MiraculElse #35: A Final Girl (And Boy), Against The World

by DFC

(Timeline: Post-Season 4.)


"What part of no are you not understanding?"

Marinette stared at her phone in exasperation, with a pleading Alya face peering back up at her.

"This is going to be so much fun," Alya emphasized. "Most of our friends are going, soooo..."

"A horror movie festival at the University's theater," repeated Marinette. "Four movies full of gore, knives and creepy stuff. This is supposed to be a good thing?"

"Uh-huh!"

"I am not into horror movies, Alya," she insisted. "You know this. You've seen me try to watch one in your living room; I end up hiding behind the couch. Just imagine what I'd be like in front of a big movie screen!"

"I never thought that you, of all people, could be lacking in courage," smirked Alya.

"It is not... it's not about courage! And you know that very well," Marinette protested. "Even... before," leaving out her heroic elephant-in-the-room, "I didn't like those movies. I still don't. They're just... eeeuuuggh!"

"One of the greats in the field is going to be there. A drive-in movie critic from America is touring, and this is one of his stops!" Alya beamed. "He's forgotten more about horror than probably anyone else has ever known."

"Sounds like something to be proud of." Marinette rolled her eyes, adding, "So if he's so great, then go meet him!"

"There is a method to my madness. Do you trust me?" emphasized Alya. "It's one night. It's walking distance to your house, even; if you get partway through and you're grossed out, you can leave. But I don't think that you'll want to."

"And why won't I?"

Alya just grinned in response.

"Fine," Marinette groaned in exasperation. "I'll come. But I might bring a barf bag with me."

"No need. They're giving those out at the front door," Alya snickered.

"Of course they are."


On the night of the event, Alya and Nino met up with Marinette by her front door, taking the short walk to the university together. As they approached the theater, it was obvious that Alya wasn't the only one feeling enthusiastic about the evening.

"I feel like I might have forgotten something," mumbled Marinette, staring at the many people milling around in elaborate masks, costumes and makeup. Horns, fright masks, facepaint and plastic weapon replicas were all around them.

"What did you forget?" wondered Nino.

"My pepper spray."

"Pffft! Please," Alya countered. "Trust me. Everyone here is harmless. This is more of a nerd convention than a party for psychopaths."

Passing under the ONE NIGHT ONLY - BOBBY JOE BLOOM'S ETERNAL GRINDHOUSE TOUR! banner, Marinette accepted the ticket that Alya handed her and stepped inside. As Alya headed for the concession stands, Nino stood by Marinette.

"Not getting anything to eat?" he wondered.

"Nah," she replied. "If I do, I'll just end up wearing it. Something'll jump out on the screen and whoosh! There goes my drink."

"You really aren't into this," Nino remarked. "I'm glad you came, but... why did you?"

Marinette shrugged, with a head-tilt in the direction of Alya, who was chattering with a demon-makeup-adorned Rose and a fright-masked Juleka by the popcorn machine.

"You know why," she explained. "She wouldn't hear the end of it until I agreed to go. Are you into this kind of movie?"

Nino shrugged back. "They're not my favorite, but I have some that I like," he replied. "They don't bother me."

Alya returned with a giant popcorn container and a tray of soft drinks. "C'mon!" she waved, beckoning them to the main theater's entrance. "We'll want to get good seats!"


The theater was a large one, probably the biggest at which Marinette had ever seen a movie. The stage was capable of handling large plays, productions and musical groups, and the available seating was plentiful.

Alya led them to a promising location; the back row of the front center section, close enough to take in everything but far enough back to avoid eyestrain.

"Not going to the very back row this time?" Nino asked.

"Nah. These movies, I'm actually going to want to watch with you," Alya grinned.

"And what would you be doing if you weren't... ah," Marinette caught on. Peeking behind her, she noted that the rearmost rows were already filled with older teenagers, possibly with extracurricular activities on their minds.

"Put this on the seat next to you," Alya directed Marinette, handing her her light jacket. "That way you can keep it empty. If asked, just say someone's sitting there."

"Okay..."

The room filled in quickly around them. Marinette waved at several of her friends and classmates as she saw them go by, or when they called out to her. When the lights dimmed, indicating that the show was about to start, she gathered up her willpower for the experience.

"At least with this seat empty, I have a clear shot at the aisle, in case I need to make a run for the lobby," she muttered.

A student introduced the guest of honor, to a loud roar of applause. As he approached the podium, Marinette studied him with some surprise. She'd been expecting some kind of painted-up ghoul or garish monster cosplayer; instead, she saw a mature, normal-looking man in a cowboy hat, modest attire and a bolo tie.

"Good evening, fellow mutants!" he waved. "I'm glad y'all could make it tonight. I'm Bobby Joe Bloom, and this is the Eternal Grindhouse, where horror will never die..."

"Is this seat taken?" asked a familiar voice, just behind her...


"Y-yes - it is - I mean - uh - no, it isn't!" babbled Marinette, her brain rebooting now that she was in Adrien's presence. "Please, sit down! I mean, if you want to..."

"I'd like that," he agreed.

Marinette passed Alya's jacket back to her, noting her friend's I told you so! smirk in response as Adrien took his seat. He sat down carefully, a giant popcorn bucket in his hands.

"Hey, dude!" Nino called to Adrien. "Glad you could make it!"

"Hi!" Adrien beamed back. "I'm sorry that I'm a little late. It sounds like I just barely made it here in time."

"You're good. The first movie hasn't started yet," Alya confirmed.

"Good. I hope that you can tell me a little bit about these movies," he said, turning to Marinette. "I will admit that I don't know much about them."

"You don't?" wondered Marinette. "But you came to a horror-movie festival anyway? I mean, uh... I don't know anything about these, and I'm here, so I suppose..."

"Oh?"

Adrien appeared surprised by that. "Alya seemed certain that you'd be coming here. That's one reason that I came."

"She was?" Marinette's head whipped in the direction of Alya, then back to Adrien. "It... was?"

"Well, sure," he smiled, disarmingly. "She and Nino were coming here together, and she told me that if you were joining them, they could use a fourth for conversation, right? Plus," he pointed out, "it seems to me that the last time we saw a movie together, we were severely interrupted."

"Y-yes, we were," Marinette agreed, recalling the day of Gorizilla's first attack. "And very oddly dressed."

"I think we might be the most normal-looking ones here tonight," said Adrien. "That's a nice change, huh?"

"Sure, it is..."

She turned back to Alya for a moment, whose face was screaming out I've set him up on a silver platter for you, girl! Your turn! as subtly as it could.

"If something's wrong... though I'm not sure what?" she heard Adrien interject. "I can go over and sit with my-"

"No! No, Adrien," Marinette recovered, patting the armrest between their seats nervously. "Please, stay. I enjoyed that first movie with you very much, at least while it lasted, and I'd... I'd love to try that again."

"Good," he grinned. "Because I will definitely need help getting through this popcorn. I asked for a Medium, and they gave me enough for the whole building."


Settling in to the realization that she was about to spend the next eight hours next to Adrien, Marinette found herself liking the concept.

"I'm a little surprised that your father let you come out for this," she ventured. "All this time alone in a dark room with monsters?"

"Well, I'm not alone alone..." Adrien explained. He gestured to the next section over, where a familiar and hefty figure was squeezed into an aisle seat. The Gorilla glanced back at Adrien, as if asking Everything's OK?, then faced front once more.

"He loves these kinds of movies. He told me that they remind him of drive-in theaters when he was growing up," added Adrien. "I've barely watched anything from that genre. You were saying that you haven't, either?"

In the background, they heard Bobby Joe describing the three pillars of grindhouse movie entertainment: "The Three Ms. Monsters, Mammaries, and Massive Arterial Spray."

"Does that sound like my kind of movie to you?" she deadpanned. "This is so much more Alya's kind of thing. I'd never even heard of this guy before."

"So what did make you want to come here tonight?" Adrien asked. "Now, I'm curious."

What do I tell him? she wondered. Since apparently my best friend was setting me up with you tonight, but she didn't tell me, and now you look surprised that I didn't know that you were coming?

"Oh... a nice night out with friends?" she evaded. "Something different. Maybe I'll learn something; Alya said that the host is one of the great scholars of blood-and-guts movies."

"Well, I'll be sure to pay attention, then," said Adrien. "And whatever we don't learn from him... maybe we can teach each other."

She studied him, wondering if there was some subtext to that... but then the lights went down and the first movie began.


THE DARKENED ARMY: HATEFUL DEAD 3 flashed up on the screen in undulating letters.

To Marinette's pleasant surprise, this movie was well within her comfort range. It was more of a comedy than a traditional slasher or monster flick; the rubber-faced lead actor had great comic timing, the script refused to take itself seriously, and while there were moments of extreme violence, most were so extreme as to escape the realm of plausibility and become cartoonish.

At intervals during the movie, the action paused and a spotlight hit Bobby Joe, who explained in some detail aspects of the movie and its filming that a novice wouldn't know. Some things were trivia that Marinette wasn't sure that she'd ever need to know - where filming took place, how certain effects were created, plot elements relating to earlier, gorier installments in the series - but others, she had to admit, were interesting.

"This is what he does on his television show," Alya whispered. "It goes back and forth between the movie and segments where he talks about it, skits with Marcy the Mail Girl, special guests..."

"Kind of like Mystery Science Theater 3000?" whispered Adrien.

"A little?" said Alya. "Bobby Joe doesn't make fun of the movie while it's still playing. But if something's weird about a scene, you'll hear all about it at the break."

"Is Mystery Theater... is that the show with the little robots?" wondered Marinette. "I've seen some of that, and I liked it."

"Oh, you have?" Adrien brightened. "Which set of episodes? With Joel, Mike, or Jonah? Or the newest ones on the Gizmoplex?"

"I, um... I just know that it's the show with the little robots," she admitted. "Though I'd like to know more."

"I could arrange that," suggested Adrien.

"Okay! Back to the film," barked Bobby Joe from the stage. He finished up his rambling train of thought about two minutes after that, and the lights dimmed again.


When the final credits rolled and the lights came up once more, Alya asked, "Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"No, it wasn't," Marinette smiled. "I kinda liked it, honestly."

"Same here!" declared Adrien. "That was so much fun to watch. Are the others tonight going to be like that one?"

"Well... not exactly..."

Bobby Joe's introduction of the next film interrupted them. "All right! If you liked the appetizer, some major meat is coming up. We're going from one man with wood-cutting equipment to another, and this one has an even worse sense of time-and-place about his implement of destruction. Let's take a look at our Grindhouse Totals: 7 dead bodies. No breasts. Arm slashing. Hand carving. Multiple cackling cannibals. Armchairs made out of actual arms..."

Marinette gulped, audibly.

"Gratuitous booty shorts. Gratuitous roadkill armadillo. Hornet Fu. Sledgehammer Fu. Meat Hook Fu..."

Adrien looked over at his companions, worriedly. "Did he just say..."

"Uh-huh," Nino confirmed.

"The classic, The Austin Chainsaw Slaughterhouse. Four stars. An original 35mm print of this one. Enjoy!"

I'll... I don't like this, but I'll at least try it, thought Marinette. How bad could it be?


...BAD!

A violent slashing in the first few minutes of the movie startled Marinette, unsettling her somewhat. But it didn't take much longer for the film to make that incident seem like a paper cut.

"Aaaaagh!" she cried out as one particularly violent sequence again; without thinking, she turned her head towards Adrien and buried it against his shoulder, clinging tightly to his arm with both hands.

Did I just...

Realizing what she'd done and that she might be cutting off circulation to his lower arm, Marinette let go. She looked up at Adrien, whose face was full of undisguised disgust and disbelief.

"That was... I can't believe they filmed that," he gasped. "I mean, I know that it's staged, obviously, but..."

"Sorry," mumbled Marinette. "I think my drink splashed a little. I hope I didn't get you."

"I don't think you did-"

*BRRRRR-RRRR-RRRRRAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!* went the villain's chainsaw.

"GAAAAAAH!"

Marinette flinched at the sound of Adrien's loud outburst, feeling him jump in his seat... and again when a large portion of his popcorn flew into her face.

"Phhhhpbt!" she muttered, spitting a piece out into her hands...

"Did you just see that?" Adrien moaned.

"No, and I don't think that I wanted to," she retorted, "but, luckily, this popcorn blocked my view."

"Wait, what?"

Adrien surveyed the damage that his flinch had caused.

"You're not making fun of me, right?" asked Marinette, weakly. "Because usually I'm the one who sends food flying when I get scared like this."

"No, no! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," worried Adrien. "I didn't get butter on your blouse, did I?"

"I don't think you did..."

"I just... that guy just... and he... I can't..."

*BRRRRRRAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!*

"AAAAAAAAUUUUGGGH!" the pair roared in response, this time clinging to each other simultaneously while averting their eyes.

Her stomach in knots, Marinette turned her head to her left. "Alya... are you... Oh my God."

"What is it?" wondered Adrien.

"They're making out to this," snorted Marinette, in disgust. "To this!"

"What?" mumbled Alya, coming up for air. "I've seen this movie, like, eight times already. I know how it goes."

"You are kidding me," Adrien intoned, glaring hard...


Mercifully, the film's runtime was on the shorter side by modern standards. Alya surveyed the damage done once the lights came up.

Well... they've probably spent more time touching each other tonight than in their entire history to date, she smiled to herself. Nervous hands meeting in the popcorn box were a good start, but once the gore started flying? They were hugging, they were cuddling, they were holding each other. Nice!

I mean... maybe it would've been better if those were ROMANTIC cuddles... but they have to start somewhere.


"...Adrien?" managed Marinette, her hand locked onto his tightly. "Thank you for putting up with me during that. Are you..."

It was about that time that she realized that his hand was still shaking somewhat.

"...Are you all right?" she asked, concern leaping to the forefront.

"I am," he replied, in a quiet voice. "But I would like to never watch that one again."

"You hated it that much?" Nino called over, also looking worried.

"C'mon! That movie's a classic," Alya scoffed.

Adrien's stare in return made her laughter fade, at least momentarily. He turned to Marinette and asked, "How are you?"

"Nauseated. But at least it's over," she sighed.

"Are you staying for the other two movies?" he inquired.

"I... I guess so?" said Marinette. "Are you?"

"If you are," he offered. "I wouldn't want you to sit through something like that by yourself. And our friends might be a little... busy."

"Adrien?" she frowned. "If you don't want to watch this, if it's affecting you that badly, you don't have to stay with me. Honest. I mean," she continued, surprised at the words coming out of her mouth, "if you want to stay, but you wouldn't want to watch these alone, I'll stay with you."

His eyes held some amazement. "You'd... no, I can't ask that of you. I can't!" he protested.

"How about this?" she suggested. "Maybe the next movie will be something lighter?"

"If you're hoping for a rest break... you won't find it here," announced Bobby Joe, with a grin on his face. "This next movie is a bit of a tone shift. Leatherhead's rampage was kind of a case of very-wrong-place, very-wrong-time... but our next villain has a master plan, a huge body count and a little bit of supernatural hoodoo going for him. Nobody's safe, and nobody understands what's really going on, until it's far too late. Get ready for... Malefic."

"...Lovely," muttered Adrien.

"I'm serious. Don't put yourself through this on my account, okay?" pleaded Marinette.

"And don't put yourself through this just to comfort me," echoed Adrien.

The lights dimmed.


As brutal as the second movie had been... this next one seemed worse in a very elemental way. The chainsaw-wielding lunatic had seemed simple-minded at best, a random force of nature descending upon the unfortunate who crossed his path. But in this film, whatever drove the violence seemed to be a most deliberate evil. The deceased were not simply victims; they were prey, chosen for specific reasons and executed with care and precision in horrific manners, and the camera spared no details.

The opening credit sequence had Marinette covering her eyes and Adrien grasping her hand a bit too tightly. By the time that the film's second "home movie" scene revealed how yet another family had perished messily...

Marinette and Adrien turned to each other, wide-eyed.

"N-nope," she stammered.

"Let's get..." he spat out.

Her hand in his, their mostly-empty popcorn bin falling to the ground, the two of them dashed for the main door of the theater.


In the empty lobby, Marinette stumbled over to a small bench-chair and flopped down into it, her head in her hands. Adrien knelt beside her, visibly unsteady but refusing to leave her.

"That was... that was just sick," moaned Marinette. "So nasty. Why would... why would people pay to watch something like that?"

"I don't get it, either. Alya watches this kind of stuff for fun?" exclaimed Adrien. "It's like I don't even know her at all."

As Marinette sat very still, he added, "Are you okay? Can I get you something?"

"I'll... I'm fine," she managed. "My stomach's settling. Thank you, though. How about you?"

"I might get a cup of ice water, or something..." Adrien said, "when I'm ready."

"I told you," Marinette repeated, "this wasn't something that you had to watch on my account. You were meant for gentler things."

"Do you think that you are meant for that kind of... euuugh!" countered Adrien, recoiling at the thought.

"Hardly," she agreed. "But... well... at least we had each other to lean on."

"Marinette..."

His thought was interrupted by a nearby bathroom door opening. A familiar-looking man in a bolo tie emerged.

"Well, hiya, kids. Enjoying the show?" Bobby Joe ventured... then frowned. "I would say... that you're not," he assessed correctly. "Can I help you with that?"

"S-sir," Marinette mumbled, "this just isn't... I can't... no, I think I just need to go home now. Once I can think straight again. I don't want to hold you up from your presentation..."

"Miss," the man declared, "I told myself many years ago, 'Never leave a pretty girl crying in a lobby.' That rule has served me well. And if your boyfriend's as shaken up as you are..."

That jarred them out of their state of shock, briefly.

"He's... he's not my... um..." Marinette replied.

"No, I'm not her... I would, but I... We're not..." Adrien coughed out, just as fast.

Well-traveled eyes measured their denials.

"The hell you say," scoffed Bobby Joe. "But I'm quite serious about this. Can we talk this out for a minute?"

"If y-you want to," Adrien offered.

The horror host sat down next to Marinette on the bench, taking in the scene.


"Okay. I... let me figure out what I want to say here," Marinette began. "Sir..."

"Call me Bobby Joe," he interrupted, immediately. "My daddy was 'Sir.' I'm just a guy with movies and a nice hat."

"Bobby Joe," she continued, "I don't want to seem like a... a stereotype, you know? A little girl who sees a horror movie and falls to pieces."

"Your being a girl's got nothin' to do with it," Bobby Joe replied. "Many of my biggest fans are women. Marcy the Mail Girl, my usual co-host, knows these movies cold; she comes up with thoughts about 'em that even I haven't had."

"But..."

"And," he continued, "you're not falling apart. You're talking about this with me, rationally. This is not the first time I've sat and talked like this with someone, believe me. I've seen people a lot worse."

"And I don't want to seem overly fragile, either," Adrien noted. "I mean... we both know that these are just movies. None of it is real. Our friends are still sitting in the row we were in, having a ball... they were even making out during the chainsaw movie."

"Aardvarkin' to Leatherhead?" marveled Bobby Joe. "It takes a certain kind for that, but... yeah, I've seen that more than a few times."

"It's like what they're watching doesn't affect them at all," a frustrated Adrien declared. "The first movie tonight... that one, I liked a lot."

"Yeah!" Marinette agreed. "That was funny. The right kind of splattery."

"But then, the chainsaw one... that was telling a story, I guess, but it was a cruel, vicious kind of story. People getting carved to bits that didn't deserve any of that," Adrien continued. "It almost seemed like it was... um..."

"Celebrating that someone like Leatherhead could exist," Marinette finished his thought for him. "People in the theater were cheering while he was doing that! And I just... can't... I don't get that. Not completely."

"And then that last movie..."

"Ohhh," Marinette shuddered. "That was so much worse. Like, those people just stumbled onto Leatherhead, they made some pretty bad decisions, and then they got what they got. It was like, hey, bad luck for you? But whatever was killing people in that movie was..."

"It was stalking them. Like picking the wings off of flies, not because they'd done anything wrong, but just because it could. Raw evil," Adrien frowned. "And people were cheering and clapping for that."

"And that just... it all... it all just added up on me," Marinette sighed. "On both of us. We really tried, Bobby Joe. We wanted to have fun tonight. But it just hit us like a runaway truck."

"And you're one of the experts in the field, so to speak," Adrien added, "someone who's spent years and years studying these kinds of movies. This is your thing."

"Can you tell us what we're missing?" she pleaded.

"I can sure try," said Bobby Joe.


"All right. First thing," he began, "is that neither of you is abnormal. You're not wrong, you're not dumb, you're not broke down. You watched a movie that was designed to get under your skin, and it got under your skin, and that's how it works, you know? What was inside the can was what was on the label."

"Yeah, I get that," Adrien agreed.

"Us horror fans... we're wired kinda different. I call us 'mutants' for a reason," smiled Bobby Joe. "We wear that as a badge of honor. There's a certain mindset to have to enjoy these kinds of movies, and not everybody can get into that. And some of us are more sensitive to certain things than others."

"The four movies I brought with me," he noted, "some of them aren't too pretty, but I could've picked a lot worse. Somethin' like 'Cannibal Breakfast Club,' where I'll even tell the mutants to buckle up because there's some seriously unsavory stuff going on there. I've got some European and independent movies that'd make your hair fall out, and I won't tell you about 'em now."

"Thank you," breathed Marinette, in relief.

"A lot of these movies, 'specially the older ones... they're morality plays at heart. The monster comes out, it goes graaaaah a lot, the good guys defeat it, the heroes kiss, and good night. Lots of times, the people who get slaughtered are the ones who misbehaved in some way; like, having premarital sex in a movie is a great way to hang a big ol' target on your back in any slasher movie. And the last one at the end, usually a girl - they call it Final Girl syndrome - she's the one who played by society's rules, she fights back, and she survives."

"That don't mean," Bobby Joe continued, "that people don't like seein' hooters and buttocks and aardvarkin' up on the screen. Far from it; misbehavin's fun, right? That's half the reason some people watch these movies... but y'all might be a little young for that yet."

"Maybe a little," Adrien admitted.

"And sometimes, the bad guy wins. Most of the time, he comes back to life at the end, or escapes, or it turns out that the falling trash truck missed him after all. Gotta leave room for the sequel," the host smiled. "I'll say this... if you're lookin' for a movie where the good guys end up winning, this movie that you walked out on? Maybe don't go back and watch the rest of that, 'cause that's not happenin' there. That's a mean one."

"Consider us forewarned."

"But I get the sense that you wanna know why people like these at all. Like, why they enjoy being scared. Why they hoot and holler when someone gets chopped up and heads roll, right?"

"Right!"

"I'll put it this way..."


"It's a big ol' weird world out there," Bobby Joe intoned. "There's a lot of nasty things happening in the world, every day, everywhere. Some of 'em are big, some of 'em are small. Ain't much of it that ever seems fair."

"And I have to say... that goes double for Paris, from what I've been reading," he emphasized. "What in the blue hell's up with this Hawk fellah and all of his critters?"

That question seemed to hit Marinette almost as hard as the theatrical carnage had.

"It's a long story," she sighed, closing her eyes. "It's horrible."

"...Marinette?" breathed Adrien, a bit surprised by her strong reaction.

"Marinette, huh? That's a pretty name," said Bobby Joe. "It suits you. And you are?"

"I'm Adrien."

"Good to meet you too, Adrien. Anyway, what I was sayin'..." he mused, "is that you never know when lightning's gonna strike you in life. We all do our best, we try real hard, but sometimes there's just a monster hiding in the alley and he's gonna jump out at you no matter what you do, right? And that goes double for here, when there might actually be some kind of super-monster some days."

"Uh-huh," Adrien nodded.

"So, some people... if you're gonna have your heart pumping like crazy anyway, you might as well do it on your own terms, and pick what'll rev you up. Some burn that energy out by exercising, or dancing, or drinking, or aardvarkin'... or gettin' on the Internet and yellin' at people. That's pretty popular these days. But some of us... the mutants... we like being scared, revolted, grossed out, whatever, when it's when and and where and how we want it to happen. A controlled environment."

"So watching gore and evil can be... stress relief?" asked Marinette, trying to understand where he was going with that.

"It can be," agreed Bobby Joe, "if you're wired like that. You don't always know what's comin' at ya in life, just like the people in these movies. Sometimes you can fight back. Sometimes you don't know how to. Sometimes you just gotta run and hide if you can. But there's always somebody in these movies who at least tries to fight back, to stand up. A final girl, or a group of friends, or everybody standing up to show others that it's possible."

"They may not win all the time, and even if they do, the villain'll probably come back for 'em another day. But they're out there tryin' and they're goin' down swingin', and that counts," he added. "That's a comfort. That's a good thing to see. That no matter how bad it gets, and in these movies, it can get downright terrible... no matter who you are, at least there's always a little hope. Someone's fightin' the good fight. And if it gets you, you can at least flip 'em the bird on your way out."

"Huh," Marinette replied, coming around to the concept.

"Like those kids in the news. Ladybug and the Black Cat," Bobby Joe said. "They-"

"Chat Noir," Adrien corrected him, nearly automatically.

"Chat Noir," smiled Bobby Joe. "I'm American, I say it different. Anyway... the more I read about them, they just blow me away. This ain't a movie; this is real life, and there really are monsters out there, and here's these two half-grown kids standin' up and fightin' and givin' people hope! That's just... I tell ya, if I ever get the chance, I'd like to shake their hands."

"I think they'd like that," smiled Marinette.

"Am I making sense?" Bobby Joe asked. "That that's the kinda thing that makes people in there, people like your friends tick? It's an adrenaline rush to watch. It's storytellin'. Some do it well, some not so well. But I like 'em all, or most of 'em anyway, 'cause they're makin' art and puttin' it out there and sayin', 'Whaddya think of that?'"

"I think I understand where you're coming from. Thank you," Adrien nodded.

"And, again... there are lots and lots of different kinds of horror movies. You don't have to like 'em all," counseled Bobby Joe. "Like, this one that's airin' now? I'd suggest that you wait out here about another hour or so, let that one finish. But the last movie I brought here, that's something different. It's a movie about making a horror movie, and all the things that can go wrong, and there's a big twist that I don't wanna tell you about yet. But it's got a ton of heart and it's a lot softer and you might just like it, if you feel like giving it one more chance."

"And at the very least, we should let our friends know that we didn't run home," Marinette laughed.

"I need to get back for the next break. Probably missed one already, but that's okay. This was more important," Bobby Joe mused. "You two gonna make it?"

"I think we are."

Shyly, Marinette reached her hand out towards Bobby Joe, who happily accepted her handshake, and then one from Adrien.

"Good to meet ya," the host smiled as he left. "Don't go doin' anything I wouldn't do. That doesn't leave much."


Once they were alone again, Adrien sat down next to Marinette, where Bobby Joe had sat.

"That was... unexpected," Marinette declared. "Though I'm glad that we met him."

"Yeah," Adrien agreed. "A very nice guy. Very thoughtful, too."

"I mean... now I can actually look at Alya again, after this," she laughed. "He helped me even comprehend how she thinks about this stuff."

"And he's right about what he said about stress relief. We all need some ways of chasing bad thoughts and bad energy away."

"What do you do?" asked Marinette.

"I... have my methods," evaded Adrien. "I definitely manage to keep busy and keep my mind occupied, when I need to."

"Same here. Sometimes it even works."

"Well, we could keep doing what we did tonight?" he suggested. "Watch some really nasty movies and cringe and jump a lot?"

She started to declare "No!" to that... but something came over her, in the moment.

"Maybe something a little lighter? Like that show with the robots you were talking about. That's mostly science-fiction and horror movies, right?" she asked.

"Yes! Much lighter. And with the comedy that the hosts lay over top of them, they're really entertaining. Even the terrible movies turn into something good with that added in." Adrien took a breath, then suggested, "Maybe we could get together sometime and watch one of those?"

"I'd like that, very much."

"So..."

Adrien's smile remained, but his hand went behind his head, as she'd noticed that it sometimes did when he was nervous about something.

"From what Bobby Joe said, we've got about an hour to kill... if you do want to go back for that last movie, like he'd suggested," he noted, leaving that open-ended.

"I think I'd like to give it a try. After that pep talk, I almost feel like I owe him that much."

"Me, too. So, we can sit here for an hour and just hang out, or... would you like to go out for a walk, for a little while?"

Marinette caught her breath.


"S-sure," she smiled. "It is a lovely night."

Adrien stood, then reached out to her...

I... she thought, I can do this. We were practically climbing over each other in our seats! If that didn't break the ice...

Her hand clasped his... and stayed there, as they walked to the front door of the theater.

As they began a short stroll around the university's campus, following a paved path around wherever it led them, it felt right to her.

Holding Adrien's hand like this, chatting about nothing in particular, just spending time together... this feels like how it's supposed to be, she smiled. Maybe being vulnerable like that in front of each other, us both overreacting to all that blood and gore, that made being close like this seem so much easier tonight? Like hinting to Adrien how I feel about him isn't so scary, after all.

Marinette still felt her heart pounding, though... almost as hard as it had during the chainsaw massacre.

Maybe there's something to this adrenaline rush thing after all, she told herself, suppressing a giggle.