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“When autumn shadows throw their patterns across the land, they are not the images of fragile, dying leaves, not the bared arms of lofty elms, not shadows of a fading summer; but swinging shapes as of books upon a strap, of round and square boxes held under an arm, of hurrying little people heading toward the nearest school ... ”
- Djuna Barnes, "Our School's Open Again; We're Glad to Get Back," in Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1913)
❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜
"I can't believe that it's already our last year at Françoise Dupont." Marinette lamented, sweeping up the pile of golden brown leaves that had fallen onto her balcony. "I'm going to miss everyone so much."
Alya picked a stray leaf out of Marinette's hair and raised an eyebrow. "You do know we can still arrange to hang out with everybody like this even after we leave school."
"I know, but it won't be the same."
"I personally will be happy not having to deal with certain people ever again." Nino interjected, popping a marshmallow into his mouth.
"Like Chloé." Marinette grumbled, crossing her arms. A gust of bitingly cold wind whipped around her head as if to emphasise the point.
"Nino, stop it! There'll be none left by the time the others get here and you know how much Rose loves those." Alya snatched the bag away and flicked Nino's nose. "And Mari, girl, you'd better start expecting Chloé to come uninvited. You know how it works - if you invite Zoé or Sabrina, just expect for Chloé to show up too. You invited both."
"It's so unfair how she always butts her way into things though. She'll ruin everything." Marinette complained, scooping the leaves into the bin. She put on a fake high pitched voice and began wiggling her neck around. " 'You like playing what ? Never heard of it. Must be a game for peasants like you, Dupain-Cheng. How utterly ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous!' "
Nino burst into laughter at her spot-on impression, "Just remember, if she goes too far with anything, just come and find me or Alya, okay? We've always got your back."
"Or there's always Adriennnn." Alya said in a sing-song voice with a wicked grin on her face.
"I bet he'd love to come and rescue you from Chloé. Hey, remember that time in class when Chloé called Marinette ugly?" Nino cackled. "And he was all like, 'Marinette is the most beautiful girl in the entire world!' I swear, you almost fainted."
"He did not say that! He said I was one of the most beautiful... Anyway, that's besides the point! We're just friends!" Marinette blushed.
Nino and Alya looked at each other and rolled their eyes at the exact same time. " Sure."
"Oh, would you look at that! My phone's ringing." Marinette said, rushing down into her bedroom.
"Hey, come back. We all know it's not really... oh wow it actually is." Alya peered over Marinette's shoulder to see who it was and sighed. "For goodness' sake. Here we go."
"Hey Marinette." Kim's clown print pyjamas filled the screen for a few seconds until he swivelled the camera around, "So, I'm not gonna be able to make it tonight after all 'cause like... Well. You see, I have this thing with Ondine. Anyway, try not to miss me too badly."
"Oh you have this thing do you?" Alya interrupted. "Did you forget that you promised you'd bring the drinks? And the cards?"
"What, you don't have any cards outside of the ones I was gonna bring?" Kim yawned. "I don't see how it's on me. How can you organise a games night and not have cards. Those are like the basics."
"My parents did a big spring clean earlier in the year and got rid of a whole bunch of stuff." Marinette said. "You said you'd definitely be here this time."
"Yeah, well so did Max and Alix and MyléneandIvan and..."
"No, none of them promised they'd be able to come. Nor did they cancel on the day or say they could bring stuff and not come through." Alya said. "Get your facts straight."
"Yeah, dude. That's really uncool." Nino said.
Kim rolled his eyes. "Oh whatever."
"Do you know how hard Mari's worked to arrange this for everybody? If you would just..." Alya's jaw dropped when the line went dead and her eyes widened. "Oh my god, there's no way he just hung up on me."
"It's alright, baby. Breathe." Nino murmured, rubbing her back. He wisely said nothing when she tossed two marshmallows into her mouth and instead turned to Marinette. "I think I've got cards somewhere at home. I can run home and get them now if you want."
"Would you? Thank you so much." Marinette said.
Nino grabbed his phone and tapped out a text, probably letting his brother know he was coming. "Don't even worry about it."
"We'd better go and get some drinks as well." Alya grumbled. "That's so annoying. Just when we were basically done setting everything up."
Marinette put down her phone and took a deep breath. "Would you be alright going by yourself? I need to finish cleaning downstairs."
Nino started smiling extremely widely at that for some reason, murmuring what sounded like "Perfect" under his breath, but Marinette didn't think too much of it at the time what with her impending headache and all.
"Alright, I'll see you in a bit then." Alya waited until Nino had started going down the stairs and then turned back to face her best friend. "You okay?"
Marinette nodded, but the fact that she was biting her nails made it all the more obvious to Alya that she wasn't alright. However, Alya also knew that at times like these when Marinette was stressed out, having some time by herself to breathe was what she needed.
"We'll be right back." Alya said, squeezing Marinette's arm. She slipped her hand into Nino's and they went out into the golden red frenzy of autumn leaves.
Marinette collapsed against the door and buried her head in her hands taking deep breaths to try and slow everything down. Her parents were away in Italy for two weeks for a wedding so she had volunteered to host their friend groups' monthly get together. She hadn't anticipated that it would be so overwhelming. First of all, there was the fact that so many people weren't free to come. Apparently, it was National Boyfriend's Day and so nearly all of the couples were doing their own separate thing.
MyléneandIvan.
KagamiandFélix.
Now OndineandKim
The list went on.
And here sat Marinette, in her final year of school, still unable to confess her feelings to the boy she liked. Now that her parents were away, she felt so lonely and miserable that it was almost unbearable sometimes. AlyaandNino were amazing as always but she couldn't help feeling like she was third-wheeling sometimes. It wasn't like they were purposely rubbing their relationship in her face - they would never do that. It was just that what Marinette longed for so badly was constantly flashed in front of her face a hundred times a day in the various different couples all around her and it was all just too much to take sometimes.
The worst part was that since they were at the age that they were at, all anyone ever wanted to talk about was dating and relationships. When she reached her limit, she usually stuck to Alix and Max like glue but today, Alix was at a rollerblading competition and Max was at a robotics fair for the weekend. Zoé was another option, but the pair of them together drew Chloé in like a magnet. Two of her favourite people to bully in the same place was just too good an opportunity to miss and she would make a beeline for them any time she saw them hanging out. Marinette and Zoé called and texted all the time though. Sabrina and Chloé were obviously out of the question. And that left Adrien as the last remaining person of the Singles Club. Hence her predicament.
Marinette picked up the discarded cushions on the sofa that she and Alya had been throwing at Nino (for what she couldn't remember, but if she had to guess, it would probably have something to do with him complaining about how his favourite underground musicians always blew up and became mainstream).
Then, she brought several freshly washed blankets in, made sure the controllers were charging and began laying out the snacks that had been requested. There were croissants, chouquettes and macarons from her parents' bakery. Then, Rose's infamous marshmallows, Juleka's Zombie Sour Patch Kids, NathanielandMarc's red velvet cupcakes, and Kim's bowl of trail mix which Marinette now eyed disdainfully.
She was just heading down the stairs to get the snacks from the bakery when the doorbell rang. She jogged down the stairs and pulled up short when she saw who was waiting outside.
"Hey." Marinette breathed, frantically smoothing down her hair.
"Hello Marinette." Adrien beamed.
Oh, he was so cute. His usually immaculate hair was slightly dishevelled from the wind and a golden leaf was perched on top, trying its best to blend in. The tips of his ears and nose had a rosy red tint to them and tiny puffs of condensation were escaping his mouth when he spoke.
"You've got a leaf in your hair." Marinette pointed out. "Did you walk over?"
"Yep." Adrien nodded proudly, plucking the leaf out and then rubbing his hands together. His rings clinked against each other as he did and Marinette remembered that one time he let her wear them, her insides fizzing. His hands had been so soft when he put them on for her and he was so gentle and kind and warm and...
"So um..." Marinette glanced at the clock and Adrien's sparkling green eyes followed her gaze and widened in concern.
"I hope I'm not too late to help out. I only just saw Nino's message."
"Nino's... message?"
"Saying to come an hour early to help you." Adrien said slowly. "You wanted my help because Alya and Nino were out, right?"
"Um." Marinette spun around quickly to hide her reddening cheeks, the dots finally connecting.
"Oh." Adrien said, sounding slightly deflated.
"Nono, it's fine. Here!" Marinette grabbed two boxes of macarons and dumped them in Adrien's arms, then stacked the boxes of croissants and chouquettes on top of each other and manoeuvred the door open with her elbow. "It's just up these stairs."
When they got to the living room, Adrien put the macarons on the table and then faced Marinette. "I hope I'm not imposing."
"What?" Marinette asked breathlessly.
"Because, I can wait downstairs if you'd prefer me to. I don't want to get in the way, or make you feel uncomfortable or anything. I know we don't really hang out just the two of us..."
Marinette shook her head vehemently, "I do want your help."
"You sure?" Adrien asked, his eyes lighting up.
"I'm sure."
"Pinky promise?"
Marinette rolled her eyes but leaned forward anyway to wrap her pinky finger around Adrien's, already thinking of ways she could break away and text Alya what was going on.
"Ok, good." Adrien grinned, all sunshine and light again. He spotted Mario Kart in the pile of Wii games by the TV and smiled. "It's been forever since I've got to play this!"
"I know. I heard you raving about it to Max once." Marinette said, cracking open the window slightly.
"Raving about it, huh?"
"Yeah, you were talking about whether Grumble Volcano or Moonview Highway was harder."
"Really? But that was ages ago."
"I remember things." Marinette replied.
Adrien nodded. "I like that about you. You always remember small things like that about people. It's really sweet. Like, I can't believe you remembered that I like chouquettes."
"It's really nothing." Marinette blushed.
"Also, it's definitely Grumble Volcano." Adrien said, crossing his arms. "I dare you to say otherwise.
"Incorrect." Marinette said. "There's all the cars you've got to avoid and the bob-omb cars..."
"The what?"
"The exploding thingies."
"You're such a little gaming nerd." Adrien said fondly.
"The hardest part of Grumble Volcano is the ground sinking into the lava, but even then there are clear sections marked so you know." Marinette continued.
"Do you want to play while we wait for the others?" Adrien asked.
Marinette eyed the controllers and tossed Adrien the wheel, "Sure."
"Prepare to lose, Marinette."
"In your dreams."
They were so caught up in their intense battle, Marinette's Mario in a Wild Wing against Adrien's Princess Peach in a Royal Racer that they didn't realise Alya and Nino had returned from their voyage across the sea of leaves outside until they entered the room and set down the drinks and Nino's pack of cards.
"Koopa Troopa is the best character, argue with the wall." Nino declared selecting the small turtle-like creature without even having to think about it. Alya had just decided to choose Toad as her character when the doorbell rang so Marinette went down to let RoseandJuleka in.
"Hey Rose! Hi Jule!"
"Luka said to say hi as well. He dropped us off." Rose said, as cheery as ever. She hugged Marinette tightly, smelling of vanilla and cherry blossoms.
Marinette peered out of the window and waved at the faint outline of Luka in his car as he reversed. "He could have stayed if he wanted."
"He's got work today." Juleka said. "But maybe another time."
They were the first to utilise the blankets and the second Rose was shown the kitchen and told to help herself, she started making hot chocolate for everyone while Juleka played Solitaire.
Next, NathanielandMarc arrived with their controllers and so they switched to party games. The evening was filled with warmth and laughter for exactly half an hour and then Chloé’s freshly manicured finger pressed the doorbell and she exploded into the Dupain-Cheng’s living room in an electrifying torpedo of blue eyeshadow and honey blonde hair. She was flanked by Zoé and Sabrina who looked more than a bit fed up, but brightened considerably when they saw the rest of their friends waiting for them.
“Alright everyone, your queen has arrived. Bow down.” Chloé announced, tossing her handbag into Nathaniel’s lap.
“Hello everyone.” Zoé sighed wearily.
Sabrina placed their contribution of peanut butter honey cookies on the table and collapsed onto the sofa beside Marc with a long exhale. Juleka swung her legs off Marc’s lap to make space for her and gave her a small sympathetic smile.
Nino grabbed his phone to change the music to the Jaws soundtrack as Chloé approached. She paused for a few seconds trying to place the song then narrowed her eyes at him.
“You think you’re so funny.” She said, sticking her nose in the air. “So anyway, this is Dupain Cheng’s house?”
Marinette dipped into an exaggerated curtsey, “Welcome to my humble abode.”
“It’s lovely, isn’t it?” Adrien said, the glint in his bright green eyes daring her to disagree.
“Hmmm, well, it’s a bit… small.” Chloé said, extracting a peanut butter honey cookie to nibble on. “But I suppose it’ll do.”
They continued to game for several more hours, and even Chloé couldn’t remain sour for too long. They stuck to party games and had a brief intermission for truth or dare when one of the controllers died. The way they played had started because Chloé could never be bothered to pay attention whenever it was anyone else’s turn, so each person took turns asking questions to the entire group who either answered or carried out the same dare.
“Zoé, would you like to go first?” Marinette asked.
“Sure!” Zoé said, rubbing her hands together. “What’s the last text that you guys have sent?”
Everyone grumbled and took out their phones.
“I was asking Daddy for money.” Chloé said, already looking bored.
“What’s new?” Zoé said under her breath.
Rose immediately exploded into a fit of giggles and shook her head. “I can’t say this.”
Juleka hid a knowing smile with the sleeve of her oversized jumper and shrugged, “Well, mine is just telling Luka I’ll be home soon and to let Mum know.”
“Mine was on the class group chat wishing Alix good luck.” Nathaniel said.
Marinette, Alya, Nino, Marc and Sabrina all nodded in agreement that their message to Alix had also been the last text they sent.
Adrien sheepishly turned over his phone and began fiddling with his black ring on his right hand.
“Alright, so that’s Rose and Adrien doing the dare.” Zoé said, leaning back to think. Then, she sat bolt upright and snapped her fingers, a wicked glint in her eyes. “Okay, have you two bought your Halloween costumes already?”
Rose and Adrien shook their heads slowly.
“I dare you to dress up as Princess Peach for Halloween!” Zoé proclaimed.
Adrien shrugged, “Alright.”
Rose looked horrified. “What?! But I wanted to match with Juleka this year. We were going to be Marceline and Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time.”
“You could be both.” Juleka suggested. “You’d be such a cute Princess Peach.”
“Oh alright.”
They played a few more rounds, but Marinette couldn’t help but wonder what the last message Adrien had sent was. She was so deep in thought that she barely acknowledged Sabrina saying that her dad wanted her back home and Alya had to shake her back to reality.
By that point, the controller had charged sufficiently and so they settled back into another round of party games. At 11pm, Rose and Marc announced that they needed to head back too, so Juleka and Nathaniel didn’t take long to follow. Then, at midnight, Nino got a message from one of his DJ friends saying that they were DJing at a party around the corner so he and Alya went to Nino’s to prepare to go to that. That left Chloé, Zoé, Adrien and Marinette who decided to have one last game of Mario Kart. Marinette and Adrien resumed their characters of Mario and Princess Peach. Chloé decided to be Birdo on account of the dazzling diamond ring on her finger (“She has expensive taste.”) and Zoé selected Baby Mario.
Chloé came twelfth in the first race and threw down her controller, demanding a rematch but the other three refused so she scrolled on her phone until she eventually fell asleep.
“She looks so sweet and innocent when she’s asleep.” Zoé commented once the game had finished and a taxi was on its way. Chloé had fallen asleep with her head on top of her white handbag, her legs curled up underneath her and was snuggled up with one of Marinette’s “utterly ridiculous” blankets with cartoon characters on it. It was hard to believe that it was the same person.
That left Marinette and Adrien.
“So… Are you gonna tell me what your last message was?” Marinette teased as they tidied the living room, together carrying dirty cups and plates into the kitchen.
“Oh, it was nothing.” Adrien replied. “Just something me and Nino were talking about.”
“You do know that pretty much everyone who said that their last message was wishing Alix luck for her competition was probably lying, right?”
“Really?” Adrien said, suddenly looking extremely amused. “So then, what was the last message you really sent?”
“That’s irrelevant.” Marinette blushed. “The point is, everyone knows Zoé’s dares are ruthless and should be avoided at all costs.”
“I don’t really mind dressing up as Princess Peach anyway.” Adrien said. “I was stuck for costume choices. Who or what are you going to go as?”
“Maybe I should be Mario and we could match like RoseandJuleka.” Marinette joked, cringing at the implications. She flailed around for her phone and unlocked it to several videos from Alya of the party. She showed Adrien, a slight grimace on her face. “I’m so glad I decided not to go to this… Is that a bra on the turntable???”
Adrien chuckled softly looking down at his own phone which began vibrating. Nathalie’s solemn face filled the screen and Adrien immediately turned it away from Marinette.
“Hello Nathalie!”
“Hello Adrien. Where are you?”
“Uh… Nino’s?”
“Are you asking me or telling me?”
“Nino’s. Definitely Nino’s.”
“Mhm.” Nathalie’s lips were pressed into a straight line. “I assume you’ll be back after school tomorrow?”
“Uh… Am I staying the night here?” Adrien looked to Marinette for confirmation and she froze for a few seconds and then gave an awkward thumbs up. “Yeah! I’m staying.”
“She was definitely convinced.” Adrien informed Marinette after he hung up.
She lent him an oversized t-shirt with a design of a black cat on it so he could wear the t-shirt he came in to school the next day and then they settled down on the sofa to have a scary movie marathon.
“I feel like this is a bad idea.” Adrien said.
“It was your idea.” Marinette reminded him.
“I think it would be a better idea for you to disclose to me what the last text you sent was instead. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
“Why don’t you tell me first and then I’ll think about whether I want to tell you or not.”
“But it’s embarrassing.” Adrien said, grateful for the cover of night to hide his red face.
“I won’t make fun of you.” Marinette murmured.
“No, I know you won’t. It’s just that it was about you and...” Adrien paused and raked his hand through his hair. “You’re going to want to know even more now, aren’t you?”
Marinette sat up and switched on the lamp beside the sofa, her heart beating quicker than ever. “Well yeah.”
Adrien sighed and fished his phone out once more and tapped on Nino’s name. “Here. You can look for yourself. I’m not saying it out loud.”
Marinette took the phone and read the message, becoming more and more disbelieving with each word she read.
Nino: Mari asked if ur free to help her set up
Adrien: She asked for me specifically?
Nino: Yeah dude, she was all like “Adrien or nobody”
Adrien: Seriously?
Nino: Yeahhhh. Fr tho, when are you gonna make ur move? Its been FOREVER and I need to cash in on a bet I made with Alya
Adrien: We are just friends
Nino: Not what I was asking, btw remember how heartbroken u were when she was dating Luka?
Adrien: Shut up
Nino: No remember and learn from your past mistakes, MAKE UR MOVE
Adrien: Alright alright, I’m going over there now
Nino: And you’re gonna ask her out? Right?
Adrien: I can’t, Marinette only sees me as a friend. And she’s so kind and sweet and pretty, how do you ask a girl like that out?
Nino: I give up.
“You like me?” Marinette gasped.
“Guess the cat’s out of the bag.” Adrien chuckled weakly, pointing to his t-shirt. “Look, I don’t want this to be awkward. And I know that me being here right now might be the last thing you want. I can always get a taxi to Nino’s and actually then I wouldn’t be lying to Nathalie and…”
“Nino knew you liked me!”
“Yeah, Nino’s the only one I trusted enough to tell.”
“No. There’s no way.” Marinette stood up and began pacing the living room. “Why? When?”
“I think you’re an amazing person, Marinette. I don’t know when exactly I started having feelings for you. I haven’t ever felt this way for anyone before. It’s all so new and confusing to me.”
“Oh Adrien.” Marinette opened her last conversation with Alya before the stream of videos from the party and showed him.
Marinette: I’m going to kill Nino
Alya: Ok but before you do, maybe think about how it’s a good thing? You and Adrien are finally spending some 1on1 time together, it’s a great time for you to ask him out. Remember the bet!!! My money is on the line here
Marinette: We’ve been through this, I can’t!
Alya: Girl.
Marinette: Please hurry up and come back. He keeps LOOKING at me Alya.
Alya: NO WAY
Marinette: How is it fair for one person to be so pretty???
Alya: Awww, thanks babe
Marinette: Alya please hurry up. /srs not /jk[ pls im begging. ADDJSLJDS HES COMING BACLLL HELP
“You think I’m pretty?” Adrien asked, smiling widely.
Marinette snatched back her phone and raised an eyebrow. “I feel so much regret right now in showing you that, you have no idea.”
“You do! You think I’m pretty.” Adrien exclaimed triumphantly, poking Marinette’s leg.
“Okay, enough.” Marinette said, poking his arm. “It’s not too late to get a taxi.”
Adrien’s eyes softened and he shuffled closer to Marinette. “You really like me too?”
“Yes.”
"And you really think I'm pretty?"
A faint red dusted across Marinette's cheeks. "Yes."
"Thank you." Adrien poked Marinette's cheek. "You look so cute when you're embarrassed. You really are the most beautiful girl in the world."
Marinette took a deep breath. "Does this mean we're dating now?"
"I don't know, Marinette. Does it?"
"Can you please stop doing that?"
"What?"
"Saying my name. Give me a warning, first or something."
"Okay. Warning: I'm about to say your name. Marinette Dupain-Cheng would you do me the honour of becoming my girlfriend?"
Marinette's heart doubled in size and she covered her face with her hands and promptly burst into tears.
"Hey... Don't cry. Is the idea really that terrible?" Adrien joked, gently prying her hands away from her face. Upon seeing Marinette's big blue watery eyes, he melted. "You're actually adorable, you know that?" He murmured.
When Marinette had recovered enough to form coherent words and sentences, Adrien pulled her into his lap and began playing with her hair.
"I've never seen your hair down before."
"It's a special privilege." Marinette replied.
"I'm flattered."
"Oh!" Marinette glanced at the time. "We've just about missed National Boyfriend's Day."
"That's alright, we'll always have next year. If you're not sick of me by then." Adrien tilted his head to the side. "The real problem is where I'm going to get my hands on a Princess Peach costume."
"We can go shopping for one." Marinette suggested. "And then if we don't find one in your size or that you like, I can try and make one."
"I'd like that a lot." Adrien said, trying to contain his happiness at Marinette referring to them as "we".
"I like you a lot."
They were at last,
MarinetteandAdrien.