Dead

Distractions

"And where have you been this entire time? Do you know how many times Nino and I have been calling you?" Alya demands, hands on her hips. Before I can answer, Nino wraps me in a bear hug, coming out of nowhere.

"Dude! Where have you been?" He asked, still holding onto me, until Alya pulls him off.

"Nino! Mr. Agreste here is in trouble for missing for so long! We can scold Marinette later, after her parents are done. We can't coddle him." Alya says, sternly, turning to me. "No Marinette for one week, young man."

"What?!" I demand, biting back a laugh at her furious expression.

"I mean it. You two don't get to disappear on everyone for five hours then show up and act like nothing is wrong. You will be punished and the only way I can think of punishing you right now is by not allowing you to see Marinette for a week. Right, Nino?" She asks, turning to her boyfriend.

"Als," Nino tries, but she crosses her arms and scowls at him. Nino gulps and clears his throat. "R-right. Du- Adrien, no Marinette for you for a whole week, understand. We are... very mad at you." Nino says, glancing at Alya. She nods, satisfied and smiles proudly.

"Woah, we were kidding." Alya says, turning back to me. "Look, you can see Marinette. We can't actually stop you." I smile and wipe the tears away from my eyes.

"It's not that. I'm just... glad someone cares about me." Nino and Alya exchange glances then both come up and wrap their arms around me. I feel myself break and the tears begin to flow freely.

"Adrien?" I hear a voice behind me call. Alya and Nino back away and I turn to face a blurry figure with a blue blurry head.

"Marinette?" I ask. I watched the figure step forward and wrap their arms around me and I felt my resolve crack open fully. I throw my arms around her and gasp in air, feeling short of breath.

I feel her lead me over to a cop car, where we both sat down. She rubbed my back, trying to calm me and, after a little bit, it starts to work. It takes a little bit longer but I finally manage to calm down. I sniff and wipe my tears away. I watch Alya hand Marinette a wad of tissues and Marinette hands one to me.

I take it, then five more and clean myself up until I feel much better. It felt so good to release all that, and even better to have Marinette there. After cleaning myself up, Marinette's parents came over and asked me if I was okay. I assured them I was and they told me I'd always be welcome at their bakery.

"Feeling better, my Prince?" Marinette asks, looking up at me. I smile down at her.

"Now that you're here." I reply, wanting to kiss her. She frowns and looks behind me.

"It's because of him, isn't it?" She asks, jerking her head behind me. I glance back to find my father and Nathalie watching us. I scowl and turn away. Marinette notices my expression and nods, as if coming to a conclusion.

"Can I stay at your place tonight?" I blurt out, begging her silently to say yes. There was no way I'd be able to stand staying at my house tonight. Marinette smiles and hugs me.

"You're not allowed to steal my words." She says, her voice muffled by my shirt. I smile with relief and kiss the top of her head. I hear someone suck in a breath and look back at my father, scowling. I glare at him and hold Marinette tighter, daring him to try and take her away from me.

"Uh, Adrien?" I look back at Marinette and release her. She starts laughing and I frown, not sure what was so funny. "Instead of smothering me, how about you settle for a hug?." She laughs and I rub the back of my neck sheepishly.

"S-sorry." I stammer, embarrassed. She giggles.

"This is a nice change of pace, you the one stuttering, me less so." She laughs. I smiled and wrapped my arms around her waist.

"You're right. This is pawsitively unexpected! I'm feline replaced! We need a catspert to help us with this-"

"I get it!" Marinette laughed. "Please stop! The clawror!" I burst out laughing and felt her laugh along.

"Not bad." I admit. "You know, I have a friend who could use some help. He's got some great puns but he needs new material..." I trailed off as I realized what she was doing. She smiled up at me and I smiled back. I leaned down and kissed her forehead, thanking the lucky star that brought us together.

"What was that for?" Marinette chuckled.

"For distracting me, Princess." She smiles sadly and wraps her arms around me.

"Shall we go ask my parents?" Marinette asks. I hum in agreement and we stood up. Taking my hand, Marinette led me to where her parents were talking with Lieutenant Roger.