To Love Thy Enemy

Chapter One - Study "date"

"Alya will be paired with Nino, and that leaves Adrien and Marinette," Miss Bustier finished pairing the students, "you will have two weeks to complete your project so let me know if you have any difficulties."

Marinettes indignant objections were interrupted by the sharp trill of the bell, signalling the end of the school day.

Alya gave her a sympathetic - yet amused - look and turned to Nino, already brainstorming project ideas.

Marinette hastened to pack up her things, intending to avoid her 'partner' as she stormed out of the room.

If only she could be so lucky.

A rough hand pulled her backwards as she reached the door, and she turned to see Adrien Agreste leaning against a table, looking at her with barely concealed hatred.

Scoffing, she leaned back against the wall and sent her most scathing glare to the disgruntled-looking model standing in front of her.

"When should we start work on the project?" Adrien managed to force out in a clipped tone, looking like it flohysicslly pained him to say the words, "we could...meet up somewhere-"

"Or," Marinette interrupted him, "I'll do the poster and you can make the presentation, and-"

"The poster is based on the presentation smart-ass!" He argued, "How are we supposed to get a good grade if you won't cooperate?"

"You can share files on docs? Besides I'm like 90% sure Alya has your number so I can always text you-"

"Listen baker-girl, I'm no happier about this than you are, but this is worth 50% of our overall grade. A simple text here and there won't even get us close to a passing mark,"

Marinette narrowed her eyes at him, don't with his constant interuptions, "What's the problem model boy," she sneered, "don't want to disappoint dear old dad?"

The sentence on its own had struck a nerve, but the little pout she put on at the end sent him over the edge. But before he could say anything else, and potentially make the situation worse, a third voice cut through the quiet of the near-empty classroom.

"Adrikins, how about I be your partner and Sabrina can work with Dupain-Cheng over here" Chloe offered, clutching Adrien's arm like it was a lifeboat and she was drowning.

Worse, Marinette thought, Adrien smiled at her. She was laying herself at his feet and he was revelling in it? Talk about narcissistic.

"Chlo, I'd love to, but Miss Bustier won't be happy if we switch partners," Adrien replied, sickly sweet, dropping a light kiss on her forehead at the end.

Chloe pouted, glaring at Marinette as though it was her fault, but conceded his point and bid him farewell with a peck on the cheek.

When Chloe was out of sight, Adrien turned back to Marinette, his face, so sweet a moment ago, was full of a loathing he reserved only for her, "So," he said, "What'll it be?"

The words tasting bitter on her tongue, she muttered, "We can meet up at a library or something,"

Adrien's 'I told you so' smirk made her want to snatch the words right back out of the air and pretend she'd never said them.

"I'll see you tomorrow, 7:30 pm at the Françoise Dupont Library," she announced, maintaining her dignity and striding from the room, "don't be late."

"I'll be there," Adrien responded, sounding far too self-righteous for her taste, but he'd always enjoyed riling her up. Right from the very first day.

-

The rain beat heavily down on the nylon surface of his umbrella, tiny droplets splashing onto his skin and wind cutting against his face so hard he had to squint his eyes, blurring the melancholy beauty of the rain-slicked city.

What a day for the limousine to be in repairs.

He always dreaded seeing Marinette. At first, it was because of the thoughts and regrets plaguing him of what might have been, civility, or even friendship. But now, after having bore witness enough of her scorn over the past two months, his dread was sourced from Marinette herself, who seemed to delight in making every encounter feel tiring.

Nino still insisted that she was the sweetest person, and Alya too after they started dating, but while it was true that she acted differently with everyone else, Adrien still stood by the fact that it wasn't hard to fake a sweet exterior if it was necessary to cover up the bitter core inside.

When he finally reached the library - at 7:42 - he found Marinette sitting alone at a table, bent over chemistry notes.

Of course the one day he was late...

The focus on her face was so ridiculously comical that Adrien pulled out his phone as he shook off his umbrella to take a photo.

Hearing the umbrella rustling, Marinette looked up in irritation, sending him a glare that could make Hawkmoth himself give up his miraculous.

"Well, well, well," said Marinette, "look who finally decided to show up." And after she had told him - more than once - not to be late!

Adrien glared back and pulled his notes out of his bag. He could see a couple of project ideas scribbled on Marinette's planner, to his relief, as he had written nothing.

The pair sighed, this would be a long two weeks.

-

"Excuse me, we close in ten minutes," reminded a portly-looking man with a library staff lanyard dangling at his chest.

Marinette's eyes widened as something clicked in her brain, "We'll be out in a minute thanks," she mumbled back, frantically beginning to pack her bag.

Adrien followed her example, at a more normal pace, "Is everything okay?" He asked bemusedly.

The girl nodded, slinging her bag onto her back and speed-walking to the back of the main room, Adrien followed out of curiosity, jogging a little to keep up with her.

"Woah woah what are you doing?" He said, gripping her wrist to slow her down.

"I just remembered, I needed to grab a book for my dad before I left," She responded, distractedly pulling her arm from him and pushing through a set of double doors with a sign that read 'baking and culinary sciences' and led to a room barely bigger than an elevator.

"Are we even allowed in here?" Adrien questioned, stepping in after her and letting the door click shut behind him. Marinette nodded in affirmation, before scanning the shelves in the small space.

Then two things happened at once. The first, as Marinette's fingers closed around a thick tome, an automatic lock clicked, turning all of the lights off at once.

The second thing was that as Marinette took a step forward- dangerous for her even in daylight - her foot made contact with a stay slip of paper and she collapsed forward.

Adrien tried the door, cursing when he found it locked. He checked the time on his phone before turning on the flashlight to give them some of their vision back. 9:00pm. The library was closed. They were stuck.

-

AN - dun dun duuuuunnnn! Some forced proximity for everyone. They better get used to it, because they're gonna be lumped together a lot more soon >:)
*evil laughter*

Until next time ! 💗