To Love Thy Enemy

Chapter Twelve - Fumble

Marinette woke reluctantly to the clanging of pots. Her eyes squeezed further shut against the soft morning light filtering through the sheer curtains, making no move to get out of bed.

In fact, with her face mashed unattractively against a pillow and her body cocooned in soft blankets, she was inclined to stay there forever.

"Is Marinette up yet?" Came a muffled voice.

"Nah, she's not a morning person," said a different voice, this one definitely female.

"Want me to wake her up?" A third voice.

"Absolutely not, we want her to like us right?" Came the female voice again. Marinette was alert enough now to recognize it as Alyas.

She groaned into her pillow, knowing that she couldn't lay in bed anymore but still not moving to get up.

"I think she's awake now," said one of the male voices dryly. Adrien.

"Marinette," Alya said in a sing-song tone, her voice becoming clearer as she crossed the threshold out of the kitchen, "if you want coffee you have to come into the kitchen."

"Uh-uh, 'm sleep'n" she mumbled into her pillow, much to the amusement of the two boys who were still in the kitchen.

"Marinette if you don't come now Adrien's gonna drink it all and then there won't be any left for you,"

"Don't be stupid Alya, Adrien hates coffee," Marnette rolled onto her side to speak clearer, cracking her eyes open.

"True," Adrien said, the barest hints of surprise evident in his tone as he came out of the kitchen in all his shirtless glory.

He leant casually against the door frame, cupping a steaming mug of what must have been tea in his hands.

Alya rolled her eyes, "I'll drink it then," She amended.

Marinette sighed in defeat, lifting her sleep-weary frame out of the mess of blankets and taking a second to yawn and scrape her hair into a manageable ponytail.

Alya grinned victoriously, grabbing her best friend by the wrist and tugging her into the kitchen and almost barrelling Adrien over in the process.

Adrien leapt out of the way just in time, pale liquid sloshing out of his cup and splattering onto his bare chest.

Nino's eyes jolted up from his phone in surprise at Adrien's aggressive hiss of pain, dampening a cloth and tossing it over.

Alya detached herself from Marinette, hurrying to clean up the spilt liquid and apologising profusely.

"Oh Adrien I'm so sorry, are you okay? I didn't mean to..."

"I'm fine Alya don't worry about it," Adrien replied, clearing still in pain and wetting another cloth to cool the red patch on his stomach.

Marinette unfroze at that, admittedly feeling a shred of concern for Adrien.

Crouching down to pick up the somehow un-broken mug, Marinette muttered her own apologies, which Adrien accepted without any fuss, still pressing cold rags into the burn.

Once the burning sensation over Adrien's abdomen had subsided and Alya had made him another cup in apology, the four made their way back into the living room.

Alya took a seat on the sofa, with Marinette on the floor by her feet and the two boys on the two armchairs.

"So how did you sleep?" Alya asked Marinette.

Marinette was about to nod tiredly when Adrien responded for her.

"Great I'd bet, from the look on your face," he smirked, fingers drumming on his phone.