Valentines Day Part 1

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Valentine's day

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Valentine's day.

The day of lovers, the day of romance and confessions; the one day a year when hearts decorated the streets, the scent of flowers and cheap chocolates floating down the university halls until one felt like they might choke on it. Around the campus, vendors set up shop for the day, selling overpriced holiday merchandise in the valid hopes of catching some forgetful patrons looking for a quick last-minute gift for their beaus.

Adrien Agreste was aware of the fact that Valentine's day was a day most sexually active people, for want of a better phrase, engaged in...amorous activities. Secretly, he'd always hoped to be amongst those people. After all, it was pretty pathetic for a twenty-four-year-old man to have never had a girlfriend on Valentine's day (not even a date). No matter how much Nino tried to convince him otherwise, and the fact that deep down he knew it wasn't really a big deal, the romantic in him yearned to spend the day with someone special to him.

In hindsight, he should have been careful what he wished for, because today had crept up on him and he was- in fact- not engaged in amorous activities.

He was, however, totally screwed.

And no, not in the good way. For Adrien Agreste was in love. Utterly and incomprehensibly in love.

The problem?

His love interest had no idea. Nor did she return his feelings.

Adrien sighed, head between his hands, as he sat nestled amongst piles of books and notes at the back of the school library. Marinette had just stopped by to offer him a smile and coffee before her fashion history class began. The gesture, filling him with a warmth which rivaled said coffee, was both welcomed and lamented. He'd been hoping to avoid her for most of the day.

Four months. Four months since that fateful evening he'd joined Marinette's Gaming Club. Four months since they'd danced together and shattered a high score which had yet to be broken.

Four months.

Adrien couldn't help but think Cupid had started his work earlier than usual, because he'd been smitten since the moment he'd seen her. Once a week since that night (barring a few times Adrien had to miss due to deadlines and the Christmas break) Adrien had made his way to room 03B, having more fun than he'd had in years, playing whatever game they'd voted for. It didn't matter what they were playing, what mattered to him was that Marinette was by his side the entire time and, more often than not, she was.

They really did make a good team. In fact- they were practically unbeatable whenever they were paired together. As a result, they got a reputation for being an unstoppable duo- ready to face whoever challenged that title. Many did. Many failed. But it was all in good spirits, friendly competition. Marinette was a good peace-keeper.

For the first time in his life, Adrien felt as though he'd carved out a place in the world that was truly meant for him- at least his civilian self anyway. Quicker than he'd been able to process it, both Marinette and Nino especially had become ever-present entities in his life, as though they'd always been there. Nino, with his boundless optimism, carried him through the moments where it felt like his work would never end, and often dragged him away from said work for much needed cookie breaks. Marinette, too, helped but in different ways. Her method of cheering him on was much subtler; a quick visit to his office after his TA hours- clad with treats from her parents' bakery, sending him funny memes, knitting him things like the scarf she'd made him for Christmas, little things that which made his day so much brighter.

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