•Bad Luck•

Surprise?

"Hey there, Purrincess-" Chat began, helping himself into Marinette's room as she had insisted after his visits became more regular. The rest of his sentence caught in his throat as he heard the quiet sobs and gasps for air. Soon enough, his eyes found Marinette curled up into a tight ball in the corner of her bed. Her dark hair fell across her face, locks sticking to her face with tears. Her bloodshot eyes found Chat's green ones, the sight of her friend bringing her further over the edge.

Fear struck Chat - what had happened to Mari, how the hell was he supposed to comfort a weeping girl?

"M-Marinette? What's wrong?" He asked quietly, making his way beside her and pulling her into a tight hug. She hugged back fiercely, her arms wrapping around Chat's frame and squeezing the life out of him like a python. Marinette's cries grew louder and more rapid as she let everything out, the comfort and reassurance of her bestfriend making her lose whatever quiver of control she had. She still didn't talk, she probably couldn't.

"Come one now Mari, It's alright. You've got to try and calm down; you don't wanna get akumatised do you? I wouldn't want that," Chat made an attempt to lighten the mood, but it seemed to be impossible at the time. He desperately hoped there wasn't an akuma on the way, he certainly didn't want to fight Marinette. All he could do was stroke her back and try and reassure her. All the while, his heart beat fast, scared of what had caused Marinette, usually so strong and happy, to be like that.

It took another five minutes before Marinette had calmed down enough to speak coherently. Her eyes were red and puffy, Chat's shoulder soaked from tears - not that he cared about that. She had finally settled, the tears stopped streaming down her cheeks, and only the occasional hitch of her breath.

"S-sorry Chat," Marinette whimpered, brushing her hair from her face.

"Hey, don't be sorry Mari. What's wrong?" Chat frowned, rubbing her shoulder as she sat up. It was silent for a moment as Marinette debated telling Chat the truth or not. It wouldn't be any harm if he knew, it wasn't as if she were Ladybug right then, and hell he may even have some advice for her. Although, Adrien was rather well known in Paris, there was a good chance Chat Noir at least knew who he was.

"It's really stupid and pathetic," Mari began, still unsure and rather embarrassed that she was about to spill her guts to Chat.

"I'm sure it's not Mari," Chat assured.

"There's this boy. I've loved him for a while now, two years I think?" Chat felt a sharp stab to his chest, ignoring it as best as he could. "I don't know, he's just always been so kind to me, you may of heard him before, Adrien Agreste? It doesn't really matter anyway, because he's never liked me like that. He's shut me down each time, and I guess I just couldn't take it anymore," Marinette sniffed, avoiding Chat's intense gaze.

Had he heard correctly? His ears weren't failing him, Marinette just confessed her love to him? Chat tried to keep a straight face as he processed things. Anger boiled up inside him for being so blind and careless towards Marinette, yet at the same time he felt an overwhelming joy to know that Marinette liked, no loved him.

"Chat?" Mari's voice pulled him back to earth. Adrien looked her in the eyes, and for the first time he knew he liked Marinette. There were no if's or but's, he had found someone who cared about him endlessly, and that was worth more than anything he had gotten from Ladybug. Adrien took in all the small details of Marinette that he had never noticed before, like the tiny freckles spotted across the bridge of her nose and the grey flecks through her bluebell eyes.

Gently, Chat wiped an eyelash from Mari's cheek, being sure not to scratch her as he brought the other hand up, lightly cupping her face. He felt himself leaning in ever so slowly, the silence around them piercing his ears. He watched closely, waiting for Marinette to slap him, push him away and tell him he's overstepped his boundaries. But she didn't.

Perhaps her mind and emotions were all over the place, and maybe that's why she closed her eyes and closed the space between them. But as her lips found Chat's, she had no thought of Adrien on her mind, and Ladybug failed to find her way into Adrien's.

The kiss was short, lasted a mere few seconds before Marinette pulled away. She looked into Chat's glowing green eyes for a moment before pulling herself towards him and bringing her lips to his once again. It was hungrier, more desperate this time as both rose to their knee's, Marinette's hands finding Chat's hair. Carefully, he pulled her down on him, Mari holding herself up with a hand beside his head, the other still combing through his blonde locks. Adrien's hand shifted from her face, snaking down her side to grab hold of her waist as she straddled him.

He earned a quiet moan from Marinette as he moved from her lips, planting kisses down her neck until he found her sweet spot, gently sucking on it and giving her a light nip with his teeth. The sound put his mind into a frenzy as he continued, his gloved hands rising up under Marinette's shirt

He sat upright, Marinette's now free hand wrapping around his neck and back, no longer needing to support herself. Somehow, Chat began to think, and realised this wasn't right. Marinette just had an emotional breakdown because of him, and despite the fact that it seemed she very much wanted to continue what they were doing, Adrien knew she might not be thinking straight, and might come to regret her decisions tomorrow. And as much as he wanted to continue, Adrien knew she should do it only when she knew who was behind the mask. With a certain annoyance and disappointment, Chat pulled away, causing Marinette to frown.

"Is there something wrong?" She breathed, her hand stroking his cheek.

"Yeah, there is," Chat responded with a sigh, "We can't do this, I mean we can, and I'd love to and all, but I don't want you to regret this and feel worse. I speak from experience, you do reckless things when you're upset, and often come to regret them." Marinette thought for a moment, smiling softly up at Chat, her eyes clearing.

'Thanks, Chat."

"Come here Princess, We can still cuddle," he grinned, pulling Marinette down to lay by his side, sensing she was still upset. Both wriggled around so they were both comfortable, until Marinette curled up against Chat, her forehead rested on his chest. He let his arm drape over her waist, both laying there in silence for a long time.

"You sure have a strange way of protecting me from akuma's Chat. Is that how you cheer up all the girls in Paris?" Mari teased.

"No, just you Mari," He chuckled, the vibration tickling Marinette's head.

As Mari listened to the steady thud of Chat's heart, she thought over his words, that when people were upset they do rash things. But as she kept thinking, Mari couldn't help but wonder if that was the only reason she did what she had.

"I hate to do this, but this cat has to be home or else he will be killed," Chat spoke after a long silence.

"I'll walk you out," Marinette insisted, following Chat to her balcony. She pulled him into a hug, mumbling a goodbye into his chest. "About before, Chat," Mari began as they pulled away.

"We can talk about it tomorrow night, Princess. I'll let you think things through for a bit. And if you still feel the same way, well," Chat paused, as if to word the next part carefully, "Just know I do to," and with that, he jumped from the balcony and leapt away, leaving Marinette's head in a whirl.