Talk to Me, Princess | Marichat - Miraculous Ladybug

Chapter Ten - The Best Dog Washing Team to Ever Exist

We get our first dog named Lucy, a cute and very well behaved husky.

"I'm not too familiar in dealing with animals." Adrien admits, looking slightly embarrassed. I giggle, wondering why he even came to do this then.

"Well, I am. Don't worry, it shouldn't be too hard." I state, grabbing the brush and running it through Lucy's fur as she sits still. Adrien joins me, brushing Lucy very gently. He's so careful with it that it's like he's just hovering the brush on the fur and not actually combing through the strands at all. I laugh, reaching over to help show him how to do it.

"Here, like this. Otherwise you won't actually get out any knots." I chuckle, my face heating once I realize I'm quite literally holding his hand. I jerk back, feeling my cheeks burn. I probably look ridiculous.

"Oh, thank you." He smiles genuinely, brushing the dog more thoroughly. Lucy looks like she's enjoying the attention as we prepare her for her bath. "Why are we brushing her now if we're going to bathe her anyways?"

"Well, for two reasons. One is to help remove any loose fur so we don't get as much wet dog hair stuck to us. Second reason is because we can work the shampoo through her fur easier if it's nicely brushed." He nods his head, clearly thinking about what I just said. His bottom lip sticks out ever so slightly, making my cheeks burn hotter as I stare at him. I focus my attention back to the dog in front of me.

We move Lucy into the makeshift wash station and begin rinsing her off. I take a decent amount of shampoo and pour it along her back, both Adrien and I scrubbing her good with our hands. She gets covered in foamy shampoo, the scent of ocean breeze and wet dog attacks our nostrils.

We fail to work fast enough, Lucy deciding to shake off her coat before we can start rinsing her. We both let out little screams, laughing as we get covered in dog shampoo. I peer over at Adrien who stands there making the cutest face I've ever seen, with a scrunched up nose but the biggest smile possible. He laughs hard as he returns back to scrubbing Lucy's coat before grabbing the hose.

"Are we good to rinse her now?" He asks, and I nod my head still dazed by the sudden shampoo attack.

"Yeah, good idea. Let's work a bit quicker and get her passed along to the drying team." I laugh as Lucy looks over at me, her expression could be considered amused, like she's proud of the mess she's made.

We continue our day like this, chatting lightly while we bathe each dog that's brought to our washing station. We meet many cute dogs, some even getting so excited to see us they rush up to give us kisses on our face. I honestly love how happy I feel right now. I don't want the day to end at all.

It feels like hardly any time has passed before we're done, the fundraiser coming to an end. I want to protest, tell them to keep it going for longer, but there's no use. Both Adrien and I smell horrendous, the stench of wet dog clinging to us wherever we move. Adrien looks over at his bodyguard who looks displeased, probably because of how long we've been here.

I open up my locker, quickly checking in my bag to see a happy Tikki smiling up at me. Her face quickly changes to disgust once she gets a whiff of me. I let out a sigh of relief, grabbing my things and whispering to Tikki that I couldn't wait to tell her everything later on. Catching up with Adrien, I slip my cardigan back on and we head towards check out together. They wanted to keep track of all the volunteers so they could issue an official thank you to everyone later on.

"Thank you so much for coming today, Mr. Agreste. Because of you, we had so many additional people come today that might not have even heard about our fundraiser if not for your arrival. Your generosity is one we couldn't ever repay, so please accept this thank you from the bottom of our hearts." The organizer of the fundraiser says to Adrien, who just smiles and rubs the back of his neck.

"It's no problem, really. I had a great time. My friend here, Marinette, she taught me a lot about handling dogs. She was much more help than I was, that's for sure." He tries to shed some of the attention to me, making my heart flutter once again. I love hearing him say my name, it makes me feel so special.

"Most certainly, thank you Ms. Marinette. Thank you to the both of you." The organizer expresses their gratitude once again, and we just smile and thank them for allowing us to volunteer in the first place. Finishing check out, I notice the pretty blond woman from check in earlier eyeing up Adrien as she sits behind the check out table. A gross feeling settles in, she's most certainly older than us, and Adrien is only 17 years old.

"Adrien, is it? Thank you for coming today. Would you like to grab a coffee if you're free?" She asks, propping her chin up on her hand as she leans in, fluttering her eyelids as she peers up at him. I feel disgusted, wanting to smack the smile right off her face. She looked so nice earlier, but I guess you never can tell.

"Oh, um thank you, but I'm okay." He tries to leave but she quickly grabs his hand.

"My name's Mariah, I work with the animal shelter here so if you ever need anything just come right by. Or better yet, how about I give you my phone number? We could go out sometime, get to know each other a bit," I quickly take Adrien's hand out of her grasp, smiling at the woman as I step between the two.

"Thanks, but he said no already. Also, Mariah, he's a minor. Just so you're aware." Her face changes to a look of both pure annoyance and panic. I walk way dragging Adrien with me. Adrien and his bodyguard look equal parts shocked and impressed.

"Thank you, Marinette. That was actually really impressive of you, I don't think I've ever seen that side of you before." He's right, that was Ladybug, not me. That was full on confidence, bravery, and protective nature settling in as my Ladybug self kicked into motion.

"Y-yeah, I just thought what she was doing was pretty gross, that's all." I stammer, staring at my feet. I realize I'm still holding his hand and quickly drop it, embarrassment flooding throughout me.

"Actually, it happens quite a lot. Either older women don't realize I'm not an adult, or they simply don't care." He shrugs his shoulders, clearly looking uncomfortable. I can't help the disapproving look of disgust on my face.

"It shouldn't happen. If the roles were reversed, and you were a teenage girl getting hit on by older men, surely someone would step in a lot faster. I'd like to hope so at least."

"Yeah, me too. Half the time people are like 'wow, you're lucky scoring an older woman like that' or 'I would take the opportunity if I were you' kind of gross sayings. It shouldn't be celebrated or normalized." He says, looking away like this is a very uncomfortable way to end the day.

"I completely agree. Are you okay?" I ask, wanting to reach out and let him know that what he's feeling is completely valid.

"I'm good, don't worry. I had a great day with you Marinette, thank you for teaching me so much once again. I feel like I'm always learning from you." He smiles, turning to face me with the most sincere and kind face I've ever seen. I want to wrap my arms around him and give him a hug, tell him I love everything about him.

Oh Marinette, simmer down.

"No, I should be the one to thank you. It wouldn't have been as fun without you."

"Want a ride home?" He asks, nodding towards the car parked at the side. I curse my stupid bike, wishing I could go with Adrien instead.

"I would love to, but I have my bike with me. Thank you though, I appreciate the offer." I point to where my electric bike is locked up.

"Then I guess this is where we part ways for the evening." He says, and I go to take a step back but he quickly reaches out to pull me into a comforting hug. My heart completely stops for a moment, so much so I can't even get my arms to move and wrap around him. "Thank you again, for everything. I mean it."

When he pulls away, his face is tinted a soft red. My heart starts hammering in my chest, competing with my stomach over who can do the most flips in the least amount of time. I swear I must be dying.

"A-Adrien..." I whisper, my brain completely malfunctioning and failing to send signals to the rest of my body to remind myself how to move or speak. I can't even form a coherent thought let alone a sentence.

Then, screams let out. The both of us jump, gasping as people run down the street trying to escape something. People randomly disappear in front of our eyes. This could only mean one thing...

An Akuma is here.