Rolling ankles sucks... just putting that out there. We are officially at the major turning point in the story which sets off everything else that is bound to happen. This was not supposed to be such a large story fyi I'm actually having to do story mapping stuff! (Grumble grumble...) Enjoy and Drop a review if you have the time!
lillykleaf... Nope no Akumatized Roger... yet.
LilactheDryad... I was listening to Shut up and dance with me when I was writing that part and no I couldn't help myself. I was listening to Take a Hint when I wrote the bar scene all the way back in chapter 8... Music inspires me for certain scenes so I do that a lot. Give I'm Coming After You by Owl City a listen too. It matches this story so well its scary. Someone recommended it to me back a while ago after reading my story lol. Also to answer your question... My story lore works a little differently than the show. Plagg and Tikki were human until the miraculous got involved. A person has to die when a Stone is activated or a previously deceased soul has t be bound to the stone. The second one is far harder and doens't work most of the time so back in ancient times they would just have a human sacrifice waiting in the wings. Although technically it was a great honor so yeah...
AmourVixen23... OOOOhhhh you have no idea how happy it made me when I read someone had recommended this story for you! That's so cool and I'm glad it has lived up to your expectations!
sweetXDmelody... My friend and I did that to our dates at prom. Unlike Adrien and Nino though they kept dancing a sultry slow dance and made fools of themselves. It was still really funny. Glad you like my writing style! Its taken me many year to finally settle into a style that could be understood!
(Slow Burn Detective AU!) Marinette is used to working alone on the streets of Paris as she strives to take down the Hawkmoth gang. When the thief Chat Noir comes crashing into her life things are bound to get magical, especially when co-detective Adrien returns to Paris and seems to want to be her new partner. Will their fated partnership end in a capture or a kiss?
Missing
Pounding on his door snapped Adrien to consciousness and he was out of bed in seconds knocking Plagg to the floor. Plagg hissed in annoyance but Adrien was already out of the room opening his front door to a pajama-clad Marinette. He took in the annoyed, yet slightly fretful look on her face and his stomach dropped.
"What happened?" Adrien demanded.
"Your phone's not on and an alert just hit. Chloe is missing," Marinette said, clearly not happy being the one to break the news.
Adrien blinked at her feeling confused, "Missing? How is she missing? Did she stay over at a hotel and just forget to check in or something?"
Shaking her head, Marinette held up her phone showing Adrien the message on the screen. "She was snatched somewhere between the ball and home last night. We, along with half of the police force, are being called in. Since Gabriel is out, we get the pleasure of being called in early so Jackady can debrief us. Dress in comfortable clothes. It's going to be a long day."
On her phone was a picture of a ransom note and Adrien cursed, "I'll be ready in five. Thanks for waking me."
Nodding Marinette darted back to her flat leaving Adrien to get ready. They were both dressed and out the door five minutes later. With a sigh, Marinette tossed Adrien a slightly warm pastry and they jogged to the precinct as the sky continued to lighten with the coming day. They arrived at the precinct and made their way to the largest conference room. There were over a dozen people in the room when they slipped in and the mood was tense. Marinette moved over to her usual spot near the wall and Adrien followed ignoring the curious stares being leveled in their direction. Finishing his pastry since he hadn't wanted to eat while jogging, Adrien looked around the room getting a feel for everyone inside.
"Where's Roger?" Adrien asked curiously. Out of everyone, Adrien had expected Roger was the one he figured would be present since he was dating Chloe at the moment.
"Maybe he got kidnapped with her. It'd be a relief to know he was harassing someone else," Marinette answered keeping her voice well under the buzz of hushed conversations in the room.
Adrien snorted but didn't get a chance to reply since the door opened and Roger burst in with Clara following behind.
"Jackady isn't here yet?!" Roger demanded glancing from face to face as if Jackady were simply hiding behind one of them. "I could be out searching the streets or hunting clues and instead I'm told to report in? Who am I reporting to?!"
Ignored in the light of Roger's dramatics, Clara slipped over to Marinette's side.
"I didn't expect to see you two again so soon," Clara murmured sliding between the two of them.
Adrien didn't like the fact that Clara had placed herself between him and Marinette but said nothing since she seemed to have a reason for doing so.
"Clara, what are you doing here?" Marinette asked sounding almost alarmed. "Chloe… she hasn't been found… has she?"
"Oh goodness, no," Clara placated. "I drove Jackady since I didn't have anything down in the morgue. He's coming right now but he sent me ahead to tell you two to stay behind once this meeting is done."
"Oh, alright then," Marinette sighed in relief. Seeing Adrien's confused look she explained, "Clara is the mortician in Jackady's precinct. She doesn't usually come to these things unless a body has been found."
Adrien paled slightly at the thought of Chloe turning up dead but he nodded in understanding, "I see. Have you heard anything yet other than the ransom demands?"
Clara shook her head, "No. The Mayor called as soon as he opened the letter but the fool was wandering around with it in his hands, practically wringing the thing to death so I don't think we're going to get any clues from that direction, either."
"Did they say how much they wanted?" Adrien asked pulling up the picture of the ransom note and looking it over again.
"No, and according to the Mayor there wasn't a second page or anything," Clara said. "Jackady will cover most of this stuff. Just make sure you two stay afterwards."
The door opened and Jackady stepped in looking completely different to the smiling man Adrien had met last night. Roger was still whining as he moved to the front of the room until one of the other detectives smacked him so he would pay attention. Seeing everyone's attention diverted, Clara moved to stand by the door since she wasn't really part of this meeting and she didn't want to draw any more attention to Marinette or Adrien.
"Thank you everyone for coming in even though it is very early," Jackady began. "As you have probably read by now, Miss Chloe Bourgeois was taken last night en route to her home. Her driver was found unconscious in a closet and has no memory of what happened. We don't know where Chloe was taken and the limo has yet to be found as well. Other than a ransom, we don't know why Chloe was taken or if her life is currently in danger. We need to find all these things out. Any ideas?"
A dozen voices called out questions comments and Jackady fielded them all, writing rapidly on the board behind him. After several minutes of this, the room quieted down and Marinette called out, "Aren't the mayor's limos lo-jacked now?" The whole room froze and a few people turned to eye Marinette oddly.
"Don't be stupid…" Roger started, but Jackady held up his hand cutting him off.
"The mayor hasn't said anything about the limos being lo-jacked. Why do you think they are?"
Marinette shrugged unable to say that one of the Whisperers had a fun drunk-night once and managed to steal the mayor's limo. That same Whisperer was also a hacker and when they hacked the car's system to try and get free wi-fi, they had discovered another signal that was coming from their position. It was a GPS SOS essentially, and they had scatted not wanting to be taken down by special forces for what they felt was a simple prank.
"Maybe he doesn't know? If the GPS was never turned on or used, there wouldn't be any need for him to be told. After all, something like that would be for his safety and we all know that the mayor has no clue about all the plans dedicated to his well being," Marinette answered instead.
Jackady's eyes met hers, and Marinette shrugged slightly unable to explain anything more and his gaze shifted to Clara. At his nod, Clara slipped softly from the room to go check on this idea.
"Alright, good idea, Marinette," Jackady called and scribbled GPS on the board with a question mark next to it. "Anybody else?"
The room was uncomfortably silent and Jackady capped his marker before tapping it to the board behind him, "Alright then, this is what little info we have to work with. We all know how missing and kidnapping cases are supposed to go and we're already off to a bad start. Everyone here needs to keep their eyes and ears open. Go about your other duties of course, and do not let any of this information leak to the press. Use your contacts, and any hint of a lead you get make sure to pass it along to Damocles. He'll be spearheading this for-"
"What?!" Roger shrieked cutting Jackady off mid-sentence.
"Do you have an issue, Roger?" Jackady asked, his tone brittle.
"Issue? ISSUE?! Chloe is MY girlfriend! I should be the one spearheading this not that old owl!" Roger retorted shrilly.
Jackady frowned at him and Adrien could read the anger in his eyes, "First of all, Roger, you should have more respect for your senior detectives. Secondly, I am aware that you are Chloe's boyfriend, which is exactly why you're not in charge. You're too close to the case emotionally. Besides, Damocles is in charge of this precinct's missing cases and he has one of the best 'found and returned alive' stats in Paris."
"That… That's not-," Roger started only to break off when Jackady raised his hand to silence him.
"Clearly, Roger, you are emotionally shocked right now and don't understand that every second we spend here arguing is a second that Chloe remains in danger. If you're going to throw a tantrum, you may leave."
Roger gaped at Jackady for a second before swinging his gaze around the room and only spying annoyed faces. Slamming his hands to the table, Roger stood. "I guess I'll go do something actually useful and talk to the mayor then," he hissed storming out of the room.
Silence descended as the door snapped shut until Jackady shook his head, "Damocles, you're on point here and you have my number. Until Gabriel returns, I am to get all information you collect. Anyone else have any questions or issues?"
The room remained silent, "Alright then, people, let's hunt!"
Tepid murmurs filled the air in answer as everyone climbed to their feet and moved out of the room. In the crush Clara managed to wiggle back in and Marinette remained where she was with Adrien at her back.
"I've got a bad feeling about this mess," Marinette exhaled. As the last person left the room, she finally moved.
Clara turned towards them, a grin lighting up her face. "Looks like you were right, Marinette. They do have the limos lo-jacked, but they haven't been used or turned on. According to the woman I talked to, it's going to take a few hours to turn the things on and tune into the frequency."
"Well, at least it's a start," Marinette acknowledged as she faced Jackady. "Alright, why did you want us to stay behind?"
Jackady rolled his eyes reminding Adrien of the humor-filled man he had met last night, "Well, you're not going to like it or me very much, but it's already done so just get over it."
Marinette's shoulders slumped, "What did you do?"
"You're off desk duty and Adrien is officially your partner," Jackady said getting right to the point. "It was supposed to be a lark and a way to thumb my nose at Gabriel since he pulled that fast one on me a month ago. However, now I can use you and I fully intend to. I need you two to be my ground team. No one knows Paris like you, Marinette, and I know you can find Chloe far more quickly than this bureaucratic mess of red-taped fools. This is technically a special assignment but use whatever you need to get Chloe back."
"With all due respect, sir, Chloe is not on the list of favorite people I'd lose my job for and Adrien is a childhood friend of hers. Are you sure about this?" Marinette asked.
Jackady straightened, his gaze falling to the phone in Marinette's pocket. He raised an eyebrow in question and Marinette nodded. Thankfully Adrien wisely remained silent, seeming to realize there was something more going on in their conversation.
Jackady cleared his throat, "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Adrien Agreste, I am assigning you two as partners to hunt down those who have kidnapped Chloe Bourgeois and bring her to safety if possible. You will be working under the radar and are required to keep me up to date. Your fellow officers will not be informed of your status, so your discretion is advised."
"I accept my assignment, sir," Marinette stated, her voice painfully formal and Adrien echoed her a moment later.
"Good. Stay safe and all that jazz, and ask whoever knew about the limo lo-jacking if they can trace the cars better than said fools," Jackady sighed rubbing at his temples as Marinette pulled out her phone and hit the record off button. "I want a copy of that Marinette."
"Done," Marinette stated. Seeing Adrien's confusion, Marinette waved her phone at him and explained, "Jackady is in charge of our precinct right now, but when your father comes back this recording will make it so he can't throw too big of a fit for anything we've done as partners. Or fire one of us. This way we're by the book, just how he likes it."
"That's… sneaky. I like it," Adrien said, slowly starting to figure out how Marinette moved around rules so well.
"Wonderful," Jackady sighed. "I have a feeling you two will be bringing Chloe in long before the others even get a bead on her location. Now, if you excuse me, I have to go talk to my precinct. If we come up with anything different than what we have here, I'll send it over to Marinette. Also, watch out for Roger. He seemed a little unstable."
"You have no idea, Jackady," Adrien said, making Jackady pat him on the back before claiming Clara's hand.
"Come, my dear, we have more people to talk to and a headache to nurse!"
Clara laughed, snuggling close to Jackady and the two of them left the room together leaving Adrien and Marinette alone inside.
"So, it looks like we're partners," Marinette said feeling nervous for some reason. She was excited and scared all at once, especially after last night. The room suddenly felt too small in Adrien's presence, and maybe it was a lack of sleep, but she wanted to bury her face into his chest and just… take a moment. Last night's kiss had been smolderingly good, but kissing him right now felt too forward, probably because they were at work still. Plus Marinette also knew that from here on out there wouldn't be time for anything remotely romantic, and why did things have to happen like this?!
"Well, that make it easier for us. You know, I never did ask, do you mind being my partner?" Adrien wondered breaking into her internal panic.
"If I did I would have let you know by now, Adrien. I-I like you. A-as a person and a partner! And stuff. In any case, we need to get moving. I have an idea that could help us find Chloe," Marinette said starting towards the door and making Adrien want to scoop her up and cuddle her to his chest. He couldn't do such a foolish thing here at work but maybe another time at home, or even when they're wandering the streets. Maybe he could even talk Marinette into letting him steal another kiss…
"Adrien? You coming?" Marinette called from the door knocking him right out of his reverie.
"Of course, Marinette," Adrien answered, his voice even and showing no hint to the embarrassing thoughts plaguing his mind. "Where to first?"
"Wait till we're outside," Marinette said softly even as she trailed in another direction.
They ended up outside of records, and since it was so early in the morning there was no one around except for the cameras. Marinette opened the door to the office and when she glanced at him in question he shook his head deciding to remain outside. She took all of five minutes, then they were heading for the street and walking towards home. Following Marinette in silence wasn't as hard as Adrien thought it might be. While they walked Marinette was sending out messages to people, making sure to angle the phone just right so he could read the screen.
"It's only been about a week but we can start this by checking the drop points. Someone may have heard a whisper of something like this happening and passed the info along. It's a shot in the dark but it's something to do while we wait for Stormy to get back to me," Marinette huffed turning down a street into the alleys.
"Is it alright to ask Stormy? I mean will she help on something like this?" Adrien corrected, not wanting to insult Marinette's choices on who she shared information with.
"Stormy is fine and she likes helping me out since I'm constantly doing the same for her. I only asked her to track down Hacker for me, although I could probably ask Max to help out. He does owe me for the other day and he won't ask too many questions…" Marinette mused while making another seemingly random turn.
She was back on her phone within a few moments and Adrien felt oddly useless as he trailed after her like a lost kitten. Fifteen minutes in, they hit the first info drop and Adrien impressed Marinette when he moved to the wall and pulled the mini drive out all on his own. As Marinette sifted through the info, Adrien replaced the drive and they continued on their way. They hit just about every drop point by noon and Adrien was starving as they finally headed towards populated streets. Adrien had kept a sharp look-out on their surroundings the entire time and he had even helped Marinette sift through more than one file by putting some of the information on his phone. Luckily they had the same type of phone, and Adrien actually had more space than Marinette. Finally, Marinette growled in frustration and Adrien's stomach seemed to agree.
"There's nothing here. Whoever took Chloe kept this whole thing so far under wraps that no one even knew what was coming!" Marinette hissed in aggravation. "Either that, or this wasn't a planned thing but unless the people were lucky, I don't see how it went off without a hitch."
Adrien agreed with her frustration wholeheartedly, "Max answered you back, has he been able to get into the mayor's systems or whatever?"
Marinette shook her head sadly as they stepped out into the main streets, "No, not yet. Apparently he needed some code line from Hacker to get started and he just got it a few minutes ago. Jackady answered me as well. Apparently the Mayor's people can't, or won't, turn the GPS tracking on and they were pissed that Jackady had even found out about it. Max is our only hope on that front. Since this didn't pan out with anything, let's go eat and then if there's still no news we can go talk to Chloe's driver. Maybe he'll remember something now that he's had some rest."
They spent the rest of the day talking to people, including the Mayor, and when they finally arrived at Marinette's apartment, tired, hungry, and grumpy, it was starting to get late. Adrien stopped in his flat briefly to drop off Plagg, he didn't want to be crushed in case they started sucking face again. Adrien didn't bother fighting with Plagg and simply made sure he left some cheese out before showering off, dressing in comfortable clothes, and meeting back up with Marinette in her flat. She had taken a shower as well and was dressed in comfortable clothes that were practically pajamas. They ordered pizza, then took a break from Chloe's kidnapping to go through the files and info they had pulled from the drop points earlier that day. They found two brewing issues that had no relation to each other or Chloe but nothing new came to light. Marinette slumped back on her couch, glaring at the massive laminated map she had pulled out and placed on the wall. There were marks all over the thing now in dry-erase markers and Adrien was eyeing it curiously, nose only a few inches away as he read the notations between the street lines.
"This map is amazing, Marinette," Adrien breathed, following a rooftop path with his finger.
"Tiki and I made it," Marinette sighed. "It has all kinds of escape routes we can use, and it has the entrances to the underground, plus some other stuff. We have two others that reflect the underground paths, and another that shows the gang territories, although that one is frequently changing. Outside of Tiki, Nino, Alya, and I, you're the only one that has seen it."
Adrien turned to stare at her, "Wait, why would Nino need something like this?"
Marinette froze her eyes blown wide and Adrien could literally see the wheels in her mind turning since she clearly had said something she hadn't meant to. A tense silence passed between them until suddenly Marinette laughed and shook her head, "Sorry, habit. And you're probably going to find out real soon anyways. Nino has a copy of it digitized and he uses it to help us… or me, get around the city quickly. As you've probably discerned, Tiki and I sometimes had to go on 'non-sanctioned' runs. They were times we arrested, rescued, or solved crimes that were not actually part of our… jurisdiction. Technically, when it comes to Chloe, the best way to save her would be to wait till we have her location and do a raid to rescue her. However, if she has been taken somewhere inaccessible for a raid to work properly, the only way to get her out is a small strike team."
"You two were the strike team," Adrien stated although he didn't look surprised.
"Yeah, we were, although sometimes we did those runs even without Gabriel's permission," Marinette admitted. "If we find Chloe, I don't think we'll have enough time to get a raid into place to get her out safely. If that's the case…"
"We'll do a run to save her, and I'm assuming that Nino will be our guide?" Adrien asked.
Marinette nodded, then yawned, "He and Alya will listen for police scans and use the maps Tiki and I made to get us where we need to go without too much trouble. It's a good system, but since neither of them actually work for the precinct, their involvement is confidential. They don't exist as far as the reports go. Hopefully I'm wrong and we won't need to do anything but show up for a raid once we get Chloe's position."
"How often are you wrong?" Adrien asked curiously, walking back over to the couch noticing for the first time that Marinette's eyes were drooping although she was keeping up a good façade like she wasn't tired.
"Tiki was never wrong, her gut feelings always panned out and things always went her way in a hunt. Me, on the other hand… I have a fairly decent track record of being right but I mess up often enough to keep me humble," Marinette laughed, her eyes sparking with amusement.
Adrien grinned at her, "Just humble, huh?"
Marinette chucked a ball of paper at his head with a laugh and he ducked it, dropping to the couch beside her before leaning back in relaxation, "So after all this running around today, do we have any leads at all?"
Shaking her head sadly, Marinette leaned back against his shoulder, "No, unfortunately we don't. And it's getting way too late to do anything else. We should get some sleep tonight and start again tomorrow."
Adrien lightly dropped his head against hers and yawned, "So, how early are we talking?"
"Hopefully not too early, if Jackady or Max gets anything they'll let us know. Max might call early if he gets something, but hopefully he won't until at least eight or so."
"I don't really feel like moving," Adrien complained, although it was a slight lie. He wasn't tired like Marinette who had been up late the past few nights finishing her dress, his tie, and then she had stayed up far later than necessary last night working herself into a frenzy and then out of it.
"Then don't," Marinette hummed, snuggling into his shoulder making the sensation of warm fuzzy bubbles rise and pop in chest.
It made him want to purr but Adrien choked off the sensation, knowing that Marinette would probably become a touch concerned and suspicious if he did that. To his utter surprise, it took all of five minutes for Marinette to pass out completely, her heartbeat and breathing settling into a slow easy rhythm. With a bit of a yawn, Adrien wiggled out from under her, slowly easing Marinette to the couch cushions and covering her with a blanket he found. Before he called it a night, Adrien wanted to have a last look at the map and maybe look over the ransom note one last time. For some odd reason, he had a feeling he had seen that handwriting before but he wasn't sure why or how. Adrien wished that he could see the note in person while dressed as Chat since he could probably get some kind of scent off it, which might give him a clue. Shaking his head, Adrien moved over to the map listening to the soft sighs and almost snores Marinette made every so often. It was bloody adorable and highly distracting, so after a while Adrien gave up trying to study the map and simply sat down on the floor next to the couch, phone in hand. Honestly, he really ought to go home to his own flat where he was sure Plagg was waiting with some sort of snarky comment for him, but he was just so comfortable and Marinette breathing softly in his ear was like a lullaby… Adrien didn't even notice falling asleep.
Something was touching her hair or brushing her cheek and Marinette swatted at it, her sleep addled brain only wanting peace. Swatting only bought her a few moments respite before the thing was back making a whine rise in the back of her throat.
"You're both going to cramp sleeping like this, you stupid kits… wake up!" a voice hissed and suddenly Marinette jolted upright, eyes flying open in confusion. The voice had been masculine, however it had been too high for Adrien, or even Chat. The lights were off as Marinette cast her gaze around, wondering idly when Adrien had turned off the lights as she slowly settled back once more. Sleepily, she went to turn and almost yelped when she swore a small set of green eyes were peering out of the darkness at her. Jolting upright made the eyes vanish and Marinette shook her head trying to clear it, even as her tired brain tried to shut back down. Groaning slightly at a cramp in her back, Marinette looked around the room one last time, her gaze landing on Adrien's head which was positioned right next to where her face had been. Blinking, Marinette tugged at a few golden strands on the cushion realizing that they were just long enough to touch her face, depending on how she was sleeping.
Well that explained something at least, Marinette thought, swinging her legs over the couch while wondering if she had imagined the voice and the eyes. They both had seemed very distinct for her imagination or a dream, but there was no one in the flat but them. Those eyes had been far too small for a human, and the TV was off. Maybe the voice at least had been someone outside? Rubbing at her face, Marinette decided she didn't need to solve a mystery that was most likely all in her head and she patted Adrien's head lightly in an attempt to wake him.
"Adrien, Adrien come on. You're going to be sore sleeping like that…" Marinette called, patting his face when he didn't stir.
It took a few pokes but Adrien finally twitched and swatted at her hand, "Stupid Plagg."
Marinette frowned as her brain tried to comprehend his words, but it was too hard this early. He could have said bag or any other various words and Marinette found that she didn't care. She just wanted to go back to sleep in her own bed, but she would feel terribly guilty if she left Adrien sitting on her floor all night when she had a perfectly good bed in the next room. In the morning, she would blame her exhaustion for not dropping Adrien off in the spare room or even the couch before going to sleep, but in the moment she didn't even think about it. Standing, Marinette simply reached down and wrapped Adrien's arm around her shoulders and hauled him up off the floor. It was surprisingly easy, but then Marinette brushed it off since she had never tried to deadlift Adrien to his feet before this moment. The sudden upright-movement made Adrien stir and he grumbled in Marinette's ear.
"If you can grumble, you can walk," Marinette grouched right back and she was a bit surprised as Adrien moved his feet in time with hers as they moved towards her room. Within seconds they were flopping to her bed, curling up under the covers in each other's arms.
Waking to sharp claws kneading at his shoulder was never a pleasant thing, and blinking his eyes open, a curse on hips lips, Adrien froze when he realized the position he was in. For the second time in less than a week, he was sleeping quite comfortably within the arms of his Princess. Immediately Adrien's breathing hitched and a low, slightly evil, chuckle filtered through his initial panic.
"I figured you might want to wake up before her this time," Plagg drawled from somewhere just out of sight. "Drink in her beauty and get your body under control."
Adrien flushed, but he couldn't curse Plagg out like he wished since that would definitely wake Marinette up and he was absolutely positive he didn't want her to wake up right this second since their bodies were pressed awfully close together. He settled for a low growl just in the range of his and Plagg's hearing, but not truly audible for a normal person's. Plagg, the evil jerk, simply snickered leaving Adrien to take in some nice deep breaths in an attempt to calm back down. It wasn't easy since Marinette was right there in his arms looking stunningly kissable... and how in the hell had this happened?! He had a vague memory of her leading him to a bed but Adrien had figured it was the spare room, not her bed which somehow smelled just like cookies lavender and just so very Marinette. The groan stayed stuck in his throat and Adrien closed his eyes in an effort to get a grip. Upon opening his eyes a second time, he was met with sleepy blue eyes and a gentle smile.
"Uh, morning…" Adrien managed, his voice pitched too high and breathy.
"Mmmmm, morning," Marinette sighed, nuzzling closer to him causing her hair to tickle his chin. "Such a nice dream…"
Adrien went stiff. A second later, so did Marinette as she realized she wasn't actually dreaming. Slowly, Adrien felt her hand press against his chest and a soft swear colored what little space was between them.
"I'm not dreaming, am I?" Marinette asked, her tone resigned.
"Ah, no, I don't think so since we would be having the same dream, which would be… odd," Adrien replied. "Although, I'm not sure how we ended up in your bed ah… cuddling."
"You fell asleep on my floor and I woke up in the middle of the night from your hair brushing my face. I was too sleep deprived to make two trips to different bedrooms and I didn't even think about it…" Marinette griped, keeping her face pressed against his chest so he couldn't see how red she was turning. "It's a good thing you're warm and cute."
Adrien felt some of the tension leach out of him, "Princess, you can admit to just wanting a cuddle buddy. I won't tell anyone…"
Marinette finally pulled back, her features halfway between amused and pouting when they both heard her phone start ringing. Within seconds Marinette was out of the bed and room, darting for her phone which had been left in the living room. Taking a deep breath, Adrien rolled over onto his belly rubbing his face into Marinette's mattress as he eavesdropped on her phone conversation. It was too far for him to hear what was said on the phone but he could hear Marinette, who seemed excited and fairly pleased.
"We'll meet you in an hour, is that enough time? Ok good, see you then."
The sound of pounding feet was his only warning as Marinette did a flying leap back onto her bed, bouncing Adrien and surprising him so he ended up on all fours with eyes blown wide. Marinette crooked her one eyebrow up in a questioning gesture, then shook her head.
"That was Max, he said he called a little bit ago but didn't get through. He can get us a signal and we're meeting him in an hour!" Marinette squealed in excitement.
Adrien's demeanor instantly changed, "We have a lead? That's awesome! We don't really need an hour though, right? Can we show up early?"
Marinette shook her head, "We need to eat something before we go in case we run into trouble, or we don't get a chance to eat for the rest of the day. I don't need you fainting on me like Tiki did once. Or like I have done on occasion."
Adrien pursed his lips, wanting to argue and ask about her fainting spell, but in the end he decided that she was right. "Alright, let me go get changed. How long do you need?"
"Ten minutes, tops."
Adrien nodded and slid off her bed, moving swiftly through the flat and wishing that they had a connecting door between the two. Ten minutes on the dot, Adrien stepped outside and found Marinette waiting for him. Together they made their way down the stairs to breakfast, and hopefully their first clue.
