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“Aaaaagh…”
Why did it have to be so. Damn. BRIGHT?! Was someone so intent on torturing her that they insisted on shining a light in her face?!
She scrunched her eyes closed, trying desperately to shut out the offending light.
As she twitched, she felt something beside her. Something warm, big, and familiar.
Still unwilling to open her eyes, she threw out her arm, gingerly trying to feel the thing next to her.
Torso, legs, arms - all reinforcing her first suspicion. Some person was cuddling up with her.
The hair was the true giveaway. Fluffy and soft, hair that she’d tousled many times as she’d petted her partner, hair that she’d felt as she leaned against his shoulder.
“Kitty…?”
A low vibration started up in her partner’s chest. She relaxed into him, sinking down until her head was in his lap, enjoying the pleasant sound of her friend’s (lover’s?) contentment.
Her partner was by her side. All was right with the world.
…
…
…
...Wait.
Something about that didn’t seem right.
Ah, whatever. Her kitty was here, that’s what mattered.
“Five more minutes, Plagg…”
Marinette snorted. “Not him,” she said blearily. Did she really smell that bad?
“No, you smell like… like… like cookies and cloth.”
She blinked. “I said that out loud?”
She felt Chat’s chin go up, then down again.
Even without seeing him, she still knew his body language, could still read her partner.
Snuggling her face into his chest, she took a big whiff.
Immediately memories of baking in the kitchen with Maman and Papa surged back as the scent of dough embedded itself comfortably in her nose.
Different from what she normally associated with her Kitty, but still unmistakably him.
“Tikki would love the way you smell,” she muttered. “She eats four times her weight in cookies every day.”
Her partner laughed, a deep laugh that sent her head shaking. “That’s tame compared to what Plagg gets up to. He’ll happily eat an entire duffel bag worth of Camembert in one sitting. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to explain needing that much cheese every day? And the STENCH…!”
Marinette smiled. This was far from the first time he’d complained about his kwami’s eating habits. Yet as much as he whined about it, she always detected the fondness in his voice. She’d missed him so much…
Her eyes flew open.
“AAAAH OW OW OW OW!”
The light had not, unfortunately, magically vanished over the past few minutes, instead only getting stronger.
CURSE YOU SUN.
But it was enough to get a glimpse at the boy next to her.
Adrien Agreste.
Hawkmoth’s son.
The boy whose life she’d ruined.
Oh crap oh crap he had to have figured out she was Ladybug, he must hate her now and she’d DESERVE IT, she should go and apply for another internship overseas so he didn’t have to live in the same house as the person who orphaned him-
Blinking rapidly, she tried to get her eyes to adjust. She needed to at least look him in the eyes as she apologized, as she explained what she’d been unable to last night, as she-
He wasn’t glaring at her.
He didn’t look upset or angry or sad at all.
He just laid there giving her the roundest, most adoring, most hopeful eyes she’d seen since - well, since he gave her that look yesterday.
“Milady?”
…
…
…
“Oh, fuck me,” Marinette said.
Sabine winced as another round of excited screaming and yelling started up. “You think they forgot how sound carries in this house?”
Tom shrugged. “At least they’re getting along?”