Marinette checked her phone for the time, and realised that she was early. A welcome surprise, she'd been so out of it lately, and had almost forgotten about meeting Kagami this afternoon. Ever since she'd been akumatised months ago, the two had become much better friends, calling each other and texting often. Marinette had realised how lonely Kagami was, and she was glad to bring a little respite to her friend.
Propping up her chin, Marinette tried not to think about how exhausted she was. Instead, her thoughts wandered back to Kagami and...Adrien.
It had been hard at first, learning that Kagami had a crush on Adrien too. But Marinette saw how happy they both seemed together, and she didn't want to be the one to ruin that for them. Besides, it was high time she got over her crush on Adrien. She obviously wasn't able to tell him how she felt, so... she needed to move on.
She'd been hanging out with Luka more often, and she really enjoyed it. He was sweet and kind, and he was super supportive of her. She liked being his friend, and maybe even...more than that.
But then the Akuma attacks had increased, with a new one every day it seemed. It had become almost impossible for her to juggle being Ladybug with being Marinette. She forgot birthdays, hangouts and tests. Her grades had begun to drop and even her ever-patient parents were getting annoyed with her. Worst of all, she'd begun snapping at Chat Noir.
Marinette hadn't meant to, it just happened. She felt awful every time, and she'd taken more than a few hits while trying to apologise to him. He always seemed to forgive her in the end, but she'd noticed he'd become more quiet, less puns and jokes.
"Marinette? What are you thinking about?" Tikki asked from her purse.
Marinette tried to stop her trembling lip, "I snapped at Chat really bad the other night. I mean, he seemed fine last night but I feel awful. I can't apologise enough."
Tikki put a tiny arm on Marinette's hand, "Chat Noir isn't really the type to hold grudges, I'm sure it's fine. It's been stressful for both of you lately."
"Yeah, I wonder how he's doing. Wherever he is," Marinette sighed.
Tikki didn't respond though, instead disappearing as a black limousine pulled up near the café. She recognised it as Adrien's car, and wondered what he could possibly be doing there, when Kagami and Adrien stepped out of the car.
Marinette dragged herself to her feet to greet her friends. Kagami pulled her into an awkward hug, while Adrien smiled and gave her a short wave. She returned it, wondering what he was doing there. She certainly hadn't gotten over all of her feelings for him, but they were no longer as strong, and she didn't feel the usual rush of adrenaline while seeing him again
Kagami gave her a not-at-all-subtle look and then pointed to her phone. Marinette checked her phone quickly to see that there was a text from her.
They sat down and ordered three milkshakes while Marinette checked her phone.
Kagami - You are a good talker. Please help me talk to Adrien. I don't think he likes me.
Marinette could have laughed at the ridiculousness of it all. Her? A good talker? With Adrien? Okay you can do this Marinette you've just–
"Everything okay Marinette?" Adrien asked politely looking down at her phone.
"Oh yeah. Just my...mom checking that everything's all good!"
"Ah...okay then," he didn't look convinced, and looked between Kagami and Marinette. They fell into a bout of silence, where Kagami kicked Marinette's shin – she was stronger than she looked.
Unfortunately, Ladybug had been taking a few more hits than usual, and her body was aching from it all.
Marinette yelped, and Adrien jumped, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, yep all good. Sorry I thought I um...felt...an ant. On my leg," she smiled awkwardly and went on before he could get even more weirded out, "Sorry I'm just...so tired lately. So much going on you know. Um, but how are you guys? You just came from fencing right?"
Kagami laughed, "Well. I was fencing. I'm not sure what Adrien was doing."
Adrien smiled but Marinette noticed that he looked almost as tired as her – with bags under his eyes, and a distant stare. "Yeah she kicked my butt. Not a problem though, I'll get her next time." He smiled at Kagami and she blushed slightly.
The waitress brought them their milkshakes, and they thanked her.
"So...uh, how are you both handling Terminale?" Marinette asked after a sip of her strawberry milkshake.
"Well thank you. Mother is satisfied with my marks," Kagami said. Marinette recalled that she was home-schooled, and didn't exactly have the same experience as them. She also knew how brutal Kagami's mother could be. Marinette just wished she could say the same for her own marks.
"That's good, and do you have any plans for next year? Did you want to go to university? Or do something else?"
"Mother has arranged for me to go to university in Japan. She wants me to study business, so I can take over for her."
"Oh...and what do you want to do?" Marinette asked, feeling sorry that Kagami's life seemed so...final.
Kagami hesitated, "I've never thought about it."
"That's okay! I'm sure being super rich won't make life too painful!" Marinette meant it as a joke, but the way Adrien and Kagami dropped their gazes betrayed their own thoughts about being rich – it wasn't all it seemed.
Marinette tried to quickly change the topic, "And you Adrien? What do you want to do?"
He blinked at her, surprise on his face, "I've never really thought about it either. I guess...modelling has always been the path set out for me."
"Oh, well in that case, when I finally get a line together, you can model some of my designs! First pick, I promise." She smiled.
He returned the smile, "Yeah sure. How are your designs going?"
"I've uh, been super busy lately, so I haven't been able to work on any of them. But I've got the drawings completed. Now I've got to put them all together – you know?"
Adrien swirled his straw around in his milkshake, "Yeah...super fun stuff."
They talked intermittently for the next hour, all of them too tired and awkward to really keep a proper conversation going. Kagami and Adrien started talking a little more comfortably, and instead of any jealousy, all Marinette could feel was happiness for them.
She was about to go when a white car pulled up outside the café. Kagami sighed, "Mother is here. I should go. It was good to see you again."
Marinette stood and hugged her goodbye, while Adrien waved her off. Marinette turned back to where he was sitting and caught him rubbing at his face.
"Are you okay?" Marinette asked, sitting down again.
Adrien stopped rubbing his eyes and focused on her again, "Mmhmm, I'm just... Can I be honest with you? You always seem to know what to say and do."
Marinette shoved down her confusion, "Uh, sure. What's up?"
"I just...I like Kagami a lot, we're so similar, and I can completely relate to an overbearing parent. It's just...I don't know. I feel guilty being around her because...I like someone else. But that's a problem too because, she doesn't exactly like me back," he laughed to himself, and Marinette noticed that she didn't even feel the old pangs of jealousy.
"I feel like I'm...cheating on both of them. If you could even say that," he ran his fingers through his hair. "I want to give Kagami a chance, but I don't want to give up on Lad- uh...the girl that I like."
Marinette thought for a moment, "Well...There's a guy I know who seems to really like me, but I don't feel that way about him. I know how my rejections must hurt but...I appreciate that he respects my wishes. This girl you like...I think you need to respect her wishes too. And honestly Adrien, Kagami is really great. I'm sure that this other girl...whoever she is, won't be mad if you try to move on. Give her a chance, a real chance. And Adrien? You're great. Whoever this other girl is that doesn't like you back...she's the one missing out."
He smiled at her, and she shoved down on the silly Marinette that still liked him.
"Thanks Marinette. What about you, any problems that you want to get off your chest?"
So many...so, so many Adrien. I'm scared all the time, I'm worried and stressed and tired and afraid. I have so much going on all the time, I feel like I'm drowning in it all. And I can't really talk to anyone about it. Not you, not chat, not Alya and not my parents.
"Ugh, I don't think we have enough time," she smiled. He just nodded, but from the solemn look on his face, she almost felt like he'd read her mind.
"So true Marinette."
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