Not Alone: A Miraculous Ladybug Story

Chapter 46

  After a successful return, Marinette slept for what felt like forever. She woke briefly around noon to use the bathroom, and some part of her consciousness registered that there was another human in her bed that hadn't been there when she fell asleep the night before.

Alya, her mind whispered to her, naming the human-shaped lump as she sank back into the covers before her brain shut down again and she was asleep.

The next time she woke up, it was because of a human too. Not the human in her bed. A different human standing next to her bed and looking down in amusement.

"I'm all for beauty sleep, but really." The blonde human rolled her eyes.

"Ugh." Marinette managed.

"Yes, hello to you too." Chloé was barely containing her laughter now, and Marinette could just imagine the state her hair was in.

"Time?"

"4."

"Ughh," Marinette responded again, and sat up. "Woah." She closed her eyes as black spots danced in her vision and her head spun. She reached back and patted the bed blindly to rouse Alya.

"Mmph," she groaned as Marinette's hand made contact with her cheek.

"I can come back later," Chloé raised an eyebrow. "When is the caveman convention over."

"Ha. Ha." Marinette opened her eyes, now able to see straight without the world swimming. "Food?" she called over her shoulder to Alya.

"Food," she agreed, and they both stumbled past Chloé without another word and downstairs towards the kitchen. They were used to their early morning dialect--even if it was technically late afternoon. Chloé followed them, and amused look on her face. Part of Marinette's mind registered her expression as...scheming? She was still too asleep for this, so she ignored it and gravitated towards the food-room. Kitchen, her awakening-mind corrected, but she paid it no attention.

Halfway down the steps, she registered eyes on her, and she looked towards the kitchen table. Adrien and Nino sat eating what looked like a strange combination of breakfast, lunch and dinner foods. They looked as tired as Alya and Marinette felt. Chloé was the only one that seemed to have avoided this all-encompassing fatigue. Bitch, Marinette thought affectionately before turning back to her perusal of the two male humans in the kitchen. They both looked much wider awake when they spotted the disheveled and half-alive state of the girls.

Her mind finally registering that her boyfriend was in her kitchen and she probably looked like death, Marinette squeaked and was about to turn and run back upstairs to pull herself together, Alya close on her heels, but then she stopped. Looking down at her smirking partner, she did exactly what he expected her not to do. Lifting her chin, she walked down to the kitchen with dignity, trying to forget that she had just squeaked in surprise. Alya followed her, and eyebrow raised at Marinette. She simply walked over to the sink, quickly splashed her face with cold water and took her hair out of the braid she had hastily threw it up in after her brief shower last night.

She walked over and joined the others at the table, sitting close to Adrien's side. He was smiling brilliantly at her, and she smiled shyly back before grabbing some food.

"I don't know how you're all awake right now," she looked at Adrien and Nino, yawning again as she tore into a croissant. "Wait," she sat up straighter and turned to Adrien. "Why are you here? I mean, I thought you'd be with your family."

Adrien chuckled at her, plucking half of her croissant from her hands. She really didn't know how he kept his model figure with the amount of pastries he ate. Would her bakery be the undoing of Adrien Agreste's modeling career? She was clearly still have incoherent from sleep, and tried to keep her mind on topic.