Between Us

Breaking the Surface

Note: Thank you for the wait. Enjoy <3

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All Marinette wanted at this moment was a can of some energy drink or a shot of espresso. Her entire day had been consumed by classes and analyzing amateur projects of past ESMOD alumni which left her drained and mentally fried. Her shoulder bag felt heavier than this morning, despite her turning in her scholarly article on the history of western fashion which she actually started and finished before the deadline for once.

She just had to remind herself that she was going to see Adrien today. That would surely lift her spirits up.

In fact, she could actually just picture Adrien standing by the entrance of her building, waiting to sweep her off her feet and confess that he didn't just want a fake relationship. That he wanted her and all of her.

It seemed like her draining day was starting to get to her head because it was then when Marinette actually spotted someone that looked awfully like Adrien when she got closer to the gates.

Maybe she was just going a little bit crazy.

Wait. Perhaps she still has some of her sanity left because it really was him. His eyes gleamed in the lowering sun the closer she got to him. He looked right at her immediately with that model smile after she had eyed him with confusion. He waved her over before starting to walk toward her.

"Marinette! Glad I caught you. I was worried I was at the wrong building," he said nonchalantly. Was he trying to drive her crazy?

"What are you doing here?" Marinette asked immediately, almost sounding defensive. She honestly should just accept that Adrien Agreste went out of his way to see her.

Nevertheless, he continued to smile brightly. "What kind of fake boyfriend would I be if I didn't pick up my fake girlfriend after my photoshoot?"

Even though the word 'fake' was evident in his sentence, it didn't stop Marinette from halting to breathe when he referred to her as his girlfriend.

"Are you ready to head to the bar now or do you need to go home first?" he asked.

After a quick moment to think about it, she shook her head. "I can go now."

"Perfect, let's go," he responded as he extended out his hand.

Marinette stared at it probably longer than was considered normal. She could feel the burning eyes of the people passing by, but she couldn't determine whether it was coming from her imagination or not.

She could feel the awkward tension thicken when Adrien pulled back his hand and stuffed it into his pocket, clearly avoiding direct eye contact.

Marinette mentally cursed at herself. It seemed all she did around him was take steps backward after any sort of progress she manages to make.

The walk to the bar was a little less awkward since Adrien was making conversation and asking her basic questions like how her class was. Plus, the bar wasn't too far from the school, so that'd cut down this walk by much.

"Is everything alright, Mari?" Adrien asked, tugging her out of her thoughts.

She hadn't expected him to ask that, so her answer was mostly a jumble of words she thought of first. "Er, well, mhm, why would you... I'm sorry, yeah I'm okay, why?"

He shrugged. "You've been kind of quiet."

Had she? Marinette hadn't noticed. Though, it makes sense. Her mind had been too caught up with overthinking everything and now she was starting to become hesitant about this whole ordeal. But she couldn't say that. Not yet. They barely had one date. A fake one at that.