Chapter Text
Marinette stood in front of Adrien for a few seconds, just blinking at what he had just said. Her mind was running about five minutes late; she had still been so caught up in the magic of the evening and the stunning beauty of the bracelet that her brain had almost completely missed the three words Adrien had said. He had another part of the gift, her mind recapped, and he took her hands in his, and then he had said-
Holy Mary, WHAT DID HE JUST SAY???
As her brain finished freaking out, Marinette’s face took control of itself and twisted into the world’s biggest grin. He had said it. He had said it to her. He had said it to her and had meant it! Marinette then suddenly found herself wrapping her arms around Adrien’s neck, pulling him into an incredibly tight hug. Marinette just whispered “thank you, thank you, thank you” over and over again in Adrien’s ear as he moved his arms to hug her back just as tightly. Soon the two broke apart, both smiling like fiends.
“That was well received,” Adrien chuckled, hands still resting on her hips. She was over the moon; “happy” was officially too weak a word to describe how she felt in that moment. She smiled and rested her forehead against his, her arms still around his neck. He loved her, and that was all she needed to sustain her for the rest of her life. But she knew that he was still waiting for her reply and that not even a hundred of those intense hugs and a million kisses could ever convey how she truly felt to him.
“I love you, too.” She whispered, looking into his eyes and smiling like an idiot. He too was grinning from ear to ear, his eyes ablaze with the sheer joy of having his sentiment returned. He then moved to kiss her before pulling away so that their joined hands hung in between them, the beautiful colors of the sunset slowly fading into blackness.
“I hate to say this,” Adrien broke the silence after a few minutes of staring into each other’s eyes and gazing at the sunset, “but we have a pretty early flight tomorrow.” Marinette groaned, not wanting to leave the moment that they were in.
“Why can’t we just stay here forever?” Marinette questioned rhetorically. She knew why they couldn’t; besides being completely impractical in terms of their normal civilian lives, the pair had already taken a huge risk in leaving Paris without both of their heroes and extending that timeframe was too dangerous.
“Come on, it’s not that bad in Paris,” Adrien smiled, mindlessly rubbing the back of Marinette’s hands with his thumbs. “We have all our friends there, your parents are there, and not to mention that we get spend our lives moonlighting as superheroes! I mean who would ever want to go someplace where they would miss out on the amazing Chat Noir’s puns?” Adrien made his famous Chat Noir smile, causing Marinette to smile in so-called defeat before laughing at Adrien’s ego.
“While I wouldn’t necessarily say that Chat’s puns are any good,” Adrien feigned being wounded by her words as she spoke them, “life definitely wouldn’t be the same without him. Even if his jokes are terrible.” The pair laughed until their giggles dissolved into a comfortable silence as they watched the last few minutes of the sunset. “Well, we should probably head back to the house,” Marinette mused before Adrien took her by the hand and led her out to the waiting limo.
When they got back to the house, they made their way up into Marinette’s bedroom, the two lying down on the bed. Marinette moved so that her head rested against Adrien’s chest, and she enjoyed listening to his breathing and heartbeat. Adrien played with the ends of her hair, switching between twirling the pieces around his fingers and rubbing her back. He listened to her soft breathing and watched as her chest slowly rose and fell with each breath.
“God, I love you, Marinette.” He quietly whispered, more to himself than to her. It felt so good to say it out loud and even better to just think about how much he really meant it. He hadn’t realized it, but every time he looked at her, there was a small tug on his heart that he couldn’t even explain. It made him want to protect her, to hug her, to kiss her, and most of all to make her happy. And now, seeing how content she was, he felt an overwhelming happiness himself.
“I love you more than you know, Adrien, more than you know…” After all of the excitement of the evening, Marinette was slowly drifting off to sleep. It was a good thing, Adrien knew, seeing as they had a 9 AM flight the next morning and would have to leave for the airport at around 6. He just watched her as her eyes gradually closed and her breathing rate slowed, until she was completely unconscious on top of him. Adrien spent a long time just looking at her, rubbing circles on her back. It was mind-blowing that she could be the most adorable person ever, one that he just wanted to pinch the cheeks of and feed candy, while also simultaneously being the sexiest woman around.
Adrien stayed just as he was until almost an hour had passed, until he slowly drifted off, the thought of his love for the girl on top of him moving into his dreams.
The next morning, Marinette woke up next to Adrien, still in her dress from the night before, her makeup rubbed all over her face. She apparently had fallen asleep on top of him, just as she had been thinking of how much she loved the man she was using as a pillow.
She rolled out of bed and walked into the bathroom, taking out her makeup remover and trying to clean up the mess that her mascara had made overnight. After she finally removed her raccoon eyes, she decided to jump in the shower.
Adrien woke up to find that Marinette had already left. Judging by the warmth of the sheets next to him, she hadn’t gotten up too long before him. Smiling, he got up out of the bed and went into the bathroom. He saw the shower room door was closed, indicating that Marinette had gone in there. He then moved to the sink and began to wash his face and brush his teeth.
When Marinette came out of the shower, towel wrapped loosely around her, she was greeted with the sight of a sleepy-looking Adrien unenthusiastically brushing his teeth.
“Morning, kitty,” she greeted, walking up to him and planting a kiss on his cheek. He looked up at her in the reflection, eyes widening as he saw what she was wearing. He (elegantly) spit the toothpaste out of his mouth before turning to look at her.
“I see it’s my turn to return the favor,” he chuckled as she moved over to her sink to get her toothbrush out.
“I guess so,” she smiled before continuing to get ready. They had woken up just in the nick of time; they were due to leave in about a half hour. The two quickly packed up their toiletries and went to their separate rooms. Marinette got dressed and made it a point to put on her new bracelet and then packed away all of her belongings. It was a tight squeeze back into the suitcases, but eventually she got them all to zip closed.
Adrien did the same in his room, eventually walking back through the bathroom into Marinette’s room. He told her the car was ready when she was, and the two hauled their suitcases down the stairs so the driver could load them into the car. The trip to the airport, as well as security, went by uneventfully. The two boarded the flight quickly and enjoyed watching a few movies, snuggled up together in their seats.
Although they didn’t know it, they were both thinking the same thing. This had been the most magical week of their lives, and while it was sad to be going home, they both couldn’t wait for what the future held.
Life became quite hectic for Adrien and Marinette after they returned home. Marinette’s parents wanted to spend nearly every waking moment with their daughter, treating her as if they hadn’t seen her in years, and it didn’t help that the bakery was insanely busy, forcing Marinette to work long hours. She barely had any time to herself, but what little time she had was in the evenings, which she spent as Ladybug guarding her beloved city with her even more beloved Chat Noir.
The first Saturday after her return, Alya had practically shoved her way into Marinette’s bedroom. She had talked to Marinette on the phone, but she hadn’t seen her best friend in person since she had helped her pack for her trip.
“Tell. Me. EVERYTHING.” Alya jumped onto Marinette’s bed, assuming the classic “girls slumber party” position. Marinette was calming herself down after having the living daylights scared out of her by her friend’s arrival, but she eventually dissolved into giggles as she turned to face her.
“If I tell you everything you’ll be here until midnight,” Marinette laughed, causing Alya to giggle too. “Where should I start? How about we start with thanking you for your incredible sunscreen plan?”
“I told you, it works every time! You’re lucky to have such an experienced best friend.” Alya laughed some more, pretending to brush off her shoulders egotistically.
“I also should thank you for helping me pack. I would have literally had to have worn a potato sack everyday if you hadn’t helped me.” Marinette gave her friend a huge smile, which was immediately returned.
“As much as I would love to sit here all day and have you shower me in compliments,” Alya responded, “I want the scoop! What’d you guys get up to?”
“We didn’t really do much other than tour the city, but we did end up going to Disneyland. We saw the fireworks and everything; it was so incredible!” Marinette smiled widely, her mind savoring the memory of such a beautiful day.
“That’s nice and all, Marinette, but I’m only here for the juicy details. Did you guys get down?” Marinette suddenly went very quiet, a furious blush rushing onto her cheeks. “Oh my God, you did! You guys got too it faster than me and Nino did! I never expected that, I mean you two are like the poster children for abstinence like holy-”
“Alya, NO! We didn’t, I mean, of course we wouldn’t, at least, I mean…” Marinette trailed off, avoiding looking at Alya’s smug face. “We didn’t get that far…” Alya squealed, sitting up and waving her arms in frantic excitement. “We lost the shirts; that’s it.”
“Did you lose the bra too?”
“No! Keep your voice down, my parents are downstairs!” Marinette glanced at the trap door, fearing that her nosy parents were just on the other side listening.
“Alright, alright don’t worry.” Alya mimed pulling a zipper across her lips. “What else happened? I’m sure you didn’t just do Disneyland and each other for a week straight.” Marinette groaned at her comment, rolling her eyes but smiling widely once again afterwards.
“Well, he took me to dinner on the last night,” Marinette started, “to this absolutely beautiful and ridiculously fancy restaurant. We sat at this table right in front of a huge window and ate while we watched the sunset. And then after we ate, we stood and watched the sun fade away over the ocean and he gave me this.” Marinette pulled her sleeve up slightly to reveal the charm bracelet, which she hadn’t once taken off since Adrien had given it to her. Alya screamed and dove off of Marinette’s bed, racing to grab her wrist and study the charms on it.
Marinette then realized that it would be relatively difficult to explain why Adrien had chosen the charms to be a ladybug and a black cat without disclosing that they were the famous super heroes.
“I thought it was kind of funny,” Marinette laughed nervously, moving her other hand to rub the back of her neck. “He likes to think of us as Ladybug and Chat Noir because, you know, Chat Noir is blonde like him and I have black hair like Ladybug.” It was the most crap excuse Marinette had ever come up with, but she prayed that Alya bought it.
“I can totally see him doing that, the weirdo,” Alya laughed, moving away from Marinette to sit in the chair in the corner of the room. Marinette sighed inwardly out of relief, thankful that Alya took the excuse. “Was that it then? Nothing else steamy or juicy?”
“Well,” Marinette smiled hugely again, “the bracelet wasn’t all that he gave me that night…”
“Oh my God, did he give you a hickey?”
“No! It was-“
“Did he give you boob massage?
“No, that sounds gross, he gave me-”
“What about a ride on his ‘pogo stick?’”
“ALYA! Is that all you can think about?” The two girls laughed before Marinette added softly, “the hickey was the night before.” Alya screamed again, laughing as hard as possible at Marinette’s incredibly red face. Once she calmed down, Marinette continued, “at the restaurant, after he gave me the bracelet, he told me he loved me.” Alya suddenly got very quiet, a huge grin spreading from ear to ear across her face.
“Did you reciprocate?”
“Of course I did! You know I’ve been low-key in love with him since day one,” Marinette smiled back at Alya who still was sitting in slight shock from the news. After a few seconds, she snapped out of it and returned to her usual self.
“I’m proud of you Marinette,” she nodded approvingly. “But tell me this- did you take your bikini top off for Adrien to put the sunscreen on? Because there is no way you avoided tan lines with it on.”
“ALYA!”