Chapter Text
She hadn’t meant to, really. He had completely surprised her, and she had reacted out of instinct.
He rubbed his nose, hot tears edging his bright green eyes.
“I’m really sorry about that,” she apologized saccharinely, though still sincere.
“Guess that’s what I get for trying to be sneaky…” he groaned. “Karma. Or my own bad luck.”
“Let me see,” Marinette said as she carefully pried his hand away from his face. She studied him, checking to see how much damage her elbow had done. “Well it’s not broken…” she sighed.
“Thank goodness…” he exhaled before giving her a soft grin—one that would have probably looked more sneering if not for the pain. “It’d be a shame if you mauled my pretty face, Princess”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure it’d be such a shame.” With little remorse she gave him a tap on his nose and reveled just a tiny bit in the hiss of pain her partner made. “Let me get some ice. It’ll stop it from swelling and hopefully get you to stop whining. What on earth were you thinking, you sly cat?”
“I was checking up on you!” Chat Noir claimed in a defensive yowl as he watched her leave.
About a minute later she appeared again.
“Checking up on me for what?” she asked to continue their conversation. Her hand lifted a pack of ice wrapped in a small towel slowly up to his face.
“Just because,” he answered while avoiding her gaze with a pout.
“Because…?”
Because she had looked tired that day. He ran into her briefly, and quite literally, as Adrien after school. It was relatively normal for Marinette to trip and fall. She was always endearingly clumsy like that, but today had been different. She wobbled while dragging her feet, and suddenly she collided into him. Her sketchbook flung into the air and hit the ground with a flapping thud. Of course she was the first one to begin stammering apologies profusely as he handed her back her book, but he was distracted by how several of her fingers were wrapped in bright bandages. Before he could ask about them, she ran off clutching her sketchbook to her chest.
He winced as she pressed the cold pack too hard. With a gloved hand he took it from her, but with his other hand he grabbed her wrist gently.
“What happened here?” he asked, once again face to face with her neon colored, bandage-wrapped fingers.
She looked embarrassed. “Oh. Um, I was working on a project last night and I was pretty exhausted so I accidently pricked myself a few times.”
Chat Noir frowned. “That’s no excuse.”
“It was a special project,” Marinette defended.
“What could be so special that it’s keeping you up and mummifying you?”
She frowned, casting a side-glance to her table and his eyes followed the path.
On her desk was an assorted range of blue fabrics, piled up and hanging off the edge like a cascading waterfall. If he counted right, it was maybe five different dresses.
“Inspiration hit?” he asked.
Marinette scoffed. “I wish.” She put her head in her hand. “There’s an important event I’m going to, and I need to wear something mind-blowingly awesome…”
Chat Noir grinned. “May I see?”
“They’re all horrible and need to be scrapped, so why not?” She walked over and began to sift through the pile.
“I doubt that any one of them is bad, Princess.”
She lifted one up; a light blue dress with a tulle skirt.
“Looks like a cheap ballerina,” she complained before lifting another dress with her right arm. “And I tried to do something with asymmetry here, but it just looks like it’s falling off of me awkwardly.” Marinette set them back down with a huff and picked up the next set of two. On the left was a black satin dress, simple but well cut. On the right was a longer gown with some delicate draping that he was sure looked more flattering on a human form than dragging to the ground.
“What’s wrong with those?”
Marinette sighed. “The black one is too plain. I know they say you can never go wrong with a little black dress, but it’s so… nothing. Then the draped one looks too Spring-daytime. I’m going for black-tie.”
“Where are you going, exactly?”
“My friend is having a birthday party Saturday…” she admitted.
The answer caught him off guard, because it just so happened that he had a birthday party Saturday night, er, rather, Adrien Agreste did. His father finally let him celebrate his birthday with a party, but of course had turned it into an event to give him better publicity. Adrien had begged him to let his classmates come as well, and he’d miraculously relented. Of course that was what she was getting ready for. Duh, he had invited her.
“I think I know whose,” he said slyly. “Model Boy?”
At that the girl flushed. “Okay, yeah. My friend Adrien is having a big party at his house, and of course I’m going to go, but…” she groaned. “What do I wear?”
“Oh, are you trying to impress someone?” He grinned. “Mssr. Agreste?” He was referring to his father, but he guessed it could be misconstrued.
Her face got redder. “There’s going to be a bunch of important designers there. Of course Gabriel Agreste is like, wow, one of my biggest inspirations ever, but still! It’s become this huge fashion event, essentially, and wouldn’t it be wonderful if maybe someone noticed? It’s such a long shot, but it’s always been my dream.”
Chat Noir held his tongue. If Marinette wanted to have a career in fashion so badly she could always ask him to introduce her to people. He guessed he should offer, because Marinette was definitely not the type of person to ask for those types of favors. Hey, at least someone was going to enjoy this gala.
“Adrien was so nice when he invited me too,” she mumbled, and at that his ears perked up. “I don’t think it was his ideal party or anything. He’d probably rather just have his friends around instead of this big fancy deal.”
Was he blushing? Chat Noir used the melting ice pack on his hot cheeks. Sure, Marinette was one of his closest friends, but he didn’t think she knew his feelings that well. He’d certainly not mentioned them. He watched as her arms and hands motioned wildly as she spoke.
“Everyone got so caught up in this party, I think they forgot about him a little? It’s his real birthday on Thursday, so I wanted to make him a present. I just got it done yesterday, but then realized I hadn’t thought about the party at all. Maybe it is an upscale event, and Adrien practically begged his father to let his friends come too. I know it’s not technically my responsibility, but I feel like I really have to step it up—not just for all the designers there, but just so my friend doesn’t have to worry. It suddenly started stressing me out so much, I couldn’t sleep. Or make anything decent,” she grumbled hopelessly.
The heat in his face only worsened. She had been thinking about him this whole time?
“How about the last one?” he asked, looking at the remaining piece on her desk.
The girl looked down, her arms slowly falling to the side. Pink tinted her cheeks as she went to pick it up from its hanger. “I don’t think I’ll be wearing this one.”
The dress was a dark blue with a very faint sheen; the contrast against her bright, bandaged fingertips was almost comical. It was the most developed and unique of the pieces she’d shown him. By far the most thought out, and it had lovely tailoring with bright blue piping along some of its edges. The neckline was a wide sloping V-shape. The skirt flared out with some deliberate, stiff pleats. Color him impressed.
“What’s wrong with this one?”
Her embarrassment made no sense to him, but she frowned deeper nonetheless.
“I-I can’t wear this one.”
Soundlessly, though still red-faced, she walked over to her closet to fetch something. She pulled out a men’s coat—a matching men’s coat. It was less formal, but undeniably the dress’s partner. Instead of piping, the bright blue was in the stitching. He had a scarf that would match it perfectly.
“It’s Adrien’s birthday present,” she just about whispered.
It took him a second before it dawned on him. She had made them matching outfits.
“I was really inspired by it, and then suddenly…” She put them together, side-by-side.
He felt like his face was going to burst. He imagined her in the dress, and himself in the coat. Matching. Like a couple. He wasn't quite sure why the image had him feeling so eager, but he knew he was going to melt the entire ice pack at this rate.
“Just wear it,” he blurted out.
Marinette’s squeaked. “You see them, don’t you? I can’t give him this coat and then show up at his birthday party in a matching dress! There are implications!”
“It’s a really beautiful dress!”
She titled her head back and groaned. “I really appreciate that, but then what am I going to give Adrien? It’s already Tuesday, and I worked on his gift for the past month! Not to mention how I’ve had to psyche myself up just to manage enough nerve to give it to him. I mean, it’s kind of personal! Maybe…” her blue eyes looked wild. “Maybe I should just do something else. Right? It is really personal. Too personal probably! I just won’t give it to him. I-”
“No!” he yelped out.
Marinette clamped her mouth shut, interrupted mid-ramble.
“J-just give it to him. It’s really lovely, and thoughtful. I'm sure he'd really like it.” Very sure! Objectively sure!
“But!”
“If you don’t give it to him I will be personally offended! Heck, I-I’ll snatch it up right now and deliver it myself.”
As if it was a real threat, she clutched the coat to her and turned away like a mother defending her child. Her expression was panicked.
His nose didn’t hurt anymore, so Chat Noir put down the somewhat thawed ice pack and calmly walked over to his friend.
Gently, he pried the dress out of her white-knuckled grip. As soon as it was free from her grasp her hand flew over the coat. He wasn’t going to take it!
“Marinette, you’re going to look great. You’re going to blow everyone away because I can tell this means something to you, and it shows.”
He looked down at the coat. His coat.
She flinched as he put a hand on her shoulder.
“You worked really hard, and put a lot of thought into that. I know they look like a pair, but I’m sure if you just explain it to Adrien he’ll understand that you didn’t mean anything by it.”
Still, thoughts of them in matching outfits were flipping through his mind like a book.
“Besides,” he swallowed, tapping at her bandages lightly, “I don’t like thinking about you poking any more holes through your hands.”
She slackened her grip just a bit.
“Don’t worry, Princess. I’m not gonna do anything. Just make sure that Model Boy gets that coat, and that you wear that dress and blow everyone’s minds. Otherwise I’ll turn into a cat burglar.”
She frowned. Her worry quelled and her witty fire came back.
“Just what are you going to do if I don’t wear the dress?”
He grinned. “I suppose I’ll have no other choice than to show up at the party and find out for myself.”
“No!”
“Then it’s a purr-omise, Princess?” Never mind that he was definitely going to be there anyways.
Her expression dropped at the pun.
“Fine.” She grabbed the dress from him in a flash and went to hang it up in her closet. Neon skimmed along the fabric to straighten it out like a true professional, but she couldn’t stop the excited smile lifting her cheeks. “I’ll wear it,” she whispered finally. She really had been proud of her work.
“And?” Chat Noir goaded, earning a roll of her eyes despite the blush on her face.
“And I’ll give Adrien the coat.”
“Great.” He smiled, actually really excited for Thursday morning.
“Alright, alright. You checked up on me and saved the day. It’s late on a school night, so it’s definitely time for you to go.”
“Was that a ‘thank you’?” he asked cheekily.
“No.”
She pulled on his bell, and the hero winced, prepared for her to not so kindly tap his injury again. That’s what he got for being cocky. Way to ruin the moment where he was actually probably cool for a second to her. He shut his eyes, already anticipating the bloom of pain sure to come.
Instead he got a very light press of her lips, soft and warm against the tip of his nose.
He opened his eyes to see hers expression twinkling with amusement. His face felt like it was tingling all over from her short kiss.
“That was a ‘thank you.'”