|ONE DAY AWAY BEFORE THE FESTIVAL|

(M/n) felt nervous—more than nervous if he wanted to be honest. He gnawed on the inside of his cheeks as he paced around the room. His fingers found themselves curling in his messy hair—he wasn't even ready for the performance yet, and it would be happening in less than an hour.

Hyper fixated on the ground rather than his surroundings, (M/n) didn't notice Marinette entering the room quietly mumbling to herself. She almost seemed equally bothered by something.

She let out a groan, ruffling her hair and lightly shaking her head—the groan knocked (M/n) out of his thoughts. He turned to face the girl, his lips parting in mild surprise, he went to speak but stopped himself when Tikki flew over to him.

"She's just nervous about confessing," she chirps. Her high-pitched voice was suppressed in a low whisper. (M/n) think it was possible for her voice to be high but low at the same time.

(M/n) heart leaped to his throat as he croaked out a simple, "what?" His tone broke and his voice cracked as he clutched his left arm.

"Confess—to Adrien?" He questioned again, a bit more pronounced as Tikki let out a quiet shriek, her tiny hands covering his mouth in fear.

Before they could talk any longer, the tent door flapped open to reveal Kim. He has dressed up as a Knight alongside (M/n).

"Yo—(M/n)! Come on, we have to get ready!" Kim called out, Marinette whipped her head up in surprise as she looked at the pianist. Her eyes were pained but she forced a smile and waved meekly.

(M/n) didn't wave back, only copying her smile and making his way over to the other boy. Tikki quickly made her way to Marinette's bag while (M/n) brushed past her.

"Good luck," (M/n) mumbled under his breath. Marinette barely heard it as she gave a curt nod.

As (M/n) followed Kim out of the tent, (M/n) couldn't stop himself from frowning as he dragged a hand down his face—now he was dreading this even more.

And I can't just say something to Adrien about Marinette—she's my best friend, practically my family...(M/n) frown only deepened when he noticed Adrien off by a few girls that weren't from our class crowding around him.

He briskly made his way over to the blond, his hand resting on the model's shoulder. The unnatural scowl and glare on his face startled the girls.

"I need to talk to you," he starts, (M/n)'s eyes narrowing at the group sharply, "in private," he gave the model a smile when the blond glanced up at him with an innocent blush on his Sun-kissed cheeks.

(M/n) sent a final glare towards the girls before leading the boy up behind the stage.

Adrien peered up at the pianist in confusion as he smiled nervously.

He checked his wristwatch, since the festival was still getting set up officially, they were given a chance to do a practice performance with everything being as professional and close to the actual live stage acting as possible.

"Are you—"

"Adrien, I'm going to be as stern as possible, and it hurts me to say this, but," Adrien's heart dropped to his stomach. He watched as (M/n) parted his lips, struggling to continue, his expression relaxed, "I...I can do this alone."

The model arched his brows in mild surprise before they narrowed as he grabbed ahold of the boy's wrist.

"What are you—"

"I can play my part alone, the only thing I ask of you is to Dance with Marinette instead of Chloe," he sent the boy a smile, it was pained and forced but Adrien didn't seem to notice—too distracted by his smothering confusion.

There wasn't much to this.

There shouldn't be some underlying fact that Adrien was missing, but he couldn't get the feeling to go away.

(M/n) fiddled with his thumbs, something he always did when he was nervous, that or gnaw on his bottom lip. Adrien glared and stepped forward, making the pianist snap his gaze off the ground. "What changed--did you mean what you said before?! That you needed me?!" Adrien scoffed, his head turning to the side when he heard the chatter of their classmates by the stage.

(M/n)'s fiddling began to grow more aggressive as he started to claw at the skin of his fingertips. The sting of his scratched skin forced him to focus on the blond in front of him. Adrien sighed out and checked his watch once more before turning to the anxious teenager.

"We're not done here, I'll come to find you after we're finished. Don't even think about running away from me again." the stern tone in the blond's voice caused a sharp chill to rake down (M/n)'s spine. Adrien brushed past the teen, knocking into his shoulder before walking away completely.

The (h/c)-haired pianist let out a shuddering sigh as his tense shoulder relaxed, his knees threatening to fold underneath him. His eyes shut tightly, a roaring pain shooting through his left shoulder.

"Come on, (M/n)," he mutters to himself quietly, "You can make it through one song..." (M/n) breathed in deeply, letting out a shaky exhale before making his way back out to his classmates.

------

Adrien frowned to himself, he was confused and hurt. Why did (M/n) say that? It hurt him to know that the boy was obviously lying. He may have sounded brave, but Adrien could see the trembling shoulders and shaking hands.

No matter how hard you try to hide it, I know you, (M/n).

Adrien groaned and paced around, he was dressed and ready to act, but at the same time, he didn't know if he could with the number of things on his mind. Plagg had come out of his little pocket that was sewn into his uniform before the blond began to noticeably worry. He would rather watch his holder have his mid-life crisis than listen to it all day.

"What are you gonna do about it kid?" Plagg speaks up after a few seconds of Adrien's incoherent muttering. The sound was beginning to get on his nerves.

The golden-haired model and hero shifted his attention to the Kwami.

"..What?" he whispers, Plagg rolled his eyes, flying over to the small table set up that had snacks and drinks stationed with some paper plates and plastic cups. He scrunched his small nose at the cheese platter.

There was Swiss, Cheddar, Pepperjack, but no Camenbert. Pursing his lips, Plagg snatched up a piece of Swiss. He folded it up with minor difficulty before stuffing it into his mouth.

"Simple question, What are you gonna do about it?" he repeats, the cat Kwami stuffed another slice of cheese into his mouth before flying back over to the teenager. Adrien sighed out for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"I...I don't know, I mean--he must've lied to me for a reason. I lied to him before--but I couldn't help it! Ladybug wanted me to hide my identity to protect my friends and family." Adrien blabbed on, "And he mentioned Marinette..." the blond groaned at his own thoughts. He hated being in the dark about this. He loved (M/n), truly, but he didn't understand why the boy was lying to him.

"Besides," Plagg starts out, "the kid loves you to pieces, Adrien." His voice was softer than before, he was always calmer when the discussion shifted to the (h/c)-haired speckled boy. It's hard to not have a soft spot for the guy. He was sweet and honest, it's obvious when he's hiding something. He's too fidgety to not make it obvious that something's on his mind.

Adrien smiled at the thought, thinking back to the taller teen's warm smile. The same grin he wore to kiss him.

"Yeah...he does," Adrien murmured slow and gently, his words light and wispy.

Plagg sent the boy a forced grin before frowning again.

"Make it right to him, by letting him do this alone, Adrien." Plagg's stern tone caught Adrien off guard, the blond snapped his gaze back to the Kwami. His gaze hardened when he noticed how serious the black cat was.

Adrien clenched his jaw before he glared down at the fairy.

"Plagg." he starts in a warning tone, Plagg made no changes in his expression.

"Listen, Kid, I've seen that boy stressed out. I've seen the looks of admiration he gives you, he wouldn't just up and drop you out of his life like that," the fairy flew over to the boy's shoulder, lazily laying on it as he patted the model's clothing.

Adrien's parted lips thinned into a line, his eyes flickering to the ground. His hands clenched into fists, fighting the urge to scream out his frustrations, Adrien let out a chilled groan.

Plagg sent the boy a reassuring smile.

"He wants to prove himself to you, that he's capable of doing things by himself, let him do that with his own patience." Plagg let out a groan.

"All of this sappy talk is making me hungry!" He whines, Adrien shook his head lightly turning around to get back to the stage area as Plagg hid inside his blazer. But the sight in front of him was the one thing he was dreading.

Marinette was standing completely still next to the snack table.

"..Adrien?"

{hopefully there aren't too many errors in here, I typed half of this on my phone and the other half on my computer—the drama is officially starting!!! Also! Go check out my Instagram, I finally got it and I'll only be using it for art posts for this story and other fandoms such as Mcyt, original characters, redraws, and more}