#strangerahne

“Investigating my sock drawer,” Adrien said, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms. He was still wearing the tight athletic clothes he wore under his fencing uniform. She could still see the sweat beading along his temples, in the dip between his collarbones.

“Yes,” Marinette said, almost forgetting what they had been talking about. “For, um, suspicious. Suspicious things and such.”

“Right,” Adrien said slowly. He ran a hand through his hair, and it fell messily - like how it looked when he was Chat Noir. Marinette swallowed hard. “I guess you’ve also been investigating my hoodies for suspicious things and such?” His lips were starting to pull up into a smile.

“Of course,” Marinette said seriously, although she felt her own mouth start to quirk up at the sides, a little embarrassed. “It’s not easy work, but it is all part of a day’s work for Paris’ best superheroine. I’m sure you understand.”

He nodded sagely. “Of course. I understand completely.”

A space of silence crossed between them.

Adrien laughed first, and Marinette followed quickly after, covering her face with her hands in a terrible attempt to hide both her laughter and her red cheeks. 

“I thought you would still be at fencing,” she said, and that only seemed to make him laugh harder.

“I got out early,” he said, and he looked at her, breathless from laughter, and Marinette dragged her hands down her face. This terrible, beautiful boy. He was going to be the death of her. “You took advantage of me being in fencing practice to steal my socks?”

“Aloe-infused,” she said, finally catching her breath and shaking her head and pushing her hair out of her face. “Tell me you wouldn’t steal socks if you were deprived of such a luxury.”

Of course, she didn’t say that she was attempting to steal the socks because they were Adrien’s aloe-infused socks. Not only were they guaranteed to be soft, they would also be. Well. They’d also be Adrien’s.

“I would’ve given them to you if you asked,” he said, and they both stopped. Seemed to consider that particular statement. 

Marinette wrinkled her nose. “That seems a little weird,” she said, but her heart was beating embarrassingly fast.

“You were the one that I just caught stealing them, my lady,” he said, gesturing the vague direction of her. His cheeks were a little red. He looked a bit embarrassed. “I don’t think I’m the weirdest between us.”

She considered this. “Touché.”

They stared at each other for a moment.

Marinette fiddled with the yo-yo strapped to her hip, chewing on the inside of her cheek.

“Are you going to…?” He trailed off, gesturing to the sock drawer.

“No!” Marinette exclaimed, her cheeks flaming. “It’s weird now!”

“Now it’s weird?” he asked, his tone alight with laughter, and he was beautiful, so beautiful. She fumed.

“Shut up, chaton.”

---

So he knew about the hoodies. It was inevitable, really. 

As she stared down at the five hoodies laid out in front of her on her bedroom floor, she covered her face with her hands, flopping back onto the floor. “It’s a miracle he doesn’t hate me,” she muttered, and Tikki patted her softly on the cheek.

“He didn’t really seem to mind, did he?” she asked, and Marinette remembered the look on his face when he’d mentioned the hoodies - that slight smirk, that little glimmer in his eye. Like he knew why she’d stolen the hoodies. Bastard.

She was terribly in love with him.

“Still,” Marinette said, sitting up and dragging her hands down her face, “even I can admit I’ve gone a little overboard. I mean, we’re not even. We’re not even dating or anything.” 

That night, she dropped by the Agreste mansion, quietly leaving the hoodies, freshly washed and folded neatly in a box labeled with Adrien’s name, taped to Adrien’s window.

Five days later, Marinette pushed open the door to her balcony, stretching in the afternoon sun, and saw the exact same box resting on one of the chairs. Adrien’s name had been struck out in thick black marker; Marinette was written beneath it in Adrien’s neat penmanship.

When Marinette opened the box, she found all five hoodies inside, smelling again like Adrien’s cologne, plus three pairs of aloe-infused fuzzy socks. All three of them were Chat Noir themed.

Marinette grabbed the top hoodie on the stack, so achingly Adrien, and screamed into the soft fabric.

=

thank you so much for leaving this request!! writing this was so fun and every moment was a battle with myself to not make this super long. i stared at the ending for like 10 minutes because i wanted to write more but i knew if i wrote more i just. wouldn’t stop

Then the office split. Half went back to work, while the other half began to panic. Would Ladybug save them this time? This had to be an akuma, right? She chewed on her thumbnail as she stared out the window at the broken moon. Ladybug and Chat Noir always saved them, but she had never seen an akuma do something like this. 

She kept her calm until the water started coming. The water rose rapidly, filling the streets below as people around turned to stone. Her parents lived on the ground floor of their apartment building. Would they be okay? Oh this wasn't good. Not even Syren had been this destructive. 

Everyone was being asked to evacuate to the roof. Panic set in. Human nature could only hold out for so long when pressed against the wall of order. Some of her coworkers still refused to leave their desks. Others tried to go down the stairs to see if they could find their loved ones. 

Mia walked out onto the roof with the group of various people from the building. Normally at this point, she could at least hear parts of whatever battle was being fought. But the only noise she could hear were screams, panicked rambling, and rushing water. Occasionally, she could see someone jump in the water, but she never saw them resurface.  Eventually, an eerie silence settled. As minutes passed into hours, the water stopped rising, and others began going back inside. 

Soon she was the last one on the roof. She scanned the roof tops for the familiar black and red of their heroes. But all she could see was blue water and a lone white figure. The silence broken by a sad song as the white figure got closer. 

She fumbled through her bag for her cell. This couldn't happen. She had to be seeing things. But as he turned his head to hers, and the piercing blue gaze fell upon her she understood. It didn't matter if she had service or not. She wouldn't be able to make that phone call. The pain in those blue eyes made sure she knew that. Instead, Mia stopped and stared back. She felt the warmth of a tear fall down her face. He lowered his hand down, and there was that white light again. All she could do now was hope that she was wrong and close her eyes, as the haunting song he sang echoed through her head before her world went black 

Little kitty on a roof.