Mari's Chat… er, Cat
Summary: Marinette loses her pet kitten and a helpful feline superhero shows up to help her.
"Kitty! Where are you?" Marinette called as she walked through the park. "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!"
"And you're sure he's not at your house?" Alya asked for the umpteenth time.
"Yes, I checked all over!" she despaired. "And just when Mama and Papa agreed to let me have the responsibility of a pet!"
Alya laughed. "Girl, you would lose your head if it wasn't attached to your body. Things always manage to turn up though. Let me check by the school again. You keep looking here."
"Alright," the flustered girl said. "Did I mention you're the best friend ever?"
"Only about a million times," Alya winked. "But it never hurts to hear it again."
As Alya walked off, Mari peered around the carousel. "Come on, you silly kitten! Am I really that bad an owner that you ran away after one week?"
She got down on her hands and knees, crawling around the carousel to peer under the bottom. She was so preoccupied that she didn't notice the figure in front of her until she ran right into it. "Oof!" she exclaimed, rubbing her head and looking up.
A cheeky, leather-clad superhero peered back at her with a slight tilt to his head. "Whatcha doin', Princess?"
Marinette sighed, standing and brushing her shirt off. "I don't have time for your games today, Chat Noir." She walked past him, looking up into the trees for any sign of the animal.
"Looking for something?" he guessed, coming up to walk alongside her.
She fought the instinct to roll her eyes. "Yes, but I can do it on my own."
He stepped in front of her, forcing her to a stop as he smiled widely. "Please, Princess," he said, bowing. "I live to serve. What are we looking for?"
"Would you stop that?" she said, nervously looking around. "People are staring."
"Only if you let me help," he replied.
Oh, she was going to kill him the next time she was Ladybug! "Fine," she grumbled. "I'm looking for my pet kitten. He ran away today."
"Meowch! I thought I was the only feline in your life," he said, pouting a bit.
"I thought you were going to help me," Marinette said, placing her hands on her hips to look at Chat sternly.
"Easy, Princess," he said with a wink. "I never go back on my word. What's the little guy's name?"
Here, Marinette blushed entirely. She was not about to tell him what the kitten's real name was. So instead she blurted out the first name she could think of. "Adrien."
Chat looked taken aback for a moment, but he quickly recovered. "Adrien, huh? Sounds like a cool cat. Named after somebody you know?"
Marinette blushed even more, if it was possible. Idiot! She was not about to explain Adrien Agreste to someone as callous as him. "Something like that," she mumbled. "Anyway, I've already checked all over."
"Well, two sets of eyes are always better than one, right?" he said, placing his hand on his forehead and swiveling his head back and forth. "And I've been told I'm pretty claw-some as a lookout."
Marinette groaned, facepalming. If she didn't find this cat, her parents would be furious. They'd never trust her with anything again. Oh no. What if Adrien heard about this? He would never go out with somebody who lost her own cat! What if he thought she was a bad pet owner? What if he thought she was a horrible person? He would never date a horrible person!
"Hey, are you okay?" Chat asked, seeing her face go dark.
She bit her lip. "I just need to find him, that's all. He was my first big responsibility, and he's just a baby. I can't imagine the kind of trouble he's in."
"We'll find him, promise," the feline superhero said with confidence. "I won't rest until it's done."
"Thanks, Chat," she said, uncharacteristically soft. Minus the puns and bravado, he could actually be a pretty sweet guy. Marinette blushed. "A-anyway, my friend Alya went to look by the school. Could you help me look through the trees here?"
He nodded, extending his pole to reach the branches of the first tree then hopping tree to tree, alternately whistling and calling 'Adrien.' The sight of it was silly enough to make her laugh. Maybe she was too hard on him. Maybe-
"Marinette! I found him!" Alya yelled. Mari whirled around and saw her best friend bounding toward her, a small black kitten in her hands. "I found Chat Noir!"
Marinette froze, her whole face and neck going beet red as Alya kept calling, "I found Chat Noir!"
"Alya, shhhh!" her friend shushed her, collecting the clambering kitten from Alya's hands.
"What?"
"Just… ugggh! Let's go!" Marinette said, grabbing her friend by the elbow and pulling her out of the park, her face still flaming.
"What's the matter?" Alya said, when they got to the bakery.
"I just don't want the whole world to know I named my kitten after Chat Noir," Marinette explained. "But thanks, Alya! You're the best!"
"I know," she laughed. "I don't know why you're so embarrassed though. Chat Noir is the cat's pajamas!"
Marinette groaned at her friend's pun but joined in her laughter.
Back at the park, Chat laid on a branch, his head propped up in his hands. He smiled goofily as he watched Mari's quick retreat. He sighed, dropping out of the tree when she was finally out of sight.
"Plagg, claws in," he said.
The black kwami came flying out of his ring, spinning in the air for a few moments before righting himself. His lazy eyes fixed on Adrien, who was still looking in the direction that Marinette and Alya had gone. "Ooh, sweet love from a fair maiden?"
"What are you talking about?" Adrien asked, scowling slightly as Plagg flew into his shirt and retrieved a wedge of camembert.
The kwami ate it in one big bite. "The lady did name her cat after you," he pointed out.
Adrien scoffed. "Please, you pig. You know about as much about girls as you know about who Ladybug is. Still, I can't believe Mari named her cat after me… she must be a fan!"
Seeing his Miraculous-holder's noticeably brightened face, Plagg rolled his eyes. "Sure, I haven't sensed Tikki since day one or anything," the kwami muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
"Well, come on then," Adrien said, shooing him into his shirt. "I can't be late for fencing again."
With that, the blond model took off towards the school, pleasantly surprised that Mari, of all people, really liked him.