Ascension

Chapter 1- The earrings

It was a beautiful day in Paris. The sun was warm, and a mild summer breeze blew through the streets. It was the last day of school for the week, but the best part was still ahead. It was a perfect day to ask a friend for an uncommon birthday wish, what could go wrong?

Adrien was early today but he needed to be because he was nervous. Nervous is an understatement.  He left the car and started to enter the school. Only a few other students and teachers were there but none of his friends. This was good because he needed to clear his mind.

“Adrien, keep cool, everything will be fine!” he mumbled to himself. “You can do it!”

His daily companion flew out of the usual hiding spot just to tease him “You know with cheese you would not need to worry about anything. A delightful piece of camembert"

“Plagg you need to hide in school! Nobody is allowed to see you!” Adrien blamed his kwami but he only replied by eating his cheese and flying around. He rolled his eyes in exasperation.

“It’s cool to see. Nobody is here anyway. If somebody is coming, I will hide.” Adrien must have looked so confused and fired up that Plagg asked him a serious question which is strange as he tends to be the joker of all the kwamis.

“Are you really that nervous for this?” he asked while looking into Adriens eyes and crossing his tiny arms. Adrien simply nodded and Plagg stopped for a second but started a final round through the classroom, while he thought “I have never seen Adrien so nervous”.  After he finished his round, he retreated to his hiding spot with a short notice: “only because you looked so nervous, you need to calm down Adrien, maybe cat noir could do it instead?" Adrien shook his head as Plagg hid himself.

“Finally. Time to breathe and prepare everything.” Adrien thought and started to rummage through his bag. He looked for the small box of jewelry twice but could not find it. Then after what felt like an eternity of searching he was able to find it. While he tried to move it from the bag to the table, he dropped the small box but Plagg was able to catch it and glared at Adrien. The little kwami placed the box in front of Adrien and said with a bit of anger in his voice: “Just take deep breaths and relax! All will be fine. She is your friend after all, right?” With these words he vanished in his hiding spot once more. Adrien thought “He is right. She is my friend. She is just a friend. Why am I so nervous about this? She is a friend of mine like Nino or Chloe.” He opened the box and read one more time the letter he prepared for her:

 

Dear Marinette,

You have been a friend of mine since my early days here at school. You are invited to my birthday party like all my friends, and I hope you will come. You know this will be my first party with all my friends.

As I have known you for years you are always well prepared for birthdays, but may I ask you for only one gift this year?

My only wish is that you wear these earrings. They belonged to my mother and are extremely valuable to me. So, can I ask you this favor and wear them to my birthday party? I want you to keep them as they're special to me, like you are also. 

I am looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. 

Sincerely your friend

Adrien

He started to over think everything again:

-          Was the ink he used too dark?

-          Was the paper he used the wrong color?

-          Did he fold it correctly?

-          Is the box alright for this kind of gift?

While all these questions rushed his mind Nino joined him which took him by surprise. Nino looked curiously at Adrien “G’morning Dude! What do you have there? Woooow! Nice box looks expensive and Dude these earrings! Where have you got them from? And which is the lucky person?” Adrien, caught red handed, was shocked and tried to answer but was not able to speak up to his best buddy and at this time Alya stumbled into the room, luckily without Marinette. Nino pulled his girlfriend over for a kiss and whispered something to her. Alya looked at Adrien, who was still not able to answer the questions from Nino. She said with a quiet voice “Adrien what IS this? Wanna explain quickly before Chloe and everyone else arrive? Adrien?” and snaps in front of his eyes. This wakes up Adrien and he gazes at them both. He directly pulled them closer and explained everything to them. Alya and Nino looked into each other’s eyes and asked the final question at the same time “How do you wanna give them to her?” He looked at both with a shoulder shrug and whispered, “I did not think this far ahead…”. Both burst into laughter while Nino nodded at Alya and vice versa. “I got your back, sunshine boy” Alya said, grabbing the box from him and moving to her seat.

10 minutes left before the first lesson of the day starts and Marinette is still missing. Alya decided to call her best friend to ask her to “be extra fast today”. Marinette on the other side was confused. Why did her bestie tell her to be extra fast today? Most of the time she was able to be in school 2 minutes before lessons started, but she was curious and wanted to know why Alya asked her to “be extra fast today”.

It took Marinette this time only 5 minutes to be in class. Completely exhausted but she made it, breathing heavily and trying to catch her breath as she entered the class room. Marinette whispers to Alya, still out of breath “Why did I need to be here “extra fast” anyway?” Both girls exchanged glares and started to laugh directly. Alya took Marinette close to whisper in her ear. Marinette's eyes started to widen at each word as she stared at Adrien in front of her. Alya moved her best friend's chin up to close her mouth and turn her attention to the jewelry box which she took from Adrien.

Marinette, completely hesitant, opened the box from Adrien, her Adrien. Her cheeks which were already light pink turned red. While reading the letter he wrote for her she was getting word by word even more red until the blush reached her ears. Marinette closed the box and looked confused to Alya which started to tease directly “If you do not want them. I'll take them!” and tries to get the box. Marinette was still confused and babbled away “Yes I want to mar… No, I will take… hey they belong to me” and placed her hands over the box. Alya whispers to her “What are you gonna reply to him? I think he needs an answer as fast as possible.”

Marinette looked at earrings more closely, her heart fluttering in her chest. 'He wants me to have these?' She thought, her head spinning, she felt flushed and a little dizzy from the overwhelming amount of joy. She glanced up at Adrien again, he was sat chatting with Nino casting occasional looks her way. Alya sensed her becoming shy and grabbed her hand.

"Girl, he made the first move okay, all you have to say is yes" Marinette looked into her eyes and nodded.

"A..adrien.." she stuttered. "I will wear them" she managed to say before becoming too shy to even manage a smile. He looked relieved. He sighed happily which earned him a look from Nino.

"What's so important about some earrings anyway dude?" He mused teasingly. Adrien looked back at Marinette once more then back to Nino.

"It's not the earrings it's who's wearing them" Adrien muttered back as he leant on his elbow and lessons began.

________________________________________
Note- this book is co-written, there is a language barrier between writers so if you notice any issues this is why.