With What Little Time We Have 🕰️ (A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfic)

08- Front Cover Sell Out

Three Days Later

Marinette skipped down the sidewalk and dragged her best friend alongside her as they rushed to the nearest entertainment stand. Today Adrien's special edition with V-Magazine was being released, and she wanted to get her hands on a copy before they sold out. She knew how famous her friend was, it wouldn't be a surprise if the magazine sold out in an hour.

"Marinette, it's barely seven a.m. I'm sure they'll have magazines by the time school gets out," Alya tried to tell her, and hoped they wouldn't be late for school.

"I can't risk anything. Not today, Alya." The pigtailed girl ignored her friend's protests and kept moving forward. "If I get the magazine now, I don't have to worry about getting it later."

Alya rolled her eyes. "Ay, girl. I thought you had your obsession with Adrien under control."

Marinette stopped walking and spun around to face her. "It is under control, Alya. I've been working on it for the past year. I don't keep a detailed list of Adrien's schedule and I stopped checking his social media posts every hour. There's a lot of things I haven't done in a long time and it's because I realize how invasive and creepy I was being. I've been treating Adrien like an idol, a role model, and I've been acting like a fan, not a friend. It's different this time. This is something Adrien and I did together."

"Okay." Alya nodded with a smile. "I get it. Let's go get that magazine."

Marinette grabbed her hand again and they took off running.

Minutes later, they were at the entertainment stand, and sure enough, there was one more copy of the magazine. But that's not what surprised Marinette the most. No, it was what was on the front of the cover. Not just Adrien, but her, too. Standing beside him with a big smile. She was on the front cover with the rich, famous, supermodel Adrien Agreste. He never shared the front cover with anyone.

"Marinette, what are you doing?" Alya asked. "Grab it!"

"Sorry, I just..." She shook her head with a laugh. "I had no idea I'd be on the cover with Adrien."

As Marinette stepped forward and grabbed the magazine, a little girl pushed past Alya and snatched the magazine out of her hands. "Hey! What was—"

"It's mine now!" The little girl shouted and stuck her tongue out as she threw money at the cashier and ran off.

"Ugh, that little brat!" Alya mumbled, angry. "Want me to chase after her and get it back?"

Marinette shook her head. "No, that's okay, Alya. I'm sure there's more copies."

"That was the last copy," The cashier chimed in with a shrug. "Sorry."

"What?!" She shouted and slammed her hands on the counter. "What do you mean that was the last one?"

She shrugged again. "We sold out in almost thirty minutes, kid."

"But they were just released not even an hour ago!"

"Look, you can order them online—"

"I don't want to order the magazine online!" Marinette interrupted, heated. "It'll take weeks before I even see it!"

Again, the worker shrugged. "Not my problem. I don't know what to tell you."

"I'm on the cover, did you know that?"

"Mari..." Alya grabbed her arm. "People are staring now. Stop screaming."

"Kid, I don't give a shit if you're on the front cover or not. We don't have any more copies!"

"Well, you should've saved one for me!"

Alya linked her arm through her best friend and dragged her away. "Alright, that's enough people time for you. Let's go."

The cashier waved with a smirk and rolled her eyes.

"Can you believe her?" Marinette asked. Alya crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "You're right. I was being rude. I don't know what got into me! I was just so excited to get a copy of the magazine..."

"It's okay, Marinette." Alya rubbed her back. "Like she said, you can always order it online."

Marinette rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Let's see if we can find it somewhere else."

"Girl..."

Confident and determined, the pair spent the next half hour running across the city, checking every grocery store, entertainment stand, and even the movie theater to see if anyone's selling the magazine.

Nope, sold out all over Paris.

Disappointed, they walked back to school—on time—and walked into the locker room. Marinette slumped over to her locker, frowning, and caught Adrien's attention. He watched her carefully, and suddenly got the urge to put her back in a good mood and walked over. He leaned on the locker beside hers and said, "Hey, Marinette."

"Oh! Hi!" Marinette squeaked, surprised. She smiled. "Up's what? I-I mean, what's up?"

He scratched the back of his neck. "I noticed you looked a bit down and I wanted to ask if something was wrong."

"It's not a big deal—"

"It is to me if something's bothering you," Adrien interrupted. "Or someone's bothering you. Did something happen?"

"It's kind of stupid..." Marinette admitted and closed her locker. "Alya and I spent all morning trying to find a copy of your new magazine issue, but it's sold out everywhere! I couldn't get one."

"That's not stupid at all. Here." He reached into his bag and pulled out a copy of the magazine. "I was going to give this to you in class. I brought this for you. It's the very first copy that was printed. I want you to have it."

She took it with wide eyes and a big smile. "You saved this for me?"

"Of course. You're a part of this photoshoot as I was. I know how crazy my fans get, especially with merchandise and limited-edition collectibles, and I wanted to make sure you have one. Besides, this one is different from the others." With a smirk, Adrien waved and walked off to class.

What did Adrien mean? Confused, Marinette opened the magazine, and on the first page, there's a handwritten message:

Dear Mare,

Thank you for making my birthday one of the best days I'll ever have and for making this photoshoot special. I'll always have these fun memories to look back on when I'm having a bad day.

Your friend,

Adrien

Alya walked over and read over her shoulder. "No way! Adrien gave you a copy?"

"He thinks I'm special!" Marinette cheered and hugged the magazine to her chest.

"He called the photoshoot special," She reminded her.

Marinette shrugged. "Same difference. Ooh, should I have this page framed?!"