Chapter Text
“I choose that corner one over there,” Alya said, pointing at the furthest corner pocket on the pool table.
Nino shrugged. “I don’t know, babe. That seems pretty impossible considering our balls are kinda blocking your path.”
She glared at her boyfriend, already positioning the cue stick. “Try me.”
He put his hands up in the air in surrenderance, seeming ready for her to mess up her shot. Even Marinette was nervous. She didn’t even think they would be getting ahead of the boys since they played way more often than she and Alya. Especially Marinette. This was probably the first time she held a cue stick in her hands. This was just their thing. Nino and Adrien would go to the bars and hit the pool tables with a few drinks in while Alya and Marinette stayed at one of their apartments for a girl’s night filled with wine and gossip. Though, for some reason, the girls thought it’d be so fun to tag along with the guys. Well, it was mostly Alya’s idea.
Marinette gripped her cue stick tightly as she watched Alya aim her own stick against the cue ball. Sure, her best friend was much better than Marinette had originally anticipated, but if she missed, it was only a matter of time before the boys caught up. They blamed their lack of filled pockets on their tipsiness, but she could tell they were barely even buzzed.
She stared intently, absentmindedly holding her breath, as Alya launched the cue ball over one of the opposing team’s balls and directly smacked the 8-ball into her chosen pocket. The clicking sound of it hitting another ball in the pocket was more satisfying than Marinette was expecting.
Alya threw her arms up, nearly knocking Marinette’s head out with her stick, and she cheered in victory. “HA! We won! I told you so! You losers!”
Marinette laughed at her gloating best friend, peering over to Nino and Adrien who sighed—Nino more so than the blonde. “I told you we shouldn’t have played with her,” Adrien joked.
“I forgot about her competitiveness,” Nino added.
With a smug grin, Alya threw an arm around Marinette’s shoulders, raising a brow at the boys standing on the other side of the pool table. “I believe a couple of certain gentlemen owe us ladies a few drinks.”
Nino rolled his eyes, resisting a smile. “As if we weren’t going to pay for you guys, anyway.”
“Yeah, but this route was way more fun, admittingly,” Marinette said, handing her cue stick to Nino to put away.
Alya turned to her after handing her own stick to her boyfriend. “I told you it’d be fun.”
“It was mostly fun watching you. I can barely even hold the stick right.”
Her friend waved her off, patting a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You’re getting the hang of it, don’t worry. You just need more practice.”
“I don’t think Nino would enjoy us starting to tag along to boy’s night.”
“Meh, he won’t mind. And if he does, he’ll get over it. We barely hang out as a group anymore. I’d say it could be the start of a new tradition.”
Marinette offered a smile. “Sure. I can watch you guys play while I watch with a martini.”
Alya shook her head. “No, no. I need a teammate. It can’t be just me against Adrien and Nino. That’s just asking to be obliterated.”
“That’s basically how you were playing before. I was just a filler on the roster!” Marinette pointed out, barely gesturing toward the pool table as they walked away to an empty table along the side of the room. “I may have shot two balls in, and one was because you fixed my aim.”
“That’s better than no balls, Dupain-Cheng,” she said with a wink as she slid into a chair, Marinette following along as she scooted into the chair across from her.
Marinette rolled her eyes. “I’m just saying, I’ll only drag you down.”
“Quit the loser talk. We’re the ones who won. That reminds me…” her voice trailed off as she switched her gaze over to the two boys who were walking back from the cue stick rack tucked away next to the bar. She waved them over. “Can we get drinks over here?” she called out.
Nino raised his hands which were holding onto glasses that Marinette did not catch. “Already covered!”
Alya raised a brow. “How did you know what we want?” she asked once the two guys were taking their seats, sliding the glasses onto the wooden table.
“Easy. You always get this wine.”
“And Marinette: one of the fruity cocktails,” Adrien added, sliding over her glass as he took the seat next to her. She stared at the glass filled with a light pink mixture before looking over at Adrien.
“If you don’t like it, blame him. He was the one who insisted he knew you’d like it,” Nino said.
She hated how much it warmed her that Adrien was adamant on such a gesture. It was stupid. Incredibly stupid how much this boy still had an effect on her. How pointless of a crush could she have on him? It had been almost five years.
Marinette carefully picked up the glass and brought it to her lips, licking specks of the sugar off of the portion of the rim. Once the sweet liquid had reached her tongue, she internally cursed as the alcoholic strawberry taste filled her mouth with the stinging smell hitting the back of her nose like a poisonous aroma.
Goddamit, he was right.
“I like it,” she stated blandly before taking another sip.
Adrien smiled triumphantly in his seat as he watched her make her way around the rim, licking off the rest of the sugar.
As much as him watching her made her stomach twist into a giant knot, she didn’t want him to stop.
She made an effort to purposefully avoid Alya’s gaze. That woman could spot out something like a hawk. Marinette didn’t need her silent suggestive looks right now.
“Next time, I say Alya pays for everyone if we win,” Nino said before taking a sip of his whiskey.
“Excuse me? Why just me?”
“You’re the one who bragged at the end of the match. I’d say it’s perfectly fair,” Adrien said with a light chuckle.
“Okay, then why don’t we make Mr. Magazine-Heartthrob over here pay for everyone if we win?”
“Hey! Why not target your boyfriend?”
“Because he doesn’t make thousands by smiling in front of a camera.”
“But I could!” Nino interjected.
“You really could, babe.”
Adrien’s phone buzzed in his pocket, causing everyone at the table to look over his way. He reluctantly whipped it out, promptly sighing once he peered down at his screen.
Alya cocked her head to the side. “What’s wrong, Agreste? You’ve been looking at your phone all night like you want to toss it down a toilet.”
Nino nodded his head in agreement. “I bet it’s his dad.”
Marinette couldn’t help but concur with the two. When it wasn’t Adrien’s turn to take his shot at the pool table, he’d check what was sending him so many notifications to his phone. While the curiosity inside Marinette was dying at the possibility of who it could be, she was happy she wasn’t on the receiving end of Adrien’s stern face that made an appearance every single time he read his screen.
At first, she thought the same as Nino and wrote about the possibility that it was his dad. He always went out of his way to be on top of Adrien and his whereabouts, despite him now being 21 years old and an adult fully capable of making his own choices. Then, Marinette thought about it being Felix who was blowing up his phone. He seemed to be in his life more often now since he moved back to Paris and always knew how to push his cousin’s buttons. Perhaps it was even Chloe–
“It’s my ex,” Adrien said.
Marinette’s heart tightened—maybe even pinched an artery—once the words flowed right out of Adrien’s mouth. That was the last person she expected. “Your ex?”
He nodded his head. “She’s been bothering me about this gala her family is throwing in a month and keeps bugging me about it until I give her an answer.”
“An answer?” Nino asked.
“Yeah. She wants to know if I’m attending.”
He groaned. “Not this shit again. Just block her if she keeps bugging you. You broke things off for a reason and she needs to understand that.”
“God, please tell me you said no,” Alya added. “That girl made me want to rip my eardrums out and wear them as earrings.”
“Guys, she wasn’t that bad.”
If Marinette’s heart wasn’t pounding in her own ears, she probably would have laughed. Maybe even added another comment about how much his ex irritated her.
It wasn’t even because she was Adrien’s ex and had the privilege of dating him. It was just the pure fact that she was impossible to get along with and it was clear she only really dated Adrien because of his status and heritage. Anais was nothing short of a snob and a manipulator.
She was kind at first. That’s how she reeled Adrien in. She would start out with sweet talk and friendly favors. Marinette almost considered her a friend. Almost .
But hell, was that short-lived.
“Trust me, I’d rather do anything than see her again,” Adrien said, helping slightly reassure Marinette’s tightened grip around her glass. “But my father is making me. You guys know how he is, he loved her. Well, mostly her family and her social status. The people attending this gala will be an opportunity to create stronger connections and meet potential clients in Italy. No way my father would toss that aside.”
“Hold up, the gala is in Italy?” Alya questioned.
Adrien nodded. “Yeah. In Milan.”
“Well then, you have to go.”
“What?” Both Marinette and Nino exclaimed in unison.
“You heard me,” Alya said. “C’mon, it’s Milan. Even if you hated her guts, you’d get a free trip to such a beautiful city. I would die to be paid to roam around Milan.”
Adrien stifled a chuckle. “Als, I’ve been to Milan before. Besides, if I go, not only will my father try to set us up again, but her family as well. And she will have no objection to it. At least when it was the same situation with Kagami, we both spoke against it. In this situation, I feel like I’m the odd one out and it’s the perfect peer pressure situation for my father. They’d probably corner me until I get back with her.”
“Should you really let your father continue to have this influence on you?” Marinette asked, the words coming out in a more critical tone than intended. She placed a hand to her lips. “I didn’t mean that you just followed his order blindly or something like that. And I’m not judging you! I promise! I-I’m just… curious. Why go if it doesn’t make you happy?”
There was something in Adrien’s sad smile in response to her comment that made her chest tighten. It was the way he didn’t even really need to smile. His emotions were all in his eyes. “I know he can be a bit controlling and cold, but he’s still my father, you know? I don’t want to disappoint him. Though, it feels like all I do is disappoint him. You should have seen his reaction when I told him that I broke things off with her. Ever since then, he’s always asked about her and if we still talk or whatever. Maybe if he weren’t so adamant about me getting back together with her, going to the gala would be easier and I could just be there for my father’s sake, but with him still hung up on us being together, I just feel stuck.”
Marinette pressed her lips together, unsure of what to think from Adrien’s confession. While the last thing she wanted was for Adrien to go to Italy and have to see his toxic ex, she wanted him to be happy, and it seemed like going without the pressure of getting back together with her would be enough to make that happen. If only his father could see that.
“Didn’t your dad see that you were miserable with her? I don’t get it,” Nino said.
He shrugged. “That’s just how my father sees my relationships. A business exchange.”
Alya leaned into her elbows which propped her head up on the table. “So what I’m hearing is, as long as you’re single, your father will always bug you about her?”
Adrien shrugged. “Well, I’m sure he won’t be stuck on her forever. But in this circumstance… yeah.”
“This is an easy fix,” she said. “Just bring a date.”
Both Adrien’s and Marinette’s eyes widened in shock at her suggestion. Though, Adrien’s was shortly followed by a laugh. “A date? Yeah, that will surely piss off my father even more.”
“No, no, listen to me,” Alya quickly retorted. “You don’t mind going to the gala. It’s just the fact that your crazy ex is going to be there and enable your father to be annoying about you two and most likely place you in uncomfortable situations. So, meet him halfway there. Tell both of them that you’ll attend and then ask to bring a plus one. A date. Another girl. That way, your father gets to at least attend with you, and Anais will be less likely to pounce on you.”
Marinette was utterly silent during the whole exchange between Adrien and Alya. She wanted to scream at her best friend for what she could possibly be thinking to suggest that Adrien should bring another girl to Italy. Like, hello? The girl madly in love with him was sitting right here.
Nino seemed to be enjoying hearing his girlfriend’s schemes. If this bar sold popcorn, he’d be eating it all up right about now.
When Alya was done proposing her idea, Adrien chortled. “As much as your idea is appealing, Als, I don’t plan on leading a girl on just to avoid a social situation that is my own personal problem.”
“It doesn’t have to be a real date. It can be a fake girlfriend type of scenario. Just build up the act long enough for them to think it’s real and then they’ll leave you alone. Maybe your father will finally move on from Anais.”
Marinette looked over at Adrien who actually seemed into it. His eyes sparked as if a million ideas were being run through his mind. She wanted to drop her face onto the table.
Don’t tell me she actually hooked him in.
“I actually kind of like this plan–”
No, no, no!
“But I’m still iffy about it.”
Yes, yes, yes!
Alya rolled her eyes. “What is there to be iffy about? I say it’s the perfect plan curated by moi .”
“Well, where would I even find a girl on board with being my fake girlfriend?”
It was the way Alya’s eyes flickered over to Marinette with that complacent grin tugging the corners of her lips that made Marinette want to shrivel up and die.
No way Alya had planned this. No way she saw this all-too-perfect opportunity to throw her best friend into the most heart-racing, self-destructive plan known to mankind. Not even Monarch could manufacture such a quick and painful idea on the spot. It was too good. Too torturous.
She wanted to desperately tell Alya absolutely not. There was no way she was going to volunteer herself to such a plan. To pretend to be Adrien Agreste’s girlfriend until—How long until the gala? One. Whole. Month.
No. She refused. She would die.
“It just so happens, Adrien, that you’re sitting next to a very single girl who coincidentally has been listening to this entire time and is one of your, oh so, dearest friends,” Alya chimed as she gestured over to Marinette.
She froze. Her body sat completely still as Adrien looked over at her. Marinette couldn’t even bare herself to look at him and read what he could possibly be thinking right now. Was he mortified? Repulsive to such an idea that he would have Marinette as his pretend girlfriend? To have her arm wrapped around his as they walked? To hold her hand?
Yeah, she really needed to stop picturing these scenarios, because otherwise, she would faint right then and there. Her face was already burning in embarrassment, feeling like the bar had cranked up the thermostat by 50 degrees at least. Thankfully, she wore her hair down which covered most of her face as she tried to keep her direction forward at Alya who could not wipe that smug look off her face. She glared at her best friend, only to be simply ignored.
“Would you really be interested in that, Marinette?” Adrien asked, his voice softer than it had been throughout the entire conversation with Alya. It melted right through her, finally giving her the motivation to turn her head toward him.
Though, Marinette couldn’t read him. She usually could. She had grown used to his different mannerisms and behaviors that allowed her to read him like a book whenever he was happy, uncomfortable, or annoyed. In this case, none of those seemed to be an option with the eyes he was giving her. If anything, he just looked… concerned?
Alya sighed. “Of course she’d be interested.”
“Okay, but I want to hear it from her,” Adrien responded, not taking his eyes off the blushing girl, her heart racing faster and pounding harder the longer his attention was on her. “The last thing I want is for you to be pressured into this. I mean, the more Alya talked about it, the more I became on board with trying this out. It might actually be crazy enough to work and get my father’s and Anais’ back off me. But I’m only going to do it if you want to. Or, at least, would be interested in talking more about it.”
Marinette couldn’t believe it.
He actually wanted to do it. With her .
Her lips slightly parted, wanting to swallow every disbelief that this was forming down into the abyss. She could practically feel Alya’s eyes burning on her, desperately wanting her to say yes. To finally take a chance on the boy she had been in love with since they were sixteen.
But… she didn’t need Alya’s persuasive methods for her to know that she wanted to. She really wanted to.
If Adrien hadn’t looked at her like that, she would’ve said no. She couldn’t risk humiliating herself in front of him, more so than she had done already. But, he wanted to do it. With her. He was asking her with those gorgeous eyes she wanted to drown in for so long.
It was clear that Adrien wanted to go, just without pressure. And Marinette could use this opportunity to show him that she was more than just a friend. More than the boundary line that had come with their friendship they had created back in school. Not to mention, it didn’t take long for Adrien to accept Alya’s suggestion that Marinette could stand in place for his date.
That had to stand for something right?
Tikki had always said she needed to start putting herself out there more. Especially since her last year at ESMOD was drawing in, it was time to take some risks. To stop letting her alternative life pause her very much real life and to live without regrets. She was turning 21 in a couple of weeks, after all. It was time to grow up.
So, with that in mind, she plastered on the most confident smile she could surface and breathed out. “Okay.”
Adrien blinked, almost surprised by her answer. “Yeah? Really?”
“Yeah. Why not?”
Alya squealed in her seat, shaking Nino’s arm as her gaze switched between Adrien and Marinette. If Marinette’s entire body wasn’t already buzzing with this newfound excitement, she might’ve teased her best friend for such a dramatic reaction. Though, she couldn’t exactly blame her. This is the most progress Marinette had made in years when it came to Adrien.
The blonde boy smiled back at her. “Okay, then. Great. Why don’t we talk about this more tomorrow? I could come over in the morning before work.”
She pressed her lips together, refusing to let any embarrassing spurs of words form while she was in this euphoric state. Marinette merely nodded in agreement before swiftly turning back to the group, already cringing at the reaction between Alya and Nino.
This woman is going to be the death of her.
“Ah, don’t I just have the best plans?” Alya remarked, leaning her head on Nino’s shoulders before taking a large sip of her wine. Her eyes failed to leave Marinette’s as she sent over a wink, probably thinking way ahead of herself.
There was no way this was going to turn into anything more than what it seemed to be. It was just a friend doing something for another friend. Sure, Marinette would love it if something more than platonic were to happen, but knowing her, that was if a miracle occurred. Plus, Adrien probably will regret his decision by the morning. She fully expected him to call the whole ridiculous plan off by the time he stepped into her house tomorrow.
He’d go to the gala alone, be forced to get back together with Anais, and then probably marry her or something. She’d bare his children and take Marinette’s name ideas out of spite. Then, she’ll take Marinette’s place at their newfound pool night tradition and she’ll be the one Adrien brings fruity cocktails to and smiles at and flirts with.
Okay, that was a bit much. But still, it’s a possibility.
There was no way Marinette was that lucky to get to be by Adrien’s side. Surely, by tomorrow, everything will go back to how things were.
With that stupid boundary line.