Chapter Text
Sniffle.
Adrien whipped his head around to see Marinette who, last time he checked was leaning comfortably against the side of the couch, was now sitting up straight and wiping at her eyes furiously.
"Are you crying!?"
"Yes Chat, how observant you are," She remarks, rolling her eyes and sniffling again.
'Chat?' He almost asks out loud before remembering. He was Chat Noir right now, fully transformed and sitting in the Dupain-Cheng's living room and watching the TV together. Adrien had overheard earlier that Marinette would be home alone for the whole weekend and how she was disappointed Alya couldn't come to hang out due to the other girl's sisters. That's where Chat Noir comes in.
You see, about a month and a half ago, Adrien (as Chat) had popped in to visit Marinette after a particularly nasty Akuma that had had its sights set on her for whatever reason. He just wanted to see how she was doing and she was doing surprisingly well for someone who has had many Akuma incidents that were either directly or indirectly related to her in some way, often putting her in danger. (Granted, Chloe had way more incidents like this, but he was less concerned with her) Marinette was an incredibly sweet girl who never meant any harm with her words or actions, despite how often they blew up in her face. The only reason Chat was worried for her this time was because Marinette had been entirely too close to very seriously dying at the hands of the Akuma victim that and (not that he would admit this but..) Chat was really just visiting to put his mind at ease with seeing her healthy then he was simply checking in with her.
That visit ended up being much longer than he intended as the two of them ended up talking for hours with one another. And Chat REALLY liked it. He didn't even know what a normal calm conversation with Marinette could be like since she was always so nervous around him as Adrien and now that he knew what it was like... he hated how little he would be able to talk with her like this afterward. It wasn't just Marinette he had never talked with like, he had never even had such a relaxed and open conversation with Nino or even Ladybug, two people who he saw as his best friends.
Now that he had Marinette and WANTED her as a friend, Chat had made an effort to see and spend time with her at every possible moment, which so far had been a couple of times a week, albeit not quite long enough interactions for his liking, as long as it was alone. ("You shouldn't be seen just hanging out as a hero in public, plus I don't wanna be hogged by paparazzi when hanging with my friends" what Marinette says, goes)
Now, Adrien also conveniently had the entire weekend free, not that he told anyone that since if no one ELSE booked up his time (like Nino or Chloe) the more time he had with Marinette. Of course, he had thought for a moment when Marinette first mentioned being alone for the weekend, that ADRIEN could spend time with her, but given him simply asking her where her parents were going (apparently they had a wedding to attend and cater out of town so they were leaving for a few days) ending up nearly knocking Marinette out of her seat with nervous spazzing, he though against it.
So again, here he was in Marinette's living room, not something entirely out of the ordinary if you knew about it, with the girl desperately trying to ease a sudden wave of emotions that left her crying.
"Ah-" he really didn't know what to say, he was terrible at consoling others. "Is it really that bad?" Because at this point he was over it, he already knew about it and he almost cried when he first found out but, well, this is a first for Marinette.
"Yes!" She said in a sudden outburst, hiccoughing through her tears that she kept furiously wiping away as they continued to fall.
Chat cringed slightly at that. "Mari-"
"She's dead!"
"I thought you knew,"
"How would I know!?"
"It was obvious!"
"No it wasn't!"
"Context clues!"
"I'm blind, okay!?"
The two stared at each other intensely for a few seconds before Chat snorted and they both started laughing. Marinette wiped the last of her tears away with a watery giggle and looked at Chat with a show-stopping smile that actually got him to pause for a moment.
"I'm glad you're here Chat," she relented, leaning back into the sofa.
"O-oh?" He questioned the sudden statement. "Why's that?"
"Well, I was prepared to be alone this weekend, so I'm glad you could spend this time with me," she hummed sweetly, picking up the remote and pausing the TV as the episode came to an end.
"Well of course princess, I'm here to protect you from everything, including loneliness," Chat proclaimed dramatically, grabbing Marinette's hand and pressing a gentle kiss to her palm. "Your knight in shining black leather,"
Marinette rolled her eyes at his antics but still smiled fondly at them. "Aren't you supposed to kiss the back of a girl's hand?" She asked playfully, flipping her hand over and presenting it to him as an indicator.
"Pawssibly," He said with a slight shrug and a toothy grin. "But I'm way more Purrsonal than that,"
Marinette scoffed. "Yeah yeah, whatever," she chuckled.
This felt so casual and Chat hated that the girl didn't feel comfortable around him to behave this way, but he shook his head and push the thought to the back of his mind to chew on later. "So tell me, your highness," he prompted, getting her to look up at him. "I never pegged you for the type to watch this sort of stuff, why did you want to?"
At that, she blushed slightly. 'Odd' Chat thought, 'she doesn't usually get flustered over my nicknames, what changed?' Marinette folded her hands in her lap and very intentionally looking away as she answered. "Well, there's a boy in my class..."
'That explains it'
"Ooo, a boy~" Chat teased. "And you like him~?" He asked, playfully poking her cheek. Marinette blushed even harder and shrunk into herself as she nodded a confirmation.
"Awwwe," he cooed, feeling like a girl spilling secrets at a sleepover. "What about this boy?" He asked eagerly, turning on the couch to face her better.
"Weeell," she drawled. "I overheard him talking to our friend Nino about it and I thought I might check it out? So we could have something in common..." she mumbled that last bit, clearly embarrassed.
"That's a good strategy!" Chat commended. "But don't feel forced to watch something just because of some boy,"
"Of course not, I'm actually enjoying it,"
"Who's your favorite character so far?"
"Well I'm pretty partial to the strong female character... what about you?"
"He hasn't appeared yet,"
"Oh, well, I really like it so far,"
"That's good, and lucky for you, this happens to be my favourite shounen anime," Chat says, unnecessarily proudly. "So I'm glad to watch it with you,"
"Shounen?" Marinette questions, quirking her head to the side.
"It's an anime genre, not important," he explained casually, waving a dismissive. "The important thing is that if this boy doesn't appreciate your new interest, you have someone here who will," he says, booping her on the nose.
Marinette shakes her head in disapproval, but is smiling so it's obviously insincere. "My hero," she says flatly.
"You know it!" Chat exclaimed with a wink and giving her finger guns.
The two of them fall into another bout of laughter before relaxing and leaning on each other.
"Hey, Chat?" Marinette said softly as he picked up the remote to play the next episode.
"Hm?" He hummed.
"I mean it, that I'm happy you're here," she says earnestly.
Chat pauses for a moment, barely knowing how to respond, he settles on. "I'm glad,"
.
.
.
.
.
"WAHHHH!"
"This got you crying too!? It's not even that sad of a show"
"H-he owes him his liii-i-i-iife!"
"Which is why he needs to move forward-"
"AAHHHHH!"
"Shhh! It's not that sad,"
"They'll never see each other again!"
"You don't know that,"
"Well do they?"
"...."
"EXACTLY!"
"Shh, there are more important things than that in the future,"
"I don't care, and I take back what I said, he's my favorite now,"
"Oh? Do you have a soft spot for blondes?"
"Shut up,"