Red Light || Miraculous Story

6.2: Sublimation

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The morning sun cast a warm golden glow over Paris, spilling across the rooftops and draping the Dupain-Cheng balcony in soft light.

Birds chirped, a breeze rustled the leaves, and Marinette crouched low behind a potted lavender plant like a spy in a perfume commercial gone rogue.

Out on the path below, Adrien was jogging, golden hair bouncing in rhythm beside a different blonde: tall, athletic, graceful—Sublime, they called her. And she was suspiciously... fit.

Marinette's blue eyes narrowed as she peered through her binoculars, zoomed in like a detective three espresso shots deep.

Behind her, Alya stepped out with a half-eaten croissant and a whole lot of side-eye. "Don't tell me you're back to spying on Adrien," she said, munching casually. "You two are together now, remember?"

"I'm not spying on him," Marinette replied, eyes never leaving the trail. "I'm spying on the girl he's running with."

Alya blinked. "...Sublime?"

Marinette nodded intensely. "Yeah! I wanna know more about her."

"Why don't you just ask Adrien?"

"Already did!"

"And?"

"And nothing."

Alya raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, nothing?"

Marinette sighed and sat back slightly, still keeping her binoculars trained on the jogging pair. "I said, 'Surely you two talk when you're running together every morning. You're practically holding hands!' And he just looked at me and said nothing."

"Nothing like, he didn't want to talk about it? Or nothing like, he literally didn't answer you?"

Marinette threw her arms up. "They run... but they don't talk. Not a word! But it's impossible to be silent next to someone for that long. Impossible, Alya. I timed it yesterday—it was a thirty-two-minute jog!"

Alya crossed her arms. "You timed it?"

"There, there!" Marinette shot up again, pointing at the pair. "She said something!"

A moment passed.

Marinette squinted through the binoculars, then dropped them in disappointment. "Oh... wait. No, no, no, she just... sneezed."

Alya gave her a long, knowing look. "Could it be that you're a little... jealous?"

Marinette scoffed. "Me? Jealous? Ha!"

Just then, Adrien and Sublime stopped jogging. Adrien offered her a handkerchief, which she took with a grateful smile. He even helped tuck her hair behind her ear as she laughed softly.

Marinette's eye twitched.

Alya gave her a very slow chew of croissant and said, "Yeah. Totally not jealous."

Marinette pouted. "Okay maybe like... mildly concerned."

"Mildly?"

"Okay fine—aggressively curious."

Alya grinned. "Just ask Adrien again. Or better yet, talk to Sublime. She's probably not an undercover villain with a secret crush on your boyfriend."

"...Probably," Marinette mumbled, peeking through the binoculars one more time.

As Adrien and Sublime walked off, Adrien glanced up toward the balcony. Their eyes met.

Marinette dropped behind the lavender like a guilty meerkat. "HE SAW ME—"