'Hey minou,

I'm so sorry, I furgot that I'm gonna be spending the weekend at Alya's apurrtment because we have to work on some assignments. I'll be back on Sunday, but if you want to drop off a note for me at her place, I'm sure she won't mind.

-Your Pincess'

There was a pin that was attached to the note and he felt his heart pound in his chest. It looked like it had been handmade by her. It was a chibi doodle of her as Multimouse surrounded by little black and green hearts that was made of shrink plastic.

It had been about a week since their first date and he was happy to see her at school. She wasn't Adrien's girlfriend, though, she was Chat's, so he couldn't get away with giving her the affection he wanted to during the day. He put the pin into his pocket, planning to attach it to the inside of his backpack when he got home.

He looked at the time and wondered where he could buy pins at 19h00. He took off in the direction of the Eiffel Tower, hoping that one of the shops would have Chat Noir themed pins that he could purrcure for Marinette.

Most pins he saw were of him with Ladybug, and if tv had taught him anything, you should never give a girlfriend something that's related to an ex. Just as he was getting ready to give up on his search, he saw something from the corner of his eye.

He walked over to it and it brought him to a sillier section of the store that was much more appropriate for a gift for her. He was able to narrow down to two options, but he found himself needing to get both for her. He paid for both with the euro notes he now regularly kept in his suit at all times.

He took them home and wanted to leave a note with them when he brought them to Marinette later that night. He grabbed a normal piece of notebook paper and made sure there wasn't anything that could lead to his identity.

'Thanks for the note (and the pin). It's pincredible and I'm so happy to have it, especially since I can't spend time with you for the next few days. I hope these make you as tickled pink as the Multimouse pin made me.

(Also, I'll be hanging out for the next few days, so if you need anything, feel free to leave me a note at Alya's. We can be pinpals until you get home.)

-Your pinou'

He left the note taped to Alya's window in an envelope while Marinette was eating with the Césaire's in the dining room. She didn't see him arrive, but she saw him pass by the main window as he left. A pounding erupted in her chest and she was excited to finish dinner so that she could see what he said in response.

Alya saw the hero pass the window, but the rest of her family was none the wiser. Marinette tried to act normal for the rest of dinner, but she couldn't help the bouncing of her leg as she waited to be excused to go back to Alya's room to see what her boyfriend said in response.

"Thank you for the lovely pinner," Marinette said politely to M. and Mme. Césaire when she and Alya were excused from the table. She immediately shut her mouth and silently hoped that no one actually heard what she said.

"It's always a pleasure to have you, Marinette," Marlena responded before the two girls disappeared into Alya's room for the rest of the evening. Marinette immediately groaned at the pun she made and forgot, momentarily, that she had made it because she was thinking about the fact that Chat had been by.

"I've developed a pinchant for making the worst puns, thanks to that goofball partner of mine." She flopped down on Alya's bed, laying her arms across her face in an attempt to hide from her seemingly random puns.

"Goofball partner, goofball boyfriend. Potato, pot-ah-to," Alya responded rolling her eyes at her best friend's dramatics. "Now, are you going to read his reply, or are you just going to leave it taped to my pindow all weekend?" Marinette immediately shot up and practically leapt from the bed.

She went over to the window and was surprised there was an envelope instead of just a post-it note or index card like she had expected from him. She opined it excitedly and two little pins immediately fell out. One of them matched the sticker on his laptop, a chibi version of his face, surrounded by the words 'Super tailented.'

The other one, she was more surprised to find. It was a picture of M. Banane, surrounded by the words 'Stay Peachy!' She felt an odd flutter in her chest as she looked at both of them. She was reminded of the night of 'tail' puns, when she held his hand for the first time. She also appreciated that the M. Banane pin was a fun other half to the Multimouse pin she gave him.

She read the note and immediately wanted to reply. She knew she shouldn't. She was staying at Alya's so that they could talk about Monarch theories and maybe so that Ladybug could do some pinvestigating without Chat randomly showing up in Marinette's room. She bobbed her head as she thought through her options.

"Do you have a pincil I could borrow?" Alya went over to her desk and picked up a pencil for her.

"Is this a good idea?" Alya asked, sincerely. Marinette was taken aback at the question. She was just writing a short note to her boyfriend, Alya and Nino left notes for each other in their lockers all the time and even if they didn't, they could text each other instead.

"Why wouldn't it be?" She felt like there was something she was missing and she couldn't help the pounding in her chest. "I'm just leaving him a note, there's nothing wrong with that."

"Of course there's not," Alya assured, "and I'm glad that you're happy with him, but are you sure that dating him is a good idea? Especially if you're still not willing to tell him your identity? I want you both to be happy, but I don't want you to burn yourself out because you're working overtime trying to live more secret lives than you ever had to before."

Marinette knew that Alya was right, but she didn't want to think about that. If she thought about it, she'd have to think through the consequences of dating Chat and she hated thinking about the previous consequences of dating him. She knew she had to tell him the truth, but she wasn't ready.

'Pinpals it is!' Marinette wrote the rest of the short note to Chat, keeping it as lighthearted as she could. She wasn't ignoring the points that Alya made, she knew her best friend was right, but she needed to figure out what was best for her and her boyfriend on her own. She made a mental purromise to figure that out as soon as possible.