Chapter Text
Chat Noir winced as a rumpled Marinette opened the skylight, blinking into the dark. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come so late. Did I wake you?”
“It’s okay. I couldn’t sleep anyway,” Marinette lied with a yawn. She ducked below and Chat Noir followed her inside. Marinette immediately curled into a ball, snuggling into her oversized cat pillow.
“I should go.”
“Stay.” Marinette held out a hand to him and Chat Noir crawled up the bed, curling around her. “What happened?” she asked softly when he had gotten comfortable.
“More of the same. I think the dreams might be getting worse,” he whispered, closing his eyes. “I keep killing her over and over again.”
“Dreams aren’t real, kitty. You would never purposely hurt Ladybug.” Marinette ran a hand through his hair and he pushed against her touch.
“You say that but what if—“
“Tell me a story,” Marinette demanded.
Chat Noir blinked at her. “What?”
“A story. I want you to tell me a story. Now.”
“Why?”
“Because you woke me up and I need to go back to sleep.”
“You said you couldn’t sleep,” Chat Noir grumbled, embarrassed.
“I lied so you wouldn’t leave. As payment for my kindness, I would like you to tell me a story before we go back to sleep.”
“But I—“
“Please, kitty, purr-etty please,” Marinette winked.
“You know all the right things to say, Princess,” Chat Noir grinned. “Fine. Uh, let’s see, once upon a time–”
“Wait, is this going to be a fairytale?” Marinette asked.
“Don’t interrupt,” Chat Noir reprimanded, booping her nose. “Ahem, as I was saying, once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess–”
“Of course there was.”
“Hush. There was a beautiful princess named,” Chat Noir eyed Marinette speculatively, “Lady of Bugginton.”
“Lady of Buggington?!” Marinette laughed. “That’s awful!”
“That was her name!”
“Okay, I’m sorry. Do go on.”
“Right. So Lady was a strong and fair princess who ruled over all the land but she had an evil enemy named Sir Hawkmothian of the Douchelands,” Chat Noir continued.
Marinette giggled.
“One day, Princess Lady called for all the knights of her court to come forward so she could choose a champion to defeat her enemy. One of these knights was a humble man named–”
“Ooo, let me!” Marinette demanded. “Uh, Kitty Chat of Punderland.”
“Yikes.”
“Shut up but also keep telling your story.” She snuggled in closer to him.
Chat Noir nodded. “So,” he shot a judging look at Marinette, “Kitty Chat of Punderland stepped up and said to the fair princess, ‘I am at your command. Send me to the Douchelands and I will conquer your enemy. All I ask in return is a kiss upon my victory.’”
“Kitty Chat’s kind of pushy.”
“What? No he’s not. He’s asking for a kiss, not demanding it.”
“Puuussshhhy,” Marinette sang softly.
“Whatever. Long story short, Kitty Chat defeated Hawkmothian and received quite a lovely kiss from his princess,” Chat Noir finished in a huff.
“The ending felt a bit rushed, to be honest.”
“You’re impossible to please,” Chat Noir sniffed.
Marinette smiled sweetly. “So are you saying you don’t want a kiss from the princess, dear knight?”
“W-what?”
“I’m your princess, aren’t I, Kitty Chat? Or is it Lady of Bugginton who is really your princess? I guess I’m a little confused.”
Chat Noir swallowed. “Uh, both?”
“Greedy,” Marinette accused but leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Think you can sleep now?”
Chat Noir’s face softened as he studied the beautiful and caring girl staring back at him. “Yeah, I think I can.”
“Good.” She closed the little distance between them, laying her head on his chest. “No more bad dreams, okay, Sir Kitty Chat?”
“Your wish is my command, Princess.”