Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or any other copyrighted material.
Got Your Back
MariChat May Day 24: Without the Mask
"Maman, do we have Camembert by any chance?" Marinette rooted through the refrigerator, shoving milk and produce aside to search the very backs of the shelves.
"Hmm… we have brie, I think," Sabine said from the couch where she sat watching a movie with Tom.
Marinette closed the refrigerator. "That's no good."
"Does it have to be Camembert?" Tom asked.
"Yes." She grabbed the sides of the ladder leading up to her bedroom. On the way up, she heard her father speak in a questioning tone, and her mother answer with something about her time of the month. Easier than the truth, she thought.
Once in her bedroom, she closed and locked the hatch door. "It's me, chaton."
Chat's voice drifted down from the loft. "Any luck with the cheese?"
"How does Plagg feel about brie?" she asked. A disgusted groan from Plagg was all the answer she needed. Marinette rolled her eyes. "Can't you make an exception?"
Plagg appeared at the edge of the loft. "Can't you go to the market?" He shot back. A hand bearing a silver ring whipped out and cuffed him. "Hey!"
"Don't be rude to Marinette. We've inconvenienced her enough as it is."
Marinette sighed. She'd been studying at Alya's house when the akuma attacked. Chat had barely made it out of the fight before his transformation wore off, but she hadn't known—until she arrived home an hour later and a "psst!" from above scared the living daylights out of her—that he'd chosen to hide in her bedroom. She could imagine him tumbling through the skylight and landing on her bed before turning back into whoever he was.
"It's no inconvenience, Chat," she said. He snorted. "Okay, it's a bit of an inconvenience." She climbed the loft ladder and sat on a step near the top, facing away from the bed. She heard Chat shift. "But it's not like you had anywhere else to go."
Plagg darted in front of her. Marinette put a finger over his mouth before he could complain. "For the record," she said, "if you two ever need a safe place to transform back, you can come here. Just warn me, okay?"
"How do I go about that?" Chat's voice was right next to her ear. Marinette flailed in surprise and almost hit him in the face, but managed to control both her limbs and her desire to turn around and yell at him.
"There's a notebook and pen in one of those shelves above my bed. Can you hand it to me?"
More shuffling. Plagg landed on her knee and tried not to pout. A moment later a notebook slid over her shoulder, along with a pen. She ripped a corner off a page and wrote her phone number down. "Here," she said, holding it behind her. The scrap left her hand. "For emergencies only, got it?"
"What's that, Princess? You want me to call at all hours of the day?" The grin in Chat's voice almost convinced her to turn just so she could smack him.
"Chat, don't."
"Yup. I hear you loud and clear." Then, to her surprise, his arm slid around her shoulders in a quick, tentative embrace. "Thank you, Marinette. You don't know how much this means to me."
And Marinette, who'd had enough close calls of her own and knew exactly what it meant, laid her hand on his bare wrist. "You're welcome."
