#dorkiness

Marinette gave him a half smile. “Well… do you know that design competition I entered?”

“Yeah.”

“Well…” She tapped the tips of her index fingers together, unable to look him in the eye. “Turns out… you can either send pictures of your clothes on the mannequin… or with a model. But models are highly encouraged.”

Adrien nodded. “And…”

Her blue eyes looked up at him through her long lashes. “Would you be my model?”

Instantly, his mind went blank. She wanted him to be her model? Like, try to look like one of those ridiculous pretty-but-self-centered jerks his father hired for the sole purpose of looking beautiful? “Uh…” Adrien paused, his mind working.

“It’s okay if you don’t!” Marinette quickly said. “I don’t want to pressure you or anything.”

“You think I’m good enough to?”

Marinette’s jaw proceeded to drop to the floor. “Y…you’re kidding me, right?”

Adrien shook his head. He knew he was somewhat good looking, but model-worthy? If he was worthy enough, his father would have definitely asked him to model for the company by now.

“If I didn’t think you were good enough, I wouldn’t have asked you.”

His heart skipped at that. “Really?”

She blushed. “Yeah.”

Absently, Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. When she put it that way, there was absolutely no way he could turn her down. “Okay. What do you need me to do?”

A few minutes later, Adrien was changing into the ensemble that Marinette had put together for him. When he glanced at himself in her bathroom mirror, he had to admit he looked good. Marinette was a fantastic designer and no one could say otherwise.

He stepped out of the bathroom and back to her room. He gave her a spin for approval. “Well?”

She looked intently at him, fingers tapping her lips in thought. No longer was she blushy; she was in full designer mode. “Come here.”

He did as directed, only to become vaguely uncomfortable under her scrutinizing gaze. She reached for his glasses, carefully taking them off his face and sparking a fire in his cheeks. She then ran her fingers through his hair, and he felt his face positively flame. Not so much because of the action itself.

More because he didn’t want her to stop.

Even though his vision was blurry and his heart was pounding, he could imagine in perfect clarity the proud smile Marinette was giving him. “Yes, you’ll do purr-fectly.”

His heart skipped an odd beat. As it always did on the rare occasion she broke out the puns.

What was going on with him today? Why couldn’t he just pull himself together?

“Now,” she directed, pulling him out of his thoughts. “Stand still and let me tailor all the outfits I have to fit you perfectly. Then, it should be all ready in a couple days for you to come over again and let me take pictures.”

Five days later, after a busy Saturday of him helping her take his own pictures, Adrien finally got to see all the photos she took. It was kinda hard to miss when they decorated the entire wall above her desk.

He denied that he felt a pang of loss when Marinette took all them down the next week for some reason. However, he learned on accident that she kept a few pinned on the corkboard next to her bed and the rest hidden safely under her mattress. That little fact was enough to satisfy the oddly angry beast that had been so unsettled inside him.

  9.      Birthday Gifts

Adrien had been preparing for this for months. It was Marinette’s birthday this week, meaning the class was thinking up presents. The girls talked about girly things or sewing notions or whatnot. But Adrien had a plan. A plan that he’d been hatching for months and was preparing to execute.

On his way to the fabric store, Nino had shot him a text begging for help on what to get Marinette. Adrien smirked.

I have an idea. Adrien texted. I’ll pick them up for you and then you can take the credit.

I can get them. Nino texted back. What is it?

Needles for her sewing machine. Her last one is dull. I’m heading to a fabric store now. Want me to pick up the ones she needs?

There was a long pause. How do you know this? Sewing needles go dull?

Adrien smirked. Yes they do depending on the fabric and how much you use the needle. Marinette has been complaining about fabric getting sucked into her machine and she’s done everything else to fix it meaning the needle is dull. And if she had more, she would have replaced it and wouldn’t be complaining.

Dude. Nino texted back. How do you know this?

Adrien chuckled. I KNOW things ;)

Freaky. I’ll meet you there so I can at least put effort into getting them.

K. Then I’ll help you find the ones specifically for her machine.

There’s different kinds?

Adrien just laughed. Oh, Nino had no idea.

He sent off an answer of yes there are a lot of different kinds. Just meet me here and I’ll help you.

After telling Nino exactly which store he was heading into, Nino sent him back a text with a thumbs up emoji and a be there asap. But watching little bro now. Waiting for mom to come back.

That’s fine, Adrien texted back after stepping foot in the store and suddenly feeling overwhelmed, which was a rare thing for him. I’ll be here a while.

It was Adrien’s first time in a fabric store, meaning he really had no clue what he was doing or where anything was. However, he had a list of fabrics and yardages that Marinette estimated she would need for each design she constantly talked about. It had been risky sneaking look-sees in her sketchbook to get them without her being the wiser.

This trip would not go to waste.

A solid two hours later scouring the store and comparing fabric, he finally had collected the bolts he needed. Meaning now he had to take a number and wait in line to get said fabric cut.

And from the looks of it, he was going to be here another two hours.

“Dude,” Nino called, tapping Adrien’s shoulder. “Sorry. Mom had me watching my little bro so I had to wait for her to get back.”

“No prob,” Adrien dismissed with a wave. “Took me that long just to find everything and now I have a line to wait for to get the lengths cut.”

“What number are you?”

“Fifty-nine.”

Nino frowned. “Twenty-some people ahead of you?”

“Yup. And don’t look suspicious as you take a look at that group of quilters over there.”

“How do you know they’re quilters?”

“I just do.”

Nino was subtle, pretending he was glancing past the five gray-haired ladies chatting in a circle, each of their carts filled to the brim with fabric bolts.

“Ouch, dude,” Nino whispered, turning back to Adrien.

“Yup. Let’s go shop for needles. And then you’re staying with me until I can get this cut, ‘cause it’s gonna be a while.”

“You saved my butt with this. I owe you at least that much.”

…

Marinette was very thankful to Nino about the sewing needles. “I don’t know who told you, but you are a lifesaver and I love you.”

“You’re welcome,” Nino said, beaming in pride.

When Marinette wasn’t looking, Nino nodded at Adrien in a way that said thanks, bro.

Adrien shot back a wink.

“Last one,” Alya said, shoving the gift box into Marinette’s lap. “And it’s huge.”

“You didn’t go overboard, did you, Adrien?” she asked with a smile, though Adrien could see the seriousness behind it.

“No,” he dismissed. In truth, it was likely she would see his actions as ‘going overboard’, but she was his first real friend and his ultimate best friend, so he really didn’t see an issue going what she would consider ‘overboard’ if he didn’t consider it overboard.

She undid the bow on top of the box, unwrapping the thick ribbon so she could open the box.

Her face lit up immediately at the cut of ladybug print fabric that lay on top. She pulled it out and began inspecting it. “You remembered?” she squealed excitedly.

Adrien nodded. “Of course. You love that design.”

“You’re amazing!”

“Marinette,” Alya broke in. “Looks like there’s more.”

Marinette seemed shocked by that statement, but dove back in, her smile slowly fading with each cut she pulled out. “You went overboard!” she cried once all five swaths of fabric were on out of the box.

“No,” he said. “That’s only enough to make the ladybug sundress, the blouse, the skirt—”

“Adrien,” she interrupted. “No. You didn’t need—”

“I don’t care,” Adrien said, talking over her again. “I wanted to get that for you—”

“But Adrien—”

“No! Just take it.”

“It’s too much.”

“Well, I can’t take it back.”

Marinette glowered at him.

Adrien grinned. “You’re my best friend,” he said. “Let me get this for you.”

After a short stare-off, Marinette looked back at the pile of fabric. And sighed. She stood, walked over to Adrien, and wrapped her arms around his torso. “Thank you,” she said.

His heart skipped a beat, and Adrien happily wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her against him. “You’re welcome, Marinette. Happy Birthday.”

  10.      Puns

It was the first day out of school for summer vacation, and Marinette spent the day at Adrien’s house because playing video games was a lot more fun on his huge screen.

Eventually, Marinette pulled out the snacks that she’d brought to munch on, which allowed her the time to finally ask the question she had had on her mind a while. “Is that a new cat pun shirt?”

Adrien looked down at the blue shirt with three cartoon cats piled on top of on another with the caption ‘purramid’. “No. I’ve had this one a while.”

“I’ve never seen it.”

“You haven’t seen half my collection, probably.”

Marinette quirked a brow. “Really?” she asked dubiously. “Because I think I’ve seen enough that you could probably go a solid month wearing cat pun tees and not wear the same one twice.”

Adrien smirked. “You doubt the extensiveness of my carefully procured cat pun t-shirt collection?”

“I’m going to regret this.”

“Come on.”

Adrien took her hand in his, and Marinette felt a blush rise to her cheeks at the contact. Something in the back of her mind was screaming He’s holding my hand! He likes me! while the more rational part of her mind reminded her Keep it together, loon. He’s just leading you to his closet.

A closet that was twice the size of her and her parents closet combined.

“Here we go,” Adrien said, pointing to a line of tee shirts. “For your purr-rusal.” He shot her a wink, and she rolled her eyes even though her heart was going wild.

Within two minutes, she learned that Adrien had been right: his collection was extensive. More extensive than she realized. There were the ones she’d seen such as ‘you’ve cat to be kitten me right meow’ or cats in boxes with ‘I fits, I sits’ or cats with sunglasses that said ‘Cattitude’.

And then there were the ones she hadn’t seen before.

“Really?” She pulled out one that said ‘Catffee’ with a bunch of coffee drinks labeled thigs like ‘Catpurrchino’ and ‘Ameowicano’ and ‘Meowca’ on the front. “Really?” Marinette repeated, turning the shirt toward him.

Adrien’s grin widened in pride.

She rolled her eyes and kept looking. There was a cat in a castle with a crown on its head with the caption ‘Chateau’. There was a cat playing with a music note titled ‘Quatre.’

“Get it?” Adrien cried in excitement when she showed that one to him. “It’s a music pun and a cat pun!”

“Where’s the cat pun?”

“In English, they say ‘cat’.”

Marinette’s expression fell.

“It’s funny.”

“No, it’s not.” She put the shirt back and kept looking.

And then there was one that caught her eye that she had to stare at for a good while.

“Are. You. Serious?”

Adrien looked at the shirt and immediately broke out into a wild grin. “Oh yeah! This one’s new. I haven’t had a chance to wear it yet. What do you think?!”

Marinette stared at the shirt, one that had nine cats, each dressed up as characters Marinette didn’t recognize, but she recognized some of the labels. ‘Dragonpaw Z’ and ‘Sailor Mewn’ and ‘Mewrito’ and ‘Fur Mewtal Alcatmist’. “You got a shirt. With cat renditions. Of your favorite animes?”

“Yes!” Adrien practically squealed. “Isn’t it fantastic?”

Marinette stared at the shirt, then back up at him. His glasses were slightly crooked, his cheeks were pink with excitement, and his smile was completely and one hundred percent giddy. He looked like a five-year-old boy instead of a young man of sixteen.

And she was in love with him.

Marinette sighed, a smile breaking across her face. “It’s very you,” she admitted.

“I know! It might just become my favorite shirt ever.”