The Ace-ing on the Cake : A Mlb Fanfic

Chapter 11 : Party

Another sleepless night, albeit for different reasons this time, left Adrien yawning as he readied himself for school. He had spent the hours in which he was supposed to be sleeping mentally connecting dots and wondering how the hell he had been so oblivious. Several situations that had always seemed a bit odd now made a lot of sense. Even silly things, like why Alya always seemed so determined to get Adrien and Marinette alone, now added up.

"Agreste, you're an idiot," he told his tired-looking reflection.

"Can't argue that!" Plagg called out from the bedroom. Adrien sighed and leaned in towards the mirror, examining the deepening bags beneath his eyes. It was hard to say who would have the bigger fit if he went out like this, his father or his make-up artist, but either way Adrien reached for his bottle of cover-up.

As he worked, he pondered again how he was supposed to handle seeing Marinette today. Knowing what kind of torment she was going through made his stomach cramp with guilt and discomfort. He could alleviate her deepest fears with a few words, and it would be absolutely incredible to do that. He could have a beautiful, smart, kind girl who loved him.

But Ladybug.

He scowled, twisting the cap back on the tube with admittedly more force than was really necessary. Damn his heart! Why wouldn't it just give up on Ladybug already? Here was Marinette, crushing on him and twisting herself up needlessly, just waiting for Adrien to give the word, and he didn't know if he could bring himself to do that. Didn't know if he could let go of Ladybug. Didn't know if Marinette would even want him to. Didn't know if she deserved him even trying. What the hell was wrong with him?

"Adrien, your bodyguard is downstairs with the car."

"Coming," Adrien called, walking out of the bathroom. Nathalie gave him a once-over as he picked up his bag.

"Are you sure you're feeling well? You look pale," she remarked.

"I'm fine. I just had trouble sleeping last night," Adrien said. "What's on my schedule for the day?"

"You have a photoshoot after school," she said.

"Great," he muttered unenthusiastically, moving past her. Though at least if he had to go to a photoshoot, he wouldn't have to worry about Marinette trying to talk to him after school. He suddenly regretted having encouraged Marinette to talk to her crush. Now, with the full context of the situation, he realized what a dumb move that had been. He could only hope that Marinette would keep her silence until he figured out what to do.

Because if Marinette did confess, he had no idea what his response would be. He didn't think he had it in him to break Marinette's heart by turning her down. The last couple of days had already been so hard on them both. And he'd been oblivious to Marinette's feelings for however long she'd been in love with him. He couldn't bear the thought of causing her yet more pain.

The Gorilla was indeed waiting in the car. Adrien got into the backseat and stared silently out the window. As they approached the school, his heart fluttered with a combination of nerves and excitement. Whatever he did, he had to be cool. Marinette had no idea that she had divulged such private information to her crush. She deserved, at the very least, his discretion.

Nino was waiting at the gate. He stepped forward as Adrien climbed out of the car, smiling. "Hey Dude!"

"H i Nino," Adrien said, shutting the door.

"Wow, you look exhausted," Nino said as the car drove away. "Tough weekend?"

"Something like that," Adrien said, knowing that Nino would attribute a hard weekend to Adrien's job. He silently apologized to his friend for lying, but the tangled truth wasn't exactly something Adrien could talk about no matter how much he would have loved having the opinion of an unbiased third party – Plagg, since he didn't care, didn't exactly count.

"Bummer." Nino threw an arm around Adrien's shoulders. "Your dad really needs to learn how to chill out. We're sixteen. We should be spending Saturday nights at a party, not working."

"I've been to parties. They suck," Adrien said, thinking of the boring, black-tie affairs his father often forced him to attend. They were filled with two kinds of people: those who were obsessed with trying to show off their wealth and one-up each other, or those whose ambition in life was trying to latch on to a wealthier companion. Adrien hated them; the only saving grace was when Chloé attended too, because at least she was good at chasing people away.

"Yeah, not quite the kind of party I meant," Nino said with a wry smile. "Say, did you finish the physics homework? I don't suppose you'd be willing to let your best friend in the whole world have a peek..."

"You didn't get it done over the weekend?" Adrien asked.

Nino grinned. "Alya didn't have to baby-sit her little sisters because her mom was off. We had way more important things to think about, if you know what I mean."

"I know. No details necessary," Adrien said quickly. "Let's go sit and you can look at it."

They found an empty bench on the far side of the yard and sat. Adrien took his workbook out and handed it over, then leaned back and turned his face to the sky. In spite of the cool crispness to the air, the early morning sun felt wonderful on his skin. Fatigue weighed heavily on his shoulders; he could've drifted off to sleep right then and there, with only the sound of Nino's scratching pencil for company...

And then a familiar voice called out, "Hey Nino! Hi Adrien!"

Adrien's eyes flew open in a panic at the sound of Alya's voice. In a bid to get her best friend to school on time, Alya had started dropping by the bakery in the morning to pick Marinette up. It was actually working, as Marinette didn't want to be the reason Alya was late, and so Adrien was not at all surprised to see that Marinette was hovering a step behind Alya as they walked over.

But he was worried, especially when he saw that Marinette looked just as tired as he felt. She was wearing make-up, but he would've bet good money that the circles under her eyes were as dark as the ones under his. Her smile seemed emptier than usual, and even her clothing lacked its usual dash of style: she was wearing blue jeans and a plain red top.

"Good morning," Marinette said softly, not looking at Adrien.

"Hey Ladies," Nino said, setting his work aside to hop up and kiss Alya in greeting.

"Hi," Adrien said, equally soft. Unlike Marinette, who didn't seem to want to acknowledge him, he couldn't stop looking at her. He both want to and didn't want to talk to her; there was nothing he could say, not right now, and yet leaving her to stew in her uncertainty was cruel.

"Wow, Sunshine, you look as tired as my girl does," Alya said once she got a good look at Adrien. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you two had been having secret meetings all weekend!"

Adrien choked. Marinette squeaked. Nino laughed.

"Come on, Alya. As though Marinette and Adrien could ever keep a secret like that from us," Nino said, gently nudging her in the ribs.

Alya snickered. "I'm just joking. Of course they couldn't."

Suddenly, not looking at Marinette was very easy. Adrien stared hard at the ground like it was the most fascinating thing he'd ever seen, not daring to look at anyone less they somehow magically divine the truth.

"I gotta head inside," he said, standing up. "I need to tell Madame Bustier I have to leave a few minutes early today. Nino, make sure you bring my workbook in with you, okay?"

"Sure," Nino said with a nod, sitting back down. Alya and Marinette sat down beside him. Adrien felt a moment of regret that he couldn't stay too – it would be easy, too easy, to sit beside Marinette, to put his arm around her and kiss her cheek – but made himself walk away. Unfortunately, distance did little to quell the uncertainty and frustration running through him. What on earth was he going to do?