"I'm Back."

"Telepathic"

"Ah! Adrien, can I have your number?" Marinette asked looking through her bag for her phone.

"Yeah of course!" He stretches his hand out to take her phone so he could input his number into the keypad.

"Great!"

Once finished putting in his number he handed the phone back to her with a cheerful "There you go!"

"Thanks, Adrien." She put the phone into her back pocket before turning to leave after saying the last goodbye.

"Bye Adrien, um...bye-" she flashed a friendly smile at the boys behind her.

Her smile was a bit timider when she looked at the amber-eyed boy.

He looked at her smiling back.

She turned and walked away with hastened steps.

Her posture was awkwardly perfect, almost as if she were trying to feign confidence.

And with that, she walked out of the house.

Adrien glanced at Elias who had released the tight grip on his shoulder opting to lazily rest his arm on it instead.

He couldn't help but notice the faint smile that dawned d his now softened features.

'Adrien couldn't help but notice the bittersweet undertone that made itself present in his golden-orange eyes.
______________________________________

Elias hadn't seen Marinette in a while and seeing her smile at him... he couldn't lie he almost forgot how many of the small things she did gave him butterflies.

Butterflies...

That word is a bit too innocent.

With what they have gone through...

Maybe calling them butterflies would be him seeing through rose coloured lenses...

Bees.

Bees flutter around his stomach giving him that serotonin rush he loves so much but, then the fluttering would be followed up by stings.

Stings that reminded him of every word he's ever said when they had an argument that could have led to that outcome, of every time he was late to a date because he had things to sort out, of every time he couldn't say three simple words.

But even through all the pain of the stings from his past mistakes. The bees still flutter.

He loved it.

The feelings of pure love and pure regret, mix crudely.

The feeling of knowing he would never be worthy enough to hold her again yet still go crazy at the thought that anyone but him could hold her.

The contradictory feelings causing a battle within him and it drove him mad...

But he couldn't lie. He was addicted to the bittersweet madness. He was addicted to the dance between wrong and right in his beyond fucked mind. He was addicted to the feeling of hope she gave him. He was addicted to the pain of regret and karma collecting their debt, eating at his conscience slowly.

Marinette's Dupain-Cheng. She wasn't his first love but she was the most memorable.

He wished that he was blessed with ignorance, so then he may ponder why she broke up with him and be left at a stump when it came to the answer.

But he knew exactly why...

She could never understand what he went through and how it affected him.