A/N: Here's the second chapter for today!
Adrien and Marinette fell easily into a routine in their first week together. Whoever was home first would make dinner—usually Adrien—and whoever didn't make dinner would do the dishes—usually Marinette. Adrien took care of the trash and feeding Tikki unless he got in after midnight, and they tried to switch on feeding Plagg.
Marinette flopped onto the couch when she came home from work, kicking her sandals off so she could rest her feet on the arm. "Ah, the domestic life. We're living it big."
Adrien set a plate on the coffee table. "I made you crêpes. Bacon, roasted tomatoes, and cream cheese."
She perked up, reaching for the plate. "You are a saint among mortals."
"Aren't saints also mortal?" He walked back to grab a plate of pancakes for himself, drizzling it with plenty of syrup.
She shoved a bite into her mouth, savoring it for a moment before swallowing. "You knew what I meant. This is great. It's like you're trying to get me into bed with you or something." Marinette ate a few more bites, praising Adrien all the while.
He sat next to her on the couch. "I guess this means that you're here to stay."
"I don't have an apartment anymore, Adrien."
"Until you get a new apartment, then." He winked at her, shoveling more pieces of pancake into his mouth.
Marinette glanced over and saw the pancakes practically swimming in syrup. "Um, do you want some syrup on your crêpes-on-steroids?"
"They are just pancakes, Marinette, and I will put however much syrup I want to on them." As if to prove his point, he took the bottle and poured more syrup on top while staring her in the eye, promptly taking another bite and cringing. "Okay, that might be too much syrup."
"See? If you'd just stick to the standard French practice, you'd be fine." Marinette licked some cream cheese off her fork and dove back in for more.
"So, what project do you want to do next?"
Marinette stared at her plate for a second, concentration knitting her brow. "You know, let's celebrate butterflies. Nothing purple, but there are plenty of gorgeous species out there. I'm sure I could crochet a few, and you could paint some. We could make a butterfly palace or something."
"That sounds good, Buginette, but I think it would turn out better if we had some help." Adrien gave her a knowing look. "How does that sound?"
Marinette grinned. "That, Chaton, sounds like a plan."
—
Nino and Marinette walked into the jewelry store, Marinette's arm looped casually through Nino's.
"Thank you so much for helping me out with this. I have no idea what I'm doing, honestly."
Marinette leaned more into him. "Anything for a friend. Okay, not anything anything, but anything that you'd reasonably ask. Your future finacée is questionable, however."
"That's a fair statement. Ooh, what do you think about that one?" Nino pointed to a ring with a simple amethyst setting.
"She'd probably like that, but let's keep looking. We don't want to pick the first thing we think she'd like and not end up with something she wouldn't like."
The store employee walked over to them. "When's the big day?"
Marinette laughed, Nino turned red, and she laughed harder at him for having turned red. "We're not getting married," she explained, "I'm helping him pick out the ring for my best friend. We have the same ring size."
"Understandable. Is there anything in particular that you're looking for, sir?"
"I think she'd like whatever I gave her, honestly. Her favorite color is purple, hence the amethyst as my initial first choice, but I also think she'd prefer something a little more flashy. On that note, my budget probably won't allow for something very flashy."
"What's your budget?"
Nino clammed up for a moment.
"Give him the sticky note, Nino." Marinette prided herself on that suggestion so he wouldn't have to say what he felt was a low number out loud.
Nino handed him the sticky note with shaky hands.
The man looked it over and nodded. "Very well. I think we'll find something that would suit your needs. Follow me." He led them to another counter and showed them some settings. "We can get any of these with an amethyst, which, lucky for you, tends to be a bit cheaper."
Nino raised an eyebrow but didn't ask any questions.
"They found a mine in Brazil with a lot of them, so prices dropped as supply increased. They're seen as less valuable now that they're more available." Marinette shrugged. "Wikipedia is great, honestly."
The salesman nodded. "That's accurate as far as I know. And she's right; it's not like you're getting a diamond set in among a circle of other diamonds with diamonds in the band."
Nino blanched at the idea.
"Hey, it's okay. We don't have to pick something today. Do you just want to get a card and leave for now? We can always come back another day." Marinette placed a comforting hand on his back, partially shielding him from the salesman with her body.
Nino nodded.
She turned back to the salesman. "Could we get a couple of business cards, please? I think it's a little too much for us today. We still have several months to get it sorted out, so we'll definitely be back."
The salesman reached over and wrote his name on the back of two cards. "One for each of you. We look forward to seeing you again."
Marinette took them with a thank you and guided Nino out of the store.
"I'm sorry."
"Nino, you are fine. You have no reason to apologize. It's a little overwhelming."
Nino nodded, gripping tightly when Marinette's hand found his.
"Let's talk about something else. Does that sound okay?"
He was silent for a moment. "Will you teach me to crochet?"
She blinked. "Yeah, I can do that. Adrien and I were just talking about that, actually. Wanna join us on our next project?"
Nino beamed. "That sounds awesome."
Alya parked near the shelter the next day and gave Nino clear instructions: Go look at the cats, pick out a cat, do all the paperwork, and leave. She had not, however, taken into account other distractions that would muss up those plans.
Nino pressed his face to the glass of the aquarium, angling his head because of his glasses. "I want it."
"Nino, we're here to adopt a cat, not a turtle."
"But he's so lonely, Alya."
"Honey, we can only afford one. We talked about the cat, we already have some stuff for it, so let's just get it and go."
Nino lingered, whispering soft goodbyes to the turtle.
Alya, meanwhile, was already on her way to find the cats.
The worker gestured to the enclosure. "You'll find that most of our cats are pretty much the same. Similar colorings, most pretty docile. Good house pets."
Alya pointed when she saw one that caught her eye. "What about the orange one?"
"That one is an adult. She's pretty nervous around people. We think she was abused before we found her."
Alya frowned. "But she's so pretty. Can I meet her?"
The worker squeezed into the area around all the other cats and picked her up. "She really doesn't like strangers." They handed the cat over to Alya.
"What's her name?" Alya cradled the cat on her shoulder, smiling when the cat purred and settled closer.
"Whatever you want it to be."
"I wanna name you...Trixx. You like that?"
Trixx meowed.
"I'll take her. How much?"
"We'll make you a deal for the cat and the turtle."
"The what?" Alya turned, adjusting her grip on Trixx.
Nino walked up with the turtle in a tank, worry apparent on his face. "I named him Wayzz."
Alya turned back to the worker. "What kind of deal?"
"Both for the adoption fee for the cat. We've had them both for a while."
Alya nodded her head definitively. "We'll do it."
Nino stared at her, surprise erasing the worry. "Wait, really, Alya?"
She smiled at Nino. "We'll make it work. Besides, what's one more in the house?"
"Remind me again why I moved in with you." Marinette rolled over and buried her face in the pillow, ignoring Plagg's desperate pleas for food or attention or something.
"Because your lease was running out and you love me."
"I'm starting to question that. Ow, Plagg!" She rolled so that Plagg would quit digging his claws into her legs. "Go bother Adrien. You know, the guy who actually owns the place?"
"I fed him yesterday morning."
"No, you didn't. I did."
"I'm positive that I fed him."
"Well, I fed him when I fed Tikki."
Adrien froze. "Plagg, you little shit."
"Damn cat," Marinette grumbled.
Plagg just meowed.
"I'll make a more detailed chore chart later. Right now, I'm going back to sleep."
"Fine. I'll feed him. I have to be up in an hour anyway." Marinette rolled out from under the covers, rubbing her eyes. "Come on, little shit." She doled out the appropriate amount of food for Plagg, changed his water, and meandered back to the bedroom, closing the door behind her. She flopped onto Adrien, who jumped.
"What was that for?"
"Je ne veux pas travailler."
"I don't either, bug, but we gotta."
"Je ne veux pas déjeuner."
"Honey, it's half five."
"Je veux selement l'oublier."
"You don't even smoke, Marinette."
"Et puis—hey, you stole my line." She pouted though he couldn't see it in the dark.
"Mm. Sorry. Bedtime." Adrien did his best to roll over and bury his own face in the pillow, dislodging Mari in the process.
She squeaked and landed beside him, mumbling about not being under the covers.
"Then get under the covers. I don't bite."
"But that requires moving."
"Oh la vache, Mari. Get under the damn covers or don't, just let me sleep. I got in at two after that shoot last night."
"Fine." Marinette got up and yawned, mentally going through everything she needed to get done that day. She picked out a shirt of Adrien's to wear—having a model boyfriend had its perks, and free clothes to be used as walking advertisements was one of them. She got dressed in the bathroom and put makeup on, smirking at the shadow of a hickey that hid under her ear. She finished up and snuck into the kitchen, ignoring Adrien's snores except for a kiss on his head.
"Plagg?"
A distant mraow was heard.
She opened up one of the bottom cupboards; sure enough, he was there, curled in the mixing bowls.
"How did you close the door?"
He just settled down into the bowl, putting his head back down and pretending to go to sleep.
Marinette rolled her eyes and closed her cupboard door, smiling when she realized that she was finally taking ownership of it also. It was her cupboard and her home, and no amount of worrying or ruined projects would take that away from her. She knew she was in it for the long haul, and that gave her an idea.
She left quietly so Adrien could sleep peacefully and dialed Sabine when she got into Nellie and started her drive to work.
"Morning, sweetie! What's up?"
"Maman, how did you know you wanted to marry Papa?"
Marinette could hear the smile in her voice. "I had this conversation with Alya not too long ago. It came with a sudden realization that, while I could live my life without Tom, I didn't want to. Sure, we had our differences, but I knew that I loved him and wanted to help him succeed in life. I also knew that he wanted the same for me. Our partnership was equal and genuine. I also knew that I was willing to put in the work to make sure our emotional passion never faded even if the physical—"
"I get the point, Maman. How did you get to that realization?"
"I was thinking one day and discovered that truth down inside of me. Thank goodness he proposed not long after; I don't think I could've handled waiting that long when I figured it out!" Sabine laughed. "Well, worse things have happened, anyway. I would've lived."
"But you didn't want to without him."
"Right. Why, what are you thinking?"
Marinette took a deep breath. "I don't want to live without Adrien. I love him, and I know I'm in it for good. And, like you said, I want him to succeed, and I want to help him with that."
"What about physical passion, Marinette?"
Her voice rose an octave and her cheeks reddened with every word. "Uh, um, er, th-there's absolutely nothing you n-need to worry about going on!"
"Bug, you live with him. There's no fooling this old bat."
"B-but you're not old!"
Sabine scoffed, her voice taking on a joking tone. "But I'm still a bat?"
"Maman!"
Sabine laughed. "I'm teasing you, love. Oh, speaking of supporting my husband, he needs help with something. What? It's our daughter. No, not Alya, the other one. Alya's not up this early. Papa says he loves you, other one."
"Tell him I love him, too. Love you, Maman."
"Love you."
Marinette hung up and contemplated her mother's words on her drive to work, a calm feeling washing over her as she rounded a traffic circle.
I think I do want to marry Adrien. Huh.
And then came the crash.
A/N: ...Please don't hate me.
I promise that the wait won't be so long next time; writer's block really kills all of us, you know? Thanks for reading, and let me know what you thought!
xoxo -wwot