When an akuma is on the loose and the stakes include remaining in control of his body, Chat is forced to toss his guilty conscious out the window. He didn't want to break into Marinette's room, but it was one of those things he just had to bite the bullet and do. He had to grab those dolls before puppeteer did.

It didn't mean he didn't feel super guilty about it, though.

He landed with a thump on Marinette's balcony and immediately reached for the trap door, ready to break it open if need be, but the hatch was already open. While lucky for him, he was going to have to have a serious conversation with his princess about keeping her hatch unlocked like that. Didn't she know how easy of an entrance that was?

He dropped down into her room, his guilty conscious not fading in the slightest. Dolls. She said she had dolls that she made. That was what Puppeteer was after. He just needed to find them, grab them, then get out before she showed up. Simple as that.

He scanned the room, easily locating the dolls on her desk. Huh. He had to give Marinette credit, those were pretty good. As he picked up the ladybug doll, he wondered if she'd let him keep it if he begged her. Or maybe she'd be willing to sell it to him. Who could deny the superhero of Paris that? He'd pay fairly for it.

He picked up the rest of her collection, shoving them in a bag that he took from her (he would definitely have to make it up to her later) and was ready to head out when he caught sight of a poster out of the corner of his eye. When had Marinette put up posters? Her room was bare the last time he ca—

He froze.

Because that wasn't just any poster.

As he stared at it, he felt his eyes widen. Marinette had a poster of him on her wall? Then he caught sight of another. And another. And another. And yet another with a big red heart surrounding it.

Well…this was…

He didn't know what this was.

He felt his cheeks flare with fire and forced himself to swallow. He'd seen one of these on Chloe's wall and he watched too many sit-coms to not know what this was.

It was a shrine of a crush.

Which meant Marinette had a crush on him.

Suddenly, he felt his lips quirking upwards.

Marinette had a crush on him.

Marinette, the cute girl who could barely speak to his alter-ego, had a crush on him.

He wasn't sure exactly what to make of it because certainly she wasn't the only girl in Paris who had posters of the supermodel Adrien Agreste on her wall. But he knew Marinette. She wasn't that shallow, right? She had to like him, right? Not just his looks?

Right?

The trapdoor opened with a bang, snapping Chat back to reality. Dolls. He was supposed to be protecting dolls.

He was prepped to bolt out whatever exit he could when he looked up and noticed that it wasn't an akuma entering.

He relaxed and put on a bright smile. "Hello, my dear Lady. Have you seen this? It seems our little Marinette has quite the crush."

"Chat!" she cried, growing red for some strange reason. "Intrusive much?"

"Whoa, bug, relax. I'm not making fun of her. I think it's adorable."

"Yeah, sure. I believe that." Ladybug rolled her eyes. "Did you get the dolls or not?"

Chat had the decency to look sheepish as he held up the bag. "Surely Marinette won't mind if we borrow this for a bit? Right? I'll take blame for it and make amends."

Ladybug sighed. "I think she'll understand. Now can we go before the akuma shows up?"

Chat nodded and quickly followed his partner out the hatch. When he came back later to return the dolls to Marinette, he'd get her to open up about that maybe-not-so-little crush. Because if she thought he was just going to let that go…well…she was sorely mistaken.

A/N: Just re-watched Puppeteer again today. One of my favorite episodes. Seriously, I wanted Chat to see the posters SO BADLY!