Compass part 5
http://foxycrafter.tumblr.com/post/174410757630/compass-part-4
“Alya” she half shouted down the phone “Alya Alya Alya!!” she continued and her friend could do nothing but stare at the offending object while waiting for her friend to calm down. “Just spit it out gurl” she managed to say between the repeated string of her name. “AdrienwasoverbutthenLukacameoverandhehadmybookthatIforgotandIthoughthehadlookedinsideitbuthedidn’tbutthatisnottheimportantthingbecauseAdriendaskedmetogotohishousetomorrowtolearnpianoandLukaistakingmetothecinemaandIdon’tknowwhattodo!” Marinette blurted out without taking a breath and it too her friend a few moments to decipher the run on sentence.
“Adrien was over at yours, and you are going to his tomorrow…” she started with and Marinette made a umhum noise in reply “But then Luka showed up to give you back your book and asked you to the cinema?” she finished with, and this was followed by a sequence of noises and finally a whine. “I will be right over”
True to her word Alya was at the door in under 30 minutes, she went straight up to the attic room only to find her friend burittoed in her blankets making small noises every few seconds. She dug her out of her fortress of squirminess and sat her on the bed to tell her the full story from start to finish. Marinette explained how the night before she had run into Luka and ended up staying with them for a while after the ‘heartbreaker’ attack, and she how she must have dropped her book while she was there, but then she explained how awkward it had been with Adrien at the start, but how they relaxed into it and had lots of fun.
“He offered to teach me how to play Piano Alya! I get to sit next to him, and he will be holding my hands as he shows me things, and maybe then he might…” her face went red as she imagined leaning back against him and then he held her close, but even as she was imagining that, Adrien’s hair was dark and tipped with blue. Her blush grew deeper and she threw her hands up to cover her face. This just caused Alya to laugh a bit. “and how did Luka get in the way of this?” Alya asked and Marinette opened her fingers just enough to look at her friend. “He… I… I sort of forced him up into my room when he was about to tell Adrien…”
Her eyes widened in Horror, she had dragged Luka to her room in front of Adrien! OH NO! She had practically body slammed Luka when she covered his mouth! What on earth was she thinking! What would Adrien be thinking?! What if he thought that they were dating? Well she was going on a d-d-date with Luka, but that was not like they were dating dating right?
Alya seemed to figure out what was going on in her friends head as she tossed and flopped on her bed. “Mari seriously, what’s the big deal? This could be good for you? I mean you like Luka too right?” her friend reasoned and Marinette stopped flopping dramatically to register a nod “Okay, we I say enjoy it, Go see Adrien tomorrow, just relax, and then afterwards go out on your date with Luka. Don’t think too much about it. Just let your compass guide you girl”
Mari sat up in her bed and actually smiled “just let whatever happens, happen.” She said and Alya agreed to that, after calming down a bit more they enjoyed some hot chocolate and some of the cake that Adrien had made, it was really good and Marinette found herself more than impressed by it. While they were eating Marinette remembered she was meant to call Adrien to arrange going to his the next day, but she decided to text instead. ‘Hi, so is it still okay to call tomorrow? Totally fine if it’s not. Just wondering?” and he replied almost right away ‘morning okay? I have a shoot in the afternoon?’ She smiled down to her phone and then to Alya. ‘Morning would be great!’
--
Morning came and Marinette found herself at the front gates of the Agrest manor again, only this time she was invited, she rang the bell and bounced from foot to foot. Within mere moments the gate was opening and a tall dark haired woman was walking out to greet her. “This way miss Cheng” Marinette jumped a bit and began to follow “O-oh Yes! Going that way” she stuttered as nerves overtook her, she was lead to a spacious music room where Adrien was waiting for her with a friendly wave and a smile, she waved back and made her way to him by what could only be described as scurrying, Adrien chuckled and thanked Natalie for showing her in.
“So where do you want to start?” he asked her and she opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of water, this only had him laughing more and he moved over to the grand piano in the center of the room. “Well how about this? I will show you the basic keys and we can start you off with an easy song?” she nodded to this and moved over to the piano stool, it was just like she had imagined it would be, she was sitting close to him, and he was pointing out each note for her. Though he wasn’t exactly holding her hand as he did it, it was still pretty near what she had imagined.
Well all except him morphing into Luka. Her cheeks flushed as she thought about that and Adrien seemed to notice, though he didn’t say anything about it, he just flipped out a music sheet and said “Do you know how to read music?” this was enough to bring her back to reality and she looked from the sheet to him and then back to the sheet “A little bit, but I never really understood the marks other than the notes.” She said and Adrien smiled and began to explain what each symbol meant.
It was difficult, but fun at the same time, and after an hour she managed to play frere Jacques at a decent pace. She laughed about it being a childs song, but Adrien just told her that that was how he started out too (though he neglected to tell her that he was a child at the time) “Hey” he said after a moment “Are you hungry? I can get some lunch brought out to us if you like?” she felt herself going a bit wide eyed to that but just nodded before saying “If it’s okay?”
Of course it was okay and she ended up at a large dining table with him, it seemed a bit surreal to be sitting at such a huge table when it was only the two of them there, and she said as much to him “Well” he replied “It’s worse when it is just me” he finished and Marinette felt a wash of pity flood her, Adrien must have noticed and he tried to laugh it off “Ah, no, I don’t mind it that much, besides, I get to go out and hang out with you guys now. And having band practice with Luka” he paused for a second as he said that name and looked at Marinette, and just as he thought would happen, she went as red as a tomato. He smiled, but at the same time he was not very happy about it. “Well, let’s just say I am not on my own anymore”
Marinette smiled to this and was thankful he didn’t say anything more about Luka, or at least, she would have been if he hadn’t “So… You and Luka seem close.” He half stated, half questioned and Marinette almost fell of her chair as she backed up and waved her arms “No no no! I mean not the way you think, not that I know what you are thinking, it is just that I left my book and I have drawings in there that I don’t show people and I thought he was going to tell you what they were, but he hadn’t actually looked so I really didn’t need to cover his mouth like that and drag him away, but he is really only a friend right now so there is nothing going on at all, not that you asked me that, but I mean he is nice and all and I am sure you know that too because you play in the band with him and all so, but” Adrien laughed and Marinette fell silent. “okay okay, you are friends.”
Adrien couldn’t explain why he felt relief after that, and in truth, Marinette had been on his mind for a while recently, Luka had actually been asking him about her a lot recently, and openly admitted to how much he liked her, and it made Adrien really start to look at his friend a bit closer. She was smart and funny, even if she didn’t mean to be half the time, and she was considerate of others too, not to mention talented. The only problem was even if he did think of her as anything more than a friend, he doubted his father would approve. He hardly approved of him being friends with Nino and the gang as it was, let alone starting to date one of them.
He was just staring at her while he thought of this, and it struck him hard, would he really consider dating Marinette? She was just shyly eating her lunch as carefully as she could while he looked at her and it occurred to him, he probably would. But deep down he knew it wouldn’t be fair to her, he was in love with Ladybug, so dating her when he liked someone else would be cruel. She seemed to notice he was staring and he smiled and shook his head, finishing his lunch too.
After that, they ended up playing games and talking about the pastries he had made the night before. “Natalie had them brought out to my father during our supper, I didn’t tell him I made them until he was finished, it was funny to see the look of both horror and surprise on his face. He enjoyed them though, and praised me on my skill but he said he didn’t want me to get any notions of becoming a chef as it is not the Agrest way” he said and laughed a bit at the end, and so did Marinette “Well I guess he has a point, I can’t really imagine you working in a bakery” Adrien smiled and then it faded “Really? Do I stand out that much?” He asked and she instantly regretted her wording “No no! I mean, I am sure you would be amazing at just about anything you tired, but, A bakery just, well you should be a film star or famous or something, not working in a store like I do”
“I couldn’t agree more” came a voice from the doorway, both Adrien and Marinette turned to see his father standing there looking at them, Adrien’s agent was also lurking behind and it was only then that he realised the time. “Ah Father, sorry, I didn’t realise the time” he said and his father said nothing but just looked at Marinette, he didn’t hate this girl, she had proved herself talented and she had given his son good advice before, but for Adrien to become so distracted was an inconvenience.
http://foxycrafter.tumblr.com/post/174629279345/compass-part-6