I’ve started a new chapter fic, because I don’t already have enough of those.
It was inspired by this art from @carnalrhythms, for the Fantasy Smutember prompt. And while this chapter doesn’t contain anything naughty, we will eventually get to the scene depicted in the art that spawned this story. I just felt that this kind of AU requires some back story, and I just couldn’t dive into the sex without setting it up first.
Also, and this is very important, this story is a very belated birthday gift to the wonderful, and wonderfully talented, @freedom-shamrock!! I hope that this story brings you joy, and reminds you that you bring a great deal of joy to others. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHAMROCK!!!!
(Also on AO3, if you prefer to read it there.)
Adrien sat alone on the rocky outcropping, absently twisting the deceptively simple ring on his finger as he berated himself for over-sleeping. If he’d risen before dawn, as he’d intended, he’d have slipped that silver ring from his finger and taken to the sea for a swim. Now, though, it was just too risky. It was too late in the morning, and soon, he would no longer be alone on the beach. His swim would just have to wait until that night, after everyone else had gone home, and gone to bed.
He glanced at his watch and sighed. There was too little time before class, and far too much time before it would be safe for him to return. As much as he loved that ring, and the freedom it brought, there were days that he longed to shed its magic and revert to his true form. If he went too long on his legs, the longing would turn to an ache, and eventually, the ache to a pain. He chuckled a bit darkly, thinking again of the dark tale he’d discovered after joining the humans on land. Andersen hadn’t been too far off the mark, actually. A mermaid—or in his case, a merman—might not feel as if she were walking on knives when she first left the water, but if she kept her legs indefinitely, it certainly would get to that point.
Fortunately for Adrien, he was nowhere near the point of excruciating pain. He felt only an irritating ache, and an almost magnetic pull to the sea; he could survive both of those things for another day.
After another glance at his watch, he stood and stretched, prepared to make his way back to the house to get ready for class. He paused, though, when an incongruous movement in the water caught his eye. He stopped to watch, thinking that it must be dolphins, and frowned in confusion when he realized that it wasn’t a marine animal at all, but a person.
Was it one of his father’s people? It had to be. He wasn’t expecting anyone, and it was foolhardy to be so near the humans at such a time, but it couldn’t be anyone else. Humans had to breathe.
Concerned now, he made his way down from the rocks to the sandy beach, thinking to meet whoever it was in the surf, where they’d be less likely to be recognized for what they were. Concern turned to absolute shock when he recognized the swimmer, not as someone from his home, but as one of his classmates from the university.
What the hell?
He stopped at the edge of the surf and watched her make her way up to the beach several meters away, stymied. It was definitely Marinette. She was an incredibly beautiful young woman, with shoulder-length blue-black hair and arresting blue eyes, and she was very friendly—with everyone but him. Around him, she became so shy that he still didn’t know her well, in spite of his efforts to become friends.
He approached her cautiously, unsure of his welcome. “Marinette?”
She jumped at the sound of his voice and stumbled, falling gracelessly to her hands and knees in the wet sand. “A-Adrien!” She pushed herself to her feet, blushing, and awkwardly began trying to brush the sand from her legs. “Um, hi.”
“Hi.” He crossed over to her with a hesitant smile, scratching uncomfortably at the back of his head as he tried not to notice how incredible she looked in her bikini with rivulets of water streaming down her skin. “Shoot, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“It’s—it’s alright. I wasn’t paying attention, and I think you’ve seen before how madly clumsy I am.” She gave up on the sand, which clung stubbornly to her wet skin, and glanced at him shyly before looking out at the water. “I guess I just wasn’t expecting to see anyone out here this early.”
“I was kind of thinking the same thing, actually. I often come out here in the mornings to, uh, to think.” He eyed her curiously. “I don’t usually see anyone else.”
“You—you do?” She looked back at him, her surprise clearly overriding her shyness. “I do too. I’m surprised I’ve never seen you out here before.” She paused thoughtfully, taking in their surroundings before continuing. “Though I guess that I don’t usually come this far up the beach. ”
He smiled, pleased that she was finally talking to him the way she usually did with Alya and Nino. “I don’t usually come this far down the beach.”
“I guess that explains it, then.” She returned his smile for a moment, then flushed again and retreated once more into shyness.
He sighed at the loss. Did she just not like him?
She cleared her throat, and tugged anxiously at one of her earrings as she took a step back. “I was just heading back. You know, to get ready for class.”
“Me, too, actually,” he replied gratefully, taking a step back as well. “I guess I’ll see you later, yeah?”
“Y-yeah! Um, bye!” She flashed him a smile, waving and skipping backward a few steps, then turning to jog down the beach.
He watched her for a moment, then turned back the other direction with a bemused shake of his head. He made his way back up to the rocks, and from there to the long boardwalk that would take him back to his father’s beach house, mulling over their strange encounter. Maybe his original impression had been wrong. Maybe she’d just been swimming parallel to the shore, rather than swimming in from the ocean, and maybe she hadn’t been spending as much time under the water as he’d thought. After all, humans can’t breathe underwater, and Marinette was human, wasn’t she?
Adrien stopped, staring sightlessly ahead with wide eyes. What if she wasn’t? He wasn’t human, and he knew that there were others like him, living anonymously among their human counterparts. If she were like him…! It would be wonderful, if he could share his secret with someone without fearing their reaction.
He gave his head a shake and continued walking. He couldn’t assume anything. But perhaps, he should try again to get to know her better?
Marinette jogged all the way back to the place where she’d left her things, her mind in a whirl. Of all the people to run into out here, it just had to have been Adrien! She scooped up her towel with a groan, and dried the last of the water from her skin.
The breeze giggled at her, and she glared toward the sound. “You would think it was funny, Tikki.” She stuffed her towel into her bag and shook out the loose dress she always wore over her bathing suit for the walk to the beach as the breeze brushed her cheek with another giggle.
“Of course I do!” A pair of laughing blue eyes materialized out of the air, followed by an impish smile, and the rest of her face, until the little red Air elemental was completely visible. “You’ve been trying to talk to him for ages, Marinette! And now you’ve had a whole conversation with him, all on your own!”
Marinette paused in pulling her dress over her body, and smiled dreamily. “I did, didn’t I?”
Tikki spun happily in the air. “You did!”
She sighed happily, then groaned with renewed distress and finished pulling her dress down. “But Tikki, what if he had seen?”
“Oh Marinette, you worry too much. What if he had? What could he possibly have thought, other than that you were going for an early morning swim?”
“Well, yeah, but most people have to actually come up for air. You’re the only reason that I don’t.” She slung her bag over her shoulder and walked the short distance to where her bike leaned lazily against the fence. “What if he saw enough to start asking questions? I can’t have questions, Tikki!”
“It’ll be fine, Marinette. I promise!” The little sprite faded back to invisibility with a lingering smile, reminding Marinette as she so often did of the Cheshire Cat. Then the smile, too, was gone, and the wind swept past Marinette, lifting her drying hair from her face and ruffling her dress encouragingly.
“I know, I know. I’m going.” Marinette smiled fondly, knowing that the sprite was still nearby, and walked her bike to the path and began the short trip back to the apartment she shared with Alya, several blocks away.
Once there, she put her bike away and raced upstairs to get showered and changed for school, waving to Alya in the kitchen on the way by. Twenty minutes later saw both girls on the bus, headed to the main campus of the Aix-Marseille University —Marinette, to go to class, and Alya, to meet her boyfriend before their classes began.
As Marinette sat licking the buttery remnants of a croissant from her fingers, Alya nudged her shoulder with a grin.
“You know, M, I will never get over the fact that you have actually started getting up early every single morning, and you still manage to be running behind every single morning.”
Marinette rolled her eyes, accepting the teasing as a normal part of their morning routine. “Ha ha, Alya. You know you wouldn’t know what to do with me if I weren’t late.”
“Probably not,” she laughed. “You were even later than normal this morning, though, weren’t you?”
Marinette cringed, knowing she was blushing. “Yeah, a bit,” she hedged, hoping not to get into it.
Alya’s brows rose, and her gaze sharpened. “I know that look, M. Spill.”
She sighed. She really should have known better. “I kind of…ran into Adrien?”
“What? Seriously? Was he alone?” Marinette nodded helplessly, and Alya hooted in excitement. “Girl, you were holding out on me!”
“Ugh, Alya, nothing happened! We just…talked. A little. And it was awkward, and maybe a little weird, and then we both left to head home. It was nothing.”
“Girl. You ‘talked’? As in a conversation? That is totally something!” Her eyes widened, then narrowed suspiciously. “And you weren’t going to tell me about it, were you?”
“I was,” she protested weakly. “Eventually.”
“Mm-hmm,” Alya hummed through pursed lips. “Sure you were.”
“I was! Just, not until tonight, when we could sit and talk it over without interruption.”
“Ahh, I see.” She sat back with a smirk and crossed her arms over her chest. “You were going to tell me when it was too late for me to corner Adrien on the Green and ask him about your little tête-à-tête.”
“Maybe.” Marinette ducked her head guiltily, but she was smiling. “But in my defense, you are kind of a force of nature.”
“I got you, girl, don’t you worry.”
The bus slowed to a stop, causing Marinette to bump gently into Alya, and both girls stood to exit. “Somehow, Alya, that doesn’t make me feel any better.”
Alya followed her off of the bus with a ringing laugh, and the two friends waved to one another as they headed in different directions.
Marinette hitched her bag up higher on her shoulder, and tried not to let herself worry over Alya’s interference. Alya would be Alya, she had Marinette’s best interests at heart, and the worst she might suffer was a bit of embarrassment. She could deal with that.
Marinette reached the door to her classroom, and settled herself on the stone bench just outside the door to await her instructor. With a deliberate effort, Marinette pushed her worries aside, and began to prepare herself mentally for the lesson to come.
She’d ostensibly come to the renowned Aix-Marseille University to study in their Arts program, and she was. But more importantly, she’d come to participate in their Elemental Master’s program, to hone her inherent Air magic.
Not everyone knew about that particular track of study, of course. Not everyone was an elemental mage, and those who were made it a point to hide their magic from those who weren’t. The lesson had been very well learned, and reinforced multiple times over the ages. The Inquisition in Spain, the witch hunts in the States, the persecution of the Celts in Britain…the examples were too numerous to count, and contemporary mages took those lessons to heart.
Of course, not all of them were uptight about it. For some, it was a game they played, to hide in plain sight. J.K. Rowling was one such mage, and her Harry Potter series was just as popular among the magical set as it was among the “muggles”. Perhaps even more so, because it carried the added bonus of being an inside joke for those in the know.
Marinette fell mostly into the second group of magic wielders; she loved things like Harry Potter, and she certainly wasn’t ashamed of her magic, but she was terrified of making a mistake that would expose herself, her family, and even their whole community to the wider world. That fear was, in large part, responsible for her presence at this school. Her mother was a Fire mage of middling power, and her father was an Air mage with minimal power. Their power combination was ideal for running a bakery—Tom’s sylphs and sprites ensured that their breads all rose perfectly, and maintained a proper air flow in the ovens, while Sabine’s Fire salamanders kept the ovens at the perfect temperature, ensuring that all of their baked goods came out, well, perfectly. Combine that with well-loved recipes that had been handed down for generations, and it was easy to see why the Dupain-Cheng store flourished.
Unfortunately, though, Marinette’s Air magic far outstripped her parents’ powers and she’d exhausted what they could teach her by the time she reached lycée. She had a Master’s power, and she required a Master to teach her. And so, when she chose her University, she considered attending the Paris ESMOD only briefly before choosing a school for its’ arcane renown rather than its Arts program. The choice baffled her friends, but her parents supported the choice wholeheartedly and Marinette was far more at peace with her powers, knowing that she would finally be learning to control them fully.
Marinette heard a key turning in the lock, and opened her eyes to greet Mme. Piers warmly.
“Good morning, Marinette,” the woman returned. “Are you ready?”
She nodded eagerly, and felt Tikki sweep them both in an excited eddy of air.
“All right then,” Mme. Piers said, laughing. “Come along, both of you.”
Marinette eagerly followed the Air master into the warded workroom, and Tikki blew in behind them, pulling the door closed behind her.
So, I can't leave this story alone. It's like I'm reading a book, and I really, really want to know what happens next--except that I can't, until I write it. So. Have a third chapter in as many days. I can't promise to keep up this pace, and in fact, I can pretty much promise that I won't. But I hope you enjoy it while it lasts!
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 On AO3
Marinette blinked. “Half…fish?”
Adrien’s eyes slid closed, and he took a slow, deep breath through his nose. “Plagg, I swear, I am going to abandon you to the Nereids.”
“No you won’t.” Plagg shrugged. “You were going to spend all day swimming around it. I saved you from yourself.”
“Wait-wait-wait, ‘half fish’? As in—”
Adrien opened his eyes and sheepishly held up one hand, displaying the pale green webbing stretched between his fingers, as well as the narrow fin along his forearm, and hoping fervently that she wouldn’t be repulsed. “Merman.”
Marinette’s eyes went round, riveted on his hand, and her mouth formed a perfect O of surprise. Then her eyes moved slowly down his arm to the bend of his elbow, and then up, up to his shoulder, to his face. She saw now the details she’d missed in her initial panic: the sheen of iridescent scales at his jaw and down his neck, the delicate points of his ears…the pronounced points of his teeth.
She felt a frisson of fear dance down her spine, until his eyes caught hers, and she saw in them the same gentle spirit that had always been there.
“Merman,” she breathed, wonderingly. He still looked like himself, but he was also very clearly something exotic, something other. Somehow, because of that, he was even more beautiful now than she’d ever seen him before. And considering how brain-meltingly attractive he’d been to begin with, that was saying something.
She raised her hand to touch him, but stopped with her fingers hovering just centimeters from his skin, blushing hotly. “May I?”
He nodded mutely, pulling her closer to help support her in the water with a hand at her elbow, and she saw with a feeling of relief that he was blushing, too. Somehow, that grounded her, and her fingers shook only a little as she ran them down the webbing between his splayed fingers. He shuddered at the touch, though, and she withdrew her hand quickly.
“I’m sorry!”
“It’s alright,” he said, his blush deepening. “I’m just, ah, not used to being touched. Go ahead.”
Marinette frowned at that, but took his hand in hers, and ran her other hand over the fin on his arm, pressing the jade green spines down along his skin. “You’re warm,” she said, in some surprise. Every fish she’d ever touched, on the rare occasions when she’d been fishing, had been cold and a little slimy.
He chuckled. “I’m not actually a fish. I’m warm-blooded, like you.”
“Oh.” She touched the iridescent scales on his arm along the fin, noting the way they faded from green, at the base of the fin, to almost clear further out, where the scales gave way to normal skin.
“I guess this is your first time, meeting one of my people?”
She jerked her hand away, blushing again, and nodded. “There aren’t many mermaids in Paris.”
He laughed. “No, I bet there aren’t. It would be fishy if there were.”
“Oh my god,” she groaned, swimming backward a bit, and he released her. “Did you just pun? On purpose?”
“Is there any way to do it, except on porpoise?”
Plagg snickered, but she groaned again. “Ugh. That’s it. I’m leaving.”
“What? Oh come on, Marinette, don’t you like puns?” She heard him swimming after her, and he caught up with her easily. “We can’t be fronds, if you don’t.”
“You’re terrible,” she huffed, panting with exertion.
“Terribly funny.” He frowned, then, and swam in front of her. “Hey, wait a minute. Why don’t you let me bring you in?”
She bristled at the implication that she couldn’t do it herself, and scowled. “I can make it in on my own.”
“I know you can, but do you really want to?” Her frown eased, and he forged ahead. “You’ve been treading water for a long time, and practicing your magic before that. I know you’re exhausted. Please let me help you?”
Her legs were aching, and even the thought of fighting the surf all the way back was enough to make her feel weary. “Alright.”
He grinned at her, and she felt the force of that smile down to her toes. Had she ever seen him really smile before?
“Here, just hold on to me, and I’ll have you back up there in no time at all.”
He held his arms out like he was waiting for a hug, and her eyes widened in dismay when she realized what she’d actually just agreed to. With a gulp, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and felt his left arm wrap around her body, holding her close. She had only a moment to process that, though, before they shot ahead. She tightened her hold on him and closed her eyes, trying not to think of anything at all.
Adrien held his arms out to her invitingly, and her eyes went wide for a moment before moving to wrap her arms around him. He wondered at her reaction, until he felt her slick skin press against him down the length of his body. Then he understood.
At that point there was nothing for it but to wrap his arm around her waist as clinically as possible, and carry her back to the beach.
He’d never done anything like that before. There were just as many humans in his home-city of Meriton as there were mer-people in Paris, and to all of the humans he’d met in Marseille he was just as human as they. The need, the opportunity, had never arisen. Now, the experience was both far too brief and far too lasting.
Adrien’s mother had disappeared when he was still very young. His father was a reserved man, dedicated to his work, and he had withdrawn further after losing the woman who had apparently been the love of his life. Most of the others in his life were his father’s employees, and though he saw both Nathalie and Gorile as a part of his family, they insisted on maintaining a professional distance. The only one he’d known who had ever shown him any physical affection was Chloé, and her clinging attention had had only been stifling.
Marinette’s touch felt different. She wasn’t being paid for her interactions with him, like Nathalie and Gorile. She wasn’t hoping to gain something from their acquaintance, playing on his wealth and fame, like Chloé. To Marinette, he was just Adrien, and he knew from her wide-eyed blush that she was just as affected as he.
When she’d gently stroked the membranes of his hand, the sensation had rocked him. He’d been able to control his reaction after that, but each touch of her hand was no less intense than the first had been and he’d felt them to his core. Those sensations, coupled with the unveiled wonder and appreciation and unconditional acceptance in her gaze, had nearly undone him.
Somehow, he’d forgotten all about that in the teasing that followed. In his desire to help her, he’d given no thought to what that help would entail. Now, moving through the water with her arms around his neck and his hand on the curve of her hip, he could think of nothing else. Her body scalded him where they touched, in spite of the coolness of her skin, and her breath felt like a caress on his neck every time she exhaled. He never wanted to let her go, while at the same time, he could not wait to reach the shore so that he could re-establish the space between them, and regain his equilibrium. He was afraid of his reaction to her, afraid of the strength of his attraction. He needed time, away from her, to process it.
Fortunately for his state of mind, it took only a few minutes and very little effort for him to make a swim that would have taken her three times as long. When he felt his fin brush sand, he stopped and pulled his arm from her waist to rest his hand gently at her hip. “Is this close enough?”
“Yeah, this is fine.” She let him go and swam backwards, toward the shore, until she could touch the bottom. “Aren’t you coming in?”
“Er, yeah, hang on a minute.” Adrien’s hands went to the long leather thong around his neck, and pulled it off over his head to un-loop it from around his ring. He stopped, though, with the ring only half way on, and looked at her in acute embarrassment. “Ah, maybe you ought to go on without me.”
“Oh—kay.” Her brow furrowed, either in confusion or concern; he wasn’t sure which. “Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine. I just, ah, I need my legs back and I’m not—I mean, my pants are—gods, this is awkward.”
“Oh.” Marinette’s eyes lit with understanding, and she flushed crimson right to the roots of her hair. “Oh! You’re—you aren’t wearing any—um, right. I’ll just…I’ll be going.” She took a step back, buffeted by a rolling wave, and then stopped, flicking her eyes downward.
He smirked, in spite of his own discomfort at the situation. “There’s nothing to see at the moment.”
“No! I wasn’t—well, I did, but I didn’t—oh, bloody hell. I’m leaving. Now.” She took a few awkward steps back, still blushing furiously, and then turned with a wave, calling back over her shoulder, “I’ll just—I’ll just see you later!”
He waited until she was completely out of the water before replacing his ring on his finger, allowing the magic to remold his body into that of a human male in a flash of green light. To his chagrin, his, ah, interest in her was far more evident in this form than it was with his tail, but it couldn’t be helped. He stayed where he was, treading water, until she waved from the beach and disappeared from view on her bike. Only then did he move in to the shore, to pull on his shorts and gather his own things.
“So, I think that went well.”
Adrien glanced at Plagg, who had appeared at his elbow, as he struggled to pull his shorts up over his wet skin. “You would.”
“She didn’t freak out over you being a fish.”
“I’m not a fish.” He grabbed his towel and began rubbing at his hair, drying it.
Plagg shrugged. “Nuance. And you’re avoiding the point.”
He tossed his towel over his shoulder, slid his feet into his sandals, and glared at Plagg. “What is the point, then?”
“I’m just saying, she’s a human, and she knows that you’re not a human, and she isn’t freaking out.”
“I know she’s not freaking out, Plagg. But maybe I am, a little bit. Alright?” He ran his hands through his wet, disheveled hair. “Just, get in the ring, please, so we can go back.”
“Don’t forget my Camembert.”
“You are so weird.”
“I’m serious.”
“Elementals don’t eat. Why do you eat?”
“Try me.” Plagg crossed his arms over his chest, and looked pointedly at Adrien. “I will abandon you to your fan club.”
Adrien shuddered. “There’s no need to be cruel, Plagg. You’ll get your dumb stinky cheese. Please get in the ring?”
“Fine.”
Plagg got in the ring.
“Tikki, I’m freaking out.”
“Don’t freak out, Marinette! What is there to freak out about?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Marinette threw her hands in the air dramatically, and plopped down on the side of her bed. “How about, the guy I’ve been practically in love with now knows that I’m a mage and, oh by the way, he’s also actually a merman? Like, how does that even work?”
“Marinette—” Tikki began, but Marinette just kept right on talking.
“Or, what about the fact that my best friend is a natural-born investigator and she is going to KNOW something is up and how am I going to keep this from her? I mean, it’s one thing for her to know about my magic, but this? It’s not my secret to tell! And I know he must guard his as closely as I guard mine! She’s going to find out, and then she’s going to say something to him, and then he’s going to hate me and oh my god, what if there’s some kind of treaty between his people and mine? I’ll be violating some kind of international code, and I’ll be arrested and—”
“Marinette, stop!” Tikki got in her face again and squeezed the end of her nose, causing her to stop her tirade and close her mouth with a snap. “Deep breaths, Marinette. You need to relax, and take one thing at a time.”
Marinette blew out a long breath, and smiled weakly. “You’re right. I can handle this. One thing at a time.”
“Exactly. Get through your classes first, and then we can deal with the rest.”
“Class!” Marinette shot up in a panic, and began scrambling to gather her things. “Merde, Tikki, I’m going to be late!”
“At least today is one of your later days,” Tikki giggled. “If this was a Workshop day, you’d have missed it entirely.”
“I know, but I’m still running late! Bye!” She flew out of the apartment, down the stairs, and to the bus stop on the corner, where Alya was sitting with her phone in her hand.
“I’m here! I made it!”
“You’re ridiculous.” Alya looked up at her with sparkling eyes, and tucked her phone into her bag. “You didn’t even have time to brush your hair, did you?”
Marinette winced, and Alya winced with her. “Ah, no. I think I’m lucky that I got the shower.”
“Want me to do something with it? I’ve got a couple of hair ties in my bag.”
“Yes, please,” she replied, nodding fervently. “It’s going to make me nuts if it stays down like this.”
“You got it.” Alya stood and shouldered her bag, nodding at the approaching bus. “After we get on the bus.”
They stood quietly with the two other passengers waiting for the bus, and climbed on when it had stopped and the doors hissed open. They found a pair of unoccupied seats near the front, and once they were seated, Alya turned without a word and began finger-combing Marinette’s hair.
Marinette sighed happily, enjoying the feel of Alya’s against her scalp. “I should have you do that way more often than you do.”
“You always say that,” Alya chuckled softly. “You know, we should have a sleepover this weekend.”
“What?” Marinette turned to look at her friend as if she’d gone crazy. “We live in the same apartment.”
“Yeah, but when was the last time we did the whole sleepover thing?” She put her hand on the top of Marinette’s head and turned her back around. “We could put on our favorite PJs and stay up all night, watching movies and eating pizza and playing dumb games.”
Marinette laughed. “Make those video games, and I’m in.”
“You got it, babe.” She stopped to dig around in her bag, and produced two black hair elastics. “What do you think, M, pig tails?”
“Sure, why not?” She grinned as Alya split her hair into two sections, and began wrapping an elastic around one. “It’ll be just like we’re in collége again, what with the pig tails and the sleepovers.”
“Yeah, but just think, M.” Alya gathered the other section into a neat tail and tied it back as well. “This time, we can invite boys!”
“Alya, yes! I’ll talk to Nino, and you can talk to Adrien. It’ll be awesome!”
“No, I’m serious, Alya.” She put her hand on Alya’s arm, pleading. “Don’t talk to Nino yet. Not until I get a chance to talk to you again, later.”
“What, did you run into Adrien again this morning?”
“I did. And I will tell you all about it, I promise, just wait until later, okay?”
“Alright girl, settle down. I’ll wait.” She frowned, searching Marinette’s expression. “You’re okay, right? Like, he didn’t do something to—”
“No! No, nothing like that. I just—I actually need to talk to him again, and then I’ll tell you everything. Deal?”
Alya nodded, satisfied that Adrien didn’t need pummeling. “Deal.”
The rest of the ride passed with idle chatter about classes, coursework, and harmless gossip. They parted ways at the campus bus stop with a smile and a wave, and Marinette headed to her first class of the day.
It was Thursday, which meant that she had two long classes back to back and then she was done for the day. Normally, she would spend her afternoon studying, or working on a design project, but today she was hoping to spend it with Adrien, asking questions and filling in some holes. To do that, though, would mean getting in touch with him to see if he could meet her.
Marinette stopped outside her classroom, propped her shoulder against the wall and pulled her phone from her bag, staring at it as if it might bite her.
She had his number, of course. He’d gotten to be good friends with Nino in the two years since they’d all started their studies at AMU, and the four of them—Marinette, Alya, Nino and Adrien—often did things together as a group. But she had never communicated with him directly, or tried to hang out with him apart from the group. Even after their encounter that morning, texting him felt like a big step.
Still, it was necessary. She blew out a breath and brought up his contact information, pausing only for a moment before tapping the icon for a text message. Once there, though, she froze. What should she say? ‘I need to talk to you’ sounded dire, and ‘can you meet me for coffee’ sounded like a date. Wasn’t there a happy medium in there somewhere?
She turned, resting both shoulders against the wall behind her, and let her head fall back. How could a girl ask her crush to hang out with her, without making it sound like a date? Was that even possible?
Her phone chimed in her hand, startling her from her thoughts, and she jumped.
She straightened from the wall and opened her phone again, and found that Adrien had beaten her to the punch.
Adrien: Hey! We didn’t really get to finish talking earlier.
Would you want to get coffee this afternoon?
She giggled, grateful that they were apparently on the same wavelength, and sent her reply off quickly before heading in to class.
