Accident of the Evening

Long Night

Adrien woke up to a dark room, save for the light coming from the spare room in the hall. He could make out that he was in Marinette's living room, and could see the outline of Tikki asleep in her cage. Disoriented, he pulled himself up and made his way to the light, wrapping the blanket around his shoulders as he did.

"M-Mari?" his voice was husky, thick with sleep.

"Oh, Adrien!" Marinette exclaimed, throwing a cloth over whatever she was working on; Ladybug's dress he realised too late, as she covered the last of the remaining fabric from view. "I wasn't expecting you up."

"Wh-why? How long have I been out?" he asked, confused.

"Only like an hour," she told him with a small frown. "I offered you the spare room but you insisted you weren't going to fall asleep. It was only minutes later that you were out."

"And the blanket? Was that you? Thank you," he said as he realised the fabric around his shoulders was the old handmade quilt.

"No, no, that was you. You wandered around a bit before coming out of the spare room with that. That was only like five minutes before you passed out. I decided to start moving things in here after you did that. I had a feeling," she gave an affectionate smile, like a babysitter would a small child. "The couch is awfully soft isn't it?" she added.

Adrien gave a grin before checking his phone which was still in his pocket. It was three in the morning. "Wow, it's late," he sighed. "Why are you still up?" He asked as they made their way into the kitchen, Marinette using the light from the other room so she didn't wake her bird as she got them glasses of water

Adrien smiled as he remembered earlier that evening. He had forgotten that he wasn't Chat Noir when he had tried on the outfit, and it hadn't been until Marinette had mentioned his alter ego that he remembered the truth.

It was hard for him not to tell her, despite the urge burning in him; because she knew Ladybug. It was that, however that was the reason why he kept his mouth shut. He didn't want to freak her out, and she was different around him as Chat – Adrien wasn't sure if he was ready to give that up yet.

"I'm sure they will love the outfits and appreciate all your hard work, Mari," he told her as she handed him a glass of water.

"I hope so," she replied after a moment. She then leant against the counter as she looked at him. "I'm a bit disappointed with Chat Noir's though. I was hoping to make it more cat-like. I mean, Alya said he had little clip in ears when she interviewed him, but I had this funny idea to make like a gold bell pin for his tie," she smiled. "I just don't have the time though. I've only done the basics of Ladybug's dress and if I spend more time than necessary on Chat's outfit I won't finish hers, you know?" Marinette sighed and downed her water.

"I thought you'd have more of Ladybug's dress done," Adrien said surprised. "I thought that would be the easy one."

Marinette gave a grim laugh. "You'd think, but it is so much easier to make a suit than a dress, especially when there are so many layers, I get pretty crazy," she added with a guilty smile.

"You? Crazy?" Adrien asked, seeing the slight discomfort at her words. "I don't believe you."

"Oh?" she raised an eye brow. "Alright then," she said, leaving him in the kitchen. He wondered if she was offended, but he put his glass down and followed her, finding her in her room, door wide open, waiting for him. She held a garment bag in her hand at her chest and met his eyes, a strange fire in them he had never seen before.

"Well, Adrien Agreste, as son of a designer and my idol, you ought to appreciate how much work I put into this," she said, unzipping the garment bag to reveal Nino's suit with his mask around the hanger. He felt his jaw drop as he took in the detailing, it was just as intricate as Chat's, and so very fitting for the DJ. Marinette hung it on a rack for him to see as she pulled out another garment bag and unzipped it with her back to him.