Miraculous Team ✔️

18

Chloe gripped the handrail and tried to keep her balance.

"Yes daddy, we're okay." She had her phone pressed against her ear. "The pilot isn't akumatized anymore, and we made it to San Francisco. It's about two in the afternoon now... yeah... okay... We're on the BART train. I'm checking in to this hotel with your credit card... I dunno, we bought a lot of clothes. Sorry about that. Thank you, bye."

"Everything good?" Marinette asked as Chloe pocketed her phone.

Chloe winked in response.

"How many more stops?" Alya asked.

Adrien looked at the map. "One."

The five heroes hauled their bags with them and exited the train. After getting lost a couple of times, they made it to the hotel and had their bags taken care off. The three girls shared a room, the two boys shared another. It was comfy, the right amount of beds with a white and light brown theme. They decided to look for Ming the next day and retired into their rooms. Marinette was the last to use the shower. She took a hot one to calm her nerves. When she came out with only a towel wrapped around her to get her clothes, she jumped when she saw him.

"Hi Mari." Adrien said awkwardly from the edge of the window sill.

"Eeeeeeeeek." Marinette spluttered, "What are you doing here?"

Adrien's face started to heat up and he tore his eyes away from her body. "Uhhh... Chloe went down to try out the spa, then Alya came over to snog Nino, so I kicked myself out."

Marinette laughed a little. "They're all over each other, aren't they?"

"Yeah..." Adrien scratched the back of his neck, "Sorry... I didn't expect..."

"Oh, yeah, um." Marinette smiled uneasily and hastily grabbed her clothes, "Now if you excuse me..."

Mariette wished Tikki was here to tell her what to do when your crush was sitting outside waiting for you to come out of the shower with almost nothing to cover up with. Then Marinette caught her reflection in the mirror. Okay, girl, it's not a big deal. You can do this. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and took a deep breath.

And most importantly, don't call him "hot stuff".

Adrien thought of escaping the room before Marinette came back out. What was he thinking? He knew Marinette was in the shower. If he wanted to stay away from her, he wouldn't have stuck around her room. He also thought of searching up how not to blush on Google. Marinette opened the door and stepped out. Adrien watched her organize her stuff, then take a seat on the bed farthest from him. She unconsciously twirled her wet hair around her fingertips.

"Can- can we talk, Mari?" Adrien asked. He let his legs dangle off the window sill and ignored the little snicker that came from the cat in his shirt pocket.

Marinette looked up at him. "About... about you liking me?" She asked meekly.

"Well that, and you liking me back."

Marinette's mouth fell open. "I'm sorry, what?"

Adrien cracked a smile. "Are you denying it?"

Suddenly, all the self confidence Marinette had a minute earlier left her. Her mind went blank and all she could utter was a "Eh?"

Adrien moved from the window sill to the bed opposite hers. "I heard you and Nino talking when we on the shuttle bus." He explained, "Sorry."

"Oh." Marinette tried not to panic. "It's alright."

"No. Not just that." Adrien bit his lip, "I want to apologize for avoiding you these few days, Mari. And the fight we had when you just wanted to take a walk. I wasn't thinking properly. I should've realized how much pressure you were under."

Marinette looked away too. "I thought you were still mad at me. You left me on read when I said 'sorry'."

"I'm sorry too, really am."

"It isn't your fault, actually. I got us into this mess in the first place. This should've never happened."

"But if it didn't happen, you wouldn't know that I was Cat Noir. How do you feel about that?"

Marinette smiled a little. "It would be mean to say that I enjoyed seeing Hawkmoth terrorize innocent people in exchange for knowing your identity."

"But I would do it all again if it meant founding out that it was you under the mask." Adrien confessed shyly.

Marinette felt the insides of her stomach tingle with warmth at his sweet words. "Adrien... what we have... we can't..."

"Why?"

"At least not now." Marinette said quickly, "I want to us to get over all this first. No Hawkmoth, no danger, no risks to take."

"But life's all about risks, Mari. Isn't it?" Adrien stared at her with such intensity that Marinette felt the urge to just throw everything away and kiss him.

"Please, Adrien. I have a lot on my plate already..." Marinette whispered.

"Okay, Mari. And maybe this would take some off your plate. All this-" Adrien motioned with his arms, "this isn't your doing. You need to understand Mari, that there a an untold number of people who are alive today because of you. You've given so much to the world. You've been selfless, kind, brave. Don't blame yourself for everything. In the end, you've done everything you could've done, and let me tell you, everything you've done is truly amazing. You might think you're just a baker's daughter, but deep down there, is Ladybug, willing to fight with nothing in return. That takes a lot, Mari. You need to understand your worth."

Marinette was crying. Everything she had been holding in was flooding out. It was like his words opened a lock on her heart. Adrien wanted to hug her, but decided against it. She had made it clear that she didn't want this yet and he wanted to respect it.

"Th-thank you." Marinette's voice broke.

"Feel better?"

"Yeah." Marinette smiled at his figure, blurred with the hot tears in her eyes.

"Punderful" Adrien smirked.

Marinette wiped her eyes on the back of her hand and grinned as she grabbed the closest pillow. She threw it at Adrien. Adrien caught it and wagged his finger. Within seconds, they were in a full on pillow fight, stumbling around the room and laughing their heads off.

Plagg flew out of hiding when a pillow hit Adrian square in the chest. "Hey!"

They all laughed. Marinette felt the happiest in a while.

Suddenly, someone pounded on the door.

"I'm coming in in ten seconds." Alya shouted, "It better be PG when I open the door."

"It is!" Marinette yelled back in embarrassment, "Just come in already!"