Chapter Text
Adrien never thought he’d see the day where he’d actually have more free time than he knew what to do with. With Paris--and basically the rest of the world--under quarantine, he was stuck at home the entire day with only his father, Nathalie, and the Gorilla to keep him company. And Plagg, of course, but the kwami of destruction didn’t do much but complain about his dwindling stash of cheese. Most of Adrien’s extracurriculars had been canceled (he was still expected to practice though, but that only took up so much time), he couldn’t go to school and see his friends, and worst of all, he couldn’t parade around the city as Chat Noir or see his lady. Somehow Hawk Moth had realized there was no point in akumatizing people while they were all in quarantine.
This left Adrien to spend his days idly browsing the Ladyblog, binge watching anime, reading all the Ladynoir fanfiction he could stomach before asking himself why in the world he was reading fanfiction about himself, and occasionally FaceTiming his friends. Even Ladybug had decided to give him a safe email with the warning, “don’t you dare try and track the IP address, kitty”, so they could keep in touch.
All in all, he’d say things were going pretty well. But it didn’t stop him from being completely bored from time to time.
“Hey Plagg?” Adrien asked one day, flopping onto his bed and sighing dramatically. “I’m bored.”
“Good for you, kid,” Plagg said, hovering over his chosen’s head.
“And I can’t even FaceTime Nino because he said he’s spending time with Chris today.”
“You could always get me more cheese,” Plagg offered. He snarfed down a hunk of camembert. “My supply is running low.”
Adrien sat up, looking at Plagg with a frown. “I told you not to eat up the stash that quickly.”
The kwami shrugged. He grabbed another piece of cheese and wolfed it down.
Adrien rolled his eyes and said nothing, instead turning over in his bed. “I could talk with Ladybug, but we just talked this morning and I don’t want to bother her again. . . .”
“Why don’t you just talk to Pigtails?”
“Pigtails?” Adrien echoed, confused.
“Yeah, Pigtails. The one you’re always gushing about.”
Adrien didn’t register the jab. “Oh, you mean Marinette!”
Of course! Why hadn’t he thought of that earlier? It had been a couple of days since he’d talked with her, and even then it was in a group call with Nino and Alya. He hadn’t had a chance to talk with her separately yet. He smiled. It would be nice to catch up with Marinette and see how she was faring.
“Good, call her and don’t bother me,” Plagg grumbled as he perceived the widening grin on Adrien’s face.
“What are you gonna do anyway?” Adrien asked, watching his kwami fly up towards the bookshelves and out of sight.
“None of your business!” Plagg yelled.
He ignored his kwami and instead checked the time--it was 15:00, meaning Marinette should be free--before grabbing his phone, scrolling through his contacts, and hitting call. It rang twice before Marinette picked up. He beamed at the camera, but frowned when his phone displayed her ceiling and not her face. In the background he could hear faint sewing noises.
“Gimme a sec, Alya,” Marinette muttered. “I’m finishing something up.”
She thinks I’m Alya.
Marinette would have a pleasant surprise when she finally picked up the phone, Adrien thought in amusement. So he waited, listening to the rapid humming of her sewing machine. It went on for a minute or two--incredibly awkward minutes, might he add--before Marinette finally picked up the phone and held it to her face.
“Hey Marinette,” Adrien said.
Marinette yelped and promptly dropped the phone. It fell to the floor with a clang. “A--Adrien! I--I’m so--sorry!” He heard her scrambling to pick it up. “I didn’t realize it was you.”
“That’s okay,” Adrien said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. Marinette propped her phone against her desk so that he could see her face. He noticed that Marinette’s hair was down. It was clearly uncombed, dangling loosely against her shoulders. It was such a different look from her usual pigtails. She looked more mature, and much. . . . prettier .
He caught himself staring. Adrien cleared his throat. “Your hair looks nice. I’ve never seen you wear it down before.”
“Oh.” Marinette’s cheeks flushed with color. “Thanks. I just didn’t bother to comb it today, because well, you know.” She waved her hands around.
He laughed. “I get it. It’s a miracle I actually shower every single day,” he joked.
“I know right!” Marinette exclaimed. “I’m usually terrible with getting enough sleep,” she added, “but now when I actually have time, I stay up doing other things.”
Adrien nodded. “I’ve had more free time now than I’ve ever had before, and I can’t seem to find enough things to do.”
“I’ve been filling my time by working on commissions,” Marinette said. She held a couple of sewing pins against her lips.
“I practiced piano earlier and worked on some math sheets, but now I’m bored,” he said, flopping back against his pillow and holding his arms up to keep his phone angled towards him.
“What, you’re out of Ladynoir fanfiction to read?” Marinette teased.
Adrien scowled. When Nino had figured out his secret obsession, it hadn’t taken long for the rest of his friends to find out. “You’re never gonna let that go, are you?”
“It’s not my fault you’re such a dork,” she said pointedly. She took one of the pins from her lips, and the faint humming of the sewing machine started up once again. “If you could, I bet you’d write your own Ladynoir fanfics.”
“What do you mean if I could?” He asked indignantly. “Of course I can write!”
Marinette stopped what she was doing and raised her eyebrows at him. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Adrien grinned. “Challenge accepted.”
“Wait, you’re actually gonna do it?” She stared at him, incredulous.
He shrugged. “It’ll give me something to do.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“I can bet you that my Ladynoir fanfics will be a thousand times better than anything you’ve ever read.” Adrien got up from his bed and started walking towards his computer. “In fact, I’ll start writing one right now.”
Marinette rolled her eyes. “I doubt it.”
A comfortable silence stretched between them as Marinette continued to sew and Adrien pulled up a new word document. Ladybug would kill him if she ever figured out he was writing fanfiction about them, but that was a thought for another day. It wouldn’t hurt not to tell her, right?
(If only he knew.)
The next couple of hours went by in a blur. As they continued to work on their own things, the two of them talked, laughed, playfully teased each other. . . . it was simply amazing.
“I have to go now,” Marinette said. It had been almost four hours since he’d called her. “For dinner.”
Adrien nodded, checking the time. “I probably have to go now anyways,” he said.
Marinette stood up, taking her phone with her. He could hear walking towards her trapdoor. “Make sure you share that fanfic with me when you’re done with it.”
He grinned. “Sure. And then you’ll have to admit that it’s the best thing you’ve ever read.”
“We’ll see about that.” He could hear the sound of her opening her trapdoor.
“If you don’t mind,” Adrien started, hesitant, “do you want to call again tomorrow too?”
Marinette smiled at him. “I’d like that.”
“Great!” He beamed, waving at his phone. “See you tomorrow then.”
“You too,” she said, and with that, the call clicked off.
Adrien sighed and blinked dreamily at his phone.
“Ew, gross!” Plagg flew out of his hiding spot and glared at Adrien. “Your love sickness while talking to Pigtails was so painful to watch.”
Adrien smiled at the comment and placed his phone down on his desk. “That wasn’t love sickness, Plagg. Marinette’s my friend.”
“Sure kid,” Plagg grumbled. “Whatever you say.”
Adrien ignored his kwami, instead reminiscing on the past couple of hours. He was so lucky that he got to spend that time with Marinette. She was such a great friend, and hopefully, he’d be able to spend that much time with her everyday.
He grinned. It seemed that the rest of quarantine was going to be great.