After stealthily returning Adrien's phone by slipping it into his bag, Marinette is stress free- that is until Alya invites herself along with Marinette to Adrien's and Nino's movie hangout a minute later. Ecstatic to see a movie with her sweet Adrien, but also nervously terrified, Marinette attempts to remain cool, calm, and collected. Much easier said than done, considering the night doesn't go exactly as planned. . .

This story proceeds the episode Copycat. Don't be fooled, a few misunderstandings for comedic effect, but ultimately Marinette x Adrien.

Chapter I.

"Alya, I have no idea what to wear!" Marinette groaned into her webcam while pacing back and forth, her disoriented room a strong reflection of her thoughts. Half of her wardrobe had been dispersed around her floor and draped over her bed, desk, and every other piece of furniture she owned. She had already tried on a total of four different outfits, but none were perfect enough for the movie hangout with Adrien—and Alya and Nino, but Marinette was only focused on her blonde-haired, green-eyed classmate.

Alya shook her head at the computer screen, marking the seventh time during their video conversation, "I told you, just go with the first one." She was referring to a cream off-shoulder long-sleeve top with plain blue jeans and black flats. All tied together with splash of colour from a light-pink barret. Alya knew that her friend was being overly dramatic, something she had gotten used to at this point, but she was also aware of how important the hangout was to Marinette, so had stayed online since she received a frantic video call thirty minutes prior.

Marinette let out a heavy sigh and slumped onto her bed. She looked at the clothes scattered around her room and became self-conscious over her lack of progression. Resting her head on her knees which were pulled tightly against her chest, she looked at her laptop on her desk across the room and gave Alya a distant gaze, "I don't know Alya. Maybe this is a sign that I just shouldn't go. I already see it happening: getting tongue-tied, spilling soda, tripping in the dark theatre . . ." With worst-case scenarios running through her mind, she sprawled onto her bed from her fetal position, and buried her face into her pillow, attempting to silence her imagination.

"Girl, this is your chance to go to the movies with Adrien, Adrien! If you think I'm just gonna let you walk away from this opportunity, you're insane." She knew that Marinette had amazing qualities and anyone would be lucky to be her friend, let alone be the center of her thoughts. She was sincere, generous, clever, striking, and more. Yes, she was very clumsy, but it kept her humorous and light hearted. But somewhere along her list of traits, Marinette was also very shy and self-conscious, which confused Alya, because she really did not have any reason to be. Either way, she would always be there to push Marinette outside of her comfort zone, and today there was definitely going to be plenty of pushing.

Marinette lifted her head from under her pillow, "But Alya, I can't even choose something to wear, how will I even get through the entire night?"

Now it was Alya's turn to sigh, "Don't worry, I'll be right next to you, I'll make sure that you don't mess up." She paused for a brief moment, "Give me one second, I'll be right back." Marinette was too distracted to see the smirk on Alya's face, and continued to lay on her bed in defeat.

. . .

No more than ten minutes later, Marinette heard the bell to her family's bakery ring, and a familiar voice she could vaguely make out saying, "Don't worry Mr. and Ms. Dupain-Cheng, I'll just head up". Seconds after, Alya swung open the door to Marinette's room where she witnessed her friend in the same slumped position as when she had disconnected the video call. Marinette, looked up from her sprawled position to see her friend swinging a brown paper shopping bag in front of her face.

Marinette followed the bag with her eyes, "What do you have in there?"

Alya excitedly pulled Marinette into a sitting position and jumped onto the bed next to her while flipping the bag upside down to reveal its content. A sleeveless orange sundress landed on Marinette's lap and she picked it up with momentary confusion. It had pockets on the sides and buttons along the front, stopping right at the snitched waistline. Its bottom half flowed and landed right above the knee "It's a dress. Wear it!"

Marinette's eyes became wide and she shook her head vigorously, "No, Alya, you just bought it, you haven't even worn it yourself yet." She protested while recalling the hour-long shopping trip, which she had tagged along, to help Alya find the perfect summer ensemble.

Alya simply responded by ripping the price tag off of the seam and letting out a small chuckle, "And knowing your track record, it will probably have soda and popcorn spilt on it by the end of the night." Marinette was both surprised and touched by her friend's gesture. "Consider it a sacrificial offering for the betterment of humanity" Alya joked with a wink.

Marinette beamed, "Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is perfect, I promise I'll take care of it. You're the best Alya!" She let out a squeal as she leaned towards her friend to embrace her in a tight hug. She stood up enthusiastically, as if the dress gave her an electric charge, and held it against her body. Alya watched as she twirled around with the dress and stared at herself in the mirror while grinning widely at her reflection. She looked at her ecstatic friend while shaking her head for the eight time that hour, but unlike the previous seven, it was out of humor in seeing her best friend so excited for a mere movie hangout.

"Dude, what are you planning to wear?" Nino asked Adrien over the phone. It was 6:40 PM and the group of friends agreed to meet at the movie theatre in twenty minutes.

"Nothing special" Adrien replied distractedly while reading through the most recent Ladyblog post on his (unnecessarily) large computer monitor, "just what I wore to school today. Why?"

"What you wore to school?" Nino repeated sounding insulted.

His tone snapped Adrien out of his distracted state as he spun around in his computer chair and stood up. "Yeah, why is something wrong with that?" he asked his friend nervously while making his way to his mirror. Despite being one of the most well-known teen models in Paris, Adrien was very insecure. Not in his appearance, but in his behaviour. After being homeschooled for years, based on his father's command, Adrien had become mildly self-conscious in certain social situations. Having countless extra-curricular activities did not help him build many friendships either, but he was glad to at least be enrolled in a school with people his age. He looked over his choice of clothing in the mirror while trying to find flaws in his outfit.

"Adrien, you're great and all, but sometimes you can be so clueless." Nino was not one to seem very perceptive. In fact, he was so laid back that some people even thought he was more oblivious than not. But he was actually fairly aware of his surroundings. Nino was always one to take note of the small details around him, much more than his friend Adrien at least. He was not completely sure about his assumptions at first, but the movie plans sealed it—he noticed how Alya was always trying to catch Adrien's attention. How she was constantly calling him over to speak to her and Marinette. Based on these observations, tied together with Alya practically begging to join the movie hangout, he concluded that she had it bad for Adrien. As fellow classmate and close friend of both parties, he took it upon himself to get the two (potential) lovebirds together given the chance. And boy, was this movie hangout a great chance! "Adrien, Adrien," Nino shook his head in dissatisfaction, "we are going to the movies with two ladies, please try to look presentable."

Adrien pulled his cellphone inches from his face and gave it a confused look before placing it back onto his ear, "It's just Alya and Marinette."

"Man, just trust me on this one. I'll make sure this movie hangout runs smoothly."

"What are you talking—" before Adrien could question his friend's mischievous tone further, the line had already disconnected. He sighed at Nino's bluntness and turned to the mirror to look over his choice of clothing. "Nino's crazy." He spoke quietly to himself while making his way to his bedroom door. But before he could even take a step out of his room, his small magical kwami hovered towards him while tossing a piece of camembert into his mouth.

"So, are you excited for your double date?" Plagg questioned teasingly. A rascally smile spread widely across his face.

"It's not a double date Plagg." Adrien retaliated, maybe a little bit too defensively.

Plagg hovered right up to Adrien's face "Okayyy, whatever you say."

The teenage boy responded by furrowing his brows and walking out of his room with clear annoyance. He descended down the stairs towards the main foyer, but before he could reach the bottom of the staircase, he paused and took a double take back at the direction of his bedroom. Within seconds he entered his room once again walking by Plagg who was eating more cheese on Adrien's study desk. "Not a word Plagg." His magical comrade responded with a snarky laugh as Adrien dug through his closet. He pulled out a brown leather jacket which he swapped with his usual white buttoned one. "I realized that my jacket had a stain on it. That's all." Adrien avoided the knowing gaze of his kwami before his cheeks became tinted pink.

"Whatever you say." Plagg repeated teasingly, while flying into his usual spot in Adrien's inside pocket.

"We better go now or we're going to be late." He changed the subject while heading into his father's white limousine, where his driver awaited him.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I'm excited to flesh this story out. The series is amazing, and I love stories that fill in the gaps, so thought that I would give it a try. Please let me know what you think :)