Five: Sunny Days

Author's Note: Chat put it off as long as he could, but it's finally time for him to tell Ladybug about his living arrangements. Shall we listen in? This could be an interesting conversation... -ep

A few days out from my beachfront photo shoot, I managed to finally snag an evening meetup with Ladybug. It had been harder than I'd expected wrangling a time to talk to her; since I knew she was about my age, I imagined she, too, had likely transitioned to this new status of "adult" and the demands that placed on our schedule. I'd never ventured more than a few inquiries as to what she did in her civilian life, knowing I was likely to get cryptic answers at best.

The meetup was to serve two purposes – first, I needed to let her know I'd have to leave Paris for a bit for my alter-ego's job, trying to be as vague as possible with the details. Depending on how well that went, I was hoping to finally bring up Marinette. I'd been delaying speaking to her about it for weeks now, but after some prodding from my girlfriend, knew it was time. Unsure how she'd take the news – I wasn't exactly asking for permission, after all – I'd picked up a dozen cannoli from my favorite Italian bistro and her double-chocolate mocha. I wasn't above bribery.

Ladybug was waiting for me when I swung down from the night sky and trotted to a stop a few meters away from her. "Milady," I said, bowing and kissing her hand as was my custom.

As I looked up again, I could see she had fixed her eyes on the coffee. "This can't be good," she laughed.

I felt the skin below my mask flame. It was true, I tended to lead with goodies when I thought she was going to be annoyed with me. "Ah, I guess it depends."

Ladybug rolled her eyes as I pulled her cup out of the carrier and handed it to her. "All right, out with it."

"Cannoli?" I offered, helpfully.

"Chat…" she said with the warning tone I'd come to know.

I sighed. "So, I need a few days off," I started. "My job requires me to work outside of Paris for a bit. I've tried to keep my travel to a minimum but this one is unavoidable."

She snagged a cannoli out of the box and munched thoughtfully. "I've never asked what you do outside of the mask, have I?"

"No, Milady," I confirmed. "Nor would you."

"True," she smiled.

A smidge of powdered sugar remained at the side of her mouth, and grinning, I gently removed it with a claw. "It'll be about a week," I said, and added, "but if you feel uncomfortable, I will find a way to cancel."

Ladybug popped the last of her first cannoli into her mouth and immediately reached for a second. I fought back a comment about the benefits of our cranked metabolism and instead wore an expectant expression. The divine smell of the ricotta filling was hard for me to ignore, but I managed to stand there without raiding the box myself.

"How far away will you be?" she asked.

"Far enough that I won't be able to get back easily or quickly."

She nodded. "To be honest, I'd assumed something like this would come up as we moved into our professional careers," she said, the first indication she'd ever given me that she had a life other than being Ladybug. "I think our Miraculous bench is deep enough we will survive without you for a bit," she grinned wickedly. "But if you are gone too long, I'll make good on my threat to promote Carapace."

I put a paw on my heart and screwed my masked eyes shut as if in pain. "That hurts, LB."

She laughed at my antics. "Nevertheless, I'll make sure Rena and Cap have their jewels and are on standby. Hopefully we will get by without needing you to Cataclysm something, though," she added soberly.

That did make me frown. My superpower complimented hers, of course, when freeing an akuma; we'd been creative in the past when needed, but it was always easier when I could crumble something to dust for her. "That does worry me."

"We won't know until we've gone through it once. Now is as good a time as any."

I nodded. "That brings me to my second item." I shook the box at her. "Cannoli?"

"Lordy," she said, taking her third. "The way you are plying me with food really concerns me."

I could feel my face flaming a bit – odd, since I hadn't been embarrassed in front of her in a long, long time. "Well, this one is a bit purrsonal."

Ladybug leaned against a convenient brick wall. "All right."

"So, you remember my classmate, Marinette?" I asked. I had talked about her before, especially when it started to look like our relationship was getting serious right about the time I started University.

"Your girlfriend?" she laughed. "How could I forget?"

"And here I was thinking you'd appreciate me not flirting with you when we're together."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but there are times when I miss it, Chat," she said, smiling fondly.

"Well…" I took a deep breath. "We've decided to share an apartment together."

"You… what?" she asked, nearly dropping her coffee. "Not as Chat? Please tell me not as Chat."

"Uh… well, I never could lie to you, Milady." I paused and moved a bit closer to her. "She means the world to me, but I also made you a promise never to reveal my identity to anyone. I intend to stick by that promise until the time is right – when it's safe for her to know who I really am."

Ladybug looked at me a bit like I'd grown a second head. "You are actually living with her… as Chat?"

"Yeah," I said, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed. "We've managed to work it out so far, though my claws shredded a few sets of sheets and my kwami nearly stopped talking to me. But believe me, we meowed it through extensively before either one of us set foot in the space."

"I can believe that."

"I love her," I said, "and for now, this is the only way it can work. For both of us."

"Does she fully understand what it means to date you, as Chat Noir? The danger she might be in?"

I thought about that. Marinette and I had discussed that one item intensely over the course of a few evenings, for as much as I wanted the arrangement to work, I felt strongly she needed to understand that being with me brought danger to her doorstep. I'd promised to protect her, but also warned her that my enemies were likely to target her if and when it became known we were an item.

Marinette had cutely pulled out her cellphone and showed me the gallery of what where called MariChat photos on the Ladyblog and had said: "That ship sailed a while ago, Chat."

"She does," I replied to Ladybug. "But that doesn't mean I won't keep an eye on her."

"Like tonight?" Ladybug said suddenly. "I presume you left her alone to come meet with me."

"With strict instructions not to let the Big Bad Wolf through the door," I said snarkily. "She's a big girl now, Ladybug. She tends to shrug off my sincerest protectionist tendencies."

That made Ladybug smile. "Anyone who loves you and can do that is all right in my book," she said before pulling me into an unexpected quick hug. "Just keep her safe, as best as you can," she added. "I'll do what I can, too, but this is really more in your court than mine."

"It is," I agreed.

"Now," she said, snagging yet another cannoli, "explain to me fully how this apartment thing is working."

I spent the next hour going over how I came and went from the apartment, the other strategies I was taking to shield my identity from Marinette, and all sorts of housekeeping items in that vein. At length, she decided I'd taken every prudent precaution I could, both to protect Marinette and my identity.

As we stood to go, she hugged me again. "She's quite lucky to have you," she said, with what felt to me to be a trace of wistfulness. "You are truly one-of-a-kind, kitty."

"Thank you, Milady," I smiled, giving her a quick kiss on the head and taking in her warm vanilla-sugar exotic scent as I did. Then I put my arms to her shoulders. "You'll find someone worthy of you, someday, LB. I know it wasn't me, but you'll find them. I just know you will."

"I will," she said, smiling oddly at me. "G'night."

"Until we meet again, Milady," I bowed. "I'll buzz you when I am back in town?"

"Sounds like a plan."

Ten days on the French Riviera left me with a deep, deep tan that my mask couldn't hide; when Marinette saw me upon my return to the apartment, her eyes widened. I'd managed to FaceTime her a few times from my suite at the hotel they'd put me up in, but until she saw me in the fur, she'd not known I'd been on the beach.

"Wow," she said, and her eyes started to roam my costume with an appraising look. "Is it—"

"Full body, yes," I nodded, feeling a bit embarrassed to see her suddenly imagining me in skimpy beach attire. Which, actually, had been one of many items I'd been modelling.

Marinette was already holding me in the hug she'd tackled me in as I'd come through the sliding door from the balcony; she took a hand and ran a finger along my mask edge, something that I gotten rather used to her doing. "It's unfortunate this costume of yours doesn't come off," she said with an evil glint to her eye. "I'd prefer seeing the evidence with my own eyes."

I hadn't expected to rue the day I'd told her father about that tiny little aspect of my superhero persona. "Sad but true," I managed to croak.

"A girl can dream," she replied, that evil gleam getting more pronounced. It didn't help that her hand had moved upward and was now gently rubbing my feline ear; she'd discovered it was like kitty kryptonite to me fairly soon after we'd started to date.

I took a deep breath and leaned down for a kiss before attempting to extricate myself. If she went much longer, I'd be curled up in her lap, purring up a storm and oblivious to anything but her ministrations. That wouldn't do much for the House of Gabriel emails I needed to get through that evening. What was worse was the longer I spent transformed, the more I found myself responding to her as a cat.

There was no question I was pushing the envelope now.

I pulled back from the kiss. "Princess, I've got work to do…" I said.

"It can wait," she replied, and leaned up for another kiss.

She spent the rest of the evening telling me exactly how much she'd missed me.