1499 words
❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄

  Marinette spent whatever extra time she had, in figuring out what the hints should be. It was really difficult to find ones that wouldn't immediately give her identity away. She wanted him to figure it out, but she didn't want him to take one look at these hints and automatically know.

  When the time came for the second hint gift to be given, she met up with Chat Noir very early in the morning.

  He was excitedly pacing the top of the Eiffel Tower, twirling his baton in one hand.

  Taking a deep breath, she let it out in a puff of steam. It was time. And he might very well figure it out.

  She landed beside him, and he whipped around with a smile. Not at all startled by her sudden appearance. "Good morning, Bugaboo!"

  She immediately lost some of her spunk, and rubbed the back of her leg with the other foot. Even though they had taken every patrol time together during the past few days, she still found herself flustered around him. Occasionally, she had managed to return his playful flirts. Most of it though, left her gawking inside that pink bubbly world. Or made her mess up whatever she currently was doing.

  But in that considerate way of his, he avoided making flirtatious comments when they were up against criminals or helping someone. Although he enjoyed flustering her, he had remembered her comment before, about it being a distraction.

  Forgetting to return his greeting, she hastily shoved something into his hand. He glanced down, and saw a small package of bubble gum. Strawberry flavored.

  He stared at it for quite a while. He even turned it over, examining the print. Then he finally opened it and stuck a piece in his mouth. Holding out the package, he offered her a piece.

  "No thank you..."

  He went back to examining the paper, and she watched his face. He apparently was puzzled.
  Odd... That, with the other hints- and I was so worried he'd immediately figure it out...

  When he resigned himself to his ignorance, he sighed softly and shrugged.

  Marinette felt her heart ache with pity for him. Now, not at all lacking her confidence, she slipped up beside him and gave him a warm hug. Adrien returned it willingly, and she smiled as the purring vibrated against her head.

  At school, each day had basically been the same. Her friends curiously watched Adrien for any signs of, well, anything. Alya was thrilled that Marinette was no longer concerned about Adrienette sailing. And Adrien regularly appeared to be in a daze. The girls easily realising that he was lost in thought.

  On that day, as Ms. Bustier was going over a piece of history, Adrien was bent over his desk; writing.

  Alya noticed his tense finger drumming. She gave Marinette a small kick, and when her BFF glanced at her, she gestured at him with her eyes.

  Marinette gazed at the back of his head. She could only assume that he was distracted by the hints. After all, he obviously wasn't taking notes.

  Ms.Bustier had also noticed this, and now walked up to him. She pulled up the paper he was scribbling on.

   Adrien flinched and watched his teacher nervously.

  Marinette wasn't feeling too good, either. Ms.Bustier was a considerate and patient woman, but there was no telling what Adrien had been doing. Anything she said at this point about the paper, had the potential to cause them BOTH problems.
  Ooooh! Please don't be anything about Ladybug! The girls will freak!!!

  The teacher, meanwhile, had frowned at the paper. Looking at Adrien, she said, "Tell me what it is that we are learning in this class right now."

  "Uh, Joan of Arc. Or better yet: Jeanne d' Arc. She was born at Domre´my, France; in 1412. She had many visions that she believed to be from Heaven.
    She revealed these visions to King Charles the Seventh, who at that point, was uncrowned. She convinced him that she was to be the rescuer of France. And he gave her full armor, a sword, and a banner.
   With her guidance, they attacked Orle'ans and the city was freed in 1429. Which means she was around seventeen years old at the time. Afterwards, they defeated the English four more times, and took over Reims. It was there, that Charles was finally crowned, with Jeanne standing by his side.
    She never knew another victory after that though, because she was captured by the Burgundians. Who sold her to the English. She was held in prison for around two years, being tried as a witch and heretic. On May 30, 1431; she was burned at the stake."

  He opened his mouth to continue, but the woman laughed and said, "That's well enough! I'M suppose to do the teaching, thank you."

  She gave him the paper back, and continued with her lesson.

  Marinette slumped in her seat and sighed with relief.

  Nino gave Adrien a shoulder punch and grinned. Adrien, on the other hand, slightly smiled and went back to his paper.

  As class ended, and everyone was leaving for Lunch, Chloe ran up to Adrien and hugged him.
"Adriekins! You were amazing!"

  "Thanks Chloe.", he replied while slipping into his coat.

  Seeing the paper on his desk, Chloe scooped it up. "But what's this?"

  Adrien glanced up before he realised what she meant. Breaking out into a cold sweat, he yanked the paper away. "Uh- Nothing!!"

  Marinette and Alya, were still busy shoving things into their bookbags. But having seen this, Marinette was on the verge of having a nervous breakdown.

  Adrien quickly left after taking back the paper. But Chloe stood still, one hip jutting out, her gaze transfixed on the wall in thought.

  Suddenly chagrined, she whipped around on Marinette. "Don't even THINK that I don't know what you're up to!"

  "Uh- Wh- what do you mean??", she asked nervously.

  "Copper kettles? Strawberries? Bee stings? Bubble gum? Kittens? Fox bites? Roses? Mittens? Dancing? They all point back to YOU! And don't think I haven't noticed you and you're friends giggling and watching him! I knew something was up!"

  Alya blinked. "You took all of that, and pinpointed it back to Marinette?"

  "Okay, well, the bee stings, fox bites, kittens, and roses aren't making much sense. BUT THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT! You need to keep your distance, Du-pain Cheng!"

  "Yes, Chloe. I'll try to remember that."

  Chloe eyed her warily, but declared, "Good!" Then stalked off with Sabrina.

  Alya glanced at Marinette and raised an eyebrow. "SERIOUSLY?? You just stepped aside for her??"

  "I'll try to keep my distance. Exactly where its at.", Marinette said nonchalantly. "But can I help it if he keeps getting closer?"

  Alya's eyes lighted up. "Girlllll!!! Look at you!!! So confident!!! I'm so proud of you!!!" Grabbing Marinette's arm, she added, "But now you have to explain ALL of that! Come on! It's huddle time with your girlfriends!"

  In the Lunchroom, Alya easily listed off the things Chloe had said, to the other girls.

  "Like Chloe said, I get all of it but those particular four things. Care to explain?"

  Marinette took a deep breath. "Welllll... I like kittens...", she laughed uneasily.

  "Okayyy... I can kinda see that..."

  "The roses?", Rose asked.

  "Wellll... I like roses..."

  Alix snorted. "Don't tell me you like bee stings and fox bites as well?!"

  Everyone laughed.

  "Um, well... Chloe is Queen Bee, and she usually causes me problems... Like the annoyance of a bee sting. And the fox bite- well Lila was Volpina, and..."

  "And she really gets under you're skin.", Alya added. "Girl, I thought you were past this jealousy of Lila... What happened to that confidence you just had?"

  "I'm not jealous of her!!! And I haven't lost my confidence!!!" Marinette immediately closed her eyes tightly and took a deep breath. "Could we please just switch topics?"

  "Okay, how about THIS?", Alix automatically said. "The boy is a total blonde!"

  "What?", the girls all exclaimed.

  "Yeah! Look, the majority of this info all points towards Marinette. And he can't see that! The kid's a complete doofus!"

  Alya and the others were about to pounce on her for that, when Marinette giggled and said, "I knowww! It's so cute!"

  They then all turned to look at her in disbelief. Marinette was slumped over the table, her elbow buried in her mashed potatoes, with a dreamy expression and a huge adoring smile.

  "You think him being oblivious is cute?", Alya asked.

  "So cute... And kind of helpless..."
  My helpless, oblivious blonde-headed Kitty!

   Alix began prodding the air around Marinette's head, with her fork.

  "What are you doing?", Mylene asked her.

  "There are pink floating hearts somewhere around her head. I wanna see if I can pop them."

  Marinette blinked and glanced up at her friend. "Uh- what are you doing?"

  "Oooo! I must've hit one!", Alix exclaimed with dramatic excitement.

  The others laughed.

❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄