#it's doooone hooray

[quicksilversquared]

A Family Reunion Ch. 3

Adrien gets invited to join Marinette and her family for a Cheng family reunion in Paris. Marinette’s family is friendly and welcoming, of course- there’s no surprise there- but for some reason, they seem convinced that he’s dating his friend.

Why? Adrien has no idea. Really.

(AO3) (FF.net)

(Ch1) (Ch2)

"Adrien! Stop throwing bananas at me!"

Adrien snickered as he messed up Marinette's run once more. The Cheng family reunion's Game Day was off to a great start. He and Marinette had joined several of the younger relatives in playing Rainbow Road and after Marinette soundly beat all of them during the first round, Adrien had decided to hold her back as much as he could. If that meant unfairly targeting her instead of trying to win himself, then so be it. At least the others had a chance of winning.

"Adrien!" Marinette complained again, even as she dodged another banana on-screen.

"Just trying to even the field a little," Adrien said with a laugh. Marinette didn't sound upset, not really. She just elbowed him with a laugh, sending his cart careening, and then she took the opening to go tearing up the track, making up for lost ground quickly. Adrien didn't have a chance at catching up to her, but even the best cart steering in the world couldn't make up for the ground Marinette had lost with Adrien's sabotages. The other carts had all just crossed the finish line when Marinette came tearing up the track.

"Rude," Marinette grumbled, sticking her tongue out at Adrien. Still, everyone in the room could tell that she wasn't really upset. From where they sat over at the table nearby, Sabine and Tom could both see the small smile on her face. They both watched in amusement as Adrien repeated the tactic on their next round, which had the result of Marinette elbowing him more and more often as she tried to get far enough past him to avoid his blocking attempts. Adrien was doing this best to steer despite the jostling that he was getting.

"They are cute," one of Sabine's aunts said quietly with a laugh. "Are they always like this?"

"No, this is very recent." Sabine watched her daughter giggling as she and Adrien came in last again. Adrien looked just as amused, not at all bothered by the elbows he had gotten to the ribs. "Marinette could barely talk to Adrien earlier this year. It took them being thrown together several times before they got comfortable. I think hanging out together all day on yesterday and the day before really made a lot of progress."

It had been pretty spectacular to watch, actually. Sabine had guessed that a lot of her daughter's nerves before came from the fact that she had been trying to ask Adrien out rather than simply interact with him, and it seemed that she was right. Why, only the previous night, Adrien and Marinette had shared their meals with each other, eating off of each other's plates with barely a blush in sight. There had even been a bit of low-key fork fencing as they jokingly fought for the last bites of each dish.

Perhaps it was a little too early to design a croquembouche tower for their wedding, but Sabine was pretty certain that that was what she had spotted her husband sketching on a napkin the previous evening.

"From looking at them right now, you would think that they've at least been friends forever," another aunt commented. "And it was the same last night. But yes, I can tell that they were not as comfortable with each other at the picnic as they are now. They'll be dating by the end of the week, don't you agree?"

There were some murmurs of agreement from around the table. Beside Sabine, Tom looked puzzled. He could no doubt understand Adrien and Marinette's names (Sabine thanked any higher powers that might exist that the music from the video game was loud enough for Adrien and Marinette not to hear) but the rest of the conversation was a mystery to him. She would just have to fill him in later.

Five rounds later Adrien dragged Marinette away from the video games, clearly in hopes that she might be less competitive with a board game. Sabine muffled a snort. She was fairly certain that Marinette didn't do less competitive. She could lose and still have fun- Tom and Sabine had raised her too well for Marinette not to be gracious about losing- but Marinette did not often lose.

...it was possible that a family reunion game day wasn't the best idea ever. Sure, it didn't require a whole lot of conversation, but it was possible that people might not want to lose to Marinette over and over. At least Adrien was willing to act as a bit of a buffer to distract Marinette. They were a good match for each other, their personalities balancing each other out. Complimentary instead of opposites, which meant that they got along fabulously now that Marinette wasn't stuttering.

If they weren't dating by the end of the summer, then Sabine would be very surprised.

There was a squeal from the group on the floor, and Sabine looked over to see the plastic mechanism of their Mousetrap game clattering down. One of the cousins was groaning, and another looked quite smug.

Clearly board games had been a good choice.

"I had to keep Lui from filling her entire suitcase with her favorite games," Zhang Jie told them with a laugh. "She had left no space for her own clothes! And then she tried slipping some of the games in my suitcase. I had to explain that you would have games here that she could play."

"But now she wants you guys to come visit soon so she can show off all of her games," Wang Jie added. "You three and 'Marinette's boyfriend'."

Sabine couldn't help making a face. "I don't know if Adrien's father would let him leave the country with us. He's quite protective." Too protective, in her opinion- Adrien seemed quite a capable, responsible boy- but she supposed that she had to take into account the fact that his mother had gone missing in the past year. "But I'd love for us to be able to come and visit again at some point. It's been too long."

"Well, just tell him that Adrien will be in good hands, then," Lu Lin insisted, and Sabine held back a groan. She had been hoping that her aunt wouldn't get involved at all. While Lu Lin meant well, she sometimes didn't quite manage to step back and really listen to others. "Just tell him that he's too protective, and his son will grow up better if he's allowed to travel. What's he afraid of, anyway? Planes are safe now, not like when I was young."

"I'll ask, at least," Sabine said diplomatically. "But only when we actually have plans nailed down."

Lu Lin pooh-poohed that. "Oh, just tell him, don't ask. That's what I would do. Act like you're going to get your way and you'll get it."

For some reason, Sabine was guessing that Lu Lin had never met Gabriel Agreste. That kind of stunt would absolutely never fly with him.

There was another peal of laughter from the group on the floor, and Sabine welcomed the distraction, glancing over at the teens again. She was pleased to see the large grin on Adrien's face as the group laughed over the game. He had always seemed far too sad and serious for a kid his age.

For her part, Marinette was having a fantastic time. She had never dreamed that interactions with Adrien would be so easy. She had been laughing and joking with him since Monday, barely a stammer in sight. Even though Adrien had apparently lost any sense of a personal bubble with her- a sign that he considered her one of his close friends- she didn't feel at all uncomfortable. In fact, she was starting to feel just as comfortable with Adrien as she was with Chat Noir.

Since Chat Noir was one of her best friends, Marinette considered that a good thing. And she could handle Chat Noir's flirting like a pro (heartfelt rooftop confessions aside), which was good because Adrien could sometimes get somewhat flirty as well.

As the cousins reset the game, Marinette switched places with Adrien so he could get a chance to play. Once she was settled behind him, Marinette pulled out her phone. It was full of messages from Alya.

Alya: Halfway through your week with Adrien! How's it going?

Alya: if you don't respond I'll assume you're making out with him

Alya: Adrien and Marinette sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Alya: okay seriously though how's it going?

Marinette sighed and rolled her eyes, trying to ignore the heat rising in her cheeks. Alya had been thrilled to hear that she and Adrien would be hanging out for a week, and she seemed to have entirely forgotten that they would be hanging out with Marinette's extended family, not just each other. She glanced up at Adrien- who was thankfully engrossed in studying the board and wasn't looking at her- then quickly texted back a response.

Marinette: Today is game day! Adrien has banned me from video games :( We're playing board games now.

Alya: He BANNED you from video games? And you listened???

Marinette winced. All it had really taken was some kitten eyes from Adrien and she had caved, but she didn't exactly want to tell Alya that. She would just get teased about her weakness to kitten eyes. And if she was flustered from the teasing, then she would start getting all stammer-y around Adrien and it would be embarrassing.

Again.

Marinette: ...it was either move to board games or put up with him throwing bananas into my path just to mess up my runs. I decided to move.

Alya just send back a string of laughing emojis.

Putting her phone away, Marinette leaned forward to watch the game over Adrien's shoulder. After a minute, Adrien leaned back slightly so his shoulder rested against hers.

Marinette tried not to spontaneously combust. She knew she shouldn't read into it- Adrien was just a very tactile person by nature- but he was just so close.

As the game went on, Adrien's lean became a bit more pronounced, except when he leaned forward to see what was going on or to roll the die. She could feel his shoulders shake as he laughed at something that had happened or something that had been said. Marinette let herself return the lean, doing her best to keep her heart from racing.

"Kids! After you finish your game, can you clean up for lunch?"

Marinette sighed as her mother repeated the request in Mandarin for her cousins' benefit. She had wanted to keep sitting there on the floor for a bit longer, but she supposed that they could return to the game after they ate lunch.

"So what's the plan for the rest of the day?" Adrien asked after they finished the game and got it packed up. He stood, then offered Marinette a hand to pull her up to her feet. "Do you know?"

"Sandwiches for lunch," Marinette reported, glancing towards where her mom and one of her aunts were slicing several loaves of bread. Fillings had already been set out. "Then more games this afternoon, and we're going to a pizza place for dinner. Or at least that's the last plan I heard. Maybe some baking lessons with my dad."

Adrien perked up at that. "Oh, that would be so cool! I would love to learn how to make."

Feeling brave, Marinette rolled up on her toes a bit as she glanced over at Adrien. "You know, even if he doesn't do the baking lessons today, you can come over some other time. We'd love to have you."

She was sure that even the sun couldn't beam as brightly as Adrien did in that moment.

  Adrien arrived home late, pleasantly stuffed full of pizza and the cake that he had helped create that afternoon. He waved to Nathalie and headed upstairs, yawning as he did.

He had had an amazingly fabulous day, but he was absolutely beat. He practically sleepwalked through his nighttime routine, content smile on his face the entire time.

Adrien had only just laid down to go to bed when a scream tore through the night.

"Please tell me that's just someone screwing around," Adrien grumbled, turning over and burying his face in his pillow. It certainly wouldn't be the first time- some people just wanted to lure Ladybug and Chat Noir out because they were huge fans, so they would fake an akuma attack. The mayor had since made doing so a fineable offense, which discouraged most people, but there were still a few that thought that the consequences were worth the cost.

"Nope. I can feel Hawkmoth's magic," Plagg announced sleepily. "Close by, too-"

"HELP!"

"I'm getting up, I'm getting up," Adrien groaned, pushing himself out of bed. "Ugh. Doesn't Hawkmoth have a life? It's late."

Several blocks over, Tikki and Marinette were having an even harder time getting going.

""I'm going to kick Hawkmoth's rear so hard when Chat Noir and I finally face him," Marinette grumbled, dragging herself up the stairs to her balcony. "I wanna sleep."

"Don't you normally stay up later than this on weekends?" Tikki asked politely, floating after Marinette. "At least it isn't two in the morning!"

"I usually also get to sleep in," Marinette pointed out with another grumble. "But my parents expect me up early for the reunion. I hope this fight is over soon so that I'm not sleepwalking tomorrow. At least you can sleep in my purse all day if you want to."

"And I will be, trust me!"

Marinette transformed and headed out the window, squinting around as soon as she got to a good vantage point. A yell caught her attention and she headed towards the source of the noise. She landed on a rooftop right above the akuma- a kid, she noted with some measure of disgust, she was going to end Hawkmoth for targeting kids when they finally found him- and immediately spotted Chat Noir perched on the other side of the street, eyes narrowed as he scanned the akuma for potential possessed items. His expression of intense concentration was interrupted by a large yawn.

They were both going into a fight while incredibly tired. This wasn't going to be fun.

With a shared glance, Ladybug and Chat Noir both pounced down on Up All Night. They had to dodge one of his attacks right away.

"If I wanna stay up all night, all the adults will have to be asleep!" the akuma cackled, shooting beams of light at them from the eyes of his teddy bear. "So say night-night and give me your Miraculous!"

Ladybug grit her teeth and resisted the urge to say something about not being an adult, but she knew it wasn't a good idea. There was no point in confirming to Hawkmoth that she was in a certain age group. It would be stupid. Thankfully, Chat Noir seemed to realize that as well.

Or maybe he was just too tired to banter with the akuma like normal.

The battle dragged on for too long. Part of it was the fact that Up All Night had no qualms about shooting every which way with his laser bear, which made approaching difficult. Part of it was the fact that Chat Noir and Ladybug were both tired and their brains were more focused on not getting hit than in making any progress for the akuma. It was only when Ladybug got a Lucky Charm of a mirror that they were able to reflect Up All Night's beams back at him, sending him right off to sleep. After that, it was no problem to tear the bear in half and release the akuma.

"It's past two," Chat Noir noted with a yawn as they handed the former akuma to a police officer so he could be given back to his mother. "And I have to be up early, too."

"I thought you were supposed to have the summer off?" Ladybug was leaning against a light post, eying the sky. Hopefully she could actually get home before she fell asleep. Chat Noir laughed.

"Not off, exactly. And I'm hanging out with one of my friends and her family this week, so I need to be there on time." Chat Noir yawned again, wide enough to show off all his teeth. "Hopefully they won't mind me falling asleep on them. Good-night, Ladybug."

Ladybug nodded blearily, winding up to leave. "You, too, Chat Noir."

  On the fourth day of Marinette's family reunion, the Gorilla ended up driving Adrien, Marinette, and her parents over to the hotel where the rest of her extended family was staying because it was raining so heavily.

"So what are we doing today?" Adrien asked after his driver ushered them all inside. He muffled a yawn. He had not gotten enough sleep, even though he had dropped off as soon as he got back in from the akuma fight. "I think it's supposed to rain all day."

Sabine checked her phone and shuffled them towards the elevator. "We were going to poke around town a bit more, but we're going to watch some movies today instead. The group found some in Chinese that have French subtitles so everyone can follow along."

"Oh, goodie," Marinette managed around a yawn. She looked just as tired as Adrien felt, which made him wonder if she had stayed up late working on a design. It wouldn't be the first time she had done that. He would be shocked if they both made it through the movies without falling asleep. "Anything I've heard of?"

"Probably not." Sabine herded them all into the elevator and pushed the button for the fourth floor. The elevator was pretty cramped, and Adrien found himself pressed up against Marinette's side. "But they should be interesting."

Adrien seriously doubted that anything could be interesting enough to keep either him or Marinette awake for long. It really was a pity that the akuma fight had gone on so late last night, because Adrien was really interested in seeing the kinds of movies that Marinette's relatives had found, but there was no way that he would be able to follow them that well (or translate at all).

At least he could sleep without causing a bother. If the akuma attack had happened before their touring day, he would have been an absolute mess and wouldn't have been a good guide at all. That wouldn't have left a good impression with Marinette's family, since they wouldn't know that he had a good excuse for not going to bed at a reasonable time.

Tom and Sabine herded them into a room on the end, the same one that they had been in for their Game Day. This time, chairs and couches had been hauled in- Adrien guessed that some of them had been moved, perhaps without the knowledge of the hotel staff- and arranged around the TV. Everyone turned around and waved as they came in.

"There is a spot on the far couch for the kids," one of the aunts called in Mandarin. "And Tom and Sabine, there's chairs over here."

Sabine guided Adrien and Marinette over to their spots, which was probably a good call, considering how tired they were. Even with the guidance, Marinette still managed to walk into one of the couches and promptly yelped when her shin collided with the wood.

Once situated, a discussion broke out about which movie they were going to watch. Adrien tried to follow the conversation for a bit, but people were talking too fast for his scrambled brains. Instead, he relaxed back into the couch and tried to keep his eyes open. Before long, a movie was decided on and it started playing.

Nino would appreciate the soundtrack music, Adrien thought drowsily once they were ten minutes in. It was different than what he normally did, but still energetic. He wasn't sure if it feel the mood of the movie, but he also wasn't following along with the plot very well. There were subtitles in French, and they did help a bit...but Adrien wasn't really feeling alert enough to read things, especially when they were in small-ish print.

Adrien had almost dropped off when a weight against his shoulder startled him. He glanced down and saw Marinette's head leaning against his shoulder. Her eyes were almost entirely closed and her eyelids were drooping lower by the second. Instead of trying to shake her awake, Adrien settled carefully back against the couch cushions, doing his best not to jostle her. He knew full well that leaning back against the couch would just make him fall asleep faster, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He had already lost track of the plot and had no idea which character was which anymore, so he might as well get in a bit of a nap before the movie they were on finished and they moved on to the next one.

Letting his head rest against Marinette's, Adrien closed his eyes and let himself drift off.

  They were not quite two-thirds of the way through the first movie when Sabine noticed Adrien and Marinette had both fallen fast asleep on the couch. Marinette's cheek was pressed up against Adrien's shoulder, and Adrien's head was nestled against the top of Marinette's head. They looked contented as they snuggled up against each other, Adrien's arm around Marinette and Marinette's entire body angled towards him.

It was very cute.

Sabine wasn't the only one to notice, of course. Tom looked amused as he noticed the two kids sleeping, and some of the visitors had spotted them as well. The aunts in particular had seemed quite interested in the budding relationship, and many had commented on it the previous two days. They had been surprised to hear that the two weren't dating at first- after all, Adrien was quite handsome and was also the only one of Marinette's friends to come to the reunion- but they understood the reason for his presence (and why Marinette was practically glued to his side) once his proficiency in Mandarin was revealed.

Still, there had been progress. Before the start of the week, there was no way Marinette would have been comfortable enough with Adrien to fall asleep against him. Now, there would likely be some flailing when she woke up just out of surprise, but it was progress.

Sabine couldn't wait until she could help Marinette get ready for dates. Marinette had a number of gorgeous dresses- several of which she had designed herself- hanging unused in her closet. She had just never really had the opportunity to wear them anywhere, and a date would be the perfect opportunity.

The movie rolled on and finally ended. Another movie was put on, and even though this one had lots of action and swelling music, the two teens didn't stir at all. Sabine couldn't keep herself from glancing over frequently, not wanting to miss when either woke up.

Adrien stirred first, yawning and looking groggy. Sabine watched as Adrien woke up more fully, blinking awake and realizing where he was. He glanced down at Marinette, still snoozing on his chest, and only smiled, carefully arranging himself to stretch out his neck and arrange Marinette into a more comfortable position without waking her up. Once settled, his gaze returned to the TV and the movie, though whether he was really taking any of it in was up for debate. The poor boy still looked exhausted.

Sabine had to wonder what had kept him up for half of the night. She suspected that Marinette had probably been inspired by some of the visitor's outfits and wanted to get some ideas down before she forgot them. She had probably lost track of time- a common problem, really, one that Marinette would hopefully grow out of before she got much farther in her schooling- and stayed up later than she had planned to. At least now it was summer and it didn't matter if she slept through part of the day.

Sabine would insist on Marinette going to bed at a proper time tonight, though. She didn't want Marinette getting into a bad habit of staying up late and sleeping half of the day away.

"Should we eat in another room so we don't wake your kids?" one of the aunts asked Sabine. "They look tired. Adrien has dropped right back off."

She looked. Sure enough, Adrien was sleeping soundly again, his chin propped on top of Marinette's head.

"We might take off early this evening to make sure they can go to sleep early," Sabine said. "But let's just turn on the lights and eat in here. They'll just have to get up."

The rest of the group got up, heading over to the small fridge in the corner to pull out the sandwich fixings there. Sabine considered just leaving Adrien and Marinette to sleep until they woke up on their own, then decided against it. They would be hungry when they got up, and there was no point in making the entirety of the group wait for the two of them.

Sabine made sure to snag her phone before heading over to the sleeping teens. After all, there was no point in wasting a perfectly good opportunity to snap a picture of them.

  Marinette whined and buried her face in her pillow as someone shook her shoulder. She was still tired. After finishing the battle, she had gotten most of the way home before her transformation ran out. She had at least managed to get down to street level before she detransformed, but then she had to walk the few blocks left to the bakery, send Tikki in to get a cookie to recharge, and only then she could transform behind a tree and get up to her balcony. After that, she had to wash the dirt from the streets off of her feet before she could actually get into bed and go to sleep. It seemed like she had only just dropped off when she woke up with her mom shaking her shoulder, her alarm ringing unnoticed next to her pillow.

She would have just slept for a bit longer before doing a five-minute get-ready, but then her mom had reminded her that Adrien would be coming over soon and did she really want to have bedhead and morning breath and be running around frantically when her friend came over?

(To be fair, Marinette had considered it. She had gotten more comfortable around Adrien recently, and she knew Adrien wouldn't judge her that much. But she had her pride, so up she got, yawning and grumbling the whole way.)

Her shoulder was shaken again, and Marinette tried to remember what was going on. Adrien had arrived, looking tired, and then his driver brought them over to the hotel because it was raining. Then they went upstairs and sat down on the couch to watch some movies. And then...

Wait. The couch hadn't had any pillows. Had someone moved her to a bed? No, that wasn't right, either. She wasn't laying down, but rather leaning forward on some...thing.

Or was that someone?

Marinette blinked as her pillow shifted and made a grumbling sound. It- he, Adrien- started to sit up, then caught her head before she could slip off and leaned right back. Marinette grumbled, supposing that she probably should let Adrien get up, even if he did make a fantastic pillow.

With another grumble, Marinette sat up, blinking blearily. Adrien looked equally as tired as she felt. His hair was a bit mussed, as though his head had been resting against the couch, and his eyes were heavy with sleep.

Had he fallen asleep as well? Had they been sleeping on top of each other?

She was going to die. There was no way they had done that without her entire family noticing and taking photos of the two of them. Absolutely no way. And they were going to tease her and Adrien, except she wouldn't understand and so Adrien would have to deal with the teasing all on his own, and he would get tired of it and not want to come back and hang out with her or her family again, leaving her alone to deal with the relatives that she couldn't communicate with that well and alone without his company for the rest of the summer-

"That was a nice nap," Adrien commented as Marinette sat up. He stretched, long and catlike. Something in his back cracked loudly and he winced slightly. "Are we doing something else now? What time is it?"

"It's lunchtime," Marinette's mother told them. "You've both been asleep for several hours."

Adrien looked just as surprised as Marinette felt. She must have fallen asleep pretty quickly after the first movie started- she remembered exactly zero of it, which was really a pity- and slept straight through.

Well. Apparently she was more tired than she had thought. Marinette knew she would sleep through the first movie, but two? That was a long nap.

"I'm sorry for falling asleep on you," she told Adrien hastily, hoping that she hadn't drooled or anything on his shirt. She tried to covertly check, but Adrien's shirt was dark enough that it was impossible to tell with a quick glance and she didn't want to look like she was staring at his chest. "I didn't mean to-"

Adrien's answering smile was bright. "Oh, it's fine! Really. It's fine. You can use my shoulder as a pillow anytime." He pushed himself up off of the couch, brushing the front of his shirt down as he did. "And I slept well as well."

Marinette's mother waited until Adrien had headed over to join the rest of the group before turning to her with an impish smile playing around her lips. "So, you can sleep on his shoulder any time?"

Marinette turned properly pink. "Maman!"

Her mother only chuckled, ignoring her splutters. "I'm only repeating what he said, darling."

"Maman!"

  The last day and a half of the Cheng family reunion went by in a flash, and on Saturday, Adrien got up early one last time to see Marinette's family off to the airport. He hadn't been able to say good-by the previous day since he had been summoned home unexpectedly for a make-up photoshoot (apparently one of his photoshoots from the first week of summer hadn't turned out to his father's standards) while everyone was still busy. After spending so much time with everyone, he didn't want to vanish without a trace.

The cries of joy that had come when the visitors saw him told him that he had made the right decision, even if his father hadn't been pleased that Adrien would be missing his normal Saturday morning piano lesson. And even though the ride to the airport wasn't particularly comfortable- all of the aunts and uncles and cousins plus their bags shoved into their rented vans meant that things were quite cramped- Adrien enjoyed the trip immensely. He got to talk to the cousins again and hear more about what they were going to do over the summer when they got home (one young cousin dominated a good ten minutes of the trip, hanging over the back of the seat and chattering away so fast that Adrien could barely catch anything being said until his mother pulled him back into his seat), then help with unloading all of the luggage once they got to the airport. Once everyone had checked in, he got to say good-bye to all of them personally.

"It's been great to meet you," the last of Marinette's aunts told Adrien, shaking his hand enthusiastically. She beamed at him and Marinette. "And, please- invite us all when you two get married! Even if we won't understand anything during the ceremony, we'd all have a grand time."

Adrien promptly turned red as the entire group of Marinette's relatives nodded their agreement. They giggled at his distress and waved again, calling out good-byes before heading en mass over to the security line.

Next to him, Marinette frowned in confusion. Adrien was redder than she had ever seen him and wasn't saying anything, and her mother was just laughing instead of translating whatever the relatives had said that had thrown him off so much. Her mind went into overdrive, trying to guess at what they might have said. She didn't particularly like any of the options her brain was coming up with. She also didn't like the conspiring look that her mother and her aunts had shared before they left

After several seconds had passed and no one had made any move to translate anything, Marinette's frown deepened and she tugged on Adrien's arm, hoping he could explain. "Adrien? What did they say?"

Adrien only turned redder. The feeling of oh my god what did they say turned into more of an oh my GOD WHAT DID THEY SAY. She had almost never seen Adrien looking flustered before, which meant that whatever her aunt had said, it couldn't be good.

"Oh, it was nothing bad, Marinette," her mother said cheerfully, patting her shoulder. "Not at all. We were just making future plans, that was all."

Somehow, that didn't reassure Marinette at all.

  As they left the airport, Tikki was still giggling away in Marinette's purse. She had been able to understand all of the conversations going on around her, of course- she was a goddess, after all, and she had spent quite a bit of time in China over the years, even if the language had changed some since she was last active there- and oh, it was no wonder Adrien was blushing so much. The poor boy must be so confused about what had just happened, and maybe after a week of time spent with Marinette he was confused about his own feelings towards her Chosen as well.

The two of them were getting all twisted up and confused by their own feelings, and with her knowledge of all of the identities at play- oh, this was going to be a grand old time watching them figure things out.

In the meantime, though, Tikki wasn't going to let Marinette know that she could understand everything that her family had said, because then Marinette would just demand to know what had been said, and Tikki didn't want to tell her.

After all, if Marinette ever found out how much (and how openly) her family shipped her and Adrien, she would never invite Adrien to join her on any of her family adventures ever again.

[sleepy-edits]