1. Curious Kitty

Chat Noir never particularly liked rain. Maybe it was a cat thing. Maybe it was a model thing. Either way, he'd rather avoid getting wet. Yet here he was, trailing after his pigtailed classmate, as she marched through Paris with pink boots keeping her feet dry and a black umbrella bobbing above her head. She looked happy. He could swear he even saw her jump into a puddle once or twice. He definitely saw her twirl gracefully when she thought no one was watching.

He was intrigued, his curiosity tickling him to find the reason for this ritual. Because it was a ritual. One Marinette was surely dedicated to. The first time he'd caught a glimpse of Marinette's pink boots and dark pigtails as Adrien was when he was passing by in his silver car on his way to another practise. Then, he had spotted her a few times as Chat, walking in the rain with a wide smile and glazed eyes. Spring weather made it easier, with frequent rainfalls and warmer days. Even without his mild aversion to water he just couldn't understand why would she do this. As far as he could tell, there was no particular destination to her walk, no purpose. After some time she just went back home, delighted at her wet shoes and umbrella, humming under her breath.

So that day, against his better judgement, he found himself following Marinette again, with his drenched hair misbehaving even more than in a dry state and his wet tail sloshing miserably behind him. He was sneaky, but somehow she still could blow his cover.

'I can see you, you know,' Chat heard an amused voice. Marinette tapped her foot in a puddle, making splashy noises. She was looking directly at the spot on the roof where he was hiding. 'You can come out now, unless you prefer to stalk me some more.'

Ah. Now that would be creepy. Resigned, he made his way down using the staff as an elevator.

'Hi, fellow citizen,' he winked, letting his flamboyant side to the surface, to mask the fact that he felt embarrassed at getting caught. He collapsed his baton.

'Care to tell me why you are following me?' the girl eyed him up and down. She didn't look angry or scared. He took it as a good sign.

'I'm not…,' on instinct his hand went to the nape of his neck to rub it and caught a handful of wet locks. He winced at the sensation of water dripping down his collar. 'I'm not a creep, I just... ' he sighed, 'I'm curious.'

'Curious?' she cocked a brow.

'Why do you do this?' he finally asked. 'Why do you walk in the rain?'

Marinette leaned in and tapped him on the nose. 'It's a secret,' she whispered with a broad smile.

'As I already told you, this cat is very curious,' he countered without missing a beat. 'Humor me.'

The girl narrowed her eyes at him. She bit her lip hesitantly. 'I suppose I could tell you,' she drawled and he nodded vigorously causing a small shower of droplets around him that earned him an adorable giggle.

'But!' Marinette raised a finger. 'It can't be that easy,' she smiled sweetly. 'Let's make a deal. For every time you find me in the rain I will tell you one detail about it.'

'But Princesssss,' he lamented. 'I don't like getting wet.' He also hated not to know. And now that he knew there was a secret involved, his curiosity grew even more, like an itch he couldn't scratch.

She shrugged, unabashed. 'Then you can't know my secret.'

'But I want to know your secret,' he whined with a pout. He even scrunched his nose, but the girl seemed unaffected.

'Then you know what you have to do,' Marinette stated in a no nonsense voice. 'See you next rainfall, Chat!' she called with a small wave and turned around to march home.

Suddenly he couldn't wait for another rain to come.

Author's Note: This is a story for the lovely kellarhi on tumblr in exchange for something that is not yet ready but I'm sure is going to be stunning! It was written some time ago, definitely before Troublemaker, which might be important in future chapters.
A huge thank you to Remasa who beta-read this story! Check out her newest fic for ML Fluff Month "Fluttering Feathers, Fluttering Hearts" - it's adorable!

Now sorry in advance if I don't reply to your reviews right away as I'm leaving for another trip and I have no idea if I'm going to find a decent internet connection. Be patient, I will definitely reply!

For more miraculous content visit me on perditaalottachocolate-blog . tumblr . com. Useful tags: "perdita writes" for my stories and "perdita draws" for art.