A/N: Hello everyone! Long time no see (...since 2019 T_T) I'm so sorry for being MIA, personal life, the pandemic and duties at uni really put a damper on my writing, but hopefully I'll get to update at least monthly now! So keep an eye out for the random update next month! :) And thanks to everyone who still reads this or waits patiently for an update. Be safe and healthy everyone :)

-The Purrfect Plan-

Previously on 'Dinner for Two'…

An idea popped into her head suddenly, "Hey, wait, I thought you found your mystery cat. Didn't you say that professor guy was Chat Noir?"

A miserable frown marred the designer's face and she gently hit her forehead against the table in frustration, "I'm not even sure what I found, Alya. Erik's…alright, I guess. It's just, he constantly makes fun of Nath and I don't like that. He acts different than when we're in the restaurant."

"Maybe it's a thing between professors? They do study in similar fields." Alya shrugged.

Marinette huffed, "That's what I thought too, but Nathaniel had that haunted, 'that guy harassed me' look about him when I mentioned his name. They really don't get along at all." She pushed aside her coffee and rested her chin against her propped up hands miserably, "Maybe I should drop it, maybe I was wrong about Chat, after all."

Alya's brow shot to her hairline, "What?! You can't be serious, Marinette! You've talked about that guy for the last weeks! You're totally smitten!"

"But what if I misjudged his character? What if he's actually a jerk? I can't date or like someone like that." She pouted, looking truly conflicted. Alya hated seeing her like that.

The reporter stood up from her seat and walked around her kitchen table, wrapping an arm around her best friend reassuringly, "Hey, don't be like that, I'm sure it's all just a big misunderstanding." She rubbed her cheek against Marinette's affectionately, "Besides, my best friend doesn't just fall for anyone, either way he's a great guy or there is no guy at all!" she grinned and Marinette giggled, hugging Alya back.

"Thanks Alya, you always know what to say to make me more confident." With a playful smirk, Marinette gently nudged her best friend, "By the way, Nathaniel is giving you competition, he started learning how to cheer me up too."

Alya clenched her hand into a fist, "That punk! How dare he! Oh, he should watch his ass when I come into one of his lectures! That paperball is going straight for tomato child!"

Marinette laughed.

Adrien's chemistry professor was perplexed when the part time model handed him a thick stack of papers neatly stapled together. "This is…?"

Adrien beamed, with eyebags that could go for days and suspiciously slouching feet, but beamed, "My assignment I'm supposed to hand in, professor."

His professor did a double take, excusing himself to browse through his schedule and class list to see for when the assignment was due. "That's in two weeks Adrien!"

The blond smiled tiredly, "Yes, I know, I wanted to hand it in sooner because I have other assignments to complete…I'm sorry did I inconvenience you?"

The taller man quickly stood, placing Adrien's assignment on his desk and shaking his head, "No, no, that's fine. I was just so surprised, you always hand in your work, but it's still early and I know how busy you are." He smiled kindly at his student, old worry lines deepening the more he noticed Adrien's demeanor, "Are you getting enough sleep? If I remember correctly, you have another part time job to run to."

Adrien nodded, straightening his stance. "Yes, I do, but oh sleep- yes of course, I'm getting enough sleep. Thank you." He stumbled, shaking his head as if to clear the fog before giving a decisive nod, "I'm…working on that."

His professor chuckled, patting Adrien's shoulder kindly, "I know exhausted students when I see them, I know you're well liked by the other professors, so don't overwork yourself if you don't hand in some assignments on time. I'm sure the colleagues would understand and give you more time if you needed, Adrien."

The young man looked bashful, shuffling his feet before planting them firmly on the floor, adjusting his bag slung over his shoulder, "That's alright, I can manage the rest well. I'll be looking forward to your next lecture on analytical chemistry!"

The professor waved him off with a smile, shaking his head. "I'm glad you seem to enjoy chemistry as much as you do physics studies. Not many in the physics department do." Adrien was certain his professor was thinking of another colleague, judging by the sour expression on his face.

Adrien waved goodbye, jogging up the steps towards the large double doors of the lecture hall. He still had time to get ready for the next lecture and grab a bite to eat.

"Hey babe, aren't you supposed to be at work already?" the sound of keys jiggling accompanied her boyfriend's voice as Alya turned to the opposite direction they usually took to her workplace at the newspaper company.

She smiled, standing on tiptoes to plant a quick but affectionate peck on the DJ's cheek. "Nope! I took the day off, gotta do some…investigating." She grinned, a grin Nino learned to recognize from miles away.

It meant she was in 'reporter' mode and that any and all efforts to possibly stop her were futile.

With a resigned sigh, Nino pulled her closer and kissed her hair and forehead, shaking his head. "Alright, but be careful, don't overdo it, okay?"

Alya's grin brightened and she nodded, jogging in the opposite direction while waving. "Don't worry!"

Nino sighed again, a longer more exhausted sigh, scratching his neck worriedly. "I always do…"

With that, he shoved his hands in his pockets and slowly made his way to the studio.

Pierre's day had been as inconspicuous as most, and when another customer approached his desk, he was quick to grab pen and notepad and open the latest entry in the guest book.

The auburn-haired woman stopped in front of him and gave him a kind smile, but her eyes seemed to be all over the place, scanning the room, analyzing, as if searching for something.

"Hello! I didn't make a reservation but is it possible to get a free seat?"

Pierre didn't need to eye the guest book to answer, this lady came before rush hour, so there were many seats available. He smiled politely, "Of course mademoiselle, follow me, please." Pierre led the woman to the nearest available seat, handing her the menu and already jotting down her order.

"Um, excuse me, may I use your unique service today?"

Pierre blinked once, before nodding. "Certainly, which one would it be?"

The glint in the woman's eyes reminded Pierre of a fox eyeing its prey, "Is the black cat in use?"

"No, I don't believe so."

The smile stretching the woman's lips reminded Pierre of a fox after a successful hunt, "Perfect," he wasn't sure what it was about this woman, but her inquisitive nature befuddled him.

Pierre excused himself with the promise to return with the lady's order; a simple breakfast menu consisting of a cappuccino, orange juice, baguette with fresh fig jam, pain au chocolat, and a honeyed fruit salad.

As the waiter left, Alya took the time to look about the restaurant. It hadn't changed much from the last time Nino and her went here a year ago, the walls had a fresh color and new chairs better fitting for the overall ambience but it stayed largely the same. She looked at the yellow tablecloth, discreetly taking out her notepad with her pen placed on her lap. As a passionate reporter, Alya never forgot conversations she had with clients, but she wanted to be safe with this one, since it seemed like Marinette was torn about knowing two contradicting sides of Chat Noir.

Speaking of the devil…

A sizeable black plush toy with large green eyes was carried by another waiter while Pierre was carrying her breakfast and Alya didn't know what to feel more excited about, her impending interrogation or the delicious food.

Once situated opposite of her on the chair, the two waiters left with a 'bon appetit' on their tongues, Alya throwing back a happy word of gratitude for the food.

It wasn't until Alya was sipping her coffee that she began the conversation before the toy could, "Alright, now listen up, I know there's a vague humanoid person behind those fuzzy ears and I would appreciate it if you strain the human ears for me."

There was radio silence on the toy's part, so Alya continued, cool as a cucumber and fiery as a chili pepper, "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, sweet blue eyes and dark hair, a smile that could summon angels and cure the ill, ring any bells for you, kitty cat?"

Alya waited for an answer from the human behind the toy, slicing through her poached eggs and internally delighting in the visual beauty and the savory texture in her mouth when she took a bite.

It was too early for Plagg to be awake, too early to start work, too early to even think of work. And yet, here he was, staring at Adrien's screen in mounting horror, the image of an auburn-haired woman with glasses glaring him down with all the bitterness of a woman hellbent on revenge.

Revenge for what, Plagg didn't know, he just wished he wasn't in the middle of this while trying not to starve to death.

Only minutes ago, he had been pressing buttons on his computer, in his little room filled with the smell of cheese, working like a slave deprived of his most basic needs.

Pierre had graciously brought him his post breakfast, as Plagg liked to call it, something with cut meat, perhaps a vegetable or two, but most importantly cheese. A lot of melted cheese. So much cheese that Adrien's nutritionist would've balked at his choice of food and promptly demanded a refund. And possibly counseling after dealing with Plagg and his unholy list of food he ate on a weekly basis.

He was working for two today, he needed all the energy he could get.

It seemed not even his meal would be enough to replace all the life that seemed to have trickled from his hands like sand when the woman began speaking to the Chat Noir toy like she was all too eager to drive that butter knife anywhere else other than her poached egg.

He was a goner.

"No answer, huh?" Alya regarded the plushie curiously, wondering, for a brief moment, if Marinette had been telling the truth about her lengthy talks with the doll. No, of course she did, but it seemed like Chat Noir was in no mood to talk to her. She knew they had automated responses, but this one didn't even seem to have those since all she had heard from it was silence.

Alya glanced down at her notepad, thinking of all the questions that burned at the tip of her tongue, fueled by the fierce need to protect her best friend, to get answers for all the questions Marinette had, an answer to all the confused feelings that plagued her. She deserved that, so Alya pressed on.

"I know I'm not the person you normally talk to, I don't even know if you will talk to me today, but I'm here to get some answers for Marinette, since you weren't here the last time she came. You have no idea how worried and confused Marinette is right now." Alya's tone softened, if slightly, she wasn't sure which approach would work best to tickle answers out of the plushie, but she would try the hard and the soft way.

"So, here's one question I have for you: the first time you met up with Marinette in a café, you talked badly of Nathaniel. Is this a rivalry thing between professors? Or are you just a jerk?"

Plagg was debating whether to call Pierre and get the toy back, or risk suffering mental injury. He was glad this woman wasn't able to physically reach him, he was sure he would be losing more than just his mind.

He had a hunch today wouldn't be a normal day, it didn't even start normally. No sooner had he arrived at work, he was being starved and had to beg Pierre to fix him a meal after breakfast. Plagg shook his head, running a hand down his face to focus on the issue at hand.

Nathaniel? Who in the world was Nathaniel? Was he someone Adrien knew? Obviously, but he knew the kid, Adrien rarely talked bad about someone and even if he did, he never did it behind their backs. Adrien talking badly about someone while on a date with a woman? Plagg doubted it.

And yet, this woman seemed to believe he did.

Plagg leaned back in his chair, rubbing his chin, food temporarily forgotten. She mentioned a rivalry between professors, Adrien wasn't even a professor, he was still a student. This must be some misunderstanding. This Nathaniel didn't seem to be a model but a professor.

Wait, met up in a café?

Plagg leaned over and checked his phone, scrolling through all the messages he exchanged with Adrien, he tried to remember if Adrien ever mentioned anything about meeting up with pigtails girl before, but nothing sprung to mind.

Was he getting old?

Adrien never mentioned that. Plagg was sure of it.

The kid would be over the moon if he had met up with Marinette in person. Adrien would've been a mumbling, panicking fool. He would've harassed Plagg about dating etiquette, not that Plagg had many, and yet he had a girlfriend. He would ask Tikki for better advice, after being fed up with Plagg of course. He would get ready two weeks beforehand, choosing which outfits and cologne to wear, how to style his hair, having pep talks with Nino over how to talk to women.

And calling Plagg in the middle of the night while the middle-aged man slept peacefully, to harass him over popular places people visited for platonic dates and if it was too old fashioned to walk her home and kiss her hand. At which point he would squeal like a girl and hang up, leaving a grumpy, confused Plagg to stare at his phone.

But none of that happened. Nothing happened.

This had to be a mistake.

Just when Plagg wanted to press the speaker button, the woman spoke again.

After a long pregnant silence from the motionless toy, Alya clenched the material of her skirt in her hands, fists shaking in mounting rage.

"Not answering that either? You want to convince me that all those talks you two had and how she talked about you all these weeks was just an act?" Alya's temper flared, nails now digging into the tablecloth, her poached egg momentarily forgotten.

There was static noise, as if someone was ripping paper and then a robotic-like voice sounded from the toy.

"Oh mon dieu, mademoiselle, you have quite a temper don't you?"

Alya's eyes narrowed, folding her hands over the other and resting her elbows on the table, "I'm all ears, cat."

Plagg loved to dig his own grave, it even had several floors, one of which was the devil's personal residence. Plagg was sure after this, he would have to pay his horned buddy a visit.

Should he try to channel his inner Adrien? The radiant, carefree, dreamy spirit of youth?

No, he would make things worse. Until Adrien got here, he had to set things straight for the kid's sake.

With a deep breath, Plagg spoke.

"What a clawsome day we have, huh? Purrty fine meowrning, right?"

Alya tapped her foot, eyeing the toy suspiciously, did it have a camera too or was it just a speaker for the voice?

"Or should I say, an eggcelent morning."

So it had a built in camera.

Alya was mildly disturbed, with the new knowledge of a person behind this doll actually watching her eat and rage at it until now.

Gathering back her courage and anger, Alya adjusted her glasses. "Quit it with the puns, will you answer my questions or not?"

Silence followed her words, Alya thought the doll wouldn't offer any answers she was seeking, but just a minute later, she was proven wrong.

"Sorry lady, you uh-this isn't the cat you think you're talking to."

"What?" was this a bad joke? Had Marinette's hunch been right? Was this person an impostor?

"The real owner of…uh the black cat is unavailable right now, I'm just filling in for him. But every time pigt-Miss Dupain-Cheng was here, it was the real him, trust me."

Should she trust him? This was only a doll she was talking to, she had no way of knowing who was behind the voice, if this man was telling the truth.

Then again, she had nothing much to go on.

Crossing her arms and leaning back, Alya pondered her next movements, ire and ego sufficiently snuffed now that the man she had actually wanted to confront wasn't even here, and she was talking to a third party.

…A third party who might just have the answers she needed.

"Hey, kitty cat."

"What?" the voice originated from the plushie, sounding mildly grouchy.

Alya brushed the tone off, leaning forward to write in her notepad. "I have some questions I think you can answer, I'll try to hold off on the difficult ones."

There was another moment of silence, before the toy spoke, "…What kinda questions?"

"First, tell me if this switcheroo thing is an often occurrence and if you inform my best friend of this if it happens?" sticking her tongue out in concentration, Alya held her pen close to the paper.

The answer followed immediately. "What kind of a cat do you hold me for?! Today was the first time since he, uh Chat Noir, was busy."

Alya scribbled the answer done, satisfied with the speed at which he answered.

"Okay, why are you a jerk?"

A scoff sounded, "It's in my genetic make-up. Next."

Snorting in amusement, Alya continued, "Did 'Chat Noir' ever had any intentions of meeting up with Marinette in person?"

"He has to keep his identity secret, so unless he could fully trust her with keeping his secret, I don't think so. Or at least I would stop him, he wears his heart on his sleeve, at one point he would crack like an egg."

Alya wrote that down too, 'secret identity', 'no meeting', 'crack like an egg'.

The young woman rubbed her chin in thought, half the questions flying out the window now that the person she wanted to interrogate wasn't here.

"What does 'Chat Noir' look like?"

"Oh, god-like. A model really. Sun kissed skin, corn golden hair, forest green eyes and all the smhuck."

Alya rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her coffee, "Are you giving me false information?" she stared at the soulless eyes of the doll, annoyed she wasn't getting her questions answered.

"…Pawsibly."

"So, you have to protect his identity that much? Alright, I'll leave this for Marinette to figure out but can you at least answer me one question?"

Plagg mulled the suggestion over, before pressing down on the speaker and replying, "Fine."

"Did you ever meet up with Marinette in person or do you know if he ever met up with her?"

"Nope, cat's honor. The ki-he never met up with her personally, if he had I wouldn't be trying to hide his identity, now would I?"

Alya sighed heavily, leaning her head back to massage her forehead in frustration.

If Chat Noir never met up with Marinette, who the hell was the guy Marinette met up with?

Her thoughts were interrupted when the doll spoke again.

"Now, let me ask a question, miss Reporter."

Plagg tapped his fingers against the control panel, never letting the woman on the screen out of sight.

According to this woman, some guy apparently met up with pigtails girl and pretended to be Adrien?

Did somebody know their secret? Did someone leak it? No, they kept it heavily guarded, they always make sure no one catches them entering or leaving the restaurant.

If this man was someone unknown to them, maybe he knew Marinette? But if Marinette didn't know him, was he her stalker?

Plagg felt a headache sneaking up on him, all this talk of identities and possible imposters made him want to just eat cheese and sleep.

"Hm, what to do with you?" he mused aloud, fingers still tapping his desk.

If he wanted to gain anything from this conversation, Plagg had to get as much information as he could.

He pulled the microphone close to his mouth.

"Sure, spill." Alya leaned back, notepad resting on the table next to her half finished breakfast.

It had only been an hour, but she felt like half the day passed. Interrogations always made time pass by faster.

Finally, the cat asked, "Do you have a photo of the man who claimed to be Chat Noir? Did Miss Dupain-Cheng show you a photo?"

Alya frowned, mentally slapping herself. "Uh…no. No she didn't. Just that he was good-looking but seemed to act weird, like, downright mean to Nathaniel, Nathaniel's her friend and co-worker by the way."

The doll was silent, seemingly deep in thought over her answer, before he poised his next question. "Yeah, no way that's the same guy. Chat Noir would never disrespect someone like that, especially if he's a friend. He's too nice for that."

Leaning forward again, Alya rested her chin on her palm, "So, what do you suggest we do Puss in Boots?"

Another moment of silence before the replacement Chat Noir answered, "Tail her."

Alya blinked, "What?"

"Tail your friend when she goes out with that guy, try to get a photo."

"What will you do with that information anyway? Are you from the secret services?" Alya froze, what if this guy and this Chat Noir fellow were some men with secretive backgrounds?

Alya snorted in amusement. What were the odds of them being some cliché secret agents? She would buy the story with Chat Noir being a model any day.

"If I were, I wouldn't be sitting here posing as a plushie talking to people in a restaurant, would I?"

Someone was grouchy. Alya guessed this individual was either an old grump, or just a grump.

"That's something a secret service agent would say to throw suspicion off themselves," Alya teased playfully, before clearing her throat. "Anyway, fine, I'll try to get a photo, but what will you tell Chat Noir when he comes back?"

"Exactly what happened, he has to know there's a copycat out there. What will you tell Miss Dupain-Cheng?"

Alya glanced down at her notes, "The truth and nothing but the truth! What kind of a best friend would I be if I didn't tell her what I discovered today?"

"Don't tell her anything yet, let her stay in the dark until you get that photo of the copycat, then tell her the truth."

Frowning in dismay at the prospect of lying to her friend, Alya shook her head, "But why? What if she gets hurt with that weird guy? We don't know who he is or what he wants from her!"

"If he wanted to do something, he would've done that already. No sense in playing cat and mouse forever, right? I think your friend will be fine until you get his picture."

"But why is the picture so important? Can't she just ditch the guy and come here again as if nothing happened?" Alya didn't understand why he insisted on that picture.

"Look, if that guy shadows Miss Dupain-Cheng one day and knows to what restaurant she goes to, he could potentially discover Chat Noir and I. And that's something I wanna avoid, so get that picture of him and I'll deal with him."

The edge from the robotic voice made Alya's skin crawl, "I knew it! You're a hitman! A muscle for hire! Will you kill the guy if you find out who he is?" Alya slapped her hand on the table, ducking her head and mouthing an apology when nearby patrons glared at her.

Plagg swirled around in his chair, coming to a stop facing the monitor again.

He smiled, chuckling as he gave his answer through the speaker. "Not kill, but I'll deal with him for trying to stir up trouble. Don't worry, nothing illegal. I want to keep a low profile too."

He waited patiently for the woman's answer, seeing her mulling it over in her head.

He knew he sounded shady, maybe even downright dangerous, but Plagg would not take any chances in getting to that guy before he got to them and possibly endangered Adrien this way.

"Fine, I'll try to arrange it next week when she meets up with him. If you break our contract, I'll personally hunt you down and hold you accountable, got it pussycat?"

The woman pointed her finger at the camera, coming dangerously close to one of the cat's eyes.

Plagg smirked, pressing the speaker on the microphone to talk. "Got it, miss reporter. Hope you can keep a secret."

He grew more amused when the woman gathered her things, grabbing her untouched croissant, "I wouldn't be good at my job if I couldn't, pussycat."

With that, she left with the promise to bring the photo and Plagg was ready to finish the rest of his meal until a hazel eyes suddenly popped into his field of vision.

The scream Plagg released was never to leave this room, the shrill pitch embarrassing to his own red ears, he was glad Adrien wasn't here today.

"What?! Don't get so close to the camera!" he spat, trying to calm his racing heart down.

The woman backed away, quickly retrieving something from her purse and holding it up near the camera, "Sorry! Just, write this down so you know how to contact me, since I can't contact you."

Plagg squinted, eyeing the details on the white business card.

La presse de la societe

Alya Cesaire

Journaliste d'investigation

Tel. XXX-XXX-XXX

Quickly scribbling down the information, Plagg spoke into the speaker and Miss Cesaire left with the promise to return and the threat to contact her.

Plagg stared down at the information he wrote, quickly folding the piece of paper and shoving it in his pocket.

Just when he reached for his bowl of now cold cheese, the lock on the backdoor sounded.

"Hey Plagg! Sorry for being so late, I still had to ask my professor something." Adrien greeted him with a wave and a tired smile, hanging his jacket on the coat rack and placing his bag on the empty chair before walking towards him. "So, anything interesting happen?"

There was this hopeful shimmer in his eyes, the one that told Plagg he was still waiting for Marinette to show up.

He almost felt guilty for lying. "Nope, nothing, just some cranky old lady eating her breakfast. Her teeth fell out so she had to leave, good thing you didn't see that. Gonna give me nightmares for weeks, ugh."

Plagg stuck his tongue out, rolling his chair out of the way so Adrien could take a seat at his desk, chuckling. "Don't be like that Plagg, I can't wait to see the day you grow all old and bald with your dentures in a glass."

"Ha, ha, very funny kid." Plagg playfully kicked Adrien's chair, causing him to rotate in circles. The model only laughed and Plagg discreetly shoved the slip of paper that peeked out back in his pocket.

Thank you for reading everyone! And thank you again for your eternal patience, hopefully the next update is quicker :3