Don't ask me why I'm starting ANOTHER Nathanette piece. I have to finish Just Another Day, plus I'm only on the second prompt out of the eleven I've received (not that I'm complaining, please send more in!)

In my defense this started out as a prompt, but then I blinked and it suddenly turned into its own thing. Personally I'm not complaining, I'm just happy to be out of my 4 year writers block. It was awful…

Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous: The Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir.

Story Notes: I'm going by the Korean airing (so if you're reading this in the future after the English Dub airs, this might be confusing), and in that sequence Rodger Cop aired before The Evillustrator (or Draw Then Erase You). So this prompt takes place after Rodger Cop. As much as I love Nathanael's episode, it wouldn't fit in this fic…so after Roger Cop by Korean airing, this fic is slightly AU. Look at the pairing and guess why. But there's a good chance the Evillustrator will make an appearance in this fic... ;)

Marinette Dupain-Cheng liked to think of herself as a friendly, outgoing young lady. True she overthought every single detail and had an imagination that could create wild horrific fantasies of everything that could go wrong, plus having a bad habit of saying before thinking. That last one had happened a few too many times in the past few weeks.

The best example was when about a week and a half ago during parents' day, Chloe had lost her every expensive bracelet. As expected the queen bee made quite the commotion about it. To the point of wanting Marinette arrested with no substantial evidence!

Had she truly been a normal girl she would have gladly opened her purse to prove the blonde wrong. Unfortunately (and fortunately), she wasn't your typical college student. She was the Miraculous Ladybug! Defender of Paris! The Lady of Luck!

So of course she couldn't show off her bag where Tikki safely hid.

In hindsight, she could have easily slipped behind her father, open her bag for a second for Tikki to quickly hide in her jacket pocket, then prove her innocence.

Then again there were several things that, looking back on the event, she wished she did differently.

For example, she wished that she hadn't tried to frame poor Nathanael.

There was no way she was going to apologize to Sabrina. It was childish but despite her having a seemingly kind heart, the fact that Sabrina could switch on the dime with Chloe gave the baker's daughter a bad feeling in her gut. Nathanael was a different story. He stuttered and blushed under her, and possibly others, accusing eyes, even giving a small plea for them to not go through his bag- something Marinette could sympathize with as a fellow artist.

After a few days had gone by and Marinette had decided to revisit that day, it hit her that she didn't know the shy boy…well…at all.

In fact, with the exception of Sabrina and Chloe, he was the only classmate she didn't invite to her birthday party. She was so wrapped up with the idea of Adrien giving her a romantic kiss as his gift (in the end there was a last minute photo shoot so he couldn't come), and making sure all of her friends were having fun, it never occurred to her that Nathanael was the only classmate she didn't think of as friend. Of course since the bracelet incident she found herself thinking about him more and more.

The birthday memory was the last straw. As Marinette marched to school, proud that she remembered to set two alarms instead of one, she set herself a new goal:

Become Nathanael's friend.

This had proven to be more…difficult than she had originally thought.

Whenever she had free time to go talk to him, she would get distracted by Alya or by Adrien. In fact at the end of every opportunity, her thought process followed as, 'Ahh Adrien…so handsome…he walks with such confidence. He looks as if he stepped out of an old renaissance painting-ohmygoshNathanael!'

In the middle of their last lesson of the day, their teacher had to step out for a minute giving them extra "work" time. Which always meant that everyone pushed their books aside and went about their own business.

This was when Marinette groaned, allowing her head to thump against her stretched out arms on her shared desk.

"Hey, what's up?" Her friends' voice broke her silent grumbling. "You've been acting weird all day."

"I thought weird was my norm." she dully joke.

"Well then a different kind of weird. Not swooning over Adrien normal." The last part was whispered close to her ear.

Marinette sat up, then casting a quick glance behind her to see if the boy on her mind was watching them. Even though he was two rows back, she was paranoid that he might have super hearing. But said boy was busy drawing something in his sketchbook.

Returning her attention back to Alya, Marinette kept her voice low.

"It's just…well…ever since the whole robot cop incident…I feel bad that I tried to put the blame on Nathanael."

Alya raised a fine eyebrow, but still gave a small shrug and a nod of her head.

"I think you had the right; Chloe was purposely singling you out. But I understand."

"But that's just it; my dad said I was acting just like Chloe. And I was!" she quickly added when Alya opened her mouth to jump to her defense. "I ended up going after someone who didn't deserve it. The point is I want to apologize to him, maybe even befriend him. He's the only classmate I'm not friends with."

The journalist gave a low chuckle, then pushed up her glasses. "You don't have to be friends with everyone; it's not like some requirement."

Marinette couldn't stop her eyes from rolling. "Okay good point. But I've been thinking about him. I mean he's up there all by himself, don't you think he gets lonely?"

The semi-red head pulled back slightly with a blink. "He's not…he's friends with Juleka and Rose."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah. Wallflowers grow together I guess." The little joke caused the blue eyed girl's jaw to drop slightly and letting out a small giggle, while Alya pushed her lips together in an odd smile, fully aware of how lame her joke was.

"Mean."

"I'm sorry. I have no regrets."

"Okay so…I don't have to be his friend. B-but I want to be! What's bad about having another friend?"

"Maybe he doesn't want another friend. He seems content by himself and with the girls." Alya added. "He seems to like to keep to himself. Honestly the only reason I know those three are friends is because Rose mentioned it when I asked her about the upcoming book project."

'Oh crap.' "Arg! I forgot about that. At least it's not due for a long while. Have you found yourself a partner?" Normally she and Alya would have claimed each other as partners, but their teacher made it a requirement that you had to work with someone new. And if Marinette wasn't quick, she'd find herself partnered with Chloe…

"Yup, Rose."

"Oh."

Before they could continue, their teacher returned. Marinette tried to busy her thoughts with the notes on the blackboard. Class would be letting out soon, and if she didn't get to him today, she'd have to wait till tomorrow. Not that it wasn't the worst thing, she just wanted to get it over with. Okay "over with" wasn't the right phrase, but the guilt in her stomach was growing every minute she didn't say something to the shy boy.

Her buzzing phone interrupted her thoughts. Slyly taking a peek, she swiped open her phone.

From: Alya
[Did you stop and think about how you were going to start a conversation? You can't just walk up and say hey sorry for accusing you of robbery!]

Huh. That didn't actually occur to the designer. She sent her friend an innocent look.

Sent: Marinette
[Why not? Isn't it better to get straight to the point?]

From: Alya
[Nath doesn't seem like the type to hold a grudge. If anything, you'll probably embarrass him by bringing it back up.]

She had to bite back a groan. How was she going to confront him?

XXX

From: Juleka
[Do iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!]

Sent: Nathanael
[Stop it.]

From: Rose
[You two are going to get us caught!]

One of the perks of being in the back row was being able to get away with almost anything. Well, sometimes. It depended on the class layout and the teacher.

But with excessive amount of buzzing his phone was giving off from his bickering with Jule, plus their phones as well, there was a good chance most people could hear it. Judging by the way Max and Kim were glancing back, they were starting to get annoyed. Ivan either didn't care, or couldn't hear them. Then again he only had Nathanael behind him. Kim and Max two buzzing phones to deal with.

From: Juleka
[We had lunch here for him and we worked so hard! The least he can do is say hi.]
[Better yet he could ASK HER.]

Sent: Nathanael
[I'm sorry I begged you to stay but I can't do it. Do you see the way she was gawks at Adrien? She's probably already asked.]

From: Juleka
[I know the look well, because it's the same type of look you give her every SINGLE DAY SO JUST ASK HER TO DO THE PROJECT ALREADY]

It amazed him sometimes how sweet and quiet his friend could appear to most people. Hand her a phone, and her true spunk is released. Too bad he was the target for her constant pestering.

Sent: Nathanael
[Please stop]

From past experiences the artist had learned not to think about his favorite muse while in school. That didn't mean it worked, the lovely designer invaded his thoughts more than he'd like to admit. Simply hearing her name or seeing her made him get lost in his daydreams. Today especially, he couldn't help but notice she looked a little distressed. He was already imagining Marinette coming to him with all her problems, and in the end he would wrap his arm around her to pull in close while whispering comforting words into her ear. He was only mildly disappointed that class quickly came to a close only because it interrupted his thoughts.

He stood to gather his things, but before he could grab his notebook, both Rose and Juleka were standing beside him. No words were spoken. Just Juleka pointing to him, making a walking motion with her index and middle finger, pointing to Marinette, flapping her four fingers and thumb together in a talking motion. With a swipe of the same hand, she silently passed the message over to Rose.

And all did was give a goofy grin, point one index finger towards him and the other towards Marinette, then pushing the tips of them together.

Oh great.

He could already feel the blush creeping up the back of his neck.

He opened his mouth to protest, but seeing their encouraging, albeit mischievous, smiles turned his words into a sigh. He could feel his heart in his head. He sucked in a deep breath-

"Hey Nathanael?"

-and then he choked on it.

Marinette stood a step down from him, looking at him with a worried expression.

Okay he didn't expect her to come up to him. And seeing the quickly retreating figures of his friends told him that he was on his own. Great, just great.

He slouched down, continuing to pack up his belongings. It helped his nerves if he didn't look at her, but it didn't stop the flush that was creeping around his neck already to his ears.

"What can I help you with?" He mumbled.

"Pardon?"

"I said, what can I help you with?" A little louder, but not much.

"Sorry?"

Good job dude. "I said-" he glanced up.

Marinette was only a couple of inches away giving him one of her sweet smiles.

So of course he got spooked by their sudden closeness and jumped back about a foot. But this only lead to her looking apologetic and nervous, returning to her original spot one step down.

"I'm sorry! I just couldn't hear you." She rubbed the back of her neck, her smile turning sheepish.

'Get it together!' mentally scolding himself as he finished packing, swinging his bag across his chest. She was right here, why couldn't he ask her? 'Just say, "Marinette, would you like to-'

"Would you like to be my partner for the book project?" The look she gave him: hopeful, sincerity, confident, friendly…was this look really directed towards him?

It took a few moments of him gazing at the beautiful girl until her words clicked in his head. It felt as if gravity no longer applied to him, letting him float away. Why was she asking him? Maybe she's starting to notice him? But she never shown interest in him before? Didn't she like Adrien? Wasn't this one of his greatest wishes come true? Then why the hell was he questioning it?

But still no words came out despite having opened his mouth, although to Marinette it came off more as a jaw drop. He wanted to say yes. His mind was yelling at him to say yes. But it was the sheer oddity that she asked him out that couldn't wrap itself around his mind, leaving him speechless.

"If not, it's okay to decline…" her posture went from straight and cheerful to slightly slouched with a faltering smile. She did a small hand motion towards him, "I just thought if-"

His voice resurfaced. "No, wait!"

'Why does she have to look cute even when startled?' It wasn't one of the reactions he wished to get out of her, but her expression made his pulse quicken either way. Then she titled her head. 'Crap.' She was probably wondering why his entire face suddenly turned red; he felt it spread quickly over his cheeks, nose, chin, even crawling up to his forehead, maybe his chin even.

"Eh-hem, w-what I m-mean is...umm-well, it would-d actually b-be nice...unless y-you want someone else-" a mess. He was a mess. Luckily Marinette saved him from more humiliation with a wave of her arms.

"Oh, no! Well-no! Since we have to work with new people, and you seem very nice..." now it was her turn to blush. And ohhhh...how it made his heart throb. It didn't cover the slight ache when he noticed her glance slightly behind her mid-sentence as Adrien walked out. And that's where the blush came from.

But why linger on these thoughts? She asked him...and that was enough to content him with. He wasn't sure for how much longer though...

"S-so partners?" Nathanael held out his hand. Marinette glanced at it, before stepping back up, looking him straight in the eye. She grabbed it firmly.

"Partners."

I was hoping to get a few more prompts out before I worked on a new original fic, but hey, things work out in weird ways.

If you wish to send me a prompt, don't be shy! Message me on my fanfiction account or on tumblr! Both accounts are the same name. I don't have anon on, but I don't post any conversations on tumblr if that helps!

Remember, reviews give me life!

~bleedingnightingale