," she said. "Are you sure you still want to skip your Chinese lesson? Won't your father be angry at you?" He laughed and smiled again at her. His eyes sparkled as he looked at her for a beat. A long beat.

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him," he said. "Besides there are more important things to me right now than one lesson." He gave her the most tender look she had ever seen come across his face. 

Dang, she thought, He hasn't looked at Ladybug like this before. I wonder what's up with that? He interrupted her thoughts as he continued speaking.

"But I told Natalie that I would be taking Chinese with your uncle over a call today. She said I could go to your house!" She giggled at the thought of that. What a funny excuse! But, what works, works. 

"Awesome! We can grab our bags and walk over then," she said. He reached for her hand as she said that.

"Of course, there's no one I'd rather walk with," He replied. As their hands touched a bright pink blush formed on Adrien's face. She smiled in confusion up at him. She gripped his hand tightly as they began walking towards the lockers.

What was going on with him today? Marinette was so lost in her thoughts that she completely missed the audible face palm that Alya and Nino did in unison, just feet away from them.

***

Tom and Sabine welcomed Adrien and Marinette into the house with surprise written all over their faces. Marinette could tell they weren't expecting the two to walk to their house right after school, especially holding hands, she thought to herself. Marinette gave them a quick hello before leading Adrien right up to her room. 

I sure hope Tikki pulled down all those photos for me, she fretted for a moment. She had asked her small companion to go ahead and do her the favor of making sure the room was ready. But she needn't worry, for her room was devoid of any trace of all previous Adrien photos that had adorned the walls. 

"What did you have in mind to do?" Marinette questioned Adrien. "Play some video games?" She pulled out her two controllers that they had used to train for the Paris game tournament earlier in the year. She looked fondly at the controllers and then to Adrien who smiled.

"That would great, Marinette!" He exclaimed. She giggled and handed him one of the controllers before they sat down at her desk together. She watched who he picked with keen eyes. She smiled as he chose the Ladybug robot. 

No wonder he always talks so highly of Ladybug, and chooses her for each game. He's in love with her! Marinette grinned before choosing the Chat Noir robot herself. She could tell Adrien was surprised with her pick.

"Ladybug and Chat Noir, huh?" He said, casting an obvious glance at her. She nodded. 

"They're a great team," she agreed, knowingly. They both shared a laugh... for some reason. Adrien wasn't done pressing the topic though, as he continued on.

"What do you think of Chat Noir?" He asked as they began to battle in the game. A blush appeared on her cheeks out of nowhere.

Oh man, what does Marinette think of Chat Noir?? She flailed for a moment to reach into her memories of the moments they shared together. Her robot took a couple hits.

"Oh, uh... He- I, uh...."She trailed off. Adrien laughed but patted her back. And somehow, that was the thing to calm her down? Yeah, today was weird weird. She took a deep breath before trying again. 

"He's, uh, really nice!" She managed to say. Adrien visibly brightened up upon hearing that, so she added, "He can be a handful but I liked talking to him whenever he come by," Because he's you. She finished her sentence in her head. 

The sound a robot crashing broke her out her trance. Adrien had won! He started cheering, and she smiled at him.

"Good game," she said. But before he had the chance to say anything back, both of their phones went off. It was an akuma alert. Marinette knew she had to leave Adrien alone so they could both transform. 

"I, uh, have to go to the bathroom," she managed to get out before racing down the trapdoor to her room. Adrien turned his head to one side as she did so.

Sorry Adrien, but you need Ladybug now. She thought to herself as she sheltered in the hallway between her room and the bakery. 

"Tikki, Spots On!"