Love by Design - Adrienette

Operation: Nemesis Nullification

A/n - Okay, I'll admit it. Even though other people were saying it was true, I got blindsided by Gabriel being Hawkmoth. Because of this, my fanfiction might go a bit off track, but the end was decided before season two came out. Sorry if Love by Design gets a crappy wrap up, but I'd rather it have that than none at all.

Two months had passed since Gabriel's declaration, and Adrien and Marinette were now outwardly ignoring it with practiced ease. Their show of confidence astounded their classmates; even Chloe was impressed by how quickly they had recovered enough to show affection to one another. She had become perfectly aware that Adrien was not 'her Adrikins', and had someone questioned her she would have readilly admitted that she was glad not to be the one caught up in a tangle with Adrien. Chloe's true feelings for Adrien were platonic; she'd only ever pursued him for the image of a power couple. No, she didn't mind not being with Adrien, yet she still hated that Marinette was with him.

Adrien was aware of this sentiment, and he didn't get it. From his perspective, they were both nice girls; why did they have such a bone to pick with one another? If he had to pick a side, he knew it would be Marinette's - but he wasn't going to give up his friendship with Chloe unless he absolutely had to. He had a sense of loyalty to Chloe because she was his first friend; plus, Chloe was indirectly responsible for his having met Marinette. It was because he wanted to spend more time with his friend that he'd made such a fuss about going to public school. He liked to think that he'd have met her anyway through their superhero duties, but how would they have ever gotten to the identity reveal? He also would have likely not had the advantage of her already crushing on him by the time he found her. (a/n - On this side of the 4th wall we know, that he might never have become Chat Noir if he never started going to public school - because he was on the way there when Master Fu noticed him. We really must thank Chloe for Lovesquare.)

He supposed he could invite the two of them to hang out together with him so he could attempt to mediate, but he imagined they would both be reluctant to come along if they each knew the other would be there. Those two had been feuding longer than Adrien had known Marinette, a sentiment he felt sure both girls would stubbornly cling to if they knew what he was attempting to do. He must trick them out of kindness - a task that would require an accomplice, but he didn't know anyone else who could get along with both girls... or did he?

A couple of memories were pricking at his brain; the first one from the time he as Chat had worked together with Marinette to restore the Evilustrator to his normal self. At the time, he had wondered what in the world Marinette was thinking to go on a date with an akumatized villain when she had seemed apologetically disinterested in Nathaniel's regular form. Now he knew that she had her reasons. However, it was a barrage of texts she had been receiving from someone else that had drawn his attention. "Looks like you got yourself a new best friend," he remembered having commented amusedly.

The second memory was from Christmas, when most of the class had been at the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Marinette had been bouncing around passing out presents in an excited manner that had been cute to him at the time; now in retrospect it was absolutely adorable seen through the bias he had since acquired. Her mother had forced her to give a present to each member of the class, but she seemed more than happy to comply when it came to everybody except Chloe. Everybody included Chloe's best friend, Sabrina.

Adrien had never really talked to Sabrina despite their mutual friendship with Chloe, but at the moment she seemed like an invaluable resource. She was Chloe's best friend, yet also - he was shocked to realize - when left to her own devices, got along with Marinette. He was pretty sure he had Sabrina's number in his phone from a group chat set up by Chloe. He opened the old conversation and skimmed it. There were several people who didn't seem familiar at all; they probably went to different schools. Then there was (possibly) Kim, and someone who was agreeing with every little thing Chloe said. That last one would be Sabrina, he was nearly certain.

He sent her the safest opening message he could come up with. "Is this Sabrina Raincomprix?"

"Who's asking?"

The terse reply fit; he was now even more sure whom he was texting. "Adrien Agreste from school, I need to ask your help with something."

"Oh, hi! How can I help?" The immediate switch to a friendly tone was undoubtably because Adrien was "Chloe approved".

"I'm a little worried about the fights that Chloe gets in with Marinette. You see, Chloe is the friend I have the longest history with."

"And you've become romantically involved with Marinette." Wow, Sabrina's response was quick, and not even with a question mark. Adrien shouldn't have been taken by surprise. Every high school has its couples that just are, and he and Marinette had gained that status in the eyes of their schoolmates.

"Uh, yeah. To be honest, it really hurts me to see them fight. I used to just ignore it, but I feel like I'm being caught in the middle more ever since I started dating Mari."

"I know what you mean. I've had to deal with it way longer than you have." There he had her; Sabrina had just acknowleged she didn't like the fighting either. He was certain he could get her to help.

"Enough is enough, don't you think? We should get them to stop!"

"As though that is going to happen." Adrien was sure Sabrina must have snorted while writing her response. "Those two fight like cats and dogs, though I'm not sure which one is which."

Adrien knew; he loved cats and he loved Mari, but Mari was no cat. He'd keep his reasoning on that one private, though. "We won't know unless we try! Think how nice it would be for the entire class, not having to be divided behind the two of them anymore."

"Sounds tempting, but I don't want to make Chloe angry."

"You wouldn't be! Don't you think she would be relieved to have one less enemy? (a/n - fewer) They can't enjoy getting in fights any more than we enjoy watching them! Besides, all you need to do is invite Chloe somewhere that she will have a run-in with Marinette and me. I'll take care of the rest."

"All right, I do have a lot of friendship points saved up. Chloe would let me spend them on something like a trip to the carnival, her treat! We can meet you there!"

Adrien stared at his phone screen in disbelief. Friendship points? What was wrong with that girl? He was beginning to believe he was the only person who had a normal friendship with Chloe. He quickly finished setting up the time and place for the meeting before switching contacts to invite Marinette. Much as he had expected, she was very enthusiastic about going. How could a girl that cute be his girlfriend? He'd found her through his position as Chat Noir. He didn't care about the thousands of years worth of legend - black cats were not bad luck!

A/n - Has anyone else surreptitiously taken someone's number off a group chat, or is that just me? I add contacts I don't even want, just because it is fun. If I had half the chance, I would also keep a chart of their schedules...