MariChat May is kinda important to me. It was the first fandom event I ever took part in last year and despite the fact that it took me months to actually finish it, I stuck it out and made a finished fic from it which I even ended up starting a sequel for. So I'm taking part again this year.

Here we go.

Day 1: You're injured, please stay the night. Please.

"But your house is waaaaarm!" Chat Noir exclaimed with a pout.

"Chat, I said no."

Marinette glared at the boy leaning forward in her desk chair and sighed. She was entirely done with his nonsense tonight.

Chat was asking to stay longer. He'd already tried tempting her with movies and video games but she desperately wanted to just curl up in her duvet, drop her head to the fresh pillowcase, and drift away to a plane of existence where none of her usual worries could follow her. She was already exhausted and had to be up relatively early tomorrow to help in the bakery so the shorter she cut this argument, the better. She glared harder at him.

"But I can't go outside nooow. I'm sooo comfy and tired," he continued to whine.

"Which," she insisted, "is exactly why you should go home."

His playful attitude changed so that he appeared thoughtful and serious instead and he wouldn't quite look at her. "I don't want to go home," he said in a quiet voice.

Marinette watched as he slowly moved into a dejected slouch and wondered what it was about her usually happy partner she had missed tonight.

"Is something...wrong?" she asked, worried.

"No," he mumbled, "I'm just...lonely."

Marinette rolled her eyes before she could even acknowledge to herself that that was probably the lamest excuse she'd ever heard him come up with before. And she was including the time he'd insisted she should pet his hair because it would be good for her mental health. And honestly, he was a terrible actor. After all, no one was lonely enough to look quite that miserable.

"I am far too tired to entertain you and your loneliness right now," she told him, "so unless you're hurt or something I'm going to have to insist you leave now."

She watched a curious concoction of emotions cross Chat's face as he seemed to contemplate something. He seemed hurt at first, followed quickly by a puzzled expression as if he was trying hard to grasp at an idea he'd had but hadn't quite figured out, and finally ending with a smile that could only be described as mischievous.

"Chat..." she started in a warning tone of voice but it was too late. As soon as she had opened her mouth to speak, Chat Noir, ridiculous as he was, had thrown himself sideways from her desk chair in the most dramatic fashion.

He lay there, on his side for a moment before faking a pained expression and saying, "Ouch. I'm hurt. You need to look after me now, Princess."

Marinette gave a long sigh, placed her fingertips to her forehead and looked at him.

"This is stupid."

"You said...you said if I was hurt. And now I am. I bit my tongue. Now I can't possibly make it home tonight."

He smirked widely, still sprawled across her floor as she rolled her eyes again before ridding her face of any trace of emotion.

"Oh no," she said in a complete monotone, "Wherever will you go? You're injured, please stay the night...Please."

Chat snickered at her deadpan delivery before sitting upright on the floor at her feet to look up at her pyjama-clad form hopefully.

"Seriously, can I stay a while? I really have been pretty lonely since my best friend went on vacation. I won't give you any trouble. You can go to bed if you want and I'll just nap down here." He looked away, embarrassed. "It's just nice to be around you."

Marinette stood stock still in shock. She hadn't even considered he'd actually been serious. God, she was a bad friend, wasn't she? She looked at him and considered her options.

"I'll get you a blanket," she told him.