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“You mean to tell me that you really are dating Adrien Agreste?”
Marinette nods sheepishly, staring down at her hands. She sits uncomfortably on the pink chaise, squirming under Alya’s death glare.
“But.. not as Marinette.” Alya huffs, dropping down into Marinette’s pink desk chair. She spins around a few times before facing her best friend.
“I know you said you didn’t think it was a good idea, but..” Marinette shrugs, trailing off. She isn’t sure how to continue that sentence because Alya was pretty much right.
“It just adds drama,” Alya sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. “You throw in the secret identity and all of the sudden you’re both confused.”
Neither girl says anything for a while, both thinking over the situation. Marinette shifts again on the chaise, ringing her hands.
The thing she hates is that Alya’s right. With the mask, Ladybug’s late-night-visits-turned-relationship complicates things, especially within Marinette’s friendship. How could she face Adrien, as Marinette, in a normal situation?
“Fuck,” Alya murmurs, thumping her fist on the desktop. It’s enough to make Marinette jump, and Alya sends her friend an apologetic glance.
“What is it?”
“Now you really aren’t going to be able to have a normal conversation with the boy.” Alya runs her hands through her hair, obviously frustrated. “God, now Saturday study sessions are going to be even worse.”
There’s something muttered but Alya barely catches it.
“What did you say?”
“Especially now that I know what it’s like to kiss him!” Marinette blurts, cheeks tinged pink because now she knows that Alya has to know.
Alya takes a deep breath, and Marinette mentally prepares herself for the incoming onslaught.
“I’m coming back to this conversation in a second,” Alya says, waving her hand around. “But first you have to tell me what it’s like to make out with a model.”
“Oh my God, it’s amazing,” Marinette gushes. She’s so glad to have a friend like Alya, who is willing to talk about kissing boys and secret identities. “He just loses it like, and it’s me, it’s all me! I can make Adrien Agreste a complete mess and it’s totally worth it.”
Alya winks, feeling a surge of pride for her best friend. “That’s my girl.”
And then they’re giggling, forgetting the tense conversation they both know they eventually will have to come back to. But their laughter dies down and Marinette moves to sit on the desk. It’s easier to have hard conversations with Alya when they were face-to-face, and it was hard for Marinette to look her best friend in the eye from across the room.
She swings her feet under her, and breathes deeply before she begins. “I know you’re worried, and I get it. It’s what best friends do.”
“Exactly what best friends do. I don’t want you to be hurt.” Alya reaches up to pat her best friend’s shoulder.
“But,” Marinette begins, “he makes me happy. Really happy. And I can already tell that he’s not as closed off as he used to be, especially with us. Not that Adrien kept himself away from people, but he’s opening up, you know? I think.. I think he’s happy too. And I don’t want to ruin that for either of us.
“And the mask just gives me a burst of confidence. It’s like I get to be anonymous and still do all of the things I’d want to do. Like, the sticky notes! I really was planning on carrying them out as Marinette but Adrien and Ladybug had already been hanging out secretly for weeks and I chickened out--you know that story. I couldn’t practically scream je t’aime as Ladybug and then show up a week later as Marinette like guess who! because that’s not only not fair to Adrien, but I’d be revealing myself and I can’t do that.”
Plus I don’t think you guys are even ready for something with that much emotional intensity yet.”
“Exactly.”
To Alya, Marinette’s reasoning does make logical sense, but she still doesn’t want her best friend hurt because she doesn’t deserve that.
“I just wish that you could pursue him as Marinette, you know?” Alya crosses her arms over her chest. Why did everything have to be so damn hard for her poor friend? “It would be one-hundred-percent less complicated.”
“It would be one-hundred-percent less complicated if I stopped tripping over my words like a klutz,” Marinette snorts. “But I guess things happen differently than they’re supposed to.”
Alya shrugs, not really wanting to accept it. She wants the best for her best friend, and it sucks that things aren’t falling the way they were supposed to. “I guess.”
For a while, they sit in silence, both wondering what will happen next for the blond-haired green-eyed boy and a red-and-black spotted superhero.
“You know, if he does hurt you, I’ll kick his ass.”
Marinette clutches her stomach as she laughs. “Adrien Agreste, hurting people?” She wheezes. “The worst part is, I can imagine you kicking him all the way to Italy.”
“And I’d do it a million times over if he breaks your heart. He won’t even know it’s coming.”
Again, their laughter fills Marinette’s room. Both girls wipe the tears from their eyes, and Alya leans back against the chair as she spins around a couple more times.
“I’m glad your happy, girl,” she smiles up at her best friend. “That’s important.”