Adrien closed his eyes, leaning into the kiss. His shoulders relaxed. He brought his hand up and cupped Marinette's cheek, brushing a few strands of her raven blue hair away from her face.
For one moment, everything was perfect... until she pushed him away.
Adrien took a startled step back, flashing his eyes at her. Marinette brought her hands up around her arms, fighting some invisible chill Adrien didn't feel.
Her lip trembled. Her blue eyes filled with tears again.
"What—"
"How could you?" Her voice was full of accusation.
He stepped toward her, but Marinette shook her head and moved further away.
"Marinette, what did I do wrong?"
"You have a girlfriend!" she said furiously. Marinette's face curled into anger. "And I just broke up with Luka."
Truthfully, Adrien had completely forgotten about Kagami until the very moment Marinette uttered her name.
"This is wrong," she continued. "It's not healthy."
"Mari, I'm sorry." Adrien reached out to console her.
She knocked his hand away and pushed him back. Adrien bumped into the stair railing. His eyes widened in surprise. He'd never seen this side of her before.
"I can't," she said, starting to hyperventilate. "Y-you, this... and Kagami. We... ugh... I," she rambled, unable to form a coherent sentence. Marinette took off down the stairs.
"Wait!" he called after her. It was no use. Marinette and her bouncing blue pigtails had disappeared down the stairwell.
Still leaning against the railing, Adrien took a moment to collect himself. He numbly headed downstairs but couldn't face his own dorm. Not when he might run into Luka.
So, Adrien headed for Nino's room instead. Instead of knocking, he tried the door and found it open. To his relief, Kim wasn't there. Nino sat at his desk, hunched over a pile of geometry homework.
He didn't hear Adrien enter because his headphones were over his ears. Adrien walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Aaaaaaah!" Nino screamed and jumped up. Realizing it was Adrien, Nino took a breath and slapped his hand on Adrien's shoulder. "Adrien, dude, do not do that again."
"Sorry." Adrien stumbled back onto Nino's bed.
"Are you okay?" Nino took off his headphones, leaving them hanging around his neck.
"I think so." Adrien wasn't sure. "I just kissed Marinette."
"Dude." Nino didn't speak for a moment. He turned off the music still blaring through the headphones. "You mean your ex-girlfriend, Marinette Dupain-Cheng?"
"Yeah?"
"Aren't you dating Kagami?"
"Yeah."
"Dude!" Nino slapped his arm. "What were you thinking?"
"I don't know," Adrien mumbled. He sank onto the bed out of Nino's reach. "Marinette was crying and stuff and I wanted to make her feel better."
"So, a girl starts crying and you start making out with her?"
Adrien frowned. "I didn't make out with her."
"No. You just kissed her... while you have a girlfriend."
Nino was making this sound worse than it was, right? It's not like he had followed Marinette with the sole intention of kissing her.
"You're going to tell Kagami, right?"
"Do you want me to die?" Adrien wasn't kidding. Kagami would be furious with him.
"I think she would rather hear it from you than Marinette."
"Ok year but I don't think Marinette's going to tell her, so no big deal."
Nino rolled his eyes. "Your funeral, my dude."
***
Lila hurried through the hallway of the girls dorm. She hadn't meant to eavesdrop in the stairwell, but Adrien and Marinette's conversation seemed like something she shouldn't interrupt. Lila had been even more surprised when Adrien suddenly kissed Marinette.
At least Marinette had been a decent person and defended Kagami. Even though Lila wasn't Kagami's biggest fan, no one deserved to be cheated on. Adrien seemed stunned though. She suspected he was still in love with Marinette.
Lila had barely stumbled out ahead of Marinette when she'd raced down after running away from Adrien. She'd had to duck inside a janitor's closet, where she was now, waiting until the coast was clear.
Lila knew exactly who she needed to tell about this. She slipped out of the closet and hurried down the hall. Would Marinette be there? No, Marinette wouldn't want to be around Chloe after that had happened. She doubted Adrien went back to the room he shared with Luka.
After a few more seconds, she knocked on the door. To her relief, Chloe answered and no one else seemed to be inside.
"You will not believe this." Lila didn't wait for Chloe to invite her in.
"What are you doing here?" Chloe asked. "I know we're kind of on speaking terms again but we're not friends."
"Whatever." Lila rolled her eyes. "I just saw Adrien kiss Marinette."
Chloe's blue eyes went wide. "What? I mean, I'm no fan of Adrigami, but I never thought he would cheat on her or that Marinette would be the other girl."
"Marinette pushed him away. She chewed him out, too."
Chloe's lips twitched. "I'm glad for that."
"Adrien and Kagami shouldn't be together."
"No duh. What are we supposed to do about it?"
"Tell Kagami what I saw. She'd dump him for sure!" Lila suggested.
Chloe rubbed her chin. "As much as they both deserve that, I can't do that to Marinette."
"I thought you hated Marinette."
"Yeah but it's not her fault Adrien kissed her. She'd just end up getting hurt."
Lila crossed her arms. "We're going to let perfectly good information go to waste?"
"Of course not," Chloe said. "I'm going to confront Adrien."
***
The next day, Chloe looked for Adrien in the cafeteria. It didn't take her long to find him. Thankfully, Kagami wasn't with him. It looked like she hadn't arrived at the cafeteria yet.
Chloe walked up to Adrien. "Been awhile."
"Yeah, sorry," he said. "I've just been so busy."
"So busy you forgot my birthday?"
"No. I didn't forget." Adrien quickly checked his phone calendar. "Did I?"
"I don't even recognize you anymore," she said. "I know you kissed Marinette."
His face paled. "Did she tell you that?"
"No. The only reason I haven't told Kagami is because Marinette doesn't deserve anymore heartbreak."
"Don't worry, Chloe." Marinette walked up to them. "I'm prepared to face this."
"Marinette, I've been calling you," Adrien said.
"Don't start. I only came to say that if you don't tell Kagami what happened by the end of the day, I will."
"Marinette!"
She shook her head. "I want you to leave me alone, Adrien." Then Marinette walked away.
Chloe was surprised, but she knew Marinette had always been a determined person. At least most of them agreed that Adrien needed to confess.
"Marinette's right," Chloe said. "If you don't tell, then I'm going with Marinette when she does."
Adrien's face curled into anger. "I thought you were my best friend."
"And I thought you were mine! You forgot my birthday. It's like you're not even you anymore," Chloe exploded. "I mean, kissing Marinette? What were you thinking?"
"You kissed Marinette?"
Chloe stopped short and turned around to see Kagami standing behind her. She had clearly overheard part of the argument.
"I asked you a question, Adrien," Kagami said coldly. "Did you kiss Marinette?"
"It was an accident—" Adrien didn't have time to finish his sentence because Kagami walked up and slapped him.
You asked for Marinette not to slap Adrien, so she didn't. Kagami slapped him instead :)