Chapter 01: Something in Between
Adrien felt tired. Not because of any recent late-night photo shoots, which was the cause of this feeling most of the time, but simply because of the current weather.
The sky was filled with dark gray clouds, hiding the warm sunbeams, and left the people of Paris in a non-stop fear of rain. The still persistent winter made it only colder. Even though it was near the end of February, and the snow was already completely gone at this point, the temperature just wouldn't want to go up.
All of those facts made Adrien feel rather tired.
Usually, the weather didn't matter to him. The only thing that was affected, was his schedule - and sometimes this wasn't even a bad thing to him - but since he was chosen for the Black Cat Miraculous, its power had a certain influence on him.
One of them being tired whenever it would soon start to rain or just wanting to stay in his room all day, a big warm blanket wrapped around him, and doing absolutely nothing when it was cold. Aside from a little nap, of course.
And right now, it was cold and it would soon start to rain. A rather bad combination in this state.
Adrien could only hope that no one decides to become a victim to Hawkmoth, while the weather was like this. In his civilian form, it was easy to ignore those little side effects. Sadly that didn't count for Chat Noir. All of his cat-like attitudes were even more present while he was transformed.
Besides he already spent the past two weeks with whatever his inner cat wanted him to do when he could. Now it was time for the human Adrien again.
It was Monday and the winter holidays were over. Which means he could finally go back to school. He knew that most of his classmates would show up with a bored expression on their faces but Adrien had a wide smile on his lips when he entered the school building. He could see all of his friends again.
Well, he saw Chloé during the holidays, but it would've been nice if he had seen Nino at least once. Or someone else from his class like, well, he couldn't really say who would want to spend their time with him.
Maybe Alya if Nino was also there? Or even Marinette?
The smile on his face slowly vanished from the thought about his black-haired classmate. Instead, he looked a little lost.
Marinette was nice, really nice, and he was sure that they would get along pretty well. They did by the time of the gaming competition and when he helped her with her granduncle, after all.
Adrien liked how confident she was when she stood up against Chloé's never stopping insults, or her creativity and passion when it comes to fashion and design. She made him curious about her since the very first day, and with the time this curiosity grew even stronger the more and more he learned about her.
But every time he talked to her himself, she had begun to stutter, make nervous gestures and the look in her eyes seemed like she wanted to run away the very second he laid his own eyes on her. It left him to feel confused and a little hurt, too.
He knew that she forgave him for that whole gum incident on his first day here, but it didn't seem like she wanted to have anything more to do with him. It hurts him that he has no clue what could bring her to act like that in his presence most of the time.
In the end, all he wanted was to be her friend. Was that too much? She didn't hate him, right? It was still a possibility. As long as he didn't know how exactly she felt about him, he wouldn't be able to approach her probably.
But he wanted to know her, right after Ladybug. He just didn't know if Marinette would want the same.
And right now he couldn't find a word to describe their relationship. It was kind of complicated, but that also sounds a bit too much. It was simple, but certainly not simple enough to stop those stupid thoughts from getting their way inside his head.
So he ended up calling it something.
Something in between.
That's what it was between him and Marinette. No strangers nor enemies, but no friends, either. Even though he had thought so on his second day at school when he lent her that black umbrella.
Or should he say 'believed so'? It wasn't true after all.
Or was it?
A deep sigh left through his slightly parted lips in frustration, when he walked into the almost empty classroom.
Adrien could see Max already sitting in his seat, phone in hand. He probably tries to convince Kim to come to school today. At least that was what had happened the last two holidays this year.
Rose and Juleka were also in their seats, talking about the others holiday. Adrien didn't want to eavesdrop - which was actually pretty hard considering his sharpened hearing - so he quickly focused on placing himself in his own seat right at the front.
He was a bit early, and Nino wouldn't show up in the next few minutes, so Adrien decided to read some notes from the previous classes. It wasn't like he would need to - thanks to all those years of homeschooling, he was actually a bit ahead of the things they were currently doing - but he couldn't think of anything else to fill the time with. And he really had to finally get out of this prison-like house, which he was supposed to call 'home', even if that means he would just sitting in his class and read about school subjects.
He tried to keep his focus on the written words before him, but after only five minutes of concentration, his ears caught a quiet sound behind him. It was a muffled yawn followed by the sound of shifting clothes. Adrien couldn't recall seeing someone in the seat behind him when he entered the class, so he turned around to see Marinette sleepily rub against her half closed eyes.
Did he really not noticed her? Now he felt bad about himself.
Granted she usually wasn't this early. Actually, she never was. He shouldn't feel bad, that was unnecessary. He had a reason for not noticing her.
Besides, he should try to take this opportunity and talk to her. She seemed tired. Maybe she would talk with him the same way she does with everyone else when she couldn't notice who exactly he was? It was worth a try.
"Good morning, Marinette," he put the friendliest smile he was capable of on his lips. In hope, it would also reach his eyes.
Marinette tried to suppress another yawn, "Morning, Adrien." Her voice was more silent than usually, and her sky blue eyes were still closed, but she greeted him back. She greeted him without stuttering! The smile on Adrien's face grew wide and he hadn't to think about if the look in his eyes matched his expression, anymore. He knew it does.
He was just about to continue the conversation when Marinette's eyes suddenly snapped open. They stared at him in utterly shock and horror. A bit panicked, too. Adrien could feel his smile fade again.
"Adrien! Gornign! Morning! I-I mean good morning to you, too!" She paused for a moment, "I already said that!"
Adrien tried to hide his disappointment behind another friendly smile and forced his voice to sound rather amused. "Yeah, you did," he added a little chuckle, "You're usually not this early in school. Why now?"
"Oh, uh, that's the reason. I didn't want to be late again, so, uhm, I just came earlier! Even though I'm really not used to it." She chuckled nervously and gave him a toothy smile, which was obviously forced. Adrien could tell if someone presented him with a fake smile, after all, most of his smiles in his childhood looked like that, too. Now he had practice.
But he didn't say anything about it. Maybe it would ruin this something he had with Marinette. He didn't want to risk it.
Also, he doesn't know if he was in the position to tell her something like that. It wasn't appropriate to tell someone their smile looked forced.
Marinette could be troubled by literally anything. What if she doesn't want to talk about it with him? Then he shouldn't ask in the first place. It would only make herself feel uncomfortable. He should just stop thinking about it, and focus on their actual conversation.
All of those thoughts passed his mind in a single second.
"So that's why you look so tired."
"I look tired?!" She squealed out before she hurriedly tried to hide her face behind her small hands.
Did he say something wrong? He did say something wrong, didn't he?
"Don't worry. It's okay," Adrien quickly reassured her, "It's the first day of school after two whole weeks. It's only natural that you are tired."
Marinette parted a few of her fingers in order to sheepishly look at him through her hands. Adrien smiled up at her and tilted his head a little to show a bit of his curiosity.
Besides, he added in thought, I think it makes you look even cuter. Adrien would say it out loud if he wouldn't be so afraid of saying something wrong again. So he just continued to smile at her, while Marinette slowly lowered her hands and straightened herself in her seat. A slight blush covered her cheeks and she flashed him a shy smile in response.
Normally their conversation would end here. Unless Alya and Nino would try to make it longer with switching topics for example. But both of them weren't here yet, so it would end.
But Adrien didn't want it to end.
Marinette looked a little bit more at ease. Maybe he was able to stretch the conversation himself?
He doesn't have much experience with it, but this could be a good practice, right? And practice makes perfect. He could ask her about her holiday or something. Rose and Juleka were talking about that, too, so it was a topic you could discuss with a friend, right?
Yes, he would talk to her about that. He wanted to know more about her, anyways. This was a perfect opportunity.
Adrien took a deep breath, "How-"
"Adrikins!"
Adrien tried his best to stop a groan from rising up in his throat when he heard a body dropping in the seat next to him followed by the feeling of two arms locked around his neck. Chloé attempted to pull him closer to her, but he managed to push her slightly away by grabbing her shoulders before any greater damage could be done.
He knew what Chloé wanted to do when she acts like that. She already destroyed his chance to talk with Marinette - which was currently busy with rolling her eyes at Chloé's behavior - he didn't want her to destroy even more for him.
"Good morning, Chloé," he smiled at her when he finally managed to pull her completely away from his body.
"It's so good to finally see you again! I've missed you so much, Adrikins," Chloé stared up at him with blinking eyelashes and slightly stretched lips. Adrien could hear Marinette quietly pretending to puke at that.
"Chloé, we saw each other on Thursday," he held up his hands to calm her down. She always overreacted about things like that, it kind of started to overwhelm him. Not that she never was like that before, but since he was going to public school it got a little out of hand.
"Yeah, but that's three days ago," she pouted.
"I know, but-"
"Hey, Chloé," Marinette leaned over the edge of the table, steadying herself with her arms on the desk. She scowled in Chloé's direction. "Can't you take a hint?"
"Who asked you to speak, Marinette Dupain-Cheng?" Chloé crossed her arms in front of her, a fierce expression on her face.
"Did Adrien ask you to always through yourself on him, when you see him?" Marinette countered.
Adrien had to suppress an amused snort. This was Marinette's confident side. A little cheeky, too. It kind of reminds him of Ladybug, and he certainly liked to see it on Marinette if he was completely honest. Ladybug was a superhero, after all, she had to be confident. But there was something about Marinette that made this whole behavior appear even more impressive to him.
Especially when she acted kind of shy not even a minute ago.
"I know that he has nothing against it," Chloé snapped back, tilting her head up in a theatric manner.
"Well, then you have to be blind," Marinette responded, "The only reason why Adrien hasn't been directly telling you to back off, is because he is just too nice to do anything like that."
Chloé voiced an outraged gasp but didn't say anything in return. Instead, she stood from Nino's seat and walked to her own, all the way with a rather angry expression. Adrien followed her with a thoughtful gaze.
"I'm sorry," Marinette's voice caused him to quickly look at her, "Should I have, uh, stayed silent?" Her eyes were locked on her blank desk. Hands clasped together in front of her. She kind of seemed guilty to him.
Adrien shoots one last look in Chloé's direction before he hesitantly laid his hands on hers. This action induced Marinette's body to grow stiff under his touch. But she also focused her attention on him, a slight blush upon her cheeks again.
Adrien squeezed her hands reassuringly while flashing her an honest smile which was also supposed to say 'thank you'.
Marinette seemed to get his message. At least she released the breath she was holding and smiled slightly back at him.
Internally, Adrien was screaming from joy. Not because he was holding hands with Marinette and she was completely okay with it, - at least she didn't push him away yet - that was totally not the reason for it.
But because she thought he was nice. Too nice even. That means she liked him, right? She didn't hate him. So they could be friends, right? Were they friends? It would be great if they were.
On the outside, Adrien didn't let anything relenting to his inner thoughts show in his expression. He appeared completely calm when he slowly lifted his hands from Marinette's. Still the previous smile on his lips.
It didn't fade for the next fifteen minutes.
Sadly, Adrien wasn't able to speak with Marinette again. Shortly after Chloé left them alone Alya showed up and dragged her best friend into a conversation, which Adrien didn't want to eavesdrop or interrupt. It was inappropriate.
So he focused on his notes again until Nino came, only two minutes before Mme. Bustier showed up, and their class started.
"I'm glad to see everyone returned in time," Mme. Bustier started. Her eyes lingered on Marinette a little longer than the other students, when she looked around the classroom, and Adrien could hear Marinette voicing a slightly nervous chuckle at that comment.
"Before we continue with our previous lesson, I'm supposed to make a quick announcement concerning the next six weeks," a few students started to whisper but were quickly silenced by a clap of Mme. Bustier's hands, "Our principal decided to take part in a school competition, in which each school has to write and perform their own school play. I know all of you already participated in a similar competition, although it isn't going to be filmed this time."
Adrien remembered the day of the Horrificator attack when Mylène turned into a villain. Even though their film didn't win anything, M. Damocles seemed to like their acting enough to try something similar again.
"Our class will work together with the other classes in your grade," Mme. Bustier continued to explain, "Everyone of you can work in a different field. For example, someone can be an actor on stage, another can help with the script or the background pictures. Of course we teachers will help you out if you need anything, but most of the work should be done by you students."
Adrien's classmates started to whisper again, a bit louder than the first time. He could also catch Alya's voice stating, "This is going to be great," in a cheerful tone.
He felt someone nudging his fist against his shoulder and turned to Nino, who faced him with an excited grin. Adrien returned the gesture and bumped his fist with Nino's, grinning back at him.
This whole acting thing would be something different. Also, Adrien's father would be forced to reduce his photo shoots and lessons in order for his son to prepare for the school play. With an acting role, he would probably have enough to do. It suits him the most, too.
After all, Adrien's been acting for a long time now.
"Please be quiet," Mme. Bustier silenced her students once again, "I haven't finished yet."
The excited voices, that filled the classroom, slowly faded. Mme. Bustier waited a moment longer before she finally came to the more important part.
"The preparations for the play will always occur after your lunch break and the meeting point is in our sports hall. All of you are supposed to come in the afternoon. Madame Mendeleiev and I are responsible for the organization and your contact persons for everything concerning the play," a muffled groan was released from most of the students by the mention of Mme. Mendeleiev's name, "The show is in six weeks, on March 31th, the last day before your spring break. So regular classes will be canceled on that day. If you have any questions about the competition, you can ask them later in the afternoon."
After that, the subject was dropped and Mme. Bustier finally begun with her lesson. Barely any students paid much attention to it, though. Most of them were busy with discussing the future play in hushed voices and hurried whispers.
Adrien could see Nino and Alya passing little notes back and forth from the corner of his eye. Both with a kind of sly smirk on their faces.
He didn't really know what to think about that. He figured, they probably decided already to be part of the script writers and were discussing their ideas for a good story, so he refused to pay any further concentration on those two. Instead, he was one of the students, who actually focused more on Mme. Bustier.
Or maybe it was just this feeling of responsibility when he had to absolve something, which forced him to keep being focused.
The time went slowly by until lunch break finally arrived and the whole classroom was almost empty in less than ten seconds. Mme. Bustier shook her head with a soft smile before she wished the remaining students a good lunch and left the room herself.
"Hey, dude," Adrien had just finished shoving his things inside his shoulder bag when Nino's voice caught his attention, "Do you have something scheduled or are you free for today's lunch?" The still persisting smirk on his best friend's face made Adrien raise an eyebrow in slight suspicion.
But he quickly checked his schedule in his mind, anyway.
"Nothing in particular," he said after a few seconds, "Only 'lunch at home' if that counts."
"Can you ditch it?" There was still this sly smirk on Nino's facial features, which made Adrien feel rather uncomfortable under the gaze of his friend.
What is he up to?
"I don't know," he said honestly, "The Gorilla is probably waiting for me outside." He hesitated for a quick second before he continued, "Why do you ask?"
"Alya, Marinette and I wanted to spend the lunch together," Nino explained with a nod in the girl's direction, "and it would be great if we had your company, too."
Adrien's gaze flickered to the girls in the seats behind him. Both of them were smiling at him - Alya's expression was more of a smirk, though - and waited patiently for his answer. His eyes focused on Marinette when he started to speak again.
"Sure," a smile spread across his lips. Another chance to normally talk with Marinette, hopefully without any interruptions. Now there was a high possibility she thought about him as a friend, too, and friends are eating lunch together, right?
They would all sit together, while they were eating, talking, laughing and all those other things you were doing with your friends.
"Perfect! Then let's get going, guys," Alya said cheerfully and stood up from her seat. Nino and Marinette were quick to follow her, bags in their hands when Adrien realized he forgot something major important about his previous scenario.
"Wait," he stopped the others, "I don't have any lunch with me."
There goes his chance of experiencing a normal teenage situation. More normal school situation. You don't really have to be older than thirteen to experience things like that.
"It's okay," the soft tone of Marinette's voice caused Adrien to look at her immediately. He didn't know her voice could sound like that.
"We-we wanted to go to my parent's bakery, anyways. So you can just, uhm, eat something there. If-If you want to, that is," Marinette's cheeks were covered in a slight blush and she was looking at him with an equally soft smile on her lips, while a nervous chuckle escaped from her throat.
Adrien was pretty sure those lips would also feel soft under someone's touch…
…wait, what?
Did I really just-
Okay, stop it.
Don't think about that.
Ignore it and act like nothing happened in your mind.
"Really? Of course, I want to! Your parent's backing skills are impressive," Adrien said with a smooth grin on his face.
There we go, he mentally released a sigh of relief.
Marinette chuckled again, a little less nervous this time. "I'm sure they would love to hear that," the color of her cheeks grew a bit deeper before she quickly went outside the classroom.
"We better get going," Alya said with a grin, while she started to follow Marinette. Nino and Adrien were right behind her.
All the way to the entrance hall, Adrien tried to forget his previous thought about the, probably, soft lips of his classmate. It wasn't like this was the first time a thought like that appeared in his mind - and certainly not the first time it contained Marinette - but it still kind of caught him off guard.
It's true, he was interested in her and, yes, she was also pretty cute in his eyes, but only as a friend! Nothing more. Anything beyond friendship was reserved for Ladybug.
Adrien shot a quick glance in Marinette's direction.
She and Alya walked a bit ahead and seemed to talk about something, but they were too quiet for him to hear. At least as long as he didn't concentrate on it, sharpened senses and all. Marinette had still a slight hint of a blush on her cheeks, but she smiled happily at her best friend.
Her smile…
Adrien shook his head. He definitely had to stop thinking, before it got completely out of hand. So he shoved his thoughts in an entirely different direction.
"What are we going to do if the Gorilla is already outside?" he asked, while he turned his head to Nino, "He won't just let me go elsewhere when he sees me."
Nino hummed in thought, "What if I told him you would spend the lunch break in the library? For extra studying, you know?"
Adrien remained silent for a moment, "I think that could work. As long as he doesn't notice me."
"Good! Then just leave it to me," his best friend gave Adrien a light bump against his shoulder, a big grin on his face.
By the time the little group reached the big front door of the school, they hid on one side and peeked over the edge of the door to the sidewalk. Just as Adrien predicted, the Gorilla stood in front of his silver car, waiting.
"I just hope he'll really drive away," Adrien muttered more to himself.
"Don't worry, dude," Nino reassured him, "I bet he has better things to do than just wait here all day."
"Actually, no," the other three flashed him a confused expression. "His only job is to protect me from any possible danger. And he gets paid for hours," Adrien explained with a shrug.
"Sounds like a pretty boring job to me," Alya commented.
"So he'll just extend his paycheck?" Marinette asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Probably," Adrien said with another shrug.
"Well if he isn't going to drive away, I'll have to distract him long enough so you can sneak to the bakery," Nino sets up his new plan.
"Let me know if you need help with that," Alya offered with a smirk on her face.
"Thanks," Nino bumped his fist with Alya's before he made his way outside the school and walked over to Adrien's bodyguard.
The three classmates observed how the Gorilla looked down at Nino with an unreadable expression on his face when the young DJ raised his voice. Their current position was too far away for any words to reach their ears, so Marinette and Alya just stared at the scene before them.
Adrien, on the other hand, focused his senses on Nino. He couldn't hear him as clear as he would in his transformation, but it was enough.
"-yourself a good day and relax," Nino's voice echoed in Adrien's ears. If the Gorilla wouldn't look so intimidating Nino would've given him a friendly pat on his arm.
The sturdy man only uttered an unpleasant grunt in response and focused his gaze back at the entrance. Adrien quickly took a step back from the door, in hope the Gorilla didn't recognize him. He even held his breath for a second as a reflex. The girls stopped spying and removed themselves from the Gorilla's field of view.
"I don't think he'll leave," Adrien said after another moment of tensed silence between them.
Right after he finished his sentence, Alya's phone gave a small buzz of itself.
"Guess that's my sign," she said after a quick look on the screen, "Make sure to escort Adrien to the bakery, Marinette."
"Huh? Wha-what?" was Marinette's only response before Alya flashed her best friend a wink and dashed out of the school building, phone in hand.
Adrien could hear Alya feigning excitement as she claimed to be interested in bodyguarding and if she could have an interview with the Gorilla, who looked pretty overwhelmed by her sudden appearance. She practically shoved her smartphone in his surprised face with a satisfied grin.
"I still doubt we can go through the front door, though," Adrien said with a grin of his own, which he just couldn't suppress. He never saw such an expression on his bodyguard's face.
"Ma-maybe we can, uh, climb out a window in one of the basement classrooms?" Marinette didn't look at him as she spoke. Instead, she nervously fidgeted with her hands.
Adrien could feel another wave of disappointment and hurt soar up in his chest. She was nervous again. Only because they were alone.
At least he thought that's the reason. She wasn't nervous when Alya was still here, after all.
But he didn't let her see those feelings.
"That's a great idea," he exclaimed, flashed her an honest smile - because even if she was nervous, that idea helped a lot - and instantly made his way to one of the classes on the side of the building.
He could hear Marinette's steps right after him.
When Adrien peeked into the first classroom, he made sure that no one was still inside. They were lucky and so he didn't hesitate to wave Marinette to come after him.
The window on the end of the room was almost on the direct opposite side of the bakery. Slowly, as if to make sure they couldn't get caught, Adrien opened the window. The only risk they'll have was when they would try to enter the bakery. If they were fast enough, they could make it.
Adrien turned around to face Marinette, "We shouldn't have a lot of problems. Are you ready?"
Marinette only gave him a nod in response.
He saw back outside the window, checked if any civilians were nearby before he stepped up at the windowsill and hopped down on the sidewalk.
However, he didn't expect the pressure that was suddenly pushing against his body. The cold breeze, together with the sensation of the cool air around him, made his limbs feel stiff and tired. The desire to have a warm blanket wrapped around him, and take a quick nap for probably two or three hours, came back into his head at once. Adrien had no doubts that it was caused by the sudden change of temperature.
He desperately tried to focus on anything else, when he heard a loud crash behind him. When he turned around he saw Marinette sitting on the ground, one hand brushing slightly over her rear.
"Are you all right?" he offered her a hand.
"Y-yes, thank you," she gladly accepted his help and Adrien pulled her up, so she could stand again. "Just… spaced a bit out for a moment."
Adrien gave her an amused little chuckle, "We shouldn't waste so much time or our lunch break will be over as soon as we finally get to your parent's bakery." He quickly walked along the side of the building, still with Marinette's hand on his own, and risked a small glance to the school front.
The Gorilla was still distracted. Nino - or Alya, probably - had pushed the boy's orange headphones on the bodyguard's head. The man had actually closed his eyes and slightly nodded his head back and forth.
Whatever those two teenagers in front of him did to get him in that state, it was perfect.
Nino must've noticed Adrien's staring, because he slightly turned around and flashed his best friend a grin, together with a thump up. Adrien grinned quickly back before he tightened his grasp at Marinette's hand and made his way across the street, trailing her after him.
He didn't hesitate for a second when he finally reached the door.
Adrien looked around the inside of the bakery only to find no customers in it and so Marinette's father behind the counter was the only one in the room, which was filled with the sweet scents of pastries, fresh bread, and vanilla.
Although the last one belonged probably only to Marinette.
By the thought of his classmate, which was currently trying to catch her breath from the sudden speed he dragged her into, Adrien realized that he still hold onto her hand. He quickly let go of it, hoping whether she nor her father noticed the previous connection between them.
"Ah, Marinette," her father greeted, "I was wondering when you would finally show up." The tall man's gaze flickered to Adrien and made the boy slightly stiff under his stare. "Your name was Adrien, right? I remember you from the gaming competition," he eventually said, flashing him a bright and welcoming smile.
"Yeah, that's right," Adrien said, relieved, with an equally bright smile on his lips. He would've never thought Marinette's parents actually remembered him. Or her father, at least. He didn't know about her mother yet.
"Can we have four slices of your new cake creation, papa?" Marinette asked while she was going up to the counter, "Alya and Nino should be here every second now, too."
"Of course. There should still be one in the kitchen upstairs," he pointed to the door to the staircase, "Just ask Sabine for it."
"Thank you, papa," Marinette beamed and pressed a quick kiss on her father's cheek.
Adrien could feel jealousy rising up in his chest, but didn't show anything of it to the other ones in the room. It wasn't their fault. They were just a happy family.
Marinette gestured him to follow her and the two walked to the background of the small shop. When they reached the door to the kitchen, Adrien could hear the faint chiming of the doorbell. Alya and Nino must have entered.
He couldn't focus further on the sound of voices below him, however, when Marinette's mother suddenly stood in front of him. A wide smile on her face, just as welcoming as the one of her husband before.
"Adrien! It's nice to see you again," she greeted him.
So she remembers me, too.
Adrien felt a small amount of warmth soar up inside him.
Marinette's parents are caring.
There was still this slight sting of jealousy.
"It's nice to see you too, Madame Cheng," he said, smiling back at the smaller woman in front of him.
"Please, just call me Sabine," she waved his courtesy away, "Otherwise I'd feel so old." She chuckled. The sound reminded him of Marinette's own chuckling.
"Hello, Sabine," a voice said behind Adrien and the boy quickly turned around to see Alya and Nino walking up the stairs, the former waving friendly at the dark-haired woman.
They exchanged quick greetings before Marinette called them all to sit at the table and eat their lunch. Her father's new cake creation had a blueberry flavor with a sugary cream attached to the berries.
Adrien didn't dare himself to eat his whole slice of the cake, because of his model diet, but he ate enough to say it was one of the best cakes he ever had the pleasure of being able to taste. Not that there would be many options.
Their conversation went from how he and Marinette made it out of the school building - for an unknown reason to Adrien, both Alya and Nino had a smirk on their faces, when starting the topic but it quickly vanished after he and Marinette explained their window escape - to the upcoming 'school play lesson' in the afternoon.
"So," Alya started, "Do you already know what you want to do for this thing?" Her gaze flashed along the other three teenagers at the table.
"Well I can't film this time," Nino eventually said, "So I was thinking of doing the background music instead. If we'll be using one, of course."
"That sounds like something you'd do," Adrien said with a grin in his best friend's direction.
"What about you, dude?"
"Probably acting again," he answered with a shrug.
And hoping I'll have enough to do to get my schedule a bit lighter, he added in his thoughts.
"Oh yeah, you were pretty good at the time of the film competition," Alya complimented him.
"Thanks," Adrien's gaze flew to Marinette, which was currently occupied with stabbing her fork inside her slice of cake, seemingly lost in her thoughts. "What about you, Marinette?"
"Huh?!" she squeaked out, looking a bit startled. When her eyes looked into his, her cheeks turned pink and she quickly locked her gaze back at the pastry in front of her. "I, uh, I was thinking about de-designing the costumes a-and… stuff like that," she eventually answered after a few seconds.
"I'm sure you would do a great job with that," Adrien presented her a smile, but she didn't look at him. Only shifted nervously back and forth in her chair.
"Th-thank you, Adrien," she eventually said, still avoiding his gaze.
Did I say something wrong again?
"With the designs, I already saw from you, I'm sure those costumes will look beautiful."
This finally got her to look up at him, still with a pink blush upon her cheeks. She watched him with slightly wide eyes, until she raised her voice again, "Do you really think so?"
"Of course, you're talented," it was his honest opinion. So he flashed her the most soothing smile he was capable of.
She returned it, after a short moment of silence, with the sweetest smile he has ever seen on her and an excited glint in her sky blue eyes.
Adrien could have sworn his heart stopped for a second at the sight of it, only to double its speed at the very same moment.
Huh, he thought to himself, this is new.
"I'm going to write the script," Alya forced the attention back to her and Adrien took the opportunity to gather his thoughts a bit, "I'll make sure to write a really exciting one!" With a gaze in Nino's direction, she added, "And I won't let someone add any unnecessary kiss scenes this time."
"Sorry," Nino apologized quickly with a toothy grin on his face.
Unnecessary? Adrien's thoughts just appeared in his head again.
With Chloé, yes.
But with Marinette-
He almost slapped himself before his mind could finish the sentence.
What was wrong with him all of a sudden?
Adrien trailed his eyes around the room to find a good distraction for him when he caught sight of the time. They would have to be in the sports hall in a few minutes.
Good!
"We should go back to school or we'll be late," he said, looking to the others but slightly avoiding Marinette's gaze, "And Madame Mendeleiev is one of the teachers for the play."
After a glance at the clock, the teenagers stood from the table. Sabine reassured them that she would take care of the dishes and send them downstairs, but Marinette still gave her mother a small kiss on the cheek.
Adrien hid his jealousy once again.
On the way back to the school building the girls walked a bit ahead, so Adrien had the perfect view at the back of Marinette's head.
While he was staring at her, completely oblivious to Nino's knowing smirk, he thought about the last few interactions between him and her.
In the morning, she was nervous. A bit awkward, too. But she stood up against Chloé. This time even for him. So he thought they were friends in her eyes, too.
At the start of the lunch break she had this soft tone in her voice, but as soon as they were alone she seemed uncomfortable. Did she really consider him a friend?
And just a few minutes ago there was this sweet smile on her lips. The one that did strange things to his heartbeat. But she smiled like that at him, so she couldn't hate him, right?
At least he considered her as a friend. A friend that he really wanted to know better.
Who knows? Maybe she actually wanted to know him, too. And if they could start talking more often together, he was sure they would make a great couple in the end.
…Couple?
Was that the right word for it?
He wasn't really sure about that.
But they didn't seem like friends anyway. No one would Marinette and him describe as 'friends'.
Maybe he should just go back to the something until he got any confirmation about this whole thing from Marinette herself?
In that exact moment, the sound of Marinette's laugh reached his ears. She tried to suppress it but failed miserably. It made the whole sound even cuter for him. And while the beat of his heart seemed to double for the second time that day, his thoughts made their way back into his head.
Yes, Adrien thought to himself, there is definitely something between me and Marinette.
A/N: Whoa. I would've never thought the first chapter would end up to be almost ten pages long… xD
This is actually the first time I'm writing a fanfiction in English, so I hope there are not too many grammar mistakes or anything like that. I did my best at the very least!
Also, I feel like I should point this out:
The first part of this fic will be mostly fluff (with a bit sprinkles of social anxiety here and there).
But as soon as I reach a certain plot point it will contain things like identity issues, self-confidence issues and slight depression (maybe more than 'slight', but I'm not sure about that yet).
Just so you've been warned. In the end, I don't know if someone wants to read those kinds of things.
Anyways!
I'm really happy to finally write this idea and I hope at least one person is interested in it. ^-^
Have a nice day, whoever is reading this right now!