MiraculElse #39: Burning For You

by DFC

(Timeline: Season 5. After Pretension, but not vitally plot-related so.)


"You're sure that this is okay?"

As she followed Adrien into his room, Marinette's concern was obvious. "After that day with the pancakes with your father, I, um... let's just say I don't think that your father considers me a welcome guest in his house," she noted. "And I don't want to get you in trouble for having me here."

"Believe it or not," Adrien said, "we kind of have an ally tonight."

"How so?"

"Nathalie told me that Father will be away from the house until late tonight. 11-ish, she's expecting him back," he explained. "And she's running interference for us to make sure that everyone else on our staff knows that I'm working on a special school project, I need to concentrate and I can't be disturbed."

"Nathalie's doing that for us?"

"Uh-huh."

"...Why?" wondered Marinette. "I mean, I always got the idea that she was super-loyal to your father."

""She is. Don't get her wrong there," he replied. "But she's also been looking out for me quite a bit more lately. And when it comes to you and I, she thinks that Father's going way too far with everything."

"That doesn't change the fact that he wouldn't want me here."

Turning to face her, Adrien took Marinette's hands in his.

"And that doesn't change the fact that I absolutely do," he assured her. "And I'm going to fight for every single second that I get to spend with you."

That earned him a kiss and a smile.

"Do you mind if I freshen up for a moment?" she asked.

"Actually, that's perfect!" Adrien declared. "I have a little something that I want to set up, and, um... I'll tell you when to come out of there? It'll just be a minute or two."

"Okay," smiled Marinette, heading into the bathroom. "I'll be waiting."


After a brief period of touching up her hair and making sure that she was satisfied with her appearance...

"Reaaaaa-dy!" Adrien's voice rang out.

She turned the door handle, pulled on it gently... and caught her breath.

By Adrien's bedside, he'd set up a small square table. A cake was in its center, chocolate with a simplistic red rose drawn in icing on its top. Candles lit both sides of the table, with plates and forks on each end.

"Happy one-month anniversary, Marinette," beamed Adrien.

"Oh...!" she gasped. "You didn't have to do this!"

"Of course I did," he countered. "I hope that you like the cake. I followed the directions as best I could, but it's nowhere near the standards of what your parents make."

"Wait. YOU baked this, Adrien?" marveled Marinette, as she took her seat across from him.

"Is that so surprising?"

"Well, no... I mean, maybe? You've told me stories about what you're like in a kitchen," she giggled.

"I'm dangerous there. I'm not helpless," he laughed in return. "This is from a box, not from scratch, so there wasn't much that I could mess up. But I assure you, my own hands mixed the batter and applied the icing."

"My hero," she glowed.

"It was nothing..."

"No, it was something. A very sweet something," she insisted, standing up from her chair and approaching him. "No pun intended."

"Save your applause. You haven't tasted it yet," he warned her.

"Let me put it this way, then."

Adrien tingled a bit as Marinette sat across his lap, her right arm around his shoulders, his arm sliding down automatically to support her.

"I, uh... you have made me feel so happy over this last month. For a lot longer than that, really, I mean, you've always been such a good friend and you're so much more than a friend now and I... ack! Let me start again!" she rambled.

"Take your time. Please," he smiled. "We're in no hurry."

"Sometimes, I have a hard time expressing myself in words with you. I kind of think you've noticed that," Marinette admitted. "Just a little bit."

"You're better at it than you think you are... but, maybe a little bit."

"It's the truth. I look into your eyes, especially now that you look at me the way you do... and my brain just goes crazy, and my mouth with it," she continued. "And I babble like an idiot or I blurt things out or I panic. But deep down... you are so special to me. I want you to know that."

"I do. And the feeling is so mutual."

"So instead of with words... maybe I can show you how happy I am another way."

"Oh?"

She leaned in close...


As a couple, kissing was not entirely new to Marinette and Adrien.

But this kind of kissing... unhurried, searching and expressive, lingering on and on... was kind of new. Exciting, certainly. Definitely worth prolonging.

New enough that the two of them had a few aspects of it to work out. Like, whose arm went where, what angle was best, how to react when a hand touches one's cheek, dealing with shifting of weight and position. Every couple goes through those kinds of growing pains, most relatively quickly, and they were no exception to that.

As it happened, though, they were still new enough at it to have some remaining compatibility issues... such as when Marinette leaned left, Adrien leaned right, and suddenly Marinette found herself falling off the lap and chair!

"Whaaooooh!" she yelped, flailing with her free arm.

"Agh! I've got..." Adrien called out, grabbing for her.

In keeping her from landing hard, Adrien's hip hit the table just as Marinette bumped one of its legs. It rocked out of position and began to tip over.

"Look OUT!" called Adrien, instinctively covering her with his body.

"Adrien - no - watch out, I need to...!"

Wriggling free just slightly, Marinette lunged with her arms extended, and...

...just barely managed to catch the cake tray before it hit the ground.

With both of them safe, the teens exchanged a long glance of relief, that quickly turned into loud laughter.

"Wow. That could have been disastrous," Adrien grinned. "Luckily, my girlfriend has great hand-eye coordination."

"I wouldn't go that far," Marinette parried. "But I wasn't about to let all of your hard work go to waste. I-"

Her eyes went HUGE.

"Marinette? What's wrong?" he asked...

"Y-y-y-your bed's on fire!"


"WHAT?"

Quickly, they scrambled to their feet with horrified expressions. The cake had been saved, but the flipping table had sent several of the lit candles flying... right onto Adrien's bedsheets, where a fire of moderate size was forming rapidly.

"Oh, no! Oh, no!" gasped Marinette. "Adrien, I'm so sorry-"

"It's not your fault! It isn't! I need to..."

"I need to..."

They stared at each other, plans of actions running through each head.

"Turn around!" barked Marinette.

"You turn around!" Adrien countered. "I'm going to..."

"To what? Look, don't argue, just... don't look at me for a minute!"

"Fine! We'll BOTH turn around!"

They went back-to-back, neither sure why the other felt such urgency about that.

"Close your eyes, and keep them closed!" called Adrien.

"I was just going to... yeah, you do that, too!"

"If we both close our eyes, what's that going to... oh, whatever!"

Adrien stole a quick peek, making sure that Marinette was indeed facing away. "Claws out!' he hissed, as quietly as he could manage.

The transformation whoosh sounded slightly louder than usual, but he chalked that up to adrenaline.

Okay! I need to move fast, Chat reasoned. I can grab the bedsheet off the bed - I hope it hasn't spread to the fitted sheet underneath, if it has, I'll have to grab that too. I'll Cataclysm the sheets - that should take care of the fire, too - if it doesn't, I can try to smother it - I'm far more fireproof as Chat than as Adrien -

A low voice behind him said two words that made his brain explode.

"...Lucky Charm!"


"...WHAT?" Chat exclaimed.

Despite Marinette's verbal warnings, he whirled around where he stood.

Evidently, his voice as Chat Noir was extremely familiar to Marinette... because she'd spun around, too.

Except that it wasn't Marinette... it was Ladybug.

Her face echoed his, bearing expressions of complete astonishment, even as the red-and-black fire extinguisher she'd just summoned fell through her outstretched hands and smacked the ground with a loud CLANG!


All was still for several seconds.

"I... I can't believe it," mumbled Ladybug. "It... how can this be you?"

"This could only be you," Chat gasped.

"Adrien? Of course you're Adrien," breathed Ladybug. "How can I have been so blind all this time?"

"Just like I was," he agreed. "I fell in love with you twice. I didn't know it, but I did."

"And I fell... oh, I was such a... Chat, I'm so sorry, if I'd only known... I've loved you all along."

"I kind of got that idea, the night you kissed me on your balcony," he grinned.

"This is... this is insane," she mouthed, stepping into his embrace, "but it's so perfect. You're perfect! This is how everything was always meant to be..."

Wordlessly, he hugged her tightly, feeling her clasping him with equal emotion cascading through her.

She's so right, Chat thought. This is perfect. This is everything I've ever dreamed of... everything I could ever want.

An aroma made his nose wrinkle slightly.

Well... almost everything.


"Hey, um... Ladybug?" he ventured.

"Yes?" she whispered in his ear, not letting go for an instant.

"...The fire?"

He nudged the fire extinguisher with his foot, making it bump up against hers.

"...OH! Oh, yeah! The fire. Sorry."


~fin~