The Other Part of Me

Step-By-Step

Adrien quickly pulled his arm away from Marinette and placed his jacket back over his grey vest top. If Marinette wasn't so shocked by the lack of soulmark, she was quite sure she'd be hyperventilating from seeing Adrien in a vest. Every single, hard toned muscle on show. It would have been her dream a couple of weeks ago.

Suddenly her brain seemed to kick into gear.

Hang on ... no soulmark? Kagami?

As her eyebrows creased together, unease took over Adrien's bones. He was meant to have told her, he needed to speak to her now about this. Even though Alya was going to help out he made it clear he wanted to tell her. Kagami and Marinette were close friends, and Marinette adored her friends. She was going to kill him.

"Mari, I-"

"Model boy and partner, I have not given you permission to chat. Now get back and foxtrot." The instructor flounced over grabbing them both by the hands and flinging them back onto the dance floor.

"I thought we were doing the waltz." Marinette huffed as she placed her hands in the correct position. Truth be told she didn't want to do anything now. Especially with Adrien. How could he lie? She thought he was better than that.

She couldn't look into Adrien's eyes. He knew sometimes Marinette would have issues maintaining eye contact with him, but that would be joined with stuttering, or some sort of clumsy movement. At the moment he could only feel two emotions from her; bewilderment and anger, lots of anger.

"Mari, I need to explain." Adrien insisted, as they began moving to the instructor's counts.

"Explain what?" She snapped back, "how you're playing Kagami?" She met Adrien's steps with synchronised precision. If they were doing the tango, the tension between them would be seen as perfect.

"I'm not playing anyone -"

"Not playing! You're going to break her heart, Adrien! Do you not have any idea how she feels about you?"

"Model boy and pigtail girl, very nice. Now, pull her in a little closer, and add in a whisk and wing."

Even as they continued their conversation the two secret heroes moved in time, making the dance flow freely and effortlessly. They worked together as though their bodies were on the same wavelength, as if they were one.

Adrien pulled Marinette closer to him, feeling the increased speed of his heart against his chest. Marinette's body brushing against him was causing a familiar stirring in his body, as though they'd been like this many times before.

He began to think about what he could say next, what he could do to ease the blow of Marinette's strike. He looked down trying to gather his thoughts only to lose them straight away.

Did she really have to look so good in her dancewear?

"I know! Do you think I don't?" His words came out like a hiss, "I can't get out of it though." Adrien whispered and shouted through his clenched teeth.

"Model boy, take her into a heel turn and hover-"

"You shouldn't have got in it in the first place." Marinette gritted her teeth as she followed the instructions, and flawlessly pulled off a heel turn.

"Mari, please ..."

"Don't Mari me! I'm not happy with you, Adrien. She's your girlfriend, you said she was the girl that you love and you're lying to her."

"The girl that I love?" Adrien was confused, when had he said that?

A flashback hit him of the two of them in his car.