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Standing atop the grand staircase, Marinette took a deep breath. She gripped the railing tightly, narrowing her eyes. She couldn’t really see the other side, the dark of the night hanging over her like a curtain. Marinette bit her lip, unable to understand why she couldn’t just take a step forward. She’d left her purse in the foyer, and she wanted to get a band-aid from it because she had no idea where one would be located in this house (if it could even be called that). Why hadn’t she taken her little first-aid kit out of her purse and put it in her overnight bag? That would make much more sense.
While she was dwelling on slightly self-deprecating questions, Marinette wondered how on earth she managed to cut her finger on her own nail in the first place. She held her phone up to check out her hand. It was still bleeding a little, damn. Maybe she should just return to her room and go without the band-aid anyway. Apparently the stairs were too intimidating for her.
Why was she so scared to creep down the stairs? She wouldn’t be bothering anybody, surely they were all asleep! The house was so huge, there would be no way anybody could hear her. She’d already made it out of the room and down the hall completely silent. Marinette had saved Paris as Ladybug countless times, but she couldn’t sneak down a staircase just because she wasn’t used to the place? As of two weeks ago, she was legally an adult for Pete’s sake!
Marinette took another deep breath and lifted her foot, exhaling as she stepped down. Her next breath was a huge gasp, though, as somebody placed their hand on her shoulder. She spun around and grabbed the arm, stopping the mystery person from moving any further and managing to keep her balance atop the staircase in one exaggerated movement. A second later, she regretted her decision. Her eyes went wide, realizing who it could be. Then she shut her eyes tight, as if that would prevent her from finding out the identity of the person she’d apprehended.
“Marinette?” Adrien’s voice drifted towards her in a concerned whisper. “I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have startled you like that, I should have said something first,” he hissed hurriedly. “That was really stupid of me.”
Marniette slowly blinked open her eyes, “Adrien?” she said in a quiet and fearful voice. She let out her breath in a relieved sigh. “I’m sorry,” she said as she released him. “I’m a little jumpy.”
“It’s not your fault, it’s dark in here, and I’m as quiet as a cat.” Marinette couldn’t quite see, but she was sure Adrien was grinning. She rolled her eyes, not that he could see it either, but perhaps he could. “What are you doing out here?” Adrien asked.
“I’m sorry if I woke you,” Marinette winced, rubbing the back of her neck.
“You didn’t,” Adrien chuckled quietly. “I was up to use the bathroom and noticed your door was open... You weren’t in the bathroom, though, so I got a little worried. Is something wrong?”
“No,” Marinette told him. “I just.. I cut myself. With my own nail,” Marinette admitted glumly. She bent her head down and held out her bleeding thumb. Adrien took her hand and used his phone to look at it, just as she had.
“Oh, Mari,” Adrien clicked his tongue. He brought the back of her hand to his lips, placing a kiss there. “Why are you out here, though? There are band-aids in the bathroom; I could have got one for you.”
“I have some in my bag downstairs. I didn’t want to wake you over something as silly as this.”
“How did you even manage... y’know what? Nevermind, it’s you,” Adrien shook his head, but he was still smiling at her.
Marinette heaved a sigh. “I was picking at my nails and my hand slipped.”
“You shouldn’t pick at your nails,” Adrien advised. Marinette glared at him, but he couldn’t see. “C’mon,” he said, making a gesture with his head that she, again, could barely see. He took her hand and led her to the bathroom, flicking on the lights. They whined in unison, and Adrien went to the first closet, pulling out a red bag. He grabbed some ointment and a band-aid. “You should go wash that off.”
Marinette put her hands over her eyes. “Adrien, it’s so tiny. I probably don’t even need the band-aid in the first place.”
“We’re here already, just go rinse it off,” Adrien offered her another small smile.
“This is ridiculous,” Marinette said, going over to the sink to rink her thumb of the dried blood. “Look, it’s basically stopped bleeding!”
“Why do you sound upset by that? It’s good that it’s just a small cut,” Adrien shook his head again, having followed her over. He took her limp hand and put a dab of ointment on the barely visible cut, then put the band-aid over it. He pressed a kiss to the spot, then lifted his hand to brush his knuckles over Marinette’s cheek. “What’s the matter, Marinette?”
Marinette shook her head at him, “I’m fine.”
“You only pick at your nails when you’re nervous or upset, or a combination of those two things,” Adrien murmured. “Tell me?”
“I’m just... I don’t know,” Marinette put her forehead on his shoulder and he looped his arms around her, rubbing her shoulder blade. “Things are stressful, I guess. I mean, school’s over now, which should be good, but people will be leaving soon and I don’t know when I’ll see them again. And now I’m faced with being an actual adult, I know I should be prepared but it’s scary. And I know I’ve had stressful times and I’ve dealt with overloads before, so I don’t know what’s up. Like, objectively, this is no worse than when I was 15 and just becoming Ladybug. I handled that back then, I should be fine now.”
“Hey, just because you’ve been through stressful times before doesn’t mean it’s not just as stressful now. You’re human, Marinette. And, really, the stress hasn’t slowed down much since we were fifteen. It’s okay if you’re a little worn out right now, you have every right to be. We’re all going through big changes, it’s normal to be stressed out. You just need to take it slow for a little while. And that’s what we’re trying to do, right? That’s why you’re here.”
Marinette nodded slowly. Adrien pressed his cheek to her head, squeezing her tightly. “Yeah,” she murmured. “Adrien?”
“Yeah?”
“If I’m being completely honest, this is stressing me out a bit too.”
Adrien stiffened just a bit, breathing in through his nose. “This?”
“Not, like, us hugging in the bathroom. Hugging is nice. More like... Just, being here, y’know? This is the first time I’ve ever spent the night at your place. And we’re going to be going on vacation, with your father. I know we’ve met before and he doesn’t dislike me or anything, but he doesn’t know me that well either. What if he gets to know me ends up hating me and doesn’t want me to see you anymore?” Marinette moved her head from under his cheek and looked up at him. “I know it’s silly, but I’m still scared.”
Adrien felt for her. He looked at her with nothing but warmth, concern, and adoration in his eyes. “Marinette, my father is a difficult person to get along with, but trust me, he won’t hate you. It’s impossible. Don’t be worried if he’s cold and harsh, he’s more strict with me than anyone. Yet, I know, somehow, he loves me more than anything too. I know it doesn’t appear that way, but trust me.”
Marinette nodded at him. “Okay,” she said, burying her face in his neck once again.
“Try to relax. We should get some sleep soon, hm? Thankfully the flight isn’t early at all, but still.”
“Yeah,” Marinette sighed against his neck. “Let’s go to bed,” Marinette said after a moment, pulling away from Adrien.
The two of them made their way out of the bathroom and shut off the lights, creeping back down the hall. A few steps out, though, the lights were turned on for some other reason. Marinette gasped and threw out her arm in front of Adrien, who was equally startled at the sudden change (he wouldn’t admit that he jumped, but he had).
“Father! What are you doing awake?” Adrien asked, blinking a few times as his shoulders slowly relaxed. Marinette was still stiff, but she let her arm fall from in front of his chest.
“I could ask you the same thing. We have a long day tomorrow, Adrien, you should be asleep.”
“I, uh, just needed to use the bathroom, and Marinette needed a band-aid,” Adrien explained, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Why go to the hall? You have a bathroom in your room,” Gabriel pointed out. The corner of Gabriel’s mouth quirked up upon seeing the sheepish look on Adrien’s face. Gabriel resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he regarded the slightly puzzled look on Marinette’s face, which was replaced by realization a moment later. Kids.
“Ah, yeah. Well, anyway, if I hadn’t gone to the hall I wouldn’t have been able to give Marinette a band-aid, so it’s all good,” Adrien claimed, lifting Marinette’s hand to make his point. “You haven’t told us yet why you’re wandering the halls, Father.”
“I have a meeting in twenty minutes,” Gabriel explained, glancing at his watch. “Nineteen, actually.”
“A meeting? At this time? It’s almost two thirty,” Marinette spoke in a meek voice, confused.
“The meeting time works well for the others in the conference call. Me, not so much. It’s fine. I slept a bit earlier and I’ll sleep again once it’s over,” Gabriel explained. Marinette nodded a few times. “You two should get some rest, though,” Gabriel suggested.
“Yes, of course.” Adrien cleared his throat, and continued to walk Marinette to her guest room. Gabriel continued on his way, eventually disappearing down the stairs.
“He’s had midnight meetings like this for a while,” Adrien explained. “They’re an inconvenience, but he’d rather be involved and have a say then wait for the meeting notes and find out something happened that he didn’t want.”
“That doesn’t sound fun, waking up in the middle of the night for a video chat,” Marinette shook her head.
“Nope,” Adrien agreed. They stood outside the doorway of the guest room for another moment or two. Adrien tousled his hair, and opened his mouth to say to bid her goodnight. Marinette had other plans, speaking before he could even begin.
“So you went to the hall, rather than your own bathroom, just for fun?” Marinette quirked her eyebrow.
Adrien sighed. “Okay, I was going to, maybe, sneak into your room. Just to see if you were still awake too.”
Marinette’s eyes widened as she pretended to be scandalized. “Monsieur!” she whispered.
“Mari,” Adrien knit his brows, concerned by her accusation, “it’s not like that!”
Marinette snickered. “It wouldn’t be the first time! Although, it was technically Chat Noir trying to get into my room that night.”
“It still wasn’t like that! I just wanted to see you, that night. I hadn’t planned on staying the night, or making out as silently as humanly possible.”
“Mhmm,” Marinette clicked her tongue. “Yet you had to sneak out at six in the morning in order to make it back home before your drive to school. Not to mention the strap of my favourite nightgown got ripped that night.”
Adrien avoided her gaze, his cheeks a bit pink. “Well, Chat Noir’s claws are a little annoying.”
“You’d already detransformed by the time we were sitting on my bed,” Marinette pointed out, a hand on her hip.
Adrien paused for a moment, but held his head high this time, “That strap was hanging on by a thread. Besides, I fixed it for you the next day.”
“Mhmm,” Marinette said again. She leaned against the doorway and licked her lips absently. “So.”
“So?” Adrien gave her a slightly confused look.
“Are you going to leave me be so I can get some sleep?” Marinette asked, pausing just long enough to see the disappointment cross Adrien’s face before she went on. “Or, are you going to come in with me? Or, dare I say, are you going to suggest I come down to the hall to your bedroom?”
Adrien slowly smiled at her, then looked up at the ceiling, pretending to think. “Hmm,” he mused, tapping his chin. “Well, option one is completely out of the question.” Marinette snorted at that. “Options two and three sound equally appealing, to me. I guess I’d be more comfortable in my own bedroom, but it’s up to you, my lady.”
“Yours it is,” Marinette said, pushing off the doorframe and walking past him towards his room. It was her first time staying the night, but she’d been in Adrien’s house many times over the past couple of years, first as Ladybug and as his friend, and more recently, as Adrien’s girlfriend.
Adrien followed her to his bedroom and shut off the lights in the hall once they made it. Marinette opened his door and the two of them went in. They went straight to the bed, Marinette letting Adrien take his place before sliding in next to him. It wasn’t their first time sharing a bed, as implied by their earlier conversation, but they weren’t entirely used to it either. Marinette took a few moments to shift closer to Adrien. Once she was there, he had his arm around her, pulling her closer. She felt his nose press to her cheek and thought he was just nuzzling her until his lips found her own. Marinette kissed him back with a slight smile, letting her legs tangle with his. Once they stopped kissing, Adrien nuzzled her again and Marinette let out a quiet laugh.
“What?” Adrien whispered at her.
“Nothing,” Marinette murmured back to him.”Go to sleep.”
“What is it?” Adrien laughed a bit as well. “Tell me.”
“Nothing, you just remind me of Chat sometimes, that’s all.”
Adrien put his elbow on the bed and rose to stare her down. “I remind you of Chat Noir, do I?”
“Adrien, it’s late. You know what I meant.”
“I don’t think I do, Marinette. And, say, you know you look an awful lot like that superheroine, Ladybug?”
“Adrien,” Marinette laughed. “I meant, when we were younger, there was a bigger difference in your personality when you were Chat Noir. Not that you were more than one person, but you know. We both act different in the suits. And, when we were younger, the distinction was different enough that we didn’t clue in for an embarrassingly long time.”
“I know,” Adrien smiled at her. “And I sort of knew what you meant, but I wanted to hear you say it.”
Marinette sighed. “Go to bed, sleepy kitty.”
“Why are you two still awake?” a voice complained from Adrien’s bedside table. Adrien let out a groan.
“Plagg, go back to sleep.”
“I’d still be asleep if it weren’t for you two!” Plagg floated above them. Marinette couldn’t help but giggle.
“Good thing we can sleep on the flight tomorrow,” Marinette commented, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment.
“You’re not going to sleep on the flight,” Adrien told her with a degree of certainty.
“Yes, but I could if I wanted to.”
“How about you sleep now and remove the need?” Plagg suggested, grumpy.
“You’re right, Plagg. We should sleep,” Marinette told him. Adrien muttered a ‘for once’ under his breath.
“Thank you, Marinette. I heard that, Adrien,” Plagg sniffed.
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s all go to sleep,” Adrien backed down, but not without a last remark, “We all know nothing else is about to happen here now.”
“Adrien,” Marinette hissed, but she was smiling. “See what I mean about Chat Noir coming out?”
“It’s because it’s night,” Adrien excused, finally laying back down.
“Hm, true. You do get silly and playful when you’re tired,” Marinette brushed her finger along his nose and he pretended to bite it.
“You two are gross,” Plagg commented.
“And you smell like cheese,” Adrien countered.
“You’ve said that so many times that it no longer means anything to me,” was the only response from Plagg before he settled back down on the little spot Adrien made for him.
“Anyway,” Adrien puffed up his cheeks and rolled his eyes. Marinette giggled. She could see him better in his room, his windows letting in moonlight that was absent from the dark halls of Adrien’s house. “I would say, I have a bit more confidence as Adrien that used to be reserved for Chat Noir. If I’m too forward with you, Marinette, please tell me.”
“Oh, no no, you’re fine, Adrien. I was just teasing,” Marinette put her hand on his cheek, stroking her thumb up and down. “I love all of you. Your charm, your intelligence, your kindness... just, everything. Adrien and Chat Noir, all of it.”
Adrien looked at her with love in his eyes for a few moments before he let out a tiny laugh and buried his face in her neck. “How are you so perfect?” he said, muffled.
“I could ask the same thing about you,” Marinette ran her fingers through his hair as he titled his head enough to kiss along her collar and, eventually, up to her lips.
“I love you, Marinette,” Adrien murmured. “I hope you know that.”
“Of course, Adrien,” Marinette brushed his hair back again, loving how soft it felt.
“I really mean it,” Adrien insisted, although she’d just agreed with him. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too,” Marinette told him, punctuating with a firm kiss to the lips. “Now go to sleep, kitty cat.”
Adrien nodded and kissed her one more time before settling next to her, one arm across her waist. Marinette shifted a bit to make herself comfortable, pressing against him just enough.
Marinette felt much more calm having talked things out with Adrien, and he felt better that she was in his arms rather than in a separate room. He was glad she opened up to him, knowing she often worried about much without sharing her problems with others. As Ladybug, the habit was born out of necessity, but things were different now. Marinette could share her worries about her own life and her tasks as Ladybug with Adrien. He could understand, with his alter ego being Chat Noir. With that, it wasn’t as if they believed couples had to share every single thing. The two of them had other friends and, while they had many common interests, they didn’t spend every waking hour together or thinking of each other. They were a perfect team, though, and they were there for each other when it counted. Adrien hoped Marinette might come to him next time, and would remind himself to check in with her to make sure there wasn’t something he was missing. With pleasant and assuring thoughts in their minds, the two of them slowly, finally, drifted to sleep next to each other.