Adrien was jolted awake by the horrendous beeping of the alarm clock. Groggily, he reached across Marinette and turned it off. Wrapping his arm around her again and nuzzling deeper into the back of her neck, Adrien sighed happily. He knew that they should get up soon if they wanted to beat the heat for their hike today, but he just couldn't force his exhausted body to move from the sleeping form lying next to him. A few more minutes won't hurt, he thought.  He tried to settle back into the sleep he was so rudely interrupted from, but now that he was awake, he couldn't get back to sleep. 

He raised himself up onto his elbow, grumpily gazing around the room until his eyes drifted back to the girl in bed. His mood fading away instantly, replaced with a gentle smile and fond endearment. He reached out lightly to brush the hair away from her face. With her pale complexion and dark features Marinette was always striking, but as Adrien let his fingers linger on her cheek, he realized that Marinette was pretty. Of course, he always knew that she was. He always knew that the majority of his female friends were attractive, they were beautiful. But it had never physically affected him. He had never put emotions to the adjectives. But now... Marinette was just very, very pretty. 

Adrien startled a bit when she shifted in her sleep. He realized with shame and guilt, how creepy this probably looked; just him awake, staring at her, smiling creepily and stroking her cheek? Totally creepy. Totally and completely creepy, and she was going to wake up any second and... He pulled his hand back quickly and pretended to be asleep. It was a few moments of a jagged heart beat and failed efforts of trying to make his breathing even, before he realized that Marinette was still deep asleep. He slowly raised up again. Come to think of it, she didn't even stir when the alarm went off. He chuckled softly as he remembered her sneaking into class late after she had overslept. How she got anywhere on time, he would never know. He took one more fond glance at her before sighing and making his way out of bed. 

Adrien threw back the blanket covering him and staggered over to the bathroom. 

I'll shower first and left her sleep, He thought, she definitely needs it. 

 "Adrien! Hurry up!" Marinette called back over her shoulder. Adrien chuckled a bit breathlessly before increasing his pace. They had been hiking for a little over two hours and were nearing the summit. 

He had suggested that they take the funicular up to the Summit then hike down Morcote, but Marinette had insisted they hike up Monte San Salvatore. Adrien didn't mind really, especially since Marinette was so excited about everything.  Her excitement was infectious and he was beginning to see Lugano in a new light. Well, if he was being honest, he was seeing everything in a new light these days. 

"I can see the top! C'mon, Adrien, you're taking forever."  Marinette was further ahead now, and even Adrien had to admit that he was lagging. The trail was fairly easy, with only a moderate difficulty level and normally Adrien would have breezed through it.  

Adrien groaned as pain shot up his calves into his inner thighs. Maybe he did go too hard at the gym yesterday, He thought. But he had to relieve his frustrations somehow, and exercise always seemed to help. Unfortunately, when he was stressed he welcomed any physical pain that could take his mind off his emotions and too often, he didn't listen to his body when it was screaming to stop. 

He stopped to take a breath, hands on knees, while he tried to convince himself to take another step. He had just about succeeded, when small hands came swimming into his view. 

"Adrien, are you alright?" Marinette asked gently, her hands lightly grasping his where they rested on his knees.

He managed to look up at her with a grin. 

"Just a bit sore, Mari, nothing to worry about." He responded, trying to make his voice light and easy. 

Just grit your teeth and bare it, Agreste. He reprimanded himself. 

Marinette took her hands off his and watched him cautiously as he straightened.  She didn't miss the wince on his face as he took another step. 

"I'm tired, I think I need a break, Adrien." She announced suddenly and plopped onto a large rock that bordered the trail. 

"What? Weren't you so excited to reach the top, and we're almost there!" Adrien shielded his eyes as he looked upwards toward the top in confusion. 

"The top will still be there after we take a break. Its okay to take a breath, you know?" Marinette said quietly as she leaned back on her hands and closed her eyes, " Just stop and feel the sun, the wind, the air. Its all so pure up here." 

Adrien watched her in curiosity before joining her on the rock. Intertwining his fingers in hers, he lifted his face up to the sky and closed his eyes too. He could hear birds chirping and water gurgling somewhere in the distance. He could smell the dirt, the pure air, just as Marinette had mentioned.  He could physically feel the wind and small amount of sun trickling in from the trees sun on his face. But the longer he sat the more he could see. He could see everything and nothing, all at once. He could see the green fronds growing from the earth. He could see the trees stretching to reach the sky, all the while remaining stable and grounded. He could see the earth around them growing, and the longer they sat there, the more he felt that he was growing with it. 

He didn't need to open his eyes to see her. He didn't need to see her at all, actually. He heard the steadiness of her breath. In and out. He smelled the scent of her shampoo, carried to him on the breeze. He felt her; the warmth of her soul, the kindness of her thoughts, the beat of her heart.  His emotions swirled and composed to create her, and Adrien didn't need to see her at all to know that he...

"Oh, Adrien look!" Marinette breathed. A small rabbit had ventured out of hiding and had made its way to the small bush across from them.  As though alerted by their awareness, the rabbit stopped, looked at them with its nose wiggling, before bounding away again. 

"And there is goes." Marinette said wistfully. She got up from the rock and dusted off her butt. "Well, ready to go?" 

He grinned at her and then mimicked her actions. 

"Lead the way, princess." He teased lightly, with a slight bow. 

"Ha ha, very funny."  She responded  by giving him a light shove.  Somehow, her hand found its way back into his and the pace of their hike slowed to a leisure stroll. Neither of them had to say anything, content with each other's presence. 

That is until they reached the viewing point. They had made it all the way up the stairs into the church that stood at the top and onto the terrace, before Marinette started to get excited again.  Adrien grinned as he allowed himself to be dragged for a bit, before releasing her hand as she ran to the railing. The terrace allowed for a 360 full view of the mountain top. Marinette spun around slowly in amazement as she tried to take it all in. 

"It's beautiful." She said breathlessly. 

"Yeah, it really is." Adrien responded just as breathlessly, but he wasn't looking at the scenic views, but rather at a blue eyed girl, whose stray dark curls that had escaped from the hair tie that held them,  twirled and looked at the world around her in wonder. 

A silly grin found its way onto his face, and he went to join Marinette. He pointed out landmarks and told her the facts he knew about them. She listened rapturously, pointing out things she found interesting and asking him if he knew anything about it. After a while, they went silent. Marinette took his hand again and leaned her head on his shoulder. She sighed happily. 

"What?" Adrien asked quietly. 

"Nothing, its just really, really pretty is all." She said as she moved a bit closer to him, her other hand that was not in his coming to wrap around his bicep. 

Adrien took a sharp breath before blowing it out slowly. 

"It really is." 

A round of tourists came up shortly after that, and interrupted the peaceful scene with loud voices and the snapping of a camera. 

"Ah, we should do that, Adrien." Marinette said while gazing at them. 

"Do what, be loud?" He snorted.  

"No," she swatted his chest lightly, "Take a picture here at the summit." 

"Ah, alright." He agreed before taking out his phone. He put an arm around her waist and brought her in closer with his cheek resting against her head before sticking his arm out and up to take the photo.  

"Smile!"

He left Marinette swipe through the multitude of photos he took and let her delete any of the photos that she thought looked bad. He did intervene on the one that had her face crinkled up in laughter. It was so genuine and he had such a giddy feeling when he looked at it) that there was no way he was going to let her delete it (no matter how much she protested and said that she looked like a troll). 

They began the last bit of the hike down to Morcote, their final destination when Adrien had an idea. He began taking pictures. Silly ones of Marinette sticking her tongue out at him over her shoulder or ones of her posing in front of giant rocks and trees. His favorites, however, was the photos he got when she didn't know he was taking them. There was one where she was looking around in admiration, a happy smile on her face. And another, where she was standing at the edge of a drop off and the wind was blowing her hair out of her face, the sunlight shining perfectly to accent the picture and made her look gracefully and majestic. (Adrien would like to note that a second after that, the wind blew the wind in her face and while she was trying to get it out of her mouth she nearly fell off that same drop off...he got a picture of that too.) But Adrien's favorite picture had to be the last one he took before they reached Morcote. They were taking a small break, with Marinette sitting on a log, and him, sitting on a slightly taller rock next to her. Marinette was chatting with him before pulling her hair out of her hair tie in order to redo it. Her hair tumbled out onto her shoulders, poufy and kinked where the hair tie had been. Still, the sight took his breath away. She was still talking to him and trying to smooth her hair down before she put it back up. That was when Adrien snapped the picture. 

They moved on shortly after that, but Adrien would never delete that picture that illustrated Marinette so stunningly.  With her striking blue eyes seeming to stare directly at you, even through the picture, A smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose that most people never see, her lips pulled into a slight smile with her mouth open and about to say something, and her hair framing her face in a wild mess. It was sight to behold.  And not for the first time today, Adrien thought to himself: She is really, really pretty.  

When they got to Morcote, they immediately sought out a restaurant to appease their growling stomachs. There they chatted and laughed, and Adrien finally got to rest his aching legs.  After lunch, they wandered the small, winding streets that contained quaint shops and historic buildings. Marinette stopped every two minutes to take a picture of something that she wanted to sketch later. Adrien just shook his head affectionately and relished in the slow pace they had set for themselves until he noticed the sun getting lower in the sky.  

"Mari, we'd better head back its getting late." 

She pouted a bit, obviously not ready to leave, but consented anyways. They made their way over to a ferry that would take them back to Lugano. Marinette was still fairly energetic through the first half of the ride, pointing out the birds flying in the sky and all the trees lining the lake. After they reached half way, however, she began winding down. She settled against Adrien, and he couldn't have been happier when he put an arm around and tugged her close. Her hands wrapped around his waist and her legs came to tuck underneath her. 

"Tired?" He mumbled into her hair. She made a sound of agreement. Adrien settled back into his seat and heaved a happy sigh, with a smile on his lips.

"Hey, Adrien?" Marinette asked, sitting up a bit and looking up at him. Her lip was between her teeth, a sign he learned long ago that meant she was thinking too hard about something and, most likely, worrying.  He brought a hesitant hand up to stroke her hair to try and comfort her. 

"What's up?" 

"Thank you. For this. It was really nice today, I had a lot of fun. And thank you for coming with me and doing the hike, I'm sure you would have rather just have slept today. And I know you were really sore and in pain b--." She was beginning to babble, a hand coming up to tug at a strand from her pony tail. 

"Mari," He interrupted gently,  "I had a lot of fun too." He brought his forehead to rest against hers with his fingers still running through her hair, a smile on his lips. Marinette swallowed hard, and closed her eyes as she moved forwardly slightly so that their noses were touching. Suddenly, Adrien couldn't breathe. She was too close. She was too...there. He breathed out raggedly, dragging his hand to the side of her face he tilted her jaw closer to his. His heart beating erratically, as his lips brushed just barely brushed hers. Marinette stretched her neck up and both of them could feel each other, just almost a heart beat away, Adrien leaned down, ready to close whatever space was between them--

"TEN MINUTES TO LUGANO!" A voice blared over the loud speaker.  

Adrien and Marinette jumped apart, cheeks burning and eyes avoiding contact. Marinette giggled awkwardly (if a bit hysterically) before burying her face in his chest. 

"Sorry, I made that weird." She mumbled. 

He considered her hunched form for a minute before wrapping his arms around her and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. 

"I don't know, I think I kind of like weird." He whispered. She giggled again, before looking up at him. When their eyes met, once again blue danced with green in what could be called both a dance and a battle. Before long, Marinette broke the contact as they both broke out into laughter. 

Marinette's laughter subsiding, she settled back onto his chest. With a small sigh, she wrapped her arms around his waists again, seeming satisfied with staying that way the entire trip. Before she got to comfortable, she looked up at the sky and added, almost in an afterthought; 

"It truly is really, really pretty here." 

She closed her eyes and let herself go boneless against his chest. Adrien wrapped his arms around her before whispering into her hair something barely audible. 

"You really are."

Authors Note: "Google, how do you apologize to readers for not updating since June?"

...I'm sorry guys, Life has once again gotten in the way. But I'm back! and I have this! Honestly, I've been putting off Lugano for a while because there was so much research that needed to be done and I really wanted to depict it as realistic and accurately as possible for someone who has never been there. But I just finally bit the bullet and did it. There are two more parts to Lugano, so don't think this is it! Also how did you guys like that almost kiss scene? Lugano is going to be really fluffy and I was missing the angst soooo...#sorrynotsorry 

Hopefully I'll be better about updating, but I won't make any promises. I start University again in a few weeks so we'll see how much time I have. 

Annywaays, you know I always appreciate you guys and I always love your responses! 

Love forever, 

cutesylittledemon