First Order of Business | Adrienette

Mr. Vice President

Marinette sits alone on a bench outside the clinic. Her hand is bandaged up, and the nurse that helped her sent her with an ointment to prevent scarring and over the counter pain medicine in case she needed it. Marinette didn't want to image how much worse it would've burned Adrien when he got most of the drink spilled on him. She had expected him to walk through the clinic doors, but he never did.

Luka had told her to go home and that he'd call in one of their co-workers to come in earlier. He had gotten mad at her not because she made a mess he'd have to clean up but because she waited for him to tell him she had to go to the clinic. She had already messed up pretty big a second time. Leaving the coffee bar unattended would've made it worse.

A familiar grey mini van pulls up in front of her, and Marinette sighs in relief. She gets in, the van completely silent as she buckles in. Alya is watching her with pitiful eyes. Her best friend reaches over and gently holds her bandaged hand.

"I had a feeling you had burned yourself," Alya tells her and shakes her head. Marinette didn't want to explain over the phone what had happen. She was tired and just wanted to be out of the city center. "Does it hurt?"

"Not so bad anymore with the ointment they gave me. It's honestly not that bad. She said if it leaves a scar, it won't be permanent. Just might take some time to fade."

"It's bandaged, Mari. Did it get to blister?" Her older sister voice was coming out.

"Well." She could not lie to her. "I had to wait for Luka to get back before I could run to the clinic. I was so stressed out I didn't even think to run it under water." Alya looks concerned, similar to when Marinette told her she was quitting the bakery and going to work there. It had been an act of spite that in the long run, brought her closer to her parents.

"They left you alone? Even after-,"

"Yes, yes. Even after that." Marinette frowns, looking out the passenger seat window. It has a small crack in from one of Alya's little sisters accidentally walking straight into it. "Today's mistake is just a reminder of that. Maybe I wasn't born to be a functioning member of society. I should just... Rot."

"Girl, you need a nap," Alya says to her, somewhat of a chuckle in her voice. She drives the van back out into the street, and she takes them in the direction of her own home. Marinette had said on the phone that she wanted to avoid going home early. It's hard to be an adult when they worry a little too much about her. Not that they don't have reason to be concerned. Marinette is a walking hurricane.

Marinette checks her phone and swipes over to the news section. The first article recommended to her shows Adrien at a press conference, with no other than Gabriel Agreste sitting next to him.

"Oh god," Marinette squeaks. She moves her hand to bite her nails but is met with bandages. She starts dancing her foot up and down, something Alya dislikes her doing while she drives.

"What?"

"So I guess I should tell you how I got this?" She waves up her hand in display.

Alya seems to prepare for the worse before saying, "Go on."

"You know Adrien Agreste, right?"

"No."

"A model when we were teenagers. Blonde, dreamy green eyes, super handsome. I had posters of him all over my room."

"Mari. He watched me sleep at me at every single one of our sleepovers. How would I not know who he is?"

"Okay, well." Marinette chooses to forget that everyone remembers how intense her crush on Adrien was as a teenage girl. It's been about twelve years since she first hung up his posters and another eight since she took them down and neatly folded them for storage. "I spilled coffee on him, and it still splashed on me and that's how I got this."