Cupid's Canvas《Marinette Dupain-Cheng》

˚₊· Her Acceptance

˚₊·

THEY WATCHED THE SNOW FALL, the icy crystals covering the ground in splotches of white. The two of them had stopped at a new cafe that just opened up. Seated outside despite the cold temperature, they hoped the warmth of their drinks would help them ignore it.

As snow began to fall and the bustle of Parisians increased around them, Claire lowered her voice to a whisper. "Hey, I wanna tell you something."

Marinette set her cup down. "Yeah, of course. Is something wrong?" she said, her voice suddenly filled with worry.

"No, nothing like that," Claire assured her. "I have something going on, and I want it to stay a secret, alright?"

She reached into the pocket of her coat and pulled out a collection of pink sticky notes with lace on them. "The past couple of weeks, I've been finding these notes taped to my paintings. No name, no signature, nothing! Just a heart stuck onto the canvas."

Marinette leaned in, intrigued. "So, who do you think could be leaving them? Any ideas?"

"No, none yet," Claire sighed. "I really want to find out though."

"Why?"

Claire laughed. "What do you mean why?"

Marinette shrugged. "Not sure," she said. She took a sip of her hot chocolate before she continued. "Maybe they just like your art and they're too shy to say it to your face."

"I know, I know. That's probably what's going on. But...I don't know. It's stupid, actually. Part of me just hopes that it's something more." Claire brushed her bangs out of her eyes, hoping that Marinette couldn't see the blush she felt on her face.

Her neighbor couldn't help from giggling. "Oooh, so a secret admirer," she teased.

"Oh my gosh, no! I mean, that would be nice, but no! I just want to find out who it is, that's all."

Marinette looked them up and down, not entirely convinced. "Hm. Well, good luck."

Claire watched as she set some money on the table, and grabbed her bag from the back of her chair. "Hey, you're not gonna help me?" Claire said jokingly, although she was a bit disappointed.

Marinette stopped her movement to give her an apologetic smile. "I'd love to, but I have to help my parents at the bakery today," she explained. "Give me an update though!" Marinette gave her another "I'm sorry" look before she waved her goodbye, and hurried off.

Claire sighed. She knew that Marinette had responsibilities she needed to care of, but on the other hand, she hated that she'd been left alone to face her growing curiosity. She hadn't even gotten the chance to ask more about the notes.

Who could it be?
It was the question that had been ringing inside her head for days at that point.

She found herself thinking about Marinette. She remembered when she'd just started to get curious about the hearts, and smiled at the memory of her previous thoughts.

I really thought of Marinette for a second. That was pretty dumb of me.

But despite this, she couldn't help herself from thinking about the bluenette even more. She thought about Marinette absent-mindedly playing with the ribbons in her hair, listening intently to what Claire had to say. The way she leaned in curiously during a conversation, and smiled at the simplest things.

Cute.

It only took Claire a second to realize what they'd just thought. They jumped in their seat, heart pounding. "What the heck?" they muttered. "What did I just think?!" They shook their head, shaking away the thought.

"Relax," they said to themself. "Marinette is not cute...Okay, that sounded mean. She is cute, but not cute to me."

Wait.

Claire brought a palm to her forehead, cursing her stupidity. "Why don't I just...not think about her." 

And so, she tried not to think about her. She tried not to think about her eyes, her smile, or her hair. God, her hair was so pretty...

She shook the thoughts away, lightly slapping herself in an attempt to get her head out of the clouds. But her heart just wouldn't stop thumping inside her chest. She wasn't exactly sure what she thought of Marinette.

However, she accepted the fact that if it was Marinette leaving those notes, she wouldn't mind at all.