Chapter Text
“Nutmeg? Where’s the nutmeg?” Marinette shifted through her many herbs and spices, her eyes glancing back at her bubbling cauldron nervously. One of the townsfolk had ordered a luck potion and she had completely forgotten that it required nutmeg. Groaning at her own clumsiness, the young witch re-scanned the cabinets she had just checked. Once again, she looked back at her cauldron noticing that the frothing had grown bigger. Chewing her nails anxiously, her eyes zoomed over her ingredients, praying that she wouldn’t mess up this latest potion.
A simple meow caught her attention, however, and she turned to see her black cat’s nose pressed up against a spice that had somehow rolled onto the floor. Squinting her eyes at the label, she breathed out a sigh of relief when she saw it was indeed the nutmeg she had been searching for. Pressing a sweet kiss to the top of her kitten’s head, Marinette murmured out her thanks, “What would I do without you, mon Chaton?”
Her kitten purred at her, rubbing himself against her legs and she giggled before quickly racing to her cauldron. Sprinkling a spoonful of nutmeg into the bubbling pot, she cheered happily when the potion settled down some. Picking up her cat which had resumed his rubbing against her legs, she planted another quick kiss on his nose, “You saved us, Chat! Thank you! Thank you!”
Chuckling quietly as he swatted her nose away playfully, Marinette put him gently back down on the floor. Turning back to her potion, she scooped up a vial of the purple liquid. Blowing a kiss to Chat, she opened up her door, “I’ll see you soon, mon minou. I just have to drop this potion off and then I’ll be back sooner than you know. Make certain no one breaks in, alright?”
Giggling after Chat’s assuring meow, Marinette stepped outside into the cool fall breeze. The wind brushed against her cheeks, ruffling the bright orange leaves next to her. She shivered, pulling her black sweater more tightly around her before smoothing down her bright red skirt. Pulling out her wand from one of her thigh-high boots, she summoned the broom which was lying against her front gate. The magical item quickly zoomed into her hand and she jumped atop it, kicking off against the grass as she took flight.
The flight to the village nearby her home took no time at all and she dropped down onto the porch of the person who ordered her luck potion. Knocking on the door, a young woman answered the door and she gave her a bright smile, “Hello, you ordered a luck potion from me, correct?”
“Yes, yes, Marinette, right? Please, come in,” she gestured for the witch to come inside.
Giving her a small nod in thanks, she followed the girl into the kitchen. Two cups of tea were sat on the dining table and Marinette gave her a small grin, “Is this for me?”
“Yeah,” she beamed at her before a frown creased her brows, “I hope you don’t mind sugar. I always add it in mine so I added some in yours as an afterthought.”
“It’s fine,” Marinette waved away the young woman’s concerns with a happy laugh, “I love sugar so I’m glad you added some!”
“Oh good!”
“I don’t think I’ve caught your name yet, by the way? Sorry, it must have slipped my mind,” she slid into the chair across from the girl, sipping at the warm tea. It was perfect, the sugar sweetening the lemony flavor of the drink.
The girl laughed before sticking out her hand, “Don’t worry! I should have introduced myself before. My name’s Alya, it’s nice to meet you!”
“Nice to meet you too,” Marinette grinned before shaking her outstretched hand. Taking another quick sip of her tea, she pulled out the small vial, handing it to the girl, “You just wanted one luck potion, right?”
“Yes, yes! Oh, thank you!” Alya grasped onto the vial, looking at the witch with awe in her eyes, “It’s my wedding day, you see, and I just wanted to make certain everything goes well.”
“Aw, who are you getting married too?” her head tilted to the side curiously as a smile spread across her lips.
The girl in front of her sighed dreamily, her gaze drifting away as she began to daydream, “A man named Nino. He’s the absolute sweetest and is so compassionate, even if he does get on my nerves every now and then.”
“You love him, huh?” Marinette watched Alya’s eyes light up to a brilliant hazel.
“Yeah, yeah I really do!”
Glancing around them once, she cleared her throat once quietly, “I hate to be a bother, but you do still have my mandrake root, right?”
“Oh, yeah! I’m sorry!” Alya scrambled up out of her seat, reaching for the root that was in one of her kitchen cabinets, “This is what you wanted, right?”
“Yes,” Marinette breathed out, running a finger over the root, “It’s perfect! Thank you so much!”
She stood up, slipping the plant into her sweater pocket before walking with Alya back to her porch door. The young girl leaned against the open door, watching as Marinette picked up her broom curiously, “You can really fly on that, then?”
“Yeah, you wanna watch?” she laughed as her blue eyes sparkled mischievously at her.
“Duh!” Alya cheered, watching as Marinette kicked off from her porch, hovering slightly above the ground.
Calling over her shoulder at the young girl, she shouted, “Feel free to ask for anything else! I’m always here to help!”
“Thanks Marinette, I’ll remember that!” Alya waved as she flew off into the woods her house was located in.
In no time at all, she was back at her front gate. She yawned, giving herself a quick stretch as she shook her legs out. Once she was finished stretching, she rushed into her house, eager to curl up with her cat on the couch and watch movies, “Chaton! Where are you? I’m home!”
“Ok, please don’t freak out,” a voice called from behind her.
Startled, Marinette screeched, taking her broom and whacking it forcefully into the person behind her. He fell to the ground and she continued to beat him with her broom. His arms came up to protect himself but her onslaught didn’t end there. Panting with exertion, she held the end of her broomstick at his face ominously, “Who are you and how did you get into my home?”
“Come on, Marinette, I asked you not to freak out,” he pouted at her.
Her eyes narrowed into slips and she jabbed the end of her broom into his nose, “Shut up! How do you know my name? You’re another wizard, aren’t you?! You have to be! I have protection and locking charms all around my house! How did you break them?!”
“I didn’t break in, and I’m not a wizard,” he shook his head slowly at her, “I’m a friend, you can trust me.”
“Oh sure I can! Give me one good reason not to hex you into tomorrow!” Marinette snarled down at the man.
“Your favorite color is pink!” he blurted out, “When you’re not busy practicing spells you’re designing a new outfit in your room! You take your tea with three sugars and just a splash of cream!”
She blinked down at him for a moment, speaking hesitantly, “H-how do you kn-,” soon her face turned into an angry scowl, “Have you been stalking me?!”
“No, no! I don’t... I’m not,” the man huffed out a frustrated breath, running a hand through his blonde locks, “I know all this because I’ve been living with you for a while.”
“What?!” Marinette screeched, her eyes widening as her mouth fell open. Oh my god, oh my god, I’ve been living with a serial killer for years without even knowing it!
“N-not like that,” his arms came out to wave at her in a sign of surrender, “God, I’m screwing this up completely! You let me live here.”
“What?” she asked again, a frown creasing her brow, “You’re not making any sense. I let you live here, why would I do that? Who are you?!”
The man smirked at her, and that was absolutely infuriating, “Well, I don’t have a name per se but you call me Chat most of the time.”
Marinette raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief, “Chat? I call you Chat? Like my cat?”
“That’s me!” he beamed up at her. That’s when she finally noticed his eyes. The emerald green of them sparkling at her with a million secrets hidden within them.
Brushing off the weird feeling that he was telling the truth, she stepped away from him, keeping one eye on him as she called for her kitten, “Chat! Come here boy, I miss you! I need you to protect me from this weird man!”
Scoffing, Chat, or whatever his name was, rolled his eyes at her, “I can’t exactly come when I’m already here, now can I?”
Glaring at him fiercely, Marinette shushed him, “Stay right here, alright?! If you move even a muscle I’ll make certain you won’t ever feel your fingers or your toes ever again!”
Shooting him one last glare, she moved around her small cottage, checking her upstairs bed and her living room couch as she searched for her kitten. She grew more and more panicked as she couldn’t find Chat anywhere. Returning back to the front entrance, Marinette shouted, “What did you do to Chat?! I can’t find him.”
“Marinette, it’s me. Honestly, it’s me!” he blinked at her with eyes so reminiscent of her cat’s.
Stepping forward once, she looked at him from the side of her eyes, “Ok, if you are Chat, how did you turn into a human?”
“I-I don’t remember,” he frowned, “All I can remember is that you were looking for nutmeg earlier this morning and I helped you find it. After you left, I woke up and I was in this body.”
“Oh my god, you are Chat, aren’t you?” Marinette breathed out, her hand coming up to cup her mouth shakily.
“I told you that I was,” Chat came up, walking to her hesitantly.
She looked him up and down before throwing her arms around him and burying her head in his chest, “I thought I lost you!”
“You could never lose me, Marinette,” he squeezed her tighter.
There was a faint smell of cheese around him and if there were still any doubts in her mind they were completely erased by that. Chat’s favorite food was cheese and she always gave him a small piece of it whenever he was good. Chuckling tearfully, she pulled back to look him in the eye. Looking him up and down again, she frowned, “I just don’t understand. Did you do anything else today that could have made you end up like this,” she gestured to his human body.
“I don’t really...,” Chat paused, his own crease forming as he tried to remember the day’s events, “I remember licking your potion once to see if it tasted like cheese before you added the nutmeg, but that’s about it,” he shrugged.
Marinette’s mouth fell open before she smacked him lightly, “You idiot! Of course this happened! You can’t go around licking potions before they’re ready! You could have died! You’re lucky you turned into a human and didn’t die, you stupid cat!”
“Ow, Marinette,” he whined, holding his hands up to block her smacks.
With another fierce glare, she pinched the bridge of his nose, “Here’s what we’re going to do, okay? You’re going to continue to stay here until I can figure this out.”
“Well I was sort of counting on that,” Chat grinned sheepishly at her, “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
Giving him a soft look, she continued on, “I’m going to figure out why you transformed and then I’m going to create another potion to fix it, alright?”
“I don’t know, I kinda like being human,” he gave her a cheeky smile.
Rolling her eyes, Marinette scoffed at him, “Yes, but you’re not supposed to be. What if this shortened your lifespan or there are other adverse effects going on that we don’t know about yet.”
“Fine,” Chat sighed sadly, “You can turn me back. Just be sure to take your time, alright?”
She chuckled dryly, “If you think I’m not going to be trying to figure this out as quickly as possible, you’re completely wrong. We need to get you back to your regular form soon .”
Marinette was about to speak again when she yawned loudly. Chat gave her a soft smile before he pointed upstairs, “Can we start tomorrow, you look exhausted?”
“O-okay,” she gave him another sleepy nod with a quieter yawn, “But after that I’ll be working hard to make certain we figure this out ok?!”
“Alright, Marinette. I understand.”
“You’re sleeping on the couch, by the way, so get a blanket!” Marinette called down from the top of the stairs at him.
She heard his loud chuckle even as she began to head to her bedroom, “You got it,” he shouted back up at her.
Shaking her head, she quickly changed into her pajamas, determined to get a good night’s rest so she could plunge her energy into fixing her Chaton.