Author's Notes
Chapter Summary: A stressful thirty hours without sleep and a spat with your father can send anyone's mood into the gutter. Adrien has a bad night after patrol and finds himself in a poor mental state at school, needing the support of his second girlfriend; however, she's somewhat the worse for wear for reasons that he can't understand.
Trigger Warning: Slight Disassociation
Adrien began this fine Monday morning blurry-eyed and foul tempered after a sleepless night spent mulling over the hint of jealous, petulant anger inspired by Ladybug's interest in his girlfriend, and beating himself up over the renewed swelling of attraction towards Ladybug herself.
You're a horrible human being. Also 'phrasing.'
The conversation with Kagami had seemed to settle his girlfriend's nerves and she had fallen asleep around a half-hour after she said goodnight to him and Marinette, or so her text message this morning informed him.
He had only wished that he could have seen her in person, and smoothed her low-hanging bangs out of the way so that he could press a kiss to her forehead as an excuse to take in the slightly exotic spice of her shampoo and revel in her faint blush.
And so that she could hold him in turn and tell him that things would be alright, even though he couldn't figure out what "things" were. Marinette, gentle, spastic, and kind, soothed him, made him feel accepted; Kagami felt like she could protect him, like he didn't need acceptance from anyone because she'd take on the world for him with nothing more than her épée, which was really pathetic because that sort of thing should have been his job.
Slouching his way into the shower and then smashing some full-coverage concealer, highlighter, and liquid concealer onto his face haphazardly to try to lessen the dark bags under his eyes, he hurried to make himself at least semi-presentable. Halfway through his valiant, but impossible struggle, Nathalie knocked on his door and summoned him to a rare unscheduled breakfast with his father.
Scooping Plagg into his bag and hastily double-checking his school supplies, he left his bedroom. Getting down the stairs proved an unexpected trial. He had tripped his way down the first flight, struggling with his pre-prepared Gabriel-brand outfit that would "help market the new line."
As he rounded the bend into the dining area, he begged silently for things to be different today.
His father, fingers steepled, sat at the head of the comically-long dinning room table on the far end of the simultaneously austere and opulent room. That was simply a consequence of the heavy, dead air that seemed to follow Mr. Agreste wherever he went. The table was all but barren save for a neatly-folded newspaper that sat beside Gabriel Agreste, a glass of water for Adrien and a small plate of eggs and fruit.
Almost as soon as Adrien slipped into his seat and took a sip of his water, the shared meal was revealed as pretense. Gabriel had, in fact, called him down to be certain to berate Adrien for his unacceptable performance in his most recent photoshoot, and so he did. However, when Adrien failed to respond with sufficient contrition, Gabriel rose from his seat and strode towards his son, stopping short to take in his appearance with narrowed eyes.
"Do you believe this to be acceptable?" His father gestured to Adrien's outfit, though it was hardly any more disorganized than a normal teenager's attire; utterly average and unremarkable with a few creases and a poorly folded collar.
"No, father."
"If you are going to wear clothing from my new line," Gabriel began as if Adrien actually had a choice in the matter, "you would do well to present it in the proper light. Your dishevelled appearance is embarrassing."
"I just didn't sleep well last night," Adrien tried to deflect, turning his eyes to his meal and picking absently at the wispy edges of his poached egg and the handful of grapes that rolled around his plate.
"That explains your stoop and your eyes," Gabriel said, leaning in to press his hand to the side of Adrien's face and raise his chin. The motion was cool and detached and Adrien could only think of the way that Tom Dupain picked his giggling daughter up in his burly arms and squeezed her tight and how beautiful that was.
"But did you sleep in your clothes?"
"Of course not," Adrien whispered.
"Then you have no excuse for them being in such disarray. Go change," Gabriel said in a dismissive huff as he released his son and turned back to his side of the table to settle in with his newspaper.
As Adrien rose and slunk off to the door, he was stopped by Gabriel's voice.
"If you cannot regulate your sleep patterns, I will be forced to conclude that your room has too many sources of stimulation." Adrien could only thank God that Gabriel couldn't be bothered to even look at his son as he spoke; otherwise he would have seen the little near-animalistic snarl that split Adrien's face and made him appear almost savage.
"I will put a lock on your internet access and television should I see you like this again."
Adrien stalked off, knowing that his silence would be taken as a sign of defeat.
And there was no way that he could win.
He changed hurriedly into a more comfortable, standard outfit, and, after allowing his bodyguard to escort him to their car, tried to catch a five minute power-nap in the back seat.
The morning passed in an incoherent haze. He vaguely recalled greeting Nino and Alya, and, at some point after class had begun, Marinette had slipped into class, her late arrival being ignored by their teacher though his girlfriend nearly tripped over her own feet at the sight of him.
From that point on, he endured the constant sensation of the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end; some feline instinct warned him that he was being watched intently. His girlfriend's eyes never seemed to leave him, which was unfortunate in the extreme. Not only was he worrying her, he would also have to rely on Mari's notes because Madame Bustier's lecture just kept slipping out of his weary mental fingers.
Also, he was plagued by hunger pangs.
Finally, with the sound of the lunch bell and their teacher's last fumbling directions regarding homework, Madame Bustier's students erupted into a bustle of activity, collecting their materials, breaking off into small groups to chat and gossip, and making for the exits.
After a hasty request for Nino to watch their bags, Alya and Marinette were out the door almost immediately, followed closely by Alix and Kim who had spent the last five minutes of class looking like they were on the verge of ripping their desks out of the floor in an effort to escape from the socially-acceptable child-prison known as "school," if only for the lunch hour.
Certainly they thought of it as such, at least, if their mad scramble for the door was any indication.
Ironic that for Adrien, it was one of the few places where he actually felt free, even on a Monday morning like today. Something, something, "Freedom is Slavery."
Yes, the Agreste mansion could be compared to Oceania.
Did that make sense? He couldn't even tell at this point.
Adrien oozed his head down to the cool, inviting surface of his desk. It hardly made for a comforting pillow, but any port in a storm, even if twisting to lay on his desk sent sharp electric pangs through his neck.
"Dude, you look like death," Nino said from the seat beside him a few minutes later, after the other students had cleared the class.
Nino, faithful though he was, lacked a degree of tact and decorum. That was no doubt why Gabriel Agreste hated him and Adrien loved him when everything in their lives was one leering facade after the next.
"Yeah," Adrien mumbled into the faux-wooden surface of his desk. "I'm alright. Just tired."
"Your dad working you too hard again?"
Adrien snorted as his eyes fluttered closed and his breathing leveled out. How many times had he heard that question? There was never justifiable cause to pile his worries onto Nino.
"No, man. I just didn't sleep too well last night." It was technically true given that he hadn't slept a single second.
"Maybe you should see the nurse, dude," Nino murmured, clearly concerned.
It was a tempting prospect, if only to be allowed to take a cat-nap in one of the infirmary's distinctly uncomfortable beds. Even that would be a relief, but his father would hear of it, because of course he would, and then he'd take Adrien out of school.
No, that didn't make any sense, but, well, Gabriel Agreste.
"I'll be alright, Nino," Adrien sighed. "Thanks for being worried about me, but all I need is a power nap or some coffee."
"Ask and you shall receive," a gentle voice responded.
With a slightly woozy wobble, Adrien raised himself up to greet the seraph, bearing gifts, that appeared before him.
Marinette, her hair swept into her usual pig-tails that his fingers suddenly ached to undo, stood before his desk, extending a cup to him while Alya poked away at her cell phone a few feet behind her best friend.
"Black, unsweetened, with two shots of espresso. I know you normally only take one, but you looked like you needed it," Marinette said with a smile that was wholly teasing and a sincere pinching of her brow that was pure, concealed concern.
"You're an angel," he mumbled, gazing up at her with a dopey grin that was just the right thing, he hoped, to dispel her concerns as her mere gentle offer and sincere worry began to do for him.
"Huff- I mean hot stuff!" A muscle in her cheek twitched and a nearly convulsive tremble worked its way down her arm, the cup shaking in her hands. "The coffee! Because what else is hot? I mean it's really hot in here, but the coffee, it's – you know – hot stuff! Becarefulokay!"
Though such bouts were becoming less common, it was clear that he still had "it," and her reaction was enough to perk him up more, he suspected, than would the coffee itself.
He took the waxy cardboard cup from her hands gently, allowing his fingers to stroke over hers for a moment, catching her eye and trying to reassure her without words that, yes, he was okay and so was she.
"Careful, there, Sunshine," Alya teased as she looked up from her phone. "What would Kagami say if she heard you flirting with my girl?"
"Probably the same thing," Adrien mumbled around the lip of his cup before taking a sip as Marinette and Alya fell into to their seats behind him. The stinging heat cleared some of the fog from his brain, while Marinette's thoughtfulness made him want to just take her into his arms and hold her to him, feeling her soft hair, stretched tight by her pig-tails, under his chin, while inhaling that cloying and comforting odour of bread and vanilla that permeated her clothing and reminded him of home because it was her scent.
But, of course, he couldn't do that.
If Kagami's mother knew of her daughter's predilections, or his father caught word of Adrien's "non-standard" relationship that would never pass focus-group testing as part of a brand marketing strategy, well, it would probably mean a one-way ticket back to Japan and a bedroom secured by a minefield and laser tripwires.
"Gotta protect the brand," Adrien muttered under his breath, kicking himself mentally, not for the first time, at just how unfair it was to Marinette. It was only right that she have a boyfriend or a girlfriend or both who could hold her hand, steal kisses when she was fretting or fixating in order to distract her, or proclaim to her in front of the entire class that she was brilliant.
I really am a horrible human being.
"What was that, bro," Nino asked as he bent under the desk to retrieve a sandwich from his backpack and began to stuff it down his throat in a fashion that Adrien could only find reminiscent of Plagg.
"Nino," Adrien yawned, longing for the coffee to take effect, "I don't even know what I'm saying. Just ignore me."
"Well, since we're ignoring Agreste," Alya interjected before Nino could reply, flipping her phone around to display it to the trio of friends around her. "New topic. Check out this photo that was submitted to the Ladyblog last night!"
The real object of his attentions, Marinette, blanched as she stared at the phone, jerking Adrien from his half-conscious haze into full alertness. The rush of adrenaline had him going for his baton, which, of course, was not at his hip, before he refocused on Alya's phone.
There, on the screen, was a slightly pixilated image of Chat Noir and Mitsubachi from the last evening, standing together on a rooftop. While Chat's expression was obliterated into a hazy blur, he had his hand on Mitsu's shoulder and they were standing closer than one would expect for "just friends."
"Dude. Awesome! Is that the new bee hero with Chat Noir?" Nino asked, pressing in closer to his girlfriend's cell phone.
"Yeah! Did you see the video of her with that last Akuma? Practically took his jaw off! Ladybug made the right choice there." Alya cast a disparaging glare over at Chloe, who was being waited upon by Sabrina. "So much better than the last one."
"You going to write an article on the new Fox hero when she appears, Cesaire?" Chloe scoffed before turning back to Sabrina in order to berate her for failing to provide her with tea at the appropriate temperature.
"At least I-"
"Alya," Marinette interjected in a strained tone. "It's not worth it."
"Yeah, you're right girl," the redhead sighed as she tucked her cell phone back in her pocket. "Anyone would be better than Chloe, so that's not even the really interesting part!"
"What do you mean, dudette?"
"The guy who snapped this photo?" With a quick pat to her pocket, she leaned in towards the other members of the group, beckoning them closer. "Well, he said that the new hero was hanging out with Chat Noir for, like, a half hour before Ladybug showed up. Between that and how cozy they look in this pic, I think that she's interested in the cat."
"I-I'm sure that's not true," Marinette stuttered, waving her friend off dismissively, the jerky motion hurried, a near flail.
That actually kind of hurt. What was the matter with Chat Noir? Why wouldn't Mitsubachi want him?
"I think that they'd make a great couple," Adrien blurted out, long before his slowly churning mind, fixating on Chat Noir's potential inadequacies, hit upon the realization that Marinette might still have a crush on him, or, rather, on Chat Noir.
It was hard to let go of a crush, even if you'd found something better.
At least he could hope that he was better.
"Whoa, dude. I thought you were, like, the hardest of hardcore Ladynoir shippers," Nino said, his eyebrows shooting up almost to the brim of his baseball cap.
"Well, it just seems that he's moved on," Adrien offered, his reactions tentative as he tried to buy more time for his brain to catch up and offer something by taking another sip of his coffee. Unfortunately, thoughts were flowing like molasses today. "He never calls her Bugaboo or My Lady any more, right?"
Apparently, that was the right thing to say for Alya, who brightened considerably, and precisely the wrong thing for Marinette. Curling her hand around her bicep, she stroked her arm rapidly as if trying to fight off a chill, despite the warmth of the classroom, while she chewed on the inside of her cheek, her face sucking inward slightly.
Acid roiled in his gut, the confluence of a full sleepless night combined with a minimal breakfast and strong coffee on, functionally, an empty stomach. And, of course, self-loathing.
"Sometimes you've got to let go of your fantasies and face facts," he stumbled on. God, what are you even doing? "When you do, you can find something that makes you happy in reality."
The expression on his girlfriend's face, one of barely concealed betrayal that made no sense, sent Adrien scrambling to take another painful gulp of the suddenly too-bitter coffee to wipe away the stinging tightness in his throat. He was hurting her and he didn't even understand how or why. It had been a veiled compliment because that was exactly what he had done with her and Kagami.
"Yeah, but why switch ships?" a relatively oblivious Nino asked.
"Are you kidding? Did you see how they took on that Akuma from a few days ago?" Alya interjected, punching away at her phone to pull up video footage of the battle. How did she fish that out of her pocket so quickly?
"They were just so in-sync that it seemed like they were made for each-other. I mean, Ladynoir is the OTP of my life," she continued as she threw what Adrien assumed she must have thought was a subtle wink in Marinette's direction, "but I get it."
The progressively increasing stoop to Marinette shoulders raised Adrien's hackles.
"Dude. You're right. It was like they were on the same wavelength," Nino enthused, likely in an effort to support his girlfriend's interest. Unlike Adrien himself, Nino was actually a good boyfriend.
"Yeah," Adrien said softly, his gaze lingering on Marinette.
"So, Sunshine," Alya asked with a smirk as she leaned towards him, "are you angling to be the head of the new cat-bee shipping community on the Ladyblog? I don't think one's been created yet."
"Uh, what?"
"The shipping section for-" she tapped a finger to her chin."What are we going to call them?"
"The new girl is Mitsubishi, right?" Nino twisted his tongue over the word.
"Mitsubachi," Adrien corrected on pure instinct. "It basically means honeybee in Japanese."
"So Mitsunoir?" Nino scowled. "Egh"
"That doesn't sound right." Alya's face twisted in derision. "Chat-su-bachi?" she stumbled over the alien combination of syllables.
"Bit of a mouthful, isn't it, babe?" Nino replied.
"Honey-Cat? Miel-Noir?
Mitsubachat was the obvious choice, really.
"That's-"
The crash and clatter of Marinette's notebook toppling to the floor in front of her cut Nino off.
"Could you stop it!" Marinette fumed, a pencil between her hands straining to the point of breaking as she torqued it ruthlessly.
While focusing on the banter between Nino and Alya, trying to keep pace, he hadn't even noticed Marinette's ennui turning to ire.
"Whoa!" Alya exclaimed. "What's got into you?"
"I- I just - it's stupid to read so much into the fact that they hang out before patrols," she squeezed out, tossing the pencil to her desk as Nino retrieved her notebook and deposited it before her tentatively like an offering to an angry god.
"Patrols as in plural?" Alya pressed with a fierce look on her face. Why did she always have to press? The situation had so rapidly spiralled out of control that Adrien was finding it hard for his molasses-brain to keep up.
"I only heard about the one time," she continued. "They've met more than once without Ladybug? Girl, are you holding out on me?"
Marinette shot Adrien a helpless, pleading glance that nearly had him hissing his displeasure towards Alya. God, did he hate feeling powerless, but to have her left impotent and desperate...
"You know I never liked 'shipping' the heroes, Alya," Marinette began and that inexplicably genuine ... fear had Adrien's stomach churning even harder. "These aren't comicbook characters; they're real people with real feelings that matter."
Oh, Mari.
That tight, acidic sensation now welled up his throat, rolling like a tide, and he had to choke back a whine. Maybe it was the exhaustion, maybe it was the confusion, maybe it was the frustration, or the guilt...
But hearing that – that his feelings mattered – not just knowing that because of how she acted but hearing it...
How was it that he had needed Kagami to tell him that he was in love with Marinette?
Maybe because it was so easy to be.
"I think Marinette's right, Alya," he said, clearing his throat to dispel the sensation as he pointed to the muted video footage of the last akuma attack that was playing on the blogger's phone. "Why don't you put that away?"
"Ah, Sunshine, you're not going to try to spoil my fun too, are you?"
"Journalism isn't about fun, Alya," he gritted out, setting down his coffee and clutching the edge of his desk. "It's about the truth. Trust me that I've dealt with enough tabloid journalists and paparazzi to know that you're better than them."
"I'm just joking around, Agreste," Alya rumbled with a glare as she pocketed her cell phone. "If you don't have a sense of humour, the least you could do is stay quiet and not insult me."
"Dudes, come on," Nino interjected, though he cringed into his seat rather than moving to interrupt the burgeoning argument by interposing himself between the pair physically.
Marinette's face continued to darken, and she curled in on herself. That she should suffer for a spat brought on by his big mouth was utterly unjust.
"I have a sense of humour about things that are funny, Alya. People's feelings aren't!" he growled, rising from his seat so that he could face her.
"Well, aren't you high and mighty all of a sudden." Alya cocked her head to the side as if pondering something. "Are you taking lessons from papa Agreste?"
The accusation prodded at that festering emotional boil deep inside of him that was always fit to burst, but that he tried never to acknowledge: You are your father's son. How could you do any better? How could you be any better?
As Adrien quivered at the jeering suggestion offered by her best friend, Marinette had gone stock still, puffing up with air as if ready to launch into the worst tirade that Adrien had ever seen from anyone this side of his father, though he expected fiery explosions rather than glacial, biting indifference.
"Whoa, dude! Not cool!" Nino interjected before even Marinette could say anything, his hardened expression directed towards Alya, and he placed a hand on Adrien's forearm to pull him back into his seat.
It was so rare for Nino to lose his temper, let alone to speak out against his girlfriend, who was on occasion allowed to run roughshod over him because he was so laid-back, that Marinette and Adrien alike were left in stunned silence.
Alya was not.
"He-" she began.
"Babe!" Nino cut her off, his lips setting into a fine line as he stared her back into her seat, relenting much to Adrien's continued shock. "Adrien, Alya works crazy hard on that blog. It's more than just a website. She risks her life to get footage of Akuma battles."
While Nino said that as if it was a laudable thing, Adrien couldn't help but recall the half-dozen times that he had been injured due to Alya's recklessness.
"Yeah, bro. I can see that you don't like that any more than I do, but its her risk to take, you know?" Nino almost pleaded. "She's not a superhero, but she wants to do her part, to show people that they have heroes fighting for them."
Alya swelled up with pride as she threw a smug expression in Adrien's direction.
"Babe, don't think you're getting off just 'cause I love you," Nino continued in a tone that, even directed away from him, made Adrien want to sink into his chair and slide off onto the floor. "What you just said was one of the cruellest things I've ever heard. You know what that asshole's like."
There was a moment of silence as Adrien chugged the rest of his still-semi-scalding coffee because he wanted the pain.
That might be something that he should talk to his girlfriends about, seeing as a counsellor would just be out of the question for an Agreste.
"You're right, Nino," Alya muttered as Marinette deflated like a puffer fish that had successfully warded off a predator. Placing her cell phone on her desk, she bowed her head slightly towards Adrien. "I'm sorry, Adrien. You know that I can get carried away sometimes, but that's no excuse."
"Yeah, and so can I. You didn't deserve that snipe," Adrien agreed hastily before turning to his best friend with a grin and reaching out to pat his upper arm. "Thanks for putting us both in our place, Nino."
"Hey, dude, what's a best friend or boyfriend for?" he asked rhetorically with a shrug.
And just like that, Adrien sagged back into his seat, head swimming slightly at the sudden weight that lifted on his shoulders, burning lungs, and heart.
"Nino," Alya said sweetly, though her tone carried an undercurrent of something that straddled the line between mock anger and giddiness. She too must have been feeling the same way as Adrien, he realized. "Did you just suggest that your job as my boyfriend was to 'put me in my place?'"
Marinette stiffed a giggle that seemed more a release of anxious tension than a product of actual amusement, but it still had Adrien believing that everything was right in the world because if his girls were happy it was probably true.
"Uh, dude? Help?" Nino muttered, his eyes frantic.
"Sure." Adrien tapped him on the shoulder as he stood. It would be conducive to his health to stretch his legs for the remainder of the lunch hour. "I'll pay for your funeral. Marinette?"
"Good luck, Nino," Marinette called back with a wave, already heading out the door with Adrien following after her.
And the snippets of the conversation that they left behind them followed him as he and Mari took up a position just outside the classroom.
"So, you going to put me in my place, Lahiffe?"
"Now, babe," Nino began hesitantly, "you know that I meant your – your place... on a pedestal like the fierce but merciful goddess you are?" His voice rose an octave at the end as if he was asking a question.
"Sorry, 'dude,' that one's just a Madonna stereotype. You'd better think quickly or no more bonus stage on Super Penguino."
Marinette was clasping her hand to her mouth in order to keep from laughing.
"Come on, babe. Not the bonus stage!"
And that seemed to break Marinette's dwindling resolve as a snort burst free from her hand.
Nino's plaintive objection faded as Adrien nudged the classroom door shut with a chuckle because everything was just so ridiculous that they really had no right to the spite that they had been poised to vomit in each other's directions. Nino, at least, was more level-headed and impartial than the rest of them. Not to mention well-rested
"Would you like to join me for a quick lunch, Adrien?" Marinette inquired with a light cough, trailing a hand over Adrien's forearm in a way that appeared platonic to any of the students passing them in the hall, though the tender sensation of her fingers ghosting over his skin introduced some butterflies to the already tumultuous environment of his empty stomach.
"I could really use a nice meal with a good friend," Adrien affirmed with a nod as he allowed her to gently tug him towards the cafeteria.
He'd pay for that "good friend" comment too, even if she knew that was all that they could appear to be in public while Adrien and Kagami were still under the heavy thumb of their respective parent.
They strolled through thickly-crowded hallways, filled with students at their lockers, friends playing video games on their cell phones while lounging on the floor, creating hazards for any passersby, and more than a few couples, including Marc and Nathaniel whom Marinette greeted in passing, who were, in a wide variety of ways, getting "comfortable" with each other, making the most of their lunch hours.
"Hey, Marinette?" Adrien spoke up softly as they rounded the corner to the hallway that led into the cafeteria.
"Yes, Adrien?" Her breathless tone nearly had him stumbling the last few feet before he righted himself and angled her into the corner between the end of the lockers and the cafeteria door.
"Thank you for speaking with Kagami last night. I think that she really needed us," he said, hoping that the softness of his voice and his pinched expression would let her know that they both needed her.
"No, thank you, Adrien," she said, though he couldn't be sure if she had caught on. "It was good of you to think of her, and your hunch was right on the money."
"There are times when we just need someone to listen, and to be reminded that we don't have to go it alone." He wasn't talking about himself at this moment. Nope. Not in the slightest. "Sometimes that's all we need to make things seem alright again and get us through whatever it is that we're dealing with." He winked at her. "Team sport, right?"
"Right," Marinette affirmed gently, though she pulled away into the corner to mull for a moment. "But I have to wonder, well - how did you know that she in a bad place with her mother last night?"
"Just a feeling," he deflected because he couldn't exactly say that he had been speaking to their girlfriend, who was actually a superhero, while running a patrol as a feline superhero whose power source seemed to have a leather fetish. "And, honestly, I really wanted to talk to both of you because I needed it too."
She began to worry her lip in that anxious way that told him that she was beginning to spiral – into what or why, he couldn't say.
"You okay, Marinette?"
"Yeah. It's just," she hesitated and clenched her teeth. "I didn't see it."
"Well, you didn't see her at all yesterday until I phoned you up. How could you?"
"Right," she replied, seemingly utterly unconvinced. "You can only be responsible for what you know."
"Yeah," he murmured, noting her slightly defeated tone. "By the way, thanks for the coffee. It was really hot stuff"
"Oh, god," she muttered in reply, throwing a palm to her forehead, covering her eyes.
"Adorably abashed" was a far better look on Marinette than that wholly misplaced guilt, and it was his job to make sure that neither she nor Kagami stayed in that kind of head-space any longer than was necessary.
"Speaking about responsibilities, though, how would you feel about blowing some of them off?"
"Adrien, how scandalously delinquent," she chastised in an exaggeratedly horrified tone as if the very idea offended her delicate sensibilities. "Whatever did you have in mind?"
"Well, Kagami and I kept talking for a while after you signed off and we thought that we might go on an "approved date" to the Louvre this Saturday afternoon," Adrien replied.
"You certainly know how to live the wild life, there, Adrien," Marinette snarked as she poked him gently in the belly, or, rather, abs, as she seemed to realize quite quickly, if her glance towards his midsection was any indication.
She cleared her throat after starting for a moment, unintentionally stroking his ego. He'd really have to talk to Plagg about alterations to his costume. The padding on the torso pretty much made it impossible to show off his sick abs.
"Your father would be appalled," Marinette finished at last.
"If he knew that we plan on giving the Gorilla the slip so that I can take Kagami to an arcade and then a movie, probably." Adrien passed a hand over the back of his head with a strained chuckle.
"The arcade, you say?" Marinette quirked a brow with an approving smile that made any censure that he could ever receive from his father worthwhile. "Has she ever been?"
"No, so she needs someone to show her the ropes, and I was wondering if you might be free to give her some tips."
"Anything to help a friend, of course," Marinette offered.
"You're the best, Mari. You should bring a date too, you know" he said, his light and airy tone teasing, as she rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. "I think that it would be really fun for all of us to go on a, uh, double date together."
"I'll see if I can find anyone who's interested," Marinette scoffed with a derisive shake of her head.
After offering her an exaggerated, mock-gentlemanly bow of thanks, his hand pressed to his chest just below his throat, Adrien stepped back and pulled open the cafeteria door, ushering her inside with a slow sweep of his arm.
"After you, my lady," he said with a grin, which became stiff when he noted the strange flicker of sadness that winked across her face, only to be released.
This week was going to crawl by, but that just made the eager anticipation all the sweeter. Some time with Kagami and Marinette was exactly what he needed to get his head back in order: no dour ruminations regarding his father, no more thoughts of Ladybug going after his girlfriend, and no more weird resurgent Ladybug-crush either.
Glancing up at Marinette as she faux-curtsied with an imaginary skirt and walked into the cafeteria, and thinking of the lopsided but still radiant smile that Kagami would offer him when she heard the news that Mari was free, he knew that he had something even better.
Only four and a half days to their date.
Author's Notes & Reader Responses
Thank you all for the supportive comments and interest in the previous chapter. It's nice to know that there is at least a small fandom for this particular triad.
Much of what was covered pertaining to Adrien and Marinette's civilian relationship fleshes out the dynamic between these three silly kids, and we get a sense of both Adrien and Marinette's penchant for self-sacrifice and their continued efforts to project false fronts because they can't be honest with each-other; Marinette because of her anxieties and responsibilities and Adrien because he too has a secret identity and most of his life is a superficial lie that he still tries to maintain instinctively,
Bad-parent Gabriel Agreste or just a man who is worried about his son's exhaustion and has no idea how to express it in a healthy fashion? You decide.
Next time, we follow Marinette as she concretizes much of what has been alluded to here and struggles with a flirty cat (and who would have every guessed that she'd be frustrated that his attentions were not directed at her). Self-doubt will rear its head again as she seeks out Tikki's advice on Mitsubachi and Chat Noir.
I'd ship Mitsubachat.
Alyce and Indi - I'm so pleased that my characterization resonates with out. The series itself does have some flaws in its consistency, but I hope that this work shows complex, consistent layers to them, and growth and development. I will say that there is going to be... a great deal of pain as we move into this second, darker portion of the story, and many problems that result from stubborn refusals to actually unveil their identities. It's a ways off yet, much to the characters' detriment.
Adrigaminette is what convinced me to write fan fiction for the first time in about seven years, with the first chapter of this story.
Guardian of the Inheritance - Thank you for the encouragement.
Yellow 14 - Everyone needs some silly puns in their life now and then; I can only hope they'll make up for all the painful experiences the characters are going to undergo.