Marinette didn't see Chat again until Saturday of that week. She had been sitting at her desk, doing some work on her tablet when he came knocking. She didn't hear him at first, engrossed by the work she had been doing. He saw that the window close to her desk was open and he went around to try to get her attention.

"Doing some homework," he asked nonchalantly, acting as though he wasn't just dangling like 15 meters in the air off her roof to have a talk with her through her window.

"Go come in through the balcony, you dork." She considered balling up a paper and tossing it at him, but she decided against it. He disappeared from the window and while he went around to the trapdoor, she picked up the mug she had been using and poured half of her cocoa into the tumbler for him to use.

It took him about a minute to come inside and he landed on the floor of her room with a soft 'thump.' "Princess," he greeted, holding out a hand to take hers. He raised it to his lips for a gentle kiss. "Fancy running into you here." He winked.

"Extremely," she said sarcastically, "not like you showed up at my bedroom or anything." She giggled and held out the tumbler filled with cocoa for him to take. "What can I do for you tonight, Chat?"

"Well," he began in a faux serious tone, "I came because you and I need to talk about your status as my number one fan. Unfortunately, I have some bad news for you." Marinette's heart stopped.

As far as she knew, the only person she had been 'competing' with was Ladybug, but what if there was someone else who was a bigger fan. What if he didn't want to hang out with her anymore because there was someone who deserved his friendship more.

"I've come to the conclusion that you can't be my biggest fan if you're not also a fan of my favorite hero." He made very direct eye contact while he brought a small bag out from behind his back. Marinette put down her mug so that she could open the little bag.

"I guess that makes sense. I don't know how much of a Ladybug fan I am, though. I probably won't get nearly as much out of wearing her red as I do out of wearing your green." She spoke while she opened the bag. She felt a container and could tell that it was the shape of a computer mouse, something else that she had told Chat she needed to replace soon.

She pulled it out of the bag fully and looked at the small pink and grey mouse in her hand. "Her name's Multimouse and she was the mouse miraculous holder before Polymouse," he explained like it was something she didn't know. Marinette's eyes filled with unshed tears. "Maybe you've heard of her. Don't tell anyone, but I'm the reason she can't be a temporary hero anymore. She was the bravest, strongest, and most clever temporary hero we'd ever had, but I saw her detransform and we don't want to jeopardize her safety by making her a hero again."

She sniffled as a few of her tears spilled. "That's not fair." She playfully hit his arm. "I'm supposed to be your biggest fan. You're not allowed to just reverse the roles like this."

"I don't know what you're talking about." He winked at her, again. "I'm just telling you about my favorite hero so that everyone can know just how cool she is. She definitely deserves it. Plus, I think Multimouse Pink looks better on you than Ladybug Red or even my green."

"You're a goofball, minou," she told him, wiping away the tears that had fallen, "a very sweet goofball." She placed a kiss on his cheek, it was gentle, but her lips lingered on his cheek. It lasted longer than it usually would when she kissed his cheek. After kissing Adrien's cheek had been so awkward the previous week, Marinette was nervous about it being awkward with Chat too, but it was just as nice as it had been in the past.

"Do you want to watch a movie or something," he asked after she pulled away. He had come over earlier than he usually did and he was looking for an excuse to stay. She smiled affirmingly at him before she turned back to her computer. She unplugged the mouse she had been using before and plugged in her Multi-mouse.

"What are you in the mood to watch," she asked. He stroked his chin thoughtfully, going through every movie he could think of to try to come up with the perfect choice for them. He smiled brightly.

"Oh! I've got it! Do you want to watch Howl's Moving Castle?"

"I always want to watch Howl's Moving Castle," she responded, trying to make it sound like her comment was a joke even though it wasn't. She pulled it up on the streaming service then pushed her roller chair away from her desk. She picked her mug of cocoa back up and took a long sip.

Chat Noir had stretched himself out to relax on her chaise, but he was only sitting on half of it. She eyed the empty half. "Sorry," he apologized quickly, "I just thought we could share. If you want to sit on that chair, you can. Or if you want the chaise, I'll sit in your desk chair. Whichever way you'd prefer."

"Sitting together sounds fine to me." She pushed her desk chair back in, then sat down next to him on the chaise. They started the movie sitting side by side, but by the time Sophie found Howl's castle after leaving her home at the beginning of the movie, Chat had put his arm around Marinette to get more comfortable and she crossed her leg over his. By halfway through the movie, both of them had finished their cocoa and put their containers on a nearby shelf.

The two had a running commentary during the beginning of the movie and they spent the duration of that commentary either giggling or full-on laughing. After a while, they unconsciously held hands. Marinette fell asleep before the end of the movie.

Chat Noir took her up to her loft and covered her with a spare blanket that she kept down near the chaise. "Of course, Princess," he said, despite her not saying anything to get the response from him. He kissed her forehead then leapt through her trapdoor. He closed the door behind him and considered detransforming to ask Plagg to lock the latch for him. He decided against it because it seemed like she never locked it.

Marinette was running late on the following Monday. She had ended up staying up too late on Sunday because she was hopeful that Chat Noir would show up so that she could apologize for literally falling asleep on him. She was more distracted on Monday than she had been in a while.

She was still able to arrive to class a few minutes before Mme. Bustier showed up, though it wasn't early enough to spend time in the courtyard with her friends before they went up to the classroom.

When she arrived at her desk, she saw something on her side of the table. It was a green cat's eye stone faceted onto a bracelet. It wasn't too extravagant, like Marinette thought several of the other things that Adrien had given her were.

Adrien's eyes followed Marinette as she reached out to the bracelet on her desk. She picked it up and admired the shine of the stone. He turned fully around in his seat to speak to her.

"I left it on your desk in case you came in after the bell," Adrien told her. "I have to leave just before lunch for another photoshoot, but I didn't want to forget to give it to you." He smiled as she slipped the bracelet onto her left wrist.

"It matches his eyes perfectly," she said quietly, a little awed by how much attention Adrien must have paid to Chat in order to have it match as well as it does. Her smile softened as she thought about Chat and his laugh when they were watching Howl's Moving Castle last weekend. "Thank you, Adrien." She leaned over to kiss his cheek.

The kiss on his cheek was more comfortable for both of them than it had been last time, but it wasn't even close to as comfortable as it was when she had an opportunity to kiss Chat's cheek. "It's meowvelous." Marinette blushed when she realized what she said and rushed to her seat in order to end the conversation.

She didn't see the almost dreamy expression that took over Adrien's face, knowing that his Princess kissed his cheek and made a pun. His heart was practically soaring, not even the knowledge that he'd had a photoshoot that afternoon could bring his mood down.

At patrol that night, Ladybug arrived after Chat Noir did. Her new bracelet was on her wrist, outside of her costume. She was once again drinking out of the cup that she'd gotten the previous week.

"Hey, Chat. I saw your girlfriend," Ladybug paused what she was saying for a moment to give Chat a chance to protest, but he didn't. She continued, "on my way here and she said she has something for you whenever you go by her place next time." A smile grew on his face.

"She's not my girlfriend," he corrected. His voice didn't sound urgent like she had expected it to. Instead, he sounded almost resigned. She didn't know how to react to the tone of his voice. "Don't get me wrong," he continued, "she's wonderful. She's smart, brave, creative, not to mention that she's gorgeous, but she's…" He winced. "She's a fan. She respects me and I'm sure she likes me as a hero, but that doesn't mean she likes me like that." His voice was almost silent when a moment later he added, "not the way I like her."

Ladybug felt her heart stop, suddenly she felt like she was eavesdropping on the conversation despite being an active participant. She didn't think Chat wanted Marinette to hear what he said about her, at least not yet. She didn't feel as though asking him more questions would help how much she was intruding, so she bit her tongue despite how curious she was about his feelings.

"If she doesn't, she wouldn't deserve you anyway." She knew she needed to take some time to think over what Chat Noir had told her. If she didn't like him, she wouldn't have referred to Marinette as his girlfriend, right? Chat ran one of his hands through his messy hair.

"Please, don't tell her what I said. I want to tell her how I feel, but I'm not ready. I'm really, really not ready." Ladybug nodded her agreement.

"I would never tell someone's secret like that, Chat. Take all the time you want to tell her, but come let me know how it ends up afterwards, okay?" She didn't know what else to say at that point. "For now, though, how about we start our patrol."

Chat Noir was too distracted by his nerves to see Ladybug's new bracelet, which was probably for the best that night. He already knew that Marinette and Ladybug had the same clothing set and the same color changing cup, Ladybug didn't know if he could handle knowing they had the same bracelet without accidentally outing herself as Chat's new crush. She had to hold back a grin from spreading out across her face at the idea of her, Marinette, an ordinary girl with an ordinary life, being Chat Noir, the superhero's crush.

"Do you think I should go see her after patrol tonight," he asked when he landed on the same rooftop as Ladybug about halfway through their patrol.

"Maybe. She's expecting me to stop by after patrol tonight. She wanted me to come by to confirm that I saw you and passed the message along. She mentioned that she's busy tonight, but it's really up to you if you decide to go by after I leave or not." She shrugged and pulled her yo-yo's communication screen up.

He thought for what felt to Ladybug like hours but was probably only about 30 seconds. "I'll probably swing by on Wednesday," he landed on. As much as he wanted to stop by as soon as possible, he couldn't think of a good enough excuse to stop by that night when he knew the next piece of merch he'd gotten for her would arrive on Wednesday of that week.

"I'll be sure to let her know that." Her heartbeat returned to normal when she learned she didn't have to dance around the fact that Ladybug would have to leave Marinette's bedroom when Marinette had to stay there. "And I'll be sure not to mention your feelings for her."

"Thanks, Bug." His smile was soft and sincere. He knew that she wouldn't tell Marinette, but the confirmations still helped him mentally deal with the fact that his old crush was going to be talking to new crush and the conversation could possibly be about him.

He placed a friendly hand on her shoulder and smiled down at her with his genuine smile, the smile that conveyed every emotion in his head and in his heart. She returned his smile, then made a little motion that they should continue their patrol.

When they finished that night's patrol, Ladybug made sure that Chat wasn't following her then went back to her house. She went in through the trapdoor, landing face down on her bed, and detransformed.

"Tikki," she groaned into her pillow. "Chat likes me." Tikki flew up close to Marinette's face.

"Chat has liked you for a long time," Tikki told her holder.

"Chat liked Ladybug for a long time," Marinette corrected, "now he likes Marinette and doesn't think I like him back. I don't know if I like him back. Do I like Chat Noir? I mean, he's a great friend and a great hero, but does that mean I like him? Do I have a crush on Chat Noir?" She held the necklace pendant in her hand.

She knew she started wearing it because of Adrien but was that the only reason she wore it? She hadn't actively thought about Adrien in a while, but it felt like Chat Noir never left her head recently.

Marinette ended up staying awake for half of the night, stuck between wishing that she had told Chat to stop by Marinette's that night and dreading seeing him again now that she knew how he felt. By 1:30 am, she had come to a decision about how she felt, but now she didn't know how she should act around him.

Marinette spent the next two days worrying about the next time she would see Chat. She knew that he had another gift to give her, and she was hyperaware of the gift that she had made to give to him. It was in a box she had repurposed from an earlier gift from him, but she hoped that he wouldn't mind once he opened it.

The air that night was cool, so Marinette chose to stay inside. She tried to work on her designs, but every sound, no matter how quiet, made her think Chat was arriving. After an hour of waiting for him, pretending to do work, she turned on her console and started up her copy of Ultimate Mecha Strike 3. She played a few games in competitive online mode, but it wasn't enough to distract her form waiting for Chat's arrival.

Chat showed up at close to 23:30. He knocked on the trapdoor before coming inside. "Hello, Princess," he said with a grin splitting his face. She was focusing on his actions, trying to tell what was friendly versus what he was doing because of his feelings.

"Welcome, Chat. I'm glad you could make it." She was so focused on the idea of acting normal that she couldn't fully remember what acting normal meant for her and Chat Noir.

"I brought you something," he told her, presenting a box from behind his back. It was the same size and shape as the box she had ended up reusing for his gift.

"Quelle coincidence," she said with a wink. "It just so happens that I have something for you, too." She walked back over to her desk where the box was sitting. She picked it up and held it out to him as he did the same with her gift. "I want you to open yours first." The tone of her voice made sure he knew that it wasn't really a request, he was opening his gift first whether he wanted to or not.

He relented and opened the box that she gave him. Immediately, he saw a soft pink color. He pulled it out and could see that it was a mug. The inside of the mug was pink, and the outside was a light grey color. On one side, it had the mouse miraculous' symbol and where it said, 'MIRACULOUS COFFEE' on the mug he'd given her, it said 'MULTIMOUSE COCOA'.

His eye teared up a little bit and he was choking up. "I… I love it, Marinette. I can't believe you made this for me. It's perfect. I can't use it, though." He sounded heartbroken by the fact that he couldn't use the gift she had made for him. "No one else is supposed to know Multimouse even exists. I couldn't risk anyone finding out."

Her heart sped at the concern lacing his voice. "I know. I don't think you should take it home or anything. That seems like it would be a really dangerous choice. I just think that maybe next time you stay for a cup of cocoa, you would like to use a mug you get to call your own." He pulled her in for a lingering hug, placing a firm kiss in the very center of her forehead. She put the box he'd given her onto her desk, then put her arms around him, smiling all the while.

"It's purrfect, Princess," he said quietly, not letting her out of the hug. "I can't believe you made this. Well, of course I can. You're creative, but I can't believe you set aside time to make it for me. I don't know what I've done to deserve you." She pulled out of the hug, staying as close to her as he could while being able to make eye contact with her.

"Hey," she rebuked, trying to be playful but it came out more serious than either of them really expected, "you don't get to talk about my favorite hero like that! I wouldn't be your biggest fan if I didn't think you were worth it. Do you understand?" She held his face in her palms, trying to make sure that he could see she meant every word she said. "No one gets to talk about you like that, not even you."

Given recent revelations, Marinette gulped when she realized their position. She thought about how easy it would be to kiss him. Their lips were surprisingly close in that position. She blushed brightly and released her hold on his face.

"Fine," he relented, making a mental note to stop using as much self-deprecating humor in front of Marinette. He debated if he could still get away with making self-deprecating jokes when he was Adrien but came to the decision that that night was not the right time to find out. "Well, it's probably not as good compared to what you gave me, but I think you should open your present." She smiled when she remembered the box that was sitting on the desk next to them.

"Right. That one." She picked the box up off the desk and felt the weight. It felt denser than she expected, and she couldn't immediately think of what it could be. She took the lid off and looked inside of the box. It was a controller for her console. More than that, though. It was a controller that was covered in Chat's face.

The only way she could think to describe the controller was 'anime-girl sweatshirt.' The controller was covered in a collage of Chat Noir's face, the best of his silly mid-battle faces that were clearly taken from the Ladyblog. She was so surprised by the gift that she couldn't think of any words to use in response. Instead, she just burst out into uncontrollable laughter.

"Oh my Gosh, Chat," she managed to get out through her giggle-fit, "this is amazing!" She pulled him back into their previous hug. "I will never use a different controller again." His heart soared at the sound of her laughter. After a minute or so, she was able to take a few deep breaths and stopped laughing as much. "How would you feel about testing out both of our gifts," she suggested. "I can go make us cocoa while you get the controller synched with my console?"

"Of course, Princess." Marinette grabbed her Chat Noir mug and Chat's Multimouse mug and sneaked downstairs. By the time their little gift exchange was done, it was about 00:00. She knew she could be in trouble if she got caught making cocoa at midnight, especially since she was inexplicably making two cups, but she didn't care. Chat was worth the risk of getting in trouble.

A few minutes later, she went back into her room carrying both full mugs. Chat was sitting on one of her chairs, holding her old controller. Her new controller was set as Player 1 and was sitting on her own chair. She placed Chat's cocoa on the side of the desk closer to him and picked up her controller.

"Thank you," she said before she placed a kiss on his cheek. She could hardly suppress her laughter from bubbling back out.

"Don't thank me yet," he told her with a wink. She had a quizzical look on her face, and she arched an eyebrow at him. "Round one?"

"Sure, I guess." They started playing and, as usual, Marinette took a quick lead over Chat Noir. About halfway through the first round, she looked at her hands, quickly checking to make sure that they were in the correct position to pull off the combo that she had planned.

Her quick glance at the controller was enough for her to see the myriad Chat Noir faces and fall back into giggling. Her laughter was contagious, but not enough that it distracted Chat as much as it distracted her. He used her laughter to his advantage and was able to knock out her character.

"You're a cheater," she claimed. "I made you cocoa! This is how you repay me? Cheating to win?" She pushed his arm playfully.

"I'm not a cheater, Princess." He booped the tip of her nose, "I'm merely an opportunist. I saw an opportunity to hear your laugh, so I took it. It just so happened that making you laugh left me with a bit of an advantage in our game." He winked at her once again.

She crossed her arms, jokingly upset at the turn of events. "Round two?" He smiled excitedly.

"Of course, I don't usually get this many chances to win against the great Marinette Dupain-Cheng." They both settled in for round two and the same thing happened. Marinette was confident in her abilities, practically crushing Chat Noir, but she saw the controller out of the corner of her eye and couldn't help but break into laughter again.

She was able to put up more of a fight during round two, but she wasn't able to recover enough to pull through and beat him. She couldn't be upset about it, though. She had challenged him. She continued to challenge him, game after game until she could win once.

By the time she had one win under her belt for the night, it was already 4 am, definitely the latest they had ever stayed up together. He winced when he read the clock. "Sorry for keeping you up so late."

"You don't have to apologize, Chat," she said through a yawn. She tried to stifle it, but it was not effective. "I'm glad I got to spend this time with you." She moved to him and gave him a long hug. She was embarrassed by how much she wanted his touch after hours of sitting less than a meter apart while they played.

"Yeah," he said, "I'm glad I got to spend time with you too." His arms wrapped around her upper torso. "I don't think there's anyone I'd rather just hang out and play video games with." Her face reddened at his comment. "Can I borrow your tumbler," Chat asked her after a minute or two of just holding one another. He pulled out of the hug to look at her.

Her heart sped up. She didn't know why, but the idea of her tumbler not being with her the following morning left a bad feeling in her gut. She played with her fingers habitually. "Promise to give it back?" He nodded. She grabbed it from her desk and handed it to him, biting her lip when he took it. He swapped it for his real baton on his belt.

"I should head home," he told her, "Someone deserves to get some sleep before school in the morning."

"I'll see you soon, minou?"

"Of course, Princess." He placed one last, lingering kiss to her forehead for the night and took off into the night. Marinette went up to her loft, planning to get to sleep as soon as she could so she could hopefully get a solid 3 and a half hours before school in the morning.