Love by Design - Adrienette

Ignoring is Bliss

Alya's newest blogpost was painful for Adrien to read. Sure, he had been avoiding Marinette too, but only because he needed time to think - and think, he had. She, on the other hand, was apparently forcing him completely out of her mind. Not too long before, he'd been in a similar situation where he thought Ladybug didn't think anything of him. Now was different; now he knew that for whatever reason she was just as fond of him as he was of her, so why did she have to be that way? Frustration twisted into anger, but with it a flicker of confusion: was he angry at her?

He answered his own question with a shake of the head. Of course not! Marinette was his partner in crime-fighting: they faced their struggles together. He was still mad at somebody... but if not her, then whom?

His dad, that's who. He'd thought it over and decided he and Marinette weren't to blame for their own relationship troubles. He couldn't blame Tom and Sabine (except maybe for accepting the dinner invitation, but without that he wouldn't even know who Ladybug was - that part was worth it). He couldn't blame Plagg, or Tikki, or Nathalie, or The Gorilla, or Nino, or Alya, or Chloe, or Sabrina... even Hawkmoth was innocent of this particular offense!

Now that he knew who to blame, what could he do? In stories he knew of, the characters always quit talking to whomever they were mad at in order to get a point across - but that sounded like his father and himself on a daily basis. His father always liked to be in charge, and he hated it when he felt like he wasn't in control of the situation. That's it! Any sort of reaction was only giving his father more power - so from here on out, all they needed to do was ignore his father's plan.

After class, Marinette was out the door before Adrien could possibly catch a word with her. He went out to the front of the school, keeping his eyes peeled for her. He spotted her at the corner with Alya; both of them were checking their phones. Taking the opportunity, he whipped out his phone and dialed Marinette's number.

He watched her as she stared at her phone screen in shock. 'Come on, pick up!' he mentally pleaded. He was puzzled as she appeared to be holding back tears before she squeezed her eyes shut... and blocked his call. "It's Marinette, leave a message, beep, hee hee," her voicemail told him over his phone.

Adrien clenched a fist and directed his gaze to the ground. Now he was a little irritated directly at Marinette. The current situation was in no way her fault, but she was deliberately foiling his attempts to smooth things over. By the time he looked up again the girls had disappeared. Not knowing much else he could do, he tried texting Alya instead.

"Can you please get Marinette to stay in one spot so I can talk to her? This is urgent!"

At least Alya was quick to text back, but the content of the message could have been better.

"It's about time someone stepped up! Unfortunately, I can't help you. I don't know where she went. We were near the river when an akuma showed up, and Marinette ran away like always. She has no backbone when it comes to those things!"

"Great! Don't akumas always have the best timing?" Plagg yawned. "Looks like you're going to have to wait to talk to your girlfriend."

Adrien smiled. "Yes, they do. I know that was supposed to be sarcastic, but at least fighting alongside her is some semblance of normality. Plagg..." He slipped back inside the now deserted school building to transform.

"Do we have to go now? I'm hungry!"

"There'll be time for food later, claws out!"

The battle was fairly uneventful, unless you count the akuma taking hostages - but that had become all too common to truly concern anyone once the victims were safely returned. Ladybug and Chat Noir seemed to be behaving fairly normally as well, until the battle was complete and Ladybug had reverted all damage by throwing her lucky charm - which this time was a candle.

As Ladybug was about to swing away, Chat jumped after her. "Wait, M'Lady - I'm sorry about my father."

Ladybug flinched, unwilling to take up the topic. "Chat, please, don't say any more. We don't know anything about each other's civilian lives, and it's better if it stays that way." With that she swung away.

Not having time to chase after her, Chat sought out a hiding spot to detransform. Once he was Adrien again, he slumped against a wall. Ignoring their problems wouldn't make them go away. Having a falling out with her wouldn't help anything either, but his patience with her was running thin. Unless they cooperated, they stood no chance at convincing his father they were capable of managing their own life decisions.

He walked to the general area where he knew she liked to hang out. There she was, reunited with Alya. It looked like he was beginning to learn her habits pretty well. "Marinette, I have to talk with you! Please!"

She looked about to sprint away until Alya grabbed her around the wrist.

Marinette tried to squirm away, but when she saw how persistent her friend and boyfriend were both going to be, she gave in and chose to face Adrien... sort of. "Marinette? Who is this Marinette?"