Caught In A Storm

Chapter IV

The old wooden clock struck seven o'clock. The seventh sound woke Nino up. Startled, he nearly fell of his chair, but quickly recovered as he gripped the near counter. He walked up to the clock, his pupils dilating as he recognized how late it actually was.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" He nearly yelled at Adrien, who simply shrugged, not knowing what to answer. His stomach growled, but he didn't appear to register it, quickly crossing the room to look out of the window. The sky was the colour of charcoal, even at this hour, but it was winter, so it was normal.

"We have to leave. It's already dark outside and we have to continue our journey." He made his way to open the front door. The moment he opened it, an icy blow made its way into the house, nearly freezing all of them. He quickly slammed the door shut and turned around. Marinette muffled her giggles in her hand, as she saw him covered in a small layer of snow, even if he only was a second at the door.

"The snow storm hasn't stopped Nino." Adrien tapped the snow off his friend, while Marinette offered him a slice of bread.

"Yeah... I think I just figured that. But thanks", mumbled Nino.

Adrien seemed to be thinking hard and spoke up after a couple minutes.

"Well, we can't continue our trip with this weather..." He turns to Marinette. "Could we sleep in your stall tonight? I know it is a lot to ask, but..." Marinette's stunned expression worried Adrien a lot.

Did I go overboard? He looked at Nino, trying to seek for some help, but he only shrugged.

"Oh-I- umm- I could give you bl-blankets, but I think you'll fr-freeze to dea-death, if you s-stay in the s-stall...and it-it's not really com-comfortable..."

"Yeah... that wouldn't be great...", managed to joke Nino. Marinette fidgeted nervously with her hands, she appeared to be thinking about something, but was nervous to express herself.

"I-I might h-have a better i-idea... y-you could stay h-here for the nigh-t...?" Both Nino and Adrien were speechless at her proposition.

"That's really thoughtful of you, but we can't accept that.", responded Adrien. Nino rapidly turned his shoulder in order to face him. They started discussing something between the two of them. Marinette didn't hear anything, but could only tell they were arguing about something about security and duty... which she didn't understand. They separated, Nino had a triumphant smile.

"If it doesn't bother you, we would like to accept your offer." Marinette simply nodded, not trusting her voice. 

Deciding she still had time to decide where they would sleep, she went into her parents' room to take out spare blankets and pillows. She deposited them on the dining table. The two men stood a little awkwardly in the main room, not knowing how they could help since. She didn't mind the weird posture, but started to quickly make up a plan. All of their properties were in her parents' room, so it was out of the question that they would sleep there. Even if the blond appeared to be a kind person, she didn't want to test if he was going to steal anything from their family. Her room would be better suited. She had a bed and a chaise, so they could sleep separated. She didn't have anything with value, so it wouldn't be a problem to let them sleep there. She quickly left to go to her room, tried to clean it up a bit and raced back to the main room to get the blankets. As she reached for them, the blond beat her to it. She blushed bright red, as he gently moved her hands away and smiled sweetly.

"T-thank you." She stuttered.

He put the blankets on his shoulders and picked up the two pillows. She walked him to her room and pointed to her bed and chaise. Adrien simply nodded and put one pillow and one blanket on each one. She had removed her blanket and pillow beforehand and threw the blanket over the bed. Adrien stood still behind her, and tried to mimic her movements with the blanket for the chaise. He whipped around as he heard the sound of the floor squeaking, only to see Nino leaning against the doorframe.

Once they were settled in, Marinette wished them a good night and dashed away, closing the door soundlessly behind her. She let put a deep exhale once she had locked the door of her parents' bedroom behind her. She quickly changed into her cold pyjamas and jumped under her fluffy blanket. She fell asleep rapidly after she settled in a comfortable position.

While Marinette was sleeping, the two young men were engaged in a heated discussion.