The Duel

Rejection

Hey guys! Just a lil disclaimer. I know many of my readers are like older audience in the upper teens and I am as well, but we must remember that Miraculous Ladybug is still considered a kids show and I do still have a lot of younger readers too. Because of this is ask that you please avoid using heavy or sensitive words and profanity in the comments section. I know the characters sometimes do stupid things or make mad decisions that might make you wanna scream curse words, but I'd be super appreciative if you kept it to a minimum, thank you!!
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She was ready. She was going to do it for real this time. She wasn't going to chicken out. This was happening.

Marinette looked at herself in the mirror of the girls bathroom at school and went over the conversation that was about to happen. She wasn't going to stutter, she was going to say it all correctly and clearly. She was determined.

She cracked the door open ever so slightly and peaked out into the locker room, Adrien was there. Alone. Just as Alya promised. Her best friend had put it all in place against her will today, forcing Marinette to do the hard part she'd been strictly avoiding for month now. But it was going to happen today. It was going to happen now.

No time for second guessing, as soon as a rush of confidence came upon her, Marinette walked out of the bathroom with her back straight and shoulders down looking poised and like she had no nerves. She figured maybe if she looked all calm on the outside, it would happen on the inside too. And frankly, it was working.

Adrien was right there, he wasn't on his phone or anything, just standing there leaning against the locker looking at the door as if he was waiting for someone to come through it. Marinette saw her chance and took it, she walked right up to Adrien and initiated some normal conversation, so that her "big moment" wouldn't be a super awkward out-of-the-blue topic.

"Hey Adrien!  Are you waiting for someone?" She said, not a single stutter, she smiled a little at how clearly she managed to speak in front of him.

Adrien turned and saw her, he was a bit surprised that he had zoned out so much didn't even hear her walk up, and so it took him just a second to process her question. "Oh, hi Marinette! Sorry I didn't see you there. Yeah, I'm waiting on Nino, he said he had something important to tell me here, and then we were gonna walk to first period together."

Marinette grinned and almost sort of playingly rolled her eyes realizing Alya's "plan" was just to lie to him about Nino needing to tell him something.  But hey, at least it was working.

"Mind if I keep you company while you wait?" She chirped out sounding cheerful as always. Well, she didn't usually sound that way in front of Adrien, she normally sounded like a gibberish in front of him, but not today.

Adrien smiled widely at her immediate reaction to offer to do something kind, it was always one thing he admired about her. That attitude reminded him of Ladybug, which is probably why he considered Marinette such a close friend.

"I'd love for you to!" He replied without hesitation , "wow Marinette, I really appreciate the way you are always trying to make people happier and more comfortable." He said to her, grinning from cheek to cheek.

"Aww thanks!" Marinette said, and in a fraction of a second she realized, this was her big moment, this was her chance, and she was NOT going to mess it up like last time, and the time before, and the time before, and pretty much every time she had ever tried to tell him about her feelings. "You know, kind people inspire me to treat everyone that way. And you're always kind!"

Adrien opened his mouth to thank her, but before he got words out she spoke again, she had to finish.

"And you're more than just kind really, you're smart, dedicated, hardworking, generous, considerate, caring, and an amazing friend."

Adrien was beaming at Marinette's kindness, he definitely could use a good shower of compliments every once in a while. But Marinette wasn't done glorifying him just yet.

"And to me ya know....you're even more I guess." She bit her lip and let out a breath to calm her heart which felt like it was going to fly away from her chest because of all the nerves. " I mean, you're also handsome, polite, charming, and dreamy" She let out another breath and looked down to avoid eye contact, this was the part she'd been putting off since the day she met him.

With her eyes on the ground she didn't see that Adrien's smile faded, he knew where this was going, and was praying that she won't say what he thinks she's gonna say.

"What I mean is, you've always been more than just an "amazing friend" to me, and I've always seen you as more..... " she put some hair behind her ear and rocked back and forth on her heels, still looking down, "I guess that what I'm trying to say is....well that I li-"

Adrien's expression changed completely, he did NOT want this to happen today. He lifted up her chin to look at her eyes, not even noticing that there was clear anger in his own "Marinette are you in love with me!?" He said sternly, almost as if she was committing a crime for having feelings for the most attractive guy in school.

Marinette realized he was angry, and water starting filling up in her eyes, she bit her tongue in a desperate attempt to keep tears from falling out. "Adrien are you mad?" She said, sounding as calm as she could with her heart racing inside, she knew these next few moments might be the difference between a happy heart and a broken one.

He didn't even look at her anymore, he started walking back and forth without making eye contact, his eyebrows caving in like he couldn't keep his blood from boiling. "WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN!?" he screamed, not even considering how his elevated voice might hurt her.

"wha-what?" She barely stuttered out as mostly whisper to keep from a voice crack.

"EVERY TIME I APPRECIATE SOMEONE AS A FRIEND THEY GET FEELINGS FOR ME AND RUIN EVERYTHING." He said, clearly not seeing or caring about the tears now streaming down Marinette's face.

"GIRLS LIKE YOU NEED TO STOP FALLING IN LOVE WITH ME, I LOVE SOMEONE ELSE." He was honestly only mad at this point because he thought Marinette's feelings were what would ruin the friendship, without the slightest consideration that maybe he himself was ruining it by yelling in her face about how wrong it is to be in love with him.

"I WANTED YOU TO JUST BE MY FRIEND!" He yelled, accidentally looking right into her eyes, and he gasped as soon as he saw her, she had a buckets pouring down her face and a puddle of tears already on the ground just from his words. He covered his mouth immediately to shut himself up upon realizing what he'd done, but it was too late.

Marinette burst into a wail and ran away out of the locker room as fast as she could.

"Wait Marinette I'm sorry!" He tried to scream back seeing what huge mistake he just made, but by then she was already out the door.

Nino happened to be walking down the gym, and his eye caught Marinette running out of the school back home, clearly in a flood of tears, when she was out of eyesight he turned his head toward the locker room door where she was supposed to spill it to Adrien. "Oh no" he said under his breath and ran toward the door to hear from his best bud what happened. But before he made it in Adrien came running out and nearly crashed into him. Without giving Nino the chance to say anything, Adrien looked at his friend, now with tears in his own eyes too, "nino.....i messed up...." He said, then panted heavily a couple times to catch his breath, "I messed up really bad."