Nino was already planted in a seat by Marinette's vanity when Adrien and Marinette herself surfaced from below. The pink room had been decorated with candles everywhere. Little sketches of ghosts and black cats (Adrien smiled at this) dotted the walls, seeming to dance mischievously with every flicker of the light. A Jack Skellington sketch caught his eyes and he walked over to the wall where it was posted. Upon closer inspection, it was Jack Skellington-esque, but the figure grinning back at him was definitely Chat Noir.
When Adrien looked back to Marinette, she had already seated herself in front of Nino by the vanity. The three friends were going through several pictures on Marinette's phone, finalizing a design for Nino's face. Upon settling on one, Alya pulled Nino's hat around before pulling a rolling chair up to her boyfriend's side. She slipped off his headphones and pull them gingerly on her own ears as to not mess up her own expertly-applied face paint. Afterwards, Nino shifted slightly to accommodate the gesture when she reached into his front pocket to grab his phone. Nothing about the exchange was strange or awkward between them. Alya knew that Nino would have knew music, especially songs that she would like, on his ipod, and Nino expected her to search through it. Marinette and Adrien had seen the whole exchange so often it was not only expected, it was routine.
Adrien openly stared at the three of them, suddenly feeling rather out of place. Though Alya and Marinette had known each other for as long as he had known Nino, Nino had known Marinette longer than any of them. The three of them, collectively, were tighter friends than he felt he was. That was, until Marinette flashed her eyes over to him, and he remembered one very important detail.
Ladybug and Chat Noir had also been best of friends for three years. That sort of counted as something double with Marinette, right? And although they hadn't discovered their alter egos until just a few weeks before, their friendships hadn't necessarily suffered for it; things just became a little more awkward, the two stuck in some semblance of relationship limbo, both not sure if they were ready to fully tip from their tight friendship into something more…romantic.
A type of relationship he so hoped they could have. Soon.
At this thought, he tore his eyes away from Marinette, who he had been staring absently at, and wondered if they would ever be comfortable enough in their civilian forms as Alya and Nino were. A vision of Marinette idly fiddling with his hair while he held her, watching a movie, flitted through his mind's eye. Simple, just like his coupled friends, and that's what he loved most about it.
"Nino, hold still," Marinette reprimanded through giggles as Nino shifted under the black-tipped brush. Marinette had already coated Nino forehead to chin in the white, greasy paint and had started on the skull details. Adrien smiled to himself when Nino rolled his eyes, Alya smacking him on the arm as she made a rotation in the spinning desk chair. Looking away again, a new sight had caught Adrien's eyes.
Upon their not-so-dramatic reveal, Chat Noir had discovered Marinette's crush on him as Adrien and had, of course, pestered her endlessly about it. Now, he knew from experience, that, especially in the last year or so, Ladybug could be as much of a tease as he could be. But what he saw now? This was being a bit excessive on all accounts. Adrien had felt eyes on him when he had entered Marinette's room…and now he saw that it was his eyes, his own eyes, from at least 50 different posters, pictures, and magazine cut-outs throughout the years, plastered all over the corner of Marinette's wall. What made it even worse (better?) were the little hearts, x's, o's, and love notes posted on, around, and by each one.
He knew, really, that she was doing this on purpose, just to tease him…but something deep down told him that maybe not all of it was a joke…not unlike his own method of flirting.
As he searched around the notes, shaking his head, his eyes drifted to an older-looking, wrinkled paper. It was written in quite familiar handwriting and was pockmarked with scribbles and cross-outs everywhere.
Your hair is dark as night, your pretty bluebell eyes,
I wonder who you are beneath that strong disguise….
Adrien flushed. It was his poem. His poem for "Ladybug", the one that, he just now realized, Marinette, "Ladybug", must actually had answered. He stared for just a moment more before he noticed the sticky note attached to it. On it was a winky face with a short message:
Caught you looking. ;)
Adrien whipped around. Sure enough, though Alya and Nino were checking out Nino's new face in the mirror, Marinette was looking straight into Adrien. He froze under her gaze.
"Your turn, handsome," she smiled at him. Though the lights were low and flickering, he thought he saw a bit of a blush dusting her cheeks. The sight was definitely welcomed; goodness knows he looked the same.
Her words finally seemed to register in his mind, though, and he was confused.
"My…turn?"
"I'm going to paint your face, silly kitty."
Three years with his Miraculous, and Chat Noir was discovering new powers with it every day. Like how the more nervous he got, the more his bad luck seemed to emanate with him. Which would explain why, at that moment, the entire left side of Marinette's desk suddenly and unexplainably broke. Adrien rushed to catch all the books and things from sliding off, suddenly covered in sketchbooks, pens, fabric, and design magazines. The more he tried to right the whole mess, the worse it seemed to get; without warning, the other side snapped apart, and Adrien found himself covered in essence of Marinette, the majority of her projects now a scattered mess on the floor.
Adrien looked to a pursed-lipped Marinette and a wide-eyed skeletal couple.
"I did not do that," was all he could offer before the room burst into laughter.
"Marinette! What is this mess down here?" Is everyone alright?" Sabine Cheng's voice filtered up through the trap door.
"Yes, Maman, we're fine!" Marinette yelled back through her laughter, standing up and stretching briefly. "I'll be down in a moment to clean up."
"See that you do!" Sabine's voice paused before she added, "I have all the leftover Hallowe'en treats from the bakery if you guys want anything – we just closed up!"
In a flash, Nino and Alya were gone. Marinette looked panicked for a moment before yelling after their friends:
"Don't you dare mess up my work!"
Adrien wondered at the exclamation. She must have been talking about the face paint, but why would they mess it up…? Oh.
Another burning in his cheeks told him he was blushing again, and he turned away from looking at the trapdoor where the couple had disappeared and back to the current mess he was covered in.
Marinette's small frame near him sighed before she righted herself and turned back to Adrien. She started laughing again.
"This is not funny," Adrien retorted, trying not to let the smile win out on his own features.
"Oh, no of course not," Marinette replied, walking over to him to relieve him of some of his burden.
"It isn't. My bad luck just spreads all over the place."
"Hm, and you'd think I'd balance you out," Marinette smiled playfully. Adrien shook in his spot slightly.
"Maybe if you were everywhere I went, which I don't think is…possible…."
Adrien froze at the look in Marinette's eyes. She had paused while taking some of the magazine's out of his hands at his words. If her expression was anything to go off of, she was thinking the same thing he was feeling: If only.
Marinette was the first to react. After another brief moment, she cleared her throat before taking her load from Adrien's arms and placing it on the ground. Adrien followed suit. Marinette stood and reached a hand out to help Adrien up. He stood, the two now awkwardly facing each other, and Adrien wondered again if they would ever be able to be comfortable with each other.
"Eh hem," Marinette said again, looking down for a moment at their still intertwined hands before letting go to tuck some hair behind her ear. "Well, uh, let's get started, yeah?"
Adrien looked at her, tilting his head questioningly. Marinette walked back to the vanity and sat on the stool she had occupied earlier and patter the chair across from her.
"Face paint. Now."
"Ah, I don't think Père would approve –"
"Don't play that game with me, minou, you know I will tackle you if I have to."
"I'd like to see you try," he retorted with a wink.
She laughed. "I'm sure you would."
Gall, he really couldn't handle it when she flirted back like that. It just wasn't nice.
"Really, Marinette, I can't –"
"Adrien Agreste, sit your butt in this chair right now or I promise you with my Miraculous stones I will beat you into submission."
Adrien sat, because, well, he feared for his life…but he also feared for his social life, and what his father really could take away from him.
"But –"
Marinette huffed, dropping the hand that was halfway to his face with the white make-up. "It's all acid-free, sensitive-skin make-up, not grease paint like we have. I got it from your make-up artists."
Adrien blinked. "How did you…"
"I may not be as famous as you, Adrien Famous-Male-Model Agreste," she smiled at him playfully, "but I did design the last two covers for Jagged Stone, as well as being named his personal stylist. I am able to pull some weight in the fashion world around here."
"You asked her as Ladybug didn't you."
"She wouldn't answer my calls as Marinette. Now hold still."
At the first touch of the make-up, Adrien closed his eyes, immediately mourning the loss of blue eyes and freckles.
"Don't you think that would lead to questions?" Adrien said in a soft voice, trying to keep as still as possible. Ironically, he should feel the most comfortable out of the four of them sitting in this position. However, sitting so close to someone you care about, who's indirectly massaging your face, and who smells absolutely delicious, was proving to be anything but comfortable.
"Hm?" Marinette mumbled in reply.
Adrien tried not to smile. She was focused. Focused on him.
"I don't know, some Marinette chick calling up Adrien Agreste's make-up artist, and then Ladybug dropping in for the same information."
Marinette muttered out a laugh. "I'm very sneaky."
Adrien peeked an eye open.
"I'm not telling you my secrets, Adrien Agreste. At least not all of them, and not all in the same month."
"How many secrets do you have?"
A soft pressure on either side of his lips made Adrien jump slightly, but he tried to keep still as Marinette moved his face to get a better angle.
"Enough," she finally said. Adrien could hear the smile in her voice. She moved his face to the other side. "How many do you have, Chat Noir? At least one for each of your nine lives, I would assume."
Adrien grinned. "You know all my secrets, M'Lady."
Fingers under his chin moved his face to face Marinette again. Another pressure on his lips told him she was on the last stage of the make-up. He opened his eyes to watch her face. Her eyes flicked up to his for a moment before she smiled softly.
"All your secrets?"
Marinette, apparently having finished her handiwork, dropped her hands to her knees and faced Adrien head-on. From Marinette having pulled him toward her for the final touches on his face, his nose was maybe a foot away from her own. Adrien couldn't suppress the gulp that followed this realization. Suddenly the dim room felt a whole lot warmer. And was that drumming in the distance or his own heartbeat pounding in his ears?
"All but one…" he trailed off. Somehow one of his hands was holding hers. Another hand reached up to grip her unpainted cheek. Marinette leaned into his touch, eyes closing for a moment before looking straight into him again. It was a very Ladybug-esque look: hyper-focused, determined, decided. The flickering lights played merrily in the recesses of the oceanic colors of her eyes, filling them with mischief and laughter.
One more inhale…exhale…
Adrien felt his own eyes flutter closed as he leaned closer to Marinette, simultaneously pulling her gently up toward him.
The first touch was like electricity. The shock was so strong, Adrien physically recoiled before diving back in immediately. It was soft…Marinette seemed to be holding back a little. Something pulled tight in Adrien at every light touch of her lips on his, like a raking through his insides that caused his breath to hitch and goosebumps to erupt on every inch of his skin. The sensation made him want her even more. He moved to deepen the kiss, scooting closer to Marinette, but she immediately pulled back.
"Adrien," she whispered to him, breath slightly ragged. "I, uh," – she cleared her throat – "I want this really, really, REALLY bad…"
"But?" Adrien pushed, slightly afraid of the answer, wondering what he had done wrong. To his surprise, when he opened his eyes and looked at her, she was smiling sheepishly, a deep blush dusting her cheeks prettily.
"But your face paint rocks, and my make-up looks awesome, and I really, really don't want to smear it."
Adrien burst out in laughter.
"Smear it? What did you think we would be doing?"
"Oh my gosh, shut up," She tried pushing against him, but he pulled her back. She looked up at him through her eyelashes, batting them playfully. "You're incorrigible."
"You love it."
He was incorrigible. He knew it, she knew it, so there was no point in pretending to be something he definitely wasn't. So when he heard Alya and Nino coming back up the stairs, he grabbed a squealing Marinette and planted a big, sloppy kiss on her unpainted cheek.
When Alya popped her head through the trapdoor, a cat-shaped pastry in her hand, she shook her head, completely bemused.
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, you filthy hypocrite."
qpqpqpqpqp
It was a group decision to keep the kiss mark on Marinette's cheek. Marinette could pretend to be annoyed with the incongruous mark as much as she wanted, but the triumphant look on her kitty's face, as if he had completely marked his territory, made her pride swell more than she would ever say.
Because Marinette didn't have to say it.
The smeared paint all over Adrien's face much later that night, the black and white unable to conceal the boyish grin spreading across his features, let her know that she had conveyed her message quite thoroughly without ever having to say a word.
She was his, and he was most definitely hers.
Fin!
(( This was going to be a three-parter, with a haunted house and an Akumatized villain with the Akuma in his Halloween mask so they had to essential pull off his face (sounds more gruesome than it would have been…I hope it would have only been a little scary), but, alas, here it is, November 1st, and I have for you a plotless Fluff-pot of Fluffiness. Which now it might make more sense why the ending is a little…abrupt. It's also quite un-edited. Just fluffed. Like an overstuffed throw pillow. *giggles*
Hope you all have a charming Dias de los Muertos, remembering those we love. *hearts*
Thanks for reading! Please, if you liked it at all, or even if you didn't, drop me a little line. I really would love to hear from you! n.n ))
