Run

He Runs

Feet pounding on sidewalk, gravel, grass, dirt; whatever was beneath his feet. He didn't stop to check, there was no need to, after all. He just needed to keep going, it didn't matter where. The pounding of his feet echoing throughout his body, resonating through his soul, his heart beat keeping time. Music only he could hear. It didn't matter where that music led, where it took him; it just needed to keep playing. His feet needed to keep hammering out the beat; his body needed to keep finding the melody; his heart needed to keep time; his soul needed to create the rhythm. With each breath harder than the last, with each step burning through his aching muscles, with each pulse sending feeling through his veins; he needed to run. 

He never regretted the exhaustion that occurred right after runs; the shaking breaths, the sweat running down his face, the numbness in his legs, the soreness afterwards; the only thing he regretted was abruptly being forced back into reality. Sights, smells, sounds, people...they all came back through his dizzied smog. 

When Adrien reached his normal turn around point, he sighed mentally knowing that his run was nearing its end. But as he turned around and looked down the street, he saw the foot traffic increasing. And in a flash decision he crossed the street, determining less foot traffic on the other side. Or at least so he thought, until he got a bit farther down. Slowing his pace to accommodate walkers, joggers, and runners alike; he tried to weave through the populated patch and get back a steady rhythm. Luck, however, was not on his side (as if it ever is), and Adrien grew incredibly frustrated as he was stuck in a mediocre pace, struggling to pass all of the people to run freely. It was probably due to this frustration, that he never even noticed another body trying to sprint through the crowd. Most likely why, he never even noticed it until it crashed. 

Adrien wasn't sure what he was expecting when a blur crashed into him. He had probably been expecting some pain, an awkward apology, a separation of ways and then moving on with his day. To say that he wasn't expecting a small figure, darting through a particular dense area of walkers and joggers, to collide into him on his routine run, and who would just happened to be a high school friend which would most definitely lead to something beyond the predicted expectation, was probably an understatement. 

With a force that he wouldn't have constituted to someone of the blurs size, he caught them in a partial embrace as he, himself, was thrown back. As he landed with an 'oof', a small squeak came from the person who had run into him. A stunned silence settled around them as onlookers slowed to witness the commotion. And as Adrien fought to regain the breath that he lost, he felt it stolen away once again in shock as he looked at the girl he sort of cradled in his arms. 

Black hair, tied back into pig-tails, he so fondly held in remembrance; slight frame, heaving with short, tight breaths that needed more air; and blue eyes hazy from the exhaustion of trying to forget.

"Mar-Marinette?" Adrien managed to gasp despite his lack of air. Bright eyes flashed up to meet his, widened in shock and surprise. 

"Adrien?"  A voice rounded and matured, meeting his shock and recognition with her own. 

"Yeah, I guess its been awhile, huh? But you know, when people saw they bump into each other, I never thought they meant it literally." He said with a small grin, one hand rubbing the back of his neck a bit sheepish and the other resting on the concrete behind him, supporting the weight of his upper body.  

"Ohmygosh I'm so sorry! Are you hurt?" The resounding concern in her voice caused Adrien's eyes to widen and his heart to flutter. His inner self teared up at the blatant care this woman held for a high school friend (Friend? Friend. Or maybe more of an acquaintance? No, no, friend.Right?) who she hadn't seen in the two years since graduation. 

He held up his hands in a defensive position, "I'm fine, I'm fine." He shifted uncomfortably and tried to reassure her, but honestly so much honest concern and care...he didn't really know what to do with it. Sure, Nino, cared about him and worried over him when necessary but beyond him, Adrien didn't really have anyone else who worried about him, as a person. However, Marinette, friend as she may be, just couldn't be put in the same category as Nino. There was something different about Marinette. Maybe it was the earnest way she sat, with her hands clench on her knees. Or perhaps, the nervousness emitted from her body, causing her to shift and fiddle. Or it could have been the way guilt caused her to bother her lip with her teeth. But if Adrien had to decide on one thing, it was probably her eyes. Most people's eyes softened when they felt emotions such as regret, guilt, or pity. But Marinette's eyes seemed to harden, details coming into focus. Every emotion a new vein of blue, creating distinct landscapes where normal people had blurred lines. You felt every emotion she did, just by looking into those eyes. It was unnerving and unsettling to someone who was taught to look at people but to not really see. 

"Are you sure?" Her voice unconvinced as her hands fluttered around his head and his face without actual touching him. Her gaze shifted from his face to observing him up and down, as if by scrutinizing him, she would find unseen injuries that she could worry over. 

With her eyes not on his own, Adrien found that he could breathe again. But as he did so, he heard the oh-so-familiar ringtone that symbolized his free time was over. And even as he found his breath, he forced it out into a sigh and pulled his phone out of his pocket. 

"Sorry, Marinette, do you mind if I take this?" 

Adrien answered as she gestured for him to take the call. 

"Hello?....Yes, Natalie, I'm still on a run....no, I can be there in fifteen minutes...no, Natalie, I don't need the car to come get me...No, I really don't...I'll be there in fifteen....no! I don't need you to come get me! Goodbye, Natalie, I'll see you in a few minutes." He sighed again as the phone call ended, his sudden exhaustion not from his previous physical exertion. 

"Well, looks like you have somewhere else to be." Marinette said. A small smile paired with a slight cock of her head. 

Adrien blew out his breath and returned her smile with an exasperated one of his own. 

"Yeah, I guess I do." 

He heaved himself to his feet and extended his hand. Marinette took it and let Adrien haul her up, as well. Her legs shook a bit, pins and needles coursing through them. Adrien watched her shake her legs out before sticking his hands in her pockets and offering her a smile. 

"We should catch up soon, look me up when you have some time to spare." He said. 

"Sure thing." She returned his smile, turning away from him and taking a deep breath before breaking into a jog. "Bye, Adrien!" She threw over her shoulder as she picked up her pace. 

He would have returned the farewell if she hadn't been too far away already. So as he watched her disappear, he imitated her. Swinging around, and taking a deep breath he started heading towards work once again. 

Memories dancing colorfully in his head, he let them leak into the music of his pounding feet. 

And so it goes, and as he goes; he runs. 

Author's Note: So this story is eerily similar to Jump's style....Oh well. I hope you guys like this one! Tell me in the comments if you want me to continue!

As Always, 

Love, 

Cutesylittledemon