If you thought Adrien was going to let her get away with a little white lie about being on a date with Chat Noir so unable to spend time with him, you'd be wrong. Poor Tikki found herself hiding in Marinette's bedroom again days after ice skating, trying to stay hidden from Chat Noir, who had appeared in the early evening, with no intention of leaving without a date.

"I'm not going anywhere, I've been paid to finish this jacket by tomorrow, and I'll finish it tonight if it kills me," Marinette said, firmly.

A bad combination of procrastination, bakery work, homework, and akumas, had put her way behind on this jacket.

"Is that your final offer? Not date until it's done?" Chat asked.

"I can't leave until it is, so yeah, sure, whatever," Marinette pressed a pin into her mouth to distract her.

Char shrugged. "Then I guess I'll have to help you."

Marinette took the pin out of her mouth and pinned it into the jacket sleeve, with a scoff. "What?"

"Let me help. I know fashion. Trust me," he insisted.

"I..." she glanced at the fabric scattered across the floor and sighed. She didn't have time to finish this alone, and sleep enough for school in the morning. "I guess four hands are better than two."

Chat Noir sat up. "Wait- really?!"

"Grab a needle kitty, and get sewing. Follow this pattern. Carefully!" She warned.

His father insisted he learn to sew, stitch and embroider, but never actually let him near the clothes or designs. Gabriel didn't want anything to do with his business. He was a model, nothing more. In theory, Adrien was supposed to take over years from now, but Gabriel had stopped his training when his mother...

"Any particular colour?" He asked, reaching for a needle.

"Red. Do you know embroidery?" She asked, tentatively.

"I do," he nodded.

"Good. Hand me that measuring tape, will you?"

Chat handed her the tape and she wound it around her palm like a snake to measure with. She made a note of the number in pencil on the nearest surface. The wall. Chat Noir raised an eyebrow as he cut the thread from the bobbin.

"Do your parents know you do that?" He asked.

Marinette didn't even glance at him. "What? Write on the wall? They guess."

"How?"

"Open your eyes and find out!"

Chat frowned. He looked up around her room curiously. He barely noticed his face plastered every five inches or so. In between them, there was the familiar pink paint, but it was faded in some spots. paling pink paint. Spots where she had drawn or written on the wall, and rubbed it out, taking part of the paint with it. The more he looked the more he could see. Marinette drew on her walls a lot.

"Your parents know about the drawings?" Chat repeated.

"Papa says I used to watch him write his recipe experiments on the walls. That's probably where I get it from," Marinette smiled at the memory.

Chat tied a knot in the thread to dangle in the needle in his hand ready to embroider. He said, thoughtfully, "My father draws his designs in a special book no one is allowed to see."

Marinette frowned. "Then how do they get built?"

"When he's got one almost perfect he shows them to his underlings and it goes to a committee that make it perfect. Every drawing he's ever done is in that book, and no one sees them."

Marinette nodded as if that made complete sense to her. it didn't really make much sense to Adrien. Every time he'd ever drawn anything he wanted to show it off to everyone, and he thought designs were much more difficult than doodles of rabbits and ladybugs. You'd want to show off that you could do it, right? well not Gabriel. Then when he saw that Chloe had stolen Marinette's hat design, he realised that it wasn't that he was ashamed of his drawings, or that they weren't good enough, but he didn't want them to be stolen. Which was fair.

"What does he design?" Marinette asked, curiously as she pinned the left sleeve in place.

"Err..."

"Right. You can't tell me. I understand."

"Sorry," he muttered.

She turned her head to him and gave a soft smile. "Don't be, you're protecting yourself and people you love. Never be sorry for protecting what you love."

"Right…" he glanced over at the design pad on the table. "Is this what you love? Making fashion?"

"It's not as good as Gabriel Agreste, but look at those designs!"

she gestured to a random poster of Adrien on the wall and smiled at him like he was a God of creativity and she was asking for a blessing. Chat finally realised that all of them were of him. horrible reminders of his time in front of a camera instead of out with her or Alya or Nino. Just like the ones that filled his father's office.

"He designs clothes for more than just Adrien y'know," he muttered.

Marinette blushed. "Yeah but Adrien looks so good in them! He's inspiring."

"Well have you got any of his things? Looking at the stitching could be inspiring too, I hear he's got an old fashioned almost extinct sewing technique on his latest lot," Chat said, a little sharply, but she didn't notice.

She scoffed. "Like I could ever afford an original Agreste!"

"I can hook you up, I've got connections," he offered.

She wrinkled her nose. "I've got pretty good connections myself, but I don't wanna be a nuisance."

"It's not a crime to want nice things y'know."

"I know. But I have nice things. There's no point in paying three hundred euro for a dress I can make myself."

She hadn't been thinking when she said it, and now she felt Chat's eyes bore into the back of her head. His eyes were wide in surprise, and he was looking incredibly curious, but she could only see his reflection in her computer monitor. She wouldn't turn to look. her cheeks get hotter as she flushed red anyway.

"You what?" he asked.

"I..."

A smirk crept into his voice, "You can't clam up now, what'd you do?"

She closed her eyes, defeated. "Here, hold this and I'll show you."

Chat stood up and wandered over to the mannequin to hold the sleeve in place for her. she hurried over to a box she kept behind her mirror, and picked it up. he tilted his head. It was an old shoe box. Nothing interesting about that. but when she opened it, he saw a familiar shade of royal purple that took his breath away. His eyes bulged as she unfolded it. down the skirt tumbled till it spilled out around her waist. The wide skirt had been his idea, but they downplayed it in the final design. Here, it puffed out proudly, so the deep blue petticoat stitched to the waist was visible. The same thin fabric was at the top, turning the sweetheart neckline into an illusion. The rest of the purple swept down and out around her, stopping only at the deep blue ribbon around her middle, that held a sparkling butterfly broach. Chat's jaw dropped in awe.

"Me and Alya went to his shop and I put it on and she took photos of me in it. She's sneaky with that camera. Very paparazzi. But I took close ups of the stitching and the hemline and things in the changing room. Then we got the rest from a thrift store which was super cheap, and I made this myself."

She brought it over to him to let him see it closer. His hand ran across the ribbon. It shined gently as the light hit it. "Impressive. Like, really impressive! This is amazing Mari."

Her face was deeply serious. "You can't tell anyone. Only me and Alya know. And my parents I guess. They paid for the fabric."

"Have you worn it outside yet? You'd get people to turn their heads, I'm telling you," he smiled.

She pulled the dress back urgently towards her chest, like he was trying to take it away, "No. No way. If Chloe ever found out, she'd know it was fake and she'd tell Adrien and he'd tell his father and I'd be sued for copyright."

Chat frowned. "You think Adrien would tell his father?"

Her face softened, "I don't think he'd do it to be malicious. He'd probably bring it up as an interesting thing he found out, or maybe... maybe he'd be impressed, like you are, and he'd want to share that with his father. He loves his father, obviously. But Gabriel can't find out or he'll sue me and we're only a little bakery. Our lawyer is my great uncle Pierre, he can't take on lawyers for a multimillionaire company. We'd lose the bakery."

Chat felt his chest twitch. His father would have to sue. He had to be harsh to people who copied his outfits and sold them as fakes, because he wanted others to think twice before they tried. If Adrien told his father about his, he wouldn't be surprised if they lost the bakery, but he loved it here, and it was their pride and joy, so he couldn't tell his father anything. but that still begged the question:

"If you're that worried, why did you make it? Why did you keep it?"

"Because I wanted to show that I had the skill to make it. It's wonderful. I'm so proud of it..." her eyes were full of bitter sweet pride as she smoothed the skirt, then she sighed. "I can never show anyone."

Chat reached out and wrapped his hand around her finger, which was the only part of her hand he could get to. "I won't let the cat out of the bag."

Her chest eased again, and she smiled softly. "Thanks kitty. I know I can rely on you."

"But you should put it on."

"what?!"

"Well even if we're not going out, we're still on a date! you should dress nice for a date."

"what's your excuse?"

"my excuse is if I were to dress nice, it'd have to go on over this suit, and when I took the suit off I'd be wearing two sets of clothes,"

Marinette tried to remain stubbornly frowning, but she couldn't help giggling at the idea of someone wandering around in two sets of clothes, this close to May. It was surprisingly warm for this time of year, and two sets of clothes would draw the eye.

"come on, put it on. Purrlease?"

"I don't know If it'll still fit!"

"that's from last year's autumn runway, so give time for it to get to the shops, and for drawing the designs, and measuring yourself against it, and finding the fabric, and making the dress neat, it can't be more than a month old. You haven't put on any weight since then, certainly not enough that this won't fit anymore. Put it on."

Chat smirked smugly. Marinette blinked at him, shocked into silence by his skill. He was right on the money. She'd finished it a week after New Year's Day. it would fit perfectly, and she hadn't had a chance to show it off to anyone. She desperately wanted to. How he knew that, she had no idea, but it was enough to convince her. Marinette sighed, defeated, and laughed.

"You carry on pinning the sleeves in place. I'll be right back."

Tikki's eyes widened as Marinette held the dress tighter and ducked out of the room. She was leaving her alone with Chat Noir. What if he went exploring? Curiosity kills cats you know, they can't fight it! if he went exploring, if he even caught a glimpse of her, everything would fall apart. And he would know she was Ladybug… finally. Tikki didn't move. If Marinette was going to leave her on her own like this, it served her right to be caught. What Tikki didn't take into account, was that Chat Noir, and Adrien, was good at doing what he was told. He didn't even look away from the jacket as he carefully pinned the sleeve into place, exactly where Marinette had marked out where it had to go. he only looked up when Marinette returned.

The dressed hugged her shape comfortably and flawlessly. It fell around her bare knees easily, bouncing with each step she look. chat noir suddenly realised that she had no shoes or socks on. Bare feet on this wooden floor was understandable, but in that dress, it looked a little out of place. like her hair being in bunches. It looked… odd.

She gave him a sheepish smile. "you like?" Chat wrinkled his nose. She frowned. "you hate it."

His eyes widened. "no! no, no, no, I don't hate it, I promise. it's just that your hair…"

"what about my hair?" she raised a hand to one of her bunches, self-consciously.

Chat hesitantly stepped forward, stammering as he tried to answer, "it, it's not, it… it doesn't fit. You need to – you should – you…" he reached a hand out and paused, "may I?"

He was close now. practically on top of her. close enough that she could smell his cologne. It was warm and sweet. Like him. she felt her chest tighten again.

"s-sure… go ahead."

Chat Noir gently reached for her bunches. He held onto the end by her head, so it didn't hurt when he pulled the hairband out. he eased it out gently, and her hair unfurled in clumped together strips. Carefully, he eased out the other hair band, so all her hair was free. Marinette blushed as she felt his hands rustle against the underside of her hair, shaking it loose. His fingers ran through with ease, catching and breaking the little knots as he went. Then he took a step back to admire her with her hair loose. A soft smile lit his face.

"purrfect," he said, softly.

Marinette blushed. "I can't take credit. I didn't design it."

"no but you did a wonderful job making it," he said.

She smiled sheepishly, and happened to look past him. the embroidery sat on the sofa where he had left it, barely started. She frowned, and turned her head to meet his gaze.

"we've got work to do! come on! Back to it!"

He laughed as she clapped her hand. It felt almost like Cinderella ushering the mice back to work. he obeyed anyway. she wasn't someone to fight with. Chat folded his legs beneath him, and prepared to start again. then a flash of purple caught his eye. Every time she moved around the mannequin to pin things in place and start switching, the purple on her dress bounced and ruffled. He smiled. He liked this dress more than his father's designs. It had more heart. Something about it felt hauntingly familiar though. beyond just being one of his father's designs. That little butterfly broach on her ribbon… there was something he couldn't quiet put his claw on.

"urgh!"

Marinette huffed as her friend fell in her way again. This is why she had her hair up when working. Her hair constantly got in the way.

"what's wrong?" chat asked, pulling the red thread through.

"my hair is in the way, look in that drawer and find me a hair pin, will you?" she asked.

Chat followed her gaze to a drawer by her table. He unfolded his leg, and wandered over, bending low to dig through it, curiously. Tikki cleared her throat quietly to get Marinette's attention. she held out a bobby pin with a ladybug on the end as Marinette threw her fringe out of her eyes again. Marinette took it gratefully, and tucked her fringe out of the way.

"Never mind, found one," she said.

Chat Noir straightened up, with a piece of paper in his hand. He read it curiously, and turned to show it to Marinette, "what's this?"

"what's what?" she asked, too busy to look.

"it's a quiz," he said.

Her eyes widened, and her heart skipped a beat. "oh, um, it's a dumb thing me and Alya do sometimes, just to see how much we know about each other, or about other people, can you put it down please?"

"it says Chat Noir," he said.

"it doesn't!" she squeaked.

"it does! Right here, it says chat noir!" he grinned, pointing to his name.

Marinette was going to kill Alya. she had written down the side Alya-Nino-90, Alya-Marinette-100, Marinette-Adrien-85, Marinette-Chat Noir-30, Marinette-Luka-100. She told Marinette she didn't know the percentages they got! Why did she write it down?!

"it… it says… it says Chat Noir because… because… Alya- I mean, I did too, but Alya thought, because the aquarium, and – well we did Nino and – it would be funny – I mean it was funny, so, um…"

"because we went on a date and Alya thought it would be fun to see how much you could answer to figure out how well it went?"

"yeah…"

She frowned slowly, puzzled, and glanced at him. How did he know what she meant? Half the time Alya barely knew what she meant. Maybe they were closer than she thought.

"cute. We only got 30 percent?" he wrinkled his nose.

She shrugged. "we aren't allowed to know about each other."

"we can do better than that though. come on, what's your least favourite body part?" He asked.

She looked up at him as he wandered back towards the sofa, paper in hand. "are you serious?"

"yeah! We can beat 30! My least favourite body part is my tail. It always gets in the way. But it helps Ladybug sometimes so it's not all bad."

Marinette smirked to herself, and made a mental note to tell Alya she told her so. She glanced over at Chat Noir as he sat back down and picked up the fabric he was embroidering. he smiled up at her.

"what's your least favourite body parts?" he repeated.

"of yours? Your vocal chords, they move too much," she teased.

Chat faked a pout. "mean!"

Marinette smiled to herself at the fact he couldn't fully hide his smirk. "I guess it'd have to be my feet. I constantly trip over them, it's annoying to hit the ground all the time."

Chat smiled as he remembered the state of her legs as she changed her skates back to her shoes. They were practically bright purple already. Then she had been hitting the ground on the ice, but she couldn't even stay upright on gravel sometimes. Sometimes he tried to catch her, but sometimes that dragged him down too. He had more than a couple of bruises because of her, but they always made him smile.

"When you were a child, what did you want to be when they grew up?" he asked.

Marinette raised an eyebrow at him as she pulled a needle through the sleeve of the jacket again. chat bit his lip sheepishly as he got her point.

"I don't know what I wanted to be. this didn't even come to mind. I think I wanted to be a pianist,"

he said thoughtfully.

"you play piano?" she sounded surprised.

He grinned. "excellently. Well I couldn't play violin, could I? too much of a risk."

She frowned. "how'd you mean?"

"because they're made of cat guts, aren't they?" chat smiled.

Marinette groaned. "oh, right, I forgot."

Chat Noir chuckled. He pulled the thread through and read the next question. "What country would love to visit?"

"I'm ok with France. My father and I travelled a lot when mother was around, and he still expects us to keep going in summer but... I can't just leave Ladybug."

"Why not?" She asked innocently.

"We're partners, aren't we? What if something happens while I'm gone?" He shrugged.

"You're not leaving. You're going on a trip. It'll only be a few days and Hawkmoth rarely attacks anyway. Ladybug can handle herself," she said.

"It'd be all summer..." he corrected.

Her shoulders sagged. "Oh. Rich then are you? To be able to leave for so long?"

He looked up and blinked at the tone that she used. He wasn't entirely sure about it. About what it meant. "Yes, as it happens. Does that change things?"

She looked up and met his eye innocently. "Why would it?"

"If you could go anywhere, any country, where would you go?" Chat asked, playfully.

"China I guess. Home to see my family and ancestors," she said.

"And some more interesting inspiration for designs?" He asked, knowingly.

She chuckled. "Of course."

He glanced back at the paper. "Did you have a nickname as a child? Do like it? why?"

"Nicknames? I have a million," she smirked. He'd given her three himself.

Chat sat up, intrigued. "I wanna know all a million and why."

He half expected her to just scoff and let them move on to the next question on the list, but she didn't. Her eyes sparkled a little as she looked up at her.

"Where should I start?"

He grinned eagerly. "Start with mine."

Bugaboo, my lady, "Princess. I don't know why."

"Because you're pretty as a princess," he purred.

"Alya calls me cookie, that's pretty obvious. Nino called me spinner, because I used to spin when I was excited. Kim called me marshmallow because I was the first person to ever beat him at chubby bunnies. Alix picked it up for a while but it died when Max ate an entire bag of smores by himself. Rose calls me flower, but she calls everyone flower. Nat called-"

Chat felt a hot flush in his stomach, "Nat?"

She tilted her head at the sharpness of his interruption. "Nathanael."

"Evillustrator?" He asked, pointedly.

"Yeah, but he's a good guy. He called me starburst because in summer I get super freckled. Mama and papa called me honey bun. Luka... Most people call me Mari though," she shrugged.

Chat Noir sensed that she didn't want him to question the last name. "I'd love to tell you mine, but I can't. It's a play on my real name. And then there's you. You and Ladybug call me kitty."

"Ah. Ladybug and I have a lot in common," Marinette glanced at Tikki, who giggled.

"Lucky you. What disappointment or rejection from your past still stings?" he continued.

Luka. "I don't know. Nothing stings. I've moved on. You?"

"My mother."

"Of course."

There was another silence between them, in which both understood a little too well, and were hurt by it a little too much to press it.

"Which of your partner's achievements are they most proud of?"

Marinette twirled to make her skirt spin, so Chat laughed, "really?"

"No!" She laughed, "designing Jag's album cover."

Chat frowned. "Jag?"

"Jagged," she explained.

Chat straightened up. "You call him Jag?"

"He told me to," she shrugged.

"Jagged Stone told you to call him Jag?!" Chat repeated in awe.

"Yeah he said he could trust me because Fang did. That's why we're making his jacket if we ever finish," she explained.

"Jagged Stone commissioned this jacket?!" He gasped.

"Yes!" Marinette urged, as if it were taking too much effort to constantly repeat everything.

Chat Noir stared at her as if seeing her in a new light. "You really are lucky."

Again she glanced at Tikki. "I know."

"Name two of your partner's grandparents. Bonus point: Can you name all their grandparents? I can't even name my own, I haven't seen them since I was a baby," he shrugged.

"Can you name any of mine?" She asked.

He frowned, trying to focus on what that name was. "I met your grandma... I wanna say Janine?"

"Gina," she smiled.

"So close!" He clicked his fingers and slapped his knee. Marinette chuckled to herself. He continued. "Outside of their career, what's something your partner considers themselves naturally talented at? Well if this is your career than baking."

"If this is yours then flirting."

"I'll take that. What's your partner's favourite smell?"

"Cheese. Specifically camembert?"

Chat's shoulders deflated. He didn't realise how strongly he smelt of it if she realised what kind of cheese it was from smell alone. Inside his ring Plagg howled with laughter.

"That's not my favourite that's my kwamis," Chat explained.

Marinette played ignorant. "Kwami?"

"Doesn't matter," he smiled softly. "I'd say lavender and camomile. My mother's favourite perfume."

"Sounds lovely," she said.

"What's your partner's favourite flavour of ice cream?"

"Bubble-gum. You? Tuna?"

"Funny. No, I like mint choc chip."

"Really? I didn't even think of that one for you," she said.

"What'd you think?" He asked.

"Strawberry," she said.

"Mmm. Nah," he wrinkled his nose. "That's a personality trait your partner dislikes about themselves, and that they share with a parent?"

"I... I can't talk to people I like. It makes me so anxious. Just like papa. He almost ended up in hospital when mama kissed him," she sighed.

"I couldn't imagine you being in hospital because of a kiss," he chuckled.

"I'm hoping you won't have to see me in hospital ever," she said.

"I agree. Of all the ways there are to die, which does your partner fear the most?"

he asked.

"Eaten by a shark," Marinette said, firmly.

Chat laughed and agreed. "What about you? How do you fear dying?"

By Hawkmoth taking Tikki and exposing her to the whole of Paris. Dragging out the smug torture while she suffers helplessly, with rope tightening around her chest until it crashed her heart. killing her in front of all of Paris. Children included. Marinette shrugged.

"I guess stabbings a bad way to go."

"That's bad conversation for a date. What type of music does your partner secretly like? What's musical taste they have that most people wouldn't know they enjoy? Jagged Stone, clearly," he said.

"Who doesn't love Jagged?" She smirked.

"True. What does your partner typically look forward to most about the weekend? Family time? Designing? Baking?" He guessed.

"Being able to see my friends outside school. To do things like ice skating, or aquariums," she said, pointedly.

He glanced at the clock pointedly. "And staying up too late?"

"Way too late," she agreed, smirking.

"Who is someone your partner considers to be a mentor, or who has been a strong positive influence on their professional development?" He asked.

"Papa," she didn't have to think.

The gorilla was the only person he had left that openly cared about him in any way. He didn't do it often, but he was more likely to hug Adrien than Gabriel. But the strongest influence was Plagg. Every time. But he couldn't tell her that.

"My mother... always my mother."

"You must really miss her."

There was a long silence between them as Chat decided he didn't want to talk about her. "How did your partner spend their summers as a child?"

"By travelling with his parents as far as I'm aware," she smiled.

"By baking, I'm guessing," he smiled.

"You're guessing right. Play dates, baking, and long weekends camping in a different town each year. It was cold, wet and muddy, but we huddled together around a campfire and laughed until it didn't feel so cold anymore," she teased.

"Sounds nice," he agreed.

"It wasn't at the time, but the best memories come from the worst of times, right?" She smiled.

When his mother left, Chloe had taken it upon herself to make him smile. A whole days events, from a hot air balloon ride to feeding the elephants in the zoo, face paints and balloon animals. None of it cheered him up. Then, at the end of the day, when she had practically given up, they collapsed on the floor of her room, just staring up at the ceiling and eating the last of the popcorn in silence. After everything, just knowing she was there. That even though everything fun was over, she was still there beside him, sticking by his side, that made him feel better. It was a warm memory, after a miserable month. He treasured it.

"What are your favourite and least favourite aspects of work?" He continued.

"Favourite is... oh just so much of it is fun, but the best moment is taking a step back when the person who commissioned it puts it on, and admiring how well they and the clothes fit together. It's a real sense of pride," she explained.

"Least favourite? Ow!"

He cried as he accidentally stabbed the needle into his finger. A pearl of crimson blood beaded on his finger. He sucked his finger to try and get rid of the pain.

"Getting needles in the hand because you're not paying enough attention," she chuckled.

"Understandably," he grumbled "Do you have any plasters?"

She nodded and left the needle hanging from the sleeve as she wandered over towards the cupboard she kept a first aid box in.

"Try not to bleed on the cloth, we don't have time to start again," she warned, from the cupboard.

"I'll try, but I think Jagged would be ok knowing you literally put blood, sweat and tears into it. Well blood at least," he muttered.

"Don't bleed on it!" She huffed.

Chat held his hand way out over the floor to avoid the cloth as the blood trailed down his finger. Marinette pulled open the plaster, and frowned at the glove that covered his hand. He pulled off his glove and wrinkled his nose at the blood in the finger. Marinette wiped the blood away, and pressed the plaster against the blood. he hissed. She raised his hand to her lips and kissed the plaster gently. Chat frowned, and his ears drooped.

"Um, what'd you do that for?" He asked, puzzled.

"Err," Marinette blushed. She hadn't expected to be called out. "I... I kissed it better..."

Chat blinked slowly, "Why?"

"Because... because... I don't know. It's a thing you do when someone you care about gets hurt and you have to deal with it. You kiss it better. Mama always did it to me," Marinette's cheeks turned pink.

"Oh... no one's ever done that to me before... will... will you do it again?" Chat's ears turned red.

This was an incredibly weird situation for her to find herself in. Her partner, her hero partner, had never been kissed better, and wanted her to do it again. Without thinking, or trying to argue, she lifted his hands back to her again. Her lips were close enough to brush against his hand gently. She glanced up at him. He looked hopeful, but a little bashful. Hesitantly, she pressed her lips against his plaster again, gently. He blushed again. It was a lingering kiss, and she pulled back slowly.

"Better?" She asked, softly.

He smiled shyly and nodded. She smiled despite herself, and wandered back over to her mannequin to fix the sleeve firmly into place. Tikki smiled to herself. Marinette was bright pink again. The two of them continued stitching in silence. Both of them were comfortable with the quiet, even with how sheepish it was. They didn't speak again until Chat had finished the embroidery. Marinette had finished the rest of the jacket and this was the piece de resistance. A beautiful scarlet alligator with deep green eyes, embroidered by Chat Noir himself, that would create the entity of the back of the jacket.

"This is glorious," Marinette smiled.

He straightened up "Really?"

She grinned and held it up against the back of the jacket. "Pretty?"

He looked past the jacket and at her, with a smile. "Very."

She smiled proudly and pinned it in place to the back of the jacket. The alligator stretched across from his shoulder blade to the small of his back, diagonally.

"I've gotta stitch this on and then trap it in with the lining, but I can use the machine to do that," Marinette yawned.

"There's a machine?! I did this by hand and there's a machine?!" Chat groaned.

"It's loud. I didn't want to wake up my parents," Marinette apologised.

"That's..." he stretched the cramp out of his hand, and rubbed his wrist, painfully. "can we take a break?"

"Yep. Let's go on the balcony. We need fresh air and stretch time," Marinette yawned again.

Chat stood up and his leg rattled full of pins and needles. He stretched his arms up. "Sounds great, let's go."

They climbed up onto the balcony, and the cool breeze eased the aches and pains to help them wake up properly. It eased the numbness out of them. They wandered out into the rest of the space and overlooked the city together. Up here there was space to stretch, but it made their heads spin. The sky was bleaching back down into dark blue, but the pale stars were still clearly visible around the Eiffel Tower. Marinette reached out and latched onto the railings, stretching out to bring the life back into her arms.

"It's been a long night," she sighed.

"Worth it to spend time with you," he purred.

"It's been a lot of time," she chuckled.

"We're not done yet," he said.

"You don't have to stay," she said.

He scoffed. "Are you kidding? That's Jagged Stone's jacket. I'm gonna lick it when were done just to know some part of me is touching him at all times."

She frowned and tried not to laugh. "That's genuinely creepy."

"I'm tired," he said, as if that were an acceptable excuse. He turned to gaze at the sky. "The stars are beautiful, aren't they?"

Her eyes didn't leave him. "Gorgeous."

"It's weird to think that ancient Egyptians used to look up at these same stars. Pirates used these stars were looking at to guide themselves across the ocean. Pluto himself was inspired by them to create the academy. We owe our education to these very stars."

"Plato."

"Huh?"

"You said Pluto. You mean Plato," she smiled.

"I'm tired," he repeated in the same tone.

She laughed gently as the breeze ruffled her skirt. "you're right though. Those stars have been there since before our planet was. They'll be there long after all of us are gone... after you and I are forgotten there will only be stars left."

Stars and kwamis. Adrien found himself wondering if Plagg knew about stars. He knew about all sorts of things that didn't make sense to Adrien. He knew about long dead languages and extinct creature's humanity had no record of. He'd been around since the dawn of time. He must have known everything about them once. Back when it was only him and them and Tikki. It seemed unfeasible that Plagg would have been around them. His grumpy little kwami witnessed - probably caused - the big bang. He probably remembered stars that had extinguished now. That amazed Adrien.

Plagg amazed Adrien.

Marinette however, took a different view. Tikki was the God of creation. She was creation. Tikki had probably caused their planet. She could have caused humanity to evolve the way they did. Caused Marinette and Adrien to be able to stand here and breath and be amazed by the stars she had created. Soon she would go on to cause bigger and better people than them to do bigger and better things! Things better than the stars, better than the forests, better than the oceans.
But Marinette would never see them. She wouldn't be alive. Marinette would one day close her eyes and never open them again. Tikki would be building new and miraculous things to make people millions of years in the future gasp in awe. Marinette wouldn't know. Then, billions of years from now, when earth was nothing but dust particles that once had life, all that would be left were these stars, and Plagg, and Tikki. Alone. Marinette's chest ached. It was inevitable, and it was heart-breaking, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
Marinette knew she was just another Ladybug in a long line of Ladybugs, but she'd never thought about the next miraculous holder. Who came after Marinette? Would Tikki tell them about her? She didn't talk about her last holder. Then again, Marinette never asked. She felt guilty for not taking an interest. She was pining over Luka, but she'd lost one person.
One.
Tikki and Plagg had lost thousands. Millions.
And they never talked about them...

"Mari? You ok?" Chat asked softly.

Marinette felt a silvery tear roll down her cheek as she felt her heart ache for all Tikki had lost, and all she was yet to lose. She didn't thank her enough. She didn't appreciate her enough.

"I'm just thinking about a friend... she's kind and thoughtful and sweet and she's lost so much... I can't imagine the pain she must feel, but she never lets on... it's not fair that so much bad can happen someone so kind," she sniffed.

Chat laid his hand on her shoulder. "Do you wanna call this a night?"

She frowned. "Why?"

"I don't want you to hurt. Sleep it off. It's alright," he said.

"No. Let's get this jacket done. How's your finger?" She asked.

He shrugged. "I'll live."

"Want me to do your nails? Make your hand so pretty no one notices the wound?" She grinned.

"Have you got green?"

"I do. You can't touch the jacket once it's on though."

"Deal."

Marinette painted his nails carefully so they were all lime green except the one that was covered in a plaster. Since he couldn't help sew now, he watched her work. She sat under a desk lamp, and focused on getting the alligator perfectly aligned. Chat smiled softly as sleep called to him. The tip of her tongue peered out of the corner of her mouth. It was cute. He yawned.
The next thing Marinette knew, Chat was sniffling. He had fallen asleep, and he was whimpering like he was crying in his sleep. Marinette finished stitching the embroidery in place, and stood up. She wandered over to where Chat was laying across her sofa, asleep and crying. Marinette didn't want to wake him, so she tried a different tactic. She ran her hand through his hair gently, and hummed a soft tune to ease him.

"Hush my handsome kitty. You're safe here. you're not alone. I'm here. I'm with you. Like always. We're partners, remember? I've got your back. You don't have to be afraid." Her voice was barely a whisper.

Her voice wriggled through to his dream, and eased him. He relaxed slowly as he stopped being afraid of whatever he was dreaming about. Marinette smiled when he stopped crying. She leaned down, and kissed his forehead so softly that her lips barely touched him. Had Tikki still been awake, she probably would have screamed to see it.

When Chat Noir woke up he had transformed back into Adrien, and Marinette was asleep, slumped over on the desk. The jacket sat, finished, on the mannequin. He checked his watch. His eyes winded. Adrien had ten minutes before Natalie would come to his bedroom to see what the hold-up was. But he couldn't just leave. He had to leave a note or something...

"Plagg, wake up," Adrien nudged him gently.

"Let me sleep! Don't interrupt a sleeping cat, death could incur!" Plagg whined.

"That's sleep walkers."

"I didn't say my death "

Adrien ignored his threats. "Come on, we gotta get home quickly!"

Plagg rolled his eyes, but obeyed. Two hours later, Alya snorted at Adrien's bright green nails, as he placed his pencil case on the table.

"Nice nails, very pretty!" She grinned.

His heart raced. If Marinette saw them, she'd know too much! He glanced around for her. She wasn't there. She was running late like normal.

"Have you got remover?" He asked.

"Aww don't take it off, I like it!" She instead.

"Please Alya? For me?" He begged.

"Fine. For you. Hand sanitizer will have to do. It should work, it's alcohol based," she shrugged.

"Thanks, I owe you one," he beamed.

Marinette woke up late for school and had to race to get dressed properly, and to class before detentions started getting handed out. She was in such a rush she didn't notice the note.

I wanna see more of mew. Next time a real date, dressed up. Just give me a bell.