I tried to go with minimal dialogue in this one, testing out the style a little bit. This is actually based on a date a friend of mine went on recently and told me about; it was an outside venue and it rained so hard the concert was delayed for about 45 minutes. I took some liberties for the story… heh.]

Older!AU, pre-reveal. The legal driving age in France is 18 (yay research), so they're at least that old…

If He Looks At Your Lips

The rain began slowly at first. The throngs of people paid it no mind and only drew their rain slickers closer to their bodies as they chatted excitedly. The venue was a huge outdoor stage, the front sections covered by a tall awning and leaving the remaining seats open to the darkening sky, but no one seemed to mind. Teenage couples lounged on towels in the grass, and older groups of friends milled about with beers while waiting for the concert to start.

Marinette wasn't quite what to do, so she let her eyes scan across the crowed of concertgoers as they made their way to the front entrance, excitement building in her chest. When Adrien had told her he had an extra ticket to the Jagged Stone concert and wanted to give it to her, she had about fainted right there. Her crush had mentioned that he'd asked Nino and Alya, but both had curiously declined the invitation (an opportunity Alya had thrust in Marinette's direction… what did she do to deserve such a friend?)

So now here she was with Adrien, who stood a few paces behind her as he locked his car door. He'd picked her up that afternoon; none the wiser to the hours Marinette and Alya had spent in the raven-haired girl's room going through her closet to decide what would be appropriate for a concert date. They'd eventually decided on a dark purple sleeveless button-up over dark jeans and mid-calf black boots, comfortable and stylish. She let her hair fall into its normal pigtails, playing with her bangs until they fell over her blue eyes just right, only to go back and fix them again five minutes later.

It was almost like a dream as she glided into the passenger seat of Adrien's Bugatti. Part of her was curious how much convincing it took for Adrien to forgo a chauffeur and get his own car, but another part just simply marveled at the expensive vehicle. They'd chatted aimlessly during the twenty-minute drive, and Marinette was about to burst from nervousness.

"Are you ready?" Adrien asked, coming up behind her. She took in his casual look, black T-shirt with Jagged Stone's logo on it, hands tucked in denim jeans and comfortable sneakers on his feet. Goddamn, puberty worked its magic again. Warm green eyes tucked under sweeping golden hair, firm jawline and soft-looking lips made her insides melt, but she wouldn't let him know that.

"Ready as I'll ever be," she grinned, proud of herself for overcoming her stutter in his presence. They had grown closer in the last few years, and now that they were in their final months of high school, her feelings for Adrien were burning hotter than ever. In all that time she had never worked up the courage to actually confess to him, however, and was beginning to think he would never know that her feelings for him ran much deeper than valued friendship.

"Let's head inside," he suggested, taking Marinette's coat and slipping it over his arm along with his own. The forecast had been sunny, but dark clouds had rolled overhead unexpectedly and were now drizzling light rain from overhead. This didn't deter the excited fans who embraced the weather with open arms.

Marinette and Adrien followed the crowd of people as they entered the venue, checking their tickets with the bouncers and letting security glance quickly through their bags. Their seats were located in the outside rows uncovered by the awning, and they settled down with a couple sodas. The stage was close enough see the opening act, but still far enough that they couldn't see the band's faces clearly.

"Sorry the seats are so bad," Adrien said, nursing his drink. "I was pretty late getting the tickets and I didn't want to kick someone out of their seat up front…"

Marinette smiled into her cup, once again awed at how Adrien completely destroyed the "snobby rich kid who buys everything with money" trope that Chloe, on the other hand, played to a T. "It's fine," she said truthfully. "I'm happy just being here with you."

He smiled at her. "Same here. Thanks for coming with me, Marinette."

"What an adorable couple!" a voice said from behind them, and they turned to see a middle-aged woman sitting behind them, smiling at the teen's reddening faces at being called a couple. "Why don't you let me take a picture to commemorate your first date?"

Marinette shook her hands wildly. "Oh, we're not –"

"That would be great, thanks!" Adrien interrupted with a smile, reaching into his pocket for his phone.

Marinette suppressed a squeak… this woman thought they were a couple, and Adrien hadn't denied it. Did he consider this a… date? Marinette's thoughts were reckless as Adrien suddenly put his arm across her shoulders, leaning down slightly until their faces were level. Marinette was positive he could hear her heart trying to escape her chest.

"Say, Jagged Stone!"

"Jagged Stone!"

The woman snapped the picture, cooing over the image before returning the device to Adrien. He thanked her and pulled up the photo, leaning over so Marinette could see it, too. They did look like a couple, she noticed with a pounding heart, Adrien with his arm comfortably around her shoulders and an excited grin on his handsome face. Marinette looked a bit nervous, her hands clenching tightly to her chest but the smile on her face said it all.

They chatted some more as the concert time drew closer, the opening act beginning its final number. Just as it was about to start however, Marinette suddenly felt… cold. It was just suddenly there, a downpour of rain so strong that Marinette was soaked through in seconds, Adrien no better off next to her. They barely heard the announcement declaring the concert would be put on hold until the rain cleared a bit, taking in each other's drenched selves for a heartbeat before suddenly bursting out into peals of laughter.

"Let's run back to the car and stay somewhat dry," Adrien suggested after a calming breath as he tried to hold his jacket over his head and provided Marinette with hers at the same time, which didn't do much since the two were already soaked.

Marinette glanced around and noticed that the other people around them had the same thing in mind. "Good idea," she agreed.

In a move she wasn't expecting, Adrien stood abruptly and grabbed her hand, the brightest grin she had ever seen on her face. A flash of familiarity in it that she couldn't quite place, and then the model was off, running through the torrents of rain with his hand firmly in Marinette's. His laugh was heard clearly over the thrum of splashing footsteps, a laugh Marinette had no doubt could clear away the dark clouds. She found herself catching up to him, his laugh contagious as she also burst into uncontrollable hoots.

Marinette was almost sad when they finally reached the car, Adrien releasing her hand as he fumbled for his keys. She took his momentary distraction to check on Tikki dozing in her purse, the kwami a little damp but no worse for wear.

"Get in, Mari!" Adrien's voice cut through her thoughts, and she realized that he was already pulling open the door.

The sound of rain was muted as she shut the door behind her, both she and Adrien panting and giggling as they watched the downpour. She cast a glance across the seat at him as he turned the car on and cranked the heat, memorizing the way raindrops clung to the tips of his wet hair and eyelashes, the way it made his lips glisten tantalizingly as he moved, and Marinette was suddenly acutely aware of just how attractive this man was. She'd always known it of course, but she hadn't spent enough alone time with him to really appreciate it. Gone was the baby fat that softened his cheeks, the hard lines of his jaw and nose cutting a shape Michelangelo could have carved from stone. Photo spreads and magazine cutouts only did so much and nothing compared to the real thing, sitting right beside her.

She glanced away just before he turned his head to look at her, mortified at the idea of being caught staring. She reached up and undid her pigtails, combing a finger through the damp tangles. Marinette leaned forward to peer through the front windshield, the condensation on the inside making it hard to see anything through the glass. She could sense Adrien's eyes on her, and she willed herself not to meet his stunning gaze, for fear of resorting to staring again.

A beat, and Adrien suddenly reached over, index finger extended as he dragged it across the condensation, a checkerboard appearing on the glass when he was finished. When Marinette gave him a questioning look, he grinned childishly and promptly drew an "x" in the upper left corner.

"I'm an undefeated tic-tac-toe champion," the model boasted playfully, smirking in her direction.

"Is that a challenge?"

"I dunno, is it?"

Marinette grinned mischievously. "Challenge accepted."

Turns out that both Marinette and Adrien were evenly matched. He won a round, and then she did. He playfully mimed removing a crown and placing it on her head, sweeping one hand out behind him as he mock-bowed to the Tic-Tac-Toe Queen. Marinette laughed and just drew another game board on the windshield.

The heater was causing the condensation to start melting away, and the two teens were running out of room. Since the boards were on Marinette's side of the car, Adrien had to lean his elbow on her armrest to get the necessary leverage to draw his Xs where he wanted them, resulting in him practically leaning directly into Marinette across the seat, face inches from hers. She tried not to think about it.

Adrien smirked as he placed his final X on the board, relishing in his three of a kind. "This one belongs to me-EE!"

He had rested his elbow again on the armrest, reaching with his other arm to draw the final tally mark across all three Xs when his arm had slipped, a steep line tracing across the board as his hand flew instinctively to catch his fall. This of course meant he was practically in Marinette's lap; his lower body half out of his seat and hands on either side of her body, face centimeters from hers.

The air was suddenly hot between them, and it wasn't because of the heater. Their gazes locked on one another, very aware of their sudden close proximity. In a car alone together, the faint drumming of rain outside in tandem with their pounding hearts. Their breaths mingled in a faint mist between their faces. Marinette decided that this was her favorite shade of green, flecked with golden hues.

Adrien broke their staring contest for only a brief moment as his eyes flicked down to her lips and back up again. Marinette's breath hitched in her throat as she recalled Alya's joking advice: if he looks at your lips, he wants to kiss you. Marinette had playfully disregarded Alya's words, thinking there was no way Adrien saw her that way. But now here they were, the tension between them flying like sparks.

God, she wanted him to kiss her.

She wasn't sure who moved first. But suddenly their lips were ghosting together in the lightest of touches, tingling sensations that shuddered through her spine and lit her senses on fire. Adrien's eyes were drooped in an incredibly attractive manner, not breaking eye contact with her as he continued to make sure she was okay with what he was doing. When she didn't protest, he gained a sudden spurt of confidence and closed the distance between them, his eyes sliding completely shut as he pressed his lips against hers.

Marinette's own eyes closed on instinct, a slight shiver running through her body at the initial sensation. Lips, Adrien's lips on hers, soft, slightly chilled and tasting of raindrops. Her heart took off like a racehorse out of the starting gate, blood fluttering to her cheeks as she shyly returned the pressure, nothing more than a brushing of lips.

The was what she had been wanting for almost five years… this moment with Adrien, a private moment, a moment only the two of them would recall with fondness, a moment in which two hearts began to beat in tandem for the first time. Even without movement, the feeling, the simple knowledge that she was kissing Adrien Agreste – or rather, that he'd kissed her – was exhilarating.

All to soon, the pressure was gone as Adrien pulled back. Lips barely a hairs breadth away, he pressed his forehead against hers as his eyes slid open almost drowsily, green meeting shocking blue in a wary question: Is this okay?

Marinette subconsciously licked her lips, the taste of him still lingering on the soft flesh. She didn't dare speak lest the spell be broken, eyes locked onto his in silent consent. Of course.

Their lips met again, both of them prepared this time. Red colored the teenagers' cheeks as they moved, Adrien's hand slowly coming up to rest against Marinette's cheek as the other found her hand in her lap, lacing their fingers together gently. She arched to meet him, angling her head for better leverage as she continued to stroke his mouth with her own. He seemed to not expect her to return the gesture with such enthusiasm, but he didn't object as he moved with her, snagging quick breaths before diving back in again, each time the heat between them crackling like fireworks.

She kissed back with fervor, forcing him back into a more comfortable position in his seat so he didn't have to lean across the hard divide between them, meeting him in the middle without breaking contact. He breathed out heavily in what she assumed was a gesture of thanks, the hand on her cheek moving to the back of her neck in an attempt to pull her closer. Marinette shivered as she felt Adrien's tongue gently trace the outline of her lips in a polite but also needy request. She didn't need further prompting, shyly lowering her jaw as he did the same to deepen the kiss.

Marinette had kissed before, sure. She didn't count that spell-breaking thing with Chat Noir several years ago now, but she'd gone out with Nathanael for a couple weeks during their première year in a (failed) attempt to get over Adrien, and they had kissed a couple times, but nothing like this. The sensation of Adrien's mouth caressing her lips with a gentle ardor, his tongue tentatively exploring the inside of her mouth was unlike anything she had experienced. Almost on instinct, her hands moved to caress his cheek, tangling in his wet and yet somehow silky hair in order to pull him as close to her as she could over the slightly uncomfortable seat. The musky scent of rain, faint traces of expensive cologne, and something distinctly Adrien filled her lungs.

They should probably stop. But Marinette's senses were muddled, her mind a whirlwind of hormonal desires to continue, to go somewhere with him that she had never even hoped they could go. She was already somewhere on cloud nine, living a fantasy she had possessed since she had first seen him, a little awkward but holding himself together as he was introduced to the class: Adrien Agreste.

Adrien. His name rolled off her tongue like caramel, a whisper between their heated breaths like a prayer, an incantation to the spell she had cast over him. He responded to the name with a small smile against her lips.

They barely noticed the rain had more or less let up, a booming voice over a microphone announcing the concert would commence again in fifteen minutes. The two teenagers broke apart, each panting heavily as they shyly smiled at each other with kiss-bruised lips. Marinette hoped her face wasn't as red as it felt, but in the dim lighting of the car she could see Adrien's skin was deeply flushed across his neck and ears, and the thought that was the cause of that only made her giddy.

"We should… um…" Adrien finally broke the silence, his voice surprisingly level in contrast to his mussed appearance, though his vocabulary seemed lacking. "Concert."

Marinette grinned, and in one last spurt of confidence, ducked her head to place one last kiss on his lips before moving to get out of the car. "Concert."

It took Adrien a couple heartbeats to start moving again, coughing and following her out of the vehicle. The rain had mostly let up, but there was still a kind of mist in the air that settled on both their faces. The last kiss had taken the remainder of the designer's courage, and Marinette couldn't make herself meet Adrien's gaze as she waited for him to lock the car again, pulling her raincoat tighter over her bare shoulders. She could still feel his lips against hers, and she willed that feeling to last just a little bit longer.

Their seats were soaking wet when they returned. Too embarrassed to speak to each other, the two teenagers stood in awkward silence until lights blared to life on stage, driving out the darkening twilight in various shades of purple. Their embarrassment lifted almost instantly, and Marinette could feel her nervous tension melt away as adrenaline began to flood her veins. From her peripheral, she could see Adrien visibly relax as well, hands pumping the air as he cheered loudly.

Jagged Stone sauntered on stage, his pet crocodile trailing after him. "Thanks for waiting for me through this rain, tonight everyone!" he spoke into the microphone, and the crowd cheered noisily. "Let's get started!"

The rock artist opened with one of the high-energy songs that had made him popular, and Marinette lost herself in the exploding music. At some point in the concert, it began to rain again, a faint drizzle over her skin. It wasn't uncomfortable, and Marinette left her jacket draped over the back of her seat. She could feel Adrien beside her, his heat radiating and driving the cold from her skin. The drizzle was a refreshing counter against his addictive presence.

Jagged Stone had made good on his word from years ago, his most powerful ballad entitled Heavenly Soup, a song whose lyrics told the story of a couple in love bonding over the most delicious, heavenly soup they had ever tasted. Marinette remembered practically falling out of her chair when it came through her speakers after purchasing the album, and now whenever she listened to it her mind immediately drifted to the heavenly boy next to her, the same heavenly boy who knew every word to the song and sang along with it, swaying his body with the crowd.

Marinette sang along as well, unable to resist the urge any longer. Her eyes glanced up toward his face, and widened to be met with his own, already staring down at her with an expression that the girl couldn't quite place. They continued staring at each other and matched their quiet harmony. During the guitar solo, Adrien, without breaking eye contact, wordlessly took her hand in his own, intertwining their fingers and squeezing gently.

Marinette squeezed back.

She marveled at how perfectly their hands fit together.

The music swelled to its climax, and Adrien pulled her into a hug, burying his face into her shoulder, not seeming to care about the other fans around them. She returned his embrace, her arms circling his waist and pulling him closer to her. He tightened his grip, as if afraid she would let go and the moment would end.

It was a wordless exchange, no voice necessary to convey what he was trying to say. Marinette heard him loud and clear.