Chapter 3

After another solitary dinner, Adrien got ready to transform into his alter-ego, handing one more piece of cheese to his insatiable kwami. After Plagg swallowed the piece whole, pig, Adrien raised his hand, directing his Miraculous towards the floating black cat-god.

"Plagg, claws out!" He cried and Plagg was pulled into the silver ring, turning it black.

Adrien swiped two fingers across his eyes as a mask magically appeared. Running his hand through his hair, cat ears appeared and his hair took on its classic rumpled look. Stretching out his arms, leather encased his body before his tail belt flew out behind him. Extending his baton, the newly transformed Chat Noir leapt out of the opened window.

The cat themed superhero perched on a rooftop as he waited for his crime-fighting partner. It wasn't long before he heard a quiet thump of the roof behind him. If it wasn't for the advanced hearing afforded to him by his cat senses, he probably wouldn't have noticed the sound. Chat smirked when he realised she was trying to sneak up on him.

Ladybug smiled to herself. He hadn't noticed her arrival. This is going to be fun she thought to herself. Suddenly, she wasn't upright anymore but once again pinned underneath him and staring up into familiar green eyes.

"Damn, how did you know I was here?" she questioned. If she had been standing, she would have stamped her foot. Chat didn't reply but just rolled off of her, laughing uproariously. Ladybug couldn't help but smile. It wasn't often she heard him really laugh and it always seemed like he could use more in his life. A little like another blonde boy she knew.

After a few minutes Chat sighed in contentment and sat back up.

"Well, my lady, what an absolute purr-leasure it is to see you again today." He reached for her hand but she playfully pushed him away, rolling her eyes at the pun.

"Come on Chat, be serious," she admonished, still smiling gently. "We need to talk about that akuma today. It should have been easy. She wasn't even offensive!"

"I don't know about that. I take offense to anyone who shushes me," Chat replied with a grin.

"You know that's not what I meant," she frowned. "I think we should maybe think about doing some training together. In fact, I don't know why we never thought of it before. It makes sense if we want to be an effective team."

"Purr-sonally, I think we make a purr-ty good team as it is," Chat's smile turned flirtatious, "although I wouldn't turn down an op-purr-tunity to spend more time with you, Bugaboo."

Ladybug side-eyed him as he waggled his eyebrows at her, chin resting on the heel of his hand.

"Three puns in a row and a flirt? That's a lot, even for you."

"Well, I'm making full use of having my voice back," he winked at her.

"Lucky me," she replied, only slightly dripping sarcasm. "Well, since we're in agreement... somewhat... how about we meet in the stadium tomorrow night, same time?"

"It's a date, LB!"

"Definitely not a date," she replied, pushing his face away with her pointer finger. "Come on, it's time to patrol," and with that, she unclipped her yoyo and flung it at a distant building, throwing herself into the air. Chat watched her go, momentarily admiring her form and sighing wistfully before extracting his baton and jumping after her.

MLBMLBMLBMLB

After patrol, Marinette decided to take another look at the dress she had been designing earlier in the day. She had changed into her pyjamas, a white vest top and pink shorts, and was sat at her desk looking through her swatches of fabric, trying to find something that seemed right. Inspiration still hadn't struck. Deep in thought, she didn't notice the knocking at first. In fact, the first indication that something was amiss was the sudden disappearance of her kwami from where she had been reading the notes the young designer was jotting around the sketched dress.

Marinette glanced around her, noticing the light tapping sound, when she saw a pair of glowing eyes outside her window. Jumping up in surprise, she furrowed her brow then indicated up to her balcony. The blonde nodded his understanding then disappeared.

"What does that cat want now?" Marinette grumbled as she grabbed a pink robe and some slippers.

"I don't know, but don't be too long, you have to get up early to help in the bakery tomorrow morning," Tikki replied, sounding suspiciously like Marinette's mother as she peeked out from her hiding place.

"I'll keep it short," Marinette assured as she disappeared onto her balcony.

As the girl emerged, she saw her partner casually reclined against the railing, gazing up at the sky. What a poser she thought with a twitch of her lips, and cleared her throat.

Chat's gaze snapped to the bluenette and a light flush crossed his cheeks as he realised she was dressed for bed and had a large amount of leg exposed, even with the robe she had slipped on.

"Hey Princess," he croaked slightly before clearing his throat, "Sorry to drop by so late. I was just patrolling with Ladybug and thought I'd check on you, make sure you got home alright after the akuma attack earlier. Sorry for ditching you in an alleyway like that."

Chat looked determinedly anywhere but at her legs. Marinette looked quizzically at his slightly odd behaviour. He wasn't usually this awkward around her. She still remembered his flirting and flexing during the Evillustrator incident.

"Oh, well, thanks Kitty."

Kitty?

"As you can see, I made it home safe and sound." She gestured towards herself. The boy glanced at her, then looked away. "Are you okay? After the akuma, I mean. You didn't get hurt at all?" She already knew the answer, but he didn't need to know that.

Chat looked back at her, this time with a genuine smile at her concern. He walked towards her, took her hand in his and bowed.

"Don't worry about me, little lady. I always bounce back. Besides, all the akuma could do was take people's voices. ladybug soon fixed that. She's amazing."

Marinette looked away slightly embarrassed at that, but then a smirk crossed her lips. "A silent Chat Noir. That's something I would like to have seen!"

Chat gasped and clasped his hands to his chest, feigning hurt, but secretly pleased to witness this sassy, teasing side to her. He never had the opportunity as Adrien.

"You wound me, Mari."

When did he start calling me Mari? She wondered, but was glad to see the departure from his earlier awkwardness.

"Well, I have to get up early to work in the bakery tomorrow, but thank you for checking up on me. I'll see you around sometime. Feel free to pop in for a pastry whenever you like, on the house. Something to show our appreciation for one of the hero's of Paris."

"Well, thank you Princess, I may just take you up on that. I have a rather early start myself tomorrow so I'll take my leave. Sweet dreams, Mari."

Chat took her hand and ghosted a kiss across her knuckles before he took a running jump off her roof and barrel rolled over to the next building.

"What a show-off," she muttered as she headed inside.

Marinette decided to abandon her design for the night in favour of her bed. She found Tikki cuddled up there, still awake but just barely.

"Tikki, what do you think about our training idea?" the bluenette asked the ladybug themed god.

Tikki smiled sleepily. "I think it's a good idea. You can never be too prepared."
Marinette hummed in agreement before drifting off to sleep.

After a gruelling morning in the bakery, Marinette was ready to have a nap but instead she was ladened with treats that her parents had insisted she take and heading to meet her best friend, Alya, for a relaxing Sunday afternoon in the park. Carrying three boxes and her phone she was rushing slightly as she attempted to text Alya that she was on her way. It was no surprise to anyone that once again she was running late. She made it to the park gates but managed to trip over thin air and went sprawling onto the grass. Panicking she peeked inside the boxes and sighed with relief. There was some smeared cream from the profiteroles but otherwise the pastries seemed to be intact. The sun was blocked out slightly by a shadow and a hand came down to grasp hers.

The bluenette smiled sheepishly up into her best friends face as the ombre haired girl pulled her to her feet.

"Hey, girl. You know you shouldn't text and walk. You're a danger to yourself. It's not just anyone who needs a licence for their own feet." The blogger laughed as she took one of the boxes from the clumsy designer.

"Hey, Alya. Hehe yeah, I really should know better by now."

"Don't worry about it. Hey, did you see yesterdays akuma attack? I didn't find out about it until after. It was all kept very hush hush." Alya winked slyly.

Marinette groaned at the joke. "You've been spending too much time watching Chat Noir."

"Hmm, I wouldn't mind that cat rubbing off on me, if you know what I'm saying?" Alya quirked her eyebrows at her best friend.

"Oh my God, Alya. Would you... ah... I mean... just... I..." Marinette stuttered and flushed red.

"Cool it girl, you'd think Adrien had just shown up or something. So you think Chat Noir's pretty hot too?" Marinette was saved from replying by a shout from a tanned boy across the park.

"Hey, Alya!" Nino called and Marinette's heart stopped briefly when she saw who Nino was dragging behind him. Beautiful golden hair and the most gorgeous green eyes. Not to mention that smile. If anything, the bluenette's blush deepened.

Adrien Agreste is here, at the park, and he's smiling at me. Well, at me and Alya but it still counts. Is it possible that he is even more handsome today? How does he do that?

The boys stopped in front of the girls, panting slightly having run across the park to them. Adrien offered them a small wave.

"Hi, Alya, Marinette," he smiled sweetly at the second.

"Oh, um... h-hi, Adrien... I mean... n-nice day today, isn't it?" while mortified at her chosen topic of conversation is weather really the best you can come up with? she congratulated herself on what was really, minimal stuttering. The words were all in the right order as well which was a definite bonus.

Surprisingly Adrien's cheeks took on a light pink glow.

"Yes, sunshine is... good," sunshine is good? That's just swell Agreste.

Nino and Alya were already deep in conversation when the former turned to include the blushing pair.

"So, dudes. We were like, totally going to just chill at the park today, take in some rays, if you guys want to join us?" Marinette watched as Nino smiled widely at Alya.

"We'd love to," the young journalist replied, before Marinette had a chance to stutter out a sentence, and she grabbed the girl by the wrist, finding a perfectly shaded patch of grass for the foursome to sit on. "And Marinette has enough pastries to go around!"

"Awesome." Nino grinned and reached for the box his not-quite-girlfriend was holding before she slapped his hand away playfully.

"Oh, that's really cool," Adrien smiled. "I hear really good things about your parents bakery, Mari."

Marinette's heart stuttered over his use of the nickname, but no-one else seemed to notice and so she shrugged it off, but inside Adrien was panicking. Gah! I hope I haven't completely let the cat out of the bag. I didn't even think. Ok, she seems to not have even noticed. You're okay, Adrien, just be more careful in future.

The four friends spent a pleasant afternoon in each other's company and Marinette even managed half-way decent conversation with Adrien. The two had taken to mildly teasing Alya and Nino about their relationship status, or lack thereof. After a few hours it was time to part ways.

"So guys, there's that new film on at the cinema if you fancied going to watch it tonight?" Alya smiled slyly at Marinette while nodding her head towards Adrien and winking.

The bluenette rolled her eyes playfully and gave a small smile. "Actually, I have loads to do tonight. I've got a design that I'm working on and I haven't even started my homework yet," not to mention my training session with Chat Noir tonight.

"Sorry, I'm out too. I've got a piano lesson. Have fun though you two," Adrien said with a wink at Nino.

Nino and Alya both flushed slightly before stammering their goodbyes and heading off together. Adrien and Marinette smiled shyly and went their separate ways, Adrien heading back to the Agreste mansion and Marinette to the Dupain-Cheng bakery.