May 30 - Purrince

Author's note: Marinette discovers that love can sneak up on you - especially when it comes in the form of a human-sized feline.

Ep: This is what happens when you step away from the keyboard for FIVE MINUTES and a certain wily black feline takes over. I'm known for my fluff, but I am never going to live this one down...

Lyra: … kind of like the time you tried on that Chipmunk Miraculous costume that MR sent? :D

MR: I'd forgotten about that… I'm STILL waiting for those blackmail, uh, I mean, beautiful pictures...

Today's story is from Chat Noir.

Marinette wondered.

There was no rhyme or reason to Chat's appearances, despite her best efforts to squeeze them into a pattern. Unlike Adrien - whose life she had mapped down to the millisecond, truth be told - Chat remained frustratingly random. For a young woman who liked plans and order to all things, it was a frustration that needed to be reckoned with. And yet, she simply had no idea how to address it.

So she wondered.

There were a few nights where she thought he had smelled fresh baked goods on the wind; she could never host him without sneaking him a few from the Bakery, and especially loved how his masked eyes would widen at the sight of the pastries when she presented her wares to him. But just when she thought that was the key to the pattern, he infuriatingly appeared on a night when no baking was being done. And then another. And then a third.

So she wondered.

Then she thought it was because a series of akumas had been fairly close to the Bakery; more often than not, Hawkmoth seemed to have a penchant for attacking the park or nearby Dupont, so that felt like a reasonable explanation. Marinette would find she had barely returned to her bedroom to drop her transformation on such occasions when the gentle rubbery thump on her rooftop patio would herald her partner's arrival. But there, too, Chat threw her a curveball; seven nights straight she discovered him perched on her railing, tail twitching with anticipation at her arrival - with nary an akuma having been fought.

So she wondered.

Perhaps it had been an accidental reveal, then? Had Chat caught Ladybug on her way back to the Bakery? Marinette was well aware of how her partner felt with respect to her alter ego, so it wasn't much of a stretch to begin to panic over the possible exposure of her identity. A test was in order, naturally, and for ten days she took the most random routes possible after departing an akuma attack; several times, she'd had to recharge Tikki enroute. Carefully she monitored for the possibility of a specific feline shadowing her, but he wasn't there; and, naturally, didn't appear at the Bakery at all during that period. And yet, a week after her efforts were completed, he once again appeared mere moments after she herself had returned home. Her test was inconclusive at best, especially when she tried to tease out of him any indication that he knew more than he was letting on.

So she wondered.

He did seem to have a knack for appearing when she had run-ins with Lila and felt especially low; similarly, whenever she was having trouble with a particular school assignment, he seemed to magically turn up with a helpful bit of tutoring. Or, when she thought about it, generally any time when she was feeling out of sorts, stressed or just generally frustrated with life and everything it entailed. Each time he'd be there with a gentle smile, a kind word, and, occasionally, a warm embrace that helped center her universe once again and chase off the worst of her doldrums. Sometimes, even, he would add the softest, sweetest kiss, too.

And she wondered: when had that started? Naturally, she pondered further.

Why did she always find herself thinking about moments with Chat? And, come to think of it, how had Chat managed to supplant Adrien in her daydreams? For if she were being honest with herself - and she chastised herself any time she wasn't - mental images of those cute feline ears, mischievous masked eyes and oh, that amazing smile he saved just for Marinette seemed nearly as omnipresent as the feline himself. Alya had even caught her doodling a certain black kitty on her table, prompting her best friend to give her grief over it for a full day.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that wily partner of hers had wrapped himself around her heart, and though she'd never seen it coming it felt as natural as breathing itself. Even though he had completely given himself over to her, it was a relationship of equals and respect; he would do anything for her, and she knew now that she would do the same. Somehow, deep down, her heart was aware this very same Chat was the one she had rejected as Ladybug. Marinette thanked the fates that her kitty had quietly pursued her instead.

One night, as she leaned up against the black-cladded chest of her gently purring boyfriend, stargazing atop the Bakery, she decided she wondered no longer - for every Purrincess deserves a Purrince.

And she had found hers.