Chapter Eight – Panty Liners

In the end, Gabriel does remember to tell the kids he's leaving to go to lunch. Adrien pouts on his bed for five minutes after he leaves, trying to ignore Marinette's giggles from where she's playing a game on her phone beside him. She had moved from her bed to his about half an hour earlier so they could Facetime Nino together – who teased Adrien relentlessly when Marinette left to get a drink of water. Thankfully he was able to shut Nino up before Marinette came back into the room, but she still gave him a weird look when she noticed his incredibly flushed face and Nino's snickering.

"Okay," Marinette says after a moment, putting her phone down. She pushes herself up onto her knees so she's kneeling on the bed and stretches her arms over her head.

Adrien's eyes are drawn to the exposure of skin at her waist between her khaki shorts and light blue crop top. The shirt is too long for him to be able to see her ribs, and the shorts are too high on her waist – the waistband sits just below her bellybutton – to see her hipbones, but the memory of her bones sticking out still haunts his thoughts every time he looks at her. Truthfully, he has no clue if she still looks the same, or if she's gotten any better or worse. He hasn't noticed any significant changes, and he knows that she's always been thin, plus when you're lying down you're ribs do tend to stick out a little more than when you're standing, so he doesn't really know how much of what he saw all those months ago is normal for her, or if it actually is something like anorexia.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom." She finishes, climbing off the bed to take the horse Miraculous out of her purse.

"Okay." Adrien says easily, not registering what she's saying, again, until he spots the glasses. "Oh. Oh! Right." He grins sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. "I'll keep a look out."

"Good." Marinette smirks at him, and reaches over to ruffle his hair as she goes past. He pushes her hand away half–heartedly and scoots further up the bed to lean back against the headboard. "I should only be five minutes, tops. Any longer and assume something's gone wrong and try to come up with an excuse to Nathalie for why I'm not here until I can get back."

Adrien nods, expression serious, before he frowns. "What do I say?"

"What?" She asks, stepping into the bathroom but keeping the door open for the time being.

"As an excuse. What do I say? Do I say you have food poisoning?"

Marinette raises an eyebrow. "Where would I get food poisoning? And no, say . . . say that I went to the shops quickly and that I must've forgotten to tell her."

"Okay. I can do that." He smiles. "What are you getting at the shops?"

She drops her head into her hand and groans, feeling like this conversation is taking more time than it needs to. "I don't know. Make something up. Say I had to get . . . I don't know . . . panty liners."

There's a beat of silence, then Adrien frowns, tilting his head to the side. "What?"

Marinette waves her hand dismissively. "Google it. We're wasting time. I'll see you soon."

He nods, already reaching for his phone. "Okay."

"Don't forget the cheese!" Plagg calls out from the bedside table.

"I would never forget the cheese, Plagg." Marinette says, before shutting the bathroom door.

Okay, remember to get the cheese, Marinette reminds herself, having actually forgotten that she would need to get the kwami's food as well. Oh, and carrots! She realises, thinking of Kaalki. Hopefully both her parents are in the bakery, otherwise she and Adrien will actually have to go to the store to get carrots – and panty liners, because she's not sure if she remembered to pack any. She's just grateful she remembered to put a thirty pack of macarons in the cooler bag last night for Tikki.

. . .

"Huh," Adrien murmurs to himself, before closing Google and putting his phone down to continue keeping a look out.

It's only been two minutes since she transformed – he saw the flash of light under the bathroom door – but it feels much longer. Even with his Google search of what panty liners are, followed by his Google search of all of the terms in the definition of what panty liners are that he didn't understand. He settles back against the headboard, and just as he begins to listen out for if Nathalie is approaching – by the sounds of it, she isn't – his phone chimes with a text and he reaches for it instantly, worried it might be Marinette.

Nino: Hey dude

Adrien frowns in confusion, wondering what Nino's wanting to say to him. Afterall, they were Facetiming not even ten minutes ago. Maybe he just wants to keep teasing me? Adrien wonders as he types out a response.

Adrien. Hey?

Nino: Is Mari there

Adrien: No shes in the bathroom

Nino: So we can talk then

He continues to frown down at his phone, before glancing at the bedroom door – still partially open – and then the bathroom door. He checks the time on the phone – three minutes – and chews on his lip in contemplation.

Nino: Adrien?

Adrien: Depends

Adrien: She'll be out soon

Adrien: Why what do you want to talk about?

Nino: You like Mari right?

Adrien's frown deepens, not sure where this line of questioning is going. It's been four minutes now, and he's starting to get worried. Did she get caught? Did you tele–mirage to the wrong place? Did something bad happen?

Nino: Hello?

Adrien: Hi

Adrien: Yeah I like her. Why?

Nino: You guys are sharing a room are you sure your okay with that?

Nino: *You're

Adrien: Why wouldn't I be? She's my friend. I'm her friend.

Nino: You're sharing a room for a week

Nino: Dont you think things will get wierd?

Adrien: Do you mean weird?

Adrien: And idk. Maybe. Do you think it'll get weird?

Adrien watches as the three dots appear in a speech bubble beside Nino's name, indicating that he's typing. As he's waiting for his response, there's a sudden noise in the bathroom followed by a flash of light.

Adrien: Mari back. Gtg. Talk latr?

He sends the message quickly and doesn't wait for a response – or for Nino to finish typing whatever he's still typing – and pockets his phone. A second later the bathroom door opens and Marinette emerges, the cooler bag in one hand and a second reusable bag in the other, Kaalki sitting on her shoulder and munching on a carrot stick.

"Hey!" She says, grinning. "No problems?"

He shakes his head quickly, jumping up to take the cooler bag from her. Not even a second after he's put it on the floor between their beds, Plagg phases out of the draw and into the bag, a cheer of 'CHEESE!' filling the room.

"Plagg!" Tikki hisses, phasing out of the draw as well.

She's about to scold him when Marinette crouches beside Adrien – oblivious to his sudden flustered state as her side comes into contact with his in the small space – and unzips the bag, pulling out a box with her parents' bakery's logo on it.

"Cookie?" Marinette offers, opening the box for her kwami. Tikki gives her a torn look, clearly not happy with being derailed from scolding Plagg, before she dives into the box eagerly to retrieve a macaron. "Take it easy guys," Marinette says, reaching into the bag to poke Plagg's head. "This has to last you a week."

"Couldn't you just buy more cheese?" Plagg asks, pocking his head over the top of the bag.

"Couldn't you just be less of a glutton?" Adrien counters, earning him a glare from Plagg and a giggle from Marinette and Tikki. "How was everything?" Adrien asks, turning to Marinette.

She smiles and sits on the edge of her bed. He sits across from her and pulls his legs onto the mattress, crossing them.

"It was okay. It was a little weird since I've never used the horse Miraculous before."

"She did very well." Kaalki chimes in from where she settled on top of Marinette's pillow with Tikki.

"Thank you, Kaalki." Marinette beams at the kwami. "But I took so long because I forgot I needed to grab some carrots for Kaalki, so I had to go downstairs and get some."

Adrien's eyes widen and he leans forward and grabs her hand in his. "You didn't get caught, did you?"

Marinette raises an eyebrow, trying not to smile. "Yes. That is why I am here and not back in Paris with my very confused and concerned parents."

He grins sheepishly, but doesn't release her hands. Instead, he entwines their fingers and looks down at the joined hands, smiling. "Dumb question." He glances up at her only to see that she, also, is smiling at their hands.

Marinette strokes her thumb across the back of his hand, feeling the smooth, soft skin beneath her finger, before she clears her throat and looks up again, only to find Adrien's eyes already on hers. She feels her cheeks flush in embarrassment at being caught, but she doesn't look away.

"We'd better find somewhere to hide everything." She says quietly.

Adrien nods, and hesitates a moment longer before giving her hands a squeeze and releasing them. Already his hands feel cold without her palms against his, but he busies himself with coaxing Plagg out of the cooler bag while Marinette puts the horse Miraculous back in the miracle box – after Kaalki says goodbye to everyone and Marinette thanks her again for helping out – and takes Wayzz out again, putting his Miraculous inside her handbag so it is on her but she isn't wearing it, something Adrien learnt that she's been doing ever since Master Fu passed the miracle box onto her, and the reason why she switched bags. She then hides the other bag behind the extra pillows and blankets in their wardrobe, deciding that the chances of anyone looking behind there are rather slim.

"This is unfair." Plagg pouts, moving to Marinette's shoulder to nuzzle into her neck – half because he likes doing so and half because he knows it makes Adrien jealous. "I'm the God of Destruction! I give you the power you yield, and I am the reason you haven't been eaten by dinosaurs–"

"What?" Adrien asks, his annoyed expression turning into one of confusion. "What did you do to the dinosaurs? They were wiped out by a meteorite."

Plagg snorts. "A meteorite. Yeah, sure." He scoffs.

"Plagg." Marinette warms, poking the kwami on the head again.

He sticks his tongue out at her, before nuzzling into her neck again, releasing a contented sigh. "My point is: I deserve to have more cheese."

Adrien rolls his eyes, flopping back down on his bed. "Plagg," He whines, covering his eyes with his arm.

"Adrien," Plagg mocks.

Marinette and Tikki share a look. "This is going to be a long week." She tells her kwami, who can only nod in agreement.