Thank you guys for the support that's been coming in. I really appreciate it. I really didn't want to make this public, but the person who was messaging me wouldn't stop, and when I saw someone with a similarly worded review, I kinda freaked. Sorry. I don't mind constructive criticism. If you want to word it nicely and maybe don't ask me why I didn't do things I was maybe planning on putting in the next chapter (which I kinda was) in he chapter I just finished. So sorry if I made you guys feel ike you couldn't. Like I said that one review just seemed suspicious and came at a weird time. But that you guys for being so understanding! 3
Also, this one is LONG to make up for the shorter one yesterday. I wrote this while listening to like, an hour loop of 'In the Rain' so let the cheese commence!
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It wasn't necessarily late. Marinette had stayed up much later. But the pizza box, and the coffee cups were empty and Chat Noir slept cuddled up to her pillow. He had given Plagg a break after the first movie, and they'd now reached the end of the second. Marinette bit her lip. It was easy to talk to Chat, too easy. She'd almost old him if her previous feelings for Adrien. Maybe Tikki had been right the first time… While Marinette had snuck away to get pizza, Tikki had come and apologized, claiming that maybe she was worrying over nothing. But, now, Marinette wasn't so sure. Ladybug had basically almost revealed in her conversation with Oni-Chan that Marinette had liked Adrien, but luckily his mind seemed to be elsewhere and he didn't seem to notice. How long would this lucky streak last? With him spying on her, it couldn't be much longer. She sighed and rolled over to the other side of the blankets where Chat was fast asleep. He was laying on his side, a pillow cuddled in his arms. He made a small, snorting sound, almost like the snore of a cat and Marinette rolled her eyes.
She poked his nose, "Kitty, you fell asleep, you should probably be getting home."
His face contorted in annoyance but he rubbed against her hand and mumbled something sleepily.
Marinette let out a quiet laugh and tried again by scratching his head, "c'mon, Kitty, you've got to go."
He scrunched up his face and slurred his sentence, "I'm not leaving you, Marinette."
She rubbed his ear, "oh, Kitty. C'mon. I have to get up early to start baking anyway."
He began to purr, but his eyes remained shut, "I'll help."
She continued to rub but laughed, "and when all my customers see Char Noir in our bakery?"
"They'll deal." His words were mumbled but serious.
Marinette laughed harder, "Kitty, you know that's not going to work."
"Then I'll stay in the back."
Marinette thought it over for a moment, then decided against it, "didn't you say your dad was home, won't he be worried."
He mumbled something about a trip to London, but it was hard to make out so Marinette didn't comment,
"Kitty, you have to get some good rest."
He curled up tighter around the pillow and the side of his face gently rested against Marinette's outer thigh. Marinette was happy his eyes were closed because she was having trouble fighting the heat in her cheeks.
He spoke again, "you're hurt, you shouldn't have to run the bakery by yourself."
Marinette bit her lip. To be honest, she had been dreading lifting the heavy bags of flour in her current state. She knew her parents didn't expect her to make everything they usually did, they had already planned income with a limited quantity of baked goods. But Marinette was worried that she wouldn't even be ale to make that amount in her current condition. A large part of her wished she'd seen a doctor, and that she'd received something for the pain that was slowly coming back. But she knew that was dangerous. She was very susceptible to pain medication, due to her size, and had issues in the past. When she'd had her wisdom teeth removed a few years ago, Tikki had told her that she'd come dangerously close to cussing out Hawkmoth in a way only Ladybug could. Tikki had to mess with Marinette's bathroom and cause the sink to break in order to distract her parents. Having Chat take her to the hospital could cause a very similar problem, and without all of the other kwamis there to back her up, it would be a problem.
Marinette sighed, "you really want to stay and help?"
She felt him nod against her thigh. She gritted her teeth, "do you want to sleep in the bed?"
He shook his head.
"I'll set up the chaise for you."
She stood, and there was much protest from Chat. She began to stack blanket after blanket and pillow after pillow onto the pink chaise. She walked out of the room and came back, poking Chat in the nose with something wet. He jumped up in surprise,
"Hey! What the hell was that?"
She laughed darkly, "and you yell at me for cursing." She handed him a toothbrush, "c'mon. I'm not letting you slack on hygiene just because you're stuck with me. "
He took the offending object and rolled his eyes, "I'm not stuck-"
She pulled him up to his feet and he followed into her bathroom. She prepared her own toothbrush, then sat on the sink while she brushed. He began to clean his teeth as well and blushed. He'd never brushed his teeth around anyone else before. It felt strangely intimate.
"You know," her speech was muffled by the toothbrush in her mouth, "You can shower here too if you'd like. You don't have to stay in your full costume. I'm sure I could find you some PJs that fit and I'm sure I have a leftover mask from my Phantom of the Opera fashion phase somewhere. It's not fair to make Plagg work all night. "
Chat Noir was taken aback, she'd been talking about danger earlier. Wasn't this dangerous? No. He guessed not. She wasn't going to look. She was so concerned of making sure no one knew he was here. She wouldn't try to figure out who he was, or peek. He knew that. He'd doubted Ladybug would be happy if she found out, but when would he see here? Not the next Patrol. Patrols were his this week. He bit his lip,
"yeah actually. That would be really nice."
She nodded, "okay. I'll see if we still have stuff from when my cousins visited, or from my old attempts at menswear." She seemed to laugh at herself for some reason.
He cocked an eyebrow, "what's so funny?"
She sit out her toothbrush, "I kinda designed today."
His hear leapt with excitement, "really? What was it?"
She laughed, "it was more a doodle if anything. I'm in charge of helping to pick the theme for my college's dance and well my friend came up with a really good idea, and it just kinda came out."
He spit as well, then began jumping up and down, "do you have it? Can I see it?"
She frowned and shook her head, "No… I was…. And then with the akuma attack."
He looked down, "oh… yeah…. Sorry."
He cursed to himself. Of course, Marinette starts to come back, and Hawkmoth decides to come back too. It just wasn't fair. He looked up at Marinette and saw he sneak her glasses into her sweatshirt pocket. She put her hair in a bun and started the shower for him,
"I'm going to grab you some more towels and some clothes, anything else you need?"
He looked around, "maybe a wash rag, please?"
She nodded, "no problem, feel free to use whatever you want in there. Rose loves to get me new body washes and shampoos and stuff for basically every holiday there is. Please help me finish some."
He laughed, Rose often got him the same thing, "you got it, thanks."
She bit her lip, "if you're willing to stay transformed for a little bit I'll ring everything and a plate of brie in."
He nodded, "sounds perfect."
Marinette exited the bathroom and began looking through the drawers in her fashion corner. She had years of birthday and Christmas gifts she'd made for Adrien and was too afraid to give him. She was sure that on year she'd made him a pair of black sweatpants. She found them after a few moments then pulled out a dark blue, unisex Jagged Stone t-shirt. The mask was harder to find. That one she'd made years ago, after her dad had got them all tickets to the Phantom of the Opera. All of the costumes had been so pretty that'd she'd been inspired for moths. Eventually she found it. A navy blue fake leather mask with gold embroidery. She put it on top of the clothes she'd found, then went down stairs to find the towel and the cheese. Much easier treasures to find. She headed back upstairs and into the bathroom, handing the pile of goodies to Chat Noir. He offered her a beaming smile,
"thanks, Princess. These are perfect. "
She smiled back, "the lock on the door is really simply, just twist this okay?"
He nodded and thanked her again. She waved then left. He detransformed. Plagg seemed to be in a trance, but he rested on the plate next to his cheese. Adrien began to undress,
"Are you okay, Plagg?"
He nodded, still looking at the door, "don't let her kick you out, okay?"
Adrien looked at the tiny god, confused. He sounded so sincere and so sad. What did he know? "I don't plan on it."
Adrien stepped into the shower, and began looking at all of Marinette's soaps and shampoos. She hadn't been kidding, there were a lot. Of almost any variety, there was a holiday themed peppermint scent, fruity scents, even a brown sugar. He continued to sniff around, but none of them were that exact Marinette scent he was looking for. He sighed and gave up after a while, settling on the peppermint. He heard Plagg,
"H-hey kid, I'm going to go talk to her okay?"
Adrien peeked around the shower curtain, "Plagg, are you okay?"
Plagg looked back at him, "she's really hurt, kid."
Adrien nodded, "yeah, I think she is, but she won't let me take her anywhere."
He nodded, "I know. I'll be back when you're done okay?"
Adrien closed the curtain and shrugged, "she gave me a mask, you should be okay."
Plagg phased into the shower and Adrien quickl covered up, "you mean I don't have to stay in the ring all night?"
Adrien huffed, "no! No you're good! Now get out!"
Plagg was gone in an instant. After a while, he could hear some gentle laughs from Marinette. Good job Plagg.
Adrien finished washing himself but stayed under the hot water for a few moments. How was he so comfortable here? Why was this place the only place he wanted to be? He was risking a lot staying here. Sure, his father was going on a trip tomorrow, but it was going to be short. And there was a chance he would send someone to check on him while his father was home. But he just didn't care. Something was telling him that he needed to be here, by Marinette's side. Something had been telling him that for a while now, but he couldn't figure out why. It was like some distant thought or memory that he'd dreamed, or imagined. He just couldn't figure it out. He sighed and turned off the water.
He grabbed one of the towels Marinette had given him. He began to dry his face. He continued to dry off. He found the clothes she'd picked out, and laughed. Jagged Stone had been one of the first things they had in common, other than video games. He slipped on the shirt, but as he put it on he caught something. He brought the shirt to his nose. Yes—there it was. That signature Marinette smell. When she became a famous designer, she could bottle this stuff an he'd buy it by the truck-full; light, sweet (something like cinnamon), warm. It was impossible to pin point the exact smells. And it'd become easy for him, he made a fragrance for fuck's sake. He slipped on the sweatpants, feeling the signature, embroidered 'M' by the pocket. He looked in the mirror. His hair looked to much like Adrien's. He messed it up with the towel then played with it until it became Chat-like. All that was left was the mask, he lifted it off of the counter. It was beautiful, and Marinette had said it was from her early years. He traced the gold embroidery. She was gifted. It was one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen. He slipped it on. He hung his towels to dry, then stepped out back into her room.
Marinette was on the chaise; she was laying her stomach, feet in the air, eyes droopy, listening to Plagg tell her some story. Did Plagg tell stories? He walked over and sat by her feet,
"Are you trying to steal my Kwami?"
Marinette laughed sleepily, "no, he's just telling me the real reason dinosaurs are extinct."
Adrien looked at Plagg with wide-eyes, "what?"
Plagg tugged on a hair that'd fallen loose from her bun, "this one had some stories of her own too!"
Adrien looked at her curiously, but she snorted a laugh, "ah, yes, you've figured it out. It was me, the seventeen-year old from France, not the 'God of all Destruction' that sunk Atlantis."
Plagg put up both his hands, "accident."
Marinette laughed. She crossed her arms and laid on them, "I was kidding that time."
Plagg stuck out his tongue then, to Adrien's surprise, he settled in on Marinette's head,
"Plagg, that is so rude, stop it."
Marinette spoke softly, "no it's okay. You should keep those pants, by the way, they look really nice on you."
He blushed softly, "falling in love with me already, Princess?"
Her voice was stern, "fine, I'll keep them."
He kneeled down on the floor, so his face was by hers, "I'd like the first option back please."
She opened a sleepy eye and gave him a small smile, "fine. Last chance, Kitty."
He gently poked her cheek, "you're in my bed though."
She let out an irritated moan and closed her eyes again, "but I made it so comfy."
His finger stayed on her cheek, it was so soft, "if you give me a blanket, I'll sleep here on the floor."
She sighed, "no, it's okay, I'll get up." He waited. She spoke again, "any second now."
Adrien bit his lip, "sore?"
She furrowed her brows, "a bit."
He moved his finger from her cheek to her shoulder and gently rubbed it, "do you want help,"
She gently moved Plagg from her head to the top of the chaise without him waking, then sat up and held out her hand, "yes please."
He grinned wickedly, and from the floor, he put an arm under her knees, then stood and put one behind her back, gently lifting her.
He felt the heat from her face through his shirt and smiled, she'd made him blush too many times tonight, it was her turn anyway. He walked up the steep stairs. He used his foot to pull the covers down, and laid her gently in the bed. Then covered her back up and jokingly tucked her in, slightly tickling her feet.
She squinted her eyes at him, "you're trouble."
He booped her nose, "you're a princess."
She reached for her phone, "I have to set an alarm for pretty early tomorrow, are you sure you want to stay and help?"
He nodded and sat on the bed next to her, "I'm sure."
He hit the button to activate her phone and her face instantly fell, "what's wrong?"
Marinette bit her lip, "it seems that Lila got to more people while I was… indisposed."
"What?"
She shook her head, "oh, sorry. Lila is the one that told Kagami, Oni-Chan, all those lies. She got to more of my friends."
Marinette bit her lip, "it's all about this stupid dance theme thing. She found out that I was in charge of it and just… well she told people I met with her and told her that her idea was stupid. And my friend believes her."
Chat shook his head, "that's absolutely ridiculous."
Marinette shrugged, "that's teenagers, I guess."
Chat snorted "okay, Grandma."
She gently pushed his shoulder, "I just mean, whatever, you know? If my friends want to believe her, there's nothing I can do… I just can't deal with it."
Chat bit his lip, "then let me."
Marinette cocked an eyebrow, "what?"
"Let me deal with it."
Marinette gave him a look, "what are you going to do, threaten a civilian?"
Chat sat up, "that 'civilian' told a lie that almost got you killed."
Marinette bit her lip, "that's not going to stop her from doing stuff, Chat. She's… she's threatened me before."
His eyes narrowed, "what?"
Marinette just sighed, "she said she was going to do this, I didn't let her lie like she wanted and she said she was going to take all of my friends from me. And I mean, at this point… just… one of my really good friends was awful today, Chat. If that's what I'm losing, I may not have the energy to care."
Chat was shocked at this. He'd never thought he'd hear Marinette say she didn't care about something. All of the Lila stuff, losing her 'prince,' losing her friends, and was there still more? He was starting to understand her changing. She had too much on her plate to possibly stay the happy Marinette. He took one of her hands,
"I'm going to find a way to take care of this Lila thing for you, okay Princess? I promise."
He kissed her hand,
Marinette felt a blush on her cheeks. Chat was going to take care of Lila? How? Her throat was too dry to ask. He looked at her with his civilian eyes beneath the mask. They were so familiar, and so warm. His lips were soft against the back of her hand. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she was so thankful that he didn't have his sensitive cat ears to hear it. He gave her a soft smile,
"go ahead and set the alarm Marinette, and take another pain pill, okay? I'll see you in the morning."
Marinette turned her eyes to her bedside table, sure enough, the pain pills and a glass of water were there. She bit her lip as Chat released her hand. She reached for the pills and took two. Watching Chat settle in on her Chaise. Her chest swelled with something she didn't understand. This was something different. She blushed and looked down at her phone. She set the alarm, the took her glasses out of her pocket and set it on her bed side table as well. She flicked off the light. The moon offered some light in her room, she could see the outline of Chat Noir, laying on the chaise. She watched him, the way the light was on his face, his hair. He was beautiful. He was… here. He was real. He wasn't going to let her push him out. She wasn't sure how long she watched him. But eventually her heartbeat slowed, and she closed her eyes.
###
The alarm went off way too early in both Marinette's and Adrien's opinions. Though as Adrien sat up and saw Marinette stretching, he had to admit, it'd been the best sleep of his life. He watched Marinette look around her bed for a moment, seemingly confused. As if she was looking for someone. She stood slowly; pain evident on her face. She took a pill still sleepily looking around. She began to climb down the stairs. Suddenly she made eye contact with him, shock then relief crossed her features,
"Good morning, kitty. How did you sleep?"
He smiled and sat up, "good, how about you? How do you feel?"
She bit her lip, "I'm a little sore. And I have to change my bandages."
He stood quickly, "I'll help, c'mon let's go."
She followed him into her bathroom. He smiled at her, and she offered a weak one back as she rolled up her sleeves. The bandage was still hidden under a part of the sleeve. She sighed, "can you go into the top drawer of my dresser and grab me a tank top, please Chat?" He nodded and quickly did as he was asked. Grabbing the first white tank top he saw. He handed it to her and she motioned for him to turn around. He did as he was told. He heard Marinette set her sweatshirt on the counter and turned. The bruising was worse than he thought. Her arms, her neck, he could even see some purple through her shirt. He bit his lip,
"do you want ice?"
Marinette shook her head as she removed the rest of the bandage, "no, we're going to have a lot of work to do soon, kitty."
As the bandages fell to the ground, Chat breathed a sigh of relief. He gently took her arms into his hands and inspected them, "these look so much better, Princess. What did you use?"
Marinette bit her lip, "a bath, some ibuprofen, antiseptic, you know, the usual."
He looked the cuts over again and smiled, "they look so much better."
Marinette grabbed the antiseptic and a cotton ball, gently patting the areas of the cuts, before she grabbed the box of large bandaids, she took about eight out, four for each arm, and began unwrapping them. Chat gave her a strange look,
"they're not bleeding anymore, so I don't want to put more gauze on them, also, baking is hard with gauze."
Chat reached up and grabbed the roll, "then you wrap your arms and make me bake."
Marinette shook her head and began applying the bandaids, "it'll be fine Chat. If they bleed again, I'll wrap, okay?"
He considered her then sighed, "fine, but I'm going to be a pain in your ass about it."
She laughed, "I'm going to get my clothes and get dressed. Do you want clothes or do you want to transform?"
Chat smiled, "thanks, but I'll transform. Can't risk getting flour on any of your designs."
She rolled her eyes and left the bathroom. She grabbed some black jogger sweatpants and light blue, boxy pocket tee. She grabbed a new bra and new underwear. She walked back to the bathroom,
"alright, kitty, out!"
He complied and decided it was time to wake Plagg. He walked over to the sleeping kwami and poked him until he woke up,
"now I know Marinette wouldn't wake me up like that! Leave me alone, kid, it's still dark out."
Adrien continued to poke at him, "we're helping Marinette out today, remember. You want her to have to do all that herself right now?"
Plagg sighed and floated up, yawning, "fine, condemn me to the ring."
Adrien laughed, "claws out."
He felt the electricity of his powers and stretched. He looked back at the chaise and decided to remake the blankets.
Marinette emerged from the bathroom and Chat's eyes went wide. The way the blue shirt brought out her eyes stunned him. She had some concealer on her neck to cover her bruise and she threw on a black, zip-up hoodie to cover her arms. She put her hair in a ponytail and smiled at him,
"you ready to work, kitty?"
He nodded in silence.
She smiled bigger, "don't worry, kitty. With my parents gone, we're only making croissants, pain au chocolat, maybe some coffee, and a few flavors of macaron. We'll be okay. Some of the dough has been resting since they left so all we have to do is knead it and bake it."
Chat was finally able to regain his composure, "that shouldn't be too bad."
She nodded, "have you ever baked before."
He shook his head, "this is a first for me."
She bit her lip, "well, thank you for staying to help me. I really appreciate it."
He nodded, "now come on! Show me the ropes."
Chat Noir had expected Marinette to make him do a lot more, but all she really asked was for him to handle the heavy stuff, prep the coffee machines, and put things up and get things down from the shelves she would have to reach for. She did teach him things. She explained everything she was doing, and let him knead the croissant dough, and let him add a layer off butter and flatten it in. She even shared her secret passionfruit macaron recipe with him, and she'd let him stick is *clean* finger into the passion fruit cream, which he greatly appreciated. The macarons were his favorite, so he was thankful that she shared her secrets. Though he wasn't sure he'd want them made by anyone else. He helped her put the bakes into the ovens. Then she vanished up front for a while. He heard her clicking on lights and starting to take chairs down, then he heard his name, called through what sounded like clenched teeth. He hurried out only to see her clutching her side. Ah, the chairs had been a little too much weight. He smiled at her, "I got this princess."
"thanks, Chat. I'm sorry."
He shook his head, "don't be, I got this."
She smiled at him, and went behind the counted. He was thankful that the blinds were still drawn in the bakery. He wasn't at risk of anyone seeing him. He pulled the last chair down and turned to find Marinette. Only to find he girl behind him, presenting him with a mug full of coffee. He smiled,
"thanks, Princess."
"Thank you, kitty."
He took a seat at one of the tables, and she soon joined him with a cup of coffee of her own. He braced his nose for the smell of her deathbrew, but was met with something pleasant. He looked into the cup,
"what's that?"
She smiled, "you got to screw around last night, so it was my turn. Do you want to try some?"
He gritted his teeth, scared, but if she was experimenting again he wanted to encourage her,
"yeah, sure."
She slid the cup over to him, and he took a sip.
A rich chocolate flavor hit his tongue, followed but deep cinnamon and toffee. The mixture was frothy and smooth on his tongue. He slid his coffee to her,
"well, this is mine now. You can have this one. I have a new favorite."
She laughed and took a sip of his, "I actually used to drink this all the time."
He swallowed more of the coffee she'd made, "really?" He feigned ignorance the best he could.
She nodded, "yeah, I always thought that combination kinda tasted like ice cream."
He smiled, "I kinda got that when I drank it too."
And he had. The first time he drank her coffee he was brought back to having rich, vanilla ice cream in the kitchen with his mother late at night. It was such a long time ago that he was surprised anything could bring it back. There was something about her coffee that filled him with warmth. No matter how tired he was, that warmth was enough to get him through the day.
"You gonna come back to me kitty?"
He smiled wide at Marinette, "sorry. I just think I found a new favorite with this one." He swished what little coffee he had left in his mug around.
She smiled, "do you want another one?"
He shook his head, "no, not yet. Thanks though. What time do we have to open anyway?"
She looked at the clock on the wall, "we have about another hour, but everything is baking. There's not much we can do."
He nodded, "do you want me to check the cookies?"
She shook her head while taking another sip of coffee and took a timer out of her apron pocket. She swallowed then spoke, "we have another five minutes."
He laid his head on his hand, "you have this down to a science, don't you?"
She laughed, "I've been baking for a long time, kitty."
He groaned, "you keep calling me 'kitty' when am I going to get the name knight?"
She reached over and played with his cat ear, "when you trade these in for a sword."
He fought not to purr at the contact, but when she scratched the hair around the ear, he had no choice. The deep rumbling escaped his throat. He was expecting Marinette to tease him, but she just kept scratching. His eyes drifted closed and he leaned into her hand. She continued to pet him until the shrill beeps of the timer went off, startling them both.
Marinette smiled and retreated to the back. Chat collected their mugs, and followed. Dropping the his empty one into the sink, and carrying hers in his hand. He walked by the first couple ovens and joined her by her side as she put the pink-orange cookies onto a cooling rack. She went from oven to oven. She pulled the large sheet pan of the pain au chacolat next. Putting them on the counter but leaving them on the pan to cool. She took the macaron cream out of the fridge to allow it to reach room temperature again. She bit her lip and looked around, finally settling down on the wooden stool. He smiled and brought her coffee to her,
"did you run out of things to do for now?"
She nodded, "thank you. But yeah, the register is set up, most everything is cooling and the croissants will be out in a minute or two, so they should be cooled by the time we open."
Adrien cocked his head, "isn't hot the best time to eat croissants?"
Marinette shook her head, "no, if you let the cool, the butter can go back into each layer. That's what makes them melt in your mouth."
Chat Noir drooled at the thought of the Dupain-Cheng croissants. Marinette was right, they do always melt in his mouth. She took another sip of her coffee and rested her head in her hands.
Chat Noir watched the girl for a while, "what would you and your family usually be doing right now?"
Marinette narrowed her eyes in thought, "Papa and I would probably be messing with some recipes."
Chat Noir cocked his head, "do you want to do that?"
Marinette offered him a dazzling smile, "I already did, and I found Chat Noir's new favorite coffee, remember?"
He laughed, yes she had, "I'll admit, Princess, you have coffee skills."
She smiled at him, but he continued, "and design skills, and baking skills, and sewing skill, and cat taming skills. You're just amazing. You know that?'
Marinette blushed, "I-I don't know about that, Chat."
He sat on the stool next to her, and took her hand, "don't sell yourself short Marinette. You're probably the most amazing person I've ever met."
They stared at one another for a moment. Both of their hearts swelled with something unknown. Both felt as though this was where they were supposed to be. Marinette squeezed Chat's hand a little tighter; green eyes meeting blue. Time seemed to slow. In another world, thunder clapped, though snow fell outside. Both of their lungs were out of air, but neither could da take a breath, until the oven dinged.
Chat Noir let go of Marinette's hand, mostly out of surprise. And she hid her bushing face as she went to collect the croissants. Marinette set the pan next to the pain au chocolat to cool. Then felt the macarons, they were cooled,
"D-do you want to help me fill these?"
Chat Noir nodded his head, accepting the piping bag she handed him as she grabbed another one. Filling that one with the cream as well. She carefully demonstrated and explained how to fill each one with the cream. She took on the task of the large, decorative macaron that would sit at the front of the display shelf. He watched her work, the way her teeth bit her lip in concentration. Or the way she rubbed her lips together when she was trying to figure out what to do next. The pencil eraser between her teeth as she thought of her next design. The way her face utterly relaxed when she slept…
"Chat, you have to frost those."
Chat sat up in surprise and realized he'd been holding the same macaron, "sorry, Princess. I'm a little spacey today."
She offered a cautious smile, "well, I made you get up early today."
He chuckled and continued to work.
The rest of the macarons went by quickly. Marinette had put him in charge of sliding the full trays into the display case, as bending at the waist still kind of hurt. He smiled at her millionth 'thank you' and waved her off, "it's the least I can do, Princess."
Marinette smiled and began to lift the blinds, while Chat Noir hid around the corner.
He peeked around and watched her work, "so what do you want me to do now?"
She laughed, "that's up to you. You can hang in the back, you can go upstairs and watch movies on my laptop." She swallowed hard, "you can go home, if you'd like."
He was about to speak, when Marinette opened the blind on the door. They both froze.
Standing out side in the snow. Looking sad and guilty.
Kagami.