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Sabrina’s reign of terror over Chloe ended and Antibug put to rest, Marinette hoped that was the last of the akuma attacks she would see until the weekend. She had been ‘in the bathroom’ for over 45 minutes! How long were her teachers going to accept indigestion as an excuse? But Madame Mendeleiev didn’t ask her any questions, and she’d bumped shoulders with Adrien on the way back into the classroom and he smiled at her! It was a pretty lucky day.
But the next day strange looks followed her around the school. Their heads bent together, Mylene and Rose stole brief glances at Marinette every few minutes until Marinette caught them at it. At lunchtime, Marinette pardoned herself to Nathaniel on her way down the stairs; he scowled at her, turned red, and hunched over his sketchbook. And Kim made no secret of squinting at her as she passed him on the way out the door. “Tikki, is there something on my face?” Marinette asked as she walked home.
“No, you look fine! What’s going on?” Tikki floated just inside her purse.
“Everyone is looking at me funny and I don’t know why.”
“Maybe it’s because you’re looking extra cute,” Tikki proposed, beaming up at her.
Marinette laughed. “Not those kinds of looks, unfortunately! Maybe Chloe spread a rumor about me.”
“I bet Alya will know what’s happening,” Tikki pointed out. “You could ask her after lunch.”
“Good thinking! I’ll do that.”
Marinette bolted down her meal, more curious about everyone’s strange behavior than hungry, and jogged back to school with a solid ten minutes of lunch hour to spare. Alya usually stayed on the school grounds to eat with Nino, so she started for their usual spot. Before she rounded the corner to their favorite bench, Marinette could hear them talking.
“I’m telling you, Alya, there’s no way I wouldn’t know if that happened,” Nino said. Marinette could hear his smile. “He tells me everything!”
“Marinette can be pretty mysterious at times.” Alya’s tone was thoughtful. “But I’m pretty sure she would have told me too. Still, you have to admit the circumstances are pretty suspicious.”
Marinette, who had frozen at the sound of her name, felt her ears start to burn. What could they be talking about? Was Alya proposing that Marinette was Ladybug? But it sounded like Nino was talking about--
A shoulder brushed hers, and Marinette jumped, squeaking in surprise. She spun around and found herself face to face with Adrien Agreste.
“Sorry,” he said with a cute little huff of breath, putting his hand behind his head and smiling apologetically. “I keep bumping into you, it seems.”
Flustered, Marinette stammered out, “Oh! No, no, not at all! I mean, what do you mean? I mean--!”
“I bumped your shoulder yesterday, too,” he said, confident and self-assured as always. He was so smooth and considerate. Of course he remembered bumping into her yesterday. “Anyway, were you going to talk to Alya? I wanted to talk to her too.”
“Um, yes, that’s - yes.” Marinette’s equilibrium slowly restored itself. Ever since Adrien had helped interpret for her uncle, her ease talking with him had increased. She wasn’t very good at surprise encounters, though. “Wh-what did you want to talk to Alya about?”
“I’ve gotten some really strange looks today, and Chloe told me to never talk to her again until I came to my senses. I don’t think I did anything weird … I figured that if anyone knew why it would be Alya.”
“You could never do anything strange,” Marinette sighed. At Adrien’s puzzled look, she blushed. “I-I mean, I’ve also gotten some strange stares …”
“Really? Well, maybe Alya can help us both.” Adrien grinned and gave a flourish, indicating for Marinette to lead the way around the corner.
Marinette smiled at him so hard she almost squinted her eyes shut, and since she didn’t look away from him as she rounded the corner, it was no surprise she literally bumped chests with Alya. “Ah!”
Alya reached out and grasped her by the shoulders. “You’ve gotta watch where you’re going, girl!”
“Sorry, sorry!” Marinette caught her balance. Alya made an exasperated sound, and Marinette ducked her head sheepishly.
“Hi Alya, Nino,” Adrien said from behind her. “We were just coming to see you.”
“I heard,” Alya said in a dry tone. “We were only sitting ten feet away. You guys really have no idea why everyone is looking at you funny?”
Marinette examined Alya’s half-lidded eyes and slight smirk; Nino was shaking his head behind her, his laughter only suppressed by a wide grin. Finally, she looked back to Adrien, who met her gaze. His eyebrows were raised in puzzlement, and she could only give a nervous, unsure laugh herself. “No, not really,” he said.
“Oh my god,” Alya groaned, throwing up her hands. “Marinette, Adrien: you guys excused yourselves to the bathroom at the same time and came back at the same time almost a whole hour later. What do you think everyone thinks?”
“We did?” Adrien asked in surprise, glancing at Marinette.
“Uh, yeah,” Nino said.
Marinette spoke over him. “That we both got really bad stomachaches?” She hadn’t really noticed the coincidence of their similar departure and arrival times. She had just assumed that Adrien had left the classroom a second time while she was gone and came back at the same time as Marinette did. Maybe he really suffered from some kind of horrible digestive problem! How could she have not noticed? Marinette made a mental note to ask him if he had any food intolerances in case she ever got up the nerve to bring him baked goods.
She realized that Adrien was looking at her. Actually, everyone was. Marinette felt Adrien’s gaze the most. “You are totally hopeless,” Alya groaned.
“I can’t tell if you’re just playing dumb or really have no clue,” Nino mused.
Adrien cleared his throat loudly. “W-we weren’t the only ones out, though! Chloe and Sabrina were both absent, too.” His voice wavered.
Alya and Nino exchanged a look that said to Marinette, ‘We are best friends with the dumbest people on the planet’. “Um, yeah, they were both villainized?” Nino pointed out. “They were on TV and everything. Ladybug gave an interview. Don’t you watch the news?”
Marinette gave a nervous little laugh. “I knew that!” Oh god - what if the reason everyone was looking at her funny was because people thought she was Ladybug? So far nobody seemed to have seriously considered her, but if Alya suspected something shaking her off would be a horrible task.
“Oh, right,” Adrien said in a faint voice. Right - Adrien was mixed up in this too! Everyone thought it was suspicious they had left and come back together. What did they think Adrien had to do with it? Oh my god, does someone seriously suspect he’s Chat Noir? There’s no way!
“They’re never going to guess,” Alya said to Nino.
“If that doesn’t clear them, I don’t know what does,” Nino added, spreading his hands with a knowing sigh. “I knew Adrien could never keep something like that a secret from me.”
“Keep what a secret?” Adrien’s voice was strained.
“And Marinette would never have the courage,” Alya teased, grinning at Marinette.
“Courage for wh-what?” Marinette blinked.
“I just can’t believe you guys. Think about it for a second - gone, together, for an hour? Everyone thinks you two skived off to make out with each other!”
Alya laughed when Marinette turned beet red; Marinette looked at Adrien, whose face was also quite pink. He glanced at Marinette and gave a weak laugh. “Wow, really?” he said, in a voice full of an emotion Marinette couldn’t quite put her finger on.
“And Kim thought you wanted everyone to know because you weren’t exactly subtle about it, either,” Alya continued. “Like, if you wanted to be secretive about it, maybe spending less than 15 minutes out, and maybe not leaving and coming back at the exact same time? I said there was no way, but you have to admit, the evidence is against you.”
Relief that her secret identity wasn’t at risk warred with terror and delight at the thought of making out with Adrien Agreste and embarrassment at the awful rumor that had been started. “W-well, there’s definitely no way! I mean -” she glanced at Adrien, who returned her gaze with a startled expression. “I mean, Adrien is -” Amazing! Perfect! The kindest, sweetest guy I know! “--He’d never--”
“We w-would never be that obvious about it,” Adrien interrupted her stammers, looking earnestly at Alya and Nino. “We would definitely be more subtle. Right, Marinette?”
He smiled at her. Marinette didn’t cry with relief at his smooth rescue, but she thought she might later, when her heart stopped hammering in her throat. “Yeah,” she said in a soft, dreamy voice. “I mean, yes! A-and besides, there’s no way we’d keep that kind of thing from you guys.”
“I know! You’re no good at lying.” Alya grinned at Marinette. “We’ll figure out how to destroy stupid rumors later. Right now we’d better get to class.” Coming alongside her friend, Alya put her arm around Marinette’s shoulders. At the friendly, calming touch, Marinette’s nerves began to settle.
As they turned back around the corner, Marinette glanced over her shoulder to Nino and Adrien. “Besides,” Adrien was saying to Nino, “I’d want to be officially dating before we made out. With anyone, I mean,” he clarified hastily.
“You’re a traditionalist that way,” Nino agreed. He caught Marinette looking their way and winked. Marinette whipped her head around to face front again.
Alya leaned her head towards Marinette until their temples were touching. “You know, he didn’t say he would never make out with you,” she pointed out. “Don’t let your dreams die!”
Marinette thought of Adrien saying We would definitely be more subtle, her cheeks glowing. “I won’t,” she promised, and smiled.