Chapter Thirty Five – Horrible
True to her word, Nathalie checks on them every ten minutes or so throughout the two or so hours that Adrien and Marinette work pretty much nonstop on the assignment, just reading through the books and writing down the important parts. Now that they know Marinette is coming over the next day, they have come up with a plan.
Today they will gather as much information as they can and organise it under the topics they wish to discuss in their presentation. If they have time they will make a start on the PowerPoint, otherwise that will be left until tomorrow.
Adrien has already said that Marinette should be the one to make the PowerPoint look aesthetically pleasing because she has a designer's eyes, and if she leaves it up to him it will no doubt have an image of a cat saying a pun on every slide. In return he will say majority of the presentation because he knows that public speaking makes Marinette more nervous than it does to him (after all, he's basically grown up doing so in the shadow of his parents).
Tomorrow they will finish the PowerPoint and write the speech, then on Sunday if they can't meet up they will work via emails, proofreading and making sure they haven't left anything out, and also learning the speech (or at least becoming familiar with it, because there's no way they'll be able to actually memorise it before Monday) so they are ready to present.
After two hours of nonstop reading, writing and not talking about anything other than techniques and scenes from the play, Adrien is more than ready for a break. He leans back on his hands and looks across at Marinette, who is laying on her stomach facing him with her legs crossed at the ankles and hovering in the air behind her. As if sensing his eyes on her, she glances up from the book she's reading and meets his gaze, smiling.
"Time for a break?" He questions.
Rather than getting up, he swings his body around and lays down on his own stomach, facing her, and kicks his legs into the air behind him. He props himself up onto his elbows and rests his chin on his hands, gazing at her fondly. There's still a bit of a distance between them – mostly for Nathalie's sake when she comes to check on them again in a few minutes – but they're close enough that he can count the freckles dotted across her nose.
"Any more reading and my brain will turn to mush."
She giggles and lets her feet rest back on the ground, uncrossing her ankles but keeping her thighs together. There's no one behind her, but she is still wearing a dress (even if she does have tights on underneath). "We wouldn't want that," She says almost sarcastically and he wrinkles his nose at her playfully, making her giggle again. "What time is it?"
"About three." He guesses, not wanting to actually get up and check.
He crosses his arms and lays his head down on them, but keeps his gaze on her. After a moment she does the same, and once again kicks her feet into the air behind her. They're quiet for a moment and Adrien sighs, before making his mind up and meeting Marinette's gaze. She looks at him expectantly, guessing he wants to say something.
"Can I tell you something?"
She nods and smiles kindly, tapping her fingers against her arm absentmindedly. "Of course."
Adrien smiles, grateful, before swallowing nervously and rubbing his lips together. "You remember Lila's party? At Juleka's house?" She nods. "Well, um, you see, I–" He clears his throat and starts again. "The next day Kagami came over, and, I, uh . . ." He squeezes his eyes closed and takes a calming breath, before opening them again. "We, uh, we, well, I, I mean it was both of us, but mostly me, and I . . . decision, uh, happened and I, um, we, and then, ah, well, you see . . ." He groans and drops his head onto his folded arms. "Why can't I do this?" He mutters, voice muffled by his arms, but Marinette still hears him.
Propping herself up on her elbows once again, she puts a hand on his forearm and squeezes lightly in support, and he lifts his head to look at her, pushing himself up on his elbows so they're eye to eye.
"I think I know what you're saying," She says gently, and Adrien resists the urge to nod because he's not supposed to know that she knows because he was supposed to be Cat at that time not Adrien so Adrien shouldn't know that she knows even though he does know she knows. "Kagami called me last night," She pauses again, anticipating his reaction, but he just nods for her to continue, biting his lip. "And she told me that the two of you . . ." She trails off and presses her lips together, shrugging in a 'you know' kind of way.
"Yeah, we did." He clears his throat again and looks down at her hand on his forearm. The pressure of it is soothing even if he can't feel her skin through his jacket, but he can feel how cold her fingers are. Perhaps I should buy her some gloves?
"Are you okay?"
Noticing him looking at her hand on him, she starts to move it away when he grabs it and holds it gently in his own. She doesn't pull away from him, both because of the shock and because he seems to need the comfort right now.
"I'm okay." He glances up at Marinette and his cheeks flush slightly under her gaze. He tightens his grip on her hand and her fingers curl around his palm so their palms are flush. He strokes the soft (cold) skin on the back of her hand with his thumb. "We talked it out a few days ago to make sure it wouldn't be weird between us at fencing and when we have to get together for our parents, and honestly, we, uh, we're better off as friends." He uses his free hand to scratch the back of his neck, which is a little awkward since he's using his elbows to prop himself up.
This is the part that's making him so nervous.
This is the I'm in love with you and would really like us to go out and I've been secretly visiting you as Cat Noir but I don't know if I should say that to you but I really want to because otherwise it will feel like I'm constantly lying to you and you've had enough people lying to you and I am so in love with you and Kagami will kill me if I hurt you and I've spent the entire day trying not to kiss you which is really difficult because you look so beautiful and I just want to lean forward and kiss you right now but I don't know if you like me the exact same way I do even though Nino and Kagami have both said you do part.
The part where he wants to tell her how he feels and hope that he doesn't scare her away and pray that she says yes or at least doesn't say no.
Before he can say anything, Nathalie gives a brief knock on the open door and enters. She blinks at them in surprise when she sees that they're both lying on the floor holding hands, but she otherwise doesn't show any sign that she's noticed. Her gaze flicks over the work that has been pushed to the side and she crouches to read over the notes they've taken.
"How's it going?" She asks, gaze shifting between Adrien and Marinette.
Oblivious to his anguish, Marinette pulls her hand from Adrien's grasp and sits back up to give Nathalie her undivided attention. She talks her through the information they have collected and their plan for the following days before Monday, while all Adrien can do is stare at her with what Nathalie can only describe as devotion in his eyes. She asks them some questions (all of which Marinette answers when Adrien fails to talk coherently) and offers some pointers, having done her own fair share of presentations back in the day.
"It seems the two of you have everything under control." A rare smile graces Nathalie's lips and Adrien has to do a doubletake. "I'll leave you to it, but if you need any help just sing out. You know I'm not completely useless." She winks at Adrien, which just makes him even more confused. What is happening? At Marinette's questioning glance, Nathalie turns to her to explain. "When Adrien was home schooled I was his main tutor most of the time, except for when his actual tutors came to teach him things that I couldn't, such as his piano and Chinese and fencing and physics." She makes a face and Adrien laughs.
"I'm the only one I know besides Max who likes physics." Adrien says, pushing off the ground and sitting back on his heels. He puts his hands on his knees.
Marinette smirks at him lightly. "You are a strange specimen." She agrees, making him giggle. She looks back at Nathalie and bites her lip nervously, as if contemplating something, before meeting her eye warily. "Is it difficult to be home schooled?" Her gaze flicks between Nathalie and Adrien, the latter of which feels a cold sensation wash over him for reasons he can't tell her because he isn't supposed to know. Is she still thinking about that?
"A lot of it's about self–discipline." Nathalie says, moving from her crouched position to sit on the floor with her legs crossed. "You need to be able to give yourself set times to sit down and do the work, and you need to stick to it." Her eyes flick to Adrien and she gazes at him fondly. "It is easier if you give yourself a schedule to work from, that way you know how much time you have to do your school work, and how much time you have left over for other activities."
"It's pretty lonely." Adrien says quietly, and Marinette meets his eye, frowning in concern. She reaches across the floor between them and puts her hand over his, squeezing in support before pulling away. Even that small moment of comfort is enough for the dark cloud that surrounds him whenever he starts thinking those kinds of thoughts to dissipate. He swallows nervously and scratches the back of his neck. "Why do you ask?" Nathalie looks at Marinette expectantly too, and she shifts uncomfortably, wringing her hands together in her lap.
Marinette shrugs slightly and glances up at the two people gazing at her momentarily before looking back at her hands. Her nail polish has started to come off because she's been biting her finger nails a lot, but she can't bring herself to really care. "My parents and I have been thinking about it." She says quietly, making sure to keep her voice even and not muffled so they can understand her.
"About home schooling?" Nathalie clarifies, and she nods. "Why?"
As far as Nathalie knows Françoise Dupont is a very well recommended school and one of the best educational facilities in the region. Afterall, Gabriel allowed Adrien to go there after forcing him to stay at home and be home schooled for all of the previous years of his education. And all it took was the risk of losing his son and a lot of persuasion on her part for it to happen.
Marinette shrugs slightly and chews on her lip, keeping her gaze on her hands. The nail polish on her left middle finger is almost gone, and she starts scraping the rest off with her thumb nail.
"It is because of Lila?" Adrien asks, even though he already knows it is. That and the school's way of dealing with the situation and their classmates lack of trust in their everyday Ladybug. Marinette's eyes flick up to his, and even though it's only for a second the amount of fear in them almost makes his heart stop.
"Lila? Lila Rossi?" Nathalie asks, wanting to be sure.
She knows the girl and Gabriel have some kind of agreement going on, and she knows that most of what come out go her mouth is BS, and she also knows that Adrien isn't particularly fond of her. She, herself, doesn't like her very much either. Not that what she thinks really matters in the scheme of things.
She catches Adrien's eye and frowns. "The girl you model with?"
He nods, looking back at Marinette. "Not by choice." He tells her, shuffling closer to her so their arms are almost touching.
"What has Miss Rossi done?" Nathalie asks, gaze flicking between the kids almost frantically. What could a child possibly do to make another chid want to be home schooled?
Adrien snorts unhumorously. "What hasn't she done?" He says sarcastically. Marinette looks at him in surprise, wondering what he's getting at, but she files her thoughts away for later questioning.
"Told the truth." Marinette says, raising an eyebrow. Adrien looks at her and they share a smile before she drops her gaze down to her lap again. "May I use your bathroom?" She asks after a moment, remembering that she hasn't changed her pad since just after lunch so she'll be due for a new one. Adrien nods and she grabs her handbag, ducking into his bathroom quickly, shutting and locking the door behind her.
Once the door's shut, Nathalie looks at Adrien expectantly, and he sighs, scratching the back of his neck again. "Lila's . . ." He shakes his head and looks towards the bathroom door. "She's . . . horrible."
Nathalie frowns and tilts her head. "Horrible how?" She hasn't experienced the feeling she's feeling a whole lot, but she knows protectiveness when she feels it, and this is protectiveness.
Adrien swallows nervously, glancing at the bathroom door one last time before meeting Nathalie's gaze and lowering his voice so Marinette won't overhear. If she does, he'll have no choice but to come clean that he's Cat Noir, because Adrien isn't supposed to know any of this.