It was a dark, blustery night. The trees whistled as the wind blew through them. The moon shone brightly that night, able to be seen for miles.
A young lady by the name of Marinette Dupain-Cheng slept soundly in her bed, dreaming of what she usually dreams most nights; her being married to the love of her life, Adrien Agreste. The two of them living a happy and peaceful life together, alongside two children. A small smile developed on her face as she dreamt her husband coming home and greeting her with a kiss.
A loud "thud" noise rang throughout the vicinity, causing Marinette to stir. Just outside on her porch was none other than Paris's resident superhero known as Chat Noir. He pressed his back against the doorframe and peered in, checking in on the young woman who continued to slumber. He assured himself that she was in a deep sleep and began to scowl, clutching the item that was in his hands. He sighed. "Maybe some other time then."
Chat took a couple of steps forward, intending to leave, but a voice called out which made him pause. "Who's there?" He turned back and saw that the person whom he was examining had just woken up and was in a state of alarm. He sighed once more, stuffed the item he was holding into the side of his belt, and said to himself "Just my luck."
He turned around and walked back to the door, knocking on the glass. "Yoo hoo!" he said as he waved in to her, hoping that she'd let him in. This time, it was her turn to sigh. In her mind she thought "Oh great, what does he want now, so late at night?" but she kept that thought to herself and traversed over to the door and opened them up for him. "Oh my, it's Chat Noir! To what do I owe the pleasure?" she asked with fake enthusiasm, but luckily, the hero didn't pick up on it. "I just wanted to see how my princess was doing on this beautiful evening? Staying out of trouble I hope?"
"I'm fine Chat, you don't need to worry about me." she responded with more fake enthusiasm, but in her mind, all she thought was, "He came all the way here and woke me up just for that?"
"I'm relieved to hear that! There's been more and more Akuma activity as you may have known and I just wanted to make sure you were safe is all."
"Oh yes, I know, but I'm safe! You're doing a fantastic job protecting the city, and so is Ladybug! If I ever need help, I'll be sure to contact either one of you. I'm still pretty drowsy and have a test in the morning so please excuse me Chat and you have yourself a wonderful ni-" she wanted to continue her attempt to have Chat to leave so she could go back to bed, but she was interrupted when he took her hands and began staring into her eyes. She couldn't see much behind his mask, but from the look of his mouth, she could sense that he was worried about something. This feeling spread to her as well, and she said "Chat? Is… is everything alright?"
"Yes, I just had a question is all." He released her hands and grabbed the item from his belt. The item was a long and beautiful blue scarf. Chat grabbed right end of the scarf and folded it so that a small section was only visible, and in that section the letters "M-A-R-I-N-E-T-T-E" were visible. When Marinette recognized this scarf, she jumped in surprise. "Where- where did you get that?"
"I was fighting an Akuma tonight and this scarf dropped from it. I thought you might have been in trouble once I saw your name on it so I decided to come and check in on you and make sure that you were safe." Marinette felt warm from the concern that Chat was showing, but that warmth quickly turned to worry once she realized what's going on. "That's actually Adrien's scarf! I- er… his father gave it to him for his Birthday." This time, she took his hands and gazed worryingly into his eyes. "Please, Chat, go save Adrien! He needs help!"
He paused for a second, soaking in her words, surprised at how much concern she was showing for her friend. He nodded at her. "Don't you worry Princess, I won't rest until he's safe. You have my word!"
She pulled away and smiled at him. "Thank you Chat Noir."
"Don't mention it Princess." he turned around and began to take his leave. He stopped in the middle of her balcony and said, "Tell me one thing though. Did his father really give him this scarf?"
She paused and thought about her answer. She thought "I guess there's no harm in telling him."
"No. I made it for him." Chat's shoulders began to rise, and in a deep and serious tone he said, "That's all I need."
"Please!" Marinette called out to him. "When you see him, don't tell him the truth. It means a lot to him that he thinks it came from his father. I wouldn't want to shatter that happiness."
Chat stood in his position for a few moments, then leapt away without saying another word. Marinette pondered if it was the right decision to tell him the truth or not, but she pushed that thought aside and went over to her dresser. Her little red friend Tikki was fast asleep. She was worried about Adrien and wanted to go out on the search for him as Ladybug, but she needed her sleep too. She trusted Chat would look after it, and if he really needed the help, he'd call her.
Thus, she crawled back into bed and drifted asleep. This time though, it wasn't a sound sleep. She was still worried about Adrien, but she just had to trust that Chat would look after things. She just had to.
A bit later, Chat found himself back in his own room at his mansion. The transformation wore off and he was back to being Adrien Agreste. His little black flying friend known as Plagg floated around him. "You worried the poor girl you know."
Adrien didn't respond. He looked at the scarf and thought about when he saw that name.
It was earlier that afternoon, the wind was extremely gusty. However, that didn't stop Adrien from doing a photoshoot in the park. It was Fall time and he had to model the new Fall fashion, however, he insisted that he include his scarf as part of the ensemble. It meant a lot to him that he'd incorporate his father's gift to him from his past birthday into his work. The photographer was reluctant, but agreed and knew exactly how to make it work.
Gusts of wind continued to blow, but Adrien tried to use it to his advantage. He looked over into the crowd and winked at the bystanders that included his friends Marinette and Alya. He turned back to the photographer but a large gust of wind blew right onto him which caused the scarf to blow onto his face. When he peeled it off, he noticed that there was an upside down letter inscribed on it. He took off the scarf and began playing around with it, turning it upside down, right side up, trying to find this mysterious letter. Eventually, he managed to find it and found out that the letter he saw was an E. As well, to the left of it was an N, and to the right was a T. He examined the word and saw that it spelt "Marinette".
He was confused, questions were running through his mind. Why did it say Marinette? Wasn't it his Father that gave him that scarf? If so, why would it say her name on it?
He turned and looked over at Marinette. She was grinning widely in his direction. He gave an awkward wave and smile to her as he continued to ponder these questions. What was the truth? How could he find out for sure?"
After the photoshoot, when everyone was packing up together, he found Plagg inside a platter full of cheese and got an idea of what to do. That night, he'll go visit Marinette and question her about the scarf as Chat Noir. He thought that since she had no idea who Chat was, she'd be able to provide him with the truth.
And that's exactly what he got. Sure, he had to lie to her about him being in trouble to get it, but now he knew for sure.
He was feeling frustrated and upset that he fooled himself to believe that his Father did care about him. He tossed the scarf on his bed and laid down on it, staring at the ceiling, harbouring the frustration, causing it to grow.
Moments later though, an image of Marinette's smiling face appeared in his mind. To him, this image was oddly soothing and calmed him down some. He began to remember all the great times he had with Marinette, where she would go above and beyond for him. Her words from earlier that night echoed in his mind too. "When you see him, don't tell him the truth. It means a lot to him that he thinks it came from his father. I wouldn't want to shatter that happiness."
It did meant a lot to him that he thought it was from his Father, and it meant a lot too that Marinette would put up a charade for him too for the sake of his happiness.
He looked to the side of his bed, which was where the scarf was now lying. He smiled at it, specifically looking at the area where it spelled "Marinette" and said "Well, at least someone loves me."