Marinette
She yawned as she sat up, and almost instantly regretted her decision. Throbbing started in her head, and she closed her eyes, begging it to stop pounding. She forced herself down the steps, glancing at herself in the mirror. Atrocious. Her hair was a mess, her eyes were puffy and she felt gross. She stumbled into the bathroom, getting ready to shower. Last night had been a horrific event, and she was completely embarrassed. She had stumbled through the streets of paris, puked in front of some poor therapist, and Adrien, then she stripped in his car.
"Oh god."
She whispered, looking down at her shirt. She was still wearing his. He had to physically put a shirt on her, and she was acting like a total perv. She quickly stripped, taking a hot shower. It didn't help the pounding, but at least it didn't make it worse. Thankfully most of last night was a blur, but quite a bit of it wasn't. She got out and got dressed, throwing on a hoodie and a pair of sweatpants. Sure, she could take the time to get dressed, but she was exhausted. And unbelievably nauseous. She quickly brushed her teeth, eager to get that sour taste out of her mouth. Is that what regret tasted like? She sure thought so. She made her way downstairs, not even bothering to brush her hair. She found her mom in the bakery, and she stood in the doorway. What was she even supposed to say? I'm sorry?
"Hey Maman."
She said gently, and her mother turned to look at her. She expected anger, or disappointment. But she didn't see any of that.
"Morning Marinette, sleep well?"
She didn't remember sleeping. Falling asleep was barely there.
"I think so. Do we have any ibprophin?"
Her mom nodded, gesturing to the counter. There was already a bottle out, with a cup of coffee next to it.
"Thanks Maman."
She murmered, taking a couple of pills and downing it with the coffee.
"You have a guest."
"I what?"
Her mom nodded her head towards the tables, and Marinette turned to look. Adrien was slumped over in one, his face buried in his arms.
"Is he asleep?"
"Do you blame him? He had quite the workout last night."
Marinette felt her face get hot, and looked down at the ground.
"Maman... about last night. I'm so sorry."
"Marinette, I love you. Nothing you could do would ever change that. This is the first time you've ever... rebelled isn't the right word. Acted like a teenager? If that makes sense. I was worried about you, you never seemed to have any fun. And I love that you're so hardworking, but it's okay to take breaks. Just don't go crazy when you do. Okay?"
Marinette nodded, and gave her a hug. She had expected something completely different, but she'd take this over her mother being angry any day.
"Now go wake him up. He's been waiting for over an hour."
Marinette looked back over at him, her heart sinking. She didn't want to go over there. Last night was horrible. She had made him a babysitter.
"What am I supposed to say?"
Her mom handed her a plate with a few croissants on it, and nudged her forward.
"I'd start with good morning."
Marinette sighed, walking over and sitting in the chair across from him. He didn't stir, and she felt bad waking him up. He had a long night too. His had probably been a hell of alot more stressful than hers.
"Adrien?"
She gently touched his arm and he jerked, sitting up.
"Oh, hey, sorry I didn't mean to fall asleep."
She smiled softly, staring down at the plate. His coffee cup was empty, so she pushed her mug towards him.
"Thanks."
He took a sip, rubbing his eyes. His hair shone in the sunlight, and at the moment it hurt to look at.
"I went and found your phone. I charged it a little bit for you."
He dug her phone out of his pocket, setting it on the table in front of her.
"Thank you. For everything. I didn't mean to ruin your night."
She whispered, purposely keeping her voice low so her mother couldn't 'overhear'.
"You didn't ruin my night. I don't usually drink at those parties anyway, so I usually end up taking care of someone."
She nodded, but it didn't dissuade any of her guilt. She had royally screwed up.
"You uh... you said a lot of stuff last night."
"I was drunk."
She said quickly, and he looked up at her. Green eyes seemed to be her weakness as of late, because the second he made eye contact with her, she looked away.
"Yeah, but you know that saying. Drunk minds speak sober thoughts."
"I can assure you, when I'm sober, I do not feel like the ocean."
She saw him frown from the corner of her eye, but she kept her gaze out the window, even if it was painful.
"Okay. So you don't want to talk about anything you said. That fine, I get that. But what about what you did?"
She looked up at him, worry making her a bit bold. Maybe he had seen Ladybug.
"What did I do?"
"You were about six miles from the party. How did you get there?"
Something was off with that question. But what?
"You told me you jumped from building to building. Was that true?"
Oh, he was worried about her leaping from rooftop to rooftop. That was an easy fix.
"That was a joke. I walked."
He leaned back in his chair, his gaze never leaving hers, and oddly it felt like a challenge, to see who would look away first.
"You walked six miles? Alone?"
She nodded, and he started tapping the side of the coffee mug, and every tap made her head ache.
"I fact checked while I was waiting on you. I was gone from that party less than an hour. And it takes a normal person about an hour to walk around three or four miles. So I don't believe you just walked."
His tone was even and calm, but it set her nausea off. Why had he fact checked? Why was he even bringing it up? Why did it matter how she got there? This sounded like an interrogation.
"Maybe I'm just a fast walker. Drunk people end up in all kinds of places with no explanation of how they got there."
"Maybe. You do have a pretty good pace. When you're sober. Last night though, when I left you were so drunk you staggered. I had to help you get into that bed. I don't believe you walked six miles. Not in that state."
So she was screwed. Anything she said now would seem like a lie, because she had lied in the first place. She said nothing, staring him down. He didn't flinch, he barely blinked.
"So, how'd you get there Marinette? Did you jump from building to building?"
That sounded sarcastic, but he looked like he actually believed she had. She was going to be sick. But lately lies had become her specialty. She could get out of this. She just had to find the right words.
"I got a ride."
"Okay. With who?"
Someone he wouldn't be able to fact check. Someone she knew that he didn't.
"My boyfriend."
Anger flashed in his eyes, and she felt a small amount of satisfaction. He wasn't going to be able to win that one. Not without Chat's help.
"That's funny Marinette. Because when I got your phone, it rang. And can you guess what the caller ID said?"
Oh no. He couldn't have.
"You answered my phone?"
"It said kitty, and since you had been mentioning him all night, I thought it would be good to answer. Let him know you were okay and that you'd have your phone back in the morning."
Son of a bitch. Now he knew for sure she was lying.
"He said the funniest thing to me on the phone. He said he hadn't seen you all night, that you hadn't texted, or called, and that he heard you were missing. That he was out looking for you."
She was going to start puking again. Right here at the table. She didnt know what to say, and he looked out the window. Maybe it was possible to lie her way out.
"I went out to suprise him, caught a ride from a stranger, and when I got to where I thought he'd be, he wasn't there, so I started walking, and I got lost."
It was a horrible lie. She had already said too much, and there was no turning back. She couldn't dig back out of the hole she had buried herself in. So she only had one choice. Double down and hope he faltered. No one had poked holes in her stories before. Not like this. He stood up, pouring the rest of the coffee into his cup.
"You can keep your secrets Marinette. But, if this is the game you're going to play, I recommend not piling lies on top of one another. Pick a story, and stick to it. Because your boyfriend didn't call. You can check your call logs."
Her jaw dropped, and he picked up his cup, toasting her. He had lied, and she had bought it. That was supposed to be her move.
"I just wanted you to know, you're not as good at lying as you think you are. Not to me. I can see right through it."
He waved at her mother, before walking out the door. Someone knew. He knew. He could see right through her lies. How long had he been able to do that? How long had he pretended to believe her when she was lying? She stared at his empty seat, her heart pounding. She had walked right in to that one.
* * * * *
She hadn't touched her phone except to take it to her room and plug it in. How could she have been so stupid? Adrien had completely called her out on the lie, and she had helped him do it. She finally sat down and unlocked her phone, flinching at the amount of missed calls last night. Several were from Alya, some from Nino, even Chat had called, but the most, topping the list at thirty four calls, was Adrien. He must have been calling back to back trying to get her to answer it. She felt guilty lying, but what was she supposed to tell him?
"Oh yeah, I'm Ladybug and thought it would be a fantabulous idea to show up to fight an acuma drunk off my ass."
She checked the texts, and didn't even bother scrolling through them all. There was one text that called her attention though. From an unknown number. It had a location, and a time. And it said to come as Ladybug. It was scheduled for tomorrow, around ten. Thank god it wasn't today. It sounded like a trap, or maybe they were going to finally tell them what their demands were. Either way, they didn't have a choice. They would have to go. She texted Chat, she didn't want to tell him about last night, or anything else. She just wanted to talk to him.
"Hey kitty."
She curled up under the blankets, closing her eyes. She could sleep forever. Her phone pinged, and she opened it.
"Hey princess."
"Can you come for cuddles?"
She wanted to sleep next to him. Admitting she loved him last night meant something. It took away her worry. She did love him. She knew it now. And she wanted to tell him, she just didn't know when.
"It'll have to be later princess. I'm a little busy today."
"Okay. I'm gonna take a nap, so I'll talk to you then?"
She reached up and unlocked the skylight, before sinking deeper into the blankets.
"Sounds like a plan."
She smiled at the text, before shutting her phone off and closing her eyes. Maybe she'd dream about him.