#lyj

Marinette always thought that falling in love happened in a moment, she believed in love at first sight, first kiss, anything that came out of a fairytale. She thought she fell in love with Adrien the moment that their hands touched when he handed her his umbrella. However, love is much more complicated than that, falling in love is subtle. You never really know exactly when you fall but you always know that those feelings have to be love.

At least that’s the conclusion Marinette reached one afternoon while patrolling Paris as she looked over at the dark-haired, green-eyed boy standing next to her. Over the last couple of months, life, in a nutshell, had been complicated - there was the Agreste trial, the increase in activity with the Light and not to mention high school being...well high school. Without having her partner right by her side but instead in a place where she couldn’t just swoop in and help him took its toll on Marinette. Marinette gnawed on her lips as she stared out into the Parisian skyline, honestly, she wasn’t sure if she’d survive if it wasn’t for-

“What are you thinking about?”

Marinette glanced over at Damian who had a dark eyebrow raised in question, unlike herself, Damian hadn’t adopted a superhero persona and was more or less dressed as a burglar.

An interesting combo with her Ladybug suit, she giggled at the thought, “just thinking about how I wouldn’t have stayed sane these last couple months without you.”

Damien cleared his throat and turned back to the busy streets down below. “You would’ve been fine.”

Marinette bit the inside of her cheek to stifle the giggle bubbling in her chest at the sight of Damien’s pinkened ears. “I’m not sure about that,” she sighed, “I’m only human after all.”

“But you have all your friends, your teammates, what difference do I really make?”

Marinette placed her hand over Damien’s, she felt the boy tense at her touch but he did not turn to face her.

“You make all the difference in the world.”

**

Damien didn’t believe in things like love. Love brought weakness and Damien could never permit himself to be weak. His family taught him that, they also taught him to believe in loyalty, loyalty to the League of Assassins, to his mother, his grandfather, and now his father. So he was quite perplexed as to why he couldn’t get this girl out of his head. She was one of those idyllic heroes, someone who wanted to do good and be praised. A hero who never felt the allure of the darkness or understood tragedy like he did. He thought that someone like her was of no consequence, that she would be a waste of his time, but he was wrong.

Damien doesn’t remember when exactly it happened, maybe it was because Dick and Tim constantly invited her over to the mansion or when he would get dragged along with his "brothers". But the more time Damien spent with the girl, the more he wanted to understand her. She was so different from him, she was kind, merciful, and she loved fiercely. She loved and Damien thought that made her weak. But he was wrong, she was strong. So strong, to the point that he began to fear that she might break, as he watched her face challenge after challenge. She didn’t though, she stood tall and won.

Damien’s mind continued to wander as he watched the civilians go about their afternoon. Her hand, warm on top of his, he isn’t sure if what he feels is love but, she taught him that love wasn’t a weakness.

However, over the years of working at this company as the executive assistant to the CEO and driving him to meetings throughout the week, I’ve established my favorite cars to drive. There was the Kia Stinger, which was very luxurious so it could fit the CEO’s taste but it could also go from 0 to 60mph within 5 seconds (which was enjoyable for me even though I’ve only got to try it out once).

Then there was the Audi R8, which was a beautiful car. The CEO owned one in black but the one I drove to his meetings was white. Both were amazing finishes. The navigation in this car was amazing though which was the seller for me. If I had enough for this car, I would’ve bought it ages ago.

And lastly, there was the Jaguar XJ 3.0. This car was absolutely beautiful. If I could, I’d marry it but sadly that would just be weird. This car handled curves so well, it made me tear up every time. Driving down even a pebbled road with this car was a smooth ride. It was enjoyable for me and the CEO could finish up some work without being tossed around in the back.

Although this company had lots of amazing cars, they also had more than a handful of bad ones. For instance, the Pontiac G6. This car was ugly. I’m not even going to lie and say that it had some nice points in terms of appearance because it did not. The whole entire interior was plastic and it wasn’t even well designed! The buttons were way too small as well. It’s like a baby designed this car. The drive was okay but I’ve had way better drives. Sometimes the CEO would even complain about how bumpy it would be.

Also, for some reason they had a PT Cruiser? One of the worst, if not the worst car I’ve ever driven. When I would take it to gas stations alone while the CEO was in meetings that I couldn’t go in, it would just stop randomly. I would be at a stoplight and it wouldn’t turn back on. I would be pulling into the gas station and it would just shut off and I would almost get into an accident because of it. And sometimes when I’m on the highway, the car would just randomly honk! I wouldn’t even be anywhere near touching the horn!

Every meeting we went to was always a mystery for me because I didn’t know which car I would get. Today, though, I knew it wouldn’t be good. As soon as I unlocked the car, I knew.

The keys that the doorman gave me belonged to the PT Cruiser.

I groaned, losing my professionalism for a moment before realizing that the CEO was watching. I straightened up, “Sorry, I just don’t like this car.”

“You have favorite cars?”

“Yes. And this one is not on that list. But I will try to make this an easy ride for you so don’t worry.” I said with a small smile, opening the back door for him. He nodded, getting in and closing the door. 

While walking over to the drivers side, I let out a whine. I absolutely hated this car! Would it stop on us for no reason today? Would we die?

I started the car and already could feel the engine giving out. Maybe I could just ask the doorman for a different key. But as I reached for the door handle, I caught a glance of the clock, telling me that I didn’t have time to get a different car. If we didn’t leave now we would be late.

I sighed, changing the gear shift into reverse and pulling out of the parking space.

So far, the ride was nice. It was quiet, as always, and not as bumpy as usual. Of course, there were a few times where my heart jumped out of its cage because I thought we would die, but we didn’t and so I could rest easily.

A stop light occurred and I started to slow down, preparing to stop. As I stopped, I looked in the rear view mirror, “What is the topic of the meeting today?”

“Stocks,” CEO Lin said without even looking up from his tablet. I nodded, looking ahead of us at the light. It was always awkward when I would drive him, which was all the time because it was my job. I would never have anything to say and so I would usually bring up the oncoming meeting because it would be the only thing I could think of. But his answers would always be vague and I would never know how to respond.

I sighed as the light turned green, pressing on the gas pedal. But, like I thought, the time came. The car inched forward, pretending to not be defective, and then the engine sputtered out and the car turned off.

My heart started racing as I tried to press the gas pedal again. The car didn’t move. I quickly turned on my hazard lights, my movements rushed and panicky.

The CEO must’ve picked up that something was wrong, so he asked what was going on. I brushed it off, “Nothing, the car is just acting up.”

“Why is it off?” he asked. I saw his curious expression glancing at me from the rear view mirror.

If I knew, then it wouldn’t be off! “I don’t know but I’ll figure it out.”

His expression faltered for a bit as he sat back in the seat. I took this time to call the administrative staff and tell them what was going on.

“Hey, Y/N!” One of the staff, named Ziyi, greeted me. We were close because his job was the closest to being my assistant. Just without the title.

“Hey Ziyi! Can you call the member of the staff in charge of the cars and tell them that the PT Cruiser broke down?”

“Yeah sure no pro- wait what?!” He exclaimed, “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, it’s fine but the car is a piece of trash—“ I glanced up into the rear view mirror, seeing the CEO curiously gazing at me. I cleared my throat, “— The car is defective so we are going to see if we can get a new one or find some other way to get to the meeting.”

“Okay. I’ll tell them to send a driver down to go get you,” he said before I hung up the phone.

There was a moment of silence which consisted of me fully accepting this situation and the CEO figuring out what to do with this knowledge.

“So the car broke down?” He asked.

I let out a sigh, “Yes, sadly this was out of my control. This car is really old and not very good at its job.”

A pause, “...Which is driving?”

“Yes. Its job is to drive us safely to where we need to go and back. But it failed.” It was quiet after that. I called the stockholders and told them the inevitable news and they told me that we could always reschedule and that it was no problem. Then I thanked them and told them I would send the email for the reschedule when we get back. And then I hung up and took a breath.

It was so quiet, it was making me anxious. I never had to be in this position with the CEO before. All I did was drive him to meetings and show him schedules and stuff. I never had to be stuck in a car with him for more than thirty minutes. What was I supposed to say?!

Maybe five whole, silent minutes passed before something popped into my head.

“Have you eaten yet?” I almost pat myself on the back for this one!

“Yes.” 

Annnd my confidence shattered. I nodded awkwardly, glancing at him from the rear view mirror. He was looking down at his tablet, like always, and wasn’t paying my awkward mood any mind.

I sighed, looking forward again, but before I could finish the sigh, CEO Lin spoke up, “Have you?”

I was so shocked that he made an attempt to keep the conversation going that it took me a few seconds before his words registered. I made eye contact with him through the mirror and shook my head to get back on track, “Uh, no. I haven’t yet. But I usually eat when you go to the meetings.”

“That’s a shame then, since I won’t be able to make it to the meeting. There’s a cafe down the street though, not that far,” he said, looking back down, “If you’re hungry then I suggest going there. You could probably get there in five or so minutes. I’ll pay for it.”

“I- uh-“ I was speechless, “Thank you. I guess I’ll be back in a few minutes then.” He nodded, handing me his card, “Do you want anything?”

He looked up at me, and for the first time in my whole entire life, I saw him smile. A real one. At me. And holy moly, he had dimples, oh my god-

“I’m fine. I’ve had my fair share of sweets today.”

I walked back to the car with the bag in hand. Despite him saying he had enough sweets, I still bought him something. A coffee, not sweet though because he didn’t like his coffee sweet.

I opened the door, setting the things in the passengers seat and looking back to check and see if he was okay.

I was met with his brown eyes staring back at mine.

He flashed a small smile, but quickly went back to normal as his eyes looked down to my hands, “You’re back so soon. What did you buy?”

“I bought a croissant and some coffee. I actually bought the coffee for you. I figured you’d need it.”

“Thank you.” He said as I handed him the coffee. He took a sip, nodding, “It tastes amazing.”

I smiled softly before turning back around and starting on my croissant. As I was eating, I started to think.

‘I’ve had my fair share of sweets’ but I haven’t seen him get any sort of sweets. And my desk is right outside of his office.

So he either has a secret stash that I don’t know about or he’s covering up the fact that he has diabetes and he can’t eat sweets.

I furrowed my brows as my teeth sunk into the treat. I’ve never seen him eat sweets for that matter. Every time I would make his coffee, it was always bitter. He even sent it back once when someone made it sweet.

He doesn’t like sweets.

So what was he talking about?

“By the way,” he started. I directed my attention to his face in the mirror. He was looking at his coffee cup, “You look really pretty today.”

The croissant I was chewing nearly found its way down my throat on its own. I choked and he looked up.

“Are you okay?”

I nodded, quicker than I ever have before which probably would’ve broke my neck if I continued, “Um, thank you. For the compliment. I don’t really know what to say because you always look good so—“

Wait. Did I just—?

“Thank you,” he responded, confirming the fact that I did, indeed, say that. Wow, where was my brain? “I didn’t mean it to say you don’t always look good though. Today you are just extra beautiful.”

I was so glad I wasn’t eating at that moment because I probably would’ve choked to death. He thought I was pretty? No— not just pretty— beautiful.

“Thank you, CEO Lin.” I said in the calmest way I could. On the inside though, my heart was racing. CEO Lin was, by far, the cutest person at the company. But cute is even an understatement. So to hear him say that I was beautiful was very... nice, to say the least.

I heard him sigh, “Well, since the meeting is now canceled and we are basically stranded until administration gets here, would you like to go somewhere with me?”

“Like where?”

“Maybe the park down the street,” He smiled at me through the rear view mirror, “As a date? And please, call me Yanjun.”

Walking side by side with the CEO— I mean Yanjun— wasn’t very new for me. But doing this as a date was. Unlike I thought, he actually had a lot to say. He was asking me a lot of questions about my life and how I like the job, hobbies, things I like to do at home. Basically, normal questions for getting to know someone. But it wasn’t boring like I would’ve thought, It was nice.

And then I remembered. And I stopped.

He stopped and looked back at me, “You okay?”

“Yeah, I just remembered something.”

He smiled, “What did you remember?”

“Earlier today you said that you had your fair share of sweets today. What did you mean?” I asked, my eyebrow raising a bit. He looked at me with a curious gaze before it went away. Now was the time where I would figure out if he had diabetes or not.

But what I wasn’t expecting was that he would start laughing, “Oh that! You want to know what that was about?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty curious because I never see you eating sweets.”

He smiled, walking up to me, “Just being around you is sweet enough for me.”