Chapter Text
As we got ready to graduate from University, I became aware that Marinette had run into difficulty finding an apartment that a struggling fashion designer would be able to afford when she confided that factoid to Chat during one of my nocturnal visits to her at the Bakery. She was doubly worried since she started work at Chateau Le Blanc as a junior designer a few days after graduation, and wanted the issue of housing settled well before then.
“But why don’t you stay here?” I asked. “I’m sure your parents would be fine with you living with them until you got yourself on your own two paws.”
She sighed. “Maman said as much to me, Chat. But it’s time for me to spread my wings. I need to be on my own, even it happens to be an apartment just down the street.” She turned forlornly back to her tablet, where she’d been scrolling through apartment vacancies. “Well, at these prices, probably two districts over.”
I popped down from where I’d been sitting on the railing and cuddled up next to her, my tail snaking around her waist. “Which one do you like the best?” I asked casually, a devious plan starting to form in my cat brain.
“Well, I can only afford---”
“Furget that for a moment, Purrincess,” I interrupted. “If money were no object, which one tickles your fancy?”
Marinette looked at me. “Chat, what are you doing?”
“Me?” I asked innocently. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Why do you ask?”
“I think thee doth protest too much.” She turned back to the tablet and scrolled. “This one. The views are magnificent, and it’s one Metro stop away from my new office.”
My masked green eyes went wide. It was a two bedroom flat with views of the Tower. I looked back at her. “Excellent taste, Princess,” I nodded, having noted it was a corner unit, with separate balconies.
She sighed. “I’d have to have hit the big time in order to afford that,” she said in a desultory fashion.
We looked through the listings a bit longer and then, after a luxurious stretch I could only do while transformed, I bid her adieu. “Early morning for this cat,” I said apologetically.
Marinette looked at me. “Really?” she asked, and looked serious for a moment. “Chat, you don’t have to answer this, but do you… do something as your alter-ego? Or are you some rich playboy waiting around for the next akuma attack?”
I smiled my wicked Chat smile at her as I stood atop the railing to her balcony. “You’re right,” I said as I started to fall over backwards. “I don’t have to answer that…”
Her question had been a bit too close to home. For both were true: as Adrien, I’d continued to model through college and had become something of a worldwide sensation (if I do say so myself). It had paid the bills for school and left me with a handsome bank balance – over and above my “rich playboy” trust fund. I suspected I’d be able to write my own ticket as a model for another five or six years before being supplanted by some new, young thing and had made some strategic investments to protect myself.
I made another the following morning.
That next evening, after wrapping a rather hostile akuma with internet trust issues (he’d gone by the name Tin Foil Hat Tom), I dropped by the Bakery and found Marinette still flipping through the apartment listings. I knew she was unhappy by the half-empty baking tray of macaroons.
“Princess,” I said, as I landed on my favorite chimney flue, and then dropped down to the railing that overlooked her.
“Hey Chat,” she said, distractedly.
“Wanna go for a walk?” I asked. “This kitty needs to stretch his legs.”
“Not really,” she replied, still scrolling. “I’ve only got a few days until graduation, and I really need to nail down something.”
I plopped down beside her, knowing there was no way for me to tell her I’d be graduating the same day. “C’mon, let me cheer you up with an ice cream or something.”
“I’m not in the mood, Chat,” she said a bit sharply.
That only egged me on. I dropped my blond mane into her shoulder and started to rub my head against her, allowing a deep rumble of a purr to appear. She tried to fend me off, but in the end, I wound up atop her tablet, making a point of examining my claws while continuing to purr.
Marinette tried to stay angry but the smile wouldn’t stay hidden; she finally reached behind my ear and scratched the one spot that drove me wild. Her touch could always melt me. I cracked open a masked green eye. “That’s more like it,” I said. “Now, you’re coming with me, ‘kay?”
“Fine,” she smiled. “Where are we going?”
“Never you mind that, Purrincess,”’ I said, standing up and retrieving my baton. Wrapping one arm around her, I leapt for the railing. “Please keep all hands, arms, legs and small children inside the ride at all times.”
“Oh Dear Lord,” she laughed as she tightened her grip around my chest.
I vaulted into the night and tried to obfuscate the path to her favored apartment. It was another moon-filled sky in Paris, with the white glow reflecting off of every surface and bringing unusual shadows to the city. It felt brighter and more cheery than normal to me, too, though it was likely just my happiness that I’d be fulfilling a desire for my soulmate.
We came around the final building and I carefully helicoptered onto the balcony that faced the Tower. I’d left the lights on from my visit earlier in the day, which created a homey, welcoming feel to the space.
Marinette unwrapped herself from me, slack jawed. “Tell me this isn’t what I think it is?”
I unzipped a costume pocket and produced two sets of keys. “Happy Graduation, Princess,” I said, handing her a set, but snatching it away before she could take them. “There is, however, a catch or two.”
She looked at me. “I can’t afford this, Chat,” she said.
“It’s taken care of,” I said. “Now do you want to hear my terms?”
“Wait, what do you mean ‘it’s taken care of?’” she asked. “What did you do?”
“Just what it sounds like,” I said, smiling. “You have to allow this cat of mystery some secrets.”
Marinette looked at me, hard. “Is this legal?”
“I’m hurt you’d think otherwise,” I said good naturedly. “But yes.”
“Then how is this possible?”
“If it will help ease your mind, my alter-ego came into… some extra cash, as it were. And I figured out the best way to put it to use.”
She continued to look at me. “But there are strings attached.”
I nodded. “I want you to go into this with all of the facts.”
“All right,” she said, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow. “I’m not saying yes, yet, but I am intrigued.”
“Okay,” I said, as I slid open the balcony door. It led into one of the two master suites. I had carefully staged it with furniture I knew she would like and was rewarded with a quick intake of breath. I hid my smile as I turned and led her through to the main space.
A modest kitchen filled with professional grade appliances was in the rear, with a full compliment of professional cooking equipment hanging from the ceiling. Two (and only two) barstools sat at one end of the island that separated the kitchen from the living room, where two place settings were awaiting us; a small Dupain-Cheng cake was waiting to be carved up. I continued her past that toward the main sitting area, where a couch and low coffee table were tastefully arranged to make the most of the floor-to-ceiling windows that faced the Tower.
And in the corner, a full set of design equipment was sitting, including a professional sewing machine, a mock torso, and whiteboard to one side and a massive 27” iMac Pro on flat design desk on the other. I’d queued up a few action shots of yours truly as part of the screensaver.
I led her to the couch, and she sat down; I perched, cat-like, on the coffee table, still holding her hand. “Condition one: you’ll become the best fashion designer in Paris.”
“Really?” she rolled her eyes. “And how am I going to do that?”
“This space feels like it would be conducive to creativity,” I said. “And if you get stuck, that kitchen back there will let you work out your angst.”
She nodded. “You’ve given this a lot of thought, Chat.”
“I have.” I grinned. “Condition two: once you are financial stable, you can split the expenses with me.”
Marinette nodded again. “That seems fair…” she trailed off, eyes widening. “Wait just a moment – are you saying what I think you are saying?”
I grinned wider. “That’s the third condition,” I said. “I’m your roommate.”
She stared at me. “You as in Chat you? Or your alter-ego?”
I’d thought about that all day. Even after close to ten years of working side-by-side with Ladybug, she had still insisted on anonymity – between us, and with anyone we were close to. I knew if I revealed who I truly was to Marinette, it would break an old promise to Ladybug. As much as I loved Marinette, I valued Ladybug’s friendship too much to do it.
Someday, the time would be right. It just wasn’t tonight.
“Me. As Chat.” I winked. “I empty my own litterbox, in case you were wondering.”
Her eyes widened. “How exactly is that going to work?”
“The litterbox? Well—”
“Not that, kitty,” she said, exasperated. “You, staying here, as Chat.”
I squeezed her hand. “I don’t know,” I said honestly. “But I have a feline it will work out just fine.”
She rolled her eyes. “With puns like that, no.”
I held out the keys. “I don’t expect an answer tonight, and it’s totally okay for you to say ‘Thanks, Chat, but I’ll pass.’” I looked at her, and softly added. “You know I love you, and I just want you to be happy. That’s it. Nothing else.”
Marinette’s deep blue eyes connected with my masked green ones. I watched as she considered everything, weighing the pros and cons of (let’s be honest) potentially moving in with a man she really didn’t know. And couldn’t know.
Actually, that wasn’t entirely true. We’d been seeing each other nightly on that patio over the Bakery for years now, and more regularly in other places throughout the city, though for the most part, we’d kept the relationship on the down low. I knew we’d moved beyond friendship into something more, and also knew I’d probably been more honest with her while wearing the Chat mask than any of my interactions with her as Adrien. So, she perhaps didn’t know the name of the person beneath the mask, but she did know me.
I could see from her eyes, she had come to the same conclusion.
She reached for the keys. “When do we move in?” she asked.
“As soon as you want,” I replied. “I’m already here,” I laughed, indicating my costume, “since I didn’t have a lot of things to unpack.” I inclined my head toward the room we’d come in from. “That one is yours; I’ll take the one on this side so you won’t have to hear me come and go in the dead of night.”
Her eyes widened, and she nodded. “I suppose you can’t come up through the lobby,” she said.
“Not my first choice, no.” I paused. “I’m happy to come with you to break the news to your parents.”
She smiled. “I’m not sure that would be helpful. I’ll have enough trouble telling them I’m moving in with a guy let alone one who runs around in a cat costume.”
I sat back. “They know me, though,” I said defensively.
“I’m pulling your paw, Chat,” she said. “But I can handle that on my own.”
We stood up. “Take me back?” she asked.
“Absolutely,” I said, pausing. “Is this what you want, truly?” I asked, worried slightly that she felt even a tiny bit of pressure from me. “I’m not kidding – it’s okay for you to tell me to go jump in the Seine.”
Marinette turned toward me. “Let me answer that, Chat,” she said, and pulled me into an embrace topped off by deep, passionate kiss. My toes curled and we ultimately came up for air.
“I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’” I said happily.