Taking Bets -- (ML)

Taking Bets

~How debating a (heated) topic can out your secret identities to your best friends, but you are too oblivious to figure out they are standing right in front of you, defending your superhero identity~

Adrien Agreste for all the world seemed oblivious to Marinette Dupain-Cheng's (extremely) strong crush on him.

So much in fact, that most of their school (including several staff) placed bets on when he would notice. This was a far more popular pastime for the students rather than betting on Alix and Kim's (very) frequent dares.
To tell you the truth, they all got sick of the dares quite early on and were annoyed at the (constant) interruptions to their school time due to a certain 'Hercules' and a pink-haired 'Tinkerbell'.

Which just annoyed everyone even more when they realised that the two athletes were dating. And Adrien has still paid next to no attention to the girl who sat behind him everyday.
I mean, if those two daredevils could sort out their differences and start going out, surely a guy could notice everyone's (obvious) attempts to get him to see Marinette.

So, of course, it made sense for everyone to be suspicious when the two of them always seemed to be missing at the same time.
This was thanks to Max and Alya, who always seemed to keep track of these things.
Why were Adrien and Marinette always missing together? Why were they, whenever they arrived late, always seeming to be out of breath and quite flustered.

Most of the school assumed they were hiding somewhere and snogging, but Alya refused to see it as that out of nowhere, so bets were paused until further (solid) evidence was constructed. She had certainly not seen any progression between the two of them, and in class it resumed as normal, Marinette sighing quietly behind Adrien, whispering under her breath to her best friend that she wished he'd notice her. She still got in trouble for doodling in the margins of her books, little hearts surrounding an 'AA'

Adrien showed absolutely no difference.
And so, the bets rose and more people started taking part in it. Just how oblivious could he get? (The answer was very, apparently.)

And then English class took an unusual turn. For the past term, their class had been split into two teams, and the teacher gave them topics to debate.
Today's?

Ladybug and Chat Noir.

The teams were switched up today as well, splitting normal pairs up.

It was Marinette, Nino, Alix, Juleka, Chloé, Max and Myléne .vs. Adrien, Alya, Kim, Rose, Sabrina, Ivan and Nathanaël, but it soon turned into a Marinette .vs. Adrien debate. (With everyone else watching as words were shot across the classroom.)

Marinette was fiercely defending the Black Cat, and Adrien giving nothing but praise for the Lady Luck.
Back and forth the arguments went.
'His bad luck is a hindrance to Ladybug!'
'It it wasn't for him she'd have lost ages ago!'
'He's a sidekick- she can do without him!'
'Chat Noir isn't a sidekick! He's her partner! They're equals!'

And so on and so forth.
In fact, the only thing they seemed to agree on was that Chat loved Ladybug over his own life. Yet Marinette seemed (highly) annoyed at the fact, even going to such lengths to claim he had sacrificed himself for her several times and if he did one more time, Ladybug would personally kill him.

Nino, who had started filming (from Alya's phone) the moment Marinette interrupted her own teammates to correct them, suddenly dropped the mobile, causing some very loud yells from Alya, who bent down to retrieve it. (and, registering why Nino had reacted, also dropped it.)

The rest of the class started whispering amongst themselves, because if something made Alya drop her phone, it had to be big. Nino's jaw hung open as he stared between the two, eyes darting back and forth.

Alya started to shriek, the commotion between the rest of the class finally noticed by Adrien and Marinette. They stopped their debate, swivelling to the rest of the class, eyes wide.

Nino shook himself out of it, and, in sync with Alya, grabbed their best friends by the arm and pulled them outside.

Once the four of them were out the door, Kim pulled out a whiteboard marker, Alix grinning wickedly as she produced a list of bets.

Within the week, Adrien and Marinette were dating, and the entire school's bets went back to being placed on Herc and Tink and their (ridiculous) challenges.

Marinette paid for any damages caused to Alya's phone, even designing and gifting her a protective ladybug-styled case. The Ladyblog continued to post footage of any battles and action (even an interview with the duo themselves), but any details talking about Ladybug and Chat Noir's secret identities (mysteriously) disappeared.

Everyone figured what caused the (drastic) change in attitude between the two when nicknames Adrien and Marinette suddenly had for each other made sense. 'Kitty' and 'My Lady' had been put into use almost overnight, and virtually the entire school found out who the people behind the masks were.

And so, bets began on when they would (accidentally) out themselves as Paris' Superheroes.