Chapter Text
Marinette honestly didn't know how to respond. It was midnight and everyone in her house was asleep. Tikki was sleeping soundly in her little spot in Mari's room. The day was very exhausting for the young fashion designer so she had brought a cup of cocoa up to her room with her along with a few marshmallows and sweets for Tikki. She remembered falling asleep around 11 right after Tikki wished her a good night. She remembered waking up to the sound of movement on the small plate the sweets were on.
She had originally figured it was Tikki, but that train of thought ended when she heard her kwami's soft snoring. She had froze for a second as she thought that somebody had broken in. But why would they target the leftover sweets? She had plenty of expensive items in her room...well a few expensive items. Some of that fabric was quite expensive thank you. Anyway, she decided to see if it was just a mouse or something that had broken into their house.
She had began to slowly roll around to get a better look at the little invader. And that is how she found herself in this current situation.
"Uh...hi?" Marinette quietly said as she stared at the small girl that was stealing pieces of the sweets on the plate. And by small, she literally means small. The girl had to be only a few inches tall. How? What? Was she some kind of akuma? The girl definitely did not look like someone she knows so there was no way she could have upset her. Plus, why would the first thing that an akuma does end up being stealing sweets? So did that mean there was an actual tiny person standing on the plate.
The sound of her voice seemed to startle the girl as her head snapped up to look at Marinette in shock and then...fear? Before Marinette could even react, the girl had slammed the last piece of a cookie into her tiny bag and turned to flee. Marinette blinked in surprise before shaking her head and shooting up in her bed. She moved to get off only to become tangled in her blankets and fall on the ground. Groaning in pain, she looked up and saw the girl give her one last look before ducking into a small hole in the wall.
"Of course, other people have to worry about rats. I have tiny people..." Marinette muttered quietly as she began to untangle herself from her blankets. It seemed that she woke Tikki up when she fell on her face as her kwami was now floating in front of her.
"Marinette are you okay? I heard you hit the ground," Tikki asked her Miraculous wielder who just nodded her head with a sheepish smile on her face.
"Yeah, I just saw something on the desk and when I moved to get a closer look, I kind of fell off the bed," Marinette sheepishly said as she felt her cheeks begin to heat up in embarrassment. Tikki just covered her mouth as she began to giggle which made Marinette pout while she stood back up onto her feet. As she leaned down to fix her blankets and bedsheets, she thought back to the tiny girl that she spotted on the desk. Glancing back at Tikki, she chewed on her lip in thought before finally deciding to ask her.
"Hey Tikki, I know you have been alive longer than I have and I was wondering...are there such a thing as tiny humans?" Marinette hesitantly asked her kwami as she didn't want to sound crazy. Tikki seemed to freeze for a second before looking back at Marinette.
"Not that I know of, but I wouldn't be surprised. I mean I exist! And there are apparently other superheroes in the world that aren't Miraculous wielders so maybe. Is that what you spotted on your desk? Are you sure you weren't just tired and seeing things Mari?" Tikki finally asked which caused Marinette to sigh as she looked away in thought.
She walked over to the plate where she saw half of what was a full cookie. Narrowing her eyes slightly allowed her to see what looked like small finger marks dug into the side of it. "I'm positive," Marinette finally said as she spun back around to look at Tikki.
Tikki looked at her one more time before sighing slightly and looking away in thought. Marinette looked at Tikki as she headed back over to her bed and quietly wondered what was going through Tikki's head.
"I'll look later today to see if I can find something if that makes you feel better," Tikki finally responded as Marinette settled back onto her bed. The girl just smiled brightly as she looked back at her kwami and nodded. Smiling slightly, Tikki flew back over to her little spot and laid down on it.
"Good night!" Marinette happily called out as she closed her eyes and felt herself begin to fall back to sleep.
Tikki yelled back a "Good Night" as she closed her eyes and began to think of ways to keep Marinette from meeting the Borrower that seemed to have taken residence in her house.
----
Arrietty felt her heart beating in her chest as she came to a stop in front of the small house that she had built in this small section in the walls of this house. It has been a good few months since her meeting with Sho, and she was not ready to run into another human bean. Especially after getting separated from them after being forced to leave their home. While she blamed herself for their departure, she never once regretted meeting Sho. He was great, and she truly wished that she got to spend more time with him.
But she knew that didn't mean every human bean would be the same as him. It was kind of obvious with Haru trying to capture them after finding their old house. It was still hard for her to think about what her mom had to go through when that happened; especially, with how jumpy and paranoid her mom could be.
Anyway, that was still too close. She's been living here for two weeks now and hasn't been spotted once by any of the beans so why is it that she was almost caught tonight?
"I have awful luck when it comes to borrowing sweet things," Arrietty grumbled under her breath as she walked into her small impromptu bedroom that she made. She really had to respect her father and the other Borrowers who had worked on their old house. It was really hard. Her new house couldn't even be called that. It was more like a slightly large two-room tent.
"I need to lay off of borrowing things from the girl's room for awhile so she won't see me again. Hopefully, she will just think I was a hallucination or something," Arrietty whispered as she set her bag down and began to get changed into her night dress that she was able to make from taking some fabric from the girl's room. She had a lot of fabric. Unclipping her hairclip, she let her hair down and walked over to her small bed, a dry sponge that she had to lug down here.
"Hopefully, things will be better in the morning. I need to be careful or they could discover me and capture me...great I sound like mom," Arrietty muttered as she imagined her mother spouting off different things the human beans would do after finding them. She felt a sad laugh escape her lips at the memory.
Laying down, she looked up at the 'ceiling' and sighed. "I miss you, mom and dad. I wish I could see you two again," Arrietty whispered sadly before closing her eyes and going to sleep. As she slept, her mind played various dreams of her interacting with the girl who lived in the house and for the first time in months -
Arrietty smiled.