Disclaimer: Hide and seek in the dark is a game I've played with friends. I do not come from Paris and would not be surprised if they didn't have this or play this. My knowledge of games there is more than limited. So, if helps, just imagine they're Canadian/American for this one.

One could probably call this "destiny". Adrien would much rather refer to is as "uncomfortable". A great discomfort. A particular pressure that had found a way to affect both his breathing and his heart rate. What was simultaneously a gift and a hindrance. He couldn't decide whether or not he was okay with the situation. But most certainly, above all else, it was all embarrassing.

He didn't mean for it to happen. It just did. It was something he couldn't control, however hard he tried. And he tried very, very, hard.

Hide-and-seek-in-the-dark was supposed to be fun, and he wanted it to be fun. It was usually fun. This – where he was, and the state he was in – was not something he would have described as "fun". There were probably some other words he could have used, some more inappropriate than others, but "fun" definitely was not one of them.

To make matters more awkward, he liked her. And this was not the way he had planned to show her how much he liked her. It might have worked a little better if she had perhaps been his girlfriend. The gesture might even have been endearing. But alas, he hadn't exactly made it that far quite yet.

Last week, some interesting circumstances had unfolded. Long story short, they both found out about each others' identities. If it had not been a matter of life and death, it would have never happened. But it was. And it had.

He knew she hadn't wanted to tell him. She didn't want anyone to know, least of all, for him to know. They had been partners for nearly four years, and she seemed no more trusting of him in that regard than ever. Of course, she had trusted him with her life, but by no means her identity. She only wanted him to be safe. Or, so she continued to tell him. Her intentions were pure; he did not suspect malice. But there were days when he wished she hadn't taken their identities as seriously as she did.

On the other hand, he was elated to know it was Marinette. She was a lovely girl and sweeter than anyone he'd ever known. If Ladybug hadn't been such a strong feature of his life, it would have been Marinette. And now, he didn't have to choose between the two. If not for the awkward atmosphere that promptly ensued their reveal, he would have professed his love for her right then and there.

That wasn't the case however, and the atmosphere was still weird. Marinette hardly spoke to him, and at every opportunity he found to talk, she found some excuse to leave. Clearly, he was being avoided.

Actually, he had the intention to confront her at Nino's surprise party. He had had a speech all planned out about how he didn't want things between them to go bad just because they hadn't revealed their identities the way they had hoped to. He wanted to go over what should have been said the day they had found out. He wanted to clear the air. At the very least, he wanted things to go back to the way they were. At most, he wanted to kiss her.

To his eternal shock, Adrien's father had permitted him to hold a small party for his best friend at their home. There were obviously some restrictions, but it was more than he had hoped for.

Nino finished with his cake and presents, and Adrien couldn't recall who had insisted on the game. He hadn't recalled much of anything that happened that day once Marinette had entered his home.

Something in him seemed to stall and freeze up. Such involuntary actions had become more and more common since having learned of her identity. Nothing appeared to change for her though. At least, not beyond her blatant avoidance of him.

Nino was It, having the benison of being the birthday boy. For thirty seconds, they scrambled for places to hide. The Agreste Manor was a fairly large space, even as they were banned from many areas of the house, which was made known to the group the second they entered it.

Adrien managed to secure himself a space between two walls that was made available for decorative purposes. He had explored this house countless times as a younger child and, and had the opportunity to really get to know the space he had been confined to for most of his life. He could slide into the two foot gap sideways and lean against the wall until he was found. Years ago, he could crawl in backwards and forwards with ease. When his mother had been around, they themselves would play some hide-and-seek. He would always win, and she would always pretend not to see him. He missed it.

The birthday boy was almost finished counting. Only 5 seconds remained.

26…

27…

28…

"Eek!"

Adrien's small hiding spot had suddenly become smaller. Marinette slipped into the crawl space in the last couple of seconds in a state of panic. It took another half of a second to realize who had been there before her. In that very moment, Adrien watched as her panicked expression became that of pure and utter shock and regret. The blood appeared to simultaneously drain from her face, and flush it. She looked like an adorable mess. He, on the other hand, handled shock a little differently. His throat seized and any words that could have possibly escaped his mouth were thwarted. This likely resulted in a loose jaw and unblinking eyes. He probably looked like a fish.

"Adrien!" she exclaimed, nearly revealing their hiding spot. He put a finger over his lips and glanced out from the opening, attempting to appear preoccupied and focused. All this, to mask his actual fixation on breathing normally and regulating his heart rate.

"Hi," he replied, the wind feeling like it had just been knocked from his lungs. It was a strained reply. It sounded bad. He was not off to a great start. She immediately made a move to back out of area and halted when they heard Nino's voice.

"Ready or not! Here I come!" Shit.

"I…I can leave," Marinette stammered, leaning as far away from him as possible. Adrien grabbed at her hand, stopping her. It wasn't the smart thing to do. He should have let her leave. She wasn't comfortable and she wanted to leave. And he shouldn't have stopped her. But he had.

"I'll leave. I have another spot in mind already," he said, trying to mend his ridiculous instinct. "If you leave, it'd take too long to find a new spot, and you'd get caught early, and that wouldn't be very fun." He gave her his best model smile, not trusting himself with a genuine one at the moment. He didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay and talk to her, like he had planned. But it wasn't the right moment, and she didn't want to be there. She was uncomfortable, and that was the last thing he wanted for her to feel, especially at his expense. He would leave.

Adrien analyzed the amount space he had to maneuver himself around her. Carefully, he stepped a foot between her legs, hoping to be strategic about the task. This, he quickly discovered, was his first mistake.

As he stood, Marinette's body was now pressed up against his own. Her hands and chest pressed up against his torso. He realized that he must have jerked upward at some point, because upon glancing down to check on his partner's reaction to his slightly inappropriate action, he noticed a very prominently adjusted bosom before him. Her slim fit, low cut, t-shirt was almost unfair; like the universe was making fun of him; like they were enjoying his suffering.

To add insult to injury, there was the alternative issue of her leg. She hadn't appeared to notice, but her leg was touching him in a way that was not helping the situation.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

Things were not developing well. He had to think of something else. Anything else. Sad things. Gross things. Other things. Other things needed to be thought of. Anything other than the fact that Marinette was pressed up against him. This was a bad spot for him to be in. He should have known better than to believe that they would both be able to fit. There was only about two feet of space. Any speculation he could have had should have been considered a delusion. And now it probably looked deliberate. It was his house for Pete's sake!

Adrien's face was flooding with blood almost as quickly as his pants were. He moved his fist to nearly slam the wall next to Marinette's head, and his other hand grasped desperately to the wall behind him. Sweat formed on his forehead, his neck, and nearly everywhere else. Bracing the walls helped to ground him, even if it only helped a little bit. Something had to help. Adrien forced himself to close his eyes and concentrate on distracting himself and directing everything in his body away from where it currently was.

In his new position, he had frozen, for he knew that just one more bit of movement would put him over the edge.

He forgot how attractive he found her. He seriously underestimated how attractive he found her. This grave miscalculation was about to cost him his sanity, his reputation as a human being, and any potential relationship he could have possibly had with Marinette Dupain-Cheng. All of that was gone now. He might as well had given up. All was lost. The wall could just swallow him up for all he cared. It would have been a saving grace if the world had exploded right then and there.

"Uhm… Adrien?" Marinette whispered. "Are… are you okay?" He looked down at her concerned face, regretting the move immediately. Imagery was a whole different ball game in comparison to seeing her flushed face in the flesh. She wasn't looking at him. She was looking off to the side. And her face was probably approaching the same shade as his. She was looking away because she was embarrassed. Oh God. She knew.

"Yea!" he lied, "I'm fine. E-everything's fine. I'm just, a little, stuck. So. Maybe we should just, wait for Nino, or someone, to find us." He could barely choke the words out. Adrien noted Marinette's stiff shoulders as she chose to relax them and slide down against the wall, and his torso. Everything was bad.

"R-right," she mumbled. They stood in silence for a moment, his panicked thoughts filling the empty air. It was a short while before Marinette became visibly uncomfortable again. A look of determination, which he had more commonly seen on the face of Ladybug, suddenly flared into her eyes. It was only allowed a brief entrance however, as she became more acutely aware of their situation and appeared to require some revaluation. "I could try to, like…" As she spoke, Marinette moved the limb he had regretted putting in between his legs. A quick shot of adrenalin rushed down his spine and he clenched his teeth to stop any, and all of the sounds that threatened to emerge, from escaping.

"No!" Adrien whimpered. Despite his best efforts, he could barely utter the word without creating unnecessary noise. He nearly screamed it, in fact. It had been the nature of the utterance. "Uh, no," he attempted to rectify. "It's okay. Please, don't move." It occurred to him that perhaps it wasn't the best idea to wait for someone to find them. The position was compromising to say the least, what with both of their faces colored with blood, and his… well, he shouldn't be seen. There had to be something else they could do. "I'm… I'm going to try… something."

"Okay."

Second Disclaimer: I'm demisexual with zero sexual experience. Any and all sexual yearning described in this story was experienced purely through the reading of other people's fics. Sorry for any inaccuracies!