Stay by my Side

Stay by my Side - Chapter Eighteen

Marinette stumbled away from the locker room, clutching at her stomach. Lila had just spent almost all of lunch beating her up, and Marinette struggled to make it to class. On her way, she pulled out her phone, and saw a message.

Hey Princess, you doing okay?

Yeah kitty...

Why're you contacting me?

I thought we agreed you couldn't see me anymore

Marinette!

I didn't think that'd include texting! D:

Why not?

Because no one is going to see you texting me!

Anyway, your classes probably start soon

You should probably head to class

How do you know I'm not in class?

Maaaaaaagic~

Alright kitty XD

Text later!

Marinette sighed, pocketing her phone. Over the last couple of weeks Chat Noir had ignored her and hadn't contacted her once. And now all of a sudden he's contacting her?

She sighed once again and shook her head. No, it's more likely he didn't speak to her because that was what she said she had wanted. If anything, she's impressed he managed to leave her alone for so long. She only hopes that he doesn't try to visit her again in person - she couldn't bare to imagine how angry Lila would be with her...

"Marinette! Are you alright?" She heard a voice as she struggled up the stairs to her class and turned around.

"Hey Nathanial! Yeah I'm - I'm fine." Marinette said, trying to smile, but failing.

Nathanial saw right through her. "Lila again? I'm so sorry, I thought she was in the cafeteria, and I-"

"It's okay, you're not supposed to be my bodyguard!" Marinette said, chuckling slightly. "But if you wouldn't mind, I could use a bit of support to climb these stairs."

Nathanial chuckled in return and helped Marinette climb up the stairs. "So... how're you and Adrien getting along?" He asked, glancing at her to make sure she felt comfortable answering the question.

Marinette smiled, a small blush appearing on her face. "Alright. We have some nice conversations, and he even said he'd like to join us for lunch tomorrow - if he can escape the brat duo!" She chucked, remembering the face of horror Adrien had made when he spotted them across the school looking for him. She only wished she took a picture to cement the memory.

A sly smile crossed her face. "So if you're asking me about me and Adrien, how are you and Marc?"

Nathanial's face flushed. "I - uhh-"

"Confessed to him yet?"

Nathanial's face somehow got even redder. "I - I'm sure he doesn't even like guys. I mean for a while I thought I was straight, and then well..."

"You got a crush on Marc and discovered you're biiiiiiiii~" Marinette sung in glee, watching Nathanial's face get tomato red. "But honestly, you're never going to know how Marc feels unless you confess to him-"

"If you keep talking about it, I'm going to drop you." Nathanial retorted, using his spare hand to try and hide his burning blush from the topic conversation.

Marinette quickly shut up after that.

---TimeSkip---

Adrien watched Marinette and Nathanial enter, both with flushes on their faces and bright eyes. He smiled kindly at them both, ignoring the slight anger and pain in his chest at seeing Marinette so happy with someone who wasn't himself, and absentmindedly glanced back at his phone.

Text later!

He sighed. Hopefully Marinette would actually keep that promise. Marinette's never broken one before, but with what he's done... he wouldn't blame her. He just made everything worse for her, and now... it returned to him, making his world break into pieces. He never realised how much he cherished seeing Marinette every night as Chat Noir until she told him not to ever again.

At least - for now - he can make do with texting and try to stay as close to her as Adrien as possible, to hold back his desire to see her later on in the day.

But wait... why does he feel that way?

Hiya everyone! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Adrien still cant seem to figure out his feelings XD

Speaking of feelings - Nathanial and Marc, huh? :D

I actually do ship them, although not very strongly - I won't fight anyone who says they don't ship it or anything because that's mean, I just believe that this pairing is sweet 😊

Next chapter... should be from Adrien's perspective. I'm gonna try to stick to the plotline I've written down now, instead of trailing off XD

But for now...

Peachy out! 😊