Prompt: Gingerbread House

Marinette backed against the door and closed her eyes. She was an idiot of the highest order. Adrien was going to kiss her. Adrien Agreste, the love of her life, was moving in to lock lips with her and all she did was mutter some nonsense once again and run out of the room. What was her problem?

"Come on Marinette, you can do this! Just walk back out there, grab him by those cute, luscious cheeks and kiss him until he passes out." She shook her shoulders up and down, walking backwards and forwards as she psyched herself up ready to finally kiss her partner. She just needed to exit the room and march towards him, full of determination.

Her hand reached out with a slight shake, grabbing the handle and wrenching the door open, moving quietly and slowly back into the main room of the cabin. The sound of Adrien's voice had her freezing only a couple of steps towards the room.

"I should have told you this a while ago, but I've been too scared. Ever since the day we first met you've been a constant on my mind. Everything I do, and have done, reminds me of you."

Retracing her steps backwards towards the bedroom door, she re-entered the room and closed the door as quietly as she could, praying Adrien hadn't figured out she'd been listening in on his conversation. She leaned back against the solid object and fisted her hands to her eyes. How could Adrien go from wanting to kiss her to this? Who was this woman? Had her denial drove him into another's arms? How stupid was she?

That was it then, she'd lost her chance. She should have made it clearer years ago, she should have told him... but her fear ran deep and she just couldn't let it out. Damn it, she should have stood there and let him kiss her, not fill him — once more — with doubts about what she was feeling.

It was her own fault, and, now, she'd have to deal with the consequences.

"You know it's rude to eavesdrop." Marinette looked to the bed and noticed Plagg sitting alongside her bag. She stepped forward with all intention of telling Plagg to mind his own business when another voice cut through the silence.

"Marinette?" Adrien's voice shouted out to her, and she was struggling to form a coherent sentence.

Instead, she opted for a short and simple, "Yeah."

"I'm going to head back to the main house and see if I can find Granny to get the clothing. Do you want to come with me? I understand if you want to stay here."

Closing her eyes, she made her way back to the door and placed her hands upon it, followed by her forehead. As much as she would love to follow him, right now all she could think about was having a little space to regroup.

"I'll just sort Tikki out then I'll come over to you," she shouted back, listening intently to the door opening and closing outside the room, a quick call from Adrien letting her know he'd see her later.

Finally, she calmed her breathing enough to push away from the door and head towards her bag, the main aim to check on Tikki, it wasn't like she could unpack or anything.

Sitting down on the bed — the one and only she suddenly realised — Marinette leaned forward and placed her head into her hands. This was ridiculous! It's not like she had an ownership on him just because he was her partner, and only an hour ago she was determined to be his best friend, not the jealous friend who would avoid him. Not that she could anyway.

She sighed and rested her elbows on her knees looking around the stunning log cabin room. The wood, the red and greens, the warm fireplace opposite the bed. It was the most romantic place she had ever been to and she was with the person who she'd want to share such a place with. This was a mess! Her life was a mess!

Before she could delve anymore into the depth of her broken heart Plagg flew towards her, her body shrinking under his gaze. If anyone knew the truth about what was going on, it would be Adrien's kwami.

"Is it true?" she asked, Plagg attempting to keep his eyes away from her. "Plagg, please answer me. Is it true? What Adrien said, is it true?" Her voice was filled with unshed emotions. She should have seen this coming, they'd been dancing around for too long and now it was over. The final hoorah, as Marinette became his superhero partner and best friend — nothing more.

The kwami didn't know what to do. He began to spin in loops, looking down towards Marinette's bag obviously hoping Tikki would make a Miraculous recovery and appear.

"I – I don't think this is my place to say."

"Why hasn't he told me? I thought he would have told me." She pushed herself up from the bed and began to pace the bedroom, the fact there was only one bed now pushed firmly to the back of her mind.

She stopped abruptly in front of Plagg. "Why didn't he tell me?" she shouted at him, the kwami's face taking on a less than impressed look.

"He didn't know how to!" Plagg screamed back, Marinette growing additional strength in her backbone to get to the bottom of this.

"We're meant to be best friends, Plagg, if anyone should have known first it should have been me."

"Ha!" Plagg scoffed, "pot calling kettle black."

"I haven't got a secret boyfriend!" Marinette squealed, her arms flying around as Plagg frowned.

"What? What are you on about?"

"If Adrien is in love with this – this – this girl! Then —"

"Hold up!" Plagg waved his arms in between them. "What exactly do you think you heard?"

"Enough," Marinette huffed, folding her arms like an angry teenager.

"Marinette!"

She growled before collapsing onto the bed. "Fine! I heard that he'd been in love with this girl since the day he'd met her and that he loves her. She must have said she loved him too from what I can gather."

Plagg hovered in front of Marinette and she noticed how his usual black was turning a deep shade of red, she didn't know the kwami's could change their colour, and was that a little steam coming out of his ears.

"Give me your bag." He spat out his words coated with anger and a little bit of spit; his tone not one she'd usually link to the god of destruction.

"W-w-why?" Marinette was suddenly quite worried he was going to cataclysm the bag or throw it at her.

"I'm taking Tikki out of this hell hole before I do something I regret."

"You can't just –"

"Give me Tikki!" The way Plagg spoke was terrifying. Not wanting to take her eyes from him in deep, uncertain fear, Marinette reached down to her bag and lifted it in front of her.

Snatching the bag, Plagg turned to look at the door to the room. "Open it!" He growled. Marinette had no other option but to comply. She stood and opened the bedroom door allowing Plagg to fly into the hallway with Marinette's purse, and its contents.

"Next!"' he hissed, Marinette once more falling to the kwami's commands. Somehow, Marinette had managed to peeve the little kwami off, yet she had no idea how?

"We'll be back when you two actually pull yourselves together. I swear to the Miraculous –" he grunted, "I've never seen such idiocy in my entire life."

With that, Plagg slammed the door and left Marinette alone.

.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .

Twenty minutes later, after Marinette had sorted out the cupboards and made a list of supplies they needed; she decided to lace her boots tightly and head back over to the main building.

She'd seen a small shop within the house and knew they did the main things such as milk and bread, things their little retreat was missing. The cupboards had already been filled with many baking supplies and chocolate percentages but seemed to be missing the basic necessities. However, there was a wonderful array of extracts that would offer them a chance to make some rather interesting flavoured hot chocolates — if they had milk.

She looked at her watch. Adrien had been gone for about forty minutes and she was a little worried he'd jumped ship and ran home... probably to this girl, whoever she was.

After a good 15 minutes crying into the cupboards listening to depressing Taylor Swift songs on her 'I'm so sad Adrien doesn't love me' playlist and trying to come to terms with her grief; she'd changed to her girl power playlist; one giving her the motivation to go and get her man.

Sorting out the ingredients to make cookies later, she'd reevaluated her plan. Obviously, backing off to let him enjoy himself was still the best option, he was a guy who hadn't been able to experience much of life so far and she wanted him to leave here with memories and experiences; cue the cookie making.

However, she was also Ladybug and she wasn't going down without a fight. Whoever this girl was, she needed to watch out because Chat Noir had loved Ladybug once and she was damn sure it could happen again. Having a sense of renewal, she finally decided she was going to fight for her man, and, more importantly, she was going to win.

She was a strong, confident, beautiful woman. She was the hero of Paris, and president of their collège class. She graduated top (alongside her partner) in Le Baccalaureate and she was awesome! She was sure whoever this girl was couldn't make Adrien laugh until his drink came out his nose or challenged him at Ultimate Mecha Strike the way she did. Marinette was also sure no one would put up with Adrien's obsession with romcoms and care for him the way she did. She knew everything about him; including how he liked his pancakes. She was his perfect match in every way, she was his sidekick... She was Marinette Dupain-Cheng and she was going to marry Adrien Agreste.

No longer would she stand on the sidelines, it was time to go front and centre, fighting for what she wanted.

Happy with her list and her new found determination to get Adrien, she placed on some more of her lip gloss, checked her make up and grabbed the spare key to the cabin and headed through the thick layered snow towards the main building. They weren't going to be leaving here for a while, the snow still coming down in vengeance which gave her a chance to let him know how much she cared.

.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .

Making her way into the main hallway, she glanced around hoping to catch a glimpse of Adrien. She turned left and right, marvelling at the amazing array of decorations on the walls, bannisters and tables. There were two Christmas trees; both decorated in the same red and green ornaments as the ones in the cabin, matching the garlands and other decorations in a cohesive scattering around the hall.

Making her way over to the small shop, she noted how quiet it was at the moment, a strange occurrence considering it was a sell out bed and breakfast. Nobody else seemed to be around and she couldn't help but wonder how she was going to pay for her supplies.

"Hello?" she called out; only to be met with silence. "Hello?" she tried again, poking her head around the doorway into the tiny room which was advertised as the 'Cosy Corner Shop'.

Nobody was in the room; only a small white piece of card taped to a wicker basket on the cash register.

'FAO: The Cabin'

Marinette couldn't help but wonder if that meant them. They weren't originally meant to be in the cabin though, so maybe it was for Granny and Gramps. She moved over to it, removing the towel from the top and having a quick look inside. Everything they needed was there; right down to Adrien's favourite brand of toothpaste. (Don't ask how she knew that.)

"How peculiar?" Marinette suddenly felt as though she was in Wonderland. One bizarre occurrence followed the other; yet, she was still none the wiser to what was going on.

Her hand instinctively went for her bag, pulling back into her body when she realised Tikki wasn't there; that Plagg had become the Grinch and stole her purse and her kwami. She just prayed wherever they were, he was looking after the small creature of creation.

Marinette peeled the card from the front and opened it up.

'Mr. A. Agreste,

Please find inside all requested items.

Your bill has been paid.'

Moving the towel back over the items in the basket, she looped her forearm through the handle and headed out of the shop eyes still studying the note. Mr. A. Agreste? It had to be for them, but how did they know what they'd need? Is this why Adrien had been gone for so long?

Not paying attention to what she was doing, Marinette continued forward, bumping into a table and hearing a rather nerve wracking, rattling sound. The last thing she needed was for a Marinette catastrophe to come now! She was most certain one more thing and Adrien would cataclysm her boots.

Taking notice of what she'd just collided with, Marinette came face to face with the most incredible Gingerbread House she'd ever seen. This wasn't just a well put together biscuit house like what her parents would have on display in the boulargie, this was incredible and almost realistic.

Checking around her that no staff were present, she reached forward her hand reaching towards the tiny biscuit door, complete with boiled sweet window and gummy drop doorknob. Pulling gently, the front of the house opened revealing a whole lot of sweet treat furniture inside. The house was perfect, just like she'd always dreamed of sharing with Adrien; complete with the three children's bedroom and a wafer and dark chocolate baby grand piano.

"I don't think you're meant to touch that."

The sudden voice had her moving away from the table, failing to notice her heel was trapped in a crack in the floor.

Stumbling, she twisted around, the heel causing her ankle to give way and her knees bending ready to make contact with the floor, only for her to fall into the arms of a tall, strapping man.

Looking into eyes, blocked behind stylish frames, she was once again surprised how familiar they looked.

"Awww, madly clumsy, I see." Gramps straightened her up before looking down at her boots. "Do you think you might need to get some suitable footwear?"

Marinette looked down at her boots once more. Why did all males seem to have an issue with them?

"It's not that they aren't nice," he claimed. "They're actually very nice, I've grown quite fond of them in many different ways, but they're not exactly snow worthy, are they?"

He was right, she knew he was; but she loved her boots. She felt like they were part of her now, an added accessory that claimed 'Marinette Dupain-Cheng' is stylish... trust her! The perfect footwear for an up and coming fashion designer.

"I suppose, I could see if there's anything I could borrow?" Marinette said, placating the old man.

"Oh, I'm sure Granny has you sorted." He smiled back, a slight twinkle of mischief in his eyes.

Marinette couldn't help but be taken by the older man, she felt like she wanted to ask him questions. To find out his life story. His knowing eyes seemed to have the answers to all her questions — if only she knew what exactly to ask. She straightened the basket on her arm, hoping the eggs hadn't cracked from the impact of her trip.

"I — um —" she coughed and took a deep breath, bringing her mind back to the present and out of her stuttering hell hole. This man could be her grandfather for goodness sake, why did he affect her?

"Come," he said, offering his arm out to her like a true gentleman. "Accompany this old man on a little walk."

Slotting her arm through his, she placed the basket underneath the table holding the Gingerbread house and allowed him to guide her deeper into the house.

Who was she to refuse?