"Tikki! I'm so nervous! What do I do?" Marinette looked hopefully up at her Kwami and saw that Tikki shook her head at her.
"Just be yourself with him Marinette, if he doesn't love you for who you are, then he doesn't deserve you!" Tikki said smiling and Marinette felt her resolve strengthen.
They had been on this class school trip for what felt like a couple hours, and they had been exploring this large museum somewhere outside of Paris. Marinette Hidan behind a pillar and watched as Adrien talked with a crowd of girls.
If Marinette had known that other schools from around Paris would be attending at the same time, then she would've never left Adrien's side. So many girls wanted pictures with him, and they wanted to talk to him, he was swarmed.
Alya was in that group too, for whatever reason, and she watched as her best friend ever slung her arm around Adrien's shoulders.
"Sorry ladies," Alya started, and she smiled at her best friend, knowing full well that she was trying to save him from the crowd of screaming girls.
"But this hot model belongs to our classmate Marinette, so no touching." All the girls looked murderous, and Marinette covered her mouth to stifle her giggle.
"What are you talking about Alya?" Adrien's said, and at his voice, Marinette froze as well.
"Marinette's just a friend, nothing more, stop joking around Alya." Adrien's laugh echoed throughout the corridor and Marinette felt tears come to her eyes.
Why? She had heard that phrase before, so why now did she decide to cry? Was it because he choose to put 'nothing more' at the end of those words, or was it because it sorta felt final this time?
She dropped the red and black striped scarf she'd been carrying and ran forwards blindly, wiping at her eyes. She hit something solid and made to move around it quickly, not wanting to be seen.
Her arm was grabbed and she opened her eyes to finds a boy holding her arm, he was surrounded by people, and he looked positively worried.
"Hey, are you okay? Did you get hurt?" He bent down low, as if to shadow her teary eyes with his body. He had dark green eyes, like really dark green, and he had silky brown hair. He had a remarkable parlor next to Adrien's though.
"I'm fine, I just, I made a mistake and I'm kinda embarrassed about it." Was all she said as she bowed her head, a girl with pretty blue eyes, and blonde hair that reminded her of Chloe walked up and hugged her.
"It's okay, mistakes happen! I'm sure whatever you did can be easily repaired!" She said happily and pulled back, she smiled at the girl feeling just a slight bit better.
"Well-um see-I-uh-I am the person who would be hurt by my mistake-not anyone else." She bowed her head, and another girl walked up to her.
"Aww, that's okay too, seriously, everyone makes mistakes! It's fine! Just don't let it get to you!" She had stark green hair and red eyes, but they weren't creepy, she was actually quite pretty.
Marinette laughed and the two girls giggled with her. "Thank you, I think that's exactly what I needed." She looked up to see a crowd of smiling people around her, they all looked so friendly.
"So, what's your name? Mrs. 'I have a sense of fashion'?" The girl with green hair said, and Marinette felt elated at her comment.
"I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng! It's nice to meet you!" She smiled at them and she wiped at her eyes.
These people were nice, and there was nothing wrong with making new friends.
"Nice to meet you Marinette! My name is Indila, and this" She gestured to the girl with green hair, "is Paige." They both waved at her encouragingly and Marinette stepped into their circle.
At school lately, she'd been feeling rather put out. No one would believe her when it came to Lila, and it hurt to see her friends all mad at her, at one point Alya wouldn't even talk to her. It kinda felt like they were just putting up with her. Was she selfish for feeling this way?
A tall boy with black hair stuck his hand out, he also had black eyes, but he didn't look well...he didn't look emo. "Nice to meet you, I'm Jasper." She shook his hand and smiled. Why were they all so inviting?
Another girl who was super enthusiastic sticker her hand out, she looked so pretty, her hair was in braids and she wore glasses, and a camera hung around her neck. "Hi! I'm Manon!" She smiled, and Marinette gasped.
"No way! I babysit a girl named Manon!" She smiled and they both laughed. Next up was another boy who had blonde hair, but it was a darker blonde.
"I'm Damien, it's a pleasure to meet you!" he bent down to kiss her hand and was promptly shoved out of the way by the boy who stopped her. He laughed as Damien host the ground and rolled. "Sorry bout' him, he's kinda a flirt."
A smaller call of "I resent that!" came from their left, and Marinette focused her attention on the boy in front of her.
More likely on his green eyes.
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, my name is Jack, and I hope that you would spend the day with us?" She blanched as he mock bowed. He wanted her to spend the day with their group of friends?
"Yeah Marinette!" Called Manon.
"Oh yes! I have to know where you got your clothes!" Indila said smiling.
"Let's do it! We'll cheer you up for sure!" Paige said happily.
"Fine by me." Said Jasper and he turned away.
"Yeah! Yeah! Let's take the pretty girl with us!" Damien said and they all shared a light laugh.
Marinette turned toward Jack, who had his hand still outstretched with a knowing smile on his face. She was internally debating, but she could hear Tikki's small voice from her handbag.
"Do it Marinette! Go have fun!" she smiled at them and took his hand.
They were all talking adamantly as they walked through the museum, all of the girls were on one side of Marinette and Jack stood on her other sided, all of the boys on his side.
They were asking her os many questions, like where she got her clothes, where did she go to school, did she have a boyfriend, what did she do for fun.
"I actually make my own clothes, I want to be a fashion designer when I graduate." She smiled and they all looked so fascinated that she made her own clothes.
"Jeez, if I picked up a needle I'd probably end up stabbing myself in the eye," Jack said as he swung both his arms around the people on his sides.
A.K.A Marinette and Damien.
Everyone laughed and they were all just so focused on enjoying life, and if was...
It was refreshing.
"Hey! Let's go to the food court outside! I'm starving!" Damien said and he pointed to the exit. Marinette was nervous, she didn't want to walk that way because her friends were all huddled in a group over there.
She stopped her feet and Jack turned to her. He looked where she was looking and bent down so he could look at her downcast face.
"Do you not want to eat?" he asked quietly, everyone else in their group watched silently.
"No, I want to eat, it's just...well, my friends are over there, and I don't want to see them right now...does that make sense?" She looked at him hopefully, and he nodded. He smiled and stood up straight, he reached for the hem of the hoodie he was wearing.
He pulled it up and over his head, and that gave every girl in the group the chance to see a very, very nicely toned stomach.
Marinette blushed beyond belief at the sight and covered her face with her hands in embarrassment.
The hoodie found its way over her head and she looked up at him as he pulled it over her shoulders and instructed her to put her hands through the armholes.
She did it and he clapped his hands. "There see? Now we can go eat, let's go." Marinette gasped lightly as he pulled on her hand and guided her through the crowd of her friends. She kept her head down and pretended not to know any of them.
She bumped into one person and looked up, shocked to find Rose in front of her. "Oh, I'm sorry!" Rose said in her high pitched voice.
Marinette stood frozen, again. What was she supposed to say?! She suddenly felt a pull on her waist. "That's okay, just be more aware next time, okay?" he ruffled Rose's hair and pulled Marinette along by her waist.
"What was that?" She asked suspiciously. Feeling just a bit played.
"I have four younger sisters, so I know how to deal with those types of things. Forgive me if I made you uncomfortable." He released her waist and she smiled, he was very concerned about other people's feelings.
When she wasn't looking Manon shouted her name. She turned and found a picture was about to be taken.
"Marinette! Look!"
She smiled brightly and pressed into Jack, who smiled also. The picture gave off a bright flash and Marinette knew that day was a good day.
She slipped the hood of the hoodie off her head and smiled at her newfound friends.
Just a ways away Marinette's school friends watched as she walked away with a different group.
The call of Marinette's name had them all looking over there, and they had watched as she pressed herself next to someone that they didn't know, and smiled brightly for a picture.
Alya didn't understand, they'd been looking for Mari for the past thirty minutes! And she was off with other people! She was more hurt than anything.
Adrien didn't understand either, they couldn't find Marinette anywhere in the entire museum earlier, and she had gone and hung out with other people? He had never once heard of or seen those people.
They were looking for her because they were supposed to go eat lunch as a class, and most people had already left.
"Don't worry, I'll go grab Marinette." Adrien's said quickly and ran after the group of people. The rest fo the just stood there wondering what Marinette was doing.
"Oh my god, this is delicious!" Marinette exclaimed loudly, and bit into the multicolored macaroon again. Her parents' ones were better for sure, but it still tasted good.
She slipped one into her handbag for Tikki, and heard the delighted sound as her Kwami bit into it.
"I know right! But that one bakery has better ones. You remember what one I'm talking about right Jasper? We went there last week." Indila said to the taller boy. He thought for a second and nodded.
"You mean the one with the black and gold designs right?" Marinette blanched, they were talking about her family's bakery.
"You mean the Dupain-Cheng bakery?" Marinette added helpfully, stifling her laugh as realization dawned on their faces.
"You're the bakers' daughter!?" they all said simultaneously.
She nodded and turned as someone tapped her shoulder, dread filling her as she recognized the similar white overshirt.
"There you are Marinette! We've been looking for you, the class lunch is about to start soon and Mrs. Bustier told us to find you." Adrien's stated happily as he turned around to walk away.
Marinette didn't move, why were his words hurting her so much today? He didn't say, 'we were looking for you because we were worried.' It was 'Mrs. Bustier told us to find you.' She stifled her tears and held them back. She knew that he didn't know what he was saying, none of them did, but that didn't mean that they didn't hurt her.
"Adrien, I think I'm gonna stay here." Was all she said and she turned back to the picnic table that they all sat at, her head down.
She heard him stop, and she prepared for the worst. "Marinette, what are you talking about? We have to go now. Mrs. Bustier said that you have to go." She didn't say that, but Adrien knew that leaving Marinette here with these people wasn't a good idea.
"Adrien, please head to the bus, I will be right there." A voice called out from behind them and Marinette turned to find Mrs. Bustier standing there, one hand pushing Adrien towards the bus.
Marinette turned to her teacher, prepared to be scolded. "Marinette, may I please speak to you privately?" She nodded and got up, her newfound friends worried gazes on her.
"Marinette dear, do you not want to come to the lunch?" Mrs. Bustier put her hands on Marinette's shoulders.
"Mrs. Bustier, I just-! I don't want to be around everyone today! And with Lila and-!" She shook her head confusedly and Mrs. Bustier pulled her in for a hug.
"It's okay Marinette, I understand. Just be back at the train station in two hours, that's when we have to leave." Mrs. Bustier smiled at her and Marinette ran off with a smile on her face that the teacher had not seen in a long time.
A pair of triumphant eyes watched Marinette from the bus window, she smirked when the girl didn't get back on the bus and they began to take off.
"Mrs. Bustier! Where's Marinette?" Adrien asked worriedly.
"She will be meeting us at the train station in two hours, until then, however, she will be joining a different school on their field trip." Mrs. Bustier sat down and Adrien was left to watch a smiling Marinette as they pulled away from the museum.
What is this feeling? He thought as he clenched the fabric above his heart.
~*~*~*~
When it came time to say goodbye to her new friends, Marinette wasn't sad. They had assured her that their school was not that far from her own, and they all exchanged numbers, and she had no idea how Manon had managed it but the picture they took earlier was printed out and Marinette put it behind her clear phone case so she could look at it.
"Thank you all so much! Today was so much fun!" She hugged each and every one of them, save for Jasper who merely patted her head fondly.
"I can't wait to hang out with you again Marinette! We have to plan a sleepover!" All of the girls chorused in agreement, and Marinette heard the warning that her train would be leaving soon.
"Oh!" She said as she went to slip Jack's hoodie off and return it to him, but his hand on her head stopped her.
"You can keep it, for now, return it to me the next time we see each other." He turned her around and whispered in her ear as he pushed her towards her train. "I'll be waiting."
She launched herself into the train and took the closest open seat. She sighed as she leaned her head back, closing her eyes.
He said there'd be a next time! She squealed internally at the mere thought.
She hadn't noticed that she'd taken a seat next to Adrien, or how exhausted she was. She put in her headphones and played music until she was dozing off.
Adrien, however, noticed her appearance, well more precisely the hoodie that she wore. He was so focused on glaring at the hoodie that he nearly jumped out of his seat when Marinette fell into his lap. She didn't seem perturbed at all.
Her head rested on his far leg and he smiled softly down at her sleeping form.
He wondered if he'd be crossing a line if he took her hair out-he'd only seemed it once, but he had craved to see it free again. It was just so beautiful when it was down.
He very lightly pulled on one of her ribbons and her hair fell down her back, he did so with the other too. He reveled in the softness of it before he ran his fingers through it.
He closed his eyes as he continued to run his fingers through her hair, losing himself in it. He wasn't even comprehending what he was doing.
He fell asleep repeating the motion, with Marinette's head in his lap, and a warm feeling in his chest.
~*~*~*~
Ooo wow, I have no idea what the hell I'm doing. Busy here but here it is! A Miraculous Ladybug fanfic yep.
This is an Adrienette and a slight Marichat, so yea, she won't be with anyone else.
Because Adrienette is endgame