Chapter Text
The morning after the Agreste Gala, The students of Francis-Dupont were, as usual, gathered into their friend groups and various small clumps, spread across the schoolyard. However, what was unusual about this was the level of conspiratorial whispering throughout the student body.
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“Girl you will NEVER guess what I heard.”
“What?”
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“So I heard that the Dupain-Cheng girl-“
“Who?”
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“The blue-haired baker girl from Bustier’s.”
“The really nice one?”
“Yeah, her-“
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“Was found curled up next to Adrien Agreste at the Agreste holiday gala last night-“
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“Who?
“HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW WHO ADRIEN AGRESTE IS-“
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“And they were both asleep! On the floor of a storage closet!”
“Wait really?”
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“And apparently Dupain-Cheng looked like she had been crying?”
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“Do you think they’re dating now?”
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“They have to be, right?”
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“I hope not. Adrien deserves way better than that baker girl. Like me!”
“Okay cool it you pick-me-“
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“Of course!”
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“PLEASE. I have a bet going on how long it’ll take for those 2 to get together and if they’re dating then Amir owes me €20.”
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“PLEASE NO. If they’re together, I owe Ari €20.”
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“For the sake of their friend’s sanity, I hope they are.”
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“GOD I HOPE SO. Those two have been dancing around each other for so long it’s painful.”
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A meter away, an amateur reporter’s ears pricked up slightly.
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When Marinette entered Mlle. Bustier’s classroom the next morning, it was to a few surprises. The first was that she was early for once. The second was that Lila wasn’t in there and spouting her stories (didn’t she say she was “going on a trip to California”?). The third was that Alya was practically vibrating in her seat, staring at Marinette with that glint in her eyes she always got when chasing a story.
“GIRL,” she half-shouted, “SPILL.”
Oh dear kwamis what now.
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THUNK!
At the sound of a lunch plate slamming down against a table, Adrien glanced up. Marinette looked harried, to say the least. Her eyes were wild and anxious, and her hair had, at some point, gotten a little messed up. One of her pigtails was uneven, the escaped hair lying down her neck, and the front didn’t look much better.
“Woah, Marinette, are you okay? You look…” he trailed off, trying to find a tactical way to put what he was thinking.
“Like shit? Yes, I know. By the way, did you know that there’s a rumor going around that we’re dating?”
Adrien had chosen the worst moment possible to take a sip of his water. He sputtered, thumping his chest with one fist futilely. When he had finally recovered enough to speak, he stared at her dumbfounded, eyes now as wide as hers.
“I beg your pardon- they’re saying we’re WHAT?”
“Dating? Yeah. Alya’s been hounding me about this all DAY! Do you have any idea if anyone saw… y’know- last night?”
He thought back frantically through last night, firmly ignoring the akuma fight. “Only Juleka, but she wouldn’t tell. And she certainly wouldn’t say we’re dating.”
Marinette’s head fell forward onto the table forlornly. Something in Adrien’s chest tugged at the sight of his friend so defeated. “I- I could get the guest list for that gala? See if there was anyone else who might’ve been able to see us and spread it?”
“What good would that do?” groaned the girl across from him. “The rumor’s probably spread across the whole damn school by this point!”
“Well, look at it this way,” Adrien exclaimed, “It could be a lot worse!”
“How. Literally how.”
“Lila could be here!”
Marinette’s head shot up. “Don’t say her name, you’ll summon her!”
He rolled his eyes playfully. “Relax, she’s not the devil.”
“She might as well be!” She took a deep breath. “Okay. First things first. What the hell do we do? Rumors flow faster than air here, and - no offense - that goes doubly for anything involving you.”
“None taken,” he laughed, “But what’s our endgame here?”
“Disproving the rumor of course! What else do we do?”
Adrien sat there, pondering the question. Then, an idea came to the front of his mind. An idea that had been nagging away at the back of his brain, an idea fueled by many a sleepless night binging fanfic. It was a terrible idea, the kind that would likely only end in disaster. If he was even the slightest bit less impulsive, he probably wouldn’t have gone for it.
Unfortunately, Plagg had been rubbing off on him.
“What if we play into it?”
Marinette looked at him like he had grown a second head.
“I beg your pardon?”
“What if we play into it? We pretend to date!”
“Okay,” she scoffed, “give me one good reason we should do this.”
“It would keep Lila off our backs, at least a little. It would be bad for her image to be seen being all clingy with someone who’s explicitly taken, and I would have an excuse to be around you and stop her from getting you alone! It would start to poke some holes into her stories! It would give Father a reason to stop trying to force me into a relationship!” By now he was up, pacing the room and grinning like a maniac as his conviction grew.
“Wait,” Marinette interjected, “he tried to WHAT?”
“Force me into a relationship. Multiple times. Said something about it being “good for the brand”. I swear that’s one of maybe 3 reasons he even comes to see me anymore, I feel like a medieval noblewoman.” Marinette’s brow furrowed. Adrien fumbled, searching for a change in topic. “SO! What do you think?”
Marinette stared at him for a concerningly long time. Her deep blue eyes were no longer wild or dumbfounded, but calculated. Calm. It felt like she was staring directly into his soul, laying it bare and reading every thought. It was like nothing he had ever seen out of the usually frazzled Marinette, yet it felt oddly familiar. It was familiar in a way that was more solid than deja vu or half-remembered childhoods, comfortable and energizing at the same time. He knew that he had seen it before. His brain was straining, trying to remember, but something was stopping him from making a connection.
Before he could break his brain stressing over this, Marinette’s voice snapped him out of it. “What the hell, why not? Let’s do it.”
He felt a grin creep across his face as he sat down, beginning to discuss the finer details of faking a romance.