Miraculous Tales: Just A Friend?

Study Time, and The Park

      The next morning, Marinette decided to go to school with her hair down. She hadn't in a while, and she wanted to try and see. She wanted to know what her friends would think. What Adrien would think? Would he even notice? She went to school. The first person she saw was Alya. "Hey, girl! Lovin' the new look!" Alya said.

      Marinette thanked her and they walked to class. Marinette looked around. "Hey, have you seen Adrien?"

       Alya scanned the hallway. "No... Oh, wait, there he is!" she said, pointing to him. He seemed to be running towards them. He was about to run past them when he stopped in his tracks. He barely noticed Alya was there, but that gave her the chance to watch.

      "M-Marinette... You look-" he started, trying to think of the word. He smiled to himself, and mumbled, "You look amazing..." He caught himself before he said it out loud. "You look d-different. I-in a good way! Your hair is down," he said. He did notice! He likes it! 

      "T-thank you, Adrien."

      Right after school that day, Adrien managed to get his father to allow Marinette over. "It's only to study! And she made the hat I wore at the fashion show."

      Gabriel's stern expression changed slightly. "Of course. If that's what you want," he said.

      Adrien forced himself not to get too excited. "Thank you, Father!" He went into his room to call Marinette. Marinette saw it was Adrien, and she carefully picked up.

      "A-Adrien?" she asked, just to make sure.

      "Marinette! I got my father to allow you to come over. I've been to your house t-to study, but never the other way around."

      With a slight gasp, Marinette answered, "T-thank you Adrien. I'll be over i-in a bit." They made a small plan and hung up. Adrien moved some things around in his room, so they would sit next to each other on the sofa.

      Over with Marinette, she was making sure she looked okay and grabbed her bag. "Come on Tikki! Let's go!"

      When they got there, Tikki made a request to hide somewhere else. Marinette said, "Sure! I trust you, Tikki! Just make sure nobody sees you. Please be careful." Tikki promised and flew behind the foosball table.

      Plagg was sitting there too! "Hi there, Sugarcube!" Plagg said in a whisper.

     Tikki rolled her eyes. "Hi Plagg. Why did you even want to see me?"

      Plagg almost started laughing. "It's about our owners," he said.

      Tikki made a face. "What about them?" she asked.

      "Tell me all about yours."

      At this point, Tikki was confused. "Well, for one thing, she really likes your owner," she started.

      Plagg stopped her there. "That's what I wanted to hear. Let me just tell you about Ad-" He was interrupted by bubbles coming out of his mouth. "About my owner."

      Over with Marinette and Adrien, their project was actually going well. Both of them were focused. Until, of course, they started talking. Marinette glanced over and said, "S-so Adrien, just making sure, i-is this right?"

      He looked over to her work, and said, "Yeah. That's... Perfect!" he said. He was trying to keep calm, but he had to hold himself back from saying 'Purr-fect.' He smiled and looked into her eyes. She blushed, and looked into his. Marinette felt a pull in her chest. Adrien blinked and pulled his eyes away. He shook his head. What was that?! Marinette tried to focus again. What was that?! They continued their work.

      "And that's how my owner has been," finished Plagg.

      Tikki was speechless. Adrien actually likes her back? He'd been acting weird, but this was new! "He likes her... can I tell her?"

      Plagg shook his head. "No. He's been acting weird, and he doesn't want her to know! He's a weird kid."

      Tikki giggled. "You know Plagg, you've been helpful. Thank you."

      Plagg smirked. "No problem, Sugarcube!"

      Tikki groaned. "I told you to stop calling me that!" she exclaimed quietly.

       "Fine, fine! I won't call you that as often."

      Tikki smiled. "That, I can handle."

      After Marinette and Adrien decided they were finished, they went to the park. It wasn't too hard to get there. Adrien would have been running, but instead he stayed with Marinette the whole time. Once they arrived, they noticed that Alya and Nino were there. Adrien went over to Nino, and Marinette went over to Alya. Alya was telling Marinette about how she completely missed the last akuma attack for the Ladyblog. Marinette smiled, and let her tell the story. Meanwhile, Nino was trying to tell a funny story to Adrien. Adrien was enjoying it, but after a while, he tuned out of the conversation.

      Nino was laughing and he said, "And guess what happened?" as he glanced over to Adrien. He wasn't looking at him like before. In fact, he wasn't even facing him! Nino followed his gaze, which led to the bench where Marinette and Alya were sitting.

      Nino looked back to Adrien. Adrien had a soft smile across his face as he let out a sigh. "She's just... perfect," he whispered dreamily. It was just loud enough for Nino to hear.

      Nino laughed and half-yelled, "Oh, I get it!" Adrien snapped back to reality when he heard Nino yell.

      "W-what? Er, what happened?" he said quickly, rubbing the back of his neck.

       Nino calmed down and said, "Dude, just go talk to her!"

      Adrien was embarrassed and surprised. "What?! To Marinette?! Now?!" he cried.

      Nino looked straight at him and said, "No, maybe in 10 years. Of course to Marinette now!" he exclaimed.

      Adrien shook his head. "Nino, I can't! I can barely talk to her now!" he exclaimed. Adrien glanced back over to Marinette, but mentally slapped himself so he wouldn't get distracted. "I can barely even look at her now!"

      Nino stifled a laugh. "Okay dude, tell me 2 things. When did it start and why are you doing the project together?"

      Adrien spun his ring around his finger a few times before he responded. "Well, it started about 3 days ago, and when I said I wanted her to do the project with me, I wasn't thinking. I wanted to spend more time with her, but it's been kind of awkward," he replied.

      Nino stared at him and blinked a few times to process this information. He looked over to the bench and to Adrien a few times. "Uh, dude. Haven't you figured it out yet?" he said. Adrien looked over to the bench.

       He turned away and said, "Figured what out?"

       Nino hit himself in the head and said, "That she likes you! You haven't even gotten that much?"

      Adrien nodded. "Yes, I know she does. Another friend told me. I just don't know how to get it across. I almost don't want her to know," he said. Nino simply told him he wasn't sure how to help, and the day continued as normal.