A Recorded Life - Miraculous Ladybug

15 - Preparing for Alya's Birthday

Words: 1515
Chapter Summary: It's Alya's birthday! To make her 18th birthday perfect, Marinette has Adrien over to help set up as Nino works on the other side of the plan. Once Adrien and Marinette see the camera, they get a little distracted. Will they get all the preparations done before the party starts?
Author's Note: some fluff and ship material. god i love writing their dynamic. 

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Early Saturday morning, there was a knock on the bakery door. The bakery opened a little later on the weekends, but Marinette was up for a special occasion. Her parents would be waking shortly to help, as well.

Marinette went over to the door and quickly opened it, grabbing the wrist of the person outside and dragging him in. "I hope no one was watching because that entire thing looked...very weird from an outside perspective," Adrien commented.

"It's the weekend. Most of Paris isn't awake yet," She reasoned. "Thanks for coming so early. I let my parents sleep in because you were able to come over," She told him. "We have a lot to get together, and Nino will be calling me soon to reassure his side of the plan. This is going to be Alya's best birthday ever."

Adrien smiled as he followed Marinette into the kitchen. "How did your video with Chat Noir go?" He asked. It was only two days ago they recorded, and she has not released the video yet. In reality, Adrien was genuinely curious about how she thought it went, as he had so much fun with it.

Marinette shrugged. "It was awesome. We've come across each other every once in a while, and sometimes he stops by when I'm on my balcony, and he happens to be out, so we've talked. It was like just shooting a video with a friend. But..." Marinette sighed. "I'm debating if I should even release it."

"What? Why?" Adrien gasped. Was she really that disappointed with him and the video?

"Don't get me wrong; the video was amazing. I'm just worried about the fans," She told him. "You know what it was like when we became closer friends, and you started appearing in my videos. Every video, even if you aren't in it, has comments about how we should be together. I can't post a tweet or a photo on Instagram without people talking about Adrienette," Marinette said. "I don't want Chat Noir to have to go through that. He already deals with it with Ladybug, and I'm afraid the comments could get personal, trying to figure out who he is, and just never-ending shipping," Marinette rambled as she moved boxes around.

Adrien stared at her, trying to comprehend everything she said. "Do you...do you know who he is?"

She shook her head. "No, but I'd like to say we're friends. I don't want to put him through all the stress-"

"You've said yourself he's a fan. Alya said he was really excited to do the video and work with you, right? If he were so worried about the fans, he wouldn't do anything public. He wouldn't stop to talk to citizens, let alone do a video with you. But he does both; I don't think it's anything you should be worried about," Adrien put his hand on her shoulder, a comforting smile.

Marinette nodded slowly. "You're right. I'm just stressing with everything on my plate right now. Plus, I probably should post the video. I don't want to disappoint him! He said he was going to have a viewing with Ladybug," She giggled.

Adrien laughed along, opening a box Marinette handed him. Though he was hiding it on the inside, he couldn't remember telling Marinette or Alya he was going to watch the video with Ladybug as soon as it came out. He brushed it off, though, as he has also been super busy and had a lot on his mind. "Sounds like you've got your answer, then," Adrien told her.

"Thank you, Adrien," She said. "Now, we need to pull out every piece of party supplies and decorations we can find. We're decorating the whole bakery- inside and out," Marinette directed. "So let's get digging!" She said and started pulling out a few streamers and unopened packs of napkins.