#bartnette

As a rule, Marinette didn’t make long car trips after the sun was down. There was something that always bothered her about long and almost empty highways. Not that she was scared, of course not. It was just more convenient to do the trip by daylight. And safer, too.

But Tim and Kon’s christmas party was tonight and she had been needed at the New York’s headquarters until 5pm. By that time the sun was already down and she could only take the road or miss the party. Tim would kill her if she missed the party.

She would have used Kaalki’s Miraculous, but Tikki had looked at her with that disapproving expression when she had brought the idea, and she had relented.

At least, Bart had also business in NY and proposed to carpool with her, so she was not alone. Even if she had to spend two hours confined in a car with him, fighting down her blush as he joked and laughed. His laugh was very, very pretty and it was taking all of Marinette control to keep

An hour in and she was starting to regret their close proximity. She hadn’t been able to say anything to him, not trusting herself to not stutter like her middle school self in front of Adrien, but he didn’t seem to notice, filling the silence alone. Telling her embarrassing stories about all the people they knew, and some she didn’t.

That’s when the rain started.

Marinette hated to drive under the rain.

And Bart was just here, beside her. Being all pretty, and funny, and cute, and laughing, and she couldn’t focus. And that was making driving under the rain even more difficult.

They were just out of the city limits when her car started to make really, really worrying sounds.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no,” she muttered with panic when the car slowed down.

“Something wrong?” Bart asked her with a cute little tilt of the head.

“Ah, um. Yes?” She said slowly, parking the car on the side of the road and putting on her warnings.

“I don’t have any signal,” he told her, waving his phone at her. “Do you?”

I— Um,” she muttered, taking out her phone to look. “No, I don’t.”

“Well, I think we are going to be late to the party,” he said with an attempted smile, not a very successful one. “Tim is not going to be happy.”

She hummed her agreement, avoiding his eyes. Now that she wasn’t driving anymore, it was way more difficult to ignore his presence this close to her. Why did she accept to this torture, again? Oh, yes. Because he asked her with his blinding smile, and that ‘yes’ had been out of her mouth before she even registered his proposition.

“So, wanna go to Tim and Kon’s place on foot?” He asked, looking out the window. She actually blinked in surprise, looking out. The rain was still pouring.

“Ah, uhm— I— Uh, not really, actually,” she stammered out, still avoiding his gaze. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Oh,” he mumbled, she saw his shoulder dropping in disappointment from the corner of her eyes. “Right. Do you have another idea?”

She didn’t, no. Chewing nervously her lip, she looked back at the backseat with the rearview mirror, Tikki was still sleeping but, then again, transforming in Ladybug wasn’t going to help her. Maybe she could use her yoyo to—

Her brain froze suddenly when she felt Bart’s hand on her arm.

“Hey, it’s fine, don’t worry. We can just wait a bit for the rain to stop,” he told her with a comforting smile. Marinette looked up at him, feeling the sudden need to kiss him.

“Yeah!” She exclaimed, looking around for an escape. She needed to get some distance before she did something stupid. “I’m going to try to get a signal!”

She opened her door, making Bart jerk back in surprise, before trying to get out but was stopped by her security belt. Cursing, she got it off and got out, slamming the door behind her. Only then realising that she was being drenched by the rain, and that her phone was still inside the car. Taking a deep breath, she turned back and opened the door.

“I, um, just need that,” she muttered, grabbing her phone without looking at Bart, and slamming the door again.

She walked to her trunk, deciding that now that she was out, she could place that warning triangle thing you were supposed to place when something like that happened.

She was just putting it in place when Bart got out of the car, her coat in his hand. Marinette hadn’t even noticed she wasn’t wearing it. She took it with a muttered ‘thanks’, looking somewhere around his chin.

“Did I say something to hurt you?” He asked suddenly, more serious than she ever heard him outside of the field. “Maybe I did something to offend you?”

“What?!” She exclaimed, looking up at him in surprise, not sure she heard him right above the sound of the rain. "Non! No, of course not! Why—”

“I don’t know!” He said, shrugging his arms and shoulders. “I’m just trying to understand why you don’t like me! I’m sorry if—”

“Wait, you think I don’t like you?!” She asked, so astonished she forgot about her nerves.

“You don’t,” he told her with a frown. “You don’t talk to me outside of mission, and if you do you don’t look me in the eyes. I see you with Tim or Kon or Cassie or anyone, really. You laugh with them, and you are friendly and relaxed but as soon as I come near you, you shut down.”

“And— And you think it’s because I don’t like you?” She asked with a disbelieving tone.

“Why else?” He said, passing a hand through his wet hair. “Look, I don’t know what I did but I really hope you can push past it because I think you’re great! You are funny, and strong, and cute— Not that that has anything to do with it! I’m just saying, I’m sorry for whatever I did—”

She didn’t know why she did it, but Marinette suddenly grabbed his face and kissed him. It took her less than a second to register what she was doing and letting go, taking a step back.

“Oh mon dieu, I’m so, so sorry! I—” she stopped, putting both hands on her mouth.

“You kissed me,” Bart said slowly, blinking at her.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! It’s just— You said— But it was— And then— You’re wrong,” she said suddenly, looking down at her hands. “You didn’t say anything to hurt or offend me. The problem isn’t that I don’t like you, the problem is that I like like you.”

“You like me, like me,” he said slowly, and Marinette didn’t want to see the expression on his face. “As in, ‘you would go on a date with me’ like me?”

“Um, yeah. That’s— That’s sum it up,” she said, playing nervously with her hands. “And I never was my best self with my crushes so I— I figured that if we don’t interact much, you wouldn’t hate me?”

“And it never occured to you that I could like you back?” Bart asked, something akin to amusement and relief in his tone.

“What?!” She asked, looking back up at him. Bart took a step toward her, his hand coming up to put a wet strand of her hair behind her ear before cupping her jaw.

“You’re beautiful, badass, funny, when you don’t talk to me, at least,” he added with a small, his eyes searching for something in hers. “There is nothing in you not to like, and I was heartbroken that you seemed to not like me that way. But you do.”

“I— Um, yeah. Yeah, I do,” she said softly as his face came closer to hers. She looked down at his lips. “Can I kiss you again?”

“Yes, please,” he told her with a chuckle.

And she did. It wasn’t fireworks or butterflies in her chest, but it was just as good, if not better. It felt right and warm. Like coming home.

They stayed there for a while, ignoring the rain and the world around them, losing themselves into each other.

“Oh my god, Bart,” Marinette said, jerking her head back. “You’re a speedster.”

“What?” He said, blinking the daze out of his head.

“Bart,” she repeated with realisation. “You’re a speedster!”

“Uh, yes? That’s not news?” He told her with confusion. “You’ve known that for almost two years?”

“Oh my god, Bart,” she said again, starting to feel stupid. “When you asked to go on foot, were you planning to use your vitesse?”

“Well, yes? But you—” He paused, looking down at her with a grin creeping on his face. “Mari, did you forget about my vitesse?”

“Oh mon dieu,” she muttered, hiding her face in his chest.

“You thought I planned to make you walk all the way there without super vitesse under this rain?” He asked, laughter seeping in his tone.

“Shut up,” she muttered halfheartedly, hitting him with her fist.

“That explains why you said no, at least,” he said when his laughter finally calmed down. “So, now that you remember my powers, wanna get out of here? We can call a tow truck from Kon’s place.”