The sun shone brightly over Marinette's face, making it difficult for her to sleep and yet Marinette laid in bed unable to bring herself to move.

She was still just completely and utterly exhausted from the last few days and desperately wished to go back to sleep for the next hundred years or so. Unfortunately the sun persisted to keep a warm light on her face and nothing short of burying her face into her pillow and suffocating herself could drown it out.

Then there was a knock at her trapdoor.

She groaned loudly into her pillow. "You can let yourself in!" she yelled out as she rolled over onto her back.

She knew who it was without a single doubt.

No one else climbs on her balcony and knocks on her trapdoor after all.

Chat Noir bounced himself onto her bed with a care free grin on his face. As if he had been doing it for years. The casualness and intimacy of it all flustered Marinette slightly as she huddled under her duvet. Just because it was sunny didn't mean it was actually warm. There was now a cold breeze coming in from her trap door.

She also glanced warily at Tiki who was still curled up on a small spot on the mattress above Marinette's pillow. She was still fast asleep with little breathy noises escaping her mouth every few seconds.

"Good morning Princess!" Chat trilled cheerfully. "You're looking radiant as ever."

"Oh God!" Marinette moaned. He was a morning person. Of course he was a morning person. "What are you doing here?!" she complained. "It's too early in the morning."

Chat raised an eyebrow. "It's eight o'clock in the morning," he stated. as if that was supposed to be late in the day or something!

"Unnatural!" Marinette hissed. "It's a Sunday, Kitty. You're not supposed to be out of bed until after eleven the earliest."

"I don't have that luxury," Chat shrugged, "I have to work today. In fact I'm here on my break I wanted to give you your present for the day before they notice I'm gone."

And with that he held his hand out in a flourish to reveal a small clear plastic carrier bag that contained five little boxes and the usual note with her named typed on the front.

Marinette blinked.

"You have a job?"

"Yes," Chat replied, "I work….for the family business."

Marinette was a little taken back at another thing they seemed to have in common. She wasn't officially employed at the bakery but she had often helped out with the inventory, or manned the counter for a few hours, or did deliveries and got paid a very decent allowance in return for it. So technically she was employed by her family business.

"So do I Kitty," Marinette said, "but my parents never made me work on a Sunday."

Sundays were sacred days of rest. Not as much as they used to be, according to her parents, as commercialisation and tourist trade required shops to now be open on a Sunday but there was a lot of locally owned businesses that still closed on a Sunday in order to observe the holy day of rest. Marinette's parents didn't rest but they certainly kept the bakery closed so they could do an inventory on the stock or give the bakery a thorough clean or, in Dad's case, do the books in their pyjamas as they watched TV.

They would never make Marinette work on a Sunday.

Chat's smile took a bittersweet quality to it. "You could say my father is a bit of a workaholic," he said sadly, "Never mind though!" he declared with a headshake and then he shook the bag in front of her. "Your present, My Lady."

Marinette accepted the bag and smothered a yawn. "Couldn't you have waited until a more reasonable time?" she moaned.

She could really use more sleep

"I'm booked all day," Chat said ambiguously, "this was literally my only chance. You should read the note first!" he cried out when Marinette picked up one of the small black, velvet, she quickly learnt as she felt the material in her hand, box. "You always read the card first when you receive a present!"

Marinette sighed heavily but she obeyed Chat's wishes and dropped the box in favour of picking up the note. She carefully unfolded it and began to read. "On the fifth day of Valentine," she read out loud, "my true love game to me, five gold rings." She flickered a mock annoyed glare at Chat Noir. "You stole this from the Christmas song!" she justly accused him.

"It's the only romantic line from the whole song!" Chat Noir protested, and Marinette supposed she should just be grateful that he didn't get her ten lords a leaping or eight maids a milking because that would be really awkward to explain to her parents let alone to the neighbours. "I wanted to pay my respects to my source of inspiration," he said primly.

"It's infringing on copyright!" Marinette pointed out. "You'll be sued."

"I'm not doing this to make a number one hit, Princess," Chat said as his eyes glimmered with amusement. "This is for you and you only. Are you going to open your present?"

"You didn't seriously buy me five gold rings did you?" Marinette asked fearfully.

Chat Noir's silence as he suddenly found a loose thread in Marinette's duvet incredibly diverting was answer enough.

He had.

"Chat!" Marinette exclaimed horrified. "That's too much! I'm not worth it. I'm not worth the cost of four string quartets either!" she added as she remembered exactly how grand and over the top having four different groups of classically trained musicians in their best dress perform for her in the middle of the park was. "Or the expensive chocolate and I dread to think how much that necklace actually cost you as well"

Chat Noir looked at her directly in the eyes with such a piercing gaze that Marinette could have sworn he was looking directly into her soul. It was incredibly unnerving. "You are worth every single penny in the world and even then that doesn't cover your true value," he murmured softly, "You're priceless. " Marinette swallowed at that. She didn't think even her parents thought that highly of her and she knows they loved her to bits. "Not that you're something to be brought!" Chat blurted out anxiously. "I'm not trying to buy you!"

"I know you're not!" Marinette said quickly.

"Just…don't worry about it, Princess." Chat rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I can afford it. My job pays me very well."

Marinette wondered what kind of job he must have that could afford string quartets and gold rings because Lord knows hers didn't even cover her sewing needs sufficiently enough and her parents were incredibly generous.

"I….I'm not too comfortable with the thought of you spending so much on me," she mumbled as she ducked down to look at her hands, she fumbled with the little black box nervously as she turned it over and over in her hands, "especially when…..especially….I know last night I said I don't want to say no but….but…"

"You can't say yes either," he finished for her softly. She looked up astonished that he knew what she was thinking so accurately. He also had a good idea where her train of thought was going but he never actually said the very words before. "I know Princess. I heard it loud and clear in the silence last night."

"It's not you!" she blurted out in an attempt to reassure him. "I know that's the biggest cliché line in the world but its true. It's me. I….I like someone else." She flushed at the thought of Adrien. "I've always liked him." She admitted as she smiled softly at the thought of the kindest boy she has ever known. "He makes my heart race, my palms sweat, and I get so tongue tied, it's embarrassing." She laughed nervously at that and it petered out at she met Chat's eyes. They were equally beautiful to Adrien's and filled with such sadness that it felt like a cut to her very heart. "I think I'm always going to like him and that's not fair to you," she whispered. "You're so sweet, and wonderful, and kind, and….I can't give myself to you fully, so I can't….I can't say yes."

Chat swallowed and for a moment he looked so utterly miserable that she wanted nothing more than to bundle him into her arms and squeeze him tight till he felt loved and comforted. Then he blinked and a confident smile took over and her heart twanged in sympathy as she wondered how often he used his confidence as a mask.

Probably as often as she did when she was Ladybug, if not more.

"That's all right," Chat stretched out beside her. "I'm going to continue to woo you and if I do my job right, you'll forget that other guy and choose me," he shot her a flirty wink and a manic grin, "but you can still say no," he reassured her gently, "and I will respect that. Now, open your gift."

With great care Marinette opened the first little black box to find a simple gold ring with a little star in the middle of the band. It was cute and Marinette said as much as she smiled up at Chat gratefully. The second was similar with a love heart, and the third had a little rose, and the fourth (of course) had a little cat face on which caused Chat Noir to send her another flirty wink when she raised her eyebrow at him.

The fifth ring, however, was different.

It was another love heart only there was a crown above its head and it was sitting comfortably between what Marinette could only assume was some sort Celtic knot. It was stunning.

"It's called a Claddagh ring," Chat explained quietly. "It's an Irish tradition." He then plucked the box out of her hand and so very carefully pulled the ring out. The band of gold looked more delicate and fragile between Chat's long fingers as he held it as carefully as possible. His other hand took hold of her right hand. "You see if you wear it this way," he said as he hovered the ring above her ring finger with the ring with bottom of the heart pointing towards her fingers. "With the point of the heart facing your fingertips that means your heart is free but," he twisted the ring the other way, "if you wear it the way, with the point of the heart facing your wrist, it means your heart is taken."

And then he remained there, frozen, with the ring between his fingers as he waited for her to tell him which way to put it on. She looked up from her hand to meet his deep, intense, green eyes and felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment.

She opened her mouth and nothing came out.

She should tell him that her heart is taken by another.

She should tell him more about Adrien so he could understand why her heart is irrevocably taken by another.

But she couldn't make her mouth say the words. She couldn't say that Adrien had full possession of her heart. She couldn't say that her heart wholly belonged to someone else. Because she couldn't say yes to Chat Noir not because she didn't want to say yes.

She closed her mouth, licked her lips nervously, and swallowed before she opened her mouth once more.

"I suppose," She said quietly, "I should wear it with the point facing my fingertips."

Chat slid the ring on her finger with the point of the heart facing in the direction she requested without comment. He then pulled her hand close to his lips and pressed a sweet kiss against her ring.

"Thank you," Marinette murmured, her cheeks were definitely pinker than anything in her bedroom, "they're wonderful."

And then she yawned.

A really, big, embarrassing yawn as tiredness suddenly washed over her. She had been so drained and exhausted from lack of sleep but incapable of actually really sleeping until now. Now, all of a sudden, she felt relaxed, boneless, and ready to sleep.

Chat chuckled. "I have to go anyway," he said quietly, "so you go back to sleep and I shall see you tomorrow."

She would have protested, just a little, after all she was raised to have better manners than to fall asleep on her guests even if they were uninvited, but another yawn escaped her mouth at embarrassing levels.

Chat Noir had one arm around her shoulders as he gently guided her back to her pillow. "Go to sleep, Princess," he ordered gently as he pulled her duvet over to her chin, "you need your rest."

His warmth and scent – something so really good that she could never quite name, leather, and cheese which according to Tiki was definitely Chat's Kwami's fault – lingered over her and made her feel all cosy and fuzzy inside as her eyes fluttered to a close.

"Farwell," Chat murmured, "until tomorrow."

And then he pressed his lips against her forehead.

Her skin tingled all over from where his lips had touched her all the way down to her toes.

It was the last sensation she felt before sleep dragged her back into darkness….