A/N: This was genuinely the hardest prompt for me to fulfill, I don't even know.
Day Twenty-Nine: Contrary to most popular beliefs, I'm actually a dog person. In which stereotypes are bad and Chat Noir is not an actual cat, no matter how much he likes head scratches.
Fire & Rain
Twenty-Nine: Puppy Love
Marinette stared down at the bundle in her boyfriend's arms, cradled preciously like a newborn baby. She let her eyes flick up to his and then back down to the bundle. She pursed her lips, "Is that a puppy?"
She couldn't quite keep the incredulity out of her voice.
Chat grinned and nodded energetically, "Yeah, isn't he cute?"
Well, he was. He was small, a few months at most. His fur was a vibrant color, somewhere between chocolate and cinnamon. His eyes were closed in slumber and he made little huffing sounds as he dreamed. He was cute but. . .
"Shouldn't you be scared of him?"
Chat's brows furrowed beneath his mask, "Why would I be scared of him? He's a baby!"
True enough, but. . . "It's a dog." There was a moment of silence as Chat just continued to stare confusedly at her. She felt herself blush. "You know," she began reluctantly, feeling embarrassed at saying it out loud. "You're a cat."
She saw the moment he understood what she meant. He spluttered in surprise, unable to form a complete sentence until he settled on a frown, "I'm not actually a cat, you know!"
"Well, yeah, but you're just so catlike."
"And I'd be concerned about your tastes if you thought I was this entire time!"
Now it was Marinette's turn to splutter indignantly, face cherry red and arms waving wildly, "That's not what I meant and you know it!" She glared as best she could while resisting the urge to bury her face in her hands. "You're the one that takes catnaps, and purrs, and is affected by catnip!"
"Well, you're some sort of garden witch! You don't see me holding that against you," he shot back.
"That is nowhere near the same thing," she huffed, clenching her fists at her side. Besides, she wasn't holding those things against him. She kind of liked those strange qualities about him, they were uniquely his. They were quirky and funny and endearing. Why were they even fighting again?
The puppy whimper-growled as he blinked dark gray eyes open. Oh yeah, because she accidentally insulted him and he accused her of bestiality!
"Why did you bring a dog to a bakery?"
He laughed nervously, "Well, father won't let me have a pet, and I was just thinking -"
"No," she shot him down before he could even finish.
"Marinette," he whined, eyes widening in a move that wasn't unlike Manon's baby doll eyes.
She was much more resistant to it when he was still holding a dog in his arms. "We can't keep pets here, you know that. You knew I was going to say no and you brought him here anyway!"
Not even her parents would be swayed by his wish. There was a reason why no amount of tears had gotten her so much as a hamster in her childhood. As much as she loved him, she wasn't going to risk her parents' livelihood for a whim. And she wasn't willing to spend the next decade or so trying to hide an entire dog in her room!
"But, he was all alone," he spoke with a tremulous voice. "I found him in an actual dumpster - how could anybody even be so cruel?"
Marinette wasn't moved, "You made me get rid of Bebek!"
"That was different!"
"How?"
"Bebek was a cat! You can't have a cat! I'm your cat!"
There was a moment of silence as they both registered what he had said. Marinette's shoulders relaxed, a devious smile spreading across her lips. Chat blushed all the way to the tips of his human ears.
"That was entrapment, and is illegal."
The puppy was cute, when it wasn't causing them to fight. He was laying on his back, Tikki rubbing his stomach with all the vigor of a child delightfully finding a puppy under the Christmas tree. (Marinette had always wished that would be her one day, but it never was.)
Chat was laying on his back, too, his head on Marinette's lap. She smiled as she ran her fingers through his hair, listening to him purr. She just barely resisted making a comment on how catlike he was being, but only because it had been mere moments since they stopped arguing. There was no reason to tease him and risk insulting him somehow. She'd had no idea he was so sensitive about the cat comparisons.
"I'm actually a dog person," he murmured sleepily. "Just because everybody believes something, doesn't make it true."
That made sense. She'd certainly had problems when people made assumptions about her and Chat (for years as Ladybug and recently as Marinette). Then again, she was dating Chat now, so maybe that wasn't the best example.
"I like dogs," she conceded and he opened one eye to peer incredulously up at her. "I do! I've always wanted a hamster, a dog, and a cat, in that order. I've just grown a bit fonder of cats recently."
He grinned impishly, "I wonder why."
She flicked one of his leather ears and he wrinkled his nose at her. "I have no idea," she argued. "And I would like dogs better if my boyfriend didn't ambush me with one and try to guilt trip me into keeping it despite knowing that there are regulations against it."
Chat quickly closed his eye, keeping them both shut tight, and smiled ruefully, "It wasn't my best idea, sorry! I just really felt sorry for him."
Of course he did. He always cared far too much for anybody in need.
"We'll find a home for him, like you did for Bebek."
"Sounds good," his smile turned more sincere before being broken by a yawn. "And I could live with a cat if we chose it together."
Marinette froze in her ministrations, glad that she hadn't pulled his hair in her shock and that he seemed mostly asleep. Hopefully, he was too drowsy to hear her heart beating wildly. Did he just imply that he imagined a future where they shared a home and pets and a life together?
She was blushing far too much to be healthy, and she just barely resisted picking the puppy up and showering it with kisses.
In the end, they gave the puppy to Madame Martin. The sexagenarian was lonely, her children too busy to visit regularly, and her granddaughter off in Spain or Sweden or something for most of the year. She looked forward to having a new being to take care of and baby, and she was also one of the relatively few people that knew about Marinette's relationship with Chat.
She didn't so much as blink at a masked man showing up on her doorstep with a nervous smile and a puppy.
And on nights he visited, he just had to lean over Marinette's balcony to catch a glimpse of the canine. Sometimes, Madame Martin invited him over to play with her little Avellino.
Marinette was a bit jealous that Chat got to actually interact with the pet he was forced to give up. But he always smiled just a little brighter after visiting the puppy, so she didn't mind it for long.
A/N: I honestly can't see them fighting/arguing seriously for too long. Like, I know all couples fight, but they're both far too affectionate to be mad for too long.
As always, let me know what you liked, didn't like, and what could use improvement!
~ Destiny's Sweet Melody
