Miraculous Kat

Part 22: A Little Nudge

Note: Man I've been busy. I decided to do the school musical, which means I have absolutely no time to do anything on Tuesday through Thursday, so sorry I take so long. Other than that, I just want to say have a great day and please enjoy the following part.
——Still at the Concert——
While the Chloe fiasco was going down, Marinette and Adrien were both sitting awkwardly by each other. Well, Marinette was. Adrien kept sneaking glances at Mari. They mostly just sat, until Adrien tried to talk with Marinette. It was a short conversation. Marinette was so nervous she barely managed to nod, and Adrien was having trouble speaking over the roar of the crowd.
Luckily for them, a very disheveled Kat came back followed by Nathaniel and an equally disheveled Chloe.
"What were you two doing?" Adrien asked, eyebrows raised. Kat smirked.
"Stuff."
"She pushed me down the stairs!" Chloe exclaimed.
"Well, you punched me."
"After you punched me!"
"You called Nathaniel stupid. There is no excuse for that."
"Well he is!"
Kat just about started punching again, but Mr. Agreste appeared behind her (still laughing) and held her arm back so she wouldn't cause a scene.
"I think that's quite enough, Kat," he chuckled. Adrien looked at his father curiously. Was that a smile? Adrien almost laughed with him out of delight. His father was smiling. It had been quite a long time since Adrien had seen him smile. Best of all, it was because of Kat. It meant his father liked her more than he let on.
"But Mr. Agreste," Kat whined.
"This is a problem for another time. If you want, I'll set up a sparring match and you can fight as long as you want."
"Oh, would you?" Kat gushed. Maybe Mr.Agreste really wasn't as bad as she thought. "Oh, that would be just delightful!"
"I, um, I think I'm, I think I'm good," Chloe stuttered before disappearing into the crowd. Kat grinned a huge grin as she took her place between Adrien and Mr. Agreste. Adrien actually moved down a seat so Nathaniel could sit with Kat.
——After the Concert——
The concert had ended with a stunning finale where t-shirts rained down from the heavens (really it was just three guys, all named Frank, throwing them from the rafters). Mr. Agreste was the only one to catch one, which he gladly handed off down the line until it got to Marinette. (And yes, that means Adrien let her have it instead of keeping it for himself.)
After all of that, Nathaniel and Kat had to part ways. There was plenty of mock weeping to go around, mostly from Kat because she liked to be melodramatic sometimes.
Finally, Kat said goodbye to Adrien and Mr. Agreste and headed towards Marinette's. She texted Alya on the way, and when they got there, both she and Alya enjoyed asking Marinette quite a few questions.
"So, girl, how was it sitting next to Adrien?"
"Did you talk to him, hon?"
"Ooh, did you get a kiss?"
With each question Mari blushed harder and harder.
"Nothing happened!" She finally exclaimed. Her friends frowned in sympathy.
"Maybe next time, hon," Kat smiled.
"You've gotta learn to talk Marinette. Express yourself!"
"I can't do it without stumbling over every word, though. I'm so pathetic," Marinette groaned, heavily dropping her head onto her desk.
"Aw, you're not pathetic, Mari, you're just..." Kat searched for the right word. "...inexperienced."
"I messed up everything."
"It'll be alright Marinette. You'll get it eventually," Alya said.
"I hope so," Marinette replied.
Kat sat thoughtfully as Marinette and Alya continued talking. An idea was beginning to form. Perhaps there was a way to let Marinette speak to Adrien in person without actually speaking.
——The Next Monday——
"That's not going to work Kat!"
"Of course it will, Mari! Just be positive about it."
"Kat, I can't form a sentence when I'm near him."
"Just tell me what you want to say beforehand then."
"I'm telling you, it won't work."
"C'mon, give it a shot, please?" Kat pleaded. Marinette sighed.
"All right. I'll do it."
"Oh, yay!" Kat threw her arms around her friend. Marinette pursed her lips. She really didn't think it'd work.
When they reached the school, Kat waved to Adrien.
"All right Mari, now's the time," Kat said out of the side of her mouth.
"I can't do this," Mari repeated over and over in a quiet, shrill voice.
"You can do this, you can do this." Kat linked arms with her.
"Hi guys," Adrien smiled. "What's up?"
"Oh, not much," Kat replied. She jabbed Marinette with her elbow.
"Uh, hi," she managed to say.
"Are you ready for the history presentation coming up, Marinette?"
"Uh, yeah, great! It'll-I'm sure-Uh-great..."
Adrien gave her a confused look. Kat jabbed her again. Mari turned and whispered to Kat.
"She says that her presentation will be great, but probably not as great as yours."
"Well that's nice of you to say Marinette." Adrien grinned. Mari whispered to Kat again.
"She says she thinks you're cute."
"What?" Marinette gasped. She turned bright red. "I-I didn't say that, I mean, it's not that you're not cute—"
Kat interrupted with a laugh. "I'm just kidding, guys. She didn't actually say that. Though, I do believe it's true."
"Kaaat!"
Marinette felt a bit betrayed. Kat shouldn't have said that!
"Uh, okay then." Adrien looked between the girls. "Did you mean cute or cute cute?"
"I meant cute like a kitten, hon, but I think Mari might want to explain with her own definition of cute."
"Uh, I, uh, well...I think you're very... nice looking."
"Thanks?"
"She means attractive. She thinks you're attractive."
"Okay. I...don't really know how to respond to that."
"Just think about it, sweetie. We'll talk after school."
Adrien mouthed "ok" and went about his business.
"Kat!" Marinette exclaimed. "Why did you do that?!"
"Hey, hey, hey, calm down. It'll be alright. He just needs to think about it—"
"He's going to think I'm pathetic! And that I like him!"
"You do like him," Kat pointed out.
"Well, yeah, but why would I tell him that?"
"How else is he supposed to find out? By reading all those 'subtle' signs? Mari, if there's one thing that guys are, it's oblivious. They won't know what you want or what you think unless you tell them."
"Not all guys are like that."
"No, but most teenage boys are. Adrien is sweet, but he's been homeschooled since he was little so he's not reading the cues like girls do. Remember when you went for ice cream with your friends and the guy was like, 'ah, peach like his lips, green for his eyes,' and Ivan was like, 'huh, I wonder who that could be?' I'm serious when I say guys are oblivious."
"Adrien is gonna think I'm a loser."
"Honey, the only way you could ever be a loser is if you didn't do anything. Right now, save the world, get good grades, and have a social life. You can do this."
"I hope you're right."
Hey big shout out to all you peoples that are reading Miraculous Kat! It makes me so happy when one of you follows me or my story, or favorites it. I like writing something that others like, and I'm glad you guys like it.