Work Text:
Marinette was on her way to lunch along side: Alya, Nino, and Adrien when the bell rang.
Speaking of Adrien, he was currently feverishly flipping through pictures of kittens on his phone. They lost count around the 105th picture, and long stopped repeating "Aaww."
"It would be AMAZING to actually be a straight up cat!" Adrien gushed like how a schoolgirl gushes over a celebrity crush. Which is saying a lot considering he's a celebrity.
"What about Chat Noir? He's practically a giant cat. I've watched enough recordings to know his cat ears and tail are not simply cosmetics." Alya said, as she promptly shoves Adrien's phone out her face. Which elicits a whine out of him.
"Yeah, but he's not a cat-cat. He's still a human underneath the leather." Adrien retorted.
"Why do you want to be a cat so bad? Is it so you can get away from being a busy super model with an overbearing father?" Nino snickers when he receives a glare in return feeling utterly betrayed.
"Do you have some kind of cat fetish or something? I don't think girls like going to bed with a man in a furry costume."
Marinette chokes on air. "ALYA!"
"What? The evidence all points to Adrien is secretly a furry. Possibly Chat Noir as well." She laughs, but they stop walking they've realized Adrien is frozen far behind them; red faced and mortified as he stares into nothing.
"Is that what I really look like as Chat Noir? A man in a furry suit?" He whispers in dawning horror. No one, not even Adrien hears the bellowing laughter coming from his pocket.
...
The group sits down in the nearby park to eat. Adrien was able to recover from his shame, before the teens startle to the sound of the Akuma Alert going off on their cell phones.
"YES! C'mon Nino, there's an Akums that needs recording!" Alya cheers.
"Bu-but why do I need to go too?"
She whips around with a far too innocent look. Marinette would have believe the look if she didn't choose Alya for the fox miraculous. "You'll go because you love me, right?"
Nino could only sputter a reply before being interupted by Alya repeating the question again, but looked like she was on the verge of tears. He sighs defeatedly, and agrees to go.
"Great!" She whipes away the crocodile tears, and drags the poor helpless boyfriend to his doom. The remaining too pitied him.
Screams ring out, and Marinette and Adrien say their rushed farewells before retreating into separate alleyways to transform.
...
Ladybug and Chat Noir arrive on the scene, and stare at the kitten army the littered Paris. Chat's eyes are impossibly blown wide at this point.
"It. It's a dream come true." He says breathlessly. Ladybug gives him an exasperated look.
"This would be your dream." She shakes her head.
A wicked laugh draws their attention. The heroic duo scale the buildings until they see the Akuma. She calls herself 'Cat Lady' as if it wasn't already obvious by her old looks, and the hoards of cats at her feet.
"YOU WILL ALL BECOME MY PRECIOUS KITTIES!" Beams of pink light shoot out to fleeing civilians. Those who got hit were immediately turned into a cat.
"Oh gosh. IT REALLY IS A DREAM COME TRUE!" There's only a sliver of green from how wide his pupils got and a face-splitting smile from his utter delight. Ladybug only had a split second.
"CHAT DON-" It was far too late when Chat disappears in a puff of smoke as he takes off. She tries to grapple him with her yoyo, but his tail flicks it away without breaking stride.
"SHOOT MEEEEE!" Chat cries. He notices a man in the Akuma's line of sight, and jumps down in front of him; taking the pink beam to the chest.
"Let's see you fight when your precious cat becomes a kitten!" Cat Lady laughs hysterically.
Ladybug watches fearfully when Chat doesn't grow smaller.
He grows much bigger.
Bones shifted, and muscles thicken. His head grows to accommodate the sizable fangs. What use to be hands became massive paws, and silky black fur replaced the leather. Ladybug stares in fascination at what Chat Noir has become. He finishes the transformation with a mighty roar that silences everyone around him. All the cats look at him in wonder.
Cat Lady's laugh decline when all the cats rally to Chat Noir's side. She looks nervously into the eyes of hundreds of slitted eyes, and hissing bodies. The massive panther stands tall amidst his army, a loud, throaty yowl rings out from him above the hissings. This sets the cats off as they charge after the Akuma of one accord with a thundering of paws on pavement. She screeches as she vaults away with swiftness only an Akuma can enable for an old woman. She cries in the distance about how her beloved cats could betray her.
Ladybug was so preoccupied watching the felines chase the Akuma that when she realizes that Chat had disappeared she face palmed. Bashing herself for getting so distracted. Deciding it would be best to first deal with the Akuma, she swings over to the Eiffel Tower where the cats wondered aimlessly. They branched off into groups to search the area.
'She must have escaped.' She gives up the search, and detransforms in a nearby alleyway, and makes her way home. Marinette can't help but worry for her kitty.
...
It's nighttime when the Akuma alarm goes off again.
"Tikki, the Akuma's back. Time to go!" She swiftly climbs out her balcony door and is face to face with a big crouching panther.
Marinette's absolutely petrified at the sight of his partner. She swallows, and hesitantly calls out, "Chat Noir?"
All she got for a response was the big cat flexing its claws along her wooden floorboards.
"K-kitty?" The pather's eyes gleam, as he does the impossible.
He frickin smiles with his long k-9's proudly on display.
'Okay, how fast can he move from there to my hatch?' She notices his haunches begin to wiggle, and his tail flicks gleefully as if reading her mind.
She could almost hear Chat's smug voice say, "Faster than you, Princess." Sweat drops.
She takes a suble glace at the latch, and her eyes slide back to the cat, and as if it was possible, his smile widens.
"I dare you." She imagines him whisper playfully, with a very noticeable threat underneath.
The smart thing to do would be to slowly reach behind her to the door, and gently close it on her way back in without any sudden movements. But this is Marinette, who does everything hastily under pressure.
Her hand flies over to the hatch, and before she could properly grip her sweaty hands onto the door, all she can see is green glowing eyes lunging for her. With a screech she's shoved down the door, and onto her bed with the panther towering over her, pinning her down with a massive paw on her chest. There was only one was she could describe his face.
He looked like the cat that caught yhe canary, and she's the canary she blanched. He was absolutely pleased with himself, and she was sure he could feel her pounding heart underneath his (thankfully) clawless paw.
"Please don't eat me. Please don't eat me. Please don't eat me." She pleads as his jaws widen and move closer to her face. She cringes her head as far away from the mouth that could possibly eat her entire head.
She emits a high-pitched whine before a pressure is alleviated from her chest. She hears a huffing sound, and when she looks back at his face he looks amused.
"You think that was funny!? It's not like I was scared for my life or anything!" He stares blankly at her with a raised (eyebrow?) as she continues her ranting, but she's cut off by a sharp exhale that empties her lungs when 200lbs crash down on her.
"Get, get off me!" Marinette pushes him with all her strength, but Chat remained contently sprawled ontop of her. She flops down in defeat. More huffling like laughter escapes him as she glares menacingly at him. "The second your turned back to human I'm going tie you to a pole with your own tail." She growled.
Chat lifts himself up some and moves his open mouth to her arm. Marinette squeaks and tries to push his head away in fear his teeth would hurt her. He continues to resist her hand, and to Marinette's suprise he gently wraps his furry maw around her forearm, and pulls her onto her stomach. He rests his weight back on top of her, and she couldn't help the blush at the suggestive position.
'I hope he won't remember any of this...' She whines bitterly.
He positions his paws onto her back, and begins kneading her. A deep purr vibrates through her body, as he also licks the hairs on the nape of her neck.
"Chat, I refuse to get comforted. You need to go find Ladybug." His grooming persists, and sleep begins to cloud her mind. 'Crap...' She doesn't know when she passed out, but it was the greatest sleep ever.
Marinette reluctantly wakes up to tapping on her face. When she opens her bleary eyes Tikki is frantically waving her tiny arms. Marinette's eyes widen, and jumps up screaming, "AKUMA!" The sudden noise and movenent jolts Chat Noir from his peaceful sleep, and sends him plummeting onto the floor when a loud slam that shakes her room. She cringes, and peeks over the edge of the bed the see the panther in a heap of black fur. All she could see was the green eyes glaring daggers at her.
She leaps off the bed, and tugs onto his tail. "You have to do, there's an Akuma out there and Ladybug needs your help!" He lays bonelessly across the floor to make it harder for her to budge him. She sighs, and looks into his eyes. He tilts his head, and she had to fight the swell in her heart at the sight.
"You love being like this, don't you?" He looks down with a soft "mrow...". She reaches over and scratches him behind the ears, earning her a purr as his pushes against her hand.
"I know you love being this way, but Ladybug and many other people in Paris may not want that. The longer you stay this way, the more Hawkmoth wins over you, and Ladybug can't fight Hawkmotg by herself." He keeps his eyes trained on the ground, refusing to look her way. She grabs onto his head, and forces him to look her in the eyes.
"You will always be Ladybug and I kitty. If you ever feel the need to act like one, I'm assuming due to your miraculous, you can come here anytime you want. I won't judge you." He stares into her eyes for awhile, then let's out a long huff.
He gives her one final lick across the cheek which causes her to giggle. It thankfully causes some of the sadness to leave his eyes, as he climbs out her balcony door, and bounds across Paris.
She continues to stare longingly out the door, until Tikki flies into view from her hiding.
"It's time to finish this, Marinette."
She sighs, but calls on her transformation regardless, and heads for the Akuma.
...
The fight, well chase, was easy enough with Chat Noir leading the charge with his army of feisty cats. He leads the screaming Akuma right to her, and she plucks the purple mouse toy off the Akuma as she runs by.
Chat Noir comes to a stop beside her, and looks at her with big eyes. She could see the sadness over his features, but he rises up on his haunches to push the Akumatized object with his nose. She wraps her arms around his neck in a hug.
"After this, I'll give you all the ear scratches you want." He smiles softly over her shoulder.
Chat Noir gently pulls the mouse toy from Ladybugs hand, and shreads it with his claws; releasing the butterfly. She captures the bug, and calls on Miraculous Ladybug.
Ladybugs go out into all directs, and swarms every cat, turning them back into people. They finally make their way to the big cat, and in its place is human Chat Noir standing upright.
He inspects his hands, body, and tail; confirming that he's no longer a cat. His leather ears press firmly along his blond locks. His ears perk up, and he purrs when he feels fingers digging into his hair.
"You're still my kitty." She smiles at him, and he can't help returning it.
He may not be a panther anymore, but he's still a cat to the two most important women in his life.
...
"So, can we talk about how me and Nino got jumped by panther Chat Noir?" Marinette chokes on her drink.
"Yeah, dude. Me, and Alya was following the cats when this giant feline landed behind us out of nowhere. He had this big creepy smile that made him look like a cheshire cat, then pounced on us. I can't help, but wonder what we did that had him against us."
Adrien turns around before anyone sees him with a satisfied smirk across his face.