Marinette sighed as her gaze shifted from her computer to the beanie that laid to the side. The black accessory almost feeling like a taunt and a reminder that it was two days after defeating the last akuma, and Chat hadn't visited her in way too long. She couldn't even play Ultimate Mecha Strike III without getting all pissed off that the machine just didn't fight the way Chat did.
Feeling anger bubble up at her absent partner, she grabbed the beanie, a tight hold that made her knuckles white. She was going to make cat soup of him when he came back, for leaving her without his company for so long. The black yarn was soft on her hands, making her emotion simmer down into something else. She'd like to say the absence of her friend made her angry, but it made her upset above all else. She wanted to see him and have him eat a mountain of cookies and croissants. He'd lay on her bed and annoy her indefinitely as she tried to concentrate.
She had never imagined this is what it felt like missing someone whose presence you were so used to. She didn't even miss Luka this much when she couldn't see him for a few days, but she could talk with Luka. Chat's presence in her life was like that of a ghost, the only proof of their time together kept only to her room, where only she could reminisce in their memories.
She walked up to the loft that housed her bed, before gingerly lying down the black beanie clutched in her hand.
"Stupid cat."
… … … … … … … … … …
Adrien didn't consider himself a coward, and the reason why he wouldn't visit Marinette didn't stem whatsoever from anything related to his fear of the future. No, it was all just him trying to play his cards right. The knowledge that Marinette had liked him, Adrien, was too good for him not to try to woo her as himself.
Truthfully, a part of him didn't feel fully comfortable with just meddling into his friends' relationship. He didn't want to be a homewrecker despite it being obvious that they were way too young to even think about building a home. Was he willing to be the bad guy in this story? To be the villain that stole the girl? He wasn't sure, but he sure as hell knew that he was in love with her and wanted nothing more than to hold her in his arms.
Biting into his lip, he watched as the building passed by as the car made its way to school, his stomach clutching at the thought of seeing her. Had he always been like this? All he could compare this was to his actions towards Ladybug, and even he knew he hadn't been the best partner at times.
He was well aware that perhaps Marinette wouldn't want anything to do with him after he had so blindly broken her heart into pieces, but he needed to at least try. If not for his own heart, but for his own sanity as well.
His current train of thoughts was interrupted as the car stopped in front of the tall school building. Taking a steady breath, he stepped out of the car, willing himself to go up the stairs, where he would have to partake of being around the person he loved. Was this what Marinette used to go through when she liked him? A part of him held a certain amount of respect as to how she had been able to keep herself from telling him, although he wished she hadn't held back.
Would things have gone better if she had told him about her feelings? A voice in the back of his head told him that things between them would always be convoluted no matter what they wanted, and he knew it only spoke the truth.
He absentmindedly walked towards their classroom, not paying attention to any of his surroundings, only once opened the door did he noticed what was going around him. The first thing he noticed was the lack of a blue-haired girl inside the room. Then he noticed how all of his classmates were huddled around Alya, who was whispering now that he entered the room. He turned to look at his best friend, but they were all avoiding his gaze, a curious glint in their eyes.
His brow quirked at their behavior but decided to ignore it until they came up to him. It didn't take more than a few minutes when Rose approached him with her head quirked up to the side in silent curiosity, making his lips quirk up into a smile at how predictable his classmates were.
"Adrien?" He noticed she wrung her fingers in nervousness, as she looked back at the group that had been huddled together. No doubt she had drawn the short straw to whatever it was the group wanted to know about him now.
"Yes, Rose?" He smiled as he looked up at the blonde. She returned his smile, before leaning, a rogue tinge to her smile as her curiosity won the best of her. "There have been rumors around the city, it even appeared on a magazine or two, and well, we're also curious."
Adrien frowned as he wondered what exactly could be mentioned about him this particular weekend, he'd barely left his house beside a photoshoot he had had. "What is it?"
"You know how Kagami got akumatized?" He nodded, gesturing her to continue "Well, Ladybug defeated her with your help, and we were wondering what happened. Do you know why Kagami got akumatized?" He could feel another question lying underneath the one's she'd said. Had you been the reason she got akumatized? He guessed their curiosity stemmed from the surprise that he could've been the reason someone got akumatized, and it stung when he realized that he had been the sole reason for his friend's akumatization.
However, his attention latched onto something else the blonde had mentioned. He had helped Ladybug? That couldn't have been possible, the only thing he remembered was getting hit by the akuma's powers and then when the akuma had been defeated.
"I- we broke up, but the reason why she got akumatized is personal, I can't say." At his words, the blonde girl suddenly looked brighter as she threw a smile his way.
"Oh! You guys broke up? For real?!" He only nodded as a laugh threatened to spill from his lips at the girl's reaction. Murmurs broke out all around the classroom at the revelation, and although Adrien considered it to be something of no importance, his classmates thought otherwise.
Everyone turned around when the door opened once more, a smiling Marinette greeting the group. "What's up, guys? You were making such a ruckus I could hear it outside and now you're silent."
Adrien could only stare at her as silence reigned in the room, only to be broken by Kim as he talked from the back of the room. "Adrien broke up with Kagami. Now you-" His words were interrupted as he wheezed out in pain after getting hit by someone in the crowd.
Her blue eyes fixed on him, surprised etched in little feature of her face, something else flashed in her eyes that he couldn't quite put his finger on, but deep down he hoped it meant something good. "Really? What happened?" He unconsciously cringed as he remembered the breakup. Seeing his reaction she shook her head, before walking towards him. "Sorry, you don't have to tell me. I get that some things just don't work out, right?"
Her smile seemed forced and he wondered if she was thinking how things hadn't worked out between them because he had been too much of an idiot.
"No, it's fine. We just worked out better as friends." And I'm in love with you. But he couldn't say that, he felt like he had to bite down his tongue to prevent himself from speaking out his feelings for her.
"Right, friendships are better sometimes, aren't they?" He felt a jab to his chest at her words, not that he was aware of the girl's previous feelings it all seemed too obvious, and it made his lungs burn in apprehension. It made him suddenly doubt his future course of action.
Clearly, she was happy with Luka, who was he to tear them apart? And much more after getting them to be together. Groaning, he let his head fall on his arms that were on the table. He could almost feel the stares that were still fixed on him, so he turned towards where he knew his best friend would be in the gathered group, as it started to disperse and they all got back to their seats.
Nino stared at him with what he would best describe a proud look on his face, and perhaps also satisfied. He smiled as he looked up at Alya, who seemed to be buzzing with excitement.
"Adrien, did you see the recordings of that fight? Ladybug looked so amazing with the fox and the ladybug miraculous combined." Her sly smile told him that this was just her way of starting her line of questions, and he had no doubt hers would be entirely different than the rest of the students.
"Yeah, I saw it, she looked pretty cool. What about it?" She moved from her seat, pushing Nino from his side and sitting down next to him. She leaned in so that no one else could hear her, "I just thought it was very interesting how Ladybug knew you were dating Kagami." He stared at her with a curious glint as she kept asking, "I mean, the magazines are speculating why she used an illusion of you since not many people knew about your relationship. Don't you think it's odd that she knew?"
He didn't, as Chat he knew Ladybug's powers worked in mysterious and convoluted ways, so he didn't find it odd. It must've been her power that hinted her to use Adrien however she had, although he still couldn't wrap his head at her conjuring an illusion of himself.
Turning his attention back to the brunette, he answered, "I don't think it's odd, her power works in mysterious ways, doesn't it?" Alya didn't seem convinced.
"You sure? Maybe she knew about it, maybe she's someone we know. Here from school." He shrugged at her words. In the past, he would've jumped in glee just from hearing any kind of hint about who Ladybug could be, but now he respected her desire to keep her identity a secret far too much, plus his personal reasons for wanting to know her identity had pretty much dissipated.
Now he just wanted Marinette.
"I'm sure, besides people were gossiping about us since the double date I had with Marinette and Luka." He ignored the pang that hit his guts at the mention of that cursed date. Now he understood why he hadn't liked it even though he'd been the one to suggest it. Now he just felt stupid.
Their conversation was interrupted when Ms. Bustier made her way into the classroom, and they all went to their respective seats.
Not more than half an hour had passed when he felt a small nudge on his ribs originating from his friend. Now that Ms. Bustier had her back turned to the class, Nino slid closer to Adrien, leaning to his side to be as discreet as possible. But honestly, Adrien thought it was impossible to be discreet, they were in the first row for fuck's sake.
"So, are you going to be making your moves now?" Adrien bit his lip at the implication of his question.
"No, I think? I- I don't know. Look can we talk about this later? I don't trust that we have as much privacy as we'd like." Turning around, he caught Marinette staring at the two with a curious look in her eyes, before hiding her face as it blossomed into a bright shade of red.
His lips stretched into a pleased grin once he had turned to face forward once again. "Okay, lunch? I suggest you text Nathalie right now because there's no way I'm letting you run away from this one."
Grumbling under his breath, he did just that.
… … … … … … … … … … … …
Nino sat in front of him with an incredulous expression written all over his face. He took a sip from his coffee as he processed everything Adrien had just told him. "So, you know? I hadn't expected Kagami out of all people to be the one to let the cat out of the bag." Adrien felt a bit of irritation at his words.
"You knew all this time? Why did you never tell me?" Nino stared at him with an exasperated glint in his eyes, before he sighed. Shrugging, he laid the coffee on top of the small table that separated them.
"I wanted you to notice it yourself, everyone thought it was pretty obvious. Besides, I was trying to respect Marinette's timing and her own feelings on the matter. Not that Kagami disrespected her for telling you, I'm not saying that. It was getting pretty exasperating to see you two dance in circles around each other, I can only imagine what Kagami felt being in the middle of that."
Adrien could only imagine how'd she felt and she had even explained it to him, but he was sure words could never truly express that amount of turmoil his friend had gone through.
"Do you think Marinette likes me still, even if just a little bit?" Nino looked at him, looking deep in thought.
"I'm not sure, from what I know Marinette hasn't been talking much about you lately." Adrien's shoulders slumped as he looked down at his coffee, now cold from him just not drinking it. He should've realized by now, Marinette had forgotten him almost completely, the sudden memory of her walls bare of any of his photos just cemented the feeling, making him feel nauseous.
"You should try getting closer to her, keeping in mind that she might not want anything more than friendship from you. Loving you was agonizing for her, she may not want to fall back into it. Besides the fact that she's also dating Luka, although between you and me," He leaned closer as though making sure no one could listen, as if anyone in this café was interested in some teen's drama, "I don't think they're going to last long, apparently Marinette barely ever mentions Luka to Alya. She's not sure why, but she said that she has an inkling that Marinette's feelings are wavering. Now the question remains, where are they wavering to? Or who?" Nino winked before leaning back into his seat.
"You think so?" He hadn't thought, nor imagined that Marinette and Luka weren't working out as well as expected, whenever he visited her as Chat she would at one point of the night end up texting with the guitarist, and she would have no qualms with stopping a video game to answer to her boyfriend, and although he hated to admit it, it had always bothered him whenever she did that. However, it pleased him that she wouldn't accept calls when she was with him.
"Yeah, dude. Alya's intuition is never wrong, especially when it comes to Marinette. You know how girls are." A grin spread across both teens' lips as they remembered how eerily accurate Alya was with her speculations.
Despite the part of him that wanted to do better, Adrien felt hope at the brunet's words.
"Let's go out, the four of us. You two can hang out as friends and you'll have the pressure of interacting with her alone off your shoulders. Don't you think it's a good idea?" It was the best idea he could've come up with. Suddenly, he loved his best friend very much.
"Yes, please. I'm not sure how to approach her at all and I'm scared she'll tell me no if I ask her to hang out with just me." Nino chuckled before shrugging.
"I think she'd probably say yes, but it would be pretty uncomfortable now that you're aware of your feelings." He wiggled his eyebrows at Adrien, causing the blond to scrunch up his nose in annoyance, before bursting out in laughter at the blond's expense.
"Sorry, man. It's just really funny to watch the roles reversed. I wonder if you're going to stutter the same way she used to."
"Is that why she stuttered? I thought she was just shy."
Nino grinned widely, "Oh yeah, too shy to talk to her crush." Adrien snorted, blushing at the embarrassing sound before trying to hide his face with his cup of coffee, although to no avail, the bright, almost apple shade of red was too noticeable on his face.
"Oh look, Marinette and Alya." Adrien turned quickly towards the door, finding that neither of the girls was standing there. Turning back he threw a glare towards his friend.
"You're such a liar, I don't even know why I trust you," Nino smirked, before looking over Adrien's shoulder.
"I wasn't lying though." Adrien wasn't able to say another word when he felt the familiar presence that he unmistakably recognized as Marinette. His shoulders tensed when he felt her hand brush against his back as she moved to the seat next to his, as Alya moved to sit next to Nino.
"Adrien, Nino told us you had said we should all hang out. So, what exactly did you want to do?" Adrien tried to inconspicuously glare at his supposed best friend. When had he even managed to pull this stunt? Adrien wasn't prepared! He was supposed to research what the hell he could talk about to get Marinette to like him, not get sprung up in a sudden, group outing.
"Adrien, you okay?" Marinette laid her hand on his forearm, a curious glint under her worried stare.
"Yeah, I'm fine. How about we go to the movies?"
Nino shared a look with Alya, before saying "Movies don't leave much speaking time. Remember you said you wanted for us to hang out and talk?" He didn't, perhaps because he hadn't even mentioned it. But he had to give it to Nino, he was good at setting him up, he could barely retort without looking like an idiot that forgets what he says.
"Right, we can go eat ice cream. I don't know, guys. Remember that I don't go out often, I'm the one here that knows least about places to go to." He glanced towards Marinette, as she looked deep in thought, considering his words. He glanced down to her lips, her bottom lip caught between her teeth as she bit lightly into the pink lip.
"How about we go visit Kitty Section, they're practicing today for an upcoming festival." He was going to say no, but he couldn't even open his mouth before Nino had spoken up.
"We don't want to bother them, and I'm sure your presence would only distract a certain guitarist." She giggled at his words before nodding. He felt irritated by her reaction, had Nino truly been right about them not working out? She looked pretty dang chummy and happy about it.
"Let's just go for a walk, maybe we'll run into something we'd like to do." Adrien scrunched his nose as he thought it over. Walking around Paris wasn't exactly a fun experience for him more often than not.
"Adrien would get stopped constantly though," she looked up at him, a small smile playing on her lips, eyes bright and so blue that he wondered how he had never noticed just how beautiful they were. "We could go to the arcade, that'd be fun for all of us, don't you think?"
University has been wiiiild, I'm dead beat tired, honestly. Also, I totally didn't notice yesterday was Monday so I'm posting this today haha
This chapter is a tad shorter compared to other, I'll try to make up for it now that my midterms are mostly over. Also I didn't edit, because it would've taken me another day and I was already so late, so like if you notice any mistakes feel free to let me know! I don't mind the feedback.
Anyways, what do you guys think is happening with these two? What are your thoughts? Next chapter we'll see what's up with Marinette and the whole Luka thing, and arcade cute adrienette moments? Who knows.