Lila's apology was received well by most of the class.
Most.
Once Alya relented in narrowing her eyes suspiciously at the Italian before taking her seat, and Adrien had refused to sit further than an inch or two from Marinette's side, everything returned to normal. The rest of the school day went without a hitch, without drama, and without the need for Marinette to hide an eye roll at something Lila was telling the group.
The feeling was weird.
Adrien was thinking much the same as Marinette. His guard was up for practically the whole day, just waiting for something to happen; and the ravenette noticed that the blonde was still tense when he dropped in on her that evening.
"Something fishy is going on," he stated while Marinette covered the windows to the outside world. It was discussed between them earlier, that she would do that so he could comfortably drop his transformation without someone spying.
Alya assured her she would not be popping by, but Marinette was still slightly skeptical: the blogger was an aspiring investigative journalist after all.
The temptation may have been too great for her to stay away.
"Claws in."
Plagg paid them zero attention as he dove into the spread that Marinette put together for them that evening.
Leaning past Marinette with his chest pressed to her back, 'I'm never gonna get used to that,' causing her to blush and fiddle with a plate, Adrien grabbed a sandwich before sitting down and stretching out his legs.
"I might actually have to start working out with all this food you're giving me," he smiled brightly with a typical Chat wink.
Marinette felt her cheeks flush deeper and tried to hide it with mock annoyance, "well I didn't say you have to eat it."
Adrien peered at her mischievously through his freshly washed, begging-to-be-ruffled, bangs with a classic Chat smirk on his beautiful face. "Now that would just be rude."
His antics were gonna be the death of her.
Taking a second to recover, the teen grabbed a controller and chucked it at him, "we can talk about what that was with Lila another time." She turned to her console before walking backwards to the chaise and loading up UMS four, "first we need to release some tens-WOAH!"
Marinette stumbled backwards on the blonde's outstretched leg and unceremoniously landed in his lap. Adrien steadied her flustered form by placing his hands securely on her waist and chuckled against her back.
"At least I asked before putting you on my knee," the blonde teased and Marinette jumped with her arms flailing into the space next to him.
"S-sorry about dat-that!"
Adrien grinned cheekily at her profusely blushing form, "I know it was an accident," he bumped her shoulder, "but I told you, I like you sitting on me."
'Call an ambulance!'
Marinette could not get words to form and settled for rolling her lips inwards and letting out a short and strained hum in acknowledgment. Trying to ignore the prickling heat covering her body, she went back to setting up the game and leaned back, only to find Adrien's relaxed arm on the back of the seat.
"You seem tense," he commented with slight concern, using his arm behind Marinette to give her a comforting squeeze around her shoulders, effectively bringing her closer to him, and looking at her intently with obvious worry. "You sure you don't want-"
"Like I said," she breathed out while staring into his warm, mesmerising gaze; simultaneously trying, but failing, to calm her rapidly beating heart, "first need we to release tum-some tension."
Marinette was sure that little display between her and Adrien would have had the tiny gods, inhabiting her room, crying with laughter. Earlier, Daizzi voiced their confidence at the situation progressing quickly, and even hinted that they would win the bet if anything developed that night. The heroine did not want to think about it: the need to tell him her identity was beginning to weigh heavily in her stomach and on her mind at any quiet moment she had during the past few days. Whenever Adrien would flash her his most genuine smile; when the blonde's hand would brush against hers as they walked; any moment she found herself gazing into his beautiful green orbs… it was playing on her mind more than Marinette was willing to acknowledge.
The enthusiasm the Kwami showed for how their relationship was progressing made the ravenette nervous and excited, but Marinette did not want to think about that. The teen was more concerned with how things would change, and the consequences thereafter, when she finally told Adrien the truth. So to put a stop to their interfering assessments about what it meant when Adrien became protective about their time together, Marinette waved them off with an impatient swat of her hand in reply.
They found her unwillingness to speak about the matter highly amusing, and continued to wind her up for a good while after.
Once the two teens eased their way through the first six rounds of the tag-team mode of the game, they had well and truly released the tension that had arisen that day: caused by Lila or otherwise. All Marinette was thinking about as Adrien pummelled the buttons on her controller, was how much more of a beating the plastic device could take?
Still.
The way he poked his tongue out and scrunch up his features was adorable.
'I need to tell him soon…' The thought plagued her mind for only a moment, as the blonde in her company jostled next to her while trying his best to beat their opponents on screen.
Adrien was so into the game, as he continuously moved side-to-side with his own character, that Marinette found herself giggling at his enthusiasm. She was so lost in watching the blonde however, that the teen missed when he tagged her player, and only noticed when he stopped moving that the fight was back to her. Blushing because she realised that Adrien could have caught her, Marinette shook it off and effortlessly finished off their rival with a well memorised combination. The blonde gazed back at her and held up his fist.
"Pound it."
Which she automatically returned with a fond smile, "pound it."
Adrien's eyes narrowed thoughtfully, "have we 'pounded' before?"
'Oh Kwami!'
Trying to skip over the oblivious blonde's innuendo, as well as her scorching face, Marinette shook her head quickly. "I-I do-don't think so?"
'I actually can't remember if he's pounded Marinette before… oh gawd!'
The ravenette hoped her answer covered the sniggers that came briefly from the sewing box, and relaxed when Adrien sent her a lopsided smile and shrugged in response.
"What time is it?" He asked with a yawn.
Glancing around, the ravenette found her phone, ignored the 'behave with Blondie' message from Alya, and checked the time. "Ten."
The young man leaned forward and rubbed at his nape, "we got time for a film?"
"Don't you want to talk about Lila?"
Adrien shrugged again, "let's just keep our guards up and see what happens." His green eyes turned serious all of a sudden, "do not spend any alone time with her, and observe for the next few days. Sound like a plan?"
Marinette nodded confidently, "most definitely."
"Pawesome! Film?"
The teen rolled her eyes fondly and went to get up until Adrien stopped her, "let me."
"Okay~ what are you going to put on?" She questioned when Adrien stood. "Please nothing scary, they uh, give me nightmares."
He smirked at her as he plugged the ravenette's computer tower into her television, "don't worry, I have the purrfect film Purrincess."
As Adrien sat back down, knowing that he'd picked one of Marinette's favourites by the way her eyes lit up at the opening credits of 'Pitch Perfect', the blonde felt hesitant about asking her to cuddle. The other night, when they started off simply sitting next to each other, had ended up with them being close, but the blonde wanted to enjoy that while he was awake. He reached for his neck and debated casually reaching his arm behind her on the sofa like he had seen in the movies, but then thought it would just be better, and more respectful, if he outright asked her.
It had not been this nerve wracking when he had her arm around her in class; around all their friends… 'so why are my palms suddenly sweaty?' Adrien found himself gulping down the unexpected nervousness and finally found his voice, and looked at the teen beside him to gage her reaction.
"Can we cuddle?"
While he watched her cheeks warm, eyes widen and lips part, Adrien knew that Marinette had been caught off guard by his question. Immediately, part of him felt bad for putting her in a position that would possibly make her feel uncomfortable: but then she smiled softly and shyly nodded her head a little.
"Okay-"
"Wait a sec," Adrien stood up again, this time rushing to grab a blanket and an extra cushion, "no harm in being comfy, right?"
Marinette's blue eyes peered up at him with a teasing sparkle as he lay the blanket over her, "we are not falling asleep."
The blonde flashed his pearly whites, "Cat's honour!"
Sitting down once more, Adrien lifted his arm as an invitation for Marinette to lean into him, and he was so glad he asked. Sitting with her, and cuddling under a blanket, really put the blonde at ease, and he was so happy. "I'm really glad you found out my secret Marinette," he gazed at her, as the teen leaned away from him a little so she could see his face, "I really could not imagine doing this with Nino."
Marinette snorted into his chest and patted the area just below where her cheek found placement, "no, I guess not."
He absentmindedly began to fiddle with the blanket around the top of her arm, and rested his head against hers. "Do you do this with Alya?"
The young lady seemed to jerk at his question but quickly settled back and repositioned her head as she made herself comfy again. "Not quite like this," Marinette answered quietly, "but I do lean on her, and she snuggles against me occasionally."
"That's nice that you have that."
"You have it too now," she pressed her head against him to emphasise her point and let out a soft hum, "this is a really lovely way to end the d~A~y," she finished with a yawn. Adrien clasped his free hand around the one on his chest and gave it a squeeze.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome Kitty."
Bit shorter than the other chapters, not sure what I did there but as I've written up to chapter 18 already, I'm not gonna change it. Hopefully you enjoyed the fluff enough to forgive me! Thank you for reading, and the reviews, follows and faves =^.^=
Take it easy :)
Lady Rhi X
