AN: I'm sorry this has taken me so long to upload! Trust me to pick the Worst Possible Time to start writing a multi-chapter fic...whoops. I'm just gonna take now to thank you all for your reviews! I can't respond to all of them personally (although I may start doing that, idk yet) but I have read every single one multiple times because they're all so lovely! I'm really sorry that I can't promise a regular update schedule, but I am trying my best to write content that I'm happy with and that I hope you will be happy with; I'd rather focus on the quality of the chapters rather than how quickly they're published, you know what I mean? Anyway, that's enough rambling from me. Here's Chapter 4, hope you guys enjoy it! - Danielle
Chapter 4
At Alya's suggestion, they decide to make a few scenic stops along the way to Marseille. She figures that this way they'll get to see a little more of the non-Paris edition of France as well as have time to relax and break from the intense driving. Or at least Alya needs a break, especially after the last tortuous forty-five minutes.
The traffic had, thankfully, dissipated and they were finally on the move again driving at just over 100km/h. It was great; they were more energised, they were blasting The Lion King soundtrack, Nino and Adrien were scream-shouting a load of nonsense that only vaguely resembled the actual lyrics, and Marinette had control of the camera, collecting footage for Alya's blog.
"Smile, Nino!" Marinette giggles, zooming in ridiculously close to Nino's face. He grins, crossing his eyes and holding up a peace sign as he and Adrien continue to dramatically re-enact the entire Circle of Life scene from The Lion King as best they can in the somewhat cramped backseat of the car.
Marinette turns the camera to Adrien next and he sticks his tongue out at her. Marinette huffs. In true Adrien fashion, he still manages to look abso-fucking-lutely perfect. Curse that flawless face of his. Curse that gorgeous hair of his. Curse – actually no, scratch that. He's too beautiful to be cursed. Marinette sighs audibly, oblivious to Alya's slight snickering from the driver's seat.
"You okay there, Mari?" Adrien's question snaps her out of her little space out and she promptly turns red, for perhaps the umpteenth time today alone.
"Me? Yes of course! You're great! I mean – you're fine! NO. That is to say, I'm fine. Not to say that you're not fine because of course you are, right? You're a model! Um…but of course you already know that…why wouldn't you know that….ha."
Adrien glances at Nino, eyebrows raised questioningly. Nino simply shrugs in return.
"How about we pretend I never opened my stupid mouth, okay?" Marinette laughs nervously, swiftly turning around in her seat to face the front. "Kill me." She mouths to Alya before she buries her flushed face in her hands.
In a valiant effort to change the subject, Nino decides that now is the perfect time for a playlist brainstorming session. "So Maribro. I was thinking that we add a new playlist to our repertoire."
Marinette swivels around again in her chair (making a great effort to avoid making eye contact with Adrien as she does so) to face Nino. "As much as I'd love to, I'm pretty sure you have violated the Playlist Rules, specifically rule number one, on more than one occasion."
Nino gulps audibly.
"As a result of this disregard for the sacred rules," Marinette continues. "I, as sole rule-abiding Playlist Executive, do henceforth revoke your Playlist Executive licence until further notice." She grins smuggle and winks at him before spinning back around again in her chair.
"But that makes it a playlist dictatorship! I will not stand for this kind of oppression! Liberté, égalité, fraternité! Vive la France!" Nino presses his fist to his heart in what is supposed to be a patriotic manner. In fact, he gets a little too enthusiastic and winds up punching himself in the process.
Marinette retorts back that if Nino was so in favour of democracy then he would abide by the agreed rules. The argument (that is, if it can be called an argument) goes on for another couple minutes before Alya decides that it's time to intervene. Honestly, if she had known that she would end up playing peacemaker between two apparent five-year-olds, she would not have signed up for this job.
In her sharp 'I-am-in-charge-and-you-will-not-question-my-authority' tone (which the past ten years of babysitting her sisters has allowed her to perfect), Alya declares that Nino is on Playlist Time-Out indefinitely, Marinette is Chief Playlist Commander, and Adrien is Assistant Playlist Consultant. She herself refuses to be part of this playlist nonsense because, frankly, there is nothing wrong with just hitting shuffle and seeing where they end up. The highly specific playlist names fiasco is just ridiculous, in Alya's humble opinion.
Nino protests, claiming that the rules specifically ban Adrien from any playlist-related activities, to which Marinette points out that Nino cannot hold such a gross double standard concerning rule breaking, and Alya feels her eyes roll so hard that she's pretty sure she will soon be able to see the inside of her skull.
"Everyone shut the hell up or so help me god I will turn this car right around and we will all go straight home!" Alya yells. She figures that this trick still works on her younger sisters, even though they're now teenagers, so it's worth a try.
The car falls silent and, surprisingly, it remains like that for the better part of fifteen minutes.
Alya breathes deeply and smiles serenely. "See? Was that so difficult? All you have to do is keep calm, breathe, and- FUCKING HELL, YOU MORON! WATCH WHERE THE HELL YOU'RE DRIVING, ASSHOLE! USE YOUR FREAKING TURN SIGNAL! I SWEAR TO GOD I CAN'T CATCH TWO MINUTES OF PEACE! OH, YOU WANNA FLIP YOUR MIDDLE FINGER AT ME?! TWO CAN PLAY AT THAT GAME, BUDDY!"
Marinette and Nino exchange knowing looks and Marinette slams the play button on the 'we-need-to-distract-alya-otherwise-she-will-get-into-a-fight' playlist. All the while Adrien looks a little terrified in his corner of the car. He really shouldn't be surprised at Alya's outbursts, but he's always slightly shocked that so small a person can house all of that tension. Sometimes he can practically see the steam coming out of her ears as if she was a cartoon character.
Alya scowls at the idiot who is now driving in front of her and grips the steering wheel until her knuckles turn white. If there's one thing she cannot stand, it's reckless drivers. People make mistakes every now and again when they drive, that's just natural – Alya gets that. But this idiot was just blatantly ignoring all driving etiquette. Nothing pisses her off more than that.
"Hey, we're coming up to Saint-Étienne, how about we take a break?" She suggests. Everyone is only too happy to comply.
Saint-Étienne is quite pretty, Marinette decides. They grab some pastries at a local café and make their way to the public gardens in the centre of the town, looking out at the architectural bandstand structure, taking in the calm atmosphere, and revelling in its stark contrasts to the hustle and bustle of Paris. Nino and Alya decide to take a walk around the gardens, leaving Adrien and Marinette alone on the bench.
"Can you imagine how awesome it would be to see an actual band playing on the stand?" Adrien grins. Marinette nods in agreement; it really would be a sight. "I can see it so clearly in my head," Adrien continues. "Either a jazz-swing-blues band or an orchestra, I haven't quite decided yet, and fairy lights – actually no, lanterns – strung up everywhere, people dancing around. It would be great."
Marinette rests her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. "Sounds like quite the visual you've thought up there," she smiles. "It sounds really nice." She does her very best to not imagine that very image in the context of their wedding. Reel it in, Mari. Don't do this again.
Adrien stretches his arms out. There's a little voice in his head telling him to pull the cliché fake-yawn move so that he can rest his arm around Marinette's shoulder but he tells this voice to shut up and folds his arms behind his head instead.
"I feel like Alya needs a break from driving." Marinette says, between bites of her pain-au-chocolat. "I think she's hit her limit."
Adrien nods, sipping his coffee. He winces as he feels his taste buds disappear and is hit with a sudden wave of nostalgia. "Hey, Mari, remember that school trip we took to London?" That trip will always remain one of his favourite memories. It was the first time his father had actually willingly trusted him with some independence, encouraged it, actually.
"Yeah, that was a great trip." Play it cool, Mari. Cool, collected, no squealing.
"I just got hit with some major déjà vu," he laughs. Marinette loves his laugh; his eyes go all sparkly and they crinkle at the edges. She still doesn't hear him laugh enough, but she's glad that it's becoming a more frequent occurrence. "Remember being stuck with me the whole train ride there and back?"
"Oh my gosh, how could I forget? You practically force-fed be overpriced snacks and wouldn't let me pay you back!" Marinette pokes him in the shoulder accusingly in mock outrage.
"Well I wasn't going to let you starve, was I? And besides, from what I remember you declared that you were 'willing and ready to just marry this popcorn already'." He pokes her right back.
"Don't use my own words against me!" Marinette huffs, folding her arms across her chest and sinking slightly into the bench. Adrien simply smirks at her and holy frick he should not be allowed to be that hot. Granted, he is a model and she is fully aware of that but, nevertheless, he should not look that fricking hot. In a strange moment of self-control, she does not blush and instead opts for sticking her tongue out at him like the mature adult she is.
Adrien is somewhat taken aback by Marinette's sudden ability to stay cool and flirt back (yes, he will allow himself to believe that she is flirting) with him. He watches as she quirks her eyebrow before sticking her tongue out at him (her nose scrunches up in this really cute way) and he is struck with the realisation that Marinette manages to look both freaking adorable and actually kind of hot at the same time. He gulps slightly, turning slightly red when Marinette looks at him questioningly, and silently berates himself. The tables have really turned this time.
In an attempt to distract herself from the fact that she not only flirted shamelessly with Adrien Agreste but succeeded in making him bush, Marinette looks up at the sky. Adrien watches her as she squints at a cloud and chews her lip slightly and he finds himself having to also look up at the sky before his imagination runs away with him.
"Is it just me or does that cloud look like a duck wearing high-heels?" Marinette wonders aloud.
For a second Adrien simply stares at Marinette incredulously. The thought is so abstract and outright weird that he then bursts out laughing. "What?" he manages to spit out in between wheezes of laughter. "A duck wearing – how?"
"I'm being totally serious, Agreste." Marinette deadpans. "Look, if you tilt your head that way and then quint your eyes very, very slightly." Adrien does as she says and actually, it does kind of look like a duck wearing high-heels. He'll give her that one, even if it is bizarre.
Seemingly out of nowhere, a ball flies towards them. A small girl, maybe about six or seven, stands a little way away, calling out an apology and running towards them although unable to outrun the ball.
"Adrien, watch your head!" Marinette exclaims, skilfully volleying the ball in the direction of the girl from where she's awkwardly sitting, half-twisted to face the girl, on the bench. The girl runs closer to catch the ball and thank Marinette.
"Thanks! That was really cool!" The girl gushes to Marinette, tucking the ball under her arm and brushing her messy bangs from her eyes. She grins widely and Marinette chuckles at the fact that she's missing a tooth. "Hey, aren't you the guy who's on the front of all those magazines? My sister Alma has all those magazines and posters and I'm pretty sure she's in love with you. I'm Jaqueline, by the way. I guess I'll tell Alma that she's out of luck because your girlfriend is way prettier than she is and she just saved your life, and your face too, I guess. My sister's over there by the way, I should probably get back. Do you think you could teach me how to do that? Alma is too busy writing her essay. I don't get why she would come outside just to write an essay, she said it was something about 'changing her environment' or something."
Marinette flushes red for a second but quickly recovers. She's always amazed by how much kids can just talk and talk and talk. She's also a little startled by how fearless this kid is; didn't anyone teach her about stranger danger?
"Okay, Jaqueline," Marinette begins. "How about you run back to your sister and bring her over here?" Marinette suggests. She leans in to whisper conspiratorially to the child. "That way, Alma can meet my friend Adrien over here, who's not my boyfriend, and I can teach you to volley. Sound like a plan?" She grins as Jaqueline nods in affirmation and skips back to where her sister sits.
A short while later, after a particularly shrill shriek from where Jaqueline and Alma are, Adrien is looking slightly uncomfortable but more or less calm as Alma squeals and talks and then squeals some more. He's used to the fangirl culture, but it's been a while since he's had to listen to a star-struck seventeen-year-old tell him facts about…well…himself. For the most part, Alma is nice though. He glances over to where Marinette is teaching Jaqueline to volley. He didn't know she was so good with kids, he's really in awe of her, to be completely honest.
Marinette catches Adrien's glance and smiles, shrugging her shoulders slightly. She turns her attention back to Jaqueline, who stands a few feet away. "You want to make sure that your hands are firmly interlocked when you volley. If your stance is strong, your volley will be strong. If you don't have that control, you won't be able to get the ball as high as you want. Got it?"
"Got it." Jaqueline sticks her tongue out in concentration, readying herself as Marinette gently volleys the ball towards her. The first couple attempts are disastrous and Adrien finds himself ducking a great deal, except for one unfortunate occasion on which the ball hits him square in the face. Marinette laughs. A lot.
After about twenty minutes, Alma, somewhat mournfully, decides that it's time for them to go. Marinette and Adrien bid the two girls goodbye, agreeing to take a picture with them before they leave, before settling on the grass to continue cloud watching.
Across the gardens, Alya and Nino sit on the edge of the fountain, hands intertwined and Alya's head resting on Nino's shoulder. Nino smiles fondly down at her and his heartbeat speeds up ever so slightly. Even after five years of dating he's still as lovestruck as he was as a teenager, maybe even more so.
He wants to do something special for Alya this year, especially seeing as last year their anniversary celebration consisted of ordering an extra-large pizza and watching reruns of I Love Lucy. He has nothing against I Love Lucy, per se; after all, it was helping Alya with her English fluency for her internship, but it wasn't necessarily how he imagined their anniversary would be spent. He's thinking something a little fancier this year, something a little more meaningful.
Sometimes he's not sure how he got so lucky but he figures it's best not to question it. If this is what the Universe wants for him he'll happily take it.
"You're quiet, everything okay?" Alya nudges him and lifts her head off his shoulder to look at him.
"Yeah, I'm great, babe," Nino presses a kiss to her temple. "Just contemplating whether or not I can successfully push you into this fountain without getting dragged in myself."
Alya snorts and swats him away. She knows Nino too well at this point; when he gets quiet like that it means he's thinking about something serious. Lord knows he can't keep his mouth shut for more than two minutes under normal circumstances. Her eyes rest on some squirrels chasing each other around, scrambling up and down tree trunks and darting in between the fence and she wishes that, for even just a couple moments, her life could be that carefree.
"I feel like that would be us if we were animals," Nino muses. Alya hums, she's not sure if squirrels are really how she'd describe them but she'll go with it. "Squirrels? What squirr- oh. No, I was looking at those two pigeons over there. They're fighting over bread." Nino says seriously, pointing at the birds a little behind the squirrels. Alya gives him the most disbelieving look she can.
"You're impossible."
"Excuse you, I thought it was incredibly romantic!"
"Remind me why I haven't broken up with you yet?" Alya stands and begins walking back around the fountain in the direction of the bench they left Marinette and Adrien sitting at, removing her glasses to wipe them clear from where the fountain spray spattered them and muttering about how if the anniversary goes anything like this the relationship it over.
"Al, you love me." Nino jogs to catch up with her, grabbing her hand and swinging their arms back and forth.
Alya snatches her hand back and shoots him a pointed look. "You called me a pigeon."
"Yes, but I also called myself a pigeon. Haven't you seen The Notebook? If you're a bird, I'm a bird?"
Alya's jaw drops. "You just – what – Nino…" For the first time in a long time, Alya is left speechless. (She will admit that she is a little impressed that he just quoted The Noteboook at her, but she is not impressed enough to get off her high horse).
She storms her way all the way back to the bench, huffing very audibly. Marinette and Adrien look up from where they are now lying on the grass, completely absorbed in their cloud watching. Alya's eyes instantly focus on where their hands are resting on the ground, mere millimetres apart from brushing, before zoning back in to their upper body language. Adrien's left arm is bent at the elbow and his head rests on his hand. His body is ever so slightly turned towards Marinette and hers to him, her right hand resting lightly on her stomach. They have absolutely no idea how cute they look; to a stranger they could be just any other couple sharing a romantic afternoon looking up at the sky. Alya makes a solemn vow that she will get them together, even if she dies trying. (Okay, that might be a little dramatic but, then again, when is it ever not dramatic with these two?)
"So, uh, how was the walk?" Adrien asks, shifting slightly so that he is facing Alya a little more.
"It was…interesting," she responds as she sits on the grass beside them. "Nino compared me to a pigeon."
Marinette blinks at Alya a couple times, not really sure how to respond to this. Adrien turns his head to look at Marinette seemingly trying to find out how he should react to this information. Upon seeing Marinette's confused look, Adrien is satisfied that he is also allowed to look appropriately confused.
"I also quoted The Notebook, Al. Don't forget that bit." Nino sinks down to the ground and wraps an arm around Alya's shoulder, placing an over-exaggerated kiss on her cheek with a loud smack.
"Really, Nino? Nicholas Sparks? No wonder she stormed over here with a literal black cloud over her head." Marinette scoffs as she props herself up on one elbow. From beside her Adrien gulps slightly and hopes to God that she didn't hear him.
"Yeah, whatever, Mari. At least I tried, don't I get points for effort?"
"Not this time, bro." Marinette rolls onto her back with a smirk.
"Dammit."
"We left you some snacks," Adrien decides that changing the subject might be a good idea. "I had to physically restrain Mari from eating them all."
Marinette rolls her eyes. Yes, in theory he had physically restrained her, but she wasn't going to eat them all per se. Even then, his version of 'physically restrain' was in fact 'snatch pastry out of Marinette's hands and keep box far away from her'.
Alya and Nino stretch out on the grass beside Marinette and Adrien, munching on the leftover pastries. Nino muses aloud that this is almost like a double-date, which results in much coughing and blushing from Marinette and Adrien, and Alya responds in kind, lamenting the fact that this is not a double-date.
Double-date or not, the four of them spend the next hour pointing out particularly strangely shaped clouds, laughing their way into the early evening. They've had a little drama along the way, but Alya reckons that this road trip is definitely starting to look up. She curls into Nino's side as the air begins to cool. He may have called her a pigeon and quoted the cheesiest film on earth to her, but she loves him.
Also he's warm.
