The Line Between Love And Hate

Chapter 36: You And Me

~Saturday, December 17th~

The sushi with Alya and Nino went well. We ate, we talked, Adrien and I even pretended to get into a fight like we said we would. We immediately felt guilty though. Alya and Nino looked so worried. I know they were scared that fight would set us back again.

They were so caught up in us being friends again that they didn't even notice when Adrien and I slipped away to make out. I would say the night was an overall success.

And Adrien did make up his date to me I guess. I told him this isn't a date, but he refuses to believe otherwise. We're having coffee right now. We're going to carpool to work together today. He said it would be easier, but I think he just wanted to see me. Or to make out in his car.

Either way it's a win win for me.

"The ball is coming up Mari. I hope you're making good progress with my suit." Adrien says as I take a sip of my coffee. "Oh was that what I was supposed to be doing?" I shrug. "I guess I forgot." He rolls his eyes. "You didn't forget."

"Only time will tell." He looks at me for a moment and then leans over the table. "We should coordinate outfits." I place the cup of coffee down. "Why would we do that?" He shrugs. "I don't know. I think it'd fun." He mumbles.

"But wouldn't that defeat the whole purpose of keeping this low key?" I motion to us. "I mean..." He starts playing with his cookie. "Would that be such a bad thing?" He connects his eyes to mine.

Yes. Yes it would be a bad thing. When whatever we're doing blows up in our face, we'd have to continue reliving it when people ask "What happened with you guys?" I don't want people to know because once this is over I don't want to have to deal with their dumb curiosity.

I shrug. "I don't know Agreste." He smiles and nods. "Just think about it. Okay?" "Okay." He checks the time and smiles. "We have 15 minutes before we have to go to work." I fake a yawn. "Good. I can nap Im so tired." I tease.

"Do you want to? I take naps before work all the time. I should have a pillow and blanket in the back." "No- I-" I laugh. It's not a real laugh. It's a laugh that says, "I can't believe he's still so sweet."

"-I was just kidding." He shakes his head and stands up. "No we're going to nap now." He holds his hand out to me to help me out of my seat.

When I'm standing, he doesn't let go. He intertwines our fingers. He walks me to the passenger side, but instead of opening the door, he presses his back to it and pulls me to him by my waists. I instinctively wrap my arms behind his neck.

"Thank you for agreeing to go on this date with me." I laugh and shake my head. "I told you already. This wasn't a date." He presses a gentle kiss on my lips. "Keep telling yourself that princess." He tilts my chin up and reconnects our mouths.

He breaks the kiss and opens the door for me. I try to pull him back down, but he moves away. "We can kiss later. Get some sleep." He kisses my forehead.

Adrien goes to the back. He comes back holding a pillow and a blanket. "Do you want to sleep in the passenger or back seat?" I ball his shirt into my fists and pull him into me. "Agreste." I say in a whiney tone.

He holds my head in his hands. "I'll sleep with you." I raise my eyebrow at him and he starts laughing. "That's not what I meant." I laugh and kiss him. "I know."

~~

Adrien and I took a nap in his backseat before coming into work. I didn't sleep much though. I was laying on top of him and he was holding me. It was both comforting and disturbing. I'm still so upset about everything that happened and he still wants answers to everything.

We need to enjoy this while we can. It's only a matter of time before this backfires at us.

Alya smiles at me as I walk to my desk. Her smile is brighter. I'm assuming it's because she knows me and Adrien have somewhat made up.

I smile back at her as I start to look through the people Jagged's been talking to. I decide to look into Gabriel first. I think Adrien deserves the piece of mind of knowing that his dad isn't Hawkmoth.

The first thing I did when I walked in was go to Tikki's office. I had to request a warrant to hack into Gabriel's phone. I had to fill out a shit ton of paperwork that took me about 3 hours. Then I had to wait another 2 hours for the request to get approved.

I got a warrant to hack into his phone. I got the serial number, typed in the code, and I was in.

I write any little detail down that could either point him to being innocent or point him to being guilty. So far the innocent side is the fuller one. The only off putting thing is that him and Nathalie has had some type of contact with every victim.

I spend as much time checking each message to make sure there's not some cryptic code there, but with every message I check, there's nothing. Nothing that could incriminate them.

It's just a coincidence then. It has to be. I've known Nathalie for so long. I've known Gabriel for so long. Neither of them can be behind this.

After I finish looking, I mark him off as innocent. I place this paper into a folder and I move onto the next one.

I hear something shuffle from in front of me, but when I look up, instead of seeing Alya, I see Adrien adjusting in the seat. I look around and the entire office is empty. Has it been that long already? "Sorry. Did I interrupt you?"

"Oh my god." I shift papers around to look for my phone. "What time is it?" "11:35." "How long have you been watching me?" He smiles. "Since everyone left." "And you didn't say anything?" "You were focused. I liked watching you work." My cheeks begin to hear up and I start closing all the files to cover it up.

He rises from the chair and walks to me. He sits in the corner of my desk and tilts my head up. "Don't hide your blush. I like it when you blush." I stand up and center myself in front of him. "You do?" He looks down at my lips and nods.

I connect my mouth to his and kiss him gently. He slides his tongue in my mouth and this time, I let him take the lead. He gets up from the desk making me take a few steps back. Our lips never separating.

He slides his hand down to mine and intertwines our fingers. He rests his head on my forehead for a moment before he leans over and grabs my purse off my chair.

We start walking toward the exit hand in hand. "What were you working on?" "I was looking into your dad." He nods. "Did you find anything?" "Him and Nathalie talked to every victim, but there's nothing in the messages. I think they're both innocent."

We get to his car and he opens the passenger door for me. "That's good to know." He closes the door after I get in. When he walks around the car and climbs in I ask, "What about you? Have you made any progress?"

He backs out of the parking lot. "I crossed off Penny. She's just been scheduling meetings. We're going to have to add more people to the list soon." He grabs my hand when we get a red light.

"This is going to take forever." He raises my hand and presses a comforting kiss to it. "We got this Mari. We're in this together alright? You and me?" I smile and nod. "You and me."

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A/N: Omg! I have so many chapters written right now and I came back to publish this and...

MY GOD SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED SINCE THIS CHAPTER!

I know the filler chapters are boring, but please push through! I have so much planned for this story!