Chapter 29

~Adrien's POV~

I felt myself very subtly leaning towards her and quickly leaned away again when I realized what I had been doing. I don't even know exactly why I would do that.

"Well, uh…" Marinette said with an awkward smile. "Good night."

"Yeah, good night." I repeated with a small awkward smile of my own. "And good luck on your final."

"Thank you." Marinette said. "Yeah." She looked at me for another second before she made a sudden gesture to the door and chuckled nervously. I gave her a small, amused smile as she took the last few steps to the door, and I only looked away when she glanced back at me with another warm smile as she opened the door.

I really don't know why I did that, leaning towards Marinette like that. It wasn't even written in the script for us to act like how we did, to seem so reluctant to end that date. It was only when Nino spoke that I was pulled out of my thoughts.

"And scene." He called, causing Marinette to come back outside. When I turned to look at Alya, Nino and Alix, I instantly frowned when I saw that they were all smirking, and though it seemed Nino was trying to hide it, he was doing a very poor job.

"Alright." Alya said, her smirk turning into a grin. "Why don't we watch those scenes? Nino, how about you get those videos onto my phone so us girls can watch it together and you and Adrien watch it together?"

"But—" Nino started, but quickly closed his mouth when Alya gave him a look. Slowly he started to nod as if he understood what Alya was trying to get at. "Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. Let me just…"

Alya smiled at him sweetly and handed over her phone to let Nino transfer the videos. Meanwhile, I glanced at Alix who was still smirking at me. My face heated up even more, then my eyes shifted to Marinette. Her cheeks were very rosy, but she seemed surprisingly calm.

Hopefully she didn't notice I leaned in a little closer to her…

Another glance at Alix and her smirk, however, told me that the pink-haired girl had in fact noticed my off-script action, and it was obvious she wouldn't let me forget about it in a hurry.

"You have two beef tacos, one burrito, and one chicken taco." The man in the food truck told someone who was in front of us in line. The camera then moved to show that there were still five ahead of us, some people alone and others in pairs.

"So." I said when the camera showed me next to Marinette in line. Both of us were looking towards the menu on the side of the food truck and we both had our arms crossed, though I turned my head to look at her as I asked the question. "This is your favorite place?"

"Yes." Marinette answered with a nod then glanced at me before we each looked at the menu again, and she raised a hand toward her mouth, holding it just under her chin and making hand motions for emphasis. "It's like a surprise party in your mouth."

"And he's opened all night." Marinette added, and I glanced at her again with a small amused smile. "When I'm studying late at night I usually end up here."

I smiled a little more and nodded. "I'm game." I said, which caused Marinette to look at me with an amused smile and chuckle.

The scene changed to show Marinette and I sitting at a table with the cardboard containers and paper our food came with. It was nice, actually being able to eat it, because it turns out it actually is one of Marinette's favorite places to get food. It was also nice, that when we had to restart the scene, we didn't have to eat the food again.

"You're right." I said with a small chuckle as Marinette let out a breath, looking down at her trash. "That was amazing."

Marinette laughed and nodded in agreement while I had a napkin I was wiping my fingers and palms on. "I know, right?"

She glanced at me, then looked away as I looked at her, my arms crossed on the tabletop as I leaned forward. Her arms crossed as well as she looked away and her hands rubbed over her arms.

"Are you cold?" I asked, noticing her actions and offering her a small smile when her head turned quickly towards me.

"No, no I'm fine." She answered quickly, though it was very disbelieving.

I gave her a look that told her I didn't believe her then held up a finger. "I'll be right back." She didn't even have time to protest as I stood and walked away, and she looked very confused and almost amused.

Then, the scene switched again to show the two of us walking together, each holding a small cup of hot chocolate. I was still in that fireman's uniform, and she was still in that pretty little black dress, but she also now was wearing a yellow fireman's jacket over it.

I had helped her put it on before we started the scene and I smiled slightly to myself as I remembered the grateful smile she gave me.

"When I was in college," Marinette said. "My parents died in a car accident, so I went back home to take care of my little sister until she graduated from high school… and when she went off to college I went back to get my degree, and started veterinary school."

"Why a vet?" I asked curiously after thinking about what she told me for a second.

"My parents were huge animal lovers." She replied then let out a slight sigh. "I guess it rubbed off on me and my sister." As she paused, I took a sip of my hot chocolate, listening to her every word as if she weren't just saying some line for a movie.

"My mom took in every stray she could find." She continued. I smiled and hummed quietly to show I heard her, then we sat next to each other on a bench.

"When I was… seven..." She continued, and I looked at her, causing us to make eye contact. "I was walking home from school and there was this baby bird in the middle of the road. It had fallen out of its nest. So I picked him up and I took him home. I nursed him back to health."

Though the camera had been on Marinette the entire time she was talking, when she paused it showed my face as I smiled at her. I blushed as I could now see the expression I had been giving her. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was in fact hanging onto her every word, then while we were filming, and now when I was just watching us on screen.

Marinette let out a small chuckle and was smiling happily to herself. "And I was there for his first flight…" She trailed off as she shook her head at herself. "I had totally forgotten about that, but you're right. That was when I knew I wanted to be a vet."

I took another sip of my hot chocolate as she looked lost in thought another second before she turned to me and asked, "How about you? What made you want to be a firefighter? What was your defining moment?"

"Well…" I started after a quiet sigh. "When I was about fourteen my house caught on fire, and I was trapped in my bedroom… terrified… until this amazing firefighter crashed through my bedroom window and saved my life."

"That was the moment you decided you wanted to be a firefighter." Marinette commented with a smile.

"Well, it was the moment I decided I didn't want to be angry anymore." I said, and I could see the way her smile slowly faded. "My parents fought all the time and they're divorced now, and uh… it made me a pretty angry kid. That was the moment I decided I wanted to do something that would make a difference, so I started focusing on helping people like the way I was helped."

I knew she felt bad for Alya writing about my parents again in the script as she had made sure to apologize for Alya after we finished filming that scene, and even went as far to scold Alya in my behalf. To say the least, I was surprised to see her stand up for me against her best friend, even if it had only been a line for a film.

"That's powerful." The Marinette on screen said and I hummed my agreement. It was quiet for a moment, both of us appearing lost in thought before I spoke again.

"What were your parents like?"

"My parents…" She started; tears barely noticeable in her eyes. "Loved each other so much. When my mom walked into the room, my dad would just… light up. They met each other in high school, and that was it."

"He stopped her in her tracks." I commented with a smile, bringing up that fact about the mountain lions from many scenes ago. "And she joined him on the mountain."

Marinette gave me a small smile and nodded slowly. "Exactly."

We continued looking at each other and smiling, though after a couple seconds we both looked down. She was the first one to speak, leaning over to nudge my arm with her shoulder. "This has been really nice, but I um…" When she spoke again she had a strained smile and her voice was a higher pitch. "I have an anatomy final in the morning. I should probably go…"

"Yeah… No problem." I said quietly in agreement, and it was obvious that neither of us really wanted to go. "I'll take you home."

I was the first to stand from where we had been sitting on that bench, and she followed me soon after. The scene changed to show us walking to the outside of the Bourgeois' hotel, where we had that room to use as Marilee's. We were close to the door when we both stopped walking at the same time and turned towards each other.

"Thank you for dinner." She told me with a smile.

I returned her smile as I replied. "Yeah, thank you for accepting my apology."

My smile faded slightly, as did hers as I saw myself leaning slowly towards her then back up quickly, my face both on screen and not turning a shade of pink from embarrassment.

"Well, uh…" Marinette said with an awkward smile. "Good night."

"Yeah, good night." I repeated with a small awkward smile of my own, and I hadn't noticed I had ever so slightly leaned towards her again. "And good luck on your final."

"Thank you." Marinette said. "Yeah." She looked at me for another second before she made a sudden gesture to the door and chuckled nervously. I gave her a small, amused smile as she took the last few steps to the door, and I only looked away when she glanced back at me with another warm smile as she opened the door.

I looked at my expression as Marinette walked inside, seeing that I looked confused and a little in shock. That wasn't too surprising to me, and neither was seeing the smirk Nino was giving me when the scene cut to blackness.

"So…" Nino said with a teasing tone in his voice, causing my face to feel a bit warmer. "What was that?"

"What was what?" I asked, playing dumb as I looked at Nino, trying my best to look confused, but it was obvious it wasn't working.

He let out an amused chuckle and shook his head at me. "Fine." He said. "You can try to argue that you didn't seem like you really enjoyed those scenes with Marinette, or that you weren't actually upset when the date was coming to an end, or that you weren't leaning in towards Marinette for an unscripted kiss."

"Nino!" I said quickly, my face heating up even more. "I-I wasn't going to kiss her!"

"Right." He answered, very obviously not believing a word I said. "Whatever you say, dude."

~Marinette's POV~

"Girl!" Alya squealed to me after she and Alix took me away from where Adrien and Nino stayed, and we watched the scenes. "You totally almost kissed!"

"What?!" I demanded as my cheeks turned dark red. "N-No! I mean, I know I was maybe-kinda-sort of lost in my own world with him, but Adrien was not! He was just acting like Zachary, who wasn't wanting his date with Marilee to end, by the way!"

"But Marinette," Alix said with a grin. "You are Marilee. Adrien is Zachary."

"So?" I said quickly and crossed my arms. "That doesn't mean anything!"

"Then how do you explain the fact that Adrien was leaning towards you too?" Alya demanded with a wide grin. "I did not write an almost-kiss for Marilee and Zachary! That was entirely on his own!"

"No!" I said quickly. "No, Alya, it wasn't! Adrien was just acting as Zachary, and probably just was way into character!"

I chose to ignore the look that Alya and Alix shared and continued to keep my arms cross. "There's no way that Adrien was actually thinking of me." I continued. "He was just being Zachary on a date with Marilee, nothing more."

"Whatever you say, Marinette." Alya finally said after a long sigh.

"But—" Alix tried to protest, obviously not happy with Alya just giving in.

"I know that it would take a lot of convincing for you, Marinette," Alya continued, cutting Alix off. "To get you to see what we do when we see you and Adrien acting together, but not tonight. We'll just see how the next scenes go, won't we?"

Even though Alix wasn't happy with giving up with that argument for now, and Alya definitely wasn't, they didn't bring it up for the rest of the night. Instead, Alya filled us in on her ideas for upcoming scenes of the film that she hadn't written yet. Though I was excited by her ideas to see what would become of Marilee and Zachary's relationship, somewhere in the back of my mind wondered if the girls were right.

Was Adrien really leaning in as an out-of-character move?

Were all those smiles he gave me just for the film?

Would anything between us really change because of this movie?

I silently sighed to myself and forced the thoughts away. There was no way I'd get so lucky; no way for me to have a Christmas miracle like that happen to me. I wasn't that lucky.