I realized that I neglected to introduce myself in the first chapter, so hello! I'm Nikon, and this is my first multi-chapter fic ever. I'm currently uploading it on my tumblr and AO3 as well, and up to chapter 5 is out on those. I will be catching up here over the next few days by posting one chapter a day, and then this will probably update about once a week like the others do. If you're interested, you can find my names for those in my profile. I love hearing feedback, so feel free to leave a review or PM me! Hope you enjoy :)
"So," Alya began as the group entered her house and once again busied themselves with shucking off their outer clothes, "I know it's a bit late and you boys just ate cake, but what should we do for dinner?"
"I could whip something up for us. What do you have in the fridge?"
Everyone turned to face Nino in surprise at his offer. No one had expected the young DJ to have any prowess in cooking since it seemed like he was all about music all the time.
"You can cook?" Adrien's voice was filled with admiration. He was a little jealous. He had always wanted to learn how to cook at least basic meals, but his father insisted he spend his time on activities more "befitting his standing" or whatever.
"Yeah, man. I make a mean omelet, among other things."
"American breakfast for dinner, I like it." Alya nodded, pursing her lips in thought. "Okay, you make the omelets and I'll work on some pancakes." She blinked innocently at Marinette as she said, "Mari, you and Adrien can start setting up pillows and blankets in the living room. You know where they are in my closet, right?"
Marinette wasn't sure whether to thank her or throttle her. She tried to keep her voice steady and blush light as she replied, "Yeah, sure thing. Come on, Adrien."
The teens split up, Nino and Alya giggling their way to the kitchen as Marinette and Adrien walked together in silence towards Alya's room. Marinette steadied her breathing, reminding herself that Adrien was her friend and she needed to be able to converse with him easily. She struggled to think of something to say as she opened Alya's door and headed to the closet, but before she could come up with anything, Adrien broke the silence.
"This is actually my first time having a sleepover with anyone other than Nino." He smiled sweetly at her, and her heart soared as she returned the grin, busily stacking blankets on his outstretched arms.
"Yeah. I mean, I've had sleepovers with people besides Alya, but this is definitely my first time having one with guys."
Adrien looked confused. "Oh? I would've figured for sure that a popular girl like you had had sleepovers with just about everyone."
Had it been anyone but innocent, home-schooled Adrien saying that to her, Marinette probably would've decked them. As it was, she almost dropped the pillow she had grabbed. Taking a deep breath, she figured Adrien just wasn't up to date on the implications of sleepovers between opposite sexes. She blushed as she tried to think of the best way to explain the meaning of what he'd just said.
"Umm, Mari?" Adrien's shy voice interrupted her thoughts. "I didn't say anything weird did I?" He looked at her with a nervous smile. "Sorry, it's just, you started blushing suddenly but I wasn't sure if it was something I said or not."
"No, well, I mean yes, but it's okay. I figured you probably didn't even realize what you said." Adrien shook his head, and she blushed, turning to grab another pillow as she figured out how to phrase what she had to say.
She turned back to Adrien, clearing her throat. "Okay, basically, boys and girls don't really have sleepovers together, except maybe sometimes when they're little kids." Adrien still looked confused, so she surged onwards. "So, like, a boy and a girl having a sleepover at our age, for example, kind of implies that they're doing something, if you catch my drift."
Clearly, Adrien did not catch her drift, because he simply stared at her blankly.
With a sigh, Marinette set the pillows she was holding on the bed next to her and reached up to grab Adrien's shoulders with a light blush. Looking him straight in the eye, she said, "Listen carefully, because I'm sure I can only manage to say this once without combusting. When a boy and a girl have a sleepover, it's usually because they want to have sex. So, what you said about me being popular and having sleepovers with everyone basically implies that you think that I-" She didn't get a chance to finish.
Adrien turned what was probably a yet-undiscovered shade of red. He interrupted Marinette mid sentence with a wide eyed "Oh my gosh I'm so, so sorry!" Flustered, he flailed his arms in an effort to apologize and managed to drop all of the blankets. He didn't seem to notice this as he grabbed Marinette's hands in his, provoking the girl into deepening the blush she'd had going from explaining the situation.
She was about to reassure him, when he interrupted her again. "Really, Marinette," he said sincerely, trying and failing to maintain eye contact. "I can't believe I said something like that about you. I feel awful, I'm so sorry."
By some miracle, Marinette managed a giggle. Then a chuckle. Finally, she exploded into full-on peals of laughter. Adrien stared for a minute, but her delight was infectious and he soon found himself laughing along with her. They laughed uproariously until tears came out of their eyes and their stomachs ached, and then they laughed some more at the ridiculousness of the whole thing.
Alya and Nino found them there several minutes later, lying on the floor next to each other, holding their stomachs and still twitching with snickers when they looked at each other and remembered what had transpired.
"Okay, what exactly happened here?" Alya nudged the fallen blankets with a socked foot. "You guys were supposed to have brought these to the living room like twenty minutes ago."
Adrien made the mistake of looking at Marinette and accidentally made eye contact, sending them both back into hysterics. He managed to calm himself down and studiously avoided the pigtailed girl's eyes so he could properly explain their position. "I may or may not have totally called Marinette a—What was it again, Mari? Oh, right—a 'party favor'."
Marinette snickered next to him, and he gently jabbed her with an elbow before succumbing to chuckles himself. Alya and Nino stared on in somewhat shocked silence.
"Okay, dude, rewind. What the hell happened that ended with you calling our innocent Mari something like that?" Nino turned his gaze to the girl on the floor. "If I need to beat him up or something, Mar, just let me know."
"Nino it's fine," Marinette said somewhat breathlessly as she tried to sit up. Her ab muscles hurt too much from the laughter, so she gave up and let herself splay out on the floor again.
"I swear it was an accident. I didn't know what I was saying."
"Yeah, he really didn't. He didn't realize what it normally means when a boy and girl have a sleepover and he was surprised I'd never had a sleepover with a boy before because he figured I'm so popular I would've had one with everyone already."
"Shit, Adrien, I can't believe you said that."
"Language, Alya! And I can't help it, I've been homeschooled my whole life. I didn't know this wasn't a normal thing!"
Nino chuckled at his best friend's embarrassment. "Dude, you really didn't have any idea why Marinette told her parents that you and I were going back to my place? They probably wouldn't have appreciated hearing their only daughter was going to be sleeping in the same room as two guys with no supervision."
Now that he thought about it, Adrien supposed that made a lot of sense. He felt kind of silly for not realizing it before, but decided that being homeschooled allowed him to get away with not knowing these kinds of things.
"Anyways, if you guys are done rolling around down there, the food is ready and getting cold." Alya tried to sound serious, but the scene that laid before her was so cute she couldn't keep the smile off her face as she hummed to herself, I knew Mari had it in her. They are so cute together.
"Speaking of the food, I thought of a joke earlier. What did the geologist eat for breakfast?" Adrien glanced at his friends with an excited smile, not even waiting for a response before he told them the answer. "Pangea-cakes!"
Nino wasted no time in grabbing a pillow off of the bed and lobbing it at his best friend's head while the girls groaned at the bad joke. Secretly, Marinette was thinking to herself that she needed to tell Chat that joke sometime.
"Geez, you guys have no sense of humor." With a pained sigh, Adrien pushed himself off the floor, ignoring the ache that radiated from his abdomen. He reached down towards Marinette to help her up as well as he said over his shoulder, "Anyways, we're sorry, Alya. We really didn't mean to get so distracted."
Marinette, cheeks newly pinked from Adrien's gentlemanly actions, murmured an apology of her own as she reached down to begin gathering the fallen blankets. She stacked them on Adrien's arms once again before grabbing the pillows off of Alya's bed and the floor and heading for the door, friends trailing behind her.
When they arrived in the living room, Marinette and Adrien distributed the pillows and blankets so everyone could make a comfortable seat for themselves around the coffee table. The omelets and pancakes, as promised, were waiting and warm, getting Adrien's mouth watering before he even sat down.
Once everyone was comfortable, Alya demanded they all dig in. She didn't have to ask twice, and half of the food was gone within minutes. Too focused to talk, the teens scarfed down enough food to take the edge off their hunger before they even considered conversation.
"That's ridiculous!" Nino sounded deeply offended at Alya's previous statement. "A giraffe scarf would obviously have to cover the entire neck. You couldn't just slap a human scarf on it, it would hardly cover anything and would just look silly!"
"Oh, and a super long scarf wrapped from head to torso wouldn't?"
Marinette jumped into the fray. "And that's why I was thinking that it makes more sense to make it a tube. Then if you add ties at either end you can adjust it so that it stays on and covers the whole thing."
Nino pointed animatedly across the table. "See, THAT is what I'm talking about! That makes infinitely more sense than just one long strip of fabric, and can be both fashionable and functional." He leaned forward to high-five Marinette, telling her seriously, "You will go far in the world of giraffe scarves, girl."
"Thanks, I think."
"Okay, but I think we can all agree what the real question is here," Adrien said, redirecting everyone's attention towards him. "What pattern would the scarf have? Like, would it be giraffe patterned to blend in, a solid color, or something different?"
The rest of the group gave serious consideration to the question. As the other two continued to deliberate, Alya voiced her opinion first.
"I think they should be offered in a wide variety of patterns. Giraffe should definitely be one, but how fucking funny would it be to see a giraffe wearing a cheetah or zebra print scarf?"
"Language!" Marinette and Adrien scolded in unison, laughing as they gave each other a high five at their accidental conjunction.
Alya snorted in fake annoyance, secretly admiring how her friends were getting along. I can't believe Mari is so comfortable with him now. I guess the "party favor" incident earlier really took the edge off for her.
"Okay." The young hostess clapped her hands together to get her friends' attention. "Let's clean these dishes up so we can get to the good stuff."
As she worked on washing the dishes and passing them to Nino to dry, Marinette wondered with a bit of apprehension what exactly "the good stuff" was going to entail. Knowing Alya, it's probably strip Uno or something. She crossed her fingers that her friend wasn't planning anything too embarrassing, but didn't plan on holding her breath for that wish to come true.
Once the dishes were done, the teens headed back to the living room, pushing the coffee table aside so they could all spread out on the floor in a circle. The three guests turned to their hostess, awaiting Mama Alya's instructions.
"I was thinking we should play some games, at least to start us off. How do you guys feel about strip Uno?"
Called it, Marinette thought wryly, even as a blush arose on her cheeks.
Adrien turned a slight pink as well, biting his lip at the suggestion. He looked at his best friend to gauge his reaction, but Nino was busy staring at Alya with a knowing smile, not looking the least bit perturbed by the suggestion. Adrien thought he might actually be gunning for some form of stripping game, maybe even one that involved only him and Alya.
Alya shook her head at her innocent friends, as though anticipating their protests from their blushes. "Alright, fine, we won't do that." She sent a wink to Nino, with a murmured, "But maybe later."
Marinette tried to change the subject quickly. "How about just some good old Ultimate Mega Strike?"
"Nah, you and Adrien will own that and Alya and I will just be sitting on our hands." Nino stopped his head mid-shake with an appraising look. "Actually, I changed my mind, I am totally down for that."
Unfortunately for him, after seeing that look on his face Marinette and Adrien no longer wanted to battle it out on the popular game.
Hesitantly, Adrien offered a suggestion. "Uh, Alya, if you have a Wii, I brought Mario Kart to play with Nino. We could play that instead, it's a lot of fun."
Marinette nodded rapidly, knowing that this way everyone could play on a relatively equal level and there would be no hanky-panky happening in the background.
Alya sighed, but agreed to the idea. "Okay, I'll start setting up the console if you'll grab that."
When he returned, game disc in hand, poor, innocent Adrien asked a deadly question. "Hey, Nino. I had my stuff with me when we came here since I was supposed to sleep over at your place, but you didn't bring anything and you never went home to get an overnight bag like Mari did. What are you going to wear to sleep in tonight?"
Nino's suggestive wink was more of an answer than he had ever wanted, and Adrien mentally kicked himself for not seeing it coming. The room suddenly felt ten times hotter as he witnessed his bud and Alya exchanging meaningful glances and winks.
"OKAY, wow I forgot how badly I wanted to change into my pajamas, I'm going to go do that RIGHT NOW!" Marinette hurriedly spat out, jumping up from her spot on the floor and rushing out of the room.
"Oh, boy, what a great idea, Marinette, I think I'll do that as well, yup, gonna go change be right back!" Adrien zoomed out of the room after the tiny girl, unable to escape fast enough. He saw her snatch up her overnight bag and book it over to Alya's room, so he decided to change in the bathroom and take his dear sweet time about it to avoid whatever was going on in the living room.
Back in the living room, as Nino chuckled over their friends' discomfort, Alya slid closer to him and slipped her arms up around his neck. The boy grinned, quickly moving to place his hands around her waist and tug her even closer.
Alya smiled up flirtatiously, fingers gently drawing patterns along the back of Nino's neck. "Adrien does bring up a good point though." Nino raised an eyebrow, and in a slightly husky voice, Alya murmured, "What are you going to wear to sleep in tonight?"
Nino winked at the girl. "Oh, don't worry. You'll find out later." As Alya giggled, he leaned down to plant a sweet kiss on her lips, deciding to take advantage of every moment he had alone with his…whatever she was. They hadn't really defined their relationship beyond a "thing" at that point, but he was hoping that the sleepover would help him move into official boyfriend territory.
That was the scene Adrien ended up watching awkwardly a few minutes later as he hovered outside of the living room entrance, unsure if he should interrupt his friends or run away. He was still debating what to do when he heard tiny, socked feet padding up behind him.
As Adrien turned around to ask Marinette what she thought would be the best course of action, he had his breath stolen away. He hadn't given much thought as to what Marinette would be wearing to sleep, mostly afraid of accidentally crossing a boundary and imagining her in something inappropriate, but he definitely had not been prepared for the sight that lay before him. Marinette was looking absolutely adorable in a giant Chat Noir onesie, and Adrien couldn't stop staring. Partially, he was amazed and flattered that someone liked his alter-ego enough to put in the hard work to make something so cool, but the other part of him was definitely dumb-struck by his sudden realization that gosh, Marinette was actually really cute.
Marinette started to blush under his scrutiny, tugging the hood of her pajamas lower over her face. "Wh-what do you think?" she asked timidly, biting her bottom lip.
Adrien's smile was so big that it made his cheeks hurt. "I love it!" Marinette looked up and smiled widely back at him as he praised her creation. "Seriously, that's so cool, I can't believe it. You made it yourself right? It's so well done, and it looks really comfy and warm." He chuckled, gesturing at his plain long sleeve t-shirt and flannel pajama pants. "I'm totally jealous, my pajamas aren't nearly as cool or cozy."
This is it! Marinette told herself. You can offer to make him one, that's a great excuse to spend time with him. Just choose your words carefully and don't say anything weird, you got this!
"You want one? I could make one for you."
Nailed it! She did a mental victory dance as she thought, Now just keep your mouth shut until he answers and then-
"Oh, wait, I bet you'd prefer a Ladybug themed one. You know, what with your polka dot kink and all," Marinette continued, giving a sly wink to the now blushing boy.
Noooooooo! I'm ruined, my life is over, he's going to hate me now. Marinette sighed. Well, it was nice while it lasted.
Unaware of Marinette's inner turmoil, Adrien responded as calmly as he could manage in his embarrassment. "Well, I would prefer a Ladybug one, if you're serious about the offer. But I still refuse to admit to having a polka dot kink."
"Just because you won't admit to it, doesn't mean it isn't true."
Adrien jumped about a foot in the air. "Holy shoot, Alya, where the fudge did you come from?!"
"Adrien, repeat after me. Holy shit. Fuck."
"Holy sh-shih tzu. Funk."
Alya shook her head and clicked her tongue. "You really are a hopeless case."
"Hey, I don't need to curse to be cool!"
"Okay, moving on." Marinette grabbed Adrien and Alya's hands, pulling them through the doorway into the living room. "Who's ready to get their butt kicked on Rainbow Road?"
"Oh, it is so on!" Nino shouted from the couch, pointing at her. "You are going down, Tiny."
"Not if you go down first, Bubbles!"
"Oh, you bet he will be. Wink, wink."
"ALYA!"
A minute later, from beneath a pile of pillows Alya said, "Hey, pass me a controller so I can kick your asses."
Marinette obeyed the request, tossing her a remote as Adrien navigated through the set-up screens. Everyone argued over who got to play what character and what race they should actually do. Finally, Adrien just closed his eyes and picked randomly, figuring it was the fairest way to settle things. Ironically enough, he landed on Rainbow Road, and Marinette and Nino immediately started trash-talking each other again.
They all lined up at the start of the track, and the game began counting down. When the race started, Adrien's bike sputtered out and his friends all left him in the dust as they began the first lap. Frustrated, he finally got moving along the course, doing his best to catch up. Apparently, though, his Chat Noir bad luck was kicking in, because he kept running into green shells and banana peels.
This is probably my payback for leaving Plagg alone all day without restocking his cheese supply, he grumbled internally as he fell off the track for the third time. As he watched his character get lapped by his friends, he promised himself he'd check on his kwami once everyone was asleep and find him more cheese.
Meanwhile, Marinette was indeed owning everyone's asses, as she had promised Nino during their trash-talking before the race began. She had a clear path the whole race and never fell off the track, even on the tightest of turns. She cheered as she crossed the finish line in first place, making a mental note to give Tikki an extra cookie later, as that run had seemed unusually lucky.
After Adrien finally finished, expectedly ending up in twelfth place, they picked another race and began anew. They decided they would do three tournaments, and whoever won the most races would be deemed the Mario Kart Master. The next hour was filled with, cheering, jeering, name calling, and death threats. It was definitely the best time Adrien had had in a while, and he couldn't wait to see what was in store for him next at this unusual sleepover.
The tournament ended with Marinette in first place, to no one's surprise. The victorious girl took great pleasure in rubbing her win in Nino's face, hopping up after the final race and doing a particularly adorable victory dance. Adrien smiled as he watched her shake her hips around as she pumped her fists in the air, pajama ears and tail flopping wildly. He had never seen this energetic side of Marinette before so up close because she had always been ridiculously shy around him for some reason. Thankfully, that seemed to have changed for the most part after the whole "party favor" debacle earlier, and Adrien hoped the awkwardness wouldn't return any time soon. He had found he liked this teasing, outgoing Marinette much more than he'd expected.
Marinette collapsed at the completion of her victory dance, lying spread eagled on the floor as she panted slightly from the exertion. She turned her head so she could see Alya. "What now, Mademoiselle Hostess?"
"Hmm, gather round, children, we shall begin another game."
The teens all scooted to form a circle with Alya, eagerly awaiting whatever she had in store for them next, though Marinette and Adrien did so with some trepidation.
"As the hostess, I have decided our next activity. We will be playing…" Alya paused for effect, before waggling her eyebrows as she announced, "Truth or dare."
Marinette's stomach twisted uncomfortably as she began to panic. Knowing Alya, the game was secretly a plot to get Marinette to finally admit to Adrien her feelings for him. She hoped desperately that there was some sort of out she could take if things got too close for comfort.
"Don't look so panicked, guys, you haven't even heard the rules yet." Alya held up a finger for each rule as she listed them. "Number one, no shaming or embarrassing. Number two, no bothering someone if they want to chicken out of a truth or dare."
Marinette sighed in relief. Alya isn't merciless after all. I may just get out of this alive.
"And most importantly, rule number three. You are allowed to get out of a truth or dare if you don't want to do it, but as penance, you have to remove one piece of clothing. By the way, to up the stakes, socks don't count."
Marinette's heart sank to her toes. She hadn't been planning on a game like this—although knowing Alya as well as she did, she should've been—so she hadn't bothered wearing substantial clothing underneath her onesie. Besides the onesie and her fuzzy socks, she was only wearing a thin camisole and some boy shorts. I am so screwed! Adrien's either going to find out my feelings, or what I look like without a bra on, and this is so not the scenario I imagined for either!
While Marinette panicked, Adrien was excited. He had heard about how fun this game was, but had never had the opportunity to play himself. He wasn't concerned about the stripping element—after all he was a model, it was nothing new to him. He couldn't wait to see what he was asked first.
He didn't have to wait long. As soon as she made sure everyone understood the rules, Alya turned to Adrien and asked, "Alright, Agreste, truth or dare?"
"Dare!" he responded enthusiastically, looking forward to seeing what Alya would cook up for him.
"Hmm. How about…I dare you to lick Marinette's neck."
Marinette and Adrien both turned bright red as they looked at each other in surprise. They might've become more comfortable with each other over the course of the evening, but Alya's suggestion had sent them both back into the awkward zone. Neither seemed to know how to respond to the dare.
After a few seconds of stunned silence, Adrien opened his mouth, changed his mind and closed it, then opened it again to ask, "Umm, Marinette, would you mind?"
Would I mind? Marinette's little shoulder-devil purred. Not at all, you can lick me anywhere you li- The thought was cut off as Marinette's shoulder-angel swooped over and knocked out the devil with a tiny frying pan.
"You're so fine!" Marinette said, way too loudly, blushing at her mistake. "I mean that's so fine! I mean…okay."
"Oh, great, thanks."
The two teens chuckled nervously, shifting in their seats as their other friends started chanting softly. "Do it. Do it. Do it."
"Should I-?" Marinette started to ask, accidentally interrupting Adrien's "I'll just-"
They shuffled around for another moment, unsure of how to proceed. Finally, Marinette tugged down the hood of her pajamas and tilted her head away from Adrien, her pigtail sliding away and exposing her neck.
"G-go ahead," she murmured softly, cheeks predictably aflame.
"Th-thanks. Uh, he-here I go."
Marinette tried not to twitch as Adrien slowly moved towards her neck and stuck his tongue out. She had been bracing herself for a ticklish feeling, but when he finally made contact it was nothing like the girl had imagined. As Adrien licked up the length of her neck in one slow, smooth stroke, she had to hold back a gasp as her lower belly was lit on fire. She blushed as she realized she was definitely appreciating the situation in a much more intimate way than she had anticipated.
Adrien was also enjoying the experience way more than he had expected. He was surprised to feel butterflies forming in his stomach as he leaned in towards Marinette. When his tongue finally touched down on the girl's smooth skin, he felt the butterflies double in size and fly a little lower. He was amazed at how pleasurable the experience was, legitimately relishing the feeling and taste of her skin to the point where he found he didn't want to pull away after just one lick.
Ever the gentleman, and not wanting to make his friend any more uncomfortable with his odd desire, Adrien forced himself to pull away once the dare was considered complete. He felt his cheeks flaming, and avoided eye contact with Marinette, instead choosing to stare down at his hands in his lap. Hands which were soon discreetly joined by a pillow.
"Well done, children." Alya sounded proud that both of her friends had been willing to participate in the dare. "Okay, Adrien, now it's your turn to ask someone."
Adrien's head snapped up and he cleared his throat loudly. "Right, sorry." He drummed his fingers against his pillow as he decided who to ask. "Alya, truth or dare?" he questioned, followed quickly by, "Uh, if that's not against the rules since you already asked me."
"It's okay as long as I don't ask you again during my turn. Hit me with your worst dare, Agreste."
"I dare you to not touch or be touched by Nino while Marinette and I are in the same room as you." Adrien thought that had been pretty clever of him, and he was sure things would be less awkward for him and Mari if their friends would keep their hands off each other for a bit.
Almost before Adrien finished his sentence, he was hit in the face by Alya's long sleeve plaid button-down. Shoot, I forgot about the penance thing, he thought, afraid to take the girl's shirt off his head for fear of seeing her in an uncomfortable state of undress. Eventually, he had to brave it, and was relieved to find Alya had been wearing a t-shirt underneath.
"Layers, good for both winter and truth or dare," Alya said by way of explanation. "Alrighty then. Whom shall I choose?"
Marinette crossed her fingers that Alya would choose Nino for her turn. Not me, not me, not me, plea-
"Marinette! Truth or dare?"
Curses! "Umm…" She stalled for time as she tried for figure out which answer would be less catastrophic for her. She was afraid of what Alya might dare her to do, so she sucked in a quick breath and squeaked, "Truth?"
Alya grinned evilly. "Okay, why don't you tell us exactly what you thought of the dare I gave Adrien?"
Marinette turned the color of Adrien's cheeks—that is to say, very, very red. She opened and shut her mouth, looking too mortified to answer.
Adrien was actually hoping that she would answer the question, since he was wondering if she had felt the same thing he did during the dare. His little shoulder-devil piped up, reasoning, Well, I mean, her losing her clothes would also be nice. Maybe we can do some of that lat-
One hit from a frying pan—apparently the weapon of choice for shoulder-angels—and Adrien's mind was once again under his control.
Quickly running the logistics of the consequences of telling the truth versus losing some clothes this early in the game, Marinette decided the best choice would be to just bite the bullet and hope that Adrien wasn't weirded out by her reaction. She took a deep breath and pulled the hood of her pajamas back up, avoiding Adrien's eyes. "Umm, I really liked it? I thought it would tickle, but it didn't, it actually felt really…nice. It gave me kind of a fluttery feeling that I liked. Uh, yeah, that's it." She fell over backwards and slammed a pillow over her face, letting out a soft moan of embarrassment.
Adrien had smiled gleefully throughout her confession, excited to hear that he wasn't weird for reacting the way he had. It seemed as though he and Marinette had been on the same page, and he felt like it was unfair to let her be this embarrassed on her own. He leaned down and tried to pry the pillow away from her face, but she held tight and buried herself in it even deeper.
"Noooooo!"
Adrien chuckled at her resistance. She's so cute, he thought, surprising himself. Did I-? Well, we can come back to that later. He refocused his attention on the girl next to him, patting her shoulder as he quietly admitted, "Marinette, it's okay, you don't have to be so embarrassed. I reacted pretty much the same way, if that makes you feel any better."
Though she was surprised to hear that from him, Adrien's confession did make Marinette feel better. After all, he couldn't exactly think she was weird if he had had the same reaction. The girl finally removed the pillow from her face and sat up, sharing a small smile with Adrien before she got too embarrassed and had to break eye contact again.
"How…enlightening." Alya grinned, excited that things were going more or less according to her plan. "Alright, Mari, who's next?"
"Well, I suppose it's only fair to ask Nino, since he's the only one who hasn't been asked. Truth or dare, Nino?"
"Truth. Hit me with it, sister."
Marinette decided to go for broke and ask the question that had been bugging her all day. "What exactly is your relationship with Alya? And, if it's not where you want it to be, what kind of relationship do you wish it was?"
Nino gulped, heart beating a bit faster as he realized that this was his "nut up or shut up" moment. He wanted to be Alya's boyfriend and she was about to know it, for better or worse. The boy knew that he could just get out of the question by shrugging his shirt off, but he also knew that if he didn't take the chance now he might never be brave enough to do it.
Alya was looking on with extreme interest, which only amplified his nerves, but Nino went ahead with his answer. "Well, right now we just have a 'thing' going, and we've never really bothered to define it beyond some casual fooling around and flirting. Buuuut," he hedged, face uncharacteristically red, "I realized earlier that I want this to stop being a 'thing' and start being an official relationship. I want to be your boyfriend, Alya."
Alya bit her lip, turning the slightest bit pink. She nodded slowly, speeding up as her face broke out into a grin. "I like the sound of that, Bubbles," she responded, picking up Marinette's affectionate trash-talking nickname from earlier. She leaned over and gave him a long kiss, which he happily returned.
Marinette and Adrien let them have their moment, but after they felt that an appropriate length of time had passed, they both started clearing their throats at intervals, slowly growing louder as their friends continued to ignore them. Eventually, Marinette threw a pillow at Alya and managed to get her to break the kiss.
"I believe it's Nino's turn," Alya stated calmly, as though she hadn't just spent three minutes making out with the boy in front of two of their friends.
"Groovy. Adrien, pick your poison."
"Truth, I guess."
"Perfect." Nino rubbed his hands together in a convincing impression of a movie villain. "Adrien, have you ever seriously thought about kissing our sweet Marinette? And, if you have, please list the occasions."
It was hard to judge who had turned Ladybug-red faster, but Nino's money was on his best bud for once. He grinned at the embarrassment he'd caused, but that was just the icing on the cake. The young DJ had really asked the question in the hope that it would help to move along his friends' relationship a bit since, much like the rest of his classmates, he was a hard-core Adrinette shipper. Alya was actually running a betting pool on when the two would finally get together, and if it happened before April, Nino was in it to win big.
Adrien played with the hem of his shirt, deciding if he wanted to take the easy way out this time. He snuck a glance over at Marinette, surprised to see the bashful interest on her face. She was nibbling on her lower lip with wide eyes, as though she really wanted to hear what his answer was. For whatever reason, knowing that Marinette was interested in his response made him happy, and he decided to go for it.
He started off hesitantly. "Well, I think there have been two times so far?" His eyes widened as he realized that he was implying that there would be more times he thought about kissing Marinette in the future, but with the way things had been going thus far he decided he couldn't deny the possibility. He blushed a bit harder, but soldiered on. "The first time was when we were filming that movie and Mari stepped in for Mylene. I, uh, was actually kind of mad at Chloe for interrupting, to be honest."
As Adrien paused nervously, he glanced over again at Marinette, catching her smiling softly to herself. The sight gave him a little more courage, and he let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He noticed Nino giving him a probing look, and remembered he had yet to reveal the second time he'd considered a kiss with his pigtailed friend. Please don't let this make Marinette uncomfortable around me, he thought. Lifting a hand to rub the back of his neck, he sighed as he said, "The second time, uh, was actually during that dare Alya gave me earlier?"
His confession left all of his friends gaping at him in surprise, which only added to Adrien's embarrassment. Nino was the first to recover, reaching over to high five the blushing blonde with pride. Alya followed his example, ruffling Adrien's hair and saying, "Not bad, Agreste."
After a minute of avoiding Marinette's eyes had passed without any response from the pigtailed girl, he finally braved a glance at her. She was sitting there, hands unconsciously squeezing the tail of her onesie as she started of into space with her mouth slightly agape.
"I think you broke her, bro."
"It was an accident! Marinette, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
To her credit, at the sound of Adrien's apology, Marinette recovered fairly quickly. She glanced down at her hands and released her grip on her tail before looking up to smile at the boy. Her cheeks were still pink, but she didn't seem as distressingly embarrassed as before.
"I'm sorry," Adrien apologized again. "I just wanted to be honest, and you kind of looked like you wanted to know. I hope I didn't make you feel uncomfortable."
"It's fine, Adrien." Marinette surprised them both by speaking confidently, even going so far as to lay a comforting hand over his. "I-I'm glad that you said it. It made me happy."
They smiled sweetly at each other, relieved that they weren't immediately catapulted back into the awkwardness that had plagued them previously. At least, they weren't until chants of "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" started up across from them.
"Alya!" Marinette hissed as she snatched her hand away from Adrien's in embarrassment.
"Nino!" Adrien scolded his friend as well, silently mourning the loss of Marinette's warm hand over his.
Their friends laughed at the two blushing teens, not stopping even under the barrage of pillows Adrien and Marinette decided to unleash upon them. They continued to giggle, hardly visible under the small mound of cushions, and their two embarrassed friends could do nothing except look at each other and sigh.
Finally calming her laughter and righting herself, Alya turned to Adrien. "Let's hear it, Agreste, who's it gonna be?"
"You, I guess. Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
Adrien didn't waste a second. "Was your whole plan for this sleepover to embarrass me and Marinette as much as humanly possible?"
Alya considered the best way to answer that question. Technically, she thought to herself, I was planning on trying to get them to become closer, but I was planning to embarrass them a lot along the way, so saying yes isn't really lying, right?
"Absolutely. You should know me by now, that's pretty much my life goal. Besides finding out Chat Noir and Ladybug's secret identities, of course."
Adrien didn't really know how to respond. Of course, she was right, he had pretty much guessed that embarrassing them was one of her favorite pastimes. He settled on just saying, "Oh, okay. Your turn I guess."
Alya turned to Nino with a wink. "I've got a dare for my sparkly new boyfriend, if he'll take it."
"Absolutely, girlfriend, hit me with it."
"I dare you to sleep in my room tonight. Don't worry, I'll keep you company. Wink, wink."
Nino shot off the floor like his pants were on fire. "WOW, how'd it get to be so late? I'm totally wiped, I think it's time for me to hit the hay, good night kids, see you in the morning!" He sent Adrien a thumbs up before he dashed out of the room.
"Weird, I am also feeling exhausted suddenly," Alya said with a sly grin. She stretched exaggeratedly before standing up to leave the room. "Behave, kiddos. Mom and Dad need some alone time and don't want any interruptions." She exited quickly, before Marinette had a chance to fire off the pillow she had been reaching for, leaving her best friend and her crush alone. And, both of tonight's plans end in resounding success. She gave herself a mental pat on the back as she headed towards her bedroom and her waiting boyfriend.
Meanwhile, Adrien and Marinette sat in stunned silence in the living room. Neither was sure what to say at the sudden turn of events, and after remembering the night's confessions, both were feeling a little bit of their former awkwardness resurfacing.
Adrien was the first to break the quiet. "Sooooo, what now?"
"I honestly have no idea." Marinette shook her head with a rueful chuckle.
"Oh, okay. Uh, how about a movie?"
"Sure. Alya has quite the collection of Disney flicks, if you're a fan." Marinette giggled. "She says it's because of her little sisters, but I know she just loves the romance."
"Well, I mean, who doesn't? Disney knows how to do it right," Adrien responded, surprising himself with his honesty. He felt like normally a teenage guy wouldn't admit to liking romantic Disney films to a girl under pain of death, but something about Marinette just made it so easy to be comfortable with sharing that kind of childish secret with her.
"Right? I love them. Do you have a favorite?"
"That's a tough question." Adrien stroked his chin, deep in consideration. "I guess my current favorite is Tangled. I mean, the whole thing is just so ridiculously hilarious, and the songs are fantastic. Not to brag or anything, but I know them all by heart." He gave Marinette a silly grin and returned her question. "What about you?"
Marinette grinned back, eyes sparkling with excitement. "I can't believe it, Tangled is my favorite too! The characters are all so cute, especially Pascal. And I agree about the songs. I sing them all the time, like when I'm doing homework or in the shower."
"Please tell me Alya has a copy."
"I know exactly where she hides it." Marinette crawled across the floor and stuck her hand behind the TV stand, feeling around. "She got so sick of me putting it in whenever I came over that she started stashing it in random places saying she lost it."
Adrien laughed at that. "Well, since she's tired of it, if you ever need a buddy to watch it with you should hit me up. That is, as long as you're okay with me singing along."
Marinette's heart skipped a beat as she wondered, Does that mean that I'm going to get to hear Adrien Agreste's surely fantastic singing voice tonight? She tried to hide at least a bit of her bursting excitement as she retrieved the disk and shuffled back around to the front of the TV to insert it.
When she turned back around, she saw that Adrien had settled in on the couch with his feet resting on the newly replaced coffee table. He picked up a large, fluffy blanket off the floor and covered his legs with it before catching her eye and patting the seat next to him. Marinette's heart soared, and she hurried to grab the remote and a pillow before heading over to sit next to him.
"Oh, wait," Adrien commanded as Marinette was just about to press play. "Let me turn the lights off real quick." He quickly got up to flick the switch, and when he returned he was surprised to see that Marinette was snuggled up under his blanket, cuddling her pillow.
"Hey, hold up," he said teasingly as he resumed his seat beside her. He poked her shoulder accusingly. "I do believe that that's my blanket you're stealing."
"Well, it's your own fault for deciding you wanted to use my favorite blanket."
The boy chuckled at her sass. "And just how was I to know that was your favorite? Give it back."
"Nope."
"Mari, come on. That one's really big and soft."
"I know. Why do you think I like it so much?"
Adrien sighed, deciding to try a compromise. "Okay, it's big enough for both of us to use, so why don't we share it? Then we both win, right?"
Oh, I'd definitely count that as a win, Marinette thought as she nodded and relinquished her death grip on the blanket. In more ways than you know, handsome.
Once they had both settled in under their shared prize, Marinette hit play on the remote and the familiar title screen appeared. She snuggled into the blanket a little further, enjoying the extra warmth she could feel radiating from Adrien, and prepared to enjoy her favorite movie more than she ever had before.
"Aaand at laast I seeeeeee the liiiiiiight," Marinette and Adrien sang far too loudly, at this point having given up on staying on key and just going for it. "And it's liiike the FOOOOG has lifted!"
Adrien slung an arm around his companion's shoulder, swaying slightly in his seat and thoroughly enjoying himself as he continued to belt out the lyrics of what was arguably the best song in the movie. He had never expected the night to end up here, but honestly, now that it had, he couldn't imagine a better way to spend his time. Here he was, sitting snuggled up with a cute girl under the softest blanket he'd ever felt, having the time of his life doing an impromptu sing-along with his favorite movie. He wasn't sure he'd ever had more fun, even counting gallivanting around the city as Chat Noir.
What would things have been like? he wondered as he continued to croon along with the characters on-screen. If I had met this Marinette before meeting Ladybug, what would things have been like? He surprised himself with another thought very different from the first. Shouldn't I be asking myself what things could be like instead?
You're tired, Adrien, his common sense told him. You're excited from seeing your favorite movie with a friend, don't read anything else into it so quickly. His common sense couldn't stop some little part of him from adding, At least for now.
With that, Adrien shoved away his thoughts and focused solely on his duet with the enchanting girl beside him, resolving to figure everything out in the morning.
