First Order of Business | Adrienette

If She Weren't His Employee

Adrien lets Marinette moves the hair out of his eyebrows that are collecting sweat. He lets her hand move to the side of his head where she slowly brings the tips of her fingers to caress his scalp gently, sometimes her pinky brushing against his ear. She's a human sedative, and it's wrong of her to be. And still, neither of them are breaking the moment, and he's too tired to be the one that does it. That can be his excuse for now.

What a useless conversation it was the other week he thinks. He has to wonder if Nathalie saw anything or noticed anything. She would have said something blunt to him if she did. Under her breath so Marinette wouldn't hear, but she would say it.

Nathalie. Why did her visit upset him so much? Secrets kept from his father are the worst ones. Even if it feels like his entire life is a secret because he never talks to him anymore, why does this one feel so big in this little archival room? Why is the archival room always so hot, too? Or is it just his skin and Marinette?

"Are you alright?" Marinette asks, pulling her hand away. If he had strength in him, he'd pull it back to him. He let's her be because it's the right thing to do even though it feels awful.

"I just felt like a kid again for a moment," he admits to her. Nathalie and her enigmatic sentences. His father not in the picture and somehow controlling it. His mother in an urn in the hallway under a mirror where he saw himself and in between tears, her fuzzy reflection that made him go So this is why people say I look like you.

"You look sick," she tells him. She's watching him closely, and he is starting to get embarassed for being in this state in front of her. Again. At least he's coming back to reality so soon. "Did you somehow catch a fever in five minutes?"

"It's just always hot in here," he tells her. He pulls at the collar of his button up to fan himself, but it's not going to help. Marinette doesn't look like she believes him and puts the back of her hand on his forehead. "I'm sweaty." He doesn't want her to become repulsed by him.

"You're human," she ignores his concerns. "Can you stand? Let's go out to the sandwich shop for lunch. You need fresh air." Adrien forces himself to stand up, and they gather their things before meeting at the elevator. He's never gone out to get lunch with her before because she always brings it to the office, but right now she could tell him to do a backflip off the parking structure, and he'd at least give it a try.

On the first floor, they pass by the coffee bar where they first met. Marinette waves at the two people working there who wave back with huge smiles. He forgets how likeable she is because it means he's not the only person who gets excited to see her. He wonders how he's going to manage one day when she's no longer sitting at the secretarial desk.

They walk down the streets of Paris. It's sunny, but there is a breeze that comforts Adrien. Marinette watches him closely as they walk as if he's going to sit down in the middle of the street. He's not sure he's had anyone look out for him this closely in a while. Sure, Chloe would worry, but there is only so much she could do when she has a family of her own that's just as chaotic. Nino in the same boat, too.

They get to the shop and sit outside in a corner table that's hidden behind a couple of tall hedges. Even if people recognize him in this area, they tend to ignore him because he grew up around the area. It's been a while since those days, but he's still him. For the most part.

Marinette opens the menu that the waiter leaves them, but she closes it up again almost immediately. "Same as always?" she asks him. He nods, and she smiles. "You should leave home early after this." He raises an eyebrow. He's not sure he's ever really done that.

"I think I'll be okay after eating." She doesn't look like she believes him. He doesn't blame her. His track record for honesty has been quite terrible. "Don't worry about me."