Adrien's fingers grazed above the stitches once again.
He couldn't deny it.
It was obviously there, embroidered within his favourite scarf's threads.
Marinette.
How in the world he hadn't seen it before, he couldn't tell.
Marinette had made his scarf. His favourite scarf.
Confronting Nathalie about it had been surprisingly easy. She had admitted her wrongdoing right away, apologizing for it and explaining she had been afraid of disappointing his father.
Something Adrien could relate to quite easily, so he couldn't find it in himself to be mad at her.
But it only left him with an interesting enigma.
Marinette, the girl who was always stuttering around him, avoided his gaze like the plague and seemingly always ran away from him had made him a scarf. In the first few weeks of him attending public school, no less.
But why ?
Why would she do such a thing for him?
He didn't know much about knitting, but he knew that those things took time. His scarf was perfect, to a point where he had honestly believed it had been store bought. She had obviously put a lot of time and care into making him a birthday gift, and hadn't even tried to tell him she was the one who had gifted it to him.
That girl was a mystery.
Monday morning found Adrien sitting in class with jittery nerves. The scarf was neatly wrapped around his neck, and he had never been this anxious to see someone.
Nino flashed him a curious glance upon entering the classroom, slipping on the bench beside him. "Hey, you okay bro? You look like you're about to pass out."
"Yeah, just had a bad night, that's all," Adrien replied half-heartedly.
Whatever his best friend answered him was completely lost on him, though.
Because right this second, Marinette had slipped through the door behind the teacher, out of breath and slightly dishevelled, cheeks red and backpack tucked under her arm. She was smiling sheepishly as she sneaked her way to her seat, shrugging Alya's questions off.
Meanwhile, Adrien was having a small conniption.
How in the world hadn't he paid attention to her before?
The way the classroom's lighting was bringing out the bluish hue of her black hair was captivating, as was the deep, unique shade of her eyes. The freckles spread on her nose and cheeks were just plain adorable, and now that he paid close attention to his shy classmate, Adrien was noticing a brand new side of her.
There was something bubbly to Marinette, something that was purely lively.
She was laughing at something Alya had said now, her head slightly tilted back and her hand covering her pink, rosy lips.
Laughing suited her, Adrien realized. She looked like she was made out of peals of laughter and pastries, like she was only made of sweet things.
Even Nino curious nudge couldn't snap Adrien out of his daydreams, and Adrien spent the remaining of that day keeping close tabs on the shy baker daughter.
Had Marinette always been that pretty?
Tuesday found Adrien wandering into the classroom, his nose teasing him with delicious aromas.
Sure enough, standing at the front, Marinette was smiling at their classmates, a huge box from the bakery in her hands. When she noticed him standing in the doorway, she waved him in shyly. "Morning Adrien! I-I made macarons with Papa yesterday. Want one?"
Adrien peeked into the box of mouthwatering goodies, amazed by the colourful pastries displayed before him. There was a row of every rainbow colour, and they smelled heavenly.
"I… I can?" he asked, looking at her with wide eyes. He could feel his cheeks burn with a fiery blush, and could only hope she wouldn't notice.
"Of course, I made them so I could share them!" she beamed at him, her smile almost blinding him.
He took a bite into a green macaron, eyes widening as the flavours assaulted his taste buds. "Holy cow, Marinette, this is amazing! You did this all by yourself?"
She flushed, and it was by far the most adorable thing Adrien had ever seen. "Papa had to help me with the fillings, but I baked them mostly on my own, yes."
Adrien honestly meant to reply, " It's amazing. "
How his tongue slipped and he instead said, "You're amazing," he didn't know.
But the look on Marinette's face was well worth it.
She wasn't only pretty, she could also bake like heaven.
Wednesday was a fresh day from hell for Adrien.
He missed the first half of the day because of a photo shoot that dragged on. The photographer visibly had no clue about what he was doing, and was retaking shots that had been perfect to begin with.
So when he stumbled in the school's library halfway through lunch hour, he had honestly only been looking for a bit of quiet time before tackling the afternoon classes.
What he hadn't expected, though, was to find Marinette absentmindedly doodling on a sketchpad by one of the windows.
"You aren't with Alya?" he softly asked her, still startling her out of her skin.
She regained her bearing quickly enough though, and smiled at him. "She and Nino are having a lunch date. Didn't want to third wheel them, you know?"
And boy did he know.
Alya and Nino weren't the oldest couple in their grade, Mylene and Ivan beat them to that. But they were by far the most demonstrative.
How many times had he himself excused himself from his best friend's company because the morning greeting kiss with Alya had become a little too heated for his tastes?
Smiling sympathetically, Adrien plopped himself in the chair beside her, casting a glance at her sketchbook. "What are you drawing?"
"I got bored with my dress design," she replied truthfully. "So I tried to draw the bird on the tree, right over there."
He followed her finger, pointing to a small, red bird nesting in a tree right outside the school's window. Her drawing was nearly lifelike, the colours popping out of the page and making the sketched bird look alive.
Pretty, baker, and apparently incredibly creative.
The more he learned about his classmate, the more fascinated Adrien grew with her.
When Adrien walked through their classroom's door on Thursday, the first thing he heard was the screams.
Chloe was making a scene again, going on about how unnatural it was for Rose and Juleka to be together in a romantic way.
Adrien felt his blood boil under his skin. There were a lot of things he was willing to let his childhood friend get away with, but homophobic comments weren't one of them.
Before he could speak, though, Marinette stepped up to Chloe, staring down at her. "You're only jealous, Chloe Bourgeois, because nobody loves you the way Rose and Juleka love each other. And let me tell you something, it's not with that nasty, hateful attitude of yours that this is gonna change anytime soon."
Shocked into silence, Chloe only managed to sit back in her seat, muttering an offended, "Whatever."
The rest of their classmates, though, Adrien included, heartily applauded Marinette's intervention.
Pretty as a button, good at baking sweets, insanely creative, and brave enough to stand up to bullies.
Adrien was liking the shy girl sitting behind him more and more each day.
On Friday morning, Adrien woke up with a headache.
It only got worse when he got to school and noticed he had forgotten to do his English homework.
Seemingly noticing his distress, Marinette smiled at him warmly, slipping her copy toward him, "Fencing practice ran out late?" she asked simply, taking him aback.
Of course, his predicament was more due to the akuma that had struck after fencing practice.
But the fact that Marinette even knew he had fencing practice on Thursdays evenings was telling a lot about how she was paying attention to her classmates.
He looked at her, startled, and simply said, "Yeah, it was kind of a nightmare."
Marinette only grinned further. "I'm pretty good in English, take my answers. I might or might not take some physics answers hostage in exchange."
As it turned out, Marinette was beautiful, a baker's daughter, creative, brave and the kindest person he had ever encounter.
And Adrien was in deep, deep trouble.
"Nathalie?" he asked abruptly on Friday night. "Do you think I could get some wool? And knitting needles? The online tutorial said a size seven works best for beginners."
She raised a surprised look from her tablet, but smiled at him nonetheless. "Sure, Adrien. What colour, the wool?"
"She loves pink a lot," Adrien blurted out before realizing what he had just said. "Erm…"
Nathalie's smile widened. "It's for that Dupain-Cheng girl, isn't it? That's very kind of you, Adrien."
He blushed deeply. "Well… she took a lot of her time to knit something for my birthday, and she's always making everyone handmade gifts and-"
"And you like her," Nathalie ended for him, making his blush go a few shades darker.
But Adrien couldn't deny it.
In the past week where he had paid extra attention to Marinette, he had found himself falling for her, and falling hard.
Nathalie only smiled softly, noting his demand on her tablet. "Pink is a good choice, Adrien, it'll be beautiful with the blue of her eyes. I'll have your bodyguard buy what you need tomorrow morning."
"Thanks, Nathalie," Adrien said before turning around, walking back to his room.
Before he could reach the door, though, Nathalie's voice stopped him. "Adrien? If you need help with the knitting, you could always come and find me. I know a thing or two about it."
Adrien grinned at her, barely resisting the sudden urge to hurl himself toward her and hug the light out of her. "Thanks, Nathalie. I will."
As it turned out, knitting was a lot more difficult than he had expected.
He had ruined a great length of the hot pink wool the Gorilla had brought him. The tag said Merino, which Adrien didn't have a clue about what it meant, but the wool was shiny and soft to the touch.
After watching what felt like hundreds of online tutorials though, and running to Nathalie a few times because he had lost the wrestle against his bright green sewing needles, he still managed to produce something that vaguely resembled a square of wool.
It was far from perfect, and his fingers itched to undo the entire thing and start over, but time was running out faster than he would've liked, so he stuck with the shapeless square of knit and resumed his knitting, trying to keep the stitches as even as he could.
Hours of careful work and a few more trips to implore Nathalie's help later, Adrien held in his hands his very first knitted scarf.
Exhausted, he stumbled into his bed after carefully wrapping it in colourful paper, rubbing his bleary eyes.
Tomorrow, he would give her the fruit of his labour.
Tomorrow, he would tell her how much she meant to him.
Monday morning found one restless Adrien Agreste standing at the bottom of the school stairs, a colourful package tucked under his arm.
When Nino walked up to him, looking at him curiously, Adrien all but dismissed him. "I'm only giving someone a long overdue thank you," was his explanation. Alya received the same treatment, only to be shoved aside when Marinette finally made her appearance, out of breath from having run all the way from the bakery.
"I'm here guys!" she announced cheerily, before noticing Adrien and his odd, stiff posture. "Adrien, is everything alright?"
He unceremoniously shoved his package in her unsuspecting hands, blushing furiously. "I… I found out about how you knitted my favourite scarf, and, well, I tried to make something for you back, so here."
Marinette blinked, obviously taken aback.
Hesitantly, like she was afraid he was messing with her, she carefully peeled the tape of the package away, enthusiasm quickly growing. When she saw what was inside, she literally squealed. "Oh my god Adrien!"
"It's far from perfect, and I had to get a lot of help from my father's assistant and-"
She cut his rambling short by launching herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly. "You shouldn't have! I love it, I love it so much!"
Adrien was taken aback by how right the girl felt in his arms. She was petite and lean, but muscular at the same time.
And she smelled heavenly good.
Vanilla, and baked goods.
She smelled like home should smell.
He wrapped his arms around her despite himself, and rested his chin on the crown of her head. "You like it that much? But the knitting is uneven, and even with Nathalie's help I had a lot of troubles to put the beads on the fringe and-"
"But you did it, Adrien. For me. Nothing in the world could have made me happier," Marinette replied, beaming at him happily.
Was it the stunning blue of her eyes, shining like a gem in the soft lighting of the morning?
Was it the soft hue of her lips, glistening as she unconsciously licked them?
Was it how the hot pink scarf he had so painstakingly knitted her was hugging her neck?
Whatever it was, right this second, a dam broke inside Adrien Agreste.
He leaned in, heart pounding in his chest, and he kissed Marinette Dupain-Cheng under the cheers and hoorahs of their classmates.
Turned out, Marinette was wrong.
Something could make her happier than her scarf.