It wasn't until the New Year when they had time to meet up. His mind was eating away at his sanity, unresolved questions lining up and demanding answers. He couldn't placate his head and more than once, he found himself pacing his room late at night when he couldn't sleep.
Noel was done and her orders dropped significantly. Her time had opened up, but the first time she agreed to meet up with him in her room found her deeply asleep in bed. He knew she needed it and forced patience so she could recuperate, knowing full well how many late hours she put in making things for everyone.
A week of waiting was killing him, but there was little he could do. He told himself she was so tired and needed rest. She needed to catch up, because he was going to demand answers from her soon.
He knocked on her dorm, face grim. He didn't want this, didn't want to feel like this. He wished he hadn't been paying attention in those seconds. Something ugly was taking root in the back of his head and while he didn't want to know what it was, he couldn't help the need to find out at the same time.
"Come on in." She muttered, rubbing her eyes as she stepped to the side.
He eyed her and the sleepwear she had on, feeling bad for having woken her. "It's almost two in the afternoon." He murmured, walking inside. The door shut behind him, the lock going back into place. "How long have you been asleep?"
She yawned and followed him to her room. The bed was unmade, the covers having been thrown to the side as she got up when he knocked. "I think...ten last night?" A hand scratched unruly hair, idly straightening it. "Maybe it was before that?"
He abruptly walked up to her and plopped his hands on her shoulders. "You shouldn't do that stuff to yourself." He harshly admonished, frowning. "I don't like to see you beat yourself up like that!"
She patted his arm, looking sullen. "It's the nature of the beast." She muttered, stepping away for her bathroom. "What did you need to talk to me about?" She left the door open as she headed in, the sound of water coming seconds later.
He was suddenly thrown back into the torment which plagued him for so many countless hours. He made great art from it, but it didn't help satisfy what had been bugging him since Noel. He listened to the water run into a glass, idly looking at all the things around her room.
He stopped at the curtains which had multiple pins in them, effectively keeping them closed.
"I thought I had seen so much from you already."
He saw them once, but never bothered mentioning it. He figured she finally wised up and considered what she may look like at night. He had wondered if people were able to see her with the buildings as close as they were, but mentioning it in the past got a shrug and comment that she needed the light during the day and just forgot to close them at night.
"I thought I had seen so much from you already."
After a year of being at ISC, she finally closed them. So many days and nights he had been here and the flimsy white fabric had been wide open to all. Any time he told her she should do something about them, she dismissed his words. Whenever he did the deed himself, she would get mad and jerk them apart and order him to leave them so she could use the light to work with.
They had been open until really recently, when he came over and she was highly distressed more than anything he had ever seen. When she had been crying her eyes out for however many unknown hours.
His mind whirled, finding a set of puzzle pieces before him and creating a picture he didn't want to put together...which his mind put together for him. His eyes narrowed, his blood boiling.
Marinette was in ISC.
Adrien was in ISC.
Marinette's curtains had been open for anyone to see her for an entire year.
Her curtains were closed shortly after the breakdown he witnessed.
She recently met Adrien Agreste as well.
His fists clenched, wanting to connect with something. Being a man, it was simple to take such a scenario and fit the pieces together. He knew how easy it was to obsess over a person such as Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Physical beauty and stature aside, she was amazingly talented and driven. She was outspoken when she wanted to be and didn't hesitate to say what was on her mind most times. She was kind and polite to others and she gave of herself in the most interesting of ways. She agonized over her faults and tried to be there for him even though she knew she couldn't.
Quiet footsteps barely came to his ears as he saw her stand next to him out of the corner of his eye. She reiterated her previous question and gave a look that said he should be speaking right now. Red clouded his vision, assumptions overcoming his common sense.
He whipped to her with chipped emeralds, grabbing one of her wrists and squeezing harshly. He ignored her cry of pain and order to release her. He yanked her to him, steadying her as she stumbled against him and pinned her with a look that was hurt, accusatory, and demanding all at once.
"Why are the curtains closed?" He icily asked.
Her eyes widened and she took a small step back at his demeanor. It frightened her just a little and she tried to get her hand back, but he wouldn't let go. "You're hurting me!" She insisted, hoping to appeal to his emotions. "Let go of me. They're closed because I want them closed."
His eyes narrowed further. "Is it because someone has been watching you?"
She stilled, blood running cold. She pointedly kept her hand on her wrist, feeling a chill crawl up her spin. Her mouth opened to say anything, but froze. She pushed a syllable out, but didn't get any further.
"Is it because ADRIEN has been watching you?" He pursued, a finger pointing to the building directly across from hers. To the room on the other side of the way. To the person probably in that room at this second.
Her eyes shot up to his, wide in shock and giving herself away. She shook her head a degree, trying to keep this from happening, to let this seep to others. Alya she trusted this with so much and Nino having found out wasn't a big deal because he didn't go telling everyone.
Nathaniel was the last person she ever wanted finding out about the whole ordeal.
"Don't lie to me!" He retorted, shaking her wrist. His free hand grasped her chin and jerked her vision to his, not letting her escape. "Who lives directly across from you over there?! Who?"
She shivered. She had rarely seen Nathaniel as angry as he currently was because she often saw him get emotional in a weepy sort of way instead. The only few times he was ever this mad was when she got hit on in the study areas at Sorbonne before they officially went out.
It hadn't happened for a long time. In the beginning, before they established themselves, it looked like it was open season on her. When Nathaniel was pursuing her, she was hesitant to accept his advances. He had been a friend and that's all she saw in him. It was only when he heatedly insisted that she was his in a public place, to someone who asked her out, that she started to see him differently.
"Ad...rien... A...greste..." She whispered, feeling a sense of foreboding creep through her.
He stared at her for what seemed forever. His face was even, body unmoving. They froze like that, her wide eyes trying to read his face, and his frown taking up permanent residence.
He finally threw her wrist to the side and took a step back, eyes randomly darting around the floor. The facts finished putting themselves into place and he was livid. He didn't know what he wanted to do in this second, but physical violence to someone was a likely possibility. Verbal threats were already formed in his head and ready to be used. He tried to gulp air in, finding it hard.
She saw so much in his stance and rushed to him, grabbing his sweater before he could go anywhere. "Don't!" She insisted, eyes tearing. "Don't do anything! Please! Just let it alone! It's done and over with! He apologized already! He isn't going to do it anymore!"
"Anymore..." He mumbled, eyes darkening.
She gulped and cursed her poor choice of words.
He looked down at her, grabbing her wrist without expression. "So...this has happened more than once has it?"
She couldn't help the wince, giving away everything.
He lowered his face a little to hers, eyes becoming colder as the seconds passed. "Ever since you came here, those curtains have been opened. Even when I closed them, you opened them back up with protests. Now, in the last few weeks alone, they've been pinned closed so that they can't be opened."
Her hands cupped his face, not wanting anything that was about to transpire to transpire. "It's done! Please don't do anything about it!" She pleaded, feeling a tear fall. Panic and paranoia made it hard to feel her fingers. "Please just let it go! There's nothing you can do about it anyway!"
"The man has been watching you!" He nearly yelled, squeezing her wrist. He let up a little at the look of pain on her face. "How long?! How many months? Would you like me to hazard a guess? Perhaps since you started here?" He stepped back, and looked down. "I could kill him."
Her eyes widened and she launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his torso as tightly as she could to keep him from getting out of her room. "No! Please don't do anything, Nathaniel!" Tears wet his sweater as she shook. She feared what would happen to either of them if he left this room. "Don't go anywhere! Don't do anything about it! Just let it go! I have! He's apologized already! It's over!"
"It apparently isn't with how you acted at the party." He hotly denied, forcing her view up to his. "You were affected by it and you still are with how much you're freaking out. I saw how nervous you were that night. Don't deny it! He did something atrocious to you and has for a year!"
She hugged him, burying her face in his chest. He thankfully didn't move as she did so and her arms trembled at the depth of the emotions confronting her, her breathing choppy.
Nothing she could say was going to make this better. Surely, what Adrien had done was probably worth calling the police, but the only evidence was his word. Any form of denial for his own safety would probably happen and then they would have a couple of annoyed police officers who were going to be looking their way.
She never pondered the reasons as to why Adrien had watched her that long, too busy with so many other things. The situation had, thankfully, slipped her mind. Noel was too important to let the last year stay in the forefront.
She wasn't stupid though and she could hypothesize a few things. Without talking to him for answers, they would remain just that. She didn't want to consider such things ever happening though because she had nothing to give him. She could barely give him friendship with the way her schedule was, let alone choose him over Nathaniel.
Her vision was suddenly moved up again, meeting demanding, utterly hurt green eyes. "Do you like him?"
She blinked, almost unable to comprehend his words. Her mouth dropped open at the insinuation.
His grip tightened at her silence. "Do you like him, I asked...answer me!"
His tone took a desperate tinge to it and it made tears come to her eyes. This possibility was hurting him, even though it would never come to pass. That alone stabbed her through the chest.
Her head shook, tears falling. "No..." She whispered, his grip slackening at the answer. She stepped back to see him better, hands fisting the front of his sweater. "No. No. No, I don't like him!" She squeezed fabric, feeling hurt rise. "How could I? I don't even know him! What happened was embarrassing, but an unmanageable. We were both to blame! It's over!"
"A man doesn't watch a woman from his window for an entire year and claim that things are done and over with." He darkly retorted. His hands suddenly grasped her arms, shaking her a little. "Stay away from him! Don't go near him, Marinette!" His voice cracked, jaw tight.
Her heart went out to him. What happened must look horrible to him. She had been living her own life and some guy was watching her during it. Now, he had introduced himself to her and spent Noel with her. He was in her circle of friends and was making jokes with her. He had become fairly close in a short amount of time, much closer as opposed to the last year. Both of their excuses were pretty lame and he still pursued her even after she ran away from him after he confessed everything.
Her eyes lowered as she thought of it from outside everything. She didn't want to avoid Adrien because she thought they could actually be friends. She didn't have enough of them these days, let alone any in ISC or in her style of work. Her Sorbonne friends were in arts or language or music; nothing even remotely affiliated to her. Knowing Adrien could relate to her on her level was kind of nice.
She suddenly hugged him tightly, face brushing against his chest. She was silent as she tried to sort everything out. She didn't want to lose Nathaniel for a friend, but she wasn't going to be happy at ignoring Adrien all over again. Everything aside, being a model aside, he was a nice individual.
His arms slowly pushed her away. Her silence was like a spear through him and all he felt was hollow. "I see..." He mumbled, taking a step from her arms.
She jumped, hands going out. "N – Nathaniel?"
He turned his back to her, eyes on the door. He felt like he was bleeding out every emotion that he didn't want to experience. The fact that she hadn't said anything about keeping her distance from a man who was watching her the entire time she had been at school told him she was able to look past such a transgression and let Adrien be by her side in some manner.
The recent evenings he had been in her room seemed cheapened and he wanted to spit on them. The nights he had stayed over during that last year, accepting of any advances she made...curtains wide open...struck him and made him feel filthy.
"You won't stay away from him then?"
She swallowed, throat closing up. "I -" She took a step for his back. "I..."
He felt her hands brush the back of his coat, but he stepped away. It hurt too much to look at her right now and if he did, he would crack and she wouldn't be able to pick him back up. His fists clenched as he marched the few steps for her door.
She jumped and hurried after him. "Wait! Nathaniel!" Her hands lashed out and wrapped around his arm. "Don't go! Not right now! Please!"
He paused, hand on the knob, head bowed. He tried to remember to breathe, knowing they both needed to calm down. His leaving like this wasn't going to do a bit of good. Leaving her like this would shatter what little they had created over the last few weeks. If he left like this, he may just march right over to Adrien's room and punch him right in the face.
He slowly looked over his shoulder, seeing tears staining her face. She looked upset and confused and sorry. His mouth opened, poised to say anything, but didn't have words available to give her. The tears in his eyes fell.
He looked like she had slapped him in the face. She felt something in her crumble into a million pieces. Her arms clenched tighter as she inched closer. "Please..." She breathed, eyes pleading. "Don't go...like this...not like this...please. Please Nathaniel."
He turned and faced her, his arm remained taken by her. His free hand floated up and gently kept her vision to his. "Tell me...you won't see him...anymore...and I'll stay." He managed.
Her eyes widened a little. The words were so easy. A simple "yes" or "okay" was all she needed to say. Her mouth opened to give him what he needed, to soothe whatever strange occurrence had sprouted from nothing.
But she didn't say it.
His eyes searched hers. He knew her as good, no...better than her own parents did. Her silence was the answer he got, but didn't want.
His hand slowly released itself from her chin, his back straightening. He let the tears on his face continue to fall, feeling something beautiful that he felt for her die in a dark place.
Without a word, he wrenched his arm from hers and exited her room, slamming the door shut.