Look What You Made Me Do

Did You Really Think I'd Stay Where You Left Me?

(A/N:Nino and Marinette have a long over due heart to heart talk.)

To say that Marinette felt conflicted was a serious understatement. Nino hadn't actively bullied her, but he hadn't done anything to stop it. He had just let Alya say those horrible things. Why? Because of love? Marinette couldn't really throw stones when it came to making bad choices because you thought you were in love. If she thought too much about how she used to be in regards to Adrien she was pretty sure she'd pull a muscle with how hard she would cringe. Past Marinette had been an obsessed disaster. She had made so many bad decisions in her attempt to get Adrien into her life. Even to the point where her feelings for the blonde clouded her judgement when being ladybug.

The Aspik incident was a perfect example. All the clues were obviously pointing to Luka, but because she wanted to bring Adrien into Ladybug's world so badly she ignored those clues and gave the snake miraculous to Adrien. Adrien who at the time had been in love with Ladybug. It was kind of funny. It certainly explained why he had tried so hard to be the right holder. It was a miracle that there wasn't any lasting damage from using Second Chance so many times. Yes he worked with Ladybug as Chat Noir but their identities had to be a secret from one another.

Though now she wondered if that had been the truth or because Master Fu knew Adrien wasn't a true holder. He had been a little against her telling Chloe, Luka, and Kagami who she was but in the end said he trusted her judgement. Was it that by then she had matured or was it not just a coincidence that her knew team were all true holders? She wondered what Master Fu would think about Jason.

"Your....classmates are moving away."

"Wh-what?!" she exclaimed. Marinette had been lost in her own thoughts so hearing Damian's voice startled her. Peering over the edge of the booth she could see that Damian was right and that the two boys were moving away. "Looks like the coast is clear." she said before climbing down. She looked in the direction Nino and Adrien were walking in but hesitated. Was she really ready for this?

"I'm here...if you need me." Damian offered a bit awkwardly. Marinette looked over at him and smiled.

"Thanks." she said before going in the direction she had seen the other two go in.

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Nino was starting to think that coming to the fair had been a waste of time. He and Adrein had been walking around for over an hour and a half and had seen no sign of Marinette. He was starting to wonder if this was a sign. What right did he have to talk Marinette ever again. He had turned his back on her by not doing anything. He just let Alya and all the others steam roll her. Just as he was about to sigh and throw in the towel a voice called out to him.

"Hey Nino."

Eyes going wide he turned around and stared at Marinette. It was like he had summoned her with his thought of giving into defeat. "Oh.....h-hey Marinette." he stammered. He had been wanting to see Marinette so bad, but now that the moment was here he felt tongue tied. "What are you doing here?" He inwardly winced. She was clearly there to enjoy the fair. Unlike his loser ass who had come with a desperate hope that he might run into her.

Marinetter didn't seem to think his question was stupid. "I came to enjoy the fair." she began with a half smile. "I'm here with Damian.....we're on a date."

Nino wasn't sure what he had been expecting her to say but that was not it. Marinette was on a date?! When had she met someone. He looked at the boy standing beside her and swallowed nervously. The guy was frowning at him pretty hard.

"Uh....that's cool. How'd you two meet?" he asked, feeling slightly awkward.

If Marinette thought the same she gave no sign of this. "Well we first met at the Gotham Gardens, but actually Chloe and I are staying with him and his family for the rest of the trip."

Nino quickly nodded and gave them a nervous smile. He had to act now or he would lose his nerve. "To be honest I came here with Adrien in hopes of running into you. I would really like for us to talk....i-if that's okay." He quickly added the last part.

Marinette turned to her date. "Do you mind if Nino and I talk?"

Damian stopped frowning in favor of giving Marinette a small smile. "I encouraged you to do this for a reason. It would be detrimental to discourage you at this point."

Wow, this guy was like, super formal. Nino was distracted from his thoughts when Marinette turned to him and smiled. "Shall we?" Nodding he followed her.

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Adrien had to admit while he had hoped that they would run into Marinette he had assumed they would run into her and Chloe. Instead they had found her on a date! What made this even more awkward was just a few minutes ago Nino had said he and Alya had always hoped that he and Marinette would have ended up dating. It wasn't that he had never thought about it, but he just felt like they made better friends. Adrien often felt like he could barely handle maintaining normal friendships, he doubted he was ready to try dating. But....maybe one day.

"So....uh.....it's a nice day." he said smiling at Damian.

Silence.

"Are you....enjoying the fair?"

Silence.

Boy this was awkward.

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"Marinette I just wanted to say."

Marinette held up a hand. "Nino....I understand." she smiled. She knew this wasn't going to be an easy conversation. But it was one she sometimes wasn't sure would ever happen. "When you think you're in love with someone, sometimes you can do crazy things."

Nino looked like he couldn't believe that is where the conversation was going to go. Which she supposed was fair. "But that's not a good excuse." he protested.

"I never said it was one." she pointed out feeling a little bad when Nino looked away with a guilty expression. "I just said I understand."

She took a deep breath before continuing. "For a long time I was in love with Adrien." she confessed. "Or I thought I was. I'll never really know because I never let myself fully get to know Adrien. No matter my good intentions, everything I did had at least a small note of planning and calculation to try and get closer to him. I put Adrien on a pedestal and it wasn't fair to anyone. It took a long time for me to see that and actually start to be his friend."

She could tell Nino was surprised, after all it wasn't him who she had been open with about this, though she had never been this honest with Alya either. She never would be again probably. "Marinette I'm so sorry." he apologized with a sigh. "I let myself be blinded to what was going on right in front of me. I had all these ideas on what made a boyfriend a good boyfriend. And it was enough to make me into a bad friend. Alya and I.....we're through."

"I'm sorry about that." Marinette said with genuine regret in her voice. "I remember when you two first got together. You were a great couple and I wish things hadn't ended up this way."

"The Babe I fell in love with is gone." Nino admitted as he looked down at his feet. "I accept that. From now on I'm going to work on myself and do whatever it takes to earn your forgiveness."

"You probably don't deserve it." Marinette replied with a straight face. Nino looked up at her with a pained expression. "You hurt me a lot Nino. I can't find it in my heart to forget what happened.....but I can find it in my heart to forgive you."

(A/N: Decided not to leave things on a cliffhanger for once. Because I care! Also if there is something you are mad about that happens in the story or something a character does don't just post profanity, especially if I posted a warning in the authors notes. That's just rude and I will delete the comment. )