Love Dies

Chapter 24

Adrien was.....uh....loosing it. It was pretty unbelievable that he'd asked Marinette out on a date thirty minutes after she'd begged him to stay with her. It was even more unbelievable that she'd said yes! With that in mind, she'd likely be here in five minutes. Nearly everything was perfect, the tiniest details unable to escape Adrien's hyperactive focus. He might have gone a bit overboard, but there was no way he was going to pass up this opportunity. If they were doing this, they were going to do this right. The stakes were too high to leave room for error. Not this time. The knock on his door sent a shudder up his spinal cord. The hour had come. With a reassuring breath, Adrien gave himself a quick once over before confidently stepping towards the door. He hadn't anticipated that she'd make his jaw drop, stun him for a moment maybe, but not paralyze him. His heart beat faster, falling out of rhythm with his lungs as he tried to keep his outside appearance relatively calm. Though it probably didn't matter how nervous he was, when Mari was likely feeling the same way.

"Hi..." Adrien barely managed to choke out the greeting, her presence still mesmerizing him.

"Hi...." She returned, the tiniest blush beginning to brighten her cheeks. It wasn't difficult to pick up that she was having a hard time looking him in the eye, but to be fair, so was he. The apartment was lit by candles excluding the kitchen light, of which he'd purposefully left on to keep the apartment soft and quiet, but not too romantic. The table was already set, meal included, and all it really needed now was the 'guests'. "This place hasn't changed much." Marinette commented, her whole body visibly relaxing. This was good. She was comfortable.

"Yeah. I really like how we set it up." Shortly after their break-up he did consider rearranging the space so he had a fresh start, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. "I hope you don't mind fried rice. We both know how good of a cook I am." Adrien joked honestly, helping her take her seat.

"I'm sure it'll be fine Adrien."

"Okay, but don't lie to me if it's horrible." He wanted this to go well, so if it was bad he didn't want her to be nice about it and eat anyway. He needed her honesty.

"It's fried rice! It's hard to mess that up." Marinette fired back with a laugh as he took his own seat.

"You'd be surprised."

"How long have I known you?"

"About six years...?" He answered picking up his fork. Now he was beginning to wonder where she was going with this.

"An of those six years, have I ever thought your cooking was bad?"

"I don't know. I've maybe cooked for you only a handful of times." This was nice. The banter was a welcome reemergence. The idea that tonight would actually go well despite what could be thrown at them, seemed like a dream. However, with the way things were going, it didn't seem like too extreme of a possibility now.

"Well, if it helps Kitty, I don't think any of those 'handful of times' ever disappointed me. I don't expect tonight to be any different." She smiled confidently, taking the opportunity to take a bite first. It was amazing how quickly they settled into the situation. As usual, following her lead, Adrien also dug in. It actually wasn't as bad as he'd worried it would be. Perhaps not perfect, but it was decent. For his skill level anyway. "See? I told you it would be fine. Could use some garlic powder maybe, but otherwise I find it delightful." As relief washed over him, Adrien settled confidently into the environment. Dinner continued on smoothly, small talk with a cup of wine adding the touch of romance this date needed as the night progressed. After some discussion and per Mari's request, the pair took some time to work on the dishes. Oddly enough, it didn't kill the mood, but rather put it in the place of normalcy. It was kind of nice to get a glimpse of what his future could be if they got this right. It was amazing something that simple could do that. Putting the dishes up, Adrien noticed Marinette staring out towards his balcony. Little did she know that he had something out there for her. Initially he wasn't sure how he'd get her out there, but in the end she provided the perfect opportunity.