Umbrella - a Miraculous Ladybug fanfic

Part III

If the librarian didn't check her, Marinette would never notice the closing time.

She buried herself with books about fashion and designs to distract herself from Alya's missed calls, and somehow succeeded for the last few hours. It might be pure luck that her best friend didn't raid the whole school facilities to find her alone in the Arts section. Or maybe she did went to the library, but failed to see her.

She looked at the raindrops outside the window sill. The sky was fairly gray since morning, and the weather didn't gave her the sunset view she usually expect after class. It reminded her about an umbrella, that she was supposed to bring one but didn't because she went out before rain showers.

To make the story short, she forgot it.

She collected her things and carefully settled Tikki inside her bag. She didn't want to disturb the cookie-loving kwami from her slumber. Snickering, she left the premise.

Good thing that her house was a five-minute walk, so there wasn't an issue with her in terms of travel. She'd just run in the rain. And if a problem occurred, she'd transform into Ladybug.

The halls were empty, and so was the locker area. And since Alya stopped calling her two hours ago, Marinette knew her that all of her classmates went home already.

Which was why she didn't expect to see a familiar figure waiting outside.

A handsome model leaning on a pillar with a rainy weather as a backdrop was a sight, and for Marinette it was perfect picture of solitude. On his hand was a closed black umbrella, with its pointed edge tapped on the floor.

Adrien felt her presence, and looked towards a beautiful girl in twin tails, with large blue eyes complementing her doll-like face. She was alone, with her dark hair blended among the shadows, and her petite figure was wrapped by soft illumination that came from the hallway's lamp.

The two youngsters stared each other for a whole minute, unable to tear their attentions away, until the loud, crackling noise of a thunderstorm cut it.

Marinette jolted, as well as Adrien who blushed and moved his head away.

The designer walked towards the entrance shyly, then stopped a meter away from the model. She didn't want to let the cat get her tongue, and proved it by striking a conversation.

"No-not a nice weather today, huh?"

He was surprised, but happy that his Lady finally talked. "Yo-you're right. Not a nice weather. Totally."

"Waiting for someone?"

"Yeah." he answered. "You."

Now that made the cat got her tongue.

Her silence was painful for Adrien to bear, and even though he wanted to break it, he couldn't think of words to say.

He spent hours thinking about Ladybug and Marinette, and realized how little he knew about these two persona. That he was a dense idiot for not connecting the dots, and his biased feelings blinded him from identifying his true love. How many sleepless nights had he suffered because he fell in love with his Lady and Princess at the same time?

Marinette could feel the tension in the atmosphere, and knew that she caused it. Fidgeting, she looked around for a topic, and noticed the item on his hand.

"Tom gave this to me when we checked you out today. It was Alya's idea, not mine." he explained.

He respected her territorial boundaries, controlling the Chat in him to visit her room or sniff all over Paris for her answer. But he was also a teenage boy that has a streak of impatience.