They fell asleep.
When Adrien awoke, practically lying down with Marinette's form snuggled next to him securely and Plagg's menacing green gaze dancing at him with mirth, he called on his transformation and got the hell out of there.
Not before making sure the sleeping beauty was comfortable though, he was a gentleman after all.
A gentleman who had dreamt very un-gentlemanly things about the teen he left snuggled on her chaise.
'What the hell is wrong with me?
'Hormones, it's just hormones.'
Luckily for the blonde, when he made it home and dropped his leather attire, his tiny black companion left him to slip into his bed without so much of a goodnight.
His very large…
Cold…
Empty…
Bed.
Adrien then spent most of the night tossing and turning after the realisation hit him.
He missed Marinette's company.
'I had only just left her! How could I have missed her when I had literally just been with her?'
He sighed in frustration…
…dropping his head into his hands as he sat next to his bodyguard on the train to London.
That morning, his father sprung an impromptu trip on the blonde, giving him half an hour's notice at breakfast. Without even trying to protest, as Adrien knew this would be happening either way, the blonde immediately took out his phone to text Marinette.
Knowing the chance of her being awake were slim, Adrien did not expect a reply and made excuses to retreat to the privacy of his room so he could message Ladybug. He did not want to leave her in the lurch, and the blonde supposed he should be grateful that Alya was now seemingly a permanent holder.
'So much for keeping me in the loop,' Adrien thought bitterly to himself, feeling somewhat dejected by his partner. All the feelings of having been possibly replaced to some extent were overshadowed though, when he thought about the bond between him and Marinette: even if Ladybug did not trust him enough to keep him informed, he knew he had his raven haired princess. Before Adrien could transform however, his phone pinged and the teen plucked it out of his pocket.
Marinette: I hope you have a safe trip! And I kinda figured the shoot would be cancelled if you're not here. When do you leave?
Adrien had known he was running out of time to tell Ladybug about his departure when he heard Nathalie's footsteps on the cold marble flooring approaching his room. It was a snap decision to not message the heroine straight away, but the blonde also knew he would have the opportunity to get in touch with her while on the train; he just hoped that Shadow Moth did not strike before he could let her know.
Now, sitting on the train waiting for it to depart, he glanced down at his phone knowing he wanted to text Marinette back. Adrien glanced at his bodyguard, who seemed much more relaxed on the train than when they had been on the plane to New York, and noticed his eyes were closed as he relaxed back with a small smile on his face. With no one peering over his shoulder, he began to type out his reply to Marinette.
Adrien: Just on the train now, I haven't had chance to let the others know though so could you let them know I'll text them later please?
Marinette: Of course! :) you have a great time in London and text me when you get there so I know you got there safely.
Adrien felt a coy smile spreading his lips as he reread the text a few times: Marinette wanted to know that he arrived safely, and her concern made him feel all warm and fuzzy…
Adrien dropped his face into his hands again and groaned.
'What is going on?'
Adrien: I'm bored…
Adrien: Is Alya keeping my seat warm?
He was only on the train for twenty minutes and Adrien could not stop fidgeting. Unfortunately, with his bodyguard being the silent type, the blonde was left to ponder how much he was actually going to miss spending time with Marinette, and found himself texting her. Originally, the teen thought that having a few days away from his classmate would help provide him with some clarity, but after being alone in his own mind without distraction, he only became further confused.
Adrien loved Ladybug…
…so why was the thought of Marinette causing his stomach to flip and his lips to spread in a goofy smile?
As Adrien waited for her to reply, the teen found his knee bouncing restlessly and picked up his phone to find a game to occupy himself with. Plagg could not come out to chat, obviously, and the blonde needed a distraction from thinking about how comfortable he had been next to his classmate the night before.
Nino: Dude! Marinette told us you're heading to London! Sucks man, but it doesn't look like you'll be missing much. When you back?
Adrien: Hey Nino! Yeah, I'll be back Sunday though so I'll be in school on Monday.
Nino: Killer, what has your dad got you doing then?
Adrien: Don't know honestly, but I'll get to see Felix for a bit while I'm there. Text me later so you don't get caught on your phone!
Nino: Haha! Not gonna get caught, we're doing research in pairs and Alya's got it covered.
Adrien's brow furrowed.
If Alya was with Nino, then who had Marinette been partnered with? He hoped to Plagg it was not Lila, and the blonde worried his bottom lip while texting his friend back.
Adrien: If Alya's with you, who's Marinette partnered with?
Nino: Her and Nath are partnered up. Why? Jealous? ;)
Adrien: No, just wanted to know if she was with Lila.
Nino: If you say so! Don't worry though, Alya's keeping an eye on Lila, she's not even in today and my girl's filled me in on some things so we got Mari's back if anything goes on.
Adrien felt relieved, if Nino was in the loop about Lila and her uncharacteristic apology then he could rest easy knowing Marinette had back-up; then dread set in again. He could not work out why though. Pushing it to one side, he texted Nino back to thank him and to keep him informed if anything should happen. Not that he could do anything while in London, but still, he wanted to know.
Sitting in class, Marinette checked her phone and smiled down at the texts from Adrien. She was gutted that he had been whisked away with a moment's notice and felt the urge to tell him.
'Would it be weird? The Kwamis said how adorable he was with me last night… and Tikki seems to think that the plan's working. We're certainly getting closer, should I tell him?'
Stifling a fond giggle at the last meme he sent her, Marinette finally decided what she was going to text him.
Marinette: Sorry for not messaging back, I've been paired up with Nath and he was showing me some of his latest drawings. He's done a really good one of Vesperia and Chat, you should see it, he's so talented. Not the same without you though!
Adrien: Shouldn't you be working? ;) tell him thanks for keeping my seat warm but I want it back on Monday! Haha.
Marinette glanced up at Nathaniel who was engrossed in his latest drawing. The message Adrien sent her, gave the teen a warm fuzzy feeling, and part of her wanted to tease him.
Marinette: Sorry! Nath is now sitting here since you left me to go to London! :p
The three dots, indicating he was typing back, appeared and disappeared several times while Marinette waited for his response. She involuntarily held her breath in anticipation to see what he would say.
Adrien: That seat is mine, us cats mark our territory don't you know! And we don't take kindly to sharing either haha ;)
Marinette felt her face heat up and bit her lip coyly while staring down at her phone. 'What does that mean?'
"What does what mean?"
Marinette's head snapped up to see Nathaniel staring at her with a small smirk on his soft features. The way he looked at her only made her face heat up further, and the redhead held out his hand and gestured for the phone. "Come on, let me see."
Marinette hesitated, but supposed that there was nothing incriminating in the messages to suggest his identity. Handing over the device, Nathaniel took one look at the screen and smiled shyly while biting his lip.
He muttered quietly so no one else would hear, "it means he's flirting with you Marinette."
"Wh-uh-n-no-"
Nathaniel chuckled, "we've all seen the way you two are together." Handing back her mobile, the teen raised his eyebrows, "the question you should be asking is: how are you going to respond?"
Adrien arrived in his hotel room and Plagg zipped out with a menacing cackle on his lips. "'Us cats mark our territory'! What was that?!"
Adrien groaned and flopped face first onto the king size bed in his room, "I don't know what came over me…"
"I do," Plagg flipped energetically in the air and the blonde turned his head to peek at the being with one eye. "You were trying to assert your dominance."
"What?"
"Face it," the tiny god disappeared into Adrien's luggage and came out holding a wedge of cheese in each paw, "you didn't like the fact that the arty kid was sitting next to your purrincess…"
The teen groaned into the plush bed covers before sitting back on his heels and rubbing his eyes. "That's not it."
"Kid, why do you think you like having Marinette so close to you?" Plagg asked before throwing both wedges into the air and catching them effortlessly.
Adrien stared at his Kwami, recalling the conversation they had the other night from his memory. "Be~cause~ I'm… starved of physical contact?"
Plagg peered at him, the green of his eyes seeming to glow.
"You. Like. Her."
Adrien raised his brow, "well yeah~ she's my friend."
The black being muttered to himself and shook his head, "forgive me Tikki for I will sin." Plagg shot to occupy the space at the end of Adrien's nose, and caused the blonde to become cross-eyed while looking at him. "If you say that Marinette is just a friend, when I know for a fact that you have been constantly waiting for her to reply and that you also know how long you've been waiting, then I am going to cataclysm your bum out of that window. You understand?"
Adrien gulped, stared at his Kwami with wide eyes and nodded slightly.
"Good." Plagg moved back a little and crossed his arms, "I didn't want to point out the obvious in front of Pigtails the other night, but face it Kid, there are plenty of opportunities for you to have contact with other people, but you seem to gravitate towards Marinette."
Plagg allowed Adrien to digest that information for a moment before smirking mischievously. "So Kid, whatcha gonna do about it?"
After checking online if his train had arrived in London for what felt like the millionth time, Marinette was yet to hear anything from Adrien. With what Nathaniel had said earlier, the ravenette went back over the messages from the blonde and wondered if he could be right. There was nothing to suggest he was flirting in any of his messages before that morning though, and she could not help but think that maybe he was just worried that he would be replaced.
After what Plagg said about his lack of human connections, that fear did seem possible.
Wanting to reassure him, Marinette began messaging the blonde while Alya and Nino chatted to Alix and Kim.
Marinette: Hey! I hope you got to London ok? I guess you're gonna be really busy so just send me a text when you can. I was joking before about your seat, it's yours, and I will be waiting for you when you get back :)
The teen sent the text off and put her phone away with the idea that she could distract herself with whatever Alix and Kim were challenging each other to that day. They were talking animatedly about which one would be quickest in their latest bet: Kim swimming ten lengths of the pool, or Alix skating ten laps around it.
The flaw to their wager was quickly pointed out by Alya though, who stated that Alix would most likely end up splattered against a wall while turning a corner.
As Marinette's friends laughed at that, the secret heroine's phone chimed in her pocket and upon reading the message, her heart skipped several beats. It took the teen a whole minute to realise exactly what it said, and then saw her own wonderful typo in the previous message.
Adrien: Hey Princess! Yeah we arrived ok, just got to the hotel and are heading to the London offices soon. I'll never be too busy to speak to you, so I'm afraid you're stuck with me. Leave the cat flap open, I'll be back before you know it =^.^=
'…I will be waiting… Oh my Tikki! That was meant to say 'IT'… IT will be waiting for you…'
Marinette squeaked.
The table's occupants immediately turned their undivided attention to her and Marinette felt her whole body prickle with heat under their scrutinising gazes.
Alya cocked her brow and rested her chin on the back of her hand, "you got something you'd like to share with the rest of us, girl? A message perhaps… from Blondie saying how much he misses you?" The teasing blogger fluttered her eyelashes at Marinette, and the teen felt as if she was about to combust while her classmates unsuccessfully stifled their giggles.
"N-no. No'p'e. Nothing. No."
So Adrien is finally privy to hs felings towards the girl! Bout time, am I right? *rolls eyes* and gotta love a meddling Plagg! =^.^= Is Marinette playing with fire though? I wonder how our Sunshine will take the news when he finally finds out…
Thank you for reading :) I love reading your reviews on my work, so please let me know your thoughts! Thank you for the faves and follows, and the reviews you've already left, they really brghten up my day.
Take it easy
Lady Rhi X
