Future Tales of the Miraculous

Chapter 6

Nathaniel and Marinette arrived at her family's bakery, having waived off Alya and Nino a few blocks earlier. 

"Thanks for walking me home, but you don't have to do this everyday; I'm totally fine walking by myself,"  Marinette informed the redhead as they approached the bakery's entrance. 

In reality, she need a little more personal space from Nathaniel.  His clingy presence began to seep past school hours; Marinette often found the redhead loitering in the bakery after school everyday and during the weekends. While he wasn't a huge nuisance, she didn't find his constant presence helping her to grow any romantic feelings for him. 

"Oh, it's no inconvenience at all," Nathaniel deflected.  He moved in a little closer, sheepishly sweeping his red locks behind his ear and resting his cerulean gaze on her lips.  "I really enjoy getting the extra time to see you." 

A kiss was coming her way, Marinette realized, when he held her by her shoulders and lowered his face to hers.  She stood still, closing her eyes, deciding to allow the experience to happen. Fairness was her rationale; so far they hadn't exchanged a kiss on the lips in the months they've dated, yet in a few short weeks Adrien had claimed her lips, threatening to also steal her heart, in the most passionate kiss of her life.  His lips hesitantly brushed against hers at first, then moved onto hers with more confidence.  She waited for the familiar racing of her heart, the feeling of fire igniting within her and for a craving to be consumed by his touch that she felt with her last kiss, with Adrien.

This kiss was pleasant, but none of those feelings emerged.  Instead, her amorous moment with Adrien flooded her thoughts, making her heart slightly ache.  Somehow this felt wrong, causing Marinette to pull away at first chance. Nathaniel frowned momentarily at the kiss's ending, but hid his disappointment with a smile. An uncomfortable moment of silence passed between the two as they both awkwardly adjusted their backpacks.

"Anyway, I've been meaning to ask. Is it just me or is Adrien acting like a jerk lately?"  He suddenly asked her, his voice laced with irritation over saying the blonde's name. 

"Adrien, a jerk?  No, he's never been that way." Marinette answered immediately, raising an eyebrow in surprise to his line of questioning.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, he's got a problem with me; that I can tell. I get it, he's a popular, rich pretty boy who everyone worships, but I'm not blind to his uptight attitude," the redhead continued, wearing a disgusted scowl. "He seems to hang out with you...a lot. Maybe you should spend less time around him."

Marinette shook her head in disagreement and in disbelief in what he was asking of her. It was true that Adrien had been a little possessive of her as of late, but Adrien's friendship alone played too great a role in both her personal and heroine life.

"No, I think you've got him all wrong, Nathaniel.  He's got a lot to personal stuff to deal with, more than you or most people know about.  Adrien's got a good heart, that's why he's one of my best friends," she contested.  " I would never just shut him out of my life."

Nathaniel flinched at her answer, eyebrows furrowing in frustration in failing to persuade her his way. Her declination pretty much confirmed his suspicion that she still harbored a stupid crush on the vapid pretty boy. The idea maddened him even more considering that he had patiently waited for her to give up on the golden boy before asking her out.  

Adrien consistently paraded around the school every week with a new girlfriend; how could she still want to defend his character and their friendship?   He was a better behaved male version of Chloé as far as he was concerned.  The rejection felt all too familiar, like the one she gave him shortly after becoming akumatized as the Evillustrator.