Dearly Despised, (I love you)

Gorizilla

She spat out the hair that kept flying into her mouth. "Bleh! You know what, Tikki? Just – Let's have a silent sprint to the local pool, shall we?"

Those were her last words before realising, a block later, that she was still wearing her pyjamas. Outside. In public. During the early afternoon of Sunday.

"Argh!" She froze, glanced down, and turned to bolt back the other way. "Tikki! Why didn't you tell me I'd forgotten to change?"

"You wanted a silent sprint."

Yeah, she walked straight into that one.

Speaking of walking into things—

"Gah! Adrien?!"

"Marinette!?"

Or– you know, running into problems, same difference.

She hadn't seen him since smashing her lips into his. Now her cheeks were flushed, ponytail disarray (from laughing on the carpet), and the breeze sifted through her attire. Out of all the upcoming snide remarks she could've braced for, nothing left her prepared to handle Adrien quickly blurting,

"You live near here! Can I hide out at your place?"

His brows were arched with plead and panic, palms pressed together in a praying gesture. It was a sight she wasn't trained for but the phrase 'hide out' sounded a sense of alarm.

"Uh, at my place? Hide out? What's going on?"

A screaming crowd steamrolled past the outer bridge beams they had found themselves behind. "Adrien!"

He seized up. "Too late."

Someone in the stampede carrying a cardboard-cut of Adrien in his napkin outfit from the ad halted when he caught them. "There he is!"

Ladybug-mode activated itself.

"Come with me!"

The frantic locals screaming his name ploughed into the park with them. Marinette noticed the empty fountain and threw them in to hide, wiping her hand against her sweats after having to hold his to drag him along.  They remained lying on their sides, curled into themselves as more screams rolled past.

Adrien cleared his throat. "Um. Thank you. For saving me. People are going crazy over... um... my ad."

She feigned a gasp. "What! You stared in an ad?! I had no idea!" A giggle punctuated her words. "It seems—" hilarity bubbled in her throat, "it seems—hehe—it seems it hasn't really left you carefree­—bahaha!"

Adrien's face didn't find it as funny.

"Oh c'mon," she said, a fist pressed to the corner of her mouth to stifle the noise of her lingering outburst, "what happened to that radiant smile?"

He blinked, slowly, mouth thin.

She crossed her arms. "You were more dreamy in the video."

"Ha. Ha. Yeah, whatever, it's embarrassing." His unimpressed eyes shifted down her figure, taking in her sleepwear apparel.

She squeaked and shot up. "Okay! All good now. I really should get going—"

Her arm felt a sharp tug. Adrien had cowered behind her, pulling her down as his shield while his terror-stricken eyes peered past her ponytail.

"Huh?" she noticed a sleek grey Mercedes crawl near a bus stop. "Isn't that your bodyguard?"

Adrien looked up sheepishly. "Actually I, heh, I stuck out. Without permission. I'm supposed to be at home right now and—"