To My Dearly Detested | ✎

8 | stuck in de-nile

In just his undergarments, Adrien slowly descended into the river water, chills running up his spine when the cold met his warm skin. Marinette had already dipped her head under the water and was floating on her back beside him, her arms and legs outstretched and her eyes closed as she basked under the warm sun.

They had both stripped out of their royal garments to better clean the paint off their skin and to cool down from the rising heat. However, being in only his undergarments next to his betrothed (who was also only in her undergarments) was surely something that a man and a woman were not supposed to do until they were married.

His father would skin him alive (as would hers) if either of them were to hear about this.

Adrien avoided looking in her direction. He felt a bit uncomfortable, he had to admit. He never got this undressed unless it was with Kagami.

"I can tell you have never swam in a river before."

"Am I that obvious?" Adrien chuckled nervously as he kept his back facing her. He scrubbed at his arms, watching in relief as the paint started to wash away.

"Very. Is your father against swimming in rivers too?"

His father would surely be against him swimming in a river. It wasn't usually something a royal from his country did, not unless the king was on a journey to battle or to visit some other distant land, and a river was the only source of water to scrub himself clean.

"More like he would prefer if I drew a bath." Adrien chuckled.

"That sounds rather boring."

"At least there is warm water." Adrien shrugged, smiling to himself.

The sloshing of water behind him indicated that Marinette had ceased her peaceful floating. Adrien instantly tensed and feared that she might draw near him. He didn't dare turn around to see what she was plotting, though.

"The cold water is good for your skin." Marinette said playfully from behind him. "Soak in it more often and you might just have better skin, Your Highness."

Adrien feigned offense and gasped. "I will have you know that my skin is flawless."

"Is the mirror in your chambers cloudy?"

With a shake of his head, Adrien chuckled softly. Even facing away from her, he couldn't contain his smile. Talking to Marinette was so refreshing. In fact, he found that the more they talked and the closer they grew, the more he smiled. It felt good to smile this much again.

He continued to scrub his arms beneath the surface, preoccupied with his thoughts. He was so focused on his thoughts that he hardly realized Marinette had swam around to float in front of him. When he realized she was there, his eyes went wide and he jerked back, mortified that he was now getting a view of what she looked like in just her undergarments.

Marinette didn't seem to care though. She laughed. "I knew you were purposely avoiding eye contact. You know it is not a crime for us to look at each other while we swim, right?"

Adrien quickly raised a hand to block his eyesight. Marinette's continuous giggling had him frowning. "We are not in the appropriate attire to even be in each other's company. I am sure you can agree that this predicament is extremely inappropriate."

"Adrien, we are both still fully clothed." Marinette's voice sounded humorous.

"In our undergarments!"

Marinette's soft laughter seemed to echo around them. He found himself unable to deny the temptation to sneak a peak at her through his fingers. When their gazes clashed, Marinette was already watching him with a very amused expression.