Chapter Text
If the word “rain” could be associated with another, it would be the word “boredom”. At least, that’s what Alix believed. The holder of the dragonfly miraculous had had plans for after school, which ended up being ruined because of the rain, confining her to her home, with nothing else to do, but to watch lousy shows on television. Her parents and herolder brother were aout, and she was all alone, with one but her kwami to keep her company on that rainy afternoon. When she was younger, she always imagined how cool it would be to have the whole house, just to herself, with no one to tell her what to do. But more importantly, she imagined all the things she would do with the house just to herself. Now that she was old enough, and she could be left at home on her own, she saw that having the house to herself was no big deal. She did the exact same things she always did, when her parents and her brother were at home. The only diference was that she did not apologize to anyone for doing things differently.
She had just finished making a huge bowl of popcorn and was getting ready to wach some random movie that was on television, when she heard a thunder roaring outside.
“Whoa! That was a big one.” -Alix said.
“The storm must be on top of us.” –Daria said. –“I wouldn’t want to be caught outside right now.” -he admitted.
“Well, I would.” -Alix sighed, as she threw herself over the couch. –“I wouldn’t even mind that it’s raining. I just wanted to go out and have some fun.”
“You can still go out.” -Daria told her. –“Put a raincoat on, as well as a pair of galoches, and you’re ready to go. Go for a walk around, do some window shopping… you know, get out of here.”
“But that’s not what I wanted to do, Daria. I wanted to put on my rollerblades and just dash through the streets, until reaching the Trocadero, while doing the craziest stunts my mind could imagine, you know?” -Alix sighed, as she took a handful of popcorn from the bowl, throwing two of them to Daria, who caught them in mid-air. –“This is why I hate winter!” -she said, as she pointed out the window. –“Rain and wind always spoil my fun.”
Daria could hear the disappointment in Alix’s voice. The girl just hated to be cooped up at home. She was an outdoor girl, and to be cooped up like that, it was almost torture for her. Still, what could he do? He could not get rid of the rainor the wind. The only thing he could do, was to keep her company.
“Well, look on the bright side. It’s cold outside, while it’s warm in here. You’ve got a big bowl of popcorn, and you’ve got me to keep you company, until your parents and your brother come home in a few hours.” -Daria said, as he gently landed on her right shoulder. –“You know what we’re missing here? A big jar of pickles.”
Hearing him say that, Alix chuckled, petting him on the head.
“You’re a big glutton, you know that? One just as big as Plagg.” -Alix said, as she placed the popcorn bowl on the coffee table. –“You want me to go and get you a jar?” -she asked him.
“If you don’t mind.” -Daria told her, making her smirk.
“No, I don’t mind. I just hope you like this brand. There wasn’t a single jar of the brand you love at the store, so I bought you another.” -Alix told him, as she went to the kitchen to get the jar of pickles. She knew just how picky Daria was about the brand of pickles he loved to ear. Still, this time, he would not have another remedy, but to eat the one Alix had brought him. –“I hope they’re to your royal taste, Your Majesty.”
“Just because I do love to eat a certain brand of pickles, that’s not a reason for you to call me Your Majesty.” -Daria joked about, as Alix opened up the jar and placed it on the coffee table. –“Mmm… these smell like they were soaked in a very strong kind of vinegar. Good thing I love vinegar.” -he said, as he pulled one of the pickles from the jar, and gulped it. –“Not bad, not bad… it doesn’t have that delicious flavour the brand I like so much, but it’s not half bad. You have
“Yes, your Royal Highness.” -Alix joked, as she sat back on the couch. –“Now, let’s see what movie’s on. I hope it’s a good one, because if I can’t go out to skate or practice my parkour skills, the very least I can do is watch a good movie.” -she said, as she turned on the television.
Zapping through the channels, Alix finally found a movie that was to her linking. Still, it did not take long for her to become bored with it. She had watched it a couple of time already, and pretty much knew all the good scenes by heart. Once gain, she zapped through the channels, looking for something else to watch, but it was no use. None of the channels had a movie or a show that she was in the mood to watch.
“It’s no use… there’s nothing good on television, and I’m not in the mood to go to my bedroom do ny homework, or surf on the Internet.” -Alix sighed in frustration, as she turned off the television.
“I know this doesn’t sound like something I would suggest, but why don’t you read a book?”
“A book? Daria, do I look like someone who enjoys to read?” -Alix raised her eyebrow at her kwami.
“No. But since you’re not in the mood to do anything else, maybe doing something different, like reading a book would help out.” -Daria told her. –“And it doesn’t have to be a big book. Heck, why not read a comic book? You’ve got a ton of them, remembere?”
“You know quite well what I was in the mood to do… and the rain outside ruined everything!” -Alix shot at her kwami, in exhasperation. –“Sorry, Daria… I’m just not in a good mood, right now.” -she immediately apologized to him. She was so ticked off for not being able to go outside do what she loved the most, she was lashing out on her kwami, for no good reason. –“Maybe I should just go to bed and try to take a nap. That way time will go faster.”
“Maybe you should. A few hours of sleep might help you relax a bit.” -Daria declared.
She was about ot get up and head to her room, and the doorbell rang. Looking at the time on the living room clock, Alix knew it was too early for it to be her brother, or her parents; not to mention that they all had keys, and did not need to ring the doorbell.
“Are you expecting someone?” -Daria asked her.
“No, I’m not. And you, did you order a pizza?” -Alix asked him. If he had, it would not be the first time he did. Daria had the habit of sometimes order a pizza with nothing but pickles for toppings, and Alix would have to pay for it, without the chance of eating a single slice, due to her hatred of pickles.
“Are you kidding me?! I haven’t moved an inch for the past half-hour.” -Daria protested it. –“Besides, if I had ordered a pizza, I would’ve told you.” -he told her.
“Not the last three times, you haven’t.” -Alix shot at him. –“It’s probably some Jehova witness, or some door to door salesman. I’ll get rid of them in a minute.” -she said.
Determined to get rid of whoever was ringing at her doorbell, Alix went to answer it. Whether it was a door to door salesman, or a Jehova’s witness, it would soon find out it was losing its time with Alix, because she was not interested in whatever they had to say. Unlocking the door, she was about to tell whoever was on the other side that she was not interested, when she was taken by surprise. Standing outside, wearing a yellow raincoat and a pair of matching galoches, was her friend, teammate and occasional rival, Kim. To say she was surprised, would be saying little. She had thought of several people who could be ringing at her doorbell, but Kim was not one of them.
“Hey!” -Kim saluted her.
“H-Hi… what are you doing here?” -Alix asked him, trying not to sound very surprised.
“W-Well, I came to make a delivery near here, and well, the rain began to fall harder than before, so I remembered that you lived nearby, and I was wondering…”
“If you could stay here until this downpour stopped?” -Alix asked him.
“Well, yeah, pretty much.” -Kim admitted.
“Just get in.” -she signalled him to come in.
As he entered, the first thing he did was to take off his raincoat, which had not protected him from the rain, mostly because of the wind. Looking at him, Alix giggled to herself, because he looked like he had just come out of a car wash.
“You’re soaking wet. Didn’t you have an umbrella with you?” -Alix asked him, as he handed her the raincoat for her to hang.
“I did… but the wind decided I wasn’t worthy of it.” -Kim joked about it. –“Jeez, I didn’t realize my clothes were this wet.” -he said, as we twisted the bottom of his sweater.
“Did you bring Imp with you?” -Alix asked him, as she went to get him some towels.
“You should know I never go out without him, right little buddy?” -Kim said, as the antelope kwami poked his head from the jean’s pocket he was in.
“You betcha.” -Imp said. Unlike his holder, the antelope kwami was rather dry.
“Then, why didn’t you just transform? You could’ve transformed yourself to make the delivery faster, and gone back, without the need to get wet.” –Daria asked him.
“Would you believe it, if I told you that I completely forgot about it?” -Kim told him.
“Coming from you, I’m not exactly surprised.” -Alix declared, as she came back with a few towels, throwing one at Kim, who caught it with his left hand. –“You better dry yourself, or else you’re going to catch a cold.” -she told him. –“If you want to change, I can get you one of my brother’s shirts. I’m sure he’ll have one that’ll fit you.”
“Thanks, but I’ll be fine. My clothes aren’t as wet as they look like.” -he said.
“Just trying to save you from a nasty cold.” -Alix told him.
“I didn’t know you cared.” -Kim smirked at her.
“And I don’t. But if you get sick, who am I going to argue with, when in school?” -Alix shot at him, as a smug formed on her face. She was not going to admit it, but she deeply cared about him. She had never said it, but she considered him to be her fiercest rival, which was Alix’s slang for best friend.
“Yeah, because a knucklehead loves to pick a fight with me.” -Kim laughed.
“You’re so full of yourself, you know that?” -Alix told him.
“It takes one to know one, that’s what my mom always says.” -Kim shot at her, in a clearly mocking voice.
That went on for several minutes, with both Alix and Kim throwing insults at one another, just to see who could come up with the better comeback answers. Both Daria and Imp decided to not intervene, because they already knew that once their holders began one of those arguments of theirs, the only ones who could stop them eree their parents, or Miss Bustier, who was used to those scenes, and neither of them were around to do it. Imp, who had since gotten addicted to old cartoons, saw Kim and Alix’s relationship like the one Tom and Jerry had. They could not stand each other, but they could not live without one another either. Eventually, they both stopped arguing, and like all their other arguments, ended up laughing about it, trying to remember why the reason they were arguing in the first place.
“So, what were you doing, before I arrived?” -Kim said, as he sat on the coffee table.
“Honestly? I was going to take a nap… the rain ruined all my plans for this afternoon.” -Alix told him. –“And you? You said you came to make a delivery for your parents’ restaurant, nearby?”
“Yeah.” -Kim nodded his head.
“But I thought you guys had someone to make those deliveries.” -Alix said.
“And we do… but Philippe, he caught a cold yesterday, and stayed home today, so I had to do the deliveries myself.” -Kim said, shrugging his shoulders.
“That sucks… I guess both of our afternoons were screwed by the weather, one way, or another.” -Alix chuckled. –“If it wasn’t for this rain, I would probably be skating my way over to Trocadero, right now.”
“Yeah… but you know something? Weather never stopped you from doing anything before.” -Kim declared.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m just saying that there are other ways for you to do something insanely awesome.” -Kim told her. –“You’ve got a miraculous on you. All you have to do is say the magic words, and you could go for a spin, way above the clouds, where therte’s no rain.” -he said. –“I’m just saying…”
“No… I know what you’re going to say, and the answer is no.” -Alix stopped him right there. –“You know that we can’t use our powers for selfish reasons.”-she remembered him.
“It’s not selfish, if you consider it to be a training of sorts. And you know, that just like when it comes to rollerskating, and skateboarding, or any other sport, the more you train, the better you get… unless, of course, you suck at it.” -Kim chuckled. –“Think about it. You transform and go practice your skills. That’s not breaking the rules. Even Master Fu could not argue about that.”
Hearing the two of them talking like that, both Imp and Daria knew where that was going, and knew that it was only a matter of time, before they sprang into action. And truth be told, both kwamis were eager for some action. It had been almost two weeks, since Hawk Moth and his cronies had decided to akumatize an innocent victim and spread terror over Paris, and they both grew tired with having seen no action for what looked like an eternity.
“You know where this is going.” -Daria looked at Imp.
“Oh, I know… you better get ready, because something tells me that our break will be over, in a matter of seconds.” -Imp whispered back at him, as he rubbed his paws in anticipation.
“So, what do you say? I’ll even go against you on this one. We go from here to Disneyland Paris and back. Speed king against speed queen!” -Kim challenged her. –“Come on, I know you want to get out of here and do something crazy. I can see it in your eyes.”
“If you think I’m going to fall for one of your stupid dares, forget it.” -Alix told him. –“I’m not going outside in this rain, just so you could have a little fun… even knowing, I can beat you, with both hands tied behind my back.” -she said.
Kim knew Alix better than she knew herself. And, he knew that all he had to do was push the right buttons, for her to get mad enough to accept one of his famous dares. He could see it in her eyes that she was just waiting for the right excuse to do it, and Kim was going to give it to her.
“Okay, I was just trying to help.” -Kim said, pretending he was throwing the towel. –“And let me just point out, that was willing to catch a cold just for you.” -he said, though he did not believe he would catch a cold; not with his speed, which would allow him to sprint fast enough to remove any water that would fall on him. –“Though, to be fair, I guess you’re just afraid that I might win this race, you chicken.”
“What did you call me?!” -Alix asked him, slightly upset.
“You heard me, Alix. I called you chicken.” -Kim smirked evilly, as he mimicked a chicken’s movements with his arms.
What followed next was bizarre, to say the least. The whole thing felt like it had been scooped out from one of Marty McFly’s scenes in Back to the Future II. When she was younger, Alix was called several names, and over the years, she had learned to ignore every insult in the book, by telling herself that she was superior to all of them. But there was one kind of insult she could not, and would not tolerate, and that was to be called weak, wimp, coward or fraidy-cat… but the worst of them all, was chicken. She hated to be called that.
“Nobody calls me chicken, and gets away with it, Kim! You better than anyone else should know that!” -Alix shot at him, furious. Just from hearing him say that, it made her blood boil in anger.
“Then, prove it… chicken.” -Kim kept calling her that name.
“You… are… a dead man, Kim!” -Alix shot at him. –“I’m going to wipe that smug off your face, and then, I’m going to use it to mop up the floor with it! Daria, transforme moi!” -she shouted, as she transformed into Dragonfly.
“Now that’s more I like it!” -Kim thought to himself. –“You talk big, but is your bite nastier than your bark? Imp, transforme moi!” -he said, quickly transforming into Antelope.
“If you want a race, you got one!” -Dragonfly exclaimed, as she made her way to the window. –“I agree with the route you suggested, but I have one condition to this.”
“Name it.” -Antelope told her, as he followed her.
“You can’t jump, like you always do. You have to stick to the ground. You can jump over cars or maybe some obstacles, but that’s it. No leaping over buildings or trying one of your infamous Incredible Hulk-style jumps.” -Dragonfly said, as she slid the door open. Whsn she did this, a powerful gust of wind agitated the curtains, forcing her and Antelope to hastily exit to the balcony, where they saw the rain seemed to give no quarter, falling even harder than before.
“Fine, I can do that. But in that case, you can’t fly up in the air. You also have to stick to the ground…. Tell you what, because I’m a gentleman, I’ll let you fly, but you can’t fly any higher than 8 feet.” -Antelope smirked, as he closed the door behind him.
“You?! A gentleman?! Don’t make me laugh!” -Dragonfly shot at him, wirh a sarcastic voice. –“If you’re a gentleman, than Hawk Moth is an ice cream vendor!” -she joked, as she threw herself from the balcony. –“But you got yourself a deal! Last one is a rotten egg!”
“Hey! That’s cheating!” -Antelope yelled at her, as he too threw himself form the balcony. –“You’re fast, but I’m more agile than you are on the ground, Alix. I’m going to win this race, not only because I’m better than you, but also because if you win, you’ll never let me hear the end of it!” -he thought to himself.
As soon as they hit the ground, they sprinted through the street. Taking advantage of what they had agreed, Dragonfly was flying a few feet above the ground. She was used to flying a little higher, where there were less obstacles. But she loved a good a challenge, and flying just above the cars, or between them was a challenge right up her alley. Like every time she transformed, an iconic rock, pop or dance song would pop up inside her head, and she would start to chant it to herself. This time the song was none other than Eurythmics “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This”. She did not know why it popped up in her mind, but she suspected it was because in the previous night, she had been watching “X-Men: Apocalypse” for the umpteenth time,
“This feels great!” -Dragonfly said, as she flew between two buses, making her way towards Place de la Bastille. The faster she went, the more she realized the rain on her face felt incredibly good. –“I don’t care if I end up with a cold! Flying in the rain rocks!” -she thought to herself, as she spinned around in mid-air. She was so caught up in the moment, that she almost ran into a tree. Dodging it at the last minute, she realized that scare had -“Whoa, I better be careful. The last thing I need is a broken head.”
“You better watch where you’re going!” -Antelope said, as he jumped over her.
“I don’t need advices from you! And stop jumping like you’re a kangaroo! Antelopes don’t jump that high!” -Dragonfly point it out.
“Well, I’m a special kind of antelope… and if you want me to stop jumping around like that, then you better start flying a little lower as well!” -Antelope shot at her, always with the same smug on his face. The one he had, every time they raced agains tone another. –“You almost hit a tree, because you’re flying higher than we agreed on!”
“Well, excuse me, but keeping a certain altitude when flying for more than a couple of seconds, demands a little focus, which is something you don’t even know what it means!” -Dragonfly
“Whatever! While you’ll still be on your way to the park, I’ll be taking a couple of photos with Mickey and Minnie!” -Antelope smirked, as he sprinted out of there.
“Keep dreaming, buster!” -Dragonfly told him, as she too sprinted out of there. –“You’ll be the one to arrive there in second place! And remember, you still have to come back! So, if I were you, I would think twice, before assuming this race is already won!” -she exclaimed, as she passed him. –“Loved to stay and chat, but can’t!”
When she arrived at Agreste Manor, Marinette felt incredibly uncomfortable. It was not the first time she visited Adrien, but no matter how many times she had entered that house, she seemed to never feel comfortable in it. She did not know if it was the interior décor, which seemed so beautiful and luxurious, but at the same time, so stern and auster, devoided of love. Or if it was the fact that it looked perfectly spotless, like the homes one would see in home décor magazines. Whatever the reason was, Marinette would usually compare the interior of most of that manor to that of a graveyard… lifeless. Her parents house could easily fit whole in one of the largest divisions of that manor, but unlike it, when one entered in it, it would feel human warmth. Marinette could not see herself living in a place like that. She had told herself countless times, that wherever she would live, after leaving her parents house, she would make sure that upon entering it, a person would feel like it was welcomed in there.
Still, there was one division in that manor, which contradicted the rest of the manor’s décor style, and Marinette always felt good, when she entered it… Adrien’s bedroom. She had only entered it three times before, but the three times she had been inside it, she always felt welcomed. She did not feel like she was an intruder, which she was feeling right then, as she stood on the foyer, waiting for someone to come and greet her. While waiting, her attention was stolen by the large portrait of hanging in the wall, which depicted Adrien and his father together.
“Adrien looks so sad in that portrait.” -Marinette mused to herself. –“I hate seeing him sad. He has such a beautiful smile… he shouldn’t do anything but to smile.” -she thought.
“Good afternoon.” -a voice welcomed her, while bringing her back to reality. It was the voice of Gabriel Agreste’s secretary and assistant, Nathalie Sancoeur.
“Oh, good afternoon, Miss Sancouer.” –Marinette smiled.
“I take it you had a safe trip?” -Nathalie asked her.
“Oh, yes.” -Marinette smiled.
“Adrien is just finishing practicing the piano. You can wait in the living room, if you want to.” -Nathalie told her.
“He plays the piano?! Oh, Adrien, when will you stop surprising me? Maybe never…” -Marinette thought to herself, once more letting her thoughts about Adrien take her mind straight to cloud nine.
“Miss Dupain-Cheng? Miss Dupain-Cheng?!” –Nathalie called Marinette out.
“S-Sorry, my mind was somewhere else. And please, call me Marinette. There’s no need for any formalisms, Miss Sancoeur.” -Marinette asked her, always smiling.
“Very well, Marinette.” -Nathalie smiled. –“Follow me, please.” -she said.
While she waited in the living room for Adrien to finish his piano lesson, Marinette was asked by Nathalie if she would like a cup of tea, or maybe a glass of juice. But she told her she was fine. Excusing herself, Nathalie went back to her office, leaving Marinette by herself.
“Nathalie is very nice.” -Tikki said, as she sprouted from the inside of Marinette’s purse.
“Yes, she is. She may seem a little cold and distant from the way she dresses, but if you look into her eyes, you’ll only see sweetness and kindness in them.” -Marinette told her.
“Well, it takes a sweet and kind person to know one, they say.” -Tikki giggled, as she looked around the place. Like Marinette, she felt that the Agreste Manor interior did not look very cozy or welcoming. –“This décor gives me the creeps.”
“Me too. It’s not very welcoming.” -Marinette confided into Tikki. –“It’s not that ain’t beautiful; Adrien’s dad has great taste, but… I don’t know, if it was my home, I would have the whole place decorated differently.” -she said.
“Well, a little bit of colour would make this place a little bit cozier, that’s for sure.” -Tikki said, before changing the subject. –“Your parents were quite nice in allowing you to come and have dinner with Adrien.” -she smiled.
“Well, when the words “Adrien” and “dinner” popped out of my mouth, my mom practically game me authorization to marry him.” -Marinette giggled nervously.
“Who knows if that will happen someday?” -Tikki smiled. –“But in the meantime, just relax and enjoy the moment.” -she advised her.
“And I will, trust me.” -Marinette said. –“Did you imagine that Adrien knows how to play the piano? He never told us that.” -she smiled, as she imagined Adrien playing the piano. In her daydream, he was wearing a black tuxedo, seated in front of a white grand piano, playing one of many symphonies from the great classical composers.
“Well, he’s very talented.” -Tikki said. –“And I guess there are things he likes to keep a secret, even from his friends. Like you… excluding Alya and Adrien himself, you never told anyone else that you’re a big fan of horror movies.” -she reminded her.
“True… but, if you had a talent, wouldn’t you want others to know about it?” -Marinette asked her kwami, before rephrashing her question. –“Better yet, wouldn’t you want to share it with others?”
“Maybe he’s shy about it?” -Tikki answered her.
“Maybe…” -Marinette sighed, as she heard footsteps behind her.
“Marinette?”
“A-Adrien!” -the blue-haired girl smiled nervously. No matter how much she tried, she could never smile normally when Adrien was around; at least, not during the first couple of minutes. She did not know why, but her brain needed that time to adjust itself to the boy’s presence.
“Thanks for coming.” -Adrien smiled. Little did he know that his smile was making Marinette’s heart beat a little faster.
“Oh, it’s no big deal. Besides, it’s always nice to come and visit you.” -Marinette went on smiling, while teling herself to stop smiling like that. –“Come on, stop smiling like that! If you keep smiling like that, Adrien might think there’s something wrong, or that you’re a creep! Oh, stop it! You’re overthinkning things, Marinette! Still, you should smile differently. If you keep smiling like you are smiling right now, you’ll get a cramp.” -she thought to herself.
“Well, shall we go?” -Adrien asked her.
“S-Sure.” –Marinette said, as she got up.
“Can’t believe I actually managed to talk without suttering in front of her. If I had stuttered, she might think that I was nervous.” -Adrien thought to himself, as they headed to the stairwell. –“So, where is Tikki?” -he asked her.
“Over here!” -Tikki shouted from inside Marinette’s purse.
“I take it Plagg is up in your room?” -Marinette asked him.
“Yes, he’s not a very big fan of hearing me playing the piano.” -Adrien smiled.
“You make it sound like you’re a really lousy pianist.” -Marinette declared, giggling.
“Well, I’m not the best pianist in the world… but I can’t say I’m the worst either.” -Adrien told her, being absolutely honest about it.
“You never told anyone at school you played the piano.” -Marinette smiled. –“Why didn’t you? Wre you afraid anyone would challenge you to play for the whole school?” -she asked him, as she imagined that happening in her mind.
“To tell you the truth… it never occurred me to share it with you or the others.” -Adrien answered her. –“I manly do it because my dad thinks I should be able to play an instrument, as part of my education. Plus, he also plays it, so it serves an excuse for me to follow in his footsteps.” -he told her.
“I understand.”
“You know, it’s not that I don’t like to play the piano, but if I could choose which musical instrument I wanted to learn to play, I wouldn’t choose the piano.” -Adrien declared.
“Which one would you choose?” -Marinette asked him, curious.
“Well… the maracas.” -Adrien joked. –“Maracas? Really?! She’s going to think I’m joking with her… remember, you can’t make jokes like when you’re Chat Noir. Just be yourself, but don’t exaggerate.” -he thought to himself, trying to come up with another answer. –“Just kidding. No, if I could choose, I would probably choose either the saxphone, or maybe the violin.”
“The violin?” -Marinette asked, surprised. –“That’s not an easy instrument. I know, I took a few lessons when I was little, but after three weeks, I realized I didn’t have the talent for it.” -she admitted, as she remembered the first time, she tried to play the violin, and nearly broke one of her teacher’s eardrums. –“It was a disaster, to say the least.”
“Well, we can’t all excel at everything. But I’m sure you found out that you had other talents.” -Adrien told her. –“After all, you’re a fantastic designer, and a wonderful superhero.” -he told her, making her blush.
“Oh, don’t say that. I’m not that good, Adrien.” -Marinette told him, as her cheeks blushed even further.
“Of course, you are. If my dad says that you’ve got talent as a designer, then you do. And he doesn’t say that to everyone. Plus, I agree with him on that matter.” -Adrien told her, making her blush even more. –“And you’re a great heroine. You saved my tail a couple of times already. But, do you know who plays the violin really well?” -he asked her.
“No, who?” -Marinette asked, curious.
“Chloe.”
“Chloe?! Our Chloe? Chloe knows how to play the violin?!” -Marinette asked, almost speechless. The heiress had never talked about it, or showed any interest in music, other than saying which were her favourite singers and bands.
“She does. I’m probably one of the only two people in school who knows about it. The other one is Sabrina.” -Adrien said. –“She took lessons when she was 6, and she was really good. When we were younger and I went to visit her, she would put on a concert for just me and her stuffed animals, so I could tell her how great she was.” -he sighed, remembering that fond memory of his.
To say she was speechless was little. Marinette was absolutely flabbergasted by that reveal. She had no idea that Chloe possessed such a talent for music. During the years the blonde had bullied her, Marinette believed that her only two talents were bullying others and asking her dad for everything she wanted. Who would have guessed the blonde had a natural talent for music?
“This just proves that I really don’t know Chloe at all.” -Marinette told herself. –“I had no idea.” -she said.
Entering Adrien’s room, they immediately smelled the cheese that Plagg had stolen form the pantry. The foul aroma was incredibly strong, and the first one to speak about it, was none other than Tikki, who jumped out of Marinette’s purse, to complain about the smell.
“Plagg, how can you eat something so smelly?!” -the ladybug kwami asked him.
“Smelly? For your information this is the most delicious Camembert I’ve tasted in the past couple of weeks.” -Plagg said, as he ate another chunk of it. –“If there’s a cheese that is worthy to be called “cheese of the Gods”, it’s Camembert cheese. Who would have guessed that your chef was hiding this beauty on the pantry’s tallest shelf, Adrien?”-he said, proud of himself for giving the chef the slip. –“If I knew of its existence sooner, I would’ve gone to the pantry and ate it all in a heartbeat.”
“Well, next time, eat it in the pantry, and don’t bring it up here.” -Adrien –“Can’t you see that the stench is bothering both Marinette and Tikki.”
“Oh, they don’t mind, right, Marinette?” -Plagg asked her.
“N-No, I don’t.” -Marinette lied. The truth was she agreed with Tikki on the fact that that cheese smelled incredibly bad.
“See? What did I tell you?” -Plagg said, with a smile on his face.
“Well, I do mind.” -Tikki told him. –“So, if you don’t mind, eat it all, so we can all breathe a little easier, okay?” -she asked him, knowing he was more than capable of doing it in a heartbeat.
“Alright, alright, alright, keep your spots on. I’ll take care of it in an instant.” -Plagg said, as he attacked the wheel of cheese. To everyone’s surprise, Plagg was able to eat the whole thing in just 15 seconds, without leaving a single crumb behind. –“There, all taken care of.” -he said, burping loudly. –“Pardon me.”
“You really need to work on your table manners.” -Adrien said. –“Anyways, make yourselves right at home.” -he told Marinette and Tikki. –“Mi casa es su casa.”
“I didn’t know you speak Spanish.” -Marinette said, as she sat on one of the couches.
“And I don’t. That’s the only thing I can say in Spanish… well, that and quesadillas, tacos, burritos, empanadas, tapas…” -Adrien said in a playful tone. –“You better stop, or else she’s going to think that you’re just acting like an idiot.” -he thought, not wanting to give Marinette a wrong impression of himself. –“… and that’s pretty much it. I love Spanish cuisine.”
That last part made Marinette giggle a little. Adrien had quite the sense of humour, mirroring a little bit of the humour he had, when he transformed into Chat Noir. Then, out of the blue, she realized she was not nervous about being in the same room with him, or anything. She was calm, relaxed and surprisingly enough, not hypothesizing what could wrong in that picture.
“So, what new game did you say you got from your father?” -Marinette asked Adrien, trying to change the subject.
“Oh, this one.” -Adrien showed her videogame’s case. –“I remembered you like racing games.”
“I do.” -Marinette smiled. –“He remembered! I can’t believe he actually remembered that I love this kind of videogames, especially since we only played against one another once.” -she thought to herself. –“So, you want to go one-on-one, or do you want to play in co-op, first?”
“Well, let’s go one-on-one first.” -Adrien said, as he inserted the disv into the console. –“I’ll let her win the first round.” -he thought to himself. It was not that he did not believe she could not outwit him in the game, but because he wanted her to think that she had not lost the gaming skills she had the last time. Plus, she was his guest. –“This time I won’t let you win that easily.”
“We’ll see about that.” -Marinette smiled, as she grabbed the remote. –“I’m going to let him win the first round.” -she thought to herself. She knew Adrien was a great gamer, and knew he had the skills to beat her on his own, but she figured she owed him the first victory, for inviting her. –“I’ve been practicing, you know?”