Marinette stretched as the ending credits began to scroll on the screen. It had been a cute movie, but she always got sore after sitting in a theater for so long. Beside her Adrien shifted, picking his coat up from the back of his chair.
Marinette gathered up her own coat and umbrella, avoiding glancing over at him. Adrien had looked over at her a few times during the movie, and every time she had frozen like a statue, too afraid that she might do something wrong.
She slipped her coat on, feeling the gumballs rattle in her pocket, and couldn't help a small blush from creeping onto her face. Adrien probably thought she was a complete weirdo. But he had just looked so uncomfortable and small. Marinette still didn't know much about what Adrien's home life was like, aside from the fact that even receiving a simple present from his father was enough to put him over the moon. But even so, she couldn't bear to sit there while he forced himself to watch that short film.
The rest of the patrons were already filing out of the theater. Marinette glanced nervously at Adrien to make sure he was ready before heading down the stairs and toward the exit.
Her dread grew with each step. This was it: once they left, it would be over, and that would be that. She didn't fool herself. She knew she had completely blown the date with her inability to speak coherently. But only because it was Adrien. He would probably be too nice to say anything, but there was no doubt about it.
They walked in silence out of the theater, through the lobby, and out onto the lamplit street. By now the rain had stopped, and the evening twilight glimmered on the soaked city streets.
"The movie was cute, huh?" Adrien asked behind her. Marinette froze, then quickly berated herself. You can't just keep ignoring him! she yelled at herself. At least say something!
"Yeah, it was," she said, turning towards him, though still averting her gaze. "Sorry to make you sit through a kids movie, though."
"Not at all, I really enjoyed it," Adrien assured her. He sounded so sincere that Marinette glanced up at him, just to be sure he wasn't lying.
He had the sweetest smile on his face, his green eyes lit up as he watched her, and Marinette felt her lungs grate to a halt. Either he was the world's greatest liar, or he was actually be honest. Relieved, Marinette felt her shoulders inch down a bit and a gave him a small smile in return.
"It's still fairly early, you know," he told her, glancing toward the colorful sky. "Would you like to go for a walk before heading home?"
He wasn't jumping ship. He still wanted to spend time with her. He was asking her to hang out with him.
Marinette was fairly certain that her mouth had been hanging open a little longer than was normal, and she quickly forced herself to shut it. "Yeah," she managed to croak out. "That'd be nice."
Adrien's face lit up with another smile, and Marinette's heart did its best to beat its way out of her chest.
"Cool," Adrien told her, starting toward the street corner. "The river's just ahead, how about there?"
Marinette nodded silently, not quite believing what she was hearing. A walk with Adrien? Along the Seine? Had she fallen asleep in the theater or something? Because this had to be a dream.
Although some of the tension had dissipated during the movie, Adrien still found himself struggling to hold a conversation with Marinette. But gosh darn it, after that stunt she had pulled in the movie theater he wanted to try to get her out of her shell, if only just a little bit.
Adrien glanced at her as they rounded a corner, the river coming into view. There had to be something they could talk about that wasn't the weather. Right? Wracking his brain, he threw out the first topic that came to mind. "So, do you watch any TV shows?"
Marinette looked like a startled deer, and for a moment Adrien was afraid that she would be too clammed up to answer. But then her grip on her folded umbrella tightened, and she quietly replied, "Not really, actually. I'm usually so busy with school and—" she stumbled, tripping over her own words before quickly continuing, "—and home that I don't have the time."
"Really?" Adrien asked, a bit surprised. "I didn't realize your home life was so busy. I don't really watch TV either, actually. I've got so many different lessons that I never have the time."
"I don't know how you do it," Marinette squeaked, sneaking a quick glance at him. When she noticed his attention, she quickly turned away again. "That must be a lot to juggle."
"It's really not so difficult, since my dad's secretary schedules everything for me," Adrien told her. Everyone always made such a big deal out of it, but it wasn't like he had a choice. Besides, his home life was definitely not interesting. "What about you?" he asked, deflecting the conversation back her way. "Is it fun being a baker's daughter?"
"Eh, sometimes," Marinette replied, nervously twisting her umbrella. "More often it's just annoying."
"Annoying?" Adrien asked incredulously, shooting her a smile. "What's annoying about always having freshly baked snacks around?"
"Well that part is all well and fine," Marinette told him slowly. Then, taking a deep breath, she continued, "But there's just never a day off. Even on holidays people need their bread."
"Huh, I hadn't thought of that," Adrien replied. "That's gotta be tiring."
"It can be," she told him. "But more than anything else, it's all the little things that are annoying."
"Like what?" he asked, unable to help a small chuckle.
Marinette blushed, looking away again. "I don't want to ramble about my parents' boring bakery…." she mumbled.
"No, no, I want to hear," Adrien assured her.
"Well…" She glanced at him, as if she didn't quite believe he would want to know more. And just like that, something changed. Adrien couldn't quite put his finger on it, but suddenly Marinette shifted. The last bit of tension that hovered in her shoulders finally left, her tone finally lost its waver, and she even gave him a hesitant smile.
"My dad, for instance," she explained, gaining a bit more confidence with each word. "He gets up early every morning, and so he's always in bed by 7pm. Which means our entire evening gets moved up a couple hours. We eat early, we hang out a bit, and then he's already hitting the sack.
"Then there are the mornings," she continued, shaking her head. "He's up by four every morning. No alarms, nothing—just up. I have no idea how he does it. But as soon as he gets down to the kitchen, it's like a marching band is parading through the house. No matter how hard he tries to stay quiet, the clatter always wakes me up. It doesn't help that my room is right above the kitchen."
As she talked, Marinette tucked her umbrella into her purse, freeing up her hands to use for emphasis. "Plus, in the summer, my room gets unbearably hot. All the heat from the ovens rises up—right into my room. I usually have to escape onto the roof to get a decent dose of fresh air.
"And then there's the flour," she added, rolling her eyes.
"The flour?" Adrien asked, trying not to grin too hard.
"Yes," Marinette groaned, shoulders sagging as she made a face. "It gets everywhere! I don't understand it! It's always on the countertops, no matter how often my mom wipes them down. I guess downstairs it's to be expected, but it doesn't just stay down there. I find it on the bathroom mirror, or on my bedroom windows. If I'm not careful, it gets in my hair when I tie it back—which of course looks ridiculous against my black pigtails. Even when I get dressed, I'll often find it on my shirt, or on my pants. I can't escape it, even if there is legitimately no explanation for how it got there!"
Adrien couldn't help picturing Marinette dressed in a chef's outfit, covered in flour, and next thing he knew he was bent over laughing. "Wow," he told her, shaking his head as he glanced at her. "That's really something."
"You don't believe me," Marinette accused, glancing at him. The shy girl was still there, in the flicker of uncertainty that flitted through her smile. But it was quickly replaced by a grim grin as Marinette narrowed her eyes. "But I'm telling you, it's completely true. Come into the shop some day and see for yourself."
"I definitely will," he told her. "I need to see this."
A slight blush rose on Marinette's cheeks once more, her mouth snapping closed as if only just realizing exactly how much she had been talking.
"Do you have a lot of responsibilities too?" Adrien prompted her, hoping to coax the animated, talkative Marinette back out. "You said you're often busy at home, right?"
"Oh, yeah, that," Marinette said hesitantly, rubbing her arm as if trying to find the right words to explain. "I mean, it's not always that busy—only sometimes. Around the holidays it gets really hectic, especially Christmas and Easter, because so many people put in orders. So I wind up spending a lot of my would-be free time helping them out instead. Plus, I often have to help clean up the kitchen and the shop in the evenings once I get back from school. And if my parents ever want to take an evening off, then it falls on me to watch the shop. So, yeah, I guess I would say there are quite a few responsibilities."
"Even so, I think it'd be kind of fun to work in a bakery," Adrien told her.
"Really?" Marinette asked him, making a face. "I think it'd be way cooler to work in the fashion industry."
"Eh," Adrien said blandly. "It's not really as exciting as it sounds."
"What about your modeling?" Marinette pressed. "Isn't that fun?"
"I wouldn't really call it fun…" Adrien replied, glancing at her uncomfortably.
"How so?" Marinette asked, looking genuinely interested. "Don't you get to just stand there and have people take your picture?"
"Kind of?" Adrien told her, struggling to find a way to put his feelings into words. "But it's not anywhere near as fun as you make it sound. In reality, you just kind of stand there forever while the photographer orders you around. They could spend two hours taking photos and only get a handful of decent shots out of the whole thing. I mainly do it because my dad tells me to. I'm already so busy with fencing and Chinese lessons, but he insists that I keep up with it. And so most of my free time goes to doing that."
"Wow, that kind of stinks," Marinette replied with a frown. "I thought you modeled because you liked it. You mean all this time it's something he's been forcing you to do?"
"Well, it was kind of fun at first," Adrien remedied. "But being forced to do it just drains the enjoyment out of it."
"I'm sorry!" Marinette said suddenly, stopping in her tracks. Her abruptness took Adrien off guard, and he quickly stopped and turned to face her.
"I have to admit, I always think you look so cool when you're modeling!" Marinette explained, not quite meeting his gaze again. She wrung her hands together nervously. "Your photos always turn out awesome. But I didn't realize it stressed you out so much!"
"No, really, it's not a big deal," Adrien assured her, her conviction and sincerity causing his own cheeks to turn a little pink. "And sometimes it can be neat. So you shouldn't apologize! I'm flattered that you think they look good."
Beside him, Marinette was turning her own shade of pink yet again, and this time Adrien found he wasn't sure what he could say to clear away the awkward silence. Even so, it wasn't an uncomfortable silence.
Without a word, the two of them resumed walking, letting the chill of the damp evening air sweep the awkwardness away behind them. Adrien even thought it was rather nice, even with the silence, just to walk together quietly as the last of the twilight began to slip away.
They arrived at the park opposite Marinette's house. Adrien opened the metal gate leading into it, holding it for Marinette.
"After you, milady."
Adrien froze as soon as he said it, suddenly realizing how it sounded.
Marinette stopped short of the gate, giving Adrien an odd look, and his stomach sank. Why had he done that? Didn't Marinette find that kind of thing annoying? He silently cursed himself. He couldn't treat Marinette like Ladybug. And just like that, he was thinking of the masked heroine once again.
"Sorry," he said, quickly looking away. With a half-forced laugh, he added, "I forgot—you're not a fan of smooth talkers, right?"
"Oh, no," Marinette told him hurriedly, walking through the gate. He could see her still blushing as he followed her onto the path. "I didn't mean to imply that the other day. I mean, holding the gate is actually kind of sweet. Besides, I don't want you to watch how you act just for my sake."
It was simple, really. Not at all groundbreaking. And yet her words hit him like a pile of bricks to the chest. He had been telling himself all evening, and yet this more than anything reaffirmed what he already knew: Marinette just wanted to spend time with him. She wasn't disappointed that he didn't like modeling. She worried about accidentally hurting his feelings. And she even found his goofy gestures sweet. Adrien wasn't sure his heart knew how to work properly anymore.
"Thanks," he told her quietly, following her into the quickly darkening park. Thanks didn't even begin to cover what those words meant to him, but Adrien didn't trust himself to say anything more.
Marinette replied with a gentle smile, setting Adrien's head spinning in a dizzying fashion. It still hadn't settled by the time they reached Marinette's front door.
"I had a lot of fun," Adrien told her, hoping his smile could convey just how truthful that statement was.
"Me too," Marinette replied, curling in slightly on herself once more. "Thanks for treating me."
"Maybe we could do this again sometime?" Adrien asked.
Marinette's eyes widened and her entire face lit up, a hesitant smile spreading across her lips. The sheer amount of joy on her face left Adrien speechless.
"Y-yeah," she told him. Then, more firmly, she said, "I would really like that. Well, goodnight."
Adrien watched as she slipped inside, then started down the street and texted his driver to pick him up in a few blocks.
That … had been unexpectedly wonderful. He kicked himself for never noticing how utterly adorable Marinette was before tonight. Once her nervousness lifted, she was like an entirely different person underneath. And she liked him exactly the way he was.
It was amazing how utterly relieving that realization was. Adrien had spent so much of his life trying to live up to his father's expectations, and to be told to just be himself... It was as if he had been standing under a weight and only just realized that all he had to do was step out of its shadow.
If only Ladybug could see him the same way as Marinette did.
The thought was there before he could stop it, and as frustrated as Adrien was with himself for comparing the two, he couldn't deny how much he wished it was true. It was stupid, of course, because none of that mattered if Ladybug wasn't interested in the first place. And Marinette was very much interested and very much paying attention to him, in addition to be sweet and adorable and far too kind. But that didn't stop the pain in his chest as his driver finally pulled up to take him home.
A/N: Trying to decide whose PoV to use when for this chapter was TORTURE. Honestly, if I were being selfish, I would have just made the entire chapter from Adrien's POV again. We all already know exactly how in love Marinette is with Adrien. And this chapter, especially, is when Adrien really starts to see Marinette for who she is and realizes that she's really interesting, and that once she gets over her embarrassment around him she is actually really wonderful. I had the flow of the whole scene planned, and when I was trying to figure out where we could get Marinette's PoV, I was like, "But I want to be with Adrien when she says this! And I want to hear what he's thinking when he shares this! And what about this line!?" Hahaha. But at the same time, that just didn't seem fair to Marinette (and to you guys) to completely shut her out from what must be the single greatest night of her life up to this point xD So I gave her a tiny bit at the beginning. A teeny, tiny bit.
Also, can I just point out that the reason I had so much fun coming up with this story is for the very same reason that it's named what it is? Ladybug turns Chat down because she likes someone else (him), and so Adrien tries to get over Ladybug by dating someone new (her), but when he's with Marinette he can't stop thinking about Ladybug (still her), and in the meantime Marinette feels bad because she's using Chat's advice to date Adrien (still him). Just, YES. Hahaha. It's all the angst and drama of a love triangle (/love square) without the annoying outcome of having to choose one over the other in the end. Complicated, but fun as all hell.
I had SO much fun with this chapter. Coming up with the reasons Marinette gets frustrated with her family and the bakery was especially fun. For instance, my dad wakes up every morning at five, often without an alarm, and I figured Marinette's dad would probably be the same way after doing the same thing every day. Also, I'm faaaaairly certain that Marinette's room most definitely is NOT above the kitchen in the show—from the looks of it, it's above the shop itself. Buuut, I thought it would be more fun if she could complain about the noise and heat from the kitchen, so I took some artistic liberties ;) Oh, and I completely made up the flour thing. It's probably way over-exaggerated, although I could see flour being pervasive in a bakery. Plus, how funny would it be if Marinette went out as Ladybug one evening and Chat noticed she had flour in her pigtails? xDDD I feel like that's one revelation story that hasn't been done yet.
Chat: Uh, My Lady… is that flour in your hair?
Ladybug: What? Oh, yeah, whatever.
Chat: … Were you at a bakery?
Ladybug: Yeah, it's no big deal.
Chat: ...
Ladybug: What?
xDDD I feel like in that situation, Chat probably wouldn't be convinced right away, but he'd be pretty suspicious. And then he would start to notice that Ladybug always smells like freshly baked bread, and maybe she even brings him a treat one day, and he finally has to admit to himself that she's obviously Marinette. Anyway, that's obviously not how the plot of this fic is going to go, but I feel like it'd be a fun one to write! ^^
The amount of love you guys give this fic never ceases to amaze me. Thank you for all the lovely comments, likes, and follows, and simply for reading! We're more than halfway done now, so hopefully you enjoy the second half of the ride. Things should be going downhill pretty soon here… (heheheh) As always, feel free to come hang with me on Tumblr (Konekat)! Fangirling (or -guying, or -peopling) is always heartily approved ^^