A/N: I needed to write something other than just Love of a Cat to help keep my sanity this week. This is the result.
Credit needed to be given where it was due, Alya handled this far better than Marinette would have thought. Sure, she was upset, but the conversation that resulted from Alya walking in on a rather shocking scene was quiet enough for Chat to stay asleep.
"So, one more time," Alya whispered, rubbing at her temples. She sat in Marinette's desk chair that she had pulled over to the chaise, where Marinette was sitting with Chat laying basically on top of her. "You and Chat have been together 'officially/non-officially dating' for three months now? And you never told me not only because you needed to keep the whole thing quiet, but because you didn't want to crush my hopes and dreams."
Marinette cringed. "Yeah," she sheepishly confirmed. "I'm sorry for not telling you, but I needed time to process that I was sort-of-kind-of dating a superhero."
Alya frowned but shook her head. "Ok. Fine. I will let go of both my ships because it's you and your choice. Besides…" a semblance of a smile took over Alya's features. "If any civilian deserves to be dating a superhero, it's you, girl."
Marinette blushed. "Thanks, Alya."
Despite them being quiet, Chat Noir shifted, his face pressing deeper into her shoulder and arms wrapping tighter around her waist. She shushed him quietly, reaching up to once again rub his ears and scratch his head. "You're okay," she whispered into one of his leather ears.
Alya marveled at how Chat relaxed against Marinette's touches and gradually eased back into a deeper slumber. "Girl," she whispered. "He better never cross you. Superhero or not, I will skin his leather hide."
"He's actually a perfect gentleman," Marinette defended before the fierceness faded. "…most of the time."
"Yeah, and the rest of the time?"
"He's a dork."
Alya snorted. "That, I believe. Still, he better be perfect because if he breaks your heart in any way, shape, or form, he'll be in for it. I'll find blackmail material on him I'll make him regret ever crossing the best friend of Alya Cesaire."
Marinette giggled. "If he ever. It's more likely he'll give up his miraculous than break my heart. But if he does," Marinette said, interrupting Alya's oncoming rant, "then I have plenty of dirt on this poor kitty to tell you."
Alya raised a brow. "Really?"
Marinette nodded. "I told you we've been friends before this…whatever-this-is. I know lots about him." A conspiring look crossed her face. "Like he purrs just like a real cat."
This got Alya interested. "Really?"
Marinette nodded. "Watch and listen."
"Wait." Alya whipped out her phone, "For later," she argued.
Rolling her eyes, Marinette let it go. She ignored Alya as her hands wandered down his back, scratching a purposeful pattern. Chat grinned in his sleep, responding to her touch. And then when her hands found their way to right above the belt, she dug her nails into his back and pulled them all the way up to his shoulders. Even asleep, Chat fully relaxed, melting into a very happy and purring pile of goo.
Marinette continued her ministrations, scratching down his back and up his spine in slow circles. Alya fought to contain herself. "Oh. My. Word," she whispered, amused beyond belief that a superhero that ran around with the power of destruction at his fingertips was purring—purring—in his sleep.
Marinette smiled as she changed her pattern once again, this time getting right under his shoulder blades before her hands itched down his back again. And he rolled and wiggled like a restless five-year-old, all the while producing a sound of a plane engine.
Alya couldn't contain her snort of laughter, but she did smack her hand over her mouth to cover it.
Eventually, Marinette calmed her somewhat aggressive scratching and settled for rubbing slow circles into his hair, pinching at his ears every once in a while. The tip of Chat's tail curled and uncurled in slow motions while he still purred.
"Oh. My. Gosh!" Alya whisper squealed. She shut off the camera on her phone, putting it down in order to watch the scene with her own eyes. "He's like…a cat. Your cat."
Marinette nodded, grinning in pride.
Alya shook her head in bewilderment. "You know how many girls in Paris would want to be in your shoes right now? Like…you got the one guy who could rival Adrien Agreste in fangirls."
"I wouldn't go that far," Marinette countered. "But he is super special and I know I'm lucky." She gave Chat Noir a squeeze, nosing his hair, which only seemed to intensify his purring.
Marinette got a wicked smirk on her face as she leaned in close to his ear. "Who's my good kitty?" she asked in his ear.
He shifted in his sleep, wrapping his arms tighter around her.
"Are you my good kitty?"
He whined in his sleep. This prompted a conspiring look between the two girls, and Alya brought her phone out again.
"Who's my good kitty?" Marinette whispered again, itching his back.
A smile broke out across his face while he shifted against Marinette's touch. "Meeeee," he moaned in his sleep.
Alya snorted, once again having to smack her hand over her mouth to keep from bursting out laughter.
"That's right," Marinette said. "You're my good kitty."
He shifted again, his face pressing upwards into her neck while his legs entangled with hers.
"And you better stay my good kitty," she warned. "Because if you're a bad kitty, you'll be in big trouble.
In a flash, worry contorted his face. "Noooo," he whined.
"So you better stay my good kitty, ok?"
He whined, his feet struggling to find a foothold so he could push himself up higher and snuggle closer to her.
"Are you going to be my good kitty?"
"I'm your good kitty."
Alya was trying so very hard not to lose it. She could hold in her laughter. She. Could. Hold. It. But darn if it wasn't one of the hardest tasks she'd ever done.
"Yes, you're such a good kitty." Marinette started up her ministrations again, placing Chat Noir back at ease. "You're my good kitty."
He smiled in his sleep.
"And you're going to stay my good kitty?"
He started up purring again.
"Forever and ever?"
"I'm your good kitty!"
She couldn't take it any longer. Alya lost it. She burst into a fit of hysterical laughter, bent over, nearly dropping her phone in the process.
While the superhero may have been exhausted, not even he was going to sleep through that laughter. Groggily, he woke, blearily blinking his eyes up at Marinette.
She smiled down at him, trying to withhold laughter of her own. "I'm sorry, kitty."
His brow furrowed in confusion before Alya returned into his field of vision. And when she did, he suddenly felt more awake than ever.
"Hi," Alya said, her voice still light with amusement. "Um, I don't think we've met officially, but since I'm Marinette's best friend and you're kinda dating her…"
Their introduction was strained and awkward to say the least. Chat had voiced his concerns about the Ladyblogger posting things on her site. "Keep Marinette out of this, okay?" he begged. "Not that I wouldn't want to proclaim it to the world, but for her safety, you know?"
"I understand," Alya assured. "However, just know that if you break her heart, there will be plenty of other things that appear on the Ladyblog, if you catch my drift."
His amusement over her pun lasted all of a second before a fierceness flashed in his eyes. He looked like he was about to tell her off for even implying he would hurt Marinette, but that was before he caught sight of what exactly was on her phone screen.
"I got to say, Chat Noir," Alya teased, "the purring had me impressed, but who knew the superhero of Paris talked in his sleep?"
Chat Noir was now more like Chat Blanc considering the color his face had turned. "Princess," he whined.
But she just shot him a wicked grin. "Sorry, Chat Noir, but I think I'm going to let Alya keep that just in case you're ever a 'bad kitty'."
Not even his scowl could temper the girls' laughter. With both girls rendered completely useless in fits of laughter, he thought there was no better option than to take his leave.
However, even after her laughter died down, Alya was far from through with her teasing. Chat Noir may have fled the area, but Marinette wasn't so lucky. "So," she began, looking pointedly at Marinette. "Princess, hmm?"
Marinette immediately stopped laughing as she was suddenly desperate for the ability to follow Chat Noir out of the room. "Uhh…"