Chapter 2 – Sweet Like Strawberry
Adrien's POV:
There are two things I didn't expect today.
One: To have Marinette literally fall into my arms.
Two: To survive it without spontaneously evaporating.
I mean—she was warm and soft and flustered and everything sweet rolled into one dizzy, breathless moment. And then she looked up at me with those wide eyes like I was the surprise.
I'm convinced the girl has no idea what she does to me.
Now we're walking side by side under the soft Parisian sun, heading to André's ice cream cart. Her shoulder brushes mine every few steps, and my body has become a human satellite dish, tuned only to the frequency of Marinette.
I'm trying to play it cool.
André lights up when he sees us. Of course he does.
"Ah, lovebirds!" he greets, waving his scoop like a magic wand.
"Fate has brought you here, and I have just the flavors for a perfect match!"
Marinette flushes instantly. I swear I hear her soul leave her body.
I try not to smile too wide. She's ridiculously adorable when she's embarrassed.
André hands us the cone with a flourish.
"For the bright, young lady who keeps everything together and the gold hearted boy who shines even in shadow—strawberry, chocolate, and a swirl of passionfruit. Destiny in a cone!"
I nearly choke on air at the word passionfruit. Marinette looks like she's about to drop dead.
"Th-thank you!" she stammers, gripping the cone like a life raft. We both nod and shuffle off toward the nearest bench.
We sit close. Not touching, but just close enough that if either of us moved even an inch…
I take a small bite of the ice cream. Sweet strawberry. Rich chocolate. Tart passionfruit. Perfect combination.
Kind of like us.
"You've got, uh…" I glance at her.
"A little—here." I gesture vaguely to the corner of my lip, watching her panic in real-time.
She fumbles for a napkin. "Ohmygosh—I—where—did I get it?"
I lean in slightly, eyes on her lips. "Right there."
And okay. Maybe it wasn't that serious. But watching her get flustered? Priceless.
"You like strawberry?" I ask
She shrugs, still not looking at me.
"I like sweet things."
"You must like yourself, then."
She freezes. Blinks. Turns to stare at me like I just confessed I'm secretly a pigeon.
"What?" she squeaks.
I smirk, leaning back a little.
"You said you like sweet things. You're literally the sweetest person I know Marinette."
Her ears are red.
"I—I'm not—!"
"You are" I say easily, eyes dragging over her.
"You're also kind and brave. And you always have the right words to all my problems" I smiled at her as she looked speechless.
She covers her face. Cute.
"Please stop talking."
"Never," I grin.
"I'm glad you agreed to date me Marinette"
Even though she's yet to tell the three words which I badly want to hear her say. But I'm glad she at least sees me as someone she could date.
I watched her reaction and I swear I saw her body restart after that sentence.
The ice cream is already forgotten. My thoughts are a mess. She's sitting beside me in that soft pink top, her shoulders bare, her hair a little frizzy from the breeze, her lips stained with strawberry. My heart is doing backflips. My brain? Absolutely gone.
All I can think is—what if I kissed her right now?
Would she lean in?
Would she kiss me back?
Would she taste like strawberry and panic?
I glance at her hands. They're resting on her lap. Small, delicate, nervous. I reach out slowly, my fingers brushing hers until she looks down, startled. She doesn't pull away.
I take her hand gently, tracing her knuckles with my thumb.
Her breath catches.
Mine does too.
"Marinette," I murmur, leaning in, our noses almost touching. Her lashes flutter. Her lips part, just slightly.
I tilt my head.
I'm so close. So close I can smell her shampoo—floral and something a little like vanilla and I want to pull her closer, feel her against me again, taste her on my tongue—
BOOM.
People started to scream and run. Our Ice cream cone hit the ground. Something huge and purple and very angry rises from the rooftops behind André's cart.
You've got to be kidding me!!
I was this close! This close from closing the distance between us and crashing our lips!!
"A-akuma?" Marinette gasps, standing up instinctively.
Crap. Crap. Focus, Adrien.
"Come on!" I grabbed her hand, yanking us towards a safe place, heart pounding for completely different reasons now.
We duck under the archway, the stone shielding us from the chaos above. She looks at me, panic rising.
"I should—I need to—"
"Calm down Marinette" I interrupt, breathless.
"And you stay here, okay? It's not safe out there." I gripped her shoulder.
I badly want to stay with her and comfort her but I got villains to fight.
"O-Okay" She nods
"I forgot my phone on the bench," I lied quickly pretending to check my pockets.
"I-I need it to call my bodyguard. Stay here. Please." I made up an excuse.
"Marinette, I'll be right back." I gave a quick peck on her cheeks and turned sprinting up the embankment and duck into the nearest alley the second I'm out of sight.
"Plagg," I hiss, pulling out the ring.
He pops out, annoyed.
"Thank god, I was really nauseated by all your cheesy talks"
"Not now, Plagg Claws out!"
--
Author Note:
It's been years since I wrote fanfic and I feel like I improved a lot compared to my previous ones.
I sincerely hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this.
Xoxo