Marinette followed her cousin down the dusty drive, quickly twisting her hair into a braid as she went. Swinging into the faded green pick-up truck with practiced ease, she cranked the window down as Kagami started up the engine. The car, easily older than both of them combined, purred to life, the entire interior having been retrofitted to run on biodiesel from the farm. Kagami had gone on and on about the wiz kid who'd revamped the family car last summer; some childhood friend who was not only a mechanical genius but according to her Aunt also the town heartthrob. Marinette turned to look out the window, hiding her smile as she remembered how her Aunt Rui had sent not so subtle looks at her only daughter who insisted the boy was "just a friend". Marinette believed her even if her aunt seemed exasperated by the response. Kagami was not one to play games. If she wanted something-or someone-she made it known. But then, her aunt hadn't been with them when Kagami came to visit her in Paris the summer before. Anyone who saw the moment her cousin met Luka would know better than to suggest Kagami would ever be anything less than direct. Eyes narrowing in determination and shoulders thrown back in the perfect posture her years of fencing training had drilled into her, Kagami had walked purposely up to Juleka's brother, grabbed his hand, and dragged him into the square full of dancers. Marinette had been worried for a moment. Although born at their family home in China, Kagami had been quite thoroughly raised American, and had the boldness to back it up. But one look at Luka made it clear the boy hadn't minded in the least. While the two technically broke it off at the end of last summer, neither interested in a transatlantic relationship at their age, the not so subtle questions from Kagami and influx of texts from Luka since Marinette had arrived hinted that neither was as over it as they pretended.
Kagami turned around the corner, the truck rattling off the paved road and onto a gravel path. Tires kicking the dust up, both girls reached for sunglasses stowed in the glove compartment. While Kagami was apologetic, Marinette hadn't minded in the least that the truck lacked air conditioning. What she'd learned quickly, however, was that while the fresh air off the main roads was sweet, getting smacked in the eye with a bug or errant flying pebble was less so. Still, despite the dust and insects-and some of the other unsavory local residents- Marinette always loved her trips here. Paris was her home, but there was something comforting about the country roads where Kagami lived; something beautiful about the patchwork of farmland stretching as far as the eye could see. Even the greatest city in the world couldn't boast the crisp green scent of growing crops or the simplicity of meeting down by the creek for a swim.
"You brought the sunscreen, right?" Kagami spared a glance toward her before she turned down the narrow dirt path the the creek. Cut into a cornfield, it was practically invisible from the gravel stretch they'd been driving down. Anyone not in-the-know surely would have missed it, but her cousin knew the hidden landscape of her home, full of ephemeral paths and repeating landscape, just as well as Marinette knew her arrondissement.
"Did you understand me?" Kagam asked in French after she hadn't responded in a moment. Both girls had a hazy grasp of Mandarin, but were passed back and forth between the Cheng sisters every summer to sharpen their English and French. Sabine, raised with relatives in France, and Rui, raised an only child back in China, had been separated on different continents for most of their childhood. Their shared language of Mandarin and letters had been what kept them together. They would be damned if their daughters were separated by a language just because they grew up an ocean apart.
"Yeah," Marinette responded in English, pulling herself out of her musings and digging in her bag for the sacred tube. "I brought it. I learned my lesson last week."
Kagami snorted, reaching over to shift the strap of Marinette's bathing suit where the angry tan line was still present. She wasn't red anymore, thank god, but Marinette wasn't looking for a repeat performance. Her cousin, with her slightly darker complexion that matched her amber eyes, hadn't given a thought to reapplying sunscreen when they went swimming last week. Which was fine-for Kagami. She had left with a slight tan while Marinette had left a boiled lobster. Kagami tried not to laugh too hard as she slathered Marinette's back in aloe vera later that night to the tune of her cousin's very imaginative french swearing. Kagami had started trading her back some English explicatives and the two ended up giggling so loud they woke the rest of the household. Aunt Rui had peeked into the room, her face disapproving but eyes lit in amusement. The girls had froze for a moment, before her aunt took one look at Marinette's back and started contributing to their "educational exchange" in Mandarin.
It had been an informative experience all around.
Kagami nodded in approval at the presented bottle as she pulled the car to a stop beneath a grand oak tree near the bank of the creek.
"Good, you grab that and the snacks. I'll get the towels and call to see when our cabana boy is going to get here."
"Aye, aye, captain!" Marinette saluted and Kagami snickered.
Then she watched as her cousin opened the sunroof, crawled through it, and proceeded to stand on the top of the truck in order to get service on her phone. She'd seen her do it dozens of times over the last few weeks, but still shook her head as she hopped down from the passenger seat, Kagami already having finished her curt conversation with her friend that was meeting them there.
"Heads up!" She called as she took a leap and landed gracefully into the bed of the truck, startling Marinette despite the warning.
"Américaine fou," she mumbled as she grabbed the food, turning to find a glaring Kagami. She didn't pause, sticking her tongue out at her cousin as she walked past her.
"What did you call me?"
"You heard me," Marinette flipped her plait off her shoulder and looked back at Kagami innocently.
"Now you're just asking for trouble, you rude Parisian!"
Kagami jumped down and started to run towards her. Marinette yelped before turning to race towards the water, Kagami close on her heels. Leaning to drop the food basket as she ran, Marinette didn't pause as she tore off the oversized tee shirt she'd worn over her bikini and kicked off her shoes. A moment later, she was at the bank, jumping towards the rope and swinging out into the creek. Marinette submerged into the murky depths for only a moment before she came sputtering to the surface to see her cousin shaking her head with a smile.
"And I'm the crazy one?"
"I never said it didn't run in the family," Marinette retorted, turning to float on her back as she started turning in a lazy circle. She rolled her eyes towards her cousin, Kagami's shoulders vibrating in silent laughter but she didn't respond, instead moving around the space and gathering Marinette's discarded clothes to hang them on a low lying branch on the dry side of the large oak.
Marinette closed her eyes, letting her head sink back into the water until it muffled the sounds around her. With the late afternoon sun beating down on her face through the canopy of trees around the creek, she felt her shoulders start to relax as the tension seeped out.
It was summer, but they still had a routine. The girls would get up, help out for half of the day on the farm-small things just to keep them busy, but still out of the way of the actual agricultural workers-and then they were off by themselves. Meeting up with Kagami's friends or simply just driving to nowhere. It was calm, and Marinette genuinely enjoyed her time abroad, but everytime Kagami said some friends wanted to "hang-out", like today, Marinette was immediately a little on edge. She knew a few from childhood, but Marinette hadn't stayed at the family farm since before Kagami started high school, and her new batch of friends were far more inquisitive than Marinette had anticipated.
Marinette knew her English was good enough to keep up, and most of her cousin's new friends had been nothing short of welcoming, but she was still the foreigner in the group. They cooed over her French accent and peppered her with questions about living in Paris. It was charming at the beginning… but now, halfway through her trip, it was starting to grate on her. Americans, or at least this particular group of Americans, seemed to have a very narrow point of view of the French. That was to say, Marinette was getting annoyed with how surprised everyone was everytime they discovered she wasn't an asshole. If one more person told her how they expected all parisians to be "rude", she might stop subverting their expectations. Paris was a city, just like any major metropolitan area, and had every personality type imaginable. Sometimes, citizens of any city got annoyed with tourists, especially tourists who just scream their language at the natives and expect to be understood simply by virtue of talking louder. It happened even to the nicest of Parisians, even her (although she was adamant in her stance that Nino's retelling of her screaming at that English couple in Mandarin was highly exaggerated). How Paris in particular had gotten a reputation for such disgruntled behavior, Marinette would never know. She'd been to New York. They weren't winning any politeness awards there either.
At least today was the last meet and greet, so Marinette was hoping the scrutiny of the French cousin and her homeland was over. Today she was finally going to meet Kagami's best friend, the boy wonder who was frequently mentioned throughout Kagami's life, but always "summering" elsewhere when Marinette had visited in the past. According to her cousin, he'd been forced to intern more locally this summer, but had been away on a business trip with his father until this week. Marinette was decidedly intrigued to meet him, but didn't know whether to believe Aunt Rui's or Kagami's description of the boy. He was mysteriously absent from all social media, and the only photo Marinette had ever seen of the kid was one from her cousin's first fencing tournament, where a second or third grade duo of Kagami and a gap-toothed blonde boy stood grinning in matching fencing suits.
Intrigued as she was to finally but a face to the nameless presence hovering just on the periphery of all her past trips to her cousin's farm, Marinette tried to clear her mind and instead enjoy these few minutes of tranquility before another American descended.
Just as she stretched her arms above her head, she heard the pounding of footfalls much heavier than her cousin's and sighed lifting her ears out of the water. Well, at least she'd had a few seconds.
"Mimi!" A decidedly male voice shouted, his steps growing closer by the second. Marinette heard the rustle of leaves as someone grabbed onto the rope swing and opened her eyes just in time to see a boy swing above her.
In a brief moment of clarity as his form blocked out the sun, Marinette saw his face transform from mischievous jubilation to horror as he realized that she was not in fact "Mimi" and he was about to cannonball and splash a complete stranger. The boy seemed to hover for a split second as his limbs started flailing in the air, but gravity was a pesky menace and he inevitably did drop right next to her. Unfortunately, his mid-air antics only made it worse, his body which would have probably soared past her, slamming into the water directly next to formerly calm creek rippled and Marinette was tossed towards the opposite bank, a wave of water coming over her just as she tried to take a breath. Water shooting towards her lungs, she grabbed for the slope just where the bank dropped off into the deeper section, trying to catch her breath and coughing up muddy water.
"I'm so sorry," she heard his voice again accompanied by furious swimming towards her. Still not able to speak, Marinette waved a dismissive arm in his direction and started to try and pull herself up onto land. She needed to get out of the water, but was struggling to find the leverage to heave herself onto shore. They were swimming in the deepest part of the creek, which was great for diving and rope swings, but not so great when you felt like you were drowning. Normally, she'd swim down the bank a bit towards shallower water, but currently that would require breath she did not have to spare.
Planting her hands on the muddy lip of the embankment, she tried to find a footfall on the drop into the creek. Kagami reappeared from behind the tree and both she and the boy must have seen what Marinette was trying to do, but their words of caution came too late.
"Mari!" Her cousin's warning mixed with his shout of "No, don't climb there!" just as her foot slipped in the mud, her ankle catching a sharp outcropping of rock on the way down.
"Merde," she gasped, her voice coming out a breathy whisper as pain shot like fire through her leg. She lost her grip on the bank just as strong arms caught her from behind. One arm coming to wrap around her torso and under both arms, she felt the boy steadily swim towards the safer bank, tugging her body behind him. With sure footing he scooped her effortlessly into his arms and started up the shallow slope out of the water.
"What do you think-" she started in outrage, turning her head to look at the man who presumed to rescue her from the very situation he'd created. He looked back at her, eyes greener than the verdant canopy above them, meeting her indignant gaze with equal parts guilt and determination.
"P-p-put me down," her voice came out a whispered stutter, in what language, she couldn't confidently say, lost in the way his hair slightly curled around his forehead and brow crinkled in concern.
He opened his mouth to reply, but she was thankfully saved from whatever further witchcraft his voice held.
"Mari!" The hurried splashing of her cousin's feet accompanied Kagami's voice, the slightly higher register the only indication of her concern.
"I'm fine," Marinette started to squirm, trying to break out of the boy's arms as he only held her tighter.
"Oh, no," he hefted her into a more secure position in his arms. "I don't think so."
"Excuse me!" She pushed harder against the boy's bare chest, trying not to notice the taunt muscles that clenched beneath her fingers, and was satisfied to feel him falter slightly.
"God, you're strong-"
"Mari," Kagami cut in, her eyes drifting from her face to her leg and back again. "I think you should just let Adrien-"
So that was the oaf's name. Kagami had only ever referred to him in a bizarre collection of nicknames.
"What is wrong with you?" She looked at her cousin through narrowed eyes, ignoring the man with the warm arms that refused to release her. "I'm fine. I just slipped. It's probably just a scratch."
Kagami raised one eyebrow at her.
"Have you looked at your leg?"
"I get cuts and bruises easily," she rolled her eyes, but propped herself to look down at her leg as she continued. "We have a bakery. It happens. I'm a klutz, rememb-" Her eyes widened at the gash in the side of her calf, easily an inch deep.
"Oh," her voice came finally, head spinning at the site of so much blood coming from her own limb. Kagami wasted no more time, yanking off her tee shirt and the belt from her shorts.
"Start walking," she commanded Adrien, who moved towards the car without further question, settling her in the backseat of the truck before running towards the other side and sliding in behind her. He held Marinette upright as Kagami balled up her cotton tee, placed it firmly against the gash on her leg and started wrapping her belt to keep the makeshift bandage firmly in place. Marinette gritted her teeth, her nails digging into the freckled arms that held her from behind as Kagami finished tying off the belt.
She looked up finally, her golden eyes assessing Marinette quickly. A brief nod and she was gone again.
Marinette blinked slowly, trying to take deep breaths as the pain radiated up from her leg. The world seemed to move at a tenfold pace, yet hazy as if they all moved through water.
One blink.
Kagami suddenly appeared in the driver's seat.
Another blink.
They were speeding down the bypass.
A third blink.
They pulled off into the hospital drive.
Final blink.
Those same warm arms were around her, lifting her from the vehicle and settling her into a wheelchair. Marinette grasped onto the arms of the chair with her remaining strength as hands delicately arranged her her injured leg onto one of the footholds.
She was wheeled into the bustling lobby of the emergency room, the cold blast of air conditioning making her shiver until it felt like her entire torso was quaking from within. Adrien had draped her with what she assumed was his jean jacket at some point in the car, but she was still only wearing her bikini from the river. For the first time, she cursed the American fascination with air conditioning, though her logical brain tried to remind her that her reaction was likely amplified by some degree of shock.
She needed juice. Or chocolate. Something sweet. Sugar was good for shock, right?
She looked for Kagami, but watched as her cousin wove through the sea of people towards what seemed the reception area. She was out of reach, and in the din of the ER, definitely out of earshot.
"Here," Adrien squatted next to her and held out some wrapped candy she hoped was chocolate and a bottle of coke. "You were drifting a bit in the car. Sugar cures all ails."
She blinked a few times, trying to focus, but her vision refused to cooperate. Placing her hands on either side of his face as to steady it, her heart skipped a beat when his cheeks widened in a smile under her hands. She tried closing her eyes, but it only made the nausea worse. Focusing instead on his eyes, Marinette concentrated on breathing steadily for a few moments. She mimicked his breaths, each one exaggerated and slow-no doubt for her sake-until she felt confident enough to drop her hands to his shoulders.
"Chocolate, please," she muttered still gripping his shoulders. Adrien didn't miss a beat, lifting the half unwrapped bar to her lips from where he crouched in front of her wheelchair. She devoured the entire milky way and was moving onto the soda before she felt herself equilibrium start to center again.
"I promise I'm not usually this much of a mess," Marinette spoke after a few silent moments passed and he smirked.
"You're not a mess," he countered, but stopped when she gave him a pointed look and glanced down at her current undressed-bleeding state.
"Fine," he allowed with a low chuckle. "You're a mess, but it's technically my fault. So it's my turn to promise that I don't usually maim people I've just met."
"Just the foreigners," she retorted and watched his smile broaden.
"Exactly. If only you were a patriot, then you'd have been safe."
She snorted.
"Américain fou," she muttered to the second person that day.
"Seeing as you're the victim of my foolishness," he responded in accented but fluent French. "I'm not going to argue."
Marinette started to smile hearing her native language on this American's tongue, but Kagami's unusually frantic voice caught her attention.
"Over here," Marinette's eyes turned to see a nurse being dragged towards them by her just-as-scantily-clad cousin. She introduced herself as Caline and addressed her questions to Marinette, though she was seldom the answerer. Marinette tried not to cringe as Kagami gave the nurse the abridged version of what happened while she was wheeled towards a bed and her vitals were taken.
"Can you stand?" Caline spoke after she'd taken her important medical history. The woman held out her hands to help transfer her to the bed and Marinette nodded, moving to push herself out of the wheelchair. She lifted herself all but and inch before Caline took one look at her ashen face and stopped her.
"No, hun, nevermind. Let me find someone to help-"
"I've got her," Adrien interjected, moving in front of her and, after a brief murmur for permission, grabbed Marinette from under her arms. Ever careful of her injured limb, he steadied her as she hopped to the lowered bed and situated herself against the sparse pillow. Caline smiled in thanks as he moved to step back.
Then, the nurse began unwrapping Kagami's handiwork and Marinette gasped as part of the tshirt stuck, instinctively grabbing for Adrien's hand where he still stood next to her bedside. In any other situation, she might have felt embarrassed, but he quickly encapsulated her hand in both of his, squeezing back.
"Okay, Marinette?" The nurse looked up at her but didn't wait for her response before starting about the room and gathering supplies. "The doctor will be here momentarily, but I'm going to start cleaning your wound now. I would recommend not looking."
"Caline?" A voice sounded from the hallway, and after exchanging a glance with a stern looking older woman, her nurse signed. She turned her eyes to Kagami and Adrien before finally looking back at Marinette.
"I'm sorry," she gestured widely to the small room. "Only one of you can stay. Maybe someone can wait for her parents in the lobby?"
"Kagami?" Marinette looked up at her cousin, but made no move to release her vice grip on the blonde boy's hand. Nor did he.
"No," Kagami waved her off, not bothering to hide her smirk. "I'll go wait for mom in the lobby. Besides," she raised her hands and wiggled her fingers. "I need these babies in perfect condition for fencing states next month. Blondie's got this."
She winked at the two and was gone with a flourish, leaving Marinette with a far-too attractive blonde and a not-so-subtly snickering nurse.
She turned her eyes towards Adrien, seeing him smile through a blush of his own.
"Okay, Marinette," Caline interrupted their bubble. "This is going to hurt."
"You heard her," Marinette whispered to Adrien, already squeezing his hand tighter.
"At your service, M'Lady," he winked, his smile turning to a grimace as Caline poured a saline solution on the wound and she clutched his hand in pain. "God, how are you this strong?"
Kagami waited until she was out of the room to let a full smile spread across her face. Seemed like little miss "I don't have time for boys" Marinette had finally met one she'd make time for. Or, at least, one she was already reluctant to let go of. Apparently, it only took one accidentally causing her bodily harm to get her attention.
Kagami never claimed her family was normal.
She shook her head, thinking of all the boys she'd met last summer in Paris that Marinette swore were "just friends", despite the lovesick looks they all shot her cousin's way each time she turned her back. Marinette was nearly as oblivious to her appeal as Adrien was in school. Kagami wanted to roll her eyes at how hearts would break when they finally got together.
And they would get together. The summer was short, and Marinette wouldn't be stateside for long. No way would Kagami let these longing glances linger until Marinette crossed back over the ocean. Her cousin could be painfully shy and her best friend was an oblivious idiot, but she loved them both and had to admit they'd be great together. And if them getting together would help her in her recent mission to convince a certain boy genius to apply to a few French universities with her... well that was just an added bonus.
Walking out into the lobby, she turned the corner just in time to see her parents walk through the sliding doors.
But any scheming with the kids would have to wait. First, to calm down the adults.
Adrien stood in front of the Tsurugi house, shuffling his feet and fiddling with the bouquet of wildflowers in his hand. Strange, how just a day ago he'd come and go in this house as if it were his own-really the only true home he'd ever known-and now he was pacing on the front lawn like he was contemplating committing a crime.
Taking a deep breath, he marched up the steps, pulling open the screen door to the front porch with a squeak and almost jumping out of his skin when he saw something move from the corner of his eye. Scrambling towards the ceiling fan, he gripped the chain and yanked, blinking blindly as the light illuminated the small space and reflected off of pristine white woodwork he had helped Kagami repaint in the Spring. Eyes still adjusting, he turned his hindered vision towards the corner and was surprised not to see some stray animal, but a very agitated Parisian.
"Ahh," she threw her hands over her eyes and then yelled something in French that his tutor had definitely never covered, but Adrien got the hint. Lights off. Pulling the chain again to get rid of the offending illumination, he stood motionless in the darkness, hands still clasped around the bouquet of flowers.
"Adrien?" He heard Marinette call to him softly, her speech a bit hazy and English more accented than it had been this morning. No doubt due to the medication she was on... for the injury he'd caused. He forced his feet forward until he was standing in front of her. Marinette's eyes shined up at him in the dim light of the moon, clearly waiting for him to do something. Say something. He was waiting for that too, and wondered when he'd become so awkward. He wasn't exactly a social butterfly, but he'd never had trouble acting like a functioning human boy before. Not until today. Not until... her.
"Kagami just went inside," she informed him, and he was thankful the darkness stopped him from being able to see how much she was probably judging him right now.
"I'm not-" his voice squeaked, and he cleared his throat nervously. "I'm not here for Kagami. I came to see you."
His voice came out rough. Not quite the suave entrance he'd hoped for, but at least he no longer sounded like he'd swallowed a squeaky toy.
"Oh?" He saw the shadow of her head tilt in the darkness. "Come back to finish the job? I only have three working limbs left...but that still gives you options."
"What? No-" he sputtered but was cut off by her tinkling laughter. He took a calming breath before responding with a slight smile. "You're making fun of me."
"You're making it very easy," she responded with laughter still evident in her voice. "Now why don't you sit down? You must be tired after pacing in the front yard for an hour."
"Ten minutes," he retorted, but took a seat.
"Adrien," she said his name, full of disbelief.
"Okay, twenty," he conceded and she snorted in response.
He smiled at the noise, watching as her form settled back into the faded cushion on the wicker chair.
"Someone seems to feel better," he remarked, following her example and getting comfortable himself.
"I bounce back quickly," she returned, turning to look at him. He could just make out her features, his eyes finally accustoming themselves to the lack of light. "That and the pain medication the hospital sent me home with."
"I see," Adrien watched the languid smile spread over her face and tried not to chuckle. "I guess you don't need these then," he looked down at the flowers still in his grasp, turning them in his hands. As soon as the words left his mouth, they were gone. The rustling of plastic echoing around them as Marinette snatched the bouquet and cuddled them to her chest.
"A girl always needs flowers," she stated simply, plunging her nose into the bouquet and rubbing her cheeks lightly against the soft petals with a sigh of pleasure.
"My mistake."
"And it was the least you could do," she continued with a smirk.
"For maiming you?" He supplied.
"For leaving me at the hospital without even saying goodbye," she lifted her face from the flowers and stared at him seriously.
"I'm sorry," he replied with a smile, held up his hand limply and teased. "I thought you had finished squeezing my hand into a pulp."
"Oh!" She placed her bouquet on the table and reached over to grab his hand gently between hers, fingers massaging the muscles immediately. "Is it okay? I honestly didn't mean-"
He didn't hear whatever she said next, a deep hum resonating from somewhere deep in his chest at the feeling of her kneading his genuinely sore hand. The girl was ridiculously strong.
Her hands stilled in their ministrations and he looked up into her smirking face.
"Did you just purr?"
"No," he sputtered indignantly, but she just patted the back of his hand before continuing massaging with her magic fingers.
"It's okay, minou. I am sorry about your hand. I promise it wasn't retaliation for my leg."
"If it were, I'd have gotten off easy," he placed a hand over hers and she looked up. "I didn't mean to disappear. You family got there, and I didn't want to intrude."
She looked at him with a quizzical smile on her face for so long, Adrien wasn't sure if she was planning on responding.
"Américain fou," she finally responded, her mouth stretching wide into a yawn.
"Ah, bedtime for the princess?" Adrien suggested, and Marinette glared at him with a pout.
"Stupid pain pills," she muttered, pulling herself out from the vacuum of the cushions and cringing in pain when she jostled her injured leg. Looking towards the window, she pursed her lips before turning back towards him. "Can you get Kagami? I think I need help."
"I've got you," he stood immediately, gathering her into his arms just as he had earlier in the day. Up close her could see how her eyelids drooped drowsily, her head swaying until it fell in resignation against his shoulder.
"You've really got a thing for helpless damsels, don't you?" She muttered up at him and he just laughed, opening the front door and shuffling sideways to fit them through without causing her more injuries.
"I think the state of my bruised hand proves you are far from helpless, Princess. You just need a bit of help right now."
He walked past the living room, smiling at Mama Tsurugi who gave him a perplexed look from the couch. He nodded towards Kagami's room upstairs and the woman just smiled at him before turning back to her TV show. Adrien was practically the son she'd never had and she trusted him implicitly in her house. Which made complete sense, because apart from an awkward, and frankly disgusting, grade school kiss, he and her daughter would never be more than friends. Looking down at the sleepy girl in his arms, Adrien, had a feeling he could be a lot more than friends with Marinette. As for his intentions...well, Mama Tsurugi wouldn't be so trusting with him if she knew how he was starting to feel about her niece.
"Touché, mon chaton," she managed to respond belatedly through another yawn, and he focused on the sound of her voice as he started up the stairs. "I guess you'll just have to settle for being my loyal guard," she giggled at her addled cleverness and Adrien couldn't contain the smile that took over his face in response.
"At your service, M'Lady," he whispered, reaching the top floor and turning towards Kagami's room on autopilot. Setting Marinette on the second bed he assumed she'd been using, he propped her leg up on a spare pillow before tucking the blanket around the rest of her body.
"Adrien," she spoke his name in a whisper, her accent bringing it to life as if flowed out of her mouth like a song.
"Bugaboo," he responded, and delighted when her face lit up, even though she didn't open her eyes.
"You and your nicknames," she murmured, and he reached up to brush her bangs out of her face.
"You like the nicknames," he shot back, rubbing a soft tendril of her hair between his fingers.
"I like you," she breathed, so quiet he almost missed it.
But he hadn't miss it. His heart beat at a frantic pace as his hand moved to cup her cheek. She smiled, her breath starting to even out as she slipped towards sleep.
"I like you, too," he responded, hoping this was real and not some product of her medicated brain.
"You have a funny way of showing it," her eyes fluttered open momentarily as she responded.
"How about I make it up to you then?" He asked, dropping his hand to the bed. "The fair starts next weekend. Think you'll be healed enough by then."
"I don't know, chaton," she answered, moving to lay her hand over his as he smiled at her own choice of nicknames for him. "You may just have to carry me again."
"Done," he agreed eagerly. She smiled sleepily, rolling her side and clasping his hand as she tucked curled into a sleeping position.
"You're ridiculous," she whispered as he leaned down.
"Get used to it," he shot back.
"Okay," she murmured in response, eyes drifting shut for the final time.
After a few moments, he tore himself away, clutching his now-cold hand in a fist as if he could somehow preserve the feeling of her fingers intertwined with his forever. Walking out of the room he came face to face with Kagami, pajamas mismatched and toothbrush sticking out of her mouth.
"Adrien," she mumbled around it, her eyes dancing between his undoubtedly lovesick look and her slumbering cousin in the room behind him.
"How long is she staying?"
"Another month," Kagami smirked around the toothbrush.
"Oh," he depleted, reality sinking back in at such a short time. He didn't make real connections with people that easily. He definitely wanted to see her again, but maybe it would be better if he just took a breath and backed off. Adrien knew that if her started something with Marinette, it would be far from casual. He was already so affected by her as it was, and they barely knew each other. Maybe he it would be better after all if they were just friends...
"Stop talking yourself out of it," Kagami all but growled from next to him. He looked up, startled from his own spiraling.
"I don't know what I should do," he admitted.
"Adrien," Kagami shook her head in fond exasperation. "What do you want to do?"
"I…" Adrien wavered, trying to answer a question he so infrequently considered. "I want to date your cousin."
He said the declaration out loud with a saft smile, but after a moment's relief, quickly amended.
"I mean, is that okay? Can I date your cousin?"
"That's something you'll have to ask her," she replied. "But I do have two conditions."
Kagami pulled out her toothbrush and pointed the impromptu sword at him with a stern look.
"Name them."
"One, You take her out on a proper date and give it a real shot. You two are disgustingly cute together and you only met today. Imagine if you actually managed to get past all your social anxieties and actually let someone you connected with like that close to you."
Adrien smiled. "You mean someone other than you?"
"Ew," Kagami gave him a disgusted look. "That was one time caused by a severe lapse in judgement in my ten year old brain. Stop holding it over me."
"Fine. One has already been taken care of then," he admitted with a smirk.
"What?" Kagami sputtered, mouth dropping. "You asked her out?"
"Kind of…"
"Who is this suave Adrien and what did he do to my dopey best friend?"
"Excuse me," he protested in mock-outrage. "I have always been a cool cat."
"And there he is."
"Shut up. What's number two?"
"Two, you promise not to make me listen to anymore she's just a good friend bullshit while you're figuring it out. You're dating, fine, but she's not just a friend. You're either in or you're out. You guys could be good together, but I will not have you stringing along my cousin."
Adrien smiled, taking Kagami's warnings seriously because he knew she was right. No one knew him better, and no one was better at cutting through his bullshit quicker. Glancing back at Marinette as she mumbled something intelligible in her sleep, he knew the decision had already been made.
"You know how we were talking about applying to a few universities abroad?" He asked suddenly, sending a sheepish smile her way as she raised an eyebrow at his change in topic. "How does Paris sound?"
"It sounds like the good idea I've had for months now."
"Well, let's just say I'm becoming more interested in opportunities across the pond," he responded with a shrug.
"And a certain brunette hasn't influenced that change of heart at all?"
"No more than a certain blue-haired musician has influenced yours," he retorted with an innocent smile.
"Okay, truce, lover boy," Kagami just shook her head, suppressing a laugh as she walked away from him. "I'll start gathering applications. You focus on convincing my cousin you're worth her near-downing schtick you've got going to woo all the ladies is getting a little tired."
"Goodnight, Kagami."
"Goodnight, Adrien," she sung back, retreating back to the bathroom and closing the door between them.
Adrien stuffed his hands in his pocket, stealing one more glance at Marinette, before making his way out of the Tsurugi home.
Kicking up the dust as he walked down the lane to his house, he smiled up at the clear night sky.
The same color as her midnight hair.
And the stars had never looked brighter.