Adrien is stiff.

There's no other way to describe the way he's sitting. Every time Marinette looks over at him, he looks like he's holding his breath, and he startles like a young fawn every time she starts talking to him.

He's been like this for the past hour and a half, ever since the Gorilla had to brake hard and Marinette fell sideways into his lap, her head hitting his stomach and her hands flying between his legs.

She managed to get up quickly, regaining composure remarkably quickly—Alya would be proud—but since then, the two of them have spent most of it sitting in silence like tightly wound springs, in between brief naps that are more like tense half-awake power naps and less like relaxing.

Marinette marvels at the change. It's almost like he's become her, like they've switched roles. As she sees him blush, she's filled with an entirely new kind of feeling: a mildly perverse sort of glee at the fact that Adrien Agreste has suddenly turned into a shy kitten in the presence of her, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

It almost feels like a new power that she's been granted, but one she has to be careful with.

She decides to test it out, and tentatively reaches her hand over to touch his shoulder.

He jumps.

"Y-yes?" he asks, stumbling over the word.

She bites back a laugh. "Are you okay? You seem a little uncomfortable."

Adrien blinks at her for a few moments, eyes wide. Marinette has no idea what's happening, but something changes in those few seconds of eye contact, and the air is suddenly electric.

A mischievous glitter enters his eyes, and then he smiles like a Cheshire cat, and Marinette realizes all at once that Adrien isn't the one who's in over his head.

It's her, and she's falling, falling, falling.

Adrien might be nervous because she fell headfirst into his lap, but apparently all it takes is one little smile for Marinette to become a blubbering mess again. So much for power.

"I'm fine, I'm just worried about you," he replies, so smoothly that Marinette is completely taken aback.

She blinks. "What?"

"I'm just worried you're falling fur me. Since you were in my purrsonal space and all."

No. He is not. He is not pulling out the puns. He is not doing this.

"You've got to be kidding me," she says, flatly.

"I'm not kitten at all!" he says.

Marinette stares at him in silence before shaking her head.

"No."

Adrien grins wickedly. "Oh man, no need to be so short with me. I'm sure you can make jokes as good as mine if you try. It's not out of reach."

"Really?"

Great. Now that Adrien's a literal giant, he's going to start pulling out the short people jokes in addition to the cat puns. Mari can't believe she ever thought that Adrien's sense of humor might improve over time.

"I guess it's a good thing you're travel sized, otherwise you might not have fit in the car with all of the luggage."

She never would have thought it would have gotten worse.

The worst part is this: deep down inside, Marinette actually thinks it's kind of...hot.

She wants to punch her hormones for ruining her sense of humor.

"Adrien—"

"I refuse to be cut short."

Marinette's never been very good at coming up with verbal comebacks. She has to plan this sort of thing. So she sighs and responds with the only thing that she can think of:

"Okay, tall person."

Adrien flips his hair. "Don't you mean tall purrson?"

Marinette doesn't know who she is anymore.

Why is she finding these horrible puns attractive?

She really wants to wipe that smirk off his face with a kiss. That would show him.

Adrien stops joking and shrinks back against the window again, nervous again due to her lack of response. It's clear he's worried that he's taken it too far.

Marinette holds his gaze and looks at his lips.

He looks at her lips.

She starts to lean in, and he mirrors her movement—and then the car lurches forward and the Gorilla brakes hard and the car shudders to a stop.

They both startle away from each other, blushing furiously.

The Gorilla looks back at them through the rearview mirror and jerks his head towards the door.

Marinette turns to Adrien, confused. "What's going on?"

"He wants us to get out of the car," translates Adrien.

"Oh. Okay."

They slide out the door and watch as the Gorilla opens up the hood of the car. Something's clearly gone wrong with the engine, and after five minutes of poking around, the Gorilla pulls out his phone and walks down the road.

Marinette wonders whom he's calling. They're in the middle of nowhere, about a half mile from a tiny medieval village, judging from the road sign they've parked beside.

In between traffic jams and now this, they're already falling behind schedule on this trip, and she's starting to get hungry. She's sure Adrien is as well. The boy's got an appetite the size of America as it is, and it's probably expanded along with his height.

Maybe once the Gorilla gets back, they can ask him to take a lunch break.

But there's nothing to do in the meantime, so she leans against the side of the car and hands Tikki a cookie while Adrien gives Plagg some popcorn. At least the kwamis can satisfy their hunger while they wait.

Marinette tries not to think about what just happened in the car.

She almost kissed Adrien. And then it didn't happen.

But then again, maybe that's a good thing. She's not exactly interested in having an audience for her first kiss with the boy of her dreams, especially not an audience of three.

The kwamis hide as the Gorilla returns with a grim look on his face.

"We're not moving. The nearest mechanic lives two hours away from here, and he's out on a call. We will have to stay here for the afternoon."

Adrien and Marinette exchange looks of awe. This is the first time either has actually heard the Gorilla speak to them, instead of grunting or simply gesturing. His voice is surprisingly…smooth. He sounds like someone who could do voiceovers for television commercials.

Adrien turns to look at Marinette, concerned. "Are you going to miss the wedding? I know we're already running late. Maybe you should call your parents and let them know."

Marinette pulls out her phone and quickly notices a problem. She waves it in his face.

"No signal."

Adrien's expression shifts from mild concern to genuine worry. "Oh no. Are you sure your parents will be fine? It's been hours since you last checked in on them. I'm sure they're worried about you."

Marinette laughs. "As long as I'm with you? I think they'll be fine."

She looks at his blanched face and pauses. "Buuut…I guess we could go into town and ask if we could use one of the phones in the store? And then we can have lunch!"

She looks over at the Gorilla for confirmation. She's still not quite sure how to read the large and silent man, but it is pretty clear that he cares for Adrien, despite his reticent and formal exterior.

He nods, so Marinette shrugs and starts walking quickly down the dirt path that leads into the village, followed by Adrien.


The air is heavy and muggy, and it's a little hard to breathe.

A few minutes later, Marinette hears Adrien panting, and turns around with surprise. He's stopped walking, and he's a few paces behind her, bent over with his hands on his knees, sweat dripping down his face.

She runs back to him. "Adrien, are you okay? What's wrong?!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine! It's just…you walk really fast. I'm having a bit of trouble keeping up."

Marinette's surprised. "But you have longer legs than me."

Adrien laughs. "Do you have any idea how fast you walk?"

"Sounds like someone can't keep up. Maybe you should think twice about making another short joke," says Marinette with a smirk.

Adrien shakes his head and grins. "That will never happen."

Marinette sighs. "Somehow, I knew you would say that."

"You know me too well, my la—Marinette."


By the time they get into town, they're both starving, and they immediately walk into the first boulangerie they see near the town square to buy a few baguettes before hopping into the tiniest grocery store they've ever seen. Adrien picks up some cheese and apples while Marinette goes up to the counter to ask if she can use their landline, and she updates her parents on the situation.

They're sad that she can't make it to the afternoon activities, but they're glad she's safe and with Adrien, and even though she can't see their faces through the phone, Marinette can tell from the smug tone of their voices that they're both quite pleased that their daughter is on a solo road trip with Adrien Agreste.

She's not surprised. Neither of them has ever been that subtle about their fondness for him. She is glad, however, that Adrien is not looking at her at this very moment, for she is flushing pink and gripping the phone cord with an intensity that has the cashier mildly alarmed.

Plagg is disappointed to see that the grocery store does not have any Camembert in stock, and sulkily accepts the Abondance that Adrien buys for him instead.

They walk back out and sit on a bench in the town square, eating their lunch and watching the crowds walk by. It's a sleepy little medieval village, and most of the people walking by are clearly locals, curious about the newcomers.

Normally, Marinette would be annoyed by the way the passersby are staring at them, but she's not surprised. Adrien is practically radiating sunlight, and she doubts that anyone in this no-name village has ever seen someone so attractive, especially someone who's constantly posing without even trying.

For his part, Adrien doesn't seem to even be aware of the people staring at him. He's completely absorbed by the meal, clearly enjoying every bite, even though it's a simple meal of bread, cheese, and apples.

He relishes eating his meals like Marinette relishes looking at beautiful dresses made of silk and pearls, and she can't help but smile at his content expression.

After they're done eating, Marinette and Adrien spend some time meandering through the cobblestone streets of the village before walking back to the car. Unfortunately, the Gorilla has bad news to share. The mechanic can't come till tomorrow morning, and even if someone comes from Megève or Paris to pick them up, it's going to take them several hours.

So they're staying here for the night.


After a few more hours of wandering about the village (not that there's much to do), they walk with the Gorilla into the only inn in town, a rickety old building that looks like it's about to fall apart.

The receptionist is yawning, clearly exhausted from the muggy July weather. She sits up straight as the Gorilla marches in and asks for two rooms.

"I'm sorry, but there's only one available room."

"That's fine. These two can take it. I'll sleep in the car. There's plenty of room there, and I need to meet a mechanic in the morning anyway."

The receptionist's eyes widen with panic as the Gorilla walks out of the lobby. "But sir, there's only one—!"

"Don't worry, madame, we know there's only one room," says Adrien, placing a reassuring hand on the receptionist's shoulder.

Marinette smiles. Adrien's always trying to make people feel comfortable around the Gorila, who can come across as intimidating, even though he means well (most of the time).

"It's not just that, young man," responds the receptionist. "There's only one bed."

"Oh," says Adrien, blanching.

Oh, no.

"Is there a chair or a couch in the room?" asks Marinette, trying to rally.

"Yes, there is," responds the receptionist. "There is a small chair in the corner of the room. It's not very big though," she cautions.

"Well then, that's settled!" Marinette says cheerfully, grabbing the room key from the desk and batting off Adrien's protests. "Come on, Adrien, let's go upstairs and let this nice receptionist get some rest."

"But—!"

"Come on, Adrien. Let's go upstairs. We can work this out."

She's lying, of course. She has no idea what's going to happen when they get upstairs.


They ascend the stairs in nervous silence, afraid of what to expect.

Marinette warily opens the door with the key and scans the room. It's as tiny as she had feared it would be, with a twin-sized bed that could be more accurately described as doll-sized, and a skinny little loveseat by the window.

There's barely space to breathe for one person, let alone two, and the air is tense and uncertain as they shuffle inside with their suitcases.

Marinette decides she needs to take control over the situation before it gets out of hand.

"Okay, so. I'm taking the sofa. You can take the bed."

Adrien shakes his head. "No."

"What do you mean, no? You can't sleep on the couch. It's tiny!"

Adrien walks up to the couch and stands in front of it, blocking her way—a stubborn, adamant wall of resistance.

"I'm a cat, remember? I'm used to curling up into small spaces. I can fit on the chair. You take the bed."

He is an infuriating tower of politeness. Normally, Marinette loves this quality about him. But right now, she wants to punch him in the chest for letting it get in the way of common sense.

"Adrien, don't be ridiculous. You have to look good for your photoshoot. There's actual money involved in this. Take the bed. I can sleep in the chair."

"But what about you? You have to look good for the wedding. I'm not going to let you look like a wreck tomorrow. It's already my fault that you're going to miss all the pre-wedding activities."

Why is he such a gentleman? And why is he so stubborn?

"Adrien, I'm not even in the wedding! I'm not even a guest! I'm just tagging along with my parents. And it's not the first time I've slept in a chair before."

"You're going to get cramped up if you do that. I'm not allowing you to. You're taking the bed."

"Okay, let's not talk about getting cramped up. I'm not the one who's a giant here! Have you forgotten how tall you are now? If anyone needs space to stretch out, it's you!"

Plagg flies out of Adrien's bag and sighs. "Can I interrupt for a minute? As cute as the two of you are, dancing around all of this, I'm just going to mention the elephant in the room. The best option is for both of you to share the bed."

"Plagg, it's twin sized!" protests Tikki. "How can they possibly fit?"

Plagg shrugs. "Simple. Marinette can sleep on top of him."