The Vulnerability of Pink

CLuB CRaWLeRS

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JUST AS ADRIEN AND MARINETTE MADE their merry way over to the bar area at the darkened club, the song currently playing raged in louder volume. After briefly discussing their little spat, the two were back to being the best friends everyone knew them to be. So when they rolled up to their mutual friend group, the only question that was raised was pegged at their formal clothing choice.

"We just escaped from an obligatory dinner hosted by Father," Adrien plainly offered, sounding like he wanted to leave it at that.

Somewhere along the way, he had ditched the suit jacket and tie, in favor of rolling the cuffs of his crisp white button down to his elbows.

The reasoning he offered seemed good enough for Alya, Nino, Chloe and Nathanael that it wasn't dug much deeper into. She also hoped she mentally got their names right, having only hanging out with them a small handful of times beforehand.

The only one she was fully sure about was Nino, since she'd visited the home he shared with Adrien.

"You look smoking hot, Marinette!" Alya exclaimed, the said girl flushing at the sudden attention. The rest of her friends agreed, mumbling nice compliments left and right.

Suddenly, Adrien hooked his left arm around her shoulders snugly, once again bending down to her ear softly. "See, now you know why I couldn't afford to look away," he sweet talked.

Marinette rolled her eyes, pushing the dweeb away by his nose. "It's not like I didn't know that. I am smarter than you think," she puttered back, a little annoyed that he thought so lowly of her intelligence.

"I didn't mean to offend you, but she's right, you are beautiful."

She blushed a pretty pink, not really wanting to entertain the implications at his rather bold and lofty statements.

"Whatever," she retaliated.

"Would you like for me to get you a drink? A sweet iced tea? A sparkling water? Perhaps something alcoholic?" Adrien kindly asked, changing the subject. She nodded.

"Um, yeah. I'll take something fruity."

"Your wish is my command." And with that, the blonde male sauntered over to the bar.

"I'm sorry, but were you two flirting up a storm in here?" Chloe loudly spoke, also captivating the attention of the rest of their friends.

Squeaking, Marinette fumbled for the proper words. "N-No! Adrien and I aren't like that! He just has no sense of personal space, that's all!"

"Oh please, I've known him for a few years and there's no way he'd ever pull something so personal like that on me. Not unless he's in any way fond of his baby maker."

Nathanael elbowed her for the crude choice of name, but Marinette laughed good heartedly. "I appreciate the concern, but I really think he's just incredibly friendly with everyone. And we weren't flirting, we were kindly disagreeing. You know, all stuff friends do."

Alya quipped up, finally removing the straw that seemed to permanently sit between her rouge lips. "All I'm hearing is a buttload of pitiful excuses." Marinette crossed her arms.