Choice
The lunchtime arrived. Adrien requested and got free time for the project as well and a pdf of the parental agreement signed by his father. He grinned, mission accomplished.
"I was thinking. We can't eat in the library. We should eat quickly and then just meet in the library." Adrien proposed.
"I haven't packed my lunch this morning." Marinette dreaded going to the school canteen as she expected the next Lila show. "I will wait for you in the library."
"Were you planing to have your lunch at home?" Adrien asked quietly.
Marinette nodded shyly. But then an idea occurred to her, she spoke before she thought about it more.
"Um, actually, you could come to my place." Marinette muttered completely red in her face.
"Are you sure?" Adrien smiled so widely she could not possibly change her mind.
And she didn't.
So they went to the bakery. Adrien picked up a plastic container with his lunch from his driver on the way.
"Sorry about this, my father insists I eat what his dietitian prescribed." The boy apologized.
In her head Marinette tried to remember how many posters with Adrien she still had on the walls in her room. She kept one picture above her bed, it was mixed with the photos of other friends, so it should be fine. She also had that photo of him in the hat she designed and a few more of her designs he modelled before and after the Reflecta incident, she was not looking where she was going.
She stumbled, he caught her, but his plastic box fell to the pavement.
"Are you okay, Marinette?" The boy asked with a gentle smile.
"Oh, I am so sorry Adrien, your lunch." Marinette cried and picked up the box quickly. She was raising so fast that Adrien grabbed her head not to hit his nose in the process. His hands landed on her shoulders when they both straightened up.
"I am so sorry, your lunch, it is ruined." Marinette cried the apology again.
"There is no harm done." Adrien smiled. "It is just a salad."
They walked through the side door and Marinette greeted her father on her way up. But Tom asked them to stop and gave them a box with treats.
"You can have these today. Your mother and me will eat later. Lot of customers, one oven malfunctioned. Nice to see you son. Take this, now off you go." Tom pushed the box into Adrien's arms and the boy practically hugged it while he still held the small plastic container in his hand.
Marinette asked Adrien to put the food on the table in the kitchen and washed her hands. He followed her instructions and sat on a chair while she bought out two plates.
"You can open the boxes." She said as she tried to reach the plates. But they were high and she struggled.
"May I?" Adrien stepped closer and reached the plates for her.
"You want these?" He took out two plates. She nodded. He stood so close. She blushed.
"Um these are the ugly ones." Marinette frowned at the box. She could not give ugly pastry to a boy who was used to having everything perfect, who was so perfect himself.
"Ugly?" Adrien raised his eyebrows. All the pastry in that box looked delicious.
"You know, those that do not look so nice to be sold." Marinette smiled sheepishly.
"They look amazing to me." Adrien smiled and reached with his hand. "Um can I?" The boy smiled.
"Of course, help yourself." She shrugged and took one piece of pastry after him. They were both eating their second or third piece of pastry when Marinette noticed the grey box.
"What about your salad? I thought you are not allowed to eat ..." Marinette asked the boy.
"You won't tell my father or Nathalie?" Adrien pretended to be pleading desperately.
"No." Marinette laughed. "I won't." She waved her head.
"Okay, about that presentation." Adrien started.
"We are supposed to get some material tomorrow for the presentation, I have some notes here. But the important thing is that we have to prepare a few scenes that would illustrate the inappropriate behaviour. They need to read and approve the proposals." The girl spoke with confidence and determination, that was the same practised tone she used that morning on the meeting in school.
"So we chose what we want to show?" Adrien beamed.
"Well it has to be approved by the experts tomorrow." She replied. "They used to have the same dull video that nobody connected with real life so I was thinking it would be better to give examples that we actually encountered in school."
"That was your idea? It is amazing." The boy smiled gently.
"Um, thank you." She blushed, again.
"So we have two subjects. Bullying and ..." She took a deep breath while her face turned dark red. "… sexual harassment." And she breathed out.
Then she covered her face with her hands and groaned. There was a long moment of silence after that. It was that word again and she had to say it in front of her crush.
"What is wrong Marinette?" Adrien asked gently.
"Um, it is just, we should have the ideas by tomorrow and I knew what I wanted to do with the first but I have no clue what to present for the second." She was talking quickly while she covered her red face. Well she was talking in whole sentences and did not mix up her words.
"Do we have some guidelines?" Adrien asked tentatively.
"Yes" she exclaimed loudly. "We have, here are two sheets, one lists the events that would illustrate bullying." Marinette held out a sheet. "And this is for the other one." Yes, great, do not pronounce the word and everything was going to be okay, right?
"Can I see those?" Adrien asked and took the second sheet.
The boy was reading the list.
"Repeated unwanted touching, unwanted advances?, repeated attempts to forcibly kiss someone (even on the cheek), unwanted touching?" The boy was surprised. "That is also sexual harassment?"
"Um, yes, you did not know?" Marinette raised her eyebrows.
Adrien waved his head.
"That is valid only if it makes you feel uncomfortable, if you do not want it and that person continues to do so." Marinette said quietly as she pointed to the clarification. "Basically it is okay if you agree to it, but they should ask you first and you should agree."
Adrien was very serious and lost in his thoughts. He was so used to everyone touching him, people he worked with, people who he did not like, people who he met for the first time, virtually anyone.
Marinette let him be as she considered the other list. She had already noted several events she wanted to present to the class. There were several 'Chloe' incidents on the list, and then there was Lila. She was writing the scenario, word for word that would show the class the moment Lila threatened her in the bathroom. She quickly erased the word 'Adrien' and replaced it with 'the boy you like'. She was reading the scenario when she noticed Adrien started making some notes of his own.
Adrien stared at the list for a long time. The things that Chloe and Lila did to him were clearly sexual harassment. He knew now why it made him uncomfortable. He did not have to take it with his polite smile as he was trained all his life. He was going to do something about that.
"You have something?" The boy raised his head and looked at her when he finished writing.
"Um yes, you?" She leaned forward.
"Yes, switch and read?" He proposed and offered his sheet of paper for her notebook.
"Yes, why not." She agreed and they made the switch.
Adrien was reading the conversation Marinette wrote. He was instantly drawn to the event as if he was there and watched two girls where one threatened the other. He wanted to act, he wanted to intervene, he wanted to protect the girl from the bully. The other sketch was something Chloe did so many times to so many different people with so little variation that it was just the perfect choice.
Marinette stared at the sheet of paper where Adrien described several examples. She recognized the first instantly. She saw it regularly, it was when Chloe threw herself onto Adrien and tried to kiss him and called him Adriekins (and he actually used the nickname). The second one described one person who touched the other person the whole time, dug through his belongings, clutched to his arm, it was a series of events that clearly illustrated how Lila behaved with Adrien.
She raised her eyes and saw Adrien grinned at her notebook.
"What?" She asked.
"I like how you depicted Chloe here." Adrien smiled.
"Well we can use some other example." She knew how protective he was about his childhood friend.
"No, no, keep it." The boy had decided he protected Chloe enough. He proposed his own example of her behaviour, it would be hypocritical from him to ask Marinette to remove it.
"What do you think about mine?" Adrien asked eager to know her opinion.
"Um, these are good. But this is also Chloe." She pointed to the top part of the page. He quickly nodded. "And I guess this is Lila?" She asked about the bottom part of the page.
Adrien confirmed. Marinette glared at the paper.
"I want to ask you about this other one." Adrien pointed to the page where Marinette described her interaction with Lila in the girl's bathroom.
Marinette just nodded slowly.
"It is looks so real. You are a great writer Marinette." The boy smiled.
She returned a half hearted smile.
"I mean all the other examples are real. I can take no credit for mine." The boy rambled. But then he noticed her look. "Your first example is also real, I clearly remember it. Your second example … it is also real, isn't it? It happened to you?"
Marinette looked at the table.
"Marinette?" He whispered.
She nodded.
"Who?" He insisted and got on his feet.
"Lila" She whispered.
She felt so small, so low, here she was she just confessed to none other than Adrien Agreste that she was threatened and humiliated by Lila in the girl's bathroom. She stared at the table and waited for him to show his disgust with her.
"Would you like a hug?" He asked with his arms open. He had no clue what else to do. It was written there to ask before the touch, so he did.
She threw herself on him and he held her tight, she held him back.
"When?" Adrien asked after a few moments.
"That day she returned to school." Marinette spoke into his chest. But then she moved away as she thought it would be awkward to keep hugging him. He missed her and held her shoulders.
"What happened after that?" He asked gently. She was still not looking at his face.
"I locked myself into a toilet. Akuma came after me. But I calmed myself down and the violet butterfly left. She was akumatized into Chameleon." Marinette finished. There it was. She said it all.
"I wish you told me that day." Adrien whispered and pulled her back into a hug.
"Is this okay?" He asked after a while. "You know, I have to ask, I do not want you to add me as an example."
"This is okay." She spoke slowly. "You know, we should perhaps provide a positive example too."
"Yeah, I'd like that." He was not sure what he actually agreed to, he just liked this hug. Why nobody just hugged him? They would touch his face and his body. The complete strangers would 'feel his muscles' and 'check the way he was built', not to mention a couple of his own classmates who treated him as an object.
Then an alarm on Marinette's phone rang.
"It is time to go back to school." She told him quietly and they separated.
"Okay, I can come back after fencing?" Adrien asked tentatively.
"Sure." She replied as she collected the plates from the table.
They collected their things and went back to the school. They went out through the bakery and Adrien was treated with another croissant 'for the way', while Marinette announced she expected him back in the afternoon.