Hi guys! I'm sorry you had to wait so long for the fourth chapter, but here it is!
It's more of a transition chapter, but pretty importants things happen here, so pay attention!
Thank you for all your reviews and everything, it really means the world to me!
Bzz!
Marinette bluntly opens her eyes and gropes for her phone. She rubs her eyelids, lowering the brightness of her screen as much as possible.
Adrien — Are you asleep?
Marinette furrows her eyebrows. He's not the kind to bother her in the middle of the night.
Me — No. What's going on?
Adrien is typing…
Marinette's attentively waiting for his answer. Her curiosity is awake.
Adrien — My father is home
Adrien is typing…
Adrien — He asked for me
Adrien is typing…
Adrien — He asked me what was I doing
Adrien is typing…
Adrien — He knows, Mari
Marinette feels her heart looping in her chest. She sits up, blowing the air in her face away.
Me — You're sure?
Adrien is typing…
Adrien — Yes
Me — What did he tell you?
Adrien is typing…
Adrien — Can I call you?
Me — Of course
She picks up so fast that the ringing of her phone doesn't have the time to sound. "So? What did he tell you?" she whispers.
She can hear that Adrien is breathless.
"Adrien?"
"I hate him, Mari. I hate him."
Her throat and her heart tighten at the same time. "Oh, Adrien…"
"It's not a teenage whim or something I'm only saying in the grip of anger. I hate him. I really do. I—"
His voice breaks and Marinette completely sats up. Her heart is beating so strongly in her chest that she can feel her pulse resonate in her temples. "Adrien, breathe, okay? Breathe and explain it to me. It's gonna be okay."
An inhalation answers her. And an exhalation. And then a new inhalation. Marinette nods.
"He asked me where I was, so I told him I was at a friend's. And someone—from the staff or I don't know— must have told him because he directly understood that it was going on since this summer. I tried to explain him but he didn't let me talk and—"
His voice breaks again and Marinette hears him take a new breath. She does the same thing.
"And he told me that as long as nobody finds out, I can do what I want."
Her eyebrows furrow right away. However, she says nothing, she wants to let him finish first.
"I didn't get it, I thought he wanted to make me say something, so I didn't say anything and he— he says that he understood that I have some needs and—"
She can hear the anger in his voice, she can hear how much he's keeping it to himself to stay calm.
"He said that the only condition is for us to be discreet. That we can do what we want as long as nobody knows it, so my— my reputation isn't ruined."
Marinette closes her eyelids. She knows exactly what his point is.
"And then he— he— he has—" New breath in. "He said that you'll get your price, whatever it is. To keep it secret."
Her eyes open again. Marinette painfully swallows and wets her dried lips.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I—"
"It's not your fault, okay?"
"I didn't say anything . I just left. He called you a— and I did nothing ."
She wants to touch his cheek, to caress his hair, to hug him and tell him that everything is going to be alright.
"You know as well as I do that you couldn't have said anything to change his mind."
"Yes. Yes I could have."
Marinette shakes her head.
"It's gonna be okay, alright? You're gonna sleep and everything will be better tomorrow. We just have to be very discreet. He's not gonna notice anything."
She's not sure he really heard her.
"Can I come sleep with you?"
His voice is broken, completely broken. And Marinette feels her heart tear apart, too. "We're in the middle of the night, it's not safe, and if somebody see you—"
" Please ."
A tear falls from her eye. She has never heard him talk like that, with such desperation.
"Yes, yes of course. But be careful, okay?"
"I'm there in ten minutes."
And ten minutes later, Marinette opens the service entrance and lets Adrien in. They don't say anything and just climb the stairs as quietly as they can up to her room. Thankfully, it's only two in the morning so her parents aren't awake yet.
Once in her room, Marinette turns towards Adrien. His hair is falling all over his forehead, his white tee-shirt is soaked with sweat and he's shaking from head to toe.
"Come here," she whispers, showing him the bathroom.
He seems even more miserable in the light. Marinette makes him sit on the edge of the bathtub and wets a washcloth that she brushes on his cheeks, his forehead, his neck.
"Take off your shirt."
He does so immediately and Marinette puts the soaked clothing away.
He's perfect. Utterly perfect. His face is perfectly symmetrical, as thin as the one of a sculpture. His chest is slightly tanned, his pectorals well drawn, his abs incredibly traced.
A body completely sculpted by his father's wishes. From the muscles of his back to the ones of his arms, to the length of his hair to the one of his nails. Everything is calculated.
And if Marinette has always found him beautiful, his beauty has a bitter taste today.
Her gaze falls to his hands which are shaking more than the rest of his body.
"Give me your hand."
He doesn't listen to her.
"Adrien, please ."
He nervously raises his arm to her and Marinette feels the lump in her throat double in volume at the sight of his palm.
Four arcs of circles are drawing on his skin, showing that his nails have sunk into it. They're not deep enough for blood to run but enough for scabs to shape.
Adrien is looking at the ground and Marinette grabs the washcloth again, without saying anything. She gently cleans the dried blood, although Adrien isn't moving an inch, like the physical pain is nothing compared to what takes place inside him.
Marinette hardly dares to imagine what he's thinking.
"Come on," she whispers after she has cleaned his other hand.
Adrien still doesn't move. But he looks up. His eyes are red, wet, deeply hurt.
Marinette almost bites her lips hard enough to draw blood to retain the sob which is coming in her throat.
She can handle a lot of things. A lot . She can hold back a lot of tears. A lot . But the only times where this restraint seems to be out of reach is when it's about Adrien. When it comes to him, she doesn't have any control of her feelings anymore.
"Thank you," he whispers.
Incapable of holding his gaze a second longer, Marinette throws herself at him. She puts her hands around him, pressing his head against her chest and swaddling her nose in his hair. It smells like honey.
Adrien gently rubs his face against her breasts and circles her waist with his hands, getting her closer.
Marinette counts to ten, ten seconds during which she fully enjoys his presence right up against her, during which she lets herself imagine what is going on inside his head.
She knows his wild desire to protect the people he cares about. But protecting her from the person he's the most afraid of, Marinette can only suppose the inner war that he's fighting right now. Plus the fact that his father didn't give him the possibility to explain himself, to confide. He has only belittled his feelings to the simple level of carnal desire, as if it's not more complicated than that. As if he does not have to juggle the constant and stifling pressure of his father, the absence of his mother and the secret of his relationship with Marinette.
A rush of anger fills her. Marinette takes a deep breath and moves away.
Adrien's hands stay around her waist when she looks down at him. She brushes her hand on his forehead, pulling his hair back, and gently puts her lips on his forehead. Adrien closes his eyes and heightens the pressure of his palms against her waist.
"Do you need something?" she asks him softly, her hands on his shoulders.
"Only you," he responds.
Marinette feels herself shiver. She nods and they make their way back to her room, dragging themselves to her bed without telling anything.
A minute later and they're laying on their sides, face to face. Adrien's gaze is empty and Marinette can't help but look at him.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asks him without daring to touch him.
He doesn't answer. "Adrien?" she calls him after a few seconds.
His eyes eventually meet hers. "You deserve so much better than this," he whispers with a hoarse voice.
Now that he's looking at her, he doesn't seem to be able to concentrate on anything other than her eyes.
Marinette swallows, but the lump in her throat just gets worse. She's mesmerized , unable to talk, unable to move, unable to do anything else than losing herself into his eyes.
"You deserve everything ," he whispers, settling his hand on her cheek. "You deserve someone who can give you everything. And I can't do that."
Her eyebrows furrow but the muscles of her mouth and of her tongue don't want to obey her.
"You deserve more than this, Marinette," he says, getting his face closer to hers. "You deserve a real relationship, where you don't have to hide yourself." He nods, as if he's trying to convince himself. "You deserve better than me."
This sentence triggers something inside her. A feeling of frustration, anger, sadness and love mixed all together that makes her blood boil in her veins. All her muscles unblock and the first move she does is to sit up.
Adrien follows her, looking up at her.
"Don't do this," she says, trying to handle the tidal wave of feelings that is rushing at her at full speed.
He furrows his eyebrows.
"Don't tell me what's better for me. I'm old enough to choose for myself. And what's best for me is what I want."
"And what do you want?"
She can't help but roll her eyes. " You , dummy."
"But—"
Her finger settles on his lips right away. "Stop torturing yourself like this. It's exactly what your father wants, I hope you know this?"
Given the way he's looking at her, he doesn't know.
"He knows you, Adrien. And he probably knows that by insulting me, you would react like this, and that you would try to protect me by ending what is going on between us. He has a ton of faults, but we can't say that he's an idiot."
"So, you don't mind?"
"I didn't tell that," she says, laying down next to him again. "Of course I mind, Adrien. Let me remind you that I was his total fan from the time I was five years old until sixteen."
"What happened at sixteen?"
He seems to hang onto Marinette's every word, hungry to discover what she's thinking.
"I realized what he was doing to you."
His eyebrows furrow and Marinette can almost see the calculations in his head. She feels her lips straighten up into a faint smile.
"Wait, when we were sixteen, we were in—"
"In tenth grade, yes."
"And in tenth grade, we—"
"We weren't that close."
"But how did you—"
"I was paying attention to… to you."
His large eyes are staring at her with interest.
"And that's all I'll tell you," she says, her cheeks reddening.
Her heart inflates with relief in her chest when she sees Adrien's face light up with a smirk. "It's cute," he whispers.
Marinette rolls her eyes, her lips always more straightened up. "Stop smiling like that!" she says.
Of course, he does the completely opposite.
"Argh! You're so annoying !"
She hides her face in her hands. Adrien's laugh sounds in her ears a second later and she feels his arms around her.
"Come here," he says, getting her closer to him.
Marinette ends the cheek against his torso and Adrien's hand on her waist. Laughs become simple smiles again and Marinette let her fingers run lazily along his skin.
"What do you want to do?" he asks after a while.
Marinette takes a deep breath and turns her face towards him, the cheek still settled against his chest. "We have several choices. We can make your father believe that his plan worked and that nothing is going on between us anymore, so we'll have to be even more cautious than we already were."
Adrien lets his fingers run along her hair and Marinette feels a shiver brush her spine. "Or you can tell him to go fuck himself."
A chuckle answers her and Marinette smiles back.
"I like this idea."
Adrien seems to hesitate for an instant. "What if we tell him that we're together, together ?"
"I'm pretty sure he wouldn't approve."
"So?"
Marinette pinches her lips. "If he finds out that we're still seeing each other and that people find out too, he'll tell everybody that I'm using you for money or to become famous."
"And what if people don't believe him?"
"He's one of the most well-known men in the fashion industry and one of the most influential," she says, beginning to count on her fingers. "Not forgetting the tons of associations he's in, all the books he wrote, all the shows he did, the fact that he's famous in the entire world, the—"
"I get it, I get it," Adrien cuts her, catching her hand.
She intertwines her fingers with his.
"So we're screwed, that's it?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
Adrien sighs and lets his head fall on the pillow. " Great ."
Marinette pulls herself completely on top of him, until her nose is at only a few inches from his. "It's gonna be fine, okay? We'll keep our heads down and your father is going to forget that I even exist."
Adrien puts his hands on her hips and slightly smiles at her. "I hope you're right."
• • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Marinette is entirely paying attention to her phone. As she's going through Twitter , her eyes open wide, her eyebrows furrow, her lips half-open.
Adrien_Agreste spotted at lycée Henri IV with his friends , Alya-Cesaire and NinoLahiffe!
A picture of them four is linked to the tweet. We can see Nino just behind Alya, their gazes staring at Adrien and Marinette.
She clicks on "show this thread" and regrets it the second after.
Is this really a dress to go to high school?
— Mind your business
— She wears what she wants, it's her body
— I find her dress beautiful
I hope Adrien enjoys it, is so hot!
— No, Adrien isn't like that!
— I'm sure they've already did it
— You can tell by the way they look at each other!
Marinette is so lucky!
Adrien_Agreste and his friends , Alya-Cesaire and NinoLahiffe spotted in the bakery Tom&Sabine
This time, it's a picture of them four entering the bakery.
Adrien_Agreste spotted rue Coulaincourt around 4pm
New shooting of Adrien_Agreste with Comme des Garçons COMMEGARCON
Adrien_Agreste spotted rue de Rivoli
Adrien_Agreste announced for the next fencing season with Armand D'Argencourt
Adrien_Agreste is so hot!
Honestly, I don't understand why Adrien_Agreste is so hyped, he's so over overrated
Adrien_Agreste is in the top 5 of the teens with the most charm according to melty_fr
Adrien_Agreste at the centre of attention after the announce of his next campaign with CalvinKlein
Adrien_Agreste : in a relationship or single? What are his projects? What does he want to do after highschool? Click to learn more about him!
Marinette puts her phone down, sighing. She doesn't know what makes her feel more sick: the way she's spied on in her comings and goings, the way people allow themselves to give their opinions on someone they don't even know or the comments on her, on her body. She feels observed, surveyed, as if the entire world is waiting for her to make a faux pas.
A movement draws her from her thoughts. Marinette turns her head and sees Adrien. He's stretching himself, which makes the muscles of his arms even more visible. His eyes are slightly open and Marinette can't help a smile spreading on her lips.
"You're cute," she says to him, gently disheveling his hair—which is already completely messy.
The expression of his face became even more angelic. "What were you reading?"
Marinette suspiciously wrinkles her eyes. "How long have you been watching me?"
"A little while."
"It's weird ."
"No, it's not."
"Yes, it is," she responds, laughing.
Adrien sits up and furrows his eyebrows when Marinette gives him a croissant.
"You have a secret power which is making them or what?"
Marinette frankly bursts out laughing. "No, I went down to get food a while ago."
"How long have you been awake?" he asks, biting into the pastry.
A relieved sigh escapes her. He didn't eat all his sandwich yesterday and she's pretty sure he didn't eat anything the evening before, either.
"An hour? Maybe more." He looks at her and she shrugs her shoulders. "I have trouble sleeping sometimes."
She's not going to say to him that she experiences insomnia almost every night. She's not going to tell him that the accumulation of responsibilities and worries and lack of sleep make falling asleep incredibly hard.
Actually, she slept pretty well last night. Adrien usually makes her gain an extra two hours of sleep. But she's not going to tell him that either.
"Me, too," he confesses, taking a new bite.
Marinette looks at him for a while. Her eyes gaze at the muscles of his arms, at his Adam's apple which is moving at the rhythm of his swallowing, at this tongue which is sliding across his lips.
"So, what were you reading?" he asks again.
She sighs and removes the covers from her body, sitting up in her bed. Adrien's gaze is following her movements.
"Stuff on Twitter ."
"And?"
"And they find my dress very interesting ."
A smile shapes on Adrien's lips. He tears a piece of his croissant and puts it in his mouth. "Interesting, huh?"
"You know what?"
Adrien looks up from his pastry and gazes at Marinette.
"I think I'm gonna wear a very short skirt today."
His smile grows to his ears and Marinette feels a rush of determination inside her.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Marinette sits in one of the empty chairs and represses a yawn by taking out her things. Why do classes have to begin so early?
Adrien arrives in the room a few seconds later, attracting the gazes of the students already settled, and naturally takes his place next to Marinette.
He had left earlier to come back to the mansion to grab his school stuff and reassure Nathalie. At no time has he talked about his father, though.
"So?" Marinette discreetly asks him.
He shrugs, putting his pencil case on the table. "Nathalie was worried not to see me at breakfast, but my father didn't notice anything."
Marinette stops herself from staring at him too intensely.
"Did your parents say anything?" he asks a few seconds later.
She snuck him out, taking advantage of the fact that her parents were at the bakery taken by storm by customers. But she's almost certain she saw a gaze from her dad and a smirk on the face of her mom.
"No, but I have to talk to them."
Guilt begins to weigh heavily on her. They're so understanding, so tolerant. Marinette has to at least be honest with them, even if two months late.
Adrien doesn't answer anything and she knows it's his way to tell her that it's her choice and that he's not going to interfere in her decision. She suspects him to be a tad jealous, too. He doesn't have the luxury to have the choice of whether to confide to his father.
"They've done it, they have to have! I mean, man , the way she's looking at him!"
Marinette's entire body tenses at hearing that sentence. The voice sounds right behind her and she doesn't dare to turn around. She barely dares to breathe .
"You think?"
"I'm sure ."
Marinette's breath gets stuck in her throat.
"I wish she would look at me like that."
"I wish she would do more than just look."
"Hey, who are you talking about?" Adrien suddenly asks.
Her heart momentarily stops.
"Ladybug."
A sigh of relief escapes Marinette's mouth and her shoulders release. 'Phew, they're not talking about me,' she thinks.
Except that a thought enters her mind the second after: she's Ladybug.
Marinette turns around with a quick move and discovers Adam, right behind her and another boy she has already seen a few times.
Adam looks at her with interest and Marinette feels very uncomfortable right away.
"She has never done anything with Chat Noir," Adrien sighs.
"You don't know that," responds the boy next to Adam—Marinette is pretty sure his name is Hugo.
"They're professional ," Adrien answers.
Adam doesn't even try to hide his laugh. "Seriously, Agreste?"
Adrien shoots his gaze towards him.
"See for yourself."
And he raises his phone to show them. Marinette slightly bends towards Adrien to look at the screen and has to avoid opening her eyes wide in order to keep an impartial mask.
But the picture doesn't really play in favour of Ladybug. It's not the same one that Alya showed them yesterday, the angle isn't the same. Ladybug and Chat Noir are still in the same position: perched on his baton. Sitting on his thigh, one arm around his neck, she's looking at him with such a passion that Marinette has trouble to realize that it's really her, that it's really her gaze.
Chat Noir has his eyes fixed on the streets, looking for the villain. Marinette remembers this moment perfectly. She remembers having turned her head, remembers finding him particularly attractive, she remembers asking herself how his lips would taste.
And she remembers she felt bad the second after.
Adrien tightens his jaw and gives the phone back to Adam without saying anything.
"See? Now dare say that she's not craving it."
Marinette bites her lips, doesn't know what to say. If he had talked about any other girl, she would have thrown herself into a harsh answer to defend her honor, without any hesitation. But it's about her, even if nobody knows it.
She would have given everything for Alya to be here.
"You're the one who's craving it," Adrien answers back.
" All Paris is craving it."
"Could you— Could you stop talking of her like she isn't a person like the rest of us?" Marinette speaks, nervously wetting her lips.
It's at this moment that she realizes that standing for herself is way more complicated than doing it for others.
"Technically, she's a superhero," Hugo says.
Adrien throws him a dark look and Hugo raises his hands.
"And it's not like she's not begging for it," Adam keeps going, his eyes on Marinette again. "Since the beginning, she just showing off in front of Chat Noir with her suit which brings out her—"
An anger fire lights in Marinette's veins. "She's looking for it, that's what you say?"
"That's what I say."
Marinette nods and smiles bitterly at him. "Do you realize she could beat your ass in ten seconds?"
Adam raises an eyebrow. "Ten seconds?"
"No, no, not ten seconds, my bad," Marinette corrects herself. " One second."
A smirk draws on Adam's lips and Marinette hears the muffled chuckle of Adrien.
"What about you? How long to beat my ass?"
Adrien's laugh stops right away, the eyebrows of Hugo raise and Adam's smile just got bigger. They're all waiting for Marinette to answer.
But Marinette doesn't give him the attention he's waiting for and turns around, rolling her eyes.
"She wants me to beat her ass," she hears Adam whisper to Hugo.
Adrien tenses in his chair.
"Don't say anything," she says to him.
"One word and I'll beat his ass."
Marinette smiles and shakes her head. "I got this."
Adrien raises an eyebrow and Marinette focuses on the teacher who just entered the room. "You'll see," she says, grabbing a pen.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Marinette bounces up and down to put her sports leggings on.
"I'm glad we're start with running, I'm really very hardy," Lila tells one of the girls.
Marinette can't help but roll her eyes, putting her tank top over her sports bra.
"And you, Mari, are you really very hardy ?"Chloé asks her, perfectly imitating Lila's voice.
Marinette frankly bursts out laughing and presses her hand against her mouth, realizing everybody has heard her.
Chloé seems to have trouble restraining herself from snorting when Lila turns towards them. "Aren't you supposed to hate each other?" she demands with a fake curiosity.
"And aren't you supposed to be on another continent?" Chloé retorts, putting her sport shoes on.
Marinette pinches her lips while she flattens her hair back to gather it in a ponytail. Lila doesn't even take the trouble to answer to Chloé and look at Marinette instead.
"Hey, Marinette," she says with a fawning voice, "you seem to be pretty close to Adrien, aren't you?"
A hairband between her teeth, Marinette notices that every discussion has stopped and that the attention of the fifteen or so girls in the locker room is focused on her.
She grabs her hairband and shrugs. "He's my best friend," she answers.
Lila's smile is way too bigger to be sincere. "But, between you and me," she keeps going, lowering her voice to make her believe that there aren't a ton of feminine ears listening to them, "you wish him to be more?"
Marinette swallows with difficulty, thinks about Adrien's lips against her body and opens her mouth to answer back.
"Hurry up! I want everybody out in two minutes!" orders the teacher.
A relieved sigh escapes her and she leaves the locker room without further ado.
The high school has a race track of five hundred meters where they all meet for their gym class. It's hot for September but a light breeze is fluttering in the air, making the temperature bearable.
"Make two-person teams. You'll run one at a time for five minutes. The goal is to do as many laps as you can. The winning team will have my respect."
Marinette glances at Adrien and he answers her with a nod. "Can I start?" she demands when he meets her. She begins to bounce, as if her legs can't stop moving.
"Need to vent?" Adrien asks, smiling.
Marinette looks up at him, raising an eyebrow. "Sort of."
Two minutes later and she throws herself onto the track. Marinette loves running.
It's pretty new, because before she became Ladybug, sport was never something really interesting to her. She had never really hated it and usually had good grades, but the idea of going running to clear her head had never crossed her mind.
And the fact to become a superhero has brought a lot of side effects. Her physical skills have become pretty impressive, for a start. Her endurance doesn't falter anymore and the sprints she can do have a talent for surprising people. So, most of the time, she avoids showing this energy. Most of the time, she's only at half of her capacity in sports classes.
But today is a day where she needs to let off steam. It's pretty much supernatural, this need which seeps in her muscles. She had never felt something this intense before becoming Ladybug, anyway.
And, up to now, she has only found two ways to calm this overflowing energy down. Either by running until her legs cannot carry her anymore. Either by having sex with Adrien until an orgasm lays her low.
And the second possibility isn't really doable right now.
So, Marinette runs without thinking, runs until she feels the light breeze turn into a powerful wind around her.
"I'm sorry if I upset you earlier," she hears.
She turns her head to her right and sees Adam, cheeks reddened and breathing already shortened by the effort.
Marinette doesn't even feel a little out of breath. But she uses this excuse to not answer him.
"You run pretty well," he says.
"I know."
She hears him chuckle next to her. "I think Adrien likes you."
This sentence slightly throws her off balance, but she doesn't let it show. "We're friends," she answers. "I'm glad to hear he likes me."
"You know what I mean."
Marinette speeds up her rhythm and notices with satisfaction that Adam is struggling to keep following her.
"It shows. I've known him for a while now and he's always super uptight—"
"He's not uptight ."
"But not with you."
"What do you mean?"
"That's what you'll tell me."
Her legs go faster and faster and her thoughts become woollier and woollier.
"I saw how he looks at you."
"How?"
"Like he saw what's under your shirt."
Marinette turns her head and discovers his smirk. The way his gaze slides along her breasts sends shivers down her spine.
And just like that, she speeds up even more and this time, Adam can't follow her. Her feet meet the ground always faster, her arms move always quicklier and her legs know exactly what they have to do.
Marinette feels like she's going to fly.
Time becomes as foggy as her thoughts, her breath as sporadic as her movements. How many turns did she do? She has no clue.
But when the whistle of the teacher rings, Marinette can barely stand on her legs.
"Dupain-Cheng!" she hears yelling.
She meets the other students, her mouth dry and her skin on fire.
"What was that ?" the teacher asks her.
She painfully swallows, puts her hands on her knees, desperately trying to catch her breath.
"You're officially on the track team."
"Sorry?" she succeeds to articulate with a croaky voice.
Adrien gives her a bottle of water and Marinette thanks him with her eyes. The second group of students is starting to warm up, the ones who just end their run are getting their breath back and Marinette throws herself on the bottle as if her life depends on it.
The water abundantly runs along her throat and she closes her eyes.
"The track team," the teacher repeats, losing his patience.
"I can't," she answers, wiping her chin. "I really don't have the time to—"
"Do it for the high school honor. For years, we've finished second at national championships. But with you, I'm telling you , we'll be first."
Marinette wets her lips and opens her mouth.
"Think about it," he cuts her off, moving away. "Tell me your answer next week."
Adrien gives her a thumbs up, smiling. "It's great!'
"Great," she repeats without real enthusiasm.
"Just think about it, okay?" She nods and they walk to the track together. "What did Adam want?"
"He suspects something is going on between us," Marinette answers, still breathless. "And he told me this by being..."
What word could she use? By being a huge perv? It seems pretty appropriate.
"I see," Adrien sighs.
"Well, good luck," she says to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.
And she goes to sit on the stairs which are leading to the track. Marinette keeps her eyes on Adrien, on his speed, on his near effortlessness.
They went running together a lot this summer. The several fitness rooms of the mansion had been nice, too. Sport isn't only a loophole to Marinette, but a need, too.
She has to stay in shape. Even if Ladybug's suit brings her strength, speed and endurance completely surnatural, she has to, in her civilian self, maintain her physical skills if she wants to stay in the race against Hawk Moth.
Working out and running are what she picks first but she has to stay deft under the water and in the ice, too, if akumas require it. In these cases, Adrien's huge pool helped her a lot this summer—under the guise of afternoons with friends— and so did the skating rink near her house where she goes the most often she can.
Minutes pass unexpectedly fast. Marinette barely has the time to lose herself in her thoughts that Adrien is already coming back to her. His cheeks are red, his hair is falling over his eyes and his shirt is sticking to his sweaty skin.
Marinette notices all the gazes staring at him and she can't help but roll her eyes. She gives him the bottle of water and their teacher meets them again.
"Agreste! You have to join the team, too."
Marinette can only pay tribute to his investment with the track team. It's pretty funny to see.
"I can't," he answers after he has sprayed himself with water. "I'm already in the fencing team." Water drops crash down along his neck and run away under his shirt.
"At least I tried. But, wait, both of you." Marinette and Adrien look at each other for a second. "Just out of curiosity, could you do another lap? I want to see which one is faster."
The curiosity glow in his eyes makes Marinette smile.
"I am," Adrien says.
"You wish ," she responds.
"Come on, on the track. The rest of you can go."
Of course, nobody goes. Everybody settles on the stairs, their attention focused on Marinette and Adrien. A part is convinced that Adrien is going to win, the other one is sure about Marinette's victory.
"Kick his ass!" she hears Chloé yell.
Marinette smiles and shakes her head.
"Ready?"
"Do you even know who you're talking to?"
Adrien frowns for a second, but Marinette doesn't have the time to ask him anything before a smirk straightens his lips up.
"Pay attention! the teacher yells. "Three, two, one… let's go!"
Marinette launches herself without thinking. One minute and they're already at three quarters of the turn.
"Trouble following, Agreste?"
"You wish," he responds, his body so close to hers she can feel his warmth.
They're only a few meters from arrival and cheering is welcoming them. A stride later and they're on the other side.
"Well done, Dupain-Cheng," the teacher congratulates her. "I'll see you at training."
"I won?" she asks, breathless.
"Looks like it," Adrien answers, shrugging.
The other students climb the stairs towards the locker rooms. Some looks linger on her, somes words are expressed to her and Marinette starts to smile.
"So, Agreste, how does it feel to be a loser ?" she says to him, bumping his shoulder with hers.
"Watch your pretty mouth," he grumbles.
A chuckle goes up in her throat. Marinette loves to bring this competitive side of him out. "Or what?"
He turns his gaze towards her while they're walking next to each other and raises an eyebrow.
"C'mon, we both know that I'm faster, but you have more endurance."
A smirk draws on Adrien's face. "To run or…?"
Marinette feels her lips straighten even more and she innocently shrugs her shoulders. Adrien opens his mouth, his eyes sparkling, but doesn't have the time to share his thoughts.
"Did you hear?" Chloé suddenly asks, fighting her way between them.
"What are you talking about?" Adrien inquires.
"The show they're preparing for Christmas," he answers, raising her eyebrows. "That's all everybody talks about!"
Marinette watches Adrien frown and feels the same expression draws on her face.
"There will be an official announcement and everything, but people are gossiping. Apparently, there will be auditions for singing, dancing or whatever other talent."
"Are you going to audition?" Adrien asks her.
"Are you kidding me? A shitty highschool show, me? Come on!"
Adrien begins to laugh and Marinette doesn't know how to smile anymore.
"What about you? You could play piano— Are you okay, Mari?"
She looks up at them right away and nods, doing her best to straighten her lips up in a reassuring expression. She can feel at the clenching of her face that it's a total failure.
"Yeah, everything all right. It's just the run, I'm a bit tired."
And in the way Adrien is looking at her, he perfectly knows that she's lying.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • •
"So, how were your morning classes?" Alya asks them.
Marinette shrugs, jabbing her fork in her pasta. She can feel looks on her when hers is fixed on her food.
Her thoughts play on a loop in her head, her questions repeat continuously, her doubts push what she taught be certainties.
"We have sport class and the teacher asked us to be on the track team," Adrien explains.
"That's great!" Nino cries out.
Marinette doesn't answer.
"Or it's not," he says.
"What's going on, Mari?" Alya asks with a soft voice.
She sighs a great blow and finally looks up. "It's just that I have so many things to do. But I don't want to disappoint everyone by saying no and it could help me for my file for next year or to have a scholarship. But I don't want to end up rushing everything. Half is worse that none at all."
"How can you have so many things to do to not have the time to be on the team?" Nino asks.
Marinette feels her throat tightens. She hates when someone asks her that, she hates lying .
"She has to help her parents in the bakery, keep drawing and creating clothings if she wants to be ready for next year, and keep her grades high. Plus, she has to handle all her personal issues and everything that's going on in her head—and believe me, there's a lot going on up there."
A puff of gratitude spreads inside her heart and Marinette lays her eyes on Alya's. " Thanks ", she says to her.
Alya smiles at her back.
"You know," Nino tells after a few seconds, "even if it seems impossible, I think you should take the time to do it. Because besides helping you for next year, it would help yourself to unwind and you'd feel better after."
Marinette nods and takes a new mouthful of pasta. She turns her head and notices that Adrien is staring at her. How long has his gaze been on her?
"Nino's right," he says, looking away.
His jaw contracts and something happens in his mind. She's sure of it, but she has no clue what it is about.
"What about you?" Alya asks Adrien. "Can't you be on the team?"
"No, I'm already on the fencing one and training is at the same time. Plus, my father would never let me, anyways."
Adrien is staring at his pasta without ever eating them and Marinette feels her heart speed up. She hates to see him like that. Something is bothering him, and she needs to know what.
"And you two?" Marinette says to change the subject. "How did it go?"
"Pretty well," Nino answers. "We have Alix, Rose, Juleka, Mylène and Ivan with us so it's nice to all know each other. The vibe is cool, it's really a shame that you two aren't with us."
Marinette thinks back about what Adam told her this morning and immediately nods.
"But we heard about the show they want to throw for Christmas!" Alya says happily. "It looks really great, Nino want to audition as a DJ and I told myself, Mari, that you could sing—"
She cuts her sentence with a look and Alya furrows her eyebrows.
"Sing?" Adrien and Nino ask at the same time.
Marinette closes her eyes. The discussion she especially doesn't want to have.
"I'm sorry, Mari, I thought they knew—"
"Knew what?" Nino asks.
Adrien's hand settles on her thigh and Marinette instantly relaxes. She opens her eyes and realizes she the people listening are the most supportive she knows.
They're not going to judge her and aren't going to make her do anything she doesn't want to.
So, the anxiety turns into confidence and stress changes into pride. "I can—more or less—sing," she confesses, shrugging.
Nino raises his eyebrows, Adrien squeezes his hand around her thigh and Alya shakes her head, laughing.
" But we don't have to make it a big deal, really—"
" More or less ? Mari, come on!"
"Er, I can manage, okay."
Alya rolls her eyes. "She sings really well. You know when you listen to a song and you get chills?"
The boys nod and Marinette feels herself blush.
"Well, everytime I listen to Marinette, I get chills. Really, guys, her voice is… it's incredible ."
"Can you stop talking about me like I'm not right here?"
"Someone has to do it, Mari! You're really talented, and it's about time you realized it."
Marinette sighs, her heart beating, but can't help herself from smiling right after.
She feels lightened, as if a weight has removed from her shoulders.
Singing is her inner sanctum, what she doesn't share with anyone. Alya has known about it for a few years, but she hardly ever sings in front of her.
"We want a demonstration!" Nino says. "We need one!"
Marinette shakes her head, laughing. "I can't believe you know about it. But if you tell someone…" she threatens them, pointing them in turn with her fork.
"You'll have to tell someone, since you're gonna sing at the show."
"Yeah, right ," Marinette says with irony.
"We'll see."
Marinette can hardly picture herself singing in front of her friends, so singing before hundreds of people is totally out of the question.
"I would really love to hear you singing," Adrien whispers to her while Alya and Nino are chatting.
His eyes are twinkling, but he still seems worried. His expression is more mysterious than usual and Marinette is asking herself about his thoughts. Is he thinking about his father? About them both? About Adam? About what he just learned? About everything, in all likelihood.
His hand tightens on her thigh again and Marinette feels the skin of her cheeks become warmer. The idea of singing before the entire world is stressful and intrusive, but the idea of singing before Adrien is weirdly exciting.
"Tonight," she says to him, smiling.
He nods, smirking, and Marinette feels a very familiar fire spreads inside her veins.
What she doesn't know is that tonight is going to be way different than what she's imagining right now.
Aaaaaand voilà! I really hope you liked this chapter!
Tell me everything, your thoughts about Adrien's feelings, about his vulnerability towards Marinette, about Adam (a big big big jerk, I'll give you that), about the gym class (I had this scene in my mind for months, really) and all the plot about our singing Marinette! It's totally made up, but I have a lot of ideas about this!
Anyways, I hope you like this!
And, something important: I'm really really thinking about writing a prequel and a sequel about this story! The prequel would be about the evolution of Mari and Adrien's relationship, their first kiss, first time, first everything, with a lot of tension and teasing :p
The prequel would be fun and light, you know? But the sequel... well, I can't tell you about it because I would literally have to spoil you the end of this story (plus, I'm not really sure about how it will end yet) but I'm really really excited about this!
So, yeah, I think this story will contain about 10-15 chapters!
Anyways, don't forget to tell me what you think about all of this! I'm gonna translate the fifth chapter this week-end so it will be online in ten days, maximum!
(A few words to make your mouth water about the next chapter: Gabriel, Ladybug, revelations, frustration, and... shower :p)
Have a good day!