-Saturday Morning-
RING! RING! RING!
Marinette woke up and turned her alarm off. The day before she had set that alarm so that she could be sure to wake up in time to hear the announcement for the theme of the outfit that the contestants must create for Gabriel's summer internship. But the competition was not the first thing on her mind. What the first thing on her mind was, was the last night's events. She wondered if it was a dream. She wondered if she wanted it to be a dream.
As she slowly crawled out of bed, her head filled with thoughts, her computer began to play the announcement for the theme. She bounced up, completely forgetting about her previous dilemmas. She quickly leaped into her desk chair and watched eagerly. Tikki, her kwami, flew circles around Marinette, excited to learn the theme as well. The pair's eyes were glued to the screen as Alec, the TV host, welcomed Gabriel Agreste himself to the show. After an intro about five minutes long, Gabriel Agreste announced what the theme was.
"Autumn Chic" he announced with his usual professional expression. Marinette squealed with joy and excitement. She had never designed an autumn outfit, but it seemed like a fun challenge. "You have four days, contestants. Good luck." Gabriel closed as he walked off the screen. Alec continued to talk about some other news that Marinette didn't care much about so she turned off her computer and ran to get her sketch pad.
Marinette sat for an hour or two at her sewing desk drawing up ideas and then scratching them out. After a few hours, she finally had come up with a design she liked. A simple white short sleeve shirt with some subtle gold details, a skirt with different designs that went to just above the knees, a brown woven leather belt, red knee-high socks, a small black sun hat, white tinted sunglasses, a small red purse, and brown ankle boots with a small heel.
She immediately took out a mannequin and began to pin different fabrics to it, trying to decide which to use. She picked out all of her fabrics after two hours of debate and set to work sewing the top. At about 2:30 pm, she heard a small, unsure tap on her window. Startled, Marinette paused her music and looked out her window. There, she saw Chat Noir, perched on her windowsill. He had a warm, yet nervous, look on his face. Marinette carefully set her needle down, as she was sewing everything by hand, and she went to unlock and open the window. She backed away to give Chat Noir room to come in.
All of Marinette's feelings from last night came rushing back like a flood at the sight of him. "Ch-Chat... What are y-you doing here?" She asked.
Chat stood in the middle of her room looking down at his feet. "I'm sorry, I just had to see you. Make sure it wasn't all... a dream, but from your expression, I'm guessing it wasn't..." He trailed off awkwardly, still avoiding eye contact.
Marinette stood near her sewing desk and stared at him. There's one question answered, at least, she thought. "I. I guess it wasn't." She replied silently.
He slowly lifted his gaze to meet hers. He was expecting to see anger and resent in her eyes but instead saw kindness and confusion in his eyes, the same expression he, himself, was carrying. He smiled nervously at her. "Can we start over?" He asked, hoping he hadn't messed everything up between them. Marinette nodded.
"I would love that. It's just that-" She trailed off, unsure of what she was going to say and if she should say it.
"It's just that what?" Chat asked, assuming she meant that she didn't even want to be near him anymore.
"It's just that-" Marinette couldn't bring herself to say it. Chat simply looked at her with nervous eyes and a questioning look. "I-" she took a deep breath.
"I'm not sure that I can..." She looked down at her feet and rubbed her arm behind her back nervously.
Chat knew that there was no going back to where they were. He wished he could just be with the happy, cheery Marinette that he knew when he had first come through her window. But he knew that he couldn't. Now he was with a friend, whom he couldn't quite decide how he felt about. "Mari-" He began sadly.
"Chat, I don't want to lose your friendship. Last night was..." She took a breath, "Last night was really fun when we were just chatting, I mean. I want to go back to that, but I just can't talk about what else happened last night. Not right now at least." She explained hopefully.
He gave her a kind smile and nodded. He knew that she would need some time, but he did too. They both needed to figure out their feelings before they could talk about them. He looked over at her sewing desk and saw the white top she was sewing. "Is that for the alleged internship contest?" He asked, changing the subject. Marinette took one last deep breath and nodded.
"Yeah, I'm really hoping to win. It's my dream to become a fashion designer, and being able to work with Gabriel Agreste would really help me kick-start my career." She smiled. It was nice being able to just talk to Chat again.
He watched over her and asked her a lot of questions about what she was doing as she sewed her outfit. They chatted and told jokes, and were careful to avoid one topic. Marinette smiled every now and again, thinking about how lucky she was to have him as a new friend, and that he understood that she didn't want to talk about last night's events." Eventually, it began to get dark. Chat ducked into the closet as her parents came in to say goodnight.
"Goodnight sweetie, don't stay up too late working on this." Her dad said as he kissed her forehead.
"We are so proud of you! Goodnight." Her mom said.
They went back downstairs to go to bed and Chat came out of his hiding spot. His expression had changed to one of sadness and slight envy. Marinette tilted her head the superhero. "I hope you know how lucky you are." He said wistfully.
"What do you mean?" Marinette asked.
"You have two parents who love you so much and are proud of you for being you. I've never gotten to experience that." Chat said sadly. Marinette remembered how he only ever talked of his father, and never very fondly.
"Chat... I'm so sorry." She said as she put a loving hand on his shoulders. He took a breath and apologized. "It's okay. I promise," she assured him. He gave her a smile and she returned it.
"Thank you, princess," He said. His expression changed when he realized what he had said.
"What did you just call me?" Marinette asked with a small laugh.
Chat blushed and replied sheepishly, "I think I just called you 'princess'"
The pair laughed and Marinette got back to work.
At about 11:30 pm, Marinette realized the time. "Shouldn't you be getting back home?" she asked Chat, who was sitting on her bed reading one of her books about sewing. He shrugged.
"I told my father that I was spending the night at a friend's house. Would it be okay if I stayed for just a little while longer?" He asked, hopefully.
Marinette was worried, remembering what happened the last time he had stayed so late. And this time, he had all night to be gone. Marinette tried to clear her mind. It'll be fine, we agreed to keep things friendly, she told herself. She nodded her head and smiled. "Of course. Stay as long as you'd like."
"Thank you, princess." He smiled and continued reading the book. He found it more interesting than he had expected. He never knew so much went into designing and sewing. He had a newfound admiration for Marinette.
Marinette had finished the top and was finishing the hat when she yawned. She glanced at her clock and saw that it was just past 2 am. Chat looked up from Sewing Vol. 2, he had finished Vol. 1 already, and gave Marinette a caring and gently smile. "You need to get some sleep, princess." He commented. She stretched her arms and nodded. She went over to her bed and Chat scooted over to give her room. She sat down next to him and read over his shoulder for a little while, explaining that she couldn't sleep without reading first, usually. They sat close together for a while and Chat could feel her warm breath against his neck as she rested her head on his shoulder. He smiled and kept reading until he felt her breathing slow into a steady rhythm. He leaned his head over and rested it on top of hers and closed his eyes.
Marinette awoke to the sounds of birds and sunlight streaming through her window. She began to stretch when she realized that she couldn't. She was trapped in the arms of Chat Noir. She held in a startled scream when she realized her predicament. I must have fallen asleep on him last night, she realized. She was kind of embarrassed, in all honesty, but she wasn't uncomfortable. She decided she could get a bit more sleep and she snuggled down into the sheets more and closed her eyes. About an hour later, Chat woke up as well. He looked around, realizing where he was and who he had his arms around. His face turned pink when he saw that he was snuggling Marinette in her bed. He gently removed his arm from their position around her and, careful not to wake her up, sat up on the bed. He glanced down at her and saw a smile on her face as she slept. She looked so peaceful as she slept. He leaned down and planted a small kiss on her forehead and stood up. He looked at the clock and saw that it was only 6 am. Deciding not to leave Marinette alone, he went to her sewing table and looked at what she had done yesterday.
He looked at the white top and he noticed some gentle gold embroidering and he thought that it was absolutely beautiful. He then moved on to the hat, which just had a few stitches left. As he was thinking about how talented she was, he heard her stirring behind him in her bed. He turned around and saw her sit up, rubbing her eyes. He smiled kindly and gently said "Good morning princess." She smiled and told him the same. She stood up and joined Chat by her sewing desk.
"What are you looking at?" She asked.
"I was just looking at how beautiful this outfit looks so far." He looked back at her and gave her a big grin. That grin slowly faded into a small, loving smile as he looked at her.
Marinette tried turning her eyes away from him, but it was too late. She was already drowning in his eyes. No, no, NO! Stop it! I can't fall for him, I'm in love with Adrien. I can't feel this way about Chat. I can't let myself look at him like this. I can't- her thoughts were interrupted when she felt Chat's arm wrap around her waist and gently pull her closer to him. She put her hand on his chest, expecting herself to push him away, and she could feel his heart beating. It matched hers.
Chat didn't know what he was doing. He was letting some other power control his movements. He felt Marinette, his princess, put her hand on his chest. He was worried that she could feel his heart pounding. I can't believe I'm letting myself fall for her. I can't! She's Marinette. She's my friend... She's my princess... No, stop thinking like that. He tried to persuade himself to stop acting like this, but he couldn't. He gently pulled her even closer to him. He heard himself whisper "Almost as beautiful as you"
His words tingled against her skin. She tried using her hand to push him away, but her body wasn't responding to her commands. She knew that she was stuck. "We can't... do this..." She breathed as a last resort. It was her last chance to escape.
"You're right..." He whispered back. However, neither of them moved. They just stood there staring into each others' eyes, hopeless for an escape. They both told themselves that they didn't want this, but if that were true, why was Chat Noir holding his princess against his chest and why was Marinette soaking in the feeling of the eyes she just couldn't swim out of?