Chapter Six
This time after the avox showed him the room, she left. He was grateful for it because he stood at Marinette's door for at least five minutes contemplating how in the hell he was going to go about seeing her again after three years.
With a deep breath, he decided the best would be to just to knock. He knocked three times on the door and lowered his hand. He shoved his hands into his back pockets, hiding how they trembled. It was a trick Vincent had done on many shoots when his hands wouldn't stay steady enough. Adrien waited with a held breath. After a minute, he began to doubt himself. Did she hear the knock? Should he knock again? What if she was asleep and him knocking would just disturb her rest? His anxious thoughts plagued him easily. He convinced himself that he should just go to his room and see her sometime tomorrow morning.
He turned on his heel and took a step away when the door slid open. Her head of black hair peeked out "Er, hello?"
Adrien nearly shot up three feet. When he turned around, his hands were still digging painfully into his back pockets "Oh! Hey, hi. What's up?"
"Adrien? What are you doing here?" She asked incredulously. Her hands rested on the doorframe as she appraised him.
He did the same. She wasn't wearing the white dress she had been wearing during the Reaping. She wore long gray sweatpants and a white shirt, the top buttons of which were undone. The shoulders of her shirt were damp and so was her black hair. She hadn't even fixed her hair into their usual pigtails. She looked like she was fresh out of the shower. He stumbled to find words, painfully "Oh, you know, Tribute Train, and my name was called, so I came, heh, small world, huh?"
Marinette shook her head "You're still the same." She said it like she couldn't believe it herself. She stepped forward and her small arms managed to engulf him in a hug.
And just like that, it was as if all (most) of his anxieties went away. Her wet, black ball of straight hair was tucked into his chest. She nested in, finding home there. He tried to free his arms of her grasp so that he could hug her properly, but she pinned his arms in effectively. He didn't mind it until she squeezed harder and a fit of giggles left the two of them "Marinette! I can't breath!" Adrien wriggled his body in an attempt to escape her.
She let him go and punched his shoulder "You should have thought about that before leaving without a proper goodbye!"
The air froze between them.
There it was, out in the open. It was so like Marinette to be so cut and dry and blunt and open and he sorely missed it in comparison to how his home life was.
His hands came out of his pockets and found a new home in his front pockets this time. They still shook as he clenched and unclenched them. He offered a small, hard smile "If I had the chance, I would have. I'd do it right now too," He chuckled, his smile coming easier. He reached a hand out to touch her forearm, pulling her a little closer to him "But I think I owe you a proper hello too."
She took little steps towards him, a coy smile breaking out on her face.
His other hand, fingers calm now, reached for her other arm "Why don't I start now?" Adrien ducked down and picked little Marinette up by her legs and spun her in a tight circle, just like how he use to greet her over three years ago.
"Adrien!" She shouted, her legs popped up when she got picked up. She gripped his back and shoulders to ensure that she stayed upright. She playfully hit him "Put me down!"
"I can't do that, my Princess! I must set you down on a throne fit for your henie." He slapped her thigh. He ducked into her room, as she giggled way too much to make her small punches hurt. When he spotted her bed, he stood a few feet away and held her hips, looking to throw her into it.
Marinette's fists gripped onto his shirt "Don't throw me! ADRIEN!" She yelped before he threw her onto the bed. With her hands digging into his shirt, he was pulled with her and slammed into the edge of the bed.
His shirt was pulled over his head and he was forced to kneel by the side of her bed. It hardly mattered since the two of them are laughing so hard that their ribs ache.
The dark haired girl had her arm resting on her forehead and the other around her middle. While the much larger teen has his face pressed into the sheets and a smile that can't be broken on his face.
When could get control of themselves again, Adrien fixed his shirt and lifted himself off the edge of the bed. He looked down at Marinette and smiled softly "Ya know, I pictured us meeting again in a lot of different ways. Most of them involving me sneaking into a train and climbing the bakery into your balcony." He added off handedly before his eyebrows drew in seriously "If you didn't have to be here, you know, like here here. I could have handled not seeing you again. I feel like me wishing for this got fudged with my bad luck."
The girl in the pigtails propped herself on her elbows and scowled at him. She hit his stomach with her foot "Stop it already. You can't blame yourself for my name getting drawn." She sat up all the way, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. She patted the spot beside her for Adrien to sit.
He pouted but sat down "Oh, but I can try."
Marinette gave him an exasperated "Don't start with me. I would have thought after three years and a modelling job that your self esteem would have improved by now."
"You'd be wrong." He smiled regardless.
Silence spread between them. Adrien's mind was filled to the brim with unanswered questions from years ago and the lingering emotions that were left unsaid on that night. Marinette's mind was filling up with ways to ask him about the rebellion, but she also wondered if their rooms had cameras or microphones to record them.
"About all this-"
"Look we should talk-"
Both of them stopped and started.
"Sorry, you go." Adrien insisted.
"No! Seriously, I'm not even sure how to start. My mind is still processing. You say your thing." She insisted, her hands resting in her lap.
He found his hands copying hers. He squeezed his knees "I'm not too sure where to start ether." He was glad that he rest his hands on his knees so that they wouldn't shake with anxiety. He found a spot on the few inches of bedsheet between them "This is weird, isn't it? Like, really weird, right? I mean, the last time we saw each other we were on a date and then- that was a date, wasn't it?" His green floated up. Normally his gaze stayed around other's cheekbones or forehead, but Marinette's bluebell eyes were hard not to look at.
The dark haired girl drew her long legs up, tucking the knee of one under her chin. Her for other foot tucked in by her hip "We might have only been 14, but yea, that was a date Adrien."
He nodded dumbly "Okay, good, glad we we're on the same page. I just wanted to talk about it, ya know? We have to be partners in this. We can't do this without each other. At least, I can't do this without you."
"Yes you can. You can do anything! I'm the one who needs you to do anything." It was bubbling all to the surface now, her insecurities about the Games "I'm not as strong as you, or as good in front of a camera. I don't know how to work a crowd, or just dazzle them with a look like you can."
"As if. I just have a pretty face, and an admittedly pretty body, but I'm not trained. Sure, I know the flattering part a little better, but I don't even know what to do with myself the second I start speaking. I get too nervous talking to crowds! Father doesn't let me near live crowds ever." His hands began absentmindedly rubbing his arm with shakey fingers. He held out his nervous hand for her inspection "See? I'm already all sweaty and nervous just from talking to you!"
She shook her head against her knee, looking up at him like she couldn't believe him "You're nervous talking to me?"
"Duh. Isn't it obvious?" He countered with a question of his own. He pulled his sweaty hand back to wipe it on the knees of his pants "You're this girl I met like three years ago and I had such a bad crush on you that I sabotaged your date, just so that I had a chance."
Marinette scoffed "As if! I'm the one who ruined it and I'm the one who asked you to come out with me. It was my choice." The smile that came to her was like someone reliving the experience all over again but the smile fell from her face as quickly as it came "But that was years ago. And a lot of things have changed since then. We're not the same people we use to be. So I get it, you had a crush on me, big deal." She shrugged and the pain that stabbed Adrien was sorely missed on her part as she looked away.
The blond kept his smile up. He might have not been able to lie through his teeth to save his skin, but he could certainly conceal anything that was brought to the surface.
"It's okay if we moved on with our lives. It was crazy for us to ever think we would see each other ever again."
Green eyes flickered to the ground, unable to keep his gaze on her face anymore. She was right. And she, unlike him with a grand total of one, had a lot of friends, possibly a lot of people to become her lover. She had always been so independent of him and Marinette always did end up doing whatever the hell she wanted. And she was allowed to. Adrien by no means owned her. If anything, Adrien owned it to her to do anything in and out of the Games to help her. So he should not have found it surprising at all that Marinette moved on without him. Still, he felt the sting of it.
Not that he would ever say a word about his feelings.
"You're right." He agreed. A kind, soft, and understanding smile never left his cheeks "I'm glad that we both get it. So why don't we put all that behind us, in the past where it belongs. Right now, we're on a train that is literally taking us to the most deadly place in the world where the odds of surviving are less than 4% and somehow, against those odds, we have to get out alive."
"You." She corrected "You have to get out alive."
"Like hell!" He argued. His sweaty palm, finally dried, squeezed her raised knee "There's a different way for us." He rubbed his silver ring into her knee "You know that, right?"
Her blue eyes flickered to his hand, spotting the silver ring. She nodded "I hope so, but I'm still not sure. It's all so complicated and we still don't know who we can trust. The only person I trust is you."
He thought about backing out, letting Marinette have her own thoughts exclusively running through what she thought was right. If she wanted to join the rebellion, after knowing that the previous one ended in utter disaster, that was her choice to make. Just like it was his to make. But he had his reasons, and she just didn't except for the slim chance that they put their faith into these unknown forces and maybe, just maybe they live to see their families again. He wanted to let this be her choice but every part of him trusted her and if she could put half as much of her trust in him, then he had to tell her what he believed. The young teen's fingers still squeezed her knee "I figure that anything that increases our odds is something we should go after. Besides, what could be worse than 4%?"
She smacked his arm "Knock on wood! You'll give us bad luck. I can name plenty of numbers lower than 4 and I don't want to risk any of them."
Adrien rolled his eyes, not very superstitious himself. He gave into her demand regardless, knocking on the fake wood of the nightstand. As he did, he spotted the late hour of the night, almost 10.
She sighed "Let me sleep on it."
He nodded and stood up, moving to leave.
She grabbed his pants, not letting him go "Where do you think you're going?"
"To bed. It's late." He pointed to the analog clock on her nightstand.
She refused to let go of his pants "You owe me a goodbye."
He paused and tilted his head. With a shake of his blond locks, he said "Absolutely not. This isn't goodbye, not now." He bent down and hugged her "I will say good night however."
Her arms looped around his neck and hugged him back "Goodnight Adrien."
He had to tickle her sides to get her to release him back into the wild "See you in the morning Marinette." He left this time with his pants not threatening to be ripped off.
Once he closed the door, she flopped backward. She stared up at the ceiling. Her hair was wet, still drying from her shower. The Capitol trains had human sized driers beside their showers, but she had had enough difficulties turning on the shower, she refused to scald herself by accident. She would have to ask Adrien how they worked.
Her face flushed. She held her face in her hands and shook her head. She tried to will the images out of her head but her creative mind had other ideas. She squeked in frustration. The nerves that had been bundling up awkwardly in her gut had dissipated when the supermodel took his leave, but they were back with a vengeance at the thought of him in a shower with her. The years had done work on him even with such a short amount of time. How could his body have changed so much in three years? Sure, she saw him on tv once and awhile, but he looked even better in person. Worse, how could his mind not have changed in all that time? He was still such a sweet dork and couldn't stand to hurt her feelings at all. He even let her down so gently, in the much deeper and rugged voice than she remembered him having. Marinette knew of course, one attractive young blond by the name of Chloe Bourgeois (who was the President's freaking daughter!) had his heart. Still, it had just been rumors but Marinette knew with Adrien's fumbling voice, his unsteady eyes that were unable to meet hers for the most part. He had outgrown his crush on her and she was stuck in the past, dredging up old feelings that she thought she had long since buried.
She huffed. Her round, full cheeks were still red and the images hadn't left her head.
Looking down at her own body, she had felt so small and undeveloped in every way possible around him. He must have been like six fucking feet tall to her 5'7". And when the hell had his arms gone from lanky to thick, with coarse blond hair covering forearms? He certainly did not possess the clear cut muscle definition and veins that Plagg was packing, but he was able to pick her up and throw her onto her bed with ease. While she had admittedly round hips, but she lacked in the breast area. Curse her mother's Asian genetics! And all her father had to offer her, besides a bit of added height on the average girl, was fair skin that burnt easily and freckles that covered her nose, shoulders, back, and thighs. Marinette always had a sense that she was cute, but in no way could she stand up to model standards.
That's why Chloe had Adrien Agreste. And she, well, she had many sexy thoughts plaguing her of a dripping wet blond male model. It didn't help that she swore that she could hear a shower being turned on next door.
With a sigh, she gave into her thoughts. The black haired girl reached into her gray sweatpants. The elastic of them was loose enough to stretch them and touch herself without having to remove them. Her panties were already wet and she had to push them down a bit to get her hand inside. When she slipped a digit between her puffy lips, she found just had wet she had gotten. She squeezed her legs together and groaned. The blood that wasn't pooling inbetween her legs floated up to her cheeks. Marinette gasped, touching her clit. She was so turned on at the point, she could cum just from this. She cupped her tit through her clothes, squeezing her nipple. Two fingers rubbed and circled her little bundle of nerves. She bit her lips, resisting the urge to moan out a name or make any little noises. She suddenly picked up the speed, her hand moving quickly under her sweatpants. Her hips lifted up, off the bed. Her mouth drew in a tight line as she came.
She lied in bed for a few more minutes, looking up at the white ceiling. She felt better, her mind clearer. She'd be lying if she said the stress from the day was taken out of her, but it took the edge off. Marinette got up quickly to wash her hand and went she snuggled into the fluffy and clean sheets, still warm from hers and Adrien's bodies, she fell right to sleep.
In the morning, the young girl woke up to find the avox that had been escorting her around all day waiting by the end of her bed. The glowing orange of her eye had Marinette jumping ten feet out of her bed. When her heartbeat calmed down, she breathed "Sorry! You scared me!" She pushed the covers off of her legs "What are you doing here? Does Plagg or Alec need me?" She then pinked. Come on, why in the world was she saying an avox questions where the answer wasn't yes or no?
Luckily, the much more much together girl held up a hairbrush. She tapped the plastic of it to get her attention.
"Oh.. You wanna brush my hair?" Where was the nearest hole that she could bury her own body in? The self inflicted embarrassment had to end at some point.
A sigh left the avox's mouth. She took hold of Marinette's shoulder and pushed her the opposite way. The girl sat down behind her and began brushing her hair. At first, the avox had been rough about it, getting the kinks out of her hair but slowly, the brushing turned gentle. They sat quietly for a few minutes until the avox deemed her hair combed enough. The tribute felt her move off the bed and to the wall by the bathroom. She had found her sleepwear in the dresser beneath the TV, but with a few button pushes to the bathroom door, the wall slid open. Inside the wall was a closet of clothing.
Intrigued by what possible designs had been hiding from her in the closet, she got up, off the bed and stood by the avox "Are these for me?"
She nodded, waving her hand to the closet as an open invitation.
The smile that dawned Marinette's face was infectious. The avox turned her head away from her just so that she wouldn't be drawn in. The half asian girl began to pick through, moving clothing in and out of the way. She might have sew clothes everyday of her life, but this was the higher end stuff, not the clothes that the commoners of the Capitol wore. This was designed by people with brand names. Everything was gorgeous and she had never even dreamed of owning a closet like this. Well, she didn't own it right now either, but it was her wardrobe to choose from for now. She had tried on a few different things, taking her time. She was impressed, but also slightly scared that the Capitol had so many outfits readily in her size and somehow in her room.
She finally settled on an outfit. She wore a red, waist high skirt, a light blue long sleeved shirt that brought out the brighter color of her eyes with white flowers decorating it, black stockings, and a set of white, open toed wedges. She finished it off with a few silver bracelets on both of her wrists. She looked to the avox "Thumbs up or down?" She asked.
The black hair girl looked like she wanted to laugh. Instead she settled for a small smile and a thumbs up.
"Awesome! Thanks." Marinette went for her scrunches, about to put her hair into pigtails as she always did but was stopped.
The avox shook her head and took the black ties away from her. She pushed her back onto the bed. Since when were avoxes so bossy? She didn't comment, just began to braid her hair into two loose braids on either side of her face. She had to admit that she liked it. Her hair was getting a little long for just pigtails, so she enjoyed the new look.
She looked in the mirror. Something was missing. Marinette spotted the chinese box that Tikki had given her. She had had time to sleep about it. Last night had proven that Adrien had joined with no hesitation, he was putting his trust in it. Even if she had her reservations about it, she could trust Adrien. So pulled the picture of her family from where she had kept it safe in her bra and put it on the dresser by the TV. The avox said nothing about it as she opened the jewelry box. Inside was a pair of red earrings with black spots. Ladybug earrings? It must have been a sign, and it matched with her outfit perfectly.
As she slipped the earring into her lobes, her blue eyes slid over to the avox who was standing quietly in the middle of the room "Are we going to be arriving in the Capitol soon? Is that why you woke me up?" She questioned her, giving her better questions to ask that could easily be answered with a 'yes' or 'no'.
The avox girl shook her head and pointed to the clock by her bed. It was only a quarter past ten. They wouldn't be in the Capitol likely for another two hours.
"So why did you wake me?" She stood up, blushing when she realized the girl wouldn't be able to answer the question.
As if she was use to it already, she made a come hither motion and beckoned the female tribute to follow her. They left her room, heading down the train, back towards the dining cart where her little incident with Plagg happened. When they arrived to the cart, she could already hear Alec chatting away to someone.
"So on the chariot, you're going to do a nice big wave, like this- Oh, Marinette! What are you doing here?" Alec was seated across from Adrien, stopping half way through a big motion that was likely going to be a way that Adrien should wave. If the first part of it looked that awkward, she didn't want to view the rest of it.
She was about to explain that the avox brought her, but the door slid shut behind her, and she was gone. She shrugged and made up a white lie "I just got out of bed and thought I'd come to see who was up. What are you guys doing?" She couldn't keep the giggle out of her voice. She seriously thought it looked ridiculous.
Alec put his hands on his hips "I'm teaching Adrien what he really need to do when he gets on the chariot ride. Besides the first viewing of the tributes getting off the train, it's the first real action the crowds get to see, so we have to make the best first impression. Adrien's got the name, but he needs to work on getting it into the Games the right way." The dark skinned man stood up, grabbing Adrien by the shoulder and pulling him up "Come now, let's go to my room and I'll teach you the rest."
Suddenly, she was acutely aware of the green orbs that had been on her since her arrival. The part time supermodel was forced onto his feet "Wait, wait, wait. Shouldn't you be teaching Marinette too?"
"Adrien, sweetheart," Alec coddled him, brushing away some invisible dust from his black and white striped shirt "I just know how kind and caring you are, but I have to perfect you before anything else."
Perhaps if she hadn't known that Alec's plan all along had be to send her to the curb so that he could use all of his so called 'talents' to boost up Adrien in hopes of being picked to become an Escort to a better District, then it would have hurt. Right now, it just sounded petty and she didn't have too much of an interesting learning whatever the hell he was teaching. So she remained quiet, moving out of Alec's way as he pulled the much taller blond with him.
At the sliding door, Alec found an equally tall Plagg, yawning and rubbing his eye "What is all this ruckus about?"
"Oh! Plagg, perfect timing. Come with me and we can beginning training Adrien to be the ultimate superstar!"
If Plagg wasn't built as solidly as he was, he would have been dragged along by the bald man just the same as the poor male tribute in Alec's opposite hand. He caught Alec halfway out the door by the wrist and dragged him back in "In case you failed to remember, but last night I said I was going to help Marinette. She proved herself to me and you better believe she can kick your ass in wedges too. If you wanna take Agreste, be my guest, but I don't feel like repeating myself, so if he isn't here right now, he's not learning a drop from me. Speaking of drops…" The action movie star looked to the barman, currently cleaning off the counter top. By the look of the tray beside the bar, he had just finished preparing breakfast and was cleaning up after himself. On the large tray was an assortment of food, but if she had any clue what he was eyeing, it was probably the platter of cheese and the chilling bottle of wine. She hadn't seen the man consume anything more than that on the whole trip. She wondered how in the hell he managed to stay so physically fit on a diet that would make any normal person fat as could be.
Plagg crossed the room, heading right for the platter of cheese, while Alec followed behind, begging loudly for Plagg to reconsider.
The escort had finally released Adrien, leaving the young man by her side. He rubbed his arm, hissing "Dude has got a pinch worse than my grandmother."
She giggled, a hand covering up her mouth "He is one over the top guy. Are all Capitol citizens like that?" Realizing what she implied about him, she quickly amended "I mean, obviously not all of them are- just, it's a saying."
He shook his head, a grin plastered to his face "No, I get what you mean. And no, not all of them. It was just the way they were brought up. The fashion world has a big and overzealous feel to it sometimes. I just happen to grow up with the world's most reserved man in fashion." Adrien looked up and down at her form. At first, she just thought he was examining how the wedges gave her a few extra inches so that she was standing level with his chin rather than his collarbone, but as she viewed his outfit, she realized what caught his eye. They were matching. Embarrassingly so.
He had on a black and white striped long sleeved shirt that he pushed up to his elbows. Around his neck, he had on a black string necklace with a silver coin attached to the end of it. And he had on red pants with white belt fitting snugly around his hips, and a matching pair of white shoes.
They looked between each other, flabbergasted. Adrien was the first to speak "Umm, well, at least we'll look good coming out of the train together, eh?" He offered.
"No! I have to go change. We can't be matching. What is everyone going to say?" She reasoned, about to walk out the door when Plagg stopped her.
"They are going to notice. Who the hell cares what they say?" He had the whole platter of cheese in his hand, the opened bottle of wine in the other, and a sulking escort standing behind him.
Adrien's thick blond brow went up "We're not suppose to care what they say? Isn't that they whole point of this process? Otherwise they might as well fatten us up night one and throw us in the Arena day two."
"And that is where you would be wrong. There are 24 of you, and good or bad or goofy, you have got to stick out. With the two of you dressed like that, all matching like you mean enough to each other to dress the same, it's cute. They'll eat that shit up." Their mentor took a pause and drank heavily from his bottle. He set the cheese platter on the table "Let's sit down. We got another hour or so and I might as well explain the next steps we're going to have to take."
Marinette was surprised by how much Plagg had to teach them, yet it was obvious. He had been a tribute, become an action actor, and a Capitol socialite. He had connections, and better yet, he knew how to teach the two of them attract the right kind of attention.
Adrien also had a very interesting folder. It contained the names, faces, and pages of detail on their everyday lives, including herself. One of the top things on the page was a whether Adrien should socialize with them and how to if he did. Whoever made these was way too meticulous for their own good. When she spotted her own picture, she got curious. She plucked it out from the pile.
They had used her picture from her government working license. It was from a year ago, her hair had been shorter back then and for her picture, she had her hair up in a bun. Beside her picture was her basic information, but what caught her eye was what Adrien had been instructed to do.
'Although she will be your district partner, you should maintain a polite distance. Her statistics indicate that will perform poorly in the Games. If she were to make it past the bloodbath, it would be wise to use any knowledge that you gain from her to track her with the other Career tributes and offer her as a sacrifice. This should solidify your role in their group.'
Adrien read over her shoulder and winced "Sorry, Natalie can be a little harsh."
She shrugged "It's okay, I get it."
Plagg stole the paper from her hands "No it's not okay! Fucking bitch is savage. Remind me to never meet her."
Even she Natalie's "savage" notes, Plagg was able to help them sort out those who could be reliable, and those that you could trust as far as you could throw them.
Alec remained quiet for the most part, still in a foul mood after being told off by Plagg.
Suddenly, the train had been plunged into darkness and the lights inside the train came on.
Their mentor stood up "We're inside the mountain. We'll arrive in about ten minutes to the station. You'll meet and greet some fans, who have paid an exuberant amount to see you and the other tributes. Smile, laugh, be witty or something, just don't let the reporters run you over. After a few minutes there, the Peacekeepers will escort you to Prep. Try not to upset the stylists and Alec will tell you guys how to act on chariot. Try not to fall off." He gathered up the jacket that he had hung over his chair at some point in their long conversation "Be at the end of the train in five minutes. Have fun kids."
The black of the mountain of them faded away. Just outside the windows, the Capitol came into view. It was a shining city, with the tallest buildings she had ever seen. Even with how perfect and beautiful it was, it also looked like a fortress. The shiver of nerves it sent down her body was noticeable. Adrien stood by her, patting her upper back "Welcome to the Capitol. Come on," He beckoned her to follow him towards the back of the train "We can't leave our audience waiting."
