Queerly Beloved

"André is never wrong," Alya said, staring at her sundae.

Pink strawberry, cherry chocolate chunk, and blackberry on top. André has given it to her and told her to find her special someone. Not five seconds later, Marinette Dupain-Cheng walks up wearing pink capris, a "Ladybug saved me and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt" shirt she'd gotten from the Ladyblog's latest crowdfunding campaign, and her hair was looking particularly blue in the light.

"But I thought you and Nino—" Marinette started.

"We are," Alya said. "And I saw you trip over your tongue just yesterday about Adrien."

"Mm-hmm," Marinette nodded enthusiastically.

And yet.

André had given Marinette orange sherbert, vanilla, and black cherry, and topped it with a pair of wafers that could easily have been fox ears. Not that she was going to tell Marinette about that last part.

"So what does that mean, then?" Alya ventured.

"I don't know!" Marinette flailed. "I mean, I've never thought about you in any way more than friendship. Sure, I'm jealous that you've been hogging all the curves to yourself, but—"

"Excuse you?" Alya exclaimed. "I have not been 'hogging' anything, Miss 'Please bounce euro coins off my perfect ass' Dupain-Cheng!"

"Oh, right, like I'm supposed to believe that, coming from you. I've watched you slip that phone into your cleavage so you could keep filming hands-free, and it. never. moves." Marinette retorted.

"So?" Alya snapped. "You—wait, when have you been staring at my chest?"

"Really?" Marinette said darkly. "You're right next to me in class all day."

Marinette reached out and stole some of Alya's sundae, savoring the flavor combination for a moment before continuing.

"If I had your rack, I could make Chloé jealous," she said, pointing the spoon at Alya.

"That's not hard," Alya said, snagging some of Marinette's ice cream in revenge. "Girl, you've got nothing to be ashamed of! Tell you what: Next time we go to the pool, wear a tank and some boy shorts. I'll bet you another sundae at least one jaw will need closing after getting a look at you."

"Hah," Marinette laughed, stabbing another spoonful. "They'll be too busy looking at you in that orange and white two-piece you tried on yesterday."

"What?...I'm going to kill Nino," Alya muttered, realizing how Marinette had come into possession of that particular selfie.

"He wanted me to make something matching for him to surprise you," Marinette said hastily. "He wouldn't have shared it otherwise."

"Still dead," Alya said, eating another spoonful of Marinette's sundae.

"No fair," Marinette said in protest. "I just wanted a taste of yours."

Alya stuck her tongue out at Marinette and reached again. Marinette beat Alya's spoon to the table with an effortless flick of her wrist. Alya raised an eyebrow and reached again, with the same result.

"Oh, is that the game we're playing?" Alya said, grinning and trying again. When Marinette moved to slap her spoon, Alya grabbed her arm with her free hand.

Marinette threw the spoon into her other hand and slapped Alya's spoon to the table just before it could get any ice cream.

Alya tried to get her spoon back, but it wouldn't budge from underneath Marinette's.

"Damn, girl. When have you been hitting the weight room?" Alya said.

"Huh?" Marinette blinked, loosening her hold on the spoon long enough for Alya to take it back.

"Do you haul flour sacks for your parents or something?" Alya asked in between spoonfuls of her own ice cream.

"Yeah, s-something like that," Marinette said, blushing.

For a brief second, Alya wondered why she hadn't noticed until now how unfairly cute Marinette was when she blushed. There were more important matters to attend to, however. There wasn't a lot left in Marinette's bowl, even though Alya had been sure Marinette was talking at least as much as she was eating.

"An opening!" she cried, lunging for Marinette's sundae.

Marinette recovered quickly, though, and soon Alya found herself without a spoon at all, staring in open-mouthed shock at the ease with which Marinette had disarmed her.

"Now I can finish twice as fast," Marinette said, grinning evilly and digging in to her own sundae with both spoons.

"Oh no you don't," Alya said. "That last spoonful is mine."

Marinette shoved both spoons into her mouth and smirked as she pulled them out.

"Mmm, such good ice cream," she taunted.

"Fine, you win," Alya sighed. "Can I at least savor the last bite with you?" she said, adding a sultry note so that her meaning would come across clearly.

"What?" Marinette squeaked.

Alya thought it should be a crime to be that cute when startled.

"Marinette," she said, taking her glasses off and sighing. "I want to kiss you. I have since you put Alix in the fireman's carry trying to get her away from that akuma two months ago. And when I saw how good you looked in Adrien's tux at the last dance. And that time when you stood with Rose when she cussed Chloé out so hard I worried an akuma was going to find her."

Marinette was turning progressively more red with each sentence.

"I wanted to go see André to see if there was a chance you might be interested in me, too. And these"—she indicated the sundaes—"were the answer he gave."

"What about Nino? And Adrien?" Marinette said, still scarlet.

"I've talked to Nino about this already. And made sure he doesn't get any ideas in his head. Unless...?"

Marinette shook her head.

"Alya yours," she said quickly, managing to turn her stammer into a pun.

"I don't think you're going to stop tripping over yourself every time Adrien is around, either," Alya said. "There's no shame in that. He's a very good-looking boy."

Marinette made a small strangled noise. Alya worried about how much oxygen might be getting to her brain right now.

"Breathe, girl."

Marinette exhaled in a rush.

"It's a lot," Marinette said hesitatingly, "to have your best friend say she wants more."

"You don't have to say yes," Alya said. "You can think about it."

"I..." Marinette turned red again. "I...think I'd like that."

"To think about it?"

"To kiss you," Marinette said shyly. "You're fearless about everything. And, you, bikini, well, look at you. I can't be the only girl in the class that wants what you've got."

Alya smiled. "An overprotective big sister who can kick anyone's ass without thinking and two brats guaranteed to make life hell," she said. "Sounds like heaven to everybody."

Marinette looked like she was going to protest, and then just laughed.

"I'm ready," she said, tapping her lips with one of the spoons.

Alya leaned across the table, cradled Marinette's head in her hands, and pressed her lips to Marinette's.

Neither of them were sure how long they kissed, but both of them were sure they wanted to do it again soon.

"Hey, wanna go make out in front of Chloé and Sabrina?" Alya said when they stopped kissing, a mischievous grin on her face.

"Alya!" Marinette nearly shrieked, a look of sheer terror on her face.

"Hey, you said that if you had my rack, you could make Chloé jealous. Well, all you have to do is reach for it while she's looking, and she'll be jealous, all right."

"That's not fair," Marinette said. And then, almost as an afterthought, she added, "To Sabrina."

"C'mon, girl," Alya said, taking Marinette's hand in hers. "Let's get you a swimsuit that shows you off."