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Multimouse had barely taken a step onto her balcony when she was tackled by an idiot cat who was too eager for his own good – and hers.
“Oof!”
Even though Chat had rolled to cushion her fall – if he broke her plants, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned! – Multimouse was left bereft of life-giving oxygen. Her air was all crushed out of her lungs in a mint-flavored whoosh, that of course, she just happened to blow right into her partner’s face.
“Marinette!” Chat gushed just like he’d tackled his crush rather than a supposedly normal girl with a supposedly normal life. His hands, which had been wrapped around her back, slid down to cradle her waist – and, she noted with a spark of panicked annoyance, trapped her in the seriously compromising position that he had better start explaining right then. “I’m so glad Ladybug let you come out with me tonight.”
Her arms were pinned against his chest, and she wasn’t about to squirm, lest he clutch her tighter. Multimouse’s face had never been hotter. But once she was no longer seeing stars from the unexpected glomping, her brain had stuttered to a halt upon seeing Chat’s ecstatic grin, his eyes glowing in the night.
The grin was just so… so him, smiling at her like she’d hung the moon just for him. And because she hadn’t seen such a smile since she’d ‘defeated’ Hawkmoth, Multimouse was struck by waves of nostalgia for her partner that nearly pulled her under.
Ladybug suddenly missed him very much.
She hadn’t said anything – C’mon, brain, work! – since his enthusiastic greeting, so Multimouse forced her mouth open and said the first thing that came to mind.
“C-C-Chat!” She did squirm, then, feeling his claws prick the base of her ribcage as she tried to push herself up into a seated position. He let her, his hands falling to the balcony and taking their traitorous warmth with them. “N-N-Nice see you it is too!”
That accursed smile morphed into something lopsided, almost goofy. She felt as if she could read his mind, and if she could, he’d be thinking, D’aaaawwwwwww! Cute stupid girl!
Given that she was seated on his stomach – and considering how wrong that was – Multimouse scrambled to a stand and nearly tripped over his bent knees.
“Why are you s-so, um, happy to see me?” she asked, toying with one of her space buns until she managed to unravel the whole thing. Multimouse stared, unnerved, at the hair tie in her hand until Chat neatly plucked it from her grasp. Moving behind her, he gently carded his clawed fingers through her hair as if he owned it. The stroking felt so good, she was tempted to let him continue – Wait, he’s my partner, not my boyfriend, Felix!
Multimouse squeaked out a wordless protest, but Chat whipped the bun back into place before she could object to his combing her hair. Her cheeks, which hadn’t stopped their onslaught of volcanic heat, blazed even brighter.
Chat’s eyes were narrowed in pleasure, and Multimouse could swear she heard him purring, even if the vibrations were at a level she could feel rather than listen to. He leaned into her space with his chin slightly up and his nostrils flaring.
Wait! Is he… Is he smelling me?!
“I just missed you, is all,” he said quietly, trailing the backs of his knuckles across her cheek. The feather-light touch made chills spill down Multimouse’s spine from her head to her curled toes. Chat’s chest rose as he breathed her in again, closing his eyes. “You’re one of my favorite people, Marinette.”
Her jaw dropped. “Um,” she stammered. “Ummm. Y-You’re one of my… favorite people, too.”
Given that her partner had super hearing in addition to super strength and night vision, Multimouse was certain he had heard her even though her voice had dwindled to ‘shy confession’ levels.
At her indrawn breath, Chat backed off, his eyes cracking open. “Uh…” He scrubbed a hand through his hair, and Multimouse could have sworn she’d seen that gesture on someone else. “Sorry I’ve been so, uhhh, touchy-feely.” He cleared his throat into his fist. “That was probably, umm, inappropriate.”
You’re darn right, it was! Multimouse didn’t know whether to be outraged or touched. Hadn’t Chat rejected Marinette? Hadn’t he decided that he couldn’t “take advantage” of her as a superhero loving a civilian? Hadn’t they worked out this tangled mess already?
Then why did he keep leaning toward her as if itching to kiss her?!
Unlike Chat, Multimouse did not have night vision, so when he took a couple of steps back, he looked like a smudge of tar on newly paved asphalt. Black on black on black, and only his glowing green eyes still narrowed in pleasure told her that he was still present.
This tackling her to her balcony floor and then backing off as if ashamed… This… This toying with her…
… made Multimouse’s vision swim white-hot with incandescent rage.
“I don’t understand you!” she cried, throwing her hands into the air. “You’re hot, then you’re cold, you’re yes, then you’re no!” Stomping her foot, Multimouse slammed her hands onto her hips. “You’re in, then you’re out. You’re up, then you’re down. You’re wrong when it’s right; it’s black, and it’s white.”
His dark huff of laughter spurred her on. Multimouse stepped directly into his space, thrusting her finger under his nose even as Chat’s eyes shone with amusement. “We fight, we break up! We kiss–”
“You want to kiss me?”
It wasn’t fair that his voice, which had dropped to registers even she would call husky, reached behind her bellybutton and pulled. Multimouse’s lips parted of their own accord, her tongue snaking out to wet the lower one without her permission.
“I…” He was just so stupidly tall, hovering over her like that. She couldn’t breathe. It was as if Chat had drawn all the air from her lungs into his, making her knees tremble. Just as her eyes started to close, Multimouse blinked. “... I have a boyfriend.”
Chat’s answering chuckle was dark and smooth like a black tea splashed with espresso. Both thrilling and entirely too scandalous. “I know.”
Taking her space buns down, Chat tugged Multimouse close, using one hand to cradle the back of her skull. She was falling into his orbit, a star sucked into a gravity well that was nothing but irresistible. He pressed his hungry mouth to hers, his tongue begging entrance, and Multimouse welcomed him.
Wait… He tastes just like…
“Felix?”