Chapter Twenty Two – Inside and Out
"He's going to love this." Tikki beams, doing a summersault in the air.
Marinette giggles, smiling at her before following Wayzz under her desk to plug in the extension cord for the fairy lights she's hung up. "I hope so. Either way, I'm going to love this."
Wayzz grins at her and flicks the switch so power is running through the cord. She can tell he's resisting the urge to flick it again. And again. And again and again, much like a small child might. She ushers him out from under the desk before he can do so.
"I am a little worried about it being a school night, but I can't wait until Friday." She says, wiping her hands together to get any dust off them.
"It's not like you've never stayed up late before." Tikki agrees, winking at her holder. Marinette giggles.
"I so wish we could enjoy this with you." Wayzz says, settling on Marinette's shoulder. He nuzzles into her neck.
"Tell you what," Marinette says, reaching up to stroke his head. "Tomorrow night I can set it all up again for you and release all of the kwamis." She makes a face. "Plagg won't be here, not this time at least, but that means we can just do it all over again."
"What do you mean 'this time'?" Tikki asks, frowning at her holder. When Marinette hesitates, her eyes widen and she clasps her paws to her mouth. "You know who Cat Noir is?"
"WHAT?" Marinette shouts, immediately clamping a hand over her own mouth. She holds her breath, pausing, but when she hears no sign that her parents are coming up to check on her, she removes her hands from her mouth and frowns at Tikki. "No, I don't know who he is. Yet. But the rule to keep our identities a secret has always been Master Fu's, and the rule . . . it sucks." She shakes her head sadly and Wayzz moves to hover beside Tikki, so they're both looking at her.
"It was there for a good reason, though." Tikki says gently. "You and A–Cat Noir, you and Cat Noir are the youngest holder's Plagg and I have ever had, and Master Fu is the most anxious and paranoid Master we've ever had."
"Although at times you are a close second." Wayzz says, laughing to himself.
Marinette rolls her eyes fondly. "I do understand Master Fu's reasoning," She says, starting to climb up the stairs to her bed so she can sit down. The kwamis follow her. "But there have been many times where knowing each other's identities would've made it so much easier. And Cat really has gotten better at thinking before he leaps and taking a hit for me that I could just easily dodge." She rolls her eyes, thinking about her precious (annoying) chaton. "If we know each other's identities, we can contact each other outside of the suits. We won't have to keep wondering where each other is, when we're going to show up, or if we've already been caught as our civilians."
"Plus, if you ever have an akuma that can create illusions like Volpina, or who looks just like you like Copy Cat, you'll know straight away because you can contact each other." Wayzz adds, getting excited (after all, it's not every day he gets the opportunity to, potentially, see Plagg again).
"Exactly." Marinette grins at him.
"I'm sure you and Cat having gotten closer has nothing to do with this," Tikki teases, smirking at Marinette.
She blushes and stares down at her hands, fiddling with the hem of her pyjama shirt. "Kind of. It seems wrong to keep this from him." She glances up at Tikki and her eyes water. "I know you think it's dangerous, but Cat Blanc will only happen if we let it happen, and I'm not letting it happen." She wipes her eyes on the back of her hand and sniffs. "I can't do this guardian thing alone anymore. I can't keep seeing those eyes and hearing that voice every time I go to sleep." She shakes her head and wipes the tear running down her cheek away. "I can't, and I won't. Not anymore. Cat and I . . ." She shrugs slightly, glancing away from the concerned yes of the kwamis. "We need each other." She glances up and, although still teary, her eyes light up with a new fire; determination. "It's us against the world, and it can't be us against the world unless we know every part of each other. Inside and out."
Tikki and Wayzz are quiet for a moment, and they share a look. Wayzz nods, saying he agrees with Marinette. Tikki hesitates a moment longer and Marinette bites her lip, starting to get worried.
"Tikki?"
Said kwami sighs, crossing her arms. "This whole 'inside and out' thing isn't a euphemism for sex, is it?"
She isn't overly surprised when Marinette chucks a pillow at her, shouting, 'Tikki!'
. . .
As soon as Cat lands on Marinette's balcony, he's enveloped in a hug as strong as the ones he gave her at school. When he inhales, his senses are filled with that oh–so familiar Marinette smell – a vanillay sweet smell mixed with something he's never quite been able to put his finger on that engulfs his heart and makes him feel like he's arrived home – mixed in with her berry scented soap from her recent shower. He returns the embrace, burying his nose in her still damp hair and–oh! Her shampoo smells like berries too!
Much too soon for his liking – he was still trying to sort his way through all the scents to try and figure out what that one smell is (you'd think it would be easy, since he's known her for so long and she sits behind him and he's even made his own fragrance for fuck's sake, but he's at a complete standstill) – Marinette pulls away from him and steps back, putting her hands over her mouth to hold in an excited squeal. He grins, eyes dancing with mirth, and he unconsciously reaches out to her again and puts his hands on her waist, urging her a little close to him so he can warp his arms around her again. She complies easily and winds her arms around his neck once again, leaning her head against his shoulder. She lets out a content sigh, relaxing against him fully.
"Excited to see me?" He asks, referring to their first hug.
She giggles and the sound makes his heart jolt happily in his chest. Lord, he'd happily listen to the sound of Marinette giggling for the rest of his life if he could. He wonders how she would feel about him making that his ringtone?
"Today's been a good day, and I want to celebrate it with my favourite kitty." She slides her arms from around his neck and he inhales sharply in surprise when they brush across his chest on their way to wrap around his waist in a closer cuddle.
"Oh yeah?" His voice comes out gruff, and he coughs to clear it. "Why was it good?"
"Chloé." She says simply, shrugging.
He frowns, having expected any answer besides that. "Chloé? As in Queen Bee turned Queen Wasp Chloé?" He has to double–check, just in case she's talking about some other Chloé.
"That Chloé." Marinette murmurs after a moment's hesitation. She decides that only Ladybug would be able to offer an insight into how different Queen Bee and Queen Wasp are, and even though she's going to broach the subject of a reveal with him at some point, now is the wrong time to do so, and she's wearing the wrong suit. "She . . . you kind of had to be there," Oh, the irony, Cat thinks, smiling to himself. "But she basically brought to question all of Lila's lies and made the class see sense."
"Wow."
The awe in Cat's voice isn't fake, because he was there, and it was so surreal seeing his childhood friend standing up for the girl she always claimed to hate. For a moment it was as if they were seven years old again, and she was standing up to the older boy at his father's shoot, for some kind of kids clothing line or something (he's not sure, all he remembers is that it was one of his first times modelling, and Chloé was there to model as well, and his mother wasn't entirely convinced the environment was healthy for a child, but his father insisted), who had called him stupid for not going to 'real' school. For a moment, she became the little girl he desperately wishes to see his friend become again.
"Yeah. It was pretty surreal." Marinette agrees, her hand now stroking his side in long, tantalising, innocent strokes and he has to really focus on his breathing so nothing, ahem, unwanted appears and ruins their cuddle. "But I'm thankful, because I had no idea how to deal with Lila."
"What do you mean?" His own hands start caressing her back in soothing strokes and she releases another sigh, sinking even further against him. "You're Marinette, you always have a plan!"
She giggles, her hand coming to a stop at his side, before curling around him to her other hand so her arms are circling his torso completely. You have no idea how right you are, chaton. "Not this time. Not for Lila." She releases another sigh and his hand stills for a moment against the small of her back, before resuming its movements and drifting up to her shoulder blades. "My friend Nino and I tried to come up with a plan, but Nino isn't really the planning type unless it's for a film script, and I . . . I'm just so tired; it's like my brain is fried."
She lets out another sigh, and this time, whether it's because she just said so or because she's finally just letting it show, Cat can hear the exhaustion in it clearly. Exhaustion that goes past a few nights' lack of sleep.
"I can't think straight, and I keep getting distracted and . . ." Her hair tickles the exposed skin on his neck and chin when she shakes her head, not lifting it from his shoulder.
"And?" Cat prompts gently, nudging his nose against the top of her head. He resists the urge to kiss her forehead again, and finds himself hoping they end up having another impromptu sleepover just so he can do so without being questioned.
She bites her lip and stares at some distant point past the railing of her balcony, letting her vision go fuzzy. "It's like the part of me that make me me has faded a little; like it's disappearing; and I don't know how to get it back." She shakes her head again and lifts her head from his shoulder, loosening her arms around him so she can lean back and look him in the eye without being centimetres from his face. She needs to be able to think clearly for this conversation, and having a handsome cat–boy's lips so close to hers surely wouldn't help that. "It's like . . . it's like my heart is giving up."