Chapter Two

The battle between pride and hunger raged briefly in Marinette's mind. She could always visit her parents but then they'd make a fuss and try to get her to move home. That was not an option. Firstly, she did not want to have to go back to making excuses for her sudden need to depart. Secondly, as much as she loved her parents, it was nice having her own space. Even if it was only slightly larger than a couple of shoeboxes taped together.

Picking up the phone, Marinette scrolled through her contacts. She had a number of friends which she could reach out to, but many were living on tight budgets as well. Her thumb hovered over Adrien's name for a moment before she made her decision and dialled. Part of her hoped it would go to voicemail, as she hated asking for a loan, but Adrien answered.

"Hey," he puffed out in a breathless rasp.

Marinette's brow wrinkled in confusion. "Hi Adrien, um, what are you doing?"

He let out a brief chuckle. "5km jog on the treadmill. I'm almost done."

"Oh, sorry to interrupt."

"Nah, it's fine." He said with a definite smile in his tone. "What's up?"

There was a brief pause as Marinette inwardly steeled her resolve. "I was wondering if you'd like to come over and catch up."

"Sure. When?" he asked.

"How about after you've finished your run?"

"Yeah, that's doable. Is something up?"

Again, Marinette paused as she considered how best to answer. "Kind of. Well, sort of."

"Sounds like a face-to-face conversation for when I get there. Have you had dinner?"

"No," she replied as she gnawed on her bottom lip. "I need to do a shop, but I'm waiting on payday."

"Don't sweat it. I'll grab something on the way over. And speaking of sweat, I'll have a shower before I leave. So, I'll see you in about half an hour?"

Marinette was momentarily distracted as her imagination snagged on the words: shower and Adrien, conjuring an image of water droplets cascading down the delectable contours of his body. Mentally shaking herself, she remembered to respond. "Sure, sounds great. See you then!"

After ending the call, Marinette lightly slapped both of her cheeks with her fingertips. "Snap out of it, girl. You put him in the friend zone years ago, and that is where he needs to stay."

It was almost 40 minutes later when there was a rap at Marinette's door. She finished laying out the cutlery on the petite two-seater table and let Adrien in. A brilliant smile spread across his handsome face and she couldn't help but return it as they greeted each other. Internally she was chastising her racing pulse.

Yet the moment he crossed the threshold, her nose picked up the tantalising scent of garlic and basil. "Mm, Italian?"

Adrien chuckled, "Yes. I see you just lured me here for the food."

A deep blush stained the young woman's cheeks at the embarrassing accuracy of that comment. "Not exactly."

The blonde shook his head with amusement in his eyes. "Marinette, I can join the dots. You're living on your own in a flat which up until recently you co-rented. You're not exactly rolling in cash at the moment, are you?"

"Well, no. I can't say I've ever rolled in cash." She gave him a cheeky smirk, "Have you actually ever rolled around in cash?"

"Only when I'm utterly bored," he teased as he placed the bag of food on the table.

She gave a good-natured eyeroll, "Of course. Does Nathalie pick it up when you're done?"

"Pfft, no. That's what vacuums are for. But in all seriousness, are you okay?"

Marinette was briefly mesmerised by those broad shoulders, as he shucked off his jacket and hooked it over the back of his chair. She opened the bag and began setting the containers onto the table so she had an excuse not to look at him directly. "It's a struggle at the moment. I knew Alya was planning on moving out and I thought I'd budgeted to cover her portion while I got another roommate. But the candidate I had lined up fell through and the other options weren't…ideal."

"How so?" Adrien asked as he spooned some ravioli onto his plate.

"They didn't have steady incomes and I certainly don't have the funds to supplement the rent when they can't pay." She laid a couple of pieces of garlic bread on her plate and glanced at Adrien. "Also, my online store isn't doing as well as it was."

"That's a shame. Do you have a plan B?"

"At this point, it looks like I'll need to find a cheaper place to live." She scooped up a single cannelloni for her plate, then frowned. "But the options at the moment aren't great."

"Would you consider moving back home?"

Marinette shook her head. "Not if I can help it."

"Come on. Your parents aren't that bad to live with, surely?"

"I like my independence, and as a fellow only-child I'm sure you understand how smothering parents can be at times."

"Yeah, I hear you." Adrien said with a knowing smile. "I'd offer you a room at my place but my schedule is so erratic it wouldn't be fair to a roommate."

Disappointment sat heavily in her belly at that comment. Not that she'd actually expected to have Adrien as a roommate in any form. But still, knowing it was completely off the table stung a little.

The blonde seemed to pick up on her quiet dejection. "That said, I do believe there will be an availability in my building shortly. It's a potential plan C."

Marinette had to hold back a snort. "That's really nice, Adrien, but I doubt I could afford a place in your building. The broom closet might be an option though."

At that he laughed. "Marinette, I guess I'm being a little too vague. I own the building and lease out a number of the apartments. There's one on the floor below my place that's currently being renovated. The painting and flooring should be done in the next three weeks. Once completed, I was going to put it back up for rent. If you want it, I'm sure we could work something out."

"Really?" she asked in astonishment. "Are you sure? My budget it pretty measly."

"Tell me then, how much do you normally pay for your share of the expenses?"

Marinette rattle off a figure and sat in trepidation while Adrien looked towards the ceiling as he calculated something in his head.

"Leave it with me and I'll let you know. In the meantime, let's eat."

Thanks for the support, be it reading, favouriting, following or leaving a review - it's much appreciated. I had a couple of queries about my other unfinished stories, at this stage I'm just focussing on this one as I'm only just getting my writing mojo back. I had serious burning out and pretty much dried out my creative streak. Once this one is done, I'll look at getting back to the others. :)