Cinnamon and Vanilla

Chapter 11

Adrien padded his way quietly into Marinette's room. He knew it was still kind of early, but he really didn't want to stay away from her longer than he had to. He thought Marinette's parents might not have been too thrilled at him suddenly appearing on their doorstep the way he did, but they ushered him in happily, Sabine suggesting he go on up and wake Marinette himself. Standing now in the middle of her room, he wondered whether this had been such a good idea, after all she wasn't expecting him and might freak out. No, he decided, she was definitely going to freak out, and as cute as her freak outs were, he didn't intend on doing it on purpose.

"Well go on, hurry up. Wake your sleeping beauty so we can have breakfast and you can get me those gooey cheese balls you promised." Plagg whined from Adrien's shirt.

"Shush, you'll wake her up." Adrien scowled, but Plagg just grinned mischievously.

"Isn't that the idea Romeo?" Adrien groaned.

"For me to wake her up, not you." He whispered back at him. "That's not exactly how I'd like her to find out about you."

Making his way up to the loft, Adrien crouched down on the floor beside Marinette's bed. She was sleeping so peacefully, he hated having to wake her up. Marinette had a soft smile on her face and Adrien wondered what she must have been dreaming about.

He wanted so much just to lean in and kiss her on those soft pink lips, but he didn't dare. He was afraid still of losing what they had, what they had been building up between them. As Chat he had pushed too hard with Ladybug, and he was determined that as Adrien he wouldn't do the same with Marinette. Even if he dared to hope they were the same person, he wanted her to know that he respected her and would always follow her lead.

"Marinette." He said softly. "It's time to wake up now."

"Hmmm, my prince." She murmured, still half asleep and rolling over towards him. Adrien chuckled to himself. Was she dreaming about him he wondered.

"Well, I don't mind being the Prince if you'll be my Princess." He said, gently pushing her hair from her face. Marinette's eyes suddenly flew open and she let out a kind of squeak as she pulled her doona up to her eyes. In her flurry, she knocked the side of his head, shifting his glasses to one side. Adrien couldn't help but laugh at how adorable she was as he corrected his glasses back on his face.

"A...Adrien...I'm sorry...wha...what are you doing here?" The blonde boy got up off the floor and sat on the edge of her bed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, I just thought I'd hang out with you before school and your mum suggested I come in and wake you up." Marinette groaned and covered her head with the doona. Of course her mother would suggest that. Adrien looked away to the side and his face dropped. "That wasn't a great idea was it?" Marinette lowered the doona down and saw the dejected look on his face.

"No..." Marinette blurted a little too loud, sitting up in the bed and grabbing his arm. "It's not a bad idea at all, I just got a surprise that's all. A good surprise." She hastened to add, and his smile came back. "I didn't think you would be here so early."

"Well, I kind of couldn't sleep last night so I sat and watched the sun come up and asked if I could go to school early to see you." Marinette was surprised to say the least.

"And you're dad was okay with that. I mean with you coming here to see me." Adrien reached over and took her hand in his.

"Between you and me, I think my father liked you a lot, and you already passed the Nathalie test." Marinette tilted her head to the side.

"The Nathalie test?" Adrien nodded.

"My father trusts Nathalie's opinion. If she doesn't like someone, they don't get much of a foot in, and I know Nathalie likes you otherwise she wouldn't have let you come to that photoshoot the other week." Marinette sat back against her pillows. She knew that Gabriel's assistant had a lot of respect, but she didn't realise how important she was to Mr Agreste.