"I honestly thought the dare days are over," Marinette told her three other companions, "I was so wrong."

"You're darn right." Alya replied, loading her bag to the trunk of their friend's car, "It's kinda stupid but, you know Kim, he'd do anything so he'd win."

"You know what I don't get about all of this?" Nino spoke, "It's the fact that Adrien, of all people, is joining us."

"What?" Adrien raised a brow, "Can't I join a dare?"

"No, it's not that. It's just, you can go on with your life because you most definitely won't need the money we'd win for university." Nino pointed out

Adrien shrugged, "Maybe I wanted to join the dare."

"Or, or," Alya interrupted, "our little blonde boy here wants to spend time with our equally little girl. Lighten up, Nino, let your children play."

Marinette looked up at her three other friends then sighed, "Please tell me that I not spending a weekend with you guys in a supposed-to-be haunted house."

"You can't hide it, Mari." Alya slung her arm around her friend's shoulders, "You love us. Now let's go! It's gonna get dark and I really want to be in that haunted house soon. It'll be awesome for my blog."

"I knew it," Marinette spoke up, "you forced Alix to make the dare so you could have someone to join you for a Halloween blog post."

"What can I say? Halloween is a really big thing on blogs and I want to win that darned 'Best Halloween experience' for once." Alya replied

"All of the stuff are loaded, we're good to go." Adrien announced

"I call shotgun!" Marinette called

"Ooh, wanting to be with Adrien the whole time, I see." Alya wiggled her eyebrows

"No, I meant the shotgun that'll get you in trouble if you don't win that award." Marinette whispered back then proceeded to enter the car

The three other teens rode the car and, once everything had been rechecked by Adrien, went off to the house they were supposed to stay in.

They had been informed, by Max, that the house had a housekeeper so they wouldn't actually be alone. It was like a hotel, only it was free and people often stayed there to finish dares. Like the four teenagers we knew.

"Legend has it that the owner of the mansion got killed inside the house," Alya spoke as she read what was written on her phone, "and the family of the owner left immediately when they found the dead body of the owner at the backyard."

"So why is there a housekeeper? Shouldn't he or she be not allowed to stay in the house if it really is haunted?" Adrien inquired

"Nah, she doesn't actually stay indoors. Max told me that she stays at a nearby house and she works at the house when it's day." Nino replied

"Why are we getting so worked up about this? I mean, it's not really haunted, right?" Marinette asked

"Uh," Adrien started, "she didn't tell you?"

"Look, it's not a serious thing. I found it from Creepypasta, pretty sure that it's purely fiction." Alya defended

"Yeah, I side with Mari here. All of this is just fake. And if the so-called legend is true, then why are people still allowed to enter?" Nino shrugged, "Probably just some people trying to make the haunted house an attraction."

"Hopefully," Alya murmured, "but I'd really like to experience some ghost hunting, you know? Before we all go of to uni."

"Ghosts, pretty much no. But maybe there'll be creepy people in the town that we can investigate like a criminal reporter." Marinette grinned at her friend

"Yeah like when we were younger!" Alya exclaimed, getting excited with the idea, "Remember when we stalked them an-."

"Wait, wait, stalked who exactly?" Nino raised a brow

Marinette and Alya shared a giggle.

"No one you should know of." Marinette supplied

Adrien looked at the rear view to share a glance with his friend, "I'm pretty darn sure I know who."

Marinette grabbed Adrien's chin and pulled it down, training it in front of him, "Eyes on the road, Adrien."

"Sorry, sorry," the boy muttered

Marinette set up a playlist consisting of The Greatest, Vivre Ou Ne Pas Vivre, This Town, and many more. She watched as the road slowly become new and foreign to her. They were only travelling to Versailles but she hadn't travelled that way before. She also went to Versailles when she was little but she never saw or heard of the haunted house Alix wanted them to go to.

They had been travelling for two hours and the sun was slowly setting, the lampposts being lit up. Marinette fell in love with the road they were travelling and with the demeanor they were in. It was fun to have an out-of-town weekend with her best friend, her best friend's boyfriend, and her crush who was still as oblivious as ever after four years. It was satisfying that she had a chance to bond with them after the struggles and pain university was giving them.

She could see Alya and Nino snoozing at the backseat, curled up with each other so she changed the music to something softer as to not disturb the sleep of the two occupants of the backseat.

"You trying to get me to sleep, Mari?" Adrien asked with a chuckle

"Oops, sorry." She replied then changed it back to the former song, only lowering the volume

"You can sleep too if you want, I feel like this is a really long drive," Adrien told her

"It's fine, I'll stay up with you." She smiled at him

Thank goodness she knew how to control stuttering and inner fangirling or that sweet gesture would've made her into a sputtering, blushing mess.

"Suit yourself," Adrien replied, "so how's taking up fashion doing for you?"

Oh right, that. They, all four of them, haven't really talked about their studies much seeing as the first time they saw each other since summer break was this roadtrip.

"It's stressful but I think I can manage," she answered, "just gotta learn how to balance time between studying and working." And, you know, patrolling around Paris at night because I'm Ladybug.

But she couldn't say that.

"Man I wish I knew how that felt," Adrien said

"Trust me, Adrien, you don't." Marinette shook her head, "I honestly hate my boss right now. I wish I thought of it before I took them for my internship."

"You know, my father's offers are still up." He eyed her, "Just getting that out there."

"I'm really thankful but your family's given me enough," she replied, remembering the scholarship Gabriel gave her which covered half of her annual tuition, "I think it's too much if I accept the internship."

"No it's totally not. Father's fine with it. Actually, he wantsyou for the company, something about fresh and raw talent." Adrien said

"That's… actually really kind of him." Marinette smiled a bit more

Adrien let out a short laugh, "I know right? I thought it was physically impossible for him to be kind."

"True, but you have to give him some credit somehow." She grinned, "Well how about you? Still modelling or?"

"Still modelling. It's now officially a job which I am very happy with. Not, not that I'm happy with modelling, I'm just really happy that the money could pay rent and send me to college," Adrien answered

"Well you surely make people happy with your modelling," Marinette blurted out without thinking

Adrien curved the car for a second before putting it on its proper lane then stopping at the side of the road, earning honks from the drivers behind him.

Marinette's eyes widened once she registered what she said.

Did, did I just-,

If they were fourteen, then there would absolutely be no reason for both of them to be flustered on the topic. But they weren't. They were both nearing twenty and Adrien didn't model the same clothes as he once did. Now it was different.

Now, Adrien modelled underwear.

"I-I mean, no, I didn't mean that. What I meant to say was, it makes people really happy to see you like that and-, no! Not see you like that like that! It's not bad. Not that you don't look good, or anything, you actually look great like that, no, wait, I meant-." She snapped her mouth shut, turning to the window then continued in a small voice, "I'm just gonna shut up now."

Adrien let out a chuckle. Not the I'm-laughing-at-you-on-purpose chuckle, the Adrien chuckle, the chuckle that made her fall for him, the I-tried-so-hard-not-to-laugh-I'm-sorry chuckle.

"I'm really really sorry about that," she whispered then sat straight again, trying to keep eye contact with him even if an image of the first photograph of Adrien in an underwear flashed before her eyes

"It's fine, really," he told her, "I get that a lot." then sent her a wink before driving

Now Marinette was more flustered than ever. Adrien Agreste just winked at her after they talked about him wearing only underwear in a shoot and after she told him that she liked it. Her heart was going crazy and her face was as red as her Ladybug suit. She just wanted this drive to be over.

The road was terribly long and when Alya and Nino woke up, which was a good fifty minutes of awkward silence for Marinette, there was still more than half an hour of drive to go.

"You know what, guys? I think we should pull over," Nino suggested, "You hungry, bro?"

"Starving." Adrien groaned

"You, babe?" He turned to the girl sitting next to him

Alya nodded, "I could use some food that isn't junk food."

"Great, then we're pulling over." Adrien announced

Five minutes passed and Adrien parked at a roadside diner, and once the car stopped moving, Marinette took a dash inside, almost tripping on the process.

"Hm, I guess she was really hungry." Alya stated

Adrien let out an amused sigh then they followed Marinette inside. The girl sat inside, waiting for them. She eyed Alya then patted the seat next to her. The other girl, not seeing her signals, sat in front of her, then Nino slid in next to Alya and that left Marinette to sit next to the boy she told that he looked good in an underwear.

"I promise, Mari, it's fine," Adrien assured her, reading her thoughts somehow, "I've heard things that are really disturbing. Yours was merely a compliment."

Right. Right, he was cool with it, she should be too. Right. She was cool with it.

•••

Not.

"Alya I screwed up! I told him that he looked good!" Marinette paced around the comfort room, "In his underwear!"

"Yeah, so? He really does look good in his underwear," Alya pointed out, "he's a model, he's used to it. At least you don't go yelling around him to father your child."

Marinette looked at her like she was crazy.

"What? I've heard that a lot of times being yelled at celebrities." Alya shrugged, "Now come on, we're going. It's getting awfully late and we're still a few kilometers away."

The red head dragged her friend out of the comfort room and to the car. Nino had taken over driving and Alya to the passenger's seat and that left awkward Marinette and nonchalant Adrien to the backseat.

It went fairly well. Until it started pouring. Nino groaned then turned the windshield wipers on.

"Honestly? How are we going to get everything out of the car if we have just two umbrellas?" Nino asked, mostly himself, as he entered the lot that the haunted house was in

The road was slightly bumpy not having been cemented and all. The four almost adults looked in front of them as the haunted house went into full view.

"It's more mansion than a house." Marinette said, mouth open at the sight of the grand mansion in front of them

It couldn't be less than three stories tall. The mansion itself was tall and wide and looked like it was constructed back from the Renaissance period. It was the kind of an old mansion that still looked as good as ever today. It was dimly lit by all of the candles inside, with the lack of wires, Adrien told them all about the lack of electricity inside.

"Great, how am I going to blog about it?" Alya asked, dismayed

"Well you can still do after the trip," Marinette suggested

"Okay guys, I don't know about you but I think I saw something move over there." Nino pointed to the left which wasn't very much illuminated by the car's headlights

Nino almost jumped when he saw that he wasn't just seeing things, that something was actually moving in the dark.

"Babe, I think it's best if we drive," Alya said softly, trying to calm herself down

But before Nino could step on the pedal to make them go forward, the creature in the dark ran up to them, banging loudly against the window near the driver's seat. All four yelled and Adrien and Marinette scooted quickly to the far end of the car from the creature. The creature continued knocking and knocking. Alya, with every ounce of panic in her system, scavenged for the flashlight which was in her bag.

She grinned triumphantly as she found it and pointed it towards the creature.

Which turned out to be an aging woman.

Nino rolled the window down and the rest calmed.

"What are you four doing here?" The woman asked, concern lacing her voice, "It's night, you trespassers."

"We're not trespassers, ma'am, we're here to stay the night," Nino answered, voice still shaking a bit

The woman groaned then rolled her eyes, "You teenagers and your hobbies. Follow me, I'll open the garage."

Nino nodded and followed where the woman led them. They went towards the side of the mansion and entered a small opening where they saw another parked car.

The four went down the car and stretched a bit.

"Unfortunately, you have to share the mansion with a couple of teenagers," the woman sighed, "but don't go out of your rooms while I'm not here. It's dangerous out there."

"Thank you for the help, ma'am," Alya spoke, "Can I get a picture for my blog?"

"That can wait, I'll take you to your rooms," the woman said

The four went to get their things then locked the car. Adrien made sure that the keys were in his pocket, as well as his other belongings. They all followed the woman as they all entered the mansion.

The door creaked loudly when she pushed it open, making the group huddle a bit closer to each other. They all looked around the mansion. The room had high ceilings and arches served as the separation from the entrance of one room to another. Candles served as the only source of light in the whole room and it seemed like over a hundred were used to keep it lit as it was. The material used for making the arches and pillars looked like they were more than a century old. But overall, the room looked bare. There was a couch set at the far end of the room with a glass table in front and a gigantic portrait of a man in bright green was placed above the loveseat. The room, although it was supposed to be haunted, looked astounding that even Adrien, who had his own mansion, was amazed.

"It's so beautiful," Nino uttered

"Yeah," Alya whispered, "almost perfect, wouldn't you say, Mari?"

When no reply from the other girl was heard, all three teenagers stopped their wandering eyes and looked at the spot where they last saw their friend in.

"Uh, where is she?" Alya asked

"Mari where are-." Adrien turned left then saw Marinette standing in front of an open door, staring at something inside

He jogged towards her then tapped her shoulder, snapping her out from her stupor.

"What are you looking at?" He asked once she turned to him

She pointed inside the room, "Look for yourself,"

Adrien furrowed his brows then was about to peer inside when their guide swung the door shut.

"Haven't I just told you to be in your rooms at all times?" She snapped

Marinette bit her lip, "I'm sorry."

"It was my fault, I was curious," Adrien stated

The woman huffed then the two went back to their other friends. They were led up the spiral staircase then walked along the carpeted hallways that had marble railings just above Alya's waist. Marinette ran a finger along the marble for a while, pointing out how smooth it was.

They all stopped in front of gigantic double doors and the woman opened it with her key.

"There are four rooms inside. Two at the left, two at the right. There are bathrooms in each bedroom. The other teenagers are in the rooms in front." She gestured to the pair of double doors across them, "If you need to ask anything, ask it now. I won't be staying the night here and once I leave, you cannot go out.

"You have no reasons to leave your quarters. If you're staying for the whole weekend, then you're free to stay. If you want to go wander around the mansion, do it in the morning." The woman finished, "Do I have myself clear?"

The four nodded.

"I'll leave you to it then. Here are the keys." She handed them to Nino

"Why me?" Nino asked

"You look responsible enough," the woman supplied

The three snickered but Nino just shrugged, "I'm not even offended."

The woman left then the teens closed the doors and lounged themselves on the couches around the room.

"High ceilings, chandeliers, fancy couches, can we live here forever?" Nino asked

"Okay, okay, before we all get too comfy, let's decide on rooms," Alya announced, "I suggest having one room each."

"No!" Marinette and Adrien exclaimed, catching the couple's attention

"Well then, I'm gonna bunk with Nino," Alya replied

"No!" Both Marinette and Adrien repeated

"Fine then, Marinette and I there." Alya pointed at the rooms to the right, "And you boys there." She pointed at the opposite, "Let's get settled in for now."

Finally, everyone agreed and Marinette and Alya were first to their rooms.

"You know, bro, I'm kinda feeling dangerous. I want to have a room to myself so when a ghost or something appears, no one will distract me from it," Nino stated

"Says the guy who screamed louder than Marinette earlier," Adrien said then noticed that absolutely nothing would change Nino's mind, "Fine."

"Great, see you in a few." He entered a room without giving Adrien anymore choices

Adrien sighed then walked to the remaining room, "I'll be fine. It's not actually haunted."

As if on cue, thunder decided to drop by. The blond jumped a bit then ran a hand through his hair, "Okay, here we go."

He opened the door and saw the pitch dark room. He bit his lip and braved the darkness. He opened his phone and used the flashlight, finding candles and lighting them. Once it was bright enough, Adrien placed his duffel bag on the bed and unzipped it, pulling out a pair of pajamas and undressing himself. He changed out of his slightly wet clothes and dressed himself in comfortable clothing.

Another thunder sounded and he tried his best to calm himself down by breathing.

•••

Marinette and Alya laughed as they talked about random things, not minding the whole 'this is supposed to be a haunted house' bit.

"You know what, I bet Nino wanted a room to himself," Alya said, "I think he wants to prove that he's not a scaredy cat."

"Bet you ten euros he won't last the whole night," Marinette spoke

"I bet you this blue green thing that he won't last two hours," Alya grinned, "Wanna make it easier?"

"And what do you have in mind?" Marinette grinned deviously

•••

"Okay, which one is his room again?" Alya asked

"I dunno." Marinette shrugged

There was a third thunder then the two girls were silenced. They picked the door on the left then knocked on it.

•••

Adrien sighed for the tenth time in the past half hour. He had been spooked out for too many times and, although he'd already let Plagg out, still felt scared. The candles would seem as if they were being blown out even if the windows were closed and the air was still. It was honestly scarier here than in his house.

There was lightning and thunder for the third time and his tremors were not missed by Plagg.

"Look, kid, you have to relax, there aren't any ghosts here or anything," Plagg stated before throwing a small slice of Camembert in his mouth

"I know but it's so-."

Knock knock knock

"What was that?" Adrien asked, looking around the room

"Uh, the door?" Plagg replied

•••

They quickly hid behind the huge grandfather clock. The door didn't open which bummed both out. Alya sighed after waiting for five minutes before she headed to the door once again, raising her fist to knock.

•••

Knock knock knock

"If that was one of them, they wouldn't knock, they'd call me." Adrien was now hiding underneath his blanket, shaking visibly

"Just open the door, trust me, it's bound to be one of them," Plagg said

Adrien frowned then decided that enough was enough. He stood up from the bed and was starting to walk to the door when there was a particularly bright lightning and loud thunder and, at the same time, the candles blew out. The blond jumped to the bed and hid under the covers once again.

•••

"I'm bored," Alya announced, "let's just go back."

"Agreed." Marinette nodded then the two went back to their room

•••

"This is silly," Plagg huffed

He flew to the door and opened it for Adrien, opening it wide.

"See there's," Plagg took a look at the empty space, "no one there."

"Plagg close the door!" Adrien ordered, not wanting to look

•••

"So, tell me, how have you been with Adrien? I mean, Nino and I slept for a good hour or so. What happened then?" Alya asked, her feet swinging in the air as she laid down on her stomach

"Honestly? Nothing." Marinette frowned, sitting on the bed, "It's weird that so much time has passed and I couldn't move on from him. It's silly."

"Well maybe there's a reason." Alya shrugged, "Anybody showing interest in uni?"

"None that I know of." Marinette shook her head

"That was the same when we were in collège," Alya pointed out, "but it turned out that Nath and Nino liked you."

"Yeah but it's not the same," Marinette answered

The candles flickered and the two girls turned their attention to it.

"Uh, I'm pretty sure the windows are closed," Alya spoke, sitting down on the bed

Marinette nodded in agreement. There was another loud thunder and the girls were startled for a bit. A long shot of lightning soon followed, lighting things up then the door opened, revealing a figure cloaked in white.

Both girls screamed loudly and, as per Marinette's instincts, she ran to the figure and kicked it.

"Ow!" The figure groaned as it fell to the ground, "Ow stop!"

The figure removed its cloaked and showed an Adrien on the ground, clutching his knee.

"Oh my gosh, Adrien what were you doing?" Marinette knelt to the ground and, knowing her, went to tend to Adrien's damages immediately, "I am so sorry, why were you even doing that?"

"I didn't want to see anything in the dark!" Adrien exclaimed, "Can I stay with you? Nino doesn't want to share."

"Why?" Marinette furrowed her brows

"Because," he replied

"Because what?"

"Just because,"

"Come on, Adrien, admit that you're a scaredy cat." Alya teased

"Alya," Marinette spoke on a low voice, "come on, Adrien, you can join us."

Adrien grinned gleefully then stood up and ran to the room, almost locking Marinette outside.

"And here I thought that you were injured," Marinette said

"Whoever said that?" Adrien asked, sitting on their bed

"You sure we're gonna fit here?" Alya asked, raising a brow, "I can always get Nino on a bet on who can stay alone the longest."

"Yeah, you go do tha-, wait, nope. Nope. Alya, you are not leaving this room." Marinette told her friend

"Well too bad, here I go. I'm taking the room next door." She said as she left the room

Marinette sighed. Was she really that desperate to give Marinette some alone time with Adrien? And in a bedroom too?

"Sorry you had to share the room with me tonight, Mari." Adrien said, rubbing his nape awkwardly

"No it's fine, really." Marinette assured, "It's not a big deal. I don't want to be alone anyway."

"Good, good, because I could really use a roommate right now." Adrien sighed, completely satisfied

It was going to be a good night right? Just her and Adrien. Alone. In a room. Sharing just one bed. And one blanket. And it was getting cold so they'd probably be trying to find body heat soon. Great.

Marinette was dead.