Chapter Text
It’s not babysitting. It’s mentoring. Or at least that’s what she tells herself.
Marinette is twenty years old, earning good money from all the commissions she takes, as well as some special orders on her internet store. She doesn’t need the money, but she takes the babysitting gig anyway. Because, in the end… she’s fond of Manon. Granted, the little girl had managed to drive her absolutely insane when Marinette was a teenager but that was not the case anymore.
Despite all of Nadja’s apologizes for dropping Manon on her routine again; Marinette simply smiles and tells her that it’s okay, reminding Nadja that she can count on her. She didn’t mind the interruption to her daily routine.
In fact, she’s desperate for the distraction.
The apartment is far too quiet now, far too lonely and cold now that Adrien had moved out. It’d been one week since he had finally taken all his stuff and moved away, and it’d been six days since Marinette had finally gathered the courage to set foot back inside the home they once shared.
It just wasn’t supposed to end like this.
In fact, it wasn’t supposed to end at all.
But as Manon quickly runs inside, eager to see just what the young woman was working on, Marinette realizes something. The ten year old fills the apartment with such a intense energy that she finds herself forgetting her sorrows. She forgets that his scarf will no longer be hanging from the coat rack. She forgets that she will no longer have to watch out for his reading glasses before setting something on top of their table. She forgets that her completed sketchbooks are scattered on top of the kitchen table, because the bookshelf was his, and he had taken it along as he left, and she forgets that she no longer has to clear out the left side of the bed for him to sleep in.
And for now, she breathes.
She finds herself following Manon, leaning against the wall as the younger girl busies herself looking at Marinette latest designs.
“Heey!” Manon giggles as she twirls, placing a large hat on top of her head. “I can be a model too!”
Marinette laughs, the sound odd and new after these past few weeks, plucking the hat from Manon’s head and carefully placing it back on top of the work table. “Careful! It still has some pins on it,” she says, before placing a hand on Manon’s shoulder and lightly leading her back towards the living room and away from her works in progress. “Come on, let’s go watch a movie.”
It takes no time for Marinette to set up the movie and bring some snacks, and soon enough, they’re surrounded by large bowl of popcorn and some drinks. The movie is animated, and it has a wide eyed protagonist and a very dashing love interest.
“Is Adrien coming home today? Or is he modelling again?”
The wound is still far too fresh for Marinette not to react, but if Manon notices, she says nothing, her light brown eyes fully focused on the story on the screen.
It shouldn’t be a surprise, the young girl was absolutely enamoured with Adrien, and had been ever since she’d been dragged into that photo shoot all those years ago. Marinette was almost certain that part of the admiration Manon felt for her was due to the fact that Adrien loves her.
Loved. Not loves.
“Oh.” She’s not able to say anything more for a couple of minutes. How can Marinette possibly explain to Manon that Adrien is not coming back to this apartment ever again. “He’s away… for work.” She finally explains, hoping that it would be enough.
“Really? Where?” Manon explodes, gesturing wildly as she launches request after request. “Can you tell him to bring me something?”
There was something decidedly terrible about lying to a child, but Marinette found that there was no other choice. “I will!” She tells her, her voice somehow cheery, despite the fact that she can feel the crushing sadness overwhelming her again. It’s grip is like a vice, made out of cold steel, crushing her chest, and making it so hard to breathe again.
“You should tell him we’re watching this movie!” Manon continues to speak, completely unaware of the turmoil her words were creating in Marinette. “Ooh, better yet. We should send him a picture!” With that, Manon scoots over to Marinette, ready for the picture.
Marinette just goes through the motions, and smiles for the camera before snapping some pictures on her cellphone. Upon first look, her smile doesn’t reach her eyes, and the picture betrays just how much the break up affects her. The woman on the picture is a wreck, and her heartbreak is almost palpable, trascending beyond the screen it’s on.
Grief begins crushing her, making it hard to keep the facade of self control she has somehow managed to maintain so far. She has to get away.
“You keep watching the movie,” she tells her, standing up from the sofa as she heads towards the bathroom. “I’ll be right back.” She holds her cellphone in a deathlike vice as she quickly stalks towards the opened bathroom, closing the door just as she feels the tears overflowing her eyes.
This wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fair!
The first tear falls on top of the cell phone screen, and when she wipes it off, it lights it up, showing the picture she had just taken with Manon.
Marinette leans back against the door, before slowly sliding until she’s sitting on the cold tiled floor as silent sobs shake her slim frame. She needs to collect her thoughts and get back out there. But her fingers move almost without her permission, searching for something. Searching for him. They tap on the screen until she’s able to reach a folder, accessible only by password. Alya had told her that she had to delete them but Marinette just wasn’t able. Not yet.
They were happy. She needs to see it. She needs to believe that it was true once.
The secret folder displayed countless thumbnails and Marinette found herself thumbing through them, watching all the secret snapshots that documented her time with Adrien. Smiles, so many smiles everywhere. And she misses them all, from the simplest smirk to the biggest grin he would flash her, she misses it all. She misses the weight of his arm on her weight when she sleeps and the way he always ruffles her hair when she brushes her teeth. She misses Adrien and the reality that she needed to start dealing with it hit her like a freight train.
He’s not coming back. Adrien left and there’s nothing she can do about that.
“Marinette?!” A voice called from outside and Marinette realized that she needed to get back.
“Sorry!” She calls out, her voice sounding hoarser than what she’d expected, the weight of unshed tears putting a strain on every single part of her body. Hopefully Manon wouldn’t notice. “I’ll be right out!” She washes her hands, before splashing some cool water on her face.
There would be time for dwelling in her sorrow, time to go through her grief. Marinette is aware that she desperately needs to do so. But now is not the time.
She simply will not break Manon’s heart, because just one heart breaking was enough.