Adrien Agreste shook his head as he scrolled through the newest comments on the fanfiction he was the author of. Not that anybody knew that he was the author of this certain fic, only Lord knows what his father would do to him if he ever found out. Plus, it would feed the tabloids for days if they ever were to find out who had stolen Adrien's heart and this would probably be the stupidest way for his secret crush to get out.

He blamed Nino for it all, he was the one who gave him the stupid dare in the first place. Then the fanfiction got popular and before he knew it, he had created an entirely new celebrity ship. That's when Plagg had given him an idea. It was a stupid idea and one that older Adrien would probably look back on and want to die in hole, but hey! That was older Adrien's problem.

This was now the fifth fic that he had written and he had started to notice a pattern. The first few chapters would go alright, with the tentative friendship between the main pair but as soon as it went fanon someone always complained. So, Adrien had come up with a solution. What better way to diffuse a love triangle than to write one of the love interests as no longer interested? Of course, that wasn't the case seeing as they were the same person, but the public wasn't supposed to know that.

As Adrien scrolled through the comments of his latest fic he thought that it was time to bring out the big guns. The patrol on the night after Ladybug and Adrien get together.

"You know, when I said that you should write a bunch of these stories under different names to get Ladybug's attention, I was joking." Plagg told Adrien.

"Plagg!" Adrien hissed through his teeth. "Get back in my jacket! What if someone sees you?"

"Who's gonna see me Adrien? You're so eager to get to school you got here even before the teacher!"

Well, he wasn't wrong. Adrien had been absent nearly all week between photoshoots and akuma attacks and he wanted to make it up today. If that meant bribing the Gorilla with superhero merch then so be it. He could always buy more.

"Whatever Plagg, just stay low." Adrien remarked.

"Yeah, yeah I know. Sugarcube would kill me if your identity got compromised." Plagg muttered.

"Sugarcube?" Adrien questioned.

"Tikki, she's even more of a stickler for rules than her bug is." Plagg explained.

"Oh, well we'd hate to let down our ladybug's now would we?" Adrien smirked.

"Not unless you want to be skinned."

"Yo dude! You're here early!" Plagg zipped into Adrien's pocket as Nino walked into the room.

"I could say the same to you." Adrien remarked as his best friend slid into his seat.

"I wanted to get some DJ practice in before my gig this weekend and didn't want to bug anyone so I had to go to the art room extra early." Nino told Adrien as Mme. Bustier walked in.

"Hello boys, you're here early." She greeted them.

"Hello Mme. Bustier." They chorused.

"So dude, whatcha reading?" Nino nodded towards Adrien's phone screen. He flushed because even though Nino had given him the dare to write the first ever Ladybug X Adrien fanfiction, it was still embarrassing.

The flushed face did not escape Nino's gaze.

"Ohhhh, it's about your spotted sweetheart, isn't it?" Nino smirked.

"W-what?" Adrien sputtered. "No!" He exclaimed, far too loud to be written off as not suspicious. Nino smirked. "Oh alright," Adrien relented. "Do you remember that dare that you had given me? The one about a certain fanfiction?"

"You mean the dare that I had given you five months ago?" Nino asked incredulously. Adrien let out a nervous chuckle.

"Maybe...?" He smiled uneasily. Nino just sighed and shook his head.

"Dude, don't tell me that you're still writing fanfiction about you and-."

"Not so loud Nino!" Adrien hissed through teeth. Nathaniel and Mylène had come in while Adrien and Nino were talking and as much as he trusted them, he really wanted to limit the number of people who knew about his crush on Ladybug.

"Fine, you and" Nino lowered his voice, "you know who." Adrien stared down in his lap, his face hot. "No way." Nino let out a laugh, catching the attention of the room which now included Max. He waved them off. "Adrien, buddy."

"Be quiet Nino." Adrien grumbled.

"So is this the same fanfiction you started writing five months ago or a different one?" Nino asked, the smirk not leaving his face.

"A different one." Adrien muttered.

"Hmmm?"

"A different one!" Adrien repeated. Nino snorted.

"How many have you written?" He asked.

"I'm not telling you." Adrien crossed his arms.

"Aw, come on dude, don't be like that!" Nino teased.

"You're only going to make fun of me." Adrien protested.

"Well duh. My best bud is writing fanfiction about him and his crush, do you have any idea how good of blackmail this is? Definitely a wedding night story."

"Oh laugh it up."

"Let me put it this way, if you caught me writing fanfiction about Alya and I, would you let it go?" Nino raised an eyebrow.

"Well, no." Adrien answered begrudgingly.

"Exactly."

"But it's different!" Adrien protested.

"Oh yeah? How so?"

"You and Alya are actually together!"

"Dude, you're Adrien flipping Agreste, I'm sure Ladybug would be ecstatic to date you." Adrien chuckled ruefully.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." All the times Ladybug rejected him running through his head.

"Oh come on! You two would totally be Paris' hot new couple." Adrien flushed, the thought of him and Ladybug dating when he was out of costume wasn't new to him by any means, but if Chat Noir didn't have a chance then how could he ever compete? "I can see the headline now! 'Paris' superhero in a relationship with famous model Adrien Agreste!" Nino gesticulated. Adrien shook his head.

"You must really want me to die then." Adrien smiled ruefully. Nino let out a gasp.

"What are you talking about bro? How dare you make such accusations?"

"Do you have any idea how many fans would riot at me and Ladybug becoming a couple? LadyNoir stans and all of my admirers would ban together to create a force of destruction not stopping until the defeat of Ladrien."

"Ladrien is that the ship name?" Nino tried to fight back his laughter.

"Don't blame me! Blame the readers!" Adrien showed Nino the screen, showing off the amounts of hits the fic had gotten. It was more than Nino had thought it would get, considering Ladrien was a rare pair.

"I see. So Ladrien is now the official ship name between you and Ladybug?"

"According to the comments." Adrien shrugged. Nino pressed on the link that would take him to the comment section, scrolling through them curious about what people would say. True to Adrien's words many were saying how cute "Ladrien" was. There was a surprising amount of positive feedback, but that could be due to Adrien's writing.

Nino glanced at Adrien, who was drifting off again, no doubt caught up in daydreams. Nino smirked as he realized the opportunity at hand, he wouldn't want this to go to waste.

Ever since that fateful day five months ago when Adrien had fessed up that he had a crush on Ladybug and Nino had dared him to write a fanfiction about it, Adrien had kept it hushed up. He had never shown Nino just exactly what he had written. To say that Nino was curious was an understatement.

Making sure that Adrien was still preoccupied, Nino exited the comment section and selected the fic's most recent chapter.

'Oh,' Nino thought. 'This will be fun.'

"Sweet was the first coherent thought Adrien had after realizing Ladybug was kissing him. His first was much more of a keyboard smash. Then before Adrien even had the opportunity to kiss back, it was over.

'Sorry!' Ladybug apologized. 'I really shouldn't have done that.' Adrien blinked.

'Wha...?' What were words again?

'I mean, I just totally forced myself on you and I know that you don't feel that way about me, and' Ladybug continued to ramble, but it fell deaf to the boy's ears.

' I know you don't feel that way about me' Echoed over and over again in his head.

'Wait Ladybug!' He grabbed her hand as his mind whirled to life again. 'Why would you think I wouldn't feel that way about you? You're literally amazing!' He said. A blush covered her cheeks.

'Oh.' She whispered. 'So, you do feel that way about me?' Adrien nodded.

'Yeah, I really do. Sure, it started out as admiration from afar but as I've gotten to know you better I've only fallen deeper in love with you.' Ladybug's eyes shone with joy and love.

'I love you too Adrien.' She whispered the words he had wanted to hear since he was fourteen.

'May I kiss you?' Adrien asked, breathless that this was happening.

'Yes, you may.' Ladybug answered, looking at him shyly but full of love. And with that Adrien pulled her in for a kiss, a first of many many more. "

Nino had to admit, if Ladybug was anything like this, they'd be a cute couple. Perhaps if Marinette moved on to Luka, he could set Adrien up with Ladybug without feeling guilty.

"Nino? You've been- hey!" Adrien's cry of indignation tore Nino's attention away from the fic. "Give me that back!" Adrien reached for his phone.

"No way! Not until I'm done with this chapter!" He grinned widely.

"Ninoooo!" Adrien whined.

"Nin-yes! How else am I supposed to support my best friend and his masked love?" Nino stuck his tongue out at Adrien as he scrolled down to the end of the chapter and pressed on the comments. There were a lot less friendly comments on this chapter than there were on the first one. "Ouch dude, how do you handle this negativity?" Nino asked Adrien, who had given up trying to retrieve his phone and decided to just look over Nino's shoulder instead.

"Well, it's quite simple Nino. This is the fifth fic I've ever written and I've concocted a fool proof plan to help rid the haters."

"Which is?" Nino asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Every time someone gets salty about my self-insert Ladrien fic, I write a scene where Chat Noir ships us."

A squeak came from behind them.

The boys turned around to see a red-faced Marinette, who was early for once, and a bug-eyed Alya. Nino had been so caught up in the fanfic and Adrien had been so caught up in his daydreams, neither of them had seen the two girls enter.

The two girls who had definitely heard the last sentence Adrien had spoken.

Well, shoot.

At least Marinette and Alya were trustworthy.

"Oh hey babe!" Nino greeted Alya.

"You have a crush on Ladybug?" She hissed through her teeth, completely ignoring Nino.

The blush was enough proof.

"Ah, you, uh, heard...?"

"That you write fanfiction about you and Ladybug? Yeah, I heard." Alya gave him a look.

"Hehe, yeah..." Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. "Can I buy your silence?" He pleaded.

"What, don't want Daddy Agreste to learn of your crush?" Alya smirked.

"Among other people." The red-clad beauty entered his mind.

"You mean Ladybug herself?" Marinette let out a sound that sounded almost like a whimper. Adrien shot her a look of concern, was she feeling alright?

"Y-yeah, I'd rather my crush on her not be public knowledge."

"My lips are sealed Agreste, for now." Alya grinned evilly. "But it's good blackmail material."

"See? That's exactly what I said! It'd be a great wedding night story that Adrien used to be so head over heels for Ladybug," Marinette let out a small wail at that one. "That he would write fanfiction about them!"

"You're the one who dared me to start writing the fanfiction in the first place!" Adrien sputtered, red-faced.

"Yeah, five months ago! And now you've gone and created five different Ladrien fanfictions!" The sound of Marinette's head hitting the desk and her muffled screech made both boys turn to look at her concerned.

Alya shot her best friend a sympathetic look.

It must be hard, learning that her competition not only included Kagami, but Ladybug herself.

Not that Alya blamed Adrien. Ladybug had captured half the hearts in the city, including her own. She'd have to invite him over to geek out about Ladybug sometime, maybe even have him help out with the Ladyblog. None of her other close friends had a celebrity crush on Ladybug too and she didn't want this opportunity to go to waste.

As soon as she comforted Marinette about exactly who her crush had his eyes on and helped her get over the rejection of course.

As cool as having someone to geek out about her celebrity crush would be, her best friend came first.

"Are you okay Marinette?" Adrien beat her to it. Marinette picked her head up, her face a bright red. Although, Alya noticed that she didn't look like she was trying to hide tears, like the red cheeks would suggest.

She met Adrien's gaze and a high pitched noise emitted from her throat.

"Are you sick?" Adrien leaned up to press his hand to her forehead.

"No!" Marinette nearly shouted and jumped back in her seat before Adrien got the opportunity to check on her. "I'm absolutely positively outstanding, fine, great, just perfect!" She gave them a smile that looked more like a grimace, her voice going up in pitch with every word.

Sometimes, Alya wished that she could read her best friend's mind and this was one of those times.

Marinette certainly didn't look heartbroken, just flustered.

But why?

Adrien liking Ladybug should be bad news!

Unless....

"You're our everyday Ladybug, Marinette." The words rang in Alya's ears.

She smirked.

Perhaps if Adrien was supposedly in love with Ladybug and he saw Ladybug in Marinette, then maybe just maybe, he had a small crush on Mari as well.

And maybe just maybe Marinette had realized that.

"Hey Adrien?" Alya asked slyly.

"Yeah Alya?"

"Just exactly when did you get your crush on Ladybug?" Another squeak from Marinette.

"Uhhh," Adrien's face, which had returned to its normal color, went right back to bright red. "I may or may not have developed a crush on her the first time she made that public appearance, with that whole speech to Hawkmoth?" His gaze turned dreamy. "The way she completely shut him up and defended all of Paris was just amazing." Alya raised her eyebrows as a small whine came from somewhere, it must be her hearing things.

"Wow Agreste, you certainly are smitten."

"Y-yeah, well wouldn't you be?" Alya gave a small nod.

"What do you like about her?" She asked. If he said the same qualities Marinette had...

"Well, she's so brave and she stands up for what's right! She overcomes her battles and while she has flaws, she doesn't let them get in the way. She's very kind and always gives people second chances." The whine had only gotten louder during Adrien's speech. Which had several qualities that described Marinette. This was great information to have.

But, where was that whine coming from?

"You really are head over heels." Alya teased.

"Oh you be quiet." He said and placed his head down on the table, trying to hide his inflamed cheeks.

"Do you have any fantasies of you and Ladybug?" Alya grinned. Adrien groaned and the whine only got louder. "I'm taking that as a yes."

"Oh, knowing Adrien I bet he's a huge fan of the Spider-Man kiss." Nino commented.

"Or her swooping him into a bridal style."

"Or her saving him from a photo shoot by crashing the scene!"

"Or maybe him serenading her with his piano!"

"Her showing him all her favorite spots in Paris!"

"Or what about her scooping him into a hug and peppering kisses all over his face after he got too close to an attack?" Alya smirked as Nino clutched his chest.

"Too adorable!" He said.

"Will you two shut up?" Adrien pleaded, picking his face up off of the desk.

"No-okay what is that sound?" Alya asked, the whining had gotten louder and louder as Alya and Nino had tried to one-up each other talking about Ladrien scenarios.

"S-sorry." A strangled cry came from Marinette, her face so red it could compete with Adrien's.

"You were causing that whine Mari? I thought I was hearing things." Adrien chuckled. Marinette just stared bug-eyed at him. Alya waved her hand in front of her face.

"You okay girl?" Marinette was unresponsive.

"Is she okay?" Nino whispered to Alya.

"I have no clue." She whispered back. Maybe the fantasies made Marinette realize that she didn't have super powers she could use to charm Adrien.

"At least she doesn't seem brokenhearted." Nino whispered.

"She's taking the news rather well."

"What are you two whispering about?" Adrien asked them. Nino smirked.

"Oh just how to set you and Ladybug up on a date." Marinette smacked her head on the desk as Adrien covered his face with his hands.

"I could use my Ladyblog connections to reach out to her." Did Alya feel a bit guilty for rubbing salt in Marinette's wound? Yes, of course, but Nino had given her an easy out that she would eagerly jump on.

"Oh yeah! You could totally say that you needed a favor from her and that favor is to ask my man, Adrien, out." Nino patted Adrien's back. Said boy rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, like that would ever work."

"You never know until you try dude!"

The words of 'I'm in love with another boy' rang through his head. He had tried alright, and it had crashed and burned.

"Thanks Nino, but no thanks, Ladybug would never be interested in me." Marinette barked out a laugh. He turned to look at her, her head was off of the desk now, but it was still bright red.

"You know something we don't Marinette?" Alya asked. She met his gaze and quickly averted her eyes.

What was that about?

"W-what? Noooo! I don't know anything!" Marinette yelled in a shrill voice, gaining the attention of everyone in the room, which was everyone. It attracted more than a few odd looks.

"Everything's okay guys!" Alya called and they all went back to whatever they were doing, used to Marinette's odd behavior.

"Yeah..." Adrien shot Marinette a concerned look. "As I said before, Ladybug would never be interested in me." Marinette started to cough.

"Why's that dude?" Nino asked, looking at Marinette through his side-vision.

"Well, she doesn't know me. Secret identities and all."

"Ah, yeah, it would be kinda hard to have a relationship when one half is masked." Alya commented.

"Yeah, it really sucks, but her safety is priority. Even if I can't take her out on dates or anything."

"So the unmasked girl wouldn't change anything for you?" It was the first coherent thing Marinette had said that didn't hurt his eardrums all morning, and without a trace of stuttering too! Man, was he glad she was not as intimidated by him anymore.

"Why would it?" He asked, turning to look at Marinette. "When I first realized how I felt about her, I swore to myself 'whoever she is beneath that mask, I love that girl' and it's a promise I plan to keep."

At this, Marinette's eyes widened, her face became even more red (how was that even possible), and her jaw dropped.

"Excuse me." She didn't wait for an answer as she bolted out of the room.

"Is she okay?" Adrien asked Alya and Nino and was met with matching shrugs.

"Who knows, dude, who knows."