Hush {{ Ladynoir }}

Chapter Four

"Adrien?"

Marinette had been standing outside the boys' bathroom for several minutes now.  After seeing tears welling in his eyes when he stormed off, she couldn't just leave him alone.

"Adrien, if you need someone to talk to, I'm here."

A long pause passes before the door creaks open.  Marinette steps back as a composed Adrien leaves the bathroom.

"Thank you," he says with a faint smile, "but I'm fine. Really."

She crosses her arms as he begins to walk away.  "No. You aren't, I can tell."

He stops in his tracks.

"I'm sorry to cause an inconvenience for you, Marinette," he says with a nervous laugh.  "Please don't worry about me."

"Adrien, you're inconveniencing me by not telling me what's wrong.  I care about you -- b-because you're my friend!"

He sighs and takes a seat on the bench against the wall.  "Do you ever begin to think someone isn't really as bad as they seem?  You start giving them a chance to prove themselves to you, and they crush that little bit of trust you had for them."

Her head is nearly spinning as she tries to piece together what he's talking about, but she knows nearly nothing of his personal life, aside from the fact that Gabriel passed away last week.

"I don't know what's become of my life anymore, of me.  I don't deserve to be a he-- to be looked up to the way I am."

Marinette finds herself at a loss for words.  Here he is, the boy of her dreams, pouring his very heart out to her.  She wants to throw her arms around him, bury her head in his chest, wrapped in his arms, to make it all go away.

But she settles for a friendly hug.

"It'll be alright," she manages as her pulse pounds in her ears. 

She feels his arms enclose her and nearly loses her breath. 

"I'm glad to have a friend like you, Marinette," he whispers.

Adrien Agreste, her friend.  Her friend that she fell madly in love with.  Her friend who she would die for. Her beautiful, kind, perfect . . . friend.  But he is so much more than that to her.

"Anytime."

He pulls away and stands, leaving a dazed Marinette on the bench.  "Well, I'm late for a photoshoot."

"A photoshoot?" she gasps before catching herself losing her cool. "That's fun."

Adrien laughs.  "It gets kinda boring.  Would you like to come and keep me company?"  he says with a smirk.

"Oh! Um, yeah! I mean, why not? I really don't have that much to do today and there wasn't any homework and of course I'm a big fa--"

"You're rambling, Marinette!!" she hears Tikki whisper, muffled in her bag.

"Cool.  I'll drive, if you don't mind."

She feels her knees grow weak as she remembers, he has a car.  She's going to ride in Adrien's car!

~~

The session is long and drags on for hours, but Marinette doesn't mind.  Adrien has never looked better and the weather is pleasant out near the woods.  It seemed like a different place for a photoshoot, she thought, but Adrien informed her it was for the last line Gabriel designed, which was Bohemian-inspired and more "natural" than his previous designs.

Night begins to fall and the photographer grunts.  "I thought we'd have more time," he complains.

Adrien drops his pose and makes his way over to Marinette's spot on a quilt.  He picks up his water bottle, takes a swig, and collapses onto the blanket.