"Just a Friend?" Book 1 of "Secrets Unraveled" Trilogy (MLB FanFic) |COMPLETED|

Chpt 27: Wait, André has superhero ice cream?

The next morning Marinette texted Adrien: "André's today?"

He wrote back:  "I'll try to come up with an excuse to meet you.  Give me a few minutes?"

She texted back "ok" and then went downstairs to double-check with her parents that it would be alright.  She couldn't imagine there would be any reason she couldn't go.

Her dad was making pancakes when she reached the kitchen.  She sat down at the table and served up some fruit from the bowl her mom placed by her. 

"Can I go out for André's ice cream later today?" asked Marinette.  Both of her parents stopped what they were doing to look at her.  Marinette was surprised by their interest.  Her parents did have a soft spot for André, since her dad proposed to her mom with André's ice cream, but Marinette had been to André's before and there hadn't been quite this much interest. 

"Of course you can go!" said her parents together, looking at her with a strange look in their eyes.  "Are you going with someone special?" asked her mom casually. 

Marinette glanced at her mom, thinking that she supposed it was time to let them know about Adrien.  "Yes, I am going with Adrien.  We are kind of, um, together now," she said awkwardly. 

"Awww," said her parents.  Marinette blushed.  "Have a good time!  Adrien is always welcome here!" said her mom and her parents went back to getting the rest of the breakfast ready.  Marinette was just finishing up her pancake when she got a text from Adrien saying he would pick her up after lunch and they would see if they could find André.

Adrien knocked on the door right on time and Marinette let him in.  Her parents tried to look like they were busy with something, but they were not very good at it. 

"Well, we're going to go now," Marinette said to them. 

"Okay, have fun!" said her mom, watching them go out the door. 

"That was just weird," said Marinette to Adrien.

"It's nice that they care, though," Adrien replied, thinking no one had even noticed when he'd left today.  They headed down the stairs and out to the sidewalk.  "So, I haven't had a chance to look where André is today.  Have you?" Adrien asked her. 

"Yes, actually he happens to be at the same spot I had last seen him.  Let's go!"  She took his hand and they headed toward the bridge where she knew him to be. 

When Adrien saw where André was he stopped at the bottom of the bridge stairs and said "Hey, this is where I last saw him, too!" 

Marinette looked at him in surprise.  "You've had his ice cream?" She wondered when since none of their friends mentioned going with him.

Adrien nodded.  "Just once, right after we'd helped André get de-akumatized."  He realized something as events started to click together in his mind.  "Wait, wasn't André akumatized because of you?  He was looking for you all over the city!" 

Marinette turned bright red.  "Um, yes, well. . ." she said, avoiding his gaze. 

Adrien missed noticing her reaction as his own painful memories of that night came back to him. "I remember that night now!  I was upset that Ladybug (well, you) hadn't come to the rooftop where I had a surprise for her, er, you.  I saw you-Marinette you- alone on your rooftop and came over for some company. I explained about Ladybug and you said you'd had your heart broken, too, and then I took you to the nearby rooftop to show you the surprise to cheer you up."  He paused.  "Who broke your heart? You never said." Adrien could feel his jealousy of the mystery boy who Ladybug had sometimes mentioned starting to bubble inside him again.