MIRACULOUS ADRIENETTE - The Christmas Party

Chapter 6

"Adrien! Adrien!"

The figure took another step to the edge, and Marinette's heart screamed. What was he doing, so close? The gym was high-ceilinged; the roof a good 4 or 5 metres from the ground – a fall would be deadly. His profile was dark against the heavy grey sky as he took another step, holding out his hand oddly, oh God, he wasn't going to...

"Adrien!" Finally, he turned, glancing down, and Marinette saw his face was contorted with rage. The anger was so unfamiliar on his features she froze for a second – before the fear came back, and she ran to the ladder.

It had been left by the builders after they'd finished the roof – not deemed good enough to keep carting around. And Marinette could see why - very step she took, it shook and groaned ominously. Looking down, Marinette's stomach flipped – the footballs piled next to the gym walls looked like peas. Anxiety gnawed at her mind, but she willed herself to rip her gaze away, climbing faster and faster.

Finally, she reached for the ledge of the roof. Breathing out a sigh of relief, she stepped onto the final rung, just peeping over the edge -

Her foot slipped.

Marinette felt herself drop, gravity claiming her greedily as she tipped, not screaming at all.

A warm hand gripped her own, and she looked up to see two cat's eyes.

"Hold on!" With surprising strength, Adrien Agreste dragged her onto the cold rooftop. "Are you ok? God, Marinette... What were you doing?"

Marintte could only tremble and stare – the shock and awe rendering her dumb. "I came... to find you." She shivered again; it was colder on the rooftop than she'd imagined. Adrian took off his black hoodie, and draped it around her shoulders.

Marinette swallowed, what she'd just seen coming back to her in hard, heavy chunks as her gaze flickered over his features, now so close she could count the freckles. "Adrian, you weren't going to... to..."

His face clouded over again, and he shifted away. "I needed some space."

"You know, no one really meant that." She was gabbling, desperately trying to dispel this new, unfamiliar version of Adrian. "No one think's it's you, I mean, I don't..."

"I think they did." He cut in, sharp and final, the venom making her flinch. She wrapped the hoodie closer, her sudden goose bumps nothing to do with the cold.

"Kim wasn't thinking, come on, you know what he can be like sometimes." She tried to side step the whole punch thing – at the moment, she hadn't even fully realised it.

When he stood, his fists were clenched, his figure cutting a dark line across the grey of the sky. If she looked closely, she could see the whisper of a shiver as the two words feel from his lips.

"Just go."

Looking into those beautiful, beautiful eyes once again, Marinette thought of all the times she'd simply gazed at him, documented every inch, counted every freckle smattering his tan cheeks (46, not counting the mole on his left eyelid), trying to understand him in his entirely by the neat folding of his wrists, the perfect smile always playing on his lips.

But now, as he trembled with such anguish, it was like she was actually... Seeing him for what was really there. His arms were pimpled from the cold without his hoodie, his hair ruffled by the wind into something less than symmetry, and his eyes were rimmed with dark red circles.

A wave of shock went through her as the question appeared.

Did she love Adrian?

Or was she simply in love with the façade, the mask, the practiced smile and quiet, polite voice?