Marinette surprisingly came to school earlier than usual. In fact, she was so early, not even Alya was there waiting for her. There were a few lower classmen here and there but no one she knew was waiting outside yet. Marinette decided to use this time as a chance to draw a new clothing design.
While she worked, a car pulled up by the curb of the school, and Adrien stepped out of it. Even though he was at school early, he was really tired from the earlier this morning, and he didn't get much sleep. All he could think about was his encounter with Marinette and what she said about him, as Adrien. Even at this moment, he couldn't get the usually shy girl out of his head. He looked for Nino, who wasn't there yet. Then his eyes landed on Mari, whose tongue was sticking out as she worked on her design. He saw her sigh in frustration and crumple up a piece of paper to start over.
Adrien took this chance to go and talk to the girl, who was just too busy to notice him pick up the piece of paper next to her. Adrien unfolded the paper to reveal a beautiful drawing of a dress, with layers of red with black polka dots on it. There was even a mask with the same color scheme and a large black feather sticking out of the mask. Adrien was impressed. He knew Marinette was talented, but he didn't think she had extraordinary talent. He sat next to the girl, still busy, and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped at the physical contact, and looked to see who had disturbed her concentration, when she saw it was just Adrien.
"A-Adrien?! Hi! W-what are you doing here?! I mean, you're here for school, obviously, but I mean...what are you doing next to me? I mean, you can be next to me, if you want but-" Marinette stopped herself and cringed, knowing how much of a dumb fool she was going on about nothing.
Adrien, who knew this was going to happen, smiled at her. "Hey, Marinette. I just sat down to see what you were doing. You have an amazing talent."
Marinette blushed. "Oh, I just like to design clothing. It's not a big deal."
"Are you kidding? Your designs are incredible! You know, I could put in a recommendation for you to my father. He's looking for young interns who are interested in fashion. Want to have an interview with him?"
Marinette could not believe her ears. Adrien didn't seem to be joking about what he was saying either. She could see it now:
Gabriel Agreste will be so in love with my designs that he hires me as his personal assistant! Adrien will be so taken with me that he asks for my hand in marriage! I'll say yes, then we'll get married in England and have 3 kids, a hamster, a dog, maybe a cat, and then we'll live in a castle and live happily ever after! It's the perfect life!
"Uh, Marinette?"
Marinette's fantasy faded into reality as she blinked at the boy in front of her, who was staring at her with a confused look on his face. She blushed even more and rubbed the back of her neck.
"Erm, A-Adrien, you really don't have to go and do all that..."
"No, it's my pleasure. I've seen what you can do Marinette, and I'm not kidding when I say you have an awesome talent."
"Oh," Marinette smiled and nodded her head, "Sure! I'd love to have an interview with your father!"
Adrien grinned. God, he's cute, Marinette thought. "Great, I'll tell him all about it!"
Just then, Alya and Nino walked up to the two of them. Nino fist bumped Adrien. "Yo, dude, what's up?"
"Nothing much," Adrien replied. "Marinette here decided to try for an internship with my father, since she's such an amazing designer." Marinette couldn't help but turn pink at his praise.
Alya looked at Marinette, then Adrien, then Marinette, then Adrien, and had the most mischievous and devilish grin on her face. Marinette saw this and stood up and walked away with Alya as the two boys stayed behind.
"So, he just happened to give you a chance to take an internship for his father, huh?" Alya snickered.
Marinette rolled her eyes and sighed. "He just saw one of my designs and started talking about it. It's no big deal."
"Marinette!"
The girls turned around and saw Adrien jog up to them and handed over Marinette's sketchbook to the owner. Being the flirty Chat Noir that he was, Adrien purposely touched Marinette's hand as he gave her the sketchbook and remained there for a few seconds until he pulled away. Marinette was caught off guard by this gesture and soon her entire face was as red as a tomato as she looked into the boy's eyes.
He winked. "My dad would be so pleased to hear about this." Just then the bell rang, and the four teens walked to class, Adrien never leaving Marinette's side until they got to their desks.
"OMG, Chat! He just offered me the chance to try for an internship! If only you were there, you could've seen my face! I was practically a walking tomato!" Marinette dove into her pillow, her voice muffled as she said a few more words afterwards. "I'm so embarrassed."
Ever since he visited her two weeks ago, Chat Noir kept coming back to check on his princess. He loved how they could talk to each other about anything, without revealing too much information about their personal lives. Chat also couldn't help but notice how comfortable Marinette is around him, and she didn't act like a complete fan girl every time he came through her window. She was actually pretty nonchalant and kept her cool around him, although he did annoy her sometimes, which was always intentional.
Marinette also was a lot more interested in her partner than she was before. As Ladybug, she has a duty, and that was to protect Paris from evil and wrongdoings. She didn't have time for flirty advances and puns and all that nonsense. But as Marinette, she really didn't have to worry about all that stuff. She could pretend to live the normal life without anyone knowing who she really was. That included her partner, who she now knew more about.
Chat Noir, who was sitting on her desk chair, snickered at the flustered girl. "What's to be embarrassed about? He saw that you have potential and just told you something he thought you would like. What's so embarrassing about that?"
Marinette picked her head up and glared at him, then closed her eyes in frustration, "What's embarrassing was the way I acted around him. I even zoned out fantasizing about our future together." She looked back at the black cat with big blue eyes and a pout. "Why can't I talk to him the way I talk to you?"
Chat Noir wanted to say that she was talking to Adrien, but pushed that ridiculous thought away. He sighed and walked over to Marinette and crouched down by her bed, pushing a strand of her bluish-black hair behind her ear. "Princess, you're overthinking things. I'm sure that if you talk to him without overthinking about how he would react, I'm sure he'll find you as interesting as I do."
Marinette blushed at his words, and looked down. "I'm not interesting; I'm just plain, boring old Marinette." One of the reasons why I can't reveal my identity to you, she thought.
Chat grabbed her face and held it in his hands, staring her dead in the eye. "Mari, don't ever say that. You're not boring. Not even in the slightest way possible. You only feel less confident around Adrien because you're afraid of what he might think of you. I'm sure that he thinks you're probably one of the sweetest people you've ever met. He might even think you're purrfect." He smirked, but she kept staring at him. "Just don't think about the negative thoughts. Hell, don't even think. Just go for it. That's what I do when I'm with Ladybug."
"Ladybug?"
Chat smiled softly at her. All of a sudden, Marinette's heart started to race, and she didn't even know why. "When I'm with Ladybug, I don't think. I can't think. I just go for it, even though I know she'll probably never feel the same way about me." While her head was still in his hands, Chat pushed a few strands of hair out of her face, and then he looked down. "I know I might never be able to go out with her, but it doesn't hurt to try, does it?" He looked back at Marinette, "So, just try with Adrien. Fur me?" (Yes, that was intended)
"Chat..."
Marinette never knew that Chat felt this way about Ladybug. She just assumed he was a flirt with everyone, because that's what he does best. Even if his pickup lines are nothing but stupid cat puns, she thought that he was a flirt, and that was that. She couldn't believe that he was genuinely infatuated with her alter-ego. She looked at the black cat, who still stared at her, waiting for an answer. She slowly removed his hands from her face, and put her hands on his own, then slowly leaned in, kissing him.
Chat was shocked. He had just given an entire speech about not being afraid to talk to Adrien and here she was, kissing him. Well, kissing Adrien, but she doesn't know that. But what's this? Chat's eyes slowly closed and he kissed back, his soft lips against hers. She pulled him closer to the bed, which made him have to crouch up. She laid on her back as he found his way on top of her, both arms on each side of her.
The kiss was growing more and more passionate, as they fought for dominance over the kiss. Chat's tongue rolled over her lips, and Mari gasped, which gave Chat a chance to enter his tongue into her mouth, rolling it around the insides. Mari lifted her own tongue and soon their tongues were dancing around each other, and it made the both of them feel hot. Marinette moaned his name and her heart was beating like crazy.
Chat pulled away and started kissing Marinette's jawline, licking it at first as a tease, then kissing it, all the way down to her neck. His breath was like fire against her neck, and she liked it. He bit her neck in the most passionate (and softest) way possible, which made her gasp in response. She moaned as he continued to kiss her neck, making his way to her collarbone, still kissing, and licking, and sucking.
Marinette couldn't think. How could she, when she was in one of the most spectacular situations of her life? She didn't think about Adrien, or school, or Tikki, or even Ladybug. All that was going through her mind was: Lips. Kissing. Chat. Hotness. More.
Just then, a loud beeping noise ruined the moment. Chat seized his kissing and looked at his ring, which had lost a dot. He sighed and sat up, which only made Marinette whimper that the moment was gone. He looked at the girl, whose hair was kind of messed up, and his cocky grin returned.
"Told you I would be invading your purrsonal space, Princess."
Marinette rolled her eyes, as he brought his fingers to her chin, lifted it, and kissed her again. It wasn't as long as she wanted it, but it was a kiss nonetheless.
"Do you have to go?" She asked, watching as he walked towards the window, opening it.
"Do you want me to stay?" he asked.
Marinette thought about it. She knew she would be putting herself in danger if he stayed in her room, but she didn't really want him to leave yet. Marinette looked at the direction of where she knew Tikki was hiding, probably listening in to the conversation. She looked at the black cat, who only stared at her back.
Tikki was going to be mad about this.
"Stay." Marinette muttered quietly. Chat was surprised, but then he grinned.
"I'm sorry. What was that?"
Marinette rolled her eyes, and turned her back to the cat. "Forget it, kitty."
"You want me to stay, you say?"
Marinette turned around and stomped her way towards the cat and kissed him as passionately as she could. She pulled away and looked at him, as he could only stare back at her.
"Stay."
Chat looked at Mari, "What about Adrien?"
Marinette smiled and wrapped her arms around the tall, handsome hero's neck, "What about Ladybug?"
Chat smirked as he wrapped his arms around her waist, and leaned in, his lips brushing her lips ever so lightly, "She can wait."
"So can Adrien."
And then they forgot all about their troubles as they melted into their kiss once again.
Tikki was usually a happy-go-lucky kwami, usually going with whatever Marinette had to say, because Marinette usually said good things. But when it comes to safety, that's where she drew the line.
So you can only imagine her raging fury when she heard Marinette tell Chat Noir to stay.
She knew that Marinette knew that she was completely against this. But that black cat had to go and make Marinette do the stupidest thing ever, which was asking him to stay.
After his miraculous beeped three more times, he had to say goodnight to his princess, who could do nothing but sigh and say goodnight as well. He jumped out of her window and jumped onto various buildings until he was out of sight.
Marinette opened her closet door, where there was a very unhappy Tikki hovering with her arms crossed. Marinette sighed and looked at the kwami with nothing but understanding in her eyes, knowing what was coming next.
"Look, Tikki, I know what you're about to say-"
"Do you, Mari? Do you really? It's bad enough he comes here every night, putting the both of you in danger, but to ask him to stay? Of all things? I thought you knew better than that!"
"I know, Tikki, I know!" Marinette said, sitting on her bed, burying her head in her hands. "But he's just so...intoxicating! If you had told me a month ago that I would have been making out with Chat Noir at 12 in the morning, I would've laughed in your face."
Tikki floated, unamused. Marinette sighed. "I can't get that silly kitty out of my mind."
"But what about Adrien?"
"Oh god, ADRIEN!" Marinette laid on her bed, completely forgetting about the other blonde in her life. "Great! Now I feel like I'm two-timing him, even though we're not even dating!" She grabbed her pillow and put it over her face. "What am I going to do?"
"You could stop seeing Chat Noir in your personal life."
"But Tikki, you don't understand. I like seeing him in my personal life. He makes me feel so...alive. And I can talk to him about anything."
"You can talk to me about anything."
Marinette removed the pillow as the kwami floated down, landing on the tip of her nose. "Mari, you know you can talk to me about anything. I may have never been with a boy before, but I'm old enough and wise enough to know all that there is to know about boy drama and stuff like that."
Marinette nodded and kissed the kwami on top of her head. "You're the greatest, Tikki, you know that?"
Tikki smiled. "I do what I can."
Then Marinette frowned. "But what about Chat? I can't just kick him out of my life like that? He'll grow suspicious."
Tikki sighed. "I understand you want to see him in your personal life," she pondered for a moment. "And I will allow it..."
Marinette smiled, "Thank you, Tikki!"
Tikki frowned, "But as soon as you hear the first beep of his Miraculous, he is out of here. Understood?"
Marinette nodded, kissing the kwami once again. "Thank you so much, Tikki! I really owe you one."
Tikki smiled at the girl, leaning in. "By the way, what was that kiss about? You initiated it, so you can't lie to me saying that you don't know what I'm talking about." Tikki gasped sarcastically. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, are you falling for Chat Noir?"
Marinette stared at the kwami, and then thought about it. Why did she kiss the cat? What was she even thinking at that moment? Maybe after his small speech, she found him attractive? Maybe the same level of attraction as Adrien? He was being so nice, so sincere, and so...so...
She couldn't even find the right words to describe him.
Marinette blushed at the thought of him and what had went down about twenty minutes ago. Maybe she was falling for the black cat after all. It probably was bound to happen at some point, right?
Marinette turned in her bed, and rested her head on her pillow. "Goodnight, Tikki."
"Aw, come on. Can't you tell me?"
Adrien laid in his bed, staring at the ceiling. Plagg was next to him, munching on cheese.
It was silent.
...
"Can you warn me next time you're about to make out with some girl in her house?"
"Shut up, Plagg."