Now what?

Marinette had managed to create yet another akuma. This was really becoming absurd. She'd accidently stumbled into someone on the street, just like always. This person had spilled his beverage on himself and was currently in the process of turning Paris into a giant splash zone, complete with floating ice cubes. Thankfully, Chat Noir had shown up and grabbed her right before she had become yet another ice cube bobbing along the streets of Paris. Ok, so her partner wasn't totally useless. Ok, fine, he was pretty awesome. He whisked her into a room at their school. Let's face it, it was pretty obvious by this point that they went to the same school, she just tried not to think about it. He'd told her it was nICE to see her again, but that maybe she should stay here while he and Ladybug mopped up this akuma.

The fact that she had managed not to face palm at his terrible pun gave her great pride.

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Chat Noir couldn't believe it. This was like the 8th or 9th time an akuma had specifically targeted Marinette. What was up with that? His classmate was so sweet and thoughtful, it must have been yet another misunderstanding, just like with Reverser. With as sensitive as she was, she was probably not taking this well. He decided to stop by and check on her.

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That night she was hanging out on her balcony when Chat showed up.

"So, what brings the great Chat Noir here tonight? Not another akuma out to get me, I hope." Really. Hawkmoth seemed indefatigable and her excuses for disappearing were getting lamer and lamer.

"Not at all. I just wanted to check on you. I couldn't help but notice that this is like the 8th or 9th akuma out to get you, and I just wanted to make sure you were taking it ok."

"That's really sweet of you, but I swear, all I did was trip into that guy. It wasn't like I was intentionally mean to him like Chloe would have been or anything."

"I didn't think you were. And Chloe's been getting better…"

They wound up discussing Chloe and her possible personal growth, their favorite and least favorite akuma's (a conversation Marinette found herself dancing around in, trying to be as honest as possible without giving too much away) and before she had realized it, half an hour had flown by.

Suddenly Chat Noir made a goofy expression. "Ummm, can I borrow your bathroom for a little while?"

"Sure. We don't have any camembert. Can I get you anything else?"

"How did you know about camembert?"

Whoops! How could she not know about camembert? It's not like the average teenage boy asks the mayor of Paris for some stinky cheese to go to the bathroom. Something like that just kind of sticks, but really, MARINETTE should not know that. Time to hustle past the question.

"How about cheesy bread? My dad served some with dinner tonight, but we have some leftover."

"Sounds great."

Marinette led him down to the kitchen, handed over the cheesy baked goods, and pointed him in the direction of the bathroom. She sat down and started in on the game of UMS III that she'd left unfinished earlier. When Chat Noir came out of the bathroom, he plopped onto the couch next to her and started a full running commentary on her game play.

"Would you care to join me for a round? Then you can take your own advice and stop giving it to me."

"Ha, ha, funny girl. Prepare to lose."

Three rounds later and Chat was fake crying while rolling on the floor.

"Come on you silly Chat. It's time for you to go home and lick your wounds in peace."

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By the time Adrien swung through his window and detransformed, he was exhausted. When he'd planned to visit Marinette, he'd been thinking it would be like a thirty-minute visit. It had never crossed his mind that he would have wound up staying there for over two hours. Or that he would have needed to recharge Plagg in order to get home. Twice. And what had Marinette said about camembert? He couldn't remember, just that something there wasn't right. Plagg seemed delighted with the cheesy bread anyway.

Adrien flopped down on the bed and let his mind roam. He'd had a really good time tonight. Marinette was so much more…unguarded around him when he was Chat Noir. And it wasn't just him. He'd already recognized that she treated him differently than pretty much everybody in their class except Chloe. Not to say that she treated him the same as Chloe, she didn't. Just that they seemed to be the only two exceptions to the kind, confident, warmness that Marinette exuded to everyone else. She was even more open to Chat Noir than she was to the rest of the class, including Alya, and that made him wonder. Perhaps she just felt safer around him because he was a super hero. It made him proud to be able to earn her trust like that.

He wandered if they could hang out like this again? She seemed to have fun trouncing him at UMS III.

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A week later, to her great surprise, Chat Noir was knocking on the trap door from her balcony.

"To what do I owe the honor tonight? That akuma today had nothing to do with me!"

"Believe it or not Miss Snarky, this super hero of Paris was just thinking he could hang out with a friend. I brought some anime for us to watch? Or maybe we could play some video games together?"

While she thought hanging out like this was probably (ok, totally) a bad idea, the thought of Chat Noir being lonely did NOT sit well with her. If he needed a friend to hang out with, she'd be his friend. I mean she was his best friend after all, time to act like it. And it wasn't like she could just transform, and they could go somewhere together and chill. So she found herself sharing a bowl of popcorn with Chat while they watched anime, and sadly, she was getting sucked in. And not just by the anime, much to her chagrin. He was just too funny to watch.

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And the next thing she knew, they were hanging out two or three times a week. They would work on homework together, both conveniently not noticing that they had the same assignments, or play video games, or watch anime or movies, or just hang out, her drawing or creating, him flipping through comics, discussing anything that wasn't too close to the identities there were both still trying to protect. One night they spent WAY too much time watching anime and they wound up accidently falling asleep together. They woke up, both blushing like crazy, Chat said something essentially incoherent, and then vaulted out of her trap door. Well, Marinette thought regretfully, all good things must come to an end, and, let's face it, it was probably for the best anyway. So she was shocked when he showed up the next night. He was at his most chivalrous, he apologized, and he suggested setting a curfew to avoid future incidents. Marinette honestly could have thrown herself into the Seine because, totally against her will, what popped out of her mouth was, "Do we have to?" There might have even been a little bit of whine in it.

Chat Noir's mouth popped open, a blush started to creep up his cheeks, and he hastily shoved a pizza box, with a movie on top, and a bow on top of that at her. "Maybe pizza and a movie?" he managed to squeak out.

They settled in, teasing and talking, and Marinette woke up in the morning unable to remember Chat Noir leaving. Oh, well. After that it just became a thing. Almost each time he would visit, he would stay the night, disappearing before she woke up. Traitorous as it might be to her efforts to keep a professional distance between them (not that he knew she was Ladybug) and definitely hedging into an area that even she couldn't claim was strictly platonic (when did she start dreaming about him instead of Adrien?) it was nice. It felt safe to have him so close by, and she loved his unique scent, and he was so warm. There was a rightness to it.

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To Adrien's utter delight, he'd found himself hanging out with Marinette regularly. It had taken a little bit of finesse (read: gratuitous use of puppy dog eyes, whining, and pouting), but he'd definitely been able to lure her into his anime addiction. He'd rapidly found out that they complimented each other when it came to school work. Where he could recall facts, had excellent grammar, and excelled in anything related to formulas, she made connections across curriculum, generated ideas regardless of subject, and was quick to relate facts to big ideas and concepts. He found that he was spending less time doing homework and his grades were going up at the same time. Plus, he just genuinely liked being around her. She was funny and sassy and her general vibe just welcomed him in.

The first night he accidently fell asleep, practically on top of her, he was so embarrassed! What kind of gentleman (or gentlecat as the case may be) does that? He was convinced that he was going to be kicked out, charged with sexual assault, imprisoned after a long and humiliating public trial, and die alone, cause Ladybug sure as hell wouldn't tolerate that kind of nonsense. So when he went to apologize and try to fix it (because no way was he giving up these evenings with Marinette without a fight), he was blown away when she essentially approved of him spending the night.

But given that approval, there wasn't much that could keep him away. His house was as sterile as possible. It made hospitals look welcoming. And let's face it, the overwhelming sense of being alone constantly ate at him. To be able to go over to Marinette's, where it was cozy, and warm, and inviting and to hang out with another person who would tease him, and laugh with him, and just be there…it was addicting. And to fall asleep next to someone, well, there were no words. And on top of all that, for that someone to be so open, and cuddly, and smell so fabulous (seriously, he thinks the smell of the bakery must have worn itself into Marinette at the cellular level). Well, until she said he wasn't welcome, he was going to lap it up.

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This morning's akuma had been particularly scary for him personally. Each person hit by the akuma's spell was trapped in a cage. Every few minutes, the cage would shrink a few inches. A prison cell, growing tighter and tighter with the passage of time. It was like it was taken from his own personal nightmare. From his life before he became Chat Noir. He and Ladybug had managed to defeat the akuma in record time (He'd only wound up missing part of 1st and 2nd period). But of course, not before he'd been caught in one of the cages. It had taken a great deal of personal strength to NOT cataclysm the bars as soon as he was caught. Ladybug had grabbed the cage, called for her Lucky Charm, and kept up a constant stream of puns as she dragged him to the giant gavel the akuma was dispersing "justice" with. As soon as the akuma was cleansed and the city set right, she'd hugged him, apologized, and disappeared. It was like she knew how much he hated being trapped. It had been weird.

After the terrifying akuma and the weird attentiveness of Ladybug this morning, it was a given that Chat Noir would be visiting Marinette that evening. They had quickly finished up their homework, played a round of UMS III, and then Marinette had excused herself to get ready for bed. Chat, finally having unwound after the weird day, had crawled into bed and passed out. He awoke in the middle of the night to Marinette's terrified voice.

"Watch out, Chat Noir!"

He looked around, but the night seemed peaceful. Just as he turned to look at Marinette again, she hissed, "Be careful. I can't do this without you!"

Suddenly she jerked in the bed and her eyes flew open. "No!"

And suddenly it hit him. She wasn't talking about some unseen terror attacking in the night. She was having a nightmare.

"It's okay. I'm right here. Everything is okay." he whispered reassuringly.

Marinette studied him for a minute, then closed her eyes and fell back onto the bed "Did we get the akuma? I, I was so worried. I thought you were caught in one of those cages! I know how much you hate to be trapped."

"My Lady?

"Yes?"

"Ladybug?"

"Out with it, Chaton."

WHAT?

He was stunned into silence. It was a good thing that Marinette drifted back to sleep, because he wasn't sure he'd be able to keep up any kind of coherent speech as he tried to process what he'd just learned.

Marinette was Ladybug. Now that he thought about it, it seemed absurdly obvious. Blue-black hair in pigtails, check. Beautiful blue eyes, check. Passionate in the defense of others, check. Soul deep kindness, check. Insanely creative, check. The list could go on for miles. He had, completely without realizing it, befriended and then essentially moved in with his partner. Well, he always knew he had good taste. But now what?