Chapter Thirty Three – Harder, but Funner
Marinette walks as quickly as she can down the stairs without tripping, dodging a few classmates along the way. She grips her bag straps tightly in one hand and holds onto the railing with the other so she doesn't fall. Oh God, oh God, oh God, what just happened? One minute she and Adrien were working perfectly fine beside each other and the next he was about to kiss her. And she didn't stop it! Why didn't she stop it? She should've stopped him.
Kagami will never forgive her and she'll lose another friend and she doesn't want to hurt Kagami and she doesn't want to hurt Adrien but she can't be with Adrien and she's falling in love with Cat but she can't fall in love with Cat because then he'll learn her identity, get akumatised and turn into Cat Blanc and destroy the universe and she can't. She can't, she can't, she can't!
She can still feel his fingers grazing her cheek and remembers the way his eyes shined as he stared at her. She knows that look. She used to look at him with that look. It should make her happy. This is what she should want. She should want Adrien to want to kiss her but she doesn't want him to kiss her because she's not completely devoted to him and she's not sure if she wants him or Cat more and it doesn't really matter because she can't have either of them. Ever. And even if she could her life is a mess and she's a mess and her brain is full of crazy and Kagami would never forgive her even if she says she does because who does that to their friend? Who goes out with their friend's ex who apparently has liked them for as long as they were in a relationship with that friend and seemingly broke up with that friend so they could date you? Just, who does that? When did that become a thing?
It's like at Lila's party when she realised that her friends were no longer little kids and drank alcohol and made out with people and she never realised that growing up would be like this. She thought they'd grow up at the same pace and that they wouldn't even be thinking about sex until they were in uni but it seems like everyone's thinking that and they're thinking it about her and she can't handle it. She can't even imagine making out with someone, let along . . . that. Yet her classmates are looking at her like she has a sign over her head shouting 'I had sex' even though she didn't and she feels dirty and what does Adrien think of her because he hasn't said anything to her about the pregnancy rumour which is good because she shouldn't have to say anything and bad because he might be thinking the same as the rest of their classmates and if he is she won't be able to handle that and–
"Mari! Wait up!"
Marinette stumbles over her feet at the familiar voice and grips the railing beside her so she doesn't take a tumble down the remaining stairs. She's so close to getting home. Just another three steps and she would've been in the courtyard. But she can't avoid Adrien, that's not nice and he doesn't deserve that. Plus, she's starting to get dizzy again and she's not sure if it's because she hasn't eaten since dinner or because she's tired or maybe she just needs a glass of water?
"Adrien?" She asks once he's in front of her, breathing heavy and cheeks flushed with exertion, as if he ran all the way here. "Did you run from the library?"
He nods, still catching his breath. "Yeah." He swallows and his dry throat makes him cough a little, so he has to turn his head away and cover his mouth with his elbow to stop spreading germs, even though when you cough into your elbow you tend to look like kind of an idiot and he doesn't want to look like an idiot in front of Marinette because he's pretty sure he's done enough of that already. "I wanted to catch you before you went home."
"Okay." She shifts her weight nervously and tightens her grip on her bag straps, eyes darting around the space surrounding them so she doesn't have to look him in the eye and remember the love he saw in their only moments ago. "Is it about the project?"
"No. Well, yes, but no. But also yes." Adrien drops his face into his hands, missing the silent giggle Marinette lets out. "Would you like to come over for lunch and to work on the assignment?"
Marinette blinks at him. "For lunch?"
"Yes."
"At your house?"
"Yes."
"With you?"
Adrien nods, smiling. "Well, it would be weird if I wasn't there, don't you think?"
Marinette nods slightly and turns to continue down the stairs since she realised that they're blocking them. "Yeah, it probably would be."
Adrien follows her and falls into step beside her. "So, is that a yes?" He looks at her hopefully.
Marinette purses her lips, looking across the street at her house. She jiggles her leg nervously and looks back at Adrien. He looks so hopeful, so happy, and she doesn't want to make him sad. She knows he hates eating alone, and even if she isn't hungry she can at least humour him. He probably just wants to continue working on the project because he knows he won't have much time to do so over the weekend and he doesn't want her to do everything.
She meets Adrien's eye and forces a smile, the voice in her head telling her that spending more one–on–one time with Adrien is betraying Kagami, and she's a terrible friend for it. "It's a yes."
. . .
"So this is what you usually have for lunch?" Marinette asks, twirling her spaghetti around her fork absentmindedly as she studies Adrien.
They're sitting across from each other, plates of creamy French onion spaghetti half eaten in front of them. Nathalie's sitting at the opposite end of the table, where Gabriel would sit if he was here, but isn't paying them any attention, and is instead answering emails.
"I always imagined you being force fed salad."
Adrien snorts. "No, I eat my salads willingly." He eats another forkful before continuing. "I usually have my main meal for lunchtime on a school day, because that way I'm not eating a big meal for dinner, which can slow down your metabolism. Or something." He shrugs and sips his water. "I wasn't really listening when my nutritionist explained it. I was just trying to figure out if I could still have birthday cake."
Marinette's eyes widen, missing the joking tone in Adrien's voice. "You had to see a nutritionist on your birthday?"
He laughs slightly and shakes his head. "No, no. It was a joke. Kinda." He scratches the back of his neck. "I was worried they would make me give up all things containing sugar, but thankfully I'm fine so long as I only eat it in moderation."
Marinette hums and puts her fork down in favour of picking up her glass of water. She sips it methodically, studying him over her glass. He smiles when he notices her eyes on him before looking down at her meal.
"Do you like it?" He asks, noticing that she's barely eaten half of it, while he's almost finished.
Marinette's eyes widen in surprise and she puts her glass down quickly before she drops it. "Oh, yes, it's delicious. I'm just not very hungry." She forces another smile, hoping he doesn't question her.
Adrien frowns slightly, not quite believing her, but he doesn't really want to call her out. Plus their conversation has attracted the attention of Nathalie and he can feel her studying the two of them from the head of the table. "Did you eat a big breakfast?"
There's a moments pause, and then she nods. He decides not to push her by asking what she had. He's trying to make her feel at ease, not uncomfortable, and he's positive if he continues down this line of questioning that is what she'll become.
They continue the rest of the meal in moderate silence, only making general small talk, and as soon as Adrien's finished, Marinette places her own cutlery in the middle of her plate, signalling that she, too, is finished.
"I'll take your plates to the kitchen." Nathalie says, having noticed they had finished.
"Oh, that's okay. I can take my plate." Marinette says, smiling at Nathalie kindly. She gets up from her chair and prepares to grab her plate, before Nathalie stops her.
"It's alright. I'm sure you and Adrien have plenty of work to get done before you return to school." She takes the plate from Marinette and sits it on top of Adrien's, before picking both plates up and sitting their glasses on top.
Adrien swears in another life Nathalie was a waitress, and a damn good one at that (at least not in the charisma part, since Nathalie is mostly stone–faced, although that could just be a side effect of being Gabriel Agreste's assistant).
"I'll check you're still on task periodically, and if you need any help just come to me." She tells them, before nodding once and exiting the dining room.
Marinette bites her lip nervously and awkwardly clutches the back of her chair, eyes flicking around the room. There aren't a lot of decorations – it's mostly just windows and expensive curtains – so there isn't a whole lot to look at and eventually her eyes return to Adrien. She ducks her head and flushes slightly when she discovers his gaze on her.
Adrien clears his throat awkwardly and walks around the table to stand in front of her. "We can work in my room. It'll be more comfortable."
Marinette nods and smooths down the front of her dress, more so for something to do rather than to smooth out any wrinkles. Adrien's eyes follow her movement and he has to swallow and glance away quickly when he discovers how the dress accentuates her small waist. He hadn't noticed up until this point, having been otherwise preoccupied with the fact that she's left her hair out and has even curled it softly, and then being mesmerised by her eyes. He's kind of glad he didn't notice earlier though, because that would've been a whole new level of awkward. Far more awkward than almost kissing her is.
Not wanting to dwell on how good she looks in her dress any more, for his own safety, he leads her over to where they left their schoolbags and the borrowed library books. Rather than taking everything with them, they take the library books and the assignment sheet. Any writing they have to do can be done with the pens in his room, and they can use his computer for further research that the books don't provide, although they're both determined to try and do the assignment without Google, that way there is less of a chance of having the exact same presentation as another pair doing the Tempest, and plus it'll be more fun. Harder, but funner.
"Have you ever seen the Tempest?" Adrien asks as they start up the stairs. Even though there's a rather large possibility that he'll trip and drop the books and assignment sheet he insisted on carrying, he keeps his eyes on her, once again mesmerised by the very essence of her. He's starting to understand why his photographer likes to take profile pictures; she's beautiful even sideways.
"No, but I have read Hag–seed, which is a modern retelling of the Tempest. Have you seen it?" She lifts her gaze from the floor to meet his and smiles softly. He shakes his head and starts to reply when he's interrupted.
"Adrien?" They both stop on the first landing and look up the stairs to the left, towards Gabriel's office. Gabriel stands at the top of the stairs, hands behind his back, and gazes down at his son and a girl who continues to be an enigma to him with mild curiosity. "I wasn't aware you were bringing company home?"