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Sabine smiles over the counter. “Are you going to order something for yourself, sweetheart?”
Kagami jerks her head up to stare at the woman across from her. “Uh, no, I was just looking. I’m not allowed to-”
Marinette jumps down the stairs, and rushes to her mom, still wearing her hair down.
“Maman, maman! I got accepted to join Celeste’s Boutique in Nice! She said that I’ll come down during vacation and do an internship! And it’s a paid one, too!”
She does a little happy dance and her mother hugs her tightly. “Oh, congratulations, Marinette! That’s wonderful!”
Marinette seems to notice Kagami after a minute and flushes. “Uh, hi.”
Kagami awkwardly waves back and inches toward the door.
“I already paid for the thing I had to get, so I’ll just uh…”
She gestured toward the door, but Marinette comes around the counter and takes her hand.
“Stay, okay? You’re too thin and you can skip your diet for just one day. I’m sure your mom won’t notice.”
Her hand feels warm against Kagami’s wrist. Marinette pouts at her and she says yes, against her will.
“Oh, thank you! I’ve been meaning to talk to you for a while.”
Marinette drags Kagami to a nearby table behind the counter.
Kagami sits down gingerly in the chair.
“Have you talked to Adrien recently?”
Kagami should have known better. Of course, Marinette was straight, and the only reason she wanted to talk to Kagami was about Adrien.
“No, I talked to him last week at fencing practice.”
Marinette frowns. “I’m worried for him… I haven’t seen him in school since Wednesday, and he’s not responding to his texts either, I checked with Nino and Alya.”
“Is he okay?” Kagami blurts.
Marinette shrugs. “How am I supposed to know? I thought you might. I just hope that it’s not because of his dad and that he’s just busy or something.”
Kagami slings her bag onto the floor; clearly, Marinette wanted to talk.
“Hm. Now that you mention it, he was acting kind of strange on Thursday. Although maybe that’s just him, you know how he gets sometimes.”
Marinette tilts her head to the side. “No, I don’t? He’s always so sunny and bright.”
“Huh. Well, sometimes he comes to practice in a bad mood and just… acts kind of mean? I’m not quite sure how to say it, but he just acts rather brutish.”
Marinette scoffs. “It sounds like you’re talking about Felix, not Adrien.”
Kagami leans her head on her hand. “No, I don’t think it’s Felix. He’s still himself, except he seems to be more internally challenged.”
Marinette’s eyes widened.
“Do you think that he’s being abused at home?” she says in a whisper.
Kagami’s eyebrows look like they’re going to jump off of her face.
“What?”
Marinette stands up. “Hm. Give me a second to think… okay, I know what we’re gonna do.”
She walks over to where her mother was serving customers and says something to her.
Kagami shifts awkwardly in her seat. She pulls out her phone and tells her mother that she’s running late because she had to do a school project with a friend that she had forgotten about.
An obvious lie, of course, but the only thing that would keep her mother from grounding her.
Marinette returns with two cups of… something.
“Kagami, here’s a special blend of my mum’s coffee. It’s pretty strong, but I added a crap ton of sugar and milk, so I think you’ll be fine.”
Kagami looks at it in disbelief. “This thing probably has so many carbs.”
“If you want, I can get you hot chocolate or something instead?”
Kagami shakes her head. “No, this is fine, I guess.”
Marinette just shrugs and takes a swig of her coffee.
She gestures towards the stairs, and they both go upstairs.
“What are we doing?” Kagami asks as they go.
“First I need to get changed, and then we can meet up with Alya and Nino, po-o-o-ssibly Chloe, and we can all, y’know, investigate about Adrien’s whereabouts,” she tells her vaguely as she goes into her closet.
Kagami glances around the room, looking anywhere but at Marinette as she changes.
Lesbian, she might be, but invasive she was not.
Marinette laughs as she sees Kagami looking at her Adrien board.
“That was from when I had a crush on him. But then I realized those were genuinely good photos that I could use when I’m designing, so I kept them.”
Kagami looks back at her and raises an eyebrow. “Used to? I thought you still liked him.”
Marinette fixates her gaze on the board. “Well, I thought about it really hard after Alya told me she was bi, and I realized that I am too, and Adrien isn’t where my heart really is.”
Kagami’s mouth drops slightly. Marinette hurries to change the subject.
“Anyways, we should get going. If you want, you can leave your bag here,” she says, gesturing vaguely at her bedroom.
She nods and drops her bag near Marinette’s desk.
“Have you tried the drink, by the way?”
“Oh! Uh, not yet,” Kagami says, and chugs half of it.
Marinette’s jaw drops. “Kagami, that has more caffeine than a Red Bull! You’re gonna end up, like, high!”
She shrugs. “It is what it is. It’s good, by the way. Reminds me of my uncles’ eggnog.”
Marinette just stares at her, slack-jawed.
She shakes her head to pull out of her stupor.
“Let’s go. Alya and Nino are waiting.”