Chapter Three

While they ate and chatted, Adrien took the opportunity to study Marinette's apartment. As expected, there was a mishmash of furniture, which was typical of anyone moving out of home. However, that wasn't really what Adrien was looking for. It was the 'Final Notice' invoices piled on the coffee table, the emptiness of the fridge when Marinette packed up the leftovers and the sparse contents of the cupboards when he helped put away the washing up which indicated just how tough she was doing things.

Knowing how proud Marinette was in general, he fully suspected that offering any kind of financial assistance would be difficult for her to accept. Part of him would have been all too happy to simply let her live in the apartment below his for free. Yet he knew his friend would never agree to such terms. Instead he mulled over a reasonable amount he could ask for in rent while at the same time allowing her to live comfortably.

Taking a seat on the futon, Adrien let out a surprised gasp as the soft cushioning sank faster than expected under his weight.

A giggle escaped Marinette, "Gotta watch that thing, it'll eat you if you're not careful."

"Are you sure it's not some lingering magical fiend from one of Hawkmoth's akumas?" He asked while sharply prodding a cushion with his index finger.

"Unlikely but also entirely possible." She joked as she sat down beside him.

Marinette didn't sink nearly as deeply as Adrien. While that wasn't unexpected, the blonde took a moment to really look at his friend. Her face held all her usual warmth but as he gazed at her, he took in the greater prominence of her cheekbones and the thinness of her shoulders under her loose knitted top. Reaching forward he picked up her hands in his, noting how they too seemed slimmer than normal.

"Marinette," he said quietly while leaning closer to her, "when are you expecting to get paid next?"

She swallowed as her eyes remained locked with his. "Friday," she murmured.

It was only Tuesday, which meant it would be days before she could go shopping. No doubt she intended on stretching out their leftovers across those three days. No wonder she was looking gaunt.

His thumbs absently rubbed soothing circles on the backs of her hands as he eased his way to her wrists, feeling the distinct shape of her bones just below the skin. His brow furrowed with concern as he began to realise how dire her situation must be. Already Adrien had internally committed to helping her out. He was just figuring out the details.

In the meantime, he continued the gentle glide of his thumbs on her skin, hoping to ease her troubles momentarily. Adrien felt a sense of comfort in being able to touch Marinette in such a way, with the intent to sooth away her worries. Being with her like this always felt right. He hoped she too took solace in this easy contact between them.

With his focus on her hands, Adrien wasn't even aware that they were leaning closer to each other until he glanced up and almost brushed noses with Marinette. Their eyes met and he froze. Those glorious blue eyes had really snagged his attention when he was in his mid-teens. Expressive eyes. Gorgeous windows to the beautiful soul within.

They were so close. Her lips parted as she let out an unsteady breath and the movement caught his gaze. Tilting his head ever so slightly, Adrien eased fractionally closer. Their knees touched. The grip of her hands tightened in his. Then she pulled away and sat back so fast it left Adrien wondering what the hell had just happened.

A nervous giggle escaped Marinette as she stared at him with wild eyes. "I just remembered, I have something for you." She shot off the futon and practically ran to her room and closed the door.

Plagg floated out of his shirt pocket, looked at the closed door and then to his holder. "Did you fart or something?"

"Shh," Adrien hissed as he pressed finger to his lips then gently placed that same finger on the kwami's head and pushed him back down into his pocket.

"What? You did have an enchilada for lunch with beans. It's not an unreasonable question."

The blonde snorted in amusement but didn't comment. He wanted Plagg to be quiet.

After a handful of minutes, Marinette emerged from her room with something in her hand. "I made this for you," she said as she thrust the small object in front of Adrien's face.

He blinked twice at the object which was constructed with tiny black beads with a smattering of green beads. Picking it up from her open palm, his eyebrows shot upwards in surprise as noticed that the green beads formed a green paw. "A Chat Noir themed bracelet."

Marinette's head snapped downward as she studied the bracelet. "Um, yeah. I thought…actually I grabbed the wrong one."

As she reached for it, Adrien closed his fingers over the bracelet. "I love it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, besides Chat Noir can use all the promotion he can get when compared to Ladybug."

Marinette snorted. "You're kidding, right? Chat Noir has a huge social media following due to posting all those 'Cat's Eye View of Paris' vlogs he does."

"A guy has to make a living somehow. I'm surprised Ladybug doesn't do the same thing."

"It would pretty much be a duplicate of Chat's idea. I can't imagine her wanting to steal his thunder."

Adrien shrugged, "I suppose not." He paused for a moment as he looped the bracelet around his left wrist and glanced back to his companion. "Speaking of money, you could always see about advertising your online shop for further promotion."

A pained frown settled on Marinette's features. "I can't afford to pay for the cost."

"Sometimes you have to spend money to make money, however let me do you a favour. Let me reach out to my contacts and get the ball rolling with some free advertising on the channels I know."

"I can't…" Marinette started but looked at him with conflict in her eyes.

"You can. Give me permission and I'll do it for you." With that Adrien tilted his head and gave her his best puppy-dog eyes – a look he'd mastered for the camera years ago.

As expected, the young woman's resolve crumbled. "Okay, if you insist."

"Fantastic, you won't regret it."

They shared a smile and their gazes locked for a moment before Marinette rose to her feet. "Let me get dessert."

The blonde gave a nod and wondered if there was any way he could recreate the intimate moment they'd almost shared earlier, but given his track record with romance he decided it best to leave it alone. Instead, while Marinette was in the kitchenette, he excused himself for a supposed trip to the bathroom.

Once inside the tiny room, Adrien extracted his wallet from his back pocket, examined its contents then plucked out the 270 euros he had on him. He placed the notes under Marinette's toothbrush holder and proceeded with the remaining actions of his charade before returning to the living area.

Dessert was on the table, so the model sat himself down and enjoyed the rest of the evening with one of his favourite people.

I had great intensions of posting weekly, alas I got the stomach flu which took me out for a week and then had number of other commitments which stole away my time. So apologies for the delay, but I finally managed to post! Hopefully the next chapter will be much quicker.

As always, thanks for reading and if you could give the review box some love it would be much appreciated!