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Of all the possible reveal scenarios, Marinette hadn’t expected that it would go quite like this.
To be fair, neither had Adrien.
The class had visited the beach that day – and the bright sun and cloudless sky made ideal conditions for sunbathing.
Marinette sighed as she lathered sunscreen onto her arm, “Isn’t it amazing, Alya?”
“Yeah, huh,” Alya nodded absent-mindedly. She continued scrolling through her phone and reading the latest akuma coverage. She was still irritated that she hadn’t been there for the most recent – the Candy Man.
“Hi ladies,” Adrien smiled charmingly, holding his towel in one hand and a bottle of water in the other, “Mind if I sit with you?”
“No-nuh-no,” Marinette stammered, shielding the light with her hand. She scootched a little so he had room under their umbrella. “You can sit with us, but wouldn’t you prefer to play in the water with the other guys?” She gestured to Nino, Kim, Nathanael, Marc, and Max who seemed to be playing some sort of game of dunking each other.
Adrien unfolded his towel and shook his head, “No. I actually don’t like water. I prefer sun-bathing. My father prefers it when I sunbathe too.”
Marinette frowned and Alya looked up from her phone in concern, “Shouldn’t you rebel against him every once in a while?” Alya commented, “He controls your entire life.”
He smiled weakly, “I do occasionally, but I seriously hate the water.”
They chatted for a few minutes before Alya returned to her phone, Marinette to her book (and secretively peeking at the boy beside her,) and Adrien dozed into a nap.
Nino arrived a few minutes later to recruit Alya in a sea-shell hunting mission – and Marinette couldn’t help but blush at the fantasies of her and Adrien one day doing the same.
She sighed dreamily. They were alone together on the beach! How romantic. (And it didn’t matter if he was asleep. It was still romantic.)
Marinette was so invested in weaving her imaginary future with the model, that she barely noticed him stir. But when she did notice, she was fixated.
He mumbled gently to himself, flipping to his side so he faced her. “No, we’re out of camembert,” he murmured, beginning to hum gently.
She couldn’t contain her giggle. The giggle turned into a choke when she realized what Adrien was doing.
He wasn’t humming, and he wasn’t necessarily vibrating. He was purring. Purring loudly. Marinette’s eyes widened in shock and horror, and she fell down against her towel, accidently hitting the sand.
The noise woke the boy, and he sleepily inspected the sandy-haired girl beside him. “You okay?”
Marinette sat up and shook the sand out of her hair. She turned to look at Adrien, her face settling into an expression he was used to seeing on another girl’s face. “Did I just hear you purr, Kitty?” she teased him.
Adrien turned pink then looked away, embarrassed, before looking back up at her and purring again.