Updated 5/26/23

June 12, 2015

Ladybug landed on her balcony and dropped down into her room to safely de-transform. It had been almost two weeks since Hawkmoth had akumatized Max into the Gamer. Things were relatively quiet for the time being.

She sighed seeing the pile of homework next to her monitor. It was Friday night, but Marinette had been procrastinating her homework for days and needed to get it done. She noticed how beautiful the night had been on her way back from patrol. Why not do her homework out on the balcony?

Before she settled in, Marinette gathered the essentials: her favorite comfy lounge pants, a blanket, popcorn, and macaroons -to cover salty and sweet- a bottle of water, and her phone.

Marinette tucked a tired Tikki into the little bed she had made the kwami and left her some cookies and water. Marinette then took her stuff and her homework up to the balcony and plopped it in front of her chair.

As she plugged in the twinkle lights, Marinette pondered the strangeness of the two boys in her life over the past couple of weeks.

The girl had been head over heels at the thought of competing in the gaming tournament with Adrien; so head over heels that she started seeing things that probably weren't there. Was it her imagination that Adrien held her hand tighter than needed as they ran away from the Gamer? Did she see her homemade lucky charm sticking out of his pocket when he convinced her to play with Max?

And what about Chat Noir? When he'd rescued her as Marinette, she felt his concern for her rippling off of him. Why would he care so much about a civilian he hadn't interacted with since the Evillustrator incident three months ago? And when they had confronted Gamer together, he'd done the same celebration chant that she did. Marinette knew that she didn't own the rights to 'So-and-so Style! BOOYAH!'... but what were the chances that she and her partner would say the same phrase about a video game villain mere hours apart?

Marinette shook her head, settling down into her sling back chair. She was over thinking things. She loved Adrien and loved… the friendship she had with Chat Noir. That was it… right?

The sound of a tile cracking put up Marinette's defenses. She grabbed the nearest heavy object as she eased herself out of her chair and closer to her trapdoor.

"I know you're out there! I don't know who you are, but I don't appreciate being spied on." She was met with silence. Marinette lowered the tray she'd brought her treats up on. Maybe she was still on a Ladybug high. As she turned to move back towards her chair and start her homework, Marinette heard something land on the railing just behind her.

"Hey there Purrrincess."

Marinette screamed, swinging the tray. It was quickly grabbed by her assailant. She tried to rip the tray from his grip, ready to try again.

"WHOA! Marinette! Marinette, it's me! Chat Noir!"

Marinette breathed heavily, dropping her weapon. It was indeed Chat Noir perched on her balcony railing.

"CHAT. What are you doing on my balcony?"

He shook out the hand that snatched the tray. "I'm nursing an almost broken wrist! Did you have to try to hit me so hard?"

"I thought you were a predator or a burglar or something!" She huffed. "Who else would be out this time of night? I even saw Ladybug heading in for the evening!"

Chat smirked at that. "Oh, did you now?"

Marinette mentally smacked herself. Why did I have to add that detail? "Uh… yeah! I-I waved her down because… I wanted to offer her one of these treats as thanks for keeping Paris safe! After thanking me, she mentioned that she was heading home." She crossed her arms. "Now I'll ask you again. What are you doing on my balcony at this time of night?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Chat made himself more comfortable on the railing. "I was also on my way home when I saw a lovely young lady settling down to do what looked like homework on such a beautiful Friday night." He leapt to his feet, balancing on the rail's edge as he bowed. "I thought I'd come by to see if I could help rectify this un-fur-tunate situation."

"Situ- what?" Marinette stuttered. She wasn't expecting that. "No. It's fine, Chat. I did this to myself. Stuff got piled up. It's a pretty night out so I thought I'd at least do it out here-"

"Tomorrow, Marinette." He soothed. At some point during her rambling, he'd climbed down from the railing to place his hands on her shoulders. "Is there something you like to do to unwind? Something that doesn't take much brain power, but still fun?"

She sighed, massaging a kink in her neck. Maybe one more night of procrastination wouldn't hurt… It's been a long day of Chloe and Lila needling her in their own 'special' ways. And Alya had spent the majority of the day hanging out with Lila. It would be nice to spend some time with a friend…

"Uh… Ultra Mecha Strike 3?"

Chat clasped his hands together. "Sounds like a plan!"

"One game, Chat. It's getting late. But one game won't hurt."

One game turned into a best of five match. Chat put up a valiant effort, but Marinette came out on top with three wins to Chat's one.

Marinette gently punched Chat's shoulder. "It takes some skill to keep up with Marinette style!" The girl dabbed while Chat Noir groaned at the motion. "Do you play often?"

"It's not my 'go-to' video game," Chat opened up a one player game so he could play against the computer while he talked. "But several of my friends play it and it's fun to have something to do with your friends." He glazed away from the screen, a smirk playing on the edge of his lips. "Speaking of playing with friends… Did I see you repping your school at the UMS3 tournament a couple of weeks ago?"

Marinette slapped her hands over her cheeks, feeling them heat up. "You saw that?"

"Yeah! You and your friend… Max, right? You guys did great! You won!"

"Eh, it was close." The girl shrugged.

Chat Noir paused the game, turning to face her. "Hey, you played with such enthusiasm. I could feel it oozing through the screen!"

"Oozing?" Marinette eyed him skeptically.

"Oozing." Chat confirmed. "I ended up playing for two hours straight that night honing my skills in case we ever got to face off in virtual battle."

It was Marinette's turn to smirk as she drew her knees up to her chest. "Oh really? You go around playing Ultra Mecha Strike with every civilian you save?" The look he gave her released a pack of butterflies within her stomach.

"Nope. Just you, Princess."

The quiet silence stretched between them before Marinette caught sight of the time. "Shoot! It's getting late." She offered the boy a hand to help pull him up; a hand he held onto for a second longer than necessary.

Just before Chat leapt off the balcony, he reached for something in his pocket. "Oh! Almost forgot to give you this!"

Marinette rolled her eyes. "I thought you said that you saw me on your way home."

"Can a cat help picking up things that he finds along the way?" Chat dipped as he held out a single orange rose.

"This is pretty, Chat." She took the flower, already planning on preserving it later. "I can only manage to grow red ones up here."

Chat grinned. "Then I'll keep an eye out to help you collect a rainbow of roses." He scooted closer. "Tonight was fun, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. UMS beats homework any day." Marinette laughed. "Thanks for being here tonight. I… needed a friend." She sucked in a breath as Chat enveloped her with an unexpected hug.

"Anytime, Marinette. Even when you don't expect me to."