Miraculous Tales: Just A Friend?

Old Habits

      Marinette and Adrien went over to Alya and Nino, and Alya got excited, as if they were Paris's most famous celebrity couple. Alya ran up and hugged her. Adrien jumped out of the way. "Alya? What's going on?" Marinette asked.

      Alya released her, grinning. "I know what you two did," Alya said in a sing-song voice.

      Marinette cocked her head. "What do you mean?" Alya smirked, and showed a picture of them kissing. Marinette and Adrien blushed together.

      "Alya!" Marinette scolded. The girls started laughing, and Nino joined in. Adrien stood there blushing, not sure what to do. I know it happened, but did it really happen? Well, not that, more like how? He was smiling to himself, just thinking about it. Nino looked over, and punched him in the shoulder.

      "Hey! What was that for?" Adrien asked.

      Nino laughed some more as the girls chatted, and replied, "You were totally spaced out, dude. What's up?" Adrien thought for a while, and he realized what happened. This had all been in 2 weeks, but a lot changed.

      "Old habits, I guess," Adrien said. After Nino turned back, Adrien fidgeted with his ring to stay in the moment while thinking. On the day after he first started liking her, if he wasn't talking to her, he was lost in thought, daydreaming about their next conversation or thinking over things they had done together. Is that what just happened? He brushed off his own question, and walked over to the group.

      Everyone was laughing about something, so Adrien asked what it was. Alya explained one of Marinette's most clumsy moments. Adrien turned to Marinette who seemed embarrassed, but she was laughing. He smiled reassuringly and winked at her. Her expression changed, and she was no longer embarrassed. They all went on laughing and kept on dancing, laughing, and having fun. Soon it was all over, and everyone was saying goodbye. "Wow," Alya said, "That akuma took up most of the night!" Nino gave her a raised eyebrow, saying nothing.

      Adrien laughed, and translated for his speechless friend. "The akuma did not take the whole night!" he exclaimed.

      Alya rolled her eyes and said, "All I meant is tonight went by fast." Everyone agreed, but Marinette seemed down. Adrien pulled her to the side to talk to her.

      He held her hand and asked, "Princess? Are you okay?"

      Marinette looked up with a smile. "No pun this time? Well, then! Uh, y-yeah, I'm fine," she said. Adrien slid his hand up her arm to hold her shoulder.

      "I heard that," he said quietly, "Either you're hiding something, or you're nervous." His eyes got big, and he rubbed the back of his neck.

      Marinette giggled. "And I know that means you either got nervous or noticed something."

      Adrien laughed. "Of course you know that! Well, it was a combination. I just realized in the past 2 weeks, I've sorta been... I don't know, watching. I noticed that I could tell what was going on. It's odd, I've never really done that before," he said.

      Marinette giggled. "You know, I never did it before I met you."

      Adrien smiled, and asked again. "Is something bothering you?"