With a beep, the second to last spot on Ladybug's earrings fades.
She glances at Chat's ring, all paw marks glowing a bright green. While Ladybug had used Lucky Charm, her partner's super power, Cataclysm, hadn't been needed.
"Ah, I've really got to go," she says to Chat. He looks at his own miraculous, reluctance to detransform sketched across his face.
Chat meets Ladybug's eyes and gives her a dazzling smile. His is one of her favorites, second only to Adrien Agreste's. Despite her frequent rejections to Chat's flirtatious advances, Ladybug can't deny her partner's attractiveness.
"I'll see you around, My Lady," he cooes, grabbing her hand and brushing a kiss against her knuckles. "I think I'll stay as Chat for a little while longer."
Ladybug pulls her hand back and waves goodbye before swinging from rooftop to rooftop. She travels as far as she can to a secluded space and reverts to her original form.
Marinette's first thought is to return home, but a tickle of curiosity flutters in the back of her mind. She has never before paid much thought about what Chat does after their time together. She knows when his transformation is about to wear off, he runs off back to his civilian life, same as she. But as for when he is still Chat… that remains to be know.
He's probably doing a daytime patrol, Marinette assumes. Still, the yearning to know how Chat behaves without Ladybug beckons.
Tikki pulls at Marinette's sleeve, startling her. "Um, Marinette?" The kwami looks up at her with shining eyes, a small rumble of hunger emanating from her small form.
"Oh, Tikki! You must be famished. I'm sorry I forgot; I was just thinking." She shakes her head and begins in the direction of the nearest convenience store.
Marinette buys a packaged roll of powdered doughnuts and sticks it into her small purse. "Don't make too much of a mess," she warns, now regretting buying something so messy. The doughnuts had been the first thing she grabbed; Marinette finds herself in a hurry. She had unconsciously planned to follow Chat whilst in her civilian form.
As Tikki munches on her snack, Marinette dashes to the street, scanning the rooftops for a familiar figure clad in black. After wandering the city sidewalks for a few minutes, she spots him jumping in the distance and hurries towards his location so she doesn't lose him.
It takes a while, but Marinette finally manages to reach the same street as he. She finds him looking bored, but is so familiar with his face and expressions that she can tell he is enjoying his time as the city's ever watching hero. She hopes he doesn't get an even bigger head.
Chat remains in the air, occasionally squatting down to peer at the passerbys on the street. When he does, Marinette is quick to jump under an awning, but this time she is not so lucky. Chat swings down, landing so suddenly in front of Marinette that she squeals in alarm.
"Oh, uh, ah," she stutters, bringing an arm behind her head. She remembers to put on a star-struck face and beams. "Oooh, Chat Noir? It's so cool to see you!"
Chat looks down at the street, absentmindedly twirling his tail. A quick flash of bright pink darts under the awning below and it catches his attention, like a cat with a mouse. It's the third time it has happened, and he wonders if he's being followed.
Curious, he jumps down, a hand reaching out to grip the edge of the awning, and swoops down, landing in front of a familiar face. Marinette?
His classmate jumps into the air comically and he stifles a chuckle. She opens her mouth and stutters so customarily that it's almost as if he had run into her as Adrien. It's adorable, really, he thinks, and blinks at her sudden change in demeanor as she fawns over him.
It's amusing at first, and he humours her, playing the magnificent hero. Soon her exaggerated swooning makes him frown; it's so obviously staged. He hadn't caught the over-eager tone the first time they had worked together, but now it's as if she's reciting lines.
Chat holds out a clawed hand to stop her. Marinette does, her babbling coming to an abrupt end. She raises an eyebrow at him, and he wonders if his face appears as irked as he feels.
"Chat? What's wrong?" Her voice is strong and unwavering, sounding so different from what he's used to from her.
Chat sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "You don't have to act like that."
One of her blue eyes twitches. "Like… what?"
Chat waves his hand in the air. "Like you're head-over-heels for me, or something. I can tell you're exaggerating… I'm just not sure why." He can't think of a reason why Marinette would play the excited fan. What is it about him that puts her off?
Marinette rubs her neck and shrugs, no longer denying his claim. "Oh, uh, sorry? I mean, it's not that I don't like you or anything, I just…" It's plain she tries to conjure an excuse but fails. Instead she shrugs, and looks him in the eye apologetically.
Confidence lowered, Chat shakes his head, sighing. "You know what, never mind. I'll just go, I guess."
Marinette's eyes widen, and she steps forward, grabbing his arm to stop him from turning away. "No, Chat, wait." He stares at her hand and a flush rises to Marinette's cheeks. "Sorry," she says, and let's go.
Her eyes dart around the street as if only now realizing other Parisians had noticed their conversation. If they could call it that.
"Did you want to say something?" Chat looks at her curiously, now. Where is the shy, stammering Marinette he is used to? He finds that he himself wants to talk to her, to see what the girl is like behind her nervous wall.
"I… I guess not. I'm sorry I wasted your time." Marinette looks so genuinely disheartened that Chat feels bad for making her feel that way. Something stirs inside him, but he can't pinpoint what it is, exactly.
"Hey," he says, gesturing to the small alleyway between the buildings beside them. "Would my Princess like to talk with this handsome kitty?" Chat winks, trying to lighten the mood.
"Really?" Marinette places her hands on her hips, her lips quirked. "You want to talk in an alley?"
Her stance and expression looks so cute that Chat can't help but let out a laugh.
"Hey! Don't you laugh at me," Marinette protests, causing Chat to laugh even harder.
He struggles to contain himself before asking, "If you would like to go to a public cafe and talk, well…" he shrugs his shoulders for emphasis.
Marinette puffs out her cheeks. "Why are we looking for a place to talk, again? Do you want to tell me something?"
Chat holds up a finger. "Well, I, uh-" he can't think of any other reason than just hanging out for the sake of it.
A smile blossoms on the girl's face. "What's this? Chat Noir is at a loss for words?" There's a teasing glint in her sky blue eyes. It's strangely familiar and so alluring that his breath hitches. The intensity of her gaze… it's definitely not what he typically receives from his classmate.
That weird feeling from earlier returns, and he feels heat rise to his neck. "No, no, you're right, I've got nothing I want to say in particular and… bye?" His sentence is left with the uncertainty of a question as he jumps up, grabs a hold of the awning, and hurries away before transforming back.
Marinette walks back to the bakery. She thinks about her strange encounter with Chat, trying to shake off the initial embarrassment at being caught in the act of both tailing him and faking admiration. It is true, when Marinette said she didn't dislike him. Then there was the weirdness after. She's never seen him lose his cool like that before.
The door to her parents' bakey chimes as she pulls it open. Her feet drags as she makes her way up the stairs to her room.
Marinette uses her extra time to catch up on her homework. With her duties as Ladybug, it's usually a struggle to maintain her good grades, but Marinette is a hard worker.
The hours slip by, then dinner, and Marinette finds herself sitting in her room with nothing to do.
She tries to pass the time by flipping through magazines, working on her designs, even considers slipping out as Ladybug. Her mind always manages to drift back to a certain masked boy, and she has to smack herself on the cheek to distract her from her distraction.
Marinette gets up from her swivel chair to head downstairs before a quiet but distinct knock on her roof shakes her out of her stupor.
Her shoulders tense, and she grabs a pair of fabric shears. Marinette inches silently to the top of her bed and cranes her neck to peer through the glass door. It's too dark outside to see anything. With a jolt, she realizes that whoever it is out there can see perfectly inside.
She scrambles lower down the stairs from her bed and calls, "Who's there?" Marinette is glad to hear that her voice doesn't shake.
"Psst… Marinette? Princess? It's me." Her jaw drops at the sound of the familiar voice.
"Chat?"
Chat crouches on Marinette's balcony, smiling at the girl inside the room below as she puts away her shears. Marinette climbs back up the bed and pushes open the door, her mouth hanging open.
She shivers and says, "Um, why don't you come in?" Her eyes grow wide as she balks. "No, no, wait! I-I have to do something first!"
Chat cocks his head in confusion but stays where he is, trying to ignore the slight chill. The sound of frantic tearing and hustling fills the air and he can't help but wonder what down there made Marinette so nervous.
Soon, her head pops back up through the opening and she beckons him in with a wave of her hand. Chat slinks through the trapdoor and lands gracefully on her bed. His first thought as he looks around the room is that it is very, very pink.
Chat descends the stairs, following Marinette down to the floor. Evidence of her passion for design is all over the room. He pauses at one sketch lying on her desk. "Hey, this is really good. It looks amazing!"
Marinette smiles, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "You really think so?"
Chat nods. "I'm sure it'll look even better once it's made. From that ha-" From that hat you made. Realizing what he was about to say, Chat clamps his teeth down on his tongue. Pain flares, but compared to what his blunder would have done, it's nothing.
He looks at Marinette, but she just smiles at him, a hint of pink on her cheeks. "Wow, thanks. I haven't started on the dress yet, but it's next on my list." She rocks back and forth on her heels. "So, uh, is there something you needed?"
Oh, right. "Well, er, I just-" Chat clears his throat and dregs up some courage, trying to speak in his usual, casual tone. "I was wondering if my Princess wanted to have a little chat with me." Marinette groans at the pun. "After all, I couldn't leave our previous conversation like that. That would be quite rude."
His classmate crosses her arms. "And you wanted to do this at nine in the evening? Chat, why are you really here? Is something wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong." He tries for nonchalance, but gives up and sighs. "I was… lonely. You were the first person I thought to go to." Besides Ladybug, he adds mentally. But I have no idea who she really is.
Marinette's usually expressive face is suddenly blank. She speaks slowly, as if she's carefully choosing the right words to say to him. "You are… lonely? But why did you come to me?"
After he had left her standing alone on the sidewalk this afternoon, Adrien had gone home only to realize he had been late to a photoshoot. After a few hours of posing boredly for pictures, he had come back to his large, empty house to a disappointed father. Nothing tops a bad day like a lecture about punctuality.
With Marinette still on his mind, Adrien had retransformed (with a lot of cheesy bribery for Plagg) and made his way, without much thinking, to the girl's house. It is a place he has visited before, and is conveniently located across the street from their school.
"Well, we were talking earlier, and I thought it'd be nice to have a proper conversation. By the way," Chat squints at Marinette. "Were you following me today?"
Marinette flushes a bright red. "What? F-following you? No! W-why do you ask?"
Chat arches a brow. "I saw that flash of pink from your pants more than a couple times."
"Oh… well, I was, um, I was doing a favor for my friend, Alya. Yeah, yeah, that's why. She runs the Ladyblog, you know." He does, as she is his friend as well, but Marinette can't possibly know that.
"Huh. That makes sense." He slides onto the swivel chair, twisting around so his chest is leaning against the back and facing Marinette. "Do you want an interview? I'll be happy to answer my Princess' questions."
Marinette sits on the chaise by the window. "No, no questions. I'm sure Alya would love to ask some, but that's not exactly why you're here, is it?" Her eyes soften and Chat is drawn to those baby-blues. "You can talk to me, you know. I won't say a word to anyone."
Chat's lips twist into a small smile. "You sound like a therapist. A very cute, sweet therapist." He enjoys the way he makes her blush. It's a little different from her blushes he gets as Adrien, in a way. More tender, calm. A flutter rises in his chest for a strange reason.
"Do you mind, then," Chat ventures. "If I ask you questions instead?"
Marinette blinks. "You want to ask me questions? But why?"
Chat rests his chin on the back of the seat. "I'd like to get to know you better. Does that make you uncomfortable? You don't have to if you don't want to."
Marinette prods her bottom lip with a finger. "No, no, go ahead." She already knows more about him from her time as Ladybug than she should as Marinette, and this feels a little like compensation. Knowledge about her in return for knowledge about him.
Chat smiles, and she feels her mood lift at the grin she knows and loves. "Alright then," he says, and begins his round of questions.
He asks about her personal life: what other hobbies she has, her favorite things, her family and school.
Marinette enjoys answering, and enjoys even more the smiles he makes. The smiles he makes for her, because of her. She gets drunk on his smiles and it's making her oh-so-confused.
She glances at the clock and is only half surprised to see that a few hours have passed. "Oh," she sighs. "It's already midnight." Marinette's mood dampers at the thought of Chat leaving her to an empty room.
Chat gets up from his chair to raise Marinette's hand to his lips. "When the clock strikes midnight, I must leave, Princess. I hope you'll think of me," he adds with a wink.
Marinette scoffs and pushes him lightly away. "In your dreams, Chat."
"No, in your dreams." With that, he scampers up the stairs and onto her bed, pushing the trapdoor open.
"Chat-wait."
He looks back at her, green eyes twinkling. "Yes?"
A light blush warms her cheeks. "Um… you're welcome to come again another time. If you ever feel you need someone to talk to."
Chat smiles. "Thanks. I will." Without a second look back, he disappears.
Marinette sits in her spot, lips parted. A small, pleased sigh escapes and she blushes furiously at herself. Now Chat has become entangled in her personal life, a life she has desperately tried to keep separate and secret from her hero identity. She just can't decide if it's a good or bad thing.