A/N: Bug Bites is going to basically be a series of one-shots and drabbles. Here is the first chapter... Stray Chat Strut.

Stray Chat Strut

As Adrien and Nino walked into their homeroom class, they were surprised to see Marinette here not only on time but early.

"Thanks again for doing this, Marinette!"

"No problem, Rose. Do you have any ideas about what you want it to look like?"

"A little. I'll have to think on it a bit more."

"Perhaps we can brainstorm some more at lunch or after school?"

"What are you brainstorming?" asked the model.

"Oh, A-Ad-Adrien! You startled me. Rose asked me to design her costume for the talent show next month."

"Then I know it will be perfect," he said. "Are you going to be singing, Rose?"

"I sing with Kitty Section, so I thought I'd do something different. I've always wanted to do Shakespeare because I think Romeo and Juliet is just so romantic! I've asked Marinette to design my Juliet costume."

"Which scene are you going to do?"

"The balcony scene, of course. I already have an idea for the balcony itself."

"Don't you need a Romeo? Who are you going to get?"

"I'm working on that," the blonde girl said shyly. "Marinette, will you do the Romeo costume too?"

"If you want me to. I just need enough lead time to get measurements, fabric, and so on." She looked at Rose seriously for a moment. "If we're going to do this right, then some of those fabrics can be a bit pricey. I'll need you to pay for some of that."

Rose's face fell. "Do you know how much?"

"Not until we go looking. Why don't you come fabric shopping with me when we're to that point?"

"Okay, sounds good! That way I'll know more what we're getting into."

Adrien thought a minute or two, then asked "Marinette… would you design a costume for me, too?"

"I-I-I … erm, I thought your d-dad would insist on designing a costume for you."

"I'm not going to tell him I'm in the talent show. He'd flip."

"Well, then, s-sure. What are you going to do? And do you have a costume in mind?"

"I have the purrfect idea," Adrien couldn't help but pun. Marinette stared. "What?"

"Dare I ask what costume you need me to make?"

"Yeah, but I want it to be a surprise." He leaned over and whispered in Marinette's ear, "I want a Chat Noir costume that I can dance in."

Marinette shivered as she felt Adrien's breath on her neck as he whispered. Then she looked into his face. She could see how sincere he was. And giving her kitten eyes. She melted. "Yeah, I think we can do that. You'll have to go shopping with me though."

"Fair enough."

"Will this Friday work for the two of you?" the designer asked her two performers.

"Sure!" squeaked an excited Rose.

"I'll have to check my calendar, but I think so," said the model.

The following Friday, three people met in Marinette's room for measurements and to go fabric shopping: Rose, Juleka, and Adrien.

"Let's get the measurements done first because that will help me know how much fabric we need to purchase. Who's first?"

"I'll go first, I'm used to it," smiled Adrien. True, he could have just had his measurements sent over, but that would raise too many questions. Plus, Marinette was a friend he knew he could trust.

Marinette quickly measured Adrien, humming while she did. She blushed as she held the tape at his crotch when measuring the inseam, but was able to push through it. "All done," she squeaked.

"Aren't you going to measure again - to make sure?"

Marinette went beet red. "Um," she cleared her throat. "Yeah, I probably should. Measure twice, cut once after all." She started the measurements again, comparing them to what she had written down. Every single measurement matched.

"Ok," Adrien said stepping down from the little platform they were using. "Who's next?"

"Me!" said Rose. Marinette was able to quickly measure Rose - twice - and then measured Juleka for her Romeo costume. Once they were done, the four friends went to the fabric store.

"Do you have any ideas on the colors you want for your Romeo and Juliet costumes?"

"I like purple a lot," Juleka said softly.

"Maybe some blues as well?"

"Sure." The shy girl turned her head bashfully.

"Pink for me!" squealed Rose.

"Why doesn't that surprise me," chuckled Adrien. "I think I need black," he winked. Marinette just mentally facepalmed. Who knew Adrien was such a dork?

They looked through bolt after bolt of fabric, discarding pattern after pattern until Marinette picked several for both Juleka and Rose.

"Do you do that all the time when you're shopping?"

"Huh?" Marinette turned and looked into soft, green eyes.

"Hum. You've been humming and singing the whole time while shopping," said Adrien. "And while taking measurements, too."

"I have?"

"Yes! Have you ever thought about joining Kitty Section," beamed Rose.

"I couldn't. I have waaaay too many projects," Marinette was thinking about her superhero duties.

"You could sing in the talent show, though," Rose pushed.

"Oh, I couldn't possibly do that. I'd be a nervous wreck."

"Sure you could! I bet you could do anything you set your mind to" gushed Adrien.

If only that were true, we'd be dating by now, she thought. "Nooooo," she replied thoughtfully. "You really think so?" she asked her crush.

"I know so."

"I don't know… being up on stage all by myself..."

"You could do a duet with me," he suggested. Marinette blushed.

"Really?"

"Yeah! Let's do it. Although, since I'll be in costume it's only fair that you are as well…"

"As what?"

"Well, since I'm going as you-know-who," he glanced at their shopping buddies, "you could dress up as his partner."

"Um, no." That hits waaaay too close to home. And Tikki would kill me.

"Sure! You'd make a great Lady…" he stopped himself. He did want to keep his costume a surprise from the others. "A great lady."

"No, Adrien. Let's pick something else." They wandered over to the various black fabrics.

"The original may be leather, but that's not very move-able or breathable. You'll want something that stretches without getting too thin." Marinette looked at several fabrics with spandex and rayon in them. Some were just plain … cheap. Cheap in appearance, wouldn't look good on stage, and wouldn't hold construction well. While she was looking at fabric, Adrien was looking on his phone.

"Got it! How about this one," he showed it to Marinette.

"I don't know… it's a little revealing."

"It would look GREAT on you. You'd need some white fur trim and a long-haired white wig, but I know you could pull it off. And you could use the same black fabric you'll use for my costume."

Marinette looked at the photo again, then up at Adrien's pleading face. Once again, he was giving her the kitty eyes. "Black Cat" and "Chat Noir" - a pair of black cats. It would be good for a laugh if nothing else.

"Okay, okay, fine. I give. So… what are we going to sing?"

"How about a classic from a musical?"

"Do you have one in mind?"

"How about... " he whispered into Marinette's ear. She blushed prettily, then thought a minute or two and then looked at Adrien again. It just wasn't fair. He could give Manon a run for the doll eyes trophy.

"Guess I'd better start looking at white fur trim. And some flesh-toned fabric like they use in skating outfits." Adrien just laughed.

They spent the next little while finding all the needed fabric and notions (zippers, buttons, etc.), got the fabric cut, and headed to the register. Adrien ended up paying for it all, despite protests from the girls. They all swore they'd pay him back.

Two weeks later, Marinette was nearly finished with Adrien's costume so she invited him over for a fitting - and song practice.

"Wow, that looks fantastic, Marinette!" Adrien inspected the costume up close. He could swear it looked like the real one.

"Try it on, Adrien. There's a changing screen over there."

"Yours looks good, too. Are you going to let me see how you look in it?"

"Sure," she said as she grabbed her own costume and headed behind a different screen. Soon, the two teens came out in their superhero outfits.

"I was right, you look fantastic!" Marinette blushed in response.

"Here, let me see how that's hanging on you." She smoothed out the lines of Adrien's Chat Noir outfit. "Turn around," she said, giving the costume a critical eye. "Looks like I might need to make an adjustment here. Try dancing around in it."

Giving a princely bow, Adrien held his hand out to Marinette, "Shall we?"

"Hang on." Marinette started a music app on her phone - nothing too mellow… mainly Jagged Stone. They danced and twirled, jumped, split apart & came back together. Adrien even dipped her once.

"I think … that's … enough testing." Marinette was out of breath. "How does it feel?"

Adrien moved his arms in large circles. "Feeling good!" Almost like the real thing, he thought. "Have you figured out how to do the masks?"

"I'm still working on that one. We'll probably need to use Spirit Gum as adhesive."

"Yeah, probably."

"I still haven't figured out the boots yet - for either of us."

"Oh, I have that one figured out. What's your shoe size?"

"Um… a 5 in Ladies shoes. Why?"

Excitedly, Adrien dragged her over to her computer and bumped the mouse. Marinette panicked for just a moment as her desktop screen lit up, then hurriedly picked up the mouse & launched a Web browser.

"What's the website?"

Adrien pulled up a cosplay shop and pulled up both Black Cat and Chat Noir footwear. "I've already got mine in the shopping cart. Let's add yours."

"Oh, Adrien! I-I can't ask you to do that. They're so expensive."

"Your costume was my idea - so I'll pay for the shoes. Besides," he looked a little sheepish, "I don't want to ship them to my house. Too many questions." He looked into her eyes once more. "Can I ship them here? Consider the boots a payment for costume storage space."

"Sure."

"Thank you, Marinette. You're one of my best friends." Adrien grinned happily, while Marinette smiled a little brokenly at her crush.

"Do you have your wig yet? If not, we can get that here, too."

"I haven't had time."

Despite Marinette's protests, Adrien ordered the wig along with the boots and also selected express shipping.

"Well, 'Chat Noir', I think it's time to practice. Don't you?"

"Absolutely, 'Black Cat'."

With that, they spent the next few hours working on their song and their choreography.

Adrien waited offstage for his turn to perform. He was a little nervous as he waited since he'd never sung in front of anybody before, not counting the duet practice - Plagg didn't count. He checked it over again - Nino had the music all prepared, the costume looked great (thanks Marinette), and he was pretty sure he had prepared enough.

He looked again toward the stage as Alix finished up her skating tricks, and held tightly to his microphone. The curtains closed, the music started, and Adrien strutted out on the stage using, he hoped, just a small bit of Chat Noir swagger.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh" he sang as he started his performance.
"Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh" he continued, looking into the crowd.
"Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh" Adrien looked for a friendly face.
"Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh" Ah, there she was. Adrien looked right at Marinette as she came in from changing into her costume, and really got into character.

"Black and orange stray cat sittin' on a fence.

Ain't got enough dough to pay the rent." he sang, starting to relax.
"I'm flat broke but I don't care
I strut right by with my tail in the air" Adrien playfully twirled his costume's cat tail belt as he ... well, strutted... across the stage.

"Stray cat strut, I'm a ladies cat
I'm a feline Casanova, hey man that's that" Adrien looked for other girls in the audience. His eyes landed on Rose and he started singing to her. She blushed almost as red as Marinette.
"Get a shoe thrown at me from a mean old man" Adrien playfully jumped to the side, pretending to duck a shoe.
Get my dinner from a garbage can"

"Meow!" He swiped his gloved, "clawed" hand in the air.

"Yeah, don't cross my path!"

Adrien crossed the stage, using both Chat Noir swagger and that runway model "look". This time it was Mylene's turn.

"I don't bother chasing mice around. Oh, no!" time to switch targets.
"I slink down the alley looking for a fight" his eyes looked over the guys, settling on Kim for a brief moment.
"Howling to the moonlight on a hot summer night" Ok, time to move back to the girls. Juleka's turn.
"Singin' the blues while the lady cats cry
'Wild stray cat, you're a real gone guy'" Juleka didn't seem to be feeling the Chat, so it was time to move on. Alix was just coming in a side door after her performance. Adrien looked right at her.
"I wish I could be as carefree and wild
But I got cat class and I got cat style" Adrien gestured one hand down the length of his costume.

Then he continued swaggering across the stage, dancing a little. Just before starting the next verse, he decided to mix it up a bit and looked straight at Mme. Mendeleiev and Mme. Bustier.

"I don't bother chasing mice around
I slink down the alley looking for a fight
Howling to the moonlight on a hot summer night" Time to change targets again. Alya's turn.
"Singin' the blues while the lady cats cry
'Wild stray cat, you're a real gone guy'" Time to finish where he started.
"I wish I could be as carefree and wild
But I got cat class and I got cat style" Adrien looked directly at Marinette again, watching her face flush an even deeper red than before.

He had a huge grin on his face as he finished up with a little twirl of the microphone cord, catching it just as the song ended.

The applause was LOUD.

Marinette couldn't help staring at Adrien as he started to sing his song. He seemed to look at several people during his performance, but at the end, he seemed to look directly at her. Her heart started pounding, and not all of it because it was time for her to go on stage herself. Adrien smiled at Marinette as she nervously adjusted her mask, picked herself up, and went up on stage.

Come on! Marinette told herself. You know your routine, you've practiced until you have it memorized, and you're LADYBUG for cryin' out loud!

Marinette took a deep breath and spoke.

"Anything you can do, I can do better," she said, looking 'Chat Noir' up and down. "I can do anything better than you."

"No, you can't," he said looking at her.

"Yes, I can," she sang.

"No, you can't."

"Yes, I can." 'Black Cat' walked around 'Chat Noir'

"No, you can't."

"Yes, I can! Yes, I can!" she looked right at him.

Marinette really got into the performance as she and Adrien danced, twirled, and sang their song. At one point, they reached off stage and got staves.

"Any way you can fight, I can fight better," Marinette sang their adjusted lyrics. "I can fight with a staff better than you."

"No you can't," he said as he twirled his staff.

"Yes, I can!" she lunged toward him.

"No, you can't!"

"Yes, I can!"

"No, you can't!"

"Yes, I can! Yes, I can!"

As part of their dance, 'Black Cat' and 'Chat Noir' also did a little mock staff fighting. Marinette really got into it. At the end, they landed together and looked out to the audience.

They got a standing ovation - Alya cheering the loudest. Sweating, the model and the designer made their way to the audience and took off their masks. Nino handed them each a small towel.

"Girl, I knew you could do it!" Alya cheered her best friend. "That was incredible!"

"Yeah," Marinette said, a little out of breath. Looking at Adrien she said "It was claw-some."

"Purr-fect, Milady!" smiled Adrien.

Marinette giggled. "Oh my god! You sounded just like him! No wonder they chose you to voice Chat Noir in that movie." Adrien's blush started at his neck and gradually went up his entire face. "So… what made you decide to do 'Stray Cat Strut' as Chat Noir?"

"Something I saw on the Ladyblog, actually."

"Really," grinned Alya. "What was it?"

"Some of the comments on a post mentioned that Chat Noir seemed to be a bit of a showoff, so I thought 'why not'? And it is a pretty cool song, even if it is old."

"Ok, class," said Mme. Bustier, "thank you for your sharing your talents with us today. I'm sure we all had a good time getting to know more about each other. Remember to turn in your essays on Monday about your experience in preparing for today's show."

The class groaned.

A/N: This chapter came about because I had a vision of Chat Noir singing the song Stray Cat Strut.