Chapter Text
Marinette was dancing around in a circle, using some of her fighting moves as she swirled around her room, cleaning it while she was blasting Jagged Stone from her computer screen.
Adrien had come over -unbeknownst to her- because they had a project they had to do together. Her parents had sent him up to her room without a second thought, and started giggling, as they knew about their daughter's habit of cleaning at random times during the weekend.
Adrien knocked on the door to her room, and when he didn't get a response, he pushed the door up, finding Marinette dancing around her room, singing her heart out to Jagged's latest single.
'She looks so cute. Wait, what am I thinking?!' Adrien blushed, quietly shutting the door, and silently fanboying over how cute she was acting.
After he calmed down, he knocked on her door again, this time louder. He could no longer hear the music, and after a few seconds, Marinette pulled the door up, blushing as she saw Adrien standing on the stairs.
He couldn't tell she was blushing, as her face was already red from all the dancing. "A-Adrien! W-what are y-you doing here?"
"Um, the project?" She face palmed, upset that she forgot.
"Right, um, can you wait for a second?" He nodded, and she closed her door, rushing around her room to hide the pictures of him that were all over her wall.
"Sorry about that, I had a few things left to clean up. Come in!" She fully opened up the door, and he stepped into her room, leaving the door open.
"So I was thinking, we could do..." Adrien proceeded to rattle off a few of his ideas, and Marientte nodded, already having decided on his second idea.
"I think we should do the second one, after all, it is the simplest, and it's the one that nobody else is likely to do." Adrien nodded, and pulled out what supplies he'd brought with him.
"Um, do you have any tape? And spare fabric?" She nodded, pointing to a drawer over at the edge of her desk.
He opened it, grabbing the tape and the pile of fabric laying inside. He saw what he thought was the edge of a photo, but didn't investigate, that would've been intrusion of Marinette's privacy.
"Okay, is that all we need?" She looked over everything, and nodded, so Adrien sat back down, and they got to work on their project.
Whilst they worked, it had started snowing, and by the time they were finished, it was a full on blizzard.
"L-looks like you might have to stay for dinner. I-it's too bad of a b-blizzard for you to go out in." Adrien nodded, pulling out his phone to call Nathalie and let her know he wouldn't be home for dinner.
"I hope it's not an issue with your parents, Marinette." She shook her head, smiling sheepishly at him.
"No, they love having people over, and I'm sure they'd understand." And sure enough, understand they did. After dinner, which was, according to Adrien, "the best dinner I've had in a while", it was still too snowy to leave, in fact, it had gotten worse.
"I really don't want to intrude, I'm sure Nathalie could send a limo to pick me up...." Marinette's dad shook his head.
"It's too snowy and windy to drive well, in fact, visibility is almost 0 out there. You can stay the night, I'm sure we have something you could wear." Adrien thought for a moment and then spoke up.
"I could wear my gym clothes, if they were washed...." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, grinning stupidly.
"Oh, we can wash them really quick, dear. Marinette, how about you two go figure out sleeping arrangements, and I'll bring him up freshly washed clothes." Marinette nodded, blushing.
"I can sleep on the floor." Marinette shook her head, pointing to the couch that was over near the door.
"I don't really use it, so it's probably clean. We can grab some blankets and pillows, and it should work, if that's okay." Adrien nodded, smiling softly at Marinette.
"Thanks. I hope I'm not imposing on anything." Marinette shook her head, yawning.
"No, it's fine, really. I feel better knowing that you're not out in the blizzard, trapped in your limo." Marinette's mother walked up the stairs, carrying Adrien's freshly washed gym clothes, that now smelled similar to Marinette.
"Thank you, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng." She smiled at Adrien, leaving him and her daughter to talk.
"You can go change in my bathroom, it's right there." She pointed to the small room in the corner.
"Thanks, Marinette." She nodded, turning to work on her sketches.
"I really mean it," Adrien whispered, heading to the small bathroom to change out of his regular clothes.
After he came out, he found Marinette asleep at her desk, snoring lightly.
'She's adorable! Do I...like her?' Adrien blushed at the thought, but he couldn't find any other reasonable explanation to his thoughts, and feelings throughout the day.
"Alright, you can do this. Just pick her up, and put her in bed." His blush was still too red for him to be able to act casual, so, after he was sure that she was asleep, and the door was locked, he transformed into Chat Noir, so he could act more suave.
He gently lifted her up, blushing even more-if that was possible- as she snuggled into his side as he carried her to bed.
"Night, princess." He piled all Marinette's sketches up, detransformed, and crashed on the couch, falling asleep soon after.
He was woken up by sobs. Not his own, but Marinette's. He sat up to find the ravenette still laying down, but she was indeed crying.
"Mari?" He walked up the stairs, and sat next to her on the bed, not completely positive on whet he should do.
"A-Alya, no!" Her whispers were faint, but rang out clearly to the blond sitting next to her.
"Marinette," Adrien whispered, shaking her shoulders slightly. When she still didn't wake up, her shook her a bit more roughly, and her eyes flew open, tears still streaming down her cheeks.
"A-Adrien?" She sat up slowly, only to be engulfed in a hug.
"Are you okay, Marinette?" His voice was still husky, as he had woken up maybe ten minutes prior.
"N-no," she admitted quietly, hugging Adrien back as they both sat there, wishing they were their superhero selves.
"D-did I wake you, Adrien?" He shook his head, not wanting her to feel worse than she probably already did.
"No, I was already awake." She nodded, not buying it, but not pushing the subject any further. They say there in silence for who knows how long, reveling in each other's company.
Finally, Marinette relaxed in Adrien's arms, slowly drifting off to sleep.
"Good night, Adrien." Her voice wasn't louder than a small whisper, and he smiled, relaxing his grip on her just the slightest bit.
He eventually forgot that he was supposed to be sleeping on the couch, curling up against the wall with Marinette safe in his arms. And with that, our heroes succumbed to sleep, both warm and safe.
When Marinette woke up, she was confused by the smell of cologne, specifically Adrien's. 'Well, he did comfort me after I had that nightmare last night, maybe I just smell like it.'
But when she realized that he had his arms still wrapped around her, and he was sleeping, she blushed. Hard.
'Adrien freaking Agreste fell asleep with me in his arms, and he stayed the night at my house. Oh no, I think I'm going to pass out.' As she was freaking out, Adrien yawned, opening his green eyes and stretching.
"Morning, Mari. How're you feeling?" She was too stunned to speak, so Adrien took that as a, 'I slept very well, thank you for asking,' and got out of bed, heading to her bathroom to change and maybe take a shower.
"He's really acting like that was nothing? We, I, oh gosh, I think I need to call Alya." And call Alya she did.
"Girl, you mean he acted like nothing happened between you two? Jeez, maybe he does that often." Marinette sighed, not wanting to believe that.
"Well, I'll see you in fifteen minutes, don't forget to bring in your collage." Marinette face palmed. The collage, of course! That's why Adrien had been there in the first place.
She had quickly changed, Adrien having still been in the shower, and went downstairs, grabbing a croissant to eat for breakfast, and making lunch for her and Adrien, as he didn't have anything.
"I hope you don't mind that I took a shower, Mari." She shook her head, holding up two sandwiches.
"Do you want tuna or ham?" He paused, thinking carefully.
"Tuna, please!" She nodded, packing it into a sandwich bag, and then putting it in her purse with the other sandwich.
"Oh! I should go brush my teeth! We have an extra toothbrush, if you need it." Adrien shook his head, pointing to his gym bag.
"Nah, I carry an extra one, just in case." She nodded, rushing off to finish her morning routine.
"Thank you for letting me stay last night, Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng." They smiled at Adrien, handing him a croissant.
"Of course. Now make sure you get to the school safely, it's still a bit icy out." He nodded, accepting the croissant gratefully.
"Marinette, you should get going! School starts soon!" Mari was already on her way down the stairs, before she ran back up and grabbed the collage.
"Don't want to forget this, do we?" Adrien laughed, shaking his head as he grabbed it from her, allowing her to grab her bags and open the door for him.
(At the school, after they present their projects)
"So what you're telling me is, Adrien Agreste stayed over at your house, comforted you after a nightmare, and slept with you in his arms?!" Alya was having a hard time understanding the situation, but Mari had done her best to explain it.
"Yeah."
"And he acted like nothing happened?! Don't worry, Mari, maybe he's just been a bit out of it." Alya tried comforting her friend, while Nino was doing the same with Adrien, who'd been mentally freaking out for the past couple of hours.
"Nino, what if she thinks I don't care?! I mean, I didn't even act like anything happened! Oh no, what if she hates me?!" Nino sighed, shaking his head and smacking Adrien upside the head.
"Get a grip, dude. Mari's not that kind of person. She might be a bit hurt, but she doesn't hate you by any means." Adrien looked over at Nino, his expression pained.
"Are you sure?" Nino nodded, placing a hand on Adrien's shoulder.
"Trust me, Mari will completely understand when you tell her." Adrien still looked skeptical at his friend's words, before everything registered in his mind.
"TELL HER?! I COULD BARELY BRING MYSELF TO COME TO SCHOOL WITH HER, LET ALONE TELL HER THESE THINGS THAT I BARELY HAVE A GRIP ON!" Adrien's voice had gotten higher the more he freaked out, and now he sounded like a mouse, his whisper-yells attracting some attention from Chloe and Sabrina.
"Oh, Adrikins! How are you today?" He sidestepped her attempt at a hug, sighing.
"Fine, Chloe, now Nino and I have to discuss some things, so could you give us some privacy?" She nodded, smiling.
"Nino, I can't tell her! She already looks uncomfortable when we're near each other, I couldn't make things more awkward!" Adrien was more worried about losing a good friend, rather than being heartbroken at not telling her these feelings.
"Okay, but these feelings don't go away, dude. They just grow, until it hurts to see her with anyone else, and there's nothing you can do." Adrien was content with that. As long as Marinette was happy, it didn't bother him.
"I'm okay with that. I just want to keep her as a friend." And with that, Adrien went home, still mulling over these newfound feelings for Marinette.