A/N: So... It's been a while. Sorry for the long break, but I feel like I've finally gotten motivation with this fic since the new season of MLB came out.
Unfortunately, I still haven't got a plot for this. I have a sort of tentative plan, but it would be great if y'all wanted to suggest where you want this story to go with new chapters. I used a suggestion from one of my readers for this chapter, and I hope it turned out the way they wanted it.
New updates may not be frequent, and they may not be regular, just so anyone who is still reading this is aware.
Thank you for your support and comments! Enjoy :)
Marinette slowly followed Adrien with a hesitant look on her face. But what else could she do? Hole up in the prison cell that was 'her' room? No thank you. Adrien might lock the door again. Then who knows when she would get out again.
Adrien walked in front of her down the hall, leading the way into the kitchen. She was quiet. Skittish. She's still afraid of me.
The realization gave Adrien a smirk. Fear was an interesting thing. He could use that fear in so many different ways. It was just a matter of manipulation.
They arrived at the kitchen, and Adrien immediately started opening cabinets and bringing out bowls for breakfast. He noticed Marinette out of the corner of his eye, making her way cautiously to the table. She slowly sat, studying him warily.
He snickered inwardly.
Adrien continued poking around in the pantry for a few minutes, humming to himself and deciding what to make, when she finally spoke.
"Could...could I...help?"
He turned to her, eyebrow raised.
"I... my parents own the bakery, and I know a few things. I promise I won't try anything again," she said tentatively.
Adrien made the decision fairly quickly already, but he liked playing with her.
"So you're not going to draw a knife on me?" he asked with easily acted suspicion.
Her eyes widened a fraction, as if the mere idea of pulling a knife on him was ridiculous. But he would be surprised if she hadn't already thought of it.
"No! I won't! I promise."
"And you won't try anything?"
"No, I promise," she repeated.
He squinted his eyes, pretending to think.
"Alright. But if you try..."
"I won't, really," she said.
"Okay. You can come start making the batter for waffles."
Marinette jumped out of her seat, clearly excited. She went to the fridge, pulling out milk, eggs, and all the other ingredients she needed. The flour, sugar, and everything else came from the pantry.
She let herself relax, putting her mind fully to cooking. She whirled around the kitchen, mixing, measuring, finding ingredients and utensils. Marinette was so focused, she didn't notice Adrien step back and just watch.
He leaned up against the doorframe as she cooked, noticing she was entirely at ease in the kitchen. It was like he wasn't even there. He doubted she realized he had stepped out and let her take control of the task of cooking.
Finally, the waffles were made, and the girl took a step back. Her eyes widened with realization and she whipped around to see Adrien just standing there, watching her and smirking.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to- to-" she tried.
Adrien just chuckled. "Princess."
She stopped mid sentence, her blue eyes looking fearfully up at him.
"It's fine."
Her expression changed from fear to shock, and he almost laughed, but he held it in and continued.
"I never really liked cooking that much. I only cook because I have to. Besides, you looked like you were having fun, so I didn't want to interrupt you."
Marinette blushed. She knew she had gotten carried away.
Adrien walked past her, grabbing a plate and dishing a waffle onto it, then dousing it with a healthy amount of syrup.
"Don't just stand there; eat," he said as he sat at the table.
Marinette followed his orders and served herself, then sat across from the boy.
Adrien looked satisfied as she picked up her fork, so he dug into his plate of waffles.
"This is amazing, Marinette," he said softly. "You weren't kidding when you said you knew a thing or two."
Marinette tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear shyly.
"You...you like them?" she asked.
"These are the best waffles I've ever tasted, milady," he assured her. "I may let you cook dinner if you're good today."
Marinette's eyes widened hopefully.
"Yeah! I can do that. I'll have to see what you have in the pantry, though."
"You'll have enough time to do that while I'm gone," Adrien said as he finished his food. "We've already established that you can't go anywhere, so I expect to come home with you still here."
The girl looked slightly disappointed at mention of escape, but she nodded solemnly anyway.
"Good. You know where everything is if you want lunch, and you're allowed in any room except mine. I'll know if you touched anything, by the way."
Adrien stood and stretched, then called Plagg to his ring with a murmured, "Plagg, claws out."
In a flash of green light, Chat Noir now stood in place of Adrien.
"See you later, Purr-incess," he promised as he ran a claw down her arm, making her shiver.
A cold draft passed as he disappeared through the door, and Marinette was left alone in the quiet house.
Reveling in the stillness for a moment, she stayed at the table and let her eyes wander aimlessly.
Ingredients and utensils lay scattered on the countertops, and extra waffles were stacked on a plate next to the sticky syrup.
Marinette made herself busy, to distract herself. Her mind was a whirlwind, going a mile a minute about everything that had just transpired in the last twenty-four hours, and she was tired of thinking about it.
So she cleaned up the kitchen, washing dishes, putting away the leftovers, and humming all the while.
It didn't take as long as she would have liked, so when she finished, Marinette studied the pantry.
It was probably the biggest pantry she had ever seen. There were so many shelves, all stretching around the closet. Any ingredient of which Marinette could think was there, and she gaped at it for a few minutes. Papa's pantry at the bakery wasn't even this big.
The ingredients needed for ravioli were there, and it sounded good, so that's what was for dinner.
The dinner planned, she wandered about the house, looking in all the rooms except Adrien's. She didn't dare cross that line. Yet.
Marinette found a small library with a reading nook and bean bags, another sparsely decorated guest room, three bathrooms, and a completely bare spare room. There was also a small patio outside, with a couple of pretty iron chairs and a small table.
The house was bigger than she remembered it from last night. Her memory was a bit fuzzy, too, what with all that happened. It was still a smaller house than she would've thought a famous Parisian model would have.
With nothing to do until she made dinner, Marinette went back to her room with a book and read for quite some time.
As she was in the middle of an intriguing chapter, her stomach growled loudly, and she noticed that it was well into the afternoon.
Marinette made herself a quick sandwich and took it in the living room, where she watched the news as she tamed her stomach.
There were no new reports on Chat Noir, which was odd. Marinette expected he would be out causing trouble while he was out.
She finished her meal, then grabbed a soft grey blanket that was thrown over the couch and curled up to find something other than the news on tv. Settling on a Disney movie, she let herself be immersed in the imaginative world to get away from her own.
A while later the movie was finished and Marinette decided to start dinner. She made the food leisurely, singing to herself and taking time to just relax.
About that time, Chat Noir, being light and quiet on his feet, snuck up behind an unsuspecting Marinette and whispered, "Hi."
Marinette yelped and dropped the spoon she held, spinning around with wide eyes.
"Adr—Chat! I-I...You scared me!"
"I do believe that was the point," he laughed.
Marinette growled and turned away from the villain, resuming her work with a frown on her face.
She was actually having a good time when he had to come in and ruin it. Marinette was sick of thinking about the trouble he made, thinking about the heartache he caused her, and just him in general.
"Hey," he said, and with surprising gentleness took her arm. "Come on, Princess. Surely that little thing didn't upset you."
Marinette yanked her arm out of his gloved hand.
"Don't touch me," she snarled, and faced him, staring him down.
He raised an eyebrow at her, and his sharp green eyes held a warning in them.
"And no, you scaring me isn't quite the issue," Marinette said, sarcasm creeping not-so-subtly in her voice.
Chat Noir stood silently for a few moments, then said, "Plagg, claws in," before a flash of green light made him Adrien again.
The kwami disappeared quickly, into the pantry yet again.
Adrien walked out of the kitchen, surprising Marinette. She thought for sure she had set him off again when he de-transformed. Maybe he was ignoring her comment? Her anger was becoming abated as curiosity kicked in.
The model came back, this time holding a few shopping bags.
"Here. These should be good for now, to hold you over until you make me a list of the things you really need," Adrien stated.
Marinette was confused, but she stepped over almost carefully, peering into the bags. There was a set of pajamas, a package of underwear, socks, and two outfits, which were sweatpants and plain shirts. Oddly, there was also a chocolate bar in one of the bags.
She pulled it out and stared at it dubiously.
"Is this an 'I'm sorry I kidnapped you' gift?" she quipped.
"Of sorts," Adrien admitted. "It's more of a truce gift. I honestly don't want you here, Marinette—"
"That makes two of us," she muttered.
"—but that's the way it has to be, and there's no changing it. So if I have to put up with you, I at least want you to be civil with me, and that calls for a truce. I will be civil with you as well...if you don't try anything," he finished.
Marinette eyed Adrien suspiciously, trying to decide if she could trust him. He sounded sincere, but she didn't know how she could trust Adrien when he'd given her no reason to trust him in the first place.
Then again, he did keep his word the other night when he bandaged her knuckles. He didn't hurt her then.
Marinette nodded cautiously.
"I...I won't," she whispered. "But I want something else in return, too."
"Anything within reason," Adrien acquiesced.
"I want to write to my parents. And maybe my friend. I just want them to know I'm okay," Marinette said, chewing on her lip.
Adrien pondered it for a few heartbeats.
"I'll think about it," he said.
Marinette squeezed her eyes shut and thrust out her hand.
"Deal."
Adrien took her hand and, instead of shaking it, raised it to his lips and kissed her knuckle. Her blue eyes popped open, and she found he was already staring at her.
Adrien held her gaze steadily as he said, "Deal."
Marinette blew out a breath she didn't know she was holding as he dropped her hand.
"So," Adrien said in a cheery voice as he clapped his hands together, "What did you do all day?"
"Well, um, I explored the house. I found your library, and I borrowed a book. I-I didn't think you would mind," she said.
"No," he simply assured. "However...I hope you didn't explore my room. I remember telling you that was off-limits this morning."
"No, I didn't go in there," Marinette said hastily.
Adrien hummed in acknowledgement and gestured for her to continue.
"Um, after that I read until I got hungry, and then I made lunch and watched tv. Then I made dinner. Which should be done now, by the way."
Marinette checked the sauce and ravioli, confirming it. She dished out two servings and gave one shyly to Adrien.
They sat at the table again, eating, until Marinette grew tired of the awkward silence.
"So...what did you do?" she asked.
Adrien looked up from his plate, smirking.
"I don't think you want to know," he laughed.
"Kind of, yes," Marinette said.
"Fine," Adrien said. "I robbed a couple banks, some ATMs, and stole that stuff for you," he waved in the general direction of the shopping bags.
"Oh," was all Marinette could say.
They finished their meal in the same silence as before.
Marinette stood when she was finished and took her plate to the sink, rinsing it.
She dried off her hands, then picked up the stolen shopping bags.
"I'm...I'm going to take a shower, then, uh, read in the library," she murmured.
"Okay," Adrien said, shrugging.
Awkwardly, Marinette shuffled out of the room and into hers, where she shut her door and leaned against it with a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness that was over.
She laid the bags out on her bed and pulled out the new clothing. Despite it being stolen, it would be nice to wear something that fit better and was clean.
Marinette took the clothes to the bathroom, where she turned on the water and stripped. She stepped into the stream and tilted her head back into it, basking in the warmth and letting it relax her.
Marinette used the provided shampoo, conditioner, and soaps to scrub all of her worries away. A few rinses later, she turned off the water and wrapped a towel around herself.
She got dressed slowly, loving the smell of the fresh clothes. Unfortunately, the only bra she had was the one she was wearing when Chat took her, so she had to wear it again. Hopefully she could get new ones when Adrien made the shopping list.
Marinette towel-dried her hair, then brushed it out to let it dry naturally. She hung her towel, then stepped out into her room.
She grabbed the book she had left on her bed and made her way to the library. There, she sat in the nook, where she could see the woods from the window.
Marinette pulled a blanket to her and read.
Adrien rinsed his plate, then loaded the dishwasher, taking his time. Marinette has already done most of the dishes, leaving a sparkling kitchen, so Adrien didn't have to do very much.
He heard Marinette open her door down the hall and tip toe into the library.
It was different thinking about living with another person. Adrien hadn't even had a girlfriend live with him. Not that he had any girlfriends before. He wasn't interested in any women at the moment, anyway.
The kitchen was clean, so Adrien went to his room, where he found that Marinette did keep her word and had touched nothing.
Plagg zipped out of the pantry and Adrien watched him float out the kitchen, off to wherever he pleased. That's the thing Adrien liked about Plagg. He didn't bother Adrien, and did whatever he liked by himself.
Adrien sat in the living room watching tv, until Plagg came in a couple hours later and hovered over the empty seat by his master.
"Marinette is still in the library, but she fell asleep reading her book," he told Adrien.
The model hummed and stood up, quietly padding down the hall and sliding open the library door.
The girl was curled under Adrien's favorite cream blanket, chest rising and falling deeply in sleep. The book she was reading—Shadows Falling—had slipped off her lap sometime during her dozing, and Adrien picked it up and placed it back on the shelf.
He stared at her unconscious form for a few minutes, then turned off the lights and left her to sleep.
A/N: Please leave a comment if you liked it! I enjoy every single one and it boosts my writing motivation. Thanks!