First Order of Business | Adrienette

Lahiffe Method

Marinette lays in Alya's bed, staring up at her ceiling that once had posters of popstars when they were younger. Alya sits on her desk chair, spinning quietly and eating from a bag of chips until Marinette is ready to speak. Frankly, Marinette feels like she is going to develop IBS with this job and by being Alya's best friend.
"I need you to be quiet," Marinette tells Alya, who hasn't said a word in maybe twenty minutes. Marinette turns her head to Alya's direction who stops the rotation of the chair by planting her foot. Alya chews and nods her head at her. "He called me beautiful." Alya spits out her chips on her lap, Marinette raising a finger at her and yelling, "Quiet! Or I won't say anything else!" Alya makes her hand gestures as expressive as humanely possible.
Marinette translates the Alyanese into, He what?! Come on! Let me speak! You have GOT to be kidding me! Tell me everything!
"It happened right before the elevator got stuck. Like literally right outside the elevator. He was being so weird because his ex-fiancée was there, and he implied she was only there because her mom saw us together. I said that shouldn't matter and then he said it. It was so quiet that I want to say I misheard him, but I feel like he really did." Alya pats over her heart a few times. "Yeah. Women's intuition I guess." Marinette runs her fingers through her scalp, trying to massage away the headache. "And then we acted like it didn't happen the entire time in the elevator. And it was fine. For a while."
Marinette tells her about Mr. Fournier, and the game on Adrien's phone. How he let her sit on his jacket. She stops for moment before telling her about how she let him hold her up. She tries to keep her voice steady, but it's hard to describe the moment without remembering that it was the moment it was all going downhill for her.
"To be fair I really thought I was going to die." Alya lets out an unconvinced pshh noise from her mouth. "What? I did!" Alya does a hand motion of unzipping her mouth and then gestures at Marinette for permission. "Fine. Speak."
"You're not a scaredy cat," Alya says point blank. "You just wanted him to hold you."
Marinette sits up and points at her, "I'm revoking speaking privileges again!" Alya holds up her hands in defense, but she has an evil grin on her face. "Look, I was falling over and he helped me up and then we just didn't let go until it was over. Nothing out of bounds."
"This is my house, I don't have to listen to you," Alya starts telling her. "You guys are so attracted to each other it's going to be the death of me."
"He's my boss, Alya," Marinette reminds her.
"That's not stopping him," Alya says, raising her eyebrows at her. "He was with you the entire time at the party. You guys were all buddy buddy, drinking and giggling together. He opened the door for you."
"He always does that."
"Okay but now he told you you're beautiful. Not cute. Not pretty. Beautiful," Alya puts emphasis on the L.
"This sounds like a disaster waiting to happen." Marinette lays back again and sighs. "He's great and all but I think I should just let it go. Stay friendly. Listen to his rambling. Ignore whatever has started to build up."
"Whatever you ignore is only going to blow up in your face one day," Alya warns her. Marinette wonders if it's an analogy from their fight.
"Well what am I supposed to do, Alya? This whole thing is making my head hurt. And don't tell me to flirt back because I honestly feel mad at him for putting me in this corner."
"You're mad because you feel it too, you can admit that he's attracted to you, but it puts you at risk for losing your job." Marinette reaches over to grab one of Alya's throw pillows and puts it to her face to scream into it. "All I'm going to say is that if he put in the work to get you into that job, after all of this, he's going to put in the work to keep you there. I'm team let it progress naturally the way it has been." Marinette doesn't answer her and lays there under the dark of the pillow, green eyes stuck in her mind.
-
Two things are off at work the next morning.
Adrien comes in for work and says good morning, but he doesn't stop to talk to her. He closes his office door.
He drinks his coffee in his office instead of coming out to chat with Marinette like he usually does.
It's weird, but Marinette ignores the forming pit in her chest and gets to work. She drinks two teas by lunch time because Adrien hasn't left his office to tell a random story or a poorly constructed joke. She hears him talking on the phone on two different occasions and although she isn't the nosy one, she can confidently say they were both work calls.
She knocks on his door, and he calls her in. He has different sketches spread around his desk along with fabric samples. He gives her a smile that is barely a smile at all, his lips awkwardly pressed together.
"Hi, Mr. Agreste. I was going to go to the Belle Café for lunch. Would you like anything?" Adrien looks at his watch and then shakes his head no.
"I'm alright. I need to go out in a bit anyways. I'll grab something then." Marinette doesn't remember seeing anything on his schedule but doesn't pry.
"Are these finalizations for that winter collection?" she asks him, pointing at his desk. He nods yes, but he doesn't say anything else and seems to get back to sorting through things. She walks out for lunch with her head low and barely eats anything at all, returning to an empty office.
The quiet gets to her, and she tries to occupy herself by printing out long contracts, letting the noise of the printer fill up the space. Working with Adrien Agreste was getting finally catching up with teenage Marinette, and she's struggling to find a difference between her and adult Marinette. She should have a better handle on things. One dry conversation shouldn't knock her down. He's Adrien Agreste for heaven's sake. He can have busy mornings.
Adrien comes back up with a dolly full of what she recognizes as boxes from the fabric floor. He's pushing them towards his office, so Marinette stands up to open his door for him.
"Thank you," he tells her with a curt nod and goes in. Marinette follows him inside out of instinct and curses at herself for accidentally becoming a duckling. It'd be too weird to walk right back out. She watches him start taking fabric swatches out of the top box and laying them out on the floor.
"What are these for?" she asks him.
"Exclusive winter collection." Adrien doesn't look her way nor does he ask for her input. He lays out some of the ugliest metallic fabrics Marinette has ever seen and stares at them in silence for a full minute before she walks out, closing the door for him.
Well. That was that.
She leaves before she gives him another chance to brush past her like he hasn't been at her hip since her first day of work. He isn't not talking to her, but he's different, and she hates the weight it put on her shoulders.
Wednesday morning  is no different, and Marientte is not stupid. Something changed hours after the elevator, and if she wasn't mad before, this is what gets to her. Some blond guy with a Porsche 911, and his stupid stacks of papers and boxes of fabric samples that Kim keeps bringing into his office. Marinette hopes they stress him out, and she smiles every time Kim brings in another one.
This is why she hasn't had a serious relationship since she was nineteen. Not that she'll admit to herself that Agreste was even a possibility, but the idea of bending over backwards to comfort a man and see him smile made her stomach hurt. Besides a quick good morning and a dry email correspondence that could have been a quick one minute conversation, he doesn't talk to her. He speaks on the phone with people or with Kim when he comes by multiples times, but he doesn't talk to her. And she's extremely fine with it!
She doesn't tell Alya about it when she gets home. She walks past her parents, ignoring their What's gotten into you? comments because the last thing she needs is to have another fight with them. She goes to her sewing machine and starts to work on a strapless dress that has a tulle bottom.
There's no complaining about it when he might go back to normal again. His job isn't his favorite, and they seem to be cornering him all of the sudden. It's only been two days of work. Or maybe all of the tension she's been denying existence to has caught up with them. Maybe he also has realized what a terrible idea all that they've accidentally been doing is, and this is his way of undoing it. She just wishes the gnawing didn't hit bone so quick. It all consumes her until it's time to go to sleep.
She flips and turns in her bed that have new bedsheets courtesy of her last paycheck. She can't sleep and remembers she hasn't checked her phone in hours. She gets down from her bed to grab it from her desk. There are a couple of texts from Alya with nothing regarding Agreste, and a single text from Kim.
Kim: Hey Mari i asked Aliyah if it was ok to ask you this. DO NOT ANSWER ME UNTIL TOMORROW! I will drop by your desk. Basically Ineed a huge favor but maybe you will also come out winning?? ONDINE has a cousin who is single and coming in from a few towns over. We were thinking maybe a double date firday night would be nice because it's been like a year since his divorce. I know that sounds terrible but his wife was the one who cheated.  Think about it!
Kim: Alya* I swear I know how to spell her name
-
Marinette woke up at a later time in the morning than what she usually does. She took her time getting ready, not in any rush to get to the office. It was to the point that her mom came up to her room after a gentle knock.
"Marinette, honey. Are you going to be on time?" she asks her, coming up behind her at her vanity. Marinette finishes curling in the ends of her hair with a hair straightener.
"Yes, mom. Don't worry," she says plainly, ignoring her mom's reflection in her mirror. Her mom folds her hands together, and Marinette holds her breath.
"Is everything okay?"
"Yes," Marinette lies to her mom and herself. "It was just a really busy week this week, and I need it to be over."
"Okay, well," her mom takes a step back. The shift in their relationship that happened a few years back hasn't been fully mended yet. Marinette will get to it but not right now. "Let me know if you need anything." Marinette nods and turns her hair straightener off, her mom leaving her room. Marinette checks her phone and decides to take the later bus.
She gets to the office after Adrien for the first time since she started working for him, but she is still on time. She walks in with her coffee from the first floor bar where Luka was her barista, and Adrien stands at the coffee machine making his own coffee. She usually makes it for him, but he got to it first.
He turns his head to look at her when she sits at her desk, and their eyes meet. She is sure she is about to give her a smile before she fixes her chair and gets straight to work. The only noise in the room is the expresso machine brewing, and Marinette typing. He eventually takes his coffee to his office, closing the door and shutting her outside.
She's grown thick skin over the years. An extremely brief friendship with Adrien Agreste should be easy to roll off her shoulders if it wasn't even that to begin with. Whatever is going on through his head, she hopes she doesn't have to find out anymore.
Kim comes in later in the afternoon as promised with a new dolly stacked with boxes. They were archival boxes, and it meant the start of Adrien's busy work he was dreading.
"Hey, Mari," Kim smiles at her and rolls the dolly all the way to Adrien's door. He gives a hard knock that only he gives before going to stand in front of her desk, picking up a pen holder. "So have you've given any thought to the proposition?" Adrien comes out of his office at that time, and Marinette curses in her head. Kim's timing could not be any worse. But why should she care?
"I don't know, Kim," Marinette sits back into her chair. "I don't know anything about him. I don't even know his name." Marinette refuses to look at him, but she knows Blondie Boy is staring straight at them.
"His name is Rueben, and he also has red hair. I can send you his social media pages. I promise he's not ugly," Kim says, accidentally spilling the pens in the holder on the ground. He quickly falls to the floor to pick them up, and Marinette can't help but smile. It must be a huge favor for Ondine and considering they just started dating, he didn't want to look bad.
But if she is honest with herself, she doesn't know if she wants to do it for herself or just as a favor. She hasn't been on a date in over two years, and it's been more than fine. Considering the current pit in her stomach, she's not sure if she can take it on.
Kim fixes the pen holder for her and leaves it alone this time, saying, "Just one date. You don't ever have to see him again if you don't like him."
Marinette breathes air through her teeth, "You said he's divorced?" Marinette isn't surprised that Nosy McSnoopy steps forward to the conversation with questions that don't have anything to do with him, and frankly, she's just surprised he took this long to interject.
"You're setting her up on a date? With a divorced man?" Adrien asks like it's never been done before.
Kim tries to throw in, "Great guy. His ex-wife cheated." Marinette takes a good look at Adrien now. Still stupidly handsome, but there's a definite fire in his eye. His eyebrow is arched in a certain manner, and his bangs have been brushed back in a weird angle. He looks cute ticked off, and it sparks some type of joy in Marinette. She is not going to close in on the why right now.
"Yeah, Mr. Agreste," she says innocently. "His wife was the one who cheated."
"You're considering it?" he sounds shocked and yet his eye contact has never been so grounded. They've never talked about Marinette's dating life. Why would he assume she wouldn't be interested? Adrien keeps staring at her, asking, "Kim do you know the guy?"
"Not personally, but he seems great. He's in med school." Marinette knows there's a visible change in her face that now shows interest. Kim couldn't have led with that?
"Med school?" Adrien sounds disgusted. Marinette is trying to not wear a full-blown smile on her face, and she's struggling to keep it up. "Dating a med school student is somehow worse than dating someone who's divorced."
Marinette smiles politely at Adrien and says, "Well, Kim thinks he seems great. I trust Kim, don't you?" Adrien purses his lips, Kim staring between the two with a confused look.
"I'm sensing a vibe here and-,"
"I'll do it!" Marinette says to stop Kim from going further. It works. Kim's face turns into a huge grin and he raises his hands up in victory.
"Oh wow, thanks Mari! I'll text you the details for tomorrow," he says. He sounds happy and that, along with Adrien's pouty face is what's going to give her the energy to finish the rest of the day. Kim checks his phone and tells them, "I have to run. I'll see you both later. Get the archive boxes off the dolly and put the samples back for me, please, Adrien." Adrien nods, but Kim is already running to the elevator.
Marinette swivels her chair towards her boss who is leaning his shoulder against his wall and has another hand on his hip. He is staring at her with a disappointed scowl that's somehow attractive, and it's not helping that he wore a suit to work that day for an executive meeting he's running late to.
"Now," she begins to ask him, kicking her chair closer to him. It's a bold move, but she enjoys seeing him attempt to merge with the wall.  "Why are you so interested in who I go out with? I don't butt in on your dating life even when I have an entire binder telling me to do so." She ignores the fact that to her knowledge, he doesn't have one.
His eyes look down to her, explaining, "That's all Chloe. It's not the secretary's job." So, this is what the great Adrien Agreste who has been given almost everything he's ever wanted looks like when he doesn't get his way. Compared to a week ago when she would've tried to comfort him. Right now, she is a bit angry at him for flipping a switch and leaving her in the dark. She'll let him be.
"Okay, well. As the secretary, I am going to tell you have maybe ten minutes to get to your meeting on the twelfth floor. Is that part of my job?" She is giving him a stringent smile that he might perceive as fake. 
Adrien moves off the wall and leans over towards her, putting a hand on each of her arm rests. Marinette sits as far back as she can into her chair, Adrien gazing closely at her face like he did in the elevator. He is searching for something, and Marinette is too scared to let him find it.
He stays like this for a little too long, and Marinette is the one that looks away with an inevitable blush on her face. It was an unfair staring contest. An amused chuckle leaves his throat much to her disdain, and he gently rolls her chair away from him, letting go of it in the process.
"I'll be at the meeting. Thank you for the reminder."
-
Adrien knows there are better ways of handling adult relationships- both platonic and romantic. With adult communication maybe. An adult apology. And here he is, playing little kid games.
He knows it was the coward's choice to even try to let it die off how Nino suggested. It's been new type of guilt he can't handle, and he knows it's not going to last after this. He underestimated how much having Marinette as company meant to him even when she was just a friend. He feels different in a bad way, and she seems different. Albeit he knows he deserves it.
Marinette hasn't told him anything about his sudden silence, but she seemed fine with slightly torturing him. She was using jealousy against him, right? And that meant that she knew something was unintentionally uncovered in the elevator and that she also knows that he knows because of how he's been acting. Or something along those lines. He doesn't know. It all makes his head hurt.
He sits in his boring executive meeting, thinking about calling Chloe for advice. Nino's way made things worse. Mistake number one was going to him for advice, but he really didn't want Chloe to think there was something going on. And now there is.
He doesn't often have problems with people because circle is always small or most of his relationships are shallow, and business related. To have this blowing up in his chest in just a three days feels like something he can't beat on his own.
When he gets out of his meeting, he walks over to the private elevator to go out and get lunch. In the car, he decides he can't take the quiet and calls Chloe. After a few rings, she answers.
"Adrien? What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he says. She'll figure him out. "How are you? How's the baby?"
"I'm fine. Baby is kicking at my bladder still." There is some ruffling noise on the other side.
"Are you still in bed?"
"I just got back in bed actually," she says. "My back hurts like crazy and all I want to eat is whipped cheese."
"I'll keep my comments to myself because I love you." Chloe cackles on the other side, Adrien smiling as he makes a turn to the Lahiffe's restaurant. Nino won't be there, but he needs comfort food.
"So. What's her name?" The curse of having your friends know you so well. If Chloe had been in the office earlier when Kim was, she would've picked it up in seconds.
"It's not like that," Adrien says. He considers Marinette's blush earlier when he leaned into her. He was never one for any sort of payback, but that moment gave him a boost of confidence. Now, though, he feels a little bad for cornering her. "Okay. Maybe it's like that a little. I can't tell you her name, though."
"I'm going to ask you one thing and you can't lie to me."
"Go ahead."
"Is it the secretary?" If Adrien wasn't in a busy street, he'd slam his head down on the steering wheel. So much for keeping her anonymous. "It's her," Chloe confirms her question with Adrien's silence. She does a heavy sigh on the other side. "I knew it was a mistake hiring someone who is so clearly your type."
"She's nothing like Lila at all."
"Lila wasn't your type. I don't know what was going on with your father when that happened, but we all know that relationship was some weird fluke."
"What does my father have to do with this?"
"Everything," she says like he just started living this life. "But I'm not going to psychoanalyze you right now. I'm going to ask you: Have you and her done anything that would cross professional boundaries?"
"No." He thinks again. The personal conversations. The subtle touching. The party, leaning into each other. The elevator and the red faces they both wore. Now this insane tension where he was more than obvious about being jealous at the idea of her going on a date and her realizing it. He feels embarassed that Marinette figured it out. "Maybe."
"Adrien." Even when she wasn't there glaring at him, she intimidated him like an older sister in charge.
"No hugging or kissing has happened." He's not going to count the elevator because it was for safety reasons.
"Keep it that way."
"Trust me, I will."
"What else?" He's not looking forward to the scolding, but he has to be honest.
"I accidentally called her beautiful."
He winces when she starts yelling, "Are you shitting me, Adrien Agreste? Accidentally? Yeah and I accidentally got pregnant. Have zero clue how this happened."
"It slipped out! Lila was there, and I got how I would get back then. I feel horrible about it because if she heard it, it might've bothered her." Adrien hears Chloe take a few deep breaths.
"Just tell me why you're really calling?" Adrien has to think it over. Why he's so bothered by everything. How he's managed to completely change the tides by closing his door without an explanation. How would he even explain it? I think I like you, but I can't so let's pretend we don't exist even when you're a thin wall away.
"I think I hurt her feelings." Chloe lets out a frustrated groan on the other side.
"She likes you, too?"
"I don't know." He is honest about not knowing. He could have hurt her in the way friends hurt friends. Still terrible and maybe even worse.
"You've been ignoring her, haven't you? You tried the out of sight, out of mind Lahiffe method and now it's biting you in the butt. She's your secretary, Adrien. You can't ignore her. And she's a girl! What's wrong with you? Do you hate women?"
"Chloe," Adrien mumbles under his breath. He pulls over on the street next to the Lahiffe's restaurant and parks his car. "Me and her have had interesting interactions to say the least, but I know it'd be wrong to pull a move on my secretary. I don't want her to lose another job because of me. And she doesn't want to lose her job either."
"She told you that?"
"No but I'm assuming. She's had her chances, I think. If she wanted to pull anything." Chloe makes a fake gagging noise.
"You're such a man. You would've let her if she made the first move." He hates that she's right. "Thankfully, I don't think she's that type of girl. Exactly why I hired her. I would still be working there if I thought she was a bad fit." Adrien mulls over Chloe's words.
"What do I do, Chloe?"
"Apologize like an adult. You do a lot of apologizing for things you can't control but if it comes to something you're actually responsible for, you look the other way. Stay amicable before she deletes your entire calendar. And stop your flirting. I'm so serious." Sometimes he just needs Chloe to drag him through the mud. It's brutal, but it works when they were both coddled all their lives.
"Thanks."
"And call me when you need real advice. You can vent to Nino all you need, but he wore the same hat for like twenty years. You really trust the words of someone who dresses like a cartoon character?" Adrien laughs. It's something Chloe always told Nino until he lost the cap, and he couldn't find a duplicate.
"Didn't you use the same blue eyeshadow until we graduated?"
"I'm hanging up now."
-
Friday morning, Adrien gets to the office before Marinette again and starts making his coffee. He hears the elevator open, and he turns around sees her walk in with her hair down and wearing a red pantsuit that he thinks looks great on her. He'll keep that to himself.
"Hello," he says to her. He hates that it's awkward and that it's his fault.
"Good morning," she says without looking at him and walks straight to her chair. With her back to him, he stares in her direction until his expresso is ready. She's drinking coffee she bought on the first floor.
The elevator doors open, and Kim walks in pushing the infamous dolly with a hop in his step. He comes in with more archival boxes, and Adrien curses under his breath.
Adrien asks Kim, "More, already?"
"They're cleaning out the basement so they might as well get these up for you," Kim tells him and rolls the boxes outside the empty office next to Adrien's. "These are heavier." Adrien walks by Marinette's desk to get to Kim and helps him unload the boxes.
"I think they're full outfits. Shoes and everything," Adrien explains. Marinette raises an eyebrow in interest, but she stays quiet and drinks from her coffee.
"Is this going to be your passion project for the year?" Kim teases. Kim might not be in important meetings, but he knows the executive board's love for dragging Adrien here and there to be a pretty face and nothing more.
"It's what my father decided so yes," Adrien sighs as Kim drops off the last box at the top of their pile. "Thanks. I'll take these in on my own right now."
"Yeah no problem," Kim smiles. His phone buzzes, and he tells them, "I gotta run. Might come by with more things later but if not Mari, I'll see you tonight." Marinette gives him a thumbs up while taking a long drink from her coffee. "Later, Mr. VP."
Adrien manages a quiet goodbye for Kim, and when the elevator doors close, he asks Marinette, "So you're going with them?" He swears he sees her smile behind her cup.
"Yes. Is there a problem with it?" Adrien knows it's not smart to pick a fight with the woman who is keeping his progressional life together, so he decides to not appease his very obvious jealousy this time.
"None at all." He goes to his office and looks for the keys to the empty office, going through his messy drawer. Chloe sometimes cleaned it for him, but he wasn't sure Marinette had that in her binder. Chloe mainly did it to pry. He tended to keep date memorabilia in there.
When he finds the keys, he goes and walks behind Marinette's desk this time to get to the door. Invading her space for half a second wouldn't kill anyone. He knows he has to stop doing those subtle things if he wants them to go on business as usual and strictly business. But the weird stasis has confirmed that what he swore was nothing was something, and he's never been one to let things just go like that. There's a first for everything he guesses.
He goes inside the empty office and starts taking the boxes in next to her rest. He's unsure how to move forward with the project and starts with opening a box.
It's the ball gown. From his mom's modeling days before he was even a thought. He stares at the green splendor and immediately shut the box. Maybe he should go answer emails instead.
He turns to the doorway and finds Marinette standing there with a hard expression.
"A mouse," he tells her. She doesn't believe him. "I'm lying." Obviously. "It's a gown my mom wore." Her mouth softens out of her harsh line. "I knew I'd see some of her things. I just didn't think it'd be the first box."
Marinette walks towards him without a word, and Adrien opens the box for her to look in.
He jokes, "I really do think I saw a mouse, though." She rolls her eyes at him before looking inside the box. A small gasp leaves her lips.
"They're trusting you with this?" she asks. Adrien laughs under his breath.
"I'm not that bad, you know." Marinette stares at the embroidery on the gown. "You can probably help me out with this if you'd like. You might enjoy it more than me."
"You should tell your father you don't want to do it," she tells him. Adrien is taken aback. Marinette suggests. The idea rolls off her tongue so easily.
"It doesn't work that way."
"How does it work?"
"This way. He tells me what to do, and I do it."
"To keep who happy?" Adrien doesn't know what's happening or how this conversation go started. He technically opened the door to this type of subject by talking to her. It's nothing Nino or Chloe haven't asked or said. But it feels harsher coming from Marinette.
"I don't think it's your place to say anything about my father." A fake laugh leaves her lips.
"You're right. I apologize. I am just your secretary whose sole job is to listen."
"You know that's not what I mean." Marinette crosses her arms and starts walking out of the office. She stops at the door and glares at Adrien.
"I actually don't know what you mean half the same. Talking in riddles and whispering things you shouldn't be whispering." So she heard. For sure.
Adrien frowns, unable to look her in the eye and tells her, "I'm sorry if I've made you uncomfortable. That wasn't my intention." There's a brief spell of silence between the two. Marinette takes a step further back.
She apologizes to him, sincerely this time. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't speak to you this way." The last thing Adrien wants is to make her feel bad. Every single one of his friends has been honest about their stance on his job and his father. Marinette should not be an exception.
"You can talk to me whoever you'd like. I can take it."
"You clearly can't." She looks down to the floor, and Adrien doesn't know if he wants to leave or stay and hash this out. They're both upset. What would work best here? He doesn't know her as well as he'd like.
"I am right now, aren't I?"
Marinette ignores him and turns towards her desk, saying to him, "Your nine o'clock meeting is coming up. You should go or you'll be late."
He leaves without another word.
-
A/N: I wrote and rewrote this chapter quite a few times and almost terminated the entire thing, but my beta reader swore it was fine so if you have a problem with it, take it up with her 😩 I tried my best to not make the 180 so drastic. I pulled from Adrien's more than likely emotional immaturity to try to soften the blow but also he's still just a nice guy. My favorite Mari on the show is angry Mari when Lila is up to her little plots, so I pulled from her for this chapter if you can sense her.

I can't believe I hit 50k words already. This was just supposed to be something silly for fun. But I have been having fun so thank you for following along on this slow burn with me 🤭💖 I promise we will see a fire very soon.