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“Help” mutters Marinette. Her voice is a bit too high-pitched, but it’s quiet enough that the people around her don’t hear it.
Well, assuming they don’t have supernatural hearing.
Which Chat Noir does. Who is sitting right next to her.
Marinette is ready to die then and there, when the superhero – her partner – turns to her. “What do you need help with?”
Thankfully he is barely audible as well, but Marinette doesn’t have supernatural hearing. (Well, she doesn’t have one now.) She needs to lean closer to make out the sounds, because she is still not the best at lip-reading. (She’s working on it, though. It could be a very useful skill after all! Both on the field and in everyday life.)
“Do you think that I like sitting here?” She has a bite in her tone. For real, Chat? Read the room a bit. “This is the cringiest dinner I have ever sat down to.”
Chat draws his eyebrows. “But... You invited me…?”
Marinette keeps herself from snorting, but she rolls her eyes. “My Papa invited you. He is capable of making a mountain out of the smallest molehill.” Her Papa has his back to them, but she can’t be mad at him for long, even like this. True, her life would be much easier if this family dinner really was familial, but what can she do?
Tolerate and survive.
She is hoping that Chat will come up with his feelings for Ladybug soon. The sooner the better, actually. Then they will both have a reason to lea-
“Well, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree,” mumbles the hero.
“Excuse me?”
Chat is smart enough to stuff his face with a cookie instead of replying. Marinette would continue interrogating him, but her Papa comes up with a new confection at that very moment.
This. Is. Also. Heart-shaped.
“Chat?” she calls out. This time she is louder – she can see her parents share a whisper behind their hands, but she is paying attention to her partner now.
If Chat won’t adhere to the unspoken plan, she will just have to use the back-up one.
Chat Noir looks up, he even stops chewing. His intense attention reminds Marinette of Akuma-fights. Half of her expects a cheesy pun that she can roll her eyes to, before attempting to reign Chat into the plan she came up with.
Then she reminds herself that she is supposed to be talking about her plan, not staring at her superhero partner.
“Let’s break it in half,” she suggests, glancing at the cheesecake. “You take one half and go, and I’ll go up to my room and for once I’ll even study something instead of sleeping.”
In her humble opinion, this is a genius plan, however Chat looks disoriented again.
“Like… a broken heart?”
Marinette closes her eyes. She prays for patience for a fleeting moment.
“Yes, exactly like that.” She even nods.
“But… I thought you were…” he gulps, as if Marinette’s actual words frighten him. She understands. If it weren’t for the mortification, she’d be pretty frightened too. “That you… You liked me?” he finished instead.
Marinette takes a deep breath. A bit loudly.
“Maman?” At her Maman’s attention, she gets a bit unsteady, but she tries to continue in Chinese. “Me alone… and Chat…”
“We’d need a little privacy, if it’s not too much of a bother, Madame Dupain-Cheng.”
Or at least Marinette thinks Chat might be saying something like this. Because she does not speak or understand Chinese that well.
But Chat does.
Her Maman replies to him with something that Marinette does not hear, because she is too busy looking at Chat in a different light. Chat, who, sometime in his life – which is, if one is to consider how Marinette is only fifteen as well, can’t be much longer – learnt Chinese.
Chat.
Learnt Chinese.
For a brief moment, her mind entertains the idea of what if Chat and Adrien went to Chinese together… Then she scolds herself, because not everything is about Adrien and anyways, he had been homeschooled. There is no way he could have studied alongside Chat, especially since Chat has a civilian identity so even if he did, Adrien wouldn’t know who Chat is, not that Marinette thought he would know if they went to the same classes, which they don’t, but-
She zones back to the real world just in time to hear her Papa’s surprise, then his glee when he realizes that he gets to decorate the cake now.
“Cake?” Chat’s jaw drops, but even with that ridiculous face he is making, Marinette feels the warmth that suddenly engulfs him. “He… He baked another cake?”
“He’s been preparing for this dinner for about nine hours” Marinette tells him wryly.
“Nine hours, twelve minutes. I’ll restart the timer!” Her Maman disappears as well, shooting them a last smile.
Chat just gapes. Pride swells in Marinette. “He takes his work very seriously, you know.” She glances at the cheesecake. “And his loved ones even more seriously.”
“Apple and the tree,” Chat whispers in delight.
Marinette grins back, before she can think twice.
Which she really should, because this whole embarrassing debacle started because of her secret identity. “Well…” She says, after clearing her throat. She really should not be enjoying this! Her identity is on the line! “You can go now, you know. Whenever you want to.”
Chat tilts his head to the side. “Excuse me?”
“You’re making me say it, aren’t you?” Marinette sighs. She briefly stares up at the ceiling, before she finds the right thing to say. “Whatever I feel for you, you don’t reciprocate it.” Chat Noir’s face reflects the truth of her words. She continues, braver. “You love Ladybug.”
“Yes.”
Those green eyes are sad. Her Chaton really is sorry to be refusing her, Marinette realizes with a start.
“I’m sorry, princess.”
All she can do is shrug. Even if she did have feelings for Chat… “I can’t just make you like me.”
“I like you! Just… more as a friend.” Chat scratches his neck awkwardly. Marinette holds back a small smile at the familiar notion. “I thought, even up on the balcony that you would confess to being my fan or something…”
She is left blinking.
THAT’S WHY THIS WHOLE THING HAPPENED?!
Chat thought, FOR THE WHOLE TIME, that she was only a fan?!?!
She can’t help it, hysterical laughter breaks free of her lips. “That’s crazy!” she breathes, when she gets some air. “I was stressing over that…!”
“Er… Marinette?”
She looks up. Chat is almost completely pressed to the side of the chair farthest away from her. He seems genuinely afraid.
“Is everything alright…?”
“Oh, yes!” Marinette beams. “You know, I am more your fan than someone who falls for you. Though the amount of time Alya spends waxes poetics about you and Ladybug…” She rolls her eyes. “You can guess.”
“So,” Chat starts slowly, as if trying to put together a big discovery. “You are not actually into me?”
“Not romantically, no” she nods. “I just… panicked. It happens.”
“Thank god,” mutters Chat. “I was feeling bad, coming here ‘only’ for the food your family makes.”
Marinette doesn't mention how that was her first thought too. Instead, she points at the cheesecake. “Well, since you're already here… Why not enjoy yourself?”
“Are you serious?” Chat's face glows up. “I can… eat here? With your family?”
“Of course! I'll call my parents up in a moment, okay?”
Look, Marinette might be a hamster gal, but the face Chaton makes at this is more than enough to make her heart melt. Poor little kitten, does he not partake in family dinners a lot? She makes a mental note to quietly inquire about it as Ladybug. She knows his homelife is not the best, but…
A couple minutes later they are all around the table again. Marinette tries to get her Papa to understand that she and Chat talked it all out, everything is perfectly perfect, no, there is no need for you to involve yourself Papa.
“This is the best food I ate in months!”
Marinette exchanges a look with her parents. That's enough for them to know they all agree. Her Maman smiles kindly at the superhero. “You can come around as many times as you want, you know. With how much you and Ladybug help the city… It is the least we can do.”
“Really?” A nod. “Thank you so much Madame Dupain-Cheng-”
“Please just call me Sabine, Chat Noir.”
“-but I can't take advantage of your kindness like this.” Chat looks at his plate like a kicked puppy. (And yes, she knows he'd hate that comparison, but it's the best she can come up with at the moment. Besides, he really does look like that.) As if he already regretted staying, as per Marinette's offer.
She knows that he will be stupid enough to stay away for good, if she can't convince him now, so Marinette wrecks her brain for a plan-
“You could stop by to teach me Chinese, in exchange for the food!” She realizes, almost jumping from her seat. Chat's sorrow turns to interest in a second, so she is quick to go on. “I am so behind, like, all the time! It's so hard to do everything at once and it would be much easier with a partner…” She blinks innocently at him.
Chat smirks. “Sure you need me princess? I'm currently skipping Chinese as it is.”
Skipping Chinese? Adrien is supposed to have Chinese lessons right now too…
No! Bad Marinette! Stop trying to force connections to exist where they don't!
“Yeah. I need you.” The words come easier than she expected. They are so bone-cuttingly true after all, as Ladybug…
Her Chaton stares at her with glittering eyes and such pure delight, it is extremely hard for her to look away… It's… Different, than usual, somehow.
The careful, quiet words he utters only add to the picture. “Then I'll be there for you, princess.”
Marinette cannot look away.
Something is thundering in her ears. A steady beat. It's so loud! Can the others hear it? Or is it just her? Is there an Akuma? Where could the noise be co-
Oh.
Her heart is the one beating so rapidly. Even her breath catches for a moment. Just like that time with Adrien and the umbrella…
“Great!” She hurries to say. “Then would it be good for you?” At least she isn't so terrible with her words right now. Not so much anyway. “I mean when?”
Chat grimaces. “I don't have nearly as enough free time as I would like.” He turns back to his plate, eating a few bites as he considers things visibly. Marinette knows this expression well, as Ladybug. Despite popular – ignorant! – belief, Chat Noir does have a good head on his shoulders and he can be pretty insightful when one lets him think. It's mostly split-second decision making that makes him act all idiotic and self-sacrificing and brave-
Marinette snaps out of it, focusing back on Chat's now determined expression. “I could free my Tuesday-Thursday-Friday nights from six to eight.”
“How about Tuesday and Friday?” Marinette asks. “And rotate to the other day in case one of us isn't free?” She glances to her parents for approval, and finds both of them nodding.
“You must come by at least twice a week then,” her Maman declares immediately.
“It will be terrific!” Her Papa adds. “I can already see it… Sabine, we must dig out grandma's recipes!”
Marinette would protest, but she doesn't. Although grandma's recipes are not the easiest to make, they are definitely a speciality for special people. Like Chaton. She doesn't even mind all that much that her (already quite limited, what with being a superhero in secret) free time will probably be taken up by her helping out her Papa with baking things for Chat Noir. That boy is way too skinny for his own good, that Marinette can honestly tell as a daughter of bakers.
So, instead of arguing, she gently elbows him in the side. “Be proud,” she mumbles, grinning as she takes a bite of cake. It's delicious, as she knew it would be. “Grandma's recipes are really one of a kind. We don't make them for just anyone.” She can't help the jab, and doesn't even mind it all that much. Chat's beam only turns brighter and wider. He does look very proud.
Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all, Marinette wonders, hiding her smile behind her cake. Her eyes find the rose she received – red, like love. It will be perfect right in front of her window… Maybe if she puts it in sweetened water, it will stay alive for a few more days…
***
“You kept it?”
Marinette hums. “What was I supposed to do, just throw it out?” She asks, but her cheeks are a tell-tale pink.
Chat only smirks. “I like it. It looks like it's feeling good here!” He throws himself down on her couch, sprawling over it like his namesake. “Red suits you, princess.”
Marinette feels her eyes widen, but hopefully she can play the reaction off as embarrassment. “Oh, I am much more inclined towards pastels,” she is quick to say. “And pink! That's my favorite,” she admits.
Chat's eyes visibly trail across her room, as he hums. “Now that you mention it…”
Marinette scoffs, and he huffs out a laugh. It's a cute sound. Marinette relaxes, despite herself. It's just like the two of them sitting on top of a building after patrol… Except, you know, they are in her room now, and Chat doesn't know she is Ladybug.
That's fine. Ladybug isn't learning Chinese, Marinette is. It will help with distinguishing her two personas, she is sure of that.
“Well, as much as I like to have a chat with you, purr -incess,” Chat says suddenly, clapping his hands. Marinette rolls her eyes at both the puns and the accompanying shit-eating grin. She was almost missing them. Almost. “Why don't we start with a little test? Let's see how far your verbal skills have gone, and we can go from there…”
Marinette takes a deep breath, sitting in her chair too. Okay. She can do this. Chinese, Chinese, Chinese…
She says hi, then introduces herself. She tries to make it sound fancy and sophisticated, at least a bit, only to have Chat correct both her grammar and pronunciation. Then he asks her something. And she replies, hopefully not misinterpreting whatever he just said-
Whatever she said, it really wasn't what she was supposed to. Chat is laughing so hard, he almost suffocates, for full minutes.
Then, he tells her the thing correctly, then gives other examples. Explains why and how people use them. After that, he asks her to repeat them. Marinette forms the words carefully, trying to hear what subtle differences are so clear to Chat's trained ears.
A blinding smile – she got this one right.
It isn't an easy ride by any means, but with her Chaton, she is confident the two of them will make it work.