Day 11 – First Kiss
The next evening, Adrien invited Marinette over for dinner. He said his parents had planned to eat dinner together and he didn't want to eat alone. She had offered for him to go over to her bakery and eat with her family, but Emilie stepped in and explained that sorry, Adrien had lessons in the manor prior to dinner, so it would be quite late if he were to start heading over to the bakery afterward.
But Marinette was more than welcome to come over and join him after his lessons finished.
Emilie then seized the opportunity for a little matchmaking of her own.
"It's going to be perfect!" she cooed to her husband, running around setting up the candles and tea lights. She draped a white linen tablecloth over the dining room table. She set up two parallel rows of the tiny candles in the middle. Gabriel watched from the doorway with his arms folded, the skepticism clear in his expression as he studied the setup.
"Uh, I'm not sure this is going to work," he commented, his voice heavy with doubt. "It's a bit too... intimate for their relationship right now."
"Nonsense," she chastised, scattering handfuls of rose petals on the tablecloth. She breathed deep, inhaling the faint aroma of the vanilla candles and the roses. "Aren't you going to help me?"
He sighed, pushing himself away from the doorframe. He grabbed a few vases of roses and set them on the edges of the room, interspersed between tall thin candlesticks and shorter, fat candles. More tealights circled the vases, where the flickering candlelight would reflect and dance off of the jagged crystal. Blooming rose buds hung from the chair corners, twisted onto the corners. Red and white pillows adorned the chairs.
"I don't know," he said, eyeing the room décor. "I really think this might be too much. These two are still a bit skittish around each other. If you throw something this obvious in their faces, it'll just end in blushes and stammers."
"Hush up. You're going to jinx me."
He continued setting up the candles and flowers in silence.
They had just finished lighting the last candle when the doorbell buzzed and Nathalie let in Marinette. Adrien met her in the foyer. Emilie and Gabriel left the dining room just as they were going upstairs. Emilie feigned exhaustion. Gabriel stepped in and played his part expertly.
"I'm so sorry, dear," Emilie murmured to Gabriel.
"Think nothing of it," he replied, holding her steady by the shoulders as she wavered in place. "Upstairs to bed with you. I'll bring dinner to you tonight."
"That would be lovely, darling."
Emilie looked over to Adrien and Marinette with a tired, drawn smile. "I'm not feeling up for sitting around. You two are more than welcome to eat in the dining room. Don't mind the décor, okay?"
Marinette and Adrien looked to each other. Adrien shrugged. "We can play some games afterward," he suggested.
"Okay," his partner agreed. They headed to the dining room. Emilie visibly perked up, eagerly awaiting their reaction once they passed her.
Adrien pushed open the doors.
Both children stopped cold.
The blood drained from Marinette's face.
Adrien's eyes widened. He quickly turned to Marinette. "Uh, I didn't know it looked like this," he insisted.
Marinette began to tremble, her hands rising to cover her mouth. "I'm sorry," she whispered at last. "I... I don't think I can eat dinner with you tonight." She turned to Adrien, but didn't meet his eyes. "It's... it's not you, it's me. Really. I'm sorry. I just... I just can't. I'm so sorry."
And with that, she turned and bolted from the house.
Leaving two confused adults and one sad teen behind.
"Uh, Adrien?" Emilie ventured.
"Ah." Adrien whirled around, forgetting his parents on the foot of the staircase. "Sorry about that," he said, waving his hand to the vacant spot Marinette had stood seconds earlier. "I uh, well I did something like this a while back. I set up this whole scene for her. Back before we knew who each other were, of course. It ah, well, it looked actually almost identical to this right here. It... didn't end well that night."
It was as if a bucket of cold water splashed over Emilie. "Oh, Adrien, I'm so sorry, I didn't know."
"Nah, it's okay, Mom. It's a little bit of both of our faults. She feels guilty, I feel guilty... We've talked about it since, but I guess seeing this table exactly how I set up the balcony that night was just a bit too much for her."
"Guilt can eat a person up from the inside," Gabriel spoke up. "Give her a night, then reach out to her in the morning."
Adrien nodded. "Thank you, Father."
And with that, Adrien trudged back to his room, his head hung low with heartache.
Emilie's yearned to reach for him, but held back. This wasn't something she could heal with her mother's love, no matter how much she wished she could. The sound of his door shutting broke her more than she cared to admit.
"They'll work things out," Gabriel murmured in her ear, reading her mind. "They just need some time to sort through the stumbling blocks."
"But we caused this one," Emilie lamented, leaning into her husband.
She felt his shrug against her back. "From the sounds of things, I think something like this would have come up eventually. We may have pushed them to face it sooner, but sooner is always better than later." He kissed her head. "Don't fret, dear. I have an idea on how to start out small."
"Oh?"
"I'll tell you over dinner." He led her back to the dining room. "We can't let all of our hard work go to waste, now can we?"
A couple of days later, Gabriel stood in the kitchen with a giant bowl of popcorn, freshly popped. Emilie sat nearby, nibbling on some of the vegetables and fruits he had prepared for the kids.
"Marinette is set to arrive here soon," Gabriel explained, adding a touch of salt to the bowl and tossing the hot kernels around. Beside him, Duusu slept in another bowl of popcorn.
The kwami had gotten so delighted at her wielder making popcorn that she dove into the first batch of freshly popped corn, scattering the fluffy kernels high into the air like a popcorn volcano. She chirped in excitement as she began to eat her way through the snack. Nooroo, on the other hand, was content to eat some of the chocolate covered raspberries on the tray.
Gabriel had just sighed, bent down to retrieve another bowl, and turned the stove back on to pop another batch. Duusu burrowed herself in the middle of the popcorn and curled up to sleep, occasionally letting out content chirps as she snoozed.
"What movie are they going to watch?" Emilie asked, scooping out a handful from around the sleeping Duusu. The kwami turned over on her side. A couple of bits of the airy snack clung to her magical feathers.
He shrugged. "Adrien has quite the selection. But no matter what they pick, watching a movie together will no doubt end in a kiss. Alone in a quiet room together. It's the experience of a darkened movie theater without other people to ruin it."
She giggled at that. "I rather enjoyed watching movies in the theater with you," she said, trailing one finger along his arm. A slow smile spread across his face.
"Well, maybe we can have our own movie date while they have theirs," he said.
"With more popcorn?"
He looked at the two bowls in front of him. "Er, we might have to be content with the leftover fruit platter."
"That's fine with me!" Nooroo exclaimed, snatching up another candied treat – a sugar coated orange slice this time.
The buzzer sounded and Gabriel's head shot up. "That's them!" He grabbed the bowl of popcorn, smoothed back the hair that had gotten ruffled from Duusu and headed out to meet the two.
Adrien walked in through the door, followed by... Nino?
Even his incredible skills at indifference couldn't mask the shock at seeing the headphone wearing boy enter behind his son.
"Where's Marinette?" he blurted out, unable to help himself.
"Marinette?" Adrien repeated. "Oh, she had to stay behind today to make up a test she missed last week due to the akuma attack." His son leveled a very pointed look at him.
Oh. Well, crap. Still, he had to say something.
"Very well. Do enjoy the movie, then. Mr. Lahiffe, please try not to spill too much popcorn." He thrust the bowl at Adrien.
"You got it, du- I mean, sir!"
Gabriel pivoted on his heels and stalked back into the kitchen. He plopped onto the barstool beside his wife and slammed his forehead down on the counter. The noise woke Duusu, who shot out of the bowl with a startled squawk. More popcorn rained down on them.
Emilie chuckled as she rubbed one hand across her husband's back in soothing circles. "You have only yourself to blame for this one, dear."
Author's Note: Perdita drew a picture of Duusu sleeping in the popcorn bowl. It's viewable on her tumblr page or this chapter on AO3.