Today we have a little bonding and even some sexual tension between our main couple. Did you guess this chapter would be like that?

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"You're awake," she heard as her eyes blearily opened.

She yawned and sat up, her eyes naturally closing as her mouth opened wide, stretching her arms above her in an animated manner whilst also nodding her head and humming in reply to the soothingly rough voice that spoke to her.

And then her arms abruptly dropped to her sides as her eyes cracked open, suddenly remembering that the voice was too low to be that of the plant fairies who tended to wake her up when she was going to be late to starting her day (not that she woke up even then) and she was looking at the devil that had been pleasantly haunting her recent dreams.

Including the one she had just had of him being a prince stuck in a tower with a large red and gold dragon flying around the tower in order to keep anyone from coming in. In her dream, she was a brave knight who called herself Ladybug. Her armour matched her name being shined and buffed in a metallic red with black accents, and she carried a longsword with the hilt having a ladybug emblem imprinted on it. She had went through the perilous journey of saving the prince by slaying the dragon. But most of the dream passed by in a blur and she could only vividly remember the last bits of it before she woke up. The dream ended with her and the prince leaning in and- perhaps she should just stop thinking when the person was right there and likely studying her every moves.

She looked down to see what sort of state she was in- though also to cover the heat rising on her cheeks- that he was waiting for her to wake up, only to find no outward indication that anything had happened to her. All she remembered was seeing him before seeing the akuma and her instinct took over to- she couldn't recollect what had transpired soon after.

She looked back up confused, "Wha- ah- what happened? Why am I here? How did I get here? Why are you still here?" The questions babbled out of her throat like quickfire as she struggled to collect her thoughts.

She felt as if something was slightly off about him as she looked at him. There was a dark glint in his eyes, which seemed to have devoured the usual stoic look he had, but she could tell the longer he stayed in front of her, the more it faded- like it's intent was not towards her. It made her relax slightly, though, she still made note to be slightly on guard.

He (she still didn't know his blasted name) was unpredictable (yet here she was, feeling and acting like she knew him for thousands of years).

The air seemed to dance around him, or more accurately, it was his energy which was being released into the atmosphere and dispelling into it's surroundings like it's purpose was complete. She could see the tiny particles of black still fizzing out of him, and she wondered what type of magic he had been using that the aftermath of it was so exuberant.

"Well just imagine my surprise when the little fairy was able to manage creating a rather strong protection spell, so much so that the colour reminded me of the sphere that I was trapped in."

"What does that- are you saying- I casted it? How?" She whispered the last part in disbelief, because how had she been able to protect him so intensely.

In all honesty, she had assumed (and even hoped) after she basically blacked out from her memory, he had swooped in to save her from the akuma, but she realised how unrealistic that sounded when he probably didn't even know what it even was in the first place.

He nodded curtly at her, coming closer and allowing himself to casually take a seat at the edge of the bed, just were her feet were, causing her to jolt at the difference in temperature. Why was he so cold? (What she didn't realise was that it wasn't him, but the discarded fragments of energy still flowing out of his life force. It was colder than his normal temperature). Rather than protesting about it- she could tell he may have felt drained from letting out a lot of energy (what for? She still didn't know)- she curled her legs inwards so she was now in a sitting position with her knees close to her chest and her feet still under the covers, savouring the warmth that her own body heat had created during her rest.

"Why, indeed?" He replied in the nonchalant way he always did.

She almost rolled her eyes, opting to cross her arms across her chest, her legs falling slightly though still not straight, "So are you admitting that I am strong?"

"Pretty much after, you collapsed so... I guess you are still weak in some ways," his smirk didn't leave even when she straightened her leg just to kick his side (she felt a small pinch near the bottom of her own hip but what was life without a little coincidence). He just caught her foot and held it down next to him in a very firm grip, ignoring her protests to let go. Eventually she just sighed and her leg went limp, her foot lay against his thigh- or the multitude of fabric that covered it- and his hand rested naturally on her ankle.

She didn't want to dwell on how what was meant to be a bizarre picture that lay on front of her- a demon that she barely knew sitting on her bed and holding her foot- felt so... normal to her.

"Did you carry me here or something? Because I don't recall waking up and getting here by myself," he didn't say anything but his pointed silence and his sudden wanting to look everywhere but her gave it away, "Oh my Sol! You absolutely did."

He cleared his throat and frowned at her, "I was only repaying the debt of you protecting me. There are not many who, especially if they aren't obligated to, are willing to do what you did."

Her face morphed into one which lacked understanding and her other leg moved so they were both crossed on top of his lap (why he let her do this, he didn't know), "But... I didn't even think about you. I just reacted. Anyone would have done so."

"I think you are forgetting one thing, little fairy."

"What?"

"In the eyes of your pathetic group of fairies, I and any of my people are seen as devil incarnate, as the mortals like to call it. I am not from this dastardly place and the second they would see me, they would know that," this time, he caught her foot before it actually hit him and his weighted grip was back around her ankle of the leg placed on top. He pressed it down onto the other, not caring that his own were feeling slightly irritable, and effectively prevented her from moving her feet too much, "If I even stepped on front of them, they would try to attack me. Which is why I don't understand. Ever since you have met me, you seem to not care that I may be a criminal to your people. That I may be seen as someone dangerous to them."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Well... are you? Dangerous that is?" She had asked it before but he hadn't given a straight answer.

A smirk found it's way onto his lips yet again and he deliberately used the sharp point of his still armoured hand (he had not bothered with removing them just yet) to slide a finger up and down the area of her foot. Marinette knew she should have moved her leg away but the way his armour wasn't even digging into her skin, only caressing her foot lightly as the small touches sent shivers up through her entire body, it made her stay there. Once again the frighteningly exhilarating feeling was back but she couldn't even ask it to stop.

"I guess you are just going to have to wait and see," he stopped his light strokes and immediately Marinette felt like whining at the loss of the touch, though she tried not to make her displeasure known.

She snapped back into reality, remembering she had meant to ask him more than where he was on the intimidating scale (she had a small feeling that he was somewhere at the top), and focused on the what he had actually spoken about before she had gotten distracted, "Is that what you came here for? To ask why I decided not to see to it that you end up in that prison again?"

"Among other questions, yes," he nodded.

She thought about it and she let him watch her while her eyes became unfocused and her mind decided to argue with herself. Why had she done it? Why hadn't she told anyone about it? What was her motive in settling on being silent? Marinette may have been unorthodox to many of the fairies around her, but none of them would expect her to be the one to harbour a possibly dangerous criminal and prevent him from being found out (no, that was more likely to be the annoying fairy that seemed to have it out for Marinette ever since she had called her out for cheating on her exam, Lila. Marinette honestly thought if anyone deserved the title of devil incarnate, it would be that witch).

The thing is. He may be a demon and people may call him, as he put it, the devil incarnate, but Marinette honestly didn't see that when she interacted with him. In fact, "I can only count on both hands the people who have treated me like I'm more than just some irrelevant fairy, even when I have done so much for them. But with you... with you it was different. Yes, our first meeting may have not gotten off on the right foot but you were trapped there for who knows how long! It's understandable sort of, why you did what you did and- I mean- I did get to hit you a few times. So I think we're even..." She trailed off.

"I still don't understand."

Marinette felt like banging her head against the very immaculately made headboard of her bed but she didn't want to die before she could become immortal so she- "Oh!" She gasped, one of her hands came up to cover her mouth.

His eyes narrowed, "What?"

"My exam! How could I forget? What time is it?" She quickly scrambled up and leapt out of the bed (his hand had loosened, allowing her to move her legs more freely) and she looked at the clock placed on her desk, "I still have thirty minutes to complete the last task!"

She turned in a hurry but before she could even move an inch away from her desk, he was there in an instant and she was trapped. His hands were placed on her shoulders, pushing her back into the table but because of the unbearable pressure of the wood against her back, it had caused her to jump up a little and sit at the edge. She was all too aware of how close they were and tried to shuffle back. When he made action to drop his arms she almost sighed in relief, but his hands were now at either side of her and he was leaning in.

His face was furious.

He sounded so imperious when he gave a resounding, "No."

Her breath hitched and she gulped, "No?" She questioned quietly. She didn't even trust herself to speak in full sentences, "Why?"

"Does it matter so much that you'd risk your own life after that little stunt you pulled?"

She scoffed and looked away, though her breathing still didn't calm, "It almost sounds like you care."

"I don't," she couldn't even tell if he was speaking of the truth.

"Yeah, well, then you have no excuse for not letting me go. I only get the chance to do this once every five hundred years," and yes maybe she could just wait but she didn't want to be mocked and bullied by the other fairies anymore. Imagine failing four times in a row. Marinette was definitely imagining the scenario of what would happen if she did. Besides, her most important goal was to be able to help others forever. She wanted to be able to be someone who everyone could rely on, but her reputation could get in the way of that, especially if she failed the exam once more.

"There are other ways to get what you want."

"I need to go now."

"No," he assertively replied.

He grabbed her chin and turned her head forcefully back to face him. Her eyes widened when she realised how close their faces were but his piercing glare made her cower slightly in his clutches. Her hands gripped the edges of the table so tightly that her already pale features were likely to become whiter. Still, she surprisingly held her own and she looked back at him, her eyes challenging him defyingly.

"Why?"

"All you need to know is that if you get hurt, I do too," this was not the answer she had expected, and her look faltered. All too suddenly, she was seeing him in a newer light than just moments before when she had found out that he had been the one to carry her.

Perhaps he did actually care (yet somehow she knew he would deny it). Why was he so contradicting? She couldn't understand what was going through his head.

"Uhh," she bit her lip as she tried suddenly not to focus on the sharp features that seemed to accentuate his attractiveness to her. She rarely had the chance to look at an obviously good looking person up close, and especially so because he was a demon. It was the only place she could look at that wasn't his eyes anyways, for his hand was still grasping her chin- though the force of it had lessened. She felt as if, when she looked at his eyes, she would be sucked into the black hole that was the enigma on front of her. For someone who was meant to be a stranger to her, his face really was imbedded into her mind, "What are you talking about?"

He just dropped his hand and leaned back, his posture now straight as he held his head up high, almost too naturally for someone who was a prisoner.

"That... thing," he decided to change the subject with an irritated sigh, "The beast. What was it?"

So he really was just going to act like nothing had happened? Was he just going ignore just how close they were in those few moments? Was she going to play his game if it meant it would give her a chance to breath properly?

"That was an akuma," the answer, simply, was yes. She would.

She stayed on the table, wanting to keep a bit of distance between them and he just raised an eyebrow at her choice., not making a comment on it. He wanted to know more about the akuma.

"And what is an akuma? Or are you just going to sit there in silence and-" he paused and lifted up a clawed finger (it suddenly reminded her of the image of a big cat) up at her when she was about to speak and said something under his breath before looking at her, "Someone's coming."

"H-how do you know that?"

He placed the finger onto his lips, motioning her to stay quiet, "Shh. Now's not the time for your incessant questioning."

"I take offence to that."

"Of course," he closed his eyes to listen a bit better and found that, "I can hear three different voices. All are here to see you."

"What?" she jumped off of the desk, almost knocking her face into his chest (why was he so unfairly tall?), "It must be my friends. You need to go before they see you."

Again he found himself frowning at her, "It is a mystery how you have not given me up yet."

"Well would you like it if I do because, if not, go now," he didn't make a move to leave, instead opting to look at her, his face as frustratingly passive and unreadable as it almost always was.

"Before I do go, however, there is something I believe you have earned the honour of knowing," at that, he leant down, his cool breath steadily against her ear causing the hair on her nape to stand up as an involuntary but light shudder escaped her along with a small gasp. And he whispered one word, just one small word. She almost didn't hear it as her body tensed and her senses went slightly haywire.

He whispered the word and he vanished without another.

And for a few seconds she stood there shell-shocked.

For she hadn't expected that the word which would come out when he had leant in would be his name.

"Adrien," He had murmured low enough for her to hear.

"Adrien," she mirrored, her voice suddenly breathless as she held her hands up together near her heart.

All she could think of is how he had trusted her enough to tell her his name.

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When I started this chapter, I didn't think there'd be any feet action so if you didn't like that, I'm sorry. If you did, well... you do you. 

I'm serious. I didn't plan the foot play. It just.... happened. Sometimes characters have a mind of their own and I'm just here to write what they do.

Yeahhhhh... I don't know how or why it happened but it did and I won't change it. I've spent enough time writing this story as it is.

Also this part is hella short even though so much stuff happened in it but I promise they will be bigger in the future.

See you next week lovelies <3