So today had been a good day, Marinette thought. They'd gotten their results back for the chemistry test and she'd done it! Her mountains of revision materials had paid off. She had a très bien! Maman and Papa had been so pleased. Now, she was planning on a long night of doing blissful nothing – headphones in, volume up, headbanging begun.
Of course, the world's mucked-up sense of humour had other plans.
Marinette didn't hear her maman invite Chat Noir in, or her papa's attempts to convince him to play a videogame tournament with him, or even Chat's little gasp of shock when he pushed open the trap-door to her room and found her standing on her chaise lounge, air guitaring and head-banging, with her hair cascading all over her face (she'd taken out her pigtails as soon as she went to her room. After all, one cannot headbang properly, if one does not have their hair down).
It took Marinette spinning in a severe guitar smash to notice the very wide eyes of Chat Noir peeping out through the hatch in her floor.
"CCRAXSCH"
"Eeeek," Marinette squealed as she collapsed in a tangle of limbs and shiny blue hair on the floor.
Her train of thought had just – halted. Her eyes grew very wide.
Slowly, as if Chat thought that he would startle her more if he moved too quickly, Chat began to pull himself up into Marinette's room.
They stared at each other for several seconds.
"No need to fall fur me, purrincess," Chat said after he'd pulled himself together.
Honestly, Marinette could have kissed her kitty. This was the way to restore her ladybug confidence and her calm.
She rolled her eyes.
"As if I would ever fall for you, kitty. You caught me unawares, is all."
Chat opened his mouth as if to say something, then immediately though better of it.
"What music are you listening to?"
Marinette flushed. She hadn't realised she still had the headphones in. She took one out and proffered it to Chat.
"Jagged Stone's new album. Here have a listen."
"Isn't this not out until…", Chat's brow furrowed, "…until at least the 16th and that's three weeks away!"
"Jagged wanted me to design his new album cover." Marinette bit her lip. "I, uh, designed his last one too."
Chat's eyes grew to the size of planets.
"You mean that this music isn't at all publicly available yet? And wait! Are you kitten me? You're designing another album cover? Wow, and I thought I was famous." He swooned. "I'll get to tell my kids that I was furends with Jagged Stone's album cover designer."
Marinette bumped his shoulder with hers.
"What can I say? You keep good company," she smirked.
"I'll say," he smiled back.
"So you're a fan of Jagged Stone too?"
"Duh. Who isn't? That man's music is litterally the most pawsome in Paris!"
"I know right! All other mewsic is infurier."
"And XY's music is a major disappointment. They say he's the best, but really they're just lyres."
"The latest Jagged Stone album totally rocks."
Chat looked at her askance.
"Hey, that totally counts as a pun."
He shook his head, "Totally not rock and roll, Marinette!" he mimicked Jagged.
Marinette blew a strand of hair out of her face and pouted.
"Not all of us memorise puns for use in our spare time."
"What can I say? I'm a natural."
Marinette burst out laughing. Chat pretended to be hurt for a moment before joining in.
"Hey, so how come you came over to say hi? We don't have a date today, do we?" asked Marinette, suddenly panicked.
Chat looked away guiltily.
"Nooo, but, er, we still haven't watched that rom-com you keep bringing up. And I had some free time today…" he trailed off, unsure.
"Finally! My time has come to introduce you to a real fake-relationship," Marinette yelled in glee.
"Um, I don't think that's how it works, purrincess."
"Shhh." Marinette went as far as to press her finger to his lips. "C'mon, we can build a pillow fort and eat popcorn and watch "To All The Boys I've Loved Before"."
She dragged him onto the floor with her, so that he was no longer sitting next to her, but splayed out all over the floor on top of her.
"What was the point in that?" Chat asked.
"Headphones out, you can listen to the rest of the album later."
Chat pouted.
"I need to go get popcorn!" Marinette protested, "and I am not leaving you alone with my phone."
Chat looked at her as if she was crazy. Well she wasn't explaining that one. Phone-stealing was not a subject that ever needed to come up.
Chat acquiesced eventually and in no time they were huddled up together on a blanket watching the opening credits scroll across the screen of her laptop.
"What song is that?" Chat whispered.
"Shhhhh, it's starting," Marinette muttered back, elbowing him in the ribs.
Line Break
"Sooo, did you like it?" Marinette asked excitedly, once the final credits were gone.
"Errr," Chat hesitated.
He was having a bit of a purroblem. Did fake-dating always end in a relationship? Because that was not what he signed up for. He didn't want to get over Ladybug! He wanted to date her. That was what the whole idea of fake-dating was, right?
It's not like he could ask Marinette though – not when she was squidged up against his side and was his, wait for it, fake-girlfriend.
"I thought it was totally pawsome." Chat choked off the princess at the end. It was a term of endearment, right? Then why was it so natural? Chat's thoughts spiralled while Marinette remained comfortably oblivious.
"So did you think of any rules to add to the list?"
"Don't fall in love?" Chat muttered.
"We've already got that one. It's the most important rule in a fake-relationship, after all."
That was a relief. Chat really didn't need Marinette falling in love with him. How awkward would that be?
"They certainly seemed to struggle with it though."
Marinette giggled.
"Of course they struggle with it, that's what makes it a romantic comedy – the people that get together aren't the couple that were aiming to get together. You should watch 'Just Go With It'. The fake-couple end up together then as well. It's not like that in real life, though. We aren't characters in a romantic comedy."
Marinette pretended to swoon against Chat's side.
"Oh, my fake-boyfriend, I think I'm falling in love with you," she mocked.
This wasn't fair. Chat was meant to be the mocking one, not the one who was getting increasingly awkward; he was Chat, not Adrien at the moment.
There was only one thing for it. Adrien slipped back into the Chat Noir mask the only way he know how.
"Well, I can't say I'm surprised you're falling for my devilish charms," he grinned.
"Huh," Marinette sniffed, "As if you're all that." She stuck her tongue out. "My Blind Prince is the only one I'll ever fall for."
"Amen, sister. I think Ladybug is the only one for me."
Marinette continued on like she hadn't even heard him.
"He's just so purrfect, you know? He's sweet and kind and so totally oblivious," she hissed the last part in frustration, throwing her hands up and rolling over onto her side, so she was facing Chat.
"Tell me about it. Ladybug is just…She's the bravest person I know and she has this drive to help people and she'd just so intelligent and competent," Chat sighed. His lady was too perfect to describe using mere words.
Marinette's cheeks got a little bit pinker, probably because of the stuffiness under the blankets.
"With er, words like that, it's a surprise that you've managed to stop flirting with her."
Chat felt his tail twitch. "About that, purrincess."
"Ohh no, don't you princess me when you sound as guilty as a cat in the cream."
"So I may have found it a bit harder to stop flirting with Ladybug than I initially assumed."
"Really?" Marinette asked sarcastically.
"Ah, you saw the footage."
"Moggy."
"Hey! I'm a…"
"Pedigree, I'll have you know. Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before."
Chat pouted. At some point he'd rolled onto his side to face Marinette and now he was in the perfect position to see her flick her hair off her face and roll her eyes at him, more animated than he could remember her being for a while.
"It was one pick-up line, that's it," Chat tried half-heartedly.
"You're so far gone," Marinette said, her voice full of pity. "It's alright, we can be hopeless in love together."
Chat couldn't even deny that, as much as it stung. It wasn't hopeless, but he'd been flirting with his Lady for a year and she'd rebuffed him or laughed it off every single time. This fake relationship was a shot in the dark, but it was something to stake his hopes on at least.
Marinette seemed to be caught in equal contemplation and Chat couldn't help but compare her to the girl she seemed to be at school. A girl who was always quiet, and sophisticated and knew what to do – compared to the girl who he'd caught headbanging and guitar shredding and who had continued to talk to him afterwards, who hadn't run off. They were both equally likely to collapse on the floor in a tangle of limbs, he conceded, and equally likely to give a piece of their mind when annoyed, and even equally likely to want to help people. So why did Chat have such a hard time resolving the two images in his head? Why did they both remind him of the different sides of Ladybug – the goofy, joking side, and the bold, strategic side? Chat guessed Marinette really was his everyday Ladybug.
"What's one thing about Ladybug you don't think other people notice?" Marinette asked out of the blue.
"What is this, some sort of test?"
Marinette said nothing.
"I guess it's the way that she – she's so going to kill me if she finds out I've told you this – she's actually quite clumsy. The first time I ever met her, she um, very literally fell through the air towards me and knocked me off my feet. We ended up dangling upside down from my baton, tied together by her yoyo."
Ah the good old days.
Was it Chat or was Marinette pinker than she had been before? No, it was probably just Chat.
"That was probably her first time using her yoyo!"
"Sure, but it doesn't stop her from crash-landing into fights sometimes if she's in a rush. She must be a super clumsy civilian if even with the suit's help she still trips occasionally. Anyway, what's one thing about your oblivious child you don't think other people notice?"
"I guess…" Marinette trailed off, " I guess he's quite socially awkward and insecure? It's not obvious, but you can tell if you pay attention."
See that sounded a lot like Nathaniel, not Luka, but if it was something that only a few people noticed…
"How'd you first meet?"
Marinette started blushing furiously and giving hiccupping little laughs.
"I am not answering that question in full detail."
"Just tell me the vague outline then. C'mon, I told you how Ladybug and I met."
Marinette swallowed.
"So, we uh, started off on the wrong foot, because the first time I saw him, I thought he was, er, well yeah, I thought he was doing something he wasn't and maybe I yelled at him a little bit. And that was our first meeting." She bit her lip. "But afterwards when he explained and apologised, oh I can't tell you this, you're going to mock me for all eternity, but he uh was a gentleman and gave me…" She hid her face in her hands. "He gave me …and I still have it," she whispered into her hands.
Now Chat hadn't quite caught all of that, but enough to realise that apparently Adrien wasn't the only one she'd yelled at upon first meeting - which was promising. After all she sounded like she'd fully forgiven this other guy, so she'd probably completely forgiven him for that incident too.
"That sounds like quite the origin story – are you sure we aren't in a rom-com?" Chat laughed.
"Don't you even dare," Marinette threatened. "It was mortifying."
"But he still likes you anyway."
"Yeah, not sure why, but yes," Marinettte sighed.
"You ever get tired of being in the friend zone?"
"Only all the time. He smiles and is a perfect sunshine child and it's just, my poor heart can't take it, ok?"
"Ladybug is just -half the time I don't think she even realises I'm flirting with her," he complained back.
"Maybe she doesn't think you're serious about it. But if we're talking oblivious, let me tell you, Ladybug doesn't have anything on my oblivious child. I haven't managed a complete sentence in front of him without squeaking or embarrassing myself since I met him and he still just thinks I'm shy."
"Hey! I can see why he'd think that!" Char replied defensively. After all, Marinette acted like that in front of him, minus the embarrassing herself.
"Chat, I need you to look me in the eyes." Marinette faced him solemnly. "If a girl stutters every time she speaks to you, and doesn't stutter around anyone else, it's not because she's intimidated by your puns – she has a crush on you."
"Don't be ridiculous," Chat dismissed her.
Marinette just stared at him.
"Honestly, I feel sorry for your admirer, you're just as blind as my Oblivious Child."
Chat spluttered.
"It's not like that, okay?"
Marinette smacked her forehead with her palm, but let it go.
"You know, speaking of your inability to literally get more than a few words out in front of your crush – I would like to remind you of The Rules. Rule, er, 4 I think? Says that you have to make an attempt to talk normally to him."
"That's Rule 2, actually. Rule 4 is that I get to pay for at least half of the dates."
"That's beside the point. The rules are law, and must be followed."
"I'll be the judge of that."
"As much as I love it when you make puns, I'm afraid that that doesn't count."
"I will not be following your so called 'law'. It turns out, when I do speak to Oblivious Child, I embarrass myself even more."
"That sounds like a story," Chat smirked.
"And not one you're going to hear today, alley-cat."
Well that wasn't very fair, in Chat's opinion.
"Nooope, don't try the kitten eyes. They don't work on me," Marinette returned.
"Are you sure?" Chat snorted. He was pretty sure he had plenty of evidence to the contrary.
"Ye-yeah-yes. Absolutely one hundred percent sure," Marinette stuttered in reply.
"I'll just have to give up then," Chat pouted. He guessed if she really didn't want to tell him, he shouldn't push her.
"You do that kitty. Remember, curiosity killed the Chat."
"And satisfaction brought it back," Chat countered as always.
Marinette rolled her eyes.
"It's embarrassing – like 80% of my stories."
"Only 80%?" Chat teased, then immediately regretted it, as Marinette's face fell.
"Something like that. Tell me, Chat Noir. Are you like this in civilian form, or do you change without the mask?" Marinette asked abruptly.
"That sounds awfully like an identity-compromising question, purrincess," he replied.
Was Marinette curious about his identity? Could he answer her question without breaking the rules Ladybug had made clear to him when they first met? Chat tried to think less and talk more in most social situations, but this was the sort of situation that required care.
"I'm just curious. You said earlier that Ladybug was probably a clumsy civilian and if she can be that different I was wondering if you could be too."
Chat felt like a deer in headlights. Of course he was different in civilian form. Perfect Adrien had to watch what he said and didn't have the confidence to flirt with girls, or toss out puns. Adrien was a lot more damaged by rejection. But how could he tell that to someone who knew both sides of him so well without compromising his identity?
"I'd say I'm different," he eventually settled on. "I have more pressure to perform 'appropriately' in my civilian life and the mask helps my confidence as well."
"I wonder if Ladybug's the same," Marinette whispered, folding and refolding her hands in front of her.
Chat hadn't ever thought of that. That maybe the girl behind the mask wasn't as confident or brave as she seemed. Surely not – she seemed too strong for that – like she had an iron will. She never hesitated in her plans. She wasn't scared of anything.
Was she?
"Huh, yeah. I wonder," Chat replied.
A/N:
I alternated between squealing with glee and cackling while I wrote this. They're all so oblivious. So, here you go, a little bit of Marichat fluff after the angst and Adrienette of the last two chapters. You're welcome ;)