"A Titanic reference?" Alya chuckled at Marinette's offended pout. When Alya got home from work she had found Marinette sewing furiously on her sewing machine. She then proceeded to vent to Alya about what had happened at the Real Estate, including the fact that Adrien Agreste was the competition for her building. How dare he!
"I mean, what kind of a dork does that?" Marinette huffed. "I swear he was just trying to get on my nerves."
Opening up a box of rum balls, the reporter popped on into her mouth. "Need I point out that you got the reference because you've only seen the movie like a hundred times."
Marinette glared at her, but relented when Alya offered her a rum ball. "Feeling any better now that you've had a good whine."
"Maybe a glass of good wine would help." Marinette huffed. "What does he even want with the building anyway? He's not a designer." She then sucked in a sudden breath in alarm. "What if he is a designer! What if he wants to fill it with top of the line couture that I'll never be able to compete with?"
"I don't know, girl." Alya shrugged, popping a rum ball into her mouth. "But you have to admit, going above asking price was a smooth move."
Marinette huffed again, putting another rum ball into her mouth and chewing it aggressively before putting her foot back down on the pedal. "You should have seen the smug look on his face. Ugh, he is so unbelievably annoying. Even if I tried to go above his offer, it would take too long and I'm not sure the bank would approve me for a higher loan."
"So… if it's all up to the seller now, what do you know about him?"
"Nothing." Marinette answered. She then stopped what she was doing and lifted her head to look at Alya who was giving her a knowing eye. Abandoning her project, Marinette grabbed her laptop and the two girls crashed onto the lounge and Marientte began to type.
"Okay, let me just put the address in… so the building used to be a Chinese massage and herbalist store and was owned by a Mr Wang Fu."
"Wang Fu." Alya pondered. "He sounds like some kind of Kung Fu master."
Marinette then typed again on her keyboard. "Well, there is a Wang Fu listed here at a place called Silver Lakes… looks like it's only a few hours outside of the city."
Alya was a little concerned at the sudden look of excitement on Marinette's face. "Okay… so?"
"So, I'm not losing my dream just because some bored, rich kid tried to bid above me."
With that Marinette got up and grabbed her coat from the hanger.
"Whoa, hold up girl. You're not going there now are you? The weather report said it was going to be coming down hard later and it's already dark outside. Maybe you should just wait until morning."
"I'll be fine." Marinette assured her. "If I go now I'll be back by morning." She ran over to Alya and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'm going to find this Wang Fu and save my dream."
With that she was out the door and into her car.
At first the weather seemed fine as Marinette headed outside of the city, but the further she got out into the country, the heavier the snow started to come down. Add to that her heating in the car wasn't working as well as it had been and her windscreen was beginning to frost up.
In the distance a motel sign started to become viable and as much as Marinette hated to admit it, the weather was getting the better of her and her poor old car. Reluctantly, she turned off the main highway towards the motel which thankfully still had a vacancy.
Parking her car, Marinette held her red coat over her head and ran into the reception where she was greeted by a very prim and proper gentleman. His manner and presentation reminded her of a butler.
"Hello. My name is Armand. Can I help you?" He asked.
"Yes, I'd like a room for the night please." Marinette said while searching for her purse.
"Oh, I'm sorry Miss, I just let the last room just a few minutes ago."
Luck was just not on her side at the moment. "Seriously? Not a single room?"
"I'm afraid not." He replied. "Up until an hour ago I had plenty of rooms, but the change in the weather has forced all the holiday travellers off the road."
Great, just peachy. "Is there another hotel further up?"
Armand shook his head. "I'm afraid the next motel isn't until Silver Lake. You wouldn't make it there in this weather."
The door opened and Armand perked up. "Is there something I can do for you Mr Agreste?" He asked. Marinette internally groaned and didn't even want to look around, but before she knew it Adrien was standing right next to her with a shopping bag over his arm.
"We seem to keep bumping into each other." He chuckled. Marinette just gave him a strained smile in return.
"Oh, you two know each other?" Armand asked. Marinette shook her head.
"Not really." Marinette quickly said, although Armand didn't miss the slight tinge of pink that spread across her cheeks.
"Yeah, not exactly." Adrien agreed, rubbing the back of his neck. "By the way, the room key isn't working."
"A thousand apologies Sir, I will get you another." Armand took the key and went looking for another one. "That's really too bad about you not knowing each other since you took the last available room."
"Ohhhh, no more room huh?" He smirked, clearly enjoying the situation. Marinette was starting to wish the floor would just open up and swallow her whole.
"There is." Armand pointed out. "Not a room exactly, but you do have one of the only double beds here and you two could…"
"Oh no, no, no." Marinette waved her arms about. "I'll just keep driving. It's fine."
"That's not a good idea." Armand cautioned. "That snow is getting heavier by the minute and you could have a serious accident."
"Well… then I'll sleep in my car."
By this point, even Adrien was starting to get concerned. "You'd be a popsicle by morning."
"I'd rather risk frostbite than sleep next to you."
Marinette didn't expect the almost offended look on Adrien's face. She figured he mustn't have been used to being rejected by girls. In fact she was sure he was the kind of guy to have girls falling over themselves for him. I mean, if she was being honest he wasn't exactly a bad sort. Wait a minute…
"Now be reasonable Miss." Armand pleaded. "You would only have to share a room for one night. It's a matter of life and death."
Marinette was beginning to wish she had listened to Alya.
"Okay, fine. If he agrees I'll agree." She snuck him a sideways glance.
"I'm fine with it." Adrien said, sounding surprisingly genuine.
"Let me pay half the bill though, and no funny business alright or I'll find a new use for that Nutcracker over there." She threatened, pointing over to a large, rather menacing looking Nutcracker decoration standing on the floor in the corner.
Adrien threw both his hands up in the air. "I assure you Miss Dupain-Cheng, I was raised to be a perfect gentleman."
Somehow Marinette didn't think he was lying about that. No doubt he probably attended only the most expensive schools.
Getting an extra set of towels from Armand, Adrien led the way down to their room. Opening the door, Marinette was surprised to see it was decorated for Christmas, complete with a table top tree and a wreath on the door.
Right in the centre of the room was the ominous double bed. Somehow Marinette was hoping maybe the bed was actually a King, or even a Queen, but nope, it was a double… with very little space and complete with mistletoe above the bedhead. Surely the universe was playing with her.
"It's not so bad." Adrien said, taking off his black coat and shoes. "Hopefully there are some toiletries in the bathroom because I didn't exactly bring anything with me. I um… wasn't exactly planning on staying anywhere."
"Me neither." Marinette said, gripping her purse to her chest. She couldn't help but wonder where exactly he was traveling to on a snowy night. "I guess we will just have to make the best of things." She then went to adjust the thermostat. "At least with such a small room it will be nice and warm, I'm freezing."
"Since you're next to the thermostat, would you mind turning up the cooling a little? I'm feeling a bit hot"
Of course he does, Marinette grumbled to herself. "Is that better?" She asked dryly.
"That's fine." He replied, making himself comfortable on the bed and scrolling through the tv channels. Picking the shopping bag, Adrien took out a packet of crisps and a can of Coke. He looked over to see Marinette still standing there.
"You might as well get comfortable." Adrien said. "Unless you plan on standing at the door all night."
Marinette figured he had a point. After all, she said herself they needed to make the most of it. Adrien Agreste might have been the last person she had planned on spending the night with, but it was definitely better than becoming a popsicle in her car. She just hoped he didn't snore.
Taking off her red coat, she curled up on the recliner chair that was in the corner of the room. "Could you maybe see if there is a Christmas movie on Mr Agreste?"
Adrien regarded her for a moment. "You knew who I was today, didn't you? At Mr Damocles' office."
"I admit I did recognise you after our little run in at the carpark, yes." Marinette admitted, but still keeping coy. She was hardly going to admit she had gone looking through her old magazine collections, or that she may have had a picture of 16 year old Adrien on her childhood bedroom wall.
"Well, I'm not my father, you know. So since we are sharing a room for the night, don't you think we could at least use first names?"
"Alright." She smiled as she sat down, but soon she cringed as the recliner sqeaked and creaked under her. Adrien gave her a side eye before popping another crisp into his mouth and continued to scroll the channels while Marinette spread her coat over her.
"Oh, this one is just starting." He said excitedly, pulling out a plastic container with chocolates in it.
"You can't be serious." Marinette dead panned at the TV. "This is Die Hard, not a Christmas movie."
"Yeah, it's a Christmas movie." Adrien replied.
"Uh… no it's not." Marinette retorted.
Adrien looked annoyed at her insistence. "Have you ever actually watched it?"
"No, of course not, it's an action movie and…"
"If you've never watched it then how do you know it's not a Christmas movie? They are literally playing Christmas music in the intro." Marinette was a little taken aback that he actually was looking frustrated over this. "Trust me. You might find you enjoy it if you give it a chance."
Marinette had to accept defeat. After all, he was the one hogging the remote. "Fine, but only if you share some of your snacks."
Adrien looked at the chocolates in his hand and back at her recliner. She shifted her position and it creaked loudly again.
"I'll share my snacks if you agree to sleep on the bed and not that possessed chair. That thing is going to keep both of us awake all night. Besides, you are paying half for the bed. You might as well use it."
Marinette narrowed her eyes at him. "Is this a ploy to try and get me into your bed… Adrien." She emphasised his name while pointing at the mistletoe above the bed head.
"In your dreams Princess." Adrien replied, reaching up and removing the offending plant. "Now can we both agree to act like a pair of mature adults that can share some snacks and watch a movie? You know it's not Christmas until you see Hans Gruber get thrown off Nakatomi Plaza."
Marinette hesitated for a moment, but when he made eye contact with her she felt that somehow she could trust him. Not to mention that smile made her heart rate suddenly escalate several notches. What was that about? Slowly she crawled her way out of the chair and slid under the covers, accepting the container of chocolates and a can of drink.
"You clearly came prepared." She chuckled.
"What, this? I always get a lot of snacks when I drive. I'm of the firm belief that no matter how old you are, road trip snacks should look like a nine year old has been let loose unsupervised in a convenience store with a hundred Euros."
Marinette covered her mouth but couldn't stop herself from laughing out loud. He was a total dork which was not something she had expected. Adrien for his part felt a little proud of himself that he had finally gotten her to relax a little. Not to mention she had the most adorable laugh.
Picking out one of the chocolates, Marinette took a bite and she had to hold back a moan. They were so decedent they were positively sinful, and clearly handmade. She was almost going to ask him where he bought them from, but he was completely engrossed in the movie, laughing uninhibited at whatever had just been said, his hair bun threatening to fall.
She looked away because she didn't want to get caught staring at him, but he was certainly very different to what she had imagined. Dare she say it, he seemed to actually be nice. No, no she had to remember that he was her rival… the man who was trying to steal her dream away. Tonight was just a truce out of necessity and tomorrow the race would be back on.
As the movie went on, Adrien soon heard the sound of soft snoring coming from beside him. Looking over he found Marinette passed out after having eaten half his chocolates. He pulled up the covers over her watching how peaceful she looked as she slept. She was a firecracker, that was for sure, but she had him completely intrigued. Turning off the tv, Adrien took out his hair tie and settled himself on the other side of the bed, wondering where exactly she was trying to get to at night on her own.
~~~~~
Marinette realised a little too late that neither her nor Adrien had remembered to close the curtains the night before, and now she was being greeted in the face with morning light. Squinting, she went to move before noticing she was somewhat pinned in place. Rubbing her eyes and trying to remember just where she was, she had to hold in a scream when it dawned on her that the weight holding her in place was in fact the arm of one Adrien Agreste.
He did this on purpose, she reasoned. Well it's not going to work. Turning slightly in his direction, Marinette's breath caught in her throat when she saw his wild blond locks resting over his shoulder and face. Damn, why did he have to be so good looking? Why couldn't he have just been some weird, little old man or something? Nope, you never would have shared the room, let alone a bed, with someone like that. Ugh this was too much. Wiggling her way out from under his arm, Adrien groaned from the movement that was waking him up. Marinette made a quick dash to the bathroom before he became too conscience, turning the hot water right up.
When Adrien became more awake, he could hear singing coming from the bathroom and it brought a smile to his face. Getting up he cringed a little at the off tune "Jingle Bells" Marinette was singing. Well at least she was in a good mood. He stretched his arms feeling remarkably refreshed. Funny that. Usually he didn't sleep that well in hotel rooms.
Picking up the room phone, Adrien called Armand in reception to find out what kind of breakfast options they had. He then had a look outside. The storm had subsided and the sun was out. Perfect.
"Hey, Marinette." He called through the door once the water had stopped. "I called reception and apparently there is a cafe around the back that serves breakfast."
"That's great, I'm starving." Came the reply. Moments later Marinette exited the bathroom, rubbing her damp hair with a towel. "The bathroom is all yours." She grinned, somewhat mischievously.
"Um… okay?" Adrien replied, feeling a little confused. Was he missing something?
A few minutes later, Marinette held in a laugh as a screech came from the bathroom. "The water is freezing." Adrien bellowed. Marinette had to stifle her laughter.
"Really?" She feigned ignorance. "It was fine a minute ago." With that she left the room and made her way to the cafe.
Well, if Adrien needed a way to get over the fact he had shared a bed with a pretty girl last night, a cold shower on a winter morning was one way to do it. Then again she wasn't just any pretty girl was she? She wanted his building, and he was going to make sure she wasn't going to have it.
Making his own way to the cafe, Adrien was a little surprised to walk in and find several tables blocked off with buckets sitting on them.
"Good morning Sir." The waitress greeted him, her whole expression giddy like a schoolgirl. "Please excuse the mess. Part of the roof caved in from the storm last night. We're a little tight on seating so it might be a bit of a wait."
Or not, Adrien thought. The last thing he felt like doing was waiting while Miss ditzy blonde girl fawned all over him. Adrien then grinned when he saw Marinette sitting alone at a table, pouring syrup over her pancakes. "That's okay." He smiled at the waitress with all his charm. "I can sit with the lady over there. We're old acquaintances."
"Oh really?" The waitress said, trying not to sound disappointed. "Just a minute then."
The waitress scurried over to Marinette, appologised for interrupting her, and asked if she knew the "handsome" gentleman at the door and could he share her table. Marinette looked over to see Adrien smile and wave at her like a long lost friend. That sneaky snake.
"Sure." She said, pursing her lips and glaring at him as he sat down.
"Thanks Marinette." He said, flashing her that winning grin of his before asking the waitress for a croissant and coffee. "They said it would be a long wait for a table and since you were sitting here all alone..."
"No problem." She said coolly. "It was the least I could do to repay you for sharing your room with me last night. I guess you could say we are even now. I don't owe you a thing."
"I never said you did." Adrien replied a little confused. Had he done something to offend her? Her manner had become a little strained.
Marinette hummed and nodded, not quite sure how to take his response. "So how was your shower?" She asked, taking another bite of her pancakes. Adrien could see a glint in her bluebell eyes.
"Refreshing." He quipped as his coffee and croissant were placed in front of him. "Cold water is a good way to clear the head, don't you think? Could you please pass me the butter?"
Marinette looked to where he was pointing beside her and she slid the butter bowl over to him and watched as he roughly cut open his pastry and slapped the butter inside.
"What's the hurry?" She asked him. Adrien stopped and looked at her with a shug.
"Who says I'm in a hurry?"
"Oh I don't know." Marinette pondered out loud. "You had a rushed cold shower, you were too impatient to wait for a table and now you are murdering that croissant…"
"Maybe I'm just hungry." He quipped, taking a bite and chewing with clear exaggeration. "Or maybe I just wanted to have breakfast with you." Adrien said, completely catching Marinette off guard. "Anyway, I'm just going to visit my Aunt at a place just outside of Silver Lakes."
"Silver Lakes? Really?" Marinette queried.
"Outside of Silver Lakes, yes." Adrien clarified, taking a bite out of his croissant as Marinette shoveled down more pancakes. "Nothing too exciting. What about you? What's your hurry?"
"My… my hurry?" Marinette spluttered. "I'm not in a hurry?"
"Really? Because you are practically inhaling those pancakes."
"Are you critiquing the way I eat?"
Adrien sat back in his seat and folded his arms. "And you just happened to be out driving at night all alone in a snowstorm?"
"It wasn't like that when I left!" Marinette defended. "If you really must know though I was… you know, traveling to visit a friend. A sick friend… yes because she is very sick and needed someone to check on her because… well she's…she's…"
"Sick?" Adrien finished for her, clearly not buying into her excuse.
"Yes, that's right." Marientte nodded with another mouthful of food. "Plus I was really hungry. It's not good to travel on an empty stomach, you know."
"That's why I take snacks." Adrien chuckled. A smile crept into Marinette's face.
"Yes, snacks. I should maybe do that."
"Well there's no need to hurry." Adrien mused, casually looking at his phone. "I don't think they have cleared the road yet, so it might be a while. Can you excuse me for a minute? I need to make a phone call."
Adrien slid out of the seat, making his way towards the waitress. Checking that Marinette wasn't looking, he paid the waitress for breakfast and slipped out of the back door. After clearing a few tables, the waitress went over to Marinette to collect her now empty plate.
"Thank you." Marinette smiled. "Could you bring me the bill please."
"Your bill has already been paid. Your friend paid for yours too." The waitress replied. Marinette stood up and looked around the cafe. "Where is he?" She asked through gritted teeth.
The waitress pointed towards the rear exit. "After he paid he went out that way."
Oh of all the sneaky, two faced, double crossing… Marinette gathered up her coat and ran towards the reception. Armand was standing there, a container in his hand.
"Ah, Miss Dupain-Cheng. I gather you wish to check out too?"
"Is he already gone?" She asked, although she felt she already knew the answer.
"Indeed. Only a few minutes ago. In fact he left this here for you."
Armand handed Marinette the container of leftover Chocolates which had a sticky note attached.
Thought you might need a snack for your road trip. AA
Marinette considered for a moment giving the container to Armand, but she was weak and they tasted so good. Instead, she thanked the manager, got into her car and cursed Adrien Agreste with every blissful, decadent mouthful.
