Chapter Thirty One – Life Raft
Marinette runs her pointer finger over the nail on her thumb, feeling the smooth texture of the polish Chloé painted on her nail that morning. It feels weird having polish on her nails. The last time she painted her nails was probably back in école when she and Chloé were kind of friends – before her mum left and froze her heart, that is. It's weird having Chloé be so nice to her all of a sudden, but this past year she's watched Chloé mature and blossom into a person that is quite likeable, once you get past her haughtiness, that is. And break down a few walls, throw a few masks away, that sort of thing.
She hears a thump on her balcony and smiles, before grabbing Cat's mask and climbing up through the skylight. She shivers in the cold air, but the smile Cat gives her makes up for it.
"Hey princess." Cat greets, moving towards the skylight. Before he can climb through she passes him his mask.
"Pyjamas?"
He grins. "Yep."
Smiling, she ducks back inside and he hears her climb down the ladder to her room. Knowing he's safe to detransform, he does so and immediately slips the mask on and climbs inside, already shivering from the cold. Despite the day being reasonably warm, the nights are still packing punches, it would seem. Plagg gives him a smile before curling up on Marinette's pillow, seemingly intent on sleeping there while he hangs out with the princess.
"More Gabriel?" Marinette raises an eyebrow at him, tilting her head in question.
Adrien smiles sheepishly and scratches the back of his neck. "These were also a gift."
Marinette's eyes widen slightly but she doesn't comment further. Instead, she pats the spot next to her on her chaise – which she has moved so it's in front of her computer – and passes him a controller once he's settled. Adrien leans against her casually, relishing in the feeling of their combined body heat soaking into each other and acting as a natural blanket against the cold weather. Of course, it could just be the heat from the ovens in the bakery, but whatever warmth he can get he'll take.
"Are you okay? Usually I don't beat you this many times?" Marinette says after eleven games of Ultimate Mecha Strike, all of which Adrien has lost because he's been more focused on the girl beside him than the battle on the screen.
"I'm fine." Adrien smiles and shifts even closer to her so their legs are touching. Her eyes flick down to the point of contact and he holds his breath, but she doesn't move away and–did she just move closer?
Marinette studies him, trying to figure out his mindset, understand what he's thinking, get inside his head a little. Alas, all she can decipher is the obvious love in his eyes as he gazes at her, but she can't bring herself fully react to it. She can't freak out, she can't overreact, she can't show any sign that she has noticed because if she lets Cat in, he'll fall in love with her, learn her identity, turn into Cat Blanc, and destroy the universe.
"You're not tired?" She asks, shaking herself out of her thoughts. It's never done her any good to dwell on thoughts of Cat Blanc, and she doesn't want to risk revealing something to him that she shouldn't by having him on her mind.
Adrien smiles slyly and leans closer to her, expression letting her know whatever's coming out of his mouth next is no doubt going to be of the flirty variety. "Purrincess? You're whiskering for my cuddling abilities already? I had no idea I had such a catastic hold on you." He grins.
Marinette gives him a blank look and pushes his face back from hers with a finger to his nose, making him giggle. "You're awful, Cat Noir."
"I have a feline you mean 'pawsome'?"
"Nope."
"Meowvellous?"
"Definitely not."
"Ecscatic? Hissterical? A sight fur sore eyes?" His grin widens when Marinette starts giggling and he leans closer to her again, close enough that their noses almost touch. She looks at him and goes cross–eyed. He snorts, dropping his head onto her shoulder.
"You're terrible." She murmurs, wrapping her arms around him in a hug.
She runs her hand up and down his back before threading her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck and massaging his neck gently. He shifts against her and lets out what sounds like a moan. She flushes and clears her throat, but doesn't halt her movements, choosing to pretend to have not noticed.
"Will you furgive me?" He can't resist one more – his last one – and he's rewarded with a groan.
"Only if you stop punning." She tries to sound stern but she fails. Thankfully his face is still hidden in her shoulder so he can't see the smile that's refusing to die down on her lips.
"Deal."
Adrien winds his arms around her waist and pulls her closer until she's sitting sideways on his lap and he no longer has to strain his neck to rest his head on her shoulder. Marinette stiffens slightly, but relaxes again after a moment, shifting closer to him to feel more comfortable. He loosens his arms and lifts his head from her shoulder to allow her to move easier, and once she's settled against him again he tightens his arms and leans his forehead against the side of her head, closing his eyes and letting her Marinette smell wash over him.
"Lila threatened me again." Marinette murmurs and his eyes shoot open. His grip on her tightens even more and she tightens hers in response, her arms slipping around his waist to cuddle him properly.
"'Again'?" He questions, fighting hard to keep the anger out of his voice. He doesn't want to scare her.
Marinette nods against him, hair tickling his cheek. "She threatened me a couple of months ago, the same day you fought her as Chameleon." She lets out a long sigh and Adrien nuzzles closer to her, inhaling her scent to keep himself grounded and remind himself that he can't go and cataclysm Lila right now because Marinette needs him. And also that wouldn't be very nice and Ladybug would surely have a fit. "She told me that she would take all of my friends from me, which she did, and then yesterday she told me that it isn't over."
Adrien frowns. "What does she mean by that?"
Marinette shrugs slightly and snuggles closer to him, forcing him to lean back against the backrest of the chaise. She manoeuvres herself so she's in between his legs with her head on his shoulder. She fiddles with the collar of his pyjama shirt and he tries not to squirm as her fingers and knuckles brush against his bare skin.
"Did she try something today?" He didn't notice anything, and as far as he knows Marinette was never alone with Lila. She obviously was at some point though.
"No."
Before either of them can say anything else Marinette's phone starts ringing and she jumps in surprise, accidentally knocking the top of her head against Adrien's chin. He grunts at the impact and recoils from her, rubbing it to dull the slight pain emitting from the area.
"Sorry," She cringes and gets up, grabbing her phone from her desk and answering it without looking at who it is. "Hello?"
"Hello Marinette," Kagami say, formal as ever, and Marinette is torn between smiling because her friend is calling her and panicking because her crush's girlfriend is calling her. She ends up looking like a stunned mullet instead. "Is this a bad time?"
"What? No, no, of course not." She cringes again and drops her face into her hands, holding back a groan. She chooses to ignore the amused look Adrien's giving her – not that she can really see it under the mask, but she'd know that smile anywhere – and gives him an unimpressed look, which he sticks his tongue out at. "Now is a perfect time to talk."
There's a beat of silence (probably where Kagami's wondering why her voice is so high pitched and it sounds like someone's holding a gun to her head). "Okay?" She says slowly and Marinette releases a sigh, dropping back down onto the chaise beside Adrien. "I was wondering how you are? We haven't talked in a while."
"Oh, um . . ." Marinette clears her throat and tugs on a strand of hair nervously. Adrien frowns and sits back up, shuffling closer to her so he can wrap an arm around her shoulders and lean against her (and not eavesdrop. Nope. No way. Not him.) "Y–Yeah, I've, uh, been a bit busy. School, and, uh, stuff?"
Kagami hums. "You sure it doesn't have anything to do with Adrien?" Marinette freezes, and beside her Adrien stiffens slightly and leans a little closer, curious. "I know you liked him first and that he likes you but I thought he liked me and I definitely like him and I understand that it's a little weird because we used to go out and now he knows he likes you and–"
"Wait, what?" Marinette interrupts. Adrien bites his lip nervously and slips his arm from around her, but she doesn't notice. "What do you mean you 'used to go out'? I–I thought you . . . I . . ." She trails off, unable to finish the sentence, and Kagami sighs again.
"He didn't tell you?"
Marinette shakes her head even though Kagami can't see her. "N–No."
"Oh my God, that boy is an idiot," Kagami mutters. "He was supposed to tell you. Please tell me he hasn't been avoiding you?"
"Um, I mean, no?" Marinette scratches her head. Has he been avoiding me?
"That's good at least. I thought he would've said something to you by now. Wasn't that why you were waiting for him yesterday?"
Marinette's throat goes dry and she swallows anxiously, jiggling her legs up and down as her anxiety levels begin to rise. "He wanted to see how I was going, because Li–because it had been a, a weird few weeks." She doesn't want to tell Kagami about Lila; if she does she's worried about what the fencer will do to her.
"Oh," Kagami's quiet for a moment and Marinette uses the time to mouth to Adrien 'are you okay?', which he responds to with a thumbs up and a forced smile, so she makes a mental note to question him about that later. "How has it been weird? If you don't mind me asking?"
"I don't." She runs her free hand up and down her thigh, creating friction on her pyjama pants to warm her hand – and have something to focus on. "There's just . . . there's a lot going on. Nothing you need to worry about. I'm sorry you and Adrien broke up." She frowns, concerned, but not sure if she should say any more.
"Yeah," Kagami's voice goes quiet, before it returns to normal. "But it's fine. We're too alike, and we're better as friends. It probably wouldn't have lasted much longer if it wasn't for our parents forcing us together."
"Hmm."
"You and Adrien, however," Marinette feels her cheeks flush at Kagami's excited tone. She doesn't think she's ever really heard that tone of voice with her before. "Are perfect for each other. You balance each other out, and your blood types are very compatible."
"Um . . . thank you?" Adrien shifts beside her and she leans more firmly against him when he puts his arm around her again.
"You're welcome. I talked to him yesterday to ensure it's not weird between us at fencing – which we both agree it won't be – and I told him that he should ask you out soon. I suggested he take you for ice cream, since you never got to eat some with him the last time we went, but I think it's still a little too cold for that." Marinette hums noncommittedly again, and this time Kagami notices. "Are you sure you're okay? You've been pretty quiet."
"I'm fine, Kagami."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Definitely." She bites her lip.
"Okay. If you're sure."
She can hear the concern in Kagami's voice, but she swallows and forces herself to say 'yes', because saying 'yes' is a hell of a lot easier than saying 'no.' "I'm sure. Thank you for checking up on me. Hopefully we can catch up again soon." She feels bad for ending the conversation so soon, but any longer and she's afraid she may start to cry, and she's sick of crying.
"Hopefully. Bye Marinette."
"Bye." She hangs up the phone quickly and puts it back on her desk, before dropping her face into her hands and letting out the groan she has been suppressing since she answered the phone.
Why can't she just be normal? Why can't she just pretend that everything is okay and that her world isn't crumbling? Why does the fact that Adrien broke up with Kagami and apparently has a crush on her suddenly not make her feel as happy as she should be? If Alya was here she'd be jumping for joy, saying this is what she'd been waiting for. She'd be happy, but Marinette isn't happy. She's tired, and she's stressed and she just wants to curl up into a ball and not exist, because not existing would be much easier than existing in the life everyone's expecting her to be perfect in.
"Princess?" Adrien rubs her back soothingly, somehow knowing that she's begun to cry before she does. "It's okay. I'm here." He continues to rub her back, and she sits up and buries her face in his neck, winding her arms around him and cuddling close, clinging to him like he's a life raft and they're drowning in the English Channel. "What can I do?" He murmurs into her hair, pressing a light kiss against her temple on impulse.
Marinette sniffs and huddles closer to him, squeezing her eyes shut against the demons chasing her. "Just hold me. Please."