Love by Design - Adrienette

If it Weren't for that Meddlesome Alya

Marinette could not sleep that night. How could she? For the first time since she'd developed feelings for him, she actually felt like she had a chance with Adrien - and a pretty good one at that. She'd felt self-conscious for the duration, thus far. At her age, of course he wasn't her first crush, but this one felt a little more... obsessive? She had even mapped out his schedule, for crying out loud! Now the pangs on her conscious were alleviated; it was a normal step she was going through as a teenager! Why, Adrien had been obsessing with an intensity that matched hers, and he hadn't even known who the target of his affections was! It had ended up being herself! Her heart soared at the thought.

Meanwhile, Adrien was on cloud nine! He finally knew a name and a face for the girl he loved. He'd been telling himself that he loved the girl behind the mask, no matter who she was, but that conviction hadn't been without its nervous moments. There was the point when Alya had scared him that it actually might be Chloe. He'd been so relieved that it wasn't. Marinette... he now saw her smiling in his mind's eye. She'd been among his friends for a while, but now he wanted her to be more - and she seemed willing! For the months he'd been fighting alongside Ladybug, he'd gotten used to rejection. Unable to give up, he'd convinced himself that it was only because of how focused on her job she was - one of the things he admired about her, after all - they were still meant to be. He was sure that things would be different if he could only know who she was as a civilian, and that night it had happened. Mari had gone into an empty room, and Ladybug came out! After she knew she'd been caught, she seemed to find it difficult to hold character. In those moments that he was unable to do anything but stare, she seemed no better off. She didn't scold him for his puns, and even made one of her own - she'd said it was for him. For him! He'd tested the concept with the comment that Ladybug and Chat Noir made a good couple, and she'd agreed with him! They were finally going somewhere. He supposed it made sense; come to think of it, she only stuttered around him - she was even able to stand up to Chloe! She must have been hiding feelings for him for a while - more proof this was supposed to happen. The best part was that his dad had set up their evening together. Maybe he had pretty good taste after all.

The two might have been able to guess the effect that the night's events had on each other, but they surely didn't realize their responsibility for the sleeplessness of another local teen. Alya lay sick with a writer's fever (an illness when one has come up with an idea so sensational that all other activities, sleep included, are rendered impossible - for fear of losing it - until the idea has been recorded). It was because of this that Alya was up and typing a midnight blogpost:

Breaking: Parisian Super Hero Duo a Couple?!

Many of you have had the opportunity to watch in person as Ladybug and Chat Noir take down an akumatized villain. I've witnessed it many times, and once even got to be the villain: Lady Wi-Fi - that's me! If you have, you've probably also heard Chat Noir trying to flirt with his partner. He calls her a wide variety of endearing nicknames from "M'Lady" to "Bugaboo", as well as using the situations they get put in to pull out cheesy pick-up lines such as "Did I ever tell you, you turn my world upside-down?" and "You can pull my heart strings any day." His love has always seemed unrequited however, as she often acts annoyed and has never once reciprocated, until today. Tonight's akuma attack was past curfew, and I was already home helping to put my younger siblings to bed. Luckily, this all went down on my street, and I was able to catch this footage out my window. Judge it for yourself, but I think Ladybug and Chat Noir make a pretty cool couple ;).

At the bottom of the page she attached her prize footage. It was less than a minute long, but was sure to get some attention from her audience. In it Ladybug made a word play of her own, then winked at Chat and told him it was for him. The beginning of a romance was clearly abrew in the lives of their superheros.

The next morning at school, Mari encountered an unusual buzz. Chloe and Sabrina were walking along, Sabrina struggling to keep a phone screen steady in front of Chloe's face as she walked. Despite the fact that they were moving and Mari was standing still, Chloe could not possibly be the one to blame for crashing into her. "Uh, watch where you're going Marinette, ugh."

Marinette found herself glaring back at the girl she loathed. "What do you have there that's so important you can't watch your surroundings for yourself, huh?" She tried to get a peek at the screen.

Chloe jerked her phone away. "Ah, Ah. That's invasion of privacy. Why don't you go ask Alya? That geek knows all the newest on Ladybug, who by the way, is a million times cooler than you'll ever be." Chloe flounced off.

Marinette found Alya in her seat, looking smug. "What's going on?"

"They're all looking at my blog, girl! I caught some killer footage of Ladybug and Chat Noir." She passed her phone to Mari, who looked over the post and pulled a face. As amazing as it was to her, she didn't need her love life broadcast all over the internet. That was the last time she was going to flirt as Ladybug.

Unfortunately, her expression did not go unnoticed by Alya. "What's wrong? Don't you like it?"

"Yeah. I'ts good footage," She slid the phone back to Alya, "but have you ever thought about how Ladybug and Chat Noir might see it? Maybe they are just trying out the idea for themselves, and aren't comfortable with the idea of formally being seen as a couple yet."

That made Alya reconsider her actions. Ladybug and Chat Noir were larger than life to her and she had a hard time attributing human feelings to them. Did she run the risk of publicly humiliating her idol? Then again, she'd seen evidence that Ladybug was thousands of years old - surely she'd been in love before?

A/n - "Think like Marinette. How would she scramble her speech?" I told myself while brainstorming this story. Then I looked out the car window and asked my parents "Is that woman riding thongs while wearing a bicycle?" Yeah. I think I did a little too well.