Chapter 4 - Haven

Marinette awoke to the feel of something hard beneath her. She nudged her head into whatever she was laying on, whatever it was being comfortable despite feeling hard. Wait- was it moving? As soon as she realized it was moving, she raised her head up to see what she was laying on, finding a blonde boy with a mask on resting peacefully.

Chat? What was...oh. Now she remembered.

He'd stayed. Maybe it wasn't intentional, but it had long since become dark. He'd fallen asleep with her, and somewhere along the way she'd ended up on top of him.

He looked so peaceful, and he almost had a faint smile on his face. She really didn't want to wake him up, but a quick check of her phone said it was now almost 11. Surely that wouldn't go down well in his personal life, so he probably needed to get back.

She reached out and lightly shook him, now properly sitting up with her legs crossed beneath her. "Chat. You fell asleep." She spoke, shaking him again. If he didn't wake up, maybe she'd just leave him to sleep. She had tried, after all.

She shrugged, and shook him again. Nothing. "I guess I'll leave you to sleep a little longer then, Chat." She smiled down at him, and looked around for a way to get off her bed without disturbing him. He was right in the way of her ladder, and to climb over him felt weird and she really didn't want to disturb him if he wouldn't wake up. He probably needed sleep.

Ok then.

She carefully maneuvered herself to the end of her bed, shimmying her body until her legs hung off and only her torso was left on the bed. Moving down some more, she was left with her chest pressing into the bed semi-painfully and her arms stretched out for some grip on the sheets so she didn't fall off her bed.

She stretched her legs down as much as she could, moving her arms down so they held on to the wood at the end of her bed that held the mattress. Finally able to reach the floor, she carefully plopped down on to the ground, nodding to herself, impressed.

She silently opened up her trapdoor, slipping down to go to the bathroom, but not before flicking the light off.

Coming back a few minutes later, she looked up at Chat to see him now rolled over on his side, still peacefully sleeping, only facing her now. He almost completely blended in to the room with his black costume, if not for the light that still trickled in to her room from the city.

She wasn't sure what to do with herself now. She didn't really feel like going back to sleep, and she didn't want to disturb Chat by working on some of her designs.

She flicked a soft light on so that she would be able to see, and used Chat as inspiration for a new design idea. She stuck the end of the pencil between her soft pink lips, chewing on it absentmindedly while she considered the idea, the clothing beginning to take form in her mind.

After studying Chat for a few more minutes, she swiveled around in her chair to begin the basic sketch, every now and then turning back around to look at Chat again.

Almost finished with the basic sketch, Marinette turned again to look at Chat one more time, only to come face to face with her inspiration, who'd been leaning over her shoulder to watch.

She shrieked and almost flung herself out of her chair in shock. "Chat! You scared me! How long have you been watching?" Chat gave her one of his signature grins.

"10 minutes or so by now. I really like it, by the way."

"Thank you. You were my inspiration," she said simply, holding it up for Chat to look at more clearly, proud of her work.

"No wonder it looks so good. A great inspiration, and an even better designer." He wiggled his eyebrows.

She wacked him in the chest.

"Shut up, alley cat," She laughed, no malice in her voice. Chat chuckled along with her.

"Oh, by the way. It's really late Chat. I tried to wake you up, but you wouldn't, so I just let you sleep. I think you should really get home, you're probably in a lot of trouble." Marinette warned him, remembering the time.

"Crap! Is it really?"

"Yep. Last I checked, it was almost 11."

"Shoot. I'm going to get in so much trouble over this.

"I'm sorry, Chat." She said, suddenly becoming slightly down.

"Princess, no. Don't apologize. You have nothing to apologize for, it's not your fault. I fell asleep." He took her chin in between his thumb and forefinger, lifting her eyes to meet him when she started staring at the floor.

"But...I'm the one who asked you to stay."

"I know. And I'm the one who stayed and fell asleep. Princess, it's not your fault, ok? I have to go home, but I'm going to come around this afternoon, ok?"

"Ok. Thank you, Chat."

"Anytime, Princess." He gave her that goofy two-fingered salute, and was gone in seconds, out the window she finally realized had been smashed.