Dearly Despised, (I love you)

Simon Says

A/N: Ladrien

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"Sorry I'm late! I didn't break the macaroons on the way this time, though!"

"Where were you?" Alya asked with all the candour of someone very unsurprised by Marinette's tardiness.

Sighing, she popped a soda amongst the ring of food and slanted besides Mylène on the picnic rug. "With Miss Bustier. She caught Adrien and I again."

Juleka and Rose's eyes lifted above their sandwiches midbite. Huh – Maybe she should have worded that different for people who weren't Alya.

"What, making out?" supplied Alix, unphased as she chewed down a chicken wrap. The shock of that and Alix's apparent lack of bother towards the idea had Marinette's face blooming unkindly.

"Wh—No," she huffed over Mylène's giggle. Mylène had heard all about her vendetta towards Adrien Asshole that time she came to pick up her dad's hat for his show. The same night Adrien arrived late to redeem a VIP spot (singular – for some reason he went alone?) to 'The Mime's Extraordinary Adventure' and had to sit next to—you'll never guess—Marinette.

Alya thought it was so funny she refused to swap seats. The show wasn't worth fighting for the arm rest all night and hearing the subtle snark of, "There's you" when the disfigured-masked mime came on.

"We never showed up for the end of class because we were arguing in the lab. He accused me of "following" him since we both came out of the cupboards at the same time after Mr Pigeon calmed down – this is the third time this month, I may add. Not that I... take much notice of that stuff. Anyway. I know he follows me and argues about it just to piss me off." She sipped the raspberry lemonade. "He does it all the time."

Alya was tickled by a mix of humour and dubiety. "Does he though?"

"He does."

"And what did Miss Bustier say?"

"She wasn't 'proud of our continuous tardy behaviour' and seemed like she wanted to say something else, but didn't. She walked in just as I was getting the budson burner ready, too."

"Marinette!"

"I'm joking!" she eased Mylène. "I don't even know how to safely use one of those, anyway. Point is I was held up for reasons other than forgetting. Rose, can you pass me the brownies, please?"

She obliged, but not without the comment, "Do you like Adrien, Marinette?"

"No." She shoved a chocolate brownie in her mouth.

Rose looked to her left.

Juleka cleared her throat. "In, uh, what– in which way?"

"None. I like him many feet away from me, preferably trapped in a room with Chloé."

"Hey! That happened the other day, didn't it?" Alya mused, nodding to Alix for the napkins. When everyone eyed her, she explained. "With the akuma Pixelator. That was when our class went to Chloé's hotel, remember? She put Adrien and I on trash duty. He made it sort of better telling jokes and stuff, but then there was that alligator—"

"Who wants macaroons!?" Marinette intruded, unleashing desserts from her tipped schoolbag when she noticed the crescent of expressions look increasingly concerned. One pinkish one rolled out, flattening the grass before hitting the toe of the Seine.

"Here I was thinking you and blondie were in some sort of love affair."

Blushed crumbs flew from Marinette's mouth as she downright choked. "What on earth gave you that idea?!"