She can't help the way that she accidentally cuddles closer to him, can't help the way her heart races to the surface, or how her heart breaks.

It's a lot to reconcile; he talks of a lady in his sleep, so confident, so strong, so incredible.

Marinette stares at her hands as she comes to, scoots back from Adrien's side, a place that she hasn't earned a spot beside, and leans closer to their other friends.

Alya would insist that she didn't cuddle in the least, and yet when Marinette turned to look at her best friend, she was laying half on top of Nino, the two nestled close like little bunnies, and Marinette smiled.

She adored the cute, accidental display, but a part of her heart ached as she stood up, still surprised to be awake before the rest of her close knit group.

Marinette slipped around the room with ease, ignoring Adrien's overnight bag that peeked open, tempting a part of her that she'd long since let grow stale to look, and she leans forward, opening her pink bag, watching Tikki fly out cautiously and smiling at her little Kwami as she headed downstairs from the house that they'd stayed the night at to grab some cookies that she'd convinced everyone to help make yesterday; celebratory baking wasn't that odd, was it?

Tikki ate the three cookies quickly and nervously, checking the sleeping bodies in the room, as soon as Marinette handed the cookies over.

She smiled though and moved to sit down on the vacated bed; they'd had half an argument the day before over who would get the bed.

Nino kind of wanted to share it with Alya, but Alya had been deadset on having Marinette and Adrien in the bed; 'because you always look so tired.'

Adrien wanted to just give it to Marinette, because surely, she needed the sleep; Marinette wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to let Adrien sleep there, because as a model, he probably needed his beauty sleep or have Alya sleep there, because it's her bed.

Marinette had settled on Alya's other side on the floor which happened to be next to Adrien last night though she'd scooted closer to Alya before falling asleep and woken up by Adrien.

It was a beautiful morning regardless, and Marinette found herself idly brushing through her hair to keep her hands busy after Tikki hid again; she loved the freeing feeling of the soft strands beneath her hair as her mind wandered.

She couldn't have been brushing her hair for too long before Adrien shifted, and Marinette glanced over to see her crush waking up.

He had bedhead worse than Cat Noir right now, and his eyes blearily opened, green sparking to see the world around him once again.

There was something so real, so gorgeous, about him now that wasn't at all, because he was a model.

It felt strangely intimate to watch Adrien wake up, like they'd been married for years, and she'd been lucky enough to watch him wake this morning.

He ran a hand through his blond hair, squinted at Alya and Nino, tiredly, and then turned his attention on to her, "Princess..." It was quiet; he clearly hadn't realized that he hadn't called her by name.

Marinette blushed, a spark running along her skin at the pet name that she'd never heard Adrien call her, just Cat Noir, and she couldn't even find the will to stammer this early in the morning, still running on the high of feeling almost like his wife. Wives didn't stammer when their husbands called them pet names even though she knew that she wasn't lucky enough even as Lady Luck to wake up like this every morning, "Yes?"

"Marinette, good morning." Adrien sat up, stretching half like a cat as his mind slowly came to.

Marinette smiled even though this time he used her name like he was just coming to, just realizing that she wasn't in fact his princess; she almost felt like giggling over how cute all of this was.

She was just thankful to be rid of stuttering for another moment.

"Good morning, Adrien." Marinette smiled and stood up, "Do you need the brush?"

She walked closer to him, still holding that brush, still feeling as if this all was strangely domestic, strangely intimate.

Her smile widened when he reached out and gingerly took it from her, sparks lighting up across her fingers at the touch, "My dad would probably kill me if I didn't brush my hair."

He was mostly joking as while his father would probably be a least a little concerned if Adrien left any house looking like that and ended up in the tabloids, he wouldn't actually kill him; they'd grown closer in the past few years anyway, not close, but much more understanding.

Marinette smiled as she watched Adrien and wondered if it was sort of like this to actually be married to him, if the mornings sort of became a strange mix of joy and contentment, or if they had been married, would he call her princess every morning or would there be another word, another pet name, that he'd come to call her.

Her smile softened at the thought, and she sat down right next to Adrien again, just glad to be near him before inevitably, her stutter will come back, and they'll be somewhat awkward by each other's side.

For now though, her mind had wandered further away from the sleep talk slipping out of Adrien's lips when he lay next to her when she was waking up.