Bien Joué
"Good luck." Marinette snorted as the Slytherins passed the Hufflepuff quidditch team on their way to the field. "You'll need it."
"Hey!" One of the players called out, and she turned back with a single raised eyebrow.
"Yeah?"
Adrien Agreste, the bain of her existence, pushed forward and scowled at her. "What makes you so sure you'll win? We've gotten this far, haven't we?" He asked, motioning to his team.
Alix laughed. "Yeah, and it's as far as you'll get."
"Yeah, Agreste, don't get your hopes up." Marinette added, shooting him a smirk before turning to continue on her way.
"Let's make a bet!"
That got her attention.
"Oh?" She asked, turning back and facing him with her hands on her hips. "And what's that?"
"If Hufflepuff wins… You have to cheer for us at the next match."
Her smirk spread into a full out grin as she took a step closer, and another. She watched in satisfaction as Adrien gulped, frozen to his spot. "Alright." She said, taking another step so that they were toe to toe, and looked up at him with a smug expression. "And when we win, you have to wear my jersey to every Slytherin match for the rest of the season."
"Wh-What?!" He spluttered.
"Are you scared, Agreste?"
"N-No, of course not." He stammered, tugging at the collar of his own jersey. "Well, then, I'm changing mine. Whichever team wins, the loser has to wear the winners jersey. Deal?"
Marinette's stomach filled with butterflies at the thought of wearing Adrien's jersey, and she pondered losing on purpose. But she figured it would be much better to see him wear hers and get to play quidditch for the rest of the season.
She stuck her hand out. "Deal."
Adrien shook her hand, looking wary. When Marinette and the rest of the Slytherin team finally left, Nino hit his shoulder.
"Bro. Why would you do that?"
"I-I don't…"
"I don't think that was very smart…" Mylene said, Ivan nodding in agreement behind her.
"You better do a good job of blocking those goals, dude, or you'll be stuck wearing Marinette Dupain-Cheng's jersey for the rest of the year!"
Adrien looked at Nino, wondering briefly if that would be such a bad thing. He quickly shook his head, snapping out of it. Of course it would be a bad thing! He could see now the satisfied smirk she'd throw him before every game and all the new things she could mess with him over.
He groaned. This was proving to be the most stressful quidditch game all year.
Scratch that- most stressful quidditch game ever.
Slytherin made two goals on him within the first ten minutes, and he could practically feel the smug look Marinette was shooting him from her post way up above the rest of the game. He could only pray that Rose would find the snitch fast.
Adrien was growing increasingly more irritated as the game went on.
Anytime the quaffle got anywhere near the other end of the pitch, Kagami or Alix would scoop it right up and it would be heading towards him again. It was like he had doomed everyone when he made that bet. He had never seen the Slytherin team work so well or efficiently before. Although, he wasn't that surprised. He knew their whole house loved- no, adored- Marinette, and wouldn't let her down. Besides, it wouldn't only be an embarrassment for her if she had to wear a Hufflepuff's jersey, it would look bad for their whole house.
He was getting ready to block another of Kagami's throws when he saw Marinette dive towards the pitch out of the corner of his eye.
"No!" He yelled, looking around for Rose. But she was all the way at the other end, already doing her best to get to the snitch before Marinette. It was obvious to anyone with eyes that she wouldn't make it in time, but Adrien found his hope rising as the snitch got closer and closer to the ground. Surely Marinette would pull up soon and Rose would be able to snatch it, seeing as she was coming in at an angle and not straight down.
Ivan flew in front of him, hitting Kagami's pass away from the hoop it was about to enter.
"Adrien, pay attention!" He said gruffly, flying off again to get rid of another bludger.
"I'm trying!" Adrien wailed, catching the next attempt to score and tossing it to Mylene. She caught it flawlessly and took off down the pitch.
Now that it wasn't on his end, he looked back towards where Marinette had been.
"Marinette!" Someone yelled just as he found her. "Pull up! Pull up!" Adrien watched with wide eyes. "Why isn't she pulling up?!" She was close to the ground now, twenty, fifteen, ten feet. Rose turned, not wanting to collide with the girl who apparently wasn't planning on pulling away.
Just as she was about to smash into the grass she jerked her broom handle up, spinning it to give her more control. Her pigtails just barely brushed the ground as she reached out and snatched the snitch right out the air.
The entire Slytherin section roared with excitement and jumped up from their seats- if they hadn't already been standing to watch her do her crazy stunt- as the final score was put up and Alya announced that Slytherin had won. Again.
Adrien groaned and hung his head back, looking at the sky with a pained expression.
"Hey Agreste!" Marinette called as she flew past the Slytherin stands, holding her arm out for high fives. "Bien joué."
No one saw the finger he showed her, and if they did, they didn't mention it.
"Here you go, Agreste." Marinette said the next morning as she passed him in the dining hall. He looked up just in time to catch the green jersey she threw at him. She walked off without another word.
"Dude, I can't believe this." Nino whistled. "I feel so bad for you."
Adrien looked down at the jersey and grumbled, folding it up and putting it in his bag. "I did it to myself. It was a stupid bet."
Later, they were sitting in potions glass when Nino elbowed him and said,
"Do you think she even washed it?"
"Hu?"
"The jersey, do you think Dupain-Cheng even washed it?"
Adrien groaned. "I hope so. You don't think she would be that evil, do you?"
Nino shrugged. "She did get it to you awful fast."
Great. Just great.
When he got back to his dorm that night he pulled the jersey out of his bag and set it on the bed, looking at it as if it would blow up at any moment. Thinking back to Nino's words from earlier, he carefully picked it up and brought it to his nose.
Oh, it was definitely washed.
In fact, Adrien was horribly surprised at just how good her jersey smelled. God only knew how awful most of the uniforms smelled, even after being washed. But no, Dupain-Cheng's jersey smelled like vanilla and cherry blossoms.
He grabbed a hanger and carefully put it in his closet. The next Quidditch match wasn't for another two weeks, so he had a while before he would have to wear it and face the humiliation sure to come.
Except it didn't. Marinette hardly even said a word to him the whole two weeks, and when game day arrived, it was as if he didn't even exist.
He sat at the breakfast table, wearily watch her laugh and talk with her friends. He wasn't wearing the jersey yet, wanting to put it off as long as he could. He was expecting a 'Don't forget the jersey, Agreste,' at the very least when she left the dining hall, but she didn't even look his way.
"That was… weird." Nino commented.
"Mhmm." Adrien agreed.
They lost the match.
Slytherin actually lost the match. He couldn't believe it.
Marinette had tried to shoot him a smug look when the team flew out on the pitch, doing laps around the stands, but it looked pained. He couldn't figure out what was up with her lately, but he was a little worried. Never before had she passed up the opportunity to tease him.
And then the seekers had seen the snitch and took off towards it. It led them all the way around the pitch, level with the front row of people watching. Where he was sitting.
Marinette had been gaining on Max, coming so close to snatching it up once again when she passed him. And after that it all went downhill for her. Literally.
She fell right off the broom.
Everyone gasped, surging forward to see if she was okay. Adrien let out a breath when she rolled over with a groan and sat up, looking fine. Well, pissed, but fine.
"Dupain-Cheng! What the hell was that?!" Kim yelled, throwing his helmet to the ground as he marched angrily towards her.
"You were so close! What happened?" Alix demanded as she jogged over to the bluenette.
Marinette finally stood up, grabbing her broom that had landed a few feet from her, and rubbed her head.
"Uhm…"
"What got into you? You've never messed up like that before!"
That made her wince. "I'm sorry guys, I just…"
Kagami suddenly looked up, scanning the crowd, and spotted Adrien.
"It's cause he's wearing your jersey, isn't it?" She sneered.
"I-"
"Marinette!" The whole team groaned.
"Are you serious? This is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!" Chloe scoffed, flicking her ponytail over her shoulder. "If you couldn't keep yourself together, why would you make such a stupid bet?"
"I didn't know-"
"That was foolish, Dupain-Cheng." Kagami said, glaring at her. "Now you made us lose, and to Ravenclaw no less."
"We're done for the season!" Kim and Alix wailed.
Marinette hung her head as her team slowly made their way towards the changing rooms. She had really messed up this time, and it cost them the Quidditch cup.
"I-It's okay, Marinette…" Nathaniel stuttered, walking over to her. The snitch was no longer in his hand and deflated more. She'd lost her last chance to put it away for the whole year. "You still did really good… It was a good game."
She sighed and tossed him a pained smile. "Thanks, I guess." He nodded before blushing brighter and walking off. The pitch was empty now, except for her, and so were most of the stands. She groaned and kicked at the ground, sending grass up in the air.
"Marinette?"
She stiffened and tried to throw a glare over her shoulder but failed.
"Are you alright?" Adrien asked.
"Yeah, sure, whatever. What do you want?" She grumbled, toeing the grass grumpily.
"I was gonna give you your jersey back…"
She scoffed. "Keep it, if you want it. I don't need it anymore."
"O-Oh." He looked around awkwardly. "W-Well… Don't feel bad. It was a really close game."
"Yeah, but we still lost because I fell of my bloody broom."
"Yeah, Uh…" he coughed. "Why did you fall off?"
"Wouldn't you like to know." She muttered.
"That's usually why people ask, Dupain-Cheng."
That time she managed to glare at him. The she sighed, saying something under her breath.
"I'm sorry? Come again." Adrien said.
"I fell off my bloody broom because I saw you wearing that bloody jersey!" She yelled, jabbing her finger in his direction.
He looked at her in slight fear as she advanced on him, poking him in the chest as she continued.
"And of course it was my bloody jersey because I made that stupid bloody bet and it distracted me and I slipped right off my bloody broom! So there, are you happy now?!" He continued to stare down at her in wide eyed shock. Her cheeks were pink from yelling at him- or maybe from something else- and she was breathing kind of heavy.
"Wh-y-" He cleared his throat when the word cracked and tried again. "Erm, why, exactly, do I… Distract you?"
She looked appalled at the question, taking a step back. "W-Well, I-"
A smirk spread across his face as they swapped positions and he took a step forward. He hadn't realized just how short she was before, he practically towered over her. Had she always been that short?
"Why did I distract you, Marinette?"
"B-B-Because I- uh…" She tugged at her collar and took another step back, only for him to take two more which put them almost nose to nose. "I… Uh… Forgot?" She squeaked.
Her response made his grin spread wider. "Are you lying?"
"N-No?"
He stepped back, laughing. "It's okay, I believe you." He really didn't. "Are you sure you don't want your jersey back?"
She blinked at him a few times before giving a shake of her head.
"Then I think I will keep it. I guess it's a good thing they're one size fits all, hu?"
He heard her wheeze as he turned and walked away, looking smug.
She was definitely lying. Bien Joué, indeed, Dupain-Cheng.
