Miraculous | Meant To Be

Chapter 13

As promised, here it is folks!!

———

I dropped my transformation around the corner from my house and then walked in through the front door, and was immediately embraced by my parents.

"Oh honey we were so worried!!" Maman said before pulling back to examine my face, searching for any sign of damage. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, smiling. It was a little bit annoying how I got pounced on the minute I entered the door, but I love my parents, and it always makes me feel especially loved to see how much they care.

"Marinette, why didn't you come home as soon as the Akuma Alert went off?" Papa asked me, his concern evident in his voice.

I bit my lip and looked down at the ground. I hated lying to my parents, but whenever it came to my secret identity, sometimes there was no way around it.

"Alya pulled me along with her to chase the Akuma, and then I got turned into a party princess."

My parents shared a "look", and I shifted on my feet. I decided it would be safer to continue talking or give some excuse then to wait for whatever they were going to say.

"I'm sorry I didn't try harder to come home. But I do need to eat lunch. I have to be back at school in 10 minutes."

Papa sighed and then nodded.

I pulled them both into a hug.

"I love you guys."

"We love you too sweetie." Maman said.

"Try to be more careful for us though, okay?" Papa said, pulling back to look me in the eyes."

I nodded again and waved at my parents as I ran up the stairs, grabbing some snacks as I continued up to my room.

As soon as I closed the trap door, Tikki flew out into the open.

"Well, that was some akuma fight Marinette!"

"Yeah, it was. Hopefully little Jane will still get to have her birthday party."

"I'm sure she'll be alright. But that's not what I'm talking about Marinette."

"Then what-?"

"What was going on with you and Chat Noir?"

I prepared to launch an excuse about why I should totally be allowed to flirt with Chat, or whatever that was, only to turn and see Tikki trying to hold in her laughter.

"Oh, don't tease me Tikki!! Even I don't exactly know what happened!" I said as I dramatically fell onto my chaise, a ham and cheese croissant in hand.

"Oh, Marinette. I'm not the one you'll have to endure teasing from. Don't forget about Alya."

"Oh no! Alya!!" I said, swallowing my mouth full of sandwich, "Do you think she was there? Please tell me she was stuck in the safe room with the others. I couldn't handle the teasing from Alya about this! Oh noooo! Tikki I'm ruined!!"

"Don't worry Marinette! Alya is your best friend!! Has she ever steered you wrong? Besides, what you should be worrying about, is whether or not you're going to make it to class on time."

I glanced at the clock on my desktop, before jumping up and shoving the remainders of my sandwich in my mouth.

"AHHH! C'mon Tikki! Let's go!!"

———

I arrived at school with a few minutes to spare. I sat down in my seat and waved, only slightly nervously, at Alya and Nino as they walked in. They too took their seats and we began to chat easily about the akuma.

"Man I wish I'd been there!!" Alya pouted. Answering my previous question without even having to bring it up.

"You weren't there? But the great reporter and ladyblogger never misses an akuma fight!" I said in mock surprise.

"Yeah. Mrs. Bustier caught her trying to sneak away and threatened to take her phone for a week during class." Nino smirked at Alya, who began pouting again.

"She's resorted to threatening The Phone! She must be really desperate!!" I laughed.

"Who's desperate?" I jumped, my face turning pink, when Adrien joined the conversation, taking his seat in front of me.

"Oh we were just talking about how desperate Marinette is for ice cream. She hasn't had any in weeks!!" Alya winked at me, probably thinking she was smooth.

I rolled my eyes. "Alya, no we-"

"Oh! Perfect! We should all go for ice cream after school!" Adrien said, with a huge smile on his face. "I don't have any photo shoots today, my photographer is sick. (Something about eating too much spaghetti....)"

I beamed. He was so cute when he was excited! I was so caught up in that thought, that I almost missed what was said next.

"Yes! A double date!!" Alya exclaimed, smiling slyly as she entwined her fingers with Nino's.

"Sounds great!" Adrien smiled up at me as he said this, and I nodded, almost having a heart attack.

I was going on a date with Adrien Agreste!! I was practically glowing at the thought, then remembered something. I was going on a date with my soulmate, Adrien Agreste!! I was internally screaming, having a panic session in my head.

My thoughts were derailed the moment the bell rang, class starting.

Adrien and I grinned at each other once more before turning towards the teacher. I also caught Alya and Nino sharing "a look", the same one my parents had given each other. What was up with that?

———

The final bell finally rang hours later, and I jumped up to get ready to go home. I slung my bag over my shoulder, and turned to see-

"Adrien!" He held his hand out to me in a way that couldn't really be labeled as a friendly gesture, but his innocent, smiling face, didn't let it fall under flirty either.

"Are you ready?" He smiled, gently taking my hand in his.

I could only nod, red in the face. We walked out the door, holding hands!!, Alya and Nino trailing behind us, snickering into their hands.

We walked along the sidewalks together as a group, but also as two separate couples holding hands, and talking together easily. The thought of that made my smile grow bigger than it already was.

"Your smile is adorable."

I looked up at Adrien in surprise, but he seemed just as surprised as I did.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say that it just kind of came out! Not that it's not true, because it is!! That's just really awkward and I'm so sorry Marinette-"

"It's, it's okay! It's okay! Thank you Adrien! I uh, um thank you?" I could feel the heat rising to my face.

"Sorry. I'm so sorry." He let go of my hand to bury his face in both of his.

"Hey! It's okay! It's okay! I appreciate it really!!" I couldn't bear to see him so down on himself for saying something that was so genuine and sweet, albeit said by accident.

I reached up to his face and grabbed both of his hands and entwined his fingers with mine, then looked back up at his face, smiling gently.

"Thank you Adrien. That really was very sweet of you to say."

He blushed, eyes wide, then let go of my hands. My face fell for only a split second before he wrapped his arms around me in a warm embrace.

Needless to say, I almost immediately melted into it.

I was on cloud nine, I was so happy! I was going on a date with Adrien, and he was hugging me, and I was hugging him back, and I was just so gosh dang hap-

> Snap <

I turned to glare at Alya and Nino who were giggling together, trying to stifle their laughter. As soon as we were awakened to their presence, they started laughing. Raw, guttural, laughter that made me roll my eyes.

I grabbed Adrien's hand and practically dragged him behind me as we walked past a crying Alya and Nino.

"Come on Adrien. Let's leave these two bafoons to die of laughter."

Adrien covered his mouth to stifle a giggle himself.

"Wait! Marinette- bahahahahAHAhaHa!" Alya tried to call after us.

"Dude... you guys- hahAhaHahaha! I'm so sorry, just-" Nino also attempting.

They tried to stop laughing, but ended up having to steady each other.

Adrien and I made eye contact, and suddenly there were four laughing teenagers on the sidewalk instead of just two.

———

All in all, we eventually found the ice cream shop.

Once we all had our ice cream we sat in an elevated booth by the window, chatting comfortably.

The four of us sat in the ice cream shop for an hour or two, laughing and enjoying ourselves. Even though there was a little bit of awkward tension between Adrien and I at the start, it quickly diffused. Mostly thanks to Alya or Nino jumping in whenever it got quiet, and talking until we ended up laughing so hard we cried or someone else jumped in with something to say.

By the time we were walking home Adrien and I could almost hold a complete discussion on our own without any major hiccups or back tracking. We were still a little bit awkward, but at least we were both slightly more comfortable with the whole "soulmates" ordeal.

"Thanks for everything Adrien. It was fun to hang out with you!!"

"Anytime Marinette!! I had fun with you too!!"

We both smiled at each other, the awkwardness slowly creeping back.

After a moment of awkward silence I said, "Alright, well I've gotta go... get some homework done, ya know" I cleared my throat. "Yeah... so, I'll... see you tomorrow?"

He nodded, smiling, "Yeah! Yep! You'll see me tomorrow!"

I smiled back, and we smiled at each other for another second.

"Okay! Well I'm going to go inside now. Yep. Bye Adrien!"

"Bye Marinette!"

I opened the door to walk inside, but turned around at the last second and stuck my head out the door.

"Oh! And Adrien?"

"Yes?"

"Your smile is adorable too."

———

THAT'S A WRAP FOLKS!! Thanks for reading this chapter/fanfic you guys!! It means a lot to me!! I am super glad you guys enjoy reading it just as much as I do!! 😆 (seriously tho sometimes I'm in awe that I wrote this. At least the more recent chapters. The previous ones? Nah that's my writing alright. My 14 yr old writing but still. 😆😆😆)

If you're still reading this, thanks bro. Appreciated!! Bonus loves for youuuu!! ❤️❤️❤️

Seriously tho, LOVE YOU GUYS!!❤️