Chapter Text
Chapter 1 : Marinette Introduces Wicca to Adrien as Therapy
It began with a quiet day. Marinette was sitting at her desk, taking a few notes before looking at the back of Adrien's head and blinking. His hair was messier than usual, his clothes somewhat rumpled. Heck, he had looked beyond tired this morning in the hallway. She still recalled his eyes having the equivallance of designer bags under his eyes. He must have been wearing a TON of makeup to hide all that darkness.
As the bell rings, Marinette waits until Lila and Alya are out the door, Marinette frowning at the fire haired girl as she moved to Lila without speaking to Marinette at all, before walking down to stand beside Adrien's desk where he is out cold, his head resting on his arms. Nino looks worriedly up at her. He was one of the few who didn't fall for Lila's tricks. Aside from Alix, Nathaniel and Max, Nino was one of her bridges to the other side and now it looked like it was time to bring Adrien to the bridge's crossing as well.
"Adrien," Marinette cooed, gently patting Adrien's shoulder and stroking at his hair, a little bit of her pink and white magic spreading out to wake him slowly and carefully. It was bad to wake someone sharply and Nino relaxed when he saw the glittering sparks coming from Marinette's fingers. "Adrien~, time to wake up~..."
The blonde blinked awake slowly before being helped into a sitting position with Nino and Marinette's help. "Wha-what time is it?" he garbled and Nino chuckled as he stood, picking up Adrien's bag alongside his own.
"You're going to need a pair of swim trunks. Come on dude," Nino murmured and helped Marinette move Adrien down to the front. Madame Bustier looked to them worriedly before she sighed as she noticed he pink light coming off Marinette's fingers where sh was stroking Adrien's hair.
The teacher smiled. "Should I write out two absent notices or three for the next two days?"
Nino looked to Marinette over Adrien's head. Marinette nodded before looking to Madame Bustier. "Three. I usually need a secondary for this sort of tiredness. Unlike when I have Alix help me with the girls, I know I'm going to need a boy this time, so I think Nino should probably stick with me tonight and tomorrow."
"Alright, three passes it is," Madame Bustier states before making a note then writing something else down. "Okay, I'll alert your parents Nino. And I'll contact Monsieur Agreste to alert him that Adrien will be staying with a friend the next three nights. And please, don't worry. I'll make sure he understands thoroughly," she stated with a glint in her eyes.
Marinette smiled and nodded. One might call Madame Bustier soft but the woman was one of the coven mates in an apartment lot that burned by the creed of, 'If it harm none, let it be done', and would have probably done something to take care of Lila's lies if she could. Problem was, so far Lila had not physically harmed anyone. No physical harm was one thing and emotional another. The main problem was that Marinette had told Madame Bustier and the woman had grit her teeth tightly before stating, "She's blackmailing me with one of her own lies. If I could burn that girl without hurting the ones her lie would hurt, then..." and it hit Marinette that this meant that Lila was also lying to someone the woman knew too.
The three leave the room and head to the lockers where Marinette lets Adrien sleep on her shoulder and Nino swaps out the books for both him and Adrien. Marinette passed Adrien to Nino when it was her turn and she kept a hand on Adrien's head even as she dug through her locker, careful of her books before pulling her backpack into place on her back. She hurried to close the locker and place her other hand on Adrien's arm.
"Hey, what are you three up to?" came a sickly sweet tone and Marinette turned with a frown to see Lila standing there. Lila was smiling sweetly with Alya beside her, frowning. "Adrien looks pretty tired. Are you going to take him to the nurse?"
"No, we're heading to the Dupain-Cheng's bakery to help him get some rest," Nino stated, shouldering Adrien a bit to keep him from falling even as Marinette gently combed back Adrien's mess of hair, careful of knots. "Hopefully a good rest will do him good. We've already gotten Madame to give us a two day pass."
Lila tilted her head. "Wait, what? Why? Is that really a good place for someone so tired? And why two days?"
Nino looked to Marinette before looking to Alya with a frown. "Marinette is going to work her magic as she sometimes does for each of us. This will be Adrien's first time and I'm going to be with them for the next two days. Alya, can you explain this to Lila? I mean, she might need a cleansing herself soon, too, since she has been having so many problems with her wrist and ankles."
Nodding, Alya turned to Lila with a smile. "Marinette is our resident healer. She is well known for making sure we get enough to eat, rest and heal for a couple days. In fact, she even has a special cerification from the hospital and everything!"
This seemed to make Lila blink in confusion. "Wait, healer? Like a Chiropractor? But she's our age! How could she possibly have any such equipment for that!?" Lila gasped, staring at Marinette with contempt but her eyebrows raised in awe and her lips in a small 'o' of confusion. "Isn't it dangerous?"
"She doesn't use any normal equipment," Alya explained, turning her. "Come on. I'll explain while they get Adrien to the bakery."
"But Adrien looks so tired! A proper adult should be called!"
"An adult will be with them at all times," Alya assured while gently pressing at Lila's shoulders. "Sabine or Tom will stay up with them. And besides, the cake is worth it."
"Cake?"
Marinette sighed and turned to Nino, who frowned after the girls before helping lead the semi sleeping Adrien from the room and out of a hidden passage on the side of the school. It was mainly to escape the crowds outside or keep people from asking what was wrong with Adrien, which was nothing that Nino and Marinette were unknowing of. It was done so they could keep an eye on Adrien, make sure their focus was on him. It was nothing new and they did this for everyone in their class sooner or later. Even Madame Mendeliev's class knew of the cleansings and had begged for them usually around exams or times of stress.
Lila tried to follow but Alya led her away. This was a time for Marinette to focus on Adrien. She would need to. For she was the one who would be helping with the healing. Cue Lila questioning loudly about how sex was going to help Adrien. The school went silent and most the school was made up of some form of Wiccan or studier of a craft and threw dirty looks her way because they had seen Adrien in Nino's arms being led off by the Lead Witch of the school.
LIla lost a lot of votes that day.
+
Adrien was laid on the couch in the Dupain-Cheng bakery's upstairs. Nino stayed by his head, gently rubbing a salve into Adrien's bared shoulders while Tom gently helped rub more into Adrien's legs and stomach.
In the kitchen, Marinette was stirring in some honey to a large mug of tea while twirling her finger through the air. In a huge dutch oven pot, a large wooden spoon was stirring slow and carefully so as note to spill the food inside. From the visible cuts were carrots, onions,butternut squash, sweet potatoes, roast tomatoes and parsnip pieces. The smells of olive oil, rosemary, garlic and pepper filled the room amongst all of the other scents but the smells that Marinette was focused most on was the nettle and ginger root mixing with the honey before her. She needed to make sure it was perfect as she muttered softly under her breath.
"Let this liquid be blessed and warm the heart of the one who drinks it. Let them be healed in mind, body and soul. Let all the energy from within my heart connect and help the one drinking this liquid to heal..."
"Mari! He's up!"
Marinette turned and headed from the room, continuing to whisper under her breath as she stirred the tea and honey mix. It smelled a bit like dried cinnamon and warm summer days. It was something that Marinette was always proud of. The tea would only smell as it did if the magic was thickly infused considering the smells and tastes would change depending on things like the spice of the root or the pepper of the nettle. Magic was fickle but she did not mind the extra work for her friends.
Nearing Adrien, who was sitting up with her father to his right and Nino to his left, Marinette smiled and passed forth the tea mug but brought her hands up around Adrien's hands. "Repeat after me," she whispered softly and he nodded weakly, "I am calm. I am grounded. In this circle, I am whole. In this room, I am safe. In my mind, I am sane."
"I am calm...I am grounded..." Adrien whispered and Marinette made him sip before lowering the mug for him to say the next two sentences of prayer. "In this circle, I am whole...In this room, I am safe..." he took another sip then whispered the final piece. "In my mind, I am sane."
"Again," Marinette whispered, sitting between his knees as she held onto the mug and over his hands. "I am calm. I am grounded..."
"...In this circle, I am whole...In this room, I am safe...In my mind, I am sane..."
"Once more," Marinette ordered, the noticable marks under Adrien's eyes already clearing a bit. It was going to take time to get rid of them and lots of rest. "Finish the tea and relax as you repeat these words."
Adrien whispered a bit louder, taking sips between each sentence until the tea was down to the dredges. He sighed and closed his eyes before lowering the mug. "Whoa..."
"You're alright, Adrien," Marinette assured as she took the mug and turned, standing to move over to a setup on the small coffee table where she flipped the mug then whispered softly to herself before lifting it. She stared down at the dredges that had fallen dark and thickly onto the pristine white napkin before she nodded and stood. "Alrighty. Soup and then a nice bath. Nino, you packed those extra swim trunks, correct?"
"Yeah, dude, gotcha covered," Nino said and stood slowly and carefully with Adrien's arm held between his hands while Tom took the other arm. "Alright. Let's go get you to the table then you can relax before the cleansing."
Adrien looked over his shoulder at Marinette, who was walking behind them. "What's a cleansing?"
"It's a bath to calm your nerves and lay all your worries to rest," Marinette explained softly. "Don't worry. You'll be in a pair of swim trunks and I'll be in my own bathing suit while Nino helps with the washing. He's careful and has helped with this before after Kim, Marc and Nathaniel have visited previously."
"A bath?"
"Yeah, don't worry," Nino assured, Marinette's father making sure to stay silent per her request. Trust was important for a treatment and by Tom staying silent, it let the trust in the air build between the three teens. "I promise, nothing weird is going to happen. It's just a thing that Marinette does to soothe and relax both the body and spirit."
Nodding, Adrien faced forward before blinking and looking down. "Why am I in a tank top and shorts?"
Marinette smiled and began to serve three bowls of soup while her father nodded to her before leaving as Nino helped a still reeling Adrien into a chair. "I had Nino rub some salve into your skin to help calm and correct any energy before the cleansing. I'll have Nino put more on you after you're all dry just as a precaution."
Adrien's eyes widened at the sight of the soup bowl before him. "Whoa..."
"Vegan, to smother any pain and to heal your colon, liver and stomach," Marinette stated scientifically before she set a bowl in front of Nino. "Nino and I will have some as well while you eat your fill. Eat as much or as little as you need. And I don't mean what is a model's diet, Adrien," she stated pointedly and he blushed, meaning she saw right through him. "Just relax and review whatever has made you feel off this week. Once you have them, with each bite of vegetable, send them away as you chew and when you swallow, let them disappear with your anger, sadness, bitterness or embarrassment that it may have caused. Once that is done, just try to become one with the moment you are in. Nino and I will do the same, so I need you to just imagine the thoughts disappearing...one...by...one..." Marinette whispered, slowling her speech deliberately as she scooted into her seat then closed her eyes.
Nino smiled and closed his own eyes before taking a slow bite. Adrien followed afterward, staying open eyed a moment before shutting them as he began to slowly take bites.
Marinette remembered things from the week as she chewed and drowned them, as she had been prone to do these past weeks. It was always hard to try and forget things and she kept most of her most upsetting or unsettling thoughts in several carefully locked away diaries along with diaries her friends kept with her for cases such as Adrien must be having. She never read them but she made sure to help in any way she could if they needed help.
Adrien's voice broke the silence in a small murmur. "I think I need more."
Marinette smiled, opening her arms and filling his bowl again. She knew this was different than any sort of normal eating. Cleansing meant allowing the negatives to disappear, meaning they vanished without hitting the stomach just as the chants and warnings gave. It would be a bit before he was full. Nino helped himself to a second bowl as well a few moments later, causing Marinette to throw him a worried look but she smiled when he gave her a weak smile of his own. Looks like she was in for a double cleansing. Nothing new. Nino usually helped himself as well as his friends when he did this. It was calming for all three of them.
By the time they finished, Adrien was finally full, meaning the disappearing feelings had become a natural need to eat. He sighed and leaned back before eyeing the pot, which was mysteriously empty now. "Did I eat that all by myself?" he questioned, a bit wide eyed.
"Oh, no," Marinette assured with a smile. "Nino and I have our own worries to eat away. And I promise that the feeling you have now will not last. It's also important that you remember it is okay to eat right now. For the next two days, you are to rest and just be at one with yourself."
Nodding, Adrien looked back to where his bowl had been only to find it gone. He blinked before turning and finding Nino walking away from the table with the bowls to a small bucket off to the side of the kitchen that was empty and marked by a small symbol of sorts. "Uh, shouldn't those be washed?"
"No," Marinette answered again with a smile and tilted her head. "All meals will be cooked in this pot, which I will rinse thorougly while the dishes will be washed at the end of day two to banish the last of the dark emotions."
"Oh," Adrien murmured before frowning. "What about your parents?"
"Mama Sabine and Papa Tom are going to be in the secondary apartment across from this one," Nino answered, coming back after disposing of the bowls and he sat down where he had been before Marinette stood and walked slowly and carefully with the dutch oven to carefully rinse it. She only did a quick rinse to get some residue off it, but murmured under her breath for the magic to stay and keep its home inside this vessel.
"Nino, please run the bath," she called over to him as she dried her hands on an apron she was wearing. "And get Adrien into the shorts. I'm going to go change myself into my swimsuit."
"Gotcha, Mari," Nino assured and helped Adrien up. Adrien blinked and Marinette smiled as he seemed confused. Luckily for her, she didn't have to explain why Adrien felt so weak because his own best friend was right there with him.
Once all three were in the bathroom, Marinette carefully drew a circle around the tub once Adrien was inside it and then placed small black, purple hazy looking stones in a pattern along the chalkline. After that, she placed candles on five points like a star before she sighed and lifted her hands above the tub and gave a soft chant of assurance to her goddess and gods. She called upon Mars, Venus and Saturn and asked that they help the one within the water. That the one who was within it be healed and led to a more respective space of mind and hopes.
Adrien stayed quiet, his eyes wide, and Nino reached to the side, passing a bottle of some sort full of a strangely glowing blue and white water to Marinette, who settled beside the tub and reached out. As if on command, Adrien's hands lifted and she rinsed his hands with the water, once again calling on Venus to help lead the limbs to a safe place of mind, that their joints be healed and that they might find love instead of burning hate. Adrien fell into the trance all her healings came under. When the time came, she tipped the bottle over Adrien's head and its contents proceeded to spill and coat every inch of Adrien in its strange coolness. It didn't feel like ice, but it certainly made him feel more aware than before. Marinette set the bottle down beside her before looking to Adrien and smiling.
"Wha-what was that?" he whispered in confusion even as Nino seemed to be readying some sort of sweet smelling soap off to the side.
"Moon water infused with white pearl dust and moonstone powder," Marinette murmured, moving slowly to begin rubbing at his hair, which smelled so heavenly all of a sudden. "This next part will be mostly Nino but I have to keep working with your hair. Once all the energy has been released for the day, you will have more tea and there will be a journalling session."
Adrien blinked and tipped his head back to look at her as Nino began to wash Adrien's legs with great efficiency but also a slow, caring touch. "Journalling? What for?"
"Even with a lot of the memories removed, the hope is that you will also get out any emotions left behind. For the next two days that it how it will work. You will wake, take a bath with Nino as your guide, then I will fix breakfast. After, we will all sit and write for one hour. Once that is done, we will have tea. There will lots of tea. As the two days progress, you will slowly work back up to a normal enough diet and then you can drink coffee and eat croissants or whatever it is your father does not feed you and we will go on with life until the next time you crash!" Marinette said so happily it must have been normal for her.
"How many times have you done this for others?" Adrien asked with a frown, lifting his head as she began to scrub something that smelled strongly of lemon grass and several other sweet things. "And how many do you do for yourself?"
A sigh left the girl before she made him lay down so his hair swirled in the glittering water. "I am a witch, Adrien. I do this every day, whether for myself or someone else," she explained softly. "Sometimes I have bridges such as Nino, who bring those that need help across to me. I have looked after every single class I have ever been in and Nino is my closest confidante in that department. Ever since I was a child, we have been doing this. First with help from our parents and then on our own."
"But we're only fifteen?" Adrien whispered in shock, his green eyes wide. "That's impossible! Can you really become a witch at fifteen?"
Marinette giggled. "Adrien, I've been a witch since I could tie my shoes."
It was as if something was dawning on Adrien and he nodded slightly before closing his eyes as Marinette rubbed more of the sweet smelling soap into his hair. He could feel Nino working his way up his stomach. "Why do you help with the head and not the body?"
"While he is a bridge," Marinette explained with a hum, "He has no outlying magic. His is more...like a turtle. Trapped in its shell but coming out when needed, you know? My magic is more open and comes like...a bunch of ladybugs coming together. It is always there and I can send it out at will but it can only do good."
"Ah," Adrien sighed in acknowledgement. He stayed close eyed before opening his eyes slowly to look up at her. She was focused heavily on his hair, gently stroking through to the ends and then working back through. "Why so many times?"
"Trust me, bro," Nino whispered where he now sat beside the tub scrubbing over Adrien's clavicle and up his neck. "When you get out, you'll see why."
Confusion filled Adrien's eyes before he closed his eyes again as Marinette began to gently scrub at his face, which he felt was honestly not necessary considering how his father was so strict with his facial routines, but whatever.
Right before Adrien got out, he was told to stand and warned that this next part would most likely sting, burn, just feel like ice, or all of the above. He sighed and said, "Beauty is pain?"
Marinette giggled and Nino nodded with a grin of his own before they reached down and lifted a large ceramic jug marked by moons up. Quickly, it raised over his head and he gave a gasp of surprise as a fiery yet freezing feeling came over him. It seemed to settle and he opened his eyes once it was over before blinking in shock. Everything that had been so blurry the past week now looked clearer.
"Whoa. That was an experience," he mumbled and looked down, frowning because the water didn't look that different. Save that it looked like something gray was spreading from his body and out into the depths.
"Hey, sit down a moment," Marinette ordered, reaching for the bottle of moon water. "Once more. I think it's needed."
She looked worriedly down at the water, which was beginning to darken, before she began the dousing again, this time with Adrien watching avidly. When it went over his head, he closed his eyes before looking down at the water and could not help but to stare. The white of the moon water was being eaten by the black that creapt from his skin. And the weird thing? It looked like it was actually coming FROM his skin. "Is that coming from me?" he whispered in horrified awe.
"Yes. Your feelings and emotions are so deep and broken that it appears that your skin retained some of the energy and it was just released," Marinette explained, helping him from the bathtub and pulling him over to a strange looking shower where she and Nino stood on either side of him and connected hands. "I need you to reach out and turn on the water. I'm not going to lie, it WILL be cold. It's supposed to be. Once it's warm and you have been really washed clear of as much darkness as possible, we're going to hopefully get you dressed then have a journalling session while I make a snack. I don't think this will be as easy as I thought it was going to be."
Adrien nodded and reached out, turning on the water. He gave a choked gasp because it really was cold. He shut his eyes and it slowly warmed. Once it had, he looked down and saw more of the darkness disappearing down the drain. Weird part? it was oozing out of his skin, like some scene from an anime, and was slowly turning gray.
Marinette gave a weak sigh of relief. "I thought so. Two days will be enough to work it out of his system, but he'll need a treatment once every month at this rate. So much darkness can kill a person."
"What about Chat Noir?" Nino asked. "Would he have this problem?"
"Well, the mask does not mean a thing," Marinette assured, ordering Adrien to scrub at his arms and chest while under the water, causing more black to ooze out before it slowly dripped away in grey teardrops. "I'm sure even Ladybug has this problem. With my daily cleansings, I keep a lot of the darkness at bay. It's how I'm always happy and able to handle a lot of things. However, I think Ladybug must be doing something similar because she has been able to work and smile all the same. Unless something big happens in her private life, I don't think we've got anything to worry about...Then again, Chat Noir might not be getting his own cleansings. Unless he's going to a healer. Maybe I can send out a flier? A note from Alya on the Ladyblog? Any thoughts boys?"
"I think he's already seeing a healer though," Adrien admitted himself, feeling dread settle in his stomach as he shut his eyes and scrubbed at his face, feeling globs of a sort come off his skin. "I mean, he's gotta have it pretty bad and doing all that, he still looks so happy when he fights."
"Life is hard and then you die," Marinette hummed. "He must be seeing someone. Maybe even the same person as Ladybug. I mean, who else would they trust with their secrets besides someone they could trust?"
Once Adrien felt the water become super hot, he shut it off then opened his eyes and glanced down, sighing in relief because the last of the black was going down the drain along with smaller tears of gray.
"Okay, before we break the circle," Marinette whispered and looked to Nino. "Nino, chant with me."
He nodded and bowed his head, leaning it against Adrien's shoulder as Marinette was doing. Adrien stood still as the two seemed to pray or something. He caught some words from it but other than the few words, like, 'protect', 'heal', and 'define', he could not understand most of it and yet they were able to speak it at the same time.
When they finished, Marinette sighed and lifted her head. "Slowly Nino. This is a strong circle and we have to be careful when we break it."
"Slowly," Nino agreed before their hands began to pull away as they moved slowly away from Adrien's sides. A strange cold fell over the three and they sighed in relief when nothing apparent happened. "Hera must be smiling on us," the dark haired boy muttered and reached up to touch his face. "We all good? Everyone's faculties good?"
"I'm alright," Adrien spoke with a nod.
"Same here," Marinette sighed before smiling. "Thank the goddesses."
As if in answer the candles flickered out one by one before flaring with a blue flame only to slowly fade back to their gentle yellow glow. Adrien stared at them before looking at Marinette. "You have got to teach me this stuff. At least enough to help with the weird black goop?"
"Trust me, Adrien," Marinette sighed again. "I think it might be a good idea. I haven't seen anything like this since I cleansed Chloe."
Both boys looked to her with worry. "You actually got a hold of her?" Nino asked.
Nodding, Marinette bit her lip. "Yeah. I worry about her but she comes in for monthly cleansings now and kinda does a spa day with me. She hasn't had too many problems since that first day...but you know how it can be with her."
"So that's why you and she don't argue as much anymore," Adrien whispered with awe. "I thought something was up but whoa! Are you guys...?"
"Chloe is my friend who no one must ever know about," Marinette spoke gravely. "She tries to keep up the image but she doesn't act as she used to. She has mourned her grievances, come to the end of her rope and admitted her evils. She sunk to the very bottom after Lila appeared and she realized just what it felt like to be hurt by lies. Even though she hasn't been Queen Bee in a while, she still tries to be better than who she was. Not in popularity, but rather in how she acts. She has told me over and over that she just wants to be a better person but Lila makes her so mad it is hard. Not gonna lie, I have the same issues sometimes."
Adrien froze before looking sharply to Nino but Nino merely looked worried for Marinette. "I hope that the Lila thing isn't hurting your magic too much?"
"It has been...hard. I am not going to lie, but I will say that I have really had to push myself to control these emotions of mine. It's...exhausting. I'm just really tired but I don't mind doing this. It helps me as much as it helps others. Like Adrien here who appears to be wrought with emotional havoc," Marinette spoke with a cocky grin and both boys laughed at that dark joke.
+
The next day was more the same save the fact that Adrien bathed three more times before settling into a warm bed, belly full of a different kind of stew from the previous day. And so followed on the second day.
By the end of the day and it was time for bed, Marinette smiled and walked to the door, drawing a line through a circle she had made on the back. A strange aura burst through the air before Adrien blinked and stared because it looked like little creatures were hurrying past him and out the windows, which weren't even open. Confused, the blonde looked to Nino and the glasses wearing boy explained, "Marinette was just breaking the circle. We weren't allowed to leave because of that circle. It kind of dims the need to leave and protects all within it. Mama Sabine does the same in the other apartment sometimes when she needs a moment to herself."
"What is a circle?" Adrien asked, having had the question since the first evening.
"Think of the circle that Marinette drew around the bathtub each time you took a bath," Nino explained. "What is inside the circle is protected from outside influence and is supposed to feel safe or comforted. Sometimes this is done on an altar with crystals. Everything is placed around a central circle and marks what sort of spell or emotion you wish to cast. Marinette loves protection spells and usually worries about others, so it's not all that weird that Marinette is used to making circles. She even uses them at school sometimes but Madame Bustier worries it might attract too much attention."
Adrien nodded in understanding before turning back to the door where Sabine was now standing with Tom. "Everyone get ready for bed, okay?" Sabine spoke with a smile. "Boys, why don't you sleep in Marinette's room tonight. It is currently the safest place in this house and I worry from the energy I felt running through here every single time the bathing took place."
"Sorry, maman," Marinette murmured, hugging the woman. "Adrien had a lot of build up. It's going to take a few more move throughs to fix this. But..."
"Don't worry for now," Adrien assured and tugged at the hood of his kigurumi, which he had basically live in these past two days. It was handmade by Marinette and she had smiled as she passed it to him. A black cat kigurumi...that matched the green turtle one Nino wore and the ladybug one that Marinette wore. Apparently there were Kigus for everyone she knew, even Lila, that looked like a monarch butterfly in style from oranges to black to white. He almost mistook it for a fox but Marinette showed him the fox one she made for Alya and he realized the differences right away. "I'm good. I'll feel up for school tomorrow at least."
"Alright, the best place in my room to sleep that is the safest is my loft," Marinette spoke and looked pointedly at her father, who grinned sheepishly and looked away. "So. As long as we promise no funny business, let's get to bed. We have school tomorrow."
Adrien yawned and hurried after her with Nino right behind. Sleep...IN A BED! After two nights on a special pallet resting on a wooden floor surrounded by a circle of crystals and chalk? Oh, was Adrien ready for a bed.
Plagg was nowhere to be found but the ring had never left Adrien's form so he knew that the furball was somewhere nearby. Wherever he was however, he must be happy otherwise... who knows what destruction would have befallen the home?
All curled up in Marinette's bed, Nino and Adrien waited on her as she turned on some fairy lights and lit incence that she placed high above the bed on a special stand so it would not burn everything and yet send out a gentle warm scent like lavendar and some form of marshmallows. Everything done, Marinette climbed under one blanket while the other two got a blanket each of their own. It seemed a theme, cat print for Adrien, turtle print for Nino and ladybugs with lotuses for Marinette.
All three were out for the count right away and yet Adrien could still feel the gentle, lingering warmth of the last bath, the last meal and the last cup of tea as well as the warm feeling of hominess that he didn't usually get to have settle into his bones as he fell out. But Marinette's words came to him in his sleep from that first day.
"Trust me Adrien...I think it might be a good thing..."