'Sup people!
Now that Halloween is over and I wrote and posted my Miraculous Halloween story (At Your Command, Milady. Please check it out if u haven't already), I can go back to my other stories. At least until it gets a bit closer to Christmas *wink wink*
I should apologize. When I opened this chapter a few days ago to start working on it again, I hadn't realized how close it was to being finished. I was able to finish writing it and prof read it in like 2 days. Makes me think if I had worked on it a bit more before October started, I could have posted this a month ago.
Oh well. Please enjoy anyway.
True to his promise, Adrien didn't follow Marinette all weekend. However, during his daily Chat Noir runs, he did stop by her house just to glance inside her window once or twice—just for a second to see if she was there. He usually found her in the living room with her parents. Or in her bedroom, working on something new at her sowing machine.
It hadn't looked like she'd gone out the entire weekend. But maybe that was for the best. They did agree that she should take it easier than normal during her recovery period, but he didn't want her to think she had to lock herself away.
No. Marinette knew what he had meant. She agreed to only go out if she had a trusted friend or relative with her to watch her back. If she didn't feel like going anywhere or simply wanted to stay home and rest for one weekend, there was nothing wrong with that.
After what almost happened in the subway, he understood if she'd rather take it easy. Besides, if she was in a designing mood, then he's glad that she was safe at home doing what she loved.
Maybe he'd see her new creation on Monday.
The night he had saved her, after he went home, Adrien went on the Ladyblog and saw a least a few videos and pictures—all taken from different angles—of Chat in the subway, saving the blogger's best friend from getting hit by a train already posted.
He recognized a lot of the screen names as kids from their school, all posting comments on how relieved they were that Marinette was okay and how incredible it was that Chat Noir just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
No doubt, this would rekindle everyone's intense concern for Marinette when they all saw her in class again. Asking her if she was okay all the time and checking if she needed the nurse—or the hospital. Adrien knew he'll be just as bad, but he would try his best not to be too pushy.
He had been there. He knew the subway incident didn't hurt her so much physically. But mentally, very likely. For that, she didn't need a doctor. Just good and caring friends to offer their ears for listening and their shoulders for crying on. And the promise that they would look out for her while she was healing.
When the new school week began, Adrien was anxious. He really wanted to see Marinette and gage how she was doing. If she was happy and how her recovery was going. His car dropped him off in front of the school and drove away. Then he spotted Nino and a few of their other guy friends standing by the stairs.
"Morning, everyone," the blonde model greeted the other guys, who all greeted him back.
"Morning, dude," Nino said before first-bumping his best bud. "Hey, did you see the thing about Chat Noir and Marinette on the Ladyblog?" he asked.
Adrien grimaced a bit, but tried to hide it with his model smile. "Yeah, I-I did," he replied. Recalling the whole incident still made him uncomfortable.
"Poor Marinette. First, she ends up in the hospital with a closed skull fracture, then she almost gets hit by a train," Marc said as the group started climbing the stairs and entered the school.
"Yeah, what's next? She falls into the Seine and gets her hand bitten off by a shark?!" Kim exclaims. All the boys rolled their eyes playfully, except Adrien. His face just turned a bit paler.
"Kim, there are no sharks in the Seine. However, falling into the Seine is still a possibility for someone with her level of clumsiness," Max explained as the group stopped in the middle of the courtyard. Surprising, it didn't make Adrien feel less horrified.
"Even if she did, Marinette's a decent swimmer. She'd be fine," Ivan chimed in.
"Yeah, Marinette's fine," Nino said. "Alya said on her blog that she checked on Marinette over the weekend and she's fine. Just a little shaken."
While his best friend's reassuring update made him feel a bit better, Adrien still felt shaken. Although, he cracked a small smile for his bud.
"I hope she's not too shaken to miss school today. She just got back," Adrien said. He really wanted—needed—to see how she was.
"Yeah, I'd hate for her to miss more school because she's-" Nathanael said, only to stop, his eyes fixating on something behind the blonde model. "…Chat Noir," he uttered after a quick pause.
Adrien just looked at him with a raised brow. "Because she's Chat Noir?" he asked. That didn't even make any sense.
"Right now, yes," the red-headed artist said before gesturing to the school entrance behind the blonde model.
Adrien still didn't understand what Nathanael was saying, but as soon as he turned around with the rest of his buddies, he did.
Standing there, at the school entrance, under the archway, was Marinette. Adrien had a strong suspicion that she had been working on a new outfit over the weekend and he was right. But he never would have guessed it would be…that.
Marinette's new outfit was head to toe, Chat Noir chique.
With a proud smile, Marinette walked straight through the courtyard. For once, not bothered in the slightest that all eyes were on her. When she approached the group of boys, she simply smiled and said "Morning, boys," like it was any other normal school morning and just kept walking.
Being raised by a fashion designer and doing modeling most of his life, Adrien's brain was trained to obverse and study clothes, even on first sight. Usually, it was just out of habit, but this time, he was very interested. Not just because it was designed with his alter-ego in mind, but because it was designed by his dear friend—while also being modeled by her.
As she walked by, Adrien looked over every detail of Marinette's outfit;
She had on black thigh-high stockings with cat faces on the tops; cat ears with green inner ear lining, green cat eyes, and pink upside-down triangle noses on each leg. Her shoes were black flats with a single green paw print on the outer sides.
She wore green shorts with a braided black ribbon belt, a black off-the-shoulder blouse with long, puffed sleeves that clung to her wrists, with semi-thick green straps over the shoulders. And 'Chat's Meow' was written on the front in big, green, fancy letters.
Her hair was up in her usual twin pigtails, but there were long green ribbons tied around each. On top of her head was a black cat ear headband. Around her neck was a thin black choker with a tiny golden bell in front. Like every day, she carried a small clasp purse over her shoulder, except this one was black with a single green paw print on both sides. Her final accessory was a black ring with a green paw print on top on her right ring finger.
"Marinette!" a few female voices exclaimed it delight within the walls of the outdoor space.
Alya and their other girl friends came rushing over to Marinette, stopping her a couple yards away from the boys. Clearly, they noticed her new and stunning attire from across the way.
"You look amazing!" Alya gushed.
"You look so cute!" Rose squealed.
"Awesome," Juleka mumbled happily.
"Did you make this?" Mylene asked.
"Of course, she did," Alix insisted. "Right?" she asked the bluenette just to be sure.
Marinette giggled. "I made it over the weekend. I'm glad you guys like it," she told them.
"Marinette, you have got to let me take some pics of you in this outfit for the Ladyblog. The Chat Noir fans would go nuts!" Alya said, already excited for what she might write about this super-hero fashion tribute made by her best friend.
"His fans? Oh no. Chat Noir himself would lose his freakin' mind," Alix said, confidently. "I mean, just look at them," she pointed behind Marinette, where all the boys from their class, plus a few other boys who just started to notice their friend's attire. All of them were staring—some in platonic admiration, others with serious goo-goo eyes.
When the boys saw the girls had noticed them looking their way, they immediately tried to seem cool about it, and not creepy.
"Lookin' good, Marinette!" Kim hollered with two thumbs up to her.
"Great outfit!" Ivan complimented loudly for her to hear.
"Chat's Meow for sure!" Nathanael added enthusiastically. Marc just nodded to her with a wide smile, agreeing with him.
Marinette smiled back at them and waved. But then she had a silly idea. She turned to face them completely, held her hands up close to her face with her fingers curled up like little paws, and said "Meow!" in a cute voice.
All the boys laughed and awed, some even clapped a little.
"That's some outfit, huh, Adrien?" Nino asked his buddy beside him. When he got no reply, he looked at the blonde boy and saw he was facing the girls with a blank, unreadable stare. "Adrien?" he tried again but still got nothing. "Bro!?" he spoke a bit louder and nudged his arm.
This finally did snap Adrien back to reality and he turned to him.
"Uh-what?" he asked Nino, a bit dazed.
Nino just smirked. "Never mind," he said before starting to walk toward the stairs.
Adrien followed him, along with the other boys, to get to their classroom. Marinette and the girls were already walking in that direction, so they were just ahead of them. Adrien still couldn't stop staring at Marinette.
The outfit by itself was an unbelievable gesture.
Was it meant to be some sort of thank you/homage to him after everything that happened with them the past week? Whether it was or wasn't—maybe Marinette just did it because she felt like it for no special reason. It could only be one of those two—Adrien was touched.
He was already super relieved that Marinette didn't hate him for causing her accident and when she agreed to always have a friend to watch her back if she went out, but this. This was beyond any thank you he could ever imagine for anything.
He remembered Marinette telling Kim off the other week when he insisted that she should despise and avoid him at all costs for accidently dropping an archway on her. But she told him different and explained why, and the jock understood.
If this outfit didn't make it clear to everyone who sees it that Marinette had no ill feelings toward the feline hero, he didn't know what would. For that, he was doubly grateful.
That was the best explanation Adrien had for the tingly sensation he had in his chest upon seeing Marinette in those clothes. Sure, the outfit was beautiful and the thought behind it was sweet, but actually seeing her in it and hearing her meow like a kitty a moment ago, just made her look so…adorable.
Sure, he'd known Marinette to be a cute girl before that day, but still…that outfit. It was making him think harder about that fact.
Upon entering the classroom, Adrien stopped in the doorway while the other guys walked around him and went to their seats. Mostly everyone was seated, except Marinette, Alya, and Alix. They were standing at the front of the room.
While her two friends were still admiring the outfit, Marinette suddenly got a look on her face like she just remembered something. "Oh, I almost forgot. Watch this," the bluenette said. Everyone watched in confusion as she unclasped her belt from the front, pulled it out of the loops of her shorts, then reached back and attached one end of the belt to the back of her shorts, just above her buttock. "Ta-da!" she exclaimed happily after taking her hands away. Then proceeded to move her rear left and right a bit, allowing her 'tail' to swing about.
As he watched this, Adrien felt his mouth get a bit drier.
"Cool!" Alix cried, impressed.
"Belt tail, just like Chat Noir. Very nice!" Alya said, also admiring the extra feature.
Adrien swallowed, trying to add some moister back to his mouth. Followed by a bizarre but subtle 'MEH' like sound escaping his throat against his will. Realizing that weird noise came from him, Adrien quickly covered his mouth with his hand. Sadly, the three girls heard it and turned to stare at him.
"Adrien? Did you say something?" Alix asked.
Removing his hand, Adrien tried to talk. "I…said-" Once again against his will, his eyes were drawn back to the bluenette Lady Noir who was also staring at him with those shining, sapphire eyes that were becoming bigger and bigger by the second. "…nothing. I-I didn't say anything," he quickly said before rushing past them and took his seat next to Nino.
"Okay," Alya said, redirecting her attention back to her best friend. "So Marinette, do you think we could squeeze in a quick photoshoot of you in this outfit during lunch today?"
"Oh, lunch. That reminds me," Marinette said, walking over to the first student desk in the room while gesturing for Alya to join her. Nino and Adrien looked at the two girls as they stood before them on the other side of their shared table. "Guys," she said to all three of them. "You guys were supposed to come over to my house for lunch the day I got hurt," she reminded them, which made them cringe a bit—Adrien a bit more but he didn't let it show too much. "Well, now that I'm better, I'd like to make that up. Would you guys like to come over to my house for lunch today?"
All of their faces brightened up at this. "I'm in," Nino said with a grin.
"Of course, girl," Alya told her. "And then we can take a few pics, right?"
Marinette simply nodded her head then turned it toward the blonde boy who hadn't yet given an answer. "Adrien?" she asked.
Adrien wasn't sure whether it was his brain that was malfunctioning, or just his mouth. Either way, it was becoming almost impossible for him to talk smoothly today. After a quick mental slap in his face, Adrien finally replied. "I'd…love to. Yes. That's a great idea, Marinette. Thank you." His answer was followed by a probably bigger than necessary smile.
Marinette politely smiled back—but he could tell he might have weirded her out a bit—and she and Alya walked around them up to their seats behind them. Barely a couple seconds later, Miss Bustier came in through the door, greeted her class and began the lesson.
If he wasn't surrounded by classmates, Adrien would be banging his head on the desk until his brain started working properly again.
What was happening to him!?
He was spacing, couldn't think straight, couldn't control his own voice, and was acting like a total moron.
Was he still messed up from the guilt? Even if he said he was over that and forgave himself, it could still be lingering and messing with his mind. Especially around Marinette. She had been the focus of his guilt, and now she was all he could focus on—with her adorable cat-themed clothes, sweet smile, big blue eyes…
Adrien mentally shook himself again.
Where were all of these thoughts coming from?! He'd never thought of Marinette in that way before. He admired her and was perfectly fine with the friendship that they had. JUST friendship! Nothing more! This slight physical attraction, however, was new.
He was in love with Ladybug after all. Then again, he himself had dubbed Marinette 'their everyday Ladybug' a while ago. It made sense; they were both very similar in terms of their caring nature, noble sense of justice, creativity, and overall sweetness.
And now that he thought about it, they were pretty similar in appearance too. Blue-ish raven hair, twin pigtails, big blue eyes, lean with fine curves.
Was that why he was starting to feel physically attracted to Marinette? Just because she sort of resembled his lady?
He still remembered the first time he had met Kagami. He thought for a moment that she sort of looked like Ladybug, which was partially why he felt attraction to her. But he had known Marinette much longer than Kagami, and never had he felt that same spark of familiarity with her. What did that mean?
It sounded ridiculous and almost shallow in his head.
If he didn't know better, he'd strongly suggest that Marinette was her. He'd once thought that was a possibility.
But he did know better. They weren't the same girl. Just as he knew Kagami wasn't Ladybug, he knew Marinette couldn't be her either because he'd seen Marinette and Ladybug together at the same time when his lady recruited her to use the mouse miraculous and lead the other kwamis to help defeat Kwamibuster.
Marinette did a marvelous job being a temporary holder—much better than he did when Ladybug gave him the snake.
He knew all of this, and yet, his brain was still crossing his bluenette friend with his bluenette lady. No wonder he was acting so screwy.
What he was feeling couldn't be more than a slight association in appearance and personality with his actual love, plus some possessive protectiveness of his dear friend following her accident.
Yes. Good. Now that he concluded that, all there was left to do was make his brain stop thinking that so he didn't ruin his friendship with Marinette or his future potential relationship with Ladybug.
Adrien tried convincing himself of this all morning, while at least trying to focus on his classes—just enough to know which ones to be in at the correct times and to take a few notes. Before he knew it, it was lunch time.
As he had predicted—and anticipated—lunch at Marinette's house was a dream.
Her parents were super welcoming and hospitable, the food was delicious, and being able to talk and laugh with his good friends while he ate was something he hardly ever did at the same time.
And best of all, even though he was sitting next to Marinette, everything felt totally normal.
No space-outs, no stupid word mishaps. Just two good friends, enjoying a meal with two other good friends—who happened to be a couple—but his point still stood. This was a good sign. He and Marinette could still be close friends without the similarities she had with Ladybug or his lingering protectiveness of her getting in the way.
The only unfortunate part of the afternoon was that they didn't have time for Alya's quick photoshoot of Marinette's Chat Noir outfit. So the girls planned to just do it after school, when they had plenty of time. This was a bit disappointing to Adrien because he had a fencing lesson right after school that day.
Oh well. He would have liked to be present, but he'd see the pictures later on the Ladyblog.
The night was fairly chilly. Marinette's pajamas weren't enough to keep her warm out on her balcony tonight. Luckily, in addition to the Chat Noir outfit she made and wore to school, she also made a hoodie.
Marinette was curled up on her balcony chair, wearing her usual pajamas and a black hoodie, hood up with the zipper zipped up all the way. There were two cat ears sticking out of the top of the hood and the zipper piece was a big golden bell. If it hadn't been so sunny during the day, she would have worn the extra piece to school. Although, if she had worn it, no one would have seen the blouse. So she was kinda glad it hadn't been a cold day.
Still, when Alya came over after school to take pictures of her in the outfit for the Ladyblog, she remembered to also put the hoodie on just for a minute so she could take a pic or two of it as well.
Which was why she was sitting out on her balcony at night. She needed an excuse to wear the hoodie for more than just a minute. The school day had been too warm and her bedroom was also too warm. It might have been chilly out but she was nice and toasty in the black, hooded fabric.
Walking into school today with that outfit on felt great. She didn't have a lot of confidence as Marinette, but Chat Noir had a lot of confidence. So much to the point of him coming off as cocky more often than not. Maybe that was why dressing like him made her feel so great, she was able to walk right passed Adrien without tripping and said good morning to him without stuttering. It was a miracle!
She wasn't sure what possessed her to do it, but she didn't regret the 'meow' and cat pose that she did for the boys. They all seemed to like it and Adrien had been looking straight at her, and she didn't faulter one bit.
She also didn't stutter while asking him if he'd come to her house for lunch with Alya and Nino. And for that, she was even more proud of herself.
The main reason she spent her whole weekend making clothing in honor of her feline partner was that she couldn't stop thinking of him. And during that time, she realized how much she was grateful to him for all he'd done for her. She wasn't even thinking about everything he'd already done for Ladybug. No. Only how he'd been there for Marinette.
He'd nobly gone to her to admit his mistake and apologize after causing her accident. Then he'd gone out of his way to make sure she stayed safe, which she actually needed big time.
It came as unexpected to her that some time, her civilian self would need her life saved. And for that, she was the most grateful.
Admiring the stars, Marinette was caught off guard when she heard a bell ring. At first, she thought that it had come from someone on a bike passing by but then she heard it again. It didn't sound like it was coming from the street below. It sounded closer than that. Like it was up on the roof somewhere behind her.
Marinette turned her head and let out a small gasp but then smiled when she saw her partner crouched on top of the chimney, his finger jingling the bell at his neck.
"Sorry," he apologized with a grin before leaping down to the balcony floor next to her. "I tried really hard not to scare you again." He was mainly just glad he wasn't splashed with water this time.
"No, it's okay. You didn't," Marinette reassured him, standing up from her chair. "If I had known you were coming, I'd have gotten you some flowers."
"Why?"
"For saving me."
Chat's grin widened. "Princess, that outfit you made was worth more than all flowers in France."
"Oh, you saw that, did you?" she blushed a bit. Of course he saw those pictures Alya took on the Ladyblog. As bashful as she was, she was hoping he would see them, more than anyone else. Even if she knew his ego would get so big to the point of possibly exploding, she wanted him to know how grateful she was. "You…liked it?"
"Liked it? Marinette, I LOVED IT!" he exclaimed, making her bite her lip shyly and her blush deepen. "You are so talented, and the fact that you made it based on me was the sweetest thing in the world!" he praised. He'd say more, but then they'd both be out there all night. So instead, he paused to properly observe the hoodie. It was the only piece she designed after him that he hadn't seen in person yet. He was very surprised to see it among the pictures of her in the outfit she had worn to school that day. "Has anyone told you that you make a good me?" he asked goofily.
The hoodie's design was fairly simple but just as cute. And Marinette certainly looked snug in it.
"Not in those words exactly, but yeah. They all thought it looked good," Marinette replied, avoiding eye contact while brushing her bangs aside with a shrug.
"No, Marinette," Chat said firmly, making her look at him. "It wasn't just the outfit, it was you. You looked good. Heck, you looked fantastic! Downright adorable!" he exclaimed again. As soon as he realized what he had just said, Chat immediately clenched his lips shut and looked off to the side. Marinette simply looked down at her feet. Both of them blushing still. "So, how have you been feeling?" he asked after what felt like the longest twenty seconds of their lives.
"Fine," she answered. "No dizziness or headaches. And no accidents all weekend or at school today." She hadn't tripped once or had anything dropped on her head all day, which was sort of a new record for her.
"That's good to hear," he replied happily. "But don't you think you should go inside? It's kinda chilly out here." His magical suit protected him from the cold but he could still feel a bit on his checks. And Marinette wasn't wearing a magic suit.
She had already gotten over an injury, she doesn't need to get sick anytime soon too.
Marinette simply grinned at him and wrapped her arms around herself. "But I'm so cozy, I could just purr," she said cutely. So cutely, Chat felt his mouth go dry again. Then she giggled. Was her laugh always so sweet and musical? "Yeah. I've been out here for a while now. Maybe I should go to bed," she said, lightly shivering.
After discretely swallowing a few times to make his mouth moist enough for speaking again, he smiled and said, "Well, sleep tight." Chat turned and hopped up onto her railing, crouched down with his hands holding on between his feet.
"Hey, Chat?" he heard Marinette say before he could jump away. Patiently, he turned his head, looking over his shoulder back at her. "I'm glad you liked the outfit. I mostly wore it to show everyone that I wasn't mad at you for the 'Miss Fortune' incident, plus to thank you for saving me in the subway, but I also made it because I really wanted you to feel special," she told him.
Even though Chat sort of already guessed that those had been her reasons behind her making the clothes, it was just as touching hearing her say them right to his face. However, he hadn't guessed about the 'making him feel special' part.
Chat smiled at her again.
"Trust me, I feel special, having a friend like you," he said before turning forward and jumping off her balcony to the next rooftop, then the next until he was out of sight.
Marinette just stood there. They were friends? Well, or course Ladybug and Chat Noir were friends. Best friends in fact. But Marinette and Chat Noir?
Well, she certainly didn't have any issue with that.
Finally feeling sleepy, Marinette opened her trap door and went back into her room, not only proud of herself for her design and craftsmanship, but of the effect it had on the one she had made it for.
Minutes after leaving the bakery balcony, the feline hero was finally home. After landing in his bedroom and detransforming, Adrien collapsed on his bed, the image of Marinette in the hoodie, looking at him with those big blue eyes and talking about being cozy and purring, still present as he looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes.
Holy moly, she was cute!
I love writing Marichat cutesy fluff! And Adrien wrestling with his feelings.
Hope the Marinette's Chat Noir outfit I designed in my mind looks good in all your imaginations.
Speaking of Marichat, just watched Glaciator 2 this morning. It was adorable, but not very progressive in their relationship in either of their personas by the end. Honestly, it's getting a bit frustrating. But I will continue to watch. Why? Because I love the show and these characters too much to stop (just like most of u I'm sure).
Bye for now ;)