A/N. I'm sorry I could not help myself so here is Adrien "she's just a friend" Agreste in fanfic form. There will be a second part including season 2 and some of my headcanon offscreen scenes so stay tuned!

-Adrien "She's Just a Friend" Agreste-

The first time he says it, he means it. There's a warmth in his chest when he remembers Marinette's expression just before the umbrella snapped shut over her. It was a look of forgiveness and kindness, an acceptance that he's unused to seeing directed at him. It does a funny thing to his heart, makes it throb in a mix of pain and delight, and the kwami resting in his pocket must feel it. Plagg pokes his head out and mouths "lovebirds" once more before Adrien pushes him back out of sight.

Adrien sighs and rolls his eyes at the kwami's antics. He's told Plagg before and he'll tell him again: Marinette's just a friend.

He doesn't know why he's watching Nino watch Marinette. He doesn't even know why he noticed in the first place, but now that he has, he can't stop noticing. Nino obviously likes Marinette and if Adrien happens to take a particular interest in their potential relationship, it's purely because Nino is his best friend.

(And if he's not particularly broken up about it not working out, well it's only because Marinette obviously isn't into Nino and Marinette's feelings matter just as much. She's his friend too, after all.)

"That girl likes you," Plagg says after he congratulates Marinette on her win in his father's competition.

Adrien rolls his eyes. "No, she doesn't. She's just shy sometimes."

The kwami snorts. "Yeah, sure. Are you actually going to wear that stupid hat? It has feathers."

"Of course I will," Adrien frowns. "I can't not where Marinette's design. She's my—"

"Your friend, I get it."

If you ask him, Adrien will swear that he primps and flexes in front of all his friends when he meets them again as Chat Noir. Well, okay, he'll admit that he might be trying a little harder with Marinette, but it's only because he made such a first bad impression as Adrien! He gets to make a second first impression as Chat Noir and he's not about to screw that up as well. It works splendidly, of course. Marinette thinks he's cool and it's always great when his friends think he's cool.

"You should've seen her, Nino! She's absolutely amazing. She and Max will kill it at the tournament," he tells Nino as they take their place to watch the upcoming match. When Marinette and Max's names are called, he cheers the loudest out of any of them.

Nino raises an eyebrow at him, a hint of an amused smile playing on his face. "You sure seem…enthusiastic."

Adrien blinks in confusion and cocks his head at his friend. "Of course I am. Marinette's my friend."

"And Max?"

"And Max what?"

"Isn't Max your friend, too?"

"Oh," Adrien says, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yes, of course."

It's rare that Adrien gets a day off. His days are usually filled with photoshoots and fencing and piano and Chinese and what have you. He's been looking forward to a day of kicking back and playing video games for weeks now. He could marathon anime. Or maybe catch up on some sleep. He could—

He glances at Alya's text. He could spend the day acting as translator between Marinette and her uncle. Well, it would be good to practice his Chinese outside of lessons. Honestly, it'd be doing him a favor, not her. Besides, he'd rather spend the day hanging out with a friend than doing nothing anyway.

Nathalie walks in to his room just as he's about to tuck away the lucky charm Marinette gave him. She raises a skeptical eyebrow at the object and gestures to it with her pen. "Adrien, what's that?"

"Oh this?" Adrien holds it up proudly to show her. "It's a lucky charm! Marinette gave it to me."

"Marinette? Marinette Dupain-Cheng gave that to you?" Nathalie asks.

"Yeah! She's such a good friend," Adrien says and returns the charm to his pocket.

He misses the momentary lapse in Nathalie's usual stoic expression, the knowing slant of her eyebrows and amused grin. "Yes, indeed. She's quite the friend."

A/N. So much fluff. So much cluelessness. So much Adrienette. I love our sunshine child.

Let me know what you think in the comments! And watch out for part 2!

-Indy