"This is a lot of tulle." Alya said, her voice muffled by the masses of said tule. Marinette laughed and pushed open her bedroom door.
"Well yeah, how else am I going to make a pretty and fluffy dress?" Marinette said. Alya grumbled from behind the fabric.
"I don't know...don't?" The brunette offered. Marinette rolled her eyes playfully, as she knew her friend was all for her making their dresses for the dance.
"But then it won't look pret-" Mid-sentence she cut herself off and gaped at the scene in front of her.
"What?" Alya said frantically, and dropped the tulle onto the floor to try and assess the danger. However, Marinette shoved it back into her face, which meant Alya was mildly offended by the tulle attacking her face. "God, what is it?" She cried out, pushing Marinette's insisting arms away. Marinette seemed desperate to cover her field of vision with purple and blue meshing.
Finally Alya was able to break free and what she saw astounded her. Chat Noir, the superhero of Paris and partner to Ladybug who saves the world on a regular basis, had fit himself into a rather large cardboard box with a goofy grin and sparkling eyes directed towards one Marinette Dupain-Cheng. What. Was. Happening? Alya looked at Marinette with a questioning look.
Marinette groaned and covered her face. "It had to happen this way didn't it." She muttered.
Of course it did, when in her life did things not take a crazy turn. First day of school and become a superhero? Check. Goes to a fashion show and Plagg almost cataclysm the whole world? Check. Her best friend aka Ladybug fantic finds out she knows Chat Noir personally because he's in her room curled up in a cardboard box and clearly just awoke from a nap? Consider it checked.
"What-" Alya nearly screamed. Marinette had just the slightest urge to knock that smug smile off of Chat Noir's face.
"Hi Alya!" He said warmly as the brunette continued to sputter.
Truely, he had no clue that Alya would be over today. Perhaps sneaking into her bedroom via the balcony wasn't the nicest thing to do, but it wasn't like she had minded before. Then again, she had never had her superhero loving friend over while he was in either. This was a new situation.
"What are you doing here." Marinette sighed, throwing the tulle that had dropped from Alya's arms into a corner.
"I was waiting for you but you took so long so I decided to take a nap." Chat said innocently, though even he knew he was anything but.
Marinette stared at him blankly. "A cardboard box is what you chose? I have a bed." She said questioningly. Chat Noir didn't really have an answer for that.
Yes, Marinette bed was incredibly cozy, especially when he was curled up by her side. But for some reason, the box just drew him in. The tight space to ball up into, it called for him and who was he to deflect?
"I'm gonna need an explanation." Alya practically heaved, her brain finally processing the scene.
Marinette looked at Chat Noir and wordlessly told him with just a stare, to get the heck out of the box so Alya wouldn't have a whole spasm. He complied, thank god.
"Mari, why didn't you tell me you knew Chat Noir, like on a personal level!" Alya said.
Marinette looked at her sheepishly. She wanted to explain that she just didn't want Alya to ask questions on how they had become friends, because if she was being honest she didn't really know either. But Chat had opened his mouth before her. "Well, I don't think it's a good idea for a superhero to have a known cillvian friend. I mean, Hawkmoth could use her as bait. So we decided to keep our friendship more, lowkey." Chat Noir said smoothly. Marinette nodded her head in agreement, though internally screaming at how she and Chat Noir were literally hugging in public weeks before.
Alya's expression melted into one of concern. "Oh my god, I didn't even think of that." She said.
Marinette gave her a smile. "That's okay. And honestly, I was kinda worried you'd want to interview him." Marinette admitted, hating that she had to lie to her best friend. She had to tell her some of the truth! Who was she? Lila? Psh, she was no liar.
"Mmm, I'll be real with you, kinda tempted to do that now." Alya laughed.
Marinette rolled her eyes and threw some fabric at her best friend. "Hey! This is my fabric! Don't get drool on it!" The brunette shouted.
"Your drool." Marinette teased back.
At some point, Marinette and Alya were able to stop horsing around and get to work on the dresses. Hard at work, Marinette measured Alya and cut out her fabric with inches to spare. Luckily, Marinette was one to work fast and in no time did she have a skirt finished and ready to try on.
Ooooo, I love it!" Alya squealed, swishing around her skirt. It moved in a slow but elegant way, perhaps more fancy than one would go for for a simple school dance but Alya and Marinette were rather dramatic girls so no one would expect less.
"I'm so glad you like it!" Marinette said excitedly. She just had to make the bodice and it would take no time at all. Tulle was a monster to work with, she had to admit but it just looked so pretty. Any fashion sucker like Marinette, could not resist.
"The sound is making me sleepy." Chat Noir cut in, yawning loudly. He was still in the cardboard box mind you and yes, Alya raised a brow.
"Oh, well we can let you sleep then." Marinette said easily, unplugging her machine and picking up her needle. There was no hurry for the bodice so she could add pretty lace to the skirt.
Marinette seated herself onto her sewing chair, a normally swivel chair with a pillow, and began to work. Alya brought over Marinette's backup chair and seated herself with a laptop, working on a new blog post.
To their surprise, Chat Noir tumbled… tumbled, out of the box, mildly yowling, and padded his way to Marinette's feet. He had somehow snatched a blanket and pillow, curled himself into a ball and began to sleep right away, as if he never slept at night.
"Well… I was not expecting that." Alya said in a voice louder than she intended.
"Me neither." Marinette agreed, sewing a piece of shiny lace onto the skirt. Chat Noir didn't stir once, even with the even level of conversation.
"He's literally your cat." Alya commented.
Marinette smiled fondly at the black-clad superhero who looked like a housepet right about now. "I guess so. I told Luka he was a stray. Not a good response from the cat, let me tell you." Marinette joked. Alya chuckled.
"Speaking of which, when ever did you guys start liking each other?" The brunette said with a mischievous smile.
Marinette gasped and nearly pricked her finger on the needle, all sleeping beauty esque. "W-what!" She sputtered. Alya shook her head and laughed, a teasing smile still was painted on her lips.
"Don't even try to." She cut in but Marinette was determined to hold her ground.
"I still love Adrien." Marinette said. Alya shook her head again.
"That was flimsy. You and I both know that in the past couple of months, you've been laying off the Adrien Agreste crazy. And for those months I was wondering why. Now I know. And oh my god this is the least expected yet best outcome." Alya said excitedly. Marinette still shook her head, about 7 feet deep in the de nile river.
"We're not into each other." The black-haired girl said firmly, though she was unsure herself.
Lately she had been getting more comfortable. Lately she had been forgetting about Adrien. Lately she had been thinking about the next time she'd see that goofy cat. And not as city-saver partners no, but as close companions and friends. It was rarely the golden boy who's smile was brighter than the sun that roamed her mind during the late nights, but more so the childish cat that pounced on her ball of yarn the one time she wanted to learn how to knit.
"You're lying to yourself." Alya said in a sing-song voice. Marinette's face went red from being caught in her thoughts. Alya patted her friend's head. "No but seriously. This is good. You can talk to him like a regular human. You're not scared and nervous. You're at peace. I can't make you do anything, clearly or else Agreste would have been relieved of his role as clueless cinnamon roll years ago, but I think you should tell him. And that's because I can honestly say he feels the same way. He really likes you. It's really obvious and I've only been here for 3 hours." Alya said gently. Marinette nodded wordless and looked down at Chat Noir.
His arms and hand looked to be grabbing something. A silent word came from his mouth and a smile made its way across. Alya and Marinette exchanged a wordless look. They had both known she was falling out of love with Adrien in the past couple of months. And unlike how it happened with Adrien, she was slowly drifting into love with Chat Noir. Not a sudden revelation, but a calm, slow and sweet descent into slumber. Marinette smiled to herself.
"I'll tell him. Soon."