Hey Kitty, what's wrong?"
Marinette's big blue met Chat's sullen green. His shoulders slouched forward as he stood over the trapdoor leading down to her room.
Earlier that day he had been in denial about everything when it came to how he felt about Marinette. Just the thought of her refusing his cuddles now though had already caused his usually positive outlook to sour. He realised he was just standing there, staring, but could not bring himself to move.
"Chat?" Marinette questioned, "come inside, I've got snacks ready and a film waiting for us. "
Reluctantly he stepped down through the opening but still found himself hovering as she clambered onto her bed with her laptop. Comforter laid across her knees while she looked pleasantly bewildered at him due to his odd behaviour. He had left without warning earlier too, there was obviously something up to make him miss out on the opportunity to flirt with Ladybug.
"A purroblem shared is a purroblem halved," she tried but failed to even cause a hint of a smile to grace his face. Clambering back to him she knelt on the bed in front of him. Peering up into his sad green eyes, she placed her hands on his strong biceps in an attempt to coax the issue out of him, and to also steady herself from losing her balance on the soft bed.
"Please Chat," she worried her bottom lip, "tell me what's going on."
"It's nothing Mari," he failed to meet her gaze as he stared off to the side.
Marinette raised a skeptical brow, "it's not nothing when you don't react to my terrible puns, so spill," she added softly while moving to meet his gaze, "please?"
Chat took a deep breath and forced a smile, "it's nothing that a snuggle can't fix."
With narrowed eyes, Marinette assessed him for a moment before relinquishing her hold on him. "Fine, but I'm withholding pastries until you tell me." Finally she crossed her arms to indicate how deadly serious she was. Chat must have missed the teasing twinkle in her eye.
Chat pouted at her threat, earning a feigned sigh of annoyance from his Purrincess. "Urgh~ you can have one!" His eyes lit up slightly and his pout had a playful edge when she rolled her eyes fondly at him. "Come on Minou, it's your turn to be the pillow."
After demolishing not one but three chocolate eclairs and only a few minutes of lying with Marinette leaning into him, all reservations had gone about her declining his cuddles. In a moment of contented bliss, Chat basked in the warmth of the girl whose head was leaning in the crook of his neck. The black clad hero purred.
Marinette had originally gawped at his cat like tendencies, but the way she melted into him with a happy hum now was worth the initial embarrassment he suffered. With their comfortable embrace, Chat felt gentle fingers drawing soft circles along his concealed six-pack while his arm cradled around her back. The film she had chosen was an anime movie he had mentioned before he had left for London, he was happy that she had remembered, but was not at all surprised. She had an unlimited capacity to care for others, and it was one of the qualities he admired most about her.
However, all amazing moments come to an end, and the niggling question burning in his mind was going to put a stop to this one. The blonde just hoped that her answer would not lead to an end of their cuddle sessions, the prospect made him mourn them before this one had even finished.
He tensed as he prepared to speak, the words apparently getting lost in the back of his throat when they failed to form on his tongue.
"Chat," Marinette soothed, keeping her gentle ministrations up but not taking her gaze away from the screen, "what's the matter?"
He let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand, 'here goes nothing…'
"Y'know that guy that you like," he felt her still and tense up for a couple of seconds before continuing with her soothing circles.
"Yes~?" she replied questioningly.
"Well," Chat hesitated, 'just rip off the plaster and get this over with Agreste!' He chided internally, "if you, erm, manage to uh, start...something...with him-"
Marinette felt her cheeks warm with slight bashfulness. Chat seemed vulnerable and hesitant, it was a side that he rarely showed beneath his confident and cocky persona.
"-does that mean, I uh, won't…I mean, we won't..."
Marinette rolled her eyes at her adorable Kitty's insecurities. "Chat I think I know what you're going to ask and one:" she held up a finger to match her point, "nothing is going to stop me from seeing you." She held up a second finger to represent her next point, "and two: I'm not sure about my feelings for him anymore anyway."
Chat felt his ears betray his piqued interest, he was glad she was still facing the screen. Dubiously he asked, "wh-why, why aren't you certain anymore?" Dreading the answer having anything to do with Felix and their embrace on her balcony, he bit his lip to try and keep his breath even.
Marinette shrugged, "I've recently realised a few things about another-"
'Felix,' Chat presumed bitterly.
"-and until I'm sure, I'm not going to do anything about them." She finished casually.
'There's still time then!' The weight which had settled in his chest once again when he had tried to ask the burning question was lifted. Cheekily, he asked while leaning into her hair: "Does that mean I still get my cuddles?"
"I told you," she answered in her own playful tone, relaxing into him properly once more, "no one could take these cuddles from you."
He let out a half relieved, half happy chuckle, "oh I'm glad Purrincess." Both of his arms encased her small form in his strong embrace, just a small sign of the unlimited amount of affection he wanted to bestow upon her. Chat found himself breathing in her scent before he rubbed his cheek against her crown, pulling her to lean on him more while the vibrations from his chest soothed them both into a state of slumber.
After how much she found herself thinking about Chat recently, she knew there was no way she could one hundred percent say that Adrien was the only one for her anymore. Now when she saw blonde hair and green eyes, her thoughts immediately travelled to her Kitty, and the prospect of her feelings changing surprisingly did not fill her with dread. Even the possibility of a white cat with blue eyes did not scare the young lady, as she drifted off into a contented sleep.
Adrien awoke in the night, not in his own bed, but in a bed filled with warmth and contented bliss. He had fallen asleep next to Marinette again, or more aptly: under her.
No longer transformed he lazily swept her bangs out of her face with his bare fingers, and then laced them with her hand that rested on his chest. He smiled as soft snores indicated that she was still in a deep sleep, using him as a pillow and he could not bring himself to disturb her. Besides, Plagg had not even come over with his customary glare to urge him to transform and get back to his own bed. Adrien felt no harm in closing his eyes for a little longer, slowly falling back to sleep under his sleepy Purrincess.
There was no way he was going to allow her slip through his fingers when he was so close to finally being happy. The blonde just hoped that, as his civilian self, he would be able to show Marinette how important she was to him, and portray all the love he had for the raven haired beauty. He knew he would have to start off subtly, unleashing full Chat on her might cause her to endure whiplash with the sudden change. The method behind his plan would need to be worked out, but it was obvious Nino, and probably Alya, already knew about his new found feelings before he had even dreamed of acknowledging them.
Surely they would be happy to help him in his quest to win the fair maiden's affections. He would just need to find the perfect opportunity to ask them.
"Aren't you going to wake him Plagg?" TIkki questioned with a worried edge to her tone. "Doesn't he need to be getting home?"
Plagg lazily gazed up through half lidded green eyes at his red counterpart from where he was stretching out after his rest. "You know he thinks it was Marinette cuddling with Felix?" The black Kwami yawned and flopped onto his front dramatically, "it really had him riled."
"I don't see how that will be helped by not waking him." TIkki crossed her tiny arms in a huff.
"It won't," he floated up to meet Tikki's big eyes, "but he's happy right now and I know the tension is rising in him. My kid needs this with her. Especially since he's going to be competing with himself for her affections," he added with an ironic eye roll. Tikki said nothing.
"This whole situation is stupid Sugarcube!" He exclaimed quietly with a sulky lip, "first he's competing against himself for what he thinks are two different girls, and now he knows it's the same one! And still doesn't know it's civilian self she is also crushing on."
Tikki nodded in agreement to how daft the situation was, "we still can't do anything Plagg, we need to let it run its course."
"Why is it," Plagg began jerkily moving his arms in exasperation, "that these kids actually keep secrets a secret? In my experience, most teenagers like to gossip and the truth about feelings comes out anyway!"
Tikki smiled her understanding, "they just have really good friends."
"Pfft!" Plagg scoffed in disagreement, "yeah and look what good friends they turned out to be! Believing Lila and her fantasies." He shook his head, "I'm just glad the kid seen through it."
Again Tikki nodded, but with a thoughtful expression, "we would have been required to intervene if it had affected their partnership dynamic."
Plagg smiled slyly, "my point exactly!"
"What?"
"This whole mess of them dancing around each other is bound to cause a problem in their partnership-"
"Is it?"
Plagg pointedly looked at Tikki, "yes."
Tikki rolled her eyes but said nothing, Plagg felt smug.
"You have just proved my point that we need to interfere in this before it goes too far and affects their partnership~"
All these interferences and miscommunications, and no one actually divulges any information that would solve their problem *rolls eyes*. Anyway, what will Plagg and Tikki do to assist the situation, or might they make it worse...
Thank you for reading, the comments, the follows and the faves. If you're enjoying this so far, please take a look at some of my other stories, and let me know what you think =^-^=
*I am wanting to do a Christmas story, and I would like some help for a collection of one-shots, kind of like a '12 Days of Christmas One-Shot's'. What I would like help with is the prompts for each one. Over the next few updates, I will be asking readers to send me ideas for prompts, and will choose 12 to use. Im not on any other platform, so I don't know if there already is a list. This might be fun though! Please send them to me via private message before 30th November. so I can start them and get them ready to upload =)*
Take it easy! I look forward to hearing from you =)
Lady Rhi X