The hazards of being a bakers daughter# adrianette & ladynoir

Presents

Adrien carefully tucked his rose back into its bag as the others finished gathering up their things. As they headed out the door, Adrien fell into step beside Nino, following the girls.

Nino shot him a sly grin, wiggling his eyebrows at him.

"What?" Adrien asked, trying not to sound defensive.

"Oh, nothing," Nino replied with an exaggerated glance at Marinette's back. "That's just a mighty fine cookie you got there."

Adrien shrugged, his cheeks turning red. "Why?" he asked, glancing down at Nino's bag. "You don't want yours? Because I'll take th—"

"No, no," Nino replied quickly, protectively cradling the bag to his chest and out of Adrien's reach. "I'm just saying."

"And?" Adrien asked, grateful the girls were busy chatting about Alya's cookies a few steps ahead.

"And," Nino said slowly, his sly grin growing, "I just think it's interesting is all. I mean, you have been stealing glances at Marinette even more than usual this week."

Adrien nearly tripped, quickly looking at Marinette in horror to make sure she hadn't overheard. She and Alya were laughing now, and Adrien's racing heart settled down a notch. He turned back to Nino to find his best friend sniggering.

"Was I really that obvious?" Adrien asked with a wince. What if Marinette had noticed?

Nino rolled his eyes, pulling his coat tighter as they walked outside. "Please, Adrien. You're so oblivious it's almost sickening."

"No, you don't understand," Adrien replied, struggling to come up with a decent excuse. He most certainly couldn't tell him the truth—Oh, you know, I'm just increasingly beginning to suspect that our classmate is Ladybug, no biggie.

"Listen," Nino said firmly, cutting Adrien off before he could produce a lame lie. "If you like her that much, you should just ask her out."

... Oh. Oh. Oh—

"That's not what I—" Adrien paused in his hurried denial, stopping to consider what Nino had just suggested. Quite honestly, it didn't sound like all that bad of an idea. He glanced at Marinette again, watching as she joked with Alya. She was really sweet, and if she was Ladybug...

Adrien put his foot down, shooing away that train of thought. Because if she was actually Ladybug—and if he knew—and she didn't know that he knew—well, something about that made him really uncomfortable. It felt so dishonest. Still, with a small smile to Nino he said, "I'll at least consider it."

"Consider what?" Alya asked, suddenly turning around and making Adrien jump.

"Getting me a PS4 for Christmas," Nino shot back with a wink and the quickest save Adrien had ever seen. Nino threw his arm around him and added, "Don't I have the best friend ever?"

Alya wrapped her arms around Marinette, dragging her in close. "Sorry, boys, but the best friend in the world is right here, and she's already mine. You can't have her."

Adrien laughed and pushed Nino off of a him, trying to hide the small blush that was spreading across his cheeks. Luckily, he could see his dad's car waiting on the street—the perfect excuse to duck out.

"I've got to go," he said quickly, not quite meeting the girls' eyes. He could already see Alya grinning. "I hope you all have a great winter break!"

Then, before he could chicken out, he shot Marinette a smile and added, "Thanks again, Marinette!"

The way she turned bright red and broke into a pleased smile was definitely worth the knowing looks Nino and Alya shot him.