They were turned away at the door immediately. Adrien felt the guilt wrapping around him. Like a dark liquid was filling him. He couldn't stand the idea that he had let her down. Adrien let go of her hand. He bowed his head, and slunk off to sit on the bottom step, alone. It was cold and hard and unwelcome. Everything that he deserved.
After a while, Marinette sat down beside him. He was fighting back tears, and hid his face from her. She glanced around, as if she was looking for something.
"Well," she said, breathing in as if it would give her the answer she was looking for, "what'd you want to do now?"
Marinette was very blaze about this. She acted as if they had just found out that their favourite restaurant was closed, rather than they were missing the gig of the year because he hadn't picked up the damn tickets! How couldn't he have thought of the tickets?! His father was right, he was an idiot. If he wasn't handsome, he wouldn't have anything. Adrien bowed his head lower.
"Hey," Marinette nudged her knee against his, playfully. Her voice was low, and playful, as if this was still just nothing to her. "Wanna dance?"
Dance? What? Here?
Adrien turned his head, biting back the tears, and gave her a funny look. Her stomach twisted nervously. Even she had no idea why she had suggested it. He just looked so sad and when he offered to dance with her at Chloe's party she had never been so happy. Maybe that joy came back to her and she wanted to give it to Adrien. Saying it aloud though sounded ridiculous.
His voice shook as he repeated, quietly, "D-dance?"
Marinette nodded, grinning. Honestly the fact he hadn't immediately said that was dumb and walked off leaving her alone was enough for Marinette to feel victorious. It was perfect, she realised. They would never have enough space to dance properly in the concert, but alone, out here (and they were alone. Everyone else had gone for shelter. That sky was looking moody) they had a whole street to themselves.
She would never have the guts to suggest it at any other time. She would never have dared if they hadn't just gone through all that. If he'd turned up in a car so they never had to borrow Nino's bike. If he'd told her parents the truth so they never had a chance to talk. If they walked the right way and never crashed the bike. If she hadn't distracted him and they hadn't been injured in the crash. If he'd brought the tickets and they'd gotten in. If it was the four of them and not just them.
Just... them.
Just a couple kids on an autumn street, listening to the crowd scream under a flicker beat they'd been chasing all night. Kids that were making mistakes that were made for them. It was time to brush them off.
Marinette stood up, and held out a hand to help him up. His eyes were red and blotchy when he looked up at her. His nose was snotty, and his hair was wild. Marinette grinned. This wasn't the perfect handsome model she'd come to know. This was hectic and imperfect Adrien.
Whom she loved.
"Dance with me," she grinned.
Adrien grinned back, a watery grin. He took her hand and let her pull him to his feet. Right there, under the street light, to a muffled version of some support bands major song, they began to dance. A little stiff to start with. They were almost like those couples dancing in music boxes. Stiff and barely moving. Then Marinette loosened up, and tried to add some bouncing to the steps, which made Adrien laugh a little, and he joined in with the bouncing.
It was goofy and messy. It was unpractised and imperfect. It was two friends, trying to console themselves with laughter. So in some way, it was perfect. Because it certainly made them giggle.
"Hey, I'm sorry I forgot the tickets. It was dumb, I know, I'm sorry," he sighed.
Marinette frowned. "It's an easy mistake to make Adrien. It's not the end of the world."
"But I let you down and-"
"No you didn't. You invited me to come out for the night and have fun. Ok we didn't get into the concert, but are you going to say we haven't had fun?"
"No... it was fun. This is fun. But this," Adrien bit back a grin as he linked his arm around her to pull her into a sudden dip. She yelped and clung onto his neck urgently. Adrien's grin came out in his voice, while his face was inches from hers. "This is even better."
She took a moment to recover from the rush, but her cheeks didn't. The girl was like a mood ring. You could constantly tell when she was embarrassed or furious because she changed colour. They were still so pink that she felt the need to hide her face. The only way to do that was to wrap her arms around his neck and bury her face in his shoulder. He modest his arm to her waist, and continued swaying with her against his chest.
They barely noticed the first few drops of rain that splattered the ground around them. Huge, fat blobs burst on the pavement around their feet, and they swayed to avoid them. As they got harder, Adrien realised they were now stuck outside in the rain with no shelter and nowhere to go.
"We're going to be soaked," he muttered.
"Let the rain fall. It can't hurt us," Marinette shrugged.
Adrien smiled. Marinette was a strange one. She wouldn't let a thing like rain stop her from dancing in the street to a song they could barely hear. He liked that about her. Like all her award fumbles and mutterings. They showed how unafraid she was. Unafraid to be herself. He admired that. He could even go as far as to say he loved that about her.
"Whatever you say my lady," he smirked.
She chuckled again. The sound was almost like a purr in his ear. He was enjoying pretending to be Chat Noir around her. It was the closest he could get to be his true self around his friends. His whole true self. Even if she didn't believe it was him. In many ways, she was just like Ladybug too. His Ladybug. The bravery of her, and the way she was always true to herself. That was undoubtedly Ladybug.
Marinette felt her heart beat faster when he called her his lady. The strange swagger he'd managed to find tonight was overly similar to the cats. Not that perfect Adrien could be the clumsy, pun filled kitty she fought with day in day out. She would have known. She would have realised. But the way he called her his lady... she felt a bubble of anxiety that maybe he had figured out who she was. Who she really was. And, what was worse, she found herself hoping that he had.
"This is nice," she smiled.
"Yeah," he smiled back, "you're a great dancer."
"Thanks. You're pretty good too. But I bet you had lessons," her eyes sparkled.
He laughed, and nodded, "I did. Chloe dragged me to ballroom dancing lessons every week for three years, so we could hang out. Father didn't like our play dates. He said they cut into valuable learning time."
He left out the part where his father said Adrien needed to learn because at the moment he was too stupid to ever be anything but a model. That part wasn't so nice to remember.
"you and Chloe were close, huh?" Marinette smirked.
Adrien just grinned back. Usually that would annoy her, or make her jealous, but now for some reason, it came as a relief. Chloe was a pain, and she was annoying, and she was spoilt but clearly she had cared about Adrien. Or about herself enough that it helped Adrien. At least he wasn't as lonely as he could have been. At least he had someone in his childhood who he smiled when remembering. Marinette was almost grateful to Chole for being so spoilt. Almost.
"Hey, Marinette?"
To Adrien, it was a stranger's voice calling her. one that made him grasp her a little tighter. He had promised her parents nothing would happen to her, and he wasn't going to break that promise. Marinette, however, recognised the voice. She turned her head, and spotted the owner of the voice standing by the fire exit, smoking a cigarette.
"It is you!" she laughed.
She grinned back. "Hello Miss Rolling."
"Penny, please. What are you doing out here? Jagged is already on stage, don't you want to go in?" Penny said.
Penny Rolling. Jagged Stone's personal assistant. Maybe something was taking a turn for the better. Marinette pulled away from Adrien, who followed her, awkwardly, as she wandered over to Penny.
"We were going to go in, but we accidentally left our tickets at home,"
"I've heard that one before," Penny chuckled, "what, were they fake?"
"No, we genuinely just left them at home. It was a slip of the mind, and now we can't go in."
"oh, that's such a shame!"
"Isn't it? and Adrien was really looking forward to it. he's one of Jagged's biggest fans."
"as are you, I see. A limited-edition Ladybug shirt? Impressive. Only a few people have one of those."
Marinette thought back to the terrifyingly rabid side of Alya that had appeared as she played tug-o-war with one shirt, while the other was stuffed the shirt she was wearing already. She was determined to get two shirts so she and Marinette would match. It was both utterly terrifying and deeply impressive.
"it was a lot of effort to get," Marinette nodded.
Penny chuckled as she took a drag of her cigarette. The smoke glistened above them for a moment, before she dropped the dog end on the floor, and crushed it with her toes. Marinette watched her, hopefully.
"Come on then, I'll let you come back stage since we never actually paid you for your cover art," penny decided.
Marinette was never so happy to be scammed. Adrien gasped in awe as she beamed at him. this was the first time someone else's connections had gotten him in somewhere he wasn't supposed to go. Marinette grabbed him hand and dragged him up the steps into the fire exit door as Penny held it open. They gaped around at everything as they were led through the backstage area, up towards the stage.
"Let me find you some badges. You might have to be assistants, so you might have to do some heavy lifting, is that ok?" Penny asked.
"It's amazing!" Adrien beamed.
Heavy lifting?! They were superheroes! They didn't care about heavy lifting! Penny placed them near the edge of the stage, out of the way but in full view of the show. The beat of the song shook through them. It rumbled through them, making their swaying outside seem even less in time.
"Stay here while I get your badges," Penny said.
Marinette and Adrien barely heard her above the thumping of the music. It was so loud here that almost everyone had ear defenders on. Marinette and Adrien didn't, and they were standing next to the amplifiers.
"This is amazing!" Adrien shouted.
"Yeah it's awesome!" Marinette shouted back.
One of the runners grabbed Marinette by the arm and pushed a water bottle into her hand. He spoke close to her ear, and she still couldn't hear him properly, but he pointed on stage, and she guessed what he meant. Marinette looked back at Adrien urgently. He didn't notice. His gaze was fixed firmly on his hero as he jammed on the guitar in front of them. The runner gave her a shove. Marinette gulped. She wandered forwards, and suddenly she was on stage. She strode quickly and sharply across to the piano, and left the water bottle on the piano seat. Hundreds of thousands of fans were screaming in her direction and a hundred thousand phones were flashing as they took a million photos each. She felt the stage fright burn her chest. She swivelled as quickly as possible to get off stage, but she was stopped by Jagged himself. His voice was bright, excitable, like he was delighted to see her.
"Marinette! Hello!" He beamed.
Marinette was torn between joy that he remembered her, and a desperate need to dart off stage immediately.
"Hello," she smiled back.
"Ladies and gentleman may I introduce Marinette!" Jagged called into his microphone headset.
Marinette turned red immediately as the entire theatre whooped and cheered for this random girl that none of them knew. Except there, having fought her way to the front of the line, was Chloe. She was fuming that Marinette was on stage and she wasn't.
"Can you tell everyone what you did for me Marinette?" He asked, playfully.
He held a microphone that was supposed to be for his guitar, up so she could use it.
"I err," she glanced at Adrien for help. He beamed at her, excitedly. She blushed deeper. "I designed the art for your last album."
"Yeah! She's a teenager and she designed my latest album! Give her a cheer for being amazing!" Jagged cheered.
A cheer went up, filling her chest with embarrassed pride. Jagged threw an arm around her shoulders and tugged her into a half hug. Adrien grabbed his phone and snapped some photos for her later. Marinette felt Tikki wriggle out of her pocket to breathe. She hid in the collar, behind Marinette's neck, trying to stay hidden, but she was wildly aware of the big screen behind them showing the film footage of Jagged on stage so people at the back could see. Tikki dove back into Marinette's jacket for safety. It was hotter under those stage lights and the blushing didn't help.
"Is she a Rockstar now?" Plagg asked, loudly, in Adrien's ear.
"she's always been a rock star," Adrien grinned back.
Plagg rolled his eyes at the poor, oblivious child. Then he spotted Marinette glancing this way. Plagg gasp and dive back into his jacket. Jagged Stone turned to looking his way too. Adrien's smile fell, alarmed. Jagged gave a knowing grin. Adrien's stomach dropped.
"Is that your boyfriend?" Jagged teased.
Marinette blushed deeper as Adrien blushed too, looking shocked.
"SHUT UP YOU!" Marinette squeaked.
"Come out here, come on," Jagged beckoned Adrien over.
Adrien didn't move. Jagged made the crowd scream to drag him out. Reluctantly, Adrien wandered out on stage. The cheering went up again. The only person booing was still Chloe. Adrien was a lot more comfortable in the limelight than Marinette. He came out and waved to the crowd, working them into cheering with ease. Jagged smirked.
"What's your name kid?" Jagged asked.
"Adrien."
"YEAH ADRIEN!" Chloe yelled.
Adrien laughed and waved at Chloe, who wolf whistled.
"Ooh, girl, you got competition. Someone's trying to steal your boy," Jagged nudged Marinette playfully.
Marinette blushed and muttered, "He's not my boy."
Adrien, however, was still in Chat Noir mode. He was cocky and flirtatious, and he linked his arm around her waist and said, into her microphone, "Nah, no one can steal me. I chose this one, and I'm keeping her."
Marinette hid her face in his shoulder, blushing hotter than she ever thought possible. Tikki couldn't handle the heat. She climbed out of Marinette's jacket, and dove into Adrien's. Plagg blinked in alarm when she came crashing into his hiding hole.
"When I said drop in anytime, I wasn't being literal," Plagg teased.
"I'm boiling!" Tikki whined.
Plagg batted his tail in the air to try and fan her. It was clammy, and terrible, and the fanning didn't really help, but it was better than the oven Marinette was wearing.
Jagged laughed loudly, as the crowd cooed. To them, two young lovers were embracing behind she was embarrassed as hell. Adrien laid his hand on her head and beamed.
"I love young love. Marinette, Adrien, this next song is for you two," Jagged promised.
The crowd whooped as he played the opening chords to his latest hit, which was about some new girlfriend he had. Adrien took Marinette's hand and led her off stage. Marinette covered her face with her hands, redder than a tomato, and burning alive.
"Well wasn't that amazing for you two," Penny chuckled.
Marinette was glad she couldn't hear properly. She thought she was being teased, and she found it mortifying. Penny gave each of them a badge to say they were welcome back stage, as if they weren't just on stage. Adrien was full of adrenalin from being out there, and he couldn't stop grinning like an idiot as the song - which was now, in some weird way, their song - kept playing. Now, however, it was sinking in to Adrien that he had just gone out there and declared he was dating Marinette.
in front of a hundred thousand Jagged Stone fans.
who were filming the whole gig.
especially this new, POPULAR song.
to put it online later.
where EVERYONE would see it.
Someone would realise who he was. Someone would show it to Ladybug. Ladybug would think he was taken! He felt a rush of guilt, as if he had betrayed her, even though he had no idea who she was, and she had no idea who he was. There was no reason for the guilt, and yet, there it was.
"Hey, I didn't mean to put you on the spot like that, I was just trying to put on a good show for Jagged y'know?" Adrien called.
Marinette frowned at him. She raised her voice. "What?!"
"I didn't mean to say we were dating!"
"What?!"
"I didn't mean-"
"Hey, just tell me later! It can wait!"
Adrien nodded. She gave him an awkward smile, and he gave her a guilty one back. Marinette bowed her head, mortified. Adrien bowed his, guiltily. Both of them moved to give a larger amount of space between them.
Suddenly a good night was back to being weird.
