Chapter Eight – Milk
Marinette freezes, panic making her blood run cold. She squints, trying to make out who it is in the dark. As they move closer, she somewhat relaxes when she realises that whoever it is is too tall to be Lila. Her gaze flicks to Adrien and a sense of déjà vu washes over her at the expression on his face – a mixture of fear and determination – but she has no idea where she's seen it before. Perhaps during fencing?
"Hey guys." The figure says, and any leftover panic instantly leaves Marinette at the sound of Luka's soothing voice. He steps into the kitchen and smiles at them, before his gaze rests on Marinette and his expression softens. "Hi Mama–Marinette."
She smiles shyly. "Hi Luka."
"Hey." Adrien waves awkwardly, almost knocking the cups off the benchtop. He rights them, blushing heavily.
"Are you guys avoiding all of the noise?" Luka asks, although his gaze doesn't leave hers.
She nods slightly and grips the fridge doorhandle tighter, before realising that she's holding onto the fridge doorhandle and lets it go quickly, drawing her arms tight against her sides awkwardly.
"Yeah. We were looking for milk." Adrien taps his fingers against the benchtop, eyeing Luka warily. Marinette frowns at him, but he doesn't notice. That, or he ignores her.
"Milk?" Luka raises an eyebrow at them, his mouth quirking up on one side in an amused smile. His gaze shifts between them, before it comes back to rest on her.
"We don't like vodka." Marinette blurts out.
Luka laughs slightly. "No one likes vodka the first time. You have to drink a lot of it to like it." He pushes off the counter and moves across to her, standing a little closer than necessary for the space they're in. "We have plain milk and chocolate milk. Which one were you looking for?"
She gapes at him, a little light headed from his sudden close proximity. He continues to stare at her, waiting patiently for her to answer with that amused smile still on his lips. "U–Uh, um . . ." She clears her throat. "Plain." It comes out as a squeak and she feels her cheeks flush, but he just continues to smile at her.
"Okay." He reaches past her and pulls the door open. The cold air trapped in the fridge makes her shiver when it washes over her and she crosses her arms. He removes the milk bottle from the fridge. "Is plain milk good, Adrien?" He asks, finally tearing his gaze away from Marinette to look at the blond. Marinette follows his gaze and is surprised to see the annoyed and seemingly angry expression on his face. As if sensing her eyes on him, his gaze flicks to her and he smiles. When he looks back at Luka the expression from before returns to his eyes while the smile stays, although she notices it's a little more forced now.
"Yeah. Fine." He smiles tensely at Luka and grabs the cups. He stands close to her; so close that his arm brushes against hers when he holds the cups out for Luka to pour the milk into. "Here you go, pr–Mari." He smiles at her, hoping she didn't notice his slip up.
She takes the offered cup from him – they've both forgotten which one was originally hers – and takes a sip gratefully. "Thank you." She looks back at Luka and smiles. "Thanks Luka."
"No problem." He grins at her, screwing the lid back onto the milk. He puts it back in the fridge and shuts the door before stepping back from her to give her some more space, and she releases a breath she didn't realise she was holding. "Are you guys having fun?"
"Um, yeah." Adrien glances at her and she nods in agreement. "It's a little . . ."
"Crazy." Marinette finishes and Adrien grins at her, his expression softening in admiration at the amazing (and, like Nino implied, rather, extremely attractive) girl beside him. Luka clears his throat and they both look back at him.
"I'll leave you to it then." He moves to leave the kitchen, but looks back at them after a few steps and a moment's hesitation. "Uh, if you really need to escape the crazy, Jules and my room is through that door." He points to a door down the hallway. He forces a brief smile before nodding to himself and continuing down the hallway back to the top deck, leaving them alone.
"That was weird." Marinette says, frowning at the spot Luka just vacated. "Do you think that was weird."
"A little." Adrien admits, scratching the back of his head. He sips his milk. "Do you want to stay down here or go back up?"
She sighs and moves away from the fridge to lean back against the counter. "I want to stay down here for a while." Her eyes meet his briefly before dropping back to the ground. "Y–You don't have to stay with me though. You can go up."
"Why would I want to go up without you?" He asks, moving to lean against the counter next to him.
She looks up at him, her eyes filled with confusion, wonder and a little hope that refuses to die down. Similar to her feelings for him. "Oh?"
"Yeah." He smiles at her. "I mean, everyone else is drunk. Who else would I have an intelligent conversation with?"
Her smile falters and she nods, looking away from him again. "Yeah. Who else?" He mentally kicks himself at his failed attempt at a joke and bites his lip, looking away from her and cursing his bad luck. "So, uh . . ." She trails off when he looks back at her and she drops her gaze to the floor beneath her shoes. "Did you want to talk about something?"
I want to talk about why you're so sad. I want to talk about why you're shutting us out. I want to talk to you about what's going on with you and Luka. Are you going out or not? He clearly likes you and I thought you liked him, but then you don't really seem to be going out, despite everyone thinking you're going out. I want to talk to you about why I feel so comfortable around you and like I never want to leave your side and seeing your smile makes my entire day brighter when I'm supposed to be in love with Kagami.
Kagami . . .
"You want to talk about Kagami?" She asks and his eyes widen when he realises he said her name aloud.
"U–Uh . . ." Well, it may be less embarrassing for the both of them if he simply agrees. "Yes?"
She raises an eyebrow, a smile ghosting her lips. "Are you sure?" Her expression turns serious and she frowns in concern. "You don't have to talk to me if you don't want to, I was just asking because you mentioned intelligent con–"
"No!" He cuts her off abruptly and she stops talking instantly, staring at him in surprise. "No," He says softer. "I want to talk to you."
She smiles and sips her milk again. He follows her lead and wipes his milk moustache away self–consciously. They lapse into silence and while it's not uncomfortable, it is a tad awkward after his sudden outburst.
She clears her throat and he glances at her expectantly. "Was there something specific you wanted to talk to me about involving Kagami?"
Oh. Right. He has to talk about his girlfriend to his princess now. Great. "Um . . . I don't know."
"Okay."
They smile at each other awkwardly and sip their respective drinks, more so to have something to do rather than just waiting for one of them to start talking.
"Uh . . . so, how are you two doing?" She asks eventually, putting her empty cup on the bench beside her.
"We're good. Our parents approve of our relationship and our fencing partnership hasn't been affected by our personal relationship. We get along well. We go to many of the same functions with our parents together so we see a fair bit of each other, and my father has allocated Sunday afternoons for time for Kagami and I to have dates, although they mostly consist of us participating in an extracurricular activity because that's what Kagami likes to do with her free time." He chances a glance at her and takes in her mildly shocked face. "W–We also make out whenever we can."
She snorts slightly. "Yeah, I saw that at lunch the other day." He feels his cheeks flush and glances away from her shyly. "How embarrassed would you be if I asked how that's going?"
He looks at her in surprise. "Making out?" She nods shyly, looking rather embarrassed by her own question. "Um . . . it's good."
"Just good?" She tilts her head, studying him.
He feels his cheeks flush darker and wishes more than anything that it wasn't so bright in the kitchen. "I–I mean . . . it makes me feel good, and I certainly enjoy it, and sh–she seems to enjoy it, I just . . . I don't really have anything to compare it to because I've never kissed anyone else." Except for Ladybug, but I don't remember either of those so they don't really count.
"That makes sense." She smiles at him briefly. "I'm going to go to the bathroom."
"Oh. Okay." He watches her disappear and he bites his lip nervously, tapping his fingers against the benchtop absentmindedly. He hears a door shut further down the hallway, and not even a second later Plagg darts out of his pocket and hovers in front of his face. He sighs. "Let me guess, you want cheese?"
"Yes, but that's not it." Adrien pauses, waiting for the kwami to continue. Plagg looks at him pointedly. "Cheese?"
"Oh, right." He takes a wedge of camembert out of his pocket – how it never gets crushed he has no idea, but he puts it down to magic – and gives it to Plagg before the black cat kwami can bite his finger off.
"Oh my God, you are delightful!" He hums in pleasure, letting his eyes slide shut at the taste of the soft cheese on his tastebuds.
Adrien rolls his eyes. "What was it you wanted to say?"
Plagg swallows and tilts his head at his holder, giving him a deadpanned expression. "Do you realise what you're doing?"
"What I'm doing?"
He rolls his eyes. "Kid, you're going out with Kagami."
Adrien raises an eyebrow. "Yeah. I know." He frowns. "What are you going on about?"
Plagg groans and facepalms, muttering about his naïve, oblivious kitten. "Then why – I can't believe I have to spell this out – are you flirting with Marinette?"
Adrien splutters, his cheeks flushing darkly. "Wha–no, I–I'm not, why would–Plagg!" Said kwami bursts out laughing. Adrien pouts. "I'm not flirting with Marinette!"
"Oh, yes you are!" Plagg giggles in delight, pointing at his holder. "Seriously, think back to your actions tonight." He smirks. "The only reason you even came to this party was because Nino said the princess is here."
"I didn't, that wasn't, I'm not . . . I don't . . ." Realisation flashes in Adrien's eyes and he freezes, jaw dropping.
"Oh kid," Plagg shakes his head, still giggling at the absurdity of the situation. "You do."