Blushing Miraculous

The Attempted Set-Up

Chat Noir detransformed as soon as he landed in his room.

"I can't believe it, Plagg," he said excitedly. "Marinette is in love with me, I mean, with Chat Noir!"

Plagg groaned. "I can't keep track of you two anymore."

Adrien continued, ignoring his kwami. "I can't believe it. Marinette fell out of love with me only to fall in love with me!"

"Congratulations," Plagg said. "But how are you supposed to date her as Chat Noir? You can't exactly take her out to the movies."

"I know, I know, this will make things a little more complicated, but eventually I'll have to tell her who I am, and then we'll be together in real life. Plus, I don't care about going to the movies. As long as I'm with Marinette, I don't care what we do. We can stay inside her room and talk every night."

"Then why ask her out at all? Just keep things the way they are now."

Adrien sighed. "You don't understand anything about love."

"Of course I understand love. I love Camembert, I love Brie, I love Roquefort..."

Adrien shook his head and walked away as his kwami continued talking. He plopped down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling, unable to get the smile off of his face. "Tomorrow is going to be the best day ever."

************************************

Once again, Adrien didn't sleep well that night. Not only was he preoccupied with thoughts of Marinette, but he also felt uncomfortable in his bed. It was amazing, he had gotten used to sleeping next to her in such a short amount of time. He missed her warm presence.

A big smile was on his face as he woke up Friday morning. He quickly got ready and ran to breakfast where he ravenously ate his food. After all, he hadn't eaten anything the night before.

The first thing he did when he got to school was run up to Marinette.

"Thanks again for letting me borrow this," he said, handing her notebook back. "It was really helpful."

"You're welcome," she said with a smile.

"I still can't believe that he just wanted to borrow your notebook yesterday," Alya whispered to Marinette as they walked ahead of the boys to class.

"What did you think was going to happen?" Marinette whispered back.

"I don't know. That he would finally confess his undying love to you?" the redhead whispered.

"Oh please, Alya. Don't make me laugh."

"Come on, girl. Open your eyes. He totally digs you!"

Marinette chuckled and took her seat. She watched as Adrien sat down in front of her. Once seated he turned around and gave her a huge smile. "Good luck on the quiz today Marinette," he said.

"You too," she replied.

He turned back when Ms. Bustier started speaking. Marinette didn't dare look over at the girl sitting next to her.

************************************

When the school day ended the four friends made their way outside.

"So what are you up to this weekend?" Alya asked Marinette.

"Oh, uh nothing really," she responded casually.

"Great! Because me and Nino are going to see a movie tonight. Why don't you come with us?" Alya turned to Adrien. "Adrien, why don't you come too?"

"Uh actually, I can't tonight," Marinette said quickly.

Alya glared at her. "You just said that you had nothing going on!"

"I know, I'm sorry. But I... already have plans," she admitted.

Alya grabbed her by the shoulder and walked her away from the boys. "What is going on with you lately?" she asked when they were out of earshot. "You're completely in love with Adrien, but now that he's single and interested in you, you start making up excuses to stay away from him."

"Alya," Marinette protested. "I'm not in love with him anymore, and I'm not making this up. I do have plans tonight."

"Well, what are you doing?" she demanded.

"I'm... meeting someone."

Alya's eyes grew wide and she gasped. "Oh my gosh, girl. You're serious! You are over Adrien because you're dating someone else! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Alya, stop. It's not like that. We just hang out together. We're not dating."

"But you want to be," Alya said, wiggling her eyebrows.

Marinette sighed. "Nothing's going to happen between us. It's complicated."

"That's because you're always making things complicated when they don't have to be. If you love him then just tell him. You don't want another 'Adrien' situation, do you?"

"No," the girl said, looking down at her feet.

"Well then, you have to tell him before it's too late," Alya said.

Marinette put both her hands over her face. "Ugh, I know."

Alya put her arm around her shoulder. "You got this, girl. And if things don't work out, you'll always have Adrien as a backup!"

"You're incorrigible," Marinette said, as Alya guided her back to the boys.

"It seems like the movie is canceled for tonight," Alya announced when the four friends were back together. "Marinette is busy so we'll have to plan something another time."

"That's okay," Adrien said. "I couldn't make it anyway."

"Me and you can still go tonight, babe," Nino said.

"You're right," his girlfriend replied, moving next to him. She planted a kiss on his cheek. "Alright, bye guys," she said as the couple left together, leaving Adrien and Marinette alone.

Adrien smiled at her. She smiled back. "So I'll see you at practice tomorrow?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'll be there."

"Awesome." He paused for a second. "Well, have a great night," he said, walking towards the waiting car.

"Bye," Marinette said.

Tikki popped out of her purse when the car drove away. "We need to go Marinette. You need to get baking if the croissants will be ready by the time Chat Noir arrives."

"You're right Tikki!" she replied, taking off towards her house.