Ok, so I kinda love this chapter! It has a lot of back story and I don't think I managed to catch all the typos or grammar mistakes.
It bugs me when I realise there's a mistake that I can't correct, I might be a perfectionist but I really don't know! I've been known to be the most disorganised organised person there is because I plan everything well in advance but I also have a tendency to be a hectic overthinking whirlwind! English is also my first language so I really have no excuse!
Anyway, I think I'm going to have a posting schedule of Thursdays and Sundays, mainly because this story is already written except for a minor detail in chapter 9 that I'm having trouble changing. But I'll get there! I also want to write an epilogue that's only with this iteration of the story rather than the old one, but I don't currently have the time to do that. There'll be 10 chapters overall so posting twice a week will mean that it will be done in 5 weeks rather than 10, which will satiate my impatience!
It is now half past midnight GMT so I better go to sleep, but I hope you enjoy! It's also my birthday this Thursday (20th Jan) so please feel free to gift me a comment, I'd still love to hear thoughts and opinions on the story!
xxxxx
Chapter 2
"Nino, where are the cups? People are going to be here soon and your DJ desk isn't even set up," Adrien called through his apartment to his roommate.
Adrien and Nino were just like Marinette and Alya and had met freshman year when they were roomed together, their friendship growing to a point where they decided to stay roommates for the entirety of university. They both bugged the life out of each other, Nino always making fun of how the only real world exposure Adrien had was through Marinette, and Adrien was forever baffled by how one person can be so disorganised. But they had a great friendship, one that they both needed when they started university. But for Adrien, the only person who could take the best friend position in his heart was Marinette. She was the one who he trusted completely, and he knew her like the back of his hand.
And now he had to go and ruin it by kissing her. She'd been avoiding him all day, which was strange for a Saturday, a day where they're usually doing everything together. Going for a run, grocery shopping, even just sitting in one of their living rooms reading a book. But this morning, she was not at the meeting place at the beginning of their running route. He thought he spotted her at the supermarket though when a flash of midnight blue hair caught his eye, but there was no one there so he carried on and then came home, ready to set up for the party that Nino wanted to throw so he could get DJ exposure.
He couldn't help the sadness that spread through him whenever he thought about the situation. Sure the kiss was amazing, better than any he'd ever had before, but he was feeling so guilty about putting their nearly ten year long friendship in jeopardy. Of course he'd had thoughts about what it would be like if they did take the plunge, he was still human and saw the intense beauty his best friend had developed as she blossomed from the tiny girl in pigtails he'd met. But he always swallowed back the monster in his chest whenever a guy hit on Marinette on nights out, or when she started dating Luka, her senior year boyfriend. She'd told him every detail of their relationship, wanting to properly understand the new experiences, not that he was the right person to do that with. Then he was comforting her through their amicable break up 6 weeks into their 10 week break before leaving for university. Luka had gotten the opportunity of a lifetime to go on a world tour with his father and Marinette had been thinking about ending things before she left for university, a decision that was confirmed when they started to lose their connection due to Luka becoming increasingly more jealous of Adrien's relationship with her. But, despite the inevitable break up, Marinette was still fairly heartbroken, leaning on Adrien for comfort and making him feel guilty for feeling very happy. A happiness that he did not want to explain.
Adrien was brought back to the real world by Nino sauntering into the room, seeming way too chill for someone getting ready to deliver one of the greatest sets he could possibly create.
"Sorry dude, I was just on the phone with Alya. She and Marinette are getting ready at the moment and she wanted to know if she should bring anything. I told her that my boy Adrien probably already has everything down, a fact that I could hear Marinette wholeheartedly agree with from the background," Nino explained, walking over to a cupboard to pull out a large box filled with disposable cups. Adrien felt his face flush at the mention of Marinette knowing him so well, but disguised it from Nino by turning back to sorting out the drinks station, neatly laying out the many bottles of their large alcohol selection.
"It's ok Nino. I'm glad the girls are still coming," Adrien replied, unable to hide the relief in his voice. So maybe Marinette wasn't completely avoiding him?
"Of course they're still coming. My girlfriend isn't going to miss tonight, the night that I start to get the word out about my insane music skills. Hopefully this damn business degree will work for something if I can get this DJ career off the ground using whatever I remember from these three years." NIno had applied to a business degree on the insistence of his parents, who wanted him to have a range of skills that could enrich his career rather than let it be hindered by just being a DJ. Reluctantly, Nino had agreed, finally able to see the benefits even though he hated every minute, finding it incredibly boring. Plus coming to this school hadn't been all bad for him, he'd met the love of his life in Alya. The two of them had met through Adrien and Marinette, both of them deciding that they should meet the other roommate, not expecting said roommates to get along so well and start dating in the 6th week of their first year. But they'd been going strong ever since and had many plans for a future together. Adrien had found himself wishing that he had that kind of love, but he kept meeting women who had no interest in the real Adrien, just the model Adrien. The worst was Lila. She had seemed to be such a sweet person when they ran into each other at the campus coffee shop, immediately finding common ground when they started talking. Then he took her out on a date and she morphed into the craziest of the super fans, revealing that they had absolutely nothing in common and that she'd researched the crap out of him by starting to talk about the one thing he'd told an interviewer that was completely untrue, it was just another layer to model Adrien. He had to text Marinette to give him an excuse to get out of there. Ever since that date, which was 3 months ago now, Lila had been popping up everywhere, trying to engage him in conversions and set up another date. He had officially run out of ways to politely decline or excuses to make, eventually leading to that frantic ill thought out moment in the library with Marinette.
"Dude, what's wrong? You've been quiet ever since you came home last night," Nino asked as he finally started to set up his DJ table.
Adrien shook himself out of his thoughts for real this time, going over to help Nino with the set up.
"Nothing's wrong. Just ran into Lila again yesterday. It was a huge mistake to go on that date with her. I wasn't expecting her to be so…fangirly," Adrien replied, making Nino burst out laughing.
"I told you it would be a mistake, and so did Alya. But that was the week that Marinette went out with the cool designer dude from her design history class and you asked out the first girl you ran into in a coffee shop," Nino said between laughs. Adrien just looked at Nino with a confused expression.
"What are you talking about? I did not ask out Lila because Marinette went on a date. I asked out Lila because she seemed like a genuinely cool girl. I was very wrong, but she's an insanely good liar. I was lucky that I caught on when she mentioned that she hates cats. I love cats and only told the reporter I hated them because she had overshared and told me how her hamster had been eaten by a cat. And that date Marinette had didn't amount to anything."
"Dude, you're both naive and blind to your feelings. That date did amount to something. Girls talk and Marinette told Alya exactly what happened that night. Everything dude. Everything happened. But neither design history dude nor Marinette called each other after that night."
"How do you know this?" Adrien asked, his brow furrowing at the thought of his best friend not telling him absolutely everything. He used to know the ins and outs of her life. In fact, Marinette had told him that she didn't hit it off with designer dude, no mention of anything else at all.
"Because people in relationships tell each other pretty much everything. Especially when it's about the extremely close friendship between mutual friends," Nino deadpanned, plugging in the last cable and fistpumping in celebration when everything turned on.
"Which mutual friends?"
Nino shot Adrien a meaningful look, his face going serious before he said, "which mutual friends do you think dude?" With that, Nino went back to his room to get changed, satisfied with both his set up and the thought of leaving Adrien with a dumbfounded expression on his face along with something to think about.
—-
The party at Adrien and Nino's flat was in full swing by the time Marinette and Alya walked in, shedding their coats when they walked into the full apartment filled with many of their classmates, all dancing to NIno's incredible set.
Marinette's eyes were immediately scanning the crowd for Adrien, already missing him after a day of dodging him. She soon found him, his eyes locking with hers from where he stood at the edge of the room.
He was holding a cup and leaning against the wall, talking to a classmate when he spotted her, looking jaw droppingly stunning, literally. Adrien's jaw was skimming the floor before he could stop it, only picking up when her eyes met his. An odd feeling of calm and relief washed over him when she drive him a small wave, only looking away when Alya tapped her on the shoulder and handed her a drink. Adrien took that as a sign, excusing himself from his conversation to make his way over to her.
"Hi you guys," he greeted, kissing Alya on both cheeks before turning to Marinette, his body taking over his mind as he pulled her into a huge hug, surprising Marinette. "I missed you for our run this morning," he said into her hair, eventually letting go of her.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. We had a late night last night and I accidentally slept in," Marinette replied, making Adrien laugh, both out of relief that she wasn't avoiding him, and knowing full well what she meant by accidentally sleeping in (waking up at midday because she snoozed her alarm in her sleep).
"It's ok. I'm glad you're here now," Adrien smiled, one that was reflected in Marinette's radiant features.
"Me too." Their eyes met, lingering for a couple seconds longer, until Alya broke the odd tension.
"Right," she said, smiling knowingly at the two of them. "I'm going to go say hello to my boyfriend while he's on a break, then go dance my feet off for the rest of the night. You two have fun." She then winked and walked away, leaving behind a slightly confused Adrien and a fuming Marinette. But the world corrected itself when Adrien faced her again, then took the cup out of her hand, laying both of theirs on a table before grabbing her hand and dragging out the door.
"Adrien!" Marinette exclaimed. "Where are we going?"
"Outside," was the only answer he gave her, pulling her down the corridor and the stairs, opening the door to the outside, letting the refreshing spring air wash over the.
He held it open before following her out into the cool night. They just walked for a while, Marinette confused about why she had been dragged out of the party, and Adrien trying to figure out what to say.
"I'm sorry," he eventually landed on, glazing over to see his friend's reaction, her face a picture of confusion.
"What for?" Marinette asked. They came to a stop in front of a bench, Marinette sitting down, tapping the seat next to her for Adrien to follow.
"For kissing you in the library the other day. I had no right to, and it's caused a rift between us that I do not like. You are my favourite person in the entire world and I never want to do anything that would risk our friendship. But at that moment in time, I was desperate, and that called for desperate measures," he replied after he sat down. "It's just that I made a huge mistake going out with Lila, and now she won't leave me alone. It's been two months for cripes sake. And the worst part is that she's not the only one. There are so many more crazy fans out there who throw themselves at me when I go out and I hate it." Adrien explained, resting his head in his hands. Marinette stared at him for a minute, fully taking in the burden on her friend's shoulders, then she reached over and placed her hand on Adrien's forearm, causing him to startle then look up at her, straight into her sparkling blue eyes.
"I'm so sorry Adrien. How come you've never told me how much you hated it? We've been friends forever, you know you can trust me with anything."
Adrien's eyes softened as he took in Marinette's words, eventually placing his other hand on top of hers before twisting his body towards her.
"I know I could have, you're the one person I want to tell everything to. But you have already seen every negative impact my father's insistence on modelling has had on my life, and I guess I just didn't want to burden you with more. But then I stupidly dragged you into this mess yesterday so that backfired majorly," he said, his thumb gently rubbing over Marinette's knuckles.
"No shit Sherlock!" Marinette laughed. "Well I'm in it now and I'll always be here for you. We can fix this, I just have no clue how." She then leant back on the bench with an exhale, ignoring the weird disappointment in her belly at Adrien's apology, choosing to shut down the side of her brain that was seeing this as a rejection from Adrien.
Adrien copied Marinette's movement, his head dropping back over the bench. They sat in silence for a while, both of them deep in thought when Marinette's gentle voice broke the quiet early December night.
"Have you thought about telling your father? He might be able to stop all this harassment before…" she started to say, but was stopped in her tracks by Adrien's head shooting up from it's laid back position, his eyes widening at the suggestion.
"Nope. Absolutely not. We absolutely can not tell my father. He will take it as a sign of weakness and release something to the press about me being harassed, making it exponentially worse. Have you seen some of the people here? I know it's not high school anymore, but I absolutely can not be the guy who runs to daddy to sort out his problems for him, despite how serious the issue actually is. Too bad I can't file a police report or a restraining order, there's just not enough proof to do that and it will still be too public," Adrien blurted, a pained expression on his face at the thought of telling his father about any weakness. Marinette saw this as quickly scooted closer to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders in a hug. Adrien's demeanor immediately calmed down, his own arms stretching around Marinette's waist, pulling her even closer to his solid body. Hugs weren't unusual for them, but there was something teetering on the edge of this one, a tenderness that neither of them could quite understand.
"It's ok, I'm sorry I shouldn't have suggested your father. I know what your relationship is like so I should have already known the answer to that question," Marinette said into Adrien's hair, her tone becoming comforting as she spoke. "And you're right, it's completely unfair that you can't use the proper channels to end this once and for all."
"Thank you Mari," Adrien sighed, his head resting on her shoulder as she gently stroked his hair. He relaxed into her touch, holding her close to him until she felt her shift. She pulled away a little, twisting her wrist to check the time on her watch, eyes widening before she twisted her arm towards Adrien.
"Oh shit, we've been out here for ages," Adrien laughed. "We better get back, I am one of the hosts of the party currently destroying my apartment. Plus it's an end of term celebration that we fully deserve before the holidays and entering our last term."
"You are completely right," Marinette sighed as Adrien stood up, holding his hand out to her. She gladly accepted, pulling herself up. Adrien then threw his arm over Marinette's shoulder, all the former animosity and awkwardness having dissipated between them.
They laughed and joked with each other the entire walk back to Adrien and Nino's apartment, the kiss from yesterday completely forgotten, until they neared the apartment building and Adrien stopped in his tracks.
"Oh Crap," he exclaimed, before grabbing Marinette's hand and pulling her into an alcove.
"What?" Marinette asked. "What is it?"
"Lila," Adrien whispered. They had come to a stop in an alcove, Adrien's back to a cold brick wall and Marinette in front of him, with her hands on his chest.
"What?! Where?!"
"Walking this way!"
Marinette stuck her head out of the alcove, spotting a tall conventionally beautiful brunette walking towards Adrien and Nino's building. Toward the party that she was undoubtedly not invited to. She was still studying the girl when a tug on her elbow brought her back to Adrien and their compromising hiding place. She felt her face flush a bit when she finally noticed the position they were standing in, shifting some of her weight back so she wasn't entirely leaning on Adrien.
"What do we do?" he panic whispered, his eyes growing wider than she'd ever seen them.
"I don't know! Maybe she won't see us. We are hiding after all," Marinette replied, slight amusement at Adrien's panic threading through her hushed tones.
"No Marinette. She will spot us. And then know that we were hiding from her. She's weirdly smart at stuff like that."
"Ok, calm down." Marinette then risked another look out, noticing that Lila was now a lot closer, close enough for Marinette to see how overly tight and short Lila's dress was. She ducked her head back toward Adrien, who was now staring beyond her shoulder.
"Marinette, we have another problem," he whispered, his eyes gesturing behind her. Mari turned her head and nearly groaned in exasperation when she realised that they had only gone and hidden in the doorway to the apartment building, and it was way too late to enter the code and duck inside without Lila knowing that they had been standing here for a while. She slowly turned her head back to her best friend, and locked her gaze with his. She was close that she could count the little gold flecks in Adrien's gorgeous green eyes, when an idea popped into her head. She mentally rolled her eyes, unable to believe that that was the only idea that came to her. Yesterday must have affected her more than she thought.
Marinette then took a deep breath, closing her eyes and steeling herself, before opening them and facing Adrien with a new confidence, one that nearly knocked the breath out of him.
"I can't believe I'm going to do this," Marinette said, more so to herself than Adrien. "I'm sorry."
Then she grabbed Adrien's face and pulled his lips down towards hers, surprising him. His hands hovered at her sides for a second before he realised what was happening. Then his brain kicked in.
Marinette was kissing him. For the second time in two days. And he was enjoying it. His hands relaxed themselves, resting on her hips as her hands moved from his face to the back of his neck. They were losing themselves in the kiss, deeping their movements with little strokes and bites of lips, while Adrien's hands wandered a little further south of Marinette hips, stopping on her thigh, creating leverage to spin them around and pin Marinette to the wall, her leg twisting around his. She let out a little gasp, opening her mouth just enough for Adrien to capture her tongue, causing Marinette to whimper slightly against his mouth.
All too soon, they had to stop in favour of breathing fresh oxygen into their lungs. They broke apart gently, searching each other's eyes for an explanation as to why that felt so good. But their internal questions were put on hold when they both noticed a shadow. Turning their heads, limbs still entwined together, to the source of the shadow; Lila.
Adrien smiled gently at her, letting go of Marinette and collecting his composure, but not before stealing one last look at her. Her messed up hair and kiss bruised lips only added to her natural beauty, a beauty that Adrien had been struggling, and resoundingly failing, not to notice ever since high school.
"Hi Adrien," Lila greeted in her saccharine sweet voice.
"Hello Lila. Are you here for the party?" Adrien replied, his body tensing.
"Yes I am. A few of my friends are here and invited me to tag along. I hope I'm not too late?" she asked, tilting her head to one side as she batted her eyelids. The obvious and terrible flirting made Marinette cringe, causing her to turn towards the door, entering in the code she had used countless times to let herself into her best friend's home, just to hide her distaste for the girl.
"No, you're fine. It's the third apartment on the fourth floor. Follow the music and you'll find it without any issues. We'll be right up." Adrien responded, his mouth stretching into his model smile, one that Marinette knew had no meaning behind it, having been on the receiving end of both Adrien's intensely beautiful full smile and his wicked sense of humour.
Marinette held the door open for Lila, shooting Adrien a grimace along with an eye roll to impart to Adrien her thoughts on this girl. She then made a move to follow Adrien inside, but was stopped by a hand to her elbow, bringing her attention back to Adrien, who was signalling with his head to hang back.
"What was that?" he asked once he checked that Lila was nowhere near.
"Sorry, I thought that she may have believed we got distracted before we headed up to the party. I couldn't see any other option to get us out of that situation and you were panicking. Plus she saw us yesterday in the library, it seemed plausible," Marinette replied, her face flushing as she spoke about the kiss. "But forget it happened, just like yesterday. It worked to distract her for now, but we will figure out a more permanent solution."
Adrien just stood there nodding, internally annoyed that Marinette said to forget whatever took them over, making what was meant to be a simple kiss of distraction turn into something hot, making every hair on Adrien's body stand on end from the sparks that shot through his bloodstream. But he had to agree with her, he had no idea what any of this meant and nearly 10 years of training to ignore any change in feelings had taught him how to move on and make things return to the status quo.
"Yes, you're right," Adrien said, leaning over Mari to open the door once again. "It's forgotten. Now, let's go celebrate the end of a term from hell by partying and getting drunk with our friends and some insane crazy stalker people!"
Marinette threw her head back and laughed, lighting a small fire in Adrien's chest that he fully intended to drown in whatever alcohol was left upstairs, despite the obvious flammable nature of the substance.
"Don't say things like that!" she said as she followed Adrien up the stairs. "It makes me want to hunt down and thrash whoever makes my best friend miserable."
And that was it. Adrien was a goner. As soon as they arrived in the apartment, Adrien beelined for the drinks, telling Mari that he'd bring one over to her. The rest of the party went much like that, filled with alcohol and dancing with everyone in the middle of the living room. Marinette and Adrien could be spotted most of the night downing drinks and screaming lyrics of their favourite songs into each other's faces, both of them getting progressively more drunk as the night went on.
The next morning, Marinette woke up in an unfamiliar setting, her head pounding from the night before. The smell of fresh coffee reached her nose as she slowly sat up, opening her eyes to see that she was on the couch in Adrien and Nino's apartment, covered in the blanket that usually rested on the back of said couch.
"Morning," Adrien croaked from the kitchen, having spotted his best friend sitting up, her hand coming up to her forehead in pain.
"Morning," she replied, turning her head towards him. "I should not have drunk that much last night."
"Me neither. There's coffee and painkillers here for you," he said from his position on a bar stool. He was clad in his dressing gown on top of a pair of pajama pants, his hair slightly damp from a shower. Marinette stood up from the couch, wincing as she padded over to where Adrien had poured her a mug, leaning over the breakfast bar as she took a sip, enjoying the warmth and the instant caffeine relief.
"When did you wake up?" she asked, noticing Adrien's damp hair. Her eyes then wandered to register that his chest was care and she could see each and every one of his defined abs underneath his olive skin. She felt her face flush and quickly downed more of her coffee.
"Not too long ago. I'm normally an early riser but nothing could get me up this morning. But I did eventually wake up and immediately jumped in the shower. Then I came out here to make coffee. You woke up just on time."
Marinette just nodded, laughing internally at Adrien's predictability. They sat in a companionable silence for a while, both of them enjoying their coffee and feeling better by the minute as the mixture of caffeine and painkillers kicked in. It wasn't long before Alya and Nino came into the apartment, apparently having gone on an early breakfast run.
"Ah, look Nino. The passed out lovebirds are awake!" Alya exclaimed as she placed the bakery box on the table in front of them. Both Adrien and Marinette grimaced at her volume, their headaches responding with gusto.
"What are you talking about Als?" Marinette asked, rubbing her forehead before reaching for the box, craving the delicious sweetness of the pastries that smelt like home.
"Oh the whole campus is talking about it. We couldn't believe you didn't tell us!" Nino said, chiming into the conversion.
Marinette and Adrien shared a look of confusion before turning back to their friends.
"Talking about what?" Adrien asked. This time it was Alya and Nino's turn to share a look.
"You mean to say that you haven't checked your phones this morning?" Alya asked.
"No we haven't. I literally just woke up. I don't even think I know where my phone is," Marinette replied, getting increasingly worried.
Alya's eyes glinted with something that looked like a mixture of mischief and delight, pulling out her phone and toggling over to something before flipping her phone round to show her two clueless friends.
Marinette and Adrien simultaneously leant towards the screen, their eyes falling on an article featuring pictures. Pictures of the two of them last night. Holding hands. Long looks. Hands on arms. Making out against brick walls.
Both their jaws dropped.