This takes place well after the oneshots: Bleached White, Take my Hand, and Velvet Soft.

Chat Blanc felt the wind knocked out of him.

The butt end of Rena's flute slammed into his solar plexus. It was hard enough to send him flying back and when he hit the roof his head smacked against the tiling so hard he was seeing stars.

Rena Rouge stalked across the roof towards him, a predatory gleam of satisfaction in her eyes.

"Had enough?"

Chat coughed and took a painful inhale.

She stepped around his leg making certain he wouldn't try to sweep her feet.

She was too distracted by what he might do with his legs to watch out for his staff. He clicked the button on the side, causing it to shoot forth and strike her in the stomach.

Rena let out an "oof," noise, and he took that moment to knock her feet out from under her, sending her sprawling across the roof next to him.

Chat retracted the staff and smashed her across the cheek with it. It was a solid blow that caused her to flinch and recoil away, making a hissing noise as she sucked air between her clenched teeth.

He clicked the button to extend it again and send her flying off the building, but Rena grabbed the staff, twisting it from his grip, angling it before thrusting, and slamming it into his jaw.

"God, you are so slow today," she spat. She retracted his staff back into a small baton and tossed it out of reach.

Chat Blanc hissed and gripped his face, curling away from her and clearly done fighting. The force of the hit had caused several of his fangs to slice up his lip, cheek, and the inside of his mouth. Blood and saliva dribbled out over his chin, staining the white leather of his gloves.

"Either the lack of akumas in your belly is causing you to slip up, or you really wanted to talk today." Rena rubbed her cheek, soothing the bruise that would no doubt boast spectacular colors later. She moved to stand over him, her arms crossing over the end of her flute, as she leaned against it.

"Fuck off."

"If you really meant that, you wouldn't have picked a fight with me," Rena pointed out. "So what's eating you this time, Killer?"

Chat rolled over still clutching the side of his face.

Suddenly a weight pressed to the middle of his tail, pinching it against the roofing tile.

"Spill, Kit-cat." Rena applied a little more pressure with her boot, watching as Chat Blanc winced.

"It's been weeks..." he whined under his breath. He threw his arm over his face so he wouldn't have to see the smug expression on the Fox heroine.

"Yeah?" Rena was aware just how long it had been. She'd been watching (and listening) to both sides.

"I don't understand."

"Why she's avoiding you?"

Chat sucked in a hard breath, noting the way his ribs hurt. There would be bruises for sure, and a damn miracle if none of them were cracked.

Finally he whispered, "yes," and moved his arm to dig claws into his temple in frustration. "How do I make her want me again?"

Rena spared him a pitying look that he couldn't see. Oh dear. Her thoughts wandered back to the yearning look Ladybug had fixed on Chat when they'd fought the akuma earlier. The way she'd watched him with such sadness while he sat sulking on a distant rooftop observing the battle but refusing to compete with them for the akuma like he normally would have.

"Have you tried talking to her?" Rena knew the answer to this already. Marinette had spent the last few weeks moping at her place and hiding from Chat Blanc.

"How can I when I can't even find her?" Chat lamented. He threw out his arms dramatically and let his body go limp against the whole roof.

"Hmmm," she tried to play it cool. "I have it on good authority that Marinette will be home tonight. Maybe a certain Tomcat could take a detour to the bakery."

"How do you know this?" His nose wrinkled and he fixed her with a scowl.

"I like to gossip." Rena winked at him and grinned. It was actually because she had plans with Nino tonight, and Marinette didn't want to be around for all that hot, hot turtle on fox romance. "But you didn't hear it from me, ok? Ladybug would skin me alive."

"Why would Ladybug care?" He sat up at the sound of her name, ears perking forward and tail swishing despite himself.

"Oh uh..." Alya raised a finger to her mouth and cocked her head to the side. "It's a secret." It didn't escape her notice that Chat was still fixated when it concerned Ladybug. Chat Blanc may have grown infatuated with Marinette, but Chat Noir was still hopelessly smitten with his Lady. She delighted in the thought of how he would react should he find out they were one and the same.

"You take care, Tomcat." Rena blew him a kiss, before twirling her flute. "I have a date tonight." With that she took off, hopping away across the roof tops, but favoring her right ankle.

Chat Blanc was left to mull over the information she had provided.

Should he trust the fox? Was she even trying to help him?

...What did he have to lose?

0000

The lights were on down in the bakery when he arrived at Marinette's balcony. But her bedroom was dark as could be, same as it had been for the past few weeks.

A swell of disappointment churned within his gut, eating away at his insides.

It was his own fault for getting his hopes up. He should have known better than to trust that lying fox.

Chat should have just turned away and gone back to his place. He should have have slunk back to his decrepit apartment and curled up in his empty bed with pillows that had long since lost her scent.

His heart clenched and he found himself stepping down from the railing just to run his tail over her balcony furniture.

He paused at her chaise lounge, claws tracing the edge, glowing eyes considering it in the darkness.

Chat turned away and dragged his tail over that too.

Crouching down over the trap door, he peered into her bedroom. It was empty, just as he suspected. The same half-finished projects strewn about with no more progress made on them than the last time he'd visited.

Of course.

He entertained the thought of breaking into her bedroom, tossing the place, shredding her projects, and rending the paint from the walls with his claws. The feline in him even wanted take a moment to piss on her rug.

Chat bit it all back.

That's just the akumas talking. You don't actually want that. You don't want to hurt her, even if you're hurting right now.

He shut his eyes, and took a couple deep breaths. You will not give in. His tongue soothed the wounds on his lip.

I should leave, he continued to tell himself. Go home, curl up, and just sleep it all away until Hawk Moth decides to torture me again.

After a moment of deliberation Chat Blanc picked the lock on the trap door with his claws and dropped into her bedroom.

Magenta eyes scanned the room and his ears twitched about picking up on the subtle noises from her parents in the bakery below. It was much nicer here. Softer, cleaner, and it smelled good.

Determining that he would not be discovered, Chat collapsed into the bed and buried his face among the pillows.

One deep inhale, then another. The muscles along his back tensing, and a shiver rolled down his spine.

God dammit, he'd missed her scent.

Chat sank his teeth into one of the pillows and thoughtlessly began kneading.

He could get drunk on this scent. He probably was drunk on it. He found it hard to care.

The kneading was soon followed by rolling around, displacing all the blankets and pillows and vigorously rubbing the sides of his face on everything. Chat did this for several minutes before he wore himself out. Relaxing into the bed, surrounded by her things and her scent, he let himself pretend she was there, eventually falling asleep.

0000

While Rena had gone off on her own, Carapace and Ladybug had a one-on-one talk on the roof of Alya's apartment building. She'd explained her reservations about purifying Chat, and why she was hesitating. Admitting to the new guardian that she knew her reasons were selfish, and that Tikki had scolded her time and time again already.

And yet, here she was, caught between a rock and two sets of teeth.

Of course, Carapace didn't have the answers she wanted to hear.

Nobody did.

Because nothing could justify leaving Chat akumatized.

"It's not fair to him or his Kwami to keep him like this."

He took sides with Tikki on this one, as he should, being the Guardian of the miracle box and all. Which left Marinette in the same boat she'd been in before.

"You know," Carapace had added, "it defeats your purpose of keeping him an akuma if you're just going to avoid him anyway. Doesn't it?"

Damn him. But he was right.

Ladybug left Carapace to mull over her own thoughts. She made a few trips around the city, but her mind only followed suit in the same circles.

Sooner or later she was going to have to suck it up and face Chat Blanc again. Recover the last handful of akumas he'd eaten, and purify him... and make him forget everything.

She just didn't want to admit that she hoped it would be later rather than sooner.

Ladybug's feet touched down in the alley behind the bakery, and she proceeded to drop her transformation. Quiet as a mouse she snuck in the back door, passed the bakery where her parents were working late on a special order, and up through the apartment towards her neglected bedroom.

How long had she been avoiding home just so Chat wouldn't find her?

Marinette dragged her fingers through inky black bangs and let out a heavy sigh.

I can't keep doing this.

She pushed open the door to her bedroom. Climbing the stairs while her hands worked to free her hair of the pigtails.

Marinette was halfway into the room when she noticed the long white tail hanging off the end of her loft.

"Oh shit," the slip of a curse had her clapping her hands over her mouth and hoping it didn't alert him.

Surprisingly Chat Blanc didn't even stir. Only the tip of his tail twitched occasionally the way a cat's does.

Run? Stay? She really wanted to stay.

Tikki fluttered out of her purse and fixed Marinette with a pointed look.

I'm working on it! She returned the look in kind.

The Kwami rolled her eyes and jabbed a paw in the direction of the loft before zipping off towards the drawer where she kept her cookie stash.

Well, lamented Marinette, If I was going to run now, I'd have to stay Marinette.

000

At the sound of the trap door being thrown open Chat started awake.

She was here. She was here. She was here, the fox hadn't lied to him at all. It took every ounce of self-control he possessed to keep his body relaxed and pretend to be asleep.

Her exclamation of "oh shit," had him feeling annoyed. Was she displeased to see him? He was going to bet she was.

An eternity elapsed and he swore she was going to make a run for it. The beast inside readied itself, tensing to pounce should she attempt to flee.

However his contempt soon melted into relief when she approached the loft and started climbing the stairs. He felt the vibration of her every step, and heard her breath when she paused at the top.

Chat's tail flicked on its own, swishing to the left before coming back around and making contact with Marinette's leg.

She inhaled sharply.

He willed it to be still, but his tail continued to brush down the back of her leg, the end traitorously curling over her calf.

To his surprise her fingers stroked the fur on his tail. The touch was feather-light and almost torturous, it felt so good. After a twitch of pleasure he finally managed to lash his tail away as if it were indignant from being touched.

Smooth.

The bed depressed next to him.

His heart began a frenzied beating against his rib cage. She had to hear it. How could she possibly not hear it?

He felt her settle beside him, sitting back on her feet. The smaller hairs on the back of his neck practically standing on end with anticipation when she placed her hand on the side of his stomach. Fingers traced one of the seams running down the side of his abs, catching on his belts, before following the seam the rest of the way down his left thigh.

Chat didn't want to admit that he would've killed for a belly rub right then. And yet as her fingers glided gently over the suit, he found himself wanting more. More pressure, more friction, to feel her nails massage flesh rather than bleached leather.

Marinette's hand retracted and he stifled a groan of protest in his throat.

It returned a moment later to stroke one of his velvety ears.

Fuuuuuck... he wanted to purr so badly.

Chat missed this. He missed it so much it hurt. His claws twitched just to reach out and pull her into an embrace. He wanted to bury his face in her neck, inhale her delicious scent, and then rub the side of his face along every inch of her body until she could no more part from his scent than she could her own skin.

Marinette's thumb made circles along the inside of his ear. Her touch was careful, and slow, almost too gentle. He willed himself not to lean into it. Eventually she worked her way to the two gold earrings in his left ear. They were a remnant of Adrien, something he'd gotten done on a whim after his Father had been particularly insufferable. Father had thrown a tantrum over it, but Adrien was an adult and stood his ground, refusing to remove them.

For someone so pure and kind to be touching the instrument of such spite...

But her touch was reverent. Adoring as she played with the piercings and it felt like some of the bitterness was cleansed with those touches.

Here she was cleansing him. Be it akumas, his heart, and now... parts of his soul.

He should cleanse her too, he mused. With his tongue. It was only fair to return the favor after all.

When her fingers threaded into his hair Chat Blanc almost choked. The purr was there, lodged painfully in his throat, but he refused to let it slip and reveal he was awake.

He may as well have been pudding beneath her hand. The simple massaging was enough to render him boneless.

I'm an akuma, I shouldn't be this easy.

Her delicious nails scratched his scalp, and he couldn't suppress the shudder that rolled down his body.

For her. I make an exception only for her.

God, he needed her. Needed her like the air in his lungs, hot as the blood in his veins. He needed to feel her pulse beneath his touch, and taste the sweat on her skin. To savor her, embrace her. Bathe in her presence, until he forgot the rest of the world existed.

Chat had the urge to pin her down and mark her neck with his bites. So the world could see she belonged to him.

But he couldn't. Marinette didn't want him to bite her, so he would respect that.

Lost in his thoughts, she brought him back to the present when her hand caressed his jawline. He felt her thumb brush over his bottom lip and softly catch on one of his protruding fangs.

"What happened to you?"

Chat was reminded of the fight he'd picked with Rena Rouge, and the number she'd done on his mouth. The wounds his own teeth had left when they sliced into his lip and gums.

It was touching that she was concerned about it. And not because she was lamenting his damaged good looks, but out of genuine concern for his well-being.

Someone cared about him. Honest-to-God cared about him. Not because of what he could do for them, and not because of what he was worth, but just cared for the sake of caring. Because he was important to her for some reason. Some reason that he didn't have to earn or upkeep.

Unconditional. That's what they called it.

Unconditional love.

And he liked it.

Years spent trying to earn Ladybug's affections, and somehow Marinette had slipped under his radar, crawling into his heart with her gentle kindness, and unyielding spirit. He wasn't sure how she fell in love with him, or even why. He'd spent so long trying to keep her away from him.

The last handful of weeks intruded upon his memory like a sinister shadow, reminding him that she'd been avoiding him. That she hadn't wanted to see him, and that perhaps she did not want him anymore.

And yet here she was, stroking him like a kitten. If purification meant this could go on forever, that she would love him again, then he'd willingly give up all the akumas.

Just take them and love me, Purrincess.

As if he said that aloud, she moved to lay on him. Her head pillowed against his shoulder, and her torso stretched over his side while her legs stayed curled beneath her on the bed. Her hand resumed playing with his hair, combing the long locks between her fingers.

"I missed you, Chaton."

And that's all it took. The vibrations in his chest came like water through a demolished flood gate, and suddenly he was purring so loudly he could feel it in the tips of his ears all the way down to the end of his tail.

Please stay with me. She knew he was awake now.

Marinette nuzzled her face against his shoulder and wrapped her arms around him. Her fingers dug into the leather, and one of her hands jostled the bell on his chest as she embraced him. His ears easily picked up her contented hum, even over the sound of his own thunderous purring.

It was all the answer he needed.