Everybody wants to rule the world (ML Fanfic)

The second

I stop, tearing my gaze from the sky.
"What?" I ask incredulously.
"I think you should ask Adrien out tomorrow."
I shake my head, "why?"
"You have been avoiding it for so long. The longer you wait and fuss over him without him knowing, the harder it will hit if he...if he doesn't respond how you hope."
I hesitate my response, but continue walking, "I guess your right. But its still hard. I'm scared, you know?" I admit.
"I suppose. I still think you should do it sooner rather than later. Or at least try dropping more obvious hints so that oblivious boy at least starts to consider you have feelings for him. If your lucky maybe he will ask you if you like him."
"That might not be a bad idea."
"Thats why I suggested it."
"I know," I laughed.
"So are you going to try being more flirty?"
"I will try, no promises at succeeding. Might be too clumsy to come off as flirty."
"The attempt is what matters. Just try dropping hints in conversation if you can. You have gotten better at talking to him lately, after all."
"Thats true."
I opened the door to the bakery and greeted my parents as I went up to my room.
"Its later than I thought," I check the time.
"Time flies when there's an akuma attack."
"It kind of does, doesn't it?" I yawn.
I change into my pajamas and climb up into my bed.
"Goodnight marinette," Tikki curled up on my pillow beside me.
"Goodnight tikki," I say quietly as I feel sleep grip me.

My phone ringing woke me suddenly, I shot straight up for my bed, and picked up my phone.
"Oh, its just Alya. I thought it was an akuma alert for a second."
Tikki yawned, "I thought you had a specific ringtone for akuma alerts."
"I do, but I put the same ringtone for Alya's calls and texts cause sometimes she beats the alerts on notifying me of akuma attacks," I open my phone to read the text in full.
It read, "knowing you, and knowing there was akuma attack last night this text probably woke you up. You should come to school early for once girl!"
I chuckled at how her speech patterns showed up in her texts. I checked the time, if I got ready now and left then I would arrive at a pretty decent time.
"Alright, Alya, I can't really go back to sleep now anyways. The idea of an akuma attack really got me awake."
I set my phone back down.
I changed my clothes quickly and brushed my hair into my signature pigtails.
I put my bag over my shoulder and opened it for Tikki to fly in. I opened the hatch to the rest of the house and climbed down quietly. My parents took turns getting up early and baking before opening, so one of them is likely still asleep. I silently went down stairs and through a door into the bakery, where my mom was putting macaroons in the display case.
"Your awake early," she said without turning to me.
"Yeah, Alya sent a text to me and woke me up. I couldn't really fall back asleep afterwards so I just decided to go to school early today."
"Would you like something from the bakery?" My mom gestured around.
"No, its alright. I'm not hungry right now," I smile and wave my hand in the air.
"Oh! I almost forgot," she perked up and ran past me into the kitchen.
I stood there puzzled, unsure if I should wait for her to come back out or not.
She rushed back through the door and put something into my hand.
"Obviously you can handle defending yourself during attacks and, although your dad doesn't agree with me on giving you this, I think you will find it useful."
I look at the object she gave me, "a pocket knife?" I gasped. It wasn't exactly what I would expect my mom to give me.
"Yes, the staff at your school recently announced that self defense items like small pocket knives and pepper spray was allowed if the parents felt a need to equip their children. I didn't really want to give you anything, knowing how clumsy you can be," she sighed, "but, you have shown yourself to be very resourceful and able to protect yourself while also saving the akumatized victim."
"Mom..." I wasnt sure what to say, I was glad to have something for when I can't transform like yesterday. It was a nice security. It was nice that my mom trusted me so much, too.
"Just be careful, okay? Akuma attacks have gotten more frequent lately, and more aggresive," she kissed my forehead.
"I promise I will be careful," I assured her.
She nodded, "and please don't get yourself akumatized."
For some reason, this struck me strange, "I won't."
"Love you sweetie, have a good day at school."
"Love you too, mom, see you later," I waved as I exited the bakery and went on my way to school, a pocket knife now tucked into my purse.
Right as I entered the school Alya latched onto me, "so I heard you helped ladybug and chat noir yesterday."
I raised an eyebrow at her, "yeah. Although for the most part I was just trying to not get caught by Frostbite."
"Still, how did you do it? Explain everything!" Alya exclaimed.
So I explained everything to her in as much detail as I could, leaving out the part where I transformed into ladybug of course.
"Really? My clumsy nervous wreck of a friend did all that?" Alya teased.
I chuckled, "yeah I kind of surprised myself with all of it too. I kinda just reacted to everything and tried to keep myself ahead of her."
"Man after all this, Ladybug should give you a miraculous! I mean you would make a great superhero!"
I chuckled and averted my gaze, "I don't know about that."
"Oh come on you would be awesome!" Alya sat down on the steps up to the school and I sat next to her.
"I guess it would be cool, at least," I admitted.
As we talked, Adrien's car pulled up and he stepped out of it. I felt my breath leave my lungs.
"Hey girls, what's up?" He sat down next to me on the stairs.
I let out a little squeak.
"Oh we were just talking about how awesome Mari was yesterday," Alya smiled mischievously.
Adrien tipped his head slightly to the side, "what do you mean?"
"Mari helped Ladybug and Chat noir defeat the akuma yesterday!"
"Really?" Adrien said in awe.
"Uh y-yeah I mean- uh, I was mostly just running and trying not to get-uh, to get caught. It was nothing!" I stammered.
"Did you really? You have done it before haven't you? Helped Chat Noir with an akuma?"
The thought of Chat noir and his silly puns from when I helped him as Marinette with evilillustrator.
"Yeah," I chuckled, "but I was mostly just to distract the akuma. I didn't do much this time either, just ran away and then defended myself against frostbite until I found a opportunity to take her necklace that the akuma was in."
"Wait- you took the akuma item? By yourself?" Adrien gasped, "that is super cool!"
"You think so?" I asked quietly.
"Of course!" He laughed, "your like a superhero without a costume!"
"That what I was saying! Ladybug should pick her to be a superhero!" Alya agreed.
"That would be cool!" Adrien nudged me and I felt like I would melt into a puddle of embarrassment on the spot.
Give him hints, be more confident! The boy is oblivious unless you say it straight to his face!
Tikki's words echoed in my head.
I let my shoulders relax and took a deep breath. I can do this.
"Hey Adrien, are you doing anything today?" I asked, I felt my heart pound against my chest.
"Hm? Oh, just fencing today. Why?"
"Well, I was thinking about going to a new cafe today but I don't really want to go alone, do you want to come with me?" I smiled at him, trying to avoid looking at Alya.
"Sure, sounds like fun. I get out of fencing at 4pm. I will let Nathalie know."
"Great!" I say, surprisingly without a single uncontrollable squeak.
"Adrikins~!" Chloe's voice screeched.
"I better go," Adrien stood up abruptly and ran inside.
I finally dared a look at Alya. Her mouth was hanging open and her eyes were wide, "did you just- who are you and what did you do to my Marinette?" Alya narrowed her eyes.
I laughed, "I literally have no idea how I did that. Now I feel like I'm going to melt into a puddle of embarrassment again."
"There she is!" Alya laughed, "but seriously what?!"
"I don't know! I just remembered what a friend of mine said a while ago and kind of just...went for it. I guess."
"How in the...you know what? Doesn't matter how you managed to do it, you did it! You asked him out!"
"Ehhh," I furrowed my brows, "more or less. I wouldn't say I asked him out for a date. At least thats not what he saw it as. But I'm going to try being more forward about my feelings for him so he notices."
"Still, this is a huge step forward!" Alya pat me on the back a bit too hard, but caught me without missing a beat.
"Thanks, yeah I just hope this huge step...is the first in a number of steps to success."
"Of course it'll end in success, your the best," She nudged me softly and smiled.
I laughed and pushed her back, "I know I'm a pretty awesome friend, but whats so great about me?"
"Well your our everyday ladybug and yesterday gave evidence of that," Nino came up and sat on the other side of Alya.
"Yes, and you have a goal in life. Also your good at said goal, that being fashion design. And you are kind and reliable, albeit clumsy, but amazing nonetheless," Alya smirked.
"In that case I guess I am the best!" I chuckled.
"Obviously," Alya checked her phone. "Let's head up to the classroom to talk more. The seats aren't that comfy but they are more comfortable than concrete stairs."
"Agreed," I nodded and stood up.
"Oh right, so why were we boosting Mari's self esteem?" Nino asked as we put our bags on.
"Oh, right you kind of came in mid-conversation. She asked Adrien out."
"You what?" Nino gaped.
I smacked Alya as we walked up the stairs, "stop phrasing it like that. I just asked him to hangout at a cafe. Neither Adrien nor I insinuated it was a date. But that won't stop me from making it as romantic as possible. Of course."
"But still-did she talk? Like..normally??" Nino asked, astonished.
"I mean...I think so yeah. I just cleared my mind and calmed myself down, and it was..well it was actually pretty easy," I shrugged.
"Dude...nice," he let me and Alya go ahead of him on the stairs up to the classroom.
We walked into the class and sat down in our assigned seats. Well, it took some convincing to get Chloe out of Nino's seat but we managed.
"Oh! Right!" Alya suddenly perked up, "what was Ladybug like? Mari?"
I hesitated, "what? What do you mean?"
"Well," Alya sighed, "we have a good idea of Chat Noir's personality, but its kind of hard to really figure Ladybug out. She obviously brave and smart and strategic. But what else? What kind of person did she seem like to you?"
"Oh," I pause, "I guess she seemed really kind and caring. She was...really worried about my throat cause it got cut. She seemed pretty...mature? I guess?"
Alya wrote the things I said down, "that makes sense."
"What was Chat Noir like? Did you get to talk to him at all?" Adrien asked, his eyes were wide and sparkling with excitement. I never took him for a Chat Noir fan.
"Well-"
"That's obvious, he is very silly and doesn't take things very serious. Of course when Ladybug isn't around he is a bit better about taking responsibility and protecting people. But he just seems pretty immature to me, its not hard to figure out by the way he acts all the time," Alya interrupted.
"Oh," Adrien seemed a bit disappointed by Alya's answer.
"I don't know," I intervene, "I think he takes things seriously. He cares alot about Paris and his job and always protects Ladybug. I think he can act immature and silly but its probably so that he can keep things light hearted. Their job is very stressful and dangerous and he is probably just trying to make it easier on Ladybug and himself by acting silly sometimes."
"Are you a Chat Noir fan?" Adrien asked, the excitement back in his eyes.
I smiled, "yeah! He is really cool. He saved me from Frostbite when she was trying to hurt me. So I really owe him, I'm glad he came when he did!"
Alya eyed me with a smile.
"That's cool! I've never heard someone talk about chat noir like that! Most people like ladybug more!" Adrien said with a smile like none I had ever seen before. I felt my stomach fill with butterflies.
A smile that I couldn't resist burst across my face, "yeah, I get why. But Ladybug isn't Ladybug without her Chat Noir!"
"Well, yes. But the same could be said about Chat Noir, they need eachother," Adrien agreed.
I felt a heat creep up onto my face, "y-yeah."
Alya nudged me and smiled.
An abrupt cold gripped my body. I felt a feeling of sadness-of great loneliness I had never felt before. Ghosts of laughter rang in my head like a distant dream, only causing my chest to ache more.
"Mari?" I could hear a distant voice call for me.
"Marinette!" The voice faded into the background of happy people haunting me. It felt like I was lying on a cold stone floor, stuck forever to cry myself through every moment until I die. Hearing haunting beauties of my past taunt me with what could've been.
I gasped and sat straight up. Looking around frantically.
"Wow! Calm down!" Adrien was at my side, he rest a hand on my forearm.
Tears stung my eyes and I collapsed onto him, "Adrien!"
He wrapped his arms around me, his heat seeping through my clothes and into my bones. Chasing the dark cold that had attacked my body.
"What happened?" I asked, not letting go of him, afraid that the dark cold would drag me back into the stone trap.
"I'm not sure, your face suddenly dropped into a sort of shocked sadness. You began shivering really hard and passed out. I offered to take you to the nurse's office you were still shivering like you were cold."
I reluctantly released him, laying back down on the soft bed.
"Are you okay?" Adrien asked.
I pondered the question, "I feel fine now. I think. I'm not...quite sure what even happened honestly."
Adrien knit his brow, setting his hand on my forehead, "are you sure? You really scared everyone in the classroom. Even Chloe seemed concerned. At least enough not to mind that I offered to carry you here."
I shrugged, "I'm a bit tired. But other than that I think I'm alright. Just in case, do you want to reschedule to hangout tomorrow instead? A Saturday might be easier anyways," I suggested.
He nodded, "sure. I have tomorrow off of work stuff. I convinced father to give me a break every so often."
"Sounds good, uh...what time is it?" I asked.
"I'm not sure...I think that school ends in half an hour though," Adrien peers around in search for a clock.
I sat up again, "I missed the entire school day?! You werent here the whole time were you?"
"Yeah, you kinda did. I came in between classes, they let me stay for the last period since its just homeroom. Alya came by too, surprisingly so did Chloe. Everyone was worried about you."
"Aw man, I'm sorry. I really don't know why this happened so suddenly, I felt fine before, and I'm feeling alright now."
Adrien pat my head, "Its alright, its not your fault. I'm glad you are better though. The nurse said that if you wake up before school ends that I can walk you home, to make sure you get there safe. So you can rest and get better."
"Ah- okay," I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, suddenly a feeling of imbalance nearly making me fall. A unsettling chill ran up my spine.
Adrien caught me, "you okay?"
"Yeah-yeah, just a bit dizzy," I assured as I hooked my arm around his shoulders.
"Alright, lets get you home then."