MARINETTE

"I think I like you, Marinette."

The closest things I got to a confession would be from my fictional books that I used to read a few years back and those sappy television shows or movies I happened to watch (and enjoy, quite frankly).

This does not mean that I've never imagined a guy confessing his feelings to me. I've imagined how it would be like maybe after hanging out. He would walk with me to the door of my apartment and there he'll get flustered as he tells me that he likes me.

Or maybe it might be during a night out stargazing and he would compare the glint of my eyes with the twinkling of the stars.

But I did not expect it to be in a car with a baby in it, while we wear smelly and completely dirty clothes. I did not also expect a rival, out of all people, to say it.

That's why I could only stare at him, trying to mask the shock from what he suddenly said.

And because I never prepared for this, I don't know what to say.

It felt new to me - the sensation from hearing those words. I think I look stupid now since I could see the shift from a hopeful look on him to something of doubt.

"I just don't want to hide it from you, anymore," he whispers.

I still stay quiet, though. I'm still in a state of shock, pure shock.

"I-I'm not asking for an answer on your end," he suddenly stammers. "This is just me saying it out loud." Nervously, he rubs the nape of his neck.

Okay, you need to do something now, Marinette. This guy is sweating buckets because you're keeping your mouth shut.

Adrien, if only you knew, I'm panicking here!

"...Adrien, I've never treated you nicely," I muster to murmur with brows furrowed.

He scoffs playfully, "Says the one who risked her safety to run all the way here just to make sure that I was safe."

Aside from that, why would you like someone like me, Adrien?

"You make a good point," I admit quietly, "I can't promise anything on my side. But, thank you, Adrien."

"For what?" He asks, confused.

"For being a righteous person," I answer, gently grinning at him.

He chuckles, making sure to not move Baby too much. "It takes one to know one." Adrien relaxes into a smile and I notice a certain glint in his eyes. Just like how I imagined my guy would confess to me under the starry night.

It causes me to internally panic again.

"I...I think I'll try to sleep now-"

"Yeah, you should." He clears his throat. "I'll take care of Baby, you rest now."

I only nod and turn the other way, facing the window to my right. Bringing my legs up to rest on the seat, I place my hands behind my head to act as an additional cushion.

As I close my eyes, I could still feel it - the erratic beating of my heart, my sweaty palms, my uneven breathing.

I can't relax after those words from him.

And I don't think I'll ever get to sleep well again after tonight.

------------

The sun is rising now. I tried sleeping at three but I eventually fell into a deep sleep around five. I was just silently awake for the first two hours to avoid talking with Adrien.

I wake up at around six and groggily check up on him. He is sleeping soundly and has rested Baby's head on his shoulder. I'm surprised that Baby has not cried as much as I expected him to.

I fix my hair and stretch a bit before reaching over to rub Adrien's arm to wake him up. I rub over it, calling his name softly, "Adrien...Adrien, it's time to wake up."

He jolts awake, a look of confusion on his face then notices the baby he's carrying. Sighing, he mutters, "I thought the baby was a dream."

I giggle and reach my arms out. "The baby is very real, but he's not yours. Don't worry," I joke with him, taking the baby.

"Well, I'm more worried about his smell. He needs to have his diaper changed."

I sigh in defeat. "We need to make-do with what we have. And I'll have to feed him-"

"B-Breastfeed?" Adrien sputters out and I bring a finger to my lips to shut him up.

"No!" I yell in a whisper after placing my hand back on Baby's back, "Adrien, I'm clearly not lactating!" I roll my eyes. "I'm talking about letting the baby drink clean water. It's the fastest way for us to keep Baby hydrated."

"Okay," he breathes out in relief. And I start to wonder if he really was legitimately worried about me, breastfeeding the baby. "I'll check the back to see if we have anything we could use as a substitute diaper."

As he opens the car door, I open the one on my side. "Okay, also, please help me change the diaper."

He pauses to look back at me with wide eyes. "I...I don't know how to change diapers."

I uneasily laugh. "That makes the two of us."

Adrien also lets out a weary laugh before shaking his head and heading to the trunk of the car. He opens it and I see through his rearview mirror how he goes through his stuff.

I adjust a bit in place to get out of the car, carefully. I hiss in pain when my right foot steps out of the car, I keep it down so that it wouldn't disturb Baby who is still sleeping in my arms. Adrien notices it from fixing the stuff in the trunk. He rushes to my side to check on me.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I grunt, and bring my left foot out. "My feet just hurt. Now that I've got no adrenaline rush, I'm starting to feel all the pain."

He suddenly gasps and crouches down. "You still have wounds, Marinette."

"What?" I snap and bring my left foot out for me to inspect but it causes a stinging pain in my heel and a cry hitches in my throat.

Adrien gently holds my calf. "Don't move it too much," he whispers, slowly taking off my left high heel.

"No," I immediately say as he is halfway through with taking it out. Inside, I'm starting to freak out as he skeptically looks up at me.

"Is something wrong? Marinette, I have to check to make sure-Ow!" He shouts when I kick him at the chest.

"Ouch!" I cry out when I instantly feel a surge of pain from the impact on the sole of my foot. Baby suddenly becomes restless and wriggles his body, especially his feet and arms, around before bawling out loud.

"Why did you kick me?" Adrien asks amidst the cries of Baby that I'm trying to quiet down.

"I-I'm so sorry!" I stammer. "It's because...my toes don't look nice," I mumble.

"What?"

"My nail polish is starting to chip off, okay?" I spit out, annoyed and embarrassed at the same time. And Baby just keeps on crying, doing what a baby would do.

He rubs the spot where I kicked him and moves closer to me again. He softly groans and throws a look of disbelief at me. "We just survived an earthquake together, and you're worried that I'll judge your...toenails?" He finishes, finding the whole situation absurd.

"Just...just leave me alone here to tend to Baby and go back to finding a makeshift diaper for him." I shoo him away, bringing a thumb of Baby to his mouth to act as a pacifier for him to suck on for now.

"You're lucky that I like you," Adrien grumbles, getting on his feet and walks back to the trunk.

"W-What do you mean by that?" I stutter. I wasn't expecting him to bring up something like that again. It's too early in the morning for me to blush this hard.

"It means that I'm going to clean your wounds, as well," he answers, rummaging through his stuff to get, I assume, a first-aid kit.

While Adrien gets busy, I continue to comfort Baby who is still sobbing, endless amount of tears falling down his eyes.

"Shh," I coo while bouncing him a bit in my arms and I wipe away some of his tears.

He's hungry, smelly, and not being held by his mother - of course, he would be acting this way. I'm even surprised that he has not been crying more.

"I hope your mommy will forgive me for doing this," I mutter under my breath, bringing his little thumb to his mouth for him to suck again. I know that some mothers try to avoid thumb-sucking for their babies, and choose to stick to pacifiers.

He refuses to take it at first, whining and moving his head away. But I press on. "Baby, this is what we only have for now, okay?"

At first, he's not used to it since he would move his hand away. When I start to hold his hand in that position where the thumb stays in his mouth, I see that he starts sucking on it.

"Yes, that's good," I softly cheer him on as he continues to suck on his thumb. His cries have gone quiet now that he's preoccupied with the thumb in his mouth.

"You look like a mother," Adrien comments, coming from the back to kneel down in front of me. With him is a first-aid kit, another small bag, and a water bottle the rescue team distributed to us last night.

"I-It's the instincts...can't blame a woman for immediately taking on the role as a mother."

"I didn't say I'm blaming you. I find it rather cute. Comforting, actually."

I tilt my head. "Comforting?" I ask.

Adrien breathes out a nervous laugh and starts working on taking off my right high heel. "You holding Baby, or rather Loafy," he replies, "makes me think of how my mother may have held me like that as a baby."

"I'm sure that she really did hold you like this. It's the nature of us, women."

"Yes, I see that now," he whispers, smiling gently at me.

A breath hitches in my throat with just that smile of his. I can't look away from his handsome face. It's breathtaking.

He suddenly clears his throat and goes back to cleaning my wounds.

"Oh, hearts," he gasps.

"Hearts?" I look down and see what he's pertaining to. There are small hearts drawn on my toenails that are starting to be chipped off. I forgot that I chose that particular design weeks ago when I had my nails done. I squint my eyes shut, entirely feeling embarrassed over my nails. "That's why I didn't want you seeing them," I groan.

He chuckles and I feel him placing some kind of liquid, perhaps disinfectant, on them. "I was expecting polka dots, you proved me wrong."

"Shut up and cover my wounds before I kick you again."

He gulps. "Yes, ma'am." 

Adrien hands me the water bottle before wrapping my feet with the gauze from the first-aid kit.

While he's busy, I open the water bottle and try to let Baby drink it slowly by letting him lap the water with his tongue. It's the most I could do for him, now.

"Almost done," Adrien tells me, tightening the gauze around my right foot. "After this, I'll see if I can get food for us to eat. I bet you're hungry."

"Starving, actually," I whisper.

He stands. "When I come back, I'll help change the diaper. I found an extra piece of clean cloth that I placed at the trunk. We could use it for changing." Suddenly his phone rings from his back pocket and he grabs it in surprise. "I guess signal is back now," he utters, tapping on the screen then bringing it to his ear.

"Hello?" He answers the call. His eyes then widen. "Nino?" He throws me a wary look then turns a bit to the side.

After hearing the name of his colleague, I go back to letting Baby drink his water but I still try to listen to Adrien's conversation on the phone.

He may like me now but it does not erase the fact that we are still in opposing political parties. And it makes me wary and cautious when other people might start to find out about whatever the both of us have been doing.

"I'm okay," he breathes out. "I hope you're all okay there." He pauses, waiting for Nino to finish speaking on the other side. "N-No, you don't have to come here," he sputters in a panic. Because of that sudden change of tone, I start to look at him again. "I'm okay here! I can find my way back, the rescue teams can always help-" he stops and turns quiet again. After a few seconds, he faces me again. His eyes crestfallen as he whispers into the phone in defeat, "Yes...she's here."

I turn cold in worry and panic, looking up at him. He crouches down to be at the same eye-level as me. Adrien places a finger on his lips, signalling me to stay quiet. "I'll immediately work on Aaron's speech when I get back," he continues on the phone, "just please, I beg of you, let this stay between you, Luka, and I." He purses his lips and brings his phone down after ending the call.

"I don't want you going through all that trouble because of me," I utter right after. I take the water bottle away from Baby.

"It's not trouble, Marinette," he denies. "I just need to prepare for Aaron's next plan of action."

"Adrien..."

He stands and shakes his head, dismissing my argument. "I'll get food for us. Stay here, I'll be back," he mutters before leaving me in the car with Baby.

I grumble under my breath and look down to see Baby's wide eyes peering into mine. My mood gets better with how cute he is. "He's so stubborn, right?" I whisper. Baby continues to look at me and even wraps his little fingers around my thumb. "After this, we'll give you to people who can take you back to your real mommy, okay?"

I sigh heavily and look around the area. Now that the sun is up again, I can see the devastation left by the earthquake. People's houses are gone, fallen into shambles and debris in the blink of an eye. The lives of everyone here all different now because of what happened.

"The earthquake is going to change the course of the election," I mutter under my breath, "And it sounds like more work for Adrien and I."

A few minutes go by and I'm still alone with Baby. I start to hum a nursery rjyme to him, hoping that he would fall asleep again but it seems that he's a morning person. He's more fidgety now.

"Okay," I heave him up and hold him under his armpits. I let him step on my lap and he moves his feet up and down in excitement. "You like moving like that?" I cheerfully ask him, my voice a pitch higher. Baby smiles back at me and drool starts to fall from his mouth. I grab a tissue from inside the car and wipe it away. "Look at you! Are you dancing? Do you like dancing?-"

"One night away from us and you managed to make...a baby?" A new person arrives from my right yet I'm sure that I know whose voice it is.

"C-Chloé," I merely utter in shock. Her face speaks confusion, darting her eyes between me and Baby. Behind her is Nath who is also as confused as her. "T-This baby isn't mine," I immediately defend myself, though I go back to holding Baby close to me.

"And I was about to say that you defied all laws of the human body," she says breathlessly. "The roads opened for us to use your car to drive here. We were looking all over for you, and now..."

I open my mouth to speak again but someone beats me to it.

"Marinette, I have our food..." Adrien, carrying a plastic bag, trails off as he stands at the side with growing horror written on his face. Everyone has their eyes on him now.

Only Chloé seems relaxed with his presence while Nath has his jaw dropped.

"Ugh, everyone...let's say hi to Adrien Agreste," I say awkwardly.

"You didn't tell me that it was a man who put you in a frenzy," Nath suddenly snaps in anger, "And from all, it had to be Agreste."

I flinch a bit and cup Baby's small head resting on my shoulder with my hand to cover his ears from Nath's loud voice. Adrien takes a step towards me but Nath immediately stops him from going any further.

"Nath, don't raise your voice," Chloé hisses out, scolding him. "We have a baby with us."

"I knew that something was going on between the two of you. Have you been using her?" Nath jabs a finger at Adrien's chest. Adrien receives it without a word, accepting the accusation. He keeps a stoic expression and chooses to look down at the ground.

Chloé reaches out to hold Nath's arm but he still continues. "Have you finally got what you wanted to use for Byvael's campaign? Are you going to throw Marinette away after?"

"Nath, stop!" Chloé utters.

"Agreste, at least man up and admit that this is part of another scheme of yours with Byvael-"

"It's because of Adrien that Nordic got to be invited to those orphanages!" I exclaim, furious with how Nath is treating Adrien.

Both Chloé and Nath immediately face me in surprise. Adrien slowly looks up, his face contorted in worry over what I just said.

"Marinette..." Adrien murmurs weakly.

"What are you talking about, Marinette?" Nath spits out.

"Mari, you don't have to tell them-"

"Adrien and I have been helping each other for the past two months," I state sternly against Adrien's pleas.

Nath furrows his eyebrows and takes a careful step away from Adrien, this time a look of distress taking over in his face.

"Two months," he whispers and looks up to go through the events in his head. "Around the president's birthday event? Are you serious?"

"Don't listen to Marinette," Adrien chimes in immediately.

"Yes," I answer, "and I've been doing it out of my own will." I stay serious, and make it a point to look directly at Nath. "Don't think that he's using me."

Nath scoffs and faces his girlfriend, "And did you know this whole time?" He questions her. Chloé gazes at the ground and nods slowly in guilt. Nath sharply exhales in disbelief.

I've always wanted to tell Nath. He has been the closest person to me in the team. I was also planning how and when I would tell him, but now that it has come to this I can't back away now.

I just did not want to tell him with Adrien here...because I knew that he would react violently to it. And I don't want Adrien to experience the brunt of his reactions.

"I'm sorry," Adrien immediately apologizes, bowing his head in shame as he stands in front of Nath. "It's my fault. I...I wanted Marinette to come here. I do not want to jeopardize your work." The latter darts his eyes from head-to-toe at the apologetic man and encloses his hands to form two fists.

Nath throws me a pointed look then grumbles, "I'll be waiting at your car, Marinette. We'll talk there. And for your benefit, I won't tell Nordic yet." And without anything else, he leaves us.

I let out a shaky breath and watch Adrien who still has his head down apologetically. I rub my hand on Baby's back and mumble an apology to him for being loud.

Chloé purses her lips and moves forward to me. "I'll try to talk to him," she murmurs in concern. "But I'll help around first, and," she pauses and throws a sad look at Adrien, "I'll give you two time to talk, okay?"

"Thank you, Chloé," I breathe out.

She shakes her head. "It's the least that I could do, besides...I know that you have some things to discuss with him. Do you want me to do anything for now? I can carry the baby if you want. Has his diaper been changed already?"

"Not yet," I reply.

"Let me-"

"Chloé, there is no need-"

"I know how," she interrupts and gently smiles at me. "I have some tricks up my sleeve that I've just been quiet about. Tell me where I can grab some materials and I'll work on it."

In defeat, I hand Baby over to her and she carries him with ease. "You can change him at the trunk. There's space there and some stuff Adrien placed at the side that could be used as a new diaper," I instruct her and kiss Baby's hand after. I've grown a bit attached to him.

She nods and goes straight to the back, leaving me with Adrien who is still standing sullenly at the side.

I clear my throat and nervously rub my hands on my lap. "Adrien," I softly call out to him.

He tilts his head a bit to look at me. My face falls when I see his sad eyes. "Let's talk, please," I continue in a whisper.

Adrien takes one last look at Chloé, who is making herself busy with Baby, before he walks to me. He kneels on one knee so that we could see each other at the same eye-level.

"I'm sorry..." I murmur.

"The rescue team is asking for me to bring back Baby to them. They can take care of him, now," he tells me, instead.

"Adrien-"

"You can leave with your colleagues and I'll take care of the others here."

"Adrien," I try again, "I don't want to talk about tha-"

"One week," he suddenly states out loud.

"W-What?"

"I've thought of it, if we can last one week without contacting and seeing each other then there is no reason to continue," he continues with conviction. "We go back to our own jobs and treat each other as political rivals, exactly how we should act towards each other."

I angrily look at him. "Adrien, that's stupid."

"It's the right thing to do," he retaliates. Then he sighs. "And the words I told you hours ago, forget them...all of them."

How can I forget the fact that you like me?

"I can't believe you're saying this."

"Marinette," he pleads, "think about your goal, then think about mine. We have different things that we want. And in this fight, we can't stay neutral."

I fall silent and bite the inside of my cheek. I mask my feelings of disappointment and look away.

"Marinette, think about it," he continues. I feel his eyes still peering at me.

"Fine," I spit out and sharply look back at him. "One week starts now. And if ever one of us gets hurt, remember that the only person to blame is you," I declare despite the growing pains in my heart.

Now I am presented with another challenge from him and I'll make sure that I won't give in. My pride won't permit it.

Even if it will hurt me in the process.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ngl, i'm disappointed in this chapter. Idk why, maybe i've just been not in the mood for the past days huhu

Still, i hope you liked it :)

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