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Marinette laughs as she and Mylène exit the school. “I’m glad we’re out of there,” she breathes. “I just…”
“It was a lot of pressure for you, wasn’t it?” Mylène says. “You don’t need to worry about it. Are you feeling better now?”
Marinette breathes in and out, looking forwards but not up to prevent rain from getting in her eyes. Their dresses are getting soaked. It doesn’t matter.
“I do,” Marinette says. “A lot better.” She stands up straight, and extends a hand to Mylène. “How about we go somewhere else?”
“Sure,” Mylène answers, peeling her heels off her feet. Marinette digs in her bag — she’s brought a bigger bag than usual, because she has other stuff in it. She procures what she was looking for — a more beat-up pair of sneakers.
“Want these? I don’t know if they’ll fit, but I’m wearing sandals, so I’m okay.” Today’s a fairly warm day, if she’s being honest — the rain feels refreshing, instead of simply cold. Mylène takes the shoes from her, and wears them loose, with the shoelaces tucked out of the way instead of tied.
“They’ll be okay,” Mylène says.
“Alright,” Marinette says. A car drives by, splashing water over them. “Where to?”
“We should go and be with the nature we were talking about so much,” Mylène says.
(Because the task for today had been a science fair, and it was just…a big project on all of their behalf. She was stressed about having to present it, and though Alya and Alix helped, it was still…a lot of stress.)
(She’s glad to be out here now. Even if she is actively getting soaked.)
She tugs her hair free of its bun. It cascades downwards, clinging to her head. “Let’s go!”
They run through the streets. They’re holding hands even now, and Marinette clings to the warmth like it’s all that’s left. It kind of is — it’s colder now, or at least it feels colder than it did before. It’s definitely because of the rain, but Marinette doesn’t care what sort of sickness she gets afterwards — she treasures the time with Mylène.
She hums. Perhaps that means something. Marinette isn’t sure yet, but she does want to find out.
The grass is full of mud, and everything on her is ruined, but Marinette thinks that’s okay. She’ll live. For the smile on Mylène’s face, she’ll do anything.
Wait. Okay. That’s something.
That’s…definitely a “want to date someone” thing. Does Marinette want to be Mylène’s girlfriend?
Thinking it over, Marinette thinks that would be nice. So. Yes. Marinette does want to be Mylène’s girlfriend.
It’s not as earth-shattering as Marinette thought it would be. It’s not like the strike of lightning that she fell for Adrien with. It’s just the two of them, splashing puddles and having fun in the rain while wearing fancy dresses.
It’s great, and Marinette wouldn’t trade it for the world, but maybe that’s the romantic attraction talking.
“We should probably go back now,” Mylène says. “I hope they aren’t worried about what we’re doing right now.”
“I hadn’t even thought about that,” Marinette says, brushing her hair back from her face. It clings to her skin, but she’s okay. “Let’s get back there and see what’s going on.”
By the time they make it back, school’s over. The rain’s started to lighten, too, but it’s not over yet. There are other students walking out of the building.
“You can come over to my house to dry off,” Marinette says. “Just across the street.”
“Sure,” Mylène says, panting. “I probably shouldn’t come home like this, anyways.”
“I have some supplies I can give you,” Marinette says, “while we wash everything in our laundry. Let’s go.”
“Where were you?” Mama asks when the two of them get in, soaking wet. “The school called us, Marinette. We were worried that something bad had happened to you when they told us what we knew.”
“I…had a bit of a panic attack. Mylène was kind enough to follow me out, and then we decided to ditch the science fair.” Marinette sighs. “I’m sorry. I should have called. Can the two of us head up to my room? I offered Mylène our shower and was planning to wash our dresses together. I’m pretty sure my flats are ruined, though…sorry about that.” She hangs her head.
“You don’t need my permission,” Mama says. “I’ll handle the laundry.”
“Thank you, Mama,” Marinette responds.
“We’ll talk later, okay?” Mama says. Marinette nods. She’s free for now, which is what matters. She heads up the stairs, and Mylène follows. They’re dripping some water onto the floor, but things are okay, and Marinette grabs some towels from the closet.
“Go ahead and take a shower first,” Marinette says. “Bathroom’s over here. I’ll grab you some clothes after I do some drying off, I have a couple things that should fit. And then we can exchange out — I’ll grab your dress and put it in the wash, and you’ll have the clothes.”
“Okay,” Mylène says. “I’ll…go get ready.”
Will Marinette be okay after all this? Will she survive the gay panic that’s about to set in?
Well. There’s only one way to find out.
Marinette does, in fact, survive the day. But it seems the soaking’s made her more susceptible to cold, and her parents ground her for a week. Which is mostly fair, and she could always sneak out as Ladybug, but she won’t. She skipped school. The punishment is appropriate, and honestly lighter than Marinette expected. But it seems like having a panic attack has made her more sympathetic to her parents. It’s not the ducking out, but what happened afterwards that really matters.
So she’s grounded for a week, but during that time she has a cold, so she isn’t really feeling like interacting with many others either. So she gets over her sickness first, and when she’s no longer grounded, she decides it’s time that she ask out Mylène.
And when she does, Mylène says yes.