Leave a message after the beep (chapter 6)
final chapter is up!
ao3
Marinette managed to pretend to be sick for another two days before her parents decided that enough was enough. She had to go to school. So, like a cringing little mouse, she scuttled into the classroom the next day, sat at her desk, and hid behind a pile of books. If Adrien couldn’t see her, he couldn’t talk to her. Or, at least, that was her hope.
“Hi, Marinette,” he said.
Dang it.
Alya elbowed her in the ribs. “Say something,” she whispered. “You can’t avoid him forever.”
Says who, Marinette wanted to retort, except that would mean talking, which would then invite a conversation, which would undoubtedly lead to Adrien talking to her more, which would—
Alya made an exasperated sound and pushed the books aside. Marinette repressed a squeak as she suddenly found herself meeting Adrien’s eyes. His smile was tentative, as if he was afraid a brighter one might spook her off. To be fair, that wasn’t far from the truth.
“H-hi,” she managed.
They stared at each other. It was an awkward standoff of unspoken words. Then his cheeks dusted with pink and he rubbed the base of his neck. Such a shy gesture. It reminded her of that day on the school steps—the day she’d thought he was the biggest jerk, but then he’d confessed that going to school was all new to him and he’d handed her his umbrella.
The day lightning had struck her heart and she’d realised she was in love with him.
Her face warmed.
“Um, yeah,” he said. “I’m glad you’re feeling better.” Then he swivelled on his chair to face the front.
She swallowed, her heart stumbling into a faster beat.
“He’s been asking about you every day,” Alya whispered.
Marinette bit her lip as she stared at Adrien’s back. There was no way that he believed she’d actually been sick, so why pretend? Was it to not embarrass her? Because he was happy to let the matter go?
Somehow, she got the feeling it wasn’t either of these.
oOo
He approached her after school. The sky was weighed with grey, like cupped hands barely holding back the rain. It was as if the universe wanted to give her no choice but to focus her attention on him, as the dull colours only served as a backdrop to make him stand out brighter.
“Can we talk?” he said.
She wanted to say no, wanted to avoid him just like she had every other time, but something stopped the words before they could leave her mouth. “Okay,” she said softly.
There was no one else around to disturb them. He fidgeted with his umbrella, his gaze skittering from her to the ground. The little dustings of pink were back on his cheeks.
He cleared his throat. “That message …”
She winced. This was it.
“I know you didn’t mean to say all those things and you probably don’t want to talk about it, but … but it got me thinking, you know. I’ve always seen you as a good friend. A really good friend. And I—I never really thought beyond that because—because there’s this girl I’ve liked for a long time.”
“Oh.”
Her voice sounded dull and hollow to her own ears. So, this was how it all ended. He liked another girl.
“But I kept thinking about your message, about you, and I realised …”
Something made her look up—an instinct, an inevitable choice. Their eyes met. It was like another lightning strike to the heart, sudden and powerful. Never had he looked at her in such a way. More than affection. More than the shy vulnerability of a friend trying to be honest. It weaved itself into her heartbeat and filled her with a fluttering song of delicate wings.
“I like you, Marinette.”
The words were hushed yet so heart-poundingly clear. Rain started to fall. The drops dampened her clothes and left wet trails on her cheek. She had forgotten her umbrella. He had not.
He stepped closer and opened the umbrella, holding it over her to shelter her from the rain. Her heart drummed faster and her cheeks warmed with a blossoming of pink. Everything became sharper in that moment—the vivid green of his eyes, subtly flecked with brown. The earthy, sun-twined taste of the rain. The way her mouth turned dry and her heartbeat thundered in her ears.
With a surge of courage, she leaned up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his.
It wasn’t like the first kiss she had always imagined. His lips were wet from the rain and she’d practically bumped her mouth against his because of her haste and the awkward angle. But then his arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer, and she found herself relaxing into the kiss.
Their lips brushed again, then again—shy touches that soon turned to slanting caresses of silk.
She missed his lips the moment he pulled back.
“Can I walk you home?” he whispered.
His cheeks were flushed—just as flushed as hers—and the umbrella was barely covering either of them. Maybe that’s why she couldn’t resist teasing him.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Only if you can hold that umbrella better.”
He laughed—loud and carefree, just as he had on that day. “I’ll do my best.”
She smiled and tucked her hand in his. Together, under the shelter of his umbrella, they walked down the steps and headed for her home.
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[ ☮ ]
Berkeley was one to talk, as he was out here by himself. But he had a good reason, he had a disagreement with his communities' leader once again. So he needed the air. It was especially dangerous for him as he was a pacifist. He refused to kill anything, the dead included.
"Yeah, okay."
He replied as he watched the stranger dig in his bag. Berkeley was very trusting by nature, so the thought never occurred to him that this stranger might be giving him poisoned food. Who would do that anyway?
"Uh, sure. Only if you have enough."
@luposcainus continued from x
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Sequel where they go to the Vatican archives
the sequel takes place five years later and shows how absolutely few repercussions they’ve faced by not getting caught, they all went about their separate lives and the jewish person calls them out of the blue to get the band back together after they met a woman from sub-saharan africa (exact culture will be specified after more research) who was incredibly incensed about the stolen african objects in the vatican and reignited the jewish person’s fire to rob the vatican. the nigerian museum worker wishes them all well but cannot join, as he is now director of the museum and can’t risk it. the greek is in immediately even though the vatican is already returning stuff, it’s just a grudge and solidarity with everyone else. the indian and maori(? more research needed) are also not able to join, but several new indigenous robbers from around the world join up with them, one of them being a canadian first nations person who’s known the jewish robber since adolescence.
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