The luck, of a friend.
Those words bounced around Cat's head. His mind was plagued with questions. What did that statement even mean? The question wouldn't leave him alone. Oh, well, he couldn't do anything about it so, he lived with it. He quite liked living with Marinette. Especially since he had lived life on the streets prior to this. It was such a cruel and saddening thing to have to go through. Of course, he did not plan on taking advantage of Marinette's endless kindness. The least he could do was protect and defend her. Besides, he couldn't help but feel a protectiveness when it came to her.
They soon fell into a weekly routine. Monday's they would eat takeout and play board games, on Tuesdays they had a movie night, Wensdaythey would go on walks, Thursday was laundry day and Friday they would just be lazy. Saturday was cleaning day and Sunday was grocery shopping day. This way of living was something that Cat enjoyed very, very much. There were no more super crazy schedules. No more photo shoots at five in the morning. No more starvation. He was fed, clean and overall taken care of. Mind-blowingly by someone who had initially been scared of him. Not any longer, in fact, she seemed to enjoy having him around. He learned her schedule fairly fast and would often wake her up so she wouldn't be late. When she needed someone to talk to he lent an ear. When she had an awful day he used his ridiculous puns to make her smile.
Sunday that week:
Cat noted Marinette was often very tense in public unless she had been to a place before. Right now, it was, as usual, she leaned into him for protection and comfort as she read the list of things they needed to buy. He wondered that if her actions had to do with this Theo guy. He was most likely the cause of Marinette's discomfort in public areas. Cat's mind began to wonder. What else could he have done to Marinette? Did he abuse her? Take advantage of her. Theo seemed like that kind of person. That was if their first encounter was anything to go by. Then Cat wondered if he had ever been caught. If he hadn't he was still a risk. However, if he ao much as dared to go close to Marinette Cat would render him unrecognizable. Marinette deserved much better than a guy like Theo and if Cat would ever return to be normal he wanted to be the guy that showed Marinette that she deserved better. Maybe one day he would be that guy. He could only hope.
He looked down at Marinette who'd suddenly frozen in place.
"Princess?"
"It's him!" she whispered urgently.
Sure enough, there was Theo just a few feet ahead of them. He hadn't noticed them yet to Marinette's great relief. Cat acted fast and steered Marinette and the buggy away from Theo. Soon, they were headed out of the store back to Marinette's car. They loaded the bags and drove away. Cat knew he had a serious job now. He had to protect his princess from Theo and protect her he would.
