From afar, he saw her: dark locks tied in tight pigtails, placid fingers gracefully trailing across the strings, the shadows creating a mask around her eyes, making it almost impossible to discern who this mysterious girl is. Her playing is absolutely exquisite, the mellow sounds of her harp playing sounding like dripping honey, slow and sensual and full of sentiment.

With the way the light shines down on her, creating a halo around her head, and the way he could've sworn he really saw angel wings form behind her, he could've easily mistaken her for an angel. She might as well have been one, for the sounds she produced with the harp were heavenly and brought him above the clouds. From her elegant playing, he could picture little cherubs hopping from cloud to cloud, their ruddy faces covered in huge and playful smiles. The angels sang their beautiful melodies and the cherubs dance to them, their stubby limbs fumbling about in an almost gracious manner, the God above smiling amusedly at the display. Everything was so peaceful, so serene.

Her playing certainly had a lot of power in them. He usually did envision scenes whenever he heard music, but the sheer clarity of his vision from her playing astounded him so. He yearned to walk up on stage and ask for her name, and then ask if he could play alongside her with his piano, because he knew together they would be able to create a scene that everyone, even the less musically gifted, would be able to imagine.

But he restrained himself, remaining in his seat until the song was over. Right on the final stroke, everyone stood up on their feet and clapped, chanting for an encore; and he could see the way she blushed the same shade as her ruby red dress as she bowed, her pigtails falling over her shoulders. She then walked off the stage, her steps looking light and airy as if she really was an angel dancing along the clouds.

I must know who she is, he thought defiantly, tip-toeing his way out of his seat and making his way to the backstage. He himself wouldn't have to play until a little while later, after the solo flute performance by Volpina, so he had a bit of time to dilly-dally and learn who this mysterious girl is.

When he finally made his way to the back of the stage, he found all sorts of musicians lounging around with their instruments. Alya, with her giant tuba wrapped around her body, walked up to him with a big grin. "Hey, Adrien. Did you see the new girl play? Wasn't she amazing?"

"She was," Adriein agreed, finding a ghost of a self-satisfied smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Do you know where she went?"

"I think she went to the bathroom," the ombre-haired girl said as she tapped on the valves on her tuba. "Why? You fall in love with her or something? How romantic," she gushed mockingly, nudging his elbow.

"Maybe," he admitted, his cheeks heating up. "Really, I just want to know her name, and maybe ask her if we can play together. That's really it."

"That's cute. You already have a crush on the new girl. Nino will be thrilled that you've finally expressed interest in something other than the piano. Though, it sounds like it'll be a star-crossed love for you, since she's in orchestra and you're in band."

"I do have other interests, Alya. Plus, I don't love her. I just think she's interesting." He rolled his eyes at her and playfully punched her arm. She feigned pain and start laughing aloud, her chortles sounding much louder than even her own tuba playing.

All of a sudden, they hear the triumphant sound of a trumpet. They both looked behind them and saw Nino showing off again, his fingers rapidly pressing against the finger buttons effortlessly, his puffed up cheeks looking red. Then, he stopped playing abruptly and looked at Alya and him, smiling a big smile that could've split his face.

"Hey, guys," he yelled out from across the room as he hurried towards them. "How's it going? Did you see that new girl? For someone who's in orchestra, she's good."

"Don't be so demeaning, Nino," Adrien said with a laugh. "Orchestra is great too."

"Band is just superior," he said with a shrug.

"Adrien has a crush on the new girl," Alya said with a wink, nudging Nino in the ribs.

Nino, in return, looked at the blond with wide eyes, his mouth slightly agape. "Is what I'm hearing true? Mr. Piano likes something other than his precious black and white keys?"

"Guys, you're not funny," Adrien said with another roll of the eyes, planting his hands firmly on his hips. "I seriously have other interests. It's just that piano is above everything. And also, I don't have a crush on her. I'm just interested."

"So… a crush?" Alya and Nino said simultaneously, high fiving each other all the while. Adrien would be rolling his eyes some more if the action wasn't a strain on him, so instead he opted to cross his arms over his chest and look at his friends with a stern, mildly disappointed expression. His friends looked at him innocently, fluttering their eyes like how butterflies flap their wings.

Alya then started to smirk, forcing Adrien to turn around. "Speaking of crush, she finally came back. Why don't you talk to her?"

"I will," he said promptly, huffing. He ignored the guffaws behind him and looked at the dark-haired girl, now being able to see her entire visage. He scrutinized her carefully, noticing her clear, pale skin and her bright blue eyes framed by dark eyelashes. The way she carried herself made her seem like she was a confident individual, but the way she looked away from him when their eyes accidentally met in such a hurried manner made her seem like she was the most timid person ever. The contrast was certainly interesting and piqued his interest.

As he approached her, he saw her lift her eyes back up to meet his, her eyes sparkling like sunlight hitting the ocean waves. "Hi," he said nonchalantly, trying his best to make her comfortable.

She fidgeted slightly but offered a greeting in return, hiding her hands behind her back.

Adrien smiled softly. "I'm Adrien. What's your name?"

"Marinette," she said breathily, her name weighing down in his mind. Marinette. Somehow, it reminded him of the ocean. Just her saying her name made him envision a gentle ocean wave crashing down on shore, washing up a lone starfish onto the sand. Her voice sounded so ethereal, so magical, and it was almost like she was singing a simple melody that rung in his ears.

"It's nice to meet you," he managed to say, trying not to stay entranced by her. It was hard not to, because the entirety of her being just seemed so unreal, like she would fade away into the air if he dared try to touch her.

"Are those your friends? Why are they laughing at us?" she asked, pointing at Alya and Nino who were still laughing, their hands clutched to their stomachs as they supported each other lest they topple over from sheer laughter.

Adrien wasn't sure what was so funny. He really did have other interests other than piano, and no, he didn't have a crush on Marinette no matter how interesting she seemed. "Don't mind them. They're just being idiots right now," he said, stressing out the word "idiots" enough to help make the two stop laughing. Though, it only proved to make them laugh even louder than before. Adrien would roll his eyes for eternity if he could. "Listen, I was wondering if we could play together after my performance. I think we would make a good team."

Marinette smiled at him, nodding her head in agreement. "I would love that. Actually, I also promised Nathanaël that I would play with him later. Why don't we all play together?"

Adrien raised a single brow questioningly. Nathanaël? The shy redhead who ironically played snare drum in the marching band and who specializes in vibraphone during concert band season? Adrien wasn't sure why, but he felt jealousy bubbling up inside the pit of his stomach. He wanted to play with her and only her, not with anyone else, but he also didn't want to seem mean and exclude Nathanaël. He was a gentleman, after all, and he wanted to especially prove that to Marinette.

"Sure," he said even though he really didn't want to. "I'd love that." All lies, but oh well. He couldn't really do much about it.

Marinette gushed at him excitedly, her eyes twinkling like little blue stars. "Excellent! I'll meet you in the band hall practice room after your performance. What instrument do you play, by the way?"

"Piano."

"I'll set up your piano for you, then. Nathanaël will be playing vibraphone, and I'll be playing harp. I'm not sure how well all three will sound together, though…"

"Well, piano and harp would sound great together just by themselves"—Adrien hinted at obviously, carefully accentuating his words to maybe give Marinette a clue—"but with vibraphone, I think it would work too." He sighed. Sometimes he cursed himself for being such a pushover.

"Great. I'll see you then," she said with a smile before skipping off into the band hall, probably to practice with Nathanaël without him. Adrien felt like he was going to be sick, and maybe he was from the way his temperature was rising so quickly; but he tried to shake it off, trying to not let the feeling get to him.

"Adrien, you're up," the band director whispered to him. He looked out to the stage from the side and saw his piano on the spotlight and started smiling. Finally. It was his time to shine.

(Secretly, he hoped Marinette was watching in the audience and was amazed just as much as she had amazed him.)

Applause and whistles could be heard all around the auditorium. Adrien bowed his head and exited the stage promptly, Alya and Nino walking up to him and smothering him with hugs and congratulations. The blond relished in all the praise, loving the feeling of being drowned in it, but was still slightly bothered by the fact that he had played the wrong notes a couple times. He was striving for a perfect performance as always but managed to mess up more than usual this time around. He was entirely at fault, he admitted, for he would occasionally glance at the audience in search for Marinette. He did end up finding her near the end of the song, and he was relieved that he found her, except he found her sitting next to Nathanaël and it riled him up and it made him momentarily forget the notes for a split second.

He didn't really understand the jealousy in him. He never paid Nathanaël any mind before. They got along just fine and were part of the same band family. Heck, they were even part of the same percussion class, which meant they had to be friends out of association. But seeing him next to such an angel—seeing him be so close to his angel at such a short notice—made Adrien cringe. If he had just been a step faster, maybe he would be just as close to Marinette as Nathanaël is to her.

Alas, he was just a slight step behind him, and it bothered him to no end.

"You okay, dude?" Nino questioned worriedly. Alya nodded her head, his two friends looking at him with questioning looks.

Adrien hadn't realized it, but he had been squinting and glaring the entire time at the void. He smiled sheepishly at them, telling them that nothing was wrong; but then curiosity got to the best of him. He just had to ask. "Do you guys know why Nathanaël is so close to Marinette?"

Alya shrugged. Nino placed a hand under his chin as if to think deeply on the question. "Well, doesn't percussion occasionally play with orchestra? That must be where they met."

"Are you jealous he got to your crush first before you did?" Alya joked, her giggles threatening to erupt into full-blown stentorian cries of laughter at any given moment now.

Adrien could've sworn he was snarling at this point. "I think I am," he admitted, now unsure of his own feelings. Surely Marinette's impact on him with her harp playing didn't extend to romantic feelings, but the more he thought about it, the more the jealousy started to make sense; he did, after all, see her as an angel—his angel—and he wanted to preserve her innocent demeanor. Nathanaël seemed to ruin the image he had of her, and it just made him all sorts of angry.

Adrien sighed. He really needed to calm down. Jealousy didn't look good on him. In fact, it didn't look good on anyone.

"I have to go meet Marinette now," he said to his friends.

Alya and Nino looked at each other, and then waved him off, giving him advice about talking to Marinette more and learn more about her and to be civil with Nathanaël. Adrien just scoffed at them, but smiled, thinking that he was blessed to have friends that cared about him (regardless of the fact that they laughed at him all the time).

He snaked around the school and found himself in the band hall. There were empty cases everywhere, and he found it extremely difficult just to maneuver around, meandering this way and that and making sure he didn't step on anything. He heard someone calling his name, and that was when he saw Marinette waving at him, smiling at him with that cute little smile of hers. She was just outside one of the practice rooms. Through the open door, he could see Nathanaël ogling at him, his four vibraphone mallets held in v-formations in his hands.

Adrien slowly made his way towards the two and walked inside the cramped practice room, taking a seat in the piano. There was already sheet music placed on his piano, the title of the piece called Angelic Angel. Just from a quick glance, he noticed the majority of his parts were in pianissimo, and he blanched. He felt it difficult to really show his virtuoso when he had to play to softly.

"This is one of my favorite songs," Marinette said, taking a seat next to her harp. "I hope you like it."

"It sounds lovely," Adrien said. Then, he turned his attention to Nathanaël, who seemed to be sight reading the sheet music right now, playing his mallets in the air without hitting any keys. "Nice two-mallet grip, man," he offered kindly, trying to take his friend's advice and acting civil. Not like he would act uncivilized with Nathanaël, or anyone for that matter, but he thought a compliment would help break the ice.

The aforementioned redhead looked up from the sheet music and smiled at him warmly, offering a thank you before promptly returning to his air practicing.

He turned his attention back to Marinette who seemed to be air strumming herself, her eyes fixated on the sheet music. He took this chance, as the other two were preoccupied, to read the sheet music, his eyes darting from note to note like the speed of sound, his mind quickly processing everything and already trying to memorize the notes. After a while longer, he looked up and saw Marinette stand up, coughing all the while to gather their attention.

"Are you guys ready to play?" she asked, her words vibrating in the cramped, tiny room. Nathanaël nodded and Adrien mouthed a yes, and soon, the trio were playing their hearts out, the music resounding against the walls and ringing through their ears. Adrien gracefully pressed his fingers against the keys, feeling the flow of the music, his mind painting a picture from the sound.

He saw an open field of green, with tall purple mountains in the background. The sun shone brightly in the baby blue sky, casting a spotlight on a lone figure. The field had a variety of yellow flowers scattered about, and off the distance, he could see Marinette in a humble dress, her locks flowing freely in the wind. When she spotted him, she started to run up to him, her arms outstretched, a big smile on her face—

—and then, everything suddenly turned dark, the sunlight creeping behind the mountains, as a new shadowy figure crossed the scene. He blocked Marinette's path to him and ended up hugging her instead and he noticed from the bright red locks that it was none other than Nathanaël, and Adrien couldn't help but feeling pained and betrayed and suddenly the image disappeared and he's now gasping heavily in real life and all he hears is an amalgam of horrid notes being played all at once.

He looked down and saw that his entire arm was on the piano. He then looked up and saw Marinette and Nathanaël's worried faces peering down at him.

"Adrien, are you okay?" Nathanaël asked, surprisingly, his voice dripping in worry.

Marinette looked equally worried, panic evident in her sky blue eyes. "Are you sick? Do you need water or anything?"

Adrien breathed out slowly, trying to gather himself back together. "I'm fine. I just… phased out for a second. I'm fine now."

"If you say so. But if you need anything, don't hesitate to say something," Marinette offered kindly, placing a hand on his. He thought his head would've exploded. "Maybe we need to go on a momentary break. What do you say?"

"Sure," he said as Nathanaël nodded.

The trio walked out of the stuffy room and breathed in the scent of the band hall. It felt relieving to finally be out of the cramped room, and he ended up stretching his arms out, hearing his bones crack in relief.

"I actually have to talk to my director really quickly. I'll be right back," Marinette said before scurrying off out of the band hall, leaving the two boys by themselves.

Adrien was internally screaming. The last thing he would have ever wanted was to be left alone with the one guy he was jealous about. Well, at the very least Nathanaël wasn't really all that talkat—

—"Adrien," the redhead said shyly, making Adrien blanch. "I… I overheard you talking with Alya and Nino. You like Marinette? 'Cause I like her too…"

"I don't," Adrien said in a matter-of-fact manner, though he didn't entirely believe in his own words. He wasn't sure whether or not he had a crush on the dark-haired girl with the pretty blue eyes. Surely, she was cute and a great harpist, and the visions she produced from her playing were the best kinds of visions he had ever seen before; but he barely knew her, and as much of a romantic he is, he didn't believe in love at first sight. He believed that you have to really get to know a person before being able to love them.

Yet, just hearing her music made it seem like he knew her inside out. She put every single emotion she was feeling, and then some, in her playing and it really showed in how vivid the vision he saw was. It even felt like he could feel each one of her different emotions, feeling the happiness and the sereneness that she was feeling, each strum of the harp a different sentiment from her. He felt like her knew her, wholly, and he wondered if she felt the same way.

Nathanaël looked at him, unconvinced, his eyes looking all-knowingly at him. "The way you look at her… I can tell that you at least respect her. Maybe like her a little bit. I can tell because I feel the same way too."

"I told you already. I don't—"

"Adrien," Nathanaël cut off, looking at him with the most serious expression he's ever seen on the redhead, his red eyebrows furrowed and his teal eyes sparkling like shallow waters. "Even if you don't, I think she likes you, or is the very least interested in you… When we were watching you play, she couldn't stop talking about how amazing you were and how she could see images of your music in her head. Something about angels. She really couldn't stop talking about you…"

Adrien's eyes widen at his statements, his heart suddenly going through a heated accelerando and never steadying out. "She… really?"

Nathanaël nodded. "I'm not forcing you to do anything, but I think you should reconsider your feelings and really think about it. She's a very kind and sweet person and I think you two would be perfect together. You're very kind too, Adrien."

Adrien looked at him suspiciously. "Wait, don't you like her too? Why are you trying to make me pursue her?"

The redhead smiled at him sadly. "That's exactly why I'm helping you out. Her happiness is my happiness, and if she likes you, then I can't help but support her."

Adrien suddenly felt something drop in his heart. He felt like a jerk. He was jealous all this time, and the person he was jealous at was actuallyhelping him out to realize his feelings for Marinette. He really was a jerk. A big fat green-eyed jerk.

He wasn't sure what else to say except a thanks to Nathanaël, who accepted it with a smile and a you're welcome. "I think I'll go so you two can talk it out. If she asks, tell her I'm helping Alix with her snare drum etude."

And with that, the redhead walked out of the band hall just as Marinette came back. She looked back curiously at the redhead running away from them, questioningly looking at Adrien. "Where is he going?"

"Alix needed help with something," Adrien said. Then, he looked away and said, "Listen, Marinette. There's something I need to tell you. This whole time… I was jealous of Nathanaël."

"He is a very good vibraphone player," she admitted, smiling softly. "His four-mallet grip is really good, and his form is great. I'm jealous, myself."

"No, no, not with that," Adrien said, looking at her straight in the eyes now. "I think I was jealous all this time because I… I think I…" …might like you. C'mon, Adrien, say it.

"You think…?"

Adrien flushed. "You know what. Never mind. Let's practice again, okay?"

"Oh, sure. Angelic Angel again, or do you want to play something else?"

"I'd love to play it again," he said as they both walked into the practice room.

It felt less cramped now that Nathanaël wasn't there, but now, Adrien sort of wished the redhead was in the room again, because he now is starting to feel the tension and pressure of being left alone with Marinette who he thought he maybe sorta liked?

He nodded the thought off and sat down on his chair, uncovering the piano and placing his hands over the smooth keys. He heard her start playing the solo harp part in the beginning and promptly started playing himself, softly patting the black and white keys with his fingers, careful to make sure they were gentle and soft. Their harmony made him think of the open field again, Marinette running up to him with outstretched arms. This time, there were no shadowy figures to stop her, and instead he felt her wrap her arms around him and he reciprocated, caressing her in his arms and holding her tight. She felt like a pillow against his chest and he ended up nuzzling his face into her head, smelling the sweet scent of strawberries.

As the piece ended, so did his vision, and when he played the final note, the happy vision of hugging Marinette disappeared and he was back to reality.

Marinette was looking at him with the softest of smiles, her eyes shining. "Wow. That was beautiful. We make a great team."

"We sure do," he agreed with a nod, covering his piano back up. The two walked out of the practice room and was met with a bunch of bustling band students talking amongst themselves. Nino and Alya walked up to them and eyed Marinette carefully, examining her like she was a germ under a microscope.

The duo introduced themselves and made Marinette laugh with their silly jokes, mostly jokes about how Adrien only showed interest in pianos and would probably end up marrying one some day. Adrien didn't find it in him to bother rolling his eyes and instead found himself laughing alongside the others. Maybe he really would marry a piano. But at the same time, he can't help but imagine marrying Marinette.

He blushed, pushing the thought away from his mind. No way, that was way too early. He barely even knew her, and he still wasn't sure if he liked her or not. Maybe just a little bit.

He looked at her and watched the way she smiled. It reminded him so much of butterflies. He thought one even fluttered into his stomach.

Okay, maybe he did like her—a lot.

But he won't say anything for now. Not yet.

Maybe I'll ask her out on a date after the next band competition.