Marinette awoke on the last day of the cruise with sunlight streaming in through the window.

She awoke refreshed, more refreshed than she'd woken up in what felt like far too long, her face only lightly stinging.

She rolled over to see Adrien sitting against the doorframe, in much the same way she had been sitting at the beginning of the trip.

He held a mug of what looked like coffee in one hand, and was looking peacefully out to sea.

Marinette found herself staring.

She looked at the nape of his neck, the curve of his shoulder.

The casual white t-shirt he wore that subtly accentuated his physique.

Of course, the door wasn't actually that far away from her bed.

Not even two short strides and she could have ruffled his hair.

She could see the two kwamis chattering over his shoulder, further out onto the balcony. They rolled around playfully, with a grin on their faces.

But she was presently watching the wind pluck delicately at Adrien's hair, or more accurately, his fantastic cowlick he had developed through the night.

His face, what little she could see, was pensive, as he slowly turned the coffee mug around in his hands absentmindedly.

She wanted to absorb all of it, down to the tiniest details, down to the shell of his ear, the set of his shoulder.

He was so,

Breathtaking...

He straightened slightly, stretching, before looking back around into the room.

'What are you looking at?' He questioned, catching her gaze with a smile.

'Nothing,' she said, hiding further under her covers. 'We had that rule for a reason, you know.'

'Which rule was that?' He questioned absently.

'"Don't open the curtains in the morning so we don't accidently look at each other".'

'Well, I'm looking at you.' He smiled slightly, before checking his phone. 'And it's afternoon, so it doesn't count.'

'Is it?' Marinette squeaked, attempting to hide her flush. 'What time?'

'A quarter past twelve. I think we're supposed to get into Barcelona in about an hour.' He looked back out to sea.

'Ok.' She said.

She pulled out her own phone, and saw the endless list of messages.

It didn't look like Alya had slept at all that night.

'Hey,' she questioned, and he looked up. 'Have you spoken to Nino since coming here?'

'I called him this morning.' Adrien updated, shrugging. 'I had to update him about not getting the movie role, you see.'

'Ah, yes, that one.' She smiled. 'It's such a shame, you'd have made a great actor, for all the acting Chat does.'

He raised his eyebrows at her. 'Harsh.'

'Have you told your father yet?'

His eyes fell. 'Yes. He's not happy, but he accepted that it's not my fault. Apparently he's having a good time on that cruise I was supposed to go on.'

'It's such a shame you couldn't go.' She grinned through her fingers.

He shrugged. 'I'm not really one for boats anyway. No big deal.' He paused. 'Nino accused me of hiding something from him when I was talking to him. He said I sounded far too chipper for someone who just lost a role in a film.'

'What did you say?'

'I passed it off as wanting to come home.' He gave her a lopsided smile.

'Well, why are you far too chipper for someone who just lost a role in a film?' She snuggled herself further into her pillow.

'Oh, no reason. It's not like it's a lovely day, with this great view.'

She noticed how while he nodded outside, he did not take his eyes off her.

'If you want coffee, there's some in the kitchenette.' He gestured. 'I think we're out of sugar though, sugar.' He grinned.

'Aren't you milking the puns a little this morning?' She questioned, making no effort to get up.

'No?' He questioned with a straight face. 'Also it's afternoon, I'll remind you. No need to be a caffin-hater.'

'Why don't you wipe that grin off your mug, I can en-cup-sulate all of your puns.' She grinned, raising herself onto one elbow and resting her cheek on that palm.

Adrien however was internally screaming, flushing red.

SOULMATE ALERT. SOULMATE ALERT. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

'You couldn't even handle all of my puns, my lady.' He grinned back, running on Chat autopilot whilst inner-Adrien scrambled.

Or melted into goo, whatever came first.

'I have bean there through your puns. You are severely facepalm worthy. Like, a latté.'

'There's no need to get frappé about my puns. You'll be positively groundchy by the end of this.' He raised his mug to her and winked.

'You're just mocha-ing me about it.' Marinette replied. 'You forget, I'm a student/superhero combination too. I have more caffine in me than blood.'

'That's the way Marinette, espresso yourself. Life sucks, but there are puns.'

'I'm giving it my best shot, kitty. It's definitely better than yours.'

He gave her a hurt look. 'I'm offended. Despresso, even.'

'Must be the daily grind for you.' She grinned, winking back.

THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

Conveniently enough, the phone rang.

Adrien made to get up but Marinette waved him down, rolling over instead to get to the phone.

'Hello, this is Ladybug.'

It certainly was.

Still in bed, her hair a mess, and the sheets a tangle, but it was indeed Ladybug.

'Yes? No, that won't be necessary.' She shook her head slightly, like the person on the other end of the line could see it.

He was certainly glad they couldn't, because that view was all his and his alone.

'By, what time exactly?'

His curiosity was strong, but all he could do was watch with interest.

'Right. Thank you.' She blinked up at the ceiling with purpose. 'Yes. Goodbye.'

She waited for a moment for confirmation to end the call, then put the phone back onto it's cradle.

'Who was it?' He questioned.

'Reception,' Marinette said, rolling to look at him again. 'They wanted to know if we had any luggage to have disembarked for us.'

He nodded. 'What are you going to do about all the clothes Pére got you?'

She twitched, before facepalming.

'...I'd forgotten about them.'

'Well,' Adrien hauled himself to his feet. 'I'm sure that if I cleared out all those empty plastic containers that used to hold cheese I could fit some in my bag?'

She sat up. 'Are you sure?'

'Also, I could probably fit your dress in my suit bag. Honestly, it's kind of weird only bringing one suit.' He said, moving over to his backpack.

'Really?' She looked at him with wide eyes.

He grinned back with a twinkle in his eye. 'Sure. Anything for my Buginette.'

Plagg suddenly appeared in front of his face, making Adrien startle.

'Does that mean you'll have to get rid of that giant wheel of camembert?'

Adrien fell back to sit on his butt, then twisted into a thoughtful position. 'Hmmm, I'm not sure?' He looked sideways at Marinette. 'Do you think I'll be able to fit it all in without opening the cheese?'

'Well, it depends what happens if I take it all out of the boxes.' Marinette giggled. 'It should fit without opening the cheese.'

Plagg visibly sagged, but then perked. 'You'll just have to check!'

Marinette finally got up, with Tikki trailing after her.

She meandered over to the door, to look at the pile that presently half-buried the couch.

'I'm not sure though, we should be able to fit it?' She smiled.

'No, no, clearly you are wrong,' Plagg said, circling the pile. 'There's no way you'll be able to fit all of this into his bag as well as the cheese.'

'We do have that satchel!' Adrien called through the door. 'And I'm sure we could lighten the load somehow!'

'Like letTING ME INTO THAT CHEESE GOD DAMN IT!' Plagg burst out.

Marinette passed through the doorway past Adrien to look at the pile herself. 'Well, why don't you give me a hand unboxing everything and we can see if it will fit.' She looked at him. 'How much space do you actually have?'

'Well,' he started, disappearing back into the bedroom. 'Let me have a look.'

Marinette waited for a moment, before moving over to her pile and started sifting through it.

'Most of this is shoes, anyway.' She muttered, grabbing the first bag.

After a few minutes had gone past she found a system that worked.

One pile of shoes and clothes, with the odd accessory here and there. There had been a lot of chokers, Marinette had ended up wearing one the previous night.

One pile was bags to be discarded, and one teetering pile of shoeboxes.

Yet it wasn't long before Adrien appeared.

He held a pile of empty containers higher than his face, which wasn't as bad as it sounded considering the containers were also clear.

Marinette burst out a laugh. 'How on earth did you fit all of that into your bag?'

He shuffled shyly. 'I had to stock up for the trip, I wasn't sure how easily I was going to get cheese on the ship without looking suspicious.'

She raised an eyebrow. 'And how long did all of that last?'

'Until the first night.' Plagg said contentedly.

Adrien shook his head with exasperation, but froze as the pile wobbled precariously.

'Did you have anything else in your bag?' She laughed.

'Yes!' He said defensively. 'I did bring clothes and things!'

'Uh huh,' Marinette smiled.

'Plus I'm going to steal the rest of those bath bombs. I know I can get them in Paris but these ones are amazing.'

She shrugged. 'Sure. Go for it.'

'Do you need any help with that pile?' He questioned, dumping his own pile onto the coffee table.

'No, I'm alright.' She eyed off the stack of containers. 'What are you going to do with them all?'

'Honestly, I have no idea.' He shrugged.

'We could drop them off in the kitchens? Or something?'

'What would they do with them?' He questioned curiously.

'I don't know, but we can think of something.' She turned her attention back to her own pile, and he absently joined her.

It took them a good twenty minutes of sorting to finally get M Agreste's pile sorted, but the resulting pile was significantly smaller.

'I can take some of this as well,' Marinette said, 'I did leave some space for souvenirs.'

'Well, why don't you take as much as you could fit?' He looked at her.

'Right. Oh!' She exclaimed, leaping to her feet. 'I've forgotten something!' She hurried into the bedroom, and he followed curiously.

When he appeared at the doorway, she had already retrieved the gorgeous, violet fabric, and was now folding it with reverence.

'Yeah, don't forget that.' He grinned, leaning against the door frame.

She grinned back sheepishly.

With great care, she slipped the fabric into her bag, before looking up. 'I can take a few more things as well.'

'Alright.' He said amicably.

She moved past him into the living room, and gathered a healthy portion of the clothes pile to put away.

Adrien looked at the remains with concern in his eyes.

He let out a sigh.

'Alright Plagg,' he said, hanging his head. 'Let me get a knife.'

Plagg appeared before him like lightning, with a growing grin on his face.

'And I can't believe I'm saying this, but it needs to be gone ASAP.'

Plagg looked like he was going to faint.

He ghosted after Adrien wondrously, as Adrien disappeared into the kitchenette to retrieve said weapon, before retreating into the bedroom once again.

Adrien stared at the cheese for a long minute.

'Well?' Plagg shot at him. 'What's the hold up?'

Adrien picked up the cheese, and hauled it outside onto the balcony, being careful to not actually go out onto the balcony himself.

'This thing is going to stink to high heaven and I do not want it in here any more than I can help.' Adrien grumbled. 'Alright, are you ready?'

'More than I've ever been in my entire life.' Plagg rubbed his paws together, already drooling.

Adrien cut a triangle of wax off, about the size of his palm, and the instant it was gone Plagg disappeared into it, almost carving a trail as he went.

'Don't eat too quickly, you'll give yourself a stomachache.' He chided.

Plagg ignored him, and Adrien shut the glass sliding door just as the smell started to reach him.

'Will he be alright out there?' Marinette questioned, having watched the whole interaction.

'He'll be fine. Don't worry.' Adrien smiled. 'If there's any issues, remember that he can fly and also phase through the glass.'

'Yes,' Tikki agreed. 'The main issue is moving. He's going to look like a bowling ball.'

'Now that I'd like to see.' Marinette chuckled.

Adrien looked at her for a second. 'How is your face, by the way?'

'Much better.' Marinette smiled, touching it absentmindedly. 'Although I'm still not sure how I'm going to cover it up once we get home.'

'I can lend you some concealer.' He grinned. 'Although I'm not sure it'll be a hundred per cent the right colour. If not, we can grab some here in the city. My father's lines have been appreciating the floral styles of Barcelona and the Mediterranean sea at the moment.'

With the help of freeing up space (much to Plagg's delight) they did in the end end up fitting everything into their backpacks.

Without much difficulty the two travellers slung them on, and Adrien pulled the satchel on as well, then transformed into their respective superhero counterparts, causing the bags to disappear.

Of course they could still feel the weight, but the suits assisted in their strength so it hardly mattered.

With all of this done, and a final check around the room complete, they closed the door to their room, and with a quick stop at reception, they disembarked the ship.

It was almost a nostalgic goodbye, but the new beginnings that had started only made them excited for their last day, and the future beyond.

Barcelona was stunning.

The storm had blown itself out overnight it seemed, and left in its wake a perfect cloudless day.

There was a final press conference, in which surprisingly many did not notice Ladybug's facial scratches, however one highly perceptive Alya Césaire would write a story about altercations with previously unknown akuma that may have occurred the previous night.

True, the press tried to dog them to see where they would go, but it was not hard to give them the slip early on.

Their first port of call had been to find some better suited concealer for the angry red scrapes on Ladybug's face, which Chat had made all the more difficult to find for his requirement of skin tonal accuracy.

He had looked over them all with a practised eye, and it was only when Ladybug had threatened to strangle him with the nearest leopord-skin monstrosity that he finally made a selection so that they could return to the beach.

Yet now they wandered down the boardwalk, juggling churros and a map between them.

'There are so many beaches here!' Ladybug was saying, running her finger along the coast.

'Well, it is Barcelona. It's got to be the beach capital of Europe.' Chat smiled at her.

Even now they were freely walking along the coast, with suits yet sans disguises, mostly unbothered.

'Do you think we'll run into many people we know?' Ladybug questioned.

'Well, Chloé mentioned that she and her father were going to be staying at the Hotel W Barcelona.' Chat shrugged. 'I don't think she'd wander far from that. Pére has some meetings this afternoon in the city, but then he's going straight back to Paris. What's Alya doing?'

'She said she's going to be sticking to where the most people are at. You know, just in case of any more akumas. What's over here?' She changed the subject, running her finger all the way along the coast and down towards the longest stretch of beach, labelled Badalona. 'This place looks fun.'

'Hey,' Chat said, looking at her with a gleam in his eye.

She blinked back curiously. 'Yes?'

'Do you want to go swimming?'

Ladybug nearly dropped the map.

'What do you mean?' She questioned dangerously.

'Well, we know where the people who would recognise us are. Why don't we go down to Badalona and swim there?' He grinned.

'But, what about our suits?'

'Don't need 'em.' He shrugged. 'Did you bring your swimsuit?'

'I, uh,' she flushed slightly, before clearing her head. 'It's not a good idea. No.'

'Come on, Ladybug, Spain doesn't seem to really care about Ladybug and Chat Noir anyway.' He raised his eyebrows at her. 'You'll be able to balance out that mask tan?'

Her eyes flashed, but then she hung her head.

'I didn't bring my swimsuit.'

'That's alright, we can pick you up a new one!' He grinned, taking the map from her and directing them in a new direction.

'But, Chat,' she started reluctantly.

'Come on!' He moved a little faster, requiring her to jog for a moment to catch up. 'Where's your sense of adventure?'

'You see this suit, Chat Noir?' She guestured down to herself. 'This suit is my sense of adventure. I say we should find somewhere to cool our heels until our train leaves tonight.'

'You're absolutely right.' Chat did not lose pace at all. 'Cooling our feet in the ocean sounds great.'

'That's not what I meant!'

'Come on Ladybug, it's hot and I'm wearing black in the baking sun.' He teasingly whined.

'And who's fault is that?' She shot back with a half grin.

'Certainly not mine!' He replied, winking at her.