True Love?

Chapter 8

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Marinette's alarm blares early Monday morning. She groans and opens her eyes slowly. She is not ready to face the day ahead of her, especially with the dance coming up really soon. Tikki flies to her and nuzzles her cheek.

"Come on, Marinette!" Tikki says excitedly. "You have to tell Alya what happened this weekend!" Marinette bolts upright in her bed, wide awake.

"OH MY GOSH ALYA!!!" Marinette yells. "SHE'S GONNA KILL ME FOR NOT TELLING HER!" Tikki just giggles.

"Oh Marinette," Tikki starts. "Just text her that you have big news to tell her when you get to school."

"You know, Tikki, that's not a bad idea," Marinette says after thinking it over. She grabs her phone from her desk and types out a quick message to Alya.

M: Hey girl! I have something I gotta talk to you about before school today!

A: Yaus girl! See you soon!

M: Lol see you soon.

Marinette puts her phone down and gets out of bed. She goes to her closet and dresses in a cute flowy pink top with a bow in the center on the neckline, black skinny jeans and cream-colored flats. Smiling at herself in the mirror, she puts on a bit of eyeliner and mascara. Tikki helps Marinette braid her hair into a half-up-half-down wavy look and adds a small pink flower clip to her hairstyle. Marinette grabs a matching purse and opens it so Tikki can hide inside. She closes the purse and heads downstairs for breakfast. Noticing the time on the microwave, Marinette realizes that she is way early. This is perfect so she can actually talk to Alya before school starts. She grabs a few cookies and slips them into her purse for Tikki. Marinette also grabs a few treats for her friends. She quickly eats one and goes downstairs into the bakery to kiss her parents goodbye.

"Bye mom!" Marinette yells from the door. "Bye dad!" She races out the door and to the school. Once she arrives, she notices that she is the first one from their friend group there. Sighing, she sits on the stone railing at the beginning of the staircase. She pulls out her sketchpad and starts writing down measurement guesses for her and Adrien's costumes. She resketches hers and makes a few changes to the appearance. She is so lost in her drawing that she doesn't realize that there is a person sitting next to her. She looks up and sees Adrien sitting there and smiles brightly.

"Hey, Princess," Adrien says with a smile just as bright as hers.

"Hey yourself, Sunshine," she says back.

"Whatcha workin' on?" he asks, looking at her sketch.

"Oh, I'm just redrawing my idea for my costume," she replies. "I wanted to make a few changes before we actually started sewing them." Marinette showed Adrien the alterations she made as well as her guesses for measurements. "We should get together a few days after school to work on measurements and the actual sewing part. That way we can knock out the project well in advance."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Adrien muses. "What days did you have in mind?"

"Um, well, what works with your schedule the best?" She asks in reply. "I'm pretty free after school minus other homework." Adrien smiles at her.

"I actually have this entire week after school free," he says. Marinette's eyes widen in surprise.

"What?" she gasps. "How did you manage that?" Her confused look makes Adrien chuckle.

"I told Nathalie that I had a really important project that I needed to work on with my partner after school that was due by next week," he says taking one of her hands in his. "I originally planned it to spend time with my amazing girlfriend, but then I realized that it wasn't a lie either way because I do have an important project due by next weekend and my partner just so happens to be my girlfriend." He takes her sketchpad and pencil and puts it into her bag. Then, he leans back and stands up, pulling her with him. She just smiles up at him.

"What are you doing?" she asks nervously.

"This," he says leaning in towards her. Their lips meet and Marinette stiffens but almost immediately relaxes into him and runs her fingers through his hair. His arms wrap around her waist pulling her closer and she obliges.

"Ah hem!" A voice causes them to separate. Adrien manages to see a flash of reddish-brown hair before his girlfriend is yanked from his grasp and drug over to the other side of the staircase. Nino stands awkwardly by Adrien.

"'Sup," he says, trying to break the tension. Adrien runs his hands through his hair nervously.

"Uh, hey, Nino," he replies. "How is the project going with your partner?" Nino smirks.

"Nuh-uh, dude," Nino states. "You aren't going to change the subject that easily. I gotta know what happened. Spill it, dude." Adrien sighs.

"Marinette and I are dating," Adrien tells him. "What happened was you saw me kissing my girlfriend." Nino just laughs.

"Yeah right, dude," Nino scoffs. "Like you would date someone after hardly noticing them for years. Come on. Are you trying to prank Alya and me? Adrien looks at Marinette and Alya over across the stairs. She meets his eyes and mouths 'prank' while Alya is looking over at Nino. Immediately he understands and nods. They had been working together so well as Ladybug and Cat Noir that they were able to communicate with very little spoken words. It came in very handy during an Akuma attack. Alya and Nino didn't know that though so Marinette suggesting they go along with Alya and Nino's suggestion would throw them off the trail. Adrien turns back to Nino and sighs.

"Alright, you caught us," Adrien admits. "Marinette and I thought it would be funny to make you guys think we were dating. So when I saw you walking up I pulled her into that kiss to be overly dramatic." Nino laughs at this.

"You guys are hilarious, really," Nino says between laughs. "You really thought you could fool us by pretending to date? We know you both better than that. You haven't really looked at Marinette as more than a friend in the years that you've known her and she can barely talk straight around you." Adrien tries his best to look sheepish.

"I guess I really didn't think about it that way," Adrien says after a moment. "She has gotten a lot better at talking to me. We are partners for the costume project after all."

"Oh, that's convenient for her," Nino mutters under his breath.

"What?" Adrien asks confused.

"Nothing, dude," Nino replies. "Let's go see what the girls are talking about over there. Oh, and grab Marinette's bag, will you? She looks stressed." They walk over to the girls just as Alya and Marinette stop talking. Marinette is glaring at Alya while Alya just smirks at her best friend.

"What was that all about?" Adrien asks. Alya snorts and shoots a glare at him while Marinette just sighs.

"She's upset that we attempted to trick them into thinking that we are dating," Marinette explains. Adrien nods his head in understanding. He is about to say more when the warning bell rings. Alya drags Marinette into class without a word. Nino just smirks at Adrien whose face is one of confusion.

"You are so in for it, dude," Nino states. "Alya will have it out for you now." Adrien inwardly panics. He didn't think Alya would take this as she did. Granted, he thought that they were actually dating. Taking his seat in the classroom he wonders what Marinette told Alya about their "prank". The girls are whispering heatedly behind him and Nino but Adrien can't make out what they are saying. Just as the bell rings an explosion is heard in the distance. The class freaks out and runs to the door to head to a safe place. Alya tries to drag Marinette with her but Adrien beats her to it and poor Marinette stumbles out of the classroom after Adrien. He pulls Marinette into the locker room into the back corner after having lost Alya and Nino. Before he can ask her what happened with Alya, she glares at him and calls her transformation.

"Tikki, spots on!" Marinette calls. The magic pink light flashes replacing her with her alter ego. Ladybug then leaps out of the windows and towards the commotion. Adrien sighs defeatedly and calls for his own transformation.

"Plagg, claws out!" he calls. The familiar magic green light flashes and replaces him with his alter ego. Cat Noir then jumps out of the window after Ladybug trying to figure out what happened between her and Alya.