“That's the thing about pain.
It demands to be felt.”
—John Green, The Fault In Our Stars

Chapter Five

"Does anybody know what happened to Mr. Agreste?" their chemisty teacher asked with an eyebrow raised, the feeling of doubt towards the blonde model rising inside of her. "That boy has been absent for about a week. I thought he'd be a good student."

Everyone's heads turned to one another, searching for the guilty party. But no one seemed to know what happened to Adrien.

Chloe stood up, dramatically shook her head while fanning her face, "Adrikins will come back soon. He's really sick. He told me that he will always love me and will never leave me. That's proof enough that he will come to school by next week or so!"

Marinette, knowing that this was just another one of her lies, rolled her eyes and leaned forward to tap on Adrien's best friend, Nino's shoulder.

"Hey," she whispered, "Do you know what happened to Adrien?"

Nino felt a slight pang of pity, knowing that this girl sees Adrien as something much more than a friend. "No dude, sorry. All I know is that he is sick. I went to his house the other day and—"

"Marinette and Nino!"

The both of them flinched and looked at their teacher, who looked like she was about to explode. "Care to share what you two have been talking about in class?"

They heard a small snicker and Marinette didn't have to look to know whom it came from. She looked down and shook her head, her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. She has never been called out in class before. "No, miss. We're sorry."

The teacher squinted, debating whether or not to scold them evem further. Knowing that it would only make her explode, she let out a huge sigh and shook her head.

"Teenagers these days. Disrespectful," she muttered under her breath as she turned around and continued writing nosebleeding terms on the white board.

—∞—

"Is there something on my teeth?" Marinette asked Tikki, showing the small kwami her teeth.

"No, it's completely clean," The red creature giggled, finding the ravenette's excitement amusing.

It was a quite a cold Sunday afternoon in Paris when Marinette decided to go to the Agreste mansion to give her crush a box of croissants and a get well soon letter. Even though Marinette doesn't talk to Adrien that much because of her uncontrollable stuttering and nervousness whenever he's near, she still wanted to at least give him something to make him feel a little bit better.

"Okay," She took a deep breath and held the green box that contained the croissants tighter, "okay. I got this."

Tikki gave her a small thumbs up before flying inside Marinette's pink sling bag. She lifted a hesitant finger and pressed the doorbell, her heartbeat pounding harshly against her chest, her excitement quickly being taken over by nervousness.

"Oh my, Tikki, I don't think I can—" before she could finish her sentence, a video camera popped out of nowhere, placing itself directly infront of the ravenette's face, shocking her. "—H-hello! It's me, M-Marinette! Yes, that's me, hehe. Marinette. Yeah."

She made a mental note to bang her head against a wall when she comes back home after this.

"Why are you here?" the cold, monotone voice of Natalie spoke through the camera.

"Um," she looked down at the box of croissants and smiled, "I just want to give Adrien some croissants. I heard he's—"

"—you may proceed," Natalie said, the large gates automatically opening itself. Even though she's visited the model's house several times already, she still couldn't help being amazed at the gates that could eventually open themselves with just a push of a button.

When she went inside the mansion, she was greeted by cold dark blue eyes that looked tired and dull. Marinette smiled at the stressed assistant, and to her surprise, Natalie smiled back.

"Thank you," she spoke, her voice now warm yet still monotoned. "Would you like me to give this to Adrien? Or you'd do it yourself?"

Marinette was quite taken aback by her question. Then, she remembered once when it was Adrien's birthday, she only dropped her gift for Adrien outside the gates and Natalie gave it to Adrien herself. But now. . .

"I have a question," she says, raising an eyebrow. "Last time, you only made me put my gift for Adrien inside a box-like thing. Now you let me inside his house and even let me give this to him myself. Why is that?"

Natalie's cold and grey eyes twinkled as her smile grew wider, the laugh lines beside her eyes growing deeper and more obvious.

"He needs love. That's all. And for some weird reason, I know you can give him some of that."

—∞—

"U-Um," Marinette nervously stepped forward, facing the door of the blonde boy's room. "A-Adrien? Are you there?"

No response.

"I h-heard that sick is yours. I mean, um, you're sick. I guess. No, no, not I guess because I'm sure you're sick and yeah t-t-that sucks—" she cut herself off, taking a deep breath to calm herself down. "—I made you some croissants. I hope you like them. Get well soon."

No response.

He's probably asleep, she thought, as an image of Adrien sleeping adorably popped in her mind. She smiled at the thought.

She stood there for a while, waiting for him to speak from the other side of the door. After waiting for a couple of minutes, she sighed and placed the green box on the floor in front of the door.

"I miss you," she breathed, her heart heavy. She slowly turned around and walked away from the door, still hoping for him to respond. And, as cliché as it sounded, she wanted him to come out of the door and say he misses her too. But why would he? She's just Marinette. A girl hopelessly in love with a boy who's out of her league.

There was absolutely no way he'd like someone like her.

—∞—

When Marinette arrived home, she was greeted by Sabine, her mother that she was always thankful to have.

"Sweetie! How was it?" Her mother's eyes sparkled in delight and excitement at the thought of her daughter finally seeing someone.

Marinette gave her a small smile and a thumbs up. "It was okay, I guess. He was asleep the whole time."

Sabine pouted, "Well, that's not so good, is it? Oh well. There's always a next time. For now, you need to rest. You look tired."

"Thanks, mama," Marinette replied as her mother gave her a gentle kiss on the teenager's forehead.

Marinette was immediately wrapped by a pair of strong arms the moment she stepped foot inside her room. Her cheeks flushed as a smile formed on her face, knowing who this person was.

"Good afternoon to you too, Chat," she giggled as the black cat pulled away, his striking green cat-like eyes meeting her sapphire blue ones.

"I've been waiting for you," he says, his eyes looking frantic. "What took you so long?"

She shrugged and walked towards the balcony, the place where she and Chat would always have their small talks together. The cat followed her, his tail dragging on the floor.

"I visited a friend," she says, looking at the view of the city and admiring its beauty, while the cat was admiring hers.

"Who?"

"It's a secret."

Chat's heart skipped a beat when the ravenette stuck her tongue out in an adorable manner. Probably the cutest thing I've ever seen, he thought as an amused chuckle escaped from his lips.

They just stood there, beside each other, feeling grateful and happy with each other's presence. They didn't speak; they remained silent for who knows how long, but it never became awkward. Just sensing each other's presence make them feel safe.

However, the throbbing pain the cat was feeling made him uncomfortable. The deep cuts and bruises didn't disappear from the superheroine's Miraculous Ladybug, and he had no idea why.

It was the reason why he didn't attend school for a week; he couldn't walk properly during the first three days of the week, since the wounds were still fresh and some were still bleeding like crazy.

Marinette noticed his uneasiness, so she turned and placed a worried hand on the cat's cheek.

"Are you okay?" she asked, her blue eyes filled with worry.

Chat gave her the best smile he could make despite the pain. The last thing he wanted to do was to make his princess worry about something so small.

"I'm alright," then his smile quickly turned into a suggestive smirk that could charm any lady in town. Except for Ladybug, though. "Aw, my princess is worried about her knight in shining armor."

Marinette's face immediately flushed as she turned to look back at the city view, taking her hand off the black cat's cheek.

"O-Of course I'd be worried. You're my friend," she stammered, making Chat laugh at how cute she looked like when she's embarrassed.

"How about you? Are you okay?" Chat asked, not taking his eyes off her. The way she was blushing so hard somehow turned him on. He wanted to tease her much more, but he couldn't think of anything else to say since the pain all over his body was distracting him.

"No," Marinette breathed, thinking about the croissants she gave Adrien. "No, I'm not."

Now, it was Chat's turn to be worried.

"Why? What happened?"

"I don't know, I just," she paused and sighed, placing her chin on her palm as she leaned against the metallic bars of her balcony. "A very special friend of mine got sick. He's been absent for a week, so I decided to make a dozen croissants for him. He was the friend I visited awhile ago. But I guess he was asleep, so I just left the box of croissants in front of his room."

"And? You're not okay because?"

"What if he won't like it? What if he'd think I'm a creep? I shouldn't have made him croissants. But I wanted to."

Chat shook his head, fighting the urge to hug her right then and there. He loved croissants; he could eat them for breakfast 'till dinner and never get tired of them. Plus, Marinette baked it, for goodness' sake. She's an excellent baker. If this friend of hers didn't like it, he was sure this person wasn't human.

"I'm pretty sure he'll like it. Who's this friend of yours?"

"A-Adrien Agreste."

Chat froze as he felt his heart pounding against his chest.

"Oh. That guy."

"Yeah."

The cat wanted to scream out of joy.

She baked a dozen croissants, he screamed inside his mind, for me! FOR ME! MARINETTE MADE ME CROISSANTS!

Marinette saw that his cheeks were flaming and he has this goofy smile plastered on his face, which made her laugh out loud.

"What's wrong? You're so happy all of a sudden."

Chat looked at the girl and felt as if he was the luckiest guy alive. Oh, how he wanted to wrap his arms around her and just hug her for the rest of his life. But he couldn't, obviously.

"Nothing," he squeaked, his voice higher than usual as he tried to hide his uncontrollable happiness. "Nothing at all. I have to go, princess."

"So soon?"

"I'll come back," he smiled and kissed her forehead, "I promise."

—∞—

"Marinette! Someone's here to see you!"

Marinette sighed, still standing on the balcony, waiting for a black cat to arrive.

He said he'll come back, she thought.

"Marinette, hurry!" her mother, Sabine yelled once more, the excitement dripping from her voice.

"Coming, mama!"

She walked down the stairs in a hurry, curious as to who would visit her without any warning. If it was Alya, she would've come straight into Marinette's room as if this was her own home.

Marinette saw the excited smile plastered on her mother's face, and the small smile on her father's. Her curiousity grew at her parent's strange expressions.

With Tom's arm wrapped around Sabine, her mother bounced up and down in excitement. "Go on," she nodded towards the door, "open the door."

"O-kay?"

Marinette walked towards the pink colored door and opened it, revealing a handsome blonde boy standing in front of her, his striking green eyes and charming smile making her heart flutter.

"A-A-Abs—I mean A-Adri-Adrien! Here you are! I mean, you're h-here? Why? Are you dying?!"

Adrien chuckled and shook his head, looking straight into the ravenette's sapphire blue eyes that he always seemed to be searching for everyday.

"I'm perfectly fine," he spoke, although he was lying through his teeth. There was still the throbbing pain all over his body, and he did feel like dying, but he ignored it. "Thank you for the croissants."

Marinette looked down and saw that he was holding the familiar green box of croissants that she made specifically for him and him only, and felt her whole face explode as butterflies went crazy inside her stomach.

"N-No probs, dude! Haha!" she awkwardly winked and did an awkward finger gun, and she immediately wanted to dig a hole and die.

She took a closer look at the box and noticed that the tape she stuck on the box seemed untouched.

"You haven't opened it?"

Adrien gave her his breathtaking smile as his green eyes twinkled, "I wanted to share. With you."

And just like that, Marinette felt like jumping off a cliff and scream.

—∞—

At the balcony, the two just stood there while eating the croissants, admiring the city's view.

"This is so good," Adrien mumbled, taking another huge bite from the croissants. "I want to eat these forever. Did you bake these?"

Even though he knew that Marinette did bake these, he still wanted to ask. After all, she had no idea that he was Chat Noir. As much as he wanted to reveal himself to her, he knew he couldn't. He shouldn't.

Marinette blushed and nodded, her brain completely forgetting all the words she learned since she was born.

"Wow," he said, faking surprise. "You're amazing, Marinette."

She nodded once more, her face turning redder every second. Here she was, beside her crush, both of them eating the croissants she baked, and he was still complimenting her as if she didn't look like she was about to explode any moment now.

The blonde boy looked at her and still found her embarrassed face adorable. He knew, if Ladybug didn't exist, he'd probably fall for Marinette instead. In fact, he was starting to like her. But Ladybug still occupied his whole heart, despite the heartbreak she caused him.

He shook his head. He shouldn't think about her now. Not now. He didn't want to cry once more. Not in front of his princess.

"O-Oh," Marinette says, catching the green-eyed boy's attention. "The sun is setting. I-It's g-getting late. Y-You could be should the home! I mean, n-no, you s-should go home now, A-Adrien!"

Adrien looked at the sky, and indeed, the sun was starting to set. The sky shifted colors from blue to orange to pink, and it was breathtakingly beautiful. Adrien knew it was past his curfew, but he couldn't miss this opportunity to finally watch the setting sun.

"No."

Marinette looked at him in shock, "W-What do you mean, no? I-I—"

Adrien softly smiled, "I want to watch the sunset with you. I'll stay."

Marinette, despite the fireworks exploding inside of her and her flaming face, she managed to smile.

"Okay."

And so they just stood there, watching the beautiful sunset, looking at the breathtaking view of the sky changing colors.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Marinette managed to say without stuttering, her blue eyes sparkled at the beauty of the sky and the thought of watching the sunset with the boy of her dreams.

"Yeah," Adrien breathed. But he wasn't looking at the sunset.

He was looking at her.

And he found her breathtakingly beautiful.

—∞—

well, this was quite a long filler chapter, don't you think?

i just wanted to post something not so heartbreaking and full of fluff that would make you smile,
since the next chapter is going to be hella heartbreaking.

mwehehehehehe 😏

you're probably confused as to why adrien/chat's wounds didn't heal from the miraculoud ladybug. questions will be answered soon.

just wait.

wink wonk. 😉

sayonara with sparkles and rainbows,

gela ✨