Alya thought she was dreaming at first, but when she saw a couple of other students stiffen, she knew it wasn't. No one else noticed the weird stuff in her dreams. She wanted to ask everyone if what she was seeing was real, but Marinette and Adrien had made their way to their seats too quickly.

"Um, Marinette?" she whispered.

"Mm?" Marinette pulled out her books.

Alya waited for Mme. Bustier to turn to the board before continuing. "Was I just hallucinating just now, or did you and Adrien just walk into class together?"

Marinette blushed a little. "Oh, yeah. We kind of got trapped together during the last akuma attack, so we ended up talking till it all got cleared up."

Alya leaned a little closer. "So?"

Marinette knew what she meant, but chose to play dumb. "'So' what?"

"Girl, you know what." She raised an eyebrow.

Marinette's eyes flicked to the back of Adrien's head. "Can this wait till later?"

Alya narrowed her eyes with a smirk, but nodded, turning her attention to the lesson.

Alya went home with Marinette and followed her up to her room, barely letting the trap door shut before pouncing on her. "Ok, spill!"

Marinette paused. Then she flipped her backpack over, the contents dropping to the floor and startling her friend. Then she laughed as she sat down on her chaise, leaving her books where they were. "Sorry," she said with a grin. "You said, 'spill,' and Adrien's jokes are rubbing off on me."

"Jokes?" Alya didn't think he was much of a joker.

"Yeah," Marinette said as her friend sat cross-legged beside her. "I didn't realize what a goofball he was until he said something about the akuma 'raining on his parade.'"

Alya laughed. "Oh my goodness, that's so lame!"

"Lame, but still funny," Marinette said. "Of course, it was funnier after the akuma had been neutralized."

"So," Alya said, not even bothering to segue. "What did you talk about? Did you ask him out?"

Marinette's face warmed, and she fidgeted with her hands. "Well, no, but he knows I like him now."

Alya playfully punched her shoulder. "Wow, girl, you finally did it! I'm so proud of you! What did he say?"

Marinette coughed uncomfortably. "Well, he hugged me…"

"That's good," Alya replied.

She turned away from Alya, muttering, "…and he said, 'I like your stupid face, too.'"

Alya laughed long and loud, and she wiped away tears, squeezing her words out between guffaws. "You said… Oh, god… my abs! …Haha! You said… 'I like your… your stupid face'?"

Marinette nodded, blushing a deep red.

"Oh, Marinette!"

A few minutes later, when Alya's laughter had died down to giggles, she said, "So what now? Are you two going to date, or what?"

Marinette shrugged. "For now, we're just friends, but at least now I can talk to him without worrying what he thinks."

"And maybe he'll ask you out sometime," Alya replied, nudging her friend.

"Oh, that reminds me," Marinette replied, "I was thinking that we could double—Adrien and I, and you and Nino."

Alya stiffened. "He-e-ell, no."

Marinette frowned, confused. "I thought you two were, I dunno, a thing."

Her friend laughed. "Maybe one day, but right now, he's too into himself."

Marinette smiled. That kind of reminds me of a certain cat, she thought. Except he's usually joking… I hope.

So... that's probably the end of this one. I'm terrible at endings. I apologize.

Now I just have to convince one of my sisters to watch ML too... Well, when she's not watching Shippuden.