Never Have I Ever (A Marichat Story)

Sweet Nothing

Everyone who knows Marinette Dupain-Cheng knows that she is deliriously in love with Adrien Agreste. Well, except Adrien, that is.

It's only natural that after two years of pining helplessly over Adrien, then, that she should channel her emotions into creating something that could express her overwhelming feelings for him. So, she made a sweatshirt for him.

Marinette did everything she could to make sure that Adrien would love her gift. She noticed he would always wear his favorite black T-shirt with colored stripes and white jacket, but she always saw him shifting during class and looking visibly uncomfortable in what he was wearing. She suspected that this was the doing of his father, Gabriel Agreste, who she was sure wanted Adrien to always look his best as his son was an extension of his brand. But she couldn't help but sympathize with the boy. He deserved to feel comfortable, too. And that was why she decided to make him a hoodie.

She carefully sewed on the neon green trim into the hoodie of the sweatshirt. Marinette thought the green color would be a nice contrast against the black hoodie. Not to mention the fact that Adrien seemed to have piercing green eyes. Not that she was looking, or anything.

"Hmm..." She grumbled. "Done! Finally." Marinette cheered, satisfied. She delicately folded and packaged her gift into a light pink polka-dot box with white tissue paper inside. Then, she placed the lid on top, and sealed it all with a thick, black ribbon. Her gift was ready to present to Adrien.

Marinette ran out of the bakery, holding a croissant in her mouth as she rushed to school. Just as she entered campus, she saw Adrien talking to Nino in front of the main stairs. This was her chance.

"Uhm, hey guys!" I blurted, inserting myself into whatever conversation they might have been having.

"Oh, hey Marinette! What's up?" Nino replied warmly as he turned at the sound of her voice. Adrien also turned to face her.

"Not much." She smiled back at him, physically shaking her head to focus before continuing. "I, uhm, actually wanted to give this to you, Adrien." She turned her attention towards the other boy, extending the box towards him as bravely as she could. Now that she thought about it, maybe it wasn't the most masculine choice to make his present baby pink.

Adrien looked shocked as he stared for a moment at the box. Marinette blushed, becoming self-conscious of what she had done.

"Wow. Thanks, Mari. That's really nice of you." His word sounded so genuine that Marinette felt vaguely reassured that she wasn't making a terrible mistake.

"Open it!" Marinette offered. "I just mean, you might want it for class." She backtracked, trying not to seem overly eager for his reaction.

"Oh, okay." He responded, obliging to her request. As he unwrapped the gift, she continued to explain.

"I just noticed that you seemed a little uncomfortable during class sometimes, so I thought this might help. I hope you like design, I made it myself. But, you won't hurt my feelings if you don't like it, I totally get it." Marinette laughed nervously as she anxiously watched him unbox the sweatshirt, awaiting his opnion.

"Mari, this is incredible." Adrien held out the hoodie, taking it in.

"It's nothing special, really. Just something I worked on in my spare time." Marinette replied, immensely playing down the numerous hours she had spent toiling over all the details.

"No, really. No one has ever done something like this for me before. Thank you, Marinette." Adrien said, his green eyes holding a new glow as he stared into Marinette's eyes. She blushed, melting under his gazed. Marinette had decided that this was the time to tell him. She was finally going to tell Adrien how she felt about him.

"It's no problem! I actually wanted to tell you--" Marinette was cut off, however, by the blaring sound of the school bell signaling that class was starting. She rubbed her neck, embarrassed by the interruption.

"What were you saying?" He asked after it had stopped.

"Oh, nothing." She said feeling dejected. Maybe it was a sign that she shouldn't tell Adrien about his feeling because he would inevitably reject her. Marinette had determined that that was the truth. She could never tell Adrien how she feels and jeopardize their friendship. Marinette walked to class in defeat.