"It's too bad that your mother couldn't read the Miraculous book or she could have been warned about the dangers of the Peacock," said Marinette as they walked out of Master Fu's and headed down the stairs. They had left Master Fu and Wayzz arguing about what could be done to help Adrien's mother and Nathalie. Adrien didn't think it sounded like what he learned helped them that much.
"Do you think it would have made a difference to her? She was desperate for this child and even when she knew the toll it was taking on her, she kept doing it," said Adrien. "Was I not enough?" he said sadly.
Marinette felt herself on the verge of tears hearing the heartbreak in Adrien's voice. She so wanted to help him! But what to say? She stopped walking and took his hand to gently pull him down to sit next to her on the steps. "This has nothing to do with you. Your mother had created this whole perfect life in her mind and was obsessed with making it come true. As you and I know, the future isn't always how you expect it to be and sometimes you need to embrace what you have. I know I have," she said, giving him a hug.
Adrien hugged her back. "Ha- I see what you did there with your physical pun, by the way!" Marinette smiled at him, but he had trouble returning the smile.
He shoved his hands through his hair in frustration. "I just keep coming back to how my mom is the reason all of this happened. If she hadn't traveled looking for a miracle she wouldn't have found the Miraculouses, she wouldn't have practically killed herself using the Peacock Miraculous, and my father wouldn't have had any reason to become Hawk Moth. My parents are at the root of everything bad that has happened to everyone in Paris. I guess the only positive thing that came out of her obsession was our getting to be superheroes."
"What about our non-superhero relationship?" she asked him. "That came from all of this, too!"
"Nah. I'm certain we would have gotten together at some point, even without being superheroes or having interfering kwamis," he said, putting one arm around her shoulder and pulling her close.
"You know you love us!" said Plagg from inside Marinette's purse. Adrien had to smile at that.
However, Marinette cringed a bit in response to Adrien's assertion. "It's nice that you believe that, but I don't know. I'd probably still be clumsy and making no sense around you. I tried and tried to talk to you like a normal person and tell you how I felt about you and set up ways for us to get together and nothing worked!"
"Actually, it was working," he said with a small laugh. "It's just I was one of those 'clueless boys' and really slow to understand what you were trying to tell me. Or not tell me. It didn't help that more than once you told me that you just saw me as a friend. And then you explained away your picture shrine of me on your walls as just professional interest, since you were an aspiring fashion designer. I got a lot of mixed signals from you, but the mystery of Marinette was very attractive and completely held my interest."
Marinette blushed. Who knew she could be an attractive mystery? She would file that away for later, but now she was ready to change the subject away from her very embarrassing past. "Okay. Well, anyway. Are you ready to go? It's Saturday, you know," she said pointedly as she stood up.
Adrien's face lit up. Saturday! "Right! Anything special I should be changing into later just in case something interesting is going to happen?" He stood up and took her hand, leading her down the rest of the steps and out of the building.
Marinette pondered that. "A little dressy would probably be appropriate. Do you have something that has a pocket for Plagg this time?" she asked him, remembering his previous date outfit without a Plagg pocket that led to Plagg eating almost all of the cookies in the bag. "Though, he could stay with Tikki in my purse otherwise. I'm not planning to be separated from you at any time tonight!"
"I think I can figure something out," he said. "When might this something be happening?"
"Around five."
"I can't wait!" he said, picking up their pace in his anticipation of the evening.
- - -
Adrien was waiting for Marinette near the door at exactly five. His somewhat dressy outfit was made up of very dark, slim jeans, a white dress shirt with a banded collar, and a black fitted suit coat that accentuated his shoulders and waist. He hoped he chose something appropriate. His outfit did have multiple pocket choices for Plagg, but he told Adrien he wanted to be in the purse with Tikki. Adrien did think the purse was probably more comfortable and it had better company, so that was fine with him.
Adrien heard Marinette starting down the stairs and looked up. She was wearing her signature pink color and Adrien thought she looked beautiful. Her v-neck dress was knee length and sleeveless with black piping around the neck and arm holes. A black ribbon emphasized her narrow waist. But, the most striking thing about the dress was the Art Deco style black cats that adorned the skirt.
"Do you like it?" she asked him, giving the full skirt a twirl once she reached the bottom of the steps.
"I love it! Is this what you've been working on?" he asked, amazed at her creation.
"Yes, I wasn't sure I would finish it in time. It took me awhile to get the material in the correct shade of pink."
He came closer to Marinette to look at the cats. "Did you paint these on?" He was tempted to reach down to touch the cats, but didn't want to know what Marinette's dad would do to him if he saw Adrien doing that!
"Yes and then embroidered their green eyes. I really like how they turned out." She could see the appreciation in Adrien's eyes. "I'm glad you like them, too!"
Marinette walked over to the closet to get her cropped black sweater to bring in case it got cold later. "Ready?"
Adrien dragged his gaze away from the dress and met Marinette's eyes. "Yes!" He offered her his arm and they headed out on their date.
They walked a few blocks to the metro station and got on the next train. Marinette chose to stand as she didn't want anything to happen to her dress. She made sure to stand near one of the poles, so she could hold on and not fall over.
"Anything you can tell me about tonight?" Adrien asked her as the train started off. He gripped the pole above Marinette's hand as the train gave a jerk.
"Well, the first place I've chosen isn't exactly where I would have chosen, but I used my money on something more important that we will be doing later," she said. Marinette had spent a good chunk of her recent babysitting money on the night's date.
"Hmm . . . mysterious. Have we been to this place before?" he asked, seeing how much she would let him get out of her.
"Yes, it isn't too expensive and I liked what I saw listed on the menu the last time we were there," she said. She felt the train slowing. "Oh, this is our stop."
"Already?" Adrien looked to see where they were as his attention had been completely on his questions and not their location. "I am very familiar with this stop," he said as they got off at the station that was right across from his house.
"Ha, ha! Yes, of course. Um, we are not going to your house, in case you're wondering," she said awkwardly, glancing at him. "Sorry! But, it's close by."
"Ah, I know where we're going then," he said triumphantly.
"But, you will have no idea what we are doing next!" she returned, unwilling to let him know anything about her surprise until they arrived there.
They left the metro station arm in arm and headed down the block to the café they went to before.
"Do you feel like someone is watching us?" Adrien asked, looking around.
Marinette swiveled her head to look where he was looking. "No, but isn't that what happened to you the last time you walked here and it just ended up being your, well our, fan club?"
"Yes. It still feels weird, though." They reached the café and Adrien opened the door for Marinette and then followed her in. Since it was quite early for dinner, they had no trouble finding a table. They sat at a table near the back, facing the front of the café so they could people watch.
Marinette and Adrien had just placed their orders when they saw their fan club come through the door. Marinette laughed. "Do you think they just wait outside your house hoping for a glimpse?" she asked him, amused to see the girls again.
Adrien blushed. "Geez, I hope not. Especially since I'm not even living there!" He could just imagine the girls pressing their disappointed faces to the gates as they waited in vain for a glimpse of him. Or not. Maybe they weren't quite that obsessed!
The fan girls found a table and sat down. Marinette waved over at them and they all giggled.
"Should you really be encouraging them?" Adrien asked her, still embarrassed at having a whole troop of girls interested in following them around.
Marinette gave him a confused look. "I thought that's what we agreed. They're so cute! And harmless."
"Yeah, okay. That's all true. But, can I change my seat to sit across from you instead? I'm feeling a little . . .um, I don't know. I don't really want the attention tonight. I just wanted to have a fun night out with you, by ourselves," he said reaching over to squeeze her hand.
"How can I say no to that?" she said, thinking how romantic that was.
He changed seats and they enjoyed the rest of their time together.
Marinette paid the bill and was starting to gather her things together when the girls shyly approached the table. The other girls gently pushed one out to the front. "Um, can we get a picture?" the girl asked nervously.
Marinette smiled at her. "Of course!" She walked over to Adrien and they posed for the girls. Marinette then changed the pose to leaning up and kissing Adrien on the cheek. Adrien blushed and focused his eyes up toward the ceiling, embarrassed. For some reason Adrien found it was very different to be posing for photos with a girlfriend in front of a group of admirers than to pose for a professional photographer.
"Do you want to take a picture all together?" Marinette asked the girls. They nodded enthusiastically.
Marinette flagged down a passing waiter. "Could you please take a photo of all of us?" One of the girls quickly offered up her phone.
The waiter nodded and took the phone while the girls rushed to stand around Adrien and Marinette. They all smiled and the waiter took the picture and returned the phone to the girl.
"Thanks!" she said to him as he headed back to work.
"I assume we'll see that on your blog later?" she said to the girls, thinking she would like to have a copy of the photo. The girls gave a blush of happiness when they realized Marinette had seen their blog. They all nodded shyly at Marinette.
"Well, girls, we need to go! See you later!" Marinette took Adrien's arm and headed toward the door.
"I love your dress," one small, dark-haired girl said quietly as they passed by her.
Marinette stopped and turned toward the girl. "Thank you! I made it myself!" said Marinette looking down at her dress with a smile and then smoothing out the skirt.
"Really?" said the girl enthusiastically, "I would love to be able to make that. I want to be a fashion designer when I grow up!"
Marinette leaned down toward the girl and whispered "Me, too!" They shared a smile and Marinette waved, resuming her path toward the door.
Once they were outside, Marinette said "Those girls are so nice! We couldn't have a friendlier, less aggressive fan club!" She found it funny that Adrien had remained silent through the entire encounter. The girls didn't seem to mind though. She did give him credit for plastering a friendly smile on his face and keeping it there the whole time.
"That is true," said Adrien, remembering times when he had been chased across Paris by some crazy fans. These girls were quiet and polite. Who could dislike that? "So, where to now?"
"Maison de Radio-France," she replied. "But, that's all you get to know until we get there. I want it to be a surprise! We should catch the 70 bus."
The bus dropped them off near the theater. Adrien saw an ad that was promoting tonight's performance. "No way!" he said to Marinette, looking over at her. "You got tickets to this! I love you so much! This is going to be so cool!"
Marinette actually saw Adrien give a little skip as he walked, so excited for tonight. She felt her heart lurch- in a good way. She had thought he would love this night that was all about the piano. He hadn't gotten to play the piano much since he came to live with her family. He was still taking lessons, but it was at his teacher's house now and he rarely got to practice, which wasn't really the best, but there also wasn't much they could do about it.
They walked into the building and saw pianos arranged in the hallway for anyone to play. Adrien ran over toward a gleaming baby grand piano made out of honey colored maple wood, sat down at the bench, and started to play one of the many pieces he knew by heart. He closed his eyes, losing himself in the music. Marinette took out her phone, snapped a few photos and then took a video. He seemed so happy and carefree! She wished he were able to be like this more often. Maybe some day!
She noticed the time on her phone and gently touched Adrien on the arm, startling him into silence. He looked up at her with a questioning expression.
"Sorry, but the performance starts soon. We should probably find our seats," she said. She thought his expression at this news looked like the saddest thing ever.
Adrien sat at the piano for a moment, enjoying the feel of the keys under his fingers, and then reluctantly stood.
"I think it will be worth it!" she said with a grin.
He nodded and returned her grin with an even bigger one. "I'm sure you're right!"
They handed their tickets to an usher, took their programs, and then found their seats.
- - -
The performance ended and Adrien practically bounced out of his seat, ready with some much deserved applause. The entire night was piano music of all different genres played on a number of different pianos, which each had it's own distinct sound that matched the music played on it. Even Marinette, who didn't know too much about the piano, thought it was amazing.
Adrien turned toward Marinette. "I will never forget this night- it was . . ." Adrien grasped to find a word to encompass it, but couldn't quite choose one.
Marinette laughed. "Since it left you, 'the boy ready with the right words for any occasion', basically speechless, I'm okay that the evening can't be described. I guess I chose wisely," she said with very little modesty.
"More than wisely! Thank you!" said Adrien. He turned her to face him and gave her a very enthusiastic kiss that left Marinette quite breathless.
"Um, well. . . what was I saying?" she asked trying to focus again. Adrien laughed. "We better get going. My parents are expecting us home in about thirty minutes." She shivered a bit.
"Are you cold?" he asked her, concern visible on his face.
She nodded. He quickly removed his jacket and draped it around her. She gathered it together with one hand, enjoying being wrapped in his warmth and scent. Adrien then took her other hand and led her out of the theater and back home.