That Day

04 - Homework

"I have no idea how to work it out..." Marinette sighed looking at Adrien helpless.

It was Saturday afternoon and they were sitting in Marinette's room, trying to deal with the task given to them by Miss Bustier. Yesterday the teacher had presented a project of staging in front of the class by pairs and then she assigned each two to a famous drama. Adrien and Marinette got "Romeo and Juliet" that provoked general hilarity among their colleagues. Well, maybe except Chloe who snorted with irritation. She was angry not only because of Adrien and Marinette's relationship (at least in social media), but also because she got Nathaniel Kurtzberg as her pair. And everyone knew that she hated him. Probably mutually.

"We should choose a scene, I think." Adrien muttered.

He didn't feel comfortable here. It was so... intimately. He was surrounded by Marinette's belongings, by her clothes, by her... fragrance... It had been three days since that dream and Adrien began to be out of his senses, because suddenly he discovered that Marinette totally turned his head. In addition, she'd done nothing in this matter – no encouragement, no signals. On the contrary, she behaved completely at ease, as if that day spent together made her comfortable with him.

"I suppose everyone will be expecting the balcony scene." Marinette shrugged. "I think it's the most famous scene from that drama."

"I can see you're not convinced to that scene." Adrien smiled bravely, overcoming his embarrassment.

"It's not I don't like it. It's rather... Don't get me wrong... It is highly impossible that I'll tell you that I love you in front of the class." She whispered blushing. "As Juliet, of course!" she added quickly.

He flushed as well. Although it had been three days, they didn't refer to his blunder called by Alya "Freudian mistake". Now, Adrien knew she had been right. At first, he was afraid that Marinette would began talking about that. But when she didn't, he wasn't sure if she ignored this because she didn't care about what his words could mean, or maybe she was giving him time to explain them by himself.

"Are you hungry, kids?" Marinette's mom showed up in the trapdoor. "It isn't going well, is it?"

"Maybe we're too tired, mom..." Marinette replied and came to her mom to take a plate with pastries.

"I'm sure you'll succeed, darling. Eat something, recharge batteries and go to work!"

"Thanks, mom."

"Thank you, Mrs. Cheng" Adrien added.

Marinette took the plate and turned back to Adrien slowly. She'd got an idea.

"Maybe we should go somewhere else." She suggested. "I know we're not going to act out the balcony scene, but you know... I have a balcony here. Upstairs. Maybe we should catch some fresh air and that will help us to find the idea how to work it out?"

"A balcony?" he repeated embarrassed. Of course, she had a balcony here! He had been there a few times already. As Cat Noir, of course.

"Come on!" She came closer and took his hand.

Adrien's blood began to throb at his temples. They went upstairs to the mezzanine. Adrien tried not to see her bed... nor her pyjamas folded on it. Bloody pyjamas! He was almost obsessed with it for last three days and he had already started to believe that all memories faded, and now all of them came back alive! Don't look there, don't look there, don't look there! But where should he look if she was climbing a ladder in front of him?!

Wait, wait a moment! Did she have a cat-shaped pillow?! He glances quickly over his shoulder. Yep, she had. He felt hot flush.

Finally, they got out. Adrien inhaled the fresh air, if the air in the middle of the city could be called "fresh". But Marinette had so many flowers on her balcony that he could forget they were in the centre of Paris. When he closed his eyes, he could imagine he was in a beautiful garden far from the city centre.

"Isn't it much better now?" Marinette asked quietly, looking at him with curiosity.

"Yes." He whispered, smiling at her.

"Sit down, please." She showed him a wooden box covered with pillows that was used as a bench. "And try some pastries. My parents are masters in that."

"I'm glad Nathalie and my dad don't see it. They would probably forbid me from trying any."

"In that case, it's good they are not here. I can't eat all of that myself, otherwise I'll be too fat to wear my usual clothes. And I'll have to wear my pyjamas again." She joked, and he blushed immediately.