Heels Over Head

Chapter Nine - "Princess Bride"

"Sorry sorry sorry!" Adrien says right after accidentally elbowing Marinette hard in the chin.

"Ow!" She says offendedly, holding her jaw with her
hand, "I mean, good counterattack, but still: OW!"

"I didn't mean to do it that hard!" He puts his fingertips under her chin and tilts her head up, inspecting for any bruising, "Are you okay?"

Marinette's face gets a little hot at how close he is to her, "Yeah, yeah I'll be fine. Just won't ever be able to talk again," She says dramatically.

"Ah, what a shame," He says sarcastically.

She slaps his hand from her face, and laughs, "I ought to elbow you in the jaw, Adrien Agreste!"

"If you can reach it," Adrien taunts.

"It's easy to, considering how low you've stooped."

"Did you... did you steal that from the Internet?"

Marinette squints her eyes at him, "No. I don't even know how to read."

He lets out a hardy laugh, "I don't know what to respond to that."

"Then don't," She playfully punches him in the arm, "Fight me."

God, what he wouldn't give to be able to hang out with Ladybug like this, "Ah, but you seem a decent fellow: I hate to kill you."

Marinette snorts a little before pretending to hold a sword in her left hand, "You seem a decent fellow: I hate to die."

"Ha!"

Adrien mimes like he's fencing before switching back to martial arts. He jabs a hand towards her stomach which she deflects with her wrist whilst trying to knee him in the arm.

He easily hooks his elbows under her leg, getting her off balance. She hops around, trying to kick her way out, but Adrien quickly gets her to the ground on her stomach and into another hold.

"You can tap out," He says simply into her ear.

"Sure," Marinette tries elbowing him in the side, "But can I tell you a secret?"

"Go for it."

"I'm not left handed."

"What?"

She gets her knees under her, loosening his grip, and flipping over onto him, getting his chest pinned perpendicularly under hers.

"That doesn't even make any sense!" He laughs.

"It's for reference purposes."

"In that case, I'm not left handed either," He squirms a little under her, but doesn't make any progress.

"Uh huh."

"You know what... you're so tiny, I can literally just pick you up," And then he does just that by wrapping his arms around her waist and sitting up so she's laying on her stomach across his lap.

"We're not in the same weight class, so that's not fair."

"Claiming it's not fair every single time I win is what's not fair, Marinette," Adrien laughs, "You have to accept defeat."

"De-feet you say?" Marinette donkey kicks her foot up towards Adrien's face, but he grabs it and gently sets it back down on the floor, both of them laughing the whole time.

"You're so gross."

"Listen, the fact that I am sweaty and exhausted is not entirely my fault."

"What I'm hearing is that you need to work on your endurance?"

"What do you think I'm doing?" She rolls closer to his chest onto her back, "Putting up with you every week tests my endurance enough."

"Ouch," Adrien feigns offense, clutching a hand to his heart, "She just goes straight for the kill, doesn't she?"

"No, this is actually me holding back," Marinette pokes him in the ribs.

Has she really been this close to him the entire time? She hardly notices when in the heat of "battle."

"Oh hey," Marinette moves off of his lap, "Your bandaid is coming off."

"Whoops, here let me—"

"You really oughta get the waterproof kind if you're going to—" She stops mid-sentence as Adrien fiddles with the bandaid to get it to stick again and she catches a flash of a very familiar shape underneath.

"If I'm going to what?" Adrien gingerly rubs his hand on his cheek to make sure the bandage stays.

Marinette doesn't respond, but simply stares at the hand over his face.

"Are you okay? You look pale all of a sudden."

She snaps out of it, trying her best to pull together some semblance of composure, "Yeah, sorry. I probably just need some water."

"Oh yeah, for sure," Adrien jumps to his feet, keeping a hand on Marinette's shoulder to make sure she's balanced, "I can just get some from your kitchen, right?"

"Yes, yeah," She chokes out, "That's perfect."

Adrien warily eyes her as he makes his way to the trap door and climbs out of sight.

  "Tikki!" Marinette whisper-yells when he's out of earshot.

  Tikki flies out from the loft, "What?"

  "I'm freaking out. Adrien has a cut really similar to the one Chat Noir got last week."

  "The butterfly one?"

  "Yes!" Marinette runs her hand over her hairline, "I only got a quick look, but I could swear it's the same."

  Tikki crosses her arms, "But you can't be sure it is unless you see it for real. Everything looks familiar if you want it to."

  The girls sighs, "I mean, maybe. I suppose I can't confirm until I see it for more than a millisecond."

  "Right. So you can either figure out a way to do that, orrr," Tikki suggests, "You could leave it alone."

  "You know that I can't do that if there's any ch—"

  The trap door opens again and Adrien climbs in, carefully holding a glass of water, "Climbing up that ladder with water in your hand is no joke. Here you go." He hands Marinette the glass, and she gratefully takes a sip from it.

  "So, what's the plan?" Adrien looks at his watch, "We still have about 30 minutes left."

  She puts her chin in her hand, thinking for a moment, "How do you feel about truth or dare?"