Ever After - Ella Enchanted AU

Ever After - Bonus Chapter (10.5)

It was early in the morning when the partygoers and Marinette's friends decided it was time to turn in. Ivan was nice enough to find them a free room in the tavern next door to the gathering hall where most of the wedding guests had already stumbled back to once the festivities had shut down. The humans managed to tie their horses safely away from the chaos of the tavern's front door before trudging back up to the mountainous stairs to the guest rooms.

They scaled the king sized four post bed and attempted to make camp on the patchwork quilt draped across it. In order for the girls to have some semblance of privacy, Adrien had some of his men pull one of the two giant sized pillows to where it split the bed in half. On one side, Adrien and his men laid out their sleeping bags and pillows, everything set up in an orderly fashion, while Alya, Marinette and Wayzz were laid up against the giant pillow having their own kind of sleep over.

"Soooooooo," Alya drawled, eying Marinette over the rim of her glasses with a coy smile. "You gonna tell me how your night went, or am I going to have to jump to my own over exaggerated conclusions?"

Marinette giggled staring up at the ceiling, her hands interlaced on her ribcage. They had both climbed up onto their pillow border, their weight carving out a kind of nest for them to rest in. They were covered by Marinette's cloak in a kind of makeshift blanket and had taken to small talk. After much squealing and giggling about Alya's night with Nino and his band mates, they had finally come to the moment Marinette had both been terrified and thrilled about.

"You two were getting pretty cozy by the fire from what I saw."

"You saw us?" Marinette said slyly, grinning at Alya out of the corner of her eye, "And here I thought that you were too wrapped up with Nino to bother with little old me."

"Please girl, since I've met you, your life has become my new favorite soap opera." Alya rolled onto her stomach, eyes trained on her friend as she rested her chin in the palms of her hands. "Spill it."

Marinette smiled softly down at where she twisted her fingers together, still reveling in the ghostly feeling of Adrien's cheek under her fingers. The more she thought about it, the less appealing it seemed to beat around the bush with Alya. The journalist in her would sniff out her deceit in an instant. "Well, for a kiss it wasn't all that bad..."

The shriek that Alya let out was enough to prompt the clashing of armor as the men on the other side of the pillow jumped to their feet at the sudden cry.

"Marinette? Alya?" Adrien's voice called over the pillow, the concern clear in his tone. He sounded ready to send his men into the fray over what was ultimately nothing so in a split second decision, Marinette slammed a hand over Alya's mouth to stifle the never ending giggles that she had dissolved into.

"It's alright! I just, uh, told Alya a really funny joke! Nothing to worry about." Marinette called back before bracing for the onslaught of concerned knights. There was a moment's pause before Adrien replied. "Okay, well, goodnight Alya. Goodnight Marinette."

Marinette tried to stifle the butterflies that fluttered to life in her stomach when he said her name, but managed a high pitched reply, "Goodnight, Prince Adrien."

Marinette pulled her hand off of Alya's mouth, choosing to ignore the wet slick of saliva from where Alya had licked her palm in an attempt to free herself. She held up a finger to her mouth as Alya continued to giggle. "Shhh! They'll hear us!"

"Sweet Grimm!" Alya giggled, squirming were she lay out of sheer girlish delight. "I can't believe you kissed the prince!"

She let out a surprised gasp, eyes wide as she shook Marinette by the shoulders. "Don't tell me that was your first kiss."