"Faceless Future" Book 2 of "Secrets Unraveled" Trilogy |COMPLETED|

Chpt 22: Marinette and Adrien Discuss Her Parents and Vice Versa.

Marinette and Adrien sat cross-legged, facing each other on Marinette's bed. They had made it home before curfew and Marinette had spent the last fifteen minutes telling Adrien about what her parents had said to her after he left.

She picked up her pillow and put it in her lap, fisting her hands in the pillowcase as she waited to hear what he thought.

"Do you want me to try to talk to your parents?" asked Adrien tentatively. "I'm not sure what to say, but I would try if you want me to."

Marinette looked down at her hands. "Yes. Well, no. Not really. I can't imagine that anything you would say would change their minds." She twisted the pillowcase in frustration.

Adrien put his hands over hers to still them and comfort her. She looked up at him, a questioning expression in her eyes. "If you don't think it would do any good to talk with them, then we just need to come up with some ideas on how to go around them the next time we are both needed. Right?" said Adrien. "We've been managing to get around our parents for months. It should be easy!"

Marinette gave him a little smile. "True. I still think the double standard is really unfair, though," she said softly.

"Completely."  He suddenly remembered something.  "Oh. I was wondering, do you have any plans this Friday?" Adrien asked innocently.

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Nooo. Why do you ask?" She wondered if he were having the same date thoughts she had been having. If so, it was sometimes eerie how they thought of the same things at the same time.

"No specific reason. Just wondering." He gave her the lop-sided smile that always made her heart do funny things.

"Uh, huh. Well, should I make sure to keep Friday open for this 'no specific reason'?" she asked him casually.

"Sure. I mean if you don't have anything better to do." He grinned at her and leaned over to give her a kiss.

"Marinette! Adrien! It's getting late!" came Sabine's voice from downstairs. They pulled apart.

"I guess that's my cue to go," he said as he scooted toward the loft stairs.

Plagg zoomed up and stopped right in front of Marinette's face. Marinette laughed and gave him his nightly under-the-chin scratch. Plagg started purring.

"Come on, Casanova," said Adrien to Plagg. "Back to our room!"

"Good night, Adrien!" said Tikki as he reached the bottom of the loft stairs.

"Good night, Tikki!" he replied, giving her a little tickle as he walked by. She giggled.

Plagg flew down and settled on Adrien's shoulder. "Good night, Sugar Cube!"

Tikki stuck her tongue out at him and Plagg gave a snicker.

"You two have the weirdest relationship," said Marinette as she climbed down the stairs.

"Yeah, but it works!" said Plagg. 

"Mostly," countered Tikki.

 Adrien opened his shirt and Plagg flew in to hide until they reached their bedroom.

- - -

Tom and Sabine were getting into bed, both thinking back over what happened earlier in the night.

"I didn't like lying to Marinette," said Tom quietly, looking over at Sabine as he slid into the bed next to her.

"We weren't exactly lying," she said, adjusting her pillows so she could sit and talk. "I do think it's important for them to do things independently. They are too young to be spending all of their time only with each other. They need to make sure that they take any opportunities that are presented to meet new people and try new things. Adrien and Marinette don't have all of the same interests after all. I don't want them missing out on things that they each need to learn and experience."

"But, the way it came out seemed too . . . I don't know. Authoritarian? Is that the right word? I don't want to push them away from us. I know that the reason we did what we did tonight was for Adrien, in case he is Cat Noir and he needed to go. But, maybe we should try to talk to them both together, more casually, so we can better explain what our thinking was. And maybe a small apology is in order? Marinette looked so hurt and frustrated," said Tom sadly, Marinette's distressed face appearing in his mind.

Sabine mulled over what he said. "Alright, yes," she conceded, "we will talk with them both together to better explain what we are thinking. We will need to figure out how we are going to handle Adrien's need to suddenly leave, if that continues in the future, though. How do we encourage Marinette not to follow him?"

They both sat quietly thinking about the problem, not coming up with any ideas, until Sabine finally reached over and switched off the light.