That Day

13 - M-Marinette?

When Adrien came back to the kitchen he found Marinette sleeping on the table. She made a provisional pillow using her own arm and fell asleep on the counter. She looked so sweet and somehow vulnerable that he wanted to embrace her. And kiss. He glanced at her curiously. Was it only the fairy tales rule that a prince could wake up a princess with a kiss? Could such things work in the real life?

He sat down next to her and leaned on his hand. He looked a bit like a child who was about to make a new experiment. He hesitated for a moment and then brushed aside a strand of her hair that slipped from her pigtail. She murmured something dreamily. He smiled.

And then he leaned and kissed her cheek.

"M-marinette?"

"Mmmm..."

"Wake up, Marinette..." he whispered.

"Mmmm..."

He laughed softly. If she was going to be more and more cute, the scale of adorability would soon be over.

"M-marinette?"

She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him unconsciously. She smiled at him and Adrien had to face the fact that the scale of adorability had just reached its maximum. He kissed her gently.

"Mmmm..." she murmured again. "I like that."

"What? Waking you up?"

"That too." She blushed. "I like the way you say 'M-marinette'."

"Really?"

"Mmmm..."

"And I like your 'mmmm'..."

"Mmmm..." she murmured in reply and smiled embarrassed. That wasn't on purpose!

"I didn't want to wake you up, but tomorrow morning your neck would hurt." He said, trying not to kiss her again.

"Adrien, I can't stay here till tomorrow!" she came to her senses immediately.

"Why not?" he asked surprised and she looked at him significantly. He flushed.

"That's why." She nodded. "And besides, I don't even have my pyjamas here. Just when it's needed!" she giggled.

Adrien laughed. Ah, her pyjamas! In fact, thanks to her pyjamas he won her heart. Not directly maybe, but it helped a lot.

"But I don't want you to leave."

"I must, Adrien. My parents have no idea where I am. I left home as Ladybug. If my mom gets up early in the morning and hasn't found me anywhere, she'll be worried. Besides, we have to rest before tomorrow. Imagine what will be happening here! What the police will say? Your father is dead, your mom's back. There will be a lot of questions. Questions without good answers."

"You're talking like Ladybug now." Adrien smiled. "How's that possible that I haven't noticed that before?"

"Yeah..." She muttered. Weird indeed... "If I knew earlier that you had some feelings to me, probably you would notice that sooner. I didn't know that you had to be threatened with death to confess."

"Well, I noticed that you needed similar circumstances." He answered back.

"Oh, come on! These were supposed to be the last words you were to hear!" she sighed irritably. "Now I have to find something new."

"You don't have to. You can keep repeating these ones to make sure they would be the last ones I hear in my life." He grinned.

"That's a cheap shot, Adrien."

"To be honest you haven't told me that yet, unless you had a knife at your throat." He reminded her.

"My poor boy..." Marinette smiled. "I will be repeating it so often that you'll be fed up with it. Or you'll get bored. Or you'll get used to it and you'll stop paying attention."

"No, no and no. These are my answers to all your scenarios above."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"I love you, Adrien." She whispered. "Without a knife at my throat."

"I love you too, Marinette." He replied and stared at her eyes.

"I do have to go." She muttered still gazing on him.

"I know."

"So, let me go."

"But I'm not holding you."

She rolled her eyes. He laughed and finally caught the hint. Then he embraced her and kissed her goodnight.