#raine.doc

Shikamaru, mid-convo: ...Yeah, it is "work." You are keeping me busy. But that's okay-- *pat p-*

Shikamaru: ...

Raine: ?

Shikamaru: Dumb question but why in the hell do you have a body temp. What is that.

She, Alya, and Nino were planning on going out to adventure around the Christmas Eve market together and watch as the Christmas lights were turned on for almost the last time. There were going to be fireworks later on as well, and Marinette especially had been almost more excited for them than anything else. She looks woefully over at her fluffy coat and self-knitted woolen hat and mittens, and then checks the time on her phone. It’s almost 7 o’clock - Alya really has cancelled almost last minute. Then, suddenly, her face sets in determination and she swoops over to pick them up. On a snowy day like this, the Christmas market, lights, and fireworks are a special opportunity that she’s not about to miss just because things haven’t quite gone as she hoped.

She quickly pulls them on and, at the last moment, swipes a small blue scarf she sewed as an extra precautionary measure - although she’s already so wrapped up that she doubts she’ll need it. Tying it loosely around her neck anyway, she practically leaps downstairs towards the back door.

Her parents are sitting together in the living room, and she hesitates and briefly considers inviting them to come with her instead of her friends. She steps into the room and is about to open her mouth when she realises that they’re curled up together on the sofa, instantly snapping it shut again. They’re fast asleep, and the television is still on and running Un conte de Noël on a very low, humming volume. She smiles softly. Mindful that her parents have had a very long, difficult week of last-minute Christmas baking orders, she decides it would be better not to wake them, and instead gently covers them with a blanket and writes them a note letting them know she’s gone out as they discussed.

She omits the part about the fact that she’s ended up going alone.

Once she’s outside in the chilly Christmas Eve air, she finds herself grateful that she decided to pick up the scarf, even if it only provides the smallest amount of extra warmth. The cold bites at her cheeks and nose and she has to speedwalk to prevent her feet from numbing, shoving her hands into her pockets. Even if it’s absolutely freezing, she still can’t help but marvel at how dazzling it looks in this quiet area of the city, the snow crunching beneath her feet and the downfalls only illuminated occasionally by orange streetlights. There aren’t any cars out; the snow has settled far too thickly. It seems to dampen all the noise around her, creating an eerie but peaceful silence as she walks.

She glances at the bright screen of her phone, feeling a twinge in her heart at the sight of her background - her and Alya, arms around each other’s shoulders, clad in winter clothes and hats from the last snowfall which was a few days ago now. You would never have guessed from Alya’s rosy cheeks and glowing grin how sick she could have fallen such a short time later.

Six minutes to seven. She needs to find a good place to observe the lights switching on, stat.

Not far from the Eiffel Tower, she finds a good watching spot beside a raised ice rink where people are still skating, laughing and shrieking as they slip around on the ice. The market stretches out beneath her, and she manages to squeeze in to find a spot next to the wall so that she can look out over the entire thing.

There are just a few minutes left until the lights are switched on now. She sighs deflatedly and leans forwards onto the wall, resting her head on her hands as she gazes out towards the Eiffel. Who was she kidding - part of what made the Christmas lights so much fun was being with her friends. The snowfall has stemmed a little now and everything is far more clear and easy to see. Whilst it’s still stunning, it’s weighted with a sadness at the absence of Alya and Nino.

One minute to seven.

Thirty seconds.

Seven.

The lights flicker on and there’s an audible gasp from the audience surrounding her. Even the skaters have stopped to gaze with wonder upon the spectacle before them. Usually, Marinette would be going the same thing, chatting excitedly about it to Alya and laughing with Nino, but this time she looks upon it with a vague indifference, wishing that she could feel more.

“Wow. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” breathes a voice from beside her.

Marinette glances over at the source of the words in surprise. She knows he’s probably talking to someone else, but it almost seemed as if he was talking directly to her; a tall boy about her age, dressed scarcely for an evening like this, with golden locks of hair and a windswept look about him. His cheeks are flushed from the chill and the excitement, and when he looks at her she’s struck immediately by his vibrant green eyes.

“I’ve never seen the lights like this before. Only from my room.”

It takes Marinette a moment to register that he’s actually talking to her, glancing about in confusion before finally stuttering out a nervous answer. “Y-yes. It is beautiful.”

He grins at her and they both look out across the scenery again, and suddenly Marinette sees it in a new light. Lights shimmer in a brilliant glittering array before her, illuminating the world and the sky and buildings in a myriad of different hues, shifting like stars reflected upon an ocean as they change colour. She sneaks another look at him. He’s entranced, and she’s almost as encaptured by him as he is by them.

“So, are you alone, too?” he asks, glancing back at her again, and she glances away quickly and looks into the distance, trying to pretend that she wasn’t just staring.

“Y-yeah. I was planning on coming with some friends, but… they got caught up with something else,” she says, shyly tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“That’s a shame. But hey, at least we’re not alone in being alone. My name’s Adrien,” he says, extending a hand out to her.

She takes it carefully and gives it a gentle shake. His hands are positively icy. “I’m Marinette. Aren’t you cold? Why don’t you have any warm clothes?”

“Oh, that,” he says, grinning slightly abashedly. “I had to make a quick getaway because my father never lets me come out to see the market, or the lights, or the fireworks display. So I didn’t really have time to grab a coat or anything.”

“Oh… I can’t have that,” Marinette says firmly, fumbling around with her mittens until she manages to pull them off. She shoves them into his hands and he grabs ahold of them in surprise, and then she removes her scarf and, seeing that his hands are full, hardly even hesitates before reaching around his neck and tying it carefully. “I have pockets to put my hands in and I don’t really need the scarf. The mittens might be a little small, but I made them to be a bit stretchy. Put them on.”

“Are you sure?” asks Adrien in bewilderment. The crowd around them is beginning to disperse, and the cold is setting in even more closely. He shivers.

“I’m sure,” says Marinette, eyeing him watchfully.

Seeing that the girl isn’t about to give up, Adrien smiles gratefully and slips on the gloves. They’re soft and warm from Marinette’s own body heat, and she’s right - they stretch to fit, even if they’re slightly snug.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” replies Marinette lightly, smiling at him. “You can keep them. Um… I’ll see you around,” she adds, turning to walk away, even though she finds herself desperately not wanting to. For that reason, she feels a rush of relief and her heart begins to race when Adrien pipes up nervously behind her.

“Wait… are you staying for the fireworks?” he asks, and she turns to see him standing in the same spot as before, with one hand stretched tentatively towards her.

“I… yes, I am,” she says, twiddling clasping her hands together in front of her and staring at them as a blush creeps into her face. “But I’m going to the market first. Would… you like to come with me?”

The boy’s face lights up and he grins widely. “I’d love that, uh… Marinette.”

“Then allow me to lead the way, Adrien.”

They begin to shuffle through the snow towards radiant the market below them together, chatting to each other and eventually laughing with each other too as they begin to talk more and more. Marinette learns that Adrien is the son of the famous fashion designer Gabriel Agreste, and that he’s never been allowed out on Christmas eve before, not even with his bodyguard - which Marinette is frankly shocked to learn that he has. She also learns that Adrien makes a lot of awful, awful puns and is practically enamoured by cats when they catch a little black one padding through the snow. Adrien bends down to attempt to gently urge it to go back home and get out of the cold, and eventually it does turn tail and slink away, leaping up onto a fence. Adrien looks triumphant and incredibly pleased with himself, but actually Marinette secretly wonders if it was just annoyance at his persistent - but adorable - pestering that drove the cat away.

She tells him how she adores fashion and designing and creating clothes, such as the mittens and scarf that she gave to him to help keep him warm. When he mentions giving them back, she insists that she can easily create more and would actually enjoy it more than anything. He just looks at her in sincere admiration, and she hopes she’s not blushing. Not many people have ever gazed at her like that before.

They eventually reach the market and are caught up in the bustle and buzz, challenging each other to find the weirdest trinket and giggling every time something new gets pointed out. Adrien has a large amount of cash on him - Marinette shouldn’t really be all that surprised after discovering who he is - and he buys her a pair of pretty little earrings shaped like baubles, despite her insistence that he doesn’t have to.

“They’re so lovely,” she says, breath collecting in front of her face in a cloud as she sighs in amazement. “I can’t believe you bought me these. You barely know me.”

Adrien shrugs. “This is the most fun I’ve had in months. It’s the least I can do to pay you back.”

“Maybe we should hang out again sometime, then,” replies Marinette with a small smile.

Laughing, Adrien nods in agreement. “We definitely should.”

Marinette certainly can’t afford as much as he can, but she buys them both a takeaway cup of rich steaming hot chocolate, topped with golden glitter, powdered marshmallows, a mountain of cream, and a dusting of chocolate powder in return. Adrien chooses toasted marshmallow flavour, and Marinette picks out vanilla. They walk along the fringes of the market and then wander into the park, cupping the drinks with their hands and sipping them slowly to savour every last drop.

“This,” says Adrien, pausing to take a drink in between, “is like, maybe the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”

Marinette giggles. “I know the owner so I’ve had it before, but their festive drinks certainly are something.”

“You know so many people!” Exclaims Adrien. “You knew about seventy percent of the stall owners we stopped at. How is that even possible?”

“When your parents run a widely renowned bakery, you get to know a lot of people.”

“Your house sounds like heaven. I wish I lived in a bakery. Although, I could be a danger to all of the food in there if I did.”

“You’ll have to come over sometime!” Marinette says, grinning up at him and raising her cup in an inviting motion towards him. “My parents wouldn’t mind at all. You seem like a really genuinely good person.”

“As do you, Marinette.”

“Here,” she says, fumbling around in her pocket and drawing out a black marker. Noticing the confused look on Adrien’s face, she says, “Hey, I’m a designer. I carry around pens in case I get sudden bursts of inspiration, but I don’t have any paper tonight… how about your cup?”

“My cup? For… for what?” asks Adrien, looking befuddled.

“My number,” says Marinette with as much confidence as she can muster, although she can feel the heat creeping into her cheeks.

“Oh! I can’t go back to my house with this cup, father will kill me. But… you can write it on my hand?”

They stop in the middle of the path, and Adrien removes one of his mittens and stretches out his hand towards her. She takes it and leads him to sit on a bench so that she can set down her hot chocolate, grasping it carefully, and her skin tingles where they come into contact as she attentively prints her number onto his skin, being extra sure not to make any mistakes.

“There,” she says finally, releasing his hand and smiling up at him as he mouths the number to himself.

“Thank you,” he says, looking up at her with an earnest fondness. “And that’s… for everything. You’ve been so kind.”

“I was actually considering going home before you called me back after the lights,” she admits. “So thank you, too. You saved my evening.”

They gaze at each other for a moment, smiling, and Adrien looks as if he’s about to say something else when a burst of light explodes with a boom! behind them and they both jolt in surprise. They glance up at the sky and then look at each other with wide eyes as another crackle of light showers through the darkness. Suddenly they dissolve into laughter as they realise they they’ve completely forgotten about the firework display whilst caught up in each other instead.

“This settles it. This is the best night I’ve ever had,” says Adrien as they sprint towards the show, lids capped tightly onto their hot chocolates and hand-in-hand so that they don’t risk losing each other as they slip through the crowd.

“I’m so glad I ended up next to you next to that ice rink,” laughs Marinette breathlessly.

“Me too.”

Once they both think they’re sufficiently close to the fireworks, they gaze up into the sky in awe as bursts of light shatter the darkness in an enrapturing surreality around them. It takes Marinette a few moments to realise that their hands and fingers are still intertwined, and she drops his as if she’s just touched a burning iron, blushing furiously. Adrien doesn’t seem to mind nor even notice, his mouth open slightly with wonder as he takes in the display.

Even with everything going on around them, she can’t seem to tear her eyes away from him.

“Hey, Adrien,” she finds herself saying, without really intending to.

“Hmm?” he says, looking down at her, and his eyes are so lighted and warm that she thinks she could melt in them.

“Do you think we could take a photo? I… want to be able to capture this moment. I could send it to you, too,” she says, her mouth dry.

“That sounds like a great idea,” he replies with a smile, and all her anxiety falls away.

They squash together and smile into Marinette’s phone camera, just in time for a stunningly beautiful firework to explode perfectly behind them in a glorious finale.

***

Marinette awakens groggily the next morning, glancing around her room and running a hand through her hair. It takes her a few moments, with aid of the bright white light streaming through her window and the sight of the snow on the streets outside, for her to realise what today is. Christmas. Christmas morning. And, last night…

Her heart begins to thump rapidly as she feels beneath her pillow for her phone, drawing it out and staring at it with wide eyes for a few moments, almost too apprehensive to switch on the screen.

When she does, she’s met with a stream of text messages from friends and family wishing her a happy Christmas. She scrolls through them slowly, growing more and more disappointed each time she reaches a new one, even though she knows it’s ridiculous and that she should be grateful.

She’s almost given up hope when a new message flashes up on the screen.

It’s from a number she doesn’t recognise.

She grins widely and opens it, fingers hovering over the keys as she reads through it over and over and over, convincing herself that it wasn’t a dream, that she isn’t still dreaming.

To: Marinette From: unknown number Merry Christmas, Marinette! -A

 Being a pirate runs in her blood, gives her adrenaline and keeps her alive. Or, maybe at times it doesn’t do the best job of keeping her alive, but she always manages to escape death even if only by the skin of her teeth. Even then it’s not only in literal terms that being a pirate keeps Marinette alive. Every breath she takes, every movement she makes, and every word she speaks is energised by the thrill and the rush of constantly living life so precariously on the edge of jeopardy and peril. When she stands at the bow of The Tikki with ocean spray stinging at her skin, electrifying her senses, with the azure blue expanse of the wild and free ocean waves stretched out before her… that’s when Marinette feels as if she can do anything.

 Even like this, the ship rocks beneath her, lulled by the rising and falling tide, and she feels powerful and free. Just because she’s not dressed up in the full attire, it doesn’t mean that she’s not still a pirate.

 She finds herself with a newfound confidence. Striding with the true dignity of a pirate captain, she makes her way to the deck of the ship, tips her hat towards Alya as a goodbye and descends over the edge towards the town.

 Chat Noir doesn’t realise that the ship has stopped moving until he hears a scuffle from outside his hiding place. He’d found a loose board in the storage room wall, and has been hiding in the small unwanted space that the wall would usually hide to make the room look more or less rectangular, only venturing out every now and again to snag a few items of food from the ship’s rapidly depleting food supply. That alone had given him enough indication that they would be pulling into port some time in the near future. He needs a disguise so he can get out of this claustrophobic, stuffy, dark little room before he convinces himself that it would be better to just give himself away; offer himself to the dogs.

 The relief the stranded captain feels when he hears some deckhands discussing the disembarkment of Captain Ladybug as they gather some supplies for breakfast is almost overwhelming. He sits curled up in the tiny room, arms wrapped around his legs with one hand bouncing up and down on top of his knee as a substitute for bouncing his leg. As soon as he’s positive the deckhands are gone, he springs into action.

 It takes him a while to get past the crew, but he’s a pirate with vast amounts of practice at being stealthy and sneaky. Soon enough he’s on his way to the town, whistling as he goes, enjoying the feeling of open air on his face and the gentle light of the rising morning sun.

 He jingles the bag of coins in his pocket, grinning at the sound that is like music to his ears. Chat Noir isn’t really in the pirating business for the money, but it’s certainly an added bonus. He loves the thrilling, dramatic, ‘romantic’ life lived by a pirate. The fact that he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, for whatever reason he likes. The idea that he could be famous for his discoveries within the vast oceans of the world. What he seeks more than anything from the map that’s in the possession of Captain Ladybug is not the treasure but the glory, the adventure, and the unexpected. His current mission is like nothing he’s ever attempted or experienced before and he’s determined to make the best of it.

 For that reason, once he’s into the heart of the town he invests in a scrappy pair of rough-fabric scratchy brown trousers that itch and irritate his legs, and a loose brown shirt of similar - but slightly less painful - material. He also blows some of his money on a small wooden comb, using a mirror in the stall to smooth his hair down and out of his eyes. He purchases a sack to put his old clothes in and resolves to hide them in the rocks outside The Tikki until he has the chance to bring them in; he loves his captain’s clothes and is not about to lose them just because he’s masquerading as a clueless crew member. He’s willing to take a risk.

 As he’s leaving the stall, a scuffle at the end of the street draws his attention. He watches as a girl with raven-black hair, tied back into a short ponytail, has her handbag seized by a particularly large man bearing a devious smile revealing ugly, yellowed, chipped teeth. He smirks at her as she grips onto her bag with sheer strength and determination and glares stonily up at him, her icy blue eyes glinting dangerously.

 “Do you want to let go of that?” she asks him, and Chat Noir inches closer. He gets the feeling that this is going to be interesting.

 “Not particularly. Give me the bag, little girl,” sneers the man. He’s acting tough, but Chat can tell that his confidence is slipping by the second. “Give it to me or something much worse is going to happen to you than getting your scrappy little bag stolen.”

 The girl jolts into action so quickly that Chat almost misses it as he blinks. She springs off her feet, arching her back as if to do a backflip, with such force that she rips the sack straight out of the thief’s hands. The contents go flying, and a small box bounces and clatters across the floor to settle by Chat’s feet. It’s popped open during its fall - it contains an expensive-looking pair of earrings. Chat glances at it but is too engrossed in watching the altercation to pick them up and run. Instead of actually backflipping, the girl launches herself back forwards from the flats of her hands to ram the man in the stomach with both of her feet. Then she does a full backflip and lands with one hand on the floor, one leg extended and one folder beneath her. Despite the fact that she’s dressed like a commoner, Chat thinks that she looks extremely cool.

 The thief stumbles back with an “oof”, doubled over and clutching his winded stomach. It reminds Chat of himself on the ship with Captain Ladybug, and suddenly he snaps out of his trance.

 He reaches down for the earrings that the girl dropped, hoping to make a quick getaway, but the girl is too quick and beats him to it - almost. Their hands close on top of the box at the same time and it takes them each a moment to register what just happened.

 Marinette looks up furiously and swats Chat’s now ungloved hand away with hers and he accepts his defeat, withdrawing to stand and look at her. She’s… pretty. He should run, but for some reason he’s drawn to her like a fly to a lamp.

 Marinette, however, stands with her hands on her hips in front of him. “What was that for? Planning to steal it and make a profit, huh?”

 Chat gapes at her, at a loss for words. She stares at him in contempt and raises one eyebrow, tapping her feet as she waits for an explanation. Eventually he gulps and chokes up an answer. “No, I swear!” A lie. “I was… I was just trying to be kind and pick the box up for you. Sorry for being misleading.”

 “Oh… really?” suddenly, Marinette feels embarrassed for making a judgement on this stranger so quickly. She looks at him carefully; a boy with sea green eyes, neatly combed blonde hair that shines like golden silk from a spinning wheel, an innocent face with an adorable awkward grin. She can feel her face growing warm as she realises that she’s staring at him, but he seems to hold her gaze. “I see. You’re being sincere. I’m sorry for accusing you so quickly.”

 She bought the bait, but Chat actually feels worse about lying to her than he knows he usually would.

 “Don’t worry about it,” he says. He kind of wants to do something to make up for lying to her face. “What are you in town for? Just the earrings?”

 “No… I’m with a ship. I got sent out on an errand to shop for some supplies. What’s your name?”

 Chat considers his options. There’s a name he has that he hasn’t used for a very long time; not since he became a pirate when he was very young. But it’s probably best not to tell this girl his captain name. He doesn’t want to give himself away to her and scare her off, especially as he’s quite infamous among sailors and sailing towns enjoy ripping him and Captain Ladybug to shreds in the press. Which is fair enough, he supposes. He also doesn’t want a rumour to begin circulating that he’s in town, for… similar reasons.

 “My name’s Adrien,” he tells her, formulating the answer as quickly as possible.

 “Marinette,” she replies with a smile. “Nice to meet you, Adrien. How about you then? What are you doing in town?”

 He panics suddenly. Now this is something he      doesn’t    have an answer for. He could say just visiting, but what if he happens to see her again and he’s doing something slightly less than decent? His tongue sticks to the top of his mouth as he answers, “I discovered that there are pirates somewhere around here. I was hoping to join their crew.”

 “Pirates?!” exclaims Marinette, shocked, but for the opposite reason that Adrien must be thinking. If there’s a rumour that pirates are around, it means that their ship has been spotted. Other crew members are out on errands, which means that if she needs to gather everyone in to leave immediately in the event of being stumbled upon by a clueless traveller, she’s in big trouble. “How did you discover that? Is it a rumour?”

 Adrien’s eyes light up and he grins. “No, I saw their ship myself!” He says excitedly, doing his best to act as if he’s never even seen a pirate before in his life. “You might think that it’s weird, but I think being a pirate sounds thrilling. So long as I spend my life the way I want to, and I’m happy, I don’t mind how much danger I put myself in.”

 She doesn’t want to argue with him. She knows how it is to be a pirate, and he has it almost spot-on. But this boy… this helpful, kind boy… wants to join her crew. Therefore, it would be Marinette who was putting his life at risk if he were to do so. She looks at him carefully and he smiles at her again. Her cheeks are dusted pink. Is she sure that she can accept herself if she does that?

 On the other hand… it would mean that she could see him again.

 “I suppose that’s a good view to have on life, but be careful,” says Marinette with, to an extent, an air of uncertainty. “Okay? I have to be on my way now, but I enjoyed talking to you. Thank you again.”

 Adrien opens his mouth to reply but she walks away as quickly as possible, keeping her head down. She needs to get back to the ship and prepare to leave before Adrien can return there and sign up for a job. She can always reject him, but remembering the way his face glowed when he talked about pirates makes her wonder if she really has the heart. She has to remind herself that he’s just a random civilian that she met on the streets. With annoyance, she firmly tells herself to forget about him and move on.

 Not long later, it’s all hands on deck on board The Tikki. Marinette is standing at the helm, yelling orders as people around her frantically run back and forth. She has one eye on the terrain around them. Luckily, Adrien hasn’t shown up yet, and she plans on departing before he gets the chance, so the crew is in a state of urgency.

 They’re about to begin moving when she spots him. He’s running towards the ship, practically sprinting but not being very successful due to the large bag slung over his shoulder. Still, he’s approaching fast, and if they don’t hurry he’ll be able to get on to the ship without much trouble at all. Marinette gasps and releases the helm, running down the stairs as quickly as possible.

 “Alya! Take the helm! We’re leaving right now,” cries Marinette, and her first mate nods and ascends the stairs without question. “Hoist the anchor! We’re pulling up the gangplank!”

 Somehow, if it were even possible, The Tikki descends into even more madness and panic than before. Crew members are yelling and everyone closest to Marinette halts their jobs to help her heave up the gangplank. Adrien is close enough now for her to hear him yelling, but not enough for her to be able to make out his exact words. His golden head bobs as he crosses the rocks and sprints across the sand, kicking it up behind him as he goes. But he’s too late, Marinette thinks with a sorrowful triumph. The gangplank is hoisted on to the deck and dropped with a booming clatter as the crew return to their more important jobs.

 Adrien splashes out into the water and disappears from her sight beneath the edge of the ship just as it begins to move.

  We’ll crush him! Shrieks Marinette’s head, and she gasps audibly and throws her head over the edge so quickly that she almost goes head over heels into the waves below. The water is deep straight off the edge of the sand, but Adrien has managed to grab ahold of the ladder that is attached to the side of the ship, used only for emergencies. He’s soaked to the bone, sopping wet and still holding the sack over one shoulder, hanging onto the ladder with just one hand and the support of his feet on the bottom rung.

 “What do you want?!” Yells Marinette, above the roar of the waves as the ship picks up speed. “You’re not part of my crew. Go home!”

 “Please, let me be a part of it! I have nothing else. I have no home. I’m begging you, let me join your crew!” Replies Adrien, sputtering through the saltwater. Begging - how unlike him.

 “I don’t even know you!” Retorts Marinette. She can see him struggling. If he falls now, he’ll be sucked under the ship’s belly and probably won’t survive. A whisper of doubt flickers through her mind. She feels uneasy about making him leave.

 “I came all this way, didn’t I?” Adrien says, clutching at straws. This voyage is his ticket to glory. To everything he could ever want. If he can’t convince her now, he’ll have to go out and find his own crew again, and by then Captain Ladybug and The Tikki will be lost.

 To his surprise, she bites her lip and screws her eyes shut as if in desperate consideration. When she opens them again, she nods and returns to her normal stern temperament. “Fine! Come on then. But if you don’t prove your worth then we’re dropping you off at the next sea town possible.”

 She turns around. One of the deckhands, Rose, passes in front of her, and she catches ahold of her arm. Rose turns and looks at her with wide blue eyes. Looking at petite angelic Rose, you wouldn’t think that she was cut out for the life of a pirate. Rose was the type of girl who proved you wrong.

 “I need you to go get a towel, stat. And get Chef Wang to prepare something hot to drink. Go, go, go!” Demands Marinette, facing Rose in the direction that she needs to go and lightly pushing her in the back.

 “Yes, Captain!” Rose squeaks, hurrying off.

 Alya watches curiously from the helm, and other crew members begin to slow to observe as Adrien climbs over the edge. The decking boards around him are immediately pooling with seawater as his sodden clothes ooze with liquid and his hair drips even more moisture down his body. He looks at Captain Ladybug gratefully but solemnly.

 “Thank you.”

 Rose emerges from below the deck with an armful of towels, giving Marinette a good excuse to turn away from Adrien and hide the blush on her face. She’s warmed by his sincerity. She’s about to tell Rose to hand Adrien the towels when she changes her mind and decides that she’d rather give them to him herself. Striding towards her comrade, she takes the towels with a quiet “thank you” and takes a deep breath, forcing her face into neutral mode as she turns back to Adrien. It’s as she does so that she notices something unusual.

 “Where’s your sack?” she asks suspiciously, raising one eyebrow at him.

 “My sack?”

 “You were carrying it before. Don’t act like you never had it,” says Marinette, and if not for the towels she would have placed her hands on her hips. The boy who wants to be a pirate. Maybe he is more of a questionable character than she’s come to think.

 Adrien frowns and looks at his sodden shoes. “Sorry, you’re right. I had to drop it in the ocean to climb up. It was only clothes, anyway. Kind of embarrassing, right?” he says, laughing awkwardly.

“Your hair is like the burning embers of my dying dreams,” he says, hardly missing a beat. “How about that?”

“Babe.”

A tense pause.

“I love it.”

“You’re welcome,” Nino says, rolling over and leaning to press a kiss to her cheek. “But we’re getting distracted. We were talking about Adrien’s crush on Ladybug.”

Adrien finally seems to have come to his senses as he crosses his arms. “Ohhh, nononono,” he says, shaking his head vigorously and glancing quickly at Marinette. “We are not discussing this right now. This is truth or dare. Marinette had her turn, so now we pick the next person. Those are the rules.”

Rolling her eyes, Alya picks up her phone. Marinette is just staring at the floor with bright pink cheeks and the faintest ghost of a smile on her face.

“Ugh, I guess flower child over here is right,” Alya groans.

“Again with the nicknames,” he mutters, picking at his pillow.

She sneaks a quick smirk at him before she continues. “You know you love it. Anyway, the app says that it’s Nino next. Truth or dare?”

“Hmmm…” Nino rolls over again, balancing his hat on his chin and tapping his cheek. “Truth. Feeling pretty lazy right now.”

Alya nods so solemnly that you would think he’d just made the decision over whether or not to hire someone for a job, or something of a similar calibre. “Good choice. Here we gooo… ah.” she laughs as the question pops up on the screen. “Well this one should be easy. It says: who in the group do you think is most attracted to you and why?”

“Well this one’s obvious,” he says with a grin. “Adrien, of course. I don’t really think it needs explaining.”

Adrien fist bumps him and he rolls off the bed to land practically on top of his best friend to hug him, crushing him beneath him. The two dissolve into laughter but then Adrien begins to choke and gasp for air.

“Nino- I love you but please get- off- I’m dying-” gasps Adrien, dramatically reaching a hand out and then letting it flop pathetically to the floor.

“Shit! Sorry, dude,” he says, rolling off again to end up near Alya, propping himself up next to her against the bed. She glares at him playfully and he pecks her on the cheek. “Don’t worry, babe, Adrien’s not gonna intrude in our relationship. He’s way more into Ladybug than he is into me, anyway, so I don’t stand a chance.”

“Shut up!” exclaims an enraged Adrien from across the room.

Marinette stares at Alya as Adrien and Nino begin to bicker between themselves with baffled wide blue eyes. Her best friend just winks back at her, smiling deviously as she turns away to call for quiet and waves her hands in the air.

“Next up is the number one dank meme himself, Adrien Agreste!”

Laughing, Adrien says, “I could actually get on board with that nickname.”

“Alright, mister, truth or dare?”

Adrien narrows his eyes and thoughtfully strokes his chin as he thinks deeply about his decision. He glances at Marinette and then, seeing her watching him so intently, flickers his eyes away again to gaze back at Alya. “I’m kind of terrified of both at this point, but I guess I’ll pick dare.”

“Nice choooice! First dare of the evening,” Alya replies, pumping one fist into the air. “Okay, your dare is… ooh, this is a good one. Good luck with this, lover boy. The first person who says a word beginning with ‘S’ after this… you have to kiss.”

“Uh.” says Adrien.

“Th-that’s way too hard! Lots of words begin with that letter!” Squeaks Marinette, leaning forward on her hands with her legs crossed. “It’ll be over as- I mean, it’ll be way too easy for… a person… to accidentally do it.”

Alya watches her for a moment and then raises one hand in front of her mouth as if to whisper conspiratorially at Nino. “Pay close attention to your words, Nino. We have to ensure that Mar is the first one to do it.”

“Got it,” Nino whispers back.

Their two friends just glare at them as if they want to rip out their windpipes and stamp on them in high heels. Alya snickers and casually slips an arm around Nino’s shoulders, using her other hand to click the phone. They both watch the screen as the next name comes up, and suddenly all attention is on Marinette.

“You next,” says Nino simply.

“Truth or dare?” adds Alya, wiggling her eyebrows again.

“U-uh… I’m gonna have to go for truth?”

“You certain about that? You don’t- never mind, what I was gonna add included a word beginning with the letter and I can’t think of a way to change it,” says Alya with a shrug.

“Yeah, go ahead,” replies Marinette, biting her lip.

Alya looks back at the screen and pouts as the question comes up. “Aw, this one’s boring. But I guess you gotta get the dud ones every now and then. Who’s your favourite celebrity?”

Something seems to dawn on her as she says it and she grins mischievously. Marinette raises one eyebrow and hesitantly begins to answer the question.

“You probably all already know this, but it’s Jagged-” she stops, and her mouth forms an o as she looks frantically back and forth between her friends. “Uh- yeah. You all already know it anyway.”

“Finish the name, Mar,” insists Alya, giving her an evil look. “You have to answer the truth or you get the penalty.”

“...What even is the penalty?” asks Adrien questioningly, tilting his head slightly.

Shrugging, Alya replies, “We never decided on one. I guess we can just make one up.”

“That’s totally unfair!” Cries Marinette, giggling. “Alya, you’re a dirty player.”

“I absolutely am not!” gasps Alya, slapping a hand on her chest and leaning backwards as she pretends to be offended. “How rude of you. I’m the fairest player on the block. The neighbours always- always, uh. Told me.”

Nino snorts. “Babe, what the hell kind of neighbourhood was that.”

She lightly digs him with her phone, her other hand rendered unusable as it’s still draped around his neck. “A great one, Nino. A great one.”

“Riiight.” he rolls his eyes.

“Well, what do you guys think? Penalty for Mari?”

“It’s not as if she technically lied. I think we should let her off this time,” Adrien suggests, and both Nino and Marinette nod in agreement (Marinette especially with eagerness) whilst Alya glowers at them one by one.

“You’re damn lucky to be able to use words beginning with that letter whenever you want,” mumbles Nino.

“You’re all a bunch of- god dammit, that letter is in that phrase twice. You’re all no fun,” mutters Alya, leaning her head deflatedly on Nino’s shoulder and scrolling through her phone. “Well, next up is me. And I pick truth. And the question is asking what I hate most about my best friend.”

Everyone’s gaze swivels back to Marinette. She raises one eyebrow at Alya. “You better be careful, or you might end up without a best friend to talk about.”

Pursing her lips, Alya’s gaze hovers on Marinette for a few minutes as she thinks about what she wants to say. After a short while, Marinette is about to tell her to hurry up when her face suddenly lights up and she lifts her phone into the air, signalling that she’s just had an idea. Actually, Mari is a little annoyed and slightly frightened that she came to a conclusion so fast.

“What I hate about my best friend is that they refuse to ask out their crush, even after being close to him for months now and it being blindingly obvious that he likes her back.”

“That’s it, I’m disowning you!” Yells Marinette, her face beet red as she throws a pillow at Alya with pure brute force, but it skims her nose and whacks Nino in the face instead.

He reaches a hand to his face and gently feels around it as he winces with a soft and slightly hurt, “Ow.”

“Oh god, oh god Nino I’m so sorry!” Yelps Marinette, waving her hands about rapidly before her face. “I didn’t mean to- WAIT. SHIT!”

“O. M. G! Marinette, you just totally blew it!” Alya cries, shrieking with laughter. “Finally I can say words that start with ‘s’ again. Jesus Christ that was difficult.”

“Shit. Sod. Spaghetti. Salmon,” says Nino, laughing at himself as he does so. “Man, it feels so good to say those words. You have no idea, Adrien.”

“Are you telling me you’ve wanted to say both spaghetti and salmon between the time that dare was set and now?” asks Adrien, grinning widely.

“I mean, no, but…”

Marinette sits vibrating in the corner with her arms wrapped around her knees. Alya glances briefly over at her and rests her chin on her fist, still with the phone inside it.

“Maybe we shouldn’t force Mari to do this,” she says softly, turning to the other two. “It seemed like fun, but kissing is a bigger deal that any of us made it out to be.”

“Yeah. It’s okay, Marinette. We don’t have to do it if you don’t want to,” nods Adrien, smiling at her kindly. The gesture just makes her duck further behind her knees.

“Dude, are you saying you do?” whispers Nino out of the corner of his mouth.

“Shut up Nino,” hisses Adrien back through gritted teeth.

Marinette slowly peers over her knees and looks between them one by one.

“I’ll do it,” she says, suddenly and firmly, still hunched over. “I-I mean, not on the lips, it didn’t specify where the kiss had to be right-”

“Are… you sure?” asks Adrien, a light dusting of pink on his cheeks.

“I’m sure.”

The room is deathly silent as he shuffles over towards Marinette, still on his knees, who seems to be rendered unable to move. It’s as if everyone, including Alya and Nino, is holding their breath in tense anticipation. Then, slowly, he reaches out towards her face and his fingertips gently brush her fringe to one side.

“Is here okay?” he asks, green eyes connecting with blue. Surprisingly, hers don’t slide away.

She nods.

And he closes his eyes and gently leans forward to press a single warm, soft kiss to her forehead.

He probably holds it for longer than he intended to or was expected to, and when he finally pulls away Marinette looks up at him with a shy smile. He smiles back, and suddenly up close he’s noticing all the similarities she shares with Ladybug. He wishes that he had seen them all along.

“That was like, possibly the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen,” says Alya from across the room, interrupting the moment, beaming. “I totally ship it.”

“You can’t ship them, they’re real people, Al,” Nino retorts, but he’s grinning too.

“Don’t say you don’t see it! They practically ship themselves anyway.”

Adrien and Marinette just turn back to look at each other, and neither of them can keep a smile off their face. He settles himself back down, next to her this time, and drags a blanket that’s been abandoned on the floor towards them, offering it to her to share.

She nods shyly and they snuggle into it, shoulder to shoulder.

Alya looks at them and grins triumphantly. “Alright, let’s see whose turn it is to give up their private life next!”

He smirks and scoots closer to her, ever so slightly, testing his boundaries, and to his surprise Ladybug doesn't immediately move away. But she doesn't lean in closer, either. "No, I wouldn't burst into flames, don't you worry your beautiful head about it. Even so, it would certainly make my day."

"Well, unfortunately, as much as I genuinely would love to go to a cute little coffee shop with you, it just isn't possible," she sighs. Chat Noir's ears droop slightly, like a wilting flower. "Come on, Chat Noir, you know that. Too many people will want to talk to us. We're followed everywhere we go."

Suddenly his ears perk up again, and she looks around at him, into his excited face. His eyes are lit up like the stars on a dark, clear night, and a grin stretches into his cheeks. "What if we went in a disguise? We'd be undercover! Like secret agents!"

Chat Noir's insides melt slightly as she laughs again, the sound ringing out across the rooftops. "You're such a dork, you know that?" Ladybug says, scratching him under the chin before she can think about what she's doing. His face grows slightly crimson as heat floods into his cheeks, but she continues without so much as a hesitation.

"What are you thinking, exactly? Sunglasses, hats? Clothes that cover our suits?"

"That's... exactly right, Bugaboo," he responds with his usual bravado, after a pause of disbelief at her uncharacteristic readiness. "Are you really up for this?"

She nods and smiles at him, sitting up straight and patting him on the shoulder. "I do feel like a mug of tea or hot chocolate right now. Maybe even a cake. Nothing's happening today, anyway."

Chat's eyes shine, and he leaps up from his seat, startling the girl sitting next to him so much that she nearly falls off the building. "Ah! Sorry, my Lady! But if we're really doing this, we should go get ready before it's too late. Meet you there!"