Secret Kiss

Jealousy(?)

"Wow," Marinette breathed as she lifted up a sketch of a beautiful dragon to reveal an illustration of herself and the Evillustraitor kissing. Her face burned a dark red as she looked over at her half eaten pancakes rather than studying the image before her, "you uh, you're a great artist Nate." The red head sitting across from her chuckled nervously and snatched the picture from the pile. She noticed but did not comment on the fact that his face matched his hair as he folded it and tucked it carefully into his shirt pocket. They had been deep in conversation before yet now their booth was deathly quiet as she carefully looked through the rest of his artwork. She did not look up at him as she skimmed through image after image while her mind raced around how she could tell him she was only going to see him as a friend without dealing with another Akuma.

"I know that you have a boyfriend now, I saw you two together at school." He began, causing her to blush a bit harder as she wondered if she and Adrien were that obvious in class, "but you know, he doesn't seem like a good guy for you and if her ever does anything that could or does hurt you I'm here to lend a shoulder and an ear to you anytime." She almost coughed up the bite of pancake she had just swallowed. How could anyone think that Adrien would hurt her, accidentally or otherwise.

"W-what?" She croaked as she tried to swallow down the lump of pancake with her cup of caramel macchiato without chalking on it.

"I mean honestly Mari, the dude drives a motorcycle." He stated as he slapped his hand on the table, causing the dark roast in his own cup to jump and nearly spill out onto his plate.

"What?"

"You know, the guy with the bike and the leathers, he dropped you off at school today!" He was nearly shouting at this point.

"Motorcycle, dropped me o- oh." She held back laughter as realization struck her, "oh no. No, no, no. Kid is just my roommate, and a girl by the way." She stated as she rolled her eyes.

"That was a girl?" He asked as he sat there with a stunned expression on his face.

"Oh yeah, she just prefers looking like a guy. She works with five of them so I guess it's just easier for her that way." She sighed as her laughter died away. The awkward moment was forgotten as the two teens settled into an easy conversation about art once again.

"I'm sorry for earlier," Nathaniel stated as they stepped out of the café a little while later, "I got worked up over nothing because everyone was saying you were with some bad boy biker who had you move in with him so he could take advantage of you." She smiled and patted his arm gently as he adjusted his portfolio in his hands.

"It's okay, honestly. I'm just glad I could clear up this misunderstanding. I hope the rumors can be corrected soon." She sighed as she shook her head, "honestly they made school life a bit difficult for me."

"I'll help you with that!" He said a bit loudly and promptly coughed into his hand, "I- I mean I would hate to see someone as nice and pretty as you get hurt by a misunderstanding."

"Thank you." She nearly whispered the words as she looked down at her own sketchbook clutched tightly in both of her hands. She jumped a bit as his fingers wrapped around her chin and forced her to look up at him.

"No need to thank me." His voice was soft as his eyes looked into hers, "I'm always there for you Marinette, always." He was leaning towards her then, his eyes going half lidded as they looked down at her lips. Her heart pounded in her ears as fear rushed through her bloodstream. He was trying to kiss her, which meant that he still liked her, which meant he thought that what they had just done was what, a date? No, no she couldn't let him do this! She had to move, had to get away from him and go home where she could safely say her love for Adrien was not in question.