Adrien

Once Marinette had cleared the area, Adrien pulled his phone from his pocket and checked the last message from Miss Dial. The messages were getting more and more flirtatious and he couldn't help but fall into some sort of infatuation with this unknown person, everything about her just made him feel warm and fuzzy inside — a way he never had before.

Miss Dial (6:48am): I've always been one for strong, passionate kisses. Just being grabbed and held tightly by someone... or being pushed up against a wall in a need to get closer? A main course of lip kisses before moving onto a side dish of neck bites.

A flutter broke out in his stomach as he read the words. How could a woman on the other side of this random number be causing him so many issues? He'd never seen her, or had any idea of her age or anything, but this phone friendship was slowly becoming more and more meaningful. What was said in You've Got Mail? 'All of these nothings mean something.'

Placing a hand over his mouth, he attempted to hide the smile. She had said she'd only had two kisses yet she seemed so sure about what she wanted.

Mr Unknown (6:59am): Well, Miss Dial, I can promise that if I were with you in real life, I would totally pin you against the wall. I'd like to add a starter though, if you're up for it? Soft, sweet kisses dotted all around your face before taking it to the hot and heavy main course. Perhaps once the neck bites have met your standard, we could move onto dessert? Something a little less clothed...

Pressing send, Adrien couldn't help but think he'd gone too far. Was it too late now to take it back? He read the message back and cringed. Dear Lord, she was going to think he was a perverted psycho. They'd been messaging just over a week and now he was commenting about pinning her against the wall and striping off clothing.

He felt sick.

He was a total and utter moron. This woman he was falling for — hard — was going to ghost him, without a doubt!

Shit!

Pulling up the message once more, Adrien went to send a quick 'sorry, my fingers ran away from me' apology, when Marinette's phone rattled loudly against her coffee cup. She must have had it on vibrate.

Unable to keep his eyes to himself, Adrien looked over towards her phone. It could be something important after all. However, what happened instead was every millilitre of the blood inside him turned to ice; a lurch pulled at his stomach and bile rose in his throat.

What. The. Hell?

"Are you okay, Agreste?"

He couldn't move, he knew someone was talking but his body just wouldn't respond.

Look away, Agreste! Turn your head and look somewhere else.

Instead, he sat there staring at the phone like an absolute moron. Understanding where he was looking, Marinette snatched the phone from the table and held it against her chest.

"Agreste?" she questioned, her voice slightly softer than what he was used to hearing.

"Um, oh, yeah."

He gave her a small smile as she seated herself back on the stool beside him. She tapped the phone screen and he watched as a cute blush spread across her pale cheeks. She'd obviously read his message. His message where he said he wanted to wear less clothing with her.

Would the mortification ever end? He was quite sure if he had said that to her face to face she would have punched him.

"Get your sugar?" he asked, a thickness in his throat coating the words and making him sound like a classic gangster. He nodded his head towards the six sugar packets she was pouring into the brown liquid; his eyes set from looking anywhere apart from hers. "And a cavity apparently."

Though he couldn't see it, he was quite sure she rolled her eyes as she continued to empty the packets into the liquid, each being absorbed and disappearing into the bitter drink. She turned slightly away from him and tapped her phone screen again. He chanced a look up at her face only to feel the kick in the gut as he watched her smile widely.

She was reading his message.

It was his message. He was 100% sure he'd seen his message appear on her phone.

Marinette's phone.

Miss Dial was Marinette.

He'd been messaging Marinette and flirting with her.

He'd been falling stupidly in love with Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng who was also an employee at his office and completely out of bounds when it came to relationships.

Not that he wanted a relationship anyway... but he did. With Miss Dial. His heart weighed heavily with the feeling of loss. He'd lost his Miss Dial.

"God, you're so funny, Adrien. Ever considered being a comedian?" Her sarcastic tone was punctuated with an eye roll and suddenly having her this close was stealing all the oxygen from the air around him. He couldn't breathe.

Marinette brought her mug to her lips as she pouted and blew over the beverage; his mind going haywire with how she'd want her lips attacked viciously with bites and kisses... as she was pushed up against the wall. He couldn't look at her the same again. Instead, all he could imagine was pinned her... nope, he needed to stop! He couldn't go there.

Crinkling together tightly, he was quite sure his eyebrows left little or nothing to the imagination as he watched her place the mug back down and pick up a spoon. After a quick stir around, she slid the spoon in her mouth and licked it, and he swore he'd never seen anything so sensual in his life.

Damn!

He couldn't take his eyes off her lips. Not only had he now found out Marinette was his Miss Dial crush, but also a forbidden love. To make matters worse, he'd never thought about the clumsy, chaotic girl who sat behind him in collége in that way, but now... he couldn't think of anything else. Man, he was screwed!

Needing to break this funk he'd put himself in, he leaned forward into her personal space; a smug smirk turning the corner of his lips.

"So you think I could be a comedian? Is that because you are my biggest fan?"

Placing a finger to his nose, she pushed him away, only to withdraw it quickly and place both her hands back on the coffee cup.

"You wish, Agreste!"

I do now! Stop it!

The sudden, sharp intake of breath that followed her action almost had him passing out. This was insane! He wasn't meant to fall stupidly in love with Marinette Dupain-Cheng. He wasn't meant to be completely smitten with the biggest mess he'd ever met... the biggest mess who was also talented, smart and funny. This couldn't happen! Adrien Agreste 100% could not date an employee. She'd be fired.

"So does that mean there's someone else with a bigger foam finger?" All he could do was joke his way out of this. Worst of all, the way his heart was beating he swore he was going to have a heart attack.

Marinette rolled her eyes again and continued to drink, her eyes fluttering back to her phone before looking back out the window and treating him to a soft shrug of her shoulders.

"Honestly? Who knows?"

Guilt shot through him. Did she mean him? Not him as in Adrien , but him as Mr Unknown? He watched her attention fluctuate to the phone again, obviously desperate to respond to his latest message. His own cheeks heated as he remembered it exactly word for word.

He was so dead!

"Sure. Listen, I've got to make a call. So, if they start boarding, carry on without me." He needed to get away and put a wide distance between the two of them. He needed to think and stop with this stupidity. He had no right in losing her, her job... her dream job.

"Like I'd wait for you anyway," she snorted. "You're not that important, Agreste."

Picking up his messenger bag and throwing it over his shoulder, he moved his lips towards her ear.

"You wouldn't have a job without me, Dupain-Cheng."

Making sure he didn't look back, Adrien headed out into the main area of the lounge and found a seat as far away from Marinette as he could. What the hell was he going to do?

Taking his phone from his pocket, he waited for her next response. Maybe she'd think he was a tight freak for texting her the latest message? She'd be so disgusted she'd never message back again.

He could at least hope.

Adrien had always had a soft spot for Marinette, there was something about her that intrigued him and after the correspondence with Miss Dial he was beginning to think it was the hidden sass and banter they so easily fell into. He wasn't sure whether he was thrilled by the Miss Dial revelation, or devastated?

A quick glance over his shoulder informed him that Marinette was texting on her phone, a shiver of hope pulsating through him that she was texting him. He shouldn't want this. He needed to stop it right now, delete the number and forget it ever happened. He needed to forget that her messages had had him staying awake at night like a love sick teenager, or that he'd sit around in the morning thinking about when it would be a suitable time to text without seeming needy. This whole situation was messed up.

Only seconds passed between her placing her phone down and his buzzing.

Shit!

As if she knew he was staring at her, she turned her head to look at him, causing him to slam the phone against his ear and pretend to be caught in the middle of a conversation.

She waved towards him, causing him to wave awkwardly back and point to his phone. What in the name of all things Miraculous was he trying to accomplish?

To add to his charade, he rolled his eyes and made a tutting noise, gathering attention from those sitting nearby.

Smiling at him, she shrugged before turning back to her phone. Geez, he hoped she was texting someone else. The buzz in his ear was a solid answer that 'no', she was once again texting him.

Taking a deep breath, he turned around and took the phone down from his ear, looking at the evidence he had 2 new messages.

Miss Dial.

Attempting to calm the shake in his hands, he opened the message and read her response.

Miss Dial (7:08am): Now, now Mr Unknown... this whole relationship is meant to be anonymous.

Miss Dial (7:08am): Though, if you were wearing those socks with sandals, I would totally want you pushing me up against the wall. Dessert and all — but keep the sliders on.

Out of his control, a laugh escaped his lips. She was too funny. Too sweet. And if these conversations ever got out she would be fired. So, so fired! From her dream job. Which she was good at and deserved.

Shit! Shit! Double shit!

He had to ghost her... there was no other option, and as much as it would pain him to do so it was the only way to save her job — and his heart.

He rubbed his face with one hand, seriously how the hell had they got into this mess?

Félix was meant to have sent him the number of his friend, someone who had an interest in buying Adrien's cockerel (Adrien's rebellious drunk purchase his first night free in London).

He wasn't meant to have sent a number that would have blown into a full on text affair with Marinette.

Sighing, he left the conversation with Miss Dial and opened the one with Félix. There was no way his cousin was innocent in all this.

To Félix: Lucy, you got some splainin to do...