#ml multiplication

It was the 10th time in a row Marinette refused la bise and offered him a handshake instead.

Adrien should've gotten used to rejections a long time ago. But this was the last straw.

"Marinette, please," he said desperately, looking at her with puppy eyes. "I'm glad to hold your hand, but it's not enough."

She considered him, her eyebrows raised in surprise.

"You have no idea how touch-starved I am," Adrien murmured in a miserable voice. "Since my mother disappeared, no one gives me goodnight hugs or ruffles my hair. No goodbye kisses, no cuddles. I really need friendly touches, especially from such an amazing friend as you." He finished, looking at her imploringly.

Marinette listened to him, her expression changing gradually from confused to tender.

"Sorry, Adrien, I didn’t know how much you needed it," she said, putting her warm hand on his. "I'm here if you need me."

"Then please let me hug you and kiss your cheek sometimes," he said shyly.

There were two pretty cherry-pink spots appearing on Marinette’s cheeks.

"Of course you can do it anytime you want," she said eagerly, looking at him from beneath her pitch-black lashes.

"Would you mind me doing it now?" Adrien asked hopefully.

Marinette’s cheeks flushed even more, and she silently shook her head.

Adrien didn't waste any time. As soon as he got her permission, he immediately pulled her into a bear hug.

He could feel that Marinette was a bit tense at first, but she relaxed eventually.

They stayed like that for a moment before they pulled apart, too soon for his liking. Adrien retracted his hands very reluctantly. He wished he could hold her all day.

"Thank you, Marinette!" he said gratefully, feeling a wave of bliss running through every fibre of his body. "Wow, I feel so much better now."

"You're welcome, Adrien," she said with a coy smile. "Come get your daily dose of hugs anytime you need them."

And so he did.

In fact, Adrien took advantage of Marinette’s permission pretty often. He couldn’t get enough of her physical contact. The warmth of her hugs. The softness of her palms. The velvety skin of her cheeks. Her hot satin lips on his cheek.

He asked her to sit next to him in the school cafeteria so that he could be as close to her as possible.

He used every opportunity to cuddle with her during breaks, to place his head on her shoulder, or at least just hold her hand.

Marinette was a little uneasy at first and flinched every time Adrien took her hand, but soon the tension gave way to complete relaxation.

Unsurprisingly, their friendly activities didn't go unnoticed.

Nino was confused. Alya was ecstatic. Chloé was furious. Everyone else was nearly swooning at the sight.

Everyone around them kept asking if the two of them were dating each other. Did they really look like a romantic couple? Wasn't it usual for friends to give each other hugs and cheek kisses?

Anyway, Adrien didn't care what everyone was saying anymore. He needed Marinette in his life. She radiated so much warmth and affection. She conveyed so much love and tenderness through her touch.

Everything about Marinette was adorable, from the way she had to stand on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek to the way she ran her fingers through his hair when they were cuddling together.

Adrien counted hours and minutes until the moment he would see her again.

He started walking her home every day so that he could be with her and relish her closeness for a little longer.

Things went on like this for like a month or so until the day Adrien came to a fencing class, bringing Marinette with him.

By then, Adrien wasn't able to attend a fencing class without Marinette by his side anymore. To be completely honest, he could hardly go anywhere without skin-to-skin contact with her. Long, lonely hours at his mansion were real torture.

That's why he came to the locker room one afternoon, clinging on to Marinette.

Once there, he reluctantly let go of her tiny, warm hand. Then he finally said goodbye to her, but not before getting another cheek kiss and tight embrace from her and giving her an ever-so-soft forehead kiss in return. All in front of Kagami's questioning eyes.

A few moments after Marinette was gone, Kagami asked a question everyone had been asking them for quite a while now.

"Are you guys dating? Can I congratulate you?"

"No, it's not like that!" Adrien assured her. "She's just a friend. What you saw were just friendly hugs. I thought it was pretty normal for friends to act like that."

"Then why with Marinette? Not with any other friend?" Kagami asked slyly.

This question took Adrien totally by surprise.

Really, why exactly with Marinette?

He had so many friends who would be glad to give him all the hugs in the world. So why was he so attached to Marinette? Why didn't he get hugs from Nino? Why didn't he ask Alya to give him cheek kisses from time to time?

Adrien thought for a moment and answered in a very small voice:

"Because she's very special to me. I can't imagine my life without her."

Kagami smiled triumphantly.

"You see. That's what I’ve been telling you all the time. You definitely have feelings for her."

Adrien's cheeks flushed, and he passed his tongue over his suddenly dry lips.

"Do you think that I'm..." he stammered, trying to bring himself to say these words out loud. Then he gulped and tried again.  "Do you think that... I'm in love with Marinette?"

Once these words were finally uttered, there was no turning back for him. And he knew he wouldn't want everything to go back to how it was before.

Because this new world that has just been born—the world where he, Adrien, was in love with his best friend Marinette—was so wonderful that he wouldn't change it for anything.

Adrien looked up at Kagami with shining eyes.