6.The Power of Pizza
Adrien's smell still lingered in the air, floating around her, being stuck to every fiber and every hair on her. The warmth of his body still tingled through her stomach and right into every cell of her being. She still felt his arms around her, remembered the feel of his muscular chest on her cheek, when he pulled her toward him.
This strange and unexpected feeling came back home with her and wouldn't go away. Not even when she sat down, to watch some nonsense on her small TV, that stood in the corner of her even smaller living room. And these thoughts stayed, when she started to prepare dinner – self made pizza with a wide variety of topics. And she still was in this kind of hypnotized state, when she entered the bathroom to take a very hot and much needed shower.
And then she found herself there – leaning against the still cold tiles of the shower stall. Steam had painted the glass door in a milky white, while she had totally forgotten the time and space around her, not minding, that her long hair was sticking to her shoulders, arms and wall, nor the sweat on her heated skin, that dripped down, while the water merely rained down beside her and straight to the drain before her feet.
She was busy…
With her eyes closed and one hand on the mount of flesh, that had thankfully grown a little more over the past years. She gripped on her breast tenderly, a finger softly circling around her nibble, sometimes pinching it lightly.
Her other hand had long ago traveled down, from her neck, over her collarbone and over her left breast, playing with it as well. Wandering further down, over a flat stomach, to the side and to the soft curve of her hip, where she had waited for a moment, before she had eventually dared to touch herself, where she needed it the most.
Marinette was very used to this kind of touch by now, to the pleasure she sometimes gave herself, since she had nobody to do it for her. Normally she wasn't thinking about anything or anyone in particular, just searching for a release, when she needed it the most.
This was her personal valve of lust and after the first few times she was not afraid or ashamed of it anymore.
But this time was different. This time she had a face in mind. The feel of soft muscles, the scent of sun-kissed skin and the smile, that held her heart in a careful and yet so dangerous grip. This time she imagined, that Adrien's hands would touch her, where she touched herself. That he would twirl her nipple with two of his fingers, while his thumb circled her clit with soft pressure.
Just before he would enter her with a finger or two, whispering her name with desire, kissing the pulse point on her neck, sucking on her nipples.
Marinette moaned, but quickly bit her lip to keep quiet.
She was wet – and not from the water in her shower, her juices dripping down on her fingers, down between her tights.
Marinette's knees buckled at the very thought, how he would replace his long digits, with his rock hard member, how he would pin her against the tiles, forcing her hands over her head. How his lips would move over her skin, searching for her own to catch them in a fierce kiss, whispering words of devotion, lust and love.
But there she was, completely alone, her back ached, her head hitting the wall behind her, while her eyes rolled back in her head, biting her lower lip, while she came, her mind screaming for Adrien's name, while she did not make a sound.
Yet the release felt so good and needed, her walls clenching around her finger she was able to insert in herself, while her hand left her still hard nipple. Panting, while the feeling of her orgasm still washed over her.
And after lust and pleasure there were the feelings of remorse and regret left.
Shame…
After all – Adrien was just her teenage crush and a mere friend from her past.
These urges had been there before – had been the first reasons, why she had started to discover her own body late at night. But that had been a different time, and easier one, where hopes of a relationship still existed and the feelings were true and unfiltered.
But now was different. Now she had real responsibilities, was an adult and knew, that a relationship with the gorgeous model Adrien Agreste was far from possible.
She didn't even know him.
And he… he had a child with the one woman she deeply despised.
Never would she have expected, that Lila was able to tell the truth – that Adrien would return to Paris and that he – above all people – was the very father of Emma. Which would mean, that he and Lila and Adrien had gotten far too close for Marinette – something like 5 years and a few months ago.
Oh yes – she fucking knew, how babies were made, which meant a certain degree of intimacy between a man and a woman, without any kind of protection and hopefully with much consent.
Consent… okay… how drunk had Adrien been to lower his standards to actually have sex with Lila – at least one very successful time… and hopefully only one time, even though this one time was already too much for the poor young woman and she still hoped, that all of this was just one very sick and cruel nightmare and that she would wake up any moment.
But the more she thought about it, the more it felt like an actual fact and a reality, that can't and wouldn't be changed in any way. A reality, where she was single, not married and without a child, not living in her dream house and without that dang hamster!
She sighed sadly and bit her lip, before she lifted her hands up and under the hot water, cleansing her skin from any bodily fluids, that were left there, before she reached for her body wash, to clean herself, after that her hair, stepping out of the shower, just as the alarm she has went off, letting her know, that the pizza she had prepared was ready.
Therefore she hurriedly dried herself with a huge towel, putting on some shorts and a frilly tank top, which she usually wore for bedtime.
With her damp hair cascading down her back, sticking to her shoulders and back, she stepped out of the bathroom and straight towards the kitchen, reaching for a cloth, to get the baked good out of the oven, shutting it down, before she balanced the baking tray over to the counter, setting it down and cutting it with a huge and sharp knife into ridiculously small pieces.
Then she took the baking tray once more into her protected hands and walked toward the living room, where she was greeted with the most hilarious and cutest sign possible:
The very mess that were her 4 inches tall flatmates – the tiny gods and goddesses that were called kwami.
She giggled, when she saw, what her tiny friends were up to again – from Pollen and Kaalki sitting in the window sill, looking through a magazine, that had Chloé Bourgeois picture on it, probably discussing the strange fashion, that the people in this century were wearing. Then there were Mullo, Fluff, Xuppu and Daizzi playing hide and seek around the room and behind the other kwamis, cheering and laughing with joy. Tikki, Dusuu and Trixx were talking on the sofa, a small dish with some sweets nested between them. Stompp and Barkk's eyes were clued tightly to the TV–screen, watching a game of soccer, cheering the tiny members of the teams on. Longg was reading one of Marinette's historical novels, Orikko was deeply invested in some k-drama on her tablet and Ziggy had a crayon in her small hands, doodling something on a few pieces of paper. Wayzz and Sass were watching them all, sitting huddled on top of a shelf, speaking in hushed voices.
Every now and then Marinette let her small friends roam free within her flat, giving them the opportunity to get the 21st century better, while having fun and being out of the confinements of the Miraculous Box. They knew it was forbidden for them to fly outside and the curtain must be closed at all times. Also they shouldn't be too loud, for she did not want her neighbors to find out about them.
But it also felt nice for her, to have them around every now and then and it felt easier for her to be their guardian, without having the feeling, that she imprison them all the time.
Yes… it made her smile to see them all like that, though her heart is aching in the knowledge, that Nooroo was not around this time.
Oh Nooroo – her poor friend was gone once, used once more for ill purposes.
And she felt very responsible for this loss… She had been staying too long in one place – she was easy to make out.
That's why she decided to move as soon as possible. Somewhere small and affordable. She just needed to find the right place to stay…
But right now was not the best time for these thoughts…
Yet she cleared her throat, coming closer to the coffee table in the middle of the room and placed the baking tray with pizza on it. But before she spoke up Marinette walked to a shelf next to the TV, getting a small plate, which her parents had once given her, when she first moved in – she rarely used them anyway.
Two pieces of pizza were placed on it – one with extra cheese, just in case Plagg was around and could convince Chat Noir for a small snack, while the other – with olives and pineapple, which Nooroo dearly loved – was for the Butterfly kwami.
Maybe he was still close and could smell it. Maybe he could tell a small lie and leave, just to get here…
Only a moment would be enough – even if he couldn't tell her, who his current owner was. But maybe he could at least give her a hint.
Then she walked to the window, pushing the curtain to the side – just to be able to open it slightly, putting the plate on the windowsill outside.
Just when she finished, pulled the dark cloth over glass and frame, she turned around.
"It's dinner time!", she exclaimed, taking a cushion to sit on it, while her friends cheered with glee, swarming towards her and the pizza, each taking a piece with the topic they most enjoy – and there was a huge variety of it - before sitting around it.
"I loooove your pizza!", Fluff squeaked, munching on a piece with yellow carrots and spinach on it.
"Yeah – I can't get enough!", Daizzi added, while the tomato sauce already stuck to her mouth.
"Uh – and can we play the singing game when we are finished?", Orikko chipped happily, while Trixx and Xuppu immediately agreed to that. "It is very fun!"
"And I want another piece!"
"Me too!"
"Do you guys remember, when we were in Italy around the time, when they invented pizza?!"
"Oh yes – and do you guys remember…"
Marinette just loved it, when these tiny guys were talking about all these different things – experiences from past lives, happenings, while they had different owners, cultures that were so different back then and religions that were still in the making.
It brought the world and its history a bit closer to her.
…and it felt nice…
She sometimes sat together with these godly entities for hours, just listening and wondering about all the lives and people they had witnessed.
"I have to agree. Your pizza is of exquisite taste…" came it finally from Sass, who sat across from Marinette, taking small bites of his piece. "A shame we can't share it with Nooroo…"
The kwamis went quiet, some stopping to eat all together, while a few only chewed slowly, but all were looking over to Marinette, clearly demanding answers.
But all she could do was sigh, while she lowered her gaze.
It was Tikki, who spoke up for her, flying up in the air, hovering by Marinette's side:
"We try to figure out, who the thief is. You guys know, that we have already talked with Nooroo's previous owner, Hawk Moth and-"
"We are just worried…" Mullo whispered, her big pink eyes fixing on Marinette's. "We don't want anybody to be harmed. And you know, that kwamis should not be used for ill purposes…"
Duusu on the other side started to sob heavily and big tears started to spill from his tiny eyes.
"I miss Nooroo!", he shouted, leaning into Ziggy for comfort.
Marinette heavily gulped, when she saw her small friend crying and reached over to gently grasp the blue being, lifting the small peacock kwami up towards her eyes, to look directly into his.
"Oh Duusu…", she whispered and he levitated towards her face, to cuddle her cheek, whimpering a little while trying to calm down again.
The young woman nodded, understanding the worries of the tiny beings very well. She was not happy with the current situation as well, knowing, that she was to blame for it.
But she was also very ready to make things right once again.
"I will find Nooroo. I will bring back the Butterfly Miraculous and I will make sure, that it won't happen again. Chat Noir and Plagg are back in Paris and they will help me…" She looked around and smiled reassuringly at all of them. "They will help us…"
A few of the kwamis still seemed not too convinced by her words, but for now it would be enough.
"Thank you Marinette! That would be awesome!", Duusu chimed, feeling a little happier now and finally let got of Marinette's cheek to fly back to his previous seating place, shoving a huge piece into his mouth, probably to help him calm down.
But eventually they started to eat and to smile again after a few moments, the happy conversations from before started once more.
Though Sass and her gazes crossed every now and then, but he stayed – at least about that topic – quiet.
Until a noise from outside startled them all and the Snake Kwami was the one to fly up, hushing them all with the movement of his paws.
"Somebody is outside…" whispered Kaalki, alarming the others even more.
"Marinette can you check?" Stompp mumbled.
"What if it is the thief, ready to steal another Miraculous?!" Longg added with panic in her voice.
They gasped, some were already flying away to hide, while Tikki stayed close to Marinette, levitating to her shoulder, while the young woman bravely stood up and grabbed her phone – just in case she would need it.
Slowly she walked to the window, waiting yet for another moment, before the was a rustling noise and some shuffling – opening the curtain slightly once again. Only to peer outside.
She came face to face with a pair of glowing big eyes and a huge grin, once the black hero on the other side of the window saw her.
"Chat Noir?!"
And just like that all the kwami's – apart from Tikki, who merely hid somewhere on top of the shelf – were gone, flying inside the miraculous box inside the chest.
And Marinette blinked with a dumbfounded expression on her face, while her partner waved cheerfully on the other side, sitting comfortably on the windowsill and holding up the plate with the two pizza pieces on it.
"For me?", he seemed to say, but no noise reached her ears, for the glass was blocking out his voice.
Marinette merely narrowed her eyes, snorting at the fact, that she had really caught a cat with the power of pizza, before she finally opened the window, to greet him.
"Bonjour, Monsieur Noir~", she said with a far too cheerful voice – even for her own taste. "I am really surprised to see you here at my window, so late at night".
"Princess!" he exclaimed happily, his eyes lighting up even more, his smile even more brilliant than before. "What a surprise to come right at your door – ehr – window! And what a purrfect night for a piece of pizza!"
She merely raised her eyebrows at him – annoyance filling her at the thought, that he had his horrible cat puns not outgrown…
A few things would never change… right?
"It's not for you…", she mumbled, before she could stop herself, immediately slapping her hand over her mouth and rolled her eyes at her own stupidity.
Chat's eyebrows rose underneath the mask, but before he could question it, Marinette delivered him a horrible excuse:
"My ancestors thought, that they could appease evil spirits, when they present them a offering. Many would give them a bowl of rice or fruits, but I ran out of it today a-and instead offered them pizza."
"… aha?" Chat said with some confusion in his voice and lowered the piece of cheese pizza back down to the plate, leaning forward and through the small opening between window and frame, holding onto it, while his eyes searched hers, trying to figure out more.
But she merely pressed her lips together into a thin line, before she pointed behind herself, exclaiming in a panicked voice: "But there is still some pizza inside, if you want some!"
He grinned.
"I am very pawsitiv about that! And when I am so kindly invited inside, I shall not refuse!"
Marinette took one more look over her shoulder to make sure, that all the kwamis were hidden, before she pushed the curtain to the side – it's long hem covering the miraculous box, that sits on the chest below the window, before she let her partner inside.
His eyes swiftly move around, exanimating the furniture, the photos on the walls and of course the pizza, that is left on the baking tray, whistling in an impressed fashion.
"Princess was hungry there?" he asked, when he saw, how much of the huge pizza was missing already, while Marinette was glad, that he did not comment in the weird fashion she had cut it into pieces.
"Haven't eaten all day and I had to get rid of a few of the ingredients." She hurriedly said. "The leftovers would have been my dinner for tomorrow, too… but I don't care to share it with you…"
Not really, at least, but she can't be angry with him, like Ladybug would do it. Ladybug was his partner, who he had left a few years ago and who had overreacted in her eyes, when they went to meet Gabriel Agreste. Marinette on the other hand was just a girl, who had been saved by Chat Noir a few times in the past and was even more oblivious to the disappearance of the cat-themed superhero.
So she had to pretend, that she was mildly surprised and happy about his return.
At least that was the string of thoughts, that flashed through Marinette's brain, as he sat down by the coffee table, opposite of the cushion she had previously used as a seat.
His hand already lifted to take a piece, but stopped halfway and he turned back around to face her, his eyebrows seemingly risen on his forehead underneath his mask.
"Am I allowed to be here?"
"Well, of course? Why wouldn't you be allowed here, when I invited you inside?"
He gulped, his eyes wandering over her body and her short sleep cloths, before they went back to her face.
"I am just worried, that you might not be alone and that I am disturbing something. You… smell funny…"
Her cheeks flushed and she pressed her thighs together, really hoping, that his advanced senses were not aware on the very thing, she did in the shower to herself. She shuttered, trying to find words, that would make any sense to him, without making her feel even more ashamed.
"… you smell like roses and coconut and vanilla. It's a really strong smell. Sorry – my senses as a superhero are better than those of a human. And it tickles my nose."
She exhaled and relaxed.
So he wasn't referring to that. Still she raised her voice to ask:
"But why are you afraid, that I am not alone?"
"You surely have a boyfriend?"
"No…"
"A husband?!"
"No!"
"Children?"
"What? No!"
Why was everybody suddenly so surprised by the very fact, that she was single, unmarried and childless?! She knew many people her age, who were not interested in family building and were her age and that was totally okay for everyone!
"Okay…" he merely said. "I just wanted to know…"
Marinette nodded and decided to change the topic instead.
"What brings you here at this time of day? An Akuma attack?", she wondered loudly, taking the few steps past him, to sit back on the cushion, taking on more pizza piece in her hand, watching Chat Noir do the same.
"An Akuma-attack? No… not tonight… I am just patrolling. Keeping the people of Paris safe."
"Oh? So Ladybug is there too?" Pretending to look out for the dotted heroine, she leaned to the side, to look out of the window and into the darkness. "But I don't think, that the pizza will be enough for the three of us!"
He snickered, shaking his head, before he finally took a bite from the baked good, happily sighing, as he could finally taste it.
But he did not give her an answer and since the silence grew too uncomfortable, she started to eat as well.
… until he shook his head, sitting his piece down on the empty spot on the baking tray, waiting for her to look back up again.
"Why are you not surprised, that I am here? Alone and without Ladybug? Or that I have left Paris at all…"
"I have heard, that you were back in Paris… It was all over the news for a few days now. Also I have seen the photo these Prison guards posted. It's all over social media. And you usually came without Ladybug to me – so… that's not different…"
He stared at her, unspoken words still lingering on his lips, the clawed fingers of one of his hands nervously playing around on the surface of her coffee table.
"There is more…?" she whispered, eyebrows rising.
Chat Noir nodded, eventually sighing.
"I am in need for a friend…"
Marinette had lost her voice, her eyes wide. Blinking, searching around the room to find a clue, that this was merely a dream, before she looked back to her partner, who looked longingly back to her.
"… okay… ", she could merely say, brushing a strand of her slightly damp hair behind her ear, before she continued: "So… you searched for me?"
How fucking easy was it these days to find her?!
She really needed to move soon!
"You were not at home – I mean your old home, your old room in the bakery!"
"I am 25 by now. I go to work everyday and certainly don't live with my parents anymore."
… though helping out would be easier that way. Especially in her father's current state…
But she couldn't tell him that.
"Yeah… I figured that out, too… So – I was just walking around through the city and somehow I hoped, that I would find you. Aaand then I was distracted by the smell of your pizza and came here and – surprise – there I found you…"
"But… why me?"
"You are the kindest person I know…" The desperation in his voice hit her hard. These words immediately made her feel sick – because she was thinking so badly about her partner for so many days now. And then he was here, sitting so miserably opposite from her, asking for a friend. Someone, who wouldn't judge him, like the people in the news. Somebody, who wouldn't beat him, like Ladybug has done. Who wouldn't mock him, like Gabriel did.
… because there was a very human being underneath that mask, who had secrets and feelings and hidden pain, too.
And this human being had searched for her in a moment of vulnerability.
She shouldn't mind. Shouldn't get mad. Should not judge him herself.
Because he wanted to be here with Marinette. Somebody, who would listen to him. Somebody he knew. Somebody, who was just kind to him.
And that was her…
… oh poor kitty, what has happened to him in these past ten years?
"I am? But… but I am not Ladybug? Wouldn't she mind, if you seek out a civilian, to talk to her in the middle of the night?"
He shrugged, a lopsided grin reaching his lips once more and he picked up the pizza again.
"I don't think, that she would mind – at least I don't think so. So… may I stay here? We don't have to talk. I am just… don't want to be alone. And I have always felt very welcomed in your presence. It's nice… and… I kinda need somebody, who wouldn't push me away…"
She smiled at him, his words made her feel all warm inside.
"Be my guest…"
A/N:I really enjoy each part of the love square and I will try to establish some of that in my story. Also - yeah - some light smut in the beginning and cute little kwamis. Nothing else to see here :DI hope you enjoy this chapter and if you want you can let me know. ;DNext chapter: Reveiled feelings for one Adrien Agreste...