#deal with your own mortality and get out of my wrinkle loving domain

[viperbooty]

im tired of seeing people genuinely say that Astarion "looks too old". Or get upset when he makes An Expression and theres lines on his forehead when his brows crease or raise, and laugh lines when he smirks. Sorry that the 200 year old abused elf* has signs of Being Alive and not being Etched Marble.

*[i get elves are forever beings but astarion has lived a rough fucking life - he should show signs goddamnit.]

[perditaalottachocolate-blog]

Spring Fever (12)

@adrinetteapril 2019 story

Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | art | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | art | 18 | 19 | 20 |

AO3 / fanfiction.net

*****

Chapter 12. Confession

In which Adrien demonstrates how not to confess

Adrien knew Marinette arrived at the set before he saw her. And even if he misinterpreted the prickling sensation crawling all over his skin, the hint of a pull towards the entrance left no doubt that the object of his affection was near.

Plagg hadn’t bothered with disclosing the mechanics behind spring fever, evading that it worked in mysterious ways and there was not enough camembert in Paris that would give him strength and patience required to explain it anyway.

The profuse sweat Adrien had been dealing with since the day before earned him a few complaints from the make-up artist. There was nothing Adrien could do about it, at least not until he’d get the curing kiss, yet the thought of approaching Marinette about it made his hands even more clammy. He tucked the handkerchief into his jacket, pretending it was pocket square matched to the outfit, despite it being a different shade of blue. He didn’t want Marinette’s scent, still lingering on the material, to be tainted with his odor. And as far as odors went, Adrien had learned his lesson, so Plagg’s emergency food, which the kwami kept insisting to call ”lunch”, was sealed inside a zip-lock bag and put in another one for better measure. The containers rested in Adrien’s bag next to an ice-pack, to prevent them from melting into Eau de Plagg. The sprite had complained, of course, but his heart wasn’t in it.

Ever since the black cat had woken Adrien up from his fever induced dream, the boy was bracing himself for the inevitable confrontation with the love of his life. His stomach twisted into a tight knot and his head swam with possible speeches. He’d been rehearsing the words over and over again but they were almost all gone the moment Marinette walked through the entrance to the dressing area with Nathalie in tow.

It was as if suddenly a second sun appeared in the sky. The world became warmed, brighter, softer. A gentle breeze filled his nose with heady scents of magnolia, apple blossoms and earth. It mused the carefully styled hair on his forehead. It colored his cheeks peach under the foundation the make-up artist had applied. It sent his heart into a frenzy and poured fire into his veins.

He was so not ready to do this. He would never be.

Adrien felt a shallow bite of two needle-sharp teeth on his calf and he realized he’d been too wrapped up in daze to react in any way to Marinette’s arrival, except for staring and drooling (just a little bit).

‘H-hi!’ he squeaked, about two octaves above his usual timbre. ‘You’re h-here!’ he hiccupped eloquently.

‘Should I not be?’ Marinette sounded uncertain. She was fidgeting anxiously in her place. ‘You texted me?’ she reminded.

‘Yeah-h! Of course you should be h-here!’ Adrien cursed his twisted tongue. It had been functioning just fine until the love of his life manifested in this mortal domain. In four steps he was in front of Marinette and stopped himself at the last moment, before he would give her a welcome hug and a kiss.

Boundaries, Adrien scolded himself. It’s a thing.

What’s wrong with an innocent bisou? The fever whispered into his ear.

The boy wanted to argue, that right now he didn’t trust himself to do anything innocent in Marinette’s presence, but the girl of his dreams smiled at him and all the remaining thoughts evaporated from his sizzling brain.

‘So…,’ Marinette brushed a stray lock of her hair behind her ear. ‘How do you feel today?’ She discreetly checked if Nathalie already left, but when she noticed his father’s assistant still stood at the entrance, she wiggled her brows meaningly. ‘I hope the gift worked well for you?’

‘Yeah-h,’ Adrien vigorously nodded. ‘It worked like a ch-charm.’ He turned to the woman behind his guest. ‘Nathalie, can I… um… h-have a moment with Marinette alone, please?’

Miss Sancoeur cast him an even look. She clicked on her tablet. ‘The photoshoot is scheduled to start in 5 minutes,’ she informed him.

‘S-sure! I’ll be ready,’ he promised.

The woman gave a nod of approval and left, leaving the two teens to themselves.

Heavy silence fell over the room. Marinette moved away from Adrien, closer to the racks of clothes he was supposed to be showcasing that morning. He knew she would be curious, but she didn’t try to steal a peek nor shown interest in them, her attention solely on him.

Adrien took a deep breath. A breath that seemed to shorten the distance between them, as if he sucked up the air keeping them apart. Keep away from her, he reminded himself, do not touch her if you want to keep a relatively level head. She’s your drug now. Keep away. We’re all friends here, we’re professionals.

With that last thought he halted two steps away from her. His body screamed in big hot letters to close the distance, but he prevailed. For the sake of their friendship he still hoped to salvage. He willed his head to stop spinning, ignoring another wave of heat washing over him.

Here goes nothing.

‘Marinette,’ he murmured, 'I wasn’t honest with you yesterday. I didn’t tell you everything about the true nature of my predicament.’

‘True nature?’ she echoed. 'Is it dangerous?’

'No! Nothing of a sort,’ he assured her, noticing she didn’t ask if it was contagious, but only if it posed any danger. That line of thinking was something he was used to associating with Ladybug not with a civilian. Was there no end to all the ways Marinette would keep astonishing him? 'But I’m not sure how you’re going to react and the last thing I’d want is to hurt you,’ he said.

'Hurt me? I don’t understand.’ An adorable little wrinkle appeared between her brows. She tilted her head as she assessed him. Did she have to be so unbearably cute? Just like in his dream.

'I love you,’ Adrien breathed before he could stop himself.

A heartbeat, two, three. An eternity of silence, with metaphorical crickets chirping in the background. A silence so thick even the distant shout from the photoshoot crew couldn’t shatter it.

It was Marinette who broke first.

'W-whaaa?’

The panic that gripped him let his tongue loose.

'It’s the curse!’ he babbled frantically, the rehearsed speech long forgotten. 'It made me fall in love with you, up to the point where I can’t stand not being close to you. I think it’s magical, hence the literal magnet effect you witnessed yesterday. But it may be prone to suggestions since your idea for a talisman worked perfectly.’

'I’m sorry,’ Marinette drawled in bewildered whisper. 'You lost me at “I love you”!’

'I am’, he assured her solemnly, nodding his head like a maniac. 'Deeply, madly in love with you. It’s called spring fever and the only cure is a kiss from the object of my affection.’

‘A k-kiss? From me? To- to cure you from loving me?’

Her blue eyes were as big as saucers now, blinking in confusion. She frowned and pressed her lips into a thin line.

Ah, congratulations, Adrien, you already screwed this.

‘Oh my god, I’m sorry!’ he exclaimed. ‘I know how it sounds and believe me I wouldn’t be asking if I could function as a normal person, but there are some matters that I can’t really tell you about that require me being, so to speak, my own man.’

‘So you want me to kiss you and then you un-love me?’ she asked carefully.

‘Basically yes.’ At this point Adrien couldn’t stop nodding even if he tried, his neck set on autopilot out of sheer mortification.

‘Gosh, you must think I’m a terrible kisser,’ Marinette shook her head. ‘Well let me tell you, mister, I never had any complaints!’

Marinette kissed someone else? Was it Nathanael? Was it Luka? The possessive cat in him bristled at those thoughts. Adrien did his best to stop the growl that threatened to rip out of his throat. Marinette wasn’t his to be acting all jealous. He shook his head to get rid of those silly ideas.

‘I’m sure your kisses are the best in the world, Marinette,’ he blurted out. After all, he daydreamed about them for a whole day and was close to self combusting at the thought of them alone. He needed to prove his honesty. ‘In fact, I’m dying to find out because only the thought of kissing you makes me dizzy with excitement,’ he said eagerly. ‘I could wax poetic about your smile and your gorgeous lips. I could spend hours counting those adorable freckles on your skin-’

‘Careful, Adrien,’ she scowled at him. ‘A girl might get a very wrong idea when you say things like that.’

‘I knoooow,’ he whined. ‘I’m a walking disaster! I thought my love for Lad-, I thought I had it bad before this, but I had no idea love can be so powerful!’

Marinette glared at him for an uncomfortably long moment. Normally any sign of attention from her would be a nice boost to his ego, but not now. Not when he was on the receiving end of her scrutiny. He knew he was finally being 100% honest, even if his choice of words could have been better. But she had every reason not to trust him - starting with him trying to evade her questions yesterday, through his pitiful attempt at getting a kiss from her without disclosing the whole truth about his predicament, up to the “magical” explanation he had provided. Adrien couldn’t blame her, he sounded ridiculous to his own very red pair of ears. He gulped wondering what will he do when she inevitably turns on her heels and leaves his pathetic butt behind.

Finally the love of his life released a frustrated groan and hid her face in her hands. ‘Okay,’ she said.

‘Okay?’

‘Okay, I’ll do it,’ she repeated as she emerged from behind her hands.

Was it his imagination or did she shrink in the last few seconds? He could see the determination in her eyes, but there was something else lurking underneath as well.

Adrien hesitated as he searched her gaze. Sadness, resignation, pain. He couldn’t put it into words, but whatever it was, the weight of her stare made his stomach sink. Whatever it was, he didn’t like it.

‘But?’ He asked eventually, averting his gaze to the floor. Maybe she wanted him to figure it out himself, as he assumed there must have been something on her mind.

Marinette arched a brow. ‘Do you really think I would follow with a “but”?’

‘No, but…’

‘Exactly. No “but”,’ she repeated with emphasis. ‘If you need to do this, we’re doing this. No strings attached.’

Adrien had exactly two words left in him. ‘Thank you,’ he breathed.

First, came the relief and elation that Marinette agreed to provide the cure he needed. His chest was no longer tight with tension. Then, the gratitude curved his lips into a soft smile. His heart stuttered giddy with excitement that he’d finally get a kiss he’d remember! Adrien tried to swallow the spoonful of bitter guilt that he’d go back to not loving this wonderful girl in just a few moments.

‘So…’ Marinette’s voice cut into his thoughts. She wrung her fingers and stepped anxiously from one foot to the other. A fresh coat of pink colored her cheeks. ‘Do you want me to do this now or-’

‘Shouldn’t you buy me a dinner first?’ He murmured in an attempt to lighten the mood. Marinette looked nervous and god only knew how jittery he was right now.

She pursed her lips into a thin line, but the twinkle in her eyes told him it was to prevent her from laughing at loud.

‘Sorry,’ he grinned. He wasn’t sorry even a little bit.

Marinette bit her lower lip as if considering how to approach the matter. Then she stepped closer and climbed to her toes, gripping the lapels of his jacket for stability.

Adrien felt his heart hammering wildly in his ribcage, the rush of blood sent another heat wave through his system.

A breath of air that escaped her brushed his lips with warmth. The heady scents of spring surrounded him again, enclosing him in a personal bubble of bliss. Marinette closed her eyes with a sigh and leaned in. The last thing Adrien saw before closing his own was her tantalizingly perfect pink lips puckered into an adorable “o”.

This is it, he thought, tilting his head.

‘So this is how you save yourself for Ladybug?!’ A voice roared from the door.