Chapter Nineteen – Gentle Interrogation

Marinette blinks her eyes open to the sound of her skylight clicking shut. She can tell from the amount of light in the room that it's early, possibly before six o'clock, and she allows herself to just lay there, thinking about nothing. Curling into a tighter ball to preserve some of her warmth, her movement knocks the cookie container over and it rattles. Shivering, she sits up to move it further away. She blinks dumbly at the bright pink sticky note attached to the lid with semi–familiar writing on it. Plucking it off gently, she brings it to her face and tries to make out the small print in the limited light.

I hope I haven't woken you, but I had to go home before someone noticed I was gone. I know that today is going to suck for you; I know that the rest of this year is going to suck for you, but I've decided to talk to my friend and tell him to keep a look out for you. (He may not be a superhero or a cat, but I think he'll help to make school more bearable.)

On the back he's drawn a stick figure with a tail and cat ears (possibly himself) hanging from what looks like it might be the Eiffel Tower. Underneath he's written Hang in there, purrincess, and she smiles fondly, laying back down and pulling the covers up to her shoulders, but she keeps her hands out so she can reread the note again. And again, and again.

By the time her alarm goes off, rousing a sleeping Tikki from her school bag, she has the note memorised and has stuck it in the back of her phone case, with Cat's drawing facing outwards so she'll be able to look at it whenever she needs to.

"Morning Marinette." Tikki says brightly, nuzzling into her holder's cheek.

"Morning," She responds cupping her hands around the kwami in a hug before sitting up and turning the alarm off. "Sorry you had to hide all night; I didn't mean for Cat to be here so long." She smiles sheepishly. "And I didn't mean to have an impromptu sleepover." Her cheeks flush at the memory of how warm and comfortable his arms around her were as she was falling asleep.

Tikki waves her paw dismissively. "It's fine. I was in a cookie coma." Marinette giggles. "But Marinette," Tikki's voice turns regretful and her eyes become sad. "It's not safe having Cat come over; what if he figures out your identity?"

Our love did this, Marinette. She shivers violently as his voice immediately invades her mind, those piercing blue eyes staring back at her hauntingly. Tikki looks even more sorry for bringing Cat Blanc up, and Marinette can't help but feel like of course Tikki would choose the one day she woke up without having a nightmare, without having to remember fighting her partner, her best friend, her superhero Godcat, to give her a lecture about him coming over and not revealing her identity. She forces herself to not say so to Tikki – she wouldn't know if she had had a nightmare or not, since most of the time Marinette doesn't tell her – but in the end she doesn't have to say anything.

"Come on, Tik!" Wayzz exclaims, having caught the tail end of the conversation when he emerged from the phonograph (he likes to spend his nights there, so he's distracted by the other kwamis and thoughts of his old master don't cause him so much grief). "It's not hurting anyone! And Master–sorry, Marinette deserves to have a friend, and Cat Noir is a very good friend for her." He glares at his fellow kwami, and she has the grace to at least look a little ashamed.

"But Tikki is right." Marinette murmurs, wrapping her arms around her knees. "It's dangerous, and it's selfish of me to let it keep happening."

"It's not selfish!" Wayzz cries, darting over to her and nuzzling into her cheek. "He's helping you, he's there for you, he's protecting you. Just let him."

Tikki gives Wayzz a withering look and starts talking to him – Lecturing, it sounds more like, Marinette thinks dryly – in another language so she doesn't understand. Deciding to just leave them to it, she climbs out of her bed and goes to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Because the bathroom is directly above the bakery, she can hear her father moving around and putting things in the oven and using the electric mixer and she can imagine him humming his bread song. She can also hear the murmur of her mother's voice, but she can't make out any of the words.

Tikki and Wayzz are still arguing when she gets back to her room, but it appears that Wayzz is the one lecturing Tikki now, and she smothers a snort at the affronted look on Tikki's face at whatever it is Wayzz is telling her. Turning back to her closet, she debates whether she should wear something more form fitting so it's easy to see that she doesn't have a baby bump or anything, but she rolls her eyes at the thought. They're going to believe what they're going to believe, no matter what she wears.

"Marinette?" Tikki grumbles as said girl pulls her hair out from the collar of the black, long–sleeved t–shirt she decided on.

"We still have forty–five minutes to get to school." She says absentmindedly, picking up her hair brush.

"It's not that." Tikki darts closer and settles on top of Marinette's jewellery box, ignoring the dust on it from lack of use. "I'm sorry about bringing up Cat Blanc. I only have your best interests at heart and I'm trying to protect you."

"You're just trying to delay the inevitable." Marinette replies, shrugging slightly. She runs her brush through her hair before pulling it into a ponytail, knowing from experience that no matter her hair style, Ladybug will still have pigtails. "I don't blame you for that."

"But I shouldn't have told you to cut off all ties with him completely." Tikki shakes her head sadly. "I know how much you appreciate his visits, even if he does annoy you sometimes."

"Still . . ." Marinette shrugs again. She knows that the only reason why she's not more torn up over the thought of having to cut Cat out of her civilian life is because she hasn't really come to terms with it. The thought of Cat Noir not being involved in Marinette's life is the hardest thing she has ever, and will ever, have to comprehend. "It's not fair for me to be putting him in danger like this."

"I'd love to see you try and stop him." Wayzz cuts in with a small smile. "Cat Noir is stubborn, and so is Plagg; I wouldn't be surprised if Plagg released his transformation to protest on his holder's behalf." Marinette giggles at the thought and Wayzz's smile grows. "Sorry Tikki," He glances at said kwami briefly before focusing back on Marinette, who's pulling on her coat in preparation for the cold walk to school. "But Cat's not going to stop coming over and caring for you and looking out for you just because you say it's dangerous."

"Yeah . . . I know." She crosses the room to check she has everything she needs in her school bag. "I still need to try, right?"

She smiles sadly and picks up her handbag, holding it open for the kwamis. They dart inside dutifully, the air around them tense enough to cut with a knife. Wayzz pointedly turns away from Tikki, still upset with her for trying to take Marinette's happiness away. Zipping her handbag shut with one hand, she uses the other to pick up her backpack, shifting it from hand to hand as she walks down the stairs to the main floor.

"Hey Mar–Bear!" Nino greets her brightly from where he's sitting at their kitchen table, halfway through a croissant.

She blinks at him, gobsmacked, before a smile breaks out on her face and she drops her bag and rushes over, pulling him into a hug. It's a little awkward because he's still sitting, but neither of them mind. "What are you doing here?" She asks, ignoring her usual seat in favour of sitting next to him.

"You weren't answering my messages and I got worried." He picks at the pastry, popping a piece into his mouth absentmindedly.

"Not worried enough to forgo eating food, though?" She teases, reaching over to tear an end off the croissant, and he bats her hand away jokingly.

"Well . . . you do know the way to a guy's heart is through his stomach, right?" He grins at her, patting said portion of his anatomy for emphasis.

"Funny, Alya always says it's a little lower." She grins at him, giggling when his cheeks flush and he splutters.

"Mari! How could you!" He slips down in his seat as if he's melting like the witch in the Wizard of Oz. "You're the sweetest girl in the world, how could you have such impure thoughts?" He cries melodramatically, throwing an arm over his eyes to further drive his point home.

She giggles and swats at his shoulder, telling him to sit up straight before he causes permanent damage to his spine. He complies and sits back in the seat to finish off the croissant. He 'lets' her steal a few more pieces, batting at her hand just a second too late to make impact. She pretends not to notice the way he frowns at her, worry etched into his expression. They don't say much, and the elephant in the room dances around them, bumping into cupboards and knocking over chairs in an effort to be acknowledged. Finally, Nino relents, and project Gentle Interrogation to Not Scare Away Marinette is underway.

"Why didn't you answer my messages? I was really worried about you."

"It's on airplane mode. I didn't want to deal with it. I don't want to deal with it."

"I get that. I stopped by yesterday after school. Did your mum tell you? Or your dad?"

"No."

"Oh. They told me you weren't up to seeing anyone. Adrien was really worried about you too, I think he was going to see if he could visit at lunch, but then he had a photoshoot or something and he couldn't. Did he come to see you?" She shakes her head. "He may talk to you at school."

This is met with silence and Nino bites his lip, knowing he's crossing the line between gentle and harsh.

"Mari . . . you're not pregnant, are you?"

She closes her eyes and releases a breath, although it's not quite a sigh. He searches her face for something, anything, but he comes up blank. For a girl who is a world class open book, she is uncannily closed off when she wants to be.

"No. I'm not." She opens her eyes and offers him a small, tired smile. "Do you believe me?"

"Without a doubt." He says without hesitation and her face crumples. He scoots his chair closer and closes the gap between them, pulling her to him in a hug as her tears start to fall. He lightly shooshes against her temple, rubbing her back comfortably as she clings to his shirt in a death grip. "Shh, it's okay. I've got you; I believe you. It's okay."

He repeats the words like a mantra, never breaking his hold on her, and after only another minute or so her tears dissolve into light sniffles, and then silence. She gets up to blow her nose. He pulls her onto his lap for a hug when she returns and she buries her face in his neck. They stay like that, just comfortable in each other's embrace, until she pulls away from him and presses a friendly kiss to his cheek in thanks. She moves back to her own seat and grabs his hand, interlacing her fingers with his and squeezing. Just like that day in the library all those years ago.

"I feel like one of us should be reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets right now." He jokes, earning him a giggle. He squeezes her hand back and inhales deeply, centring himself for what he's about to say. "Now, what are we going to do about Little Miss Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire?"