Chapter Text
It happened in a blink of an Eye, one second Doctor Dupan-Cheng was minding her own business and then the next she found herself kissing the countertop. Marinette could come up with a million and one different reasons for why it happened, Doctor Agreste just happened to be passing by and his smile was blinding. There was a puddle on the floor from when Alya spilled her coffee. Nino didn't put up a wet floor sign, Gabriel had her working the night shifts and she hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before. She didn't eat breakfast and her legs were weak. But ultimately the underlying cause of her slipping and chipping her front tooth was of course because Marinette had always had two left feet.
After pushing herself up into a sitting position she prodded at her tooth with her tongue, eyes widening as she tasted the familiar warm copper fluid fill her mouth, a startling numbness washed over her. Alya her best friend and dental assistant rushed over after watching the scene play out from across the room, previously enjoying her coffee from a lounge chair as she caught up on her favorite comic series.
"Girl! Are you all alright? That was a nasty one!" Alya offered her hand, and Marinette gladly accepted. But as Marinette went to respond it wasn't words that rushed out of her parted lips. It was blood. Wide-eyed she clamped her jaw shut, her scrubs now sporting red rather than pink. She did her best to remember her dental training and clawed her way over to the sink to rinse her mouth out with warm water.
Now everyone knows Marinette is about as clumsy as a newborn fawn. So no one had really reacted much to the fall originally, it wasn't until everyone witnessed the horror movie amount of blood being spat out into the sink that the panic set in, Rose sprang up and went to call the dentist Mari normally had the pleasure of seeing, Doctor Tiki. She was her mentor and one of the few people Marinette trusted with her mouth. Alya led Marinette into one of the operation rooms and leaned her back onto the seat, cleaning out her mouth and stuffing it with cotton to slow the bleeding until she was given further instructions. Rose poked her head in and ushered Alya out of the room.
"Dr. Tiki and Dr.Plagg are both out of the country for their anniversary... Tiki won't be able to come to fix her tooth." Rose whispered,
"Well, who isn't with a patient right now? If Mari is on gas I'm sure she won't be able to tell who it is" Alya whispered back, sharing a quick glance over her shoulder to lock eyes with Mari, she gave a weak thumbs up to show she was still okay. Although the pained look in her eyes showed the adrenaline rush was beginning to run flat and the pain was definitely kicking in.
"That's the thing, the only person available right now is Adrien and I think Marinette would just about have a heart attack if she said anything Embarrassing.."
Sighing, Alya removed her glasses and rubbed her temples "well I don't think we have many options right now. I'm gonna go get her set up, you get him and tell him to make sure he's wearing a mask hopefully Mari will be so out of it we can trick her into thinking it's someone else."
Adrien had not expected Rose to come skidding into his office during his lunch, he hadn't expected to hear that Mari had taken a pretty nasty fall. And he wasn't expecting to be the one to fix the issue that said fall had caused. But he was more than willing to help, after all, Marinette had always been one of his dearest friends. Though she did seem to act a bit strangely around him, maybe she's intimated by him since his father is her boss? Or maybe she still holds a grudge against him for the gum incident in dental school! Oh God, maybe that's why they want him to wear a mask before he even comes in, oh god. She hates him.
He felt defeated, but after walking into Marinette staring at poster of a cat with human teeth, her pupils blown wide, mouth stuffed with cotton, he couldn't help but chuckle to himself, this is Mari he was talking about, sweet, lovable, kind, pretty, outgoing Mari, there's no way she hated him, she couldn't hate anyone. Well except maybe Dr. Rossi, but that's more because both he and she are positive she's lying about having a doctorate. He made a mental note that he really needed to get his Father to check her file, and then another that he needed to burn that poster before Dr. Plagg seriously scarred a child.
The said Mari had torn her eyes away from the poster just long enough to notice the other person in the room, she tried to smile dopily through the cotton. "Kihhdy" it had just now crossed Adrien's mind that he was wearing the mask he used for children. It was black, with a white line stretched across in the shape of a three, in the middle rested a pink triangle, his cat mask. For his Alter ego Chat Noir. by day he saves Persians from tooth decay, and by night evil Villans. Mari smiled and reached up to pet his hair. "Woah Woah, little miss, this kitty needs to fix your tooth before you can pet him" he waggled a finger cocking his eyebrow ever so slightly. Her shoulders slumped, and the smile turned into more of a frown. "Hey, hey, don't be sad. this won't take long. Then I promise you can pet the kitty all you want, Chat Noir would never want such a beautiful princess to frown." 'Chat noir' leaned down to place a quick kiss on her forehead. Of course, his lips never met her skin, but the meaning behind it was there.
Marinette closed her eyes and the next thing she knew Chat noir was gone, she couldn't help but be a little sad, that stupid tomcat. She bets he calls all of his patients his princess! How could he, he was her minou! She started to huff and puff, crossing her arms and kicking her legs though she was still very numb in many places.
Her eyes snapped to the door, Alya? And Chat! Is he cheating on her? Letting other girls pet on him. "Alhha how dare you" ew, she did NOT like the feeling of cotton being stuffed in her mouth, that was coming out. Immediately. Alya looked her over in alarm, she quickly grabbed a trashcan before those bloody, slobber filled cotton balls ended up on the floor. "Sorry girl, what was that" Alya questioned.
"I said, Alya how dare you!" She pointed a finger accusingly at 'Chat noir' "you're cheating on me with my best friend! For shame. For shame! Naughty kitty, naughty naughty!" Alya eyed Adrien accusingly "well well Agreste if you had told me I would've gotten Nino and then we could have had a threesome" Adrien couldn't help but thank the mask because he was starting to feel rather hot in the cheeks.
"Agreseseste? Mm. Is that your name kitty kitty? That's funny, that sorta sounds like Adrien's last name, He's the cutest, I'm gonna marry him, ohh kitten kitten, lemme pet you please, you promised" and suddenly, the heat on Adrien's cheeks grew, he hadn't expected her to well, remember that.
"Yeah, Kitty Kitty, let her pet you," Alya said loading up her camera, she's never going to let either of them get over this. She Thrust him down into Mari's reaching arms. Adrien luckily caught himself before he ended up crushing Doctor Dupan-Cheng's tiny frame. Though Mari seemed to have other plans, seeing as she tugged him down and practically suffocated him in her chest. She made little kissy sounds and raked her fingers through his hair, if he was being honest if he could breathe, and well if she hadn't put his face into a really awkward spot and y'know if Alya hadn't been lurking in the corner he really wouldn't have minded the attention.
"H-hey! The kitty needs air" Adrien protested, attempting to remove himself from her bosom. "Also, wouldn't your boyfriend be kinda upset?" Adrien really did not need Luka driving a guitar up his ass, after seeing a video of him being practically turned to goo by his girlfriend "aw, is mon minou seeing green? Don't worry minou, Adrien isn't my boyfriend, I don't have one, plus you're just a little kitty cat, it's perfectly ok for you to lay right here on me and have a nice little cat nap." She tugged him down again, this time at an angle where Adrien could still breathe, but not wiggle his way out.
"W-what was that? You don't have one? What about Luka, that rocker you hang out with" again he tried to pull away, but her warmth and the soft pets we're very inviting and no, he needed to get up.
"Has kitty been watching me? Luka is my best friend, he used to have a crush on me, but now he's like super into this girl Origamis? vibes. Or uh maybe her name started with a K. Kagami? something like that, I'm happy for him, because I've always had the like biggest crush. On.." Her head started to tilt back halfway through her sentence. Before she could finish she was out. Adrien still firmly stuck with his head just over her heart, it was beating healthily, thump, thump, thump. Adrien's, however, was currently in his throat going a million miles a second.
He shifted his eyes over to the corner at which Alya had been standing. "Help.." He whispered
"Mm. What's in it for me?" She popped out her hip and crossed her arms.
"Limited edition comic?" He pleaded She motioned for him to keep going. "2 Limited editions and I'll buy you coffee for a week"
"Fair enough Agreste, let's get you out of there." She grabbed one of the Cat plushies from a cabinet and replaced Adrien with it. "So, did you like anything you learned today little minou?" Adrien pulled his mask off to let himself breathe easier.
"Please don't let that nickname get to my father. He'd most literally have my ass on a platter if I 'tarnished' the Agreste name, but who does Mari have a crush on? I've never seen her with any other guys other than Luka? Is she doing online dating?" Alya could practically hear the gears overworking themselves in his head.
"Really? No other guys at all, no one she seems to get tongue-tied around? Or quite literally falls for? Maybe some she's always gazing at softly, or mentions all the time?" Adrien's nose began to crinkle in thought. The only other guys she talks to is him and Nino, and it can't be Nino because Alya and he are together. Wait. His face twisted into a look of shock. Before a little smile crossed over his lips. "It's me isn't it?"