Ever noticed that black cat running across the very beginning of the opening credits that Marinette trips over?
xox
Cat Basket
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I'm Marinette—just a normal girl with a normal life. But I have a secret to keep, and the catch is—it's not even my own secret.
It all started that afternoon—no wait, I think it goes farther back. It was morning, I was rushing on my way to school, and everything was as usual: the fisherman fishes, the bakerman bakes to the bells of Notre Dame and all that. Then there was that black cat.
It came from out of nowhere, a streak of black suddenly stopping on the spot where my foot was about to land. I managed to avoid it, but as luck would have it I ended up losing my balance and taking a nice rest right there, on the cold concrete, and flat on my stomach.
"Ow ow ow," I complained. The creature responsible had obliged me a glance and continued as before, crossing my path in a perfect straight line, its inky paws stepping very deliberately. The saying about black cats crossing your path flashed across my mind, but I had no time to waste on superstitions—I was running late. So I picked myself up and went back to hurrying.
Late. Again.
"Marinette," the class instructor called my name out even as his back was turned. "Nice of you to join us."
"I'm sorry M'sieur, I just—"
"Yes yes, just take your seat before I decide to flunk you." He finally finished what he was writing on the board, turning to face us. "You really have no time to lose, the exam started ten minutes ago."
'E-EXAM?' I looked around—yep, everybody had their heads bowed over sheets of serious-looking paper. Alya sneaked a worried glance at me.
'Please tell me you didn't forget', her eyes seemed to plead.
But I had.
"Glad that's over and done with," Alya said with a sigh of relief, leaning back in her chair. I mumbled something miserably in response.
"What was that?"
"Today is just not my day," I repeated, lifting my pitiful face from the comfy position on top of the desk. "I woke up so late I skipped breakfast, I tripped on a cat on the way to school, I'm late for first class, which was holding an exam I didn't study at all for—it's just not my day." I sighed.
"There, there." Alya rubbed my back comfortingly. "The day isn't over yet."
"Yep, I still have a full day ahead of me. Oh joy." I put my face back where it belonged, down on the desk, and groaned. Alya shook her head.
"I meant that it could still get better, you adorable goof," she explained with a laugh and a shake of her head.
"Look, let's get you something to eat, then we can go to the next class," Alya continued to coax me out of my bad mood. "You'll still be seeing Adrien today, maybe you'll get lucky and he'll talk to you."
"You're right, there's Adrien." I sat back up. "If there's anyone who can make my day better, it's Adrien."
"There's the Marinette I know," Alya cheered. "Determined and crazy for Adrien."
"I-I'm not crazy for him!"
"Sure you're not."
"For this report, I'll be pairing you off randomly. The topic you report on will be random as well. Before you ask, I already drew lots on both topic and pairs, so I don't want to hear any complaints about fairness. C'est clair?" Mlle Bustier addressed her students, but did not wait for a response.
"Nino and Juleka, the unification of Italy parallel to standardization of the Italian language and literature." Nino looked apprehensive, Juleka just looked bored.
"Kim and Chloé—not a word, young lady," she cut off the young blonde just as she opened her pink glossed lips. "I think the topic will interest you. Or at least, it should, considering who your father is. The history of the development of Paris as a city, with focus on the arrondissements and quartiers."
"Marinette and Adrien—"
I couldn't believe my ears. Marinette and Adrien. MARINETTE and ADRIEN. That's me, right? And—and him...
Adrien turned in his seat to smile and wave at me. That adorable smile hit me like a wave, I swear I was seeing stars. I managed to smile back, I think. In the next moment he was facing forward again, and I melted in my seat. Oh my poor heart.
As our instructor continued giving out report assignments, Alya nudged me, grinning so widely she reminded me of a cat who had eaten all the cream.
"Finally, some good luck," she commented in a low but glad voice. "Since you probably didn't hear, you two were assigned to report on cats in history, with a focus on Egyptian cat culture."
"Cats, right." I scribbled a note on my tablet. "Speaking of cats, did I tell you I tripped on a black cat this morning?"
"You didn't say it was black, but yes," Alya said with a nod. "I think it brought you luck this time though." She nudged and winked, still grinning.
I bit my lower lip, my cheeks heating up. Alya was right—the day was not done yet! I can't let some bad morning luck get to me, I have a report to work on with Adrien! Vas-y, Marinette! This is the day you own it!
Yep, the day just keeps getting better and better.
"I got fencing club after this, and a photo shoot after that, but here's my number and—well, I was thinking we could work on the report at my place? We got books and Wi-Fi."
"Eu-euhm, well, yeah sure, I mean, your place, yeah." I managed to choke out a nervous chuckle and an enthusiastic nod.
"Great!" Adrien took back the piece of paper he had just given me and scribbled something else on it. "Then I'll add my address too, and you can just go ahead and come over when you can, I promise I'll join you asap."
"A-alright, euh, see you later!"
"Yep, later!" With one last charming smile, he waved again and walked off. As soon as he turned the corner I let out the breath I was holding in, my knees giving out. I felt Alya catch me as I tipped backwards and I heard her clicking her teeth, but I was too happy to care.
"I swear Alya, that smile of his can make miracles happen."
"It must definitely be magical, if it managed to put you under this spell," she teased, hoisting me back up on my feet.
"Alya!" I grabbed her by the shoulders. "He invited me! ME! To his place!"
"Eh, it's not like you don't already know his address—"
"Oh shush."
"Tee hee hee~"
It was a big house, and security was definitely assured by the high gate and walls, a security guard, and CCTV monitoring, although I had the distinct impression that there was more. Maybe Adrien knew karate as well as fencing, or maybe M'sieur Agreste's secretary was a ninja, who knows? I felt small ringing their doorbell. Another camera popped into view from inside the wall—inside the wall!—and a woman's cold voice came through the speakers.
"Who is it?"
"Euh, g-good morning, I'm Marinette, I'm from Adrien's class, is he home yet? We're supposed to work on a report for school—"
"He's not home, you should just come back later."
"Euhm, well, okay." I was disappointed, but maybe I could just wait here? Yeah, that didn't sound like such a bad idea. Or, a better idea would be waiting at that cafe across the street.
I hadn't walked more than three steps away when my lucky stars once again sent me a blessing from above, this time in form of a silver sedan pulling over. The backseat door opened, and out stepped my luckiest of lucky stars, with the blonde hair and dreamy green eyes—
"Hey there, Marinette! Sorry, I'm late," the dream-come-true told me.
"N-not at all, is no biggie, really, I just got here!" I heard myself sigh.
"Nathalie didn't let you in? Sorry about that." He turned to the speaker above the doorbell. "Nathalie, it's me. Open the gate, please."
When there was no response, Adrien repeated his request. "Nathalie? Mind opening the gate?"
"M'sieur Adrien, are you certain—"
"Yes, yes, Nathalie, don't worry, I got this." Adrien smiled sheepishly at me. "Sorry about that, she's a bit too paranoid sometimes. Comes of being my dad's secretary."
Hey, I'm not stupid, and I'm not crazy about Adrien Agreste, no matter what Alya says, so I did think it weird the secretary would be paranoid about an ordinary little schoolgirl like me. At least I did for two seconds until the most handsome boy in school—in Paris, most likely—flashed me the most adorable smile. A smile like that, you just shut up and bask in the light.
I followed Adrien into their mansion—really was a mansion, no other way to put it—while his bodyguard and driver (the "Gorilla", Adrien calls him) parked their shiny car. We were greeted by Nathalie herself at the receiving area. She wore no-nonsense clothes and the best pokerface I'd ever seen.
"Welcome, M'moiselle Marinette." She greeted emotionlessly. I nodded and managed a "good afternoon" before she turned to Adrien.
"M'sieur Adrien, M'sieur Agreste has already gone ahead to prepare for the board meeting, and I am supposed to follow once you arrive." Her uninterested gaze flickered over to me briefly. "However, should you need me to stay for anything—"
"We will be fine, Nathalie," Adrien interrupted, holding up a hand. "We'll just be working on school stuff, and father needs you for that important matter.
"Thanks for waiting for me though," he added with a smile. Nathalie nodded to him, gave me another uninterested, subtly wary look, and went on her way. Adrien then turned again to me, and I began to question my good fortune.
"Come on then, we've got work to do."
"Wow." I breathed the word. I'd seen celebrity houses in magazines, but Adrien was such a sweet guy, no airs at all, that I didn't think his room would be like those. His own library, a whole wall that was all window, and his own mini skatepark and basketball court. Not even forgetting the actual arcade machines over by that side.
"A bit much, isn't it?" Adrien chuckled sheepishly again, a hand coming up to scratch his blonde head.
"I-it's, euh, well it's nice," I could only manage.
"Thanks, I guess?" He still looked sheepish, like he was a little embarrassed about his room being so big. "Well, make yourself at home, I'll go get us some tea."
"Sure." I nodded, tearing my eyes away from the room and focusing on his handsome face. He gave me one more smile before disappearing.
'Okay, Marinette, breathe.' I inhaled, then exhaled. It smelled like fresh wood and paper, with hints of Adrien. 'You got this, Marinette. Yeah. You lucky girl you.'
I pep-talked myself into getting a seat on the couch by the window, and to further relax took my phone out to text Alya. She must have been watching her phone, because the reply was quick.
"Oooh you lucky, lucky girl! Now don't mind me, just go on ahead and enjoy your time together, but you must tell me all about it tomorrow! ;) " her reply said.
"Someone will be up in a few with something," Adrien's voice broke into my thoughts. I looked up and there he was again, all adorable smile and blonde hair and beautiful green eyes.
"Great," I said as casually as I could, although I think it came out like a squeak. I took my tablet out from my bag and began taking out my notes. "So, we got a report on cats, right?"
"Yeah, and I wonder if Mademoiselle Bustier is just running out of ideas, because honestly, cats?" Adrien sat down on the sofa as well, his own tablet in hand.
"Maybe she really did mean it when she said she had picked out a topic at random," I offered.
"Hm, yeah, makes sense," he agreed. "Just my luck to get the cat topic though."
Before I could ask him what he meant by that, there was a knock at the door.
"Here comes our order." Adrien was just about to put his tablet down, but I was quicker.
"I'll get it." I jumped up and almost skipped to the door. The maid relinquished her tray with a curt bow, and with the tea and cookies it contained it was heavier than I expected it to be, but it was a piece of cake for me. Should have been a piece of cake.
"Here we go."
"Be carefu—"
Curse that black cat. I'm no ballerina but I normally don't go tripping on cats or carpets, but it was just that kind of day.
My foot caught on the carpet just as I was about to deliver the tray to Adrien, and suddenly everything was happening in slow motion. I tipped forward, feet tangled and balance completely lost, the tray flying from my hands, cups and saucers and teapot and cookies and all. Adrien, shock on his face, reached out to catch—me or the tray, I wasn't sure—and then there was an audible poof accompanied by pastel green smoke.
"Ow." My knees and elbows hurt. I had hit partly hard wooden floor, partly something warm and—furry? I looked down at what I had squished.
"A-adrien?"
"Don't panic." The black cat held up a fluffy paw, its bright green eyes staring straight into my own. "Just stay calm, breathe."
My eyes widened. Adrien's t-shirt, his polo shirt, his jeans, I was even hearing his voice—but no Adrien. Instead, there was a cat here, holding a paw up to my face and telling me to not panic.
"A-a-a-adrien?"
"Shhh, it's okay," the cat assured me.
I blacked out.
xox
Any of you familiar with Fruits Basket will recognize the inspiration, I'd say. But I chose to not indicate this as a crossover because I won't be using the full zodiac, and it won't be a family curse.
I am not as comfortable with writing first person as I used to be, specially for Marinette—she just feels so far away from my own frame of mind. However I felt like this story was best told from first-person view, so I shall do my best.
I don't even have the full idea for the story, much less an outline or plan—bad practice, I know—so I'll be taking it easy and just update as I go along. Also working on another AU for Miraculous Ladybug, along with one other fic for another series, so yeah updates are gonna be erratic.
Thanks for reading! Reviews and critique are welcome!