DAAYYUUUUUUUMMMM ^

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[Narrator's POV]

Alya and Marinette are sitting on a bench in the school courtyard eating their lunch. Marinette stares at Adrien as she eats. She takes a slow bite of her sandwich without removing her eyes from Adrien even once.

"Why didn't we just eat lunch with them?" Asks Alya.

"Because we need to talk strategy." Marinette answers aggressively. "Now that I've grown closer to Adrien I realise there is definitely something there, I just need to wean it out of him!"

"You're scary when you're determined." Alya says, sipping on her juice box.

Marinette taps her foot restlessly as she thinks. "How can I get him to forget about Ladybug and concentrate on me?"

"Guys aren't the smartest when it comes to two things—emotions and girls. Adrien might not be aware of how he truly feels because he is used to having you around all the time. He doesn't know how much he wants you because he's never lost you." Alya explains. "So you gotta use reverse psychology on him. Make him think that you have better things to do than wait around for him."

"What?" Says Marinette.

"Make him jealous, girl!" Alya replies. "If he sees you hanging with other guys he'll realise how desirable you are."

"I'm not sure..." Marinette says timidly. "Isn't that kind of manipulative?"

"Don't you remember how Adrien reacted when he saw you with that Louis guy at the beach?" Alya prompts. "That one conversation with another man won you a beach photoshoot with Adrien."

Marinette melts away into her memories of shirtless Adrien at the beach. "Yeah...okay...I'll give it a shot." She agrees dreamily.

The school bell rings, signalling the end of lunch.

"We've got study hall in the library; it'll be the perfect opportunity for some boy hunting." Alya says.

She and Marinette make their way up to the library.

Alya keeps her arm around Marinette as they walk, whispering her advice. "Alright. When you see Adrien act aloof."

"Aloof?" Marinette repeats.

"You know, distance yourself but not in a mean way more in an 'I'm too cool for you' way. Show more interest in other people." Alya elaborates.

"Right. Aloof." Marinette says, trying to hype herself up.

She and Alya arrive at the library and scope the environment.

"Okay. You can't hang with anyone in our class because we all know each other and talk to one another every day. It's not enough to make Adrien jealous because he won't think anything by it. You need to talk to someone that he isn't familiar with." Alya says.

Marinette takes a look around the library. "But there's no one here we don't know."

"Hmm." Alya puts her hand on her chin and squints her eyes as she searches for a target. "What about that guy? He's not in our class."

Marinette follows Alya's gaze to see a brunette boy looking through a nearby bookshelf. "You're right. I don't think I've ever seen him before actually."

"Well go talk to him then, Adrien's coming!" Alya says, shoving Marinette towards him.

"Wah!" Marinette jerks forward, trips over her own foot and smacks into the brunette boy.

"Woah! You okay there?" He asks kindly.

"Ouch...sorry." Marinette whimpers as she rubs her forehead. She lifts her head and to meet a pair of familiar dark green eyes. "L-Louis?"

"Marinette! What are you doing here?" Louis questions in surprise.

"Uh, I go to school here." Marinette answers. "What about you?"

"I go to school here." Louis responds.

"What, really? How come I've never seen you before?" Asks Marinette.

"Oh, I'm new. Not just at the school, I'm new to Paris too. My family just moved here. We spent the whole summer holidays travelling Paris, that's why I was at that beach when we met." Louis explains.

"Woah that's so cool! Talk about coincidences." Marinette says.

[Adrien's POV]

Nino and I walk into the library to hear an outbreak of laughter interrupting the usual silence. I look over to see Marinette talking to some brown haired guy I've never seen before. They look pretty in depth with their conversation, which is weird. Does Marinette know this guy? Come to think of it, he does look familiar. Maybe I've seen him around school.

"Hey, who's that guy talking to Marinette?" I ask Nino.

Nino looks over. "Weird. Isn't he that Louis dude we met at the beach?"

Alya, who was standing nearby, tunes into our conversation. "Woah, I can't believe I didn't see that. I wonder what he's doing here."

My mind races. Has he come all the way here just to see Marinette? What's he doing in the school? Are they close now?

Before I know it, my body has begun moving forward on its own. Alya and Nino exchange nervous looks before following after me. They probably think I'm going to make a fool out of myself like I did on the beach the first time.

"We should introduce ourselves. We're Marinette's closest friends so if she's making friends with Louis now then she should include us." I tell them, a slight tone of anger in my voice.

Woah. I didn't mean to sound so petty but it's true that this Louis guy is imposing on our group. I mean, we all went to the beach to spend some quality time together over the holidays and he just interrupted it by trying to take advantage of Marinette. Meanwhile, I've been slowly building my friendship with Marinette but this guy just waltzes in like he's her best friend?

Alya, Nino and I finally reach Marinette and Louis.

"Oh hey guys!" Marinette says happily. "Look who I just ran into—Louis! What a coincidence, right? His family moved to Paris so he'll be going to school here."

"Hello again." Louis greets.

Alya and Nino both wave in response but I don't even bother to look him in the eye. I'm not here for him, I'm here for my actual friend.

"Marinette, let's work on our research project this lesson." I propose with a charming smile.

Marinette's eyes flicker to Louis and then back to me. "I suppose I should do some work..."

"Don't worry, we can catch up later." Louis says to her. "Wonna hang out after school today? You could show me around the city."

"A personal tour from Paris' most passionate admirer," Marinette replies. "I would be happy to!"

"Great, I'll see you then." Louis says. He gives Marinette a shy wave before walking away.

I roll my eyes. This guy, trying to use the city of love to pick up innocent chicks.

"We'll go save us a table, you guys gather some books." Alya says before dragging Marinette away.

"You okay dude?" Nino asks.

"What? Why wouldn't I be okay?" I reply.

"Well...I just think you're being a bit hard on Louis. He's new to the school, he probably hasn't met any friends yet and you're not exactly giving him a warm welcome." Nino says.

"Look. I don't trust the dude." I say. "Marinette doesn't understand that she was a very pretty girl in a very sexy bikini at the time they met. No guy would meet a cute beach babe and just want to be friends."

I finish my debate in a proud and intimidating way but my confidence wavers once I realise that I just admitted how sexually attractive Marinette is. I can feel my face going red but I stand up straight and persist in the argument.

"That may be true but is there anything wrong with that?" Nino questions. "You talk as though Louis is just going to take advantage of Marinette but ya know, maybe he actually would like to date her. Have you considered that maybe a nice guy like Louis would like to have a nice girl like Marinette as his committed and loving girlfriend? Or maybe you did consider that and that's why you're so fired up."

Nino's tone of voice annoys me. It's so calm and wise as if he knows everything.

"You're trying to suggest that I'm jealous again, aren't you?" I say.

"I didn't say anything. You conjured the word jealous all on your own." Nino replies.

I growl in frustration because I have no more arguments. Nino smirks, knowing that he has won.

[Marinette's POV]

"We'll go save us a table, you guys gather some books." Alya says.

She grabs my hand and pulls me off towards a secluded, corner table.

"Nice job acting aloof!" Alya holds up her hand excitedly.

"Uh..." I give Alya a weak high-five.

"What was that?" She mocks.

"Well, I don't know what you're talking about." I say with a shrug.

"I'm talking about how jealous Adrien got when you payed more attention to Louis than him." Alya says.

"What? I wasn't even trying to act aloof, I was just talking to Louis. I thought it was cool that he happened to go to our school. I-I thought we could all be friends!" I explain desperately. "Oh no! I don't like this jealousy thing. What if Adrien thinks I like Louis?"

"If you weren't trying to make Adrien jealous why did you agree to go out with Louis?" Asks Alya.

"Wha—But—I wanted to show him around since he is new here. It's a friendly thing to do!" I answer.

"Yeah, no." Alya says shortly. "We need to talk plans for this date."

"Oh, no, I—I wouldn't feel right. Now that I know it's a date it would feel as though I'm leading him on. I couldn't do that to Louis—I couldn't do that to anyone! Especially doing it just to make someone else jealous. Doesn't that seem kind of nasty to you?" I reply.

"Relax, you didn't know it was a date and that's not your fault. If you don't want to flirt with Louis to make Adrien jealous then just go with him as a friend. You're not a bad person for being nice, Marinette." Alya says gently.

I groan and slam my head down on the table. It still feels like a bad thing to do now that I know Louis wants to be more than friends, but what choice do I have? I already agreed to going. I don't want him to be sad...

"Alright, if you say so..." I sigh gloomily.

"What's wrong with Marinette?" I hear Nino's voice ask.

I lift my head up to see Nino and Adrien dumping a handful of books onto the table.

"She's just realised that her little friendly outing with Louis is actually a date." Alya giggles.

Adrien crosses his arms. "Yeah, no kidding. That guy only wants to get in your pants."

Woah. Adrien's voice is so sharp and cold.

"Well sorry if I thought that someone might actually want to be friends with me." I say, slightly hurt by his words.

"Come on. He's a guy!" Adrien laughs. "You think he would come across a naive girl on the beach and want to be friends with her?"

I hang my head sadly. What...so there's nothing else good about me besides my appearance? Is that the way Adrien sees me? He thinks I'm a naïve bimbo...If anyone else had just said what he said I would be furious. I would have stood up for myself. But...I'm just too shocked and hurt to speak.

Alya steps in, trying to calm the atmosphere. "I think we should all stop making assumptions about Louis before getting to know him. We don't know he meant this as a date and even if he did we don't know that he's a sleezeball."

"Alya's right. Let's not ruin Marinette's friendship with Louis before they even get the chance to form one." Nino says.

I stare down at the table, waiting for Adrien's input. But it looks like he has nothing else to say...