Marinette took a shortcut to the medical clinic. There was an alleyway behind the bakery that she knew would come out on the one-way street over by the clinic. She couldn't go to the same doctor she'd seen since she was a little girl for fear he'd tell her parents and the cat would really be out of the bag. That thought made her chuckle silently to herself.
Once she got to the clinic she could see a couple cars parked out front. One was a powder blue, 1940s classic car with large fenders and a chrome bumper. "Beautiful," she sighed as she walked past it. There was a mostly empty waiting room when she walked in.
"Appointment?"
"Yes," she nodded, "Marinette Dupain-Cheng."
The lady at the front desk picked up a clipboard and handed it to her. "Fill out all your information and return this to the front desk. Thank you."
Marinette took a seat in the corner of the room. There was an older man reading a magazine across the room and an old woman, with her service dog, sitting just next to her. Marinette fanned through the sheets on the clipboard. There was a place for the address and she pulled out Master Fu's business card to fill in the correct information. Then she put in all her information as she normally would and returned the clipboard.
It took another twenty minutes, and about six people, some of whom had come in after she did. The nervousness was radiating out of her in the form of jittery fingers, tapping toes, and rubbing her thighs over and over. She kept glancing over at the door, as if expecting someone she knew to appear, and then hiding her head again. Then a nurse appeared at the door, "Marinette."
Marinette walked after the nurse, not sure what constituted a pre-marriage medical examination.
"Marinette," she smiled, "It looks like you are getting married! Congratulations!"
"Thank you." Her face felt hot and she looked away guiltily. Although, she hoped she just looked shy.
The nurse didn't seem to notice, "Let's go over your answers to the questionaire, shall we?"
"Sure," she nodded.
"All right. Let's see here. Are you on any medications?"
"No."
"Are you allergic to anything?"
"Not that I'm aware, although, my mom said I was allergic to honeybees when I was little," she shrugged, "I haven't been stung so I wouldn't know."
"What about any sensitivities to medications?"
"Nope."
"You have listed here...no sexual activity. Not even with your fiance?"
Marinette blushed, "No. Never."
"Well, we can skip the invasive venereal tests and the pap smears. Your annual should cover most of that regularly."
"Thanks. What do I have to do here?"
"Simple. I need weight, height, blood pressure, urine sample, and a blood draw for a CBC."
Marinette's eyes widened, "That sounds like a lot."
"No, honey, it'll take about ten minutes. I'll have you out of here in a jiffy. Piece of cake."
All that time waiting out in the reception room and she wasn't even going to see the doctor. She was just thankful she was eighteen so she didn't ask about her parents. Whew!
Adrien walked to the clinic out by his school. It was the only one he knew of without being the one he'd attended his entire life. It appeared to be pretty slow going there. He walked up and noticed a beautiful, powder blue, 1941 Citroen 11CV Traction Avant, in pristine condition sitting there. He was convinced it HAD to be the doctor's car. It stuck out like a sore thumb. He spent a minute walking around it and ogling the classic car.
When he walked in, the lady at the front desk handed him a clipboard, "Fill these out, young man."
Adrien found a seat in the corner to fill out the sheets. He pulled Master Fu's card out of his pocket to put down as his address. He couldn't afford to have anything come back to his father. He didn't want him to meddle with anything. He sat there for only a few minutes when the nurse was there calling his name.
"Adrien?" she called. Her eyes snapped right up to him, with obvious recognition, and he went in. He was sure he was given a couple killer looks before entering. He'd only just arrived and there were other people waiting. "Mr. Agreste, room two."
Adrien entered the room and saw it was a simple office like any other he'd been in; the bed, a stool, a light board, a sink, various jars of bandaids, swabs, tongue depressors, and alcohol wipes. The nurse sat down at the stool and pulled out her clipboard.
"Let's go over these records, shall we?"
"Sure," he nodded. He wasn't really comfortable with the way she was looking at him. If he'd known she was hungry he'd have brought her a sandwich or something.
He heard her sigh sadly and shake her head, "Well, that's a shame. There are going to be a lot of broken lonely hearts around this city. I see you marked pre-marital medical examination."
"Yes," he nodded.
The nurse screwed up her eyebrows like she was trying to figure out a really hard math problem, but kept coming up empty, "You were dating someone?"
"Yes," he nodded. Obviously.
As if that was satisfactory, she sighed and kept going over his charts, "Allergic to feathers and grass. Interesting to be allergic to that." She giggled and Adrien cringed. "Let's see-no sexual activity," her eyes snapped up to him, wide and intrigued, "Seriously? None? Ever?"
"Never," he shook his head. There was a pause, "This is confidential, right?"
"Absolutely," she nodded.
"Okay, but do forgive me, I need your information in case it does get out. I'd hate to have to sue anyone for mishandling my private information, but I do have to be safe."
She pursed her lips, but nodded, "You can ask the receptionist."
"Thank you...Paulette," he read her name tag, "Much appreciated."
Paulette pulled out a form, "You aren't going to need the venereal disease screening, but we will need height, weight, a urine sample, and a CBC."
"All right," he nodded, "I'm ready."
Marinette left the clinic, feeling woozy, and decided to get an ice cream from the street vendor. She sat down on the bench across the street to rest a minute. She'd been there only a minute when someone was standing in front of her, blocking the sun out of her eyes. Marinette leaned back and gazed up.
"A-Adrien?"
"May I join you?" he asked, taking a seat next to her on the bench.
"No, be my guest," she smiled scooting over on the bench to make room.
He sat down and noticed the ice cream she was eating, "Oooh, that looks good. Be right back." He hopped up to get one and when he returned he had a large waffle cone with vanilla ice cream hanging out of it and dripping down his fingers. He plopped back down by Marinette, "What are you up to today?"
Marinette shrugged, "Blood tests. They're looking for...uh...anemia." She stuttered enough in front of him he wouldn't be able to tell she was fibbing. "What are you doing out this way?"
"Blood tests," he sighed, "Yeah, checking for anemia. So weird that they think you might be anemic, too." He was glad she came up with the perfect excuse for him.
"I know, right?" she smiled and nodded.
"I'm sure my dietician will have a heart attack if I come back anemic," he chuckled.
"I b-bet," she nodded.
They hadn't talked for a couple days and he thought it was a good idea to have a chat with Marinette since she could very well be his neighbor in the immediate future. That thought made him grin.
"W-what are you th-inking about?" she asked.
"Moving out," he sighed, "I can't wait for college."
Marinette's eyes widened fractionally, to stare intensely at her ice cream in an attempt to keep her heart calm, considering he and she had a sort of living agreement she'd rather not try to think about. I'm getting married. I'm getting married. I'm getting married. AND I love him. I do. He loves me, I love him, it's not a persona.
Adrien realized she was tense so he looked frantically for a way to lighten the mood. He was worried about college, too. It was a big time in a person's life where they really find out who they are and break out of the shells that have been fortified by their parents at home. He was a little nervous about all the responsibility, too. A drip of ice cream was dripping down Marinette's fingers. Adrien leaned over and licked it off with a chuckle.
He licked me! ADRIEN LICKED ME! She didn't know if she should be repulsed or honored. She figured it was probably as close to a kiss as she'd ever get. It was such a strange thing for him to do, so out of his usual character, she couldn't help, but giggle.
"You have to EAT it, Marinette," he smiled, "Or it'll drip all over you."
"Y-yeah," she nodded, quickly shoving the cone in her mouth to suck most of the drippier parts off. As she made quick work of cleaning it up she realized Adrien was just watching her, unmoving, mesmerized.
Adrien couldn't manage to breathe. He didn't know why, but there was some envy for that ice cream cone. He quickly reprimanded himself, for plenty of reasons, and shook his head to clear it. "Uh...I've got to go." He stood up suddenly, "I'll see you later?"
She nodded, "Sure."
"Till then, Marinette."
"Later, Adrien." She waved lazily after him to make sure he was out of ear shot to let all of her tension out in the form of a tiny shrill squeal.
Well, on a positive note, both of their medical evaluations were done and neither one was the wiser. Now, they'd just have to wait until Master Fu received them to go over the results before mailing them in.
