Prompt: Snowball Fights

"That's been a lovely afternoon, don't you think?" Adrien took Marinette's coat from where she'd placed it on the hanger and held it out for her to slip her arms into.

The words Gramps had told him circulated around and around in his brain, the repetitiveness of the words more obsessive than the musical interlude of a Merry Go Round. Whereas listening to Let's Go Fly A Kite on repeat in his thoughts might be a joyful experience, having the words patience, understanding, and communication circling round would be a hell of a lot more effective in the long run.

Each word was exactly what he needed to make sure he succeeded with Marinette. Have patience with her — there's obviously something more there. Understand the way she behaves and most importantly talk to her; make sure all loopholes are covered and there is no room for doubt. He would do it — tonight. He had a plan now. They just needed to make it back over to the cabin with minimal disruption — thank goodness she wasn't wearing her boots.

Marinette smiled as she turned around and offered her arms to him, slipping them in one at a time before reaching up to move her hair from where it was caught under the hood. Beating her to it, Adrien stretched forward and placed his own hands between her hair and neck, lifting it out from the collar of her coat and allowing it to lay flat against her back. Her long soft hair was the most wonderful feeling as it caressed his fingertips and it fell through with gravity.

"Let me just..." he continued to make sure she was in her coat properly when suddenly the sound of her giggling stopped him from fussing.

"I've got it Adrien," she said with a smile, "you just worry about getting your own coat on, I'd like to be back in the cabin before the storm gets any worse."

He smiled back before giving her a nod of understanding, moving around to find his own coat and boots.

They had spent five hours in the house enjoying all the festive games and entertainment the staff were supplying. After Marinette had arrived back from the kitchen, himself and Gramps played a couple more Christmas songs on the piano before Adrien sent the older man off to go and dance with his wife, Marinette swapping with the older man and coming to Adrien company at the piano.

His heart almost gave up, instead going for a backfire, as he attempted to steady himself when Marinette rested her head on his shoulder and looped one arm through his, singing along with him and enjoying the festive cheer he was supplying. She seemed to have suddenly received a new found renewal of confidence, not too dissimilar to what he usually saw in her super form. But this was Marinette and it seemed like she was finally giving in to his advances.

Had Granny given her a heart to heart like Gramps had to him?

The piano playing came to an end as board game hour began... and what an hour that was!

If he thought Marinette was competitive he'd been truly mistaken because Little Miss Naughty had taken competitive to a whole new level and where he thought Gramps would have given in to his wife and attempt to placate her, instead he just wound her up more, egging her on and causing all kinds of mischief to the point Adrien had double checked they were both in the correct jumper; to answer the question, apparently they both have one of each and can mix and match depending on their moods that day. Adrien had to laugh when Marinette suggested Gramps went to change his jumper for a naughty one, too.

Adrien couldn't help but feel like sometimes he was looking into his future, however, when the thoughts surfaced so did a buzz and pain in his head. Was it the commitment that was causing his head to go funny? Or just the idea of growing old? He hadn't a clue. All he knew was that over-thinking the way Granny and Gramps acted together hurt his brain, so instead he just enjoyed the goodwill and nature of the couple in front of him... even if she threatened to throw him all the way to Egypt multiple times that afternoon.

"I still think we won Scrabble," Marinette said, bending down in front of him to tie her shoe laces. Letting out a cough, he used it as an excuse to turn away and fix his own boots.

Eye line down, Agreste, eye line down.

"Totally," Adrien squeaked, a quick cough following to bring his voice back to a none mouse level tone. "They were just making up words."

"In the words of PL Travers 'responstible is not a word'." Marinette responded in her best impression of Emma Thompson, her own giggle following as she stood and turned towards him.

"That's a great movie. Can you remember when we watched it?" Adrien said, finishing what he was doing and standing back to his full height and looking at Marinette.

"Remember? Adrien you cried for a week."

"I couldn't help it. It's such a sad story." He rummaged around in his pockets, attempting to find the gloves and hat he'd shoved in there earlier. Finding them, he placed each of them in their rightful spots.

Marinette started laughing, moving forward and brushing her fingertips across his forehead, the slight tilt of her head complimented the small smile on her lips, her small delicious smile. Had she applied more lipgloss or were her lips literally calling out to him?

He felt his tongue dart out his mouth, licking along his lower lip as he studied hers.

"All done," she said, lowering back onto her heels, her hand still remaining just under his hat. Her eyes were looking deeply into his, both breathing heavy, and all he wanted to do was grab her by the waist and pull her closer... but he needed to control himself. Instead, he reached up for her hand, his eyes remaining fixated on hers as he pulled it down and placed the back of it against his lips. The sound of her breath hitching in her throat just made him long for her even more.

"Thank you M'Lady." His eyes never left hers, the pink hue taking over her cheeks giving him a sense of gratification.

With a quick turn Marinette moved forwards and towards the exit only to forget the door was closed. As she ricocheted against the glass, Adrien couldn't help but wince.

"This is another good door too, I don't know where they've bought them all from but I think we should get some for our house... not ours ours, just you know... oh boy!" She let out a breath of air and ripped open the door. He was sure if she'd been in super suit the door would have taken off through the roof and be halfway to the moon.

"Are you okay?"

"Yep, fine." Without another word she'd stepped foot out the door and back into the snowstorm, which had seemed to increase in sheer ferociousness over the past hour.

Adrien exited the house behind Marinette and stalled, a gasp leaving his lips. The lights from their little cabin shone through the darkening afternoon sky and flickered through the thick flurries of snow. He couldn't help but think this was what Father Christmas must feel like in the North Pole, the magical winter feeling complete with an insane amount of snow. The twinkling lights in the background adding to the overpowering feel of festive spirit.

Taking a couple of steps forward, he marvelled at the sight in front of him. He was here in a Christmas winter wonderland with the girl of his dreams and the woman who held his heart. He couldn't help but make a small wish for the snow to continue coming down as heavy once they were in the safety of the cabin, trapping them together and away from prying eyes of others. Just like it happened for Gramps with Granny, maybe he could work his magic on Marinette and make her see how honest he was about his love for her. How much he adored her.

This is what they needed, to be stuck in close proximity without a means to escape. He'd never been happier for only one bedroom, limiting the spaces she could escape too. With a spring in his step, Adrien bounded towards the staircase and onto where he believed the path was to lead them back to the cabin.

But as soon as his feet hit the last step, something unfortunate happened. A snowball hit him square in the face, sending him into a seated position on the steps allowing the wet snow to soak through his jeans. This was swiftly followed by a howl of laughter and what felt like a wet cloth wiping over his face. Spluttering through the snow and squinting his eyes open, he noticed Marinette was attempting to clear the remnants off him.

"I'm so sorry," she said through another round of giggles. "I don't think my aims ever been that good without help from Tikki."

"Oh, you think that's funny do you?" Adrien said, a smile taking over his lips. He reached out next to where he sat on the step and grabbed a handful of snow, placing it in between his hands and rolling it around, squishing and squeezing it down into a tight ball. He looked up into Marinette's eyes, hee own giving as good as Ladybug back, before his lopsided smile hit full effect.

"Run!" he announced.

Marinette screamed and ran in the opposite direction, a laugh leaving her lips as she zigzagged towards the cabin struggling to keep her speed up in the deepening snow.

"One — Mississippi... two — Mississippi... three..." before he could count the final Mississippi Marinette turned around and launched another snowball at him, hitting him in the shoulder. The splat mark of snow was left in its wake, a few clumps making its escape and back onto the ground.

"Oh you didn't," Adrien exclaimed. "If that's the way you want to play you need to watch out."

Adrien pushed forward into a run, a snowball still in his hand, chasing after a cackling Marinette. When he felt a suitable distance away, he channelled his inner basketball skills and aimed for Marinette's head, only for the ball of frozen water to hit its intended target head on.

"Oh! You are so dead, Agreste."

As they continued to laugh and run around what was the house's garden, each scooped and compacted the snow, propelling snowballs fully in the other's direction, more hitting than missing – neither going easy on the other.

Adrien couldn't remember the last time he'd had this much fun out of a super suit and darting across the rooftops of Paris. He dodged once more, Marinette's snowball sailing past him and smashing against the door, exploding into a shower of white sprinkles.

He scooped his next weapon into his hands, turned around and threw it — straight into Marinette's face and knocking her down and onto the ground; panic shooting through him as she remained unmoving.

Running over to the pink shine of her coat against the white snow, Adrien looked down to see her eyes were closed, her arms out to the sides and thanks to the puffiness of her coat (he hoped anyway) her chest unmoving. She looked like a fallen Angel – if they wore pink, not white.

"Marinette?" His voice was panicked and almost came out in a scream. "Marinette?" he said again, willing her to move. There's no way he had killed Ladybug with a snowball. Just imagine the headlines.

He stepped forward once more and peered over his best friend only to be startled as her eyes opened sharply and she sat up, grabbing hold of his hand and pulling him down on top of her. In a swift movement, Adrien found himself on his back with Marinette on top — a handful of snow being dropped onto his face.

Spitting to the side and clearing the snow out of his mouth, he rolled them in the opposite direction, positioning himself above her.

"I win," he laughed, grabbing snow and smashing it into her hair. There was no way they were coming out of this without being ill, so they may as well just go for it now.

With a quick change of position, Marinette was once again straddling Adrien and looking down at him. His hands reached for her waist to keep her near, both smiling at the other with blue, frozen lips.

"Not this time, Chaton," she whispered, a slight husk in her voice.

Just like the environment around them, they froze. Puffs of air hitting in between them as they attempted to steady their breath. He watched as Marinette moved, her gloved hands moving to his chest and a slight push against him. It seemed she was pushing herself off him and to be fair he wanted to get his back out of the snow too. He moved himself to help them both up only to spot Marinette's eyes open from a closed position, and what were pouted lips to straighten out. The recoil from him, once again, rubbed it in his face how wrong he'd read her signals. Was she going to kiss him? Had he just missed a huge chance?

He sat up keeping Marinette halfway in his lap, he knew he would never forget the look of hurt in her eyes, and even worse the undertone of her voice stabbing him in the heart.

"When did you stop?" she asked, Adrien confused as to what this was about.

"Stop what, M'Lady?" he responded, none the wiser.

"Stop loving me?"