9Requested by kudaranaikyo
"I'm telling you," Alya whispered as soon as Miss Bustier turned her back again. "He's going to ask you out any day now. Or maybe just skip the first date and kiss you first chance he gets."
"Alya!" Marinette hissed. "I'm trying to learn!" That was a terrible, terrible lie. She hadn't heard a single word any of her teachers had said in the past three days, not since she and Cat Noir had revealed their identities to each other.
"I've seen how he's been looking at you." Alya leaned closer, her whispering becoming even louder and harder to ignore. "And Nino's told me what he's been saying about you. Don't you want to know?"
"I told you, nothing is going on with Adrien!" Marinette scooted her chair farther away while trying to cover her blush with one hand. It didn't work very well, and she loudly banged her leg against the table instead.
"Then why's he been-"
"Alya," Miss Bustier said, exasperated. "This is the third time today."
"Sorry."
Instead of turning back to the board, Miss Bustier addressed Adrien. "Would you mind switching seats-"
With me, Marinette prayed. Switch seats with me. With me. Don't sit in Alya's seat!
"-with Alya?"
"Sure!" Adrien said brightly.
Alya gathered up her books almost as fast as Adrien did, whispering an excited "My evil plan is working!" before escaping to the first row.
Marinette started to panic. This was it. She was going to have a nervous breakdown in front of the whole class. Or maybe she wasn't nervous and just excited for the chance to be so close to him? She couldn't tell. One thing was certain: Miss Bustier was either a hardcore shipper, or she wanted Marinette to have an aneurism and die. There was no other explanation for why she'd put Adrien right next to her.
When he sat down, Marinette gave him a timid smile before quickly turning back to her notes. Even without looking at him, she could feel how close he was to her. His knee bumped hers, then his elbow brushed her arm as he started taking notes. Was… was that on accident? Or was he trying to give her a hint?
The rest of the lecture continued without a single interruption. Marinette was definitely less disruptive, though she was much more distracted. She counted an additional eleven "accidental" touches over the next fifteen minutes, and she wasn't brave enough to do anything about them.
With ten minutes of the lesson to go, Miss Bustier put down her chalk and turned back to the class.
"Thank you all for your polite attention." Her eyes went directly to Alya, who was probably grinning wickedly. "That's actually all I had planned for today, and we still have some time, so…"
Marinette and the rest of the class perked up. It wasn't often that they finished early, and they usually were rewarded when they did.
"Do you want to start working on your homework-" A few people groaned. "-or should we watch a short movie?"
"Movie!" Adrien said.
"I agree." That was Alya.
Marinette sunk into her chair as the lights went off. Adrien's chair scraped against the tiles as he moved himself even closer to her. Heart beating wildly, Marinette stared at her fingers. His hand was right there, resting beside hers on the table.
It was too dark for anyone else to see them. Should she…? Could she…?
Slowly, Adrien's hand began to move. Marinette watched its slow progress breathlessly and felt heat creep all the way up her arm when his fingers brushed hers.
She could. She would. Trembling but thrilled by her own daring, Marinette wrapped her hand lightly around his. She was rewarded with Adrien's soft gasp of surprise. Emboldened, she gave a small squeeze. This was possibly the most amazing moment of her life, being with Adrien, making her move, claiming him as hers, just holding hands.
Adrien moved his hand and laced their fingers together, making Marinette absolutely giddy. Okay, NOW it was the most amazing moment of her life.
Author's note: You think holding hands is good, Marinette? What are you going to do when you when you get to kissing? Request 11/16.