Appreciating Chat Noir

Chapter Six

Marinette was in her room planning her design for the fashion competition when she heard a thud on her balcony. She and Tikki looked at each other, alarmed. "Who could that be Marinette?"

"I don't know Tikki." Marinette got up and began to climb the ladder to her loft bed, to open the exit to the balcony. Opening it, her mouth fell open, a bit shocked to see Chat Noir there, of all people. "Hi Chat Noir, what are you doing here?" She asked.

He looked up at her with a conflicted look on his face. She wondered what was wrong.

"Hi, Purr-incess. Thought I would claw-m my way back into your life. Is it okay if I drop in?" His face was thinly concealing the chaos inside.

"Uh, yeah sure. Come on in." She said with a smile.

They went back into her room where it was covered in an organized chaos – outfit designs, fabric samples, and various tools used for sewing were scattered all around her room.

"Woah it looks like a tornado was in here! What are you working on?" He asked, pretending ignorance.

She quickly hurried to clean up the chase and with an embarrassed look explained; "Oh, I'm working on a piece for this fashion competition – I'm trying to decide on a design right now."

"Wow, that sounds cool."

"Yeah – the theme is teamwork so I thought who'd be better than ladybug and Chat Noir?" Marinette said with a slight flush in her cheeks.

"Oh, I see. I'm flattered!" He said wondering what Marinette knew – or thought she knew – about his teamwork with Ladybug. He didn't think she was that interested in Ladybug actually. "Why us?"

Marinette thought about what she could tell him. It's not like she could just tell him that she fought alongside him almost every day! Or that she viewed him as her trustworthy partner and in her own discrete way wanted to show him how much she valued him. When she thought of teamwork, she instantly thought of him. She couldn't have asked for a better partner and hoped he would see this and maybe, just maybe reconsider leaving Paris. But she couldn't just tell him that.

"Well, when I think of teamwork, I instantly think of you and ladybug. In my mind, there was no other duo that I'd want to choose to model my outfit designs after."

"Really?" He asked with a huge smile and an arched brow.

"Well yeah – you two protect Paris every day and – well you get the point."

"Yeah." He nodded, but he was left with more questions than answers. Intrigued, he desperately wanted to know more.

"So, what are you doing here?"

Right. He couldn't just show up unannounced without having a reason. He had to explain himself somewhat. "I know this may sound strange, but I was having a strange day and I thought maybe we could watch a movie together?"

Marinette looked at him with analyzing eyes. He did look upset for some reason and she needed a break anyway. "Uh yeah sure. What movie did you want to watch?"

His face broke into a huge grin that engulfed his face. "What movies do you have?"

"Oh, well I have some barbie movies I haven't gotten rid of yet and – oh what's this?" She picked up a DVD and turned it around to look at the cover. "Epic. Oh! I haven't seen this in ages!"

"Let's watch it!"

"Yeah! Okay!"

The two of them excitedly tried to get situated on the chase and Marinette pulled out her laptop which somehow still had a slot to put in DVD's. "I hope this is comfortable for you," Marinette said.

"Yeah, it is. Is this alright?" He asked, putting his arm around her.

She looked over at him with a pinkish tint - a hint of a blush - on her cheeks and nodded. He smiled in return before she pressed play and the movie began.

A while later the queen was dying while a confused M.K was crouching beside her just on the precipice of a of being thrust into a 'epic' journey of wild proportions when Marinette felt the weight of something fall on her shoulder. She looked beside her – Chat Noir had fallen asleep.

She gave a small, sad, smile. Why he would be here hanging out with her on a Thursday night instead of with his own friends and family she couldn't begin to understand. Not that she minded – she did greatly enjoy his company. But still... something was clearly wrong.

She wondered if he would ever tell her what it was.

And Adrien – wherever he was – would he ever forgive her for letting him down? If he ever knew that is, how she couldn't save him on time. Would he ever let it go if he ever knew the full story?

She felt a small sense of comfort in knowing that at least he had at least recovered nicely. At least the akuma didn't... well she didn't want to think about that possibility.

Turning down the volume on her laptop, she sat contently in that moment with Chat Noir beside her, with the knowledge that here, in that moment, there was a moment of peace. And that, would have to be enough.

Did they still have their fair share of problems? Yes. Was she afraid that she was never going to see him again? Yes. But at least in that moment, they were okay.

With that sitting contently in her heart, she felt her shoulders relax, and her eyes begin to flutter shut. Before she knew it, they had both fallen asleep beside each other.

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The next morning, she woke up with a blanket around her torso, her laptop placed nicely on a tabletop nearby, and Chat Noir nowhere to be seen. She figured he must have finally decided to go home. Wherever that was.

She felt a bit disoriented at first, feeling the morning breath and uncombed hair. Sitting up, she realized that he had left a note as well, that fell on her lap as she sat up. The beautiful sunlight shone in through the windows and she smiled a little in appreciation of the birds chirping.

Marinette slowly grabbed the note and opened it seeing a phone number.

"*** *** **** xo Chat Noir

PS. Check your phone!"

She grabbed her phone and turned it on seeing several messages.

They appeared to all be from Chat Noir throughout the night.

"Hey Marinette, thought you might want to be able to ask me for advice for the fashion competition. After all, I'm your miau-spiration, am I right? Anyways I had fun tonight." ---8pm

"Would it be too soon to say that I'd like us to do something like that again? ;)" ---8:05pm

Then one much later...

"Uh Marinette, if I hypothetically said something misleading that may have led to people thinking something that isn't true would it be alright with you? Hypothetically of course. Uh just if anyone asks you were with your boyfriend last night, okay? I'll explain later. I may have said something... stupid. I'm so sorry but please don't tell anyone the truth yet. An odd request perhaps, but there are extenuating circumstances where it was may have been... well necessary. I just have one request; Please don't tell anyone!" ---8:45pm

Marinette felt her cheeks grow red with flustered confusion the more she read the messages. Having re-read them three times each time in baffled confusion, she brought a hand to her mouth, she gasped.

What had that Chat done now?