Behind The Mask ~Ladynoir Fanfiction~

Chapter 2

Marinette...

Adrien was coming to my house. MY house. My HOUSE.

He's already been here, I guess, when we were practising for the gaming competition, but that was a whole summer ago. I needed to tidy up. Fast.

'Tikki!' I called and my loyal kwami flew out of my purse.

'Yes, Marinette?!' she chirped, smiling at me.

'I need you to sit by the window - tell me if Adrien's coming,' I said quickly, stuffing all my rubbish into a black bin-bag I had taken from downstairs.

'Sure thing, Marinette!' Tikki sang and went to her position by my window.

I vacuumed. I threw away rubbish. I took down all my pictures of Adrien and hid them underneath a floorboard. I washed, hid, sweeped, folded and tidied my bedroom to the point where it looked like it came straight out a magazine. Finally, I climbed onto my window sill and attempted to open the window.

'Marinette! Adrien's here!' Tikki chimed.

I could see him, walking down the street towards my building.

'Quick, Tikki! Hide!' I hissed as I struggled to open my window.

'OW!'

A cut on my palm that I had got from my last battle with GarDemon had reopened when I slid it against the metal railing. The window was at last open and I jumped onto my floor.

'Ow...' I moaned, quickly washing the cut under an icy tap.

'Marinette! Your classmate's here!' called Maman from downstairs.

Yes, I know, Maman.

I raced down the staircase and stopped just before coliding with Adrien, who was racing up it. Typical me though lost my balance on the edge of the stair and I tumbled onto Adrien, who caught me but began tumbling himself.

'Woah!'

My cheeks flushed red and before I knew it, Adrien and I were tangled together unharmed on the floor at the foot of my parents.

'OH MY GOD, ADRIEN! I'm so sorry!' I yelped, pulling myself up and looking awkwardly at my mother.

'I-it's okay, Marinette..' muttered Adrien, who was looking with slight fear at my father, who towered over Adrien.

Papa was silent for a moment, during which Adrien turned steadily red under his gaze, before bursting into laughter.

'You kids! Always so clumsy!' he laughed and Maman joined in too.

Adrien and I chuckled nervously and when his green eyes met my blue, I felt heat rise to my cheeks.

'Sorry,' I said again as I lead him up to my bedroom. 'No worries, honestly Marinette...' he persisted and I let it drop.

'So...' I began, taking a seat at my desk. 'I guess we should brainstorm our ideas.'

'That sounds good,' Adrien said, pulling out an A3 sheet of white paper and some markers.

I stuck one sheet of paper onto my board and wrote 'Ideas' with a bubble around it.

I turned back to Adrien, who stared expectantly at me while I stared expectantly at him.

'Um...' I said.

'How about...?' Adrien trailed off, looking blankly at me.

'Hmm... I guess we could do, like, seasons? That's somewhere to start...' I muttered, writing the idea on the board.