Holding Out for a Hero

Part 1

The smell of the art room was comforting to Marinette. Stringent paint fumes, the musty scent of paper on the roll, and the earthy undertones of graphite pencils were as familiar to her as the smell of fresh baked bread. She loved them both the same!

It was a morning ritual for her to come early to school and sit in the art room to sketch her fashion designs. Well, usually it was a morning ritual. A lot of her being there in the morning depended on how late she was up at night performing her Ladybug duties. Usually she was alone. However, for the last few weeks one of her classmates had started to join her. "Early morning painting Jean?" she asked cheerfully.

"Ah! Bonjour Marinette!" Jean replied. He promptly perked up as she entered the room. He ruffled his fingers through his jet black hair and flashed a bright smile at her. "Yeah, I thought I practice that perspective thing again that Mademoiselle Naeglen showed us last week. I was absolutely horrible at it." he told her with a quick wink.

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad Jean." she reassured him kindly. Marinette took up her usual seat by the window. Marinette wiggled herself as close to the glass as possible so that she had the sun on her back. "Do you have enough light?" she called over to Jean. She liked sitting in the sun but not at the expense of her friend's painting.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Thanks. I'm good." Jean told her rather quickly. He flashed her a quick grin before ducking back behind his easel.

"So how's swim team going?" she asked as she fished out her sketching supplies.

"Great! We have a meet in a couple of days. Coach is going to let me do the 100 meter backstroke since I've been putting in some pretty solid performances during practice." Jean's eyes lit up as he spoke. While he seemed to have fallen into a pretty hardcore art kick lately, the entire school knew that Jean's real passion was swimming.

"That's awesome Jean. I know you'll wipe away the competition!"

"Thanks Marinette." Jean smiled brightly.

Marinette lapsed into silence as she sketched out her latest idea for a blouse. Light and airy for the warm spring weather that was starting to become more and more common as they got further into the season. She was in the process of changing out colors when Jean spoke again. "Hey Marinette..."

Marinette managed to jump about five feet in the air in surprise. "Huh, what?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Jean said sheepishly. "I was just wondering if you might want to come to the swim meet to cheer me on. It would mean a lot to me."

"Yeah! Of course! I'll make you a banner and everything like I did for Alix and Kim's race. I can have Alya come with me to help hold it. We'll outcheer everyone else in the stands!" Marinette grinned. She flipped a page in her sketchbook to start a fresh drawing for a banner. When she looked up again though, Jean was making a sour face. "What is it?" she asked.

"It's nothing." Jean told her as he shook his head. He wiped the sour look off his face and took a deep breath. "Do you think that maybe after the meet you'd like to go and get something to eat? Y'know, go out for dinner or something."

"Sure! Alya and I know this great place by..." Marinette started. However, Jean interrupted her.

"No, without Alya." he said. "Just the two of us..."

Marinette drew back in surprise. "Are... are you asking me out on a date?"

"Yes." Jean told her decisively. He stood up and stepped past his easel. With a confident stride he closed the distance between the two of them. Jean hopped up on the windowsill next to her. "I've been working up the courage for the last few weeks to ask you out Marinette." he explained.