On Thursday of that week, Ladybug showed up to patrol with fewer spots than usual. About half of her spots were covered in a very oversized t-shirt and relatively fitted shorts.
"I heard I'm at risk of losing my place as your number one fan," she said, walking up to him. "A little mouse told me that wearing your merch might help me redeem myself." In the dim lighting of the roof, Chat Noir could see that, apparently, Ladybug had the same shirt and shorts set that he had given to Marinette the previous day. "Someone," she accused, "doesn't think I have your merch as a civilian."
He saw the paw prints on the shorts and t-shirt glow a faint green, mostly diminished from how light the area around them was combined with the fact that Marinette didn't think to charge the outfit in the light before she came out for patrol. A smile grew on his face, wondering for a moment if the set he had given to Marinette looked as oversized on her as it did on Ladybug's petite stature.
He put his hands up in a placating gesture. "Okay," he said with a fond chuckle, "you've proved me wrong, LB. You're definitely a fan of mine. I just don't know if I can give you credit for being my biggest fan. I mean, you're so short. There's no possible way you're the biggest fan I have." He bit his tongue to try (unsuccessfully) to keep the shit-eating grin off of his face. Ladybug rolled her eyes and bopped his forehead.
"You're a goof," she told him. "Maybe Marinette and I are the only fans you have who aren't literal babies. You don't know that we're not. Plus, I'm bigger than Marinette… probably." She wasn't sure, but she assumed that the soles on the bottom of the feet of her costume were thicker than the flats she would usually wear. Not by much, but by enough that Ladybug could reasonably claim to be taller than Marinette.
He placed a hand on top of her head, then moved it to himself to see where she came up to on him. Chat made a mental note that Ladybug came up to the split between his top lip and bottom lip. He made a mental note of that to compare to Marinette next time he stopped by for a visit. He knew that he couldn't compare Marinette's height to himself as Adrien because Chat's boots added more to his height than his normal sneakers did.
Despite the fact that Ladybug was standing in front of him, wearing his colors on his merch, Chat Noir found himself thinking if Marinette was wearing the set Adrien had given her. He knew she couldn't wear the set as much as she could wear the ribbons and necklace, but she could wear it more than she could wear the earrings.
"So," he began, "do you have any of my other merch?" He placed a hand under his chin, stroking it like he would if he had a beard.
"I can't tell you that, kitty. I can't have you finding me as a civilian." Her smile glowed more than the paw prints on her shirt. She sent him a playful wink. "We should get patrolling, though."
Marinette didn't wear the shirt or shorts to school at any point that week, but Adrien didn't mind. He expected that they would probably be more like pajamas or loungewear than something she would actually wear in public. He smiled at the memory of Marinette wearing pajamas the day they tried to see Solitude in theaters and the fact that she seemed to not have any issue with just wearing them as day clothes that time.
Saturday evening rolled back around the following weekend and Chat decided to drop off his princess's next gift. He knocked on her trapdoor and after a minute, she popped her head out. She was wearing the shorts that Adrien gave her with a simple green t-shirt. He was surprised that she wasn't wearing the matching set, but he didn't know why he was.
The pieces were likely designed together, but that didn't mean they had to be worn together. The fabric of the shirt she had chosen matched his eyes and looked more breathable than the t-shirt he had given her, so it made sense that she would pair the shorts differently. He was actually kind of thankful that she had worn a different shirt when he handed her the next piece of merch. It was in a white paper bag. He had gotten it at the same time that he had gotten the shirt and shorts set, but he didn't want the original bag to give away the fact that he had gotten them together.
She opened the bag to reveal a pair of black and green slippers. The green was almost the exact same shade as the color of the shirt she was wearing. She picked them up out of the bag and saw that instead of having paw prints on the part that covers the toes, there were toe beans on the bottom of the slippers.
"They're precious, Chat. Thank you." She put the bag and slippers onto the small table on the balcony and moved to give him a hug. He was able to comfortably wrap his arms around her shoulder area and took a moment to compare her height in his arms to Ladybug's height. Marinette came up to about halfway up his bottom lip with no shoes. He made a mental note that Ladybug seemed to be taller than Marinette, but not by a significant margin.
"Does this mean you'll wear them this time," he asked with a teasing lilt to his voice. She nodded, but neither of them let go of the hug.
"You know you don't have to get me stuff, right?" Marinette's voice was quiet, afraid to ruin the moment if she were too loud.
"Yeah, Princess, I know. I'm just selfish." That comment caused Marinette to pull out of the hug. She held both of his hands in hers and looked up to make eye contact.
"What part of you giving me things could possibly be selfish?" Marinette's voice was filled with disdain for the concept of him even thinking he could be considered selfish.
"The part where I get to feel supported by one of the nicest, bravest, coolest girls in Paris." His voice was quiet and filled with reverence. Marinette blushed brightly and Chat Noir did the same, a little nervous about how openly he spoke about how much it meant to him. He didn't want to overwhelm her.
"Well," she began, "in that case, it just makes sense that I should support the nicest, bravest, coolest hero in Paris, doesn't it?" The conversation suddenly felt more intimate than it had a minute ago and they let go of each other's hands. "You're not selfish," she affirmed, "not at all."
With one hand rubbing the back of his neck, he used the other hand to grab the slippers off of the table. He put them down on the ground. "You should try these on," he told her, "I want to make sure I got the right size."
"Right," she responded, adding a little clearing of her throat to refocus her attention. "The slippers." She looked down to her feet and stepped into the slippers. They felt comfortable and were the perfect size. She nodded, not meeting his eyes again.
"Looking pawsome," he said, shooting finger guns at her and hoping to ease the tension so she would look at him again. Neither of them realized they were holding their breath until they both released them at the same time. They started laughing in unison. "Can I check something, Princess?" She tilted her head in question.
"Go for it. Anything I can do to help?" He shook his head then put one hand on top of her head like he had done to Ladybug the night before. He measured it back to himself where she now landed about halfway up his upper lip. He grinned.
"Looks like you're officially my biggest fan," he said, smiling at Marinette. "With the slippers, you're officially half a lip taller than LB."
"Half a lip, a very scientific form of measurement," she joked. "It sounds to me like your partner needs to step up her fangirling. Seems like she's slacking." She finally looked up, meeting his eyes again. "You're a great hero, Chat. Don't forget that. I wouldn't be your biggest fan if you weren't." She leaned up to kiss his cheek. "I'll see you soon, minou?"
"Of course, Purrincess." After a moment of consideration, he leaned toward her to place a quick kiss to the top of her head. With a bright red face, he took off to head home for the night.
The following Monday, Marinette was wearing the shirt he'd given her, kind of. Marinette had taken the shirt that he gave her and used some of the fabric he had given her to make a belt to cinch the waist and turn it into more of a dress than an oversized t-shirt. She paired it with green leggings that almost matched the color of Chat's eyes.
She was nervous to wear the shirt like she normally would because she didn't want Chat Noir to see the fact that the oversized shirt looked the same on Marinette as it did on Ladybug. She logically knew that there are so many petite girls in Paris, it shouldn't matter that two people look similar in a t-shirt, but that didn't stop her nerves.
She wore a pair of black combat boots with her outfit. While she was sipping out of her Chat Noir baton cup, it was easy for her classmates to see where the idea of her being Chat's biggest fan came from. When she approached her friends, Alya let out a long whistle. Marinette spun before she reached them, showing off her outfit from all angles.
"You look gorgeous," Alya complimented. Adrien tried to look like he was admiring the components of the outfit instead of just staring at his classmate. Marinette struck a few poses, inviting looks from her friends and Adrien made the most of the invitation.
He saw something reflective on the fabric belt. On closer inspection, he saw that it was the earrings. She had used the earrings to fasten the belt, a very clever idea. They acted similar to safety pins in this instance, but they fit the theme of the outfit without drawing too much focus to them.
"Yeah," Adrien agreed absentmindedly. "Your outfit, that is. It fits you well. And you put it together well. And you're looking well. And it's just, well… great." He admonished himself mentally while he looked at the girl in front of him. After what she said to Chat, he didn't want to bring attention to the earrings, but they were the most able to draw his attention.
"Thank you," she said sincerely to her friends. "I'm happy with how it ended up." Alya tried to get Marinette to pose for some pictures for the Ladyblog, but Marinette was not interested in getting that much attention.
"If Chat Noir shows up, will you pose with him?" Marinette rolled her eyes at the question.
"Yeah," she responded, "if implausibly Chat Noir shows up and he's not in the middle of an Akuma attack, I'll pose with him for the blog." She chuckled fondly at the idea of posing with Chat Noir as a civilian.
During lunch that day, Adrien had to go home for the hour. Nino, Alya, and Marinette decided to take their lunch to the park nearby for a picnic. They stopped by the bakery and Marinette went upstairs to grab a picnic blanket while Alya and Nino stopped to choose a few pastries.
The three set out the blanket and spent a while relaxing in the sun. About halfway through their lunch hour, Nino gently slapped Marinette's arm to get her attention. "Hey, check it out." He pointed at the roof of a nearby building where Chat was vaulting across them like an obstacle course, keeping his eyes peeled as though looking for something.
Marinette checked her phone out of habit to make sure he wasn't looking for an Akuma that had started attacking. Alya started to wave aggressively to Chat Noir, not sure how best to get his attention, but also not wanting to yell out to him. From the roof, his eyes locked on his friends' picnic setup.
He jumped down and landed in a roll a few feet away from them. "Chat Noir," Alya began as soon as he was on his feet, "fancy seeing you here. Can we interest you in a mini-quiche?" She made a motion to the plate, still covered with food despite the fact that the three were practically full already.
"I would love one," he said, taking a seat on the picnic blanket on the same side where Marinette was seated. He picked up one of the quiches and happily ate it. "This is delicious," he said through a full mouth.
"And that," Marinette began, gesturing vaguely at Chat talking while chewing, "is gross." She stuck out her tongue with a grimace. "Chew with your mouth closed." He finished his quiche before he said anything else.
"Happy now?" He'd had one of the spinach quiches, but there were no remains in his teeth. They sparkled so much it looked like he had just brushed them. His teeth were visible when he smiled and he was acting like he was showing off that there was no food left in his mouth.
"Extremely," she responded with a little laugh.
"You know what would make me happy," Alya piped in. Chat looked at her, silently prodding her to offer an answer. "A picture of you and Marinette for my blog, especially with her outfit today."
Chat looked at Marinette as though he was just noticing what she was wearing for the first time. "She does look rather meowvelous," he conceded. He playfully winked at her, causing her to roll her eyes again. "In fact, that's why I'm here today. Marinette's merch dealer said she was looking for me. You guys did send me on quite a chase searching for you, though."
"Merch dealer," Marinette scoffed, "don't belittle Adrien like that. He's a close friend of mine and would be even if he didn't get me your merch." His smile softened.
"I know, Mari." He barely stopped from calling her princess in public. "I just thought it was funny. I mean, a famous Parisian boy buying you things that represent a completely different famous Parisian boy. You'd find it just as funny if I started bringing you Adrien themed gifts." He felt confident in his claim and knew his confidence was founded when he heard her quiet giggle from next to him.
"I guess you're right." She stood up from the blanket and patted out the lines of her outfit. "Now, I think it's picture time, then you can get back to eating, I promise." She held out a hand to help him up like she had done dozens of times as Ladybug.
Unfortunately, she didn't think through the fact that a literal superhero would be stronger than a teenage girl. She ended up getting pulled more than he did and she almost toppled over on top of him. He slowly let go of her hand, giving her an opportunity to rebalance herself while he stood on his own.
When they were both standing, Chat got another opportunity to look at her full outfit. "You know, I think you and Ladybug have the same shirt?"
"Oh, do they," Alya asked, eying Marinette and wondering when Chat Noir would have seen Ladybug in that shirt.
"Yeah. Apparently someone," he looked at Marinette accusingly, "is fighting Ladybug for the title of my biggest fan and on patrol last week, LB wanted to prove that she has some of my merch. Although, I do have to say, you do style it much better." He winked at her once again. Alya started posing the hero and civilian, trying to get a photo of them that didn't look forced but also didn't make them look too friendly with one another.
After a few minutes of Alya making decisions that didn't look as good as she wanted them to, Chat Noir spoke up. "Can I try something?" Alya signaled him to go ahead. Chat turned to Marinette. "Let me know if you're uncomfortable and we'll stop, okay?" Marinette nodded and Chat scooped her up in a princess carry. He crouched like he would if he had just landed after saving a falling civilian.
His brain supplied the caption 'That's what you get for falling for me,' but he was not about to say that out loud, especially in public. He was disappointed that he couldn't think of any poses that would show off her outfit more, but this one felt the most natural for him.
Alya made some approving sounds and after a minute or two more, directed Chat to put Marinette back down. She picked up Marinette's tumbler and handed it to Chat. "Can you lend Marinette your baton for a second?" He did as he was instructed. It wasn't like it was the first time Marinette needed to briefly use his baton. Alya posed them so that Marinette had both of her hands resting on the top of the baton with her chin resting on her hands looking at Chat who was sipping out of her cup.
Again, Chat's brain unhelpfully supplied a caption, 'Find someone who looks at you the same way Marinette looks at her coffee.' He could practically see the hearts in her eyes when she looked at him drinking her coffee. He was kind of surprised that she wasn't upset about the fact that he was actually drinking it.
After a few shots of that picture, Alya decided it was enough pictures of the two of them for that day. Alya and Nino sat back down first while Chat took an extra second with Marinette before they sat down. "That's a clever use for the earrings," he told her quietly. "Not that the fact that you're clever is a surprise. I just think it works well with the outfit. Anyway, I should probably get going. You're not the only one who has classes this afternoon."
"Will you take some more food for the road? Or… for the roof, I guess?" She winced at her own silly comment, but he responded with a full-bodied laugh. He nodded and went back to the picnic blanket with her. She pulled a small reusable container out of the bag and put about half of the remaining mini-quiches into it for him to take.
"Thank you for letting me crash your picnic," he said to all three of them as he stood up.
"I'll see you soon, m-Chat?" He could see the bit of hurt in her eyes when she couldn't call him minou.
"Of course… Mari." It didn't feel right. They had their nicknames and he knew why they shouldn't use them in public, but he wanted to. Suddenly, he was desperate to call her a nickname, one that was just his. It felt impossible for them to be this distant from one another when the last time they met up, he kissed her head and she kissed his cheek. He picked up her hand and placed a kiss to the back of it like he'd been doing to Ladybug for years.
On Thursday that week, Adrien brought a new gift for Marinette. He had gone back to Miraculous Coffee's wall of containers. He walked up to Marinette Thursday morning and handed her a cup, it was empty this time, but she could see he was holding a bottle full of ice water in his other hand.
The main part of the cup was bright green with his paw print on the upper half of the cup. The lid of the cup was dark green and the straw poking out of the lid was the darkest green of all. Attached to the straw was a tag that read 'GOBELET À CHANGEMENT DE COULEUR' Her eyes widened in realization and excitement. "Do you know what color it changes?" She was giddy, once again. He was quickly learning that one way to make her happy is to have things that he would describe as subtly exciting. Things that ultimately looked simple at first glance, but had hidden depths of color changing or glow in the dark or something.
"Nope, but I'm ready to find out." Marinette took the tag off of the straw and opened the lid, practically bouncing where she stood. Adrien removed the lid from the bottle in his hand and slowly tipped the contents into her cup. Starting where the cold water first made contact, the inner plastic of the cup became a slightly darker shade of green. It wasn't a really drastic change, but it was still exciting to watch the color change before their eyes.
"Do you think that it changes differently if you put something hot in it?"
"Probably not," he said, disappointedly, "usually thermochromic pigments like this only work well in one direction." All three of his friends gave him a scrutinizing eyebrow at his use of the word 'thermochromic' and he added, "plus, this style of cup is only meant to hold cold drinks."
"You're probably right," she told him. "Besides, it's really awesome just how it is. I've never seen anything like it before." She held her hands on the side of the cup to attempt to warm parts of it back up, but the double wall made her efforts in vain. Over to the side of the paw print, Marinette saw that the cup was marked with 'MIRACULOUS COFFEE'.
She knew it was just water, but when she took the first sip from her straw, it was the sweetest thing that she had ever tasted. "Thank you. I love it," she told him, like she had for a few of the other gifts. "I'm going to be so freaking hydrated!" Her final comment was louder than she meant for it to be. She immediately stopped talking, not understanding why she would say something like that. It sounded silly, regardless of the circumstances.
"That's what we like to hear, D.C!" Kim was the one who yelled across the courtyard to her.
"Hydrate or die-drate," Alix called back in response. She raised her arm, fist pumping into the sky. Marinette blushed and looked down at her feet. She raised the cup to her lips, drinking more of the water.
Marinette tried to put her coffee into the side pocket of her bag, but she was struggling, having no free hands. Adrien didn't think about that when he gave it to her and filled it up. He put his own bottle into his bag, then moved to Marinette to give her a hand. Together, they were able to put her coffee into the pocket, but before Adrien could take his hands back, she grabbed one of them.
"I really like… practical things," she admitted shyly. "There's something to be said for things that carry a sentimental value, but I really appreciate that you've been giving me things that are useful. It just means that when I use something or wear something, I get a moment to think about you and our friendship." She squeezed his hand lightly before letting go. "It all means a lot to me. You mean a lot to me." She didn't really know why it was so much easier for her to show affection in response to Chat's gifts than it was for Adrien's, but she was trying to normalize showing them both affection.
She was thankful that Thursday nights were patrol nights so she could show off her cup to Chat Noir as soon as possible. She made sure to arrive a little while before he usually did. When he landed, he saw her sitting on the edge of the roof, kicking her feet lazily over the side and drinking out of a tall cup.
"I know that cup," he said. Ladybug slightly jumped, startled by his sudden arrival. "It's it clawsome? I love the science behind that type of stuff, you know, color changing things."
"It's my new favorite," she said. "I swear I've probably had 4 litres of water today alone just so I can keep watching the color change." Her mind wandered to the look on Adrien's face when he poured the water into the cup.
The two went on their usual patrol route, smiling and talking all the while. At the end, Ladybug and Chat Noir landed on the same rooftop where they had started. "I have bad news for you, LB." After their exchange at lunch, Marinette became very aware of the fact that Chat hadn't used one of his nicknames for Ladybug.
"And what news is that?" She crossed her arms, tucking the water cup into the crook of her elbow. Her face split into a grin, anticipating what his news was going to be.
"As of Saturday night, Marinette is my biggest fan… that I officially know about. She's like half a centimeter taller than you."
"I can't believe she's stealing my spot," she said, feigning exasperation, "I'm trying to be a good, supportive partner, and she comes in out of nowhere to steal my place as your biggest fan." She rolled her eyes fondly, clearly exaggerating her upset even though Chat didn't know how much she was exaggerating. "I'll get my title back from her, someday." Ladybug dramatically clenched one of her fists, causing both of them to laugh. "I'll see you next patrol, Chaton."
"Yeah. Monday night." They both took off in different directions. When they got home, each of them checked the Ladyblog to see the pictures from their impromptu photoshoot that afternoon.
They admired the pictures and Adrien downloaded both of them. He printed them out and wrote a caption on each of the pictures. He didn't know if he wanted to keep them for himself or give them to Marinette. For the time being, Adrien put them into the trophy with his Ladybug pictures.
On Sunday night, Chat Noir showed up on Marinette's balcony again. She had been wearing the same t-shirt as last time with the shorts that Adrien had given her. This time, she was wearing the slippers he had given her. She had used some of the fabric that Adrien had given her to make a bandana to use as a headband.
Marinette had been sitting outside on the balcony to do some sketching. She had been sipping out of the baton tumbler. "What are you working on, Princess?" Both of their hearts did a small flip at the notion of him being able to call her princess again. She finished her sip, then turned to him to speak.
"I'm flipping back and forth between putting a few last minute details on Alya's dress and trying to come up with something to do with the fabric that Adrien gave me. I've tried pajama pants, a nice shirt, a light jacket, but none of them really worked. I think I might just keep using it as an accent. I really liked using it as a belt last week and it's doing well as my headband." She bobbed her head to show off the fabric, as though Chat Noir could have missed it in the first place.
He nodded agreeably, "yeah, it looks cute. I don't think you could wear it and the ribbons, though. They seem like they would require different hairstyles." He sat on a chair across the small table on the balcony. He was looking between her sketchbook and the tumbler.
"So," he said quietly, "I brought you something, but I think it might be… obsolete." He blushed at the gift that he had brought her. Obviously, Marinette wouldn't be able to use the gift he had brought tonight and the one he'd given her a few weeks back at the same time. He rubbed the back of his neck and placed a small-ish cardboard box on the table.
"You don't have to keep bringing me things," she reminded.
"And you don't have to keep looking so nice in my colors, but here we are." He nudged the box toward her as far as he could. She rolled her eyes and marked her page in her sketchbook with her pencil. Marinette closed the book around the pencil and placed it on the table. She took the box off of the table and opened it, being careful to not tear the box.
When she opened it, she saw a mug. Dark green lines covered the inside of the mug and when she took it out of the box, she saw it was black and the outside was covered with lighter green lines and had Chat's paw print on it. Down the opposite side as the handle, it had the words 'MIRACULOUS COFFEE.'
"I'll keep this on one condition," she told him, pretending to be stern. She pointed at him with a serious expression on her face. He asked the condition with his facial expression and she dropped her seriousness with a smile. "You have to test it with me." She opened the tumbler and poured about half of her hot cocoa into the mug for him.
"I guess if you're going to twist my arm," he told her with a smile on his face. He picked the cup up and held it up to her for a cheers. They clinked their cocoas and each took a long sip. After that, they stayed on the roof talking and drinking cocoa. They didn't really talk about anything, but they still managed to find conversations to have for a while.
It felt like 15 minutes had passed when Chat yawned, a combination of an Eldredge horror cat yawn and a normal human yawn. Marinette picked up her phone to check the time to discover that they had been talking for nearly four hours.
"Shoot," she said, "I didn't realize how late it'd gotten." She placed her phone face down on the table. Chat checked the time on his baton and winced at the 3:15 that showed on his screen. Both of them stood up to say goodbye.
Marinette gave him a hug. "Thank you for coming by. I loved sitting and talking with you. Plus, now I have a mug you can use if we decide to do this again."
"Nope," he said. Before Marinette could question it, he continued, "if we do this again, I get the baton and you use the mug. You use the tumbler all the time, I think that my gift deserves its turn in the limelight when you're home."
"Fine. I guess you're right," she giggled. They each released the hug and stood about 6 inches apart, holding each others' arms. She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "I'll start using it, now that I have it."
"Good. I hope you like it." He kissed her hair, closer to her forehead than he did last time they were on her balcony.
"I'll see you soon, minou?" They both let out a deep exhale at their regular exchange.
"Of course, Princess." He bowed and took off into the night.
The next day, Adrien walked in with a tray of coffees. He felt dead on his feet, but he woke up early in hopes of getting a solution for the problem. He'd stopped for coffee on the way to school.
"Chat Noir stopped by last night to tell me you've earned this," he told Alya when he placed a coffee on the table she shared with Marinette. "Well, I assume it was Chat. I woke up to a note taped to the window of my bedroom. I guess it could have been Ladybug, though. He also suggested that I get coffee for all of us. At least, I hope he meant the four of us, not all of Paris." He rubbed the back of his neck before he turned to Nino.
Marinette wasn't paying very much attention, focusing on the fact that it seemed like Chat Noir told Adrien to get them coffee because she had been up half of the night talking to him. She blushed brightly at the idea of Chat thinking about her wellbeing that much.
Adrien placed Nino's regular in front of him, not wanting him to feel left out after he had given coffee to Alya and Marinette in the past. He turned to Marinette and gave her the cup filled with her regular. She closed the tumbler because she knew it would hold heat better than the coffee cup that he had given her. She took a sip.
"Another Chai Noir," she questioned, grinning.
"Of course." He abruptly stopped himself from calling her princess. "You seemed to like it last time. I didn't have your tumbler and I didn't want to get you a second one. If there's something else you'd prefer next time, just let me know."
Marinette reached out a hand and placed it on top of Adrien's on the desk. "It's perfect, Adrien, just what I needed this morning. Thank you." She gave his hand a small squeeze.
Alya and Nino thanked Adrien for their coffees, but he didn't take his eyes off of Marinette for very long. After a few minutes of the four friends talking, Mme. Mendelieve walked into the classroom to start their science lesson. Adrien spent most of the science lesson thinking about what he could give Marinette next. Between what she mentioned last week about practicality and what she had mentioned the previous night, he had an idea.
Wednesday morning, Adrien walked in with a surprisingly big bag. He didn't stop until he got up to Marinette and held the bag out to her. She looked disapprovingly at the size of the bag and was pleasantly surprised by how light it was in comparison to its size.
She looked inside the bag to see a new case for her tablet. It was one of those shock-absorbing cases and it was a marbled effect, swirling together black, green, and silver. It wasn't explicitly Chat Noir themed, but it was his colors. She put the case onto her tablet, then showed it off.
She was excited to show off how well the case matched the lock screen of her tablet that was one of the pictures that Alya had taken of her with Chat Noir the previous week. It was the one of Marinette looking at her coffee while leaning on Chat's baton with a wistful expression on her face.
"You're a lifesaver, Adrien," she said, "I was just talking the other day about the fact that I needed to get a new case. Honestly, I'm shocked I haven't broken it yet with how clumsy I am." She giggled.
He knew how much she needed a case. She had told him, as Chat Noir, about the fact that the plastic of her case had broken and she was scared that she would fall and the entire tablet would shatter on impact with the ground. He was pretty sure she was exaggerating, but he was glad she liked the case regardless.
"I'm glad you get to use it. I was just hoping that I got you something you'd like. I mean, it's a lot more generic than the merch I'd gotten you, but a Chat Noir tablet case is more niche than the shirt and necklace and stuff." He was drumming his fingers along his leg while he talked.
"I love it." She thought for a moment to think of a good descriptor. "It's subtle," she landed on, "as much as I really like the bold pieces that scream 'I'm a huge fan of Chat Noir,' the understated look has its place and I think that this is a very good place for it." She leaned over and gave a quick peck to his cheek. It was the first time she had done that since the Heroes Day picnic and this time she was a lot more hesitant.
The kiss she placed on his cheek was more awkward than they usually were with Chat Noir. When it was her and Chat, he knew it was relatively normal- something to almost expect of her. She knew the best angle, the perfect amount to raise to hit the best spot on his cheek, but that wasn't something that she knew for Adrien.
The kiss on his cheek lasted almost no time, barely a brush of her lips on his face. His face lit up at the contact, with both a smile and a blush. It was something he had experienced as Chat, but not as Adrien. He didn't have a verbal reaction prepared because he didn't think he was close enough to her as Adrien to earn a kiss on the cheek, yet.
Nino seemed to be the first to notice Adrien's shell-shocked expression and placed a hand on Adrien's back to support him even though he had just been mentally destroyed by the sweetness of Marinette Dupain-Cheng.