Out of the corner of her eye, Marinette saw something black. She turned her head to look at it and let out a small gasp at the sight.

An akuma.

"What?" Adrien asked, noticing the fear in her eyes. He turned and jumped.

Marinette quickly got up and ran from under the stairs, grabbing Adrien's hand and pulling him with her.

~ s q u i g g l e s q u i g g l e ~

"Get closer akuma!" Hawkmoth ordered. He didn't exactly know why, but he needed this victim. He got a feeling that this one would be powerful than all the rest. That this victim could actually get Chat Noir and Ladybug's Miraculous.

~ s q u i g g l e s q u i g g l e s q u i g g l e ~

Marinette watched as the akuma got closer and closer. "Uh..." she started, panicking.

"What do we do?" Adrien asked.

"Well, it doesn't want you, it wants me, so I run... I think." Marinette tried.

"No, that's not gonna work! It can chase a moving car!" Adrien replied, remembering what happened to Riposte. He quickly stood in front of Marinette, even though he was obviously stressed.

"Alright, um..." Marinette thought. Marinette looked around and spotted a rock on the ground. Her eyes lit up, an idea quickly forming in her head. She picked up the stone.

"Marinette, this isn't the time for rock collecting!" Your Chat Noir is showing, my dude. Adrien said, his voice sounding stressed and panicked.

Marinette threw the rock at the akuma, the object dropping to the ground. She watched as the akuma was consumed by the rock, black fog with hints of lavender surrounding it. Once the strange-looking mist vanished, she was relieved to see nothing but a black rock with bright lavender lines on it.

~ s q u i g g l e s q u i g g l e s q u i g g l e s q u i g g l e ~

"Are you kidding me?! What am I going to do with a rock?!" Hawkmoth shouted, banging his staff on the ground in annoyance. The white butterflies around him flew away from the man.

~ s q u i g g l e s q u i g g l e s q u i g g l e s q u i g g l e s q u i g g l e ~

Marinette grabbed a pastel pink handkerchief out of her purse, careful not to show Adrien Tikki, and used it to pick up the akumatized rock. Adrien stared at her in confusion.

The girl looked at him. "What? Would you want to touch an akumatized object?" Marinette asked, narrowing her eyes when she said 'you'.

Marinette looked around, pretending to think about where she should put the rock. She walked up to a nearby trashcan, the same color as the stairs she and Adrien were just under, and pretending to throw the rock away. She instead squeezed the wrapped object tighter in her hand to make it look like she wasn't holding anything, before slipping the rock, still wrapped in the handkerchief, into her back pocket so she could purify it later.

"Marinette... the akuma was after you." Adrien realized. "Akumas only target people who are upset. Is something wrong?"

Marinette hated the fact that Adrien was concerned. "I bet you can answer that question on your own. You said yourself, just now, that akumas only target those who are feeling negative emotions. So, of course, something is wrong!" Marinette ranted, an angry look on her face.

Adrien's eyes widened, slightly shocked at Marinette's yelling. "Eheh, yeah, I guess that was a stupid question." he said, putting a hand on the back of his head, his cheeks tinted a light shade of pink, out of embarrassment. "Um, would you like to talk about it?"

Marinette looked at Adrien, an annoyed and slightly shocked look on her face. "Take a wild guess." she finally replied, her fists clenched.

"Uh, no?"

"No."

"A-alright, sorry for asking then." he replied, slightly uncomfortable now.

Marinette paused, in case Adrien wanted to say anything else. "Well, see you later." Marinette finally said, grabbing her stuff and running off.

"Marinette, wait!" Adrien yelled, but Marinette ignored him, and he could tell she was.

Plagg flew out of Adrien's shirt pocket. "What was that about?" The kwami asked. Even he was confused.

Actually, Adrien wasn't surprised. No one is.

"I don't know, Plagg." Adrien sighed.

"Oh... well, let's go home! I want my Camembert." Plagg said, carelessly. Adrien rolled his eyes at the creature and shoved him into his shirt pocket. "Hey!" Plagg cried.

"Be quiet, Plagg. Not only do I have to think but I have to get your cheese." Adrien scolded him.

"Okay, okay, jeez," Plagg said and muttered something under his breath, something about Adrien being ungrateful of a beautiful gooey masterpiece given as a gift from the gods.

Adrien rushed out of the school and raced into the car that was waiting for him.

What happened to Marinette? I didn't do anything but she was definitely mad at me. Maybe I did do something.

Wait, what if she heard me say we're just friends?

Wait, that doesn't matter. She can't be mad at me about that. She knows we're just friends. Doesn't she want us to be just friends? Yes, she does. Wait, but what if she has a crush on me?! No, she couldn't. Why would she be interested in someone like me? I don't know anything as she does. I'm not as talented as her. Although I am Chat Noir. And who wouldn't want Chat Noir? Besides Ladybug. Wait, but Marinette doesn't know I'm Chat Noir. Does she? No, she couldn't. But what if she does? Marinette wouldn't be interested in someone like me though. She's talented, nice, funny, confident, has great fashion designs, and is great at video games. All I know how to do is play the piano, make cat puns, and, according to Alya, look pretty.

Oh, confused little boy.

Adrien's mind was racing. Then, he hit the question he dreaded the most.

Does Marinette still like me?

Adrien didn't know how he would react if Marinette popped up in front of him and said no. She had been his second nonforced friend, just as important as his first.

Once Adrien reached his house he rushed inside and ran to his room. He quickly gave Plagg his Camembert and flopped on to his bed. He listened to Plagg munch on his Camembert and mutter about it.

"Mmm... delicious, smelly, yummy, gooey Camembert. My precious Camembert. Camembert, you look lovely today. Not that you ever don't look lovely. Mmm..." Plagg complimented his Camembert.

Sometimes Adrien wondered if Plagg was still sane.

"Wait..." Adrien said, an idea sprouting. "I'm Chat Noir."

"Yeah, kid. You're Chat Noir. If you weren't Chat Noir then I wouldn't be enjoying my lovely, precious Camembert." Plagg said.

"Stop flirting with your Camembert and listen. I'm Chat Noir. I can turn into Chat Noir and visit Marinette tonight and see what's wrong!" Adrien said, eyes lighting up.

"Sure, do that. But don't do it in the daytime. Not only will you draw attention but it's not as..." Plagg looked at Adrien and wiggled his eyebrows. "romantic."

"We're just friends Plagg." Adrien insisted.

"Then why are you going out of your way to see what's up with a random girl?" Plagg asked.

Adrien's cheeks turned into the lightest shade of pink. "I love Ladybug, not Marinette. If Ladybug was another girl and not whoever she is right now, then maybe, just maybe, I would like Marinette. And she's not a random girl, Plagg. She's my friend." Adrien defended himself.

Adrien saw Plagg squinting at him, "So your cheeks are just pink 'cause it's hot even though it's, like, 68 degrees out?" said the kwami nonchalantly, his mouth filled with cheese. He snickered at the sight of Adrien quickly putting his hands against his cheeks. Plagg sighed. "Love, just like my love for Camembert."

Adrien rolled his eyes. But he could hardly wait for tonight.

~ s q u i g g l e s q u i g g l e s q u i g g l e s q u i g g l e s q u i g g l e s q u i g g l e ~

Marinette rushed home. Once she reached the Bakery she didn't even bother to say hi to her parents before she ran upstairs and flopped on to her bed.

Tikki clicked Marinette's purse open and flew out.

"Tikki, what am I going to do?" Marinette asked.

"Maybe you could apologize to him?" Tikki suggested, deciding that that moment would be a bad time to bring up the fact that Ladybug was almost akumatized. "Maybe he wouldn't have said that if he knew how you felt."

"But Tikki, what if he likes another girl? I probably don't even have a shot with him. I never did!" Marinette reasoned.

"Marinette, even if he does like another girl, then either he doesn't know everything about you, or he's missing out on a lot. You don't need him. You have me, Alya, Nino, Chat Noir, your parents..." Tikki held Marinette's pinky with her tiny hand. "And Ladybug."

Marinette looked up at the little creature. "You're right Tikki." The girl looked up at the night sky through her trapdoor. "You are absolutely right."

The kwami smiled at the girl and looked at her hopeful eyes.

EDITED