"The thing about destiny, kids, is that it's unpredictable! You can plan and plan and plan, and sometimes..." the magician tried to twist the key in the handcuffs one more time, to no avail. He sighed. "Sometimes, it just won't work."
Adrien and Marinette glared at him, their faces scarlet as the crowd of children sighed dreamily at the magician's words. Well, some of them did. Most of the kids looked bored out of their minds as the magician's trick clearly continued to fail.
"But!" The magician exclaimed, pointing the key to the sky dramatically as he placed his other hand on his hip. Some of the children perked up, certain that this was all part of the magic. "Destiny is also up to you, if you know what you're doing. And, kids, reading can help you control your destiny. For example, I'm going to have a quick read of this… magic book… to call a magical locksmith so that he can release these two… star crossed lovers here… from the literal chains of destiny."
"Chains of destiny?" Marinette hissed, just loudly enough to make the magician wince at the unbridled irritation in her voice. Adrien let out a snort, leaning over to murmur in Marinette's ear.
"Sounds a bit too kinky for a kid's show, doesn't it?" he whispered. In a feat Adrien didn't think was possible, Marinette's face reddened further. She instinctively raised her hands to cover her scarlet cheeks, forgetting for a split second that she was handcuffed to her crush, and succeeded in smacking the back of Adrien's hand against her own.
"Sorry!" They cried in unison, their eyes meeting for the whole of two seconds before they snapped their gazes back to the somewhat-amused magician. Marinette took a step back, adding a little distance between her and her crush.
Marinette looked into the crowd of children, spotting two faces in the mass who were enjoying the situation far too much. Manon was grinning widely, and waggled her fingers at the handcuffed Marinette. Next to her, Alya's youngest sister raised her phone and unashamedly snapped a picture of the situation.
Marinette let out a sigh. Any chance of keeping this little mishap quiet was now impossible.
"You okay?" Adrien murmured, looking down as Marinette's shoulders drooped. Her eyes widened as she realised he'd heard her sound of discontent, and she began to flap her free hand at him rapidly.
"Oh, yeah! I'm fine," she said. "Just, you know. Being handcuffed in front of a bunch of kids isn't really how I expected today to go..."
Adrien chuckled. "Yeah. Me neither." He paused, before breaking into a grin. "Want to get revenge when we're released?"
With her free hand, Marinette tugged at her pigtail nervously.
"What did you have in mind?" she said, keeping her voice low.
Adrien thought for a moment, turning his gaze back to the magician who was currently speaking rapidly into his phone. "Well," Adrien said slowly, "if destiny is unpredictable, maybe it's his destiny to be handcuffed to-"
"Boys and girls!" The magician exclaimed, walking over to the increasingly bored group of children, who perked up at the performer's voice. "Whilst we're waiting for the, uh, breaker of chains, we're going to have a quick chat to our fated couple here."
"Fated couple?" Marinette squeaked, both her and Adrien reddening in unison as the magician stepped between them and flung an arm around each of them.
"So why are you here, young sir?" the magician asked Adrien, talking over Marinette. Adrien looked at him in confusion, before turning to face the children.
"Uh, my friend was ill, so she asked me to bring her sister so she didn't miss the party..." he replied, causing Alya's sister to stick her hand in the air and wave wildly.
"That's me!" she called out happily.
"Wait, Alya's ill?" Marinette asked, confused; she'd only been speaking to her friend an hour or so ago, talking about the upcoming party neither really wanted to attend.
Adrien nodded, turning to face Marinette. "Yeah, she didn't tell you? She's caught some kind of bug, and asked me to babysit. She said you'd be here so I wouldn't be on my own..."
"How nice!" The magician interrupted. "So what brings you to the party, ma'am?"
Marinette blinked twice, the realisation that Alya was now using her little sister as a matchmaking tool sinking in, before answering. "I, uh, I'm also babysitting. Manon. I'm babysitting Manon," she said, pointing her hand into the crowd, accidentally jerking Adrien's hand forward as well. Manon stood up, revelling in the attention of her peers as they followed Marinette's finger.
"How nice!" the magician said enthusiastically, ignoring the confusion on Marinette's face. "Now, you two go stand to the side so I can do my next trick. When the chain breaker comes, let him know what you need and he'll get you sorted out. Who's ready for my next trick?" he asked the children, who all cheered, Marinette and Adrien's predicament forgotten about. The magician moved to his box of tricks and Adrien shrugged, motioning to the food table at the side of the garden with his head.
"Shall we?" he asked quietly. Marinette nodded, and the pair moved silently to the side, Adrien swiping a cookie from the table as they walked past.
Standing by the garden fence, Marinette gave Adrien a small smile as he took a bite from the cookie.
"'S good," he said, before winking at Marinette. "Not as good as yours though."
Marinette's blush, which had barely faded since the 'fated lovers' comment, flared back up.
"Thanks," she said, her voice higher than usual. "So, what were you saying about revenge?" she asked, in a desperate attempt to move the conversation on so that her blush could die down.
"Oh, right," Adrien replied, a wicked glimmer in his emerald eyes. "Here's what I'm thinking..."
He took a step closer, leaning his head down to whisper in Marinette's ear. She kept her eyes focused on the flaking paint on the shed behind them as he spoke to keep her breath even, desperately hoping Adrien couldn't hear her heart thudding loudly as he talked her through his plan. Soon, however, she was paying attention to his words, her shy smile breaking into a mischievous smirk.
And that was how the locksmith found them, huddled together at the side of the garden, snickering at a plan they knew they were never going to execute, but enjoyed the thought of nonetheless.
It was a real shame he had to interrupt them, the locksmith thought as he carefully moved around the mass of children staring in awe at the rabbit which had just come out of a previously empty hat.
They were a cute couple.