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“Hey, Chat?”
The feline themed superhero offered a low hum to let his friend know he was listening. He had come over after he had finished his patrol to see if she was up late. He knew from his civilian life that she was often late for classes and most of their grade chalked it up to her lack of sleep.
If Max and Kim knew, they would each owe him five euro. She was usually up working on designs rather than her homework. That is, before he showed up as Chat to hang meowt.
“We’re friends, so I can ask for your advice on stuff, right?” she asked.
“Yay! I have a friend!” Chat replied, allowing himself to fall dramatically over her legs. She gave him a snarky smile and he grinned at her in return. This was why he visited her. As a civilian, she would splutter and stammer and react to him only with an awkward shyness. She was still kind of course, but much more difficult to talk to. As a superhero, he found that she was not only kind, but sarcastic and witty. She had enough creativity to imagine five impeccably detailed new outfits in a single night—he had seen it firsthand!—and they could keep banter going back and forth for hours. His classmate confused him with the two different faces she showed, but he found himself appreciating both as these little midnight rendezvous continued. The shy and sweet classmate during the day alongside the fiery and sarcastic girl during the night.
And she had just affirmed they were friends!
“No take backsies,” he stated, pointing a semi-accusatory claw towards her face from his place on her lap. She laughed and rolled her eyes.
“Wouldn’t dream of it, chaton,” she replied. He grinned so wide his cheeks hurt from the sudden exercise. But it was worth it. She laughed. “But since you’re my friend, I get to trap you here and ask you for advice anyways. Wouldn’t want you to run away now, right, my good friend?”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, purr-incess.” He winked as she groaned. But she was smiling a little bit. He could see it from his vantage point. Point to Chat Noir!
“You have a crush on someone, right?” she asked. Chat blinked. He thought it was obvious. Super obvious. Painfully obvious. Super painfully paw-bvious.
Well…
It used to be, at least.
“Yes and no,” he answered. That was safe to say, right? His love for his Lady had not diminished, but his affection for his princess had only increased the longer he knew her. “Why do you ask?”
He waited for his princess to speak. From beneath his head he could feel her legs begin to vibrate. If she were standing, she would probably be doing that nervous butt wiggle she had.
No, he did not know that from looking at her butt!
Well…
Maybe…
But no one could prove anythi—Oh, that felt nice.
Another nervous tick that Marinette had developed since he had begun his visits was her running her fingers through his hair. The only reason she began to do that while she was nervous was because it made him purr. Literally. She had mentioned that the vibrations he gave off helped to calm her down. Of course, the scratches helped his comfort level but absolutely wrecked his concentration.
“…do.”
Chat blinked. She was not scratching him anymore. He was lost.
“You didn’t hear a word of what I said, did you?”
“To be fair, you were scratching.”
She scoffed. “You’re impossible.”
“Im-paw-ssible. I’m very likable.” She frowned down at him, the humor repressed behind her eyes. Chat chuckled and sat up before turning around to face her properly. “Okay, okay, say it again. I’ll try and help.”
“I like someone,” she blurted. Chat blinked. That was not what he expected. “But I like someone else, too.”
He expected that even less. A pretty dash of pink blossomed on her face.
“I’ve liked the first person for a long time. He’s sweet and kind and I really admire him. I want to get to know him better but I just freeze up whenever I get close to talking to him! My friend tells me that maybe we’re not meant to be since I can’t even hold a decent conversation with him, but I keep telling her it’s not true. But then the second boy showed up…”
If she was not blushing before, she was a fire engine now. Maybe she thought she was safe because it was a little darker at night up here on her balcony or something. Chat decided it would be more amusing and less painful for him if he conveniently forgot to remind her he had night vision. Her blush was really pretty.
“…The second boy showed up and he’s just as kind as the first but in a different way. He’s loud and a bit obnoxious and he’s sort of my best friend and because of the first boy I didn’t see him in that way until recently. But now I have and it won’t leave me alone. I was really scared that I couldn’t talk to him at all because of all this, but we still talk fine, I just can’t help but feel really embarrassed sometimes when I’m around him now because he’s…”
The girl cut herself off and lowered her hands into her palms with a groan. Chat felt for her, he really did. He loved his Lady and had done so for the longest time. While Marinette could not talk to her prince charming A—that was the nickname he was giving them, so sue—because of nerves, Chat could not get Ladybug to see he was serious.
Prince charming B was a recent development and Marinette obviously felt comfortable around him. (His mind tried to supply who it could be. Nathanael? Kim? A new part time worker in the bakery?) Something must have shifted in order for her to see him that way. It felt very reminiscent of how his view of Marinette herself had shifted so suddenly.
He really had no luck, didn’t he?
“You know, Marinette, I’ve been having a similar issue,” he admitted.
Her head flipped upwards and her blue-grey eyes were trained on him before a second had passed. They were filled with hope that he felt sorry he was going to have to crush.
“I haven’t found an answer on what to do yet, so I don’t think I can help you with liking two people at once. Sorry.”
Marinette released a groan as she let her head flop backwards on her seat, a frown on her face. “You know, whoever figures it out first has to help out the one who hasn’t figured it out yet, ok?”
Chat chuckled. “What if we figure it out at the same time?”
“Then we both get to have a movie night and ice cream in celebration. That fair, chaton?”
The cat boy grinned. He would have to work hard to figure out this conundrum if only for a movie night with his princess.
“You got yourself a deal, purr-incess.”
“I take it back. We’re not friends. Your puns are too horrible.”
“Meow-ch, Princess!”
Laughter rang across the rooftops.