I'm late again for the friday update. I'm so sorry! Life's hectic these past weeks. I wish I could have 48 hours in a day (not even sure it'd be enough).

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.

Chapter Twelve: Not good at saying sorry

Marinette smoothed the folds in her dress and pulled on the hem to replace it atop her knees, holding it with one hand, and making sure that her lack of panties was out of sight. The last thing she wanted was for her to offer the passerby a remake of Marilyn Monroe's famous dress lift.

After she made sure she fixed her clothing, she busied herself to tame a rebel hair strand coming out of her bun. As she fumbled around, she felt a hand gently slipping on the small of her back, and she couldn't help the sudden gasp. Not only from Adrien's touch, but the way his free hand unexpectedly came to help her pin the wild strand of dark hair back in place.

"And there you go. As if nothing ever happened. And it never did." Adrien winked at her but she could somehow sense some bitterness behind his words.

It sounded like something she could have said when she ran away from Adrien after they'd kissed on graduation day. Not that she could remember how she had told him off; she was drunk. Though it must have been something along those lines, and she now realized that she must have hurt him unbeknownst to her.

"I'm sorry for running away after the graduation party," Marinette jumped in, finally apologizing. What she should have done months ago.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Nothing happened." The warm touch of his hand against her back suddenly faded away, leaving her shivering as he put some distance between them.

"Can we stop the 'we don't talk about Bruno attitude' for a while? There's something we need to sort out here…"

"Shall I remind you that you were the one who didn't want to talk about it, ever, Marinette?"

"That's my understanding, and I'm sorry about that. The way I acted was childish and selfish. We should have talked about our… slip-up… earlier."

"And say what?" Adrien's eyes bore into hers, stern and inquisitive.

"I just… I… I don't…"

His deep stare disarmed her so much so that she even felt her legs starting to wobble; she didn't know a single look from Adrien could still hold such power on her.

"...I don't know…" Marinette's head dropped as she looked down at her stilettos, fleeing from his expecting gaze. "What would you have wanted to hear?"

"Marinette." His hand came to graze her chin, two fingers forcing her to look back at him. "It wasn't what I wanted to hear that mattered, but what you didn't tell me, or what you could have told m—"

"Look who's finally here and only… 3 minutes late! This is worth a record in the Guinness book! Sunshine, you're doing her the greater good!" Alya almost ran into them and locked them both in a bone-crushing embrace. When she pulled back, a smirk graced her lips. "Well, I guess you're doing her good in every possible way." She winked at the two before lacing her arms with Marinette's and pulling her toward the legendary bar-karaoke where she and Nino spent most of their time during weekends.

After a bro' fist bump and having greeted Marinette, Nino slid to Alya's side and took her hand in his. Marinette smiled at the perfect couple picture before looking over to where Adrien was walking beside her. Her hand moved instinctively, seeking his as a sign of truce. Her fingers slipped between his, squeezing them gently but Adrien didn't react, his hand limp.

She had really screwed up this time, and a quickie in the car or in the restroom would not fix that.

She squeezed his hand once more, a futile attempt to let him know she was sorry and was still there for him. Holding his hand was what she had always done, ever since he had first started to stand up against his father. Ever since his father had turned out to be the bad guy, and Adrien, the fool of the joke, unbeknownst to him. Even if her feelings were mixed and confused, it didn't change the fact that she would always stand by his side.

"You owe me deets, and they must be juicy to make up for not answering any of my phone calls for days," Alya whispered in Marinette's ears, pulling her out of her turmoil as she leaned closer. "Even Nino got to see you together before I did. I feel kind of betrayed."

"But you knew what was going on before Nino…"

"But you still tried to hide it, Miss Messy Buttonholes. Doing it in a coffee shop restroom... I didn't think you had it in you, girl."

Beside them, Nino snickered so loud that he almost choked on his own saliva.

"Alya!" Marinette hissed. "This is not the place, nor the time to talk about this."

"You should have thought about that when you denied all my calls. I'm gonna hunt you down from now on."

Her best friend let go of her arm, and just so Marinette knew she was keeping an eye on her, Alya placed two fingers to her eyes before firing them back at her in a very expressive gesture. She then walked ahead with Nino, leading them the way as they arrived in front of the karaoke bar.

As soon as their friends moved away from them, Adrien let go of Marinette's hand. She could instantly sense that he was still upset and that he wasn't going to pretend tonight—which was a problem when you were actually supposed to pretend.

Their fake dating was a tightrope walker balancing himself on a thin wire. And let's not even talk about the possibility of a real date that had just taken a tumble.

Maybe they would have to fake their breaking up tonight after all… They might have no trouble pretending that given the recent developments.

To say that the tension between the two friends with benefits was tangible was an understatement; the electricity in the air was as thick and hard as the ground beneath their feet.

While Alya and Nino were having fun massacring a lot of classics of French songs, Adrien stared absentmindedly at the tip of his fingers drumming the different measures on the table. Meanwhile, Marinette relentlessly nursed her tea bag in her cup as if trying to put a newborn to sleep.

"We're dedicating the next song to our friends, Marinette and Adrien, who have finally stopped playing that dumb 'I love you, me neither' that had been going on for as long as I have known them." Alya was really taking it to heart.

Seizing the opportunity to cross the T's and dot the I's with Alya about the nature of her relationship with Adrien seemed invaluable at this point. She needed to tell the truth to her best friend before she overdoes it.

She already did, Marinette thought whilst the first notes of 'Je t'aime, moi non plus…' sung by the star couple, models of love formed by André le Glacier, Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg started to play.

Alya and Nino both led off a performance worthy of a blooper coming from American Idol—or maybe from a porn site if you listened closely to the song's explicit lyrics ?.

«You go, you go and you come

Inside me

You go and you come

Inside me

And I join you

I love you, I love you

Oh yes

Me neither…»

It may have been one of the most beautiful and famous French songs of all time, yet it didn't prevent Marinette from feeling utterly embarrassed. A quick glance to the side, and the sight of a pair of very red cheeks, told her that Adrien was feeling the same. For a second, their eyes met before they immediately looked away, and… they both instantly darted their gaze away again as they realized the show on the stage was also pretty embarrassing, to say the least.

The audience, though, seemed to love their friends; thunderous applause broke out for the couple at the end of their performance.

Marinette, for her part, felt a real relief when the cacophony finally stopped. Yet, the relief was short-lived when Alya came down from the stage, asking begging Marinette to perform with her on 'Lady Marmalade'.

It was clearly out of the question for her to make a spectacle of herself.

First thing first; she couldn't sing.

Second; she wasn't going to make a spectacle of herself on such a song in front of Adrien (besides, she had already made a fool of herself for a lifetime in front of him—and even maybe for a second life).

Third; did she already make it clear she couldn't sing anyway?

"Come on girl, who cares if you can't sing?! We're not doing any better. Nino's voice sounds like it's coming through a cheese grater, so what? 90% of the nation likes cheese, so it's all good!"

"10% are dummies."

"What?" Marinette and Alya's voices echoed as one.

Since when Adrien's voice was so raspy? His pitch suddenly sounded like shredded cheese.

"Um, sorry…" Adrien banged his fist on his chest, his brows deeply ceasing as he coughed, clearing his throat. "...frog in the throat."

Both women kept staring at him, their inquisitive gaze urging him to repeat what he had said in the first place.

"Uh, I said… my voice sounds like… gummies," he gulped with a slight stutter, his acting skills suddenly leaving a lot to be desired.

"Boasting are we, Agreste?" Alya raised an unimpressed brow. "All right, take the mic then. The stage is yours; make it shine… Sunshine."

Marinette watched Adrien reluctantly take the mic that her best friend was holding out to him, his expression somewhat utterly pissed off.

"Ah, um, sure." He rubbed the back of his neck, his lips pursing and brows furrowing.

Definitely pissed off.

Don't be afraid to leave your opinion. I know it's a slow burn and some chapters could have been updated together as one, but I like to have chapters of more or less identical length, and to make the pleasure last as long as possible.

See you on friday or saturday for the next update. Miraculous kisses!