Eleven: So Nice

Author's Note: Now that Chat and Marinette are pleasantly ensconced in their weekend, let's check in and see how it's going.

The late morning rays of sunshine cascading through my window felt divine. Despite having slept in well beyond what I would have even fantasized, the warm embrace of the sun kept me there, arm snagged under the pillow and eyes closed. I might have even been purring, but that could have also been my kwami, who had taken up a spot on the pillow next to me. That had been his traditional spot for years, despite my having provided a small bed for him fairly soon after he came into my life. Plagg had stopped alighting on my pillow once we'd moved into the apartment, so feeling his tiny presence just as I used to seemed to validate that this weekend had been a good idea.

For everyone.

As best as I could as with my quasi-augmented human hearing, I'd been trying to keep an ear on Marinette stirring, but between the two of us, we'd managed to finish the bottle of wine the evening prior. I knew from experience that generally made her less agreeable to early wakeup calls. Still, my intent was to make her breakfast on our first official vacation day; sighing, I pushed back the sheet and slid to the side of the bed, stretching, cat-like, in the dazzling sun. Standing, I walked to the sliders on the balcony and slid them open, getting a gust of salty air in the process.

The beach below was off the beaten path and quiet, one of the reasons we'd built the cottage here in the first place. We had our own private boardwalk across the dunes to the sand, and two chairs with an umbrella were already in place and waiting for us. That presented a conundrum, for my plan had been to stay de-transformed as much as possible. My costume normally kept my temperature regulated, and I was starting to have some doubts about my plan for our beach time.

Still, I'd made a promise to Plagg, so I supposed a little discomfort was in order. Given what a trooper he'd been with the whole apartment arrangement, it was the least I could do.

Stepping back into the room, I went to the small table and chair where I'd laid out what I'd planned to wear. The internet was a fabulous place, after all, and given how popular I was as a hero, it hadn't taken long to find someone willing to craft me a version of Chat Noir's outfit. I slid the arm of the costume through my fingers, again pleasantly surprised at how close the cosplay designer I'd worked with had managed to get the fabric to the real deal. It wasn't as nice as the outfit Father had made for the Clara Nightingale video – one I still had in my closet, actually, but was rather too small these days – but would do nicely.

I debated about what to wear beneath it – not something I normally worried about, obviously – and decided on, shall we say, a minimalist approach. It turned out to be amazingly difficult to get into the outfit, but at length I managed to get the bell zipper up to the right spot before turning to the next phase.

Adrien's hair was, of course, very close to Chat's; in preparation for the weekend, I'd let it grow a bit long (much to the consternation of my photographers) and as I sat down in front of the mirror, I carefully went about the business of making it appear to be carelessly mussed up and wild. Next came the headband topped with two triangular cat ears; the band was the same color as my hair and virtually disappeared when I put it on, though I knew right away I'd regret not opting for the clip-on ears the cosplay designer had recommended. The pressure from the headband was constant and rather uncomfortable.

I stood and went to the bathroom, locating the special set of contact lenses I'd surreptitiously ordered as well. Popping them in one at a time, I looked up and was a bit startled to see how realistic the cat eyes looked; they were of the extended type, filling the entire eye and correctly making my sclera the right shade of green. Not having the pupils actually change in the light was a tad creepy, though.

Finally, I looked at the makeup kit I'd borrowed from my favorite makeup artist. Popping it open revealed several tubes of color; I plucked out the eyeblack and quickly coated each of my eyelids with it, trying to mimic what I looked like when transformed. Putting back the eyeblack, I grabbed the silicon glue I'd ordered from Westmore online and wandered back to the table, where the Chat mask was waiting. Carefully dabbing the adhesive on the interior of the mask, I quickly pressed it to my face and waited for the glue to set.

As I stood there, gloved hands pressed to my face, I heard a chuckle from just behind my ear. "Not bad, kid," Plagg said, "but you forgot the tail."

"It's on the table," I said. "I could use some help with it, actually."

I felt something being slid around my waist, and then the buckle as it tightened at the small of my back. "There," Plagg said. "I couldn't have done better myself."

Pulling my hands down, I turned and smiled at my kwami. "Ta-dah!" I said proudly.

"Wow," he said, genuinely. "I can't believe you're really doing this."

I leaned down toward him. "I told you – I wanted you to have a break, too. I meant it."

For a long moment, I thought Plagg was going to hug me. His big green eyes mirrored the smile that broke out instead. "Thanks," he said simply.

"Don't go far," I cautioned him. "I'm still worried that Ladybug might need us."

"I don't think she'll be calling us," Plagg said, smiling oddly. "But I won't."

And with that, he zipped away, humming (yes, actually humming) to himself.

Exiting the bedroom, I nearly killed myself going down the steps when my tail got tangled in my feet. I'd not accounted for the fact that it wouldn't move as I normally expected it to, and wound up flipping it over my shoulder to get it out of the way. Quickly, I settled into creating the brunch I'd planned for my girlfriend, and was just pulling the quiche out of the oven when she padded down the steps about an hour later.

"Chat…?" she yawned before halting in the middle of the room. "Did you—I mean, are you—"

"Not transformed?" I finished, turning and smiling at her. "I gave Plagg the weekend off. What do you think?"

She slid onto a barstool across from the small stove I was working at. "I can't believe it. At first glance, I'd have said it was your normal outfit. But your hair isn't quite right. And you never have your tail like that."

"I agree with the hair, but I didn't want to wear a wig to the beach," I said, eliciting a flash of something on Marinette's face. "The tail's problematic, too. I'll have to come up with something for the next time."

Marinette smiled. "I love how you are already planning the next time." She reached up and I leaned toward her; carefully, she touched the faux feline ears and smiled again. "Wow, they even feel close."

"Not really," I groaned. "This headband is going to squeeze my brain out of my human ears, and what's worse? I didn't feel you just now."

"Well, now you know how I feel when I've got one of those things on."

"Indeed," I said as I slid a slice of quiche toward her and then put out the fresh blueberry muffins. The carafe of fresh-squeezed orange juice was close at hand, but as hungry as both of us were at that point, we settled in and munched happily.

The sun was fully out when we made our way to the beach and settled in on the lounge chairs beneath the umbrella. Marinette had put on a tasteful one-piece with a wrap, all of which were of the same perfectly pink Marinette color palette. She'd added a massive hat with a brim, and huge movie-star sunglasses to complete the look.

For my part, I found myself squinting into the light; I'd not thought to bring shades as my normal feline vision typically adjusted automatically. And as I feared, the black coloring of the costume warmed quickly in the mid-day heat; within a few minutes, I was sweating profusely and thinking of how I'd alter it in the future should we come back to the beach again. But it didn't matter, truly, for Marinette was clearly relaxing just as I'd hoped she would.

I heard her breathing get regular, and then tried not to laugh when she began to softly snore. For my part, I was wide awake, having slept more in the past twenty-four hours than I would normally. It went way back to my early days as Chat; I'd taken to escaping from the mansion shortly after dinner, roaming the night skies of Paris until the early morning hours and reveling in the freedom to come and go as I pleased. I smiled more. I'd rarely gotten more than a few hours of sleep for the rest of my high school years; I'd kept an even worse schedule at University, but that was more due to the fact I was squeezing in every possible minute I could with Marinette by then.

I had to admit, sharing an apartment with her had cut down on my nightly prowling. I still tended to patrol with Ladybug two or three nights a week, and might take the odd night to just gaze at the Eiffel Tower, but in truth, I was a far more domesticated cat than ever before.

And I couldn't be happier.

Watching the ocean waves as they crashed along the beach, I found myself enraptured by the blue water and the sense of peace it brought with it. I was tracing the surf with my eyes when I felt Plagg appear beside me. "This is beautiful," he said softly as he floated beside me. "You've done good, kid."

I sighed. "Thanks." I half turned toward him. "You know, when I was younger, I made all of these plans to spirit Ladybug here. I had this insane idea it would prove to her how much I loved her."

Plagg looked at me strangely. "You never mentioned that," he said.

I turned back to the surf. "They were foolish dreams of a teenager," I said. "But I never forgot how special a spot it was; when Marinette came into my life, I knew I'd have to share it with her at some point, too."

"Mmmm?" I heard beside me. Plagg poofed away as Marinette turned toward me and cracked an eye. "Did you say something, Chat?"

"Yes," I said. "Did you want something? I've got water in the cooler, or if you want something stronger, one of my favorite sangrias."

Marinette smiled at me. "I think I have everything I need right now, kitty," she said, then paused for a moment before turning fully sideways and propping herself up on an elbow. "It does occur to me, however, that costume comes off."

I closed my eyes and smiled my Chat smile. "Does it?" I said as I laced my paws behind my head. "I hadn't noticed."