Chapter Text
Chat Noir was silently screaming.
‘No. No. No! No! NO!’
He was running and leaping on all fours over the rooftops of his city; claws biting into the flat and angled surfaces, pushing himself to go faster.
He had to get away! He had to run!
His lungs were straining with effort as they worked to supply the oxygen his muscles demanded. He ran faster, looping the center of the sprawling City of Lights in minutes.
The magic of his suit sustained his reckless pace as long as it could. His ring beeped again, warning that his time was almost up. Only one minute left.
His instincts were shrieking at him to find someplace safe to hide and lick his wounds.
There was one place he wanted to go. One person he wanted to be with. He turned his nose to the south, and kept running.
Marinette stumbled up to her room sometime after one in the morning. Chloé had thrown herself a surprisingly good eighteenth birthday party. She hadn’t even been the one to cause the akuma that evening.
As much fun as dancing and hanging out with her friends had been, right now nothing sounded better than face-planting into her mattress and not rejoining the land of the living until noon.
Marinette yawned as she gave her freshly washed and dried hair another ruffle and climbed the ladder to her warm, soft—
Someone was sprawled face down on her bed.
Drowsiness vanished in the wake of adrenaline flooding her veins, triggering her combat reflexes. She reserved her screams, taking a moment to analyze the situation first. The young man’s silhouette was familiar. His broad shoulders. His blond hair.
“Adrien?” she breathed, her brain struggling to work out what was happening, why he was here—on her bed of all places.
She gave him a once over. He didn’t appear to be injured. Neither his dress shirt nor his slacks bore a wrinkle. They molded to his form effortlessly, highlighting his—ahem—assets. Definitely bespoke, of course. Gabriel Agreste would never let his son wear anything off the rack.
His shiny dress shoes weren’t even scuffed. Whatever happened must have been an emotional blow, not a physical one. Marinette forced her thoughts away from imagining what could have happened before she worked herself up.
The young man lifted his head to blink at her blearily over his shoulder. Even in the near darkness of her bedroom, she could make out the tears staining his cheeks. He grimaced and buried his face in her pillow again. His shoulders shook under the sapphire blue material of his shirt.
Her pillow wasn’t enough to completely muffle his keening sobs. His sorrow pierced her, her heart breaking alongside his. Tears were starting to pool in her own eyes.
‘Oh, Adrien.’
Marinette cautiously climbed the last steps to the loft. She took care not to touch him as she slowly crawled over his long limbs to the head of the bed. Kneeling near his head, she reached for him, but hesitated. Her hand hovered over his shuddering shoulder, frozen by indecision.
Was this right? Did he want her to comfort him, or would he rather be left alone? No. He had come here. He hadn’t holed himself up in his room, or gone to Kagami or Nino. He had come here and somehow gotten into her room without anyone noticing. For whatever reason, he had chosen her.
Her fingers slipped into his golden hair, softly stroking it, running the tips of her fingers lightly over his scalp. He didn’t react. She repeated the motion again and again, praying that he understood her intentions.
Sure, she had been harboring a secret crush for him for the last four years, and had dreamed of resting his head in her lap while stroking his hair like this more times than was probably healthy, but this wasn’t anything like those fantasies. He was her friend, and he was in pain.
She kept up her silent ministrations, pouring every ounce of compassion and love that she could into the action.
Adrien relaxed under her touch, piece by piece. His tremors stilled. His sobbing quieted to deep, even breaths. He turned his head in her direction, resting his cheek on her pillow, eyes closed, eyelashes damp in the moonlight.
Marinette was tempted to hum the lullaby playing in her head. Ultimately, she decided against it. There was something comforting about the silence.
She was pretty sure Adrien had fallen asleep by the time she pulled her fingers back from his locks. Her arm was going to be sore tomorrow, but it was worth it.
Deciding it was best to leave him where he was and sort out what had happened in the morning, Marinette untied his shoes and slipped them off his feet, setting them neatly under the edge of her bed. She then prodded him with gentle nudges to move over so that she could tuck him under the duvet. He complied, moving sluggishly.
Satisfied that he was comfortable enough, Marinette kissed his temple in a silent ‘good night’ before turning to leave. She would sleep on her chaise.
She didn’t get far.
Marinette gasped softly when Adrien grabbed her wrist. His hand was soft and almost burned against her icy skin. Her thin camisole and shorts set had been insufficient to protect her as the temperature in her room had slowly dropped. She’d been so concerned about Adrien she hadn’t noticed how cold it had gotten.
Adrien barely cracked one eye open to look at her, his face half covered by her pillow. He didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Marinette swallowed.
“Do—“ she hesitated. “Do you want me to stay?” she whispered.
He tugged her toward him gently in a silent request, coaxing, but not demanding. After another minute of weighing all the pros and cons, Marinette shoved her nerves into a mental box next to the one with all her questions to be dealt with later, and crawled into bed, lying with her back to him.
Adrien rolled onto his side and pulled the duvet around her up to her neck. He found her hand and laced his fingers with hers, inching forward so that they were lying cuddled together.
Marinette shivered, trying not to think about what this would feel like under other circumstances. His arm over hers, fingers intertwined, pulling her to him, holding her close. His body heat radiated into her, warming her back and seeping into her limbs. Her head fit perfectly under his chin. Actually, her whole body fit perfectly against his, like they were two puzzle pieces matched together forming a whole.
His leg wrapped lazily over hers. Marinette sighed, enjoying the warmth and closeness. Tomorrow with all of its problems and complications would come, but for tonight they were safe, snuggled together under her thick duvet. She matched her breath to the steady rise and fall of his chest, and drifted to sleep.
Adrien kept very, very still. Come morning he would accept every scathing lecture he so justly deserved about boundaries and proper behavior; but for tonight, he ignored them all. He crossed line after line, gratefully receiving every kind gesture Marinette bestowed on him, and selfishly asking for more.
He held her, feeling the way her soft body molded perfectly to his. She shivered once, but didn’t pull away. Her skin was so cold where it touched his through their clothes. Her fingers, laced with his, were freezing. He draped a leg over hers, convincing himself that his only motivation was to help her warm up faster.
Friends didn’t spoon while sharing a bed. This was way over the line.
Instead of elbowing him hard in the stomach and yelling at him about his wildly inappropriate behavior before kicking him out and banning him from her home and life forever, Marinette sighed. It wasn’t an annoyed or exasperated sounding sigh either. It sounded content. Happy.
Her body relaxed as it warmed. She brushed the top of her head under his chin in a little nuzzle before laying her head on their shared pillow and going still, her breaths slowing as she slept.
Adrien buried his nose in her hair, drinking in the fresh scent of sun-ripened strawberries and sweet vanilla shampoo. What would he have to give to make every day like this? It wasn’t like he had much left to give, only his fortune and his name, and Marinette wasn’t interested in either.
“Psst. Hey, Kid.”
“Yeah, Plagg?” Adrien answered the whisper quietly.
“You gonna be okay long enough for me to go grab some cheese?”
“Yeah. Grab a wheel from your fridge back at the mansion. I don’t want you taking anything from the Dupain-Chengs.”
The kwami nudged his holder’s cheek with his tiny head affectionately in acknowledgement, then phased through the skylight into the night. Adrien wasn’t worried about him. It wasn’t like there was going to be an akuma tonight—or ever again, for that matter.
The sounds of the city quieted as the hours wore on, but never fell completely silent. Adrien couldn’t sleep. He had gotten a few minutes while Marinette had been stroking his hair, his mind and body calming under her touch. Now he was wired awake, his mind churning over the events that had happened mere hours ago in that room, reliving them over and over again.
He held Marinette tighter, drawing strength from her presence. She was sure and steady, a bright point to anchor himself to while he endeavored to weather the raging storm his life had become.
She hummed dreamily—actually hummed—while he took advantage of her kindness. The world didn’t deserve someone as pure and generous as Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
“Adrien,” she mumbled. He listened carefully, his heart conversely swelling and twisting painfully knowing that she was speaking his name in her sleep. “What happened?”
“I can’t tell you that, Princess,” he whispered back. ‘You would hate me. I couldn’t survive losing you too.’
“Worried…”
“I know. I’m sorry.” He took a chance and nuzzled her hair, offering as much comfort as he could.
‘Too good. Too precious.’
“Adri…”
She fell deeper into unconsciousness. He matched his breath to hers, their lungs rising and falling gently in sync.
By some miracle, he was able to fall into a dreamless sleep as well.
Adrien awoke with the sun a couple of hours later. He was pleasantly cozy, wrapped around the young woman he was shamelessly sharing a bed with, hidden from the world under her pink duvet.
It had gotten harder to act normal around Marinette this school year, their last year together before graduating and going their separate ways to face the world as adults. He found himself going out of his way to talk to her. Compliments rolled off his tongue like water. Her shoulder was a natural place to rest his hand. She needed help with something? He was the first to volunteer. He thought it was just part of being her friend. Everyone liked Marinette.
Then last night his world imploded and took with it all the mental clutter and lies he had been telling himself.
Adrien tightened his slack grip around Marinette’s waist, pulling her closer. ‘Mine,’ the quiet voice in the back of his mind whispered. The same voice that had recognized a long time ago how he felt about this woman, before Adrien himself was conscious of it.
That voice had always been there. He simply hadn’t been able to hear it over the chorus singing Ladybug’s praises. Then last night as he fled over the rooftops, the choir fell silent, and he knew. Ladybug wasn’t the one he needed. It was Marinette. It had always been Marinette.
His princess stirred in his arms, trying to get more comfortable. Adrien accommodated her, rolling onto his back as she turned over. Still asleep, she snuggled into him, laying her head on his shoulder. Her free arm dropped across his chest. His breath hitched when her heel brushed up his calf, her leg coming to rest between his.
He held her close, one arm wrapped around her middle, his other hand rested on hers over his heart. This felt right. He was where he needed to be. Adrien dropped a light kiss on Marinette’s hair, and drifted to the hazy line between asleep and awake once more.
Marinette woke with a slight crick in her neck, but otherwise she felt amazing—well rested and perfectly relaxed. And she was warm, much warmer than she typically felt first thing in the morning this time of year.
She yawned and stretched. The body she was lying against shifted.
Marinette’s eyes snapped open. The bizarre events of the night before came back in a rush, feeling like the phantoms of a dream in the cold daylight. She propped herself on her elbows, staring at the sleeping face of her bedmate.
Adrien.
He was really here. In her bed. His heavenly scent soaking into her bedding.
She wanted to pinch herself. She settled for tracing every line of his face with her eyes. She could write a dissertation on how his features had changed since they first met—becoming sharper, leaner, more mature. He was a shoo-in for Paris’ Sexiest Bachelor next year now that he was old enough to be eligible for the title.
But the Adrien before her wasn’t the airbrushed supermodel the public knew. His hair was in disarray, his skin was pale, and deep circles bruised the skin under his eyes. He looked like he’d barely slept at all.
Marinette studied him until she heard her mother bustling in the kitchen below. She sat up. Adrien’s hand fell from the small of her back to her hip. She bit her lip, a blush heating her face. This casual closeness shouldn’t be flipping her stomach in somersaults and making her heart rate compete with a hummingbird’s wings.
‘He’s just a friend!’
She glanced at him over her shoulder, at war with herself. She lost the battle and carefully leaned over, brushing a kiss to his cheek before climbing out of bed and tiptoeing downstairs to fetch some breakfast.
Adrien could feel Marinette’s eyes on him. He kept his breathing slow and even, feigning sleep. Soon the dream would be over. He would have to face reality. He wasn’t ready to let this go quite yet.
After several minutes, she sat up. His hand fell from her back, sliding along her pajamas to her hip. He wanted to curl his fingers into the fabric and bring her back for more cuddles, but resisted the impulse. He’d already taken too many liberties with her. He needed to stop. Soon he would have to wake up and face the consequences of his reprehensible behavior. He contemplated opening his eyes now and getting it over with.
Marinette leaned closer. He could feel her warm breath on his face, her unbound hair brushing his neck. Adrien braced himself.
The kiss was light and tender, barely there, but there was no mistaking the soft brush of lips against his cheek. His heart stuttered. Heat rushed through his chest and pooled in his stomach.
Then she was gone. Marinette slipped away, retreating down the ladder and through the trap door in the floor.
“Plagg?” Adrien asked huskily, staring at nothing. “Did I dream that?”
“Eh, who can say? Dreams and reality are fickle things, easy to get confused. I don’t bother keeping track any more. As long as there’s camembert, I figure everything’s a dream.”
Adrien was too stunned to even roll his eyes. Did she… did Marinette… like him?
He eased himself into a sitting position, careful not to hit his head on the low ceiling.
“What’s your plan now, Casanova?” his kwami drawled.
“How does running away like a coward sound?” Adrien asked, searching under the bed for his shoes.
“Works for me.” Plagg stretched and yawned loudly.
Adrien laced his shoes on and transformed, slipping out the skylight and into the late morning air.