Work Text:
Adrien awoke to the fresh smell of lavender right when the last yellows and oranges of the day crept away, leaving room for the night sky to peek through. Taking advantage of the few minutes of sunlight remaining, he looked around and took in the breathtaking view present in the Montbrun Les Bains fields.
Looking up from where his head rested on her lap, Adrien locked eyes with Marinette, who never stopped scratching the area behind where his cat ears would be if he were transformed.
He noticed she rested her hat near the tree, which allowed him to fully take in her captivating beauty for the first time that day.
She giggled and covered her face, hand full with nearby lavender she picked out during his slumber. “Stop staring at me.” The young woman muffled as he continued to do just that.
Adrien hadn’t felt this content in a while. After recently finding out his now-imprisoned father is Hawkmoth and having to check in his mother to the hospital (who insisted that modern-day medicine could wake the blonde up from a miraculous induced coma), he was exhausted, to say the least. That’s why the superhero team went on this trip, to begin with, there were many things he needed to forget and a vacation in France was the best way to do it.
Besides, who can be thinking about anything but Marinette while they were in her company?
His soft smile was barely visible through the cracks between her fingers that continued to cover her now crimson face. Adrien reached his hand up and gently removed both of her lavender-filled hands off her face, placing a kiss on each palm before releasing them.
He still hadn’t spoken. Frankly, he didn’t need to; it was unnecessary to explain why he gaped at her when he woke up to such a magical scene. Turning his head to the side, he inhaled the scent of the flowers she’d picked out and finally noticed what she had done with them.
“Are those two lavenders tied?” He belatedly spoke, asking as he continued to observe the movement of her hands which continued to weave the flowers together.
She shot him a smile that would surely put the stars to shame. Among the attributes Adrien loved most about Marinette was her tendency to get extremely giddy about something she was passionate about. He could tell it was going to be one of those moments when he asked about the flora in her hand and she instantly grinned at the question.
“I’m making you a flower crown.” She answered.
“ Me ?” Adrien questioned again, interlocking his fingers with her busy hand and bringing it to his chest. “If you want to truly give me the best gift, then give me the chance to see you wearing it.”
“Noooo,” she whined. “I made this with you in mind. I would much rather see you wear it than model it myself.”
A lightbulb illuminated the young man’s love-filled mind. He sat upright and proposed an idea, “How about this- you teach me how to make one so we can both fulfill our goals of seeing the other wearing a lavender crown.”
She nodded fervently, her smile never leaving her face as she watched him patiently wait for her instructions.
“It’s quite simple really,” she began. “Using your fingernail, puncture a vertical hole through the stem of the lavender, like so.” The young woman demonstrated the process to her boyfriend, whose focus was mainly on her face rather than her hands. “Chatton!”
“I’m sorry, I’m listening, I swear. So you puncture a hole…” He repeated her last sentence to show that he indeed did pay attention.
“Yes. You puncture a hole and then you get another lavender and place its stem inside the hole. Pull it through the full way until the flower head of the second lavender reaches the stem of the first lavender. Got it?”
“Yup!” He answered as he picked up a few plucked-out flowers to try this new technique. “And what do I do after that?” He asked a few minutes later.
“You puncture a hole in the second lavender, and just continue the chain until you get a length you’re comfortable with. Voila!” Marinette held up the flower crown she’d swiftly finished making while Adrien struggled to get two stems connected. She carefully lay the lilac crown on his golden locks, adjusting the loose shape on his head.
Stepping back, she marveled at her beautiful work of art. Although the night sky surrounded them, Marinette had still been able to notice how adorable he looked at that moment. Wearing a lavender crown, surrounded by lavender fields, while tying lavender stems together was a scene the young woman never wanted to let go of. She immortalized the memory using an old film camera she’d carried along for the trip.
Wanting to bask in his warmth as the cool night air settled in, it was her turn to now lay her head down on his lap and gaze at him and his busy hands.
“The stems kept breaking and I am pretty sure I am going to smell like lavender forever, but I’m done!” The ecstatic declaration Adrien gave brought Marinette out of her peaceful slumber mood as she excitedly sat up straight. Her body knelt forward and she tipped her head, waiting to be crowned.
He placed the perfectly put together crown on her head and tucked in some stray hairs that danced with the light breeze. “May I kiss you?” He asked as he leaned in. She fervently shook her head yes and pushed herself up using her palms on the ground to reach his sitting height.
The kiss was everything the night they shared was: gentle and graceful, soft and kind, and full of hope for the future they would soon share together. Despite the circumstances that lead to this moment, Adrien wouldn’t have had it any either way if he could spend most of his afternoons like this. He knew then that happiness is where his Ladybug went.