#aspsecretsanta

[thewritewolf]

Black Cats and Chinese Takeout

Marinette is dealing with a broken leg, but thankfully Chat Noir is there to help keep her company while she is homebound. A light hearted Marichat story.

I wrote this for @firebird525 for the discord secret santa! 

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3

“Marinette, be careful! You don’t want to-”

“Make it worse, yes, I know,” Marinette replied curtly as she hobbled to the couch with her crutches. “I haven’t suddenly forgotten about my broken leg since the last time you told me to be careful.”

“Right.” Marinette glanced over and saw how Tikki’s antenna dropped. Taking a deep breath, Marinette pinched the bridge of her nose to clamp down on her frustration. She was just being concerned for her, after all.

“I’m sorry for snapping, but I don’t like being coddled.” Which was an understatement. With everything that had happened, she felt more vulnerable than ever. Tikki assured her that even outside of the suit she’d heal quickly, but that didn’t help her now. She slowly adjusted herself so her leg was elevated and gestured at the cast. “And this thing doesn’t give me a whole lot of choice in the matter.”

“Well, you know what they say,” came a voice from the window. “A princess deserves to be waited on hand and foot.”

“That pun doesn’t even work,” Marinette said, glaring at a grinning Chat Noir. “My leg is hurt, not my foot.”

He shrugged as he entered the apartment through her window. “Are you sure you didn’t break your funny bone? That joke was pretty humerus to me. Ah well. I guess I’ll just have to do some research ahead of time. You know, get a leg up on it.”

Marinette was unimpressed by his rapid-fire punning. Although she only had herself to blame - Chat was always one to double down on his jokes whenever she pointed out their flaws. Her lips were pressed into a thin line when she saw the two styrofoam take-out containers he was carrying in a plastic bag.

“You don’t have to bring food everytime you come,” she said, but her words were immediately uncut when her stomach growled in protest. “Ignore that.”

“No, ignore her,” Tikki said from her place on Marinette’s shoulder. She deftly dodged out of the way of Marinette’s hand as she half-heartedly swatted at her. “She has been in a mood today. A grumpy one too.”

Chat chuckled. “Looks like you’ve been outvoted, princess.” He tapped at his chin. “Or should I call you ‘my lady’ even when you’re outside the mask?”

“I’d rather you use neither of them,” she said with a huff, crossing her arms.

“I know you don’t mean that. Here.” He passed her a container along with the proper cutlery. “You’ll feel better after you eat.”

“I don’t know, kitty. I don’t trust Chinese food in Paris. Not unless it’s made by my maman.” Despite her words, she begrudgingly she took the offered box. Her eyes widened when she saw the logo on the box. “Is this…?”

“Yup! The owners are close friends of your mom’s, right? I think you told me once that they were about the only people to get it as close to perfect as possible.”

Marinette looked back at her partner and narrowed her eyes. “I definitely did not tell Chat Noir that. It’s bad enough that I messed up - you at least still have to protect your identity.”

His tail flicked back and forth, the only outward sign of his irritation. He grumbled, “Seems kinda pointless now, doesn’t it? It can’t hurt us that much now. Might as well get it over with.”

“No, Chat. And that’s final.” She opened her container and a heavenly scent hit her nose. Despite her annoyance, she sighed in bliss. “Chicken chow mein. My favorite.”

“Oh! Speaking of your favorites…” Chat reached into his magic pockets and pulled out a single red tulip. “For you, my buginette.”

She eyed the flower. While it was definitely her favorite, she wondered if he was aware of its meaning, representing true love. Knowing her cheesy romantic of a partner, it seemed likely.

“Leave it on the table, I’ll find a vase for it later.” She patted the spot on the couch next to her. “Now come on, you got enough food for the both of us. Take a seat.”

Marinette smiled and raised an eyebrow when she saw that he had gotten shrimp fried rice. “Fish for the cat, huh?”

“I promise it’s not just because of the suit, Mari,” he said with a wink.

They ate in silence for a few moments. Despite everything, she did enjoy his company. And he’d been nothing but respectful ever since he discovered her identity, even toning down on the flirting. Although there hadn’t been any akuma fights since her accident, he had made a point of visiting her every night and making sure she was recovering. Usually tag-teaming with Tikki to keep her from doing anything strenuous.

Most of the time, it almost felt like nothing had changed and they were just bantering on the rooftops of Paris in their suits. She was grateful for it at first, but then as he dropped more and more hints that he knew her as a civilian, she began to get worried. Did he back off to let her heal? Or was he no longer interested now that the mystique of Ladybug had been exposed?

It was an irrational fear, she knew that. But she couldn’t help herself. Once the idea had occurred to her, it was hard to shake off.

“You didn’t mess up.”

She was startled out of her own head by Chat’s murmured words. He was watching her carefully. How long he was watching her, she had no idea.

“What?”

“Getting hurt. That was just an accident - you didn’t mess up anything. We beat the akuma perfectly fine.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but that just makes it worse. Since I busted my leg leaving the fight, that means it didn’t get healed like the rest of the city.”

“More terrifying than any akuma fight,” Chat said with a shiver. “Seeing you cry out in pain and just crumble was horrible.” He nudged her with a smirk. “But hey, at least it will make for a funny story later.” He held up his hands as if making a picture frame. “The time Paris’s darling, Ladybug, crashed into a billboard of Paris’s golden child, Adrien Agreste.”

Marinette buried her face in her hands. “Don’t remind me. I’m just glad Alya wasn’t there to get pictures for the Ladyblog. That would’ve been a disaster.”

“And don’t worry - I’ll only tease you about it a little,” he said while patting her back. “I’ll even wait until you’ve recovered.”

“Thanks for bringing me home, by the way.” She gave him a weak smile. “Getting an ambulance to pick me up at home was also very sweet of you. Especially since you were panicking along with me.”

“I wasn’t freaking out! This cat was cool as a cucumber.”

“You were crying as you carried me home.”

“I was feeling a lot of emotions, okay? I finally knew who my lovely lady was.”

“In fact,” she continued, now smirking. “You confused the emergency number because you said that we had a broken leg. I had to explain when they got here that it was just me. My friend had only been very concerned.”

“Can you blame me?” He huffed and pouted. “I was worried… You know how much I care about you.”

Mhm,” she said, even as her heart fluttered. “And thanks for all that, by the way.”

“No problem,” he muttered while picking at his rice again. “Not exactly the romantic reveal I’d had planned, but I’ll take it.”

“...I know I’ll regret asking, but what did you have planned?”

He grinned and rubbed his hands together. He put a hand on her opposite shoulder. “Picture this: Candlelit picnic on the Eiffel Tower. Then a visit to the street where we first met, reminiscing on our first few outings together. How much we’d changed. Then we go to our favorite spot-”

“That alcove in Notre Dame’s tower?” She glanced down at his tail, which had gently wrapped around her waist. He hadn't seemed to notice yet.

He smiled proudly. “The same! With that privacy, we could finally drop our transformations and see each other for who we really are. No masks, no suits. Just us.”

“And a pair of hungry kwami.”

“And that,” he acknowledged with a nod.

“It sounds more like a first date than a reveal ceremony, kitty.”

“Oh, by that point we’d have been dating for ages.” He waggled his eyebrows at her. “You couldn’t resist my raw animal magnetism and good looks.”

“Uh-huh.”

He sighed. “Missed opportunities.” A grin lit up his face. “Although falling for me is still on the table.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

The return of their familiar dance - flirting and pushing him back - lifted a weight of her shoulders as she returned to her food. A comfortable silence settled between them, Marinette feeling more at ease than she had been ever since getting the stupid cast.

“I’m glad it was you.”

Her eyes widened and she looked at Chat. He was wearing the same soft, loving smile that he always wore whenever he thought she wasn’t looking. It was something achingly familiar to her when she was behind the mask. But seeing it directed at her now did more than the last six years of Chat’s flirting had. A blush spread across her face as her breath caught, a realization bubbling to the surface.

Somewhere along the line… she had fallen in love with her silly kitty.